Chapter 2
The sun beat down on the soldiers, melting the snow beneath their feet until they were marching in slush.
"I want formation! And I want perfection!" a loud voice boomed over the field. The girls’ voice was rich with the power of good schooling and rich lineage.
She turned to a man standing next to her. She spoke softly, but forcefully.
"Take over Lieutenant. Continue for another hour, then give them the rest of the day to themselves." She smiled, taking the cane he held out to her. "I may want perfection, but rest id needed to subside any thoughts of revolting."
Letting out a small giggle, she watched the lieutenant straighten and salute her.
"Yes, ma’am."
Turning toward the base, she put most of her weight on the support of the cane. Walking had become painful to relearn, after the bullet she was shot with lodged near her spine. Painfully, she walked down a corridor to a small office with 2 guards outside the door. The soldiers immediately snapped to attention ans stood ready, awaiting orders.
"Please make sure I’m not disturbed unless completely necessary."
The soldiers saluted the orange-haired child. They chimed in unison, "Yes, Miss Mariemaia."
Mariemaia nodded and upon entering her office locked the door. Now, in the solitude of her office, she could wince at the pains in her abdomen. Reaching her bed, she sat down and downed a few painkillers that were set out on her bedside table. Letting the cane fall to the floor, the child swung her legs up onto the bed and lay her head on the pillow. As she fell asleep, pain being masked by drugs, a single tear rolled down the side of her face.
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Duo jumped around the underground lair, rubbing his arms, his braid hitting him in the face every time he leapt. Sophia watched him with an eyebrow raised, warm enough in her baggy gray sweats.
"Maybe if you wore something besides skin-tight leather, you would be warmer."
Ignoring her remark, Duo jumped over to Heero and glared at him.
"Heero, remind me again why the hell we’re down here freezing our asses off."
"Duo, you know why. We’re far enough under the snow so the base can’t easily detect our body heat."
Duo bared his teeth and strolled to his cot, ripping his blanket off the top and becoming the living blanket roll for the second time that day.
Across the room on his own cot, Quatre sighed and reached for his teacup once again. They had only been in the cabin for a few days and already Duo was getting on everyone’s nerves.
/Next we’ll be blessed with his sarcasm./
He could feel the snow soaking through the wood paneling of the house, saturating his back as he rested on the wall. He had been getting little sleep ever since Heero mentioned the mission. Quatre couldn’t seem to shake the sense of foreboding.
"Quatre."
He opened an eye at the sound of his name, peering at Heero.
"Nani?"
It’s your turn for surveillance." Heero turned to a table as he spoke, picking up various equipment, all white, which Sophia had used. He began to reload the recorder disk. "You should change."
Quietly, Quatre slipped from the bed and stripped off his shirt. The water on his back gleamed and accentuated the muscles that war had put on him. He grabbed a white shirt and pulled it on as he looked at Sophia. He raised an eyebrow at her, straightening the shirt out.
"I know, I know…" Sophia muttered and pulled her comforter over her face. She faintly heard the sounds of a zipper and then the ruffling of material. She smiled.
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Sophia peered out from her covers, and, after assessing that Quatre was decent, threw them off entirely. She stalked over to the stove and turned on the oven, a grimace on her face. She stuck her hands into the warmth and realized she was being stared at by 5 pairs of eyes. Gathering his gear, Quatre made a noise in his throat and shook his head at her.
"WHAT? I’m cold!"
Wufei smirked and crossed his arms, a smug look on his face.
"Women," he said, after a moment of collecting his thoughts, "are too prone to the wintry elements. If you had stayed at headquarters, then-"
SLAM! The oven door was thrown shut by a now standing Sophia. Calmly, without any emotion crossing her face, she walked to the door, opened it, reached a hand into the snow and began making a snowball. Perfecting it, she walked towards Wufei and threw it as hard as she could at his nose.
A shower of ice flew from Wufei’s face in all directions, most of it landing on Duo. Casually, he brushed at it, some of it melting into his blanket.
"Sophia 1, Wufei 0," Duo stated.
Quatre snorted and turned towards the door. "I’ll be back as soon as I get some useful info."
With that, he opened the door and climbed up the ladder.
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The cold air swirled around his body, adding another layer of discomfort. The Arabian slowly climbed up the hill, pushing his way through trees and low shrubs covered in cold, wet snow. More of it flew into his eyes, momentarily blinding him. Quatre wiped some of the snow off his nose as he stopped at the pre designated spot overlooking the OZ base.
He sat absolutely still in the snow, waiting for the blizzard to calm down.
/Maybe I’ll rest for awhile. No one from the base is outside in this; I should be safe./
And with those thoughts echoing through his head, Quatre leaned against the trunk of a tree and closed his eyes.
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Heero rubbed his tired eyes with the palms of his hands, massaging his temples as he did so. The dots that made up the computer screen had begun dancing and meshing together hours earlier. Glancing at his watch, he realized Quatre was still outside.
He grunted, pushing back from the console. Heero’s eyes wandered around the room watching his now napping companions. Heero stretched out his body, getting rid of all the kinks in his neck and back.
/Quatre’s been gone way too long. What the hell could he be doing?/
Heero walked over to the bed and, letting go of the stoic soldier for a moment, closed his eyes and sighed before sliding his body over the comforter to lay still on his stomach. Suddenly, he felt a cool hand on his right shoulder blade.
"I’ll go find him."
Heero nodded into his pillow as Sophia’s whisper made its way to his brain.
Sophia crept over to her clothes and quickly pulled off her sweats to replace them with her white outfit. She grabbed a pair of binoculars off the desk as she made her way to the door.
Opening the door to the outside, Sophia heard no sound, realizing the blizzard had stopped. She softly closed the door, as not to disturb the sleeping pilots, and began to climb the ladder. Her gloved hands could still feel the cold metal of the rungs.
When she appeared above, the air instantly dried out her eyes. Blinking furiously, Sophia crept to the edge of the hill.
/Snow storm’s over. Quatre’s Arabian. Why is he still in the snow?/
The snow on the side of the hill had a frozen top layer that her feet kept crunching through. Determined to get to the top, Sophia gritted her teeth and pushed her way through the snow and ice. Reaching the spot, everything seemed the same as it had when she was there earlier that day except there was more snow on the ground. But no Quatre.