Part 9

  The gundam pilots had all made their way back to the base, with the addition of Trowa.  Quatre ran to his sister at the sight of the grimace on her face.  Iria hung her head after covering the dead soldier with a sheet.

"Quatre, she's too much of a threat.  She needs to be stopped before more lives are lost" she pleaded with her younger brother.

Without saying a word Quatre turned to his fellow pilots.  Nothing needed to be said, unspoken understanding could be viewed in their eyes.  They turned perfectly in harmony and walked through the corridor.  After a few minutes of quiet, Duo dared break the silence.

"So where do you think she's headed?"

"She would have gone to the place where she felt the most security...a territory if you will." Trowa replied showing off his expertise in animal psychoanalysis.

"She's gone back to Oz, the memory of her sister is drawing her there." Quatre explained opening the door to the outside of the compound.  Light from the setting sun cascaded on the young group as they headed into an unknown battle.  The life of this girl resting upon the unlikely saviors.

Meanwhile...

  Alex's eye squinted as a beam of light flashed through the empty black.  She detects a familiar scent, not of perfume but pheromones.  She doesn't know how she can smell them, but they're clear to her nonetheless.  She had made her way back to where she had come from.  She wasn’t entirely sure why she picked this place, but there was just something about it that made her feel comfortable.  The scent of her visitor registered quickly due to her heightened senses.

"Treize."  The name came out as a hiss since Alex's vocal cords were regressing to a primitive state.

"My dear Alex, so glad your back safe," stated Treize, his voice as noble as ever.  "Your sister was right about you."  He smiled as her eyes briefly showed confusion.  Her posture almost elicited a laugh from the regal man, she was hunched over, her hands on the floor, and her head cocked to view him suspiciously.  Her shoulder-length, jet black hair tussled after the day's activities.  Her deep brown eyes appeared to glow in the low-lit room.

"Where?" the single word took much effort to say for Alex.

"Where is your sister?" Treize looked at the girl with a soft expression.  "She's been dead for a long time now, but her memory still lives on here.”  He paused for a moment before continuing, “She helped create an empire that even she couldn't have possibly predicted.  She did it in your memory, to create a place that you would have felt safe in, where no one could hurt you."

Alex turned her head with the thought.  It was all too familiar, deja vu of her parents all over again.  A place where she could be safe.  The words echoes through her mind, aimlessly penetrating the cortex of her brain.  This wasn't right, her sister had turned into the type of person they together had despised.  How many lives had she ruined?  Thousands?  Millions?  She squeezed her eyes closed as much as she could, attempting to block out the new vision of her sister.  Kayla...how could you?

"You seem displeased dear girl.  Personally if I had known someone who cared about me as deeply as your sister cared for you..." his words tapered off as he thought about his statement.  He paused another moment before finishing, "I'd be a different man."

Alex's mind continued racing.  She didn't want to believe that her sister had become a monster.  Suddenly this place didn't feel safe anymore.  The walls felt much too close around her.  The air became too stifling, not allowing her to breathe.  All around her people were becoming inhuman, unfeeling beasts...all wanting to destroy other's lives.  And now they want to stick their fangs into her. ‘I will not let them, my life is my own’

Treize hadn't expected Alex to turn on him.  One moment she was in the corner, the next she was charging him.  His eyes widened as he stepped agilely out of her path.  Her body crashed into the wall where he had previously been standing as her hand clasped the handle of the door.  She was out of the room before Treize could let out the breath he had been holding.  He examined the doorframe before exiting the room; she had smashed a hole in the metal where her body hit.

"Amazing" he mumbled before raising an alarm.

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