* * * * *

"It looks like it's key-operated," Trowa remarked, examining the elevator's touch panel.  "It must be an antique model."

"So the car stays on whatever floor she left it, until she puts the key back in," Quatre finished.

"Unfortunately," Trowa agreed.  Heero wordlessly spun on his heel and stalked toward the kitchen.

"Heero!  What are you doing?" Duo hissed, following at the silent pilot's heels with Trowa close behind him.  This was no time for a snack!

"Dumbwaiter," Heero answered, triumphantly pushing open the doors to the dumbwaiter compartment he'd noticed earlier.  As he'd suspected, the dumbwaiter ran down into the basement.  It creaked softly as he pulled on the wires, drawing the small box upward.  With an almost-smile and a wave of the hand, he indicated that Duo should climb in.

"Uh-UH," the slender young man whispered emphatically, shaking his head till his braid writhed behind him like a thick snake.  "No way, man."

"Get in," Heero hissed, glaring at his uncooperative partner.

"No fucking way!" Duo whispered harshly, facing Heero with a defiant glare.  "I am NOT going in there! Send Trowa!"  Panic welled in his throat and he shuddered, horrified at the idea of climbing into that little dark box.

"Trowa's too tall."

"Then you go!"

"You're the smallest," Heero said bluntly, scowling. It wasn't as though he *wouldn't* go down the dumbwaiter himself, if he could fit in there. But the past two years had seen his lanky form fill out. He was slightly taller and a great deal more muscular since the end of the war.

"I don't care; I'm not doing it. No fucking way," Duo reiterated, crossing his arms. "You go, if you're so hot to have someone in the dumbwaiter!" He tossed his head to fling his long bangs out of his eyes, then looked back at Heero in time to see the dangerous gleam in his eyes.

* * * * *

Quatre crouched in the darkness of the hallway, lining up his sights on the elevator doors. He could hear the frantic whispering of his teammates, apparently arguing about something. Quatre shrugged. Heero obviously had some sort of plan to get downstairs, but Quatre was certain of one thing: at some point Lady Une would have to come out of the elevator.

* * * * *

"It seems that we have company," Une said, her mouth twisting in a malicious smile as the dumbwaiter creaked softly.  "Why don't you have a seat, Treize-sama?"

"Thank you; I don't care to sit," Treize replied.

"Oh, but I insist," Une said, and pulled out her gun.

"Do you think to persuade me with that?" Treize asked softly.  "I would welcome my death at this point."

"Then I'll persuade you another way," Une hissed, growing more urgently insistent as the dumbwaiter creaked again.  "If you don't cooperate, I'll see that different arrangements are made for your precious lunatic's care."

"What are you saying?" Treize asked, growing pale as the blood drained out of his face.

"In plain English... I'll see to it that your little 'angel' dies a horrible death," Une snarled.  "Now sit down, Treize-sama."

* * * * *

"I'm going to have to kill him," Duo thought to himself as he struggled to draw a breath in his cramped position.  The dumbwaiter creaked again, and Duo's heart hammered in panic - surely Une would be lying in wait.  Nobody could have missed that last squeak.  As soon as the dumbwaiter doors opened, he'd die.  And it would all be because his sadistic partner, Mr. Perfect Soldier Yuy, wouldn't take "I'm claustrophobic" for an answer.  "Oh, he's gonna die," Duo assured himself.  A tiny little something, hard-bodied and many-legged, crawled across his hand, and he shuddered violently, his wide-open eyes straining against the pitch-black interior of the little compartment.  He had to be near the bottom now...

The dumbwaiter came to a halt with a jarring thud, and Duo remained frozen for a hideously long moment, expecting that at any second Une would pull the doors open and shoot him.  He'd die in this tiny, buggy place...

Nothing happened.  Steeling himself, Duo slid the doors open and tumbled out onto the lushly-carpeted floor of the basement, whipping his pistol out and rolling onto his feet.  His startled violet eyes took in the sight of the luxuriously-appointed cell, from the satin-draped bed to  the holographic window display that almost looked like a real window to the outside world.  And that was when Duo realized that he was face to face with a dead man.

"Khushrenada," he whispered.  The man tried to speak around the gag in his mouth, and strained against the rope that bound him to an overstuffed chair that was bolted to the floor. Duo ignored the frantic pleas as he scoped out the place and confirmed that the two of them were alone in the room.  There was a chain around the prisoner's ankle, just long enough that he'd be able to make his way from the bed to the little bathroom to the chair.  The dumbwaiter was within easy reach... Duo surmised that this must be how Une had sent food to Treize, when she was too busy to visit him personally.  The opposite side of the room was well out of reach of the chain, and Duo saw that the elevator stood empty and ready, with the key in place.

"I'll be damned.  She must have gotten out some other way," he breathed.  "Don't worry, I'll come back and let you loose," he whispered to Treize.  The captive general's eyes widened, and he shook his head frantically, but Duo was already pushing the button for the first floor.

* * * * *

Quatre held his breath as the elevator hummed into action.  Any second now...  He trained his sights on the center of the elevator doors, waiting for them to open.  But something nagged at him... something not quite right...

The doors slid open, and he saw Duo's violet eyes widening in horror as his finger squeezed the trigger - then the world went black.

* * * * *

Duo threw himself on the floor, looking up to see Une walk up right behind Quatre and slam the butt of her pistol against the back of his head.  The blond fell without so much as a whimper, and Duo  screamed his name.  Une smiled at him, her eyes alight with triumph as she raised her weapon and fired.  Duo rose up enough to slam his hand against the button, driving it into the elevator panel with the force of the blow.

The doors slid shut, and the elevator started to move.  Duo could hear other shots, the sound muffled as the elevator made its slow way back to the basement.  Something warm was trickling down across his ribs, and his whole side suddenly burned with the icy, fiery pain of a bullet wound.

"Shit," he whispered.  The elevator finally stopped, and he staggered out, meeting Treize's wide-eyed gaze with a grimace.

"Yeah, I know, I shoulda let you out first," he whispered.  His blood roared in his ears as he stumbled over to the chair and began loosening the man's bonds.  "You know," he said in a purely conversational tone of voice, "I think I might pass out."  And then he did.

* * * * *

Trowa heard two shots, and he ran recklessly toward the spot where Quatre had been keeping watch. He arrived in time to see the elevator doors closing, and Une raising her pistol to point it at Quatre's head. His blond hair was matted with blood, and Trowa couldn't help but gasp in horror at the sight. Une aimed at him, and he stepped out into the light with his hands up.

"Please don't shoot, Lady Anne, it's only me," Trowa said.

"I seem to have found another intruder," Une said, but her eyes were unfocused.

"No, it's only me," Trowa said. "You remember me, don't you, Lady Anne?"

"It's Lieutenant Une," Une corrected him, glaring coldly through her eyeglasses.

"Of course, Lieutenant," Trowa amended.

"Don't bother explaining," Une said. "I'm going to have to kill you anyway, since you obviously know too much."

"I understand," Trowa said. "But before you kill me� please tell me how you did it."

"What?"

"Well, I've spent the past weeks trying to unravel this mystery," Trowa said, "and my last wish is to have it resolved before I die. How did you do this? You were in a coma when Treize Khushrenada went to space for the last time."

Une scoffed at him, unaware of the intense cobalt-blue glare focused on the back of her head as the Perfect Soldier inched carefully forward. "Lady Anne was in a coma. I was completely aware of everything going on around me. He came to me, you know, in the hospital. He wanted me to know what he was trying to do." Une's mouth twisted bitterly at the memory. "I'm afraid it came as
something of a surprise to him when I sat up in my bed and took him prisoner."

"But how did you-"

"It was all too simple," Une said. "I merely told him that I needed his help, and that his precious Wufei's life depended on it, and he believed me."

"And then you brought him here?"

"Yes, of course, I had planned everything all along.  Treize-sama merely forced me to move before everything was in complete readiness, but he managed to achieve some measure of comfort in his living quarters, even before I brought in the carpet and furniture."

Trowa nodded wordlessly, his pity welling up for the man who had been locked in the basement for so long� his green eyes silently urged Heero to hurry.

"But now, I'm afraid I have to kill you," Une said.

"I'm ready," Trowa said quietly, and met her gaze with the same unruffled, dead expression that had so unnerved Catherine during their knife-throwing act. Heero inched a little closer, crouching to spring at her� and Une hesitated, the barrel of her gun wavering indecisively.

{What are you doing, Une?.}1

{You mustn't!}2

{Leave me alone!  I'm doing this for all of us!  I'm doing what needs to be done!}3

"Please put the gun down," Trowa said, stepping toward the disturbed woman as gently and carefully as one approaches a lion.  "I mean you no harm."

"But you would do me harm, nonetheless," Une said, and the Lieutenant snapped back into focus.  "Just stay right where you are," she said, pointing the pistol at him again.

{This is wrong!}1

{We can't allow this!}2

{Leave me!.}3  Lieutenant Une protested, appalled to suddenly realize that her counterparts were far more powerful than she'd given them credit for.  {You don't understand!}3

{Drop it!}1

{You have to drop it!}2

{NO!}3

"NO!" Une screamed, dropping the pistol just as Heero came barreling out of the darkness and took her down with a flawless tackle.  Trowa left her to the Perfect Soldier as he rushed to his lover's side, unaware of the tears streaming down his cheeks.

* * * * *

"You gotta help me," Duo whispered, his numbed fingers finally working loose the locked metal cuff around Treize's ankle.  He could have gotten the thing off in less than half the time if his vision didn't keep blurring in and out.  The skin where the cuff had lain was raw and oozy with a long-untended infection.  "Looks like we both need a doctor," Duo commented, and then fell back in a half-faint to rest for a moment,  his lopsided grin still intact.

"If we get out of this," Treize said.  His long captivity had left him weakened in more ways than one - the resolve and determination that had seen him through his darkest days had slowly eroded beneath the weight of the endless, monotonous imprisonment.  With a great deal of effort, he hauled the dizzied former Gundam pilot against his side, being careful not to aggravate the wound.  Duo moaned softly and made every effort to walk on his own, and between the two of them they staggered over to the hidden panel in the wall that Treize had seen Une use on many occasions.  Duo shook his head in amazement.  He couldn't believe that none of them had looked for a secret staircase!

Treize and Duo crept up the staircase slowly, each of them certain that Une would be waiting for them at the top.  Just as Treize was sliding the wall-panel open, someone on the other side opened it forcefully.  With a cry, Duo slid down the staircase as Treize dropped him and placed himself directly in the line of fire.

Heero Yuy glared at the man, pulled him out of the way, and went down the stairs to get his fallen comrade.

"It's about time you two came up here," he said quietly.  "You broke the elevator, and neither of us could fit in the dumbwaiter.  And she wouldn't tell us how she got out of the basement."  He indicated Lady Une, who was firmly bound and being watched by Trowa.  Quatre leaned against his lover's shoulder, pressing a wadded-up cloth against his fiercely aching head where the skin had split.

"I love it when a plan comes together," Duo muttered, and then he felt his knees sagging as his body finally gave out.

* * * * *

"The place is set up like so," Heero announced, poring over the blueprints. "We go in via this duct that they've got placed for water drainage. Not too bad, they've got bars over the end, but I scoped them out on my way back from Luxembourg. The bars are screwed in... from the inside, not the outside, so the crazies can't get loose but anybody else who wants to can get in with ease."

The sound of Treize's throat clearing didn't seem to bother Heero at all. "Once in, he's in room B-17, sixth window down from this point on the left wing. The structural integrity of the building should make an explosion within the range of the bend, here, and the window, here, a viable solution. The wall will come down like so and still be supported by beams on either side. There's supposed to be a guard around the clock but it won't be hard to put him out of commission. Duo and Quatre will wait with Treize in a van at the exit point, here, back through the drainage duct. It's big enough so that we'll be able to get Wufei in and out all right. Trowa and I will be in charge of the explosives and the rescue operation."

"No." All four of the Gundam pilots turned to stare at their former enemy. With his typical flare, Treize raised a hand and flicked strands of ginger hair back out of his eyes, frowning. "I'm going with you to get him out of there."

"That's not part of the mission, Khushrenada. Mission objectives are to get Wufei out of the institution. All wounded will remain in the van. Duo will drive," Heero informed him sternly.

"Hot DAMN! Heero-Perfect-Soldier-Yuy is gonna let me behind the wheel!" Duo crowed. Even that was a miracle -- Une had shot the hell out of his side and cracked a rib to boot when the bullet bounced off of it. He was lucky she hadn't killed him! Not to mention the tumble down the stairs that had left him bruised and shaken (though luckily he hadn't injured himself further).

"I'm going with you," Treize insisted, scowling as a hand settled on one denim clad hip. "Whether you like it or not, Yuy."

Quatre's voice interrupted them with quiet good sense. "Treize, you really aren't well yet. Your ankle is in terrible shape and you've been..." He paused. "You've been held prisoner for so long. Don't you think it would be better to allow Heero and Trowa to do this? They know what they're doing. I promise they'll do just as well as you would - and once Wufei is safe, we can discuss where to go from there." He almost held his breath as he waited for Treize's answer.

The former Oz general turned his face away, almost seeming to crumble beneath the weight of those combined gazes. "As you say," he murmured, not looking at any of them.

The others watched in surprise as Trowa laid a hand lightly against Treize's arm, emerald gaze meeting bright sapphire eyes. No words passed between them, only that momentous gaze and then even that was finished as Treize nodded slowly. "As you say," he repeated once again and then he turned to limp from the book-lined study and in the direction of the stairs.

"Tro-man, what the hell was that?" Duo asked, reaching up to rub the back of his head.

The slight smile that crooked the edges of Trowa's lips was almost secretive. "He needed reassurance," he murmured. "It's late. We'll all have a long night ahead of us tomorrow. I suggest we find our beds."

"Yes," Quatre murmured, still staring at his lover. Even after all this time, Trowa could surprise him in the most wonderful ways -- almost daily. "It's time for bed. Tomorrow..."

"Tomorrow," Heero said firmly, "we'll rescue Wufei."

"All for one," Duo said, grinning wildly, "and one for all."

* * * * *

The night was perfectly dark aside from the sharp sparkle of stars through the freezing cold air. A lone silhouette moved silently through the darker areas of the yard.  Anyone who noticed would have found it impossible to trace the shadowy figure, or to see how it had managed to find its way inside the thirty-foot wall enclosing the small hospital's lower floor.

The windows on said floor were shatterproof, supposedly, impossible to break, impossible to open -- but not for him. As he glanced into one barely-lit room, an expression of fury filtered across the face of the shadow as he carefully, oh so exquisitely carefully, placed the acid that would eat its way through that glass no matter what it had been made of. The soft sizzle and plop soaked through the first layer and the second before he heard the sounds that made his skin turn cold and fury dance down his spine; heated sobs and cries and pleas that shook him to the depths of his soul.

"IIE!! Yamero! Yamero! TREIZE! YAMERO! IYAAAAA!!!"

The glass shattered inward with the body that was flung through it, drawing a startled gasp from the man ravishing the taut body tied so tightly to the rails of the bed. "FUCK!"

The shadow rolled with the impact and came up, the barrel of his gun pressed lightly against the guard's forehead. The vague similarity of his face to the one pressed against the pillows only feet away sent a shiver through his frame. "I would suggest that you remove yourself," he murmured silkily.

"Wh...who are you?" the guard managed to ask as he rose, fumbling to button his pants.

A brilliant smile, white teeth gleaming. "The dead come for vengeance. Did you not hear him calling for me?" The small guard stepped back as Treize moved closer. "And now..."

The thump of Treize's gun against his temple, the thud of a body hitting the ground, and Treize turned easily. A quick flick of a knife freed Wufei from the restraints holding him to the rails of the bed. The slender man curled in upon himself, sobbing so deeply that he shook violently with each wretched breath. It took only seconds to get the rail down and to gather that slight figure to his chest. "Wufei..." The sound was tortured, deep. "My Wufei."

"Not even death..." a scarcely audible whisper declared. "Not even death!"

"Shhhh..." Tears welled in deep sapphire eyes as he buried his face against hair that smelled of sweat and fear and sex, not the warm coconut and patchouli he remembered. "Wufei... oh, my Wufei..."

Dark eyes slitted open, shielded by long lashes. "Treize?" he murmured uncertainly, voice raw.

"I'm here. Oh, my beloved one," Treize breathed. "How I have longed for you."

"You'll save me? Love... oh, love you so..." The words seemed groggy, disjointed

"I'll save you, my little dragon," was a warm puff of breath in his ear and he floated up from the bed held secure in Treize's arms. He watched as though far away as he was wrapped tightly in the blanket from the bed and placed in the chair beside it, his tall ginger-haired lover turning away momentarily. The man who looked so like {Who? Her? Me? I don't know...} someone was gently placed in the bed in his place, the cut wrist restraints tied tightly back together even as the figure being tied moaned, came around. "Wufei?"

He turned his face up in anticipation, brows rising with drugged curiosity. "Yes?" Words were thick in his mouth, barely heard over the angry and hysterical cries now sounding from the bed.

"Shall we do the honors together?" A metallic snap, a whir, a bright flicker of flame. Wufei's eyes lit up brightly even through the haze of drugs and Treize smiled.

Wufei always HAD been a little pyromaniac.

He stood, wobbled, and then was held steady within Treize's arms, the Zippo lightly placed into his palm. Carefully, the hysterical screams of the man on the bed ignored, they began at the corner of the mattress. The starched sheets burned easily and soon the smell of foam and rubber and cloth and flesh pervaded the area, the bed wildly aflame even as sprinklers began to go off, spraying everywhere.

With a click, Treize closed the Zippo and gathered Wufei into his arms, blanket and all. "Time to go, little one!" With that, they were out the window and gone, only a momentary pause made for one last thing.

Walking away, neither of them flinched as the carefully planted detonator exploded, blowing everything in the small room behind them to bits.

* * * * *

The paper was placed neatly beside Quatre's tea cup as breakfast began, only one person missing from the table. Duo was, fairly typically, tucking into his scrambled eggs and pancakes with the fervor of a starving man as Trowa turned faintly green and carefully nursed his cup of tea.

"So, Hee-chan!" Duo mumbled around a mouthful of eggs. "You ready to blow some shit up, my good man?" A grunt was the only answer he gained in reply and so he turned to look at Quatre as the rustle of the newspaper being unfolded sounded. "And what's the state of the universe today, Q?" No answer came. A fair oddity. "Q?"

"My God," the blond whispered, standing abruptly and moving quickly from the room.

Three pairs of eyes met in fleeting glances before the other young men rose and followed him.

At the top of the stairs, Quatre took a right and moved down to the fourth room on the left, flinging open the door. It bounced back slightly. "He's gone!"

Duo peeked in over his shoulder. "Maybe he had to pee."

"Or maybe he was tired of being kept cooped up," Trowa suggested.

"Or maybe," Heero proposed, "he's ready to blow that damned hospital to bits, too."

With a distraught sound, Quatre turned and ran back downstairs, leaving his befuddled friends to follow.

"Man, I wonder what kinda bug crawled up Quatre's butt," Duo murmured in amazement at the formerly calm pilot's behavior.

Quatre's voice rang out as they reached the dining room. "The explosion, thought to have been caused by the rupture of a gas main, seemed to come from a single room. The fire was put out quickly but not before a patient who had been left restrained, Chang Wufei, died in the blast. An intern whose name has not yet been released has been missing since early this morning. His disappearance is thought to be connected to the blast."

Silence.

"Do you suppose Treize...?" Duo's voice trailed into nothingness.

Trowa whispered, "Saw the morning paper?"

"No!" Heero ground out, "He snuck out in the middle of the night and did the job himself. He botched it."

"Wufei..." Quatre's eyes filled with sharp tears and before he knew it, Trowa and Duo had both reached out to him, arms wrapping tightly, all three in a huddle. He could feel Duo's trembling against him, even though he knew the American would deny tears to the last.  Trowa's hand rested lightly upon the small of his back.

Wet tourmaline eyes opened slowly, blond lashes clumped together, and met cool Prussian. Yes... the uchuu no kokoro. Uchuu no kokoro... Heero. In that moment, that quick meeting, they knew, and a pact was sealed.

Silence... for Treize and Wufei.

Forever.

* * * * *

The sound of rich earth plopping unceremoniously against hollow wood made Quatre shiver as each of the former Gundam pilots and the few high-level Preventers who had come to the tiny private cemetery walked by and tossed a fistful down into the open grave. The symbolism of their journey to discovery was not lost upon him as he glanced down into the hole, clouded eyes seeking out the scattered petals of white and yellow roses that had been shaken loose from their stems by the falling dirt. Trowa's arm was tight around him as he turned to look at each of the others in turn.

Only steps away stood Zechs and Noin with their son, Relena, Sally, even Catherine. They did not attempt to join the small circle of friends standing so close to that open grave, only waited and watched, murmuring quietly amongst themselves.

"I thought Khushrenada would at least come to the funeral," Duo muttered dispiritedly. "Guess he couldn't stand it. You know. Waiting all this time, just for this to happen."

Quatre's heart welled with warmth as he smiled slightly at Duo. "It's best to leave him be, wherever he is."

"Wherever he is," Heero intoned, "I've got a feeling we won't hear from him again."

Emerald eyes glanced over at Zechs, the older man's haggard expression calling to him somehow. "No," Trowa agreed. "We won't."

They walked away as the November rain began to mist down into the small ossuary grounds beside the empty burial plots of Treize Khushrenada and Mirialdo Peacecraft.

* * * * *

His glasses were slipping down his nose, an irritating fact, and he pushed them back up, pulling the velour blanket more tightly around him as he turned another page and waited patiently. The stars outside the huge window so close by glittered with a fierce brightness that was almost like the clear sharp cold of space to him and yet he was wrapped in the warmth of his cover and the fire blazing so cheerily only feet away from where he sat.

The sound of a door opening and shutting caught his ear and he slid a scrap of silk between the pages to mark his place, rising and moving silently in stocking feet to the small foyer, smiling at the figure rapidly pulling away mittens, scarf and heavy winter coat. "I believe, my angel," the tall slim man said, "that it is getting colder. Much colder. Perhaps tomorrow, we will find it impossible to leave the house."

A dark brow rose as he took Treize's coat, helping him put things away. "It won't be that much of a catastrophe, I think," Wufei replied, heading towards their well-appointed kitchen and the soup bubbling merrily in wait for them. A fleeting thought crossed his mind, the image of Quatre smiling
so sweetly, and he smiled in return, unable to help himself. "Even death could not part us. I find it unlikely that being snowed in for a few days will have any effect other than to bring us closer."

Arms wrapped around him from behind and a warm mouth nuzzled his ear even as cold fingertips found his hands and held them tight. "No, my angel. I believe that you are right. It will not be a catastrophe at all.  And nothing will ever part us again." His voice lowered to a husky whisper. "Not even death."


~owari~


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