Archive of Our Own ^beta

Treize had been exhausted sometime after midmorning, drooping in a way that said more than anything that he was too tired to go on conversing or doing anything else. Wufei had tugged up his covers, given him a dirty look, demanded that he take a nap, and promptly taken himself out looking for Mariemaia. After all, part of the reason he was here was, according to conversation, that she needed to learn to fight.

He might as well start working on correcting her ideology while he was at it. One would follow the other if he did it right. He had glared at the fake window and gestured to the door, and lo and behold, the lock opened loudly enough that he could hear it from over by the window. Once he was outside, it locked behind him again. No one came to guide him in any given direction, so Wufei notched up his chin, considered from whence they had come the previous evening, and marched off with a determined step that usually worked quite well when he preferred that no one question his presence.

That was undoubtedly the key to Trowa's infiltration ability; that and his bland expression, blank and easy. Wufei always felt that his own grumpy scowl worked just as well, and as it had yet to fail him, he would continue believing it was so. He could carry on without anyone stopping him, and walk the way he remembered from the night before. The girl had to be around somewhere and she needed to be taken away from there as much as him and Treize.

There was, of course, the question of what to do with her. Wufei's people, his family, would most likely have expected him to go forth and multiply, but they also wanted him to be happy. As such, he preferred not to do so, and he hoped to god that he didn't somehow end up in the midst of that potential disaster. Some things a person should not have to face in any manner, and this, in his opinion, was one of them.

That would be a conversation for a later time. There was no need to get ahead of himself when he had already gotten so far in only twenty-four hours.

He finally found her on the third floor up, in a library. Quiet and by herself, with a book. Unsurprising, he supposed. The eyes alone said she was Treize's child; she was fortunate enough to have inherited her mother's eyebrows, at least Wufei assumed it was so. "I see you are quite good at entertaining yourself. What are you reading?"

"Hmn, history book on the American empire." She looked like she was a ways in and the book was dog eared. "Hello, Mr. Wufei."

"Hello, Mariemaia. It appears to have been well-read. Is it a favorite?" He moved closer, finally seating himself across the way from her.

"Yes. None of it makes sense, which is why I like it. It's wild." Her eyes were big when she said it. "And they weren't consistent at all. I wonder what we could learn today if they hadn't been annexed."

Wufei's brows arched and he leaned forward. "Ah, but L2 contains the general remnants of their society, as I'm sure you're aware. What correlations might that present, do you think?"

Her eyebrows came together, and she said, "That maybe it was for the best they were annexed. L2 is a strange colony. Why has that been allowed to happen?"

It was a good question, and there were no good answers. "After the annexation, certain factions decided to emigrate to L2. At the time, the colony was beginning to age and I expect they thought that they were less likely to find anyone interfering with their, ah. Hm. Ways, I suppose."

"It hasn't worked well for them." She closed the book and then hugged it to her chest, peering intently at Wufei. Thinking, and that was something he preferred in people. It made it easier to deal with them, to relate to them. "Do you know any good books about your colony?"

"A number of them, in fact. Would you prefer the viewpoint of the Chinese government or would you prefer those written by someone within my clan?" Both had excellent points, of course, although he didn't doubt that the more truthful of them came from his own people. He'd read around both, and historically speaking, he was sure of which one made sense.

"Both? It all fits better that way." She was still hugging the book to her chest. "Do you think we could find them here? Or are they datapad books?"

He pretended to think about it for a long moment. "Some of them may be here. Presumably most of the books here are related to historic events? But the ones of which I am thinking will have to be sent to you, as I have data copies." Pausing, he tilted his head to the side. "Your grandfather wanted me to teach you about fighting."

"Mmm." She did not seem terribly enthused at the general idea. "I don't know if I want to. Or what that would even mean."

"Nothing you don't want it to mean." Wufei shrugged. "For me, it was training, but also helpful for learning to meditate and place things in perspective around me. It came with culturally important teachings from both my clan and a neighboring one."

"My father was raised to fight." And she hadn't been to date, though she had clearly been fed some interesting lines of thought. "Was it culturally important?"

"I think..." His voice was slow and thoughtful. "I think that some cultures find it so, yes. To the detriment of their children. Sometimes you have no choice but to learn to fight, to know that you will inevitably be a soldier. It is difficult to be a child because few cultures offer any autonomy. They expect that, as a child, you will obey and do what someone else determines to be best. The problem endemic in that is that just because someone is an adult, it does not mean that they're making the best choices or the right ones. Even knowing that we would have to fight, my family was determined that I should be given an opportunity to be a child. For me, that was less playing with others and more sitting in flower fields to read, so I was quite fortunate that the adults in my life made the best choices they could for me in light of the forthcoming inevitability."

He wasn't sure if she absorbed it all, but she was quiet for a long stretch, nodding. "What will you teach me? I want to help fix the world, but I don't... there's so much to learn." There were apparently plenty of cracks he could pry into.

There was a long moment where he paused and kept quiet, as if thinking. "There will be a great deal to learn for as long as you live. Some people stop learning when they're still young, but there's always something new to learn in the world, and I think one of the things we can always learn more of is how to be kind. So I will teach you many things, if you like. Kindness and all."

That seemed to settle something in her, and he hoped it would work. "All right. When do we start?" She was still clutching the book and perhaps reading was as good a place as any, up there in the library where she was comfortable.

"When would you like?" Leaning forward, he settled his elbows on his thighs just above his knees. "We can begin here and now if you like. Nothing too terrible or difficult, I promise."

"Now would be okay. I like reading." Perhaps she was missing the run and jump and climb with a rope gene or hadn't been given an opportunity to see if she had it at all.

"Me, too. I like history and I like fiction. But I think we should start with something like qigong. It's easy for beginners and teaches the basics. Sort of relaxing, and there's sufficient space if we move the table to the side. What do you think?" She was just a child and they were planning to use her to start a war. He was going to do his best to suborn anything they tried. Well. Less the ubiquitous they and more specifically Dekim Barton.

Someone would have to do something about the man; Operation Meteor had failed so many times, and the world didn't need it. The colonies didn't need it. "Okay." She set the book on the table, and pushed at it rather unhelpfully.

Moving toward her, he helped her push it back and then stood to the side, feet shoulder width apart, comfortable. "Stand like me, yes? Yes." He watched as she mirrored him, doing as he did, and he smiled a bit, nodded encouragement. "I promise, this will be easy."

"Okay." She mimicked his position perfectly while he brought his hands up in front of him, and then up and back down, very slowly, like pushing at something. "This helps you fight?"

"Eventually. Now, when you do this, breathe in and then breathe out again. And when you breathe out, think about breathing out all of the things that make you sad or worried, all right? When you breathe in, think about the things that make you happy, make you feel better."

She wasn't getting it right off; the movements didn't coordinate with the breathing, and he wondered if he had been so terrible at it as a small child. But she seemed calm and patient, her gaze steady as she tried to mimic him through the motions. She wasn't a natural, but she was determined. He would take determination. Sometimes that was worth more than anyone gave it credit for being.

"That's good. Let's do it again a few times, and you can tell me how it feels, yes?"

"Yes." She seemed enthusiastic as well as determined, and he fell into an easy sort of autopilot, letting himself think of his own training, Meiran's. She had been different from the start, more fierce, something barely tamped down in her, and he thought that he would be delighted to see that in Mariemaia, at least if it weren't aimed directly at destroying their hard-won peace. Maybe they would be lucky. Maybe everything would work out properly.

Not that anything else in his life had done. The things that did were quite frequently the surprises that popped up and presented themselves.

He moved onto the next movement, sweeping gestures like he was holding a ball, and she followed, falling into it, and yes. Yes, she was a learner. He could take a couple of weeks to teach her some basics, no stress, and it might do wonders for maintaining a fragile peace.

By the time he wrapped it up, she was a little sweaty, but quite obviously pleased with herself. "Well done." At that, she lit up, and he realized he was also quite pleased with himself. "Shall we discuss your favorite time period, then? And after, we'll visit your father if you like."

"Yes, please!"

Well. Apparently he was better at dealing with young persons than he had expected himself to be. That decided, Wufei reached down and pulled the table back into place in preparation for their discussion.

Might as well keep going.

Getting better was exhausting.

He had been upgraded to sweatpants and a T-shirt, was allowed all the food and water he was interested in, and dozed a great deal. The pain was occasionally torturous, sharp and unexpected or low, deep and clawing. Now he had the added charm of a potential audience at oh, any given moment, and the urge to put his head under a pillow and smother himself to make it stop was immense. Except he knew he'd survive it if he actually tried, if he felt anything other than melodramatic in his agony.

He spent the mornings flirting with Wufei and working on slowly becoming accustomed to moving around again, the early to mid afternoons napping, and then Wufei would come in with Mariemaia late in the afternoon and they would hold discussions on history and literature in an appropriate scale for a nine year old. All things told, there were worse lives to have. He was recovering and he could cope. And like every other injury since L5, it was wiped mostly away, as if nothing had happened. No scars but plenty of memories, and soon they needed to work on getting out of there.

Wufei wouldn't talk about it at all. Perhaps he should leave it, but the longer they kept from talking about it, the more it wore at him. The more he wanted to talk about it.

And then there were the evenings.

The best part of his evening was that bizarre bathtub. He was able to stand without assistance and get himself to the toilet with the help of the chair, but getting back into bed had required help every time as his left arm was still lagging in recovery, and his right occasionally decided not to follow through with a fine motor motion. Somehow it seemed like the more he tried to move and use his body, the more he found unsatisfactory, the less together it all seemed. There was still that gnawing edge of horror that he wasn't going to give in to because there was no point, but bath time at least was perfect, albeit deeply sexually frustrating.

Then again, he would've tried to make love to Wufei with no arms and legs, no hesitation, while Wufei was concerned about wearing him out. He'd make that face, the one that made Treize want to yell like a child having a tantrum, and he would say those dreaded words, "Not tonight." And he would say it while sitting on Treize's lap, while wrapped around him temptingly.

He was still looking forward to it when Mariemaia came in to see him that afternoon, alone. "Hello, sir. How are you feeling this afternoon?"

She was a bright thing, auburn hair and his own eyes peering out of her pale face with a little cupid's bow mouth. He had never wanted children, but there was something enjoyable about knowing that if he ever had, they would have been beautiful. She was stunningly lovely and intelligent; she would grow up to be a fine young woman someday, whether he was involved or not, all on her own. It was there in the core of her, he could tell.

"Better." If he held mostly still, he didn't set off any spasms or stabbing pains and could hold onto his dignity well enough for a good command performance. "I see Wufei's been held up with something?"

"Mmm, Grandfather came by and wanted to have a word with him. He didn't say about what. We had just finished our exercises. Wufei said to come along and see you and not to fret," she advised, seating herself in the chair that folded out into a cot. "He said we could play a game if you wanted."

That made him smile a little to himself because Wufei was imperious. It was the only way a person could put up with Treize, he supposed. They had to give out as good as he did or else it wouldn't work. "Did he suggest a game, as well?"

Her feet kicked, not quite hitting the floor. "He said that you would trounce me at chess, so not that. Perhaps instead cards, so I brought the ones I have." Two different decks, one with green artwork and the other with blue. Double solitaire it would be, then.

"Have you played solitaire before?" It would give them a background of light activity while allowing him to learn more about her. Wufei had put some thought into it, as usual, and come up splendidly.

"Yes, sir, but that's a game you play alone, isn't it?" Mariemaia seemed a little disappointed by that. "Why would he tell me to bring cards for that?"

"Double solitaire is a game for two." He reached to take both decks from her, and brought around the tray table that was at the side of the bed. All of it with his good hand, which he needed to work on, but. "Have you always been on this colony?"

"Yes, sir. My mother was with me for a time, but afterwards there was just Grandfather. Well, and Uncle Trowa, but Grandfather kept me away from him. I don't think he trusted him to behave." She was watching him as he shuffled the cards badly. "How do you play with two people?"

"Hopefully better than my shuffling," he muttered to himself, keeping each deck separate as he tried to make his left hand play along. "You each end up with a solitaire layout like normal, but I can play on your aces and you can play on mine."

That was enough to make Mariemaia perk with interest. "So can I play on your layout?"

Treize was already shaking his head. "No, just the aces."

Reaching forward, Mariemaia poked one of the cards. "Do we take turns?"

“You just play on your cards and the aces as fast as you can. It becomes strategic once you get the hang of it." There were other games they could play with two decks of cards if he needed to mind the time. "What happened to your uncle Trowa?"

One thin shoulder shrugged. "I don't know. One day he just stopped coming around, I guess." Which was undoubtedly because he was dead, but how? "I'll take the blue ones, okay?"

"Okay." He turned the tray that way for her, watching her expression. "Now that I'm awake again, how are you feeling about your grandfather's plan?"

Blue eyes so much like his, like his mother's, turned to the false window in a darting glance. "Grandfather knows what's best. You have to see that, don't you, Father?" She was wide eyed and staring at him as if to tell him that he should agree.

It was obvious even to a child. That was never a good sign, except that there wouldn't be much teeth behind whatever insanity Barton was attempting to inflict on the world in what would be his, what, failed third attempt? Murdering his father and great uncle hadn't been enough to get him to power, nor Operation Meteor. The plans grew worse with each iteration. "I haven't been out in some time, so perhaps."

"But for now you should stay here and get better, Father." She seemed so earnest, as if just believing it was sufficient to make it happen. "And also so that I have plenty of time to beat you at this game."

"Yes, well, I think you'll do fine on that on your own. I suspect Wufei meant this as a hand eye coordination challenge for me," he drawled, looking over his cards. A change of subject was probably for the best, but how not to draw the wrath of whoever was behind the window?

"Oh?" She leaned forward, took her own cards, and promptly began moving them, slow but still faster than he could. "He does like to be challenging, I have noticed. My readings have shifted from politics of the twenty-second century to plagues and pandemics of the nineteenth and twentieth. Apparently," she advised as if it were a secret, "I can learn a great deal about how to appropriately handle catastrophe from them."

Treize pondered that thoughtfully as he tried to play as well, trying to get his fingers to grasp cards. "Yes, neither one of them were actually handled well. I suppose what you learn there is what not to do."

"Do you have opinions about them, Father?" It was so strange to hear himself called that. He couldn't decide if he disliked it or not; perhaps it would be more comfortable to be the kindly uncle who drank too much at Christmas dinner and diddled his third wife in the kitchen.

It was certainly more likely given his lifetime habits and proclivities, though he tried not to be a complete drunkard when he was relaxing, just on general principle that life was more fun if he could remember what was going on around him. "So many opinions. Men, officers, leaders who put the war ahead of their men, who swept bad reports under the rug and let disease gallop rampant through their forces." He flipped a jack of hearts onto a queen of spades and turned up an ace which he promptly laid between their two hands.

Before three seconds had passed, Mariemaia had played a two of clubs on top of his ace, and then a three and a four. "Ah. That seems like rather a bad idea, both for the troops and the leaders. After all, you proved that having sincerely devoted soldiers is a fine thing, did you not?"

"I did. And I hope to continue to honor their sacrifices in the years to come. And that is why their deaths could not be treated cheaply. They died to protect Earth and to bring us all peace." Which was a bit off topic from plagues, he knew. "So in the pre-colony times, it was to settle the wars between the nations, both economic and traditional, that the impacts of disease were overlooked."

His daughter frowned, but she kept playing cards. "I think I like your method better," she finally said, playing an ace of her own. Before he could blink, she'd placed a two after it.

He chuckled, moving his own cards around at his own speed. Treize mostly had eyesight back in his left eye, though Wufei seemed suspicious of it as well. "It wasn't all to plan. Everything started to go sideways very early on in the wars."

"Tell me about it, Father." Yes. Definitely better to be the drunk uncle who shagged his boyfriend in the kitchen, forget diddling the third wife.

He took a deep breath, and continued to play what he could of his own cards as well as he could move. "How much have you read about Zechs Marquise?" He could gauge where to go based on her answer. And of course it would be lightly edited for content, brevity and his sanity.

"Not a lot, I suppose." She was biting her lower lip, though. "Grandfather said that he was insane and a complete wild card in the war because his decisions were completely impossible to follow."

"Your grandfather was quite right about that," he said, without having to give any meaningful glances to the window. "His father lost his mind, and it had ended up being a hereditary problem. But to start, I knew him when we were both young boys, before the Sanc kingdom fell. Perhaps a few years younger than you."

She clearly found that interesting enough. "Tell me about it," she prompted, and edged a bit closer to him, playing her cards across the seven. She was building quite the line up, all bent on destroying him. He wouldn't discourage her from it for the world.

"His baby sister was covertly adopted by the Darlians, who were loyalists to the king; because Milliardo was old enough to be recognized, he was sent to the same military academy I was attending."

His daughter's face screwed up into a familiar expression, one he had seen in photographs and in his own mirror from time to time. "Grandfather sometimes says that if I don't do as he says, he'll send me to military academy. It doesn't sound like fun."

"Mmm. I rather enjoyed it, but it's certainly not something I think you should have to do." It had fit his personality, and he had never felt restricted by it or beaten down; but he had also been privileged and favored and good at it. He'd been well-suited to that life. Mariemaia had thus far seemed to be obedient enough but of a more scholarly bent. Who willingly read about plagues that happened centuries ago at the grand old age of not quite ten? He had been much more interested in fantasy novels at that age, everything from Frank Baum to Douglas Adams to Lloyd Alexander and a distinct fascination with physics and mechanics. He wondered if she would have been the same if left to her own devices and not encouraged to study how leadership and disaster went hand in hand.

She made that face again. "I shouldn't like it at all, I think. It seems regimented and boring. I looked up some of them once."

"Horseback riding, shooting, and then mobile suits." He finally managed to play a few cards after she turned over an ace, but he was really being bested by someone with better hand eye movements. "Formally, they start you with horseback riding because it gives you a sense of where your body parts are in relation to a hulking mass of something you can only tentatively control. And that hulking mass is prone to the laws of physics. I deeply enjoyed being a pilot; Zechs was better at it than I was, but he didn't have the patience to think beyond his own suit. He was terrible in unit maneuvers and leading."

"Why did they call him the lightning baron? Is it because he was better at piloting than you?" She played a flurry of cards so fast it almost made him dizzy. Yes, he was definitely going to be trounced.

"He was lightning fast in a fight, and there were of course substantive rumors that he was the scion of some royal family. The mask he started wearing at about twelve added to it. That was a family heirloom he'd managed to salvage, of all things. Everything else that he'd left with me over the years, I sent to his sister before the final battle of the war." It was a miracle that Relena wasn't as unhinged, and he hoped she was still sane.

Perhaps he should ask. Or perhaps he shouldn't; some things it was better not to know.

She flipped over her cards and proceeded to bury him in a torrent of them, flying across her aces and his, the competitive little miss. He supposed it was only to be expected. "I think I've beaten you, Father."

"I think you have," he agreed, looking down at the mess. Eventually he'd be moving with enough fine degrees of control that he could actually compete, but not yet. "Do you want to play another round?"

Her immediate agreement was not unexpected. "Yes, please."

And so they did until Wufei returned. He was sweaty, his brow creased in a way that told Treize that something was not to his liking and that he planned to make someone pay for it. It might not be today, but they would absolutely learn at some point in the not too distant future that they had in some way pissed him off entirely.

He would inquire about it later. "Wufei, you look tired." Angry, pissed off, and very likely to teach Mariemaia new curse words, which Treize himself had been working not to teach her as he'd lost every single game out of five.

The pucker of Wufei's mouth was lemon sour. "I've just spent three hours kicking the asses of Barton's troops, singly and collectively. They're terrible and they're not afraid to use group tactics."

Leaning forward, Mariemaia's eyes widened. "And you still kicked their--"

"Yes," Wufei interrupted.

"Then the revolution shall be swift," Treize drawled, keeping a calm flat deadpan as he re-organized the cards back into two decks. "I've been trounced repeatedly in your absence, Wufei, so let it be known that I'll never make a good card shark. Billiards, snooker, though, I could beat both of you at." If his hands stayed steady. And if there was a table anywhere. And if he could stand and stay upright with ease.

Mariemaia had apparently taken on Wufei's habit of raising a single eyebrow so that now they were both looking at him with that general sense of oh, really? "Father, I don't have a far enough reach yet." Something about the way she said it made him wonder if she might surprise him, just a little.

Reaching up, Wufei tugged loose the band holding back his hair and thrust his fingers into it, loosening the sweaty strands with his touch. "Ugh."

"I could teach you. We'll get you a footstool." He watched Wufei's angry expression, the sweaty edge, and made a concerted effort not to make any lewd or touching gesture.

"And me as well, no doubt." His fingers began working at the tie and buttons of his shirt, getting the collar loose and the tie off before making a huff of disgust. "I'm going to wash."

He tried to sit up a little more and fondly watched Wufei leave. "We'll still be here." Unless someone came and fetched Mariemaia, and attempting to keep himself from grinding against the fact that he was essentially a hostage was a struggle. Even if he did sleep for half the day.

For a moment, he thought that Wufei would take himself into the bathroom and leave him behind, but he glanced at him from the corner of his eyes, head tilted slightly, and seemed to come to some sort of determination. "Mariemaia, if you don't mind, I think your father could use some rest for now."

"Oh, of course." Whether she could guess the obvious or not, well, she was enough his child to leave it unremarked as she took her packs of cards and headed for the door. "Goodnight, Father. Goodnight, Wufei."

"Goodnight." It was a bit of a chorus from both of them.

Wufei waited for the sliding door to shut before turning Treize's way, one hand still holding the tie. "I thought if I were planning to bathe, I might ask if you'd be interested in coming with me."

"I feel like I've been sitting here useless all day," he declared, "so yes, a bath sounds excellent. And you did that on purpose."

"Did I?" The tie dropped to the floor and Wufei reached up a hand to begin working on the buttons of the placket. "Perhaps I did."

It encouraged him to move away the table, and try to get himself sitting upright, legs over the edge of the bed. It took work, and Wufei was still stripping oh so slowly. "Mmm. I keep finding functional gaps the more I try to use parts of myself. I wonder what other functional gaps there are?"

There was something delightful about that shirt loosening, the jangle of his belt as he opened it and tugged at the button of his shorts. "Mmmm, we could address that, I suppose."

He strained his arms easing himself to an upright position, standing tentatively on the floor in stocking feet in front of his much fitter companion. "I would try very hard to make it worth your while."

That tilt of head was infinitely familiar even though it had been a long time since he had seen it. Usually it had meant they'd be away from building Epyon the rest of the afternoon for something athletic and enjoyable. He wondered what it would mean today. "You've never once failed to make it worth every second of my while, not in memory." The shirt hit the floor, and good god. Whoever was watching this evening was undoubtedly going to enjoy the sight. Treize certainly did.

In two and a half years, Wufei had grown into himself more, seemed more settled. There were slight changes in his musculature that only seemed obvious from someone who had missed the changes. He took a step toward him, extremely mindfully, and was heartened when it worked, and then he was in reach.

"Why don't we step into the bathroom and we'll see how to address this problem with your... functional gaps?" One hand reached up, tugged at the belt of his robe, and it fell open, leaving his pajamas in clear view. "Hm?"

He shrugged out of the robe and threw it awkwardly back onto the bed before leaning in to steal a kiss. A slow, soft, easy kiss, the kind of kiss he hoped might nudge things along more naturally as they edged toward the bathroom. It had been a while, even if he didn't count the two years he'd been lying in a bed unaware of the passage of time.

Wufei's smile was knowing and he leaned in and kissed Treize again, sweet, the tip of his tongue brushing between Treize's lips and just barely caressing against his own. "Come on."

He went, and struggled to coordinate the movements to close the door behind him because it was hard when he was trying to lean on the doorknob to keep himself up. "You must be sore after fighting so many ill equipped soldiers."

"Mmmm. I'm something." Horny, at a guess, and he pulled Treize after him, allowing him to brace himself on him as they passed through the door, allowing it to shut behind them.

His left leg was starting to shake like a dog's, and he enjoyed the closeness, the easy way their bodies fit together. "I can help that something." He just needed to take off the undershirt.

It wasn't surprising when Wufei's hands tugged at the shirt, pulled it up over his head. "I'm fairly certain that you can," he agreed, leaning forward to slip his tongue into Treize's mouth again, this time a little deeper, his lips petal soft as his hands settled on Treize's hips, thumbs caressing across the arch of bone there.

There was bone there. That was real and it made him shiver and inhale before he kissed Wufei back more firmly, sliding his hands down Wufei's smooth, muscled back. It felt so good, and he could feel his dick start to show a little interest. That had been a while, too, and he managed to reach out his own hands, pushing at the shorts so that they fell to the floor.

"Well, that is nice to feel." Feeling those dark eyes on him, the need in them, didn't hurt his response, either.

"Functional training helps," he murmured, kissing him again, taking the chance to use Wufei less like a table to lean on, and walk him back toward the tub.

"Hmm, so it does." Wufei tilted his head to the side and offered his throat. "They're remarkably terrible," he murmured. "Something about taking on all of them and ending with their raging defeat made me..." Needy. Obviously.

"Sadly, you could flip me right now, too. I'll be a challenge again soon." Not as soon as he'd like, but he leaned in and kissed high on Wufei's neck, just where his jaw met it, teasing his way down, and fuck, no, his leg was going to go, and he groped for the edge of the tub to hold himself upright.

"For fuck's sake, sit down before you fall down." He didn't sound anything more than amused by it. "Besides. There are a number of ways that you can absolutely challenge me."

He leaned down and then edged in enough to sit in the seat and use it to support himself while he pushed his pajamas down, letting them puddle at his feet. Wufei kicked them out of the tub and finished undressing himself before digging in the cabinet and coming back to start the tub running.

"So." And he hadn't known there was bath oil in the cabinet, but Treize was fairly certain that he was grateful.

Treize chuckled softly, and leaned back, trying for his best relaxed come hither expression, which was probably working better for him than it would have a week ago. "You'll feel less angry soon."

"I'll feel a lot of things pretty soon." Ah, he did enjoy that smirk. It made his heart speed up just a bit, as if the sight of Wufei could be insufficient as a reason. "Tell me what you want." He stepped closer, warm water rising around their ankles.

"I want..." What did he want? He reached out for Wufei, pulling at Wufei's hips with both hands, because he could. "I missed you."

"Mmmm." The sound of it was quiet, thoughtful. "You made me cry, you know. It wasn't well done of you. I should have paid better attention." He paused and then smiled. "I missed you, too. Meredith was... quite bright. Terrifyingly smart, in fact. He didn't have the same... hmm, sneakiness, maybe? The same sense of sneakiness about him that you do." Ah, that got him a grin, teeth sharp and bright. "It keeps me on my toes."

"Perhaps I should thank him." For being there, for being an unwitting tool of a conspiracy that had brought him Wufei. He enjoyed the feeling of Wufei as he settled partially over his legs, the bath oil settled down on the seat beside Treize.

"Probably you should." The shower bench probably hurt Wufei's knees, at a guess, but he settled on Treize's thighs, and that likely helped somewhat. His hand was idling up and down Treize's chest, his right thumb rubbing close to his left nipple.

It felt amazing, and he curled his fingers against the line of Wufei's spine, an idle gesture as he traced it down to the curve of his ass. "The worst thing is that you know I'll follow through on that."

"You're quite excellent at follow through," Wufei agreed, and his knees sprawled wider, his body settling comfortably. The water crept higher, warm and good against their skin. To think that he barely knew who he was a week ago, much less had the ability to do something like this -- touch Wufei, caress his fingers up his thigh and enjoy the feel of the skin, especially when he rubbed a thumb at the crease of his thigh.

Yes, his dick was definitely working out what to do, hardening, and the flush and tingle of everything finally starting to respond made him reposition Wufei just a little. It was stupidly awkward, but he wanted Wufei to feel that he hadn't saddled himself with the world's saddest accidental eunuch.

It only gained him something like a laugh, Wufei leaning in and brushing his face against Treize's. They were both a bit bristly, but it didn't seem to matter."Are you going to sit there all afternoon or are you going to do something about it? Maybe at least turn off the water." Since it was still rising and now nearly covered his thighs.

"You keep trying to make me use my hands," he accused, laughing as he leaned forward while holding onto Wufei to turn off the water. "It's unfair."

"It's distinctly fair," Wufei argued. "The more you use them, the better your dexterity will be. You could barely use them at all days ago, and I saw you with the cards."

"It was still perfectly shameful," he agreed, setting his hands back on Wufei's body where they belonged. Yes, functional work was needed, because lifting his hips was still an activity that required deep thought.

"It was better," Wufei insisted. "Now. Tell me what you want to do with me."

"Since I can't yet properly ravish you, I want you to ride me." He slid his better right hand between their bodies to lightly brush against the underside of Wufei's dick.

That earned him a pleased sigh. "Hmm, only if you use your left hand to prep." What a wretched demand that was, but he was pushing his cock against Treize's right knuckles, and the water felt delightful. "Oh, that's quite nice."

"We should document this as physical therapy." He turned his head to nuzzle at the side of Wufei's neck, taking his time using the left hand to trace down the crack of Wufei's ass. It felt lovely, soft skin against his fingertips.

The feel of Wufei's laugh against his mouth was just as good as anything he could remember having felt. "Ahh, no, this is definitely documented as getting laid," he denied, but the way he stroked a hand down between them, wrapping around Treize, thumb rubbing the tip, said it was something quite a bit beyond that.

Pure and perfect enjoyment.

That was lovely, and he pressed up against Wufei's hand even as he circled Wufei's asshole with a light touch. The drag and rub of skin was familiar, missed, interesting all over again. "Soon."

"Promises, promises." Yes, but now Wufei was stroking his belly, diving back in for a kiss, tongue darting inside and laying claim. It was delightful, almost enough to distract him in and of itself. It was more sensation than he quite knew what to do with, and he leaned into the kiss, focused on it to drown everything else out except Wufei's mouth and the feel of his hands. It gave him space to coordinate his own hands, turning the gentle brush to stroking Wufei's dick just lightly. "Oh, that's... that's good." Murmur of sound against his lips, and Wufei kissed him again, lazier now. "I remember the first time. It was... confusing, because of the nanites and the Epyon System, but I've never wanted to get fucked quite as much as I did in that moment, and your cock..." His hand turned, caught hold of it. "...is amazing."

"I was feeling very inspired, possibly beyond my limits." And there he was again, bucking his hips lightly to press into those fingers. "Still am. Need something slick, though..."

"That's what the bath oil is for." Well. Yes, and Wufei leaned in again, kissed him desperately.

His dick was starting to ache, a balls deep want, while he grabbed the bath oil bottle to slick his fingers. He was going to make Wufei squirm and beg if it took every ounce of coordination he had.

"I'm waiting." And demanding, which was fabulous. He well remembered it, and it wasn't much of a surprise when Wufei reached between them, fingers clasping their pricks together and stroking. "I... ahhhh..."

"Fuck..." Treize finally got oil on his fingers, and then slid them down Wufei's ass crack and the rest of the oil somehow didn't end up spilled as he rocked up into Wufei's hand.

"That's the plan." Breathless, yes, and beautiful to hear, particularly the way that he rocked down to meet those fingers, definitely his left hand, because Wufei was an insistent little shit. "If you can make that hand work for you. I'm not taking anything this big without being properly... nnnngh!"

"Prepared," Treize agreed, turning his hand a little better to put two slick fingers to work. "You'll be begging for it soon."

"Don't think you have it in you." Except for the way he was pushing back, trying to get those fingers further in. "Mmm, been so long since..."

"Yes." Yes. Since a wonderful interlude that had somehow inspired the younger man to come looking for him. He didn't know what he'd done in his life to deserve that sort of devotion or interest, but he wasn't going to squander it. "You'll have it in you in a few moments..." He eased them back out and pushed them back in.

The noises that earned had Treize moaning against Wufei's throat, and when his hole tightened around his fingers, he grinned and pushed in a third, which just made Wufei gasp loudly and let out a throaty moan. "Fuuuuck, that... that..."

"You're not nearly ready yet." The back of his hand hurt but he repeated the motion over and over, slow and gentle and steady, enjoying the tight quivering and the way Wufei pressed and arched against him. His cock was trailing against Treize's stomach now, his hands having shifted to hold onto Treize's shoulders. It was pretty clear from the feel of things that Wufei had been thinking about this long enough to take care of some necessary cleaning, and that was a delightful thought, too.

He shook his head, hair falling around his shoulders, longer than it had been. "Probably not for that monster you call a cock." As if he didn't love every second of it.

Treize wanted to pet that hair, but he was pressing a hand against Wufei's back, and he was starting to shake just slightly, so he focused. Focused and managed to pull his fingers back and press all three fingers into Wufei again in one slow motion, his knuckles helping to widen the way. "We'll take our time."

"Ffffuuuuuck you," he moaned, but he was rocking on those fingers as though he might be able to get off on them alone. He almost certainly could, but the question was whether or not Treize wanted him to. It would be beautiful to see, of course, because it always was, but did he want to make him come and then have to wait to go further? Hm, or perhaps he'd make him come and then slide in while he was still sensitive and clenching.

He leaned a little, kissing at Wufei's neck as he stretched his fingers, searching for his prostate.

"Oh, you fucker!" Fucker, yes, but Wufei was already trembling, body flexing, arching back to that touch, making raucous sounds when he found what he was looking for. His right hand let loose of Treize's shoulder and reached down to start stroking himself off, hard and fast. "Fuck, fuck!"

"Yes..." Yes, and he kept it up, nudged Wufei through it, hand starting to weaken and lose the ability to keep moving but Wufei was gorgeous arched back like that, stroking his own dick between them.

When he came, Treize's fingers felt as though they'd been squeezed so tightly together that they ached. Wufei's sounds had ended up muffled against his shoulder, and when Treize stopped stroking his fingers, he went limp. "Oh my god." Bleary and pleasured, he was exquisite.

He eased his fingers back, and left his hand curled against one beautiful asscheek, other hand still pressed against Wufei's shoulder. It was hard not to chuckle in sheer delight. "You're beautiful."

Wufei laughed against his collar bone. "Pot. Kettle. I'm nothing but mush now."

Delicious mush. He was still achingly hard, but it felt wonderful to run his hands over Wufei, to roam his ass and back and the backs of his thighs as he leaned into Treize in a puddle. "I'm enjoying having you mushed on me."

"Mmm, and you'll probably enjoy having me sit on your cock. Which I promise I will do as soon as I have control over my legs again, so it may take a moment." Yes, but Wufei leaned up and kissed him again and again, as if he couldn't get enough of it.

Maybe he couldn't. He didn't know when the dazzling wonder of being alive and whole would wear off; maybe never. The pressure of Wufei's mouth against his was just as dazzling, even if they both ended up with hair in their mouths, which set him to laughing again. "Here, let me just..." Sweep that back, the strands tangling in his fingers, and Wufei straightened finally, letting out a sigh.

"Tell me how much you want me and I'll ride you until you can't think of anything else."

"I want you so badly I already can't think of anything else." He let his hands drift over Wufei's shoulders, without having tugged too much at his hair, smiling at him.

"Then I'm glad to make it even harder." He shifted, moaned, and turned around, the position reminiscent of their first time. His hands were on Treize's knees, his thighs on either side of them, and he leaned forward, looking back over his shoulder. "Well?"

Unbelievable. Perhaps he had died and this was his mind's logical, slightly cruel version of an afterlife. "Well." He shifted, one hand holding his dick and the other sliding down Wufei's stomach while he positioned his dick and Wufei's body with a nudge of motion. He pressed, and Wufei moved, eager, interested, and then opening for the push of his cockhead, making a sound that made him want to push all the way in, now, now, but he waited, leaving Wufei where he was as he adjusted. It had been a while, and seeing that clench, feeling it, made him let out a heavy sigh, faintest of moans beneath it. He waited and then Wufei started to shift, pushing back until he was sitting in Treize's lap, head leaned back against his shoulder.

"Holy... I had... I'd forgotten." He'd just come, so that may have been the reason he was a little soft, or it could be because he'd taken all of him that way. "Mmmm, wow."

"This is perfect. You're perfect." He savored all of it, the weight of Wufei's head, the press of his back against Treize's chest, the feel of him clenching tight and shuddery, just on edge for Treize.

"You're gonna make me come again." Just from sitting there like that? He doubted it, but then Wufei reached down, stroked, and oh. Maybe he would. "Slow or...?" He could see those eyes looking at him, pleasure-dazed, and Wufei's breath was a steady soft pant, so good to hear. "God, no one has ever felt like you do."

"Slow." He'd missed all of those feelings, the huff of breath near him, an excited body beneath his hands as he stroked at Wufei's side, and then brushed Wufei's fingers away to stroke lightly at his hardening dick. It earned him a gasp, an arch of his back, a tightening around his own hard flesh.

"Nnnn, okay. Okay, slow." Slow, but he was writhing, squirming a little faster, rocking his hips even if he wasn't pulling up very far. Mostly it was just a deliberate steady circle of motion, and Treize leaned in, tasted the sweat building on the side of his neck and groaned.

That was perfect, just perfect, and he shifted, rocked his hips up in an unsteady motion, and then repeated it, goading Wufei on. It wasn't more than an inch of movement, maybe two, but it was just perfect. Hot and slick, water splashing against their thighs, and Wufei reached back, locked his hands at the base of Treize's neck, and moved. It wasn't as physical or wildly needy as the first time they'd done this; instead, it was a little like... like coming home to pleasure, to easiness, to affection.

It was unlike anything he'd ever done, he realized, less fucking, more... something. Bonding, reacquainting, he didn't quite know, he'd come up with the smooth words for it when every effort wasn't involved in memorizing how Wufei felt, the press of fingers at the back of his neck, the arch of body against his as he managed to thrust up against those rocking motions of up and down, the feel of him.

"I want, I want..." Wufei didn't say what he wanted, maybe he didn't even know. Treize's hand was working on him, and his mouth dropped open, a cry spilling from him and bouncing back from the tile around them. "Fuck. Oh god." Little dribbles were spilling, slick under Treize's thumb. "Oh fuck."

Beautiful, and it slicked the stroking, so he started to pick up the tempo, adding a twist of his wrist, left hand bracing Wufei. He wanted just, just a little more, just, it felt so good, and when Wufei locked his hands and began to ride him, hips coming up further, feet braced in the tub, it was exquisite.

"I want you to come. Come on, come on, come... ah!"

Just caught right on the edge, just caught there and stuck while Wufei came again, leaving a ropey perfect mess on Treize's hand that he used as slick while he kept stroking Wufei.

Just, just, fuck. Fuck, he knew he wasn't going to get there.

By the time Wufei managed to breathe through it, he was limp in Treize's lap. "Did you...?" Limp and sweaty and pleasured was a good look on him. "Only I'm sure you didn't, and it's starting to feel a little much." Probably sore.

He kissed at the side of Wufei's neck and shook his head. The balls deep ache wasn't going to kill him, and it would ease back. "Apologies. Couldn't quite get there."

"Hmmm. I'm sorry." He turned his head, caught Treize's mouth. Everything about it was soft, sweet, lazy. "Seems unfair I managed twice." He clearly didn't want to move, but he did, letting out a hiss. "Fuck. I don't think I forgot that you're this... huge, just. Ow."

Treize winced a little, shifting his hips back until he was pressed against the back of the tub, trying to give Wufei space to move and then oh, he was out. "It'll subside."

Reaching out, Wufei flicked the water back on, letting it begin to fill the tub a little further. "We'll wash and then maybe if you think you can come later, I'll blow you." It was remarkable, how horny he seemed to be, and a bit of a relief that he still felt that desire. "We'll work on your left hand until we need a nap."

"My left hand needs a nap," he countered, still clutching at Wufei almost reflexively. "The nanites let me down most unexpectedly."

"Hmmmm." Now he turned, getting back in the same position as earlier, on his knees and facing Treize, the kiss long and slick and sweet. "I had resigned myself. You know. To things. And then there was this video and I... I was sure that it was you, and I realized that maybe I hadn't resigned myself. At all."

Living a life in the present wasn't resignation at all, and perhaps in some ways he shouldn't have been alive still to interfere with that. He kissed Wufei back, hands still lingering on Wufei's skin. "Hmn, you'll have space eventually to see which decision you regret more."

Broad shoulders shrugged. "I liked Meredith. A lot, actually, because I don't..." He scowled, and Treize wanted to replace that look on his face. "I've always been... My mother called it picky." The water was warming up, moving higher. "But I don't sleep with people for whom I don't have affection. You were weirdly immediate."

He couldn't help but smile at that, feeling a little flash of actual flattery. "I'm glad to hear that. I hadn't set out to seduce you. You were... brilliant, stubborn, insanely ballsy."

"More like annoying and out to murder you." That got him a smile, though, and Wufei leaned back to turn off the water again. They were well settled now. "Which, technically, I almost managed. I wasn't expecting to find you so..."

"Willing to be casually murdered in my office?" His erection was subsiding at last, and that was a relief. In another couple of days, his brain would figure it out now that the connection had been tried.

"That, too." Yes, but it obviously wasn't what he wanted now, not with the way that he was settled on Treize's thighs. "Funnily enough, I think I've had enough of you being murdered."

"I'm rather glad of that. I think I've had enough of it myself." He gave Wufei's ass a squeeze, and let his head loll back for a moment. "We need a plan to leave here."

"Don't worry about that for now." If he seemed a little louder than he should have been, well. "Worry about getting better." Leaning in, he pressed his mouth in a line of soft presses up the cord of Treize's throat, all the way up to his ear. The whisper, when it came, was barely a breath. "Someone will be coming."

"Hmn." He clutched Wufei close, harder, and there just wasn't any point in trying to pry more. Treize would simply have to trust, and he did. And then his left hand started to spasm while he kissed Wufei back.

Another hum and then Wufei leaned back, stretched, and grabbed the fresh flannel from the little ledge. "So, washing now?"

"Yes, we could both do with soap. Are you less angry at the idiots now?" He presses his hand hard against the side of the tub in the hopes of making it stop.

"Right now?" That laugh was warm and enjoyable. "I'm pretty sure that someone would have to scrape me out of a puddle for me to pull together anger."

"Perfect." Then everything else could be dealt with later, one day at a time. Someone was coming for them, after all, or at least coming for Wufei.

He'd worry about that and exactly how far the nanites would be able to take him later. Preferably when he didn't have a warm naked body settled on his thighs and washing him.

Another day, another twenty idiots he'd had to put on the floor.

It was clear to Wufei that Dekim Barton was ill; not insane, but some form of dementia, he was fairly certain. He felt that was probably the best and kindest explanation. A child battling with a cardboard tube might well have had better battle plans than this moron. Indeed, a child with a cardboard tube would have more imagination and creativity. The man had attempted to destroy Earth three times, and it was past time to give up. There were mobile suits this time, yes, and young men in stupid uniforms, and a rousing speech, but none of it mattered.

Not when each attempt became successively worse.

Infinitely boringly horrifyingly worse.

He was starting to wonder if he could start napping standing up since he was required to be at these stupid gatherings so that Dekim could blather on about whatever his latest plan might represent. He could be doing something much more interesting and worthwhile. Reading with Mariemaia. Beating Treize at chess.

Getting laid, which was unsurprisingly exactly as enjoyable as he had remembered it being.

Treize had said something about nerve damage, back injuries being the source of the trouble with coming, and seemed unconcerned and unbothered by what had happened. By the next evening, most everything was working again except for his left hand. Maybe that was something that Sally could help with. When they got back to Earth there was a lot to be done, and he wasn't really sure where to start. Finding some kind of situation where Khushrenada could not get himself into trouble.

As if that even existed.

He realized when the gunshot sounded that he should have been paying more attention. Somehow, Wufei wasn't at all surprised when the soldier at whom Dekim had taken the shot did a ridiculous somersault from standing flat footed and landed at the man's feet with a raised firearm.

Bad enough that the old idiot had fired on a colony like some kind of suicidal lemming. There wasn't any point in Trowa trying to shoot the old bastard, so Wufei had the tip of his dadao safely at his throat before anyone could even react. "Stop right there."

He stopped and weighed the situation with the grace and calm that Wufei expected from pilot 03. He looked up at Wufei, quick, dismissive, and then kept his face focused on Dekim. "Sir."

"Well, well. Trowa Barton." The twist of sarcasm in that voice was audible and cruel. "I suppose you've come from Earth to destroy us, then?"

"No." He didn't offer additional information, eyes still fixed on the man and not Wufei. "I'm No Name. I stepped into his place when he was assassinated to support L3 in Operation Meteor."

"And you're back again to support us now?" Paranoid bastard. Trowa moved slowly, putting away his pistol, and Wufei allowed his sword to fall, keeping quiet. "Tell me that you believe in our cause."

"I believe in our cause. With OZ crushed, Earth has no true defenses left." His tone was flat, unwavering, and even Wufei would be inclined to believe him if he didn't know better.

There was a very good reason Trowa ended up with these sorts of spy missions. Hell, he even managed it when someone explicitly knew that he hadn't been on their side before that very moment. "He's extraordinary as a pilot," Wufei offered, gaze cutting back to Dekim.

"I am aware of his skills. I just don't know if we can trust him." Dekim looked two seconds away from trying to shoot at him again.

"I'll be with him," Wufei offered. "And if it comes to it, I'll kill him myself."

Dekim seemed to sight his gun away, but Trowa didn't flinch or try to move while the old man contemplated his choices. "Yes. Yes, find him a Gundam and get him out of here. Tonight, Mariemaia will declare war on Earth, so you have arrived just in time, No Name, if you truly do support us!"

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit, because that had not, in fact, been on the list for today. Wufei was fairly certain that it hadn't been on the list for anytime in the next three months. That crazy motherfucker. "Sir. I thought..."

He thought he had more time.

He thought he had more time, and now he didn't, and Trowa was here. "Take him and find him a mobile suit that suits him. We have waited long enough!"

Fuuuuuck.

"Sir." Wufei's voice was sharp, and he tilted his head, indicating that Trowa should follow him. "Come." One hand was on the hilt, and he waited. He waited just long enough for Trowa to move out of range, and then he spun, the weight of the sword heavy and perfectly balanced.

He couldn't lose Treize. He could go, leave with Trowa, go back to the Preventers, tell them everything, come back to rescue Treize and Mariemaia, do everything correctly and by the book. But he couldn't risk it, he couldn't, not another war.

The blade swung heavy, cutting through most of Dekim's neck before it stuck; then he had to move to follow through the blow, to pull his sword loose from what he knew was a corpse. Bastard, bastard...

The second blow was successful. When the skin tore loose, the head went tumbling off of the stage and into the scrambling recruits. They couldn't avoid the spray of blood any more than Trowa or Wufei could, and for the most part they hadn't thought of their weapons yet, so that was of the good.

"Excellent. Good work." That was an unexpected booming voice from the back of the room, and then he heard clapping. Colonel Kirill, who always seemed to be doing something else, something useful. "That was enough of that fucking charade, eh?"

Wufei leveled his bloody sword, pointing toward the man. "I had my suspicions about you. Especially after that fourth meeting. Were you going to let the lunatic actually attack if I hadn't ended it?"

"Never." He seemed not to care about the confused crowd who'd been amped up by the old man or his murder. "Attention! You will forget this charade, and head back to your quarters. New orders will be issued to you by your company commanders."

He wasn't sure when his default answer to life, the universe, and everything had become what the fuck? but it sure as hell was now. "Explain." He glanced at Trowa, who also seemed to be expecting some sort of explanation. Well, that or he knew everything already and was going to let someone else make the effort of explaining. Which... actually wasn't that farfetched, now that he thought of it.

The colonel walked toward them, making a dismissive gesture as if to get them off the stage they occupied with the corpse. "Get off of my colony. Before someone tries to have you lynched for murder. Take the girl and the general with you."

"We'll be sending part of the Preventers force to make contact and deal with this situation," Trowa advised, reaching up and smearing a thumb through the spray of blood across his cheek. "Is there anything further?"

Wufei was definitely getting a headache to go with the blood in his hair.

"No. Go, before I change my mind." He was imperious, and Wufei was half sure he might have just made things worse for X18999, but if he could remove himself from the situation, he was going to.

"You find them, and I will secure us a transport." Trowa didn't ask if Wufei needed help; he knew he didn't, that he was competent, that he could be trusted.

That they both probably needed a shower before they left because he couldn't imagine the reek of blood in any transport for that long.

"You know where the medical quarters are? I'll be going there and then I'll come to you." After all, transport all left from the same place, so it wasn't as if he didn't know where to go. "Try and get off some of the blood. Mariemaia's only nine."

Trowa grimaced. "Never mind. I'll get the general from the medical quarters, you get the girl. She doesn't know me." It would be quicker, and he caught on fast that Wufei knew where the transport was. That was good. They could split the load, and Trowa was already moving to the exit with a calm stride.

Leaning down, he used what clean spots he could find on Dekim's trousers to clean his sword, eyes on Kirill. "Anything else you'd like to say?" Now that Trowa was gone, in any case.

"We don't need to declare war on Earth to declare our independence." The man gave Wufei a tight smile. "What a waste of resources. I am sure we will see your people around. You perhaps will want to take the security tapes from the viewing room with you. Give General Khushrenada something to remember us by."

His spine felt as though it had suddenly turned to ice. "If I find something I don't like, I imagine you'll be expecting to see me sooner rather than later," Wufei offered, and turned to walk away, the hair on the back of his neck standing up when he did.

"Goodbye, pilot." The man offered nothing else, and it took everything he had to prevent himself from detouring immediately to the medical area, striding instead toward the family's rooms where Mariemaia stayed. He couldn't think about it; he could deal with it later, because of course. He was delusional to think that everything had been honorable and aboveboard. He hadn't truly thought it was; not at the heart of him. But it had been nice to be able to pretend, at least for a while.

When he reached the family quarters, he paused outside for a moment, then used the appropriate key to get the door to slide open. "Mariemaia. Don't be afraid when you see me," he called.

"Wufei?" He could hear her coming out of the bedroom, at the back, through the library, toward him. She didn't scream, which was what he expected.

She gasped and crushed her hand against her mouth, hesitating in the doorway as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"It's all right," he promised. "I'm fine and your father is fine. There was..." He let out a huff of breath. "An incident. Where is the bathroom?" He would at least wipe himself clean. It would make it easier to reach the transport.

"That way." She was still staring in horror, but he brushed past her gently, and headed into the bathroom to run the tap. She needed to pack. He didn't know where to start.

"It will be fine," he promised her again, rifling through until he found a clean flannel and thrust it under the running water. "I want you to pack a bag quickly. Get all of your favorite things, yes? The things you would miss if you could never see them again, pictures of your mother, your favorite doll, enough clothes to wear for a few days. My friend has gone to get your father."

"Are we going?" She seemed a little shocky, maybe, but headed to the bedroom and he hoped she was packing while he tried to wipe most of the blood off of his face. There was just nothing to be done about the stupid little uniform.

"We are. You're safe, don't worry." He knew he kept saying it, but that was what he remembered hearing others say when the attack had been over and so many of the children had been having difficulties. Maybe Wufei even wished that he had been young enough to hear and believe it. "We're going to Earth. I think you'll like it there."

She was shoving things into a duffle bag, moving around her room quickly, pulling out drawers. He could see the edges of an emotional reaction that she was fighting, as she shoved a datapad and a printed photo frame into her bag with clothes, a handful of data chips, a book, two books. "I, I..."

"Mariemaia." The sound of his voice made her pause, turn toward him, and he could see the fear on her face. He walked in, knelt down in front of her. "I promise. It's going to be fine. Ignore everything else. Focus on the fact that I am promising you it will be fine, and that you should take the things you can't replace. Someone will be coming to make diplomatic overtures, and perhaps they can get the rest of your things then, all right?"

"Yes." She was enough of Treize's daughter that 'diplomatic overtures' told her something had Happened, big H, more than any blood on him told her, but her nod was still shaken before he turned her loose to put what looked like a photo album and a small soft blanket into her bag as well. She added a few notebooks and zipped it.

"Are you ready?" A thought occurred to him. "Does your grandfather have a coat here that would cover me?" Her head nodded. "Show me where."

Wordlessly, she moved, her hand on her bag, and went to one of the other rooms he hadn't seen. There were... confusing things there, old fashioned pin boards with convoluted conspiracy theories and plans, and it made him a little sick that this man had been entrusted with the care of a child. Any child. Still, there was his closet, and he quickly went to it, found a coat that probably had covered the man to his knees but nearly met Wufei's ankles.

Once he was covered, he turned to her. "Let's go."

"Okay." She was still in shock, and that was fine; he could keep her moving, and heading down to the medical area. If Trowa hadn't already taken care of the viewing room, he was going to before they could go, or otherwise the cold feeling up his spine would never go away.

"It's all right," he promised again. He didn't bother with getting any of her documents; if she didn't have them, it was fine. "Do you have your passport?" Because that was still a thing in use, particularly on colonies like L2. He had the thought that Dekim might have been paranoid enough that he wouldn't have allowed the more commonly accessible options in use.

"Oh!" She went to a drawer in the room they were in and grabbed three passports, which was confusing for a moment until he realized one had been her mother's, as it had been punched and was quite worn. Dekim's as well, and the more paper to establish who she was as they headed to Earth, the better.

When she approached, Wufei picked her up and settled her on a hip. She was a faint weight, small for her age, and even his strides would be sufficient to move them along more quickly. "Now, along we go to fetch Treize. Why don't you tell me your favorite bedtime story as we go?"

"Red Riding Hood." She was clutching tightly to her bag, but he knew the way, took the stairwell despite carrying her, careful, careful all the way down because he didn't want to get caught in an elevator.

She told him the story, and it wasn't any version he'd ever heard -- that the hood had been white trimmed in red, that the wolf was a man who waited in the woods for whoever was sent out on the Wolf Moon, that the one who wore the hood had gone with him and they had feasted together.

Definitely not the sort of story he would have told any child.

By the time they were near the medical bay, she was a little more herself, a bit less shaken, and that was the important part. That was what he had wanted.

He eased her down to the ground, and she seemed able to walk with him without freezing up for the moment, though he carried her bag out of courtesy. The hallway was silent and then he heard a door up ahead slide open.

"Father!" Mariemaia gasped, and promptly dropped Wufei's hand to run toward him.

She ran full tilt at Treize, who was wearing clothes. Shoes and actual pants and a shirt, and though he wasn't covered in blood, he was going to be no less striking out in public than someone smeared with fresh gore. But Trowa might be able to provide that gore covered distraction, as he was serving as a human crutch. "Mariemaia, yes, we're all fine. Do you have everything you need?" He pressed his free hand against her upper back, trying to reassure as she hugged him wildly tight.

"We need to go." Trowa's voice was firm, gently insistent. "Before the guards escape the bathroom."

"Go," Wufei told them. "I need to get the data chips and hope that they kept everything local instead of remote."

Trowa gave him one tight curt nod in response, while Treize rubbed at Mariemaia's shoulders. "We need to go. Everything will be fine. But we need to leave. I promise everything will be fine once we get to Earth." Wufei didn't even know where they'd start in returning to Earth, but he could see her disentangling herself, and the three of them started down the hallway. When he caught up to them again, he'd pick her up to speed things along.

He could hear the guards trying to beat their way out of the bathroom, and so he reached forward and flicked through the screen that would lock the sliding door between the observation room and the bedroom. That should take them a bit longer, and then he started digging around through the equipment and files.

Once he found the data storage, he let out a shaky breath of relief. Everything seemed like it was isolated, and that was the smart thing to do -- keep everyone ignorant of the fact that there were human-created nanites that could recreate limbs because they weren't without side issues and they definitely weren't wise to use if someone had any other choice. He could hear the guards beating on the sliding door, now, and he reached below to wrench out all of the wires and other connections. That would get him a bit of time, he thought, shoving the data storage into a backpack that one of them had left. It clearly contained the man's lunch and a couple of other things, but nothing that would explode, so he threw it over his shoulder and began to run.

That was what they deserved for having designed that room thusly.

He caught up with Trowa, Treize, and Mariemaia climbing the stairs, still one level below ground level, where they needed to be. Now, immediately, particularly since they were being pursued.

Swooping in, he picked up Mariemaia and settled her on a hip, immediately grabbing Treize's elbow to help support him. Stairs were, perhaps, a little more difficult than walking around his room. "I have it."

Wufei could feel the tightness in Treize as he added his help. Trowa was simply moving steadily, pulling when he had to, which seemed to be every step as Treize struggled despite the support. Still, they'd mounted two flights already, and they could push through one more. "It's easier from here," Trowa reassured as they reached the top.

"That's what he always says," Mariemaira murmured against Wufei's ear.

"He's right this time. We're... I'm sure we're at the right level to access the appropriate transport." Even if they had to steal something to get to the space port, but Trowa had obviously gotten to the underground bunker somehow. Doubtless he had a better grasp on where to go than Wufei did.

Trowa led the way, silently pulling Treize along. They were moving at a good clip, and he took them toward what Wufei immediately knew was a motorpool. Now they just needed to find a vehicle with keys, or they could hotwire something.

It didn't take long; apparently no one in the motorpool expected that anyone else would be in there because the first vehicle they saw had keys tucked into the visor (and why they even had visors on colony was a strange and odd thought, it wasn't as if they had to vie with the sun in anything like the same way that they did on Earth). It was just a matter of loading everyone into the car, Mariemaia and himself in the back, and Treize in the passenger seat.

He was ignoring that Treize looked wan and green around the edges, as long as he was upright and strapped into the seat. "Everyone act casual," Trowa remarked, starting the vehicle up and heading slowly for the exit. "I have ESUN transport at the spaceport."

Act casual, ha. He was covered in blood, face aside. He was pretty sure there was some in his hair, for fuck's sake. Casual, indeed. Still, there was Mariemaia to keep occupied, and he could manage that. "Now that I've heard your favorite fairytale, what's your next favorite?"

He was unsurprised to find that it was equally odd and most certainly not anything like the originals thereof.

"Snow White," she said, looking with concern out of the front window and at her father. "But I don't want to talk about it." After the first one she'd told him, that just didn't bode well, so the car lapsed into nervous silence instead.

"Then I'll tell you a new story." He was as tense as everyone else but he certainly had to try and keep it from getting worse. He began to tell her about Nataku, because that was as good a story as any. It did manage to keep her occupied until they made it to the spaceport, in any case, and that was the most important part.

Trowa pulled up close to the hangars, and turned off the vehicle. "General, can you walk without help? We need to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible. My transport is there." He pointed to the unremarkable blocky transport that was on the other side of the chain link fence.

"I can." Treize was moving stiffly, unbuckling the seatbelt.

He could, but it would be a terrible idea. "Mariemaia," Wufei murmured. "When you get it, take his hand and put it on your shoulder. Help him as best you can, all right? I'll get the bags." Hers and the one he'd used for the data storage. He hadn't bothered with his own -- nothing he'd brought with him was irreplaceable.

"Yes, Wufei," she promised, and slipped out of the vehicle from behind Trowa, hurrying around the bonnet where Treize was attempting to rise.

It was slower going than Wufei preferred but it was the only way for them to look 'casual', as Trowa had termed it. Trowa took the lead, a bit ahead of them, explaining some story to the guards, gesturing back to the three of them, more talking. As they got closer, Wufei saw him passing them cash.

They were all moving smoothly through gates and doors moments later, entering more deeply into the spaceport. Wufei glanced behind them a time or two, but finding no one only keyed his nerves up more tightly, at least until they were on the shuttle and had the door latched tightly behind them. Treize fumbled, tripped, and nearly fell over Mariemaia before Wufei could catch him.

Treize seemed to give up all at once, but did it close enough to a seat that he mostly fell into it. His left leg was spasming, and he briefly contorted, maybe with pain, teeth clenched tight. "Fuck..."

"Everyone seatbelt up, and keep quiet while I talk to the tower." Trowa was buckling up into the pilots seat. "Mariemaia, come sit up here. You can pretend to be my copilot."

Thank god.

"Yes, Mister...?" She paused, frowning when she realized she didn't know what to call him.

"Call me Triton," he offered, and that worked. Wufei didn't know where it came from, but it was probably better than telling her to call him Trowa.

"I've got you," Wufei murmured, squatting beside Treize and belting him in. "I've got you, it's fine, and once we're spacebound, I'll try and massage some of it out, okay?"

He gave a shaky relieved laugh and clutched at Wufei's shoulder because it was close to his good hand. "I don't care as long as we get out of here."

"It's fine. It's fine," Wufei promised, and all right, that was a lie, but he'd told Mariemaia it was okay, too. Might as well keep lying. "We're..." The engines shook into life, thrumming, and Wufei got up, strapped himself into the seat beside Treize, and shut up while Trowa talked to control. He was calm as always, calling out all of the necessary information. He could see Treize's left leg jumping and put a hand down to rub at the muscles. It was hard to tell if it helped or it made him worse as Treize strained up against the pressure as he pushed. Silence was silence, and he kept to it while there was nothing to be done. They moved onto the runway, and he could hear Trowa clearing a flight plan.

Back to Earth, then. They'd worry about what was likely to happen once they got there.