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"With A Childs Heart"Written By: Dùlin
Disclaimer : Not mine. Just playin', will give
them right back, yadda yadda ... you know the drill. And I'm broke.
Really. Rating : R Warnings : Post-EW, humor, yaoi romance and sap, bit of lime and implied lemon, language, violence, child abduction Pairings : 1x2x1, 3x4x3, 5xS, references to past 6x5 and 6x9 Author’s Note : an extra-special thanks to
Lisou-chan, my little sister, who agreed to lend her physical six-year-old
looks and part of her character to the little Alice in the fic. Well,
the truth is she nagged me until I accepted to have her being adopted
by Trowa and Quatre, so everyone’s happy now !
"With a Childs Heart"
Part 5 Quatre’s eyes jerked open. It took him a minute to realize that he was awake. He shot a look at his alarm clock. 1:30 AM. Something was wrong, and it had woken him up, but his mind didn’t want him to find out what. Quatre lied back on his pillow. He shut his eyes again and took a deep breath, trying to empty his mind. What he felt almost made him jump. “Trowa !” No answer. “Trowa !” “Hmmf …” “Come on, Trowa, wake up !” “I am awake”, Trowa grumbled, yawning. “Wazzup ?” “There is someone in the house.” “Fabulous. Can I go back to sleep ?” Quatre smacked him. “Someone who is not supposed to be here, you idiot!” “Can you remind me again why you spent about one hundred thousand dollars on the most sophisticated alarm system ever known if it’s to wake up in the middle of the night to do its job ?” Trowa said, rubbing the point where he had been smacked. “Trowa, please !” Trowa heard the faint trace of alarm and worry in Quatre’s voice. “Sorry”, he said. “What did you …” Just at that moment, the fire alarm went haywire, its deafening sound resounding in the great halls of the Mansion. Quatre jumped out of the bed, just taking the time to snatch jeans from a chair before getting out of the room. Trowa followed. All of the Winner servants were in the corridors, trying to get out of the house the soonest possible. There was an incredible mayhem, and the noise of people screaming could be heard above the roaring of the alarm. Quatre reached a control panel and switched the device off, earning everyone’s attention. “Please make your way out calmly”, he said. “Nobody panic. Use all exits and get out.” “Who’s that ?” Trowa suddenly whispered in his ear. Quatre looked in the same direction and saw a man in what looked like a white djellabah and a turban. Definitely not a servant, nor a security guard. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen him before.” The man disappeared in the crowd, but Trowa spotted two other guys in the same kind of clothes. Something was definitely wrong. Those guys had absolutely no reasons to be in the house. Rashid appeared out of nowhere, followed by some of his men. “Master Quatre, we have been looking around the house. There is no fire.” “No fire ? But then why …” Quatre stopped dead in the middle of the sentence, comprehension hitting on him suddenly. He just left Trowa and Rashid where they were and ran down a corridor, to Alice’s bedroom. He opened the door, his insides tied into a knot as he already knew what he was going to find. The window was open, and the room was empty. There were no signs of struggle, but a hastily scribbled note had been left on the bed. ‘Don’t call the police if you want to see her again. The Slaves of God’ Trowa came hurrying into the room and found Quatre kneeling beside the bed, clutching the note in his hand, and staring fiercely at the window. He came to his lover and almost recoiled when he saw the look of utter distress on Quatre’s face. He took the note from Quatre’s hand and became livid as he read. “They’ve taken her”, Quatre said in a low whisper, his chest shaking with dry sobs. He suddenly broke down completely, tears flowing down on his cheeks uncontrollably. Trowa just had time to catch him before he fell on the floor. He held Quatre close, trying to find something comforting to say as the icy hand of fear squeezed his heart. But no words came out. A tear sprung from the emerald green eyes. **** Alice didn’t even have time to be scared as unknown hands pulled her out of her bed. She opened her eyes. Her room was filled with people she didn’t know, and one of them was tying her hands in front of her. He then put something on her head that prevented her from seeing anything else. Someone picked her up, and she felt she was being taken out of the house. She tried to struggle and scream, but the fire alarm went on at that time, and her cries remained unnoticed. The bonds were removed. Alice blinked several times. She was in the back of a car. Grim men with guns were watching her. Fear began to spread through her body, and she felt tears come to her eyes. She swallowed them back. Daddy and Papa would come to help her. Or maybe it was just a nightmare she was having. The car stopped brutally. One of the men caught Alice by the arm. “Get out.” The little girl obeyed. The men were scary, with their mad eyes and weapons. They were around twenty. One of them was not dressed in white, but in black. His eyes fell on Alice. “Lead her inside. Don’t harm her. I’m sure Mr Winner won’t want to pay for half of a child. We have to prove she’s well-treated.” Some men laughed stupidly. It chilled Alice. This was definitely too awful to be a nightmare. She was walked inside the great building. A woman approached and gave her something to drink, before setting her on a sofa in a corner of a dusty room. She then took a gun and seated herself on a chair next to the door. Alice felt the tears come back. Who were those people ? Why did they want to harm her ? She was just a little girl, she had never done anything wrong in her life. She began to think. And the words of the man in black came back. They wanted to use her to get to Daddy and Papa. **** Trowa came back into the bedroom. Quatre was sitting on the bed cross-legged, staring out of the window into the night. Moist trails of tears on his cheeks were bright in the moonlight. Trowa sat at Quatre’s side and flung his arm around him, allowing him to lean heavily on himself. “I called Wufei”, Trowa said softly. “What ? But Trowa, you saw that note ! If we call the police they’ll kill her ! Why …” “I didn’t say I called Preventer”, Trowa interrupted. “I said I called Wufei.” Quatre paused. “I’m sorry”, he finally said. “I’m just so scared.” “I know. I am too.” Quatre looked in Trowa’s eyes, his face almost distorted by anxiety. “I can’t feel her, Trowa.” Trowa frowned. “What ?” “Maybe I’m just too scared to concentrate enough and she is too, but I just can’t feel her. I can’t even know if she’s alright. It’s like she has disappeared.” “Quatre, calm down.” “I can’t !” “Please, love. Come here.” Trowa opened his arms wide and Quatre snuggled himself here, against Trowa’s chest. “I’m sorry”, he said again. “I shouldn’t lose my temper like this. It’s not your fault.” “It’s not yours either, so stop blaming yourself. I almost have the feeling Heero’s here with me instead of you.” Quatre smiled weakly. “We will find her back.” He sounded like he wanted to convince himself. “We will. They can’t kill her. They haven’t even asked for money yet”, Trowa said. “How can people do this kind of things to a child ?” Trowa shrugged. “I’m being naive and idealistic again, uh ?” Quatre asked. “But still, why can’t people live in peace, and let others be ? What did we do to them ?” “Shh. Don’t start that or you’ll get angry again.” “How can you be so calm ?” “I am not. I am far from being calm. In fact, I think holding you is the only thing that prevents me from completely freaking out”, Trowa said very quietly. Quatre got out of the embrace and got up. He took Trowa’s face in his and gave him an bruising kiss. “We have to be strong”, he said. “For Alice. That’s exactly what they want, for us to be too dead scared to do a damn thing. We can’t let them. If we are afraid, then they’ve already won.” “Quatre …” “If she is still alive, we will find her back. I promised we would take care of her.” Trowa got up too. Quatre was so tense that the air was almost vibrating around him. But his face was set. “We must be careful, Quatre. If we do anything wrong, they’ll kill her.” “I know. But I can’t just sit here and wait and do nothing while she’s all alone and scared.” “I feel the same, but we should wait for Wufei. He’ll know what to do.” Quatre nodded, and settled back on the bed. He closed his eyes, but felt unable to sleep, although he was exhausted. Trowa lied down at his side, and they just dozed off, finding some comfort in each other’s warmth.
Quatre opened the door. Wufei was standing on the doorstep. And he wasn’t alone. Behind him were Heero, Duo and Milliardo. All of them had grave faces. Quatre just threw himself in Duo’s arms. Duo hugged him very tightly. The six young men made their way to Quatre’s office. They just sat in a circle on the carpeted floor. Quatre then handed the note to Wufei. The Chinese read it quickly and handed it down to Heero who did the same. “The Slaves of God”, Duo said under his breath. “Do you know them ?” Quatre asked eagerly. “Those are the guys we ‘lost’” Wufei answered. “The suicide bombers. They’ve lost their leader, we arrested him last week, and their funds are very low. Looks like they need some fresh money.” “But if that is them, then …” Quatre turned to Milliardo, remembering the words of the young European when he had left the Mansion some weeks ago. ‘They usually kill their hostages once the ransom is paid’. “Don’t jump to conclusions, Quatre”, Milliardo said. “I am sure Alice is still alive and unharmed. They can’t risk it. They haven’t even called you to demand anything. They will keep her alive until they get the money at least.” Quatre shivered. “But even if we cooperate with them”, he said, “they’ll kill her in the end.” No one dared reply to that. Silence fell for a moment. “This should be in the hands of the Global Security Agency, not me ..”, Wufei started, but the quiet voice of Trowa interrupted him. “No police.” “But Trowa …” “He’s right, Wufei”, Quatre said. “If we call the GSA, it’s as if we were pulling the trigger ourselves. We can’t do that.” “So what do you wanna do ?”, Duo asked, even if he had a slight idea. “We must find her back ourselves”, Trowa said. Milliardo raised a pale eyebrow, but said nothing. Heero shot a look towards Wufei. The Chinese man was clearly wondering if his friends had gone crazy overnight. Duo cut into the conversation. “I’m with you, guys. Let’s get those bastards.” “Duo …” Heero started. “No, you won’t prevent me from doin’ it. And I’m tellin’ ya one damn thing, ya’re comin’ with me ! Come on, she helped you, now it’s your turn to help her ! She needs us !” Heero looked at Trowa and Quatre and nodded. “I’m coming too”, Milliardo said quietly. “Stop just a minute and think !” Wufei said. “Those are terrorists. Suicide bombers ! If they even feel like they’re threatened, they will probably bomb the place where they are without an hesitation !” “That’s why we can’t hesitate, Wufei”, Trowa said. “Whatever happens, if we do nothing, Alice is dead.” The words rang in the room. Wufei looked at the five determined faces in front of him. “Alright, I give in, I’m coming with you.” Quatre sighed with relief. Somehow, it would have been weird to do that kind of thing without Wufei. A strange vibe was in the room. The Gundam team was formed again. “So, what is the next step ?” Quatre asked Wufei. “For the moment, they lead the game. They have the hostage, and they haven’t asked for anything. I assume they know how to contact you, or they wouldn’t have taken that kind of risks. This operation was well-prepared, nothing was improvised, which means they must have planned it. They will call soon to ask for whatever they want, money, way to get out of here.” “That’s when we can make our move”, Duo said hopefully. “We need some more info”, Heero said. “We still have to locate them. I suppose that they will use a satellite connection to make the call untraceable, but if I can just use a computer, I’m sure I will find a way to get them.” “Just use mine”, Quatre said, gesturing towards his desk. The Japanese young man seated himself in front of the screen and began to type. “We need weapons”, Milliardo said. “They’re in the basement”, Trowa answered. “Everything you need from pistols to knives.” “Once they have called and we know where they are, we’ll have to move quickly. I guess they will give you a very short time to pay, between five and seven hours. We mustn’t give them time to react”, Wufei said seriously. “Don’t worry, Wu, they won’t have time !” Duo said fiercely. “Let’s get the weapons now”, Wufei kept on, ignoring the interruption. “Quatre, you stay here with Heero in case they call.” **** Only the clicking of the keyboard was heard in the office. Heero was very concentrate on his work, his fingers flying on the computer. He stopped a minute to shoot a look at Quatre. The blond young man was sitting on the floor against the wall, eyes closed. Heero wondered what he was doing, but there was not time for this. Quatre was trying to steady his breathing. He emptied his mind, and began to look for Alice. The connection between them that he had lost was what scared him most. He had to find it back, to be sure that his daughter was fine. He concentrated on her. ‘Answer me, Alice. Show me where you are. I promised I would take care of you, and I will do it. But you have to help me this time.” Alice sat on the sofa. She had been sleeping for a while, her little body too exhausted to stay awake. She had dreamt that everything was okay again and that she was home. But a voice inside of her head had woken her up. ‘Where are you ?’ the voice asked. “Daddy”, the little girl said under her breath. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, forgetting for a while her fears, and the fact that she was trapped, a six-year-old in the hands of dangerous men who seemed up to no good. ‘I’m here, Daddy. I’m here. Please come and get me, I’m scared.’ Quatre gasped when he felt Alice’s fear pour into his mind. But in the same time, he smiled. He had found her again. Trowa came back into the room just at that moment, closely followed by Wufei, Duo and Milliardo. They were all carrying weapons. “I found her, Trowa !”, Quatre said. “I found her!” “Really ? How is she ?” “She’s scared, but on the whole she’s fine. They haven’t done anything to her … yet.” “Your telephone line is ready, Quatre”, Heero said from behind the computer. “I’ll trace the call.” “Come get ready, Hee-chan”, Duo said. The six young men took guns and knives, strapping them in several holsters. Then, Quatre took the phone from his desk and put it on the floor. They sat in a circle again around the phone, and waited for it to ring. **** Alice felt her fear dissolve. Daddy was with her again. Daddy and Papa would come and get her from the hands of the bad men. She had no need to be afraid. She turned her curious thoughts on the woman in the room. But she didn’t have time to think much. The man dressed all in black came into the room, followed by ten men. The men brought a desk and a chair for their leader, and stood around him. He was scowling. “We need this money”, he said. “If we don’t get it, our brothers will not know that the war is still going on.” “I’m not saying we don’t need money”, one of the men replied, “I’m saying maybe this was a bad idea.” He shot a look at Alice. “After all, she’s just some adopted kid, she’s not even their flesh and blood. And what will we do if Winner doesn’t want to pay for her ? What if he just lets her here ?” Alice’s eyes widened. Daddy would never do that, nor Papa. They wouldn’t leave her here. Daddy had promised to take care of her. But doubt began to creep in her mind. What if Daddy didn’t come ? The leader had obviously not thought about this. He scowled. “He will pay”, he said, but he didn’t seem very sure of this. He stared at the little girl. Alice stared back, her eyes glowing with anger. How could these men say that her daddies didn’t love her ? That was not true. “How do you know they will pay ?” another man said. “You fuckin’ don’t know what went through little rich boy’s mind when he got her out of the orphanage ! If he’s just like his father, he’ll replace her with another one and we’re played !” “Then we will die for the cause”, the man in black said. “You swore to die for the cause. Don’t forget it, or I will remind you of your oath.” He grinned evilly as he said this. He looked again at Alice. The little girl shivered. She wanted to be away from here. “Bring me the phone. Let’s call them”, the man in black said. ‘Daddy, Papa, please help me’, Alice thought. ‘I love you. Tell me you love me too and come get me from here.’ The phone rang in the dim-lit office. Quatre made a gesture to pick it up, but Wufei stopped him. “You have to be in control of this conversation, Winner”, he said. “No feelings. If you sound scared, you’re giving them what they want. Try to be the one asking the questions. And try to be the one to hang up. That will piss them off a bit and make them doubt.” “Yeah, KittyCat”, Duo stepped in. “Just go Zero-system on them and freak’em out !” Wufei rolled his eyes. “Basically, that’s the plan”, he admitted. “Don’t overdo it, though. You ready ?” Quatre looked into Trowa’s eyes. His lover glanced back confidently. Quatre picked up the phone. “Hello ?” “Mr Winner, I presume.” “May I know who I have the extreme displeasure to be speaking to ?” Quatre asked, his voice dangerously sweet and nice. “You don’t need to know that yet, Mr Winner. I suppose you have guessed we are the group who is currently holding your daughter.” Quatre didn’t answer. That seemed to unsettle his opponent. “If you are cooperative, then no harm will be done to her.” “What exactly do you call ‘being cooperative’ ?” “We would appreciate it if you funded some of our activities, Mr Winner. Let’s say we would really gladly accept the thirty five million dollars you will pay for the release of your daughter.” “I want to speak to my daughter.” “Don’t you trust us, Mr Winner ?” “No. Don’t take me for a fool. I won’t pay thirty five million dollars for a corpse”, Quatre said with scathing irony. There were some muffled sounds before Alice’s voice was heard in the speaker. “Daddy ?” “Alice, are you okay ?” “Yes. Please Daddy, come and get me. Those men are mean. They want to hurt me.” “They won’t hurt you, Alice, I swear. Be courageous, it’ll be over soon.” “I love you, Daddy. And tell Papa I love him too.” Quatre didn’t say that Trowa was actually hearing every word. It would give too much away. “I love you, honey”, he whispered. The phone was snatched from Alice at the other end. “You can see that your daughter has not been mistreated.” “For your own security, you shall see that it remains that way.” “I thought our little note was quite clear, Mr Winner. I see the faintest trace of a cop and you’ll never see that little blond head again.” “That was very clear. You won’t see any cops.” “Good. Then, I suggest you transfer the amount we requested on this account.” He gave a series of numbers. “I leave you seven hours to do this. That will be all.” “Just one last thing”, Quatre said, taking control of the conversation again. “Yes, Mr Winner.” “If you try to trick me or harm my daughter in any way, I’ll make sure you won’t live long enough to regret it”, Quatre spat. And he hung up. Wufei looked at him with an admiring glance. “You’re quite the negotiator, Winner.” “I practiced with Alice”, Quatre answered with a smile. They all turned to Heero. Back on the computer, the Japanese was typing furiously on the keyboard. His features lightened up. “I got them”, he said. “Let’s go.” ~ * ~ |
