Her intuition was just so-so, as such things went, but -
"You know, everybody? I have the feeling we should take another look at the big Timeline Cluster with the big robots again, for some reason..."
"Huh?" "Haruka" mumbled.
"Why? If it's that you're embarrassed to see some version of yourself as an evil henchwoman..."
"No, that's not it - "
"Ami" turned pink.
"Or not just that, anyway. If I'm a henchwoman of evil forces, then you two probably are too, anyway."
"Haruka" sighed, while "Michiru" chuckled. Athena just smiled, looking at them fondly.
"Oh, probably, probably. So you want to look at what we were looking at before, again?"
"Um, not quite... I want to take a look at different parts of the Timeline Cluster, actually..."
Like that rather big sub-cluster, over there...
**Timeline A
Splash, splash...and a sneeze. Followed by...softly muffled curses?
Lucrezia Noin came out of her dreams of silver, gold and scarlet with a start. ...The heck?
OK, where was she and...Oh, one of Instructor Treize's family's places, right. They'd gotten rained in and the transportation had been delayed...
But what the heck was that splashing, anyway?
Bathroom, bathroom. This place was so darn...big, damnit.
Alright, then, there was the big ornate bathroom (sauna disconnected, which made her former Instructor sad) with the really big roman-style (she thought that was it, anyway) bath, with real genuine mineral waters from the local hot spring, and...
Noin stopped, then. And stared.
And then she muffled a laugh.
Treize Khushrenada was there, true. Fully dressed in the most ornate quasi-Dark Age style outfit, complete with something that appeared to be a sword, and boots.
He also was half sitting in the not-really-a-natural-hot-spring bath, and sopping wet to boot.
"Instructor Treize, just what are you..."
And it was exactly that moment that she noticed his hair.
It was down to his shoulders, and tied back with a cord.
Only this evening...it hadn't been that long, had it?
Which meant...which meant...
Lucrezia Noin sighed, then.
Longer hair. And...those rings on his fingers...
And his eyes. Did he look older, just a little?
Not to mention the arm-cuffs. And the...other things.
(That's why you should pay attention to dreams, Lucrezia)
"...Instructor Treize. Get out of those clothes and get dry. - I'll cut your hair, all right?"
Not that he was really her Instructor any more, but whatever, whatever.
Treize gave her a puzzled look, but nodded.
It's alright, Your Majesty. Stay puzzled a for just little more, and ask me no questions.
And your Sage will tell you no lies.
**Timeline B
Splash, splash...and a sneeze. Followed by...softly muffled curses?
Lucrezia Noin came out of her dreams of silver, gold and scarlet with a start. ...The heck?
They'd only been transferred to this particular base a week ago, and she still wasn't used to the noises of the place.
But those noises where coming from ...her commanding officer's room, if she wasn't mistaken.
...Darn. If it was almost any other commanding officer, she'd just go back to sleep, but...
Ah, well. Just go, girl.
"...Ins - Sir, are you all right?"
A mumble, then -
"I am all right, Noin. Just - go back to -"
Oh no she wasn't. That sounded like a cut-off moan of pain, damnit.
"I'm coming in, sir."
Am I glad I know how to hot-wire doors at a moment's notice? Yes I am!
"Noin, don't -"
Too late for that, sir.
Treize Khushrenada was half bent over the bed, wrapped in bath towels. He looked like hell, Noin thought.
And what was that on his stomach? It looked like a half-mangled belt, melted into flesh -
And then she saw the glyph on the "belt", and it hit her.
"...Kuuga?"
Treize gaped though his quite obvious pain.
".........What?"
**Timeline C
Splash, splash...and a sneeze. Followed by...softly muffled curses?
Lucrezia Noin came out of her dreams of silver, gold and scarlet with a start. ...The heck?
They'd only been transferred to this particular base a week ago, and she still wasn't used to the noises of the place.
But those noises where coming from ...her commanding officer's room, if she wasn't mistaken.
...Darn. If it was almost any other commanding officer, she'd just go back to sleep, but...
Ah, well. Just go, girl.
"...Ins - Sir, are you all right?"
A mumble, then -
"I am all right, Noin. Just - go back to -"
Oh no she wasn't. That sounded like a cut-off moan of pain, damnit.
"I'm coming in, sir."
Am I glad I know how to hot-wire doors at a moment's notice? Yes I am!
"Noin, don't -"
Too late for that, sir.
Treize Khushrenada was half draped over the bed, wrapped in bath towels. He looked like hell, Noin thought. And she thought she'd seen bad bruises...and...
"...Who..."
Noin chocked, and gulped.
"Sir! Who did that to you!"
"...Hush...Noin, it's all right..."
"It's not all right, how could it be -"
And that was when the oddly ornate harp with it's case on his bed caught her attention.
............Whaaaa.............."
Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a damn minute -
"...You're...You're a Oni?"
Treize looked at her, then.
"Oh, ahh...."
"...I am. Part-time. ...In a business where they aren't supposed to be any part-timers, as you perhaps know already, Noin."
So he knew about her family, then.
"Wha...I mean, who does the support stuff? You shouldn't be out there without a proper support system, a organization..."
Treize chuckled, then.
"Oh, I have my ways. I don't fight the Makamou unless I have to, anyway."
"...They have this tendency to, uh, come look for those who fight them, sir. I think."
"Yes, yes..."
Treize sighed. Noin bit her lip. This was no time to interrogate him, now was it.
"Let's get you cleaned up first, sir, alright?"
**Timeline D
Splash, splash...and a sneeze. Followed by...softly muffled curses?
Lucrezia Noin came out of her dreams of silver, gold and scarlet with a start. ...The heck?
OK, where was she and...Oh, one of Instructor Treize's family's places, right. They'd gotten rained in and the transportation had been delayed...
But what the heck was that splashing, anyway?
Bathroom, bathroom. This place was so darn...big, damnit.
Alright, then, there was the big ornate bathroom (sauna disconnected, which made her former Instructor sad) with the really big roman-style (she thought that was it, anyway) bath, with real genuine mineral waters from the local hot spring, and...
Noin stopped, then. And stared.
And then she muffled a laugh.
Treize Khushrenada was there, true. Fully dressed in, of all things, a Tuxedo.
He also was half sitting in the not-really-a-natural-hot-spring bath, and sopping wet to boot.
And the bath was utterly plastered with roses.
"Instructor Treize, just what are you..."
"...I have no idea?"
Noin snickered. So did Treize, after a while.
"...So many roses. There never would be enough vases..."
**Timeline E
Splash, splash...and a sneeze. Followed by...softly muffled curses?
Lucrezia Noin came out of her dreams of silver, gold and scarlet with a start. ...The heck?
Instructor Treize?
Athena made a "Treize Khushrenada" card and a "Lucrezia Noin" card with a shake of her fingers, placing them both on the table.
"Ami" looked rather frazzled.
"Ahhh... that one with the roses in the bathtub..."
"Hmmm, yes. That seems to be a partial fusion with one of your timelines, does it not..."
"Actually, those all seem to be the fused types of timelines." "Michiru" said. "So many of them, too..."
Hmmm. Well, "fused" Timelines weren't all that rare, either, but -
"Alright. Let's take some more looks..."
The fires burned.
The little girl walked, alone.
**Timeline F-1
Achoo. Achoo...
The girl with the honey-brown hair shook her head. Was this a "somebody or somebodies are gossiping about you" sneeze, or was it for real?
Ahh, well.
She looked at the helmet in her hand and sighed.
It's not like she wanted to look so much like a mother she couldn't even remember, damnit...
Ahh, well. Whining about it wasn't going to change anything, she knew that much.
Alright, she'd wear the damn thing, but she'd be damned if she wore the stupid thing off duty. Shades and hairdye would have to suffirce, then.
"...Lena! Lena, where are youu..."
Ooops. Here came Noin, who'd been her sort-of-big-sister for all the life she could remember, since the creche...
No time any more to stare at the stupid mask-helmet.
" - Lena Merquise! Hurry up now, it's only 30 minutes till -"
"Alright, I'm coming!"
Far, far away, a young man was looking at his father. Adopted father, that is.
"...Yes, Milliard?"
"Nothing, father."
Dorlian sighed. The boy was so moody sometimes...
**Timeline F-2
Achoo. Achoo...
The girl with the honey-brown hair shook her head. Was this a "somebody or somebodies are gossiping about you" sneeze, or was it for real?
Ahh, well.
She morosely looked at the toolkit in her hand.
...She had to find some way to convince the old man to let her go "downside".
And to do that, she had to plan...
Damn. Damn. As if she'd be any more significiantly in danger with "Uncle Howard" then up in this rickety excuse for a space carrier!
She sighed, then.
"...Yo, Lena! Penny for your thoughts?"
"...No. What's a penny, anyway? Some kind of old-fashioned currency?"
Her sort-of foster-brother shrugged.
"No idea. You look glum, Lenalena. Whatsup?"
Well, yes, she was. The last time she'd been this glum was when she figured out that the Maxwell Church massacre hadn't been even a planned atrocity, just a "local level cluster-fuck" (as Uncle Howard would have said). And the majority of the real perps - the idiots who'd thought attacking a church with tons of kids still in it would be a good idea, that is - had even actually been punished, before they ended up dead anyway.
Damn.
"Leenaaa Maaaxwell, now talk to me. Just what are you thinking of, eh? C'mon, you can tell your old partner in crime..."
"...Welllll...."
She looked at Duo's braid flopping about, and sighed again.
"...Why'd you have to have nicer hair then me, anyway?"
"...Leeenaaaa...."
Far, far away, a young man looked up at the stars.
Alone.
**Timeline F-3
Achoo. Achoo...
The girl with the honey-brown hair shook her head. Was this a "somebody or somebodies are gossiping about you" sneeze, or was it for real?
Ahh, well.
"...Relena. Relena, Dorothy is here."
And there was her elder brother. Who looked faintly worried, for some reason.
...Correction. Her foster elder brother. Adopted elder brother? No, that felt wrong, when it was she who was the one who was actually adopted, whatever it said on the official records...
"Is there something wrong, Rele?"
"...No."
She sighed, then. She wished she hadn't been told, sometimes. About her real parents - and other things...
"Then come, Relena Khushrenada..."
It just made things so...complicated.
"...I'm coming, Treize...Wait!"
Far, far away, a young man looked at the stars.
It was peaceful here, inside his Mobile Suit...
**Timeline F-4
Achoo. Achoo...
The girl with the honey-brown hair shook her head. Was this a "somebody or somebodies are gossiping about you" sneeze, or was it for real?
Ahh, well.
"...Relena!"
And here came her brother.
"Mill. What's up?"
"You shouldn't be standing out here without even a coat, you'll catch cold!"
Pargun sighed, then.
They looked so much like their parents, it hurt to look at them sometimes.
**Timeline F-5
Achoo. Achoo...
The girl with the honey-brown hair shook her head. Was this a "somebody or somebodies are gossiping about you" sneeze, or was it for real?
Ahh, well.
It couldn't be helped either way.
Hmmmmmmm.
"Ami" added a "Relena" and "Millard/Zechs" card to the cards on the table.
OK, let's see if they could get some more...
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(Posted Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:59)
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