Chapter Summary: Quatre must either leave the villa permanently with the others or stay behind with Treize.
Horisont: Yeah, waiting sucks. This thing pretty much writes itself and I would have written this sooner, but life gets in my way.
Lionheart: No 'storm' yet, actually, next chapter. Here's there's more angsty- mushy-imagery stuff.
Misanagi: Well, Treize in general is a pretty complex character. On the one hand, he's slick, charismatic and refined. Then again, he's also a total egomaniac who bathes a lot and in the stuff I find and read, seems to really like teenage boys. Yikes 0o;
Merit Somnia: Yeah, I know it was sad. When Quatre's sad, you just get that 'awww' reaction, like you just saw a puppy or a little sweet old granny get kicked.
Sooti: I know I haven't updated in a long time and kind of feel bad about it. I am trying to find more time to write faster, but I want to make sure everything's in order and that the story is interesting.
LotisFlower: Glad that you enjoy it and yes, I have put a lot of effort into this.
Author's notes: I noticed that I've got the interest of the big Quatre fans around here. I didn't realize I wrote his perspective so well.
Also, I am very sorry that I took so long to do this chapter, but I do have a busy life and when I don't, I often have writer's block. I'm doing this totally for free, so it's not really a top priority and I still want to make sure it's damn good. Anyways, now that the filler's out of the way, on to what you all really want! The damn story!
Chapter 4: The Merchant of Kielce
An uneasy truce settled in the villa for a few days. Treize refused to speak to any of the others or even ask their names, he just quietly put maps on the desk in the study and started leaving provisions for us to carry. One night I heard shelling off in the distance. In the morning Treize spoke with me privately.
"Quatre, I have to dismiss you. I want all of them gone by the time I get back this evening."
"Please give us a few more days, we just need to-"I started to plead, but he cut me off.
"I'm being investigated for spying because of my Russian heritage. I've protected you for as long as I can, but I'm afraid that I no longer have the influence I once did. The fighting will reach here soon; You can stay if you wish, but the others have to leave.
"Then I'm going with them."
He paused for a moment. Then on a sudden impulse, he kissed me passionately on the lips. On the outside, I didn't respond, but it promptly brought me back to that horrible experience when I had accepted his bargain and I had an inward shudder. I still have nightmares about it to this day.
It was about Feburary of 1944 when Treize threw us out. We had some provisions, but the forest was thick and we became quite cold, wet and muddy. We pressed on through the Polish forests, traveling in a western direction using a compass. We had no idea where to go or what to do, just that we had to keep going. Our situation became more desperate as the days passed. After about two weeks, we were still able to melt the snow for water, but we were very low on food.
"I'm so hungry." Said Duo.
We hadn't eaten for almost three days. That was when we had eaten the last of our provisions, a scrap of old bread. We were exhausted and filthy. We hardly slept at all, constantly watching our backs for soldiers. Wufei was irritable, Duo wouldn't talk or laugh, he looked half dead. Heero stayed very quiet, but I saw the spark in his eyes fading and the grey circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. I had a bad cold that seemed to get worse every day even though Trowa was kind enough to rub my back whenever I started coughing and wheezing. As we passed a road sign pointing to a town called Kielce, Heero, Duo and Wufei suddenly recalled a woman who had worked on the campus as a maid who lived in that town.
"Maybe she can help us." Duo suggested.
"I'm sure she can, the question is, will she? She's just as likely to turn us in for some kind of reward." Wufei was reluctant to take the chance of going into a town, even though it was our best hope for food.
"In any case, how will we know the exact street she lives on?" Asked Heero.
"She showed me a picture of her home, I'll know it when I see it. And she mentioned the street it's on too."
Wufei still had his doubts, but by the end of the fifth day, when the town was finally in sight, he had no objection to a chance for some food. It's impossible to describe how agonizing it feels to go for days without eating. After covering up his face so he could pass as a girl, Duo and I snuck into town in the morning, while it was still dark. The others stayed behind in the forest, it would look too suspicious to have a large group walking about. We made our way up and down the streets, until he found the house and tapped lightly on the door. A small, plump, middle-aged woman answered the door.
"Who's there, what do you want?"
"Ada, it's me, Duo Maxwell, from the University. You were friends with my father, Nicholas."
"Maxwell's son? What are you doing here? Where's your father?"
"I don't know, can you please help us? We've been traveling for days and we haven't eaten for so long. My friend is very sick, we're desperate."
"Get out of here, you'll only cause trouble." Ada answered and prepared to close the door. Guess she decided the risk wasn't worth it.
But Duo wasn't about to give up on our best chance for some food and stuck his foot in the door.
"Ada, please! Just a little help, some food or water or even-"
"JEWS! THERE ARE JEWS ON THE STREET! POLICE!"
I grabbed Duo's hand and we raced down the street, leaving the little old lady screaming out of her door. We ran for about five or six blocks before we finally slowed down and looked around. It didn't seem like anyone had taken Ada seriously.
"Don't worry about it, she was always kind of senile anyways." Duo reassured me. I took some deep breaths to try to stay awake and calm down, but I broke into another fit of coughing.
We started walking again, pretending to be running an early morning errand or a boy and his girlfriend taking an early morning stroll. Suddenly, we heard footsteps behind us. We kept walking, but they seemed to be following us.
"What should we do now?" I whispered to Duo.
We turned a corner, but we heard the footsteps of the person behind us turning the corner as well.
"Stay calm, keep talking in German." He answered.
We spoke softly to each other in German and turned another corner. I was starting to panic as I heard the footsteps behind us catch up, before an old man passed by us.
He was just out for an early morning walk, he didn't even look back as we continued on in our direction. We had walked into a tiny courtyard, a dead end surrounded by a bunch of townhouses with balconies. We were just about to leave, when a female voice called out softly from the shadows.
"Amcha." The voice called out to me.
The word drew a blank stare from Duo, but I knew it was Hebrew for "Our Nation."
"Amcha." I answered.
"I thought you might be Jewish, I haven't seen you around these streets before." Said a dark haired girl as she emerged from her hiding spot. She had a covered basket on her arm.
"You both look hungry and tired, would you like to buy something? I accept more then just ration coupons."
She lifted the handkerchief to reveal milk, bread, sausages, hard-boiled eggs and other foods and I realized that she was part of the black market, selling goods that were rationed or illegal to trade like food and fuel. I quickly bought the whole basket from her using the German marks Treize had paid me with.
"How did you know that word? Are you Jewish?" I asked her.
"No, I have my sources." She replied. Then she turned to Duo and examined him more minutely.
"You make a very lovely girl."
Duo blushed a bright shade of red.
"You can't be too careful these days. We've been wandering for so long. Do you know anyone that could help us?" He asked.
"I think my supplier could hide you, as long as you paid her some money first. She has a farm, it's about a mile from here, down that road over there. Her name is Sally, just tell her that Hilde sent you."
"Where did you get all this food?" Asked Wufei when we returned. It felt good to eat again after so long.
"Quatre performed another miracle." Duo answered as he told the others about the farm we could go to and explained our good luck of meeting the black market girl. Everyone else tore into the food, but I struggled to nibble on a piece of bread. I knew I hadn't eaten for days, but I didn't feel hungry at all. In fact, my stomach hurt so much at that moment that I felt like I was going to vomit.
"Quatre, try and eat more." Duo coaxed.
"I'm trying, it's just that, I feel too cold to really be hungry." I fumbled for an excuse so they wouldn't worry about me.
"What are you talking about? You're burning with fever." Trowa commented as he wiped the sweat off my forehead.
I really was having the worst chills I had ever felt in my life, yet at the same time, my fever had become so bad that there were rivers of sweat running down my face.
"He has pneumonia. We need to get to that farm, right now." Wufei later told me how he had read about the disease in one of his father's books.
I tried to start walking, but by now I was weak as a sparrow and I could barely stand. Duo and Wufei each wrapped an arm around their shoulder as Heero and Trowa led the way. I did my best to walk, but my legs were giving out on me and I my chills were gone, replaced by a raging fever that was so bad I couldn't think straight. The only thought I had was that I had first started coughing soon after we had left Treize's villa.
I suddenly reached a horrible conclusion about my illness; Treize had given me some disease. It sounds strange now, but in my feverish haze, I had decided that the only explanation was that Treize had secretly given me some kind of plague after he had forced himself on me. I knew I was going insane, but I didn't care. I thought I had survived the worst, but I was still going to die miles from my home.
"It was Treize. Treize did it..." was the last thing that I remembered saying. Before I lost consciousness.
Author's Notes: Classes have started again, joy. Anyways, I do try to write whenever I have time, but I have to see how my time goes. I'm sure most of you know how hectic University life is.