Earth: Almost 9:00.
Quatre reached the inside of the library area. He was told to head over by the storyteller corner, and to hurry. The library would be closing soon. If he didn't make it, he would have to agree to meet her somewhere else in other conditions.
The library was more than one story though. "Excuse me?" He asked someone near him. "Could you tell me please where the storyteller corner is?" They gestured to the left. Okay, not far. "Thank you."
He moved to the left, running into children's books. It had to be around there. He saw a couple of kids looking at books and passed them. Then, he saw it, in a glass area not far away. There was a big round colorful rug for sitting on with lots of pillows around it. "Hello?"
"Hello, maybe I can help you?" Someone about fifteenish or sixteenish was in there. About the age he actually ran Sandrock.
"I called . . ." Quatre was hoping this had been her. "About the babies?"
"Oh, you're Mister Quatre." She seemed really delighted. "You bet. They are just back here."
Quatre followed behind her into the darkness area of storytime. Even the darkness didn't get rid of the bright colors that were in there. It couldn't dim the shine coming from the little carrier in the corner, playing with a stuffed zebra with crinkles and hoops on it.
"Zara was a really good boy. Amira fussed a bit more, I needed a little extra help with her." Amira was resting. "She drank some formula about twenty minutes ago and went to sleep. Anyhow, this was a really big emergen-"
Quatre just reached in his pocket where he had already been prepared with money. He didn't even want to bother with messing with a wallet or cards. "Here you go." He put it in her hand while his eyes were glued on them.
Memorizing their little carrier. Their little blankets. One sleeping face, and one that seemed to be trying to understand who he'd been. "Hello, my double Sandrocks." There's no way Dorothy could have given either one that name if she'd been stuck in RTL. He went over closer to them and grabbed their carriers.
"Yes. They were sweet. I hope your wife's sister is okay," she said. "She was really worried and crying. She wouldn't leave them with anyone else, but she really had to go."
Worried and crying? She left you for me. She risked all this, for you two to get to me. "I'm going to get a hold of her again," Quatre said as he watched them. "I promise. I'm going to get her."
"Thank you, Sir. You can have the stuffy for Zara too if you want."
"Sure. He seems happy with it." Quatre tried picking him up. He really didn't have a lot of practice at picking babies up. It wasn't too hard though. You're really alive. You're really here and alive, I can't believe it! But, he shouldn't dawdle. There was no telling what was going on, it was obvious Dorothy took quite a risk to leave a trail for him to find. He placed him back into his carrier.
He was starting to head out towards his car with them, when he saw an even better site. He thought he wouldn't see her, but there she was, waiting right by his car? "Dorothy!" He moved faster to her, but she was keeping some kind of video on him with a phone. "Dorothy?"
"What do you have there?" She said to him, almost accusingly.
What? He couldn't get a good read on her. "I have Zara and Amira." Either way, even if he couldn't get a good reading. "I'm glad you and them are okay."
"How did you find them, and why are you here?" she asked oddly.
How did he . . .? "You led some children from RTL to me sneakily, and I got the number from the note you left with the little girl." He put down one carrier and opened the back door. It had already been unlocked.
"But why did you come to pick them up?" She said it more fiercely.
What? "Because?" He placed Zara's carrier inside as he tried to get the car seats he made sure he had fixed. "Because they are our children."
"Ding, ding, ding! You are right, Mister Winner." There was something strange in her voice. "You left the colonies all the way down here to track them. You probably noticed the little detail in Amira's dress, right? You gave that to me, for her, correct?"
Of course, it was the gift. Why do I not like this look in her eye? Why did she still have her phone on him? Why couldn't he get a good reading? Why hadn't she helped at all with the twins so far? "What's wrong, Dorothy?"
"Nothing. Everything's perfect." She put the phone back away and went to retrieve Amira on the ground. She helped place her in the car seat easier. "Buckle her up and let's get out of here. I am coming with you, like it or not, Quatre Raberba Winner."
Um? Of course she was. He finished putting Amira away and went over to the side to drive. Dorothy got into the passenger side in the front.
"A little faster if you please," Dorothy pointed out. "This isn't the time for strolling."
Right. He needed to get them out quickly. He started to pull out of the library area and started to drive away. Now? "I'm glad you helped me find them."
"Because you care."
"Of course, I care," he replied. She knew he cared. A lot. But? "What happened?"
"I have you right where I need you," she said. "I uploaded all of the footage safely claiming those kids are yours." She gave him a strange smirk, rolled down the window, and threw out the phone. "I don't need that guy's phone anymore."
"Did you take that from someone?" She usually didn't do that kind of thing.
"Yes. You are dead, Mister Winner," she said to him as she seemed to relax in the car. She brought out the ring he once gave her and rolled it between her fingers. "Were you the one who gave me this?"
Quatre just stopped. He didn't mean to, but he just knew what that phrase meant. He pulled the car to the side of the road. There's no way she would randomly say that. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." He had his children in the car, he had to be careful. It was definitely Dorothy, but something terrible was wrong with her. "Why?"
She placed it on her finger. "You have two choices, now that I've tricked you down here into getting us. You can either marry me, and I'll stay in your estate with our children, or you can give me a very high settlement to keep my mouth shut and I'll take care of my twins. I'm sure it won't look good to the presses that the esteemed Winner family has been soiled with the Romefeller name."
Why would that even matter? I mean, maybe in the war, but even then . . . It was . . . "What did they do to your head, Dorothy?"
Odd look. "What didn't they do?" Very odd look. "Choose!"
"You can stay regardless with them. You didn't need to lure me down for footage to try and trick me or anything," he said.
"I knew it! Yes! Because, we were actually a thing! Right?" she asked. "Someone gave me a gift. I was fanning with it. It was hot."
Her memory. "No one would care about what the Romefeller names did with who. Not anymore." He was starting to understand. "You don't get that though. You don't remember much, do you?"
"I can get better. I can do better," she urged him. "Sorry for all the fanfare, Honey, I just needed to be sure you would be safe."
"Which means, you didn't really know." She didn't really remember him.
"Don't sound so down," she insisted. "I turned out better than a lot of others. Crystalia is a guardian angel."
Trowa's mom was a guardian angel. "You met Trowa's mom?"
"Trowa?" She seemed confused. "Oh yes, Triton Bloom's mother. Of course, she runs the emergency area around here."
Around there? "Where around here?"
"Oh no!" Her whole self just shifted. "No! I fought over this plenty with myself, no more raging fire, I can't take it anymore!" She drummed on the steering wheel. "Just drive, drive!"
Raging fire. Fighting over it. He could see it. "You have to get out from there. It's burning your mind. You can't take much more, but another part wants to go back. Why?"
She started to cry. To break down. She never broke down like that. "Don't do this to me, I can't save anyone, Sir!"
Sir. That hurt harder than he thought it would, because it really showed him where he stood. He tried to reach over to comfort her, but she didn't want it. Why would she? She didn't even know him.
"Just get us out, my love, if you care so much about your family, just get us out!"
Quatre was shocked she actually dove toward him and kissed him. Pleading. Begging. Everything inside of her, was so broken. She doesn't understand anything. He broke the strange kiss with her, but took advantage of the closeness to hug her. "Please. Tell me. You don't want to leave anyone to be hurt. Tell me what RTL is doing?"
She looked toward him. "I don't get it. Where do I fit with you? None of these are working. Just get the car moving. Why can't you just keep the car moving?" Those tears. "With every passing moment in there, my tears drown out more memories. I can't take much more of the zero system."
"Zero system?" The old system in Gundam Zero? "Were you put in the zero system?"
"That's what's wrong with Crystalia. Why she can't even decide who she really is. One day, I'll look in a mirror and not understand who's looking back, if I don't leave." Struggling. "If I leave, they'll all be left to die. I have to leave, my mind will die. It's too big. I need someone else! I need someone more powerful, that I used to know. Someone I treasure. I think from the articles I saw, I'm not sure. I think it's . . . someone named Relena?"
Quatre was torn. On one hand, she wanted to flee as soon as possible. That place had torn up her very mind. Her very connections in her brain. It all might come back one day, or it might remain that way. "Have you retrieved any memories over time?"
She took out a small notebook that she had. "When I knew what they would do, I think, I remember? I thought I would write down a few notes." She gave it to him. "Then, when they did more things, I expanded the notes. I expanded them as much as I could. Unlike others losing who they are due to an accident. I knew it would be coming, time over time over time, Good Sir."
Quatre looked at her notes. She even wrote down his house code. Anything she could write autobiographical, along with little notes. Little memory notes she didn't want to forget. "The first time you went out for ice cream with Mister Treize Kushrenada." Oh, yeah. He had meant the whole world for her.
"Must have been wonderful?" She didn't know what to say. "If it consumes me fully, I won't come back. Crystalia gave me as much leeway as she could. I have to go, I'm out of time. They are . . . getting picked up soon."
"Who is getting picked up soon?" Quatre asked. "The other women? Someone else?"
"If I tell you, will you please start driving?"
It's the other women. Quatre picked up his phone. "Where nearby is it?"
"Please, no!" She was trying to take his phone. "If they know, they'll end me, don't do this!"
"They aren't half as big as they were!" Quatre insisted. "I won't let anyone take you away again! Not you, not them, we need to stop them now!" He kept struggling with her. "Dorothy!"
"You go in there shooting, you'll kill an innocent kid and a woman whose mind had been zapped by them! You get rid of the leaders, and the little bit of help will die! No! The numbers, I hate it, but I ran the numbers! I know, it hurts, but so many for the meagre price of . . ." She was starting to break down again.
He was able to get the phone away from her again. "The others need to know to start watching. We need to stop this."
"They're gone. They will send someone later to take care of me, but the area will be empty," she insisted. "Sorry? I forgot that they would all leave together."
Was that the truth? Or her memory just fuzzed up? If so, it was more than long-term, there could be damage in her short-term memory. He started to drive again, but called up Heero first. He would already be watching, he could put him on the extreme alert. "Heero, it's Quatre, Relena's in danger."
"How do you know that?" He could hear Heero scooting around now.
"Dorothy was still alive. Her, and I have twins," Quatre admitted. "RTL is trying something again, and it's bad. Dorothy doesn't seem to remember much. She wrote down a lot of things about herself, but she didn't even really remember me."
"What?!"
"Yes, and she says that she was in the zero system."
"The zero system?"
"Yes. She's escaping because of the zero system, Heero," he stated. "I am apparently near a base, but she's terrified to go back." Real terrified.
"Was she a guinea pig with the zero system, or is everyone using it?"
"She said people change using the zero system. She said she's out of time, if she uses it more, she won't be able to see who's in the mirror," Quatre answered. After he said that, he felt more change in the conversation. More than just alerted. Panic? Heero had panic in his voice?
"Make her lead you there, Quatre!" Heero was definitely on the move. He could hear the sound of crying through the phone. "Relena's on a colony visit. I'm grabbing Sophia and Sora and getting out there to her."
"This won't end well," Dorothy warned him. "Don't do this."
"Get to that base, Quatre!" Heero commanded. "I have to get to Relena. You are the closest, it's up to you. I'll let the others know, just get to the base."
"It's already over." Dorothy sounded so defeated. "I can't anymore. I endured for as long as I could, I can't anymore. Why don't you understand?" She looked straight at him. "You do, but you just understand too much. You understand too much, that it's ruining everything."
"Just tell me where the base is," Quatre encouraged her. "I have to see it. Was anyone else going to be taken soon?"
"Everyone. The golden moment was tonight," Dorothy told him. "By now, at least a couple have already been nabbed."
"Nabbed?" Strange. "No one's called about it. Something must have gone wrong."
Zechs' Home
His phone rang as he enjoyed the relaxation of the night. It was Noin? Odd. "Hello, Noin."
"Hey, Zechs." She sounded different. "So, I woke up and found myself in a problem."
A problem? "A problem you can't get out of?"
"Unfortunately, yes," she admitted. "I'm in some kind of mobile suit."
Mobile suit? "What are you doing in a mobile suit?"
"I don't know. I mean, I have all of my ID's and my money on me. Strangely a few odd games are in here too. Everything's working in the machine, and I even have my own phone. That's how I'm contacting you."
This was weird.
"I just, don't know where I am. I can't open the hatch to get out," she admitted. "I don't hear anyone around me."
Hmm. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, but, I don't know if I should tell you this part," she said slowly. "It's gotta be a trick, Zechs."
Trick or not, Zechs was already getting dressed. He didn't know where he'd have to go yet. "Is it some prank with an old mobile suit? Does it look like a Leo? A Taurus?"
"It honestly has this appearance, from where things are in it?" Noin was stretching it out. "It looks like I'm in the Tallgeese."
The Tallgeese? "The Tallgeese doesn't exist. No mobile suit should exist." The Tallgeese though? "The Tallgeese would just be a tall tale."
"I am not making this up Zechs. Can you just humor me and check the hangar the Tallgeese used to be in?"
Well, it was as good a place as any to start looking until he found more answers. "Fine. I'm heading there now."