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Insomnia Sometime around two in the morning. Lady Une was doing what had become her insomniac ritual as of late; raiding the cavernous sub-zero fridge at odd hours of the morning. Sleep was so elusive. Not that it really matters, she thought as she seized a box of leftover lo-maine from a bottom shelf and took a whiff, just to make sure it was still edible. She shut the door, making the kitchen recede back into darkness again until there was another bolt of lightning. A thunderstorm. She'd always loved this weather for whatever reason. She grabbed a fork from the sink, almost as an afterthought and truged back upstairs to her room. Funny, she thought, the house is technically mine now and it still feels like Marimaia and I are just living in someone else's house. It shouldn't. It makes no sense, really, he's been dead for four years. Thunder rolled in the distance, starting off slow and building up to a creschendo before dying off. She entered her room, pulling the heavy oak door shut behind her. As surprised as she was to see Marimaia sitting on the bed, at the same time she really wasn't. "Looks like I'm not the only insomniac under this roof." Marimaia observed. "Not at all. What's keeping you up?" Lady Une replied, sounding generally concerned, but tired. She definitely looked it. "I was about to ask you the same question. I've just been thinking far too much lately...by the way, is that lo-maine?" "Yes, it is. you can have some if you like. What about?" she asked. "Arigatou. I haven't slept much the past few nights actually. Same issues. I've just been wondering lately, about my mother. My biological mother. I never really got to know her before she died. Whatever that jackass Dekim ever said about her was most likely a lie. I never even found out how she died." Marimaia said with a note of sad curiosity in her voice. "I mean, you've been more of a mother to me in the past few years than anyone else has, ever, but still." she added. Lady Une had always most feared this. She'd been trying to figure out what to say about Leia Barton. Tell the truth? Lie? Refuse to comment altogether? For the first time in awhile, she was at a complete loss. How do you tell the child that you're raising that, not only was her (biological)mother a psycopath, ("not that i've always been completely mentally stable either' Une thought with a smirk.) but that the aforementioned psycopath died at your hand? Damn it. "watch your language." was all she was able to say. It was all flooding back now. Every detail of one of those days she'd much rather have forgotten. An indellible scene etched in her memory, among all the other horrible things she'd done that she'd like to forget, even though her conscience wouldn't allow her the luxury. Flashback. AC 194. It was raining. A thorough downpour that lasted all day. She'd gotten stuck doing meaningless paperwork all day. The forms, memos, all the office crap. 'Oz probrably kills more trees than any other organization in the entire earth sphere' the Colonel muttered to herself as she sifted through a pile of memos. Her seceratary buzzed her on the intercom. "Lady Une, there's a Leia Barton here to see you reguarding scheduling for the conference at New Edwards next week." came the chirpy secretary, excuse me, 'administrative assistant's voice. "Fine, send her in, hold my calls." She replied curtly. "At least it gets me out of all this goddamn paperwork." she mumbled as she tried to at least concentrate the mess on her wide desk to one corner in an effort make it look at least somewhat orderly. The other woman walked in, clad in a trenchcoat. She shut the door behind her, and the audible click of the lock was heard. "You must be Leia. Good morning." Lady Une said, trying to seem friendly, even if she wasn't in the best possible mood. "Same to you. You must be Treize's new ho." The other woman replied with a smirk as she strode into the room. "Excuse me?" She replied loudly. "You heard me. And by the way, I'm not here about the meeting, that was just a cover to get in." Leia said coolly as she reached into one of the pockets on her trenchcoat. "I just wanna do some girl talk." She pulled out a gun. "And kill you, of course." She giggled. Lady Une reached for the phone almost as a reflex. Leia pulled the safety. "Uh uh uh. Bad girl. we're playing by my rules now. And according to my rules you don't deserve to live." "This strikes me as a complete waste of time." Une replied in an effort to seem confident. "Then humor me, goddamn it!!!" Leia snapped as she lunged forward toward the desk."And do bear in mind, I'm the one holding the gun here." "Fair enough." "As far as i'm concerned, you're evil incarnate. You've managed to singlehandedly make my life and my family's life completely suck. And I think you're a worthless whore." Leia sneered. "I may be many things, including soldier, trained assasin, and extremely PISSED OFF right now, but whore is most definitely not one of them. And as far as being pure evil, many of my subordinates share that sentiment. Deal with it. I'd also like to add that i've never met you before in my life, what could I possibly have done to you to make your life so pitiful?" Lady Une answered. Leia snorted, still aiming the gun. "In all your arrogant stupidity did you ever stop to think that maybe you weren't the only bitch he fucked? DO YOU? Don't flatter yourself. He was mine and I loved him damnit! Until he left me FOR YOU." She raved. "How is this my fault? You sound like one of those pathetic women on the daytime sitcoms. "My lover left me and now I'm a homicidal maniac'. GET OVER IT. And next time I'll have to be sure to tell Mr. Treize that his scorned lovers are not my responsibility." Lady Une yelled as she grabbed her own gun from a desk drawer and pulled the safety in one sweeping motion. "Now. Unless you're prepared to discuss the itinerary for the New Edwards conference I suggest that you get the hell out of my office and take a midol." She continued, trying to regain her composure. "Ooh. I'm hurt. You really think all you're arrogance will save you now? I know what you're thinking. 'Oh, I'm an Oz colonel, I take shit from nobody'. I see right through you and this is far from over. "Here we are playing a nice mix of chicken and russian roulette." Leia sneered. "If you're this mentally unstable I can see perfectly well why His Excellency saw fit to dump your sorry ass. Furthermore, if we're going to kill eachother, can't we at least make it interesting?" "Oh, so you think you know, do you? You don't know the half of it. And yes, I think it would be fitting to do this some other way. Lady Une, I challenge you to a duel. Be warned, I think I have enough rage in me to kill you several times over." She clicked the safety back on the gun and pulled a sword from under the trenchcoat. Lady Une also put her firearm away and pulled out her sword. "Well, aren't we well prepared." "Girlscout motto." "Let's go then. This will probrably be a quick defeat." the colonel said confidently. "We'll see." Leia snarled and rushed toward her adversairy. Une was quick on defense, and then lunged toward any undefended area as Leia tried to block the attack. Nothing could be heard for the next several minutes above the din of the clashing blades. Matching each other's agile quick movements and attacks until finally, Leia Barton faltered and fell to her knees. Colonel Une's sword moved quickly to within a milimeter of her throat within an instant. "Not bad, I must say. A worthy opponent. Now you can leave here with your tail between your legs and we can forget that this little skirmish ever took place." Lady Une said as she started to withdraw. "NO. This still isn't over. I have one final bomb to drop on you before I go my merry way...No, it wasn't enough to merely have him leave me. But to have him leave me after I CARRIED HIS CHILD is sick and wrong." Leia swiped another revolver from a back pocket when she saw her opponent weakened started to withdraw further in a split second of shock. She pulled the safety and aimed. "Yes. You heard me right you sick whore. YOU BITCH! He knocked me up and couldn't handle it so he decided to forget about me and bang you. You disgust me because the entire ordeal was YOUR FAULT." Leia pulled the trigger twice. At the exact moment the sword peirced her chest. Lady Une clutched her right shoulder. "You BITCH. You heartless insensitive BITCH. You SHOT ME!" She ranted clearly stating the obvious. "And you stabbed me. And I'm somebody's mum. Who's the heartless bitch, really?" Leia sneered. A sick perverse image of the woman, bleeding profusely with the sword sticking up out of her chest. "I'll see you in hell." She muttered, with blood running from her mouth now, still with the gun clutched in her hand like some horrid security blanket. The kind of image that would appear in someone's nightmares. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Treize had burst into the room and quickly surveyed the scene. Leia, although it was now obvious that she was mortally wounded, was using her last breaths to say every obscene insult possible to whomever was in the room. She didn't even care now, in her pain induced delirium. Lady Une staggered toward Treize, and ended up collapsing, shaking into his arms still clutching her wounds with the oppositte hand. " Somebody call 911, MOVE IT!" he yelled over his shoulder at whoever was within earshot. He hugged her close, completely disreguarding the fact that her blood-drenched uniform was contributing to a huge mess on the carpet. "Shh, Lady, it's ok." he whispered. Leia was still on a rant and could be heard in the background. "You sonofabitch! I hope she dies and rots in hell. You both deserve it. You're going to pay for this!" She passed out and came to sometime later in the hospital somewhere, with Treize at her side. "I killed her didn't I?" She asked. "Yes, you did. She passed sometime after you lost consciousness. You have no idea how sorry I am about all of this." He said softly. "Why should you. You aren't the one who shot me. Either way, I doubt I'll be able to sleep for quite some time." "I'm sorry i spaced out for a minute there." "You want the last of this?" Marimaia asked, holding up the container of leftovers. Lady Une sighed and took the container. "Anyway, reguarding your mother...I don't blame you if you want to hate me for saying this, but I doubt that either of us will sleep until I do." |
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