Mei-Lin's Scream

Middie stirred as she felt movement on her side. Gin had been resting beside her, but he was gone now. Had he gone to the bathroom? She looked around. It was empty and no one could see her face. Nothing seemed out of place, except Gin.

Then she felt him from around the side of her.

"We are going now, it's getting too risky," Gin warned her. "One of those guards approached me and questioned about you. I had no choice, I had to call for help. We are magically getting through now. Probably blackmail but I won't ask. No one's complaining either, they are getting their time saved from being in this place too." He smiled. 

As they walked, she could see what he meant. Damn. She knew Gin's family had some power, but how much power? She headed back toward their shuttle, now getting the command to take off. 

"Here you go," Gin insisted as he gave her something when they went inside. "Mom's helpers got you this. To make sure things went smoothly."

Middie looked at it. A veil for the face and a robe to go with it. It seemed traditional of a religion. With everything they were doing, they certainly had the means to kill this Dorothy Catalonia themselves. They want me and Gin to get our hands dirty personally. 

"Now no one will suspect you of anything," Gin said. "They'll think it's for your religion. You can drop it and go back to the hoodie when we reach the colonies. You want to get dressed in it now?"

Not really. "Of course, Gin. Thank you."

---

"You had him and you lost him," Trowa complained. "I told you not to approach him." This? Unbelievable. Gin got warned and he apparently had some men that his mother employed to help run the business up there with him. Trowa didn't know what happened, but everyone got the okay to get out early.

No Middie. No Gin. No one there except the waiting attendants. There was no choice. He called up Cathy. He had their trail, and even if it would be tough to catch up to them now, he would find a way through. Even if they somehow got a shuttle to run straight through, they would still be blocked. No colony would allow them in, no matter what. "Cathy? I won't be making the show or supper tonight," he told her. "Not for a little while."

"Trowa?" She sounded worried of course. "You didn't get to her in time. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I am on the same path, and as long as I keep following, I will get to her." If he didn't catch up through the outside quarantine path, then he would catch up with her when they reached the colonies. "I might be gone a week."

"Trowa."

"I can't risk letting her go just because I don't want to play follow the leader."

"She might not even be pregnant. I wish there was a way to know for sure."

"I know, Cathy. I'm sorry," Trowa said. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Hopefully, with Middie.

---

One Week Later

The last negative. The last of her. Wufei wouldn't be bothered by looks in his colony anymore as he walked by Mei-Lin, ready to take her home. Her last test, that last 'must make sure' test everyone wanted to perform, was negative.

She walked silently beside him. It was one thing about her. As long as he wasn't actually bothering her, she tended to be quiet. Even when he did, she was passive aggressive, but quiet. It was only when his voice rose high, that her annoyance rose to levels that made people want to tear out their hair.

Otherwise, she'd been a simple woman. She had unique needs, but as long as they were granted, easy. 

He heard more commotion walking alongside her from others around them. Mei-Lin was . . . unique. She was a cross of Trowa, knowing and achieving a sense of silence and dignity while, every once in awhile, a spark of Nataku was seen. Especially when she became angry.

As they moved onto the colony shuttle and readied to go back to Zhang, their conversation was simple.

"Li Zhang is waiting for you," Wufei announced. "He isn't the best choice in all categories of husbandry."

"He had me imprisoned without any belief I was innocent," Mei-Lin said. "He is far from best. The only decent thing is his name. However, it's not like we all get choices, do we?"

"No, we don't always." Wufei looked ahead at the Zhang colony. "Go settle down and have many children to improve the Zhang numbers." Heh.

"I will only have many children if I have to and not before, Wufei," Mei-Lin complained. "At least they will have a high status."

"Being a Zhang doesn't denote any kind of status to the Long Clan." His last words should be something of pride. "You were surrounded by everyone greater than you in the Long colony. I hope you can learn to cope with your mediocre Zhang colony again."

"Chang Wufei, you are trying to make me angry simply because I am too close to home and have nothing to annoy you about to make this even."

Yes, he was, and it felt good. He would get the last say. All he had to do was get permissions for the colony to-

She had never done it before. When she had woke up and found the body in her room, she didn't do it. When she found out she was pregnant, she had not done it. Even when finding out she had to cancel her marriage and possibly marry Chang Wufei because she was having his child in bitter revenge from RTL. She still had not done it.

One moment, everything looked fine. Nothing extra happening outside the colony, then it started to emit fire. Bomb like states. Several different directions, until there were no signs of fire left because there was nothing left.

Her home. Her family, her friends, her soon-to-be husband, and the entire life she had known. 

How could she not scream. She found herself on the ground, trembling and shaking, her eyes refusing to open again, not wanting to see it. Wanting to believe if she kept her eyes shut, then it couldn't have happened. Self-denial though, didn't last long as she felt tears stroll down her eyes.

Her home. Gone. 

Narrator: After Colony 198: After the pilots have found the women who were involved in the revenge, they had a spark of luck and realized not all of them had been pregnant. Now, Chang Wufei's luck has allowed him to take Wang Mei-Lin back to the Zhang Colony. However, Revenge of the Lost may not be so . . . sporting.

Wufei waited, giving her time. He had seen that before with his own people once. It wasn't easy. Revenge of the Lost, how dare you sacrifice more innocent people for no other purpose but revenge against me! It wasn't even against him directly, it was to make him watch Mei-Lin. Re-experience his trauma of seeing it all over again, in her.

Calm and collected, never one to raise her voice, her scream pierced through the shuttle. It had sounded like someone had stabbed her, a physical pain of torture where a scream was the only way to endure it.

She would not be one to hear words of comfort or comparison empathy. She was not raised to want that kind of thing any more than he had been. Revenge of the Lost may not have made her pregnant, and maybe they had blown it up prematurely, but he knew as a man what he had to do. "The Zhang clan were a proud people like the Long clan. Losing them all only as an act of revenge was the highest form of dishonor. As such, I promise that I will find those responsible and make them pay."

She was slowly starting to stand up as she looked outward. "I am weak."

"I know." Her entire clan just died, it would be honorable for her to be the one to give them justice. She knew that she was weak though and didn't try and puff herself up like others did. Instead, she bent toward him, in honor of his strength. "It isn't just a matter of duty. Revenge of the Lost was doing this because of me. It's only right we seek justice."

"I am weak, but I will do anything you need." Her voice was soft but pained. 

"I will find their secrets, their base, and I will get justice. I swear it, Wang Mei-Lin." More than that, it didn't matter if she wasn't pregnant anymore. 

She now had no home, and she was part of his responsibility. 

For now, she would stay with him.