Whatever It Takes: Book1 Time of Choices

Book1 Whatever 05



 


Whatever It Takes – Book I: Time of ChoicesPart 5 – Power Struggles
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Zechs swung his legs over the side of the bed. In a gesture that
could indicate nervousness…or noting at all, he ran han hand through his long hair.
There was the same mixture of mistrust, pain, defiance and pride in the boy’s eyes
that Treize had noticed at their first meeting. The general sighed inwardly. It
wasn’t going to be easy to convince the youth to trust him. And he was afraid his
little "surprise appearance" wasn’t going to help either.
He put on a polite smile and gave the boy a courteous nod. "It’s nice to see you
again, Zechs Merquise. And forgive me if I startled you"
The youth didn’t return the greeting but simply asked:
"Why am I here?"
"I thought you might prefer this place to a prison." The general replied calmly,
as he sat down in one of the armchairs. "Because trust me, compared to being locked
up and working in the titanium mines the time you spent at the military base was a luxury
vacation."
"It still doesn’t exactly answer my question," the blond replied.
"What’s your motive?"
"Does there have to be one?" Treize asked softly.
The boy’s brows furrowed. "You are telling me you are
doing this out of the goodness of your heart?"
"Would that be so difficult to believe? I told you already once, I’m not your
enemy, Zechs."
Zechs’ retort was cut short by a knock at the door.
"Come in," the general called out.
The door opened to reveal Treize’s personal servant.
"Forgive me for interrupting, your Excellency, but Lieutenant Walker called. He
wanted you to know that he sent you those files you requested."
"Thank you, Max!" the ginger-blond man replied.
As the butler bowed and retreated Treize rose from his chair, turning to leave as well.
"Wait a second, we are not finished here. I still have a few more questions."
Zechs called out after him, making the general stop and turn to face him momentarily.
"We will have ample time to discuss everything after
dinner." Treize's words were polite, but the tone he delivered them in allowed no
arguments and Zechs realized that although his prison had been upgraded, his status had
not changed.
He ground his teeth and glared after the general.
***
It wasn’t long after that Max appeared to show the blond youth
to a tastefully decorated and furnished dining room. Treize had changed his uniform for a
pair of tan colored pants and a shirt only a few shades darker. It was the first time that
Zechs saw the general in civil attire. Out of uniform he looked a lot different and the
boy realized that he was even younger than he had thought initially.
Dinner was a rather quiet affair. Neither Zechs nor the general
talked much. At one point when the boy looked up he found Treize’s intense blue eyes
trained on him and quickly diverted his gaze back onto his plate. After the main course,
while the butler started to clear the table, the general asked him if he would care for
dessert. Zechs declined. It bothered the blond immensely that Treize was treating him like
he was a guest in his house, not a prisoner. The man’s friendly and polite attitude
toward him troubled the boy. It didn’t fit into the picture he had of an Alliance
officer. He didn’t want to think of Alliance soldiers as kind and caring. He wanted
to think of them as viscous and brutal, like the men behind the guns that had killed his
family, because that made it so much easier to hate them.
After the meal the general took Zechs on a short tour through the estate.
"Although this is not a prison, there will be certain rules you
will have to live by." Treize explained as they entered a large rose garden behind
the villa. "As long as you obey these rules you will have a fair amount of freedom.
If you choose to ignore them however you will loose your privileges rather fast. You are
free to make use of the garden and most of the house except for my office and my private
quarters. Bfastfast will be served at 7:30, lunch at noon and we usually have supper at
7:00. I don’t think that I have to remind you that you’re unable to leave the
estate without either me or Lieutenant Walker?"
"No, Sir." Zechs answered flatly.
"What do you know about roses?" the ginger-blond man suddenly asked.
The boy blinked at the rather unexpected question then shrugged.
"Not much. I have never been very inteed ied in flowers."
"That’s fine. My gardener is an expert in them. He will teach you everything you
need to know." Treize told him and then at the boy’s questioning look continued:
"You are not here on vacation. You will be working. And this is where you will
be working… primarily."
He’s got to be kidding. Zechs thought. No, I think he is serious.
"Teach me? They are flowers. You water them, you feed them, and they grow. What else
can there be?"
"I can tell, you really don’t know the first thing about roses." The
ginger-blond man had picked up a pair of garden shears. He squatted down next to a bush of
dark red, velvety looking roses, cutting a single long stemmed flower.
"Roses are probably the most mystifying flowers, so full of beauty and grace.
catecate but at the same time dangerous." Treize closed his eyes momentarily as he
raised the blossom to his nose, taking in the sweet fragrance. "A reminder that
things are not always what they appear to be."
For a moment Zechs wondered if the man was only talking about roses.
As they continued on with their tour they entered a hangar size garage. Zechs’ eyes
grew as large as dinner plates at the sight of two dozen or so classics all looking like
they had come of the assemble line only yesterday. The reaction didn’t escape Treize,
and he took mentally note of it. It seemed that Zechs and he had at least one common
interest. Maybe that was something he could use for his advantage in the future.

***

Later that night, back in his room, Zechs was laying sleepless for a long time. As he
assessed his situation he couldn’t help but think that things could have been a whole
lot worst. He still wasn’t sure what Treize’s true intentions were and he was
sure that living in the same house as the general would take some getting used to. But
then he had to deal with worse blows than this in his life.

***
A knock noise woke Zechs, but it took a few moments and another
knock at the door before he recognized his surroundings and remembered that he wasn’t
in his cell at the military base anymore.
"Sir, are you awake?" Max’s voice reached him.
"It’s time to get up."
Popping open one eye the blond smirked silently, watching as the butler tried to enter,
and congratulated himself for being bright enough to prop a chair under the doorknob
before he went to bed.
Sure he was very well aware that the butler was acting on the
general’s orders, still he decided to "hit the snooze button." Still
smirking, he pulled the covers over his head and closed his eyes again. It was nothing
more but a little display of defiance. Not enough that Treize would actually consider
sending him to prison, but just enough to show that he wasn’t going to jump through
hoops for anybody.
Treize turned to take another look at the wall-clock in the hall. It
was a shortly after 8 am. He had already finished his breakfast but there was still no
sign of Zechs.
ot;Yot;You woke him, didn’t you?" Treize asked the butler who had begun to clear
the empty dishes.
"I tried, twice." Max confirmed. "I can’t be sure if he heard me
though, as he chose not to respond. And he somehow barricaded his door."
"He did what?" The general gave the grey-haired man a surprised look.
"He blocked the door with something, your Excellency."
Treize almost chuckled.
So he is tes me me to see how far he can push me, he thought vaguely amused. I
suppose that was to expect. Lets see how long it takes to rto realize that I’m
in a little bit of an advantage here.
Finishing the last of his coffee, the general turned to the butler.
"You can clear up the table, all of it."
The man nodded in acknowledgement. "As you wish, your Excellency."
Treize left the dining room, considering if he should go upstairs and get Zechs himself,
when the boy came walking down the stairs.
"Ah, Zechs. Just in time. The gardener has been instructed to show your duties, he is
waiting for you."
"Don’t I get to eat breakfast first?" the blond asked.
"Breakfast?" the general echoed in feign surprise. "This is not a
restaurant were you eat when it pleases you. I do remember telling you breakfast is being
served at 7:30. The fact that you chose not to appear at that time let me to believe that
you were not hungry. Maybe next time you will be a little more…punctual. Or to make
this a little clearer… Get your butt into the garden now."
Zechs glared at Treize, two pairs of blue eyes locked. For a moment it looked like the boy
was going to make kind of retort, but in the end he just scowled at the general, turned
and left the house without another word. The general left shortly thereafter through the
front entrance where his ride was waiting.
Max sighed as atchatched as both Treize and Zechs walk off. Somehow
the old man knew that there were many more power struggles of this kind to come. Treize
was a man used to giving orders and expecting them to be carried out on the dot. But Zechs
didn’t strike him like a person who was accustomed to taking orders from anybody.
***
More often then notize spenspend all day or even several days in a
row away from his estate in Luxembourg. But even if he was home, he was usually working in
his office and most of the time he and Zechs met only at the table. Generally they would
talk about nonsensical things like books or cars, butTreiTreize thought that he could get
the boy to open up to him he couldn’t have been more wrong. Zechs barely spoke about
his past and usually clamped up like an oyster as soon as the general asked him any
questions about his family. But of course that didn’t keep Treize from trying.
Especially not after Walker managed to dig up some rather interesting information.
"Tell me a little more about yourself." The general
requested. "I’ve heard you were born in the Sanc Kingdom."
Zechs nodded. There was no use in denying anything that the general
already knew. "My family managed to leave the cou sho shortly after the... invasion
by the Alliance."
The boy gave Treize a challenging look, almost expecting the man to give him the same kind
of lecture he used to receive from his history teacher when he use the word invasion
to describe the Alliance attack on Sanc. He had always considered it as a farce that the
textbooks referred to it as an act of liberation. How do you liberate a free country?
But the ginger-blond man didnsay say anything. He had raised his wineglass, starring
into the deep red liquid, lost in thought.
"Your father was the personal physician to the Peacecraft family, wasn’t
he?" he stated suddenly. "Just like his father and his father’s father
before him."
Zechs blinked. How does he know that?
"I really don’t know." He lied. "I was rather young and we never spoke
much about that time."
"I’m just surprised with your family history that you didn’t seem to have
plans to go to medical school."
&quo"Why?" Zechs asked pertly. "Is there some kind of law that one has to
continue the family tradition?"
You are still hiding something, aren’t you? I suppose I’ll have to
have Walker dig just a little deeper. Treize thought, but aloud he said:
"Do you always become defensively teasieasily, or is it just I who brings out the
best in you?"

TBC
Author's notes:

What's to come: Part 6 - Confrontations
Zechs makes plans to escape and Treize is anything but happy about it
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