Private Charles Sweager wasn't a morning person. He also didn't like breaking rules, which made the fact that he'd been woken up early this morning to officiate at a duel doubly annoying. Holding the wooden case containing the weapons, he watched as Captain Leon McNichol passed nervously back and forth. Leon, for his part, was between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't back out, because he'd lose face. If he won, he'd end up killing the person Priss loved, thus having her hate him for the rest of his life. And if he lost, he'd be dead. He was stuck in a circle with no way out; no matter what he did, he lost. Some movement to his right caught his attention. Looking over, he saw Linna, the bandanna still covering her head, slowly coming up the path. Her eyes looked sunk in, and her clothes appeared to have been slept in. Private Sweager took one look at the young woman, and exploded at Leon. "No bloody way!" he yelled. "I don't care if you do outrank me, Captain, I'll have no part of dueling against a girl!" "Who the bloody hell do you think you're talking to, Private?" Leon yelled back. "You're already here; you already have a part in it! You're in this up to your eyeballs, lad, so shut up and play your part!" Linna looked on silently as the exchange took place. Not understanding English, she didn't understand what was being said, nor did she care. She'd lost the only person she'd ever loved. Priss no longer wanted her. She'd turned her back on her. Linna didn't care anymore if she lived or died. She just wanted the whole mess to be over with. Private Sweager opened the wooden case, revealing two dueling pistols, two lead balls, and two small casks of gunpowder. Leon took his gun and began to prepare it, pouring the gunpowder down the barrel and using the gun's small ramrod to force the bullet down. Linna looked from Captain McNichol to the open case in front of her, and smiled sadly. "Sir?" she asked, addressing the young officer in front of her. "Can... can you show me how to load this?" ------ Priss was riding faster and more recklessly than she ever had in her life up until now. Feelings of remorse and sorrow tore at her heart, as hot tears ran down both cheeks. How could she have done it? How could she have been so cruel to her geisha? Coming up the path, she saw Linna and McNichol walking away from each other, their backs to one another. Each was holding a pistol, and neither had seen her yet. Finally reaching them, she watched as both turned facing one another. "Linna, no! Don't do it!" Priss cried as she leapt off the horse. Her shouting startled Linna, who pulled the trigger without properly aiming her gun. A cloud of dirt kicked up as the bullet harmlessly impacted into the ground three feet in front of Captain McNichol. Linna looked at the little crater her gun had made, and then turned to Priss. As she watched, Priss covered her mouth with her hand as she fell to her knees, sobbing under Linna's gaze. Linna smiled as a warmth welled up within her. She cared. She believed in her. She was sorry. She loved her geisha again, she... ---Click--- The sound of a hammer being pulled back brought her out of her reverie. As Priss cried out in anguish, Linna remembered two things; she was in a duel, and her opponent had yet to fire his weapon. She turned away from her love to look at the man holding the pistol at arm's length, the barrel pointed straight at her. She began to hyperventilate as he slowly started to walk toward her, his gun never wavering. Her heart felt like it would beat out of her chest, and her knees were shaking. Finally, he stopped roughly five feet in front of her. Leon looked from Linna to Priss and back. "Will you yield?" he asked, finding himself hoping he wouldn't have to go any further. Linna swallowed hard. "N... No." she managed to get out. Both duelists were acutely aware of the sounds of weeping over to Linna's right. "You... You're willing to die? You'd really rather be dead than be without her?" Linna looked him straight in the eyes. "She's my life." she said, "If I'm without her, I'm already dead." Leon's eyes narrowed. "If... If you had won," Leon asked as he struggled with the conflicting emotions welling up within him, "what would you have done?" Linna turned away from McNichol and looked at her love. "I would have loved her ‘till my dying day." She choked out, her own eyes now welling up. Leon looked over to Priss again, to the despair in her eyes. Turning back, he saw a single tear run down Linna's cheek. He looked down and shook his head. "Heh, I'll be a son of a bitch." he said, as he flashed a smile. Looking up again, he met Linna's gaze as he turned his gun away from her toward a group of trees to her left, and fired. Linna jumped at the loud bang. The bullet hit the trunk of a young oak tree, causing some autumn leaves to fall gently to the earth. "Damn, missed." he said as he tossed the gun away. "Hey Sweager, looks like we both missed, huh?" Private Sweager, who'd observed all in a stunned silence, quickly nodded his head. "Yeah, um... Yeah, you both missed." "Well, in that case..." he said, turning away from Sweager and back to Linna, "Since your shot came closer, it looks like you won." He said. He then walked over to Priss, smiling as he motioned back to Linna with his thumb. "She... she loves you more than I ever could." he admitted reluctantly. "Be good to her." he added as he walked back to Private Sweager and his horse. Linna, the fear and adrenaline now finally leaving her system, sank to the ground trembling. Sweat poured down her forehead as she clutched the grass in front of her, her breathing gradually returning to normal. As she slowly began to regain control, she turned to Priss. There, out in the grassy meadow, was Priss with her forehead against the ground performing the dogeza, crying uncontrollably. Linna slowly rose up on unsteady legs and made her way over, kneeling down and sitting on her heels when she finally reached her. She smiled down as she gently ran her fingers through her love's hair. "It... it seems we've done this before, Priss-chan." she said as she placed Priss' head in her lap. "But if I recall correctly, I was the one on the floor then." Priss looked up at her beloved geisha. "How..." she sobbed, "How can you forgive me? How can you still love me? I abandoned you, I lost faith in..." Linna pulled her into a hug before she could finish. "Shhh... It's okay. We're together, that's all that matters." she said as she held her close. They stayed in each other's arms for several minutes, neither wanting to be the first to break contact. Finally, Linna broke the silence. "Priss-chan?" "(Sniff) Hmm?" "I think we should get up now. My legs are falling asleep." ---The Next Day--- Colonel Roland eased himself gingerly into his chair behind his desk. His ankle was still tender, and the doctor had told him to try to stay off it for another week. Setting his crutches aside, he heard a knock at the door. "Enter." He ordered. Captain McNichol entered the room and saluted. "Sir, Captain McNichol reporting for..." "Leon," the Colonel said with a smile, "After all we've been through, I think you can be a little less formal around me in private." Leon smiled. "Yes sir." he said as he relaxed a bit. "What did you need sir?" "Before word got out, I wanted you to be the first to know. In three months time, we're expecting a very important visitor to Tokyo; Miss Reika Chang." Leon looked puzzled. "Who?" Colonel Roland gave an exasperated look. "The famous Chinese opera singer. She's been with the Paris Opera House for the last four years. She's supposedly as famous for her beauty as her voice; everyone says she's a vision of loveliness." "A vision, huh?" Leon asked. "Well, maybe so, but opera? I never was into any of that long hair stuff." "Well, that's neither here nor there. The point is this; she's very famous, and she's coming here. And we, as well as the Tokyo Police, have the chance to earn worldwide recognition by providing her with security. I'm leaving it up to you." "Me? I'm flattered, but what about Major Collins?" "He's heading back to our colonies in India, Major McNichol, and that leaves you second in command." "Yeah but I hate opera and... Major McNichol?" Roland smiled warmly at the young man in front of him. "Congratulations." He said, tossing a set of keys to Leon and pointing to a locked cabinet. "Open it up and pull out the good stuff." As Leon opened the case and pulled out a bottle of rum, Roland pulled two shot glasses out from one of the drawers in his desk. Pulling the cork out, Leon poured some into both glasses, and brought his up to his mouth. "Oh, and one more thing." Roland said as Leon took a swig, "Stop erasing evidence off walls." Leon started choking as the rum went down the wrong way. Roland laughed. "(Cough) Damn you Wong! (cough)" ------ Sylia and the other Knight Sabers were hard at work clearing the debris from what was left of the Silky Doll. She smiled a bit as the thought back to the man on the Genom gunship promising to help with the reconstruction. She'd made sure to be one of the first to put forward a claim. Hell, if Genom was offering money and supplies to help her reconstruct the Knight Saber's headquarters so she and the others could thwart Genom's plans, who was she to argue. Nene was shoveling some ash into a large garbage can next to her as she looked over to where the library used to be. There was Linna, sifting through what was left of the books, with Priss right by her side. She smiled, noting that Priss was acting almost clingy around the former geisha, never allowing her to be more than five feet away. Several times she'd caught them brushing up against one another or exchanging loving glances. Linna looked up from her work over to Sylia. "Sensei? Where's Mackie?" Sylia smiled. "He's over with Nigel helping to rebuild the stables. He's going to be trained how to help with the upkeep of the armor and weapons." Priss looked up from where she was, "I thought you said he was going to school once we got back." "He is." Sylia answered. "He'll be going to a nearby one set up for the Europeans. He'll have weekends off, though." Priss leaned over to whisper in Linna's ear, "If I know Nigel, right now his first lesson is teaching Mackie some colorful words and phrases to use while repairing what's left of Sylia's armor." Linna started to giggle. Nene and Sylia smiled at the couple, then turned back to the debris in front on them. ---Finis--- End Notes: Ta da! So how'd I do? When I first started this thing in August, it was just supposed to be an adaptation of Bubblegum Crisis 2040 to the nineteenth century. In the end, however, it's ended up being as different from both 2040 and the original OVA as they are from one another. I should have the first chapter of the sequel, Crash '81 up in a few weeks. Hope to see you all then
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