“It’s all,” gasped the princess, “her fault!”

She subsided into choking sobs as the queen reached out to pull her close. The immediate members of the royal family were gathered in a private lounge at a nearby hospital, and though the accident had occurred several hours before, the princess was still very much traumatized. It had been her screams which Tien had heard earlier when the accident had happened, and it was, by some strange coincidence, her fiancé who had gotten involved in the accident.

So much had Quinn surmised.

The king had given Tien and Quinn permission to accompany them to the hospital in order to obtain Tien’s side of the story, but though Tien had managed to make out the rough details of the accident, Quinn noted that she was acting strangely disorientated. Her eyes were fixed in a continual daze and it was almost as if she was just as traumatized as the princess, but with uncharacteristic tact he refrained from questioning her further.

A soft tap at the door filled the room with tension. One of the medical aides who worked at the palace admitted himself into the room slowly, clutching a small box in his hands. The king immediately leapt to his feet. “Is that…?”

The aide nodded and handed the box to the king. Sighing heavily, the king rubbed the box with his thumb. “And how is he?”

“He’ll recover soon, your Majesty,” replied the aide, “his condition is quite stable, and there are no internal injuries.”

“Thank goodness for that,” said the queen empathically, rubbing her daughter’s back gently. The princess broke away from her mother’s grasp. “Are you absolutely certain?” she asked, grabbing the aide’s arm.

“Y-yes, your Highness,” stammered the aide, taken aback by her sudden gesture, “the doctors have confirmed it, and gave me permission to inform you. He regained consciousness a short while ago but won’t be able to see anyone for a day.”

The princess released the aide slowly, looking as if she wanted very much to believe what he had just said but was afraid to. Her legs gave way and she sank to the floor. “That…that’s wonderful…” Tears leaked out of her eyes, falling unheeded from her ashen face.

Out of a corner of his eye Quinn noticed that Tien had turned away to hide her face. Her body was trembling slightly, as if she was trying very hard to suppress a flood of strong emotions.

As the queen reached down to help the princess up, the king spoke in low tones to the aide and sent him out of the room. “Well, my dear,” he said gently, turning to the princess, “I suppose your plans can proceed as before. We need only delay your engagement.” “That’s true,” said the queen in a soothing tone, “perhaps we could even make your engagement into a large affair. After all, that was how it was done in our day.” Here she smiled at the king, who returned her smile knowingly.

The princess was silent. It seemed as though she was exhausted from the ordeal she had gone through; her cheeks were still wet with tears, and she was barely able to stand on her own.

With one hand on the king’s arm and another held tightly by the queen, the princess was about to make her way to the door when she spun around resolutely to face Tien.

“I’ll have you know,” she said with a dangerously low voice, “that you will most certainly be held responsible for your actions. Everything that you did tonight, all of it, I hold against you.”

The king was dismayed. “Now Adrianne, surely you know it was all an accident. Tien is hardly at fault.”

The princess released herself from her parents’ grasps firmly and stepped closer to Tien. “At the very least you should have the courtesy to repay us for what you did. I’m sure you must have heard about our engagement? Don’t you know how long we’ve waited for this day? Do you have any idea how important this was to us?”

Tien was paler than usual, but she responded calmly. “I do understand…and I’m sorry.”

“It’s too late for an apology,” said the princess coldly. “The damage has already been done.” She glanced momentarily at Quinn before returning her attention to Tien. “I know what you are capable of doing. Someone with your intelligence should be able to think of a better way to make up for her mistakes.”

The king’s dismay deepened. “Adrianne, what on earth do you mean to ask of her?”

“All I ask is that she be held accountable for what she has done,” replied the princess, “she is free to do whatever she wishes, so long as it is enough to cover her wrongs.”

Tien looked down silently for a few moments. She knew exactly what the princess had in mind, and it was definitely not something agreeable.

Setting her lips firmly, she raised her head. “Very well, I understand. I will serve the princess in my own capacity to aid her in her preparations for her engagement and wedding.”

The room was filled with a shocked silence.

Quinn, who had been observing the scene in a detached manner, was actually taken aback. It had not occurred to him that Tien would actually offer to serve the princess, who had a reputation for being notoriously demanding and petty towards those who were under her immediate command. It was even more difficult for him to understand how Tien could possibly find herself at fault in such a situation.

If Quinn was amazed, the king and queen were much more so.

The queen was staring at both Tien and the princess in turn with wide eyes, while the king stepped forward with a deep frown. “Tien, you needn’t make such an offer. We know that this was merely an accident, it was certainly no fault of yours-”

The princess reached out to place a hand on the king’s shoulder. “She made this decision on her own and I,” the princess turned to face Tien, “will gladly accept her offer. You will be taken off your current post until my wedding day, and I expect to see you in my rooms in the morning. Be prepared, I have much for you to do.”

“Yes,” replied Tien quietly.

The princess left before anyone had time to get a word in edgewise, leaving the king to follow her worriedly. The queen nodded hurriedly to Tien before departing after the king, shaking her head slowly.

“Tien.”

Tien turned to look at Quinn expectantly. She knew that he had plenty to ask, and he wouldn’t stop until he had left no stone unturned.

Quinn met her look and exhaled deeply. “Let’s head back. We can talk on the way.”

As Tien stepped out of the hospital into the chilly night air, she paused. Quinn had gone to make several inquiries of a suspicious nature, and when he finally emerged from the building he found her staring at the sky. Her tendency to do this only showed itself when Tien was preoccupied, but her unusual attraction to the sky made Quinn feel slightly uneasy.

With her eyes still fixed on the sky, Tien turned to call to him. “Quinn?”

“What is it?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

g.T.y

“You’re leaving?!”

Tien had to laugh as both Miles and Eric stared at her incredulously. It had taken several attempts for her to convince them that she was actually leaving the team to work for the princess and it still looked like they didn’t believe her.

“Yes,” she said, with a slightly wistful smile, “I’m leaving.”

It was clear by the looks on their faces that the news had finally sunk in. Eric managed to keep his face straight, though his eyes had widened to their full extent, while Miles, who had had much less experience in keeping his feelings in check was, quite obviously, upset.

“Don’t go,” he implored, as he gripped her arm tightly. Recovering from his shock, Eric detached Miles from Tien with a swift blow to his head. “Well,” he said, frowning at Miles, who was rubbing the tender spot on his head pathetically, “it’s only until the wedding. You should be able to come back and rejoin us as soon as you’re done.”

Quinn cleared his throat. “That…might be a little difficult.”

The others glanced at him sharply.

“It looks like we’ll be heading for a site on the northern border tomorrow,” said Quinn, rubbing his neck uncomfortably, “so we won’t be anywhere near the royal residence for the next…possibly…a year.”

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

“Making decisions on his own again,” muttered Eric irritably, “though I supposed it can’t be helped.”

Miles looked even more dejected. “So Tien might not be able to come back?”

Quinn opened his mouth to answer, but paused as he saw the fixed gazes of the others who were hanging onto his every word.

“Well…”

Sighing, he reached into one of his pockets and drew out a card. Flipping it over, he studied the back of it before handing it to Tien. “Take good care of that. Only five of its kind exists in this country.”

“That’s…?” asked Eric, as he leaned over to take a closer look.

“An all-access pass,” replied Quinn, a corner of his mouth quirking up as Tien and Miles looked at the card in amazement. “With that, you should be able to join us no matter where we head to, though I can’t promise anything more than that. You,” he raised his head slightly and glanced at Tien, “should know what I mean.”

“Yes…” she said slowly. Naturally, it simply meant that Quinn expected her to make her way to them, which was no easy task considering the fact that he made it a point to conceal their whereabouts jealously, even to the point of faking their deaths if he had to.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” said Eric, turning to smile reassuringly at Tien even as he fended Miles off carelessly, “not for you-” The rest of his sentence was cut off as Miles, determined to get even for the earlier blow, tried to pull Eric off his chair.

With a smile Tien watched the familiar scene which had been played so often before her over the past few years. A noisy one-sided fight in the corner, with Miles getting angrier by the second at Eric’s obvious advantage, Eric teasingly aggravating Miles and Quinn observing leisurely with some interest.

It would be the last time…for a long while, at least.

She would bring her thoughts back to that night many times over the next few months, wondering why she had chosen to leave the company of friends who made her feel so comfortable. To reach a conclusion? To seek forgiveness? To give compensation? For her own selfishness? It was beyond and unlike her to reason it out. But that is still in the distant future.

For now, it was the same old routine. A loud crash signaled the start of a more aggressive part of the fight during which Eric would bring Miles’ outburst under control. Soon Tien would be called to patch Miles up while Quinn grumbled about the broken furniture as he retired to prepare for the next day’s journey.

As she sealed the last of Miles’ cuts with an exaggerated plaster, she found herself thinking about the past day. The bandages she had secured earlier were still in place, though Miles would tear them off in impatience sooner rather than later. In the span of a few hours so much had changed…so what of the next few months? Sighing, she put the first-aid kit away and turned back to find Miles staring at her.

“Are you worried?”

Tien blinked. It was so unlike Miles to ask her such a question that she was momentarily taken aback. Grinning, she stretched her arms out and exhaled loudly. “It’s better to think of today without worrying about tomorrow after all, isn’t it?”

Miles stared at her in silence before smiling knowingly. “Ah…so instead of saying, ‘I want to eat hamburgers today and hotpot tomorrow’, you should just say, ‘Let’s go eat hamburgers!’…right?”

It was Tien’s turn to stare at him. “Who eats hotpot on days like this?”

Pouting, Miles scratched at the bandage on his arm. “I don’t see why we can’t. Why should we only eat hotpot on cold days?”

“That…would be to warm us up, wouldn’t it? Since we’re already warm on hot days…”

“…Well…anyway,” breaking into a grin, he grabbed Tien’s arm and pulled her up, “I really want to say it…Let’s go eat hamburgers!”

Tien’s eyes widened as he dragged her out the door with the strange food-related energy he always had. “No…seriously?”

“Yeah!” he shouted, “And we’ll never take that idiot Eric with us!”

g.T.y

At a window overlooking the gardens, Eric, who was leaning against the window frame, snorted as he heard Mile’s energetic voice.

“As if I can’t get anything better. And we were fighting so affectionately before.”

“No one understands that kind of affection,” said Quinn shortly, from where he sat behind a large, disorganized pile of files.

Turning his back to the window, Eric picked up a file which lay at his feet and flipped through it idly. Looking up suddenly, he snapped the file shut and flung it onto the top of the pile.

“Hey, Quinn.”

“Hmn?”

“Is this really alright?”

“Be more specific.”

“I’m talking about Tien.”

Quinn extracted several papers from a file and heaved them down an overflowing shredder before replying. “I can’t say I’m completely fine with this arrangement. Losing a quarter of my workforce at a time like this isn’t a laughing matter. Pass me that box.”

Eric sighed as he lugged another box full of files over to Quinn’s side. “At a time like this, you say. Not only will we be short of a guard, I’ll also have to contend with Miles.”

“I don’t see the problem,” said Quinn carelessly, as he leafed through several files at once, “he’s much better at fighting than I’ll ever be.”

“You do know the problem,” replied Eric icily. “He’s too unreliable to fight alone. One of these days he might not even be able to walk out alive.”

Quinn drew out another sheaf of papers and shoved them down the aforementioned shredder. “You also know how I feel about that, right?” Pausing for a rare moment in his work, he turned to look at Eric directly. “I’ve told you this right from the start. You can be concerned, but don’t worry on their behalf. At the end of it, Miles will have to face the consequences. If you can’t live with that, then think about it this way. We all have lessons to learn, don’t we? Why deprive him of his?” Turning back to his work, he motioned towards the shredder. “Empty that, and go clear your mind.”

As he lifted the shredder, Eric glanced sideways at Quinn. “You might say that, but you gave her that pass all the same,” he said quietly, before walking out of the room.

A small smile appeared on Quinn’s face as he stood up and looked around him. Files littered the room, emptied of their contents. Everything had been stored in his mind.

‘That’s that,’ he thought. As he headed to the next room, he glanced at his palms, crisscrossed with lines and paper cuts. It had started out this way as well. He had cleared everything out of his first room, a stuffy cave-like place hidden in the middle of the capital city, before leaving on the first of many trips with his then newly-formed team. Not a moment sooner, too. The whole building had been torched the next day.

Shaking his head at the memory, he paused in the corridor. As he caught a glance of the sky through the window, he saw Tien staring at the same sky through his mind’s eye. Something flashed through his mind and he laughed.

Eric, who was returning in better spirits with the emptied shredder, stared at him in surprise. “What-?”

Quinn wiped his eyes with a grin. “I forgot to interrogate Tien today.”

Eric was stunned. “There really is a first time for everything.”

“We’ll leave it at that, then,” said Quinn, as he unlocked the next room, “for the next time we meet.”

g.T.y

Finally the second chapter sees the light of day! Yay! (remember to put a LOT of emphasis on the 'finally') It's more of a bridging chapter, so enjoy Quinn-tachi (or Quinn and the rest, in plain english) while you can. As before, please be kind and review :3

Thank you for reading 'Goodbye to You'!