DISCLAIMER: Gundam Wing belonged to
Sunrise and co. I’m not making any profits out of this, so don’t sue. Oh, those
you think you’ve never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome,
people!☺
TIMELINE: The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I’d say almost two years.
By Arayelle Lynn.
Silence was deafening. The
minute that they were plunged into darkness, they each stifled a scream. The
only sound that could be heard was the gasp that escaped Amy’s lips. And the
thumping in their hearts as four pair of eyes searched the darkness.
Relena felt a cold hand brushed
against hers. She could feel the hand trembling. “Amy?” she grabbed the hand,
squeezing it reassuringly. The hand squeezed back, returning her assurance
gratefully.
“Calm down, everybody,” Relena
heard Hilde whispered. “Let your eyes adjust to the dark first.”
A few second later, the darkness
seemed thinner. Relena could finally make out the three forms, which she
identified as, her friends. “Everybody okay?” she inquired.
“Yeah,” came the reply from the
others.
“What happen to the lights?”
There was no answer. Each of
them knew the answer already.
“They found us,” Dorothy said,
her eyes searching among the shadows. A broken metal pipe was in her hands for
defense.
“What should we do?” Amy asked,
her voice quivering.
Relena squeezed her hand again.
“Since we can’t see them, they aren’t likely to be able to see us. And as long
as they can’t see us, we’ll be safe.”
Hilde nudged her friends. The
gun Duo provided her was cocked and ready. “There’s a small shuttle Duo left
for us in case of emergency. If we could move quietly to the holding bay, we
could reach it before they find us,” she suggested. Her voice was surprisingly calm.
“Good idea,” Dorothy responded,
weighing the pipe in her hands.
Before any of them could move,
they heard a scuffling sound. Startled, their eyes searched the darkness again.
The sound was nearby, which means… the assassins were already there.
Hilde trained her gun, scanning
for her unseen enemy. Dorothy raised the pipe; ready to take a swing if the
need come. Amy’s hand was clutching Relena’s so hard that it was starting to
hurt. But neither of them as much as whimper in fright. They all intended to
face the assassins bravely.
The sound came again. This time,
Dorothy whipped her head to her left. “There!” she cried, seeing a figure in
the shadows.
Hilde fired but the figure was
gone. Suddenly, Dorothy heard a thumping sound next to her and felt a warm
breath touching her cheek. She started to jump back when suddenly the whole
place was flooded with light.
A pair of green eyes stared
astonishedly at her. “Huh? Dorothy!”
Dorothy stared at the twin black
holes staring back at her. She blinked. “Trowa?”
As his arms lowered, Trowa
sensed rather than saw a presence behind him. He swung his gun around only to
feel something hit him from behind. His gun flew off his grasp, as he fell onto
his knees. Whoever hit him rolled back to his feet and pointed a gun at the
fallen Gundam pilot. “Heero!” Relena Darlian rushed forward only to be held
back by Hilde.
“Stay back!” Heero snapped. At
the same they heard someone yelled, “Stop where you are!”
Two figures leapt in. As fast as
lightning guns were whipped out and trained.
“Duo!” Hilde exclaimed, glad to
be seeing him again. She fought the urge to run to him.
Duo spared a quick glance at
them. “Are you girls alright?” he asked, his gun pointed unwaveringly at Trowa.
Wu Fei also had his trained evenly at the kneeling pilot but his eyes were
eyeing Heero, suspiciously.
“Is that you, Heero?” Duo asked,
dubiously. He wanted to make sure although the answer was clear.
Heero’s eyes never left the
impostor. “Don’t ask stupid questions,” he returned, gruffly. Duo let out a
deep sigh. ‘Yep, this is the real Heero Yuy alright,’ he decided, knowing
exactly how Heero would’ve responded to his question. He returned his gaze on
the impostor.
Trowa’s eyes were on his gun,
which lay under Wu Fei’s feet. “Get up slowly,” Wu Fei ordered, his eyes
watching Trowa’s every move. The impostor slowly rose to his feet, his arms
raised, showing his empty hands.
Once he was on his feet, he
regarded both Duo and Wu Fei. He never spared a glance at the girls or at Heero
who was training his gun behind him. “It’s a trap, guys. I’m the real Trowa,”
he said, his voice was surprisingly as calm as the real Trowa Barton’s.
“Shut up,” Duo said, moving away
from Wu Fei to form a circle around their capture. “We’re the ones doing all
the talking around here. You’re only here to answer some questions.” His eyes
narrowed. “That’s what you get when you posed as one of us.”
Trowa lowered his arms. “Oh,
yeah? How can you be sure that he’s the real Heero Yuy?” he prompted, sparing a
glance behind. Then he looked at the girls, particularly at Dorothy. “In fact,
how can we all be sure that you’re really Duo Maxwell and Chang Wu Fei? For all
we know one of you could be the impostors.”
“Hey, there’s only one me,” said
Duo, woundedly.
Wu Fei’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t
try to turn us against each other,” he warned, fingering the trigger. He didn’t
mind at all at the thought of shooting the impostor. Especially if he tries
anything suspicious.
“Tell us. How did your boss get
people to pose as us so convincingly?” Heero demanded, watching the impostor
carefully. “How did you fool all the biological scans done on you to pass as us
Gundam pilots?”
The impostor whipped his head at
him. His face unreadable but his eyes struck Heero deep. “You’re the impostor,
you ought to know,” he snapped. “Where’s that partner of yours?”
At that, Heero was distinctively
startled. However, since everyone was busy watching the impostor, they didn’t
notice that brief look of doubt on the Wing Zero’s pilot’s face. He began to
stare at the impostor, uncertain.
“He’s not being very helpful,”
said Duo, taking his aim. “Maybe we should kill him now and rid us one annoying
spy,” he added, in an attempt to trick the impostor to talk. Wu Fei nodded and
fingered the trigger as well.
“Stop!” said a new voice,
female. Heads whipped to the shadows near the entrance. A dark silhouette was
standing, watching them. Her face was so well hidden in the darkness that they
couldn’t make out the features. “He’s not the enemy.”
The others turned to their
captive. But Trowa’s eyes were solely on the mysterious figure. There was
something strangely familiar about the newcomer. “Who are you?” he whispered. A
possibility entered his mind.
“Lower your weapons,” she
advised the three. “That is the real Trowa Barton. The enemy has set a
trap to lure you Gundam pilots here. They plan to make you distrust one another
so you would end up destroying each other.” She shook her head, long dark hair
brushing against her shoulder. “This is all a well planned trap and you all
fell for it.”
Heero lowered his weapon, so did
Wu Fei. Each was staring at the newcomer. They knew that voice. They recognized
the figure very well. But they couldn’t believe that she was really there.
Hadn’t she died almost two years ago?
Amy whimpered as a thought came
to her. She, involuntary, stepped forward. Hope flickered inside her empty
heart. “Kylie?” she whispered, voicing everyone’s thoughts. All eyes were on
the newcomer, except for Duo’s.
“Put your gun down, Maxwell,”
the figure repeated. “Before you hurt someone.”
Duo spared a glance at Trowa and
noticed the baffled look in his eyes. Instantly, he knew that this was the real
Trowa Barton. However, instead of lowering his gun, he pointed it at the figure.
“Okay, so maybe he’s Trowa. But how can we be sure that you’re not with the
enemy?”
The figure stepped into the
light. Most of them held their breaths. “Mylin!” Relena gasped. Wu Fei went
pale while Heero raised his left eyebrow, deeply impressed. Those who hadn’t
met the alien spy gaped. Some hope shattered as they stared at the alien
features. This was not Kylie, as they hoped for.
Mylin dropped her empty hands
and stood only two feet before them. Though she looked weaponless and harmless,
Wu Fei knew that she could still take them on. “I’m not your enemy because they
don’t have my sample of DNA to make a clone with,” she answered, regarding
Duo’s question.
If her shocking appearance
delivered them a hard blow, what she said then was even worse. They all looked
at her, shocked. “Clone?” they chorused. Heero, Wu Fei and Duo exchanged
glances while the girls looked at each other.
“Yes. In order to pass as you
pilots in great detail, Winteridge made clones from your DNA so he would have true
Gundam pilots in his ranks,” the alien explained. “Winteridge have somebody to steal
your DNA sample four years ago. He hired someone to make the clones and then
kill him when he had outlasted his usefulness.”
Then she turned to Trowa. “I
guess, you know about this too, don’t you?” she asked him, looking at him
knowingly. “And that’s why you’re keeping the charade ‘til this day?”
Trowa nodded while the others
turned their attention on him. “I found out about it over two months ago. But
by then, it was already too late. I was discovered, lured into a trap and was
almost killed.”
A gasp escaped Dorothy’s lips.
Mylin gestured for them to sit down. “We better make ourselves comfortable. The
enemy isn’t likely to find this place and I’m curious to know Trowa’s story.”
Duo and the girls settled down while Wu Fei took guard at the entrance. Heero
found the nearest window and stared outward but his ears were listening
carefully.
“It all started with Quatre,”
said Trowa, remained standing. He looked at Duo. “Remember when he claimed to
have seen Kylie?”
Duo nodded. “Yeah, I remember
you telling me that there might be something to it. But you never tell me what
it was.”
“That’s true,” Trowa admitted.
“I thought there was something fishy when I saw Heero walking down the street.
Very much alive and very much determined to stay away from me.” He
looked at Heero at that point.
Heero stared back at Trowa. “But
that wasn’t me, right?”
“I thought it was, at first,”
said Trowa as his answer. “And so, I was determined to investigate further. But
I never saw you again until the day I told Quatre that I was leaving the
colony.” His face turned grim as his hand, involuntarily, caressing his left
arm.
Mylin leaned forward. So did
everyone. “What happened?” she prompted.
“I saw Heero entered an alley.
But when I went to find him, he was gone. There were only two men in the alley
and one of them was trying to kill the other,” he told them. “I tried to save
the man but I was jumped by someone. Before I passed out, I saw him killed that
man.”
He regarded Heero. “It was you,
Heero.”
The whole room gasped, except
Heero, Trowa and Mylin. Heero and Trowa were locked in a tight gaze. It was
Trowa who broke it first. He turned away. “Of course, after the incident I was
more determined to find out what’s going on. And so when I finally woke up, I
left the scene and planned to stay low to investigate.”
Trowa shook his head. “While
launching my own investigation, I found out that someone is posing as Heero.
And that the person who killed that man in the alley wasn’t the real Heero
Yuy,” he said, looking at his friend reassuringly.
Relena breathed a silent prayer.
Though she knew Heero would never kill an innocent man, it was hard to hear his
own friend accusing him of the crime.
Trowa winced, recalling the
memory. “However, I found that out the hard way.”
“What do you mean?” Dorothy
demanded.
“I was betrayed by my own
tipper. He sent me to Earth, to an abandoned warehouse where there’s an illegal
smuggling ring took place,” Trowa explained. “I was convinced that Heero has
something to do with this but when I get there, I fell into a trap.”
“What happened?” Dorothy
prompted.
Trowa shook his head, unwilling
to share with them the experience. “Let’s just say it took me out of the game
for quite some time.”
“You mean you were involved in that
fire?” Wu Fei suddenly asked, recalling a recent unsolved case files.
“What fire?” Amy asked, looking
at both of them now.
Duo frowned. “Hey, I read about
that from the Preventers files. They never found out who was responsible for
it. The local authority thought that there was a fault in the circuitry that
caused the explo…”
“That should be enough, Duo,”
Trowa interrupted, unwilling to let the others know more about the incident. He
didn’t want to relate to them how he had fared after the blast. So, he decided
to continue the story. “Since the trap was rigged to put me away permanently, I
decided to play dead.” He looked at the others. “That’s why I let the impostor
take my place among the Preventers. I wanted to know the enemy’s plan by
watching from afar.”
“And by staying dead, no one
would thought that you’d be watching all of us,” Heero finished for him.
Trowa turned to him. “I guess
you were doing the same thing too,” he said, referring to Heero’s supposedly
demise.
“I have my reasons,” said Heero,
knowing from their faces that they were curious to know as to why he played on
his supposed demise. He knew that they were all curious to know how he escaped
from the explosion that devastated the Telrhani fleet two years ago. But aside
Wu Fei, who knew the reason, Heero’s not willing to share it with the others.
Especially at this crucial time.
Mylin nodded, understanding his
reasons well. She then jumped to her feet, looking at the Gundam pilots. “We
best return to the Preventer headquarters now. I think I have some information
that would be of some interest to them.”
Wu Fei agreed. “You’re right,”
he said. He looked at Heero and Trowa. “We all need to sit down and put our heads
together in this.”
“Wait! What about the girls?”
Duo asked, jerked his thumb at them.
Trowa spared a glance at
Dorothy. “Let’s bring them along. They would be much safer if they’re with us.”
“Why don’t you just say that
you’d feel much better if they’re in your sight?” Duo muttered under his
breath. But no one seemed to hear him as they all began to move. “Hey, Heero.
Where do you think you’re going?” Duo asked when he saw Heero leaving in the
opposite side.
Heero spared a glance at them.
“I’ll see you at headquarters. There’s something I need to take care of first.”
Then, he was gone.
Duo looked back at Wu Fei and
Trowa. “You don’t suppose that Heero…”
Both shook their heads, firmly.
But it was Relena who answered him. “That’s the real Heero, alright. I can feel
it in my heart.”
Duo shrugged. “Hey, when you’re
right, you’re right. And who am I to argue with a politician?”
>>>@@<<<
“How’s the raid on Libra?”
Heero stared at the screen. “Not
what both you and I might expect it to be.”
She leaned forward. “Tell me
about it.”
He shook his head. “No time,
Sara. Suffice to say, we have the real team back together again.”
“Except for Winner, right?” Sara
guessed, reading his expression well.
“Making any progress on that?”
Sara rubbed her tired eyes. “Not
getting anywhere. Pretty soon, I’ll have to think up another way to get the
information we need.”
“Well, don’t go overboard with
it. Remember what your therapist said?”
She quickly changed the subject.
“What do you need now?”
Heero hesitated. Then, he stared
at the face on the screen. “All the information on Project Jupiter.”
Sara was startled, her face
drained. “Why that?” she asked, her voice sounded hoarse. “It’s just a colonial
project.”
“And it’s Winteridge’s,”
Heero added. “He’s behind all these new incidents. I just want to know
everything about this guy.”
“Especially that, huh?”
Sara asked, pointedly. Heero nodded in confirmation. She sighed. “Alright. When
do you need them?”
A ghost of a mischievous smile
played across his lips. “In an hour.”
>>>@@<<<
“So, they purposely lured you
there to be killed by your own friends?” Zechs concluded. It was more a
statement than a question.
“Or having me destroy their arch
enemy,” said Trowa, providing a new insight. “I could’ve start shooting when I
first saw Heero on Libra. And knowing us pilots, we would not let our opponent
get the better of us so, we’d keep shooting at each other.” He glanced at the
girls. “And Relena and the others would be caught in the crossfire.”
Duo rubbed his chin, frowning.
“Gee, I never thought of that before.” He shuddered, thinking what might’ve
happen to Hilde.
“Like I said, your enemy has
plans for you. Which is why they haven’t attack the Earth Sphere yet,” said
Mylin, crossing her long legs comfortably on the couch. Her presence had
stirred quite a commotion among the Preventer agents. Luckily, Wu Fei managed
to convince them that she was with them.
“I see. They’re waiting for the
Gundam pilots to destroy each other,” Lady Une said. “And when the Gundam
pilots are all gone, they would launch the attack on Earth.” She frowned.
“Looks like Winteridge is even deadlier than Dekim
Barton. He prefers to wait for the Gundam pilots to destroy each other first
before conquering Earth without the Gundams’ interference.”
Mylin shrugged. “That’s about
all there is to it,” she replied. “But if you ask my opinion, I think
Winteridge has planned for this day for quite some time. Whatever he has now,
it was all resulted from a plan he had carefully devised and revised.”
“Whatever he has now?” Relena
echoed. “You mean the clones?”
The alien shrugged again,
nonchalantly. “The clones, the Winner’s resource satellite, his army,
everything.” Then her face grew grim. “But I’m mainly concern about one thing.
Project Jupiter.”
“Project Jupiter?” Duo repeated.
“But it’s only a colonial project, nothing more.”
“That’s what he wants us to
think,” she said. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. “But I think
there’s something Winteridge wants from the project. Badly.” She shook her
head. “But I couldn’t get anymore information because I couldn’t blend in the
crowd well enough.” She gestured at her alien form.
Suddenly, a folder landed on the
coffee table before them, its contents spilled. They stared at the papers which
were clearly visible inside the folder. “This is Project Jupiter,” said
the voice that threw the folder. They turned, only to see the grim face of
Heero Yuy.
Zechs stared at him,
scrutinizing the pilot closely. Then he nodded, confirming his identity. “Nice
knowing that you’re still alive,” he said, his voice held something none of
them could decipher. None except Heero, who shrugged.
“Feeling’s mutual,” he replied.
Mylin picked up the folder and
skimmed through it. Then, she handed it to Lady Une, who read it with Duo
looking over her shoulder. The Deathscythe pilot gave a low whistle. “That make
sense,” said Mylin, giving Heero a curt nod. She saw Trowa and Wu Fei sharing a
portion of the folder’s contents.
“Not to me,” said Duo, frowning.
“I mean, I know what it’s saying but I don’t see the significance.”
Heero watched Trowa and Wu Fei
but his words were directed to Duo. “Read Trowa’s portion.”
Duo moved over to the other two.
By then, realization had already hit Trowa and he handed the documents to the
Altron pilot, who shared it with Duo. When both were finished, they looked up
to Heero, their faces pale.
“This is not good,” said Wu Fei.
“What is it?” Sally asked,
taking the documents from Wu Fei. She read it with Lady Une and the others. But
when they were finished, their faces betrayed their confusion. Heero then took
out something from his pocket and threw them on the table. It was some
pictures.
“That’s to make things clearer,”
he simply said.
Zechs’s
eyes flashed in recognition. He looked at the Gundam pilots, horrified. “This
can’t be.”
“It is,” Mylin answered. “The very reason why Winteridge wanted the project so much.”
Seeing that the others were
still piecing things together, Mylin decided to drop the bombshell. “Winteridge
was never interested in the project itself. He was just using the project to
cover his real operation.” She nodded at the picture in Relena’s hand. “Take a
closer look at that.”
“Hey, that looks like a mine,”
said Amy. “Are they digging something?”
“Yes,” Mylin answered. “More
precisely, it’s a mine on one of the asteroids near Jupiter. They are plenty
more mines out there in the asteroid belt, according to Heero’s reports.” She
glanced at the Wing Zero pilot at that. “But what we should be concern about is
what they’re digging.”
She gestured Heero to tell them
the news but he shook his head, telling her to continue. Sensing she’s on the
right track, Mylin continued. “What they’re digging is actually a very special
alloy that, given the right design, could be turned into… a gundam.”
“A gundanium alloy mine? On the
asteroids?” Noin gasped, astonishedly.
“More than one gundanium
mines,” Trowa reminded her.
Sally looked at each boy. “But
how?”
“Nobody knows how the scientists
came about with the gundanium alloy. We’re all inclined to believe that they’re
man-made somehow,” Trowa explained. “Even we pilots weren’t informed of its
origin.”
Duo snorted. “Now we know that
it isn’t man-made. Funny though, it wasn’t us who found out about it first. Or
else, we could’ve done something to make sure that nobody finds the mines.”
“But how did Winteridge found
the mines? Or the alloy?” Dorothy queried.
Wu Fei shrugged. “We won’t know
unless we talk to him. But we know that won’t happen. It could be that
Winteridge found it by accident or he could’ve known the scientists.” At that
he looked at his fellow gundam pilots. For a moment, they all shared a secret
thought among themselves.
“But why is Winteridge spending
his money on these mines?” Amy prompted. “I mean, there aren’t any wars right
now. Even the aliens called it quits.” Her lips trembled at the memory of her
lost fiancée.
“For the war Winteridge is
initiating,” Mylin answered, nonchalantly. “From these reports, we know that
Winteridge was only using Project Jupiter as an excuse to build a colony for
his miners. And also possibly as his main base of operations.
The Jupiter project is just a cover up, so the ESUN would not detect
Winteridge’s main intentions.”
Relena frowned. “So, he wants
the same thing Dekim Barton wanted. It is all in the name of power and
control.”
“That’s the reality of this
world, Minister Darlian,” said Mylin, shrugging. She had seen the effect, had
been a victim of power and control. “You should see what power and control have
done to my people.”
“Well, I don’t intend to let that happen,” Relena declared. “Duke Winteridge must be stopped.” She looked at Heero. He nodded at her.
Mylin watched the exchange but
directed her words to all of them. “All of these tell us two things.”
“What’s that?” asked Noin,
curious.
The alien spy shrugged. “Well as
it turned out, humans, your dead friend was right. Winteridge was up to
something when he was fighting Winner over the Jupiter project two years ago,”
she said. “And I bet it was Winteridge who sent the assassins after Quatre
Winner.”
“If that is so, then Kylie was
right on the track!” Duo interjected.
Mylin nodded. “Yes, she did the
right thing by watching Winteridge. But if it hadn’t been for us, Telrhanis,
she would’ve found out Winteridge’s intentions sooner.” There’s a hint of
regret in her voice. Then, she waved it off, nonchalantly. “But that’s all in
the past now.”
“But what about Quatre? What did
they do to him? Is he still alive?” Duo asked, prompting a hopeful look from
Dorothy.
Heero shook his head in
resignation. “That’s remained to be solved. It could be that Winteridge is
still holding him prisoner. If he had kill Quatre, we would’ve found his
remains by now.” He paused, considering his next words. “No, I seriously think
that Quatre is still alive.”
That resulted a sigh of relief
from everyone.
“Don’t be too comfortable yet,”
Trowa reminded them. “Once Winteridge discovered that his plan to destroy us
has failed, he would use other means. And the longer Quatre is in their hands,
the slimmer the chance for us to see him alive again.”
Dorothy gasped. “No, they
wouldn’t.”
“They would,” said Heero,
simply.
Duo nodded at his gundam
counterparts. “So, what are we going to do about it?”
“Nothing,” said Heero, calmly.
Trowa, Wu Fei, Duo and the others turned to him, surprised. But before anyone
could ask anything, he continued, “Don’t worry about finding Quatre. I have
that already covered.”
They waited for him to say more,
but Heero didn’t volunteer anything else. Instead, he gave his fellow Gundam
pilots a look that indicated they need to talk. Then, he began to move towards
the exit.
“One thing, Heero Yuy,” Mylin
said, stopping him at the doorway. She looked at him, curiously. “I was
wondering. Where did you get all these information? And the photos? I didn’t
see you sharing them with us while we were on the Libra remnant. So, you
must’ve gotten them on the way here.”
Heero stared at the alien spy
for a moment, feeling the curious stares from the others too. Then he lowered
his head. “I have my sources,” he simply answered, folding his arms. They
waited for him to continue but soon realized that the matter was closed.
>>>@@<<<
He kept running in the dark.
Occasionally, he would glance behind him but found nothing. But that fact alone
still failed to offer him comfort. He knew it was there. He knew that the
shadow was still chasing after him.
He panted, his chest burning and
legs felt like melting rubber. Still, he continued on. He had to get away from
this place. He had to find help. But why suddenly the air felt thicker the more
he ran? Why he felt as if he wasn’t getting anywhere?
“You can run anywhere, dear
Quatre but you can never hide,” said a voice, echoing throughout the darkness.
His eyes searched around him wildly, trying to make out where the voice came
from but failed miserably. The darkness was too thick.
And so, he quickened his pace.
Not knowing where he’s heading and wondering if he’s moving in circles. But he
knew that he can’t stop. He knew that he must go on if he were to survive the
darkness.
Suddenly his legs buckled and he
fell in a heap. Suppressing pain and the temptation of giving his tired body a
little break, he struggled back onto his feet. But it was already too late. The
shadow was already upon him.
It was faceless but Quatre knew
that it was a she. Her long blood red hair fell onto her shoulder like silk.
She was wearing a black suit with a black long overcoat. Her hands were holding
a gun each. She looked very imposing and yet, very familiar.
“It’s the end of the line,
Quatre Raberba Winner,” said this faceless shadow, though he couldn’t see how
it was possible without a mouth. She trained both guns at him. “Say farewell to
life, lover.”
He closed his eyes, waiting for
the end when suddenly something fell between him and the shadow. Something in
white.
“You’re not harming him as long
as I’m here,” said that something in a voice that was surprisingly familiar and
similar to the shadow’s.
Then before his eyes, he saw
that something pulled up a shining sword and brandishing it, menacingly. “Be
gone!” that something said, cleaving the shadow into two. The shadow then
vanished without a sound.
Heart thumping, Quatre saw his
savior turned around. He gasped when his eyes met a pair of familiar winter
blue eyes. “Kylie!”
“No, don’t move,” said Kylie,
kneeling before him as he tried to get onto his feet. She was wearing the
similar attire to that of the shadow, except in white. She smiled at him and
placed the gleaming sword on the ground. “Rest, Quatre. You’ve fought so hard,”
she said, cradling his head onto her lap.
“But the shadow…” he protested.
She shook her head. “It won’t
harm you anymore. Don’t worry, I’ll be here to protect you.” She kissed his
forehead. “For now, just sleep. The nightmare will be over soon.”
“Will you stay with me? Will you
be there when I wake up?”
Kylie smiled, her face was one
like an angel. “I’ll be here always. I will protect you,” she promised. Feeling
relaxed, Quatre instantly felt his eyelids getting heavier. Before he lost
consciousness, he heard her say, “Just like old times.”
>>>@@<<<
The plan was set. While Lady Une
and the others were discussing the new information that Heero had gotten for
them, the Gundam pilots had reconvened and discussed their own plan of action.
And they all agreed on one thing.
When they finally dispersed, the
boys discovered that Relena, Dorothy and Hilde were waiting for them outside
the room. Giving the other boys a look, Wu Fei quickly made his way towards
Lady Une’s office to inform her of their decision. Duo walked away with Hilde,
whispering something to her. Heero could tell that Duo was relaying their plan
to his wife.
Trowa and Dorothy stared at each
other before leaving. None of them said any words but it was clear that they
needed to talk.
And as Heero was walking away,
completely ignoring the sad pair of blue eyes, he was enveloped in a tight
embrace from behind. He froze. “Heero, thank goodness you’re still alive,”
whispered the person who hugged him. “When I thought that you were dead, I…”
the person started to cry. “Why didn’t you tell me that you’re alive?”
Heero kept his silence, feeling
Relena’s tears soaking his shirt.
Then, he gently detached the
arms around him. “Relena,” he said, dropping her arms. He didn’t even meet her
eyes. “You wouldn’t want to be with me right now. I’m not… capable,” he said,
but he didn’t finished his sentence.
“But why? Why can’t you?” Relena
asked, going around him to face the Wing Zero pilot. “Why can’t you be with
me?”
“I’ve made a pledge,” Heero
simply said, still not meeting her eyes. Then he started to move past her.
“Forget about me, Relena.”
Relena whirled around to stop
him. But when she saw something glinted from Heero’s finger, her words stopped
in her throat. Unable to comprehend what she’d just saw,
Relena could only watch him walked away.
>>>@@<<<
“So, you’re coming back, huh?”
said the dark haired girl on the screen. Heero watched as Sara scratched her
head, frowning. “Figures. You need Wing Zero, right?” she guessed, knowing the
look on his face quite well.
“We thought that it’s the best
plan,” said Heero, in a way of explanation.
Sara shrugged. “Well,
surprisingly, I thought so too. Especially after I finished gathering that
information that I just gave you.” Her eyes narrowed. “Which is why your Gundam
is all prepped and ready for the taking.”
Heero nodded his appreciation.
“Be back in a few hours.”
“Great. I’ll get dinner ready by
then.”
>>>@@<<<
“The plan failed. The Gundam
pilots discovered our plan,” said a voice, as it walked into the room.
Winteridge watched the owner of the voice entered with two others. Behind him,
the clone of Heero, Quatre and Kylie stirred, acknowledging the newcomers.
“That’s alright. We all know
that they’re pretty resourceful,” said Winteridge.
Still, the owner of the voice’s
face was grim. He said, “Actually, they had help. From a rather unsuspected source.”
Seeing Winteridge’s raised eyebrow, he continued, “One of the alien spy was
helping them.”
“Ahh… I see,” said Winteridge.
“That is totally unexpected. Thank you for the information, Trowa,” he
said, nodding appreciatively at his cloned spy. “You’ve done a great job posing
as the real Barton.”
“That’s true. The fools didn’t
suspect it until it was too late,” Kylie added. “But the bugs you’ve planted in
the Preventer headquarters will tell us what we want to know.”
“Provided if they didn’t suspect
anything about them,” Heero interjected.
Winteridge spared a glance at
him. “Oh, they will. As I said earlier, they are pretty resourceful. But it
will take them some time to locate all of them. And for that, I’m proud of my
spy.” He sent a look of pride at Trowa’s way.
“Anyway, I’m more interested to
know what our two friends here have accomplished so far,” said Winteridge,
changing the subject. He regarded the other two newcomers. “How’s Earth this
time of year, Wu Fei?”
The clone of Wu Fei Chang
stepped forward. “It’s according to plan. I’ve stirred as much trouble as I can
to make the Earth delegates nervous over our coming to power.”
“Excellent, excellent,” said
Winteridge, clapping his hands. “And you, Duo? How’re things with the
colonies?”
“They’re all so disturb that
they wanted to declare war on us right now,” the clone answered.
Winteridge grinned, widely.
“This is all good news. Everything’s finally falling into places. With all the
Earth Sphere delegates spooked and mistrust each other, none of them would
agree to fight the war together.”
He then waved them out. “Go on,
get out of here,” he said, good-naturedly. “Your trainer’s waiting for you at
the lounge. He has a rather pleasant surprise for all of you.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Sorry to disappoint Kylie’s fans out
there. I received a lot of mails, hoping that she would be making a comeback.
But I just would like to explore Mylin’s character a little more in this
series. But I hope you like where I put Kylie, in Quatre’s dreams!
