By Aryn

A.C. 194

Heero Yuy had just finished planting the bombs in the mobile suit warehouse and wandered the streets that he called his home colony. In actuality, he didn’t know where his real home was, so colony XT38479 of the colony cluster L-1 had become his default home. Passing by the semi-familiar shops and businesses, he could almost summon up a sense of normalcy. Almost.

He opened the door to one of the coffee shops and stepped inside. If he got served quickly, he could still make it to the park before sun down. It wasn’t often he could get away from laboratories and training rooms, so he grabbed every chance he could to relax. Choosing the last seat at the end of the counter, he pulled the menu out in front of him. Dr. J had said that if this mission went successfully, he would be given real missions. Ones that would allow him to fly his own mobile suit. Heero thought about it for minute. A Gundam...and him as the pilot. Going down in history as a legend certainly held its own appeal.

"You ready to order yet?"

Heero blinked back to the present. A young girl dressed as a waitress stood across from him, pen and order form in her hand. "Huh?"

"You've been in here before and it's never taken you this long to decide. Besides, our menu doesn't take too long to read."

Heero put the menu back between the salt and pepper shakers. "Hamburger and coke."

She gave him a slight smirk before moving off towards the kitchen. She said she had seen him there before. Why didn't he remember her? Maybe it was due to the fact that she was so plain looking. Blond hair that look like gold was pulled back into a pony tail and typical brown eyes were set in a very normal-looking face. It was...refreshing to see someone like her. But there was still something that struck him as odd about her. He finally realized it when she brought him his food.

"How old are you?"

She looked down at him, startled. "Excuse me?"

"How old are you?"

That cocky grin played across her face again. "How old do I look?"

"Well, if I went by physical appearance, I would guess thirteen."

She laid a hand on the counter and one on her hip, the smirk disappearing from her lips and giving her a sense of indifference.

"However, if I went by your eyes, I'd say you were forty."

She threw the bill down on the counter next to his plate. "And if I went by your eyes, I'd say you were kind."

Heero watched emotionlessly as she stormed off into the kitchen. Even the double swinging doors that separated the diner from the kitchen seemed to swing angrily. He looked down and caught his reflection in the dark liquid in his glass.

Did his eyes really say that?

__________________________________

Ceres pulled her sweatshirt over her head and closed her squeaky locker door with a clang. Another day was finished. By the time she had stepped out onto the streets, the artificial lights had dimmed, plunging the colony into a false night. As she headed towards home, she wondered at a night on Earth really felt like. Was it always colder than the day? What did moonlight actually feel like? She gazed up at the stars as she walked, watching them as they blinked back at her. Did the stars sparkle as much from the earth as they did from the colonies? Maybe, one day, she would get her chance to walk on a living planet other than a man-made machine.

Her thoughts turned from the stars to the boy that had come into the diner that day. It was the second time he showed up. Ceres shook her head. He looked just as lost as he had the first time she saw him. Heero Yuy. It wasn't his real name, she knew that. But he had been appropriately named. The real Heero Yuy, now dead for fifteen years, had tried to bring peace to the colonies through pacifism. This Heero Yuy would bring peace by the use of Gundam. Ceres had more faith in the Gundam than the ideals of pacifism.

She never viewed herself as a fighter. In fact, whenever a situation presented itself to fight, she usually backed down. Her father had said that was due to the fact that she never found anything worthy to fight for. When she did find a cause to believe in, she would fight. Peace. Peace was something that worth fighting for. But there was no one that wanted to fight for peace. The Earth Sphere Alliance, who controlled the colonies at the moment, preached peace from all sides. But if they wanted peace so badly, then why was their military, OZ, formed?

Ceres could see where the two factions were headed. OZ would want more power and soon separate from Earth Sphere, started a war. The winner would gain the colonies. The whole war could be avoided if OZ could be disbanded. However, this was only a fourteen year old's thoughts. She couldn't do anything now, except wait for the inevitable to happen.

She unlocked the door to her apartment and flipped on the lights. Her father occasionally could be found there at night, but lately, he had spent his nights in the lab. She rarely saw him anymore. Her mother had died shortly after she was born. Her father never spoke much of her and Ceres had stopped asking.

"Good evening, my dear."

Ceres looked up startled to see her father sitting on the couch. Still dressed in a lab coat, he grinned in greeting to her.

"Dad, what are you doing home?"

"After five days straight of work, I decided a break was necessary."

Ceres sat down on the couch next to him. "Isn't Mr. Barton going to be annoyed that you left the lab without permission...again?"

"What makes you think that I left the lab without permission?"

"Because that's the only way you do leave the lab."

"Point. But he always gets over it after a few days."

Ceres smiled slightly. She always enjoyed her father's flippancy concerning his boss, Dekim Barton. She never cared for the man, seeing past his facade of a typical aristocrat and seeing what he truly was, a war hungry dictator. She glanced over at her father and noticed despite the robotic enhancements on his eyes and arm, he looked tired. Underneath the metal, he was till human and still her father. He had taken the codename Dr. J when he was "employed" by Dekim Barton to build a Gundam.

"Why did you come here, Dad?"

"I came to rest."

Ceres cocked a suspicious eyebrow. "I don't think you did. What's wrong?"

Dr. J gave her a wide grin. "You're too smart for a girl your age. My reason for coming is triple-fold. One, I wanted to see if you meet Heero today."

"I did."

"And?"

"He didn't remember me."

Dr. J nodded. "Good. The warehouse was destroyed without any problems this time. Apparently he seems to forget about the little girl and her dog. That's good. The second reason is to give you this."

Ceres took a disk that was wrapped in a cover from the scientist. "What's this?"

"It's the plans for the five Gundams that we are building. I want you to take them and leave. You need to hide and never let anyone get a hold of them."

"Why are you giving them to me?" Ceres didn't like holding this kind of information.

"Because, if there comes a time when the Gundams are destroyed and they are still needed, the plans will still survive."

Ceres nodded her head. "And so will hope."

Dr. J laid a hand on her head. "You are a very intelligent girl."

"What will happen to Heero Yuy?"

"That, is up to him."

Ceres nodded her head. She had been given something to believe in, something that she had always believed in. She didn't have to fight yet, but she might later on. Her father stood up and started towards the door, the motion breaking her train of thought.

"What was the third thing, Dad?"

"I came to say good bye, Ceres."

"Good bye?"

"I don't know where this brewing war will lead, but I am prepared to give my life for the Gundams. This may be the last time that I see you alive."