Episode 6: Party Night

It was a mob.

A mob of blood sucking reporters.

Heero felt a growl rise from his throat as the limo pulled up to the gates of his home. He turned his head slightly to look out the window and was blinded by the flash of a camera. Another reporter yelled as his foot was run over by the car, while the others threatened to break down the windows of the limousine.

He could hear them; even through the supposedly soundproof glass of the car.

“Do you have any comment on the assassination of your father, Vice Foreign Minister Yuy,” one with a particularly annoying voice called as the microphone clunked on the window.

‘Yeah, I have a comment,’ Heero thought in disgust. ‘Nothing you could print; I assure you.’

“Would you consider this a declaration of war by the colonies?” another reporter on the other side yelled, and Heero was surprised the window didn’t crack.

Finally they drove past the fence and the reporters were forced back, though they yelled from the fence in hope to actually get some kind of information or gossip.

Heero rubbed the bridge of his nose; he had such a headache.

“They just want me to say whatever they want to believe,” he snorted with reproach as he looked back at the cattle held at bay by steel bars. “What idiots! No one has any idea why my father was killed. And I doubt they’d care to hear the truth. They’d simply change it into what was right for them.”

He slammed his fist down on the armrest and heard a slight crack.

Why the hell was this happening to him?

Mrs. Yuy leaned against the window, staring up at the sky with watery eyes. She couldn’t cry anymore. She didn’t think it was physically possible. Her husband was dead. A thought she had never considered before, and no one had thought to tell her whether or not Heero was alive.

She turned her head slightly.

Heero’s tuxedo.

Walking over to the couch where it lay she sniffed. He’d hated it so much and yet she’d insisted he wear it. She hadn’t even cared really. She just wanted him to fit in. Wanted him to be her son, not the boy she’d agreed to raise, her son. The one she could never have.

She sniffed again and a tear ran down her cheek as she smoothed the lapel of the tuxedo. It was selfish; but it was what she wanted.

And now her husband was gone and possibly…

The door to the room creaked open and she raised her head to tell the servant to go away.

“I’m home,” Heero said in a somber voice as he looked to the ground and shut the door quietly behind him.

“Heero,” she said in shock rising from her seated position and walking toward him. She stopped short of throwing her arms around the boy. He’d informed her a long ago that he’d grown out of hugs from his mother.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized still unable to meet her eyes. “I wasn’t able to protect my father.”

“Don’t be,” Mrs. Yuy replied with an almost pleading tone in her voice. Her husband had never forgiven himself for only being able to save one Peacecraft. She did not want to hear that in Heero’s voice too. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

Heero walked past her almost mechanically and picked up a pen. It was Mr. Yuy’s favorite type of pen. He used to joke for impossible hours on how it was the only pen for him. Heero now stared at it like it was a painful link.

Looking over at the family picture, the one taken during their vacation to what had been the Sank Kingdom, Heero sat down on the couch. He looked at the picture over as if memorizing it. His father and himself stood in front. His father looked out of breath after being beaten at five set of tennis. Heero looked ready to go another five rounds and his mother smiled happily in the background.

“Heero,” Mrs. Yuy said quietly, hanging her head slightly. “Did your father tell you anything before he…”

“No,” Heero replied a little to quickly. “Father said nothing.”

“There is something I have to tell you,” she continued, sitting down next to him and feeling as if her heart was being ripped out from having to tell him the truth.

“Mother,” he snapped grabbing her arm hastily to stop her.

“Heero?” she asked in shock. The look in his eyes was primitive as if what she said would destroy him.

“You are my mother,” he told her; then faltered, “please, just be my mother.”

“Heero,” she nearly cried as she threw her arms around the boy and pulled him close. Too bad if he was to old for hugs from his mother, he was going to get them anyway.

“With the Vice Foreign Minister gone, there is no one to mediate the dispute between earth and the colonies,” Treize reported in one of the space ports empty control rooms.

“Ah,” Lady Une’s voice was crisp and almost solemn on the other end of the line. “He was an excellent diplomat. In general, that kind of person becomes the first sacrifice for a new era.”

Treize shifted a bit uncomfortably at the next round of request he would be making.

“So, when are you coming back?” Lady Une asked and Treize could hear the chirp of canaries in the background.

“I still have something to take care of,” he replied as an image of the boy handing him the pocket watch flashed in his mind, laced with irrational anger. It would have been perfect if not for that boy. They’d had to ‘silence’ three people who’d seen him throw the watch; unneeded casualties. “Give me some more time.”

“Yuy’s son, eh?” Lady Une guessed as the chirping quieted. “Isn’t it unusual for you to miss a target?”

Treize winced. Apparently Lady Une never missed a chance to hit her target. “With regards to that matter, I would like to request the use of a mobile suit from the J-A-P region.”

“Take five with you,” Une ordered as the canaries began again. Treize wanted to wring the bird’s necks.

“Five?” he questioned; after all it was only one boy.

“It seems that wherever we go shadows seem to follow us,” Une explained in a roundabout way.

“You mean Gundams?” Treize asked.

“They will always go after our mobile suit facilities and new bases,” Une replied, as there was a small click of a latch and a flutter of wings. “Just be careful.”

“Yes,” Treize said, saluting the link out of habit as he cut it. “But if there are Gundams, I doubt five of our mobile suits will be able to handle it.”

“The party will start soon,” a girl screamed outside, before correcting herself and repeating the statement in a more ladylike tone.

Relena tacked on the keyboard a bit harder.

“Relena Darlian’s school record at St. Gabriel: all erased,” she said with some pride in the fact. “Transfer approval from the Board of Education: Okay.”

Another girl’s squealing from outside the window caught Relena’s attention and she stood to watch. She blinked and for a second wondered if she would have been as mindless as that. Still she felt a slight pang as she saw the wide smile on the girl’s face.

Closing her eyes she smiled, “I’ll be gone soon.”

With that she turned to finish forging her records.

The orchestra let out the painful strains of a requiem, requested by a few of the students.

Heero walked in almost in a trance. He saw the girls huddled around one of the tables. Marie was clutching a hanky and her mascara was running.

“Hey, it’s Heero,” one of the boys said in shock.

“His father was just assassinated on a colony,” another said and Heero winced, wondering if they’d wanted to talk about the time he cracked his head open as a child too. It was only slightly less painful.

“Really?”

“It’s everywhere in the news,” a boy assured one of the girls.

“Heero,” Marie said standing in front of him.

Heero blinked himself back from the self-induced trance and looked at the girls, and Rick, that had surrounded him.

“I cannot find the proper words to express my condolences,” Marie said attempting to sound sophisticated before bursting into another set of sobs.

“The party is overshadowed by your loss,” another girl said taking hold of Marie to try and comfort her.

“Yeah man, I’m really sorry,” Rick said. “I don’t even feel like partying at a time like this.”

“Thanks everyone,” Heero said, feeling weird about having all the attention on him at such a time. Rick was probably sincere and in an odd way Marie too; but he doubted everyone else was. They probably simply put on the sad music and faces when he’d come in. “But I can’t stay depressed forever. I will have to be even stronger from now on. I’m sure that’s what my Dad would want.”

“She’s transferring,” a boy said loudly.

“You mean, Relena?” a girl asked nosily.

“She’s only been here for a month or so…” the boy stopped at a signal from Rick; but Heero had already heard and was walking in the direction of the dorms.

“Brilliant,” Rick said with a punch in the arm. “He didn’t need to know. It’ll just depress him more.”

Marie let out a ‘hmph’ before bursting into more waterworks.

Relena clicked the suitcase shut as the door opened behind her.

“Are you going to fight again?” Heero’s voice asked as she turned in slight surprise. “I wonder where the next battlefield will be.”

Relena drew the gun hidden under her uniform jacket and aimed directly between Heero’s eyes. Heero didn’t even blink, if anything his eyes got more determined.

“I met Dr. J,” he stated with obvious contempt.

Relena let out a small shocked noise as the arm holding her gun went lax and Heero walked closer. Relena snapped her arm back up and held it to Heero’s neck. She didn’t really want to shoot the boy, but he knew about her and Dr. J. But… if he met Dr. J why hadn’t the old man killed him? Was he supposed to stay alive?

“So even you can be surprised,” Heero smirked sarcastically. “I’ve been surprised by everything about you since the day I met you?”

Relena showed no expression as she held the gun silently to Heero’s neck. Heero let out a sigh, “you know it’s not a good idea to kill me now, right? It is a crowded party,” he stated, without mentioning the fact that if he didn’t come back most would probably think they were getting ‘comfortable’ with each other and not come looking anyway. “I want you to stay and have fun. At least until the dance is over.”

Relena stared, not knowing what to do, but still keeping the fun pointed in Heero’s general direction as he bowed and offered her his hand.

The foghorn blared loudly as the ship carrying the bases new mobile suits made its way to port.

“Its on time,” one of the soldiers at the dock commented with a bit of surprise. “With this fog I was expecting it to be delayed.”

“Let’s unload the suits quickly,” another soldier yelled as the foghorn blared again and the soldier looked reproachfully in its direction.

Suddenly an explosion issued forth from the ship, sending plumes of smoke and fire into the air. From the explosion, like a demon from the depths of hell, Shenlong rose. The dragon spat fire at the building on the shore as soldiers screamed and ran like ants, ignoring their superior’s commands on what to do.

Inside the Gundam Sally felt anger toward the base for being so pitiful. How could she prove herself a worthy warrior when every opponent she faced was a weakling?

“It’s your own fault,” she accused as more fire consumed the buildings littering the shore.

Trowa watched the ringmaster pace around, while inside the tent the audience clapped at the elephant’s balancing act. He decided the older man looked very funny with a worried and angry face.

“Where the hell did that girl go?” the ringmaster growled with irritation. “It’s her turn.”

“She’s right there,” Trowa answered jumping down from his seat on the crates as he pointed at the girl walking up behind them. Catherine wore a purple and pink outfit with a slightly flared skirt and pair of star earrings.

“Where the hell have you been, Catherine?” the ringmaster yelled, stomping his foot on the ground in annoyance. “Why do you always have to stray away from the others?”

“I made it, didn’t I?” Catherine replied, no emotion in her voice, simple fact. “What’s the problem?”

“What did you say?” the ringmaster growled, not used to being spoken to in such a nonchalant way.

“Okay, let’s go now,” Trowa intervened before things escalated. “The audience is waiting.” The ringmaster looked at Trowa before stalking off to begin their introduction.

“You have to trust me,” Trowa warned Catherine with a friendly smile. “Don’t move, okay?”

Catherine gave a slight nod as she walked forward into the darkened big top followed by Trowa. They took their places on either side of the illuminated ringmaster as he began the introductions.

“Now, we are proud to present our own knife throwing clown the incredible Trowa Barton,” he yelled as a spotlight formed a circle of illumination on the clown. “And the lovely Catherine Bloom,” he continued as the light moved to illuminate a bowing girl.

Trowa juggled the knives for the crowd, as Catherine was strapped to the large cross throwing board. In the crowd a child screamed that the clown was going to hurt the pretty lady. He smiled behind the half mask as he caught the last airborne knife and prepared to toss them at his target.

“Here we go, Catherine,” Trowa yelled in slight warning as the first knife sailed through the air, impaling the board an inch from Catherine’s head. The second flew and hit right below her arm. The crowd cheered in amazement as he threw three more. He loved the cheering of the crowd.

“Pretend to be scared,” he advised Catherine in a low voice, then joked. “Or I can’t have any fun, you understand?”

Trowa’s hand twitched above his head and his fingers clamped down harder on the knives as he looked into her eyes.

“That girl doesn’t know fear…?” he questioned to himself as he searched to find more in the eyes. He swung the knives in a graceful arch, as much to build up the suspense as to calm the uneasy feeling in his stomach. ‘Dead,’ he thought. ‘Her eyes are dead…’ Bringing to knives up next to his face, his body taught in a throwing stance and unable to disengage from Catherine’s unnerving stare.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he demanded in a quiet whisper. It was as if she was looking through him, as if a miss thrown knife posed no threat. “I can’t concentrate, Catherine. Stop.” With that he felt his body fling the last two knives.

Thunk.

Thunk.

Trowa looked in shock at his wild throw. Catherine had not move an inch, but her star earring bounced to the floor and a small drip of blood plinked on her shoulder.

“C-Catherine,” he let out a surprised gasp. He’d never hit anyone before. Of course he’d never had such an unmoving target either. ‘That’s not natural,’ he thought as Catherine pulled her wrists free of the straps holding her arms against the board, and bowed to the crowd with all the flourish of a real performer, except the smile.

Taking his own bow and walking out of the tent Trowa looked around for Catherine. He had to apologize for such a toss. He found her, eyes closed and cross-armed, sitting in front of the lion’s cage. The star earring that had not been knocked off lay on the ridge beside her.

“Catherine,” Trowa called as he took off his half mask and tossed it next to the earring. “Why didn’t you dodge that wild throw?”

“I wasn’t supposed to,” Catherine replied, not opening her eyes or looking up.

Trowa crossed his arms in an unconscious mimic of her. If that wasn’t the oddest answer he ever heard, he didn’t know what was. “You looked at me with eyes like an animal. In fact they were just like that lion,” he elaborated as the lion stood up and made a growling noise, just as Catherine opened her eyes and looked at Trowa. “Ooops, better not make him mad,” Trowa smiled at the lion before looking back at the dead-eyed Catherine. “You’d look much better with a smile. You’re a very pretty girl, you know?”

Catherine stared at the clown and Trowa was sure he saw a flicker of life in those eyes. That was definitely better.

“Oh,” he remembered with a snap of his long fingers. “I came here to apologize. Catherine, I am really sorry for nicking you earlier.”

Catherine looked at him a moment before getting up and walking away, “I told you, I did what I was supposed to do.”

“Catherine! Put a smile on your face,” he yelled as the girl disappeared around the corner in a flourish of purple cloth.

The music strained slightly as the band began their second straight hour of playing. On the floor the children danced, one boy letting out a pained yelp as his partner clopped his foot with her high heel.

In the middle of it all Heero spun with Relena to the music.

“Check out Heero,” Rick said in surprise as he pointed over to the couple on the floor. A girl pulled his arm down informing him it was not polite to point. Marie stood in the cove of her friends tearing at the handkerchief she had been using to dab her tears. It was supposed to be her dancing with Heero, not that little witch Relena.

“Well, she maybe dancing with Heero but she isn’t even wearing a pretty dress,” Marie said in a petty tone, waving the handkerchief in the couples general direction.

“First of all,” Rick began leaning over so Marie could hear him better. “A girl like that doesn’t need a pretty dress. She makes that uniform sexy, unlike some girls we know.” Marie glared as he continued. “Second, she’s dancing with Heero and you aren’t.”

There was a surprisingly loud crack as Rick began grabbing at his shin and Marie’s friends pulled her back, less she be expelled for fighting.

Back on the dance floor Heero was happy to find that he was alive and Relena was dancing with him. He hadn’t actually thought that his offer would work; though he hadn’t thought she would kill him if it didn’t. So what had he thought would happen?

Relena was a bit stiff in his arms, like dancing was a duty and not done for fun. He was quite amazed she could dance at all. It wasn’t one of the things he would have thought a professional terrorist would be taught.

“I know too much,” Heero said, not wanting to bring up the subject, but knowing he had to. “I have to be killed, right?”

“Yes,” Relena answered. Her eyebrows were turned downwards but there was nothing in her eyes saying she wanted to carry out what had to be done. There was nothing in her eyes that said she didn’t either. Just a little twitch locked behind the blue seas that were her eyes.

“I didn’t want to die without knowing why,” Heero continued, mentally adding, ‘of course I don’t want to die either’.

He pulled away and held a hand up so she could do the called for twirl before they locked again and he continued. “I understand why you have to fight,” he said and in Relena’s eyes there flashed an almost argument. “And now, I’m fighting with you.”

The argument in her eyes died and they narrowed in question, “with me?”

Suddenly there was a hum, barely noticeable over the music and chattering, and Relena’s head jerked up and looked out the line of windows above them. She pulled away as her mind identified the far away silhouette as a mobile suit cargo jet.

“Do they know I’m here?” she growled in alarm as she made a run for her mobile suit, leaving Heero to identify the far off silhouette.

Treize sat down and clicked on the communication panel to give orders to the commander.

“Use whatever means you need,” he ordered. “It is officially going to be reported as a colony sabotage act against the Federation.”

“But… are you sure?” a confused pilot asked reviewing the orders before him. “Making an attack on civilians?”

Treize’s eyes twisted to glare at the screen as he snapped, “You’re dismissed. I’ll have another officer command this operation.”

The commander jumped in his seat. In his ten years of serving in OZ he’d never gotten a response like that. “W-why?” he stuttered.

“This operation is more important and serious than you think,” Treize said with a bit of a growl as he wondered why he was even dignifying the moron with a response. “I don’t want to have a weak officer like you in command of this operation and screwing up the whole thing.”

“Sorry, sir,” the commander yelped. “I will carry out the operation as you ordered.”

“Very well,” Treize assented. “Launch the operation.”

“Descending now,” the commander confirmed at the link cut off and Treize turned away. “Calm down,” he advised himself, letting out a deep breath.

Relena’s calculating eyes watched at the Aries and Leos leapt from the relative safety of the carrier. Double checking Wing’s sensors she coaxed the gun upwards and let out the first shot, destroying one of the descending Aries. She frowned and keyed up a diagnostic as Wing rose from the forest bed. Just as she thought, a slight tick in the aiming system. A couple keystrokes fixed that.

Rising fully Wing began to fire the guns in the headpiece and stepping backwards. Relena could guess the reaction her ‘classmates’ were having. Part of her hoped they would get away quickly, while another part simply didn’t care.

Several near misses brought her back to the fight at hand, as the screen beside her flashed the types of mobile suits firing.

“Leo and Aries types,” she mused as the computer pointed out known weaknesses. “Normal type configuration,” the computer confirmed as Relena’s eyes narrowed all thoughts of the school behind her banished. “I’ll destroy them.”

A Leo landed and began laying down fire as the Aries twisted in the air to cover Wing topside. Relena slammed the Leo, hard, with Wing’s shield, not bothering to waste the firepower. As for the rest, the beam saber would work nicely.

“We’re engaged in a battle with an enemy mobile suit,” the commander reported to Treize, a hint of panic littering his voice.

“What is the type?” Treize asked, wondering why he hadn’t bothered to replace the idiot when he had the chance.

“I-I don’t know,” the commander squeaked as the communication channel fuzzed. “I’ve never seen a model like that before.”

“Lady Une was right,” Treize glared through his glasses as he brought up the battle scene and looked at the proud mobile suit, out maneuvering and out doing the others. “It did come after all. But in a place like this?”

Treize thought for a minute before ordering, “capture the unidentified mobile suit. Dispatch all other Aries.”

Dorothy sat back in the big chair as she looked over the information on the computer screen before her. It was late enough the Maganacs wouldn’t bother her with questions of what was she doing and could they help. She liked them dearly and appreciated their help to no ends; but at times they were just smothering.

“There is another after all,” she said with a pleased tone as she tacked at the keyboard. “Someone else is destroying OZ’s facilities.”

Not taking her eyes from the screen she groped around the desk for the cup she knew was close by. “I know there is Catherine,” she thought aloud as she picked up the warm cup. “But I wonder how many other Gundams are on earth?”

She smiled at the thought of others, “I wish I could meet them all.”

“Man! There is nothing better than a beer after a long day,” someone hooted. There was a loud splash and a lot of yelling for a life preserver.

‘And I thought I was unbalanced when drunk,’ Hilde thought as she watched the mechanics pull their comrade from the water. Usually she joined them in a drink, but tonight she just didn’t feel like it. Flopping back down on the leg of her Deathscythe she looked up at the silvery orb she’d been contemplating.

“Hilde?” a simple voice called and she flung herself into a sitting position again. “What’s up Hilde? What are you doing up there?”

“Nothing,” Hilde shrugged looking down at the old, Hawaiian shirted man. “I just found that the moon looks much prettier from earth.”

“The moonlight on a calm sea,” the man mused as Hilde looked back up and let her thoughts drift.

“The moon looks so clear from the colony. I always thought of it as a huge graveyard,” she said in contemplation.

“Graveyard, huh?” the old man wondered.

“I’m sure that girl doesn’t have the soul to look up at the moon this way,” Hilde said, realizing she was still a little bitter about the theft from her baby. Shaking her head she continued, “you should let yourself go over the edge once in a while and enjoy your life.” Linking her hands behind her head as she leaned back down she continued. “Especially while you’re still alive.”

“Being rational is one thing; reality is another,” the man informed her as he moved away. “It’s the sad human saga.”

“I wonder what she’s doing now…” Hilde trailed off as another drunken splash was heard.

The Leo emptied its gun in a panic before Relena ended its life with a slash of her beam saber, straight down the middle. There was a trill of warning as the Aries above her began firing again. Quickly she used the thrusters to propel her backwards, out of harms way, and stopped less than three yards from the school without so much as blowing off a shingle.

“You guys are too heavy to fly,” she yelled as they attempted ascent. The beam saber flared as it slashed completely through one Aries and nicked another in the engine, causing it to explode. She almost smiled with satisfaction.

Relena looked back down at the school, in the distance she registered several small figures running for cover. Zooming in briefly she noticed the girl, Marie, running like a fool with Rick in tow. It amused her a bit. The screen trilled again as the remaining Aries regrouped for another strike. As Wing began to turn, something caught her eye, Heero.

The boy stood in the middle of the courtyard looking up at Wing with surprise.

“Heero…” Relena said almost instinctively. She zoomed in on the boy and read his lips as he spoke her name. She didn’t know why the boy distracted her or why she cared that he hadn’t evacuated. She had to kill him anyway, didn’t she?

Wing jolted forward as the ignored Aries struck it from behind. A second shot missed by inches and slammed into a tower like structure, sending it tumbling toward Heero, who looked up with the classic ‘oh shit’ look.

Relena didn’t know what happened next. A fear seized her, something she could not remember ever feeling before. Wing lurched forward, before she even realized she was controlling it, and held its shield arm out. Relena wondered where the darkness had come from before she realized her eyes were closed. Opening them in an almost panicked fashion, she looked through the dust, though she wasn’t sure why.

Sheltered under the tip of the shield, Heero sat, looking both shocked and crumpled like a doll. He was alive; much to Relena’s surprise.

“What am I doing?” she breathed wondering where her control had disappeared to for the briefest moment. “I should kill her, shouldn’t I?”

The Aries that had toppled the tower laid down near continuous fire at Wing’s unmoving back. As Relena bounced around in the harness trying to figure out what she was doing.

Above in the carrier jet the pilot reported the Gundam’s odd behavior to Treize.

“What?” he snapped slamming his fists in the console in front of him. “The Gundam is protecting Yuy’s son?”

“Yes sir,” the pilot nodded, not liking the insane glint that lit in Treize’s eyes. “I’ve confirmed that the boy the Gundam appears to be protecting is our target: Heero Yuy.”

“Does he have a connection with the pilot of that machine?” Treize wondered looking away and frowning.

The Aries fired upon Wing repeatedly, not missing the solitary target.

Inside Relena stared down at Heero, who was moving again. He stared up at her in shock and she read his lips as he called to her, ‘Relena, is that you Relena?’

She felt her teeth grinding together; still unable to understand why she saved the fool boy she was supposed to be killing. Her hands clenched on the controls and her knuckles turned white.

“Why?” she let out, still staring at Heero, ignoring the shaking of Wing from enemy fire, though she knew the Aries was back there. “Why? Why can’t I?” she screamed in frustration as she commanded the mobile suit to rise and slam the point of the shield into the Aries cockpit. If she couldn’t take out one threat she would take out the other. It actually made her feel better.

“We-we lost them all,” the pilot of the cargo jet stuttered in utter horror.

“Damn,” Treize growled, jumping to his feet. Obviously this was a job that he couldn’t leave to foolish underlings. “I’ll go down there myself.”

“There’s a call from Lady Une,” the pilot yelled, clicking the image up before Treize could reply.

“Treize,” the seemingly always calm Lady Une smiled. “The operation has been canceled. Return to base.”

“But… Lady Une,” Treize began, neither wanting to argue with Une nor to fail again.

“I decided to let Yuy’s son live,” Lady Une continued, the visage resting her chin on her folded hands, calm as always.

“But why? This is a very important operation,” Treize argued, he wasn’t going to let that boy accidentally show him up twice.

“Treize,” Lady Une began with the calmness of a teacher explaining the day assignment to her student. “With the Gundam in the picture the situation has changed. It’s not your fault. Just come back.”

Treize’s head dropped in defeat. He couldn’t look into Une’s eyes anymore. “Yes,” he sighed, signaling to the pilot. “I understand.”

Lady Une clicked off the monitor with a small sigh. Treize was an excellent officer but his lack of grace left something to be desired. She flipped the console to the other open channel as she rose to her feet.

“Thank you very much for doing this Lady Une,” a strong male voice said on the other end of the line. The image of Zechs, in a snap salute and smiling, was framed in the small console as Une turned to look out the window. “I’m sure Noin is very relieved.”

“It’s usually me who asks Noin for favors,” Une smiled playfully. “Sparring Heero is the least I can do for her in return.” With that she turned to the console and smiled at Zechs who looked about ready to jump for joy. Obviously he couldn’t wait to give Noin the good news. “Give my best to Noin.”

“Yes, Lady,” and with that the communication cut off.

Lady Une flipped the latch to open the window, wondering who had closed it on such a wondrous sunny day.

“So the rumors turn out to be true,” she hummed, seating herself on the wide window ledge. “A survivor among Noin’s family.” She shook her head at her dark haired friends secrecy. “You should have told me earlier.”

Her hand extended gently as a couple chickadees perched on it. She smiled, “so, you like it here? As do I.”

Relena wasn’t sure why she turned on the outside sound, but she did.

“Relena,” Heero’s filtered voice came in loud and clear and she tried to turn it off, but she couldn’t. “It’s you isn’t it Relena?” his voice queried and Relena felt herself tense. The boy was even more of a threat now. She should kill him.

“Why did you save me?” Heero yelled and Relena felt an anger surge, mostly at herself for not letting him die; but part of it was at Heero for making her feel… what? She didn’t know.

“You’re supposed to kill me,” Heero’s voice was insistent and Relena’s hand hovered over the switch. A quick movement was all it would take to block the boy’s voice, and she couldn’t do it. “Answer me.”

‘He has to be killed,’ Relena reminded herself as she twisted Wing and walked toward the boy. Heero looked shocked that she actually turned, but stood his ground. The shield rose again for a killing blow, and swung downwards. Heero did not move. It was not until the shield was imbedded the smallest distance from him that Relena realized she missed intentionally.

“Why can’t I do it,” Relena growled in anger as she heard her name from Heero’s lips. Her hand clenched tighter on the controls; she had to leave. With a quick series of movements Wing leapt into the air and transformed into it’s bird-like configuration and headed… north, west, south, east… Relena didn’t care, just as long as it wasn’t near that boy. She had missions to complete and did not need distractions she did not understand. At least that’s what she told herself.

Heero watched at the mobile suit changed and took off in a southern direction. The lift nearly knocked him down and he had to hold a hand up to keep the dust out of his eyes.

“Relena,” he called, not sure why he did it, it just seemed right. Watching the quickly retreating dot he frowned, he would find her again and again if necessary. He felt as if she needed him, as if he didn’t take care of her… she’d hurt herself.

He shook his head. He was becoming obsessed and he knew it, but with a girl like that it was almost worth it. He took a deep breath. He’d already let his father die because of his inability to see how messed up Treize was. He wasn’t going to let it happen again.