Hating a Phoenix, Chapter 7

by: Firey Angelwings

***Hey guys! I don’t know if you think so, but it has been a LONG time since I last updated! I’ve been feeling sort of guilty about it, so I am dedicating some time to writing chapter 7. I HAVE done some important stuff concerning this fic, so read my notes at the bottom of the page!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or anything to do with the show. This is only a fan work, and it should be treated that way.

Duo moved his head in time to the music coming from his space radio. When Hilde walked in, she stopped and stared at him for a few moments, trying to keep from laughing so Duo wouldn’t notice her presence. When he finally did turn and see her, Hilde let out her roaring laughter. She watched the ‘God of Death’ turn a dark shade of red, then make an effort to recover his dignity.

“I was just...listening to music. RELENA’S music in fact. You would have done the same thing, I’d bet.”

Hilde stopped her wheezing to give a sarcastic answer,

“Oh yes. I’m sure, Duo. You are very right.”

Their conversation stopped dead at that point, as they both studied the other warily. It was obvious that they were both trying to find a way to broach an embarrassing subject.

Duo began first,

“So...about that...kiss, before...”

Hilde added quickly,

“Yeah, about the kiss...”

They both fell silent. Duo then tried hesitantly,

“Sorry?”

From here ensued a fast-paced dialogue.

“You’re sorry?”

“Well, not exactly...”

“Oh.”

“I mean, it was a good kiss.”

“Yeah, it was. But...”

“It was...”

“Wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Yes. Exactly. It was wrong.”

Duo looked rather surprised. NO girl had ever said that to him. He refuted quickly,

“Well, you kissed back.”

It was Hilde’s turn to change her face colour to red. She searched for words through her embarrassment, then mumbled,

“That was only because of...high emotions. I was worried. Y’know, it’s been a while since you had to go and fight.”

Duo hadn’t anticipated her answer. He was at a loss for words now, but then agreed.

“Yeah. That’s right. Me too. High emotions. Gotta control those.”

The woman looked very relieved at his words. She sighed contentedly, smiled, then said,

“So we’re cool? Still friends?”

Duo nodded energetically.

“Absolutely. It won’t happen again.”

Hilde smiled even wider, then told him,

“Alright then. Well...I have to go and talk to someone so...see you?”

Once more, Duo nodded. Hilde left the room as quietly as she had come. For a few moments, his happy smile was pasted to his face, but it disappeared like a face on a deflating balloon. He turned and drove his fist ferociously into one of the couch’s pillows, cursing to himself.

“You blew it once more, you big fool.”

Relena/Artemis Peacecraft stood motionless in the center of a large, rectangular, metal room. The air was cold and compressed, and she seemed to be waiting for something.

A computer near the wall made a loud beep. The walls seemed to shimmer, and then a hologram of a generic human figure appeared in front of Relena. A computerized voice was emitted from a speaker on the ceiling.

“Running program 95: Sparring, level 24. Are you ready to begin, Miss Relena?”

Relena’s voice echoed in the large, empty room.

“I’m ready. Run the program.”

The computer answered back,

“Computer vs. Relena Peacecraft, battle number 6. This sparring match begins now.”

The hologram quickly disappeared or rather, it moved quickly out of sight. Relena turned, then ducked as her opponent dove at her. She brought on of her knees up into its exposed stomach. It fell into a roll, then turned and shot quickly back at her, launching into a flurry of various attacks.

Relena brought her arms up to block the punches with no change in her facial expression. After a moment, her left eyebrow twitched slightly, and she lunged forward, nailing her opponent with a hook punch in the throat. Relena made a quick turn, moving so she was back to back with her enemy, and used her elbow to send it forward and onto the ground. Defeated.

The computerized voice sounded once more.

“Battle number 6 complete. Victory goes to Relena.”

Running a hand through her damp hair, Relena called out,

“Shut down program computer. I’m done.”

The computer obeyed, and all was silent once more. Relena still did not move, until she turned and spoke,

“Why do you have to watch me all the time?”

Out of the shadows in the corner of the room emerged a figure. His eyes were unwavering as he answered back with his own question,

“Does it even matter to you?”

Relena chuckled slightly, until she verified,

“You’re right, Heero. It doesn’t matter to me at all.”

They stared at each other, both of their eyes frozen in contempt of the other. Until Heero challenged,

“You’ve had your virtual opponents. You should try against actual enemies.”

Relena stepped in front of him. She hated how he was taller than her. Once again, a staring contest began. At least, until she whirled, and aimed her first punch at him. Heero felt something graze his cheek as their battle began.

Hilde walked speedily down the long corridors, heading for the downstairs chambers. She was especially confused if she had just done the right thing with Duo.

‘Oh no!’ she thought in irritation. ‘I’ve lost my way again. This house is WAY too big. I had enogh trouble when I went to visit Quatre last summer! Oh wait! Here’s an elevator.’

She stepped on and came face to face with Milliardo Peacecraft. Hilde sighed in relief, before stating,

“Ah. Just the person I need.”

He gave her an odd look before inquiring,

“Is there something wrong, Hilde?”

She shook her head.

“No, no, Milliardo. But...do you know where your sister is? I have to talk to her. It’s VERY important.”

He gave her one of those million dollar smiles before answering,

“She’s downstairs in the training chambers. Do you...know how to get there?”

Hilde laughed.

“No. Not yet. But I can’t take up your valuable time. I’ll talk to her later. Thanks for your help.”

Waving good-bye, Hilde left in the opposite direction. She had to ask for Relena’s advice on this issue. She ALWAYS gave good advice.

Relena narrowly missed hitting the computer when dodging yet another attack. She couldn’t take a second to blink, because Heero was way too fast.

‘THERE!!’ Her mind screeched, as he came close to landing a punch, before Relena made a flip over him. But as she did, a few of her platinum tresses slipped out of her ponytail, blinding her view. Taking advantage of her handicap, Heero sped towards her and landed a blow that defeated her.

They were both breathing hard as Relena’s eyes flashed angrily at him. She spat out words,

“Taking advantage of misfortune. Is that how you win all your fights?”

He answered back in the same tone.

“In real battle, everyone does.”

Heero let her go, turned and walked out of the training room. His mind flashed triumphant thoughts.

‘So. She isn’t stronger than me. All the better. I’ve proved a point. Perhaps she can beat me verbally, but not yet physically.’

He let one of his smiles escape past the cold exterior. It was then that a shocking thought hit him.

‘She wasn’t using her wings. What would happen then?’

Sally Po paced slowly in front of a large, wall-to-wall window that looked over the landscaping in front of the mansion. She was standing in a large, spacious office, quite similar to the one Relena had inhibited before her failed assassination. This office also belonged to Relena, however, she no longer used it for the matters of politics, but for the matters of her career, as a performer.

A door to her left slid open, and in walked Relena herself, who was making an effort to dry her wet hair with a small towel. She looked up when she noticed Sally was there.

“Oh! Hey, I didn’t even see you, Sally...”

The older woman smiled, then said,

“I have a favour to ask of you.” Relena nodded. ”I downloaded from my office all the info that is available on the Purifiers. I would like you to read it over, to see if you would notice anything important.”

Relena tossed her towel onto a lamp, then sank down into her chair. She spoke as Sally handed her the files containing all the information.

“No problem. Time to get to know our enemy a little better. But you don’t have to stay, enjoy yourself while you have the time!”

Sally smiled, then turned and exited the room.

Relena sighed as she opened the first file and began skimming over the words and graphs written there. She felt like she was back in her old office, reading reports from different sectors. A silence came over the room.

But the peace didn’t last for long. After five quiet minutes, a red faced Duo burst in on the scene. Relena looked up in alarm as he started talking,

“Relena! Thank *puff* God I...*wheeze* found you. This mansion is *pant*...HUMONGUOUS!! How do you ever...*cough* find your way around?”

She laughed, closed the file with lighthearted ease, then inquired,

“Who cares? You found me. What can I do for you, Duo?”

The pilot gave her an odd glance and paused, catching his breath. He finally let out a big sigh of relief, then exclaimed,

“I’m very confused. All through this short time we’ve been here, I noticed that you and Heero,” he noted that Relena stiffened at his friend’s name, “are really at each other’s throats. What’s going on?”

Relena stared at Duo in examination for a moment, then cast her eyes downward, back to the file in front of her. She answered back carefully and warily,

“I really don’t know what you mean...Heero and I haven’t even had the time to get at each other’s throats. I mean, I guess he’s been training, and I’ve been busy making the modifications to the Zero system...”

Duo stopped in surprise, then asked,

“Modifications? Like what?”

Relena answered without hesitating, happy that she successfully changed the subject,

“I made some changes in my own mobile suit, so that the system interacts with the unique body chemistry of a Phoenix, so that it would be faster, stronger, better...”

Duo nodded, then was about to go back to questioning her about Heero, when Relena interrupted him,

“Look, Duo, I’m really sorry and I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to go over these files. I sort of need to get back to work.”

He stopped short at that moment, realizing that he had been dismissed. In a sigh of resignation, Duo turned and left the room.

As he began walking down the hall, Duo noticed a tall figure walking towards him. Ah, the princess’ brother...would he know what’s going on?

Just as Duo wished, Milliardo inquired as to what was wrong with him. When Duo asked back about the relationship between Heero and Relena, Milliardo broke into a wide smile.

He motioned for Duo to follow him. Duo was led to a small room full of tapes and cassettes. Milliardo searched among the shelves for a moment, then produced a small tape. He popped it into a machine, and the image of Relena and Heero meeting up and getting into a horrible verbal fight filled his view.

Back in her office, Relena/Artemis threw down the file in frustration, exclaiming,

“I can’t stand this anymore. I’m not cut out for reading reports all day long. I’ve got to go find Hilde or someone.

Without a second thought, she left her office in search of some company.

How he had gotten himself into this situation, he didn’t know, but Heero knew that he should, no, MUST get out of it.

He was stuck in a corner, with Trowa, Catherine, Noin and Dorothy having a long discussion on ambush tactics. The four of them were all in strategic positions so that he couldn’t get away. Heero didn’t know what was worse, having to assassinate Relena, or staying in this place any longer.

The problem was that the foursome didn’t want him to get away, so making excuses was becoming increasingly difficult.

After enduring five more minutes of their incessant chatter, Heero finally threw up all pretenses. Now it wasn’t just the Perfect Soldier aspect of his personality demanding that he rip all of their hair out. How could a bunch of people all be so intolerable?

“I’ve had it. You all know that I hate...talking.”

All four stopped and examined him. Heero returned their stares with a cold, heavy gaze. Finally, Cathy answered back,

“We’re just trying to be friendly, to get to know you better. Here’s an idea: why don’t you tell us what you like, your interests, you know. The stuff that you want in life.”

Heero fired back icily,

“Fine. I’ll tell you what I want: I want OUT of this conversation.”

With that, he pushed through them and headed for the door. Dorothy, in a last minute attempt to keep him around, called out,

“Wait! Heero Yuy, I...challenge you to a duel.”

Heero turned around slowly with an eyebrow raised.

“Then I decline your challenge. I’m going out for a walk now. Alone.”

Relena and Hilde had found each other in the halls of the main floor, and were now strolling along, deep in discussion.

“Serious? He kissed you? Duo’s got more guts than I give him credit for...”

Hilde looked embarassed, and blushing, looked away. She answered softly,

“Well, you know. Duo very...extroverted, I guess.”

Her blonde friend gave her a strange and skeptical look.

“Don’t blow me off here. YOU came to me for advice. I’m just getting the details.” She paused, then continued, “So, the whole story would be...Duo kissed you before going off for his mission. He gets back. You talk about it, then tell him that it was a mistake. He agrees.”

Hilde nodded. Relena threw up her hands in resignation.

“The both of you are afraid of each other! You get shy around yourselves and keep running away! What a bunch of silly chickens you are!”

Hilde threw back her head and laughed, relieved that her friend could make her happy about such strange things. She watched Relena’s face grow serious again, then contemplated when she asked,

“Seriously now. When he kissed you, before all this weirdness happened, what was it like?”

Hilde stopped and turned to her pal.

“Unbelievable.”

Their laughter rang out into the garden of the mansion.

Heero walked slowly along the pathways of red earth. You would think that a garden on Mars wouldn’t be very nice, but the red made everything look all the more exotic.

He wasn’t really thinking of anything, not of Relena, not of fighting or missions, not of repairs. The soldier’s mind was at peace for a few moments, until he heard the pound of running feet.

Immediately, Heero’s mind switched back into fighting mode, as his brain fed him stats. One person running. Judging by the intensity of the sound the individual was about 75 yards away, coming closer.

Heero looked up, finally perceiving Duo running towards him, cutting over the grass. He stopped and patiently waited with an air of carelessness. Inside, he wondered what had Duo so ticked off.

Panting from lack of breath, Duo stopped his sprint in front of Heero. Although his heart rate was going a mile a minute, he still managed to form a tone of disgust as he spoke.

“I cannot believe you. As soon as one of your mistakes is rectified, you trip up and make another one.”

Heero raised an eyebrow as he regarded his friend, silently asking what he was talking about. Like he had read his mind, Duo answered back,

“Relena. Artemis. I actually thought that you two were finally getting somewhere.”

At the mention of Relena’s name, Heero visibly stiffened. A moment later he relaxed and inquired in a drawling voice, a quizzical look painted on his cold face.

“Will you tell me what you’re referring to? I’m sort of in the dark about what you’re saying.”

Duo let a shocked expression cross his face. The numbness of his initial shock was receding, now being replaced with white hot anger. He felt the need to stick up for Relena.

“I’ll tell you. Milliardo just played me a tape. And it seems that you and Relena met before the rest of us did.” He paused, glaring. “The things you said to her...”

The soldier rolled his eyes and moved to turn away. Seeing this, the ‘God of Death’ quickly reached forward and grabbed his arm.

“You make me so sick. After all the things Relena has done for you-- for US!! This is how you thank her? I wonder how she can stand being in the same house as you.”

A cold feeling passed through Heero’s body. He didn’t like to be abused, physically or verbally. This he would not tolerate. He looked Duo straight in the eyes with a frigid stare and spoke softly.

“Take your hand off my arm, Duo.”

At this Duo’s grip tightened. The fury was visible in his eyes.

“Don’t ever tell me what to do. Nobody will take that from you, Heero Yuy!”

Enough was enough. This little conflict must be settled. The fingers on Heero’s free arm curled into a fist and launched themselves straight for Duo chest. Winded, Duo was thrown back a couple of meters, but still managed to remain on his feet.

Duo’s mind screamed that he couldn’t lose this fight; he had to protect Relena’s honour. He raced back with his elbow jutting forward, connecting directly with Heero’s side. His opponent’s knee came up out of nowhere and delivered a sharp, painful blow to his open stomach. As Duo fell forward, he regained his balance and spun around, landing a roundhouse kick to Heero’s back.

As his enraged enemy landed another hit on his already-bruised stomach, Duo thought,

‘Damn. He’s good at hand-to-hand combat. But this is Heero. He’s good at everything. Except respecting Relena.’

Relena and Hilde’s conversation had turned to their futures as they rounded another bend in the elaborate garden. If there had been any stranger’s passing by, they would have made a small smile at the girls’ constant flow of schoolgirl chatter. They were having a real heart-to-heart talk, which had not happened for a while now, between them.

Suddenly, Relena’s head turned to the side and her attention was led elsewhere. Hilde gave her a curious look.

“Earth to Lena-- wait, no--- MARS to Lena, are you with us?”

The blonde girl turned back and said in a wondering voice,

“Did you hear something? I thought... I heard voices.”

Hilde was silent now, straining to listen. After a moment, she shrugged.

“I don’t hear anything. Great, now you need a hearing aid, what is next Lena---”

She stopped in mid-sentence as Hilde picked up the sound of voices. Angry voices. She turned to Relena.

“Where’s it coming from. I hear it now.”

Her friend grinned quickly in triumph then answered as she pointed,

“I think, to this direction.”

They both stared at each other, then decided to go check of what was happening. The pitter-patter of footsteps on stones. What they found was not expected.

“DUO!!!” Hilde’s shrill voice rang out in the garden as she witnessed a vicious kick from Heero connect with his chest, then saw Duo counter with a powerful left hook punch.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Relena’s calmer but still high-pitched voice now sounded. Both guys looked up in surprise as the two women came rushing towards them.

Relena put a strong arm across Heero’s chest and roughly pushed him away from Duo, who was now being dragged a few feet away by Hilde. The two men were still giving each other dagger glances as they were questioned by a frantic Hilde.

“What do you think you were doing? You’re getting yourselves hurt and that’s bad... you won’t be in top condition for your battles--- NOT that I only care about the battles but --- ow could yo have been so stupid? You could have broken something, a bone--- or even something in the garden because it’s so pretty, you’d have ruined it--- you are such, such...” She searched for a word. “BOORISH THUGS!!!”

Heero, Duo and Relena all gave a hairy eyeball glance before Duo finally looked up and told Relena,

“You deserve sainthood, Lena. Y’know, for putting up with this... boorish thug...in your house.” He motioned to Heero.

Relena and Duo’s eyes connected and she understood that he knew. She sighed in irritation and exhaustion, then mumbled,

“What I put up with is none of anyone else’s business, Duo. I do appreciate that you care, though.”

Hilde and Relena gave each other looks of resignation and walked away. Heero and Duo eyed each other for a moment, then did the same.

Far away, Maxwell Pavey paced the floor of his plush office, considering, considering. The messanger by his door, who had been standing there for a while now loudly cleared his throat.

A few minutes passed. When Pavey made no order, the messanger, named Paul, finally got up the courage to inquire,

“Your order, sir?”

Pavey looked up and stared at Paul in amazement, as thought he had never realized he was there. He contemplated for a moment, then answered,

“Yes. My order...the conquest of L1. Affirmative. To go ahead with.”

Paul nodded, then exited quickly. As soon as he left the office, he breathed deeply. He couldn’t make any mistakes, or else his pay would be cut, even though he was new to this.

“Not fair” he muttered as he went to deliver the message, “not fair”.

***Phew! Done.

Oh my God, it has been SOOOO long since I last wrote, and I am so so sorry. There was my vacation and everything, but now, I’m finally getting cracking and continuing.

IMPORTANT!! IMPORTANT!!!! After many people suggested this in their reviews, I finally did it. I have created my own fan fiction web page, which now only houses ‘Hating a Phoenix’, but give me time!!! I’ll make more, just probably not any more fics on GW. Anyways, you can go there for the LATEST on this fic, and it would be the first updated, chapter-wise.

The URL is : http://fireyangelwings.homestead.com/Home.html

I also sumitted my page and was accepted to the Anime Web Turnpike (www.anipike.com) a week ago. You should find my page, named ‘The Domain of Angelwings’ in the Fan Fiction section.

How did you like this chapter? How do you like how this is playing out? Mail me, review me, whatever. I’ll accept it and answer it all.