Part Seven of Two Steps

[Desert Bloom]

Authoresses Note:

OK, I guess I have some explaining to do.

Without sounding full of excuses, first I had Internet problems. Then I had writer?s block. Then I had Microsoft Word problems. Then I had Internet problems. And now, here I am, with Part Seven, and a thoroughly corrupted Part Six file that I have got to find a way to get right again.

Luckily, although Part Six was only partially there, it had near to the absolute perfect setup of blotting out everything you didn?t really need to hear.

I think I?m getting closer, actually, and probably won?t have to type the whole thing up again. *sigh* Otherwise, summer?s here and I couldn?t be happier! Hope you enjoy this! It?s a bit more cynical and sadistic than usual, in my opinion?anyways, please review! After working really hard on something, reviewers could absolutely NOT know what it means to the writer when they get some positive reviews.

*Standard Disclaimer Applies (please don?t sue me!)*

***Part Seven of Two Steps: Bringing That Damn Horse To Water Just Ain?t Working Out***



Heero and I engaged in an interaction I had never before thought we could even possibly do together: conversation.

Oh, sure, true, the boy didn?t exactly collapse at my feet in tears and spill out all the saddening events of his fleeting childhood. I talked more than he did, naturally, but he listened, and he responded, and our voices, falling to a softening whisper at certain intervals, and then climbing to a new climatic high at other moments, were more vibrantly alive in exuberance than ever before. The content was more satisfying as well ? I did not mumble about strange reunions and nice rooms.

For the most part, we talked about friends. Duo was our main subject matter. He was a person that Heero did not mind begrudgingly contemplating.

?Hilde is having twin girls.? I remarked at one point, during a slight break in out talk, my words seemingly pushed out of context under the fear of an uncomfortable silence.

He nodded solemnly, and looked at his hands. ?I never thought of Duo as??

?A father??

?Yes. He is more like??

?A child??

Another nod, to signify my correctness in my faint guess at predicting this boy ? this totally unpredictable boy!

Was he so unpredictable? He was sullen ? quiet ? upset always, in his own way ? serious ? and yet so passionate in all his doings. He was passionate about remaining dispassionate ? and I told myself to shut up before I confused myself anymore than I was all ready.

Admittedly, it was nothing great. But I could not help feel as if I had broken down a wall at some point. Some barrier, it had collapsed, under a will of mine that I had never known.

A will, perhaps eerily similar to the venom portrayed in my eyes as I had raised the gun and took that fatal shot at Billington.

?You didn?t shoot him, you know.?

There had been another lull in the speech, but I had sagged my head backward onto the couch and let out a long sigh, uncaring of it. I was tired, far too tired now, to chase the conversation any longer. It had happened ? why did I care so much about anybody who made it a challenge to talk to?

I looked up then, however, quickly, my eyes taking in his form across the couch. His blue eyes seemed sad to me, and he pursued, ?It would have been impossible.?

I pushed myself up on my one elbow, raising my eyebrows in a scrutinizing, skeptical look. ?What makes you say that??

?You were with me the entire time, in the same room, during the same stretch of time where you supposedly shot him.?

Silence, long, relentlessly long. I had no words. What was I supposed to say?

My body seemed to know, if not my mind, for my lips moved, and a deep power hidden within my chest gave birth to the question, ?So Billington faked it??

?No, someone really shot him. I know fake blood ? that wasn?t fake.?

I nodded solemnly, looking down at my lap to contemplate this disturbing bit of personal opinion Heero had set in front of me. Or was it opinion? No, most likely, in all ways and forms and things considered, it was absolute, pure, if somewhat raw, fact. Heero, a.ka. The Perfect Soldier knew all about these sorts of scandals from the inside out, as he was usually the one holding the gun.

I sighed loudly, trying to think past my growing headache. What was Heero suggesting? That someone who looked like me had shot him? How could that be possible? All things were possible, of course, as was the law of life, but this ? the person had looked so exactly like me. I conjured the mental image of the person holding the gun, and once again could only dismiss it as being none other than me.

Except?

Shadows. I had been partially covered by shadows ? or whoever the hell it was ? they had been partially covered by shadows. For Billington had been on a theatrical stage, oddly so, for he didn?t usually talk in a place that looked more suited for a play.

In any case, the curtains only used in a theatrical stage had cast a shadow over the shooter, making judgment somewhat distorted.

So.

But could makeup and costume arrangement really do that well?

I had a headache, and my leg was giving me extra pains than before, and I was so tired, and so complete burned out, and?so whiny. I was a leader, for Christ?s sake! But, also, as a leader of human beings, so damned, so uncontrollably, in direct, infuriating consequence, so damned human.

Well, wait. The person had been me, right down to the capital R in Relena. The way I walked when I was angry, the way my hands clenched at my sides and my posture went back-breaking straight, the way my steps were always two long strides, then a pause, then another two strides ? totally me. Unarguably.

?Heero??

An actor? Rather, an actress?

But, these were things someone would have to observe after living with me, or something like that of knowing me for a long time. I was seldom angry in public, and all the vids of my anger were portrayed as I sat a table or in a chair or merely stood at a podium. Not of my ?anger walk?, as described once to me by Noin.

?Yes??

I was wishing, desperately, for it to not be me, for me to be innocent of my crime. But it was all excuses ?

?I think??

and I was a leader, and I couldn?t make excuses, and I needed to take some course of action instead of sitting here on my ass all day, and I needed to live for the future ? present was hell, past being the pathway to hell.

??I need to take a shower.?

Which I really did need to do, actually.

I got to my feet, ready to go to the bathroom and get that business done, but stopped as Heero said, quickly, ?Wait.?

I stopped, turning to look at him over my shoulder. ?What?? I asked, snappish because of the headache.

His eyes, dear god, his eyes.

?I don?t think you did it because you?re incapable of doing it. Does that make sense??

I didn?t really get that, so he added, ?Relena, you care about everyone. You couldn?t possibly ever shoot anyone ? the guilt would kill you.?

?Maybe it?s killing me now.?

He shook his head; smiling as if the idea was so insane it was amusing. ?No, you??

He stopped, eyes wide, with a lost, vague look. ?What?? I prodded. ?No, I what??

?Never mind. Just don?t change, Relena.?





The shower felt good. I needed it. The chance to wash away the grime and disorder of the last few days was wanted, welcomed, congratulated.

Of course, I did have a problem. In my oh-so-busy-trying-to-think-a-way-outta-this-dead-end mind, I had absentmindedly left my worn technician?s outfit on the floor right outside of the shower, so that ? boom ? when I stepped out, I totally soaked the clothes.

Naturally, I had not planned ahead enough to realize that I did not have another change of clothes.

And, in this empty wasteland of an apartment, there were no towels or bathrobes or anything that could cover up certain articles.

Sighing, I shook my head at myself in the bathroom mirror and pressed my knuckles against the counter until they were white, the result of stressful pulse-pounding thought trying to push itself through the dilemma of, How will I cover up? But no amount of laborious thought could get me out of this sad situation, so with a good deal of reluctance I left the bathroom, crossed the kitchen, and presented myself in the family room.

Heero had been sitting sideways on the couch; typing something hurriedly on a laptop he had gotten god-knows-where. He promptly looked up as my approaching footsteps informed him of my presence ? and just as promptly looked down in perfect ordinance to hit his forehead on the screen of his laptop.

I fidgeted, instinctively making my hand touch my cheek as I always did in situations I wished I weren?t it, just as I had when Wufei?s confession had been made, of Sally?s marriage and how pitifully it wasn?t with him. But then I realized that didn?t help matters, because it made my legs spread apart somewhat ? awkwardly, I knotted my fingers, and, in the position any good little church-going girl would take (in the exception that they were in Sunday clothes) held my fisted appendages before my lap, consequently blocking out some mechanisms of embarrassment.

?I?.um, got my clothes all wet?.and, um?um?yeah?? I jabbed a thumb towards the bathroom, and said quickly, ??there weren?t any towels?? and, face reddening, returned my hands to their oh-so important positions.

He nodded, and, having had the proper amount of time to process the situation, looked up at me normally and without any sort of hesitation. ?There are some spare clothes in the closet over there.? And he pointed a finger to illustrate where over there was.

I nodded, eyes nervously following the direction. ?I guess the previous owner must have left them there,? I remarked, starting towards the closet.

And stopped, turning around very quickly and returning to my post by the doorway.

There, of all places, was a window, looking right out onto my path to the closet. It was halfway covered by the blinds, but the other half was big enough to let the mob down there see a good portion of me.

Heero saw my plight, and without a word got up from his place at the couch, striding quickly to the window and pulling the blind all the way down. Then, since he was already closer to the closet than I was, he went and pulled out a pair of slacks and a t-shirt.

Time to give them to me. Like a rock, his expression never wavered as he turned to me, me more totally than usual, and walked over, the clothes held out like an offering. I blushed and took it from him, quickly leaving the room for the safety of the bathroom.

But something still bothered me about his demeanor. It was only until I had changed and left the bathroom a different, more comfortable woman that I realized what it was ? he had never looked at me since hitting his head on the laptop.

No, in the politest way, he had very decidedly kept his eyes on my face, nothing else. It had made me feel more naked than ever at the time, having to endure the strength of those challenging blue eyes the entire time. But no, he was being a gentleman.

Or it could just be that for a shell of a human like him, curiosity was out of the question?

The other thought was that I was horribly unattractive, ungainly, and painful to look at. While during other circumstances I would have meditated upon the possibility as thoroughly as possible, I decided instead that it held no interest for me.

What interested me was positively downright simple: getting out.




I returned to the couch, barely taking note of the fact that Heero had left the family room. He had been prone to many different disappearances the last few days anyway, and not that that didn?t provoke any curiosity, but, well, yeah ? this was Heero we were talking about.

This was Heero, the sneaky, hardworking perfect soldier, who, since he was so sneaky, hardworking, and damned perfect, he somehow always managed to stay a little ahead of the game ? Heero, who, if he was telling the truth (which, although I didn?t want to admit it to myself then, was rare) was just as lost as me, just as trapped and confounded. Disappearances were expected ? he was still here, wasn?t he? He was still here, which meant he probably wasn?t keeping anything from me of great importance.

Or he wanted to keep me here for certain reasons of his own, so he pretended to be as trapped as I was.

But I didn?t think of that.

I tried to concentrate, tried so-oh-very-hard to think of ways out of this deathtrap. The rumble in my stomach brought me to the realization that I hadn?t eaten in forever, so I got off the couch and investigated the kitchen.

Luckily, as I stood on my tiptoes and rummaged around in the cupboard, I was able to locate a loaf of bread (however stale), some crackers, and some chocolate mix. The crackers were quickly ruled out, however, for, upon opening them, a few spiders crawled out and over the delicious wheat shreds.

I shrieked and very quickly found the trashcan.

So, it was stale bread and some cocoa mix. I set to making the cocoa mix, using a paper cup I had found in the bathroom and some tap water from the sink.

But once again, as I had with the discovery of the window, stopped dead center, eyes going wide. Cocoa mix ? Wufei ? would I ever see him again?

Would I ever see my brother again?

Justice and nobility ? would I ever see them again?

This, combined with my spider encounter, made me thoroughly lose my appetite. Sighing, I left my snack arrangement right where it was on the counter, and returned to the couch, flopping down with a sigh. I drew a pillow up to my chest, and hugged it like I used to do when I was little and Mr. Bunny was the center of my life, my pride and joy.

?It is all right, Relena. I just want you to know why you are doing this. I do not think it is for peace, and maybe I am wrong, but I do not think it so.?

Oh, I would have given so much just to be able to talk with the dark eyed samurai one more time! Just to feel at peace, just to feel safe one more time, by the side of his protective and caring gaze.

This, I knew, Heero may never be able to give to me ? the caring.

And now, not Wufei either.

Was he lying hurt somewhere, broken and bloodied in an empty expanse of land, with no one willing to help him?

I quickly pushed the mental image out of my head, telling myself, almost in a chant: later, later, you have to find a way out, a way to escape the mob.

Which raised another question: Why hadn?t the police come by yet, to arrest me and everything?

Because Billington was the police, but no one knew that, but they might think that I was the police, so they would think I was the one delaying their arrival, but no, it was Billington, very wisely making me seemingly stew in injustice.

Injustice. Gawd. Could I get away from that mental picture of the hurt Wufei, now that I had so stupidly gone to great lengths to conjure it?

?Relena??

I looked up, surprised, surprised both because Heero had returned and asked for my attention, and surprised because, unbeknownst to me, I had been tightly clenching the pillow with my fists and staining it with my tears.

I nodded weakly to show that I had taken account of his presence, angry with myself for the display of open weakness ? would he think me nothing more than a little girl, crying like she would after being sent to bed without supper? ? but sighed, thinking stubbornly to myself that, oh well, it only makes me more damned human after all.

He set something down on the coffee table, and began to mess with wires poking out of the object. To my surprise, he moved the couch over a couple feet to the right, with a simple push. My eyes followed him as he brought an extension cord to the wall behind the couch and hooked it (whatever it was) up. Raising an eyebrow, I returned my gaze to the new arrival, and asked, ?What is it??

?A vid-phone.? He said, standing up, dusting some dust off his pants, and then, with a single grab, pulling the couch back to it?s norm position. ?I thought you might want to make some calls.?

I blinked. ?Yeah.?

He shrugged, and started towards the kitchen. He stopped, however, blinking, and, after a pause, inspected the sole of his shoe.

?I stepped on a spider.?

?Uh?yeah. There was a little bit of an infestation in a cracker box earlier. I threw it in the trash ? but I guess that doesn?t stop them from just crawling out.?

?I?ll go take care of it.?

Now that he said vid-phone, I realized that that was exactly what it looked like. Shocked out of my little outburst, I scrambled down to the floor and made the one call I realized, much later, the one call I had been itching to make.

Hilde smiled as the screen blurred into focus, but that quickly fell into an expression of complete and utter surprise as she saw me.

?Hi.? I offered weakly.

And then I promptly launched into another outburst of tears. I, no matter how hard I fought it, could not stop the instinctive impulse ? I hurt, I was human, I might as damned well cry a little. Such was my justification, and Hilde?s everyone-needs-to-vent attitude reinforced my philosophy.

?I don?t?have any recollection?. of doing it,? I choked through sobs at one point. She nodded, and I went on, ?Heero doesn?t think I?you know.?

She blinked. ?Heero?s there??

I nodded. ?Yeah.?

?How???

I very quickly found a way to stop my tears long enough to explain all the whys and hows and things of the situation, the how-we-got-here?s and the now-we-don?t-know-how-to-get-out included. She was a complete dear the entire time, nodding and encouraging and saying, time and time over again, ?I can?t believe it.?

?Yeah, I can?t believe it either. It?s weird ? I DID plan to assassinate him ? but just because Heero was supposed to be the one doing the shooting ? it doesn?t justify things ? but ?? I stopped, finally, realizing that the only sense I was making was nonsense, half thought out gibberish.

To my surprise, however, Hilde brightened suddenly, a warm smile spreading over her expression.

?You?ve reminded me of something.?

?Huh??

?Speaking of justifying and justice, and all those kinds of things??

?Hilde, what?re you???

She held a finger up to her lips, silencing me. I sighed, and, reluctantly, nodded.

?I have a visitor here, you know, and I think he?s just woken up from his nap. Excuse me while I go get him.?

Within five minutes, the visitor had been presented at the vid-phone. His appearance set me into another burst of tears, shameful for a leader, expectable for a human.




?I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!!? I fairly wailed, plunging my face into my hands to try and stop the flow.

Wufei smiled awkwardly. ?I?m glad that is not so.?

?DON?T EVER do that to me again! I thought you were dead!?

?I am not.? He said again, as if I could not see that.

I sniffled one last time, and, finally, with it stopped, looked up. ?Are you hurt??

He shook his head. ?Not very. My arm is in a cast ?? He held the bandaged appendage up for me to see, waving it with such carelessness that I got the impression he didn?t think a cast was necessary. ?Hilde claims my arm is broken. I don?t think so, but she is very persistent.? Here, there was a frown to illustrate to what extent he suffered from Hilde?s persistence.

?Is my brother there?? I asked, narrowing my eyes and looking about the screen, as if he would be lurking in some shadow or waiting around the corner.

Wufei, to my surprise, went very pale. ?Relena??

?What? Relena what??

I was snappish, I knew it, but his reaction had not been what I wanted.

?Here, sit down and listen.?

I did not point out that I was sitting down.

The bloody details of the whole airborne affair were relayed to me in raw, honorable truth, as it would, and should be, coming from Wufei.

The attack had started out as planned. Since, upon Billington?s assassination, it was to be guessed that one of his more unpredictable lackeys may set a barrage of suits upon Earth in direct revenge, Wufei and Milliardo were supposed to take care of them first, so that there would be no such arsenal. They effectively lured them out and away from the city; to a secluded forest where chances were that there would be no innocents lost or civilian causalities.

He paused awhile, and then finally returned to his explanation, but it was in a wondering tone. ?Then they multiplied.?

?Multiplied??

He nodded. ?Yes. According to Heero?s estimated calculations of how many there were, we had already taken out half of their arsenal. But then there was four times as many ? two against six hundred is hardly a fair fight.?

?An injustice.? I said, and there was nothing mocking about my words at all. It WAS an injustice, one that seemingly had cost my brother his life. ?Go on.?

They fought as long as they could, as hard as they could. But eventually, time took its toll on them. While Milliardo was still functioning well enough to fight, Wufei was struck down to the forest floor. A mobile suit positioned itself for the finishing touches, taking aim and firing ? and my brother, heroic to the end, got himself in the way of the blast.

It damaged him badly, but did not completely take him out. ?You can no longer fight,? my brother pointed out to Wufei over the comm. system, and then went on to destroy the same suit that had wounded him.

Wufei knew when he was down, and, goddammit, he was down. ?This is over.? Wufei returned, letting himself free from the seat restraints and starting towards the door. ?We were an effective distraction ? you should find a safe place to land and then disembark.?

?Not yet.?

Wufei stopped where he was, turning over his shoulder to face the comm. screen. That dying mobile suit of his had just enough juice to present the image of my brother?s face on the vid screen, tired looking, but also, determined.

?You can?t win.?

?I won?t run. Stop wasting time, Wufei ? you?re the perfect mark down there.?

And with that, my brother cut the connection. Without being able to do anything, Wufei was forced to flee.

?I don?t know what happened to him after that.? He offered helplessly, his explanation done.

I thought I saw a fleeting glimpse of absolute sadness cross his face ? a stubborn reminder that I wasn?t the only person here suffering. Everybody was suffering, not just me, and my role as leader was supposed to be to stop the suffering ?

?Wufei, I?m lost.?

Wufei?s confusion at my statement told me I wasn?t making sense. I sighed, and tried again, saying, ?I?m a leader, Wufei, and part of being a leader is to stop suffering ? I have, selfishly, only been enhancing it, causing more. That was never my goal.?

?Relena??

?Wufei, I?m a goddamn leader! People look up to me. I hold?responsibility. I want so many things, you know ? I don?t want suffering, I want everyone to be happy, and I want peace. And I want ??

I stopped where I was, dead center surprise just as I had done with the window, and the spiders. The absolute caught-off-guard thing had been done to me again, my unawareness was shockingly total ? yeah, damn right I was lost.

?And?? Pause. ?I?m being selfish again, aren?t I? Complaining about all my wants, while you never say anything, you just listen. It?s killing you, isn?t it? The stress?it?s going to happen again. War is going to happen again. You need a shoulder to cry on, not the responsibility of being a shoulder.?

Wufei had gone quiet, eerily so. I had the sensation of strange satisfaction that you usually get after hitting something right on the mark, but it was joined by a mild queasiness.

Then, he shook his head and burst into loud laughter.

I blinked, completely out of the joke.

He stopped, checking my confusion, and said, an amused smirk bemusing his expression, ?Relena, please. You?ve shot a very influential man, stranding him in a wheelchair for the rest of his days. Your brother may be dead. You?re penned up in an apartment with an assassin, who, may I mention, you?re bent on proving to the world does have a heart, even though he himself is so scared of that truth that he?s walking in circles and getting himself so dizzy he doesn?t know what to do with himself, until he knocks himself out after colliding with you. Believe me, your being upset is perfectly natural.?

I tried to imagine Wufei?s description of Heero. It turned out to be very disturbing ? poor little Heero running in circles, until squawking birdies form atop his head like a halo, and he promptly runs into me, except I?m a giant and he pathetically bounces off my toes.

I smiled weakly. ?Yeah, I guess. Any way out, that you can think of? The only food around here is some stale bread.?

I didn?t mention the spidered crackers or the cocoa mix, both because of memories overcoming me if I did mention it, however different those memories might have been from each other.

He shrugged helplessly. ?I don?t know. But, Relena?about Heero.?

I nodded.

?I heard a saying recently.?

I nodded again.

?You can bring a horse to water.?

?Yeah??

?But you might not be able to make them drink. And they may kick you down if you try.?




We talked a little bit more, but our conversation was now focused on my injury and what had happened to cause it. I told him, quite truthfully, that Heero was a genius when it came to medicine, and that the leg gave me next to no pains at all. He informed me that in this Hilde was equally capable, even though, according to him, his arm WAS NOT broken, and he DID NOT need a cast.

Then Duo arrived home.

And man was he pissed.

?It doesn?t look like you at all, Relena! I mean, look at it! You?re covered by shadows, for the love of Jesus Christ!?

?I don?t have any memory of doing it.? I admitted.

?Yeah, well, I don?t think you did it. They?ve branded you as a traitor, and this Billington guy is getting to be a real royal pain in the ass. What, has the world gone upside down or something? Gawd, his organization?s name is Death To Earth, for Pete?s sake, and here I sit, while on the television they?re spouting nonsense about him being a friend to Earth! I?ve got two beautiful little girls coming into a world that?s falling apart.?

?Swiftly falling.? I murmured, enjoying my little use of poetic license.

His eyes were blazing, his anger no less than infuriatingly complete. ?Yeah, well, hats off to me if I sit on my ass all day while this is going on.?

I blinked. ?What do you mean??

These were Gundam pilots, I had to remember, terrorists with hearts. They didn?t just sit back and let things happen ? they were people of action, and when provoked ? and man did Duo look provoked ? they don?t just sit back and let things happen, they stand up and damned well make things happen.

?Relena, I?ve got a wife and some kids, and I don?t want them to slaves under the leadership of Mr. Billington. God knows what Heero is doing these days, but my guess is that my friend isn?t the most stable fellow out there??

?Duo??

?Trowa is sitting on pins and needles when it comes to Catherine and her little pregnant episode?Quatre?s hands are tied thanks to that bastard Billington??

?Duo??

?Relena, hear me out! Wu-Chan is injured badly, though he won?t admit it, and is in no condition to do anything. All our little Preventer buddies are scurrying around like good little mice, trying to shut Billington up, but it won?t work, because every time he yells, they jump. Nah, you just gotta do some things yourself.?

But no, not now. Duo had influence in the underground, I remembered, and could very likely start up an organization to rival Billington?s if given the chance. But no, not now.

?Duo, I urge you to not take any such action.?

He chuckled, and smirked. ?Sorry, Relena. But seeing Wu-Chan collapse on my doorstep all bloody and hysterical makes a guy wonder about the world he?s going to be raising kids in.?

I paused. Wufei had never said anything about that.

?What??

?Damn right. He was near dead, and couldn?t stop yelling out your name.?

I opened my mouth to press further, but stopped as I felt a hand press down on my shoulder.

Duo looked surprised, glancing up at whoever it was very quickly ? his expression of surprise wore away into shock, and than deadpan anger. Watching these emotions flicker past his face was strangely fascinating, but I had not time to contemplate them as the hand tightened on my shoulder, and another hand grabbed my other shoulder.

?Heero???

My question was feeble, and stupid. No, not Heero. Someone else. Someone not friendly. Someone the opposite of friendly. Heh. Funny.

?Relena, get out of there!? Duo yelled, on the screen.

I tried to get to my feet, but the hands pushed me down again, right onto my injured leg. Their tightness was painful now ? I let out a yelp but was surprised to see, or rather, to hear, approximately nothing. I couldn?t even hear Duo now, though I could see him on the screen, very worried about something.

?Relena,? He mouthed, ?Get out of there, Relena!?

Why couldn?t I hear him?

Something smelled sweet. Something very sweet, like lilacs, or roses, or daisies, or those buttercups I used to pick for my father when?when he was alive?

Was I dying? Because I could see him in front of me, more real than ever, beckoning to me. ?Come here, little Relena, come here,? my father was saying, his hand held out to me.

No, hallucinating. Someone had clamped a heavy rag over my mouth, and I was breathing in the toxic fumes ? well, maybe not toxic. Not toxic, what? What was going on?

My last image was of Duo on the vid screen, mouthing, ?Bastard!?

My last thought was, Gee, I hope he?s not referring to me.

And then I fell asleep.






****Preview of Part Eight of Two Steps: Roses Red****

?Let me tell you all a wonderful story.?

A smile here, poking delicately at her pink lips, molding her expression into that of the utmost amusement. She looked like she was having fun ? and why not? This was Dorothy we were talking about, THE Dorothy that absolutely thrived on the philosophy that life was one gigantic plot, and her place on Earth, her very existence, was the sole purpose to stir up some trouble and create wonderful plot twists.

?It starts so many years ago, over ten by now, in fact, back when both of our star-crossed lovers were fifteen. Hmmm?. well, to tell the whole thing in complete and utter detail would take so damn long. I know! I?ll write a book about it!?

I could almost see the light bulb pop over her head.

What was she doing? The Dorothy of yesterday seemed to have been left behind, the replacement being a venomous figure bent on destroying everything I held dear. Well, perhaps, not to ?destroy?. But still?frustrations and infuriating anger aside, I was no less than totally bewildered, confused at this odd turn of events.

?Come now, Miss Relena,? She said, her nauseating sweet voice, oiled with persuasiveness, breaking through my thoughts ? before I knew what was happening she had taken hold of my hand and pulled me forward, into direct view of the cameras. I made myself give a smile, but it was a nervous one, despite all my efforts to do otherwise.

?You shouldn?t hide, you know. I never knew you to be camera-shy before. Be more comfortable! The yarn I am about to spin is something truly amazing. Some of the secrets that are going to be uncovered even evaded your watchful eye, especially those that influenced the recent developments in the Billington saga. Oh, yes, my dear??

Her eyes closed, and her expression took on that of dreamy whimsy.

Then, however, she snapped back to attention, and, holding my trembling hand in her own, continued, ?You learn beautiful pieces of information after spending a couple nights with an earnest, plotting politician, who, may I say, has fairly large equipment and knows *just* how to go slow. Don?t seem so shocked! Smile a little, won?t you. You?re on television, Miss Relena.?

[blackrose]

Wow, you're really keeping us on the edge of our seats here. But where the heck did Heero go????

Dang it.

I find it interesting, the relationship you paint between Relena and Wufei. I really like it because he's a tough one for me to get inside his head.

Eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

~Rose

[melodrama]

Gosh... another wonderful chapter! I'm so enthralled (and confused...what the...) I really love the way you portray the characters, and your writing style is lovely.

Can't wait to read more!!

[Tsukiyo]

ACKNESS!! You're doing this all on purpose!! You WANT me to go nuts!! You purposefully never give me enough to have any idea of where it will go next!!! And then you have to go and write it all so well...::sighs in defeat:: Gotta say though, that shower bit was fantastic. I was so amused, it was great. And i know i probably have said this about a billion times before, but i really like your style and i really can't wait for the next chapter!!

~Tsukiyo

[goddesswing]

Could it possibly be true that Wufei likes Relena??? Where did Heero go by the way?? Well I really liked this chapter, suspenseful and exciting. If she didn't shoot him... who did?

~Goddesswing