Sideways Into the Present 1/1
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2003 4:03 am
I was sitting at work, bored out of my mind, when this fic idea just smacked me upside the head and told my little brain it had to be written. I also knew it had to be a one shot, no matter how long it ended up, because it was a one shot in my mind. And kudos to anyone who remembers that show Sliders, when it was on network TV. I watched so many episodes of it, and the earliest ones are the best. I had some trouble deciding whether to make this dramatic or not, but I am no good at drama so it should be interesting. Myeh. I think I?ll divide it up when I put it on ff.net though. . . .
Disclaimer: I don?t own hardly anything, and especially not Gundam Wing.
*
Heero looked pissed. He had just discovered, (and as he rarely was uninformed the concept of ?discovery? was tinged with unpleasantness) that Dr. J was in the main compound of the Preventer headquarters. Sub-level 14, Research & Development. This was bad. This was worse than bad, it was worrying. Perhaps he could have salvaged his mood if not for the fact that he only found out in front of Relena when Une was reporting progress to her. Apparently he had made a breakthrough with some new device of his and Une felt Relena needed to go check on him personally to authorize whether it was wise to let him continue.
Heero already had an answer to that question, as nothing the doctor made could be beneficial to the new peace. Mentioning the doctor in his presence was like waving a red scarf cheerfully in front of a bull while tied to a pole. Yet, despite all his misgivings about seeing the man, his priority was to protect Relena, so underground they went almost immediately on entering the building. Naturally Heero had all the access codes to get down that far and it only took a few moments to input the five or six protocols that were required.
Even though she knew he was angry, Relena thought it was unfair of him to be even colder to her than usual. When Une had asked for increased funding to hire some scientists she had not asked who, but what they would be doing. With the answer seeming harmless enough she allowed the use of the funds and that was the end of that, or so she thought. That had been at least eight months ago. She hadn?t known Dr. J of all people was one of the scientists, hence to be mad at her was unreasonable. Without knowing it, she had crossed her arms and was tapping the toe of one foot in rhythmic irritation as she stared at Heero?s back.
When the elevator finally stopped at their destination, the two figures were greeted with a long hallway ending in a large stainless steel door. As Heero reached for the knob the door opened and the infamous doctor himself stood smiling in the doorway, reminding Relena of the Cheshire cat from the Alice in Wonderland books. The only thing was that the cat had never specialized in weapons of mass destruction. An uneasy feeling seeped through Relena but she hid it well, and only the incredible tenseness that exuded from Heero gave his apprehension away.
"It?s an honor to have you visit my humble abode, Minister Darlian. And it?s always interesting to see you, Mr. Yuy." Heero?s eyes were so intent that all Relena could do was shiver.
"It?s chilly down here Doctor." She smiled in a friendly manner. "I can?t wait to see what you have to show me."
"I don?t suppose you?d like to see all the different gadgets I?ve been fiddling with because I know exactly the thing Lady Une was worried about." He ducked back and made his way into a door to the side. Heero pulled Relena aside.
"Tell him to discontinue whatever it is that he?s doing." His voice was monotone as always, yet more urgent than usual.
Pulling her arm away, Relena wanted to yell at him to not tell her how to do her job when she had been making decisions to guide the world for six years already. "I?ll make the best decision for the situation. It is my job after all, unless you don?t trust me to do the right thing." Her eyes narrowed. Somehow he could always make her react violently to things. It was a symptom of still being very sensitive when it came to the subject of Heero, not to the subject of her authority.
The doctor cleared his throat before he came into the room and the two pulled away from one another quickly. He carried a watch and a remote. With a questioning smile he held out the watch. Relena put it on her arm as Heero shifted his weight, unsettled, and wondered how he should kill the doctor if this so much as gave her a rash. The doctor pushed a button and the watch displayed some numbers, all 0 in fact. He smiled delightedly and turned on the remote, which beeped faintly.
"Excellent, everything is at full power." He fiddled with the switches on the remote. "This, from what I can tell, breaks through some sort of time-space barrier and launches an object into a different snapshot of the universe than the one we currently reside in." Both Heero and Relena got a look in their eyes and suddenly couldn?t seem to take another word seriously. Right. He had made a machine to transfer things to an alternate universe. Sure. Maybe the doctor should retire before his senility caused a truly horrific disaster. He was dangerous enough when sane. Assuming he had been sane in the beginning.
"I see you both don?t believe me. I have made several tests and they have been successful. I send probes in and I know that wherever they go it is similar in atmosphere and the like to our world. I can show you, if you like." Relena felt tired. This was a lot of stress, mostly because of Heero, to be humoring a crazy old man.
"Sure. I?d love to see your project in action." Her smile was kind. The doctor raised an eyebrow.
"Press the button on the left, on your watch." There were two on the left and two on the right. She pressed the inner left one, and a ?1? appeared on the timer, replacing the zero that had been there. "It should read one minute. When the numbers start flashing, and they should right away, then press this green button on the remote and the portal will open up again. There is a half-hour window, but as your trip is so short there is no need to wait for the flashing. Are you ready?"
This was ridiculous.
"Yes, Dr. J." He handed her the remote and pushed the button before backing well away. Her smiled quickly became on O of horror as a swirling and lighted portal opened up before her and sucked her in like the powerful vacuum it was. Only her hands stretched out and they came into contact with Heero?s as he jumped in after her, disregarding any danger he may put himself in for her sake. When the two people had disappeared and the portal had closed up, Dr. J finally scrunched up his eyes and thought a moment.
"Now did I have that set for minutes, or hours?"
*
*
*
The portal was frightening and mesmerizing, but the entire trip only took a few moments. Relena wondered if a person?s hair could really turn white from fright. She?d know when she got out of this. Damn that doctor. She should have listened to Heero, (though telling him that was not on the top of her priorities even on a good day.) They landed in a heap on cold stone. Machines hummed around them, servers, it seemed. Relena noted that although Heero was fairly lean, he sure was not light. Must be all that muscle. She groaned to notify him of his position, and he sprang back off of her. With some humor, though not much, she also noticed that her nice cream colored suit and skirt would probably never be the same. Untangling her hair a bit, which had flown free of its ponytail during, er, reentry, Relena tried to get her bearings. First of all she looked at the watch.
It wasn?t blinking. That couldn?t be good.
"It?s not blinking." She felt stupid saying it out loud. Heero grabbed her arm and looked at the watch. There were enough spaces for it to count down as well, and it wasn?t. All evidence pointed to that time not being one minute. Looking into Relena?s concerned face he didn?t know what to tell her. Gently he took the remote from her and slipped it into his gun holster, taking out the weapon just in case.
"We?re getting out of here, I?ve got a bad feeling." It was more than a feeling. He could hear footsteps coming in their direction, probably whoever monitored the machines and made sure they were working. No use taking chances, though, as if anyone discovered them here there would be questions. Best to be out of sight. Dragging Relena behind him, Heero made his way out of the server room to find himself in a hallway much like the one to the doctor?s lab. There appeared to an elevator at the end. It seemed as if there were codes needed to go down, but not up, as he pressed a button to go to the ground floor. They had a few moments before they reached whatever lobby may exist in this place.
"I?m scared Heero." Her words made him feel a little ill. He was too, but not for himself. Why of all people, had Relena been taken into unknown territory with him? She should be safe and in her own place. He could take care of himself anywhere, but himself and another person. . . that could get dicey. Yet he would make it work, because this was Relena. Maybe encouragement would stop her shaking, because the temperature wasn?t enough to cause that. He allowed himself to hug her, more of a brief squeeze really, and she looked noticeably better. "But Heero, I?m scared because we?ve been here for more than a minute or two and the numbers haven?t changed."
If he was the type to swear. . . but he was more the type to tear apart a certain crackpot doctor once they got back. He wouldn?t be so willing to make dangerous inventions if he had no arms. Or maybe if he just broke all his fingers. That thought made him smile a bit, but he curtailed it as the door opened.
Silent people in lines that stretched back out the doors of the building didn?t even look up when the elevator opened. The ones in front handed papers to people at windows, dressed in darn uniforms, military uniforms. Others, guards, spoke to one another at the edges and began to move towards them. Several options were open to them, at this point. They could be taken without struggle, but Heero didn?t want to relinquish Relena in foreign territory (or anywhere, to be more honest). They could make a break for it, but Relena looked stiff with shock and that seemed like a bad course of action with so many people blocking the path to the door. So Heero choose the last option, he pressed to button to go up.
The doors closed as guards made their way towards them, and Heero felt himself tense again, rather than feel relieved. He still had his gun out. Had they seen? This was bad.
Up
Up
Up
The elevator finally opened and this time a long hallway with beautiful plants and a long red carpet greeted them. Wood doors with elaborate carving were at the end. As they traveled down the corridor they passed what looked to be many many other doors, but none of them opened. No one came out. Maybe no one was in there. Heero didn?t want to check because he thought he heard the faint tap of keyboards.
The only silent room turned out to be the one that was behind the large doors. He checked through the bottom of the door. He didn?t see any feet. There was little else he could do, so in they went.
There was a large desk, covered in papers. A chair turned towards the large window with a view of the city below was placed in the center. Dark drapes, dark walls, statues of people in agony or of grim angels holding swords greeted them. This room was meant to impress, it was meant to daunt, it was meant for someone important and feared. This. . . was not where they should be. As they turned to go, a voice hummed from the turned chair.
"Oh Heero, already going? Have you only now realized the futility of your little crusade? What is it this time. . . come to beg me again? You gave up your last chance so long ago. I admit, you are adorable with your hang dog expression and last time when you cried. . . I was almost moved to something resembling human emotions." The chair turned. "But I don?t suppose you think of me as human anymore, after what I had Dr. Po do to you."
"Relena?" Heero had a moment of terrible uncertainty. Relena was behind him, holding on to his shirt, and yet sitting across from him in a large chair with a scandalously dipping top and more eye makeup than could exist was, well, Relena.
Her eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. First of all, she did not miss the gun clutched in his hand. More importantly, she noted the small hand and other set of legs behind him. "Who is that? Why are you here?" Her voice was sharp. Relena came out from behind Heero and faced her doppelganger in as much shock as the other regarded her. Suddenly the dark Relena?s eyes registered understanding. "So, here to assassinate and replace me at last? I knew your pretty ideals could never hold up against results. The resemblance is remarkable, I admit, but plastic surgery can do a lot. She looks a lot dopey-er than I do, though. Probably not a lot up top either, to even think you could get away with this."
Heero saw Relena clutch a handful of her soiled cream skirt in an attempt to get a hold of her anger. His eyebrows went up, expectantly.
"You are a presumptuous, badly dressed, exceptionally rude person. If I weren?t pretty sure you were me, I?d cut off diplomatic relations with you!" She was losing it. This was too much for her to begin with, but to meet a cutting and frankly bitchy version of herself was a little beyond what a person should expect out of their day.
"She even sounds like me. Astonishing." She pressed a button on her desk. "The guards will be here shortly. Unlike my usual lenient behavior towards you, which I admit is a weakness on my part that will now cease, I?m afraid I?ll have to have my guards beat you and kill the girl. I?ll decide what to do with you later."
"Relena, get behind me." The woman at the desk looked confused. Before any more questions could be asked there was a burst of activity. Heero paused, listening to the door, and just as it looked like the door was beginning to open he kicked the door as hard as possible. With speed Relena never could have guessed he had, he pulled her and himself out, with a couple shots of cover fire for the couple of guards who were not stunned. He only clipped them in the shoulder and leg respectively; maybe she wouldn?t fuss about it later. Taking a guess, he broke open a door to find a scared little man at a desk pouring over some sort of report. He looked like he was about to wet his pants as he took in Heero?s appearance (particularly the gun) as well as the guards shouting behind them. "Damn." Wrong door. He kicked the one across the way to reveal a staircase. With an ironic glance at the ?use stairs in case of emergencies? sign, he started to run down them, still pulling Relena who seemed to have at least grasped the need to move as fast as possible.
They made it to somewhere near the bottom when guards began to shoot up at them. Others could be heard shouting and running down to meet them. This was bad. On his own he could maybe get out of this, but with her it would be impossible. The glint in his eye spoke to the object of his concern. She took his head in her hands and kissed him, much to his shock.
"I love you Heero. I want you to know I?ve always loved you." Good God, why now? This was not the place to tell her about how he felt. For one thing, he could barely form any words, let alone the words he needed to give to her. This was like getting kicked in a very sensitive area by fate.
"I ? " he began, but then a guard from the door to the floor next to them waved at him.
"What are you doing here? You didn?t give us any warning! Now we have to save your ass again. . ." It sounded like someone familiar. Better to trust them than earn instant death. Lady Luck was not entirely abandoning him it seemed. They went through the door and came face to face with three soldiers in the uniforms he was no so wary of.
"You?re not going to like this, but we have to." He gasped as he realized whom Heero was with. "Relena?" She blinked at the stranger behind the uniform helmet.
"Yes?" It was all she managed before a hand clamped around her mouth, holding a cloth. Rage filtered though his system as Heero realized she had just been chloroformed. A hand went around his mouth and arms held him down. Even as the cloth came over his mouth he felt a satisfying pop as he dislocated the arm of one unlucky molester. Then there was blackness.
*
*
*
"What should we do with them? This is very unusual." That voice. Whose was it? He knew that voice. Faces flew past his eyelids as he pretended to be asleep and felt out the situation. Tied up. No problem, he could feel how to get out. Where was Relena? Bigger problem; he didn?t know where she was. Probably close. Then the voice and face clicked. It had taken so long because it was a voice he didn?t hear much.
"Trowa?" He asked to the space around him. This was not the Trowa he knew, but as he hadn?t been trying to kill them maybe there was some hope there for securing Relena?s safety until they could get out of here. The blindfold was pulled off, and he faced familiar faces all sporting wary expressions. Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei were standing around him, Quatre with a sling on his arm and more sneering than anything.
"Who are you? Why were you in the Queen?s headquarters? Why is there a girl with you who looks like Relena Darlian?" Trowa spoke quickly. Quatre gave him a vicious kick and snarled.
"Bastard. You almost broke my arm." Wufei pulled Quatre back and spoke to him in low tones then returned and they all waited for Heero?s answers.
Truth was the best, but the most difficult. "I am Heero Yuy. She is Relena Darlian. Being in the building was a mistake." Quatre looked enraged.
"You take us for fools?" Wufei put a hand on Quatre?s uninjured shoulder and shook his head, trying to calm the irate blond man.
"I admit, what you claim is laughable. That building had very good security. We had been there for weeks and you forced us to blow our cover. I admit you two look very like who you claim to be, but that would be impossible." Trowa smiled. "I think we should take you to the real Heero Yuy." With an almost sadistic smile Quatre brought the chloroform down on Heero again as Trowa and Wufei held him down. A wild punch from his freed hands caught Wufei by surprise and he gave a sharp exhalation as the wind was knocked from him, but the drug was already taking hold and Heero could do little more. Things were definitely not good, but at least Relena wasn?t dead. His last thought was of her words to him on the stairs.
*
*
*
"I know you?re awake, so you can stop pretending." It was his voice, but not the tone he always used. This voice had lilts and humor in it. Yet it was still his voice, so this must be the other him. Opening his eyes, he noted how he was no longer bound but was rather sitting in a room, two chairs in front of him with one occupied by the man who could only be him. There was a door and one way glass. Naturally they would want to observe him. But he was not the important one.
"Where is Relena?" The question seemed to trouble his clone.
"You call her Relena?. . . never mind, we?ll get to that in due time. First of all, call me Yuy. That is, if you insist on being called Heero." Heero shrugged. "I?ll take that as a yes." Yuy said with a smile. Apparently the him in this world was a sap, Heero thought to himself.
"Now," Yuy said with grim determination in his eyes. "Tell me why you were in the office of Queen Relena and with someone who looks remarkably like her." Heero felt a little consternation. There was so little time. Maybe no time. He needed to get to her. These questions were pointless to him.
"I want to see Relena." His single-minded protective determination seemed to hit a note with Yuy. The man nodded at the glass. After a few minutes of silence between the two men, Relena was brought in. She walked in and almost screamed. Two Heeros. This was more than upsetting, but Heero was relieved to see her and to see she still had the watch (which was not blinking) when the remote was obviously not in his possession. Certainly Yuy and his cronies had it. She looked from one man to the other, blood draining from her face. She must have thought she was going mad. Yuy smiled and reached out a hand to her while Heero scowled and crossed his arms across his chest. With a little yelp she launched herself at the scowling Heero.
"Oh Heero, what?s going on?" Yuy looked so sad that for a moment Heero almost felt he could empathize. If he felt even one tenth of what Heero felt for Relena, then to see this would be upsetting to him as well. It was a silly notion. He pulled Relena away from him.
"This is. . . Yuy." Heero felt like this was more her thing anyway. His role was just to make sure they lived. Relena gave a tentative smile and shook his hand, as Yuy smiled back and began to ask her questions. While Relena tried to explain the difficult story, Heero looked down at her watch. The display said ?98?. That damn doctor. They were here for almost five days, not ten minutes. Suddenly he wanted to do more than dismember Dr. J. He turned his attention back to Relena. Once she had finished the tale, Yuy looked at her with some concern and more than a little awe.
"If I hadn?t seen the DNA tests already, I wouldn?t believe you. But just as you say, Heero is me and I am Heero, at least on the genetic level. I suppose you are the other Relena Darlian. . ."
"Call me Peacecraft, at least for the time being." Knowing how much she objected to the name, Heero raised an eyebrow at her. Yuy looked moved and took up her hand.
"Let me escort you around and tell you what we?re doing here." Heero bristled. He didn?t want Yuy looking at her like that. "Heero, I?ll let Duo take you to the others. You can discuss things with them. I?m sure you?re curious about what the situation is here as well." Only vaguely. He was more concerned with how closely Yuy was standing to Relena at the moment. They left together, with Relena laughing silently at some joke Yuy had told, and soon a stoic braided figure stood in the doorway with an air of purpose. They turned the opposite way from where Yuy and Relena had gone, and Heero resisted the urge to follow them.
Something unsettled Heero as he walked with Duo. In a rush he realized it was the silence. Normally Duo would be talking, or joking, or at the very least making some sort of wry comment, but this Duo looked very silent. . . and sad as well. This was a twisted world.
Trowa got up and greeted him in a friendly manner as soon as he entered what must have been the common room. Duo took up a post in the corner of the room and simply observed everything going on. Quatre was talking to a woman with short blond hair but eyebrows that had to identify her as Dorothy Catalonia. She laughed and gently stroked his arm, and he blushed before pulling away from her, pretending to ignore her teasing and seeming disinterested. On seeing Heero he got up and left the room, even as he bumped shoulders with him and narrowing his eyes on the way out. Wufei went over to a Dorothy who looked a little sad and soon she was smiling again.
Quatre angry and sullen?
Wufei calm and concerned, and more importantly treating women gently?
Duo sad and silent?
Trowa friendly and talkative?
Dorothy feminine and gentle?
He suddenly very badly wanted to be back home. Things made sense there. Or at least more sense then they did here. What was next, Hilde as a nun? He thought he could bear anything at this point. As Trowa began to talk about their crusade of breaking Queen Relena?s totalitarian regime, Heero?s mind wandered to the angry woman that was Relena Darlian, in her large dark office, and how she could have ended up that way. Trowa gave him a clue.
". . . and then after the Gundams were made, you had Gundams right?" At Heero?s brief nod he continued. "Well, the war was short, once Relena had been taken by the Romfeller group. She became Queen of the World and told everyone to support her in her bid for peace. Then something happened. She got the power, and then wouldn?t relinquish it. She had Kushrenada and his Oz faction eliminated and then established an enormous army to act as he ?peacekeeping defense force?. They are basically a secret police. All hail Queen Relena. . . or else. That sort of thing. It?s worse than ruling with guns. She rules with fear. Machiavelli could have taken lessons from her." Heero was getting tired of his chatting. He started to get up, but Trowa followed. Apparently every universe had a talkative annoying one, even if this on didn?t have a braid.
". . .Heero knows more of what happened in between, during her rise to power, but that is beside the point. We follow his lead as he tries to rally the colonies to help liberate Earth. He wants to do it without bloodshed, or with as little bloodshed as possible. There?s something about him, people really think he can do it. Even though they all said it was a suicide mission." Finally Heero smiled. The was no such thing as a suicide mission, even to this Heero. Maybe he was less of a wimp than he thought.
*
*
*
Relena felt ill at ease with Yuy. Her Heero was strong, ever present, and there was just something about him that radiated determination. It was the same with this one. At the same time, this man was more open with his feelings, ready to laugh and hold her hand, and full of things to say. It was like a different person with Heero?s face and body. Was this what he could have been in her reality too? He was staring at her again. It caused something not unlike terminal shyness to filter through her, (partially because her hair was a mess and she was covered in dirt as well as a wrinkled cream suit). She looked down with a blush, for the way he looked at her now was the way she looked at Heero when he wasn?t looking.
"I?m sorry, but you are just so beautiful." Yet another thing Heero would never say to her. Maybe she was dreaming.
"You shouldn?t say that. I?m not who you think I am. I met me, and she isn?t worthy of you. And from what you?ve told me, you should understand that already." How confused that sounded, but she knew it was accurate.
"You?re wrong, you see, although I have told you some of the story of why I fight and how it came to be, there is a key element missing." He ran a hand through his unruly hair. "It was my fault she got that way. It was all for me, in some twisted way."
They wandered outside of the compound and into something like a garden. There were some steps down into a vegetable patch. He had her sit, and sat down next to her. So close. Her arm brushed his and his warmth infused her as he absently stroked her hair. Seemingly unaware of his action, she decided not to call his attention to it, even if it was a little embarrassing.
"It was just before her speech as Queen of the World. Originally I had planned to wait in the balcony for her and kill her when she began to talk. Then something inside just snapped and I had to see her before, so I broke in and confronted her for breaking her word to me and betraying everyone. She looked so grim and the more I talked the more steely she became. I think I killed her heart that day. I remember what I said to her.
?Why should I, or anyone else, have faith in a politician like you. And that?s all you are, just another politician. And to think I loved you. I won?t make that mistake again.?
?I am what I am Heero. But now I shall become more than I am, and show you what this politician can do. You?ll love me again, but you?ll never be anything to be but a subject.?
Yuy looked ready to cry and he held onto Relena as if she were his only support in this world. Nervous for many reasons, she was left with the feeling that she very much wanted Heero right now. This man may look like Heero, and he was Heero in many respects, but there was something missing. He was not HER Heero. HER Heero was inside, probably trying to figure out a way to get away from these people who obviously wanted to use them in their crusade. It wasn?t their place to change this world, but she felt guilt, as it was her own self?s bad choice when she had been guided by angry and a hurting heart to put the world in shackles. It was like that book 1984, and she was Big Sister. This couldn?t go on.
"She is just prideful. I know that if she is anything like me, and I know a part of her must be, then she still loves you. She simply feels constrained by her position, just as you do yours. Both of you feel hopeless to reconcile the other to your paths and you therefore feel doomed to forever be apart." Relena tried to make him look at her. "I suppose some things don?t change in either world, maybe we were always meant to be star crossed lovers because of our own hard headedness and sense of duty." He gave her a smile than made her insides melt. Good lord, Heero Yuy was one sexy man.
"I?m sure she also feels sullied with the blood of many people on her hands. If she can?t be worthy of you, then she would rather you didn?t try to get her back. That?s why she doesn?t have you killed when you see her." Heero colored as she realized this was an activity he had not told his fellow Gundam pilots about. "I just thought you ?" she didn?t get to finish as his lips clamped over hers.
At first she softened into the kiss. This was Heero. The Heero she had pined after and loved loyally for as much of her life as was to be remarked upon. She had wanted this so badly, and now she had it.
And she didn?t want it.
This was not the Heero she loved. This man didn?t need her and she didn?t need him. To him there had been no time on the Libra, no fights with her brother like the one that last time, and no episode with Marimeia. He had not been her bodyguard and saved her from the two assassination attempts and sat up with her as she cried and worried that peace would never happen. This man was not the sum of experience that made up the man she loved. She ended the kiss by pulling away, and from the hooded expression in his eyes, she knew that Yuy was going to try again when someone cleared their throat behind them.
"Oh God, Heero, you almost gave me a heart attack," You still might. Relena felt said internal organ attempt to escape from her chest through her rib cage. She wanted to throw up.
"You shouldn?t be out here. You could be seen." Those clipped tones. How much had he seen?
"She is always safe with me. Whatever you may think of me, I am just as capable and thorough as you." Yuy narrowed his eyes. Relena felt the energy passing between them. It was menacing and electric. She wondered briefly if it was considered cheating on him when he wasn?t technically her boyfriend. She then wondered if it was even more complicated than that because technically she was still kissing him, only a him from a different reality. Then again, how would she feeling if she saw him kissing the other Relena? Pretty damn pissed. That?s how she?d feel. Her words on the stairs came back to her like a siren. Best to take control of this situation before the boys started fighting. Already she could see the murder in their eyes. As nice as it was to fantasize about the man you love fighting over you with someone else, this was never how she pictured it.
"I?d like a change of clothes if you don?t mind. Is Hilde around? I?m about her size." Yuy looked striken.
"Hilde was killed in one of your, I mean, one of the Queen?s purges." Yuy flinched as he spoke. "On that note I would also steer clear of Duo. You may not be the Relena we know, but you can?t expect the others to accept you when the only Relena we have is, hn, the one we have. Duo is especially touchy and he may try to, quite frankly, hurt you."
Relena looked like she was going to cry. She was in a world where her friends were fighting against her and she was a tyrant like no other before her. Looking at her watch she read the 96 with a certain fatalistic sadness. When she got home she would work doubly hard to make sure nothing like this reality could happen. Heero, at the description of anyone trying to hurt the gentle woman who looked so depressed before him, almost wanted to go find Duo and disable him as a preemtive precautionary measure.
"I saw Dorothy inside. You should talk to her." Heero saw the tears forming in her eyes. For some reason he didn?t want her crying around Yuy. She had only ever cried around him. It was one of the few things he felt was his alone. Getting up before either version could comfort her, each in their distinctive way, she made her way into the compound headless of where she was headed.
"She?s different from the Relena I know. She?s like the Relena I knew." Yuy stood before him the challenge in his eyes. "But knowing how I used to be I?m sure after all this time, with every excuse in the world to tell her, she still doesn?t know how you, or rather we, feel."
"Hn." Heero turned away. This wasn?t worth his time.
"I know you?re jealous of me. I can talk to her." Heero paused, but didn?t turn around. "But I can feel how she wants you. Even as I kissed her, she was pulling away from me." He did turn at that. His eyes were like ice, blue and clear and filled with hate for this other self.
"Don?t. Kiss. Her. Again." The words ripped from him.
"Only if she asks me to." Part of the problem with fighting with himself was knowing he probably couldn?t win. He wouldn?t lose, but he also could not win. "And if you don?t move fast enough, I can get her choose me. She?s waited too long. And you are too cold."
"We?ll see." Heero wondered where the relentless part of him was in this world. Like all the things he felt most intensely it was attached to Relena. He ignored his other self. "We?ll see." He said under his breath.
*
*
*
As Relena ran through the compound, she realized it was far larger than she had suspected. She saw people, but they would take once look at her face and then slide into the shadows. This was what it was to be reviled, she supposed. Perhaps Heero had felt this way once, as if he should hide away and die in a corner just do he would not see the curl of a person?s lip as their eyes halted just before yours and the disgust was plain just before t hey became as ghosts to the memory. It was a world against her.
For someone as beloved and adored as she had been, this was at the very least shocking. What was worse was how lonely she felt. Head down, she didn?t see when she bumped into a small man walking quickly, his arm in a sling.
"Watch where you?re going!" He practically bit her head off. Then he saw who she was, and his expression really got nasty. "Well, well, if it isn?t little Queeny. Eaten any babies today? Or do you just brainwash them like here?" She refused to cry.
"Quatre Winner! If you talk to her that way I swear I will never speak to you again, so help me!" Dorothy stood there, her eyes lit with passion. She had passed the end of the hallway and had overheard them.
"But Dorothy, honey," Quatre softened from his cynical grimace into something like the gentle man she knew in her alternate present.
"But nothing! You are skating on thin ice as it is. You know how I feel about you fighting and yet you put yourself out there every day." Obviously this was a topic they had covered at great length. "Peace can?t be gotten through bloodshed. I followed you here to make sure you were reminded of that."
"But it?s so fun." He said with a quirk at the edge of his mouth. Dorothy looked about ready to explode. "Kidding! Kidding!" She brushed past him and took Relena?s hands in her own.
"Come with me. Heero said you?d be wandering around somewhere, so I thought I would come find you before certain nasty boneheaded people made you feel bad about something you can?t help." She raised her voice at nasty and boneheaded while Quatre blushed an angry crimson behind her and then turned to storm off.
"Is that" Relena motioned towards where Quatre had been previously. "ok?"
"He?ll come around." She chuckled to herself. "He always does." In this world Dorothy still knew exactly how to twist Quatre around her little finger. "Now, I?m more concerned about you. Heero told me that you might have some questions about people. He said you know about Hilde already." They started walking through the twisting paths until they reached a small room with a bed and a dresser and little else. This must be her room. Most of the rooms must look like this.
"What of Lady Une?" at Dorothy?s confusion she supplied more. "She was Treize Kushrenada?s right hand woman."
"Killed with Treize Kushrenada, I suppose." Dorothy looked unconcerned. That made sense, if she had never had a chance to change then she most likely would have gone down protecting the man she loved.
"Sally Po?" Dorothy looked dark at that one.
"Dr. Po works for the Queen. She is charge of Discipline and Re-education. Basically a glorified torturer." Relena looked shocked and then asked if she had any interaction with Wufei. Dorothy looked surprised then thoughtful. "I suddenly put some things together that didn?t fit before. I would say yes, but I don?t know what."
"Catherine Bloom?" Dorothy looked confused again. "Trowa?s sister. She worked in the circus with him."
"I think you have found the one thing Trowa has never talked about. I didn?t think it was possible." She smiled kindly. "If she is in the colonies, then I assume she is fine. There have been no attacks on them, they capitulated peacefully when the Queen took over all the military capabilities of Earth. Hmm. Catherine Bloom, eh?" Apparently Trowa was going to get some mischief from the light blond woman later.
Now for the ones she had been dreading, as they practically screamed inside her head. "And my brother and his wife?" Dorothy turned away briefly.
"Milliardo Peacecraft never married to my knowledge. After he stopped being Zechs Marquise he was imprisoned for his message of peace and freedom. He still is imprisoned, not far from here actually. Rumor has it that the Queen will kill anyone who mentions his name in her presence. He is almost dead to memory, if not bodily deceased."
Her own brother. What sort of monster had she become? It couldn?t have just been Heero?s words to her that night that caused this all to be the way it was. But then, when she was set on a path she could not waver from it. Her own need to bring peace, and her love for Heero were two fine examples of how her single minded devotion could move mountains. Well, maybe Heero shouldn?t be counted. That mountain had yet to crumble. The incident on the stairs came to her mind?s eye and she felt deep shame. She had just spurted it out there and now it hung between them. Maybe they should have died on the stairs. At least then she wouldn?t feel this bad.
Dorothy held up a simple dress. Blue with white trim. It looked like something for summer. Judging from the smallness of the dresser it was probably one of very few pieces of clothing she even had here. The kindness was just too much. She knew the Dorothy of her own world was capable of this, but she would never display it for someone to see, but hide it behind intrigue. A dress would appear on her bed at night, anonymously. This Dorothy handed it to her, with matching sandals and a comb too.
"Thank you." Relena felt the same piercing gaze from Dorothy that had always seemed to make her feel so young no matter how the years passed.
"Think nothing of it."
*
*
*
It was the second day they were there. It was evening and the timer read at 68 hours. She was wearing the dress that Dorothy had given her again, but she had been given a couple of other outfits for while she was here. She didn?t know from whom they had been donated, but she did let Heero inspect them all for bugs or anything dangerous, (even the underwear much to both of their embarrassments). He had a room right next to hers, and he told her to pound on the wall at the slightest hint of danger and he would be there. She wished they could just stay in the same room. She even felt the argument forming in her mind, but almost as if Yuy had sensed it he insisted that Relena was as safe here as anywhere and even wandering the garden alone she would be as safe as if she were with Heero twenty-four hours a day. After that, she felt to ashamed to even suggest Heero stay with her. It would be a vote of no confidence after that. Heero, for his part, looked nonplussed as well.
Yuy had said they would meet the next day for a very important mission. For, as became utterly clear, Queen Relena had the remote. Rather than peter out their time in safety, they would be forced to enter her headquarters and steal back the remote. They knew this because they had received a note from the Queen herself by way of a dead freedom fighter who had been discovered undercover, executed, and then dumped in an obvious location. Relena refused to come out of her room all day after that happened. Heero and Yuy planned the strike together with the Gundam pilots. It would happen the last day, for the maximum preparation (and that was very needful). Heero looked strained from lack of sleep and so planned to actually rest tonight, but only because Relena told him to. Once he was safely ensconced in his room, judging from the creak of the door closing next to hers, she heard a knock. In fact she nearly fell backwards as she was listening at her door, for that creak.
It was Yuy. Somehow she had expected this.
"If you would join me for dinner, I would be much obliged to you, my lady." He really did have a charming smile. Too bad she had not seen it before this on a certain other individual.
"Yes." She hadn?t eaten today, feeling sick to her stomach about several things, two of which were Heero. "Though nothing terribly solid I?m afraid. It?s amazing. I used to have nerves of steel you know."
"I know." Yuy laughed softly, not wanting Heero to hear him. "I remember the day I held a gun to your face. I was so sure I could pull the trigger, but it was your very lack of fear that told me that this girl was special. When I danced with you that one night, it was the only way I could express my commitment to you. Words were hard to come by, back then."
"What changed?" Relena was really curious. How had the Heero she knew become this man?
"You changed." She wished she hadn?t asked. So much riding on her actions. So many mistakes she could have made, or almost made. What if she had flinched from his gun? Would he have shot her then? What if she had used that gun she had hidden on her person that night, angry from loss? Would her words of peace have been worth anything? Would the words even have been there? "Let?s go."
He led her outside where a table was set up in the garden. There were candles, it was warm and secluded. They were alone. This last part seemed important. Relena glanced back to the direction she knew Heero lay sleeping. Yuy caught her attention with a joke and offered her some wine. The meal was nice, and Yuy told her she didn?t need to worry about anything. He said, with a touch of regret, that he would see she got home safely. It was the least he could do for her. She rose and so did he.
"It was a lovely meal, but I think I need to go back to my room."
"You don?t feel safe with me." His voice was flat. In that moment he really did seem like her Heero.
"It isn?t that."
"Then what is it? I love you."
Those were words she had craved so long to hear, but she had to continue. "I?m not her. I?ve been thinking about it for most of the day. Agonizing over what makes me different from," Relena?s eyes sought the right word in the branches of a tree. "From the demon totalitarian dictator that I could have been. It?s not you. You think it was just you, and maybe in the beginning it was, but she made her own path. I?m stronger than she was. To actually work for peace, instead of imposing it takes more strength than she can imagine. I think you understand that a little bit, but you won?t know how hard it is until you win freedom here."
Yuy looked at her carefully. "What does that have to do with it?"
"You want me to be her, but I?m not. That?s what I?m saying. Thank you for the dinner." She walked back the way they had come, having carefully observed it earlier should the need arise, as she suspected it would. But she didn?t go to her room, instead choosing to knock at the door next to it.
There was no answer, but she hadn?t expected there to be one. She pushed open the door, and Heero looked up at her, illuminated by the light from the hall only. His eyes narrowed at her, and only blinked once when she turned on the light and closed the door. He had heard Yuy come and had heard them leave together. So she had chosen him. Maybe she was here to tell him that she was going to stay. He wasn?t sure if he could keep his word and stay to protect her if she told him that. There was no way he could watch that other self and she be happy. The resentful bile was already twisting inside of him. But outwardly he looked as he always did.
"I had dinner with Yuy." She looked to see if there was any change of expression.
"Hn."
"He, well not directly but essentially, asked me to stay here." This time his lips tightened into a thin line and he turned away from her a little. "I said no." He looked back at her, his eyes a little wider. "Do you know why I said no?"
He nodded. Relena looked confused. Heero appeared to come to a decision and, rising from his cot, stood over her with a hooded expression she had not seen on him before.
"You already told me why when we first got here." He tried to kiss her with all the feelings he couldn?t express. Relena would have been confused if not for something Yuy had told her. The dance had been his commitment to her. This was just another dance.
"I don?t suppose you?ll let me sleep in my own room tonight will you?" She asked when the kiss broke. Heero growled low in his throat and kissed her again, this time more roughly, bruising her lips, sucking on her neck hard enough to leave marks of his passage. "I get the bed." She supplied weakly, as his hands and mouth were drugging her senses even as she sensed his own loss of control.
"So do I." He murmured before his mouth continued its exploration of her body.
*
*
*
The next day Relena moved all of her borrowed clothes into her and Heero?s now shared room, as well as the other cot. No one commented except Dorothy, at least to her, though she suspected gossip to be rampant. The other people were talking of more than the shock at having a woman who they were coming to believe was really Relena from another world and Heero, who was similarly foreign, sleeping together. Some of them came up to her to talk and ask questions about what it was like in her world. So all day, while Heero was gone Relena held court of sorts, explaining her work and the work other leaders did to maintain the peace that was still fragile but beginning to flourish. Dorothy was with her, sitting in the common room, as was Trowa and Wufei to make sure no one tried to take anything out on her simply because they knew she was Relena Darlian.
Most people heard her words and seemed to get a renewed sense of purpose. If nothing else Relena had a rare charisma that bonded people to each other and everyone to her. Even some who had anger shining in their eyes at her familiar and hated form looked changed when they left that evening. It was more exhausting than a session with the press, and she only took one break for lunch before returning to answer more questions. The only problems arose when some people could not hold it in anymore and blurted out things she could not answer.
"Why did you kill my little boy?" One man yelled, as he was led from the room by Wufei, forcefully.
"How did you become so hateful?" One woman had said with a twisted smile that made her heart burn with sorrow.
Those were the moments when she would close her eyes and wait for one of the Gundam pilots escort the individual out to cool off. By the evening, she was hoarse from talking all day and emotionally drained. Everyone was asked to leave. The only ones left were the Gundam pilots, many of whom wanted to know about their alternate selves. After some water, Relena tried to tell them. Most of them scoffed at what they heard.
"I don?t talk?" Trowa was actually stunned. "No wonder Heero looked at me like I had grown three heads when I was explaining things before. But I?m more unable to see Quatre here being a meek little thing."
"Shut up, clown. At least I?m being useful instead of hiding away in the circus." Quatre no longer had his arm in the sling, but seemed to favor the other arm currently.
"What?s wrong with being in the circus?" Trowa looked like Quatre had hit a soft spot.
"This BLOOMING anger is unbecoming." Dorothy said loudly. Trowa shut up. Quatre looked confused. Relena smiled. As they happily argued among themselves Wufei took her aside.
"In your world. Sally. I mean Dr. Po." He seemed to struggle to even ask.
"She works as a Preventer by your side. You?re getting married in five months. But I didn?t tell you that. Sally only told me because she wanted to warn me they were going to disappear for a week or two. It was your idea to elope. You hate the idea of a mushy church service, you think it?s a woman thing."
"I don?t know how she puts up with me." Wufei got a far away look. "Maybe she?ll come back someday from where she is. Maybe I?ll simply have to wait another reincarnation." He walked over to break up what looked to be an ensuing fight between Trowa and Quatre. Even friendly fighting was not acceptable. If someone got injured before the mission it would make things difficult. No one saw Duo take her aside forcefully. She tried to call out, but her voice was shot. Her heart beat so loudly as he pushed her into a room and closed the door behind him with a solid thunk. Relena screamed for Heero in her mind. Again and again, pleading for rescue, that she could not provide for herself against someone with paramount fighting skill.
Then she heard him speak for the first time since she got here, in a wispy voice that seemed to be cracked with disuse.
"Tell me of Hilde." He sat down in front of her, expectantly, gun sitting on his knee and clutched lightly in his hand, safety off. With a gulp and a clearing of her raw throat, Relena began to say everything she could remember of the past years about Duo and Hilde. The fights, the marriage, the first child on the way as well as various stories of Duo getting in trouble, and the incredible ways he got out of it. There were exchanges of pranks, There was mostly a smiling lovingness that they gave one another that Relena had more than once envied. It had seemed so easy for them, while she had pined for a man who seemed content to merely protect her. She didn?t mention her envy, for she could see in his eyes that he envied them too. After a while he lifted his sleeve to his face.
"Stop." He told her in that hushed tone. He dropped his sleeve and his eyes glistened. :Thank you." Without any more words he led her back to the common room, where everyone paused as she entered. Each scanned her for any signs of harm or fear and finding none the room visibly relaxed in mood.
"Let?s get some dinner." Dorothy grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the kitchens.
"I already have dinner for us." Heero came in looking tired. Dorothy relinquished Relena?s arm as Heero came over to get her. It was easy to tell him apart from this world?s Heero after being around him a couple days. They now were as distinct to their close friends as oil and water, and seemed to get along about as well.
Relena followed him back to their room and ate some sandwiches and soup. Heero didn?t tell her what he had been doing all day, but he smelled of oil and gunpowder as well as sweat. She didn?t mind; he often smelled of those things anyway. She looked at the timer. 44 hours. She had calculated it out and they could go home at around 3pm the day after tomorrow. Her breath caught a little. How would things change once she got home? What would she tell people? Would she order Dr. J to destroy the remote? Her thoughts were interrupted by Heero?s stare. His stare needed its own room, she thought, as it had enough presence to be another person.
"Here." He held out a simple gold ring. It was worn, old, but destinctively made for woman. It was a sweet gesture, and surprising. As he held it out she noted that his highly expensive and terribly accurate watch was absent, but she kept that to herself. It didn?t quite fit anything but her middle finger, so that?s where she put it. He contemplated it and then moved it from her right middle finger to her left one. "We?ll get it resized when we get back." With a sigh she decided she had to ask.
"Is that a marriage proposal?"
"Hn." From the way he looked at her she had him under torture worse than he had ever endured. "Yes."
"Traditionally you ASK a question." She wasn?t asking for a declaration of undying love, and she already knew he would die for her. But she had to insist on this, no matter how much she loved him.
The perfect soldier seemed to, well, fidget. "Relena," there was a very long pause. "Marry me?"
At least it was a question, if barely. And that?s all she had required of him. Even so it was a little lame. Better to lie to the kids later, even if they probably wouldn?t believe it anyway.
"Of course. How could you even think I would say no?" He gave her a lopsided smile and picked her up bodily before depositing her on the bed and letting her know what he thought of her quirky sense of humor.
*
*
*
The next day passed in a rush. There was movement of arms, of people. There were infinite meetings and briefings. It seemed as if they were going to make a big push since the Queen was expecting a covert operation. It was an assault like they had not done since the early days when they thought they might be able to topple the regime when it was young. Everyone worked hard, and those who had seemed to drag the day before attacked their work with vigor. If many of them seemed to be the same who talked with Relena the day before, no one commented. It was understood that this was for her, but even more importantly it was to get her back to continue preserving the peace they were trying to attain here for themselves. It made their task doubly noble.
Both Heero and Yuy were everywhere and most of everyone was sorely confused as the normally omnipresent leader was literally everywhere they looked. Sometimes things would get mixed up as the wrong Heero was asked a question that needed to go to the other, but things got sorted out and everyone had a good (if nervous) laugh.
That night, before everyone went to sleep, Yuy gave a speech. It was stirring, and Relena was impressed all over again. This man was meant to be a leader. He had the heart for it. If only Relena would let go of her power that trapped her as much as it fed her, then she could be happy with this man. The shell of a human being she had met a few days ago was not what she was, not really. If she believed that that was all that this Relena could be, then she would be selling herself short as well, even if this Relena was not her. There was a core that was the same.
She said good bye to everyone that night rather than wait for the next day. Everyone gave her a hug, even Quatre and Duo. Dorothy told her to take the dress with her, if she could. It would be a nice reminder. Relena said she could keep the suit, and that when it was clean it looked pretty nice. She would miss this version of her friend, even if she was there at home as well. She didn?t say anything to Yuy.
Once they decided to go to sleep, Heero and Relena molded their bodies into one another. They got as close as possible, pretending that each could melt into the other. If all went badly, then they still had this. But Relena felt in her heart that it wouldn?t go badly, as the shadow in the back of her head told her she might not be that sure. 16 more hours.
*
*
*
It drizzled that morning, but maybe that was for the best as the flames would be less likely to spread that way. As it was several square blocks of government buildings were burning quickly and ferociously. The flames had started slowly, so that people could evacuate and then burst to life consuming everything. The explosives had done their job. The main building was still being evacuated, and to add to the commotion, it was also becoming a war zone. Shots and screams and blood. It was like his days in the war and Heero felt a flashback start to overtake him. He wouldn?t let it, as he focused on what was more important here. There was only an hour left and Relena was here with him, encased in a bullet proof vest and helmet, but still very vulnerable.
As others provided cover fire, they made it to the stairs. As Yuy had promised before they left, they were clear. Yuy himself was right behind them, along with Duo. Trowa was directing the battle below, just as Quatre had organized the demolition squad, and Wufei was guarding their rear so that more troops could not pour in.
Up flight and flights of stairs they mad their way. Moved with the speed of fear from the battle below, causing her her own flashbacks from not so many years ago. Not enough years, at any rate. Maybe there would never be enough years to distance herself from this sort of violence. The war should be over, for everyone.
On reaching the top, Duo quickly took down the guards before Relena could even cry out to have him spare their lives. The single hour hadn?t started flashing left, but it must be close. They burst into the room, where Queen Relena stood by her window. Watching the carnage below, as the core of her empire burned. The war would no longer be underground. Soon the people would see it could be done and she could no longer hold them back. Today she had underestimated Heero and she had lost.
"The remote is on my desk. It is unharmed." She didn?t look away from the window. "I don?t know what it is, but it must be important. My best scientists couldn?t figure it our in the short time we had it, but they did know someone excessively brilliant made it."
Yuy moved towards her, arms outstretched. "There is always time Relena. Just walk away from it all." She did turn away and her eyes held nearly a decade of unshed tears. Then her hand came up, and he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun, even as his came up on instinct.
"No, Heero, this is how is must end for me. This is the path I choose. Maybe a few years ago I could have turned back, but now it is too late. If you don?t shoot me I will shoot you. One of us will win today."
"You know that isn?t a win."
"Shut up! Shoot me as you promised you would! Kill me Heero! KILL ME!" Her eye liner ran as tears finally broke from her eyes. "If you really love me-" she didn?t finish the sentence and instead pulled the trigger. Two shots rang in the room, and her gun smoked even as she started to cough up blood from the punctured lung she had just received. Duo?s hand shook as his gun smoked. Everyone looked to Yuy, who looked untouched. He ran over to the Queen as she collapsed.
"Blanks Relena?" She nodded and smiled, coughing up more blood. Heero tightened his grasp around his own Relena even as Yuy cradled the dying Queen. "You knew I couldn?t shoot."
"You" She wheezed and bubbled a little. "Should have."
"I love you Relena, even now." Yuy watched her smile, as the light she had once had shone in them just for him.
"And I" She jerked in his arms, obviously in immense pain. "you. Love. You."
As Yuy clutched the Queen?s body to his chest Relena saw the watch flash out of the corner of her eye. It was time. But first she needed to do something. She walked over to Duo, Heero?s eyes following her even if his body did not. He stood contemplating his gun. She had seen eyes like that on Heero before and she knew what he meant to do.
"Promise me something Duo." He looked up, then nodded. "Don?t kill yourself. Hilde wouldn?t have wanted it, and neither would I. Especially me." Duo looked to the side. "Promise me!" She almost screeched it. There was too much blood today. He gave a brief nod, after a moment.
"Go." He said. But as he turned he caught her hand. "Tell her. . . she never died. Tell him too." Relena nodded. She would tell Duo and Hilde.
Heero went over to Yuy and led him away from the body a moment. They shook hands. "You?ll know what to do." Heero was giving him a vote of confidence. It was as nice a thing as he could offer at the moment.
Relena stepped up next as Heero turned on the portal. Yuy looked at her, his eyes dead.
"I didn?t want you to be her," he said softly "I wanted her to be you."
Relena kissed him on the cheek. "In time you?ll see that isn?t true. She gave you what she could." Her throat tightened "I would have done the same in her place." She was trying to give him the gift of a guiltless conscience, but no one could just provide that for him.
"Thank you." He understood. "Will you ever come back?"
Heero waited at the portal, and she walked over to him before shouting back. "I?ll check back later, someday, so you better get to work fixing it all!" She gave him a smile before Heero pulled them both into the swirling mass.
*
*
*
They landed in Une office at a speed that sent Heero flying into the wall, with Relena cushioned from a similar fate by his body. Une was, in no uncertain terms, stunned into a rare state of complete stillness of mind and body. Wufei and Sally, standing next to her desk, simply looked at them with open mouths. Heero was splattered in blood and covered in smoky dust, and Relena was still in her vest and helmet and similarly sooty. What was even more shocking to them was when Heero grabbed Relena from the floor and kissed her harshly for some time. He was so relieved that he didn?t care who saw it. They were alive and home.
"What happened, Minister?" Une asked, utterly calm now that she was over her initial shock.
"Never mind that, where?s Dr. J? We need to have a discussion." Relena?s eyes were set in a way Une hadn?t seen since her first year as VFM. The smile that she gave Relena was priceless.
"I?m sure he?ll be very curious to find out what you have to say, once we get him out of his cell."
END
Well, I wrote it all in one sitting. Hope it doesn?t have too many mistakes or is too confusing. Never let it be said that I couldn?t go for marathon sessions of writing (weeps over her lost Friday night). Please oh please tell me that it didn?t suck.
Plus, if anyone is interested that I continue this - just drop me a comment and I'll consider it. There is a lot I could do. . .
:
:
AngelOfDeath
Disclaimer: I don?t own hardly anything, and especially not Gundam Wing.
*
Heero looked pissed. He had just discovered, (and as he rarely was uninformed the concept of ?discovery? was tinged with unpleasantness) that Dr. J was in the main compound of the Preventer headquarters. Sub-level 14, Research & Development. This was bad. This was worse than bad, it was worrying. Perhaps he could have salvaged his mood if not for the fact that he only found out in front of Relena when Une was reporting progress to her. Apparently he had made a breakthrough with some new device of his and Une felt Relena needed to go check on him personally to authorize whether it was wise to let him continue.
Heero already had an answer to that question, as nothing the doctor made could be beneficial to the new peace. Mentioning the doctor in his presence was like waving a red scarf cheerfully in front of a bull while tied to a pole. Yet, despite all his misgivings about seeing the man, his priority was to protect Relena, so underground they went almost immediately on entering the building. Naturally Heero had all the access codes to get down that far and it only took a few moments to input the five or six protocols that were required.
Even though she knew he was angry, Relena thought it was unfair of him to be even colder to her than usual. When Une had asked for increased funding to hire some scientists she had not asked who, but what they would be doing. With the answer seeming harmless enough she allowed the use of the funds and that was the end of that, or so she thought. That had been at least eight months ago. She hadn?t known Dr. J of all people was one of the scientists, hence to be mad at her was unreasonable. Without knowing it, she had crossed her arms and was tapping the toe of one foot in rhythmic irritation as she stared at Heero?s back.
When the elevator finally stopped at their destination, the two figures were greeted with a long hallway ending in a large stainless steel door. As Heero reached for the knob the door opened and the infamous doctor himself stood smiling in the doorway, reminding Relena of the Cheshire cat from the Alice in Wonderland books. The only thing was that the cat had never specialized in weapons of mass destruction. An uneasy feeling seeped through Relena but she hid it well, and only the incredible tenseness that exuded from Heero gave his apprehension away.
"It?s an honor to have you visit my humble abode, Minister Darlian. And it?s always interesting to see you, Mr. Yuy." Heero?s eyes were so intent that all Relena could do was shiver.
"It?s chilly down here Doctor." She smiled in a friendly manner. "I can?t wait to see what you have to show me."
"I don?t suppose you?d like to see all the different gadgets I?ve been fiddling with because I know exactly the thing Lady Une was worried about." He ducked back and made his way into a door to the side. Heero pulled Relena aside.
"Tell him to discontinue whatever it is that he?s doing." His voice was monotone as always, yet more urgent than usual.
Pulling her arm away, Relena wanted to yell at him to not tell her how to do her job when she had been making decisions to guide the world for six years already. "I?ll make the best decision for the situation. It is my job after all, unless you don?t trust me to do the right thing." Her eyes narrowed. Somehow he could always make her react violently to things. It was a symptom of still being very sensitive when it came to the subject of Heero, not to the subject of her authority.
The doctor cleared his throat before he came into the room and the two pulled away from one another quickly. He carried a watch and a remote. With a questioning smile he held out the watch. Relena put it on her arm as Heero shifted his weight, unsettled, and wondered how he should kill the doctor if this so much as gave her a rash. The doctor pushed a button and the watch displayed some numbers, all 0 in fact. He smiled delightedly and turned on the remote, which beeped faintly.
"Excellent, everything is at full power." He fiddled with the switches on the remote. "This, from what I can tell, breaks through some sort of time-space barrier and launches an object into a different snapshot of the universe than the one we currently reside in." Both Heero and Relena got a look in their eyes and suddenly couldn?t seem to take another word seriously. Right. He had made a machine to transfer things to an alternate universe. Sure. Maybe the doctor should retire before his senility caused a truly horrific disaster. He was dangerous enough when sane. Assuming he had been sane in the beginning.
"I see you both don?t believe me. I have made several tests and they have been successful. I send probes in and I know that wherever they go it is similar in atmosphere and the like to our world. I can show you, if you like." Relena felt tired. This was a lot of stress, mostly because of Heero, to be humoring a crazy old man.
"Sure. I?d love to see your project in action." Her smile was kind. The doctor raised an eyebrow.
"Press the button on the left, on your watch." There were two on the left and two on the right. She pressed the inner left one, and a ?1? appeared on the timer, replacing the zero that had been there. "It should read one minute. When the numbers start flashing, and they should right away, then press this green button on the remote and the portal will open up again. There is a half-hour window, but as your trip is so short there is no need to wait for the flashing. Are you ready?"
This was ridiculous.
"Yes, Dr. J." He handed her the remote and pushed the button before backing well away. Her smiled quickly became on O of horror as a swirling and lighted portal opened up before her and sucked her in like the powerful vacuum it was. Only her hands stretched out and they came into contact with Heero?s as he jumped in after her, disregarding any danger he may put himself in for her sake. When the two people had disappeared and the portal had closed up, Dr. J finally scrunched up his eyes and thought a moment.
"Now did I have that set for minutes, or hours?"
*
*
*
The portal was frightening and mesmerizing, but the entire trip only took a few moments. Relena wondered if a person?s hair could really turn white from fright. She?d know when she got out of this. Damn that doctor. She should have listened to Heero, (though telling him that was not on the top of her priorities even on a good day.) They landed in a heap on cold stone. Machines hummed around them, servers, it seemed. Relena noted that although Heero was fairly lean, he sure was not light. Must be all that muscle. She groaned to notify him of his position, and he sprang back off of her. With some humor, though not much, she also noticed that her nice cream colored suit and skirt would probably never be the same. Untangling her hair a bit, which had flown free of its ponytail during, er, reentry, Relena tried to get her bearings. First of all she looked at the watch.
It wasn?t blinking. That couldn?t be good.
"It?s not blinking." She felt stupid saying it out loud. Heero grabbed her arm and looked at the watch. There were enough spaces for it to count down as well, and it wasn?t. All evidence pointed to that time not being one minute. Looking into Relena?s concerned face he didn?t know what to tell her. Gently he took the remote from her and slipped it into his gun holster, taking out the weapon just in case.
"We?re getting out of here, I?ve got a bad feeling." It was more than a feeling. He could hear footsteps coming in their direction, probably whoever monitored the machines and made sure they were working. No use taking chances, though, as if anyone discovered them here there would be questions. Best to be out of sight. Dragging Relena behind him, Heero made his way out of the server room to find himself in a hallway much like the one to the doctor?s lab. There appeared to an elevator at the end. It seemed as if there were codes needed to go down, but not up, as he pressed a button to go to the ground floor. They had a few moments before they reached whatever lobby may exist in this place.
"I?m scared Heero." Her words made him feel a little ill. He was too, but not for himself. Why of all people, had Relena been taken into unknown territory with him? She should be safe and in her own place. He could take care of himself anywhere, but himself and another person. . . that could get dicey. Yet he would make it work, because this was Relena. Maybe encouragement would stop her shaking, because the temperature wasn?t enough to cause that. He allowed himself to hug her, more of a brief squeeze really, and she looked noticeably better. "But Heero, I?m scared because we?ve been here for more than a minute or two and the numbers haven?t changed."
If he was the type to swear. . . but he was more the type to tear apart a certain crackpot doctor once they got back. He wouldn?t be so willing to make dangerous inventions if he had no arms. Or maybe if he just broke all his fingers. That thought made him smile a bit, but he curtailed it as the door opened.
Silent people in lines that stretched back out the doors of the building didn?t even look up when the elevator opened. The ones in front handed papers to people at windows, dressed in darn uniforms, military uniforms. Others, guards, spoke to one another at the edges and began to move towards them. Several options were open to them, at this point. They could be taken without struggle, but Heero didn?t want to relinquish Relena in foreign territory (or anywhere, to be more honest). They could make a break for it, but Relena looked stiff with shock and that seemed like a bad course of action with so many people blocking the path to the door. So Heero choose the last option, he pressed to button to go up.
The doors closed as guards made their way towards them, and Heero felt himself tense again, rather than feel relieved. He still had his gun out. Had they seen? This was bad.
Up
Up
Up
The elevator finally opened and this time a long hallway with beautiful plants and a long red carpet greeted them. Wood doors with elaborate carving were at the end. As they traveled down the corridor they passed what looked to be many many other doors, but none of them opened. No one came out. Maybe no one was in there. Heero didn?t want to check because he thought he heard the faint tap of keyboards.
The only silent room turned out to be the one that was behind the large doors. He checked through the bottom of the door. He didn?t see any feet. There was little else he could do, so in they went.
There was a large desk, covered in papers. A chair turned towards the large window with a view of the city below was placed in the center. Dark drapes, dark walls, statues of people in agony or of grim angels holding swords greeted them. This room was meant to impress, it was meant to daunt, it was meant for someone important and feared. This. . . was not where they should be. As they turned to go, a voice hummed from the turned chair.
"Oh Heero, already going? Have you only now realized the futility of your little crusade? What is it this time. . . come to beg me again? You gave up your last chance so long ago. I admit, you are adorable with your hang dog expression and last time when you cried. . . I was almost moved to something resembling human emotions." The chair turned. "But I don?t suppose you think of me as human anymore, after what I had Dr. Po do to you."
"Relena?" Heero had a moment of terrible uncertainty. Relena was behind him, holding on to his shirt, and yet sitting across from him in a large chair with a scandalously dipping top and more eye makeup than could exist was, well, Relena.
Her eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. First of all, she did not miss the gun clutched in his hand. More importantly, she noted the small hand and other set of legs behind him. "Who is that? Why are you here?" Her voice was sharp. Relena came out from behind Heero and faced her doppelganger in as much shock as the other regarded her. Suddenly the dark Relena?s eyes registered understanding. "So, here to assassinate and replace me at last? I knew your pretty ideals could never hold up against results. The resemblance is remarkable, I admit, but plastic surgery can do a lot. She looks a lot dopey-er than I do, though. Probably not a lot up top either, to even think you could get away with this."
Heero saw Relena clutch a handful of her soiled cream skirt in an attempt to get a hold of her anger. His eyebrows went up, expectantly.
"You are a presumptuous, badly dressed, exceptionally rude person. If I weren?t pretty sure you were me, I?d cut off diplomatic relations with you!" She was losing it. This was too much for her to begin with, but to meet a cutting and frankly bitchy version of herself was a little beyond what a person should expect out of their day.
"She even sounds like me. Astonishing." She pressed a button on her desk. "The guards will be here shortly. Unlike my usual lenient behavior towards you, which I admit is a weakness on my part that will now cease, I?m afraid I?ll have to have my guards beat you and kill the girl. I?ll decide what to do with you later."
"Relena, get behind me." The woman at the desk looked confused. Before any more questions could be asked there was a burst of activity. Heero paused, listening to the door, and just as it looked like the door was beginning to open he kicked the door as hard as possible. With speed Relena never could have guessed he had, he pulled her and himself out, with a couple shots of cover fire for the couple of guards who were not stunned. He only clipped them in the shoulder and leg respectively; maybe she wouldn?t fuss about it later. Taking a guess, he broke open a door to find a scared little man at a desk pouring over some sort of report. He looked like he was about to wet his pants as he took in Heero?s appearance (particularly the gun) as well as the guards shouting behind them. "Damn." Wrong door. He kicked the one across the way to reveal a staircase. With an ironic glance at the ?use stairs in case of emergencies? sign, he started to run down them, still pulling Relena who seemed to have at least grasped the need to move as fast as possible.
They made it to somewhere near the bottom when guards began to shoot up at them. Others could be heard shouting and running down to meet them. This was bad. On his own he could maybe get out of this, but with her it would be impossible. The glint in his eye spoke to the object of his concern. She took his head in her hands and kissed him, much to his shock.
"I love you Heero. I want you to know I?ve always loved you." Good God, why now? This was not the place to tell her about how he felt. For one thing, he could barely form any words, let alone the words he needed to give to her. This was like getting kicked in a very sensitive area by fate.
"I ? " he began, but then a guard from the door to the floor next to them waved at him.
"What are you doing here? You didn?t give us any warning! Now we have to save your ass again. . ." It sounded like someone familiar. Better to trust them than earn instant death. Lady Luck was not entirely abandoning him it seemed. They went through the door and came face to face with three soldiers in the uniforms he was no so wary of.
"You?re not going to like this, but we have to." He gasped as he realized whom Heero was with. "Relena?" She blinked at the stranger behind the uniform helmet.
"Yes?" It was all she managed before a hand clamped around her mouth, holding a cloth. Rage filtered though his system as Heero realized she had just been chloroformed. A hand went around his mouth and arms held him down. Even as the cloth came over his mouth he felt a satisfying pop as he dislocated the arm of one unlucky molester. Then there was blackness.
*
*
*
"What should we do with them? This is very unusual." That voice. Whose was it? He knew that voice. Faces flew past his eyelids as he pretended to be asleep and felt out the situation. Tied up. No problem, he could feel how to get out. Where was Relena? Bigger problem; he didn?t know where she was. Probably close. Then the voice and face clicked. It had taken so long because it was a voice he didn?t hear much.
"Trowa?" He asked to the space around him. This was not the Trowa he knew, but as he hadn?t been trying to kill them maybe there was some hope there for securing Relena?s safety until they could get out of here. The blindfold was pulled off, and he faced familiar faces all sporting wary expressions. Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei were standing around him, Quatre with a sling on his arm and more sneering than anything.
"Who are you? Why were you in the Queen?s headquarters? Why is there a girl with you who looks like Relena Darlian?" Trowa spoke quickly. Quatre gave him a vicious kick and snarled.
"Bastard. You almost broke my arm." Wufei pulled Quatre back and spoke to him in low tones then returned and they all waited for Heero?s answers.
Truth was the best, but the most difficult. "I am Heero Yuy. She is Relena Darlian. Being in the building was a mistake." Quatre looked enraged.
"You take us for fools?" Wufei put a hand on Quatre?s uninjured shoulder and shook his head, trying to calm the irate blond man.
"I admit, what you claim is laughable. That building had very good security. We had been there for weeks and you forced us to blow our cover. I admit you two look very like who you claim to be, but that would be impossible." Trowa smiled. "I think we should take you to the real Heero Yuy." With an almost sadistic smile Quatre brought the chloroform down on Heero again as Trowa and Wufei held him down. A wild punch from his freed hands caught Wufei by surprise and he gave a sharp exhalation as the wind was knocked from him, but the drug was already taking hold and Heero could do little more. Things were definitely not good, but at least Relena wasn?t dead. His last thought was of her words to him on the stairs.
*
*
*
"I know you?re awake, so you can stop pretending." It was his voice, but not the tone he always used. This voice had lilts and humor in it. Yet it was still his voice, so this must be the other him. Opening his eyes, he noted how he was no longer bound but was rather sitting in a room, two chairs in front of him with one occupied by the man who could only be him. There was a door and one way glass. Naturally they would want to observe him. But he was not the important one.
"Where is Relena?" The question seemed to trouble his clone.
"You call her Relena?. . . never mind, we?ll get to that in due time. First of all, call me Yuy. That is, if you insist on being called Heero." Heero shrugged. "I?ll take that as a yes." Yuy said with a smile. Apparently the him in this world was a sap, Heero thought to himself.
"Now," Yuy said with grim determination in his eyes. "Tell me why you were in the office of Queen Relena and with someone who looks remarkably like her." Heero felt a little consternation. There was so little time. Maybe no time. He needed to get to her. These questions were pointless to him.
"I want to see Relena." His single-minded protective determination seemed to hit a note with Yuy. The man nodded at the glass. After a few minutes of silence between the two men, Relena was brought in. She walked in and almost screamed. Two Heeros. This was more than upsetting, but Heero was relieved to see her and to see she still had the watch (which was not blinking) when the remote was obviously not in his possession. Certainly Yuy and his cronies had it. She looked from one man to the other, blood draining from her face. She must have thought she was going mad. Yuy smiled and reached out a hand to her while Heero scowled and crossed his arms across his chest. With a little yelp she launched herself at the scowling Heero.
"Oh Heero, what?s going on?" Yuy looked so sad that for a moment Heero almost felt he could empathize. If he felt even one tenth of what Heero felt for Relena, then to see this would be upsetting to him as well. It was a silly notion. He pulled Relena away from him.
"This is. . . Yuy." Heero felt like this was more her thing anyway. His role was just to make sure they lived. Relena gave a tentative smile and shook his hand, as Yuy smiled back and began to ask her questions. While Relena tried to explain the difficult story, Heero looked down at her watch. The display said ?98?. That damn doctor. They were here for almost five days, not ten minutes. Suddenly he wanted to do more than dismember Dr. J. He turned his attention back to Relena. Once she had finished the tale, Yuy looked at her with some concern and more than a little awe.
"If I hadn?t seen the DNA tests already, I wouldn?t believe you. But just as you say, Heero is me and I am Heero, at least on the genetic level. I suppose you are the other Relena Darlian. . ."
"Call me Peacecraft, at least for the time being." Knowing how much she objected to the name, Heero raised an eyebrow at her. Yuy looked moved and took up her hand.
"Let me escort you around and tell you what we?re doing here." Heero bristled. He didn?t want Yuy looking at her like that. "Heero, I?ll let Duo take you to the others. You can discuss things with them. I?m sure you?re curious about what the situation is here as well." Only vaguely. He was more concerned with how closely Yuy was standing to Relena at the moment. They left together, with Relena laughing silently at some joke Yuy had told, and soon a stoic braided figure stood in the doorway with an air of purpose. They turned the opposite way from where Yuy and Relena had gone, and Heero resisted the urge to follow them.
Something unsettled Heero as he walked with Duo. In a rush he realized it was the silence. Normally Duo would be talking, or joking, or at the very least making some sort of wry comment, but this Duo looked very silent. . . and sad as well. This was a twisted world.
Trowa got up and greeted him in a friendly manner as soon as he entered what must have been the common room. Duo took up a post in the corner of the room and simply observed everything going on. Quatre was talking to a woman with short blond hair but eyebrows that had to identify her as Dorothy Catalonia. She laughed and gently stroked his arm, and he blushed before pulling away from her, pretending to ignore her teasing and seeming disinterested. On seeing Heero he got up and left the room, even as he bumped shoulders with him and narrowing his eyes on the way out. Wufei went over to a Dorothy who looked a little sad and soon she was smiling again.
Quatre angry and sullen?
Wufei calm and concerned, and more importantly treating women gently?
Duo sad and silent?
Trowa friendly and talkative?
Dorothy feminine and gentle?
He suddenly very badly wanted to be back home. Things made sense there. Or at least more sense then they did here. What was next, Hilde as a nun? He thought he could bear anything at this point. As Trowa began to talk about their crusade of breaking Queen Relena?s totalitarian regime, Heero?s mind wandered to the angry woman that was Relena Darlian, in her large dark office, and how she could have ended up that way. Trowa gave him a clue.
". . . and then after the Gundams were made, you had Gundams right?" At Heero?s brief nod he continued. "Well, the war was short, once Relena had been taken by the Romfeller group. She became Queen of the World and told everyone to support her in her bid for peace. Then something happened. She got the power, and then wouldn?t relinquish it. She had Kushrenada and his Oz faction eliminated and then established an enormous army to act as he ?peacekeeping defense force?. They are basically a secret police. All hail Queen Relena. . . or else. That sort of thing. It?s worse than ruling with guns. She rules with fear. Machiavelli could have taken lessons from her." Heero was getting tired of his chatting. He started to get up, but Trowa followed. Apparently every universe had a talkative annoying one, even if this on didn?t have a braid.
". . .Heero knows more of what happened in between, during her rise to power, but that is beside the point. We follow his lead as he tries to rally the colonies to help liberate Earth. He wants to do it without bloodshed, or with as little bloodshed as possible. There?s something about him, people really think he can do it. Even though they all said it was a suicide mission." Finally Heero smiled. The was no such thing as a suicide mission, even to this Heero. Maybe he was less of a wimp than he thought.
*
*
*
Relena felt ill at ease with Yuy. Her Heero was strong, ever present, and there was just something about him that radiated determination. It was the same with this one. At the same time, this man was more open with his feelings, ready to laugh and hold her hand, and full of things to say. It was like a different person with Heero?s face and body. Was this what he could have been in her reality too? He was staring at her again. It caused something not unlike terminal shyness to filter through her, (partially because her hair was a mess and she was covered in dirt as well as a wrinkled cream suit). She looked down with a blush, for the way he looked at her now was the way she looked at Heero when he wasn?t looking.
"I?m sorry, but you are just so beautiful." Yet another thing Heero would never say to her. Maybe she was dreaming.
"You shouldn?t say that. I?m not who you think I am. I met me, and she isn?t worthy of you. And from what you?ve told me, you should understand that already." How confused that sounded, but she knew it was accurate.
"You?re wrong, you see, although I have told you some of the story of why I fight and how it came to be, there is a key element missing." He ran a hand through his unruly hair. "It was my fault she got that way. It was all for me, in some twisted way."
They wandered outside of the compound and into something like a garden. There were some steps down into a vegetable patch. He had her sit, and sat down next to her. So close. Her arm brushed his and his warmth infused her as he absently stroked her hair. Seemingly unaware of his action, she decided not to call his attention to it, even if it was a little embarrassing.
"It was just before her speech as Queen of the World. Originally I had planned to wait in the balcony for her and kill her when she began to talk. Then something inside just snapped and I had to see her before, so I broke in and confronted her for breaking her word to me and betraying everyone. She looked so grim and the more I talked the more steely she became. I think I killed her heart that day. I remember what I said to her.
?Why should I, or anyone else, have faith in a politician like you. And that?s all you are, just another politician. And to think I loved you. I won?t make that mistake again.?
?I am what I am Heero. But now I shall become more than I am, and show you what this politician can do. You?ll love me again, but you?ll never be anything to be but a subject.?
Yuy looked ready to cry and he held onto Relena as if she were his only support in this world. Nervous for many reasons, she was left with the feeling that she very much wanted Heero right now. This man may look like Heero, and he was Heero in many respects, but there was something missing. He was not HER Heero. HER Heero was inside, probably trying to figure out a way to get away from these people who obviously wanted to use them in their crusade. It wasn?t their place to change this world, but she felt guilt, as it was her own self?s bad choice when she had been guided by angry and a hurting heart to put the world in shackles. It was like that book 1984, and she was Big Sister. This couldn?t go on.
"She is just prideful. I know that if she is anything like me, and I know a part of her must be, then she still loves you. She simply feels constrained by her position, just as you do yours. Both of you feel hopeless to reconcile the other to your paths and you therefore feel doomed to forever be apart." Relena tried to make him look at her. "I suppose some things don?t change in either world, maybe we were always meant to be star crossed lovers because of our own hard headedness and sense of duty." He gave her a smile than made her insides melt. Good lord, Heero Yuy was one sexy man.
"I?m sure she also feels sullied with the blood of many people on her hands. If she can?t be worthy of you, then she would rather you didn?t try to get her back. That?s why she doesn?t have you killed when you see her." Heero colored as she realized this was an activity he had not told his fellow Gundam pilots about. "I just thought you ?" she didn?t get to finish as his lips clamped over hers.
At first she softened into the kiss. This was Heero. The Heero she had pined after and loved loyally for as much of her life as was to be remarked upon. She had wanted this so badly, and now she had it.
And she didn?t want it.
This was not the Heero she loved. This man didn?t need her and she didn?t need him. To him there had been no time on the Libra, no fights with her brother like the one that last time, and no episode with Marimeia. He had not been her bodyguard and saved her from the two assassination attempts and sat up with her as she cried and worried that peace would never happen. This man was not the sum of experience that made up the man she loved. She ended the kiss by pulling away, and from the hooded expression in his eyes, she knew that Yuy was going to try again when someone cleared their throat behind them.
"Oh God, Heero, you almost gave me a heart attack," You still might. Relena felt said internal organ attempt to escape from her chest through her rib cage. She wanted to throw up.
"You shouldn?t be out here. You could be seen." Those clipped tones. How much had he seen?
"She is always safe with me. Whatever you may think of me, I am just as capable and thorough as you." Yuy narrowed his eyes. Relena felt the energy passing between them. It was menacing and electric. She wondered briefly if it was considered cheating on him when he wasn?t technically her boyfriend. She then wondered if it was even more complicated than that because technically she was still kissing him, only a him from a different reality. Then again, how would she feeling if she saw him kissing the other Relena? Pretty damn pissed. That?s how she?d feel. Her words on the stairs came back to her like a siren. Best to take control of this situation before the boys started fighting. Already she could see the murder in their eyes. As nice as it was to fantasize about the man you love fighting over you with someone else, this was never how she pictured it.
"I?d like a change of clothes if you don?t mind. Is Hilde around? I?m about her size." Yuy looked striken.
"Hilde was killed in one of your, I mean, one of the Queen?s purges." Yuy flinched as he spoke. "On that note I would also steer clear of Duo. You may not be the Relena we know, but you can?t expect the others to accept you when the only Relena we have is, hn, the one we have. Duo is especially touchy and he may try to, quite frankly, hurt you."
Relena looked like she was going to cry. She was in a world where her friends were fighting against her and she was a tyrant like no other before her. Looking at her watch she read the 96 with a certain fatalistic sadness. When she got home she would work doubly hard to make sure nothing like this reality could happen. Heero, at the description of anyone trying to hurt the gentle woman who looked so depressed before him, almost wanted to go find Duo and disable him as a preemtive precautionary measure.
"I saw Dorothy inside. You should talk to her." Heero saw the tears forming in her eyes. For some reason he didn?t want her crying around Yuy. She had only ever cried around him. It was one of the few things he felt was his alone. Getting up before either version could comfort her, each in their distinctive way, she made her way into the compound headless of where she was headed.
"She?s different from the Relena I know. She?s like the Relena I knew." Yuy stood before him the challenge in his eyes. "But knowing how I used to be I?m sure after all this time, with every excuse in the world to tell her, she still doesn?t know how you, or rather we, feel."
"Hn." Heero turned away. This wasn?t worth his time.
"I know you?re jealous of me. I can talk to her." Heero paused, but didn?t turn around. "But I can feel how she wants you. Even as I kissed her, she was pulling away from me." He did turn at that. His eyes were like ice, blue and clear and filled with hate for this other self.
"Don?t. Kiss. Her. Again." The words ripped from him.
"Only if she asks me to." Part of the problem with fighting with himself was knowing he probably couldn?t win. He wouldn?t lose, but he also could not win. "And if you don?t move fast enough, I can get her choose me. She?s waited too long. And you are too cold."
"We?ll see." Heero wondered where the relentless part of him was in this world. Like all the things he felt most intensely it was attached to Relena. He ignored his other self. "We?ll see." He said under his breath.
*
*
*
As Relena ran through the compound, she realized it was far larger than she had suspected. She saw people, but they would take once look at her face and then slide into the shadows. This was what it was to be reviled, she supposed. Perhaps Heero had felt this way once, as if he should hide away and die in a corner just do he would not see the curl of a person?s lip as their eyes halted just before yours and the disgust was plain just before t hey became as ghosts to the memory. It was a world against her.
For someone as beloved and adored as she had been, this was at the very least shocking. What was worse was how lonely she felt. Head down, she didn?t see when she bumped into a small man walking quickly, his arm in a sling.
"Watch where you?re going!" He practically bit her head off. Then he saw who she was, and his expression really got nasty. "Well, well, if it isn?t little Queeny. Eaten any babies today? Or do you just brainwash them like here?" She refused to cry.
"Quatre Winner! If you talk to her that way I swear I will never speak to you again, so help me!" Dorothy stood there, her eyes lit with passion. She had passed the end of the hallway and had overheard them.
"But Dorothy, honey," Quatre softened from his cynical grimace into something like the gentle man she knew in her alternate present.
"But nothing! You are skating on thin ice as it is. You know how I feel about you fighting and yet you put yourself out there every day." Obviously this was a topic they had covered at great length. "Peace can?t be gotten through bloodshed. I followed you here to make sure you were reminded of that."
"But it?s so fun." He said with a quirk at the edge of his mouth. Dorothy looked about ready to explode. "Kidding! Kidding!" She brushed past him and took Relena?s hands in her own.
"Come with me. Heero said you?d be wandering around somewhere, so I thought I would come find you before certain nasty boneheaded people made you feel bad about something you can?t help." She raised her voice at nasty and boneheaded while Quatre blushed an angry crimson behind her and then turned to storm off.
"Is that" Relena motioned towards where Quatre had been previously. "ok?"
"He?ll come around." She chuckled to herself. "He always does." In this world Dorothy still knew exactly how to twist Quatre around her little finger. "Now, I?m more concerned about you. Heero told me that you might have some questions about people. He said you know about Hilde already." They started walking through the twisting paths until they reached a small room with a bed and a dresser and little else. This must be her room. Most of the rooms must look like this.
"What of Lady Une?" at Dorothy?s confusion she supplied more. "She was Treize Kushrenada?s right hand woman."
"Killed with Treize Kushrenada, I suppose." Dorothy looked unconcerned. That made sense, if she had never had a chance to change then she most likely would have gone down protecting the man she loved.
"Sally Po?" Dorothy looked dark at that one.
"Dr. Po works for the Queen. She is charge of Discipline and Re-education. Basically a glorified torturer." Relena looked shocked and then asked if she had any interaction with Wufei. Dorothy looked surprised then thoughtful. "I suddenly put some things together that didn?t fit before. I would say yes, but I don?t know what."
"Catherine Bloom?" Dorothy looked confused again. "Trowa?s sister. She worked in the circus with him."
"I think you have found the one thing Trowa has never talked about. I didn?t think it was possible." She smiled kindly. "If she is in the colonies, then I assume she is fine. There have been no attacks on them, they capitulated peacefully when the Queen took over all the military capabilities of Earth. Hmm. Catherine Bloom, eh?" Apparently Trowa was going to get some mischief from the light blond woman later.
Now for the ones she had been dreading, as they practically screamed inside her head. "And my brother and his wife?" Dorothy turned away briefly.
"Milliardo Peacecraft never married to my knowledge. After he stopped being Zechs Marquise he was imprisoned for his message of peace and freedom. He still is imprisoned, not far from here actually. Rumor has it that the Queen will kill anyone who mentions his name in her presence. He is almost dead to memory, if not bodily deceased."
Her own brother. What sort of monster had she become? It couldn?t have just been Heero?s words to her that night that caused this all to be the way it was. But then, when she was set on a path she could not waver from it. Her own need to bring peace, and her love for Heero were two fine examples of how her single minded devotion could move mountains. Well, maybe Heero shouldn?t be counted. That mountain had yet to crumble. The incident on the stairs came to her mind?s eye and she felt deep shame. She had just spurted it out there and now it hung between them. Maybe they should have died on the stairs. At least then she wouldn?t feel this bad.
Dorothy held up a simple dress. Blue with white trim. It looked like something for summer. Judging from the smallness of the dresser it was probably one of very few pieces of clothing she even had here. The kindness was just too much. She knew the Dorothy of her own world was capable of this, but she would never display it for someone to see, but hide it behind intrigue. A dress would appear on her bed at night, anonymously. This Dorothy handed it to her, with matching sandals and a comb too.
"Thank you." Relena felt the same piercing gaze from Dorothy that had always seemed to make her feel so young no matter how the years passed.
"Think nothing of it."
*
*
*
It was the second day they were there. It was evening and the timer read at 68 hours. She was wearing the dress that Dorothy had given her again, but she had been given a couple of other outfits for while she was here. She didn?t know from whom they had been donated, but she did let Heero inspect them all for bugs or anything dangerous, (even the underwear much to both of their embarrassments). He had a room right next to hers, and he told her to pound on the wall at the slightest hint of danger and he would be there. She wished they could just stay in the same room. She even felt the argument forming in her mind, but almost as if Yuy had sensed it he insisted that Relena was as safe here as anywhere and even wandering the garden alone she would be as safe as if she were with Heero twenty-four hours a day. After that, she felt to ashamed to even suggest Heero stay with her. It would be a vote of no confidence after that. Heero, for his part, looked nonplussed as well.
Yuy had said they would meet the next day for a very important mission. For, as became utterly clear, Queen Relena had the remote. Rather than peter out their time in safety, they would be forced to enter her headquarters and steal back the remote. They knew this because they had received a note from the Queen herself by way of a dead freedom fighter who had been discovered undercover, executed, and then dumped in an obvious location. Relena refused to come out of her room all day after that happened. Heero and Yuy planned the strike together with the Gundam pilots. It would happen the last day, for the maximum preparation (and that was very needful). Heero looked strained from lack of sleep and so planned to actually rest tonight, but only because Relena told him to. Once he was safely ensconced in his room, judging from the creak of the door closing next to hers, she heard a knock. In fact she nearly fell backwards as she was listening at her door, for that creak.
It was Yuy. Somehow she had expected this.
"If you would join me for dinner, I would be much obliged to you, my lady." He really did have a charming smile. Too bad she had not seen it before this on a certain other individual.
"Yes." She hadn?t eaten today, feeling sick to her stomach about several things, two of which were Heero. "Though nothing terribly solid I?m afraid. It?s amazing. I used to have nerves of steel you know."
"I know." Yuy laughed softly, not wanting Heero to hear him. "I remember the day I held a gun to your face. I was so sure I could pull the trigger, but it was your very lack of fear that told me that this girl was special. When I danced with you that one night, it was the only way I could express my commitment to you. Words were hard to come by, back then."
"What changed?" Relena was really curious. How had the Heero she knew become this man?
"You changed." She wished she hadn?t asked. So much riding on her actions. So many mistakes she could have made, or almost made. What if she had flinched from his gun? Would he have shot her then? What if she had used that gun she had hidden on her person that night, angry from loss? Would her words of peace have been worth anything? Would the words even have been there? "Let?s go."
He led her outside where a table was set up in the garden. There were candles, it was warm and secluded. They were alone. This last part seemed important. Relena glanced back to the direction she knew Heero lay sleeping. Yuy caught her attention with a joke and offered her some wine. The meal was nice, and Yuy told her she didn?t need to worry about anything. He said, with a touch of regret, that he would see she got home safely. It was the least he could do for her. She rose and so did he.
"It was a lovely meal, but I think I need to go back to my room."
"You don?t feel safe with me." His voice was flat. In that moment he really did seem like her Heero.
"It isn?t that."
"Then what is it? I love you."
Those were words she had craved so long to hear, but she had to continue. "I?m not her. I?ve been thinking about it for most of the day. Agonizing over what makes me different from," Relena?s eyes sought the right word in the branches of a tree. "From the demon totalitarian dictator that I could have been. It?s not you. You think it was just you, and maybe in the beginning it was, but she made her own path. I?m stronger than she was. To actually work for peace, instead of imposing it takes more strength than she can imagine. I think you understand that a little bit, but you won?t know how hard it is until you win freedom here."
Yuy looked at her carefully. "What does that have to do with it?"
"You want me to be her, but I?m not. That?s what I?m saying. Thank you for the dinner." She walked back the way they had come, having carefully observed it earlier should the need arise, as she suspected it would. But she didn?t go to her room, instead choosing to knock at the door next to it.
There was no answer, but she hadn?t expected there to be one. She pushed open the door, and Heero looked up at her, illuminated by the light from the hall only. His eyes narrowed at her, and only blinked once when she turned on the light and closed the door. He had heard Yuy come and had heard them leave together. So she had chosen him. Maybe she was here to tell him that she was going to stay. He wasn?t sure if he could keep his word and stay to protect her if she told him that. There was no way he could watch that other self and she be happy. The resentful bile was already twisting inside of him. But outwardly he looked as he always did.
"I had dinner with Yuy." She looked to see if there was any change of expression.
"Hn."
"He, well not directly but essentially, asked me to stay here." This time his lips tightened into a thin line and he turned away from her a little. "I said no." He looked back at her, his eyes a little wider. "Do you know why I said no?"
He nodded. Relena looked confused. Heero appeared to come to a decision and, rising from his cot, stood over her with a hooded expression she had not seen on him before.
"You already told me why when we first got here." He tried to kiss her with all the feelings he couldn?t express. Relena would have been confused if not for something Yuy had told her. The dance had been his commitment to her. This was just another dance.
"I don?t suppose you?ll let me sleep in my own room tonight will you?" She asked when the kiss broke. Heero growled low in his throat and kissed her again, this time more roughly, bruising her lips, sucking on her neck hard enough to leave marks of his passage. "I get the bed." She supplied weakly, as his hands and mouth were drugging her senses even as she sensed his own loss of control.
"So do I." He murmured before his mouth continued its exploration of her body.
*
*
*
The next day Relena moved all of her borrowed clothes into her and Heero?s now shared room, as well as the other cot. No one commented except Dorothy, at least to her, though she suspected gossip to be rampant. The other people were talking of more than the shock at having a woman who they were coming to believe was really Relena from another world and Heero, who was similarly foreign, sleeping together. Some of them came up to her to talk and ask questions about what it was like in her world. So all day, while Heero was gone Relena held court of sorts, explaining her work and the work other leaders did to maintain the peace that was still fragile but beginning to flourish. Dorothy was with her, sitting in the common room, as was Trowa and Wufei to make sure no one tried to take anything out on her simply because they knew she was Relena Darlian.
Most people heard her words and seemed to get a renewed sense of purpose. If nothing else Relena had a rare charisma that bonded people to each other and everyone to her. Even some who had anger shining in their eyes at her familiar and hated form looked changed when they left that evening. It was more exhausting than a session with the press, and she only took one break for lunch before returning to answer more questions. The only problems arose when some people could not hold it in anymore and blurted out things she could not answer.
"Why did you kill my little boy?" One man yelled, as he was led from the room by Wufei, forcefully.
"How did you become so hateful?" One woman had said with a twisted smile that made her heart burn with sorrow.
Those were the moments when she would close her eyes and wait for one of the Gundam pilots escort the individual out to cool off. By the evening, she was hoarse from talking all day and emotionally drained. Everyone was asked to leave. The only ones left were the Gundam pilots, many of whom wanted to know about their alternate selves. After some water, Relena tried to tell them. Most of them scoffed at what they heard.
"I don?t talk?" Trowa was actually stunned. "No wonder Heero looked at me like I had grown three heads when I was explaining things before. But I?m more unable to see Quatre here being a meek little thing."
"Shut up, clown. At least I?m being useful instead of hiding away in the circus." Quatre no longer had his arm in the sling, but seemed to favor the other arm currently.
"What?s wrong with being in the circus?" Trowa looked like Quatre had hit a soft spot.
"This BLOOMING anger is unbecoming." Dorothy said loudly. Trowa shut up. Quatre looked confused. Relena smiled. As they happily argued among themselves Wufei took her aside.
"In your world. Sally. I mean Dr. Po." He seemed to struggle to even ask.
"She works as a Preventer by your side. You?re getting married in five months. But I didn?t tell you that. Sally only told me because she wanted to warn me they were going to disappear for a week or two. It was your idea to elope. You hate the idea of a mushy church service, you think it?s a woman thing."
"I don?t know how she puts up with me." Wufei got a far away look. "Maybe she?ll come back someday from where she is. Maybe I?ll simply have to wait another reincarnation." He walked over to break up what looked to be an ensuing fight between Trowa and Quatre. Even friendly fighting was not acceptable. If someone got injured before the mission it would make things difficult. No one saw Duo take her aside forcefully. She tried to call out, but her voice was shot. Her heart beat so loudly as he pushed her into a room and closed the door behind him with a solid thunk. Relena screamed for Heero in her mind. Again and again, pleading for rescue, that she could not provide for herself against someone with paramount fighting skill.
Then she heard him speak for the first time since she got here, in a wispy voice that seemed to be cracked with disuse.
"Tell me of Hilde." He sat down in front of her, expectantly, gun sitting on his knee and clutched lightly in his hand, safety off. With a gulp and a clearing of her raw throat, Relena began to say everything she could remember of the past years about Duo and Hilde. The fights, the marriage, the first child on the way as well as various stories of Duo getting in trouble, and the incredible ways he got out of it. There were exchanges of pranks, There was mostly a smiling lovingness that they gave one another that Relena had more than once envied. It had seemed so easy for them, while she had pined for a man who seemed content to merely protect her. She didn?t mention her envy, for she could see in his eyes that he envied them too. After a while he lifted his sleeve to his face.
"Stop." He told her in that hushed tone. He dropped his sleeve and his eyes glistened. :Thank you." Without any more words he led her back to the common room, where everyone paused as she entered. Each scanned her for any signs of harm or fear and finding none the room visibly relaxed in mood.
"Let?s get some dinner." Dorothy grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the kitchens.
"I already have dinner for us." Heero came in looking tired. Dorothy relinquished Relena?s arm as Heero came over to get her. It was easy to tell him apart from this world?s Heero after being around him a couple days. They now were as distinct to their close friends as oil and water, and seemed to get along about as well.
Relena followed him back to their room and ate some sandwiches and soup. Heero didn?t tell her what he had been doing all day, but he smelled of oil and gunpowder as well as sweat. She didn?t mind; he often smelled of those things anyway. She looked at the timer. 44 hours. She had calculated it out and they could go home at around 3pm the day after tomorrow. Her breath caught a little. How would things change once she got home? What would she tell people? Would she order Dr. J to destroy the remote? Her thoughts were interrupted by Heero?s stare. His stare needed its own room, she thought, as it had enough presence to be another person.
"Here." He held out a simple gold ring. It was worn, old, but destinctively made for woman. It was a sweet gesture, and surprising. As he held it out she noted that his highly expensive and terribly accurate watch was absent, but she kept that to herself. It didn?t quite fit anything but her middle finger, so that?s where she put it. He contemplated it and then moved it from her right middle finger to her left one. "We?ll get it resized when we get back." With a sigh she decided she had to ask.
"Is that a marriage proposal?"
"Hn." From the way he looked at her she had him under torture worse than he had ever endured. "Yes."
"Traditionally you ASK a question." She wasn?t asking for a declaration of undying love, and she already knew he would die for her. But she had to insist on this, no matter how much she loved him.
The perfect soldier seemed to, well, fidget. "Relena," there was a very long pause. "Marry me?"
At least it was a question, if barely. And that?s all she had required of him. Even so it was a little lame. Better to lie to the kids later, even if they probably wouldn?t believe it anyway.
"Of course. How could you even think I would say no?" He gave her a lopsided smile and picked her up bodily before depositing her on the bed and letting her know what he thought of her quirky sense of humor.
*
*
*
The next day passed in a rush. There was movement of arms, of people. There were infinite meetings and briefings. It seemed as if they were going to make a big push since the Queen was expecting a covert operation. It was an assault like they had not done since the early days when they thought they might be able to topple the regime when it was young. Everyone worked hard, and those who had seemed to drag the day before attacked their work with vigor. If many of them seemed to be the same who talked with Relena the day before, no one commented. It was understood that this was for her, but even more importantly it was to get her back to continue preserving the peace they were trying to attain here for themselves. It made their task doubly noble.
Both Heero and Yuy were everywhere and most of everyone was sorely confused as the normally omnipresent leader was literally everywhere they looked. Sometimes things would get mixed up as the wrong Heero was asked a question that needed to go to the other, but things got sorted out and everyone had a good (if nervous) laugh.
That night, before everyone went to sleep, Yuy gave a speech. It was stirring, and Relena was impressed all over again. This man was meant to be a leader. He had the heart for it. If only Relena would let go of her power that trapped her as much as it fed her, then she could be happy with this man. The shell of a human being she had met a few days ago was not what she was, not really. If she believed that that was all that this Relena could be, then she would be selling herself short as well, even if this Relena was not her. There was a core that was the same.
She said good bye to everyone that night rather than wait for the next day. Everyone gave her a hug, even Quatre and Duo. Dorothy told her to take the dress with her, if she could. It would be a nice reminder. Relena said she could keep the suit, and that when it was clean it looked pretty nice. She would miss this version of her friend, even if she was there at home as well. She didn?t say anything to Yuy.
Once they decided to go to sleep, Heero and Relena molded their bodies into one another. They got as close as possible, pretending that each could melt into the other. If all went badly, then they still had this. But Relena felt in her heart that it wouldn?t go badly, as the shadow in the back of her head told her she might not be that sure. 16 more hours.
*
*
*
It drizzled that morning, but maybe that was for the best as the flames would be less likely to spread that way. As it was several square blocks of government buildings were burning quickly and ferociously. The flames had started slowly, so that people could evacuate and then burst to life consuming everything. The explosives had done their job. The main building was still being evacuated, and to add to the commotion, it was also becoming a war zone. Shots and screams and blood. It was like his days in the war and Heero felt a flashback start to overtake him. He wouldn?t let it, as he focused on what was more important here. There was only an hour left and Relena was here with him, encased in a bullet proof vest and helmet, but still very vulnerable.
As others provided cover fire, they made it to the stairs. As Yuy had promised before they left, they were clear. Yuy himself was right behind them, along with Duo. Trowa was directing the battle below, just as Quatre had organized the demolition squad, and Wufei was guarding their rear so that more troops could not pour in.
Up flight and flights of stairs they mad their way. Moved with the speed of fear from the battle below, causing her her own flashbacks from not so many years ago. Not enough years, at any rate. Maybe there would never be enough years to distance herself from this sort of violence. The war should be over, for everyone.
On reaching the top, Duo quickly took down the guards before Relena could even cry out to have him spare their lives. The single hour hadn?t started flashing left, but it must be close. They burst into the room, where Queen Relena stood by her window. Watching the carnage below, as the core of her empire burned. The war would no longer be underground. Soon the people would see it could be done and she could no longer hold them back. Today she had underestimated Heero and she had lost.
"The remote is on my desk. It is unharmed." She didn?t look away from the window. "I don?t know what it is, but it must be important. My best scientists couldn?t figure it our in the short time we had it, but they did know someone excessively brilliant made it."
Yuy moved towards her, arms outstretched. "There is always time Relena. Just walk away from it all." She did turn away and her eyes held nearly a decade of unshed tears. Then her hand came up, and he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun, even as his came up on instinct.
"No, Heero, this is how is must end for me. This is the path I choose. Maybe a few years ago I could have turned back, but now it is too late. If you don?t shoot me I will shoot you. One of us will win today."
"You know that isn?t a win."
"Shut up! Shoot me as you promised you would! Kill me Heero! KILL ME!" Her eye liner ran as tears finally broke from her eyes. "If you really love me-" she didn?t finish the sentence and instead pulled the trigger. Two shots rang in the room, and her gun smoked even as she started to cough up blood from the punctured lung she had just received. Duo?s hand shook as his gun smoked. Everyone looked to Yuy, who looked untouched. He ran over to the Queen as she collapsed.
"Blanks Relena?" She nodded and smiled, coughing up more blood. Heero tightened his grasp around his own Relena even as Yuy cradled the dying Queen. "You knew I couldn?t shoot."
"You" She wheezed and bubbled a little. "Should have."
"I love you Relena, even now." Yuy watched her smile, as the light she had once had shone in them just for him.
"And I" She jerked in his arms, obviously in immense pain. "you. Love. You."
As Yuy clutched the Queen?s body to his chest Relena saw the watch flash out of the corner of her eye. It was time. But first she needed to do something. She walked over to Duo, Heero?s eyes following her even if his body did not. He stood contemplating his gun. She had seen eyes like that on Heero before and she knew what he meant to do.
"Promise me something Duo." He looked up, then nodded. "Don?t kill yourself. Hilde wouldn?t have wanted it, and neither would I. Especially me." Duo looked to the side. "Promise me!" She almost screeched it. There was too much blood today. He gave a brief nod, after a moment.
"Go." He said. But as he turned he caught her hand. "Tell her. . . she never died. Tell him too." Relena nodded. She would tell Duo and Hilde.
Heero went over to Yuy and led him away from the body a moment. They shook hands. "You?ll know what to do." Heero was giving him a vote of confidence. It was as nice a thing as he could offer at the moment.
Relena stepped up next as Heero turned on the portal. Yuy looked at her, his eyes dead.
"I didn?t want you to be her," he said softly "I wanted her to be you."
Relena kissed him on the cheek. "In time you?ll see that isn?t true. She gave you what she could." Her throat tightened "I would have done the same in her place." She was trying to give him the gift of a guiltless conscience, but no one could just provide that for him.
"Thank you." He understood. "Will you ever come back?"
Heero waited at the portal, and she walked over to him before shouting back. "I?ll check back later, someday, so you better get to work fixing it all!" She gave him a smile before Heero pulled them both into the swirling mass.
*
*
*
They landed in Une office at a speed that sent Heero flying into the wall, with Relena cushioned from a similar fate by his body. Une was, in no uncertain terms, stunned into a rare state of complete stillness of mind and body. Wufei and Sally, standing next to her desk, simply looked at them with open mouths. Heero was splattered in blood and covered in smoky dust, and Relena was still in her vest and helmet and similarly sooty. What was even more shocking to them was when Heero grabbed Relena from the floor and kissed her harshly for some time. He was so relieved that he didn?t care who saw it. They were alive and home.
"What happened, Minister?" Une asked, utterly calm now that she was over her initial shock.
"Never mind that, where?s Dr. J? We need to have a discussion." Relena?s eyes were set in a way Une hadn?t seen since her first year as VFM. The smile that she gave Relena was priceless.
"I?m sure he?ll be very curious to find out what you have to say, once we get him out of his cell."
END
Well, I wrote it all in one sitting. Hope it doesn?t have too many mistakes or is too confusing. Never let it be said that I couldn?t go for marathon sessions of writing (weeps over her lost Friday night). Please oh please tell me that it didn?t suck.
Plus, if anyone is interested that I continue this - just drop me a comment and I'll consider it. There is a lot I could do. . .
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: AngelOfDeath
