Tendrils of Destiny 8/9

[paxbanana]

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

CHAPTER EIGHT


"Have you contacted Milliardo Peacecraft on the Mars Colony?" A23 raised her eyes at the question shouted down the hallways of the L3 building.


"He's been contacted and is standing by waiting for orders." came the resounding shout.


A23 rose from her desk; the guards at her door jumped at the abruptness of the movement. They swiftly slapped salutes to her but did not question the woman as she carefully walked past them. She offered no explanation other than: "They are coming."


The threatening nature of her statement only added to the sense of urgent languidness as she maneuvered through the hallways, carefully migrating through the building, ignoring all but her destination. Something waited there for her. Something mysterious and tangible. It haunted her with whispers of life and love and the past.


The bright colors of her imagination flashed and swirled, gently licking wet trails along the inside of her skull. A mass of her thoughts wriggled like maggots in the center of her brain, and her eyes grew steadily bluer. Soon, so soon?


"Please, leave me," she murmured to the two guards, knowing she had to be alone. They hesitated, glanced at each other and obeyed, more than happy to leave that cinnamon smelling woman to her own insane thoughts. Continuing alone, the woman gazed down at the tiles in front of her feet, tracing her steps to her destination before arrival.


A23 touched a panel on the door of the Mobile Doll control room. The door swished open, and he was waiting inside for her, the depths of his body engulfed in startling strains of blue.


"Hello Daddy," she whispered, drinking in the sight of the former Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, her adoptive father. It had been so long since she had been in his presence, though she did not understand why. She had visited her mother often before?before this had started, so why had she never taken notice of her beloved father on those visits?


"Relena," he stated, smiling. The large man opened his arms wide, and she took the invitation, running forward and throwing herself into them for a bear hug. His embrace was warm and comforting, leaving her to feel relaxed and safe. "Oh! My little girl's grown up! She's now a woman, and a beautiful one at that!" His voice teased her imagination, and suddenly, for an unknown reason, tears threatened to fall. Then she was sobbing blue tears into his chest and clutching the fabric of his suit.


"Sh? There, there, sweetie. Why are you crying? Did someone upset you at school today?" His voice washed over her, and Relena's sobs quieted. She sniffled, trying to find a response, her gaze fixed on the unstained surface of his white shirt.


"I?I don?t? It just doesn?t feel right," she whispered. What doesn't feel right? she asked herself.


As if answering her thoughts, Darlian ran his hands up her arms and responded, "It is only right that you lead the people. I always knew you would be great." Slowly, his body began to lead hers in a soft, rocking waltz. With these phrases, her memories swirled through her mind, flooding the confines of her skull. Fear clutched at her throat and belly. Her gaze snapped up to his face, searching for answers. "But to lead people against others? Is that right?"


The question was almost rhetorical, but Darlian answered softly. "You have the reasons. You're protecting them." His warm fingers ran over her cheek, and he smiled.


"Yes but?" Relena quaked with doubt, and her father's hand soothed her. It stroked gently against the skin of her face. "This type of action is not following my ideals??the Peacecraft's or yours, Father."


His rumbling laughter vibrated through her body, as if she was the one making the noise. "You are no longer human, daughter. You are my child, but you have risen beyond humanity."


She did not question his statement or deny the accusation. In stead, she ducked her head into his chest and asked, quietly, "Does that give me the right to play God?"


"You are helping the people, and that is what matters, dear sister." Milliardo's hoarse tones whispered soothingly in her ear. Not seeming to be surprised by the metamorphosis, Relena continued the rocking waltz that her father had started.


"But, they don't know so. I will cause many to die," she murmured, her arms wrapped around the thinner, wirier body of her older brother, taking comfort in his strength. Casting a confirming glance at his features, she knew he was proud.


"The people don't need to know," Milliardo stated calmly. "They will know in the future. A soldier must fight; that is always true, and he must satisfy that longing for violence. This alternative is far better than the endless cycle of battles."


She ducked her head back into his chest. "I know too much." Raising her eyes, she was not surprised to see Heero's dark eyes piercing her own. "Are you gonna kill me now?" she asked softly, praying for the answer.


Never taking his gaze off her face, he stated solemnly, "Yeah."


"Good," she whispered, her body shuddering in an orgasmic happiness. She once again tucked her head against his chest. "I always wanted it to be you."


Her sweet, thin figure twirled around the room, dancing to the music only she could hear in the mysterious swirls of her imagination. We are united by the tendrils of destiny. Her arms, poised in the air, held nothing. Finally pausing in her dance, she caught hold of the Zero system helmet with her empty hands and placed it over her eyes.


"We shall breathe rhythm into lifeless things," she murmured quietly.


Somewhere miles away, Heero Yuy turned, heeding her call.


* * * *


The three Gundam Pilots: Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, and Quatre Winner, hung in space, certain of a trap if they continued toward the beam-carrying satellite. L1 and L2 were destroyed, the shell of their wreckage now flying randomly through space. L4 was minutes from being disintegrated. Their path back to L3, from which A23 and NATURE were conducting the attacks, was blocked. They could not move.


"Checkmate," Quatre breathed softly to himself. Somewhere on Earth, Dorothy smiled.


Duo leaned back in his restraints, forcing the dizzying sickness from completely controlling him. He prayed silently that Hilde had been one of the few to manage the escape to Earth. The confines of his Gundam cockpit were suffocating, and the man swallowed and smiled, trying to repress gagging sensations and a panic attack. As it was, his breaths came hoarse and high. If only they could fight! Duo would have control of himself then, but this doing nothing nagged and frightened him to no end.


Trowa was silent, his emotions forgotten in the long forsaken battleground. Sweat rolled down his face, then detached in the no-g environment and hung in the cockpit as tiny points of light. He could hear the hoarse breaths of his companions and the soft murmur of Quatre. Wufei had sent a message earlier explaining he would be up in a few hours at the earliest. It would be too late then; as it was too late now. Heero had not contacted them.


They hung like this hours, day, seconds, years, not thinking or planning, simply waiting.


And then it came.


Mobile suits suddenly poured from the massive satellite ahead of them, regurgitating the tiny creatures like a horde of spiders. The metal of the dolls glinted threateningly in the light cast from the satellite.


Without acknowledgment to the predicament, the three men became swept up in a tide of violence. They blasted back and forth, dodging and weaving and rolling in oh-so-familiar patterns. It was beautiful, this dance of life and death. One side graceful and challenging, the other lifeless and jerking. There was no competition. The two sides were not partners in this exotic waltz.


Then, abruptly, the movements of the dolls changed. The sudden startling dance swirled together, back and forth, and each pilot sat completely trapped and motionless in the crowd of dancing machinery. The rolls had changed. They were not the lifeless and inexperienced.


"Who the hell is doing this?" Duo cried, his voice cracking in fear. "This is?unreal!"


Trowa smiled. He knew whose mind worked in such ways. He also knew she would never hurt them; she was holding them back.


* * * *


Soon after Heero Yuy left the circus trailer, he traveled through a blur of space and colonies. In the cluster of L3, the different colonies whizzed by his stolen jet as he raced toward a somehow known destination. After trailing through a chosen colony, he found himself at a banquet. The people located at this event, unworried about the threat, chatted pleasantly in dark suits and long gowns. Men were tittered by their wives, one young wife hissing as a livid jewel to a man talking earnestly to another woman.


And Heero's Gundam was underneath them.


So he waited for a smartly dressed man to pass into a dark hallway and quickly knocked him unconscious, taking the man's clothes. He then filtered in and out of ht crowd, his mind on his task, suddenly strangely clear. Women clung to his arms as he waltzed his way through the gathering before managing to detach himself, perhaps an hour later, and wander down to the lower section of the colony.


The lights of Zero flipped on and the system started. Heero's heart pounded and he licked his lips. His dark eyes dilated then contracted as a vision broke forth in her mind. Zero gave him only one path. And Heero took it.


* * * *


The sweat dampened Duo's long locks. He panted heavily, too tired to even try to brighten the mood. Just as he knew he could fight no longer with a pause, the ranks of mobile dolls stilled, quivering in excitement. The heavy buzzing in the atmosphere now hit the Gundam Pilots, and they quivered in their seats, suddenly frightened, repulsed, and excited all in the same moment. The emotion was almost sexual in its intensity.


"Relena?" came a deep voice, and Heero Yuy blasted right through the mobile dolls, two peeling from the horde to escort him to L3. If anything, the emotion climaxed, and the dolls suddenly swirled into an even strong and more random dance than before.


Duo sighed as the battle resumed, revitalized by the surge of strange thoughts and feelings. "Sometimes I just hate that guy."



[AN}- I lied. Another chappie posted. One left, and an epilogue. Thanks to any readers! Please R&R!