Surely as the Sun
Chapter Six
Relena made her way silently through the hallways in her home, the lights in the house out and dust settling in the air. Outside, dawn was breaking across the horizon and shining through the opened windows. She gazed sullenly ahead of her and ran her hand along the walls, the sound of fowl outside echoing through her home. The smell of the small pond permeated what was normally a house that smelled of soaps and fruity air fresheners, but she had sent all of the help home the evening before with instructions that they would not be required for today.
Milliardo and Noin had left earlier with a frantic call from Une about the circumstances of her daughter. Really, it was hard to think of Mariemeia as a child, especially having been in her company for so long. Her brow scrunched together. Kidnapped by a kid. She had been stuck in that sticky, gross pink suit for days. But really, she had only been a child at the time as well. History and all of its present and future builders had effectively hurled destiny in her direction, leaving her stunned and unprepared in its wake. Since then, Mariemeia had not only seemed to undergo a change in personality, but in being as well. It was one of the few memories she had of actually making a difference in someone?s life that she could see. All of her working, exhaustive efforts for mankind were done on a worldwide scale now, and hardly any of it was personal anymore. She supposed it came with the job description.
And then there was the startling, shattering depiction of what she knew she would always have to do at the beginning of this war. Of the kind of person she knew she would have to become. In politics, you?re supposed to develop an austere, calloused shell. To know that your opinion and your way of thinking is right no matter what, and if you can?t get exactly what you want then compromise is the only other option. Giving in completely is not. Hardly anyone?s opinion in politics is ever completely changed, and as a result, you have to harden yourself. But Relena was not hard, and she was not changed.
She supposed that it came with grounds of being raised in a home very loving and built on principles of the Bible. To love one another, to love God. To give freely, not to be selfish, to live a life of sacrifice. A life built on selfishness will only end in never being content with what you have, with never making a positive difference. Loving Jesus Christ and letting Him have all of you ? every mistake, every failure, every accomplishment, every dream ? letting Him love you back ? that is a life well-lived. That?s what her father had told her.
And then the chemical was released. All of the good she had worked for, all of the times she had sacrificed something for someone else ? and in return, the world slapped her hands away. She supposed that part of her breakdown was a loss of faith in God, and when that had happened ? when she had believed she was utterly and entirely alone ? that had driven her over the edge. With Heero gone missing, and then found nearly dead, only to go missing again ? in some sort of sick perverse way to get to her?she did not know the reasoning behind it. She didn?t know how to react, and so she sunk into herself. Women ? not just a woman, but women all over the world in some part of their minds blamed her for what had happened.
She sighed and paused her stroll down the hallway, looking up at the ceiling with her hands clasped behind her back. The atmosphere around her began to vanish from her mind and she closed her eyes.
?There are parts of me that I can?t quite get to?there?s something in me that wants to blame you for letting all of this happen?? she said, opening her eyes and searching the ceiling for any indication that someone was listening. ?I don?t know why you?ve let this happen, and I don?t see how You could make it better. But I?ve heard it said that with you, anything is possible?and that one of the best things about you is your faithfulness. I know that I haven?t been very faithful to you over the past year, and I know I gave up on you. But I believe in your forgiveness. I believe that you created me and fashioned me for such a time as this. And I believe, more than any of that, that you love me. Even when I refused to listen to you anymore you loved me and brought me out, and you healed my mind. And I believe that you?re healing my heart now. What I ask?? She paused, the water building behind her eyes burning at the edges. She swallowed. ?What I ask is that you help us to bring Heero back safely. Not just his body, but his mind. Bring back the man I knew. Bring back the kindness that you created in him. And help us to stop this war, and to find something to cure this."
She opened a sliding door in the hallway and reached into the closet, pulling out a white pea coat. She pulled the coat over her shoulders and around the thick, bullet-proof vest encasing her torso, buttoned it up, and then tied the thin belt high around her waste as she made her way to the doorway. As she closed the door and locked it she fumbled with the keys and stared at her hands for a moment.
?I know that?s a lot. Sometimes I forget just how capable you are?I know you?re going to come and change everything. You always do.?
---
?Relena, I swear to freakin? Moses, if you don?t get your butt to go faster I?m going to tie this cable around your neck and drag you behind me.?
Relena eyed Duo with an unfazed look from behind and kept walking at her steady pace. He sighed and stared pathetically at Une. The Commander was drowning out what they were saying as she scanned the dark corridors of the now-emptied manufacturing plant where Heero had been hiding out for the past day with Sally. Wufei was on the team as well and scoping the area slightly ahead of them. He had been barking orders to get things moving for at least 8 hours straight and had apparently resigned himself to just doing the job at his pace, whether the rest of them kept up or not.
While Wufei and Sally had a strictly professional relationship, there was no denying the fact that the two were unknowingly completely in love with each other. Sally was so committed to her job and medical responsibilities to the rest of the staff that she busied herself constantly and didn?t have the time nor the knowledge to understand completely Wufei?s odd affections to her ? how mild and wrongly received they were ? and in return, the oddities of his relationship with her were magnified. While he himself didn?t completely understand his reasoning, let alone what exactly it was he was feeling, the result was that the two of them never talked about their relationship but always wanted to be around one another. Duo imagined it wouldn?t be long before the two of them understood what they had been missing out on. If Sally was still alive, that was.
A rock came hurling toward Duo?s backside and he stopped mid-stride and turned around slowly, glaring at Relena in the dark. She stood still with her hands on her hips.
?Just because you want to get home and have your way with your wife doesn?t mean the rest of us are as eager to hurry through with this, Duo Maxwell. This isn?t easy for me.?
A grin spread across his face slowly, and Relena thought for a moment he looked exactly like the Grinch on Christmas morning when all of the toys were gone.
?You are just scared.? He said, turning back around and running to catch up with Une, who hadn?t even realized they were gone.
?I am not!? She said, quickening her pace. A light flickered up ahead and Une turned quickly around and scowled at the both of them.
?Will you two shut up! This is like working with children!?
Relena glared at Duo and mouthed ?look what you did? and then hurried past him. He started to counter her attack but then backed down as the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and his body subconsciously tensed. The rest of the team seemed to notice the change as well, and Une motioned Wufei back a few paces as the rest of them grouped together.
---
?Meia.?
Her eyes shot open and she tried to pitch her head forward, but her face was being held down by a hand clamped tightly over her mouth. She gazed wide-eyed in the dark until she was able to focus and see Kale?s face in the darkness of one of the girl?s cabins. A quick glance out the window showed the moon high and glowing, casting an eerie light into the room. He stared down at her with an intense look on his face as he placed his index finger over his mouth and motioned for her to be quiet. When she nodded he let go slowly and she sat up in the bed. His eyes roamed over the pink camisole she wore only for a moment and he turned away quickly and stared in the other direction. She could not tell if he was blushing. She reached under her bunk and pulled out a green hoodie, and as she zipped it she took the moment to stare at the profile of his face while he couldn?t see her. He was staring at the ground and his long black lashes covered the warm brown color of his eyes, at which point her hand ached to reach up and run her hand across. She thought for a moment that he was the most handsome boy she had ever met, and then shook her head. It wouldn?t do for her to get involved with someone here when she was sent as, in all honesty, a spy.
His eyes shifted so that he could see her in his peripheral vision and she moved quickly off of the bed. They both stood up and he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the room between the girl?s beds as they slept. She glanced around to see if any of them were awake and, satisfied that no one had noticed, she followed him out the door.
When they reached the hallway he scaled the walls and she followed, never letting go of his hand. At the other end of the hall she could see the light from one of the lights plugged into an outlet, but other than that everything looked normal. She walked with him through several halls and then finally out of the compound and into the deserted cafeteria. Trowa sat at one of the tables with his arms folded and his eyes closed. She glanced around the cafeteria in confusion.
?He wants to talk to you.? Kale said, nodding in Trowa?s direction. She walked to him and Kale followed, but as she got closer to him she turned around and placed her hand on Kale?s chest.
?I don?t think it?s a good idea for you to get anymore involved in this than you already are.?
At this, Kale smiled and pushed past her. Trowa had opened his eyes and was looking up at her in amusement. ?What is going on? Trowa, you know exactly why U?why my mother wouldn?t want him to be here.?
?He works for your mother, Mariemeia.?
She stopped, bewildered, and eyed Kale up and down. He was cheesing at her and didn?t seem to mind her obvious confusion.
?He works?for my mother? Trowa, he?s barely 17.?
?I?m 16, actually.? He said, shoving his hands into his pockets. He shifted awkwardly between feet and Mariemeia cocked her head to the side, one eyebrow creased sarcastically.
?You of all people should know how old someone has to be to be capable of making a difference.?
She grew angry and bit her lip. ?Is there something you wanted to tell me??
He raised an eyebrow. ?Une wants you back home. This is getting too dangerous.?
She sighed and clinched her fists at her sides, straightening her posture.
?She cannot control me forever! I know what I am doing. I?m not a child and I certainly don?t have the mind of a child, and she has got to understand that!?
?They found a way in to Benja?s plant. They found Heero. They?re invading the premises as we speak. He nearly killed Sally and was trying to kill Benja, but succeeded in putting him in a coma instead. Alexei Patrenko is the brains behind the entire operation, and he?s coming here in a few days. You would be in direct contact with the most powerful man in the colonies.?
?And who else in Preventors would be able to have this kind of access to him without seeming suspicious? I?m the fastest and most capable option you all have at the moment and you know it. I am not going home, Trowa.?
?She thought you might say that.? The corner of his mouth turned up in what she guessed could be considered a smirk. Which was a big deal for Trowa.
?She also said that if you refused to come back, your security here would be tripled and you would be wired 24 hours a day for the rest of your time here. She expects a phone call every 12 hours and a complete report during those two conversations. We are going to work it out so that you will not be among the girls Alexei tests his new injections on. Hopefully, by the time the time comes for him to do that, we will have him arrested.? He paused and looked at her. ?If you wanted a bigger part in this, you just got it.?
---
In the end, all it had taken was for her to look him in the eyes and breathe his name. Not detached from him, not as if he were some sort of monster, but as the boy she had spent the hardest and most terrifying parts of her life with. He fashioned his gun in such a way that she knew he was disarming himself and letting her take control of the situation ? of him, really.
Duo?s grip around her waist tightened as he focused on Heero?s face in the darkness. Above them, he was peering down through an opening in the vent shaft. She could not see anything but the outline of his brown hair and chilling blue eyes that burned through the darkness of the hallway, but as she whispered his name he stretched out across the expanse of space between the ceiling and the floor, a good hundred feet off the ground. He clawed his way around the walls like an insect, his fingers and the toes of his bare feet grasping at the walls in a way that was inhuman. His body slithered down and down until he landed gracefully on the floor in front of them.
Behind her, she heard Duo mouth an exclamation of unbelief and reach for his piece. She placed a hand on his arm and then pulled it off of her. Duo growled into her hair and pulled her closer to him. The movement was meant as a precaution, but Heero had obviously taken it as something else. His eyes flickered over with anger just for an instant, and before any of them realized what had happened he had sprinted down the hallway. The heavy sound of his bare feet pounding against the floor vibrated along the ground in quick motions as Une barked out a command. In the distance, Relena could barely make out Wufei darting out from behind an object in the hallway. Heero had obviously sensed the attack for a significant amount of time and easily used his momentum to jump and push himself off against the walls. He had vaulted so high that his feet ran up the wall and lightly grazed the ceiling before gravity brought him back down, quiet and fatal in the darkness. Heero reached for Wufei, one hand grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and the other wrapping around his ankle and turning his entire body sideways before ramming him against the wall. The sound of Wufei?s body hitting the wall made Relena cringe and then take a step back as she watched his body fall to the floor, unmoving.
The sounds they were making had caused them to be noticed by the guards, and before she had a chance to react an alarm had gone off in the building. She could hear shouts and voices from the other hallways, but as Duo?s hand slipped from hers and he began to march steadily in Heero?s direction, she felt she had been left completely helpless to stop any of it.
Duo was still several yards away from Heero but continued his quick pace. He reached to his side and yanked out his gun, whirling it around and shooting it off in Heero?s direction. Heero easily dodged the shot and began to run towards Duo at an unbelievable speed. Even as Duo shot at him he easily dodged the bullets, instead using the adrenaline to build his pace. Duo laughed and threw the gun to the side before breaking into a dead run himself, and as the two collided Relena called out Duo?s name. He ignored her, the adrenaline pumping in his veins, and the two began fighting so fast she was unable to catch up with who had landed a punch and who hadn?t.
The fighting lasted for several minutes, and with each punch and kick, Relena knew there was going to be a punctured organ or some kind of fatal hemorrhage to make everything fall apart. In the end, all Heero had to do was get Duo in a similar position that he had Sally in the day before. Relena stared in shock as Duo looked at her in Heero?s suffocating hold over his neck and abdomen, his face growing pale. His eyes seemed to glisten and he looked up at the ceiling as the color continued to drain from his face. She could see the regret in his eyes, the sadness ? and yet, the acceptance of what was happening pass through his fa?ade. As if finally coming to herself, she lurched forward.
?Stop!?
Heero?s head shot up and he eyed her dangerously. He let Duo fall from his hands and slump to the ground, and she walked quietly up to him. She could hear Duo clawing his nails across the ground in disorientation, trying to yell at her but only able to manage a strangled whisper, but all she could focus on was the wild look in Heero?s eyes and the way he seemed to see right through her. His hands hung tiredly at his sides and his breathing was heavy, but she knew that those kinds of things wouldn?t hinder his ability in the least.
She reached up and he snatched her wrist away, his grip harsh. Her eyes widened and her mouth parted slightly before she focused on his eyes, cold and empty in the red glare of lights from the alarms going off. She studied them for a moment and he glared back at her, but after a few seconds he let go of her bruised wrist. He did not break eye contact with her until she reached up and ran her thumb across his cheek. He closed his eyes slowly and turned his face into her touch ever-so-slightly.
?I?ll help you remember.? She said, wondering where the courage came from for her to do that. ?Come with me, Heero.?
He looked up at her, clearly not understanding what she was saying, but trusting her nonetheless.
