Description: Heero disappears, and Relena's had enough of not knowing.....  Showing off her less feminine side, she goes off in search of him, unknowingly endangering herself, and her companions. Romance. Drama.

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Disclaimer: I most certainly don't own GW, or anything remotely related to it (though I sincerely congratulate the people who did – that's the work of geniuses). So don't sue me, please. My bank account comes to a grand total of $2.11.

Chapter 6

The man and two guards escorted Heero to the computer control room, where the man took a seat.

"Coordinates," he said coldly.

Heero glanced at the two guards and noted several things. It was a moment before he answered, "In Gundam terms?"

"Yes."

There was a brief pause, then Heero said, "64,1, and 9,54."

The keyboard clicked as the man typed in the numbers. Suddenly, the screen on the computer showed a huge asteroid floating in a small belt near the L6 cluster, the most remote cluster in all the Colonies.

"That's where one is?" asked the man, sounding doubtful.

Heero nodded. "Yes."

"Which one?"

"Deathscythe."

The man gestured to a guard at the door. "Bryant, I want a gundamanium scan done on this asteroid, and – "

"It won't work."

The man turned to stare at Heero. "What was that?"

Heero sneered, "It won't work. You think we'd just hide our Gundams without any protection? They're covered with a sheet of deradondiactive chemicals that'll rebound scans of every kind."

The man hesitated for a minute, then said, "Give me all the coordinates."

Heero was handed a piece of paper and a pen, and quickly he wrote the numbers.

The man took it from his hand, read it, and then said carelessly to one of the guards, "All right, now kill him."

Without a word, one of the guards pulled out his gun and shot. Heero ducked just in time as the bullet hit the wall. The guard took aim and was just about to fire when suddenly –

BOOM.

The door burst open and in dashed Trowa, Wufei, and Quatre, all aiming a pistol at a man in the room.

Quatre's face burst into a grin, yet he still trained his gun on one of the guards. "Good to see you, Heero."

Heero nodded once and said, "Thanks for showing up, Winner. Let's leave. We don't need to kill them."

Quatre raised his eyebrows in surprise but turned and followed Heero as Wufei and Trowa covered their backs. In less than a minute they were out of the one-story white building and out into the bright Colony sunlight.

Duo was waiting with a nervous Relena just outside the door. When Heero appeared, her face broke into a wide smile, but he didn't look at her. Instead, he nodded at Duo once and said, "Liked the first aid kit."

Duo grinned. "I thought you would."

Relena looked puzzled until Quatre explained, "Whenever one of us says 'first aid kit' to another pilot, it's basically a code word for 'send backup.' Works every time."

Trowa said quietly, "Can we leave now?"

Duo grinned and said, "Why, Barton, I thought you'd like to spend some quality time here! After all, we've got Heero back!"

Heero groaned and hurried to board the ship as Duo came after him for a big hug.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The X-103 was equipped with a small table in the kitchen. They sat Relena on it first, and Trowa pulled out a real first aid kit. Relena sat still and silent upon it as they tended to her many bruises and cuts. The only wound she had that was even close to serious was a jagged cut on her lower right thigh, which Quatre bandaged up in no time at all. During all this, Heero left for one of the rooms with Duo, armed with another first aid kit. There, Duo insisted on fixing Heero up, too, and it only took a little convincing. Heero was dead tired.

The cut on his arm was bleeding heavily again; with a slightly worried look on his face, Duo bandaged it as quickly as he could. When he was done, he pulled up a chair and said, "Heero, you've got some explaining to do."

Heero stood up and pulled himself to the top bunk, where he lay down on the bed. "About what?" he said coolly.

Duo stood up and yelled at him, "Heero! Are you crazy? Do you have any idea what you've done to that girl for the past seven years? She's missed you so bad she gave up a half year of her life, job, and kingdom to go on a wild goose chase to find to most reclusive guy in the world! And what do you do? Appear out of the blue one day, save her from probable death, and I know, I just know, that you're planning to leave right after you get a nap."

Heero replied quietly, "You're right. I am."

"AUGH!" Duo yelled. "Heero, you know what?" he said, jabbing a finger at the man on the bunk. "For all the years I've known you, I've actually looked up to you! You could do everything right, you never screwed up! And now, you come back after seven years, you let her catch a little glimpse of you, and you're going to break her heart all over again!"

Heero was silent.

Duo went to the door, but before he left, he closed his eyes and said quietly, "Heero, she loves you, man. I don't know how she does it, after all those years, but she loves you more than anything. When you first left, it broke her heart. Then, you come back, and I saw how she was smiling. And now you're going to leave again, and she's going to be even worse off than she was before. It hurts her more than you think it does, Heero. Why do you have to hurt her?"

He didn't expect an answer, but Heero suddenly said something very, very quietly.

Duo closed the door, turned around, and said, "What?"

Heero sat up, but he looked at the floor as he said softly, "Because I love her."

It was so unexpected that Duo sat down hard in a chair. There was a long, long moment of stunned silence, and then Duo stammered, "W-what?"

This time, Heero looked his comrade in the eyes and said steadily, "I love her."

A very slow grin spread across Duo's face, and he replied, "I knew it, I always did." He paused, then said, "That doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't?"

"You hurt her because you love her?"

Heero nodded once.

"How does that work?"

"Duo, you know her!" Heero said, his voice rising slightly. "She's incredible – so full of life, so cheerful. I should have never, ever crash-landed on that beach eight years ago. She would have been so much better off! Duo, she deserves someone who can take care of her, who can make her happy, and I know that person's not me."

Duo said softly, "That's why you stayed away since the Mariemaia incident."

Heero nodded.

Duo gave Heero a sympathetic grin and said, "Man, you are so messed up."

"What?"

"You're messed up. Don't you see? You're the only one that'll ever make Relena happy, and the girl knows it."

Heero shook his head. "Don't, Duo. You're making it worse. It's better she lived alone than with me."

Duo was slowly turning angry. "Heero, you're crazy. Listen to what you're saying! You just said it's better that she's sad than she's happy."

Heero looked his friend in the eyes. "Don't twist my words."

Duo stood up and said angrily, "Heero, if you're going to make her life miserable, it's your problem. I just want you to know that if I hadn't met Hilde, I would definitely have her now. She's one of the most incredible people in the world, and you're throwing her away like garbage. And you know what, Heero? She's not the garbage. You are. I can't believe I ever looked up to you."

And with that, Duo left the room, slamming the door shut.

Heero let out a long sigh and fell asleep.

The instant Relena was bandaged, she stood up and went to the cockpit. In no time at all, they had taken off and were headed out into space.

Relena sat in the pilot's seat and stared off into space, her mind blank. Though there was a hundred things to think about, she couldn't find one; she was simply a body with eyes staring out at the stars.

Suddenly, the cockpit door opened, and by the sound of the brisk walk, Relena knew it was Heero. He sat wordlessly in the copilot's seat.

They sat that way for a long, long time. Footsteps could be heard outside the cockpit; the other pilots were hurrying up and down the halls; Relena didn't know why.

The ship was veering slightly to the right; Relena leaned forward and deftly flipped a few switches. The ship returned to its course, and she relaxed again.

"Where did you learn to pilot an X-103?"

Relena turned her head to glance at Heero. He was watching her with mild surprise on his handsome features, and her heart began beating rapidly. She ignored her traitorous heart and turned to look back at the sky, saying, "There's a commander back at home – Thomson. Cyndi Thomson. She learned from General Smithson a long time ago."

"She?"

Relena rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're turning into a Wufei. I don't think I could stand that."

She glanced at him, standing beside her, and gasped quietly. Heero was smiling, something she had never, ever seen him do before. She stared at him until he stopped, then realized how rude she was being and swung herself around again.

"You've changed," she said flatly.

"Is that a bad thing?" Heero asked mildly.

"It depends."

"On what?"

Relena was quiet for a moment, then said, "If you've changed for worse or for better."

"And how do you tell?"

Relena's tone was hard and cold. "Well, I guess a person would have to get to know you, but no one gets to know the Perfect Soldier."

Heero's heart hurt painfully, but he forced his face to remain calm and said, "Really?"

Relena turned to glare at him. "Face it, Heero, you're cold and heartless. Remember? Incapable of love, aren't you? You don't let anyone into your life, not even the allies who help you complete your missions. Your whole life revolves around your work; you don't have time for love."

"And if I did, who would I love?"

The question was so unexpected, so quiet and soft that Relena was unable to speak for a moment. Then, making up her mind, she retorted, "No one. You wouldn't want to show your emotions."

Abruptly Heero stood up and left the cockpit. As his footsteps receded down the corridor, Relena buried her face in her hands and cried.

Dinner that night was add-water stew and dead silent. No one spoke to each other, and though Duo bravely tried to start up a few conversations, he failed horribly when all he received were stony silences. Everyone gazed at their bowls as they ate rhythmically, with very little sound.

After dinner, Relena went into the cockpit, closely followed by everyone. She didn't know why; she guessed they were bored.

She was right.

The cockpit was fairly large, easily able to hold six adults, even if five of them were muscular males. Heero leaned against the left wall, opposite of Trowa, and Duo and Quatre took seats on the floor while Wufei took up residence in the copilot's seat, sitting next to Relena.

"Re?" Duo asked after a few moments of silence. "Why are we headed for Earth?"

Relena's reply was cold and sarcastic, matching her mood. "Where else would we go? Our stupid little search is over, isn't it?"

Quatre said quietly, "I didn't think it was so stupid."

Relena rolled her eyes and was silent.

Wufei glanced up at Heero. "I thought you were leaving for L3."

Relena froze over the controls for a slight second, then busily resumed working. Heero gazed at her as he replied in a monotone, "I am. I'm going to get some supplies first, though, and talk to Merquise."

Trowa and Duo both stood up simultaneously, staring at him. Duo yelled, "Heero!" and glared at his friend for a while before stomping out of the room.

Trowa stared at Heero for a long period of silence before saying very quietly, "You are a coward." Then, he turned on his heel and left.

Heero was stunned for a minute, though no one would be able to tell by the mask on his face. Wufei and Quatre both stalked angrily out of the cockpit; even Quatre was cross, something that happened very rarely.

There was silence in the cockpit as Relena continued working, though her actions were rhythmic and slow. Heero, watching her, caught a glimpse of a lone tear slowly falling down her face, and suddenly he ached to hold her again.

But pride, and something a little bit more than that, made him turn and walk out of the cockpit without a word.

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