Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing *frowns*
_It's a new story, but I have this one already finished. I wrote it a while back and if you like it I'll post the rest.
Mission of Mercy
Chapter 1 'Leaving'
Relena smiled and packed her favorite shirt into her bag. As far as everyone, but Hilde, knew Relena and her were going to Hawaii for the weekend. In reality, both of them were going to join the small Relief group that was trying to put peoples lives together after the war. Relena knew that being Relena Peacecraft she would never be able to help the people like she really wanted to. Hilde felt her life had no meaning, she needed something else to fill the void the war had left in her heart. She felt guilty and wanted more than anything to help. Both had entered under false identities about a month ago and just now received their call. They were going to Africa, as teachers. Relena and her both knew enough about elementary history, math, English, and science to cover the classes. Besides teaching school they would be teaching the people a few new ways of living. Relena sighed and tried to push her nerves down. When she thought about leaving her home, and her friends a sick queasy feeling would seize her stomach and make her want to stay, but when she thought about not going she thought of all the children and people she would be letting down. This was the best way to help and she knew it. Relena hefted her bag onto her shoulder and headed for her door. Hilde was supposed to meet her in about an hour. She had packed as lightly as she thought necessary and had a stash of money in case things should call for it, but she doubted that. She just hoped no one would notice her sudden decline in luggage. Last time she had gone on vacation she'd dragged seven bags for four days. She winced, I really am material. Relena sighed again and turned to look at her room one last time before she left. Relena eyes immediately flew to the teddy bear on the foot of her bed. 'Heero.' She thought automatically. 'I'll miss you.' She moaned and repressed the urge to grab the bear. It would only link her to a life left behind and she knew it. Relena turned and flipped the lights out. It was the last time that she'd see her room. Relena smiled and bounded down the stairs thinking of the wonderful journey she and her best friend were about to embark on. When she reached the end of her staircase she looked up to see Hilde smiling at her.
"What's up girl?" She asked her voice quivering with excitement, or maybe it was doubt.
Relena decided not to press her and smiled. "Not much just ready for the adventure of a lifetime!" She called and stood beside her friend completely at a loss for words. "So you ready?"
She watched carefully as Hilde bit her bottom lip and nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be." She smiled warily and pushed her bag back on her shoulder.
Relena frowned. She wasn't convincing. Relena leaned in so she was whispering in her ear. "Do you want to go Hilde?" She asked trying to keep disappointment out of her voice.
"Relena, you don't know how ready I am to leave." She told her almost laughing with her urgency. "I thought it would be so hard to leave Duo behind, but he's got a girlfriend. I saw him with her yesterday night. I know we never went out, but it still hurts." Hilde sighed. "I really turning into a softy." Hilde smiled weakly and pulled her shoulder strap again.
"I know how you feel." Relena told her. "I like Heero, but I know he doesn't like me back." Relena paused. "It still hurts though."
"Tell me about it." Hilde mused. "I think things will be better there though. You know I bet there are tones of guys down there." She closed her eyes and Relena smiled. "Imagine with me. Thoughtful, loving, caring, helpful guy with gorgeous tans." Hilde laughed. "This trip seems too good to be true already."
Relena laughed. "So how did you pack so light?"
Hilde mumbled. "I hate leaving all my stuff behind, but I know I won't need it there." She smiled. "You should be proud I only brought one thing I couldn't live without." She looked a little guilty.
"What?" Relena asked raising her eyebrows.
"A battery powered hair dryer." Hilde pulled it out of her bag and sighed. "I just couldn't see me fixing my hair without it. You should see my hair air dry, it's not pretty."
Relena giggled and linked her arm with Hilde. "We'd better go before we miss our flight to Hawaii." She told Hilde smiling. Hilde grinned back and picked up her backpack.
"I'm ready."
Milliardo and Noin drove them to the airport. Relena thought it was funny ridding in the back of a minivan especially with her 'big, bad' brother driving. He and Noin were expecting their first child and he had given up his convertible, almost painfully, in exchange for this blue minivan. Relena smiled. He had definitely changed for the better.
"I don't know how Duo's going to live without you Hilde." Noin said her voice rising with amusement.
Relena turned and watched a shadow pass over Hilde's face.
"I mean, from what I've gathered you just about run his whole business. You created the organization system as well as the propaganda." Noin laughed. "I'm going to have so much fun with him while your gone." She mused. "I going to ask him for all kinds of things and their prices and when he spends about an hour looking for it I'll tell him never mind." She laughed and turned to look at her husband whose face was plastered to the windshield.
"Where did you get your drives license!" He mumbled and hunched over his steering wheel. "He just cut me off. I can't believe him." Noin groaned and rolled her eyes.
"He always drives like that." She winked and groaned. Relena and Hilde both held back their laughter.
The rest of drive went mostly in silence. Relena and Hilde both were caught in their own thoughts. They wondered what their new life would be like, what experiences they would have.
* * * * * * * * *
Relena buckled her seatbelt as the flight attendant began her speech on the exits of the plane. She was just glad to finally be on the plane. Her brother and Noin had almost insisted on staying until their flight took off, for safety. If they had stayed then Relena and Hilde both would have missed their real flight and ended up in Hawaii instead of Africa, or worse they would have to tell the two their plan and listen to a lecture about how stupid and foolish their actions were. She had finally convinced Noin to leave and Milliardo went reluctantly. They had just five minutes to run across the airport to the flight to South Africa. They had made it with no time to spare the plane was about to take off when they screamed at the stewardess it wait. Beside her Hilde had her eyes closed and was probably on the verge of sleep. Relena thought she should do the same.
Hilde jolted out of her slumber as the captain's voice boomed over the intercom. "Ladies and Gentlemen please prepare to land."
Hilde nudged Relena with her elbow. "Wake up. We're almost there." She told her.
"Heero, wait a minute I'm sleeping." She mumbled and rolled over.
Hilde covered her mouth and grinned. She could have some fun with this. "But I want to marry you Relena." She said throwing her voice so it sounded deeper.
"Mmmm… we're already married." She told her smiling.
Hilde laughed out loud. "Relena wake up before I die." She broke into more laughter as Relena opened her eyes and looked at Hilde like she was crazy.
"What's so funny?" She asked.
"Nothing." Hilde managed. "Nothing at all."
The plane landed and both of them entered into their new life. "Alight 'Lena'." Hilde said stressing her name. "It's time for us to begin a new way of life."
"Yeah, tell me about it 'Hillary'." Relena said smiling.
"I really hate that name." Hilde complained from behind her. "I wish I'd come up with a better 'H' name."
"Like what?" Relena asked. "Helen, Harry." She smiled. "How bout I call you 'Hill'. Does that bother you as much?"
Hilde gave her a lopsided grin. "That's better, people used to call me that before I joined Oz." She pulled her back up off the tarmac and pulled her ticket out of her pocket. There was a map stapled to it. "So this is were we go." Hilde said.
"Yep." Relena answered. "Now lets find a car."
"Alright, a new car." Images of convertibles and porches flashed through her mind. "How about…
"When you said car, I didn't know you meant: Piece of junk that is held together by mud, no luck alone." Hilde groaned and leaned out the side of the car and steady her herself with her hand as they hit another bump.
"Listen Hill this is the best for where we're going, you heard the sales man." Relena eased off the gas a little as she saw another pothole coming her way. "A jeep is an all terran vehicle." She quoted the sales man. "It will last you as long as you're alive and gets great mileage." She smiled and leaned over to look at Hilde. "I think I did a good job of picking it out."
"Yeah, and one day…Lena watch out Giraffe!" Hilde's face went pale and she gripped the door until her knuckles went white.
"What is that some kind of lame Africa jo…" Relena turned to see a giraffe or more like a herd of them running in front of her jeep. Relena slammed on breaks and screamed as they came inches from hitting it.
"Well," Hilde said. "I must say that never happened in the Cinq Kingdom." Relena glared at her.
The rest of the ride went without mishap and 'Lena' and 'Hill' arrived at their mission.
They both stepped out of the jeep and put a pair of sunglasses over their sensitive eyes. The place was so tiny. There were houses, or more like small shacks surrounding a large tent. There were children of all shapes sizes and colors running and laughing as they played in the streets. Their feet were bare and Relena wondered if they even had shoes as she scanned their ragged clothing.
"I'm glad we came." Hilde said aloud as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. They both made their way to the large tent in the center unable to speak as they gathered in the situation these people lived in. Both of them desperately wanted to know the history of this small-secluded town. They noticed the way the children looked at them as they ventured closer to the tent. Their eyes were wide with wonder and excitement.
Somebody stepped out of the tent and Relena smiled at him. Her smile quickly faded though as she caught sight of the large weapon tucked under his arm and aimed at them.
"What's your business here." He asked his voice rather menacing.
"We're here to help." Hilde tried. "We were sent here by the Relief group." She swallowed. "We don't want to harm anybody."
The man's face immediately relaxed. "It's good to have you here." He said smiling. It was kind of odd how the smile transformed his entire face. He no longer looked so sharp and scary and his muscles didn't seem to bulge off his body quite so much. He lowered his gun and laughed at the two women in front of him. "You'll have to have better nerves than that to survive here." He said laughing and both of them smiled feeling a little more relaxed.
"We're stronger than you think." Relena told him extending her hand to the large man whom was smiling happily at them. "Lena Doran." She told him lying easily.
"I'm Hillary Jeffs, but call me Hill please." She told him wincing. "I really hate that name." She shook his hand. "So I'm curious how this place got started." Hilde ventured. "I mean there are so many different people here."
"Its wonderful." Relena said. "I think I'll like it here." The man smiled.
"Maybe you guys will fit in better than I thought." He told them pulling the curtain back so they could enter. "You better meet the woman who made all of this possible. Her name's Tutian (Two-T-ann)
He turned and Hilde and Relena followed into the depths of the tent. The inside was larger than either of them had thought it would be, there were many different sections separated by a thick canvas. Finally when it seemed they had walked for miles he stopped outside a canvas flap. "Go see her she's expecting you." He laughed and pushed his gun onto his broad shoulders.
"Can we come in?" Relena asked rather loudly and hoped the woman would answer.
"Come in." Her voice sounded warn and raspy.
Hilde shrugged and pulled back the curtain. The room was well light by oil lamp and possibly a few gaslights. The woman was sitting with her legs cross on her floor. Her eyes were closed and she hummed loudly. "I see that each of you has a good soul, and is eager to help those less fortunate than yourselves." She told them never opening her eyes. "The one on the right is Lena Doran, and the left you are Hillary Jeffs." She stopped humming and opened her eyes. Both girls were staring at her as if she had three heads. She suppressed her laughter and stayed in character.
"How did you know that?" The blond one asked her, her mouth hanging open.
"Are you, can you read minds?" The other asked and she couldn't control herself she started laughing.
"No, I can read period." She grinned all of that information was on your applications and I had a fifty percent chance of guessing who was on each side."
Hilde looked at the woman and grinned. She would give Duo a run for his money. She thought and turned her attention back to her. "Your name is Tutain isn't it?" She asked, not so sure the other man had told her the truth.
"Sure is." She told her smiling widely. "I've been here a good eight years." She told them grabbing her long brown hair. "As you can see this place as given me all my gray hairs."
Relena smiled as she viewed the few scattered gray hairs that covered the woman's head. "So how did this place come about?" Relena asked.
"Well." Tutain began. "During the war a lot of people were left without homes, from stray battles, children without parents teenagers with no direction. I watched as most of these small bands of homeless children turned into delinquents because it was the only way to survive. I saw fathers and mothers struggling to feed their families and I couldn't take it. I organized this place, and believe me it wasn't easy. It was a fight the whole way for any funding." She sighed and it seemed she aged thirty years before there eyes even though she was no more than five or six years older than they were. "This is my dream." She told them finally. "We have to fight to keep it, people are attacking us day after day. Probably why Bulzer there scared you so bad. He really gets into his job, ex-soldier turned peacemaker. Anyway we gather children and families from every where anyone who needs refuge, any child that desires a chance. Sometimes we take in a few unwanted babies." She ran her fingers through her hair and moved to her desk pushed into the corner of her small room. "You two are just what we need right now. Some of these kids desperately want to learn. They're so bright and at times they surprise me. The schoolhouse is still under construction. You guys can help finish most of that up firstly. Okay, other business you will be teaching a variety of age levels from 5 to 14 in the same classroom. You have forty students and when we get more volunteers the older children will have their chance. They may join your classes from time to time, but remember it's the little ones that are your responsibility." She looked at them to make sure they understood and only continued when they nodded. "Don't worry about them though I've got six high school teachers coming in a month. Next are textbooks. What we have is very limited. Unless you can convince some rich organization to donate money you'll be teaching from outdated text books just substitute as you see fit. Lastly and most importantly is language. I read both of your reports to find that you are both fluent in a variety of languages. "Hillary in German, French, Korean, and Lena in Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic." She sighed. "That's pretty impressive ladies."
"What can we say." Relena laughed. "We have friends from all over the world." She laughed and nudged Hilde who grinned back at her.
"Well, you need to teach the children English, and if they desire to be taught something else you can start on that, but most of their language training will be in high school." She smiled you. "Don't know how much we need you guys here. I just wish there were more people willing to help." Her face regained its weary expression and aged. "Find Bulzer, he'll show you to Misty and she'll get you guys settled into your rooms and then you can get to work." She smiled at them and laughed. "Before long you two will have forgotten what civilization is like."
It didn't take long for Relena and Hilde to get settled in because they had packed so lightly. When they met Misty they knew both of them would like her. She shared the same passion to help as both of them did and an even stronger conviction to the preserve. There were no TV's and only one radio they used to call in supplies and occasionally listen to the news. It was a treat for the people here and batteries were high up on the supply list and unfortunately the hardest to get hold of. Both of them were busy working on the school as darkness descended around them and all the workers and people were too busy meeting 'Lena and Hill' to listen to the news that night.
So what do you think???? R&R