Prelude to Power
Prologue
(a.k.a My ending the Gundam Wing series)
This is not related to my fic on my ending to EW. This is going to be a prologue to a fic that I'm starting to write. It assumes Endless Waltz never happens. Also differs from the actual anime ending. I'm using poetic licence, so don't sue!
Disclaimer: Everyone knows that every fanfic author doesn't own this anime. Everyone knows that, so why bother suing? It's not as if we're trying to get money from this! *rant, rant*
Hilde has just returned from Libra in bad shape. After being told by Duo that Relena is on Libra, Heero makes the journey over to rescue her.
"Hey, where did Heero go?" Quatre asked the others. Trowa and Wufei shrugged while Duo smirked. "Duo, you know, right?" Quatre asked again, this time directing the question to Duo. "Yeah, he went to Libra. To rescue the princess." There was a snort from the other side of the room. Quatre and Duo turned to see Trowa smirking and Wufei looking in disgust. "What's up with you two?" Duo asked "The thought of Heero sneaking out. to see a girl." Trowa said, trying to keep his face straight. Wufei just made a noise of annoyance.
"Security breech!" "Damn!" Quinze muttered "Second one today. I thought I ordered everyone to up security after the last breech." The soldiers on the bridge winced internally, not wanting to meet the angered bridge commander's eyes. "Catalonia!" yelled Quinze. The blonde girl spun around to meet the gaze of her superior "Yes sir?" she asked, her voice full of sarcasm. "Go to miss Relena's quarters, guard her and make sure she doesn't escape." Dorothy nodded and left for Relena's quarters. Quinze turned his attention to the bridge crew. "Total lockdown, nothing comes in until after it has been properly searched." A chorus of 'yes sir's echoed through the room.
In a locked room in the battleship Libra, Relena Peacecraft sat watching the MS battles from the United Earth Sphere and White Fang. Meaningless battles. She had changed from what she wore when she arrived to a pair of blue jeans and a pink t-shirt. 'Much more comfortable,' she thought. She heard the door behind her unlock and open. "I have nothing to say to anyone, so fuck off." There was a sound of clucking. "And there I go thinking that you were raised to respect others. then you use common language, no better than the rest of us." Realisation hit Relena like a ton of bricks. "Heero?" spinning around, she saw the boy standing in the closed doorway. Heero nodded in affirmation. Relena stepped closer. "We're you just calling me a priss?" Heero just glared at her. After a few minutes of glaring at each other, Heero replied coldly "You just assumed that I did, your highness." Relena snorted. "I'm not royalty, well, not anymore. So I don't want to be treated like I am, I never did like it." Heero nodded in reply. After a minute, he said "It's not safe for you here. I'm taking you back to Peacemillion." Relena glared "Not before I talk to my brother." She said, her tone of voice rising slightly, indicating her stubbornness. "Zechs has done with talking. All he wants to do now is fight." Relena shook her head. "I'm still not leaving." Heero sighed. Hearing footsteps outside the room and the code being inputted into the lock, he grabbed Relena's wrist. "Hey. what are you. let me go!" Not listening, Heero dragged Relena to another door and busted the lock, just as Dorothy Catalonia entered the room. She held a gun at the ready. "Hold it right there. Neither of you are leaving this room. Yuy, put your hands in the air and step away from miss Relena." Heero, being unarmed, put his hands up and moved slightly to the left.
Treize Khushrenada, the sovereign of Earth, sat with Lady Une in the control room of MO II. "Mr Treize, are you sure that Tallgeese II will hold up against the Epyon?" Lady asked, looking out of the window onto the battle ahead. Treize nodded, revelling in silence. Lady sighed and put a hand on Treize's shoulder. "Please come out of this alive."
Milliardo Peacecraft sat making the final adjustments to the Epyon when someone unexpected showed up. "Lucrezia." Noin smiled and floated up to her old friend. "You don't have to fight, Zechs. We can settle things. Treize is willing to talk." Milliardo shook his head. "I'm sorry Noin. But this fight isn't against Treize." "Then who." Not answering, Milliardo went back to his work, ignoring the young woman next to him. Noin tried to figure who the intended opponent was, getting nowhere.
"What do you mean he left?" Sally asked, rounding on the four young boys. None of them answered and were spared from answering by Howard. "He went off to get that Peacecraft girl." Duo, Trowa and Quatre smirked while Wufei scowled. "He didn't take his gundam, we're coming up to a battle and he didn't take it! God his is so frustrating!" "Don't take it personally, he's always pulling stunts for that girl!" Duo said. Sally turned to him. "While Libra's power is down, you four will infiltrate and bring it down from the inside." "What about the mobile dolls and the MS earth troops?" Quatre asked "They're too busy fighting each other, and besides, you four are gundam pilots right. No problems." Sally replied. The four pilots were shoved out of the room and told to board their gundams for immediate departure. "Man. That woman is like a marauding soldier." Duo complained "Ex-Alliance major. That's her job." Trowa simply said "Come on, let's go get ready." Quatre said, making his way to the equipment room. The other two shrugged and followed but Wufei stayed behind. "I'm going to get you Treize, once and for all."
After Dorothy had called six White Fang troops to Relena's quarters, Heero was promptly handcuffed and dragged from the room. Dorothy took hold of Relena and pulled her along after them. "Why are you doing this Dorothy?" Relena asked. Dorothy laughed slightly "Your brother has requested me to bring you to him, along with soldier boy over there." Relena said nothing, but allowed herself to be pulled along by Dorothy. When they reached a door, Dorothy inputted a code and entered the room. Inside sat Milliardo Peacecraft and Lucrezia Noin. "Roberts, Luca, Benns, Petersham, Walters, McMasters. You may leave." The six saluted and left the room. Dorothy took a seat next to Relena and waited for what Milliardo had to say. He stood up and looked down at his sister and her attempted rescuer. "So we meet again Yuy." Heero glared at Milliardo, hatred evident in the defiant stare. Milliardo merely nodded in return. "Relena. My little sister." "What do you want Milliardo?" Relena asked, same cold stare as Heero's fixed onto her brother's face. "Why don't I just show you."
Trowa sat in the cockpit of his gundam, waiting for clearance to move out of Peacemillion's docking bay. Checking over stats, he made sure that all guns were fully operational and the army knife that was hidden in one of the arms was able to flick freely out if needed. Final checks were made on the space jetpack that made Heavyarms, a suit usually meant for long range land battles, able to be propelled and manoeuvred in space. "Ok Trowa, you're clear." Sally said. "Roger that." Trowa took off into space, followed by Wufei. The four rendezvoused close to Libra. "Duo, take the south side. Trowa, the eastern side. Wufei." "Where did he go?" Duo asked. Quatre shrugged "Well whatever it is, he has a reason for doing it." Trowa replied calmly. "Whatever you say." Duo said. The three remaining gundams made their way to Libra.
When Wufei arrived with Altron to MO II, he waited until he saw Tallgeese II before he made another move. "Ah, Wufei Chang. It is good to fight you again," came a mocking voice. "Treize Khushrenada. Do you really think that peace can be achieved while you are at the head of earth?" Wufei growled, using the twin beam trident to attack the mobile suit before him. The Tallgeese blocked and retaliated with the beam sabre. The two suits engaged in an all out battle, one for honour and justice not wanting to stop until one was completely destroyed. Whenever Altron took a swing, Tallgeese blocked and attacked just as fiercely. "Why aren't you using the dragon claws?" Treize asked. Wufei growled in reply. Treize pulled out the second beam sabre and began attacking again, making Wufei work much harder for the victory.
Milliardo turned on a monitor. A map of the Earth, moon and the five colony clusters showed up. "We are here." Milliardo said as he pointed to a position near L1. He continued "This is where Peacemillion and MO-II are." He pointed to two different points on the map. Relena interrupted "This is what you brought us here for? A geography lesson?" Milliardo shook his head. "Once the three align with Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, L1 and L5 the thing that will make or break the world will appear." Heero shook his head "You're crazy." Milliardo ignored him and turned to Relena. "If our mother was still alive, she would've been proud of you." Relena nodded. Milliardo gave her a quick brotherly hug and pushed her towards the door. "Go. I can't keep you here anymore." Heero turned to follow her but was stopped by Milliardo. "Look after her, she's a good girl but politics is not what she needs to do." Heero blinked at him a few times before leaving. The oldest Peacecraft watched his little sister and the boy that stole her heart who in return had his heart and soul stolen by the girl. Noin spoke up. "You've done a good thing Zechs." "He just let them go! How could you do that Mr Milliardo?" Dorothy asked.
"We're going to ram Peacemillion into Libra," ordered Sally. The crew around her gave her funny looks. Howard nodded and sent a message that all civilians were to evacuate to MO-II. Once they had all left, the crew began to throw the engines into overdrive.
On Libra, three of the gundam pilots were facing troubles of their own. Quatre had found the Mobile Doll control room. and Dorothy. They were now in a fight, Quatre blocking all Dorothy's wild swipes. "We shouldn't be fighting at all, Dorothy!" Quatre said, as he dodged out of the way. "Fighting is in the human conscious! In war it's kill or be KILLED!" she yelled at him. "We are the same." Dorothy stopped and looked at him. Quatre added. "We have both lost our parents and our lives to this war." Dorothy lunged forward and then there was a long silence. The only sound was Quatre groaning as he pulled the fencing coil out of his side. He fell and was caught by Dorothy. "I'm so sorry Quatre, I thought that you would've dodged. I'm sorry, please be alright." Quatre looked up at her as his vision swam in and out of focus, he smiled. "You're kinder. than me." Dorothy shook her head "I'm a coward, Quatre. I only fight to be noticed. I'm afraid of being invisible." Quatre reached up a hand and touched Dorothy's face gently. "It's ok. ok to be afraid. ugh." Quatre fainted. At that moment, Trowa entered the room and saw Dorothy crying over Quatre's unconscious and bleeding body. She looked up at him and said "I. I killed. I killed Quatre. I didn't mean to. sorry." then she broke down and sobbed loudly.
Duo stood next to a door, listening. Inside he heard voices. "That's gotta be them." He said to himself. Then he called out "Back away from the door if you don't wanna get hurt!" After he blew open the lock, he looked in and then quickly shut it again. "That was NOT what I wanted to see." He opened the door again and saw the five gundam scientists all sitting around, looking at Duo. "Well look who it is," said Instructor H "What are you five doin here?" asked Duo as he took a seat "We were put in here after building the Mercuries and Veyate." Dr J replied "Looks like Quinze pulled a fast one on us," said Professor G Duo shook his head. After a few minutes, talk turned to the zero system. "Could you explain why you built the zero system? And how do you control it." Duo asked. Dr J began to explain. "I built it with the help of Relena's real father." "Wait! I thought he was a pacifist king!" exclaimed Duo, surprised and confused "King Peacecraft is the father of Milliardo, Relena's father was really Mr Dorlain the whole time." Dr J explained. Duo blinked a few times "So that's why they look different." "Before you interrupted me, I built the zero system with the help of Mr Dorlain, Howard and Katrina Peacecraft back in 183. The first test pilot was a man named Trowa Barton. When he couldn't control the system, we went back and looked at the schematics. After many months, we found the answer." Dr J paused for a breath "What was it?" asked Duo "Two three year olds playing on the floor of the lab. Katrina's daughter, Relena and a kid known only as Heero. We put them both into the zero cockpit and began the tests. It worked perfectly." "What happened after that?" Duo asked, eager to know more. "The Alliance found out what we were doing and we had to part ways. Relena went to live with her real father and step-mother, the Dorlains. I left with Heero and went to L1, taking the zero research with me. Howard went to America and founded the sweepers, keeping some of the vital information which I had in my head. Katrina Peacecraft died soon after leaving Relena with Mr Dorlain." "But if the zero system worked properly with two pilots, why was it only used by one?" Duo asked. Dr J laughed. "Katrina was sly and made sure her daughter was kept away until later. So Heero was left to fine tune the system. She didn't want her daughter to be trained as a soldier." Duo nodded his head and stood up. "Well I guess I should take you all back to Peacemillion then."
Heero stopped and listened. Relena turned around and asked him what was wrong. "Peacemillion is going to ram Libra." Relena nodded and they ran to find a small room. They opened the door and saw Trowa and Dorothy with a wounded Quatre. "What happened?" Relena asked. Dorothy looked down and shook her head. "Peacemillion is about to ram Libra," said Heero. The others nodded and Trowa pulled Quatre under a control panel, Dorothy followed. Heero grabbed Relena and pulled her under another control panel, closer to the door, he held her close, as if afraid to lose her. They all waited for the crash.
Outside the room, Duo listened and heard the overdrive engines of Peacemillion coming closer at an alarming rate. "Oh SHIT!" he yelled as he dashed into the closest room. Inside he found the others and quickly slid next to Trowa. Outside they could hear soldiers yelling and running down the corridor and Peacemillion's engine. When the impact occurred, layers of wall and ceiling fell to the floor. When the group looked out, they saw that they could get onto Peacemillion without the use of spacesuits. Quickly, Trowa and Duo grabbed Quatre, followed by Dorothy and then Heero and Relena. Once Quatre was safely on board a ship headed for MO-II with his gundam and Dorothy, Trowa and Duo headed out. In the hanger, Heero was getting ready to take off in Wing Zero when Relena stopped him. "You're planning to die aren't you?" she asked. He ignored her, but pulled Relena into the cockpit. "I promise I'll come back. Don't worry." Relena shook her head. "My brother has lost, you don't need to fight." "I'll make you a bet," said Heero "Zechs doesn't think he's lost yet." "I'm still not letting you go." Relena said firmly. "Then I'll make you let me." "How?" asked Relena. Heero pulled her face closer and kissed her lips. At the same time, he pulled her closer and shut the hatch. He pushed her back into the control panel and pinned Relena down. She wrapped her arms around Heero's neck and pulled him closer. Their kiss got more passionate. Suddenly the Zero system activated without the code. The cockpit was engulfed in yellow light. When Heero and Relena pulled apart, their eyes were glowing green and the rest of their bodies were glowing gold. The glow was sucked into the gundam and they fell to the floor of the cockpit. Their spirits were once again in Wing Zero and working together, like thirteen years before. Outside in space, Peacemillion, Libra, MO-II, Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, L1 and L5 were aligned. Wing Zero flew out of the hanger and towards the Epyon and a Taurus.
Wufei delivered the final blow to Treize. "You got me. Wufei Chang." "No, you FOOL!" "You've been a worthy adversary Wufei Chang, I'll never forget you, my friend." The Tallgeese II blew up, taking a couple of hundred Mobile Dolls and Suits with him. Wufei sobbed. "You fool, YOU WEAK FOOL!"
On MO-II, Lady released the surrender. "Don't make me repeat myself! It's already embarrassing." Sally, Howard and Dorothy were on the bridge of MO-II, watching as Wing Zero approached Epyon. "Who's piloting it?" Lady contacted the gundam. But all she got was a lot of static and childish laughter, innocent laughter of three year olds. Everyone blinked. Then the laughter stopped and two voices came floating though the comm system. "We are the hope of mankind. The hope of all who are innocent." "Looks like the Zero system's going to be working properly now," came a voice. Everyone spun around and saw the five scientists. Dr J explained what he had explained to Duo earlier. "So the only reason the Zero system works is that the two test pilot, who were only children at the time, just happened to be Heero and Relena." Lady said. Dr J nodded. "Weird," said Sally.
When Milliardo began to fight Wing Zero, he could not keep up with it like before when only Heero was piloting it.
Noin, who was watching the fight got a call from Lady Une. "Could you send us the images of the battle between Epyon and Wing Zero?" "I am no longer part of OZ." said Noin "This isn't an order, this is a request." Lady said. Noin complied. The images of the battle was sent to every TV network which broadcasted it to the civilians in the colonies and on earth.
Suddenly, Epyon was defeated. "How. how did you.?" Relena's voice was heard in his head, only as a low whisper. "I'm sorry, my half brother. Mother and my father, Mr Dorlain, helped create the zero system. Both Heero and myself were the test pilots when we were only three. I was born to fight this way, as was every single one of the gundam pilots. You were right, our mother would've been proud of me." Those were the last words Milliardo Peacecraft ever heard.
"Zechs! Please don't be dead! You can't be. we promised each other we would live to see the end." "This is the end, Lucrezia." Came Relena's whisper. Noin shook her head "It can't be. he doesn't deserve this." "He'll be back. be sure of it." Came Heero's deep reply. Noin took a deep breath as she saw Wing Zero head off to MO-II. In the distance, the other gundams had also returned to MO-II. Lucrezia headed for Earth, when she saw Libra and Peacemillion. "LIBRA AND PEACEMILLION ARE GOING TO HIT EARTH!!!" she screamed. Wing Zero turned around and headed towards the two large metal units.
"We have to shoot it, Heero." Relena said, her mind trying to activate the double beam gun. which wasn't there. "The gun won't be strong enough. we need something stronger." Behind them, the Shenlong was speeding behind them carrying a large beam cannon. Throwing it to Wing Zero, Wufei sped off in the other direction. By now, the two hunks of metal that were once Peacemillion and Libra were getting very close to the earth's atmosphere. Wing Zero steadied the gun and waited. The gundam was now in the atmosphere. It was hard for Relena to steady the target, but she got it and as quick as lightning, Heero pulled the trigger.
Anyone watching could see a huge explosion and then little streaks falling to the ground. At the Victoria base in Africa, two gundam pilots sat back and watched the huge celebration. "Thanks to you, Wufei." Trowa said. Wufei shook his head. "We should be thanking them. they did all the work." "My, my. Wufei does know to give credit where it's due after all." The two spun around and saw Sally Po with a cheeky grin on her face. "What do you want woman?" Wufei asked. Sally shrugged and said "Quatre has come to. Just though you both wanted to know."
In a medical room, Duo sat on the large bed that held Hilde. He smoothed her bangs out of the way and looked at the spotted bandage on her forehead. "I still don't forgive you for coming. You did a stupid thing by coming to space." He took a breath and tried to stop the tears from coming. "Hil." Duo's voice began to go squeaky at this point, "Please don't die. everyone I come close to dies. Father Maxwell. Sister Helen. Solo. I don't want you to be another. You know that I love you too much." He lay down next to Hilde and rested his head on her flat-ish chest, listening to her slow heart beat and held the hand that wasn't in plaster. Tears slowly slipped down his cheeks, but he made no attempt to wipe them away. Watching from the door was Sally, a sad smile on her face. Knowing better than to intrude on this, she left to check on Quatre who was in the next room, surrounded by Trowa, Wufei and Dorothy.
Dorothy had changed from the White Fang uniform that she had been wearing and was now dressed in a white t-shirt and a blue denim skirt that reached her knees. She had just finished telling Quatre how rotten she really was. "I think you're wrong Dorothy, I don't think you're that bad." "You feeling alright?" Trowa asked "Yeah, sure you have enough oxygen and blood, Winner?" asked Wufei. Both boys were giving Quatre a weird look. Quatre laughed "Sure I'm fine. Even ask Sally, she told me I was ok." "I sure did." Trowa and Wufei spun around and saw Sally standing at the door. "How's Hilde?" Trowa asked in a quiet voice. Sally sat down in a chair before talking. "5 broken ribs, dislocated knee, fractured forearm, bruising, lots of lacerations, concussion and she had lost quite a bit of blood. She's in a coma at the moment. Hopefully, she'll be out of it by New Year." Wufei shook his head. "What about Duo?" Quatre asked hesitantly. Sally took another breath. "Shaken. He'll be fine soon. but given his emotional background." The others nodded for her to continue "If anything should happen, he'll become a lot like Heero. Withdrawn, suicidal and cold." "The poor guy." Quatre muttered, reaching for Dorothy's hand. "He'll be fine. That idiot will be about. being a pest as always. Besides, we've all had our tragic turns, he'll be the same again." Wufei stated. Trowa made a small laugh and smiled. Sally smiled too. "Did you see where Wing Zero ended up?" Trowa asked. Sally shook her head. "Searches have pinpointed that it had crash landed in the Norwegian Sea. But they can't find the Gundam or either of the pilots." "Huh?" Quatre asked, confused. "Both Relena and Heero were in Wing Zero during the final fight. Apparently." Then Sally told Quatre and whoever hadn't heard the story of the zero system experiments. "Oh, so that's how that death trap works." Quatre said. "Well, let's hope they're somewhere safe. It's freezing there at the moment, if they stay out too long in frozen conditions like that, they'll die." Sally said. The others didn't say a thing.
Heero's eyes fluttered open. Wherever he was it was dark and warm. He could feel Relena breathing slowly against him. He sat up slowly, clutched his aching head and looked around. 'I'm still in Zero. was all that just a dream?' Shaking his head, he reached up to the control panel to turn on the lights. The only response he got was a 'low power' message. "Damn." With no power, no one would know where they were until they eventually found them and they wouldn't be able to get out. Outside a gale was blowing and icy cold water thrashed away against the gundanium. A small moan beside him alerted Heero to the fact that Relena was waking up. "Are you alright?" Heero asked "Yeah. I think so, but I think I'm bleeding, and my head hurts." "Listen, Zero's out of power so all we can do is sit here until someone opens the cockpit from the outside." He felt Relena sit up and move away from him. He moved closer to and pulled her close. She gasped lightly. "Do you think the fighting has stopped yet?" Relena asked. "Dunno. maybe." There was an uncomfortable silence.
*A few hours later* "Major Po, Colonel Une. We found Wing Zero." "Good. Where?" Lady asked "Off the coast of Norway[1], but there is a storm there at the moment, we won't be able to get there for another three days." "Not good enough. We must presume that the Gundam has no power, that means that there is no heating, lighting and they can't get out, three days isn't a good enough margin. We need to get there now." Sally said. "Let me help, it's the least I can do." Lady and Sally turned around to see Lucrezia Noin. "Good to see you here Noin, get the orders to dispatch a rescue crew to the Norwegian coast." Ordered Lady. Lucrezia nodded and walked off.
"It's getting cold." Relena shivered. Even with Heero huddled next to her, the warmth wasn't enough. Heero's reply was only chattering, his voice was raspy. "Try not to fall asleep." "I'll try." They had found one blanket hidden underneath the control panel, but it still wasn't enough to warm the two up. They shivered and their teeth chattered as their breath was visible in a mist in the dark around them.
*Sometime in the early morning* "Are you sure Maxwell isn't going to be joining us on this debacle?" Wufei asked, irritated that 02 didn't have to go but he did. "Duo has enough on his plate at the moment. Just leave the poor guy be." Noin said Wufei shook his head, "When my wife snuffed it, I didn't spend hours moping around." "Bet you regret that now." that remark from Quatre made Wufei fume "I DON'T! Merian didn't like sap, and neither do I." "Cut it out both of you. I don't want to be babysitting any of you," came Noin's snappy reply, "We have a job to do. We are to comb the western coast of Norway to find Wing Zero." "Right." Came the reply from the three young pilots. "Good, now let's get going." A large aircraft and three gundams left the ex-OZ base and went north-west, arriving on the Norwegian coast within an hour. "Trowa, go to the north and start searching from there." "Roger." "Wufei, start in the south." "Whatever woman." "Quatre start at New Port City." "Got it Noin." Noin landed the jet at an airbase just outside New Port City. The gale was getting worse and snow was blowing in from the north and the east. Throwing on the thickest jacket she could find, Noin walked out and stood by the jet. "It's friggin freezing out here." she mumbled, pulling the collar of her jacket up around her ears.
It was still very dark. The incoming blizzard was making things worse for Quatre, who was brought up in hot and arid conditions. "I can't see a thing. It's too bloody snowy out there."
Trowa, who heard Quatre's complaint stated, "Why do you think earthlings call this area the arctic circle? Or the frozen north?" He laughed as he heard Quatre's cry of horror.
"Face it like a gundam pilot, Winner. Or are you too weak?" came Wufei's sarcastic reply. But there was no reply. "Winner.? Hey, Quatre. I was only kidding, you don't have to take it."
"Shut up, Wufei. I see something." Quatre strained his eyes and turned on Sandrock's heat sensors. "IT'S WING ZERO! It's washed up on the shore of Wind Crest[2] beach." "How banged up is it?" came Wufei's reply "Scorched. But it's only the paint that has been wrecked from what I can see." Stated Quatre. "Right, Quatre, you bring Zero to the airbase that Noin landed at. Wufei and I will follow." Said Trowa. The other two agreed and did as he said.
Lucrezia saw the outlines of Heavyarms and Shenlong flying closer to the airbase followed by Sandrock with Wing Zero. They landed and Lucrezia ran over to Wing. Finding the hatch release, she hoped that it wasn't too iced over and pulled at it. It didn't budge. At this point, Trowa, Wufei and Quatre all came over to help. After five minutes of tugging and straining, they got the hatch opened. Quatre jumped in and saw Heero and Relena, bruised, bleeding, shivering, frozen to the bone and alive. With the help of five medics that were stationed at the base, Heero and Relena were fixed up, checked over, pulled into the jet and taken to the Victoria base. The four gundams followed, Wing Zero being taken by Heavyarms.
*A few days later* Sally was on her rounds. First was to check up on Quatre. "Your wound is healing nicely. But those stitches can't come out for another few days, so don't overdo it." She pulled Quatre's shirt back down and sat down to type on her laptop. "How are you feeling otherwise?" Sally asked the blonde boy. "Little dizzy at times and my side still hurts." He replied Sally gave a little laugh, "Don't worry. If it gets to the point that you can't move, just get someone to come get me."
When Sally arrived at Hilde's bed, she saw Duo curled up next to a half- conscious Hilde. "Hey." Hilde whispered. Sally roughly shook Duo awake. "Muh?" came Duo's non-intelligent reply. "She's up Duo. Hilde will be groggy until the morphine wears off. Then we'll run some tests on her." "Tests? What kinda tests?" Duo asked "Just to see if there's any long term damage that we should worry about, that's all." Sally replied, taking Hilde's blood pressure. "Duo, could you help me here for a sec?" Sally asked "I need you to hold Hilde upright for a bit." Duo nodded and did as he was told. Hilde winced and was grateful that Duo was trying to be gentle. Sally undid part of the back of the gown Hilde was in and took a look at her back. "How did you get those whip marks?" asked Sally. Duo growled, he obviously knew something about it. "When I didn't do as I was told in OZ, my commanding officer whipped me. I guess he hoped that he could break me." Hilde replied. "Why didn't you let me help you earlier, I would've made sure they didn't get infected? But you said that you had it under control," Duo said "It doesn't matter now anyway Duo, the wounds are already infected. I'll have to get some antibiotics into your IV." Sally tied the gown back up and Duo slid behind Hilde so that she could rest against him. Sally excused herself and left the room. The two teens sat in silence. "I forgive you." Duo began "For what?" Hilde asked "Look, Hilde. I almost lost you. I wanted you to stay on L2 for a reason, I knew you were safe there," said Duo, wiping away his tears with his sleeve. Hilde settled herself back into Duo's arms. "It's ok, Duo. I. I wanted to see. for myself that. that you were gonna be alright." Hilde slipped into a naturally healing sleep. Duo sighed and pulled up the sheets. "Hilde."
New Years Eve at Victoria was a loud and raucous affair. Lady Une had given up on telling the ex-White Fang and Earth Sphere Alliance soldiers to keep it quiet and not to drink too much and Sally had given up trying to keep Hilde in bed. "If I see you get out of this wheelchair, you will be staying in bed until next Christmas." Sally had threatened. Hilde laughed as Duo pushed her down the hall. "I'd love to see you try, marauder Major Po!" yelled Hilde.
It was close to midnight when the five gundam pilots, Relena, Hilde and Dorothy met up on the roof of one of the buildings that was once the recreation block. Seeing they were in Africa, it was a very warm night and the stars were shining brightly as there was no light, clouds or pollution for miles and miles to block them out. "I can't believe the was is over." Trowa commented as Wufei handed him a glass of what looked like whisky. "Believe me Trowa, the wars are far from over," said Relena, taking a sip from her glass of Chardonnay[3]. Everyone but Heero looked at her in shock. "It is only time until someone breaks the peace again." Heero stated, sitting down and looking out over the base where people were beginning to set up fireworks. "Well, I'm gonna live out peace as long as it lasts. It's bound to be better than gettin up to fight every damned day, knowing that this day is probably your last," said Duo, taking a sip from his can of beer, only to have it snatched off him by Quatre. "We're too young to be drinking alcohol." "Oh, come on Quatre. Live a little." Dorothy said, pulling him down next to her and giving the can back to Duo. "Yeah. It's not like I'm gonna drink too much like that idiot down there." Duo said, pointing to where a man in his mid-twenties stumbled around, being helped by two sober friends. Hilde giggled and grabbed Duo's hand with her good hand. Duo smiled and watched as his comrades went on talking. "Hey Duo. Do I get a kiss at midnight?" Hilde asked "Sure do baby. Do you think I'll let every other lover on the planet and in the colonies have all the fun?" Hilde looked around. Trowa and Wufei were talking close by, some stuff about before the war. Dorothy and Quatre were laughing, Quatre trying not to bust his stitches. Relena and Heero were nowhere to be seen, and Duo had also noticed this. "Where do you think those two have gone?" Hilde asked. Duo shrugged nonchalantly, but had a cheeky glint in his eyes.
"Do you think the others would mind that we snuck off before the fireworks?" asked Relena as she and Heero were getting a fighter jet ready for a flight. "Don't care." He replied, flipping a few switches and grabbing the controls. Relena said nothing but sat back next to Heero in the small single seat of the jet. They were going to go up into the sky and see the fireworks from the air and then, fly around to see other cities bring in the new year. It was Heero's idea, explaining it was what Doctor J did when Heero was younger. The jet took off three minutes before midnight and soon, they saw a spectacular sight of fireworks. Heero set the jet on auto-pilot and moved slightly to look at Relena. "Happy New Year, Relena." he kissed her slightly and hugged the girl tighter as she circled her arms around his neck.
*Back 1 min before midnight* "Where did they go off to." Wufei wondered as the group of six sat down and waited for the pyrotechnics[4] display. "I'd rather not know." Trowa said, stretching his arms "I thought I saw a jet take off just a minute ago. They could've gone off." Suggested Quatre, taking a sip of vodka out of his glass. Dorothy had finally coaxed him to have something alcoholic before midnight. "Well I say we forget about them for the time being. We'll ask when they get back." Dorothy said "You mean IF they get back." Hilde said. "IF. if is good."[5] Dorothy said deviously. Suddenly the fireworks were let off and there was cheering from below. "Happy New Year guys." Said Quatre, after giving Dorothy a quick peck on the lips. "Yeah. What he said!" shouted Duo. He pulled Hilde out of her chair and put her on his lap. "Happy New Year babe." He said, before pulling Hilde closer for a kiss.
Lady, Lucrezia and Sally sat on another roof of one of the many buildings at the Victoria base. "Another year. Let's hope for new beginnings and new hope." Mused Lady "I hope that Zechs returns." sighed Noin wistfully. Sally put a hand on the Italian woman's shoulder. "I know in my heart that he's still alive. He and his sister have cheated death before, he can do it again. Have faith, Lucrezia." "Can it be the same with Treize?" Lady asked. Sally shrugged "I don't know. But we should all have faith, but right now, let's live it up. The war is over!" The German and Italian women agreed with the English-Chinese[6] woman and they watched the celebrations around them.
*12pm, January 1st, AC 196* Sally walked into the room where Hilde was staying until she got the results of her tests. She had the results in a folder under her arm. Inside the room, Duo was sitting in a chair next to Hilde's bed, his feet propped up on the bedside table, sunglasses and hat pulled over his eyes. As soon as Sally jabbed him in the back of the neck with her ball point pen, he jumped up and yelled "DON'T SHOOT ME HEERO! I SWARE I WASN'T GONNA TELL ANYONE WHAT YOU AND RELENA WERE DOIN'!" Hilde laughed and Sally said "I'd hate to be in your shoes if you really did, Duo." Duo blinked and sat down, taking off his sunglasses and spinning his cap around so that the brim was backwards. Sally sat down and opened the file. It had bone scans, CAT scans, blood tests and other results. "Well, it seems Hilde that you'll make a full recovery by the end of the month. You did no lasting damage to yourself or the baby." [7] "Wait. Did you say baby?" Hilde asked. Sally nodded. "Almost three months along now. Luckily the whiplash injuries that you received when you slammed into the MS control panel missed your womb and the aftershock was minimal." Hilde looked shocked, then she glared at Duo. "Shit!" Duo yelled, "I'm sorry Hilde. I never thought that one night would do anythin. You sure I'm the father, Sally?" Sally nodded "I did the tests just incase someone asked. Hilde, you have to make this choice now. Do you want to keep the baby, put it up for adoption or have an abortion. Think about long term things here." Hilde didn't speak. She sat there, looking at her hands, then at Duo. "What would you do, Sally? What would you do in my position?" Hilde asked. Sally shrugged. "I would rule out abortion and see if the kid grows on me. But that's just my perception. You have to make your own decisions. If you want an abortion." "NO!" Hilde touched her stomach with her uninjured hand. "I want to keep it. Things will work out. but I'll need help." "I'll help." Whispered Duo, taking her uninjured hand. Sally smiled and left the room again.
Lady Une watched as the jet that had been missing from last night landed on the airstrip and two familiar teens got out of the cockpit. She waited until they put it back in the hanger, filled it up and tried to sneak away from the scene of the 'crime'. "Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft," the two slowly turned around to see an apathetic Lady Une standing behind them, she continued, "and where exactly were you two?" Neither showed looks of guilt but both wore identical unemotional looks. The three had a stand off, not taking their eyes from the other's until Noin and Trowa reached the hanger. "Lady, Relena, Heero. What are you three doing here?" Noin asked. "They've just returned a jet, Lucrezia, the missing one." Lady said. Trowa's mask wavered for a moment to let out a small knowing smile and a small laugh. "So that's where you both went. How many New Years did you see in?" Both shrugged.
*Somewhere in space* "Almost all of the Earth has celebrated the New Year, soon it'll be time to strike." Said a man. A girl beside him giggled. "And then I'll be the leader of the Earth Sphere."
TSUZUKU. [8]
NOTES: [1] Where the Sanc kingdom is supposed to be. It's either Sweden, Finland or Norway (Northern Europe).
[2] I had to call that damned beach something. It's the same beach where Relena and Heero first met. Well I made that name up, so don't flame or sue if it is the name of an actual beach.
[3] It just seemed appropriate to put one of my favourite types of drink there besides coke.
[4] Pyrotechnics is the fancy scientific name for fireworks. Pyro = either Greek or Latin for fire. at least I think it is. =P
[5] Been watching too much of Disney's Hercules, maybe cuz I've been babysitting for my younger cousins again and I'm still on summer holidays, today was 43 degrees Celsius, and very bored between packing my room up to move out. If anyone has seen it, it's what Pain and Panic, Hades' two stupid henchmen say.
[6] Sally's origins are unclear, but my friend reckons that she's half English, half Chinese or third Chinese, two-thirds English.. She could be French.
[7] They were living together, even though that doesn't mean that they had a relationship, they could've just been friends. I'm just exercising my power of authoress.
[8] Japanese for 'to be continued'. Lit- continue, go on, follow.
-So there you have it. The prologue of Prelude to Power and an ending to Gundam Wing. Waddya think? Feedback much appreciated. -Lyndal
Dedicated to my grandfather who passed away peacefully on the 15th of Jan 2003 (my cousin's third birthday), and to my friends and family who I'm leaving to go live with my grandma (not related to grandfather mentioned above) at the end of this week. I will miss you all!
[19/01/03]
This is not related to my fic on my ending to EW. This is going to be a prologue to a fic that I'm starting to write. It assumes Endless Waltz never happens. Also differs from the actual anime ending. I'm using poetic licence, so don't sue!
Disclaimer: Everyone knows that every fanfic author doesn't own this anime. Everyone knows that, so why bother suing? It's not as if we're trying to get money from this! *rant, rant*
Hilde has just returned from Libra in bad shape. After being told by Duo that Relena is on Libra, Heero makes the journey over to rescue her.
"Hey, where did Heero go?" Quatre asked the others. Trowa and Wufei shrugged while Duo smirked. "Duo, you know, right?" Quatre asked again, this time directing the question to Duo. "Yeah, he went to Libra. To rescue the princess." There was a snort from the other side of the room. Quatre and Duo turned to see Trowa smirking and Wufei looking in disgust. "What's up with you two?" Duo asked "The thought of Heero sneaking out. to see a girl." Trowa said, trying to keep his face straight. Wufei just made a noise of annoyance.
"Security breech!" "Damn!" Quinze muttered "Second one today. I thought I ordered everyone to up security after the last breech." The soldiers on the bridge winced internally, not wanting to meet the angered bridge commander's eyes. "Catalonia!" yelled Quinze. The blonde girl spun around to meet the gaze of her superior "Yes sir?" she asked, her voice full of sarcasm. "Go to miss Relena's quarters, guard her and make sure she doesn't escape." Dorothy nodded and left for Relena's quarters. Quinze turned his attention to the bridge crew. "Total lockdown, nothing comes in until after it has been properly searched." A chorus of 'yes sir's echoed through the room.
In a locked room in the battleship Libra, Relena Peacecraft sat watching the MS battles from the United Earth Sphere and White Fang. Meaningless battles. She had changed from what she wore when she arrived to a pair of blue jeans and a pink t-shirt. 'Much more comfortable,' she thought. She heard the door behind her unlock and open. "I have nothing to say to anyone, so fuck off." There was a sound of clucking. "And there I go thinking that you were raised to respect others. then you use common language, no better than the rest of us." Realisation hit Relena like a ton of bricks. "Heero?" spinning around, she saw the boy standing in the closed doorway. Heero nodded in affirmation. Relena stepped closer. "We're you just calling me a priss?" Heero just glared at her. After a few minutes of glaring at each other, Heero replied coldly "You just assumed that I did, your highness." Relena snorted. "I'm not royalty, well, not anymore. So I don't want to be treated like I am, I never did like it." Heero nodded in reply. After a minute, he said "It's not safe for you here. I'm taking you back to Peacemillion." Relena glared "Not before I talk to my brother." She said, her tone of voice rising slightly, indicating her stubbornness. "Zechs has done with talking. All he wants to do now is fight." Relena shook her head. "I'm still not leaving." Heero sighed. Hearing footsteps outside the room and the code being inputted into the lock, he grabbed Relena's wrist. "Hey. what are you. let me go!" Not listening, Heero dragged Relena to another door and busted the lock, just as Dorothy Catalonia entered the room. She held a gun at the ready. "Hold it right there. Neither of you are leaving this room. Yuy, put your hands in the air and step away from miss Relena." Heero, being unarmed, put his hands up and moved slightly to the left.
Treize Khushrenada, the sovereign of Earth, sat with Lady Une in the control room of MO II. "Mr Treize, are you sure that Tallgeese II will hold up against the Epyon?" Lady asked, looking out of the window onto the battle ahead. Treize nodded, revelling in silence. Lady sighed and put a hand on Treize's shoulder. "Please come out of this alive."
Milliardo Peacecraft sat making the final adjustments to the Epyon when someone unexpected showed up. "Lucrezia." Noin smiled and floated up to her old friend. "You don't have to fight, Zechs. We can settle things. Treize is willing to talk." Milliardo shook his head. "I'm sorry Noin. But this fight isn't against Treize." "Then who." Not answering, Milliardo went back to his work, ignoring the young woman next to him. Noin tried to figure who the intended opponent was, getting nowhere.
"What do you mean he left?" Sally asked, rounding on the four young boys. None of them answered and were spared from answering by Howard. "He went off to get that Peacecraft girl." Duo, Trowa and Quatre smirked while Wufei scowled. "He didn't take his gundam, we're coming up to a battle and he didn't take it! God his is so frustrating!" "Don't take it personally, he's always pulling stunts for that girl!" Duo said. Sally turned to him. "While Libra's power is down, you four will infiltrate and bring it down from the inside." "What about the mobile dolls and the MS earth troops?" Quatre asked "They're too busy fighting each other, and besides, you four are gundam pilots right. No problems." Sally replied. The four pilots were shoved out of the room and told to board their gundams for immediate departure. "Man. That woman is like a marauding soldier." Duo complained "Ex-Alliance major. That's her job." Trowa simply said "Come on, let's go get ready." Quatre said, making his way to the equipment room. The other two shrugged and followed but Wufei stayed behind. "I'm going to get you Treize, once and for all."
After Dorothy had called six White Fang troops to Relena's quarters, Heero was promptly handcuffed and dragged from the room. Dorothy took hold of Relena and pulled her along after them. "Why are you doing this Dorothy?" Relena asked. Dorothy laughed slightly "Your brother has requested me to bring you to him, along with soldier boy over there." Relena said nothing, but allowed herself to be pulled along by Dorothy. When they reached a door, Dorothy inputted a code and entered the room. Inside sat Milliardo Peacecraft and Lucrezia Noin. "Roberts, Luca, Benns, Petersham, Walters, McMasters. You may leave." The six saluted and left the room. Dorothy took a seat next to Relena and waited for what Milliardo had to say. He stood up and looked down at his sister and her attempted rescuer. "So we meet again Yuy." Heero glared at Milliardo, hatred evident in the defiant stare. Milliardo merely nodded in return. "Relena. My little sister." "What do you want Milliardo?" Relena asked, same cold stare as Heero's fixed onto her brother's face. "Why don't I just show you."
Trowa sat in the cockpit of his gundam, waiting for clearance to move out of Peacemillion's docking bay. Checking over stats, he made sure that all guns were fully operational and the army knife that was hidden in one of the arms was able to flick freely out if needed. Final checks were made on the space jetpack that made Heavyarms, a suit usually meant for long range land battles, able to be propelled and manoeuvred in space. "Ok Trowa, you're clear." Sally said. "Roger that." Trowa took off into space, followed by Wufei. The four rendezvoused close to Libra. "Duo, take the south side. Trowa, the eastern side. Wufei." "Where did he go?" Duo asked. Quatre shrugged "Well whatever it is, he has a reason for doing it." Trowa replied calmly. "Whatever you say." Duo said. The three remaining gundams made their way to Libra.
When Wufei arrived with Altron to MO II, he waited until he saw Tallgeese II before he made another move. "Ah, Wufei Chang. It is good to fight you again," came a mocking voice. "Treize Khushrenada. Do you really think that peace can be achieved while you are at the head of earth?" Wufei growled, using the twin beam trident to attack the mobile suit before him. The Tallgeese blocked and retaliated with the beam sabre. The two suits engaged in an all out battle, one for honour and justice not wanting to stop until one was completely destroyed. Whenever Altron took a swing, Tallgeese blocked and attacked just as fiercely. "Why aren't you using the dragon claws?" Treize asked. Wufei growled in reply. Treize pulled out the second beam sabre and began attacking again, making Wufei work much harder for the victory.
Milliardo turned on a monitor. A map of the Earth, moon and the five colony clusters showed up. "We are here." Milliardo said as he pointed to a position near L1. He continued "This is where Peacemillion and MO-II are." He pointed to two different points on the map. Relena interrupted "This is what you brought us here for? A geography lesson?" Milliardo shook his head. "Once the three align with Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, L1 and L5 the thing that will make or break the world will appear." Heero shook his head "You're crazy." Milliardo ignored him and turned to Relena. "If our mother was still alive, she would've been proud of you." Relena nodded. Milliardo gave her a quick brotherly hug and pushed her towards the door. "Go. I can't keep you here anymore." Heero turned to follow her but was stopped by Milliardo. "Look after her, she's a good girl but politics is not what she needs to do." Heero blinked at him a few times before leaving. The oldest Peacecraft watched his little sister and the boy that stole her heart who in return had his heart and soul stolen by the girl. Noin spoke up. "You've done a good thing Zechs." "He just let them go! How could you do that Mr Milliardo?" Dorothy asked.
"We're going to ram Peacemillion into Libra," ordered Sally. The crew around her gave her funny looks. Howard nodded and sent a message that all civilians were to evacuate to MO-II. Once they had all left, the crew began to throw the engines into overdrive.
On Libra, three of the gundam pilots were facing troubles of their own. Quatre had found the Mobile Doll control room. and Dorothy. They were now in a fight, Quatre blocking all Dorothy's wild swipes. "We shouldn't be fighting at all, Dorothy!" Quatre said, as he dodged out of the way. "Fighting is in the human conscious! In war it's kill or be KILLED!" she yelled at him. "We are the same." Dorothy stopped and looked at him. Quatre added. "We have both lost our parents and our lives to this war." Dorothy lunged forward and then there was a long silence. The only sound was Quatre groaning as he pulled the fencing coil out of his side. He fell and was caught by Dorothy. "I'm so sorry Quatre, I thought that you would've dodged. I'm sorry, please be alright." Quatre looked up at her as his vision swam in and out of focus, he smiled. "You're kinder. than me." Dorothy shook her head "I'm a coward, Quatre. I only fight to be noticed. I'm afraid of being invisible." Quatre reached up a hand and touched Dorothy's face gently. "It's ok. ok to be afraid. ugh." Quatre fainted. At that moment, Trowa entered the room and saw Dorothy crying over Quatre's unconscious and bleeding body. She looked up at him and said "I. I killed. I killed Quatre. I didn't mean to. sorry." then she broke down and sobbed loudly.
Duo stood next to a door, listening. Inside he heard voices. "That's gotta be them." He said to himself. Then he called out "Back away from the door if you don't wanna get hurt!" After he blew open the lock, he looked in and then quickly shut it again. "That was NOT what I wanted to see." He opened the door again and saw the five gundam scientists all sitting around, looking at Duo. "Well look who it is," said Instructor H "What are you five doin here?" asked Duo as he took a seat "We were put in here after building the Mercuries and Veyate." Dr J replied "Looks like Quinze pulled a fast one on us," said Professor G Duo shook his head. After a few minutes, talk turned to the zero system. "Could you explain why you built the zero system? And how do you control it." Duo asked. Dr J began to explain. "I built it with the help of Relena's real father." "Wait! I thought he was a pacifist king!" exclaimed Duo, surprised and confused "King Peacecraft is the father of Milliardo, Relena's father was really Mr Dorlain the whole time." Dr J explained. Duo blinked a few times "So that's why they look different." "Before you interrupted me, I built the zero system with the help of Mr Dorlain, Howard and Katrina Peacecraft back in 183. The first test pilot was a man named Trowa Barton. When he couldn't control the system, we went back and looked at the schematics. After many months, we found the answer." Dr J paused for a breath "What was it?" asked Duo "Two three year olds playing on the floor of the lab. Katrina's daughter, Relena and a kid known only as Heero. We put them both into the zero cockpit and began the tests. It worked perfectly." "What happened after that?" Duo asked, eager to know more. "The Alliance found out what we were doing and we had to part ways. Relena went to live with her real father and step-mother, the Dorlains. I left with Heero and went to L1, taking the zero research with me. Howard went to America and founded the sweepers, keeping some of the vital information which I had in my head. Katrina Peacecraft died soon after leaving Relena with Mr Dorlain." "But if the zero system worked properly with two pilots, why was it only used by one?" Duo asked. Dr J laughed. "Katrina was sly and made sure her daughter was kept away until later. So Heero was left to fine tune the system. She didn't want her daughter to be trained as a soldier." Duo nodded his head and stood up. "Well I guess I should take you all back to Peacemillion then."
Heero stopped and listened. Relena turned around and asked him what was wrong. "Peacemillion is going to ram Libra." Relena nodded and they ran to find a small room. They opened the door and saw Trowa and Dorothy with a wounded Quatre. "What happened?" Relena asked. Dorothy looked down and shook her head. "Peacemillion is about to ram Libra," said Heero. The others nodded and Trowa pulled Quatre under a control panel, Dorothy followed. Heero grabbed Relena and pulled her under another control panel, closer to the door, he held her close, as if afraid to lose her. They all waited for the crash.
Outside the room, Duo listened and heard the overdrive engines of Peacemillion coming closer at an alarming rate. "Oh SHIT!" he yelled as he dashed into the closest room. Inside he found the others and quickly slid next to Trowa. Outside they could hear soldiers yelling and running down the corridor and Peacemillion's engine. When the impact occurred, layers of wall and ceiling fell to the floor. When the group looked out, they saw that they could get onto Peacemillion without the use of spacesuits. Quickly, Trowa and Duo grabbed Quatre, followed by Dorothy and then Heero and Relena. Once Quatre was safely on board a ship headed for MO-II with his gundam and Dorothy, Trowa and Duo headed out. In the hanger, Heero was getting ready to take off in Wing Zero when Relena stopped him. "You're planning to die aren't you?" she asked. He ignored her, but pulled Relena into the cockpit. "I promise I'll come back. Don't worry." Relena shook her head. "My brother has lost, you don't need to fight." "I'll make you a bet," said Heero "Zechs doesn't think he's lost yet." "I'm still not letting you go." Relena said firmly. "Then I'll make you let me." "How?" asked Relena. Heero pulled her face closer and kissed her lips. At the same time, he pulled her closer and shut the hatch. He pushed her back into the control panel and pinned Relena down. She wrapped her arms around Heero's neck and pulled him closer. Their kiss got more passionate. Suddenly the Zero system activated without the code. The cockpit was engulfed in yellow light. When Heero and Relena pulled apart, their eyes were glowing green and the rest of their bodies were glowing gold. The glow was sucked into the gundam and they fell to the floor of the cockpit. Their spirits were once again in Wing Zero and working together, like thirteen years before. Outside in space, Peacemillion, Libra, MO-II, Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, L1 and L5 were aligned. Wing Zero flew out of the hanger and towards the Epyon and a Taurus.
Wufei delivered the final blow to Treize. "You got me. Wufei Chang." "No, you FOOL!" "You've been a worthy adversary Wufei Chang, I'll never forget you, my friend." The Tallgeese II blew up, taking a couple of hundred Mobile Dolls and Suits with him. Wufei sobbed. "You fool, YOU WEAK FOOL!"
On MO-II, Lady released the surrender. "Don't make me repeat myself! It's already embarrassing." Sally, Howard and Dorothy were on the bridge of MO-II, watching as Wing Zero approached Epyon. "Who's piloting it?" Lady contacted the gundam. But all she got was a lot of static and childish laughter, innocent laughter of three year olds. Everyone blinked. Then the laughter stopped and two voices came floating though the comm system. "We are the hope of mankind. The hope of all who are innocent." "Looks like the Zero system's going to be working properly now," came a voice. Everyone spun around and saw the five scientists. Dr J explained what he had explained to Duo earlier. "So the only reason the Zero system works is that the two test pilot, who were only children at the time, just happened to be Heero and Relena." Lady said. Dr J nodded. "Weird," said Sally.
When Milliardo began to fight Wing Zero, he could not keep up with it like before when only Heero was piloting it.
Noin, who was watching the fight got a call from Lady Une. "Could you send us the images of the battle between Epyon and Wing Zero?" "I am no longer part of OZ." said Noin "This isn't an order, this is a request." Lady said. Noin complied. The images of the battle was sent to every TV network which broadcasted it to the civilians in the colonies and on earth.
Suddenly, Epyon was defeated. "How. how did you.?" Relena's voice was heard in his head, only as a low whisper. "I'm sorry, my half brother. Mother and my father, Mr Dorlain, helped create the zero system. Both Heero and myself were the test pilots when we were only three. I was born to fight this way, as was every single one of the gundam pilots. You were right, our mother would've been proud of me." Those were the last words Milliardo Peacecraft ever heard.
"Zechs! Please don't be dead! You can't be. we promised each other we would live to see the end." "This is the end, Lucrezia." Came Relena's whisper. Noin shook her head "It can't be. he doesn't deserve this." "He'll be back. be sure of it." Came Heero's deep reply. Noin took a deep breath as she saw Wing Zero head off to MO-II. In the distance, the other gundams had also returned to MO-II. Lucrezia headed for Earth, when she saw Libra and Peacemillion. "LIBRA AND PEACEMILLION ARE GOING TO HIT EARTH!!!" she screamed. Wing Zero turned around and headed towards the two large metal units.
"We have to shoot it, Heero." Relena said, her mind trying to activate the double beam gun. which wasn't there. "The gun won't be strong enough. we need something stronger." Behind them, the Shenlong was speeding behind them carrying a large beam cannon. Throwing it to Wing Zero, Wufei sped off in the other direction. By now, the two hunks of metal that were once Peacemillion and Libra were getting very close to the earth's atmosphere. Wing Zero steadied the gun and waited. The gundam was now in the atmosphere. It was hard for Relena to steady the target, but she got it and as quick as lightning, Heero pulled the trigger.
Anyone watching could see a huge explosion and then little streaks falling to the ground. At the Victoria base in Africa, two gundam pilots sat back and watched the huge celebration. "Thanks to you, Wufei." Trowa said. Wufei shook his head. "We should be thanking them. they did all the work." "My, my. Wufei does know to give credit where it's due after all." The two spun around and saw Sally Po with a cheeky grin on her face. "What do you want woman?" Wufei asked. Sally shrugged and said "Quatre has come to. Just though you both wanted to know."
In a medical room, Duo sat on the large bed that held Hilde. He smoothed her bangs out of the way and looked at the spotted bandage on her forehead. "I still don't forgive you for coming. You did a stupid thing by coming to space." He took a breath and tried to stop the tears from coming. "Hil." Duo's voice began to go squeaky at this point, "Please don't die. everyone I come close to dies. Father Maxwell. Sister Helen. Solo. I don't want you to be another. You know that I love you too much." He lay down next to Hilde and rested his head on her flat-ish chest, listening to her slow heart beat and held the hand that wasn't in plaster. Tears slowly slipped down his cheeks, but he made no attempt to wipe them away. Watching from the door was Sally, a sad smile on her face. Knowing better than to intrude on this, she left to check on Quatre who was in the next room, surrounded by Trowa, Wufei and Dorothy.
Dorothy had changed from the White Fang uniform that she had been wearing and was now dressed in a white t-shirt and a blue denim skirt that reached her knees. She had just finished telling Quatre how rotten she really was. "I think you're wrong Dorothy, I don't think you're that bad." "You feeling alright?" Trowa asked "Yeah, sure you have enough oxygen and blood, Winner?" asked Wufei. Both boys were giving Quatre a weird look. Quatre laughed "Sure I'm fine. Even ask Sally, she told me I was ok." "I sure did." Trowa and Wufei spun around and saw Sally standing at the door. "How's Hilde?" Trowa asked in a quiet voice. Sally sat down in a chair before talking. "5 broken ribs, dislocated knee, fractured forearm, bruising, lots of lacerations, concussion and she had lost quite a bit of blood. She's in a coma at the moment. Hopefully, she'll be out of it by New Year." Wufei shook his head. "What about Duo?" Quatre asked hesitantly. Sally took another breath. "Shaken. He'll be fine soon. but given his emotional background." The others nodded for her to continue "If anything should happen, he'll become a lot like Heero. Withdrawn, suicidal and cold." "The poor guy." Quatre muttered, reaching for Dorothy's hand. "He'll be fine. That idiot will be about. being a pest as always. Besides, we've all had our tragic turns, he'll be the same again." Wufei stated. Trowa made a small laugh and smiled. Sally smiled too. "Did you see where Wing Zero ended up?" Trowa asked. Sally shook her head. "Searches have pinpointed that it had crash landed in the Norwegian Sea. But they can't find the Gundam or either of the pilots." "Huh?" Quatre asked, confused. "Both Relena and Heero were in Wing Zero during the final fight. Apparently." Then Sally told Quatre and whoever hadn't heard the story of the zero system experiments. "Oh, so that's how that death trap works." Quatre said. "Well, let's hope they're somewhere safe. It's freezing there at the moment, if they stay out too long in frozen conditions like that, they'll die." Sally said. The others didn't say a thing.
Heero's eyes fluttered open. Wherever he was it was dark and warm. He could feel Relena breathing slowly against him. He sat up slowly, clutched his aching head and looked around. 'I'm still in Zero. was all that just a dream?' Shaking his head, he reached up to the control panel to turn on the lights. The only response he got was a 'low power' message. "Damn." With no power, no one would know where they were until they eventually found them and they wouldn't be able to get out. Outside a gale was blowing and icy cold water thrashed away against the gundanium. A small moan beside him alerted Heero to the fact that Relena was waking up. "Are you alright?" Heero asked "Yeah. I think so, but I think I'm bleeding, and my head hurts." "Listen, Zero's out of power so all we can do is sit here until someone opens the cockpit from the outside." He felt Relena sit up and move away from him. He moved closer to and pulled her close. She gasped lightly. "Do you think the fighting has stopped yet?" Relena asked. "Dunno. maybe." There was an uncomfortable silence.
*A few hours later* "Major Po, Colonel Une. We found Wing Zero." "Good. Where?" Lady asked "Off the coast of Norway[1], but there is a storm there at the moment, we won't be able to get there for another three days." "Not good enough. We must presume that the Gundam has no power, that means that there is no heating, lighting and they can't get out, three days isn't a good enough margin. We need to get there now." Sally said. "Let me help, it's the least I can do." Lady and Sally turned around to see Lucrezia Noin. "Good to see you here Noin, get the orders to dispatch a rescue crew to the Norwegian coast." Ordered Lady. Lucrezia nodded and walked off.
"It's getting cold." Relena shivered. Even with Heero huddled next to her, the warmth wasn't enough. Heero's reply was only chattering, his voice was raspy. "Try not to fall asleep." "I'll try." They had found one blanket hidden underneath the control panel, but it still wasn't enough to warm the two up. They shivered and their teeth chattered as their breath was visible in a mist in the dark around them.
*Sometime in the early morning* "Are you sure Maxwell isn't going to be joining us on this debacle?" Wufei asked, irritated that 02 didn't have to go but he did. "Duo has enough on his plate at the moment. Just leave the poor guy be." Noin said Wufei shook his head, "When my wife snuffed it, I didn't spend hours moping around." "Bet you regret that now." that remark from Quatre made Wufei fume "I DON'T! Merian didn't like sap, and neither do I." "Cut it out both of you. I don't want to be babysitting any of you," came Noin's snappy reply, "We have a job to do. We are to comb the western coast of Norway to find Wing Zero." "Right." Came the reply from the three young pilots. "Good, now let's get going." A large aircraft and three gundams left the ex-OZ base and went north-west, arriving on the Norwegian coast within an hour. "Trowa, go to the north and start searching from there." "Roger." "Wufei, start in the south." "Whatever woman." "Quatre start at New Port City." "Got it Noin." Noin landed the jet at an airbase just outside New Port City. The gale was getting worse and snow was blowing in from the north and the east. Throwing on the thickest jacket she could find, Noin walked out and stood by the jet. "It's friggin freezing out here." she mumbled, pulling the collar of her jacket up around her ears.
It was still very dark. The incoming blizzard was making things worse for Quatre, who was brought up in hot and arid conditions. "I can't see a thing. It's too bloody snowy out there."
Trowa, who heard Quatre's complaint stated, "Why do you think earthlings call this area the arctic circle? Or the frozen north?" He laughed as he heard Quatre's cry of horror.
"Face it like a gundam pilot, Winner. Or are you too weak?" came Wufei's sarcastic reply. But there was no reply. "Winner.? Hey, Quatre. I was only kidding, you don't have to take it."
"Shut up, Wufei. I see something." Quatre strained his eyes and turned on Sandrock's heat sensors. "IT'S WING ZERO! It's washed up on the shore of Wind Crest[2] beach." "How banged up is it?" came Wufei's reply "Scorched. But it's only the paint that has been wrecked from what I can see." Stated Quatre. "Right, Quatre, you bring Zero to the airbase that Noin landed at. Wufei and I will follow." Said Trowa. The other two agreed and did as he said.
Lucrezia saw the outlines of Heavyarms and Shenlong flying closer to the airbase followed by Sandrock with Wing Zero. They landed and Lucrezia ran over to Wing. Finding the hatch release, she hoped that it wasn't too iced over and pulled at it. It didn't budge. At this point, Trowa, Wufei and Quatre all came over to help. After five minutes of tugging and straining, they got the hatch opened. Quatre jumped in and saw Heero and Relena, bruised, bleeding, shivering, frozen to the bone and alive. With the help of five medics that were stationed at the base, Heero and Relena were fixed up, checked over, pulled into the jet and taken to the Victoria base. The four gundams followed, Wing Zero being taken by Heavyarms.
*A few days later* Sally was on her rounds. First was to check up on Quatre. "Your wound is healing nicely. But those stitches can't come out for another few days, so don't overdo it." She pulled Quatre's shirt back down and sat down to type on her laptop. "How are you feeling otherwise?" Sally asked the blonde boy. "Little dizzy at times and my side still hurts." He replied Sally gave a little laugh, "Don't worry. If it gets to the point that you can't move, just get someone to come get me."
When Sally arrived at Hilde's bed, she saw Duo curled up next to a half- conscious Hilde. "Hey." Hilde whispered. Sally roughly shook Duo awake. "Muh?" came Duo's non-intelligent reply. "She's up Duo. Hilde will be groggy until the morphine wears off. Then we'll run some tests on her." "Tests? What kinda tests?" Duo asked "Just to see if there's any long term damage that we should worry about, that's all." Sally replied, taking Hilde's blood pressure. "Duo, could you help me here for a sec?" Sally asked "I need you to hold Hilde upright for a bit." Duo nodded and did as he was told. Hilde winced and was grateful that Duo was trying to be gentle. Sally undid part of the back of the gown Hilde was in and took a look at her back. "How did you get those whip marks?" asked Sally. Duo growled, he obviously knew something about it. "When I didn't do as I was told in OZ, my commanding officer whipped me. I guess he hoped that he could break me." Hilde replied. "Why didn't you let me help you earlier, I would've made sure they didn't get infected? But you said that you had it under control," Duo said "It doesn't matter now anyway Duo, the wounds are already infected. I'll have to get some antibiotics into your IV." Sally tied the gown back up and Duo slid behind Hilde so that she could rest against him. Sally excused herself and left the room. The two teens sat in silence. "I forgive you." Duo began "For what?" Hilde asked "Look, Hilde. I almost lost you. I wanted you to stay on L2 for a reason, I knew you were safe there," said Duo, wiping away his tears with his sleeve. Hilde settled herself back into Duo's arms. "It's ok, Duo. I. I wanted to see. for myself that. that you were gonna be alright." Hilde slipped into a naturally healing sleep. Duo sighed and pulled up the sheets. "Hilde."
New Years Eve at Victoria was a loud and raucous affair. Lady Une had given up on telling the ex-White Fang and Earth Sphere Alliance soldiers to keep it quiet and not to drink too much and Sally had given up trying to keep Hilde in bed. "If I see you get out of this wheelchair, you will be staying in bed until next Christmas." Sally had threatened. Hilde laughed as Duo pushed her down the hall. "I'd love to see you try, marauder Major Po!" yelled Hilde.
It was close to midnight when the five gundam pilots, Relena, Hilde and Dorothy met up on the roof of one of the buildings that was once the recreation block. Seeing they were in Africa, it was a very warm night and the stars were shining brightly as there was no light, clouds or pollution for miles and miles to block them out. "I can't believe the was is over." Trowa commented as Wufei handed him a glass of what looked like whisky. "Believe me Trowa, the wars are far from over," said Relena, taking a sip from her glass of Chardonnay[3]. Everyone but Heero looked at her in shock. "It is only time until someone breaks the peace again." Heero stated, sitting down and looking out over the base where people were beginning to set up fireworks. "Well, I'm gonna live out peace as long as it lasts. It's bound to be better than gettin up to fight every damned day, knowing that this day is probably your last," said Duo, taking a sip from his can of beer, only to have it snatched off him by Quatre. "We're too young to be drinking alcohol." "Oh, come on Quatre. Live a little." Dorothy said, pulling him down next to her and giving the can back to Duo. "Yeah. It's not like I'm gonna drink too much like that idiot down there." Duo said, pointing to where a man in his mid-twenties stumbled around, being helped by two sober friends. Hilde giggled and grabbed Duo's hand with her good hand. Duo smiled and watched as his comrades went on talking. "Hey Duo. Do I get a kiss at midnight?" Hilde asked "Sure do baby. Do you think I'll let every other lover on the planet and in the colonies have all the fun?" Hilde looked around. Trowa and Wufei were talking close by, some stuff about before the war. Dorothy and Quatre were laughing, Quatre trying not to bust his stitches. Relena and Heero were nowhere to be seen, and Duo had also noticed this. "Where do you think those two have gone?" Hilde asked. Duo shrugged nonchalantly, but had a cheeky glint in his eyes.
"Do you think the others would mind that we snuck off before the fireworks?" asked Relena as she and Heero were getting a fighter jet ready for a flight. "Don't care." He replied, flipping a few switches and grabbing the controls. Relena said nothing but sat back next to Heero in the small single seat of the jet. They were going to go up into the sky and see the fireworks from the air and then, fly around to see other cities bring in the new year. It was Heero's idea, explaining it was what Doctor J did when Heero was younger. The jet took off three minutes before midnight and soon, they saw a spectacular sight of fireworks. Heero set the jet on auto-pilot and moved slightly to look at Relena. "Happy New Year, Relena." he kissed her slightly and hugged the girl tighter as she circled her arms around his neck.
*Back 1 min before midnight* "Where did they go off to." Wufei wondered as the group of six sat down and waited for the pyrotechnics[4] display. "I'd rather not know." Trowa said, stretching his arms "I thought I saw a jet take off just a minute ago. They could've gone off." Suggested Quatre, taking a sip of vodka out of his glass. Dorothy had finally coaxed him to have something alcoholic before midnight. "Well I say we forget about them for the time being. We'll ask when they get back." Dorothy said "You mean IF they get back." Hilde said. "IF. if is good."[5] Dorothy said deviously. Suddenly the fireworks were let off and there was cheering from below. "Happy New Year guys." Said Quatre, after giving Dorothy a quick peck on the lips. "Yeah. What he said!" shouted Duo. He pulled Hilde out of her chair and put her on his lap. "Happy New Year babe." He said, before pulling Hilde closer for a kiss.
Lady, Lucrezia and Sally sat on another roof of one of the many buildings at the Victoria base. "Another year. Let's hope for new beginnings and new hope." Mused Lady "I hope that Zechs returns." sighed Noin wistfully. Sally put a hand on the Italian woman's shoulder. "I know in my heart that he's still alive. He and his sister have cheated death before, he can do it again. Have faith, Lucrezia." "Can it be the same with Treize?" Lady asked. Sally shrugged "I don't know. But we should all have faith, but right now, let's live it up. The war is over!" The German and Italian women agreed with the English-Chinese[6] woman and they watched the celebrations around them.
*12pm, January 1st, AC 196* Sally walked into the room where Hilde was staying until she got the results of her tests. She had the results in a folder under her arm. Inside the room, Duo was sitting in a chair next to Hilde's bed, his feet propped up on the bedside table, sunglasses and hat pulled over his eyes. As soon as Sally jabbed him in the back of the neck with her ball point pen, he jumped up and yelled "DON'T SHOOT ME HEERO! I SWARE I WASN'T GONNA TELL ANYONE WHAT YOU AND RELENA WERE DOIN'!" Hilde laughed and Sally said "I'd hate to be in your shoes if you really did, Duo." Duo blinked and sat down, taking off his sunglasses and spinning his cap around so that the brim was backwards. Sally sat down and opened the file. It had bone scans, CAT scans, blood tests and other results. "Well, it seems Hilde that you'll make a full recovery by the end of the month. You did no lasting damage to yourself or the baby." [7] "Wait. Did you say baby?" Hilde asked. Sally nodded. "Almost three months along now. Luckily the whiplash injuries that you received when you slammed into the MS control panel missed your womb and the aftershock was minimal." Hilde looked shocked, then she glared at Duo. "Shit!" Duo yelled, "I'm sorry Hilde. I never thought that one night would do anythin. You sure I'm the father, Sally?" Sally nodded "I did the tests just incase someone asked. Hilde, you have to make this choice now. Do you want to keep the baby, put it up for adoption or have an abortion. Think about long term things here." Hilde didn't speak. She sat there, looking at her hands, then at Duo. "What would you do, Sally? What would you do in my position?" Hilde asked. Sally shrugged. "I would rule out abortion and see if the kid grows on me. But that's just my perception. You have to make your own decisions. If you want an abortion." "NO!" Hilde touched her stomach with her uninjured hand. "I want to keep it. Things will work out. but I'll need help." "I'll help." Whispered Duo, taking her uninjured hand. Sally smiled and left the room again.
Lady Une watched as the jet that had been missing from last night landed on the airstrip and two familiar teens got out of the cockpit. She waited until they put it back in the hanger, filled it up and tried to sneak away from the scene of the 'crime'. "Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft," the two slowly turned around to see an apathetic Lady Une standing behind them, she continued, "and where exactly were you two?" Neither showed looks of guilt but both wore identical unemotional looks. The three had a stand off, not taking their eyes from the other's until Noin and Trowa reached the hanger. "Lady, Relena, Heero. What are you three doing here?" Noin asked. "They've just returned a jet, Lucrezia, the missing one." Lady said. Trowa's mask wavered for a moment to let out a small knowing smile and a small laugh. "So that's where you both went. How many New Years did you see in?" Both shrugged.
*Somewhere in space* "Almost all of the Earth has celebrated the New Year, soon it'll be time to strike." Said a man. A girl beside him giggled. "And then I'll be the leader of the Earth Sphere."
TSUZUKU. [8]
NOTES: [1] Where the Sanc kingdom is supposed to be. It's either Sweden, Finland or Norway (Northern Europe).
[2] I had to call that damned beach something. It's the same beach where Relena and Heero first met. Well I made that name up, so don't flame or sue if it is the name of an actual beach.
[3] It just seemed appropriate to put one of my favourite types of drink there besides coke.
[4] Pyrotechnics is the fancy scientific name for fireworks. Pyro = either Greek or Latin for fire. at least I think it is. =P
[5] Been watching too much of Disney's Hercules, maybe cuz I've been babysitting for my younger cousins again and I'm still on summer holidays, today was 43 degrees Celsius, and very bored between packing my room up to move out. If anyone has seen it, it's what Pain and Panic, Hades' two stupid henchmen say.
[6] Sally's origins are unclear, but my friend reckons that she's half English, half Chinese or third Chinese, two-thirds English.. She could be French.
[7] They were living together, even though that doesn't mean that they had a relationship, they could've just been friends. I'm just exercising my power of authoress.
[8] Japanese for 'to be continued'. Lit- continue, go on, follow.
-So there you have it. The prologue of Prelude to Power and an ending to Gundam Wing. Waddya think? Feedback much appreciated. -Lyndal
Dedicated to my grandfather who passed away peacefully on the 15th of Jan 2003 (my cousin's third birthday), and to my friends and family who I'm leaving to go live with my grandma (not related to grandfather mentioned above) at the end of this week. I will miss you all!
[19/01/03]