Disclaimer:
This may come as a big shock to you but…
I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. Yeah, Trowa took it pretty hard… ;)
Notes: Here's another beginning to a series that just
wouldn't let me sleep until I wrote the whole friggin thing out. I'm not mad, I'm just kinda sleepy, and
school's already taking its disastrous toll.
I have to admit, it was fun going back-to-school shopping, but I swear,
the novelty wore off right after I was reminded that all the stuff I'm buying
is for the sole purpose of that hideous 8 letter word: HOMEWORK. Egads, that word can give me
epilepsy…
But going back to my story, this is set two years after
Endless Waltz. And just for the record,
this is rated PG only. So, no
matter what the basics suggest, we aren't going there. I don't have the guts to write that material
just yet.
But, anyways, here's all you need to know to get you going:
Heero. Relena. Wet clothes. Two bathroom scenes. One
bed scene.
Hey, what'd I tell you?
Get your mind outta the gutter… ;)
A Message in the Steam
written by: Nausicaä
She
disliked having them wait for her when she chose to work overtime. Their shift was over at 10:30 p.m., but yet,
they chose to stay. Such loyalty moved
her, but they still were officially off duty.
Why drag them all into her boring, weary routine every night?
"Are
you sure, Relena? Matt and I don't mind
staying behind to wait until you're done."
"She's
right, 'Lena. I wouldn't mind if it
meant protecting you."
Ms.
Relena Darlian looked fondly at her bodyguards turned friends. She knew that they had meant what they'd
said with all their heart and were truly willing to stay. Both of the young men valiantly tried to
hide their drooping shoulders and increasing rate of yawns, but she saw through
their forced alertness and issued a softly voiced but final order.
"No,"
she said with finality. "You two
should've headed home an hour ago. I
don't know how long I'll be here with this paperwork." Relena indicated a depressingly large stack
of folders and ledgers, "And I can tell you're ready to fall asleep where you
stand. The mansion's only ten blocks
away. I can walk."
Knowing
that they'd lost from the start but still worried, Matt had one more argument
in his mind. With eyebrows pursed, he
said, "Pardon me, but I don't care about the distance. Mr. Chang will have our heads if anything
happens to you. At least promise us
that you'll call a taxi if you stay longer than midnight."
Giving
way to their genuine concern, Relena promised Matt and his friend that she
would take a taxi if she were to stay longer than midnight, and with reluctant
waves of goodbye, Relena was finally left alone in her office.
Sighing,
she ran her hand slowly through her hair and tiredly reached for another
folder.
Stepping
outside into the cool evening air, the two bodyguards stopped for a
moment. Gazing back and up into the
single lit window, Matt shook his head sadly.
"Y'know,
she's never been the same since he disappeared."
"What
do you mean, Matt?" his friend asked.
"Who's 'he?'"
"Oh,
that's right. You only joined the
Preventers last year." Continuing to
the discreet black car parked in the front, Matt leaned against the hood and
turned his gaze heavenward. Shining
down on them with dull, golden lustre was an infinite number of stars. Countless and unreachable, but always the
focus of so many fairytales and dreams.
"Hey,
Rob, what do you see when you look up?"
Rob
followed suit with his friend's question and tipped his head back. "Well, I see stars."
Matt
nodded. "They say he came from the
stars… or just appeared out of nowhere."
"Who?"
"Heero
Yuy."
He was
wearing a path into the carpet. He
couldn't help it. He felt caged, restless,
and aching to do something, but what was one to do, if the single purpose of
your existence didn't need you anymore?
He glanced at the bulletin board as he passed by it. Newspaper clippings blurred together, but he
didn't need to read them. He knew every
single one by heart.
Vice
Foreign Minister Seals the Deal
Former
Queen Relena Founds Memorial Site
Peace:
The Passion of the Peacecrafts
And
the list went on. The board and parts
of the surrounding wall were covered with them, two years worth of them. But the most recent one was what had him up
and scaling the walls.
Is
This It? Our Princess and her Perfect
Match
When
he'd seen this on the newsstand, he'd bought it instantly and read the article
through. Three times.
Could
this be the one that Vice Foreign Minister, Relena Darlian, 18, has been
looking for? Reports of sightings of
Ms. Darlian spending time with an unnamed young man have piqued the interest of
many…
Heero Yuy
tore his gaze away from the article. He
needed to get out of here for a while.
Going to the closet and grabbing blindly for a jacket, he left, his
destination unknown even to him.
"I
just need to get away, away for fresh air," he didn't know why he had to
convince himself of it.
"Heero
Yuy?" Rob echoed. "Sounds familiar… Wait, isn't he that guy believed to be the best MS pilot of all
time?"
Matt
answered. "Uh-huh, but he wasn't
believed to be, he was."
Rob
couldn't help but whistle. "Whoah, have
you ever met him? Seen him? I wish I could've met him."
"Nah,
couldn't get near the guy. He was
always so removed from everyone, y'know?
Always alone and cold like. I
honestly don't see what 'Lena saw in him."
"You mean, Relena had a thing for
Heero?" Rob couldn't believe it. Relena always seemed so oblivious to the
young men who flocked around her at parties.
"He must be some guy."
Matt
looked at him. "Correction, he was some
guy."
"What? What do you mean 'was?'"
Gesturing
that they get in the car, Matt elaborated.
"Exactly what 'was' means. He's
gone. Absolutely no trace of him left
on earth. Relena had us search for a
year, but when nothing came up and her political duties got in the way, she had
to give up searching."
Pulling
slowly out of its parking space, the sleek black car sped its way down
near-empty streets. Rob turned to his
friend.
"You
think she's over him, Matt?"
Matt
raised an eyebrow. "Relena over Heero
Yuy? Hell, no."
It was
1:00 a.m. when Relena decided to call it quits. Officials, be damned. She
couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.
Relena gathered her things with slow, prolonged movements. She was still making up her mind about
getting a taxi home or walk but soon made her decision when she tried several
times to grab for a pen. She was
exhausted.
"I am definitely
getting a cab," she muttered.
But
when she stepped outside and looked both ways up and down the streets, they
were empty. Not a car in sight.
Relena
sighed heavily and rubbed at her aching temple. "Never mind, I'll walk.
Maybe it'll help clear my head a bit."
Picking up her suitcase, Relena prepared herself for a comfortably slow
walk home.
Heero
walked down the street, thankful that it was late in the night. No one was about, and he was able to sort
his thoughts in the quiet. His hair
glinted dark browns now and then, as he passed under the soft light of the
lampposts, and he crossed the street, trying to think of anything to divert his
mind with.
Work? Nope, got a day off tomorrow. University?
Starting next month…
But no
matter his efforts at keeping her stuffed in the dark corners of his head, his
mind inevitably went straight back to her.
Damn
you, Relena.
"Damn you,
Heero," Relena moaned. "I've only been
walking for five minutes and already you wormed yourself into my head. Again."
Shaking
her head, Relena succumbed to the memories of the past two years Heero Yuy had
been absent from her life. Peace had
truly enveloped the earth and the colonies.
There were no talks of uprisings or secret organizations, no military
geniuses set on overthrowing the leaders of the Earth Sphere Unified
Nations. No fear.
It's
what she'd wanted, what she'd always dreamed of having.
But
none of it meant anything if Heero wasn't there to live in it with her.
Engrossed
in their thoughts, both of the melancholy youth failed to see the gathering
storm clouds above.
Heero
heard thunder rumbling in the distance and disregarded it just as fast as he
had noted it. Rain didn't bother
him. In fact, he actually welcomed it. Maybe it could help wash away the hurt he
was unaccustomed to feeling.
A small
raindrop spattering across the bridge of her nose was all the warning Relena
had before the skies ripped open and sheets of rain fell to drown the already
dragging spirits of her body. Drenched
in seconds, Relena looked helplessly around for shelter. No stores were located anywhere near
her. She was in the high-rise section
of the city, so Relena rationalized and started looking for a hotel to go
to. She'd wait until the rain stopped
and continue her walk home then.
As she
walked with her suitcase sheltering her as best as it could, Relena happened to
look up and see a very familiar figure crossing the street, chocolate brown
hair coloured almost black by the rain.
Freezing in her tracks, Relena was hardly able to breathe, praying with
all her might that what she saw was not a figment of her imagination.
"Heero,"
she breathed.
It was
so faint that she thought she hadn't spoken at all, but even that notion was
burned to ashes, as the figure before her stopped and turned their Prussian
blue eyes to hers.
Notes: Yeah, I liked
this one, for once! I have to admit,
this is the first series I actually have all planned out – beginning to
end. With the exception of With the
Flip of a Coin, Accept the Beast, all my other chaptered fics have been
written as a test run for an idea. If
the response is good, then I'll keep writing them. And, yeah, the response has been mind-boggling!
Well, I hope I've got you intrigued enough to wait for the
next chapter. This should be finished
by then, so please review. Love it,
hate it, caught in between – tell me.
I'm a big girl, I can handle the criticism, and I won't cry… that hard
;)
Until then…