Interesting Situations
By: Icicle Raindream
Disclaimer: Since I own nothing importantly connected to the Gundam Wing universe or its creation, I am making no money off this fic or any ideas told about within. Especially the ideas from episode number 16.
Notes: I'm telling you, you spend a week and a half practically traversing the whole country, you come up with some weird ideas in your head, ideas that form into scenes, and this becomes the end result. When you get back to civilization, you can actually write it down, and so when I finally got home from spending my vacation in Colorado, that is exactly what I did, and this is what happened! Hope you like! Tell me what you think, okay? Enjoy.
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[Heero]
"Can you hear me, Heero and Zechs?"
My attention was momentarily diverted from my front screen as Trowa's voice rang over the comlink, surprisingly coming out calm and clear in the cockpit of Heavyarms.
"There are about thirty suits in flight. One hundred if they unload all the Aries suits from the carriers. We should be able to handle…thirty each pretty easily."
I thought for a split-second and reasoned that Trowa was proposing pretty good odds, but before I could react, something flashed across my screen, reverting my eyes back to it, and another voice sang out through the cockpit.
"No, wait…I'll attract them all myself! Glory to all the colonies!"
Before I knew it, Zechs' Tallgese was speeding off away from Heavyarms, away from our battle. I did the only thing I could think of doing at that time. I yelled.
"No, Zechs!" Heavyarms turned and faced him, watched as he flew off farther into the distance. I heard his voice one last time before he disappeared to take care of the advancing suits.
"Heero, we'll meet again to continue our battle."
It was a promise sealed.
The ground trembled as Trowa landed in Wing next to me.
"He'll be one tough guy to fight from now on."
I knew it was true. "Yeah, you're right."
I heard the familiar sounds of Wing transforming into aircraft mode and decided it was a good idea that Trowa and I leave now, while we weren't under direct attack ourselves. My arm was stinging and bleeding and hurt like hell as I lifted Heavyarms' free hand to latch onto Wing as it shot off the ground.
But then something caught my eye. Something that was stuck down into the crystalline white snow, something that shone with daytime radiance through all the ice and snowflakes packed onto the ground. Something incredibly…pink. And still. What the hell was it?
I told Trowa to hang on a minute, and through the pain in my arm I maneuvered Heavyarms to stoop down and scoop the object up in its big hulking hand. It was limp as a ragdoll.
"Oh, my God…" I couldn't tell if my voice sounded annoyed or worried or shocked or what. The words just came out without my permission as I stared at what was in the Gundam's hand.
"Give it here," Trowa said then, breaking through my thoughts. I quickly handed it over to him and then grabbed hold of Wing. We were lifted into the sky and the sorrowful battle was left behind, for the snow and sheet ice to cover up and forget, obliterate for all time.
* * *
The hangar bay door closed with an enormously loud moaning, and our Gundams were sealed inside, protected from the naïve townspeople outside. They wouldn't notice any difference.
I grumbled as I shifted my left arm, which still bled through the bandage. Trowa stood a few feet in front of me, one hand on his hip. He walked over to me and gestured for me to give him my arm. I did as he requested.
Trowa pulled a bandage from one pocket and swiftly yet expertly removed the old one and replaced it with the clean, fresh one. He gave me a stern look through one emerald eye, then turned on his heel and began walking away.
"You're leaving, Trowa?" I asked, rooted in place where I stood.
He stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. "I think you can handle her by yourself." Then he turned back and walked away, leaving me alone in the hangar.
Well, not completely alone. She was still here. And in need of help.
*
I picked her small body up, cradling it gingerly in my arms, trying not to put too much pressure on my still bleeding forearm. I knew that if I lost my grip she would go tumbling onto the hard cement floor. She was a pain sometimes, but I didn't want that to happen. It just wouldn't be right, even for a suicide-accepting soldier like me.
I decided that carrying her like a toddler would be best, hoisting her body up and around to rest on my hip, her head on my shoulder. Her arms hung loosely at her sides, throwing my balance off a bit, and every now and then her body unconsciously shuddered. I could feel her breathing on my neck. It was rather unnerving as I made my way through the hangar, across the desolate alley, and into the small brick building. I squirmed around and managed to find the key that was stuffed into my clothes, struggling to keep her aloft on my hip, and slipped it into the lock. The thin wooden door swung open easily and I stepped inside and kicked it closed.
I walked over to the small bed in the corner of the room and gently spread her body across it. The pink color of her shirt looked dim in the bedroom, and it was stained and still a little wet. She shuddered harshly then and I watched as her hands trembled.
Get a grip, Heero…she must be freezing!
I shook my head roughly to clear it and then walked away from her, into the bathroom. I went to the tub and wrenched on the faucet, testing the water to make sure it wouldn't scald her. After I had decided it was just right, I plugged the tub and made my way back to her form, stretched out on my temporary bed.
I grabbed a small blanket that was hunched in the corner of the mattress and climbed towards her with it spread open. I began to buff her with it, clenching my fists around clumps of the blanket and rubbing it not too harshly over her, trying to bring some more circulation back. Her shaking was too rough on her small form. After a few minutes, I wrapped it around her and walked back to the bathroom. I shut the water off as it neared the top of the off-white porcelain and went back to the bed again.
Not much improvement. She was still shuddering and now her teeth were chattering. So much for trying to gradually warm her back up. No, she needed warmth fast.
I stood for a second, debating whether or not I should just shove her into the tub now. Perhaps if I just lay in bed beside her…
That was not an option, not right now. I figured the best way to go right now was just putting her into the warm water and let it heat her skin up itself.
I picked her form back up, ignoring my arm, and walked back to the bathroom with her. If there was anything I wished right now, it would be for her to come out of this seemingly comatose state she was in and relieve me of my unexpected duty. I didn't really want to do this, but it had to be done.
I sat her on the closed toilet lid first and tried to arouse her.
"Relena," I stated.
No extra movement, just a shudder.
I tapped her cheek with my hand. "Relena, wake up," I told her sternly.
Another tremble; a huge shaky sigh. Her teeth still chattered.
"Relena, you're not making this easy for me," I said, louder in volume. "Wake up!"
She whimpered.
Oh, God…why me? I couldn't yell at her again, not with that pathetic little expression she now had pasted to her face. There was only one thing left to do, and I didn't like it at all.
I began removing her clothes. One by one, her shirt came off, then her pants, then all her undergarments. Crap…this was the hardest mission I had ever taken on. Never before did I have to watch where my eyes wandered. Damn things were too alert for my own good right now.
I tried to ignore her as I lifted her body up and into the tub, into the warm water which pooled around her as I helped her settle in. She sat hunched over, the small of her back pushing against the side of the tub, her hair falling messily over her shoulders, the tips touching the water, her legs slightly bent in front of her. It looked terribly painful, and she just sat and shook some more. The water didn't seem to be having any sort of positive effect on her chilled skin, and I watched as her limp hands floated to the surface.
"H-heero…?"
My eyes flashed away from her to the wall, intent on staring at the cracked paint of the old apartment Trowa had hastily found for me. I didn't want her to know I had been standing there and practically gawking. I hadn't meant to.
"Heero…why am I in freezing cold water?" Her voice was utterly confused and deathly soft, as if she were afraid someone would hear her. I don't think she sounded like that on purpose. I think it was just the condition she was in. Near hypothermia.
"It's very warm, Relena," I told her. "You need to stay put until you feel better and stop shaking."
On cue, she shook some more. Including her voice as she said, "I'm so cold…Heero…" I watched as her small arms came up and around her body, clenching the skin on her sides. It was a futile attempt to warm herself up alone.
"So cold…"
I sighed and rubbed my thigh with my right hand. What options did I have left? Stick her directly under the faucet while it poured scorching hot water on her? I don't think so.
Instead, I found myself doing something so incomprehensible I can't believe I actually did it. Before I knew it, my shirt and shorts were in my hand, being flung to the toilet lid, and my own naked body stepped into the tub behind her. The water was pretty hot, I realized, and wondered why it was having no affect on her whatsoever.
I sat directly against the back of the tub, my legs stretching out on either side of her tiny body. I reached in front of me and held her shoulders, then gently turned her around to face me. She still shook incredibly hard as her knees curled up and her eyes looked into mine. They were hazy looking, no doubt providing her with fuzzy vision. How did she know it was me?
I pulled her to my chest, hoping that maybe my own body heat and the water temperature would work and keep her from freezing to death. Her hair spilled across my chest, the wet tips making it tingle, and as she rested her head against me, her arms slipped low around my waist. I could barely stand feeling her tremble. It was too harsh on her, and I held her closer in attempt to make things work faster. My chin lay atop the silky hair on her head, and I could feel her breathing against me. Talk about being lulled into a mellow state. I had never been in any kind of position like this before, and it was an…interesting situation, to say the least. Let's just say my body was awakened to new sensations I had never felt before in my fifteen years. Her tiny arms struggled to hold me close to her and I watched as her eyelids fluttered closed. She was desperate for my heat.
* * *
[Relena]
I remembered leaning out of the doorway of the large, elongated airplane, my hair blowing viciously in the wind as the craft hovered, my hand on my headset. I could hear my voice echoing back into my mind.
"Heero!" I called, my voice high in pitch. "Heero, I'm here to deliver a letter to you!"
"You're in the way, get lost!" came his response.
I was determined. Mrs. Noventa hadn't sent this for nothing, and besides that, I had spent a great deal of time trying to relocate my disappearing soldier. He wasn't going to get away so easily this time.
"No, I'm staying!" I yelled back. "This letter says how you should live your life from here on in. It's your obligation to read it!" My hand held tightly to the side of the airplane, my fingers gouging into the hard metal as my other hand tightly wrinkled the yellow paper in my grip.
Another voice answered me this time, a voice asking me politely yet sternly to leave. It was older and more rustic sounding than Heero's, and I soon found out that it was Zechs Merquise. I tried to stop him as his tall white-painted mobile suit re-attacked Heero's.
"No!" I shouted. "If you're a true warrior and a true knight of Peacecraft you couldn't possibly use such foul play!"
I was called back into the cockpit of the plane just then, momentarily forgetting the fact that the battle raged once again outside. I ran to the viewscreen and looked directly into Miss Noin's face.
"Miss Noin, I completely misunderstood you," I snapped. "I thought you were sincere. How can you just sit by and watch this fight? This is neither a duel nor a match! They're trying to kill each other!"
Miss Noin bowed her head for a minute, then she began telling me how much she deserved my contempt, but couldn't help it. She told me she believed in Colonel Zechs, and she was not about to interrupt anything he had planned in his mind.
Her words angered me, and I jerked my face away from the screen towards the still open plane doorway. I lashed out any way I could, yelling my lungs out.
"Heero, defeat that man! Anyone associated with a foul group like Oz is an embarrassment to the Sanc Kingdom! Go ahead, kill him!"
"Stop it, Relena!" Miss Noin's voice was once again in my ears, and I couldn't believe them as she told me not to wish for my own brother's death.
I could only respond with, "Brother?…He's my…brother…?" I stumbled back out to the open door and stood still for a moment, watching the two mobile suits swiftly evading each other, then suddenly the plane lurched and I felt myself plummeting towards the rock hard, blindingly white snow and ice on the ground. The last thing I remember is my headset flinging off my head and snapping back into the plane.
* * *
[Heero]
Her trembling had stopped being a constant factor, now the shakes only took her from time to time, and she had been able to reach down and find my hand, then bring it back up to my chest, where hers gripped it semi-firmly. The left fingers that clutched mine were freezing still, and obviously the water hadn't been helping them too much, so I used my only alternative left. I lifted her slim fingers to my mouth and sucked on them. Hopefully the 98.6 degrees inside would do something to revive her aching hand. Her right one had already warmed up against my steaming back, and so I concentrated on working my tongue around each of her icicle fingers, sucking intently on each one as her head pushed against my chest. I squeezed her wrist harder than I meant to, but she said nothing to me.
*
After a while, the water lost all its heat, and I knew it was time to get out. This would certainly prove to be interesting, wouldn't it? But the fact that I knew she had to get out of the cold water very soon drove me on. I didn't want her to fall back into the shuddering state she had been in for so long. Not after everything I did to warm her up again.
I told her what I was going to do just in case she just still a little out of it, and I gently released her and quickly stood up, the water running down my legs and dripping into the still highly-filled tub. I stepped out and in one bound had a towel wrapped around my waist. I snatched the other towel from the rack and draped it over the toilet lid after grabbing my clothes up. She could reach the towel from where she sat in the tub, but another question popped up in my mind.
"Can you get up by yourself?" I asked her, not quite looking in her direction.
She responded slowly, but she sounded sure of herself. "Yes. Yes, I can."
"All right," I said. "I'll be in the next room." I turned sharply and pulled the door almost all the way closed behind me. I was eager to get back into my clothes again, and did so after a brisk towel-down.
That's when I heard her cry. A sharp, piercing sound, one of shocked hurt, shooting through the crack I'd left open in the doorway. I didn't think, just quickly walked back into the bathroom, pushing the door all the way open again.
Relena was on the floor, slumped over her hands, which propped her up, her legs sprawled beneath her body. Her towel was draped over her back, and fortunately it covered all of her, from where I was standing, anyway.
"What is it?" I demanded.
"Ouch," she replied. "My ankle, Heero…it hurts."
"Let me see it," I said.
"I can't get up," she told me pitifully.
I held my sigh in and walked next to her, crouching down. She quickly wrapped her towel around her, and I held both her elbows, which criss-crossed her chest and pinned the towel down, and pulled her unsteadily to her feet, warning her not to put much pressure on the hurt one. She grimaced as I sat her down on the toilet and peered at her ankle.
It didn't appear to be broken, and I didn't feel any snapped bones inside as I ran my hand tentatively over her smooth skin, so I just wrapped it tightly with an ace bandage and then looked up at her.
She peered back, her eyes slightly clearer than before, the bottom of her wet hair dripping onto the top of her towel. She shivered once and sent me into action.
She was not going to have a relapse, not with me around. I quickly put my arms around her and began rubbing the towel into her back, trying to dry her off as efficiently and as fast as I could. She sat still for the most part, even as my hands traveled to her sides, then to her stomach, and down her legs. I stood up then, leaving the rest of her body to herself. Even I had my boundaries, and my limits. I left her alone in the bathroom with her clothes to get dressed again, and she rejoined me in a few minutes, limping on her hurt ankle.
It had become dark outside, telling me that we had lost all track of time while sitting in the bathtub. I remembered carrying her here through the daylight, but it was no more. The soft lamp on the far desk was the only illumination in the quiet bedroom. I noticed that Relena was trudging towards the small, rectangular shaped bed. She must have been exhausted as she fell onto the mattress and curled her legs slightly up. I placed the small blanket I had used earlier back over her and stepped away from the bed. After clicking off the light, I lay down on the floor and slung an arm across my face.
*
I woke up to the sound of sniffling.
It was coming from the other side of the bed, away from where I was lying on the floor, and I kept still for a moment, listening, my ears tuned into the sound of Relena's soft sobbing. It wasn't subsiding, near as I could tell.
I rolled to my side and hefted myself up, now keenly aware of how tired I myself actually was, and crawled across the bed to her form, which was hunched up by the edge. If she rolled even a tiny inch, she'd end up on the floor.
"Relena." I said her name as softly as I could, so as not to frighten her since it was still the middle of the night and very dark in the room.
"I'm still really cold, Heero," she said back. Through the darkness of the bedroom I could see the blanket being squeezed in her tiny hands, trying to keep it up by her chin.
"Here," I said. I reached underneath her and pulled at the bed covers, yanking them down so she could slip inside them. I guess she hadn't realized that the bed was fully made and just needed to be turned down. She snuggled under the heavy blankets, but then abruptly turned and faced me. Her voice was barely audible.
"Hold me again," she pleaded. "Please…I'm so cold…"
There must have been some sort of weakness bone in my body that gave in to small voices asking tentative favors. I found myself sliding down in the bed, under the covers, my arms opening to her. She scooted over and pressed her face into my neck as my arm came down on her side lightly.
I couldn't stop her tears, and the shaking had temporarily come back.
* * *
The next morning I wasn't prepared for her full-frontal verbal attack. I figured she had been up for at least two hours already, when I managed to drag my eyes open and blink into the sunlight in the room. She stood by the window, calmly observing the small town outside, and as soon as I sat up in the bed she turned and fixed her vision on me. I felt like she had me tied to the bed, her vision was like radar lock. It held me where I was for a few seconds as if she had slapped handcuffs around my wrists and ankles.
"Heero." Her tone was oddly flat, and shockingly stern.
I ran a hand over my face, bringing it up and through my hair. I wasn't quite awake yet, I could tell, and I tried to clear my throat as best I could.
"Relena." I responded in monotone.
She folded her arms across her chest as I slipped out of the bed and placed my feet on the floor. Damn all those battles, my legs felt very weak as I stood. I hope I didn't look too wobbly to her. To be honest, I really wouldn't have been surprised if I'd toppled over as soon as I'd stood up.
I turned and looked back at her in the nick of time.
"What were you trying to accomplish out there?" she demanded, taking a step closer to me. "Is this what you really have to do? Fight meaningless battles all the time for the sake of your own personal vendetta? Risk your life for nothing?"
I shook my head. "Life doesn't have such a high value in wars anymore, Relena," I explained.
"You've got it all wrong," she shot back quickly. "Life's value begins to rise in wars, Heero. Every single human life out there, in the colonies or on Earth…the value becomes even more precious than it was! We need to preserve lives, not try and take them! Especially in battles that aren't worth anything! In battles that don't accomplish any bigger steps toward peace!"
"You wouldn't understand," I argued calmly, standing directly in front of her with my arms at my sides. "You don't understand what goes on out there, and you shouldn't preach about things you haven't experienced. It makes fools of people."
"Is that what you think I am?" she asked angrily, her face turning slightly red. "I'm just a little fool because I don't know what it's like to have somebody's death staining my hands?"
I didn't say anything.
"That's sick," she spat. "I hope that somewhere deep inside you, past that cold exterior of yours, you realize that. There doesn't have to be a war out there. Not when we have so many people who want to live so badly."
"We've got just as many people willing to die," I countered, ignoring the fact that she'd assaulted my ego, if I had any at all. "You can't ignore that fact. People are going to fight whether you want them to or not, Relena. The people will have their way."
"And who says I can't have my way?" she shouted. "The way I see it, my way is the only way to go! I want to help people!"
"Maybe they don't want your help," I told her simply.
From where I stood, I could see her jaw clench. This was new to me, Relena's behavior. I hadn't thought she was capable of such anger, such passionate feelings towards the human race. She was still young yet, as was I, so how could she stand harboring such rough emotions all the time? How could her will be so strong…even though things probably wouldn't go her way, she still fought to bring her terms of peace to light…
"So are you saying that I should just give up now?" she cried, breaking through my thoughts.
I shrugged. "Do whatever you want."
"Because that's what you're going to do," she said sarcastically. "You just do whatever you want, go wherever you want…there's nothing tying you down, not when you've got so many glorious battles to triumph over!"
My fist tightened, I could feel it involuntarily close tightly. Her babbling was starting to work on my last nerve.
Her tone softened. "I came here to deliver a letter to you," she said softly, with no less anger. "The least you could do for me is read it."
"I have no interest in it," I replied, looking away. I didn't need a letter telling me how to live my life, so why should I read it? It was already preplanned--the war was my life right now.
"So that's the way it's going to be," she stated.
I didn't reply.
She stood still for a minute.
Then, I swear I saw it coming. I watched as her arm raised.
I could have stopped it. I could have dodged her arm, ducked from it, deflected it, even caught it with my own. I could have prevented it, and I knew it. But for some reason, I didn't. I just let her open palm slam heartlessly onto my cheek, with more force than I thought someone like Relena was capable of.
After I opened my eyes again and looked back to her face, she was already stalking away from me, still limping on her hurt ankle. I watched as her hair swayed behind her, shining a honey-brown in the daylight. I was glued to the floor where I stood.
Damn…she really knew how to let me have it, didn't she?
*
The rest of the day was quiet. Relena refused to openly speak to me the whole time, which was fine as I occupied my attention with my computer screen. Having something else to stare at kept my eyes away from her body, sitting there on the bed with all her hair about her shoulders. Instead, I clicked my buttons in earnest, trying not to think about her.
Which is why she took me by surprise when she finally spoke, later that night as the lamp glowed dimly in the room.
"Heero, I'm on the last shuttle out of here."
I stopped tapping the keyboard and turned to face her.
"I have to leave. I have to go back to the Kingdom, they need me."
I just looked at her. I guess, really, I didn't know what to say. I couldn't keep her here with me, even if I'd wanted to, which I wasn't entirely sure if I did, and I didn't want her to start spouting off with all her anger again, so I just simply nodded after a few seconds. This was best.
"The shuttlecraft leaves tomorrow morning. Will you take me to it?" Her eyes avoided mine as she voiced the question.
I nodded again, then realized she hadn't seen it. "Yes," I replied. "Yes, I will."
Relena pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and sighed. I went back to my computer datascreen.
*
Damn, where was it…
My eyes scanned her body. She was lying on her back, one arm flung up by her head, the other resting on her stomach. Her face was turned to the side, eyes closed tightly in much-needed sleep, and her legs were stretched gracefully down the mattress. I had to find it, but I didn't know where to look.
Or where not to look.
Finally, after standing upright looking down on her for twenty minutes in the dark, I climbed onto the edge of the mattress carefully and leaned over her. I patted down the sides of her clothes, tried to feel through the thick cloth of her shirt, and then felt her hips lightly, searching for pockets. No such luck. And if I pressed any harder I threatened myself with waking her.
My right hand slid up onto her stomach and suddenly something crinkled underneath my palm. I slipped my hand into the fold on her shirt, into the extra flap of fabric, and found a small pocket. It contained what I had been looking for. I pulled my newfound object quietly from her shirt and settled down in my chair with the dying lamp.
* * *
"Well, this is it."
I nodded as she turned away from me and stared at the huge white shuttlecraft before us, awaiting its passengers to finish boarding as small groups of people clamored for places in the line on the stairs to get in. My hands were sunk into the deep pockets of my black slacks and my hair was slightly in my face. I stood where I was as Relena took a small step forward.
Abruptly, she turned and stepped back close to me. Unbeknownst to her, I was taken aback as she suddenly threw her arms around my neck and pulled me up to her tightly.
"Thank you," she said softly.
I held completely still, my hands still in my pockets. I wasn't rightly sure what I should do. I responded with a dead-toned, "For what?"
Relena pulled away and smiled brightly at me, dropping her hands to her sides. "For reading the letter."
No reaction from me. I just stood still.
Then she turned and began walking.
I knew it. I knew I could do it. I could call her name, I could walk after her, I could grab her arm with my hand, I could pull her back, I could make her stay. I knew I could. If I asked her, I knew she would stay. I knew it, and yet I did nothing about it. I just stood in my place ten feet from the shuttle with my hands in my pockets and my hair in my face and watched her climb the stairs and disappear inside.
Then I turned away and began walking, the whiteness of the shuttle behind my back.
And she knew it, too. If she had gone to the window and tapped on it, if she had called my name through the thick glass, if she had run back down the steps, if she had chased after me again, if she had held my arm with both of her gentle hands, she knew it. She knew I could find some way to keep her safe with me. She knew it, and yet she did nothing about it.
She just walked somberly down the aisle in the shuttlecraft and calmly took her seat. She didn't even look in the direction of the window.
I continued to walk and kept my eyesight straight ahead of me, never once looking back.