Eclipse
Chapter 1
Author's notes: This fanfic is meant to be read by those with a brain. -_^ You have to THINK over what a certain character's action, even something as small as a blink, might mean; I won't often come out and say so. Also, this fiction is the product of watching way too many Outer Limits and Twilight Zone shows. Most any conclusions you will draw from this chapter will probably be disproven. :D It's meant to be confusing, because I purposely put in sections that WON'T make any sense, but I guaruntee that by the end of the story, it'll be clear! Promise.
This is NOT a Heero x Relena story, it's a Heero & Relena story. Lots of interaction between them, not necessarily romantic. Er, also be prepared for extreme angst.. ::grin::
"Foreign Minister Darlian! How did your meeting with the delegates here on L2 progress? Is it true that you are really trying to deal with the rioting by enforcing more equality laws?"
Another reporter tried to push her way to the front of the throng. "Does this have to do with the interspacial broadcast you'll be doing tonight?"
Relena Darlian, Foreign Minister of Earth, tried to find a way down from the top of the steps to her ESUN-assigned limo, and found it impossible with all the reporters blocking the way. With dimmed eyes and a polite smile, she addressed the crowd. "Please excuse me, but I must be on my way to prepare for this night's broadcast. You all will hear about this matter once it has been settled. Now please," she bowed her head, "if you'll kindly excuse me." The dour reporters still clustered in the area and begged for more information, although they grudgingly allowed Foreign Minister Darlian to be escorted by some Preventer guards to her limo. With a weary sigh, Relena sunk into the smooth leather comfort of her portable sanctuary. "Please just take me home, Pargan."
Wordlessly, her driver pulled out of the circular driveway in front of the conference buildings and accelerated out onto the colony's main highway. Relena closed her eyes and sunk back against the dark green upholstery of the limo, half resting, half thinking.
Time accelerated for Relena as she tried to rest, so that when she eventually checked her watch, she nearly jumped. The drive home, so far, was taking over twice as long as it should have. Narrowing her eyes, she quickly glanced out the windows of the backseat, and quietly clenched her hands into fists when she realized that not only did she have no idea where they were, but they were on one of the smaller side roads. It was also getting dark as the artificial lighting dimmed. This was certainly no "short cut" to her temporary living arrangements on the colony.
Relena leaned forward to see her driver. "Pargan, why are we going this. . ." her eyes widened, the man driving was too short and too young to be her aged friend. "You're not Pargan. Who are you?" she demanded.
Silence.
"Where are you taking me?" she said a little more forcefully. The driver was wearing a hat pulled down to obscure his features; Relena reached quickly to remove it.
With perfect aim and not a flinch in his now one-handed driving, the stranger seized her wrist in a hard grip before it could reach him. Almost as soon as he did, her abductor loosened his hold and let her wrist go. Relena drew her hand back and stared at him for a moment. He'd turned towards her for a brief moment when she'd moved.
Relena reached out again, this time more slowly, and without any movement from the driver, removed the hat. She looked at him for a moment, noting the slight though obviously disapproving frown he now wore, and then crawled carefully into the front passenger seat. Her gaze was kept focused on the road ahead, though she occasionally glanced sideways to note the stern features of her "captor". She almost smiled when she took in the formal chauffeur's uniform he wore. Though he didn't fidget, didn't pluck at the starched collar, he just looked completely unsuited to the formal wear.
After continuing on a few minutes like that, the driver spoke. "You should stay back where you can't be seen. I just recently got rid of the pursuit."
"Anyone after me would know me by this car. I doubt my seating will change matters in the slightest," she looked directly at him, and the tone in her voice strengthened, "Heero, I have to speak to the public tonight." She waited a moment for a reply; she got none. Relena continued, "I must, Heero. There's no other option."
Heero remained unfazed. "You're going to be targeted by an assassin at the broadcast tonight. If you died, this peace would collapse. You have to live, which means I'm relocating you to a secure position. Reschedule the broadcast."
If the ceiling had permitted it, Relena would have stood up. "Why, all of a sudden, is my life suddenly in danger? And why, all of a sudden, do you act as if it's impossible for even you to safely dispatch an assassin when you act like you know all about him? Heero! I can't sit back in safety for no good reason while other lives are at risk," she said quickly, before taking a deep breath and continuing more calmly, "Threat or not, I will speak."
He finally turned to look at her, an odd light in his eyes reflecting mild surprise and curiosity. "The rioting is disruptive but at a minimal. There have been no casualties. What other lives are at risk?"
She wouldn't look at him, instead deciding to stare out the window, her unbound hair hiding her profile so he couldn't see her expression. She spoke slowly and clearly. "There are. . . certain things I can't tell you yet." She waited a moment, feeling his stare burning a spot near the back of her head. "Heero, please. . ."
He was silent for a long time, and when Relena finally turned back around, she found him concentrating on his driving again.
He spoke quietly, almost a whisper, yet with a solid intensity."Do you know your enemies?"
Her head snapped to the side quickly to face him. "I don't have enemies, Heero. Just unfortunate people I must help and convince." She waited a moment, and then continued, "Why? Do you think I don't know those who still oppose what I represent?"
"Not those who oppose what you represent," Heero glanced at her briefly to emphasize his point, "Just you."
"What?" Relena's eyebrows rose up to the edge of her bangs. "What do you mean, Heero?"
"Later," his voice left no room for argument, "We need to get you to a secure zone. No bugs."
"Bugs. . ." her voice trailed off, and with a clouded look in her eye, Relena looked out the window.
The sights she saw shocked her. Gone were the gleaming white metal that was so painstakingly polished. The metal that showed here--both the "ceiling" and the nearby colony walls that she could see at road intersections--was a tarnished gray, dull and nonreflective, shreds of paper litter drifting aimlessly. She'd never noticed such apparent apathy during her visits to any of the colonies. Normally wherever you looked there would be tree, shrubs, flowers; beautiful flora to cover up the sterile environment. Here there was no life, only automated people in drab gray wandering the streets. Strange, how she could see things clearly.
As lighting outside dimmed to a cool, dark blue grey of artificial twilight, Relena turned her head to again observe the man driving. She smiled; bittersweet. Heero was why she could see. Correcting glasses through which she could see with unbiased vision.
Her thoughts drifted back to the colony, the rioting. . . tonight's broadcast. Unconsciously, she brought her bent arm up and pressed the forearm to her stomach. Her eyes closed.
She jerked abruptly, eyes widened slightly, and she stared about her for a second. Surveying the car and her captor with a quick glance--he turned towards her, alerted by her sharp movement--until her eyes settled upon the front passenger door handle.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Heero slammed on the breaks of the renovated old limo as Relena Darlian, Foreign Minister of the Earth, opened her door and scrambled out of the moving car. Blindly shoving the gears into parking mode in a violent move, Heero propelled himself out of the limo and raced after the running Earth delegate, abandoning the limo in the middle of the road. It doesn't make sense, his mind screamed at him.
Relena jerked and nearly stumbled when he caught up with her, and her shoulder burned from the twist it received when he grabbed her elbow, effectively stopping her in her tracks. She shuddered and folded inward, squeezing her eyes shut. "Let me go, Heero."
"You're not making any sense. Relena, why?" His voice low and grating.
She made a motion to pull away, and Heero loosened his grip, though he still watched her carefully. Stepping a few paces away from him, Relena crossed her arms and stared firmly in the direction opposite of Heero, her face immediately settling into an immutable mask. "Even your warnings of an assassination attempt don't add up, Heero. You say there's a danger, yet you won't give me the specifics of it, and you act like the only course of action is to hide me away in a corner, like this one assassin is invincible to you and the Preventers. Have all your skills become so rusty that the weak ones like me are told to hide like mice?" her voice was quiet yet condescending. Her lips tightened into a grim line, the only trace of emotion on her poker face, as she continued, "You can't understand the importance of tonight's broadcast. I will speak tonight -- I have to -- and neither you nor any threat of assassination will keep me from it."
She waited for him to say something, to protest, to drag her back to the car, but he remained silent. Finally she turned to look at him, and what she saw made her inhale sharply in surprise. Yes, he was still quietly looking at her, but his eyes glittered like a dark storm of anger, determination, and. . . pain? "Heero. . ."
Immediately an iron curtain veiled his eyes, and Heero spun around, already walking back towards the car. "Come on."
Still frozen by the remnants of the glare, Relena stumbled after him, one hand outstretched. "Wait, Heero. . . please let me explain."
"I understand completely." Heero climbed into the drivers side of the car once again, while Relena slunk into the seat next to him and shut the door.
"Please, Heero, I just--"
"Save it," he bit out scathingly. Relena jumped slightly, but he continued on in a darkly-laced growl. "We're going back to the conference center. We've wasted enough time here already."
Relena bowed her head in silent acquiescence. As the colony slums appeared to race past her window in a blur, she mouthed silently, "I'm sorry."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Relena remained quiet and unmoving as Heero shut off the engine, after they had arrived back at the conference schedule where she was supposed to make her broadcast. Heero spoke after a moment, though he still continued to focus his gaze on the steering wheel. "You have approximently forty-five minutes to prepare for your broadcast. ...My apologies for wasting your time," he added dryly.
She looked up at him. "Won't you at least stay for the speech?"
He waited a moment before inclining his head in a brief nod, dark brown bangs hiding his eyes from view. "I'm certain your Preventer guards will do their job efficiently. . . but I'll be there."
She almost smiled, but instead nodded and stepped out of the car. "Thank you, Heero," she added, before closing the car door lightly.
Heero watched her walk up the steps of the center and be escorted in by her worried Preventer guards. "Don't be so sure," he murmured, reaching inside his coat's left inner pocket to pull out a sleek black firearm. He tossed it loosely onto the dash, and stared at it with a wary eye for a long moment.
"She was right," said Heero in a strained whisper.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Five minutes to broadcast, Foreign Minister," reminded the conference center's event coordinator, after first knocking on her door.
"Of course. Thank you." As she had done five times in the past four minutes, Relena readjusted the collar of her formal suit. So important. I can't let anything go wrong this time. I do hope Heero's worries were misplaced. . . Relena sighed as she looked at her reflection in the small office mirror.
Four minutes. She started walking towards the conference auditorium where she would be speaking.
At least he did say he would be here. I need him so much right now. For this speech and the coming times, I'll need all the strength I can get to carry on. Her eyes gleamed with resolution. She climbed up the stairs to the podium, surveying the technicians preparing the cameras and lighting.
Three minutes. She picked up a small stack of papers neatly arranged on the podium, and skimmed through it, the paperwork she'd written up for this speech. The words and facts were all memorized by now. She put them away, closing her eyes as she did so. Milliardo, please let this be of some help to you, wherever you might now be. . .
Two minutes. She glanced around the room again, this time observing the people - there were only the technicians, Preventer guards, reporters being held at bay by the guards, and a few delegates. A tingle began in the back of her neck, tickling the hairs to stand on end like there was an icy breath there. On a whim, Relena looked up at the servicemen's balcony above her. She drew in a quick involuntary breath, and in a quiet voice she whispered, "Heero. . ."
"One minute and counting, Foreign Minster," reminded the same coordinator, who was still hovering nearby. Noticing her wide eyes and quiet whisper, though he did not hear what it was she said, the coordinator regarded her with a curious look. "Something wrong, Foreign Minister?"
"Wha'?" Relena blinked once, shook her head slightly, and smiled at the technician. "No, of course not. Just a little nervous, thank you." She continued smiling as he nodded, grinned, and went back to work.
As soon as no one was watching her, Relena turned again to the balcony. She felt the apprehensive tingle return full force with eye contact, and she forced back a shiver. It's different this time.
"Twenty seconds!"
Relena nodded, taking a deep breath - she had forgotten to breath? When? She looked down at her speech papers again.
Please just let me finish this one last mission, Heero.
As a technician counted down from ten, Relena couldn't help but look up at the balcony one more time. Yes, Heero was still there, back in his old outfit of a green tanktop, blue denim coat and jeans.
He had his gun with him.
He was aiming at her.
TBC. . .