Yah yah yah, I haven't even finished the goddam story, and here I am revising it! I don't know, it's just been so long, I'm not so sure if many of the "oldtimers" are still around. Not that we're old…! Anyway, I'm revising it because it was in dire need of revision, so there are new scenes or versions of them… So if you've read it before, don't just skip ahead!
And constructive criticisms are most welcome… I'm always eager to have you're input on how I can improve my writing. And if you have any ideas, go ahead and send them to me, especially if they're about the rest of the scouts; I haven't decided how to introduce them, or if I even put them in.
Pairing is settled. Period. End of question.
I'm trying to be as nice to Relena as possible, but it's getting harder and harder as the story progresses into Endless Waltz…
Don't forget to thank Morrighan for her excellent work as beta/editor!
Disclaimer: This is the only time I'm going to write this for this fic. I DO NOT OWN SAILOR MOON OR GUNDAM WING; much of this fic is based on the manga Gundam Wing, so I don't own those lines either.
Since I'm writing pretty strict to the manga, there will be parts left out because nothing different happens. I might just introduce, or describe the conclusion of the scene, but not go into detail. If you want to know, go read the manga. There should be online translations/scans.
Chapter 1
Operation M: Sent to Earth
SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES ABOVE ASIA
She let out a great sigh. Entering the atmosphere always made her as nervous as a rabbit. Sudden movement caught the corner of her eye, and the center of her attention.
"Heero! What the hell do you think you're doing?" a certain blond-hair blue-eyed girl exclaimed, glancing away from the controls of the capsule.
"Hn." The boy known as Heero finished unlocking the bindings to his mobile suit and turned around, acknowledging his companion.
She rolled her eyes. After so many years breathing the same air as he did, she knew better than to expect an explanation from the emotionless soldier, at least not on the first try. He hated explaining his actions. "Heero! We haven't even landed in our destination. Where the hell do you think you're going?" the girl demanded again.
"An Allies attack transport is nearby, they must have spotted us. They will be eliminated," the boy said in a monotone, slipping the pilot helmet over his dark brown-haired head.
A sigh escaped the girl, her icy blue eyes melting. "Don't kill yourself before your real mission has begun, Yuy."
"Ryoukai." The Gundam blasted off. (1)
The girl shook her head before continuing her descent through rest of the atmosphere.
'Mother Earth, I'm finally here. Dr. M said a ton of nice stuff about this place.' The girl let another sigh out while running her hand through her loose, but incredibly long, golden hair. 'I can't believe Dr. M didn't order me to cut my hair. It's much too long for missions. Oh well. I like my hair the way it is. It's something that reminds me of my past.' She quickly plaited her golden hair into a thick braid, well out of her way, unless she accidentally sat on it, but that rarely happened. She landed the capsule, and then took out her laptop, receiving instructions from the good doctors to detonate the capsule.
She clambered out of the craft, taking along a black duffle bag filled with any essential supplies that she or Heero might need, and when at the proper distance, she destructed the carrier by remote.
-
"Sir! Special Lieutenant Zechs! We've located one of the capsules!" an officer yelled from inside an OZ transport flying over Japan.
"It should touch down in East Eurasia. It must be the capsule from Operation Meteor. Go after it!" Zechs Merquise commanded.
The computer module showed the capsule splitting into two figures. "A new bird-like fighter plane has emerged from the capsule, Sir!"
"So, the egg has hatched, huh?" Zechs muttered with a smirk, his white mask hiding the amusement in his eyes.
"Is this new fighter plane the anti-Allies top secret weapon?" one of the OZ pilots said from the controls.
"Affirmative. We can't let it get away. Shoot it down," Zechs ordered flatly.
"It looks like the enemy has already spotted us, sir. It's heading this way," another OZ pilot reported.
"What? Send out two MS Aries for interception!"
"Yes sir!"
"I'll go in my MS Leo." The man stood up, smoothing the crease out of his red uniform. Long pale blond hair tailed the lieutenant, jostling at each of its master's movements. A cocky grin defined the contours of Zechs Merquise's lower face. "I'll show you how to fight in gravity!"
The three MS prepared for the incoming fighter plane, one blue Aries flanking each side of the Leo.
"Here it comes," Zechs warned his pilots. It was just a bright dot in the sky, but… "What?"
"It's fast! Check out that speed!" All three OZ MS tried to hit the flash of red and white, but all missed.
"Is that the anti-Allies elements weapon, sir?"
"That's what it looks like. Hm? It stopped…" Zechs observed.
"It's transforming?" With amazing smoothness, the plane began to reconfigure its shape.
"Buster Rifle, lock on!" the pilot of the transformed Wing Gundam commanded. "Die!" Heero said all too calmly, pressing his thumb against a button on his controls. A beam of energy shot out from his powerful weapon, catching the two Aries in mid-fire. The Leo that Zechs was piloting had just managed to escape.
"It got two MS with one shot?" Zechs exclaimed. He faced his opponent once more, only to have the deadly rifle locked on him. "Damn!" he yelled, moving away just in time. "Nothing but a poor shot! Let me show you how it's done," he challenged, returning fire.
The beams hit against Wing's bright red shield, unaffecting the MS. "What? It's strong... Is it made of Gundanium alloy?" he wondered, staring at the smoking gundam. He thought fast. "That how about this?" he yelled, rapidly moving closer to the enemy.
Heero just smirked. Zechs slammed his MS onto the gundam, thoroughly disabling the powerful mecha. Zechs leapt out of the cockpit in a parachute, his long platinum hair tossing in the rough wind. "You can't move now. You'll hit the ocean. The suit might survive, but not the pilot," he said, watching the descent.
-
"I've destroyed…" Heero said softly to himself, "…three of OZ's MS." Closing his eyes, he waited for his descent to end.
-
"I lost three MS! Damn that pilot!" Zechs cursed. "Those four other capsules could also be Gundam… With firepower like that, who knows what damage can and will be done."
-
The fair-headed girl surveyed the scene. Detonating the capsule made too flashy of a scene, in her opinion. OZ was bound to notice. But orders were orders; can't go back on them now.
After destroying the capsule the girl looked up in the sky for any sign of her companion. She gasped. "Heero!" she yelled, watching his gundam, entangled with what appeared to be a MS Leo, fall in the ocean. She opened her laptop and scanned for the signal of the tracker she had placed on Wing. There it was, heading directly for the ocean floor.
"Heero, you are the worst headache of my life," the girl sighed, shaking her head, her gold braid waving gently.
SHUTTLE AIRPORT. SOUTH JAPAN POINT
Flashes, and the reporters, TV, and radio equipment that came with the cameras, surrounded a tall, stately man as he exited the spaceport gate. At least ten microphones were abruptly shoved under his nose.
"Welcome back, Foreign Minister Darlian! How did the colonial summit go?"
"What about the demand by the colonial self-governing body?"
"Reporters! Would you guys give me a break!" Darlian said exasperated. The reporters shut up, but the flashing bulbs refused to cease and desist.
"Foreign Minister Darlian, I was expecting you," a lady in a crisp red uniform said, flanked by two OZ soldiers in black.
"Who are you?"
The woman threw a stiff salute. "Lt. Une from OZ Specials. Commander Treize sent me to show you to the terminal buildings," she said in a clipped voice. Her cold eyes gleamed from behind her glasses, as though she was marking her prey.
"What? Commander Treize!" Darlian exclaimed. Turning towards his daughter who accompanied him, "Excuse me, Relena. You go on home now. I'll arrange for a limo."
"No. I'll find my own ride home," the girl replied, almost bitterly, looking suspiciously at the Lietenant.
OZ BASE. SOUTH JAPAN
"Lt. Otto! An explosion went off in sector 152!"
Looking up from the OZ's reports of the rebel-led Operation Meteor, the lieutenant quickly jumped to the right conclusion. 'Gundams!' "Dispatch MS Aries for investigation, immediately!"
"Yes sir!"
"That's under Lt. Zechs' aerial space,"Lt. Otto remembered. "Contact his carrier!"
SOUTH JAPAN POINT STREETS
Relena sighed, ready to walk home after watching the sunset. She had been out much longer than she had expected, but had no desire to return to an empty house.
'Father's been working so much,' she thought. 'I wonder how difficult the relationship between the Earth and the colonies is.'
In the background, the waters lapped up against the partially rocky shore. A body, clothed in a white body suit, was visible.
Heero's.
"It's a body!" she exclaimed, rushing down. She laid the body, obviously a male's and perhaps around her age, down so that the head and neck was supported by her lap and gently slid the white helmet off. "Is this a pilot suit?" she wondered. "He's just a child."
He began to stir.
"Hey are you all right?" Relena asked.
Heero groaned. Then realization hit him. Hard. "Hm?" his Prussian blue eyes shot open and he stood up quickly. "Who are you?" he demanded. Then he realized an awful truth. "You saw my face!" He placed a hand over his face as if to shield himself from the girl's seeking eyes.
"Oh, I'm glad you're alive. I'm Relena Darlian. Who are you?" she inquired, holding out her hand, as if expecting to shake hands.
"Never mind who I am, because you must die," Heero said, taking aim and clicking the safety off his gun. There was a slight rustle, and Heero noticed a braid of gold out of the corner of his vision. 'Usagi,' he thought. "Goodbye."
"What!" Relena asked, confused, an unbelieving smile on her face that said she thought it was some joke.
BANG!
There was a click of a gun and a chuckle. "You bad guys just never seem to learn," a mysterious guy said.
Heero looked around, clutching at his hand as the sand stained crimson. His eyes locked on the figure clad in black on the stairs. He had a really long braid, for a guy.
"Hey buddy! Don't move!" he said, retaking his aim with his handgun. "Are you all right, lady?" he asked, winking.
Relena responded by walking over to Heero and bandaging his wound with her pink handkerchief. "He was passed out on the ground!" she admonished. "You ought to behave yourself!"
Irritated, Heero pushed Relena away, and then ripped off and threw the bloodied handkerchief to the sand.
The braided boy sweat dropped. "Uh… so I'm the bad guy?" He leapt down from the stairs onto the sandy beach. "Oh well, I guess I shouldn't stick my nose in other people's business. I've got to get to work. You guys stay right there, all right?"
Heero sent a deadly glare which the remarkably cheerful newcomer ignored.
The guy took out a remote, pressed a button, and there was a splash out in the ocean. Duo still kept his gun trained on Heero and Relena.
A mobile suit emerged.
-
Usagi gasped from her crouched position behind a few bushes. She had been following the signal from Heero's MS and came to the beach, only to find Heero pointed a gun at a girl.
'So that's Relena Darlian. Her father's still a target for Oz, I believe. Then, when he's gone, it'll be his daughter's turn.' She gave an inward groan. 'Sometimes I can't tell which is worse, Heero, or OZ.'
Her head shot up and a gun shot, loosing her train of thought. 'Nani?' Her eyes fell on a boy dressed similarly to a priest, all clad in black, but with a long braid, like her. The only difference was that it was a chocolate brown color. She let a gasp out. "Duo?" she whispered, wonderingly. "Is that you?"
Her eyes swiftly focused on Heero, obviously the one who was shot. Relena was bandaging Heero's hand. Heero was glaring. She sweat dropped. 'Of course the wound doesn't hamper his emotions.' Or lack of. She scowled slightly when Heero roughly shoved Relena away, ripping the handkerchief off his hand. 'When we're done with this mission, we are working on people skills.'
What mostly interested her was when Duo took out the remote and pushed the button. There was a splash out in the ocean and a black and white mobile suit appeared.
"It's a gundam…" she whispered. "Does that mean Duo's a gundam pilot too?"
-
Duo leapt up to the cockpit and lowered the door. "Heh-heh. Say you didn't see this and I'll let you go," waving his gun around meaningfully. "I picked up this cool thing at the bottom of the ocean today, so I'm in a good mood." He jumped in and maneuvered the controls so the arm of his Gundam, Deathscythe, would rise. Along with it came the form of another suit. "Tadaa!"
"Are those to both the same kind of MS?" Relena wondered. Indeed, the two suits seemed to have similar structure and weaponry.
"Wing…" Heero breathed, gazing up at the face of his beloved suit.
The watching girl sighed. 'Typical for both Heero and the suit to survive. He might actually make it through this war.'
"Hey!" Relena's shout brought the gold-haired girl back out of her thoughts.
"Hey! I said don't move!" There were three gunshots as the two (Relena and Usagi) girls watched in awe as Heero leapt through the air, each gun shot nicking him in the arms and leg.
"What the…?" Duo muttered in disbelief, the now heated barrel of his gun touching Heero's forehead.
"I don't care about my life, but I can't let you have that!"
"Oh yeah?" A droplet of sweat slid down Duo's temple, but he still fired his last bullet. His previously playful personality disappeared when it came to his gundam and missions.
"Yuy!" The girl jumped from her hiding place and landed onto the beach near Relena.
Heero tilted his head to the side and the bullet just missed him, taking mere wisps of his dark chocolate hair. Duo looked startled as he stared at the figure that had appeared near Relena. "Sere-chan?"
While Duo was distracted, Heero leapt onto his own gundam and slid into the cockpit. The eyes of the suit flared to life. Wing Gundam was back in business.
Duo's mind returned to his present situation when he heard the beeping of the activated gundam. "So that's yours, huh? Well, why don't you thank me for picking it up then?"
Deathscythe's beam scythe flared and Heero drew his own beam saber. With a clash of brilliant sparks against the midnight sky, the two beams of energy hit each other.
"What are they doing?" Relena wondered.
"Not bad for being wounded," Duo commented. Heero just smirked as the two gundams hummed their deadly dance.
"Stop it you two!" Relena yelled, her hands creating a makeshift megaphone. "Kids aren't supposed to fight in MS!"
"Usagi! Get that civilian out of here!" Heero barked.
"Ryoukai!"
"You two! Stop fighting! This is unnecessary!" Relena continued to unsuccessfully reprimand the not-listening "kids."
"Miss Relena, why don't you go home now." This was not a question. "This is bound to attract unwanted attention and get ugly…" Usagi spoke too soon. The tell-tale hum of the Aries suits rang through the air. Usagi quickly guided the pacifist girl back onto the road and waved down a taxi. The taxi soon sped off with Relena inside.
"It's the Allies' Aries," Heero said frostily.
"Now look at what you've done," Duo said, gritting his teeth.
With cold fury, the two gundams quickly destroyed the opposing suits. Duo turned to leave. "We'll do this later, ok!" he told Heero with his cheeky grin.
"Humph."
"Duo! Heero!" Usagi yelled. Too late, Duo was gone.
Heero turned toward Usagi. "Well, we're finally here. And I'm not dead yet."
Usagi scowled, purposely grabbing Heero's upper arm, dangerously close to the gunshot wound.
"I'm not dead." If Usagi hadn't known him as well as she did, she would have missed the miniscule quiver of pain in his tenor voice.
She smirked. "Acknowledged." Dragging him up to the bush she had hidden her duffle bag, she pulled out a first-aide pack and methodically began cleansing and binding his four wounds.
A growl of protest emitted from his throat. "Stop wasting those bandages on me. Save them."
Before he could pull away, she gave him her hardest glare. "You might still be alive, but you're quite beaten up. Four flesh wounds on the first day, not to mention a monstrosity of repairs required of Wing; how much longer do you think you can laugh Death in the face?"
"Long enough to complete my mission." He sat down as Usagi began treating the gunshot wound on his leg.
"But you take too many risks. You sink Wing, and look, someone else goes and finds it. You're lucky though, it looks as if Duo's a gundam pilot, probably on the same mission as you."
He narrowed his eyes when she mentioned his name, hiding his emotions, as always. "How do you know him?"
"We were brought up together at the Church." She fiddled with the end of her braid, which was only slightly longer than Duo's. Her voice flattened. "I thought he died. I guess not. He was a natural fighter though, instincts of a thief. Figures he'd show up in a MS, much less a Gundam."
"He called you Sere-chan."
"It's my real name, isn't it? Serenity? Why? Do you have a problem with that?" As defensive as she sounded, Heero knew her all too well to know that she was merely teasing.
"Hn."
"Come on, let's go. Where are we going to hide that bothersome Wing?"
"There are some woods nearby, behind the St. Gabriel School, up on the mountain."
"Perfect. Does that mean we'll be staying over there? At the school?"
Heero nodded. "It'll be a good cover-up."
"Right," Usagi said, agreeing. Heero lowered a cable and Usagi was lifted into the cockpit. Without further a-do, she her bag in the storage compartment and found her usual spot, leaning against the back of the pilot seat. "Let's go." (2)
With a curt nod, Heero blasted off into the night.
FEW HOURS LATER
ST. GABRIEL SCHOOL
Relena walked calmly through the sunlit hallways of the school, thinking of what happened the night before.
"Good morning, miss," a student greeted, dressed in the school uniform.
"Good morning," Relena replied. "Did you hear about the disturbance last night? There was an MS battle on the shore."
"Wow, that must have been scary," another girl commented.
Two figures caught Relena's sapphire eye through the window. "Oh? Who are they?"
"Oh, that's Heero Yuy and Usagi Tsukino. They're both new transfer students. Came together from L1," one of the girls informed her.
"Heero… Usagi…"
-
Outside on the balcony of St. Gabriel…
"Yuy, your tie's crooked."
"So?"
"It's not presentable, we're supposed to blend in, remember? This is the richest school in Japan. Of course you've got to look decent." Usagi said irritably. She grabbed the two strands of fabric and retied the bow. "There, much better," she muttered, smoothing out the fabric of his shirt and jacket in the most professional manner possible.
Heero shifted uneasily when her pale hands brushed passed the rapidly healing gunshot wound on his arm. "This stupid uniform is uncomfortable. Can't hide a gun easily."
"Look at me," she said, glowering, waving her arms, shaking her tremendously long, loose waves of hair that had been loosely pulled back by a pink ribbon. "Do you think I look comfortable dressed up like a doll, in a dress? Have you ever even seen me wear a dress?"
He snickered. "At least you have easier access to a gun."
Usagi sighed. Of course he still wanted to carry around his best buddy, the hand gun. The hand gun that she had given to him right before this mission all started. "Heero, if we're going to blend in, we're going to have to restrict our use of weapons. This is supposed to be a peaceful school. No one here is supposed to have firearms."
"So? We are gundam pilots. We're supposed to have firearms at hand. What if OZ were to suddenly attack?" he asked, smirking with satisfaction at the annoyed look on his partner's face.
Usagi sighed. "Heero… Give me a break already. We're supposed to blend in and…"
Heero gave her that all-knowing glare.
"Fine! I do carry a gun with me, and you probably do too. Who knows, maybe there's couple bombs in our shoes!" She noticed the girl from the beach last night coming forward out of the corner of her vision. "It looks like we have company." They both turned their backs on her and leaned against the railing.
"Heero Yuy… I like your name. I'm glad to see you again. You too, Usagi Tsukino."
Jerking his head towards her, he smirked. "Relena Darlian…" He turned his body around, plastering on a fake smile, facing her. "I almost forgot. We were interrupted last night. Remember the fate of one who saw my face and gundam." He walked up close to her and whispered in her ear, "I will kill you."
Usagi smirked as she watched Relena's eyes grow wide. 'Finally, scared. You'd think the message would have gotten through to her last night.' Heero pushed past the shocked girl, knocking Relena slightly off balance. Usagi walked forward and gave a slight inclination of the head. "Miss Relena, I suggest you to be careful with who you meet in the future. You might end up realizing how short and sweet life really can become." (3)
Author's Notes:
(1) Ryoukai: Somewhat along the lines of "Sir yes Sir" kind of thing.
(2) It is true that a Gundam can only seat one person, but she's got to fit in somewhere.
(3) This scene was rather awkward to rewrite, especially without changing the proximity between Relena and Heero. First of all, Usagi would never be okay with it, whether it's the fact that they are in a more intimate position, or because she would never let Heero threaten Relena like that. So, I had to make it seem as though she grabbed some satisfaction from watching Relena tremble at Heero's words.