Bewildered Woods
Story by: Icicle Raindream
Disclaimer: Try as I might, wishing and hoping and praying does not make one the powerful and brilliant creator of a hugely successful anime like Gundam Wing, therefore, the characters and their backgrounds are not mine. This is just for fun.
Notes: Ever get a scene in your head that makes absolutely no sense, and you suddenly just create a fic around it? That's what I did with this, so I hope you enjoy! Write me your opinion!!
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I opened my eyes as my blindfold was finally unbound from my head. My vision focused on a figure that sat across from me in the car, her legs crossed. She wore a smug look on her face, folding her arms in her lap, the blindfold trailing over the side of her legs onto the seat.
"Don't even think of trying to get away from me," she sneered at me, licking her lips delicately. "I know you have no idea where we are. Besides, you don't want to mess with me, Miss Relena. I can be very tough when I want to be."
I turned my head away from her, sickened by the tone of her haughty voice, and stared out the window. I could see nothing but trees, lit up occasionally by the ongoing fight. Bursts of light and scrap metal shot up into the air, a constant signal of death around us. The car sped quickly down the street.
"Are you going to kill me?" I asked, deadpan.
She chuckled sinisterly. "How else are we going to achieve our goals? We don't need little Miss Relena spouting off her ideals on absolute pacifism. It's really ridiculous, if you ask me."
"Can I ask you something?" I turned my head spontaneously, fixing my eyes on hers. She shrugged and waited.
I glared. "If one Gundam pilot couldn't bring himself to kill me numerous times, what makes you think that you, my dear Miss Dorothy, will be able to dispose of me so easily?"
I didn't wait for a reply, my words were simply a distraction for her. She was very naïve in her capturing abilities—the only thing she had done to me was the blindfold. No hands bound, no feet tied together, no gag, nothing. Even I had at least the slightest notion on how to keep prisoners captured properly.
I leaped from my seat and tore at the handle of the car door on my left. It opened easily, and the door flung open. My weight was resting all on my arm holding the door, and I almost wasn't prepared for what happened. My brain assessed the situation quickly, however, and I braced myself on the side of the car, bending my knees. Gravity flung me from the limo, my legs propelled me far enough away as to not get run over. I rolled along the rough pavement, feeling sharp stones stab into various places on my body.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get up fast enough and the car slammed on the brakes, long enough for Dorothy to jump out and make her way to me. She was still in her long dark dress, but that girl was fast. In a flash she was standing over me, where I was hunched on the street.
I jumped to my feet, my head swirling a bit. I stared at her with a stone cold face, heart thudding in my chest. For some reason I had no fear of the gun she had pointed at my head.
"You're very naughty, Miss Relena," she snapped. "That wasn't very smart of you to do. Now I most certainly will have to kill you."
I don't know where I had gotten my reaction instinct from, but my hand, as if it had a mind of its own, shot out from my body and wailed against her arm, the one holding the gun. She gasped and looked to the sky, where the gun flew. I crouched a bit and jumped, reaching for it. I was quicker than her and snatched the gun from the air. I landed on my feet and had the gun to her face before she could even blink.
"I don't think so," I told her, a sinister smile on the edges of my lips.
She glared at me, but the fright showed in her expression. My reactions had no doubt taken her by surprise.
I'm taking me by surprise, I thought. Where did I get this sudden impulsiveness? From my brother?
Suddenly, a booming voice shouted, "Take that gun away from Miss Dorothy's head this instant, Relena Peacecraft!"
I looked over Dorothy's shoulder and observed her driver. He had stepped out of the limo and was standing a few feet away from it, holding a gun. It was pointed at me.
"You take one more step and I'll shoot her," I warned. I wasn't sure if I believed my own words, but they sounded strong and confident, and that's all that mattered for now.
"I don't think you'll do that," the driver challenged. "You are just a mere girl."
I couldn't even think about what I was doing. My arm turned from Dorothy's head and swung towards the driver. The trigger seemed to squeeze of its own will and the bullet shot out, with precise aim. The bullet connected, and the driver fell. I could see the blood oozing from his head as he hit the pavement.
"Yes," I sputtered to his still, rumpled form. "And you were just a mere chauffeur."
Dorothy cried out and lunged for me, I guess fueled by her anger at the death of her driver. She smacked my arm away and tackled me, the layers of her dress covering my body as I hit the ground. She landed on top of my stomach and knocked the wind out of me. I heard the gun as it clattered to the street two feet away from me.
"I'm not going to let you get away!" she screeched, grabbing for my throat with her nails.
Gathering up my strength, I bucked my hips and rolled over, sending her crashing to the ground, yelling in surprise. She slumped onto the street, her legs sprawled underneath her, half-hidden by her puffed up dress. She looked up at me in defeat as I climbed to my feet and retrieved the gun.
"Are you going to kill me now?" she asked in a small voice, as if she expected it to happen.
I glared down at her, disgusted by her presence. I kept the gun to her face as I kneeled down and peered into her eyes. Strands of hair fell into her face as she tried to avoid my stare.
"You are positively demented," I spat out. "Don't you think we have had our fill of the fighting?"
No response from Dorothy. She seemed to slump even lower, cowering. I think she might have been shaking.
I had to get away from her, couldn't stay here. I really could care less what happened to her, but I wasn't about to be the one to arrogantly take another life. "Maybe you need some time to think things over," I said softly.
She looked up at me—was that tears in her eyes?
I swallowed and raised my empty hand. Swiftly, I slapped her, hard enough so that she fell unconscious with a slight moan. I stared at her for a moment, feeling the pain and anger well inside me. Out of nowhere I opened my mouth and told her, "You're not so tough." I swiped a hand across my face and walked away from the street, into the woods, burying the gun in the waistband of my pants. Through all the commotion that was taking place around me, the mobile suits still firing at each other, the only sound that penetrated my ears was Dorothy's dress as it ruffled in the wind.
I had no idea where I was going, or what I was going to do.
*
I didn't have a clue as to how long I had been walking, but I finally stopped to take a break when I reached a clearing. There was a small village built on the grounds, and I thought maybe someone would be kind enough to offer the former Queen of Romafeller a place to catch her breath.
Until I took a good look around. The only one with breath of any kind was the former Queen of Romafeller, and it caught in my throat at the sight of all the destruction. The little village had been so openly destroyed that I almost couldn't bear it. It was as if no one had given any thought to what was being done. It was Operation: Annihilate! all over.
I walked closer to a half-fallen building and rested my arm against it, leaning. "Doesn't anyone teach these soldiers feelings about the human race?" I wondered to myself. "It doesn't matter where you come from, you're still human! Why does it seem as if everyone has forgotten that?" I stood upright again and started walking through the town, taking in all the destruction. It was like a fallen ghost town, except every now and then I caught sight of an arm or leg poking out from under a slab of wood that had once been a home. This place reeked of hatred.
Suddenly my eye saw something that made me falter. I stopped short, my knees weak and my stomach falling to my toes. I gulped and looked away, forcing air into my lungs.
In front of me sat a little boy, leaning against a tiny wooden chair. His left arm was curled defensively around a small, tattered brown bear that sat in his lap. The boy's head was stuffed into his chest as if he were sleeping, but the trail of blood running down the side of his neck told me that he definitely wasn't. The blood pooled into his lap, his dirty slacks already soaked. His skin was crusty with mud and dust, the blood taking on a black hue. The little boy's hair blew in the wind, but other than that he was motionless. Dead.
The little boy had sat here and bled to death. He was probably only about five years old.
It was the single most grotesque sight I had ever witnessed in my life.
I realized my eyes were clenched shut when they shot open at a sudden booming. The ground shook harshly, racked with tremors. The wind blew viciously, and I looked up into the sky, shielding my eyes from the ever-burning sun.
A mobile suit entered the clearing slowly, as if the pilot was taking in all the damage the village had received. I fought for my footing with every step the gigantic suit took.
Then it stopped, facing me. I could hear nothing.
Nothing! No more fighting sounds coming from the woods that surrounded me. Had it stopped so soon?
The mobile suit's head suddenly cocked to the left, as if it were thinking or listening for something. My heart started to thump inside as I thought about what the suit might be planning for me. I had no idea who was piloting that suit, and more than half the people in the world wanted me dead, I'm sure.
I almost shrieked when the ground shook again, this time more roughly than before. Many tremors wreaked havoc this time, and it sounded like an army was approaching the clearing. My heart desperately wanted to jump out of my chest.
I looked to my right and realized I had been correct. A whole huge army of tall, thick Tauruses had formed a wall, facing the mobile suit that stood in front of me. It was quiet enough, nothing moved. The mobile suits stood as if in a showdown with this one solitary pilot before me.
Then, as I watched, the white suit in front of me reached down. I saw its huge, metal hand racing towards me and screamed. I raised my hands above my head to shield myself out of sheer desperation and stupidity. It took me a moment to realize that the hand had stopped moving and was acting as a sort of umbrella for me.
What in the world? I wondered. My feet shot into gear and I raced away, out from under the hulking hand that was over my head. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the hand retract and the suit straighten.
"Halt, you!" One of the white Tauruses spoke, and I jerked to a stop, realizing it was talking to me. "You'll come with us."
I heard a vaguely familiar voice behind me blare out, "I don't think so. Not unless you want to pick a fight with a Gundam."
A Gundam?!
"No!" I shouted, stamping my foot like a child. I doubt the pilots could even see my action, but I knew perfectly well that they could hear me. "No more fighting! No more death! Are you people totally insane? Haven't you already killed enough today?" Without thinking, I walked over to the little boy and picked him up, cradling him in my arms, not caring about the blood that I felt seeping onto my shirt, or whether or not the mobile suits would try to stop me. They remained still, watching, and all I could do was lift the little boy over my head, holding his limp body up for the pilots to see with all my might. His hand fell out to the side, leaving his teddy bear hanging. "Look at what your outrageous war has done!" I yelled.
"It's a Gundam! Get out of here!" a voice shouted, coming from a different Taurus suit. "That's an order!" The suits suddenly powered themselves up and shot into the air, leaving me struggling to hold my stance with the little boy. Finally, I gave up and shrank to the ground, my head falling towards my lap where the little boy lay. Tears brimmed in my eyes as I gazed down on him.
"They don't care," I spoke to him, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. "All they know is that they don't want to fight against a Gundam. They don't care that you died a useless, purposeless death. This world has created monsters."
The familiar voice spoke again. "Relena."
I looked ahead of me at the huge shadow, then swiveled my head around to stare up at the mobile suit. In a flash I recognized it, the blue and red markings becoming clear, the green circle on the chest beaming in the sunlight.
"Heero," I cried out, my voice shaking. I clenched the small body in my lap, twisting the little boy's clothes with my fingers.
"Come on, Relena, you've got to get out of here," he told me. He didn't sound annoyed.
The tears spilled over my cheeks, but I wasn't sure if Heero could see them. I didn't care, just let them run down in hot salty tracks, taking deep breaths.
"Heero, help me," I begged. "I'm a sitting duck waiting for my own execution."
Suddenly the door of the suit where the pilot sits swooshed open and Heero lowered himself to the ground. He took a few steps towards me and knelt by my side. Gently, he eased the little boy off my lap and set him on the dirt in front of me. His hand touched my chin and lifted it a bit. His cobalt eyes bore into my own.
"Death is a part of war, Relena," he said softly. "Innocent people die, that's the price we all pay in the end."
I sniffed, trying to stop my tears. "I don't want to die," I whispered.
If I were Heero, I would have flinched at my words. I think that boy had had a gun to my head many more times than anyone else I had known. But he didn't move at all, just kept his hand lightly on my chin, looking at me.
"You're not going to die," he assured me in his deep throaty voice. "But we have to get out of here…now."
I nodded and climbed to my feet. Heero left and got back into his Gundam.
We began walking towards the woods, me staring at the blood on my shirt, fingering the soft material, and Heero's Gundam's footsteps echoing in my ears as it clanked behind me, my temporary protection, I hoped.
*
A few hours later, after too much walking, I fell to my knees onto the soft ground beneath a tree. Heero's Gundam's footsteps halted, and I heard the door swoosh open again.
"We can stay here for the night," Heero said, as if stopping and resting had been his idea. "We should be safe for the most part." Luckily, I had stopped in the midst of the woods, where the only things visible to us were lots of trees and bushes and the ever-darkening sky.
I nodded, and moved over to lean against the tree. I was sitting with one leg bent up and one leg stretched out before me, and was very uncomfortable. The gun that was placed inside the waistband of my pants was sticking into my hip, producing a sharp pain. I wasn't about to remove the gun and show it to Heero; who knows what kind of ideas would form in his head. I had never carried a gun so close to my body before, and a sudden fear shot through me. What if the trigger suddenly went off and a bullet pierced through my leg?
I forced that thought out of my mind in an instant, before it could fully register. Heero walked softly over next to me and sat down, leaning back against the tree. I let him gaze at me solemnly for a few minutes before I looked at him.
"You look like hell," he stated, leaning his elbows on his knees.
That's Heero Yuy, all right. Doesn't beat around the bush. "Thank you, Heero," I replied politely. "I've had quite an interesting day, actually." I looked away to the ground and pulled up a few blades of grass.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked sincerely.
My head wrenched to search for an expression on his face, but of course there was none. I held my hand out and sprinkled my handful of grass on his black slacks, smiling slightly. "No, thank you," I said. "I do not wish to remember today's earlier events."
Heero looked away, paying no attention to the grass I had showered him with. For being such a quiet and grim person, he sure was tolerant of me. My next action proved this.
I must not have been thinking straight, because I scooted closer to him and put my head on his shoulder. He was the perfect sitting height next to me, and it was very comfortable, despite the gun. My eyes began to feel heavy, and I curled my legs up underneath me, preparing for sleep.
He just sat, leaning his head back against the huge, thick trunk of the tree, and allowed me to use him as a pillow. It wasn't quite dark yet, so the temperature hadn't dropped much, but the heat rose from his bare shoulder and all but burned through me, keeping me satisfied and warm. I felt safe, as if nothing could penetrate our comfort bubble here under the tree because a Gundam pilot sat next to me.
*
"Relena!"
The deep voice broke through my deep slumber and aroused me. Its tone was almost panicked sounding, but I knew better. The panic was only in my thoughts as I lifted my head from Heero's shoulder and blinked sleepily out into the dusk.
"What is it?" I asked quietly.
"Stay where you are," Heero warned. "There's someone coming towards us, I can hear them."
I listened intently for a few seconds and heard absolutely nothing. "Are you sure?" I whispered, my heart starting to pound. Silent attackers were not a sign that the fighting had ceased.
"Yes," he answered. A gun appeared in his hand as he stealthily got up to his feet. I looked up at his face as he stood next to me, eyes searching through the thick brush before us.
Then we heard it.
Laughing. Deep laughing, coming from someone's soul, almost uncontrollable. It grew louder, echoing through the trees as the wind blew. My head snapped down from Heero's face and looked out into the woods. The bushes suddenly shook, and Heero whipped his gun out in front of him, held firmly in a death grip. He looked like this was something one did every day—face possible death. It was no big deal to him.
The laughing became almost too loud as a tall soldier stepped through the bushes towards us. His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open. He looked like he had been drugged. He swung his large gun around in front of him, paying no attention to us for the moment. He struggled to stand still as he looked around him, laughter still caught in his throat. Maniacal laughter. This poor man had obviously seen too many side effects of the war and somehow it had started to overtake his thinking and reasoning capability.
"Don't move," Heero snapped, eyes completely fixed on the tall man's form.
The soldier's head rolled to the direction of Heero's voice and he stared him down for a moment. Then his gaze shifted onto me, and he smiled, a big perverted grin. I shivered. He laughed again, stamping his foot.
"What's the matter, boy?" he asked sarcastically, in a loud southern accent. "Afraid I'll do something crazy here to your girlfriend? Ain't she a part of the war?" He paused, apparently thinking about something. "Ain't death a part of the war?"
Before either of us could respond to him, the soldier lifted his heavy-looking gun and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet my way. I was too in a daze from my sleep to drudge up enough strength to react, and I felt my left arm tear off.
I let loose with a groundbreaking scream, and Heero jumped into action quickly, squeezing the trigger several times on his own gun. The soldier fell, presumably dead, and Heero swiftly made his way over to me, where I sat on the ground, holding my arm.
Tears streamed unmercilessly down over my cheeks as I babbled, "Fire, Heero…too hot…my arm's on fire…is it still there…make it stop…"
Heero's hand was over my own, squeezing gently and applying pressure to the bullet site. "Yes, it's still there, Relena…try to stay calm…you're all right…"
"Like hell I am!" I shrieked, staring down my arm. The blood gushed from the wound, spilling down the length of my arm, dripping onto the ground from my fingertips. Oh, God, I felt like my arm would fall off at any moment. "Please…" I begged him, panting, unbelieving. "Stop…stop the hurt, Heero. It hurts too much…" Fresh tears blurred my vision as my arm burned.
Heero reached up with his free hand and grabbed my sleeve, tearing it from the rest of my shirt. He pried my right hand off and wrapped the ragged cloth around my upper arm, underneath the bullet entrance. Then he took my other sleeve and wrapped that above the bullet site. Then he made for my collar and ripped that off as well. He tied it snugly around the wound, but the knot itself didn't hurt at all.
"Is…is the bullet still in there?" I asked, searching his face with my own tear-drenched one. Pain was shooting up and down my arm, traveling back and forth between my fingertips and my shoulder, singeing my nerves.
He looked at me, expressionless as usual. It took a moment for him to nod to me as he sat back on his haunches. My arm still stung like the devil, and I dared not move it, just kind of studied him with fright in my red eyes, unmoving.
"You'll have to get it removed before it gets infected," he told me, looking away.
I scrubbed harshly at my eyes with my good hand. "Can't you take it out?" I pleaded.
He shook his head, looking back at me. Was that…sympathy? "I better not try," he said. "That just might cause the infection."
I leaned back against the tree, taking a huge shaky breath and letting it out slowly. I clenched my eyes shut and said, "It's killing me." Carefully, I shifted my hurt arm so it rested on my stomach, which was still tap-dancing inside.
"I know how you feel."
I nodded to myself. I think that if anyone in this whole world knew what it felt like to be shot, or shot at, it would be Heero.
I heard rustling in the grass in front of me and pried my eyes open, white heat racing through my blood. I thought the soldier had come back to life. But actually, a very peculiar scene was taking place, not a scary one, just a few feet away. Heero was stretching his arms over his head, the sides of his green tank top gathered in his hands. I just stared as he pulled the top off, revealing the slim expanse of his chest. I could see some muscles ripple as he walked towards me, holding the shirt out.
"What are you doing?" I cried, momentarily frightened. I wrapped my hand gently around my hurt arm.
He stopped and looked down at me with those dark blue eyes. "I'm trading shirts with you," he said, as if the answer had been obvious. He gestured to my front.
I glanced down at myself; my shirt was soaked through with the blood that had been recently pouring down my arm, and traces of the little boy's blood were still showing from earlier. Both sleeves were missing and my collar was hanging limply at my throat, ragged from Heero's hasty ripping and pulling. He knelt beside me, looking into my eyes, and held his shirt out closer. "Unless…"
"No," I almost shouted, abruptly. "That's a good idea." I didn't know if I could stand the sight of blood on me anymore, especially my own. I took Heero's shirt from him and stood up, feeling the gun sink lower into the top of my pants. Quickly shifting the shirt into the hand of my flawed arm, I reached my unharmed hand up and started trying to undo the buttons that lined the front of my shirt. I glanced around me nervously, then looked back into his eyes. He understood what I wanted and reached out to me, knowing I couldn't do this one-handed.
He made sure my shirt stayed together as the buttons separated from each other and then turned away, walking from me towards the Gundam. He didn't get into it, just walked somewhere underneath the legs, out of my sight.
Too bad he didn't know that I had an undershirt on as well. I wrenched the shirt down my arms, yelping as the fabric brushed over my wound, which had finally quit bleeding, and pulled the bottom of the shirt out of my pants. The gun amazingly stayed put. I pulled Heero's shirt on and was astonished at how much it actually fit me, almost perfectly. I could faintly smell a scent that must have been Heero as it rose lightly into the air. Somehow, the smell was very soothing, and I didn't care how much of a dork I must have looked like, what with tiny white undershirt sleeves poking out from under the dark green.
Heero reappeared then and took my soiled shirt from me. He walked to a low branch that hung from the tree I'd been resting on and flung the shirt over it, letting it dry. A few hours later, when it was, he put it on, without any thought that it was my blood that now stained his chest. I felt kind of guilty then, knowing that I practically had three shirts on, three clean ones, and he only had one dirty one, all because of me. And his never-before-seen generosity.
But staring at the red goo all over my shirt that hung drying in the night breeze, I had spent those few hours reliving the events in my life. I guess it was a good thing that I'd changed into semi-normal clothes this morning, instead of the awful long white dress Dorothy had had me in. Otherwise I doubt I'd have been able to escape her this morning. I wouldn't have been able to…shoot her driver and kill him.
God, had I become just like the soldiers fighting the war? Killing someone without thinking that I was taking a human being's life?
Again, tears shamefully came to my eyes and threatened to spill. It was then that I noticed Heero was beside me, leaning back against the tree, both of us in our original positions. He wasn't looking at me, which was good because I'm sure the tears glittered in the moonlight and were highly visible.
A thought of my foster father briefly ran through my head, and I could feel his breathing under my hand as I leaned over him in the ambulance. My voice, shouting, "Don't die on me!" echoed through my brain, taunting my tears. The image faded quickly, but left such a mark on my soul that the tears practically forced themselves out of my eyes then. I covered my face with my good hand and sobbed quietly for a few minutes, my body shaking as I simultaneously tried to breathe. My legs curled underneath me, and the movement alerted Heero's vision.
He let me sob even harder for a second, then I felt his warm hand on my shoulder, the other pulling at my fingers, trying to detach them from my face. He asked lowly, "What's the matter with you?" as he placed my hand in my lap, not letting go.
I glanced up at him, almost embarrassed, then dragged his hand across my lap to my left hip. His eyes widened a bit, and he took a sharp breath, taken aback at my shoving his hand inside my pants, but then his face hardened as I set his fingers on the cold metal of the gun which was still poking painfully into my skin. His hand wrapped around it as he pulled it from my waistband and held it up for me to see, the moonlight glinting off the side of the metal.
"Where did you get this?" he asked, no doubt at least a little surprised at me. He knew I'd never had a gun in my possession before, except for that one time with Lady Une, and since then I'd sworn myself off them, supporter of pacifism that I was.
I hiccuped, my tears trickling to a halt. "I escaped from Dorothy this morning," I explained to him, still unwilling to recount the events. "I…I shot her driver in the head."
Heero gazed into my eyes. "Relena…" He trailed off, slight shock in his tone.
I nodded and looked away. "I know," I said, shaking my head. "But there was no other way for me to get away from them. She was going to kill me!" I sighed loudly.
Heero placed his hand back on my shoulder, making me look at him again. "You did what you had to do," he said, but I didn't feel convinced.
"I have to restore peace," I said. "How can I do that when I've become a cold blooded killer?"
Heero looked hard at me, his face set. "You're not a cold blooded killer, Relena, you know that."
"Why did you save me earlier?" I blurted, remembering how he had reached his Gundam's hand down to me.
He let go of my shoulder and stood, looking up into the night sky. "It's time to sleep," he stated, almost commanding. "You have to be tired."
He was right, and I gave in, settling back against the tree, but I knew he had evaded my question. For some reason I guess he just didn't want to answer it. Why?
After depositing the gun into the side of his pants, he sat back down next to me and unbelievably patted his lap, inviting me to lay my head down across his legs. I dared not refuse that offer, but obeyed, my hair falling back from my face. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe deeply.
"Does your arm still hurt?" Heero asked, almost inaudibly.
I nodded against his legs and murmured, "Very much." Sleep was coming over me quickly, but before I totally drifted off I swore I heard him speak.
"I will get you home safely, Relena. You have my word."
Hmm, the word of a Gundam pilot…was it trustworthy? Only one way to find out…
*
I almost squealed with delight. I was truly bewildered at the thought of myself actually laughing right now, in the midst of my Kingdom falling and a war ripping the Earth apart. But it seemed like I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face as the wind whipped through my hair. It was almost like having my own set of wings.
Heero and I had woken up early that morning, and surprisingly, I'd felt refreshed, although I spent most of the night tossing and turning against Heero's lap. I don't think I bothered him at all, in fact, I think he'd been dead asleep, but I just couldn't find a position that was comfortable for me because of my stupid arm. I could feel the blood pulsing through my bullet wound every which way I lay, and I think I ended up on my stomach with my arms flung over my head, my cheek resting on Heero's thigh. I think. I can't really remember my position, but I do remember that tossing my hurt arm up had stung like nothing I'd ever felt before.
Now here I was, wrapped up in Heero's Gundam's hand as it walked through the woods, evading large trees and long branches. The suit merely walked at a pretty slow pace, but I felt like I was flying anyway. Heero had promised to take it slow for me so I wouldn't go tumbling out of the hand and accidentally kill myself. That would have been a tragedy for the world, I'm sure.
I could see over the tops of the trees, where they all blended together to make it look like the Gundam would have to fight its way through with those beam things I knew they were equipped with. Heero was a pretty good pilot because he managed to steer the Gundam clear of the trees without taking too many down with every step. It would have been kind of exciting if he'd decided to fly. I knew that nowadays most Gundams could get themselves airborne one way or another, but I also knew that if he suddenly decided to takeoff, I would definitely lose my lunch and perhaps my life, too, out of pure fright. I don't mind shuttles and all, but…being out in the open all the way up there…it would be too much. And knowing Heero, he wouldn't tell me when he wanted to launch. He'd just go for it, confident that he wouldn't let me go. Too bad I didn't have his confidence.
I clutched a rather large finger even tighter than I had been and shouted, since I knew Heero could hear me, "Look! A road is coming up ahead!" Dear God, I prayed, please don't let this be the same road Dorothy and I were on.
"I can see a car making its way down," Heero's voice boomed out. "It looks sort of…pink."
I actually blushed at his words. I'd wanted to get that stupid limo repainted for such a long time but never got around to it; with everything that was happening in my life I simply didn't have the time. Who could think about cars when they'd just discovered they'd had a long-lost brother? "It's Pagan!" I shouted, despite the heat in my cheeks. "We have to catch up!"
"Hang on," Heero replied.
Oh, no, I moaned to myself. He's going to fly! I grasped my stomach, even though I hadn't eaten anything.
Heero didn't fly, though, he just picked up the pace, assisted by those thrusters or whatever, that were attached to the back of his Gundam. We came out of the woods and stepped right in the middle of the street, in front of my limousine. I couldn't believe my luck as the car skidded to a stop to avoid crashing into the Gundam's foot. I could clearly see Pagan's face through the front windshield.
As Heero lowered me to the ground, the side door opened and Miss Noin stepped out, looking at the Gundam's hand as it let me go. I stepped off onto the street and shouted, "Miss Noin!" glad to be on solid ground.
"Miss Relena!" she responded, smiling at me. "Are you okay?"
I walked up to her and nodded, then flinched as she took a hold of my left arm and studied it. Pagan opened the driver side door and joined us, staring intently at my makeshift bandage.
"What happened?" Miss Noin cried.
I pulled away gently, opening my mouth to reply, but instead Heero's voice interrupted, "We were attacked by a crazed soldier in the woods. He was taken care of."
My arm slightly throbbed now, from Miss Noin's squeezing it, but I said, almost nonchalantly, "I have to get the bullet out." I couldn't believe how calm I sounded.
Miss Noin turned from me and looked over my shoulder. "Thank you, Heero Yuy," she said, slightly bowing. "We are greatly indebted to you for taking care of Miss Relena." Her voice sounded sincere, but her eyes were fixed on Heero's shirt, or should I say my shirt, which was crusted with blood. I looked over my shoulder at him, thinking about how I hadn't even heard him come down from the Gundam.
Heero lifted an eyebrow and replied coolly, "It seems to me that she took care of herself more than I did."
"What does he mean by that, Miss Relena?" Miss Noin asked me lowly.
I turned back to her, knowing exactly what he meant, and knowing that it had to be said sooner or later. "Dorothy Catalonia kidnapped me and was going to kill me yesterday," I explained. "I managed to escape."
Miss Noin nodded. "I see." She jerked her chin in Heero's direction. "What's with the blood?" she asked him.
This time I interrupted. I could see the accusation in her mouth, waiting to be voiced. "It's mine," I said. "From the bullet wound." I held my arm up as if it were proof, when in all actuality it meant nothing. "We were stuck in the woods and switched shirts."
I didn't realize how kinky that sounded until Miss Noin's mouth twitched, trying to clamp down her smile. I didn't dare to look at Heero for fear of blushing at him, just gave a tiny smile to Pagan, who had his hand over his mouth.
"Anyway," Heero's deep voice cut through the silence, "I should be going. There's still a war going on out there."
As if on cue, a huge boom sounded somewhere close to us, carried by the blowing wind. The ground shook a little and Heero turned to leave.
I leaned in to Miss Noin and Pagan and said, "I'll be with you in a few minutes, okay? Wait for me in the car."
"Be careful, Miss Relena," Miss Noin warned. "It sounds as if the war is starting up again. We were really worried about you."
"I'm fine," I assured, forgetting about my arm. "We'll leave in a just a couple minutes, okay?"
The two of them nodded and returned to the car, closing the doors to give me some privacy.
I turned on my heel and called, "Heero, wait!" I ran to catch up to him and grabbed his arm, trailing a little behind him.
"Don't thank me," he ordered, glancing sideways at me as he walked. "I don't want any kind of gratitude or reward."
I jerked down on his arm and stopped him, squeezing it tightly. "That was a little arrogant of you," I told him. "What made you think I was going to thank you?"
He said nothing.
"Why would I thank you for letting me get shot?" I pressed on. I was trying to extract some kind of emotion out of this boy, and I had to see what it would take.
Apparently more than that. His eyes glazed over a bit, but otherwise he didn't move and nothing showed on his face. I felt the muscles in his arm tighten a bit, then relax.
"Well, anyway…" I shifted uncomfortably, still holding his arm. He stood motionless as I danced around, looking at the sky, putting my hair behind my ears, blinking in the sunlight. Finally, I had to ask, "Why didn't you let me get taken away? I'm going to be killed sometime or another…why didn't you just let it happen yesterday?"
He leaned forward a bit, looking into my eyes. My heart jumped as I thought that maybe he was going to say something considerate to me. "Perhaps I should have let it happen yesterday."
Strike one, Relena.
I made a face at him, scrunching my nose up. I let go of his arm and said, "Where will you go now?"
He looked back into the woods, then replied, "To wherever my enemies take me."
"Well, I hope I see you again, Heero Yuy," I said, extending my hand. When he didn't reach for it, I leaned down and snagged his, pumping it up and down. "I know better than to wish a Gundam pilot luck."
He grunted.
"But there is one thing I can tell you," I went on, letting go of his hand.
"And what's that?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest. He looked semi-interested in what I was about to say.
I gazed into his eyes and said, "There is one very lucky girl out there who is grateful for the chance she had to befriend a Gundam pilot. A pilot who has saved her life many times over, as well as tried to take it just as many times." I paused, letting the words sink into his head. "I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather die at the hands of."
"That's comforting, Relena," he said as he turned away from me and walked up to his Gundam. I think it was his attempt at sarcasm. He didn't take me seriously.
Strike two, Relena.
He grabbed onto the lifting cord and was pulled up to the cockpit, but he didn't step inside or shut the door. He just stood there, on the edge of the platform, staring down at my form as I looked up at him.
"You want to know why I saved you?" he suddenly shouted, making my heart leap into my throat. I wanted to know the answer so badly.
"Why?" I called back to him, sounding skeptical even though I couldn't wait.
He glanced at the car, then back at me. "I wanted to see what a girl who dares to ride around in a pink car was truly made of." His tone was absolutely dead serious.
Strike three, Relena, you're out.
I felt my face flush, but held my gaze steady, shading my eyes with one hand. In attempt to make the situation light and lift my embarrassment I yelled, "Don't you at least want your shirt back?" I knew the line he had just fed me was a bunch of crap, another way of avoiding my real question.
Heero just stood for a second, looking at me. I watched as the tail end of my shirt rustled in the wind on him, one half of the collar that was still intact blowing up against his cheek. He placed one hand on his hip, then swiveled around and went inside the cockpit, the doors closing after him. I stood still where I was, one hand still resting against my forehead.
His Gundam switched to full power then, and I watched as it rose into the air and transformed into a small looking airplane. The wind gusted and almost knocked me over as he flew away over the woods, back into the fight that was raging once again on Earth.
I smiled up at the sky, then turned around and headed back to the car. I opened the door and climbed in, sitting next to Miss Noin. I knew he'd come back into my life, it was our destiny—to meet again. Besides, he'd start to miss this shirt of his; he couldn't wear mine forever.
"I'm taking you to the nearest hospital," Pagan informed me as he started the car and began driving down the street.
"That's fine," I said, nodding to his reflection as it looked at me through the rear-view mirror. "Oh, but Pagan?" I leaned forward over the seat and looked at him.
He glanced at me over his shoulder. "Yes?"
"After I get this bullet removed, I want to repaint the car," I told him sternly.
"Yes…of course," Pagan replied, lifting one eyebrow slightly.
I nodded to him, smiling, and then leaned back into the seat next to Miss Noin. She looked at me and smiled. "I'm glad you're safe, Miss Relena." She paused. "Do you already have another color in mind for the car?"
I grinned at her, nestling into the soft seats. I nodded and replied, "Oh, yes," as the car continued its way down the street. I fingered the end of Heero's tank top, sifting the material between my fingers. This car would be painted as soon as possible or my name would no longer be Relena Peacecraft. I was going to get a straight answer out of that boy some day if it killed me, or even quite possibly, if it killed him.
Oh, and the car?
Forest green.