Bright and early in the morning, Relena's students had gathered outside the institution. As they conversed, a pink car drove up the way and came to a halt near the steps.
Out of the car come two teenage boys - the Gundam pilots Quatre Winner and Heero Yuy. As the two walked up the steps to the institution, the female students all began to take notice of them.
"Look, who's that?"
"Oh, some boys for a change!"
"I wonder which country they're from?"
Heero's messy brown hair and casual clothes was a rare sight on the institution's grounds, but Quatre looked more gentlemanly, with his formal clothing and neat blond hair.
"Isn't the one in front a servant?" One student wondered aloud, referring to Heero.
"He's a bit young for a bodyguard, isn't he?" Another student replied.
Quatre found their comments humorous.
Finally inside the building itself, Heero and Quatre made their way to the main office, where Relena was waiting.
"On behalf of this institution, I welcome you both on your admission." Relena said, standing up from her desk. "I'll have Pagan show you to your rooms shortly, where you'll find your uniforms."
Heero looked down. "I don't plan to stay long. Once I'm done here, I'm leaving."
Quatre looked at him disappointedly. "So there's no stopping you?"
Relena thought for a moment, then pressed a button on her computer, bringing up an image of Trowa Barton, another Gundam pilot who recently went missing. "Noin told me about your fellow Gundam pilot, Trowa Barton, and where he was last seen."
This got both Quatre and Heero's attention.
"Many of my friends in the Sanc Kingdom could help. I've taken on the search for him. Heero, couldn't you at least stay until the search is over?"
Heero thought about it. "..Don't you think it'd be bad news for us Gundam pilots to stay in a place like this?" He reasoned. "We're like walking targets right now."
Relena smiled. "No one has to know you're here. If anyone asks, you're simple students."
Heero began to warm up to the idea, and before he knew it, he was introducing himself to his class while dressed in the snappy school uniform. "My name is Heero Yuy. It's a pleasure."
From the back of the class, Dorothy gazed upon the two Gundam pilots with a faint smile. There they are. The two warriors of death. I wonder just how many people they've killed. She thought, as her smile grew.
After class, Noin entered the main office. "You summoned me, Miss Peacecraft?"
Relena stood up. "I just got a request from Romefeller for permission to do battle inside our borders. ..What's all this about?" She asked, confused.
"A Treize Faction unit on the run from the Foundation escaped into the southern forests. I've already contacted them and told them to move out." Noin reported.
"Are they even able to leave if they were forced to retreat here?" Relena asked.
"Well, some are injured, but they still have the option of surrendering." Noin said. "It's not something we need to concern ourselves with."
Relena looked worried. "Some are injured?"
"If Romefeller is requesting permission to attack, I'll have to tell the unit to leave immediately." Noin said decisively.
"Wait a moment." Relena said before turning to Pagan. "Pagan, couldn't we treat them as temporary refugees? That would prevent Romefeller from attacking them."
"Well, yes, I suppose we could." He said.
"Miss Peacecraft, are you sure about that?" Noin asked, a bit surprised.
Relena gave Noin a determined look. "I won't simply ignore the injured. Even if it leads to chaos, I have to do something to help them. Please understand."
Noin thought for a moment, then bowed her head. "Understood. I'll deliver the message at once."
Moments later, in Noin's hidden military base, she has explained Relena's intent to the Treize Faction unit over a video call.
The unit's commander, however, has other plans. "We're grateful for the princess's support. But we would only be putting the Sanc Kingdom in danger by staying."
"..What do you plan on doing? Throwing your lives away?" Noin asked them.
"..We can't burden you any further. I'm ending communication. Just leave the rest to us." Said the commander.
"..Very well. I wish you the best." Noin said sadly, before the call was terminated.
Meanwhile, Heero was exploring the base of his own volition, and he finally found what he was looking for.
Descending the elevator shaft, he found himself in a large storeroom housing several mobile suits, one of which being his prized Wing Gundam.
"Here it is." He said to himself, before casting his eyes at the other suits - white Tauruses.
In the southern part of the Kingdom, two Foundation mobile suit carriers flew over the forests. Relena had contacted them about the current situation, and was trying to convince them not to attack the Treize Faction unit.
"We've taken the Treize Faction soldiers in as refugees. Any further infringement on their rights will be a violation of international law." Relena stated.
"I believe you are misinformed." The commander said through a smirk. "The Treize Faction intends to advance on the central Sanc Kingdom and take over. We'd be cooperating as peacekeepers by attacking them before they enter the city."
Relena began to lose patience. "The Treize Faction has no intention of attacking! They told me so themselves!"
"Those are their words? Clearly they can't be trusted." The commander said, almost taunting her. "I'm ending transmission. The enemy could be listening in."
"Wait! Take a minute to confirm this!" Relena said, before the commander hung up.
"Now go! Chase the Treize Faction into the city! Do as much damage as you can." The commander said to the pilot.
Relena was not pleased with this development at all. "They won't listen." She turned to Pagan. "Pagan, take me to them. We must hurry!"
"That's too dangerous, Relena. You must stay here."
"I'm gonna go and stop them myself. It's the only way!"
"Once the battle starts, the area will be in turmoil. A perfect place for the Foundation to cover up their crimes. There's no telling what they may try." Pagan reasoned.
"..So you're saying they may target me. ..Even so, I must stop them!" Relena said, running out of the room.
"Relena, wait!" Pagan called out to her.
She ran outside and down the steps, only to see Dorothy waiting next to her car.
"Dorothy?" She said, confused.
"Relena, hurry! We need to leave now, or we'll miss the fight!" Dorothy shouted. Clearly her priorities were different from Relena's.
In the secret base, Quatre and Noin hurry into the storeroom, only to see that Heero had taken his Wing Gundam, as well as a few Taurus suits.
"What are these?" Quatre asked.
"Armed units that shouldn't be found in a pacifist nation." Noin replied.
Quatre looked at her. "Does the princess know about these?"
Noin shook her head, almost in shame. "No. But right now, we need them."
"That's right. Heero has already gone ahead. Let's join him."
"Right. I'll get them ready."
Meanwhile, Heero supplied the Treize Faction with the white Tauruses.
"There's a better way to make use of your lives than to self-detonate. Come with me if you want to fight against Romefeller."
"Just who are you, anyway?" One soldier asked him.
Heero turned his head. "I owe this country a favour. Simple as that."
The other soldiers weren't aware, but the commander knew that this kid was a Gundam pilot, and decided to trust him.
In a few minutes, the fight had begun. The Treize Faction's Leos engaged the Foundation's Mobile Dolls, losing quite badly. But a select few, who were operating the Taurus suits supplied by Heero, were able to do significant damage to the Mobile Dolls, even breaking through their energy shields.
As the fight continued, Relena and Dorothy approached the area in the car.
"Relena, have you ever seen a battle up close?" Dorothy asked as she drove.
"It's something I've gone out of my way to avoid." Relena said simply.
"I suppose that's natural, since people tend to get killed." Dorothy said. "No one wants to die. That's why soldiers are so desperate. ..I think that's what I find so attractive about war. I just get so excited! I'm grateful to be living in this era."
Relena almost felt sickened by Dorothy's skewed perspective.
On the battlefield, the Foundation soldiers encountered a new problem.
"Sir, there's an unidentified suit carrier headed straight for us!"
"Have the Mobile Dolls shoot it down!" The commander ordered.
On command, the Dolls fired their beams at the plane, severely damaging it.
"Good, we've taken it down. What a foolish attempt." The commander said, thinking all was well.
However, the carrier was suddenly torn apart from the inside, and out of the wreckage came the Wing Gundam, piloted by Heero.
"What?!" The commander said, in shock.
"It's a Gundam!" The pilot shouted.
The Wing Gundam charged its beam rifle and fired it at the two Foundation suit carriers, completely destroying one and severely damaging the other.
Dorothy and Relena approached the battlefield, driving down a long bridge, when Relena noticed the damaged suit carrier falling out of the sky - straight for the bridge they were on.
"Dorothy, stop the car!" Relena said quickly, in a panic.
Dorothy hit the brakes, but at that point, the car was going too fast to stop immediately, and the suit carrier was headed straight for it. Heero saw this and charged his beam again, blasting a hole straight through the carrier, moving it just enough for its wreckage to bypass the bridge on its way down. Dorothy wasn't sure if it would hit them or not, so she swerved the car away from it and collided with the side rail.
Relena was unhurt, but Dorothy seemed unconscious. "Dorothy, are you alright? Say something!"
Her attention was then grabbed by two Mobile Dolls which had dropped from the ruined carrier after it was damaged in the air. The Dolls detached from their parachutes and landed on the bridge in front of Dorothy's car, before aiming their guns at it.
Luckily, Quatre and Noin made it in time to destroy the Dolls before they could fire. Shortly thereafter, Heero's Wing Gundam dropped in next to the car, too.
The sun rose, and the battle was over.
"You'd probably say these suits are unnecessary in the Sanc Kingdom, Relena" Noin started, as she, Heero, Quatre, and the Treize Faction survivors stood before Relena on the bridge, their suits lined up behind them. "But Romefeller is getting more and more aggressive. I felt a defence force was necessary."
"It is." Heero chimed in. "You can't just sit here and let them destroy you, like the previous leader did."
"Heero, is my ideal just a dream? Or even a mistake?" Relena asked him.
"Well, I wonder about that. The whole world seems to be leaning toward pacifism these days. You have to understand what Noin is saying. Right now, defence is needed." Heero said, as he began walking back to his Gundam.
"Where are you going?" Relena asked him.
"I'll go where my mind takes me. I've paid you back for your help in the search for Trowa. Pacifism means nothing to me. My purpose is on the battlefield."
"If you were me, how would you lead the Sanc Kingdom?" Relena asked him.
"The same way as Noin. Build a defence unit. That's the best way to confront Romefeller now."
Relena thought about it for a moment. "..Noin, I approve. I give you permission to do as you see fit."
Noin was surprised. "Relena, are you sure?"
"How can I expect to come up with a position the world can agree to, if I can't even agree with the people closest to me?" Relena reasoned. "Some day I'll find out.. what it is that gives people the urge to fight."
Dorothy listened in from her car, and began to giggle to herself. She just has to win every conversation, doesn't she? ..I think you'll discover the urge yourself, Relena. And sooner than you think.
To be continued in Chapter 1
