Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or the G-boys... wish I did. Sadly I don't. I still only have ravenous blood-sucking dust bunnies...so I wouldn't recommend sueing.
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Thank you for all the wonderful reviews!
I'm not really sure how this chapter came about; I guess my muse wanted a bit of a twist. I hope that ya'll enjoy it and don't shoot me.
So without further ado...
the voice
chapter 4
Relena watched silently as her live in boyfriend printed off his boarding passes.
"The conference is tomorrow," she said softly, "Isn't there some way that you can postpone this meeting until then? I'd really like for you to come to the conference with me. There's been a lot of turmoil in that part of the colonies and it would make me feel better if you were there keeping an eye out. You always made me feel safer."
Cobalt blue eyes flicked toward her with annoyance then back to the computer screen.
"I already told you, Relena," he stated in his normal monotone; "I can't reschedule, please stop whining about it."
Relena clenched her teeth and tried to find her inner calm. Whining was she?
"Fine," she replied plastering on a soft naïve smile, "I'll join you on Earth after the conference is over. We can spend the weekend together then go back to work on Monday. How's that?"
"Hn…" He replied as he snapped his laptop closed and strolled out of the room. Relena followed.
"Have a good trip Heero," she said kissing him on the cheek, "Call me when your flight lands. I'll see you in a couple days."
She kept the sugary-sweet tone in her voice until the limo pulled out of the drive. Then her eyes hardened. Heero was lying to her; had been for over a month. She wasn't too surprised, considering the way his relationship with Duo ended. Everyone thought she was all fluff and silliness in the head; especially after she decided to date Heero after what happened with Duo. Unfortunately, the heart wants what the heart wants… and ever since she was fifteen, her heart has always wanted Heero Yuy. As long as he had been with Duo, she had been content to love him from a distance; simply glad to call him friend and happy that he was happy. When Heero had first come to her after the break up with Duo; she had believed him, hook line and sinker. It was easier to believe his version then Duo's. Especially since Heero had never shown interest in any other person outside of Duo and herself. He was still as antisocial as ever; he barely tolerated his follow pilots much less other people. Then after the fiasco at the river, Heero had been hurt and had needed help tending to his arm. She had volunteered to take care of him and give him a place to stay; since Duo had come out of his depression blazing. Heero didn't have anything but the clothes on his back. The former 02 pilot had burned all of his possessions in a huge public bon fire; then the ever vindictive God of Death had drained every single one of Heero's bank accounts. Even the 'secret' ones.
Relena couldn't really blame him; you'd think Heero would have had enough sense to not piss off someone who used to be a terrorist for Pete's Sake. In any case; she had given Heero a place to stay, a job as her head of security, and taken care of him. Always secretly hoping that one day he would see HER and they could live happily ever after. Then, after about the second month; it finally happened. Her knight swept her off her feet, took her to her room and made love to her all night. Angels sang and everything was right in the world…
For about a month.
By that third month, Heero was starting to act odd again. Her perfect little mental picture of happily ever after with her white knight; was suddenly becoming tarnished and crumbled.
Her knight was lying to her. She knew it, could feel it. She was a politician for God's sake; she could smell a lie a mile away. Now, it was a matter of proving it.
She, she ain't real,
She ain't gonna be able to love you like I will,
She is a stranger,
You and I have history,
Or don't you remember?
Sure, she's got it all,
But, baby, is that really what you want?
Relena watched as the limo Heero had left in pulled back into the driveway. The driver got out and spotted her on the balcony; he nodded once and went back into the house. Heero had been dropped off at the airport and her driver had witnessed him entering the building. She glanced at her watch; his flight wasn't for another thirty minutes.
She sat down in front of her laptop and turned it on. She entered six different passcodes before the welcome screen greeted her. It was time to see if Mr. Yuy had STAYED at the airport. She smiled as she opened the Tracker program she had implemented way back during the wars. She doubted that the once Perfect Solider had ever realized his precious laptop had been hacked.
Admittedly, cracking the protection on that machine had taken days of intense work; but she had managed. She had honed her computer skills hacking secure network mainframes following Heero around the world. It amazed her that no one seemed to have figured out about her hacking. She thought it was pretty obvious; how else would she have been able to enroll herself in all the same school Heero did? Everyone just assumed that she had some type of informant who gave her the information during the wars. Granted, she did have informants; lots of them all over the Earth and colonies,in fact. She'd be a pretty piss poor politician if she didn't. Knowledge was power; and while Relena was technically a pacifist it didn't mean that she didn't like having the upper hand. Negotiations always went so much better when you had inside information and knew what all the cards the other players were holding. While she did have many informants; when it came to 'stalking Heero', as Duo referred to it, Relena reserved that task for herself.
It didn't take long for the program to initiate and a little blip appear on the screen. Surprise, surprise… Heero was still at the airport. She tapped one long nail against the table as she thought. She had checked with the security company Heero was suppose to be meeting with; or rather she had helped herself to a look at the directors online datebook… the man kept meticulous records of who he was meeting and when… but there had been no mention of a meeting with Heero.
It took Relena an abysmally short amount of time to access the airports security footage. Time to see if her knight was alone. She knew what terminal and gate his flight was leaving from; she had paid for the tickets after all. She pulled up the feed for the gate she was looking for. It didn't take her long to do the 'Where's Waldo', and pinpoint a certain messy haired Asian. The bright green tank top was a dead giveaway. And wouldn't you know it… he was cozying up to the same bleached blonde Barbie from before.
"You fucking bastard," Relena growled under her breath as memories of laying in bed with Heero as he whispered sweet nothings in her ear and made love to her, the night before played across her mind.
She's seen it as making love.
Apparently he saw it as scratching an itch until he could get back to his little Barbie-wanna-be.
She had been used…and discarded without even a second thought. After all the crap they had gone through together. After everything she had done for his sorry ass over the years. After all the hours spent worrying and praying over his bedside; bargaining with God that if he should let Heero live, she would dedicate her life to peace…
Bless your soul, you've got your head in the clouds,
She made a fool out of you,
And, boy, she's bringing you down,
She made your heart melt,
But you're cold to the core,
Now rumour has it she ain't got your love anymore,
She had given him everything. Everything she had… and he simply had used what she offered and tossed it aside.
She pushed away from her laptop before she gave into temptation and threw the offending thing out the window. As it was she grabbed the lovely ceramic rose Heero had gotten her for Christmas one year and flung it against the wall; taking a great deal of pleasure in watching it explode into a zillion different pieces.
The door opened a moment later, "Relena? Are you alright?"
She barely suppressed the snarl as the last two people in the world she wanted to speak to walked through her bloody office door. Didn't surprise her that her Preventer's escorts had arrived already; she was due to leave for her conference in a few hours. But of all the people for them to send; Une just HAD to send THEM.
She smiled sweetly, pulling her politicians mask on before she turned around; "Yes, of course," she lied, "just a little mishap. Nothing to concern yourself with, Wufei."
"Uh huh," came his partner's sarcastic reply. After the incident at the river; Duo had replaced Heero as Wufei's partner at Preventer's. The two were inseparable. It was clear to anyone who bothered to look that Wufei was slowly healing the wounds Heero had made in Duo's heart.
"That ceramic rose just 'happened' to launch itself across the room at the wall, hm?"
Relena glared at the violet-eyed man; should have known better to try to lie to him. Duo was just as adept at detecting lies as any politician; even more so now. It was uncanny sometimes; like trying to have a conversation with Quatre. No matter how sweet, innocent and kind they appeared; there was always that little hint of madness lurking in their eyes. And they always, always, always KNEW; secrets were a foreign concept around them.
"Ok fine," she growled, "Perhaps I lost my temper a bit and took it out on the decorations."
Duo and Wufei exchanged knowing glances. "And what caused this lapse in temper?" Wufei asked, folding his arms across his chest.
Relena shook her head and moved back out to the balcony. Would it be possible for her to survive a jump from the second story balcony without breaking anything? At the moment she was giving it a lot of consideration if it meant getting away from those knowing looks.
"Don't worry about it;" She replied, "It isn't anything you need to worry about."
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
She felt them come up behind her and pale muscular arms wrapped around her.
"I'm sorry Lena," Duo said softly into her hair, "He's an ass"
Relena felt the starch go out of her spine and reached up to wrap her hand around those clasped over her chest. She felt the calm mask she had erected begin to crumble.
She took a shuttering breath as she fought back tears. The hope she had held onto for half her life dissolved.
"I should have known better," she whispered, "Especially after what happened with you… I should have known. But…I'd hoped…"
"Hope is such a bitch of a demon, isn't it?" Duo said softly; Relena's breath hitched as the oddness of the statement startled a giggle out of her.
"Yea." She agreed. That giggle seemed to release the damn and she choked on a sob. Duo turned her around and pulled her into a hug as she started to sob in earnest. She was vaguely aware of another pair of arms wrapping around her.
Sometime later Relena found herself; laying in bed, warm and cozy. Her head was pillowed on something that rose rhythmically with each breath and the scent of pine forest filled her head.
Wait… breath?
Relena tensed and her tired mind suddenly leapt into overdrive. She glanced around; it was dark out. The clock across the room read 8:30pm. Nearly four hours had elapsed since her mini breakdown. Very slowly she propped herself up on her arm and looked around; a blush spread across her face and her heart did and odd flip flop in her chest at what she saw.
Her head had been pillowed on one Duo Maxwell's chest; his arm wrapped around her and the man behind her. She blinked again; Wufei was curled up around her as well, his nose was practically buried in her hair and one arm was wrapped tightly around her waist.
Dear Gods Above… she was sandwiched between two men. Two…HOT…men. She wasn't sure if she should leap out of bed in a mass of righteous female indignation and embarrassment... or snuggle back down and go back to sleep.
The second option was sounding better and better to her suddenly lecherous mind. How many chances would she have to sleep cuddled between two ex-Gundam pilots and class A hotties?
Decisions decisions…whats a girl to do?
Relena propped her head on her hand and looked at a sleeping Duo. The man looked several years younger and more fae-like in his sleep; so peaceful, innocent and enchanting. The moonlight gently caressed his face; giving his skin a pale glow. How the hell had Heero ever walked away from him? She shook her head. Heero was an idiot. The scent of pine forest and evergreen filled her head and an odd sense of peace settled over her as she snuggled back down between the two men. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted; She'd worry about the consequences, and the conference, tomorrow.
She, is half your age,
But I'm guessing that's the reason that you strayed,
I heard you've been missing me,
You've been telling people things you shouldn't be,
Like when we creep out and she ain't around,
Haven't you heard the rumours?
Behind her, Wufei burrowed himself closer against her back; she could feel his soft breath on the back of her neck. She tried hard not to shiver. She couldn't help it though; her neck was apparently very sensitive. She hadn't realized that until that very moment. She shifted, trying to find a position where the Chinese man wasn't breathing on her neck… but it was impossible. The man was like a damn octopus; every time she tried to shift; he'd shift too, cuddling her close like some damn teddy bear. It was unnerving and unsettling as well as strangely sexy and comforting.
Suddenly Duo shifted; turning toward her on his side. She found herself looking into laughing violet ringed amethyst eyes. The amethyst orbs seemed to glow in the dim light; she suddenly flashed back to the moment she had seen him in the forest months ago. He'd been so different then; so still and intense, leaves stuck in his hair, and that snake barely visible around his neck. A broken man had walked into those mountain woods that weekend; and the one that had come out again had an alien stillness to him that was both unsettling and intriguing.
"Can't get comfortable, Princess?" Duo said softly, the words made all the more intimate with such intense eye contact. Relena felt a blush heat her face. She opened her mouth to say something; but found herself at a loss of words.
Oh yea I'm doing great…She thought, I just woke up sandwiched between two totally hot guys who any girl in the Earthsphere would kill for; one of whom is kiss-ably close, and that's actually sounding like a really GOOD idea while the other is currently breathing on my neck using me as his personally teddy bear and it is seriously turning me on…
"N...No I'm fine," she replied, annoyed at the stutter in her voice. Duo chuckled softly; the sound was deep and velvety. Relena suppressed the urge to sigh like the silly school girl she once was.
Duo glanced behind her to Wufei; his eyes softening in affection;
"Sorry, he is a bit of a cuddlier; ain't he?" Duo said. Relena smiled,
"Only compared to an octopus maybe;"
Duo laughed; Wufei muttered something against her neck and Relena shivered.
"Cold?" Duo asked, Relena shook her head; no she was definitely NOT cold.
"No..." she replied, then when Duo opened his mouth to say something else; she blurted; "He's breathing on my neck and it's…it's…"
She paused suddenly realizing that there really was no good way to finish that sentence.
Bless your soul, you've got your head in the clouds,
You made a fool out of me,
And, boy, you're bringing me down,
You made my heart melt, yet I'm cold to the core,
But rumour has it I'm the one you're leaving her for,
"Is it bothering you?" Duo asked, "If you ask him to move he'll roll over."
"No...I mean...Yes… I mean…" Relena sighed, "No he's fine, it's not bothering me... it's just…uh… sensitive…there…"
"Oh…oh…Ooooh," Duo replied, eyes widening as her meaning sunk in. Then his face lit in a heart-breaking beautiful smile as he laughed; the sound rolled over her igniting every one of her nerve endings. Holy hell, Relena thought, How the hell did I miss how good looking he is? Damn… pity he 'bout as straight as a circle…I wouldn't mind taking a bite outa…
Relena cut off that train of thought immediately. Bad Relena… Bad. Bad. Bad.
Across the room her computer began to beep softly. The alarm tracking Heero flight; she had set alarms during periodic intervals of his travel. The first was set to go off an hour before he was set to enter Earth's atmosphere.
"What's that?" Duo asked, sitting up.
"My alarm," she admitted, sitting up and trying to untangle herself from one surprisingly clingy ex-pilot.
Behind her, Wufei protested her movement and wrapped his arm around her waist. Relena froze as the hand on her hip slipped beneath her shirt and started making lazy circles with his thumb. The hand began to creep higher… Relena looked at Duo with a mixture of embarrassment and horror.
"'Fei, love…" Duo said softly, grinning, "That's not me… that's Relena you're fondling."
Wufei shifted, one dark eye peeking out from behind a curtain of silky black hair.
"You're point?" Wufei muttered sleepily; "'Sides she's soft and warm and smells good… can we keep her?"
Relena felt her face flame; she could suddenly feel Duo's eyes on her. Gods Above… she didn't want to turn around and look at him.
Duo's chuckle made her head snap up despite her initial reservations. He was looking at her with a mischievous calculating gleam in his amethyst eyes.
"I think that's kinda up to her 'Fei," Duo replied, "After all, she might not want to be kept by anyone, much less by the likes of us."
"We'd take better care of her then that bastard Yuy would;" Wufei snorted from behind her as he stretched out across the bed. All of that golden skin and muscles going taunt; his shirt road up a bit giving her a tantalizing glimpse of flat hard abs.
Relena's mind shuttered to a stop as she was helpless to do anything but watch as Wufei stretched. Her hands itched to touch…
Bad, Relena… Bad. Bad. Bad.
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
God she hoped she wasn't drooling; but even as the thought flicked through her mind she was powerless to move.
"What is that infernal racket?" Wufei said sitting up fully and breaking the spell he'd somehow placed on her. Blushing she shook her head and leapt to her feet. Could someone really die from embarrassment? She couldn't believe she had been ogling Wufei… with Duo right there!
She hurried over to her computer to silence the alarm. She couldn't bring herself to even glance at the two men.
"What are you doing?" Duo asked as they both came to stand behind her at her desk.
"It's the alarm I set so I would know when Heero was approaching Earth's atmosphere." Relena stated; she pulled up the tracking program and pointed to the blinking dot right at the edge of a circle labeled earth. "I hid a tracking program in his computer back during the wars." She explained.
Duo and Wufei both blinked and looked at her in shock; "You did what?" Duo said bewildered, "You hid a tracking program in his…" He started laughing. "Does he know?"
Relena snorted; "Doubt it."
"How the hell did you manage to install a tracking program without him knowing?" Wufei asked, skepticism in his voice.
Relena grinned; "I hacked his computer."
Both the men gave her identical looks of shock; "You...hacked…his computer?"
Relena nodded slowly.
"Surprised?" she asked and knew that a decidedly wicked grin was twisting her face; "How the hell do you think I kept finding ya'll during the war?"
"Informants?" Duo asked, Relena laughed and shook her head.
"I have those too;" she said, "but no. I hacked his computer during that first visit after he threatened to kill me. Took me forever; but once I did I was able to install the tacking program and from his computer I was able to access the networks you guys used to receive your missions from. That was how I was able to get to the school ahead of you a lot of times."
"Un-fucking-believable;" Duo said and laughed. Relena shrugged and pulled up the tracking file to get a more specific reading on Heero's location. There was about fifteen minutes before he landed. Plenty of time to do what she needed.
The two men watched in awe as Relena's fingers flew over the keyboard. Suddenly pictures of him and his blonde girlfriend popped up on the screen. Relena heard a low dangerous sound rumble from behind her. That noise didn't sound even remotely human.
"Don't worry, sweetheart," Relena said as she finished her little bomb and reached back to pat Duo's leg. "They'll both about to get their just desserts."
They watched as the little dot moved closer and closer to Dullas International Airspace.
"The plane should be landing now;" she said softly, then her fingers were flying over the keyboard again and a screen popped up of an airport gate.
"Is…is that a live feed to the airport?" Duo asked; Relena nodded.
"Just wait," she said, Duo and Wufei exchanged glances over the blonde girls head. What the hell was she planning?
It didn't take long for people to begin trickling through the gate.
"There," Wufei said, pointing to a couple walking through the gate, "That's them."
"Yep," Relena said, conversationally, "Heading to customs. Have you heard about the new face recognition software they are implementing at airports?"
Duo and Wufei again glanced at each other.
"Of course," Wufei said, "But it's still in its trial phase. Only a couple ports have it."
"Indeed," Relena said, a cold smile pulling her lips, "Dullas International is one of those ports…"
They watched as Heero and his girlfriend moved through the line in customs.
All of these words whispered in my ear,
Tell a story that I cannot bear to hear,
Just 'cause I said it, it don't mean that I meant it,
People say crazy things,
Just 'cause I said it, don't mean that I meant it,
Just 'cause you heard it,
"The software scans all of the world databases of their most wanted. It's supposed to help cut down on the number of terrorists who slip through customs using fake names and such." Relena stated.
"Ok…" Wufei asked, "What does that have to do with Yuy? His record is clean. Une cleared all our records after the war."
Relena looked at Wufei and smiled a cold, cruel smile. "Is that a fact…" she purred. Suddenly as if on cue; the sirens and lights went off as Heero moved up in line. A commotion broke out as security personal grabbed Heero.
"What did you do..?" Duo asked as they watched Heero get dragged away. His girlfriend in cuffs behind him.
"I reopened his file." She stated, "Heero Yuy is now on the World Sphere Unified Nation's 10 most wanted terrorists list. And the Earth has one of the harshest punishments for terrorist activity."
Wufei and Duo looked at her, mouths open. A few moments later her phone began ringing. She smiled, "Gimmie a moment guys, I need to take this…"
"Hello?"
"Hello, may I speak to Miss Relena Peacecraft?" a deep baritone voice asked.
"This is she..." Relena replied.
"Hello Miss Peacecraft, this is General Monroe here at Dullas International on Earth. I apologize for the intrusion at such an hour; but I have a gentlemen here who says he knows you and was flashing a Preventer's badge... his name popped up as a security risk. We've tried to get a hold of Commander Une with the Preventer's, but she's unavailable at the moment. This man says he knows you…"
"What's his name General?" Relena asked sweetly.
"A Heero Yuy?" he replied, "Do you know this man, Ma'am?"
"Sadly," she said, "I met him during the wars. He threatened to kill me on more than one occasion. He's a very dangerous man, General."
"So he's NOT your head of security?" General Monroe said.
"No, absolutely not," Relena stated, "That man has absolutely no association with me; and from what I understand he has no affiliation with the Preventer's either."
"Thank you Miss Peacecraft that's all I wanted to know," there was a significant pause where in the background she could heard Heero shouting.
"You have a wonderful evening, General." Relena said pleasantly and hung up.
"You lied about not knowing him," Duo said, she glanced at him.
"No I didn't," she replied, "Every last word I said was true. We did meet during the war, he did threaten me, he is a dangerous man and; as of…oh four hours ago, Heero Yuy is no long my head of security and he has no affiliation with me, and he's NOT a Preventer. Besides Duo, YOU'RE the one that doesn't lie. I have no such qualms when the need calls for it.
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
"Eventually they'll get a hold of Une," Duo said, "and she'll probably bail him out."
"Une is currently sitting on a private beach in the middle of the Caribbean. She didn't take her phone or her computer. She's enjoying a nice vacation with a hot little number she met at one of the conferences. She won't be back for another month. A month is a looong time to be held at Guantanamo as a suspected terrorist" Relena stated.
Wufei shook his head and grinned, "Have you no honor, woman," he teased.
She grinned back, "You're the one who has a thing with Honor and Justice."
"Thought you were a pacifist?" Duo said, grinning as well. Relena leaned back and shrugged,
"No, I'm a politician who promotes total pacifism. I didn't get where I am today by letting people walk all over me. I got here by being smart and playing to my advantages. Heero should have remembered who he was dealing with. Now he has to reap what he sowed."
"Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned," Duo said with a grin. Relena nodded.
"Something like that."
"What about the girl?" Wufei asked, "I hate to ask, but other than dating Heero she's done nothing wrong."
"Nothing will happen to her," Relena said, "Her name isn't on the list. At most she'll be held for questioning. Perhaps a full body cavity search. But that's it. Maybe it'll teach her to not get involved with married men."
Duo started laughing, "Brilliant 'Lena," he said.
"So," Wufei said softly to Duo, "what do you think? Can we keep her?"
Duo laughed softly and leaned down to wrap his arms around Relena's shoulders. His breath tickled her ear.
"What do you think, princess," Duo whispered, "Think you might want to be kept?"
Relena blushed and glanced at Duo; she felt a smile tug at her lips.
"I think I'd like to give it a try," she replied softly.
Duo took her hand and tugged her toward the bed.
"C'mon princess," he said, "Let's celebrate your victory,"
"Our victory, Duo," she replied softly, "Our victory."
But rumour has it he's the one I'm leaving you for.
Alright... what do you think? I'm not sure why my muse took it in this particular direction. I tried a a couple different variations and it just wasn't working. This was how the muse wanted to finish this story. I had initially intended for some 2x5 goodness... but for some strange reason it turned into 2x5xR. *shrug* Idk... in any case I hope ya'll like it.
The song is Rumor Has It by Adele
And so concludes The Voice. Though I rather like where this is going; so I might make a companion story to it. I'm not sure yet. Kinda depends.
Please Review. And I hope you enjoyed.
~Nyx