By ~*Ai*~Wing
Chapter 6The sun shone in through the half dusty window. He rubbed his eyes. Day number three. He ran his hand through his unusually grimy hair. Looking around the surroundings, he could recognize a neat but small wooden shack with two beds. One was his, a sleeping form occupied the other; and then he took a second look. A sleeping form should occupy the bed, but there was none. He looked at his watch, practically the only thing he still had. It read 6:30 a.m. He shook his head. Then, he headed to wash himself up before the bell rang for breakfast.
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A light morning breeze teased her hair. She took a deep breath of the fresh morning air in. The sun has just risen and she was enjoying the peace that overtook the estate. It was the first time in many days that she felt so light-hearted. She slowly drank in this peacefulness…her busy life would consume her right at 8:30 sharp. Her eyes swept the surrounding area one last time, before she headed back inside her room from the balcony. At that time, a sharp knock sounded on her door.
"Come in." She called out.
"Relena, you're up already." Noin said with surprise.
"Yes, there's a busy day ahead of me." Relena replied with a smile.
"It's so great to see you smile again, Relena." Noin said warmly.
"There's a lot of things to smile about," was Relena's reply.
Noin just nodded in agreement.
"So, what's going to happen to Aiden Domoto's case? I heard that Heero reported back a failure." Relena asked quietly.
"Yes, the mission was a failure. Lady Une is going to meet with Mr. and Mrs. Domoto this morning before deciding what to do." Noin replied.
"I see…is he…dead?" Relena dreaded asking the question but it had got her thinking for so long.
"From the little Heero told us, and the conditions of the plane…we presume that he is in fact, dead." Noin answered hesitantly.
"But he was…just my age." Relena said sadly.
"I guess this is his fate. Don't think about it too much, Relena." Noin told Relena gently.
"I won't. Just as long Heero is okay." Relena replied with a smile.
"Good…now get ready for work." Noin ordered playfully.
"Okay, okay, yes lieutenant, ma'am." Relena answered, playing along with it.
Noin smiled and exited Relena's bedroom as she headed towards the bathroom to get ready for a hectic day.
"Good morning, Miss Relena." The old butler greeted as she came into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Pagan." Relena replied cheerfully.
"Tea or coffee, miss?"
"I'll have a glass of milk, thank you."
Pagan looked slightly surprised. "No tea or coffee?"
"No thank you, Pagan. I've decided to take a break from caffeine today." Relena responded with a smile.
"I see you've finally realized the harm of caffeine." And off Pagan went to get a glass of milk for Relena.
During that time, Relena slowly chewed on her toast. Today, she actually had sufficient time to enjoy her breakfast. Usually, mornings were all about rushing for her. She was used to not being able to get up from working overtime the night before. However, she had slept wonderfully last night and was all recharged and ready to go. Just as she finished her breakfast of sausages and sunny-side up eggs, she put on her blazer and picked up her briefcase, heading for the door.
"Relena, you still have plenty of time before you need to be at the office." Noin reminded her.
"I know, but I want to catch up on the work I missed these past few days." Relena replied and continued her way to the door where her driver and car would be waiting for her in the driveway. But Relena had other plans. She took a detour and ended up in the garage. She was going to drive today.
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"I'm terribly sorry about your loss. One of our most trusted agents has reported failure. I can assure you that he did try his best as he was also injured." Lady Une explained, trying to console the miserable couple.
"I understand…may I talk to this young man?"
"We would arrange that for you sir; however, he is not back at headquarters yet. I'll arrange a meeting as soon as he returns."
"My poor boy…" The woman could only mutter through her sobs.
"What I really want to know is if you want the file closed or not. There is that 1% chance that he might still be out there alive. We've pretty much got all the confirmation we could get, from the conditions of the wreck and the declaration of failure from one of our best agents." Lady Une asked hesitantly.
After looking at his wife, he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before he made his decision.
"Thank you Lady, but I think it best to move on. I would love to keep searching, but we cannot dwell on the impossible." The man declared, his wife sobbing even louder.
"Okay, we'll close the file. Should there be any need, we'll gladly reopen it. We'll still keep looking for who was behind the attack though."
"Thank you very much." The man whispered, with tears in his eyes.
"You're welcome."
He and Lady Une shook hands as she escorted him out of her office.
As Relena approached Lady Une's office, she heard soft weeping sounds. It turned out to be the Domotos, standing there in grief. She walked up to them to give her condolences.
"Hello, Minister Domoto. I'm sorry about what happened. I'm sure this must be very hard on you." Relena said softly.
"Thank you, dear." Mrs. Domoto stared straight into Relena's eyes before bursting into tears again.
"He was so young. First we lose his brother and now we lose him!" She wept.
"Darling, I think some rest would do you good. Thank you, Relena. Excuse us." Minster Domoto said as he slowly led his distraught wife away.
"Do take care!" She called after them.
The couple stopped and turned back.
"We will, you too." Mrs. Domoto said and sniffled, before they continued to head out of the Preventers headquarters.
Poor people. It's so depressing to see all of this. Relena sighed and quickly headed to Lady Une's office for her original purpose.
"Please take a seat, Relena." Lady Une said. Relena did.
"So, do you think the people who were behind the attack would be a threat to peace?" Relena questioned.
"Are you worried about that possibility?" Lady Une asked.
"Slightly. But I trust that the Preventers will prevent that from happening." Relena replied.
"Good. Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Yes. I was wondering about the conference I'm to attend next month." Relena responded.
"What about it?"
"Is it still taking place? I mean, after all these incidents, it may have been affected. I was just wondering if the Preventers know anything about it…" Relena started asking hesitantly.
"Of course, such a big conference would be unaffected. President Loire has decided to go ahead with it and we've been taking the security issues very seriously. The Preventers will raise the security up another notch. We will also send our best agents to protect you, to prevent any other…tragedies. You have no need to worry." Lady Une assured Relena.
"Just as I thought. Well, I'll be on my way then. Thank you Lady Une."
"You're welcome."
With that, Relena left to go to her office.
*Beep…Incoming Call*
"Hello."
"Lady Une." A deep voice came through.
"Heero Yuy."
They stared at each other before Lady Une broke the silence.
"I would like an explanation Agent Yuy." Lady Une commanded.
"Explanation you will get." He answered in a monotone.
"What do you have to say?" Lady Une asked giving in. By the look on Heero's face, she knew that she was not going to get an answer right now.
"I will be back shortly," was all he stated.
"When? The Domotos would like to speak to you. And I, we, want the whole situation unravelled."
"Two days later."
"I expect a full written report upon your return."
"Understood."
"Send over your arrival information."
"Roger that."
Lady Une's fax machine printed out the information Heero sent over. Then the line went dead.
As Lady Une looked over the sheet, she shook her head. Who knows if they'll ever know the truth? If Heero doesn't want to talk, then nobody could make him. At least he was coming back to explain the happenings of the tragedy. She sighed before pressing a button on her videophone.
*Beep…Connection made*
"Hello, Quatre here." The Gundam Pilots have stayed at their offices in the Preventers Headquarters since the tragedy.
"Quatre, please round up the others and report to my office, now." Lady Une commanded.
"Okay, Lady Une. See you in a while."
With that, the connection was terminated.
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"I can't believe that Heero's finally coming back!" Quatre stated as they kept their eyes on the runway.
"He owes us one hell of an explanation!" Duo exclaimed.
Wufei snorted. "As if you expect he would really give you one."
"He would too…" Duo argued with a pout. "Okay, fine. He wouldn't. But I have my ways!"
"Duo!" Quatre said warningly. The last time, the braided baka tried to break into Heero's office to find the written report, only to be caught red-handed by Heero.
"Just kidding Quatre, just kidding."
"Trowa, what do you think?" Quatre asked.
"I don't know…I feel something…" Trowa answered in a monotone.
"What do you feel?" Duo asked, being curious by nature.
"…Nothing." Trowa shrugged off that weird vibe he felt. It was nothing…but what was it…what was he supposed to know?
"Hey Relena, are you okay?" Quatre asked with concern. Relena had taken the day off when the pilots invited her to pick Heero up at the airport. She was pretty nervous. Her hands kept fidgeting with her hair or smoothing out her skirt. She looked down and her long hair cascaded over her face.
"Yeah, everything's great!" Relena exclaimed with a smile as she looked up.
"How do you feel, 'Lena?" Duo asked. Hey, no point in missing out on her opinion, right?
"…Relieved." Relena finally answered.
"That's all…how about something deeper, more emotional, more…"
"Duo, what are you implying?" Relena said in a serious tone.
"Okay, princess, I'll back off." Duo retreated with his hands raised.
"Thank you."
"Look!" Everyone moved their gaze to where Wufei was staring. A plane was landing. To be more accurate, Heero's plane was landing. Everyone's excitement grew as the plane neared the terminal and docked. Heero would be coming out of the ramp soon.
"Can't wait to find out what really happened back there." Wufei mumbled to himself.
"What? Wufei's curious too?" Duo exclaimed right behind Wufei.
"No, idiot. I don't think it's as simple as we think. Like Yuy just fails the mission? There's got to be more than that." Wufei explained in an annoyed tone.
"Well we don't have to wait any longer." Relena whispered.
A young man of seventeen with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes stood in front of them. He was carrying a backpack and wore a pressed shirt and slacks.
"Heero!"
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A.N.: Woohoo! Heero's back! Umm…sorry for not updating for so long but I've been caught up with my exams…gomen ne! Anyway, for all those who found the first few lines of this chapter confusing, I promise it will be unravelled sometime later…well…I'll try my best to make everything work out. Thanks for reading! ~Over and out.
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing Gundam Wing, okay?
P.S. I know 'When All Purpose Is Lost' is the only fic I haven't updated for a while but I'm working really hard on it. A case of Writer's Block plus a really busy schedule hasn't helped much. Sorry!!! It's about 85% finished and I guarantee, when I get it out, it'll be longer than previous chapters, okay? Sorry for the wait!!!