Me: Last chapter. Then the epilog!
Lawyer: Wait….what?
Me: You had fair warning last chapter. I don't want to hear it.
Lawyer: *blink blink*
Me: Anyways, I don't own Gundam Wing
Lawyer: *sniff sniff*
~*~v~*~
The taxi pulled in front of the Peacecraft manor. Duo paid the drive and climbed out. He passed a few guards as he walked up to the house, waving in greeting. He took the steps two at a time carrying a back pack over his shoulder. Pulling his keys out of his pocket, he unlocked the front door and let himself in. Quatre and Hilde sat on the couches chatting. They turned to look at him as he entered. Duo smiled at the pair as he walked over, handing the backpack to the still dressed up Hilde.
"Thanks, babe," she said as she stood. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before heading to the bathroom to get changed. Duo hopped over the back of the couch and landed on the soft cushion. He looked to his blonde friend.
"Well you look awfully comfy over there, Quat," he said, throwing his hands behind his head in comfort. Quatre looked down at himself before returning a smile to the braided man. He wore a baggy white shirt and a pair of gray sweat pants.
"Yeah, well, the last time you said "we are going to drink a little tonight," I barely made it to my bed, much less out of my work clothes," Quatre teased. Duo laughed loudly.
"Where's Relena?" He asked. Quatre motioned to the staircase with a tip of his head.
"She went to take a shower and put on some comfy clothes too."
"Ah, okay." There was silence in the room for a minute before Quatre asked.
"So, how did it go?" Duo raised an eyebrow in response. "Hilde told me where you went." Duo rolled his eyes dramatically.
"Women! They cannot keep a secret to save their lives!" He cried out.
"Um, excuse me. You never said it was a secret!" Came a female voice from the bathroom. Duo flinched without even having to see who it was. "Plus, I kept it from the person who mattered, so I think I did a pretty damn good job." She smacked her braided husband on the back of the head. Duo rubbed the newly formed bruise as Hilde came around to sit beside him. Now dressed in a black spaghetti strap tank top and white short shorts, she snuggled under Duo's arm.
"Man, everyone looks super comfy." He looked down at himself. "And I'm dressed in jeans. Not cool, man. Not cool." Hilde giggled and sat back up. Reaching to the coffee table, she grabbed the bottle of liquor and three of the four shot glasses and poured them all a shot. She passed one off to each of the guys and kept one for herself.
"Here, babe. After a few of these, you won't care what you're wearing." She giggled. Duo grinned.
"One the count of three….one….two….three!" The trio tipped the shot glasses and sucked down the alcohol. All three grimaced as the liquid burned on the way down.
"Ahhh…." Duo breathed.
"You know," Quatre set the offending glass on the table and shivered. "The last time you got drunk," he looked to Duo, "and was not in 'comfy clothes', you ended up stripping down to your boxers. That way you "could be just as comfy as the rest of us."" Quatre wiggled his fingers in the air. Hilde turned to Duo.
"That is very true. It was pretty disturbing." Duo's jaw dropped.
"Wow. I feel the love." The other two laughed as his obviously fake hurt expression.
"I have some clothes upstairs you can wear if you want," Quatre said as he stood, not waiting for an answered. As he headed for the stairs, Duo chuckled.
"Thanks, buddy!"
"Yes, Quatre," Hilde smiled. "You are quite the humanitarian." She teased. Duo looked at her shocked.
"Babe! Why do you have to be so mean? I thought you…" He was interrupted by a scream erupting from upstairs. Everyone stopped and looked at each other. Quatre was already half way up the stairs. After only a second, the couple jumped off the couch and rushed up the steps following Quatre who was already almost at the top.
!i!i!i!i!
Jack arrived at the Peacecraft manor. The taxi let him out a block away from the front gate. Jack knew better than to pull right up front. He remembered what the Duo man told him. And she was the Vice Foreign Minister. He was sure she would have guards that would prevent him from getting anywhere close to her.
He had to be sneaky.
A familiar sensation came over him as he climbed the gate. This felt surprisingly easy to him. He knew where all the cameras were placed. They make it pretty obvious. He crept around the yard, dodging between trees and bushes avoiding the guards that patrolled the area. This is too easy, he thought. I'm going to have to tell Relena to up her security. No one should be able to get through here.
He reached the back of the house and looked up. On the second story sat a balcony. Jack looked around him and, upon seeing no one, he began climbing the brick wall. Somehow he knew where to put his hands and feet so as not to fall. He never missed a spot and wondered to himself how it was this easy to climb the wall.
I have no idea what I'm doing and this seems really simple. Like I've done it before. It must just be the wall. I'll have to tell her to fix it.
He reached the top and climbed onto the balcony, crouching low and hiding in the shadows. Relena's light was on in her room but he didn't see anyone inside. He slowly crept to the double glass doors, making sure to walk lightly. He didn't want to alarm her if she was indeed inside and heard his footsteps.
He peered in to see that indeed there was no one inside the room. Jack took a deep breath and tried the handle on the door. It opened right up. What is she thinking leaving her doors unlocked!
He stepped in to the room and looked around. The room was painted light blue, completely opposite to the pink he was expecting. Directly across from him was the door leading to the hallway and the rest of her large house. To his right against the wall was a brown, wooden vanity table and mirror that held her makeup and jewelry. Directly next to that was her closet. To his left was her king size, four poster bed. Her blankets were light blue with brown and royal blue pillows. On the left wall was another door that led to her private bathroom. Inside her bathroom, he could hear the shower running.
He walked to her vanity. Multiple pictures in silver frames decorated the desk. One picture was of the braided man with his arm around a girl with short, violet hair waving at the camera. Another was of the Chinese man with his arms crossed and looking quite annoyed as a blonde woman beside him spoke to him. Another picture was of Relena, a blonde man, Duo, and the girl he had his arm around in the other picture. They were all having a picnic under a tree. That blonde man… Jack remembered that man from the visions he had when Duo was over. There was another picture with the man with bangs over one eye. He was in a clown suit. The woman beside with red hair was posing in a leotard with a handful of knives.
Jack back away from the pictures slowly. He knew those men. He didn't know how but he knew them. How is this possible? His knees felt weak. Something caught his eye. He turned to see a stuffed bear perched on the bed. He walked the rest of the way to the bed and picked up the bear with a red bow. He felt his heart clench. What is going on here?!
He looked to his left to the bedside table. The bear dropped to the floor. Upon the table sat one more picture. In a silver frame was a picture of him. He wore a white tux and was looking over his shoulder at the person taking the picture. He picked up the famed photo to take a better look. He looked at the area around him in the picture, and then looked up around the room, then back to the picture. In this picture, he was in this room; in Relena's room.
What the hell is going on?!
He jumped as a scream across the room brought him out of his thoughts. Relena stood with her hand over her racing heart. She wore a pair of her black pajama bottoms and a blue tank top. Both looked too big for her. She stared at him in shock.
"Jack?" She took a step forward. "What are you doing here?" He answered her question with his own, holding up the picture for her to see.
"What is this?" He demanded. Relena paled and straightened. One arm moved to wrap around her waist while the other brought her thumb to her mouth to chew on her nail. "Relena, when was this picture taken?" Her mouth moved but no words came out. She looked extremely nervous and he was starting to get upset. "You know who I am, don't you?" He dropped the picture and took a step toward her. Relena dropped her arms to her side when he placed both hands gently on her shoulders. "Tell me, Relena." She shook her head.
"I can't," she said softly. The door burst open to his right but neither of them paid attention. A blonde man rushed in and stopped short at the sight in front of him.
"Why not? Who was I?" Jack said forcefully with a slight shake. "Was I a bad person?" At that moment, Duo ran in with his gun drawn, the girl from the picture close behind. He did the same as the blonde, stopping short as soon as he saw what was happening and dropped his aim. He frowned at the sight and moved forward.
"Hey, get your hands off-" but he was cut of short in both his demanding and his walking as the blonde shot out his arm in front of him.
"Wait," he breathed in anticipation. Duo looked to his empathic blonde friend before turning his gaze back to the couple.
"No, Jack. You don't understand. You-"
"Is that even my name? Jack?" He asked. Tears began welling in Relena's eyes and he was finding it hard to keep up this interrogation. But he had to know who he was. He just had to.
"Jack, I can't-"
"Just tell me, Relena."
"No. I won't-"
"Tell me, Relena."
"Stop-"
"Tell me!"
"You were a soldier!" She finally yelled out. Everyone in the room's breath caught. Jack released Relena's shoulders while Duo let out a very audible "holy shit". Relena took a moment to compose herself.
"A soldier? For who? Oz?" He remembered his coworker telling him about the Eve Wars. Could he have really worked for Oz? But Relena shook her head, finally ready to speak again.
"No. You fought on behalf of the colonies." She stated. "When Oz and the Alliance were fighting, certain citizens trained five very special pilots to lead a new assault. You were one of those five."
Jack took a step back. He looked over to the blonde and Duo. They looked back intently. His gaze dropped to the floor as visions crossed in front of his eyes. Those four boys again.
"You were trained from a very young age to fight. Dr. J sent you on a mission; Operation-"
"Meteor." He finished. Where did that come from?! An old man with a mechanical hand came into his view. Relena nodded in response but he didn't see it. Instead, he saw himself in a mobile suit. I know how to pilot a mobile suit?
"Yes. The five of you fought hard. You've been capture, self-detonated, killed many, and saved so many more." Jack took a few more steps back and grabbed his head. Images flew at him like darts and his head throbbed from the large amount on information attacking it. He remembered his training, flying to the Earth in his suit, standing on a ship with Relena while Duo pointed a gun at him, self-detonating his suit with him inside, sitting in a cell with the Chinese man while Duo was thrown in, being controlled by the Zero system, pointing a gun at Relena…
"All of you fought to save the colonies but you…..you saved all of us."
"Libra…" He breathed before crashing to his knees. The pain in his head was growing and he felt like it was going to explode. Relena didn't stop. She couldn't. It was too late to stop now.
"You destroyed Libra, preventing it from dropping on the Earth. A year later, you broke through Dekim Barton's defenses after you, Duo, and Trowa stopped a colony from crashing into Earth.
"You were my bodyguard….and the love of my life. Gundam pilot 01 of Wing Gundam. The Perfect Soldier. Code named…" she took a deep breath "…Heero Yuy."
As she said his name, he felt like his head had been hit with a hammer. Everything came back all at once. He heard himself yell out in pain. Visions…memories…flew at him so fast he couldn't grasp at any particular one. His mind was going into overload and he didn't know how much more he was going to be able to take.
Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, the pain stopped. His hands moved from his head to the floor to help hold him up. His breathing was ragged and sweat dripped off his face onto the beige carpet below him. He was in all fours, trying to calm his raging senses. The room was deadly silent apart from his hard breathing.
Relena looked at their audience for some sort of suggestion. They looked just as lost as she. She turned back to the man on the floor.
"Jack?" She whispered. He didn't answer. He didn't move. He just stared at the floor. She took a soft step forward.
"Relena," Duo warned, taking a step toward her. But she held her hand up to stop him. He obeyed but kept his eyes on the man on the floor and the gun clutched in his hand. There was no telling what had just happened to him and how he would react. Duo wouldn't…couldn't kill him. But he could damn sure take out a knee cap if he had too. He was pretty sure the man would forgive him later given his reasons….pretty sure…
"Jack?" Relena asked a bit louder. Still, he didn't acknowledge her. She was nervous and scared at the same time. Carefully, she approached him all the way and crouched to his level. She took a deep breath before asking in a very soft voice, "Heero?"
His head snapped up to look straight at her. His eyes looked cold and hard for just an instant before softening up.
"Lena…" he breathed. Her eyes went wide in surprise and tears shot to her eyes. She flung herself into his arms that caught her in a tight embrace. Duo let out another, "holy shit!"
"Oh, Heero!" She cried into his shoulder. "I've missed you so much." He buried his head in the crook of her neck and ran his hands through her hair. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry."
Heero said nothing. He couldn't speak. His emotions were overwhelming him and he tried hard not to cry himself. He failed as he felt one tear slide down his cheek. He looked up to the people watching. Quatre's eyes were full of tears, Hilde was already crying silently, her hands clamped over her mouth, and Duo just looked on in shock.
He turned his attention back to the woman in his arms. Grabbing her shoulders lightly, he pulled her away enough to look at her face. Tears streaked down her cheeks, she smiled back at him and sniffed. He smiled back and wiped the tears still falling. Carefully, he removed the necklace around his neck and held it out for her to see. She giggled a bit as he brought it over her head to rest around her neck. The blonde looked down at the dove and played with it with her fingers before looked back to him.
His hands went to clasp her cheeks and he pulled her into a kiss. She smiled against his lips and snaked her arms around his neck. His hands moved to wrap around her waist and hold her right against him as his tongue ran the length of her bottom lips. She gladly opened her mouth, inviting in his wandering tongue. All the tension, the stress, the hurt from the last year all dissipated as tongues battled.
When finally neither had any air left in their lungs, Heero pulled away. They stared at each other, memorizing every feature about the other. Heero took her hands and stood, bringing her with him. Now that they were standing, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for another hug. She giggled and played with his hair. He pulled away and turned to the others in the room. Quatre walked over and gave him a hug.
"It's good to have you back, Heero." Heero tensed for a moment before carefully giving his blonde friend a small hug back. As soon as Quatre pulled away, a small, short haired girl rushed to him, throwing her arms around his neck, lifting her feet so Heero had to hold her.
"Oh, Heero. You have no idea how much we all missed you." Said Hilde. He put her down and she took a step away from him, still smiling. Suddenly someone grabbed her shoulder and pushed her out of the way.
"My turn!" Duo cried as he charged Heero with open arms. Heero curled his hand into a tight fist and as soon as the braided pilot got close, he socked him in the stomach. Everyone in the room gasped as Duo clutched his stomach and fell to his knees.
"Heero!" Relena admonished. Heero looked down at the man in pain.
"If you ever touch her again, I will kill you." He glared. Hilde tried to stifle a giggle.
"Man….that was harsh…." Duo coughed. Heero huffed and held his hand out to Duo's level. The former Deathscythe pilot looked at it for a moment before accepting the offer. Heero pulled him back up to a standing position and straight into a tight hug. Duo's eyes widened, as did everyone else's, before he wrapped his arms back around his best friend.
"Thank you….brother," Heero breathed in Duo's ear. Duo broke into a huge grin and hugged the man tighter.
"Anytime, man." He answered happily. Heero pulled away and turned to Relena, who came to him. He wrapped his arm around her waist and looked to everyone. "So…." Duo grinned. "How 'bout that drink?"
AHHHH! I was so excited to write this chapter. This is the one chapter that created this whole story. Yay! Epilog and that's it! I hope you guys liked it!
