House Party
Java Sea, 40 miles from Jakarta
It was the rhythmic crash of the late night waves against the hull of the cruiser that brought him back from his transitory and short-lived slumber. He hadn't slept much in the past four days and had been in a foul mood because of it. He had never really liked the sea. Of all the various natural biomes that the Earth had and the colonies lacked, it was the sea that he thought the most pointless. Not to mention that the smell of the salt water never failed to remind him of his greatest humiliation at the hands of Treize Khushrenada.
Wufei had been on the UESS Advent for the better part of two weeks as the Preventers Special Liaison to the ESUN's South Pacific Peacekeeping Fleet. Officially, his mission was to monitor and survey piracy along key trade routes in the region. His real mission however, was to rendezvous with Sally Po in the area sometime within the next two weeks as she had sent a secret communiqué requesting extraction. The two of them had been working on observing the scattered elements of the Barton Foundation across the South Pacific where the organization still had resources and loyal soldiers. Wufei had mainly been working raids and led the Preventers' tactical strike teams in the region while Sally had gone into deep cover.
Wufei and his team were not particularly welcome aboard the ship despite the best efforts of the captain and senior officers to make them comfortable. Their status as Preventers allowed them the use of weapons otherwise forbidden under the terms of the armistice. They were perceived as being at once an arrogant organization due to their special commission granted to them by Parliament and at the same time a weak and ineffectual group that couldn't stop the Mariemaia rebellion. Wufei and his team endured endless backhanded insults and petty gossip from the crew of the Advent during their short stay.
None of that mattered much to Wufei in the end. He had never cared much for the opinions of those he considered lesser men. That's the reason why the death of Treize plagued him for so long, for despite his deep hatred for OZ and the oppression they perpetrated across the colonies, he deeply respected the martial prowess and philosophical character of Treize Khushrenada.
"Out here again?" Wufei recognized that friendly voice.
He turned slightly to greet Captain Wayland. The captain had brought him a small cup of coffee.
"We have the latest sensors on the bridge, courtesy of OZ," the captain said.
"Sometimes there's no substitute for your eyes," Wufei replied as he took a sip of his coffee.
"The pirates have probably been scared off by our presence. The survey group isn't necessarily subtle if you know what I mean."
"Maybe we'll get lucky tonight," Wufei said as he peered through his binoculars.
"Maybe we'll intercept a small Barton Foundation convoy, transporting a few Serpents," the captain said casually as he took a sip of his coffee.
"What do you know about the Barton Foundation?"
"Agent Chang, I've patrolled these seas for the past 15 years. I've lived through the Alliance, OZ, Romefeller, and the Nation. I have a family back in Bangkok. Two daughters and a hell of a wife, I know these waters" Captain Wayland said. "I see things. Strange men at port, large cargo being loaded and unloaded onto frigates. That kind of thing doesn't go unnoticed for long. And now you and your men show up. We're not stupid, Agent Chang. We know the Barton Foundation has an operation here."
"And you're just okay with that?" Wufei asked. "The would be invaders of Earth, taking refuge in your part of the world?"
"Regimes come and go," the captain said, suddenly sounding like a weary old sailor. "Brussels doesn't care about us. And we get along just fine. We have our own arrangement here. We have our own peace."
A few moments later, they felt a slight rumble travel across ship. They looked at each other in confusion before running back inside. Once they had reached the bridge, they could see that the executive officer was already investigating and trying to find the source of the disturbance.
"Report," Captain Wayland said authoritatively as he took to his seat.
"The source seems to have originated 19 miles, north north-west of our current position," his second in command said. "Changing course now."
Winner House, 12 miles from Vustgaarde
The Neo-Gothic revival architectural details, the ornate oak wood paneling, and the crystal chandeliers of the house contrasted perfectly with the neon blue and purple motif of the party decor. There was a sublime conglomeration of the old and the new, tradition and fashion, to the night's festivities. The luxurious yet stately foundation of the Winner House never seemed to clash or compete with the spirit of freedom and youth of the temporary decor. Portraits of past Winners sat beside video installations of black and white scantily clad women gyrating to the music being played by the DJ. Lasers refracted against the crystals of the lighting fixtures to create marvelous new patterns across the marble floors.
It was all very distracting. Neither of them had been in any situation quite like this. Heero had never once been to a party of his own volition, certainly none this extravagant. He was raised on the streets of L1 and spent his youth in abject poverty but more importantly, in a state of constant training and combat, preparing for his ultimate purpose. He had to learn early on, perhaps too early for a child, that life was fundamentally unfair and that he had drawn the short straw.
Relena was closer to this world. Had she not found Heero on that beach, had her father not been killed, had she not taken up the mantle as head of the Sanc Kingdom, had she not succumb to Duke Dermail's plans for her, had she not taken up the position of the Vice-Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, had she refused her destiny, she would've been right at home in this world of glamour, luxury, and hedonism. But those things did happen, and she was made different by them. And while she recognized this world, she understood deeply, and perhaps tragically, that this was no longer home.
"Thank you," she finally answered. "You clean up pretty nice yourself."
The slight nod was the only sign that he even heard what Relena had said.
"Alright, I guess I'll get this started, like always," Relena said as she took a sip of her mojito that Hero had ordered for her.
"What you said today in Parliament…" Heero said.
"Do you really want to talk politics right now?" Relena asked.
"You make things more dangerous for yourself when you make statements like that."
"My job is dangerous," Relena said. "There's no getting around that. My decisions, my contributions, my actions effect millions. I understand the consequences of what I say. Don't think for a second that anything I do is careless."
"I didn't say that," Heero said.
"Yes you did," Relena said defiantly.
"Alright, I'm sorry," Heero apologized. "I don't mean to pester you. It's just my job."
"The war is over, Heero. You don't have to protect me anymore."
That caught Hero a little off guard. He just assumed she knew that he had been recruited by Noin. He figured that Noin would've told her before she left.
"Anyway, we haven't spoken much for while. I feel like you've been avoiding me," Relena said.
"I haven't."
"Heero, Heero, Heero, must you always be so secretive?" Relena said as she leaned forward slightly.
He could see the redness upon her cheeks covered by a thin layer of foundation. If she wasn't exactly drunk, she was getting there.
"I've been…" Heero started but it felt so odd to talk about himself. It was hard enough to do so in group, but at least among other veterans, he was expected to share and they did the same. "I've been…"
"I'm not interrogating you, Heero," Relena said. "If you don't want to tell me about what going on in your life, that's fine. I just thought we were past this."
"Nothing in my life would interest you."
"How would you know what?" Relena asked staring deep into his eyes.
"Because, I'm not like you, Relena. I'm not like them either. My life isn't interesting. I eat, I go to school, I sleep. Nothing happens, nothing ever happens," Heero said.
"Do you keep in touch with the guys?" Relena asked.
"I'll hear from them once in awhile, but they have their own lives now."
"Everyone except you," Relena commented.
Heero looked away.
"You know…" Relena said, her voice deepening slightly. "We never really talked about us. There were always things… in the way."
Heero looked up. Their eyes met, hers filled with anxiety and wonder, his cold and filled with fear.
"You don't want me in your life, Relena," Heero said.
"Why wouldn't I?" Relena asked.
"Because this… this is your world, not mine."
"You're here now, aren't you? I'd say you've done pretty well for yourself," Relena commented with a hint of satisfaction in her voice. "I didn't ask you to come tonight, I didn't drag you here. You came here on your own, there must be something, some reason, that brought you here."
It struck Heero as odd that she couldn't put two and two together. He was her guardian, was that not obvious? Why else would he suddenly return after all this time? Heero suddenly felt a pang of shame and guilt. He realized that perhaps Noin may have been right, that Relena truly did want something more from him; something he couldn't provide. And yet, perhaps of the alcohol, perhaps of the dream-like nature of the party, perhaps in that moment he was reminded of how incredibly, unbelievably, beautiful she was. Dressed like a normal girl, the common and the ethereal merged into one, his girl had grown up. Whatever the reason, he didn't want to break the illusion.
"I'm sorry," Relena said with a wince. "I don't know why I said that. I didn't mean to say that you are…"
She stumbled over her words. Relena never did that. It must have been the alcohol.
"God, why is it that I can speak to a room full of dignitaries with ease but with you, I always say the dumbest things," Relena said.
Just as Heero was about to say something to ease her nerves, two girls rushed up to their table with their phones clutched tightly in their hands.
"Oh my god, Miss Relena!" one of them said. "It's really you. Oh my god, isn't she gorgeous?"
"Even prettier in real life. We've seen you around campus once or twice but we just wanted to come by and say, we're big fans!" the other interjected.
"Yeah, we saw you on TV today! You were on fire! We love you so much! Can we get a picture with you?"
Relena looked over at Heero nervously. She didn't want to be rude and dismiss the girls without at least a few kind words in return for their praise. But at the same time, she had so little time with Heero and didn't want to give up this conversation just yet.
One of the girls noticed Relena and turned towards Heero. "Oh, we're so sorry. We didn't mean to interrupt."
"You're not interrupting," Heero said as he forced a smile. "I was just saying the same thing. She was magnificent today, wasn't she?"
"Totally!"
Little bits of debris and fuel could be seen on the gentle currents of the midnight sea just five miles out. When they had finally reached the source of the disturbance, the bridge crew, including Wufei, was shocked at the sight of the destruction upon the water. A single lifeboat rocked back and forth amidst a seascape of mangled metal and billowing black smoke. From the bridge they could see only the silhouettes of five men and a single woman standing at in the center of the vessel, with the moonlight cresting upon her golden brown hair.
Wufei raced out of the bridge and onto the main deck. As the UESS Advent drifted closer to wreckage, he could see that the men on the ship had been detained, their hands and feet bound together and their mouths taped.
She looked up at him from from her little boat and flashed him a warm smile. "Took you long enough."
The crew of the Advent and the Preventers helped Sally and her captives up onto the ship. The prisoners were escorted to the brig by the crew while Sally, Wufei, Captain Wayland, and a couple of the higher ranking Preventers convened in the captain's sea cabin for the debriefing.
Sally took a seat while the rest of them anxiously stood around her and listened to her account of the last few days. She had managed to obtain the ship manifest through her contact in the Port of Belawan and reasoned that the cargo must have been another black market Serpent. With this information, she managed to stow away on the ship and was later able to confirm the cargo. With the contents of the ship confirmed, she tried to commandeer the ship but ended up in a firefight with the crew. Pinned down and without backup, she took drastic action and rigged explosives across the key structural points of the ship. When the ship began to capsize, Sally took advantage of the chaos and managed to take five of the sixteen crew members prisoner and obtain a lifeboat before the ship sank completely.
When she finished her debriefing, the Preventers and the captain fell silent. Many of them wondered how a single woman was capable of such a thing. But Wufei was mainly irritated by her rash decision making.
"You were foolish," he said in a sharp tone, all too familiar to Sally.
"I was pinned down and outgunned, I had to make a decision," Sally retorted.
"You shouldn't have gotten on that ship in the first place!"
"I knew they were transporting a Serpent, I was sure of it!"
"Even if you were, when you confirmed that information, you should've stayed hidden until they made contact with their buyer," Wufei said.
"And let the deal go through?" Sally asked in disgust. "What do you think that badge means? I prevent things like this, I don't facilitate them."
"We could have had the buyer too, now when they don't show up, they'll know something went wrong. Did you at least get the ship's navigational logs?"
"I was a little preoccupied."
"And now we don't have anything!" Wufei shouted as he slammed his fists onto the table.
"We have the prisoners!" Sally unleashed back at Wufei. "It took a lot of effort for me to not just kill them!"
She suddenly stood up and got in his face. Sally was used to Wufei's tantrums. There was a certain fire in him that couldn't be quenched, even after he had made his peace with Treize. She used to just tolerate his belligerence but overtime, perhaps from working too closely with him, some of that fire had rubbed off on her.
"And what do you suggest we do with them?" Wufei asked. "Torture them?"
"Why not? We're in the middle of nowhere," Sally said. "No bureaucrats to tell us otherwise."
"When did we switch places?" Wufei asked.
"When did you get so weak?"
The first couple of girls unleashed a torrent of admirers that crowded around Relena soon after. All of them wanting to either take a selfie with her, tell her how much they loved her, buy her a shot, or all three. Relena tried to remain as composed as she could given the circumstances. She wasn't used to crowds of adoring fans. Crowds of reporters and protestors yes, but not unabashed admirers.
She found out quite a few things about herself during the brief exchange of words with her legions, learning that in addition to inspiring young people her age to take an active interest in politics and current events, she was also a fashion icon, and that she looked stunning tonight. Some of them remarked on how courageous she had been when she was being held hostage by Mariemaia and Dekim. It was flattering. She had never quite considered herself brave. Her life was spent around men and women who routinely risked their lives against the most impossible odds, so her political actions, while important she would readily acknowledge, had never felt brave to her.
Heero watched from the back of the room, from where he had always watched her. A comfortable distance, in the early days for him to observe her actions and assess how they would effect Operation Meteor, now simply for him to observe her elegance and grace with enough remove as to not be consumed by an uncontrollable desire. For that's what he was starting to realize, that perhaps Noin and Duo and the rest of them were right all along; he wanted her.
But he can't want her. Because he knew he couldn't have her.
"She is stunning, isn't she?" A familiar voice came upon him from behind. "Wherever she goes, whatever she's doing, she's simply flawless."
Hero turned slightly and saw Tanya, or Tatyana as she referred to herself in group. She wore a navy blue dress with matching heels. She wore her hair down as she always did. She offered him a sympathetic smile, understanding how out of place he felt at this party.
"You look very nice," Heero said. "Very feminine."
"Oh, I don't usually?" Tatyana asked.
"You don't look like a soldier, I mean."
"Yeah well, that was years ago," Tatyana said as she turned to look at Relena. "It's not an identity. It's a profession."
"I wonder if you really believe that," Heero said.
"I'm not saying it's not difficult, and I'm not even saying that it isn't weird for me to put on a pretty dress and go to a party, get drunk, and dance with my girlfriends all night," Tatyana said. "But just because it's unusual, unfamiliar, doesn't make it bad."
"Where I come from, it is. Nothing should ever be unexpected, unanticipated," Heero said. "It means something went wrong during your planning phase, you're probably about to die."
"Do you really want to live your life like that Heero?" Tatyana asked. "Mission to mission, accounting for every second of everyday. Always on a clock. No freedom, no spontaneity, no room for surprise. No room for love…"
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
"No room for her?" Tatyana finally asked as she tilted her slightly in Relena's direction.
It was dark in his cabin. But at least his had a porthole, which was more than any of the other Preventers could say about their living quarters. The hum of the engine kept her awake. Sally had always been a light sleeper. But after a harrowing night of cat and mouse with the crew of the sunken vessel, interspersed with the occasional eruption of gunfire, and just narrowly escape the incident with her life, she didn't feel much like sleeping anyway.
She sat up and stretched her back and arms. She tried to undo some of the knots in her hair by combing her fingers through them. Wufei had been rough, but it was natural, so had she. The pulling of hair was par for the course. As was as a little redness on the skin. After all, they hadn't seen each other in several months.
She found his shirt and threw it on over her naked torso. She slid into her panties. The moonlight that poured in through the little circular window allowed her to sneak out of bed without waking him and shift over to his desk where he had his laptop. Turning it on, she lowered the brightness and attached the earbuds.
Half way across the world, Katerina had just finished putting Mariemaia to sleep. She had read to her daughter another chapter of the Aesopica. Closing the door behind her, she tiptoed out towards her bedroom where she had all of her accoutrement for her weekly bubble bath. It had been a long week and she suspected, the week ahead would be even longer. She stripped out of her dress and threw on her red satin robe and let down her hair. She was just about to head downstairs to fetch a bottle of wine before she received a notification on her phone.
Request for encrypted communication.
It was urgent. Only a few people had access to that channel. She took her laptop out of her bag, jumped into her slippers, and made her way downstairs into the kitchen. If she had to take a late night meeting, she was going to pour herself a glass of Merlot first.
Katerina set up her laptop on the counter and booted it up. She opened her secured channel on her laptop and waited for anyone someone with her access key to connect. In the meantime, she uncorked a new bottle of AC 188 Castello di Ama and poured herself a glass.
"This is Water, reporting in," Sally said softly.
"Jesus Christ, Sally. Do you know what time it is?" Katerina asked. "And what time is it over there?"
"Thought you'd be more happy to see that I was… you know... alive."
"Looks like you're more than just alive," Katerina said as she took a sip of her wine.
A hint of redness appeared on Sally's cheeks. She grabbed the shirt and clutched it together, hiding her cleavage. "It's been a while."
"Still you didn't call over the secured line to gloat," Katerina said. "What do you got?"
"Prisoners, Barton Foundation," Sally said.
"You're sure about that?" Katerina asked, suddenly intrigued.
"They were transporting a Serpent. Managed to scuttle the ship and the mobile suit though."
"That's a little louder than I would've preferred."
"Don't start, Wufei already gave me the lecture," Sally said.
"Hmmmm… I'm starting to think these aren't isolated incidents anymore," Katerina said.
"I agree. I think someone somewhere is trying to start something."
"I thought we were being vigilant."
"The rules of the game have changed," Sally said. "They're being more careful now."
"Did you manage to get their navigational logs?"
Sally shook her head.
"Damn," Katerina said with a concerned look. "Then we're right back where we started."
"I mean, I do have five men sitting in the brig."
"Do you think they'll talk?"
"You know, with a little convincing," Sally said in an innocent voice.
Katerina was taken aback. "Was this Wufei's idea?"
"Actually, he advised against it."
"I think I actually have to agree with him in this instance."
"Relax, I'm not actually thinking of torturing them. I just suggested that to Wufei to get him riled up," Sally said with a hint of smile.
It took Katerina second. "Because it's been a while."
"Exactly."
"Then what do you suggest?" Katerina asked.
"One of them is young, can't be older than 15 or so. I feel like I can turn him," Sally answered.
"The boys were 15 when they started Operation Meteor. Look how much damage they wrought."
"Yeah but they are sorry for it. And besides, they turned out alright in the end."
As the party raged on deep into the night, the thin veneer of sophistication among the university age attendees slowly but surely began to corrode into the casual debauchery typical of teenagers. The music got louder, the dance floor more crowded, the ties, shirts, and dresses began to loosen, and in some cases came off completely.
Heero and Tatyana sat the edge of the grand staircase that led up into the bedrooms on the second and third floors. Couples and groups raced up and down those steps, hoping to claim one of the mansion's various rooms for themselves before they were all occupied. The frenzy and the change of atmosphere had not gone unnoticed by either Heero or Tatyana but they were in no mood to participate. Heero still had a job to do and Tatyana was content to keep him company.
They watched from a distance as the crowd of fans and friends had dragged Relena out onto the dancefloor. She seemed to be having fun.
"Even I didn't join the Alliance military," Tatyana said languorously. "I don't know if I'd fit in here anyway."
"It's not the war that separates us from these people. It's money. My parents died when I was young," Heero remarked. "Even before then, my childhood was far from steady. It seems like a great accident of history that I'm here at all."
"Heero Yuy," Tatyana said as she turned to look at him. "A great accident of history. Yeah, I can see it."
Just then, Matilda emerged from the crowd on the dance floor and marched over and stood in front of both of them.
"I hope you two are enjoying yourselves," Matilda said politely.
"You sure know how to throw a hell of a party babe," Tatyana said as she held out her drink.
"And you Heero?" Matilda turned to Heero.
Heero simply nodded.
"Can I speak to you alone for a moment?" Matilda asked, turning back to Tatyana.
Tatyana rolled her eyes, pushed herself to her feet and said, "sure."
Matilda grabbed Tatyana by the wrist and led her away from Heero and the dance floor into a little remote alcove of the house where the music was quiet enough so that they could actually have a real conversation without shouting at one another. Matilda turned to her friend, folded her arms across her chest, and gave her a stern look.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Matilda asked.
"What do you mean?" Tatyana replied with genuine confusion.
"What are you doing talking to Heero?"
"What? Wait, what? I can't talk to him now?" Tatyana all of the sudden became very defensive. "What are we, in high school?"
"You know Relena and Heero have a thing."
"Yes… a thing, oh I wouldn't want to get in the middle of that thing," Tatyana said sarcastically. "All the awkward glances and half conversations."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Matilda said. "They have history. I can't talk about it, okay? But it's like… serious."
"You mean that's he's a Gundam pilot? That he's the one that shot down Libra and the broke the defenses of the Presidential Palace?" Tatyana asked. "Yeah, I know that."
Matilda, surprised, took a step back. "How do you know that?"
"How do you know that?" Tatyana asked, suddenly sounding equally suspicious as her friend.
Their standoff was interrupted by the sounds of scuffle. The music died soon after. They rushed out of the alcove to see what had happened. They found Heero in the middle of the dance floor controlling a man by the wrist and pinning him down on the floor with his knee. A few feet away, Relena was on the ground, looking at the two entangled men in shock. A crowd quickly gathered around them. Matilda and Tatyana quickly rushed over to the dance floor.
"Get the fuck off of me!" The pinned man managed to say with his lips pinned against the marble floor.
"You touched her," Heero said calmly. "Touch her like that again and I will break your fingers off."
"Who the fuck are you?" The pinned spat. "Her bodyguard?"
Relena just looked at Heero, completely stunned. It all had happened so fast. For the first few hours, Heero seemed like he couldn't be bothered and perhaps even hated the very idea of being the same room as her. But then, when she was on the dance floor, the moment another guy got close to her and put his hands on her ass, admittedly an act that she didn't appreciate, he rushed over and dropped the poor guy like a sack of potatoes.
"Yeah, who the fuck are you?!" Someone echoed the sentiment from the crowd.
The crowd began to get angry. That same question began to be repeatedly shouted at him. He looked around at the crowd, his tactical senses took over. There were at least a couple hundred of them. But they were just a bunch of kids. He could easily tear right through them. And he would only have to take down a couple more before the rest of them fled. He may have only been one man but this wasn't a fair fight. He caught himself in the middle of his thoughts, what was he doing? He was going to fight a bunch of university students? Really? Where the hell did he think he was? This wasn't a battlefield.
"Heero, let him go!" Tatyana shouted.
Heero looked over at her. She nodded to him, as if to say, this is the right move, trust me. Heero released the pressure slowly, got up and backed away. A couple of people helped the man back to his feet. A silence fell upon them. Heero looked at the crowd in front of him, each and everyone of them glowing with fear. Relena looked at him; his expression was one of utter confusion.
He ran.
"Heero wait!" Relena said, as soon as she registered that he had run off.
She pushed herself up. She looked over at Tatyana. Tatyana looked back at her with concern in her eyes. Relena chased after him. There was no way she was as fast as him but she wasn't going to just let him get away that easily. She listened for his footsteps, the rhythmic tapping of his shoes against the marble floor. She stopped for a second to take off her heels before she began her pursuit again. She made her way through the dark empty corridors of the back of the house, with only his fading footsteps to guide her. Finally, she made it to the back of the house, where there was a pool, a tennis court, a garden, and parking lot.
She braved the rough gravel against her bare feet and made her way past the cars, stopping occasionally to see if he was inside any of them. She found him by a motorcycle. He had just mounted it.
"Stop!" She shouted with authority.
He turned his head to look back at her.
"Stop running," she commanded.
"Do you still want me in your life?" Heero asked. "After what you just saw?"
"What happened in there?" Relena asked.
"I'm a killer Relena," Heero said. "I always have been."
"I don't believe that," Relena said dismissively. "I don't understand Heero. You come back after two years. After all this time, when there's nothing left to come between us... I thought we were starting over."
"There's no starting over for me Relena," Heero said. "I am who I am. I was trained to be a killer, I will never be anything more."
"That's not true Heero…"
She could almost see a smile on his face. A smile of resignation.
"Goodbye Relena," Heero said.
"Fine!" Relena shouted. "Go ahead! Run! Like you always do! Leave me here! To cry! Like I always do!"
His eyes widened. Had he done that to her? Perhaps, he always knew that he had that effect on her. Perhaps, that's why he had stayed away all of these years. Perhaps, that's what he feared the most.
"It's not fair…" Relena said as her voice trembled. "It's not fair that only you have this effect on me. It's not fair that I'm the only one who cries."
"Relena…" Heero said.
"No Heero," Relena said defiantly as tears began to stream down her cheeks. "You don't get to ignore this any longer. You don't get to pretend like you're not hurting me, not anymore. Every time you run… Every time you turn your back on me… It's almost as if you… enjoy it."
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Heero said.
"Then please, Heero," Relena whimpered. "Tell me the truth."
Heero got off his motorcycle and turned to face Relena. Slowly he approached her. He stood mere inches away from her. He could see her chest heave up and down, the quiver of her skin, the trembling of her lips. He wiped away her tear, as he had done the first time.
"I'm not good enough for you Relena," Heero replied. "My hands are stained with the blood of too many, you deserve someone better, someone pure."
"I don't care about that…"
"You should… and in time, you will…" Heero said. "We were an accident... an accident of history. A victim of circumstance and war. Your people are in there. Mine… they are either in prison or in the grave."
"That's bullshit…" Relena said, her voice shaking. "Just tell me you don't love me… and you can leave forever."
"It's because I love you, that I have to leave…"
Heero placed his finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to his. Their eyes locked and in that moment, she could see the truth in his eyes. She had only seen those eyes once before, when he had left her on Libra before going out to do battle with her brother. She thought she would never see those eyes again. Their lips met, his kiss was soft and tender, burning with desire and regret.
He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes again. One last time. "Goodbye, Relena."
He jumped back onto his motorcycle, started up, and rode towards the gate, leaving Relena to just stand there and stare, enjoying the bliss of the moment, knowing full well that there would be an unbearable crash soon after.
It was only after he had picked up some speed and could feel the cold autumn air against his face did he realized that he too had shed a few tears during their moment of tenderness. He wasn't used to it. But it wasn't unpleasant. So rarely did he get to feel that release of emotions. It felt cleansing, it made him feel light. He supposed that he would have to resign from his position now. Perhaps, Une would reassign him somewhere far away. The Director was never keen on the idea of wasting his substantial talents on just watching Relena anyway.
As he approached the gate, he noticed a slight rumbling. It was the approach of footsteps, a lot of them. He looked to his left and was nearly blinded. The paparazzi was still out there waiting for a glimpse of Relena. He swerved and tried to bring his motorcycle to a stop. Too late, he had triggered the motion sensor. The gate opened.
"Shit!" Heero muttered.
Whatever his thoughts were about resigning, he still had a job to do tonight. He turned his bike around and rode back towards the parking lot.
Relena had just about finished with her moment, she could feel the pain and loneliness slowly starting to replace the residual sensation of the kiss. She turned around and began to head back into the house. She needed to find a bathroom to wash off the mascara that was no doubt running down her cheeks.
Then she heard the sound of a motorcycle approaching, which confused her. Was her mind playing tricks on her? It took a second for her eyes to focus after crying so intensely, but headlights of the motorcycle were blinding. This was real. She shielded her eyes as the vehicle approached. It came to a stop right next to her, kicking up some gravel against her shins.
He held out his hand.
She was confused.
"Get on," he said.
Didn't he just say he was leaving for good? Was this some kind of game? Did he even say I love you? Had she gone crazy? It didn't matter. If this was insanity then so be it. It's all she had ever wanted, ever since that day on the beach when he stole that ambulance, was for him to come back for her. She took his hand, hiked her skirt up a little and jumped onto the back of his motorcycle. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and pressed her head against his back, and closed her eyes.