Wednesday and Thursday pass in a blur. She's tired and irritable, not sleeping well. Her dreams have a constant echo of gunshots reverberating in them. She jumps at the sounds of lockers slamming shut and lives off whatever caffeine she can get her hands on. After school she spends time in the pool, with Heero firing the starting pistol and Trowa watching silent from the sidelines, before letting Henri drive her home. Lady Une gives her worried looks, tells her to turn off her light and go to bed.

Thursday morning Henri gives her an amused look before sending her back into the house to change out of her pajama bottoms and into her uniform skirt. Mariemaia flushes brightly at her mistake and buries her nose in one of her textbooks for the ride to school. Henri's a decent fellow and doesn't point out that the textbook is upside down.

Her clothes go missing after practice Friday morning. She stands there, blinking at her open locker door, the combination lock hanging ajar from the handle, mocking her. She shivers, pulling her towel closer around her and roots through her bag. No gym clothes. No uniform. The only thing she still has is her wet swimsuit and messenger bag.

"Shit," she grumbles.

One of the older girls, Kenzie, pauses on her way out. "Everything okay, Khushrenada?"

"Fine," she snaps.

Kenzie hesitates until her friends join her, laughing, and pulling her off to breakfast or class. Mariemaia looks around, trying to spot Minerva or Larissa in the thinning crowd. Neither girl is there and Mariemaia grabs her bag, slams her locker shut. The clanging metal reverberates through the empty locker room. She sits on the bench, draws her knees up and searches through her bag for her phone.

"Shit," she repeats vehemently. She scrolls through her short list of contacts, not sure who to contact. Lady Une would raise hell, she knows. She scrolls farther. Dorothy…Dorothy might be helpful, or she might make things worse. Henri could at least bring the car, she decides. But, Henri might tell Lady Une. She hesitates before scrolling again and hitting call.

She sits, shivering and fuming, for another fifteen minutes until her phone rings back. She grabs her messenger bag, wraps her towel more securely around herself, and pads barefoot out of the pool and to the side of the school grounds. Heero Yuy is waiting there. He reaches over, unlocking the passenger door, and she climbs in gratefully. He tosses her a jacket that she pulls on over her wet swimsuit. It smells faintly of something earthy that she can't quite place, grass or hay or something.

"What happened?" he asks, hitting the gas and avoiding the morning drop-off crowd. She isn't sure how he avoids being ticketed.

"Nothing," she mumbles. "Can you just take me home?"

"You called the emergency line," he points out. He drums his fingers against the steering wheel, frowning at the rain-damp streets, the fine mist collecting on the windshield as they wait at a traffic light.

"It was an emergency. I needed a ride."

"What about Une's driver?"

"Henri would be obligated to tell Lady Une I left school early." She narrows her eyes at him. "You don't work for her officially, so I don't think you'd have that problem."

Heero is quiet as he heads back to Lady Une's house. She fiddles with the sleeves of the sweatshirt and stares out the window at the rainy day. They pull up at the front of the house and Heero flashes a badge to the guard before following the drive to the front of the house. Mariemaia digs her key from her backpack, pauses when she hears the engine turn off.

"What are you-"

"We aren't done yet," he replies. He gets out of the car, slamming the door behind him. She sighs, climbs out and walks up to the house, unlocking the door. He follows her in, looks around curiously at the entryway. "Go change."

She frowns but follows orders. When she comes back downstairs he's migrated to the living room and is examining the photos on the fireplace mantle. "What do you want?" she questions.

"What happened this morning?" He turns to face her, eyes intent and she sits on the sofa, ignoring him. "Mariemaia." She looks away, studies the faded Persian rug under the coffee table. "You know that line is for security breaches. You're lucky Wufei wasn't in the office to answer it."

"It was stupid," she replies. "Just a prank from some girls on the swim team." She can feel him studying her and her shoulders tighten. "I got out of the shower after practice and my clothes were gone. I must've forgotten to lock my locker properly."

"Why didn't you report it? Or call Une?"

"Lady Une would overreact," she replies. She looks up, meeting his eyes. "It's nothing I can't handle. They'll get bored, like everyone else does."

"It's been five years," he comments.

"Yeah, well, we're studying the Eve Wars and Barton Rebellion in class now. Not everyone was lucky enough to remain anonymous in the textbooks. They're jumping at the chance to interact with a real live piece of history," she snaps. "Did you really blow yourself up?"

"Yes," he replies. He crosses the room, drops onto the other end of the sofa and studies the scuffs on his yellow sneakers. "Is that why you've been…unfocused this week?"

She shrugs and tucks her legs under her. "I keep dreaming about it, that night," she admits. "What would have happened if I hadn't stepped in front of Miss Relena?" she wonders. She rubs at the scar from the bullet wound on her chest. His eyes track the movement and she drops her hand to her lap quickly. "Would Dekim have died? Would we have succeeded?"

He shakes his head slowly, fingers tapping against his leg. "No," he says. "If Relena had been shot you both would have died."

"Your gun jammed," she points out. "That's why I'm still here."

He nods and looks at her. "Do you wish it hadn't?"

"Sometimes," she admits, voice soft. "Sometimes I wish I hadn't stepped in front of Miss Relena."

"If Relena had died there you would have been tried for war crimes, if you weren't executed outright." She ducks her head but Heero keeps staring at her. She experiences déjà vu, remembering Trowa sitting in the yoga room, telling her nearly the same thing. "You know she's the one who swayed the public to overlook your involvement." She knows, she remembers watching the press conferences and speeches from her hospital bed.

"By forcing them to underestimate and pity me. Instead I'm classified as high-risk and kept by Lady Une as a pet."

"Lady Une willingly took charge of you," he replies after a beat. She looks up and he looks conflicted, frustrated. "If this were truly a prison, you would not have so many liberties."

"Why would Lady Une take in a broken orphan she didn't even know?" she snorts. Her eyes meet Heero's and she arches an eyebrow. "Do you know? The history books are surprisingly mute on the subject."

"That's a discussion between you and Une," he replies.

"You don't like her, do you?"

"I like her better now than during the war," he allows. She laughs and sees him smile briefly. "You should tell her what happened."

"She'll only try and fix it and make it worse. Or I'll have to switch schools again." She pauses. "Thank you, for coming to get me."

"You got me out of a meeting with Wufei." She can't help herself and laughs again. "We'll skip practice today," he adds, getting up.

"Wait, what?" She follows him back to the entryway, frowning. "I can still swim."

He shakes his head as he opens the door. "Get some rest, Mariemaia. We'll work on it tomorrow morning."