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Italics=thought
Chapter 9
At the same time that Heero was helping the Minerva leave Orb, Relena was waking up from a restless sleep. She had spent most of the night crying and every time she would fall asleep her dreams were plagued with the memory of Heero leaving her. As she opened her eyes she saw the she was indeed alone as the spot normally occupied by Heero was empty. Relena felt a fresh wave of tears come on. Her heart ached. It had only been a few days since they arrived in their new world but she had already grown accustomed to falling asleep and waking up with Heero.
After allowing herself a few minutes for one more cry, Relena got up and got ready to face the day alone. As she was getting dressed, Relena looked to Heero's jacket, deciding whether to keep wearing it. Relena picked it up and held it to her face. She could smell Heero's scent and it gave her a surge of strength as she knew Heero would want her to be strong. Relena looked in the mirror and adopted her political face to help keep her emotions in check. Happy as she could be she left her room to greet the day.
"Morning," said Relena as she entered the kitchen.
The look on the faces of those present told her that Kira or Lacus had told them what had happened.
"Are you alright dear?" asked Haruma with motherly concern.
Relena fought back tears as she answered. "Yes, I'll be fine. I just need to get on with the day and distract myself. I know that Heero will be back when he feels the time is right."
"That'll be easy," replied Lacus with a cheery smile. "The children will keep you busy, won't you children."
"Yeah, you can play with us all day," said one child happily as the rest all smiled and spoke at once.
The scene caused Relena to smile and laugh as the innocence of children's happiness can lighten any mood. She then looked out the window as an image of unruly hair and deep blue eyes appeared.
"Stay safe Heero," prayed Relena silently as she joined her hosts for breakfast.
Meanwhile, on board the Minerva, the ship's crew were at a heightened state of alert after the betrayal of Orb and ambush from the Earth forces. Luna was deciding whether she should confront Heero about what he did to Shinn. She made up her mind and headed for the hanger where she knew he would be. As she reached Wing Zero, she took the scissor lift up to the cockpit and saw Heero looking at a screen.
Heero was absentmindedly flicking through news reports when a certain magenta haired girl broke his thoughts.
"Heero, I need to talk to you," demanded Luna.
"What about?" asked Heero without taking his eyes off of the screen.
"I wanted to know why you did that to Shinn."
Heero then gave Luna a quick look before returning to his research.
"Because he needs a reason to fight until he falls."
"What do you mean?"
"Duo Maxwell once said we fight to survive or for revenge, then when we fall we fight to protect the one we love. I made Shinn hate me so he'll fight to prove me wrong until he falls."
"Have you ever fallen, Heero?"
Heero gave Luna a steady look without saying anything, trying not to let any emotions show. Realising that she wasn't going to get an answer she tried a different question.
"Where's Relena? The way you two were joined at the hip I figured she would be with you, did you two break up?"
She had meant it as a joke but Luna swore she saw a flicker of something in Heero's eyes, something that looked like sadness and regret. Heero again didn't say anything; instead he looked back at the screen again. Frustrated that she wasn't getting anymore from Heero, Luna left Heero to his brooding. He took out the picture of Relena and looked at it.
"Yes, I have fallen."
That night, back at Orb, an event was about to occur that would drag the unwilling back onto the battlefield. Relena spent the day helping Lacus with the children. She found it was quite easy to keep her mind off of her heartache as the children were full of energy. It wasn't until night time when she was about to retire that Relena felt the emotion she had been suppressing all day start to come back. She asked Lacus if she could sleep with her and the children, Lacus understandingly agreed. Relena found it was a lot easier to fall asleep with the children snuggled up to her.
Down on the beach, a group of men dressed in black scuba gear, came ashore and pulled out machine guns and night vision goggles.
"Remember, we don't leave until she is dead, and don't leave any traces," said one of the men.
"Yes Sir," replied the other members of the squad.
As the men approached the house, Lacus" Haro sensed the men and started to activate its alarm.
"I don't like this, I don't like this," said the Haro as it bounced around.
Murrue and Waltfeld awoke from the noise and grabbed their clothes and guns as they exited their rooms.
"I wonder who our friends are?" said Waltfeld when he saw Murrue. "You grab Lacus and the kids, I'll get the others."
"Right," replied Murrue as she took off.
Kira had heard the noises coming from the house and walked out of his room just as Waltfeld arrived.
"What's going on?" asked Kira sleepily.
"We've got company, get dressed and go protect Lacus and the others."
Meanwhile, Murrue had arrived at the room where Lacus was sleeping with the orphans.
"Miss Lacus, Relena," said Murrue as she woke up both princesses.
"What is it?" asked Lacus sleepily.
"Are we under attack?" asked Relena suddenly alert as this kind of situation wasn't new to her.
"Alright everyone up," said Murrue so that all of the children woke up.
Lacus and Relena gathered the children while Murrue stood guard. The door on the other side of the room opened and Kira stood there with his mother and Reverend Malchio.
"Let's head to the shelter," said Murrue.
Suddenly they heard the sound of a window breaking and gun shots. Waltfeld had thrown one of the men through the window and the others opened fire on him. As Kira, Lacus, Relena and the others were heading towards the shelter; a man appeared at one of the windows and started shooting. Murrue returned fire and told the group to keep moving.
Meanwhile, Waltfeld was pinned down in a fire fight or his own. He flipped over a table and decided to retreat. As he entered the next room, one of the men attacked from behind and shoved a knife into Waltfeld's left arm. As the two men struggled, Waltfeld kicked the other backwards and the arm the knife was in came off. The man looked at the arm then looked back at Waltfeld only to see a gun where the arm was. Waltfeld shot the man and proceeded to pick his arm back up. As he was about to leave, the radio went off.
"They're in the west wing of the house. She's only protected by one woman with a gun."
Waltfeld then proceeded to that part of the house.
Murrue was firing at some men when Waltfeld rolled into the room.
"It's Mr Waltfeld," said Kira as he saw the Desert Tiger appear.
Murrue and Waltfeld dispatched the assailants easily and moved towards the shelter. As they were unlocking the door one of the men was only wounded and aimed his gun at Lacus. Just as he was about to fire, the Haro jumped into his face and Kira saw him.
"Lacus," yelled Kira as he dove to knock Lacus out of the way while Murrue and Waltfeld killed him.
"Into the shelter, now," said Waltfeld as he stood at the door while the group ran in.
As the doors finished closing, the group of men had arrived.
"Damn, we let them get in, no matter, bring up the Ashes, we'll bring the bunker down on top of them," said the Commander.
The men then ran back to the beach and jumped into their green mobile suits. Back in the shelter, Kira, Murrue and Waltfeld were discussing the attack.
"They were after her," said Waltfeld indicating Lacus. "I heard them mention it."
"But who would want to hurt Lacus?" asked Kira.
"I don't know but they weren't naturals that's for sure," replied Murrue.
"You're right, they were coordinator special forces," said Waltfeld.
Lacus had overheard the conversation; she looked at Relena who nodded to indicate she would stay with the children. Lacus walked up to the three talking.
"Kira, Ms Murrue, Mr Waltfeld, they were after me weren't they?" asked Lacus.
"Yes," said Kira as he put his arms around Lacus in a protective embrace.
Suddenly, explosions could be heard as the assassins were using their mobile suits to attack the house.
"Into fallout shelter," said Waltfeld as the group ran into the shelter capable of stopping a nuclear blast.
As they stood there listening to the explosions Waltfeld turned to Lacus.
"Lacus, do you have them?"
Lacus knew what he meant.
"No," she said as she looked at Kira.
"It's alright Lacus. I want to do it," said Kira as he held her.
"You don't have to,"
"Do you want us to all die?" asked Waltfeld getting impatient.
"No but I don't want Kira to fight either."
"But I want to protect you. So give me the keys."
"Keys for what?" asked Relena curiously at mention of Kira fighting. Their interaction reminding her of the moment she had had with Heero when he asked her for permission to go fight Zechs.
Lacus reluctantly gave in and the Haro opened its mouth to reveal two keys. Kira took them and he and Waltfeld unlocked the door to the hanger. There stood the Freedom in all its glory.
"Wow!" exclaimed Relena out loud. She had seen plenty of mobile suits and Gundams over the past year but the sight of the Freedom was impressive even to her.
Kira started to walk up to it as the doors closed behind him. Lacus just stood there watching with sadness in her eyes as she knew lives could be taken shortly. Relena could sense that Lacus was upset and placed her arms around the pink haired girl for support.
Kira powered up the Freedom and took off through the roof of the underground hanger. As the Ash pilots were firing at the house, they noticed and explosion to their left.
"What was that?" asked the commander.
He got his answer as the Freedom flew into the air and activated its Phase Shift and spread its wings.
"It's the Freedom," said one of the pilots in fear. "But how?"
Kira then went into his SEED mode as he flew at the attacking force, disabling some of the Ashes with the beam sabre.
"Open fire," ordered the commander.
The Ashes started firing at Kira but he easily dodged the attack and activated full burst mode and disabled another five suits. The command unit stood surrounded by his useless team. Kira landed the Freedom behind the final suit and shot off the arms, legs and head. The commander activated the self-destruct and all of the suits blew up. The group emerged from the shelter after the fighting had stopped and saw the destroyed mobile suits as the sun started to rise, illuminating the Freedom.
It was well into mid-morning as Kira and the others were walking amongst the ruins of the house while discussing the attack and whether or not the Chairman had anything to do with it.
"Hopefully Athrun will have some answers when he gets back from the Plants," said Kira.
Just then a car arrived at the house and a lady hopped out.
"Oh dear," said the lady as she took in the sight of the house.
"Master Kira," she called as she started walking towards what used to be the door.
"It's Myrna," said Kira as he and the others walked outside. "What is it?"
"It's Lady Cagalli, Master Kira," said Myrna. "The poor dear has known since she was a little girl that she would have to marry Yuna Seiran. But she is being forced to do so now, and there's no one to stick up for her. She asked me to give you this."
Myrna handed Kira a letter and as he read it his face was full of shock. As he read the last bit, he tipped up the envelope and the ring that Athrun had given Cagalli fell out.
"What are you going to do?" asked Myrna.
"I have a plan," replied Kira. "It's time that we left. Ms Murrue, we'll need to get the Archangel ready."
"Understood," replied Murrue as she pulled out her phone and contacted the ship's crew.
Kira then turned to Relena.
"I promised Heero that I would look after you but it seems we are about to get drawn into this conflict. If you don't feel safe coming, you can stay here with my mom and the others."
"No, I'm going. If what you say is true and ZAFT is behind this attack, then Heero is fighting for the wrong side. It's likely we will encounter them and I'll need to convince him to come back to me."
Kira could see the determination in her eyes.
"Alright, then we better pack what we can from the house and get ready to leave as soon as the ship is prepared."
Murrue and Waltfeld spent the next few hours getting the Archangel reading for deployment while the rest of the ship's crew arrived. Meanwhile Kira, Lacus and Relena were saying goodbye to the orphans and the others.
"Take care Kira," said his mom.
"I'll be fine,"
"Just remember that this will always be your home, and I love you."
"Oh mom," said Kira as he embraced his mom and walked onto the Archangel with Lacus and Relena.
Relena again was impressed by the sight of the Archangel, she agreed that it was worthy of its name. Lacus showed her to the sleeping quarters while Kira and the rest of the crew assembled on the bridge. They were all dressed in the blue and white uniforms of the Orb forces; while Lacus was wearing a black and purple kimono style short dress with a white and purple overcoat. Her long pink hair was tied up with a red ribbon and adorned with her trademark hair clip.
"All systems green," said Newman. "Ready to take off."
As Waltfeld entered the bridge, Murrue became somewhat bashful at what she said next.
"I think you should sit in this seat," said Murrue to Waltfeld as she indicated the captain's chair.
"You're the only one who should sit in that chair, besides; I'm the only other pilot we've got, Ms Murrue."
"Alright," replied Murrue as she sat back in the chair she hadn't sat in for two years. "Take us away Newman."
"Archangel taking off," said Newman as he released the ship from the clamps and fired up the boosters.
Meanwhile, Cagalli sat in her room at the Seiran estate while waiting to be taken to her wedding. She constantly looked at the finger where Athrun's ring once was.
"It's time Lady Cagalli," said a chaperone.
Cagalli reluctantly rose from her seat and followed the chaperone down the stairs to where Yuna stood waiting.
"You look beautiful Cagalli," said Yuna. "Though I do wish you'd let your hair grow."
The two then hopped into the limo and drove through the crowded streets towards the site of the wedding.
"Smile Cagalli," said Yuna as he started to get annoyed with her sad expression. "We're on national television."
Cagalli lifted her head and looked out the window of the car and started to wave at the people of Orb while tears rolled down her face.
Heero was still sitting in Wing Zero's cockpit, looking over news reports and hacking files when footage of Orb popped up.
"We're here at beautiful Onogoro Island to witness the marriage between Lady Cagalli and Yuna Roma Seiran of the Orb Union. And as you can see the couple in question have arrived and are making their way to the altar as we speak."
The screen showed the wedding procedure and came to the climax.
"Do you, Yuna Roma Seiran take Cagalli Yula Atha to be your lawfully wedded wife?" asked the Priest.
"I do."
"And do you, Cagalli Yula Atha take Yuna Roma Seiran to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
Cagalli didn't answer straight away but stood in scilence.
"As you can see it appears that Lady Cagalli is getting cold feet," said the reporter. "What was that?"
On the screen, Heero could see the guards pointing at the sky as the Freedom arrived and scooped up Cagalli up and flew away.
"As you just witnessed the legendary Freedom from Jachin Due has just abducted the Chief Representative."
Heero shut off the news feed and felt a surge of anger.
"Kira, I hope you aren"t planning on joining this war now. It"s too soon. You had better keep Relena safe."
Back at Orb, the Freedom was flying away from the island when the radar went off.
"Sorry about this," said Kira as he shifted Cagalli from the Freedom's hands to the cockpit. "This is some dress."
"Shut it," said Cagalli.
"Hold that thought," said Kira as he came upon two Murasames.
"Stop and return the Representative," said one of the pilots.
"No can do," replied Kira as he disabled the two mobile suits.
Back at Orb Defence Headquarters, Yuna sent out an order to the Orb fleet.
"Stop that machine at all costs, Todaka,"
"Yes Sir," replied Todaka from the flag ship.
Just then the Archangel rose from the water as the Freedom neared the ship.
"What should we do Sir?" asked an officer.
"We are in no situation to attack," replied Todaka as he watched the Freedom land on the ship and saluted as the Archangel submerged.
"Our hopes are in your hands now Freedom," thought Todaka as the ship disappeared.
To be continued…