Temper the Soul

Chapter 22

By zapenstap

"What do you mean she's gone?" Zechs practically shouted. He struggled to get out of bed, wincing at the pain such an effort took.

"Stay still," Noin ordered, putting a hand on his chest to hold him down, annoyed by his outburst. "Yes, she's gone. She left a note, ordered a plane flown in and took off with Audrey Veron and that Julia Bureun woman."

Zechs leaned back against the headboard and scowled.

"Trowa just called in," Noin continued. "Apparently Prince Damion has been kidnapped by Gardiner. He came at him with a small army almost two hundred strong and obliterated his guard and everyone else in the tower. Trowa said there's no indication of any other survivors than the prince himself. Apparently Gardiner contacted the Council earlier today, but who knows how long he's had him."

"Relena knew about this already then," Zechs muttered. "And left without telling a soul." He scowled. "It's just like her, thinking with her heart and not her head. What does she think she can do against an army of rabid rabble rousers fully armed and out for blood?"

"I don't know," Noin said truthfully, "but there's nothing we can do about it now. Why don't you try to relax? I'll see if the Council Lords have made any decisions on what to do about the situation."

He agreed only grudgingly. Zechs had been an absolute nightmare to be around since he had been injured. He was a proud man and hated feeling useless and in need of assistance from other people. Noin understood, but she wished he would let go of his pride and take it easy. He would never recover otherwise.

Leaving him to find his composure alone, Noin strode down the hall with her fists clenched at her sides. The palace was in a flurry of commotion. Whispers traveled faster than footsteps. Apparently the Council Lords had decided to let the news out rather than risk letting Gardiner announce it. The rumors she heard in passing were loaded with disbelief, fear, anger and grief. The regulars of the palace staff seemed especially quiet and Noin was not entirely sure why. A few of them, she learned, had gone home for the day, perhaps longer. She figured they had lost friends and family in the massacre that followed Prince Damion's abduction and were allowed to take a leave of absence on account of emotional stress. Trowa had said the carnage was total. No one was left alive but he prince himself.

The throne room was where she was headed. In the time that she had been here she had only seen it once. Since Prince Damion was still only Regent, he did not use it and it was generally reserved for ceremony and special business anyway. At the moment, the Council Lords were gathered there to discuss the situation.

She was admitted to the room only with a lot of haggling. The Council Lords turned to look at her as one.

"Is anything being done?" Noin asked, aware of their scrutiny and their disapproval of her boldness in coming to face them alone. "I understand your prince's fiancé has left the palace with Miss Relena and flown into a battlefield."

"She really isn't anything to us without him," a woman with a cool face told her sadly but simply. "Though we fear for her safety. Right now we are trying to stabilize the country and prepare a press release. The prince's safety, I'm afraid, takes priority over the girls'. This matter must be handled delicately. Although we thank you for your concern, Taravren must handle this."

"Alice, please have more respect for Captain Noin. She has done the world a great service in the past."

It was then that Noin noticed that one of the joint thrones on the stand above the polished floor was occupied. Noin flushed, feeling rude that she had only then recognized Queen Ravineere, the wife of Damion's late father. The Council Lords moved aside as the Queen raised her hand. Noin bowed, right hand to her left shoulder, left leg extended. "Your majesty, I apologize for my rudeness."

"Miss Lucrezia Noin," the Queen began, rising and stepping down the red carpeted steps to the floor below. The train of her multi-skirt gown brushing the floor. Stopping before the stairs, she crossed her hands in front of her stomach, interlacing white-gloved fingers. "I understand your concern for Miss Relena Darilan as well as my son and I assure you we are doing everything we can."

For a woman who had lost her husband and her only son in a matter of months, not to mention servants and guardsmen by the dozens, she was remarkably composed, though there was a strain about her eyes.

Noin bowed her head and straightened. "Your majesty," she implored, "I am concerned, I will admit. Please, if I can offer any assistance…"

She was cut off abruptly as shriek split the air, followed by an intense wail and the slamming of a door. Everyone jumped, heads turning in startlement.

Queen Ravineere's head snapped up in recognition, her eyes softening suddenly in reaction to whatever had caused that frightful cry. She swept passed the Council Lords like a bird flying over water, her feet hardly seeming to touch the ground. Perhaps it was customary and perhaps only curiosity, but Noin and many of the Council Lords followed her as she strode out the double doors of the throne room.

When Noin stepped into the waiting hallway, she stopped with the others.

The Queen of Taravren was kneeling on the ground, her dress splayed out like an ocean of gold and glitter around her body. Collapsed in her arms and seemingly shrunken in size was Terese, shaking and sobbing as the Queen smoothed her hair and whispered softly into her ear. The Queen's eyes shimmered with tears, though it might have been the lighting, and she held the crumpled form of the staff manager like a child, securely, yet delicately. Terese had her face pressed into the folds of the Queen's dress, her fingers clutching her arms like claws. If she occasionally babbled, Noin could make out none of what she said between her body-racking sobs.

Manny really was gone, then. The solider in her said it was time to bury the dead and care for the living. She looked up to the ceiling, studying the lights in the chandelier. She prayed Damion would be rescued, that Gardiner would be dealt justice, and that Relena would return safely home, and Heero too. She believed in both of them, but she also knew how impulsive they could be, and current torrent of her mind clouded her hope with dark shadows.

The Queen of Taravren lifted her head, certainly tear-stained, yet her expression was resolute even as she still held the quaking and sobbing Terese in her lap. The room hushed merely as a result of her set expression. "In the absence of my husband and my son I assume full ruling authority over Taravren," she said, addressing the council with eyes like polished stones. "What must be done to bring my son safely home?"

*****

"There's four trucks," Duo said grimly, peering through the window on the ground floor. The four gundam pilots had decided to move to a location where it would be easier to escape if they needed to leave the building. Besides, no one wanted to stay upstairs. "They're parking almost right in front of us. It's kind of hard to see in the dark, but everyone looks armed. They know we're in here."

"Should we hold our position here or would we be better off outside?" Trowa questioned.

"Here," Heero said from his position underneath the window. He had his back to the wall, his boot pressed against the back of a filing cabinet.

"How many people are there, Duo?" Quatre asked.

"Uh…" Duo craned his head a bit, looking down below at an odd angle. "Sixteen from what I can see."

"Not counting the plane," Trowa muttered. He had a pile of guns beside him, ripped off from the dead guards in the room upstairs and also from the bodies on the stairs. Gardiner's people had already stripped the building of anything valuable, including ammunition, but somehow Trowa managed to find a few things that were overlooked. He had also found a few explosives in storage. Heero had been thinking how those might come in handy.

"Not counting the plane," Duo agreed in a whisper.

Heero leaned his head against the wall and kept breathing, letting his thoughts sink inside his skull and his emotions skitter along the outside of his consciousness, separated from his reactions as if by a plastic bubble. He would pull at them if he needed to, any anger or fear that could be used as fuel for the fight, but for the most part he needed to stay calm and limit his distractions.

If that plane was full of soldiers and they were allowed to surround the tower no one would leave this building alive. It was a small passenger plane by the looks of it, just about what would be reasonable to send after them. It was preparing to land even now. He estimated a distance between them and the plane of only about a hundred meters if the pilot has any skill. The terrain out here was as flat as a board.

I wish I had my gundam.

Strange. He had never thought he would need it again. The gundams were simply too big and too heavy to be useful against anything except large craft and other mobile suits, but there was nothing like thousands of tons of steel to make a man feel pretty damn invincible. He cut through that plane pretty easily with Zero or Epyon or Wing, but left without a suit he would have to improvise. He was trained for close combat too, but it was hardly the same thing. There were no mobile suits these days. Those times were over.

I never wanted to hurt anyone ever again.

But some things couldn't be helped. It was a part of himself that was difficult to describe, the soldier in him that had taken so many lives so incidentally. Sometimes the fighting didn't feel like killing, sometimes it did. It depended on the moment and how much he was thinking and feeling at the time.

Relena.

What thoughts managed to invade his brain were always of her when the danger was hottest. When he met her he discovered something he didn't know existed; a creature beautiful and courageous, deep in thought and strong in action, a girl that for some reason was attracted to him. He found her baffling, alluring, intoxicating and always had, at least since he let himself start thinking of her as a person anyway. She had begun that fatal change in the way he saw the world, her and the other pilots, his first comrades, his first friends.

How many people in the world existed like them, like her? He didn't think there could be too many. A lot of people had ideas about the way things should be, what people should act like, what they should believe in, but few had the real courage to breathe life into those ideas. The entire world owed something to Relena Peacecraft. He owed her. He still couldn't believe she was really his sometimes. Often, it just didn't make sense. Even when he became aware of her flaws and doubts and inconsistencies the general being of her shone like a star. Did he shine as brightly in her eye? He wanted it to be true.

He wished with his all his might that he could see her again. And he knew that if he wanted to, he had better fight like he didn't expect to draw breath in the next minute. That was always how he won his battles.

Without a second thought, he snatched the detonation devices from Trowa's pile and was on his feet before he allowed himself to consider the risk.

"Heero!" Quatre hissed. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to make for that plane."

"But…" Quatre began, gaping.

"I'll detonate it before any more soldiers can emerge. We will rescue Damion and we will all make it home."

"We're going to be under fire any minute!" Duo shouted after him.

"Don't worry," Heero heard Trowa say grimly. "He can do it."

*****

"Put this on," Julia said in the cabin, handing Relena a cloak. Relena accepted it gratefully, throwing the material over her shoulders, but she kept her eyes out the window, watching the ground draw closer as the plane prepared to land from the window seat. The night made it hard to make out much and she knew it must be dangerous to try and land even a small plane in such lighting, but she knew the pilot could handle it.

Relena turned her head to look across the aisle at Audrey, though she kept her fingers on the glass. She had also not spoken a word since they left Taravren. She always seemed to be looking at nothing, and Relena could only imagine the fears she felt for Damion, or whatever else was going through her head. Audrey had shown no qualms in coming here, had not fluttered an eyelash at Relena's assessment that the territory they would be in was the outskirts of a battlefield.

Lady Une had told Relena that battle had already been engaged. There was fierce fighting in Camadrie, just as they had predicted. The soldiers from the outside had joined the gathering fragments on the inside and were engaged in warfare against Gardiner's mob. From the initial shots, she did not know how the situation fared, but she knew scores of people were killing each other, fighting, strangely enough, for peace.

And Heero was out there somewhere. She feared for him even as she feared for herself, which meant she did so with the reservation that certain things had to be done, and recognized that it took a certain caliber of strength to do them. If Heero or herself ended up dying out here… she did not want to pursue the thought, but if it happened, she knew she could carry herself and go on. So could he.

She closed her eyes, feeling the coolness of the glass under her fingertips.

Heero.

It was like it had been during the war. She knew he was out there. She could almost feel him. How she wanted to see his face… It was different now then it had been. His ring glittered on her finger, her body knew his intimately, her heart was enamored of his, but the feeling of intensity and the fortitude with which she bore it was the same. She narrowed her eyes as she stared down at the field, mentally strengthening herself for the task at hand.

Heero didn't need her now. Damion did. Her husband could take care of himself. She had shown him it was worth the effort, for his sake as well as hers, and she had to trust he knew it. She did not begrudge his sense of duty and honor's place over her love. She did not expect complete idolatry of her. In her heart, she knew that that understanding was one of the things that would make their union work. She understood that some things required his attention more than his love of her. It did not diminish his love of her; it was merely set above it. It strengthened his character and made him a thing more lovable. Oh, some girls might moan and complain that their men never paid them enough attention, that they took love for granted and threw it to the wayside for things like religion and duty and pride, but Relena was more sensible. Heero loved her and she knew that. She did not expect him to worship her. And if he sacrificed his honor, his duty or his beliefs in order to please her, she would not love him as much as she did. They would both do what they had to do and walk in life side by side, companions, supporters, lovers, friends, but they would still have to live their own lives.

Take care of yourself, Heero, and come back to me. I will be waiting for you when this is done.

She took a deep breath and tried not to calculate how near she was to him. Her duty was to Damion now. She didn't want to think what might be happening to him.

The plane hit the ground, jolting a little from the impact. Mechanically, Relena clasped the brooch of her cloak over her chest and made a mental checklist of everything that she would need to carry.

"Are those trucks?" Audrey murmured.

Relena looked into the gloom and felt her heart sink. They were trucks all right, four trucks parked outside the tower. She thought she could see a bit of another too. There were men swarming around the base of the tower, armed to the teeth.

"Soldiers," Julia said.

"Ours or his?" Audrey demanded, meaning Gardiner.

"Looks like his," Julia said.

"God," Relena said, "what do we do? Take off again?"

"No," Julia murmured with absolute confidence and almost a negligent dismissal. "They don't know who we are. They have no reason to kill us arbitrarily. Besides, they're occupied. Fighting."

Relena turned again to the window. It was true. The men were hidden behind their trucks like they were trenches, weapons in hand. She thought she could see them shooting at the Tower.

"Does Damion still have men alive in there?" Audrey questioned. "They could tell us where he is…"

"I'm hoping someone can," Julia said.

The plan was slowing to a stop, drawing closer and closer to the tower, and the gunfire. The captain spoke to them through the intercom, relaying the news that there was fighting within paces of them and did they not want to take of again?

"No!" Relena said. "We will stop the plane. We have to try…"

"What's that?" Audrey exclaimed. "There's about three armed men coming toward us. They're hailing us."

"Respond that we come in peace and wish to exchange words," Julia told the captain, standing and smoothing her dress. Relena did not understand why she chose to enter a battleground wearing a gown that looked as if it were spun from gold. She could hardly be expected to move much in the thing, though she was lovely. "Come, ladies. We will negotiate with them."

"Are you insane?" Audrey demanded in tones calmer than her words, her hands curved over the armrests of her cabin seat. "I thought I would have to worry about Relena, not you."

"I know what I am doing," Julia replied, and she sounded it.

The plane had stopped. Collecting their things, the girls stood up. Relena raised her chin high, settling herself to do battle. Whatever Julia had in mind, it was going to take some courage, and she was not so blind as to not realize that this may very well be the end of her. Those men just outside their door were armed, whatever their salutations.

As she passed the last window toward the door that was slowly opening to let them step outside, she caught sight of a lone figure as he burst out of the tower amidst the gunfire and hurled toward them, a firing arm held steadily in both hands. Two men followed him, running to catch him and not taking the time to shoot. With three men ahead of him and two behind, it did not look like he had much of a chance. She watched in horrid fascination, trying to make him out more clearly. And then it came to her, the way he moved, and finally his face.

"Oh my god," she gasped in sudden recognition. "Heero!"

He had what looked like detonators connected to his belt and men with guns at his back.

Julia had already stepped off the plane, emerging into the night outside like a goddess descended from the stars in that dress. The three men who had reached the plane first stopped and stared, lowering their weapons. Julia swept off the plane gracefully, bending her head to exchange words with them, the moonlight glancing off her golden hair in such away that her head seemed to blaze with light.

Relena pushed past Audrey, stumbling out into the night and ducking under Julia's arm. "Heero! Look out!"

*****

Heero shouldered his way out of the tower, opening fire on the men leaping out of the trucks before they could turn their heads to see him. Several went down in those first few seconds.

"Go, Heero!" Duo shouted at him. "We'll cover you."

Trusting them, he ran, keeping close to the edge of the tower and moving opposite of the way of the trucks, dashing around the tower the long way. Shots rang out behind him. The other gundam pilots had moved to their vantage points beneath the window and by the door, drawing enemy fire. Heero didn't look back. As he came around again toward the plain, he cut out into the open and dashed toward the plane with all his might. He was glad it was dark.

Still, he knew he was being followed when he reached the halfway mark, but he did not stop to look back or slow down. If he kept at neck-breaking speeds they wouldn't be able to aim accurately enough to waste the ammunition shooting at him. He needed to get closer to the plane and he had a good head start.

There were three more soldiers ahead of him, seemingly unaware of his approach. They had trotted up close to the plane after hailing it and were waiting by the side door. Heero cursed. Any second soldiers might flood out of that door and then it would be too late. Reaching for his hip, he snatched a grenade from his belt loop and armed the device. It was wired to a minute before detonation, but there was nothing like holding a bomb in your hand to encourage your muscles to work harder.

The door to the plane opened and he almost stopped in his tracks. At first, all he saw was a girl's slippered foot step gracefully down the first step, layers of glittering gold material rippling over the soft shoe as that foot landed on the metal step of the plane's stairs. The material seemed to blend into the night, reflecting the yellow light of the moon. His eyes followed it up, lingering over the triangular cut of the dress at the abdomen, the bodice that circled her upper torso almost like a low-cut breastplate and the gloved fingers that curled around the edge of the doorway of the plane. From there, Julia Bureun's face hardly seemed shocking. Bright blonde hair was pulled up and twisted behind her head, but little ringlets fell over her face and behind her neck, the remaining curls falling over one shoulder. He wasn't sure if she noticed him or not; her eyes were focused on the three men that stood by the stairs, staring up at her in almost an adoring fashion.

"Heero! Look out!" a familiar voice shouted.

It was like music to his brain, but in clanging discord to the chaos around him.

He stopped, amazed, bewildered and inspired as Relena suddenly came into view, her hair whipping around her face from the wind expulsed by the engines of the plane. Her eyes were wide and more green than blue, staring at him in absolute fear. His mind stopped functioning for a brief moment. His wife. Relena. In the battlefield.

"I'll kill you."

Flashbacks broke like waves over his mind. Marshall Noventa's plane, the pacifists… the mistake he had made.

The detonator beeped in his hand.

He remembered it suddenly, his head jerking to catch Relena's hair again as she twisted in the wind. With something like seconds to go, he hurled the armed device behind him and ran with all his might. He noticed the blinding flash of white light and fire in the night first. The explosion itself knocked him off his feet and he flew several feet through the air, hitting and rolling across the plain. Relena's alarmed cry followed him, snapping around his ears with the wind that whistled past his head. The sharp bite of the rocks that dug into his flesh as he hit the ground and rolled were nothing compared to the initial impact. When he finally came to a stop he struggled in the dust and rose slowly, wheezing, half-amazed that none of his bones were broken.

Once in a crouch, Heero looked briefly behind him, noting that the explosion had cleanly killed the two men who had been following him. The grenade had apparently exploded between him and them, but it had been going in their direction. Luckily, their death was not overly gruesome, or at least not under the cover of darkness. It seemed they had died more from the impact of the ground and the force of the bomb than the explosion itself. Thankfully. He would not want Relena to see men blown apart, torn limb from limb. He didn't want to see it himself.

"Heero! Look out!"

His head snapped up.

The three men who had been astounded and enraptured by the bizarre appearance of someone like Julia had certainly noticed him now. Regaining their senses, they shouted, raising their weapons. Julia slipped back inside, her eyes flashing as she withdrew into the confines of the plane. He heard her saying something to Relena, but whatever it was, his wife seemed deaf to it, shaking her off. The soldiers took aim of Heero.

"Stop!" Relena cried, ducking and surging forward. Like a shadow she was between Heero and his assailants in a second, her hands darting inside the coat of the soldier closest to her, withdrawing a gun from his vest. Heero watched in horrid fascination as she cocked the hammer and lifted the gun with both hands, her elbows appropriately level with the ground.

"Relena! No!" he shouted, springing to life suddenly. He lifted his own gun hurriedly and fired almost without aiming, the shock of the fire in the darkness momentarily blinding him. When his vision cleared, the man closest to Relena went down with a bullet through the forehead. He had to kill them all before she did, before he could be killed in front of her eyes! Wild in his urgency, he shot again, taking down the next man almost by luck. "Don't, Relena!" he shouted over the noise. The last man had him in his sights before he was able to take aim a third time.

The gun in Relena's pale slender fingers kicked back as she fired it. Her features seemed to crunch as her finger pulled the trigger, her head turning to the side and her eyes squeezing shut with the force of the blast. As the body of the third soldier pitched forward in the dust at her feet, Heero threw his gun behind him and ran toward his wife at full speed. Slowly, Relena opened her eyes, her mouth falling open. The gun tumbled out of her nerveless hands, tripping over her fingers and hitting the ground like a dead weight. She took a step backward, but when she began to sway and wobble she locked her knees, her eyes staring straight ahead. In a moment he was there to catch her, wrapping his arms about her torso and pulling her close to his body, tucking her head under his chin. Her arms hung limply as he hugged her, but slowly she raised her hands to his shoulders, her fingers clutching at his skin like claws. Her eyes were open as she rested her chin against his shoulder, starring at nothing. She didn't say anything at all. Her face was shadowed by the veil of night.

"Relena," he breathed into her ear in disbelief. He had been too slow, too careless. "You've shot a man."

He felt her stir against him and was surprised to see her tilt her head to look in his face and smile at him, still clutching his arms. "I know," she said, and there was a light shimmer in her eyes despite her smile. He almost couldn't believe her composure, and yet, he knew her. She was shocked by what she had done, but she was sensible and she was strong. It was no different than any soldier would do. She would move on. They would all move on. "I killed him," she said, her expression growing stern with acceptance. "Don't be afraid for me, Heero. It's always something I've been capable of doing. I'll be okay. I'm just glad you're safe. That's what I wanted."

Hesitantly he let go of Relena's back and lifted her face with the palms of his hands, studying her eyes. "What are you doing here?" he whispered, and his tone took on a bit of biting hiss. "I don't like you here. I don't want you here. You could have been killed. You're a fool. Do you hear me?" His thumbs caressed her cheeks as he regarded the shimmer in her eyes. "I can't work worrying about you," he said gently, quietly. "Go back to Taravren. When I find Damion…"

Her hands covered his wrists as she stared back at him, her eyes clearing. "No, Heero. I'm coming with you." As she said it, she pulled her head out of his hands and stared at him defiantly.

He studied her face for a moment, angry and yet... Slowly, he let his arms fall to his sides. She hung onto his wrists as he did so, bowing her head. He knew there was no point in arguing, but he did not like it.

"I'm sorry," she said with equal gentleness and equal resolution, tears in her eyes as she lifted her face to look him in the eyes again. "I love you, Heero. I know you just don't want to see me hurt, but I have to do this. I came here for Damion, but I'm so glad I found you. I knew I would."

"She was quite sure," Julia murmured, stepping out of the plane again. Audrey appeared silently beside her, dressed in white from head to toe, a sleeveless blouse and a pair of pants made seemingly from silk. Still, beside Julia, she almost looked ordinary.

"You heard about Damion?" he said to all of them.

"Gardiner informed everyone," Julia said. "Earlier today. But I estimate that Damion has been in his captivity for longer. Gardiner didn't contact us immediately."

Heero nodded. From the time they had watched that patrol leave… it could be almost two days. What condition would Damion be in after only two days? Or was that a dreadfully long time to be in Gardiner's control? He didn't want to think about it. He was a little afraid to.

"Heero!"

He turned to see Quatre, Trowa and Duo running toward him. Quatre and Duo were both waving their hands. Smiling at him, Relena slipped her right hand into his left hand, squeezing it lightly. The other pilots reached the stairs of the plane fatigued, heaving in great gulps of air, bending over their knees and smiling with the simple joy of being alive.

"Miss Relena!" Quatre exclaimed as soon as he caught his breath. "It's so nice to see you. And Miss Audrey! How are you?"

"As well as can be expected, Mr. Winner," Audrey replied. "It is good to see all of you in good health."

"We thought your plane was full of soldiers," Duo laughed, putting his hand behind his head. "Man am I glad we were wrong. Oh," he added with a wide grin. "Wufei called in on the truck. Seems the fighting in Camadrie is going well."

"He's coming our way, Heero," Quatre said. "With over four hundred troops, which he says he can easily spare."

Heero felt his heart soar a little. With that they could definitely rescue Damion. Relena bit her lip, closing her eyes. "How long will it take them to get here?" he asked.

"Six hours or so," Trowa said, crossing his arms. "I know it feels like a long time, but it would be better to go in with some hope of really being able to save Damion Ravineere than without any hope at all. Besides, it's going to take a little time to reload. We can't go after Gardiner without guns.

"We need to know where we're going," Quatre added. "And we need to identify the dead still."

Heero didn't like it, but it seemed they would have to wait a little while. Heero caressed Relena's fingers absently as he stared off into nothing. She didn't object, though.

"We kept one of the enemy alive," Duo said grimly. "It might be in our best interest to question him. I don't think it will take much."

Hang on, Damion.

"It'll give you and your wife some time to assess the situation," Trowa said, taking in Relena with a little consternation. No doubt he would feel unsettled by her being there. All the guys would. "I take it she's coming with us?"

"Yeah," he said, though he wasn't altogether thrilled with the idea of Relena coming along. Still, she was strong enough.

After a moment of awkward silence, Duo laughed a little shakily. "Very funny," he said. "I didn't know you were capable of jokes, Trowa."

Trowa blinked at him, uncrossing his arms. "It's not a joke Duo. I don't think she would go home even if…"

The braided pilot waved his hands and laughed. "No, not that. I'm acquainted with the princess. I mean the joke you just made, you know." Trowa just looked at him. Duo blinked, sobering up, and pointed his index finger in Trowa's face. "Come on, now, stop messing with me. A joke is a joke, and a cleverly inserted one too, but don't take it too far. It was funnier before."

"I really don't know what you're talking about," Trowa said.

Your wife.

Heero smiled.

Relena hugged Heero's arm, leaning her head on his shoulder. Duo frowned at them, scratching his forehead. "Okay, guys, come on, I mean it. Stop making fun of me. Heero and Relena didn't really get married without me…" he peered at them suspiciously. Abruptly, his eyes grew very large, like a child's. "You didn't really did you, Heero?" When Heero didn't answer and Relena's eyes sparkled brighter, he reeled, practically falling over backward. "Are you kidding me!"

Heero blinked. Duo looked positively furious.

For several minutes, Duo gestured expressively without saying anything. His mouth moved, but not a single sound came out. "You! You…you!" was about all he could manage.

" Duo!" Relena pleaded with him. "There wasn't time! I…"

"I'm supposed to be your best man, Heero!" Duo railed, getting up in his face and gripping his shirt as if he wanted to choke him. "ME! What did you do without a best man, huh? Who's going to make sure you don't lose your ring or run out on your girl or…"

"Damion held his ring for him," Relena said, watching the display with something like wonder on her face.

Duo groaned, releasing Heero and banging his fist on the plane instead. "Oh, God! Oh, hell!" he shouted skyward.
"We need to rescue him just so I can hit him once for good measure. Damion!" He glared at them again. "Hell. I can't believe you would do this to me, Heero." Sighing he turned to Relena. "What are you now, cutie? Mrs Yuy or something? You've got too many frickin' last names. I can't remember them all. Ah man." He stamped the ground, causing clouds of dust to rise into the air. "Great Shinigami, I wanted to see it! Heero and Relena married! Sheesh. I never thought I'd see the day." He looked at them with something like bewilderment. "Why are you just standing there? Why aren't you all over each other? What's wrong with you? God, you two make me sick. You're welcome to each other, really. Hell. I'm going to call Hilde. She's probably worried sick about me. Do you know that? Worried sick." He waved a hand and turned away from the lot of them, strolling back toward the truck. "Ah man, I missed Heero's wedding. I can't get over it. Heero got married!"

"Well," Quatre said with a sigh, but he didn't follow up.

Not overly concerning himself with Duo, Heero wondered how he was going to tell Relena about what happened in the tower without letting her see it. They would be here for some time and he could not keep it from her. There was so much death he did not want her to see, but then, looking at her, he didn't feel too anxious. She stood by his side with her head held high, facing the night with an even expression, her face all the more beautiful for its composure. He relied on that composure. She had killed a man. Perhaps it was something that he should have known was inevitable, and maybe she did too, but it was strange to think about. She did not look or act like someone who had killed a man. But then, he had always felt that she was a soldier at heart…like him.

"I would like a moment to speak with Audrey," Julia murmured in the intervening silence. "If you would lend us the privacy of the plane."

"Of course," Relena agreed.

"All right," Heero said, taking her hand again in his own. Her fingers felt so right in his palm. "When you're done, join us outside the Tower," he told Julia. "We'll go over our plans and get some sleep. If Wufei doesn't have a force here by daybreak, we go on without him. I don't want Damion to be in Gardiner's control any longer than absolutely necessary."

"Neither do I," Julia said coolly.

Audrey didn't say anything, but her expression lingered in Heero's mind even when he turned away. Her face was like a marble mask, cold and pale in the starlight, her personage held erect like a statue on a hilltop. Something about her eyes tugged at him, though, and he knew she was thinking about Damion. Worrying about him…

She loves him, Heero realized suddenly. It hadn't been like that when he was left, but it was true now. He prayed Damion was still alive and in relatively good health when they found him.