Chapter Eight
Misunderstandings

Heero for the most part had been able to avoid any real interaction with anyone. He had gone to see Une to retrieve the two flash drives, but while he was there she hadn't said anything to him about Serena being in the building and he didn't bother to indulge in the fact he had already met her. He contemplated mentioning something but thought better of it.

If Une wasn't informing him about Serena, chances were she had a reason not to. It was possible due to what his reaction might be. He had already attacked Serena once. But she had taunted him, so he felt his actions were justified. But Une probably wouldn't see it that way. If she had more information that could help them, Une would want her to remain safe, or as safe as someone like her could be. Having himself involved could potentially lead to possible bodily harm to both of them. Serena was strong, she may not look it but he knew he didn't look as strong as he truly was either.

Heero stopped typing on his laptop as he thought more about Serena. He was still going over what had happened earlier in the day between them and how Trowa had been acting around her. His guard wasn't up when he came back to her room. He was almost relaxed around her. Serena, herself, was even laid back in Trowa's presence. She had thanked him for the items and never once tried anything.

Did she trust him? Did he trust her?

Even Sally seemed to be at ease around her. She had treated her like she would treat any one of them when one of them was injured. Yelling threats that never came to fruition, even when they were being stubborn. Heero knew Sally took pride in her work. If she could help someone, she would. But Serena wasn't that injured, so was it just pride that Sally was after to maintain, or did she actually like her?

Heero shook his head trying to dispel the thoughts. He didn't fully trust Serena and she was becoming more confusing to him the more he thought about things. Heero shut down his laptop deciding he needed to have his questions answered. Standing up from his desk, he looked down at the two flash drives. He quickly placed them in the top drawer of his desk, locking them away. Leaving his office the nagging voice in his head came back as he made his way down to the medical floor.

Relena had barely gotten any sleep the night before. Her thoughts were on one man and one man only. She had sent him two messages with no response back. She figured maybe they hadn't gotten back yet or he was sleeping from being gone all night. Sighing, she placed her phone back down on her desk before turning her chair to look out one of the windows in her office at ESUN.

"Heero, I hope you're safe, wherever you are," Relena spoke to no one but her reflection.

She continued to look out the window for a few more minutes before turning back around to continue working on her reports. She needed to sign off on a few things before the end of the day. She shook her head as she picked her pen back up. She knew if something had happened to him, Une would have called by now. For the time being, she needed to push away the thoughts she had. Heero always let her know when he came back from a mission. He never forgot to. She figured he'd probably call her later. Smiling to herself she dove back into the paperwork in front of her.

Heero didn't bother knocking on the door to Serena's room before he entered. When his eyes landed on her, she was sitting on the bed. Her eyes were closed and her arms were crossed over her chest. He looked around the room but Trowa was nowhere to be found. Narrowing his eyes, he approached the bed.

"Where's Barton?"

"He's in Sally's office trying to get some rest," she said without looking up at him.

"What?"

"He's still watching me, technically," she said as she lifted her hand to point in the direction of a camera that was mounted in the corner of the room. "He looked terrible so I told him to go find somewhere to sleep. I haven't moved. I haven't left," she finally lifted her head to look at him. "If you don't believe me go check the cameras." Her face was unreadable. He couldn't tell if she was lying or telling him the truth. He kept his eyes narrowed at her. "Go look for yourself. Trowa said he'd be just down the hall."

Heero didn't know what possessed him but before he knew it he was making his way down the hall to Sally's second office. He knew the room had monitors in it to look into each of the rooms on this floor. It was easier to monitor patients this way. Heero made it to her office and slowly and as quietly as possible he opened the door. He stuck his head in and saw Trowa lying on the cot that was set up. His back to the door. Heero watched him for a moment and saw that he was breathing evenly. Satisfied he turned his eyes to the monitor that was on. He could see Serena still sitting on the bed. She had closed her eyes again but he saw her move. She was rolling her shoulders. Closing the door, Heero made his way back to her room.

"Satisfied?" Serena asked, turning to look at him as he entered the room again. "Come to talk more?"

"You have some explaining to do," Heero said as he moved to stand to the side of her. Pressing his back against the wall as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Why were you at the base last night?" Serena moved her legs, swinging them over the side of the bed so she was fully facing him.

"A mission."

"What kind of mission?" Heero glared at her as she laughed lightly at him.

"Isn't it obvious? I was there to gather information, same as Preventer."

"What information were you hoping to gather?"

"I was only told that the key to destroying ROE could be at that outpost. I was to go and gather whatever information I could and get out. That's it," Serena shrugged.

"ROE?" Heero questioned as his brows knitted together.

"You don't even know who you're investigating?" Serena asked him. Heero said nothing, waiting for her to continue. "They're calling themselves the Revolution of Edwards," Serena shrugged again. "I'm not even sure that's what they're still calling themselves. But to be honest they could've come up with something better." Heero watched her, she seemed indifferent about the whole situation.

"What type of organization are they?" He asked.

"They're like Romefeller," Serena said flatly. Heero didn't like the answer. If this group was like Romefeller nothing good could come from them.

"What are their plans?"

Serena smirked at him, turning her head away, "try a different question," she said.

Heero should've known better than to directly ask her. Heero tightened his eyes. He had the feeling that if he threatened her, she wouldn't tell him anything. He needed an answer but he wasn't completely sure how to deal with her.

"Who sent you on the mission then?" He asked. The smirk was still on her face as she turned back to look at him.

"Who do you think sent me?"

A low growl sounded from Heero's throat, "J," It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement. "Why would he send you?"

"Their ideas are all wrong and the way they want to go about things will only cause more harm than good. They're getting out of hand which is why J wanted to find a way to stop them before they see through with their plans. Though from the looks of it, it may be too late for that. They were moving files remotely when I got there. I can only imagine that by the time you guys got in more were being moved."

Heero's eyes widened for a moment as he took in what she was saying.

"Wait, J wanted to find a way to stop them? Does he work for them?"

Serena nodded her head, "he does, but as I said, they're getting out of hand. That's why J sent me." Heero's jaw dropped slightly, as well as his shoulders. It wasn't the first time J had changed sides but what he couldn't understand was why J started working for this ROE in the first place.

"What?"

"I was originally their main weapon. But I guess you could say J had a change of heart. A few days ago he informed me of the base. He thought maybe if I could get in and get the information then maybe we could find a way to stop them. I've never been to this outpost before so I can't honestly tell you what kind of information they were keeping there."

Heero gaped at her. Their main weapon? J having a change of heart?

"What do you mean you were their main weapon?" Heero asked, not fully sure he wanted to hear what Serena had to say. But he needed to know.

"I was made to be a better version of you," Serena's eyes hardened as she spoke. "They found out about J's new pet project. What better than to have a cloned copy of a Gundam Pilot. One they could mold to fit their needs," her voice grew darker as she continued, "somewhere along the way J changed his mind. Guess he didn't like what I was becoming."

Heero could see the darkness clouding her eyes. Whatever she went through was either the same as what he had endured or possibly worse.

"Were you trained the same as I was?"

"Did you view Sally's reports?" Her voice still held a dark edge to it. Heero shook his head.

"No, I haven't seen them."

"I'm exactly like you. J just improved on some things. I'm genetically enhanced, down to every last detail. Why do you think I look so much like you but some of my features resemble someone else?" She looked directly at him.

Silence had fallen over them, the longer Heero studied her, the more he could pinpoint the differences between them. She still reminded him of the woman in his dreams, but even looking at Serena, he still couldn't be hundred percent sure.

"I look like her," Serena whispered, breaking the silence.

"Huh?" Heero lifted a brow.

"I look like her… I've seen her in your memories… Was she your mother?" Serena asked quietly.

My mother? My memories?

"What memories?" Heero dropped his arms to his sides. "What are you talking about?"

"I know everything about you. I've gone over your files so many times over the past few years. Learning every detail about you. You've dreamt about her before. Do you still?"

Heero looked at her, to his surprise there was a curious look on her face. He had been dreaming about the woman after his first encounter with the…

"The ZERO System," Heero said quietly.

"Yes, the ZERO System stores memories, if you know where to look you can access them. Didn't you know that?" Serena raised an eyebrow at him. He knew this information already. He knew his memories were stored on Zero. But how would she know if Zero was destroyed?

"How would you have been able to access them?"

"J has his ways. How he got them is beyond me. He never cared to share that bit of information. But he did allow me to view the files whenever I pleased," she smirked at him. Heero wasn't sure he wanted to know how J was able to obtain the data. He was slightly confused, yet curious as well.

"What else did he show you?"

"All your training logs."

"How? Everything was destroyed," Heero was confused more when she frowned at him.

"You and I both know J always has a backup plan in place should something go wrong. He backed up everything so when he was captured right before you self-destructed your Gundam, the files were all stored away somewhere. By the way, you didn't try that for a second time by any chance?" A smirk formed on her lips as she asked him. Heero gaped at her again. She would know the answer but she was acting like she didn't.

"No."

"Good. It hurts like hell. I don't know if doing it a second time would change the results," Serena laughed.

"Wait, you've done it?" Heero asked. She stopped laughing to look at him.

"Yeah, to make sure I'd survive," Serena waved him off. "It's not important. I'm still here aren't I?" Heero watched her as she schooled her face back into a mask. He couldn't believe J would willingly make her blow herself up to see if she'd live.

"What else did J do to you?" Heero ventured. Serena's eyes hardened again as they clouded over with anger.

"Nothing compared to what he did to me. To be honest, J was nicer before he started working for," she abruptly stopped.

Heero watched as she turned her eyes away. He could see her battling some inner struggle. He wanted to know more but wasn't sure how to address it with her. He decided to change the topic. Slightly.

"Why did J let you go then?"

"He gave me a choice. Stay and continue being their puppet or leave," Serena said as she turned back to him.

"You chose to leave, why?"

"Freedom… I want to find somewhere I can belong other than just being used as a weapon…" she trailed off as she lowered her head. But the sadness in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by him.

"You found your place in this world. I may not have chosen the life I was given but there was a chance to leave… I watched you do it. You changed your mind during the wars. Change what you believed in. Relena changed you," Serena lifted her head to look at him. "She made you better. Made you see there was more to life than fighting. More than just being a soldier. I want to know what it's like to be normal. To not have someone control me, telling me what to do," her eyes hardened slightly, but still held the sadness in them.

"I want to control my own emotions. Not have someone else turning them on and off whenever they see fit. I want to be in control of my own body. I want to be free from them." Before Heero knew what he was doing, he moved so he was sitting on the bed next to her. Something pulled at him. He softened his eyes as he looked at her.

"I can understand..."

"This is why I spent so much time going over your files. I felt connected to you, not just because I was created from you but at the time I could relate to you…" she trailed off as she turned her head away from him to look at the floor. "Sorry, all of this is new for me. I don't know how to express myself correctly."

Heero was taken back. She was apologizing?

"Why would you apologize for being human? You're entitled to feel as much as anyone else," Heero said. Serena snapped her head back to him. Her eyes widened.

"You've changed," Serena laughed. Heero knew he had changed over the years but had he changed so much that she thought it was funny in some way. "Sorry… I didn't mean anything by it. It's just the Heero I know and the one I'm looking at now are two very different ones."

"It's fine…" he slowly said. Once she calmed herself, she grinned at him.

"Can I ask you something?" Heero thought about it but allowed her to ask her question.

"Sure."

"Have you told Relena how you feel about her?" Heero's eyes went wide and he felt his face heat up.

"How?" Heero asked.

"I've seen all your memories, remember? I know all your thoughts and feelings," Serena chuckled.

"I….uh…" Heero couldn't find his words.

"Are you seeing her? From your reaction I'm going to say that you still hold the same feelings for her that you did back then," she moved a leg onto the bed, using it to prop her arm up. She rested her chin in her hand, a sly smile on her face. "I mean you did kiss her. You had feelings for her."

"I…." Heero tried to find something to say. Was she asking him or teasing him?

"I'm going with a yes on both questions," Serena laughed again. Heero gaped at her before shaking his head. Was this really happening?

"We're not discussing Relena."

"Oh, I shouldn't have tried my luck," she smiled at him.

"It's alright," Heero tried to shake his thoughts away. He wasn't sure what to make of any of this. Some of his questions were answered but now he had a million more. He needed to refocus and get her to do the same. "I need to ask you something."

"Yeah?" Serena lifted her head from her hand.

"Do you want to help us take down this group… ROE?" He asked, tightening his facial features.

"If this is my only chance to stop them, then I'll do whatever I can to help," Serena said as her face hardened. Heero was still unsure if he should trust her. She had told him some information, mainly about herself. But it didn't mean he could fully trust her as they sat across from each other.

Freedom.

The word echoed in his head as he looked at her. The nagging voice was still there but for the moment it seemed satisfied. Deciding whether or not they could trust her, he knew she was their only key to figuring out this rebel group and possibly their only chance at taking them down.

"If that's the case you're going to have to tell us everything you know," Heero said. Serena stared at him before she nodded her head.

"Understood."

A/N

Since I finished going over this week and it's currently snowing where I live, I thought maybe I'd just post this now. Enjoy!

-MM