Episode 15: Wounds of the Heart
With the fall of Eden, Earth refocuses its efforts to better itself. With the help of the Edenite Tenant Aelan Marcus, Earth experiences a period of unprecedented advancement. The world is rapidly changing, and it appears to be for the better.
Then from an era long thought forgotten, comes a nightmare that could destroy all that had been built…
"Is he everything you expected?" A female voice asked.
"Indeed. With our new friend in our allegiance, our dreams will be fulfilled." A male voice answered. "And I can finally be at peace."
North Am, Offices of the Advisor
It was a beautiful day in New Richmond, the winter snow recently pulling away, and the delights of spring starting to bloom. Even though he knew it was impossible, Aelan could almost swear that the sun was shining a little brighter. It was a paradise that rivaled Eden's.
And Aelan was stuck inside behind his desk.
It almost always seemed that way. No matter how he planned the few days off he took, it always seemed to rain when he was free and beautiful when he was trapped behind his desk. He knew that his mind was merely falling victim to a mere psychological trick, but that didn't help much.
Noin stepped inside of Aelan's office rather unannounced. Aelan looked at her sternly, not appreciating the intrusion, but let her transgression slide. There was a lot on the young admiral's mind as of late. Noin took a deep breath, and recited, "I apologize for my actions last night. I was totally out of line, and put you in a very embarrassing position."
Aelan shook his head, and answered, "There is no need." For a brief moment, he thought about telling her that Miliardo was alive, but realized that the elder Peacecraft would show himself when he thought the time was right. "I understand how you feel, and I will be here to support you in any way I can."
Finally Noin smiled, and said, "Thank you."
At that moment, Relena poked her head around the door, and then flushed. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Aelan and Noin quickly shook their heads in denial. Aelan then motioned her inside, and said, "Of course not. What matter of business brings you to my office?"
Relena rolled back on her heels, and said, "I'm doing a little wardrobe shopping, and was wondering if you two would like to go along. Heero is at some basketball game again, and I don't want to go alone."
Aelan then motioned to Noin, and said, "I'm sure Lucrezia can join you. I however, am forced to conclude my duties here before I can rest."
Noin chuckled, and said, "Aelan, you need a break once in a while just like the rest of us. As much as you do in an hour, you could afford to take the rest of the day off."
Aelan looked behind him at the outside world. It was quite inviting, and he WAS quite well ahead. Nothing an extra thirty minutes at the end of the day couldn't resolve. "Very well, you have convinced me to shirk my duties and join you in this endeavor."
As the three left the office, Duo and Hilde approached them, and Duo tsked, "What do we have here?"
Hilde's eyes narrowed, and she jovially accused, "Looks like three people running off to play hooky to me."
"Now this simply won't do." Duo finished, "It just isn't fair that they get to run off, and leave us here all alone in this stuffy old office complex. Now, if they were to take us along…"
Relena laughed at the pair's antics. "We get the message, you two. If you want to join us, of course you are invited."
New Richmond Shopping District
Aelan thanked himself for letting himself be convinced to take this break from his obligations. He sat at a large bench in the center courtyard of the shopping district, allowing all of nature's beauty to surround him while he sipped sodas with Duo and Noin. Hilde was with Relena in the stores, helping Relena pick out clothes. Surprisingly, no one noticed the three, even some of the press teams that were present, either that, or they simply weren't concerned. Although, many showed some passing interest in Relena's shopping spree.
Duo took a rather obnoxious pull on his straw, making a loud slurping noise as the sweetened liquid ran totally out of the glass. He glanced over to one of the shops, where Relena was burdening poor Hilde with about 10 different dresses among several other outfits and accessories.
"Geez." Duo commented, "It's like Relena is getting a whole new wardrobe. Why does she need that many clothes?"
Noin pursed her lips slightly, then said, "I don't know. It seems about that time, don't you think, Aelan?"
"Perhaps, but we also aren't sure just when this began." Aelan somewhat agreed.
Duo's eyes narrowed, and he queried, "What are you two talking about?"
Noin chuckled; knowing how much fun this was going to be. "Duo, surely you have noticed Relena's odd quirks as of late."
"So, she's been somewhat of a neat freak as of late. She usually is."
"That's not all that I mean." Noin smiled, "Doesn't it strike you as odd how Relena and Heero, who were supposedly content with keeping their relationship out of the public eye, suddenly announce their engagement?"
"Yeah…" He seemed to want Noin to continue.
Aelan then added, "A few nights ago, I caught Relena eating a sandwich, yogurt, and chocolate. That's not strange, but the fact that she was eating them all at once struck me as peculiar."
Duo took the face of a man who had just received the shock of his young life. "No way…" Duo nearly groaned, then jumped to his feet saying, "That's not the way Heero is! I don't even think he KNOWS how to use his… YOU KNOW!"
At that moment, Relena and Hilde approached the group, both of them carrying several bags of clothes, and all three looked at the young foreign minister expectantly.
Somewhat embarrassed, she grinned, then apologized, "I'm sorry I took so long, but I had to get myself sized again. My old size just doesn't fit anymore."
Aelan looked at Duo, who just seemed to stare forward blankly. Aelan didn't think anything was amiss at first, but once Duo started to turn red, he slapped the Gundam pilot on his back.
Duo gasped, taking in a few deep breaths, while Aelan commented, "I am afraid that it is not in the best interests of your health to cease respiration."
Hilde raised an eyebrow suspiciously, and asked, "What's wrong with you now, Duo?"
Before the Deathscythe pilot could respond however, a sudden cacophony of screams from the north entrance of the Shopping District. As the group rushed to the scene, the scene came to them. An unknown person emerged into the courtyard, and stopped at the edge of the path. His eyes seemed to scan the crowd, then looked straight at Aelan.
Aelan stared right back, orange eyes meeting crimson. "My God… that man's an Edenite." Aelan gasped. With frightening speed, the Edenite attacked Aelan, even before the rest of friends could even comprehend what was going on. The Edenite grabbed Aelan firmly by the neck, lifting him off the ground.
"TAKE ME TO EDEN!" He demanded.
Duo jumped in defense of his friend, but the large Edenite seemed to merely shrug off the attack, literally. With a quick movement of his shoulders, he sent Duo flying to the side 5 feet away. Hilde rushed to Duo, while Noin and Relena stood in place, for the moment.
Meanwhile, the hulking Edenite continued to demand out of Aelan, "I want to go to Eden. You will take me there."
"Why? Who are you?" Aelan asked breathlessly.
"That is not important!" The Edenite hissed, "TAKE ME TO EDEN!"
Aelan shook his head, or at least tried to. "I'm afraid that's not possible. Eden's locked their relay system up. It's impossible to travel to and from Eden at the moment."
Obviously not an answer the Edenite was willing to accept, he threw Aelan to the ground, and pulled out a menacing looking pistol. "TAKE ME, OR DIE!"
Noin stood breathlessly as the Edenite pointed the pistol at Aelan. At the moment, there was very little she could do. If something were to distract his attention, then perhaps…
All of a sudden, Relena rushed forward, and demanded that the Edenite cease and desist his actions. "RELENA, STOP!"
Aelan watched in horror as Relena rushed forward, and screamed, "Stop this at once! I'm sure that we can arrange something!"
"Back away…" The Edenite seethed.
"I will not! This is my friend, and none of us will allow you to harm him!"
"BACK AWAY!" The Edenite then howled, and wheeled around, punching Relena in the chest, knocking Relena backward with the force of the blow. In a panic, Aelan jumped to his feet, but met a similar fate as Relena.
The Edenite turned back to Relena, then something changed. The ruthless savage suddenly seemed to drop away. He stared down at the prone woman, and gasped, "How could I have… How could I have harmed a woman?"
Suddenly, the Edenite broke into a full sprint, leaving the shopping district like a horde of hellspawn was right on his heels. Noin rushed to Relena's side, while Hilde and Duo came to Aelan's aid.
"Aelan, you all right?" Duo asked as he and Hilde helped the Advisor to a sitting position. Aelan shook his head, trying to clear it, and said, "That man was an Edenite, but I've never seen any Edenite act like that…"
Noin then screamed, "RELENA! SPEAK TO ME, RELENA!"
Rushing to where Noin kneeled over Relena, Aelan saw a sight that nearly made him vomit. Tears were rushing from Noin's eyes as a thick trail of blood started to dribble from the corner of Relena's mouth.
Centennial Memorial Park, New Richmond…
Heero stared down the opposition that had taken positions around the perimeter and inside box of their side of the basketball court. One defender had taken up defense right in front of Heero, arms outstretched, trying to deny any penetration.
'Standard Zone plus One defense.' Heero thought to himself. He quickly moved to the right, then slanted inside cutting down the middle of the court. As the zone collapsed around Heero, he passed the ball back outside, to a now open teammate.
However, Heero never really knew if his teammate had made the shot. As soon as he had let go of the ball, his mind was flooded with a horrifying vision. In it, a stretcher was taking Relena to a waiting ambulance. Something was wrong, something had happened to Relena.
Without any warning, Heero quickly dashed away from the court, barreling at full speed to the Shopping District, hoping that he wasn't too late. He quickly jumped in one of the taxi cars outside the park, and jumped in the back seat, at the same time pushing out an old man who had tried to get in the other side.
"Hey, man." The driver scolded, "That old man didn't need that. There's another cab coming in a few minutes."
"It's an emergency. I can't wait a few minutes." Heero replied hastily, "Take me to the Shopping District as fast as you can."
"Not with that attitude I'm not." The driver retorted stubbornly.
Heero gave his death glare, and warned through clenched teeth, "There are two ways we can do this. One, you can take me to the shopping district, and get paid for a good job, or…" He raised the corner of his shirt to accentuate the point, revealing his pistol, "You can do it with a gun to your head. It's your choice."
The driver panicked slightly, then said, "All right, all right, buddy. I'll take you there, just don't do something you'll regret later."
With that, the driver started the ignition, and rushed to the shopping district at top speed…
Mere minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of the south entrance of the Shopping District. Heero pulled a credit note, and not even looking to see how large it was, threw it at the driver. He rushed into the district, his eyes frantically scanning for Relena. Noticing that a large crowd had formed around the central courtyard, he pushed through the crowd, and emerged to see Relena being placed on the stretcher in his vision.
"I'm too late…" Heero said, and ran over to where Aelan was standing. Grabbing the advisor by the shoulder, he demanded, "What happened?"
Aelan was at first a little surprised to see Heero, but responded, "An Edenite attacked me. Relena tried to stop him, and she got hurt."
"Where is this Edenite now?" Heero demanded.
"I don't know. He looked at Relena after he had hit her, and took off in a fright." Aelan replied.
Heero glanced back over at Relena, and noticed the medical crew wheeling her away. Heero rushed over, and jumped into the back of the ambulance as they loaded Relena, ignoring the medical officer's command to leave.
Aelan then approached, and said, "Let him be. It'll be fine."
Heero nodded thankfully to Aelan as the ambulance doors closed, and left the Shopping District on route to the nearest hospital.
Next Time…
Things are looking very grim for Relena, and her unborn child. With Terran technology incapable of bringing her back, and Eden totally blocked off, even to Aelan, things look totally hopeless. But the unlikeliest of people emerge to save the day, however he has a price.
Coming in Episode 16: Old Friends become New Friends