Another Battle: a new Gundam Wing Story

Another Battle

Episode 2

Hello! Took me so long to write this one.. I was really busy with school works like everyone else. ^_^


She suddenly opened her eyes. It was certainly not a time for a sentimental thought. Damn, only if she could remember what she was going to do now.. Forgetfulness was a huge problem to her this week. Maybe it was because of her nervousness, but sometimes she even forgot to brush her hair in the morning. Her secretary, Chris (the secretary in "Blind Target", if you remember), always kept a list of things she needed to do or remember each day.

"That's right! Chris! Chris!"

But she again forgot it was not her office. ^^; Chris couldn't be in the hallway.

Alas, but she was. Luckily for Relena, she was passing by when Relena called for her.
Chris: What is that, Miss Relena?
Relena: Oh, good! You are here.
Chris: Don't tell me you forgot what to do next again.
Relena: Sumimasen. Chris san!! But now I remember!! (a very proud look on her face)
Chris: And what was that?
Relena: I need to go over the list of people invited to the WUO meeting tomorrow.
Chris: A good point. I'll bring it to you in an hour.
Relena: But why in an hour?? Can I see it right now?
Chris: (sigh) Miss Relena... where were you going just now?
Relena: Where? What do you mean? I was just going to... (blush) You are so right. I was going to photocopy this document.
Chris: Miss Relena, that's not it....

But Relena was already ignoring Chris's protest.

The photocopy room was located on the second floor of the building, next to Preventer's office. It was the darkest room of the whole building. As she entered the room, her ears were throbbed by an enormous sound of photocopy machine. She suddenly felt dizzy. And with the blurring image, she was reminded of....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A plane."
Duo murmured. He was still lying on the narrow couch in his ivory-colored livingroom. Flowers like begonia and geranium were planted nicely beside his place, which gave an impression of peace and brightness to the plain look of the house. He got up from the bed and looked out of the window. It was beautiful and sunny outside. A smell of honey filled the air. Was it from the flower? No, it was from somewhere in the house. Specifically... from the kitchen.
'Right, I have a guest.'
"Good morning, Duo. Hope I didn't bother your sleep."
"Good morning."
Duo smiled a little bit to the person who was standing beside the door.
"I understand how you feel. It should have been a pretty and sexy girl with a yummy dish on her hands, not a clown guy who took away your king-sized bed."
Duo: You know what? You are really scary when you tell such a lame joke with half a straight face.
Trois: Half?
Duo: Never mind that. How was your flight yesterday? Sorry I couldn't make it to the airport.
Trois: It's OK. It was only 24-hour flight, remember?
Duo: Yeah, right. By the way, what are you doing in the kitchen?
Trois: My sister told me to send this to you.
Duo quickly went to the kitchen. There was a really yummy-looking (and yummy-smelling) meal with a honey-dip. It certainly looked inviting, but he couldn't think of the name of the dish.

Duo: Am I supposed to know what this is called?
Trois: No, because no one does.
Duo: Whoa! Then how can you sister make this thing?
Trois: Nanashi.
Duo: ... it has no name, but it exists anyway?
Trois: Something like that. There's a weird type of plant in L3, created by mutation of genetic code when humans first came to that colony and settled there. No one tried to eat it until Alliance dried up the source of all the food imported to L3 just before the war. Starvation swept through the colony, and this was the last edible plant they found, because somehow it learned how to survive through countless wars it encountered. They somehow started to call this dish nanashi, being mixed with that mutated plant and other stuff.
Duo: So, this is a war child.
Like you and me, Duo wanted to say.
Trois: You can say that. A person's recipe is different from any others', but there are two ingredients that can't be missing. One is that plant, and the other one is honey.
Duo: Honey... Why honey?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris: Relena sama, (I mean Miss Relena) there is a message from Mr. Barton that he arrived to the JAP airport last night, around 23 36 hour.
Relena: Is that so? I see. Thanks.
Chris: Since Mr. Barton has arrived, most of the 'neutral' guests are here for the meeting tomorrow, I guess.
Relena: You are wrong. All of them are here.
Chris: But....
Relena: Check in the list again, Chris.
Chris: (Checking over the names on the list) You are right. All of them are here. Sorry for my mistake.
Relena: No problem. At least you have better memory than me.
But the list is incomplete, Chris wanted to say. He can't be missing. 'The light of the colonies' should be here.
Relena: That's how I feel too. He thinks differently, though.
Chris: Miss Relena... how did you know...
Relena: Huh? What are you talking about? What do I know?
Then Relena turned around and started to walk away.
'But she knows... she knows who I'm talking about. She just pretends to be unaware of his absence.' Chris gazed at the slender image of Relena. 'She's never going to change, that annoying and persistent side of her is going to remain forever.' Chris sighed. Then She realized Relena was heading to the cafeteria again, since she forgot to buy her lunch in the cafe.
"Wait a sec, Miss Relena! You forgot your purse..."
However, Relena was already far away.

<=Flashback=> "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang---"
The morning air was piercing through her fragile skin, and the sound of airplanes taking off was worse. Her eardrums were already numb. She hastily looked around and checked in the electronic notepad she was holding. She frowned.
'He's not in any of the passengers' list.'
Then she thought, 'Maybe he went away with earlier flight.' She breathed out a frustrated sigh. This pursue, that has started two years ago in the same place where she was standing now, was stupid, indecent, impertinent, demented, childish, and all the bad things altogether. The worse thing is, that she knew this was stupid and hopeless.
'I'm just making sure that... what? What's the point here?'
As she bent her waist and stretched her tired body, she saw a blurry vision of what (or who) she was looking for - even if it was upside-down.
'Right, why didn't I think about a private jet? Surely he wouldn't want to leave a track in the ordinary plane.' But there was a reason that she hasn't thought about a jet. A jet was by no means affordable to that of his economic scale, unless...
"What are you doing here?"
A warm and familiar voice. She opened her eyes. It was not the one she expected.
"Dorothy? Really, why are YOU here?"
"Sending someone off, and I guess that's the same person as the one you are searching for right now."
"Where is he?"
"There."
He was already in the jet, staring at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Her eyes were saying. 'So stubborn as always,' he thought. 'But that's why I didn't tell you. I knew you would search for me, even if you were not informed.'
They were conversing through a thick barrier of double window. Heero murmured, "Farewell, Princess."
Suddenly, Relena flung opened the door of jet. A strong wind swirled through and messed it up inside, and personels soon started to gather to passengers' seat. Heero, nevertheless, took his gaze off from Relena. He really had nothing to say.
"Don't die, really."
Heero sent a startled look to her. "Who said I'll die?"
"You might enjoy your suicidal missions, but rest of us don't."
"What made you think so?"
"Who rented this cool jet for you?"
Heero smirked. It was not a smile that permeated to his eyes, though.
"Go back and do your work." a cold voice. She was perfectly prepared for this icy encounter, but she was quite shocked by the next sentence. "See ya soon."

If she heard this from anyone else, it wouldn't have any particular meaning than a mere greeting. It was from Heero's mouth, though. She excitedly turned her head towards him again, expecting more lines like that. But his conciousness has already left her, thinking deeply about his next mission that was given to him two days ago. He actually liked this mission, "liking" a new feeling that he managed to learn recently.
"Bring me a souvenir, then." She said it with such a naive smile that he couldn't turn down her demand, however nagging it might be to him.
"I'll try." Then he closed the door and the plane started to take off. The sensation of lonely quietness soon filled the cabin. He gazed upon the surface only to see no one there. Even his well-made mask was shaken greatly.
'She actually left without hesitation?' What brought this result? He mused, but his logical-but-terribly-ignorant-of-human-nature mind couldn't think of any reason.

<=End of flashback=>

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Lady Une: You guessed right, Miss Relena.
Relena: So what mission did he get this time? You know no terrorist mission is allowed, by any means, now that the new law has passed 3 months ago.
Lady Une: Fortunately for everyone, there's no terrorist mission needed for now. Not yet. The thing is, the colonies and Natural Resource Satellites around L1 cluster were reported to have a bit of problem lately.
Relena: What kind of problem are they?
Lady Une: It's concerning the new bill supporting the separation of territories that are owned to a sole owner.
Relena: But L1 cluster is famous for its motto of independance. They consist of territories owned by small businessmen and political parties, and the money exerted there is a menial amount. What in the world is the problem?
Lady Une: They want a compensation from the Earth for the lost souls during the battle.
Relena: Then, how can they be "compensated" for the loss?
Lady Une: They are asking for a prerogative of investment and banking, plus they want an effective defense system around the whole area, integrating them as one community.
Relena: ... that's...
She got up, the last piece of patience gone.
Relena: absurd! Most absurd! They are asking for merger when there's a new bill about separation?? That's why Heero's been there? Why in the world would he be necessary there?
Lady Une: He went there to give a speech about the new law and so-called "rectified" pacifism.
Relena couldn't close her mouth. Heero Yuy, infamous for his freaky quietness, no, inhuman silence (at least outside of him), giving a speech about pacifism??
Relena: Can I ask you a question?
Lady Une: Yes?
Relena: Does he know how to speak?
Lady Une: ...??
'I wonder, too' Lady Une thought, 'why he insisted in going, as soon as he heard about this.'

Quatre's sleep was interrupted by a call from Dorothy. It was 12:26 at night.
Dorothy: Hi, Quatre chan*!!
Quatre: (very pissed) Hi! Dorothy kun*!
Dorothy: (giggling) Now you know how to fire back. That's good, you are getting masculine every day.
Quatre: What's up anyways? I was sleeping.
Dorothy: Sorry, but I've got something to tell you and I've been really busy till this moment.
Quatre: And what might it be?
Dorothy: Trois's sister is offering a huge circus in L4 cluster, did you know that?
Quatre: No, and what's wrong with that?
Dorothy: ...and I'm there, with your family.
Quatre: NANI????? Dooshite ('why' in Japanese)!!!
Dorothy: Just because, Heero was leaving in a jet to L1, and I too decided to have some fun. Why not, really?
Quatre: (trying hard to breathe) Still, why my family?
Dorothy: Oh, it was just a pure 'coincidence'. I was 'accidently' passing by Winner property and I met one of your sisters, that's all.
Quatre sighed. There was not a piece of properties that was not Winner's in L4 cluster.
Quatre: You know, I'm a bit concerned about you. What kinda person are you? You've never been home for a month, and now this mission? I know it's a mission, even if you'd tell me any nicely-decorated lies.
Dorothy stopped inhaling for a moment. His concern was a bit too much for her to bear with a sane mind yet. Her mind might have been cured of a scar she got from the last war, but she was not yet fully matured as a woman yet. So she replied bitterly.
"I'm honored to hear you worrying about me, Mr Winner. By the way, Iria (the doctor sister one in the episode) wishes to talk to you."
"Fine." she still doesn't understand 'that' part, Quatre thought. A mere show of concern weighed too much for her mentality yet, which was not fully developed as a normal girl.

'By the way, I wonder how Trois is doing...' Quatre smiled to himself.
"Quatre!"


** The thing about chan and kun, chan is a Japanese suffix that comes after a girl's name, and kun is a same thing for boys. It's my own *lame* twist.
I'm not a comical writer. Plus I'm not a good romance writer, but I'm doing my best to 1) bash no one 2) Praise no one particularly, since my aim is a balanced story with balanced characters. Review Please!