Prolouge
Despite all of the guesses and bets made in his favor, it was not Heero Yuy that killed Relina Peacecraft. It was an unknown asassin, her gun delivering the fateful bullet that ended Relina's pacifist spouting.
There were no witnesses, and all of the securtiy equipment had mysteriously malfunctioned that day. All that was left was a body, cold and still, and a note tyed by a blood red ribbon to the murder weapon, a hand held pistol, long outdated.
"This one's for Zero. Long live the fighter!" it read in a scrawling, cramped hand. The polize puzzled over it, but it was far too late. Relina was dead and there was nothing that could be done. The best they could hope for was to catch her killer, but with no leads, no clues, and nothing but a note and a gun that vanished from police custody only a day later, there was little hope.
Chapter One: The Message
Although few suspected, only two souls knew the truth of Relina's death, and those two walked side by side in a hall, featureless metal walls enclosing them with a bitter finality.
"Any word?"
Allie was taller, baggy jeans and 'Queen' t-shirt a vain attempt to disguise the firm, strong tread that marked her as a fighter. She looked to be about nineteen or so, and watched the hall before her through tinted glass, sunglasses perched on her nose. The heavy boots she wore should have made quite a bit of noise as she strode along, but wary, well learned instincts prevented her from allowing the shoes to make any noise at all.
"Not yet. We should receive communications tonight."
Steci walked beside Allie as they navigated the corridors; her blue sneakers produced no noise at all, and neither did she. Cald in tighter jeans and an 'Angel' shirt, the blonde moved in total silence. Where Allie's posture spoke of strength and power, Steci's spoke of soft decepqtion. When she walked, she was a tiger prowling, unseen until she wished her true stripes to be shown. Were she to stop moving, none would ever have believed her a fight, but a fighter she was, just the same as the gun-happy Allie, who was even now twirling a pistol around her thumb.
"Allie...would you put that thing away? We're prety sure that this sector is empty, but I don't want to take the chance of being spotted with that." Steci nodded her head in the pistol's direction, a small frown marring porcelin features.
"You worry too much," the other girl told her non-chalantly, but she pocketed the gun anyway, knowing what was coming next.
"Worrying is why I am still alive. It would do you good to try it once in a while." Her frown deepened as she saw Allie mouth the words, exactly in sync with her.
Conversation died away as the long hall ended sharply in a dead end, a door to either side of a blank wall.
"Good night," said Steci, nodding to Allie as she took the door to the left, flashing a small key card to unlock it as Allie did the same behind her.
"See you," Allie answered before her door closed behind her, and made her way into her room, pushing aside the odd pile or two of assorted junk to hace access to the rather hidden floor. She managed to trip only twice before she made it to the huge and worn bed she had claimed as her own, tossing herself down onto it.
I'll bet, she thought, annoyed, that Steci doesn't have this problem. her boots curved two speeding arcs through the air as she yanked them off and sent them flying. The silence of the room unnerved her after a moment, and Allie kicked the wall, producing a thump and a click; from inside the wall, music began to play.
"It's been one week since...!!"
Good, she'd turned it to the right station last time, so that wouldn't be a problem this time around. And yes, her mind responded to the song, half thinking, it had been one week. It had been one week since she had killed that bitch Relina Peacecraft; one entire week without her pathetic attempts at peace that always seemed to lead to more fighting felt like a heaven-sent blessing.
It's bad enough that the little hussie wants complete peace, even worst that she's a fucking hypocrite about getting it! she thought angrily, sending socks and two of her guns the way of her boots. Curling her blankets around her as she lay down, Allie's thoughts remained crystal clear. Her fist slamming into the wall convinced the "automatic" lights, that had flickered on when she first entered, to go off for the night. She stared at the ceiling, her mind going over the memory yet againd as she lay in the darkness, wondering what it had been like from the other side of the gun, wondering what Relina had thought as she died.
*****
"You know," came a cold voice from nowhere as Relina stood looking out the window, "you really are a stupid, hypocritcal bitch."
The girl swirled around, gasping in shock. The light brown hair flew in a perfect circle around her head, framing fearful, innocent eyes.
"Wha..?" Relina's voice quavered as she took in the sight before her.
A young woman stood, half sneering, leaning with her back against the closed door. Her hair was short and brown, unusual blonde highlights scattered throughout.
"Relina Peacecraft. Pacifist." she spit the word out with considerable venom, but her face remained an impassive mask, the only emotions present the disgust hinting in her voice and the hatred flickering in her eyes.
"Yes," she answered, almost automatically, dully at first but holding her head high, gaining strength as she went along. "I will not fight - violence is wrong."
"And yet you've allowed yourself to fall in love with him, haven't you? Or is he just another of your pawns?" Scorn whipped out at her, intense in its hatefulness. "You've caused battles. Fights. Yes, even deaths. Prolonged a war that you could have ended. Not that I'm complaining...but you of all people, Relina."
The proud girl stiffened, seeming to stand straighter. Her pride increased, ego flaring to match; her quick thinking that had saved Relina a few times before kicked in.
The guards will come soon. They'll take this freak away. I'll beg not to hurt her, that she didn't know what she was doing. The story will get around and more people will flock to me.. like sheep.. thought Relina silently, eyes on the gun as it twirled lazily around the woman's finger. Relina spoke up, smiling shyly and tilting her head down just barely, an imitation of a meek behavior that often pacified those old farts that she kept wrapped around her fingers.
"I advocate peace...I have caused no battles."
Unforetunately for her, Relina's sugary tone and false posturing did not fool the one that stood across from her. Not in the least.
"Do you really believe that in your fucking, dilussional mind, or are you just lying to me out right?" The gun flipped, moving it away from a toy to become what it truly had been all along: a deadly weapon. Light glinted off the metallic barrel as it pointed at Relian, who, unfased, turned around.
"I have been threatened before. You won't kill me. I am a pacifist.. It would be a sin. Think of the guilt you would feel, the shame; and everyone will know..." Her words stopped, trailing off into nothing as she heard steps, calm and slow, come up behind her. Only now did her heart begin to flutter, seeing the reflection of the other woman in the glass of the window.
Her eyes, Relina thought dumbly. Her eyes are like Heero's...except his are sometimes almost warm; he would never shoot me. This girl...is worse than Heero.
A parody of a warm smile seemed like a mask out of place on the face of the blue eyed girl, and she shoved Relina none to gently forward with her gun, rubbing the smooth handle with her fingers as she stepped back. She regretted the necessity of the leather gloves that kept her from touching it, but understood their usefulness: no clues could be allowed.
"Oh, Relina...one day I'll see you in hell and oh, how hard I'll laugh..." she said, sickeningly sweet.
Relina saw her step back, sawy her pull the trigger. She couldn't move, could never have moved in time, and the bullet slammed into her back, throwing her into the window.
It must have hit something vital... It's already getting dark... Or is that just me closing my eyes so I won't have to see? She slid to the floor, limp, ruby red liquid staining the thick beige carpet, leaving stains on the window. At least...the cameras will have caught it all...she'll be caught, tortured, killed, hated. I will die a martyr.
In the dimming light, the dying woman watched as her killer leaned close, whispering in that same, ringing, mocking voice.
"Oh, and Relina? I made sure to kill all the guards and take the security systems down before I came..." that cruel vvoice came, fear spreading through Relina as if to replace the life's blood that poured from her. "Which means that no one will know... You will die, unavenged... Good bye, Relina Peacecraft. May you ever repent bothering Zero all this time."
And those were the last words that Relina heard before she slipped out of the world forever. Her murdered smiled in satisfaction, then pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket, tying it to the gun by a deep red ribbon. she placed the gun on the floor by Relina's head, smiled to herself, and left.
*****
One week later, alone in the dark solitude of her room, Allie contemplated her deed, feeling the still lingering satisfaction of her accomplishment. However, there were some things that did not go exactly as planned; she had been three seconds later then intended in her infiltration of the building, and therefore many more seconds later in the other phasses of her operation. Thankfully, this had not been a mission that called for precise timing, but all the same she would spend the day training tomorrow, and break all of her old records. In this business one could not afford to be slow. Being slow meant getting caught (or shot) and that was something that Allie would not allow to happen.
*****
True to Allie's prediction, Steci's room was fairly neat, the only discrepency being that her clothes were tossed haphazardly in one corner, and papers littered the surface of the single desk, sharing the space with her computer. The blonde smiled, turning to look at her room as the door shut without a sound behind her. The floor, from which she had long ago ripped up the carpet, basked in the half-light of the overheads as they hummed on; she put one hand on the door to steady herself, and pulled off her sneakers. Her socks soon became a small white ball, tossed with the experience of long practice to land on the pile in the corner. Walking over to the one dressed in the room, she quickly exchanged her clothes for light blue pajama's, wriggling her toes at the cold surface of the floor as she changed into the tanktop and loose pants.
In the corner of the room across from the door, next to the pile of clotehs, was an overlarge poppa-son chair, pillows and blankets still just as mussed as where she'd left them. The thing was big enough for her to strech out in, but small enough to curl up in, a comfortable old thing. Alone in the solitude of her room, Steci's mask fell long enough that she smiled, and curled up in her 'bed,' kicking the wall to shut off her lights. Across the hall, she heard the two small thuds that meant Allie throwing off her shoes (and hitting the opposite wall) and then the louder thumps that marked when she turned on her radio and off her lights.
Sleep came easy for neither girl that night, and although her eyelids fell to cover her eyes, it was not sleep she found behind them. She had to admit that she was rather pleased with her performance in the Relina 'mission,' it had not been an unpleasent task that she and Allie had set themselves to. Rather fun, in fact, even though the ending kill had not been hers.
First, she'd taken down the entire security system, allowing Allie entrance to the building. As an added level of difficulty, there was a warning that went out whenever it was taken down, so that the authorities could be warned of just the event that had occured. She had taken care of that, too. Steci had fixed the system into believing that it was working, but all the lasers did was point at each other and blow themselves up, the stationed guns did the same, and the security tapes filled themselves with a previously choosen video clip. Steci grinned to herself, thinking of the clip; it showed various clips of Relina, accompanied by the sound of harsh derisive laughter, and a voice that mocked:
"You though she could make peace, that foolish girl? And you, you believed that she could? The sirens of death prove otherwise!"
But that hadn't been all of her part. Later, after the deed had been done, she'd joined the investigative team as a sharp new young detective. She lead them to the gun and the note, talked like she knew what she was doing, and speculated things aloud that sounded perfectly feasible vut lead them away from the true trail. Then, a day later, she had snuck the two items out of Police care and returned them to Allie, who accepted the gift like she hadn't seen the gun for months.
Last of all she hacked expertly in and left open only the files she wanted Heero Yuy to discover about the details of Relina's death, no more and no less. Leaving the files open in such a way that the man would know that they had been broken open (illegally) for him, she withdrew without a trace.
None of it had been very easy, just enough of a challenge to excite her and easy enough to make her confident in her abilities without too much worrying. It had been...just right.
Just right, she thought, curling into a tighter ball, hidden under pillows, stuffed animals, and blankets. A content sigh escaped from her lips, and the darkness enveloped her in that age-old parody of death. Dreams chasing her in merry circles, Steci slept, unaware that her computer had turned itself on, playing and replaying a short and simple message.
"Make ready, I am coming in the morning. Make ready, I am coming in the morning..."
*****
Heero blinked at the screen, refocusing his eyes.
Shit. He clicked his mouse. Relina's dead and I didn't have the honor. The brown haired pilot scanned the news article on his screen; it was sketchy journalism, the lack of facts making it obvious that the authorities were keeping a tight lid on the annoying girl's asassination.
"Yuy," Wufei's sharp voice penitrated Heero's thought process, and he turned his head to glance at the Chinese man. Wufei lounged against the door frame of Heero's dark, messy room, his hair hanging loose around his porcilen face. He was, Heero noticed, dressed to spar as he often was.
Sighing, the litheth young Japanese man turned back to his computer.
"Hn?"
"Spar with me." The tone was imperious, as usual, and Wufei's voice told Heero it was a demand, not a request. Heero's eyes narrowed as he clicked his mouse.
"No."
Holy shit. His fingers flew over the keys, and his mind had already begun to forget about Wufei, who walked up behind the chocolate haired man.
"Yuy, spar with me." He said, and then: What the hell?! Wufei's eyes widened when he saw what Heero was doing. He's researching Relina's...asassination?!
"I'm busy."
"Hn," Wufei ran his fingers through his hair, and calmly shook his head. "I can see that."
"Hn."
"So the bitch finally bit the dust," he smirked at the irony of it.
Heero was not amused. "Hn." He ignored Wufei, eyes widening as his computer began to upload.
'For Heero Yuy - The Fighter,' was the heading.
"Damn," breathed Wufei as he scanned the screen, and Heero nodded in agreement for once, scrolling down the page and stopping at a picture of an extremely well preserved old pistol. Tied to the trigger with a scarlet silk ribbon was a note.
"This one's for Zero. Long live the fighter!" Heero's breath caught in his throat.
"Yuy, it looks like someone is.." Wufei's now soft voice trailed off as he tried to find the right word to represent what was happening, but Heero understood.
"Hn," he scrolled down the page again, and it stopped abruptly at the bottom, and was signed: 'Love, A & S.'
If Duo were here, he'd be humming The Twilight Zone. But the thought brough no comedy relief.
"Well..." Wufei slapped the other man on the back, breaking his mood. "Spar with me!"
Heero sighed, and shook his head, not deigning to answer; Wufei glowered at him.
"Don't be a bastard, Yuy," scolded the black haired man, and Heero turned his glare on him.
Prussian blue eyes narrowed, spelling trouble for the Chinese man. "Well, I am pissed.." The words were venomous and deadly. "Fine, I feel like kicking your ass."
Obviously he wanted to kill the bitch, Wufei snorted at Heero's fit of temper, watching as Heero downloaded the page onto his hard drive to save it.
"Ready?"
He nodded in reply, and followed Heero out of the dark room and into a short hall, turning to the left. They went through an empty doorway, one that led the pair into a twenty-foot by twenty-foot padded room. The room was whitewashed, the only furnishing a metal cabinet in the left back corner, and int the opposite corner was a punching bag that hung from a creaky looking chain. The two men faced each other, standing in the middle of the room.
Fuck! Heero though when he realized that he was in less than adequate clothes for a spar, namely loose khakies and a white muscle tank, not to mention white socks. But he shrugged off the thought and stepped back, balancing himself and flexing for battle.
Wufei did the same, his eyes eager for the fight with a worthy adversary. A 'friendship' based entirely on fighting..how ironic. He smirked; not that he thought of Heero as a friend..
Heero saw the smirk, and his need for the fight increased; his heart beat fast in anticipation. Still he waited; he would not make the first move. Wufei knew this, it was almost always so. He launched forward, then switched directions at the last minute and did a sweep kick. Heero flipped over him and swung his fist, nearly connecting with Wufei's nose, but he countered beautifully, twisting to attempt a haymaker into Heero's torso. Heero bent with the attack and grabbed Wufei's arm; with an inhuman twist on Heero's part he flipped Wufei. Unfortunately, the Chinese man landed on his feet, crouched like a prowling cat.
It was Heero's turn, now, to smirk. "Careful, Wufei. It almost looks like you're trying.."
"Hardly!" Snapped Wufei, defending his pride. He stood slowly, and the pair circled each other. This is one damn good fight... This time Heero surprised Wufei; he shoot forward, but just when Wufei thought his attacker would follow through, he didn't. The Japanese man spun around so that he was facing Wufei's back. Heero back kicked the unfortunate Wufei, in the curve of his spine, sending the surprised x-pilot into the padded wall. He hit it with a "thump," all the air leaving his lungs. Heero awaited his comrade's recovering, which occured quickly.
"You are good, Yuy," Wufei looked at his opponent in admiration; the day Yuy found himself beaten was the day that Wufei himself had become the best, he was positive.
"Don't fuck with me!" snapped Heero, his whole body screaming for the exertion of a good fight. The pair launched at each other again, both punches making contact with a jaw, and Heero stumbled back. He pushed his finger against the inside of his cheek, pulling it out.
Blood!? Sucking the bloodied finger, he watched Wufei pick himself up.
"God damn it, Yuy!" coughed Wufei. "It's a spar, don't kill me!" he glared at the perfect soldier through his pearl black eyes, and Heero just smirked again.
"I AM holding back."
What a bastard, thought Wufei, raising an eyebrow.
"Yuy, I don't think anyone could deny that you are a sadistic bastard."
Ohhhh shit! thought Wufei, watching as Heero got truly angry. His mind screamed at the sight, and the last thing he saw was Heero's fist, coming his way.