Out of popular request . . . here it is, Heero's proposal to Relena. Why'd I call this book the Hands of Fate? Find out here! There isn't much to say right now. This is a bit of a dark chapter, too. This book is intended to be a lot more like that than like AC206, which was much lighter by contrast. I'm getting things saying that these chapters are moving by slow, but they represent a lot of philosophy type stuff and so naturally I have to go into quite a bit of depth. For those of you who are waiting for action, I promise I'm working on it!
After Colony 207: The Hands of Fate (Part III)
Delirium and Grievances
The tuna was delicious. Relena felt quite honored to have been invited to such a splendid dinner.
"It's the least we could do," Megumi, Heero's mother, insisted. "I'm sure you won't have time to eat home-cooked meals running around the colonies."
"Thank you again for inviting me. You know, I don't think I've ever had dinner here before."
"It was Heero's idea," Masao told her.
Relena, surprised, looked to her lover. He met her eyes for a split second before turning away to play with his food. He looked uneasy. "Heero, is something wrong?"
Heero shook his head hurriedly. "No."
Relena, Masao and Megumi had finished eating before he spoke again. His plate was still half-full, Relena noticed.
Heero stood, wine glass in his hand. "I can't take credit for this wine, since Relena picked it out, but I'd like to propose something with it anyway. As you may or may not have noted, today marks our three-year anniversary as a couple, part of the reason I asked her here tonight. I wanted to call attention to the fact that we've been through such trying times and have still managed to make it to this point unscathed, but that's not everything. To fully describe our relationship, I'd need several more pieces of paper than I had to write this—"
Masao chuckled.
"— and a hell of a lot more courage. I have too much pride to admit everything I feel out loud, but Relena, I think you have a pretty good idea about that. I knew we'd face more rough spots ahead when I signed into this deal, but the hardest ones for me have been not when we've fought, but when we're not together. The longest time in the past that we've ever gone without one another was a week. Three months from now I'm afraid I'll have forgotten what it's like to have you by my side, and I don't want that."
Heero walked around the table slowly, looking to the ceiling as if it would encourage him. Relena was more puzzled than ever. Heero had never made a speech before, much less one about how he felt.
Heero paused at her side. "And now I'm prepared to take the ultimate test. This night is more important to me than anything else I've done up to this point in time. I've planned for months for this, and I still can't believe I'm actually saying it. But Relena, I have to find some way to pledge to you that I'll be here when you get home. I need to know you'll still want me back. I finally decided what risk I'm willing to take."
Heero took her hand gently, and Relena sensed him searching for her eyes. She looked into those stormy blue irises and felt pierced by his thoughts. Suddenly the air felt electric, tense. Heero sank to his knees, and Relena's heart leapt into her throat. She couldn't believe what was happening. She'd dreamed of the words that were about to spring from his lips for the entire world to hear, but she'd never thought he'd have the guts to do it.
"Relena," he almost whispered. "Saiai, my love, will you be my wife?"
A tingle rushed through her body like nothing she'd ever felt. He said it, she marveled. He really said it. "Oh Heero," she sighed, swiveling in her chair. "Oh Heero, I will!"
Heero's face lit up like she'd never seen. His eyes sparkled and his cheeks flushed and a soft smile spread his mouth. He looked suddenly like a whole different person. Relena realized right then how much she meant to him, with that simple joyous smile.
Relena felt cold metal around her finger, and looked down to the most beautiful diamond ring she'd ever seen. She let herself fall from her chair, knowing Heero would be there to catch her. She hugged his shoulders tightly, still slightly disbelieving.
Heero kissed her sweetly, gently, like so rarely he had done before. Only at the hotel, to beg her to stay the night, and only the log cabin on her birthday last year. His soft lips touched hers and shiny-but-mussed hair brushed her forehead and his strong arms gripped her tightly as she felt herself go weak with happiness. "I love you," he whispered. "I'll love you forever."
Relena felt herself go faint. Distantly she heard Megumi trying to keep her crying from disturbing them. She sank against Heero's chest, feeling her tongue move of its own accord. "I love you too," she heard herself say, "but somehow eternity just doesn't seem to be a strong enough concept."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Relena woke up in the middle of the night. She'd slept for almost an entire day straight, and she'd dreamed—
Heero reached over to squeeze her shoulder and she realized what had awakened her. The baby had been crying. Her husband rocked her gently in his chair, bottle in his hand. "I was wondering when you'd respond to that," he said quietly.
She could only see his silhouette in the moonlight shining through the hospital window, but he sounded like he'd been up all night. She reached for their daughter. "Here, I can take her for a while."
Heero stood and handed her over, setting the bottle on the nightstand. Relena preferred natural feeding as opposed to bottles for the first few months. He sat beside her. "I got a call from Trowa. Some kid stole a mobile suit, assassinated former Britain's foreign minister and committed suicide."
"Did I need to know that?" Relena asked dryly. "So much for 'good morning.'"
"Yeah, sorry. He just called and it shook me up a little. He said the kid was a friend of Mariemaia's and she was really upset. He needed some help with counseling her."
"What'd you say?" Relena stroked her daughter's thin wisps of dark hair, a little disturbed.
Heero put his arm around her in comfort. "I told him to let her grieve. Apparently she went out to go find the body."
Relena looked up sharply. "She shouldn't see the mangled corpse of a person she cares about! Heero, the last memories Mariemaia had of death came with an entire mental turnaround for her."
"I know," Heero told her. "But I thought it would be an adequate reminder. Hey, I didn't tell her to go looking for it. She wanted to. I guess she feels she owed it to him or something. I know I'd go looking for you." He kissed her temple gently, and she realized his cheeks were wet.
"Heero . . . you've been crying."
"There are so many things going on here, all tangled together in a very intricate web. I've been watching the news. All the rioters around the world are young people. All the ones fighting are, too. The people even as old as us are crying for peace, but the younger generation keeps wanting to fight. What the hell is wrong with them?
"And now they want the gundam pilots out there to quell the uprising of the colonies. I don't want to go. I don't want to risk myself with Raina—"
"Raina?" Relena interrupted.
"Oh, I guess you were asleep, weren't you? What do you think about that name? Milliardo suggested it. It means "peace" in the old Sanc Kingdom language. I thought it would be fitting."
Relena looked down at the shadowy blanket-wrapped form in her arms. "I like it."
"Should I go fill out the rest of the birth certificate?"
"Later. Tell me what else is bothering you. You said many things."
Heero hugged her tighter, not replying for a long while. Finally, he said, "I was just thinking . . . that if I ever lost you like that I'd probably try and follow right after. I don't think I could take not having you close to me any more. I never really imagined that we'd ever be separated again, because of death or otherwise, and that's what made me so scared after that whole incident in Rome. I— I get the feeling I may not live to see our daughters grow up, and it scares me." His voice cracked suddenly, and he fell silent.
Relena felt another tear fall from his face. She'd never seen him cry so much as he had in the past six months. In fact, she'd never seen him cry at all before. He really was scared. She leaned her head against his and let him hold her, as she knew it comforted him. "Whatever happens, Heero, I'm going to try my best not to get us or anyone killed. You know that, right?"
"I can't help but be afraid. So many things are out of my control."
Relena looked past her distraught husband and out the window. The sky was beginning to brighten. Raina's small mouth stopped wandering for her mother's milk and in a moment she was back asleep, breathing deeply and evenly, like her namesake. She nudged Heero with her elbow and caught his eye.
The two of them watched the sunrise together, and Relena realized that they hadn't done that in years. "Perhaps it's a symbol," Relena thought aloud. "Maybe the universe is trying to tell us that it's all in the hands of Fate now, Heero."
"The color of the rising sun is red, love. Red for the blood that is to be spilled this day and the next until Fate finds a way to stop that. That sure gives me a reassuring feeling."
Relena sat, deep in thought. She said quietly. "In legends of old, there were many characters people believed to be real. There were the four horseman of the apocalypse, Death, Plague, Pestilence and Famine, and then there was another that was known above all others. If Duo can be Death, Heero, why can't you be Fate?"
"Shukumei," Heero muttered, not sounding pleased. "Is that what it's come down to?"
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Phailin clung to Wufei tightly. Wufei could tell she was scared. Her knuckles were white and she was cutting off the circulation to his hand. "It's really started, hasn't it?" she whispered.
"A terrible tragedy," Trowa replied sullenly. He looked very stressed. "This is going to haunt me for a long time. Mariemaia even longer. Once again, I'm sorry to disturb you, Wufei, but I couldn't wait. I know I've probably spoiled your guys' fun, but I think we are going to have to get together soon and discuss our next move. The war has started and we're going to get dragged into it."
Wufei nodded, trying to keep a straight face for his wife. "We were leaving here tomorrow anyway. Where do you want to meet?"
"Would you mind terribly going back to Heero's place? He offered it when I called him, and it's a wonderful location and big enough to house us all for relatively long periods of time."
"Okay." Wufei and Trowa gave each other brief goodbyes and Wufei cut the connection.
Phailin breathed a huge sad sigh and fell against his shoulder. "I never thought I'd admit this to you, Chang, but I'm starting to get scared. I feel like our lives are in serious danger."
"Oh, mine is for certain," Wufei confirmed, putting an arm around her bare waist, enjoying the warmth of her skin against his. "We're going to war, I know it."
Phailin nuzzled his shoulder. "But you can't. We just got married!"
"And why do you think that matters to the rest of the world?" Wufei asked bitterly, knowing he was right. Very few people knew in the first place that he was a husband and a soon-to-be father, and even less gave a rat's ass.
He slipped his hand inside Phailin's, slender and cold with fright. "Let's go for a walk."
Phailin sighted with relief, and the two swimsuit-clad Asians made their way down to the beach. They paced slowly down the sand, the village firelight (artificially authenticated) casting a romantic glow for them and the other honeymooners.
"I think when I leave you should go back to your village. You'll be protected there," Wufei said.
Phailin looked at him, startled. "I thought I was coming with you."
Wufei grimaced. "Normally I wouldn't have a problem with that, and you know it. But the medical profession still hasn't worked out the kinks in space travel for pregnant women. I don't want to risk it, and I'm afraid if I leave you alone in the city someone is going to try and kill you."
She stopped and gave her husband a strange look. "And so you want me to go back to the village? Wufei, I'd feel more safe at home."
"I trust your family better than millions of strangers and readily available transportation. Please, love, listen to me. I would feel much better if I knew you weren't easily accessible."
"Wufei, I have a job! We can't both abandon the martial arts center at once!"
Wufei sighed. "I hadn't thought about that."
Phailin leaned against his shoulder. "I'll talk to the master and see what he can do. He's been so kind to both of us. I understand how you feel."
"That's all I ask." Wufei slipped his arm around her waist, impatient to feel the bulge of her stomach.
She laughed and the tight muscles contracted under his forearm. "You want a son, don't you, Chang?"
"A strong son to uphold the family honor," Wufei said playfully against the side of her face.
"You crack me up."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Quatre shuffled nervously. He hadn't addressed a crowd in a good year or so, thanks to Heero's sudden appeal to the public. He only hoped that others would see he supported the same noble stance as Heero, only with a more accepting point of view. I remember when our beliefs were exactly the opposite of what they are now, he thought.
After some careful consideration, Quatre had removed the dye from his hair and he was back to being platinum blonde, though Trowa had decided to keep his new style. Quatre had gotten a call right off from Trowa and had consolidated him for a full hour before his lover felt brave enough to confront the other pilots about the death of Dennis Ender. Quatre had decided to use the boy in his address to the public.
No one had really fully trusted Quatre ever since he'd gone insane and obliterated his father's colony, yet another thing to work against him. In fact, he hadn't really received a warm welcome from anybody except the Manguanac Corp. It's funny, I haven't felt even the slightest mental unstableness since Trowa decided he'd be with me, he pondered, surveying the people with unseeing eyes.
He stepped up to the microphone. He'd called a press conference and public address, but had decided against writing a speech. He reasoned he'd just say what was in his heart. He surveyed the crowed, full of laughter and lighthearted, and he felt pity for them. He didn't want to send all these young hopeful people to war.
"Friends, please listen to me," Quatre said quietly. His soft-spoken ness quieted his audience like Heero's insistence could never have done. "As we all know, for the past three and a half weeks Earth and the first five colony clusters are at war with the latest three colonies, who now call themselves the Colony Alliance. Though the Alliance is green in its development and is outnumbered by us, they have a potentially deadly weapon: they are united against us.
"Earth and colony clusters L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5 cooperate, but since Mariemaia Kushrenada's war we have not really known unity. Our colonies trade and share, but there are still many prejudices between us. I have come today to ask you to sacrifice your prejudice to save the life and well being of the human race itself. We need men and women to fight to defend our Earth and our colonies. We need soldiers to free us from the chains of war that have been shackled upon us. I come to ask you to get out there and fight for the peace we know we can obtain once again. We knew what it felt like. Don't you want it back?"
The volume of the audience rose with Quatre's voice. Young men and women were cheering, shouting things about how they wanted a peace. A true peace. "So go enlist, go train, and be alongside those from all over space to help us teach the Colony Alliance why they're mistaken. I will be right there with you!" Quatre promised them, and himself. He looked directly under the high podium and saw a very confused and injured-looking Manguanac Corps. He felt for them, he really did.
But he had to fight. He didn't really have a choice.
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Mariemaia burst into Trowa's office, a wild and exhausted look about her. "He's alive! Dennis is still alive!"
Trowa jumped out of his seat, where he had been doodling most inefficiently on his police notepad, waiting for news. "How? How could he possibly have been left alive after that kind of high-speed crash?"
Mariemaia shut the door behind her, obviously trying to be calm. "Well, he's had some pretty bad injuries to his head, and they think he's had brain damage. He's got a ton of internal bleeding but not a lot of outside injuries. They estimate he's got over fifty broken bones, most of his long ones, four in his skull and all his ribs. He was wearing his seatbelt, and there was a town close by where he crashed that had medical facilities. I saw the marks he made on the ground, too. He came in at a shallow angle, the nose of the Slyph plowed a long furrow about 300 meters long and he landed on soft swampland. It was just luck, is all." She leaned heavily on his desk, so much that Trowa heard the wood creak.
He walked around the desk and put his arms around her, letting the young woman lean against him. "Is he going to make it?"
Mariemaia closed her eyes against his chest. She'd learned to take comfort in her uncle in a way that some children never do even with their own parents. "It's about a two percent chance. He beat himself up real bad. He's in a coma. At the very least it take about six months to recover from all the trauma he's place upon himself, and nobody's ever woken up from that long of a coma. Poor kid . . . and I still don't understand why."
Trowa held her gently. She must have shed all her tears of grief before they'd found him, because her eyes were dry now. "I'm going back over to Heero's place for a conference in a few days. Do you want to come? It'd give you a chance to see the new babies, at the very least.
Mariemaia slid from his arms into his chair. "Yeah. I'd better go too. After all, I have some insights that might help some things."
"That's the spirit. I'm going to head out early. Why don't we go get something to eat? I'm sure you're starving after all that traveling."
". . . Yeah."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Three days later, fifteen people settled down in the cozy sitting room, next to a fire in the chilly early months of the new year, AC 207. Two fathers paced nervously, two mothers sat full of worry, two reunited lovers curled up on the couch near the fireplace, two Preventers struggled to decide if they would fight, two newlyweds spoke in secrecy, four children were silent at sensing the tension. One high government official surveyed the others; impressed at the sense of calmness they projected although they were afraid.
Lady Une didn't say anything, lest she disturb the seemingly peaceful atmosphere. It was late in the evening, and Trowa and Mariemaia had just arrived a few minutes ago. No one was willing to speak of the war, and her presence seemed to make the others nervous. It had been quite a shock to see the crowd when she'd first arrived, what with the three families. Ties between them seemed to have grown enormously since she had last seen them together. They seemed to know what the others were thinking with so much as a glance.
The boys and Relena all looked so different, too. No longer were they all so slender-shouldered and youthful. Heero, although his body looked less developed than the others, more typical of a Japanese man, seemed the most aged. Une couldn't have seen his state on television nearly as well as she did now. The poor young man seemed to looked death in the face. Relena, the sweet young teen Une had known had the look of motherhood about her, the sharpness of the skinny adolescent gone and replaced with smooth curves that Une had once hoped for but had never acquired. Mariemaia was barely recognizable. Her red hair had grown much darker, more gold, and womanhood seemed to have set full on her as well. The seventeen-year-old did indeed look like her father, not only physically. She projected that aura of being able to get things done, no matter what. She looked ready to go out and fight.
Suddenly, a baby began to cry. Duo rushed over to his wife and plucked his son out of her arms. "Aw, what's wrong, Vince? Ugh, never mind. I'll be back in a minute, you all." He rushed out of the room with an odoriferous Vincent.
Sophie rolled her eyes. "He's been doing that all the time. I don't think I'll ever have to take care of anything but food for the kid."
Relena smiled. "He'll calm down, trust me. No person has enough energy to keep it up for months, let me tell you."
Heero, across the room, shot Sophie a grin.
Sophie made a face. "So Heero Yuy can show emotion. Wow. You should smile more often."
"See, I keep telling you that," Akiko piped up.
Heero shrugged and turned back around to stare at the picture on the wall some more.
Akiko looked to her mother imploringly and received the response: "Let him be. Your father's got a lot on his mind."
Duo returned and they all came to the silent conclusion that it was time to get down to business.
"We can't delay the inevitable any longer," Quatre said. "I'm going out to fight."
Trowa squeezed his hand gently. "Technically, we haven't even started fighting yet. There have been a few minor scuffles between space ships, but no battles have actually taken place as of yet. Don't be so hasty, Quatre. You don't want to be the one to start them."
Une nodded in agreement. "We want to delay fighting as much as possible. Our mobile suit production has ended up being much slower than theirs with a limit to natural resources and the colonies claiming to be on our side, with an exception for the cluster L4 have been reluctant to provide us with much-needed supplies. If any of you have suggestions on how we're going to do that, I'd much appreciate it. I'm really struggling in the counseling chambers and funds have been cut off to our department."
"What?" Milliardo turned to her, startled. "Why hadn't we heard about this?"
"I have no way to get word to you," Une replied calmly. "Neither Heero nor Relena would tell me where they had hidden you."
Milliardo looked to his sister, who was rocking Raina gently. "I didn't want to give anything away. Come on, Milliardo, stop being unreasonable. You know I made a good decision."
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"Anyone have any battle strategy?" Une asked again, trying to keep them on-task. She wasn't in the mood for all this.
Heero turned from the picture on the wall. He'd been silent all the hours she'd been in the house, and now suddenly he seemed quite ready to exercise his tongue. "We must keep the colonies we still have united. We must keep the colonies on our side. Most of all me must convince the colonies to team up with us. This war is giving us a great opportunity. We can reduce the prejudice toward each other if we learn to fight together. This, obviously is the hard part, but everything should work out if we can get everybody united under one army."
"That's a very noble prospect, Heero," said Phailin. "How do you propose to go about this?"
"It is a very intricate idea that still needs fine-tuning, but I've given you the basics. I really think it would work, given adequate time. Now's not the time to explain it, but trust me on this one."
"Why don't you want to explain it now?" Duo gave him a suspicious look.
"Because it doesn't involve most of us here," Heero said flatly. "I'm almost not involved myself, if it weren't for the plan itself. I will speak to those of you who are involved at a later time, in private. I don't want to say it now. I have my reasons."
Une was taken aback. "Heero, there is no reason why you should question confidentiality—"
"I'm not questioning confidentiality. I trust you all. I just think it's critical that not all of you understand what's going on. Please, forgive me."
Heero began to leave, but Duo stopped him. "Something doesn't smell right here. Who the hell do you think you are, man?"
"I am he who is feared and respected above all others. You want to be Shinigami, Duo? That's fine, so long as I can be Shukumei."
"Fate? So you want to play God, do you Heero?" Wufei leapt to his feet. "You Baka! I can't believe how stupid you can be. This is war!"
"Heero, come back here!" Relena glared at him with the look of ultimate anger about her. "You aren't just going to run off without listening to the rest of us!"
Heero stopped, but didn't turn. "Fine, speak. What else is there to discuss?"
"Like, say, an ALTERNATE PLAN," Duo said loudly. "I can't believe you! D— Dangit, you can't just walk out on us and claim it's done!"
"I know it'll work."
"I don't care! Heero, come back here right now. Over here, before I smack you good and hard. I didn't give you the idea just so you could use it as an excuse!" Relena shouted to him, making the others cringe.
The woman's command was immediately obeyed. It seemed to have snapped Heero out of some sort of delirious state. He sat on the floor in front of his wife's chair, not speaking.
"I was able to scrounge some information about our opposition," continued Une. "I have specifics on the mobile suits and other equipment, but you don't need that right now. I also found out who's leading all that army out there: Erik Beliv. I believe you'll all recognize the name."
Relena gasped, Zechs growled deep in his throat and the others all winced. Except Heero. He was silent, dark shiny hair drifting over stormy eyes and a small, frightening smile across his face. All of a sudden, he began to chuckle. The room went silent and the laugh grew in volume. It was not a pleasant laugh, nor was it reassuring. It was not the high, quick laugh of his teen years, nor was it anything they'd ever heard before. He sounded like something out of a horror movie. "I knew it. I just knew it. What a fool. He wants revenge on me, so he's taking it against the whole world. Oh, this is going to be easier than I thought."
Relena gave the others a frightened glace then drew back her free arm. Heero was sent sprawling at the surprisingly strong blow, only he bounced back up because he was sitting cross-legged. He stopped laughing.
"Get a hold of yourself, man! You're scaring us!" Duo said, grabbing onto Heero's shoulders.
Heero gave him a look of pure— well, pure something. It was the scariest feeling Duo'd felt in all his life, that look. Not even watching Hilde die could compare with it. He backed away hurriedly.
"I promised I'd kill him," Heero said. "When I get that close, don't anyone dare try and stop me. He's mine. He's a marked man. Got it?"
"Go to bed, Heero. You're tired. And if I find you gone tomorrow I'm going to be so angry you'll never see your daughters again. Stop behaving this way. You're scaring me." Relena made a violent gesture to the door. "Maybe I shouldn't have asked you to stay here. And I want to hear all the details of this plan of yours. Before you tell anyone else. Now, go!"
Heero stood, unabashed and walked out.
Milliardo gave his sister a look. "Don't you ever tell me you've had to put up with that before."
She shook her head. "Not once in our entire eleven years together. I don't know what's come over him. I know you're worried about my well-being, Milliardo, but I promise nothing even close to this has happened to either of us before."
Akiko dropped down and climbed into her uncle's arms. "I don't get it," she whispered.
Mariemaia, having a bit of an idea, slipped unnoticed out of the room.
~~@[~*,~]@~~
"You're a clever girl. Like your father." Heero said as she knocked at the door. "Come in."
Mariemaia bit her lip and pushed the door open. Heero was lying on his bed, spread-eagle and belly-up. His worn jeans and black muscle-shirt seemed very faded indeed against the new bedspread. He continued, "You understand me, don't you?"
"Yes." Mariemaia sat by his feet. "I'm going to rise to power, aren't I?"
Heero patted her hand. "Oh, certainly. I apologize if this wasn't what you'd planned on for the next year or so but I'm sure you understand my reasoning."
Mariemaia nodded. "I've resigned myself to the fact that this is still very much Treize Kushrenada's war. Like it or not, I am his daughter and I can't deny my resemblance to him. I wish I could, but I'm old enough now to realize that you can't change what other people believe to be correct, whether it's actually right or wrong."
"Good and evil are only drawn out of perspective, remember. I'm sure Erik Beliv doesn't believe he's an evil man, although I'm convinced of it clear through. How else could I repay the man for all the suffering he's caused us but a nice clean death? One through the head, bang. He'll never even know he died."
Mariemaia looked at him. Despite Heero's rambling downstairs, he did have a powerful point. It had already been shown that Beliv would stop at nothing to ruin the gundams and their pilots. Although she couldn't figure out his motives, the man did have a lot of dirt on Heero and Relena. Motives matter very little when your life and reputation is in serious jeopardy. "What's the plan, Mr. Yuy? I'll do it."
Heero spent an hour outlining the strategy. To Mariemaia, it sounded practically infallible. "And I'll be there if anything goes wrong. I think everyone will like this, even though most of them never get to know what the hell I'm doing. That doesn't matter much, does it?
"I'm going to fight for the good of mankind," she told him. "Maybe that's what my father had planned all along. Maybe in some twisted way he thought he'd get a peace. I don't know, and that's not the point. When I hear people talk about peace, prejudice and fear, I can't help but think of my poor Dennis lying alone in a hospital on the very brink of the abyss. Any minute he could fall into that blackness, where mortal minds can't venture without losing themselves. Somehow, I feel like being here helps him. My distance from him calls him back from the edge. The doctor actually sounded a little more enthusiastic when I called him this morning."
Heero nodded. "A million thanks, Mariemaia Kushrenada."
She stood and made to leave. "I should get going before anyone figures out where I've been. Goodnight, Mr. Yuy."
"Goodnight."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Relena climbed into bed next to a sleeping husband, after tucking the baby into her crib on the other side of the room. She was angry, and turned her back to him. How dare he! she thought. What an outrage. What an insensitive little prick! Damn you, Heero. Damn you.
It wasn't long, however, until her feelings began to soften again. She reminded herself that her husband was under strain he'd never once experienced to the magnitude that he was now. She took pity on him, and rolled over onto her other side to face him. "I'm sorry," she told the sleeping Heero, reaching out to touch his hand. "I was yelling too much. Oh, Heero, it's not that I don't trust your plan, I just wish I knew what it was."
Under the bedsheets, Heero's foot moved. Relena felt it touch hers, and knew it was a signal that all was forgiven. She crawled closer to him, feeling strong arms envelop her. She buried her face against his chest, feeling the emotions rise to her head.
Everything she'd felt, everything they'd all felt hd been bottled up for a long time. It's natural for people to do that in the face of a danger that might take all your energy to escape from and dissolve, but that doesn't mean it's healthy. A few days ago Heero had been at her bedside, crying because of the fear and the joy and the tension and the relief and the exhaustion he'd been feeling constantly for the last nine months. Relena had never had training the way Heero had to help control when those releases happened, and it had all come out tonight through her voice, frustrated at his strange behavior. "I'm sorry," she whispered again.
Heero squeezed her shoulder. "It's okay, saiai. We all have our off days.
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Mariemaia, Milliardo, Une, Quatre and Relena. They were the plan. Relena wrung her hands. "Are you sure that's going to work? There's so few people involved."
"I've talked to Mariemaia already, and she seems confident enough. Of course, it all depends on the cooperation of the players, but I'll talk to them. See, we're all involved up to a point, but you guys are the ones with the main characters, so to speak. If history truly has a hard time learning from its mistakes, this should go directly as planned. However, it is loose enough so that we could alter it, should something go awry," Heero said, absolutely positive. "And it doesn't automatically look like something planned, see, so it'll catch a lot of military strategists cold."
"We're all going to have to be really good actors," Relena said quietly.
Raina began to cry. Heero picked her up and cuddled her until she fell silent again. He always seemed to have that gift with children. "Judging from what I've seen, that shouldn't be a problem."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
No longer could he disguise his ghostly image through the frost on the windows. Whether he had believed in the supernatural or not, it seemed to have hit him by the tail. A ghost is someone with unfinished business, and he, as always before, knew exactly what it was.
Heero Yuy and Relena Darlian embraced tenderly behind the window, wet with spring rain. He watched, feeling things he'd never felt. His perception turned, and a form came jogging down the road, the urge to get out and run around overpowering the dreary weather. Her red hair flashed, reflecting the lights of the house, and he realized who it was. A lonely child, saved from being a lost soul by a young compassionate boy who almost wasn't allowed to adopt her because of his age. Even the supernatural can interfere with the living world in some ways. He'd wanted the nameless soldier to have her. It felt right.
Mariemeia, her name once more taken from her father and not her mother, stopped suddenly, eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. She felt his presence, although she could not see him. She sensed his thoughts, his feelings, for their minds were on the same channel. So close had she come to meeting Death that she had never come completely back. That is the story of the girl who never knew a childhood.
If he had been standing, she looked straight at him. She had not gone far enough into the realm of the unliving to be able to sense who he was, but the realization would come in time. She sensed his approval of her, and her whole manner changed. The confusion that had reigned in her mind over her dear friend lessened, and the thought began to form. It would take a while, as a single cell takes three quarters of a year to become a child, but it would grow. She could feel him near, and that feeling gave her reassurance.
He himself felt changed at that. Never before had that kind of acknowledgment been given to him. It felt good.
He'd met Death. He really wasn't all that bad. It was just a job he had to do, not his personae. Death didn't kill people, people killed people. Death just made sure they stayed that way. Death had not taken him, because he was destined to become an ghost. Death was intrigued by him, the man who confirmed his death with such easiness as confirming life had been and did not seemed bothered by it. So much that being dead did not hinder him in any way. The puppet show still needed a puppet master, and there seemed to be a severe shortage of them.
It would change soon, thanks to Heero, and he could finally rest in peace. Until then, he had to go find some strings to pull.
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I'm just going to let you guess on the ghost. It really shouldn't be too hard. Okee, next Chapter I'm finally going to have a battle. So gear up. I'm not all that good at planning battles and the like, so it might be a while. Well, I hope 2 get some reviews!
-Chao, ItsumademoOtaku.