Awwrighty folks, this is the chapter I know you've all been hungering for. Let me tell you, it's been a temptation to publish it early but my homework won out over my computer time *sigh*. I actually got so bored that I wrote both endings to this chapter (I'm only posting the one, though). My thanks to the 22 people that kept my fic going - thanks for the support, I really appreciate it! Now, no more stalling, huh?
AC 207: The Hands of Fate (Chapter IX)
"Choices"
It was the next day when there came a soft knock at the front door. Sophie was in the shower, so she didn't notice. The doorbell rang and she swore softly. What a time for a visitor! Hurriedly, she wound her hair up in a turban and tugged on her bathrobe.
He was a big man, thickly built but not overweight. His dark curly hair was dominated more with gray than she remembered, and his somber black suit replaced by a polo shirt and jeans. There were dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept for weeks. He looked at her half in surprise and half in amazement.
"D— dad?" Sophie gasped, unable to force anything else from her deflated lungs. Her heart leapt in sudden excitement.
David Dukovne's face brightened, and he threw long muscular arms around his daughter. "Sophie, it is you! Oh, God child, you could never imagine how good it was to hear your voice last night!"
"I was saying goodbye!" Sophie struggled out of his grip. She loved her father more than most things, but he and her mother and siblings had always come as a package deal. "I can't stand you guys any more. I need my own life!"
He caught her chin in his gentle, rough-skinned hand. "You called the wrong man, then, I'm afraid. My dear, your mother and I haven't spoken since the day you left. That message you left gave me a spark of insight. I've called the metaphorical hounds your mother had sent off your trail. We divorced, and none of my children have even so much as sent a Christmas letter. I had to come after you called. I just wanted to see your face, Sophie!"
Sophie sank into his words, leaning on every familiar spin his Jewish accent put on them. She looked at him in shock. How could she have missed that when she had gone through records last night? Knowing that was one of many questions she'd need answered, she stepped back and gestured inside. "Please, come in."
Immediately, her acute hearing picked up some noise, and she excused herself and rushed off. David wondered momentarily what it was, but distracted himself with the decor. His daughter's dream had once been to be an interior decorator, and the house did her justice. He questioned why she needed such a big house just for herself and her humble private investigator business. There were no picture frames for him to study in the living room, although he had seen a few out in the hall. He, however, respected his daughter's desire to host him in the living room and settled down on the couch.
After a few minutes, Sophie came back, dressed in a button-up shirt and sweat-pants, cradling a blanket to her chest. David's eyes widened as he realized what it was. "My lord, I'm a grandfather!"
Sophie smiled and blushed, sitting down beside her father to give him a better view of the baby. "His name's Vincent," she said, stroking the wisps of black hair affectionately as he worked at his late-morning breakfast.
"And does Vincent have a last name?" Always the concerned father, David was ready to go beat the snot out of an abandoning paternal figure.
Sophie laughed at his tension, making Vincent protest as he lost his grip. She apologized to her son absently. "His full name's Vincent James Maxwell. My husband's at work right now. Calm down!"
David chuckled at his own over-protectiveness. "I suppose you were always better at easing my stress than I am on my own."
"I noticed your answering machine message sounded more than a little paranoid," she admitted. "What's happened that's made you so careful?"
David waved his hand, dismissive. "You know how your mother holds grudges. I'm afraid for my money . . . maybe even my life. She got the short end of the stick when we divorced, so to speak. It's become more of a habit than anything else."
Sophie leaned forward. "No, tell me. I want to know what happened."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
"He's lost too much blood." The doctor shook his head sadly. "I don't think this kid's going to make it."
Dennis's eyes blinked open, startling the nurse. "Life has indeed been a great adventure," he croaked, a grin on his face. "I don't see why death would not be an even greater one."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Heero sat at the head of the table, not speaking despite the furious argument. The senator who had last spoken calmly made an interesting point. Why are we fighting? he wondered. And why is this war compared to the one ten years ago? They're exactly the opposite of each other. I wish Treize Khushrenada was still alive. He'd be able to keep this under control.
Beside him, Mariemaia growled. "Stop it!" she shouted finally, pounding her fists against the table and causing water glasses to bounce. "How are we going to obtain settlement if we can't even keep peace among ourselves?"
The senators gave each other embarrassed looks and began to calm down. Relena nodded in thanks to Mariemaia. "She speaks the truth, ladies and gentlemen. In fact, I would go so bold as to say that this is why this war started: foolishness and indecision allowed authority to become distracted. Do we want to repeat that mistake so soon?"
There was a mumbled chorus of nos.
"Then, let us continue."
"Mr. Yuy," an elder senator said. "We have yet to get your opinion on this."
Heero blinked coldly. "I was wondering when you would come to me. This responsibility seems to have been shoved into my arms. If you are really asking my view, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you all. The time has come when the Gundams' true purpose is finally acknowledged. We can't hide why they were really built any longer, or deny it as we all do, especially because we are not fooling anyone but ourselves. We have to fight. It is not I that have objections to fighting with them. I believe in the battlefield. Phailin?"
Phailin, still recovering with her tragic experience that morning, nodded, knowing what Heero wanted her to explain. She touched the paper she had written to help her with this presentation. "The gundams were rebuilt only with blueprints that the government had come into possession of, the engineers reported. They did, however admit to having needed to hunt for special parts from the original gundams. The hunt actually took years, but the gundams would not be complete without these parts. In fact, the necessary equipment from the originals was the head. The inner heads were extremely protected from the self-detonation devices, for good reason.
"Some time ago, the gundams Sandrock and Shenlong began to communicate. They revealed to the pilots that they disliked their utilization in these wars. The mobile suits are alive, they claimed. They were not being hacked, nor had they been tampered with. Captain Chang and Shenlong gave me permission to dig into Shenlong's head to figure out what was causing this self-awareness. My suspicion that is was the NERV circuits was correct, but it was more than that. The gundams are living creatures. Their biological germanium-based brains survive on electrical energy, as their bodies are mechanical. This is why the gundams were such revolutionary war-machines; a direct mental interface between suit and pilot cuts reaction delay time down to almost nothing. Germanium is a metalloid, and the fact that the NERV circuits were made of this was overlooked, but germanium is also in the same family as carbon, which is why it is a good element to create life from. Myself and several other engineers are investigating this incredible discovery, and should have further results at a later date."
On Heero's other side, his wife's jaw fell open. She looked at him quizzically and he shrugged. Heero had known for a long time that Zero thought. He didn't know the technicalities of it and could have survived without knowing. "A reminder," he said over the voices of the excited politicians. "This issue is extremely top-secret. No word of it leaves this conference chamber, understood?"
Mariemaia studied her hands, a little shocked. Is that's what's happened with my Kirin? And if my suspicions are correct . . . doesn't it not matter if it gets out— since all the designs utilize that technology anyway?
The intercom buzzed. "I have an urgent message for Mariemaia Khushrenada," said the guard.
Mariemaia leaned forward. "I'm here. Go ahead."
There was a pause. "Dennis Ender's condition has been updated to Urgently Critical. He's been taken back to the emergency room."
Mariemaia went pale. She glanced at her uncle, who nodded. "Please, excuse me," she said, rushing out of the room almost in panic.
"Dennis Ender, that boy that killed Senator Shimra?" asked Senator Terry Farmer.
"Mariemaia's been caring for the boy. Please, on to business," Trowa said.
Heero took his friend's cue. "That is not all we discovered on Ms. Darlian's rescue mission. Vincent, the floor is yours."
The black-haired young man further down the table nodded. "I was one of two of Lady Une's Preventer/Specials to be on the rescue team, because my companion Tovah and I were already there with Beliv's fleet, on a spy mission. We, however, had been unable to get much information, until Ms. Darlian came along anyway. It wasn't until we were imprisoned that we had the spare time on our hands to hack into Beliv's database. This is where it gets handy to have me around." Vincent rolled up his left sleeve and bent his wrist back. There was a pop as he manipulated the hatch with his other hand, and artificially-created flesh attached to a metal panel popped open. "I lost my hand when I was twelve to a piece of heavy machinery. The artificial hand I invested in when I was eighteen contains a computer chip that is wired into my nerves so the limb operates smoothly. When I was promoted to the Specials and then recruited into the Preventers, I upgraded the chip so that I could have a large amount of spare memory. This chip is worth a lot more than some of the houses you guys live in, and I was able to download a lot of information, almost all the files on the ship's database. I haven't been able to have access to a computer with enough memory to get the downloads off this chip, which is why I have two bodyguards in this room right now."
The senators glanced around nervously. Milliardo and Heero did their best to do the same and not glance at each other, as Relena had been reluctant to trust Vincent to anyone else.
Heero said, "Likewise, this issue is not to be discussed outside of these doors. This information could be the turning point in this war."
Une nodded to Vincent. "I'll make sure and give you access to a Preventer database. Speaking of which, I think it is time to shift world funding back to Preventer work. The war is here, and the Preventers continue to require money if these covert operations are to carry on."
The Head of the Treasury Department cleared his throat. "Colonel Une, funds are stretched tight as it is—"
"Fine, but we have a much greater chance of losing this war without the Preventers."
"— and we may have to cut money to other departments more concerned with public relations."
"NO!" Quatre protested. "Public relations are very important right now! We must unite the Colonies Clusters L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5 with us before we progress much further. Without them, Beliv has a much larger force than us and could leave Earth in shreds. Besides that, we need public cooperation even just here! The riots and protests have distracted our fighting forces drastically. If we leave the civilians on their own, we could break into civil war!"
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Beliv mused in his private cabin, entertained. The repairs to his flagship had progressed rather to his satisfaction. The loss of Princess Relena had been a blow, to be sure, but they would recover. Of course, her kidnapping had been unplanned, but it had affected his plans and delayed his actions. There was a knock on his door. "Yes?" he called.
Beliv's second-in-command Dorothy Catelonia stepped into his chambers. "Sir, I've come to inform you that we have new information you might find rather useful in your pursuit of ruining Relena Darlian." She nodded informally and stepped into his chambers without further beckoning. She dropped an exquisitely manicured hand on his shoulder and handed him a data card.
Beliv, already sitting at his computer console, plugged the disc in and opened the first of three files. It was two images of birth certificates. One was Akiko Yuy, Born May 28, After Colony 201 and Raina Yuy, born January 20, After Colony 207. Both were born to mother Relena Darlian, but the father was unlisted. The second file was an image of a marriage certificate, uniting Heero Yuy and Relena Darlian. The third and definitely most valuable was a photograph of Yuy, Darlian the two children together. It was very recent, taken only a week previous.
Dorothy smirked. "I had wondered why Eciane was so excited about these."
Beliv nodded. "We have no proof that Yuy is the father of the two girls," he pointed out. "Only that he is married to the Princess."
"Good point," Dorothy said, her face growing more malicious. "This should be enough from that spy of yours, shouldn't it?"
"If he could find us more it would be minimal compared to these," Beliv agreed.
Dorothy smiled to herself. The war so far had been meager and dry. She couldn't wait for the goose to fatten up a little more. She glanced idly at her watch. "Oh yes, and the staff meeting's in five minutes."
Erik was in such a good mood that he didn't even bark at her for the late warning. He extracted the disc from his computer and stood. "Let's go. The Senate meeting on Earth is in full swing?"
"Affirmative. This way, Admiral." Dorothy fell into step with Beliv, back held straight in her new uniform, long blond hair brushed back carelessly as if she knew she was invincible.
"When are you going to tell me who this spy of ours is?" Beliv asked as they entered the chamber. All his underlings were there, awaiting his leadership.
"Oh, I couldn't tell you who Shinobi was even if I knew. He's been very secretive," Dorothy said slyly.
"Sit," Beliv said coldly, angry that she was denying him information. "Let's get this started." He seated himself at the head of the table and called the meeting into order. "Let's start with a repairs report."
The chief engineer nodded and looked down at his report. "Repairs to the hull of the Gayla are ninety percent complete, and repairs to the inner decks and ship functions are at sixty percent, sir. Repairs have been completed on decks one through seven and on decks twenty-one through thirty, and deck thirty-six. The only hull breach remaining is on decks twelve through fifteen. The only remaining interior repair work in on decks eight through sixteen. We are a week and a half ahead of schedule and re-launch of the Gayla is expected before the month is out. As we all know, the computer system on the bridge was not damaged in the attack."
"Good work," Beliv grunted, pleased. His men had been working extremely fast. "What about the colonies?"
Representatives from the four colonies all expressed their prosperity under Beliv's firm hand. Riots had certainly become less frequent, they said, although Beliv knew they were lying. The economies of the colonies were no better than they had been before he'd come to band them together. His intention had never been that much, so it mattered little to him. He was only after Earth.
After many more grueling reports containing a lot of numbers and charts, Beliv held up his hand. "Gentlemen, I intended to keep this meeting brief, but I would ask one more thing from you before you leave today. Be a good audience as I spread the word I have received."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
The four television screens filled with static. Then, a very familiar face appeared. "Good evening, Senate and special guests," Beliv said. "I have a special gift for you all today, especially you there, Ms Darlian. I recently came across some information. Perhaps you would like me to share it with you . . ."
Relena leaned forward. "Oh, I would indeed."
Beliv's loathsome face disappeared and a photograph replaced it. Relena looked to Heero, startled, but he only shrugged. "Odd that he should have gotten hold of that. I just put it in the album a few days ago."
"Heero—"
He shushed her with a look. He scribbled a note on the back of a piece of paper and passed it to her.
"Doesn't this photo interest you all?" Beliv asked. "And I can tell you, that's not all. I also have copies of a few certificates. Particularly, of the girls' births and the marriage of Relena Darlian and Heero Yuy. What's strange, however, is that Yuy is never listed as the father of the children. Don't you find that strange?"
Relena smirked, feeling herself go into Darla Starhand Mode. "Do you think I've been cheating on my husband?"
"I never said it." The reply sounded childish. "But I bet that's what people will think when I go public with this."
Heero snorted. "Like they care. It's all tabloids anyway. You know how easy it would be to fake documents like that?"
The photo disappeared and Beliv's face sneered again. "So, are you denying that these are real, even though before you said you'd just handled that photograph?"
"I don't deny it," Heero said. "I'm saying that you can't make other people believe you if they don't want to. The point is negated."
"Is it really?" Beliv's face disappeared, and the monitors went blank.
The Head of Defense jumped out of his seat. "They hacked into our security systems!"
"And you didn't think they could? The state of our internal security is laughable. I've said that numerous times," Trowa said.
Une grimaced. "This is all coming on too fast. We weren't ready for this," she muttered.
Relena nodded in agreement. "We're falling apart already. I think now is time for drastic action."
"What are you thinking?"
". . . I'm still a princess, right?"
~~@[~*,~]@~~
"Soooooophie, I'm hooooome!" Duo shouted as he came through the door, and she immediately knew he was in a good mood.
"In here," she called, feeling the baby stir in her arms at the sound of his father's voice.
Duo stopped in the doorway. "Er, hello. Soph? Um—"
Sophie beckoned him to her. "Duo, this is my father, David."
Duo's eyes widened with pleasant surprise. "Welcome to our humble abode, Mr. Dukovne—"
"David's just fine, now. This has been quite a day. First I get a call from my daughter, whom I never expected to see again, and now I find out she's married to one of the most famous men alive! It's an honor, Mr. Maxwell!"
Duo chuckled and reached for his fussing son. "Just call me Duo. Y'know, from the way Sophie never talked I thought I'd never meet you."
Sophie tried to hide her embarrassment with a grin, but her father had never had trouble seeing through that. "Now why would you do that?"
The phone rang. "I'll get it," Sophie said hurriedly.
"Nonsense." Duo shot her a scheming glance and dived for it (Vincent thought it was marvelous fun). "Maxwell residence. Oh, hey Heero. What?"
Sophie's expression fell. She gave her husband a curious/panicked look.
Duo held the mouthpiece away. "Later. What? Yeah, Sophie's here. She's talkin' to her dad, hold on a minute, I'll pick it up in the other room . . ."
"What's this?" David asked his daughter.
"I don't know," was the response. "I think something big's happened."
David sighed. "It must be stressful living with a gundam pilot right now."
Sophie nodded. "But we get by."
In the other room, Duo was biting his lip. "Oh, man, that's bad. Is he going to be all right?"
"I don't know, Mariemaia got a message that he'd tried to kill himself again. I tell you one thing, though. Shukumei's got something to do with things. I get the sense things might split into parallel universes. But on to business: We discussed some things in the meeting that I don't feel comfortable talking to you about on an open line, frankly. Either I need to come visit you or you need to come visit me or we need to meet somewhere in the middle. What's it going to be?"
Duo made a face. "Why don't you and Relena and the kids come over and stay with us? We're a little crowded because Sophie's father is visiting, but there's a nice motel just a block away."
Heero nodded. "I figured you'd say something like that. I'll see you in three days."
"Yeah. Say hello to the gang for me." Duo put the receiver down. From the sound of Heero's voice, nothing was going well.
~~@[~*,~]@~~
How did it come to this? Mariemaia leaned hard on the gas pedal, gunning the engine more than she should have, but she didn't care. The highway was almost empty, and there were no police hiding out to catch speeders because of the riot downtown. News had gotten around about Dennis. There were protesters, she knew. She saw signs that said "If he wants to die, don't stop him!" and it angered her.
No one has the right to decide their own death. In times like this, people need to trust in Fate. No matter what happens, someone's going to be unhappy. That's life. It was meant to be, and you can't be unhappy all your life. No matter who you are, there will be times to celebrate. Dennis, I was going to throw you a party when you got out of the hospital. Please, Dennis, make it, for me, for us all.
Mariemaia slowed and pulled into the hospital parking lot. She leapt out of her car and ran in. Sally Po called her name. "I knew you'd be over here as soon as the message got through."
"Why'd he do it?" she asked, her voice full of confusion and grief.
Sally held her gently. "We may never know. Some kids are just very unhappy. I remember seeing the same signs in Wufei when he was his age . . . the loneliness, abandon and recklessness. He may just think he's no use to anyone the way he is."
Mariemaia looked to her shoes for answers. She had talked with him only yesterday and she had cheered him up considerably. She'd offered to see if Une would take him in as an apprentice strategist . . . and she knew he'd be useful. Marie didn't understand his motive. "Is . . . is he going to be all right?"
{DRUMROLL & TIMPANY (BIG EMOTIONAL PERCUSSIAN) PLEASE . . .}
Sally nodded. "He lost a lot of blood, but we were able to catch him in time. He'll be all right."
{GONG}
"Thank God," Mariemaia sighed, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Relief rushed through her like a calming drug, making her legs weak and rubbery.
Sally hugged her gently. "As soon as we get the blood back in him we'll have antidepressants in his system. I don't understand why, though. He seemed so happy after you came to visit."
Mariemaia shook her head. "People are hard to understand. I presume he's unconscious?"
"He probably won't be awake for several days."
Mariemaia nodded. "But at least he'll survive. Thank you, Sally." She left the doctor to her work and sat down on one of the couches in the waiting room. She pondered over Dennis's reasons. People trying to commit suicide generally had reasons in the material world for leaving. Is he afraid for me? She thought.
"I bargained with Death to save his life," someone said. Mariemaia looked up to see her father, sitting opposite her.
She scowled. "Yeah, so? Are you trying to earn brownie points or something?"
His image shrugged. "It's difficult to say these things, especially in my fear of falling even further out of your favor, but I tried to save his life because I know you care for him. He is valuable to you, and therefore valuable to me. Marie, I know you're angry with me, but despite everything I think the only reason I'm still around is to make sure you'll be okay."
Mariemaia waved a hand, feeling extremely irritated that he would ruin her moment of relieved anxiety. "I don't want a fucking ghost following me around. I can save my own ass!" Without another word, she stomped out.
Failed again, thought the ghost sadly.
YOU KNOW, I HAD A DAUGHTER ONCE, said Death ponderously. ADOPTED, BUT STILL A DAUGHTER. AND IT'S NOT LIKE I DON'T HAVE FEELINGS. I MISS HER.
Treize growled. "Well, at least you knew her. When she was born I didn't even get to hold her. I didn't get to hold her, my own daughter! Her mother let me name her, but that damn Dekim had big plans. I never saw her after the day she was born. I wasn't allowed, her own father not allowed seeing her. God, if I'd known what he was up to then I would've given everything I had to take her away."
THAT'S TERRIBLE, Death agreed sympathetically.
"And what's worse, her mother didn't even want her! She wanted me to have her as my own, but Dekim wouldn't let me!"
JUST OUT OF CURIOSITY, asked Death meekly, as if afraid the ghost would lash out at him, WERE YOU AND HER MOTHER . . .?
Treize shook his head. "No, not at all. I was eighteen and a fool. She was a rich girl and easy. It was both of our faults, and I offered many times to adopt the baby, but she went and told that father of hers. You know, I'd hate to think of what her brother Trowa would have done to me had I not been a trained swordsman."
AN UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCE, said Death, feeling that he needed to contribute somewhat to the conversation.
"Maybe . . . maybe I shouldn't blame her for hating me. All that she had to suffer through in her young life I could have prevented but for my own cowardice. I would have been her guardian legally if Dekim hadn't stepped in, and I could have taken it to court. I probably would have won, but I feared the man," sighed the ghost, sinking into a state of self-pity. Death had seen this mood swing before, but he'd never talked this much about his daughter before.
DO YOU WANT ADVICE OR ARE YOU JUST TALKING TO HEAR YOUR OWN VOICE? asked Death.
"I guess I'm just talking to myself. Ah, well, another day I'll try again. She probably needs to blow off steam. Thank you, by the way. Thank you for sparing Dennis."
Death held out an hourglass, which was filled with blue mist, all the sand settled in the bottom. YOU HOLD ON TO THIS. I DON'T WANT TO BE ACCOUNTABLE.
The ghost nodded. "I think I know someone who'd like to have it, too."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Mariemaia sat by his bedside, feeling horrible inside. Dennis was so thin still, as if his body refused to heal all the way. At this rate, it never would.
It had been a week since he'd found a knife sharp enough to cut himself with. It'd been a week since Marie gave as much of her blood as the nurses would let her to bring him back out of danger. "If you only knew, Dennis," she whispered. "If you only knew how much we all love you—"
"Don't be cruel," he said back, refusing to meet her gaze. "Why couldn't you just let me go?"
Mariemaia held his limp hand tight. "Because you mean too much to me."
"I'm weighing you down. If I was gone . . . you could have stopped wasting your time about me. You could be off trying to keep the world at peace, and instead you're here, making yourself weak. You missed an important Specials meeting, you know. I saw it on the news. I'm hurting your reputation as an officer."
Marie shook her head, sending slightly damp red-gold curls flying. "If it comes between my friends or my reputation, I'll be by your side night and day. I can't just abandon you. That's my choice."
Dennis was silent for a long time, staring at the wall opposite of where she was sitting.
Mariemaia continued, "One human being is all it takes to start or stop a war. There are billions of them out there. I'm a small, insignificant statistic unless I want to be someone big. I don't want to go out the way my father did. It was a stupid, pointless death. Because of just a few people, the human race is tainted. One drop of blood on a white napkin spoils the whole thing. It's the individuals that are so precious as to be worth saving, my friend. We are all so beautiful and diverse but as a whole we don't fit together the way a puzzle should."
"Have you talked to Une?" Dennis asked after digesting her little speech.
"I did. She says you're too young to employ into the military. I think she feels a little frightened that someone your age could predict Beliv's moves as closely as her chief strategists can. Une looks to me for advice, Dennis, and I'll listen to every word you say. She doesn't have to know you're involved—"
"Stop," Dennis said tiredly. "Leave the hopes and dreams for somewhere outside a hospital. Look what I got in the mail today."
Mariemaia took the letter, typed on fancy office paper and signed with the familiar signature of Prime Minister Terr. Dennis was to undergo trial for his assassination of Representative Shimra and his theft and misuse of government property. Her heart fell. "We have to get out of here," she said.
As Mariemaia left the hospital, feeling much lower although Dennis was making steady recovery, she was met by a crowd of people that stretched down the streets for blocks. A familiar redhead stuck his face out over the others. "Ben?"
Ben bowed with much motion of the hands and grinned. "Hey, sister. We heard about Dennis's trouble here, and we came to help."
Mariemaia crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh?"
Ben grinned again, his freckles standing out more. He'd gotten a bit of a tan during the conference in Africa. "Lots of pilots are opposed to the way the government's treating you as if you're a piece of property that they can twist into different images. Just say the word, girl, and you've got us at your fingertips."
"How so?" Mariemaia looked at him, puzzled.
Ben gestured to the crowed, which was watching her, anticipating. "Every which way, little sister."
Mariemaia surveyed the people. There were probably thousands of them, blocking traffic in peaceful assembly. More and more herself, she was becoming concerned about what actions the government was taking— and what actions they were able to take. Marie knew she'd be a strong leader, and probably much more capable of running a military organization, as it did nothing to mess with bureaucracy. "We'll see," she said. "We'll see how Dennis feels."
**************************************************************
TA DAAA! *applause*. In a 9-8 vote, you guys wanted Dennis to live. I really didn't expect for it to be that close, but I've got stuff planned and I'm already working on Chapter 10, so you'll see it soon!
Relena Peacecraft (AGAIN) returns to the ruins of the Sanc Kingdom to confront her family's heritage, this time with Milliardo at her side (notice how I've never called him Zechs? I'll explain that). The pain and purpose of the homecoming is ultimately lost on only Heero, who considers it a free vacation. Beliv's fleet patched up, the self-proclaimed Admiral leads a campaign into the Earth-allied colonies only to meet up with a willful Quatre. The pilot and the Manganacs have something up their sleeve - but what? Find out in the next installment of the never-ending fanfic: AC 207: The Hands of Fate (Part X): "Power Conquest"