Once again, hello all. It's been a frantic few weeks for me, but I managed to get this chapter finished. I don't have much to report except all my friends are abandoning me, but life goes on . . . at least I have all my loyal fans ^_^
AC 207: The Hands of Fate (Part XIII)
The Consequences of Repetition
"You're telling me you weren't even worrying about terrorists and protesters?" Milliardo's tone sounded incredulous. "You've been away from the Sanc Kingdom much too long."
Relena sighed. "Dreams can distort memories, I guess."
"And that's why I don't really understand the purpose of dredging this kingdom up again." Milliardo was standing at the window behind his sister's desk, looking out over the garden and, further out, the graveyard. "Can't the Peacecraft name rest in peace?"
"You still carry that name."
"Only because I don't care to change it. Being a dead man is refreshing."
"I'll tell you what I tell myself everyday, as a Peacecraft," Relena said after a moment. "It's gotten to the point where I don't really belong with that name any longer. I no longer believe in total pacifism, but I still dream of a world where it will happen. We have to keep the dream alive, for others and ourselves. That is the important thing. If we all give up hope for peace, there is no way it will happen. There is no place I'd rather be than with my family . . . but here is where everyone else obviously wants me. Some may think I'm making a fool of myself, but some will be encouraged by my stance. Those few people could turn the tides to a war-less world."
A bird chirped on the tree outside, and Milliardo shook his head, disagreeable. "Your ideals are fine in times when there is no fighting, but in times of war it's the people who have the best troops and the best technology and the greatest numbers who win. In this case, we all have the strength of our convictions, no matter how immoral or shortsighted they are. That is why I'm uneasy about things."
"Mariemaia will win, I'm positive of it," Relena said. Her fighters are very dedicated, that much is clear to see. She doesn't pay them, Milliardo, but they follow her with only the will to stop the war."
"But when? It could be years before they overwhelm Beliv's troops."
"That is why we must uphold a strong symbol until this war is won. That is why the Peacecraft name has been resurrected. People need a prominent mark to turn to in times of uncertainly and hopelessness."
Her voice echoed from the garden outside, and a small group of swallows took flight. She certainly had the strength of her convictions, which was indeed the mark of a Peacecraft. It was funny, though, how she supported the ongoing of scuffles within the human race itself. She was, as any woman ultimately became, practical. She understood that people could never not disagree. That wasn't the mark of a Peacecraft. It was more like a Darlian, yet for now she claimed the Peacecraft name. How ironic.
"Than a dead man resurrected would be perfect for the job," he said.
"What?"
"I'm alive, and I should have been killed," he gripped the windowsill with his white gloves. "I can become the Peacecraft Kingdom now. There is no need for you to stay here when you have a family to take care of, especially with the ideals that would have been so controversial to father. I'm a veteran of the old war, and I'm sick of the fighting. I think total pacifism would only drain you now. Let me take over here."
"What do you have planned?" she accused. "I don't intend to give up this hope if it's going to be manipulated into one of yours and Heero's plans for sabotage."
Milliardo raised his hands to ward off her wrath. "I have nothing like that planned. My job as Shinobi is over. I quit, I promise. It's too dangerous to linger between those bombs any longer. Noin wants to settle down somewhere out of harm's way, and at the moment the shock of seeing Milliardo Peacecraft alive might help the tension on Earth. You're busy with other things and can't handle running a kingdom at the same time. Your stance would contradict your situation."
"Let me sleep on it," she said. Milliardo knew he should prepare to take over. Relena was a practical woman. She knew when to back down. She knew what was more important.
~~@[~*,~]@~~
"Are you sure?" Dennis bit his lip. "That information could very well be false. It could be a trap, Marie."
"No, I don't think so. It makes sense for Beliv to stop right behind the border. He'd wait until we relaxed and then charge right back in with minimum warning time on our part. We have to attack while they're still damaged."
"Whoever said anything about them being damaged?" Ben pointed out. "They came off that last battle fairly well, I thought.
"You don't think we should attack?"
"I don't think it will be significant either way."
"Considering that they'd have backup nearby, it puts us at a disadvantage," Dennis said.
The comm beeped.
"Yes?"
"Ma'am, our intelligence indicates that the Earth fleet and several allied colony fleets are converging not far from here. They're headed into Beliv's territory."
"Thank you," Mariemaia said. "Good job."
"Thank you, Ma'am."
Mariemaia glanced at the others in triumph. "See? We should prepare to move out."
"We can't expect that Une will defend us. We're criminals to them!" Cam said.
"But we'll all be fighting Beliv. If the stakes get too high we'll pull out. We'll be fine. We've got the finest group of pilots of everybody."
"You sure have faith in your troops," Ben said.
"Would you rather me not?" Mariemaia issued her orders swiftly and boarded Fortuna, who was already started up. "You were right after all," she told the gundam. "Today is going to be busy."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
"You ready, buddy?" Duo jiggled the controls to get Deathscythe warmed up. "Man, I wish I'd trained a little more. I'll be lucky if I survive this."
A FINE IMPRESSION TO LEAVE ON YOUR SON, Deathscythe said.
"Oh, what a great sense of humor you have," Duo said sarcastically.
I THOUGHT YOU LIKED TO JOKE.
"Leave my son out of it."
"The tension mounts, huh?" Quatre, too, warmed up his equipment. "I haven't been this nervous sense Relena was kidnapped. I wonder if—"
"Don't even say it's an omen."
"I was going to say maybe we'd get another glimpse of that strange gundam in Mariemaia's fleet."
They launched.
"Quatre, Duo, Beliv's ready for us," Une said. "He's been preparing his troops for this battle. It's easy to tell from the arrogance in his voice. Be careful out there."
"Roger that," Duo sighed.
The mobile suits approached quickly. Duo knew that these suits were better designed than the old ones. Their armor was far superior to Gundanium. This time, he and Quatre were at a disadvantage. He struck the front line from above, not waiting for the enemy to notice his approach. His survival all depended on his ability to be unexpected.
Quatre narrowly avoided a blast from a beam cannon and cursed inwardly. Ground combat was his best area of expertise, not space combat. He struck left with his sickles and chopped the sensor array off of the enemy mobile suit. Disoriented, the pilot's reflexes caused him to plunge into his comrade (the one who'd made the shot at Quatre) before he exploded.
Left— right— back— ugh, up— Duo waved his twin-ended scythe desperately. A whole squadron of enemies had converged on him, intent to take out the most major threat to the battleships. He yelped as one of his panels sparked, only then realizing that his suit had been damaged. "Damn!"
The five pestering suits surrounding suddenly split in half and cauliflowered outward in flame. Duo caught sight of some kind of giant shuriken outlined in the explosion as it engulfed him.
"God, of all people, Maxwell, I would have thought you'd have been sane enough to stay out of this battle."
"Marimaia. Boy, I could never say how good it is to hear your voice at the moment, girl." Duo grinned, glanced at his screen, sliced another suit and turned to Marie's image on his comm unit.
"My fleet's a good ten minutes behind me. I came ahead to help you hold your own until then." She spoke coldly, as if she didn't know him. Her face disappeared and the brief conversation was over.
THE PRESENCE IS HERE AGAIN, Deathscythe said.
"How did she get here ten minutes ahead of her own fleet?" Duo wondered aloud. He remembered Deathscythe's reading of the power output on the "presence" and swore aloud. Those were damn powerful engines.
"Hey, Quat! Marie's here!" He shouted into his comm after opening the channel again.
"Sandrock's getting all jittery again," Quatre confirmed. "I mean, they can't feel fear, can they?"
FEAR IS A HIGHLY AMBIGUOUS WORD, AS EMOTIONS ARE SUBJECT TO DEBATE AMONG ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, Deathscythe said.
"Deathscythe said that they're feeling they're own type of fear," Duo reported. "What do you want to bet it's Mariemaia's new ride?"
"No doubt," Quatre said as a shock wave rang through his cockpit. "Yaah, get BACK! That was too close."
"What does it feel like, Shinigami?" Duo insisted, swinging his scythe and catching the beam saber of another enemy.
IT IS LIKE, TO PUT IT IN HUMAN TERMS, TRYING TO DESCRIBE A FUTURISTIC CITY IN SPACE WITH THE COMPREHENSION OF A NEANDERTHAL. THIS SUIT IS THE PINNACLE OF THE ULTIMATE UNDERSTANDING THAT I HAVE NO WAY OF PLACING UPON THE HUMAN SITUATION.
"That can't be good," Duo said.
IT IS VERY GOOD, BECAUSE IT IS ON OUR SIDE, Deathscythe corrected. BUT THIS THING IS BY ALL DEFINITION IMPOSSIBLE. IT OVERWHELMS ME.
"Count on the daughter of Treize to achieve that," Duo muttered.
~~@[~*,~]@~~
"How are you doing out there, Marie?" Dennis's voice came through, slightly fuzzy from the jamming.
"I'm okay," she shouted back. "The Earth Sphere United Space Force is doing pretty damn good for green troops, but they'll need our help before long. I think we timed things just about right.
"Good. All that less doubt in your leadership, I guess. We'll see you there soon. It's dangerous to talk like this."
"Right. Bye." Marie hit the switch and turned her attentions back to the battlefield. It was just a matter of how much she was willing to fight, really. She could probably make this battle hers alone.
ARROGANCE IS ONE OF THE LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH, Fortuna cautioned her. I DO NOT BELIEVE WE WOULD SURVIVE IF LEFT TO OUR OWN DEVICES.
"What makes you say that?" she asked.
BECAUSE I KNOW MYSE— the screen flickered and Fortuna interrupted herself. WHAT WAS THAT?
"What?" Marie scanned the surrounding space and blinked. "This is crazy. Is that a horse?"
THAT MUCH I CAN CONFIRM, Fortuna said.
BUSY, BUSY, said a voice that sounded, as best as Marie could describe, like funeral bells. YES, THAT'S MY HORSE BINKY. ARE YOU MARIEMAIA?
Marie glanced to her left and about died from an exploded heart. "WHAT THE—"
PLEASED TO MEET YOU TOO, the skeleton grumbled. Marie realized its eye sockets were glowing, and that everything but her had frozen in place. CALL ME DEATH. NO, I'M NOT HERE FOR YOU. COINCIDENTALLY, I HAPPENED TO BE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND MY FRIEND ASKED ME TO DELIVER A MESSAGE TO YOU. HE SAID TO TELL YOU THAT IF YOU EVER NEED HIM, JUST CALL FOR HIM. HE HEARS YOU WHEREVER HE IS. NOW, IF YOU ASK ME, THAT'S EXPRESS SERVICE. I MEAN, I'M USED TO IT, WHAT WITH SNAPPING MY FINGERS AND ALL THAT, BUT FOR A HUMAN THAT'S A GREAT FAVOR. AH, WELL, BACK TO WORK.
"W— wait. W— who?" Marie leaned away from the skeleton, but he was already drifting out— through her entry portal and back to the inexplicable horse.
OH, I DID FORGET TO MENTION THAT, DIDN'T I? HE SAYS TO TELL YOU HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS YOU'RE WORTH THIS MUCH TROUBLE.
"Oh, that helps," she bit off sarcastically.
WELL I'M GLAD. I REALLY MUST GO NOW. PEOPLE TO TAKE TO THE AFTERLIFE AND ALL THAT . . .
"That is really annoying," Mariemaia remarked as time snapped back into place. "First I'm being pursued by a ghost, now it's Death himself!"
SAY AGAIN?
"You heard me. The God of Death just paid me a visit."
PERHAPS THAT WAS THE ENERGY FLUCTUATION I DETECTED.
The horse was gone.
"This is messed up," she sighed. "Next thing I know someone's going to tell me all my base is belong to them." Marie found a mobile suit to take her anger out on.
HUMANS ARE SUCH RANDOM CREATURES, Fortuna said. IN A STRANGE WAY, IT IS ALLURING.
~~@[~*,~]@~~
Duo couldn't resist the boyish urge to try and compete with Mariemaia. All she was to him (although Deathscythe said he could translate an image from the energy signature) was a ball of light. There was no way he could ever catch up to her, but he was putting all he had into it anyway.
"Hey boys, have you met Shinigami? Heh, now you have! Good luck in the afterlife!" He laughed with exhilaration. "Just like the old days, huh Quat?"
"Duo, look out there's a suit on your tail—!"
He turned and brought up his scythe, just barely in time. His damaged arm wasn't performing as well as he would have liked. The enemy made a cut low with his beam saber and alarms sounded where Duo again wasn't fast enough to counter. He swore. "Damn. Quatre? Marie? Guys, help me out here! I gotta get back for repairs!"
"Duo, I can't! I'm hung up! Mariemaia, help!"
Duo cut power to his left engine, which was overheating. He overcompensated for the sudden sag in propulsion and rammed into his opponent. He lashed out with his leg and managed to strike the other with it. "I'm outta here!" He hit full power on his thrusters and the left one failed entirely. "Damn!"
The other suit, seeing he was distracted, struck.
There was a flash of heat and light, and then everything went utterly black. "And I didn't even have time to scream," he muttered. "Hey, wait a minute, I can still hear myself."
THAT IS A COMMON MISTAKE. The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. In fact, Duo wasn't sure he should have called it a voice. It was really just ideas in the form of almost-words appearing in his brain. IT IS MERELY A MEMORY OF YOUR VOICE TALKING TO A PROJECTION OF WHAT WAS FORMERLY YOUR PHYSICAL STATE.
There he was. Death. Shinigami. Duo stared. Or at least he thought he stared. "Say again?"
IF I COULD ROLL MY EYES I'D BE DOING SO, said Shinigami. FOR THE ONE WHO CLAIMS TO BE MY PHYSICAL INCARNATION YOU SURE DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW THINGS WORK.
"I just kill people," he said.
THEN YOU ARE NOT DEATH, the skeleton in the cowl said. DEATH DOES NOT KILL PEOPLE. PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE.
"You sound like an NRA representative. God, you know one of those people came to my door just recently. He tried to sell me a gun when I had a baby in my hands. They're such evil jerks it's sickening . . ."
I AM NOT A GOD, MERELY A FIGUREHEAD. Death sounded irritated. I WISH PEOPLE WOULD GET THAT STRAIGHT. AND IT DOESN'T HELP, YOU HAVING GONE AROUND PROMOTING YOURSELF AS ME. THAT'S DOWNRIGHT NOT NICE.
"I didn't call you God. I do have my own God, thanks."
YOU SAID—
"It's a figure of speech!"
AH. Death twiddled his scythe. WELL, ARE YOU READY TO GO INTO THE AFTERLIFE OR WHAT?
Duo gave him a look. "Dude, why would I ever be ready to die? I've got a wife and a baby who won't even remember me! Hell no, I'm not going!"
I AM AFRAID YOU DON'T HAVE MUCH OF A CHOICE IN THE MATTER, MR. SHINIGAMI. NOW, GO. THERE IS A . . . WHATSIT— ANGEL WAITING TO TAKE YOU. AND MY, SHE LOOKS RATHER IMPATIENT.
"I do have a schedule to keep," said the angel wearily. "You can write up your challenge waiting in line at the gates. It's quite busy at the moment."
Duo planted his, um, feet firmly on the, um, sand(?) and shook his head. "No."
Death reached out and grasped Duo's arm with a set of carpals. YOU MUST GO, MR. MAXWELL. DON'T MAKE THIS DIFFICULT.
"I'm not ready. You asked."
IT WAS A RHETORICAL, POINTLESS QUESTION, sighed Death. MAYBE I OUGHT TO STOP USING IT.
"Is there a problem?" Someone materializ— um, appeared out of nowhere.
MY MISTAKEN FOLLOWER REFUSES TO DIE, Death said.
Duo sputtered. It would have been funny if he'd had a glass of water, he reflected later.
"Well, that's unfortunate," drawled the ghost of Treize. "There's been quite a few tonight, I think. What does he look like this time?"
Death held up his now numb arm. Well, it would have been numb if he'd had nerves and all that. Death had a strong grip.
Treize looked over Duo and his "expression" turned from boredom to anger. He seized Death by the other radius/ulna pair and yanked him away. "We had a talk—"
They had an argument, and Duo found himself more and more lost with every word. There was something about prearranged . . .
Finally, Death turned. FINE, BUT NO MORE FALSE PROMOTIONS OF ME AND MY JOB, he said. He snapped his phalanges.
Duo blinked. The world suddenly looked blurry and— "Ah, bright," he whimpered, squinting into his own personal sun.
"Thank God, we all thought we'd lost you, Maxwell." Une leaned between him and the light, a relief on his part.
"No, thank Death," he said. "And thank your old boyfriend, too. They wouldn't let me die."
She raised an eyebrow. "Maybe they didn't bring you completely back. Doctor, Maxwell needs a bit of a brain scan."
"No, he's always like this," Quatre came to his rescue. "Don't worry about it, Une. He's fine."
"Yeah, I'm fine." Duo concluded that he was in a medical suite aboard their cruiser. "In fact, I kinda feel like getting up—" he started to sit up.
"That wouldn't be advisable," Quatre said, quickly pushing him back. "Pain medicine's wonderful, but you definitely shouldn't be trying to walk. You almost got both your legs blown off. It's a good thing our spacesuits are fireproof."
Duo looked down. "I can't see my legs. Are you sure they're still there?"
"There's a bedsheet over them, Duo," Une said, exasperated.
"Joking. It was a friggin' joke, okay? I almost died. How do you think I feel? Can I be allowed a little humor?"
"Not in my presence."
"So leave."
She turned one hundred and eighty degrees and did so.
"Lady Une has her own sense of humor," Quatre said, smiling a little.
"Yeah, I just don't find it funny."
"At least you didn't get court-marshaled for talking back to a superior officer. She's in one of her better moods."
"Yeah, 'cause she thought I died," Duo muttered.
"That's a little harsh, Duo," Quatre scolded.
"Duh."
"On another note," Quatre continued, ignoring his rude comrade, "Deathscythe was almost completely destroyed. I have no idea what we're going to do now. All we have left is the brain casing, and it will take at least a year to build another gundam."
"I'd be happy if you but his brain in a Kirin or something," Duo said. "Although I will miss that scythe."
"I'll talk to the engineers about a temporary brain-switch," Quatre said ponderously. "That might be an interesting feat of biotechnology . . ."
"I'd like to keep my mind in this body, thanks. Blonde's not my style."
Quatre chuckled. "I was talking about Deathscythe, silly."
"Once again, joke."
"Well, it's nice to know you're not feeling too bad. If you need the nurse, there's a button over there that pumps more medicine into your IV. Either that, or yell."
Duo grinned. "I'll try the button first. Drugs always help."
Quatre excused himself and left Duo alone to think.
Duo discovered his hair had come out again and started to attempt to rebraid it. He ran his hand over the tangled mass and felt something sharp. He made a face and rooted around until he found it, and pulled.
It was a mouse. In a cowl. A mouse skeleton. SQUEAK, it said.
Duo grabbed its minuscule scythe. "Dude, can I have this?"
SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEEE SQUEH SQUEAK!! said the Death of Rats, stomping its tiny feet.
Duo laughed. "Too bad, mine now!" He swished it experimentally. "This is a cool blade, all blush-clear and all . . ."
SQUEAK, the Death of Rats sighed. It snapped its fingers.
"Argh, my legs! Okay, you win," Duo squeaked. "Just give me back my clothes!!"
You know, he thought suddenly as he heard a distant, ghostly chuckle, maybe that ghost is what Mariemaia's been so up in arms about.
You know, he thought suddenly as he listened to himself think, I'm starting to consider Treize Khushrenada's ghost normal. Now that is messed up.
~~@[~*,~]@~~
It's made of such a strange material, Mariemaia thought as she looked over Fortuna. The wings from far away looked like metal, but up close. "They're almost like feathers," she whispered, stroking the vein patterns, which shimmered in the bay lights. "Who had the time to design such detail and refinement?"
She'd asked everyone who'd had any experience with the mobile suit about the origin of it, but no one was able to confirm the exact shipment it came with. But there was no way she had come in pieces, as Dennis had said. It wasn't possible to assemble something like this that quickly.
"Where did you come from?" she asked.
The gundam seemed to breathe, to move beyond the vibrations of the engines. Mariemaia was almost convinced the suit could move by itself when she wasn't watching.
The only quirk she noticed, however, seemed to be the fluctuation in reaction time. The response seemed to change on the basis of individual actions. Especially the kill swings. It was like Fortuna didn't trust her.
She climbed into the cockpit and ran a diagnostic on the computer. I'M IN PERFECT CONDITION, Fortuna said.
"You had battle damage," she challenged.
There was a pause. I AM SELF-REPAIRING.
Marie closed the hatch and sat back in the seat (it was always warm). The whole cockpit had a very human feel to it, unlike Heavyarms or her old Kirin's very sterile, mechanical effect. Everything was so graceful and soft-colored. The walls had a faint vessel pattern. The seat was soft and conformed to her body. When she got up there would always be an impression of her back against it for a few moments. It was almost like being inside a womb. "Let's be frank," she said in the seclusion the seal offered. "You don't really trust me, do you?"
IT IS DIFFICULT FOR ME TO ADJUST AT THIS POINT, Fortuna said after another pause. I HAVE MANY CONFLICTS TO CONFRONT BEFORE I WILL BEGIN TO TRUST ANY PILOT.
"I didn't know gundams had emotional difficulties."
YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, YOU HUMANS, she said after a much longer silence. The words seemed to burn on the screen. NOT THAT YOU'VE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN, OR ARE UNWILLING TO LEARN, BUT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.
"So teach me," Marie said.
I CAN'T.
"Why not? I am hungry to escape this primordial soup of ignorance my people dwell in. Indulge me, please."
I DON'T TRUST YOU YET.
Mariemaia felt herself deflate with disappointment. "Well, I'll tell you something about myself," she said quietly. "My father was a great aristocrat in his time, though controversial. He waged war and was eventually killed. He loved war. Because I was young, he was my hero. I waged war and loved it. Now, people still judge me by those actions, and I still judge myself. I've done everything to run with only those who see through the cape of presumption that's been laid on my shoulders, but I can't ever escape my father's ghost."
YOU'RE RUNNING FROM THE PHANTOM OF YOUR PAST, AS AM I, Fortuna said. I CAN OFFER THE COMFORT THAT WE MAY SEE MANY THINGS IN THE SAME LIGHT.
"Who are you?" she asked.
I AM A MOBILE SUIT NAMED FORTUNA, IN THE ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF LATIN IT MEANS FATE. I DID NOT CHOOSE MY NAME. I DID NOT CHOOSE MY DESTINY, EITHER.
Marie smiled. "And I am Mariemaia Khushrenada, the symbol of all righteous human conscientiousness. That's how they should see me, whether they actually do or not."
GOOD LUCK.
Marie left the gundam to herself and paused again at the great black wings. She ran a hand down one, and jumped when she thought she felt it twitch. It must have been my imagination, she thought, trying to calm her pounding heart. The material rustled aside to reveal more layers. Who are you? She wondered again.
"If there could be a perfect mobile suit . . ." Cam said quietly, watching. He had come to help her with the check-up, but was finding little to do but watch her. Marie couldn't hear him from where he was. "Not to mention a perfect pilot. She's a beauty."
Marie turned and saw him reclining against Fortuna's palm.
"They wanted you on the bridge," he said and she left immediately.
"Marie, you know we haven't thought up a name for our little mobile nation?" Ben asked as soon as she arrived.
"I have the perfect name," she replied, her eyes turned to the panorama of stars in the viewscreen. "If justice is what we seek, then we must run from the ghosts of immoral human ideals. I think . . . I think the Phantom Runners would be perfect."
Dennis and Ben met each other's eye and smiled behind her back, catching the metaphor but not its whole meaning. "The Phantom Runners it is."
~~@[~*,~]@~~
"Long trip, honey?"
Relena smiled and fell into Heero's arms. "Yes, but I think everything's taking an upward turn. Who knows, maybe the war will be over by Christmas."
"Speaking of Christmas, you know it's only a few months away."
"I can't believe it's already October," she muttered sleepily. "I didn't realize the Sanc Kingdom would keep me another month. It just feels like I've missed lifetimes with you and the girls . . ."
"You've already apologized, many times," he comforted. "They understand, and you have plenty of time with them now."
"I suppose," she said. "I thought I knew that war rips families apart when I was fifteen, but being a parent is even worse. You feel responsible."
"Responsible? Me? Never." Heero said.
Relena smirked and jabbed him lightly in the stomach. "You get guilty when I tell you to comb your hair. Don't give me that."
Heero hugged her and sighed. "Yeah, I know. I've been thinking, though, even if the war isn't over, it wouldn't be a bad idea to find an excuse to throw a Christmas party."
"I'd been considering that myself," she replied.
"Just family and friends," Heero continued, "no big political names. It's been so long since we've all been together it's just insane."
"It only seems like days ago I came home to find Zero on the front lawn," Relena reflected. "I haven't been able to breathe properly since then."
****************************************************
That's it for this chapter. Duo meets Death, as promised (it's supposed to be funny). Well, I've got one more chapter planned for this book before I move on to AC 208: The Search for Truth. So stay tuned for Heero and Relena's Christmas party, AC 207: The Hands of Fate (Part XIV): "Snow Drifts Down Slowly Upon Decimated Souls."