Gundam Wing: Purple Grass
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Version 1.1
June 12, 2001
Author's Note: This is only version 1.1, so their are still some misspellings in names, etc.
Dedicated to: Everyone who's ever had to lay a loved one to ground.
"As I stand here before you now, I implore you to listen to my words. For they are the truth in its purest form, and thus must be heard. There are those who would stop this truth from being spoken, from being heard! I beg of you, all of you within the sound of my voice, do not let these infidels silence me! Don't let them silence the truth!"
Heero sipped his coffee, absently watching the broadcast of the opening remarks of the new representative of the colonies. The new representative was a young man, charismatic and attractive, and thus winning great favor from the majority of the public. He was a religious zealot, though, and Heero had high hopes that it would be the politician's downfall. Instead, it had been used as a platform on which the election campaign had been built on.
"Relena Dorlin must be cast out of the house of our government, for it is the holiest of places, where all our morals and justices spring from in these modern times. Relena Dorlin is a threat to the peace humanity has worked so hard to achieve. She has worn more than even her brother, Milliardo Peacecraft / Zechs Marchis. She was once Relena Peacecraft, but changed her name to Dorlin so as to hide herself from the ax of justice, only reappearing as her true self when it benefited her, so that she could become Queen Relena, queen of all earth and enemy of all the colonies, which I now humbly represent. 'And those who wear the mask of misinformation and distortion shall be cast out, or the fate of the house shall be to collapse upon itself.' So reads the book of Zidane!" The politician held up a crimson leather bound book, thumping it's cover. "Relena Dorlin has also been a known consort to murders and terrorists, namely the Gundam pilots. Her own brother once attempted to annihilate all of humanity"
"This guy is so totally bogus!" shouted a young man from the café's entrance. Heero didn't have to turn to see who it was, the voice alone being enough to bring the other man's image to mind. It was that of a man, dressed all in black. He was wearing a matching black cap, pulled low over his eyes. A long, brown, braid swung like a cat's tail behind him. Heero closed his eyes and again sipped his coffee. The screech of a chair's legs across the tiled floor alerted him to Duo's arrival.
"You're late." Heero commented, his eyes still closed.
"Oh like you've got anything better to do." Duo sourly replied. "Besides, I have a good excuse."
"I'm listening." Heero took another sip of coffee.
There was a long pause before Duo spoke. "Sally Po and Wufei are dead."
Heero's eyes snapped open instantly. "How?" His voice was a low, cold growl.
"Some new type of nerve gas. A van pulled up outside of Sally Po's estate and then exploded. Everyone in about a mile radius was killed instantly, the lucky ones anyway." Duo watched his friend's reaction carefully. He'd been around Heero too long not to have learned Heero's little gestures that meant he was in a homicidal mood. "Noin called me at work right away. She has been named as Sally's successor." Duo looked away from Heero's eyes. "She called me to tell me what's happened… and to make me an offer." Duo turned his gaze back on Heero. "She wants me to join the Preventers as her personal advisor and left hand."
"Who is going to be her right hand?" Heero finally asked.
"Actually, she's offering that position to you."
"Me?" Heero blinked in mild surprise.
"Yeah, you." Duo stuck his tongue out. "You weren't her first choice, so don't get too big of a head. Trowa flat refused, and with Dorthy having twins on the way, you know Quatre isn't accepting."
"Are you accepting?"
"… I already have."
Heero sat in silence for a moment. He was not one to shock easily, if at all. In a period of five minutes he had learned that a man he considered a friend and a woman who in another life might have been his mother, had perished at the hands of terrorist. Now to have this dropped on him as well… It was almost too much. He had been living with Duo for the past year now, since the day Hilde had committed suicide. Heero still had his doubts about that, but had never voiced them to Duo. Coincidently, the day Hilde committed suicide was the day Milliardo had died on Mars in an accident. Heero didn't believe in coincidences. Shortly after Heero had moved in with Duo, Noin had returned from mars to pay respects to her lover's grave. Again, there was no body to go with the tombstone, but Lucrezia knew he was dead this time. At the funeral, Duo and Noin had done their best to console each other, but it was Heero who had to drive them home. Noin had spent the night at Duo's place, Heero opting to sleep on the sofa and give Noin the guest bed.
Heero could still see that night in his mind, as fresh as if it was happening before him now.
The storm raged outside, the rain hammering at
the windows and wind screaming like a mother for her child. Heero was occupying
himself with folding out the couch. Noin had passed out early, from a
combination of booze and grief. Duo sat across the room from Heero, neither
offering help nor commenting on Heero's attempts at struggling with the century
old contraption. Duo simply sat in the overstuffed armchair, a glass of some
brown liquid in his hand. The melting ice shifted positions, clinking against
the glass.
"Heero, I'm going to ask her to stay here." A
jagged spear of lightening lit up the sky outside the window.
"Here?"
"Yeah."
Heero looked down at the fold out couch, not so
folded out. He shoved it with one hand, disgusted as it snapped back into
place, once again becoming a couch.
"Yeah, I was thinking of turning the attic into
a pool room, and moving Hilde's bed into the current pool room. I just can't
sleep in that bed anymore." Duo closed his eyes, holding back the tears. "It's
kinda lumpy anyway." He quipped, his voice briefly sounding normal, save the
way it broke at the end.
"Oh." Heero blinked.
Duo laughed harshly. "What's the matter, old
buddy? Thought I was either kicking you out or sentencing you to the couch for
eternity?"
"I'll sleep with you before I sleep on this
couch."
Duo laughed again, this time almost normally. "Do you remember the night you, me, Trowa and Quatre stayed up all night,
playing cards?"
"Yes, I do. If I remember correctly, Wufei
didn't join in because Zechs had challenged him to a drinking contest."
"Yeah!" Duo started giggling. "It ended with
Wufei hopping on top of the table, and singing 'Hammer Time'."
"But then, just before he passed out, he ripped
off his pants and started singing 'Dancing Queen'."
"Yeah!" Duo was flat out laughing at the memory.
"The whole time, Zechs sat there asking if it was Halloween yet. Sally sat
there taking notes!"
Heero allowed a slight chuckle. "And then Dorthy
came in just as Wufei passed out."
"And Zechs jumped up and yelled, 'I remember
you! You stole my teddy bear!' Dorthy's face went bright red, and she snapped
back, 'Only because you took my panties and were wearing them on your head!"
Now both of them were laughing.
"And then," Duo paused, laughing too hard to
continue right away. "And then Hilde came in, dressed up as a cocktail
waitress. And she said… and she said…" Slowly the laughing turned to sobs. "She… she… she said…" Tears began
streaming down his face. "She's gone! I wasn't even here that day and she went
without me. Hilde! Why couldn't you have waited for me? I was-"
"I don't understand." Heero interrupted.
"I- what?" Though his red cheeks still
glistened, Duo's sobbing filled rant had jerked to a stop at Heero's unexpected
interruption.
"I don't understand."
"What don't you understand, Heero?" Duo rubbed
under his nose, sniffling.
"Why we mourn the dead."
The grandfather clock began chiming midnight.
"Taking this a little hard, aren't you?" Duo snapped Heero back to the present. "Don't worry dude, you can still crash at my place."
"I wouldn't feel comfortable there. And Relena…"
"Yeah, with that pansy fiancé of hers, it'd be too… weird." Duo was quiet for a moment. "Ya know, she still has a thing for yo-"
"I'll take the job. We've got a shuttle ready for earth?"
"Yeah, we're hitching a ride with the circus shuttle. It'll be good to see Trowa again. Besides…" Duo leaned back and grinned, "It's free!"
Trowa's Voice: As Duo, Heero and I make our way to earth, the Representative of the Colonies announces the unthinkable and terrorist, possibly the same that murdered Sally Po and Wufei, attack our shuttle. A new MS appears and saves the day, but who's side is the pilot on? Next time on Gundam Wing: Purple Grass; "Heaven Sent"