Crap, death scene. By request, Duo is spared his fate as the character portraying Mercutio. Quatre dies instead (are you happy, Lady Karasu?) Besides, it makes more sense, you'll see. Standard disclaimer applies. Oh, by the by, Wufei fans, he reappears in this chapter. Sorry about his disappearance. And I'm going to stop bashing Relena and Dorothy. It's hard to do that in an angsty situation. Sorry.
Duo, Heero and Quatre are in Horton Plaza. (I know, I know, enough about Horton Plaza already. This will be the last time, I promise). This would be an ordinary day, but Heero is sky high and showing it.
"I like this estate in Ireland, what do you guys think?" They are all looking at estates in Europe for sale online on Heero's laptop.
"It's beautiful, Heero, and the castle on it doesn't look drafty at all!" Quatre is almost as happy as Heero know that he sees that Heero is over Dorothy. Far more over than he had in mind, but still...
Duo looks at the starting price for bids and winces. "You're lucky we get huge pensions, Heero." he says, "But it does look nice."
"Great, then it's settled." Heero enters a bid. In a few moments, he is rewarded with a message that he has bought the estate. He smiles (gasp!).
"Now all you'll need transportation there." Quatre comments, "Let me give you plane tickets as a late wedding present!"
"Quatre," Heero starts, deeply moved, "You don't have to-"
"I want to," Quatre says firmly, "Please, Heero?"
Heero smiles again (gasp! again). "Thank you, Quatre."
"We'll need to my house so I can authorize it," Quatre continued, "And you're both welcome to dinner, of course."
Duo's ears prick up at the mention of food. "Thanks, Quat, that's very generous of you." The all walk to Quatre's nearest mansion. As the pass an alley, none of them notice the platinum blond head of the Lightning Count rising from it's hiding place, until...
"Heero! Look out" Quatre lunges at him, knocking him to the pavement. As they fall, a gunshot rings out, and the front of Quatre's purple vest explodes with blood. On impulse, after hearing the shot, Heero fires with deadly accuracy at Zechs. The two blondes fall to the ground simultaneously.
"QUATRE!!!" Heero screams loudly, He and Duo rush to support their dying friend.
"Heero, Duo, there is something I must tell you. I don't think I have much time left.."
"No, Quatre..."
"Don't talk like that..."
"Please. listen!" Quatre begins to cough, but he stops them forcefully. "The remnants of the White Fang have a base here in San Diego. They want a Gundam pilot to lead them in the massacre of the Peacecrafts and the leaders of the Earthsphere. DON'T JOIN THEM! There has been enough killing already, and their cause is wrong, wrong..."
"Never Quatre," Heero says through his tears, "I will do everything I can to stop them."
"And I'll help him too." promises Duo.
"Duo, Heero, you mean so much to me. Tell Trowa..." He begins to cough again. "Tell Trowa and Wufei how I died, and that they meant as much to me as you did..." his words trail of in a sigh as the little Arabian pilot breaths his last.
"NOOOOOO!!!!" Duo howls, sounding like a grieving wolf. But Heero stands up and walks with icy rage to Quatre's murderer.
"Why?" he growls fiercely, seeing that Zechs still lives, and grabs his shirt in his fists. "Why did you kill Quatre?"
"I meant to kill you. You will NOT have my sister, you godamnsonofabitch PILOT!" gasped Zechs, "I will kill you with my dying strength..." he tries to stab Heero with a knife, but Heero knocks him out.
"Die," Heero whispers to the body of Melliardo Peacecraft, called Zechs Marquise, "Die and know that I have married your sister in spite of you."
"Heero," Duo says urgently, "We have to get out of here. There may have been witnesses."
"But Relena, I can't leave her."
"Trowa and I'll arrange it. Just keep you're laptop handy."
"Thank you, Duo."
-The next day...
"My condolences, Miss Relena."
"He was a good man, I share your sorrow."
Endless platitudes surge around Relena at her brother's wake, but all she can do is stare and nod numbly.
"He didn't deserve to die." she whispers, fighting tears.
What makes it even worse was that right after they had found his body, she had received mail from both Heero and a friend of his.
"Relena," Heero's message had started, "I'm more sorry than you could know, but I killed your brother. In my defense, he fired the first shot, and he killed one of my best friends. I'm sorry. I would understand if you never want to see me again, but I have no other wish then to see you again. I can't be seen in the city, but a couple of my friends will help you if you ask them. I know this won't ease the loss of your brother, but I still love you."
She had been stricken with grief and rage. She screamed blindly and wordlessly, clawing unoffending pillows to shreds. But after the initial tide of rage subsided, she realized something.
Heero had been telling truth, for they found the body of another young man near the body of her brother. It had been her brother's fault. He was still dead, and she still mourned him, but at least she didn't have to deal with the loss of her husband as well. She opened the message from Heero's friend.
"You probably don't know me, but I'm one of your husband's close friends. We were both Gundam pilots. My name is Duo Maxwell. Sense you're looking at this after seeing Heero's message, I'm assuming you want to see him again. The monk who married you two and I will arrange it. He'll look for you sometime during the wake, but he'll be disguised a bit. He'll mention Shinigami at some point in the conversation. He'll also have his monk's robe on. We both stand ready to help you with anything."
This helps her somewhat during the wake, but it is not easy trying to deal with the knowledge of her brothers death and her husbands exile. She looks up at notices Dorothy coming towards her.
"Miss Relena, I have a confession to make," she begins slowly, "I killed your brother."
Relena blinks a few times. "But, that's impossible, you were with me when he must have been shot."
"I didn't shoot him, but I sent him to his death." Dorothy explains, "I told him about you and Heero."
"But Dorothy, why?" Relena asks, staring at her in shock.
Dorothy begins to cry. "I thought I was doing the right thing!" she sobs wildly, "But I was wrong and now he's dead, dead and it's all my fault..."
Relena shakes her head in disbelief. "You promised to keep my secret.."
"I know, I'm so sorry!" Dorothy runs of in tears towards her room. Almost as soon as she's out of sight, Relena is approached by another person.
"Miss Relena?" The speaker is a man she vaguely recognizes from a few of her brothers parties. "My name is Wufei Chang. I was a good friend of your brother's." Relena nods mutely. "Before he died, we had been making arrangements for me to marry you. He thought we would get along well."
Relena is speechless as yet another shock hits her. "But, but I don't know you, much less love you." she stammers in confusion.
Wufei nods sympathetically. "I know. I'll give you a few days to get used to the idea, then we will speak of this more. I shouldn't have mentioned so soon after your brother's death." He turns and leaves her, spluttering in shock.
"The nerve of him," she mutters under her breath, "I'm married already and my brother is dead." Seeing another figure approaching her, her first thought is to go to her rooms and lock the door. But then she see that the figure is wearing a monk's robe and cowl, though he has black hair and blue eyes, and doesn't appear to be the monk who performed the ceremony.
"Miss Relena?" he began, "I'm sorry about your brother. Shinigami rarely takes those who are ready."
Relena breathes a sigh of relief as she hears the password. "Who is ready for death, really?"
"That is what my order was founded for," the monk said, "To help people become ready for death. And also to help comfort the bereaved. Would you like to speak in private?"
"Yes, Father, I would." Relena responded, glad to get away at any case. the both went to her sitting room.
"I hope you don't mind if I remove the disguise," he said quietly, "But it's uncomfortable."
"Go ahead." The monk reaches up and turns down the cowl. He removes the shock of black hair, revealing long, messy chestnut bangs which he quickly combs into place (///_O). Reaching up to his eyes to remove the contacts, he reveals the emerald eyes which were the only thing she really remembered about him.
"Now, I'm assuming you've read Duo's mail, and that you want to rejoin Heero." the much-different-looking monk says.
"Yes," Relena answers, "But first, I don't know your name."
"I suppose you can call me Trowa." Seeing the confused look on Relena's face, he continues, "It's a long story. Have Heero tell it to you after we pull whatever we're going to pull off."
"Alright. I should probably tell you, there's a man named Wufei Chang who seems to think that he's going to marry me."
"Hn!? What makes him think that?"
"He seems to have arranged it with my brother. Either that or he's lying about it."
"I know him. He wouldn't lie about that."
"Okay, but there's still the problem of getting around him. Do you know if he would hire investigators to find me?"
"Probably. The whole justice complex points to it."
"Huh?"
"Another long story."
"Oh." They both sit deep in thought for a while. Then Relena had a burst of inspiration. "I know! Have you ever seen the play Romeo and Juliet?"
"You not seriously considering faking your death are you? Don't you remember it was a tragedy?"
"How can an e-mail get lost like the messenger did? And besides, only you and Duo know where he is, and Duo will know what's going on, right?"
"You may have a point." Relena glared at him. "Alright, you have a point. We'll try it."
"Okay, do you know where to get a potion that'll do the trick?"
"I have a better idea. I have a friend who can make very realistic wax figures. He fooled the police into thinking there had been a murder until they tried to do an autopsy."
"They'll try to do an autopsy on my too."
"Not if what we make it obvious. I think slit wrists will do the trick."
"But, that's so painful."
"///_-* You're not going to feel a thing."
"Oh. Right. Okay, since I won't be waiting in a tomb, am I going to the house he bought for us?"
"No, he wants to take the plane trip with you. You'll stay with Duo until it's time to leave."
"Okay. When do we do this?"
"The doll will be ready next Monday."
-To Be Continued...
For those of you that don't know, ///_O is the emoticon representation of Trowa and ///_-* is the emoticon representation of Trowa sweat dropping. Why all the emoticons? Well, why not?
Anyway, this ch. is mostly just a (very long) set-up for the next one, so I'm gonna shut up and do the next one now.
-TBS
Duo, Heero and Quatre are in Horton Plaza. (I know, I know, enough about Horton Plaza already. This will be the last time, I promise). This would be an ordinary day, but Heero is sky high and showing it.
"I like this estate in Ireland, what do you guys think?" They are all looking at estates in Europe for sale online on Heero's laptop.
"It's beautiful, Heero, and the castle on it doesn't look drafty at all!" Quatre is almost as happy as Heero know that he sees that Heero is over Dorothy. Far more over than he had in mind, but still...
Duo looks at the starting price for bids and winces. "You're lucky we get huge pensions, Heero." he says, "But it does look nice."
"Great, then it's settled." Heero enters a bid. In a few moments, he is rewarded with a message that he has bought the estate. He smiles (gasp!).
"Now all you'll need transportation there." Quatre comments, "Let me give you plane tickets as a late wedding present!"
"Quatre," Heero starts, deeply moved, "You don't have to-"
"I want to," Quatre says firmly, "Please, Heero?"
Heero smiles again (gasp! again). "Thank you, Quatre."
"We'll need to my house so I can authorize it," Quatre continued, "And you're both welcome to dinner, of course."
Duo's ears prick up at the mention of food. "Thanks, Quat, that's very generous of you." The all walk to Quatre's nearest mansion. As the pass an alley, none of them notice the platinum blond head of the Lightning Count rising from it's hiding place, until...
"Heero! Look out" Quatre lunges at him, knocking him to the pavement. As they fall, a gunshot rings out, and the front of Quatre's purple vest explodes with blood. On impulse, after hearing the shot, Heero fires with deadly accuracy at Zechs. The two blondes fall to the ground simultaneously.
"QUATRE!!!" Heero screams loudly, He and Duo rush to support their dying friend.
"Heero, Duo, there is something I must tell you. I don't think I have much time left.."
"No, Quatre..."
"Don't talk like that..."
"Please. listen!" Quatre begins to cough, but he stops them forcefully. "The remnants of the White Fang have a base here in San Diego. They want a Gundam pilot to lead them in the massacre of the Peacecrafts and the leaders of the Earthsphere. DON'T JOIN THEM! There has been enough killing already, and their cause is wrong, wrong..."
"Never Quatre," Heero says through his tears, "I will do everything I can to stop them."
"And I'll help him too." promises Duo.
"Duo, Heero, you mean so much to me. Tell Trowa..." He begins to cough again. "Tell Trowa and Wufei how I died, and that they meant as much to me as you did..." his words trail of in a sigh as the little Arabian pilot breaths his last.
"NOOOOOO!!!!" Duo howls, sounding like a grieving wolf. But Heero stands up and walks with icy rage to Quatre's murderer.
"Why?" he growls fiercely, seeing that Zechs still lives, and grabs his shirt in his fists. "Why did you kill Quatre?"
"I meant to kill you. You will NOT have my sister, you godamnsonofabitch PILOT!" gasped Zechs, "I will kill you with my dying strength..." he tries to stab Heero with a knife, but Heero knocks him out.
"Die," Heero whispers to the body of Melliardo Peacecraft, called Zechs Marquise, "Die and know that I have married your sister in spite of you."
"Heero," Duo says urgently, "We have to get out of here. There may have been witnesses."
"But Relena, I can't leave her."
"Trowa and I'll arrange it. Just keep you're laptop handy."
"Thank you, Duo."
-The next day...
"My condolences, Miss Relena."
"He was a good man, I share your sorrow."
Endless platitudes surge around Relena at her brother's wake, but all she can do is stare and nod numbly.
"He didn't deserve to die." she whispers, fighting tears.
What makes it even worse was that right after they had found his body, she had received mail from both Heero and a friend of his.
"Relena," Heero's message had started, "I'm more sorry than you could know, but I killed your brother. In my defense, he fired the first shot, and he killed one of my best friends. I'm sorry. I would understand if you never want to see me again, but I have no other wish then to see you again. I can't be seen in the city, but a couple of my friends will help you if you ask them. I know this won't ease the loss of your brother, but I still love you."
She had been stricken with grief and rage. She screamed blindly and wordlessly, clawing unoffending pillows to shreds. But after the initial tide of rage subsided, she realized something.
Heero had been telling truth, for they found the body of another young man near the body of her brother. It had been her brother's fault. He was still dead, and she still mourned him, but at least she didn't have to deal with the loss of her husband as well. She opened the message from Heero's friend.
"You probably don't know me, but I'm one of your husband's close friends. We were both Gundam pilots. My name is Duo Maxwell. Sense you're looking at this after seeing Heero's message, I'm assuming you want to see him again. The monk who married you two and I will arrange it. He'll look for you sometime during the wake, but he'll be disguised a bit. He'll mention Shinigami at some point in the conversation. He'll also have his monk's robe on. We both stand ready to help you with anything."
This helps her somewhat during the wake, but it is not easy trying to deal with the knowledge of her brothers death and her husbands exile. She looks up at notices Dorothy coming towards her.
"Miss Relena, I have a confession to make," she begins slowly, "I killed your brother."
Relena blinks a few times. "But, that's impossible, you were with me when he must have been shot."
"I didn't shoot him, but I sent him to his death." Dorothy explains, "I told him about you and Heero."
"But Dorothy, why?" Relena asks, staring at her in shock.
Dorothy begins to cry. "I thought I was doing the right thing!" she sobs wildly, "But I was wrong and now he's dead, dead and it's all my fault..."
Relena shakes her head in disbelief. "You promised to keep my secret.."
"I know, I'm so sorry!" Dorothy runs of in tears towards her room. Almost as soon as she's out of sight, Relena is approached by another person.
"Miss Relena?" The speaker is a man she vaguely recognizes from a few of her brothers parties. "My name is Wufei Chang. I was a good friend of your brother's." Relena nods mutely. "Before he died, we had been making arrangements for me to marry you. He thought we would get along well."
Relena is speechless as yet another shock hits her. "But, but I don't know you, much less love you." she stammers in confusion.
Wufei nods sympathetically. "I know. I'll give you a few days to get used to the idea, then we will speak of this more. I shouldn't have mentioned so soon after your brother's death." He turns and leaves her, spluttering in shock.
"The nerve of him," she mutters under her breath, "I'm married already and my brother is dead." Seeing another figure approaching her, her first thought is to go to her rooms and lock the door. But then she see that the figure is wearing a monk's robe and cowl, though he has black hair and blue eyes, and doesn't appear to be the monk who performed the ceremony.
"Miss Relena?" he began, "I'm sorry about your brother. Shinigami rarely takes those who are ready."
Relena breathes a sigh of relief as she hears the password. "Who is ready for death, really?"
"That is what my order was founded for," the monk said, "To help people become ready for death. And also to help comfort the bereaved. Would you like to speak in private?"
"Yes, Father, I would." Relena responded, glad to get away at any case. the both went to her sitting room.
"I hope you don't mind if I remove the disguise," he said quietly, "But it's uncomfortable."
"Go ahead." The monk reaches up and turns down the cowl. He removes the shock of black hair, revealing long, messy chestnut bangs which he quickly combs into place (///_O). Reaching up to his eyes to remove the contacts, he reveals the emerald eyes which were the only thing she really remembered about him.
"Now, I'm assuming you've read Duo's mail, and that you want to rejoin Heero." the much-different-looking monk says.
"Yes," Relena answers, "But first, I don't know your name."
"I suppose you can call me Trowa." Seeing the confused look on Relena's face, he continues, "It's a long story. Have Heero tell it to you after we pull whatever we're going to pull off."
"Alright. I should probably tell you, there's a man named Wufei Chang who seems to think that he's going to marry me."
"Hn!? What makes him think that?"
"He seems to have arranged it with my brother. Either that or he's lying about it."
"I know him. He wouldn't lie about that."
"Okay, but there's still the problem of getting around him. Do you know if he would hire investigators to find me?"
"Probably. The whole justice complex points to it."
"Huh?"
"Another long story."
"Oh." They both sit deep in thought for a while. Then Relena had a burst of inspiration. "I know! Have you ever seen the play Romeo and Juliet?"
"You not seriously considering faking your death are you? Don't you remember it was a tragedy?"
"How can an e-mail get lost like the messenger did? And besides, only you and Duo know where he is, and Duo will know what's going on, right?"
"You may have a point." Relena glared at him. "Alright, you have a point. We'll try it."
"Okay, do you know where to get a potion that'll do the trick?"
"I have a better idea. I have a friend who can make very realistic wax figures. He fooled the police into thinking there had been a murder until they tried to do an autopsy."
"They'll try to do an autopsy on my too."
"Not if what we make it obvious. I think slit wrists will do the trick."
"But, that's so painful."
"///_-* You're not going to feel a thing."
"Oh. Right. Okay, since I won't be waiting in a tomb, am I going to the house he bought for us?"
"No, he wants to take the plane trip with you. You'll stay with Duo until it's time to leave."
"Okay. When do we do this?"
"The doll will be ready next Monday."
-To Be Continued...
For those of you that don't know, ///_O is the emoticon representation of Trowa and ///_-* is the emoticon representation of Trowa sweat dropping. Why all the emoticons? Well, why not?
Anyway, this ch. is mostly just a (very long) set-up for the next one, so I'm gonna shut up and do the next one now.
-TBS