Hey everyone!!
Here's the next chapter!
Thanks for all the comments, I really appreciate that!
Enjoy and don't be afraid to comment again!
Maud
Revolution, War and Peace
Chapter 5: Revelations
The night was so peaceful, so calm, but her heart wasn't. She had been thinking about what Duo had told her earlier that day and she just couldn't get over it. She knew he didn't want to say it but he did mean it. The fact that he was so hurt by his lost made him say things he wouldn't have said normally but which he believed deep inside. That was why Relena was so hurt; because she knew, or at least believed, that Duo thought it was her fault. She hadn't been able to keep and save real peace. The peace they lived in was a facade. It wasn't real. Is it possible to have true peace? She didn't know. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe Mariemeia was right, the Endless waltz of Peace, war and Revolution would continue on forever. But Mariemeia had also thought it would end with her coronation. So maybe peace was possible, but only with the use of weapons.
Was I wrong all along? Relena wasn't as opposed to weapons as she had been in the past. The last battle she had witnessed had proved to her that it was possible to use weapons and not to kill. But only the Gundam pilots were capable of that. The others soldiers hadn't killed because they weren't Gundam pilots, their opponent were too strong.
Relena rose from the bed she'd been sitting on, in the dark, for the last two hours. Before coming into her room at Preventer's Headquarters, she'd been walking for hours outside in the garden. It had calmed her a bit and she was able to keep some sort of composure, but she wasn't healed at all. Duo's remark kept coming back to her and each time it hurt more.
She went to the window. Her room was on the 35th floor and had a great view of the city. She enjoyed the view. Venice was a beautiful city even if half of it was underwater. The ground under the city hadn't been able to support the buildings in the past, so they'd had to evacuate half the inhabitants and send them to another city. After the other part had been secured, people had began to live in Venice again.
The view of the city calmed Relena a bit more. She was more sad for Duo's loss than for her own sake. She had to find a way to repay him. But how? How can you replace a life. "Please forgive me Duo."
"He'll forgive you."
Relena had heard the voice and knew perfectly well who it was. She stayed near the window, not turning around to face the person that had entered her room.
"Leave me alone. I don't want to see you."
She felt a presence near her; she could sense him, sense his delicate perfume, his essence.
"I can't do that, I promised I'd protect you."
Turning around, she looked at him, her eyes full of anger and sadness.
"Would you stop with that! I'm tired of hearing you say I promised I protect you bla bla bla…I don't need your protection Heero…. I needed you!" Walking back to her bed, she continued "I was patient. I waited and waited."
"I needed time." He answered has he turned back to face her. His face serious and apparently not pleased at all by her little speech.
"Yeah sure! You needed what? Ten years! Get over it Heero! You're not the only one who had to get used to Peace. What about the other Gundam pilots? Duo, Wufei, Trowa and Quatre..."
"Oh Quatre. I think he really liked it when I was gone."
Relena came close to him, looking directly into the young man's eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I think you replaced me very well. You seemed to be very close to him."
That was more than she could tolerate. She slapped him with all her anger and even some disgust. Heero put a hand on his cheek but he continued to look at her with a dangerous glare. "How dare you?! A least Quatre wasn't a coward. He stayed with us, he didn't run away like you did!"
Now it was Relena's time to be slapped. Heero didn't care if she was a woman, she had slapped him and she would pay for what she'd just said.
Relena was surprised. She'd never thought that Heero would actually raise a hand to her. Heero grabbed her by the shoulders and started to shake her. He told her between his teeth: "I am not a coward. Don't you dare tell me that."
"Let me go, you're hurting me." She tried to escape from his grip, but Heero was even stronger than he used to be. He refused to let go.
But then, he did something she was even less prepared for. He pulled her to him, covering her lips with his. Relena's eyes widened. She tried again to escape him but he was holding on to her, one hand around her waist and the other forcing her face to his. His kiss wasn't passionate or tender. It was full of rage and anger. A kiss to tell her that she belonged to him, that they belonged together and that she couldn't escape it. Relena's muscles started to relax when she realized she'd started to feel warm inside. His arms around her, his lips on hers, his essence. He was near her. Maybe he does love me. When Heero felt that she was starting to admit her defeat, he relaxed his grip too. He then separated his lips and looked directly into her aquamarine eyes. "Don't ever say that to me again Relena."
Encircling her arms around his neck, she pulled him closer. "Heero."
Again, Heero approached his lips from hers. By touching her lips faintly, he made her raise her head. They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment before he covered her lips again.
The kiss was passionate and tender; it was the kiss they had both been waiting for. Relena's arms tightened around his neck while Heero, who had encircle her waist with his own, pulled her closer to him, felt her perfect body against his. The kiss became more passionate, deeper and Relena knew that Heero wanted more. She could feel his hands around her body, searching, looking for her deepest secret. But she wasn't ready for that, and she didn't know if she'd have the strength to pull herself away. She knew she would let him go further in the future but now wasn't the right time.
Relena didn't have to do anything to stop Heero because someone calling her name did.
"Relena!" She pulled herself away from him as if she'd been doing something wrong and turned around to face whoever had called her name.
Gabriel was standing in the door, anger written all over his face. He didn't seem at all happy with what he had just witnessed.
"Gabriel." She said his name without noticing it. She felt weird. She didn't love Gabriel and she knew it, but she always though that he felt something for her and seeing her kiss Heero must have been hard for him.
"I need to talk to you…alone." Turning his head to look at Heero, he gave the former gundam pilot a glare telling him he'd better leave the room. Heero wasn't in the mood to fight the guy so he preferred to leave now and "explain" later.
"I understand."
Relena watched Heero as he moved to leave the room. As he passed beside Gabriel, he gave him a little hit, with his shoulder, telling the other he would always be checking on him.
"Wait! Heero!"
"Relena!" Gabriel put himself between the two and closed the door behind Heero. "I said I needed to talk to you. You are staying here."
Relena turned her back on him and went to sit on her bed. She wasn't looking at him, she just couldn't. He was so mad and she could feel it, she didn't want to see his death glare.
Walking to place himself in front on the young woman, Gabriel stopped when he was facing her. His perfect blond hair was shining in the faint light that was coming for the moon. He looked like a sweet angel. But his eyes were different; they were filled of some sort of madness Relena had never seen before. It was as if she had discovered Gabriel's dark side. She had never seen him like this; he looked so different, as if he had two personalities.
"What was that?"
"What do you think? We were kissing." Her nonchalant answer made Gabriel explode.
"You are going to stay away from him, do you understand that?" Raising her head, she looked at him defiantly.
"Who do you think you are? Listen carefully Gabriel, I've known Heero since the first Eve War and I've only known you for 2 years. I trust him more than I trust you. Heero will always be there for me and I know it." She got off the bed and walked away from him. "God! You sound like my jealous boyfriend!! I don't belong to you Gabriel."
Gabriel walked rapidly to her and grabbed her furiously. "I said, you are going to stay away. Is that clear?"
Relena had had more than enough. Why did they keep grabbing her as if she was some kind of toy that belonged to them? She pulled herself away and walked to the door. Turning only her head, she looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "Gabriel, I don't know what gotten in to you, but you aren't normal. You better get some sleep." She said the last part as she was left the room and furious, almost crazy Gabriel behind.
******************************************************************************
Later that night.
Quatre had been walking through almost all the long corridors of the Preventer's headquarter. He wanted to go see Relena, see how she was but he'd noticed that Heero had taken that direction. He knew that the pilot of Wing Zero was probably the one who would be able to cheer the girl up. It saddened Quatre; he loved Relena with all his heart. She was his little sun, his little light, but she wasn't his and would never be. She and Heero were meant to be together and he knew it, that hurt.
He knew that even if Relena wanted to love him she couldn't. She didn't even realized how powerful her bond to Heero was. He didn't either. They were trapped in their pride and didn't want to admit to each other that they needed each other more than anything. But he needed her, at least, that's what he thought. Quatre remembered his relationship with Catherine; he still loved her but not like he loved Relena. It was different.
When he looked at Relena, it was so strong he couldn't control himself anymore; he wanted to touch her, to hold her, to be close to her. With Catherine, it was different. Catherine was kind, he could talk hours with her, laugh with her, tell her everything he had on his mind and she would always cheer him up. With Relena, it was the opposite; he was the one always cheering up, even when he was the one who needed comfort. Catherine would give him that comfort, regardless of her own feeling and need.
Why can't I be with her then? Quatre asked himself. He felt bad for what he'd done to Trowa's sister. And because of that relationship, he and Trowa had had a big fight, a fight that resulted in bringing the two best friends apart. They still talked a lot but not like in the old days. And it was all because of her, because he fell in love with her. But he couldn't blame her; she never did anything to make him feel that way. It had always been obvious that it was Heero she wanted to see even if she never said so.
He passed through a couple of doors and arrived in a little living room he didn't recognize. It was small but had a grand door of glass that lead to a small balcony. There were only two seats in the room, two old seats that weren't cleaned often. Quatra had been walking for a long time, lost in thought, and he hadn't realized that he'd entered a part of Preventer Headquarters that he hadn't known existed. I thought I knew the place by heart.
It was strange. The corridor wasn't easy to find, it was hidden. As if it wasn't supposed to be found. To get to it, he'd had to take some stairs that were never used because of the elevators and the new stairway in the front of the building.
Quatre entered the small room quietly. It was really hot in the room even with the glass doors open. He wondered who had opened them. He was going to close the door when he noticed a person standing outside the doors. She didn't seem to have noticed him. She was leaning on the wall, her eyes closed, her head lifted a bit as if she was trying to catch every bit of fresh air that passed. The night was hot, but she didn't seem to care, she looked very calm. Her long graceful hair fell on her back. For a minute, Quatre though it was Relena because of the two little braids that encircled her head as Relena's used to. But this girl was taller than the former princess, and looked less delicate, as if she'd had some kind of training.
Her hands were on her waist and hadn't moved since Quatre had entered the room. She wasn't wearing a Preventer's suit and that was what caught Quatre's attention. He had never seen her before; maybe she was new, but he had thought he knew all the new members. He came closer, thinking that maybe she was sleeping or something, but then decided to leave her alone. As he turned around taking the door's direction, he heard her delicate voice.
"Who are you?"
Quatre turned around to face the young lady again. Her eyes were still closed, but she'd been aware of his presence and hadn't done a thing. He walked over to her and leaned on the glass door beside her.
"I'm Quatre Raberba Winners, and you are?"
"I can't tell you."
Quatre turned his head, a surprised look on his face. "And you think that's polite? You asked me who I was and you won't even tell me your name." The girl opened her eyes and looked at Quatre. Without any light, Quatre couldn't tell what color they were but they looked dark. She faced him, a smile on the corner of her lips.
"You're absolutely right. And I do apologize, but I still can't tell you who I am. But don't worry, I'm not your enemy."
Quatre laugh. "Well, if you were, you would have already tried to kill me, right? Can you at least tell me why you are here."
The young woman laugh in return. "I wish I could. Really I do. All I can tell you is that I'm working for Peace." She turned back her head to look at the view. "I bet I can't ask you why you are here, in this wing of the Preventer's headquarter. Usually there's nobody around here."
Quatre turned his head and lowered it. "I guess I shouldn't tell you, but since it's not very important…I was actually just wandering around."
"Funny, you don't seem like the type of guy that just wanders around." She then stayed silent for a couple of minutes. "What were you running away from?"
Quatre seemed surprised by her question and was going to answer that he wasn't running from anything but then stopped. No, she was right; he was running away, away from them. He didn't know if he actually should trust that girl, after all, she was a total stranger but, he couldn't explain it but he did, as if he knew somehow that she wouldn't ever betray him. "I guess you are right. I just want to stay away from them, just a bit, it…it hurts…"
Another minute passed before she spoke again. "Don't worry, I understand how you feel, trust me. I've been running away for as long as I can remember. You see, my father died when I was very young, my younger brother died too and the other one disappeared. All this time, I've been running away from my painful memories but then I saw the guy that represents them. And I have realized that I have to face them now, that I can't run away forever. But it's so tough." She turned her head again and looked at Quatre. "You shouldn't run away from them, face your problems Quatre." As she looked at him, she started to feel weird. Who was she to tell the heir of the Winner family what to do? She didn't know him and he didn't know her. They were total strangers and yet they were talking like best friends. Quatre nodded and started to head back inside.
"Quatre." He stopped and turned back his head to look at her. "Please, keep everything I told you for yourself. I trust you… and too show you that I trust you, I'll tell you my name. I'm ---"
Raising his hand, Quatre halted her. "You don't need to do that. I won't say anything. You'll be my mysterious friend. " She smiled gently at him and he turned around, leaving the room.
