tantrys - ffiction - stop the world - 11
Stop The World
11

Warnings: A.U. Shounen ai, 1x2, 3x4... I think I've already said that.... -_-;; Enjoy the show-- er fic. o__O;;


PART 11

Her nose wrinkled in displeasure as she rose with dawn, and strode into the bathroom on two dainty, bare feet. The marble tile floor was appallingly cold. But a little discomfort had never deterred her. She was a lady on a mission. The door clicked shut behind her.

Relena took a deep breath, and smiled. The bathroom smelled like Treize's cologne, with a dash of her own body lotion... A comforting, calming concoction. Her sigh was light, and her voice firm, but soft. The mirror spoke back with twin lips, eyes and heart.

I haven't spoken to them in so long... Who knows if they're even listening anymore? But she knew there was always an ear. Some angel, watching, and always someone to hear a plea. The heavens heard everything, and if the message was deep enough, they acted.

You'd better act on this, she grumbled. I didn't get up this early to talk to a mirror and stare at myself without make up! Her reflection nodded.

"You're wrong about Heero." Relena frowned. That didn't come out right. What happened to the World Leader, speaker of war-ending speeches? Undaunted, she continued.

"Look deeper into it. You can't condemn him wrongly, that's cruel..." Relena tilted her head slightly, remembering Heero's blue eyes... "Let him fall on his own..." She nodded at the finality of her last whisper, and turned from the mirror. She left the bathroom to its dawn inspired darkness, and sought instead the warm circle of blankets she'd left.

The warm circle of blankets was not there. Treize had rolled over in her short absence, and had commandeered the entire bed. Relena stood at the end and scowled.

"You are so getting my freezing toes up the back of your boxers," she murmured.






"From a fallen? How can it be believed?"

"They're no longer heavenly-- we can't just go around panicking at every pack of lies a fallen angel has to tell us--"

"How can she have the gall to doubt a Guardian's decision? They are the ultimate judgment--"

The intensity of the murmured debate rose and fell like waves. Agreement closed in from all sides, then subsided as a single slender hand rose. The muffled hall of marble came to attention.

"He has been condemned," a voice declared. "Nothing further on this matter will be tolerated--"

"An investigation, Guardian..." The small voice coming from the back of the hall pierced the respectful lull in conversation. Her words were offered slowly, so as not to antagonize the distinctly opposed. "An investigation would assure the correctness of the judgment. It would reassure the Echelon."

She was ambitious. Maybe too, but this chance was too much to pass on. If I can prove this case to a thread I'll be in for Guardian Status by the end of the semester! She offered a muted smile to the disapproving council of angels.

"Preposterous," one of the middle class Guardians denounced. He raised his thin nose, and looked upon her with electric blue eyes. Daring her to speak further out of her turn.

"Necessary," she parried coolly. "The hall is known for its ultimate justice, for it's thorough investigations to secure all parties." She paused to take a dramatic but meaningful breath. "Think of the consequence, Guardian, if the Fates have decided to play one of their games, again... think, if the judgment was incorrect..."

She was no longer speaking to the lower Guardian. Her voice had shifted directions and she was staring at the head of the council, who watched her with a blank face. She did not tremble beneath his unbearable stare. At long last the Guardian spoke.

"What do you propose, angel?"





Duo decided that Mondays were miserable. They really were. Early in the morning everyone was at work, including himself. No one *ever* came into the store... There's nothin' to do..... He paused in that thought as soft footsteps approached, and passed through his line of vision. Heero.

The proverbial 'speak of the devil'. Duo rose obediently. It was his job to annoy the maintenance man. Well, Quatre and Heero would disagree... Duo smiled wickedly.

"Heeeeeeero." After a pleasant enough wail of the lovable worker's name, Duo pranced up beside him. The quiet young man continued to repeat the boring motion of shelving Horizons' most popular item, daily horoscope booklets. Duo began his daily barrage cheerfully.

"So Heero, how come you wear your hair like that? Even though I have to admit the 'I-Don't-Need-A-Brush' look is really you... What's wrong with your back? Got aching muscles?" He stopped chattering to place two firm hands on Heero's tense shoulders. He began to knead the rock hard muscles even as something else got rock hard-- *thunk*

He let go immediately, and replaced his palms on the top of his aching head. Whining ensued as he turned around and glared at Quatre. Object of assault: book. Big, thick, smelly old book, cracked upside Duo's head. Worked every time.

"Leave the employee alone," Quatre warned. "If he has to put up with you everyday, it could be considered hazardous to his health, and then I'd have to raise *two* salaries to include hazard-pay."

Duo rubbed his head, and offered Quatre a befuddled expression. "Two?"

Quatre raised one pale eyebrow, as if expecting this. His smirk was quite fulfilled. He pointed to Heero. "One."

And gestured to himself with his free thumb. "Two."

Duo mimicked Quatre's raised eyebrow. Nice one, the eyebrow seemed to say. He left the sales floor and returned to his slumped over watch at the cash register. Moments later, however, he sat up excitedly when the door bells jingled and a new body entered. Duo's welcoming and all encompassing smile faded, once he recognized their visitor. He folded back onto the counter, and eyed Detective Barton.

"Glad to see you're not busy," Detective Barton began slowly. His gaze rolled over the empty floor, falling on Duo, pausing at Quatre, and stopping to watch Heero finish shelving storeroom items. Heero's gaze met with the investigator's, then lowered to the ground. "I--"

"Let me guess," Duo interrupted with a long suffering sigh. "You've got some questions." He had already sauntered out from behind the counter, and had begun to adjust one of the signs on the front door. He flipped it over to offer the empty street 'Out/In To Lunch'.

"A few questions," Trowa agreed. "Just the two of you... Could we step into the back room?"

"Of course," Quatre conceded. He motioned for Duo and Trowa to move first, then followed after a soft call. "You can take a break if you'd like, Heero..."






I finished my work quietly. All of the shelves were filled with merchandise, and my box was empty... I slid through the dividing curtains hesitantly. Three closed faces greeted me, and only one smile. It wasn't from Duo, and I could tell Quatre meant well from it, but it just made me nervous. I moved as quickly as I could into the storeroom, and I paused in the middle, listening to them speak.

"You've mentioned that Ms. Winner never spoke of her boyfriend, yet she was definitely seeing someone."

Duo and Quatre must have nodded, or made some answering gesture because no sound erupted otherwise. I turned my ear so that I picked up the nervous shifting of someone's chair.

"Did you ever hear the name 'Zechs' from Ms. Winner, or anywhere else?"

The next pause was more hesitant, filled with thinking. I turned around fully when Duo began to speak in halting tones. I noticed that I was still holding the empty box.

"Maybe... I have a thing for remembering names... Might have heard it at the club or something." Duo sighed shortly, and shifted. "That's all I remember. Nothing about who this 'Zechs' was, or what he looked like."

"Hn," Trowa offered. I heard the distinct sound of a swift pen on paper before he spoke again. "Thank you... Now about your new employee. You must have gotten him just a few days ago."

"Three days ago," Quatre agreed. "Heero couldn't have arrived at a better time."

"Yes," Trowa agreed slowly. "What can you tell me about him?"

I frowned. Me?

"About Heero?" Duo squeaked. "Why do you want to know about him? He didn't know Iria."

"How do you know that?" Trowa inquired softly. "You said that Iria never spoke about her love life--"

"I know," Duo snapped. "Heero's cool. Dude's quiet-- you gonna arrest him for being quiet?"

"Duo," Quatre warned. I moved finally from my frozen position. I shoved the empty box in a miscellaneous space and picked up another. I made sure my rapid movements drowned out the rest of what the investigator had to ask, and what Quatre and Duo had to tell... The last I picked up was a swift 'good-bye' and the ringing of bells.

I'm a suspect, I thought. Or maybe just *suspected*. Either way... Suspicion made me fallen the first time...