Neri Duvall walked briskly through the hallways of the spaceship Peace Million. I don't care if this is rash – I've got to check this out, she said to herself, running the images through her mind again. I know something's not right there. Preoccupied with her thoughts, she ran into someone as she rounded the corner.
"Hey, Neri, what's the big rush?" Duo Maxwell asked, a teasing light in his eyes.
"Nothing," she replied shortly, not slowing her pace.
"Whoa, hold your horses," he exclaimed, grabbing her arm.
Neri wrenched it away and kept moving. "Just stay out of my way."
Sheesh, she's acting like Heero. What's she hiding? He watched her disappear around another corner, then sighed. I hate it when people do that. Well, I won't stick my nose into her business. With a shake of his head Duo left the corridor.
In the landing bay, Neri ran into someone else—just not literally this time. "Where are you going, Neri?" Quatre Raberba Winner asked curiously.
"There's something I have to check out," she said, looking up at her Gundam.
"What's wrong?" he inquired, his eyes full of concern.
Neri turned to face him. "There's some interesting activity going on around one of the colonies. I'm going to investigate."
"Let me go with you."
She shook her head. "No. I have to do it alone."
Quatre sighed. "If you say so."
"Thanks." Neri flashed a quick smile of gratitude. "I'll be back before you know it."
"Okay. Be careful."
"I will." Neri quickly donned a space suit before pushing herself up with a strong kick and floating to the cockpit of her Gundam, Novastar. Buckling in, she activated the power sequence, waited for all the systems to activate, then entered the airlock. After the green light flashed on and the great doors opened, she launched into space.
Quatre watched her leave, worry creasing his forehead. "Do be careful," he whispered. I hope it's not too serious…why'd she go off alone like that? It's not like she has to prove her skills to anyone anymore…
Away from the Peace Million, Neri turned on her space travel engines and headed for the colony that had reported trouble. Upon reaching its zone, the young woman was shocked to see three mobile dolls guarding the colony. This isn't good. She quickly disposed of them with her twin beam sabers, sustaining 20% damage in the process, and tried to get inside the colony without being spotted. Due to the two injured joints, this task was made that much harder, but after fifteen tense minutes, she was in.
On her right screen an image appeared, showing a building surrounded by mobile suits, where people were being forcefully ushered inside. I've got to do something! But how? An image flashed through her head, with which Neri quickly made up her mind. She made a grand entrance by cutting a swath of destruction—one of her beam swords—through two mobile suits standing guard.
Cries of "It's a Gundam!" rang throughout the assembled guard troops. Neri cut more mobile suits down grimly as they attempted to shoot her down with machine guns, a determined expression on her face. Then a more advanced mobile suit was in front of her. It aimed its energy cannon at her and fired. Neri only had time to raise her shield and hope for the best. The energy glanced off her shield and faded in the distance.
A large explosion rocked the inside of the colony. Neri looked and saw that an abandoned block had collapsed in the same area that the deflected beam had gone. With a burst of energy she cut down the remaining mobile suits and rushed to the area. Disembarking, Neri saw an unconscious form lying on the sidewalk close to where the explosion had occurred. Too close. This is not good. I'd better see if he or she is okay.
She jumped down using a cable and ran towards the person. She gasped as she drew near the still figure. Oh, no! It's Catherine! Tears stung her eyes as she knelt down next to the motionless form of her friend and saw the blood streaming down her face. Suddenly the young woman's eyes fluttered. Neri took her hand and held it gently. "Are you okay, Catherine?"
Catherine turned to face Neri, her expression pained. "I'm not… going to make it."
Her eyes widened in horror. "No! You can't say that! What about Trowa?"
She smiled faintly at the mention of him. "I wish…he were here…right now."
Neri was crying openly now as she ripped off her right sleeve and dabbed the young woman's face with the cloth. "I wish this hadn't happened! It's all my fault!"
"We're in war…Neri, and bad things…do happen, to…to good people. You're…a soldier…a fighter…you should know that…by now. Take care of…Trowa, for me…please."
She lifted Catherine up slightly to help her speak more easily so she could think before replying. "Why…why me?"
"I know…that you care…for him."
Neri shook her head violently, drops of moisture flying away from her face with the motion. "He'll never forgive me for this."
"We both know Trowa…and he will…recover…from this…I know…he will." Her entire body shuddered with each attempt to breathe and speak.
"Shh, don't talk, Catherine. You… you can still make it… just… just lie still…"
The young woman smiled faintly. "Thank… you… Neri." She gasped weakly, and her eyes became unfocused. "Good…bye…"
"No!!!" Neri cried at the top of her lungs as Catherine fell limp. Tears streaming down her face, she carried the body of her friend over to Novastar and laid her gently in a spare compartment. She placed a sheet that she had found over Catherine.
In a tear-filled rage Neri blasted through the colony, barely avoiding causing considerable damage to the structures around her as she tore apart the suits that had come as backup for those she had destroyed earlier. Pausing to catch her breath, Neri looked around with wild eyes for any possible new prey. Seeing none, yet still feeling the effects of the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she flew out of the colony and fired her engines toward the Peace Million.
Once there, she landed quietly – quite different from her recent exit – and managed to carry Catherine's body to a small room without anyone seeing her. She was walking back to her room to write a farewell note when Quatre stopped her.
"What's wrong?"
Neri looked away for a moment, then flung herself into his arms. Quatre, surprised, just held her as she shook with sobs.
"I…I killed…I killed Catherine."
He pushed her to arms' length to look into her face. "What?" he exclaimed, startled at her choice of words.
"I…I went…to check out a colony…that was having problems…you know…the one I told you I had to go alone on…and," she paused for a moment to stop her tears and catch her breath.
He gently asked her, "And?"
"And, there were mobile suits there, ushering people into a building against their will. I attacked and took out some of them. Then a more advanced suit challenged me. It shot at me, and I deflected its beam away with my shield. Then a powerful explosion rocked the colony, and I saw that I had blown up a whole block of abandoned buildings! Catherine must have been running away when the blast happened. I found her on the ground, and she spoke a little before…before…" and Neri began sobbing again.
Quatre tried to soothe her. The same thing had happened to him before—except not quite so personal—and it had turned out differently than he had expected. I'd better look into this.
Neri looked at him with red eyes. "What am I going to tell Trowa?"
He returned her gaze and sighed. "I don't know."
"I have to leave. Explain to the others for me. I can't stay. I've caused enough pain already today."
"No! Don't go."
"But if I don't, I'll eventually run into Trowa."
Quatre had seen her feelings for Trowa Barton grow soon after they had met each other. It saddened him to see Neri like this, especially since it had been Trowa's foster sister who had been killed. "Stay for at least one day."
"Why?"
"Please?" he pleaded, his gentle eyes searching hers.
"Oh, all right," she relented. He walked her back to her room. "Let me explain to Trowa, okay?" he said.
"Okay."
Quatre walked back to the bridge, where he found the other four. "Where did Neri go to in such a hurry?" Duo asked him.
He hesitated, but decided to ignore the question and simply talk to one of the other pilots. "Trowa, can I see you for a minute?"
Trowa looked startled. "Sure."
The two pilots left the bridge together, Quatre waiting until the door was closed and they were well out of earshot before he said anything.
"Man, everyone's acting weird today," Duo complained as the door slid shut.
Quatre took Trowa to a side room, away from the main hallway. "What is it, Quatre?"
He sighed. "It's about Catherine."
Trowa sat up straighter in his chair. "What happened?"
"She's…she's dead."
Trowa's face went white with shock. "How?" was the only word that escaped from his tightly clamped lips.
"Neri had gone to a colony to check out a distress call. There was a battle inside the colony, and Catherine was killed from it," Quatre simplified.
Trowa slumped in his chair. "I…I can't believe it. Catherine…dead?"
"Neri brought her back for you. She's crushed. She wants to leave and never come back."
"What?"
"Yeah. If you can, can you talk to her? She's taking it worse than you are."
"Later," he said brusquely, hiding the emotion welling up inside. "I need to be alone for a while."
"That's fine," Quatre told him gently, then left the room. Trowa sat there, immobile, for over an hour, then left for his room. Dinnertime came and went, but he did not notice. A quiet knock sounded about two hours after dinner. It was Heero Yuy, with a tray of food. "I thought you might be hungry," he said tonelessly, as was his usual manner. Walking over to the window, he paused, then said, "I'm sorry."
Trowa looked up, surprised. Heero rarely ever responded to anything emotional, much less actually attempt to comfort anyone. I guess Relena has really opened him up.
"Thank you," he said aloud.
Wordlessly, Heero turned to face him, nodded once, and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Trowa picked at his food for a while before giving up, turning off the lights, and going to bed.
The next morning the activities on the ship were muted. A humble service was held for Catherine, at which Trowa saw Neri only once. She's taking it hard too, he thought briefly prior to grief dismissing it.
Everyone offered their sincere regrets to Trowa. But, before they could reach Neri, she had left. Quatre went after her.
"How much did you tell him?" she asked worriedly.
"Only that there was a battle, Catherine was a casualty from it, and you found her."
"Oh." Neri looked away, out the window. Quatre took it as his cue to leave and made his way toward the door. Neri's voice stopped him. "Thank you, for everything you've done for me, Quatre."
He turned, smiling gently. He walked back over to where Neri was and sat down next to her. Placing his arm around her shoulders, he told her, "You're welcome." Neri laid her head on his shoulder and cried softly.
Fifteen minutes later he had calmed her down enough to get her to fall asleep. He carefully sat up, as to not wake her, and left quietly. I wish this hadn't happened to her. It would have been better if it had been someone else, like me. Quatre sighed and went to tinker with his Gundam, Sandrock.
Later on, near lunchtime, Neri woke up and decided to take a walk to try and settle herself down. I've got to at least get a grip on myself. Tonight, though, I'll leave. It's too much to still see him, especially because I was the reason for his grief. She walked around aimlessly, taking care to stay away from Trowa's quarters.
Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. Neri whirled around to see none other than Trowa standing there. "I need to talk to you," he said.
Neri shrank back from him. "No, you don't. Stay away from me!"
Trowa was astonished at her exclamation. "I just want to know what happened."
She was fighting tears. Here's the guy I don't want to see – well, I want to see him and avoid him at the same time — and what happens? He's the one I have to run into! "What happened? What happened was that I killed her!" Without another word she rushed off down the hallway, trying to keep the tears at bay. Trowa watched her go, stunned.
I've got to ask Quatre about this! he thought, dashing off to find him.
Neri dashed to her room and began packing. I have to leave now. No good can come of this. She threw all of her possessions into her one large travel bag and left for the Gundam bay.
Meanwhile, Quatre was in one of the data rooms, poring over shots taken from the colony battle the day before—he had asked Duo earlier to hack into the colony's system and steal the data. He took special care to run over the frame of the explosion. He saw the deflected beam shoot off into the direction of the destroyed block and saw it hit a nearby mobile suit, whose own beam went wild and hit the abandoned block.
"Yes! I knew she didn't do it!" he exclaimed with relief.
"Didn't do what?" a voice came from the open doorway.
He swiveled in his chair to see who it was. "How are you doing, Trowa?"
"Not good, but I'll explain in a minute. She didn't do what?" he repeated.
Quatre bit his lip, not wanting to divulge the fact that Neri thought she was responsible for Catherine's death.
"I ran into Neri in the halls, and she told me that she had killed Catherine," he said, pain evident in his voice.
His jaw dropped. "She said that to you?"
"Uh huh. So what's with the videos?"
"Oh. Well, I just figured out that she didn't do it!"
"She didn't?"
"Nope," Quatre said happily.
Trowa sighed with relief. "Phew."
"Want to see?"
"Well…"
"If you don't want to, that's fine."
"I do."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Trowa walked over to the console and waited as Quatre brought back the frame. "See, here's the deflected beam…and here's the real cause," he said, pointing each one out.
He sat back in his chair thoughtfully. "No wonder she thought she had done it."
Just then the door burst open. "Neri's off in a hurry again," Duo told them.
"What?" Quatre said, stunned. "Oh, no…" he whispered, realization dawning on him. He dashed out of the room, exclaiming, "I have to stop her!" Trowa ran after him.
"What's going on?" he asked as they hurried through the hallways.
"You see, Neri was going to leave right after the funeral. I persuaded her to stay for at least a little while. But running into you has set her off again and I'm afraid that if we don't catch her, we may never see her again."
Trowa's eyes widened slightly. "We better hurry, then!"
Quatre just nodded.
When they reached the Gundam bay, to their dismay they saw Novastar taking off out of the airlock. "We're too late!" Quatre exclaimed sadly. A movement to his left caught his eye. Trowa had donned a suit faster than Quatre had ever seen and was shutting the entry door on his Gundam, Heavyarms. Seconds later he had also blasted out of the airlock after Neri.
Neri was about to engage her stronger set of Vernea engines when an image appeared on her right screen, stopping her momentarily.
"Neri, wait," the image said.
Trowa! Why is he coming after me? she wondered. Probably for no positive reason. It's time for me to go, anyway. Instead of replying she shut off the comm unit and activated Novastar's flight mode, then blasted away from Trowa and the Peace Million.
Trowa was startled when Neri cut him off and blasted away. [I can't go after her – by the time my own space travel engines were running, her head start would be too great. I wonder what she thinks she'll accomplish by running away… He shook his head and turned around to head back for the ship. The bay doors were still open, so he maneuvered his Gundam inside and shut the airlock doors and waited for the inner doors to open. Once the chamber's pressure had been equalized to that of the inner bay, Trowa was let inside and docked Heavyarms in its usual spot.
He got out of the suit and, since the gravity in there was slight, floated over to the walkway, where Quatre was waiting. Quatre watched the airlock doors for a moment, then, when he saw that no one else was coming, turned to face the other pilot. "Where's Neri?"
Trowa shrugged. "I don't know. She left without saying anything."
"She didn't come back with you, then, did she." It was a statement, not a question.
He shook his head. After a moment's silence, he said, "I'm going to check for any possible military activity in the area." Without a backward glance he left the bay.
Quatre sighed and put his elbow on the railing, with his chin sitting in his palm. "Neri, why did you have to go?" he speculated aloud. "This isn't right."
* * *
Was that the right decision? The thought kept tumbling around in Neri's mind as it had for the past three hours of her flight. Now where am I gonna go? I know the colonies don't want the Gundams, so I can't go home, and I can't go to Earth because it would take too long and be too expensive to come back out here if something went wrong. Wonderful. Pushing the thought to a distant corner of her mind, she turned on her computer console and looked for the areas with the most recent military activity. Hmm…looks like there's something brewing not too far from the lunar base…I should probably head over there and check it out. Changing her course, Neri headed toward the moon.
* * *
Duo walked into the room where Quatre was working seven hours after Neri's departure. "Hey," he said. "What are you up to?"
Quatre looked up from the screen. "Oh, hey, Duo. How did your mission go?"
"Well, I managed to destroy a lot of mobile dolls without getting Deathscythe too scratched up, so I guess I did okay," he said, sitting down. "Did the footage I get help you out with your thing?"
Quatre nodded, then turned back to the console without another word. Duo frowned. "Why is everyone acting so weird around here?"
"You mean you haven't heard?"
"Heard about what?"
"Neri left."
"So? She leaves a lot for various missions."
"No…I mean she left for good."
Duo's eyes opened wide. "For good? Why?"
Quatre shook his head. "It's a long story."
"Does it have to do with the whole Catherine and Trowa deal?"
"Yeah."
"Damn. I didn't think she would take it so hard."
"I don't think anyone did."
"Yeah, well, like Heero said a while ago, sometimes it's best to act on your emotions."
"I guess."
"C'mon, Quatre, cheer up a little. She'll come back sooner or later, won't she?"
"I sure hope so."
* * *
This looks like an okay place for us to hole up, Novastar, Neri thought as she looked over an abandoned resource satellite about four hours after taking out a transport with a half squadron of new mobile dolls. Not close to any areas that have experienced recent battle activity, and out of the way of all the major trade routes in the vicinity. Plenty of oxygen left…I guess it'll be temporary, then, won't it? It'll be so lonely, though…but I'm a Gundam pilot. I need to get used to that. Besides, I have lots to do. Novastar needs some repairs done. Ruefully she looked her Gundam over. Remind me to treat you better the next time we fight.
She activated the bay doors and entered the docking area. Good…electricity is still working, and life support is close to 100%. Not bad for being abandoned for a few months. It'll take some work to make it feel like home…but I've got lots of time. Yes… lots of time…
* * *
Three days had gone by, and at least half of those on board the ship, whether they showed it or not, noticed the difference Neri's absence had made in the atmosphere. Heero, Wufei, and Duo were all out most of the time fighting. Trowa was making some final adjustments on his Gundam to make it fully compatible with outer space. Quatre was busy helping with the maintenance of the Peace Million and tinkering with his own Gundam, Sandrock.
Heero was out near a colony, exploring the area when a general call for help sounded over the comm system. "We are currently being invaded by mobile dolls. Any aid in our defense is desperately needed."
As the broadcast was being made he saw a large group of dolls dispersed around the colony's immediate vicinity. "Mission accepted," he said aloud to himself.
He fired up his engines and flew toward the nearest group of dolls. Heero expertly dodged their volley of energy from their beam assault rifles and neatly slashed two in half with his beam saber as he flew past. The cycle continued as he cut down more and more mobile dolls. He glanced up a few minutes into the fight and noticed another battle taking place on the other side of the colony. Probably Duo, he thought briefly.
Not too long after that the dolls were vanquished, and, after getting a damage report from his Gundam, Heero flew over to the other side of the colony to see who the other fighter was. As the suit moved into the light he found that the suit was not whom he had expected. It was Novastar. Suddenly he activated his comm unit.
Neri looked up seconds beforehand to see his Gundam approaching. What's he doing out here? she wondered to herself. As if in reply, Heero's image appeared on her viewscreen. "You should go back."
"What?"
"You should go back," he repeated, then cut the link and flew off.
Neri narrowed her eyebrows, confused. Why would he bother to say anything to me? That's not like him… besides, his advice is useless. I'm never going back. There's no reason for it. With a strong shake of her head, the young woman took off for her new home.