END PART FOUR BEGIN PART FIVE

Relena rushed by all of her staff, all of her generals, and her secretary. Tears streaming down, she rushed to her desk to the knife in her desk.

The knife that opened up the dragon package and started this entire nightmare. She calmed herself down, and took the knife to her room. She knelt down upon her bed and faced a wooden cross hung on the wall. "Well, this is the way it will all end, I suppose." She turned the knife in her hand. "Bastard Al has to win." She looked back up to the cross. Forgive me, Lord, for all that has happened in these last weeks. Have mercy on me and admit me to your kingdom." She looked down back on the knife, all polished and shiny. "This will save people's lives, Relena. It is the bast thing that you can do for humanity." She moved the knife to her left wrist.

Her fingers abruptly let go and it spiraled out of her hands. It hit her wrist-but only with the handle. She picked it up and tried again, but with the same result. She tries for a third time and almost got the blade to the vein, but Al pulled it away at the last second. A tiny cut was there, not at all fatal looking. She had had more impressive paper cuts on her fingertips. She looked at the scratch for a while, as the minimal bleeding stopped and it all scabbed over.

A short boy with brown cropped hair and green eyes picked up the knife and waved it in front of her face. "Now, now, now," he said with fake concern. "You of all people should consider yourself above suicide, Relena." He waved it in front of her face. "Shame on you."

She looked at the knife for a moment, then thrust her face toward it. Al, surprised, threw it back, but not soon enough. Relena made an inch long cut on the bridge of her nose, and bright red blood began to flood out. She looked to a mirror to see the damage she had made. She cocked her said to the side slightly, with morbid fascination, until the blood ran down her cheeks like tears.

Al stood behind her and laid his hand on her shoulder. "I told you I would protect you. Look at yourself now," said he dryly.

Relena turned and said, "See? You are not the owner of me. I may not be able today, but you said I had twenty-seven days until I had to draw others blood. It's only been twenty-two. I can try again and again for five days and I WILL find a way. Don't try to fool yourself. You are not going to win."

"You listening to yourself here, babe? You got yourself a nice, emotionless voice. Kind of like your boyfriend there-oh, wait, your ex- guy."

"If you are-"

"Don't say a word, just listen to the message on your answering machine."

Relena walked to her desk again, and saw a flashing red "1" there. She pushed play.

"Hello, Relena." It was Heero, to be sure. "Myself and the other Gundams have met, but you already knew about that. What you don't know is what I ultimately decided on doing. Many of the Gundams from the last war have decided on standing with you, but I have not. I feel that my home is worth fighting for more than you. I know you will return to your senses soon. If not before the war, then soon into it. You may just need to be reminded about what war is about.

"I hope that the two of us can stay together. I am sure that-"

Relena grabbed the phone and threw it up against the wall. The tape popped out, and several pieces of broken black plastic scattered. The tape fall to her feet, and she examined it. The tape had not been rewound, and it looked as if it had been torn out whilst still playing. It was real.

The secretary entered. "Miss Relena, I heard a-"

"I am fine, thank you."

"But what happened to-"

"Please leave my office."

"But I-"

"Now. If you value your job."

The secretary stood there for a second, eyes darting about, then decided to leave.

As soon as the door closed, Relena could hear something roll around loudly on the hardwood floor. She looked to se what is was.

The dragon.

"I smashed this," she said, as she lifted it up.

*Well, obviously. You have an excellent punch and a short temper. I would like to think both are thanks to yours truly.*

"Al, tell me how long it has been when you first arrived."

*It has been.twenty-one days and thirteen hours. Five hundred seventeen hours total.*

"I see. So the first shots will start." She did mental subtraction. "The first shots will be in a hundred and forty-nine hours."

*Very good*

"Like, six days?"

*Like, yeah. And five hours. Give me mad props, babe. I know my numbers*

"You do. You most certainly do." She went back to her bedroom and laid down on the bed. "So what if I can beat you in six days, huh?"

*Oh, you won't. Hard to do when I've taken your freedom and free will away. But if you can kick me out you can be assured that plenty more of your loved ones are going to die. I know were your mother lives.*

"You told me you would protect me. From what?"

*The colonies.*

"I see. You are protecting me with pure evil from some people who are only uptight at their worst."

*You'll die at their hands. They have to find their place.*

"News flash here-nobody has a 'place'. We were fine until you got in the way."

*You were the one that got drunk. That made it a whole lot easier. Say, you have some brandy in your office. Let's go over and crack open the bottle right now, huh?*

"No, thank you. I am not thirsty."

*I am. Let's go.*

"I must be a coward." She walked back to her office and dug up a glass. "Tell me where it is."

*You know. But I'll tell you anyway. It is in the bottom drawer of your desk. Silly.*

She pulled it out and poured out a glass.

Her eyes cracked open, and immediately her hangover came. Her headache was powerful enough to make her roll off of her couch and on the hard floor, right on to her arm. "Owwww. Oh, god." She laid there, face- down. "Why do I have to be in pain for so long? Why is this little prick ruling me and ruining me?" She tuned face-up. "Because you're a goddamn coward, Relena. You should have more spine than this." The was silence for a long time, until she whimpered. She stifled it back, but another came, and soon they blended to a long moan. She held her stomach and put her pain to sound. She stopped suddenly, and she crawled to her desk. Her aspirin were in there.

She opened the drawer with the brandy, and noticed that the bottle was empty. "Wasn't that full before? Oi, oi, oi." She picked up the aspirin bottle, which she had conveniently next to the bottle.

It flew out of her hand and out of the open window.

She sat there for a while, and then suddenly started to giggle. "Okay, okay. I get it now. I get to suffer for the rest of my freaking life, don't I, Al? You have got to be really enjoying this shit. You won't anymore, though. Maybe I am not so cowardly as I said I was while I was loading up."

She dragged herself into the chair. The phone had already been replaced. It was one of the wonders of high public office. She called up her main general. "You know the general mobilization order today, or yesterday, or whenever the hell it was, right?"

"I do, madam."

"Undo it. Take all the troops out of mobilization and send them home with releases."

"Uh.."

"Just do it, all right?

"I.guess so."

"Good."

She called up the governor of the colonies, Governor Hailerot. "Hi there. Listen, I'm calling at a terrible hour, as you must know."

"I was asleep, did you know that, Minister? Pleasantly in bed, and someone had to wake me up and tell me that I had a phone call IN THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT!"

"Yeah. I am dismobilizing all of my troops. Just thought that you would like to know before any-one else. So, that is pretty much it."

"Yeah, right. You just want to say that because you want us to do that and catch us off-guard."

"If you strike then it will be against an undefended Earth. So many of your people love peace, so do you want to be the one that spoils it?"

There was a long pause. "Good night, Miss Relena. Do be assured that we will be checking that you truly are ridding yourself of the troops."

"Good night, governor. Have yourself pleasant dreams. Wish I could tuck you in."

She called her press secretary and told him to spread the news. "And if you don't believe _me_, then you can call anyone in my military with high ranking, and they will verify it."

She called an area code up in the L2 colony. "Hey, is this the Maxwell House?"

"Uh.yeah, it's me, Relena," said Duo Maxwell.

"Get the phone to Heero, okay?"

"Oooookay." He paused. "Are you drunk, Relena?"

"No," she said. "You watching the news?"

"No."

"Put on BBC or CNN or NBC any other channel. You'll see the news soon enough. Now get me my honey."

Heero was put on. "What's happened to you, Relena?"

"It's all back. Is the news on there?"

"Why the hell do you keep on asking that?" He sounded tired.

"Just do it. See something coming?"

"Yes." There was a pause. "I'm not sure if this is real or not."

"Oh., it is. My nightmare's over. Trust me. Hurry back to Rome, now, won't you? You told me you wanted us together. As soon as you hang up I'll make some dinner reservations and I'll find a nice four-star hotel and I'll reserve the honeymoon suite." She dragged out 'honeymoon'. "I'm feeling sooo much better now. Can you hurry on back now please? I can pay for the shuttle on back."

There was a pause. "I must be a fool."

"No you are not. There ain't going to be no war now, honey. Hurry back home."

There was a click and a dial tone. She put down the phone and looked to Al, then standing right next to her. "Hey there."

"You have been very very bad, Relena. You will pay, be assured." He put her hand on her shoulder. It went on through.

Al looked stunned. Relena just giggled at the sight and said, "Hmm. Not too powerful anymore, are you, Houdini?"

His green eyes flashed red, and the area around her turned to the forbidding hell. Flames licked her body. "I hope you do enjoy this, Miss Relena. I'll make the phone calls back to everyone."

"Nah, don't." The flames disappeared. "And I'm disappointed in you, Al. They weren't that hot at all. The sprinkler system didn't even go off!" She went to the top drawer and pulled out her knife. She tossed it to him. "Here you go, hotshot. Won't be needing it anymore." She looked him straight in the eye. "I'm a little too strong for you."

Al tried to catch it, but he was not solid enough; it slipped right though his hands and body and landed on the ground. He shook with quiet rage, staring with angry eyes right into Relena's. "Scary," she said.

There was a loud pop, and Relena could feel flames on her face for a fraction of a second. There was then heavy smoke in the room. Al had exploded. She looked around dazed for a second, then stared at the videophone screen for a second. She broke out into a smile. "Ah, my beaut- iful is fine." Looking down, she noticed the dragon crumble into tiny pieces, then into dust. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. "Free at last, free at last, God almighty I am free at last."

The videophone spurted to life, and Heero appeared in the screen. "If I take a shuttle at arrives at ten-ten, can you pick me up?"

"In the morning?"

"Yes."

"Of course. Can't wait."

"Pleasant dreams, Relena."

"Same to you, Heero."

END PART FIVE

END

Author's Notes: Wow. I didn't really expect a happy ending. Originally Relena is supposed to kill Heero on the battlefield and eventually die.but this sort of flew onto the computer screen as I typed. It's a good ending, probably better than my first one. Give me an honest review, and please read my other stories.

Thanks for reading.