CHAPTER 5: THE MAZE
The sun shone in through the open windows, pooling soft golden puddles of light on the floor. One of those bright rays just so happened to be shining right on Hilde's face. Slowly she came awake. Her blue eyes opened then sleepily squinted shut again. She moved to throw an arm over her eyes but couldn't. A little irritably she realized that Duo had somehow managed to squash her into the corner of the couch and at the same time lie on both her hands. Hilde nearly yanked her hands out then and there, but after brief speculation, decided against it. It was rather nice and cozy and warm right at that moment, so to avoid the glare, she burrowed a little farther into the warm mass that was Duo and the blanket. Just as she felt her mind beginning to slow down again, soothed by the rise and fall of Duo's breathing, her eyes snapped open. Oh man, she thought, this is the day of the Preventer meeting! Hilde lifted her head of her pillow of Duo, resolutely ignoring the puddle of drool
where her face had been, and pried her hands out from under the amorphous mass of grey blanket and boy. Abruptly she hoped that her hands had remained in a...good spot during the night, and worried a bit, but then reasoned that he wouldn't have noticed anyway. He slept like the dead.
Hilde made a slight effort to smooth her tousled hair, but almost immediately gave up, seeing as it was way too much effort to lift her arms. She stretched luxuriously and rubbed her eyes, thinking of the coffee maker in the insanely far away kitchen. With a sigh, she rolled out of the blanket's grasp and onto the floor.
"Owch," she muttered, as the movie cases and popcorn on the tile floor assaulted her with sharp jabs and crunches. With minimal mutterings she navigated her way through them on her hands and knees, too lazy to get to her feet. When she reached the kitchen she used the seat of a chair to lever herself up. Sluggishly, she felt her way to the coffee maker and had her first caffeine rush of the day. As the steaming liquid filled her, a huge smile broke out on her face, probably as a side effect of the near nuclear black coffee and loads of sugar. Her eyes focused and she finally felt like she had some energy. Probably well on my way to having an addiction, she thought cheerfully. "Thank-you coffee beans!" Abruptly she noticed a large sticky note on the wall, directly across from the coffee maker. Absently she thought, damn, I know myself way to well, as she made out the hastily written words in black marker:
WE HAVE TO GET TO THE PREVENTER MEETING TODAY!!
AT 9:00!!!
Hilde stared stupidly at the last part. Nine? She thought wildly. They expected us to be awake at NINE? She quickly downed the rest of the coffee, relishing the sudden spark of caffeine, and ran for the living room. Hurredly she activated the VCR in front of the couch to check the time. The final movie they had watched in their senseless-stupid-slasher movie marathon ejected automatically, and she cringed in remembrance. She couldn't even remember what the name was, but it didn't matter. It deserved no mention.
The time was...eight forty four! Oh, hell! Quickly she turned and tried to locate Duo's head among the lumps in the grey blanket. She found--a leg! Following that trend up she found the brown spikey head. She decided to be nice today and not simply introduce him to the discarded popcorn on the floor. She shook his shoulder. "Duo." She shook harder. "Duo!" He stirred and grunted sleepily,"...Just five...ten...sixty more minutes..." and curled into a ball.
Hilde, with some effort, resisted overturning the couch.
"Duo, get up. We have to be out of here in fifteen minutes!" There was a muffled noise. "And," he muttered, "I care because?"
"Because you have to be there too baka, so get your ass up!" There was no response. Hilde BARELY resisted dragging him by the hair to the kitchen and force feeding him coffee. Then a mischievous smile crossed her face. "Duo," she said sweetly, "what if I threatened not to cook anything but spam and beans for the rest of your life?" Duo barely twitched. "You wouldn't be able to do that. I know you," he said and pulled the blanket over his head. Hilde frowned. That boy is too smart in the morning for his own good, she thought in annoyance. "Well all right Duo," she said in a defeated tone. "You don't have to get up. If you don't mind not getting anything for the rest of your miserable little life." There was a chuckle from beneath the blanket. "I won't be moved by lust! My inner Shinigami defends me from your dastardly feminine plot!"
"Oh all right," Hilde sighed, slowly backing up, "But..." She took a running leap into the air. Duo let out a sleepy yelp as she landed on his midsection, but his hands were pinned beneath the blankets. "--what if I started calling you `honey bunches?" Or," she grinned and leaned forward, "shnookums?" Duo cringed.
"You wouldn't."
Hilde's grin only spread. "Oh, wouldn't I? I have pookie on the tip of my tongue now, and unless you want your name to be pookie for the next three months you'd better get up because we have ten minutes left!"
Duo rolled his violet eyes in mock exasperation, and said with big puppy eyes, "Are you sure there is no way we could negotiate this?" He stuck out his lower lip.
Hilde paused, as if considering. Then she said, "I'm sure Heero would really get a kick out of pookie, and oh, I wonder what Wufei would say..." Duo groaned and rolled her off of him. "And Zechs too," Hilde continued, "and I'm sure he'd be so amused that he'd tell it to Noin, and then Noin would tell Relena, and Relena would tell Dorothy..." Duo sat suddenly upright.
"I'm up! I'm up!"
Hilde smiled and patted his cheek, putting on her most infuriating grin.
"I knew you'd see it my way."
* * *
The wind caught Duo's hair as he was trying to rebraid it. It snatched it out of his fingers, where it proceeded to tangle and slap him in the face, and he cursed. Hilde glanced over from her place at the wheel of her old battered pickup truck. She grinned and ran her hand through Duo's rebellious locks.
"You look so sexy when your hair's down," she told him, and he gave her a rather irritated look. She continued, "Just like Zechs..."
"Hey, those of us who are not male prostitutes keep our hair done up," He replied, once more trying to put his hair in a braid. "Forgive me for not being a sex symbol." He was in a bad mood this morning, due to lack of sleep and a rude wake up call. And more than that. Hilde laughed. "If you only knew..."
"Knew what?"
"Nothing."
"Knew *what*?"
"Oh nothing...I'll tell you...later." She smiled at him sideways.
"Ah yes...you have needs which only the God of Death may fulfill..."
"Always."
They laughed. Duo had finally done his hair. He stuck his head out the open window he had been too lazy to close and let the wind ruffle his bangs. He was tired, and glanced at his watch. It was about nine. Heero would be quite aggravated by their lateness, but what could you do? The five of them had already heard Xiran's story anyway. He didn't understand why they had to be present while she repeated it to Relena. Duo sighed and remembered Heero saying, after Xiran was finished, ` Now we must present your case to the Preventers, and the first person I'd like you to meet is Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, previously known as Relena Peacecraft.' Xiran had nodded solemnly. `I know who she is,' she had said.
Her story seemed to have opened a new dimension of personality for her. In her memories she found sorrow, anger, and pain, and these things now so clear and unguarded in her eyes lent her gaze a new gravity that had not been there before. Duo still found it unnerving that she could have masked her emotions so well, but he sensed the truth in her words. And in the near palpable pain in her face that she had struggled to hide. She reminded him of Heero, and when he thought about it like that, he felt troubled. *What if his past is just as bad? I never asked him...*
"Duo, do you think her story is true?" Hilde asked suddenly. He had told it to her in detail the night before. Duo looked out at the city for a moment, then replied, "Yes, unfortunately I do." He sighed. "It seems the party never ended up there in space." He looked in the rearview mirror, seeing his own face, the violet eyes, brown bangs, and then the long braid. The God of Death once more, he thought. Just when I thought it would be the last time. He closed his eyes.
War is an endless possibility for the human race, Xiran Ki'Era had said, when she had only been a girl in a bar. Now she was something more, and it was at her call that the Gundam pilots would return to war.
Duo looked down almost angrily and then directed his gaze out the window. He thought involuntarily, damn her.
The look in Heero's blue eyes when she was telling the tale would have been unreadable, had it not been Duo watching him, but he had seen the pain there. Trowa especially had looked grave, and Quatre's eyes had reflected his sadness that war was rising again. Wufei...well Wufei, being himself, had looked angry, but Duo sensed that it was about something more than what Xiran had just said.
Duo looked over at Hilde. He remembered the hospital...
He clenched his fists in his lap.
"Hilde..." he began, but the look she gave him, full of concern because she had read his voice, stopped him. "Nothing."
She looked at him for a long moment. "It wasn't nothing." It was not a question.
Duo shook his head as they passed the outskirts of the city and continued towards the small secret Preventer base. "No."
A sudden memory, a church. A church in smoking ruin. His face twisted, even though he tried to hold it in. He looked up as Hilde took his hand, and her eyes were sad for him. She smiled then, a small smile.
"You aren't ever getting away from me, Duo Maxwell." She said it softly, meaning every word. Duo grinned in return, finding it hurt even to do that.
"Yeah, I know." He looked up as they pulled into the Preventer base.
The others were already there.
***
Relena Peacecraft looked up as one of her aids came in the door. "Miss Relena," the girl said politely, "Your guests have arrived." Relena stood and gave Catherine a small nod. "Thank you. Now please leave us. We have important matters to discuss." Catherine made a small bow and left. Relena looked up for a moment at the painting of the man that she had known as father that hung in the wall. Now I meet the lone wolf, she thought. And I will fight for peace, as I will always do. I will make the terror stop, Father. She turned towards the door as she heard footsteps. Heero was there, behind those doors. Just his presence gave her hope. It was he who had the strength needed to fight against war. She held back her excitement at seeing him, and so when the large doors were opened, she was calm, reserved, and demure.
Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton, Wufei Chang, Quatre Winner, and Duo Maxwell entered the room. She was at once startled by how they had changed, these five warriors of peace, at the grave looks on their faces, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw walking next to the one she had waited for. Relena Peacecraft thought in total surprise, Who is that?
Heero stopped and looked at Relena, apparently not seeing how shaken she was by the girl's appearance. Relena quickly forced her mouth into a welcoming smile. "Good morning. Please, take a seat." She gestured gracefully to the chairs around a large mahogany table. Her eyes traveled back to the stranger at Heero's side. Heero said, "Relena. This is Xiran Ki'Era, our lone wolf." The girl looked her straight in the eyes with her dark gaze, and said quietly, "Hello, Vice Foreign Minister Darlian. It's a pleasure." Relena nodded in her direction. "Please call me Relena Darlian." The girl bowed her head silently in agreement. "You can call me Xiran if you like. It really doesn't matter to me."
"Of course," Relena said coolly. Xiran seemed to sense that something was bothering her, and fixed her with her piercing gaze. She was dressed in casual clothes, as the rest were, but Relena recognized them as Hilde's. Hilde had probably got a kick out of sending her those, Relena thought, eyeing the totally black outfit with a smiley face on the shirt, that said `ray of sunshine'. Just then, Hilde herself entered, sounding out of breath.
"Sorry, forgot something in the car, then couldn't find the bathroom...jeez this place is huge..."she stopped. "Oh right," she said, her eyes falling on Xiran.
"Hi, I'm Hilde." Xiran smiled for the first time and stood to shake Hilde's offered hand. "I'm Xiran." Hilde sat next to Duo, and they settled down, their attention turning to Xiran, who sat next to Heero with Duo on her other side. Xiran was staring at her hands. As she watched Heero leaned in and said something quietly to her. Her face didn't change, but her eyes finally rose to roam over those sitting at the table with her. Relena waited for several minutes before beginning.
"Thank you all for coming. These circumstances are most unusual, but in these times of disquiet we all must stand together for the sake of peace." Duo already looked bored, and Hilde punched him. Relena decided to ignore that. She looked at Xiran. "I have been told that you have new information on the terrorist attacks, and possibly a lead. I am truly glad you have joined us..." she glanced across the table at the pilots.
"Although, I was under the impression that you were a boy." She said with a look in Heero's direction. Duo chuckled. "Our Heero. Always so good with communication."
Heero shrugged. "Deception was necessary." Xiran looked up at that. She laughed softly.
"Now that's something I think we all know a bit about."
She took a breath, her eyes suddenly serious. "I would just like to say for the record that I am sorry about that incident in the bar with those guys. It really wasn't something I'd planned on." She smiled a little wryly. "Now, though, it appears the time has come for me to tell you what I know. And that may put you in much more danger than we were in that night. I am, once again, sorry beyond words." She glanced at the blond girl sitting across from her. "Relena, you are now the only one who hasn't heard the tale. The rest of you...can stare at some spot on the wall for a while." Duo sighed with relief and put his feet on the table. Hilde rolled her eyes and sat forward, evidently wanting to hear the story from Xiran's own lips. Heero didn't even look up, Relena noticed. He looks like he knows something that the others don't. Why won't he look at her? He looked across at Relena suddenly, and for a moment there was sadness in his cobalt eyes. She fought the urge to reach
over and take his hand, or say something...
Xiran straightened and took a steadying breath, and Relena tore her gaze from Heero's now expressionless face. "My name is Xiran Ki'Era, but it is only a name that I took a few weeks ago.
I don't know my real one. I don't know who the people were who allowed their genes to be put in a test tube that I might be born. All I know is my own experiences, and the information I gathered while under the command of the Genesis forces. Genesis is the name given to the project that the facility focused on, and so we were eventually called the Genesis forces. The facilities are really space fortresses, smaller than colonies, but large enough to have their own population and mobile doll bays. They have strong weapons capabilities and defenses.
When the armistice was declared they didn't stop manufacturing, but continued to create new weapons and technologies. The leader of facilities is Arcon, and no I don't know his last name. He has a genius that may rival those of the professors who created your gundams. He created at least two new models, and a cloaking device technology that has allowed the facilities to remain undetected for all this time." She paused.
"He also began the first alleyways into human cloning and genetics research. His project was named Genesis, and its basic purpose was to create human super-soldiers. He created them by using DNA from animals and incorporating it into theirs, so that they were human animal hybrids." Relena looked into Xiran's face, focused intently on what she was saying. The girl's expression was carefully controlled.
"This is where the terrorist attacks come in. After his initial failures with the hybrids, a first generation of successes was born, all enhanced and able to function like normal human beings. Immediately he began testing them, training them, and he set about to using them for his own purposes. He discovered that he could make the soldiers even stronger, and so he began working on the second generation of hybrids.
While this was going on he deployed his most highly trained officers to earth, to begin only God knows what. I think he sent them to cause these terrorist attacks to raise confusion and conflict between the nations. For reason unknown.
However, his biggest concern was one of the second generations. Her name was Six of Ten, because she was the sixth out of the ten subjects made. She was a panther human hybrid, and the strongest second. He assigned her to the Raven project." Xiran stopped and ran a hand through her hair.
"Raven was basically the project for taking out forces that could stand in the way of Genesis. She was trained by the best in the facility to track and kill. Her first targets were the Gundam pilots, that much I know for sure, but there must be others that I don't know about."
Relena now understood some of the reason for the grave looks in the faces of her friends, and she held her hands tightly together in her lap. Things were looking far, far worse than originally anticipated. Still, Relena kept her head. It was possible that the girl could be misinformed...or lying. As of yet there was no evidence to back up what she was saying. Xiran continued, "The Raven was one of the most highly trained, and she was also the most unstable. She had several accidents or incidents that I can remember, most of them dealing with her superior officer, 57. It seems she had problems with authority. Anyway, she was almost always black and blue from training and chastisement, and to make things worse, the DNA of the rest of the One to Tens was unstable, and they were all slowly dying. It was terrible to see them. Her only companion, Three of Ten, was also deteriorating, and I think it was slowly killing her. The human ranks were afraid to cross her path. With her
growing pain and frustration came a shorter temper, and often she would appear in the halls in a rage. 57 was slowly losing control of her, from what I heard, so..." Xiran stopped for a moment. The silence was deep, and Relena could see that even Duo looked grim.
"He killed Three of Ten. Right in front of her, as punishment."
Relena put a hand to her mouth. Xiran's face remained coldly expressionless.
"I didn't know how the Raven would deal with it. The last I saw of her before the final day was in the halls. She was cold, simply that, nothing more. Her eyes were those of someone dead.
Several days after that the order came through that the final tests on the seconds were going to be made. The Raven had gone about her regular missions and training exercises like normal, but 57 had assigned a tail to her every move. An hour after the final tests, we began to discover something was wrong. The tail was missing." Her eyes became hard.
"She is now called the renegade hybrid, for her actions on that day. She destroyed the Genesis labs, and all the information and results from the One to Ten's testing. I was at this point dealing with the Second Generations, having been reassigned when 57 began slowly losing control. That is why I had access to so much information, and why I knew what was happening to the Test Subjects.
It was Six's will that she leave the facility, and she would do it at all costs. I knew this the moment the security systems became infected with a crippling virus, and when we understood that the doors to the Genesis labs had been jammed shut." Xiran shook her head.
"The renegade took many lives with her when she left the facility. More than she had ever taken, and more than enough to avenge the nine who had been her brothers and sisters. We fought, but even though we tried, we were no match for the hybrid's rage, and Arcon's genius. She....was like a demon. The total blackness and iciness of her gaze was the only thing that changed in her face. She showed us no mercy. But....the worst was when she finally reached her mobile suit. Then she had the power of the gods at her disposal, and I think she was mad. She began laying waste to everything.
It was she who shot me. I saw into her eyes at that moment. There was nothing. Nothing! She cared not, and even if she did, she had lost her control.
"Before we could deploy mobile dolls she had cloaked herself and was gone. The soldiers suspected that she had gone to earth, and it was confirmed by reports of a suspected meteor entering the atmosphere at that time." Relena saw the pilots exchange a look over the table. Duo emitted a humourless chuckle. Relena thought of Operation Meteor. It had been the beginning...
Xiran had stopped and was looking at them, her face almost sad. She began again, "After the renegade left, and took with her the lives of many I cared about, it wasn't necessary to stay any longer. I didn't want that life anymore, and I took full advantage of it the confusion after the Raven's departure. War was not what I wanted, not again, and I didn't want to be a part of the force that might raise it. I decided to steal a mobile suit, go to earth, and try to prevent it if I could.
"Which leads me up to where we were two nights ago. I tracked you five down to tell you this, so that we could have a chance against whatever Arcon has planned. I finally found you at that bar, but I messed things up a bit." She smiled a little sheepishly, then became serious again. "It is a certainty that there are Genesis forces trying to find me before I can give away any information. I'm sorry that I have put your lives in danger because of my actions." She looked down and some tension that Relena didn't even know was there passed from her frame. She looked weary all of a sudden, and Relena remembered that she had been shot recently.
"So this is my information. There are fortresses up in space with massive firepower, hybrids on earth causing the terrorist attacks, a renegade out of control who might be looking for you, and Genesis forces currently trying to exterminate me. Any questions?"
Duo chuckled. "None here...that I can think of right now. Give me an hour or so."
"He means two days." Hilde filled in. Duo gave her a look. She laughed and ruffled his hair.
Wufei rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Would you two please get your hands off each other for at least five minutes. This is important, you know."
"Why, Wufei? Does our," Hilde suddenly clung to Duo, throwing one leg over his lap, "closeness offend you?"
"No, its just impolite."
"Impolite? Mmm, I'll show him impolite," Duo said with a wink. Hilde grinned. There were suddenly two people in one chair and a lot of laughter coming from that side of the table.
"Are you done?" Trowa inquired mildly, fixing them both with his green gaze.
Hilde resumed her seat.
"Yes," she answered calmly. There was a brief silence. Quatre sat forward with his chin resting on his hands. "Do you think that the facilities were connected to Oz?"
Xiran turned. "Yes, I think they were at some point. But I don't know why they were forgotten."
Wufei crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Yes, Trieze wouldn't have let something like that slip."
Relena stared across at Xiran, thinking. She refused to let her gaze move to where Heero was. She considered the girl's information. She hoped in some small way that it was true, so that they could at least know who they were fighting, but there was still something about Xiran that wasn't quite all there. She was guarded.
Heero had been like that, still was like that, but she had seen small changes in him that made her happy. She would have given almost anything to see him laugh.
Relena thought, well I will at least keep things out in the open. I won't hide what I think from them, and her. Xiran was sitting again, sort of staring off into space, with an almost thoughtful look on her face.
"Aw come on Xi! Where is that smiling girl I remember! We don't need another one of these strong silent types! The ones we have are more than enough!" Duo teased. Trowa, Wufei, and Heero all turned to look at him. "Oh, look, I think Relena needs my council," He said, and moved quickly to where Relena was sitting, at the head of the table.
"I'm not going to be your shield, Duo."
"Hey! I thought you were all for the saving people thing!"
"Sure. But I don't think you need saving. It'll be good for you. Just take it like a man."
"Yeah. A man," Wufei said, cracking his knuckles. Hilde got up to join Duo at the head of the table.
"Excuse me. This is my merchandise. You break him you buy him." Duo grinned.
"Besides, breaking him is my job." She punched him.
"Hey!"
Relena quietly cleared her throat. "Can we conclude the meeting, now?" They returned to their seats, Duo looking a bit nervous. Relena passed her gaze over them all. "Your information may be useful, Xiran, but you must understand that the Preventers must find evidence to back up your account before they act."
Xiran nodded her head. "Of course. I didn't expect you to believe me in the beginning anyway. You have well founded reasons for your doubt."
"As before mentioned, it's not like we were born yesterday."
"Yes Duo," Relena said. "So I will contact Lady Une, Noin, and Sally Po to give them the information. We do have video cameras in this room, so you won't have to repeat this any more, Xiran. I think we should move quickly, even if what she says isn't true. Lady Une may be a target. I think it would be best for you five to accompany my aides in bringing her here. We can't risk that the lines may be tapped. I have a guard force, so you shouldn't worry about us. There is only a small chance that they could know Xiran is here."
Heero looked at her. "You could be a target too, Relena."
She looked into his face, so familiar in its blankness. "I know. The guards are the highest trained we have."
"And she's got me," Hilde chimed in.
"The mission won't take long. And Lady Une is a far more prominent figure. She needs all the security she can get."
Xiran was watching them with a serious expression. "You have me here as well. And I agree that they might move on Lady Une first. I don't know all the capabilities of the hybrid forces, but I do know that it will take a lot to stop them."
Heero said nothing. His eyes traveled to Relena, and then to Xiran. Xiran said quietly, "Only you can guarantee that no mistakes will be made."
Relena took a quick breath as the two exchanged a long look, and said what she had been planning to say earlier.
"Xiran please don't be offended, but there is no way for us to know if you're lying, or not telling us something. We will trust you up to a point, but there is no evidence that this is where you loyalties truly lie. Or whether there are part of your past you are hiding from us."
Then she saw Heero look at Xiran, and something passed between them.
(Flashback)
*Silence after all her words had been spoken. It was done, she had completed the first part of what she had set out to do. Heero entered her room after the others had gone to bed, a shadow in the darkness. She had been faintly surprised, but some part of her had been expecting it as well. He stood quietly for a moment ,then moved to where she stood in the corner of the room. He asked softly, "Why are you lying to us?"
Her face showed her shock at the bluntness of his question. Her dark eyes flashed, full of pain and anger.
"You have no grounds to accuse me of this."
"I know a lie when I hear one. You know more than you have said."
She stared at him for a long time, several emotions trying to take hold in her face, her cold eyes changing and darkening. "Of course I do. I lived in that place my whole life."
He waited. She almost yelled, "Must I lay my soul open for you so that you may tear my memories and mistakes from me? I have told you what is necessary!"
"Not telling us may cost us our lives. The past can be dangerous."
"Then tell me why you felt pain when I told you about the death of Three of Ten? Tell me why your face went cold and you looked away!"
"My past is not important in this."
"And mine is? I have told you what may be told, and already it is more than I have ever told anyone! Do you really want me to tell you how ruthless my commander was or why I have scars all over my body? Or how my friends died...because of the renegade. It was my mistake, I--"she broke off, looking away, unable to lift her gaze to his. Heero said nothing for a long time. He didn't look at her. There was too much memory in the room.
Too much silence, filled with ghosts.
"...One mobile suit hit a residential building." He said the words so quietly she could barely hear him.
She looked up at him in surprise. He still didn't look at her. Xiran turned away. She whispered slowly, "The Test Subjects didn't die by the testing. I did it. I killed them. Six...she--they were innocent. But it was necessary..." She stopped as if she couldn't go on. She swallowed. "I called it mercy. They were...in agony." They didn't say anything for a long time. The silence deepened. "Alright." Heero said finally. Xiran didn't turn. She said, "I will... come to you if there is anything more." He said nothing. He left.
She closed her eyes.*
They broke their look and turned to Relena. "There is nothing else. And I understand what you are saying."
She nodded. "Okay." The others came to stand around them in a rough circle. Their faces were serious. She looked at them all. "Then we make the first move, and together, we will face what is to come. United we will stand against terrorism and war."
Relena glanced at Xiran.
A wolf in our midst.
Xiran's dark eyes stared straight back into hers.
She thought, and so the game begins, Miss Peacecraft....
END
Okay, this chapter had dialogue so it bored me. Yes, I, the writer, bored myself. I consider this one a filler chapter, something that had to be said. The only thing I really like is the Duo/Hilde scene at the beginning. I was proud of myself for that one! But oh, the next chap promises more fun: arguing, fighting, and angsting. Read on!
PS I actually had a cameo appearance in this chapter! Heheh...can you guess?
The sun shone in through the open windows, pooling soft golden puddles of light on the floor. One of those bright rays just so happened to be shining right on Hilde's face. Slowly she came awake. Her blue eyes opened then sleepily squinted shut again. She moved to throw an arm over her eyes but couldn't. A little irritably she realized that Duo had somehow managed to squash her into the corner of the couch and at the same time lie on both her hands. Hilde nearly yanked her hands out then and there, but after brief speculation, decided against it. It was rather nice and cozy and warm right at that moment, so to avoid the glare, she burrowed a little farther into the warm mass that was Duo and the blanket. Just as she felt her mind beginning to slow down again, soothed by the rise and fall of Duo's breathing, her eyes snapped open. Oh man, she thought, this is the day of the Preventer meeting! Hilde lifted her head of her pillow of Duo, resolutely ignoring the puddle of drool
where her face had been, and pried her hands out from under the amorphous mass of grey blanket and boy. Abruptly she hoped that her hands had remained in a...good spot during the night, and worried a bit, but then reasoned that he wouldn't have noticed anyway. He slept like the dead.
Hilde made a slight effort to smooth her tousled hair, but almost immediately gave up, seeing as it was way too much effort to lift her arms. She stretched luxuriously and rubbed her eyes, thinking of the coffee maker in the insanely far away kitchen. With a sigh, she rolled out of the blanket's grasp and onto the floor.
"Owch," she muttered, as the movie cases and popcorn on the tile floor assaulted her with sharp jabs and crunches. With minimal mutterings she navigated her way through them on her hands and knees, too lazy to get to her feet. When she reached the kitchen she used the seat of a chair to lever herself up. Sluggishly, she felt her way to the coffee maker and had her first caffeine rush of the day. As the steaming liquid filled her, a huge smile broke out on her face, probably as a side effect of the near nuclear black coffee and loads of sugar. Her eyes focused and she finally felt like she had some energy. Probably well on my way to having an addiction, she thought cheerfully. "Thank-you coffee beans!" Abruptly she noticed a large sticky note on the wall, directly across from the coffee maker. Absently she thought, damn, I know myself way to well, as she made out the hastily written words in black marker:
WE HAVE TO GET TO THE PREVENTER MEETING TODAY!!
AT 9:00!!!
Hilde stared stupidly at the last part. Nine? She thought wildly. They expected us to be awake at NINE? She quickly downed the rest of the coffee, relishing the sudden spark of caffeine, and ran for the living room. Hurredly she activated the VCR in front of the couch to check the time. The final movie they had watched in their senseless-stupid-slasher movie marathon ejected automatically, and she cringed in remembrance. She couldn't even remember what the name was, but it didn't matter. It deserved no mention.
The time was...eight forty four! Oh, hell! Quickly she turned and tried to locate Duo's head among the lumps in the grey blanket. She found--a leg! Following that trend up she found the brown spikey head. She decided to be nice today and not simply introduce him to the discarded popcorn on the floor. She shook his shoulder. "Duo." She shook harder. "Duo!" He stirred and grunted sleepily,"...Just five...ten...sixty more minutes..." and curled into a ball.
Hilde, with some effort, resisted overturning the couch.
"Duo, get up. We have to be out of here in fifteen minutes!" There was a muffled noise. "And," he muttered, "I care because?"
"Because you have to be there too baka, so get your ass up!" There was no response. Hilde BARELY resisted dragging him by the hair to the kitchen and force feeding him coffee. Then a mischievous smile crossed her face. "Duo," she said sweetly, "what if I threatened not to cook anything but spam and beans for the rest of your life?" Duo barely twitched. "You wouldn't be able to do that. I know you," he said and pulled the blanket over his head. Hilde frowned. That boy is too smart in the morning for his own good, she thought in annoyance. "Well all right Duo," she said in a defeated tone. "You don't have to get up. If you don't mind not getting anything for the rest of your miserable little life." There was a chuckle from beneath the blanket. "I won't be moved by lust! My inner Shinigami defends me from your dastardly feminine plot!"
"Oh all right," Hilde sighed, slowly backing up, "But..." She took a running leap into the air. Duo let out a sleepy yelp as she landed on his midsection, but his hands were pinned beneath the blankets. "--what if I started calling you `honey bunches?" Or," she grinned and leaned forward, "shnookums?" Duo cringed.
"You wouldn't."
Hilde's grin only spread. "Oh, wouldn't I? I have pookie on the tip of my tongue now, and unless you want your name to be pookie for the next three months you'd better get up because we have ten minutes left!"
Duo rolled his violet eyes in mock exasperation, and said with big puppy eyes, "Are you sure there is no way we could negotiate this?" He stuck out his lower lip.
Hilde paused, as if considering. Then she said, "I'm sure Heero would really get a kick out of pookie, and oh, I wonder what Wufei would say..." Duo groaned and rolled her off of him. "And Zechs too," Hilde continued, "and I'm sure he'd be so amused that he'd tell it to Noin, and then Noin would tell Relena, and Relena would tell Dorothy..." Duo sat suddenly upright.
"I'm up! I'm up!"
Hilde smiled and patted his cheek, putting on her most infuriating grin.
"I knew you'd see it my way."
* * *
The wind caught Duo's hair as he was trying to rebraid it. It snatched it out of his fingers, where it proceeded to tangle and slap him in the face, and he cursed. Hilde glanced over from her place at the wheel of her old battered pickup truck. She grinned and ran her hand through Duo's rebellious locks.
"You look so sexy when your hair's down," she told him, and he gave her a rather irritated look. She continued, "Just like Zechs..."
"Hey, those of us who are not male prostitutes keep our hair done up," He replied, once more trying to put his hair in a braid. "Forgive me for not being a sex symbol." He was in a bad mood this morning, due to lack of sleep and a rude wake up call. And more than that. Hilde laughed. "If you only knew..."
"Knew what?"
"Nothing."
"Knew *what*?"
"Oh nothing...I'll tell you...later." She smiled at him sideways.
"Ah yes...you have needs which only the God of Death may fulfill..."
"Always."
They laughed. Duo had finally done his hair. He stuck his head out the open window he had been too lazy to close and let the wind ruffle his bangs. He was tired, and glanced at his watch. It was about nine. Heero would be quite aggravated by their lateness, but what could you do? The five of them had already heard Xiran's story anyway. He didn't understand why they had to be present while she repeated it to Relena. Duo sighed and remembered Heero saying, after Xiran was finished, ` Now we must present your case to the Preventers, and the first person I'd like you to meet is Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, previously known as Relena Peacecraft.' Xiran had nodded solemnly. `I know who she is,' she had said.
Her story seemed to have opened a new dimension of personality for her. In her memories she found sorrow, anger, and pain, and these things now so clear and unguarded in her eyes lent her gaze a new gravity that had not been there before. Duo still found it unnerving that she could have masked her emotions so well, but he sensed the truth in her words. And in the near palpable pain in her face that she had struggled to hide. She reminded him of Heero, and when he thought about it like that, he felt troubled. *What if his past is just as bad? I never asked him...*
"Duo, do you think her story is true?" Hilde asked suddenly. He had told it to her in detail the night before. Duo looked out at the city for a moment, then replied, "Yes, unfortunately I do." He sighed. "It seems the party never ended up there in space." He looked in the rearview mirror, seeing his own face, the violet eyes, brown bangs, and then the long braid. The God of Death once more, he thought. Just when I thought it would be the last time. He closed his eyes.
War is an endless possibility for the human race, Xiran Ki'Era had said, when she had only been a girl in a bar. Now she was something more, and it was at her call that the Gundam pilots would return to war.
Duo looked down almost angrily and then directed his gaze out the window. He thought involuntarily, damn her.
The look in Heero's blue eyes when she was telling the tale would have been unreadable, had it not been Duo watching him, but he had seen the pain there. Trowa especially had looked grave, and Quatre's eyes had reflected his sadness that war was rising again. Wufei...well Wufei, being himself, had looked angry, but Duo sensed that it was about something more than what Xiran had just said.
Duo looked over at Hilde. He remembered the hospital...
He clenched his fists in his lap.
"Hilde..." he began, but the look she gave him, full of concern because she had read his voice, stopped him. "Nothing."
She looked at him for a long moment. "It wasn't nothing." It was not a question.
Duo shook his head as they passed the outskirts of the city and continued towards the small secret Preventer base. "No."
A sudden memory, a church. A church in smoking ruin. His face twisted, even though he tried to hold it in. He looked up as Hilde took his hand, and her eyes were sad for him. She smiled then, a small smile.
"You aren't ever getting away from me, Duo Maxwell." She said it softly, meaning every word. Duo grinned in return, finding it hurt even to do that.
"Yeah, I know." He looked up as they pulled into the Preventer base.
The others were already there.
***
Relena Peacecraft looked up as one of her aids came in the door. "Miss Relena," the girl said politely, "Your guests have arrived." Relena stood and gave Catherine a small nod. "Thank you. Now please leave us. We have important matters to discuss." Catherine made a small bow and left. Relena looked up for a moment at the painting of the man that she had known as father that hung in the wall. Now I meet the lone wolf, she thought. And I will fight for peace, as I will always do. I will make the terror stop, Father. She turned towards the door as she heard footsteps. Heero was there, behind those doors. Just his presence gave her hope. It was he who had the strength needed to fight against war. She held back her excitement at seeing him, and so when the large doors were opened, she was calm, reserved, and demure.
Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton, Wufei Chang, Quatre Winner, and Duo Maxwell entered the room. She was at once startled by how they had changed, these five warriors of peace, at the grave looks on their faces, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw walking next to the one she had waited for. Relena Peacecraft thought in total surprise, Who is that?
Heero stopped and looked at Relena, apparently not seeing how shaken she was by the girl's appearance. Relena quickly forced her mouth into a welcoming smile. "Good morning. Please, take a seat." She gestured gracefully to the chairs around a large mahogany table. Her eyes traveled back to the stranger at Heero's side. Heero said, "Relena. This is Xiran Ki'Era, our lone wolf." The girl looked her straight in the eyes with her dark gaze, and said quietly, "Hello, Vice Foreign Minister Darlian. It's a pleasure." Relena nodded in her direction. "Please call me Relena Darlian." The girl bowed her head silently in agreement. "You can call me Xiran if you like. It really doesn't matter to me."
"Of course," Relena said coolly. Xiran seemed to sense that something was bothering her, and fixed her with her piercing gaze. She was dressed in casual clothes, as the rest were, but Relena recognized them as Hilde's. Hilde had probably got a kick out of sending her those, Relena thought, eyeing the totally black outfit with a smiley face on the shirt, that said `ray of sunshine'. Just then, Hilde herself entered, sounding out of breath.
"Sorry, forgot something in the car, then couldn't find the bathroom...jeez this place is huge..."she stopped. "Oh right," she said, her eyes falling on Xiran.
"Hi, I'm Hilde." Xiran smiled for the first time and stood to shake Hilde's offered hand. "I'm Xiran." Hilde sat next to Duo, and they settled down, their attention turning to Xiran, who sat next to Heero with Duo on her other side. Xiran was staring at her hands. As she watched Heero leaned in and said something quietly to her. Her face didn't change, but her eyes finally rose to roam over those sitting at the table with her. Relena waited for several minutes before beginning.
"Thank you all for coming. These circumstances are most unusual, but in these times of disquiet we all must stand together for the sake of peace." Duo already looked bored, and Hilde punched him. Relena decided to ignore that. She looked at Xiran. "I have been told that you have new information on the terrorist attacks, and possibly a lead. I am truly glad you have joined us..." she glanced across the table at the pilots.
"Although, I was under the impression that you were a boy." She said with a look in Heero's direction. Duo chuckled. "Our Heero. Always so good with communication."
Heero shrugged. "Deception was necessary." Xiran looked up at that. She laughed softly.
"Now that's something I think we all know a bit about."
She took a breath, her eyes suddenly serious. "I would just like to say for the record that I am sorry about that incident in the bar with those guys. It really wasn't something I'd planned on." She smiled a little wryly. "Now, though, it appears the time has come for me to tell you what I know. And that may put you in much more danger than we were in that night. I am, once again, sorry beyond words." She glanced at the blond girl sitting across from her. "Relena, you are now the only one who hasn't heard the tale. The rest of you...can stare at some spot on the wall for a while." Duo sighed with relief and put his feet on the table. Hilde rolled her eyes and sat forward, evidently wanting to hear the story from Xiran's own lips. Heero didn't even look up, Relena noticed. He looks like he knows something that the others don't. Why won't he look at her? He looked across at Relena suddenly, and for a moment there was sadness in his cobalt eyes. She fought the urge to reach
over and take his hand, or say something...
Xiran straightened and took a steadying breath, and Relena tore her gaze from Heero's now expressionless face. "My name is Xiran Ki'Era, but it is only a name that I took a few weeks ago.
I don't know my real one. I don't know who the people were who allowed their genes to be put in a test tube that I might be born. All I know is my own experiences, and the information I gathered while under the command of the Genesis forces. Genesis is the name given to the project that the facility focused on, and so we were eventually called the Genesis forces. The facilities are really space fortresses, smaller than colonies, but large enough to have their own population and mobile doll bays. They have strong weapons capabilities and defenses.
When the armistice was declared they didn't stop manufacturing, but continued to create new weapons and technologies. The leader of facilities is Arcon, and no I don't know his last name. He has a genius that may rival those of the professors who created your gundams. He created at least two new models, and a cloaking device technology that has allowed the facilities to remain undetected for all this time." She paused.
"He also began the first alleyways into human cloning and genetics research. His project was named Genesis, and its basic purpose was to create human super-soldiers. He created them by using DNA from animals and incorporating it into theirs, so that they were human animal hybrids." Relena looked into Xiran's face, focused intently on what she was saying. The girl's expression was carefully controlled.
"This is where the terrorist attacks come in. After his initial failures with the hybrids, a first generation of successes was born, all enhanced and able to function like normal human beings. Immediately he began testing them, training them, and he set about to using them for his own purposes. He discovered that he could make the soldiers even stronger, and so he began working on the second generation of hybrids.
While this was going on he deployed his most highly trained officers to earth, to begin only God knows what. I think he sent them to cause these terrorist attacks to raise confusion and conflict between the nations. For reason unknown.
However, his biggest concern was one of the second generations. Her name was Six of Ten, because she was the sixth out of the ten subjects made. She was a panther human hybrid, and the strongest second. He assigned her to the Raven project." Xiran stopped and ran a hand through her hair.
"Raven was basically the project for taking out forces that could stand in the way of Genesis. She was trained by the best in the facility to track and kill. Her first targets were the Gundam pilots, that much I know for sure, but there must be others that I don't know about."
Relena now understood some of the reason for the grave looks in the faces of her friends, and she held her hands tightly together in her lap. Things were looking far, far worse than originally anticipated. Still, Relena kept her head. It was possible that the girl could be misinformed...or lying. As of yet there was no evidence to back up what she was saying. Xiran continued, "The Raven was one of the most highly trained, and she was also the most unstable. She had several accidents or incidents that I can remember, most of them dealing with her superior officer, 57. It seems she had problems with authority. Anyway, she was almost always black and blue from training and chastisement, and to make things worse, the DNA of the rest of the One to Tens was unstable, and they were all slowly dying. It was terrible to see them. Her only companion, Three of Ten, was also deteriorating, and I think it was slowly killing her. The human ranks were afraid to cross her path. With her
growing pain and frustration came a shorter temper, and often she would appear in the halls in a rage. 57 was slowly losing control of her, from what I heard, so..." Xiran stopped for a moment. The silence was deep, and Relena could see that even Duo looked grim.
"He killed Three of Ten. Right in front of her, as punishment."
Relena put a hand to her mouth. Xiran's face remained coldly expressionless.
"I didn't know how the Raven would deal with it. The last I saw of her before the final day was in the halls. She was cold, simply that, nothing more. Her eyes were those of someone dead.
Several days after that the order came through that the final tests on the seconds were going to be made. The Raven had gone about her regular missions and training exercises like normal, but 57 had assigned a tail to her every move. An hour after the final tests, we began to discover something was wrong. The tail was missing." Her eyes became hard.
"She is now called the renegade hybrid, for her actions on that day. She destroyed the Genesis labs, and all the information and results from the One to Ten's testing. I was at this point dealing with the Second Generations, having been reassigned when 57 began slowly losing control. That is why I had access to so much information, and why I knew what was happening to the Test Subjects.
It was Six's will that she leave the facility, and she would do it at all costs. I knew this the moment the security systems became infected with a crippling virus, and when we understood that the doors to the Genesis labs had been jammed shut." Xiran shook her head.
"The renegade took many lives with her when she left the facility. More than she had ever taken, and more than enough to avenge the nine who had been her brothers and sisters. We fought, but even though we tried, we were no match for the hybrid's rage, and Arcon's genius. She....was like a demon. The total blackness and iciness of her gaze was the only thing that changed in her face. She showed us no mercy. But....the worst was when she finally reached her mobile suit. Then she had the power of the gods at her disposal, and I think she was mad. She began laying waste to everything.
It was she who shot me. I saw into her eyes at that moment. There was nothing. Nothing! She cared not, and even if she did, she had lost her control.
"Before we could deploy mobile dolls she had cloaked herself and was gone. The soldiers suspected that she had gone to earth, and it was confirmed by reports of a suspected meteor entering the atmosphere at that time." Relena saw the pilots exchange a look over the table. Duo emitted a humourless chuckle. Relena thought of Operation Meteor. It had been the beginning...
Xiran had stopped and was looking at them, her face almost sad. She began again, "After the renegade left, and took with her the lives of many I cared about, it wasn't necessary to stay any longer. I didn't want that life anymore, and I took full advantage of it the confusion after the Raven's departure. War was not what I wanted, not again, and I didn't want to be a part of the force that might raise it. I decided to steal a mobile suit, go to earth, and try to prevent it if I could.
"Which leads me up to where we were two nights ago. I tracked you five down to tell you this, so that we could have a chance against whatever Arcon has planned. I finally found you at that bar, but I messed things up a bit." She smiled a little sheepishly, then became serious again. "It is a certainty that there are Genesis forces trying to find me before I can give away any information. I'm sorry that I have put your lives in danger because of my actions." She looked down and some tension that Relena didn't even know was there passed from her frame. She looked weary all of a sudden, and Relena remembered that she had been shot recently.
"So this is my information. There are fortresses up in space with massive firepower, hybrids on earth causing the terrorist attacks, a renegade out of control who might be looking for you, and Genesis forces currently trying to exterminate me. Any questions?"
Duo chuckled. "None here...that I can think of right now. Give me an hour or so."
"He means two days." Hilde filled in. Duo gave her a look. She laughed and ruffled his hair.
Wufei rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Would you two please get your hands off each other for at least five minutes. This is important, you know."
"Why, Wufei? Does our," Hilde suddenly clung to Duo, throwing one leg over his lap, "closeness offend you?"
"No, its just impolite."
"Impolite? Mmm, I'll show him impolite," Duo said with a wink. Hilde grinned. There were suddenly two people in one chair and a lot of laughter coming from that side of the table.
"Are you done?" Trowa inquired mildly, fixing them both with his green gaze.
Hilde resumed her seat.
"Yes," she answered calmly. There was a brief silence. Quatre sat forward with his chin resting on his hands. "Do you think that the facilities were connected to Oz?"
Xiran turned. "Yes, I think they were at some point. But I don't know why they were forgotten."
Wufei crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Yes, Trieze wouldn't have let something like that slip."
Relena stared across at Xiran, thinking. She refused to let her gaze move to where Heero was. She considered the girl's information. She hoped in some small way that it was true, so that they could at least know who they were fighting, but there was still something about Xiran that wasn't quite all there. She was guarded.
Heero had been like that, still was like that, but she had seen small changes in him that made her happy. She would have given almost anything to see him laugh.
Relena thought, well I will at least keep things out in the open. I won't hide what I think from them, and her. Xiran was sitting again, sort of staring off into space, with an almost thoughtful look on her face.
"Aw come on Xi! Where is that smiling girl I remember! We don't need another one of these strong silent types! The ones we have are more than enough!" Duo teased. Trowa, Wufei, and Heero all turned to look at him. "Oh, look, I think Relena needs my council," He said, and moved quickly to where Relena was sitting, at the head of the table.
"I'm not going to be your shield, Duo."
"Hey! I thought you were all for the saving people thing!"
"Sure. But I don't think you need saving. It'll be good for you. Just take it like a man."
"Yeah. A man," Wufei said, cracking his knuckles. Hilde got up to join Duo at the head of the table.
"Excuse me. This is my merchandise. You break him you buy him." Duo grinned.
"Besides, breaking him is my job." She punched him.
"Hey!"
Relena quietly cleared her throat. "Can we conclude the meeting, now?" They returned to their seats, Duo looking a bit nervous. Relena passed her gaze over them all. "Your information may be useful, Xiran, but you must understand that the Preventers must find evidence to back up your account before they act."
Xiran nodded her head. "Of course. I didn't expect you to believe me in the beginning anyway. You have well founded reasons for your doubt."
"As before mentioned, it's not like we were born yesterday."
"Yes Duo," Relena said. "So I will contact Lady Une, Noin, and Sally Po to give them the information. We do have video cameras in this room, so you won't have to repeat this any more, Xiran. I think we should move quickly, even if what she says isn't true. Lady Une may be a target. I think it would be best for you five to accompany my aides in bringing her here. We can't risk that the lines may be tapped. I have a guard force, so you shouldn't worry about us. There is only a small chance that they could know Xiran is here."
Heero looked at her. "You could be a target too, Relena."
She looked into his face, so familiar in its blankness. "I know. The guards are the highest trained we have."
"And she's got me," Hilde chimed in.
"The mission won't take long. And Lady Une is a far more prominent figure. She needs all the security she can get."
Xiran was watching them with a serious expression. "You have me here as well. And I agree that they might move on Lady Une first. I don't know all the capabilities of the hybrid forces, but I do know that it will take a lot to stop them."
Heero said nothing. His eyes traveled to Relena, and then to Xiran. Xiran said quietly, "Only you can guarantee that no mistakes will be made."
Relena took a quick breath as the two exchanged a long look, and said what she had been planning to say earlier.
"Xiran please don't be offended, but there is no way for us to know if you're lying, or not telling us something. We will trust you up to a point, but there is no evidence that this is where you loyalties truly lie. Or whether there are part of your past you are hiding from us."
Then she saw Heero look at Xiran, and something passed between them.
(Flashback)
*Silence after all her words had been spoken. It was done, she had completed the first part of what she had set out to do. Heero entered her room after the others had gone to bed, a shadow in the darkness. She had been faintly surprised, but some part of her had been expecting it as well. He stood quietly for a moment ,then moved to where she stood in the corner of the room. He asked softly, "Why are you lying to us?"
Her face showed her shock at the bluntness of his question. Her dark eyes flashed, full of pain and anger.
"You have no grounds to accuse me of this."
"I know a lie when I hear one. You know more than you have said."
She stared at him for a long time, several emotions trying to take hold in her face, her cold eyes changing and darkening. "Of course I do. I lived in that place my whole life."
He waited. She almost yelled, "Must I lay my soul open for you so that you may tear my memories and mistakes from me? I have told you what is necessary!"
"Not telling us may cost us our lives. The past can be dangerous."
"Then tell me why you felt pain when I told you about the death of Three of Ten? Tell me why your face went cold and you looked away!"
"My past is not important in this."
"And mine is? I have told you what may be told, and already it is more than I have ever told anyone! Do you really want me to tell you how ruthless my commander was or why I have scars all over my body? Or how my friends died...because of the renegade. It was my mistake, I--"she broke off, looking away, unable to lift her gaze to his. Heero said nothing for a long time. He didn't look at her. There was too much memory in the room.
Too much silence, filled with ghosts.
"...One mobile suit hit a residential building." He said the words so quietly she could barely hear him.
She looked up at him in surprise. He still didn't look at her. Xiran turned away. She whispered slowly, "The Test Subjects didn't die by the testing. I did it. I killed them. Six...she--they were innocent. But it was necessary..." She stopped as if she couldn't go on. She swallowed. "I called it mercy. They were...in agony." They didn't say anything for a long time. The silence deepened. "Alright." Heero said finally. Xiran didn't turn. She said, "I will... come to you if there is anything more." He said nothing. He left.
She closed her eyes.*
They broke their look and turned to Relena. "There is nothing else. And I understand what you are saying."
She nodded. "Okay." The others came to stand around them in a rough circle. Their faces were serious. She looked at them all. "Then we make the first move, and together, we will face what is to come. United we will stand against terrorism and war."
Relena glanced at Xiran.
A wolf in our midst.
Xiran's dark eyes stared straight back into hers.
She thought, and so the game begins, Miss Peacecraft....
END
Okay, this chapter had dialogue so it bored me. Yes, I, the writer, bored myself. I consider this one a filler chapter, something that had to be said. The only thing I really like is the Duo/Hilde scene at the beginning. I was proud of myself for that one! But oh, the next chap promises more fun: arguing, fighting, and angsting. Read on!
PS I actually had a cameo appearance in this chapter! Heheh...can you guess?