CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE BURNING
The Black Phoenix Saga Strikes Back!
Oh the shame! The shame! I'm so sorry for not updating! GOMEN!! My muses deserted me in the midst of personal crisis and spent the summer in a fictional beach soaking up fictional sun. They left me! *sniffle* But I'm back in business and ready for action. I swear! The next two chappies are going to be very important to everything, and I have to spit them out. But alas, they will be insanely long. I can't seem to stop myself from babbling. It just keeps coming...but at least it's coming, ne? Anyway, this chappie is my sweat and my blood as I struggled to overcome my writer's block, so it might not flow so easy. But I think it's at least interesting. This will be the direct lead up to Mission One, the first big hurdle in the story. I can't wait for the fighting. ^^ And PLEASE if you have suggestions or any random thoughts while reading this, TELL ME! I really need them. My muses are still being moody. Shh, don't tell them I said that. But on to the story!
Warning: Some serious angst in this chappie. But some very interesting developments too. READ ON!
CHAPTER ELEVEN: MISSION ONE: PART I—THE TASTE OF BLOOD
"They have her."
His back was turned to him, and Saze could see that the powerful muscles of his back and shoulders were tense. He was facing the window, his frame seeming to fill it.
Saze waited for his superior to face him. He kept his golden eyes flat and impassive, knowing what was coming.
"You have failed me, Saze." The voice was low and quiet. Saze didn't have to strain to hear the anger in the tone. He said nothing, merely stared at the other's turned back.
"She was there in that building and she slipped right through your grasp. She was ten feet from you, 21. Ten feet! How much closer could you have gotten before you actually did something? You failed to successfully pursue her. You failed to prevent the pilots from stealing information. You failed even to kill one of them. Tell me, Saze…21… what exactly are you good for? It's a wonder you've managed to stay in your current position." 57 turned, his yellow eyes narrow and feral. "Arcon will not be pleased."
Saze didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. Tonelessly he said, "If I have failed, then so have you, Superior Officer 57. You have failed as well." Saze's gaze was level. "…And not for the first time."
57 bristled, his amber eyes flaring. But his face never changed. He turned the rest of the way around with a smile that was too calm and too fake. Saze remained impassive. He expected a blow.
A memory of Six's bruised face slipped through his mind. The perpetual look of rage in her blue eyes was burned into his mind.
57 slowly approached him. The size of his larger form, more muscular than Saze's, made 57 seem to loom over him. 57 moved forward until he was looking down into Saze's golden eyes, his own gaze narrow and menacing. His stance was aggressive and the air was charged with his scent in an unspoken challenge. Saze stared hard up into his yellow eyes for a long moment, fighting the urge to return the aggression. Finally he turned his head to the side, averted his eyes, acknowledging 57's dominance. After a moment he stepped back and again raised his eyes to meet 57's yellow gaze.
"Sir," was all he said. It was enough.
57 couldn't quite disguise the self satisfied gleam in his eyes.
"Now, Saze, we need to calculate the seriousness of this situation." He began to discuss Six's possible whereabouts on earth.
Saze, looking impassively at 57's face, thought, I can see how she could have hated you.
He had tried to stop thinking about Six. But every time he saw 57, it reminded him of her. And it reminded him that he had come to want to defy his superiour officer.
Saze forcefully reined in his thoughts and focused on what 57 was saying.
"—losing track of her once she entered the earth's atmosphere was inevitable. Her machine is far superiour to any we have right now. But that's soon to change. Arcon is beginning new plans." 57 gave Saze a feral smile. Saze's face revealed nothing of the surprise he felt. If this was true, it meant that he had truly fallen out of Arcon's good will.
57 was looking at him strangely, his yellow eyes probing. Saze let the momentary anger drain out of him. Ignoring his thoughts, he said, "I have not been informed of such plans, sir."
"You will, soon." The look in 57's eyes was oddly satisfied. He continued, "She's infiltrated the lives of her targets, but we know that she isn't working for our causes any longer. She hasn't destroyed them; she seems to have made an alliance." 57 looked up at Saze.
Saze said, "Yes, it has been confirmed that she is working with the men who were former Gundam pilots. We don't know about the terms of their alliance, or how much she has told them, but we can be sure that the pilots will be coming for us soon. We don't know their weapons capabilities, considering the Gundams are supposed destroyed, but we can be sure that their attack will be formidable. Together, Six and the pilots are the only force that stands in our way."
"We will eliminate them." 57's yellow eyes flashed.
Saze didn't have to look at him to know the look on his face. "Affirmative. I will not underestimate them."
57 smirked, his yellow eyes derisive. "And I will not underestimate her."
Saze was dismissed. As he left, he saw 57 once more at the window. The impression of his large, dark, silhouette at the window was strangely unsettling.
Six, for your own well-being, he thought, stay far away from here.
'Things are not as they seem.'
[Sally]
My God. Things are so much worse than I ever thought possible.
Sally ran a hand through her hair.
Ok, this is stupid. You're not afraid of him, he's just a proud Chinese who happens to wield a katana and pilot a weapon of mass destruction. And he has problems. What's there to be afraid of?
Sally stared momentarily at the wall, her expression blank.
She thought,…Everything.
Sally pursed her lips and sighed. Letting things stand the way they were--ambiguous, irritating, and extremely nauseatingly painful—would only worsen the situation. His fire and pride would never let him be the first to break the stalemate. Never. So it was up to her to do something about it.
That in itself was annoying, because he hadn't bothered to return her calls for three months.
Sally set her hands down firmly on the bedside dresser and leaned on it, her eyes closed.
Being bitter was really so much easier than being rational. It just wouldn't accomplish anything. The bitterness would only fester and slowly destroy…what? Why was she putting herself through this? Why was she letting herself get so worked up? He wasn't a very nice person. He usually didn't even bother to pretend that he enjoyed her company. Those months that they had spent working together at the Preventers surely didn't prove anything. Those times he had let down his Great Chinese Wall and forgot about his pride sure didn't mean anything.
Sally sighed out slowly and opened her eyes. Her pale blue gaze was quiet and determined. Of course it didn't mean much.
Did it?
[Wufei]
`Punch. Kick. Punch. Punch!
Twice again in rapid succession.
American kickboxing. Clumsy, aggressive, powerful.
He was sweating. His shoulders and legs ached and throbbed with his heartbeat. His body was pushed to the limit, the nerves dancing, the muscles straining, and it was nearing the point of exhaustion. But slowing down was not what he had in mind. He changed techniques as his strength ebbed and he smashed the punching bag hard in transition.
He could barely feel his hands anymore, they seemed to be numbed by the blows, and they were painful to the touch, but each impact spurred him on, made him want the pain more. His teeth were gritted, but against something far more subtle than the hurt in his hands.
Part of what drew him to training was the way it heightened his senses, made his mind and his body connect with each other in blazing energy. It was a feeling he had never been able to duplicate.
Until now.
He grunted with effort and began inflicting a new wave of punishment upon the black bag before him. Blackness danced at the corners of his vision. Sweat trickled down into his eyes. He heard himself panting and then a kind of snarl escaped him. It was the first sound he had made since the beginning.
Wufei snapped his eyes shut as a wave of dizziness swept over him. In the blackness behind his eyes she haunted him. Xiran. He drew in a breath, ignoring the tightness in his chest, and pounded on, no longer feeling the blows, just knowing he was hitting the bag. For one more moment he lost himself in the frenzy, was nothing, was no one, and then it stopped. 'Damn you, Xiran! Damn you! Damn you!'
His punches slowed, his body reminding him that it was still there and needful of his care. He ignored it. It didn't matter. What mattered here was the focus. He didn't want to think about her. Didn't want to think about her words. Not at all. What she was was a lying woman who had betrayed them. Betrayed them! And he had let them see it, there in the room, he had let them see his pain. He was a shame to the Dragon Clan. To...her. And the rest didn't even understand! They couldn't. Not even...
Biting back another snarl, Wufei began hitting the bag again. He couldn't even control his thoughts! What am I if I can't even control myself? Nothing but a shame to all that I once held dear. That thought stopped his inner dialogue completely. He continued on mechanically, just moving, carrying on the motions. And abruptly he thought of pale blue eyes and the hurt in them that was his alone to bear.
His blows came harder, with greater precision. His brown eyes darkened.
Suddenly the door to the gym opened. It creaked.
He knew who had come through it.
He didn't look away from the bag. He kept staring at it, punching, not feeling the sweat run down his back to soak his shirt. Punch. Punch. Kick. Punch. He stayed that way until she had moved halfway across the room. She knew he had seen her.
She stopped. Wufei gave the bag one last hard blow and stepped smoothly away from it. His back was to her. He began taking off the cushioning material wrapped around his hands.
He felt her eyes on his back. She was silent. Waiting.
The silence stretched on. The last of the material dropped to join its brother on the table.
No excuses now. Wufei raised his head, his brown eyes staring straight ahead. He could feel her eyes on him.
He heard her sigh softly.
"I used to think you missed me." Her voice was quiet, unaccusing. He felt her gaze on his back as the silence pressed on.
With a hint of steel, she said, "But maybe I should have taken those unanswered messages as a hint."
Silence.
She sighed again, and this time he could hear the pain in it.
"Sometimes I wonder why I come back..."
He turned on her. Biting back his anger, he said, "Then why did you come back? If it wasn't for my good looks and biting wit, then what was it? What is it, Sally? Do you have an itch you can't scratch?" He refused to let bitterness into his voice.
His words struck her like blows. Each one hardened her eyes, whitened her face. But why should he care? He didn't need her.
Wufei said in a quiet and deadly voice, "If you want, I'll let you be on top."
For a long moment she didn't move. She just looked at him, her pale eyes seeming to pierce him. Then she turned and walked away. Her shoes made little sound on the floor. When she reached the door she threw one last glance at him. Softly she said, "...Fine."
And then she left.
Wufei stared at the door, his brown gaze still burning. He turned away from it, found himself staring at the blood on the bandages on the floor. In one motion he turned and savagely threw one blow at the punching bag. As he felt the blood run down his knuckles, he bent his head and whispered, "I'm such an asshole."
[Duo]
With a long suffering sigh, Duo closed the main door behind him. Onyx Five's silence descended upon him as he made his way to the bedroom he and Hilde shared. He listened intently as he passed the gym, but Wufei didn't seem to be in there. Oh well. No more scandals for tonight. Time for some good shut-eye. It had been a big, monstrously huge day, and he needed some beauty sleep. He rubbed a hand over his face, feeling for swelling. Nope. Sweeet.
"Tomorrow, the world will just have to find another bitch, because I am SO not taking crap from it right now," he murmured to himself. He opened the door to the room and closed it, saying, "I mean, what has it been lately? Please come get me, world, I really need more pain! I haven't quite had my share yet! I mean really, the next one's either going to save me or its gonna kill me. I am the world's freaking chew-toy...no, not a tickle me Elmo...or a GI Joe, noooo...I am a CHEW TOY..." his eyes fell on the person-shaped lump in the bed. "Whoops, intelligent of me to--" The lump sat up.
It was not Hilde.
Duo stopped, his mouth briefly hanging open.
It was Xiran.
Duo rubbed his temples and sighed. "Ok so, I guess my knots really aren't that good and I suppose I should be fairly disgusted with myself for letting you get out so easy because I obviously can't tie knots for beans and how did you get in my bed?" He fixed her with his violet gaze.
Xiran tensed, her face inscrutable, her eyes unable to leave his. Her mouth parted, her dark gaze almost—
Hilde laughed from somewhere in the shadows. Duo turned to face her as she emerged into the faint light from the window.
"Hey babe....so I was wondering when you would get around to telling me you were sleeping with other chicks… "
Hilde laughed again and kissed him. "Shut up," she said. "I don't need your lip today."
She took his chin. Stared up into his eyes. "You were in a fight," She observed. Her mouth curved wryly.
Duo shrugged. "No biggie. I'm perfectly fine. I can even stand up to inspection!" He held out his arms. Hilde's hands found their way up his shirt. "Oh really?" she purred. He shivered with pain --and something else--as they found a bruise. "Ok so I got punched a few times," he admitted, "but I tried really hard to avoid it. Really!"
"Oh, that's good." Her smile was irritatingly satisfied. She slid her hands out of his shirt and smiled at him in a way that made his pants feel too tight. She said, "But we'll have to discuss the finer points of that later. I'm just glad you're still in one piece."
"Me too, babe."
"But what about..."
"-- Heero?" Xiran's voice was controlled and even.
Duo slowly turned to face her. He saw her tense but her gaze didn't waver. He knew that look. He'd seen it a long time ago... in a mirror. He looked at her for a long moment. He said quietly, "I don't know."
She dropped her eyes, almost guiltily. She looked at her hands. She said, "I'm..." she suddenly raised her eyes to his, her face set. "...I'm so sorry, Duo. For everything, and--" He waved a hand and cut her off. His eyes held hers.
"Hey, I know you are. It'll just take some time."
She gave him a small, faint smile--but said nothing.
[Heero]
What was he doing here? He must be out of his mind.
Well, a part of him said sourly, the whole freaking world seems to be a tad off kilter so why can't you be?
Heero forcefully silenced that little part of him and stared up at the ominous form of the house. It spanned four square kilometers and squatted beneath the pale moonlight, throwing a pitch black shadow.
From here it looked almost insubstantial...ghostly and silver edged. The moonlight didn't soften the night tonight, it made it full of shards. Or knives.
He would not think of knives in the dark.
A cloud shifted across the moon and plunged the twilight scene into shadow. By the time it had moved on Heero had already bypassed the dogs and watchmen. He observed one of them passing below him, completely oblivious to the intruder on her grounds.
His cold eyes watched impassively as her flashlight faded out of sight behind a corner of the house. He turned his attention to the shingles and ledges in front of him. He concentrated on putting one hand in front of another.
Letting himself wonder why he was here was not a good idea. Something had come over him on this night and he didn't want to pursue it.
Or maybe he didn't want it to pursue him.
Heero shook off that thought and moved on. He was a drop of ink in an ocean of dark. No one would see him, and he knew all the alarm capabilities of this place. Knew them--
His mind skipped over that train of thought and he turned his head to look at his destination.
The moonlight reflected off the windows in front of him, and he saw the pale reflection of his own face. He stopped. He didn't know why. He just stopped. He stared at the ghostly reflection, barely making out his own features. Even as he stared at them they seemed to shift and blur.
[flashback]'"I never want to lay eyes on you again."'
In the darkness he felt his breath sigh in and out of his lungs. He felt the rough brick and stone beneath his hands. He felt the yawning emptiness below him.
Heero Yuy took the memory and held it in his mind. He thought of the smallness of it, how diminutive it really was. He looked at it for a moment longer.
Then he crushed it.
Heero Yuy raked his ice blue eyes over the twilight landscape and moved on, melding with the shadows.
At first he hadn't known what he was doing here. But now, as he looked in through the clear glass of the window, it came to him that perhaps…it had all come full circle.
Heero put his palm flat against the glass and looked down at the slumbering form of Relena Peacecraft.
[Hilde]
His face.
Something was wrong with Heero.
Duo's eyes were distant and shadowed. Hilde looked into his face, the face she always wanted to kiss to chase away the hurt. He was colder than he had been an hour ago. His face gave him away. It always had.
Hilde looked from him to Xiran and saw the look mirrored tenfold. She knew that look so well--and she hated it.
It was what she called the Heero-complex. You take nice little teenagers. You take war. Put the two together and pow! You get a brand new mixture! You get soldiers, soldiers who become hard and cold and decidedly suicidal.
Hilde tried to quash the anger that rose in her. She could not be angry with anyone. War was not a person. She could not kick its shins. Could not punch its face. Could not take its small intestine and make it eat it like a Shanghai noodle. She was powerless against it. Just as Heero was powerless.
But the Perfect Soldier was responsible for Duo's pain today. He didn't seem to realize just how much blocking Duo out hurt him. And Duo would never tell him, he'd just laugh and carry on like nothing happened until Heero did it again and—he just didn't care. How could he be like that? He—Hilde suddenly stopped.
Duo had sat down on the bed. He rubbed a hand over his face wearily. Xiran crossed her legs, her hair falling in her face and obscuring her eyes.
Heero had caused this, this hurt, but somehow, neither of them saw fault in anyone but themselves.
Hilde thought suddenly, I'm just looking for someone to blame. But if there is anyone to blame, it's me.
God, I've been such a nag lately. It's a wonder he doesn't leave me. For a fleeting moment she thought of her mother.
Hilde moved over to him, her eyes on the slump of his shoulders, the set of his jaw. She sat on his lap and curled her arms around his neck, her head resting beneath his chin. It was an apology.
Silently he embraced her. His arms closed on her, two warm weights that cut her off from the world. His heart beat next to her own. She was his. He was hers. Her eyes closed.
I am curled in the arms of my lover, Hilde thought. Who would have thought that me, Hilde Schiebeker, the tomboy, the family disgrace, would ever have something so wonderful? What kind of twisted fairytale is this?
For a moment she did not let herself think. All there was was his arms, his heart, his love. And the word that came to her slowly was forever.
Hilde eyes came open.
What can we do in the face of war? What kind of power do we have? The pilots played the game last time and won, but they may not be so lucky this time around. Who would they lose? Heero? Quatre? Not Duo. Please no. It's so unfair.
Xiran?
For a moment she was overcome with her own selfishness. She drew in a deep breath to steady herself. She pulled her mind back to the bleak matters at hand and asked quietly, "What did he do?" She felt Duo's sigh.
"He got himself in a little scuffle. He was trying to find new way to kill himself without a conveniently placed self destruct button. I'll bet he misses Zero as much as he misses someone to fight with."
She squeezed his hand. She thought, we are all trapped by this, We can't escape it.
But we will fight it. We will fight for our loved ones. No matter what the cost.
"This is a dangerous game we're playing," She whispered into Duo's chest. His arms tightened about her.
"Don't worry babe, I won't let anything happen to you."
Hilde smiled into his chest, where he couldn't see. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
Hilde suddenly heard Xiran get up. Her footsteps moved towards the door and stopped.
Xiran said softly, "We do have one last card to play." There was a note of steel in her voice, a note that Hilde remembered well.
"…Gundam Black Phoenix."
Hilde's head snapped up. Her skull immediately made a solid collision with Duo's chin.
"Ow!" They both cried. Hilde fell on the floor with a thump and Duo flopped back on the bed.
"Geez, girl, you don't need uppercuts, your head is all you need!" He said, holding his chin.
"And I have just proven that your skull really IS that thick," Hilde retorted, holding her head. They glared at each other for a second then laughed. Hilde glanced up to see Xi watching them both, while pretending to be indifferent. Hilde smiled inwardly. Sometimes she was so transparent.
"So, Xi…how are you feeling about letting the likes of US use your Gundam?"
She shrugged, a tentative smile rising on her face. "Well…I was hoping that you two wouldn't have to."
"Then who?" Duo asked. His words hung in the air. "…Heero, maybe?" he continued, his eyes on her face.
She turned her dark gaze on him, her gaze penetrating. "I am her pilot."
"So you are…but it may not be that easy. You're not going to get anywhere easily now, Xi. Wufei and Heero are both having hissies, and Duo and I are still…recovering. But we're the only ones on your side. Well, including Quatre. Quatre roots for everybody."
She was silent for a moment. Her face was a mask.
Slowly Hilde raised her hand to her from her spot on the floor. Uncertainty flickered in Xi's eyes for a moment, and then she extended her hand to Hilde. As Hilde's hand closed on hers, her face became less cold. Xiran pulled her to her feet.
The look that they shared was calm and even. They didn't speak.
For a moment Hilde could almost see Xiran smiling brightly, her face filled with such delight that she was oddly innocent.
But it was only a memory.
Hilde smiled. "This will be mission one, Xi. Are you ready for it?"
Duo put in, "Are you ready for the insanity that is us?"
Xiran said, "Yes."
[Relena]
Was she dreaming?
She hoped so. It was so dark she could barely see her hand in front of her face. Relena quelled her rising panic. She began walking forward, hoping futily that she would see some sort of light. Anything to despell this cloaking, suffocating black. Her footsteps echoed hollowly, with a faintness that chilled her heart. Just how large was this place?
And more importantly, what could be hiding in it?
What could be in here with her?
Suddenly with a sick hard certainty, she knew that something WAS here with her. She shot a furtive glace over her shoulder. She may as well have closed her eyes.
Relena moved sightlessly ahead with her eyes open, waiting for something to appear in the black. Relena could hear her own breath as it sighed in and out of her lungs. She could hear the swish of her skirt. She could hear her footsteps fading into the close and crushing expanse of dark. It was like a void of nothingness. It swallowed everything.
She stopped walking and the darkness swallowed even the sound of her footsteps. Her heart beat loudly in her ears. Relena fought to remain calm.
There was no one here. Stop being such a silly girl. She was the only--
that thought drew her up short. She swallowed thickly.
She was alone.
Alone in the endless, merciless dark. The nothingness of it suddenly seemed to press in on her, into her nose and ears and mouth. She gasped for breath, fear shooting up her spine and paralyzing her. A scream came from deep in her gut and--
Relena took a deep, shuddering breath and stood still. Sound faded. Fear faded. She closed her eyes, ignoring the urge to peer sightlessly around in case something was coming for her. When she opened them a desk was a mere ten feet from her, bathed in a pillar of light.
She was about to sit down when the sudden feeling that something was right there froze her in place. She realized her mistake with a sinking heart. At least in the darkness she had been invisible. In the light...everything could see her.
Footsteps. Calm, measured strides. Coming closer and closer.
Relena caught her breath, struggling to slow her frenzied heart.
A figure emerged out of the shadows.
The harshness of the light for a moment made the person's face unrecognizable. But she knew that hair.
Xiran raised her dark slanted eyes and met Relena's gaze head on.
Xiran stepped forward farther into the light. She stopped at the pillar's edge. Relena didn't move.
The empty white space between them almost glowed with the intensity of the light. The undersides of Xiran's features were edged in paleness.
Xiran's gaze beat on her like heat and Relena found herself tensing up.
"I'm not afraid of you." The words were out of her before she had time to think.
Xiran did not change.
She said, "What are you afraid of, Relena?"
As if I'd tell you, Relena thought. The silence remained for a long moment.
A slow bitter smile curved Xiran's mouth. The light went out.
Relena must have cried out.
The echo faded into the distance. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the absence of light, she realized that it wasn't as dark as it had been. The ground she walked on was as smooth and endless as black glass, stretching as far as she could see.
But something was different.
A black panther sat in front of her.
It was impossibly large. Its head was on level with hers. Its sleek coat shone with muted glory; its muscles looked supple and powerful. It had a strong but narrow face...with great dark blue eyes. It was staring at her.
Without knowing why, Relena knew that it was not an it--it was a she.
"What do you want?'
Her question fell into the silence. The panther did not reply. She had expected it to.
It merely stared at her. It was unnerving. Relena suddenly asked, "Who are you?"
It didn't move. Still, she got the feeling that it had understood.
A sudden soft dripping sound in the darkness. Like the patter of a small child's feet, uneven, yet monotonous. The sound grew closer. Xiran appeared just behind the panther, which had not twitched a whisker at her approach.
A gun hung laxly from her left hand.
She said, "You're not asking the right questions."
The glass-like surface suddenly lit up in a bright tableau beneath her. Relena uttered a small cry as the sizzling energy blade of Wing ZERO sliced right beneath her. The image was huge, larger than the real Gundam, its eyes easily bigger than she was. Wing Zero turned and seemed to stare right through her. "Heero," she whispered, reaching out her hand.
ZERO exploded. Relena screamed and covered her ears. The fireball roared and expanded in orange light. The Deathscythe Hell came slicing through it, scythe in hand, turned and struck an approaching Mobile Doll out of existence. Another ear-blowing explosion. Gundam Shenlong's claw retracted and Wufei blew another MD apart before her eyes. Sandrock emerged out of the wreakage, wielding both weapons and slicing mobile suits left and right. More mobile dolls appeared to take the places of the ones destroyed. An array of missiles spiraled into their front ranks. Bright orange blossomed on the front line as Heavyarms reloaded, but more mobile dolls appeared.
Explosions rocked the air, rumbling right out of the ground. Relena fell to her knees. Below her, around her, beside her, the Gundams fought, waging war against the enemy.
She screamed into the cacophony, "Stop fighting! Please just stop! STOP!"
The silence was like being struck deaf.
She felt someone take her hands, lift her to her feet. "Heero," she murmured, opening her eyes. Xiran shook her head sadly. She looked haggard. "He's not here."
Relena threw off Xiran's hands. "Why?" She cried. "Why show me that? What is the point of all this?"
Xiran took two measured steps backwards. The meager light began to fade into pitch dark. The last thing Relena saw was Xiran's blue eyes.
Her voice was strangely disembodied when she spoke.
"…We all choose our own paths in the dark."
Relena sat up with a scream in her throat, her hands clenched white around her sheets. She was bathed in a sheen of sweat. Her white nightgown stuck to her back. She had begun to sigh with relief when her eyes fell on a long black shadow. In an instant her eyes had followed it to the window.
Relena bit back a scream and dived at the bedside alarm.
Her hand was over the switch when the reality of the image came to her. Someone was at her window. With blue eyes. She couldn't deny that there was something familiar about them.
Not believing, she turned and let her gaze travel back to the window.
It was Heero.
For a moment she could only stare. Her traitor heart leaped in her chest. Relena thought, why is he here? What reason could possibly make him come here? The answers came to her all too quickly. Some sort of trouble. Perhaps there had been an attack. And…Six of Ten. Relena quelled the jealousy that hardened her heart, but still she hesitated, staring at him. He was very still. Suddenly she saw marks on his face, cuts and bruises, and it broke the sense of uneasiness the nightmare had stirred in her.
She opened the window.
He stepped down lightly. She noticed blood on his shirt, but said nothing.
Slowly he turned and faced her, his blue eyes finding hers. She felt a moment of shock. His eyes…they were the ones she had seen in the war. They were blank. His face was the same. Relena stared at him, momentarily speechless.
Everything about him said, I don't care, but in that she saw clearly that he had been hurt.
Relena thought, That bitch. She was shocked at the harshness of her thought, and immediately quashed it. Xir—Six—She wasn't important here. He had come to her…but for what…?
Heero gazed at her a moment longer and then said, "I came here for information."
"Of course," Relena said smoothly, covering up her hurt.
His blue gaze rose up and then flickered away. He moved past her. He stopped . With his back turned, he said, "I'm sorry for bothering you."
"No, it's alright." His back and shoulders relaxed fractionally. Relena wanted to ask him if he was okay, but she knew he wasn't. And he knew she knew. He would have to come out with it on his own.
Heero hadn't moved. He was just standing there, like he didn't know what to do.
Perhaps he didn't.
Relena said softly, "What's wrong?" As her words trailed off and he said nothing, she continued quickly, "What's happened? Is Hilde okay?"
"She's fine."
He didn't want to talk about it. Relena drew in a shallow breath and began, "Heero…"
He turned on her. It was everything she could do to stand her ground.
His eyes were like dark chips of ice, burning with anger.
But it wasn't directed at her. Heero stiffened and turned away.
Relena moved forward tentatively. God, Heero. The soldier is back. But you're losing your composure…you're more emotional than I've ever seen you…is it because you were betrayed by someone you cared about? The thought was like a stab of jealousy in her chest.
But her next thought stopped her cold. 'He's losing control. How can that be?'
He was always the Perfect Soldier before--
--before he met you.
' He wouldn't have had anything to lose if it wasn't for me.'
Relena closed her eyes and fought back her despair. "I'll lead you to the room," she said, her voice calm.
He didn't look at her. He just followed.
[Hilde]
"She's confused, Duo. That's what I think."
"Well, we both know that you didn't get a psychology degree…"
"But I'm not STUPID," Hilde retorted, glaring momentarily.
Duo looked almost hurt for a second. She immediately softened her glance and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry. You're only a boy. Boys don't get this kind of thing."
He brightened a little. "Oh, right!" he said, in a way that was far too cheerful. She [said], "Stop mocking me!"
He rolled his eyes.
"Anyway…" Hilde continued, "I think she's really confused. I mean, what did the military teach her about forgiveness? Oh, you scratched me. I'll shoot you. You know, stuff like that…there's no real forgiveness factor. I acted nice to her today and she stared at me as if I'd grown another head. Well, that was after I yelled at her, but I could just…sense it, you know? She doesn't know what to do now. She thought we'd never forgive her. Ever." Hilde impulsively snuggled closer to him. "It's so sad," she added softly.
Duo sounded slightly confused. "Um…have we?"
"Ok, not yet, but we're getting the trust factor back, right?"
"Sure…"
"And yeah, she just doesn't know what to do. Ok? Ok. Got it? Good."
"Was there a point in discussing this?"
She gave him a Look. "We should just be prepared for when Heero comes back."
"Oh."
"Because she might act weirdly or something and…"
Now he was giving her the Look.
"What?" She said.
Duo rolled his eyes at her playfully. But his gaze was serious.
"She won't do anything."
Her look was incredulous. Duo grinned wryly at her.
"--Unless Heero does something first."
[Heero]
Routine orders. Encoded information. But more importantly—new officer positions. Which meant that some had to return to the home base. Which meant that one piece of extremely valuable data had come into their hands: the location of the main earth facility.
They would have an edge now. The hybrids wouldn't know what hit them.
Heero abruptly realized that he was smiling.
The encoded information they would not be able to break into. It wasn't just coded—it was in codename format, which meant that they were using words that only the hybrids knew the meanings to. 'But I have a place to attack now. I know where I'm going—and what I'm going to do when I get there.
I have them now.'
All at once Heero remembered that Relena was there beside him. He wiped the little smile off his face.
His mind teemed with thoughts, strategies. It felt so right, so like it should be. He stared hard at the computer screen, his mind processing, shifting, calculating. His fingers, spider-like, flew over the keys.
Yes…they had made the hit first on Kallam…and then the Sanc, through Relena…his fingers paused momentarily.
He blinked and continued on. The computer screen scrolled down. The latest news. Headlines bellowed. Frontline pictures containing fire and smoke passed by. Heero saw it all.
Behind him, Relena made a small sound and said sharply, "Stop."
"Mexico was hit," He affirmed tonelessly. "Ambassador killed in his own house. The air vents were tampered with. Carbon monoxide and then some form of mercury. All servants and family dead. Found early in the morning when the next watch came in."
Relena fell silent. He could almost feel her shock. And her pain.
Heero felt a moment of irritation.
She said, "Heero…how could this be happening so fast? The whole world seems to be falling prey to them. But all we can do is blame each other." She fell silent again. Then she murmured, "Mariemaia's Endless Waltz is more of a reality than I ever thought. What I fool I was to have such unattainable dreams..."
Heero said only, "It's war." What was he supposed to say? He had never known anything else. She should know that.
Unthinkingly Heero turned around. Relena was standing behind him in her white nightshirt, her hair down and messy around her shoulders. Her arms were crossed across her chest, her head bent, her eyes turned inward.
He had hurt her.
He had come here and asked for information. He had brushed her off again and again. Heero momentarily remembered her face as she smiled at him, so long ago.
He had hurt her.
Of course he had. He'd been so stupid…wrapped up in his own pointless little world.
Heero stared at her for a moment longer, his blue eyes changing slightly. "It's a war that we can prevent." Her eyes slowly rose to his. He continued tonelessly, "If I can make a clean hit on this Moscow base, then we can take steps to end this war before it can begin. End it before it can gain momentum."
[Relena]
"…End it before we are deceived by the hybrid--" Relena's voice choked off for half a second as Heero's gaze sharpened and became pitch dark. "—plot."
Relena felt as if the room temperature had just dropped ten degrees.
She thought, Oh good god. This must be what Xiran felt like.
All of his muscles had gone taut. The silence seemed shiver with the tension. He was so still he barely seemed to be breathing. He was staring at her with an intensity that froze her to the spot.
Relena held her breath and waited for whatever might come.
[Heero]
Hybrids. Hybrid. Deception.
He was staring hard at nothing, images flickering in his mind's eye. His jaw clenched. Lies. Lies!
She was just standing there, pale eyes wide. Wide because of what? Had she lied to him too? What if Duo--
Heero hissed a quick breath in through his teeth. No. Not Duo. He wouldn't. And Relena...who knew what she was thinking.
He tried to let the anger drain out of him. He had to get control. Had to get control. When had he lost control?
Her fault!
He hissed a breath out through his teeth, concentrated on relaxing his coiled muscles. He was as tight as a clenched fist. Unthinkingly his gaze moved to hers.
Her eyes were questioning.
He drew a calming breath. He would tell her why he was so unhinged. She would understand.
He forced the words out evenly. "Xiran--" he almost choked on the syllables, "--Is Six of Ten."
Her eyes did not change.
She said softly, "I know."
[Relena]
He was out of his chair and past her before she could utter another word.
"Heero!" She whirled and caught his arm. He froze, his back to her.
Relena choked back her uncertainty and shifted her grip to his hand. She held it between her own.
"It's not wrong to have emotion," she said, hearing the pleading in her voice, unable to stop it.
He didn't move.
Relena drew an unsteady breath. She wasn't sure what she wanted to happen but she knew that he was on the brink of something. Something terrible.
Suddenly he turned his head sharply to the side. His blue eyes were open and catlike in the light of the window.
He snapped coldly, "It is in war."
She felt like she had been struck. She was reminded of Xiran's eyes on the field. Of the helplessness of that day. Of the sound the bullets made as they went into Hilde.
She dropped his hand. She turned away. One hand came up to her face. Words came out of her in a whispered rush. "If I wasn't a Peacecraft...if I wasn't a politician..." Her face twisted, "...If I wasn't so weak... I could lessen this burden...If I..." her hands came together and clasped each other, white knuckled. "...I could end this...I would fight. I-"
"No."
He whirled and grabbed her shoulders.
"No Relena. Not you."
She shook her head, trying to quell stupid tears. She couldn't look at him.
"No," he said again, his voice suddenly soft.
She slowly raised her eyes to his. His cobalt gaze was as clear as the surface of an ocean. She had never seen his eyes so...open. He was stronger now. Maybe she had helped him after all. He was so much more now than he was at the beginning of the war...so much more.
"Heero..." she whispered.
His mouth opened but no sound came out. All at once he seemed to realize what he was doing.
[Heero]
He turned blindly and went for the window. What was he--so goddamn stupid---what came over--
She grabbed his hand again. Her grasp was warm against his skin. He stopped, felt his heart pumping in his chest. Slowly he began to turn back to her. What would he see? He didn't know.
His gaze found hers. Her clear blue eyes were open and soft beneath her tousled hair. She said, "No. Stay." She drew in a quick uncertain breath. Heero merely looked at her, a motionless statue in the moonlight.
Her voice was soft.
"Please?"
[author's note: MWAHAA!! (maniacal laughter)]
[Xiran]
This was going to be bad. Very bad. And it didn't help that Hilde and Duo were acting so strangely.
She had gotten up this morning with something like an emotional hangover and gone to their room. Her hands had been cold and clammy. She had knocked on the door. It had opened a crack, and then Hilde had come barreling out of it with a huge grin on her face. "Xi!"
During the next fifteen minutes of frantic morning activity, Xiran had found only a few shadows of uncertainty in Hilde's eyes. Duo had been tired and stiff and a bit cranky, but he'd responded well to snuggles—which Hilde had been more than happy to supply. In general they seemed to be in a good mood. It had left Xiran more than a little confused. Uncertainty had made her frustrated.
This was where she had left herself. She had let her emotions get in the way of her mission. Her mistakes were intolerable. Now the mission was no longer in her hands. She was in the enemy stronghold with no way to prove her validity. It only made sense to sever all the ties that had caused this failure.
"Xi."
Her eyes came up guiltily. Hilde smiled at her. Her eyes were serious. "Come on," she said. "They've gathered already."
This was going to be bad.
Xiran followed Hilde to the main room. The meeting was going to be held there. The meeting where they would discuss war, counter measures, politics--and what they were going to do with her.
But the council of war was not yet complete.
Heero had not come back.
She knew that Quatre was worried and that Duo and Hilde were uneasy. Trowa was unperturbed and Wufei was completely indifferent.
Heero had not come back.
She sat down, not really looking at the rest of them. She crossed her legs. Wufei had been avoiding her all morning--but he'd been doing the same thing to Sally. Xiran stole a glance at the woman.
Sally was standing in the middle of the room, in the center of the formation of chairs and couches. Her hair was drawn back in a ponytail. Her manner was business-like and cool—but almost overly so. Her eyes were pale chips of glass in her face.
Wufei and Sally. Whoever would have thought that such opposites could...
Xiran recrossed her legs.
Heero had not come back.
* * *
The meeting began with Sally.
The hybrid hits had no traceable pattern. The attacks were deliberately random--the Preventers would never know what was coming next. More importantly, the Preventers had not yet released proof of the hybrid's existence for fear of alerting them to their knowledge. But the longer they omitted this information, the larger the international uproar would be when they finally did release it. What the United Earth Sphere didn't need right now was more cause for an international stink. Economics and egos were already coming into play. The international community was like a group of classmates who were being preyed on by a sniper. They stood together to avoid total pandemonium, but the longer they stood and did nothing, the more tense they got--because no one trusted anyone else. It had only been a year since the UES was formed, and only a year since the full armistice. Suspicions were on the rise, and fear mongers were taking full advantage. Propaganda was uncontrollable--and the media was bored with the United Earth Sphere.
"Most of this is commonly known," Sally continued, her eyes moving over the pilots. "But the international situation is more complex than the public believes. The situation could escalate exponentially if something like the hybrid threat was thrown into the mix. We have to pin down information and soon, or else some countries may take it upon themselves to defend and arm themselves--If that hasn't happened already." She paused. "What would be really beneficial to this meeting would be new, reliable information." Her eyes fell on Xiran. She refused to let anything show. She had agreed to say as little as possible.
Hilde quickly stood up. Simultaneously the Xiran heard the door unlock.
Everyone froze. Xiran barely breathed. 'Not a hybrid...it's...'
Heero stepped slowly through the door. His eyes immediately locked on hers. His gaze was utterly cold. With a deliberate slowness he dropped his gaze and turned to allow someone inside.
It was Relena.
Xiran crossed her arms and forced out a calm breath. Why should she care. She should be content with knowing that soon she would face her adversary in battle. The time was drawing near.
She suddenly realized that she was tense, energy thrumming through her frame. Her eyes narrowed angrily.
She focused on Relena, with her blue eyes and blonde hair, and wished like hell for a punching bag.
* * *
With the arrival of Heero and Relena, the meeting progressed by leaps and bounds. Heero briefed them on the attack on Mexico. He continued on to summarize the hybrid information. Relena sat next to him.
Xiran ground her teeth.
Sally reclaimed the floor and outlined the Preventer's current neutral political stance on the attacks. They would not point fingers until they had more information. They had to be a symbol of multilateral movement to the rest of the world until the Grand Summit meeting of the world leaders. There was a brief silence.
"So we have to act alone," Trowa surmised quietly.
"Great," Wufei muttered.
"Not exactly," Sally responded coolly. "The Preventers will back you...but we can only provide the tools. We can't make a political move without someone accusing us of having ulterior motives. But you guys have independent political movement."
Duo grinned and stretched. "So you're saying we can do your grunt work as long as we don't tell on you. Mmm, great. We should have more friends like the Preventers."
Sally cracked a smile and put one hand on her hip. "Yes, Duo, you are going in as an 'under the table' operation. But the Preventers will come in full force if there is an emergency."
"Well, what qualifies as an emergency--"
"—You'll come if we holler, right Sally?" Hilde interjected. Sally nodded.
"What weapons will you give us?" Wufei asked bluntly, his brown eyes dark. Sally's face didn't change. Without a word, her eyes passed over Wufei and moved to Xiran. The unspoken suspicion hung in the air.
Hilde shot to her feet. "We know that we already have one weapon. A Gundam."
"What?" Wufei snapped.
"Yes," Hilde replied. "It's on the coast of Scandanavia. We--"
Heero's voice sliced through her words. His eyes were locked on Xiran. "Your Gundam."
Her eyes narrowed. "Yes. My Gundam." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Duo shake his head in warning, but ignored it. "I'll go in myself to get it."
"What makes you think we will let you do that?" Heero's voice was low and hard.
"Yeah," Duo interrupted hastily, "I could do it. I'm nimble, I'm fast, I'm cool, I--"
"The only way in is designed to repel someone like me." Her eyes had never left Heero's. "I don't want to be blamed for anyone getting hurt. I know the system's capabilities and limitations. This is my Gundam, my system, my risk. Let me do it."
"I can't let you go in there alone," he ground out. " The Gundam is too powerful to be put in the hands of--"
"If I can't get in there, no one will. You can throw your lives away if you want, but I will not be executed because one of you decides to play hero." She glared at him. She could see him fighting back his anger.
'Come on Heero, show me what you've got.'
One side of her mouth lifted in a derisive smile.
"After all, I'm expendable, right?"
[Quatre]
They were going to explode. He had to do something!
He processed the possibilities in one mind blowing moment. He shot to his feet, met Sally's eyes as he came up, and said, "We don't have to decide this now. We have to orchestrate an attack on the Moscow base and try to prevent more innocent deaths. What we need right now is to get organized and move out of Onyx Five." For one breathless moment Xiran and Heero continued to glare at each other.
Then Heero calmly raised his gaze to Quatre and nodded. Xiran looked away and murmured her assent.
Quatre breathed a mental sigh of relief and looked at Sally. She was as relieved as he was.
He looked over the rest and said, "We should move out. We can keep Xiran confined to her room until we find reason to do otherwise."
Sally nodded. "Be ready in one hour." Her eyes moved to Xiran. "We will resume in Area PALE." (Preventer Armistice Location Experiment)
Wufei raised an eyebrow and Quatre knew what he was thinking: You're gonna take her there?
Quatre wasn't so sure about it himself. But they had to win this war. And Xiran could help them win it.
His gaze went unbidden to Heero, who was sitting with his arms crossed.
Heero and Xiran. They would be two of the most valuable assets to the mission--If they didn't kill each other first.
[Author's Note: Technically...I could have cut off the chapter here...but....I refuse to divide...ok, FINE, I'll divide it. My mind says NO you can't! But logic...well, logic says DO IT. So, for now, I'll listen to logic. I want some fighting....i want some emotional pain! Buuuut....that damn logic again. I WANT to end it...ok. I will end it there. I've talked myself into it. I'll add that last scene and then move on to Moscow. Sigh. I'm sorry for all the technical/political babble. It's soooo boring. But I suppose its necessary. Gah...I digress. Screw you, logic.
[Wufei]
What the hell were they doing here? This was dangerous. This was a waste of time. What the hell were the Preventers thinking, letting Xiran go in and get her machine? That was wildly intelligent. Here! Why don't I give the woman a bazooka while we're at it. That would make the situation so much better.
Wufei crossed his arms and glared resentfully at nothing in general. Ahead of him, Trowa and Xiran scouted ahead, shadows against the coming dark. The northern coast of Norway was really a grand place for searching for the cave Xiran had left her Gundam in.
Ever so conveniently, she had told them she had blocked off the underwater entry she had used initially to get into the cave, so they couldn't go back in that way. Naturally, she had reminded them of this at the last possible moment. Lady Une and the other Preventer heads had blithely agreed to let her go in. The catch was that the pilots would have to be present. But it was still a gamble. Once she had access to the mobile suit, she could do anything.
Wufei glared at her back as they trekked across the coastline. The bluff they were aiming for was located on the outer edge of a fjord. The water crashed into the grey cliffs beneath them, providing a rush of background noise. The ocean was a huge, inky expanse of shifting sound beneath a dark sky. The moon was hidden behind great suffocating clouds. Wufei resented the fact that she had to hide it in a place so bloody inaccessible. In fact, at this point, he resented all of Scandinavia.
This had to be one of the most brainlessly psychotic things they had ever done.
Ahead of him walked Heero and Relena, side by side. He wondered if Heero was doing that just to spite Xiran.
He hoped so.
The whole situation was stupid. It simply boggled the mind. Relena was just a pacifist politician who wanted to hold Heero's hand…and Xiran was a lunatic mongoloid…what the hell…it was so moronic…Wufei was freezing…and why the HELL was Sally here?
Wufei turned now turned his glare to Sally's back. This was great. He couldn't stop thinking about their confrontation—even while he was walking across the coast of Norway. Every time he saw her he noticed the ice in her eyes that hadn't been there before. Stupid woman. What was she trying to do?
He was still thinking about the possible scenarios that Sally could be concocting when Xiran reached the bluff and stopped. "This is where we go down. There's a ledge below, but it's not big enough for all of us." Her eyes moved to Heero. "Who's coming?"
He did not respond to the unspoken challenge. He merely stepped forward. Duo and Hilde went forward too. Wufei definitely did not want to be left out here with the stony silence that was waiting for him. He followed the others down the cliff.
[Sally]
Running away from her, was he? Well he should. With the cliffs being so tantalizingly close, he really shouldn't be near her at all. Sally crossed her arms and watched him make his way down the cliff. She pointedly refused to be worried about it. She fixed her gaze on the black expanse of water before her and thought about…pie. Blueberry pie.
…Goddamn it.
[Wufei]
It was hard not to think of a brutal, excruciating demise on the rocks below. It really was. Not that the ledge was small, it was more the fact that he was on it with some people who might not be entirely sane. He let his gaze travel to Hilde. At least she was reasonably sane. But then she was having a relationship with the Maxwell creature…
Duo? A fine example of a special Folger's brand of insanity.
Heero? He should have been put away years ago.
And Xiran? He'd bet his life that her marbles were laying around somewhere.
All in all, Wufei was as good as dead on this ledge.
But was he going back up there? Not a chance.
Oh, now the onna was crawling inside a tunnel in the rock. It wasn't a very big hole—Wufei now understood why she hadn't needed much extra baggage. However, that little fact hadn't stopped them from fixing a small, secret pack to her communication headset. Just one word from Sally and Xiran would be comatose. She was going in with basically her wits, a handgun, several throwing knives, and a set of wire tools. Oh, and the secret pack. But naturally, she didn't know about that.
Wufei put his hand to his ear as the first wave of radio contact hit his receiver. He saw the rest do the same.
Heero was staring at the darkness that had swallowed Xiran up. Wufei felt like punching him—just to wipe that expression off his face. The same freaking expression that he had been wearing for the last two days.
Wufei wondered for a fleeting moment if this was what PMS was like. He quickly recoiled from his own thought. There was definitely something wrong with him. This was all Sally's fault.
[Trowa]
"I've entered the first stage," Xiran said in his ear.
"Go ahead," Trowa responded.
"Affirmative."
He shot a look at Quatre. Would this line of communication be enough to let them know if she was going to turn against them? Quatre shrugged.
Trowa turned to look at Sally. She said quietly, "It will have to be enough."
"Entering first area. Obstacle sighted."
Static. Her breath came faster and then slowed. "Disabled."
This pattern continued for ten minutes, with varying levels of exertion. Trowa wondered just what she had set up in there.
"Entering…" Her voice was suddenly broken up by static.
"Repeat last communication." He waited.
"Repeat!"
Static. He met Quatre's eyes. "Xiran. Respond now."
Had they miscalculated her?
Five long minutes passed by. Sally shook her head. "She's either dead or betraying us."
Relena was very silent. Quatre crossed his arms. "Just wait a little longer."
Suddenly her breathing came back over the speakers, ragged and short. "…Disabled."
"Are you alright?"
"Fine."
"Are you—"
The ground beneath them suddenly shivered. A muted rumble vibrated up from the ground. Quatre's eyes went wide. "Xiran!"
Trowa jerked his earpiece away as static shrieked in his ear. "That was an explosive," he said, wincing. Quatre ran to the edge of the bluff. Heero called up, "We're all still here. The ledge is stable." Quatre visibly relaxed. "Can you see anything?" Heero looked up and met Trowa's gaze. His blue eyes were very calm. "No."
Quatre was puzzled. "Why not?"
"Because the hole isn't there anymore."
"What?!"
[Wufei]
He was sure that there was some irony to be found in this situation. And he was sure that he would have found it eventually—if Duo and Hilde hadn't been so adamant about trying to reopen the hole. There had been a slight cave in (slight meaning that the tunnel hadn't been entirely annihilated) but no one was sure
just how damaged the tunnel was. Or if the inopportune cave in had accidentally squashed Xiran.
Wufei wasn't really worried.
He watched as Duo and Hilde proceeded to claw away at some of the smaller debris. The mouth of the
tunnel was obviously made of a relatively soft mineral of some sort.
He looked up at Trowa, who had the main communicator. Trowa shook his head slightly. No response from
her yet. She was probably already in her gundam, preparing to explode out of the ground to rain death on them all. Wufei frowned. Maybe he was being too bitter.
He shot a glance at Heero out of pure curiosity. How was the Perfect Soldier taking this? The possible demise of a) the love interest or b) the only informant they had. Judging from Heero's
expression, Wufei suspected the latter.
He thought suddenly, what a moron. Being so closed off and bitter and letting it interfere with…
Wufei suddenly cringed.
'Oh, hello, irony. How are you today?'
[Hilde]
Hilde clawed at the earth. Goddamn it, Xi, you are not going to die on me! Not when we were just getting close….
Hilde hurled a small rock behind her and fiercely attacked the rest.
"Ow," Duo complained from behind her. "Watch it!" Hilde flung back another rock.
"Oh, like that wasn't intentional…" she heard him mutter.
She smiled tightly. No matter how much Duo bitched and complained, she knew he was just as worried as she was. She got up and moved inside the cleared out space and began flinging dirt and rock back with abandon. She hoped irritatedly that she would hit Wufei or Heero. Wufei had been acting peevish all day, and Heero was just being annoying. He had been a walking zombie ever since he came back from Relena's, place, but Hilde was convinced that he was using Relena as a barb to make Xiran irritated. Either that or Relena was using him to…okay she was just making up soap opera fantasies here, there was no point. She really didn't know what was going on. But there was just no freaking way she was going to lose Xi! Not like this, smushed in a stupid cave-in…Hilde continued to shovel the earth with her hands, muttering to herself. Her hands were almost numb with cold, but they were leather and insulated, so she was ok. Come on Hilde! You can do this! She could be buried alive, with her spine fractured, with one rib puncturing a lung! Eeeew….Hilde cringed at the mental image. Okaaay no more of that kind of pep talk. Think positive and—
Duo shouted her name. She whirled to look at him, not sure if there had been relief or dread in his voice. He said, "Communicator!" Hilde turned hers back on. Static filled her ears.
"…mine broke in the explosion…had to rewire it..." Xiran's voice! Hilde sagged against the wall of the tunnel in relief.
"Xiran, are you injured?" Trowa asked firmly.
There was a brief moment of static. "The mission was successful."
"Xir—"
"--I'm on the other side of the cave in now. I'll start digging…." The static hissed and the signal died.
Hilde returned to her siege on the wall of dirt before her. A stubborn smile pulled at her lips. Hilde The Great will conquer you, you pile of insignificant, inconvenient dirt! Hah!
She began to sweat inside her parka as she continued to work, but she didn't give up. Her hands went completely numb, painfully so, but they worked well as shovels.
Suddenly her hand punched through a clod of dirt—and there was nothing behind it. Only blackness.
She was about to call out Xiran's name when a black clad hand slithered through the hole, palm up. Hilde grabbed the hand and squeezed it. "Xi! It's me! You're okay! You're amazing! You're indestructible! You…you're an idiot."
She felt the hand squeeze back in response. Hilde laughed and let go. "Alright, let's do this thing!"
[Relena]
It was dark inside the tunnel. Very dark. Vestiges of the dream kept brushing at her mind. She swallowed her fear and kept going. She was one of the last to go inside. The others were all waiting in the blackness.
Ahead of her the light from Duo's headset bobbed with his movements. All the pilots had personal lights, even Sally. But she was just left alone in the dark.
She wondered uneasily about what Xiran had said to her in the dream: We all choose our own paths in the dark…
Relena shook off the panic that threatened to rise up in her throat and stood up. Ahead of her, Duo extended his hand, grinning as usual. It lightened her mood considerably. He lead her farther ahead. She looked around at the jagged edges of rock outlined in the faint light. This was where the explosion had taken place. Relena hadn't been able to figure out just what had been so dangerous about this place, but she supposed it was valid. After all, Xiran wouldn't have beaten herself up for no reason. Spy she may be, but she wasn't stupid. Bruising her ribs so that she couldn't overly exert herself wouldn't have been an ideal way of making herself look injured.
Ahead of her, there were six points of light. Above her, the ceiling soared into blackness. The lights weren't powerful enough to illuminate much in the cavern. As Relena approached the others, she suddenly remembered the ominous presence of the huge black cat in her dream. She shivered. Her footsteps echoed faintly as she moved forward. Xiran turned and looked at her, her blue eyes glinting in the dark. Relena flinched, and hoped the other girl hadn't noticed. But of course she had.
Xiran stared hard at her for another moment and then her gaze slipped away and went to Sally. Sally was gazing into the darkness ahead. She murmured, "So this is the Gundam Black Phoenix…"
With a start Relena's eyes suddenly registered the huge, hulking form in front of them. The faint light of the personal bulbs shone faintly on immense edges and planes. Relena caught her breath as the oppressive, claustrophobic feeling of the dream pressed down upon her. The Gundam was black, completely black. She felt as if she were staring into an abyss.
Suddenly Heero moved forward. He looked up at the mobile suit. "I'll go in," he said. His tone of voice was firm.
"But I thought you were going to let me pilot it out," Xiran objected, stepping forward.
Heero gave her a cool glance, but it was Sally who spoke.
"We never agreed to those terms. We agreed to let you lead us here, but that was all. This is in our hands now."
The look Xiran turned on Sally was completely unreadable. She turned to face the Gundam and said, "The system may be different than what you're used to, Heero."
"I'm prepared to deal with it," he responded. He began to climb up to the cockpit. Xiran involuntarily moved a half step forward. Hilde put a hand on her shoulder.
Relena watched Xiran's face. She thought, I won't let you hurt him again.
Ever.
[Heero]
Blood.
The console was smeared with it.
He had stopped at the sight of it, but he shook off his momentary shock. He didn't want to know whose blood it was. The cockpit's maw closed behind him, leaving him in this blood smeared little space. The white light of his headset illuminated more dark, foul smelling bloodstains on the pilot's chair. Heero ignored it and sat down. The silence of the cockpit was oddly unnerving. What horrors have been witnessed from-- Heero silenced the thought and reached across the dark console for the activation switch.
He didn't care whose blood it was. He didn't care what horror had been witnessed from this chair. In fact, he didn't care about this Gundam's history at all. His searching hand suddenly found the switch. He didn't even care about—
' I killed them! I killed them all!'
'Oh God! Don't! Please don't! Please!'
'I killed them—killed them with my own two hands…it was a massacre.'
He jerked back in the pilot's chair, eyes unseeing, hands twitching, mouth agape. He was thrown hard against the console as another explosion rocked the cockpit and--
'Do you know how much I hate you, you horrible, despicable fuck? I would tear out your throat if I had it in my power! And I'd enjoy it! I'd enjoy it!'
'Put him down! Stop! Stop it! Please! Certh! I…'
'SHUT UP! JUST SHUT Up! You argue for his life! I don't CARE! I hate you, I hate you, you outcast me! '
'Now you will feel my wrath.'
He jerked in his chair, blood spurting from his shoulder. The hellish sound of explosions boomed outside the cockpit. The lightwhip curled and crackled. It smashed against the opponent mobile suit, slicing through the main torso. It exploded in a blinding flash of light.
He was screaming at him, screaming obscenities, waiting for the onslaught, waiting for the blows. Come on! You know you aren't finished yet! He dodged the first punch and attacked in a flurry of sharp, fast blows. His rage was like acid in his mouth. An arm slammed into his head and drove him to the floor.
A deep voice said in his ear, "Good. But not nearly good enough!" His head snapped forward and made a solid connection for the floor.
'I fucking hate you, you fascist bastard! Do you hear me? I HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU!'
'Don't let him come near them, I won't let it happen.'
"Why am I different from the others?" He felt his arms tighten around him protectively.
"You're special, that's what you are. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise…"
'It's okay, it's okay, it's just a little blood. You have to sink the knife in here, like this. Don't cry.'
'I'm not crying!'
Still not good enough! He rolled and resumed his fighting stance, his shoulders aching. He threw himself forward, fast as lighting, watching his opponent's eyes and--
'Say something, please, can't you just talk to me like you used to?'
'No. I won't let them use you against me.'
'I would never do that.'
He was cradled against him, sleeping peacefully. It was so strange. He was so small. How could such a small thing mean so much? It didn't seem right. He was weak, he couldn't fight…but he was still a person. He was still important. He didn't understand. He wasn't supposed to be doing this so then why—
'Why are you doing this! Why do you do this to me!'
'Where's your honour now, Saze?! Where's your justice!'
'I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm nothing.'
He felt the bones in the girl's neck snap. He felt the vertebrates crack. He let her fall to the floor, and drew his knife, eyes narrow and wary. This was a guerilla mission. Everything had to be silent. He crept forward on silent feet, knife in hand, eyes moving constantly. He heard a faint shuffle of cloth on cloth. He suddenly knew the location of the next hit. In two silent running bounds he was in the air. He came down on the shoulders of the soldier, one hand immediately covering his mouth. The knife went into the throat cleanly. His hand was suddenly covered in blood. It was—
'Death. He is dead…I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm nothing!'
'I'll kill them all.'
He threw his head back and screamed into the black.
[Wufei]
The silence was getting pretty boring. He was as far away from Sally as he could get but still it didn't seem to be enough. He could still feel her, still see her. He crossed his arms and glared up at the hulking black Gundam that had swallowed Heero up.
"Heero?" He glanced at Trowa. His face was typically impassive, but there was something in his voice that made Wufei wonder. Why wasn't Heero responding? His communicator was fine, they had checked it before he went in. He eyes flashed to Xiran, who was standing next to him. Her face was unreadable, but her eyes were cold and wary.
"Heero!" The urgency in Trowa's voice was unmistakable.
"Heero!"
Suddenly the truth of it slapped him in the face.
He whirled and grabbed Xiran's shoulders. "What did you do to him?" He snarled. "You knew one of us would go in first! What did you do?"
For a moment her expression wavered between anger and surprise. Then her eyes darkened. "I didn't do anything," she said.
"What did you do?" Wufei hissed.
"Let her go, Wufei!" Hilde glared at him, grabbing his arm. "She hasn't—"
"How can you be sure?"
"I'll make sure!" Duo shouted. He ran towards the Gundam.
He was halfway there when the cockpit opened by itself. Heero stepped out.
Wufei froze. Heero looked almost…shaken.
"Heero," Duo called up. "You alright?"
For a moment he didn't respond. His eyes had focused on the person in Wufei's grasp. Then he said, "Yes. I'm fine. Just fine."
END
Hello hello hello! Here I am back from the dead! I think I beat my own personal procrastination record this time around. I'm really sorry! This took me way too long to write and it was INSANELY long. I've decided that I definitely like Sally, though, and that's always a plus. However, I gag at the Heero/Relena scenes because I normally can't stand them as a pairing.
Man! The last scene with Heero was a little confusing, ne? Hope it wasn't too bad. Actually, I'm not as dissatisfied with this chappie as I was last week. I might even like it now. ^^
I may find it necessary to revise the chappie later on this week…but I'll post it now so that you know I haven't died for good.
Special thanks to Riley, on-the-reserve-list-to-hell, Seeress and Shinigami Concubine. You guys rock! Hopefully I will overcome my writer's half-block and write some really dynamic fight scenes next time. ^^ The next chappie will be the attack on the Moscow base, and if I can, I'll include the assault on Facility Alpha.
Thanks so much for reviewing, guys! It really makes a difference!
-Kywraith