Author's Note: I don't own Gundam Wing, if you happened to miss all my other disclaimers.
~ Skeletons in the Closet ~
Part 7
By Zero's Wings
Zechs and Heero After A 'Frank Exchange of Ideas'
Chang Wufei sat amongst the clouds. As he breathed in the new life of the
fog-rimmed mountains, Sally Po braided his fine, black hair. It was now almost
shoulder-length and made a far more substantial band of woven braids. His
breaths were shallow from the naturally thin mountain air. Sally finished the
braid and planted a kiss on Wufei's cheek. He sighed and lied back on a small,
silk blanket. Sally curled up beside him and stroked his forehead. He tensed up
for a moment, then relaxed and let her into his arms. Wufei smiled contentedly
and said to himself, Ahhhh...vacation.
*****
Heero stumbled through the halls of Preventer's headquarters. His lips were
busted and coated with fresh blood. There was a cut above his eye where he'd
been rammed into an iron support column. His face in general was a fantastic
collage of meaty cuts and bruises; the various impact sites of Zech's fists. He
hadn't had his ass kicked quite this thoroughly in years. It felt good.
Oddly enough, Heero's fists were the least injured parts of his entire body. He
had not returned a single punch. Heero let Zechs impart his fear and insecurity
onto him, and the pain he felt with each step was a small price to pay for the
final reconciliation with his greatest enemy, and more importantly, the sole
protectorate of his lover. Zechs had accepted him now, and gained a sense of
respect for Heero's humility. That was the true prize of the battle for each of
them.
Heero noticed that not a single person in the cluttered halls was coming within
five feet of him. He didn't blame them. With his tattered clothing and smashed
face, he was sure he looked like some demented, sewer-dwelling hobo. He finally
reached Relena's office and threw himself against the door. Apparently, Relena
had forgotten to lock it, and he stumbled right in, nearly falling flat on his
face.
Relena, Noin and Lady Une frantically rushing around the office, answering
calls, yelling orders to each other in increasingly strained voices, and
flurrying about in a generally chaotic fashion. Relena barely had time to look
up and see Heero in his battered state.
"Oh my god, Heero, what happened?" she asked, her worried, piping
voice rising up a few octaves.
"Zechs and I had a frank exchange of ideas."
"My brother..." Relena growled in frustration. "Oh, I'll worry
about him later. I'll get you some hot water and bandages," Relena said,
completely forgetting about the mountain of work on her desk. Noin and Une
stopped working as well; their faces also lined with concern. As Relena went to
fetch the medical supplies, Heero put out a hand, blocking her.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he said. "I brought this on
myself." Relena sighed gently. Heero could see the disappointment in her
eyes, but he knew she had work to do. He could take care of himself for now.
Relena returned to her work and Heero got himself a drink of water from her
kitchenette unit. The water cooled Heero's split, bloodied lips and washed down
his ragged throat. He felt a little better, so he ambled over to the Preventer
girls and asked what had gotten them up in a frenzy.
"There was a schism in Croatia's government this morning," Noin said
hurriedly. "The eastern side just declared war on us. We think your doctor
friend is behind all this." Heero stared at her, not at all surprised.
"And the fun doesn't stop there," Une interjected. "Apparently,
there are reports that the eastern side of the country has been importing
materials to illegally manufacture new types of mobile suits, and it has been
going on for quite some time now." This truly worried Heero. The only
suits still functioning in the Sanc kingdom were the Tallgeese III and Noin's
Taurus squadron. They were powerful suits, but they couldn't fight off an
entire army, no matter how good their pilots were.
"If we're planning on defending Sanc against an attack, I'm gonna need Zero."
Heero felt both apprehension at getting caught up in another war and excitement
that he would be piloting the Wing Zero one last time.
"Zero is the last thing you need," Relena protested.
"None of these injuries are serious," Heero argued back. "I'll
be fine, Relena."
"I wasn't just talking about that," Relena said in quiet sorrow.
"I don't want to fight either. But as long as that man, Emulat, is still
alive, I will never be free to love you." Heero spoke with cold
determination. Now he had more to fight for than the colonies. He was fighting
for his life, and the love of his life.
"I just..." Relena began, "I just don't want to lose you, after
all we've been through."
"I'm not planning on dying this time," Heero said softly. "I
will survive. I promise." Yet even as he said this, Heero Yuy felt afraid
for the first time in his life. Emulat was always the only enemy he could never
defeat; the only goal he could never reach. And now, the Gundams were gone and
he had been living a life of complacency, constantly weakening himself. He had
never felt more exposed. He had never been in greater danger.
*****
Zechs was flying along at a low altitude in the Tallgeese. He had recently had
it overhauled and re-painted. It felt smooth and new, rushing over the treetops
with a fluid grace. In the spacious cockpit, he sat back and let the suit climb
up into the sky. Over a vast plain of clouds that stretched out in all
directions was a magnificent sunset. That golden orb of light had come to rest
in the cradle of the horizon, leaving only its embers to burn pink and red in
the sky. Zechs stared out at Sanc's vast farming land. Stripes of golden crop
lay stretched over the earth, like wide brushstrokes thrown across a canvas of
animal hide. The midsummer's wind was his only companion, and the only other
witness to this wonder of the natural world.
Noin's face appeared on Zechs' main viewer. She grew more beautiful to his eyes
each time he saw her. Even so, he could see her anger, her warrior's passion
flowing up and barely being contained within her volatile indigo eyes. "I
have never been so embarrassed in my life, Zechs!" She shouted, her face
flushed bright pink with boiling blood. "Heero Yuy just stumbled in here,
beaten to a pulp and nearly unconscious! How could you?"
"I'm sorry," Zechs sputtered clumsily. "It was my fault
entirely."
"I don't care whose fault it was!" Noin snapped back. "What
could've possessed you to do such a thing?"
"Noin...I" he began, unable to express his own embarrassment and
regret over the whole incident.
"Honestly, you can be such a child sometimes. I can't even-" at that
moment Noin's image turned to static and her voice faded away, replaced by a
foreboding, low hum that crept up from the lands under the wisps of colored
clouds. Something's coming, Zechs thought. Something big.
A horrible sound loomed up on the horizon like a storm cloud, and Zechs was at
once made blind and deaf by various proximity alarms and flashing viewscreens.
A great black form came into view, crushing the delicate fields in its ravenous
march forward. Zechs could soon see many shapes; the dark mass was an army of
trundling, beetle-like monsters. By their size, Zechs reasoned that they could
only be mobile suits of some kind, but they were unlike any machines he had
ever seen. They had whirling claws and lashing coils and chains. They were
reeking of some sulfurous substance, and they seemed to radiate evil from the
swirling, black metal of their armored carapaces.
One of these demon suits approached the Tallgeese and Zechs defiantly drew his
beam saber. It burst to life with a thunderous crackle. Swirling energies
inside it combined into a deadly shaft of vermilion.
One suit came too close for Zechs' liking, and he swung his saber through the
suit's midsection, vaporizing layers of cold metal and sending it reeling
backwards, spewing sparks and fire trails in its death throes. The next
mechanical monstrosity trudged right through the mechanical innards of its
fallen companion, and it leapt forward with surprising speed. Zechs impaled the
suit gracefully and let it slide of the edge of his fiery sword.
As Zechs cut down his demonic attackers, he called out to the rest over his
communicator. "I am a holy knight born to protect the Peacecraft lineage.
You will not enter this sovereignty as long as I am alive. I will fight you
with my dying breath, and fight for the ideals of pacifism even as I am
banished to the depths of hell itself!"
With that, Zechs charged into the center of the group, slashing and hacking
away in a berserk fashion. When the Tallgeese was at last overcome he let out a
battle cry that shattered his main viewer, and held that furious note until he
was overcome in a tangle of whips, blades and fire.
End part 7
Author's Note: So, how do you like the fic so far? How is this part
compared to the others? Tell me everything.