Shadow of the Revolution

Disclaimer: They're not mine; I don't own them. Enough said.

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Shadow of the Revolution

Chapter 10

Duo shielded his face as the shuttle's thrusters ignited and launched the shuttle, causing a mini tornado inside the hanger. When he was able to look up again as the wind cleared, all he could see of the shuttle were the thrusters as a small circle of light far off into the horizon. Begrudgingly, he mumbled something about Heero's rudeness and his need to learn etiquette, then walked slowly back to his room to download the data he had just acquired.

His underwater screensaver was swarming with brightly coloured tropical fish and occasionally a great white shark would come by to scatter them all. Duo watched for a moment as a cloud of bubbles lazily drifted up and away out of view. A little tap on the sensor grid and the fish vanished, bringing back his regular desktop with the wallpaper of outer space. He stared, dumfounded, at the screen before blinking rapidly a few times. Nothing. There was nothing there. No files; no search results. Nothing. Sitting abruptly down on his chair, he tried to retrieve the data which he had been looking at previously. Frustrated was he when he couldn't even get a trace of what he was looking for. In fact, there wasn't any evidence that he had even done a search through the civilian profiles. He knew that he hadn't covered his tracks yet, distracted by the possibility of a security breach. Whoever had deleted the information though, they'd done a damn good job. Duo couldn't find even the tiniest bit to go on. He tried running another search for the two people—or was it one person?—that he had been studying. Still, nothing came up. He cursed himself for not having the forethought to download the information before he took off to inspect the security breach. How could he have made such a critical mistake?

"This is just not my day," Duo grumbled, heaving a sigh.

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Quatre took out his frustration from the previous days on his expensive antique piano, pushing his music books away and banging on the keys. He had woken up a little while back by the sound of ignited shuttle engines, no doubt Heero taking off to do whatever it was he was going to do. He had thought that some soft classical compositions would help to calm him down, but clearly he was wrong. Damn it all to hell.

"You can't blame yourself for things that are beyond your control," a soft but firm voice said behind him. Quiet footsteps walked across the richly carpeted floor to stand close behind him. Quatre felt the waves of emotions radiating off his silent friend. "If you're blaming yourself, then we're all to blame. Especially me."

"How can it be your fault, Trowa?" he asked somewhat bitterly, even though he already knew.

"The same way that it can be yours," came the smooth reply, so calm and collected. "I—felt someone there. My instincts told me something was going on. But I chose to ignore it because I didn't want to ruin the party with my doubts." He scoffed, and a sardonic smirk played across his lips, although the other boy could not see. "So much for ruining the party."

The warm presence behind him moved away, and Quatre could tell where Trowa was headed without even turning around to look. The soft click of a cabinet being opened and another soft click when the cabinet door was closed confirmed everything.

"What do you say we try to lighten things up a bit?" There was no time to reply as the melodious notes of a flute floated to Quatre's ears. A small smile graced his lips before he joined his companion in playing the beautiful song. The sound of music filled the quiet room.

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He had found the large single white room easily, and snuck in inconspicuously without being noticed. Checking the clipboard at the end of her bed, he found that she had just had major surgery in which she received 53 stitches to close the shot wound. Whoever these people were, they were dangerous. They possessed weapons that could cause mass destruction, and they dared to hurt one of the people he cared deeply about. Forget the damned weapons; he was going to kill them with his bare hands.

He walked slowly toward the miniscule hospital bed, slightly disturbed by how many tubes and wires were attached to her frail form. She was breathing from a machine, and he watched as her chest rose and fell with each shallow breath. Her golden hair was fanned out on the white pillow, her fluttering eyelids closed over her beautiful cerulean blue eyes. Her skin was pale, far too pale, but covered in sweat as she moaned softly in her sleep, troubled with unpleasant dreams in her fever. The ECG monitor[1] keeping track of her heart rate was beeping softly, and a slight breeze blew through the half-open window. He watched in fascination as the lights played across her skin, making her seem surreal.

"Relena," he whispered softly to her, even though he knew she could not hear. According to the clipboard, she would regain consciousness in 2 weeks at the earliest—if she regained consciousness at all. He reached out a hand and stroked her cheek, running it down and through her hair. She moaned again, twisting to try to escape the monsters in her head. He knew he didn't have much time; someone would come to check up on her soon.

"Hang on, Relena. Don't give up. I'll make them pay for what they did to you. I swear it." Footsteps were coming down the hall, and after he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, Heero swept out without a trace. On her bed, Relena stirred once more, the traces of a smile appearing on her face. With a contented sigh, she fell into a blissfully nightmare-free sleep.

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Lucrezia Noin was not in a good mood. Since Lady Une's death she had been placed head of the Preventers, and that meant much more work than she ever thought possible. The president was breathing down her neck, top executives of the ESUN were making a big fuss over the incident, the media was hounding her for information, and the public was in a state of turmoil. She wondered how Lady Une had ever managed to do the job while keeping her sanity. She was starting to respect the woman more and more with each passing day. Noin had sent in a formal letter to headquarters requesting that another person be hired for the job since she'd much rather do field work, but until someone else was found to take the position, she was stuck with the job from hell.

Sighing profoundly, she went over the conversation she just had with Sally in her head. Relena had just come out of surgery, but she was still in critical condition. The doctors didn't know when she would wake up, or even if she would wake up at all. It was still too early to tell, and it was a very fine balance between life and death. And now, on top of everything else, she had just been informed that Mariemaia was missing. Could life get any worse?

As she walked hurriedly down the long corridor, she doubled back to look into a half open door where a tall figure stood, walking back and forth distractedly.

It is him.

Zechs was pacing nervously, his thoughts resting with his injured sister lying unconscious in a hospital. All intelligent thought had left him since he had seen what had happened to his sister hours before. So distracted was he that he didn't hear the soft footfalls entering the room, and jumped when he felt a small hand reassuringly placed on his shoulder.

Whipping around by instinct, he came face to face with none other than his old friend and companion.

"Noin," he said, and he seemed to relax a bit. "You startled me."

She merely smiled at him wearily and patted his arm.

"Don't worry so much. Relena will make it through. She's strong; believe in her." And with those words said, she turned around to leave.

Zechs watched her turn away. Something about her was very different. In the old days, when bad situations arose, it was always him trying to comfort her and not the other way around. She had grown, become stronger, much stronger than he was. He hadn't noticed it at all, and he found himself now left behind in his weaknesses. He suddenly realized that all these years, Noin had never needed to be near him because she needed his strength, or his support. No, she had never needed him at all. She saw him, vulnerable, saw all his weaknesses and flaws, and she had stayed so that he had someone to lean on when the going got tough. She had stuck by his side, believed in him, loved him, through all the terrible things he had done. And he had never realized before how lucky he was to have her with him.

"Noin," he said, grabbing her wrist to keep her from leaving. She turned back to face him, her beautiful dark eyes wide, searching his face. He thought she looked very defenceless then, just her plain self instead of the masked Noin that he was used to seeing. In his mind, he went over what he could say to her. She stood there, waiting, seeming anxious and scared at the same time. He wanted to just take her in his arms and kiss her breathless, but he knew that it wasn't the time or the place. Gathering his wits, he broke the silence that neither one knew was hanging around them.

"Thank you for standing by my side."

She smiled again, her love for him reflecting in those bright eyes. "I'll always be here, Zechs."

And, prying her hand from his, she walked out the door and closed it behind her.

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He heard the rattling at the door, and the click of the lock of which he seldom heard. He opened his eyes groggily, squinting at the rectangle of light coming through the open door. He heard the guards salute the man, and a small figure beside him. Most of his cuts and scrapes had scabs over them, and were healing nicely although not as quickly as he would like. The day before he had been sent to the infirmary of the place to get his broken bones back into place. He had been led down a dimly lit, low ceiling corridor, and through a maze of twists and turns that he was sure they were leading him through so that he could not remember his way out. Unfortunately he had no landmarks that he could base his route on. All the walls were plain and simply white, barren, empty, and it annoyed him to know that their stupid little plan had worked.

The man walked serenely through the door, trailed by the other small silhouette. There was something very familiar about the way this man held himself: the way he walked, his movements, his actions. Like bits and pieces of a half remembered dream. As he walked closer, the light shone exposed more parts of his body so that he wasn't completely bathed in darkness.

Come on, Wufei thought. Just a little closer…

As if heeding his wish, the man kept walking forward.

I like knowing my enemies.

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"What do you know?" his voice was stoic, impassive, as always.

The old Doctor chuckled at his young protégé. He had never once seen him so agitated before.

He must really love her, he thought, amused.

"Now, Heero, what is it you think I know?"

"Don't play games, Dr. J. You wouldn't have contacted me before if you didn't know something."

Again, the Doctor chuckled. "You know me well, Heero."

Heero only grunted in reply. "Don't waste my time. If you want to tell me something, just say it." The smile was wiped off the Doctor's face, and he became deadly serious.

"X18999 wasn't Dekim Barton's idea."

Heero's eyes flashed fury. "What are you saying?"

"Come now, Heero. Did you really think that fool could have ever come up with something of the sort? And did you really think that we built the Gundams to serve his purpose?"

"What are you getting at?" he snarled angrily.

"The world has been putting on a play, Heero. It's been going on for quite some time now. Oblivious spectators have lined up by the millions to see this master performance. You've got one of the lead roles."

His eyes widened. "Operation Meteor."

"Heero Yuy's death was when the curtain rose. That's when a mastermind scripture was written, crafted by the hands of a youth who wanted to cleanse humanity. The designers were gathered, the actors were picked, and on his signal this endless waltz of war began."

Heero glared death at his former mentor, not believing what he was hearing.

"You see, Heero, no matter how brilliantly the actors perform, there will always be a director calling the shots. He'll always be there, behind the scenes, pulling the strings to his liking…"

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He could almost make out his face now. The light vaguely traced an outline: an aristocratic nose, thin lips, full oval face. It was infuriating, this game of guessing identities, and Wufei was sick of it. Sensing his obvious frustration, the man let out a pure, rich laugh that resonated off the walls. Chills crept up Wufei's spine; why did that laugh sound so familiar?

The man walked another metre more, standing directly in front of Wufei and bathed completely in light.

Wufei's eyes widened in shock, not registering that the figure before him was not an illusion. He gaped at him, then closed his eyes and opened them again to make sure that he was real and not a trick of the light. But his surprise was short lived, for it was soon replaced with fury. His onyx eyes narrowed in slits, and he growled his repulse.

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"… And we've been acting out his script, right from the very beginning."

"Who are you talking about?" Heero snapped.

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Then suddenly, Wufei threw his head back and let out a maniacal empty laugh, his eyes still full of fury. Afterward, he stared straight at his archenemy, portraying his hatred.

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"Treize."

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[1] ECG Monitor— electro cardiogram. It's what they use to keep track of heartbeats.

Author's Notes: Phew! Another chapter done. I know it's way overdue, but better late than never, right? You'll have to excuse the tardiness. But I wrote an extra long chapter to make up for it! *smiles innocently* Anyways, thank you to Arion and Kywraith Amnesi for reviewing the last chapter. It's a miracle you guys have stuck through for this long. Arion and I started our stories at about the same time, and hers is nicely done with 23 awesome chapters while mine is still stuck on its tenth. Lol. Kywraith, update, update, update!!! You're as bad as me!

So, now my mystery bad guy's identity is out. It's lame, I know, but it'll get better; I promise! Anyways, if anybody is reading this and is bored of having to check back to see when I've updated, you can tell me to put you on the mailing list and I'll e-mail you when I've posted a new chapter. And please, if you are reading, be kind enough to leave a review. It keeps me going and next time I can thank you by name.

That's it for now. Until next time.

~Seeress