Memories of War
Part 1
"The stars are beautiful tonight aren't they Heero?"
Heero looked over at Relena who sat beside him on the bench in the beautiful backyard of Quatre's mansion. Of course he really didn't notice the nice stuff that surrounded him. He was thinking about OZ. They had defeated them a while ago and they just came back for more. But they seemed to have different plans, more followers, and of course a new and powerful leader. Quatre had called them all to his mansion to discus about working together again. That's what brought him here to the bench sitting next to Relena. Or should he say…she sat next to him.
She sighed. She really hadn't expected a real answer from him. But it was worth a try. She gazed back up into the crystal sky. Why am I here anyway? Aren't I nothing but a pacifist? A lonely girl who follows a daring man around until he destroys me? She felt like slapping herself. Quatre had invited her and they were going to act upon what she thought. He thought it for the best. But why her? She didn't choose to be Relena Peacecraft leader of the Cinq kingdom. She had even decided to go back to the way her life used to be. But when OZ attacked again. She knew that they needed her, Relena Peacecraft, again.
She slipped back into the real world as someone walked beside the bench. She looked up to see Duo. Oh goody…..
"Hiya Heero! Geeze and I thought that when Libra was destroyed we were all done fighting and that we could go back to having a life. Why can't OZ just give up!" He broke the silence as he sat between Heero and Relena almost sending her of the bench. She huffed in surprise.
"Oh sorry Relena, forgot you were there," he laughed as she put herself back on the bench.
"Its okay Duo Maxwell. I am usually forgotten about." She said eyes wondering over to meet Heero's unresponsive ones.
"Nawww…why would you say that? You're a great influence to everyone I know. Even ask Heero. Ey' Heero?" he said winking at towards his silent friend.
Heero did a slight nod that they barely caught. Duo put a hand behind his head uneasily. "See!"
Suddenly they were interrupted by footsteps and whispers coming from the two pilots that headed towards them in the distance. Quatre and Trowa seemed to ignore the fact that they were there till the reached each other. Just then Quatre looked up with his greeting smile, being just as polite as he always was.
"Hello guys. We were wondering were you all ran off too!" he said as cheerful as ever. Trowa nodded.
"We decided to just come out here and look at your beautiful backyard Quatre. How wonderful it is!" Relena returned the greeting.
Quatre blushed, "Why thank you Miss Relena. I'm glad you are enjoying it so."
"Ahem!" Duo grumbled as he walked over a swapped Quatre on the back. "Well, is this it for the night Quatre? A boring discussion on war? Or are we goin' to have some kind of Welcome back party or something!"
Quatre beamed. "That's a great idea Duo! Couldn't have though of it myself."
Duo nodded in satisfactory. "Aren't I a genius?"
At that everyone fell silent. Duo grumped. "Okay! Okay! I can get a clue!"
"Well, I'll go get Rashid and we'll get everything ready. Are you all able to spend the night?" Quatre asked.
"Sure! Why not Quatre!" Duo smile beamed.
"Thank you for your kind offer Quatre. But I will be heading home tonight." Relena replied as she stood up from the bench.
"Will you stay at least for the party Miss Relena?" Quatre pleaded.
"I'll try."
With that everyone seemed to disappear. Heero continued to sit on the bench. Trowa noticed this and stayed.
"Will you be joining us Heero?" he asked.
Heero opened his eyes and looked up. "I don't really have a choice with Duo and Quatre around."
Trowa stood there for a moment till he started laughing. Heero always managed to make him laugh without meaning to.
As Trowa's laughter died down he and Heero walked back to the mansion to their dormitories. Quatre announced the party in a half-hour and to please attend. Heero sat on his bed thinking. He hated dreams and memories. He had them all the time. When his father died. When DR. J. took him in. His training as a ruthless pilot. The little girl and her dog. But out of all the things he dreaded to remember. One that hadn't come up sense he first met the rest of the pilots and his early training… was her. She had been dead to him. Forgotten till a while ago that is. Her humor, laugh, stubbornness, curious ways, and of course the tears. He felt his cheek as the burn came back. Why now though? Why is she haunting him now?
"Hey Heero? You in here?" Duo's voice came as the door opened. Heero looked up and grumbled.
"Oh, there you are. Were starting now. Are you coming?"
Heero was about to give him the death glare and answer 'no'. But he remembered last Christmas when he answered 'no'. He really regretted it. He should have known Duo wasn't going to stand for that.
He quickly nodded as he stood up. Duo gasped in surprise. Wonder what changed his mind about parties? He thought. He stood dumbfounded until Heero pasted him and they headed down stairs.
As they got down to the room. Heero could see that they had even invited some other friends they had bumped into. Hilde, Noin, Dorothy, and the manaquanac core. He looked around till he could find Relena. Finally he gave up and decided that she wasn't there. Why was he looking for her anyway? He thought. He had to admit for a long before the first attack, that he had something for her. She reminded him of someone. The way she talked him, smiled, but he realized that Relena wasn't her. They really had nothing in common. It was just him.
"Hey Heero! You alive in there?"
He looked over at Duo with a death glare. Duo started to back away holding up his glass. "Its good Champaign. Why don't I go get you one."
Heero laughed inside as Duo took off. But his few moments of enjoyment were ruined as Quatre stood next too him. "Oh Heero! I thought you would have left!"
Where did this sound familiar?
He shook his head and looked away. Quatre smiled. "Well, I'm glad you came. It was such short notice. But if I didn't have it tonight, some of us would had been able to join."
Heero nodded in agreement. Quatre sighed. It looks like I won't be able to get a word from him tonight. Wonder what's on him mind? With that, Quatre walked off. Only too bump into Dorothy.
"Dorothy! How glad I am to see you!"
"Its been a while Mr. Winner…" she said just to be interrupted.
"Please, just Quatre, Dorothy."
"Well, Mr. Quatre. Its great to see you too," she said holding up her Champagne.
"Yes, I can't believe.."
"Quatre, Dorothy!!" they were again interrupted by the sound of Duo's cry. He patted their backs. "It's a great party!"
"I'm sure it is."
"Well, I'm going to get Trowa to drink some of your Champagne. Cya!" he ran off quickly. Just then a large crashing sound sounded and Quatre was thrown off his feet. He looked around the see everyone was in the same position.
"What's going on?" he cried.
Heero looked out the mansion window. "OZ is attacking."
"Lets go! Rashid, were did you place the Gundam's?" Quatre asked climbing to his feet. Rashid nodded and he and the rest of the pilots ran toward the small hanger. As they climbed into the suits Quatre shouted out orders as Heero approved.
"Why are they attacking here?" Duo asked as he climbed into the cockpit.
"I'm not sure, the question is what they are attacking," Trowa answered taking controls.
"Yeah, its not like they knew we were at the mansion, there is something uneasy close by," Wufie stated. Everyone agreed.
"Lets go!"
* * *
"Attack!!! Attack that suit!!!"
Aiming closely at the unidentified mobile suit that zapped around him, the young OZ pilot fired. Only to have the mobile suit swerve out of the way. Another mobile doll flew up to slash…that's when they realized that you couldn't get to close.
"Sir! Were not even damaging it! It's destroyed half of our mobile suits!"
The Lt. grasped his fist in anger. The mobile suit was too strong for them to handle his amount of men and mobile suits. "Keep firing at it! Don't let it get to fort Craig!"
Just then 5 mobile suits appeared in the distance, the Lt. gasped. "Its 01!" he didn't see the rest of the battle.
Heero blasted his way to the bundle of suits. Duo and Quatre followed. Trowa and Wufie stayed behind and destroyed the rest of the suits.
"Is that mobile suit our enemy?" Quatre asked as he lashed out.
"I guess we should find out," A smile formed on Duo's face. Heero nodded as they went in for the kill.
Tense moments passed as they worked their way through the fray. Heero winced as he was blasted near the cockpit. Why wasn't he focused? Why did he have this feeling of dread all over him? Was this is death day? Was this pilot someone he didn't want to encounter? Suddenly a blast came into view as he panicked. He dogged it, but not too easily. He looked down breathing hard. He wasn't scared…. the thing that concerned him was the blast. He only knew one mobile suit that had a blast that large…Wing0!
Slowly Heero looked up to look at the mobile suit that had blasted. He gasped. How could it?
It was a Gundam!