" Heero!" Relena awoke from her sleep. Heart thumping, sweat shining on her forehead, she looked around at her office. Someone was sitting there. She jumped to her feet.
The intruder was Dorothy Catalonia. " You are awake, Miss Relena. I'm sorry if I disturbed you from your sleep. I brought you some cakes and tea. You were sleeping so soundly that I just did not have the heart to wake you up."
" Oh. Thank you, Dorothy," Relena said weakly. Heero… In her dream, she saw him injured in a fight. No, dying from a fight. And he was all alone…dying all alone. No, it's only a dream, she reminded herself but still, it seemed so real. Her instinct, her sixth sense, told her something had happened to him and he needed her.
Heero…
" Is anything the matter?" Dorothy asked curiously, genuinely concerned.
" Dorothy, any news from them?" Relena asked her.
" You mean the five boys? Or…" Her eyes gleamed mischievously at her. " Do you mean Heero?"
She blushed, flabbergasted. " I…I mean…"
" Sorry Miss Relena but I have heard nothing. I just asked Mr J and his friends but they too have heard nothing. It is rather calm at the moment. But not for long."
" OZ has left EverlastVille but I'm sure it is only temporary." Relena paused and then went on, " I'm worried."
" For Heero?"
" For him and all of them. I want to go look for him."
Dorothy was hardly surprised. It was as if she had expected this. " Then I'll go with you."
There was a knock on the door. Mr J came in. He regarded Relena for a few seconds before heaving a tired sigh and said, " I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, Relena. Even if you go, it's no use."
" Why?" Relena asked.
" Heero is in a battle now. I know you are feeling uneasy about him but I assure you he will be fine. Heero has always been a very lucky boy."
" Mr J…"
" Relena, think about the school and the people here. You are being very irresponsible."
" I know but this urge inside me is so strong. I just want to go to him," Relena said softly.
Dorothy interrupted them. " Mr J, why don't you let Miss Relena go? After all, the school has barely eighty pupils and you and the other professors can look after them. Please let Miss Relena go."
" Dorothy…" Relena was touched that her friend have spoken up for her.
Mr J furrowed his brows at the two girls. " No," he replied firmly. " It's too dangerous."
" I can look after her," Dorothy insisted.
Mr J shook his head stubbornly. He will never let them do it. Their personal safety comes first. Dorothy looked down on the carpeted floor. Suddenly, she shoved Mr J aside with all her might and grabbed Relena's hand.
" Come on!" she urged.
Bewildered, Relena let herself be pulled away by Dorothy. The two girls raced out of the office, out of the school and into a sunshine-yellow car that stood waiting at the front of the school gate. Dorothy guided Relena into the passenger seat. She jumped into the driver's seat and gunned the engine. The car roared to life and they drove off at top speed.
" Dorothy, where are we going?" Relena asked, terrified.
" Don't you want to look for your handsome boyfriend?" she said, laughing. " War, here we come!"
It took a minute for Relena to register it into her head. " Dorothy, that's wrong! And Heero's not my boyfriend."
" If you are worried about the school, don't be. I'm sure Mr J will take care of everything. Meanwhile, we are going to look for your boy. I'm sure he misses you as much too, right?" Dorothy looked at Relena slyly.
Once again, she blushed.
" I…well…it…it's just that we seem so irresponsible."
" Relax, will you? It's no big deal. We live only once, and we got to make the best of it."
************************************************************
Wufei stood with feet astride on top of a green, luscious hill. He scrutinized the scenery in front of him. Mountains of Dream indeed do live up to its name, he thought to himself.
Clouds embellished the peaks of the mountains, and somewhere, the thunderous sound of waterfall reached his ears. There were few trees here, but plenty of grass and flowers. People live in harmony and peace, till the war came. Now, no more laughter can be heard echoing anymore. Wufei clenched his fists into two tight balls.
It was an especially hazy day today, the best of conditions to fight against the stupid OZ soldiers. He was planning to attack them later in the evening, when visuality would be down. After several assaults by him, the group of morons here could no longer hold out much longer. As long as they don't keep sending in reinforcements, this shall be their last day here. The organization was larger than he thought.
I wonder how the rest of the guys are…
A moving shape from below caught his eyes. It was moving slowly, painfully. The shape was limping, dragging its useless leg behind it. Then it fell without a sound. Wufei flew down from the hill and ran to the still body.
" Oi." He shook it. It did not move.
Gingerly, he turned the body around and to his astonishment, the person was none other than Miss Sally Po, the principal of the Gundam Girls' School of Magic.
Sally opened her eyes to find herself under a tree. It was late afternoon now, judging from the glowing, orange sun that was before her. The light hurt her eyes and she blinked hard to adjust to it. She shifted her weight slightly, but this small movement was enough to bring attention to the acute senses of someone near her.
" You're awake," Wufei said.
" Chang…Wufei…you saved me?" she asked, still dazed from her injuries.
" What happened to you?"
She sighed. " I infiltrated into one of the OZ camps. I tried to find out more about their plans, and possibly their headquarters but…" she trailed off.
" But you failed," he finished the sentence for her.
" Yes. They grew suspicious of me. I was careless, and my carelessness caused the deaths of my fellow comrades." Sally moved her gaze away from him and shut her eyes for a moment, willing herself not to cry.
" You were fighting the OZ all this while?"
" Yes. I left the school to Relena." She smiled briefly. " She will make a better principal than me. I am never cut out to be one anyway, I just needed a job then."
" You shan't fight anymore," he said.
" Why?" she asked, taken aback by his sudden remark.
" Women and the weak should never fight. They just don't have the power to," he replied matter-of-factly.
" I believe that as long as you have the heart to do it, nothing is impossible," Sally explained gently.
" So what if you have the heart but not the power to do it? You'll only die in the end."
" But at least you know that you have tried."
" But the fact remains that you are weak, that you lack the strength to fight them back."
" So you mean only strong people like you can fight?" Sally argued, feeling the temperature rising in her.
" I believe that only people with the power can fight. Women are too weak." His eyes penetrated into hers, insinuating her to give up.
" You are wrong, Wufei! I alone may not be able to accomplish much but with the help of others, I can do much. You think like this because you are too alone, because you do not want to accept others into your life, because you are too narrow-minded!"
To her amazement, Wufei did not get angry. Instead, he turned his back on her and walked off.
" I'll go find some herbs for you. Woman, I know you feel the resentment in you because you have failed. You will realise how wrong you are. You just need some time."
Sally's chest heaved heavily from her outburst. She tried to calm herself down. Her anger was now gone, replaced by an indescribable forlornness.
" You think you alone can change the world, but no you can't. I think it's wrong for the five of you to split up this mission, since you can never split one whole heart into five different pieces. You just haven't seen this yet. You are just blaming on something to make you feel better," she whispered to his vanishing back.
************************************************************
Heero awoke with a painful ache in his body, but he managed to prop himself up on an arm. He studied his new surrounding with a pair weary eyes. He was in a camp. Heero was ready to escape if his saviour turns out to be someone with an ulterior motive.
The cover of the camp moved and a head pop in, pulling the cover aside to let in the warm sunlight. To his relief, it was Trowa.
Trowa had saved him.
" Hi," Trowa greeted him. " You were asleep for two days."
" So long?" Heero bit his lips. Every second was precious to him and two days were wasted because of his injury. He could have done a lot of things within the two days. " Where am I?"
" Dragon Land. Feeling better?"
Heero touched his bandaged arm and body. It hurts but not as much as before. " Yes," he paused before adding a " thank you."
" You're still weak, but you should be up and about in three more days. Duo was too rash."
" You had seen the fight? You were there all along?"
" Yes. I was hanging around to see if they had any new plans. Then I saw you. But I could only save one person – you or Duo."
" Duo was captured?"
" He was outnumbered."
Heero soaked in the information. Trowa handed him a cup of water and he drank it gratefully. It was then he smelled something delicious cooking in a pot at the front of the camp. His stomach growled unabashedly. While he gave an appalled expression, Trowa laughed aloud. It was the second time he had heard Trowa laughing so genuinely. The first time was back at the Magic School when they had teased Quatre. It seemed so long ago.
The sound was so precious that Heero felt like laughing too but his broken rib refrained him from it. He grimaced instead. Smiling now, Trowa scooped the broth from the pot into a brown bowl and passed it to Heero. He gobbled it clean in a matter of seconds. Trowa scooped him a second helping.
With a solemn expression, Trowa said, " I'll be paying Lady Une a visit tomorrow."
Heero looked up. " I'll go with you."
" Given your present condition, you won't be able to fight. I can do it myself. I have been doing it all alone."
Heero put down his bowl and lay back on his thin mattress, a soft sigh escaping from his lips.
************************************************************
Duo stared up at the ceiling of his prison cell, wincing in pain at his tightly bounded hands. He was tied up to a chair and sitting all day made his bottom ache. He longed to move his body and kick the butts of the OZ soldiers. He tried to escape once but was caught too soon and shoved back into his cell. They even took away his Deathscythe tablet. He cursed them under his breath. Now Zechs would have two Gundam tablets and it was his fault. If only he had been more careful.
Duo had never felt so bored in his life. " Row row row your boat…" he started to sing at the top of his voice.
" Shut up boy!" the guard outside his door bellowed at him.
But this only made him sing louder. " Merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream…"
" Shut up or I'll kill you!"
" Mary has a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb…" Duo went on cheerily, his spirit lifting.
************************************************************
" He's here again!" a soldier informed Lady Une, who has just finished her morning exercise.
" Oh?" a smirk danced on her lips. " So soon? This time, I'll teach him a lesson proper and etch it deep in his mind."
" Rain of Blood!" Trowa said in a commanding voice. He held his hands, palms down, horizontally to his chest and then hurled it outwards, killing every single person near him. His Heavyarms shone incandescently.
You may wonder, when the boys were displaying their Gundam magic, were they holding their tablets and fighting at the same time? Or did they put it into their pockets (as if Heero or Wufei has pockets)? The answer is no. Once they activated their tablets, it became them. Now what do I mean? To make long explanations short, the tablets merged with them. It is no longer a solid object in their hands but a formless, air-like substance that surrounds them, giving them life and tremendous power to battle. Once they finish, it just turns back to its tablet form.
So when Trowa's "Heavyarms shone incandescently", it means that he himself is giving off the light. Heavyarms is he. He is Heavyarms. That is the ultimate of it.
" Trowa Barton," Lady Une acknowledged him with mock friendliness. She waved aside the surviving soldiers. " How have you been?"
Trowa kept his silence.
" I was after all a principal, shan't you show me some respect? My, Mr J sure has breed some insolent boys. I'm going to have to give him a piece of my mind."
Still, Trowa maintained his aloofness.
Lady Une narrowed her eyes at him. " Looks like you need a lesson in manners. I'll be glad to give you one. Flame Arrow!" She raised her arms and fired a fiery arrow at the boy.
Trowa leapt up to avoid it. " Gatling Cannon!" He pointed a finger at her and the bullet-like rays shot towards her. He then threw a second spell at her.
Une shielded herself and used a fire spell to counter-attack his Blood of Rain. From the strength of her spells, Trowa could sense her improvement. It would take a little while longer to beat her this time.
The two were engaged in a fierce battle, with Trowa gaining the upper hand. Lady Une began to take on the defensive side, finding it more and more difficult to fight back. Trowa pressed on mercilessly, relentlessly. Lady Une staggered backwards in defeat, limbs shaking uncontrollably. Trowa has only one cut on his left thigh.
" I'll help you," a voice boomed around them.
Trowa suppressed his shock. He had not sense anyone coming near them. This person must be highly skilled. Floating in the air above them was Treize Khushrenada. He landed between the two of them, back facing Lady Une.
" Treize," Une called to him in delight and relief.
" Let me take over. You take a rest my Lady."
Lady Une obediently stepped back.
Trowa could feel the oppressive pressure that had suddenly descended on him. It threatened to show on his face. Treize smiled at his enemy.
" Hello Trowa. Nice weather we have today," he said in a light tone.
" I don't like to talk to my enemies," Trowa answered stiffly.
" Oh? So what do you like to do to them?"
" Kill them," someone answered on his behalf. All of them spun round to see who the newcomer was – Heero Yuy.
" Heero, what are you doing here?" Trowa asked, astounded. Except for his bandages, Heero appeared to be perfectly well. He walked over to Trowa, his eyes glued intently on Treize.
" Let's just say I'm here to repay you," he said.
" You can't – " Trowa protested but Heero held up his hand.
" Don't tell me what I can or can't do. I know myself best, you don't."
Faced with such an unyielding and determined fellow, Trowa could only keep his mouth shut and watch Heero's back. Who knows what the formidable Treize can do to them? An escape plan formed in his mind, but it is to be used only as a last resort. They will never surrender. Never ever.
" The more the merrier," Treize commented on the new arrival. He could feel the thrill of the fight. " Shall we start?"
And so they did.
With lightning speed and incredible magic.
And it was taking a huge effort on Lady Une's part to try to keep up with the fight.
************************************************************
Noin stopped in front of the Gundam Boys' School of Magic. She had on a cream-coloured scarf and dark sunglasses. She had changed out of her OZ uniform to a plain-looking array with faded rose patterns. She looked like an inconspicuous village girl and that was exactly what she wanted.
The moment she stepped into the school, Prof. G pounced on her like a hungry hawk. " Who are you? What are you doing here?" he interrogated.
Noin put on her sweetest smile. " Hello. I'm looking for an uncle of mine. I received a letter from him a few days ago. His name is Howard."
G scrutinized her with deep suspicion. Howard seldom talks about his family, and he certainly did not tell them about a niece coming to the school. Howard has only one brother and that one is long dead – the late King of EverlastVille. The present king right now, in his private opinion, was incompetent and dopey. Howard would make a better king but he has no intention to vie for the throne.
Noin continued to smile. " Perhaps you don't know but Uncle Howard has another brother. Why don't you ask him out and let him see me?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Howard's voice came floating to their ears. " What's the matter?" He has been doing some gardening. Howard threw down his spade and came over to them.
" Is this your niece, Howard?" G turned to him.
" Uncle," Noin greeted him amiably and lowered her shades. Though the movement was quick, it was enough for Howard to catch her eyes.
" Nancy," Howard exclaimed in sheer happiness and gave her a hug. He has great acting skills, really he has. Noin made a mental note about teaching him a lesson or two for his much-too-enthusiastic-acting. " It's been a long time!"
" She's really your niece?" G said.
" 100% yes. Didn't you notice the shades?" Howard said teasingly. " Come Nancy, we have lots to catch up on."
" You have another brother?" G asked.
" Yes, it's a private family affair actually," he said in a low volume. " Don't tell anyone that."
G watched Howard happily led his 'niece' up to a little storage hut at the back of the school where Howard had set up his temporary home. Royalties are even weirder than he thought.
Howard closed the door behind him and turned to Noin in a cautious manner. Noin removed her scarf and sunglasses.
" You look better this way. More like a lady," Howard told her.
Noin ignored him. " I want to ask you something."
" Eh? I thought you are here to take me away," Howard said, bemused. He took off his sunglasses, blinking his eyes questioningly at the young woman. There was something about her tone, the way she looked, that told Howard that she was here on a very private mission. One that does not concern OZ or the war.
Noin looked straight into his eyes. " Do you know anything about the whereabouts of the royal descendants of the Magic Kingdom? Specifically the princess?"
The question took him by shock. " Why? Why do you want to know?"
Her eyes softened and she took a step forward towards Howard, as if pleading with him. In fact, Noin was prepared to do anything for Zechs. Including throwing away her pride and dignity. " Please, I need to know."
" What makes you think I know the answer?"
" Because the others involved with that business are already dead."
It was a tough choice for Howard to make. Noin belonged to OZ; she was their enemy. How can he tell those murderers anything, let alone speak to them? But being an elder, being someone with wisdom, he could see. He could see that Noin was not evil by nature. Circumstances forced her to be hard and merciless. It was the same with Zechs. Both do not possess the devil he had seen in others. They were only misled.
And in her voice, Howard heard something. Howard heard and felt her love for that man. Noin stared at him with a hunger, a need to fulfill this emptiness for her beloved, to make him happy. When he's happy, she's happy. When he's sad, she's sad. As simple as that.
Noin prayed. She seldom prays and if there was ever a moment for praying, this was it. Sincerity moves a person's heart. And she hoped Howard could see that. Howard must know about Zechs' sister, or he could tell her something that would be useful in her search.
Her heart beat with anxiety. What's taking him so long to answer?
At last, Howard spoke. " You travelled here incognito for this?"
" Yes," she whispered, without any hesitation or falseness.
He took a deep, deep breath. " The Princess of EverlastVille, her highness' name is…"
Noin waited. She leaned closer to hear him better.
" …Relena Peacecraft."
