Epilogue:
Hotaru's Journal:
I can't believe it's over.
It's been two months since we took down OZ and the world somehow stayed the same. Oh, there have been changes, have there EVER been changes, but on the whole, after about a week of drunken celebration (mostly on the part of Duo, Mina, Iria and Dorothy) our daily lives went on much as they had before (if you could call THAT normal).
The boys find new missions, it would be nice if the destruction of OZ gave us world peace; but no such luck, and so do Mina, Dorothy, and I. Duo and I have tried to get to know each other a little better in our current lives. Once the imminent danger passed, it was a little awkward but we're working past it.
Mina and Quatre went through sort of the same thing. Oh. Eww. That sounded so incredibly wrong!
What I mean is that under stress, a relationship can progress a lot faster than they might have meant to be. I mean, when you've living each moment as your last, you don't give a lot of thought to taking things slowly. Still, they seem to have a connection, maybe even something to do with their powers. All I know is that when one of them is hurting, both are in agony, and it's best to just lock them in the nearest room until they make up.
Mina thinks the emotional basis of her powers somehow latched onto Quatre's empathy to divert some of the power overwhelming her injured body while she recovered. Well, that's actually how Iria explained it. Mina had a few more theories, and she used naughtier words.
Dorothy had a similar assimilation to undergo, but she did it with surprising ease. She meditated with either Mina or myself to guide her through he fragmented memories, or built up her powers. Still, she remained largely the same: loud, tactless, and impatient, but utterly fearless, with a fierce joy in her newfound power.
As we coach her through the past, it falls further away. Crystal Tokyo already seems a lifetime away. In truth, it has been many lifetimes, but I'm still afraid to let the sharp pains fade into a distant ache. These memories are all we have left of our friends now, and I don't want to forget them.
Mina reassures me that we could never forget them, even if we lived a thousand more lifetimes, but sometimes I see the glint of worry in he eyes when she finds herself smiling too much, and laughing.
Mina and I, it's strange how close we are now. In Crystal Tokyo we hardly ever spoke, but now we sometimes finish each others' sentences. In ending, we have found new beginnings.
Uh. Enough nostalgia! Duo says that I angst more than Wufei sometimes (And that, sir or madam, is some mighty angsting). Duo is still his totally insane self, and I love him for it. Wufei is slowly getting over the annoying women=weak equation that had been branded into his brain. guess living with Mina, Dorothy, and myself, three gals who could chuck him across the room without breaking a sweat, Iria, who won't take any guff in her lab, pilot or not, and the new Doc, Sally Po, who seems like a pretty kick-ass woman herself. Wufei and Mina still fight constantly though, I've learned to tune it out.
Trowa's still pretty quiet, but has started to relax around Mina in the last month or so. She even said he started a conversation last week! He's still a little skittish around me, but Q told me about watching the merging of the Saturn power, so I understand the wigging. I'm still a little hurt, but I understand.
Last and certainly least on the list would be Heero. He's nearly the basis of my theory about extenuating circumstances speeding up relationships, or, in this case, maybe creating relationships. See, he's taken what I said to heart, and started to loosen up, relying on his laptop less and less, but lately he's taken to completely ignoring me.
He's sitting in the sun right now, looking like some Greek sculptor's wet dream, and, even though he's totally oblivious to my presence right now, my heart still does the funky tango in my chest.
I really hate him right now...
***
Hotaru made a small sound of surprise intermingled with indignation as Duo swooped down and snatched the journal out of her hands.
"C'mon 'Taru!" He crowed, "It's our day off, we're at the park, and you're sitting here scribbling in some little book! What is it today?" He flipped open to a blank page and mimicked writing. "Dear diary,"He squeaked and a heinous falsetto, "Heero ignored me today. I hate life. The end."
"Duo!" She hissed, as Heero looked over, hearing his name.
"Seriously, sis, live in the now, come play frisbee." He pouted and stared down at her with large, irrisitable puppy-dog eyes.
She felt a grin spreading across her face, almost involuntarily, as Duo zipped her journal inside her knapsack and hauled her up to her feet with a plaintive, "Come oooooon!"
****
Mina's head shot up as Hotaru's unexpected squeal broke through the quiet tranquility of the park. She liked the park, it had lots of benches, optimal for snuggling with her hunky boyfriend. Which she was doing before Hotaru had screamed.
Quatre had also jumped a little, on instinct, then relaxed and settled against Mina's side again when all he saw was Duo mocking Hotaru, dangling her journal a few inches out of her grasp.
Faint strains of their conversation, namely Duo mocking Hotaru's pity-party drifted over to their bench. Luckily the object of the conversation was a little farther away, lounging on the grass with Dorothy and Iria.
Mina rolled her eyes. Maybe she and Quatre had the benefit of a magical connection but this little awkward dance around each other was getting ridiculous! It seemed that as soon as danger disappeared, so did their brains.
"Okay," she decided, "Either Heero and Hotaru get together soon, or we lock them in a closet for a few hours."
Quatre gave a low chuckle, looking up at her with mischief in his eyes. "Agreed. Though don't you think a bedroom would be more appropriate?"
Mina choked slightly, punching his shoulder. "Quatre!" She exclaimed, giggling, "I do believe you've spent too much time in my presence!"
"Scandalized?" He waggled his eyebrows.
"Impressed." She winked, leaning in for a kiss.
*****
"Man, do they ever STOP?" Dorothy exclaimed, looking over at Mina and Quatre smooching on a park bench a short distance away, near the lake.
Trowa looked up, shook his head, then looked back down at his sandwich, trying to figure out if it was edible or not.
"Real talkative, isn't he?" She to Iria, who grinned.
"Maybe he'd talk more if he could get a word in Dorothy."
Dorothy snorted, rolling her eyes, "Right. Between Trowa and soldier-boy over there, we've got enough uncomfortable silences for everyone."
Trowa raised his head from his sandwich again, arching an eyebrow, "While Heero is too fixated on Hotaru to pay any attention to us, I happen to be sitting right here."
"Yeah, well either participate, or become the subject boy-o, your choice."
Trowa let out a long suffering sigh.
*****
Heero stared at Hotaru, laughing as she dove for the frisbee, he hair whipping around her head and falling in her eyes.
He'd been confused after he re-programmed his laptop, and had avoided her for a few weeks to try to work out his feelings. His plan was to step back, do some tactical re-con, analyze his feelings and be done with it in a month, but it turns out this 'feelings' thing was a lot more complicated than he'd thought.
He liked her, he could say that for sure. She was small, and smelled nice, and had an impressive vocabulary of curse-words, which she frequently used to describe him. (Okay, maybe he didn't like that part so much.)
What he didn't understand now is why his heart did funny things whenever she brushed up against him, or why the words suddenly froze in his throat whenever she headed his way.
It was annoying really.
He'd tried ignoring her, but somehow, he'd found himself watching her out of the corner of his eye whenever she was in sight. He groaned, he really hated her sometimes...
His distraction was, in fact, so deep that he didn't even notice the mobile suit rising out of the lake until Mina yelled an anatomically incorrect expletive and flipped the park bench over in her haste to be on her feet.
A woman open the hatch on the top of the submarine-like suit, and stepped out, posing with fists on hips and her chest thrust out. She took a moment to adjust her long black hair and silver cape, so they flowed just so in the minimal wind the day had to offer, before raising a gloved fist and beginning her speech. "Attention people of the Federation of Earth! The Crux is coming! One month, twenty-two days, four hours, sixteen minutes, and thirteen seconds! You will be cleansed of the weakness in your hearts, an only the worthy will not perish. Witness our power!
She leaned over to fiddle with a strange machine beside her on the mobile suit.
Heero looked at Hotaru, now standing beside him at the edge of the lake with the rest of the group.
"Please tell me she's not serious." Dorothy groaned.
Heero, didn't hear her, Hotaru's hand had grazed his as she turned to shush Dorothy. Acting on a total will of it's own, Heero's hand twisted around to grasp Hotaru's firmly.
This caused enough distraction on both parts that they didn't notice that the machine had charged. Heero turned to meet her eyes, words failing him once again. Hotaru blushed, and looked up at him, "I..." she began.
Suddenly, the ground exploded at their feet, hurling them to the ground, as Duo yelled at them to; "Pay some fucking attention to the psycho with the gun, for god's sake!"
Heero growled, he was finally feeling right, with Hotaru in his arms, but he hated, HATED, being interrupted.
He pulled out his gun still lying on the ground with one arm around Hotaru's waist, taking a moment to line up his shot, then planted a bullet with near surgical precision between the woman's eyebrows.
He nodded as the woman looked confused, then toppled limply into the water with a faint splash.
With a small satisfied grunt, he stuffed the gun back into it's holster and looked back to Hotaru and their assembled friends. All of which looked like they'd been smacked upside the head with a board.
Hotaru was the first to recover, a slow smile spreading across her face. "Well, that was easy. A little anti-climactic though."
He grinned back, still a little uncomfortable with the way the new expression felt on his face, leaning over her, cupping her cheek with his palm. "Just you wait." He replied, and captured her mouth with his before she could reply.
They didn't even notice when Mina started cheering.
THE END! THE TOTAL END!
Thank's so much for the support!
Here's some ideas for a sequel and/or some side-story/spinoffs. Review and tell me if you'd think you'd want to read it!
Here of some little plot summaries and possible titles, please tell me which you'd be interested in seeing.
Peace Summit/
The crew is invited to speak at the summit for demilitarization. Heero deals with public speaking, Mina and Duo steal hotel towels, and Hotaru and Relena meet for the first time. Spin-off of Necessary Evils, six months after the epilogue.
Blonde Ambition
Mina spinoff fic set before their kiss, Mina sets out to (quite badly) seduce Quatre. Digs deeper into their relationship.
Losing Serena/ What Ever Happened to Rini?
Rini's childhood, growing up, dark, depressing.
Actual (Untitled as of yet) Sequel:
As if trying to adjust to (mostly) normal life, was hard enough. Heero's lost most of his special powers, and is not dealing with it very well, and since they closed the portal, everyone seems to become weaker everyday. As if that wasn't enough to deal with, the media's finally figured out who the Gundam pilots are, thanks to an anonymous tip. With the discovery of their identities, the authorities discover they should still be in school, packing Heero, Hotaru, Mina, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, and Dorothy off to neo-TokyoHigh. (conveniently located on top of where the old Crystal Palace used to stand). Then, in their first week of class, magically inclined folk start turning up dead.
Now, they have to save the world before curfew, and somehow manage to pass their classes at the same time.
Now who said high-school wasn't fun?
That's it! R/r, and remember to vote!
