Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters…or the songs… or anything at all… please feed the poor college student… w/reviews of course

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters…or the songs… or anything at all… please feed the poor college student… w/reviews of course!

So Close... And Yet So Far

Part Two: The Aftermath

A tall, lean man stood with a forlorn look in his ice blue eyes, his long platinum hair swirling about him. I will not give up on you Relena. A young officer approaching him interrupted his thoughts.

"What is your report?" He said, losing all the sorrow that had seemed to envelop him just moments before.

"Mr. Peacecraft, sir, I have good news and bad news." The officer replied, hesitating.

"Well?....out with it man!" Milliardo grew impatient.

"Sir, We have located the exact location of the tracking signal, however..." he hesitated again. Milliardo gave him a glare that even Heero would be envious of. "The signal is at least 10 feet underneath the surface of the rubble. It will be difficult to excavate the site without the risk of it caving it in. Even if the foreign minister is still alive, our attempts to rescue her could be the very thing that would kill her."

After finishing this report, the officer avoided Milliardo's gaze, fearing his reaction. It was not unjustified.

"What do you mean, 'IF' she's still alive? Of course she's still alive, you imbecile! Get out of my sight!" He shouted, his anger bubbling over. I am not giving up! The officer took the hint and fled, with much fear in his eyes and demeanor. A dark haired woman was approaching and glanced at the officer as he whizzed by. She looked in the direction that he had come from and caught sight of the pale man standing there.

"Zechs," she had never been able to call him Milliardo, " that young man was only trying to tell you what you asked for. We will find her, she's alright." She reassured him, with sympathy in her dark eyes.

"Noin, this is all my fault! I can't believe I didn't have this place checked for explosives. I've become too relaxed. A year of peace has made me careless."

"Zechs! You can't blame yourself. This is not your fault. The only people responsible are the ones who did this." Lucrezia reasoned. The only question on my mind is 'where is Heero'?

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"Hey guys! What's up?" called a young man in a dark priest's uniform. His long braid swung behind him as he walked into the somber conference at Preventer Headquarters. "What's with the long faces? Did somebody die or something?" he asked with a small laugh. The dark haired Asian sitting in the corner gave him a scowl. "Yo Wu-man, I was just kidding. What's going on?" he looked at the three young men sitting before him. Finally, one of them spoke up.

"Didn't you get the message the Preventers sent us, Duo?" he said, peering through his long bangs.

"Yeah, of course I did. Whaddya think I'm doin' here? All it said was that a new anti-peace organization has sprung up. What happened Trowa?" Duo replied.

"Fool," interrupted the young Asian man, who Duo had referred to as 'Wu-man', "do you think the Preventers would have called us in for such a trivial discovery?"

Duo looked at them wide-eyed. The third one finally spoke. Sorrow filled his innocent blue eyes, as he looked up at Duo.

"Duo," he started his voice trembling, "they bombed a building..." he faltered, "that Relena was in."

"Wha--, is she ok, Quatre?" he didn't need to wait for an answer. The look on everyone's faces told him all he needed to know. "Is she dead?"

"We're not sure," Trowa answered. He seemed to be the most calm in the group. "She's still trapped underneath the ruins of the building. There's a chance she could still be alive in an air pocket or something."

Poor 'Jousan. I wonder what Heero's feeling. If he's feeling anything at all.

"Hey..." Duo said, after a pause, "where's Heero?"

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"Ohh, that was soo good. I don't think I'm gonna mind staying here after all. They never have food that good at any of those stuffy delegation banquets." Relena commented.

"..." was all Heero had to say. At least she's happy.

"So...what're we gonna do now?" No answer. They walked back into the nightclub.

Once they got inside the room, Heero pulled out his laptop. Now I can see what his password is. Relena peeked over his shoulder, pretending to fix her hair. A-N-E-L-E-R. She looked away when he noticed her gaze. Aneler? what is--oh.... She tried to look at Heero's face but he avoided her eyes and closed his laptop. He proceeded to walk out the door. Relena realized what he was doing and touched his arm. "Where are you going?"

"I have things to do Relena." he said in his signature monotone voice. He pulled his arm away from her touch and left, closing the door behind him. Relena was still stunned by his password. ANELER...that's my name...spelled backwards...but why would he use my name? Her heart thumped loudly in her chest, as if struggling to leap out. I can't believe this. I finally give up on him. He's been gone for more than a year. I didn't think he was going to come back. I didn't think he cared about me at all. Maybe this isn't what I think, but still...why? Why would he use my name as his password?

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"Whew, that was some blast. The building just totally collapsed. These guys really knew what they were doing." Three heads turned to glare at Duo who was staring at the TV news coverage of the explosion.

"Hey, baka, you could come over here and help us instead of keeping your eyes glued to that screen." Wufei growled.

The other two were carefully poring over the blueprints of the collapsed building.

"Well, we've figured out where the bombs were set up. But what kind of bombs were they? Were they timed? Or was there a detonator? That could give us a clue as to who did this, and whether they're anywhere nearby," Quatre thought out loud.

"Probably plastique," commented Trowa.

"C-4, detonated from a 3 mile radius. They were watching." The four Gundam pilots all looked up to see a familiar figure clad in green tank top and spandex shorts emerge from the doorway.

"Heero!" exclaimed Duo. He lowered his voice slightly and said with a tinge of concern, "Are you ok, man?" Heero ignored the question as a rhetorical one and continued.

"It looks like you guys are missing some information."

"I'll take it you can fill us in." said Trowa expectantly. Heero took the opportunity and proceeded to share all the data on the ALOC organization that he had gathered. The pilots listened with interest, all except Duo who kept on staring at Heero's face for some sign of emotion. Geez!! I really don't get this guy!

After Heero was finished briefing everyone on the situation, he separately assigned them to follow some strong leads. As the team dispersed, Duo caught Heero's arm.

"Heero, bud, you sure you're ok?" He said, almost whispering.

"I'm fine, Duo." He replied, snatching his arm way. Duo glared at him incredulously.

"Relena is lying under a heap of rubble, probably dead, and you're fine?!" He snapped back, his voice gaining volume.

"Don't you have some work to do, Duo?"

"Goddam it, Heero! You didn't-don't deserve her!" Duo finally let it out. "She cares about you, for god's sake! But you don't even give a crap if she's dead or alive!" Heero stared at him, a confused expression on his face. "She kept in touch with all of us, y'know...Always asking how everything was going, or whether she could do anything for us. And then she would always ask about you, Heero." Duo pointed an accusing finger at him. "I asked her why, once. 'Why do you care so much about that selfish son-of-a-bitch?' God! Do you know what she said? 'Every time I looked into his eyes, all I saw was pain, and hurt. I just want to make that go away. I've brought peace to everyone in this world except to the one person who really helped achieve it. I have to—do something-anything to help him.'" Duo's eyes held a profound sadness in them, an almost far-off look. "I just thought you should know. It doesn't look like she'll ever be able to tell you in person." His eyes wandered to the television screen, which still displayed the dilapidated blast site.

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The curiosity finally overcame Relena as she went Heero's laptop. She turned it on and entered the password. She didn't know where to start. There were so many files, and this was just on the desktop. She finally found a folder named 'RP'. She clicked it open. Inside were pictures of her, at delegation meetings, banquets, public relations events, everything she had done in the past year all neatly organized in one folder. He had blueprints to her house including aerial view photographs. So he's been keeping track of me this whole year. He didn't forget about me. Her heart soared. Stop jumping to conclusions! This just could have been another mission. Don't let your heart get broken again! She sighed. She then scanned the other files for anything interesting. She found a folder marked 'ALOC'.

"Aha! Let's see what you guys are really about." She exclaimed. Here she found an inventory of missing hardware, and a map of suspected ALOC activity sites. She went to the next file, which had estimated calculations and extrapolations about the capabilities of this organization. They had been stealing materials for two years. With the amount of time and resources they had, the ALOC organization had a probable 2,000 mobile suits hidden away somewhere, with another 500 still underway. Relena's eyes widened as she read the figures. I can't believe this! After all my efforts, after all the misery and bloodshed, we've come back to exactly where we started! Her frustration was mounting, but before she could open the next file, a hand reached out from behind her shoulder and slammed the laptop shut.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Relena whirled around to meet his Death Glare with a determined look of her own.

"Just trying to find out what's going on, since you won't tell me a thing." She shot back.

"This is none of your concern." He replied in a low voice.

"I have just as much a right to know as you do! I love this world and the people in it. I feel responsible for them." Her eyes were no longer the calm liquid blue pools they always were. They were filled with a blue fire of determination. She was not going to back down. She'd had enough of being protected.

Heero was surprised, almost visibly. She was actually fighting back, against him. The fire in her eyes, he was drowning in it. Can you drown in fire?, he asked himself.

"There's nothing you can do. The more you know the more danger you'll put yourself in." Their faces were inches apart. Relena was flushed with anger, while Heero was just struggling to keep his mask on. She felt his breath on her face.

"Oh please, like I'm not already in the most dangerous position I can be in. I'm ex-Queen of the World, not to mention the fact that I'm the symbol of peace around here and I'm a foreign minister. Do you think

I care if I'm increasing my risks?" She paused. "Or are you just afraid I'm actually that weak that I can't keep my mouth shut?" She said, with a stinging bitterness.

Heero flinched, ever so slightly. Not at her words, but at the bitterness in them. There was a flash of pain in his eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it came. Relena, however, caught it, and with it, caught herself. That pain again. The fire in her eyes diminished, and she now realized how close their faces actually were. She wanted to take his face in her hands and kiss the pain away from his eyes. Heero, almost reluctantly, pulled his gaze way from hers.

"Heero, I-" She wanted to say something to take the pain away.

"I have to get to work." He interrupted her gruffly. Relena looked at the floor as if searching for some truth written there. When she looked up she saw a bare-chested Heero reaching for a T-shirt. She had to hold her chin to keep it from gaping open. She couldn't take her eyes off his well-sculpted muscles. And then she noticed the scars. An angry red one above his right nipple, a thin white line on the left side of his ribcage, a multitude of small scratches scattered about his torso as if made by shards of glass. And then her eyes fell upon his abdomen. A thick brownish streak cut diagonally across it, as if painted there with a brush. Or a knife. She thought to herself. Relena had never realized that Heero would have battle scars. He was a soldier, a Gundam pilot, of course he'd have scars. So why does it hurt me so much? She felt a tightening in her chest. I want to make him all better. Just take away all his scars. Physical, mental, everything. If only she could hold him and--and what? Magically kiss everything away? What am I thinking? He doesn't want me to touch him and even if I could, what would I do? I can't do anything...but I can prevent him from getting more scars. I'll make sure he'll never have to go through anything like that again. I promise you, Heero, I will do everything in my power to protect you.

She hadn't realized it, but she'd been staring at Heero the whole time. He felt her gaze but wouldn't dare meet it, lest they repeat their earlier scene. Clad in a black T-shirt and jeans, he proceeded to leave. He paused a moment before stepping out the door and said in his emotionless voice, "I'll be right downstairs if you need me."

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