Saving Zechs
By Tira Yuy
~~~~~Chapter five~~~~~
The room was tidy and rather colorless, Heero observed as he took in the small room. Everything was either white, ivory, or sage. It struck him as being dull and rather depressing.
"Odin Lowe." The name came out hesitantly.
Looking down at the sage-colored blanket covering his legs, he saw that the thin blanket looked as foreign to him as his own hands.
His left hand was in a cast that went up to his elbow; his right one however was exposed to his examination.
The skin had a bit of a tan. "Do I like being in the outdoors?" he asked out loud wishing there was someone in the room to answer his question.
His nails were short and jagged. "Do I have the habit of biting my nails?" He quickly rejected that idea; the thought of someone having that kind of habit projected an image of a lack of self control and of nervousness. Heero was not fond of the idea of having either of those characteristics.
'What habits *do* I have?' he now question silently of himself.
Not knowing who he was, any of his habits, or usual thoughts was maddening.
He felt as though he had been trapped on an island for so long that he had no knowledge of the outside world.
Turning his head sideways, Heero had a glimpse of the sky through the window. The blue was lighter than Noin's eyes in color, but still brought the attractive woman to the front of his thoughts.
She had been obviously upset, but had the looks of a woman who was usually well-groomed and use to being in control.
If he was an ignorant tourist, she was his guide.
She was the only key he had to any of his old thoughts, life, or others important to him. With her being his wife, she probably knew a great deal about him.
When Heero had woken up and had seen her, it was like seeing the most beautiful thing in the world.
Then he had taken note of how worried and upset she was. The rims of her eyes had been red from crying, but the worry and concern that was captured in those sapphire eyes had pulled at his hearts strings. As confused as he had been to wake up in the strange room, when he had seen her he felt as though he should comfort her. But the only thing that he could think of to do was to reach his hand out and ask her to stay with him for a while longer.
Now as he ran the scene over and over in his mind, it struck him that the pain she was suffering from was due to worrying over him and his well-being.
"Impossible," Heero murmured out loud. Why should anyone care about *him*? Somehow the thought of someone caring that deeply for him felt even more foreign than his hand.
'But why shouldn't she?' His mind now questioned. 'She is your wife,' one part of his mind pointed out to him.
The image of Noin with her rumpled clothes, messed short black hair, and deep blue eyes was a vision of a unique loveliness, but to him what stuck out most was the look of devotion on her face before leaving his room. As she had left, with her clipped, steady, and long steps, he felt as though she were a woman on a mission who would not give up for anything.
If it were at all possible for her to care so deeply for him, for that devotion to be directed at him, then he must be the luckiest man alive, memory loss or not.
The tapping at his door drew him out of his thoughts.
Noin stuck her head into the room and looked at Heero. The bandage around his head had been removed but his arm was still in a cast.
As she walked into the room, Noin could not take her eyes off of it. 'If they know we're coming and have already tried killing Heero, should I be doing this?' Noin wondered.
Heero suddenly took on the look of someone she should be protecting, not asking to risk his neck for her and Zechs.
'Heero already agreed,' one part of her mind reasoned. 'And it's not just for Zechs but everybody who is at that resort. When Heero is back to normal he'll agree I did the right thing,' Noin concluded.
Watching Noin from his bed, Heero wondered what exactly had her eyes so tense and lost in thought.
'You dummy,' that voice in the back of his mind said. 'She's your wife who was on her way to her honeymoon when her husband lost his mind. What do you think she's upset over?'
Pushing his thoughts away, Heero put his full focus on Noin and said the first thing that came to mind. "Penny for your thoughts."
Sitting down into the chair still next to Heero's bed, Noin pulled out the paperwork from her purse. Was this the chance to explain things to Heero?
'How do I tell him?' she wondered as she fiddled with her pen.
'Oh yeah, just blurt out "you are a hero by the name Heero and are suppose to be helping me save the man I love while pretending to be my husband." Why don't you?' Noin looked at Heero as he waited for her to reply.
'And if anyone overhears, you run the risk of your cover definitely being blown instead of just worrying about whether or not that has already happened.' No, now was not the time.
"Just wondering if our insurance will cover everything." Noin hoped that her words did not come out sounding as being as dumb to him as they were to her own ears.
Feeling guilty for being so much trouble, Heero wished he could take the paper from her and fill it out himself. Or better yet, not have gotten in that taxi cab that landed him here in the first place.
Then a question came to mind, "Why were we riding in two different cabs?" Heero asked of Noin.
Not knowing what had brought that question on Noin shrugged. She had not counted on explaining why newlyweds would be riding in two different taxi cabs on their way to their honeymoon.
The real reason had been that she had to get the false paperwork in order and make some last minute reservations at the resort. She would have given Heero his passport and ID before boarding their shuttle to L3 had things gotten off to a better start. Instead, when Noin had been heading for her and Heero's rendezvous point she got held up because of a car wreck and the plain had gone all wrong from there.
She later fond out it was Heero's wrecked taxi cab that was holding up trafic.
However, she had already decided this was not the place to explain the truth to Heero and racked her brain for something believable.
"I had left somethings behind, you went back to get them while I went ahead to get our luggage aboard."
Thinking this over, other questions came to mind, where did they live? Were they from this colony or another one in the L4 cluster? Where were all of their friends and family that attended their wedding? Just how long had he been married to her, a few hours or days before the wreck?
Dark blue eyes becoming intense as he was lost in thought. He was not aware of how his facial expressions were affecting Noin.
'Did he not believe me?' Noin questioned herself as Heero's thick eyebrows pulled together in contemplation.
She wanted to just rush through the paperwork so she could get Heero out of here and set him straight on a few things. Like his whole identity.
Turning the chair so she faced the wall and small window, Noin put the paper against the wall and started filling out the information. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Heero was still deep in thought.
"Tell me everything," Heero's deep voice finally requested when he could not settle on just a handful of questions he wanted answered. At the site of Noin frowning he said, "Everything that you can right now."
Looking into Heero's blue eyes, the old saying "The eyes are the windows to the soul" drifted through Noin's mind.
Heero's eyes were expressing all of his feelings at that moment.
He was confused and eager to know all that she could tell him. He looked partly like a lost child depending completely on her, and partly like a young man determined to stand on his own feet, even if he did need to ask a few questions first.
'Can he possibly carry out this mission?' Noin's more critical part asked. But another part of her desperately wanted to tell Heero the truth, so that the man in him could judge for himself how to act.
If she told him the truth and he was too scared in his condition, she would be giving a death sentence to those at the resort. Depending on how powerful those missiles were, possibly everyone on that colony would be doomed as well.
'But what if he still wants to do it?' another part of her questioned. 'He still knows how to do most of the things he could do before, including taking apart missiles,' and Noin did not know of another human being capable of doing that job. She could not risk Zechs or anybody else's life by telling Heero everything right away. But did she have the right to toy with Heero's life?
'I'm not toying with it!' she riled against her conscience. 'He already agreed to do it! I'm just making him stick to that promise.'
Licking her lips, Noin began to fill Heero in on all the details she had made up to be a part of their cover.
By Tira Yuy
~~~~~Chapter five~~~~~
The room was tidy and rather colorless, Heero observed as he took in the small room. Everything was either white, ivory, or sage. It struck him as being dull and rather depressing.
"Odin Lowe." The name came out hesitantly.
Looking down at the sage-colored blanket covering his legs, he saw that the thin blanket looked as foreign to him as his own hands.
His left hand was in a cast that went up to his elbow; his right one however was exposed to his examination.
The skin had a bit of a tan. "Do I like being in the outdoors?" he asked out loud wishing there was someone in the room to answer his question.
His nails were short and jagged. "Do I have the habit of biting my nails?" He quickly rejected that idea; the thought of someone having that kind of habit projected an image of a lack of self control and of nervousness. Heero was not fond of the idea of having either of those characteristics.
'What habits *do* I have?' he now question silently of himself.
Not knowing who he was, any of his habits, or usual thoughts was maddening.
He felt as though he had been trapped on an island for so long that he had no knowledge of the outside world.
Turning his head sideways, Heero had a glimpse of the sky through the window. The blue was lighter than Noin's eyes in color, but still brought the attractive woman to the front of his thoughts.
She had been obviously upset, but had the looks of a woman who was usually well-groomed and use to being in control.
If he was an ignorant tourist, she was his guide.
She was the only key he had to any of his old thoughts, life, or others important to him. With her being his wife, she probably knew a great deal about him.
When Heero had woken up and had seen her, it was like seeing the most beautiful thing in the world.
Then he had taken note of how worried and upset she was. The rims of her eyes had been red from crying, but the worry and concern that was captured in those sapphire eyes had pulled at his hearts strings. As confused as he had been to wake up in the strange room, when he had seen her he felt as though he should comfort her. But the only thing that he could think of to do was to reach his hand out and ask her to stay with him for a while longer.
Now as he ran the scene over and over in his mind, it struck him that the pain she was suffering from was due to worrying over him and his well-being.
"Impossible," Heero murmured out loud. Why should anyone care about *him*? Somehow the thought of someone caring that deeply for him felt even more foreign than his hand.
'But why shouldn't she?' His mind now questioned. 'She is your wife,' one part of his mind pointed out to him.
The image of Noin with her rumpled clothes, messed short black hair, and deep blue eyes was a vision of a unique loveliness, but to him what stuck out most was the look of devotion on her face before leaving his room. As she had left, with her clipped, steady, and long steps, he felt as though she were a woman on a mission who would not give up for anything.
If it were at all possible for her to care so deeply for him, for that devotion to be directed at him, then he must be the luckiest man alive, memory loss or not.
The tapping at his door drew him out of his thoughts.
Noin stuck her head into the room and looked at Heero. The bandage around his head had been removed but his arm was still in a cast.
As she walked into the room, Noin could not take her eyes off of it. 'If they know we're coming and have already tried killing Heero, should I be doing this?' Noin wondered.
Heero suddenly took on the look of someone she should be protecting, not asking to risk his neck for her and Zechs.
'Heero already agreed,' one part of her mind reasoned. 'And it's not just for Zechs but everybody who is at that resort. When Heero is back to normal he'll agree I did the right thing,' Noin concluded.
Watching Noin from his bed, Heero wondered what exactly had her eyes so tense and lost in thought.
'You dummy,' that voice in the back of his mind said. 'She's your wife who was on her way to her honeymoon when her husband lost his mind. What do you think she's upset over?'
Pushing his thoughts away, Heero put his full focus on Noin and said the first thing that came to mind. "Penny for your thoughts."
Sitting down into the chair still next to Heero's bed, Noin pulled out the paperwork from her purse. Was this the chance to explain things to Heero?
'How do I tell him?' she wondered as she fiddled with her pen.
'Oh yeah, just blurt out "you are a hero by the name Heero and are suppose to be helping me save the man I love while pretending to be my husband." Why don't you?' Noin looked at Heero as he waited for her to reply.
'And if anyone overhears, you run the risk of your cover definitely being blown instead of just worrying about whether or not that has already happened.' No, now was not the time.
"Just wondering if our insurance will cover everything." Noin hoped that her words did not come out sounding as being as dumb to him as they were to her own ears.
Feeling guilty for being so much trouble, Heero wished he could take the paper from her and fill it out himself. Or better yet, not have gotten in that taxi cab that landed him here in the first place.
Then a question came to mind, "Why were we riding in two different cabs?" Heero asked of Noin.
Not knowing what had brought that question on Noin shrugged. She had not counted on explaining why newlyweds would be riding in two different taxi cabs on their way to their honeymoon.
The real reason had been that she had to get the false paperwork in order and make some last minute reservations at the resort. She would have given Heero his passport and ID before boarding their shuttle to L3 had things gotten off to a better start. Instead, when Noin had been heading for her and Heero's rendezvous point she got held up because of a car wreck and the plain had gone all wrong from there.
She later fond out it was Heero's wrecked taxi cab that was holding up trafic.
However, she had already decided this was not the place to explain the truth to Heero and racked her brain for something believable.
"I had left somethings behind, you went back to get them while I went ahead to get our luggage aboard."
Thinking this over, other questions came to mind, where did they live? Were they from this colony or another one in the L4 cluster? Where were all of their friends and family that attended their wedding? Just how long had he been married to her, a few hours or days before the wreck?
Dark blue eyes becoming intense as he was lost in thought. He was not aware of how his facial expressions were affecting Noin.
'Did he not believe me?' Noin questioned herself as Heero's thick eyebrows pulled together in contemplation.
She wanted to just rush through the paperwork so she could get Heero out of here and set him straight on a few things. Like his whole identity.
Turning the chair so she faced the wall and small window, Noin put the paper against the wall and started filling out the information. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Heero was still deep in thought.
"Tell me everything," Heero's deep voice finally requested when he could not settle on just a handful of questions he wanted answered. At the site of Noin frowning he said, "Everything that you can right now."
Looking into Heero's blue eyes, the old saying "The eyes are the windows to the soul" drifted through Noin's mind.
Heero's eyes were expressing all of his feelings at that moment.
He was confused and eager to know all that she could tell him. He looked partly like a lost child depending completely on her, and partly like a young man determined to stand on his own feet, even if he did need to ask a few questions first.
'Can he possibly carry out this mission?' Noin's more critical part asked. But another part of her desperately wanted to tell Heero the truth, so that the man in him could judge for himself how to act.
If she told him the truth and he was too scared in his condition, she would be giving a death sentence to those at the resort. Depending on how powerful those missiles were, possibly everyone on that colony would be doomed as well.
'But what if he still wants to do it?' another part of her questioned. 'He still knows how to do most of the things he could do before, including taking apart missiles,' and Noin did not know of another human being capable of doing that job. She could not risk Zechs or anybody else's life by telling Heero everything right away. But did she have the right to toy with Heero's life?
'I'm not toying with it!' she riled against her conscience. 'He already agreed to do it! I'm just making him stick to that promise.'
Licking her lips, Noin began to fill Heero in on all the details she had made up to be a part of their cover.