Promenade
By: Lady Camigwen
-Chapter 6-
As Duo roamed the hallways looking for where he last sat down the blue prints to the Leo Suits, a pair of serene turquoise eyes watched him from the shadows.
So this was the man that had caught Haruka's attention without even Haruka herself realizing it, eh? When she was suddenly assaulted by Haruka's powerful mind—if Quatre hadn't caught her, she would've smashed her head open on the hard tile floor—she was overloaded with jumbled images that she was still trying to sort out. But one image stood out clearly--the image of that moronic American, Duo Maxwell.
As she tried to make sense of the other images—most were brief flashes—she came upon more and more images of Duo. Always of him just walking or staring of into space while his mind wandered within his own little world. What did Haruka see in him anyway?
The 'moronic American' gave a whoop of triumph upon spotting the blue prints sitting upon the desk of Colonel Trowa Barton. Barton...perhaps he was related to that redheaded child of Trieze's who'd caused such a stir a couple years ago. An uncle maybe?
Michiru shrugged.
Telling Duo to hold on for a moment, Trowa rose from his desk and inspected the area as if to make sure no one would eavesdrop on their conversation. With a couple of composed glances to either side of the hallway and around his office, Trowa shut the door.
'Damn him...' Michiru silently crept from the shadows and pressed her ear against the door. She would've teleported in and blended into the shadows within the office, but she really didn't feel up to bruising her mind further than Haruka had so graciously done earlier.
Holding her breath, she focused and listened.
"...is almost near completion," Trowa said.
"Awesome! I'm almost finished myself, I've just got to tweak a couple things here and there, and—done!" Duo said rather enthusiastically.
"Good. Will be able to run a test flight soon and maybe with the aid of the cloaking systems used in the Leos, we'll be able to run a weapons test as well."
"Antarctica?" Duo suggested.
Trowa snorted. "Anywhere but there. That continent is an eternal freezer." He paused for several seconds before speaking again. "If you'll excuse me Duo, I must see to the last modifications to Heavyarms."
"And the Shinigami will be getting some well deserved shut eye. See ya, Trowa!"
Michiru leapt away from the door and teleported around the corner and peered over her shoulder as Duo emerged from Trowa's office and headed down the opposite end of the hallway to the building's exit. She let out a sigh of relief and stepped into the light as she made her way back to her guest quarters within the building.
Heavyarms...Shinigami... Where had she heard those names before? On television maybe, or a movie perhaps, could've been on—She froze.
"Dear sweet Goddess of the Tides!" she breathed. Heavyarms...Shinigami... Heavyarms was the name of Gundam 03 and Shinigami was the name of the pilot of Gundam 02, Deathscythe. Duo—Duo and Trowa were Gundam pilots. They were re-building their Gundams that were destroyed after Mariemaia's coup de'etat.
She laughed aloud as she entered her temporary residence while on base and felt the eyes of her husband burning holes into her back, demanding to be included in what she thought was so amusing.
He was sprawled awkwardly on the couch casually eating away at an apple and grinned at her. "So, what's so amusing that I don't get a 'hi honey I'm home?'"
She arched an aquamarine brow at him. "Kolanto, have you discovered the addictive device known as the television?"
Kolanto gave her a sheepish grin and sat upright on the couch. "You didn't answer my question, dear. What's got you rolling in fits of giggles?"
"Oh nothing...just Duo Maxwell's a Gundam Pilot and I'm pregnant."
"Maxwell a Gundam Pilot? Ha! Now I'm wondering if you hit your head somewhere in between here and the lounge and—pregnant!?"
She winked at him and strolled into the kitchen as he choked on a piece of apple.
+§¤§+
Her left arm felt as if thousands of needles were piercing her skin repeatedly in the same spot. She managed to roll he head over to the side—it felt like a bowling ball attached to her neck rather than a head—and squinted in the bright light at her arm.
She expected to see blood, but nothing was there. No needles, no blood.
"Feeling the affects, aren't you Haruka?"
With a groan she painfully rolled her head to the right and attempted a glare at Agent Sewell. "W-what have you—"
"Done to you? Oh, nothing... just some experimental anesthetics that we were curious to see as to how you'd react to." Sewell reached into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a needle. "In your case it seems you need a stronger dosage. A normal human being would be out for hours with a low dosage of this stuff."
If she could've willed her arm to move, she would've, but she couldn't. She could do nothing but moan in agony as he injected her with more of whatever was already flowing through her veins. She managed to call him a "dirty bastard" before her world once again became dark.
+§¤§+
Michiru lie awake in bed staring at the ceiling as Kolanto called home to Neptune to announce to various friends and family members that the queen was pregnant with the heir or heiress to the Neptunian throne.
What was Haruka trying to tell her? The images were so jumbled... it was taking her a while to sort them out. Haruka's mind was probably bruised as well. Sending messages telepathically over long distances was a painful process. Wait, how'd she know Haruka was far away?
The Neptunian queen bolted upright in her bed. She had overlooked that before, possibly because it was more of a sensation than an image. The distinct feeling of being in a moving vehicle...
As she rose from the bed and began to change into decent clothes, she tried to put the pieces together in her mind. Duo Maxwell a Gundam Pilot, the Gundams being rebuilt, traveling a long distance in some sort of vehicle. But...when had Haruka left?
She remembered avoiding the surveillance cameras in the hallway when she was following Duo earlier. Perhaps she could find some record there.
Maybe it was time to give the Shinigami a wake up call.
+§¤§+
The Shinigami tossed and turned in his sleep, watching images fly past his eyes.
A young girl with shining silver-blue hair running through a field of dark blue roses, calling out to the smaller girl wrapped in a purple cloth to stop complaining about the cold...
The same girl, only now a teenager, screaming in horror and pain as a shadowed figure brought down her galive and the ground beneath them erupted...
A teenager with sandy blonde hair and brilliant emerald eyes--Haruka?--dressed in a school uniform walking past an arcade where a younger teenager with bright blonde hair held up in pigtails emerged and latched onto her arm, babbling on about something that made the former girl groan in annoyance...
The smiling face of a young woman with aquamarine hair--Michiru?--as she watched a man in a wheelchair rock his daughter to sleep. The girl that resembled Haruka placed a hand on her shoulder and asked if she was all right and faced her. "Are you ready for one more showdown?" The young woman nodded, "Yes."...
She smirked and a raven-haired woman behind her muttered, "Finally!", as they watched the fall of the Berlin Wall on television. "It's about time..."
Jumbled images flew past, ones he couldn't make out, only catch glimpses of until they stopped on a scene he'd seen a thousand times before...the assassination of Heero Yuy.
The gunman was already atop the building. "Dammit!" She ran, ran as fast as she could... but when she reached the gunman, she was too late. Heero Yuy was dead.
That girl tried to prevent Heero Yuy's death? What in the wo--
"I'm sorry..." Haruka's, or what sounded like Haruka's voice, called out. "...I tried to stop him. If I had, you wouldn't have gone through all that pain and suffering when you were a child. If I had been faster... I tried.. I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry... Forgive me..."
He nearly hit his head on the ceiling when someone knocked at his door, causing him to leap out of bed. Grumbling and rubbing the sleep out of his violet eyes he pulled open the door to meet the serious face of Michiru.
"We need to talk," she said as she pushed passed him and strolled into the room.
He shut the door and followed her. "Yes, I believe we do," he said, recalling his dream.
Michiru halted and whirled around to face him, nodding. "Yes, we do, Shinigami."
+§¤§+
Lying on a table in some FBI base with several men in white lab coats poking and prodding her body, Haruka cried.
She didn't know what they had pumped her full of, but she couldn't move or talk. She was awake and aware of what they were doing to her…she could feel it. And all she could do was lie there and allow the tears to flow from beneath her closed lids.
'…Just kill me already, please…'
**TBC**
Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon. I do, however, own this Sailor Uranus doll and Deathscythe model! *runs off, hugging the items tightly* And no one will get them! Mwuhahaha...!
AN: I was hoping that I'd get 50 reviews by the next time I updated, but I went ahead and posted this next chapter anyway. I hope to have over 50 reviews by my next update, however, so please review!
++THE MORE REVIEWS, THE MORE I WRITE!++
5/18/03
