4: Proposal
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(Author's note: At the moment I am suffering from GW withdrawl *cries*.)
(Maxwell/Schbeiker home):
Heero stood soaking in icy cold rain while in the front of the house expecting the shipment of Gundaium alloy to come at any moment. It had past half-an hour and he had barely spoken while they were waiting for the shippers to arrive but he and Relena caught with everything that happened around the time he had left
her just as she had gone to meet with several government officials and the president at the rebuilt presidential house after it had taken a severe amount of damage caused by Wing Zero's beam cannon, Heero's eyes narrowed at the thought of his mobile suit.
From what he could gather in his fuzzy memory, there was nothing left of Zero except its' middle and two mangled arms, the mobile suit's left arm had lost the lower part to it along with the hand naturally. He glanced upward the clouded sky.
His unruly bangs stuck to his forehead and the side of his face blinding his sight slightly as he blinked away the rain droplets that hung on the end of his lashes. "Zero," He muttered unconsciously closing his eyes. The feel of cold against his body never bothered him, even when he was a small child under the care of Odin Lowe.
Heero's mind scoffed at him; never was an understatement, the cold did bother him a 'bit' but never a lot, he remembered that one time he had a hard time concealing the tremors of shivers that wracked his body from the awfully talkative assassin.
"Heero....?" Came a voice. The Japanese youth was snapped out his train of thought when that familiar voice broke the silence of the rain. He whipped his head around glaring are usual, he gazed upon Relena holding an umbrella over her head standing not too far away from the door with a worried expression in her eyes. He blinked at her before turning around concentrating on the clouded sky above him.
Relena sighed making her way over toward the silent teenager in front of her, if she had learned anything from Heero it was that he was extremely jumpy when never made your presence known and if you snuck up on him you were wishing for a short life and those smart enough to make themselves known around the Japanese boy would live a longer life.
Not that she had seen Heero shoot or kill anyone for surprising him. To be honest Relena was relieved that the gundam-pilot could be surprised; it was a sure sign that he was human with feelings and a heart.
"What are doing out here, Heero?" She asked now she was beside him. "Your going to catch a cold." Heero grunted at her maternal tone of voice with a shrug. Relena sighed in defeat, there was no talking to Heero when he had his mind set on something. An uncomfortable silence fell over the both of them as hail began to fall from the sky replacing the soft rain.
Relena cringed at the disturbing cracking noise the hail made against several objects around them and from afar. The silence continued on until a sneeze shattered the peace causing Relena to jump in surprise, she shifted her gaze over to Heero who was rubbing his nose before a he emitted another sneeze. The girl fought the urge to laugh at his momentary plight as Heero sneezed a third time. "Bless you," Relena said placing the umbrella over his head.
Heero no longer felt the small pieces of hail splattering against his arms he looked up surprised to find the umbrella over his head Heero shifted his line of sight toward Relena who smiled humorously at him before linking her arm with his, Heero unwillingly followed the honey-blonde pacifist toward the house holding back a sneeze as she opened the front door. "I told you were going to catch a cold," Relena said teasingly.
Heero gave her a look not really caring about her idle warning he followed her all the way to the couch his temporary bed and sat down beside his laptop fighting the oncoming sneeze. Relena ordered him to stay where he was until she came back with some dry clothes and a warm beverage for him to drink, Heero obliged motionlessly with a blink of his Prussian blue eyes.
Relena gave him a skeptical look but walked off toward the kitchen to fix him his drink, Heero on the other hand decided to do a little hacking for entertainment, he rested his laptop on his lap and opened the top; the screen automatically came on.
Heero placed his index finger on the pad below the keyboard and directed the arrow toward the blinking icon labeled "New e-mail." Heero eyebrow arched suspiciously as he clicked the enter button with his thumb before sneezing again. "Bless you!" Came Relena from inside the kitchen. Heero glanced in annoyance at the girl's exclamation before returning his gaze toward the opened e-mail, his eyes darted across the screen intently while wondering who he had given his e-mail address to.
Hello Heero Yuy:
[This is lady Une, of the preventers. No, you've never gave me you e-mail address but if it helps your pride it was a helluva task finding it, you can thank Wufei Chang for that. "Chang," Heero thought irritably as he continued reading. [I've written to you today because I was wondering if you or Duo Maxwell were interested in becoming one of our Preventers. I've already sent e-mails to Trowa Barton and Quatre Winner, they should be responding soon enough. But I'm more interested in you and Maxwell's reply. You both have 48 hours to consider this, I'm sure you'll choose wisely. Until then.
Lady Une.]
Heero's eyes widened at the limited amount of time she had given him to consider her offer, he shifted his gaze toward the half-moon and sun shaped hand clock above the calendar he sighed in frustration and minimized the window cursing mentally before he snapped out of his present state of mind by the smell of chocolate and fresh clothes with the sent of bounce.
Heero glanced up at the Relena who held the cup of hot chocolate along with a pair of dry clothes hung over her right arm with her usual pleasant expression. Heero placed his laptop on the side taking the cup out of Relena's grasp with his right hand and used his left to remove the clothing hanging on Relena's arm. "The shippers called a while ago. They said, they can't deliver the Gundaium alloy today, because of the rain. If it lets' up they told me they would have it here by tomorrow." Heero nodded understanding.
"I'll be in Hilde's bedroom until you're done dressing," Relena said quickly making her way across the living room floor. Heero nodded a bit too late as he took a quick slip of his warm beverage before placing it down onto table that resided beside couch.
He rose from the couch with a groan due to his stiff muscles, and proceeded to remove his soaken wet clothes. Once he was finished he placed his wet clothes in a pile at his feet and jumped into a black sleeveless shirt, black jeans, and blue socks. He looked down at himself unamused; this was certainly an outfit of Duo's, he wore nothing but black and occasional bright colored shirts but was a very rare occurrence.
Heero began to wonder when Hilde and Duo were going to return. It was near the afternoon and they haven't returned yet, the Japanese youth was snapped out of his thoughts by the opening of the bedroom door. Relena poked her head out slightly staring at Heero hoping she hadn't caught him half naked when she noticed he was wearing the clothes she had given her.
With a sigh the girl stepped out of the bedroom with an uneasy smile while Heero who had placed himself back on the couch holding his cup with his laptop upon his lap stared at her curiously. "Do you like the hot chocolate, Heero?" She asked timidly. Heero paused for a moment looking down at the content in his cup then looked up at Relena with a nod of his head, Relena smiled feeling better about her beverage.
"Since you like my drink so much, I'll make us some lunch as well----- if that's okay with you that is," Relena stammered nervously. Heero nodded slowly before returning his attention back to his laptop. The honey-blonde girl smiled mentally and headed toward the kitchen once again to cook something up.
(Mobile suite factory):
Inside the Mobile suit factory, the sounds of construction, remote controlled machines and conversation or orders shouted by men filled the air. Zechs and Noin resided above all of the action upon a long metal walkway in against the walls nearest to the balcony's railings with their guns in hand, Zechs blinked in awe at the rebuilt Leo ground battle suits as the rebels sprayed them their natural dark blue, purple and green colors.
Noin shot Zechs a look, knowing this was going be one hell of a job for them to complete without backup. Zechs' eyebrows quirked in response as he slowly made his was across the platform cautiously in hopes he would not be detected by the enemy below.
"What is it, Noin?" He whispered. Noin paused for a moment hesitant to tell her partner that she was unsure if they could bring down this entire factory without harming the rebels without some help at least, She looked back up at Zechs who was awaiting her answer.
His patient face was deteriorating into an impatient one with a sigh Noin decided to tell him whether or not she knew it was going jeopardize Zechs' ability to be able to trust her when he needed her the most. "I'm not so sure we can do this alone Zechs," She said halfheartedly glancing down at her feet realizing there was no taking that back.
The white haired stared at her for a brief moment understanding what she meant; his lightblue eyes shifted downward toward the mobile suits with an unknown fear that somehow crept into the fiber of his being. There were an awful lot of rebels and mobile suits to take care of; this made him wonder if Une sent them on a suicide mission knowing there was a possible chance they wouldn't return.
Noin's sulking voice snapped him out of his line of thought. "I'm sorry, I've probably Jeopardized your ability to trust in me...... I shouldn't have even come," She said apologetically before feeling Zechs' hand on her head. Noin looked up in surprise gazing at Milliardo's humored expression.
"You haven't done anything wrong Noin. You haven't Jeopardized my trust in you at all. Not in the least," He said ruffling her hair. "If we need backup I'll call it in but until then let's just complete our mission shall we?"
Noin rolled her eyes at wicked grin he was giving her, Zechs probably tried to hide it from her but she could tell he loved a good fight and wouldn't back down from one. She contemplated over what he had said to her and strategies for the mission before giving him her answer. "Alright then, I'm ready when you are!" Noin said with all the enthusiasm she could muster.
Milliardo gave a short nod and the two rose from their spots in a crouching position as they traveled across the balcony's walkway toward the lower part of the factory where the mobile suits and the rebels resided. Their little escapade would prove to be interesting.
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Duo caught himself just as he was about to fall struggling to keep his consciousness a bit longer. He wished he could at at least get within two inches in front of his and Hilde's house before collapsing. The boy in his arms remained unconscious as he climbed up the semi-steep hill despite the burning pain of his muscles contracting violently from being overworked. Duo stumbled over his feet tripping sideways crashing into a wall shoulder first, he bit down on his lip to conceal his cry and in return he got the taste of his blood upon his tongue.
Duo sucked in his surprise, as he pulled himself up along the concrete wall with blurred vision. "Damn it..... they did too good of a number on me, but I'm not going down ... not yet anyway," He ignored the blood slowly running down his chin as the nagging call of unconsciousness became even stronger.
Hey you earned it buddie, why don't you just go to sleep? It's not gonna hurt you. Duo coughed at his mental temptation of slumber, shaking his head. "Not until I get home...... God my head hurts! Damn it!" Duo growled as he fell to the ground still against the wall. The rain made things worse for him than they already were, he was getting nowhere fast.
Duo smirked humorlessly looking down at the little boy's troubled expression with a tried sigh. Gradually, the former Shinigami climbed back up onto his feet wanting to let go of reality so badly that he was nearly in tears.
"Can't give up......, Hilde.......," Duo glanced upward again gazing into her aquamarine eyes with a crazed smile. "I have t... to get home to Hilde...... She'll worry if I'm not home before dinner." Like she'll care Maxwell. His mind retorted as he continued to press onward. Duo tried his best to ignore himself and at the same time try to walk up the hill in his current state, which was no easy task. "Just watch me.... I'll get home somehow or other." He snapped at himself. Suit yourself.... His mind said, not caring. Duo smirked happy to be rid of his talking conscience, and continued up the hill with the boy in his arms still.
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Hilde rushed through the street in a tizzy as the hail rained down upon her while she protected her food and supplies with her jacket. She made her way across the street toward her home, her bangs were plastered to her forehead courtesy of the rain.
It really made her angry to think that she was out her by herself carrying all of this food when Duo should have been doing this job instead of her! Thunder rumbled in the distance as lightening silently ripped the sky open with jagged bolts.
Hilde whimpered at the sight of the lightening as she crossed the vacant streets of the city. Her clothes stuck to her skin giving her second degree chills and sneezes, if she didn't get out of the rain soon she was gonna get a bad case of influenza or something much worse.
Hilde hopped up onto the sidewalk with a small grunt shaking her hair of water it held within its' fibers, her legs were aching with every stride she took and her slippers were so soggy that she had to crunch her toes up to keep them from falling off her feet that had gone numb quiet a while ago.
"Stupid Duo, where are you when I need you?!" She grumbled to herself before glancing upward at the depressing shades of gray.
"If I wanted another shower, I would have went home and took one (again)!" As if to reply to her angry declaration the sound of thunder boomed abnormally loud above her surprising the life out of Hilde to the extent that it had her running a bit faster. Hilde rushed down the sidewalk wincing at the sting of the hail against her face where several regions of her face were numb and a light shade of red.
The girl skipped across the street just as the traffic light that was currently red changed from yellow to green in a second flat, the cars that faced Hilde's side began to move forward at medium speed. Hilde leaped up onto the sidewalk just in time only to be splattered water from a ditch a car rolled through.
Hilde began to trudge across the sidewalk knowing she was bound to catch a cold in such a miserable state the grocery bags however were spared from the rain and the mucky puddle water, they remained dry, untouched. Hilde's teeth began to chatter against eachother as the cold took its' toll on her.
The second I get home, I'm going to kick Duo in the behind! She thought angrily sneezing. "What a terrible day to go shopping!" Hilde sighed turning the corner. She passed the bus stop briefly glancing at the peopling sitting on the resting place the city provided them so they're customers wouldn't have to stand around all day to wait for their bus to arrive.
One man gave her a death glare while trying to gain control of his trembling arm, Hilde smiled nervously before jogging her way up the street with a small fear growing inside of her. There was no telling what those creepy people were thinking and she wasn't going to stick around to find out, Hilde quickly made her way across the street into her neighborhood with a relieved expression.
Her spirits lifted greatly as she smelled the familiar smell of motor oil mixed with rain coming from the scrap yard of her and Duo's house, Hilde jumped over the stone wall that extended down the very last house on the block since she didn't feel like opening the wood gate that resembled half of a picket fence. "Finally, home!" She sighed crossing the yards of several houses hoping no one had their dog out in this insane weather.
Hilde was once mistaken as a mailman by a dog who had been roaming around while she took her morning jog. The dog had come out of nowhere and began chasing her across every yard of the neighborhood until she had made it back to the house in one piece and a fulfilled jog.
The owner of the dog apologized several times in a letter saying she would keep her dog tied down to something or inside her house from that point on. Hilde stood in front of the door rummaging through her jacket's pocket for her keys while trying to keep a firm hold on the grocery bags.
Her fingers felt around inside the lint-lined pocket until she felt a cold metallic feeling brush against her fingertips; Hilde's eyes brightened, using her index finger she picked the chain of keys up by the loop pulling it up out of the pocket slowly. Hilde lifted a key with the initials [Hilde's Shinigam] and slid it into the hole with an exasperated sigh, she turned the key unlocking the door, with a small shove Hilde entered the house greeted by the heat itself. She used her hip to shut the door before turning the knob to insure it was locked. "Duo, Heero, Relena! I'm back with food!" The German girl said with her indoor voice.
Hilde shook her hair free of the water it held as she ventured toward the living room and heard two very familiar voices inside. Hilde peeked her head inside surprised to find Relena and Heero on the floor playing a game of old-maid, she smirked at the cocky look on the Government official's face as she picked a card out of Heero's hand. Relena looked at the car briefly before placing it her hand.
"Your turn Heero," She said slyly. Hilde watched Heero's shoulders straighten as he extended his hand toward Relena's cards, unable to take any more of the suspense Hilde jumped out from around the corner and shouted, "I'M BACK!" Causing both Heero and Relena to jump up from their sitting positions dropping their cards.
Hilde smiled for only a moment before the Japanese youth puled out a gun and fired poorly at the German female hitting a picture frame on the wall. Relena stood in shock clinging to Heero's arm while staring at the cracked glass within the picture frame, Heero's usual expressionless face was full of emotion; shock, fear and surprise to be exact.
Hilde wore a look of disbelief on her face she turned her head in the direction the bullet went locking her gaze on the cracked picture frame holding a picture of Duo sleeping on the couch surrounded by rolls of toilet tissue and a vaporizer when he had a cold during New Year's Day. "Oh God, I'm sorry Hilde, I thought you---- were someone else!" Heero managed to choke out before dropping the gun.
Hilde's expression changed into a look of anger, she marched up toward the stiff Japanese teenager and shoved the groceries into his arms as her cheeks turned red with rage. "Who?! Duo?!" She shouted. Heero's emotional face returned to its' impassive one slightly while Hilde stomped off in a huff unable to accept the fact that she was almost shot by her partner's friend, she entered the bathroom and slammed the door.
Relena glanced at Heero then at the bathroom door and back at Heero, she felt the boy's tense muscles relaxing while he bent over and picked his gun up. "Heero are you okay?" Relena asked worriedly watching him place his gun back into the carrier. Heero stood up glancing briefly at the one he was supposed to be protecting with nod, Relena sighed placing her hands on his shoulders trying to relieve him of his tense state of mind.
Heero obliged briefly letting her message his shoulders before he pulled himself back to reality, he then shrugged her hands from his shoulders making his way across the living room floor. "Heero?" Relena asked taken by surprise. The honey-blonde girl watched him remove his jacket from the hanger before making his way toward the door.
"Wait, where are you going Heero?!" She cried making her way over to him. Heero turned his head in her direction with his usual impassive expression. "I'm going to look for Duo, he's been gone for too long," He replied, with one hand gripped firmly on the door knob and the other on the lock. Relena gave him a confused look but nodded understanding, Duo was his friend after all.
"Ja ne, Relena-san," Heero gave her a ghost of a smile before unlocking the door and rushing out into the rain with his coat halfway on. Relena sighed with a huff making her way over to the couch flopping down beside the antisocial's laptop that was still on, intrigued the pacifist picked the laptop from off of the ouch placing it on her lap scanning the screen before her with interest.
There was an American Online icon along with a WordPerfect icon program as well as others, Relena placed her index finger on the pad below the keyboard directing the arrow toward the American Online icon when an image appeared on the screen and revealed a super deformed Wing Zero shaking its' beam saber at her with bold bleeding childish letters that said [Your are not authorized to use this laptop. Scanner confirms that you are not Heero Yuy]. Relena was taken aback by the sudden message before her, with a huff she slammed the top closed tossing the object across the couch where it hit the arm of the chair coming to an abrupt stop.
Relena closed her eyes setting back in the chair having a hiss-fit. There was nothing to do in the confounded house, Heero her bodyguard was gone, Hilde was mad, Duo was gone as well, and she was left with nothing to do but sit on the couch and pout. Maybe coming out of the sanc kingdom wasn't such a good idea. Relena thought regretting ever leaving the place. At least I had something to do, there.
~*~
Heero leapt over the stone wall, breaking into a run down the street in quiet a hurry after evading a mad attack dog not too far down the block from Duo and Hilde's house, he had just walked out of the scrapyard and the dog had come out of nowhere rushing at him barking like he had a bad case of rabies.
Heero manged to dodge the mutt (that happened to be young golden-retriever) with ease making his way across the yards before leaping over the wall. Heero looked back finding the dog barking at him still up on the wall, he smirked returning his attention back to the street in front of him.
He didn't know why he had the sudden feeling to go and look for the former Deathscythe pilot, Heero guessed it the a sign from his humanity that he had a friend and he should go look for him.
The ex-pilot scoffed, the braided baka always got himself in trouble even when they're wasn't a war to be fought, Heero couldn't count how many times both of them had actually helped eachother out when in a
fix. Guess that's what a friends did for eachother was despite the fact that he knew nothing of friendship.
Heero rounded the corner with a skid almost falling off the sidewalk as he continued his dash across the slippery ground making his way past a mechanic's shop when he stopped in realization; mechanic's sold parts to various things mostly cars, maybe he knew where Duo was if the braided baka ever talked to anyone around the area. Unable to put it past Duo, Heero rushed back to the mechanic's shop with a calm attitude before entering the building.
The smell of motor oil was intoxicating, and with the walls having the appearance of a filthy gun shop and the man sitting the chair with a cigarette in his mouth holding a cup of coffee in his right hand looking the way they did, the guy must have not gotten many customers.
Heero came up to the desk, his presence was unknown to the owner of the shop, the Japanese youth's eyebrows narrowed a great deal and he cleared his throat loudly surprising the man in behind the desk. "Excuse me, but I was wondering if you had seen someone named Duo Maxwell around?" Heero asked. The man sat up from leaning in his chair with a questioning gaze, he looked around at the shop then back at Heero and shrugged. "What's he look like?" He asked.
Heero rolled his eyes and began explaining Duo's characteristics to the absentminded man down to his color of the twist tie he wore at the end of his braid to keep it from unraveling. The grease covered mechanic's eyes brightened a great deal before he slapped his knee. "Yeah! I've seen him around (he's sorta a on/off customer), yeah--- it was earlier this morning, he seemed to be in an awful rush -- yep," The man said absentmindedly.
Heero was quickly losing his patience with him and asked the man if he knew which direction he went in. "He went right pass my shop--- down that way!" He said pointing in the direction Heero was going, before he came into the shop. Heero gave him a nod of thanks, and rushed of the shop in a hurry, the rain was unpleasant welcome to fresh air but at least he knew he was going in the right direction.
Heero's boots splashed into a puddle as he rounded the corner at the end of the block and rushed right into someone. To be more frank, that 'someone' fell on him. Heero fell backward onto the ground hard his neck muscles stiffened in an attempt to keep his head from hitting the ground.
Heero opened on eye slowly as he let his head touch the ground, the Japanese youth lifted himself up on his elbows staring down at the perpetrator who knocked him down when he noticed his unmistakable braid flung over his shoulder.
"Duo!" He gasped pulling himself from under the American's body. Once Heero's legs were free, he turned Maxwell over with a nudge of his foot, Heero Prussian blue eyes widened at the sight of Duo's face, it wasn't exactly a pretty sight. What did the baka do to deserve a beating like this? Heero thought noticing the little boy against his chest.
Shoving his hand into his left pants pocket the ex-pilot revealed a compact virgin mobile phone, with flick of thumb he opened the top and the cell phone came to life. Heero began to dial Duo's home phone number while he used his other arm to pull the American closer to him, he placed the phone up to his ear listening to dial tone. There was a click and the sound of shouting in the background before someone spoke.
"Heero?" Came Relena's voice. Heero's cheeks went pink as he regained the ability to speak despite the surprise the girl had given him. "How'd you know it was me?" He said. There was a laugh on the other line. "Just a hunch. Plus your laptop started to say 'incoming caller; Heero Yuy'," Relena pointed out tapping the end of the phone.
Heero grumbled mentally, he would have to fix that bloody computer yet again! "Relena, I need you to do something for me," He began. "I want you and Hilde to go out for dinner. There's something I've gotta do at the house." Silence filled the line, it made Heero wonder if Relena was still on the other line. "Relena?" The Japanese boy was surprised by a loud slam in the background. "I'm still here. I'll tell Hilde right away," She said with slight hesitation. "Don't do anything rash while we're gone ... like throw wild parties."
Heero chuckled at her, and shook his head. "Roger that." He said not bothering to hide his amusement. With that the two hung up on eachother, leaving Heero to task of getting Duo home, he shoved his cell phone into his pocket again, he removed the kid from Duo's chest placing him on the ground gently while he proceeded to pick the heavy American up.
Heero grunted as he positioned Duo's body over both his shoulders then dragged the kid over toward him lifting him off the ground, Heero placed him against his chest as he rose from the cold ground. "You've got a lot of explaining to, Maxwell," He said to the unconscious man as he began to walk in the direction he had come in. Heero only hoped he'd get to the house after the girls had left.
(Author's note: *Whipes brow* Man that was one hard day of work. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Thanks for the reviews for my Interlude. I'm glade you liked it. As always I'm sorry for any misspelled words or grammar errors. Hopefully there's very few of those. Thanks for reading; Mama-sama, hidden relevance, pyscho kitty, Freezewind, and Hououza! Now, I'm off to rest. *Zooms off on nimbus cloud*)