by Deirdre Blair
Disclaimer: I claim absolutely no rights to Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon, or any of their respective likenesses and characters. This fanfic was written and published for entertainment purposes only, and the authoress does not intend to make money off of it. Any copyright or trademark infringement is unintended. Any similarities between any persons, dead or alive, is purely coincidental. No animals or persons were harmed during the making of this fic. (Duo: -glares- Liar. -limps away while nursing a broken arm, bloody nose and lip, and a dislocated shoulder-) Hamlet belongs to William Shakespeare.
Oh! However, I do own Eagle and Ghost. So...don't take them, all right? They are characters made up by me for the purpose of this fic. That's it. Okay?
Summary: It's AC 200, three years after the last light of war. Earth and the five colonies are at peace, and mobile suits have all but disappeared. However, when a power-hungry and war-loving ruler decides to end all peace and take over all five colonies and Earth, the ex-Gundam pilots are forced out of retirement and into the strangest war mankind has ever witnessed.
Author's Note: Okay, I realise that I'm quite busy with two other fics at the moment and that my last Gundam Wing/Sailor Moon fic went nowhere. However, I am hoping this new GW/SM fic will be the one that inspires me the most, the one that won't let me quit. And I'm also hoping you will love it...or even like it. Enjoy!
And I'm sorry to inform that there will be no Relena-bashing in this fic. While I'm not a big fan, this is too serious a situation to have a ditzy Vice Foreign Minister.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst/Drama
Pairings: Hotaru/Heero
Implied Pairings: Eagle/Ghost
Absence of War
Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice. -- Spinoza
For three years, the entire world had been at peace. It was a quiet peacefulness that exuded much happiness and contentment with the people of Earth and the colonies. Things were finally settled down and they could go about living their lives normally--without the fear of roaring gunfire and oddly beautiful explosions in the sky above. People were smiling again, and not with hope or resignation, but with relief and ease. Everyone was finally beginning to believe that there was such a thing as total peace, and to have achieved something as extraordinary as that, well, they now had a sense of new-found pride and faith in both themselves and a Higher Power.
But to Heero Yuy, the quiet peace was something to be suspicious of. It was an unnerving silence, one that held the faint but indistinct promise that something sinister lurked in it's shadows.
His paranoia could've been due to the fact that he had never lived in peaceful times and had been raised to believe that such a thing was never achievable. After all, not a single threat of death had been made in over two and a half years, and the crime rate on all five colonies and Earth was at an all-time low. So, perhaps he was just being paranoid. Times when thoughts like that would cross his mind, he would tell himself that perhaps peace was achievable and that maybe he should just bask in the careless comfort in knowing that he wasn't needed for war.
However, a shiver would always travel down his spine after thoughts like those. He knew through instinct, intuition, and experience that such a thing was unable to be accomplished. Something sinister always lurked in the shadow of Peace.
And so, he would watch. And he would wait. Until he proved to the world that peace was just a fantasy, when human nature would finally kick in.
When he would finally be useful once again.
-
One year and seven months ago, the World Unified Nation had secretly funded a newly-formed branch in it's black-ops. A select group of "special" people would undergo rigourous and merciless training, both of the physical and mental type, to become agents in their organisation. Riley Pheterman had been appointed as the head of the operation, and he had gladly accepted. He knew that it was important to maintain the fragile peace that had been achieved. And to do that, one had to make sure that nobody was planning any secret assaults that could potentially shatter the delicate peace they had worked so hard to attain. It was only a matter of time until someone did.
For nearly one year, everything had gone as planned. The new training program they had begun had been a complete success.
The new training program -- dubbed "Project Perennis", "perennis" being the Latin word for "indestructible" -- was the one of the most infaliable ones they had come up with. It took only eight months to master for those who were quick-learning. By the end of the eight months, those individuals would possess almost inhuman strength, stamina, intelligence, and agility.
A drug nicknamed "Catalyst" had helped in that department. It was a crimson fluid, very eerie in the resemblence of blood, that each trainee would inject into their bloodstream once in the mornings. It would speed up the progress of their training program, even quicker and more efficient than Steroids without the harmful side-effects. The trainees would experience dull, constant headaches and would sometimes lapse into seizures that were almost unworthy of mentioning because of their mildness unless they were kept on the drug.
They would also learn a variety of martial arts -- Kung Fu, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, boxing, Kendo, Aikido, and various other forms -- as well as target-shooting. When not building physical strength, they would be studying military procedures and protocol, as well as advanced forms of what was taught in school, and also how to become invisible -- how to disappear when it became imperative that you not be found. They were also taught to kill without remorse and mercilessly.
Each of the nineteen people chosen had passed remarkably well -- exceeding the expectations of all who had participated in the cloak-and-dagger operation. After eight months, and an additional two months of testing, all that need be done was keep the trainees in a carefully planned out routine of exercise, both physical and mental, eating and sleeping (although they could do without both for extended periods of time, the trainers didn't want to risk anything), and missions.
Every funder and trainer, and the Head of the operation Riley Pheterman, knew how vital it was that the trainees, the program, and the drug stay within that branch--that no outsider ever hear about it, know about it, or have it in their possession.
So when three of the trainees on a routine check on the colony in the L2 cluster mysteriously vanished, the agency had been in a right state of mass panic. Three months passed and still, there was neither word nor sighting of any of the three whom had disappeared. The hope was that they had died--that someone hadn't kidnapped them or that they hadn't become rogue agents, so that they'd be safe from someone discovering their secret.
Just in case, the World Unified Nation had ceased the funding of the agency and had ordered that all of its current operations be shut down -- for them to completely vanish as they had never existed at all at any cost. Three months later, the sixteen individuals who had remained were killed and cremated, their ashes hidden away so that nobody could discern what had occured, and the building was wiped clean of every fingerprint, footprint, spot of blood, sweat, or tears, every hair folcule, fingernail, and flake of skin -- so that not even the best forensic specialist could realise the identity of any person whom had stepped foot in that building. All written records were incinerated, and all computers and mainframes that held the data were torn apart. Nothing was left except for the memory of it -- which was hidden away deep inside the darkest consciences of those who had known about it.
Not a word of it was spoken. Not a moment of it was relived.
Until today, four months later.
Riley sat at his desk, hands folded in front of his face as he stared intently at a desktop moniter in front of him. His brown eyes were searching the contents of the video tape for any clue as to the whereabouts of the three missing trainees they had previously named "Eagle, Shadow, and Ghost", before they had vanished without a trace.
And here they were, on the screen. Although their identities were masked in shadow, Riley had come to know Eagle, Shadow, and Ghost's physical qualities like the proverbial back of his hand. And the three in shadow on the screen were identical to those three. There was no mistaking them. However, the current situation they seemed to be in did not wash relief over Riley's features, but instead, worry and a bit of fear.
In a nutshell, a man had proclaimed an all-out war upon Earth and the five colonies. And he had made sure that the public knew it before the government did--he had hacked into a satellite and had made a world-wide broadcast that basically said nobody was safe any longer, at least not until he became ruler.
And when Riley had told Lady Une about the three soldiers in the background, the World Unified Nation had goneon full alert, summoning their best soldiers and then some. Despite this however, they knew very well that perhaps not even the Gundam pilots would even be of use at this point. They had made them too fast, too strong, and too smart -- and now they had been turned.
-
"Unh! Unh-unh! Unh!" A young girl, approximately nineteen years old, beat the old, battered punching bag relentlessly with a series of well-placed and controlled punches and kicks. There was a firm look of determination set in her soft, Japanese features. Her dark violet fringe was plastered to her forehead by the sweat trickling underneath. The rest of her short, shoulder-length locks were tied up into a ponytail on the back of her head. Even darker violet eyes were cold and calculated, without even a hint of emotion -- except that of sheer determination.
"Shadow."
The girl stopped upon hearing her name and stood where she was, her chest heaving from the physical exersion. Without turning her head, she looked up at the person who had spoken.
Although he stood in practically pitch-black shadows, she could make out his appearance quite well. Short, spiked, platinum-blond hair, firm yet kind ocean-blue eyes, and a very handsome face with strong English features. He stood at least a foot taller than her at six feet precisely.
"Hello Eagle," she replied in perfect English.
"I think you might be over-doing it a bit," he suggested as he grabbed the punching bag and held it as if waiting for her to strike again.
Shadow shook her head slowly. "I'm all right."
"How long have you been here?" he asked.
Shadow held her wrist up and checked her watch. Eleven-thirty in the morning. "A little over five hours. But I'm fine. I've done six."
Eagle let out a small chuckle before stepping away from the punching bag and upto her, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "It's time for lunch. You've done enough for today." He held a white towel up to her.
She grabbed it quickly and wiped the sweat off of her face with relief. The sweat was really beginning to bother her eyes and she had foolishly forgotten to bring a towel with her. "Where's Ghost?" she asked, knowing all too well where he was.
Eagle smirked as he shut the door behind him. "The library, where else?"
Shadow smiled and shook her head. "I don't know why that's his favourite place. It doesn't suit me. I prefer the computers...."
Eagle shrugged. "Ghost has a thing for books. What other reason could there be?"
-
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them. To die, to sleep -- no more -- and by a sleep to say we end the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.
"Have you been up all night reading again, Ghost?" asked a woman's voice with a faint Japanese accent.
The man on the sofa, Ghost, remained in his still sitting position, book in his hands. It was a tatty old novel, with the binding nearly gone, and the cover with only faint traces of gold where elegant lettering had been. The pages were practically yellow and the whole thing smelled highly of mildew and mould. But that did not deter Ghost, who was entrapped in the world of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
"Come on, Ghost, it's time for lunch. You can come back to reading afterwards." When Ghost still didn't move, Eagle scowled. He didn't like being ignored. "It's been around for centuries, so I'm quite positive that it'll still be here upon your return."
This time, Ghost eyed him carefully with his incredibly piercing green stare. After a moment's silence, he shut the small novel and set it back on the coffee table in front of him. He stood up gracefully and began walking out of the library without so much as glancing back.
Shadow sighed. "What have you done to upset him now?"
Eagle shrugged with an expression of utmost innocence. "Nothing, I swear! I've been on my best behaviour ever since the bastard nearly blew my bloody head off."
With raised eyebrows, she informed, "Well, you had acted out a rather splendid performance of telling him his books were all burnt and unsalvagable. I'm just surprised he actually hadn't killed you on the spot."
Eagle stifled a chuckle as he cast a look at Ghost, who was about twenty feet away from them and definitely within earshot. "But it was funny. Too bad I hadn't caught his expression on tape. It was priceless."
Shadow shook her head and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm cursed. That's the only explanation. Why else would I be stuck with them?" she asked no-one in particular.
Eagle laughed outright. "Oh cheer up Shadow! It's not all bad. You'll always have us to lean on!"
Shadow eyed him with perplexity. "Sometimes I think you're being deliberately obtuse."
-
"What exactly are you saying?" asked a rather perturbed Relena Peacecraft, whose voice seemed to rise with every question, to a calm Lady Une. "That there was an organisation underway that I did not know about? Whose existence itself was a threat to peace? That you had actually funded such an organisation, without telling me about it?"
"It wasn't any of your concern at the time," informed Noin.
"Oh, yes," Relena snapped, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I can see how it wouldn't be the Vice Foreign Minister's concern that there was a threat to peace under her very own nose that she didn't even know about."
"It's all in the past, Ms. Relena," Lady Une told her firmly. "In case you've forgotten, you are still very young and quite naïve in the ways in which peace is kept. So what we choose to tell you and not to tell you is up to us." She paused and exhaled deeply. "But none of that is relevant at this point. It doesn't matter. What matters now is that you know a full-blown war is on our hands; that it's likely that not even the Gundam pilots could deliver us from a dismal fate."
There was a hesitant pause. Relena's eyes were suddenly wide with fear. "You're...not serious?"
"We are quite serious, Relena," Zechs replied from beside her. "I have seen with my own two eyes the capabalities of the soldiers known as Eagle, Shadow, and Ghost. They exceed those of the Gundam pilots by an unnerving amount. They are quick, efficient, and smart as hell. And even though there are only three, that's enough to bring down our entire world."
Relena clenched and unclenched her fists, a sign of severe anxiety. "And you bloody killed the rest of them? What in God's name were you thinking? We could've used them for Christ's sake!"
"Get yourself under control, Ms. Relena," Lady Une chided. "At the time we hadn't known that it would progress to this level. We hadn't realised the consequences of our actions. We're human, Ms. Relena, just like you. And humans are reknowned for making the worst mistakes."
Counting to ten, Relena was able to get herself at least under a marginal amount of control. "All right. Arguing about it doesn't solve a bloody thing." She looked up at Lady Une, her violet eyes sparkling. "Who was in charge of the operation?"
The laptop screen was turned in her direction. A file was open on a man with almond brown eyes and neatly combed red hair. "His name is Riley Pheterman. He's been with us from the beginning, and is highly experienced. He, in fact, had protested when we had decided to pull all plugs on the operation and dispose of the remaining sixteen trainees."
"Smart man," Relena murmured. "A pity you didn't listen to him." She took a good look at him before returning her heated gaze to Lady Une. "Have my secretary set up a meeting with him tomorrow afternoon. I'd fancy a chat with Mr. Riley Pheterman. He may be in the possession of great knowledge on how to go about this whole thing."
-
Shadow jerked into a sitting position in her bed. She was sweating profusely once again, but this time in a cold sweat. Her hands were shaking, and she had difficulty realising which way was up. Her thoughts were jumbled and disturbing, strange images flashed briefly in her mind, though she could make no sense out of them.
She ran a trembling hand through her sweat-soaked hair and tried to get a grip on herself. Just when she had thought she could breathe normally again, the door burst open and Eagle and Ghost stood at the doorframe, their eyes wide with worry.
"What's wrong?" she asked immediately.
Eagle and Ghost ran in and to her side without delay. "Are you all right?" Eagle asked.
"Am I all right...?" Her voice was very quiet and confused.
"We heard you screaming again. Is everything all right?" Ghost asked her, his eyes a revealing shade of concerned forest green.
Shadow blinked when she realised that the room had begun spinning and that Eagle and Ghost had multiplied in numbers. "What?" she asked, as if she hadn't heard Ghost's question. Without waiting for an answer, she felt the pull of unconsciousness and surrendered to it.
Eagle caught her deftly. "We've got to get her to Turner." He gathered her in his arms, her body practically lifeless. Her head lolled off to the side and she murmured something incoherent.
But there was no time to lose. Without so much as a backward glance, they sprinted down the hallways as quickly as possible -- which was, mind you, quicker than average human speed -- to the hospital wing.
Dr. Harold Turner was in his office, scanning through a database of records that weren't very important. He was just about to go to bed when the door was kicked in and three people stood in the doorway. "Is something wrong?" he asked, noticing that Shadow was unconscious and both Eagle and Ghost were in a massive state of panic.
"It's Shadow...she was screaming, so we came in," Eagle replied, placing her on a hospital bed. "She was awake, but in terrible shape...she passed out soon after we came to her."
Turner put on his glasses and took a look a her feeble form. Tremors were still trembling throughout her entire body, and she was still drenched in a cold sweat. He lifted her eyelids and took a look at her eyes. Her pupils were dilated. There was only one thing to do, only how to get rid of the witnesses?
He looked up at Eagle and Ghost and saw the blatant distress across their now-pale features, and he began to chew thoughtfully on his lower lip. "All right. Here's what I want you to do: leave Shadow with me. Go to the Commander and tell him of the situation. Tell him everything that has happened -- how many times it's happened and what the symptoms were. Then, afterwards, I want you two to get some rest. I'll take care of her."
Eagle and Ghost exchanged wary glances, but nodded affirmatively before exiting.
"Now, Shadow, let's see why this is happening, shall we?" asked Turner as he cast a scrutinising glance over at the shaking girl.
-
Author's Note: Well, I'll end it there. You'll have to find out what happens next in the next chapter. I can honestly say that this is actually turning out to be one the fics I actually really love to write, so I'm hoping you're enjoying it. Everything's up in the air right now, and nobody's quite sure what is happening, but everything will make sense eventually. I promise you that. Oh, and I hope you like Eagle and Ghost...they were fun to write as well. Not much else to say, really. Please review; even if you didn't enjoy it, I still would love your opinion!!!
-Deirdre Blair