CHAPTER TEN
The next few weeks passed like a dream. A dream that was reality.
Duo couldn't remember the last time he felt so doubtlessly happy, so completely contented and satisfied, like he needed nothing else, nor did he have any worries. For those precious few weeks, his world was perfect, he had all that he could hope for. His laughter was more genuine that ever before, it came directly from his heart. He no longer needed to search for a reason to act cheerful, it came naturally…such joy and bliss that have not inhabited his heart for such a long time…those were the most beautiful days of his life.
And, Duo was sure, that if Heero could recall them, those would've been the best days of Heero's life too.
Needless to say the other three boys picked up the new stance of their relationship pretty quickly. The very way they looked at each other and the change in tone of voice when speaking to one another was a dead giveaway on their own. Plus, as Wufei had mentioned earlier, there was the 'sleeping arrangement', although Duo had the habit of turning into a tomato whenever the topic is mentioned.
Heero continued to explore his surroundings, and felt increasingly at home there, everything around him seemed at the same time surprisingly new, yet strangely familiar, as if the longer he stayed among these people, the more he would become one of them.
Missions did come every now and again, but still nothing major was disrupted, Duo even risked taking Heero on one of his blowing-up rampages, but the images of the battlefield still did nothing to trigger Heero's memories.
Thus passed the winter months, and soon the signs of spring began to emerge…and hence came that fateful day, when the lives of the five Gundam pilots were, once again, thrown into confusion.
"Heero!"
It was still early in the morning, Duo was calling him, but Heero wasn't ready to get out of bed just yet, from under the covers he peeked at the clock on his beside table "It's only eight in the morning!" He closed his eyes again, the bed felt too warm and cozy for him to want to leave "Just a few more minutes…" He thought hazily "A few more…"
"HEERO!!" Duo's voice grew louder "Get up! Now!"
"Whyyyyyyyyy!?" Heero groaned as he pulled the covers up higher to hide his face "It's not like you haven't slept later than this before…"
"You can't sleep now! We have a visitor!" Duo tried to wrench the blanket from Heero's grasp "Come on!!"
"Visitor?" Heero opened one eye to look up at Duo "Can't I pretend I'm not home?"
"NO!" Duo yelled in frustration "She came to see you!"
"She?" Heero's brows crinkled slightly "It's a girl?"
"That's right Yuy" Wufei joined them in their room "And she's not gonna go away until you go and greet her so get on with it, I don't plan to tolerate her company for very long"
"Huh?" Heero was puzzled, to say the least "What…what's happening? Who is this?"
"It's Miss Relena Peacecraft" Another voice entered the conversation, Trowa's.
"Hmm?" Heero woke up a bit, it seemed he had heard the name before, and it had some particular relevance to him but he couldn't pinpoint it exactly "Who…"
"Come ON Heero!" Duo managed to drag him into a sitting position "Can't you remember? We've shown you heaps of photos of her!"
"Re…le…na…" Heero tasted the name slowly, "Hang on a sec…did you say Peacecraft?!"
"That's right" Trowa nodded"
"Umm…does she happen to be the Queen of the world or something like that?"
"Heero!" Duo exclaimed "How…how did you know that?!"
"You mean that's actually a real official title!?" Heero's eyes widened "Well, you know that day the gas thing happened…I received this package and this letter thing…" He reached under the bed and pulled out the large, dust-covered, still unopened, long forgotten package from under Duo's bed,(don't ask how it got there, someone must've brought it there in Heero's "official" move to Duo's bedroom), the letter still attached "And the sender was a Relena Peacecraft, she called herself the queen of the world…" He picked up the letter and showed it to the others "I thought it was a joke at the time"
"You knew she was coming?!" Wufei asked as he scanned the contents of the letter, (which sickened him slightly) "Why didn't you say anything about it?!"
"Well I was…"Heero glanced at Duo "…distracted" He finished off, slightly embarrassed.
"I'm sure…" Wufei murmured "Listen, we don't have much time okay? So first of all, we need to get you sorted out so you're ready to meet her, we don't want her to know anything about your…umm…condition…"
"Huh? We don't?" Duo turned in surprise "Why not?"
"So far, only the four of us know about Heero's amnesia, and the less people who know, the better. If too many people are in on this then it would eventually make its way back to Oz…then we'd have trouble, who knows what the heck they'd pull?"
"But…but…Relena wouldn't sell us out like that!" Duo protested "Not on Heero anyway…"
"I'm inclined to agree with Wufei here Duo" Trowa spoke up quietly "The fewer informed, the safer we are, we can't risk it. Relena is, after all, the queen of the world…and heaven only knows exactly how many of the people around her are really loyal, one little slip could be lethal!"
"But…this is insane!" Duo shook his head "Are you guys suggesting we try to disguise the fact Heero has lost his memory!?"
"Precisely!" Wufei exclaimed "Come on Duo, we have no choices here!"
"But…but how on earth do you plan to pull this off?!"
"Heero's a fast learner right?" Wufei shrugged "It shouldn't be too hard, we'll just do the basics okay? First of all, Heero, do you remember who Relena is?"
Heero concentrated, trying to put image to name "Is…is she the one with the freakish eyebrows?" He guessed, that was the picture most deeply implanted in his mind from those albums.
"No that's Dorothy" Wufei informed him.
"Umm…the circus performer?"
"Nope, Catherine" Duo corrected.
"No? Oh damn…" Heero sighed in mock-disappointment "She was one hot chick!"
From behind the dark brown unibang, Trowa glared at him threateningly "Watch it" He growled.
"She's the one you said was kinda cute!" Duo tried.
"Oh…right!" Heero grinned "Yeah! I get it now! Hey…none of you mentioned this royalty business!"
"Well…umm…we'll explain it all later" Duo waved his hand "Anyway, when you first see her, well, she may be a little overly-friendly…"
"Suffocating is more like it…"Wufei mumbled.
"Hey, come on, she's nice…sort of…" Trowa interrupted "Heero, just remember, try not to mention too much of anything to her, it's okay if you don't put in too much of a conversation, in fact" He said on second thoughts "Try to stick with one-worded replies…"
"I'm meant to be nice on a one-worded basis?" Heero frowned "How the heck…."
"Repeat after me" Duo instructed "Say 'Hn""
"Huh?" Heero was utterly baffled.
"Not 'Huh?'…I said say "Hn"! It's not that hard!"
"Umm…Hn…" Heero tried unsuccessfully.
"With an attitude Heero come one!" Duo pleaded.
"HN!!"
"You sound like you need to blow your nose" Wufei commented, "Geez Heero, he said with an attitude not with a blocked nasal passage"
"Ugh!" Heero threw up his hands in frustration "Whatever!"
"Well if you can't manage the 'Hn' then I guess 'Ugh' will have to do" Duo sighed "Hey look, we have to hurry up with this, I'm not sure how long Quatre's gonna be able to stall her before she charges in here to look for you and…well…" His face took on a pale shade of pink and he gave a nervous laugh "Ahe…heh..heh…"
"And it won't be very pretty when she finds you in Duo's bed" Wufei finished off for him simply "So I suggest you get yourself out there before we have a hysterical female on our hands"
"But…" Heero tried to protest, he was still somewhat bewildered by what was going on, but the others gave him no room to dispute. Within a minute Heero found himself on his feet with a pile of clothes in his hands.
"Get changed and cleaned up!" Wufei demanded "We're giving you five minutes, get to it!"
The door slammed shut upon their exit. Heero shrugged to himself and started to get changed. There was nothing else he could do, and there was definitely no chance that he could go back to bed.
Besides, he was curious to see this girl, supposedly a queen.
* * *
"Sorry Miss Relena" Quatre apologized for perhaps the twentieth time "I'm sure Heero will be out in another minute"
"That's fine" Relena replied cordially, but underneath she was getting impatient, what on earth was he doing?! Why didn't he rush out to welcome her as she had expected? What could possibly be keeping him? The other four boys had all taken turns running in and out of his room but he still hasn't emerged…
Then a thought came to her…perhaps he's got something special planned and was fixing last-minute details! Yes! That had to be it! She decided, and felt a little more complied to wait a while longer.
Another moment of awkward silence passed as she sat on a corner of the couch, across from her was Wufei and Trowa, Quatre standing nervously behind them.
Footsteps sounded down the hallway, and the four of them glanced up simultaneously.
Duo appeared at the end of the hall, wearing a large grin on his face.
"You highness" He announced grandly "Allow me to present the man of the day…Heero Yuy!"
Relena stood up, her hands folded over her heart as her eyes searched eagerly for Heero's entrance.
"Oh Heero!"
He emerged beside Duo, in his usual green tank and black spandex, his hair falling partly over his eyes and he peered through at her.
"Hi Relena" He greeted.
"Oh Heero!" She exclaimed happily "I'm so glad to see you again! I've missed you!"
"Nice to see you too" Heero smiled, eyeing her up and down. Yup! He decided. She's definitely cute! The hair needs work perhaps, and the whole pink-theme outfit has got to go, but aside from that…totally a cutie!! "So how have you been?"
"Oh it was so exhausting!" She exclaimed "And it took a lot longer than I thought, which is why my return was delayed so… I thought those three months would never end! But we did achieve a great deal in the way of maintaining peace amongst the colonies…"
"Well that's great!" Heero complemented.
"I will always give whatever it takes to bring total peace" She put the emphasis on the last two words, half expecting Heero to put forward his opposing views on the matter, but he didn't, instead he just kept smiling.
"Umm…Miss Relena" Quatre spoke up "Why don't you have a seat? Heero, you too, then we can all hear about your trip to space"
"Why of course…" She replied absently "I'd be happy to" But she didn't make the slightest motion to move nor did she take her eyes off Heero for a second.
"Heero…" Duo tried to break the standoff in the hallway, it was making him tense and restless "Why don't you escort the…queen…to the living room so she may sit down?"
"Escort?" Heero laughed at the formality in his voice and tried to imitate it "Sure thing Duo, whatever you say!" He offered Relena his left arm "Shall we go then your majesty?" He asked with a glint of playfulness in his eyes.
She drew back somewhat, and a look of wariness came onto her face as she studied Heero's expression.
"Heero…?"She inquired suspiciously "Are you…alright?"
The other four boys cringed slightly, none of them had remembered to warn Heero against this kind of behavior. There was no way Relena could miss such a change in nature.
"What d'ya mean? I'm terrific!" Heero replied "Don't you think so?" He added mischievously, and winked at her.
Duo wanted to slap himself for been so negligent of something like that, his eyes nervously fixed upon Relena to see her reaction.
"Well…"Relena didn't seem convinced yet "It's just that…you seem a bit…well…" She wasn't sure how to put it, so she decided to give it to him straight "…overly happy"
"Oh…umm…" Only then did Heero remember that his "old self" wasn't exactly of the excessively ecstatic type "Well see…" He thought quickly "You know how they say that when you're around someone a lot…you start behaving like them?"
"Yeah…?" Relena frowned "So….?"
"Well…see, like umm…" Heero stammered, giving nervous little glances over at Duo hoping he'd step in and say something, but he didn't. "I…I've been living here for a long time now, and lately I…I've spent a lot of time with Duo and…"
Relena looked over to where Duo stood, and her frown deepened "Why were you guys…"
"Training!" Duo put in anxiously "We've been having a lot of…training session together…" That wasn't exactly a lie, just not the full story of what type of training they were undergoing…
"And you're saying you've influenced him…?" Relena finished off.
"Err…Yeah…in a way I guess" That wasn't a complete lie either, Duo decided.
She turned her gaze back to Heero, not sure of how to take this piece of information.
"My arm is getting tired there, are you gonna take it or not?" Heero motioned.
"Oh…sure Heero…" She mechanically linked her hand through his arm, and immediately felt him tug her towards himself.
"Come on!" He said jokingly "Lighten up your highness, don't look so serious, and quit frowning you'll get wrinkles!"
"Oh Heero…" She breathed in wonder at his tone of voice, she had never heard him sound so relaxed and cheerful, and decided that whatever caused this change, she approved.
"So…" She began as they got settled into the living room "Did you like the present that I sent you?"
"Present…?" Heero scratched his head "Arrr…"
"Why…did you not receive it?" She asked with concern "I hope it did not get lost…"
"Oh wait!" Heero exclaimed and jumped up "I got it! I'll bring it out here!" He ran back to the bedroom and picked up the heavy package which still lay next to the bed, and brought it back to where the others were.
"Is this it?" He showed her "Sorry I never got a chance to open it…"
"Yeah well…do it now!" She instructed "I hope you like it…"
Heero sat down and torn open the cardboard wrap, and drew out the contents as the others all leaned over for a look.
In front of them spread a large portrait, heavily framed and under glass. It was a beautiful painting, and resembled the old art of oil on canvas, but they all knew it was merely a modified photograph. The backdrop was a magnificent sunset on the beach, with a cliff in the foreground; the clouds were of a golden-orange color and a few lone seagulls could be identified in the distance.
On the cliff stood a girl, her auburn hair flew out behind her in the breeze, she was dressed in white all over, a long flowing gown which also flapped gracefully in the wind.
The figure was small relative to the size of the picture, but everyone could see it was the queen herself.
"Relena…" Heero whispered "It's…beautiful…" And he meant it too, he had only seen one real sunset since his amnesia, it was with Duo on one of his missions, and he had absolutely loved it. And here he was, holding the magnificence in his own hands.
"I thought so too" She gazed at his face, that childish expression of wonder thrilled her, and she wanted badly to see more of this 'new' Heero. "Well anyway, that aside, why don't you tell me more about what you've been up to since I've been away? I'm sure we have a lot to catch up on!"
"Oh yeah?" He raised an eyebrow. Hmm…I must've been really good friends with her before this happened, or else why would she be so nice to me? And…she seems to have heaps to talk about with me…He grinned to himself…Well, why not? She seems kinda fun…not at all as uptight as I thought a 'queen' should be…this could be very interesting…
"You want me to put that back for you Heero?" Duo asked, indicating the heavy frame still positioned on Heero's knees "You're gonna lose circulation in a moment"
"Oh sure, thanks" He gratefully handed the portrait to Duo.
"Be careful!" Relena cautioned "Don't drop it or anything.
Duo seemed offended "I'm not that clumsy you know"
"Whatever, just be careful" Relena dismissed him with a wave of her hand.
The other three boys looked at one another, and shrugged.
Relena seemed to have forgotten the presence of them altogether, her attention was completely focused upon Heero.
"Oh Heero…" She murmured "You really have changed haven't you…"
"I suppose…" He shrugged, he didn't want to say too much since he had no idea what he used to be like "Is that a good thing?"
"So far, I think it's a wonderful thing" She slid closer "I wish…I could get to know this changed Heero better…"
"Really?" This is definitely gonna be fun…Heero decided "Well you could!"
"Oh?" She leaned up closer to his face, closing the distance between them "How?"
"Well we could go out for a walk or something and you'll get to know me better then!" He said teasingly "How about it your majesty?"
"I'd like that…" She breathed and he could feel her breath on his face, her eyes closed and she leaned forwards even more…
"If you want to go out…" Wufei broke in loudly all of a sudden, causing her to jump back in shock "Take a coat or something 'cos it's still quite cold out"
"Humph" She stood up and tried to regain her posture, terribly annoyed at the meddling Chinese boy for ruining her big moment "Sure whatever…lets go Heero" She pulled him up by the hand.
"Now?!"
"Yeah! Now! Come on! You suggested it!"
"I know but…" He hadn't actually expected her to jump right in and right then "I guess I did but…umm…"
"Let's go Heero!" She urged, not wanting to risk him changing his mind or any further interruptions by his housemates "I have schedules you know!"
"Alright! Alright!" Heero followed her to the door "Let me just tell Duo that I'm…"
"Oh they're tell him you've gone out!" She gestured at Trowa, Quatre and Wufei "Now let's go!"
"Okay! Bye guys!" Heero called as he was pulled out the door. Ah well, what the heck, it's just a little reunion with an old friend right? Duo wouldn't mind that much would he? Besides, it's not like we had anything planned or stuff like that…the others can explain it to him…
Still, he was still a bit reluctant at having left without saying goodbye to Duo, but he was only able to take one brief backwards glance at the house before he was placed into a pink limousine and driven off.