DISCLAIMER: I'm poor. Don't sue me.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm sorry this took ages but I've been having a rest after exams. I'm trying to update 2 other fics at the moment so look out for those soon!
BTW, in the first chapter I wrote something weird about pairings. IGNORE IT. The pairings are 1xR, 2xH and um… I think that's it. Phew, I wonder what I was on when I typed the first part. This chapter's slightly longer than the other two, to make up for the delay.
Chapter 3
The doorbell chimed loudly.
"I'll get it Relena," Duo said. He walked out of the room, towards the entrance hall and then to the door. Reaching for the handle, he pulled the door open.
"Whoa!" Duo's expression was one of complete surprise. "You've got purple hair!"
The boy in front of him smiled briefly (no pun intended! ^_^) and said, "Excuse me, but could you tell me which direction the nearest hotel is in? I'm kinda lost."
"Um, sorry pal, the nearest hotel isn't for miles," Duo said. He turned around as he felt someone tapping on his shoulder.
"Duo, aren't you going to invite our guest in? It's much too cold to be having a discussion out here on the porch." Relena smiled at the stranger before turning away from Duo and making her way back inside. Duo grinned at Trunks.
"Come on in."
"Thanks."
* * *
"So um…"Relena started.
"Trunks," he supplied.
"Oh right, thank you. Trunks, my name is Relena Peacecraft. This is Quatre, Wufei and Duo," she said, indicating each in turn. "Duo tells me that you're lost."
"Yeah," he said, flashing her a lopsided grin. Relena looked at him and felt her knees going weak. "I'm not from around here and I needed directions to the nearest hotel."
"Well, as Duo said, the nearest hotel isn't for a few miles and you can't walk that far in the snow," she said, looking concerned. She thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "You can stay here!" she exclaimed. "For a little while at least," she said more calmly. Her face was flushed as she realised that she had said it so vehemently.
"I couldn't," he said quickly. "I wouldn't want to impose," he added, not wanting to offend her.
Truth was, that he didn't want to stay anywhere that would require him to be close contact with anyone. After all, he couldn't allow anyone to find out about the time machine. Besides, staying there would mean that he would have to make up a more plausible cover story.
"Don't worry about imposing, there's plenty of room. Right Duo?" Relena looked at the pilot of Deathscythe.
"Yeah Trunks there's loads of room. Besides, you'd be better off if ya gave in now. She usually manages to get her own way." Duo grinned wryly.
Relena stared at Duo, trying to copy Heero's deathglare. Duo laughed. "You need to practice some more Rel."
"I know, but he makes it look so easy."
"That's 'cause his face stuck like that after a few years."
"Duo!" she said sternly, but her eyes twinkled with suppressed mirth.
Quatre who had (along with Wufei) been silently watching the three since they had come in from the entrance hall spoke up. "Relena is right Trunks. It's bitterly cold outside and it's much too far to walk. I really think it's a good idea for you to stay. At least until it stops snowing."
Wufei stood watching the debate in a corner. I bet Heero wont think it's a good idea, he thought, as he watched Relena talking to Trunks.
* * *
Meanwhile, Heero and Trowa had gotten to the edge of the forest and had left the car to proceed on foot through the dense undergrowth. They walked in silence, towards the direction in which Relena had seen the strange flash of light. After a few minutes, Trowa said, "What do you think we'll find?"
Heero brushed some snow out of his hair. "No idea." He pulled out his gun and checked to make sure it was fully loaded. Trowa glanced over at him but wasn't really surprised; Heero almost always had a gun with him.
Noticing the look he received, Heero said, "Basic rule, 'always be prepared'."
Trowa nodded in reply. They continued through the forest, dodging tree roots that seemed determined to trip them both up.
A few minutes later, they stopped walking. They had arrived at a clearing. What made them stop though, was that there seemed to be a perfect circle on the ground, formed by the freshly fallen snow. It was only an inch deep, unlike the surrounding snow, which was at least a foot and a half deep.
"Strange, I wonder how that happened," Trowa said, standing at the edge of the snow crater.
"Seems that the snow that was originally
here was melted. Since it hasn't snowed very much since then, it hasn't evened
out yet." What could have done that? The answer that came to Heero's
mind came instantly. A mobile suit? But it would've taken a large suit to
make a crater this big. A run of the mill OZ model couldn't have done it. It
would have to be as big as …a Gundam?
Trowa appeared to have made the same connections. He glanced at Heero, a question evident in his eyes. "We'd better get back," he said. "We'll need to discuss this with Wufei, Quatre and Duo."
"Agreed. Let's go."
* * *
Back at Relena's mansion, Trunks had finally given in and agreed to let Relena mother him. He grinned inwardly. The girl was barely seventeen, but she reminded him a lot of his mother. Strong willed, used to getting her own way…
"Okay, Pagan would you please show Trunks to his room?" she said. The butler complied and with a simple "Yes, Miss Relena," began to move over to the door. Duo intervened.
"Hey Pagan! Wait a sec, I'll show Trunks the way. You do loads already."
"It's quite alright, it is my duty," Pagan replied.
Relena smiled. "Don't worry, if Duo gets lost I'm sure he'll be able to yell loud enough for us to hear him. You may take the afternoon off Pagan."
"Are you sure Miss?"
"Of course. Duo can be your replacement for the rest of the day." She couldn't keep a grin from appearing on her face.
"Oh that's fair," drawled Duo. "I try to be helpful and you make fun of me. I'm hurt, I really am."
Quatre, Duo and Relena laughed. Trunks
watched them quietly. Hmm, this might not be too bad after all. They don't
seem like they'll be nosy or anything so I should be able to fix the time
machine without them asking too many questions. With a little luck, I'll be on
my way within the next three days.
There was a shrill beeping sound and Quatre got up to answer the vid-phone. Heero appeared on the screen.
"We've finished over here Quatre. We're coming back now and we'll need to discuss some things with you, Duo and Wufei."
"Sure thing Heero, see you later."
Trunks' thoughts were interrupted then by Duo. "Come on T-man! Let's find your room!"
"Okay, I'm coming." Trunks followed Duo out of the room.
Quatre sat back down. Looking at Wufei, he said, "Heero didn't seem very happy. I wonder what they found."
Wufei crossed his arms and lent against the wall. "We'll know soon enough."
* * *
When Trowa and Heero got back, Duo, Quatre and Wufei immediately went to discuss their findings with them. Quatre to say the least was not pleased.
"A Gundam? But, I thought that there weren't any more other than our own, Epyon and Wing. Who could've built it?"
"Calm down Quatre," Trowa said to the blond pilot. "We don't know for certain if it was a Gundam, or even a mobile suit."
"But there is the possibility right?" Duo asked. He seemed flustered as well.
"You are all jumping to conclusions," said a feminine voice.
Five heads turned towards the door. The speaker was a woman, with short dark hair.
"Hilde!" Duo exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see visit Relena, and she told me you were here."
Wufei coughed. "Can we get back to the meeting?"
"Grouch." Hilde smiled. "I'll see you guys later."
Hilde left the room and climbed one of the twenty sets of staircases in the mansion. Making a split second decision to powder her nose, she made her way to the nearest bathroom. Upon opening the door she found herself faced with a sight she had never encountered before. In front of her was a guy she'd never seen before in her life, fixing his hair in front of the mirror, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.
Hearing her, he turned around.
"Aaaaagghhhhhh!!!!"
"Aaaaaaaaggggghhh!!!!"
Two screams pierced the air. The pilots didn't noticed though; they were too busy arguing with each other. Relena had been passing at the time, and heard the screams loud and clear. Going over to the door, and praying that she wouldn't regret it, she turned the handle and opened the door…and nearly collapsed with laughter. Trunks was standing there in a towel, and Hilde was out cold on the bathroom floor.
"I," Trunks began.
"It's okay," Relena said, choking back laughter. "I can guess what happened. I knew I should've got the lock fixed."
Trunks blushed bright red. Relena still trying not to laugh, told Trunks to leave Hilde where she was and to go and get dressed.
"Duo!" she called down the stairs. "Could you come up here please?"
"Coming Rel!" came his reply.
A few minutes later Duo was doubled over with laughter, after having placed Hilde in a spare bedroom and after being told by Relena what had happened.
"I wish I could've seen her face! That would've been priceless!" he howled.
Trunks had by now gotten dressed and was standing next to Relena, still blushing. Just then, Heero came up the stairs. He stopped as he saw Trunks. He looked over at Relena and waited for an explanation.
"Heero, this is Trunks," Relena said hurriedly. She explained his predicament to the Perfect Soldier and how Trunks was going to be staying for a few days. To Relena's relief, Heero said he fine about it.
Duo however, knew Heero very well. Hmm, Heero seems…nah can't be. Wait a second, it's true! Heero's jealous! This is a new one. Duo smirked as Heero went back down the stairs to continue their discussion.
"What's wrong with you Duo?" Relena asked.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." He grinned and followed Heero down the stairs.
*sending subliminal messages*
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Did it work? ^_^