Kitty-chan 1: HI!
Kitty-chan 2: What's up?
Kitty-chan 1: Welcome to chapter two! I'm gonna make a clone for every chppy I put up!
Heero: God help us. 'cocks gun'
Kitty-chan 2: Let's get Hee-chan! 'Kitty-chans tackle Heero'
Heero: This is not gonna end pretty. Oh, by the way… the Kitty-chan… s do not own the Gundam Wing characters… Thank God…
Relena stared at the unconscious man in the bed. He didn't look hurt at all. Simply asleep. The two were in a spare bedroom of the Sanc Kingdom. It had been one day since the man had been found behind the mansion. As near as the medical employees present at the Kingdom could tell, he suffered a bullet wound in the middle of his back and his physical exhaustion came partly from running for far too long, and partly from emotional stress. Apparently, the Confinement act, and its results, had exhausted him emotionally and that exhaustion, had lead to severe stress. Relena gingerly fingered his gun, which lay, discarded, on the bedside table. Half a clip remained in it, which meant he had used the other half. "Heero..." Relena whispered more to herself than to the sleeping man. "Who were you trying to kill?"
"No one, really." Relena started and her eyes suddenly met the icy Prussian blue of a very awake Heero Yuy. "Just trying to discourage the men chasing me."
Relena let out a relieved breath. "Oh good, you're awake. You were asleep for a full day."
"Mind explaining to me where I am?" Heero demanded steely.
"We found you unconscious in the backyard. You have overall exhaustion, emotional and physical." Relena informed him quickly. "You need sleep."
"No, I don't. I need to kill Suuchin and Katome. I'll be taking my leave now." He threw the blankets off himself, stood, adjusted his clothes, and walked toward the door, grabbing his gun as he did so. "I want my blazer and my gun holster. I have a mission." He examined his gun, clicking the safety off, then on.
"Heero, assassinating Suuchin and Katome will only hurt your purpose!" Relena argued, hitting her legs with her hands once.
Heero gave her a skeptical look. "Relena... do you know my purpose?"
"I have a general idea. You want the Confinement act revoked, right?"
"Very good."
"Heero, if you assassinate them, the government will go after the pilots even more fiercely!"
"Then let them come! The other Gundam Pilots are in agreement about what is to be done! None of us were able to find a battle suitable for our deaths during the war! Even if we did, we ended up winning that battle! This is the one battle we will lose!"
"But why do any of you have to die?" Relena cried furiously, standing and knocking her chair over by accident.
Heero was taken aback by her volume and force, but his face relayed nothing. "Our lives have become pointless. There is no reason to live a pointless life."
"Your life does have a purpose! All those people who were spared because you ended the war! You saved them! You're a hero!" Relena paused for a moment. "You could get a job! Live a normal life! You could!"
Heero narrowed his eyes at the word hero, but then spoke in an even tone. "Impossible."
"Why, impossible!"
"Look at my hands. These hands have taken the lives of countless men, thousands of women, and even thousands of children. So many deaths. My hands are stained with their blood. Blood that cannot simply be washed off. It must be purged and repaid. It is the same with the other pilots. This is the battle we will lose our lives in."
"Quatre wouldn't want it this way, would he?" Relena argued. "Even though I don't know him that well, he's not the kind to wish for death."
"Does Duo seem the kind to be named the God of Death? None of us are what we seem, Relena. I'd have thought you'd have figured that out by now."
Relena paused. Heero never was one to lie. Did all of them want this? "Heero, but..."
"Don't you get this!" Heero raised his voice a bit, startling Relena. It was the first time she had ever heard him speak with any volume or emotion, even if the emotion was anger. "The fact that we consider killing them as our first plan of action proves that we are scarred beyond healing! Death is our only savior to our problems!" Heero paused and continued in a quieter tone. "Our pasts are bathed in blood. Death is our only alternative."
Relena's eyes did their best to portray all the emotions clashing in her head. Pain, anger, and even annoyance. "Heero, listen. Because of the power that Suuchin and Katome now hold, the security is going to be so tight, even you won't be able to get in."
"Not true. I'm the Perfect Soldier, remember?" Heero spat the title out with disdain.
"Yes, but understand this." Relena advanced on him, suddenly gaining a commanding air about her. "Despite the fact that I changed my name back to Darlin, I am still descended from the Peacecraft family. In the name of peace," She stomped her foot. "I forbid you to go."
Heero turned fully to her. "Listen, I have never failed a mission, and I will not fail this one."
"No, Heero. If I let you go, I will be guilty of the same murder you commit." Relena stated firmly, halting about four feet in front of the assassin.
Heero brought the gun up to level with her heart. "I don't know what you think you can do to keep me from killing them, but I assure you, one move of my finger and it's stopped."
"Heero, you won't shoot me. I know you won't."
"Believe what you want, Relena. Ever since I was young, I've been brought up to kill someone just like you in situations just like this one. I will kill you if the need arises." Heero stated icily.
"Heero, I just said it. If I allow you to leave, I will be guilty of the same murder you commit! I will not be responsible for a murder, weather that person deserved it or not!"
Heero paused, almost guiltily, and then continued, his voice made of steel. "That makes no difference to me." He growled his face a stone mask.
"Heero." She almost laughed. "You couldn't shoot me now if you tried. The safety is still on.
"I know that. Are you advising me to turn it off?" Heero narrowed his eyes and obliged, clicking the safety off.
"I won't make that decision, seeing as how you've already made it. You need to decide weather to murder three people, or to find a more peaceful solution to a large problem with a billion catalysts." Relena stood up straight, arms at her sides, offering her unprotected heart to the gun and the man wielding it. He would decide here and now weather or not he would carry out his very fist assassination mission. Her eyes opened at the sound of a metallic click. Heero now held the gun, barrel facing the ceiling, next to his face, his Prussian eyes hidden behind closed eyelids. "Heero? I thought you were going to kill me." She stated, letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Heero headed for the door, the hand holding the gun swinging limply at his side.
He halted at the doorway. "The need didn't arise." He started to head out when a slender hand appeared on his free wrist. He stopped and turned to face Relena. Being this close to her caused his heartbeat to quicken and his wrist seemed to burn under her hand. Something inside his being jumped at her touch, but he quickly suppressed it, and forced his eyes to narrow dangerously. "What?"
"Heero, are you still going to kill Suuchin and Katome?" she wondered quickly.
"Yes. You got a better idea?" he growled, jerking his wrist out of her grasp.
"Well, for starters, why don't we contact the other pilots?" Relena suggested, stepping back a bit. The heat that seemed to emit from his body when he was serious almost seemed to be burning her.
"You talk as if I've decided to stay here." Heero stated emotionlessly.
"Well, you're safe here. The government would never suspect me to shelter a person on the run."
"Safety has never been my top concern. Or have you not noticed that?"
"Oh, Lord above knows I have!" Relena groaned. "Why don't you just contact the others, and decide what to do from there?"
Heero considered it, all the while; his stone mask remained fixated on Relena. He regarded her with an odd sort of suspicion. Almost as if asking what she wanted from him. But there was an unreadable emotion buried in the cemetery of Prussian blue. Relena had no sooner noticed it than Heero's patented 'hn' noise caught her attention. Relena smiled and grabbed his wrist again to pull him into the room and over to the computer.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Hey, Duo! Wake up!" Hilde shouted from the laptop that sat on top of the former pilot's bedroom desk.
A bleary-eyed Duo dragged himself out of bed and sluggishly walked over to his girlfriend. "Hilde? What's with the yelling? I need my sleep, you know."
"Duo, it's after noon. You should've been awake a long time ago." Hilde argued.
"Says who?" Duo challenged.
"Says me!" she cried as if she needed no other argument.
Duo rolled his cobalt eyes and fixed her with a half stern, half asleep glare. "And anyway, why are you in my room? You could just use the computer in your room, you know."
"Yeah, but this computer is the only one that gets email. Besides, it's much more fun invading your personal space." Hilde taunted, getting up and shoving Duo into the seat. "You should see this email you got."
"Duo grunted when she shoved him into the chair, then completely woke up when he saw the email he had received.
angelofdeath
Duo immediately clicked on it, and a message popped up.
"This is an encoded message! Please enter your ID!"
shinigami …
The message appeared, to Hilde, to be a bunch of circles, lines and odd characters. But she figured that Duo understood it considering his eyes were running across the screen, widening and brightening at the encoded sentences. "What does it say?" Hilde finally wondered.
Duo's hand shot into the desk drawer and he pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. Staring at the message, he scribbled down an address. How he had pulled an address out of the scribbles, Hilde had no idea. "Duo, what's going on?" Hilde wondered excitedly, almost laughing. Apparently the email had brought good news.
Duo said nothing, but put his hands on her back and quickly shoved her out of the room. "Hold on." He shut and locked the door.
"Duo! What are you doing?" Hilde yelled, aggravated at the absence of answers. After a few minutes, the door disappeared again and Duo stood, fully decked out in black, as usual. He wore a black jacket over a red zip-up shirt and black pants. (A/N: Think of his outfit in Endless Waltz) He grabbed Hilde's wrist and began running to the front door, grabbing his keys along the way. "Duo, wha?"
"You'll see! Get your jacket and meet me out front!" Duo called back, his eyes sparkling.
Hilde stopped as Duo released her and continued his mad dash toward the front. She had no idea what had gotten into the loon, but she headed to the hall to obey.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Cathy, we can't horde runaway criminals! This is the circus, not the Underground Railroad!" the ringmaster cried. The minute Cathy had suggested that Trowa and Quatre stay with her for the time being, the ringmaster went ballistic. The two were arguing inside the ringmaster's trailer, but at the height of their voices, they could've been standing outside.
Trowa mentally winced at the word 'criminals'. Deep down he knew they weren't criminals, but with all the commotion lately, he had to admit that some part of him believed it. He knew as well as any of the other pilots that this was the battle in which they would pay the price for all the lives they took during the war. Trowa knelt by a caged lion outside the big top, gently stroking its soft mane and whispering quietly to the purring cat. Quatre sat on the ground about ten feet away, leaning against a crate. His hands were folded limply in his lap and his head was tipped back slightly, his eyes squeezed shut in sleep. Trowa glanced at the Arabian for a brief moment before continuing to eavesdrop on the argument going on nearby.
"But we can't just leave them for dead!" Cathy yelled.
"Cathrine, how safe will they be in a circus? And besides, that, with them here, the entire crew is in danger! We can't keep them here!"
"Listen, one of them works here! And he wears a mask all the time! How's anyone going to recognize him? The other one isn't going to be going out and about at all! Not with his injuries!" Cathrine cried back. "And if no one knows they're here, no one is going to come looking for them!"
"No, Cathy. We can't have them here. It's too dangerous!"
Trowa sighed. He knew the outcome of this fight. The ringmaster was a good man, but stubborn as a mule on many things. Apparently, this was one of them. His dark green eyes trailed back to the towhead boy as he moaned and regained consciousness. His head slightly turned to the side to look at Trowa, his light blue eyes shining with a light that always seemed present. However, the light today was weary. They were the eyes of someone trying to put on a brave face. "Hey." Quatre managed.
"How are you feeling?" Trowa wondered, turning back to the lion.
"Excellent." He answered sarcastically. Trowa smirked, not facing him. "Seriously, a little better than before." Quatre sat fully up, still leaning against the box. He paused as he heard Cathy yell. "What's going on?"
"Cathy wants us to stay here until the Confinement Act is revoked. The ringmaster doesn't like the idea." Trowa answered with no energy.
"I see. I guess you can't really blame him. We bring death and destruction wherever we go." Quatre admitted morbidly.
Trowa nodded in agreement. Ultimately, we will bring on our own death. That is the end we are pursuing. He let out a sigh and a silence fell between the two of them. As if reading his mind, Quatre sighed and began speaking.
"This is it, isn't it?"
"Huh?" Trowa turned slightly so he could see the man out of his peripheral vision.
"Our last fight."
Trowa turned back to the lion. "Yeah."
"Who's gonna do it?"
"Heero."
Quatre laughed ruefully. "Should've known. He volunteered, right?"
"Yeah." Trowa and Quatre once again fell into silence as the argument in the trailer heated up again.
"What are you afraid of!" Cathy cried.
"I'm afraid of the soldiers that will come to take the boys away. Then they will take away the performers as well as you and I for hoarding them!"
"You're afraid for the performers' safety?" Cathy wondered angrily.
"Long story short, yes, Catherine!" he shouted, jabbing a finger at her face.
"Well, why don't we ask them what they want to do?" Cathy suggested. There was silence in the trailer until a muttered grumble of accent was heard from the outside.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"We simply want to know what you think we should do." the manager called over the crowd of performers after he had explained the situation. "Do we hoard these criminals and face severe punishment? Or do we send them on their way?"
Cathy smiled. This idea clinched the argument in her favor. Many of the performers were friends of Trowa's. They wouldn't kick him out in a million years. She raised her right hand. "All in favor of allowing the boys to stay here!" Hands went up all over the place. The vote was 30 to 70 in the boys' favor. The boys would stay. Cathy looked at the manager who frowned, but nodded at her. She smiled and ran off to give the news to her brother.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Trowa! Trowa!" she cried happily, running to kneel next to the lion-tamer.
"What is it, Cathy?" he wondered quietly.
"We just talked about it, and we've decided to allow you to stay here." She answered with excitement. She looked to Quatre for a reaction.
Quatre was fiddling with his laptop, still leaning against the crate. He looked up at Cathy and smiled. "Thank you, Miss Bloom. But we really can't stay that long."
"Why not?" she wondered, her excitement wilting.
Trowa nodded. "The government won't take too long to catch on. They'll come here after us sooner or later.
Kathy nodded solemnly. Her head popped up when a computerized tone filtered from the laptop on Quatre's legs. The siblings looked over at the Arabian who was buried deep in the examination of his laptop screen. "What's wrong, Quatre?" Cathy wondered quietly. Though at one point she had despised the sight of the towhead, she now found him a very kind person to be around. Not too long ago, she couldn't stand to see him. The young man had represented the world that Cathy so desperately wanted to protect Trowa from; the world of war.
"We may be leaving sooner than you think." Quatre answered distractedly.
"What do you mean?" Cathy wondered, nervous. She didn't want her brother taken from her so soon.
"Trowa, look at this." Quatre commanded quietly. Trowa joined him, leaning over his shoulder to look at the email addresses. One caught his eye. It was obviously the same one that had caught Quatre's.
angelofdeath
"Is that from...?" Trowa trailed off.
"That's him alright. But why would he email us now? An email could be bugged." Quatre pointed out.
"What have we got to lose? Let's see what he has to say." Trowa suggested.
Quatre clicked on it and a warning message appeared.
"This is an encoded message! Please enter your ID!"
arabian1...
After reading the strange message, Trowa's deep voice made a sound almost like a laugh. "So," he began, standing and heading back to the lion. "We're to meet at that address."
"Yeah, but that's on earth. That's a long way away." Quatre stated solemnly.
"Not like we can stay here forever. Eventually we'll get caught." Trowa knelt and once again began stroking the lion. "We'll go. This is our best chance for reaching our objectives."
Quatre nodded to his back. They both jumped slightly when Cathy spoke up. "I'm going with you! I can't let you go alone!"
"Cathy, no. This is too dangerous. We're taking a big step here. We'll be going out into the open without anything to cover us. If you are seen with us, you could be arrested and prosecuted. Besides... without you, the circus has no star." Trowa added brightly as he could afford.
"Even if I stay, the star of the circus is gone. I don't care about the dangers! I want to face them with you! Please let me go!" Cathy begged.
Trowa looked evenly into her eyes, then at Quatre, then back at his sister. "Cathy, this is dangerous. We can't bring you."
"Trowa! I'm coming! You can't leave me here to worry about you!" Catherine cried, tears appearing in her eyes.
"Catherine..." Trowa growled sternly, using her full name as a warning. "... you don't know any of the other pilots. There are at least two out of three that would strongly object that we bring you. It's not a good idea, no matter how you look at it."
"I don't care! I'm coming with you, Trowa, and that's my final word on the matter!"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"What is it, Thunder?" she asked as he read over the email he had just received.
"Nothing. It's nothing important." He answered monotonely, closing the email.
"Are you sure?" Water asked cautiously.
"Yes."
"But that was from... well... zero one. Didn't he have anything important to say? The guy rarely ever says or does anything frivolous. What's up?"
"Nothing life changing. It was just an update on recent happenings. Nothing that I didn't already know." Thunder growled. Water could tell he was being less than truthful, but he had his reasons for not disclosing information, so she kept it to herself. Thunder closed his eyes. If I go there, I'll become useless. I'm of much more use here, as a Preventor. Thunder nodded and wrote his response to the Japanese pilot.
Kitty-chan: I had way too much fun with the email addresses. XD Review!
