Well, here's part two. Someone review this time, please!
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, etc., etc., and the lyrics in chapter 1 were Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden.
Chapter 2
Light streamed in through the billowing pale yellow curtains, and the cool breeze wafted over the face of a four-banged young man, lying, eyes closed on the white linen bed. His eyes flickered open, registering themselves a moment. I'm alive. Thought Treize. Moving was painful, and he noticed several gauzes and bandages on his body. Well, I still have my underwear, and that's a relief. he thought.
"You're alive!" a young woman about his own age walked in, her short purple hair bobbing.
"When I last checked, anyway." he replied, trying to smile and wince at the same time. It didn't work.
"Why did you save me, anyhow?"
"You'd better ask the guy who did." She handed him a pair of jeans and a shirt. "He's out on the porch." Dressing, Treize mused over the past night. Leia's body in the yard was a distant dream, and one he pushed to the back of his mind at that point. Walking, out, he saw the rebel he had rescued standing with his back to him.
"So you're up." The man turned, smiling, and a pair of frighteningly familiar blue eyes, framed by platinum blonde bangs met his. His hair fell to his waist-the platinum blonde hair of none other than;
"Milliardo! Oh my God!" Gasping and laughing, Treize stared at his old, and presumed dead friend, who also stood laughing.
"Great to see you again Treize." Smiled Milliardo.
"But-but-they said-said you were dead..." Treize still had a problem dealing with it. "Killed by rebel soldiers..." The smile on Milliardo's face slipped a little.
"No, not by rebels. It was alliance forces that killed the Peacecrafts. At any rate, Milliardo is dead, and it'll stay that way for a while. I'm Zechs Marquise now."
"Zechs, huh?" Treize raised a playful eyebrow. "Did you consider exactly how much fun I could have with that name?" Zechs groaned, but retaliation was cut short by;
"TREIZE!" A small, twelve-year-old, golden-blonde furball cannoned into Treize's midriff.
"Relena?" delighted, Treize hugged her back. "Long time no see, sweetheart!"
"I was supposed to be dead!" she giggled. "You don't usually see dead people!"
"Hey, don't tell me you've got a new name?" Treize grinned wickedly at Zechs. "It's not Gigolo, or something?" Relena tutted at him.
"No, I'm still Relena. Besides, Gigolos are male."
"How do you know-?!"
"Hey, fluffball, buzz off a minute willya?" Zechs ruffled her hair. In retaliation she jabbed his ribs, waved goodbye to Treize and ran inside. Both boys smiled after her, but then Zechs's face fell serious, and he looked Treize in the eye.
"Treize" his voice was quiet, sombre. "We found Leia." A sickening jolt rocked Treize's stomach.
"How was she?" his voice was tremulous. "Was there any hope...?"
"I'm so sorry, Treize. She had been dead hours before we got there." Treize turned away, nodding. He stared out at the sunny fields, the void inside filling up slowly with bitter tears, until they overflowed, silently, smoothly over his face. Silently, Zechs rested his hand on Treize's shoulder, but when he saw the tear tracks glistening on his face, he stepped forward and hugged his friend properly, letting him weep into his shoulder. So they stood, two men, old friends, one weeping for a lost love, the other aching for a lost family.
"Is this normal?" Noin, the purple haired woman, looked anxious.
"Absolutely not." Zechs looked worried also. It had been two weeks since Treize had woken up, and he had spent most of his time alone, sometimes crying, sometimes dry-eyed, but always clutching the silver locket Leia had given him. It broke Zechs' heart to see his once lively friend morose, staring out into the sky beyond the suburban safehouse.
"Yeah, I remember you telling me he was always happy and sarcastic." Noin frowned. "If it's possible to be both at the same time."
"Mmmm, he was even snerky first thing in the morning." Zechs smiled sentimentally.
"You would have been too," eyes no longer red, Treize leant casually in the doorway, the locket still glistening on his neck. "If, through five years of boarding school, and you hadn't one decent night's sleep during term time because the boy you shared with snored like a wild boar all night!"
"Yeah?" Retaliated Zechs. "You're the one who doesn't even shut up in his sleep! Mmmermnnn CUCUMBER! Hnnrmmf!"
"Well you yell louder than me. Remember when you got suspended from the old oak tree by the back of your trousers?" As the banter went back and forth, Noin chuckled to herself.
"So this is normal, huh?" Rolling her eyes at the two boys, she got up to leave. "God help us!"
The intensifying early morning light began to sting Treize's eyes. He, Relena, Noin and Zechs had left the safehouse an hour before dawn, and driven through the mountains that made the Central Uplands, and past all of the winding mountain paths to the outskirts of a large wood, courtesy of a Mitsubishi jeep Noin had found "just lying around". For the past hour, they had been walking on the outskirts of the forest, watching the sky go from grey to peach and to pink, as it was then. The small excitement Treize had felt at being told they were going to the rebel base was beginning to wear off as he realised how tired he was. At that point, his private grousing was cut short, as Zechs drew to a halt.
"Here we are!" he said cheerily. Looking around, Treize had a little difficulty in defining exactly where "here" was. They had walked about five hundred metres into the dense forest, and all he could see was trees. However, Zechs had turned to the tree directly above him, and sang softly
"There was a rich man from Nottingham." A moment's silence, and then an answering voice from way up in the canopy sang
"Who went to cross the river"
"What a dope he tripped on a rope!" Noin this time.
"And now look at him shiver!" Relena finished off the limerick with a flourish, and with the final note, a rope ladder tumbled down the trunk above them.
"After you." courteously, Zechs let Noin and Relena climb first. He then took hold of the ladder, signaling to Treize to follow him. Climbing was quite tiring, and as the tree was at least forty feet tall, his arms began to ache. Reaching the top was worth it though. As he stepped up onto the platform of planks, Treize looked out over the whole forest, and the fired scarlet dawn, feeling really awed and happy for the first time since the night in St. Petersburg.
"Welcome to our home." smiled Zechs, and beckoned him over a long, camouflaged walkway that moved from tree to tree like a great wooden snake. Eventually, there was a zip-line that led down to the forest floor again.
"There's also a rope ladder." Noin explained. "But that's not half as fun." When they did reach the ground, Treize noticed a large dip in it. Trees still grew on it, but there was definitely something artificial about it. Probably the manhole covers which give it away. Snickered Treize silently, and it was down one of these manhole covers he went, sliding down a fireman's pole a couple of metres, and then stepping out into the white light of the underground chambers. He gasped aloud.
The walls and ceilings of the base were white and shiny new, except for the very top of the ceiling, through which some tree roots penetrated. The main hall was vast, but low in height, doors leading in all direction, labeled from "living quarters" to "kitchens" to "situation rooms". It was also surprisingly void of people.
"The last couple of attacks have left us short of men." commented Zechs. "Most are either in the infirmary or still out in the field though. We do have a larger force than this."
"So you're back, Zechs." An old man in a Hawaiian shirt leant over the railings of the floor above them.
"As always, Howard. Good to see you." he replied.
"Treize! What a pleasant surprise!" Howard was joined at the railings by another bearded old man, this time one Treize knew.
"Uncle Dermail!" grinning up at him, Treize was speechless for once in his life. Another twelve-year-old head bobbed up beside Dermail's.
"Hey Relena! and Treize!" the little white-blonde girl giggled.
"Dorothy? Hell, this is becoming a family reunion!" He laughed. "Talking of which, how are mom and dad? Are they here?"
"Nope." Dermail shook his head. "They didn't approve."
"Figures." nodded Treize. "And now, when we've finished reminiscing, can I get a tour of this place?"