Disclaimer - I do not own any of the Gundam Wing characters, the only thing that is mine is the characters Allyson, Mayven and the plot. (If I forget to put this on my other chapters I apologize, I have a really bad memory for junk like this)
Rating - Again this chapter is really safe, mostly talking to clear some stuff up
Chapter 8 – The Recovery
Mayven had survived the trip back to Relena's, with Duo sobbing softly above her, the realization that Allyson's friend May was the actual Mayven that he had grown fond of, maybe even as far as to say that he loved her. He couldn't help but feel a kind of relief as a weight that had been on his shoulders for so long was lifted. He had saved Allyson, and now was in the middle of an attempt at saving Mayven.
Duo didn't know at this point what his feelings were towards the girl, if what he felt was kindness, pity and sorrow, or if in fact it was love and he had done the one thing that Allyson had told him that he would do and that was to share his heart with another one day. Was Mayven the one that Allyson had referred too? Was she the one that Duo could fall in love with and could continue his life with?
Once Mayven was cleaned up, it was a lot easier to see what marks were actual injuries and what as just smeared blood. Her back and arms were whipped, nothing to serious and defiantly something that would heal over without to much scarring. Her stomach on the other hand had been badly burned with electrical sticks, leaving the boys with the task of bandaging that up after applying a cream to help it heal without too much scarring. Her shoulders, face, and upper arms were bruised, but nothing too serious. Enough damage for a day's visit none the less. Once she was bandaged and safely in bed, Heero and Duo sat quietly in the window seat while the other went to shower and get some food.
"Did she really know Allyson?" Duo asked Heero once everyone was out of the room and the door could be heard closing. Heero nodded slowly, bringing his attention to the young American boy next to him.
"Yeah, she did," he replied, as Duo took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, taking in a long drag before even realizing that he had just lit it in front of someone else. He said nothing, as did Heero, leaving the boy alone.
Heero had known that Duo had been smoking for months now, but he didn't see any reason in telling Duo what to do, it was the boy's choice and not his. Heero couldn't deny that he didn't like the fact that Duo was smoking, but also knew that Duo would quit when he was good and ready to, and that Heero's nagging would only push him to do it more often out of spite.
"Heero, is it wrong for me to love another?" Duo asked suddenly, opening the window just enough for the smoke to escape, "I mean Allyson lost her life protecting me and then I go and forget her, living on with her best friend? It just seems wrong." He took another drag, letting the smoke fill his lungs fully before exhaling.
"If the roles were reversed, would you want Allyson to remain alone and cry over you every night?" Heero asked simply, turning his head away from the teenager as he took in another drag. Duo shook his head, exhaling slowly.
"Of course not," he replied simply, letting the cigarette rest between his lips, "and I don't cry over her every night," he added, taking in another long drag.
"You know what I mean," Heero replied, "Then why would she want the same for you?" Duo seemed to ponder this for a moment, looking from the sky to the cigarette that now rest between his fingers, to Mayven and back up at the sky. With a look of determination, Duo flicked the half smoked cigarette out of the window, turned around and walked over to Mayven. "Good for you man," Heero said kindly, putting a hand on his friends shoulder, "it's about time that you start to live again." Duo nodded to this, when only a couple days ago he would have snapped at Heero for such a comment. "I'll see you later," he said, feeling that time alone was exactly what Duo needed, time to piece everything that had happened and everything that he had just learned into one strong story that he could hold on too.
"Yeah, come and get me when the foods ready," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and taking Mayven's hand ever so tenderly.
Heero nodded as he headed for the door, "Will do," he said over his shoulder as he walked out of the room and closed the door sympathetically behind him, leaving Duo alone with an unconscious Mayven and his thoughts.
Duo waited to here the clicking noise of the door closing before brushing Mayven's bangs out of her face with one hand, feeling the girl tremble under his tender touch. He sighed sympathetically, looking down at her.
"Did you really know her all that well?" he asked her, touching her cheek soothingly, felling her nuzzle into his touch, "What would Allyson want?" he asked suddenly frustrated. He sighed, lying down next to Mayven's slender form, feeling the girl's body move with ever breath that she would attempt to take in. The sound of her gentle breathing, the only sound in the room, was just enough to put Duo into a deep sleep, resting for the first time in months.
Heero had kept his word, coming up to the room when there was a hot meal on the table, knocking gently on the door at first before opening it, sticking his head in to see Duo and Mayven fast asleep next to one another. He smiled softly, not wanting to wake him, but knowing that the boy needed to eat, so he stepped inside the room, walking across the floor silently.
"Duo," he whispered, shaking the boy's shoulder gently, "Duo, supper's on the table," he added as the boy moaned in protest to the movement.
"Don't wanna," he moaned, giggling softly as he realized that he sounded like a child. He opened his eyes slowly, his violet ones locking with the cobalt blue glaze that looked down on him. He smiled, sitting up with a yawn, "So what's for super anyways?" he asked, throwing his feet over the edge of the bed to the floor.
"Meat and potatoes," Heero replied with a smirk as his eyes went from Duo to Mayven, "how is she?" he asked, the smirk fading into a frown.
"Better," Duo replied, bringing his attention to her, looking over his shoulder, "she hasn't moaned in a while, so the pain must be gone or numbing," he added in a sigh just as Mayven moaned softly. Duo glared playfully, "Call me a liar!" he spat teasingly as he smiled, touching her cheek softly.
"Duo?" Mayven asked her voice only a whisper as she eyes blinked opened slowly, midnight blue hitting the compassionate look from the violet ones staring back at her. She smiled softly as she ran a hand gently across her freshly dressed stomach and face.
"Nice to see you awake," Heero said before Duo could reply. Mayven nodded, Duo placing a hand on her cheek lightly and smiled.
"Why didn't you tell me that you knew Allyson?" he asked, remembering the conversation in the van before she passed out, when he had found out that she was the friend that Duo had wished for so long that he had saved.
"I didn't know until a couple of days, or maybe it was weeks, ago," she admitted, her voice beginning to come back to her as she used it, "I meant to talk to you about it, but shit happened and I didn't get the chance until that day, or night, in the van." Duo smile sympathetically down at her, finding her confusion about the past couple of week's events kind of cute.
"They really did a job on you," he said delicately, running a finger down her cheek, "you were in pretty rough shape."
Mayven nodded as she looked down at her stomach and back up at the two boys in a shrug, "One of their better jobs," she admitted. Heero looked at her astoundingly. He remembered the girl's condition when he found her, just how much blood she had lost and how choppy her breathing was. How she could just brush it off like nothing was beyond his natural train of thought, but brushed the thought off his mind.
Duo on the other hand glared at her for being so modest, "You brush things off too easily," he scolded, but soon smiled, "I'm just glad that you're alright," he admitted. Mayven nodded tiredly.
Heero pulled Duo to his feet, pushing the boy towards the door, "Get some rest Mayven," he said, forcing Duo to leave the room, "We'll be back later." Mayven nodded again and the boys left he room and began their way down the hall and own the stairs towards the dining room for super.
Mayven didn't have to be told twice, she closed her eyes slowly and tried her best to fall back asleep, feeling her stomach and side burn with ever breath that she took. It took about ten minutes for her to fall back asleep, which lasted about an hour before she awoke to the sound of Heero's soft cursing the came from the window seat.
She turned her head slowly to see Heero sitting in the window seat, his lap-top sitting in his lap. He seemed angry or maybe it was frustration, it was difficult to tell sometimes with Heero what he was really feeling. She opened her mouth, speaking his name in a whisper. Groaning in annoyance, she cleared her throat, and attempted to call his name again, this time, it coming out a little louder, just loud enough to grasp his attention from the computer screen and bring it to her.
"You should be resting," he scolded as he sat the lap-top down on the window seat and came over to her, "you need as much of it as you can get," he added as he placed his hand on her forehead.
"I've done nothing but rest for the past only god knows how long," she said, her voice still raspy, "I can handle some hours awake." Heero smiled softly down at her as he removed his hand, content that there was no fever, surprisingly.
"You seem to be a little stronger," he added, walking back over to the window seat, pushing a small black button on a key pad by the window. Mayven cocked her head in question, but figured it out when Duo came in, out of breath and panting. She brought her eyes to him, giggling softly as she forced herself into a seated position, against Duo's please that she stay lying down.
"I'm fine Duo," she lied, not telling him that her side was still burning and that her head was still pounding with a major headache. He looked at her, questioning what she had just said, but didn't question it as he sat down next to her slowly, placing a hand over hers gently. Heero took the sign, grabbing his lap-top ad tucking it under his arm before exiting the room, closing the door silently behind him.
The two said nothing for a little while, just looking at one another's expressions as Mayven smiled at him. She would love nothing more than to kiss him at that exact moment, to feel his lips on hers, but she couldn't. He had once loved her best friend, and to tell the truth, she couldn't be sure that he was over he yet and the last thing that she wanted was to become a quick replacement for her, but Mayven couldn't stop these thoughts, and blushed as her mind wondered.
"What's wrong?" he asked seeing her cheeks blush a soft red as she broke eye contact with him. Oh God, how he loved her eyes, but he couldn't just dive into another relationship; he couldn't start a life with her until he was positive that Allyson was a part of his past, but who would he figure that out? It's not like she could walk into the room right now and he could judge who he felt the most for, that wasn't going to happen in this life. He shook his head, feeling the urge to suddenly found out exactly what he was feeling.
Mayven didn't answer his question at first, leaving her eyes on the bed sheets next to her hand and took a deep breath before replying with a simple 'Nothing'. Duo took a deep breath as well, wondering how he could possibly fall in love again. The pain he felt when he say Allyson's Gundam explode was a feeling that he could explain, but all he knew was that he would never love another like he did her again. And that's when it hit him! He finally realized what his friends had been trying to make him see for so long. He wouldn't, no he couldn't love another like he did Allyson, but you never love two people in the same way. He would always, in some way or another, love Allyson, but the whole reason that he couldn't let her rest was because he thought that he would never love again, but he would…he loved Mayven.
Duo took this moment of silence to make his move, moving on for the kiss that he had wanted from her ever since he had saved her life. He cupped her cheek gently, pulling her attention to him and pressed his lips to hers ever so gently awaiting her response to his sudden move, waiting to see if she would pull away. She didn't, of course, but instead leaned into the kiss, wrapping an arm around his neck, rather painfully, without a second thought and kissed him back, slipping her tong into his mouth, feeling him running his fingers through her hair.
Breaking the kiss hesitantly, not knowing if she'd ever feel his lips linger on hers again, Mayven looked up at him, locking her mid-night blue eyes with violet ones, not wanting to look away, but not wanting to look at him either.
"What was that for?" she asked, not sure if she wanted the answer or not. Duo smirked, licking his bottom lip, biting it nervously before answering her simple question.
"Just because," he replied. Come on, what was he suppose to say? I did it because I suddenly realized that I love you and I can finally let Allyson, your dead friend, rest in peace because I know that it is okay to love another? No, he decided that the truth wasn't the right path on this one and that this time, instead of being brutally honest, he would be simply honest, "I like you and I was so worried when we find you in such a condition and I just figured that life is really short and I should enjoy it." She smiled at him, leaving her eyes locked with his lovingly.
She sat on the bed quietly, leaving her eyes locked on his for a moment before turning to the door, "Your friend," she said, voice suddenly serious, "does he love the girl that hangs off of him?" she asked. Duo looked at her confused for a moment, what did she care what Heero did? Why did she care if Relena loved him or if he loved her?
"My guest is yes, why?" he asked, suddenly nervous, but the feeling soon left his body as Mayven smiled softly.
"She really cares for him yet he never seems to show any emotion towards her," she said, turning her attention to Duo with a smile, "I was just wondering if that was his normal attitude towards her or if I was reading to far into it." Duo smiled back at her, cupping her cheek gently in his hand, rubbing it lightly with his thumb.
"He cares for her," he said with a smile, kissing her lips tenderly before continuing, "He simply has a different way of showing it, that's all."
Mayven smiled softly, "So now that I'm alive," she said, pulling away from Duo's touch although he did protest and pout, "Could you get me a lap-top and a glass of water? I need to get to work on stopping Oz."
Duo shot her a look or exasperation, "You can't be serious?" he asked, standing slowly from the bed, "You can't work now, you need to rest."
Mayven shot him smirk, "I've done nothing but rest, Duo," she insisted, pointing to Heero's lap-top, which sat on the window seat, "Now pass me the lap-top please," she added, smiling softly, fighting back the urge to cry out at the pain that was caused by her movement. Duo hesitated, looking at her momentarily before grabbing the lap-top, turning to face her slowly.
"But after a couple of hours—max—you have to rest again," he said, holding the device tightly, "Deal?" Mayven laughed, nodding as she extended her hands to him. Duo sighed, handing her the lap-top hesitantly and sat back down next to her. "What do you plan to do from here anyways? Heero's has tried but can't get through their security systems."
Mayven smiled softly, remembering how Heero had been sitting on the window seat on his lap-top, what she hadn't realized the first time was that he was working on breaking Oz's new codes, codes that Oz had made sure he wouldn't be able to crack. She sighed suddenly, realizing that he had probably been working all night, with Relena protesting without a doubt.
"I'm not Heero," she said, opening the device and starting it up, "I can get through their security systems and I will be able to stop them," she added with a sigh as she began her hacking, bringing up screen after screen, running through everything as she broke down fire wall after fire wall.
"But wouldn't they have blocked all your access codes by now?" he asked, leaning back on the pile of pillows and the head board, watching as she continued to type at a speed that was close to Heero's.
"Yes," she replied, opening a new screen and began typing something that should open a back door, "But what they don't know is that I programmed a back door to their systems while I was a technician, and I now have access to everything as long as I don't take the wrong path to opening the door." She looked at him with a smirk. "Like I said, I'm not Heero."
Duo looked at her questionably for a moment before cracking a smile, "You sure aren't," he replied as he stood, "I'll let you work while I get the others updated and ready to head out as soon as you have the necessary information."
Mayven nodded as she brought her full attention to the task at hand, going through her fire walls and access codes to try and open the back door that she had created so many years ago, trying her best to get through it without notifying Oz of her arrival and her original bedrail. With a sigh, Mayven watched as the last fire wall came down and she was granted access to Oz's controls, plans, and information, including the maps that she needed to get into the base and shut it down. Bringing up the maps, she studied them quickly before printing them out and brought up a timed schedule of when soldiers were on guard duty and when they would change their post. She then proceeded to print them out as well, pushing the lap-top aside and got out of bed carefully, walking across the room to the printer, grabbing her printouts and sat down at the desk with a couple of pens and highlighters.
She laid the printed map out onto the desk and then proceeded to tape all the individual pages together to create one full map. She then grabbed the blue pen that had been sitting in a glass on the corner of the desk and outlined the best path for entry with a dotted line. Dropping the pen and grabbing a yellow highlighter, she colored in the rooms that should be avoided because of high traffic and afterwards, with a blue highlighter, colored in the rooms that would be clear and have no one in them. The only thing left to do was mark the locations where everyone should be posted and where they should attack the guard, that would be getting ready for a shift change and would be tiered enough to not be watching and wouldn't be expecting the attack. She wrote down each of their names in the right spots with a black pen and then above that, marked the best time for their attack, knowing that Oz was always punctual. The only thing left was to grab the copy of the schedule and a copy of the main control room access codes, which she had to return to the computer to retrieve and print out.
By the time that she was done with the map and she had everything she needed Duo and the others had returned and scolded her for getting out of bed so soon. She rolled her eyes, laying the map out on the floor while everyone else gathered around and grabbed a seat close by, looking at the diagram with a look of a intrigue.
"The plan is simple, we attack before they realize that there is something wrong," she said pointing to the entrance of the base on the map, "Heero, Duo and I will go in the front," she moved her finger to the side entrance, "Wufei, Quatre and Trowa, you'll be entering by the west entrance." She stopped for a moment, waiting to see if anyone would object which surprisingly, no one did. "From there take the path you see fit to get to your marked spot, while avoiding the yellow room. Above your name is the exact time that the guards will be changing shifts, it should be no problem for you to take out both the old and new guard without causing any suspicion." Again, she waited to hear a complaint and got nothing. "Around your post there is a blue room located, put the guards in there and lock them in anyway you see fit," she tossed down the guarding schedule on top of the map, covering everything that the pilots had been looking at, "This is the schedule for guards and staff, when they can take breaks, eat lunch, ect…Know it!" She emphasized that point, knowing that it would come in handy if her first plan didn't work. "Heero, once your guards are dealt with, make your way to the main control room," she swiped away the schedules to reveal the map once again to light, "which is marked here in red, once there you and I will put in the codes and will be able to shut down all their power."
"No way," Heero said, his sudden intrusion making Mayven look up at him while he continued, "you aren't coming with us this time," he added, his cobalt glare meeting up with her midnight one.
"That glare may work on them," she motioned to the others around her, "but it doesn't on me. It will take two people to put all the codes in fast enough so that they have no time to retaliate, you and I are the fastest typists here and therefore I am going." She glared at him for a moment before turning back to the map, "Once their power is gone they'll have no way of defending themselves that will be the best way to destroy the base, any questions?"
Quatre looked up at her, hesitant to ask his question after the way that she snapped at Heero, but managed to choke the question out none the less, "What will the rest of us do while you and Heero put in the codes?"
Mayven looked at him, smirking as she popped a piece of gum into her mouth, "The rest of you will be placing these," she tossed a small device into the middle of the mess of papers, "into the rooms that I have marked in green. Once everyone is out, they will detonate by this remote," she tossed the said item into the center of the small circle. "Does anyone else have any other questions?"
"Yeah," Heero said, Mayven bringing her attention to him again, but without the glare this time, "What is getting ride of their power going to accomplish? They will still be capable of reorganizing like they did this time."
Mayven smirked again, chewing happily on her gum, "Simple, I will be extracting every last piece of information onto this disk," Again she tossed the said item into the center of the circle, adding it to the rest of the stuff, "Then once the place explodes, I will make sure that they can never recover their information with the help of a little bug that eats everything in it's path, which is being kept on this little blue disk here." She tossed the disk onto the top of the pile, "Anything else?"
The room fell silent, leaving everyone pondering the next question, "When do we leave?" Duo asked, breaking the silence after a moment.
"Tomorrow," she replied.
"You up for that?" he asked, placing a hand on her leg as she brought her attention to him with a nod.
"I'll be fine," she replied with a soft, reassuring, smile, "As long as everyone follows the plan, we should all be fine."
"What's plan B?" Trowa asked.
Mayven sighed, "If this doesn't work and they find us out, we run, dropping the bombs along the way and take the place out." She brought her attention to the center of the circle, "Once sure that everyone inside is dead, then I will go back inside the rubble and destroy the information so that they are not capable of regrouping in a couple of years, but hopefully it won't come to that." Trowa nodded, satisfied with the answer for the moment being, knowing that plan A was to well calculated to fail, but it never hurt to have a plan B nevertheless.
Everything was in place, each pilot would have a backpack with the exact number of explosives needed to accommodate their location, a map of the danger zones, a schedule of the breaks, and a comlink so that they may all stay in contact. The only difference between the pilot's backpacks and the one that Heero and Mayven would be carrying was that inside Mayven's there would be the disks for retrieving the information and the bug that would destroy their networks for good and inside Heero's was a piece of paper that had all the codes that he would need for the mission written on it. This was, without a doubt, one of the most important missions that the pilots would ever have to face. Screw something up and set off the alarms, and Oz was on their tail faster than they could curse and if they did mess something up, it would leave all of them, especially Heero and Mayven in major trouble.
Everyone went to separate rooms that night, Mayven remaining in the same room that she had been in ever since this battle had started as she continued to sneak through Oz's systems in an attempt to try and find something that may help them further, Duo—who was just next door—was hard at work memorizing the schedule sheet that Mayven had provided. Trowa and Quatre had spent some time together hat night, but each went to their separate rooms to go over the maps in an attempt to memorize them, the less they had to carry the better. Wufei did as he always did—he went to his room and did some martial arts, followed my some meditation and then went over the maps and schedules, leaving himself some time to sleep before going on the mission. Heero was the one that remained awake for the better part of the night, memorizing the schedules, maps, and even the access codes, leaving his arms completely empty and making his book bag almost useless, not including the bombs.
The morning light came quick and it was time for them all to leave, which wasn't hard considering that they were all ready awake. Before heading to their separate entries, Mayven lead them to an old warehouse where she quickly opened the door, with the help of the codes and passwords that she had found throughout the night. "Here," she replied, tossing each of them an Oz jacket and ball cap, "this will help you stay out of sight," she added, grabbing a hat and putting it on to match the jacket that she had grabbed from the closet in Relena's room, the one that had her last name across the chest—Landen.
"Won't they know it's you if your name is on the jacket?" Duo asked, zippering the jacket up and placing the hat on his head.
Mayven shrugged, "The levels where I'm headed don't get news like that unless they ask for it," she said, turning her back on them all as she exited the small warehouse, "in other words, they don't know that I have betrayed them—yet!"
Mayven, Heero and Duo had waited at the front entrance for only a moment, long enough to get word that the others were in place and ready. Once word had come through, they were off, Duo heading down the north corridor, Heero west and Mayven east. It was hard for the pilots to remain calm enough to go through the halls without running, walking simply and slowly was good enough, just look like they belonged and everything would be fine.
Mayven on the other hand, walked confidently, knowing that word hadn't gotten to this part of the base yet and that anyone she ran into wouldn't even realize that she was out of place. The only time that she took in air was when she ran into a C.O. that was sure that he knew about her.
Taking a long look at the name across her chest he soon snapped his fingers and stopped her, "Landen," he said, causing Mayven to reply with a simply 'Hn', bringing herself to full attention, "I heard that you were killed in battle."
Mayven smirked—so that was how they had covered it up without causing any trouble, "No Sir," she replied confidently, "I was just on my way to report about that incident." The man nodded and was off. She smiled, how stupid was that? All C.O. were to bring any officer thought to be dead or a threat to the main office for questioning, he must be new! Either way, she didn't really care, she just continued her way to the main control room, slipping in silently and put the disk into the small drive and began the task of retrieving the information while she waited for Heero to finish his part of the plan and get to the room. By the time she had finished copying the information to the disk and she had pocketed it Heero had finally made it, slipping into the room.
"Go to your panel," she said without bringing her attention to him, pointing to the panel in question, "Are you ready for this?"
Heero nodded, "Let's do this before something goes wrong," he said and began to type in the code, Mayven entering hers just as quickly on her panel, awaiting her the sound of the power to click off without the chance for it to return back on. The sound was brief but the room fell black quickly. "May, I think we forgot something," he groaned his eyes not capable of adjusting that quickly.
"No I didn't," she said, a light coming from the flashlight in her hand as she tapped the comlink that was in her ear, "All of you have a flashlight in you backpacks, hurry, we don't have that much time before they regroup, get the bombs in the right rooms and well meet at the front entrance." She smirked, tossing the light to Heero, "Hold it over this panel," she said softly. Heero did as he was told, holding it steady over her shoulder as she placed the little blue disk into the drive, hitting one small button that was surprisingly not powered by electric power and smirked widely, "Let's move."
Heero nodded, opening his book bag and began tossing the little explosive devices, which stuck to the wall instantly, as they ran down hall after hall. Mayven stopped suddenly, "What is it?" Heero asked, seeing the look on her face.
"I overlooked something," she said simply, pulling the small remote from her back pocket, "take this and detonate the bombs once everyone else is out," she said pushing the tool into his hand, "I'll get out, all I ask is that you don't wait for me."
Heero gritted his teeth, not liking the idea but felt that there was no room for argument, "Alright," he said and ran off, Mayven heading down the dark hall in the opposite direction, using her left hand to guide herself, running it down the wall as she took the turns necessary to get her to her destination.
The others had gathered outside of the base and had made sure that enough distance was put between them and the base, "Heero, you can't!" Duo cried, "Please! Just wait!"
Heero shook his head, "I promised that I wouldn't," he said simply, voice low and eyes fogging over as he took out the device, "Mission complete." He pushed the button, the sound of the base exploding and Duo's cries blending into one giant mess that Heero would never forget.
Duo had hit his knees after the explosion and couldn't help but watch as the ground grumbled inwards as the underground base grumbled to dust. He looked down at his shaking hands as tear after tear fell to the ground in front of him, "Not again," he whispered as he felt Heero place a hand on his shoulder but he couldn't stop himself from pulling away angrily.
"I'm sorry," Heero mumbled under his breath as he removed his hand with a sigh, again the perfect soldier was left to do the unthinkable, kill a friend. He didn't want to do it, but he had promised. He thought about using the comlink, but knew that the blast would have knocked it out and she wouldn't have gotten the signal anyway and that it wasn't worth the effort.
"Let's head home," Heero said after a silent moment that he felt that Duo needed, sighing as he unzipped the Oz jacket and placed his hands deep into the pockets.
"You find it that easy to walk away, don't you?" Duo asked, suddenly angry as he stood spinning around to face him, eyes wet and tears rolling down his cheeks, "blowing the place up with Mayven inside and then just walk away, like it was nothing!"
This was killing Heero inside, but he had to hold firm. What would it look like if he just broke down? No, she trusted him to do as she asked and stay strong for Duo. "It's not that I find it easy," Heero said, letting his eyes fall from the dust and ruble to the ground at his feet, "but it was what I had to do."
Duo wasn't mad, no he had walked right over mad and went straight to pissed off, "Not everything is a damned mission Heero!" he cried, hands clenched into tight fists, "this wasn't a game!"
Heero knew that he was right, and having to do that to her brought him back to the first time that he had killed an innocent, the little girl that had been walking her dog. He could still remember the sound of the explosion that killed her and it sounded too much like the one that had just taken Mayven's life. The combination of the two was enough to bring tears to Heero's eyes as he thought of that day and how it had resembled this one a great deal and he didn't bother wipe the tears away as they fell down his cheeks to rest on the ground at his feet.
"Don't kill him now." Duo gasped, recognizing the voice as he turned to the left and saw Mayven standing there, a little bruised up and covered from head to toe in dust and grim, "He was only doing as I asked," she added with a smirk, winking at Heero as she walked up and hugged Duo tightly, felling his grip tighten as he buried his face into her shoulder. She let him go after a moment, walking over to Heero with a smile, "And I owe you a thank you for not backing down." She brought a hand up and swiped the single tear that remained on his cheek away with her thumb.
"You're welcome," he replied, pulling away from her touch with a smirk and a touch of red hitting his cheeks; he was crying? Man, this girl did manage to get to him, "but why did you have to go back? The plan went off without a hitch."
Mayven sighed, "But I over looked something." She said, scuffing the tip of her boot into the dirt at her feet, "I had one friend in there, and I promised him that if I ever got out and found a way to destroy them, that I would help him out." She sighed at how easily she had forgotten, "I went back, got him out of the base through the emergency exit, letting him go his way and I mine." Heero nodded as Duo walked up and hugged her from behind, holding her tightly as he sighed.
"Let's go back home." Mayven nodded, and pulled away hesitantly.
"Which is what I wanted to talk to you about," she said bringing her eyes to his, "I'm not going back to Relena's house." Duo's eyes crashed for the second time that day, "I have a house—well it was my family's house before all of this started—and I want to go back there."
Duo swallowed hard, "I understand," he said simply, knowing that if he said anymore his voice would certainly break.
"No, you don't!" she said taking his hand. "While inside the base got word that they found your old house and that it's leveled," everyone else gasped this time, "My house has four bedrooms, an office and lots of room—my mother wanted a big family—and I want all of you to come home with me." She saw Duo's eyes light up, telling her that he was fine with the idea, which forced her to turn to Heero, the obvious leader, "You would have your personal space, and it's only a couple of blocks from Relena's house, so you could still see her." Mayven awaited his response, her eyes pleading with his.
They had gone shopping the next morning, using the insurance money from Mayven's mother and brother—which she was finally able to claim—to by everything the now permanently ex-Gundam pilots would need to live full and productive lives.
Heero had lived with them for only a couple of weeks when he made the first step in a public relationship with Relena and moved in with her, Duo had stayed with Mayven and they went into a full relationship—including an engagement—Trowa and Quatre both admitted their feelings for one another and also went into a relationship and Wufei stayed at the house in his own little corner of the building, quiet as always.
The couples did lunch every other week, which was great for them all to keep the friendships alive and well and was a great time for everyone to keep in touch with what was going on in the other's life. They had all sat down on afternoon, eating and talking when Relena began a conversation, turning to Heero after she had ordered her meal.
"What would you think about having children one day?" she asked, her eyes not telling him anything about the suddenness of her question.
"I don't know, I suppose someday," he replied, sipping at his warm coffee before asking a question of his own, "Why?"
Relena seemed too simple at this response, "Well, it's someday," she replied, "Heero, I'm pregnant!"
THE END
Well that's it for this story. Part two is in the planning stage and shouldn't be too long getting posted. Hope you enjoyed it.
R&R plz