Aquarian Wings
By: A.R. Taloff
"God knows even angels fall,
No such thing as you've lost it all,
God knows even angels fall."
Chapter Six: Bells Ring Twelve
Present Time
AC 204
Mannheim GeoCity Preventers Base
Deutschlandes
SafeHouse Six
It was nearly two weeks of silence, two weeks before Midii was able to move enough to not cause inflammation or major pain. As it was, Trowa had hissed at her to sit still while he gently lifted her in his arms.
She hissed back and he threatened her with his green eyes. "Look, I realize you assume that some other man is waiting in the wings to do this to you some day, but you'll never get a decent one if you don't teach yourself to act less animalistic."
Midii gave him a dirty look. "Why would I want a guy? All they do is boss you around and pretend that they are more gentlemanly than reality proves."
Trowa rolled his eyes. "A thank-you might be nice."
"I'm not nice."
"Obvious and now noted."
"Shut-up."
"I thought those pills were supposed to tranquilize you." Trowa shot her a 'look.'
Midii stared at him with daggers in her eyes. "I decided not to take them. All Aquarius needs is for me to pass out while we're explaining everything." She took a second look at Trowa, seeing the lines that etched under his moss green eyes. Midii sighed and conceded, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry, it still hurts more than I could've imagined, and I don't really mean to be so obnoxious."
Trowa looked down at her, seeing how pale and strained she appeared. "I know."
He then completely shocked her by opening a random guest-room door and setting her down in a chair. She looked about, confused and wide-eyed. "Wh-what?"
Trowa knelt in front of her. "Midii, why did you do that?" He rethought the question. "How come you risked yourself for me?"
Midii felt her cheeks get very warm. "I, I just . . . did . . ." she stammered, then half smiled and tried to pawn off flippancy. "Can't let people get shot."
Trowa sighed and dropped his head down. "Midii, thank-you. I don't know if I ever told you that, but in case, thanks."
Midii bit her lip, there goes flippant remarks; then, against anything that the intelligent part of her brain told her to not do, she gently slid a hand down his cheek.
"Hey, what else am I good for?" she joked, smiling tentatively. "Besides, I owed you."
Trowa carefully grasped her hand. "I didn't ever expect you to keep score. It doesn't matter."
Midii looked down at the cream colored carpet. "I didn't keep score, but I don't know what I'd have done without your kindness, then . . . or now. You were the single thing that kept the Twelve from kicking me out on my butt." She gently rubbed a thumb over his knuckles. "I don't know why you've tolerated me over the years. But thanks." She closed her eyes, this wasn't going to fly. She needed to tell him. For years she had dealt with fantasy, and now . . . Midii needed to know if reality was a possibility.
"Ne, Trowa, there's something I should tell you. It's not just my medication talking now . . ." She kept her eyes downcast, knowing that at least she had finished her education; now she could find herself another job. "I seem to . . ."
Her eyes opened wide as soft lips pressed against her inner palm.
Trowa was watching her through his impossibly thick eyelashes. "I know," he whispered into her hand.
Midii felt her face get even warmer. "Oh . . ."
Trowa leaned up and kissed her lips, lightly as a butterfly would alight on a flower. "I've known for awhile now. Lady pointedly asked about you and I. She informed me that if I didn't care for you in a more than platonic way, that I should stop hanging around you so much and taking you off on just 'you and me' vacations."
Midii felt so dumb and stupefied; she knew that there should be some indignation coursing through her veins right now. Lady shouldn't be nosy, Trowa should have said something . . .
"I told her that I definitely liked you in a more than platonic sort of way. To tell you the truth, I felt very irritated that Lady could see through me that way and even more annoyed that she thought I would just take any girl to meet my sister."
Midii's eyes widened. "Your sis-. . . Catherine . . ?"
"DNA tested and proven. Catherine and I are brother and sister. Odd hands we get dealt. My real name is Triton Bloom, and that's the name I use while I'm out and about on missions." Trowa smiled softly. "Catherine and I had a weird feeling about it all when somebody from Catherine's youth asked if Triton was around, then saw me and hugged me, absolutely sure that I was her younger brother."
Midii looked at him, certain that he was not, in some subtle, wonderful, completely beautiful way, admitting that he cared for her. "Surprise, surprise."
Trowa stood, still holding her hand, still smiling softly.
Midii just stared. "So . . . you don't mind that I like you back?"
Then Trowa laughed, loud and long, and bent to scoop her up into his arms.
"No, not as long as you don't mind me liking you, either." He kissed her nose gently and carried her through the door.
Relena stood at the doorway, ushering people in while Heero and Kai worked on laptops on either side. Aquarius sat on one of the very comfortable-looking chairs.
Aquarius glanced around, noting that Lady sat on one of the two comfortable chairs left, gently spinning a plain gold band on her left ring finger. Wu Fei was sitting on the loveseat next to her chair, looking calm and detached. Her mother had the look of a trapped person on her face, fear and knowing all at once, and Aquarius knew that there was something very remarkable about this story that was to be told.
Dorothy and Quatre Raberba Winner, who were wearing more casual khakis and turtlenecks, sat on another loveseat, holding hands and whispering to each other in soft, soothing tones.
Trowa and Midii had yet to arrive, and Aquarius was beginning to get more and more anxious. She had asked her mother why Kai and Heero were working on laptops and gotten a 'You'll see.' She had asked why so many people were coming and gotten a'You'll see.'
So far, all she was seeing was a something scary and dark, something that she though she left behind at 1675 Maple Drive.
Then Trowa walked in, carrying Midii as though they had just been married, and this was their new home. He set her down on the couch and took the spot next to her, immediately taking up one of her hands and rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.
Aquarius felt funny, being here all alone. They were all gathered for a purpose. Thirteen . . . thirteen. Only eight. What were they all in together?
Heero nodded to Kai, and Kai smiled, pressing a button. Heero looked up at
Relena, and she gently shut the doors.
Kai stood and walked over past Wu Fei, and then took the seat next to him, crossing her legs and shooting him a dirty look. Wu Fei noticed, but Aquarius couldn't tell if he didn't care or just didn't bother to show his emotions.
Heero and Relena sat down on the couch that Midii and Trowa were already on;
Heero sat closest to the pair and Relena at the end. Relena scooted as close to the armrest as possible, and Heero felt like kicking himself. Or at least standing up and announcing himself as an asshole. That way Relena might talk to him because she certainly hadn't been doing much of anything around him, except talking to other people, that was.
How she must detest him . . . He couldn't blame her. Hormones weren't even the case; the first time he'd felt Relena respond to his kiss, he almost went crazy.
That first night spent together wasn't the only time they'd shared kisses. After the
Dinner Party, he asked her to dance. There was no one around to see them, no one to spread that the Preventers' best Mercenary and Cryptoanalyst was sneaking dances, and later kisses, with Vice Foreign Minister Darlian.
She had been so full of vitality that night, so amiable. And when they danced, it was perfectly amazing. She fit into his arms, as though she was supposed to -- not that he'd ever had a doubt that she wouldn't.
He'd never bothered with protection, because he'd never paused to think about it.
Rampaging hormones or not, there was no excuse . . .
After their four nights, and she had gone into bed rest, he'd wondered if how he felt about her was just a reaction to the first girl that ever told him 'no.' The first girl he'd ever wanted to completely protect. So he'd done one of the lesser acts of his life and tried dating another girl.
She was nice, pretty, and had a mind of her own. They dated for three months, in silence and without outside knowledge. After that, she'd broken it off, saying that he was 'too closed off.'
'Kissing you was great Heero, you're wonderful at that . . . but, your heart wasn't into our relationship. Mine was, I've never met a guy like you, but you don't like me, and it's pretty obvious that there must be some girl who you are trying to get over. Don't get over her. Get her back. Don't let her go.'
It was all the more advice he needed.
So he and Duo had laid down a plan to figure out how Heero and Relena could do a forever thing. How somehow, they couldmanage being married without the hype. Hence the rings. Duo had them made up by a colleague of his who worked with metals, one ring for Relena, one for Heero. Opal-stoned and silver, Sylvia had pretended that it was in Relena's mailbox, a surprise gift from one of Duo's apprentices, and they had opened it together. Relena had worn it on her ring finger. Her left hand ring finger.
And Heero had worn his on his left hand ring finger. It was like being engaged.
No one noticed, or no one bothered to say anything if they did.
Duo and Sylvia had been planning a party for one week after the 'Ring Placement' mission. Heero would announce that he was engaged to the girl who had the same ring as he. Dumb, and obvious, and downright corny, but Duo had insisted that it would work out. Sylvia insisted that Relena secretly loved those ridiculous romance novels where the 'hero' ('How ironic! Heero, you are the 'hero' of a real life romance story! Duo, love, we could write a book on how we got them together! Imagine how popular it would be, we could call it, 'The Soldier and the Heir.'') always did strange things for the woman he loved. So, of course it would work.
It might have. They would never know. Three days before the party, Duo and Sylvia had been shot to death as they answered the door.
Relena gently cleared her throat. "Thank you all, once again. I know, I know," she said, lifting a hand in appeal. "We promised this to each other, but I still appreciate it."
"Before I begin, I will assure you, jamming fields are on, and the doors are locked with a password and fingerprint check. The only people who could figure it out are people who should already be in this room."
Her eyes met with each of the seven that was there from the thirteen, then held with Aquarius's. "Aquarius, you're my daughter, and there is something that now, more than ever, you should know.
"We've been separated, us thirteen, now eleven, for so long. What a way to be reunited, though. And that is one of the reasons we should most definitely explain our pasts to you."
Relena sighed, and felt the gentle hand of Midii's on her own. "You asked me why we were all here. I guess you must've thought that I had some horrible, dirty secret that they didn't already know.
"But in truth, it's all of our secret. We share it together because we lived it together.
"Everything we are going to tell you today cannot be shared with the world. Not with your friends, not with your pets. Not with anyone who is not a part of the Thirteen.
That is your mission. To keep our pasts a secret."
Aquarius felt her stomach squeeze itself into knots. Why was her mother telling her this? "I . . . I promise, mommy . . ." shewhispered, and then Relena exhaled, relieved.
Trowa cleared his throat. "Maybe, maybe I should begin."
Aquarius stared.
"All of my life, all I have remembered is being a soldier. Being on the battlefield was my life, death my companion, and destruction my career. I lived the life that I knew. It-"
"-was there that he had the misfortune of meeting me," Midii interrupted quietly.
Trowa's eyes softened, and he held his tongue.
Midii continued, knowing that everyone but Lady and Trowa would be shocked by this new development. "Trowa found me in the woods one day, while he was scouting for spies and others."
Her gaze searched the far off past.
"He found me, and I begged him not to kill me and I was lost with no where to go. Please, I begged, offer me shelter, life, I will do anything. He didn't kill me, his mistake, I suppose."
"The weeks went by, and the attacks on the rebel forces, Trowa's group, were more and more severe, as though the Alliance knew where we hid.
"And they did, because I supplied them with the information."
Midii heard the screaming adults in her memories, as they raged against one another.
"Trowa must've suspected almost the entire time. Instead of killing me though, or ignoring me, we became an odd sort of companion to one another. I felt guilty the entire time, knowing that he would never feel any of the kindness that we shared if he knew the truth. I kept every serious, wonderful, and close moment we shared in my heart for the rest of my life."
Aquarius stared, realizing that somehow, this was true, because Midii's eyes pleaded for Trowa's forgiveness even now.
"Trowa, as I said, must've known I had something to do with it, but he waited for a long time before he said anything. I wore two things around my neck. One was a communicator; the other, a transmitter cross. I offered the cross to Trowa in the earlier times to thank him for saving me. And at the same time . . . I knew what it was . . .
"When he confronted me, it was that cross he ripped off, informing me of what he thought of me. I told him that I would do anything to feed my family.
"He threw the cross to the ground, spared my life, and left." Midii sighed, finally that was off her chest. It was no worse a trick than most had played during the revolution, but even remembering it made her mouth taste like rancid bile.
"Contrary to her belief, I kept the cross she gave me, or at least one which no longer had a decent working transmitter. A dead friend had one with a likeness, and as
Midii said, I knew long before telling her that she was a spy."
"I left her alone that day, wishing in the back of my empty soul that I hadn't."
Trowa sighed softly.
Aquarius sat silently as she let that soak in, but before barely two minutes had passed, Trowa began anew.
"From there, I went to work as a mechanic with the Barton Foundation. They were secretly planning an attack on Earth and the Alliance to gain complete rule.Mariemia, daughter of Lisa Barton and Treize Kushrenada, was to be the ruler. Most of her life, she only knew her grandfather, Dekim Barton, who never even bothered to tellTreize of his child, nor did he bother to share that he supposedly killed Lisa.
"Mariemia was the niece of Trowa Barton. The real Trowa Barton."
Aquarius gasped. Real? Then . . . who . . .
"It wasn't until the night that Trowa threatened to tattle on the designer of 03
Gundam Heavyarms for saying blasphemous things about 'Operation Meteor,' that I ever had a name."
Trowa remembered that night, how he had heard Trowa Barton's over-loud voice yelling at two people for being jealous. "The assistant, who had a family on Earth, couldn't imagine the amount of devastation that the operation planned. So he shot Trowa.
"I became that man, whether by fate or luck, I will never know. I went to earth to destroy the people that were truly hurting the colonies. The Alliance."
He looked at Aquarius, whose face held horror and astonishment.
"Yes, Riu," came the voice of Wu Fei. "The Alliance, the Gundam. We were the Gundam."
Aquarius felt her ears roar. "But . . . who?"
"I'll continue, if I may," replied the Winner millionaire. "It was when Trowa had run out of ammunition and was about to be destroyed that I and the Maguanac Corps opened fire on that same base." Quatre smiled at Trowa, and Trowa nodded.
"Trowa and I initially fought, both believing that the other was an enemy. I felt it was wrong and shut down my mobile suit and came out of the cockpit. I said what I felt. That our suits were too alike, that we shouldn't be fighting. Then he came out."
Quatre looked at Riu, who was eyeing him with a worse look than Trowa had received. Quatre knew that his face now wasn't the smiling one that he had previously bore, but a more serious one, filled with memories.
Of painful memories.
"My father had immigrated to space, and because of the threat space life had on women's ability to bear pregnancy, he and my mother had used intense contraceptives, and instead of having womb babies, had test-tube babies." Quatre sighed, remembering all that had occurred so many years ago. "I never felt good about myself, and I suppose, had I known the truth of my existence, I would have felt worse.
"The truth was that I killed my mother. She died during my birthing, and to keep me from feeling terrible about my existence, my father had been hard on me, just as he was on my other sisters. I was my father's 'heir.' Big deal. I hated him. I hated myself more. I was a terrible spoiled brat, and I knew it. It wasn't until I met the Maguanacs that I shaped up. That I took pride in myself.
"They captured our ship and the small satellite, MO-III, nearest to it. They were protesting to the Alliance, who sent them there to work under detention, with little to no pay and families at home. In the end, I learned that you weren't where you were brought up, test tube or womb. You were who you made yourself. It took Rashid slapping me to get that across my self-pitying attitude and realize that I had my head up my . . . ass."
Quatre fidgeted a little, afraid to see the look on Riu's face now. It was harder than he thought, without Duo there. This girl was his niece though, he'd better get use to explaining their pasts. Especially if . . .
"I decided that I would become someone who could handle himself. I went out with a Maguanac suit that day. Later, after meeting again with the strange 'mad-scientist'I had first met on MO-III, I came back to Earth with Gundam Sandrock, determined to right the injustices that had led my friends to such desperate means. The Maguanacs were waiting."
Quatre sighed, signalling the end of his story, or what he felt like describing at that point in time.
Dorothy gently kissed his hand and then she turned to Aquarius. "I will be out of place if I go now, but I will none the less say my part."
Dorothy seemed even more uneasy with what she had to say. "I was the cousin of Treize Kushrenada, and the Granddaughter of Duke Dermail. I used my position, my wealth, whatever power I could grasp, and played with people's minds. I was drawn to the Sanq Kingdom, to toy with the peaceful world they created. It was there where I would meet Heero Yuy and Quatre Raberba Winner. After a time, I knew that my grandfather was getting fed up with the Sanq Kingdom's pious behavior; they had even started up a school where public officials of all the countries could send their children to attend in privacy, a place where they could learn pacifism. I offered to go, under the guise of peaceful ambassador from Romefeller, another facet of OZ. There, I met two more pawns. Heero Yuy and Quatre Raberba Winner, two mysterious boys who piloted the chaos causing Gundam 01 and 04. From there, I helped bring the devastation of the newly reformed Sanq Kingdom."
Dorothy took a steadying breath.
"I brought Relena to Romefeller's headquarters, and placed the spark of an idea into those fool's heads. Make Relena Peacecraft into Queen Relena, ruler of Earth, and let her play into the deeper pool of politics. Unfortunately, grandfather began to detest this decision. Relena was throwing the weight of Romefeller behind Pacifism now, and the Duke was losing the control he wanted.
"So he plotted to kill her. An assassination of Relena would obviously point in his direction, so I did what I thought was smart. I sent him into space, straight into an attack from White Fang. He would die honorably, without placing shame in the family. Without making me lose my power.
"The death of my grandfather meant the release of Relena, and the change of the tides. Treize regained power of Romefeller, and Relena and I went into space. Of course, I went in a different shuttle, one that would take me to Libra, White Fang's base, more quickly. I wanted to have time to play with the leader of White Fang's, Zechs Marquise's mind; to see if I could turn him more against his sister before she got there."
Dorothy chanced a look at Aquarius, who still watched with even more horror.
Dorothy knew that her mistakes were terrible, and could only be overshadowed by two other's confessions, but it was doubtful that Aquarius would even deign to speak to any of them by the end of this meeting.
"I had little effect on him, because he had already discovered what beliefs he wanted to uphold, and when Relena arrived, he saw her. But only to tell her to leave him alone, and escape earth. Then, when I escorted Relena to her room on Libra, I locked her in it."
Dorothy wrung her hands. "Couldn't have her screwing up my lovely war.
"Then, Heero rescued Relena, and although it was a slight loss, I took it in stride. We had created the ultimate mobile doll system, where one strategist could control entire fleets of dolls with one control panel, with the Zero System installed."
"Our first battle, I lost to one man. Quatre Raberba Winner. It was the most amazing thing on earth. How I had lost to him? How could he win? How could he, the weakest of the Gundam Pilots, beat me?
"In the last battle, I challenged Quatre to a duel, and using the Zero System I won. By stabbing Quatre in the stomach. And then Trowa showed up, I guess to stop me. He told me that Treize had been killed."
Dorothy felt the tears start to form, and she dashed them away. "I didn't ever think that those two would be so stubborn. Stubborn enough to die. I wanted to sink into the depths of Hell when he told me that. And to make it worse, I couldn't cry. Trowa's parting words remained emblazoned on my mind for the rest of my life;
'How sad . . . a woman who can't cry.'
I heard those words, and still hear them, taunting me." The tears came again when
Dorothy saw that Aquarius looked terrified Oh god, what am I, to make a child look that way . . . "Even when I taunted the people who watched Mariemia take over, telling them they deserved to live under tyranny if they had no desire to fight for freedom."
Dorothy looked at Trowa, who was shocked that his words, spoken in anger and insult, could have had that much of an effect on the woman who sat next to his best brother. She looked haggard, her eyes haunted. He had helped with that pain.
Quatre put his arms around Dorothy and held her to him, kissing her hair and rubbing her back gently.
"I shall tell my story next," Wu Fei said softly.
Kai did not look at him, and somehow, that was not what he wished and at the same time what he needed. Her understanding.
"I was fourteen when I married Meiren of the Dragon Clan."
If the room hadn't stilled when Trowa told of his murdering Trowa Barton, or when Dorothy had told of killing her grandfather out of selfishness, it did when Wu Fei talked of his marriage.
"She wasn't pleased with the match. I wish I had cared, but as my nickname implied, I was 'that Scholar Boy.' I cared more for learning, less for the arguing, the sword-fighting, and the other pomp that went with being an heir. Meiren was angered by this, and one day, challenged me to a fight."
"I won."
"Meiren was amazed, shocked in fact, that I could beat her. She always called herself the strongest of the Dragon Clan, even going as far as to call herself Nataku, the God of Justice.
"I had already met Dr. O, because he was building the Tallgeese I and Shenlong on our colony."
Wu Fei kept his eyes trained on the wall past Trowa's head, and Kai's eyes were fixated on her knees, trying to keep herself from shaking.
Wu Fei's been married . . . married . . .
"We were attacked by the Alliance force OZ, with Treize as the leader. It was planned biological warfare, plain and simple, but we didn't know that at the time. I wish we had. So many lives would've been saved.
"Meiren immediately went to fight in the Tallgeese I, but that idiot was too stubborn to realize most grown men could not handle the Tallgeese I, much less a little girl like herself. Stupid . . .stupid."
"Dr. O told her as much, and in defiance, she denounced herself as a woman, and was re-titled Nataku. Nataku went outside into the colony to destroy the rogue suits, soon realizing that she was ruining the flowers, Nataku moved the battle to space.
"As much as I disliked the concept of piloting such a destructive thing, I realized one thing." Wu Fei sighed gently. "I was not coward enough to stand by while my wife was murdered."
Kai gently fisted her hands, carefully hiding her anxiety. . . . while my wife was murdered . . . wife . . .
"She fought valiantly, but was no match, and soon I placed myself between her and another suit. She yelled for me to let her fight, and I told her to leave. Once again she argued, and I told her to listen to me, wasn't it a wife's job to obey her husband? Nataku left.
"Stupid . . . stupid idiot."
Wu Fei fought the emotions that washed through him. "The second I was disabled though, Nataku returned, ramming Tallgeese I into the Leo. They exploded, and I had to find Meiren in the debris. If she had just . . . listened . . . then she would . . ."
He took a breath. "I took her back to the field of flowers she had protected. She told me that she thought I was strong. Stronger than her.
"And then she died."
Wu Fei looked up to see Aquarius's eyes water again, tears spilling onto those pale cheeks. How many more tears will be shed?
He sighed and continued, slowly, remembering the hurt as though it were fresh in his mind.
"I ran away after discovering Operation Meteor, to space, to Earth, running from the pain, from the world I knew to the world I needed to find . . . the world that suddenly no longer made any sense. I felt as though I had been betrayed by fate, by the Gods. As though it were a cruel joke. I searched the bowels of Hell, and ransacked the souls of Heaven. Only to discover if men and women had it in their hearts to be free.
"I became evil, and goaded Demons. All for the sake of knowing who, what, where, I wanted to be, to think, to go."
"I am not saying that the pain of killing and the losses I've suffered have been in vain, or allowable, but because of them I've discovered what those who died, died for. What they taught me, they wrote in books with ink created from their blood. I now know what I wish I had known then. Perhaps then so many lives would not have been lost for my learning."
"Perhaps she would not have died."
Wu Fei held his head high, and Kai stared at the coffee table in front of her feet and legs. She wished that she had caffeine; even coffee grounds would have helped her get a grip on her shaking hands. Wu Fei the strong, the serious, the corny funny one. The one she launched scrambled eggs at, the man she'd fallen head over heels for because he was handsome and sweet. Which one was the real Wu Fei? Did he wish for Meiren? How could Kai even begin to compare to a woman who had fought in the great battle . . . how could she even come close to the bravery that that young woman of 14 had shown . . . Kai was nothing. She had never really battled. She had never felt the cold steel of indifference. Kai was a bureaucrat. Someone who played with guns and preached peace and pretended that they could handle shooting someone, while inside they prayed to have the luck not to.
Wu Fei once again met Relena's eyes, which were blurry with tears. He realized what the knowledge had cost her. Relena the Strong, the Brave. The one who would stand up after the world had gone crazy and hold the hands of the fearful and tell them that it would be all right. She cried for his pain and grief, and not for her own.
He could see Kai concentrating on the berber carpeting and the coffee table with all her might. Gods, how would things between them change now?
Aquarius was trying to logically piece all this together in her mind. The biological warfare of OZ on Colony L5 - political history; she remembered the lesson well. The two mysterious Gundam had magically appeared out of nowhere to stop the plan from getting underway. Deaths had been numerous, but compared to other battles, the rate was paltry, if the killing of civilians was considered as such.
Wu Fei's wife had been part of the death rate. Did that make him the heir to the Dragon Clan?
Heero cleared his throat softly, wishing that Relena would hold him, touch his knee, his arm. Anything, for that matter, because he needed her strength right now. He had been trying to impress Aquarius since he'd met the inquisitive and serious young girl. With all the information he would give her, he might as well have shot Relena because Aquarius would never let him near her, or her mother. Not that Relena would even listen to him right now.
"I was always an assassin-in-training," he said.
Relena bit her tongue. Heero's voice didn't have the steely edge of cold apathy it used to. Now he had regret. Now he had pain. Now there was emotion, and Relena didn't know how to take it.
"I guess I still am. At one point in time, people considered me to be an assassin. I wonder if they realize the true and amazing power and training it takes to be a perfect assassin. You are always learning because things are always changing. Passwords, technology, methods. Everything is becoming more efficient, more clean-cut and cold. That is why I was always in training. Nothing ever remains constant."
"I am Heero Yuy. That is my code name, one which will remain my name, simply because I do not remember what people called me, other than 'you' or 'kid.' I piloted Wing Gundam 01 and Wing Gundam Zero. I've killed millions just because I felt justified in doing so. I killed to make the colonies and all people safe and free. That is the way of it. I attempted suicide to keep my secrets safe, and that was justifiable to myself."
Relena tried not to think too much on the words or pain that spilled out of Heero's perfect mouth, or the fact that her resolve was deteriorating. She loved Heero, yes. But did he love her? Could he love her after all that she had done, after how she had failed him?
No.
"I worked very hard to do what I perceived as 'the Right Thing To Do.' I fought my battles, protected the world in the little ways I could. I became human, because of the woman I loved."
There were no gasps emitted from the people in the room. Everyone knew it was Relena. Everyone knew he loved her.
And yet, Relena sat quietly on the sofa next to him, regal and indifferent. The hurt and wonder she felt was disguised by her façade, often called 'the Mask of the Steel Butterfly.'
Aquarius stared at the two of them and wondered if Aramis was their child. Aramis. Poor child. Why didn't Relena accept him as hers? What was the secret that Heero and Relena held between them?
Heero sighed softly. "There is not much to the telling of my story, it is the same as the others, horror-filled and bullet-ridden. Aquarius, I am the only monster in this room. The only one who killed innocents," he paused and held up a hand as the other three ex-pilots made motion to speak. "Though it may have been mistake, it still haunts my soul. I am a walking closet, filled with skeletons of the men and women I have destroyed."
Relena bit back the tears and the pain that rose up inside her. She looked down and caught a glimpse of his hands.
They were shaking. Tiny tremors of fear.
Heero.
Heero watched as Aquarius's eyes grew hard and angry. Angry at him. His only link to Relena was dying on the vine, and he knew it. Then he felt cool fingers lace through his own. Cool, smooth-skinned fingers, forfeit of jewelry. He didn't look at the woman next to him; he would lose his mind if he did.
"The fifth Gundam pilot is 02. Deathscythe Hell Custom's pilot." Relena felt Heero's fingers hold tighter. "Duo Maxwell lived a life of misfortune, say some; I say that he loved living, and in that, gave everyone hope, even when there was none."
Heero looked around at the faces of his friends and continued where Relena left off. "He was the best of us and sometimes the worst. He was our brother."
Quatre smiled. "There was never a dull moment when Duo was with any of us. It was in him to be the Robin Goodfellow of us five."
Relena smiled, knowing that tears gathered thick in her eyes. "Duo was orphaned at birth, and then he was taken in by a gang of street children. A few years later, those children died when a plague destroyed nearly all the poverty-stricken. The rich," she spat angrily, "the rich were given vaccines, while the destitute died in agony.
"Duo somehow managed to survive the sickness and was then sent to live in a Catholic church. There he met the only two people that he ever thought of as parental figures. Sister Helen and Father Maxwell.
"Four years after Duo was given sanctuary, the church and its people were bombed. It is known, on colony 02, as the Maxwell Church Bombing. For months, Duo drifted, until he ran into Professor G, the creator of Gundam Deathscythe. In the Gundam, Duo found a family."
The tears ran freely down her cheeks now, and Relena remembered how much she missed Sylvia and Duo.
Heero let out a tense breath and nodded. "Duo met one of Relena's best friends at a party four months after the Great Wars ended. Her name was Sylvia Noventa.
"Duo never shut up about Sylvia; he loved her, and he'd spend hours talking about her personality and her hair and her eyes and her fingers. He was so wrapped up in her, that he asked her to marry him . . . about two months later.
"Everybody was glad that two of the Thirteen were getting married, and so we all showed up. The wedding was huge. Duo would have it no other way."
Relena nodded softly. "Sylvia bore a child seven months later, with her light blonde hair and Duo's eyes." Her eyes held Aquarius's. "Aramis Jonathan Maxwell was born on a Tuesday, February 15."
"In AC 199, shortly before they tucked Aramis into bed, their doorbell rang, Sylvia answered it, with Duo on her heels. They were shot on sight, left to bleed to death on the front steps of their Dublin Mansion."
Relena sighed softly. "There was nothing anyone could do. However, there have been other attempts at . . . some others."
Aquarius narrowed her eyes and cocked her head gently, an act ignored by the Vice Foreign Minister.
Heero didn't miss it, but he continued, explaining what he knew of Aramis after his parents had been shot to death. "Aramis was found behind the sofa of the living room. From what we gather, both from his psychological state of mind then and now in the face of what happened, he witnessed his parents' death." Heero passed a hand over his forehead, and he once again felt Relena's fingers squeeze lightly.
"There are things that Aramis will be told when he is older, Riu, but until then, he is not to know of the stories that we tell." Wu Fei's voice wasn't flat; it carried a soft warning that panged in Aquarius's mind.
Aquarius stared at the one called Lady Une and let herself stare the woman down.
Lady began to sit up when the alarm began to scream. Someone was trying to break in.
Relena stared at the door of the room and immediately reached out to her daughter. Heero pulled them both behind the large couch and told them to stay there, no matter what. Relena started to reach for his second gun, holstered under the loose suit jacket he wore, and found Heero's hand gripping her wrist gently. He leaned down and she felt his lips brush her earlobe and nearly felt herself melt.
Nearly.
"You have to stay here and protect your daughter, stay here to be a safety net for Aramis." Heero allowed himself a whiff of her scent. Soft roses and dew. Moonlight and sweetness. God, he would die for her a thousand times but knew that to live for her he would have to survive.
His face hovered close to hers, and he gave her the Beretta, then stared at her and mouthed the words Relena never heard or saw because gunfire erupted from both sides of the door.
"I love you."
