Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.


World 2 World
Chapter VIII: The Revelation

"For all we know, the mobile dolls came from Earth and you are just trying to frame us!"

"How dare you insinuate that we would do something like that? All the evidence points to the colonies!"

"Gentlemen, please," Relena began, standing up and staring down hard at the delegates. "Let us discuss this issue as mature adults and not make any unnecessary accusations. The mobile dolls were most likely sent by terrorists trying to disrupt the peace we have fought so hard to protect and preserve. And they seem to be succeeding."

Seeing that Relena had the conference back under control, Heero relaxed from his tense position and leaned back into the shadows. His mind wondered to last night, how he and Umi sat up and talked early into the morning. He told her, a young girl he'd known for a few days, so much about his past. He recalled how he felt stupid and weak for revealing so much, and he had told her so. And even now, he could remember the exact words of her reply.

"Trust is not a weakness, but rather a strength. If you close yourself from others and never trust anyone, then your enemy has won—you cannot be so fearful of your enemy that you do not allow yourself to ever trust or love. It takes great strength to be able to trust another human being."

Heero found much truth in her words—of course he didn't tell her that. Fortunately she had sensed that he didn't want to continue the topic of conversation, so she began talking about herself. He seemed to recall her talking about some boy called Ascot who she looked upon like a little brother, although from her accounts, Heero doubted the boy saw her in the same light. But even more disturbing was that she mentioned someone else, an older man, and it seemed like she wanted to avoid that topic altogether because she immediately changed the subject when she realized what she was saying. Heero wanted to know more about this man who she seemed to have feelings for, but he also didn't want to pry or it might seem as if he cared too much. Not that he cared for her at all.

"Heero!"

Heero snapped out of his thoughts to see Relena standing in front of him, a concerned look on her face. He glanced around the room to notice that all the other delegates and guards had left. He frowned inwardly at having been so distracted by thoughts of that blue-haired girl.

"What?"

"I asked if you wanted to grab some lunch before we head back to Quatre's."

"No."

Heero wanted to sleep and hopefully rid his mind of such trivial matters. After all, he had a threat to deal with and he needed to be in good physical and mental health if he wanted to solve this problem.


"No."

Dorothy stared incredulously at the man in front of her.

"Excuse me? Did you just say no?"

Heero merely stared at the short blonde woman. He had just returned from a four-hour conference where supposedly mature politicians screamed at each other like tantrum-throwing toddlers, and all he wanted was to sleep for a few hours.

"I gave you a mission and you declined?"

Heero glared at her in annoyance.

"But that means you'll fail the mission."

"There is no mission."

Heero crossed his arms in defiance. Only Lady Une could assign him missions.

"Actually, as of a few minutes ago, you were assigned as our protective detail."

Heero narrowed his eyes. He was not informed of this.

"It's true. You can ask Quatre."

Heero continued to glare at her suspiciously.

"Since Relena has enough protection from Zechs and Noin, you are technically assigned to the girls. After all, they'll need a strong man like yourself to watch their backs."

Heero's eye twitched as he suppressed the urge to punch his friend's girlfriend.

"I doubt you'd want to trail after Quatre and I—although I wouldn't mind another man to carry my things."

Heero glowered at her. Like hell he would want to carry all her stuff for her.

"Or did you want to be with Relena? That can be arranged as well."

Heero growled, causing Dorothy to laugh at his dilemma.

"Then it's settled. You'll be with our three guests when we split up at the mall."


Heero wanted to groan at all the weight on his arms. He silently cursed Umi for encouraging Fuu to purchase all those heavy gadgets. He wondered how much money these girls had, as many of their purchases were quite expensive. But that thought quickly disappeared as Umi jerked his arm, causing him to nearly trip as he tried to readjust the weight of the bags and boxes.

"Hey! Let's go in here!"

Heero glanced around the boxes to stare at a lingerie store. He then turned his head to stare at the girl next to him.

"You want me to pick something out for you?"

"No! I just—shut up and go!"

Heero smirked even as she pushed him into the store. He knew Umi was trying to embarrass him, but obviously she didn't know that he did not embarrass—at all.

After spending a long hour in there as Umi and Hikaru laughed at Fuu's shyness, and convincing her to purchase some things that Ferio would like, they finally headed to meet up with the others for dinner.

"For a guy, you have pretty good taste in women's underwear," Umi commented as she suggestively nudged Heero in the ribs.

Heero rolled his eyes and chose to ignore her.

"He likes what Lantis likes!" Hikaru added, grinning widely. "Next time I want to buy Lantis a gift, I'll just ask Heero-kun!"

"Come to think of it, the two are quite similar," Fuu said thoughtfully. "I'm sure they would get along very well."

"I don't know about that," Umi countered. "Unless you consider silence good conversation."

"Technically, silence cannot be good conversation as silence implies that there is no conversation."

"Thank you, Fuu."

"You're welcome, Umi-san."

Suddenly, Heero dropped everything in his arms and dove towards Umi, knocking her roughly into the ground. A split second later, a loud gunshot exploded in the air and everyone around them ducked, screaming. Heero quickly leapt to his feet and took off after a running man, leaving Hikaru and Fuu to crawl to Umi in alarm.

"Umi-chan! Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, thanks. Are you two alright?"

"Yes, we're fine," Fuu answered as she checked herself over.

"What happened?" Umi asked, glancing around in fear.

"Someone tried to kill you," Hikaru answered as she pointed to a hole in the wall behind where Umi had stood before.

Umi's eyes widened and she gasped, one hand coming to rest above her rapidly beating heart. Why would anyone want to kill her? Surely they couldn't have mistaken her for Relena.

"Why would anyone want to harm Umi-san? We are not even of this world," Fuu said the last part in a low voice.

"Maybe it has something to do with that creature we saw in the vision," Hikaru whispered back, standing up and glancing around suspiciously.

"Then why did the Heaven's Tear not react?" Fuu questioned as she glanced at Umi.

"Well, I kind of left it at the jeweler's," Umi replied sheepishly. At the girls' confused expressions, she explained, "I wanted to put it on a chain, for a necklace."

"Are you girls alright?"

The three nodded as Noin ran up to them, gun in hand and Relena right next to her.

"Heero's apprehended the shooter," Dorothy informed them as she also ran up to the group, motioning for them to follow.


"Who sent you?"

The man, clutching his injured ankle, simply glared at Heero. Heero narrowed his eyes and aimed his gun at the man's knee.

"I will not repeat myself."

But the man persisted in keeping silent, choosing to glare at the three men gathered around him. Annoyed, Heero pulled the trigger, wounding the man's other knee. With a cry of pain, the man curled into a fetal position on the ground and began cursing.

"Heero! We need him alive if we want to know anything!" Quatre exclaimed, staring at the man on the floor in concern.

Heero ignored the blonde's protests and this time aimed his gun at the man's head.

"Last chance."

The man chuckled, although the sound was slightly hindered by his pained breaths. Heero narrowed his eyes and wondered if perhaps this man was possibly crazier than himself.

"You will meet our leader soon enough."

"What do you mean by that?" Milliardo demanded, noticing the girls running up to them.

"A message for you, Heero Yuy."

Heero continued to glare at the fallen man, but he was curious as to why there would be a message for him. It would probably explain why the organization was after Umi rather than Relena or Quatre.

"The Heavens, they cry for us, as if they had long since predicted our tragic fate. Perhaps we are not meant to find happiness in this world."

Heero's eyes widened a millimeter, his heart beginning to beat faster.

"What does that—"

Before Milliardo could finish his question, a red glow enveloped the man's throat and his face reddened as if he were chocking, his fingers clawing to remove the red light. After a few seconds, his entire body slackened and his struggles stopped. Milliardo bent down cautiously once the glow faded and placed his fingers on the man's neck.

"He's dead."

"What was that red glow?" Noin inquired, staring down fearfully. "You don't think we are up against a biological weapon?"

"I'm not sure," Milliardo admitted, shaking his head.

"I'll inform the Preventers," Quatre said after a few moments of uneasy silence.

"Did you see that? Did you feel that?" Hikaru whispered fervently to the other two knights.

"The same aura as that creature," Fuu affirmed. "They must know about the Heaven's Tear. That is why they tried to attack Umi-san."

However, Umi was not paying attention to their conversation—her attention was focused on Heero, who looked as stoic as ever. However, she could see the spark of shock, anxiety, and slight fear in his eyes.


Author's Notes:

Not the best chapter—not much action or movement. But that's probably due to my new obsession for UmixClef stories. That will pass soon, as do most of my obsessions. Anyways, the point of this chapter is to reveal a connection between the leader of the terrorist organization and Heero, although some of you might not have caught that. Otherwise, this was just another filler to lead up to the next chapter.

After revising this, I combined the original chapter VIII and IX, because I realized both were pretty much pointless fillers and could be shortened. So now it's a little better because there's less useless stuff and a little more revelations (hence the title), although fairly short. Not as good as some of the previous chapters, but it's necessary.

As always, please review and maybe drop a few ideas. I could always use some help in improving my writing and creativity. Thank you!