Chapter 11
Wufei charged madly through a group of Virgos blocking his way to Treize. "Get out of my way!" He yelled.
Treize, seeing the Altron, approached the Gundam slowly. The Tallgeese II paused in its tracks as it waited for the Altron to finish battling the mobile dolls.
Wufei glanced at his viewscreen, noticing the Tallgeese II waiting patiently. He quickly dispatched the remaining mobile dolls with a blast from his Dragon Fang.
Treize aimed his weapon at Wufei's Gundam. Altron leaped backwards, fired back, and missed by a mile.
Treize chuckled. "What are you shooting at? I'm over here."
"Shut up!" Wufei growled.
Treize hardly did that. "Once there was a time when fights were finished with the touch of a button. The embodiment of that blasphemy is the mobile dolls and their directors aboard the Libra. If you take humanity out of the equation, victory and defeat will become something deplorable. God will not reach out his hand to either side."
The Altron swung its beam trident at the Tallgeese, but the Gundam ducked underneath the staff weapon.
Wufei was in a rage. "How dare you use your pretty speeches on me! The battles have spread because of you and many have died! I alone should be a satisfactory opponent!"
Treize nodded as he released the Tallgeese's gun from his Gundam's hand. "You're right." The Tallgeese pulled out its beam saber.
"Are you ready for me, Treize?" Wufei yelled loudly.
"Of course, but I won't make any allowances this time!" Treize replied as the Tallgeese raised its beam saber to attack position.
Duo stopped in one of the Libra's airlocks. He glanced back at the professors trailing him. "What now?"
Doctor J came up beside Duo. "First off, conduct us to Peacemillion."
Duo looked surprised. "Peacemillion?"
Professor G spoke up. "Everything is going just as Zechs has planned. We have to reach the Peacemillion and alter its course."
Duo could not have looked more shocked. "As Zechs planned...? He can't."
Doctor J shook his head. "He's dead set on targeting the earth. The remuneration of our sins will be accomplished if we can stop this."
Duo nodded, finally understanding what they wanted to do. "I gotcha. Follow me."
The Gundam pilot and the five professors continued down the hall. Duo was going to need his Deathscythe.
Quinze was beginning to look edgy. He kept walking over to the crewman monitoring the Libra's approach to Earth.
"Is the wave course prognosis ready?" He asked.
"Yes. We will hit the earth on our present course. There is a 69 probability that we'll hit one of the northern hemisphere continents. The energy that will be discharged is approximated at around 6,000 megatons."
"Does that satisfy you, Zechs?" Quinze asked the image on the main viewscreen.
"That's more than enough, Quinze. If Peacemillion and Libra are dropped on that blue planet, the seasons will terminate and a long winter will descend." Zechs did not look one bit happy about what he was saying.
Even Quinze had no idea what was going through Zechs' head right now. And it frightened Quinze in a way.
"But this calculation is based on the fact that the Peacemillion's engines are completely inoperative."
"The Peacemillion was once my ship, Quinze. She'll understand what I want her to do." Zechs' image disappeared.
"Yes..." Quinze muttered under his breath.
On the hull of the Libra, the Eypon and a white Taurus suit stood together.
"Can we expect the Gundams to understand as well?" Noin asked.
"Idiot. Of course, they'll get in the way." Zechs gave her an irritated look, but it hardly fazed Noin.
"Are you waiting for them?"
"They follow a different course than justice or appearances. They are professional soldiers... just as I, Zechs Marquise, am."
Heero was about to close the hatch when two slender forms appeared in the hatchway. Both Arys and Relena peeked their heads in. Heero momentarily ignored both of them until Relena spoke.
"Wait, Heero! Why do you have to go? The Libra will sink. There's no longer a reason to fight! My brother and the White Fang have lost!" Relena stepped into the light and Heero could see her face through her helmet's faceplate.
Heero glanced at Arys. "I thought I told you both to leave... now."
Arys shrugged, and Heero caught a glimpse of sadness in her eyes. He wondered what had put it there.
"Answer me, Heero!" Relena stamped her foot impatiently.
"Zechs believes otherwise, and it seems that Zechs and Treize have no intentions of calling a halt to this war. I have to go."
"Do you mean that the war will end if you go out?" Relena asked, daring him to reply with a yes.
"I will eradicate Zechs, then Treize. The war will end, and if you survive, peace will come. This is the only thing I can do for you, Relena."
Relena started at his last statement. The only thing he could do for her... The only thing... Only... Relena bowed her head. She looked at Arys, who stood beside her, looked at the pale face, saw that the gray eyes were cold and blank, saw the concerned glances Heero kept giving her. Something broke within Relena's heart and she fought to keep back the tears.
"I understand now. Goodbye, Heero." She pushed off from the cockpit hatch and drifted to the ground.
Arys made a move to follow Relena.
"Arys."
The sixth pilot turned around to see that Heero was gazing at her with something unfamiliar in his eyes. She could not tell what it was. She had never seen that look there before. He stepped into the hatch opening. Arys met him there, looking down at the floor, unable to meet his eyes.
"Arys... say something."
She shook her head.
Heero sighed in exasperation and put his arms around her as best he could in the space suit he was wearing. Arys looked up into Heero's eyes. Even through the faceplate of his helmet she could see their brilliance. They were intensely blue and there was a sternness in them she wasn't used to.
"What's wrong with you, Arys?" Heero asked, his voice lowered to a whisper.
"Please, don't let it be you who must die, Heero," Arys said softly. "I couldn't bear it. I've been trying to bear the idea for the past two hours, but I couldn't, I just couldn't..." Her voice trailed off as it grew hoarse with emotion.
Heero wished he could pull off her helmet and touch her face, but the lack of atmosphere in the hangar bay prevented that. He smiled at her instead. "I promise to come back to you."
She gave him a trembling smile in return. "You'd better." She shrugged out of his grasp and stepped back. "Now, go. Zechs is waiting for you."
Arys jumped off the platform and drifted to the ground. Heero watched as she joined Relena on the ground and the two girls walked out of the hangar bay. He backed into his cockpit, put his helmet back on, and triggered the hatch closed. Soon, he was heading for outer space, and his duel with Zechs.
Dorothy placed a helmet over her head. The mobile doll control room lit up yellow around them. Quatre glanced around him in surprise. He recognized the golden glow of the screens.
"This room..." He began.
"...is the Mobile Doll Control Room." Dorothy finished for him with a smug grin.
Quatre shook his head. "No, that's not it. This room feels like the Zero System."
"That's correct. The Zero system and the Mobile Doll controls are directly connected. You should know then that the Mobile Dolls are under the control of my fighting will now." Dorothy tossed him a fencing foil.
Quatre caught the foil in his hand and faced Dorothy warily. "What are you saying?"
"Duel with me, Quatre Winner. In a straight Zero-System fight, I lost; but I wonder about this time. You decided to fight of your own free will, didn't you?" Dorothy asked, tipping her head to the side curiously.
"I'd rather not, if it's at all possible. But if I don't, you won't surrender and this war won't end." Quatre positioned himself in a swordsman's stance.
"Let's see which is superior, unenhanced human reflexes or Zero System optimized." Dorothy lunged toward him, but Quatre dodged the attack and grabbed Dorothy's sword.
He gazed at her sadly. "Why do you love war? Why are you going so far as to do this?" He let go of her foil.
Dorothy smirked at him as she stepped forward, her fencing foil raised. "Gentle Quatre, why do you fight?" She jabbed her sword at him.
"My family! I fight to protect my family, to keep them from getting hurt!" Quatre parried her thrust with one of his own.
Dorothy danced back. "My father also fought and died to protect me, so I will
die fighting beautifully as well!" She attacked again, and Quatre copied her last move, dancing backwards.
"Then you ought to hate war!"
"No! Catastrophe and murder can't be blamed on war! We must overpower the enemy that lies within our hearts!" Each word was punctuated by a jab into Quatre's defense. He blocked every one expertly.
"I believe peace is more powerful than war! I believe in those who want peace!" Quatre stated indignantly as he moved forward, testing out Dorothy's defense.
"I ask you; you say that you fight for the people... What have they done for you in return?"
"I'm not in this war for the gain, Dorothy." Quatre's usually gentle blue eyes were filled with a righteous anger.
"That's why you're so stupid!"
Quatre leaped forwards, shoving Dorothy right into the wall. He glared at her. She only stared back at him. Then, the anger drained from his eyes and he let go of her, stepping back with his sword lowered.
"Please stop, Dorothy," Quatre said softly.
His quiet voice only made Dorothy more angry. She realized that she hated this boy with the loving heart, the forgiving heart. He had the heart of a noble, and she, Dorothy Catalonia, had a black heart that lived for war. For a moment, she wished she had a heart like Quatre's, but it quickly passed.
Dorothy covered up her pain with a cynical laugh. "The colonies betrayed the Gundams. The colonists killed your father! And, understanding nothing, they declared their independence! Everything that you've fought for has been for nothing! The consequences of worrying for others, the result of too much consideration for others, that has led to this horrible state of affairs!"
Quatre remained silent. He shook his head, choosing not to listen to her words.
The air was silent as the two girls walked down the hallway toward one of the shuttle bays. Heero had called in to Sally before he left, and she had relayed that they were evacuating through bay number four. They had said they would wait for Relena.
"What is it like, Arys?" Relena's question caught Arys off-guard.
The pilot's head tipped up, and Arys glanced at Relena in confusion. "What is what like?"
Relena continued staring into the darkness ahead of them. "What is it like to be loved by him?"
Arys hesitated and would not answer. Relena stopped walking and put a hand on Arys' shoulder. "Arys, please, I want to know."
"Are you sure?" Arys' voice was uncertain.
Relena nodded.
Arys looked down at the ground. "It's like a dream, Relena. A dream I never thought would happen." Her head tilted up again. "I...I'm sorry. That's all I can think of..." Arys' eyes widened, and she whirled around, drawing her gun as she did so. Her eyes darted about nervously, trying to see into the darkness.
"Arys, what?"
"Get down!" Arys dove on top of Relena, knocking her behind a pillar attached to the wall.
Bullets began flying by the pillar, scraping parts of it off onto the floor. Arys covered Relena with her body. The bullets suddenly stopped. Relena pushed herself up, but Arys motioned for her to get back down.
"They're reloading..." Arys whispered. "When I say go, run, Relena, as fast as you can. Get to the shuttle bay."
The raven-haired pilot leaped out from behind the pillar and began firing blindly in the direction of their assailants. "Go, Relena!"
Relena jumped to her feet and ran down the hallway toward the shuttle bay they were looking for. She heard more shots behind her, heard the thud of two bodies hitting the ground. Then, a third. After that, it was silent. Relena's ears registered that third thud. She turned around.
"Arys?" She said under her breath.
She went back the way she had come. Two men lay on the ground at the intersection of two hallways. They were completely still. Arys was sitting against the pillar they had hidden behind to avoid the bullets. She was holding her shoulder with one hand and breathing hard.
Relena bent down and put a hand on Arys' uninjured shoulder. "Arys?"
Arys started slightly when she heard Relena's voice. She glared up at the girl. "I thought I told you to run!"