Crossroads
Chapter One
Lady Une watched as the snow fell. It had been almost a year since the Mariemaea incident, and things were just settling down. The Gundams were gone, the pilots of said Gundams were going on with their lives, and peace was established between the colonies and earth. Yet, she couldn't seem to let go of the past. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw Treize's Tallgeese II explode; it was as vivid as the day it had happened.
"Lady Une? Are you all right?" a voice asked. Une turned to find Mariemaea standing there, with concern on her childish features.
"I'm fine. Couldn't you sleep?" Une asked, touched that the young girl had sensed her sorrow.
"No. I kept dreaming about father. I wish I could have met him." Mariemaea murmured, with honest longing in her voice.
"I do too. He would have loved you." Une said, ignoring the slight sting in her eyes as she said that. For a long moment, the two were silent, then Une turned and looked down at her adopted daughter. Even after all this time, the girl still called her 'Lady Une', and she wondered why. But she never asked, since she decided that she would let Mariemaea work out whatever difficulty she had on her own; that was what Treize had always done.
"I wish you could have seen her, Treize-sama. I wish you were here." Une thought, as Mariemaea grasped her hand and they both stood watching the snow drift down.
"It's snowing again." One man said, as he and his fellow workers took their usual coffee break.
"It's winter, what did you expect?" another said, as he took a long sip of his coffee. Then they all turned to the youngest member of their group.
"Ne, Nanashi, what do you think of the weather?" the first man asked.
"More cold weather to work in." the man called Nanashi sighed, a slight air of frustration in his voice as he said that. The other men chuckled.
"True enough. Don't you have a family to go back to for the holidays?" the first man, who went by the name of Kuno, asked. Nanashi shook his head.
"If I did, I would have gotten a better job. As it is, I don't have enough money to even have a Christmas dinner for myself, much less a wife or children." Nanashi said, morosely.
"Aye, that is a problem, yet, didn't you have a family before you were found?" the second man asked, curiously.
"I don't remember. All of my life from before I was found in that destroyed mobile suit is a blank slate in my mind. That's why I have the name Nanashi, since I can't even remember my true name." Nanashi said, sadly.
"I'm sorry I brought that up, lad. I know it is a touchy subject for you." The second man said, guiltily.
"Don't worry about it, Kaspian. I know that you and the rest of the crew would like to know more about me, but I don't even know the answers to your questions. I wish I did, though." Nanashi murmured, then looked up when the whistle announcing the next shift sounded.
"Time to go back to work, mates! Mr. Maxwell doesn't give out paychecks for nothin' ya know!" another of the crew said, as he got a unanimous agreement from his crewmates for a response. As Nanashi stood and stretched, he got a glimpse of himself in the old mirror at the end of the mess hall. He was tall, with brown hair and penetrating blue eyes. His skin was pale, and smudged with dirt from working long hours in the cramped confines of a sweeper ship. He wore old, second-hand clothing that had seen better days, and a small, grey, kepi-like cap over his disheveled hair. The only new things he had on were his boots, and they were already scuffed up. Yet, despite all this, his crewmates noticed that he carried himself with a grace that wasn't often seen in the working class.
"He's almost like an aristocrat. He walks with his head high and his back straight. I wonder who he was before?" Kuno wondered, as he watched Nanashi work his way towards his small, one-person ship. He could remember when the younger man had been found; the sweepers had been moving slowly through the area where the Eve War had taken place, and were finding some mobile suits that still had bodies in them. He remembered the older men's reactions when they had found the bodies of so many young men; some had wept, while others said prayers for the families of the young soldiers. Still others had expressed some anger at seeing so many good boys die young. Then a small miracle had occurred; they found Nanashi. He was in critical condition when they had found him; burns adorned his chest and the tops of his legs, and long, dagger-like pieces of glass were imbedded in his abdomen, chest and shoulders. Blood soaked what remained of his uniform, making it very difficult to determine what color it had been originally. It had been an absolute miracle that he'd survived at all.
"Yet, he's here. The only thing that hasn't recovered is his memory. I wonder how long it will take for him to regain it, if at all?" Kuno wondered, as they all took off to go back to work.
Relena sighed as she looked out the window at the stars. She was on her way back to earth after another hard meeting with the officials in the colonies, and she was looking forward to her Christmas break.
"Is this seat taken?" a soft, masculine voice asked. Relena jumped; she knew that voice!
"Heero?" Relena asked, stunned that the ex-Gundam pilot was there with her. Without answering, the young man sat down and settled back, glad to get the weight off of his feet.
"Do you realize how much work it is to keep track of you? I haven't had to do so much dodging since the Eve War!" Heero said, almost jokingly. Relena chuckled.
"Why have you been following me?" Relena asked, again, curious as to why Heero was keeping such close tabs on her.
"There are the rumors." Heero replied, enigmatically. But Relena knew what he was referring to.
"You mean the so called 'sightings'? I don't think he survived, Heero. Wufei seemed pretty sure that he'd killed him." Relena said, calmly.
"Still, I don't want another incident like the one with Mariemaea to happen again. I was in the hospital for two weeks after that." Heero muttered, as he leaned his head back against the headrest.
"Any normal man would have been in there for a month." Relena stated.
"Point taken." Heero grumbled, much to Relena's amusement. After a few moments of comfortable silence, Relena spoke up again.
"Heero?" Relena asked.
"Hn?" Heero replied.
"What are you doing for the holidays? Do you have anything planned?" Relena asked, again.
"Not really. Why?" Heero asked, turning a mildly confused look onto the young politician. Relena shrugged.
"I thought you would like to spend Christmas with me this year. That's all." Relena said, with some hope in her eyes and voice.
"Hmm……….Sounds like a good idea. Just have to make sure Duo doesn't decide to tag along, like he always ends up doing." Heero muttered, as he remembered all the times the braided ex-Gundam pilot had accompanied him on missions. Relena giggled.
"He's like a little brother, isn't he?" Relena asked. Heero allowed himself a sarcastic roll of the eyes.
"You have no idea. And Quatre is as much like a mother hen as his sisters are." Heero said, dryly.
"What about Trowa and Wufei? What do you think of them?" Relena asked, interested in what Heero's opinions on the other two were like.
"Trowa is the typical quiet, mysterious one, and Wufei, well, once you get him started on justice, there is no way to shut him up. He's a lot like an anime character from Slayers." Heero said, smirking when he heard some barely contained laughter from Relena.
"Heero, would you object too much if I invite Milliardo home for the holidays?" Relena asked.
"Why are you asking me?" Heero in turn asked, confusedly.
"I seem to remember that you two have a grudge against one another. I don't want you two duking it out in the middle of the parlor floor." Relena said, dryly, giving Heero a deadpan look while she was at it.
"You don't have to worry about me, Relena. It's Zechs you'll probably have to restrain, since he'll try to make up for lost time and play the overprotective brother while he's there." Heero replied, coolly.
"That's true…….." Relena muttered. Then, before either of them could think of anything else to say, a tremendous jolt shook the shuttle, nearly sending both Heero and Relena flying. Relena gasped when Heero shielded her from luggage that had been shaken loose from their holding places, and looked up at his face when she heard him grunt in pain.
"Are you all right, Heero?" Relena asked, worriedly.
"I'm fine. That suitcase just hit an old injury, that's all." Heero reassured, as the shuttle came to a halt.
"What happened?" Relena asked, again, as she glanced around.
"I don't know. It felt like we hit something." Heero murmured, as he carefully stood up, wincing slightly when he put weight back onto his right leg.
"Could it be that there is someone else who wants to seize power in the government?" Relena asked, wary now of anything that seemed out of the ordinary.
"Possibly. No way of knowing unless we get up to the cockpit and find out. C'mon." Heero said, as he helped Relena to her feet, and led the way down the aisle. As they cautiously picked their way over fallen luggage and what have you, Relena was struck by the fact that Heero now led her by the hand. Three years ago, she would never have imagined it, but now…………Now Heero was a little more open with his feelings; he could be cynical and sarcastic, yet gentle and kind as well. His true personality was finally beginning to show. When they arrived in the cockpit, the pilot and stewardess greeted them.
"Miss Darlian, I am so sorry about the disturbance!" the pilot said, apologetically.
"It's all right. What happened? What did we hit?" Relena asked.
"We hit some debris from the battle of the Libra, Miss Darlian. Apparently, the sweepers haven't cleaned this area up all the way yet. The engine's shot, so, unless we contact someone to tow us back, we'll drift here until the oxygen runs out." The pilot said, as calmly as he could.
"Does the radio still work?" Heero asked. The pilot nodded.
"It should still work. But how did you get on board?" the pilot asked, at a loss as to how Heero had gotten aboard without their knowledge.
"Never mind that. I'll have to call Duo and see if any of his sweepers are in the area. That may be our only chance." Heero said, as he took a seat next to the pilot and started tuning the transceiver, hoping against hope that they weren't out of L2 Colony's range.
Duo yawned as he sat at a computer console. He'd been monitoring the comings and goings of his workers since early morning, and he was exhausted.
"Man! And I thought piloting and repairing a mobile suit was bad! Sheesh!" Duo thought, then jumped when a loud alarm disrupted his thoughts.
"What the……..?! Incoming message?!" Duo asked, as he patched the message through.
"Duo………..Duo do you read? Over…………This is Heero……….Do you copy? Over." A familiar voice said, over the airwaves.
"Heero! Yeah, I hear ya, man! What's up? Why're ya callin' me over this frequency?" Duo asked, instantly awake.
"There's been a mishap, Duo. Your sweepers missed some debris and Relena's shuttle ran afoul of it." Heero said, calmly.
"Oh man! Is she all right?" Duo asked, anxiously, knowing just how important Relena was to Heero.
"She's fine. I'm on board the shuttle with her right now. The engine's been damaged, and the only way we'll be able to get back to earth is to get one of your sweepers to tow the shuttle back. Otherwise, we'll drift here till the air runs out." Heero replied.
"Shit…………the only sweeper I've got in that area is a guy named Nanashi. It'll take him about thirty minutes to get to you. Can you last that long?" Duo asked, knowing exactly what area Heero was talking about.
"We should be able to. The sensors aren't detecting any evidence of air leaks. Hull integrity seems good. I don't know how it will be when it comes time for reentry, however." Heero said, for once sounding a little unsure.
"I'll get in touch with Lady Une. She'll arrange for another shuttle to meet up with you, I'm sure of it." Duo said, as he prepared to do just that.
"Please hurry. I don't intend to spend Christmas in space like I have for the past three years." Heero muttered, moodily.
"Anything at all for the woman you love, ne, Heero?" Duo asked, teasingly.
"Omae o Korosu." Heero grumbled, in response.
"Heh. Same ol' Heero." Duo said, with a smirk, as he shut down his side of the link.
"Same old Duo. Braided baka." Heero muttered, as he rubbed his eyes and looked at Relena, who merely shrugged and smiled.
"Yet he's the closest thing you have to a brother, isn't he, Heero?" Relena asked.
"Yeah, I guess so. He's as annoying as all get out, though." Heero said, as he sat back in the seat, trying to relax.
"So we just sit here and wait, then?" the stewardess asked.
"Hai. We can't very well leave the ship, since we don't have spacesuits and there's nothing out there anyway. All we need now is patience." Heero murmured, as he breathed a tired sigh and looked out at the stars.
"He looks so tired. Has this past year been this hard on him?" Relena wondered, as she watched him relax, her thoughts taking her back to three years prior. Heero had been the 'Perfect Soldier' then; cold, unfeeling, cruel, calculating………..at least, that was what he'd wanted her to believe. He wouldn't have dared to show tiredness or fatigue during those days, since they would have been seen as weakness. Now, he was a young man who was only just beginning to come out of what the war had made him.
"Heero?" Relena asked, but then saw that he'd dozed off. With silent nods, the pilot left the cabin, and the stewardess gently draped a blanket over Heero, pulling it to his chin and tucking it around his shoulders.
"He was more tired than he cared to admit." Relena thought, with a rueful smile. It seemed that she would have to convince the stubborn ex-pilot to come to her home and rest awhile away from whatever it was that kept him so busy.
Nanashi jumped when his radio alerted him to an incoming message, and cursed when his head met the unforgiving metal of the cockpit.
"Hai, Nanashi here." Nanashi responded, as he rubbed his head with his right hand.
"Listen up, Nanashi. We've just gotten a call from Mr. Maxwell that there's a disabled shuttle in your area and he wants you to tow it back to earth. There will be another shuttle waiting there for the passengers to switch into when you get there. Are you clear on what you have to do?" Kuno asked, somewhat irritably.
"I'm on it. Don't have anything better to do, anyway." Nanashi said, jokingly, as he veered off in the direction of the stricken shuttle, unaware that this was to be one of the most important days of his life.
Lady Une looked up when one of her aides entered the room.
"There's a gentleman in here to see you, ma'am." The youthful aide said, as she brushed aside a strand of dark purple hair.
"Show him in please, Faye." Lady Une said, smiling slightly when a man stepped into the room, his eyes taking on a slightly bemused look when the girl blushed and looked away from him.
"Why, Mr. Peacecraft, what a pleasant surprise! I wasn't expecting to see you again until after the New Year. How is Lucrezia doing?" Lady Une asked, conversationally.
"As well as can be expected, Lady Une. How is Mariemaea doing? I heard that she has completely recovered from her injuries." Milliardo said, as he took a seat just in front of Lady Une's desk.
"She has, indeed! She's so active now, that I fear she would have given Treize a run for his money, had he lived. She's looking forward to Christmas break." Lady Une said, faltering when a slight look of pain entered Milliardo's crystalline blue eyes when she mentioned Treize's name.
"I'm sorry, I spoke without thinking." Lady Une said, softly. Milliardo shook his head.
"Don't worry about it. Hearing you speak of him in a lighthearted tone is what convinces me that you cared about him deeply. He would have wanted that." Milliardo said, sadly.
"He told me once that you two were friends since childhood. I am also convinced that he was telling me the truth then, since I can still see pain in your eyes. The pain of losing a true friend." Lady Une stated, as the man across from her nodded silently in agreement.
"Lady Une, have you heard the rumors? About the Treize lookalikes that have been spotted?" Milliardo asked, hinting at the real reason why he'd come.
"Yes. And I believe that they are just that. Rumors. Why? Do you think Treize could have somehow survived?" Lady Une asked, with skepticism laced heavily in her voice.
"I don't think he survived the Tallgeese II's explosion. But I think these lookalikes could have a detrimental impact to peace if they get it into their heads that one of them could say that he is Treize. It would be the Mariemaea Incident all over again." Milliardo said, with concern in his voice.
"I see………" Lady Une murmured, finally realizing what Milliardo was so concerned about.
"What will you do, Lady Une?" Milliardo asked, quietly.
"I'll have the Preventors look into it. They should be able to determine whether or not those lookalikes pose a threat." Lady Une said, noticing when Milliardo breathed a sigh of relief.
"I just hope that this problem is taken care of before Christmas. I want to spend the holidays with my family this year, not in some life or death struggle." Milliardo murmured, sounding as tired as he now let himself look. Lady Une nodded in understanding.
"All of you Gundam pilots are tired of fighting. It's been a rough three years for you. Go home and get some rest, Mr. Peacecraft. Preventor Wind will not be needed for this mission." Lady Une said, as Milliardo smiled slightly and offered her a weary salute, to which she merely nodded to, then dismissed.
"I certainly hope it will be a peaceful Christmas. I really do." Lady Une thought, as she turned, stood, and gazed out the window at the stars.
Quatre sighed as he dozed under one of the many trees near the hotel he was staying in. The warmth of the Florida sun, and the cool of the shade, made for good napping, as the ex-Gundam pilot had just recently found out.
"I see that you've made some good use of your vacation time, Winner." A familiar voice said, rousing the sleepy Arabian from his nap.
"Wufei! What brings you here?!" Quatre asked, instantly awake and pleased to see the Chinese pilot.
"Just got word from Preventor Headquarters that we're to look into some unusual sightings amidst the colonies. Are you up for it?" Wufei asked.
"Yes. I would be glad to help in any way I can. What have there been sightings of?" Quatre asked, in turn, his curiosity piqued.
"There have been reports of several Treize Kushrenada lookalikes wandering around, and Lady Une wants to make sure they don't pose a threat." Wufei replied, as Quatre got up and stretched. Within moments, the two young men were on their way. Little did they realize just what lay around the bend………..
Heero roused up when the shuttle's radar picked up on something that was moving its way.
"Hope its not some more debris. This shuttle can't take that kind of abuse." Heero thought, as he turned his attention to the radar screen. He was relieved to find that it was a one-person sweeper ship coming their way.
"This is Sweeper Thirteen to shuttle, do you copy? Over." A voice asked, sounding tinny through the speaker in the shuttle cockpit.
"Reading you loud and clear. Took you long enough to get here, though." Heero muttered, moodily.
"Sorry about that. There's more debris out here than we'd originally thought. Maxwell has been pretty thorough in the clean up, so it should take less than a year to get this area straightened out. Is everyone on board all right?" Sweeper Thirteen asked, with true concern in his voice.
"We got a little shaken up, but we're all right, otherwise." Heero said, not even turning around when Relena, the pilot, and the stewardess rejoined him in the cockpit.
"Good to hear. Now, to see about getting you folks home in time for Christmas……." Sweeper Thirteen muttered, as he cut communications and got right to work.
"Heero, is that the person Duo had sent to help us?" Relena asked.
"Yeah. But there's something odd about him." Heero murmured, thoughtfully.
"Odd? What do you mean?" the stewardess asked, confusedly.
"His voice is oddly familiar…………I've heard it somewhere before….." Heero muttered, as he leaned back in the pilot's chair and gazed at the ceiling.
"Come to think of it, it did sound awfully familiar. I remember hearing a voice like that too, but I can't for the life of me remember where." The pilot added, trying to be as helpful as he could, in this situation.
"I'm sure it will all come back to us, in time. For now, let's worry about getting all of the luggage together before we disembark." Relena said, taking command of the situation. She got a crisp salute from Heero.
"No need to be sarcastic, Heero." Relena muttered, dryly, as a slight smirk adorned Heero's features for the briefest of moments. Without even saying anything, the stewardess and pilot exchanged a knowing glance; they knew what the couple in front of them did not, yet were not about to risk their lives to say it.
"We'll let them figure it out on their own." The pilot whispered, when he was certain that the two were out of earshot. The stewardess nodded, then left the cockpit, leaving the pilot to monitor the radio.
Trowa smiled and shook his head as loud shouting came to his ears.
"Catherine's on the rampage again." Trowa thought, as he put away some of the circus props and walked casually out of the tent to greet his friends.
"Trowa!" Quatre shouted, with a grin, as the acrobat joined them.
"Good to see you again, Quatre. Wufei. What brings you all the way out here, though?" Trowa asked, curiously.
"We'll explain in detail as soon as this baka onna gets out of earshot." Wufei replied, earning himself more than just a dirty look from Catherine Bloom.
"Baka onna?! I'll show you a baka onna, you chauvinist!" Catherine snapped, but, before another war could start, Trowa quietly stepped in and diffused the situation.
"Don't worry about it, Catherine. This is just the way Wufei has always been. Don't mind him." Trowa said, with patience only he seemed to have. With a sigh, Catherine parted company with the three, but not before casting a final scowl at Wufei over her shoulder.
"So, why did you two come out here? There has to be some other reason other than paying a social call." Trowa said, getting back to the point.
"Got that right. Une wanted us to look into some unusual sightings amongst the colonies." Wufei murmured, as he handed some photographs to the acrobat. Trowa gasped when he saw what the pictures were of.
"Treize Kushrenada?! But he died during the first Eve War!" Trowa yelped.
"That's what a lot of people believe, including Lady Une. Yet these are very recent photos from the L1 and L2 Colonies. They're either people who look like Treize………or they are clones of the real Treize. Either possibility could be detrimental to peace." Quatre said, with concern in his voice.
"I see. Has Heero been contacted yet?" Trowa asked. Both of the other former Gundam pilots shook their heads.
"He's been on too many missions here lately. Lady Une wanted to give him a break. It seems that he and Zechs have been working harder than the rest of us." Quatre said, as Wufei nodded in confirmation.
"It will be just the three of us working on this mission. If things do get out of control, we'll call in Maxwell. But I don't think it will get that serious." Wufei stated.
"All right. Let me get some things squared away first, then I will be ready to leave." Trowa said, as he jogged off in the direction of his trailer. Moments later, he reappeared with two brightly wrapped packages in hand, as well as his travel bag.
"What're these, Barton?" Wufei asked, curiously, as Trowa handed him one package.
"Christmas gifts. I wasn't able to do any shopping last year." Trowa said, a little shamefacedly.
"For obvious reasons." Wufei muttered, as he and Quatre went ahead and unwrapped the gifts. Wufei smirked when he found that a new sword waited under the wrapping, and Quatre admired the book he'd been given.
"How did you know I wanted the Return of the King, Trowa?" Quatre asked.
"I have my sources. Now, let's go, before any of those Treize lookalikes decide they want to crash Christmas." Trowa said, with one of his rare smiles, before they all left the circus grounds.
Mariemaea watched as a shuttle took off from the base. With a sigh, she turned and watched as some people disembarked from yet another shuttle that had just landed. With a wistful look in her eyes, she watched as fathers reunited with their families, tossing aside suitcases in order to embrace children and wives.
"You look a little lonely sitting here all by yourself, Mariemaea-san." A kind voice said, gently.
"Noin-san!" Mariemaea yelped, startled that the dark-haired woman had approached so quietly. Then she regained her composure.
"I guess I am a little lonely……..I wish I could've met Father." Mariemaea said, sadly, and with much longing in her voice.
"I know. I wish you could have met him too. I think he would have been so proud of you." Noin said, comfortingly.
"You really think so? Lady Une says that often, but I don't know. I nearly got her, Relena-san, and Heero-san killed." Mariemaea murmured, morosely.
"Mariemaea, you really shouldn't keep blaming yourself for what happened. You're still so very young, and you still have so much left to do. You can atone for what you've done by being what you are; an innocent child." A male voice said, quietly.
"Zechs!" Noin yelped; it was her turn to be startled.
"Hello, Milliardo-san!" Mariemaea chirped, immediately pleased to see her father's childhood friend.
"Hello, Mariemaea." Milliardo replied, immediately taken back to his days in the ranks of the OZ Organization and his private briefings with Treize.
"How much your daughter reminds me of you, my friend. From her eyes to some of her mannerisms, you live on through her. I wonder how it would have been, if you had survived the first Eve War? What would have been different? Would Dekim Barton have had the opportunity to seize control of this young child's mind? Or put this burden of guilt on her young soul?" Milliardo mused, as he watched Mariemaea chatter away with Noin about something or other.
"Zechs?" Noin asked, concerned when she saw an expression of pain flash across his handsome features.
"Yes, Noin?" Milliardo asked, in turn.
"What's wrong? You looked sad just now." Noin said. Milliardo shook his head.
"I'm just thinking about the past. The Ghost of Christmas Past needn't come see me this year, since I am haunted by the past almost every day." Milliardo said, jokingly, even though there was an undertone of grief in his voice.
"Zechs…………I wish you would share this burden of grief with someone. You keep it all to yourself, and it is killing you. You lost dear friends in the war, but you mourn the loss of your boyhood friend the most. I suppose it is within reason, since he had known you since that time, and, by the time the war was well advanced, you were both on opposing sides. You lost another piece of yourself during that battle, and that is a wound that will probably never heal." Noin thought, as she looked to see Lady Une approaching them.
"Lady Une! It's good to see you again!" Noin said, pleasurably.
"And it is good to see you again, Noin. I suppose you two haven't heard yet." Lady Une said, immediately getting the trio's attention.
"What happened?" Milliardo asked, with a hint of dread in his voice.
"Nothing serious, Milliardo. At least not yet. Your sister's shuttle has had a small mishap, and has to be towed back to earth by a sweeper ship. I was asked by Duo Maxwell to get another shuttle to meet them out there. I wanted to know if you would like to accompany me." Lady Une said.
"You needn't even ask. Relena is the only family I've got, other than Noin." Milliardo replied.
"And the baby that is due in six months, Zechs. Don't forget him." Noin added, getting a somewhat chagrined look from Milliardo for a response.
"Well, well, that is a bit of news! Congratulations. I'm sure Relena will be pleased to know that she'll be an aunt in a few short months. Anyway, let's get aboard before it takes off without us." Lady Une said, as she led the way through the crowd.
Nanashi grumbled obscenities as he fought with gauges and what have you in order to maintain control over his ship. Things were proving to be even harder than expected; he could hear the hull straining as it pulled the shuttle ever closer to the earth.
"Hold together, baby, hold together. Just a little bit longer, and then we'll be able to disconnect." Nanashi muttered, as yet another bolt flew loose, striking him in the face, close to the temple. With a grunt of pain, Nanashi struggled to put his space helmet on, not even bothering to wipe the blood off of his face; that of which was now running freely down the side of it.
"C'mon…………..c'mon………..hold together……….don't go to pieces just yet." Nanashi mumbled, his vision swimming when yet another bolt popped off of its socket, and rammed into his left wrist.
"Shuttle, this is Sweeper Thirteen………Can you hear me?" Nanashi asked, as sweat beaded on his brow.
"Yeah, we can hear you, Sweeper Thirteen. Is something the matter?" the male voice from before asked, in turn.
"I hate to tell you this, but my ship is starting to break up. It can't take this kind of stress………I must…………..?!" Nanashi said, but then was cut off by the inevitable.
"My God…………….." the pilot muttered, in horror, as the sweeper ship exploded, sending its pilot flying.
"Look! He's still alive! He has a spacesuit on!" the stewardess shouted, as she pointed out that fact.
"Yes………..but he may be unconscious. Are you certain that you have no spacesuits on board this shuttle?" Heero asked.
"I think there might be one on board, but that is usually for maintenance. What do you intend to do?" the pilot asked.
"Go out and retrieve him. If he continues to float out there, he'll eventually either run out of air, or get sucked into the sun. Either alternative is an unpleasant way to die." Heero said, as he went about finding the elusive spacesuit. When he finally had located it, Heero walked into the small airlock and waited. He knew that time was of the essence, and that a man's life depended on his quick action.
"Be careful out there, Heero." Relena cautioned.
"I will. Okay, close the 'lock." Heero said, signaling that he was ready. With a nod, the pilot closed the airlock door, and released Heero into space. With a tether cable tied to his waist, Heero went out to see if he could rescue the sweeper pilot. He was in luck; just before the cable could run out of slack, he got within reach of the unconscious man, grabbed his arm, slung him over his shoulder, and started working his way back.
"He's got him!" Relena cried, in relief, as she watched Heero return.
"Thank God!" the pilot muttered, as he waited for Heero to get back into the airlock before closing one door and opening another.
"That is probably the fastest rescue I have ever seen. Did you learn that while you were still a soldier?" the stewardess asked.
"No. I had to learn how to rescue people after the war." Heero replied, watching as Relena gently removed the sweeper pilot's helmet. All in the compartment froze when they saw the man's face.
"Treize Kushrenada?!" Heero mumbled, in complete disbelief.
"No wonder he sounded so familiar!" the stewardess murmured, as Relena sought out the first aid kit.
"Yeah…………….I wonder if Duo knows about this?" Heero said, as he walked into the cockpit of the shuttle.
"This doesn't sit well with him." The stewardess said, having noticed the grim look in Heero's eyes.
"I know………..but I wonder if this really is Treize." Relena murmured, as she carefully wrapped a bandage around the man's head.
"What do you mean?" the stewardess asked.
"Well, this could be another lookalike. There are a lot of them wandering around nowadays." Relena stated.
"True, but a lot of them are within sight of government offices and other such places where terrorists often strike. This man is the farthest from anything like that." The stewardess said, as she gazed down onto the features of the sweeper pilot.
"You could be right about that, but, then again, I am a government official in my own right." Relena replied, suspiciously.
"Well, why don't we ask him? He appears to be coming around now." The stewardess said, looking down as soft groans came from the man's mouth. Relena looked down as well, just in time for her gaze to meet up with some of the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Almost immediately, she was reminded of Mariemaea; she also had eyes that shade of blue.
"What happened?" the sweeper pilot asked, seeming a little disoriented by seeing them there.
"Your ship exploded. Heero went out and rescued you. How do you feel?" Relena asked, her tone gentle, yet tense at the same time.
"Other than feeling like I've had a colony dropped on my head? All right, I suppose." The sweeper pilot replied, wincing when he attempted to sit up.
"You shouldn't try to push yourself. There could be more injuries we don't know about that you could be making worse. Lie still." The stewardess ordered, as she gently pushed him back down.
"You're right, of course." The sweeper pilot agreed, then gave Relena a close look.
"What?" Relena asked, confused and a bit unnerved by the man's close scrutiny.
"I get the feeling I have seen you somewhere before………..but I can't remember where." The sweeper pilot murmured, thoughtfully, then sighed in frustration.
"Maybe you've seen me on T.V." Relena suggested. The sweeper pilot shook his head.
"No…………that can't be it. I had met you somewhere before, and actually talked to you one on one………….I wish my past wasn't such a mystery…….." the sweeper pilot muttered, a bit put off with himself for not remembering.
"What do you mean?" Relena asked, as a chill ran down her spine.
"I was found in the remains of a mobile suit after the final battle of the first Eve War by the sweepers. They told me when I was conscious that I had had some sort of uniform on, but it was so blood-soaked that the original color could not be determined. Yet I have no memory of what had happened, or how I'd even come to be in the mobile suit. All I know is that the mobile suit, and the uniform, had some connection to my now forgotten past." The sweeper pilot replied, quietly.
"Do you even know your true name?" Heero asked, seeming to appear from nowhere, and sitting down near the sweeper pilot.
"No. I can't even remember that. I'm a true amnesiac." The sweeper pilot muttered, in disgust.
"Then what do you call yourself?" Heero asked.
"The sweepers who'd found me gave me the name Nanashi, which in itself means 'no-name'. It may have been meant as a joke initially, but it's something that resembles a name." The sweeper pilot said, with a shrug.
"I see. Then you have no memory of ever meeting a pilot by the name of Heero Yuy, do you?" Heero questioned. Nanashi paused and looked up at Heero. All in a moment, something stirred, deep in Nanashi's soul, and a hint of recognition came to his eyes.
"Possibly………..you both strike me as being somewhat familiar, as though I should know you……….But that is neither here nor there. My main concern is how we're going to get back to earth. My ship is as good as dust." Nanashi murmured, with some annoyance in his voice, as well as a little bit of loss for what to do next.