Part Two
The wait for the replacement shuttle had entered its' sixth hour when the pilot of the damaged shuttle had quietly ordered everyone to get some sleep. Heero had reluctantly complied, but remained close to Relena so he could keep an eye on both her and Nanashi. Relena was sitting on the floor, with Nanashi's head in her lap. His condition had deteriorated in the hours following his ship's destruction; sweat from a fever and dried blood soaked the bandages Relena had carefully wrapped around his brow, and he appeared even paler than before.
"He may have been injured internally when his ship blew apart...We won't know until we can get him some medical attention. Till then, we'll just have to keep him quiet, and as comfortable as possible." Heero had said, when Relena had questioned him about Nanashi's worsening condition. Relena nodded.
"True...But Heero, what if he is the real Treize? And what will happen when he starts to remember his past? Won't that be detrimental to peace?" Relena asked, concerned about the implications if word got out that Treize Kushrenada was indeed alive. Heero shrugged.
"I have no idea. At this point, I'm actually too tired to try and think that far ahead...But I can say this; whoever has been hiring the lookalikes or creating the clones, their plans could be derailed if the real Treize does regain his memory." Heero stated, looking down when a slight groan came from Nanashi; and noticing that a pained expression had taken up residence on his face.
"Another nightmare, it seems..." Relena murmured, as she tried to soothe the injured man by brushing his bangs off of his face. They were surprised by what they heard him say in his sleep.
"Please...forgive me...Lady...for not returning..." Nanashi whispered, his pained, shuddering breaths hinting at the agony he was feeling; even in as deep a sleep as he was currently in.
"That doesn't prove much...It's almost common knowledge that Treize had called Lady Une by just 'Lady' most of the time." Heero mused, silently, yet froze when Nanashi muttered something else under his breath...something a little more sinister.
"...OZ will be hated...The hated must be strong..." Nanashi said, his voice taking on a slight semblance of the cunning Treize Kushrenada had been infamous for during the war between earth and the colonies.
"Now that sounded like something only Treize would say..." Heero murmured, getting a nod from Relena in agreement; her face having paled when she'd heard those words, as well.
"But...what I can't figure out is...Why had Duo hired him as a sweeper? Surely he must have known what Treize had looked like!" Relena mused.
"He did. And I told him earlier, over the radio, about what had happened; and our subsequent discovery." Heero stated, matter-of-factly.
"What did he think?" Relena asked.
"He yelled so loud that I wouldn't be surprised that the L3 and L4 colonies hadn't heard him...And, when he'd calmed down enough to get some thoughts out, he told me he remembered his sweepers acting a little suspiciously after the first Eve War...That they'd actually tried to deter him from one room in particular in the medical wing of the sweepers' base. Knowing him, he probably tried to look into it, but was interrupted so many times that he eventually gave up." Heero said, scowling a little at the thought.
"It certainly seems that way." Relena murmured, looking up when the stewardess walked over to them.
"The replacement shuttle is almost here." the stewardess informed.
"Good." Heero said, then paused.
"What's wrong, Heero?" Relena asked, noticing when a slightly disturbed and alarmed look crossed his features.
"Lady Une will be on board that shuttle, and I am sure Zechs and Noin are with her. What will happen when they see him?" Heero in turn asked, nodding to the unconscious Nanashi as he said that. A look of apprehension entered Relena's usually calm gaze as well.
"I don't know about Lucrezia-san or my brother, but I do know that Une-san will probably be upset." Relena said, as she looked down on the injured man as well; knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that the emotional battle to come would equal any turmoil that she and the Gundam Pilots had seen during the wars.
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Deep in the bowels of the L1 colony, a sinister plan was being put into motion.
"So, they're becoming suspicious of the clones, eh?" a man's voice asks, as his partner, a woman who appeared to be about forty or fifty years old, slowly nodded.
"I would say so. After what happened last year around this time, the earth and the colonies would be very wary of something like this happening." the woman replied, as they both strolled past some cloning tubes that still had clone in them.
"You know, it was said that the Tallgeese II was never fully recovered from the battlefield...and that the real Treize could have survived...We'll have to be a little more cautious, if that is indeed the case." the man said, only to get a mocking laugh from the woman in response.
"Come now! Don't tell me you're getting superstitious on me! The dead don't return from the grave, no matter where it is; ere it be on earth or in space! Come, there is still much left to do, before we can fully implement our plan." the woman stated, as she walked on; not even giving the cloning tubes a single glance as she did so.
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Mariemaea roused up when she heard the sounds of the shuttle change slightly.
"Are we almost there, Lady Une?" Mariemaea asked, as she sat up and glanced at her adoptive mother.
"Almost. Just another twenty or thirty minutes more." Lady Une replied, gently, smiling slightly as she watched Noin try to awaken the sleeping man beside her...with very limited success.
"Leave him be, Lucrezia. He's worn out from having so many missions lately, and needs as much rest as he can get." Lady Une murmured, getting a nod from Noin.
"True. This is probably the most sleep he's gotten in quite a while...And it seems to be relatively free of nightmares, since he's sleeping so soundly." Noin commented, pointing out the fact that the former OZ soldier and leader of White Fang seemed so peaceful.
"Still, that can't be comfortable. His neck is going to get a crick in it." Mariemaea said, as she called their attention to the way Milliardo's head was resting on the back of the seat. Noin and Une exchanged a glance, then chuckled.
"That's also true." Noin agreed, looking up when their shuttle started connecting to the disabled shuttle. Little did they realize just what kind of surprise and shock lay in store for them...
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"The shuttle's here." Heero muttered, as he stood up and stretched; wincing slightly when pops and cracks came from several of his joints.
"You're awful young to be soundin' like that, kid." the pilot joked, getting a rueful glance from Heero as a response.
"This is what I got for trying to set too many broken bones on my own during the war." Heero stated, with a minute trace of sarcasm and dry humor in his voice as he walked over to the door mechanism and checked on the rescuing shuttle's progress.
"How does it look out there, Heero?" Relena asked, after a few moments.
"They've almost got it completely hooked up; all they're waiting to do now is pump enough oxygen into the walkway and give us the 'go ahead' to open our door. Then they'll follow suit and come across...Knowing Lady Une, she'll follow the procedure to the letter." Heero murmured, not realizing that, at that moment, when he'd said the woman's name, Nanashi had regained consciousness once again and opened his eyes.
"Miss...Relena Peacecraft...?" Nanashi asked, as some recognition entered his pained blue gaze. Relena froze for a moment, then tried to smile gently at him.
"Yes. That was what I called myself during the latter part of the war. Do you remember me?" Relena asked.
"Vaguely...Memory's...not all that clear, though..." Nanashi whispered, painfully; wincing when Relena and Heero carefully moved him into a sitting position.
"Do you remember what you'd called yourself back then? What name you went by?" Heero questioned, with some of the intensity he had been known for during the war in his eyes and voice.
"No...Not quite...It had something to do with a number...But that's about all I can remember, right now." Nanashi replied.
"Then that is enough for now. Give yourself some time; it'll come back to you. Don't push yourself." Relena said, calmly, trying to reassure him with those words. With a nod, Nanashi complied; struggling to breathe and fighting to remain conscious for as long as possible.
"He's having a harder time breathing." Heero thought, as he and the pilot started trying to get Nanashi into an upright position between them.
"Nanashi-san?" Relena asked, when she'd noticed that the man's face had blanched in response to the sudden movement.
"I-I'll be all right...I-It just hurts..." Nanashi gasped, giving the young vice-minister a pained smile in an attempt to reassure her.
"I'm sure it does. Just hang in there, okay?" Relena asked. Nanashi nodded.
"Okay." Nanashi replied, looking away from her when the doors opened, and the first rescuer entered the shuttle.
"Greetings, Noin." Heero murmured, in his usual tone.
"Hello Heero. Fancy meeting you here...We were just talking about you." Noin stated, smiling when an almost deadpan expression appeared on Heero's normally expressionless features.
"Really? That can't be good." Heero muttered, wincing as he shifted Nanashi's weight slightly, when it became too much for his right leg to carry.
"What happened?" Noin asked, now addressing the situation at hand and approaching them with concern in her eyes and voice.
"This is the sweeper Duo had sent to bring the shuttle in closer to the earth. His ship exploded and I went out and rescued him. He may have some internal injuries." Heero informed, as Noin brushed a hand against Nanashi's face, shaking her head when she found the fever there. It was at that moment that Nanashi looked right up at her and his eyes, Relena noticed, had again taken on the look of recognition she and Heero had seen just moments earlier.
"Lieutenant Noin? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Lake Victoria?" Nanashi asked, causing Noin to step back in shock and surprise.
"Lucrezia-san?" Relena questioned, when she saw the spooked look on Noin's face.
"Miss Relena, Heero, has he tried to hurt either one of you in any way?" Noin asked, as she suspiciously put some distance between herself and Nanashi.
"No. That is what is so odd about this situation...He'd said earlier that he can't remember anything about himself prior to being found in the remains of a mobile suit two years ago." Heero stated, calmly.
"And why would I want to hurt them? I was sent out here to help them, after all." Nanashi murmured, from between gasps. Before Noin could even say anything in response to that, another person stuck her head into the shuttle.
"Lucrezia? Is something the matter? Is anyone hurt in here?" Lady Une asked, as she stepped into view.
"Only one, thankfully enough. A man. He looks to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years of age." Noin replied, as she turned to the other woman and gave her a grim look.
"If that is the case, Lucrezia, then why do you look so apprehensive?" Lady Une questioned, as she closed the distance between herself and Noin.
"Take a good look at this man and tell me who you see." Noin said, as she moved aside and gave the 'commander' of the Preventors a clear view of Nanashi.
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At first, Lady Une couldn't see what it was that had everyone on board the disabled shuttle on edge; then she put a hand to the man's face and pushed his bangs back. The first thing that struck her was the color of his eyes. They were a deep, almost sapphire blue...the exact same color as Mariemaea's eyes!
"W-what the...! All of the reports had said that the lookalikes had had lighter eyes than this! How could this even be possible? Unless...No! It can't be! I saw him die! This can't possibly be His Excellency!" Lady Une thought, shaking her head to clear it of those thoughts, and then returning to the here and now so she could analyze the man's face. He was pale-skinned and a bit dirty, but his complexion was clear, and he was clean-shaven. Even though he was a 'sweeper' as Heero had put it, the man appeared to put a good deal of time and effort into his personal hygiene.
"How unusual." Lady Une mused, starting a little when the man reached up and grasped hand in on of his. Upon looking into his eyes again, Lady Une could see that an earnest expression had come into being on his handsome face; almost as though he was trying to remember something, and needed some help putting it all together.
"Let's...get him onto the shuttle and head back to earth. From there, we'll figure out what to do next." Lady Une said, reluctantly breaking the spell the man's eyes had cast on her in that one moment. With a slight nod, Heero and the pilot helped the man walk over to the hatch, and into the rescuing shuttle.
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All was quiet as Mariemaea waited for Lady Une and Noin to return. Beside her, Milliardo still slept, oblivious to the fact that they were now in the process of rescuing his sister and those with her from the damaged shuttle.
"He must've been really tired. Lady Une and Noin-san had said that he's been working hard lately." Mariemaea thought, as she unfurled a blanket and tried to drape it over him. She succeeded in waking him up, instead.
"What...? Mariemaea? What's going on? Have we gotten there yet?" Milliardo asked, groggily, as he slowly roused up; wincing when his neck protested to being moved from its' awkward position.
"Hai. We connected with Relena-san's shuttle almost ten minutes ago. Noin-san and Lady Une went aboard to see if anyone has been hurt." Mariemaea informed, as Milliardo stood and stretched, then went to the hatch. He got there just as Lady Une came through, with Heero, the pilot of the damaged shuttle, and an injured man following (Relena, the stewardess, and Noin were right behind them).
"Relena, I'm relieved to see that you are safe." Milliardo said, as he embraced his sister.
"Hello, Milliardo. You look exhausted." Relena commented, noticing how worn out the man in front of her looked. Milliardo smiled tiredly in response.
"Indeed." Milliardo agreed, nodding to Heero civilly as he did so. Heero did likewise, after he'd helped the injured man sit down, and then limped over to another seat and sat down himself.
"Leg bothering you, Yuy?" Milliardo asked.
"That, and all of the old injuries from the self-detonation are taking the time to wish me a happy holiday." Heero muttered, sarcastically, getting a smirk and a nod of understanding from Milliardo in response.
"You are still suffering from the self-detonation of your Gundam?" Relena asked, demanding an answer from Heero with her eyes about that statement.
"Yeah." Heero muttered, as he reclined back in his seat and closed his eyes, wearily.
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Nanashi listened as the young woman he'd remembered as being 'Relena Peacecraft' starting demanding a detailed explanation from 'Heero' of what had happened two years prior. It was when he realized that they were talking about mobile suits that another, more painful, memory flashed through his mind. He was sitting in the mobile suit he'd been found in; clad in a striking blue uniform that had gold trim, and facing a fierce-looking white mobile suit.
"A Gundam?...Why was I fighting a Gundam?" Nanashi muttered, confusedly; his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to get the image in his mind to stay so he could analyze it further. He didn't realize that he'd been heard by the other people in the shuttle.
"Maybe you were fighting for the Earth Sphere during the first Eve War." Relena suggested, as spooked looks started taking up residence on the newcomers' faces (and this even including Mariemaea). Nanashi shook his head.
"No...that isn't quite it...For some reason, I think I was leading some troops into battle during the war...And that I, for some reason, decided to have a duel with the Gundam and its' pilot, one on one..." Nanashi murmured, jumping when 'Noin' touched his arm to get his attention, then stood back and looked directly into his eyes.
"Could it have been for honor, sir?" Noin asked.
"Maybe...In any case, it got me into a situation I probably could have avoided." Nanashi stated, ruefully.
"And should have avoided...Being in or on a mobile suit while it is blowing up hurts like hell." Heero mumbled, not having moved from his seat in the slightest, yet giving the sweeper a meaningful look while he was at it.
"I'll have to agree with you there." Nanashi stated, breathlessly; the pain in his chest not having lessened in the least during the time since he'd gotten onto the rescuing shuttle. It was getting even more difficult to breathe or talk. And yet, he was very aware that someone was openly staring at him; and, when he turned his head to the right, he could see that the man beside him was giving him a look of barely concealed disbelief.
"I seem to be getting this reaction...quite a bit this evening...What seems to be the matter?" Nanashi asked, bravely ignoring the burning sensation in his lungs as he spoke.
"I apologize for staring...but I seem to recall that only duels that were fought with Gundams during that final battle was the one between myself and Heero Yuy here, and that between Treize Kushrenada and Chang Wufei." the man replied, tensely.
"Chang Wufei? Why does that name sound so familiar..." Nanashi wondered, as more submerged memories started to bombard his mind. Yells of pain, death, and fury...explosions lighting up the space between earth and the colonies...the fierce-looking Gundam...Altron, he now remembered...closing in for the kill...Himself saying a few words to the pilot of said Gundam...the pilot's furious response...The sound of a beam weapon cutting through the armor of his mobile suit...The suit exploding and pieces of the cockpit coming apart around him...A few moments later, Nanashi found himself rousing up with an oxygen mask strapped to his face, and the sounds of worried voices close by.
"W-what...happened?" Nanashi whispered, startled when Lady Une appeared next to him and tried to quiet him.
"Try not to talk...Just concentrate on breathing. You passed out while we were talking to you, just now." Lady Une said, worriedly. Nanashi could only nod, as the pain from before briefly intensified, and his conscious mind was forced into the oblivion of unconsciousness once again.
Author's Note!
Sorry about the long wait between chapters! Here's part two (such as it is...). Hope it's okay!
Gemini14