Chapter III

Butterflies & Hurricanes

Change everything you are

And everything you were

Your number has been called

Fights, battles have begun

Revenge will surely come

Your hard times are ahead

Best, you've got to be the best

You've got to change the world

And use this chance to be heard

Your time is now

Don't let yourself down

Don't let yourself go

Your last chance has arrived

Best, you've got to be the best

You've got to change the world

And use this chance to be heard

Your time is now

Heero squinted as a bright light came into his eyes. He moved his arm up to shield them but felt it being pulled back by an unknown force. He grumbled as everything around him came into focus. The first thing he saw was a figure sitting beside his bed.

"Relena?" He breathed.

Suddenly the figure crouched over him, and Duo's smirking face appeared. "Rise and shine, sweetie-pie!"

"What are you doing here?" Heero growled in response.

"Whoa, aren't we a little cranky! This wouldn't have to do with you nearly getting blown to bits, would it?" Duo laughed in spite of the grim situation.

"Where's Relena?" Heero cut in on Duo's joking.

Duo stopped chuckling and looked Heero in the eye. He knew exactly what Heero had in mind. "Man, you just don't know when to quit," he lamented, shaking his head. "You can't do anything right now, not in your condition!"

Heero ignored him and glanced at the IV connected to his arm. "Hmm..."

Duo's eyes widened. "Y-you're not serious, are you?"

A smirk tugged at the corners of Heero's lips.

Duo let out a low sigh. "Never mind; I can see that you are." Duo watched helplessly as Heero yanked the IV out of his arm and headed out of the room to find Relena. Duo winced. "Sometimes, I just don't get you," he muttered.

Heero headed down the hospital corridor, realizing that he had no clue where Relena was located. He also realized how terrible he actually felt, glancing down at the blood-stained gauze wrapped around his chest. He started to feel dizzy, and put his arm on the wall to steady himself. Before he could do anything else, Duo appeared behind him.

"I didn't think you'd get very far... especially since you didn't even bother to ask me where Relena is." Duo grinned as he slung Heero's arm over his shoulder to help him down the hallway. "You really got it bad," Duo observed. Heero couldn't tell if he was referring to his condition or his feelings for Relena. He decided he didn't really care and forgot about it until they reached their destination. Quatre was already in the room, speaking softly to Relena, who was now fully conscious. Even though she was awake, the blonde patient didn't look much better than Heero did. An IV was attached to her arm, giving her much-needed blood. She had a large bandage covering her forehead, and a few cuts and bruises on her arms. Heero wanted to rush over to her, but instead Duo helped him slowly take a seat.

She spoke his name softly as he sat down on her bed. She looked so weak. Heero immediately felt guilty that he had not been with her the whole time; he should have known that his leaving her side would only invite disaster.

"I told Relena what happened to you, Heero," Quatre explained quietly. Heero only nodded, keeping his gaze locked on Relena. His eyes wandered over her various urge, and anger began to swell within him. He couldn't stand this helpless feeling.

Relena could see the fury smoldering in Heero's eyes. She lifted an arm to reach for him, then pulled it back, wincing in pain.

"Don't move," Heero instructed, sounding sterner than he meant to. He tried to sound more soothing as he murmured, "It's all right."

Duo cleared his throat from the doorway. "Um, Quatre, maybe we should leave them alone for a little while."

"Oh! Right…" Quatre followed Duo out reluctantly. He turned to wave good-bye before he headed out the door.

"Relena," Heero spoke softly once they were alone. He brushed her hair back from her face and saw that some of it was matted with blood. "You're..." He paused. "I'm sorry."

Relena looked up at him, her features etched in worry. She reached her hand up, more slowly this time, and touched his face.

"I'm so glad to see you," she whispered, sounding a little hoarse. "I was terrified when Quatre told me you ran in right before the explosion. Then when it took them so long to find you, I feared the worst…" Her words dropped. She seemed unwilling to continue, and her chest heaved in sorrow. Heero said nothing, but took in a slow, steady breath and leaned his forehead against hers. They both squeezed their eyes shut and savored the closeness.

At length, he finally moved his face away from hers. That powerless feeling had returned, and Heero couldn't stand feeling so weak. Relena watched him closely. She sensed what he was feeling and rested her hand on top of his, wanting so badly to comfort him.

"Are you all right, Heero?" It was all she could think to say.

Heero was staring hard at the floor and didn't seem to hear her. "No, I'm not," he finally answered. "Perhaps I would be if I had done a better job looking after you. This… is my fault for leaving you."

Relena frowned. "What are you talking about? Neither of us could have known this would happen. You can't blame yourself."

"My job was to protect you, and I failed." Heero dropped his gaze back down to the floor. He could feel Relena sitting up on the bed, and he immediately snapped his head back up to look at her.

"Lie down," he ordered. "You'll hurt yourself." Relena smiled, recognizing his care for her underneath his gruff words.

"I don't think so, Heero. Notice that I still have my IV in." She pointed at the spot on his arm where he had obviously torn his IV out. Heero wasn't sure how much longer he could go before he needed more blood, but he wanted to stay with Relena. After what had happened, he never wanted to leave her side again. Heero couldn't ignore the feelings that began to surge inside of him. He was worried about her injuries and her future as a political leader, but he didn't know how to convey that to her with his words. He wanted her to be strong, but he wanted to be the one who was strong for her.

"You'll be all right," he murmured. He spoke the words as a statement, but Relena recognized the question in his eyes.

"So will you," Relena said back. "I believe in you, you know."

Suddenly Heero grasped one of her hands. "Relena, I need you to promise me something."

She blinked in surprise, but spoke serenely. "Anything, Heero."

"The war may be over, but apparently there is someone who doesn't want it to be. You need to be careful, Relena. I don't want you to feel like you have to hide from the world, so I will protect you as best I can. But I want you to be able to hold onto your convictions, at all costs. You have great faith, Relena. I admire you for that. Just don't let anything like this tear you away from it." Suddenly, he took a shallow breath and held his chest, groaning in pain. Relena carefully circled her arms around him.

"Heero..." She whispered his name as he gasped again, which came out more like a growl. Relena saw the wild look in his eyes and wanted to soothe him. Her voice caught in her throat as she felt him growing weaker in her arms.

"Please, Heero." His breathing grew raspier. Tears began to fall from Relena's eyes. "Please hold on..." Heero felt her warm tears against his face, and was touched by her care. He could not remember anyone ever crying for him before her. At the moment, he forgot about the emotional walls he had built to keep his feelings from her hidden and slowly wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Heero?" She whispered. He responded by lifting his face to hers.

"Relena…" He leaned in closer. Tightening his grip on her, he lowered his mouth to hers and drew her in. Relena closed her eyes, ready to cherish the sensation of his soft kiss. He had kissed her once, long before, but back then it had been so sudden that it was almost awkward. It had ended so quickly, she hadn't even gotten a chance to kiss him back. Now he was taking a more tender approach. Heero's lips were slowly brushing against hers when something suddenly hit his face. Hard.

Zech's fist made perfect contact with Heero's jaw, making an awful sound.

"Milliardo!" Relena spat his name angrily, then leaned over Heero protectively. "How dare you!"

Zechs stood by the hospital bed, breathing hard. "That was for not taking better care of my sister. I never did trust you." Heero only glared at him in response, his face growing hot.

"How could you do such a thing, Milliardo? Can't you see he's injured?"

"Better him than you. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't even be in here."

"That's not true. This was not Heero's fault!" All of the yelling was making Relena feel dizzy, and she tumbled back on the bed, holding her head in her hands. Just then, Noin entered the room and surveyed the scene before her. She saw Heero holding his bleeding mouth and Zechs standing with his fist clenched at his side.

"Zechs! I can't tell you anything!" she cried, storming over to him. "I didn't expect you to come in here and pull something like this."

"Noin!" Zechs looked up in surprise, and Noin glared at him disapprovingly. Zechs looked over at his sister, who looked even more upset than Noin. Heero regard him with his patented death look. Zechs grunted angrily and stalked out of the room. As he exited, he pushed past a bewildered Duo and Quatre, who had witnessed the confrontation from the doorway. The two lingered outside the room for a minute.

"Man," Duo jammed his hands into his jacket pockets and slumped his shoulders. "It just figures that when we finally get Heero and Relena alone together for a possibly romantic moment, Zechs has to go and spoil the whole thing."

Quatre just sighed and shook his head. "Duo, this isn't a game. Maybe we be should be keeping a closer eye on them. It seems that whenever they're left alone, something bad happens." He said this a little testily.

Duo gave him a funny look. "You okay there, buddy?"

"I'm fine." He, too, shoved his hands into his pockets. "I just don't think we should leave those two alone, that's all." Whatever he was feeling, Quatre seemed to prefer to keep it to himself. Duo just nodded in agreement to avoid stepping on the blond Preventer's last nerve. Everyone who knew Quatre well knew that he was, at times, a bit emotionally unstable.

"That sounds like a good idea," Duo agreed with him. "And since Relena has never pointed a gun at my head, I think I'd be safest with her while you keep an eye on Heero." He cracked a little smile. Quatre eyed him warily.

"Duo, Heero is not going to hurt you. Besides, he couldn't even if he wanted to now."

Duo rolled her eyes and laughed. "No, you just don't get it Quatre— I'd rather be with Relena than him! Does that bother you or something?" he asked bluntly. Quatre gave him an exasperated look, but said nothing more. Duo considered prodding him a little further, but didn't get the opportunity. Noin brushed past them as she left the hospital room to find Zechs. Quatre and Duo decided to head back in.

Relena was holding a piece of cloth to Heero's mouth to soak up the blood. "Heero, you really need to rest," she was saying.

"She's right, Heero. Come on, I'll take you back to your room," Quatre offered. Heero stood shakily and leaned on Quatre for support. He took one last look at Relena before limping away. Quatre turned to her as well and gave her a tiny smile as he led Heero out.

Duo moved to sit beside Relena's bed. "Busy day, huh?"

Relena smiled warmly. "And where were you during this mess, Duo?"

"That's sort of what I wanted to ask you. Do you remember what happened to you?"

Relena's closed her eyes as she thought back to the morning's events. "Today was the first meeting of the summit. I was in the middle of my speech when the room began to fill with smoke. Everyone started coughing, and, as the smoke grew darker and thicker, running out of the room. My head was pounding, and I couldn't see a thing. I tried to leave with the others, but I was on the podium and had a hard time stepping down. I managed after a moment, but then I dropped my briefcase under a table and tried to find it as quickly as I could. Then… Then the explosion went off near the podium. I remember having a bunch of stuff fall on me… and then you found me."

Duo shook his head. "I just don't get why this happened. Who was supposed to be watching you, anyway?"

Relena frowned slightly, trying her best to remember. Then it came back to her. "That's right! It was Victor. Adrian asked him to look after me because he needed to speak to Heero privately."

"What? Are you sure?" Duo could mentally picture the suspects list from the data they had back at headquarters. He was positive the list included a Victor. "Victor..." Duo mused. Come on—you know this! He sat pondering, and the rest quickly dawned on him. "Victor... Victor Stone?"

"Yes, I think that's it," Relena replied.

Duo stood to his feet quickly. "Thanks Rel; you've been a big help." He flashed her a smile before heading for the door.

"Are you leaving already?" She asked with a slight lilt in her voice. Duo realized she did not want to be by herself. With Heero unable to protect her, he understood why. He scratched the back of his head and grinned at her.

"Naw… I guess can stick around till Quatre gets back, especially since we don't want to leave you alone anymore." As he headed back to his chair, Relena laughed inwardly at how odd she thought Duo was. She smiled happily in spite of this and welcomed his friendly company.

In another part of the city, Adrian paced back and forth angrily. His mission to terminate Relena Darlian and Heero Yuy simultaneously had failed miserably. Now the next phase of his plan was in serious jeopardy. True, the devastation had caused the Global Summit to be postponed, which was an accomplishment in itself. However, as long as Relena was still alive, Adrian would never be able to take over the Cinque Kingdom. He stalked over to Victor Stone, who sat on a chair in Adrian's spacious sitting room. Victor looked up nervously as Adrian glared at him, waiting for an explanation.

"I-I don't know what happened, Sir," Victor stammered. Adrian cocked his eyebrows, as if telling Victor to go on. "There was no way Darlian could have gotten out of the room before the bomb went off. I saw everyone who left, and she wasn't with them. I did my best to ensure that she would get left behind in there. When I left, she was out cold."

Adrian furrowed his brows together. "That doesn't make any sense. An explosion like that should have killed anyone in there. Unless that Yuy got to her and somehow sheltered her, I don't see how either could have escaped alive. Do you, Victor?" His voice hinted at sarcasm.

The young man gulped. "N-no, Sir."

Adrian leaned down menacingly and grabbed Victor by the shirt collar. "And you are certain that a mistake like this will never occur again?"

Sweatdrops appeared on Victor's forehead. "No, Sir! I mean, yes Sir! I mean, I'll try harder next time, I swear!"

"Good." Adrian released the trembling boy. "Then you've just been assigned your next mission. This time, I need you to finish the job."

Victor looked up hopefully.

"Kill Relena Darlian."

At Preventer headquarters, Wufei finished saving the last of the new data to disk and leaned back in his chair, exhausted. It was close to three in the morning on the day immediately following the terrorist bombing. He and Trowa had stayed up all night hacking into Cinque computer data bases for the latest information on Victor Stone and the other men on their list. Duo, who had called and given them the tip about Victor, and Quatre stayed at the hospital with Heero and Relena to ensure their safety.

"Hey, Trowa," Wufei called. "I found an interesting report in Adrian Guilermo's file I think you should see."

Trowa walked over to Wufei and bent down to read the computer screen. "Let's see... Adrian Guilermo... head of the Cinque Kingdom Foreign Relations department. Last year he was second in command for the imperial defense group. Before that, he served as the Secretary of War in the country of Aurelia. Hmm... He was in charge of his own unit while he served in the Earth Sphere Alliance army. He also graduated from the Victoria military academy, just like Zechs and Noin. That's interesting."

"I thought you'd say that," Wufei smirked. "You do know what this means, don't you?"

"Sure," Trowa replied coolly. "With a military background like that, you never know what an individual of his status could be up to, especially since he went from being a military commander to negotiating peace treaties, almost overnight. It seems like his public career is quite gilded."

"I agree," said Wufei. "I think we should question him and find the whereabouts of these other men."

"Done," Trowa said resolutely. "Well, at least the latter part is. I found a list of shuttle schedules, and it seems that two of our suspects left for space yesterday morning, right before the UN bombing."

Wufei raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Do you know where they were headed?"

Trowa produced a disk and popped it into Wufei's computer. A complete list of shuttle flights and their destinations appeared. Trowa scanned down the page to show Wufei the list of passengers, and revealed that Jason Marcus had left for colony LX-316 at 9:00 Eastern time yesterday. It also read that William Alexander headed for L2 at point 74 at 8:25 Eastern time the same morning.

"That's near Duo's home," Wufei mused aloud. "I wonder what they're planning to do?"

"I'm unsure of that myself," said Trowa. "Which is why we need to check it out as soon as we can get on a shuttle. I'll report this to the other Preventers, and I'll volunteer to go myself." Trowa quieted and stared out the window, gazing thoughtfully at the dark sky. "It's been so long since I've been home... At least what I think of as home."

"At least you have a home to go back to," Wufei muttered. Trowa heard this but decided it was best not to reply. Trowa had never known what it was like to have a real home, as his childhood memories were lost to him. In fact, he couldn't remember a thing before two years ago. The only thing he knew was fighting as a Gundam pilot, and now as a Preventer. The only home he had to go back to was the circus family he had become a part of on colony L3. Trowa sympathized with Wufei, who had lost his home colony L5 two years ago. Wufei had the memories of a home where he belonged, only to have it taken away from him. Now the only place he seemed to have was with the Preventers. The others were glad he was at least on their side, and not searching for some other path to lead him to what he hoped would be the right answers.

Trowa and Wufei left the secured information for Sally in her office. The rest could wait until later in the morning. The two Preventers left the office to get some much-needed rest.

"Talk about a plan," Jason said to Nathan on his mobile vid-phone. "Hand over Heero Yuy or these colonies become vaporized." He cocked a smile. "Adrian's got this one in the bag."

"Don't underestimate the Preventers, boy," Nathan warned in his low British accent. "They are a lot keener than you think. I'll bet that they already have us figured out and are on their way to stop us as we speak."

"How predictable," Jason yawned. "I say the minute they find us, we kill them."

"Naturally," Nathan agreed. "Just don't screw up your mission and everything will go smoothly."

"It's yourself you should be worried about, old man," Jason smirked. "I don't screw up."

Nathan glared at the reference to the mission he had failed five years ago. He had been sent to assassinate an Oz official, but was stopped by a young Zechs Marquise.

"You need to keep your gob shut, boy. Just because you haven't failed yet doesn't mean that your record will stay so flawless. I can't wait to see that cocky smirk wiped off your face." With that, Nathan disconnected.

Jason shut his vid-phone off, annoyed. "What a great team," he muttered sarcastically. "Just you wait, Nate; this is one battle I won't lose." Jason left the hotel room he was staying in to walk around the L2 colony. His nose wrinkled in distaste. This place is boring, he thought. I almost can't wait to destroy it. He glanced at his watch. Plenty of time. Now to find something to do for the next twenty-four hours...

On the same colony, Hilde Schbeiker was heading out the door of her apartment when her vid-phone beeped at her to answer it. "I wonder who it could be," she mused aloud. She turned flipped it open to reveal Duo's smiling face on the screen.

"Hey, babe, how's it goin'?" He grinned.

"Duo!" Hilde's smile widened. "What are you up to?"

"Not too much. I just accepted a new mission; looks like I'll be coming to see you pretty soon here."

"Really? How soon?"

"Trowa and I are leaving tomorrow. He's dropping me off at your place while he heads to LX-316."

Hilde knit her eyebrows together in concern. "Is something wrong, Duo?"

"Nothing we can't handle. It seems some of our UN bombing suspects decided to head to the colonies, so we're going to check it out."

"Gosh." Hilde sat back, looking a little shocked. "They could be here right now. Who knows what they could be trying to do? I hope you can stop them!"

Duo smiled at her again. "Relax, babe. The God of Death can take 'em."

Hilde gave a little laugh before her face went serious. "The war's over, Duo. You shouldn't go around calling yourself that anymore. What would Relena say if she heard you?"

Duo frowned and shook his head. "I don't know, but I'd like to ask her why, even after the Eve Wars are over, there are still some people out there who don't want peace."

"I don't know either, but Relena is doing her best to protect that peace. It doesn't make sense that anyone would want to kill someone who is trying so hard to heal the world."

Duo leaned back on his chair and folded his arms behind his head. "I think these morons are trying to take advantage of the peaceful situation to take over and do things their way."

Hilde nodded slowly. "I suppose that makes sense. But it's so stupid. I hate to sound cliché, but why can't we just have peace in the world and colonies? Why can't people be happy with ESUN the way it is? They're not like Oz or Romefeller, especially with ambassadors like Relena."

"You and I know that, Hilde. But bad guys never learn. That's the way it always is."

Hilde gave a little smile. "And I suppose you're going to save the world, Superman?"

Duo looked at her seriously through the vid-phone. "I'll try, Hilde... I'll try."