Warning


They met in a hotel room, Odin's barely visible in the shadows that dominated dusk. He smelt like the colony, smoky, grimy and dangerous.

The last time Heero had seen Odin's face had been in a wanted broadcast. The eyes had been staring defiantly, there had been a cut on his cheek. Heero's mother had been worried and disappointed, and couldn't be reassured. Odin had been going under an alias, but Heero could tell instantly who this alleged criminal was.

"Heero, I didn't expect you to come here," Odin says lowly. Heero starts, surprised by the change in Odin's voice. It's deeper, rougher, and finally suits his too intense, too knowing eyes.

"My associates, my secretary, but thankfully not my mother, think I am meeting a prostitute. This had better be good, Odin," Heero murmurs, keeping his voice as quiet as possible, ever conscious of his bodyguards standing outside the door. He doesn't want the news of AC 175 to be dominated by his supposed affairs, rather than his words and actions.

Odin laughs, and Heero represses the brief surge of happiness that comes about. He replaces it with anger. "There's no need to laugh, Lowe."

The boy-man smiles, running a hand with practiced ease through his hair. He ends it awkwardly, still with some of all elbows and knees. "They're after you, Heero. They want you dead."

Heero quenches the question of who that may be, knowing already. "Is that all? Because I am not unaware of how they view me. A dissident colony rebel, stirring up the masses with talk of independence and freedom and especially... peace."

"It's warning, that's all Heero, to watch your back. It's more for your mother than anything," Odin adds almost regretfully. "Make your will, say your goodbyes... they'll kill you unless you stop protesting, with your deadly tool of pacifism."

In his heart, Heero knows he cannot turn back, though some part of wishes to live and have a family. "I know, Odin, but I'm doing what is right. I cannot stop myself."

There is fury and sorrow in Odin's eyes, before he shrugs, and murmurs, "Whatever. Goodbye, Heero." He walks away, through some inter connecting door, and doesn't look back. Heero stands tall and he rejoins his bodyguards, never speaking of what went inside.