Heero shivered in the dim light of the sinking sun, it gave no heat and glared low in the south, making him squint. He took a deep breath and tensed his whole body before completely relaxing to drive out the chill.
Scanning the horizon once more, Heero saw something the size of an apple rise above the tree line to the west, where the path up the mountain lay, its plastic casing glinted as it flew.
Judging by the way it moved, it carried no payload. A scout drone.
Heero unceremoniously shot the thing out of the sky with his rifle, reserving what precious little power was left in the EMP device.
At least the enemy was forced to climb the mountain on foot, that should tire them out sufficiently to give the Sanc force a small advantage.
Signaling with his hand, Heero slid down the boulder he used as a sniping platform. Behind him, Sanc soldiers shuffled into place in the cemetery, forming a line of defense for the civilians and the wounded hidden inside the old church.
What a willful lot, the stubborn streak ran from the oldest crone to the youngest child. Grimacing, Heero hobbled on his one good leg to join the Sanc soldiers, the woods became eerily quiet, he felt his hair prick up in anticipation.
"Here they come! Aim away from centre mass!" Simeon shouted over the Sanc men, each positioned behind a headstone in the cemetery. Simeon wiped a sweaty palm on his pants and clutched the stock of his analogue rifle, shifting his knee in the icy mud for better anchor.
Dark shapes emerged from the forest and up the path toward them, gradually becoming distinct as individual ESUN soldiers. Heero took aim with the EMP, and disarmed the weapons of the first row of ESUN soldiers. The device whined in his hands as its batteries drained. He held up his hand in the air to the Sanc forces. Not yet, a little closer, now!
.
"Its begun," Wufei squinted down at the battle, he and Sally hid uphill of the grave site, with an open view of the action below.
They watched the panic-stricken ESUN soldiers fumble with their deactivated weapons, chaos befell the vanguard. The whole of the ESUN formation became a confused mass.
"You gotta hand it to the guy," Wufei whistled, impressed, "Heero knows how to mess with your mind."
Sally snorted, recalling her first encounter with 01 as a boy, then refocused on the task at hand, "How long can they hold them off?"
"Long enough for us to connect and launch the camera drones," Wufei slapped fresh batteries into the unit, a green LED flickered and the drone came alive with a beep.
"Yo! Good to see your gorgeous face, Wufei!" Duo's voice piped through the drone as it lurched off the ground and flew down to the battle, "Let's get this show on the road!"
.
From his temporary headquarters, Davos watched the celebration preparations with impatience. The mayor's office down in New Port City was a cramped little room but he was satisfied with the symbolic status. A large projector screen was being unfurled and fastened to the tallest building in town square, at sundown, they will be showing a pre-recorded reel lauding the ESUN's heroic efforts to save the Sanc Kingdom.
"They won't know just how much we have done for them," Minister Yacovitch sighed behind him, "We've sullied our hands with blood so these undeserving, ungrateful people can have peace."
Davos shook his head, "We are the midwives to the birth of a new era, no birth is without pain and blood."
.
Despite the cold, Relena's palms were sweating. What she intended to do was no less absurd than what the men had planned themselves.
Shots rang outside the old church, muted by the stone walls. Relena glanced over at the anxious children in the nave who were too scared to cry, held close by their frightened but determined mothers. Old Father Stephen prayed quietly by the icons.
Relena's heart clenched into knots, the Sanc soldiers may very well intend to use non-lethal shots, but in the heat of battle who can aim at only limbs? Doubtless, many of the ESUN soldiers will be maimed for life. If Heero's plan works, these soldiers had no firepower of their own to retaliate.
Heero was no fool, he knew there was no way to retake the city even if they survived this encounter. This was not his fight, yet his quiet enthusiasm was hard to ignore, like the glint in an old hound's eyes caught by the scent of the hunt.
"There are fates worse than death."
Simeon's parting words echoed in her mind as shouts and screams pierced through her reverie. The enemy has entered the clearing, Relena startled herself, did she really consider the ESUN soldiers as enemies?
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Father Stephen straighten. Relena watched the old man disappear into a staircase, moments later from the tower, the iron bell began to toll.
She took a deep breath, it was time.
.
Heero pivoted and threw his attacker in the mud, ground his teeth as pain shot up his leg, and grappled the next enemy. They were losing daylight fast, and in the dusky confusion, body crashed against body without precision or mercy.
A blow from behind knocked Heero onto his back, an ESUN soldier aimed the butt of his rifle at Heero's skull. Someone smashed a pistol into the side of the soldier's head, who dropped on the spot. Simeon grinned and held out a hand to pull Heero up, "Get off your lazy ass, the fight's not over!"
The Sanc soldiers were still out numbered, but they engaged the ESUN forces at the mouth of the cemetery, the gates forming a strategic choke point.
Heero redirected a punch and twisted the offender's arm, he felt rather than heard the shoulder joint pop. A swift blow to the temple knocked the man unconscious, but before Heero could turn around, arms snaked around his neck in a strangle-hold. Tucking his chin to protect his windpipe, Heero clamped his hands around the vice-like forearms and dropped his weight to break free.
The soldier tightened his grip, Heero saw sparks around the edges of his vision, his head swam with the ringing of bells. He must've started to hallucinate because as his eyes drooped and the chaotic roar of battle began to fade, he heard a beautiful voice singing the most mournful song.
The arms that choked him loosened around his neck, and Heero heard the soldier gasp, "They said she was dead."
Heero's eyes snapped open as he gulped air, more voices joined the first one, and he wasn't the only one who heard it. He sat up and looked around at the battle, most of the combat had halted and everyone was looking toward the little church. The soldier he was just fighting had wide eyes tinged with fear and disbelief. Heero turned to the source of the voices.
From the dark doorway of the stone church appeared a ghostly apparition, clouds of smoke rolled out from the censor held by Father Stephen, who walked in step with Relena. Her loose hair flowed in the chill wind, the white flag of the Sanc Kingdom billowed over her shoulders. In her hand was a single candle, she shielded the small flame with her other palm.
Behind the two trailed women and their children, all singing the same sorrowful melody. The troupe advanced in a slow march through the graves toward the mess of battle, which has all but ceased, ESUN soldiers mesmerized by the strange procession, Sanc men petrified by the exposure of their families.
Relena wove through the tangle of soldiers to kneel by Heero, and enveloped him in the pale flag. Each woman led their children to her husband and stood around him. Father Stephen stopped in front of the ESUN commander, and prostrated himself.
Flares lit up the sky, washing out the last trace of sunset behind the trees. A camera drone whirled overhead.
"This is a live broadcast from the Sanc region!" Sally's voice boomed through the drone, "Relena Peacecraft is alive! This footage is our proof of life, along with many civilians of New Port."
Realization hit the ESUN commander, he spit and swore under his breath. One of his young lieutenants shouted, "The extremists are using human shields!"
"Shut up, fool! We've been betrayed by the Defence Commission," The commander grabbed the lieutenant by the front of his shirt and turned to Father Stephen, "I won't have this atrocity pinned on my men, get up, priest."
The old man straightened and crossed himself as the ESUN commander signaled his men to stand down. Wind rustled the trees as if the mountains let out a breath.
The lieutenant twitched unnaturally and wrested out of his commander's grasp, in his hand an explosive glinted in the dark, he poised to launch it, "Long live the Empire!"
A shot rang out in the clearing, the lieutenant crumpled in the mud as the commander holstered his analog pistol and looked at the rest of his men, "These are your new orders: we are on a rescue mission to ensure the safe return of every single one of these civilians."
Heero tilted up his head and looked Relena in the eyes with a half grin, "You truly are crazy."
.
"Miss Relena's outdone herself," Dorothy clapped her hands, half in jest and half in genuine admiration, "The establishment media have no script for this scenario."
Mariemaia stood grinning as she flipped through the tabs on her screen, "They don't know what hit'em, the news is trying their best to ignore this story right now."
"They can try, but we've sent the footage to every cellular device in existence, they'll have to deal with the fallout with their military," Dorothy closed her tablet, "No one wants to be the enforcers of a revealed lie."
"And with the satellites up, we've ended the communications embargo."
"They'll be busy putting out the unquenchable fires of so-called disinformation, but no one can resist a love story as good as this," Dorothy headed for the door with a glint in her eye, "I need to go and give a well-deserved reward to a certain man."
.
"Mr. President! What should we do?" Yacovitch tried to control her anxiety, but her voice was still uncontrollably shrill, "The crowd in the town square are demanding an explanation, and the parliament members are resigning in protest."
Davos grimaced and forced out a smirk, "Us? I think you'll find, Foreign Minister, that they just want you to answer some questions about a few unfortunate recent choices you've made."
Yacovitch paled, "Please, President Davos, I've given my whole life to our cause of unification."
"Then you won't mind giving the rest of your life for the cause, too."
"What?" Yacovitch backed toward the door.
Davos pressed on, rubbing his hands, "Yes, it's zealots like you who hijacked our peace efforts for your own vendetta. In fact, you colluded with the Minister of Defence to murder Relena Darlian!"
"No!" Yacovitch was visibly shaken, her back pressed against the cold oak door of the mayoral office, "Please, I've been loyal to you all along!"
"That sounds like a direct threat, Foreign Minister," Davos pitched his voice, "Are you about to betray the ESUN?"
"What are you saying?"
Davos retrieved a pistol from his jacket, "I knew you had ambitions but this is too far! Stay back!"
Despair set in as Yacovitch realized her fate, desperate, she lunged for his gun.
The guards posted outside the office burst into the room, alarmed by the gunshot. They were ready to pounce on any threat, but there were no intruders, only a shaky, sweaty Davos, and the body of the Foreign Minister lying in a pool of her own blood.
"She came at me, I... I had no choice," Davos held up his pistol and surrendered it for the inevitable forensic investigation, "She conspired to overthrow the ESUN commission with a military coup, thankfully, I discovered her plot before it was too late."
.
Trowa slipped the data stick into his sock, wiped the system and turned off his terminal in the Spyders nest. The surveillance unit was overrun by the flood of dissenting public content generated by the footage from the Sanc Kingdom.
Many of the recruits threw up their hands in defeat, while others, having watched the footage themselves, walked out of the job. It was with this group that Trowa slipped away.
His mission was complete, with the recording of Davos' private call to Relena in his possession, the Preventers had enough leverage to indict the President. Or, Trowa thought privately, to control the President.
.
Epilogue
"The cascade of blame-dodging was truly spectacular to witness," Quatre mused, feet up on an ottoman and staring absentmindedly at the crystals in the lamp, "They sacrificed their own without hesitation."
"The failure of this revolution was caused by a few elites, whose greed outran their patience, and revealed their true nature mere seven years after the last war." Dorothy swirled her sparkling wine and bit her lower lip, "They won't make that mistake again."
"The next attempt will be purely financial, probably disguised as international loans, and lure the nations into debt," Quatre agreed, "If the regional governments aren't careful, they'll be tempted to not only sell out their country, but their posterity."
"People are so weak, give them a little bait and they lap it up like dogs," Dorothy said with disgust.
"It's human nature," Quatre sighed and stood up to stretch, he brightened, "But right now, we should celebrate the independence of the Colonies."
.
Relena stood against the tall windows of her temporary residence, her circlet shimmered against the black veil that covered her hair, a black gown trailed on the crimson carpet. She looked out at the city, her city. The street lights blinked off as the sun began to rise over the fog.
The doors opened softly and Heero entered with a bow, his royal guard uniform crisp in the dim light of dawn. Relena had been surprised at first, how willingly he took on the military's traditional code. But the structure proved beneficial for them both, when neither were sure where they stood with each other, they could always fall back on their roles.
Heero stood next to her and followed her gaze, "Everything is ready."
Her eyes stung and she swallowed, if he offered her any comfort now she would break. He, thankfully, refrained.
The diplomatic battle for the return of Milliardo's body had been long and tedious, the bureaucracy in Brussels passed around the responsibility until Lady Une pulled some strings.
The wind was cold but tinged with the scent of fresh earth as the ground thawed. Relena rode between Heero and Noin, with the ivory casket behind them in a four-horse carriage. The Honour Guard trailed after, followed by the civilian mourners on foot.
They passed through the town square, around the broken Gundam that knelt beside the fountain, silently watching over the city. Sunlight fractured as it glinted off each metal feather.
At the foot of the mountain, they dismounted and continued the journey on foot. Simeon and his men carried their commander on their shoulders, up to the graveyard of fallen kings.
So the warlike prince fought no more, and was gathered to his forefathers.
.
The year is After Colony 204, the violent upheavals of revolutionary fervor quieted with the dissolution of the Earth Sphere Unified Nations superstate. With no overarching authorities to guide them, many nations of the Earth and the Colonies were forced to self-govern for the first time in over a century, and each began to work out their foreign relations with fear and trembling; though the hope for a future of self-determination lit the paths beneath their feet like a lamp in the dark.
Fin.