This idea came to mind while re-watching Gundam Wing. I am writing this as a one shot, but am open to maybe adding to it. Also, I am still working on Absolution. I just got bogged down with lesson planning and teaching at work. I'm exhausted and school only started a few weeks ago.
I do not own Gundam Wing.
AC 199
Heero was in the process of finishing up a couple of reports for Commander Une in his office at Preventers HQ. A knocking sound came from the closed door in the office, followed by a head poking in. "Hey, Heero what are you working on? Are you ready for tonight?" Duo walked up to Heero's desk waiting for an answer. "Huh?" was his only reply.
"Come on Heero. You remember that we are all going to the Princess' house after work today, right?"
Heero finally looked up from the computer after sending the report he had been working on to Commander Une. "Yeah, I just needed to submit the security report for the Vice Foreign Minister's last public appearance. I'm heading to her office in 2 minutes."
"Well then, perfect timing. I'll tag along with you."
"Hn"
After packing up his laptop into its bag and closing his office up for the night, he headed toward the elevators with Duo matching his steps right beside him. Once in the elevator, Duo pressed the button that would take them down to the floor which housed the underground hallway connecting to the ESUN building. "Hilde and me have been excited to see this movie for months! I'm happy Relena agreed to let us all come over to watch it at her place." Silence was his only response on the way down, while Heero's mind went elsewhere.
Heero had of course been wary of this movie since it was brought to his attention. A production company had gotten permission from the appropriate people and even from Commander Une of the Preventers. That didn't stop him from doing his own research of course. He had hacked into the production company servers and found out the movie's production schedule, shoot locations, and the scripts. He had been extremely paranoid that they had discovered the identities of the Gundam pilots and everyone who had been involved with them during the war, including Relena's direct involvement with them. There were rumors that tied Relena to them that had been published in tabloids over the years, but that fact had never been officially confirmed to the public. Une had called him into her office once production had started to warn him not to try to stop it. She even went as far as telling him that she had been asked to be a consultant in the movie's production to help with its "accuracy" and not to worry about anyone's identities being revealed. That only helped relieve some of his concerns, but how much had Une revealed for accuracy?
Heero and Duo walked down the underground walkway and presented their badges to the security checkpoints along the way to the ESUN building. This tunnel had been made to help alleviate traffic above ground for authorized personnel, but also as another escape route to Preventers headquarters for ESUN members in case of emergencies. Once they had reached the floor that housed the Foreign Minister's cabinet, they made their way to the Vice Foreign Minister's offices.
"Agent Yuy and Agent Maxwell, shall I let Ms. Relena know that her detail is here to take her home?" asked the woman behind her desk. "Nah, we'll just show ourselves in Mel," winked Duo as he passed her desk. Mel was in her early 40's and was Relena's secretary. "She should be packing up by now," he added. "I wouldn't count on it" Mel said. "She was in a teleconference meeting with one of the delegates from L-3 most of the afternoon. Knowing the dear, she's probably still working away. By the way Agent Yuy, would you mind taking this to her?" she said as she handed Heero a cup of something warm. Heero nodded his reply.
Opening the door to her office, they found the blonde politician typing away at her computer with her brow furrowed in concentration. She obviously did not hear the door to her office open and Heero stepped up to her desk to put the cup of coffee down in front of her. As he did so, she looked up surprised to see the face in front of her. "Heero...and Duo, what are you two doing here?" Heero raised an eyebrow at her question. "We are here to take you home, Princess. Based on the confused look you are giving us, you lost track of time, didn't ya?" came the reply from behind Heero. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall and sure enough it was 5:04. "Oh! I'm sorry. Let me get my things together and we can go." She grabbed the cup that Heero had put down and took a sip. Her eyes lit up in delight. She whispered a quick thanks to him and his lips lifted a tiny bit in reply.
They made it back to Relena's home without incident. She lived in a private home just on the outskirts of Brussels with expansive grounds. Heero and Duo were the Heads of her security detail and one of them was usually with her outside of her office. Heero was officially in charge of her security and would go with her whenever she was making an appearance or traveling. Duo was in charge of her security while at home, but worked directly under Heero. Between the two of them with the occasional help of Wufei, Sally, and Trowa, Relena was always with someone to keep her protected. She had become friends with all of the ex-pilots over the years. Heero had opened up more and had become one of her best friends. Duo and Hilde were a close second to him.
Tonight was a special night. Duo had convinced her to host this movie night at her home months ago. To say she was nervous was an understatement. She knew that the movie was going to be based on the war when the majority of them were about 15. Une had told her not to worry as it was only going to be a "loose interpretation of actual events." Heero had also been concerned, but after he did some research, he seemed to be as convinced as Une. Duo and Hilde on the other hand were making this movie out to be the next action blockbuster and it was all they had talked about in the previous weeks. They had invited their close friends. Most of them worked for Preventers, so Une had made arrangements that everyone was on call for her security for this night.
Hilde was waiting for them in Relena's kitchen. She had taken it upon herself to make snacks and finger foods for the main event tonight. Pagan was in the kitchen sitting at the table drinking tea. Hilde had made the gentleman take a much needed break while she busied herself. "Welcome home Miss Relena. Agent Yuy and Agent Maxwell, I see that the three of you travelled here together. Would you like something to drink?" he asked while standing up from his chair. "Don't worry about it Pagan, we can grab our own drinks, right Princess?" Duo replied before turning to Hilde. "Hey babe. Wow, that's a lot of food!" Duo was right. Hilde had platters of food set up buffet style in the kitchen like she was about to feed a small army.
Pagan turned to look at Relena and Heero and relayed "Mister Winner will be arriving shortly. Agent Po called right before you arrived to say that she was leaving HQ with the others and will be arriving within the next half hour." Relena smiled and thanked him. She left the kitchen to put her things away and change out of her work clothes. As she was coming down the stairs, she heard voices coming from the living room.
"You didn't bring Cat with you, Quat?"
"No, she couldn't make it off the colony to come down this time. She said she would make sure to catch the broadcast of the movie up on the Mars colony along with Zechs and Miss Noin."
"That's a bummer. At least she's keeping those two company."
"Milliardo and Lucrezia returned to the Mars colony?" came the question from the doors to the room.
"Miss Relena! Yes, they finished their work in the dome on Mars a bit early and decided to return to their home. That's where Dorothy is staying until she is done with her business there." Quatre proceeded to pull Relena into a hug and give her a peck on the cheek. "It's nice to see you again."
"It's nice to have you down on Earth for a little while, Quatre" she said wholeheartedly. "Make yourself at home. Did you already put your things in a guest room?" He nodded his head. The doorbell rang and Pagan opened the door to greet the rest of their friends.
The rest of the guests that were expected were now sitting in the living room of Relena's home with bags of popcorn (Duo had insisted on this) and drinks. Relena and Heero were sitting on a couch, while Duo and Hilde decided to sit on floor pillows, Sally and Wufei were on a loveseat, and Trowa, Quatre, and Une were seated in comfy chairs all around the TV. There was a mix of excitement, nervousness, and dread coming from the occupants in the room.
"It's starting!"
"Shhh!"
The title of the movie appeared on the screen. Commanders of War turned out to be a difficult film to put together, seeing as there wasn't a lot of readily available information as to who exactly was involved in the battles of the war. It turns out that the production company had gotten what they could from the sources they interviewed and Une, which was limited, so they took liberties to create a cohesive film. In the opening credits of the film, the production placed a disclaimer that the film was based on true events and people, but creative liberties were taken to depict the story.
The narrator gave some background information about the events leading up to the war of AC 195 and how certain rebels of the colonies ultimately decided to send Gundams to Earth to destroy the corrupt government and military ruling at that time.
*Five pods launched from different colonies take off toward Earth. Four of the five successfully enter the atmosphere. The fifth pod is attacked by OZ mobile suits before being able to descend onto the blue and green planet. The pod takes some damage and veers off course. It lands in the Pacific Ocean near the territory of Japan.*
"We did it sir! We destroyed the enemy ship!"
"No! We need to go down there and make sure that the pod and anyone on board is dead. Make preparations to land at the military port near where that thing crashed."
"Yes, Sir!"
—-
*A young blonde girl is walking down the path near the beach contemplating her teenage life. She is upset about her father being away on business so often. All of a sudden she sees a body sprawled out on the sand in a spacesuit and proceeds to try and help. She manages to pull of the helmet and wants to check if the person is breathing. She finds a handsome young man of similar age. His face is somewhat hidden under a mop of disheveled brown hair.*
"He's just a boy…" At that moment the boy wakes up and is startled that someone is with him. "Did you see?" he demands while attempting to cover his face.
"See what? Please don't move. I've called for help."
*The boy fiddles with something on his suit, but it malfunctions and knocks him over. He sees the medical crew that arrives to help him. He makes a run for it and on the way to the ambulance he punches two EMT's and kicks the third one off the stairs. He runs to the ambulance and pulls the driver out of the seat and steals the ambulance.*
—-
Duo was on the floor laughing at the scene that just played on the screen while Heero and Relena turned to stare at each other with worried looks. "That just happened to be a coincidence, right?" Relena whispers to Heero. Before Heero could reply, Duo turned around and announced to the entire room "Hey, isn't that how you and Relana met, Heero?"
Relena looked mortified as her face turned red with embarrassment, while Heero just gave him a deadly glare.
At this point, everyone realized that the young woman in the movie was in fact portraying a 15 year old Relena. The production had found an actress who resembled the blonde politician. As the other main leads were introduced, the actual pilots became nervous and kept looking back at Une to see if she found it odd that the production had found suitable doppelgängers to portray them.
As the movie progressed, it was obvious where the production took liberties to fill in gaps. Throughout the movie, the film versions of Heero and Relena were growing closer to each other and during one scene, Pilot 01 took movie Relena to a hangar.
"Where are we?"
"We are in the secret underground hangar under your palace, Princess."
"Why was I not aware that such a place existed under my home?"
"You should ask that question to the leader of your guard."
"Why did you bring me down here, then?"
"To show you something." He held his hand out to her. "Do you trust me?"
"Yes"
*She takes his hand as he leads her further into the underground room. He stops in front of one of the mobile suits being stored there. More specifically, his mobile suit.*
"I haven't been this close to your Gundam since the night you saved me."
"Do you...want to see the inside? I mean, the controls in the cockpit?"
"Really?" she asked nervously.
"Hn" was his reply with a small nod.
"Come closer. You are going to have to hold on to me while we ascend." He grabs the cable that will pull them up and she wraps her arms around his neck while he grabs a hold of her waist. The cable pulls them up the platform of the open cockpit.
"Relena, go ahead and sit in there," 01 points to the seat. He helps her in as she sits in front of the controls.
"There are so many controls in here. You know what all the buttons and switches do?"
"Yeah"
"Wow!"
Pilot 01 gets a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Do you want to go for a ride, Relena?"
Relena looks up at him with wide eyes. "Really?"
"Yeah, switch places with me." Pilot 01 pulls Relena out and sits in the behind the controls and proceeds to pull Relena into his lap. She gasps as she lands in the pilot's lap. He proceeds to seal them into the cockpit. Pilot 01 moves around some controls and then the Gundam starts walking.
"There's barely any room in there to maneuver with two people!" came a cry from Wufei. Sally elbowed him to shut him up.
"I think that's the point...look at them. They are making out now," stated Hilde. "This has me wondering if it would be possible to actually fit two people in there. I wouldn't have minded you inviting me to sit in Deathscythe with you Duo…" she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at him. She then turned to Relena and gave her a wink. She returned a small smile with a curious look. "See! Even 'Lena is curious."
"Please don't bring me into this…" she said as she tried to hide her face with a curtain of hair. She pleaded, "Can we just go back to watching the movie now?"
The majority of the room smiled at each other. Heero turned to look at Relena and a determined look and followed by a smirk brightened his handsome face.
After some time, a lot of action scenes depicted Alliance bases being destroyed with lots of flashy explosions. The movie Gundams eventually went up to space, got upgraded, and were being prepared to go into the last battle.
Duo, Hilde, and some of the others were loving all of the action in the film. Some were making more appreciative noises cheering their movie counterparts on.
—
Pilot 01 was just told by the other pilots that Relena was on the enemy space fortress being held prisoner by the White Fang's leader. She had gone to negotiate with her family friend to help stop his meaningless war. Or at least that's what the message sent from Libra to Peacemillion said. They still didn't know who had sent the message or if it was a trap.
Regardless, 01 had forged a deep connection with the Princess and if the message was true, he needed to make sure she was safe.
*Pilot 01 takes off in a damaged mobile suit carrier and heads toward Libra. Once he nears Libra he opens the line of communication and asks for aid. He crashes the carrier into the ship bay and causes confusion for the crew trying to put out the fire. He sneaks away onto the war ship to find Relena.*
Movie Relena gets a visitor in her "cell" who tries to convince her to support the leader of the White Fang. Relena refuses on account of her ideals. The visitor turns to leave, but tells Relena that she will regret her decision. They lock her door to prevent escape. A few moments pass as she stares out the window into the vastness of space. The door to her room opens again. Thinking that her visitor had returned for another attempt to convince her, Relena tells the person that she hasn't changed her mind without glancing over. The person at the door replies "I can't do that."
Relena gasps and turns to look at 01.
"The others are worried about you being here."
"I didn't expect you to come for me."
"Let's go," he says as he turns to face the door.
"Alright," she says and proceeds to follows him.
Once they get to a storage area 01 reveals that he plans to wait out the battle about to begin outside of the ship that way he can destroy Libra in his Gundam. In the meantime she needs to stay with him to protect her. Relena looks content and sits next to him.
*Scene cuts to the battle waging on outside the battleship. The other four Gundams are in an intense battle with an enemy mobile suit. While at the same time movie Treize Khushrenada and Earth forces are taking out mobile dolls and suits protecting Libra.
On the other battleship, Peacemillion, the crew is trying to figure out the best route of action to destroy or deactivate Libra's main weapon. They decide to go with an earlier plan to plow into Libra with Peacemillion itself to cause the most damage possible.
The crew on Libra doesn't realize until it's too late that the other battleship is about to plow into them. They are not prepared. Peacemillion rams into Libra causing explosions all around the impact point. They successfully manage to destroy Libra's main cannon. The crew is remarkably still alive on both sides.
The Gundam pilots decide to help the crew of the Peacemillion to take over Libra. Their other mission parameter is to find Pilot 01 and Relena.
Pilot 01 and Relena are revealed to be in a locker room looking for spacesuits to put on. Pilot 01 tells Relena that they are going to board Peacemillion where it is safer for her to be. She moves toward him with the intention to hug him. He realizes that she's holding back by the way she is trying to avoid his gaze. She lets go and turns around to leave the room, but he catches her hand and pulls her back into a tight embrace. He moves his face towards her and she meets him halfway in a passion filled kiss.
"Relena, do you trust me?"
"Yes"
"Believe in me."
They kiss again before separating.
—
"Damn, Heero! I didn't know you had it in you!"
"Shut up, Duo!"
"Shh!"
Everyone else's curiosity got the better of them and stared at the two people on the couch. To their amazement both the real Heero and Relena looked a bit sad, but surprised at the scene.
Their attention returned to the television in front of them when a loud explosion came from the speakers.
—-
Pilot 01 safely takes Relena back to Peacemillion and leaves her under the care of the captain. He takes off in his Gundam into the final battle with the leader of the White Fang. The villain is waiting for 01 to show up. The fight between these two Gundams is magnificent with the pilots matching each other blow for blow; a spectacular display of ability. The agility of these machines made it seem like they were dancing. White Fang's leader reveals to 01 that in order to achieve peace for the Earth and colonies, he has been manipulating his side of the war to create a grisly ultimatum in which people will not ever want to wage war against each other.
Unbeknownst to 01 and the leader of the White Fang, the Earth delegation starts broadcasting their fight to the universe. The speaker starts relaying that "The battle you are witnessing has no significance to Earth or the colonies. But it's necessary all the same. Because in reality it's a fight to save the colonies! This year, in After Colony 195, the history of battle is finally about to end. Unless these two fight, peace will never be achieved! Can you feel the misery of this combat? And can you see the peace that awaits us? This battle is making us look for a solution to secure peace!" (1)
While 01 and the villain are in the midst of their fight, the rest of the pilots find out that the crew on Libra is planning to crash the battleship into the Earth. The outcome of which would send the Earth to extinction! The team has to prevent this from happening. Some of the crew on the Peacemillion stay behind after most of the people evacuate to a resource satellite. They are able to use the working engines to force the Libra back toward empty space. Unfortunately, a block of the Libra breaks off the main ship. The rest of the Gundam team shift gears and start to make their way to the block to attempt to destroy it before it reaches the Earth's atmosphere. 02, 03, 04, 05, and a group of mobile suits are all doing their best to destroy the block from the inside. One of the other Gundam pilots manages to reach 01 to tell him that the block of Libra they are on is starting to descend toward Earth and needs to be destroyed. 01 manages to defeat the villain by slashing part of his Gundam off before taking off to blow up the power core.
01 realizes that he used up most of the weapons and ammo during the battle with the leader of the White Fang. His last hope is the self-detonation device on his Gundam. Just as 01 accepts that he will not live to see the end of the war, the villain who is no longer the villain, appears to tell him that those who have pure hearts and are kind deserve to live just like him. The world no longer needs evil or old ways. He uses the beam saber to stab the power core and it explodes. This works to a certain extent, but there is still a chunk of the block descending to the atmosphere.
01 manages to find his buster rifle in the debris of the ship he's in and heads out to get ahead of the descending block. People on all sides are watching the footage of 01 and his Gundam trying to get ahead of the falling ship. Some suspenseful seconds pass as 01 attempts to aim at the moving block while enduring the heat of entering Earth's atmosphere. He locks on to the target and shoots. A blinding explosion fills the screen and the descending block is destroyed! The fragments are burning up in the atmosphere. The crews at the resource satellite erupt in cheer that the Earth is saved!
The pilots are happy to see that they were able to aid in saving the Earth, however something is not right. One of the pilots asks if anyone sees 01. No one says anything right away. One of them detects a signal coming from the debris floating just outside the atmosphere. The others join in the search for their fellow pilot and friend. What greets them is the remains of Gundam 01. 02 gets out of his Gundam to check the cockpit of the mangled Gundam. What he discovers makes him immediately tear up. Pilot 01's limp body with blood droplets floating in front of him. His helmet is cracked along the face shield. 02 pulls the body out of the harness and makes his way back up to the others.
"He didn't make it."
"Oh no!"
—-
The surviving pilots made their way to the resource satellite that the Peacemillion and Earth delegation crews evacuated to. Some of their other comrades came to the hangar to greet them and congratulate them for destroying Libra. The cheerful and celebratory atmosphere suddenly shifted to a wary one when the crews saw the Gundam pilots' somber faces. Relena appeared from the waiting crowd and asked about Pilot 01. Pilot 02 and 04 came up to hug her and let her know that her beloved 01 did not make it. He died blowing up the block of Libra in the atmosphere. Pilot 03 carried 01's body to Relena and the waiting group.
"Noooo!"
—-
"Holy shit! What the hell?!"
The only outburst came from Duo. The others were shocked at the sudden turn of events that they completely missed the last few minutes of the film. Une managed to find the remote to turn off the television.
Hilde was bawling on Duo's shoulder while he was trying to calm her down and telling her that it was just a movie. "Babe, he's still with us. The real Heero didn't die!"
Quatre and Sally were both dabbing their eyes with tissues. Une, Trowa, and Wufei were quiet, but somber. Relena suddenly got up from the couch and ran to the kitchen. Heero looked up at the sudden noise with a knitted brow. Looking around the room and upon hearing Hilde's crying, he got more confused.
'Why did his fictitious death affect them like this?' Heero thought.
As if Quatre knew exactly what he was thinking, he responded to Heero's silent question. "You are not just a colleague, or an ex-soldier, or just another Preventer. You are a close friend and I can speak for everyone when I say you are part of our family. We care about you Heero. We were not expecting the ending of this movie to be like that, especially knowing that it was based on our lives during that period of time. It seemed to really affect us."
"Hn...I appreciate your honesty, Quatre. I guess I've never said this before, but I do consider you to be my friends. I also...care about your well being." Quatre smiled in response.
"Heero, you're such a sap. We love you too. Now, if I were you, I'd go console Relena," Duo piped up from the floor.
"Hn"
Heero got up and followed the path Relena had taken a few minutes ago into the kitchen. He found her heating up water in a kettle on the stove.
"Would you like tea, Heero?" she asked without turning around.
"...Yes, thank you."
She pulled another cup out from the cupboard and set it down next to hers. When the water started to boil, she turned the heat off. She grabbed a towel to help protect her hand from the hot handle and poured two cups of hot water. She then grabbed both cups and took them with her to the little dining nook in the kitchen to sit down. She placed Heero's cup in the spot directly in front of her without looking at him. He silently followed and sat down. He stared down at his cup and grabbed a bag of black tea. When Heero finally looked up at Relena he noticed that there were traces of tears on her face and her eyes looked a bit red from crying. She was looking out the window at her backyard still not looking at him.
She spoke softly, still not looking at him. "I'm sorry for running off like that. I didn't think the ending would affect me so much."
"Relena...It's okay. You care. We are friends after all. If something were to happen to me, you would be upset. If something happened to you, I would be too."
She finally looked at him. "Yes, but it's a bit more complicated than that. I need to confess something that's been weighing down my heart. Please know that I do not want to ruin our friendship. You have opened up and we can have full conversations now. When we met four years ago, I couldn't get you to say more than a few words to me." She took a drink from her tea before continuing. "You mean so much more to me than just a friend. You are a dear and important person. Yes, you are my best friend and I can tell you almost anything. Watching the end of that movie brought to the surface something that I was trying to hold back."
"Relena…" What did she mean, almost anything?
"Heero...I love you."
"I love you too, Relena. You are also important to me."
"No. Please listen. I don't love you as just a dear friend. I mean that I'm in love with you…it means that I've had feelings for you for a long time now. Back when we first met, I had a crush on you. Because of the war happening around us, I didn't really have time to think past that I had an infatuation with you and wanted to know everything I could about you. However, after I took my father's position in the government, my mind kept wandering back to you. I thought at the time that the reason I kept thinking of you was because I needed your strength to keep me grounded in the important work I was doing.
Then, things changed when Mariemaia happened. You were on my mind the entire time I was captured. I kept thinking that I should have seen the red flags traveling to L3-X18999. If I had been thinking logically at that time I could have avoided what happened. If I was you, what would you have done differently in my shoes. A lot of 'what ifs' were not going to get me anywhere. One thing I was sure about though, that I was ready to die for what I believed in. I had one regret. That I wouldn't get to see you before dying. I wanted to see you one last time to thank you for all the times you gave me the strength to continue."
"You survived."
"Yes, but it was thanks to you. You came to save me that day."
"I promised that I would protect you."
"You did. I had hoped you would come, but I had no guarantee. When you did show up, I was happy…When you fell into my arms, I felt an intense pull at my heart. Then, at the hospital when you were unconscious, I didn't want to leave you. I didn't want to miss you waking up. In the days that you were sleeping, I stayed by your side, but I had time to think about everything that had happened. It was then that I realized that I loved you. Truly loved you. I missed my chance to thank you for everything when you left the hospital. I had missed you by a few hours." Her blue eyes started to get watery, but she did not let the tears fall. "When Commander Une requested a meeting regarding my safety and to inform me that she found someone to be my permanent Head of Security, I was honestly expecting her to tell me that Wufei was going to be given the job against his will," she smiled. "I never expected that you were the one who would walk through the door. After you woke up and disappeared, I thought that I would never see you again." A lone tear ran down her cheek. Heero raised his hand to her face and wiped the tear from her cheek.
"Don't misunderstand me. I was ecstatic and confused at your sudden reappearance. I'm sorry that I avoided direct contact with you at the beginning. I wasn't sure how to approach you now that I knew how I truly felt about you. As those first few months passed us, you started to open up more and it became easier to be myself again. When you called me your friend, I decided that I wouldn't tell you my true feelings because I would rather have you in my life as a dear friend than ruin that by telling you. I would be happy if you were happy...That's it. Now you know." Her eyes looked back toward the window with pained eyes.
Heero stood up from his chair and walked around to kneel by her side of the table. "Relena, look at me." She kept her eyes on the window. He got up, pushed her cup away, and sat on the table in front of her. Heero touched her chin gently. "Relena, please look at me." She had tears in her eyes again. He grabbed her chin a bit more forcefully and made her turn her head. Heero moved his head towards her and brought his lips down on hers in a gentle kiss. When he pulled back, Heero saw her shocked expression.
"I also have a confession to make, Relena. It took me a long time to come to terms with my own emotions and feelings. I didn't grow up being able to freely express my feelings to others, you know this. I was raised to be an assassin and then trained with the intention of becoming a Gundam pilot. I was re-trained multiple times. According to Dekim Barton, my humane feelings of kindness were unnecessary (2). They saw me as a weapon, not a human. The man who raised me as an assassin would tell me that there was nothing wrong with acting on your emotions (3). That one thing kept me sane, and I was able to keep some sort of my humanity intact." Heero sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"After I met you, things became more complicated and I was confused with what to do with you. I wanted to kill you because you knew too much, but I couldn't go through with it. I didn't know why. I started to regain some of my humanity and by the end I didn't know if I was going to survive to see the peace you were fighting for, but I wanted to live to see it. Then you were kidnapped, I was terrified that I wouldn't get to you in time to save you. I barely made it to you."
"Heero, but y-"
"I heard you in the hospital, when you would talk to me." Relena's eyes widened in response.
"I actually regained consciousness a day after the bunker collapsed. It was the middle of the night when I woke up. I felt a weight on my hand and looked to see what it was. I saw you holding my hand in your sleep. I watched you for a while before nodding off again. I was suffering from exhaustion and I kept my eyes closed when the hospital staff or you came to my room. I heard you reading to me, your stories, your ranting..." he smirked before continuing.
"When I left the hospital, I didn't mean to make you sad. I went to see Une to talk about you and what could be done about your security and protection. She offered me a position as the Head of Security for a young government official that seemed to be getting herself into more dangerous situations and the wrong people were taking notice. I accepted, but I needed to take care of some things before officially relocating to Earth."
"Your confession is that you heard me in the hospital?" She looked embarrassed.
"No. Well, part of it." He reached out for her left hand and placed it in his right one.
"Since I started working with you, I have been able to open up to you in a way I never have to anyone. Thanks to you and the others, I feel like I have a place where I belong. I have people I consider friends and colleagues. It's different with you though. I feel at ease and connected to you. I am able to consider you as one of my best friends and...my family. Since you were holding back your feelings and I wasn't able to clearly see them, I want to let you know that your feelings are not one sided, Relena." He stood up and pulled Relena up from her chair to where they were standing directly in front of each other.
"Relena, I love you. I am finally able to tell you about the feeling that's been growing in my heart all this time."
When Heero looked at her, she was able to see the kindness and love in his eyes. He was trying to portray his feelings in the way he looked at her. He moved closer at that moment and tilted his head down so he could put his forehead against hers. Heero smiled at her and the tears she was desperately trying to hold back rushed down her face. He closed his eyes and met her lips in a tender kiss letting her know how much he loved her. Relena moved her arms to wrap around his neck. Heero pulled her into an embrace. They lost track of how long they stood in Relena's kitchen holding each other.
The picture perfect moment was ruined by someone yelling "It's about time damn time!" from the doorway. Relena tried to move away from Heero, but he grabbed her hand to prevent her from going too far. He turned to the intruder to give them a glare and found the others smiling in return.
(1) This speech was taken directly from episode 49 of the series, where Une speaks these words when the fight between Heero and Zechs was being broadcast.
(2) This is basically what Dekim Barton is heard saying in the montage in the flashback scene for Heero in Endless Waltz, right after the residential area around the base he blew up was destroyed.
(3) Heero says this a few times during the series. Most notably to Trowa.
Author's note: This is the longest thing I have written. I wanted to make one-shot since the idea was about them watching a movie of their time as Gundam pilots. Also, the name of the movie, that is also the title of this story, was created using an action movie title generator. In the end, this became a 14 page endeavor totaling about 6,500 words. This is not beta read. I tried my best to catch errors. Let me know what you think. Like I said in my explanation at the beginning, I am open to adding more to this depending on if I get feedback. Thank you!