I am so sorry for taking so long to update! Life got in the way, but now I have time so I can work on updating all of my stories. Enjoy!
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Thinking, thinking, thinking. That was Ashley's self appointed task for the moment as she sat with Noin in her office and watched her work. She had meditated again like she'd said that she would, but the images were more confusing than before. This time she had seen Heero and that boy with the braid again, but they were about fifteen and on a docked ship of some sort. Braid boy had stopped Heero from shooting this girl with honey-blonde hair, and then Heero had jumped onto some torpedos. She wished she could hear sounds in her visions, they would have helped a lot. But as confusing as it was, she knew that that moment was somehow really important to understand exactly why this world had turned out so differently. So, first order of business, find out who that girl and guy with the braid were. Well, the only way to do that would be to describe them to as many people as possible and hope that someone recognized them. Only problem was, her physical descriptions tended to suck, at least when she tried to describe things with words. But she could sketch fairly decently, so that would be the best way to go about things. She pulled out her sketchbook and pencil and got to work.
8
An hour later found Noin leaning over her shoulder and staring wide eyed at the sketch of the girl that Ashley had seen in her latest vision.
"What? Do you know this girl?" Ashley asked, unnerved by the paleness of Noins' face. Noin nodded slowly.
"She's the younger sister of Zechs Merquise, and died almost five years ago."
"Really? She's from the last, uh, vision that I had. In it, the boy with the braid" She flipped to his picture "showed up and prevented Heero from killing her. Do you recognize him?" Noin studied the picture for a moment, then shook her head.
"Never seen him before. Are you sure this is who you saw?"
"You mean have I been influenced by the other people that I've seen in this time?" Noin nodded. "How would I have been? The only people that I've seen on a regular basis are you, Wufei, Sally, Quatre, and Trowa. I haven't really talked to anyone else. Besides, does this look like anyone that you know in the smallest bit?" Noin took another look at the boy, studying his heart shaped face, expressive yet non-revealing violet eyes, the impossibly long hair that was tied back in a braid. She shook her head again.
"The only person that even comes close is you, and then only the eyes. Maybe the hair color as well." Ashley threw her hands up in the air, along with the sketchbook and her pencils.
"Well, I give up. This is all far too weird anyway." Noin sat down across from her after she had picked up the sketch book and pencils with a knowing smile on her face.
"What's so weird about this?" Ashley looked at her like she was crazy.
"What do you mean what's weird? I've been kidnapped by a mad scientist and brought to the future, which is fantastical enough as it is; I'm seeing visions of a person who doesn't exist, one who's dead, not to mention scenes from another timeline. What don't you find weird about this?"
"I find it plenty weird. You just needed to get all that off your chest." There was a few seconds of silence before a smile broke out on Ashley's face.
"You remind me a lot about my aunt, she would pull shit like that to." Both women smiled, and Noin went back to work, reading an intelligence report while Ashley picked up her sketchbook and pencils.
All of a sudden Noin jumped out of her chair and ran out of the room. Ashley blinked in surprise, and then was even more surprised when Noin ran back in and grabbed her arm, hauling her down the hall to Quatre's office. She burst through the door without knocking, surprising Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei, and slammed the report down on the desk.
"Read that." She ordered. Technically, they didn't have to do anything of the sort since they out ranked her, but that was formality only. They had learned long ago that it was best to do what she demanded, so the three boys crowded around the report. Ashley was still in mild shock at Noin's actions as the woman deposited her in a chair, and was also thoroughly confused as to why she was here. They looked up once they had finished reading.
"The source is reliable?" Trowa asked. Noin nodded vigorously.
"I'd bet my life on it. Or hers since it might come to that." She answered, indicating Ashley. Now she was even more confused.
"What are you talking about?" She demanded. The four soldiers looked at each other.
"If this intelligence is correct," Wufei said slowly "then we may have found a way to send you home, which, we hope, will also bring about real peace."
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Ashley did her best to look inconspicuous as she browsed through the store, pretending to be nothing more than a young woman shopping. She was having a hard time doing so, for she was decidedly more than that. The intelligence report was from an inside source in OZ, though Noin refused to say who it was, only that it was reliable and the person would be there to help her once she was inside. It included everything that the scientist who had kidnapped her had told Treize, as well as containing detailed instructions on how to work the time machine. They had immediately begun discussing plans to get her home to her own time, thereby returning history to its natural course. She was bewildered that they were willing to do this, as they really had no idea that the visions she saw was what would happen if she went home.
They had decided to take the chance, and she was now pretending to shop in downtown London and waiting for the military to pick her up. Her immediate reaction to that part of the plan had been to rebel, because going willingly with military personnel was a death sentence in her mind. Unless you joined the military it had always been best to stay away from them. But Quatre assured her in that calm voice of his that OZ, more accurately Treize, wanted her alive and in her right mind.
So, here she was after driving for who knows how long since they had slipped her some sleeping pills for the trip and she'd had no idea where they had started from in the first place. Trowa had said that it was best that way and she wasn't going to question him. She knew in the back of her mind that they had every right to kill her and she was damn lucky that they were helping her return home and she wasn't going to jeopardize that.
Ohhh, don't look now Ashley but there are obvious Military Officers in plain clothes scoping you out. They're either worse than you are at looking inconspicuous or they're the decoy to draw your attention away from the pros. Great, now I'm talking to myself like I'm another person. Someone throw me into a padded cell, please.
Ashley left the store, heading for the parking lot like she was going to get her car, and it was on the way there that she was grabbed from behind. She tried to fight them, really, but they had placed something over her face that was making her lose consciousness. Her last thought was that those two in the store had definitely been decoys.
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The first thing that she noticed as she swam back to consciousness was that her head hurt like hell. The second thing was that she was on a bed. Not just any bed, but a really nice, really comfortable, really expensive bed. Had her head not been hurting so badly she would have taken some time to luxuriate, but it did so that was preventing her from enjoying the pleasantness. A gentle clearing of the throat made her open her eyes and turn her head, where she found none other than Heero Yuy sitting next to her bed.
"We should kill you." He said simply. Ashley rolled her eyes.
"Nice greeting." She answered sarcastically. "And if that's the case then why am I still alive?"
"General Treize wants to speak with you. Get up." Ashley rolled her eyes but threw the covers off and swung her legs off the bed, locating her shoes and putting them on before picking up her bag.
"You can leave it here." Heero said, pointing to her bag. Ashley shrugged.
"Don't feel like it."
"Fine. Follow me." She did as she was told, checking her watch once she had fallen in step behind Heero. Good, there was still time. She decided to take a chance and see if she could clear a few things up.
"Can I ask you something?" She asked, receiving a non-committal grunt in return. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and pushed on. "Why did you join OZ? From everything I was told you came down to Earth to destroy OZ, so why did you end up joining them?" Heero stopped short, not having expected that question, and looked back at her.
He had been defending a colony against Quatre's attack while the Arabian had been under the influence of Wing Zero. Their fight had ended, and he was a prisoner of OZ once again. They hooked him up to the Wing Zero in an attempt to better understand the cockpit system. He replayed the question that had been plaguing Quatre about who their enemies were in this war.
"The one's after your life, and the targets you aim to defeat are always your enemy." He had said. This ran through his head, and he broke free of his restraints as the Zero system fully activated. He saw his target, his enemy: the Doctors, and all those associated with them: the other Gundam pilots. He saw them for what they were, what Quatre had shown them all to be with his recent actions. Traitors, ready to sacrifice those who they had sworn to protect on a whim. He understood now that the colonies would never be safe as long as there was a war; it all had to stop. OZ was on the side of the Colonies now, they had accepted OZ. He would fight with OZ, and in doing so, fulfill his promise to protect the Colonies from harm. He hit the com button.
"Quatre.Omae O Korosou."
He considered not answering, but one look at her face made him reconsider. She was to open, to honestly curious about his reasons for his change of tactics, that he decide to answer her honestly.
"There was no unifying force to bring the people together once OZ was gone. They were the only thing keeping the people from turning on each other." She fell into a contemplative silence as they resumed their walk to Treize's suite.
"What if there had been?" She asked quietly after about a minute. He looked at her in surprise.
"What are you talking about?" He demanded.
"What if there had originally been someone who could unite everyone, but because I was brought here that person isn't around anymore?" He whirled around to face her, his eyes angry, though he didn't know why.
"What are you talking about?" He hissed at her.
"That girl you killed, when you first came down to Earth. Do you know who she was?"
"What does it matter?" He growled, becoming frustrated with this girl and her seemingly pointless questions.
"She was Zech's Merquise's little sister. Zech's Merquise, who is also known as MiliardoPeacecraft. She was Relena Peacecraft. What if she'd decided to use her family's name to bring the people together against Romefellor? What would you have done?" Heero was completely stunned. He'd killed a Peacecraft? Could that be true. All at once the guilt and possibilities weighed heavily on him. Had he really killed someone that could have provided a world to live in after war? But what was this girl getting at?
"What do you want?" He demanded.
"To go home." He blinked at her. Her request couldn't be that simple, but she pushed on. "If I go home then History will return to it's natural course. You won't kill that girl, the war will be done a lot sooner and there will be peace."
"How can you be sure." He demanded. Ashley smiled at what she was about to say, and hoped to God that her friends never heard about this. She had never been a terribly religious person herself, so what she was about to say was a bit out of character.
"Because I have faith in you." To say the look on his face was priceless was an understatement, but they didn't really have time to focus on it, as the compound was rocked with explosions, throwing them both to the ground. Heero immediately threw himself on top of Ashley out of reflex, and when he checked to see that she was all right she had a triumphant smile on her face. "Right on time." She mumbled.
"This was all a trap."
"Of course it was. You didn't think the Rebels would let me out of the compound without a reason, did you? Now I've got to get home and right a terrible wrong." She said and pushed herself up from the ground. Heero knocked her feet out from under her and pinned her to the ground.
"I can't let you do that." Before she could respond he was knocked off her by a bullet that hit him in the shoulder. Ashley scrambled to her feet and stared with Heero in surprise at who had shot him. "Hilde! What are you doing?" Heero demanded as he stood up and pulled out his own gun.
"Righting a terrible wrong. Get going Ashley, I'll take care of this guy." Ashley only had time for a brief look of surprise before she took off down the corridor, listening as the exchanging gunfire got more distant and was drowned out by the explosions. She skidded to a halt when the corridors intersected into four directions and swore under her breath. She didn't know which direction to go in.
"Ashley!" She turned her head to see who had called her and found Quatre coming down the left hallway.
"Quatre! Looks like your tracking device worked." She said as they embraced quickly.
"Let's get going." He said an pulled her down the right hallway, keeping her in front of him and turning around only to shoot at the soldiers that had caught sight of them.
"There it is!" Ashley called as the room came into view. Quatre blew the lock off the door and pushed it open, running in with Ashley. He pushed her to the ground as a flash grenade was thrown in, and when they'd recovered he laid down cover fire while she worked the machinery and hoped that she was getting everything right.
She gave a shout of triumph when the machinery sprang to life and the opening that she was to travel through began to glow a pearly white. She ran for it, and was about to step through when she began to have her doubts. What if this didn't work? What if all the people that she'd met here were doomed to die because she'd gotten something wrong? She looked to Quatre, the worry plain on her face, and he seemed to understand.
"Go on! Don't worry about us! Just get back home and live your life!" She gave him a shaky smile and began to stop through, but stopped once again, this time in surprise, and locked eyes with the boy that she had only seen in visions and sketches. They stared at each other, the surprise clearly on both of their faces. Joy then welled up in Ashley's eyes, and she gave him a cheeky, two fingered salute before stepping through the machine and back to her own time.
Correct Timeline
The first thing that I did was find a newspaper and check the date, then breathe a sigh of relief when I saw that I was back home. I have no idea if you'll ever read this, or if by coming back I've changed anything at all. But I have faith that things turned out the way they were supposed to, and that there's now peace in the world. I just hope that I got the date right.
I wrote all of this down right away, mainly because I wanted to remember that it happened, that it wasn't simply a wacked out dream that I had. I didn't decide to put it into storage for you until after I'd had a conversation with my grandson, who has a bit of a self-esteem issue. I didn't tell him about any of this, mainly because it would just cause him to worry, but I felt that I need to tell someone that one person can and does make a difference, no matter how small it may seem. I also figured that this might give you a little piece of personal history. From talking with Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa, I figured that it was likely your life had been hard, and that you might not know where you came from. Everyone deserves to know that.
The photo albums have pictures of my life, plus my childrens and grandchildrens. The box was something that I made in wood shop in high school, and in it are mementos from my life; there's a book inside that tells you what each one meant to me. I hope you enjoy them.
Love,
Your Great-great Grandmother (or something like that)
Hilde had finished reading the book, as Duo had been to overcome with emotion to do so. Heero held him close while the others were all quiet, out of respect for Duo.
"Let's go visit her." Quatre finally said. Duo looked at him in disbelief. "Her grave I mean. We can go pay our respects to her."
"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."
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Whew! Finished! I truly apologize to Spellcasterz and The Dark Goddess Vynx, who have had this story on alert for the longest time while I just kept putting off writing it. I'm sorry! Please forgive me! (Can be seen groveling and begging at their feet.) Anyway, it's now completed to my satisfaction but I would really like to hear your views, so please review!