A/N: Ok, this chapter is gonna be a bit mushy. But the next one will be action-packed, and that is a guaran damn tee! The purpose of this chapter was to take the focus off of Snake a bit and toward Heero-especially in his relationship with Relena.

Chapter Four: Shock and Shattered Hearts

"You're absolutely sure of it?" Solidus asked in anger.

"There's no way it couldn't have been him." A deep voice answered him.

"Is that why my arm bothered me?" Ocelot whispered to himself.

"What was that?" Solidus asked.

"Nothing." Ocelot answered. "We need to figure out a way to deal with this."

"At any rate, I think Relena Peacecraft will be out of our way now. She will be in hiding. We will proceed as per our original plan."

"What about...him? He's bound to be a bigger immediate threat to our designs than Relena Peacecraft." The deep voice asked.

"We'll have to have time to think, Vamp." Solidus answered.

Snake walked into the bunker, cradling Relena in his arms. It was around 2 in the morning. He had given her his coat to keep her warm. Sally walked behind Snake and Wufei closed the door. The crew gathered around.

"Is she all right?" Lady Une asked.

"She's fine." Sally answered. "But she'll be out for another three or four hours."

"She can rest in my room." Milliardo stated.

Snake took his coat off of Relena and placed her in Milliardo's arms. He looked down at his sleeping sister and smiled. She looked peaceful.

"I went out and bought her some clothes." Noin said. "I'll change her when we get to your room, Milliardo."

Milliardo nodded as she walked off.

"Snake...thank you. You saved my sister's life again." He said, emotion overcoming him.

Snake nodded and watched him walk. Otacon came up to him.

"Snake, good job. I've been going over those files from Solidus' computer with Heero. We've found some really interesting stuff, the rest of the files still need to be decrypted though, and it'll take us a day or so to go over them all."

"Well, you can tell me about that when it's all done. I gotta take a shower and unwind." Snake quipped as he walked away, toward his room.

Lady Une and Sally invited Otacon to get a drink with them. Otacon accepted. This left the five former Gundam pilots in the living room to converse among themselves.

"So...she's back." Trowa started the conversation.

"Snake sure did a hell of a job bringing her here! Man, he is good!" Duo said in amazement, remembering Snake's antics at Solidus' party.

"He's definitely earned his reputation." Trowa replied with a smile.

"It was thanks to Wufei that he could even do what he did. If he hadn't heard Solidus and Ocelot she'd be dead..." Quatre said somberly.

"I was lucky to hear that."

"Maybe we should get some drinks?" Duo asked. "I sure could use one!"

Quatre was laughing. "We should all drink a few together...it has been a while since we've all been together, and with the running around over Relena, we haven't had any leisure time."

"It does feel much better around here knowing she's safe and sound." Trowa smiled.

"I haven't had a drink with Sally for a while...I'm game." Wufei added, giving a light smile.

"Heero, you've been real quiet. What's up man?" Duo asked.

Heero made eye contact and looked away. Realizing that Heero could snap at any moment, especially at the fact that it was Duo who was questioning him, the other three pilots began to walk away.

"Why don't you spend some time with her when she wakes up? I'm sure it would mean a lot to her." Duo said kindly.

"I'm not gonna bother her." Heero responded in his monotone.

"Bother her? Heero, there's nothing she'd rather do!" Duo said, almost pleading with him.

"Leave me alone." Heero responded. "Besides, she's gonna have to be debriefed by Snake and Lady Une."

"That'll only be for a little while." Duo responded.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Heero shouted as he went upstairs toward his room.

Duo looked back toward his friends. Quatre looked sad, while the other two were more stoic in their composure.

"Was it something I said?"

"Duo, he probably feels weird. It's been two years since he's even spoken to her." Quatre told him. "He needs to sort out his feelings..."

"I understand..." Duo sighed.

Relena lay on her brother's bed, still fast asleep. It had been at least 8 hours. She was dressed in casual clothes and her hair was down. At around 6 A.M., Just as the Sun rose, she slowly opened her eyes. A flood of thoughts and emotions instantly came to her. The last thing she remembered was getting shot in the neck with a tranquilizer. Where was she? Looking down, she noticed she was dressed differently. Ok, she'd been kidnapped. She knew the drill, it's not like this was the first time.

Relena sat up, rubbing her eyes to get rid of lingering blurriness. Looking around the room, she noticed a man sitting at a table with long platinum blond hair. His chin rested on his fists. He was wearing an outfit that looked familiar to her.

"Good morning Relena." He said without getting up or looking back.

"Milliardo!" She jumped at the sound of his voice. Seeing him turn around, she went and hugged him.

"It's been a while, my dear little sister."

"Milliardo, what's going on? Where am I? What happened?"

"Your life was in danger...we needed to save you."

"What?"

"Sears and Ocelot were planning to have you assassinated, for your opposition to their Metal Gear project."

"No...that's..." Relena sighed. It seemed plausible, and her brother seemed to know what he was talking about.

"What's this 'we' you're talking about?"

"Sears has already begun developing Metal Gear. We've formed a resistance."

"And how do you know this?"

"Lady Une found out. She took a look into his files without authorization."

"So that's why she was dismissed..."

Milliardo nodded.

"Milliardo." Relena said as she watched her brother turn back toward his desk. "That man who shot me. Did he bring me out?"

Milliardo nodded again.

"That man, who was he?"

Milliardo hesitated for a minute.

"Milliardo who was he? Who was that man?"

Milliardo breathed heavily. If she wasn't shocked before she sure would be now. "Solid Snake." He said dryly.

"WHAT?! You must be mistaken. Snake has been dead for seven years!"

"No. It was a cover story. He's alive and well, and you will meet him soon."

Relena's eyes widened. Somehow she believed him. "Milliardo, he said to me that he was 'a friend.' It seemed so familiar." Suddenly, Relena began to see the dots and connected them. "Milliardo, the person who saved us when the Alliance attacked the Sanc Kingdom...that was Solid Snake wasn't it...?" She asked, trailing.

"Yes it was."

'Why didn't anyone tell me?' She thought to herself.

"Relena, why don't I allow you to freshen yourself up a bit? I'm gonna go downstairs and get some breakfast. I'll see you in a little bit."

He kissed her on the forehead and left. Relena sat there for at least 40 minutes lost in a wave of thought. She realized she could better find things out if she would leave the room and look around. As soon as she left she heard a kind voice shouting her name.

"Miss Relena!"

Taking a look, she noticed a familiar face.

"Quatre!"

They hugged.

"I'm so glad you're all right!" Quatre smiled. "I was so worried."

Relena smiled. Quatre had always been a good friend to her. After accepting Quatre's invitation to eat, he showed her around. At the breakfast table, Relena saw many familiar faces, which brightened up the room upon seeing her: Noin, Sally, Duo, Trowa. Even Wufei smiled a bit. She greeted all of them, taking a seat next to her brother. Two more people came into the room. One was Lady Une, the other man she hadn't seen before.

"Relena, glad you're ok!"

"Thank you, Lady Une. It is good seeing you. Milliardo told me why you were dismissed..."

"Yes, we need to stop Metal Gear. At all costs."

Relena nodded in agreement.

"Miss Relena?"

She looked up to see the man who had accompanied Lady Une was looking at her.

"Dr. Hal Emmerich." He held out his hand. "But around these parts I go by Otacon."

"Dr. Emmerich...a survivor of Shadow Moses." She reminded herself, taking his hand.

He nodded. "Unfortunately, I also have 'designer of Metal Gear REX on my résumés."

"We all make mistakes, Dr. Emmerich." She said in forgiveness.

After finishing her breakfast somewhat early, and being told by Lady Une that she would have everything explained to her later today, Relena was told the location of her room and went there to tidy up. After a few minutes, she heard footsteps passing outside. Peaking through her threshold, she saw the back of a man with brown hair, who was wearing a very, very familiar outfit. Her heart skipped a beat as her knees got weak. Could it really be?

"H...Heero?" She said in a low, somewhat distressed tone.

The man stopped in his tracks, and after about 30 seconds, turned around. Their eyes locked, as if they were in a trance.

"Relena..." He whispered, approaching her doorway.

"Would you like to come in, Heero?" She asked, desperately hoping that he would say yes.

"Hn." Heero replied as he slowly walked in, causing Relena to smile.

"Heero, you came?"

"I have to help stop Metal Gear." He responded in his monotone.

"I see..." Relena answered, desperately trying to get off of this topic. "How have you been Heero?"

"Ok I guess..."

After a long silence, but never taking their eyes off of one another, Heero knew what he had to do. Walking directly in front of her, he put his fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes and lost herself in their contact, it had been so long. As she quietly opened them, he began to talk.

"Relena I'm sorry about..."

A knock on the threshold interrupted them. Turning around, Heero saw his idol standing there.

"Heero, Otacon needs you downstairs in the control room." He said, eyes telling that he was sorry to interrupt such a tender moment.

"What for?" He asked in his monotone, but with a hint of protest.

"Ehh, something about Solidus' computer files, apparently you're the only one with this access code and he doesn't want to have to hack his way through."

Slowly and reluctantly, Heero walked his way out, turning his head to look back at Relena one more time. The man made his way into the room, past Relena and looking around. He turned around and looked her in the eyes.

"Sorry about shooting you." He said matter-of-factly. "It was the only way to get you out in time."

"That's fine." Relena smiled. "I was arguing with you and I wasn't going to cooperate."

He nodded. After waiting a minute or so, Relena looked at the floor and then back up into his eyes.

"Ummm..." She trailed, dumbfounded. Somehow she still didn't believe that the man standing in front of her was real, he looked exactly like the pictures she had seen of him...but he was dead! "Are you...THE Snake?"

"Rhm." Snake sighed. "Yeah..."

"But you...you died!"

"Obviously not. Otacon managed a life boat to save me from the sinking tanker."

Relena nodded, trying to absorb this revelation. "Snake...you saved my life not once, but twice. Thank you."

"It was nothing. Glad I could help." He smiled. "Unfortunately, you were involved with a crowd that was way more dangerous than you could ever imagine."

"Yes, I'm beginning to hear..." Relena responded slowly. "Snake, is it true? Is Sears already beginning development of a new Metal Gear?"

"Yes. According to what we've already seen on his computer, he began a long time ago, probably when he first became President. When I was at his party, before I picked you up, I uploaded a Trojan onto his computer; Otacon and Heero are analyzing his files as we speak. We'll know much more in a day or so."

Relena nodded with a smile, even though the information was awful. It must have been that she was awed standing in Snake's presence.

"Oh, by the way, Sears isn't who you think he is."

Relena suddenly became more attentive than before. "Who is he then?"

"My brother."

"Your...brother!?"

"You've heard of the Les Enfantes Terribles project I'm sure."

"I've heard the name...but the files are still classified and it's out of my department's jurisdiction, so I've never read them."

"Well, in AC 165, the Alliance made clones from the genes of Big Boss."

"Big Boss?!"

Snake nodded. "Out of that came me, Liquid, and Sears, who is really Solidus Snake. He looks much older than I do because he suffers from advanced cellular degeneration, an after-affect of the cloning process. We believe that Solidus wants to build the new Metal Gear to form a nation called 'Outer Heaven' to challenge the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, just as Big Boss sought to create Outer Heaven to challenge the Alliance."

"I see...a legacy. But that'll just start another war!"

"I know. That's why we have to stop him. We can't allow him to get a new Metal Gear. Because he will use it to start another devastating war in his quest for Outer Heaven. Unfortunately, Relena, at this stage of the game, you can't do much. We have to stop him by force. But you're gonna be needed once this is all over to put sanity back into the world, just like you did during the Eve Wars. Just make it through this so you can do your thing and get us all back on track." Snake smiled.

"Snake...thank you." She hugged him. Snake responded in kind.

"You're more of a person then I could ever hope to be, Relena. I'm glad I was able to keep you alive in 182 so the world could have you. By the way, Lady Une needs to see you about something. Go see her on the first floor in the living room." Snake said as he walked out.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"For a smoke."

After being lost in thought for a few minutes, Relena decided to go and see Lady Une.

Lady Une had wanted Relena to make a press statement about her disappearance from the party. She warned that if Relena did not make a statement soon, Sears...or Solidus (as she now knew the truth) would just take advantage and use it to perhaps justify the development of the new Metal Gear, claiming she'd been kidnapped by terrorists. Relena agreed, and recorded a statement explaining that she had gotten sick and ducked out of the party early, and was recovering while spending time with her brother.

It would work...for a while at least. Lady Une would have the statement released as soon as possible. Sighing, Relena got up and proceeded to walk back to her room, where she heard two familiar voices conversing with one another.

"So, what did you do with her Heero?" Duo teased. "Did you make out with her?"

"Shut up." Heero said, clearly getting pissed off.

"C'mon Heero, don't hide your feelings from your bud. Did you slip in the tongue?"

"SHUT UP DUO! FOR THE LAST TIME! I AM NOT HERE FOR RELENA! STOPPING SOLIDUS AND OCELOT IS MY ONLY CONCERN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"

Relena's heart instantly felt like it was run through with a dagger. He wasn't here for her...she had let her feelings get the better of her. She was overjoyed at her earlier encounter with Heero, she even thought he may have wanted to be with her, but she must have been wrong.

'After two years you think he'll suddenly change his mind?' She thought to herself in despair. 'He's just here because of Solidus and his Metal Gear. Our meeting here was just coincidental.' She couldn't think any more, the crying was giving her a headache. She ran to her room in tears, crying herself to sleep for what must have been the umpteenth millionth time.

When dinner rolled around, Relena climbed out of her bed and walked downstairs, without freshening up. She didn't care what she looked like, not now. She was the last one to arrive. Heero offered her a seat next to him, much to the chagrin of Milliardo. Relena kept her calm as best she could, walking up to him. She then slapped him as hard as she could, hot tears streaming down her face. She ran out of the room crying, shocking the gathered crew, even Snake.

"That's it Yuy! I will work with you on stopping Solidus but you stay away from my sister! Never go near her again!" Milliardo growled.

Heero looked on in wonder, unable to think. What the hell just happened?

"I have to talk to her..." He whispered.

Snake got up and put a hand on Heero's shoulder. "You've obviously done something to upset her. She's not gonna talk to you now...you have to give her time."

"You won't be talking to her at all!" Milliardo shouted.

Noin put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder and asked him to come along with her to their room. She would have to talk some sense into him and calm him down.

Heero excused himself from the table, going upstairs to his room. It took him four restless hours to fall asleep that night.

"Snake, I've found something big." Otacon said to Snake in the control room. "Real big."