Author's Note: Umm, I just learned that Relena's mom has an actual canon name. Yeah... I'm not super caught up on AC lore clearly. Anywho... I went back and changed those chapters so that Relena's mom's name is now correct.

Holiday Hours

Their eyes played a game of tag. Relena would look up at him, if only for a second and would immediately get lost in his dishevelled handsomeness. Heero would feel the heat of her stare and look up in turn, immediately causing her to return her gaze to her textbook. His eyes would then linger on her immaculate presence for a while. And so this game continued as if each were seeing the other again for the first time.

A while later Maurice came into the library and served Relena a tray of canapés. Heero found himself watching her lips as she nibbled on her snack. She looked up and caught him staring.

"Would you like one?" Relena said with her mouth half full, forgetting her manners.

"No, it's okay," Heero said as he looked down again at his textbook. He had been staring at the same page since she entered.

"Come on," she said as she dumped her things back into her backpack, and moved to his table. "You have to eat. You're still recovering."

Heero watched in astonishment as she sat down across from him, so close that he could smell her perfume. Memories of a couple of months ago rushed through his head and he had the immediate need to touch her. But he restrained himself. Without looking up from her textbook, she gently pushed the tray of canapés towards Heero.

A peace offering.

Perhaps. He didn't exactly know and he didn't want to presume. He merely took a canapé off of the tray and cautiously ate it. He could see the corners of her mouth curl slightly even if the rest of her sat motionless presumably entranced by the text in front of her.

It was a good first step.

They immersed themselves into a comfortable silence as the tension of the last couple of weeks slowly melted away. He was still injured, a reminder of his carelessness and how different the context of his actions were now in this world where life in fact was not cheap. She was still deeply hurt by said carelessness but her anger began to fade.

This was more or less their rapport for the remainder of the exam period. They had developed a comfortable routine. In the mornings, Heero would wake up first around 6:45, because he still had to do his physio exercises and keep his deal with the maids. He ate a simple breakfast and helped Maurice a bit with the food prep before heading into the library around 8. Relena woke up around that time and after about a half an hour of yoga and another half an hour of showering, doing her makeup, her hair, and generally making herself presentable, she came downstairs around 9 to have her breakfast. They met in the library around 10 and studied until 1. Then breaking for lunch, and resumed studying to around 5. After a lengthy dinner, they returned to the library and studied until 9 or 10 depending how their stamina held up.

They never said anything to each other during their study sessions, at least nothing substantial. They asked each other questions about the coursework. Heero about biology and Relena about calculus mostly. They were both pretty comfortable with the history course. Occasionally, they would snipe at each other with an off handed remark as the history course subjects tangentially lined up with their experiences in the war. Of course, this never went very far. They were just beginning to feel comfortable around each other again and neither of them was willing to push the boundaries.

At the behest of Relena, and much to the consternation of her staff, she made everyone eat together in the royal dining room (it had the only table large enough to seat all 20 or so of her staff members) for dinner. Perhaps she wanted to prove to them she wasn't nearly as intimidating as they thought. Perhaps she was just jealous that Heero had become friends with the staff and wanted to feel included. Either way, she too began to form bonds of familiarity with the household staff of the palace.

Since they had the exact same classes because of Heero's deal with Noin at the beginning of the year, they had identical exams. Heero insisted that he was well enough to ride into Vustgaarde on his motorcycle but the mere suggestion drove Relena into a fit of indignant rage. She forbade it in no uncertain terms. Instead, she made him ride with her in the back of the limo. It was stupid to take two vehicles to the same destination at the exact same time anyway. She also dug out an old cane from storage and forced Heero to carry it with him when they were on campus. There were some wandering eyes and snapped photos when Heero emerged from Relena's limo carrying his cane, although not exactly using it. But for the most part, everyone left them alone. It had been a while since their encounter at Matilda's party and most people had moved on to other fascinations.

They wrote their exams without much incident. By the third one of them, they were implicitly racing each other to see who could finish and hand their exam in to the proctor first. They were both naturally gifted students, Heero by way of natural curiosity, Relena by her type A personality. In the end, despite the harrowing events of the last month and a half and despite her hectic schedule, they were both reasonably sure they did well.

The Supreme Assembly

December 22nd, AC 198

The crowds in the hall of The Supreme Assembly parted like the Red Sea when Une made her ambient noise dropped to a low hum. Photographers, journalists, and government staffers alike stared wide-eyed at the former Brigadier General as she and her entourage marched past them. The photographers tried to snap their shots but knew full well not to push their luck, especially with the flashes. Une was a woman who spoke very seldomly to the media and yet still carried a fearsome reputation.

Une was flanked on both sides by Morgan Barnes, the Preventers general counsel, and Stephen Fischer, her personal attorney. Director Une did not wear her Preventers uniform, instead opting for a navy blue blazer, matching skirt, a white dress shirt, black tie, and black heels. She did however wear a pin of the Preventers organization on her left lapel, demonstrating her loyalty to the organization she had helped found.

"Remember, you let them speak. Don't interrupt, especially the ranking member but you defend yourself when it's your turn. Don't be afraid to get a little angry," Stephen said as he clenched his fists and threw little jabs. "If they go after your record during the Mariemaia Rebellion, you remind them that you were the one that organized the armed resistance, including the Gundams! If they bring up your history with us, remind them of your Medal of Valor and your bravery in the face of Libra's cannon—"

"I got it, Stephen" Une said, cutting him off.

The doors of the chamber opened as they approached. Stepping inside, all eyes turned to her. She scanned the crowd. Some familiar faces, members of Assembly, lawyers and politicians she knew from just being in and around Brussels, no one from the Preventers. The committee members sat at the back of the room, behind the bench, on an elevated platform. A crew of cameras operators sat on the floor just in front of them. The room was bright. It was filled with lights brought in by the camera crews, making it uncomfortably hot as well. Une felt the urge to loosen her tie but restrained herself. She didn't want to look nervous, she didn't want to show any signs of weakness.

Her lawyers broke off from her and took their assigned seats as Une approached the bar. There was a pitcher of water and an empty cup in front of her. She poured herself some water and took a sip before taking out her tablet and setting it down in front of her.

"I solemnly declare and affirm that my words and my recollections will be truthfully and faithfully recounted to the best of my abilities under pains and penalties of perjury," Une said as she held up her right hand.

"Thank you, Director Une. You may take your seat," Marcello Diaz, the ranking member of the committee, said as he put on his thick-rimmed glasses and looked down at his papers. "First of all, I would like to thank you on behalf of the World Government and the members of this committee, for taking time out of your busy schedule to come down to our neck of the woods to speak to us. No doubt this is a busy time for you and your organization. However, it is precisely because of this recent upsurge in activity, public and very notable activity, that has made this hearing necessary…"

Une tried to focus on the chairman's words. This was going to be a long day.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brussels

An emergency at the office demanded that Relena return to Brussels. A particular provision within the current draft of the agreement to allow Scotland to have more autonomy over their courts had somehow become an issue of dispute between the delegation from London and the delegation from Edinburgh. It turned out to be a simple mistake by the clerk who responsible for keeping track of and implementing revisions as they were negotiated.

Relena was quite annoyed when the source of the emergency turned out to be a minor clerical error. She had meant to take a break from Brussels for the remainder of the year. But she couldn't voice her displeasure and had to play peacemaker between the two delegations who accused the other of negotiating in bad faith.

After a few hours of shouting back and forth and Relena urging both sides to remain calm, they eventually corrected the error. Both delegation leads personally apologized to Relena for the inconvenience. She was polite and told them it was no big deal.

Exhausted from the shouting match she had just refereed and having been ambushed by both Dorothy and Augusta (it was like they could smell her presence in the city or something), Relena dragged herself back to her office and ordered some takeout.

Relena crashed on her office couch and turned on the TV, remembering that Une's hearing was currently underway. Augusta wanted to know what Relena's holiday schedule was since she was getting a bunch of invites for events and parties all over the world. Dorothy was demanding to know what Relena wanted to do about Une's hearing.

"What do you mean?" Relena asked as she looked over her shoulder at Dorothy who remained standing.

"Well, she's in the hot seat now," Dorothy said. "We shouldn't let this opportunity slip away."

"Slip away how?" Augusta asked.

"We should start drafting a statement right now," Dorothy said with a grin of satisfaction.

"What would we even say? The hearing isn't even over," Relena said as she pointed at the TV.

"That's not really the point is it?" Dorothy raised her bushy eyebrows at Relena. "Come on, you know you want to…"

Relena stared at Dorothy intensely for a moment. "How petty do you think I am?"

"Oh stop it with the holier-than-thou attitude, Relena," Dorothy said dismissively. "How is this different than talking shit about Une to the president?"

"Relena, this is a bad idea. You should definitely stay out of this one," Augusta interjected.

"I agree," Relena said emphatically as she turned around to focus on the TV again.

"Fine, but you're gonna regret it the next time she fucks you when she sends Heero on a six month long mission in deep space," Dorothy said as she resigned her proposal with the utmost grace.

A few minutes later they heard a knock on the glass. They collectively looked up startled. They didn't see anyone else on the floor when they came up. It seemed like everyone was already off for the holidays.

It was Mareen.

Dorothy and Augusta immediately jumped to their feet. Relena stared at Mareen in shock. Mareen let herself into the office once the girls had noticed her presence.

"Mrs. Darlian," Dorothy and Augusta greeted Relena's mother simultaneously.

"Girls," she replied politely.

Dorothy and Augusta looked at each other and quickly said, "we should check on the food. The delivery guy is probably wondering where the receptionists are."

They quickly scurried out of the office and down the hall, leaving the office to Relena and her mother. Relena let out a big sigh and got up from the couch and moved to her desk.

"What do you want mother?" Relena asked sounding rather impatient.

She thought for a moment about how Mareen got into the building but it was annoying to think that her mother could charm the security guard into letting her in with grace, clothes, and last name. So she didn't bother asking.

"Alright, Relena. I suppose I deserve that," Mareen said sounding like a penitent. "I am sorry about ambushing you at dinner."

"Why would you be sorry about that?" Relena asked as she sat down. "Isn't that what you wanted? To show me what else is out there?"

Mareen could feel the venom in those words. They were hers.

"Relena, my darling," Mareen said as she sat down in the chair across the desk from Relena. "I said I was sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel attacked. I honestly thought you were getting along with Colin."

Relena sighed. She really didn't want to engage with Mareen right at that moment.

"Is that why you came to visit? To apologize for setting me up on a blind date?" Relena asked.

"Yes, and to ask what are your plans for the holidays?" Mareen asked.

"Why?" Relena's eyes narrowed.

"Do I need a reason? It's the holidays," Mareen said sounding rather shocked by the question. "I thought you might swing by Paris for a bit. You know I'm having some people over and they are dying to see you again."

Relena threw her head back against her chair and bounced it forward again. "Do I have to?"

Relena wasn't particularly in the mood to spend any extended period with her mother after what she tried to pull with the Dubois. She never did much enjoy her mother's soirees, seeing her attendance as more of a courtesy and a duty of a good daughter. She again felt that nagging sense of obligation pulling at her resolve. However mad she was at Mareen, in the end, she was her daughter.

The Valknut, Preventers Headquarters

Duo was wandering through the empty halls of the building whistling and taking swigs out of a bottle of Jack Daniels. He hated Jack Daniels but it was all he could find in some unsuspecting analyst's office mini-fridge. Everyone was either at Une's hearing or had already left for the holidays. He had nowhere to be and nowhere to go.

He shared an apartment with Hilde in his home colony but after their break up, he agreed to move out. Only he didn't bother finding a place and ended up living in a motel until he got the call from Une. It was just the excuse he needed to escape his crumbling personal life and the mundanity of the business he had started with the woman who had just left him.

For a few brief splendid moments in the Black Forest and out in Buenos Aires, he was free from his pathetic life and the wastrel that he had turned into. But that was over and the high of the mission had long since faded. He tried to keep it together as best he could during the subsequent investigative phase. It kept him distracted and gave him a reason not to return to L2. He was even the one who made the discovery of Toro Campana's communications with Rinus Van Der Deen. But that was pure luck and he was never much of an investigator.

And then there was her. The bright young girl, that Une had stuck him with for the mission, ostensibly as their mission commander. He liked the way she admired him when she found out who he was. It made him feel important. It made him feel like he wasn't a fuck up. But that didn't last long, and he knew it. He was a ticking time bomb. Sometimes he could keep his cool for months, even years. In fact, during the war he had to. There was no other choice. But sooner or later he was going to blow up. And in Buenos Aires, boy did he blow up. It was mostly Heero's fault, but he knew deep in his heart that if he was in Heero's position. He would've done the exact same thing.

It was a shame really, he really liked her. She was cute. But the pain expressed in her eyes said it all. It was the same pain that he had seen in Hilde's eyes and no amount of corny jokes was going to make that okay.

And as if his mere thoughts conjured her, he saw her stepping out of an office block down the hall from him. Her sleeves were rolled up, her tie was loosened, and her jacket was folded over her forearm. Hope turned and saw him standing there, which the bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand.

"Hey," she said politely as she walked towards him.

"Hey yourself," Duo said, trying to not act drunk. "What are you doing here still?"

"I was just finishing up some work for the FININT guys," Hope explained. "But lost track of time when I started watching the Director's hearing on TV."

"Oh yeah, I forgot that was today," Duo said with a loud burp. "How's she doing?"

"She's stressed, you know, how she gets that little crinkle in between her eyes when she does," Hope said as she pointed to that spot on her face. "But she's keeping it together. She's tough. I don't think they're going to break her."

"She's been shot at by men and mobile suits alike," Duo said. "I can't imagine some political hack breaking her."

"Yeah," she agreed.

The stood there in absolute silence for a moment. She stared at him, with her lips pinched. It was a look of pity and he hated it.

"So, you heading out?" Duo asked, desperately needing to break the silence.

"Yeah," Hope answered with a smile. "I gotta catch a train tonight. Going home to see my parents. You know, for the holidays."

"Cool, cool," Duo said.

"What about you?" Hope asked.

"M… Me?" Duo stuttered. "Yeah, I… I got places to go…"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah… I have family in North America…" he lied. "People I barely know but I got the invitation in the mail yesterday. Who knows, maybe the American Maxwells are good people."

"Okay," Hope said.

"Yeah," Duo said with a hint of relief.

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a prolonged squeeze. After a moment, he did the same.

"Take care of yourself, Duo," she said softly.

He took another swig of that rancid paint thinner as he stared at her as she made her way down the hall.

Peacecraft Royal Palace, Sanc Kingdom

Relena returned to Peacecraft Palace well after dark. After a day of meetings, hearings, a tough conversation with her mother, and a tentative reconciliation, she was just glad to be home again. She was looking forward to spending so more time with Heero now that their finals were finally over. She had hoped that maybe they could finally clear the air between them. She understood that she had treated him rather harshly over the past few weeks and wanted to apologize for her behaviour but at the same time she wanted to be heard as well.

Entering the house, she found it was eerily silent. It was a massive complex of rooms and hallways so naturally most of the time it was quite quiet. Even so, there was usually some maid or another within earshot making some noise off in the distance. She checked the rooms as she went passed them but found all of them empty with the lights off. Finally she made her way into the family kitchen and found a crowd gathered around the fireplace.

Curious, Relena took off her shoes and gently set them down and tiptoed in behind the crowd to see what was going on. It was Heero and Pagan, sitting across from each other motionless. In between them was her father's old marble chess set. Heero stared undauntingly at Pagan as the butler had his attention focused squarely on the board in front of him. The crowd was so utterly transfixed by the contest of the two minds that no one even noticed her presence.

"Who's winning?" Relena leaned over and whispered at one of the maids.

The girl turned to look at Relena and almost jumped into the air. Immediately, all of their attentions were drawn towards Relena, Heero's and Pagan's included.

"Oh, don't let me disturb you," Relena said sounding rather embarrassed. "I just got in and I was wondering why the house was so quiet."

"I'm so sorry, my lady," the maid said as she bowed.

"No no no no no no," Relena said as she helped the girl up. "I don't mean to disturb your fun… In fact…"

At that very moment, Relena got a devilish idea. She stared at Heero with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Heero looked back at her suspiciously.

"Pagan, my most devoted butler, friend to my fathers, King Marticus of Sanc and Robert Darlian, ever-faithful servant of the House of Peacecraft," Relena said affecting her most cartoonish and ridiculous royal airs. "You have the privilege and duty of defending the honour of my illustrious house this day. If you can defeat our guest in this most esteemed of games, I will double everyone's Christmas bonuses and henceforth this day will be known as Pagan's Day in which we will, yearly, on the vigil, celebrate the defeat of Heero Yuy, most brilliant and most cunning of foes, with ice cream and champagne!"

There was a moment of silence as the staff looked at Relena in shock, unsure if she was serious or not. Heero's eyes narrowed and took sharp aim at Relena for he knew that she was dead serious.

"It would be my pleasure, my lady," Pagan finally said as he returned his attention to the board.

"Do your worst old man," Heero said with a growl.

The game was tense and close. The advantage swung back and forth between Heero and Pagan. At one point it did really seem like Heero was going to win but out of nowhere, Pagan pinned Heero's king with a knight and a pawn and in a flash the game was all over. Pagan had won. The staff cheered. Relena rushed over and gave Pagan a big hug and congratulated him on his victory. She told Maurice to crack open a few bottles of champagne and bring out the ice cream. She turned to Heero and offered a conciliatory hand shake. He was a good sport and shook her hand.

Heero and Relena moved to the breakfast bar and were served their ice cream and champagne. The staff knew well enough to leave them alone for a bit.

"It was nice of you to throw the game," Relena said as she licked her spoon.

"I didn't," Heero said. "I would never insult Pagan by throwing a game. He would not accept the victory."

Relena's eyebrows raised. Apparently they had played before and several times. It made her so irrationally happy that he and Pagan got along.

"So, you like it here," Relena said with a smile.

"It has its charms," Heero admitted.

"You can stay if you want," Relena said with hint of nervousness in her voice.

"I can't stay…" Heero said reluctantly.

"Why not, Heero?" She asked in a voice of disappointment and disapproval.

"It's a palace, Relena," Heero explained. "It's a royal palace. I'm… I'm nobody."

"Stop saying that…"

"Do you think if I stop saying that it will make it any less true?" Heero asked.

"I really hate that you think this about yourself," Relena said sounding a little annoyed. "It makes me mad."

"I can't just live off your charity forever," Heero said.

"I'm not asking you to," Relena said.

"Then what are you asking?"

Relena stopped and took a deep breath and let out a frustrated sigh. "For you to… take something for yourself for once."

The impromptu festivities continued well into the night. Eventually, after a dozen bottles of champagne and several tubs of ice cream, everyone, a few at a time retired to their rooms. Relena sat in her bed in the dark thinking about what Heero had said. He hadn't changed at all. He was still the same tortured boy that he had always been. She could feel her anger and frustration, that which had eased over the course of their studying, returning. He is a selfish asshole.

After several failed attempts to go to sleep, she got angry enough that she needed to say what she was feeling to his face. She jumped out of her bed and without getting dressed went downstairs, walked all the way across the palace to his room in the opposite corner of the house. Her feet were cold against the marble floors but she didn't care. He needed to hear this.

But what she saw shocked her into silence. She saw him there, bathed in the pristine glow of the moonlight streaming through his windows. He was in stark silhouette with only a thin strand of blue tracing a continuous line from his hair, to his nose, to his lips, down his slender neck, across his graceful collar bone and his strong chest, past his immaculately sculpted abs, and around his glistening hard cock which his hand stroked rhythmically.

Relena was utterly stunned by the sight of him like that. She was frozen stiff. For a moment he didn't notice her but eventually he did, standing there, in nothing but a purple tank top, and a black thong. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders and gently fell to the sides of her breasts, her expression of utter shock scared him and excited him in equal measure.

He came to his senses and jumped a little, taking his duvet and covering himself.

Something came over her in that moment, something powerful, something completely and utterly beyond her control. The spirit of lust. The spirit of rage. These two animated her so completely that she completely didn't know what she was doing. And yet she was doing it.

She swayed as she walked towards him. He looked at her terrified and ashamed. His hands were clenched against the duvet, holding it over his manhood. She placed her hand on top of his and with a gentle but firm grip pulled his back along with the duvet, revealing him to her again in all of his glory.

Relena had never seen a real one in person before. She had learned about them and seen them in health class when she was in high school. They had even been shown a realistic anatomical model of it in one of those classes. And of course she had seen them in porn, on those occasions she really needed the help during her self-care sessions. But she had never seen one in real life. And now, she was staring at Heero's and he was magnificent!

She noticed that he was trying to hide something with his other hand. She reached over and tried to grab it, he fought futilely for a bit before she managed to get it out of his hands. It was a magazine. It was her magazine. It was her Vogue cover. And it looked like it had been heavily read.

She flipped through the pages and found her spread. She found it easily as it was where the crease was. She hovered over him. Heero wore an expression of confusion, embarrassment, and terror.

"I mean… how can I compete with her?" Relena whispered.

She took him into her hands and a shiver ran down her spine. He was hot. He was searing hot. She could feel his blood raging within him. And in that moment, she herself was overtaken by the spirit of rage. She squeezed and began to move up and down along the length of his shaft.

She suddenly remembered all of the pain that he had caused her. She remembered all of the hopeless days of waking up not knowing if he was dead or alive or even if he would ever be found. She remembered her anger in those days, how she smashed her things, how she threw up, and how she cried until she had no more tears to cry. She remembered, seeing him for the first time in the hospital, how painful it was to see him broken like that. She remembered how careless he could be, so wild and so eager to give up his life in service of her ideals, to make her dreams a reality. He was the man that would sacrifice everything and expected nothing, wanted nothing in return. All he knew was to give.

What a selfless man.

What a bastard.

Not tonight.

Tonight, he would take. He would take if he wanted to or not. He would take pleasure. He would get pleasure. She got onto his bed. He struggled, she fought his hands and pinned them down. She bent over.

She took his cock into her mouth.

And she loved him with her mouth. She loved him passionately, violently, completely. Her tongue danced around his skin, tracing his veins, her lips massaging him, easing and increasing his sweet agony. If only he would give in. If only he could let go. This would all be a lot easier.

But Heero understood nothing of easy. His life had been hard for as long as he could remember. He knew no other way to live. So this bliss, this pleasure, he had no way of understanding it. As the waves of ecstasy flowed through him, he shuttered. They so intense that he thought he might pass out. It would be all the more bearable if it was he was between her legs, giving her pleasure instead of the other way around.

He was in heaven.

And he felt an intense shame.

For he had imagined this so many times before. He just never expected, never wanted it to ever happen. Heero was dismissive of women, of his women. He had been rough with them, he had used them to gratify himself. And if they had enjoyed the experience, all the better. But he didn't care. For all of his hate for those soldiers and revolutionaries that he had grown up with, he was just like them. He had fucked their mouths, causing them to gag, choking them. But he always closed his eyes and imagined that they were Relena. Sylvia, Inés, the others, they were nothing but stand-ins, poor imitations of the real thing that he could never have, never allow himself to have. For he had no issues using them like his own personal fuck toy. But not Relena. Never Relena. She was the one. She was the only one. She was the one that he adored, the one that he worshipped, completely and utterly. And yet, he wanted her, wanted her the most and wanted to do the worst things to. Pull her hair, fuck her throat, fuck her ass. Tie her up and use her.

So he was ashamed.

She thought she wanted him, but he knew better. This, this, was ultimately why he knew they couldn't be together. He couldn't possibly subject her to his violent desires. No woman would go on that journey with him, least of all her. His precious angel. For when she found out about what a depraved man he truly was, she would despise him.

She was a princess.

She needed a prince.

But he was a mere soldier.

He came in her mouth. She swallowed every drop of him.

Both of them lay there silent and sweaty for a while as the magnitude of what they had just done set in. Relena returned to her senses and wondered in horror what had come over her. Heero stared at the ceiling waiting for his breathing to return to normal, contemplating what violence he had just committed upon Relena.

They both sat up at the same time and looked at each other. They saw the fear and confusion in the other's eyes.

"I'm so sorry!" Relena said in a panic.

"No! I am," Heero insisted. "That was completely inappropriate of me!"

"What do you mean?!" Relena asked. "I just sucked you off!"

"I know… I should've never let that happen, it was a moment of weakness," Heero said.

"I… I have to go," Relena said as she jumped out of his bed and scurried off back to her room.

Libertad Shipyard, ESUN South Atlantic Peacekeeping Fleet Shipyard, Buenos Aires

December 23rd, AC 198

Une's fuzzy image took form after a few false starts. She glowed slightly blue as the older holographic emitters tended to do. But it didn't matter much to Wufei, he was used to this dated technology having routinely worked in regions of the world where the Preventers had less resources.

It had taken them a few days to get the remains of the Mercurius from the bottom of the ocean back to an ESUN shipyard. When they initially detected the Gundanium, they only found the left leg of the unit. The rest of it was strewn across five kilometres of ocean floor. When it was all said and done they only retrieved about 60% of the suit. They searched in a 30 kilometre radius for the flight recorder. They didn't find it. Perhaps, it was destroyed, more likely, Alpha White had removed it prior to abandoning the suit to the ocean.

Une walked up to the glass and looked out at the remains of the suit, partially pieced back together in the correct orientation as it lay in one of the ground in the hangar. Wufei walked up next to her and examined her expression. This was once her suit. She had forced Heero to pilot this one. This was her past, staring her right in the face.

"Saw your hearing," Wufei said, breaking the silence.

"How'd I look?" Une turned to look at him.

"Like a soldier," Wufei answered.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Une said. "What do we have here?"

Wufei took a deep sigh and leaned against the window. "Not much I'm afraid. The pilot erased the logs from the suit's onboard computer, he removed the OS too, leaving only the base firmware. We have no idea where it has been, what it has done ,what it is capable of, or even who built it."

"It looks like an identical copy of the original Mercurius," Une said.

"Not quite," Wufei said. "What little we did get were from the wreckage suggests that the thrusters had been modified. Remember that this suit was originally meant for space combat."

"Did you manage to source the modified components?" Une asked.

"Maybe," Wufei said as he walked over to the main computer. "Most of the components were pretty heavily damaged and the pieces we did find weren't of much use. Whoever made this suit used the Virgo's thruster designs as a base. And there are so many spare Virgo parts floating around the black market it would be next to impossible to find the source."

"But?"

"But… we found a serial number," Wufei said. "And the serial number matched a record from the Lucio's mainframe. It's connected to a bill of lading that originates from a colony in the L3 sector."

"L3?" Une asked, sounding almost startled.

"Yeah, why? Does that mean anything to you?" Wufei asked.

"I don't know… maybe."

Peacecraft Royal Palace, Sanc Kingdom

December 24th, AC 198

Heero checked his backpack one last time, zipped up his jacket, and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked well enough. He was traveling light. He came to the palace with nothing. Even if the doctors said he wasn't fully recovered and needed a few more weeks, he couldn't stay here anymore. Not after what he and Relena had done. What he had almost done to her. It was getting too dangerous. He couldn't risk losing control like that again. And Relena seemed to agree. They basically avoided each other for the whole day afterwards.

He wasn't sure what his status at the Preventers was at the moment so it wasn't one of his immediate concerns. If it turned out that he was still officially Relena's on-campus bodyguard, he would either have to limit their personal interaction or get transferred to a completely different assignment, and probably leave the school. But he could deal with that later. Right now, he just needed to get out of the house.

Relena had the annual Armistice ceremony to attend at the new war museum in Brussels. For the first two years the ceremony was held at the natural resource satellite MO-II. This was the first time the ceremony was being held on Earth. Relena didn't manage to make it the first year because of other work obligations that led directly into Mariemaia's Rebellion. Having survived that, she felt an obligation to attend every year since. Heero figured that he would leave after she left for the party.

He wanted to say goodbye to her but at the same time, he still felt ashamed for what he did. He wasn't sure if he could face her. Still, he wanted to see her one last time so he did what he always did at the palace. He snuck little peaks at her from his room down the hall. She was getting ready for the party. God, she's beautiful.

Relena had also felt extremely guilty about what they had done that night. And like Heero she had kept it completely to herself. She wanted to apologize again but the thought of actually saying out loud what she had done mortified her. She swore that wasn't her and she had no idea where she got the idea to do that to him. And yet, secretly, in the depths of her soul, she loved it.

She tried to keep her mind off of the situation and busied herself with getting ready for the party. Dorothy, Augusta, Maxine, Laurie, and Cindy had all come over to the palace to help her. It took an army to get Relena ready for a party like that. Maxine had brought over a majestic gold Christian Dior dress and a pair of Louboutin 140mm heels. While Laurie and Maxine worked on Relena's hair and makeup, Cindy helped her go over the short speech that she was supposed to give that night.

Relena wasn't sure what she was expecting but occasionally, she would look down the hall to see if Heero would come out of his room. But of course not. That was Heero, she didn't know why she expected anything different.

Relena and her entourage finally left around 7:30pm. Once Heero heard the front doors close, he grabbed his backpack and immediately headed for the door.

"You haven't been cleared by the doctors to leave yet," he heard Pagan say just as he was about to open the door.

Heero turned slightly and said, "I can't stay…"

"Of course you can," Pagan said.

"No, I can't… I did something…" Heero said bitterly.

Even through his bushy eyebrows it was obvious that Pagan had rolled his eyes. "Yes, Relena snuck into your room two nights ago. You think I don't know that? Do you think the staff doesn't know that? Did you really think you two are so discreet?"

Heero suddenly felt the heat of embarrassment upon his back.

"You young folk can be so naïve," Pagan said with an impatient sigh. "Come, follow me."

Unsure of what exactly to do in the situation, Heero obeyed Pagan's orders and followed him. They made their way down the hall and after several doors he finally entered one of them. Heero followed. It was an empty room except for a bed and on the bed was a grey garment bag.

"What is it?" Heero asked.

"What do you think it is?" Pagan said sounding rather stunned. "A tux."

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Heero asked.

"Do I have to spell out everything for you?" Pagan said. "Put it on, go to the party, get your girl."