The alarm sounded, warning everyone onboard to clear the docking bay. Crimson lights flashed on and off as the five legendary Gundams were being boarded by their skilled pilots. As they were departing Peace Million, Heero Yuy sat cross-legged and arms folded letting the autopilot drive, while he and the rest of his comrades were being briefed of their current mission. As the former Lieutenant Noin appeared on screen, he wondered what dangers he would encounter. With Treize Kushrenada dead and Zechs missing, Heero had no clue what they were going to face.
"Ok boys," Ms. Noin started, "we've detected a massive space station in quadrant ZX3-B49-04. We have no leads to whom it belongs to and if it's of any threat. However, they have not replied to any of our signals or warnings, so be prepared… and don't get careless."
"Roger. Mission accepted." Heero replied.
"What would scare Ms. Noin so much that she'd order the Gundams as a scout unit??" Quatre wondered.
"I dunno," Duo replied, "but whatever the hell it is, I think we should be prepared for a fight."
"Yea, and make sure it doesn't end up as another war. We had enough trouble ending the last one." Quatre stated.
"Speaking of peace, does anyone know where Relena went? I haven't seen her since we destroyed Libra." Duo wondered.
"She's been working at her quarters on peace treaties between the Colonies and Earth." Heero informed.
"Heh," Maxwell smirked, "... and how would you know that? Or have ya been taking little ecchi peeks at Queen Relena?"
Heero only wished that he could agree with that. Well, just the notion about liking Relena. He knew that he had feelings toward Relena, but would never admit it. Not even to himself. He always tried to stay away from that type of thing… "I've got to know where Relena is at all times. It's my mission to protect her." Heero replied, a little annoyed, but relieved that his excuse was a good one.
"Ok, ok! Jeez! You always gotta be so sensitive! You..."
Duo was interrupted when he saw the target approaching. It was huge! I mean like the moon big!! Its Azure plating kept it well protected. The space station was stationary seeing that its thrusters weren't on. Heero wondered how whoever built this thing could have kept it hidden from anyone to detect. It was clear that it wasn't a civilian ship.
Just as Heero finished sorting out his thoughts, Noin appeared on his screen and said, "Heero, I've just been informed that the space station is being operated by renegade rebels who called themselves the Crimson Fangs."
"Do they have any relation to Zech's White Fang Battalion?"
"Yep. They claim that they are the Second Squadron. And they also have the same 'Anti-Earth' ideals."
"Do you detect any enemy suits?"
"We can't search through its shielding. It is too strong for a scan. We'll have to wait until or if they attack."
Just then, Heero saw the hatches open all over the space station and what looked like mobile dolls fly out. He turned on his scanner and detected that 10 units were approaching with 5 Mobile Dolls per unit. Just as the battle began, Quatre informed all the Gundams to work as a team and to eliminate the units one by one.
As the Mobile Dolls advanced, the Deathscythe-Hell, Nataku, and Sandrock took the offensive, using their close combat weapons to attack, while HeavyArms and Wing Zero provided cover fire. The battle went on, as Heero and the others destroyed Doll after Doll. Drops of sweat formed on Heero's forehead as the battle continued. The Gundams had never fought so many Mobile Dolls before, and fatigue was taking its toll on the pilots. After they had destroyed close to 6 Mobile Units, Wing Zero informed Heero that a ship had left Peace Million and was heading toward the infamous space station.
"Ms. Noin, what is that ship doing coming onto the battlefield? What does he think he's doing??" Heero asked.
"We don't know who it is... I'll let you know as soon as I can." Noin reassured.
Just as Heero started focusing back to the battle in front of him, he, as well as the other Gundams, picked up an enemy transmission. On the screen was a middle aged, brown haired man stating, "We demand that you, the Gundams, surrender immediately, otherwise we will fire our main weapon at the Cinq Kingdom on Earth.
"He's bluffing!" Duo shouted, "Keep Fighting!"
"Oh you think so Deathscythe? Let me allow you to see our primary weapon."
Just as he said this, the space station split in half, revealing the massive Beam Cannon it bore. It appeared to be an Ion Cannon that was the size of the ship itself. Heero could see the energetic aura at the mouth of the cannon.
".....ok, maybe he's not bluffing..."
"HEERO!!" Noin interrupted, "Relena's missing!! She's not at her quarters."
"Where is she?" Heero asked a little worried.
Noin was silent. Heero could tell by the look on her face that she had no clue at all on Relena's whereabouts. Just then, another transmission came from the ship that recently departed the Peace Million. It said, "This is Relena Darlin Peacecraft, Queen of the Cinq Kingdom and Romafeller Foundation. I ask of you to halt your offensive attack so that we may come to a peace settlement."
"Relena!! Get back!! Your going to die out here!!" Heero yelled. However, Relena did not comply with Heero's request.
"Peacecraft?!?" the man said aloud, "Your the reason Master Zechs is gone!! It'd be far better for us to take revenge for our lost Commander than anything else would. SHI-NE!!"
At that moment, the Ion Cannon moved slightly, aiming itself towards Relena's spaceship. Heero swore to himself and headed at full power toward Relena. Judging from the speed of the beam and his acceleration, he wasn't quite sure if he and Wing Zero would make it in time.
Relena frantically tried to get out of the beam's way, but it was too wide to dodge. There was no use trying to evade the blast radius. Instead, she transferred all the energy to her ship's shields and braced for the oncoming blast. As the first of the beam's rays hit her, she was surprised that it was barely damaging her shields. It was as if the ship's shield's had been increased ten-fold. After a brief moment of confusion, she realized why she was able to survive that blast. As Reelena looked out of her cockpit window, she saw that her ship was being cradled by Wing Zero. It was holding her in its arms, keeping her ship from any harm. Its back was facing the Ionic Beam, trying desperately to shield her from the blast.
Heero paused, with a small sigh of relief, wiping sweat from his head. He could feel the intense heat crawling through Wing Zero's gundanium plating. Heero turned on the message screen. Seeing a relieved and somewhat shocked Reelena he said, "Are you ok Relena?"
"Yea, just a little dizzy from the heat." she replied.
"Good, I want you to get the heck outta here and get back to the Peace Million with Noin."
"OK. Oh, and Heero, arigato."
"Don't thank me," he replied a little coldly, "it's my mission to protect you. Now go on. I'll stay here to block the beam from hitting the ship."
Relena just smiled back then boosted off toward Peace Million and safety.
"KUSO!" the brown haired captain shouted, "If it wasn't for that kutabare Gundam, we would have taken vengeance for our missing Commander. Very well then, we shall take our revenge on you, Gundam-01! In the name of the great Zechs Marquise, increase the power to its maximum!!"
After Relena had left, Heero turned to face the Ion Beam so that he may block the beam properly. He then took out Wing Zero's shield and slowly waited for it to be positioned in front of him. It felt like an eternity for the massive shield to get in front of him, and with the temperature rising, and the force getting stronger, Heero didn't know how much longer he could hold it.
******
Duo had destroyed another Mobile Doll with his beamscythe. "That's it Heero, just hold out a little longer," he said, more to himself than anyone else, "that beam's gonna die out pretty soon. Hey! Can anyone of you guys lend him a hand?"
"Sorry Duo, we all have ours tied up with these mobile suits. If ya hadn't noticed, they've been sending out another unit every time we destroy one." Quatre replied.
"Kuso! Who the hell gave him that baka bodyguard mission anyway? I never got anything like that!"
"Probably Ms. Noin," Trowa answered, "but even if she didn't we shouldn't really be questioning our orders anyway."
"Yer probably right... I just hope Heero and Wing Zero can hold on until it's over."
******
Back inside Wing Zero, the critical damage warning was going off the scale. Red lights flashed on and off as Heero fought to keep control. He could see arcs of electricity fly in and out of Wing Zero's limbs and body. "Just a few seconds more Wing Zero...” he said, just as a gas pipe exploded overhead due to the pressure that Zero was taking. Heero looked above to see if the gas was lethal. He was relieved that it was only one of many oxygen tanks he had stored on Zero. Just then, the beam won the battle between the two and ripped through the Gundam's armor.
Wing Zero's left arm and parts of its face were severed from the rest of its body because of the blast. More importantly, the energy system was also damaged. Heero and the rest of his Gundam slowly started to drift of into space.
******
"HEERO!!" Noin shouted, as she saw the almost indestructible mobile suit blow apart.
"Kutabare!" Duo swore, "We gotta go save him!!"
"Duo!! Wait up!" Wu-fei called, "Stay here."
"What? And let him die?"
"Heero can take care of himself. If we leave the battle to get Wing Zero, we'll be leaving Peace Million wide open. I know Heero, and he wouldn't want that!"
After a moment of silence, Duo said, "Your probably right. But the moment we're done here, we're going after Heero!"
"Alright." Wu-fei paused then asked, "Ms. Noin, did Relena make it back alright?"
"Yes, but..." Noin couldn't finish her sentence because Relena had already appeared on-screen.
"Where's Heero?" she asked frantically.
There was a long moment of silence.
Quatre was the first to speak. "We... uh... lost contact with Wing Zero when he got hit."
Relena's face went blank. All she could manage to say was, "Heero..."
******
Back at Peace Million, Noin and her team kept drastically searching for any signs of the lost Gundam pilot. Relena was also trying to contact Heero through the com-link system. For hours they kept searching for Heero. The epic battle in outer space had already ended with the Gundams ending up victorious. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find any trace of Heero or Wing Zero. Just was they were about to give up, Relena received a faint signal.
" ...... ero..... allin..... eace.... llion."
"Hello?" Relena replied a little surprised. "Could you please repeat? You’re breaking up."
"Heero...... calling...... Peace.... Million."
"HEERO!!" Relena broke into tears. "Ms. Noin, it's Heero!"
"Heero! Where are you?" she asked, "We can't manage to get a signal on you!"
"That's because I turned off everything except for my life support system. I'm in quadrant ZX3-B49-05."
"Alright. We'll get a fix on you. Just hold on." Noin said as she went to the ship's bridge and imputed the pilot's co-ordinates. A few seconds after she did this, Heero's position was pinpointed and his life-status appeared onscreen and a healthy heartbeat pattern.
"Ok Heero, Quatre's on his way. He should be there in a couple of hours. It's good to see you again..."
"You too, Noin." he replied.
"But..." she continued, with a smile, "I think there's someone else who wants to talk to you. Hold on a sec…"
Heero groaned and thought to himself, 'If Duo thinks he's gonna laugh at me again I swear I'm gonna..." he was interrupted by a very sweet voice.
"Heero? Are you alright?"
"Relena." Heero quickly replied and turned on the vid-window to see her.
Reelena smiled at the face she saw on the screen, "Heero, are you ok?"
"Yea, I'm fine." he answered, as his breath froze, creating cold fog in the air.
Relena noticed this and asked, "Why did you turn off the heat?"
"I gotta save energy. I dunno how long I'll be staying here. I’ll be alright."
Relena almost jumped at what she saw on Heero's status screen. "Heero, it's -20 there!"
“I’m fine.”
“No, your not. Heero, you’ll catch hypothermia.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
"I am worried. You’re my friend and I won’t let you die! You don’t have to prove to me that you’re tough, I know you are. It’s just that you don’t have to go through everything by yourself.”
“It’s ok, really. I’m just a little sleepy. I’ll be fine.” Heero started to slowly close his eyes.
Noin saw this, and quickly instructed Relena, “Don’t let Heero sleep! If he does, we may lose him! Do anything to keep him awake!”
She acknowledged this then said, “Heero! Wake up!”
Heero shook his head to help him stay awake. “Arigato.”
“See, you really do need our help.”
Heero just shrugged his shoulders.
“So, you’ve never told me about your family Heero. How are they?”
“Don’t have any.”
“Friends?”
“Nope.”
“Heero, how can you not have any friends? What about Duo and Quatre and the others?”
“Comrades. War buddies.”
Relena could tell by the conversation, that Heero was loosing strength. He wasn’t talking much, even for him. His heartbeat was also getting weaker. “What about your past? Where were you born?” she said, trying to get more conversation out of the pilot.
“I don’t remember anything before the orphanage… it was the only place I considered as home…”
“Did you have any friends as a child?”
“There was one girl…” Heero hesitated, “…but she got killed when the orphanage caved in. After that, I stopped caring.”
“You didn’t make any new friends? Just because you lost someone close to you doesn’t mean that you can’t be with anyone else.”
“What’s the point of caring for someone, if you’re going to have them torn away from you?” he said, in an angry tone.
“That’s a risk we take when we choose to care for someone. You should know, you take risks all the time.” She replied in a loud manner.
“It’s not a risk. It’s inevitable. You’ll lose that person you care for sooner or later. There’s no reason in caring for someone if it will end up hurting you.”
“There’s every reason! Having someone care for you and doing the same for them is one of the best possible feelings in life! That experience is worth the risk!”
There was a brief moment of silence. Relena then asked again, “So you’ve never cared for someone since that time? You didn’t have any girlfriends at school?”
“I never went to school…. Combat training was my gym…. Mobile Suit
driving was my math…. Marksmanship was my English.”
(Dino-chan's note: *Sigh* if only that
were true…I hate school! Bah)
“You’ve never experienced love or happiness? Just war and hate?”
Heero looked to the ground, speechless.
“Oh Heero, you’ve missed out on so much. You don’t know how much you’ve lost because of the fear of being hurt.” Relena could see that Heero’s pulse was weakening. That last argument took a lot out of him. She made a mental note telling herself to not argue with Heero. “So that’s why you’ve kept to yourself for all these years? Because you were afraid of getting hurt?”
Heero shivered, then said, “I… guess…” He knew that Relena was only trying to help. He admired her for that. But he could feel himself loosing strength because of the cold. Heero tried to resist, but his sleeveless dark green shirt wasn’t much of an insulator. Goosebumps had already clustered and engulfed his arms. His hands, which were still on Zero’s controls, were numb, which made them very hard to feel. Trying to get his mind off of his dilemma, Heero changed the subject. “What…about…you? Did… you… have… any… friends… at… your… school?”
Relena noticed that Heero was so weak, he could barely finish his sentences. “Yes, I did. I still talk and meet with some of them.”
“Were… you… seeing… anyone?” ‘Stupid question.’ Heero said to himself. Surely the Queen of the Cinq Kingdom had her share of admirers. And there was also the fact that somebody as popular and charismatic as Relena would win over a few hearts, including his own.
“Well, not exactly,” Relena’s cheeks turned a rosy pink, “There is one guy I had my eye on…”
“… and?” Heero was surprised at his curiosity at such a trivial topic.
“Well,” Relena’s already pink cheeks reddened even more, “he never really noticed me. He always had other things to do.” She was dying to tell Heero the truth about her feelings towards him.
“Heh… I bet… he… would… now. Seeing… that… you were… on… every newscast… in the… universe.”
“No, I don’t think so.” she said, as she turned to the ground to hide herself from blushing even more. He was just not getting it. ‘I guess I have to spell it out for him.’ She thought to herself. “He was too busy destroying buildings and mobile dolls.” Relena saw Heero smile. He finally clued in. She was relieved that Heero knew how she felt about him. She was even happier that Heero hadn’t rejected her.
“Duo must be a lucky man. Does he already know?”
Relena practically fell off her chair. She sighed and said to herself, ‘Heero, sometimes you can be such a ditz!’ She rested her head on her palm and smiled as she gazed into Heero’s calm face. That is what she admired about him, the fact that he could stay calm and relaxed even when his life was in jeopardy.
Heero realized that it wasn’t Duo that she had feelings for. “Well… if it’s… not Duo,” he asked curiously, “then… who… is it?”
“You! You big baka!” she exclaimed, a little surprised at her actions.
“But….” Heero started, a bit surprised, “why?”
“I don’t know, it’s just that, ever since I found you laying on the sand when I first met you, I sort of knew that you were someone unique, someone special. And it wasn’t because you threatened to kill me either.” she joked, as she checked his life-support system. Heero’s heartbeat was getting weaker. “And that’s probably the reason I kept following you around. So I could see you.”
Heero smiled. He briefly closed his eyes from exhaustion. “I… I’ve been… following … you… around… too.”
Relena looked a little puzzled. “How?” she asked.
“I… never… received the… mission… to protect… you. It was… my own… choice.”
“But why Heero? Why did you always try and risk your own life to protect mine?”
“Because…. Because… I… I…” before Heero could finish his sentence, the monitor went blank. Relena checked his life-support system, but it too, was also lost. “MS. NOIN!” she shouted.
Noin said nothing at first. Then she managed to tell Relena, “We’ve… lost contact with Wing Zero. We think that… its energy system got used up.”
A small tear ran down Relena’s cheek as she sadly said, “Oh, Heero. I know, I love you too.”
******
Heero realized that Zero’s power just died. His life support system went offline too. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. He was also getting sleepy. However, none of this was bothering him. The only thing that was on his mind was Relena. She was right. He felt happy that he was cared for. That he cared for that person. Heero only wished that he could be there to tell her. To be there when she needed someone to depend on. And to be there to comfort her. His eyes started to close as his strength faded away. Everything darkened. The objects became blurs. Soon it was pitch black.
******
Sandrock zoomed through the vast reaches of space looking for Zero. Quatre searched desperately through the Crimson Fang’s space debris. “Heero, where are you?” he said to himself. Another piece of scrap metal got blasted to clear the area. Sandrock tossed and pushed the azure space junk aside. However, as Quatre was doing this, he came across a strange blue piece. He examined it for a little while and noticed that it wasn’t as damaged as the others were. It didn’t look like the same material as the other scraps. It looked… stronger. Quatre’s eyes widened. It was Gundanium Alloy! He determined that it was Wing Zero’s shoulder pad. “Heero and what’s left of Wing Zero shouldn’t be too far.” With a greater feeling of hope and determination, Sandrock continued its search through the piles of rubble.
******
As Heero opened his eyes, blurry white light immediately surged through them, causing them to sting. ‘Am I dead? Probably not. I don’t think I’d end up in heaven.’ He thought to himself. Heero got up and looked at his surroundings. Apart from the snow-white walls, he thought he saw Relena sleeping on a nearby chair. Heero shook his head, trying to make sense out of what was in front of him. He rubbed his face, feeling the bandage around his forehead.
Awakened by the sudden movement, Relena got up and saw Heero awake, sitting on the bed. She smiled, hugged him and said with a grin, “Heero, as much as I know you like following kawaii girls like me, try not to do that again, ok?”
Heero couldn’t help but laugh. “ Ok, I’ll try.” he replied.
Relena smiled. This was the first time she saw Heero truly smile.
Heero noticed that Relena had stopped laughing and was staring at him. “What? Do I have something on my face?” he said, as he started wiping his cheek.
This act made her laugh. “You’re chou kawaii when you smile. You should do it more often.” she said, as she took his hand from his cheek and held it in hers.
Still a little confused, Heero asked, “How… how did I get here. The last thing I remember was blacking out in Wing Zero.”
“Quatre found you.” she replied, “And it was a good thing he did. When you first came here yesterday, you were in critical condition.”
“Yesterday? I’ve been here for a day already? And what about you? Don’t you have Peace Treaties to negotiate?”
“I’m here cause I’m worried about you, you big baka!” she answered, as she poked him in the stomach.
“Don’t waste your energy worrying about me. I’ll be fine.”
“Heero, please don’t make us go through that conversation again. The last time we did that, it almost killed you.”
“Heh, ok. I’m glad that you’re worried about me.”
“That’s better.” she replied with a smile.
As a moment of silence passed, they each spent it gazing into each other’s eyes. Relena moved her head closer to Heero’s. He did the same and soon their lips got closer and closer to the other’s. Just as they were a breath apart, Heero asked, “So, how’s Zero? Is he still operational?”
A look of disappointment covered Relena’s face. She sighed a little angrily.
“What?” Heero asked, not knowing what he did wrong.
She pouted and said, “Heero Yuy! We were this close from kissing, and all you can do is worry about your…” Relena couldn’t finish her sentence. Her eyes widened a bit from surprise when Heero’s lips touched hers, but slowly closed as his warmth filled her with joy and love. She threw her arms around him in a loving embrace as their first kiss died down.
“You baka. You did that on purpose.” she said.
“Heh, that’s cause you’re chou kawaii when you pout.” Heero replied. “I hate to say it at a time like this, but… I’m starving. Can we get something to eat?”
“Is there anything else besides food and fighting that you boys think about?” Relena asked, a little annoyed, but still in a happy manner.
“I don’t think so.” he joked.
“Ok then, Mr. Gundam Pilot, we can eat, but only if you cook.” she said.
“I… uh… err…” Heero replied hesitantly.
“What? Don’t tell me that the Great Heero Yuy doesn’t know how to cook.”
He shook his head.
Relena laughed then took his hand in hers and said, “Common, I think there’s a fast food place somewhere on Peace Million,” She pulled him up and took the bandage off his head then added, “but your buying!” They held each other's hands as the two headed off into the halls of the space station Peace Million.
****************************
Usagi's note: Wasn't it sugoi? *^_^*