Twisted Destiny

Episode 8: The Things That Could Have Been

by Masamune



Duo looked out over the San Francisco skyline. He was in Quatre's room now. After the battle at New Edwards the red Gundam had departed and Duo and Quatre had decided to return to their hotel and wait for new orders. / How could things have gone so wrong? That damn Treize whatever his name was; he was to blame for the mission going array/ He turned around as a message appeared on his laptop. He typed in the required passwords and a screen with Prof. G appeared.

"We have gotten word about the Edwards botch," the hard, nasal voice said.

Duo bowed his head. "I'm sorry, we had no clue that the officials were actually Alliance officials. Heero, the pilot of Wing destroyed the officers." Duo stopped for a moment and saw Prof. G's face show a hint of his being upset. Quickly he added, "It wasn't his fault either though, he was just trying to carry out the mission as best as he could."

"Don't worry, Dr. J will deal with him," the nasal voice replied coldly. "We too were fooled by OZ's trick. I assume you also know about the takeover of Alliance bases worldwide?"

"Yes," the braided boy nodded. "OZ had us busy and in the mean time completely took down the Alliance military, just as you said they would." He paused. "Is there anything we can do to stop them?"

Prof. G peered from under his enormous mushroom cut.

"The Alliance space forces are still as powerful as ever. I believe that soon OZ will set their sights on space. I believe they will violently try to win space. But in the mean time I want you to support the surviving Alliance forces that are on Earth. There are currently three strong points that the Alliance still holds. Frankfurt, Germany; Heero is going there now. Murond Naval Fortress, it is based near Greenland. They are a weak force and I don't expect them to hold out for much longer."

"Which one do you want me to go to?" Duo asked.

"Neither. The Alliance still holds a firm grip at the Kalmburg Base in the former Sanq kingdom. You and Quatre will be dispatched there. We expect you to arrive there in no less the 36 hours from now. Support the Alliance forces there as best you can. That is your mission, should you accept it."

"I accept the mission," Duo said. The screen went blank.



"It's good to see you Noin."

"The pleasure is mine Colonel Zechs."

The masked soldier shook his head and smiled. "No need for formalities between us Noin. Just call me Zechs, like in the old days. I'm sorry to hear that Victoria was attacked lately."

Noin hung her head. "Yes," she slowly said. "First we were attacked by the Gundam classified as 05. And then both he and 01 did considerable damage to the hangar areas. And that Chinese bastard, the pilot of 05, killed almost all of the student pilots in the base."

Zechs knew his friend was sad, but he knew as well that Noin's sadness was unjustified. /It was a war, casualties happen, it's just a matter of who gets killed/

"Noin you have to remember that we are fighting a war," he spoke his thoughts. "Those Gundams are fighting to survive, they are ruthless and almost perfect soldiers. I believe that they will change the hearts of millions, whether they win this war or not."

Noin looked up at Zechs. She smiled a bit. "Oh Zechs," she whispered. "I wish that this bloody era would end. I don't think the Earth can take much more of this never-ending battle."

"The Earth," Zechs began. "Or more particularly the people of the Earth must learn that wars are heartless. They are mirrors that reflect the darkest Id of human souls. There was once another lieutenant that I knew, a very young man, his name slips me but he was a dark, quiet guy. One day he and I were talking. And he managed to come up with the most real definition of war. He called it a "heartless piece of life's endless waltz of strife". I think that's about as perfect a definition as I've ever heard."

"But war destroys all the things that could have been," Noin replied. "Peoples lives, hopes, dreams, all are destroyed by the monster of war."

"But it is the era that we live in Noin," the Lightning count responded. "We have to live as soldiers of this era and keep fighting. We don't have any other choice."

The soldier armed his Chain Rifle as the enemy Gundam darted in and out of clouds.

"This guy is intense," a fellow Aries pilot said over the radiowaves.

"Perhaps," the squad leader replied. "But he is human and low on fuel. We'll take him down. Beta Team dive to 15,000 feet and come up from underneath when I tell you to. Alpha and Charlie teams follow me, we'll engage the enemy."

The Aries swung down through the night sky. Wing Gundam slowing down in front of them. Heero gripped his Buster Rifle in Wing's hands. He would wait until the Aries attacked and then he would return fire.

"Now Beta Team!"

Five Aries breached the cloudy surface taking Heero by surprise. Wing was riddled with bullets and missiles from above. Heero grimaced as the shock shook him. He fired his Buster Rifle and destroyed the Beta Team. Swinging his Beam Saber out he pierced an Aries armor. The mobile suit exploded with a scream from its pilot.

"Damn," the Aries leader shouted. "Charlie Team rush now!"

Wing turned and agilely dodged the missiles fired from the Aries. Slapping one of the mobile suits down with his Shield he boosted up over the Aries group. He locked on with his Buster Rifle. The metal from the Aries fell to the sea below. Heero checked his power supply. /Shields at16%, fuel almost empty. I'll barley be able to make it to Frankfurt/ He shook his head. Not only had he destroyed the Alliance leaders and assisted OZ in completing their coup d teat. The entire world was under OZ's control. Whatever small chance of peace that had been probably was no gone. Shot down along with Noventa's shuttle. However while aimlessly flying over the Pacific Dr. J had contacted him. He had a new mission. And Heero was resolved to not mess up with this one. The damned OZ would pay for tricking him and causing him to fail the mission. He hit his fist against the side of the cockpit. He solemnly vowed to Wing, the steel behemoth, that he would defeat Treize one day, and would kill Zechs, the pilot that had bested him over the very same ocean. Then he turned his attention to the task at hand. Turning Wing's boosters on he streaked across the sky.



"I'm sorry your Excellency but they fight much harder then we thought. We miscalculated their skills. However I believe if we make a hard push we could mortally cripple them."

Treize shook his head. "No Major Okochi you should pull your forces out of the perimeter area and regroup. I will order backup teams from Copenhagen to join you as soon as possible."

"Thank you your Excellency we will bring glory to your name. Believe me!"

The OZ major saluted smartly before the transmission was cut. Treize stood up from his leather chair and began to pace the room. Duke Dermail had congratulated him on a "job well done Treize". As he had left the Romafeller aristocrats to tend to an urgent message from the Sitka Base Colonel Soldat had told Treize that he too believe that when Romafeller became tired with their game of war then he, Treize, would be removed from head of OZ and the Romafeller Foundation would basically control the entire world.

"Can you imagine?" Soldat had asked him. "These old aristocrats controlling all trade, weapons production and the economy?" He had scoffed at the well-dressed snobs and continued. "They don't give a damn about the hopes or ambitions of the people. They just want to please themselves. It is truly a decadent era we are ultimately moving into at this rate. A decadent era colored with the tacky red of spilt blood."

Now Treize stopped his pacing and looked out at the night sky. It was slowly becoming clear to him.



Zechs turned on his monitor. Noin and several Aries flanked the Zodiac as it sped across the dawn sky. Below the mountains of Turkey glimmered in the early red light. On his radar Zechs picked a small number of mobile suits of to his 4 o'clock.

"Mostly Aries and tanks," one of the Aries pilots said. "Only 12 of them, headquarters said there were more."

"There are," Zechs replied. "They are most likely laying in ambush for us. When we get to the canyon area I want the rest of you to stay back. I'll go ahead. Surely I'll be able to draw their attention."

"No way. At least let me go with you!" Noin spoke calmly. "If there are as many as headquarters said then they might even be more of a match then your suit can handle."

Vernier Rockets flared to life. "Stay back and advance on MY command," Zechs ordered. The Zodiac sped across the mountains and was met by Beam Rifle fire. Drawing his Dober Blasters Zechs fired into the group of Leos. He turned and fired his Wrist Vulcans at an unaware Oliphant. The battle ran on for almost five minutes. The Zodiac felling Leos with its gigantic Beam Sabers. Noin and the rest watched in awe as the Lightning Count single-handedly wiped away the Alliance survivors.

"Shit incoming 8 o'clock fast!" an OZ pilot yelled.

A wave of Aries and helicopters thundered over the hills and released a barrage of missiles upon the Zodiac. The giant stumbled and was knocked across the dirt. Leo gunfire sprayed the Zodiac as it lay on the floor.

"Come on we gotta do something!" Otto yelled from his Leo.

"No!" Noin reprimanded the mechanic. "We wait for the signal from Zechs."

Zechs tasted blood in his mouth as he struggled to bring the Zodiac upright. /How? They caught me off guard/

With a yell he rolled across the ground and hacked the legs off of a Leo. Standing up the Zodiac fired point-blank into the unit and it exploded. Seeing the Aries preparing to fire another slew of missiles Zechs pushed the Zodiac to the limits! Driving the giant suit upward he fired his Dober Blasters at the Alliance. Then a blast from an Oliphant sent him spiraling to the ground again. Quickly his mind raced. In an instant several ways of getting up and finishing the mission flashed through his mind. Then. /What the hell am I doing? / He asked himself. /Why am I trying to take out all of these enemies by myself? /

/Because you can/ a voice in his head spoke.

"But I have backup troops to help," Zechs said aloud.

/Come on you coward/ the voice mocked. /What do you have to fear? Death? Not while you are piloting this suit, not in this battle. You can do this. Now get up! /

Otto watched as the Zodiac picked itself up again and fired once more at the helicopters. Then it withdrew its Beam Sabers and streaked directly at another enemy.



"So what do they want us to do?" Quatre asked as Duo and he packed their bags.

He was still feeling sore over the fight at New Edwards. He had let the red Gundam or more precisely the pilot, Trowa, defeat him. He had found out the nameless ones name by asking Dr. S after the battle. Quatre's eyes stung for a moment as he recalled past times with Rashid, Auda, and Abdul. Then in his mind he once again saw the image of Heavyarms standing over him, Army Knife slowly retracting. He clenched a dress shirt in his hand in anger.

Seeing his partner's anger Duo stopped briefing Quatre. He had known that Quatre hadn't heard a word that he had said in the past minute. Not for the first time that day he wished that Quatre would pay more attention to him, rather then always concentrating on his vendetta against Trowa. With a sigh he too stopped packing and walked over to Quatre. Slowly he put his arm around the platinum blonde. Quatre turned to face his partner. Duo leaned forward to kiss him.

"Eh hem," a hard voice from a dark corner coughed, interrupting the lovers' kiss.

/SHIT! / Duo thought. Wufei was still in the room.

"Sorry," the Chinese warrior said. "I really believe I should be going. I've worn out my welcome here I think."

"No really we don't mind," Quatre insisted. "You can even keep the room when we leave."

"What use would I have for a hotel room?" Wufei harshly asked, wiping out the smile that Quatre had tried hard to put on.

Duo glared at the ponytailed boy. "Hey he was just trying to be nice," Duo snapped. "Nobody is KEEPING you here ya know. In fact I think it would be a good idea for you to leave now."

Wufei didn't flinch. "Then we finally agree on something Maxwell," he retorted. He turned and walked out of the room, leaving the door open. Quatre walked over and shut it quietly.

"What crap is up that boy's ass?" Duo asked with a grin. "You'd think he'd be a little nicer to us after we got his sorry butt out of New Edwards. We even gave him a nice place to stay for awhile and he can't even treat us like regular guys."

"Baka," Quatre laughed. "You know we aren't that normal. I'm used to it; the way people treat me. But I'm surprised you aren't used to it also." He walked over and gently gave Duo a kiss. "I know you're worried about me," Quatre murmured. "But I'll be fine. We may be in hard times but I'm sure we'll win this, for ourselves and for the colonies. I'm stronger then most people think."

Duo gave a grin. "You've taught me that much already," he replied. He snuggled up closer to Quatre. Quatre smiled at his braided partners little joke. /We still have enough time before we need to leave for Sanq/



Note: Ok perhaps the most yaoi-like section yet. Sorry it took me so long to write this one. I was out of town for a while and it is a bit longer then the others. In fact after writing Episode 7 I had no clue what to write but now I think I'll be fine. Comments I need more comments! PLEASE I BEG SEND HATEMAIL EVEN! ANYTHING I'M SO LONELY (not really) But I really would appreciate some feedback. Masamuneehs@hotmail.com.





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