SHIN KIDOU SENKI GUNDAM WING

SAINAN NO KEKKA
ACT XI, PART IV

 
 
Scene XII: La Femme Fatale

 
And in the end, she won. Dorothy Catalonia always won.

But why did she feel so... restless?

It could have something to do with the post-trial let down, she knew. Now that she had nothing to focus on, perhaps her mind was just being over-active. She had become used to plotting and scheming with Relena and Sylvia, and now that that had been removed from her immediate priorities, she realized one thing.

She was bored.

The fact that the world was under a 72 hour penalty imposed by Sally Po might have had something to do with it. Dorothy was used to being in the center of things, and right now she was feeling decidedly left out, like most of the rest of the world. She had no clue what was being done, and the session the World Nation had called for tomorrow seemed completely futile. Only the Security Council had been in Emergency Session with the president, and though she knew she had gained a lot of prestige with her coup in getting Quatre off on a technicality, she was smart enough to realize that all they were doing was probably hand-wringing.

The real work was being done by the Preventers. The way Une had swept Quatre away as soon as she could gave plenty of indication of that.

But why did Une want Quatre?

Dorothy paced back and forth in her study, ignoring the chocolate éclairs Rosalie had produced in an attempt to keep her in line. The thick, creamy delicacies sat ignored on her desk beside a cooled cup of chai tea latte, because when Dorothy got too wound up, even her notorious sweet tooth fell by the wayside.

There had to be something she could do. She was special, dammit, and surely her skills could be useful in some capacity.

She could feel the minutes ticking down, and hated the helplessness of knowing that her fate was in someone else's hands. She wasn't that type of person. She was the one who pulled the strings - she was in charge of her own destiny.

Dorothy had just proved it.

Her hair swung pack and forth as her pacing increased. She pushed it out of her way a few times in irritation, making a half-hearted promise to herself to call a hairdresser to cut the whole mess off if the world was still turning in a week.

There had to be something she could do... she didn't want to be as useless as she had been on A007....

The pieces fell into place for her then. She hadn't resigned her field commission yet - and all Preventers had been called to active duty.

Didn't that just make things interesting?

Une had been surprised when Lady Dorothy Catalonia wanted to see her. She had been directing the defense from Liberation forces, trying to keep track of Quatre's progress - of which there seemed to be very little - in apprehending Aidoru, and generally keeping people from panicking. She didn't want to play the political game right now, but after watching Dorothy in action at the trial, she knew that it would be a bad idea to offend the new political powerhouse.

Dorothy sauntered into the room, confidence radiating off of her in waves. Her pale eyes scanned Une's office, checking for something, but fell flat. "Hello, Lady Une," she said. "I'm here for an assignment."

Une was confused. She had no clue what Dorothy was getting at, but had to admit that wasn't surprising, considering that she was running off stimulants and probably would be until the crisis passed. She wanted Sally caught, now. "What?" Une said, unable to think of anything more clever or cutting.

Dorothy wandered over to the seats that Une kept for her guests and slid into it, crossing her feet neatly at the ankles. "I never resigned my commission, Lady, and you've activated all Preventers," she said, and the cat-like smile was entirely too smug for Une's liking.

"Fine. You're dismissed, thanks for your service," Une said absentmindedly. She really didn't want to deal with Dorothy at the moment.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Dorothy asked.

"Dorothy, your last experience commanding wasn't a roaring success," Une said dryly. "I don't have any units that need a commander at the moment, anyway, and I doubt you're in for the long term. If my guess is right, you're trying to do something-" Une paused, as she finally thought of a solution for the problem Dorothy could possibly present. "How are you at hacking?"

Dorothy blinked. "I know how to use a computer pretty well, but I'm not a hacking expert."

"That's better than Quatre," Une mused. She leaned forward, her eyes intent on the blonde woman who sat across from her. "What I'm going to say is under top security clearance. You repeat it to anyone, I throw you into military prison. I don't give a damn about your rank."

Dorothy was curious now. Something involving hacking that was that closely guarded? It sounded... interesting. "Done."

"Quatre is currently pursuing Aidoru, who seems to have allied with Sally. Aidoru is considered to be the premier hacker.... and is attacking the security system on L3."

It took a moment for Dorothy to process what she had just been told. "Why send Quatre? You just implied that he knew nothing about hacking."

"He's mastered the Zero. We figured that would protect him. Aidoru has fried three of my best hackers, and is currently rearranging the net to suit his whims. None of the renegades seem inclined to stop him."

Dorothy pursed her lips. "How overmatched is Quatre?"

"Completely," Une admitted, shutting her eyes. "But we have to stall Aidoru, because my intelligence says Sally's on the way to L3...."

"To establish a base. I wouldn't be surprised if she's got contacts with the yakuza there," Dorothy mused.

"That would be her pattern. I've already traced her to supplying the rebellion on A007."

Dorothy tensed, gripping the chair. "What?"

Une leaned back, knowing she was wasting time, but wanting to work through her thoughts. Dorothy would be a good listener, because she had a sharp, analytical mind. "She's recalled the soldiers there, and they were involved in the attack at Kashmir."

Dorothy let out a low hiss as she realized exactly what that meant. "It's her fault, then," Dorothy said. She swung to her feet, clenching her fist. "Damn her! She's been playing us like puppets!"

"Don't you think I realize that?" Une snapped.

Dorothy forced herself to take a deep breath to calm down before resuming her seat. "No mercy, Une. Show her no mercy."

"I don't intend to."

"Is that true? Do you see her as the enemy? Or do you see her as a misguided colleague who can be redeemed?"

"I-"

"She's responsible for the death of Noin," Dorothy said. "Noin died to save me, but she wouldn't have had to if Sally hadn't started it in the first place."

"Are you sure you're not trying to shift the blame off your own shoulders?"

It was a question Dorothy didn't want to hear and refused to accept. "I'll accept the blame for my part in it! Noin should be here, right now! She was ten times the soldier you are, and a hundred times the soldier I am! But she's not here because of Sally's actions! If you show her mercy, that means you're letting her killer go free!"

She was on her feet again, pacing closer. Une could see the frustration and self-hatred the blonde had been keeping pent-up for weeks simmering in her eyes.

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven..." Une whispered.

Dorothy's rage seemed to idle as she recognized the phrase. "Shakespeare."

"I want to kill Sally, too. But would Noin?"

"She would have been the first who said to forgive her," Dorothy whispered. "She understood duty, and the consequences of it."

"Sally sees her duty as something different than us. She hasn't wavered from her principles or what she sees as her duty. That's why a lot of us are hesitating."

"If I get hold of her, I'm going to kill her," Dorothy said. "That's my duty."

Une stared into the ice blue eyes and realized that Dorothy was telling the truth. "Thankfully for my conscience, you're not going after Sally. I need you to help Quatre."

"The Zero System," Dorothy said softly. Unlike many who had wrestled with the monster, she didn't wake up with nightmares from it, but it wasn't a particularly fond memory of hers, either.

"Exactly. Quatre has been trying to work through the net for the last eight hours, and I don't think he's been having much success."

Dorothy considered the offer. "If I lose... what happens?" She had heard horror stories of net burn out, and she wanted to make sure exactly what the stakes were.

"Aidoru has been frying those who come after him. Backlash from too much stimulation. People... react differently."

"I've read about it." She had, too. Mild cases began to experience blackouts, but others went insane, and a few even died from the overload.

"But you'll have the Zero System," Une said. She was refusing to admit that she wanted this desperately; this unexpected ace in the hole might be just what she needed to stack the deck in her favor.

"I'm game," Dorothy said. "I refuse to sit around and do nothing any longer."

 
Scene XIII: Sister of the Black Devil

 
Because I want to love you.

Because I want you to be able to love me.

The hand on the windowsill was hers - the soft, white hand of a lady, a high-born princess, the queen of a kingdom lauded as a paragon of excellence for successes after the war. She watched, detached, as the hand flexed, relaxed, flexed again, fingers clenching the silver frame of the window, feeling strangely displaced.

What did those mystics call it again? Out-of-body experiences? She wondered if she might be having one, because Relena, Queen of Cinq, wouldn't be standing at the window of her room staring out at the dusk and the rain, trying not to cry. Relena, Queen of Cinq, would have been moving along the grand corridors of the World Nation's headquarters in downtown Geneva, making the rounds and shaking hands with the triumphant politicians of the day, of Quatre's trial.

That was the problem, really. She was one of the triumphant politicians of the trial, and doubtless they were looking for her and would be surprised to find her not present at the emergency summit this evening on the impending destruction of L1.

She couldn't bring herself to care about L1. She couldn't bring herself to care about Quatre's trial, though some small part of her knew that she was glad he had won and glad that she had been one of the ones to bring about that victory. It was empty, really, all empty, because in the end, what did she, as a person, as a girl, have left?

Queens weren't supposed to be selfish.

But then again, she wasn't supposed to be queen.

The fist slammed down into the metal frame with a ferocity that startled her, and the surging jolt of pain momentarily pierced through the fuzz that seemed to surround the events of the past few days. She brought her knuckles to her lips and bounced up and down on her heels, trying to soothe her screaming hand, still staring out the window through involuntary tears in her eyes.

The world was gray.

She hadn't been prepared for the sight of her brother lying there in that hospital bed. Yes, she had realized that he hadn't been well...that he had been injured in not one, but three battles and had gone through some major surgery...but to her, Milliard Peacecraft would always be mysterious, deadly and graceful, invincible. The pale, scarred face looking up at her had been a shock, though she thought she had hid her surprise well.

Perhaps the problem was that Zechs Merquise and Milliard Peacecraft were two distinct, different people, two men who she could not yet separate, one her brother and the other the proud, cold OZ commander who she had learned to hate so very well.

I've always hated you. I hated you when you were Zechs Merquise, I hated you when you were the leader of White Fang, I hated you when I thought you died and I hated you when you came back and I hated you when you left again...

He hadn't realized it even, but she had seen the intense hurt there in his eyes as she'd said those words, and she had been telling herself all day after that visit that it didn't matter, that his opinion didn't count, that she had never counted, and so why should he matter to her?

It had come later in the afternoon, as Relena was standing by the headquarters building hailing a staff car to take her back to Dorothy's estate, that she had admitted to herself that she had lied.

It hurt. It hurt to admit that she still cared for her brother, after everything he'd done to her. But he'd admitted, hadn't he? The Relena of a year ago, of six months ago...perhaps even a month ago would have crawled into that black hole of hers and hid, the black hole which proclaimed that the only opinion that mattered was hers, and her opinion was that Milliard had ruined her life.

If the events of the past two months had taught her anything, it was that she, Relena Darlian Peacecraft, was Queen of Cinq, whether she liked it or not, was responsible for her own actions, whether she liked it or not, and was remarkably selfish. Whether she wanted to admit it or not.

Heero had known that. And two days ago, he had told her that it didn't matter, that he cared for her no matter what. She wished she had that kind of unconditional love, the power to love like that.

Because I want you to be able to love me.

She was crying again, and that was no good. Angrily scrubbing at her eyes with her hand, she turned her back to the window and headed downstairs. It was almost suppertime, but the big house was near empty, with only one maid and a cook on duty. Dorothy had left her a note last night, telling her that Une had requisitioned her for something (not saying what exactly "something" was), and that she might not be back for a few days. Catherine she hadn't seen a trace of since yesterday, when the news of her brother's supposed death had been broadcasted. Relena had a hunch Trowa's sister was probably on base as well. And Sylvia hadn't yet returned home from the summit.

Dorothy's house had been a wonderful haven and she had been incredibly grateful for the company of the other girls. Sometimes in the early hours of the morning, not able to sleep, she would get out of bed, pad down to the small sitting room at the back of the house next to the kitchen in her bare feet, and find the three other girls already there, awake, drinking hot chocolate and talking in low voices about nothing. Politics and war were off-limits. Instead, they'd sit, giggling softly about the latest gossip, about childhood memories, about home, about boys.

But when she was the only one there in the big house as evening fell, she could almost feel the walls staring at her, wondering what she was doing there. It was as if they could tell that she was no Catalonia or Khushrenada. Usurper, they whispered. False heir. Unwelcome guest.

Relena paused on the marble staircase, realizing her hand was trembling on the banister, and she gave herself a good, hard shake. She was almost an adult by civilian standards, had been an adult for a while by responsibility standards, and had definitely outgrown fairy tales and stories of monsters under the bed.

"Clemente?"

The maid appeared at the bottom of the stairs out of nowhere - Relena had been impressed with Dorothy's servants and demanded Dorothy tell her where they were trained - and dropped a brief curtsey. "My lady? Are you hungry?"

Relena paused, staring out the French windows in the neighboring drawing room. "I'd like a little supper, please. Nothing fancy - I think I shall be the only one eating tonight." She laughed lightly. "I suppose I'm the odd one out today. Everyone else is still on base."

The maid curtseyed again and disappeared, and Relena regarded the scenery outside the windows moodily. There wasn't too much room for a garden here in the middle of the city, but the gardener had done the best he could, and a few very pretty plots of flowers and shrubs bloomed in the backyard. Looking out into the distance, into the sky that should have been colored the colors of sunset if there hadn't been so many clouds, she could see, very faintly, the shadow of cargo planes taking off from the base.

It seemed such a short time ago that her father had taken her on her first shuttle ride into space. And now he was dead and she was the queen.

Reaching the drawing room, Relena seated herself in one of the elegant leather couches facing the window and stared moodily outside.

I've been a failure my whole life, and I'll just chalk this up to another milestone in my career of failures.

It wasn't that I wanted to be the king, or even the queen's advisor. I didn't even want to be your elder brother.

Did she want to be queen?

The question surprised her, laying itself down as if it was the most natural thing in the world for her to ask herself that. Relena Darlian Peacecraft, Queen of Cinq, now currently involved in the internal affairs of the World Nation, with the fate of the former Gundam Pilots, with the head of the international military organization, making decisions that would affect not only her country, but the world and the colonies...definitely not the resume of someone reluctant to fulfill her duties.

It's not that I don't want to be queen, she admitted slowly, twisting her fingers around the lap of her dress. It's that...I've always felt inadequate.

That was it. She didn't feel like a queen, because she had always been under the impression that she wasn't a queen. That she didn't want it because it shouldn't belong to her, and she would do a poor job of it.

She had hoped her brother would tell her otherwise, would support her, would give her his approval. His silence had hurt her more than any words he had ever said.

All I want, Oniisama, is for you to tell me I'm worthy of you.

Silent tears dripped down her cheeks, and she saw the image of him in her head again, broken and drained, white against the white sheets of the hospital bed, telling her, I've been a failure my whole life, and I'll just chalk this up to another milestone in my career of failures.

You're not a failure, she had wanted to tell him. I'm a failure. I wanted you to be ruler, not me, because I don't deserve it. I'm not good enough. I wasn't born to this like you were.

And now, just like then, just like always, she could do nothing for him. He had been out risking his life for her and for the world, had lost everything, including the woman he had loved, and all she could do was stand there...and tell him that she hated him.

"I don't hate you, Oniisama," she whispered, almost choking on her own tears. "I lied..."

Footsteps down the hallway. "My lady? Your supper is almost ready."

Relena jumped up from the couch and fled the room, not daring to show her tears to the maid because she had to be composed, calm, always, even when her heart was in pieces. It had hurt her when she had to disguise her tears at Noin's death, even though Catherine would have let her cry as long as she wanted to.

She rounded the corner of a small side hallway and collapsed against the wall, slowly sliding down and landing in a small heap on the cool marble tiles. Her brother wasn't dead...but he might have died. And he would have died knowing that his sister hated him, knowing that they had never been reconciled...believing that he was the one to blame. Both of them were like that, blaming themselves for things that weren't really their fault. But this, she knew, was her fault alone. Not his.

The thought of him dying crashed into her with a sudden jarring impact, and she hugged herself, shaking, not daring to sob aloud for fear the maid would find her. He would go again, she knew. He wouldn't stay in the hospital for long - a day, maybe less. Perhaps she'd wake up tomorrow to the news that he had forcefully checked himself out, told Une he was going no matter what. As long as Sally was there, as long as the colonies were in danger, as long as the Preventers were going somewhere, he would go too.

Resting her head against her knees, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to erase the image of Epyon exploding, going up in flames with her brother inside.

War is wrong, no matter what! But pacifism doesn't mean passive!

Her words to Catherine, spoken what seemed a lifetime ago. She had been right - pacifism did not mean that she was allowed to stand there while the world trampled her face in. From all the historical accounts and records she had pored over when she first ascended the throne, Nathaniel Peacecraft had allowed that to happen. He had been a king, but instead of stepping up to defend his country when certain death approached, he had done nothing.

She was not her father. She would not sit by and do nothing.

But what could she do now while the world was waiting for Sally to make good on her threat? There were plenty of politicians capable of keeping the populace in check, and she had no doubt Sylvia and maybe Dorothy were up there right now with some brilliant plan. While she, Relena, was hiding.

Pacifism doesn't mean passive!

What do you want most right now, Relena? If you could do anything, what would you do?

"I'd want Heero with me," she said aloud, but even as she spoke the words, she felt that inside twisting of her gut which told her she was lying to herself. That wasn't what she wanted most. She had Heero, had him as much as he would allow her to have him, and he was the last person she needed to worry about. Heero was capable of taking care of himself, and the world besides.

Milliard.

"I don't want you to go up in Epyon, Milliard," she whispered fiercely, lifting her head to stare at the wall. "I don't want you to go before I say I'm sorry. You can't die for nothing. I'll...I'll go myself if I have to!"

The impact of her words didn't hit her till a split second later, and she blinked in shock.

Go? Her?

Even more shocking was the realization that she had meant it. She, who had never piloted a mobile suit before in her life, who advocated peace above all else, who had believed that fighting was not the solution to any problem...how far was she willing to go?

The whisper of a conversation came back to her, a young man leaning across her desk, pleading her to help him. Please, your Majesty... you helped end a war before...

What had she said to Chris Johnsen in return? While it may hurt the ones who love us, being true to what you are is what's best.

While it might hurt the ones who love us...

But it was crazy. She couldn't possibly go. What would happen to the kingdom if she was killed or captured? What would Milliard think? She could very well imagine him coming charging after her and getting killed anyway in the process.

But this isn't about me dying, in the end. It's about...him. I want him to be proud of me. I want...to save him.

Relena had outgrown rash decisions, but if she thought on this anymore, she knew she was going to lose her nerve. Jumping up from the floor, she bit her lip, thinking. She couldn't go alone. She hadn't the faintest idea of how to pilot a mobile suit, much less a Gundam of Epyon's stature. She didn't know where Epyon was. And even if she did, how on earth would she manage to acquire it?

Her first thought was Dorothy, but Dorothy was in the middle of Une's business, and even if Une would let her take Epyon, she would hate to take Dorothy away from such important work. Catherine was in the same boat - she didn't know the first thing about a mobile suit, and Sylvia was out of the question as well.

She could ask Quatre, she supposed, but she doubted he was in any condition to grant a request such as this. Sighing, Relena paced the length of the hallway, forehead wrinkled in thought, trying to ignore the giant voice inside her head blaring that this was the most idiotic idea she had thought of yet. It didn't matter...it didn't look like she could go after all. There was no one else who could take her.

Wait.

She froze, raising her head, tapping one finger against her cheek. But there was someone else. How willing this person would be to even listen to her idea, she didn't know, but...

It couldn't hurt to try.

"Clemente?" she called down the hallway, straightening her dress and brushing the last of the tears away from her eyes. "Send for the driver please, and let me eat my dinner on the way. I need to be taken back to base."

 
Scene XIV: The Final Lap of the Race Begins

 
We've got a war to win.

Duo clung to those words, telling himself that killing his allies was a no-no. Still, he knew that having hostile "friends" could make a mission fail even more quickly than having a strong enemy.

Glancing over his shoulder, he stared at the strange dark-skinned boy who made every one of his instincts scream "kill him before he gets you, stupid!" Watchful dark eyes followed Duo's every movement, and Duo was sincerely wondering how the hell he had gotten into this situation.

He sighed. He knew perfectly well how he'd wound up in this dilemma - it was Helena's fault. He'd been preparing to go to L1, doing final checks on his shuttle, when he'd turned around to see the golden-haired girl there.

"Helena!" He'd been surprised, since even Hilde hadn't known he was back on base, and he hadn't intended on telling her. The Preventers high command and Wufei were the only people who know that he and Heero had come back per orders, gotten their Gundams through a quick inspection, and were heading out again as soon as possible. He didn't think Hilde would appreciate that.

Something about her was different. It seemed that every time he saw her, something about her had changed - a new seriousness was entering her eyes, and the long hair was less and less elaborate. Today she simply had it ponytailed at the nape of her neck, flowing down nearly to her waist. It was odd; her hair used to be her pride and joy, but now it seemed like it was something she had forgotten about.

She looked at him with the expression he'd become familiar with during his time at Cliffside, the one that indicated that he was about to get a lecture about something important. Her eyes were slightly narrowed and her lips were pursed thoughtfully, and he could tell she was about to say something he didn't want to hear.

"You're going to L1," she said flatly after a moment, apparently deciding on the blunt approach.

Dammit, he should've chucked the mission and applied for a job at one of those antiquated psychic networks. "How the hell did you know that? That's classified," he hissed, annoyed that the mission he'd only known about for less than a few hours was common knowledge.

"Shin hacked into the Preventers database. Um, he said that you might want to mention to someone that the net is really acting weird right now."

"I'm sure Une's aware of it," Duo answered, putting his hands on his hips. "Why are you so interested in what I'm doing?"

"We're going with you," she said, and the look in her eyes was one he'd seen on many females, the one that said arguing was futile, better get used to it.

"You are?" he asked, and he was going to be just as stubborn. There was no way he was going to take a bunch of civilians into a war zone, especially one as destabilized as reports indicated L1 was becoming.

He didn't blame them. The Black Diamond Cartel had fallen, and that meant the Breaks was completely out of control. Now the colony was staring Armageddon straight in the face, and while the wealthier elements (many of them members of the so-called government) were abandoning ship, Duo knew that those left behind were panicked and scared.

Anarchy was starting to look attractive to the residents, apparently. Une's agents who were on colony had already indicated that looting was up 70 percent, rape and murder had tripled, and it was basically chaos. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we're going to die seemed to be the general consensus, Duo thought sarcastically.

Thus, Duo was going with Deathscythe. If for some reason Heero and Wufei weren't able to stop Sally from unleashing her weapons, he'd have to stop them when they came for the colony.

One way or another.

"We're going, Duo. You've got three passengers."

Duo frowned, trying to figure out who else. "Chris... isn't well enough to travel," he said slowly.

"Shinobu, myself, and an assassin from the Breaks named Darkflight. He wants to go home. I think he believes that if the colony is going down, he's going to go with it," Helena said.

Duo felt himself tense at the suggestion. He didn't want to meet the guy who had kept Heero company on his descent into utter stupidity. "I am not taking a suicidal drug addict home just so he can have a last hurrah," he said brusquely, feeling annoyed that Helena had suggested it. "I know Shin is from the Breaks, but I don't have time for this. This is a mission, Helena, and I frankly don't have time to make sure you're going to be okay. People are dying up there, and I don't know how things will turn out."

I'm not even sure I'll be coming back from this one. I might be throwing myself in front of some nice nuclear missiles.

Helena grabbed him by the collar, pulling his face down so his nose was level with her own. "Listen to me, Duo. We're not going for some kind of nostalgia deal. We're going because we think we can help. Do you know who Darkflight is?"

Duo had never really thought on it. He had known Darkflight was from the Breaks, an obvious conclusion given Heero's activities for the past two years, but he had never really identified him as anyone worth noticing. "Is he someone special?"

"He's.... well, his real name is Shionji Hideki."

Duo stared.

"He's the Shionji cartel heir, Duo."

Duo let out a low whistle. "Fuck," he swore again. "The world is ending," he muttered. "A Seki and Shionji working together."

"That was rather my reaction when the two of them explained the politics of the Breaks to me. Shin's... not going to be coming back to Cliffside when all's said and done," Helena said, and for a second he saw a trace of the girl who'd been his classmate before the harder look of a woman who'd grown up way too quickly suddenly returned.

L1 politics weren't his thing, since he was an L2 child, but everyone had heard of the Shionji cartel, and what had happened. There had always been rumors of a missing heir, but Duo had, like many others, dismissed them as a fairy tale.

"Are you sure he's the Shionji heir?"

"Shin is," Helena said.

The Seki heir probably wasn't wrong.

"Fuck," he said, unable to find anything else to say.

"Hear me out, Duo. I'm not the best versed on colonial politics, but even I know that the two cartels have hated each other for decades. But Shin's convinced Darkflight to do this. How, I don't know. I don't know even if Darkflight won't betray us in the middle of this. But he sees hope for the colony, and he's got to try. And I agree with him." Helena's blue eyes pleaded with him. "Please, Duo? You're the only one who can get us there. The Preventers would never let them leave their quarters if they knew the truth."

The words rang in Duo's head, and suddenly his world view reoriented. Possibilities for getting order on the Breaks in a fashion that didn't involve pounding heads together came to mind as he analyzed the possibilities with clinical detachment. For a moment the thought popped into his head that most colonists would kill to have these two boys in their possession, sitting in front of them. And then he realized exactly who they were talking about.

The two heirs to the most powerful crime organizations on the colonies, perhaps even in the world. Broken organizations, crumbling foundations...but the names Seki and Shionji were not names to be bandied around even after all this time. And he, Duo Maxwell, might be helping them.

"Fuck," he said again, not able to think of another word in his vocabulary that was more appropriate.

"All we want is a lift," Helena said. "Just drop us off on L1 somehow and we'll take care of ourselves." Duo almost let something slip out about how a girl like her couldn't possibly hope to take care of herself in a place like the Breaks for even a minute, then decided that the comment wasn't worth it. It wasn't Helena's decision, in the end - it was Shinobu's, and Duo could understand, even if he didn't want to, why Shin was choosing this path.

Besides, Shin and Helena had hopped on the plane with Sally to come rescue him, so he figured he owed them one. And as for Darkflight...well he was sure Heero owed him one for something sometime.

"Fine," he said, heaving a deep sigh. "I'll take you."

So now he had three passengers, two who possibly could stabilize the situation if they didn't kill each other first, and one naive middle class girl who really had no clue what she was getting into. This was just going to be one barrel-full of fun.

The shuttle cockpit was a bit cramped, but the three of them had managed to bother Duo as little as possible during the flight so far. Shinobu and Darkflight would talk to each other in short, clipped sentences for a few minutes, then would watch each other in a quiet fashion as Duo messed with the controls. He let them, not able to think of anything to pop the super balloon of tension that had swelled between them all.

Shin, too, had changed in a way that Duo couldn't quite put his finger on. There seemed to be a depth to him that had been... not missing, but buried deep within. Duo had always known the other boy had a dark side, but now it seemed to be barely below the surface, ready to strike as needed.

He would need it, if he expected to do anything on L1. The colony was a harsh place, and wouldn't suffer idealists or innocents.

The assassin was leaning in a seat closest to the pilot, his eyes smoothly surveying his surroundings. Had he been inexperienced, he would have been jerky, his eyes darting uneasily, but Darkflight had the smooth experience of one who was used to surveying his territory. His posture was seemingly relaxed, with his feet propped up against one of the monitors, and his hands crossed over his arms, but Duo had no doubt that it would take him .008 seconds to have a knife out and ready to be used if he felt the situation demanded it.

Dangerous, Duo recognized. A predator.

Well, Duo wasn't anyone's prey.

He noticed a bit of tightness around Darkflight's lips, and saw that his hands were white where they were clutching the simple black cloth of his shirt.

"You okay?" Duo found himself asking, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to smack himself upside the head.

"I'm fine," Darkflight said, but his voice was tight. Duo looked closely, and saw the assassin's breathing was just a bit too quick.

Great. The assassin was astrophobic.

Helena looked at them a bit uneasily since they were speaking Japanese and she still barely understood ten words of the language, but Duo pressed on when he realized what was wrong. "You know, I can give you a sedative that should last until we get to L1," he offered.

Darkflight stiffened, and he gave him a glare that Duo swore he must have learned from Heero. "No drugs."

"It's okay," Duo said. "A lot of people don't like space flight."

Helena seemed a bit surprised. "Are you okay?" she asked, suddenly noticing that Darkflight was too tense. Apparently she didn't know him well enough to read him, but usually she would be the first to notice something was wrong with someone else.

Darkflight actually seemed distracted by the blond. His eyes lingered on her hair, and Duo realized that he probably wasn't seeing her, but someone else.

He knew how that was, too.

Darkflight looked at Shinobu and asked for a translation, which the Seki heir gave warily.

"I'm fine," Darkflight said. "I just... well, it's only the second time I've flown."

"Maybe you should take something," Helena said in concern after Darkflight's reply had been given to her by Duo.

"No. No drugs," Shinobu said, and his eyes met Darkflight's in some kind of understanding that went over Helena and Duo's heads.

"This is my first trip to space, too," Helena said. She smiled at Duo shyly. "My parents never had a reason to send me, but always promised they'd let me go when I graduated. I guess I'm cheating a bit, aren't I?"

He laughed a bit. "I used to think I'd never get down to Earth, either," he said. "It seemed so far away. Now I've gone back and forth so often it should be a regular commute... but I never lose that sense of wonder of when I first embraced the stars, princess."

He hadn't called her that since the day at Cliffside, when he'd last sat on his cliff. His face grew melancholy.

She apparently remembered it, too. "Would you go back, if you could?" she asked.

"Knowing what I do now?" Duo asked. "Probably not. I'm not meant for high school."

She tried to hide the hurt, but he saw it. "I don't regret it. It was nice to pretend, you know? But... I'm not normal. None of us are. Do you think you'll be able to go back now, knowing what you do?"

She nibbled on her lip, before glancing at Shinobu. "I'm not sure I'm going back to Earth," she said. "I might stay up here."

"You're not," Shinobu said. "I wasn't planning on letting you come on this trip, remember?"

She blushed, looking away. "You agreed," she said. "And Darkflight said I can help you." She gave the assassin a sweet smile, and he rewarded her with a sniff that didn't sound as nasty as it should have.

"Against my better judgment. Duo's right about us not being able to watch you."

"I can watch myself."

Darkflight seemed to understand what was going on. He motioned to Duo this time, and demanded an explanation. Frustration showed on his face at not being able to talk directly to the pretty girl.

"Not in the Breaks," said Darkflight. "You... I shouldn't have listened to you when you changed your mind." He seemed troubled by something.

"It's too late for that. I'm on the ship, and that's that." She looked at the monitors, sighing a bit. "Space is so beautiful, isn't it?"

"It's too big," Darkflight said.

"We live here," Duo said softly in Japanese, trusting Shinobu to translate for Helena. "No matter how you look at it, that's what the Colonies and Earth have in common. We're all floating out in the great beyond that is called space, just tiny specks in a vastness we can't even begin to comprehend."

Darkflight actually seemed to pale, despite his dark skin. "I'd rather not think about it."

"Most people wouldn't," Duo said. "It's why there's so many problems."

Darkflight rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault. I'm actually trying here, against my better judgment, to do this making a difference shit that Wi - Heero has apparently gotten reminded of."

Duo stared at the other boy sadly. Something about Darkflight reminded him of tarnished silver, something that had the potential to be shining and wonderful, if only someone found the time to polish it.

"I always thought Heero invented it," Duo said. "Whenever things went to hell in a handbasket, you knew you could count on him. Did he really change that much?"

Darkflight seemed to freeze. His body tensed, and Duo knew that the fight-or-flight reaction was about to kick in before Darkflight managed to get himself back under control. "No... no, he didn't."

It was weird, Duo thought, to be jealous of an assassin from the Breaks. Duo had fought hard to escape his upbringing, to keep from sliding into a life of drugs and self-destruction, and seeing the dark teenager sitting next to him was like seeing a glimpse of what he should have become, if he hadn't been lucky enough to fall in with Solo and Father Maxwell and Sister Helen.

But he was jealous, because Heero had replaced him with... this boy. Hadn't they been best friends?

He ruthlessly suppressed the surge of petty jealousy, knowing it had no place, not right now. War made for strange bedfellows, and now he and Darkflight needed to get along if they were going to succeed in bringing some kind of peace - or at least a ceasefire - to L1.

The shuttle the Preventers had supplied him with was mediocre, Duo knew, because most of their best were actually out in the field being used by personnel. He could feel a strange surge on one of the engines, and he had to make compensations for that. It was a good thing, because it gave him an excuse to not trust the autopilots.

They were less than an hour away from L1 when Helena finally started to get nervous. She toyed with her hair, checked on Darkflight (who still seemed slightly green around the gills), and tried to talk to Shinobu, who seemed to be lost in his thoughts. The cabin was too small for her to pace, but he had the feeling that she would be doing that too, were this their room.

His temper finally broke. "Sit down, Helena," he ordered.

She glared at him. "Why? We're not in landing mode yet."

"I need to concentrate, and you're distracting me," he replied, fiddling with a control that would cut the power to the right engine by .05 percent. "This is delicate work."

Helena looked like she was ready to say something biting, but Shinobu stopped her by pulling her down into his lap. "Listen to Duo. It's one of the first rules of spaceflight - always listen to the pilot, even if they are being a pain in the ass."

She huffed a bit, but leaned her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but being cooped up here for fourteen hours is driving me stir-crazy."

"I know." Shinobu's hand stroked her cheek gently.

"You can't do that," Darkflight said suddenly, staring at Shinobu's hand.

"What did he say?" Helena asked, but Shinobu's hand fell away, and he shifted Helena off his lap.

"I know," Shinobu said in Japanese.

"Shinobu?" Helena whispered, sounding a bit afraid. She still didn't understand Japanese, and was starting to think that was a serious problem. Did anyone on L1 speak English?

Duo tried to keep his eyes on the controls, not wanting to hear the very personal conversation that was about to take place. Darkflight had no such qualms, twirling a knife between his fingers as he watched the Seki heir with dispassionate eyes.

"You can't be my girlfriend, Helena," he said, switching to English, which sounded broken and fractured. "I can't show you any favoritism where we're about to go."

She opened her mouth, and her lips moved a few times before an ironic smile found itself on her face. "You know," she said after a moment, "I didn't think like that. I think... I thought...." she trailed off and shrugged helplessly.

He felt equally helpless. "You should go home, Helena. As soon as you can, you should go home. I never should have let you come."

"Probably not."

Helena was different than Hilde, Duo reflected as he began to make preparations for entry. Hilde would have fought about being told what to do, but Helena accepted the inevitable. Then again, Helena already had her way in getting to come, so there was no point in her screaming about how nasty the menfolk were being.

Women were devious creatures sometimes.

"We're preparing for descent," Duo announced. "Another half an hour."

Darkflight and Shinobu exchanged looks, and Duo was amazed how in sync they seemed to be already.

"Can I ask what the hell you two are going to do once you get down there?"

Shinobu shrugged. "I have no clue? I haven't been to L1 in three years?"

Duo almost hit his head against his control panel. "Why the hell are you so determined to come back, then?"

"Because no one else will," Shinobu said. "Like it or not, it's my home. They need a leader - I'm going to give them one. I'll work with the devil himself if that's what it takes - but Darkflight's not the devil. He's my ally."

Darkflight looked at the Seki heir in consideration. "It's our home. It's not much, but that little ball floating in the vastness of space is home," he said, shutting his eyes. "I... there's people there I care for, and I want them to be okay."

Duo's breath caught as something Heero had said came to him suddenly, as he realized that like the Messiah, a prophecy was about to come true.

I wouldn't be a pilot if I wasn't able to believe in humanity. One day there won't be a need for people like you and me, Duo. I hope we both live to see that day.

That day is almost here, Heero, if an assassin and a cartel heir can put aside their differences to try to save the people that live in a world many would call hell, Duo thought.

He focused on the controls to hide the tears that threatened to spill over. Boys don't cry....

But men do....

He hoped his voice wasn't choked up as he adjusted the flaps in preparation for colony reentry. "Deathscythe and I'll see that you guys have the chance to calm people down," he promised.

Turning back, he stared at the three, knowing that he had just sworn to become the last line of defense. Even if it killed him, he was going to make sure the missiles never hit.

There may not be a need for people like me anymore, he thought, but there's definitely a need for people like the three of you.

 
END SAINAN NO KEKKA ACT XI

 
Act XI Part III | Act XII Part I | Back to Sainan no Kekka