25-Mar-2002
Title: Promise of the Rings
Series: A Matter of Heart
Arc: Dance of the Heart #4
By: Andrea Readwolf
Email: andrea_readwolf@hotmail.com or andrea_readwolf@hotmail.com
Rating: YA-Adult
Pairings: 3+4 (4x3/3x4), 1+2+5 (2x1/2x1, 5x2/2x5, 1x5/5x1), 6+9, 6+13, R+D, 11+S
Archive: This fic and others in this Series are hosted at these wonderful sites:
P-Chan’s Heaven: http://yheaven.tripod.com/fic/andreareadwolf.html
GW Addiction! http://www.gwadditction.com
Warnings: The following fic contains scenes that are humorous, sap, and angst; slightly AU with Incoherence and random POV switching. Original Characters are presented; all characters are IC according to the author's interpretation of them.
Lemon-goodness. YAOI, YURI, and HETERO.
Spoilers: Gundam Wing and its OVA: Endless Waltz.
Feedback: C&C is always welcomed and adored. Constructive Criticism is… digestible. ^_~
Acknowledgements go out to the wonderful people who have made my sojourn in GW-fanfiction more than just enjoyable: Thank You!
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters belong to Bandai, Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and are only being used for non-profit entertainment purposes. References to printed texts, films, sitcoms, musical pieces, and/or other fanfictions don’t belong to the author either.
Notes: "Promise of the Rings" is the Sequel to "In the Pale Moonlight" and represents Part 4 in the DANCE OF THE HEART Arc. The action picks up hours after Heero blows up the Mariemeia’s fortified castle and continues up through the following Christmas. Original characters will be appearing throughout the fic: the Behr siblings, the Winner Clan, the Raberbas, etc.
Additional Note: It would be impossible to embark on the next leg of this journey without giving credit where credit is due. My 1+2+5 obsession is heavily due to Bonnejeanne, Vonceia, RavynFyre, and KeelyWolfe. It’s unthinkable to me to precede with "Promise of the Rings" without acknowledging those ladies who have paved the way for me with this grouping. As a result, my opinions and writings may seem very similar to theirs’. This fic is not an attempt to steal their words—only an attempt to finalize what was set in motion in "Have You Ever…".
This fic and the ideas contained within are copyright of the author and may not be reprinted without permission.
He stepped out of their shuttlecraft into the motley spaceport and looked left to right; his ice blue eyes sweeping over the splatterings of people in the plaza. The Hub was alive with bustling people moving to and fro. To his trained eye he recognized a majority as ex-soldiers, now without a job. Others were possible convicts, mercenaries, and other undesirables in a world that was looking towards peace. Most of the scientists and adventurers who had originally ventured back out into the Mars colony were holed away in their labs or running transports out to the other colony clusters.
They had arrived at Damara space station in orbit above Mars three days ago in time to celebrate the New Year’s coming with other people. After four long days in cramped quarters upon the space shuttle Noin had procured for them, they were both relieved to get out and stretch their legs, take several long, hot showers, and eat people-prepped food that didn’t just come out of a rations pack. Noin had used the opportunity of the station’s long distance communications relay to send a message to her family back on Earth, telling them she was all right and wishing them well in the New Year. He had briefly considered sending a similar well-wishing greeting to his sister, but then discarded the idea. It would be safer for her and him if he remained lost to her. At least for now.
They had both agreed to hold out on contacting "Mother" until they knew for sure what they were going to do. Looking around him at the Hub, he thought "janitorial duty" was a good bet.
"Hey! We’re all set!"
Hands slipped over his waist, a body twisting around his until his long-time friend, Lucrezia Noin, was standing before him, waving a data pad and two ID cards in front of his face. Dressed in matching dark gray cargo pants and black tees, the two of them blended in perfectly with the population around them.
He reached up and took the ID card she tossed at him and read over the printed bio. One pale blond eyebrow arched with mock query. "Zechs Merquise?" he asked.
Noin shrugged as she turned away, slipping her own identi-card around her neck. "I figured it was better to stick as close to the truth as possible," she answered, holding the data card over her shoulder for him to take. "That way we won’t have a problem sticking to any cover story, you know? Besides, ‘Zechs Merquise’ isn’t as popular as ‘Milliardo Peacecraft’ nor as well known as ‘The Lightening Count’." She smirked at him, her dark blue eyes twinkling up at him. "And only a handful of people knew they were all only one single man," she added with a wink.
"You found us rooms?" he changed the subject from his many aliases, looking down at the data card.
"Mmhmm," she continued, leading him down what was obviously the main street of the colony. "Space is pretty limited here, as you can imagine—"
"This shows only one room," Zechs pointed out, still reading through the data contents.
"Yep," she turned a corner, not breaking speed. "We were lucky we got one with two beds and a refresher." She looked up at the buildings around them. "It’s amazing, isn’t it?" asked Noin. "Man has not only traveled out into the stars, but to another planet."
"I guess with the war, the Mars Project didn’t get the funds it needed," Zechs noted, stepping out of the way of a pile of garbage left out in the middle of the street. "Reminds me a bit of the barracks on X32999J."
"That nice, huh?" Noin grinned at him, stopping in front of a rather rundown-looking building and motioning for him to enter in front of her.
"Oh, wonderful," Zechs replied dryly, sighing before palming the building door entrance to open.
Sally Po was twisting the last ends of her unruly hair together as she exited the suite and was brought up short. Sitting in her chair, unmoving, staring directly at her, was the redheaded girl-child of Trieze Khushrenada’s. "Hello, Mariemeia," Sally said, pasting a smile on her face despite her slight embarrassment. She cleared her throat. "You’re up early today. Having a good morning?"
The girl-child remained quiet in her chair, hands folded in her lap as her blue eyes flashed with silent remarks. If only Sally was a mind reader and not an MD. "Would you like to speak with Anne?" she asked, reaching back for the doorknob to call the other woman.
"You stayed here last night," the girl stated coolly, her light voice unaccusing.
Sally’s hands dropped back to her sides as she faced the chair-confined child squarely. "Yes, I did."
"You slept in Lady Une’s room?" only the slight lifting at the end indicated the small questioning remark.
For a moment, Sally debated her answer. It wasn’t that she was ashamed or embarrassed about her relationship with the other woman—they had made no overt efforts to hide their involvement with one another to anyone, despite being somewhat conservative in their actions in public. Only—this was a child. A very mature child, yes, but still a child. And Anne’s ward. Relationships didn’t always work out—Sally had been in enough of them to know that truth for herself no matter what sex you were dating—and her relationship with the Preventer woman was more… cautious than others. This was Anne’s first… not to mention it was not even a month old. Anything could still happen—
"Yes, she did," a soft but strong voice answered from behind Sally, removing the decision to answer. "Does that bother you, Mariemeia?"
The child’s head fell to one shoulder as she continued to watch them. "Dekim told me—" she began only to stop herself. "No," she answered after another moment. "I don’t think so."
She smiled at them, and beside Sally, Anne smiled back. "Good," the petite woman replied, slipping her hand into Sally’s. "Because Sally makes me very happy and it is important to be happy in Life, Mariemeia."
The redheaded child digested her words for another moment before nodding in agreement. "The doctors are here, Lady Une," she finally said, fulfilling her reason for being there. "They have asked for your presence during their examination."
"Of course." Anne’s hand slipped from Sally’s and she went to her position between the handlebars of the wheelchair.
"I will see you ladies later, then," Sally said, flicking a braided tail over her shoulder.
"You may come, too, Miss Po, if you would like," the child offered softly, shyly.
"I’ll have to take you up on that offer one day, Marie," Sally said, smiling at the girl. "But not today, I’m afraid. There are still some things I need to check into."
"Are you leaving?" Anne asked, sounding somewhat surprised.
"Yes, for a little while." Sally stood watching the two other women, her knuckles resting on her hips. "It shouldn’t take me too long though. I should be back later tonight. Tomorrow at the latest."
She hesitated a moment and then reached out, touching Anne’s arm gently as her lips ghosted over her cheek. "See you then," she added, pulling back and turning away to head off in the opposite direction.
"Be careful," Anne told her.
"What fun would that be?" Sally returned with a wink over her shoulder.
"Take a look at this," Noin called, turning the view screen around for Zechs to see as the tall blond young man stepped out of the refresher, moisture beads speckling his well-formed chest and torso as he held a somewhat inadequate white towel around his waist and showing a great deal of well-muscled thigh in the process.
The brunette didn’t even seem to notice the practically naked god in her presence as she pointed at something on the screen. "Five transports in the last two weeks," she announced, looking up at him and not even blinking at the state of his undress. "I bet you those transports were carrying more than just foods and supplies."
"Not unless you’re counting men as supplies," Zechs agreed. "So we know there’s a high influx of ex-soldiers coming to Mars. Last time I checked, that wasn’t a crime, Luce. They’re not doing anything wrong."
"Yet," the woman growled.
"‘Yet,’" he agreed again, heading for the locker that served as his dressing closet.
"Zechs," Noin began, standing up to follow him over to the bed—only to stop, turn around, and close her eyes as the little white towel dropped to the floor. "We’re talking about people who were used to structure, routines—"
"Responsibility."
"Direct chain of command. What do you think these people are going to do now that they’ve lost that command?"
"Live normal lives?" he suggested, squeezing her shoulder as he pushed past her wearing only low, hip-hugging faded blue denims.
She snorted and followed him back over to the table where they’d set up their computer console. "Yeah, right." She grumbled. "This place is a rebellion’s nest waiting to happen." She crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back against the dinette counter that served as their kitchen, watching him as he skimmed through the same files she’d been reading. The small frown that pulled at his thin lips was enough to tell her that he saw the same thing she did, and he didn’t like it much either. "It’s only a question of ‘when.’"
Zechs’s frown deepened. "Never," he answered, leaning back into the chair and watching her now. "Did you get that message off to your friend?"
"Sally," she supplied the name, nodding. "The Preventers will know where we our in under 24 hours. In another 36 we should have some definite orders."
"Hn." Zechs scanned through another file that was open on the desktop. "They don’t have much of a security force here, do they?"
"None," Noin winced, pinching the bridge of her nose. "They were too concerned with staying alive and finding the answers of the universe to worry about something so simple as a government or set of laws. Most of them still consider themselves an extension of Earth."
Zechs’s face darkened into a deeper scowl. "No official government. No official protection. No good," he mumbled to himself.
The reason for Sally Po going into work that morning was not because she was *supposed* to be there. No, she went into work because she *needed* to be there. She needed to know what happened to her friend, Lucretia Noin. She needed to know the other woman was all right. She needed to find out where she had disappeared.
Sally knew the other woman was with Zechs Marquise, and she knew he was a damn fine soldier… but she didn’t really trust the man. After all, the last time they’d come even close to meeting he was attacking earth and she was helping cram Peacemillion down Libra’s throat.
‘Damn fine ship. Shame it had to be sacrificed.’
Sally sighed, rubbing her sore eyes with tense fingers. Somewhere. Somewhere Noin had to have left a clue. Somewhere.
The problem was, between Earth, the colonies, the moon base, Mars, and the hundred or so satellites sprinkled between the sun and the asteroid belt… There were a lot of somewheres the pair could be hiding at.
She would have called Wufei in to help her search… if she thought it would be any good. After two weeks of vacation, he was probably going as stir crazy as she was. The Chinese woman smiled briefly—it was funny to know him so well, after only a week of being partnered to him.
"He reminds me of my grandfather," she realized aloud, remembering fondly the old stubborn goat who had to have his way all the time because his way was the only proper and right way to do things—or so he insisted. Sally remembered how her grandmother would bow and nod to him before going on to do whatever it was she wanted. The petite woman had smiled and winked at Sally once, leaning over to whisper to the woman-child, "The trick to dealing with an obstinate man is to make him believe what you want to do is what *he* wants you to do."
Sally hadn’t really understood her grandmother’s words when the old woman had spoken them, but she had remembered them.
Wufei…
She wasn’t quite sure what to make of the younger man. She’d laughed at his high opinion of himself when she’d fist meet him, almost two years back. He’d saved her troop of guerilla fighters from certain death. He and his gundam, Nataku. Justice. Together they had fought off OZ forces.
All his talk of "weak" and "strong" and "justice"—he was a swordsman stepped out from one of her old storybooks her grandfather would read her sometimes. She had been relieved to meet another gundam pilot whose integrity was so high; she’d been saddened that it was another one so young. Maybe she’d even been a little bit attracted to him—or maybe it was just the situation they were in. Besides, he was way too young for her. If she was going to go for a guy, she’d much prefer him to be older than herself.
"Hot damn," Sally whispered, the words dropping form her lips seconds after the message on the screen registered. She quickly hit the print icon and shut off the computer while the printer roared to life.
Anne thanked the last doctor before shutting the door in his face. She heaved a sigh of relief before turning around to return to the solar where she’d left Mariemeia moments before.
But the child wasn’t there.
Anne stiffened, the trill of worry exciting her rather frazzled nerves and, as calmly as possible, she called out for the child. "Mariemeia?"
"Over here," a soft, subdued voice called out from the adjoining room.
Anne followed it into the library where the two French doors were thrown open, allowing soft snowflakes to drift inside. Mariemeia sat in her chair, on the inside looking out.
"It’s a very nice day today, Lady Une. Do you think we may go outside for a little bit?"
"I—I think that may be arranged," Anne began, tentatively approaching the chair, unsure what to say or do for the child, and very uncomfortable because of that uncertainty.
A tiny face turned to the side, and Anne could see tear lines glistening down her rosy cheeks.
"Mariemeia?" the older girl asked, genuinely worried about the child.
"Lady… what’s wrong with me?" the girl’s voice quivered with scared tears.
"Nothing!" Anne insisted, leaning over the bulky wheelchair to squeeze the girl’s shoulders. "Nothing is wrong with you, Mariemeia. Didn’t the doctors just say that you are healing remarkably well?"
"They think I’m a freak!" the child shouted, her face
"No!" Anne cried, circling around the chair and kneeling before the little redheaded girl, leaning forward to wrap her arms around the crying child. "No they don’t."
"Then why do they want to do all those test on me!" the redhead struggled against the older girl. "They think I’m unnatural! That’s what the one man said! You heard ‘im!"
"No, Mariemeia, no," Anne soothed, crying now, too. "They think your rapid recovery is miraculous. They think you’re a miracle." Anne sniffled and pulled back, looking into the red, tear strewn face as she wiped her own tears away and gingerly pushed some plastered red bangs away from Mariemeia’s face. "And so do I."
Mariemeia struggled to regain herself, sniffling and swallowing madly. "Please don’t leave me, Lady?" she asked softly, sounding very much like the broken child she was.
The older girl hugged her again, laughing slightly as she promised, "Never."
The natural gravity of Mars is different from Earth. On satellites or colonies, the structure’s rotation combines with anti-gravity dispensers to imitate Earth’s gravity. Most of the cluster colony sites on Mars didn’t bother with such things as ‘anti-gravi dispensers,’ choosing instead to deal with Mars’s natural gravity.
These people were the longtime residents—people who had been living on Mars for five, ten, twenty (and one woman, fifty) years. These were the scientists and researchers who had come to Mars to study and explore. Compared to the current population—well, even with the recent influx of people to the red planet, the scientific population still out-numbered the newbies to the area. It was just that the scientists and researchers were all hidden away in their own private holes somewhere.
Noin and Zechs were posing as a couple—true to the nature of people who didn’t want questions asked of them, very few people questioned the pair on anything more than their names and whether or not they were Earth-born. It was because of this lack of questioning that the pair was able to travel to the nine different cluster colonies situated around the central Hub colony. Tunnels connected each cluster colony with two other clusters and a third tunnel connected the clusters to the Hub. Some of these tunnels were a plexi-glass-like tube that laid on top the surface of the red planet and allowed its occupants to witness the Martian landscape. Others were imbedded into Mars, buried meters below the surface. Only three of the tunnels had installed automated people-movers. Two of the tunnels were out of service for repair, and the remaining four had to be walked.
There were nine cluster colonies in all on Mars, including the original one, the first one—the Hub. The Hub was the only colony large enough to support a shuttle-port and was a person’s first stop on their visit to Mars—and too often, their last. Easily the largest of the nine colonies, the Hub had expanded over the years, encompassing all the different research facilities housed on Mars until several years back when someone decided to house the research facilities at different sites. The building of the eight other colonies had been a slow process, and some were under construction despite people now living there. The Mars colonies were next to flat out broke, depending on the money their benefactors were willing to send in for research. But there were high hopes for things to change, and from the looks of it, the sooner the better, thought Zechs.
Zechs and Noin had decided to visit each cluster—one a day. They used their scouting ventures to scope out the area, noting residents and their habits among other things such as security measures. If there had been any, that is.
Handing a bottle of water to Noin as he took one for himself, Zechs fell back onto his small single-sized bed with a heavy <oomph!> "This place is a sitting duck."
Noin took a long swallow before voicing her agreement. "I told you, didn’t I?"
"It’s the scientists’ fault," the blond man grumbled. "They’re only interested in their precious experiments."
"They’re hoping to reform the planet," Noin offered as an excuse.
Zechs frowned, rolling his head to the side to look at her. "I thought they hadn’t been given approval for that yet?"
"They haven’t." Noin sighed, leaning her head back to rest against the wall. "But they want to be ready for it."
"Hn. 'Better safe than sorry,’" the man quoted without mirth.
They contemplated their own thoughts for several minutes, too tired after a long day’s journey to do more than just lay and sit in their room. And then, Zechs rolled over onto his stomach, groaning with the effort. "It’s a shame," he said. "Mars really can be a pretty place."
"‘Pretty’?" the dark-haired woman teased, cracking one blue eye open to look at him. "Here," she said, getting up and crawling onto his bed, straddling his legs. "I’ll do you," she offered, her hands already beginning to knead the knotted, tense muscles in his broad shoulders, "if you do me first?"
Zechs groaned. "Oh, god. Just don’t stop."
The Lady was in a meeting and probably would be there all day. Mariemeia had heard her and Dr. Po talking that morning before she entered the breakfast room. There was a very important meeting today, and Lady Une had named off a lot of important people who were going to be there—people Mariemeia remember her grandfather talking about. The child would have dearly loved to have gone with the Lady, but she feared it impossible. Dr. Po had said she was sorry she couldn’t go, too—That was when the maid caught Mariemeia ease dropping and wheeled her into the room.
The Lady hadn’t reprimanded her like Dekim would have. Instead, the older woman offered what seemed to the girl a treat: Lady Une invited Mariemeia to join her on her visit into the city.
Mariemeia had never been "into town." Indeed, having lived her entire young life on a colony, she had often wondered what a city or town on Earth would look like. Would it resemble a colony—all mechanical with artificial environment control? Would there be tall buildings and people movers arching the skyway? Or would the buildings burying under the surface like on the colonies? How many people would be in a city? All these questions and more swam through the child’s head.
Eagerly, she’d agreed to join the Lady, but now she was beginning to wish she hadn’t. The guards at the front foyer refused to let her out of the building and apparently, the guards at all the other exits were told the same thing. She wasn’t even allowed in the meeting hall with Lady Une because she was ‘too young.’ More likely they didn’t want her getting any ideas again. She could have told them she was over that whole take-over-the-world thing… for now.
The first hour or so hadn’t been too horrible. She’d wondered around the old government building, marveling at the stone and marble columns, the original wood-finished walls, and the patterned floors. And painting after painting after painting. Most of them were boring old portraits of people Mariemeia had no knowledge of—people who had once lived or worked in the building. Some were pictorial scenes, showing vignettes of hunts and sea voyages. One hall wall had a spectacular moral of space that looked centuries old. Walking through the halls of the building, Mariemeia almost felt a sense of being very very young; facing something that was older than her young mind could comprehend.
Eventually, wandering the hallways with no real purpose got to be very boring, and by the time she managed to wander her way into the kitchens she was really beginning to regret being stubborn and refusing to take her chair with her. She stood just inside the doorway as the frazzled kitchen staff scurried to put lunch on trays and begin cooking supper, her legs tingling with firing, protesting nerves, staring before her.
There, amidst all this chaos, she saw him. The same man she had seen weeks ago at the New Year’s party. A gundam pilot, yes, but more than that—a Barton. Trowa Barton, she remembered his name… he was her uncle. Dekim had once mentioned his son, her uncle. Mariemeia had liked the name "Trowa" and so remembered it long after Dekim stopped talking about him. She had thought mayhap he had died—after all, those were very perilous times to live in. War causes many deaths… but he wasn’t dead. He was sitting at a kitchen table, the calmest thing in the entire room, reading.
He must have sensed the weight of her gaze, because he looked up from the papers before him.
And then he smiled at her, and Mariemeia felt all at once that everything in her life could go wrong… and things would still be okay. It was a very good feeling and, shyly, she offered him a return smile.
He stood as she slowly advanced farther into the kitchen, bravely facing the haggard kitchen staff, and pulled out a chair for her, frowning a bit as he noticed her walking in her slow, painful gait.
"Hello, Mariemeia," he said as she neared. He had a soft voice, she though. Soothing.
"Hello, Mr. Barton," she returned, bobbing her head politely and somewhat disheartened that she couldn’t curtsy for the man as well—but she greatly feared to do that least her legs give out beneath her, as they were threatening to do.
"Please call me ‘Trowa,’" he told her, holding out a hand and smoothly guiding her into the chair. "All my friends do. Would you like something to eat or drink?"
"Yes, thank you." She studied him as he poured her a cup of warm tea and passed a tray of cheese and crackers towards her. He was a young man—like all the gundam pilots she had discovered—and very attractive, too. She whimsically wondered if that was one of the characteristics needed to be a gundam pilot: You needed to be young, handsome, skilled, polite—
"I’m surprised to see you walking," Trowa said, smiling at her. "I was under the impression that you were confined to a wheelchair for the length of your recovery."
The redheaded child nodded, smiling at him. "It was true; I was in a wheelchair," she told him, lining up a cube of orange cheese on a cracker. "However, the doctors say I am healing remarkably well and soon, I will be completely better."
"I see," he replied, nodding. He pushed the papers before him into one pile and moved to place them to the side when she asked, "What are you reading?"
"These?" he looked that the pile in his hand. "This is a wildlife preserve project," he told her, smiling at her as he, too, reached for a cracker. "Quatre handed them to me this morning and asked if I would be interested."
"You like animals?" she asked, looking at him curiously.
"Yes, I do. Don’t you?"
She frowned as she thought this over, before answered truthfully, "I don’t know. I’ve never met one."
He looked surprised by her answer and asked, "Really?"
She nodded, looking the pretty pictures of the exotic animals on the pages he handed her.
"We’ll have to do something about that," he said, fanning the pages out on the table so she could look at multiple animals at once.
She looked up at him with large, blue eyes. "Really?" she asked.
"Really," he smiled at her.
On the outside, he was sure he looked like some damn toy soldier dressed up in a chic black suit. The suit looked tailor made for his slim but muscular body—if he didn’t know any better, he’d think the other boy had planned this. What was he thinking? OF COURSE he planned this.
"Duo, I have a proposition for you…"
Screw that. He should have known better than to try and deal with a businessman like Quatre.
"If I win, you come work for me," the blond had dealt.
"And if I win?"
"What do you want?"
"Well, now, I don’t know. I seem to be getting a lot of wishes granted already lately."
"Well, what if we say I’ll just owe you?"
"Okay, sure. What do I gotta do?"
He still couldn’t believe the blond pipsqueak had actually beaten him at wrestling. Shit! That had been embarrassing. Heero had teased him unrelentlessly all night, making the longhaired boy almost as uncomfortable as he was now—standing behind Quatre in a black tailor-made suit, while a bunch of boring fat-toe-heads sat around and argued about their problems instead of trying to fix them, effectively accomplishing nothing.
Almost.
Man, what he wouldn’t’ give to have DeathScythe right now. He’d make quick work of all these stupid, stumbling officials. It was a horrible thought, but Duo actually wondered why some of the more stupider congressmen or representative couldn’t have been on that shuttle of peaceful doves Heero blew up during the war. It was a horrible thought only because he knew how much that incident had upset his partner.
Speaking of which, that was the sole good thing about being here right now. Heero Yuy was standing directly across from him, standing behind representative Dorian and her blonde psycho-bitch.
He wondered why the Vice-Minister had chosen to keep that girl—it definitely wouldn’t have been *his* decision, but, then, he was of the opinion that the Vice-Minister wasn’t too all-sane herself. Of course, he had to admit; she had been pretty damn awesome supporting the Miramar project like she had. Still, Quatre was Relena’s good friend, too, and yet here she was, chumming up to the girl who tried to kill him. But then again, look at her brother—maybe it was a family psychotic thing or something.
The whole highlight of this entire boring, prolonged torture of a meeting was that sculpted body standing directly across from him and imagining all the lovely things he was going to do to that body when they got out of here. One thing he had to admit—Heero Yuy looked damn fine in a suit. Of course, he might be considered a little biased, but, then again, this WAS his boyfriend he was daydreaming about.
And with that stray thought, Duo began to wonder what Wufei would look like in a suit. ‘Damn fine,’ was his conclusion. He looked forward to catching the ebony-haired Preventer in his uniform one day—though not as sexy as the precision-cut black suit Heero and Duo were wearing--it was still a suit, right?
The Preventers.
Ah, now, there was a crutch. Heero and he had turned down Noin when she’d come a-calling a couple of month ago, but obviously the head of the Preventers was eager to have them signed on. It wasn’t such a bad idea, and now that the gundams were gone, that opened matters up a little.
There was a shifting to his left, snapping his attention back to the meeting.
"We shall reconvene in two hours’ time, then," the Vice-President was saying as he stood. Others at the table stood as well, including Relena and Quatre. Quatre’s secretary and across from her, Dorothy, were gathering up papers.
Quatre pressed up against him, allowing the flow of people anxious to leave to pass by them. "Come on," the blond executive said against his ear. "Let’s go find Trowa and then we can join Relena in her rooms."
"Don’t you have your own rooms here?" Duo asked as he obediently followed the other teen from the room.
Quatre shook his head and called back to him. "No, I’m not officially a member of this government."
"Hey! But that sucks! You do enough for them—they should—"
"It’s okay." Quatre turned and Duo could see the twinkling glint in the blue eyes. "I own the hotel across the street, and several others in this city. My company makes a mint whenever there’s a meeting like this."
Duo shook his head and just followed where the blond lead, not questioning how the boy knew where his lover was hiding out in this monstrosity of a house.
"We are a peaceful colony," Xiu said, pushing a strand of dark mahogany hair away from her face, her large black-rimmed classes engulfing her brown, golden-flecked eyes. "We’re scientist and explorationsists."
"Yes," Noin said. "But there are a lot of people who are now coming to Mars who are *not* scientists like you."
The head scientist of the Turlington Cluster frowned. It was the fifth representative they’d managed to talk to in the last three weeks. Most of that time was spent tracking down the person who *was* in charge. Now she and Zechs were trying to talk to each representative, convince them of the importance of establishing a hierarchy of government for the Martian colonies. Three of the representatives had absently agreed, one had insisted it wasn’t his concern.
Now she was talking to Xiu Gon while Zechs hunted down their next victim.
"Why would anyone want to come here if it wasn’t to study?" the woman asked confused.
"A lot of people were displaced during the war—"
"War?"
The woman’s puzzled look pushed Noin’s boiling point, but she diligently reined in her frustration and anger. "There was a war between the Colonies and Earth," she explained as calmly as she could.
"But... why?"
She wasn’t—she wasn’t… she wasn’t going to hit the woman. No matter how annoying she got. But Noin couldn’t help wondering just what the hell this woman had been doing for the past two years that she didn’t know there was a war going on outside.
"The Colonies didn’t appreciate the Federation’s repression of their political bodies and rights. They rebelled," Noin informed her. "After several government overthrows, Earth and the Colonies signed a peace treaty leaving a lot of soldiers out of work and out of luck. A lot of these soldiers aren’t happy with the results of the war and some want to try again."
"What foolishness. Everyone knows that war is only good for death and destruction. Why would anyone want to participate in such brutality?" the scientist asked, pushing her glasses back up her pert little nose.
"I wish I knew," Noin sighed, feeling suddenly very, very tired. "In any case, Dr. Gon, you must understand what a tempting target the Mars colonies are to such an attack. These soldiers who are unhappy might come here and try to create a base of operations for starting another war. That’s why my partner and I are here. To try and stop that from happening."
"And… you call your organization the ‘Preventers’?" the woman asked, scrutinizing her.
Noin nodded, showing the scientist her badge again.
"And… how do I know you and your partner aren’t trying to ‘take over’ our colony and start this new war?"
Noin smiled—at least this woman wasn’t as ignorant of military matters as some of her compatriots. "Because," she answered her, " I wouldn’t be asking if I was planning on taking over."
Relena groaned and buried her face in her folded arms. "Why do they have to be so difficult?"
"Ah, Miss Relena," her companion answered lightly. "You should have followed my suggestion and created a dictatorship, not a republic."
"Don’t tease me, Dory, I’m really not in the mood right now." Cool hands slid over her shoulders and squeeze her neck. Relena moaned appreciatively. "Oh, gods, that feels good…"
"So tense, Miss Relena," a warm voice whispered in her ear. Those wonderful hands and fingers moved back over her shoulders and down her back, caressing her skin through the thick material of her formal suit. "Allow me to relieve some of your stress." Warm palms pressed into her lower back, smoothing outward.
There was a rap at the door before it pushed opened.
"Well, let’s see. There was this one time, I’d just transferred into a new school that was right next to the base I was supposed to toast, you know? And *guess* who a ran into?" Duo’s voice was rambling cheerfully.
"Mr. Heero?" Mariemeia’s voice asked eagerly.
"Correct-o-mondo!" Duo laughed. "It worked out great, though, because not only were we there to blast the same base, but we ended up—"
"Duo," Heero’s voice growled out from an adjoining room, shortly followed by the appearance of said voice.
"Hee-chan!" the longhaired teen called out, grinning devilishly as he launched himself at his lover’s body.
The Japanese teen obligingly caught Duo’s body and wrapped it up in his arms, tilting his head in against Duo’s neck to ask, "Did you have fun this morning undressing me with your eyes?"
Duo smiled into Heero’s shoulder, replying, "Not as much fun as we’re going to have tonight."
"Miss Relena, it is a pleasure to meet you again."
"Hello, Mariemeia, Trowa. It’s good to see you both again," the Vice-Minister greeted, regretfully standing up as the two walked into the room, Quatre right behind them, smiling at the sight of the little redhead girl in the arms of his lover.
"I hope your meeting went well," the child said as Trowa set her down on the sofa near the fireplace.
"It’s not over yet," Relena replied, tiredly, shooting a look over to Quatre.
"Would you like some tea?" Dorothy offered the newcomers. "I’ve asked for a tray to be delivered—" there was a knock at the door. "And that should be it now," she added, smiling as she went to answer the door.
It wasn’t a tray, however, but the head of the Preventers, Lady Une. "Good afternoon, Lady, please come in," Dorothy said politely, opening the door wider for the other woman to pass in.
"Dorothy," Relena begged, "Please stop it."
"Stop what, dear Miss Relena?" the young woman asked with mock innocence.
"Gentile-ness does not suit you," Anne replied.
"Nor does that hair style suit you," Dorothy returned, smirking as she turned away from the door.
"Cat fight" someone mumbled while Relena sighed and sat back down in her chair.
"I wonder when the last time you fought was," Quatre asked softly, smiling sympathetically to the blonde woman.
"Too long ago," Dorothy replied, her eyes twinkling with an almost sadistic glow as she studied him. "Why? Would you care to hold a rematch with me?"
Quatre’s smile turned to one of amusement and he laughed lightly. "If you promise not to try and kill me this time, I might actually take you up on that."
"Oh, but what would the fun be if I promised that?" Dorothy quipped, returning to answer the knock on the door and letting the servants wheel in a cart heavy with trays of food.
"This morning was impracticable," Relena frowned, absently taking the plate of food Dorothy handed her.
"I wouldn’t say that," Quatre replied. "At least now everyone’s had a chance to argue about inconsequential matters, which means—"
"Which *means*," Dorothy interrupted, handing Relena a glass of cool iced tea. "This afternoon, when we reconvene, you will push this Mars Colonization Bill through with no nays from those pampas old fools who think they run this government."
Quatre nodded his agreement as Trowa handed him a plate and drink. "Yes, I would like to have this finished today. My people have been waiting for the go-ahead for two weeks now."
"I have received word from Wind and Fire," Anne told them. "They have spoken to 4 for the cluster colony representatives"
"What the Mars colonists want is futile in light of what is best for them," Dorothy replied.
"It is those kind of thoughts that lead us to war two years ago," Heero replied, accepting the plate Trowa held out to him, only to have Duo start picking at it.
"You make it sound like a bad thing," Dorothy answered calmly.
Duo growled, "Why you—" while Heero held him back.
"Don’t let her upset you, Duo," Quatre smiled faintly. "She is testing your patience with people’s arrogance. It is a lesson we must all not forget."
Dorothy shot a mocking pout towards the blond executive. "Quatre Raberba Winner, don’t go around spoiling my fun."
"Perhaps," Quatre offered, still smiling, "I may engage you in a more challenging sport of fun later?"
Ice blue eyes glowed with feral excitement as her pout turned inside out. "Perhaps indeed."
"But for now," she said, "We should focus on how to push this bill through, ne?"
Sally reached for her eighth cup of coffee, tired beyond the point of where any caffeine could really help. Five hours of tracing through transport records, trying to find out who went where, what for, and if how long they stayed there. It was a tenacious job, but a necessary one, and three other teams were working on the same project. They were all coming to the same conclusions: too many names were tracing back to the Mars colonies.
"Onna, you should rest," her partner said from her doorway.
Sally looked up at him and smiled. "Can’t. Work."
"Silly woman, I thought you were a doctor."
"And just what’s that supposed to mean?" she snapped, swirling around in her seat to face him.
"It means you’re no good to us when you’re tired. Go take a nap," he said, ducking back out of her doorway and into his adjoining office. "I hear the couch in Mother’s office is nice and comfy. But then, you would know better than I."
Sally stared flabbergasted at the door. Did Wufei just tease her? She must have been more tired that she realized—she’d fallen asleep and was having a crazy dream….
"Reports in from home," Zechs said as Noin dragged herself into their shared mini-apartment.
She took the papers he held out to her as the door slid shut behind her. "We have Turlington’s support," she told him, focusing her blurry eyes on the readings. Her eyes shot open and she looked over at his grim face. "I take it this is fairly accurate?"
His scowl darkened. "An underestimate, they’re still searching."
Noin sighed heavily and fell into her cot. She looked at the sheet of paper taped to the sidewall—nine names were written on it. Three—Carliton, Reitz, and Norman—were circled in green ink. One—Rawlings—was x-ed off in red. Five—Criser, Jennings, Little, Broward, and Turlington—were left alone.*
"Turlington’s a yes," she sighed. "Five down."
"I tracked down Criser and Broward," he told her, getting up to circle ‘Turlington’. "We have an appointment with them tomorrow and the day after." He popped her on the nose with a finger.
"You’re in a good mood. What happened with Jennings?" she asked rolling over and snuggling up to her deflated pillow.
"Not a definite ‘yes’, but not a definite ‘no’, either," he answered. "I’ll hit him up again tomorrow. I think he just needs a little more influence before he says ‘yes’."
Noin grunted. "Why are we doing this again?" she asked. "I forgot."
"Because—we’re going to take over the world!" he answered with dramatic mockery.
She groaned and rolled over, eyeing him with an ‘I’m not amused’ look. "You tried that once before, remember?"
In a completely childish and un-professional like manner, Zechs stuck his tongue out at her.
"ENOUGH!"
Silence prevailed as Quatre stood tall, his palms pressed flat into the table, looking heavily at each member surrounding the conference table. His voice was low and menacing as he continued.
"You have done nothing but sit here and bicker all morning and most of the afternoon. The war ended over a year ago, but you cannot let go of the past. We are here today to discuss our present and future; we are here not to place blame or dwell on past transgressions, but to move forward, to rebuild and begin again. If you cannot understand this than you have no business being here and should leave now."
For a minute, no one moved, and then, at the far end of the table there was a rustling as one member of the conference stood up to leave, his aide rushing to gather his belongings. "I will not be dictated to by a child," he announced as he stormed out of the room.
Someone—Dorothy, probably—murmured, "You just have."
No one else left.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, if we may get down to business?" He regained his seat, hands clasped on the table before him. "Lady Une has brought to our attention the black hole in defense Mars presents to us. It has been suggested, and I agree, that in order to correct this hole, we must reconstruct Mars’s importance. This bill," he held up his green sheet of paper, which each person had, "was created for this purpose.
"Vice-Minister Dorian and I have conversed on this subject deeply, as I know many of you have. No doubt you have heard many arguments for why this bill should not be passed. Now let me tell you why it should…"
Two hours later, the bill was approved, and as the members of council filed out of the conference room, Relena rushed up to Quatre and hugged him. "I knew you could do it," she whispered.
"Your influence of many of the members helped," Quatre replied, returning the friendly embrace. "It’s official now," he sighed with relief. "My people are already being notified. Work will begin tomorrow morning."
Relena grinned and leaned up to peck his cheek. "You’re a miracle worker, Quatre."
"Now, now," Duo shooed her off, grinning good-naturedly. "Don’t be smooching the goods, sister. His boy-friend might not appreciate that, and trust me, an unhappy Trowa is not a nice thing to see."
Relena laughed, but let go of Quatre, who was shaking his head at Duo, who in turn was eyeing Heero and Dorothy as they talked quietly at the other side of the table. "Who’s up for a celebratory dinner?" Relena asked.
"Who’s buying?" Duo quipped, still grinning though he was frowning inside—Dorothy didn’t look happy about whatever it was Heero was saying. "As long as it’s not me, I’m in!"
It was another two days before Noin or Zechs heard the news—and that was because they’d been on their toes nonstop, cornering the remaining representatives.
"They did it!" Noin shouted, jumping up from the computer, whirling around and jumping into Zechs, wrapping her arms around him. "They did it! They did it!"
"Yea," he cheered with her before asking, "What did they do?"
"Got the bill passed!" Noin exclaimed before leaning up and kissing his lips. "Relena’s message says Quatre did all the work, and of course Quatre’s message said it was Relena’s influence, and all Anne’s message says is that it was passed and assistance should be here in another three days."
"That’s great," Zechs replied, stepping away. "Means we have a lot of work to get done before they get here, though. I’ll give you first dibs on the ‘fresher?"
"Why don’t we conserve water?" Noin suggested, grinning at him.
He frowned at her. "We’re not kids anymore, Luce," he said before closeting himself in the refresher.
Noin sighed and fell back onto her bed. ‘I know, Zechs,’ she thought, staring up at the ceiling, ‘But I just can’t let it go…’ And then she squealed with school-girlish excitement over having the bill passed.
::Heero Yuy, former bodyguard to Vice Minister Relena Dorian, has switched employers.:: The newscaster said. ::The handsome young man, who was rumored to be *dating* Ms. Dorian, is now working for multimillionaire colonial business tycoon Quatre Raberba Winner. The reason he says?
"The benefits are better."
In other news…::
Duo turned to look at his boyfriend as they lounged on the couch in front of the TV. "The benefits are better?" he teased.
Heero rolled over, capturing the other boy beneath him, grinning and wiggling his hips suggestively. "Well, *I* definitely consider *this* a benefit," he answered, leaning over to kiss the braided wonder.
"Do you two *ever* stop?" Wufei grumbled, moving over on the couch to give them more room.
"Not if we don’t have to!" Duo replied before managing to get his legs around Wufei, too, effectively drawing the other teen into the play.
End Part 3
*The names of the Mars Colony Clusters are real names of buildings at the University of Florida. ^__^;; Hey! If I had to give up 3 years of my life to that institution I figured I could use it for *something*. ^__^;; Besides, every-now-and-then, it's fun to insert a little RL, don't you think? {remembers how she used the Florida counties as space ship names for Howard's Sweepers' Fleet in "In the Pale Moonlight"......}
Andrea Readwolf
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