20-Nov-2000
Okay. Finally the second installment for AC 215, Before Never. Since this is a rough draft of it, please bear with it.
Disclaimer: GW is not mine, but Solo, Eva, Vier, Xiaolong, and Dva are.
AC 215, December, 26th.
Heero stepped through the half dark corridor. He halted before one of the large windows along the corridor and looked through.
It was morning already. The dawn has broken, coloring the dark sky with shades of blue, violet, and white. The dim ray was dispersed in the air by the thin fog that accompanied the sun's rise, creating a beautiful scene in the cold site.
Such beauty that had became a waste on him.
He had liked sunrises. He used to wake up early so he could sit and watch as the sun rose from its rest. He had done it a few times with Duo by his side back then in the wartime, and more often with Eva before she... she....
There were only two persons that meant so much to him.
And both of them had died.
Heero didn't know which was worse: being left by those two, or having to live the rest of his life alone. He couldn't just kill himself. He had promised Duo years ago....
//Promise me you won't kill yourself.//
//I can die any time.//
//That's why you have to promise me.//
//Why?//
//You deserve more than a life like this.//
Did he?
He brought up his palm and stared. He could only see it as such a stained one. It was red with blood. Blood that was spilled by the enemies he had killed. Everybody he had killed.
His own daughter's blood as well....
His fist involuntarily clenched as the event from the night before played all over again in his mind.
"Heero...."
He almost jumped as he heard somebody called his name. He turned around to find Trowa standing behind him with a solemn look on his face.
"Trowa...."
"You didn't take a sleep."
Heero shook his head. "I can't."
The taller man stared intensely at him. "You should," he said. "For the sake of Solo."
Heero drew in a shuddering breath. He knew that he was losing a lot of his self-control ever since the war ended, but he still wasn't used to it. "I know... but I... I...."
"Do you hate him?"
"No!" he nearly snapped at the Latino man. He cooled down a bit and continued harshly. "I don't hate him. It's just... it's just...."
"He looked too much like Duo?"
"...That too."
"Heero...."
The two of them stayed in silence before Trowa said, "Does it hurt so much to be there when he needs you?"
"Who's there I need somebody on my side?"
"You were the one who ran." The man asked again when the other didn't response. "What are you afraid of?"
What was he afraid of? It seemed to be a simple question, yet for Heero, it was hard to answer. He could only shake his head and say, "You won't understand."
"I won't understand if you don't tell me."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"I just... can't...."
Trowa sighed. "Heero. I've been helping you for the last eighteen years, trying to cover your tracks while Quatre and especially Duo were looking for you like there had been no tomorrow. Do you still distrust me?"
Heero shook his head again. "It's not that...."
"Then what?"
"I can't explain it to you, Trowa."
Heero knew that Trowa was slightly hurt even though there was no significant change in the Latino man's face. However, the man only sighed again and finally said. "Fine. Have it your way, Heero."
"...Sorry."
Trowa shook his head. "It's okay. I understand. Just let me know if you need my help again."
"Aa."
The man turned and started to walk away. However, he stopped in the middle of his steps and turned his head around.
"Heero, there's just one thing I need to know. What was actually happening inside the colony? I don't believe that Duo could simply die the way you told us. There must be something else happened."
Trowa saw the other man's back went rigid to his question. After a moment of silent, Heero answered, voice cold and detached as he replied. "My daughter tried to kill Solo, but ended up killing Duo instead before I killed her."
Trowa's visible eye widened. After rendered speechless for a moment, he finally said. "You'd better talk about it with him. At least it'd help.... I hope."
"...Aa."
Heero stepped in to the room. It was dark save for the morning light that entered through the large window. He ignored the darkness and approached the bed quietly where a figure was huddled on his side in the center of the bed, covered by thick blanket.
Solo.
The boy stirred as Heero sat on the edge of the bed. He blinked in sleepy daze before he finally focused on the older man.
"Sorry I woke you up," Heero said softly.
The boy gave him a slight smile. "Don't be. I think it's about time I wake up."
Heero touched the boy's cheek tenderly. "You need some rest," he said. "It's okay, go back to sleep."
Solo shook his head again. "I had too many. Sleeping forever won't solve anything." He tried to sit up but found his ankles trembling, unable to support his body.
The older man saw that and helped him by supporting the boy's shoulder with his hands. "Daijoubu?"
"I'm okay," Solo tried to convince him with a smile that failed miserably.
"Go back to sleep," Heero ordered. With that, he put the boy back on his back and pulled the blanket up.
As the man tucked his blanket in, Solo couldn't help but stare at him. He could see the dark bags under the older man's pale face. The exhaustion. The lack of sleep. And what was most obvious to him, his grief. Other people might not notice, but Solo could see the emotion behind the well-placed mask very easily.
His father used to have the mask. Different, but quite the same mask.
"Heero...."
The man turned his head on him, face colored with worry. "Something wrong?"
"Heero, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Why did you leave my father?"
Obviously it wasn't something Heero had expected. His face twisted in what the boy could see as surprise, sadness, pain, and agony. "Why do you ask?" His voice was trembling when he asked that.
The boy's reply was simply. "I want to know."
Heero didn't say anything at first. He just sat there, mouth opened as if trying to say something but couldn't find the voice to speak. His eyes avoided the boy, as if scared.
Solo felt that he had asked something that even Heero didn't know. But when he was going to take back his words, Heero whispered something he couldn't hear. "What?"
"I... was scared," came the man's unsuspected reply.
"...Why?"
"...Because...." Heero looked very confused on searching the right words that Solo almost asked him to stop. Almost.
"Because?"
"I was afraid of him."
"Why were you afraid of my father?"
Heero was silent. Finally, he asked in a low voice that Solo almost couldn't hear. "Have you ever been alone? Really alone that you wish you had never met anyone so that you didn't have to know what it is like to have somebody next to you?"
Solo didn't answer.
"I used to have... a family. Not a family that like you and Duo or Quatre's. Just... some people that were by my side. A home. A place to turn back."
"...What happened?"
"They either died or was sent away."
When the boy didn't say anything, Heero continued to talk, to pour his heart that had been locked for a long time.
"Everyone I cared about left me. I was afraid... that one day Duo would leave me as well... so I thought... if I left him first, it wouldn't hurt as much."
"...But it still hurt, didn't it?"
Heero nodded. "More than I've ever imagined."
"Then why didn't you go back to him?"
The man chuckled bitterly. "It took me 3 years to admit the pain. By that time, Duo was already married to your mother. It was too late...."
"...Did you know that Mom died while giving me birth?"
"Not until 10 years later."
"Then why didn't you...."
Heero didn't answer him.
Solo studied the man before him. After a moment, he asked again. "Heero...."
"Nani?"
"Do you love Dad?"
"...Yes."
"Have you ever told him that you love him?"
"...No."
"Heero...." Solo tugged on the man's arm and lifted himself up. Before the man could react, he wrapped himself around his thin frame. Solo winched as he felt the bones under the thin fabric.
Heero was surprised. "Solo...?"
"It hurts a lot, doesn't it? Not being able to say it...." Solo buried his face in the man's chest, hiding the tears that had started to run down his cheeks. "But you are too strong. You don't even cry."
The man grimaced. "It has been so long that I can't remember how it is to cry."
The boy shook his head. "You're lying. You do know, you just can't let yourself to cry."
"How would you know?"
"Because I can hear your heart crying."
"What if I don't want to cry? Crying is useless, it won't change anything."
"At least it shows that you can feel, and you can hurt, that you are hurting."
"Some tears are fake."
Solo looked up to Heero's face. "But not yours, right?"
"Baka...."
The boy smiled as he reached up to wipe a single tear rolled on the man's cheek for the first time after a very long time.
Vier was alone. He was standing all by himself in the middle of the garden, paying no attention to the snow that was starting to pour from the sky. From a distant, some of the Maganacs kept an eye on him, worrying the health of their young master, but afraid to ask and risked making him upset.
He had a high temperament sometimes, he knew. He was easily offended when somebody did something that displeased him. Thankfully there's only a few things that pissed him off, or else, he didn't know how to refrain himself from bitching around the whole day. He already felt bad for chewing Heero Yuy up in the interrogation a few days before. He didn't know why, but the sight of the ex-soldier sometimes offended him in a strange way. His heart didn't like the man for an indistinguishable reason. Something deep in his memories told him that the man was a threat, but he didn't know why.
Sometimes he wondered why he had been an emotional person. Easy to be angry, easy to be sad, easy to cry. It would have been nice if he could have controlled it the way his father did. He knew that his father was almost like him, with the exception that his father is very good at controlling his emotion.
Well, that was if you omitted the occasional ZERO System mode he went into when he was very _very_ angry. Vier shuddered at that thought. He remembered _exactly_ how his father could be when he was totally pissed off.
The boy sighed sadly. Not for is memories, but for the event that passed for the last few days. Never he had thought that things could be that bad. Since he was born, he had been living in a peace. His family was rich; he had never felt hardness worse than slight annoyance caused by some idiots in his school who kept calling him a faggot. Well, it's not his fault that he did look like a girl.
He sighed again.
Stardust. He had created the Gundam, along with Deathscythe's new version, Cyclone. What for? Just a sheer fun for a bored brat like him. Or had it been? He didn't know. There was something that had told him to build those Gundams. Maybe it was what his father called Uchuu no Kokoro?
The fading ray sun shone through the darkening sky. It was supposed to be morning, but it felt darker and darker as the snow poured heavier and heavier. Vier knew that he was supposed to retreat inside the warmth of his mansion and enjoyed another morning in front of the fire, but he couldn't bring himself to. Not when he could feel the pain that radiated from the other people who also occupied the same house. It hut him as well. He knew he was running away, but....
"Are you not cold?"
Vier turned a round to see a girl standing behind him. She was in all black, except for the end of the coat and long skirt that was seamed with white furry material. She has moss green hair that reached pass her waist. What caught him off guard were the eyes behind the curtain of bangs on her face.
Prussian blue eyes were looking straight into his own lighter blue eyes. In one way they were like stabbing ice that were so intense that they hurt. But in other way, they were also filled with something that pulled him like a black hole and made him lost.
"You should go inside."
The light tone of her voice snapped him back to reality. Vier tried to compose himself before he finally brought himself to ask, "Who are you?"
"I am just a passer by." She simply replied. "Go inside. You will freeze out here."
As if something was controlling him, the boy nodded. He walked inside the mansion without any further delay, walking through the corridor, letting his feet bring him to the door of his room. Only when his hand finally touched the door to open it his rational thought reminded him that the girl was a trespasser in the complex of the mansion. He abruptly turned on his heels and ran back to garden.
She was gone already. Nobody was there.
Vier ran to the nearest Maganacs and asked them for the girl he saw. None of them acknowledged her presence.
In his room, Vier lay himself to the bed and stared at the ceiling. Further search confirmed that there was nobody inside the complex but for Maganacs, the servants, the guests, and he himself. But he knew that he hadn't been hallucinating. He did see the girl. He did hear her talking to him. He knew he did.
He wondered who she was....
Relena flipped through the papers absentmindedly. Anyone who saw her could tell that her mind was not present, at least not in where she was. This rare lack of attentiveness bought questions to the other leaders that were in the same room having a little break from the continuous meetings. Some of them even wondered if it was already time for the Queen to leave the matters off her hands. However, their train of thoughts was cut at the arrival of the respected woman's husband.
Quatre approached his wife who immediately woke up from her reverie. "Quatre," she acknowledged.
The man sat beside his wife and held her hands. "Are you alright? I think you need some rest."
Relena shook her head. "I can't. Nothing is getting better at the time. How can I take a rest?"
"If you don't take a rest, things will get worse. It's better to have things the way it is for now."
The woman seemed to be pondering for a while before she finally nodded. "I'll go to our room."
After his wife left, Quatre took her papers and flipped through them. What he read only confirmed what he had suspected.
Apparently the destruction of one of L2-V08744 had resulted in the suspicion between the Earth and colonies representatives. Somehow, there was gossip among the colonies that Earth was trying to take over the colonies once again, while in Earth, it was suspected that the colonies was only looking for a reason to once again attack the Earth like 19 years ago. The gossip was spread rather fast, considering that the destruction had only been done four days before.
Somebody was trying to ruin the peace again and Quatre wondered who and why. He had begun to suspect that there was more than the attack of Dr. I before. There was somebody behind the mad scientist and he determined to find out who it was. His first suspicion was led toward Duke Dermail and Dekim Barton.
No, it couldn't have been them, he told himself. Both were already dead years ago. How about anybody related to them? Marimeia Barton? No, she had tried years ago and Une had guaranteed that she would not try again. The girl had had her lesson. That had left him with only one other option.
Dorothy Catalonia.
Xiaolong slung his bag over his shoulder and marched out of his room. He was about to reach the main door when a voice stopped him.
"Where are you going?"
The Chinese boy turned around to find Vier standing behind him. He smiled at the younger boy and said, "I need to go back to the headquarter."
Vier looked at him questioningly. "Why?"
"The Preventers need me. Since Papa is unable to leave the hospital for the mean time, I have to take his place." He shifted his bag to his other shoulder and continued. "You see, the situation has become worse than expected. I can't really tell you what happened, but all I can say is, if we don't act fast, there will be another war between Earth and the Colonies."
There was a long silence. Xiaolong had already turned and walked toward the door when suddenly Vier said, "May I go with you?"
Xiaolong looked back at him, surprise was clear in his face. "What?"
"Let me go with you. If I stay here, I doubt I will be doing any help to this situation and I do not approve of it. "
"But, it can be dangerous. If you go, I don't know if there will be somebody who can look over you. Here, we still have Uncle Barton and Uncle Yuy around, and-"
"I can take of myself!"
Xiaolong was taken aback by the other boy's snap. "Vier...." He was about to say anything when another voice interrupted him.
"Vier is right. We need to get out of here."
The two boys looked around to find Heero, Solo, and Trowa standing in the hallway, not far away from them.
"We can't just stay here and do nothing. We have limited time," Heero said. "I say we all get out of here."
"But," Xiaolong tried to reason. "How about Solo?"
"I'm okay." The American boy grinned at his friend. "I was just tired, but I'm okay now. I'd rather go out and kick some ass!"
Trowa and Heero looked at each other at the boy's remark. They both agreed that Solo _did_ sound a lot like Duo.
Feeling that he would never win against the others anyway, Xiaolong sighed in resignation. "Alright," he looked up and smiled. "But on the condition that Vier has to stay with Uncle Winner and Relena-sama."
"Hey, that is unfair!" Vier protested.
"Well, they _do_ need some bodyguards around." Xiaolong reasoned.
Vier glared at the Chinese boy but finally decided to accept the term. "Alright, I agree."
Xiaolong smiled. "Okay. Now, shall we go?"
A white car stopped in front of the main gate of Catalonia residence. The driver spoke on the intercom on the gate, and after a moment, the large steel gate opened.
After passing through the large front yard that was bathed in the winter sunray, the car finally stopped in front of the main door of Catalonia residence. The driver got out from the car and walked around to open the passenger's door.
Quatre stepped out from the car. After instructing his driver to wait for him, he walked up the stairs and stopped before the door. Before he managed to ring the bell, the door was opened. A butler greeted him and asked the man to follow him.
Dorothy Catalonia was expecting him.
Quatre was brought through a large corridor he had known by heart before they finally stopped in front of a door. It only took a moment for the Arabian man to recognize the library door.
The butler opened the door and stepped in, announcing, "Mr. Quatre Raberba Winner." The butler stepped aside and let the Arabian man enter the library before he made himself scarce.
"Hello, Quatre Raberba Winner."
Her voice greeted him as he turned around to see her. Dorothy was sitting in a sofa, her left hand holding a cup of tea while her right one flipping through a book.
"Dorothy...."
She gestured him to sit on the sofa before her. "Please, make yourself feel like home."
Quatre walked toward her and seated himself.
"Would you like some Earl Grey?" Dorothy offered.
"I didn't come here to drink some tea."
"Oh." Dorothy raised an eyebrow. "So what might have bring His Excellency to my humble house? I am nothing but a little company before Her Majesty-"
"Dorothy!" Quatre hissed. "How many times do I have to tell you why I finally married Relena instead of you?"
"Because Her Majesty needs a husband more than I do." Dorothy emphasized her every words with a nod. "Because nobody else but you could have been his husband."
"Dorothy...."
"Do you think I am still holding a grudge against you for that matter?" The woman rested her head against the back of the chair. "No, Quatre Raberba Winner. It has been a long time since I learned to accept the fact, that no matter how strong love is," she held up her teacup, "there's always something stronger." She drank the rest of her tea and put the cup away. "Besides, I do know that you know... that Her Majesty still loves the Perfect Soldier, no matter what."
Dorothy's words stabbed on Quatre's heart as if they had been poisonous arrows. But the man just didn't do anything. Instead, he just said, "I see. So you do know."
"Does she know that you know?"
"...Yes."
Dorothy narrowed her eyes. "I pity of you, Quatre."
"I am not here to have your pity."
"So why are you here?"
Quatre shifted in his seat and started. "I want to know if you have anything to do with what has been happening lately."
"Ah," the woman chuckled. "You mean that colony destruction and the rumors following?"
He nodded.
Dorothy leaned forward with a wide smile on her face. "I can't say that I have nothing to do with it...."
Quatre's eyes was filled with sad surprise. "Dorothy!"
The smile was still there and even wider. "However," she continued, "I can't really tell you who is behind all of this."
Quatre was brought on his feet. "Dorothy, for the sake of the peace-"
"Ah, ah, ah, Quatre!" She stopped him by pointing out and waving her index finger gracefully. "No, Quatre. I will never accept that reason again. You fought for the sake of the colonies that regarded you as terrorists. You left me for the sake of Relena and the people who care about her. You do things for the sake of somebody else."
"Dorothy...."
She shook her head. "I will only tell you, only if it is for my sake, or yours. That's all. You have to start thinking about yourself more."
"Dorothy... that is selfish...." The man's face was filled with sadness and pain.
"You need to learn about being selfish."
"I destroyed an entire colony when I selfishly blamed them for the death of my father."
"They deserved it."
"Dorothy!"
"I believe you shall leave now, Your Excellency." Her voice was filled with ice, hand gesturing at the door. "Because there is nothing more to talk about between us."
"Dorothy...."
Their eyes met and for an instant, feelings flood between them. Feelings that were indescribable with words. Feelings that were torturing them inside out. Feelings that were begging for release.
Their feelings.
Quatre finally gave up. "I understand." He walked to the door and went out of the library, but not before giving a wistful glance toward the woman.
Dorothy watched the man leave with a tinge of sadness in her heart. However, she had chosen and this was her choice. A choice made, forced by situation.
"The world is never enough," she said to no one in particular. "We will never have enough. That's why you have to leave, because I don't know if I can stand the world any longer."
A helicopter flew above the city of Brussels in high speed, cutting through the sunset colored sky. It maneuvered for a while before it stopped in the mid air and started its vertical landing on the rooftop of the World Nation Building.
As soon as the helicopter landed, Trowa jumped out, followed by Vier. "Mother!" The boy exclaimed as he saw his mother waiting before the building entrance with several people behind her.
"Vier," Relena ran to her son, catching him in an embrace. "Are you alright?"
"Yes," he said. "Don't worry about me. It's the others that have it worse than me."
Relena looked pass her son just in time to see the person she had been wanting to see for a long time, coming out from the copter with Solo on his side. "Heero...."
"Relena...." The man greeted her.
Those blue eyes... that unruly dark hair... that nasal voice.... They hadn't changed a bit.... "It has been a long time, isn't it?" Eighteen years....
"Hn."
"I have heard of what happened to Duo...."
Those blue eyes were now looking into her eyes, and Relena couldn't remember if she had ever seen them filled with much more emotion than what she was seeing now.
"I am sorry.... I am really really sorry.... "
"You couldn't have done anything," the man said, averting his gaze to his side. "It's not your fault. Don't say you're sorry."
"Heero...."
//Relena-sama knows.// Solo noted to himself as he watched the exchange between the two. He had been picking up hints and clues, and doing some memories recalling and brainstorming for the last 8 hours of helicopter ride, regardless to his physical condition.
//Considering what I'm seeing now....// He glanced toward his Arabian-descended friend beside the Queen. //...and if what I've heard a long ago was right....//
He closed his eyes and sighed in resignation.
//...This is going to be nasty.//
Vier watched the exchange between his mother and the ex-soldier and felt the hair on the back of his neck standing. Suddenly he remembered the gossip he had heard once when he was still in elementary school. A conversation he had overheard from some people in the celebration of his parents 10th anniversary.
//Those two, I can't believe they've made it this far.//
//And here I thought they're going to broke up after several years.//
//Ah, you heard about it too, didn't you?"//
//About her and that Gundam pilot, right? It's funny how she ended up with the pilot's best friend instead.//
//What can we say? You wouldn't want a born assassin to be our King, wouldn't you?//
//You have your point.//
He could still remember their laughter. Unconsciously he shuddered. Was this the reason why he disliked the Japanese ex-pilot? His fear was confirmed as he saw the way his mother look at the man. Never he had seen her looking at his father that way.
No... this couldn't be. There's no way he's going to let this end up like this.
"Mother," he called, trying desperately to hide the panic in his voice. "Where is Father?"
His mother averted her attention to him. "He is out for a while."
"Where?" Heero asked her, taking back her attention. Vier had the feeling that he really was going to hate the man.
"Catalonia residence."
Vier turned his head to see his father walking toward them. "Father!" he exclaimed. Oh how glad he was to see his father. Surely everything could be alright from now on....
Relena turned to see his husband. "You're back."
Quatre nodded. He turned to greet his old friend. "Heero," he regarded with a sad smile upon his face. "It has been a long time. I'm sorry of what happened to Duo... and...." He trailed off.
Heero looked at his friend with expressionless face. "You knew," he stated flatly.
"Not exactly," Quatre admitted. "All I know is somebody who is dear to you died. I feel your grief...."
"I bet you do."
"Heero...."
The man closed his eyes, as if trying to hold back whatever he was going to say. After a while, he opened his eyes again and asked. "So you talked with Dorothy."
"Yes." Quatre's face twisted in sadness.
"What did she say?"
"She... didn't say anything helpful...."
Heero stared directly at his friend's face. Quatre stared back at him, his eyes pleading for him for not continuing the subject. He understood. "Sou da na...," he muttered.
"Heero...."
"Then I'll talk to her myself."
The videophone rang. Dorothy pressed the receiver button. A familiar face appeared in the videophone, at which she smiled. "Well, well, well. Who do we have here?"
Heero regarded her grimly. "Dorothy."
"Heero Yuy. It has been a long time since we last met, hasn't it?"
The Japanese man only grunted.
"I knew when Quatre decided to come for a visit to my humble house, you would be following, though I did not know that it would be this fast-"
Without wasting more time, Heero cut her words and demanded, "I want to know what you know."
"My, my, Heero-kun." The woman raised her eyebrow. "Is that the way you ask for someone's help? No wonder you never succeeded in making approach to your boyfriend."
Heero's face flushed in irritation. "What do you mean by that?"
"Now, now. Do you think the world is blind enough not to see the way you see Duo Maxwell? Why do you think Dr. I took the sample of you both, instead of the others?"
"Dorothy...." The man had anger evidently shown in his face. "Are you the one who's behind all of this?"
"Well, not quite. I have no grudge against you, remember?" She chuckled. "There is someone else who wants revenge toward you more than I do. More than anyone else."
At the Heero's confusion, she smiled and said. "Once there was a man with two wives. From one of them he had a son and daughter, while from the other he had a pair of twins." Her smile went wider as the look recognition passed through the man's face.
"One day, the family became another casualty of war and the man and one of his wives was killed. The others were lost. Somehow the mother of the twins managed save her babies. She took care of her children for a few years before the army attacked the town they lived in. She was killed in the raid. The twins survived and managed to stay together, though no for a long time. They were separated after a while. The younger of the twins grew up to be a soldier. Things had been hard for him, but he stayed alive and finally managed to bring an end to the war that had destroyed his family. However, he made a mistake by running away from the person he loved, and now he had to pay it by losing the person after finally managed to find the courage to come back."
"Dorothy...." Heero managed to choke out. "How did you...."
She clucked her tongue. "I am not finishing yet, Heero Yuy." Tilting her head to another side, she continued her story.
"The elder of the twins could be considered luckier than his brother. When he was separated from his brother, he was found and finally raised by a wealthy family. However, one day, the casualty of war happened upon him once again. His home was destroyed and his family was killed. He was devastated when he found out that the killer of his new family was actually his own brother, the soldier...."
There was a tinge of satisfaction as she witnessed the utter shock on Heero's face.
"Since then, he had grown to hate his brother. He thought that his brother didn't want to see him happy, so he had vowed to make his brother unhappy as well. Year by year went by since the incident. Growing in rage and hatred, the elder finally saw a chance to fulfill his revenge. He arranged things in hope that he would destroy everything, everything that his brother had dreamed and tried to accomplish in his whole life. His first stage of revenge was a successful though he had to lose one of his pawns. However, his chain of vengeance had not come to an end...."
By the time Dorothy finished her story, Heero's face had became so pale. She knew that only a few people could make the ex-soldier react that way and she was pleased that she was one of them.
After a moment of shock, Heero swallowed hardly and asked the woman. "Do you know... where he is... where Dva is...?"
"What makes you think that I will tell you?"
"Dorothy...."
"He will show up in time. All you have to do is wait."
Heero closed his eyes and after another moment, nodded. "I understand. I will wait."
Dorothy smiled smugly. "Then see you later, Heero Yuy." With that, she disconnected the line.
"How was it?"
Dorothy turned around to regard the man who was standing before one of the shelves upstairs, flipping through a large book. She smiled at him and said, "It went just as you predicted."
The man chuckled. "I see. Apparently Odin hasn't changed much."
"Oh, he changed a lot, I think," she countered. "He was changing back into his old self instead of the soldier he used to be."
"But that won't change anything that has happened between us."
"I am afraid so."
Dva Lowe closed the book he was flipping through. He made a beeline down the stairs and stood next to his wife. "Life has been unfair for me before, but now, it's time for me to have my little revenge."
Dorothy regarded her husband with solemn eyes. "Are you sure this is what you want?"
The man glanced back at her accusingly. "Are you doubting me?"
"No. I'm just making sure that you will not regret this."
"I won't."
"...Then fine. What ever your decision is, I will be right behind you."
"Are you okay?"
The boy looked up from the documents he was reading and smiled. "Oh, I'm alright. It's late after midnight already. Why don't you go to sleep? You need some rest."
"Why do you not? You need some rest as well."
The boy smirked. "What? Trying to use my words against me?"
"I am just stating the obvious." The girl crept closer to him. "You look like Hell. You need rest more than I do. Go to sleep."
"You go first."
"You are just as stubborn as 'him'."
"Look who's talking."
A soft chuckle followed by a gentle hand touching his cheek was enough to send the boy off balance. He looked back at her, rather faint crimson colored his cheeks before he finally managed to regain his composure. He coughed and asked. "Err, how's your dad?"
The girl tilted her head and smiled broadly. "He has just waked up a while ago. I was going to fix him something to eat. It has been a few days and apparently his stomach voted to protest the lack of nutrition."
He grinned at her choice of words. "How's his condition?"
"He is healing fast, actually. Must be the advantage of being an ex-soldier."
"...He's not young anymore, you know."
"But still as strong." She giggled. "I just cannot wait to see him healthy again."
The boy nodded. He glanced at the screen of his laptop and saw that it was already three in the morning. "You're right. I think I need some rest."
"Good."
"However, I need to get up soon in the morning and go fast."
"Why? Is there anything wrong?"
"I think it's gonna start soon."
They fell into silent. After a moment, the girl finally said, "Then I will expect you to be gone before noon."
"Aa. Sumanai."
"Iie. It is to be expected. Just be careful."
"I will."
She nodded. "And while you are gone, I will do my own share of act."
AC 215, December 27th
Heero gazed at the view of the city of Brussels before him blankly. Not that the city itself was not beautiful enough to attract his attention. Brussels was beautiful and he would have take at least a little time to appreciate its beauty, had his mind not been filled with other thoughts.
The events of the past few days were replayed over and over again in his mind despite his effort to forget. Not that he's actually willing to forget the whole incident. He'd rather it hadn't happened at all.
However, what had happened could never be changed. He knew he could not fight the Time.
"Well, unless I had a time machine," he muttered.
Suddenly he spotted somebody coming out of the building, He wouldn't have paid too much attention had the person not turned around at looked up at him.
Heero's blood froze as he saw the person's face.
It was himself that he saw. The same face, the same body, but younger. It was the fifteen years old Heero Yuy.
And now the younger version of Heero Yuy was looking back at him, grinning widely.
End of Chapter One
C&C are very welcome. Flames... well, better than nothing. ^_^;;
Hime D.
Please send comments to: hime1999@yahoo.com