05-Jan-2002
Title: Relena's Heart
Author: Draco
Disclaimer: GW not mine, which is really too bad...
Warnings: Angst more angst
Pairings: 1+2
Notes: This is for my lovely Lilias who always picks up the dragon when it runs into a wall.
"Heero Yuy has been arrested," Dorothy whispered to Relena. Relena nodded in acknowledgement and continued her presentation on the economic climate of the Far East to her audience around the conference table.
Dorothy waited patiently for twenty minutes while Relena finished her presentation. After Relena shook the hand of the last delegate, Dorothy approached her. Dorothy started to speak, but Relena held up her hand to stop her and motioned for Dorothy to follow her.
After both of them were inside Relena's office and the door was closed, Relena finally asked, "What happened? What is he arrested for?"
"War crimes," Dorothy answered, "Specifically the murder of Noventa and everyone on his plane."
"Are the other gundam pilots charged as well?" As if to physically distance herself from Dorothy, Relena walked to her desk and stood on the other side from Dorothy.
"No, Duo Maxwell and Trowa Barton managed not to kill any civilians during the war... as least as far as the Preventers could tell. Quatre is the only reason the Preventers even have a presence on L4, to charge him would cause severe economic repercussions. Wufei was charged with the death of cadets at the OZ academy because of a bomb he planted, but since the cadets had already been sworn into OZ they were technically not considered civilians and the charges were dropped," Dorothy replied in one breath and watched Relena carefully.
Relena stared back at Dorothy across the oak surface of the table.
"The gundam pilots left a lot of widows and orphans, the people want some sort of justice," Dorothy said after a moment.
"No, they want blood and revenge. Heero is the only scapegoat they could find," Relena said, her voice oddly calm and emotionless.
"What are you going to do about it, Ms. Relena?" Dorothy asked with a smile.
"There is nothing I can do, is there?" Relena looked Dorothy straight in the eyes, "I know Lady Une must have already tried every means possible to get the charges dropped. I am not so arrogant as to think that I can navigate Preventer politics better than her... Why are you here, Dorothy? Why are you telling me this?"
"Because, Ms. Relena, not every mean has been tried. I believe Lady Une has only tried the... legal ones. The main codes for the security system for the Preventers is not that hard to obtain..."
"What do you expect me to do, Dorothy?" Relena's voice raised, "Do you see me hacking into the Preventers' main computer for the codes to get to Heero and then shoot my way out?!" Relena demanded. Her outburst left Dorothy speechless for a moment. The two stared at each other until Relena finally sank into her seat.
"I know you well enough to know that you will not do nothing," Dorothy said as she stepped closer to Relena's desk.
"Perhaps you do now know me as well as you thought," Relena spun her seat around so she was no longer facing Dorothy but the large floor window.
"You are in love with Heero Yuy," Dorothy stated as she leaned forward on the desk, "And I have found that love makes people do irrational things."
"But hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Relena's voice was not angry, "Heero loves Duo. I am not as blind and ignorant as you think, Dorothy."
Dorothy stared the back of Relena's seat for a long moment, "Perhaps not." With that, Dorothy walked out of Relena's office, slamming the door loudly.
Relena waited, watched Dorothy leave the building from her window and turned her seat back towards the desk. She opened the top drawer and took out a photo frame. The photograph was of Heero and Duo. Duo was smiling widely at the camera, but Heero's face was turned to Duo.
Relena stroked Heero's face slightly and smiled. Then she put the picture back into her drawer, closed it and turned on her computer. Her fingers raced on the keyboard.
Duo Maxwell tossed an empty coke can behind him while he continued to stare at the computer. Behind him, a small hill of empty coke cans piled up to nearly a meter tall. Duo's eyes were slightly sunken as he stared unblinkingly at the screen in front from of him as massive amounts of data flew by it.
Suddenly his computer beeped and it took Duo a second to realize it was an encoded email. The encryption looked oddly familiar... it was one of Heero's old encryptions. Duo found the decryption codes and opened the email. Inside, the email contained only three lines... the three sets of codes that Duo had spent the past three days trying to access. Duo finally blinked and realized that tears had collected in his eyes.
"What the hell?" Duo said to the computer.
Dorothy knocked on Relena's door.
"Come in," Relena opened the door herself.
Dorothy waited until Relena closed the door.
"Did you hack into the Preventers' main computer?" Dorothy inquired as soon as the door was closed.
"Do you think I am that capable?" Relena laughed, "I can barely turn on my computer."
Dorothy considered it for several minutes before finally replying, "No, you do not have the technical knowledge to do it. You are many things, Ms. Relena, but you are not a hacker, nor a trained terrorist."
"Is someone trying to hack into the Preventers' computer?" Relena asked as she stepped behind her desk.
"There seems to be some suspicions of it," Dorothy replied. Her eyes suddenly dropped below Relena's head, "it's 80 degrees in here, why are you wearing your full dress coat?"
"I have to speak in front of the general assembly today," Relena answered.
"You usually wear your dress suit for that," Dorothy reached across Relena's desk and placed both of her hands firmly on Relena's shoulders.
"This speech may determine the political climate for the next 10 years," Relena said as she removed one of Dorothy's hands from her shoulder.
"Good luck then," Dorothy offered as she stepped back from Relena and left the office.
As soon as Dorothy left, Relena collapsed into her chair. Very slowly she began to take off her dress coat. Beneath the coat, the white shirt was soaked with blood on her left shoulder.
"Ouch," Relena whispered softly.
"Ouch," Duo Maxwell clutched his chest slightly as he collapsed into Heero's cell.
"Duo!" Heero got up from his bed, and quickly gathered Duo in his arms, "Why are you here?"
"To spring you out," Duo replied as he picked himself up. "Let's go."
"You look like hell," Heero said without humor. Duo had always been skinny but now he was practically a skeleton. His eyes almost bulged out of his head.
"Same to you!" Duo laughed they started to leave the compound, but before he could even reach the door, he collapsed again.
Heero swung Duo over his shoulder and carried him out.
"How did you do it?" Dorothy asked Relena from across her oak desk.
"I am not going to pretend I don't know what you are talking about, Dorothy, but I did nothing," Relena answered, "As I have told you before, Heero and Duo are in love with each other. I did not expect anything less from Duo Maxwell than trying to rescue Heero."
"Why? Would you have done the same in his place?" Dorothy's voice softened.
"Perhaps," Relena said with a smile, "If the man I loved loved me back , perhaps I would risk everything."
"And if the man you loved did not love you back... what would you do then, Ms. Relena?" Dorothy whispered.
"Nothing."
"Why didn't you tell me, Duo?" Heero scolded. Duo smiled weakly from the small motel bed.
"And what the hell are you going to do about it, Heero? Kill someone so I can live a couple of years longer?" Duo asked, "b'sides, I had it coming."
"Baka!" Heero grabbed Duo's hand and gathered Duo into his embrace.
"They think they have found Maxwell," Dorothy told the Prime Minister of L1 who was sitting right next to Relena over the state lunch table.
"What about Yuy?" the prime minister inquired with interest.
"Where Maxwell is, Yuy must be as well," Dorothy smiled, "Human nature is like that."
"So how did they find him?" the prime minister asked.
"They think he's might be dying..." Dorothy stopped talking when she noticed that Relena had dropped her fork.
"Is something the matter Ms. Relena?" Dorothy asked.
"I am not fond of sushi," Relena replied.
Dorothy did not say anything more during the lunch. After lunch, she followed Relena once more to her office.
"What do you want, Dorothy?" Relena asked without looking at Dorothy as Dorothy was closing the door.
"They have frozen all of your assets, Ms. Relena," Dorothy told Relena.
"I know. They suspect me of helping Maxwell," Relena was suddenly smiling, "I did not help them, Dorothy. Did you?"
"Why do you think that, Ms. Relena?" Dorothy stepped back a little, "What would I have to gain?"
"I have no idea. What do I have to gain?" Relena asked.
"Duo Maxwell is dying. Heero will need someone to comfort him..."
Relena banged her hand on the table, then very slowly, Relena said word by word, "Do not accuse me of trying to manipulate Heero like that again Dorothy."
"Very well... Ms. Relena."
Duo Maxwell looked terrible. His eyes were tightly closed and his skin looked pale and clammy. As the car wobbled a little, Duo's blanket slipped slightly from his chest. Almost absentmindedly, Heero pulled the blanket tighter around Duo.
"This is the last time I can help you, Heero," Relena said from the backseat, "The Preventers know that Duo is sick. You need to get off Earth as soon as you can."
"How did you get the codes from the Preventers?" Heero suddenly asked.
Relena was quiet for a moment.
"I broke into the physical facility. The code was well guarded electronically but not physically. Physically, it was on a piece of paper before it was entered into the computer everyday," Relena answered finally.
"Hn..."
"I'm sorry but there is a general failure... The human body is not up to taking so much beating... if he does not receive one soon... I am afraid he won't..." Relena heard the broken phrases from the doctor across the hallway. Heero's face was several shades paler than it had been before.
As the doctor left him, Relena walked over to Heero. Gently, she wiped away the tears falling on Heero's face. Heero was hardly moving. Relena herded him into a chair and then held him as he cried into her chest. He did not make any sound at all when he cried, but Relena felt her blouse getting wetter and wetter.
After what seemed like hours, Heero finally got up, away from Relena.
"He's in room 345," Relena told him. Heero nodded and left.
Relena sank back into the chair and bit her lips.
After a moment she felt a hand on her shoulder and when she looked up, Dorothy was there looking back at her.
"How did you find me?" Relena asked quickly, "The Preventers..."
"The Preventers are on a wild goose chase," Dorothy answered the question before it was asked, "Why are you doing this, Ms. Relena? You are throwing everything away for this? For Heero to watch his lover die? You know that you are now a criminal too, don't you Ms. Relena?"
"I know Preventer politics enough to realize that," Relena said lightly.
"Why are you doing this?" Dorothy persisted, "Heero won't love you even after Duo dies, Ms. Relena."
Relena did not reply.
"If you call the Preventers right now and tell them you were kidnapped, they will let you come back. I know they will. And I will corroborate your story..."
Relena's eyes stopped Dorothy from continuing.
"Heero is holding Duo's hand right now. He will never love you no matter how much you give up for him," Dorothy whispered.
"But ironically, I have one more thing to give Dorothy," Relena's smile widened.
"I do not understand..."
"Perhaps not."
Relena opened the door to Duo's room. Heero was asleep by the bed, his hand holding Duo's. Relena smiled. One of her hand clutched slightly tighter to the knife and the other her own medical charts.
Very quietly she walked to Heero's side, but her foot brushed against the IV stand and it made a loud clinking noise. However Heero did not stir.
"I guess I overdid it a bit with the sedatives," Relena smiled.
Relena bent over and kissed Heero gently on the forehead.
"Do you know Heero, what my favorite fairy tale is?" Relena said softly, "No, I don't suppose you do, because I never talked to you. I just watched you from afar." Relena laughed a little, "I use to beg my father to read it to me over and over again... but I never knew how I would choose in the end. I always wondered what I would do if I were her. I know now."
"I love you Heero... and you know what the oddest part is..." Relena brushed away the droplet on Heero's face, "This really doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would."
Relena pressed the call button for the nurse and waited a bit.
Then pressed the knife into herself.
Heero listened to Relena's heart beating softly.
"The doctors say that the surgery was a success," Duo said to Heero as Heero rose from Duo's chest.
"I know," Heero whispered.
"She planned it all along," Duo said as Heero buried his face in Duo's embrace. Duo felt tears streaming from his own face.
Dorothy stared at her mail. She had a package from Relena. Relena must have mailed it before...
Dorothy opened the wrappings, and found herself staring at a children's book, and a note in Relena's handwriting.
Dear Dorothy,
I lied about doing nothing. I'm sorry.
I thought you might like this book. It's my favorite story, but I never knew how I would chose in the end until now. I hope you will like it as much as I do.
Relena
Dorothy wiped away the droplet that had landed on the book as she opened it.
The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson
~Owari
In the real story of Littler Mermaid by Hans Christians Anderson the prince falls in love with another princess, and little mermaid was going to die if she remained on land. Her sisters told her that if she killed the prince, she could come back and live with them again. As she stood over the prince and his new wife with a knife, the mermaid choose death.
A great version of the real story of Little Mermaid can be found at http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html
(:./draco/relenah)
