Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Eternal Promises ❯ Part 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer : I've never claimed to own Gundam Wing, or it's affiliated characters, so you can't sue me for that. I'm mearly borrowing them for my entertainment, and shall return them upon compleation of this fic, . . . perhaps ^_^. I do however stake claim to all original characters I happen to throw in here, and to this particular story.

Eternal Promises

By Eden

Part 8

The former cournal of the OZ Special Forces, Lady Anne Une formed the organization known as the Preventers after the end of the Eve wars. She had done it in order to follow Treize Khushrenada's vision for the future, a vision of a world without war or fighting between the colonies and the Earth.

Since the organizations formation they had been very successful in the disarmament of both space and the Earth, as well as in the prevention of large conflicts. The largest one to date had been the Mariemaia coup-de-tat, when Dekim Barten had manipulated his granddaughter to think that it was her right to be Queen of the World. That was also why she had decide to kidnap the former Queen, Relena Darlian, and make the world watch as she passed on the title of Queen to Treize Khushrenada's illegitimate daughter.

Thanks to the intervention of the former Gundam pilots, Mariemaia's forces of mobile suits and mobile dolls had been wiped out without a single casualty. Dekim himself had been assanated, and Mariemaia taken into custody.

Both Relena and commander Une had convinced the higher-ups that the young girl wasn't a threat to society, and that she had merely been her grandfather's pawn for his own ambitions. Luckily, they had agreed with what the Vice Foreign Minister and Preventers commander said, and agreed to release her to live with foster parents.

That was when Anne Une had spoken up that she would take responsibility for the child. The board of representatives, who had been appointed to evaluate the situation, hummed and hawed. They questioned weather she would have enough time to spend with the girl because of her hectic schedule. It didn't take her long to convince the board that she had plenty of time to spend with the girl when she wasn't busy with tutors and music lessons and any other activities that could be arranged to occupy her time. The main point Lady Une kept pushing at, was that she would be able to show Mariemaia why the would was so much better off without war, and why it was the Preventers worked so hard to keep the peace.

It had been a good point, what better place to keep a girl who may have rebellious tendencies but with the commander of the forces in charge of keeping peace between Earth and the colonies?

That had all been two years ago. Everything had worked out for the best since then. Mariemaia, now nine years old, was a normal child, and showed none of the power-hungry or resentful feelings that some had expected. She was bright, playful, inquisitive, and always a handful for her tutors when she found that they didn't have answers for the questions she asked.

The only time she seemed any different from any other child was when she was in a situation with others her own age. She didn't seem to know how to deal with them, herself having grown up among adults, and being treated accordingly. She had no problems dealing with adults, but this was to be expected when responsibility was thrown on your shoulders at the tender age of seven.

A sing escaped the commander's lips as she continued to stair out across the city from the window behind her desk. She figured that the reason why these memories were coming back to her was because the last time Relena was kidnapped everyone's life was put at risk. But as she kept telling herself as she listened to Preventers Sally Po and Chang Wufei make their report, she knew that this was not like the other time.

"Vice Foreign Minister Darlian informed us that the kidnappers were not interested in causing international incident, and that she was only kidnapped to get the attention of some other person." Sally's voice rang clearly form the vid-phone.

"Did they say who it was they were trying to get to notice them?" Lady Une turned around to look at her two operatives.

"No, they didn't give us any information about the target of the plan, but Zecks Merquise had his own ideas. He believes that this group is after one of two possibilities: himself, or Heero." Wufei's face was grim.

"Do you mean the former Gundam pilot, Heero Yuy? I thought that he had been in hiding ever since the coup-de-tat two years ago."

A look of almost amusement passed over Sally's face as she answered her commanding officer. "He's here now, he showed up the same time that Zecks and Noin did. Apparently he had been staying with them and working up on the Mars Terri forming project."

It was Lady Une's turn to look amused. "Ms. Darlian hasn't even been gone for tow days yet, and all three of them came all the way from Mars? They must've left as soon as they found out what happened and then come strait here." She shook her head and muttered in tones too low for them to hear her, "For someone who tried to give the outward appearance of not caring, he sure shows up whenever she needs him."

"What was that commander?" Wufei asked.

"Oh, nothing." Her face lost all emotion, as she got back down to business. "So tell me, what have you come up with?"

"Since the kidnappers designated the pick up time and place, Quatre came up with a plan involving two groups showing up. One would go in first and secure the area. If nothing was wrong, they would pick up Ms. Darlian and that would be that. The second group is the back-up in case something unexpected happens." Sally answered without wasting any time. "We could send you the plan in writing if you need to know-,"

Lady Une cut her off. "No, that's fine. The most important thing to do right now would be getting Ms. Darlian back home with the least amount of problems. If Heero's there, am I right to assume that the other pilots are there as well?"

Wufei crossed his arms and nodded. "We're all here."

"Good. There is no need to send me the plan in writing until after we have her back home safe. I'll arrange for a plane to meet you at the airport in about an hour or so, and you said you needed two vans? One for each team was it? They'll be waiting for you when you get off the plane in Belgium. I assume that you will have all the supplies you need with that arsenal you brought to the Peacecraft mansion, am I correct?"

They both nodded, the guilty look in their eyes confirming what she already knew about the pair's love of explosives.

She shook her head and continued. "Well, now that the important details are covered, is there anything else I need to know?"

They both shook their heads again.

"Alright then. You will leave for the airport in and hour, so you should get everyone ready to go."

The two Preventers began to give Une a respectable salute, but stopped when she raised her hand.

"Just to let you know, I expect a full report from both of you when you get back form rescuing Ms. Darlian."

"Yes ma'am." Sally answered, nodding her head.

Her partner just scowled.

As she turned off the screen and dropped from the call, she thought about their current situation.

All the Gundam pilots, as well as Zecks and Noin, had come to assist in the rescue of the young diplomat. It was almost unbelievable that these people, who were arguably the best mobile suit fighter and all around soldiers in the world, would come to help a single person. Of course, there was more to it than just that, she was over simplifying things.

Relena Darlian was more than just another young girl in need of help. She was the one person who symbolized peace for both the people of the colonies and the Earth. She brought about peace talks between the two, and had dismantled numerous potentially dangerous situations through these talks before they had a chance to manifest themselves into anything more.

Most importantly, she had given the young pilot Heero Yuy something to protect when the colonies abandoned the Gundams. The other pilots soon realized her ideals of total pacifism and they too began to fight for her ideals.

Une doubted that Relena even knew how many people cared about her. Lately, whenever she had seen the diplomat between meetings, she had noticed something wrong with her posture.

Now, Une knew that nothing had happened to her, because whenever Relena left her home there was at least one Preventer who accompanied her, and her house staff would've mentioned any injuries she had. No, it wasn't a physical problem; it was more like something was weighing down her spirit.

She seemed fine whenever she was in the presents of friends, or just people she knew, but more than once when lady Une had seen her standing in a corner by herself, she saw how alone the young women really was.

It wasn't as if anyone could blame her for feeling that way either. It wasn't like she had a lot of spare time for her friends from school, or even for her foster mother to come for a visit, even though it was what she really needed. A person could only survive on work alone for so long before they needed real human interaction.

Une herself was fortunate to now have someone to go home to every night. She never stopped thanking her lucky stars for Mariemaia. Although she had days when she could be a complete brat, the little redhead was defiantly her reason for getting up in the morning.

Who did Relena have to care for her? Of course she was very close to one of her servants, an older man who was more like a grandfather to her than just a butler. No matter how close she was to him though, the time came for everyone that they needed to find someone they could share their personal thoughts with, and someone they could feel completely comfortable around.

She turned back to look out at the city that was alive with the lights of buildings, blinking advertisements and cars zooming by on the roads. "Oh, Mr. Treize if you could see this world you created I know you would be proud." A warm feeling seemed to radiate out from her chest as she thought about the fallen leader of OZ who had captured her heart so long ago.

Even though he was gone, and Une would never have the chance to be with him the way that she had always wanted, she still had a piece of him alive in his daughter Mariemaia. She had someone who made her feel needed, and that was exactly what Relena needed.

The cars headlights flashed by, regulated by the colorful streetlights.

Truthfully, there were only two people she could think of that could possibly fill this void for the young woman. Her brother, the rogue pilot Milliardo Peacecraft, and the very mysterious Gundam pilot, Heero Yuy. These two men genuinely cared for her, and while one held back from her because of a blood stained past, the other stayed away because of unsure feelings.

Although she hated to think this way, maybe good things could come out of this abduction. Perhaps it would be the right kind of push for both men to try and make themselves a part of her life. It would probably be the best thing of all of them if that were to happen, given all of the situations.

She smiled to herself as she remembered the way Relena's eyes used to go all starry at the mention of the Gundam pilots name. There had been no mistaking that look then, and even though she didn't have the same child like look about her, the feelings she had for the young man were undoubtedly the same.

Reluctantly, remembering who she was the Preventers commander turned back to her desk and sat down in her chair. Even though she no longer went out in the field, there were always things that she needed to get done to make sure the operations

As Lady Une contacted the airport and informed them about the current situation and about the flight that needed to take place in an hour's time, she couldn't help but say a little prayer.

She didn't pray to God, because she wasn't sure it would do any good. She prayed instead to the group of five young men who had ended the war three years ago, and to the other who had helped them do it. They were the ones who were off to rescue one of the greatest symbols of peace that the world had seen since the late pacifist leader of the colonies, Heero Yuy. And even though she was sure they didn't need it, she wished them luck.

Trowa had been thinking about this long and hard, and had come to the conclusion that it was the only way. Of course before he did anything drastic, he wanted to get someone else's opinion.

He opened the heavy door to the music room and took a step inside.

Quatre stood over by the far wall fingering the rows of instruments that were hung up there. When the door opened the blond man raised his head and smiled towards him as he came in.

He walked towards where her stood. It had fairly easy to find where Quatre would go. It was the same place he always went whenever he needed to get away from things, as if the sight or sound of the instruments could draw the stress strait from his soul.

Although it had been a while since Trowa has seen his friend, he found comfort in the fact that he hadn't changed his habits all that much.

Trowa watched as the smile on the young man's face faltered and died when he saw that there was something on his mind.

"What is it Trowa?"

He had been thinking about the right way to tell his friend what he was planning to do, but realized now that the best thing to do would just be to come out and tell him.

"After we bring Relena home from Brussels, I'm going to find where the kidnappers base is."

"How are you going to do that?" The shock of the statement was clearly written all over Quatre's face. "Heero said that he couldn't track where the origin of the call was, because it was relayed by satellite link up."

"He said that he couldn't trace it unless he was physically at the computer. I know that he won't want to leave Relena to do that, so I'll go for him. Besides, we all know that I couldn't be the person these kidnappers would want to draw out anyway, so it's safer for me to go."

Quatre was looking at him closely, questions clearly written in his eyes. "And how do you know where this computer is? Heero didn't tell us where it was located, and Sally took the laptop with her when she left."

"I'm sure if I explain the situation, both Wufei and Sally would be willing to help me out." His voice remained steady as he answered.

He was sure that they would be willing to help. Everyone knew how Heero felt about Relena, and vice-versa, and if the way he was acting earlier was any indication of his feelings, there was nothing that would make him leave her once she was safe. The reason why they would help wasn't because of the feelings between Heero and Relena, rather it was because he would usually be the one who would take up this task, but he would be busy this time with other matters.

"Actually I'm curious to know who is so interested in one of us that they would go to such lengths, risking international incident by kidnapping Vice Foreign Minister Darlian. Whoever it is must have a personal vendetta." Narrowing his eyes, Trowa continued on. "Besides it would be in our best interests strategically to know where they are so that we can launch on offensive attack."

"Do you really think that it will come to that?"

"Who's to say what will happen."

Trowa watched the young man sigh. He could understand Quatre's feelings; the war hadn't really been all that long ago, well at least not long enough for the memories to fade. The reason why they had fought then was so that they wouldn't have too ever again. The thought of having to launch on offensive attack only drudged up memories of times passed that should be remembered not relived.

He himself had been enjoying life quiet a bit since things had settled down. The circus life was never boring. There was always a new routine or act to practice or an animal that needed extra training, or an unending list of other things. Immersing himself into the lifestyle had been so easy after being a soldier and doing nothing but fighting for as far back as he could remember. When he actually sat down to think about it, he realized how much more relaxed he was without having to always worry about the next mission, and not having to constantly look over his shoulder for enemies.

Trowa really had begun to like having Catherine around. Her constant teasing and sisterly advice made him feel like he really did belong in this new world without any war. She was who came to mind when he gritted his teeth against the thought of going to fight again after so long.

But that thought alone brought him back to his point. If he was able to find the enemies' base then perhaps they could launch a pre-emptive attack, and could avoid whatever it was that they had planned.

Lowering his head and closing his eyes, he spoke softly, only loud enough so that Quatre could hear him. "I don't want to fight again. I just want this to end quickly without anyone getting hurt."

Before Quatre could say anything, the sound of the door opening made them both look up.

Wufei came through the door, and nodded at the two of them standing in the center of the room.

Without waiting for him to say anything, Quatre jumped right in with his questions. "Did you talk to Commander Une?"

Trowa watched as Wufei came farther into the room and crossed his arms across his chest.

"We did talk to her. She approved the plan you came up with, and is now arranging our flight from the airport. We leave in an hour." He spoke very calmly.

"Good." Quatre squared his shoulders. "We shouldn't waste anymore time standing around here doing nothing."

"Chances are we will have at least an hour to go over our last minute planes and preparations after we land in Brussels. We just want to be at the drop-off point on time, not early." Wufei spoke like someone who had been through all these procedures many times before. "The last thing we need is to catch these people before they have a chance to drop off Vice Foreign Minister Darlian and leave. Armed conflict at this point is something we want to avoid at all costs, especially if it might put Minister Darlian's life at risk."

"We have to get her back safe before we can make any other planes. There may be things she can tell us about these people that might help us come up with a defensive strategy." Quatre was obviously planning their next move in his head.

Trowa turned his attention to the very serious and to the point Wufei. "Actually, I had a favor I wanted to ask you. It has to do with our position against these kidnappers."

"What kind of favor?" Wufei had always been one to do his own thing, following his own path or righteousness and justice. Of course, breaking rules, no matter how honorable the cause, was something he simply would not do.

"I wanted to ask you if I could borrow that laptop you and Sally had set up for the transmission from the kidnappers." He had strange looks being sent at him by Wufei who was clearly amused by the request.

"Why would you want to borrow that? Are you planning to track them down yourself?"

"Actually, yes. I want to find the computer that had been attached to the satellite link-up, and then trace the location of the original signal. It's something that Heero would probably want to do, but he'll want to stay here and watch over Relena once she's back."

"If that's the reason, then sure. There should be no problem with that." He shook his head though, not completely satisfied with the turn of events. "I think that it's a good plan, but shouldn't you think about bringing someone else along with you to watch your back?"

Trowa merely looked back at the young Preventer. "I've always done well on solo stealth missions."

They all knew he was referring to the time he had infiltrated OZ as an elite mobile suit pilot. Somehow he had managed to gain Lady Une's complete trust and along with that gained control over the mobile suits Mercurius and the Vayeate. All of that had been accomplished without any help, and had gone without any hitches until the end when he had tried to stop Quatre from making a big mistake.

"Still, we don't know anything about these people or what they want."

"I agree," Said Quatre, "It would be better to go with someone rather than alone for a couple of reasons. I'll go with you."

Trowa shook his head. "No, you can't. It will be hard enough to cover for one of us not being here, and next to impossible with two. Besides if anything happens they'll need as many people as they can get to protect Relena."

"I don't think that it's a good idea for any of us to be going off on our own right now. We don't really know who these people are after. It's just a guess that they're after Zecks or Heero. It could just as easily be any one of us, and they might be waiting for us to split up."

"You could be right, but at least we can defend ourselves if anyone does come after us." Trowa said reaching a hand up to scratch his shoulder absently. "I'd hate to see what these kidnappers might do to our families, or friends if we don't cooperate with them."

He watched as Quatre winced at the thought of his sisters being hurt or worse. He had never been able to bear the thought of others suffering because of his actions, especially his sisters. "We can't let that happen. We have to keep this within us without involving other people."

Trowa saw Wufei lower his eyes in agreement before he began to speak. "I'll get that laptop for you from Sally when we get back from bringing Ms. Darlian home. I think that it might be necessary to keep this on a need to know basis. The less people who know the better it might be for us to cover up Trowa's absence. We could say that he was on Preventer business, and would be gone for at least a couple of days." He seemed to be planning out loud to himself.

Of course while he planned, Trowa was listening and agreed with what Wufei was proposing. Heero would be focused on Relena, as he should, and telling Duo was a liability. It wasn't that he couldn't be trusted with the information, it was that when he knew, who would probably keep taking about it until everyone around knew where he had gone and why.

That was not what they needed this time, and if that were to happen, chances are there would be big problems with the kidnappers. It would defeat the purpose of what he was going to do if they found out about it before they had a chance to make their move.

This is what was going through Trowa's head when Quatre finally cut into his thoughts. He had obviously thought what it could mean for them if he did go, and had come to terms with it, even if he didn't like the idea of someone going off on their own.

"If everything about this is decided for now, I suggest that we get ready to leave for the airport, and find the others."

Trowa looked towards Wufei, who nodded, and then back at Quatre. "Let's go."