Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Eyes Cold As Stone ❯ Chapter Twenty ( Chapter 20 )

Eyes Cold As Stone

Chapter 20

"A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun for sorrow will not show his head: Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon'd and some punished: For never was there a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo." Mindy gently closed her book and gazed at the young man asleep beside her. "Do you have a Juliet or Romeo? I pray that if you do, they'll wait for you." She stood, cracking joints from the long sitting. The hospital staff would be in soon to tell her that visitor hours were over. "Until next time, then. And I'll read you the story of a Mid Summer's Night Dream. Perhaps that will entice you to wake." She turned and left the young man in his coma. Perhaps next time.

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Trowa gazed idly at his hands. There really wasn't anything better to do. He sat on the edge of Quatre's bad, playing with the silken fabric of his sheets. A suitcase and a box sat waiting in the corner, where he had left them in his haze. He had moved out of his apartment-wanting only to be close to Quatre, even if Quatre wasn't around. Tears threatened to spill, but he knew that none would, for he had cried all that he had over the last few days since his and Heero's unsuccessful return from the search. Everyone else had returned yesterday, all with the same result-no Quatre. He had spent the rest of yesterday and all of today in seclusion. What use was there for him at HQ if he wasn't even an active agent? Une had informed him of his changed status as soon as he returned. Maybe tomorrow or the next day, he would gather enough courage to return and mindlessly perform his training duties-like a good agent, but he knew that his heart was no longer in it. He reached over to the phone, which rested quietly on Quatre's nightstand.

"Cathy?"

"Trowa! How are you? I haven't heard from you in ages-I was beginning to get worried."

"I need to talk."

"What's wrong, Trowa, you sound like death wormed over."

"I feel like death."

"How long can you wait? The circus should be in town early next week."

"I need to talk sooner. Do you have time now?" There was a pause in which he could hear muffled voices.

"I have a little bit. What happened?" Trowa could feel his sobs beginning to return. His breath hitched and Cathy noticed. "Are you crying? Oh my God, Trowa! What happened?"

"Quatre…he's gone."

"Gone?" Cathy had known about Trowa's feelings for Quatre for a long time, so the fact that he was upset about Quatre should not have come as any surprise to her, however, the last time he had talked to her, he had failed to mention that Quatre had been captured-that was almost six months ago. He tried to quiet his breathing, though it didn't work all that well.

"He's been gone for over seven months."

"Seven?! But last time I talked-"

"I know, I couldn't tell you that he had been captured."

"Captured…Oh my God…Trowa…" He could hear Cathy begin to cry, and he quickly joined her. He wanted her to put her arms around him and tell him that everything would be alright-that this was just some horrid nightmare, and all would be well. But Cathy couldn't very well hug and comfort him over the phone-and this was the farthest thing from a nightmare-it was real. His tears, which he thought were dried up, fell faster.

"We can't find him, Cathy, I can't find him."

"I'm so sorry."

"I miss him so much, Cathy. I don't know why this had to happen. We finally find each other and then he's ripped away from me."

"Trowa? Where are you?"

"Quatre's place, why?"

"I'll be there in three hours." He shook his head.

"Thank you, Cathy." He dropped the receiver back into place before curling up on Quatre's bed to cry himself asleep. "Quatre, please come home. Please come back to me."

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Relena moved through the motions of the meeting, her mind constantly wandering back to Duo and his story. How could she convince Duo that it wasn't his fault-that nothing had been his fault? He was set in the mindset that since he had been responsible for those poor people's deaths and Quatre's capture. She had called Dorothy shortly after she had taken her leave of Duo-about four in the morning-and still had been no word as to Quatre's whereabouts.

Some papers were thrusted into her wavering vision, and she absent-mindedly signed them-reading the fine print was unnecessary, they had spent all afternoon discussing it. Relena's head felt heavy, she just wanted to sleep. She hadn't gotten back to her hotel until six that morning, so all she had time to do was take a shower and get ready for her meetings. Unfortunately, she had meetings booked straight through each of the five days she was supposed to be here. And because political meetings were so draining, her nights were booked solid with sleep, though she would try to see Duo again.

She stood up with the rest of the delegation and shook hands, plastering a fake smile on her face. She exchanged pleasantries before finding a good moment to escape, and with apologies for being so tired, she wanly made her way back to her room. There she collapsed on her bed and cried herself to sleep.

The phone woke her up.

"Dorothy?"

"How are things going?" Relena stopped to think that simple question through. "That bad if you have to think about it?"

"No. Politically, there fine. But Duo…"

"Have you made any headway? You didn't really say anything when you called yesterday."

"He blames himself for what happened to Quatre."

"You told me that."

"It runs deeper than that. He blames himself for the loss of childhood friends and family. I don't know what to do."

"Was it his fault?"

"No." Relena couldn't be appalled at Dorothy's question, because it wasn't asked out of malice, just concern. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, you could say." There was a long pause.

"Is there anything I can do?" Relena shook her head.

"I don't even know what to do. But I would just keep looking for Quatre. He's bound to show up somewhere."

"I'm getting ready to check the morgues-I know, I know. I'm hoping that I won't find him there. I just think that we need to be sure that he hasn't shown up dead." Relena held back a choking sob.

"Yes, I understand. I pray that you do not find him in this search."

"Me too. Good luck, Relena. Get some sleep-you look like hell." Relena laughed.

"That obvious?"

"Only to me. Now scoot."

"Yes, ma'am." Dorothy glared at her from Earth.

"Go." The connection was cut, and Dorothy's face disappeared from the screen, leaving Relena alone to battle her demons-hers and Duo's.

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Colonel Satavich looked over his soldiers before moving down to the next squadron. Fifty squadrons of manned mobile suits and one squadron of ZSMDs. He sighed angrily. The loss of the Hawk base had been crushing. Now they were down to one Node base. Jezebel was furious and was putting the space forces in overtime to try and make up for all of the losses. She was right, though. They needed to make a surgical strike to Preventer HQ, and they needed to make it soon. They would go in with everything they had left and hope to dear God that they could come out of it alive. It was a suicide mission at best-their assured death at worst.

He moved on to the next ranks, observing and commenting. The soldiers had to be perfect. After all, they had to go up against the Gundam pilots. He wished that Jezebel had been able to squeeze out some more information. The more they knew about the strengths and weaknesses of their foes, the better chance some of them would see the light of day. He turned around at the last ranks to face the soldiers he had already left behind.

"This is a demolition mission. Your orders are to destroy Preventer HQ, with no regard to the surrounding city. If those people want to harbor evil like the Preventers, then they deserve to die right along side of them." The soldiers gave a short cheer before settling down and letting the Colonel continue. "Destroy anything that looks like it could house a mobile suit factory of mobile suit hangers. Unfortunately, we don't have information as to the whereabouts of the Gundams, so keep your eyes open. Move out." The soldiers filed into their suits as he left the hanger, and prepared for the upcoming fight.

He walked into the operating command center for the ZSMDs and gave them the anointed version of the same speech before leaving them to their devices. One way or another, this war would begin. No more terrorist shit-the Gundams were going down.

______________________________

Heero and Wufei were practically asleep on Wufei's desk when the alarm shrieked out its warning. Heero jumped five feet, not expecting to hear the battle alarm. Wufei was roused less surprisingly, but also less comprehendingly.

"What the fuck? Heero?' Heero grabbed his friend and took off for the underground route to their Gundams. He'd just explain on the way. His phone began ringing, adding to the general mayhem. He pulled it out of its sheath and shouted into it angrily. "What?"

"Heero. We have visual conformation of enemy troops headed this way. They're going to attack the city." A string of colorful obscenities flew from Heero's lips that would have made Duo proud. Fuck! Enemy attack and only two operating Gundams. Fuck! "Zechs and Noin will meet you at the front line."

"How many enemy suits?"

"Unknown at this time. Estimate at over two hundred." Shit.

`Can you tell if they're manned or un-manned?"

"No, we won't be able to tell that until they're engaged."

"Understood. Pilot 05 and I are about two minutes from our suits. We'll be at the front line in four."

"Roger." Lady Une hung up and Heero tugged impatiently at Wufei's sleeve, earning a sputter of indignation from the newly aware pilot.

"Get your hands off of me, Yuy, I think I can run on my own."

"Sorry." Heero released his hold on the Chinese pilot and they both stretched out into an all out sprint. They rounded a corner and their Gundams came in view in all their glory. They jumped into the cockpits and brought their suits to life, communications coming on-line first.

"What is happening?"

"Over two hundred estimate. Unknown status of enemy suits. They will be attacking the city."

"Fuck."

"Yeah." Heero touched a few more buttons and switches, bring the last of Wing's systems online. "Here we go, old buddy." He moved Wing out from its dock and fluidly moved past the other suits, pausing at Sandrock and Deathscythe. He gazed longingly at the two suits situated side by side-neither one had been used. He shook his head and initiated the flight sequence, knowing that Nataku wasn't far behind. He flew low over the city, sonic booms rustling trees as he rushed by. He twisted and turned through the towering skyscrapers in an effort to shave off precious seconds. He flew through the last of the high-rises and gained his first look at the enemy lines. He heard Wufei whistle appreciatively.

"Two hundred is estimating low, really fucking low." Heero nodded in agreement. It looked as if there were almost four hundred suits approaching, and again, that was estimating low. And from the way that some of the suits moved, it was extremely probable that a good fifty or more of the suits were those ZSMDs.

"Fuck." His sensors alerted him of two friendlies flying up behind him, about fifteen others hanging back against the backdrop of the city-they were the last defense, if the Gundams couldn't handle the enemies, then they still had one more wall to tear through before they could attack the city. Although, if the enemy could defeat the Gundams, fifteen Taurus' weren't going to do a hell of a lot of good. But it was the thought that counted. Anyway, the Gundams weren't so easily stopped, although today would definitely be a challenge.

"Our estimate now is at about five hundred enemies. All of the suits appear t be Taurus', or at least some kind of souped up version of the Taurus." Zechs flew up beside Heero. He felt sorely outnumbered just because he was missing three of his comrades. He looked off to each side of his cockpit, only seeing Nataku and two Taurus'.

"We've got to get Tallgeese rebuilt for you, Zechs."

"I think Lady Une was afraid that if I had my suit rebuilt, I'd choose Epyon." Heero repressed a shudder.

"Not that infernal suit."

"Admit it, Yuy, it would definitely help here, though I don't like what it would do to Zechs." Wufei added.

"I'd have to agree with Wufei." Noin quickly put in.

"I never said that I would pilot Epyon again, guys."

"I hate to put a cap on our discussion, guys, but we need a plan and we need it fast." It was easy to get distracted before battle, especially when wishing for what was supposed to be there. There was a long silence all around as he watched the enemy suits gain detail as they got closer.

"I have no idea, Yuy."

"Neither do I, Wufei. So we go with old tactics-destroy what ever you can, don't get in my way."

"You heard the man, it's a free for all." Wufei announced.

"Yippee. Zechs, we get to watch Heero go nuts and listen to Wufei rant about being weak."

"Shut up, woman."

"Here they come, guys. Stay sharp." The front line of Preventers quickly became the battle line as the first of the enemy suits converged on the insignificant four.

______________________________

Dorothy stumbled as the foundations shook beneath her. She frantically ran to the phone to call Une. She reached the phone as another explosion rocked the house. The phone erupted into frantic ringing as she wondered why she thought that there were explosions.

"Dorothy, I need to speak with Relena."

"Lady, Une, she's on L2." Dorothy could've sworn that she heard Une swear.

"I promised Relena that I would let her know if I had to make a move to war. We are under attack, and I've sent out all of my troops to protect the city."

"We're under attack?" Another ground shaking almost knocked Dorothy off of her feet. So that's why she had automatically assumed explosion.

"I only have four front line suits, the other three are in-active. I don't know how much longer they can hold out."

"Why weren't we informed?"

"Because we didn't know ourselves until about fifteen minutes ago. Hardly enough time to evacuate the city. There's nothing I can do."

"I understand. I will inform Relena at the first chance I get."

"Good, then, I would recommend that you take cover. That's all we've been able to do for the citizens."

"I'll try and get on the announcements and calm them down."

"Good idea. Good luck."

"You too." Dorothy hung up and prayed that Heero and Wufei along with Zechs and Noin would be able to stop the enemies.