Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply here. I do not own Gundam Wing; however, I DO own Alexandra, Adjani, Joshua, Glacia, Eve and anyone else who is unfamiliar to the show. If you should wish to borrow them, PLEASE let me know!

Series: Gundam Wing

Title: For Eternity

Chapter Three: Lives Change, but Friends are Forever

Author: Tiasha

2001 © Tiasha and Co.

~

As we go on, we remember

All the times we had together,

And as our lives change

Come whatever,

We will still be friends forever

Vitamin C - "Graduation"

~

Heero was finding this whole situation a waste of time and he was sure that the others were too, all except Wufei. Wufei had called this meeting on short notice and then, refused to inform them what it was about. All he had said was that Preventer Une would be seeing them...along with a few other Preventer agents. The only reason Heero had stayed around was because of those other Preventers, he had never heard of them. Preventers Artemis, Athene, Persephone and Eriu were not on the employee list, at least no humans. The only information he had received was information on the Goddesses, not the person behind the name.

They had just about reached Une's office, when shouts could be heard.

"You ask of me a task which I will NOT do!" a strangely familiar voice resounded. "Training from anyone is unnecessary; however, I would have permitted it come from Preventer Chang but NOT Preventer Yuy!"

Heero watched as Wufei unhesitantly opened Une's office door and walk in, nodding at the occupants. Of course Une was one, but another caught his eye and he glanced briefly at Duo, waiting for his reaction. He got one.

"Hilde? What the Hell are you doing here?" Duo sputtered, staring at the dark haired petite in surprise.

She merely glanced at him listlessly before turning to look at another young woman with red hair. Both wore Preventer uniforms but the red head wore moon accessories; a moon necklace, small dangling moon earrings, moon bracelet, everything was a moon...or some other design which he assumed to be Celtic.

"She is fighting alongside a warrior of peace; she is fulfilling her duty that the Christian Lord and the Goddess have laid out for her. I advise you not to interfere with fate," the red haired young woman replied calmly, a faint Irish accent evident. Heero watched as the young woman glanced at two other occupants, one blonde and the other a brunette; they too wore Preventer uniforms, but the brunette seemed familiar to him.

"What do you mean 'fighting alongside a warrior of peace'?! What-" Duo was cut off by the blonde waving her hand nonchalantly.

"May I ask what the five of them are doing here?" the blonde asked, looking at Une. Heero watched as Une sighed heavily and looked at the four women.

"Since I assumed Artemis would disagree to being trained by Yuy, I have decided to have you four train them. They are to assist you in this battle, both in planning and on the field," Heero heard Une state. He raised an eyebrow at her, baffled at what was going on. There was a battle? With who? Where?

"What? No way!" Hilde shouted, looking at Une in surprise and shock.

"You can't be serious! They'd die before the battle even started!" the blonde stated, folding her arms across her chest. She frowned at Heero as he glared at her.

"Spirit most likely will not will this! Besides, they have not had the proper training! Athene is right! They'd be dead five minutes after the battle started!" the red head retorted, referring to the blonde as Athene. Heero noticed that the brunette was still silent, not even glancing their way as she stared out the large bay windows in Une's office.

"That is why you four are to train them, is that clear? You are to prepare them for the up coming battle," Une replied, her tone brooking no arguments.

"Commander Une, what is going on?" Heero heard Trowa ask, and he nodded in agreement.

Une looked at all the occupants of the room in turn before explaining. "There is a man named Jareth McCloud who...was bent on destroying peace. He failed once before thanks to Preventer Eriu, Artemis and Nemesis but escaped the explosion of the base he was at. Having failed, he feels that he has shamed his heritage and has requested one final battle...in the way of his heritage."

Heero raised an eyebrow skeptically, "And what way is that?"

"He is Irish in heritage, much like I but he holds his name proudly. He wishes to die in battle by the sword of his enemy. The time period is that of the Celts," the red head stated, glancing at the still silent brunette. The brunette seemed to be ignoring them and staring at something outside, her expression somewhat thoughtful.

"You can't be serious! This man wants to fight with swords and horses?" Quatre sputtered. "He'll have all of his men killed for sure!"

"His men will follow him to death. He is their King in a way," Hilde replied, shaking her head sadly. "And we will have an army ready to do the same."

"You are all to work together on this, everyone," Une said, turning to look at the brunette. "Is that clear Artemis?"

The brunette looked up at sound of her codename and it was then that Heero could see her profile. The resemblance of this brunette and someone who was supposed to be dead was uncannily accurate. Heero almost whispered a name he had not dreamed he'd say in years.

"The Eriynnes do not except help from men. Their deaths will be unneeded, should this battle take everyone's life. This world still has need of them, where as we are to fulfill our duties as Eriynnes. Their help is unneeded as well as unwanted," the brunette, Preventer Artemis, stated angrily. Heero could have sworn then and there that her voice sounded just like Relena Dorlain's.

Heero's attention, however, turned to Wufei when he realized how silent the Chinese Preventer had been throughout this whole conversation. "You knew all about this already, didn't you Wufei," Heero stated, not even bothering to question him. Wufei merely shrugged his shoulders and looked to the brunette.

"Tell them who you are," Wufei said to Preventer Artemis and to Heero's slight surprise, the young woman looked at Wufei, clearly startled by his command. She then glared at him as she spoke.

"I am Lenrea Daniels, codename Artemis," she then looked away towards the blonde, red head and Hilde who nodded at her, as if encouraging her. "I was once...............Relena Dorlain."

Heero was in absolute shock and he knew that he was not the only one. Oh but how could he not have recognized her? The same profile, same voice, same stance. And Heero could just barely see honey-blonde roots amongst the brown strands of hair.

"Miss Relena?" Heero heard Quatre say in surprise and then joy filled the blond man's voice. "Miss Relena! You're alive! Where have you been?"

"Relena is dead! She died in that God-forsaken compound the night she made her first two killings!" Relena-Lenrea-the brunette shouted in anger. "Do not call me by that persona in public, if you feel you MUST use it. My name is Lenrea now."

"Onto a different subject," Une began. "You need to find a replacement for Preventer Nemesis."

Relena, or Lenrea, whichever, turned and glared at Une. "How dare you believe that she is dead! She is alive and she will be here in time for this final battle! I will not betray her and find a replacement!"

Heero watched as the former Vice Foreign Minister, now Preventer, stormed out of Une's office without even being dismissed.

"That went well," the red head said sarcastically. "Wouldn't you agree Adjani?"

The blonde looked at the red head before shaking her head, "Honestly Alex, have some compassion. You yourself know that Midii is alive."

Hilde snorted, "That girl has nine lives! Of course she is alive! She has only used up...three lives so far!"

The red head, Alex, nodded in agreement, "Yes, tis true. I believe we should begin planning our battle strategy. Shall we go have some fun?"

"Only you would find battle strategies fun, Alex. Sometimes I wonder about you!" Hilde said, exasperated at the young redhead.

Alex merely looked wounded. "Oh, what a shot! That really hurt," she said sarcastically. "Really, all I do is pretend I'm playing Risk or some game of that sort."

"All right, enough you two! It's a wonder Lena even bothers to try and live with you guys. Bicker, bicker, bicker. Eve had better not pick up on that or Lena will be very upset. She does not need a four-year-old talking back to her at this time," Adjani, the blonde stated crossing her arms.

"How is Eve? I did not get a chance to ask," Une asked, obviously ignoring the five men. "Mariemaia has wondered when she will come to visit again."

"She has grown, that's for sure. Cute as a button, looks like her mother and is as sweet as candy. Oh, she has taken to calling Wufei, Wufei-san [1]," Adjani announced, earning a glare from the Chinese Preventer in the process. "Other than when she will come to visit? No idea. You'll have to ask Lena."

"I see, back onto the subject of the mission. You all will work together. That is an order. Tell Artemis that should she disagree," Une said before dismissing them.

Heero shook his head slightly. This day was going to be full of surprises; he knew that the minute Wufei had called all of them for this meeting.

---

Relena calmly walked down the hallway of Preventer Headquarters and was immediately flanked by Alex and Hilde. She took a deep breath as the three approached her office and found the ex-gundam pilots waiting outside of it. Sliding on her soldier mask, she began a façade she had come to know all too well. Hate all humans. Destroy the harmful ones. Not too different than Yuy's mask really…

Noticing Adjani outside the door of her office, she nodded to her companion before brushing past Heero and the others. He was watching her and she knew it, she could just sense it. That only made her more frustrated; she did not have time for him to start taking on the role of protector, not when she was so close to ending all that had been the cause of her new life. Once McCloud was dead, she could unlist as a Preventer and be a full time mother for Eve. Eve deserved that and more.

"So what do we do now?" she heard Duo ask and she turned her icy gaze toward him. She had forgotten that they were not used to her holding such a look, for she raised a brow at the braided young man as he shuddered slightly. "That look is about as bad as Heero's!"

She frowned thoughtfully, "You know, I've been getting that a lot lately. And it is beginning to annoy me!"

"Len, he's a baka [2]," Hilde stated, placing a hand on her shoulder, "What do you expect him to say?"

"Good point," she muttered, opening her office doors to find a neon blue-haired young woman sitting in a chair behind her desk. She paused in the doorway and placed her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side.

"Glacia," she greeted to the woman who had made herself comfortable at her desk. "How has babysitting my office been?"

The young woman jolted out of the chair, clearly startled by the appearance of the rarely seen Preventer Artemis. "Ma'am…I…uh…you received messages during your absence and so…I'll go get them."

"Very good," Relena agreed, chuckling slightly. Glacia would just not allow herself to bask in the luxury of Artemis's office. Relena barely used it and she had personally told Glacia to think of it as her own. She shrugged her shoulders as her secretary passed her by. Guess some habits were hard to break. She moved towards her now vacant desk and pulled open a drawer, searching for an object she had left earlier. Smiling triumphantly, she placed a purple jaded kanji necklace around her neck.

"Justice…how appropriate for the Huntress," a feminine voice stated, commenting on the necklace Relena had just put on. Relena looked up to see Sally Po leaning against her office door. Relena smiled at Sally but then frowned, as the latter did not look too happy.

"Sally?"

"Is Eve here?" Relena looked at her oddly; what was wrong with Eve?

"Not in this room but she's in the building. Why?"

Sally Po approached her and Relena steeled herself as the Chinese woman stopped in front of her and crossed her arms.

"Woman, what is it you want?" Wufei asked.

Without even turning to look at him, Sally said, "Stay out of this Chang." Relena winced slightly as her soldier façade fell; when Sally used last names, it meant she was down right serious.

"Sally?" Relena inquired somewhat hesitantly.

"I called you a month ago and you never returned it. I want to run a few more tests Daniels. You too Faye."

"But-" both she and Alex argued.

"That is an order, otherwise I will declare you both unfit and have Une place you both off-duty."

"We don't have time!" Alex protested.

"Then make time," was all Sally could say before a four-year-old bundle of energy entered the office.

"Mommy! Mommy! Josh got me something!" an ecstatic childish voice announced as the honey-blonde child ran toward Relena. In one swift motion, Eve was in Relena's arms, resting against the side of her mother's hip.

"Oh really? What did he get you this time?" Relena asked, looking over towards the door at the newest human body in her office. Josh was a tall, lean man with a build that rivaled Heero's; his hair was dyed a dark blue to match his gorgeous dark blue eyes.

"Digimon! [3]" Eve said gleefully, holding up the DVD to show her mother proudly. Relena raised a brow at the brightly colored cover. "It's the movie! I don't have this one!"

Relena nodded her head as Eve continued to wave the movie around happily. "Eve, sweetheart," she finally said, gaining the attention of the cherubic child, "You interrupted Sally-san [4]."

Relena bit her lip to stifle her laughter as Eve's face went from pure childish bliss to morbid shamefulness. The young child craned her head to look at Sally with wide eyes and began struggling to get out of her mother's arms. Once free, Eve bowed formally to Sally and apologized.

"Gomen nasai Sally-san [5]!"

Sally chuckled, "It's okay, kiddo." Sally then pulled out a lollipop and handed it to Eve. "This is a bribe, can I borrow your mom for a while?"

Eve nodded her head and turned to look at her mother. She smiled sweetly at Relena and clutched her lollipop tightly as she spoke in her young, unsure voice. "You can go with Sally-san, momma…okay?"

Relena shook her head in disbelief. "I don't believe this, I've been sold out by my own kid…for a piece of candy no less!" Relena looked at Sally and frowned, "You do play dirty at times!"

Sally merely smirked before motioning for her to follow, "Never underestimate my abilities."

Relena rolled her eyes and grabbed a handful of Alex's African-braided hair as the latter protested about having to actually go to a doctor. "Come along tomodachi [6]. If I go, you go…partners remember?" Relena reminded her friend.

Alex merely pouted, crossed her arms and allowed herself to be dragged down to the medical ward of Preventer Headquarters.

Smiling, Relena wondered what she would do without her friends; they were her family now, along with Eve. A second later a frowned adorned her facial features as she caught a glimpse of Heero Yuy sending Joshua Anaya a patented death glare. Mood swiftly turning to a dark one, Relena deliberately ignored the look Heero sent her and continued to follow Sally.

She knew very well that the others would follow, save Glacia who would watch Eve for her; they would want to know why Sally was so insistent on these tests.

They reached the medical ward in no time and Relena suppressed a shiver as she moved to take her uniform jacket off. Being in a room of this nature reminded her all too much of the torture she, Midii and Alex had faced in that compound.

"So what fun awaits us oh leader?" joked Alex and Relena smiled. Leave it to Alex to lighten the situation up.

"I want to do the usual and a bypass on you Len…I want to check the scar tissue and see how it is doing along with that lump you mentioned before," said Sally as she began to prepare for the examinations.

"All right…let's get this over with Sally…" Relena whispered as she stretched out on an examination table. It was hard, stiff and definitely reminded her of the compound; not only that, but it was cold and the chill seeped through her Preventer shirt as she stared at the ceiling, attempting to calm her sudden anxiety and paranoia. Nothing was going to happen, nothing as harmful as the compound that is; this was Sally…Sally would never do such things.

Lord…give me strength…please…

---

Hilde sighed as she and the others watched the monitors from an above platform over the medical ward. She knew how much Alex and Relena hated being in that room, just as Josh did. Joshua Anaya had been captured and placed in the compound well before Relena had. So it was no surprise to her that Josh and Relena were about as close as friends could be.

Josh was protective of her but did not hesitate to flirt good-naturedly with Relena and she flirted right back. To them, it was as if brother and sister were calling each other names. Eve saw Joshua as a big brother figure, which Joshua was quite happy to be. He spoiled the child as often as he could. He managed a Suncoast store at the local mall aside from being a Preventer and did not hesitate to buy Eve any anime movie or series he could, always taking her age into consideration.

Hilde jumped when her pager went off suddenly. She moved away from the window and monitors, dialing the number on her cell phone.

"Yes I just got the page, Nick. What is it?" she asked.

"We've got her Lieutenant! We've got a signal!" was her only reply before the other end was disconnected. Hilde froze in shock. They found her.

"Holy crap! I don't believe it!"

Adjani turned and looked at Hilde, clearly startled by her sudden outburst. What in the Goddess's name was she talking about? She did not believe what?

"Hilde?"

"Oh my Lord, Adjani! We did it! We found her!" Hilde cried happily, moving toward the blonde Eriynee. Adjani gave the dark-haired pixie a curious look as the latter bounced up and down. Even Duo was looking at her strangely.

"Persephone!" she shouted in hopes of gaining the German's attention.

"We've got a signal! Midii is alive Adjani! She's alive!"

Adjani stood stark still. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that they would find her this soon, with a signal no less!

"Bless the Lord, I don't believe it. We found her!" she squealed, jumping up and hugging Hilde who gladly returned the embrace. The two bounced happily, laughing and giggling and ignoring the looks from the ex-pilots and amused smile from Josh.

---

"Relena!"

Relena looked up at the room hovering above them, frowning at the dark-haired pixie.

"Nan no [7]?" she questioned.

"We found her! We've got a signal! Midii's alive!"

Relena felt her heart leap in joy. Her friend was alive and they had found her! Midii Une was alive!

She looked to Sally who nodded, smiling sincerely. "Go on," Sally said, sighing. "Your tests can wait but Midii can't. Go find her and bring her back for scanning."

Relena smiled and hugged the older woman before looking back at Hilde.

"Erinnyes [8]! Suit up! We're going on a search and retrieve mission! I want the exo-suits loaded in docking bay three, understood?" she ordered.

Hilde nodded and turned away, rushing to announce the order and over-see the loading process.

Josh cleared his throat, "Koi [9], you've got a problem there."

Relena ignored the glare Yuy shot at Josh; she was really becoming annoyed with his antics. It was not like Heero had claim of her or anything. Hell, he didn't even stay around long enough to be entitled to have claim of her!

"What's wrong?"

Josh rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Not all the suits are…ready."

"NANI [10]?!"

"Now tomodachi…it's not my fault that they're not all ready! This was a sudden assignment!"

"Josh…what did you do to the suits?"

"Not all are grounded, just Shadow. Yours is still being recalibrated…but Nemesis's is still up and running, so take hers."

"Daijobu [11]."

Relena grabbed her Preventer jacket and raced out of the medical ward with Alex hot on her trail. She could not believe it; they had finally found her. Midii was alive!

She raced to DB-3 but came to halt as she saw Yuy and the others outside the door. Frowning, she cocked her head to the side, raising a fine eyebrow in the process.

"What do you all think you are doing?" she asked. Chang crossed his arms and leveled a glare at her, which Relena reciprocated with a glare of her own. "Don't think for one second that you are going to pull rank on me Chang! This is my friend us Erinnyes are going after and I am NOT going to let you take charge of this mission."

Wufei raised a brow at her declaration in mock offense, "Who said I was pulling rank?"

Relena clenched her fists in annoyance and was about give him a nice tongue-lashing when a certain blue-haired young man passed by and pecked her on the lips. Blinking a moment, she turned to Josh who was walking into the docking bay. She quickly turned her annoyance away from Chang and focused it on Joshua Anaya.

"Josh!" she yelled, racing after him. Giving him little time to defend himself, she jumped up on his back and tackled him to the ground. She had the upper hand for a minute until Josh maneuvered himself to where he could tickle her. The tides reversed, Relena found herself at the mercy of Josh.

"Oh please, get a room you two," Hilde teased as she stepped over them, pointedly jamming her foot into Josh's ribs.

"Honestly! Grow up! Len, you're a mother! What would Eve think? Goddess, why do I bother?" Adjani muttered the last part of the reprimand as she passed by them as well, already suited up for the exo-suit. She hopped into the shuttle, ignoring the tickle fest.

"Josh, let me go," she rasped between breaths as she tried to breathe instead of laugh; but that was proving quite difficult since he was still tickling her.

"Nope," he stated.

"Okaa-san [12]!" Relena heard a childish voice cry. Relena suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She had forgotten about Eve. In the midst of the happy news she had forgotten her daughter momentarily.

Josh relented immediately as the honey-blonde four-year-old adhered herself to her mother.

"Don't go!" Eve cried. Relena held her daughter tightly as the child's body shook with sobs.

"Musume [13] I have to go," she began.

"Iie [14]! Okaa-san stay!"

"Iie musume, mother is going to go find Midii-chan."

"Midii-chan?"

"Hai [15], Midii-chan has been found and we are going to go get her."

Eve looked at her for a few seconds before nodding her head slowly. "You promise you come back?"

Relena smiled, "Of course, musume, of course. I will always come back for you."

Eve wiped her eyes and clutched her mother's neck even tighter when Josh attempted to take the child to his office to wait for the Erinnyes' return. It was nothing new to the small child, but this time it did not feel right! Josh did not understand nor did her Okaa-san!

"Iie onii-san [16]! Iie!" she cried as the young man finally pried the child away from her mother and took her out of the docking bay.

Relena closed her eyes tightly against the cries of her retreating daughter and friend. It was so hard to see Eve like this. Especially since it harbingered a disaster. Eve was fine with her and the others going on missions but the few times she begged them not go…something always happened. Due to her daughter's strange predictable omens the Erinnyes were always more alert than normal.

"Len, we need to go," she heard Alex whisper in her ear. "We have a time window."

Relena nodded. She turned and walked away from the direction her daughter and friend had left. She smiled a cynical smile; she was pulling a Yuy. Walking away from those who cared.

But the difference is…I'm coming back!

Terms:

1. Wufei-san = Mister Wufei baka = idiot Digimon = I personally cannot stand Pokemon! I can handle Digimon but NO Pokemon! Personal preference of course! Sally-san = Miss Sally Gomen nasai = I'm very sorry tomodachi = friend

7. Nan no = what? Erinnyes = Divine avengers of wrong Koi = Love AN: Relena and Josh always call each other things of this sort! Nani = common term of what Daijobu = all right Okaa-san = Mother Musume = daughter Iie = no Hai = yes Onii-san = elder (big) brother

Questions? Comments? Flames? E-mail me at korin012@yahoo.com

I enjoy feedback, really I do! I was disappointed at the amount of e-mails I received...or lack there of. Anyway! Authoress is sorry is she offended anyone! She really does enjoy feedback! Due take note that if I do not get much feed back I will discontinue a story. It wastes my time to write something that no one is enjoying and I could spend that time coming up with other stories and scenarios of the sort. Thank you.