Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Hating a Phoenix ❯ Chapter 2.0 ( Chapter 2 )

Hating a Phoenix

By: Firey Angelwings

***Hello again guys! I'm so glad that I've finally got this fic off the ground! I have major plans, major plans for this one. This will be a major saga, I promise! This chapter is pretty slow-paced, but I have to wrap up some loose ends. If you have any questions or doubts so far…e-mail me! I'm totally open, and I respond to all of my mail! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, its characters, or anything having to do with it. I only own the idea behind this continuation, nothing else, etc…

     Two figures stood in an elegantly furnished office. The light streamed in the large window, and shone on the desk. The shorter of the two had short, dark hair, and was shifting on her feet, very uneasy. The other person noticed, and spoke softly,

  “You can go Hilde. I won't be much longer. Just wait for me outside.”

     She nodded silently, and exited through the heavy oak door.  The figure turned once again toward the desk. He walked slowly toward it, his long brown braid swishing from side to side. His bright violet eyes were shadowed and shielded.

     Duo tentatively reached out and touched the fine wood of the late Foreign Minister's desk. Memories flashed before his eyes.

  “DUO!! What are you doing!? I have loads of work to do!” Relena was screeching at the top of her lungs.

     He only grinned. Then, Duo quickly snatched the pile of papers in front of Relena, then threw them across the room, laughing.

  “What are you DOING??? That was a lot of work, and now, it's not organized! What a setback! Why are you here?”

     Duo studied her pretty face amid his wholehearted chuckles, then grabbed Relena's wrist.

  “Quatre and Hilde are meeting us at the amusement park. So we'd better get going!”

     Duo caught a glance at Relena's bewildered face, as she sputtered.

  “I can't! Not now. I have LOADS and LOADS of work to do. And I have to

clean this up. And-“

  “And that is what secretaries do. I've cleared it all up with Ms. Birgona. Yes, your own secretary wants you out of here. Now, let's go! I need to get a picture of you and Hilde on the roller coasters!”

    And Duo dragged Relena out of her office.

     Duo shrugged slightly. He still had that photo of Relena and Hilde on the Twin Peaks Coaster (screaming their heads off). He raised his head and started slowly for the door. He laid a hand on the door handle, and then spoke softly,

  “I can guarantee…things will never the same again without you, Lena. I am sorry that I failed you so miserably, babe.”

     The pilot Wufei stood under a gazebo, sword in hand. Slowly, he swung his sword into the proper position, and then sliced it through the air. He launched into a series of furious stabbing attacks. He continued on for ten consecutive minutes, until he slammed the blade deep into a wooden post of the gazebo. Wufei led go of the handle, and his sword remained in the post. He wiped the sweat off his brow, the sat on the bench in the center, elbow on his knees, deep in thought. Wufei turned his head to the right, and stared a certain spot on the bench. Visions flashed before his eyes.

     Not so long ago, a couple of weeks, Relena Dorlain had sat there, stuck in a debate over the state of peace between the Earth and colonies with Wufei. He shook his head in disgust.

  “Woman, you need to open your eyes. Without you, this whole pretense of peace would fall apart. And that means your whole system is weak. The state of politics now is like a theater play. All the politicians, including yourself, are playing the parts needed for the moment. But the moment there is a technical difficulty, it'll all come crashing down, and there will be war once more.”

     Relena laughed quietly, then softly refuted his statement.

  “So you are calling me naïve. I can live with that, though it isn't the truth. But I don't think I will ever prove myself in your eyes, so I won't waste my time. However, please don't make an attack on peace. It is simply not right. I, and many others have gone over the possibility of the world and colonies relying on me, and we have done all we can to prevent it. And from my point of judgment, they are holding themselves together, all the people. You have yet to prove your statement, so I refuse to believe your views. Prove yourself, and maybe I will consider taking you seriously.”

     Wufei was surprised at her confident, headstrong rebuttal. He had been expecting a plea for him to change his ways, but obviously Relena had matured into a powerful diplomat who knew the power she wielded. She wasn't corrupted, but she wasn't afraid to show her advantage in the verbal battlefield. Yet, Wufei's lips curled back into a sneer.

  “You don't take me seriously?” He asked in a dangerous, low voice.

     Relena's reply was simple and light,

  “No, not on this subject. Perhaps I would consider you if I needed advice on Gundams or something.”

     Then, Wufei had pulled out a gun and aimed it at her. He threatened,

  “I'm afraid I can't stand disrespect. It is so dishonourable.”

     Relena laughed loudly, then sighed contentedly.

  “You see NOW I don't take you seriously. You act like a spoiled child who wants his way. Life isn't fair, Wufei. Maybe I should call YOU naïve.”

     Wufei's eyes narrowed considerably.

  “You aren't afraid of being shot? I highly doubt that.”

     Relena gave him a look of utter contempt.

  “Let's just say, I have stared down the barrel of a gun far too many times to be frightened anymore. Besides, you wouldn't shoot such an important figure.”

     The debate was over. She had won. Relena stood, and walked away with a small smile.

Wufei the whispered to himself,

  “You are weak, woman. I don't understand why the people have such faith in you.”

     Wufei got up and turned to that spot where Relena had sat.

  “Relena Dorlain, you were never weak. Not once. You are stronger than I, or the others. I will make sure that justice will be done to honour your memory.”

     Meanwhile, far away… on the planet of Mars, in the mansion of Milliardo Peacecraft…

     Relena Peacecraft walked down the steps, one hand tracing a line on the wall as she made her way down. She wore a red tank top over loose jeans. Her hair seemed weightless, the mane of silvery, wavy platinum tresses rested lightly on her shoulders. When she arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Relena encountered her brother and Lucrezia Noin, with arms crossed.

     Milliardo was entirely at ease with his sister's appearance. Noin's reaction was complete surprise and confusion. She quickly took in Relena's look: hair like Milliardo's, red eyes, pale skin. She noticed how the young woman was rather hesitant to come closer, almost waiting for the verdict. Noin turned to Milliardo and exclaimed,

  “You never told me that your sister was an albino! What, did you forget?”

     Both Relena and her brother relaxed immediately. Relena straightened her shoulders and came down the rest of the stairs. Her brother's face transformed into one with a goofy grin.

     The trio walked to the deserted living room. Noin waited. Milliardo turned to his sister and inquired softly,

  “Are you ready to tell Noin the truth, Lena? I think it's time.”

     Relena nodded her head shakily. The three regarded each other for a moment. Then they all sat down.

     A shy young man got out of his limo. He signaled to the driver to go. The man complied.  He was left alone at the lush green cemetery. It was filled with expensive gravestones of angel, crosses, and every shape imaginable. He knew where he was going, because he had just been here yesterday for the service.  He stopped in front of a small plot of graves: The Peacecrafts, Milliardo Peacecraft and……

Relena. A light drizzle of rain started to fall, but he didn't mind.

     He stared at the large pile of different flowers, teddy bears, and many others. His mind brought the image of Relena's mansion, which had many truckloads worth of flowers and other items. After all, this was a private cemetery.

     By now, his flaxen blonde hair was very wet, and the rain on his face mingled with the now-invisible tears he shed. Quatre ran a hand threw his hair, wiped his face. He then kneeled, and placed a large bouquet of roses in white and red. He stood again, and studied the site. Quatre then spoke, to make his peace.

  “Relena, I really think you know that you are-were my best females friend. I've never met anyone like you, and I'm certain I never will. You were so dedicated to bringing this undeserving world peace, and they assassinate you for it! There are no great being such as yourself left.”

     Quatre sighed, thinking of how Relena wouldn't want her world left in false hands.

  “I may not be as gifted a diplomat as you once were, but I will do everything in my power to keep your ways alive. I give you my word. Goodbye…Relena.”

     Then he turned, and walked away in the rain.

     Duo and Trowa walked side by side down the busy main street of the former Sanq capitol. Neither talked as they normally would, and neither wanted to talk about what the both were thinking. Trowa had just needed to get out, and Duo was looking pretty haggard.

     To tell the truth, Trowa had said his last goodbyes to Relena yesterday, after the funeral. He didn't feel satisfied. Well, Trowa thought, if the whole world came together and made the most spectacular goodbye to Relena, it wouldn't be enough. The loss of such a true and beautiful soul was immeasurable.

     Finally sick of staring at the sidewalk, Trowa tipped his head up, brushing away the strands of hair that fell across his face. His gaze traveled up the skyscrapers they were passing to the sky. Then something caught his eye. He stopped his walk and focused his stare. Duo gave his a strange look.

  “S'up Trowa? What'chu looking at?”

     Trowa looked back at Duo, then silently pointed up where he had been staring. Duo raised his eyes, then his gaze too became fixed. He nodded to Trowa. They both rushed into the building they had stared at. Far up, on the roof, sat Heero.

 

     Heero sat on the roof of some office building, his legs dangling over the side. He felt uneasy without his gun; after debating it, some strange feeling had told him not to replace the missing bullet in his gun, but to destroy the gun itself. He had felt as though the gun carried some disease, he had to get rid of it. Besides, thinking back on it, Heero decided that he wouldn't have wanted to use a gun that had killed Relena Dorlain. He didn't understand why he felt that way, but Heero wasn't trained to understand. He was trained to do what he was told. If his subconscious told him to destroy the gun, he did so. No questions asked.

     There was a sound of metal scraping behind him, which Heero recognized as the roof door opening. He turned slightly, and perceived Duo arrive, followed by Trowa. He could read Duo's expression effortlessly: complete surprise, probably at seeing him. Trowa was a little harder to read, but Heero could make a pretty educated guess that Trowa was experiencing the same bewilderment as Duo. The probability of his guess being correct was 73.8% based on the theory of…

  “Heero!”

     He snapped out of his last thought, glanced at Duo.

  “Where have you been all this time? We should have kept in touch…” Duo trailed off.

     Heero leveled his cold stare to meet Duo's.

  “Around. Everywhere.”

     Trowa was scrutinizing him, watching Heero's expressions. He then turned and addressed to Duo,

  “Of course Heero is here. Everyone is, what with…recent…developments…” Trowa was careful with this touchy subject.

   “But, I didn't see you at the funeral, Heero.” Duo's statement was gentle, yet final. His stare was probing.

     Heero kept his expressionless shield up. He stared at the rooftop, then slowly stood to face them.

  “Just because you can't see me doesn't mean I'm not there.”

     Trowa simply studied him. Duo was silently annoyed.

`What an idiot, that guy! He's acting like it was a worthless Leo suit or something that is gone. He is exactly like he used to be. Doesn't he grow, or mature? Imagine talking about the one you love like that! Of course, he probably doesn't even realize that he loved her…' Duo spoke,

  “Why didn't you just show up like the rest of us? Y'know, be normal..”

     Heero's stare felt like Duo was being interrogated himself. But he waited for an answer, while trying to keep an edge out of his voice, and speaking his mind.

  “No need to. Besides, it was, too…risky.”

     Duo looked up in confusion.

  “Risky! How is attending Relena's funeral risky? You know, your attitude is…”

     Duo was now staring at Trowa as he trailed off. Trowa looked absolutely amazed, and there was another emotion there too. Like he had come onto some epiphany, but was angry at the same time.

     Heero and Trowa's eyes locked. They stared each other down like they were shooting bullets. If looks could kill, both of them would be dead. Then, Trowa spoke,

  “It…was…you, wasn't it? Who…killed…her.”

     Suddenly, though only for a second, Heero's mask broke with the unexpected blow. For one moment, Trowa could see into the real Heero. But then his mask closed up, into a pensive, tortured look. Duo was flabbergasted. But then, he was infuriated.

     Relena's smooth, impassive face was staring at the carpet. It was actually a very beautiful carpet, with very intricate detailing…

     Milliardo was studying Noin's face, which was one of complete and utter disbelief. She was completely overcome by what she had been told. She struggled to find words. She finally managed to get out,

  “You're…not human…”

  Relena looked up from her analysis of the carpet's value and confirmed this remark. Noin quickly absorbed what she had been told and composed herself. On to the next question.

  “Relena, how exactly did you get here, though?”

     She shrugged indifferently, then proceeded to summarize her `escape'.

  “I was brought to the morgue. We explained to you that we don't have a need to breathe for a total of 3 hours max. I cut my pulse to fake death. Once left alone at the morgue, I got up, and set everything up, the fake body and stuff.”

     Noin gave a questioning look.

  “I knew beforehand that I was supposed to be shot at my speech, so I prepared an artificial duplicate of myself and stored it at the morgue. Once everything was done, I left for a hidden clearing I know of in the forest behind my mansion. I had left a shuttle there, and I took off and flew here. The rest…well, you know…”

     She nodded, taking everything in. Relena watched her.

  “You won't…tell anyone, will you?” Relena looked worried.

     Noin smiled and shook her head.

  “Of course not. You are my new best friend, so we have LOADS to talk about.”

     Relena smiled, and sighed with relief. But her brother glanced at Noin, who noticed, then they both stared at Relena, their faces serious and somber.

  “Relena…” began her brother, but then both he and Noin asked at the same time,

  “Do you know WHO shot you?”

     Relena stared at them almost incomprehensively, then shivered. She shook her head slowly, then got up and walked out of the room to have breakfast.

  “HOW DARE YOU EVEN ALLOW SUCH A THOUGHT TO COME ACROSS YOUR MIND?! YOU ARE THE MOST DESPICABLE CREATURE TO EVER BE GIVEN LIFE! TO TAMPER WITH SUCH A PERFECT AND WONDERFUL PERSON IS THE WORST THING YOU COULD HAVE EVER DONE!”

     Duo shouted profanities in his rage over the discovery of Heero being Relena's assassin. He had launched himself at Heero, before Trowa had grabbed hold of Duo and (at least tried) to restrain him. Trowa knew very well that Heero had the advantage over Duo in combat.

     Heero, however, did nothing. He watched Duo rage, and his attempts to free himself from Trowa to no avail. Finally Duo stopped struggling and Trowa tentatively let go. Duo brushed himself off, then decreed,

  “Of course, the most horrible part is that you don't even make an attempt to deny it. You are the furthest down on the spectrum.”

     Duo spat near to Heero's feet. Trowa was silent, then inquired softly, his voice full of pain,

  “Why, Heero? Why did you do it?”

     Heero turned, and stared at the sky. He sighed quietly. Both Trowa and Duo waited patiently for his explanation for his terrible deed.

  “A week and a half before her death, **Heero couldn't say Relena's name** I was contacted by a man who held some position in the Earth Sphere United Nation. Though I tried to track him down, his cloaking was impeccable, and I couldn't find him. He gave me an ultimatum: either assassinate her, or he would fire the laser from a satellite he had orbiting the Earth. He threatened to fire on the Sanq capitol, where she was giving her speech, therefore killing millions of others aside from her.”

  “Are you sure he wasn't just bluffing?” Trowa interjected.

  “He demonstrated the power of the satellite's laser on a runaway asteroid. I first tried to destroy the satellite instead, but it too was cloaked, so I couldn't do anything but what he said.” Heero examined the sky as he talked.

  “Nonetheless, you are such a” Duo started to talk but Heero cut in, whirling,

  “It was her life, or hers and millions of others. What would you have chosen?”

     Trowa was unconsciously surprised at Heero's sudden display of emotion. The information Heero gave sunk in for a moment. Then Duo rushed forward and punched Heero, clean across the jaw. Trowa cringed at the thought of Heero's reaction, but instead, Heero did nothing. He just stared at Duo, however, there was no anger in his eyes.

`Time to wrap this up before things get even nastier,' Trowa decided. Before he could talk, Duo demanded,

  “Give me the information that you have on this guy. I'll find him if you can't.”

     Heero's Prussian blue eyes were blazing at that demand. Trowa could tell that Heero wanted to make sure that if they ever found this guy, it would be him taking the revenge.

  “Duo, let's go. The others will start to wonder what's up. That will lead to questions.”

     Heero's eyes locked with Trowa's, asking his question.

  “And no, we won't say anything. You have our word.”

     The Perfect Soldier nodded, his expressionless mask back up. He turned, and once again studied the sky. He heard the scrape of the door as they left, leaving him alone once more. Heero felt unsatisfied. Deep down. He had wanted Duo to hit him, harder, and more times. He felt he deserved the punishment, for what he had done. Once again, Heero was left to be tortured by his own soul.

     Ambassador Maxwell Pavey from the section of Northern North America sat at his desk, reading a newspaper. He had tears in his eyes. But unlike most of the population, his tears were not from sadness. He finished reading the article on Relena Dorlain's death. He was laughing uncontrollably out of happiness. Everything was falling into place, and the vermin Peacecraft had been exterminated. The intercom on his desk sounded with the voice of his secretary.

  “Mr. Pavey, it is time for your meeting with ESUN representatives from Colony L3, sir.”

     Wiping his eyes with a tissue, Pavey got up and grabbed his briefcase. He glanced once more at the article, then, chuckling, he left his office.

***Tah dah! Done! Yes, I know *groan* not a lot happened. But I have to set the scene for the whole saga, so please excuse me. And YES, I also know that I skipped the explaining of Relena's `not being human' but that will come pretty soon, so don't get frustrated. You can't put all the info into one chapter, you know.  Action will start to really take off in the next two chapters, so don't give up on me! But let me give you a little info on the romance factor.

  The HYxRP couple is the center of the universe in this. I'm warning that it'll be gradual, though. I want to keep Heero in character as much as possible to make this believable. Also, I'm adding a little slice of other couples too, including SPxWC, and DMxHS. I'm not too clear if there will be others, though. You've been forewarned!

  Well, although I'm only 2 chapters in…please e-mail me! You know, with anything: flames, advices, insights, or just your opinion. I take it all into account! Yes, even flames help out!

PS: I'm wondering if I should do a lemon chapter when the time comes. Do you think that's a good idea? Mail me with your answers, because I'm undecided… Hmmmm…..

Love you all,

Firey Angelwings