Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ It Never Happened ❯ Chapter 2

It Never Happened

chapter 2

by Iris Anthe

 

 

He watched her walk, proud and stiff down the main ascent of the palace with Noin. Her fear was contained, and her will resolved.

 

-----

 

He'd left her before dawn, after sharing a few dreamless hours of sleep in her bed. He'd thought to leave earlier, but succumbed to the safety he found in her warmth and the silent flux of her breath against his shoulder. It was the sweetest sleep he could remember. Four hours later, his internal clock betrayed him, opening his eyes, and bringing an end to this one night of happiness in his miserable life. He breathed in the scent of her sleep covered skin, and tried his best to detach himself without waking her. She woke at his first movement.

 

She stretched against him, momentarily distracting him as the memory of pleasure washed through him. He squeezed his eyes shut, and moved away from her on the bed. She let out a sleepy protest, and then came fully awake.

 

To his dismay, she reached for the bedside lamp, and before he could stop her they were both blinking into the sudden assault of yellow light. His eyes adjusted quickly, and he located his clothing littering the floor beside her bed. She watched him dress from under the blanket, her knees tucked up under her chin and her arms hugging her sides. She seemed impossibly small tucked into the edge of her bed, the pale pools of her eyes glittering as she watched his every motion.

 

“Heero.”

 

He glanced at her and continued to dress. She sighed quietly, her brows furrowing as her thoughts turned inward. He had to distance himself. He had to start now.

 

“Heero, I tried to kill Lady Une in Moscow to avenge my father's murder.”

 

He paused, holding a sock in his left hand. Was she confessing her sins? He already knew about her little assassination attempt.

 

“And yet, because she lived, she became sympathetic to your cause, and is probably the reason you survived your time at the lunar base.”

 

Unpredictable as ever. She looked up at him as he stood quietly at the edge of her bed.

 

“And when you were fighting Zechs Marquise, and I thought he was going to try to kill you dishonorably, I really wanted you to kill him. I really did. But then it turned out that he was my brother, and that he had spent his entire life since the murder of our family fighting to avenge their deaths and protecting me, without my ever knowing he even existed.”

 

What was she getting at? Why was she telling him this?

 

“And now he is working as a delegate of the Sanq Kingdom to bring about peace negotiations and unity in the colonies. If he had died; if you had killed him, he would not be a force of good today, and I would have lost a brother I hardly remember. It seems like people fight in this war for so many reasons; for power, for peace, for vengeance, to serve, to protect. But every time someone is killed, the cycle continues, and the possibility that each person has of one day becoming a better person and contributing to the beauty of the world...that hope is extinguished and the future is dimmed.”

 

He found himself unreasonably angry at her for being so blind to reality. “Relena, your ideals are not practical. Sometimes you have to stop a person, bright future or not from doing harm in the present.”

 

She sat up taller in the bed, love and anger burning in her eyes, regal even in this naked, helpless state.

 

“I'm going to make a world where you won't have to carry that burden anymore, Heero.”

 

Damn her, she wasn't making this easy. He sat down on the edge of her bed, his back to her, and began lacing up his boots.

 

-----

 

Dorothy and her golden stretch limo pulled up, and the sycophantic ice queen managed to separate Relena from Noin's protection. It's beginning. They're isolating you, Relena. Do you realize that? Your innocence is your death, Relena. But then again, it is your strength.

 

Relena turned around, seeming to respond to his thoughts, and there with all the world watching they shared the secret of their connection, though he doubted greatly if anyone understood.

 

“Heero, I want you to make me a promise. Don't leave here without telling me first.”

 

You mean, don't die without you? I will think of you as I go, Relena. He gave her a nod.

 

Dorothy was visibly filled with disdain at the little exchange.

 

“We should be on our way, Miss Relena.”

 

She gave him one last look over her shoulder.

 

“Let's go.”

 

And she was gone. Heero turned and walked towards the mansion, ignoring Quatre's protests as he ran behind.

 

“Are you going to just let her go there? As far as Romafeller's concerned, this country's ideas are dangerous. Who knows what they might do to her. Heero!”

 

He knew exactly what they would do to her, but she had made her choice, and he'd made his.

 

-----

 

His boots were tied, his gun was stable in the small of his back. Physically he was ready to leave. But she had him tied to her with invisible threads so frail that cutting them seemed like it ought to be an easy thing, but they had wormed their way into his very soul. Cutting them completely would kill him. He turned half expecting to see a webwork of pulsing lines, pulling him in. Her head was turned away from him, resting on her blanket covered knees. The soft honey sheath of her hair draped across her shoulder. He found it difficult to look at her.

 

“Relena, this is the only way I can help. I'm a fighting machine that wants only vengeance and perfection. I complete every mission assigned to me, and feel nothing but rage. I came to the earth to destroy. Dr. J merely pointed me where he wanted me to go and I took it from there. You think you see something more in me, but I am a murderer. There are no more assignments; I make my own missions now. I'm going to go help the Treize faction fight Romafeller in Luxembourg while you meet with the ruling council. I honestly don't think either of us will survive. But if we do, I will protect you.”

 

She didn't turn her head towards him as she replied, instead listlessly letting it hang on her knees. “You'll protect me, even though you won't remember this night?”

 

He walked around to the other side of the bed, forcing himself into her line of vision. There was a line of tears working its way across the bridge of her nose to mingle with more wetness on the cheek pressed against her blanket-covered knee. Despite himself he sat down on the bed next to her, and gathered her into his arms. Holding her without the cover of darkness made his mind scream in alarm, but this was what he had to do. Slowly her knees fell and her body turned into his embrace as her arms came up to encircle his ribs.

 

“Heero, please, tell me why I have to make believe this never happened. Why should I deny this?”

 

What if we live? What if today is not our day to die? “Relena, if we both survive today, then our night together could only be a mistake and nothing more.”

 

She pulled away from him and locked his eyes with her own. “But why, Heero? I don't understand. If you could just tell me why, I'd never ask again.”

 

“Because Relena, thinking of you when I fight is only a distraction, and distractions can get me killed. And you will be having your own battles soon, and if you are thinking about me, then you will make the wrong choices.”

 

She stared at him silently for a few seconds, considering his words, and then slowly shook her head from side to side with a small sad upturn of her mouth. “You're wrong, Heero. Thinking about you has led me to make the best choices in my life. But I understand that I could be a liability to you. I don't believe that you will erase me from your mind, but I will do my best not to distract you. I will hold on to your strength for as long as I live.”

 

-----

 

Quatre followed him down into the secret mobile suit hangar Noin had set up under the palace.

 

“Heero what are you trying to do?”

 

“A large number of mobile dolls are expected to arrive in Luxembourg.”

 

“What?”

 

Heero brought up the tactical plans he'd hacked into on the Romafeller intelligence net.

 

“The Treize Faction's headquarters are in Luxembourg. It looks like Romafeller's going to crush them all at once.”

 

“They're going to send this many mobile dolls to Earth? Even Luxembourg won't have a chance.”

 

“Once the battle's won, those mobile dolls will be dispersed across the world.”

 

Heero considered changing into his normal battle clothes of spandex and tank top, but decided to honor Relena's school of peace by wearing her uniform into battle instead. He got onto the lift to his Gundam. Quatre realized what he was doing, and predictably became even more agitated.

 

-----

 

There's nothing I can do to save her. They're going to kill her. “You're so helpless, Relena.”

 

She arched an eyebrow at his remark and drew herself up, causing his lips to quirk upwards with her as she slipped past him and out of the bed. Standing naked before him, her skin developed ripples of goose bumps in the early morning chill. “Speak for yourself, Heero. I am not going to die that easily.”

 

She was tempting him, baiting him with her body to stay a little longer. Always a battle of wills with her. She was amazing. He grinned at her as she stood with her hands on her hips, and the sight of him grinning sent a shiver across her body. He noticed a number of bite marks and bruises along her torso and neck and felt his body quicken at the thought of his marks upon her skin. He wondered if he shared the same markings, or if his accelerated healing had already erased them. Never before had he felt this sensation of ownership for anything or anyone. But he knew that she was his now and she was signed with his teeth to prove it.

 

“So, you're not impervious.” She was staring at his groin with an echoing grin spreading across her face.

 

He got up and stood nearly touching her, her breasts stretching to chafe against the fabric of his tank top with her every breath. “No, I'm not impervious, but I am leaving.”

 

She transmitted her defeat through her gaze and then smiled sadly.

 

“Good-bye, Heero. I love you.”

 

He turned and walked around the bed to the balcony window. He drank in the sight of her one last time and then leapt into the pre-dawn darkness, feeling that he could fly if he wanted to.

 

-----

 

“Uh? You're crazy. Even you can't defeat so many mobile dolls by yourself. If you're going, then I'm going with you.”

 

“No, you stay here.”

 

“But why?”

 

“You can't afford to get killed at this stage of the game, not until you find Trowa.”

 

So predictable. He knew that would shut Quatre up. He didn't look back as he flew off towards Luxembourg.

 

“What's going on here, Quatre. Where's Heero?”

 

“Heero's made a decision. He's going to battle where he has the least chance of survival.”