Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Revenge of the Heart ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: No I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. Don't sue me the university has taken all my money.

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Revenge of the Heart

Chapter One

"I don't care how you do it just please get it taken care of. We can't have this deal slip through our fingers because some hot shot at LemcoTech is dragging his feet in the hope of getting a better deal. Now I want that contract on my desk first thing tomorrow morning ready to sign is that clear?" Quatre Reberba Winner said rather heatedly into the phone. His colleague on the other end of the line assured him that his orders would be executed immediately. "Good." Said Quatre relaxing a little. "I knew you could handle it."

Quatre hung up the phone and sat staring silently ahead at nothing in particular for a moment. Then he let his head fall to the massive wooden desk with a loud THUD. "Mmmph." He groaned. "This is too much, I shouldn't have to be going through this. These are supposed to be the years when you are enjoying your youth to the fullest and not caring about the future." He smiled at his thought. "Now I'm sounding like Duo." He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of the phone ringing. "Please don't let this be what I think it is." He begged as he lifted his head and reached for the phone. "I've had enough of this LemcoTech merger to last me a life time. Hello, This is Quatre." He said making his voice cheerful.

"Hi Quatre. I was calling to see if you had plans for this evening." Came a honey sounding voice from the other end of the line. Quatre froze when he recognized it as belonging to Lucille Channing, a young woman he had dated a few times.

"Hello Lucille. Tonight huh, I thing I might have something scheduled already, let me check my calendar." Quatre looked frantically around his office for anything that would give him an idea for an excuse to avoid Lucille and her outstretched claws. His blue-green eyes fell upon a picture of his sister Iria and her little girl, Tania, sitting on a park bench in the spring. "Oh, sorry Lucille, I can't make it, Iria is bringing Tania over to visit tonight and we're all going to have a little family picnic."

"Umm, that's no problem what time will you be finished? I've got tickets to the opera for the 9:00 show. It's one of your favorites you know, Faust." Lucille purred.

"Well it's hard to say. We haven't seen each other for a couple of months and I think she had planned on staying the night." Quatre said lamely.

"That's too bad. I was really hoping you could make it. Oh, and I worked so hard to get those tickets at the last minute too. But that's all right I guess. Wonderful man that you are, I know you'll make it up to me won't you?" Quatre could hear the sweetness dripping from her voice and grimaced.

"Oh I'm sure I'll manage to work something out." He said an statement of helplessness covered his face and chose to end the conversation. "Lucille, I'm so sorry but I've got another call coming in. Probably about that big merger I told you about. I really need to take it."

"You're working much too hard, Quatre, you really should relax more often. Call me if there's any way that you can make it to the opera alright?" Lucille said, a twinge of disappointment evident in her tone.

"I will if I can, take care now!" Quatre rushed out and hung up the phone. He heaved a sigh. Nothing had gone right today. Just like nothing had gone right all week or month for that matter.

It seemed that nothing had been going Quatre's way for quite some time now. When he had taken over Winner Corporation and its vast resources it had seemed easy. He had only been 15 but what did that matter? He had been a Gundam pilot in the war for Allah's sake! He had seen his father butchered, 5 of his beloved sisters killed, his friends wounded, and he himself had done some pretty unforgivable things. Taking over a multibillion dollar company had been a walk in the park for Quatre.

For the first few years, things had run smoothly. Partly due to the fact that his precious sister Iria had been there to help him and encourage him when things got rough. But Iria had gotten married three years ago to her childhood sweetheart Joshua, and her daughter followed soon after. At first, she had tried to take care of her little brother, help run the business, and care for her new family all at the same, but it was soon obvious that it was exhausting her and she had to make a choice. Quatre had made it for her. "I'm 17 now, Iria" He had said "I'm a man and I think it's finally time you gave up trying to raise me. I'm finished. You can't make any more improvements if you tried now go and take care of that beautiful baby girl you have and that wonderful husband!" Iria had smiled and given him the most crushing hug he had ever received. Four weeks later she had resigned from Winner Corp. And had moved all of her and her family's belongings out of the huge Winner Mansion on Earth and caught the first shuttle to the L4 colony. Where she and Joshua were both set up with new jobs and lives.

While he was happy for his sister and her new family, it didn't suppress the lonely feeling he had deep inside his soul. Even with Rashid and all the other Maguanacs running through the huge palace he called home it still felt empty. His sisters had tried setting him up with numerous young women, all very attractive and single but they had all been the same. He knew that there were rumors about him in various tabloids and the occasional talk show joke but he just couldn't find the right one. It wasn't as if he hadn't been trying! There had been a few that had been very close. Corrine Smythe had seemed perfect. She was well educated and came from the right family, she had an interest in music though she played no instruments; she had been very understanding of his beliefs towards peace and pacifism, and was the first woman Quatre made love to. But in the end when they both examined their feeling towards each other they realized that they could never be anything more than very good friends.

After Corrine, there had been a few others whom he had promptly forgotten when he realized they were nothing more than beautiful faces covering a skull full of air. Lucille Channing was just such a woman as well. When he had first met her she seemed like a good possibility for something meaningful. They seemed to have the exact same interests in everything. She was an expert pianist, flutist, and was quickly mastering the harp; she hated to see any living thing in pain, and was devoted to the cause of galactic peace. But after going out with her a few times he realized that the woman had no mind of her own. Anything he said she quickly agreed with. If he asked her what her stand on a certain issue was and then told her he didn't agree she rapidly found a way to recant her earlier statement so that it did not conflict with his ideals. While it was certainly interesting to have a person that agreed with everything you believe he couldn't stand the thought of even considering a future with a woman who had all the common sense of a toggle switch. Now he was reduced to giving excuses for not seeing her every time she called and hoping she could take a hint. Though it irked him to no end that his meaning didn't seem to get through her thick head, he couldn't stand the idea of hurting her through rejection.

As if his love life, or lack of one, wasn't bad enough the latest merger of Winner Corp. was seemingly going down the drain. He had began negotiations with the struggling company of LemcoTech over a year ago and at that time, they seemed more than willing to join Quatre's company. It was the best thing that could happen to them. Their nearly bankrupt company would be bought out, the CEO and various other directors could retire in comfort and all of the employees could keep their jobs. But now someone high in the ranks of LemcoTech was stalling to see how much he could get out of the deal.

Quatre sighed again as he thought of how the man was probably figuring he could get a lousy 5% more added to his settlement before the deal went through. "Fat chance." Quatre thought and stood up from his chair to stretch. He shrugged off his dark blue sport coat and walked over to the corner window that looked out on the vastness of the city. The window faced the west so that he could watch the sun setting into the ocean that stretched for miles beyong the coastal city of earth. The sun was already beginning to turn the sky the different shades of pink, blue, orange, red, and yellow that signaled one of the usual glorious sunsets he loved so much, even though it was hours before the sun would disappear into the cobalt ocean. "Earth. How beautiful you truly are." He thought. It never ceased to amaze him how the Earth never seemed to dull.

He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall as he let the heat from the blazing yellow-orange sphere wash over him and soak into his bones. But in spite of its warmth he felt a chill in the pit of his stomach. Instinctively, he opened his eyes and frowned. Leaning closer to the window he stared down at the street that ran in front of the Winner Corp. office building. From 98 stories up the people and cars that hurried to and fro looked like microscopic dots and he couldn't tell one from the other. But still he looked searching for something. He could feel it. What was it though? He closed his eyes and concentrated all his empathic powers into his search. It wasn't the first time he had felt it.

It had started over a year ago. At first it had frightened him. He had never imagined that so much of a dark presence could be concentrated in one person. No, that wasn't right. It wasn't a presence; it was a feeling, an intention. But try hard as he might he could never pin it down he could never even tell where it was directed. His first thought was that it had been towards him but as he had tried to distinguish what he sensed it seemed to become fuzzy and misdirected. After a month or two he decided that perhaps it didn't mean anything at all. For all he knew it could be coming from some unhappy office worker in the next building over. But still… It concerned him that he always felt it only once or twice a day, and it was always outside. He had felt it this morning when he had gotten out of his car. It was always there on the street. He had scanned repeatedly over and over every time but there was never a person there that it might be issuing from. He tried to concentrate harder and then in a moment it was gone. He gasped and opened his eyes. That happened every time. "Why?" He asked aloud. But of course, no answer came.

Uneasily, Quatre walked away from the window and reached for his sport coat. He shrugged it on and hoped it would drive away the chill as he sat back down to his desk. "Time to get some work done." He thought and reached for a stack of paperwork. His hand stilled in mid-air and he redirected it to the intercom on his desk. Pressing a button he spoke in a clear voice to his secretary, "Rachel?"

"Yes Mr. Winner?" Came the pleasant, elderly voice.

"From now on when Lucille Channing calls, would you please tell her I'm in a meeting or am otherwise indisposed?"

"Yes Mr. Winner. I'll see to that from now on."

Quatre smiled to himself as he clicked the com off. "That should solve everything." He said and went for the paperwork again.

Below on the busy city street another person gave a cold and calculating smile as she looked high up into the sky at the floor where she knew Quatre's office was and felt a surge of anticipation.

"Soon." She said and her smile grew wider, "Very, Very, soon." And she turned and walked away.