Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Survival ❯ Deception ( Chapter 22 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Deception

Okay, so… right, new chapter.

July 7th 197 - Friday - Brussels

David Mitchell grimaced as his superior looked up from his desk, knowing he didn't have exactly great news. He was hardly displeased by it, of course, but it would be strange if a man loyal to the Peacecraft Regime was happy about a mostly failed mission.

Lee motioned for him to begin his debriefing, so he launched into a detailed explanation about how they had only managed to capture approximately a quarter of Dekim's men, and that the head of the Barton Foundation had been found dead upon their arrival. A few other men had been shot down as well, and to the best of their knowledge conditions were not as they had expected due to an internal disagreement. The basis of the disagreement was still unknown, but they should know before long.

“And the girl?”

“Nowhere to be found, sir,” Mitchell explained with another grimace. “What may have been an escape pod exited immediately upon our arrival, and it's possible that she might have been on board. Our men are searching the rest of the colony for her now, but the pod has yet to send out an emergency signal, so it was likely preprogrammed for a specific destination. So far, everyone who has been questioned seems to be confused that she was not asleep in her room.” He had no news from Treize yet, but he fervently hoped that she was with her father instead of alone at some random destination. He had orchestrated a completely thorough search of Dekim's compound, and while they had found definite signs of her presence, they had had no luck finding the child. “She might also be with the other three quarters of the men, sir, provided they did not simply disperse and return to normal life.”

“You believe that is a possibility?” the other man demanded.

“They decided they no longer wished to go through with Dekim's plans, sir. At this point in time, I am unwilling to disregard any possibility as to their motives.”

As expected, General Lee looked less than pleased. He accepted the verbal debriefing, however, gave a time he expected the written report, and informed the colonel that he wished to immediately be informed of any progress with the prisoners. Mitchell saluted and excused himself; it was better to get the story down on paper before the details began to escape him. Also, he wanted it solidified in his head, and Campbell and Thorly needed to see it as well, just to double back and make sure they didn't get their stories mixed up at any point in the future. It was better to forget the real details as much as possible and memorize the reported ones, when trying at this kind of deception. He would pass on the report to Váli, who had the job of notifying Treize when it was all said and done, though that had to be done more subtly, as he would have no business knowing the information. Most who took on that particular role never read what was sent simply for their own integrity. If you didn't know anything you weren't supposed to, it was hard to be identified as disloyal.

He disliked any of this sneaky business… he honestly didn't have the head for it, he was sure. He thought he might have seen something else as he was coming in, but that was for his true leader alone to know, the next time he was sure the information was absolutely secure, which would mean passing it along with the report to Treize.

He could hardly wait until Relena was in charge instead of Zechs… a great deal of things might change, then, for the better. She also didn't have the same fear of separate factions as her brother, which would make it easier to approach her, eventually. Personally, he thought that she was safe to approach now, but others didn't agree with him, and it was far too dangerous to other people if they were right and he wrong. So, the princess had to stay in the dark about their faction's presence for now. Others were at work on determining how trustworthy she was, and how friendly she might be toward other groups, but that sort of evaluation took time.

He wasn't in that sort of position of power, he knew, because he lacked the necessary patience for it. He was good at what he did, however, and he was proud of that… and took every opportunity he could to do his best. A successful, healthy revolution required all sorts of people, he knew, and he had his own role to play. Not many had so many combat skills as he did, and he enjoyed his job, for all that it would be better if he could go over Lee's head.

And Relena was working on that, amusingly enough. It still might not happen until they experienced some kind of disaster, but she honestly saw the point in putting together the strike force, which had seemed odd at first, with her history of pacifism. Treize didn't have the people necessary for the job, and he also couldn't afford the attention that such a force would attract, but if it was made and he led it, or was at least in a high position on it, their network would more than double in terms of trouble hotspots. Also, now that she had the RLTT funding, their princess was putting together reconstruction programs one after another that had actual promise, according to Jake. He wasn't passing the details along to him before they were released to the public, but he trusted his friend's judgment.

Annoying paper to write up and secrets to keep in check or no, it probably wouldn't be too bad of a day. Provided, he had every intention of going to sleep after he finished his work, but Jake had offered to let him crash in his room so that he wouldn't have to deal with the noise in the barracks, and he could sleep as long and deeply as he liked in the blackout area. After that he could find lunch, and he had the rest of the day free, so he might find something more worthwhile than paperwork to do. He wasn't sure what yet… but he could make up his mind after he'd slept.

***

Vilnius, Lithuania

Heero bit his lip, not entirely sure what to do. Mariemaia was taking a hot shower to warm up in the hotel room he had gotten them, and he had taken the jeans and slippers down establishment's laundry room and thrown them in the dryer. He could put her in one of his sweaters with her little tank top when she got out, but after that…

The problem with following your heart was that it meant acting on impulse sometimes, and he really had no plan to speak of. She had needed help… so he'd helped. Beyond that, he was clueless. He wasn't even sure if he was supposed to feed her or immediately take her to the police station… which would be unnerving at best.

How had she gotten to Lithuania, anyway?

The water turned off, and he frowned, looking at his watch. “We still have ten minutes before your clothes are dry,” he called softly. “So you might want to just get back in for a while.” Eastern Europe wasn't a pleasant place to be unless you were completely dry and fully clothed; it had been like that even before the crash. He frowned, though; if she got back in, it would be longer before they could go back out and get this mess taken care of because her hair would take a while to dry. “Wait,” he called quickly, digging through his bag and digging for one of the pairs of leggings he wore under his jeans in this weather. They would be big, but the extra fabric could just be scrunched. Having come across them and realizing they might also be a good idea, he grabbed a pair of socks before knocking on the door with one finger. “You can wear these until your jeans are dry.”

The door opened a crack and he turned his head away, reaching his hand in and proffering up the clothes. She took them and he pulled his hand back, allowing the door to shut. After a moment, she softly said, “Thank-you.”

She said that a lot, it seemed like. He shrugged a little uncomfortably, sitting down against the wall by the bathroom door. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, very much.” He could hear her getting dressed.

He nodded a little to himself, absently massaging his bad leg. She was quiet for a while… and for some reason, the silence seemed… awkward. He would have ignored that, generally, but… “After you're okay again… what do we do?” She didn't answer right away, and he tried to find the words to explain it… “Am I supposed to take you to the police station?” He was pretty sure what Dr. J had done with him wasn't appropriate, but he had asked if he wanted to be a gundam pilot, and he had agreed, so it wasn't like it hadn't been fair or anything.

The door opened, and she peered wide eyed at him. “I can't go to the police,” she negated quickly, though her voice was still soft.

He blinked. That hadn't been the response he was expecting… but a tiny bit of relief ran through him at it. “Well… what do we do, then?”

She gave him a confused look. “I… I don't know.”

He found himself looking back at her with an equally confused one for a moment. Wasn't a normal lost child supposed to want to go home? He hadn't had a home, so that had been different… The closest thing he had had been Odin, but he'd died. “Won't the police be able to take you home?” he asked curiously. He wouldn't know, really… but he had thought they took care of that. If they didn't, then surely she had to know who did.

She swallowed. “You can't trust Peacecraft,” she blurted after a moment, flushing.

He nodded agreeably at that, considering. He certainly couldn't go to the police for help, but… “He shouldn't notice a colony girl wanting to go home,” he muttered finally. Going in to the station seemed like a worse and worse idea the more he thought about it. “I could drop you off outside and… you have relatives that will vouch for you, don't you?”

Mariemaia's eyes narrowed. “Why don't you want to go in?”

He grimaced, thinking about how to say it. “I don't want any attention from Peacecraft,” he said eventually.

Her look was incredulous. “And you think I do?”

“He shouldn't pose a threat to you,” Heero explained, glaring at her until she stopped looking at him like he was stupid.

She frowned, looking away. Heero frowned too, wondering what she was thinking about. Despite the condition he had found her in, she was quickly proving that she was quite smart.

“You fought against him as a soldier?” she finally asked.

Her eyes were more curious than anything, but that was a very dangerous question. He continued to simply look at her, hoping she would continue.

The girl crossed her arms and returned his look with a somewhat annoyed one. She soon lost her patience and shook her head, however. “You're from the colonies, aren't you? You fought for the colonies but not with White Fang?”

She had deduced that far too fast for his liking. However, if she had decided that much, and obviously didn't want anything to do with even the Earth's police… “I was part of Operation Meteor,” he admitted after a moment, watching for her reaction carefully. Children were… decidedly odd, he was realizing.

Her eyes went wide again, and she seemed to be having a hard time breathing… “Did you know my uncle, Trowa Barton?”

Trowa… But the Trowa he had met during the war hadn't been the real Trowa Barton any more than he was the real Heero Yuy. “No. I was…” He frowned again, looking at her. If she was Trowa Barton's niece, then she was a Barton. He had no idea why a Barton child would be on Earth, but she obviously knew a bit about Operation M. And…

She was staring at him half scared, looking ready to run… but her eyes were full of hope. He let out an inner sigh; he'd said enough already. “I was in a different division. The L1 cluster.”

She looked disappointed, but nodded, looking up at him seriously. “I can't go back… my grandfather will find me. He wants to stop supporting Earth… I don't know why he wants me, but… I ran away.”

That would explain the way she was dressed, to be sure. It also made the situation far touchier than he had originally thought… if she was found, she would be in trouble in a likely extreme way, from his experience with Dekim Barton. The Barton Foundation was… often unpleasant. And if she had been used as a figurehead before, Zechs would want to keep her locked up where no one could find her and use her again.

They were alike… They both needed to stay on the run, now. “I'm trying to find a friend,” he began slowly. “Someone else from Meteor. …You can come with me, if you want.”

Her eyes first lit up brightly, then she sobered as she seemed to consider it more seriously; that was a good sign. She really was intelligent… just excitable, maybe. He glanced to his watch. “I need to go get your clothes… They should be dry.”

As he went back down to the laundry room, he started going over how they would manage it in his head. They would have to find her more clothes… which meant staying in town a longer than he had wanted. He sighed. He was going to have to pick up Wufei's scent again instead of being practically on top of him… but he'd likely fallen back into that position when he decided to help her out on the street, and he'd known that then. They would only get one or two changes of clothes and warm things for now… She had probably left a trail leading straight to Vilnius, it would be better to move before the search came down on them. And people really would be looking for her, so they had to do something about that.

He brushed his bangs out of his eyes as he came down the last of the stairs, and realized what might be an ideal solution. Quickly gathering up the jeans, he realized the slippers were still no good, and set the dryer to run them again. Folding the pants neatly, he set a brisk walk out of the hotel and into the convenience store a few meters down the street. They had sandwiches and fruit, and a few other things, which he put on the counter, paying quickly before returning to the hotel room.

Mariemaia looked up at him, seeming determined as he entered. “I want to go with you,” she told him simply. “But after we find your friend… can we find my mother?”

He frowned. “You don't know where she is?”

She looked down. “We never lived together… She was doing her residency on L3-X14683, but she finished winter before last… Her number was just on speed-dial and she always came to me, so I didn't ask where she'd started working.” She shrugged a little. “I guess I was upset… But I don't know how to find her, unless I could find Meagan, she always took care of me, but she won't be there anymore… Grandfather said he sold the house.”

That made sense, he guessed. It wasn't something he could have gone without knowing, but… children were odd. “We can look for her,” he agreed. “But I won't be able to take you to her until after we've caught Wufei.”

She blinked, curiosity lighting up her eyes again. “We're chasing him?”

“He doesn't know we're looking for him,” he agreed, feeling himself smile again. She just.. was sweet. It was like Relena all over again, in a way… only it was different. And there was something nice about saying `we' instead of thinking `I'. “And he's running from some other people, so he doesn't know he keeps missing me.”

“Oh…” She looked thoughtful for a moment, her eyes brightening. “Wufei Chang? The gundam pilot?”

His smile stretched itself somehow as he nodded. She practically bounced… and he added, “I was one too.”

She gasped, looking him up and down, biting her lip in concentration, so he explained, “My code name was Heero Yuy.” They were comrades now, in a way… and she was smart enough that she wouldn't tell what she shouldn't. It was almost like a weight was being lifted off of him, even though he knew managing everything with her was probably going to be harder.

He felt oddly like when he had rescued Duo, after deciding to kill him in his cell because he was a liability. It was much more trouble… But he didn't mind for some reason. “I'm going by Odin Lowe, now,” he explained, pulling two boxes of hair color from the grocery bag, two different but similar shades of blonde.

She understood immediately, he could see it in her expression. “Which one?” she asked curiously.

“Whichever you like better; I'll use the other when mine starts growing out more.” The choosing things was something Moira had insisted on often enough when he was staying with the Sronas, and since he knew so little about the girl, it had seemed like a good idea.

She grinned broadly at him, pointing at the brighter one, and he nodded, setting the other one on the room's desk. “You're my brother now, right?”

Sharp girl. “You need a different name,” he said in agreement, opening the box and setting up the kit. They would have to wait for her hair to dry before they could dye it, but it was almost there already. “Something close to your old one is best.”

She thought about that for a moment, then grinned broadly at him. “Marlé,” she decided. “Marlé Leia Lowe.”

He nodded his approval, taking her jeans out of the bag and reading the size off them. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how suspicious it would be to be buying her clothes when hers were obviously unsuitable. It would be clear that they had not in fact known each other as long as siblings would have. He could probably estimate for a shirt just by looking at her, but… “What size shoe do you wear?”

“Two,” she returned easily, coming over to read the directions for the bleach. “Do you have a hair brush?”

He mentally added that to his list. “I'll get one.” It was a good thing all of his money wasn't really his and hard to earn, or else today would likely put them in trouble. “I'll help you get the bleach on but you'll need to wash it out yourself. I'll find you some shoes and a sweater, then you can come with me to get a coat and more clothes after your hair is changed and dry.”

She nodded, still reading. “Okay… I'll blow dry it the rest of the way dry so I can start.”

Heero blinked; that idea hadn't occurred to him. “I got some sandwiches too,” he went on to say. “You should eat while it sets.” He thought about it a moment longer, and got out his PlayPaq and a few games, setting them on the bed as she moved into the bathroom to use the little hair dryer, flipping her head in a practiced fashion so it hung upside down and she could dry the underside. She didn't waste time, excited or no.

This isn't going to be bad at all, he realized.

***

Brussels

Relena opened the door to her bedroom, eyes automatically going to the bookcase Jake's Murphy bed folded up into, but it had already been neatly put away, the folding screens leaning open against the wall for decoration instead of his privacy. She had yet to wake up before him, but their arrangement hadn't been in place for very long. Shrugging, she exited the sitting room of the suit and moved into the main living room area. He wasn't in full uniform yet, but personally, she thought the faded t-shirts had always suited him better anyhow. His hair was insanely messy, which was… off-putting, actually.

“Good morning,” he greeted easily, glancing up at her from where he stood by the table, half bent over and fiddling at his computer. “Good dreams?”

That was a normal greeting for him; most people gave him an odd look for it, while others, like Dorothy, would launch into a detailed retelling. He didn't mind either reaction, it seemed, but she actually thought about it before responding. One of the things she liked best about her bodyguard's personality was his bare-faced honesty. He wasn't hurt when brushed off, but he wouldn't have asked if he wasn't interested in possibly hearing. The blonde man was extremely observant. “I don't really remember,” she admitted after a moment of trying to recall the images, moving over to the breakfast tray a maid must have already brought up. She rarely did, really.

He nodded amiably as she sat, still trying to figure out why his hair bothered her on some level. It was just… weird. Obviously it was just a series of sleep cowlicks or something, but… I guess I've just never seen it look anything but nondescript, she decided as she took a bite of pastry. And since it was sticking up in so many directions, she could see that the sort of dishwater dirty blonde she had ascribed to him before was more a matter of a handful of different shades of blonde, varying from bright to ash. “Do you color your hair?” she asked curiously.

He grinned a little at that, meeting her eyes and shaking his head. “No, it's just like that… it'll get blonder the more I go outside. I don't think it's ever been something you could call brown before, though.” He looked up, obviously considering his bangs. “If I took the time to color it, I think I might pick something that actually looks good.”

It does look good, though… But that would sound so bad. Instead, she noted, “If you don't get that mess under control Dorothy will stop at nothing to run her hands through it when she gets here.”

He blinked almost owlishly at that, and she suspected he would have choked had he been eating or drinking something. Then he grinned in that impish way of his and spun the laptop around so she could look at it. “I e-mailed what we finished with last night to RLTT; we'll probably hear back soon.”

She stared at him. “You did not!”

“It was fine, beautiful even.” He was walking away. “I'm going to go shove my head in the sink.”

“I can't believe you!” she protested, her heart thudding in a way that had nothing whatsoever to do with the confident way the man moved. She felt herself flush at that as she stalked after him.

Jake smoothly shut the bathroom door, locking it. “Go check your e-mail,” he suggested. “If we fussed any more over the damn thing it would have gotten superfluous. It was good.” The water turned on.

She resisted the urge to scream, because that would have been entirely childish. After a moment of fuming, she tried to explain. “I am supposed to be in direct correspondence!” she snapped. “Not anyone else! It would look like someone was using me again!”

The water turned off, and the door opened so he could meet her eyes. “I sent the full write-up and a note that it was almost done being polished,” he told her quietly. “I still think it covers everything fine as it is, but I'm not you. I didn't sign it. It was an update, nothing else. They're obviously willing to move things along at a very fast rate, and it'll move even faster if you keep a more open line of communications. And the faster it moves, the sooner you can help more people.” He sighed and opened the door the rest of the way instead of just enough for her to see his face. “Go ahead and look in your sent mail. You've been acting so cautious about all this, I thought you could use the push.”

She ground her teeth together. He had meant well, she could tell by his face, he was being completely honest with her, and he was worried about how she was upset with him. But he was so damn calm too… and somehow he managed to seem serene even with his hair sopping wet and twisted oddly, dripping all over his shirt. “A single fast move is all it takes for a mistake to be made,” she returned coldly. “And a single mistake is all it takes for someone to dismiss you.” Her breath was coming harder than it ought to, now. “And I cannot risk being disregarded.”

And suddenly… he was hugging her. “I don't know where you got the idea that you weren't good enough, after everything during the war,” he muttered quietly as she stood there, stunned. “I have an idea, though, and I have half a mind to go string Marquise up for it.” He pulled back with his hands still on her shoulders to look her in the eyes. “You can do this… You have the mind for it, you have the personality, that deep want to help alone saved so much during the war. And you're not doing it alone, you're asking for help, and you're getting it… I can almost guarantee that you will get help from anyone you ever ask, just because of who you are, and because they know what you do.

“You have to step all the way up the plate though, Princess,” he told her somberly, the term very much one of state and not affection. His sapphire eyes, normally laughing, were serious. “If you keep holding back, the world will start to see just another politician. You have to take fearless leaps in order for them to keep you in their hearts right now, you have to be willing to do the impossible to win over their loyalty utterly, because no one trusts he government right now.”

He rubbed her shoulder with his thumb… and she almost wanted to cry. That was the exact same gesture of encouragement that her father had used… Her father, not King Peacecraft.

“You can change that,” he continued in that still soft but solid voice he had delivered the entire speech with. “You can earn back their love and respect. But before they can believe in you, you have to believe in you, Relena. You have to be the kind of bold you were back when you came to Libra to talk Zechs out of his madness, or this might not work.”

“That didn't work,” she mumbled, looking away. In the end, none of what she had done mattered… the war had `ended' horribly and she had been pushed back onto a shelf.

“You're not running without any resources anymore,” he continued earnestly, letting go of her shoulders and leaning down slightly so he could look up at her despite the way she had her head ducked down. “You have backing now, and I'm not asking you to run onto the battlefield recklessly like you used to. Actually, I'm going to ask you to not do that.” She couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at that, and he grinned a little before going back to what he had been saying. “You're not working off of impulse anymore. We can plan this and still move quickly. I sent the write-up because I know how this sort of thing works well enough, and it's done. We could keep playing with it if you really wanted, but to be perfectly honest, it would be a waste of time. I wanted you to see that from the source of funding, because I can guarantee you that the person behind the RLTT fund will be perfectly satisfied with what you've drawn up.”

“How can you be so sure?” she demanded quietly, shoving her hair out of her face; she didn't exactly have bangs anymore, but the shorter pieces in front that reached her chin still managed to get in the way.

Her bodyguard only smiled at her… The smile that had made her like him in the first place. “Because everything I just said is true.”

Her heart was thudding… and she scowled at him. “How is it that you always do this to me?” she demanded, half flustered, half exhausted, despite having just woken from a full night's sleep.

He just chuckled a little and stood up straight, spinning her around to march her back out to the table. “You're not crying this time,” he noted. “That's definitely an improvement. And I wouldn't say always, this is only our second heart-to-heart.”

She decided not to respond to that, because it was true and there was really nothing else to say to it… and frowned. “You're all wet,” she realized. His hair was dripping onto her shoulders.

He laughed in that delighted way of his. “I am, huh?” He pulled her into a quick hug around her shoulders… and shook his head like a dog might to dry off. She squeaked and broke his grasp, darting away… and he just laughed harder.

For all that he could throw her into a complete emotional tizzy, Jake was certainly good at making her laugh too.

***

Amsterdam

The most amusing part of it all had to have been that they had taken the TV.

Duo shook his head, moving to sit on the back of the couch. While he wasn't entirely sure why the crew had thought it was a grand idea to run into the partially burning building, he had to admit that it was quite the television set. Well, not really, but the only time in his life when he'd had a TV was while he had lived with Hilde, and this one was bigger than that, at any rate.

He'd been able to bandage up Sin without needing to take her to a doctor… Nothing had been broken and she didn't have any signs of internal bleeding, though there were plenty of scrapes and bruises, and one cut he'd had to stitch up. He'd had to stitch himself up in a few places as well, but Melissa had managed to go untouched, for which he was grateful. Stitching her up would have been more nerve-wracking than working on Karina, he imagined. It would have been just as bad, at least.

Luc was all for trying to keep everyone pent up today, and most of the city was having the same reaction, and it certainly didn't seem like a bad idea. The news had already done a story on what was suspected gang fighting, seeing as the Slingers acted like a gang in nearly every aspect, and the city's law enforcement had had trouble with the group more than once. After they finished confirming that fact, the investigation would cease as long as no one who was involved raised a complaint about it being dropped.

He had known back in January that he could get away with it, though. The police force's noninvolvement policy was why the violence had been so bad when he arrived in Amsterdam, though in their defense, there was relatively little a civil officer could hope to do against officers of any army caliber. They just didn't train for it… and they had very quickly found their city absolutely infested with violent ex-soldiers. Treize could say all the pretty words he wanted about the honor of warfare and the beauty of fighting, but the problem was that when most men saw an opportunity they took it, and warfare teaches all the ways to take what you wanted instead of working for it.

He didn't have any room to talk insofar as that, as a thief… But so many people lacked any morality whatsoever. It was worrisome. He understood it, generally speaking, at least on a logical level. He understood certain degrees of it on an emotional one. He had never been able to decide if going down to Earth in Deathscythe had really been revenge for him, as G had suggested, or if it was that he thought he was doing the right thing… It had probably been a little of both. The Alliance had fire bombed Maxwell church. At the same time, though, he wasn't sure if he had agreed to pilot a gundam because it had happened… or because he wanted to make sure it wouldn't ever happen again.

He hopped off the couch and headed up to the second floor. The entrance to the place was half underground, and the main of the den and kitchen were too. You could go downstairs from the den deeper down too, and that was where his room was, and a fair number of others. Some people appreciated the value of sunlight, however, and had s taken up rooms on the upper two levels, which were more set up for a hotel, or something. Melissa had picked one of the nicer rooms up there, having been with Luc nearly from the beginning of the group. The showers were on that floor too, and it was just two walls and a bit of ceiling with faucets showerheads everywhere, and that had been like that when the three of them took up the contract initially. Luc had said that he thought it used to be a girls from troubled homes place once upon a time, but it had been abandoned for a while before they stumbled it across it.

He knocked on her door. He remembered how she had acted…

`Oh, okay.'

She considered him a moment, tilting her head… in a really cute way, actually. It wasn't thought out, the way Karina did it, but there was just… it was really sweet, somehow. After a moment, she asked, `Luc never told you?'

He grinned. `Well, I wouldn't have asked if I knew.'

She smiled slightly, staring a moment longer as if to make sure of something, before grinning broadly and practically bouncing past him. `I'll be back in just a minute. Eat that before it gets cold, huh?'

`Alright.'

One of the Slingers had brought her up in a really bad sort of way to try to taunt him, when the fighting had started really going in full swing… and he hadn't been able to get it out of his head. The way she had suddenly seemed happier… She wasn't asking if Luc had told me about her father, was she?

He couldn't get what that asshole had said to leave him alone… so he had to know.

She smiled when she saw it was him, and opened the door wide when he gestured that he wanted to come in. She tilted her head in that way of hers when he went and sat on her bed, which was actually raised up instead of his `pallet down in the dungeon.' She looked concerned, and he didn't blame her, considering the fact that he wasn't acting normal. After a moment, she closed the door. She seemed to catch his mood enough that she didn't say anything, though, waiting for him to speak.

He bit his lip. He trusted her, and if it was true it was for good reasons, he knew… and it couldn't have happened while he had been with the Devils, he would have noticed. If he knew Luc at all, it hadn't happened since before they started the crew; the man was so understanding of Duo and Karina's relationship because he was the same way about Melissa, and despite her very apt ability to take care of herself, Luc was protective of her.

He knew he could trust her, and that if it was true it was just past ugliness. But he'd been trying to tell himself to drop it all day and he just couldn't… and he was finding that her asking about his past before might have been the same. He could honestly see a future with Melissa… He saw his future now with the Devils and the church, but there was some small glimmer that this could really work…

And fair was fair.

“My name is Duo Maxwell,” he started, staring at the floor. “My earliest memories, I was a street rat on L2… The older kid in charge of our crew was Solo… But he died when a plague swept through. I stole him the vaccine, the cure, but it was too late… ended up giving it to the next kid that caught it. Didn't take it myself `cause I felt guilty, I guess… but I never caught sick. I thought I'd live for the both of us, that maybe he'd protected me too, somehow… so that's why I took Duo for a name.

“I took care of everybody after that, though I didn't always do so hot a job, to be honest. Eventually we got picked up by the Maxwell church… it was a lot like Espen's church. They more took care of kids than handled services. Everybody from my crew but me got adopted, before long…” He smiled a little sadly up at her. “I was a pretty good troublemaker.”

Her eyes were huge, and she looked ready to cry, standing with one arm held tight to her chest. “The Maxwell Church Tragedy,” she whispered, horror shining on her face.

He looked away again. “That was after I'd been there for almost three years. The revolutionaries that ended up getting it blown wouldn't get out unless they had a chance against the troops. They said they'd scat if they got a mobile suit, so I went and nabbed one. When I got back, though…” He dropped his head into one hand, trying to will the tears not to come as the images came back. The smoke and rubble… The shattered colored glass… Sister Helen was moaning again…

Her habit was just gone… The only time he had ever seen her without it had been when she was ready to go to sleep at night, but she was so dirty… Everything was so dirty, even though the church had always been pristine, and there was blood…

Was this all my fault? Had the Alliance come because of the rebels or because I had stolen the suit? They couldn't have known it was me already, could they? Everyone was gone… Sister Helen was the only thing not covered in blood…

“Duo… M-may you… have God's… blessing…” Reaching up to cup his cheek like she always did… before she went slack. Her hand just fell… Her face was wrong, her eyes staring off.

And she wasn't breathing anymore.

“I stowed away on a Sweeper ship two years later and got caught after a couple days. I met a man who was building a gundam on board,” he continued, swallowing hard. “He was impressed that I'd made it through his security… and then I was really good at the sims.” He chuckled a little darkly and shook his head a bit. “He trained me up day after day once I agreed to think about it, and I learned more than I could've imagined… about machines, about languages, weapons… I could already handle myself just fine, but he had more of a fighting style drilled into me… And I was really good with the languages and chemistry. Before I knew it, three years passed and the suit was done.” He looked up at her again. “And I guess the rest is history.”

She nodded a little, seeming to take a minute to absorb it all. After a little while, though, she met his eyes… and came to sit next to him.

“My father left to find money, but it didn't go so well as he'd hoped,” she muttered after a moment, staring at the floor. “The landlord gave me two more days before he kicked us out, and I'd already sold all the furniture. There…” She obviously struggled for a moment… and started to shake. “I couldn't feed Nolan…”

He reached out and pulled her into a tight hug, half wishing he hadn't asked… but he knew for sure now, and maybe the secrets being down between them would be a good thing, in the end. Shov knew… And if everything turned out good with `Liss, then she should know too.

He was crying too, he hated that… but she was sobbing into his chest… so maybe fair was fair. “I'm sorry,” he muttered, running his hands over her back. “I just… someone said…”

“We don't have to see each other anymore,” she whispered into his shoulder. “It's okay, I get it, it's fine…”

He turned his head to stare at her… well, her hair… in horror. If it had been like that, then it didn't matter. He lifted himself slightly, holding her tighter, and buried his face in her hair, pressing his lips to the top of her head briefly. “Don't be stupid,” he muttered roughly. “I've killed hundreds of people, sometimes on a daily basis, that's much worse.”

“Says you,” she returned, morosely, though she gripped at his back harder.

He swallowed at that. “It's all past now, huh? I don't like talking about my shit, and you don't ever need to talk about yours again. We're where we are now… It's done with, and it doesn't have to rule who we are, huh?” He brushed her hair back and leaned back so she looked at him. “I like you…” She was odd in a lot of ways, but just right in so many others… and her head worked in a good way, or something. He wasn't sure how to put words to it… but he honestly didn't think it was hormones, like he thought Hilde might have been. Well, Hilde wasn't all hormones… but at least a decent part of it had been thinking he was going to be dead by the end of the week.

“This doesn't have to change anything,” he went on firmly. “I just… I had to know. So if I was going to ask, it was only fair to say first, huh?” She laughed a little, though it sounded part hysterical… and relaxed more into him.

This could really work, he realized again, catching himself twirling her hair in his fingers and wanting to stare dumbly. Everything was just… shockingly okay somehow. He'd just killed nigh thirty people and she wasn't bothered by it… she'd helped. She had helped… taking out the outliers and using him as a diversion to save their sister. No bravado, just a cute comment about stealing his glory…

…and she just fit in his lap. Hilde had always been too proud to do something like sit on him, or cuddle up to him unless they were making out and the adrenaline was running, and Melissa had cuddled with him before all that started, just when he was upset and didn't want to be alone. Maybe part of it was that they were seventeen now and had only been fifteen then, but he had thought he would be just as awkward in a new relationship. But it was just different with `Liss. He wasn't sure why or how, not entirely… but he really liked it. There was a deep comfort involved somehow…

“What are you thinking?” she asked quietly.

He chuckled a little, burying his face in her hair again. “Mushy, embarrassing things that I have no intention of repeating aloud,” he grumbled. “Just pretend I did and we can sit happy instead of listening to me stutter.”

She laughed a little at that, staring at him half disbelievingly, and he smiled back at her.

And that was enough.

***

Treize's hidden compound

Hey Tatem,

Everything's still all hush hush about that prank, so I don't think you have to worry about it anymore. I don't think anyone caught on that we had anything to do with it; if anyone noticed, I guess they didn't care. That was really awesome, though, you should have seen their faces. We'll have to try something like that again, sometime.

Everything's pretty funny back here, though, with Zach in a fit. He's such an ass, but at least he means well. Listen, he'll get over it soon enough, but I guess he lost that old watch of yours. Damn shame, what with how hard it was for you to find in the first place. You would think he'd care more, he should know how much it meant to you. He seems freaked out enough about it though, so I don't think he's lying and pawned it or anything. I would say he's about ready to tear the house apart, but you know him, he'll give up before long and we'll find it in between the couch cushions in a couple months. I'll be sure to tell you if I find it, though. It has to turn up eventually, right?

Otherwise, life is pretty good… busy, but good. Don't write me back just to say you've been sitting on your ass, though, that's just wrong when I'm up to this much bullshit. Make something up that'll give me a good laugh, huh?

Oh yeah, take a look atthis, but make sure your sister isn't going to walk in or anything, she'll kill me if she found out I was the one who showed it to you. Twisted, huh? No need to thank me, just looking out for you since you don't get out anymore. You seriously should do something about that, before you get all weird and marry some virgin because her daddy gave you a dowry or something.

And while we're talking about weird, Michael was muttering something about his watch stopping for three minutes before it got going again or something. Personally, I think he just wasn't paying any attention, seeing as it still works, but he's worrying about the battery as if it's the end of the world instead of something he could just replace. That guy is so whack, sometimes I wonder why I talk to him. I thought you might get a kick out of that though. I mean, really, for three minutes? How would he even know?

Your friend,

Váli

Even if he hadn't sent it through a maze of untraceable routers in a way that it was hard to tell it had even been done, no one would ever think one of his letters from this contact was really code from a spy, Treize mused. A good part of that was probably because he managed to babble so damn well about entirely pointless shit. It was extremely effective, but not without flaws. The worst he worst part of it had to be that he would send him links to the most bizarre porn the internet could contain, which he had somehow managed to code a hidden button into leading to an encrypted page with actual files from the Regime's database.

Besides the clue about where the button was being in the e-mail, though, he dropped other hints. Zechs was upset about his lack of success in taking down Dekim, but he wasn't going to let it be very public. They hadn't found Mariemaia either, but he was confident she wasn't dead, just spirited away somehow. And Michael was David Mitchell, and he had seen something, but Váli wasn't convinced, and Mitchell might not be either.

The end of the world… Anything Armageddon related was supposed to have something to do with the gundam pilots. Had his man meant it that way, or had it been a turn of phrase? The three was relevant too, or he would have made some comment about not even knowing, given something less specific… 03? Trowa Barton?

That would be bizarre at best; the real Trowa Barton was dead, and the gundam pilot from the Eve War would have no reason to take an interest in the Barton family; he hadn't known a thing about them. That and there hadn't been a single trace of the boy since he disappeared from Libra, so how could he possibly be recognized? He was beyond talented at slipping by under the radar.

Váli was leery of the idea, but if he didn't think there was a possibility that it was important, he wouldn't have mentioned it. The lack of anything resembling detail but a mention just the same meant that he would look into it more, and if anything ever turned up he would pass on what he found.

He trusted his judgment in that aspect, even if he did not appreciate the horrific links. Treize was almost positive the guy only looked it up for the purpose of getting under his skin because of some comment he had made back when they were younger… but he really didn't appreciate that aspect of the other man's humor. Unfortunately, if he managed to return a message by some means and say as much, that would only further entertain the man and who knew what Váli would find to send him after that, but it would undoubtedly be worse somehow. Therefore, it was better to just make sure the volume was turned off on his computer and he could quickly close the window.

Locking the door was tempting, but that required admitting it bothered him that much.

He sighed and dropped his head on his desk, not yet willing to face down whatever the spy had sent. Mariemaia was gone… How could she just be gone without a trace? Váli was looking, as much was implied in his letter, and he was good at it, he was the one who had been set to find the girl and her mother originally, but she had been there, she had, but somehow she'd just slipped through his fingers again…

Am I ever going to find them? Is this the price for not saying propriety and Leia's fear be damned, and letting it all slide behind the curtain?

***

Brussels

Dorothy frowned at her two friends as she entered the suite. Unfortunately, they noticed her staring at them before she could decipher the core of the issue. “What?” Jake asked, eying her back just as skeptically.

“We have… work,” she noted after a moment. “And… you're all happy… or something.”

“Oh, the militia's already worked out,” Relena returned, glowing. “We've heard back from RLTT that everything's good to go.”

Oh. That explains it. Still… “You do know that the mission to take out Barton's faction failed, right?”

“I would hardly call it a failure,” Relena negated, shuffling papers on the table. “They seem to be dissolved, Dekim is dead and no longer a threat, and the little girl probably ran when she heard trouble and will turn up in a few days.”

“You're sickeningly optimistic for this early in the morning.”

“It's nine, Catalonia,” Jake retorted, smirking. “The rest of the compound has been up for the past three hours.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to decide if he actually meant to be offensive. The most miserable thing about this job was the schedule they tried to impose on her. Actually, she'd been more or less miserable since she had lost to Winner on Libra, but…

…Well, there wasn't a whole lot else to do. Not that her family would have ever approved of, anyhow… and the things they would have shunned weren't interesting anyway. Life as it was was boring, but it was a way to survive, and with people going hungry every day she couldn't very well go back to doing nothing at all; she would be left out in the cold, at least until she inherited her family's money when she was eighteen. Maybe she would leave then, but…

But Relena was the only real friend she could say she had ever had. And she had sworn herself to Relena… so even if she really wanted to be left alone again, she'd promised she wouldn't leave. And she didn't want to be without the sweet little thing again. There was just… something incredibly soothing about the princess. There always had been, it was just nice to be near her… and she would miss that if she took her money and ran. Relena would probably happily let her if she helped fund the do gooder projects, and as Romefeller's only real heir she certainly could, but while she certainly was sick of her life, she didn't want to excise the only thing she did enjoy about it. Well, Jake was nice too… a touch annoying, but intriguing, really, and entertaining if nothing else. He had that half hidden air to him as those gundam boys Relena had collected for a while, though his was gentler, somehow… less threatening.

Maybe Jake was a friend too. Maybe Mitchell could be… she had once thought that Milliardo might be a good person to be close to, but he lacked his sister's… rightness. She had let him spin her into this mess, believing it would all be okay… but while perhaps that kind of faith might go well with Relena, Sanc's prince didn't have any of the same finesse. Well, no, he had finesse, he had panache…

…but he wasn't terribly calming. She frowned. He was certainly a man among men, but he just didn't have what it took, whatever that was. That was why she had happily pledged herself to Relena after her return, because she hardly knew what to do with herself, and Relena always had good ideas, didn't she? An idealist, her grandfather had called her once, snorting in disgust as he said it, come to think of it… But really, it was all just terribly romantic, and she would be the first to admit she did love a good romance story… Storybook was the way to go, and whatever had happened to Relena's dashing young prince of the stars, that Heero boy.

Heero always made things more interesting. Any of those boys did, but he was the one who had gotten her princess's heart all up in a fluster, and that alone made him more intriguing than the others. Well, he had been the one to showdown with Milliardo as well, and the blonde man had hardly been able to stand for more than an hour for the week following Libra's crash. Most of his early actions had been done directly through her, and while she hadn't seen what was under the bandaging, she had noticed how quickly he exhausted. Honestly, she doubted he was completely well even now… it certainly didn't affect him all the time, but sometimes at the end of the day he would go into a cold sweat and fight not to clutch at his stomach as he still managed to coolly dismiss everyone from the immediate vicinity. She didn't think anyone else had noticed the pattern or seen the sweat, Milliardo was certainly fair enough for a little paleness to go unnoticed, but Dorothy Catalonia didn't miss the little details.

Her mother had always said that it was the details that were important, whether it was in cooking or schoolwork, or choosing a man…

…if she got married, could she be a homemaker? That was a thought… She could manage a household, and brats were easy to take care of…

“Why do I get the feeling I don't like where your mind is?” Jake asked warily.

She made herself start as though startled out of a daydream, and smiled innocently at him… which only made him narrow his eyes. Damn. Why does he have to notice everything? She tossed him an annoyed look before moving over to the breakfast tray, which still had a pastry on it. “So if the militia thing is done, then what have you two been up to all morning?” she asked coyly.

Relena narrowed her eyes at her too, and Dorothy fought the urge to laugh, instead smiling and waggling her eyebrows suggestively. The princess snorted at her, continuing to organize paperwork.

Oh? She's not going to get all embarrassed? “What?” she asked, surprised and a little disappointed. “No flush?” she frowned, focusing back over to Jake in confusion. “What have you been up to?”

The bodyguard started laughing weakly, hiding his face in his hand. Relena was blushing furiously now, and that was comforting, a little more normal. She honestly didn't think the two of them would do anything inappropriate, that would be too weird, but it was fun to poke fun about it just to stir things up a bit.

Relena, however, didn't appreciate her efforts. “Does your mind ever leave the gutter?” she demanded in a hiss.

Jake started laughing harder, head down between his knees now, shoulders shaking as he tried to suppress the noise. Dorothy stared back at her liege in dismay. “The gutter? What are you thinking of anyway, Jacob's not like that!”

There was a sort of choking guffaw from the recliner as Relena turned a really bright pink, obviously furious but clueless as to how to respond, so Dorothy leaned back and waved a dismissive hand, allowing herself a smirk. “No, Jake's a good man… We should name one of them Jacob.”

“Huh?”

The princess's rage just withered and she collapsed into her chair, rubbing at the bridge of her nose as she returned to her normal color. “Dorothy has the most curious theory,” she explained coolly, “that Rhea Lowe is an avid fangirl of mine who wants to have several children with me. She's been naming them in the offtimes.”

“The first is going to be Heero,” Dorothy explained primly, smiling at him and waiting for his usual snigger.

He stared owlishly at them for a moment, and she blinked; that was certainly a new reaction, she hadn't seen him go blank like that before. She hadn't thought he did that; it certainly didn't suit him, at any rate. A few moments later he was groaning into his hands and muttering something unintelligible to himself before starting to laugh weakly as he pushed his hands back through his hair. “Oh God…”

“I know,” Relena returned in a defeatist sort of tone. “It's hardly worth the argument, though, trust me.” She finished clearing off a bit of desk space and settled her yellow notepad in the new area, starting to sketch out some new idea, probably.

“That is beyond wrong, Catalonia, you know that right?” Jake muttered, giving her an exhausted sort of look.

“Well it would hardly be fun if it weren't,” she scoffed, taking another bite of her pastry. She looked at the thing then, considering it. “I wonder if I can make these,” she mused aloud. “They're delicious. I could be an excellent housewife if I could make these…”

“You know what, I'm just not going to ask,” Jake decided, standing up and moving over to see what Relena was doing. “I'm just not going to ask anymore.”

Dorothy just grinned at them, knowing they would say something when they wanted her to work on something. They were just brainstorming right then, by the looks of it… so she decided to go get herself some coffee.

The day was always better with a bit of coffee.

***

Unknown

Heero turned to see how Marie was doing, realizing she'd gone quiet… to find her asleep against the window.

Of course… It's been a long day.

It hadn't taken too long to get her properly outfitted once her hair was changed and the essentials taken care of. It had taken a bit longer to work out Wufei's likely route, but no one seemed to think twice about a brother and sister traveling together, once they started on their way. He still needed to get her papers with her new name… but that wasn't as urgent as it might otherwise be, considering her age. Because they were passing off as being from Earth, there wasn't any particular reason a girl her age would need full identification, for all that such negligence would be unheard of in the colonies.

Their bus had left Vilnius in the late afternoon, and they had been busy before that… and she probably had not slept any more of the previous night than he had. He was trained to go for a long time without sleep, though, and she was just a little girl.

Even though Odin had easily expected him to work, he had never outright demanded it, just hadn't had the time to offer an alternate pastime when he was on a job. When they were off the job it had always varied, but if he hadn't enjoyed helping Odin as much as he had, he doubted the man would have made him. He probably would have found him some kind of toy to keep him preoccupied, from what he remembered of the man's nature… but the weaponry had been more than interesting.

He had worked with Odin, but they had led an easy life… learning to function on minimal sleep had come after his father's death.

He would have to be careful… despite their chase, Mariemaia… Marlé… deserved her sleep. He could keep them moving and at the pace they needed to be around that, he was sure… she had just proven that she could sleep while they moved by some means, provided it wasn't walking.

He would have to be careful about food, too… It wasn't unusual for him to forget a meal in favor of something he was focusing on. Hopefully she wasn't shy about telling him what was on her mind, and she seemed like she would not have a problem telling him that she was hungry… just the same, he resolved to remember.

…And always be sure she had money on her so she could manage food if he was working on a lead that he couldn't just drop.

The coat he had gotten her wasn't flashy, the last thing they needed was attention, but she hadn't been disappointed with its dark green color, and had immediately fallen in love with the rabbit fur lining, rubbing her cheek along the softness at her collar and smiling secretively at nothing. She was small… the fur would be good for keeping her warm. He would have gotten himself fur initially, but when he had bought his coat he had still been far enough south that it wasn't commonly available, and it hadn't seemed as necessary. It kept warm like nothing else, however, and while in the store the saleswoman had chased him about it… and he had had to admit that switching to the style would mean he could wear less sweaters at once, which would hamper fast, stealthy movement less. He had found himself a similarly lined jacket of worn leather in the second-hand section that suited him well enough, and given his down nylon away… and settling deeper into the lined hood now, the soft fur caressing his cheeks, he couldn't help but feel the indulgence had been more than worth it.

The didn't make soft leather gloves like those he had that shouldn't interfere with gun work for children, at least that he had yet found, so she was wearing simple cloth ones… He couldn't remember if he had had good gloves when he was with Odin. It had never been cold, and when discretion as to their presence was necessary, they had worn simple latex, which had always been big on him; usually he was just told to keep his hands in his pockets, really.

Her boots would hold, though for how long depended on how fast she grew. The cap snugged over her head now wasn't the only one they had obtained, along with a pair of earmuffs… she was very unfamiliar with the cold, and vulnerable to it. She was wearing one of the scarves Mrs. Srona had given him, back in Israel…

That seemed like an age ago. What would she think of this? He got the impression that she would be proud… though perhaps bemused at his fumbling. He still had no idea what to do with her beyond keeping her warm and fed… though she had happily picked up a Sudoku book at a register somewhere, and had been playing with that before she fell asleep. She seemed to have caught onto at least some of his confusion, and was easily filling in the gaps where his knowledge abruptly ended.

That, more than anything, was what assured him that taking her in hadn't been a terrible error. If she had been less independent, more clingy, he would have been at a complete loss.

The little book and pencil were tucked between them on the seat, and, curious, he picked them up, flipping through the completed puzzles to try to find the logic behind the game. It wasn't terribly hard to see the pattern, and she had completed more than a few already… she had only been playing with it for maybe half an hour, but three were done.

She's good with numbers…

It really wasn't a hard game… but according to the citations, this was a high level book, and she had done it as quickly as she did. Curious, he tried an empty one, and found himself working through the squares at approximately the same rate.

What else is she good at? If she liked this… Does she like computers? Odin had taught him the ins and outs of their laptop long before he had died, and Dr. J's men had hardly added to his knowledge of programming and hacking, merely honed it with something to practice on. He was relatively sure he could walk Marlé through the same steps Odin had led him through… And she needed to know at least the basics of first aid.

She seemed so excited at the prospect of chasing down Wufei… He doubted she had done anything of the like… But he knew enough about Sudoku that he was relatively certain that eleven year olds and those with expansive engineering training and experience in repair and design shouldn't be on the same level, even if he was new to the game. That suggested dedication, determination… good traits for learning.

He knew that this was a good deal of speculation based on bare few facts, but he had the feeling in his gut that he was right, and that had never led him wrong before.

Leaning back in his chair, Heero, Odin, closed his eyes, thinking. Much had happened today… but he was relatively sure that just as much would happen tomorrow, and possibly the following as well, now that he had his new company. Everything had changed, swiftly, and possibly with permanent results, he was beginning to realize.

The fur of his hood tickled his nose slightly as he shifted into a more comfortable position, setting his internal alarms so that he would immediately wake if there was movement to his right, in the aisle. There should not be too many false alarms, considering their position at the back of the vehicle and lack of many passengers, but if there were, coming to consciousness was hardly a difficult matter; he could return to sleep, straight into REM, with little more than a thought.

It was a useful trait he had learned long ago. Odin had taught him the meditation before memory, and it had evolved into a game of saying silly sentences and telling elaborate stories while hooked up to a polygraph, trying to make the needles not change their pattern.

He opened his eyes, staring at the back of the seat in front of him. Odin had smiled then, and it had reached his eyes… Why hadn't he remembered that before? He was happy, we were having fun… It was an old memory, though, and he couldn't seem to dredge up most of the details surrounding it. But he had been happy, then…

What changed? It had all started with games, but most of his memories of learning to sleep or wake when he pleased were more focused on practicality, or simplicity, or…

He frowned as another new memory struck him, of Odin calm but his brow slightly furrowed, tucking him in, muttering softly that he didn't have to worry about nightmares if he told himself he didn't want to remember his dreams before he fell asleep. There were feelings of hesitance and easy faith attached to the same memory…

There were two things wrong with this, however.

First of all, Odin had never tucked him in. Held him close for warmth, perhaps, but from the time his memories began to when Odin had died, they had always slept in the same bed, so tucking him in was a preposterous notion.

Second, he could not recall ever having a nightmare in his life. When he actually thought about that one, however, he could count the number of times he had ever dreamed on one hand… which matched amazingly well with being told a solution to a problem and instilling it in himself at a young age.

But why was he tucking me into a different bed? They had rarely ever stayed in one place for long, usually keeping to hotels, but though they were in a hotel in the memory, there were two double beds instead of one.

Odin had never explained why they always slept in one bed… it was simply what they had always done, but it was suddenly obvious that it hadn't always been what they did. There was no sense of strangeness attached to the memory…

…though there was a twang of loneliness.

Strange… That was all he could drag back up, but that wasn't too surprising, it must have been from when he was four or five… perhaps that feeling of loneliness had been why Odin had changed their sleeping arrangements to those he recalled growing up with? But why had he had it in the first place. He frowned. Perhaps it was natural for a child to have those fears crop up around that age… and he would easily admit that the memory could be younger than four, he was only assuming because his earliest recollections came from when he had been five or six.

Did Odin only acquire me around that age? He closed his eyes again. That could make sense… but was also depressing, if the man had gone into what Heero could now recognize as a depression shortly after gaining a son. At the same time, however, his father had always seemed to enjoy spending time with him, and he couldn't remember him ever trying to exclude him, or being agitated at his presence. He hadn't regretted him enough to cause a depression, so it hadn't been related directly to him, at least.

Closing his eyes again, he started to even out his breathing his sleep rhythm. It was another piece to the puzzle, and he would figure it out eventually.

Holy shit… this is totally page 20. *looks around surreptitiously* Don't expect this length from now on, but you never know I might… But, yeah.

Questions, comments? Theories? I mean, really, just because I obviously don't need reviews to keep writing doesn't mean you should never leave them, for all that the fact that chapter 21 alone has 100 hits kinda gets the point across anyhow. Do what you like, but feedback is incredibly nice, you know…