'I'm not going crazy -- she is real.'
The mere thought was a relief. Despite Duo's reassurances, he'd had his doubts that his
nebulous claim on sanity was still valid. After all, sanity and Duo Maxwell were barely
acquainted, much less close friends, for the other man to tell if Heero himself was sane.
The past few days had seemed like a hallucination -- or maybe a really weird, somewhat
bad dream -- but at least he hadn't lost his mind. That was also a relief.
And he was staring. Apparently only Duo had noticed it so far, if the concerned
expression on his friend's face was any indication, but he might want to knock it
off before it got him in more trouble than it already had.
Duo's hand brushed his, and it was both a question ("Are you all right?")
and a prompt ("Say something."), neither of which he could really ignore.
Like he could ignore the American for very long anyway... "Pleased to meet
you," he finally choked out, half-remembered manners lessons asserting
themselves.
He felt more than heard Duo heave out a heavy sigh. When he half-glanced over
out of the corner of his eye, though, a huge smile -- almost definitely fake, as
much as Duo ever lied about anything -- was plastered across his face. The sigh
probably came from his proving yet again that he had the social skills of a Mobile
Doll, and the smile most likely meant Duo was about to take matters into his own
hands. A gregarious "And so am I," complete with a half-step forward
and friendly extended hand, confirmed his theory. Sometimes predicting Duo wasn't
as hard as it may at first seem, if one knew the man as long as he had. "Duo
Maxwell."
That smile was designed, he'd long decided, to put people on their ease. It
seemed to be doing its job in spades on Relena's new friend. A faint flush stained
her cheeks, and a nervous grin covered her lips -- and somehow the thought occurred
that this might be how he looked when Duo flirted with him. "M-my name's
Usagi." Her expression grew into a thousand kilowatt smile that threatened
to bowl him over.
Somehow, in some deep, hidden part of himself, maybe even perhaps the part
responsible for these dreams, something told him he was in trouble if -- no,
when, it provided -- they ever ganged up on him.
"I've missed you, Heero."
He was only half-listening to whatever Relena was talking about. It was
late, it had been a strange day, he was tired -- and he was accepting
that as why he felt like his mind was straying into unfamiliar territory.
It was stupid to worry about his partner now, with the wars over, but he was
far from comfortable with this strange new situation they'd found themselves
caught in. And Duo was alone in the next room with the so-called angel he'd
been seeing his dreams as of late. At least Duo could defend himself if the
situation ended up calling for it -- and at least he lacked Quatre's odd
qualms about hitting a female. If something happened, Duo was much better
equipped to handle it than Relena and her bodyguards, Preventers though they
might be. There was really no reason at all to worry. None whatsoever. So
why was he still... concerned?
"Heero?"
At the faint distress he could pick up in Relena's voice, he redirected his
attentions back from his tired thoughts to the Vice-Foreign Minister.
"What?"
"Have you heard a word I said?" Time spent around Duo allowed him to
hear the teasing in her voice when only a year ago he would have taken her words
literally, and so he waited till she decided to continue speaking. "It
just seems strange, all these odd things happening lately."
This time alarms went off in his mind, and for a long second, all he could
think was 'Nothing more weird. Please, no more weird. The last thing
either Duo or I need is more weird.' "What kind of odd
things?"
"See? I knew you weren't listening." But she was smiling and
continuing to speak without any further joking. "It's strange -- I
know I keep saying that, but it's the best word for the situation. In the
last few weeks, things have been happening. Really, really odd things,
and they've all been since I brought Usagi home."
In the last few weeks? So, perhaps, right around the same time he'd started
dreaming and Duo had started moving things with his mind? "Relena,
what exactly has been happening?" To his own ears, his voice sounded
nervous, maybe even stressed; something gave him the distinct feeling that
he sounded absolutely normal to anyone listening.
She glanced to the side, staring out the window at the storm still raging
beyond the glass. "It's hard to put into words. Things... happen
around Usagi, things that I can't explain. Like earlier, I was worried
about the two of you out there in this mess, and I accidentally said
that I wished you were here already, and then you were here. People
keep making these idle wishes around her -- and they keep coming true!"
She'd begun her words calmly and rationally enough, but by the end, she
was nearly shrieking, like it was all catching up with her. Finally she
took a deep breath and began again. "Usagi is a dear friend, but Heero,
this is just unnerving."
Suddenly he had the very distinct wish that he was with Duo and the so-called
angel, Usagi. He had no idea what to say to his friend right now. What did one
normally say in situations like this? Not 'situations like this' with the odd
occurrences of course, but 'situations like this' with an upset friend.
Surely there had to be something. "Duo and I will figure out what's
going on. That's why we came here." Maybe that would be good enough for
now.
"You heard about all this?" Well, at least it was good enough to
distract her from the previous topic.
He shrugged and hedged out a "We knew something was going on here."
It was close enough to the truth that even Duo might have said it..
"It couldn't have just been a social visit, could it?" There was
uncharacteristic bitterness in her voice, not a lot, but enough to snag
his attention, enough to make him notice it. "You can't come to see me
unless there's trouble. I wish--"
He wasn't too sure on the range of this Usagi's abilities -- if that was
indeed what they were, since they matched the description of nothing he'd
ever heard of before, even with all the research he'd been doing the last
few weeks -- but it was better to be safe than sorry, especially in a case
like this. He leaned forward quickly and put a silencing hand over her
mouth. Less than a second later, her hand covered his, apparently
reaching the same conclusion, if the wide-eyed panic on her face was
any indication. "You probably shouldn't do that, Relena, if wishes
do tend to come true around this girl."
She nodded enthusiastically and drew their hands away from her mouth before
speaking. "I know, Heero. Believe me, I know." She sighed.
"But it's like that story, with the monkey's paw. You just have
to keep making wishes, and so few of them turn out right. I might have
just as easily accidentally wished you and Duo to Siberia as to here."
She was still a bit hysterical then, but maybe she'd wind down soon.
He didn't think shaking her till she snapped out of it would go over
well. "I'm afraid I won't be able to stop myself from wishing one
of these days. Do you--"
Abruptly she cut herself off, and he frowned. "Do I what?"
She was hesitantly silent for several long minutes. "Is there any
way you and Duo can take her with you when you leave again?" At
least she accepted that they were leaving this time. There wouldn't be a
scene as there might have been years ago. But what was she thinking with
this? "It's not fair of me to use Usagi like this. It's not fair of
me to ask you to do what I can't either, but there's not way around it
that I can see. If anyone can resist this, it's you, Heero."
The faith she had in him was touching and it worked into their plans
ideally, maybe better than he'd dared hope, but...
So maybe the Heero in the dreams his Heero kept having had the right
idea, thinking of this girl as an angel. She certainly fit the classical
definition of one, as well as having the temperament generally assigned to
celestial beings. She was all smiles and honest joy, though something told
him it was at least in part due to having someone other than just Relena pay
attention to her.
If there was an evil bone in her body, he'd give up flirting with Heero
for a month. Okay, no, not a month. Maybe a week. Two days might be a
more believable span, but still... Okay, maybe she wasn't bad, just
going on a gut feeling, but that didn't mean her talent -- or whatever
about her had grabbed the attention of Heero's abilities -- wasn't
dangerous. It also didn't mean that people couldn't use her for their
own purposes, if she had a talent or not; even he could see just how
potent a figurehead she could be, maybe even more so than Relena. She
was beautiful, radiated purity -- and best of all, she had no idea who
she was. The possibilities were, well, in a word, sickening.
And on a completely different note, he didn't think he knew anyone, male or
female, who blushed as prettily. Heero might flush more often and more
easily, and he adored that about the man, but he'd yet to make it look
nearly this adorable. Even better, no matter what he may say that might
turn her face whatever shade of red, she had ready either a quick
rejoinder or a smiling laugh.
He had no way of know what -- if anything -- Relena might have told her
about the war, since it was easy to tell she didn't remember it ('Was
she even in this century for it?', his mind questioned, and right now,
he had no answer). Therefore, he made sure not to mention it directly,
but instead work his stories around it, maybe embellishing things here
and there to make for a better story, but let it not be said that he'd
lied to make a pretty girl laugh, because he hadn't. Enough time spent
trying to coax a smile out of his taciturn partner had made spinning war
stories more humorously easier, and getting Usagi to laugh at the
discovery of a decapitated and stripped-bare Shinigami was definitely
an amusing prospect for him as well.
How were they going to breach the subject of her coming with them -- or at
least sticking with them long enough to figure out what about her was so
important to these dreams Heero kept having -- was going to be an
interesting thing to figure out. History wasn't exactly his strongest
subject, but he was pretty sure even people in the late twentieth
century weren't trusting enough to go off with a couple of strangers,
even if they were friends of a friend of hers. And kidnapping wasn't
a good idea: for one, it had been years since he'd had to kidnap
someone, so he might be a bit rusty; and for a second, there was always
the possibility that her abilities -- if she indeed had any,
and this wasn't just some fluke... not that Heero had flukes -- might
be hazardous to his continued lifespan.
It was somewhat telling that, as the door opened to readmit a
somber-looking Heero and Relena, Usagi's laughter took a moment to
peter out: she was self-conscious, at least a bit, then. And the smile
faded from her face as the silence stretched. Of course, then again, he
could feel his own doing the same.
Relena finally broke the tableau with a heavy sigh. "Usagi, we need to talk."
First Draft: 13 May 2007
Revision: 12 January 2009
Wow, that took a lot longer than I was hoping it would. Sorry for the delay! I'll try to do better with the next chapter!
As for the revisions, I am in the process of converting all my stories with Gundam Wing characters over to traditional spellings. So that means all my "Hiiro"s will become "Heero"s and all my "Ririna"s will become "Relena"s. For clarity's sake.