| Renee shot strait up in her bed. Her face dripped with a cold sweat. She breathed heavy as she looked around the room. A slight wave of panic went thought her body as she realized she did not recognize the room that she was in. She felt movement next to her in the bed and turned to see what it was. She turned her head and saw Quatre deep asleep next to her as he shifted himself. Renee sighed with relief. Now she remembered what happened and where she was. She remembered that she had gone to the gym and that when she got back that Duo was there. She remembered talking to him and then she remembered him leaving just before she went to bed. Renee looked at Quatre again just to make sure that he was really there. He looked so peaceful that Renee refused the idea to wake him up. She quietly got up and walked into the kitchen and got herself a glass of water from the faucet. She sat at the table to relax for a moment. Where did that come from? What was that all about? Renee wondered as she sat and drunk her tall glass of ice cold water. When she finish her glass of water she went to the sink for more. Three more glasses later she decided that was enough of she would be up all night going to the bathroom. She quietly reentered the bedroom. She walked over to the bedside to see if Quatre was still asleep and he was. He lay on his side with his head facing her. His blonde hair fell lightly in front of his relaxed face. Oh. He is so cute when he sleeps. I wish I could be that peaceful when I sleep. Renee then slowly slipped back into the bed and got under the blanket. She lay awake for a while before sleep claimed her once more. ******************** A sudden knock at the door awoke Renee the next morning. At first she just ignored it hoping that it would just go away, but to no avail. The knock came louder and then a voice. �Quatre, Renee are you guys there? Hey, open up will ya?� Renee didn�t want to get out of bed but there was something in the way the person at the door sounded that told her that she had to. Before she did, she looked next to her to see if maybe Quatre was up and then she wouldn�t have to. He wasn�t. He was still sleeping peacefully next to her. �Hey come on open up!� The voice yelled again. Renee crawled out of the bed and walked to the door. She unlatched the deadbolt lock and opened the door. Duo rushed in before she could say or do anything. �Duo? What�s wrong? This better be good I was sleeping ya know.� She was going to scold him father but his face told her that he had a good reason. �Where�s Quatre?� There was more than a hint of urgency in his voice; it was filled with it. �Uh� he�s sleeping hold on I�ll go..ah go wake him.� Renee sprinted to the bedroom. She climbed on the bed and gingerly shook the shoulder of the sleeping Arabic pilot. �Quatre. Quatre wake up Duo�s here he says he had to talk to us. Quatre? Wake up.� Quatre stirred slightly and rolled over to look at who was disturbing his sleep. He rubbed his still groggy. Then slowly say up. �What? Duo here?� �Yes and he wants to talk to you he sounds pretty urgent.� Renee left the room to tell Duo that he would be out in a minute. �So what is going on Duo?� Just then Quatre came into the room fully dressed and ready except for the fact that he still looked half-asleep. He sounded as if this was casual conversation, as he put on water for some tea. Duo looked at him and sighed. So Renee got up and put on a pot of coffee for her and Duo. �We can�t stay here.� Duo blurted out as they got their respective drinks. �We have to go back to space.� �Why? They obviously don�t want us to fight for them, so why go back?� Renee set down her cup making quite a noise as she did this even frothier empathized her anger at the idea of going back to a place that betrayed her. She stared at Duo with anger gleaming in her deep usually blue eyes that were now green with anger. Her lips were set at a frown that showed with out resistance fury. �I don�t know. It is just a feeling that I got and I thought that maybe one of you could explain it. Well?� �What? No way. Why?� Quatre who had been quietly sipping his tea though out the whole conversation piped up. �If we went back then we could show everyone the true side of Oz.� He sounded so sure of himself that it made Renee sick. �Wait, Quatre I don�t think that I am understanding just what you are saying, what do you mean the true side of Oz?� Renee so very impatient at this point that she snapped at poor Quatre. �If they attack us while we are in outer space then that would prove that they aren�t who they say they are. The present Oz would not see that as a wise thing to do.� He was surprisingly calm considering that Renee nearly bit his head off. �Oh, ok I think I hear ya. So if we go back then we are free �cause Oz can no longer hold the colonies against us.� A triumphant look of mischief crossed her face. �Uh oh I think she�s up to something.� Duo slowly got up and walked to the coffeepot for another cup. �Damn right! There gonna pay! And I�m gonna have a little fun while I am at it. They put us though hell and back and now..� she paused for a brief second �it�s there turn!� Renee got up and poured another cup of coffee for herself. �I really don�t think that you need anymore coffee you�re pumped up enough as it is.� Renee stopped and glared at Duo. For a moment no one spoke. Then Renee just smiled a wicked kind of smile. �Well then that�s more that there gonna get then isn�t it? I can be just like their crazy leader lady� Lady Une is it?� In a matter of minutes Quatre was able to come up with a plan for returning to space and the steps that they were to take towards eliminating Oz from outer space. And as soon as were ready they would be off to clean up space once and for all. ******************** Finally the day came where they were to leave for space. Renee paced around the room impatiently waiting for Quatre to finish up some last minute things with the management of the resort and then they would be on their way. Renee had taken care of all of her stuff the day that they decide to leave for space so she was ready and growing impatient. Then finally he came out with his bag hanging over his shoulder. �Finally. What where you doing killing the cow?� Quatre gave her a very confused look. �Ok never mind that was just an expression. Are we ready?� Yes, we are. Duo is standing by and ready for take off just as soon as we are.� And with no farther delays they were off to space. *************** When the Gundams returned to space things became a little hectic, and many battles broke out. Most all was so isolated that no one but those that were there knew that they even took place. And on top of that nothing seemed to be going by the plan that Quatre had outlined. In fact things were going just the opposite. Duo suffered great horror and despair when he and his Deathsythe where caught. He was able to escape with the help of a friend, Heero Yuy. Heero took him to the hospital to recover from the injuries he got as a result of the battle. While on the street one-day after recovering, everyone was gathered in the Town Square and watching the giant public TV. There in front of the entire colony was Duo�s Deathsythe. He was forced to watch helplessly as it was destroyed as a test target for training Oz soldier, test pilot 01, his name was Trowa Barton. Quatre had problems of his own when he went back to his home colony. All though Renee went with him she did not stay for more than a day, for things were beginning to heat up among the Winner family and the other colony leaders. Renee knew that if she stayed that she would end up fighting pacifist colony and that just wasn�t right. So she said her good-byes to Quatre and went on her own way. Quatre was to send her a mail when things cooled down and then she would return to help them run the family business. Unfortunately things did not go that smoothly and Mr. Winner ended up being assassinated, right in front of poor Quatre and his sister Irea, who was also rumored that she didn�t make it either. The news reached Renee while she was on a distant colony that the head of the natural resource satellite in the L4 colony area had been assassinated. She then immediately tried to contact Quatre though the colony, but to no avail. He had already left and no one knew or had any idea where he went. Also on the news that Renee caught wind of was that the Gundam engineers had been caught along with pilots 01, Heero Yuy, 02, Duo Maxwell and pilot 05, Wufie Chang and that they were being held at the Lunar Base, on the moon. Renee was watching the news to listen for anything new about her fellow pilots. She heard that they had done a number of missions with two new suits called, Mercurious, and another called the Veight. Also that a local resource satellite had disappeared without a trace at the hands of an unidentified Gundam. Renee decided to head out to find out just what was up with this new Gundam. What is was, and who it�s pilot is. On her way out there she intercepted a message from the Fortress Barge, telling the Mercurious and the Veight that they had a mission to find that new Gundam and find out it�s full limits and then destroy it. It also said that the pilot of the Mercurious was to be Officer Trowa Barton and coming along in the other suit would be the pilot 01, Heero Yuy. She found the location of the colony that the Gundam specified it would attack next and ran full speed there. She arrived on what was to be the battlefield just after the other two had and there they were having the usual prebattle chat. She remained in the shadows so as not to be noticed because she was unaware of the sensors and the power so she remained only close enough to her the radio speech. She heard Trowa yell to the pilot calling him Quatre. No way! That can�t be Quatre! There is no way that he would just go around blowing up colonies! He loves the colonies and was fighting to protect them. Renee had refused to believe that the kind hearted Quatre that she had always known would do this. But yet there he was plain as day telling Trowa to get away from him or else he would kill him. Renee decided not to intervene at this point, which is was best to let everything just play out and see if Heero and Trowa could stop him. That plan was shot out the window when most of Trowa�s Veight was blown off. Then moments later the whole thing blew up, taking Trowa with it. That was when Renee decided to do something about all this. She quickly flipped on her intercom. �QUATRE! Can you hear me? Quatre answer me!� The Gundam stopped moving and everything came to a deadlock. �Who�s there?� Heero was the first to respond, in his usual monotone voice. �Heero? Quatre? What�s going on here? You shouldn�t be fighting each other you are on the same side with the same mission. Why are you fighting?� Renee headed toward them in her Gundam. �I will tell you the same thing that I told Trowa. GET AWAY FROM ME!!� Quatre had a tone to his voice that made Renee stop and think for a second. Renee looked over at what was left of Trowa�s Veight and hesitated. Well she wasn�t going to sit back and let this happen. She was always stubborn in this way. This was not the way things should be. She decided to go ahead anyway. She proceeded ahead on strait at Quatre. I will not allow this to happen! He doesn�t deserve this! No one does. This isn�t RIGHT! Renee thought to herself as she headed of to fight a fellow Gundam Pilot. When she entered the area of battle, Heero backed off, and let Renee in. The battle started off slowly at first but then heated up. Quatre was a slight advantage because his mobile suit was better equipped for space battle. But she was determined to win. The battle raged for close to an hour every minute getting more and more difficult. It was especially hard for Renee because she didn�t like the idea of having to battle a friend. And to have to battle Quatre of all people was the worst. Yet she refused to give up. The battle finally ended two hours later with Trowa going up in the Veight. After that Renee had had enough and left, before either Quatre or Heero could say or do anything, leaving Heero injured and Quatre to deal with him now that Trowa's death had clamed him down and he was back to normal for the most part. When Renee left she really didn�t have a destination she simply drifted from colony to colony getting what she need as she went. Then after a week she decided to get a job. She searched on a laptop that she had fixed up for herself for a job opening. She found that they were looking for workers at a natural resource satellite. She went and got an interview set up. When she got to the colony she realized that it was the colony that was started by the Winner family and nearly went home, but something told her that she needed to stay, so she did. When she got to the designated building as specified by the lady on the phone she looked up. It seemed to go on forever. She went in a told the lady at the desk that her name was Lenora and that they had spoke on the phone early about a job position. The lady politely informed her that someone would be with her in a minute. So she took a seat near the door just in case. After a few minutes a man came to the door and asked for Lenora. Renee rose and followed the man inside. He showed her to a large room with a single desk in the middle in front of a window. He told her to have a seat and that owner will be with her in just a minute, he was finishing up a meeting. Renee nodded and thanked the man then he left. Over twenty minutes went by and still no one to see her. Renee was tired and about to leave when she heard someone approaching. The door open and a person walked in surrounded by a group of people. Renee stood to meet them then stopped dead. As there she stood face to face with Quatre. For a second neither of them said anything. Rather they just stared completely dumbfounded at one another appearance in the same place at the same time. Sensing once again the group of people that had followed him into the office Quatre quickly shook off the shock and dismissed the people in the suits that followed him. As soon as they left Quatre allowed his excitement to get to him. �Renee!! How are you?!� He ran to her nearly knocking her to the ground. He ran into her giving her what should have been a light hug, but wasn�t as light as he thought it was. �Ouch.� Renee winced in pain as Quatre had hit a large bruise on her arm. Quatre released her. He looked at her with confused eyes. She rolled up her sleeve and showed him a bruise the size of her fist. �Fighting for my own life.� She said in a monotone voice that was completely unlike her. For a split second Quatre saw something that he had never seen before. A look that was most unusual crossed Renee�s face. For a second she actually looked scared, then just as fast as it came, it was gone. Then she unrolled her sleeved and looked back at him. Quatre motioned for her to sit. She did. �So what brings you here?� Quatre asked as he sat at the other end of the desk. �I saw a job opening and came to see about it, but I had no idea that it would bring me to you.� Her voice was bright then it became soft. �How have you been? I mean are you ok?� Quatre slight nod of his head. Then looked up and smiled. He stood. �Allow me to show you to your room.� He said waling to the big brown oak double doors. �What are you talking about?� Renee rose to meet him, but didn�t follow. He walked back to her and looked her in the eyes. She stared back. �I�m certainly not going to let you go back to the streets. So you are going to stay here with me.� He turned and headed back to the door. This time Renee followed. He led her though the long winding halls to a large room with double doors. She entered the room and Quatre followed. She turned to face him. �So now you run all of this is that right?� Renee walked over to the bed at the far end of the room. She sat down. The bed was surprisingly soft and she sank into its soft feathers. �No. Not yet, but I will in a little bit. But I would like to ask you a question. Do you think that you would be interested in helping me run what I can?� Renee jumped to her feet. �Of course I will. You think I would just leave you here?� Quatre recognized the sarcasm in her voice and gave a small laugh. �No I guess not. Well I will leave you to get settled.� And with that he turned and left the room. The doors closed and Renee ran to see what the doors on the right end of the room were. She opened them and they revealed a bathroom. �Oh thank god for small favors.� She entered and looked under the sink. There were full sized towels folded neatly. She looked in the bathtub and on the shelves was a bottle of shampoo and another one for conditioner. She immediately got out of her clothes and got in the shower. The hot water felt good against her tired aching muscles. Especially her left arm witch was bruised beyond believe. Thankfully she punched with her right arm the best so she was in no hurry for it to heal. She washed her hair and then got out of the shower. She got dressed and went to find Quatre to find out what her first job was. About a week had gone by and nothing was out of the usual. That was kind of boring but Renee just thought that it was nice to finally have a place to be. She was working in the shipping and construction area going over an order form when she noticed that something was wrong. The form was wrong and she was unsure of how to fix it. So she went to see Quatre about it. She asked the secretary where he might be and she said that he was in the conference room. She walked down the winding halls that she now has memorized. She got to the door that said in big letters, CONFERENCE. She walked in hearing Quatre�s familiar voice. She walked to Quatre�s side scarcely noticing the figure that sat across from him. �Quatre, this does make any sense.� She thrust the clipboard with the order form on it in front of him. �I was think that we could do this�.� She pointed to the mistake that she found. �And change it to this. Do you think that would work?� Quatre shook his head. �It might be better if you do this�umm do you have a pen?� He looked up at her. Before she could answer the figure across from them thrust out their hand and offered her a pen. �Here ya go Renee.� It said. Renee stopped dead. She looked up at Duo who remained holding out his hand a pen in it. Renee smirked. �That�s ok I got it.� She said as she reached behind her head and grabbed the pencil that held up her hair. It fell around her as she handed it to Quatre. Duo laughed and commented about how she hasn�t changed one little bit from the last time they meet. She pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tough at him. They laughed for a while then Renee excused herself to go and finish her work. As she was working there was a knock at the door. She looked up and Duo was standing on the threshold looking in at her. �Do you need something Mr. Maxwell?� Renee used the professional voice. He shook his head and walked to the desk. He sat on the edge and leaned in. �Do you know about what happened to Trowa and Quatre?� He asked in a low whisper. She nodded her head. �I found Trowa and I did tell Quatre that and I think he is going to go and find him, and I meet his sister and I think that you should go for support. She is not a happy kind of person right now. So I think that you should go.� Renee nodded again. �Ok I will. Thanks, Duo.� They shook hands and he left. A day later Quatre came and said that he had found Trowa and he wanted to go and see him. Renee was going to object then remembered what Duo said and said ok. They left and caught up with the circus and went in. They went to the back and saw Trowa. Trowa for the first time to Renee actually looked somewhat helpless. Renee heard Quatre sigh a sigh of relief. She looked over and saw what she thought was tears of joy on Quatre�s eyes. She only hoped that Trowa�s sister, whoever she was, wasn�t around. Trowa was over at the lion�s cage. Quatre yelled out to Trowa and he turned and looked at Quatre and Renee standing there. �Who are you? Do I know you?� Trowa asked. Renee gasped and looked again at him. Then she turned to Quatre who seemed to have no reaction just yet. Then came what they feared the most. She wore a dark blue tee shirt and a pair of blue jeans. And didn�t look very happy. She marched up and closed the space between them and Trowa. �Who are you and what do you want with my Trowa? If you have come to take him back to fight then you just best leave now. Trowa doesn�t fight anymore. So just leave us alone!� She seemed almost hysterical. Then without warning she grabbed them a pushed out of the area. Renee however was up to being pushed around. She stuck out her foot and stopped the made a quick pivot to face Catherine. She glared hard at her, furious with the fact that she thought that she could just push them around like toys. Catherine glared right back, also extremely irritated. For a moment no one spoke. The two women just stared at each other. Renee spoke. �Was this his decision or ours? Answer me that. Because personally I think that you are just afraid and that is sad to think that you don�t trust Trowa to take care of himself.� Catherine glared at Renee as she gave her opinion. �Trowa tell me, do you want to come back with us and be a Gundam Pilot again?� Trowa stood to stand before them and bowed his head. All eyes turned to Trowa. He stared at the ground thinking. His face wrinkled as he thought. Then he looked up at them. �I am sorry, but I don�t know who you all are. I am sorry.� Trowa just stared at them. Renee and Quatre both gasped and looked at Trowa in total bewilderment. Finally Quatre spoke. �What are you talking about Trowa?� Before he could answer Catherine intervened. �Trowa lost him memories. He does know about you or about the fighting that he did and I plan to keep it that way! Now just leave us.� Renee was completely dumbfounded. She looked to see if Quatre had the same reaction. She looked at his face and at first he looked to have no reaction. Then she took a closer look. As she looked she was a small tear forming in his blue eyes. Then he quickly bowed his head and sighed. Catherine glared the leave us alone glare. Renee started to retort when she saw out of the corner of her eye, Quatre turning and walking away. She looked back at Catherine and sighed then followed Quatre. �What�s the matter? Why didn�t you say something? Why did you just walk away?� She asked when she finally caught up with him. He continued to look at the ground and wouldn�t look eyes with her. �Quatre answer me.� He sighed. �It�s all my fault. If it wasn�t for me none of this would have ever happened.� His voice crack as he spoke. Renee decided to drop the subject for the time being. Finally they got back to the large building where they were staying. When they got there Renee asked again. Again she got the same response. Now she was furious with him. �QUATRE!!!! STOP THAT! I DON�T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD ABOUT IT BENG YOUR FAULT! YOU HEAR ME?� She looked at him as she stood still. He still didn�t look up. Then he just walked off to his room, leaving Renee to stand there. She didn�t follow. Instead she went to her room. When she got there. She sat and thought about what had just happened. Then she got an idea. She got up and ran to the warehouse where her desk was. She sat down at the computer, and started to pull records of people. �BINGO! Now to do a little bit of searching. But first a little sleep would do me good.� She got up and shut everything down and went to her room. She lay down and fell asleep. Then� �RENEE! Get up! Hurry we have to go. They�re attacking the colony!� Quatre was more or less yelling in her ear. She sat up wearily. Then what Quatre was saying finally hit her. She jumped out of the bed and thanked god that she was fully dressed when she fell asleep, because she didn�t the time to get dressed. She followed Quatre out of the room and took off running in the hall. As they ran Renee looked over to the young blonde that ran at her side. He looked so determined but Renee saw right though it all. Under that soft face was a side that was only seen once. But now that it had been exposed to him, he would never be quite the same. There will always be that part of him. Of course he would always be that kind person that everyone knows, but under that will always be the temper that no one will see and tell of. Quatre looked to his left feeling eyes on him. He saw Renee looking at him. �Are you ok?� Renee asked. Quatre nodded, but he knew deep down that things would never be the same. Renee nodded; her expression changed from the concerned look to the look of mischief that she got just before she was about to go into battle guns blazing, then looked away. Quatre smiled. There was something about the way that she looked before a battle that made him laugh. The more he thought about the more he realized that every time she got that look she usually ended up taking on and out a few dozen ms on her own. And that she was going to love it. As he watched her run besides him he noticed that she looked different when she was ready for a fight. He stared. Then Renee glanced back over at him. That�s it! Her eyes! They changed. They were now green instead of their usual light blue. And it was a bad change either. She actually looked cute. Quatre smiled again. Then looked ahead as they reached the door. Quatre punched the code into the keypad. The door opened to revile their Gundams siting waiting for them. Renee ran to the one that she claimed as her own and opened the cockpit door. She jumped into the seat and powered up. As the screens glowed to life she saw the Sandrock also beginning to rise with life. She flipped on the speaker. �You ready over there?� �Yeah. Ready when you are.� Renee grinned and even though she knew that Quatre couldn�t see her. �Ok. Let�s do it!� The famous last words. They exited the building and headed for the space outside. When they reached the outside of the colony they saw a legion of Taurus mobile dolls, and a few Leos. �Leave the colony!� She heard Quatre�s voice boom from the speaker of the Sandrock. As they raced closer Renee noticed a ship. She quickly opened a line to Quatre. �Hey do you see that? That ship. Who might that be?� Quatre�s face appeared on her screen. He shook his head. Then his eyes flew open. �It�s Trowa!� |