| Disclaimer: I do not own any gundam stuff in any way, but Vah is mine. Warnings: This is gonna be crossposted to hell and back. Unexpected Developments Duo looked out into the depths of space. Things seemed quiet, much too quiet. It had been two months since the space station had been recovered, and they had returned to find their partners had brought back enough people to run the laboratory inside. They had amassed an amazing force in such a short time, and yet OZ had made no move. The attack Vah had launched towards OZ headquarters had done massive damage, more damage than they had expected. But they had believed something should have happened by now. At least a token force, or threats. The silence was becoming unnerving. Shrugging his shoulders, Duo signaled to Quatre. �This area is clear. Let�s head back to the base.� Turning towards home, he smiled as he felt a feeling of happiness coming from Heero. It never ceased to amaze Duo how much Heero had changed. How in only a few months, he had become able to show his feelings, rather than bottling them up inside. They were both different people now. �Hey Quatre, you ever notice how people change when they�re in love?� �Why no, Duo, I don�t think I have.� Quatre said in an amused tone. �I thought Heero had just developed an overpowering obsession with trying to act human, and you had developed a sudden streak of maturity for no apparent reason.� �Mature? Me? I feel like I�ve been insulted!� Duo said, blasting ahead of Quatre. �I think I�d better get back to people that appreciate me! And hadn�t you better hurry? I thought you and Trowa had a date tonight?� Duo grinned as he tried to banish a faint sense of unease. Feeling the part inside of him that was Vah, he noticed she was starting to feel tense. �Is something wrong?� He thought to her as he pulled his suit into the nearest bay. �We�ve had an interesting offer.� Vah thought in reply. Unstrapping himself, Duo jumped down and started heading towards the command center, where both Vah and Heero were waiting for him. �So, what�s this interesting offer you have for me?� leering slightly, Duo bent to kiss Heero, then Vah. Rolling her eyes, Vah smiled and brushed her hair back from her face. �We have an offer of allies, Milardo Peacecraft and his remaining forces are willing to join us, but he wants to see what can be done about Relena�s captivity.� At the sound of the name Milardo, there was a crash of breaking glass, as Ms. Noin slowly brought her shaking hands up to her face. �Are you alright?� Quatre asked, as he and Trowa picked up the pieces of the mug she had dropped. Visibly pulling herself together, Noin nodded and went to sit down. Heero�s face hardened at the last statement, and Duo felt his happy mood evaporating. �There is no way that we can release that traitor.� Heero stated. �She is responsible for the fall of at least three colonies, not to mention revealing information about the gundams to the enemy.� Vah nodded, and held up a finger. �Milardo is convinced that Relena is not herself. I�m not sure exactly what he means by that, but I believe that in order to gain allies, it is worth at least hearing him out. He will join our forces if we at least will listen, and consider what he says.� Heero thought carefully about what she said, and slowly nodded. �I guess it wouldn�t hurt to listen.� Duo said, breaking the silence. Noin walked quietly back to her quarters, lost in thought. It didn�t seem real that he was returning, after being �dead� for so long. �I should have known he was out there fighting. He always had to be fighting something. Even if it was only himself� she whispered as she hit the lights, and stood in the doorway, letting the soft breeze from the ventilators blow her short hair off her forehead. Moving slowly into the room, she stopped to run her hand across the silver mask she had believed was all she would ever have left of him. �I waited so long for you, Zechs. Why didn�t you ever come back?� Vah sat alone in their quarters and brooded. The meeting with Milardo must be going well, she thought, as she idly played her guitar. Neither one of her husbands seemed upset, merely curious. She truly wished she could have gone to the meeting with them, but good sense had dictated keeping her existence a secret until they were completely sure of him. Sighing loudly, she put the guitar down and stretched her hands. Getting up and walking around the room, she was amazed that the personal items she had stored in here so long ago were still intact. Smiling suddenly, she put a cd in the ancient player and listened to music almost everyone had forgotten. �Darling� Duo�s voice echoed suddenly in her mind. �We need you down in maximum security A. Milardo seems to be legitimate, and he�s even got Heero convinced that he may have a point in thinking Relena is being mind-controlled. He had the guard say something about Heero to her, and she didn�t even blink!� Vah sat for a minute in stunned silence, thinking of all the complaints Heero had voiced about Relena never leaving him alone. �I�ll be right there!� Vah thought back to him and donned her armor. Things were getting too weird for her to take any chances. �So, how did you discover that Relena is being mind-controlled if you�ve been �dead� all this time?� Heero asked, carefully watching and weighing the older man�s reactions. �I have quite a few informants in OZ. When I heard that Relena had defected, I had some of my people observe her carefully, I wanted to make sure she wasn�t a captive.� Milardo said with tired ice-blue eyes. �I was a long time in recovering from my wounds, and couldn�t come out from my self-imposed exile to investigate it myself.� Suddenly, Milardo�s eyes went wide, and he took an involuntary step forward. Heero suddenly smiled as he sensed the beautiful feminine presence behind him. �I would like you to meet Vah, our wife.� Heero said as he turned to face the alien behind him. Her waist-length hair was done in a braid identical to Duo�s. Dressed in her black form-fitting armor she was truly a stunning sight. Milardo couldn�t seem to take his eyes off of her. With a sharp look at their new ally, Duo came up to put an arm around Vah. �Darling, we have Relena in a room nearby where we can observe her. We can�t figure out how she�s being controlled, and we�re hoping you�ll have some ideas.� Inclining her head slightly, Vah followed them in to a separate room. Oh the vid screen, Relena sat in a plastic chair, answering the questions posed to her by the guard. She had a cynical, haughty attitude, looking as though she owned everything around her, rather than sitting in a heavily guarded cell. As Vah watched the prisoner with an intensity that was frightening, Duo and Heero carefully positioned themselves in between the Lightning count and their wife. �So, Milardo, did you know that Ms. Noin is here?� Heero asked, with a calculating look in his eyes. �Noin?� He looked shocked. �Lucretia Noin?� Heero nodded an affirmative �I had no idea, I thought she had perished during the war�.� Milardo looked troubled, and his attention was finally fixed on something other than Vah. �Where is she?� He asked, looking haunted. �She should be joining us here shortly, she has been training new pilots on the gundams Vah created.� Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Noin silently entered the room, softly closing the door behind her. �Good evening, Gentleman� She entered the room with crisp, military strides. Slight signs of strain showed around her mouth and eyes, as she fully looked upon the face that had been in her dreams for the past few years. �Hello, Zechs.� She nodded to him and sat down in a chair facing the vid screen. �Noin, I�� Milardo started, and was suddenly cut off as Vah stood up and swore, feelings of rage instantly engulfing both Heero and Duo. �Is this recorded?� Vah demanded, almost trembling in anger. �Yes, it is, why?� Noin swiftly got up and went to the controls. �Rewind it about thirty seconds back then. Heero-koi, please listen carefully.� They all listened as Relena started to lose her temper with the guard. �I told you stupid Kerresh, that I will not answer any more of your insolent questions!� Heero looked up in horrified silence as Vah told Noin she�d seen enough. �That was your language! How could that baka have learned your language?� Vah grabbed a weapon from her belt and started down the hall. �Because that�s not Relena.� They caught up with Vah just as she was about to open the door to the prisoner�s room. �Darling, don�t you think you should explain before you do anything permanent?� Duo asked, while Heero put both arms around her waist. Sighing, Vah calmed a little as he held her close. �She�s been bonded by a Sha-din. Her mind is underneath the mind of the priestess.� Heero was the first one to put it all together. �You mean your people have been behind this whole war?� Vah nodded grimly. �They couldn�t match the technology I�d given to your people on their own, so they resorted to subversion and trickery to make sure that you were never a threat to them. And none of my people are better at trickery than the priestesses of Sha-din. They use our ability to bond to take over the minds of those who can bring them power. As time passes, the original personality fades. The priestess will keep the body until it is no longer useful, then abandon it, leaving it a mindless shell.� Crying out in anger, Zechs tried to get past the trio blocking the doorway, and was immediately restrained by Noin. �Stop it Zechs� Noin hissed into his ear. �If she didn�t have a plan, she wouldn�t be trying to barge in there.� Vah nodded, and showed them the weapon she held in her hand. �My teachers were always afraid of the Sha-din. This was the first thing they made me create. It forces them to retreat to their own bodies, and if their body is too far for them to retreat to, well that�s just too bad.� Heero and Duo looked at each other, nodded, and Duo opened the door for Vah, carefully aiming his gun at �Relena� The Sha-din looked up out of Relena�s eyes in shock, sputtering angrily until she saw who came through the door.. �Vah Delierion.. I should have known you didn�t die in that explosion� she spat angrily. �You caused the worst defeat our people have ever known! You killed our parents to defend these aliens!� Screeching, she fought the bonds that held her to the chair. �You wouldn�t dare destroy me too, your own sister!� Vah calmly powered up the weapon and aimed it directly at the struggling body in front of her. �I will destroy you. My slavery ended the day I escaped from the life you all forced on me. I have never looked back, and I will never let these people be a slave like I was. Goodbye, Vareena� Pulling the trigger, the room was flooded with a flash of bluish light. When everyone could see again, the body tied to the chair was unconscious. �Relena!� Zechs yelled as he rushed across the room. Chafing her wrists, he pleaded with her to wake up. Slowly walking up behind him, Noin gently prodded him up, and pulled him away. �Zechs, she might be better off if you let her wake naturally.� Suddenly wrapping his arms around Noin, Zechs whispered into her hair �You always were the strongest one.� Shocked, Noin slowly brought her arms up around him. �No, I was never the strong one, I couldn�t ever let you go.� As they held each other tightly, tears running down both their faces, they both seemed to realize they�d never be alone again. Relena woke up the following day. She had no memory of the time when she had been OZ�s top informer. Vah was fairly shaken by having to destroy her sister, but it helped her open up more to Duo and Heero, giving her the strength to tell them about her past, about the cold, unloved years she had spent, forced to create technology for those not intelligent enough to do it for themselves. It brought them even closer together, and made Vah a hundred times more determined to save the people she was fighting for. As they prepared to mobilize, to begin the campaign that would either get them all killed, or save everyone, three people stood firm in the knowledge that no matter what, they had each other. And the rest is another story. |