Trowa finished his account for Sally, Noin, and Howard. Brekke sat quietly in his lap, her eyes closed and her head against his chest. The two had not left each other’s sight since Trowa’s memory had returned. Sally smiled and Noin’s eye’s sparkled. She had never seen the girl when she wasn’t mourning. She finally looked like a normal girl, not the shell of a person. Howard was grinning at them.
“Well, Trowa, that’s great!” he said. “Oh! I just remembered what I came here to tell you. While you were gone, we found Libra.” Brekke rose gracefully to her feet in one fluid motion.
“You found Libra? Show me.” She did not wait for him, but strode towards the main control room alone, assuming that she would be followed. She was. The five pilots, Sally Noin, and Howard all headed down the hall after her. She waited patiently while Howard tapped keys on the control panel and am image of Libra appeared on the main screen. They fell into a collective silence. Duo, to no one’s surprise, was the one that broke it.
“It’s huge!” he murmured in awe.
“How did they make a ship so large in such a short amount of time?” Wufei asked despondently, the sudden seriousness of their situation bringing him out of his silent shell. Trowa and Heero remained silent. Quatre looked forlornly at the immensity of the ship.
“It’s enormous. And look at all those mobile dolls. How can we defeat them when there are only six of us?” he asked, his eyes full of despair. “We can’t win.”
“Yes, Quatre, we can.” Brekke told him, her jaw clenched. “Because we have to. Every living thing on Earth hangs in the balance. We must win, for the sake of us all.”
Zechs stared out the window at his target, his nemesis. The Earth. You’re so beautiful. he thought. But it’s just a guise, it hides what truly goes on beneath that beauty. It hides the war and the killing and all the meaningless battles that take place on your surface. That’s why I will destroy you. When you are gone, the battles will end. And there will finally be peace…
“Mr. Milliardo.” Quinze interrupted him from his thoughts. He glanced to the man irritantly. “A civilian shuttle is headed this way.” Zechs blinked.
“A civilian shuttle? Are you sure?” he asked.
“I’m sure. They are hailing us right now, let me connect the line.” Quinze said. To Zechs’s utter shock, the face on the communication screen was Relena’s.
“Milliardo, brother! I demand to speak with you.” she said in her way, that said she expected to be obeyed. He had to hide his smile.
“Let her aboard, Quinze.” he said calmly. My sister. You’ve finally come.
Relena stood aboard the massive Starship Libra. She tried to not let it’s size overwhelm her. She was led to her brother by Dorothy of all people, and she thought bitterly that if she had not been the avid pacifist that she was, she would have dared to hope the abrasive girl had been lost, or worse. As it was, she bit her lip and carried herself regally through the cold halls of the ship. A door slid open and she caught the sight of a familiar blonde head sitting stiff backed in the commanders chair. She lost her sense of self importance and dashed towards him.
“Milliardo! I demand that you stop this at once!” she said loudly, standing firmly in front of him. His downcast eyes rose to meet hers.
“Relena. I see you haven’t changed a bit.” he said with a small smile. She scowled at the bizarre comment and brushed it aside.
“You aren’t listening to me, Milliardo.” she said impatiently. “This battle must stop at once. What would Father say?” Zechs did not bother to hide his widening grin. It made Relena angry. She would not be mocked, especially not by her older sibling. “Why are you even fighting? Do you know? This battle will solve nothing. It will not lead to true peace!” She stamped her foot impatiently, for all the world like a child throwing a tantrum. He would just not see her point!
“Relena, what I’m doing will lead to peace. I’m ending this war.” he explained calmly.
“Fighting never leads to peace, Milliardo!” she insisted stubbornly, her hands clutching into fists. This time his smile was warm and sad, and lit his eyes. He stood, and before she could do anything, he embraced her in the kind of hug that can only pass between siblings.
“Oh, Relena. This is just how you should be. But you can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous. Let me set up a home for you, in the colonies.” he offered, holding her back at a length to look down into her face. She swallowed, them shook her head.
“No, I’m not leaving you, Milliardo.” she told him. “I’m not through here.” He shrugged.
“Fine then. Dorothy, will you see to it that Relena is escorted to a room and that she stays there?” Zechs asked. The sly blonde girl stepped forward.
“Certainly, Mr. Milliardo.” she said. “Come, Miss Relena. We must go this way.” Before Relena could open her mouth to argue, Dorothy grabbed a hold of her and drug her from the room.
Heero quietly rummaged through the files in Zero’s cockpit. He pulled out CD after CD, glancing at them and sliding them back into place. At about the middle of the drawer, he found the ones he was looking for. He pulled them out and read their titles. Yes, these were what he wanted. With a determined mind, he jumped down from Zero and walked the distance over to where Howard was finishing up some work on one of the other mobile suits.
“Howard, I want you to install these into the database of Sandrock.” he said calmly. Howard took the disks and read them. His eyes widened.
“Heero, are you sure this is such a good idea?” he asked.
“Quatre can handle it.” he said. “Install them as soon as you can.” At Howard’s uncertain nod, Heero left the hanger.
Heero walked into the social hall of Peacemillion and glanced around. Duo was amusing himself with a basketball, Quatre and Trowa were playing chess, and Wufei had some sort of exercise contraption made for strengthening arm muscles, which squeaked every time he bent it. Brekke was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Brekke?” he asked. He hadn’t seen her away from Trowa since the boy got his memory back. All four boys glanced up at him.
“She’s in the shower.” Trowa said, then moved a black piece across the board. “Check.” Quatre squeaked in dismay. Heero arched an eyebrow.
“For two hours?” he asked in disbelief. The girl in question walked into the room at that moment combing her wet curls out with her slender fingers.
“Yes for two hours.” she snapped. “Do you have any idea how long it takes to wash and comb out hair this long? Not to mention the fact I haven’t had time to brush it in four days.” she pointed out, walking over to the chess game. Heero snorted.
“You’re beginning to sound like Duo.” he rebuked. Duo’s eyes flared.
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!?!” he squawked. Brekke chuckled in spite of herself. Wufei rolled his eyes and concentrated on his workout. He was surrounded by incompetence.
“He has a point Duo. You do spend alot of time on your hair.” Quatre pointed out, moving his piece. Trowa took his rook. His jaw went slack. “That’s wasn’t fair Trowa, Duo was distracting me!” Duo dropped the ball and put his hands on his hips.
“How do I always end up being the bad guy?!” he demanded. Trowa ignored them, and Brekke continued to watch the squabble with her Cheshire cat grin.
“You know, Heero, just because you don’t ever brush your hair doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t.” she said. Heero turned his attention back to her.
“And why do you always put the same clothes back on?” he asked. “Aren’t girls supposed to have tons of clothes?” Brekke’s eyes flared and then narrowed.
“You listen to me, Spandex Boy, I haven’t seen you wear anything other than your little biking outfit there, so don’t you even begin with me! Poor orphan kids can only afford so much, and these were 70% off! So there.” She punctuated the retort by sticking her tongue out at him.
“Oh, that was mature.” Wufei observed. She whipped around to face the Chinese boy and opened her mouth to fire a comeback at him, but Trowa cut them all off short.
“Could you guys keep it down, I’m trying to plan a move here.” he said calmly. Brekke’s mouth snapped shut, but she shot Wufei a Death Glare that rivaled Heero’s. He tried to ignore her, but shifted uncomfortably under the heat of the scowl. Duo picked his basketball back up, content to just be out of the conversation.
“Anyways,” Heero said flatly, “I came here to tell you that we should attack Libra. Today.” he added. Brekke glanced at him.
“As in now?” she asked. He nodded. “They suffered damages from the use of their beam cannon in a battle a few days ago with Oz. We should attack them before they can repair it.” he said. The others glanced around. No one seemed opposed to the idea, so they all stood.
“Well then, let’s go!” Duo said. They quickly vacated the room.
Brekke pulled her space suit on and zipped it up carefully to avoid catching her hair. She pulled her gloves on and glanced up as Trowa came over to her. He offered her a quiet smile.
“Good luck.” he said, and kissed her cheek. She returned the gesture and smiled mischievously.
“Thanks.” she said and they quickly climbed into their mobile suits. Wufei and Duo had already started theirs up. Heero put a hand on Quatre’s shoulder.
“I had Howard install the Zero system into your cockpit.” he said simply. Cold fear swept through Quatre’s body. He did what?!
“B-but, Heero! I can’t handle it! You know I can’t. I… I’m just too weak… No, Heero!” His mind soaked up the panic quickly and he couldn’t think straight. He saw the Vay Eate blow up again, Trowa inside. “No…”
“You can handle it, Quatre. Some one needs to lead the Gundam pilots in this battle. Without a strategy, we’ll lose.” Heero said gently, but firmly.
“Then why don’t you do it? Lead us in Zero. I can’t do it, Heero, I can’t.” Quatre was desperate. Heero ignored the plea.
“Zero will be busy battling Epyon. You have to do it, Quatre. The system password is Zero. You have to manually enter it in before the system engages. You can do it, Quatre. Now go.” Heero gave the boy a gentle shoved towards Sandrock, then darted over to Zero before anymore arguments could be made. Shaken and stunned, Quatre sat down in the pilot seat of Sandrock’s cockpit and took a deep breath.
“I hope you’re right, Heero.” he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. Then he followed the other mobile suits towards Libra.
