A Pull Upon A Thread - Prologue

New York Conference Centre
10:45AM – April 7th A.C. 198
Relena frowned as she listened to the spokesperson of the Lion Legion. This woman demanded her party’s rights and challenged the others, as she said “unjust and pathetic” policies. How could this women gain so much of a high ground in the party’s first public interview. It was not right. This woman spoke of the Eve’s War, of its horrors and ghosts which many would rather forget after three long years of hard work and preservation. In ten minutes she had brought up all the unfinished promises, all the forgotten deals, she even spoke words which Relena would very much rather forget. Relena could not take any more of this conference. The words this woman spoke where no more than foolish thoughts of blood thirsty revenge and hatred. This woman did not see what Relena and many others saw in the Gundam Pilots. She spoke of pure and innocent people; however Relena did not know anyone purer and more innocent than the Gundam Pilots.
Relena glanced up to the bleachers upon where the colony representatives sat. She scanned quickly to search for a blonde who she had awaited throughout this conference to see. There he was; second row from the top four men from the left. Quatre Raberba Winner sat surrounded by many older and more experienced men. Relena saw the look of boredom on his face; no doubt he had heard the accusations before and had just switched off. Quatre was merely here by her invitation and she had been surprised when he had accepted; although now Relena was starting to see why Quatre was so late to reply to her invitation. Relena knew that the young ex-pilot was only representative because he had been elected it about a year ago. Relena knew he wanted nothing to do with politics of this nature. His only colony seemed to be difficult enough without the stress of running a company.
Quatre glanced around the room and stopped as he saw his old friend on the other side of the conference hall. He smiled softly as he saw her. Relena certainly had changed since they last saw each other. She smiled back before her eyes made a quick sweep of the speaker before back to him. She looked so uneasy about the speaker; and who among his friends wouldn’t. This woman wanted the identities of the Gundam Pilots be revealed to the public and that they be punished for their crimes against the colonies and the Earth. Quatre frowned as she said “it was justice that has yet to be served in our lifetimes.” What did she mean by that? If she knew anything about the Gundam Pilots she would understand that they were just. Quatre sighed under his breath and glanced towards the woman in centre stage. At least he knew there would be two people against the laws of this party.
After what seemed like forever of this woman speaking nothing but misguided lies there a thunderous clap from the members in the hall. Quatre looked around in shock; he did not expect the people to believe her. She was nothing but nonsense. She had nothing right when it came to her facts. Quatre sighed as he watched many conceited men stand to respect and agree with this woman. Quatre could not see how this woman had gained such a support on such a grand scale in one speech; even he and Relena didn’t have that much power. Quatre looked over at Relena and saw her head bowed. He felt the exact same way as she did. This was wrong end of discussion.
Not long after the woman had left the stage did everyone feel the need to leave with a chorus of banter and light hearted chat. Relena however felt devastated. How could the people of the colonies and the earth feel this way? So much for justice and peace; this was a time of peace, not violence. How in God’s name could these people believe that punishing war heroes would ever help them as a society? Relena sighed as she saw the hall empty. There resting at the bottom of the small staircase on the opposite side of the room was Quatre. He looked up at her and she knew that they needed to leave. Relena shot him a sympathetic look before standing and gliding towards him.
Relena stopped in front of him and nodded. He most certainly wasn’t the sweet and innocent boy she had met when she was a young teenage. He truly looked like a fine young man not that pusillanimous boy that once fought a horrific war. That scrawny petit body had been exchanged for a lithe frame and a few muscles that had grown after he surely had needed them. His face was chiselled finely and all that puppy fat had disappeared. His hair Relena noticed still shined like a halo and gave him an angel like look that would never change from Quatre. His eyes still shone an ocean blue; Relena remembered Trowa saying that when he looked into Quatre’s eyes he felt like he was on the beach on a warm summer’s day. Relena gave a soft sympathetic smile to the young man before he gestured for them to leave the building.
Just as the two reached the door of the conference door they were halted by the woman who had given her speech only moments ago. This woman’s smile was artificial and all that make-up on her face made her look plastic. Even though they did not like this woman the two stopped and waited to hear what she had to say.
“I hopped you enjoyed my speech,” she said in a soprano voice. She gave a small giggle which did not suit a woman in her late 20’s. “Will you be voting in the election in the summer?”
Quatre cocked his eyebrow. “Are you referring to the one in August in which we decided if the identity of the Gundam Pilots should be revealed?” The woman nodded eagerly towards them almost excited.  Quatre felt his stomach churn as he saw the woman. “I will be,” he answered. The woman then turned to Relena and attempted to smile sweetly.
“What about you Miss Relena?” The woman asked softly. “Surely this must coincide with your policies of total pacifism.” Quatre snorted softly. How was murdering soldier who had been considered heroes for saving the Earth from the Barton Foundation just? This woman either had no morals or was the biggest hypocrite that Quatre had ever laid eyes on. The crimes of the Gundam Pilots had been forgotten because they had saved the world from destruction and massacre twice.
“I am afraid you are mistaken Mrs Jonson,” Relena counterclaimed. “I fear you are mistaking my pacifist policies with ones of Alliance and Romerfeller.” Relena shook her head. “I feel that the Gundam Pilots are heroes as is any other soldier who had the horrific duty of battling in the war. I feel that nothing good can come of executing or punishing the Gundam Pilots in any way.” Relena sighed softly as I saw the smile be swept away from Mrs Jonson’s face. “If you say that they should be punished for their crimes then you must accept that anyone whether a White Fang soldier or an Oz soldier must be punished for their part in the war.” Relena turned to Quatre and smiled softly before turning back to the woman. “And then you must ask how many soldiers were in duty because of government commands or threats.” Quatre watched as the woman’s face turned from unreadable to one of discuses and hatred of Relena. Men that had been dotted around the room closed in to clearly hear what the ex-Queen of the world had to say. “It is not uncommon to find theories as to why the soldiers fought. So unless you wish to have men that have committed no crime to be executed then I fear that you are heading down a path that will not be tolerated in this government.”
“Was that a threat Miss Relena?” Mrs Jonson asked with a smirk that certainly suited her more than a smile. Quatre could see a sinister intent in the woman’s eyes. Men around the three started to mutter comments to their respected friends. Relena sighed softly.
“I fear once again you are mistaken,” Relena commented. “I am merely warning you that this government is peaceful and violence should not be tolerated by anyone here.”
“Mr Winner, Miss Darlian your car is waiting outside.” Quatre turned to see a tall brunet Preventer Agent waiting for them on the opposite side of the door. Quatre nodded to the Agent before turning to Relena and Mrs Jonson.
“We should leave now Relena.” Quatre spoke softly to Relena. Relena turned to Quatre and had heard the tone of his voice. She looked into his eyes and saw that he was uncomfortable. It was time to retreat and await the next battle. Relena nodded to him before heading towards the exit.

*

8:31PM – April 8th A.C. 198
“It seems that this mission was harder than we thought,” reported Chang Wufei before taking a sip of his beer.
“Whoever these people are their not giving up easily,” Trowa added softly as he placed his beer on the old wooden pub table.
Duo sighed as he felt the doom and gloom from their previous mission escalate around them. Although they had foiled the plans of the enemy they had failed to capture anyone or find any information that could have been useful to them. Duo looked to his sides and watched the faces and actions of his comrades and his best friends. Nothing but a melancholy look and atmosphere was seen in Duo’s eyes as he watched his friends.
Wufei sat very sluggishly from his old tall proud self. He was leant over the table arms folded with one hand holding the bottle of beer loosely with three fingers. His eyes were down cast at the table. There was nothing interesting there apart from the weird beer mats. Trowa was sat up straight leaning back in the booth with his arms folded over his chest. His head was facing his lap with his bangs covering the side of his face. Duo could just see that Trowa’s eyes where closed and his brow was creased. That was an unusual action for Trowa even when he was annoyed. Guess Quatre was having a positive emotional effect on the Silencer. Heero had one hand clasped around his beer as he had a quaff of it before placing it down. Heero didn’t look any different from what he usually did but his actions showed that he was off. He let his hand relax slightly and Duo watched as Heero’s eyes scanned over the useless information on the bottle label.
Duo looked back at his own beer that he held in his hands. How had they gotten so rusty since they were pilots? It hadn’t been more than half a year since they were in their Gundams and saving the world. Although they weren’t a complete team as they had been back in those days. Quatre was not a Preventer with the rest of them; he had enough problems as it was getting his company back under control and being the colonies representative. Plus the fact that Trowa and himself had not been on a mission in a long, long time thanks to the fact they were only part time Agents.
Duo looked up at his comrades before turning to Heero, “What now?” Duo watched as Heero looked up at Duo. There was that look again, Duo hadn’t see that since the war when Relena was in danger. That look only came from Heero Yuy when he was petrified, even in the days of emotionless Duo could see the worry in his best friend’s eyes. Heero turned his head to the others.
“There’s nothing we can do but go home and file our reports.” That was Heero’s reply.  They certainly were at a loss. How could they go on without any information? “Let’s just hope that what Une told us was nothing more than a hunch or we’re in trouble.”
“Why do you say that?” Trowa asked as he glanced up from his bangs.
“Because if Une is right and their after us everyone is in danger,” Heero replies and looked down at the bottle in his hand. “That’s if they saw us.”
“Yeah…” Duo said half-heartedly looking down at his lap and closing his eyes tightly. How could I have been so foolish?

*

The Schbeiker Garage
5:20PM – April 9th A.C. 198
“Hilde we need some help over here!” A worker called from the garage to his boss.
Hilde looked up from the paper work on her desk. It was late in the evening and almost all the main workers had gone home. It was mostly the middle aged staff were still there at this time in the evening. Usually it was only to complete paper work or create a list of materials that would be needed for Hilde to order.
“Coming,” Hilde looked back at her work and signed the work quickly. This work needed to go out as quickly as possible. Hopefully what she was needed for would not be too long.
Hilde jumped up from her desk and skipped into the supply office. All day she had been in a good mood. Only because it would not be long before the love of his life would be home. She opened the door to see no one there. She frowned. Jason her best worker should have been there right now. He was on office duty today and he wasn’t supposed to leave without telling her. She sighed and walked over the desk. Nothing seemed out of place or wrong. However Hilde did notice the desk was quite messy, she giggled as she got reminded of Duo. Hilde started to organise the papers, she knew she had to find her worker but first she needed to organise it. Hilde placed the documents back but one caught her eye. She picked it up and read over it. Out of all of these this was the only one that needed a signature but there was none. Considering it was in a pile of marked papers. Hilde placed the paper down on the desk and closed her eyes. Something was not right.
Hilde turned around and got the shock of her life. She jumped back as the tall figure stood in the door way. Hilde placed a hand on her heart and sighed. There was her worker Jason. Hilde smiled and looked at him. Jason smiled gave a smirk to her and laughed.
“Sorry about that Hilde,” he chuckled as he walked towards her. He stopped in front of her as she turned and picked up a document. He read over the document for a second and then looked up at her. “That’s what I need help with.” He took the document off her and placed it on the table. He then took out a note from his pocket. His face became serious as she frowned. “This came with it.”
“What is it?” Hilde asked as she held out her hand to take the document off him. She frowned as the torn edges of the paper and the blue ink smudge in the middle. Slowly she started to flip the folded up piece of paper and words were revealed to her.
“That’s what I wanted to show you,” Jason spoke with a hint of annoyance in his voice.  Hilde looked up at him for a second before her eyes were drawn to the message on the page. Hilde looked at the messy hand writing that was set upon the paper. The blue ink was smudged over the page giving a very careless look to it. Hilde frowned as she read over the writing.

Hilde Schbeiker
You are a traitor to the people and you will pay for what you did during the war.
You will die Hilde…

Hilde looked up at her friend who looked like he had just watch two teenager’s attempt a stunt and it had gone horribly wrong. He shook his head as he took the sheet of paper off her and threw it in the empty bin.
Hilde felt scared. How could they have known that? She had never told anyone about betraying OZ because of Duo. The only ones who knew were the Gundam Pilots and their close friends. Hilde gulped there was no way someone could have found out. Fear raged through her.
“It seems teenagers are very bored these days to pull of stunts like that.” Jason smirked as he looked at his boss. Hilde looked up at Jason and saw the cheeky grin on his face. “It was a very largess gift.” Hilde smiled and gave a small gift. It was unlike Jason to have a wide vocabulary.
“Who are you trying to impress?” Hilde chuckled. Who was she kidding it was probably the children being children. L2 was known for its pranksters. Jason could always make her smile no matter what was happening.
“My wonderful boss that’s who,” Jason gave Hilde a wink. Hilde gave him a punch in the arm and giggled.
“You hang out with Duo too much.” Hilde commented. Ever since she had started her business Duo had helped out when he could and had become friends with Jason quite quickly (nothing un-expected). Hilde, Duo and Jason would hang out quite a bit plus thanks to Duo Jason was now engaged to the wonderful and amazing Cassandra.
Hilde stopped giggling and smiled at Jason. She was about to say something when a large bang come from the work floor. Jason and Hilde’s head snapped to the door way with their brows creased. Both looked back at each other. Hilde had a surprised face while Jason had a concerned look. Jason raised a finger to his lips before setting off to inspect the noise. Hilde stayed put and waited to see what would happen. Hilde waited for Jason to leave the room before she let out a sigh. Another large bang came from the work floor which caused Hilde to jump. Hilde felt paralysed. What the hell was that? Hilde paused as she thought she heard a curse come from the direction Jason had gone in.
Hilde slowly and soundlessly crept towards the door. She paused before stepping out of the door way. She listened for a noise but all she could hear was something that sounded like footsteps. Hilde stepped out into the corridor, she looked right. Nothing there apart from her closed office door. She looked left and saw the door to the work floor ajar. She could see a shadow on the far side of the work floor but nothing that could tell her who it was. She took a few steps towards the door but paused as a male cry echoed in her ears. Hilde was now scared. No she wasn’t scared she was petrified. That cry… it sounded like someone had been injured. Hilde’s breath stopped as the sound of footsteps coming towards her. The footsteps were getting louder and louder. Who was it? Was it Jason? Who was crying out? The footsteps stopped as a groan echoed in the corridors.
“HILDE GET OUT OF HERE!”
Hilde’s eyes widened as the sound of a gun being fired echoed. Without hesitation Hilde ran back into Jason’s office and slammed the door shut. Hilde leaned against the door and frantically looked around the room for a place to hide. There was no room to hide under the desk of any of the tables around the room. Hilde’s head snapped to the left and there was a cupboard. It was never used for much apart from hanging coats and bags for the workers. Hilde sprinted across the room and threw the door to the cupboard and jumped inside. She turned around so she was facing the room and shut the doors behind her. She pushed her body towards the back wall. The only thing in there with Hilde was the boiler suits and rain jackets left. She pulled some of the suits down as she tried to cower in the small space.
It was a bad move on her part to have run into Jason’s office. She should have run to hers, were she had a gun and some ammo in her bottom draw for protection.  Hilde closed her eyes and wished that Duo was here with her to protect her. She was not a soldier and even though she had been with OZ she could not claim to be one with her basic training. Hilde let out a whimper as the sound of another gunshot rushed through her ears.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Hilde thought as she slid down the wall, her legs clutched to her chest. She held her knees as close to her body as she possibly could and let her head rest upon them. She was so terrified it was not even funny. She just wanted to cry but she knew if she did she would be found.  The sound of another gun went off and Hilde jumped and whimpered again. She wanted so badly to be anywhere but there right now.
Suddenly the door to Jason’s office opened and there stood a young man. He looked around the room and saw nothing but a usual office. The small windows where shut. They weren’t big enough for a human to climb through so where could she be? The man looked to the right and there was an average sized cupboard. Slowly and soundlessly he glided over to it. He pulled out his small hand gun and raised it to chest level. He held his hand out and clasped the handle of the door. He gulped and his hand clenched around the handle. Within a second his whipped the door opened and both hands clasped around the gun pointed at the occupant ready to kill. However he hesitated as he saw the young girl crouched in front of him almost in tears. His eyes softened and he lowered his gun.
“H-Hilde…”
Hilde closed her eyes and whimpered as the doors to her hiding spot were opened. She waited for the pain to circulated around her body and end her torment. However nothing came. She was still there; she was still alive and unharmed. As a man called her name she looked up at the man. She eyes widened as an overwhelming sense of love and safety surrounded her body. There in front of her was her knight in shining armour. Her eyes glistened over with tears and a whimper left her lips.
“D-Duo…” Before anything else could be said Hilde flung herself into her lover’s arms and hugged him as tight as she could. She buried her head into his neck and sighed before tears of happiness swept over her.
Duo blinked as his terrified lover flung herself into his arms and held him in an iron grip. Duo heard her sigh of relief and her sobs. Duo’s face softened and a sympathetic smile replaced his frown. He let his gun drop to the floor as his arms encircled the woman he loved more than anything in the world. He cooed her as more tears cascaded from her eyes down to his shirt. He rubbed her back and whispered soothing words to the poor girl.
“I’m here babe.” Duo repeated. “It’s okay. No one’s going to hurt you.”