Disclaimer: I do not own any version of Gundam. I do not own any characters from any version of Gundam. I have no relations to any version of Gundam. I have no permission from the owners of Gundam to write this, nor am I not making any money from this. Disclaimers are a pain to write, because they're obvious. Thank you.

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5x[not decided]

Timeline: During the war, but not following exactly the events of the war in the canon series. So… semi AU?

Rating: R. Supposed to be NC-17, but… [scowls]

Warnings: Self-mutilation, cruel jokes…? Oh, and Relena-bashing. In an indirect way.

Summary: Wufei and Heero played a joke on Duo as revenge for all the times Duo pranked them – but they went too far, and Duo… changed. For the worse. They can find no way to get the old Duo Maxwell back, though not for lack of trying. Heero, for one, will never give up, since he's come to realize exactly how important to him Duo is. Unfortunately, his realization's a bit too late…

One Joke Too Far

Chapter Ten

"No way."

"Are you out of your mind –"

"You're never returning to that place –"

"Don't be stupid, Maxwell!"

Duo blinked at his friends. "I'm already paid up to the end of the month," he pointed out reasonably. "Sally says I can be discharged in a week as long as I take all the pills and stuff, so –"

"How are you planning to do anything with your hands like that?" Quatre demanded, hands on hips. "Sally also says you can't take off the wrappings for at least three weeks!"

"I'll figure it out." Actually, he was planning on taking them off as soon as he got out – he knew how to take care of wounds, obviously, and he was pretty sure he could cope with the pain – but the guys didn't need to know that.

"You are never returning to that place again," Heero repeated, his dark eyes intense. Duo could only glance at him before fixing his own stare on his lap; Heero's gaze, as always, felt like it could reach into his mind. One look certainly served to scramble his brain processes effectively.

Once he wasn't looking at Heero, he could think again. "It's my home," he began.

"That is not a home, Maxwell," Wufei said with a snort. "You were the one who taught me that the place you live in is not automatically a home."

Duo stared. Since he didn't know how to react to that, he chose to ignore the point of Wufei's words, and zoomed in on the implication instead. "You've been there?"

"To collect your belongings, yes."

"Wait… what?" Duo was sure his eyes were bulging. "What the hell?"

Trowa was smiling his little amused smile. "You didn't think we'd let you stay in that cesspit any longer, did you?" he said gently, but there was a slight reproach and an 'of course' in there as well.

Duo could only gape. "I can't afford –" he blurted, before snapping his jaw shut. Damn! He hadn't meant to let that slip. It was true, though – his part-time income from programming, which had kept him alive through these two years, was barely enough to survive.

The four men looked caught in varying degrees of sorrow and oddly, guilt. There was no sympathy in there, though, which Duo was grateful and glad for – if there had been, he wasn't sure he could have controlled himself from doing something stupid like hitting them. Instead, he found himself feeling guilty as well – what in the world?

He was feeling guilty for making them feel bad. Huh.

Quatre especially made the guilt worse. There was a whole lot of self-recrimination in that light blue gaze that the blond tried to hide as he said lightly, "I have lots of empty cottages in the country, and they're being wasted. I might as well rent them out to my friends."

Duo knew that Quatre would rather give him the cottage and everything else necessary for free, but Quatre was smart – he knew that Duo would die before accepting what he saw as charity, which was why he'd mentioned rent. Duo would bet all the money he'd had, though, that the rent would be so minimal as to be ludicrous, and that the cottage would be fully furnished and liveable without Duo having to fork over a single cent for those things.

He sighed. "Quatre, you know I love you as a little brother, but –"

"Please, Duo. I've been wanting a break for ages, and this is the perfect excuse – a time for all of us to get to know one another again."

Damn Quatre and his sweet angelic little face and puppy dog eyes and crestfallen-slash-hopeful expression! Duo was wavering, and they all knew it. He scrambled for something to say – and it was surprisingly easy, as Quatre's exact words filtered into his brain. "Wait, wait, what? All of us? What break?"

Quatre was still maintaining his pleading expression. "I've been wanting to take a little holiday with Trowa for a long time now, but there was so much stuff to be done and I didn't have any good excuse but my wilfulness… now I can say that I'm doing it for a dear long-lost friend, helping him get settled in his new home and so on, you know how it goes. No one can say that isn't a good reason."

Duo eyed him. "And why would Wufei and Heero also be on this hypothetical holiday?"

"Well, Heero counts as a dear, long-lost friend, too, and he also needs a place to stay. And with all four of us, of course Wufei has to come as well."

Duo felt like the walls were closing in. Metaphorically, anyway. He didn't think he could survive living in close quarters with any one of them for a period of time – not even Trowa, who was the least complicated one of them all, let alone prickly Wufei or damn stubborn Quatre or Heero.

Wufei seemed to understand the turn his thoughts had taken, because he cleared his throat and said, "When Quatre says he has a lot of cottages, he means it. While the cottages are within walking distance of one another, they are still far enough that you will have much privacy if you choose to live by yourself in one of them."

"But… my apartment…"

"We already moved your things out, remember?"

Duo's jaw dropped. "That's right, you said – how dare you guys! I mean, I appreciate the thought, but we haven't even seen one another for two years, you guys don't have the right to make the decisions… for me…" he trailed off at the completely crushed expression on Quatre's face, the new load of guilt on Wufei's and even on Trowa's, and the pain on Heero's. Aw, damn.

He was okay with whatever Wufei and Trowa were feeling, but he'd always had a soft spot for Quatre, who he would always see as his vulnerable little brother, and Heero was… well, Heero. Quatre's hurt and Heero's pain he could deal with individually, but both at the same time?

"Fine… you win," he sighed, and resignedly let himself be hugged tight by a suddenly beaming, almost glowing with joy Quatre, while Heero looked like he'd seen angels. Even Wufei and Trowa were smiling.

Bastards.

"You will have your own cottage." Heero's soft voice drew Duo's attention. "I would… we would not presume to have you share one. We do not want to pressure you into more than you can handle."

Heero's speech was back to its slightly stiff, formal cadence, something that Duo had cured him of during the war. Something in him gave a little. "Yeah… thanks."

Heero's tiny smile squeezed his heart. Duo sighed to himself again.

Sally breezed in and greeted them all before moving to Duo. "Morning, all. Duo, it's good to see you with some colour in you. You've only been here three days, but you're definitely improving."

Duo grinned at her. "Since I was out of it the first day and you drugged me all day yesterday, it only feels like one day to me."

The doctor laughed. "Maybe to you, but to the nurses, I'll bet it feels like forever!"

"What's wrong with the nurses?" Duo asked, confused.

"Sally…" Heero's voice was a warning growl.

But Sally ignored him. "Heero refused to leave your bedside, he's been sleeping in that chair, and whenever the nurses come in for your check-ups he practically interrogates them, or so I've heard. They're all terrified of coming in here now!" She laughed softly, her hands moving professionally as she looked Duo over.

Duo wasn't paying attention to her movements, though. A surge of warmth met a tidal wave of fear going the other way. The thought that Heero might really mean it when he'd talked about love and not leaving was countered by the ever-present doubt and almost-certain fear that Heero couldn't really mean it. That Heero would leave some day.

He felt a cobalt blue stare full of sadness to his right, and he knew without looking that Heero had just understood that whole chain of thoughts that had run through his mind. Duo closed his eyes and turned his head away.

Sally gave him his pills, and Duo took them gratefully. He knew that one of them was a sleeping pill, and for once he was glad of it, for all that it made him feel disoriented upon waking. It gave him an excuse to sleep, and not have to face Heero by his side.

The last thing he was aware of, more than the soft murmur of voices, was the feel of a warm hand gently wrapping around his own bandaged one and not letting go.

The week went by excruciatingly slowly and yet too fast. Heero had pulled some strings apparently, because little things like visiting hours didn't seem to apply to him. He was by Duo's side when he fell asleep, when he awoke, and all the time in between, except when he had to go to the bathroom. He apparently returned to his apartment to bathe and change and do other miscellaneous things at night, when Duo was sleeping, and returned quickly to the hospital, sleeping there. He didn't have to buy food; the other ex-pilots dropped by every mealtime with take-out.

Duo had asked them once whether they were actually working, and they'd assured him that they kept flexible hours and weren't thrown off-schedule in the slightest.

"I own the company, Duo," Quatre had reminded him with a roll of his eyes. "I think I can decide my own hours. And Trowa's my Head of Security and personal bodyguard, so he goes where I go."

"I only have to stay in the Preventer's HQ when there's a case," Wufei had said when Duo had looked at him next. "And I don't have one now."

And Heero had just smirked. He'd already told Duo about the spectacular manner in which he had quit his job.

During those long hours when Heero had stayed by Duo's side, he hadn't tried to delve into any deep matters or thrash out emotional issues. He'd simply told Duo all about his life in the past couple of years – anecdotes, experiences, regrets. It took two days into this newfound verbosity for Duo to realize that Heero actually planned his little stories carefully: he would tell light-hearted ones that relaxed Duo, and then throw in a carefully casual mention of regrets about their past together, lifting the mood immediately after by either an anecdote or a random piece of information about himself.

Duo learned a lot about Heero in that week whether he wanted to or not – he wasn't sure yet which it was. It was like the whole thing had become one of Heero's missions, every tiny detail carefully considered and given its place in the intricate web of strategy that he constructed.

Actually, come to think of it, Heero probably had treated it as a mission.

Huh.

What made it so hard for Duo was that Heero never tried to force him to speak, or to confront his feelings or their history. In fact, he was amazingly considerate and heartbreakingly sweet, attuned to every small shift in Duo's mood and adjusting accordingly. Duo kept letting his guard down and strengthening it again hastily when he did realize that it was down, but he just couldn't stay aloof no matter how hard he tried or how many times he reminded himself.

This was why, for Duo, time both dragged and sped by. When the time came for him to be released, he was torn between joy that he would finally have time apart from Heero, and regret that he was losing his time with this new too-good-to-be-true Heero.

On second thoughts, he should definitely be happy. Heero was only treating him this carefully, like some fragile doll or untamed wild animal, because their reunion was still in its first tentative stages. It couldn't last. Duo knew Heero – sooner or later a confrontation would be coming up. Heero could never let things lie for long. So the faster he got away from this thoughtful side of Heero, the less his heart would waver in the face of what he'd always wanted.

He wanted to badly to believe, but he was so scared of getting hurt again that the fear ate away at the dream, and turned it sour.

A complete emotional mess inside, the sight of Heero standing there with wheelchair and a stubborn glint in his eyes was the last straw that tipped the scales from 'Be Pleasant' to 'SCREW IT'. Duo scowled.

"If you value your balls, you will get that thing out my sight immediately, Yuy!"

"Your health is worth more than my balls or lack of," Heero said calmly.

Heero's matter-of-fact, unembarrassed one-liners like this one still unnerved Duo, but in the past few days he had become more used to them and recovered quickly. "I don't need a damn wheelchair! I don't walk with my hands!"

"It is not only your hands that are hurt," was Heero's retort. "Don't make me list out all the vitamins and minerals you're lacking. Your body needs to rest to recover –"

"My body has been doing nothing but rest," Duo snapped. "My body can at least walk to the damn car, where it will proceed to sit on its butt for the next hour as we drive to the airport, whereupon it will board a plane and continue to sit on its butt for hours more. And I've been stuffed so full of vitamins this entire stay that I can open a pharmacy with my blood!"

Heero was smiling one of those damnable small, amused smiles. "It's hospital procedure," he said.

Duo scowled. He didn't see what was so amusing. "Since when have any of us followed hospital procedure?"

"Well, I'm your doctor now, and I say you damn well sit in that chair until you get into the car." Sally was grinning as she entered, hands in her pockets. "Thought I'd drop in to say goodbye… plus, I figured that you'd try to worm your way out of the wheelchair."

"Is this some conspiracy to surgically remove every shred of dignity I have left?" Duo demanded, warring between amusement and annoyance.

"Is your dignity so reduced that it needs to be removed with surgical care?"

Heero's quiet words, matched with his unreadable gaze, left Duo at a loss for words. That was exactly what he felt, but… he couldn't very well say yes, not with Sally around. Not when it was like admitting to Heero how far he'd fallen. Of course, it wasn't like Heero didn't already know, but it was the principle of the thing. Having to admit it would mean the complete eradication of his pride.

"…fine," Duo said finally, reluctantly. "I guess my dignity can survive the damn thing."

"Yes. It can. No one will think anything of it; we are in a hospital after all."

Damn it. See, this was how the new Heero attacked: with gentle words and matter-of-fact reassurances. Duo hated the fact that he did feel better having Heero's firm words backing him up.

As he settled into the chair, he realized that Heero was moving to the back of it where the handles were. He twisted around to glare. "What do you think you're doing?"

Heero raised an eyebrow. "Preparing to push you to the car?"

"I don't need you to push me! I can wheel myself –"

"With those hands?"

"Oh." Duo blinked and looked down at his lightly bandaged hands. "Damn. I forgot."

"It must hurt quite a bit, since you refused the full dose of pain medication," Sally interrupted, frowning. "Perhaps you –"

"No, no, I'm just used to functioning with various parts of me in pain," Duo said quickly. He wanted out of this hospital, and he didn't trust Sally not to go into Doctor Mode and order yet more tests, keeping him here. "Nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to…" When Duo turned around again, the look on Heero's face was one of regret and pain. When he saw Duo staring, he tried to wipe his expression, but he had trouble – it was as if the emotions were so strong that they were hard to hide.

Duo mentally cursed himself. In getting out of one spot of trouble he'd found another; Heero's guilt was becoming a familiar thing that Duo simply could not guard against. That warm feeling raised its head again. Duo viciously shoved it back down.

"Fine, fine, treat me like an invalid," he grumbled, changing the topic. "Let's go already."

The rest of the trip down was uneventful, with Sally accompanying them. Heero kept silent as Duo and Sally bantered, the blonde doctor reminding Duo about all the things he needed to do to take care of his body and Duo needling her about being a mother hen.

"This is where I leave you guys," Sally told them when they passed through the hospital's main doors. "You probably can get out of the chair now, Duo."

"Yes!" Duo pumped a bandaged hand in the air and practically jumped out of the damn chair. A slightly wave of dizziness hit him, and he only had time to think oh, shit, before a strong hand grabbed his forearm and braced him. Duo would know the feel of Heero's grip and presence anywhere.

"Thanks," he muttered, mentally yelling at his body to stop being so weak.

"I think you should sit for a while longer." There was a trace of stubborn concern in Heero's voice, and Duo knew that this would turn into a full argument if he wasn't careful. "At least until Quatre's car gets here."

"I'm perfectly fine, it was just a moment of vertigo and – wait, Quatre's car?" That distracted Duo from his original thoughts. "Oh, god. The man's going to send –"

"I think I see it," Sally cut in with a snicker.

Duo's vision cleared in time for him to groan as he watched a gleaming white limousine approach. "Tell me we're not getting in that thing while the rest of the world stares," he sighed to no one in particular.

"It's either that or the wheelchair again," Heero said, and he sounded amused as well.

"You have to get in it too, don't sound so smug," Duo informed him grumpily.

Sally took the handles of the chair from Heero. "I think I'll be escaping now," she told them, laughing. "See you boys! Don't overdo it, Duo!"

"For the millionth time, Sally…"

"Yeah, yeah." She waved a dismissive hand. "I repeat myself so many times because I know you won't listen, so I'm just trying to drum it into your subconsciousness."

Duo snorted despite himself. "I don't think it works that way."

She smirked at him. "I can hope."

He laughed. "Yeah. Hey, Sally… thanks. For everything, especially not forcing meds down my throat."

"I was tempted, believe me." She glanced towards the nearly-arrived limo. "I'm going now. Take care of the idiot, Heero."

"Hey!"

But Heero said, solemnly, "I will."

Sally smiled. "Good." She left, waving over her shoulder, as the limo glided to a stop before them. Duo and Heero exchanged a long-suffering glance, united for once in shared embarrassment, as the door opened and Quatre popped out, beaming. They were ushered happily into the limo in front of Quatre, and had time to exchange yet more long-suffering glances with Trowa and Wufei, who were inside, before Quatre entered behind them and the car set off.

It was easier than Duo had thought to fall back into the old patterns of conversation with the other four men. It had been a little awkward in the hospital, because it was a hospital and therefore a huge reminder of the circumstances that had put Duo in it. But here, in the car, it was almost like old times in the war, when all five of them would happen to be in the same safehouse with no missions planned… before the whole mess with Heero had happened.

Best not to think about that. Focusing back onto the conversation, Duo pushed all those thoughts from his mind.

"You have got to be kidding me."

That was the first thing out of Duo's mouth when they arrived at the vast expanse of countryside, with various cottages dotted around in the distance. It was peaceful, and beautiful, and perfect, and exactly what Duo had imagined when he'd thought about his future – somewhere that was the complete opposite of L2.

He turned to Quatre, who was looking hopefully at him. "You own all this?"

"Yes, including the land. The deed's been passed down through generations of Winners, actually," Quatre told him helpfully. "Even I wouldn't have been able to afford it with what I earn."

"Technically…" Trowa said.

"Well, yes," Quatre acknowledged. "Technically I can afford it, but it would be an inefficient use of my resources."

Duo was still gaping at the land, trying to reconcile the perfection of the place with the fact that he would be staying here. It was like a fairy had appeared and tapped him on the shoulder and went, "I'm going to grant your every wish now!"

Well, not every wish. But this wish was big enough, as wishes went.

"You don't like it?" Quatre said anxiously. "Is it too quiet? Too remote? I have a few penthouses in more urban areas, there's privacy but also –"

"Quat, stop worrying!" Duo laughed. "Man, it's just… it's just so perfect that I didn't know what to say."

Quatre fairly glowed. "I'm glad you like it, Duo." He looked at the others. "Wufei? Heero?"

"It is a beautiful piece of land," Wufei agreed. "I am grateful to you for providing it, Winner."

"I like it," was Heero's simple answer.

"Great!" Quatre said happily. "Okay, the slightly larger cottage nearest to us – that's ours, mine and Trowa's, and it's also the main cottage. It has the more luxurious facilities, like a tub instead of the showers that are in the rest. It has two floors, while yours all have one large open room with a simple bathroom walled off. You guys can come over any time, especially if you want good food – ours is the only one with a fully equipped kitchen."

"A fully equipped kitchen doesn't mean good food," Duo pointed out, grinning. "If you're the one cooking, you might even end up not having a kitchen to cook with anymore."

Quatre stuck his tongue out at him. "Like you're one to talk! I still remember your attempts at cooking back then!"

Memories of the night that it had all started, when they had been bantering about cooking just like they were now, flashed through Duo's mind. He tried to keep his smile up. "Hey, I never claimed to cook well either."

"We should eat meals together, it's only a short walk," Trowa interrupted quietly, not looking at Duo. "The cottage to its far right is Duo's. That's Heero's behind it, and then Wufei's to the left of Heero's."

"Oh! That's right, everyone, your boxes have been put inside your cottages. The caretaker aired the cottages out a few days ago and generally tidied up, but he left your things alone." Quatre accepted the abrupt change in subject easily. "I hope there's enough space for everything, the cottages are rather small, but I think they're nice and cosy for one person."

"Your definition of 'small', my love, is not the normal definition of small," Trowa said dryly. To the other three amused ex-pilots, he said, "Each cottage is actually like a good-sized apartment with a nice view."

Heero shook his head. "A nice view – your tendency towards understatement strikes again, Barton."

Trowa smirked. "Ask me about Quatre and you won't have to worry about understatement. I'll give you detail for detail."

"Trowa!" Quatre exclaimed, hitting Trowa on the arm.

"Ooh, do tell!" Duo said, waggling his eyebrows.

"I do not want to know," Wufei said quickly.

Heero snorted. "I think this is our cue to head to our respective cottages before any unnecessary details are revealed."

They parted with an amicable agreement to head to Quatre's house for dinner. It took Duo two minutes to reach his cottage at an unhurried walk, breathing in the wonderfully fresh air and revelling in the quiet. He could feel the place doing wonders for his psyche already. His last apartment had been hell, and he hadn't looked forward to returning to it at all, no matter what he had told the others. Really, he was rather relieved that they hadn't given him any choice, sparing most of his pride.

Duo took a moment to stand on his porch, looking out at the view and just breathing the air. He watched Quatre open the windows on the first floor of their house while Trowa opened the upper ones, waving at them when they waved at him before disappearing to other parts of the cottage. Movement from the side caught his eye, and he turned towards Heero's cottage. The other man looked up from opening the window facing Duo's house, and gave him a small smile.

He couldn't help but smile back, and felt a wave of warmth when that made Heero's eyes light up. Ducking his head, Duo quickly turned and unlocked his door with the key Quatre had given all of them, cursing the fact that even with light bandages his hands were still stiff, and entered the cottage.

He had been expecting something simple, impersonal, but he froze at the threshold when he saw the furnishings inside. The boxes with his belongings were placed neatly in a corner, untouched, but even without them the spacious room looked like someone lived in it…

That someone being him.

The bedspread was a deep, rich blue, his favourite colour – he couldn't remember if he'd ever told any of the pilots that he liked blue. They never really discussed such things with one another, with the war looming over them. There was a shelf with various books on it – a closer look revealed that they were brand-new copies of his own favourite books, titles that he had kept in his apartment that were second-hand and therefore falling apart. But that wasn't all – there were other books there that weren't in his current collection, books that he had only read in softcopy or books that he had wanted to read but had never gotten around to; there were even a couple of paintings in the sketchy, dreamy style that he loved, all colours and movement.

And what stunned him the most was that there were beanbags scattered around the floor, big and squishy and bright. Duo still remembered the time when the war had just begun. They'd stayed in a safehouse in the middle of the city, rented temporarily from an artistic couple out of town for the month, and his delight at discovering that one of the things they'd added to their quirky interior decorating scheme was a beanbag…

"Oh my god, I love these things!" Duo threw himself onto the beanbag, laughing his head off when it gave under him, moulding to his form.

"They are a waste of space." Heero entered the apartment, casting a glare at the bag. "They have no useful function."

"You sit in them, how is that not useful?" Duo demanded.

"A chair and desk are needed for productive work, and a bed is best for resting. The beanbag therefore has no utility that is not better fulfilled by a proper chair or a bed."

"Geez, lighten up, Heero!" Duo patted the beanbag lovingly. "It's not always about form and function, you know. Sometimes frivolous things are good just because they're fun. You need fun in your life, or what's the point?"

"The point of a life is to be productive. Fun has no relevance."

"Fun makes life worth living, Heero."

Heero shrugged slightly. "Your outlook on life is too different from mine. We will never be able to reconcile the two. This discussion is therefore pointless, as neither of us will be able to convince the other."

Watching Heero walk into the next room, Duo sighed to himself. One day, he would get Heero a life. The man needed it badly.

Oh, and he'd get a beanbag while he was at it, too.

Duo was quite sure that none of the other pilots knew of his fascination with beanbags. Did that mean… this room… was it was Heero who had…? But that would mean that Heero had always been watching him, had been observing and remembering even these little things… the books he read, the art he liked, even his favourite colour.

Was that possible? Dare he hope…?

All this time, Duo had never had any solid evidence that Heero had changed – that Heero meant his words, that Heero returned his feelings. But this room… if Heero had arranged this room, then this was proof that even all those years ago, Heero had been watching him with something other than disdain, or hate, or indifference. And he had remembered, and gone to all the trouble now to set this room up just the way it was. Duo felt warmth blossom in his chest at the thought.

And for once, he didn't crush it, but let it flower.

Maybe this time alone with only the five of them was a good idea, after all. He felt too frayed, and too fragile, and too hurt… but maybe, with people who loved him and who he loved all surrounding him, in a countryside that was as beautiful as it was private, he could find the time and space to heal.

"Relena, I think this is a really bad idea."

"Hilde's right, Relena. The boys are all out for your blood."

"I know what I did was wrong. I know that they all hate me now… but can't a girl make mistakes?"

"You didn't make a mistake, Relena. You deliberately and in cold blood executed a well-calculated plan."

"They're not really boys anymore, Dorothy. They're grown men. I'm sure they'll be reasonable enough to accept my sincere apology."

"If it was sincere, maybe."

"Dorothy! I am sincere, I really do regret what I did!"

"Do you regret it because you truly believe you did wrong, or do you regret it because it drove Heero away from you?"

"How could you –"

"Dorothy, I asked you here to help me talk Relena out of this. You're not helping!"

"I'm sorry, Hilde, but this is stupid. You really screwed up this time, Relena, and I'm disgusted that you're even considering bothering the boys any more."

"I want to apologise to them! Is that so wrong?"

"Your motives for apologising are wrong."

"How would you know what my motives are?"

"Because I know you, Relena. And the boys know you, too. Quatre is one sharp little bunny, and Trowa has a brilliant mind for all that he doesn't speak much, and I won't even start on how disillusioned Heero is with you now. Wake up, Relena! The best you can hope for is a civilised dismissal, and that's already a long shot."

"I thought you were my friend, Dorothy."

"I thought so too, but this side of you… I can't accept this side of you, Relena."

"I'm still me, Dorothy. I haven't changed."

"You have, but you just don't see it. Look, Relena… as a friend to the strong woman that you can be, I'm telling you this now: you'll just be digging your grave deeper if you head to where the boys are. That's how it is, plain and simple. If you can't see it, then nothing will convince you no matter what we say. You might as well give up too, Hilde."

"Dorothy, please…"

"I'll see you around, Hilde. Relena."

"…Relena, you know Dorothy only has your best interests at heart. Her words may be blunt, but –"

"I know she cares for me, but in this she's wrong, Hilde. I know she is. If I show them how truly sorry I am, they will forgive me. I'm sure of it."

"Relena –"

"Thank you, Hilde, but I won't change my mind. I'm going to find Heero."

Dum dum dum… The Arrival of the She-Devil! Eh, not so soon though. In a few chapters or so. She can't just drop everything and run off, after all.

And in case you were hoping never to see her again, well, Relena had to come in sometime. Otherwise there'd be no closure. I'll try to keep the Relena-bashing to a minimum, because senseless character bashing is always not cool. Every character has a past, that's what I believe.

This story probably won't drag too much longer, I think. Aren't you guys relieved?

Ashen Skies
"But this wish was big enough, as wishes went."