Disclaimer: the day I own GW is the day I move to the North Pole.

Starting Over
Chapter One

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Relena listened carefully to the speaker, taking down notes on a pad of paper she had brought with her every so often. The Vice Minister of Nigeria was explaining the many violent outbursts that his people had to tolerate in their country by anti-government rebel groups. He was asking the Cinq Kingdom for their military help; the fights that the rebels were creating in the streets where hazarding many innocent lives every day.

The Vice Minister spoke with a clear, loud voice. He stressed the importance of peace in his country now that the war had passed and it was still vulnerable. His dark eyes searched every face at the meeting and only met stern, vaguely interested expressions, the kind that signaled business.

The sunlight that shone through the large windows behind the Vice Minister was soft and buttery, a late spring day. The smell of coffee, tea and leather was strong in the cramped room where the meeting progressed. Relena shifted in the black leather seats. They were uncomfortable, hard and expensive. She fingered the small china cup in front of her, all attention toward the speaker.

He finished up his speech and sat down. The long, rectangular table seated a dozen people; only six sat there that day. The Vice Minister from Nigeria and his two assistants and Relena with two of her other ministers.

Now, one of the assistants stood up, coughed, and began her speech. She explained what the rebels where trying to achieve. She described their point of view of the matter, and then, that of the governments'. Relena listened with rapt attention. The dark haired woman talked in a low, throaty voice, something that didn't go along at all with her tall, slim figure. She held the eyes of everyone in turn.

When her speech was at an end, Relena felt a deep respect for this woman. Her name was Anne Nibolga, born in the capital. She had worked as the Vice Ministers' second hand for years. Her experience in the field was obvious.

Now, the meeting was finished with. Everyone shook hands, packed their suitcases, and left. The next meeting was a week from tomorrow. Then, the Cinq Kingdom would explain what they were going to do. Relena silently promised herself that she would help as much as she could, hopefully without the use of an arsenal.

Outside, a warm breeze lifted Relena's bangs off her forehead for a moment. Accompanied by two guards, she walked calmly toward her limo, waiting at the end of the walkway. The large building, made of canvas-colored stone bricks, slipped behind her, lost in the large lawns surrounding it. When she reached the fence she assured the guards she could walk the rest of the way alone.

With a farewell nod, she climbed into the limo. Hands in lap, she watched the scenery pass by as Pargan drove her to her mansion, at least an hours drive away if they didn't get stuck in bad traffic on the highways. Plain gravel driveways and treeless lawns slowly transformed into large, busy roads, filled with trucks and sports cars.

"Is everything all right, Miss Relena?" Pargan asked over his shoulder as he maneuvered the awkward limo through the other cars, "You've been very quiet for the last twenty minutes. The meeting went well, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did." She told him." How long will it take to get back home?" She added. Pargan shrugged.

"At least another half hour." Relena nodded thoughtfully.

"Thank you." She leaned into the cushioned seats, enjoying the feeling of something soft supporting her. She rewound the speeches she had heard in the meeting in her mind, carefully selecting the main points the Vice Minister and the assistants had named, asking herself what she could do about that, what he or she meant by that, and so on.

The time passed by very slowly. Relena glanced out the window to her left; they were still on the highway.

Actually, they had stopped.

"Pargan, is something wrong?" She craned her neck to see over the seats in front and out the windshield. But all she could see was a lot of cars and a cement truck, all honking their horns.

"A car crash, I presume, Miss Relena." He answered. Flinching, Relena hoped it wasn't bad. She sighed and clicked a button on the armrest of her car seat. A soundproof glass shield smoothly made an appearance in front of her, stretching upward till it met the ceiling of the limo. Now, Pargan could play his music in peace without her questioning him.

Relena let her mind wander away from the meeting and the beeping of car horns around her. She thought of home, and supper. She thought of tomorrow, and her schedule.

Finally, her thoughts had inched away from business.

Seventeen. She was seventeen, only a few months from eighteen, and already a political leader. Sometimes, she had to remind herself of that.

School. She suddenly remembered school. The giddy girls that had surrounded her, the teachers' lectures, the homework... She had basically quit school at the age of sixteen when this job had been quite literally thrust onto her. Everyone had expected her to grow ten years older overnight. But, she had welcomed the opportunity, no matter how tiring or frustrating, to help bring peace to people. Especially because of the war, everyone needed peace. They had needed someone to keep peace, too. And that's what she had given her whole life over to.

But she had never finished school. Relena felt a little puzzled about that. Her calendar was booked, but why hadn't she fit in a little schooling in between? Probably because she was a little happy about not having finals or term papers anymore, but...still.

Maybe she could do something about it. Relena straightened from the slouch she had eased into. The cars ahead were finally moving. She was going home.
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Relena tapped her pen against the surface of her desk. She stared at a document in front of her with unfocused eyes, thinking.

That school idea kept bothering her, edging into her mind at the most unnecessary of times. She bent down, opened a drawer and took out some paper. Relena began to doodle on it, absently wondering how she might be doing in her old high school had she stayed, that private school for the rich and those with scholarships only. Where she had met Wing Zero's pilot. The first time he had told her he'd kill her...

Relena bolted up suddenly, shaking her head free of those thoughts. Relena dropped the pen onto the desk and picked up the paper.

She had drawn a large building and a few people around it, supposedly teenagers. Since she didn't have the best skill in drawing, the building looked like a cardboard box, and the people were more a series of branched out lines (making up the hands, legs and torso) and a blob for the head, maybe some fuzz for hair. Relena smiled at her poor attempt at art. She remembered being better at English and the debate team than art...

The phone at her elbow rang loudly, piercing through her thoughts quickly. She grabbed the receiver.

"Vice Minister Darlian here."

"Good morning, Miss Relena." Relena relaxed her voice.

"Good morning, Lady Une. How are you?"

"Fine. I have the document ready, should I run it by you?"

"No, just send it over, I'll read it."

"I will. Good bye."

"Lady Une?" Relena leaned forward in her seat as if the speaker were in front of her.

"Yes?"

"I have a question to ask you." There was a brief pause before Lady Une answered.

"I'm listening."

"What would you think of my finishing High school?" Another, longer pause followed this.

"This is sudden." Lady Une sounded puzzled.

"I know. But I feel that I have a responsibility, and..."

"When did this come up?"

"Only a few weeks ago." Lady Une seemed to consider this.

"Miss Relena, do you want to talk about this in person?"

"I would like that." Relena felt relieved.

"Good; come to the Preventer's Headquarters after tomorrow at nine; we can go into the details."

"Thank you."

"Your welcome." Lady Une waited in case there was more.

"Good bye." Relena held the phone in her hand for a moment, slightly dizzy. She carefully set the receiver down; what had she just gotten herself into?
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Duo hopped off the last steps of the jet, a small suitcase in one hand and his hat in the other. He grinned into the drizzle of rain, and headed for a rundown car across from the runway. The downpour intensified; he finally set the hat on his head, and his bangs blurred his vision as they drooped lower and lower into his face. He didn't even wear a jacket.

The small car came closer; Duo hurried around it to the passenger's seat and got in, shoving his suitcase into the back. He slapped the driver on the back in greeting.

"Hey, Heero, thanks for picking me up." Duo settled into his seat. "What's with the weather?" Heero shrugged and turned the key; with a few discontent rumbles the engine started.

"So, where are we staying?" Duo asked him. The rain muddied the sides of the road, creating large puddles and ruts by the tires; Heero turned into the highway and headed north, water splashing onto the sides of the car.

"At my apartment."

"Do I have my own room?"

"No."

"Oh. Heero?"

"What?"

"How about some windshield wipers?" Heero activated the wipers; the road didn't become any clearer. The rain was coming down in sheets; they couldn't see more than five feet in front of them. And yet, Heero insisted on driving at seventy miles an hour.

"Where am I going to sleep then?" Duo grumbled.

"On the floor." Heero replied. He turned onto another, less used road going northeast. Duo gave him a disgruntled sidelong glance.

He then reached back with an arm and hauled the suitcase into his lap. In silence he shuffled through its' contents, looking for something specific. He finally got out a simply bound package. This he handed to Heero, who took it without looking away from the road.

"I can't believe I got this for you and you're giving me the floor."

"The bed's as bad as the floor, you're not missing out on anything."

"I'd still rather have the bed."

"Humph." For a few minutes Duo just watched the muddy green landscape around them pass by.

"Hey, you're probably not going to use it anyway, right?" Heero raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I mean, you're going to spend the time in front of your laptop while I do the labor, so I might as well get the bed."

"It's not up for negotiation, Duo." Duo let a sigh escape.

" 'Fine friend you are." Heero didn't reply. Some time passed while the rain pitter-pattered against the windshield, the gray clouds pressing down on them from all directions.

"Can I at least operate the coffee machine?"
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"Sit down." Lady Une motioned toward a high-backed chair. She herself sat down on a couch, smoothing her skirt down.

Relena smiled and obliged. She made herself comfortable while a maid came in and busied herself pouring out a cup of tea for Relena and a glass of white wine for the Lady. Only when she had left and shut the door did Lady Une speak.

"Have you really thought of finishing your schooling?" She
tipped her head to the side, her hands folded in her lap. Relena nodded.

"I've been seriously thinking of it."

"What brought this on?"

"I had some time to think, and it came to my mind. Nothing spurred the memory into action; I guess my train of thought pursued it."

"Do you know what would happen if you decided to follow this notion?" Relena took a moment of thinking before answering.

"Yes, I do know. I would have to take on many more responsibilities before going to school; I would also have to decide whether or not to make this a public announcement or not. If I did announce this, I'd go to the school I had gone to before I became Foreign Vice Minister. If not, I would have to develop a difficult schedule to fit my new routine and my old one and a list of other things would have to be thoroughly sorted through. It would certainly put a tax on the patience of the other members of the council." She added with a smile.

Lady Une nodded.

"And that's not the half of it." Relena waited for the rest of the speech she knew the Lady would give. "Are you really aware of everything you'll have to do, public announcement or not? If you decide to go undercover as a student at some other school, you'd have to travel back to the Cinq Kingdom every weekend, regardless of your academic duties or the possibility of failing, as well as at every vacation. And if you do go undercover, you would have to invent a whole past for yourself, a new name, origin, even parents. You wouldn't be able to tell anyone of this. The country would, of course, be made aware of the situation, but I doubt you'd have the protection of a whole league of bodyguards without making someone suspicious. " To Relena it sounded like she was fully against this, and it made her think the Lady wouldn't offer her help. "Every fact would have to be planned accordingly; nothing could be risked in your getting unnecessary attention.

"But," To her surprise, Lady Une smiled a little, "you would have some independence, and a more normal adolescent life for a year. Who knows, it might be a good experience. But, if you do go through with this, it will take a great amount of work; much more than what you're busy with right now. Because of the situation in Nigeria and the weaknesses in other eastern governments, you're free time will be very scarce. I doubt you'd have much time to yourself at all. We'll have to think of excuses for the lack of national appearances, too.

"Do you think you're fine with all that?" Relena brought out a brave smile.

"Would you help?"

"Of course." Relena sat in her seat, absorbed in thought. She sorted through the information that Lady Une had given her, picking up her cup of tea in the meantime. With slim fingers she tapped the rim, not sipping from it. Lady Une waited patiently.

Relena finally focused her eyes on the expectant ones of Lady Une.

"I really do want to; if I am going to be a political leader and peacemaker, than I should have a full education. I should get my high school diploma, anyway.

"I know the preparations will take up every bit of mental strength I have, but..." She looked down into the cup she held, staring at the swirling surface of the tea, "I want to."

Lady Une nodded.

"Good."

With that, she picked up her own glass of wine and took a long sip from it, enjoying with pleasure the taste and texture. This was going to be an adventure.
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Duo placed his suitcase on the floor of Heero's apartment. Heero pushed Duo aside so he could come in, and moved to the computer set up on a collapsible table. Duo took a look around.

It wasn't anything different than what Heero normally had. A rumpled bed pushed to the wall, a chair, a table, the computer, and a window. Then, two doorways opposite the bed; one went to the cramped kitchen while the other led to the bathroom. Other than that, Duo saw, nothing else.

"Charming place." He noted out loud. Heero tapped in something on the keyboard and the computer came alive with a buzz. "Did you at least stock the fridge?"

"I wasn't hungry." Duo kicked his suitcase under Heero's bed and pulled some money from somewhere in one of the pockets of his pants. He counted it up quickly.

"This should be enough. 'Be back in a while, don't wait up." With that, he grabbed the car keys and marched out the door. Just before he completely disappeared from the compound, he stuck his head around the door. "Don't try anything stupid, okay?"

Heero didn't seem to have heard him.
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"What size are you, Miss?" The maid asked. Relena, dazed to the point of only paying semi-attention, turned to her.

"Small, I think..."

"Miss Vice Minister? Telephone for you; it's Lady Une."

"Can you tell her I'll-"

"Miss, you're needed here."

"Miss Vice Minister? It's the President of Nigeria! He needs to reschedule his appointment with the council, something's come up-"

"-Tell Lady Une I'll call her later, please." Relena finished in a tired tone. The lady nodded and turned to deliver Relena's message.

"Miss Relena, you're needed in the fitting room." Another maid had appeared in front of Relena's face.

"Vice Foreign Minister Darlian!" Someone called. "The plane trips are organized!"

"Thank you!" She called back. It had sounded like Maria. Someone tugged her arm till she followed obediently into the back of the office, now turned into a fitting room for her school wardrobe.

"What's all this?" She asked when she saw the heaps of cloth.

"The things we'll need to make your clothing."

"I won't need all this, really. Would you please buy some casual things?"

"What brand?"

"Anything...something that'll last a while..."

"Yes, ma'am." Relena heard someone call for her in the hallway and she bolted out.

"Miss Vice Foreign Minister?" It was a secretary.

"Yes?"

"From the Preventers; they sent it over." It was the speech Relena had promised Lady Une to read. She had obviously decided to not send it by E-mail. Relena took it, thanked her and turned to face the next person.

"Ma'am, you need to look over this..." A folder was pushed into her expecting hands, "Got them here as soon as a I could."

"Thank you."

Relena looked over her shoulder to see if anyone else needed her attention. Next, she made her way to her office. She had to sit down after standing up all day. She also had to see what was in the folder; it was bulging with freshly printed-paper and felt remarkably heavy.

Anyway, she had to call the Lady back.
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Relena leaned back in her chair, eyes wide. Minister Davis stood in front of her, lips pressed tightly together in her stern face, hands clasped in front of her. Relena looked from her to the papers in her hand.

"Oh..."

"You will start school as a senior," Minister Davis spat, "In August. Your High School will be Linden High in Montreal, Canada. You will not be Relena Peacecraft; you will be Lena Burg, from the Cinq Kingdom. You will live in a four-room apartment close to the High school on Walden Street 36; the apartment has one bathroom, one bedroom, a kitchen and a living room.

"Your parents are Karl and Lisa Burg; Mr. Burg is a dentist, Mrs. Burg a bartender. Your parents have gotten permission from the province to let you live on your own in Montreal, as long as you keep the rules of no drinking, no illegal substances, or breaking your 11 o'clock curfew.

"Your classes are listed in the packet of papers about your school. You will pick up random items such as your library card and Student ID at the office when you arrive. Much more is named and severely detailed in that folder, but if you have any questions, ask Minister Io or me." She cleared her throat and Relena rifled through the paperwork.

"The Province and the country have been notified of your stay. They are offering immediate transport and aid if need be." There she stopped.

After a few minutes the girl sought the face of the Minister.

"You don't like what I'm doing, am I right?" She asked.

The Minister's stony expression melted into one of frustration.

"I have absolutely no idea why you are creating such a hassle to please a whim, if that's what you mean."

"This is not a whim."

"There's no reasonable explanation of why you need to go traipsing off to a foreign country without any protection what so ever to go to school, Miss Foreign Vice Minister. There is much danger in someone finding out. You are running a great, foolish risk of creating chaos among the political ranks, too. Just what do you think you are to accomplish? I am not for your doing this at all."

Relena had been sitting rigid in her seat, head slightly bent. Now, though, she stood up. Minister Davis was a known five foot eleven inches in height, but Relena made herself as tall as she could.

"I am thankful to you for your opinion and involvement in the matter; but, as Foreign Vice Minister, I overrule your right to veto my 'whim'. I will carry this out; by next year, I will have completed my education and return fully to my duties. I understand every one of these risks; they go through my mind all the time, but I am willing to take these in order to serve the people and help with Peace. Do I make myself clear?"

Minister Davis towered over her, but recoiled at the overly polite tone of Relena's voice.

"I understand. I will still voice my mind?"

"I want you to."

"Good. If you will excuse me now, I have other things to attend to..." She gave a little nod before turning around to stalk off. Relena didn't sit down till the doors had closed behind her.

Then sat back down.

"Only three more months before I become Lena Burg..." She thought to herself.
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Heero paused. He scrolled down the page, concentrating on the information in front of him. Leaning forward, he narrowed his eyes. Behind him, Duo finished off his coffee.

"Hey, Heero, it's 8 AM. Don't you want to get off and eat something?" Heero twisted in his seat to face Duo, who titled his head to the side. "Well?"

"Duo, do you know any recent news about Relena Peacecraft?" Duo raised his eyebrows.

"No, I haven't seen her in a while..."

"Look at this." Duo came forward and leaned on the table, reading off the computer screen.

"He-e-ey, no kidding...where'd you find this?"

"In the Preventers' files." Duo immediately slapped Heero on the back of the head crossly, causing him to pitch forward, nearly having his forehead meet the screen.

"You promised not to do that again!" Heero stood up and took his jacket off the back of his chair.

"I'd like to know why she's doing this, wouldn't you?" Duo stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to halt.

"I'll go. You stay and find out some more stuff about those guys in Nigeria, okay?" He stopped short at Heero's glance. "Hey, you don't have the tact to ask Relena-"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means-" They were interrupted by a loud ring. The phone. Duo grabbed it, keeping an eye on Heero.

"Hello? Oh, hey Lady Une. How's it going?" His face suddenly fell. "Oh, yeah. I'll tell him." He listened for a few more minutes, silent. Heero gave him a sidelong glance, wondering what could've brought on this change of character. Duo finally hung up.

"Heero, Lady Une is calling us to the Preventers Headquarters, she wants to talk to us about becoming temporary members."

"Temporary members?" Heero voiced, "So she knows..."

"Yeah." Heero shrugged.

"Relena will have to wait then." Duo nodded.
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Duo and Heero's conversations are surprisingly fun to write (they clash too easily)....

Please review, thanks!