AN: This is the third story in my little Gundam Wing world. The first is 'Into the Storm', followed by 'Healing the Heart: Relena's Story'. You might want to read those stories before reading this, but honestly, it can stand on its own.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. So there!

Some background: Occurs five years after Endless Waltz. Relena is princess of the Cinq Kingdom and Heero is working with the Preventers as her bodyguard, among other things. This story is going to be little different from what I usually writemore sci-fi and such.

Oh, one more thing: If anybody read 'Relena's Story', I mentioned projects on Jupiter's moon Io. Scratch that! I meant Jupiter's moon EUROPA. Why does it matter? Well, it's very important to this story and I wanted to be scientifically correct. Confused? Don't worry, just read the story and I'll explain later. All will be revealed in good time, I promise! Ok, with that said, I hope you like the story.

O.O Wow, that was a lot of notes. Sorry. Ok, on with the fic

Prologue

"How was I ever talked into this mission?" Heero thought as icy chunks hurled into his spacesuit and a frenzied whiteness began to surround him.

A crackling was heard from the walkie-talkie in the young man's hands and Heero made out the faint voice of Milliardo Peacecraft over the device.

"You're almost there, Heero," Milliardo's voice echoed over the speaker. "There should be a cave a few meters in front of you. That's where we believe you'll find it. The rest of the team should be with you in a few minutes. Over."

"Roger that," Heero replied and was barely able to make out the entrance of the cave before him.

Heero stepped into the chamber and followed its corridors deep underground. He was blinded by the intense light which reflected over the crystallized hollow of the cave. Heero walked through the blue-white cavern which was surrounded in silence, searching for the thing that had brought him to this far-away place. This beautiful, harsh and unforgiving place.

Suddenly, the silence of the cave was disturbed, though only for a moment. Heero listened closely. He heard the sound again and moved to where the noise was coming from. By now he was quite certain he had heard something drip. Was it the thing he had been looking for?

Heero neared the placid glossiness that lay before him. Kneeling down, he cautiously extended his hand above a clear pool ofwater! Yes it had to be! Water like glass. It was so still. Tempted to break the smooth surface, Heero reached his fingertip to the liquid and it slowly rippled under his touch. He leaned over closer and looked to the pool's bottom. A million crystal gems sparkled from the shallow depths. One gem, in particular, seemed to catch his eye. It was larger than the others and looked as if it had a carving on its surface. Just as he was about to pull out the stone, he heard the shuffling of feet and mumbled voices.

"Heero!" Milliardo exclaimed as he found the boy perched over the side of the reflecting pool. "Is that"

"Water. Yes. I'm fairly certain," Heero told the man as he stood up.

"Quick, run a diagnostic," Milliardo ordered as the other men brought out a high tech filter mechanism hooked up to a small laptop.

"You know what this means don't you?" Milliardo whispered to Heero, pulling him aside.

"Be prepared for more snow days?" the young man replied monotonously.

"Exactly," Millardo stated and let out a deep chuckle before he continued bitterly, "The business suits at home will love this. Another project to bring everyone together. Hmph! Too bad its too damn cold for them to visit this chunk of ice themselves. I'm sure they'll want us to start making preparations to inhabit this place as soon as they find out--"

"Sir," a man typing on the laptop interrupted him. "It's been confirmed. The liquid is water."

"Alright then, take a sample and lets get home before we all freeze to death," Milliardo replied.

As the men filed out of the cave, Heero glanced back at the mysterious gem in the pool. Intrigued, he reached down and pulled up the stone before following the others back to the shuttle. A little souvenir couldn't hurtcould it?

As the shuttle blasted home to earth, Milliardo radioed in the news, "Inform Headquarters that our mission has been accomplished. We have confirmed water to be present on Europa. I repeat: There is water on Europa."

Part One

Europa was the latest conquest of the World Nation. Having already established an extensive colony on Mars, political leaders looked to find new prizes to quench their imperialistic desires and short attention spans. What else was there to do but explore, if a war was not occupying everyone's time and resources? Europa, a moon of Jupiter, had long been a favorite choice to aid in human expansion. Rumored for possessing water, life's key element, Europa could prove very useful for resources, colonizationeven a gateway to the rest of the universe. Yes, world leaders were definitely interested in that cold, little moon.

Relena knocked softly on the door of the room located way down the hall from hers, as far away as humanly possible, in fact. Relena giggled to herself as she thought of her brother's opposition to the arrangement. If Heero was going to be Relena's bodyguard, Lady Une had suggested his residence at the Palace, preferably housing him on the same floor as the Princess, as to ensure her safety during the night. Not too keen on the idea of the handsome youth sleeping under the same roof, heck, sleeping on the same floor, as his precious sister, Milliardo finally agreed to let Heero stay in the Palace, if his room was situated on the complete opposite end of the hallway away from Relena's, thus leading to the current situation.

Receiving no answer to her knock, Relena knocked on Heero's door again, this time a little harder. Hearing what sounded like a grunt, she thought it safe to enter, and found Heero totally collapsed on his bed looking utterly exhausted. Because he was the best at whatever he did, Heero was always assigned on the most important missions for the Preventers, this one being the first ever trip to Europa. Milliardo also went on the mission, and Relena had missed both men terribly.

"Hi!" Relena bounded up to the bed and flopped down on it, receiving another grunt from Heero. "How was your trip?"

"Cold," Heero replied as he looked at her, then closed his eyes and snuggled into his pillow.

"Oh," said Relena. "I heard you found water. That's so unreal. I imagine it was beautiful there" she said drifting off in her own thoughts.

"Hn," Heero mumbled, but then remembered the mysterious stone he had found in the pool.

Dragging himself off the bed, he looking through his knapsack from the trip and fished out the opaque bluish-white stone. Neatly fitting it in the palm of his hand, he presented it to Relena.

"Ohhh," she cooed in wonder at the gem in his hand, hesitating for a moment before she took it in her own.

"It's so cold," she said as she examined it, "but beautiful. It feels like there's almost a power to it, you know?"

With tired eyes, Heero serenely looked at Relena fawning over the stone. Somehow, seeing her always made his day that much better. He marveled at her effectiveness in breaking through his emotional shields. She was like a little ball of fire, yet at the same time, as calm as the morning mist. He had missed her during the trip, even though he hated to admit it.

On more than one occasion, Heero and Relena had found themselves involved in romantic episodes. Yet lately, both were extremely busy and thought each other's companionship more suitable than anything romantic. Heero had to focus on protecting the princess, which was not an easy feat, and Relena had to focus on her work, which was growing more demanding. Yet, anyone who knew the pair saw they were often struggling to force back fits of passion, as mere eye contact could spark a wave of desire between the two. Fine-tuning their control skills, Heero and Relena took this unique opportunity to get to know one another. Without the pressure of romantic involvement, they became more comfortable with each other than they ever thought possible. Still, sometimes they couldn't help a few little sweet, innocent kisses slip past their defenses.

As time went by, Relena found herself immune to the coldness in Heero's voice which might have caused others to shudder, and Heero had grown used to her constant efforts to force him to "open up", as she called it. She often said he was improving, and others complimented him on a different, more approachable attitude, yet no one knew what was inside. No one knew how hard he had to force himself to "open up," how he felt like he was acting every time he gave a smile. But, to make Relena happy, he was willing to do anything. His only true smiles were for her.

"What's this, an engraving?" Relena asked, tracing a pattern on the gem, interrupting Heero's thoughts.

"That's what caught my eye. Let me see" Heero said as he brought the stone up under his lamp to get a closer look. Yes, there was definitely a symbol carved into the stone. As he fingered the outline, he let out a slight gasp as he identified the faint pattern.

"It looks like an eight," Relena said flatly, squinting her eyes to look closer.

"Or an infinity," Heero said, memorized.

"Ahhh," Relena said in agreement, but then became silent. "You know," she began, "that symbol really looks unnatural. Do you thinkno."

"What?"

"Do you think someone, or something could have carved it. Do you think there could be life on Europa?" Relena wondered in amazement.

"The chances are highly unlikely, though possible. However, we encountered no signs of life while we were there," Heero recounted to her robotically.

"Hmmm" Relena sighed, deep in thought. "Well, I'll let you get your rest," she said as she started to leave the room. "Oh, by the way, you're accompanying me to a ball tomorrow night," Relena added quickly before racing out the door in record time.

"What!?!"

Heero groaned, then fell back on his bed, the stone still in his hand. Falling right to sleep, the young man never noticed the pale blue light that was emanating from the carving of the gem.

Heero tugged at his collar and gulped in some air before his tie was tightly clamped back into place by the focused young women before him.

"There," sighed Relena, looking at her work. "Finally finished. You look wonderful."

The young man stood awkwardly in the tuxedo that had been especially tailored for him. Tonight he would accompany Relena to an Embassy Ball. Normally, a formal event such as this would have no effect on the Preventers' agent. As the bodyguard of the princess, he would simply slip into one of his suits and stay out of sight, blending into the party's background where he could best concentrate on his mission to protect Relena. However, this time Heero could not hide from the bright lights and sugary formalities of such a social event, as tonight he would be Relena's date, instead her bodyguard.

"I was never trained for something like this," Heero told the princess as she was fussing over his formal wear.

"Oh, you'll do fine," she replied nonchalantly. "Besides, this is really only a simple charity dinnerwell, except for the fact that many prominent leaders from both the earth and colonies are going to attend."

"Very reassuring," Heero mumbled.

"Remember, it's for a good cause. Many people lost their homes during the wars and this foundation is helping to rebuild houses for those families," Relena explained, pointing to their invitation. "All I have to do is formally present my donation to the charity founders and then we can leave, I promise."

"What will I do until then?" Heero asked her, suppressing a frown.

"Look happy and make small talk," the princess told him with a smile. Heero groaned in response and wondered how she could stand looking so damn peppy all of the time.

"Oh, one more thing," Relena told him before they left for the Embassy. The princess now held a delicate white rose in her hands and began pinning it to Heero's tux.

"What's this for?" he asked with a bit of surprise.

"It's just a little reminder that you're not on duty tonight," she replied with a warm smile.

Heero just gave Relena a small nod. He absent-mindedly fingered the soft petals of pure white, which helped to calm his nerves as they rode to the formal event.

Stuffy conversation coated the crowded room in a drowsy lull. If he wasn't careful, Heero could have easily fallen asleep under the drone of the many diplomats wishing to speak with the beautiful creature linked to his arm. He made sure that Relena was by his side at all times as the night lingered on, his protectiveness well justified by the trail of male admirers that the princess had attracted as she made her rounds.

After Relena had given a small speech and presented her donation to the charity, Heero began to perk up, as he knew they would soon be leaving. He gave Relena one of his small, rare smiles, offering his hand as the princess stepped down from the podium.

"A smile? Are you really that desperate to leave?" Relena teased him lightly.

With desperation in his eyes, Heero gave a series of quick nods.

"Alright then. We're off," Relena said with a little laugh as they walked towards the exit.

As Relena was getting her coat, Heero paused and glanced around the room like a panther seeking his prey. Something wasn't quite right. A terrible feeling pulsed through him, as the only thing he could think of was to protect Relena.

Noticing nothing herself, and having retrieved her coat, Relena turned to Heero. "Ready?" she asked, but soon noticed from his expression that he was now in 'soldier-mode'.

"Heero?" she questioned slowly, but then froze as the terror came

All it took was a second, as Heero glanced up to the second floor balcony, realizing too late that the shot had already been fired. Turning round to see if Relena had been hit, he was confused as all he met was her face in shock. She didn't have a scratch on her. Then it dawned on him, as people were now crowding around the pair. Heero looked down to see that the white rose, which had rested so delicately on his lapel, had now turned the deepest shade of red, drooping thick with blood. Lifting his head, he looked back up at the balcony, and noted the end of a dark cape sweep into darkness as a flicker of light appeared and vanished. It seemed to burn a symbol into the air before disappearing. Heero knew that symbolbut his mind traveled into oblivion before he could remember, as he sunk to the ground in Relena's bloodstained arms.

So? How was it? Want more? Feedback please!!! I live for feedback. (smiles sweetly) ^_^

Little Note: Jupiter's moon Europa is actually said to possibly be able to sustain water, that's why I chose to use it in this fic. Europa is covered in ice, and perhaps, below its surface, there is enough pressure to create the heat needed to maintain liquid water. So there ya go, a little scientific fact for ya!