Zero Soul

Chapter 1: Reunion and Strategy

Relena Darlian sat in her office overlooking papers for new proposals from the members of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. This was the fifth week in a row in which she had spent a beautiful Saturday in her office. It had almost been two years since the defeat of Mariemaia and peace had returned once again to Earth as well as the colonies in space. Yet, she continued to work, ignoring the pleas from her older brother, Milliard Peacecraft, and her friend, Lucrezia Noin. She was almost 18 years of age yet she has had to act as if she were 10 years older.

Gone were her chances of a normal life... gone when she first met that boy nearly three years ago, but she barely complained about it... In fact, she was somewhat thankful that she had met him. He broke her out of that mundane routine that was her life; one filled with people who pretended to be her friends just because she was the richest girl in school, one where she always had to be polite and courteous, especially in the face of the media, and one that held no excitement whatsoever. But now look at her, Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, the one who had to keep the peace. Her life was now filled with papers, meetings, social gatherings, and conferences, something no girl, especially one her age, should go through. Putting down the last of the proposals she got up and walked to the windows of her office. She opened them and took in the sight, smiling as the wind gently blew by her face carrying with it the scent of wildflowers.

"Heero..." she whispered softly to no one in particular, "I wonder how you're doing. I hope that you're well and that you've found happiness." She smiled once again as she pictured his face in her mind. Her thoughts wandered to the day when she first met him, to the day he tore her invitation, to the countless times that he had saved her, and to the time he fell into her lap. In fact they wandered so much that she didn't even notice the figure that stepped into the room.

"Relena," came a familiar voice. Relena turned around to see her friend and advisor, Lucrezia Noin, standing in the middle of the office. She hadn't changed much; she still wore her hair in the same, short fashion but it was slightly longer than what it used to be. Another odd observation was that she was wearing a tank top and jeans instead of her Preventerís uniform.

"Hello, Noin, it's good to see you again. Is there something you want to talk to me about?" Relena asked as she made her way to the older woman.

"Well, Relena, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me for a walk to the park," came the woman's answer.

"That's thoughtful of you, Noin, but really I have to get back to work." With that Relena started to walk back to her desk but before she could reach it Noin grabbed her wrist.

"Relena, please, there's something that I want to show you there. Besides, you need to get out once in a while and it's such a beautiful day today. Let's just go out and enjoy it. Well?" she asked with smile.

"... Okay, Noin, you've convinced me. I'll just go and tell my secretary that I'll be taking the rest of the day off," Relena replied with a smile.

As they walked out the door Relena informed her secretary of her plans and afterwards they started to walk out of the Peacecraft mansion. The two idly made their way to the park located four blocks away. Relena took her time enjoying the walk, admiring the scenery and feeling content when she heard the laughter of children. However, her heart sank somewhat when she saw couples holding hands or stealing kisses from the object of their affection. After about ten minutes of walking Noin suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence.

"... Relena, the real reason I asked you out to the park was because I was afraid that someone would be listening in on our conversation," Noin said with concern in her eyes.

"Noin?" Relena questioned with a look of confusion.

"Relena, there have been rumors going around, and we have found some evidence, of another rebel organization out there. I don't know if they're remnants of the old organizations, or if they're a new one, but what we do know is that they're gaining more power with each passing day-"

"And you're worried that they may go after me," Relena cut in.

"Yes, but Milliard as well. We can't take any chances anymore. You and Milliard are too important to lose," Noin replied with concern and compassion. "So Milliard and I have decided to arrange for some protection for the both of you."

"Who?" came Relena's question.

"The Preventers and some special agents that you'll be meeting at the park. We're going to draw up some ideas later on how we'll handle the situation until we find and capture those rebels," Noin informed as they continued to walk along.

Five minutes later the two were at the Sank Centennial Park. It was a beautiful place, littered with many shady trees, an open flowery field, and had a small lake in the middle. There weren't a lot of people there at the time, just a few that were minding their own business. The peculiar thing about the scene though was the lack of children around; the park should have been crawling with them during this time of day. Relena and Noin walked to a secluded area and were greeted by Milliard and Sally Po who were both dressed in casual clothes.

"Miss Darlian," Sally greeted the young girl.

"Please, Ms. Po, call me Relena," Relena replied as she shook her hand.

"Alright, but then you have to call me Sally. Deal?" she asked with a friendly smile.

"Hmmm... Deal," Relena replied and returned the smile. After that she went to her older brother and gave him a hug.

"So, Milliard, who are these special agents that you have arranged as protection?" she asked before her brother could even say 'hello'.

"Hmmm, so I take it that Noin has already informed you of what's happening," came her brother's reply. "Well in that case-"

"Oi, 'Jousan!"

Relena quickly turned around to confirm her suspicions on who that voice belonged to. Running towards her and waving his arms was Duo Maxwell.//Oh God, he still has that yard long braid!// Relena thought and smiled as he reached out and swept her in a hug, turning her around so that she could see the other pilots as they made their way down. Quatre was running while Trowa and Wufei walked at an even pace. As Relena looked at them she noticed that each of them had grown taller and weren't as slender as they used to be. Trowa was still the tallest; he looked about 6'1". Duo was next at 5'11", then Wufei and Quatre at 5'9". Of course she was taller as well but not compared to them, only managing 5'5". Her excitement died down, however, when she noticed that someone was missing among them.//I knew he wasn't going to be here... oh well-//

"Miss Relena! It's great to see you again!" Quatre said in a cheery voice.

"Miss Relena," Trowa greeted with a nod.

"Yes, well... can we just get this briefing over with?" came Wufei's 'greeting'.

"It's nice to see you too, Wufei," Relena commented. "In fact, it's great to see all of you again. Although I'm sorry that we have to bother you guys with this."

"What bother? We're actually glad that we have something to do with our time instead of just moping around all day," Duo answered with the biggest grin on his face.

"Seriously, Miss Relena, we want to do this. We're all worried about what could happen to you. Think of this as a way to repay you for all the work you're doing to try and maintain peace," Quatre added.

"Ahem," Milliard interrupted, "Okay, now that everyone's re-acquainted we'll get to the objective at hand."

"Hey, why did you ask us to meet in the park anyway? Wouldn't it be safer to meet in a private room?" Duo asked before Milliard could get to the briefing.

"We wanted to meet here so that people wouldn't get suspicious, especially the members of the Earth Sphere Unified Nations. If they found out that we were holding a secret meeting at the palace instead of this ëreunioní with 'friends' at a park, they'd start to ask questions. We can't afford to reveal anything until we're absolutely sure. Plus it also gives Relena a chance to get out and enjoy the scenery," Noin answered.

"I agree that this is a nice park, but what about security?" Quatre inquired.

"Don't worry about that, all of the pedestrians here are actually Preventer agents in disguise," Noin reassured.

"Are we done with the questions yet!?" Milliard asked, somewhat angry and annoyed. Everyone nodded his or her heads and he continued. "Noin and I have called you all here because we have information on a new... or rather old - depending on how you look at it - terrorist organization. We haven't been able to confirm much except for the fact that they are made up of former OZ members and their numbers are growing fast. Along with that, Sally was able to get some information as to what their objectives are. Sally, care to take it from here?"

"Wait a minute. How come Sally was able to get information on them?" Duo asked ignoring Milliard.

"Sally has many contacts who would like to keep their identities concealed. They risked a lot trying to get what little they could, so we have to make sure that it's put to good use," Noin answered with a somewhat sad expression on her face.

"Alright," Sally began. "Now, listen up; based on the things that my contacts were able to gather, they refer to themselves as the real OZ. They consist of former generals and aristocrats that escaped at the end of the Eve Wars, but their identities are still unknown. Along with that we are still unable to pinpoint their exact location. We think that they have various bases located around the Earth and possibly in the colonies as well. We are also unsure, however, if they are using mobile suits, but we're guessing that they are. It seems that they want to restore OZ to its former glory and because of that they see the Gundam pilots and the Peacecraft family as their enemies."

"Yeah, especially since Miss Ex-Queen of the World over there foiled their attempts at world domination by uniting the Earth and the colonies," Duo interrupted.

"Hey! What about you guys? I'm pretty sure that they have an even bigger grudge against the Gundam pilots since you're the ones who destroyed all their bases and mobile suits," Relena protested.

"Well, we don't have our Gundams any more so I'm pretty sure that they've already forgotten about us," Duo retorted.

"That's quite enough!" Milliard screamed.

"Sorry," Duo and Relena replied rather sheepishly and in unison while bowing their heads.

"Uh..." Sally began again, "Well, we have to start planning how to set up the security and figure out how many agents we'll need on this, as bodyguards and as part of the investigation team. You Gundam pilots will not only help with the protection but with the investigation as well. All of you have such amazing talents and skills, so we have to try and use them to the fullest now or else the world and colonies may face another crisis."

"Ugh, that just means that we have to do more work," moaned Duo.

"Baka! Shut up, Maxwell! How lazy can you be!?" snapped Wufei.

"What's you're problem, Wufie?"

"Don't call me that, Maxwell!"

"Well, then don't call me Maxwell."

"But that is your name!"

"No, my name is Duo."

"Fine, Duo! Just shut up!"

"Alright Wu-chan."

"KISAMA!!!! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!"

The entire group, except for Trowa who was almost smiling, burst out in laughter at the comedic scene in front of them. After the laughter died down they continued to discuss the necessary actions they would take. Amidst the surrounding trees and bushes a shadowy figure hid in the darkness, aware of everything that was going on around it, but not attempting to interfere.

"Hn."