[GW] After the Eve Wars..., chapters 19-20

After the Eve Wars..., a Gundam Wing fanfic by Raberba girl

Part 19 - DTO's Downfall

            The Preventers all stood on a hill, overlooking the two Gundams of the Zero Clan.  Zechs was tied to a tree, screaming, but everyone tried to ignore him as Trowa and Noin each held up a detonation switch.

            Click

            "Bye-bye," Quatre said sadly as Zero and Epyon seemed to glow red-hot for a minute, then finally exploded.  The group was battered by a violent glow of light, which cast wildly flickering shadows on the grass behind them.

            As the sound and light of the explosions finally faded away, everyone silently stood and watched the smoking remains of the two Gundams, who would never come back again.  By the tree, Zechs suddenly went limp for a minute, with only the ropes around him holding him up, and Noin turned to him.

            "Ze...Milliardo?" she said cautiously, walking up to him.  "Are you all right?"

            He mumbled something, then raised his head and blinked up at her with confused eyes.  "Ugh...Noin?  'S that you?  My head hurts."

            "MILLI!" she cried joyfully, flinging her arms around his neck.  "You're back to normal!  Now we can get married!"

            "Huh?"

            Trowa stepped forward to cut him loose, and soon Milliardo was free and staring at Noin, who was chattering away happily about what sort of wedding they would have.

            "Hey!" Sally exclaimed all of a sudden, "What's that?"  She pointed, amazed, and everyone looked.

            Out of the billowing smoke that rose from the debris of the former Gundams, a figure had appeared and was stalking up towards them, a stony look on his face.

            "IT'S HEERO!" Duo and Relena shrieked at the same time.  Heero's eyes widened, but he had just barely started to turn to run before the two pounced on him so hard that all three were thrown to the ground.

            "HeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeero!" Relena chanted, only pausing from time to time to shower his grimacing face with kisses.

            "You're alive!" Duo said excitedly, jumping to his feet and grabbing his friend's hand to yank him up.  "How'd you do it?"

            "I'm the Perfect Soldier," Heero grunted.  "I'm indestructible."

            "Oh Hee-chan, I'm so happy!" Relena giggled, latched around his neck like one of those monkey toys with velcro paws.

            Heero rolled his eyes.

            Everyone had hurried over to them.  Quatre was staring at Heero now with wide eyes.

            His face lit up with recognition.  "Oh my goodness - it's DUO!  Duo my friend, you have come back to me at last! *glomp*"

            Heero's face looked furious as he stared down at the two leeches who were now hanging from his neck.  "What is with this?  Can't a guy come back from the dead in peace?"

            Duo was looking very annoyed.  Grabbing Quatre's shoulder, he yanked him away and spun him around to face him.  "Quatre, listen to me," he growled through gritted teeth.  "Who am I?  Do you recognize me?  I'm DUO MAXWELL.  Your friend, Duo.  D-U-O.  Do you understand?  Not you, not nameless prisoner, not Duo-puppy, I'm DUO!  GET IT?"

            Quatre blinked.  "Oh.  So you are."

            "ARGH!"  Duo smacked himself on the forehead and stomped off.

TEN MINUTES LATER:

            "But how did Zero and Epyon get activated in the first place?" Sally asked in puzzlement.  "I thought they were destroyed."

            Milliardo shrugged.  "Well, you all thought I was dead when Libra blew up, right?  But I had actually managed to survive.  I was piloting Epyon at the time.  That Gundam was actually the reason that I did survive - it's a lot tougher than you would imagine.  I hadn't destroyed it, just hidden it away where I thought no one could find it.  And, if you remember, Heero hadn't self-destructed Zero either, like all the rest of them.  It got really banged up from that last battle, but it was still repairable.  I'm starting to get the idea that only the self-detonation switch can truly destroy a Gundam."

            "Or a well-aimed blast with a beam cannon," Duo muttered darkly, shooting a glare at Trowa.  His friend only shrugged, a little sheepishly.

            And then--

            A shadow blocked the sun.  Everyone looked up in surprise as a huge rumbling sound began to shake the ground, and a familiar-looking spaceship passed overhead and paused directly above them.  A hatch on the side opened to reveal Dorothy, still under the Nerds' control, dressed in a military uniform similar to what she had worn while still a member of White Fang.

            "Preventers," her voice boomed out through an amplifier, "Don't-rest-so-easy-yet.  We-are-not-finished-with-you!"  Another figure appeared beside Dorothy, and everyone gasped.  It was Treize.

            "Dollies!" he squealed excitedly, pointing down at the little people below him.

            Dorothy gritted her teeth, then grabbed his hand and jumped out of the ship, dragging him behind her.  They slowed and stopped before they hit the ground, floating there before the stunned Preventers.

            "Treize-sama!" Colonel Une shrieked, "You have returned to me!"  She jumped up and hugged him around the waist in delight, hanging there until Dorothy rolled her eyes and made her able to levitate too.

            "Une," she said angrily, "why-are-they-all-still-alive?  I-told-you-to-destroy-the-Preventers-and-kill-the-Gundam-pilots!"

            Quatre's eyes bugged out.  "You DID?"

            Une glared fiercely at her.  "No you didn't!  Treize-sama did!  I don't take orders from YOU!"  She stuck her tongue out at Dorothy.

            Dorothy forced herself to stay reasonably calm.  "All right then, 'Treize-sama' told you to.  Now if that is the case, WHY ARE THEY STILL STANDING THERE?"

            Une gasped.  "No!  I have failed in my mission for my darling Treize-sama!  Forgive me, master!"

            "Do you want to play?" he asked, handing her a Barbie.  Then, without waiting for an answer, he started making the dolls skip around and talk to each other.

            Not seeming to notice, Une drew her gun and pointed it straight at Heero's head.  "You, enemy of my dear Treize-sama, I will now execute you!"

            Heero's lip curled.  "If you think I'm going to let myself be killed again, Une, you're dead wrong."  Whipping out his own gun, he fired off the shot before anyone could react.

            Lady Une stared, then slowly reached up to touch her nose.  Her eyes followed her shattered glasses as they fell to the ground:  Heero had shot them off her face, and she hadn't even gotten a scratch.  "Oh.  Thank you, Heero."

            Heero nodded, then walked over and stomped on the crushed glasses, just to make sure they could never be used for turning her schizo again.

            Dorothy snarled, then raised her hand.  Une yelped as she suddenly tumbled to the ground.  "Traitor!  But-that-does-not-matter-now.  Treize-Khushrenada,-you-have-been-REALLY-getting-on-my-nerves,-but-now-it-is-time-for-you-to-return-to-being-my-ally!"  Dorothy yanked a frying pan out of Hammerspace, pulled it back, and then whammed it into Treize's head.

            He yelled, then floated there for a moment, unconscious.  Then his eyes opened.  He blinked around at all of them, then suddenly smirked.  "Hah!  I have returned, Preventers - and now, the world shall be MINE!"

            "Nooooo!" everyone cried in horror and annoyance (mostly annoyance).

            "I think I liked him better as the five-year-old," Duo muttered.  "He didn't try to SHOOT ME then."  He glared at Treize, who didn't seem to notice.

            Dorothy smiled in triumph.  "There-now,-Preventers.  After-I-have-gotten-this-stupid-human-to-do-my-work-for-me,-I-shall-get-rid-of-him-and-then-the-Earth-will-be-MINE!  Bwahahahahaha!"

            Treize jerked his head around, staring at her in shock and growing anger.  "What are you talking about, woman?  You think I'm going to stand for that?  Well, I won't!  I am Treize Khushrenada!"  He held up his hand to pull another frying pan out of Hammerspace, but nothing happened.

            Noin smirked.  "You idiot, only females can do that."

            "Don't call Treize-sama an idiot!" Une yelled, and hit her.

            Noin glared.  "I thought you weren't his drooling puppy anymore."

            Une blushed.  "Well...I still like him, you know."

            Looking furious, Treize finally just punched Dorothy in the face.

            She reeled back in the air, her head snapping back, and something very small and pink fell out of her ear.  "Ow...."  Trying to regain her balance, she shook her head as if trying to clear it.  "I'm...myself again!"  At the realization that she was no longer an alien, she also came to the realization that she couldn't float anymore, and she and Treize abruptly dropped to the ground.

            "Dorothy!" Quatre cried, hugging her.  "Are you normal now, too?"

            She looked around, digging a bit in the grass, then found the tiny Nerd and held it up.  She smiled.  "I'm fine now, Quatre-chan."  Smushing the Nerd to powder between her fingers, she hugged Quatre back and gave him a kiss.

            Treize was looking more and more mad.  "So, I have lost my allies once again.  But that's okay!  Because you know what, Preventers?  You WILL surrender Earth and the colonies to me.  If you don't, I will--"

            "Don't say you'll drop a colony on us," Milliardo ordered.  "Because if you do, I will shoot you."

            "Shoot me?" Treize said indignantly.  "Your best friend since first grade?"

            "Friend?  Since when do friends fight wars against each other, or steal each other's life's work?!"

            "Life's work?"

            "Sixth grade.  Study of Masks in Dumas."

            "That was a glorified book report!"

            Wufei narrowed his eyes and stepped forward.  "Enough of this.  Treize," the Chinese boy said, his black eyes sparking, "I will not allow you to carry out your plans for destruction.  In the name of justice, I will stop you!"

            Treize sneered.  "Oh yeah, Katana Boy?  How?"

            "I will throw you into the lake!"

            "What?!"

            Without further ado, Wufei picked up Treize and flung him into the lake that was conveniently nearby, saving the world yet again from yet another villain.

            "Yay!" everyone cheered.

            Then Sally cleared her throat, and marched up to Dorothy where she was cuddling with Quatre.  "Dorothy Catalonia, we must still carry out our duty as Preventers.  You formed an evil organization with our enemy Treize, tried to take over the world, and aided Zechs Merquise, another one of our enemies.  I'm afraid that I will have to put you under arrest."

            "Nooo!  Dorothy!" Quatre wailed, clinging to his wife.

            Dorothy looked at Sally calmly.  "Well, I agree with you whole-heartedly, Sally, but are you going to arrest Milliardo, too?"

            Sally looked confused.  "No, it wasn't his fault.  He was pretty much a prisoner of the ZERO system."

            Dorothy smirked ever so slightly.  "Well, then is it really fair that I be punished when he gets to go free?  After all, I was not acting of my own volition, either."

            "Yeah!  It was the Nerds's fault," Quatre defended.

            Sally took a step back.  "Well...I guess you're right.  Never mind.  I'm sorry, Dorothy."

            Dorothy smiled.  "No problem, Sally."

            Sally smiled back, then walked off to go after Wufei.

            Quatre looked up at his wife thoughtfully.  "Yeah, but Dorothy...I thought the Nerds got you after you decided to take over the world, not--"

            "Sssh!  Don't ever mention that to anyone again, okay Quatre?"

            He shrugged cooperatively.  "Sure."

            They hugged again, as Dorothy grinned at Sally's back over Quatre's head.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

            "But how can we beat them?" FutureNoin asked in frustration.  "I mean, come on, they're aliens!"

            "There's got to be some weakness," FutureTrowa said firmly.  "Every enemy has one, all we have to do is find it with the Nerds."

            Sandy rolled his eyes.  He was sitting in a chair in the Preventers' meeting room between his parents.  "But I mean, they're just candy.  Why can't we just...I don't know...eat them or something?  Or even better, just ignore it."

            "Ignore it?" FutureUne said in disbelief.  "How can we ignore an alien invasion?"

            "Well, just don't believe in them.  I mean, even I'm finding it hard to take it seriously.  I don't really believe in Nerds."

            There was a faint cry from outside.  FutureSally frowned, then turned to look out the window.  Her eyes widened.  "Sandy," she said slowly, "say that again."

            He looked at her, confused.  "What?"

            "Say that--  whatever you said.  Say it again."

            "I don't believe in Nerds?"

            Another faint cry.  A slow smile was staring to spread over FutureSally's face.  "I don't believe in Nerds!" she yelled out the window, and was rewarded with yet another cry.

            "What's going on?" FutureDuo demanded, getting up, and everyone migrated over to the windows facing the street.

            "That's it!" FutureSally said excitedly, "Sandy hit on it!  Watch.  I DON'T BELIEVE IN NERDS!" she shouted again.  Down on the street, someone cried out, then stood still, looking around in confusion.

            "Come on," FutureLady Une ordered, and they all followed her as she hurried down the stairs and out of the building.

            "Hey," FutureTrowa said, snatching the hand of a woman who was passing them, "I don't believe in Nerds."

            The woman gasped, then jerked.  Something small and pink fell out of her ear and dropped to the ground.  She shook her head a little, then looked around in confusion.  "Huh?  What happened?"

            "That's it!" FutureHilde yelled, then suddenly rounded on Sandy and glomped him.  "I love you, son!"

            "Mom, get off!"

            "It's just like in Peter Pan!" Chelsea said excitedly.  "Every time they said 'I don't believe in fairies--'"  She paused.  "Oops.  Anyways, every time they said - that, - a fairy somewhere would drop down dead!  Except now it's Nerds, not fairies!"

            No one was really listening to her, since they were busy watching FutureRelena, Chris, and FutureWufei, who were dancing around screaming with great relish, "I don't believe in Nerds!" at the top of their lungs.  Pretty soon, everyone else had joined them, and slowly, one by one, the Nerds fell.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

            "QUATRE RABERBA WINNER!"  Everyone looked up to see Catherine Bloom running into the clearing, her eyes alight with mad joy.  "For what you did to my brother, I will now KILL YOU!"

            "Oh no, not this again," Trowa groaned.

            "Wait a minute," Zechs said suddenly.  "Quatre, you were the one who took my place as Chief Slave Of The Zero Clan, right?"

           "And you chained me up and made me a prisoner!" Duo said indignantly.  "Again," he added after a moment.

            "Yeah, you were the reason SONC kidnapped Duo in the first place," Hilde said thoughtfully, her eyes starting to gleam.

            "And you tried to assassinate Father Heavyarms!" Wufei joined in.

            Quatre's face had turned white, and he was starting to take slow, careful steps backwards.  "N-Now, guys...."

            Duo grinned dangerously and drew his gun, as all the others were doing.  "I told you that an awful lot of people hate you, Quatre."

            "That's right," Trowa finished grandly.  "YOU, Quatre, were the one who knocked me crazy and eloped with Dorothy and inspired SONC and caused everything to happen in the FIRST PLACE!  Get him!"

            "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" everyone shouted, charging, and Quatre screamed and started to run for his life.

TWO HOURS LATER:

            Quatre was still running--  or rather, moving as fast as he could with his tongue lolling out and his feet dragging and his heart feeling like it was going to explode at any given second.

            However, the mob that was chasing him was similarly exhausted, so that's all right.

            "Don't...let him...escape..." Trowa wheezed.  He made a faint effort to pull ahead, but only ended up collapsing.  Heero stopped, the least affected by the two hours of straight running, and raised his gun.  Quatre also collapsed, and lay on the ground, unable to move and panting hard.  Slowly, over the next ten minutes, everyone else managed to drag themselves over and surround him.

            "No hard feelings, Quatre," Heero said, and started to pull the trigger.

            All of a sudden, everyone heard a whole bunch of stomping noises - as if an army of mobile suits was heading their way.  Quatre slowly, painfully, managed to raise his head up just a tiny bit.

            "Mag...an...acs..." he gasped, his eyes lighting up with relief.  "I'm...saved!"

            "Quatre-sama!" Rashid's voice boomed, "I see that your life is in danger!  Therefore, let me protect you!"

            Everyone craned their heads to look up fearfully at the mobile suit which towered over them, its machine gun pointed straight at them.  However, its pilot had other plans.

            A cheerful, feminine voice started to sing over the commlink speakers.  "Dokoka e ikitai, dakedo doko e ikeba ii no ka...."

            "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" everyone screamed, starting to run, but the sadistically happy voice continued to sing as if mocking them.

            "Wakaranai mama ni, kyou ga owatte iku yo ne...I'LL BE YOUR FRIEND!"

            Quatre slowly stood, looking around him in wonder.  Everyone was spread out, halted in their escape, with dreamy looks on their faces.  He smiled cautiously.  His cheerful songs always seemed to have this calming effect.  Having to put up with a happy Wufei or Heero was kind of scary, but the side-effects would wear off soon enough.  By then he knew the Maganacs could "talk" them all out of wanting to kill him.  But for now, best just to enjoy it while it lasted.

            "Oh, what a beautiful sunset!" Duo said happily, starting to skip around and pick flowers.  "There shall be peace on Earth and we will always be happy!"

            "Yay!" Relena and Hilde cheered together, then they both giggled and started hopping after Duo.

            "Let's have a picnic!" Noin called, and she whipped a huge tablecloth and a huge picnic basket out of Hammerspace, towards which everyone started to drift.

            "Sally, you are so very pretty and strong and smart, and I just admire you so much," Wufei sighed contentedly, hugging her, and she giggled.

            "Relena, you are so beautiful," Heero said with a goofy smile on his face, "I want to marry you!"

            "Oh, Heero!" she gasped, then burst into another fit of giggling, "I thought you'd never ask!"  She glomped him, and he glomped back, and they started kissing and snuggling together cutely.

            Quatre watched as Une and Zechs started chasing each other around, pretending to be bunnies, and Catherine actually came over and petted his golden-yellow hair for a bit before kissing him on the cheek and bounding off to where Duo, Trowa, and Dorothy were eating.  He watched, and he smiled at all the peace and happiness, and then he went over to get a sandwich too before Duo could polish them all off.

            Life was good.

to be concluded...

After the Eve Wars..., a Gundam Wing fanfic by Raberba girl

Part 20 - Epilogue

            Twenty some-odd years in the future, the sun had set and now night was descending upon that part of the world.  It was peaceful.  A light breeze rustled the leaves in the trees, and in houses, parents were putting their little children to bed.  Street lamps started to glimmer on, shining brightly through the darkness.

            However, among all this content, a group of heroes called the Preventers were wandering wearily through the streets, mumbling dully, leaving a trail of candy and confused people in their wake.  It was going to be a long night.

            "I don't believe in Nerds...I don't believe in Nerds...."

            "I don't believe *yawn* in Nerds...."

            "I, Chang Wufei of the Dragon Clan, with the honor passed down to me by my respected ancestors, do not believe in Nerds...."

            "Nerds...omae o korosu."

            "I don't think that has the same effect, Uncle Heero."

            "I don't believe in ALL Nerds!!!!  Okay!!!!  Did that work?!?!"

            Pause.

            "I don't think so, Duo."

            "Aw.... *sigh*  I don't believe in stupid Nerds...I don't believe in stupid Nerds...."

            "I believe in Nerds!  They are cute and tasty!"

            "RELENA!"

            "Well, they are."

            "Daddy," Chelsea's voice started to wail, "I'm so tired...and cold and hungry and lost and lonely and thirsty and...."

            Everyone groaned.  It was definitely going to be a long night.

The End!