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!

However, I do own the character The Seeker, so don't use 'em without my permission.

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.

"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 over the device.

"You're almost there, Heero," Milliardo's voice softly 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 was blinded by the intense light which reflected over the crystallized hollow of the cave. He 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 of…water! 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 gemstone, 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," Milliardo 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 it's 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 let's 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 hurt…could 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."

<><><>

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, colonization…even 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 young man 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 in his pillow.

"Oh," said Relena. "I heard you found water. That's so unbelievable. 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 looked 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 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, sweet, innocent kisses that slipped 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 think…no."

"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 dinner…well, 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 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 symbol…but his mind traveled into oblivion before he could remember, as he sunk to the ground in Relena's bloodstained arms.

<><><>

~ Gold. Everything was gold as the softness of the autumn day surrounded him. Heero ran through the park and heard the wonderful sound of dry leaves crunching under his feet. He felt light and happy, those precious feelings which he experienced so rarely. He ran and ran and finally he saw her. Relena smiled at him with that warm smile of hers and he took her in his arms. As the leaves began to fall, they clasped their hands together and twirled around. The leaves twirled, too, and the world seemed right in every way. But then something came. A blackness came and they were twirling too fast and he couldn't hold on. "Relena!" he screamed as she slipped out of his hands and fell into the blackness. Heero was left all alone under a stormy sky. A dark figure arose from funneling winds, clad in black robes, and held out its shadowed arm in the young man's direction. "If you touch her, she will die," it hissed in a frozen voice, "stay away, stay away…" And during all of this time, Heero was weeping. He was weeping. ~

"No!" Heero lunged up from the bed in which he had been lying. The bare whiteness of the walls around him hurt his eyes and he squinted, shaking his head. Still breathing heavily from what he had seen in his sleep, he let out a deep sigh when he realized those horrible events had been only a dream. Heero immediately recognized that he was in a hospital room from the immaculate brightness of everything around him.

"Shhh. It's alright. I'm here, Heero. You're alright," a soothing voice told him.

Heero looked to his side to see Relena gazing at him with comforting eyes. He fell back onto his pillow and wiped away his bangs, which had been plastered to his forehead with sweat.

"I knew you would come out of it, I knew you would," Relena murmured gently to the boy before her. "It was predicted you might be in a coma for a week or even longer. But here you are, only two days since--" she faltered. "Here you are."

Heero closed his eyes. He began to remember what had happened. He had been shot, but he had done his job and protected Relena. She was alive and that was all that really mattered.

"I'll go tell the others you're awake," Relena told him.

Heero grunted a response. As she moved to leave, Relena placed a warm hand upon his. Heero immediately pulled his hand away, his eyes full of concern and worry. He looked up and saw a look of shock cross Relena's face at his sudden reaction. He had never flinched like that under her touch.

"I'll go now," the princess whispered as she quickly moved out the door.

Heero was baffled at what he had done. "It must have been that dream," he told himself as he recalled the voice telling him Relena would die at his touch. He breathed another long sigh of relief, "At least it was only a dream." But what a dream it was. Of course he was often plagued with nightmares of the wars and of his blurry past, but never before had anything been so touching and so real. Heero was greatly discomforted by the whole thing, but tried to push the dream out of his mind as familiar faces entered his room.

Dr. Sally Po came in wearing her white lab coat, clutching a clipboard. "Hello Heero! Have a good sleep?" she asked him cheerily.

"Hn," Heero mumbled.

Expecting such a response, Sally just rolled her eyes and began checking his stats, poking him here and there and asking if it hurt.

Noin came in the room after Sally, followed by Relena, who looked timidly at Heero because of the earlier awkward incident. Relena cleared her throat, "Heero, Quatre and Duo have come to see you. May I send for them?"

Heero nodded as Sally unwrapped the bandages from his wound. He had been hit in the chest, fairly close to the heart, but the shot had luckily missed any major organs.

Examining the wound, Sally spoke lightly, "Cutting it pretty close there, aren't we, Heero?"

"Nothing I can't handle," the young man told her gruffly.

"Hey Heero!" Duo bounded into the room. "I came as soon as I heard what happened. Are you alright?"

"Fine," Heero replied nonchalantly.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot. You're a pro at these near-death experiences, aren't ya?" Duo mumbled.

"Hi Heero. I'm glad you're okay," Quatre told him. "You had me quite worried. I felt it, you know, when you had been hit. My heart hurt for you," he said sadly.

Heero just sighed.

"Don't worry, buddy. We'll find out who did this, won't we, you guys?" Duo looked to the rest of the group.

"We're already working on it," Noin responded gently. "Now, Duo, Quatre, Relena, if you wouldn't mind, I need to ask Heero a few questions regarding this case."

Taking the hint, they filed out of the room, Duo giving Heero two thumbs up and a wink before bouncing away, and left Heero, Noin and Sally to themselves.

"This is all very sudden," Noin started out, shaking her head with a frown. "We've been monitoring every possible threat so closely, I don't know how this could have happened."

"But it did and there's nothing we can do about it now," Sally said with a sigh, taking off her lab coat to reveal a Preventers' uniform.

"We have barely any leads to the situation," Noin told him, "but one thing is for certain. From investigating eyewitness accounts and watching video security tapes of the event, it became increasingly clear that whoever made that shot was never aiming for Relena. Heero, they meant to kill you."

Heero was stunned. "Who would want to kill me?" he whispered to himself.

"It's clear you made many enemies during the war, Heero," Sally told him, "but you also saved the lives of millions. You're a national hero, for God's sake! Besides, many people don't even know you exist. I mean, everyone knows about the Gundams, but few actually know who the pilots were. And there doesn't seem to be any hostile groups anywhere. People are finally getting used to the idea of Peace."

It was a mystery. Heero had always been the nameless shadow, watching and waiting to strike his victims before the poor souls even realized they were being hunted. Now the tables were turned. Someone was after him. And that someone was an experienced hunter.

"You must think, Heero, do you know of anyone who would want you dead? Was there anything suspicious you remember before the incident?" Sally asked him.

Heero recalled the position of the attacker and the end of a black cape, but he could remember nothing else, and couldn't possibly think of anyone who wanted him dead.

"Alright then, we'll let you get some rest. Lady Une sends her regards and apologizes she couldn't come to see you personally. She's back at Headquarters right now going over those videotapes like a maniac. She still can't find any trace of your attacker. It's like he disappeared into thin air."

"We'll come and get you in the morning, Heero. I think it will be alright to take you back to the Palace by then," Sally told him as she put her hand on his head. "You still have a fever, though. I'll have to keep an eye on that," she said with concern.

"Oh, and by the way," Noin said as she tossed him a bag. "Try and figure out what to make of this. Your attacker sure didn't use the standard bullet when he shot you."

The women left Heero alone with the bag labeled "Evidence". Curious, Heero opened it to reveal the most intricately decorated arrow he had ever seen.

"I was shot with an arrow!?!" Heero thought in disbelief. But what a shot! Looking back down at his wound, the arrow had apparently entered through his back, right underneath his shoulder blade, and come out clear on the other side of his chest. Heero now realized it was a true miracle that the deadly weapon hadn't hit anything important along the way, unless…unless the archer had so perfect an aim that the arrow was directed along its path with the desired intent of not killing its victim. Had it been a warning shot? It was a scary thought, a very real and scary thought.

Heero directed his attention back to the arrow. Its silver point glimmered and on its back end was attached fine ivory feathers. He noticed the feathers were stained red in some places in which all of the blood--his blood--that had covered the arrow couldn't quite be cleaned off. The shaft of the arrow was decorated with ornate silver patterns and markings. It seemed unusually thick, but also felt very light for its width. "It could be hollow," Heero thought as he analyzed it. "There's something to this…something I'm missing."

Heero took a closer look. He was amazed at what he saw. There, intricately intertwined into a delicate pattern, was a series of infinities. And then it hit him. The infinity! That was the symbol that had flashed from the direction of the attacker before Heero had passed out. Somehow, Heero was sure that the stone from Europa with the infinity marking was related to what had happened to him, and he was determined to find out how.

Heero lay back thinking. He twirled the shaft of the arrow with his fingertips absent-mindedly, but stopped suddenly when he heard a click. He looked to a set of infinities, which were a little larger than the others, located right below the arrowhead. When he applied pressure to one, he heard the click again. Suddenly realizing what he had done, Heero pushed down on the pair of infinities at the same time. He heard a sound of something unlocking, and grew wide-eyed as the arrowhead slid out of position, revealing the hollow inside of the arrow's shaft. Heero took off the point and looked in the shaft. There was something inside! Heero took the thing out and found that it was a piece of finely rolled up paper. He quickly unrolled it and read its message, written beautifully in an old-style font:

I've been watching you for a long, long time.

Heero crumpled the note in his hand. This was definitely meant for him. Whoever wrote the note knew that he would be the one to find it. Someone knew him way too well. Heero decided he would show the note to no one, it would only cause too many questions to which he did not know the answers.

<><><>

Time crept by slowly for Heero during the days he was bedridden at the Peacecraft Palace. Plagued by dreams and nightmares, fever and pain, he stayed alone in his room, requesting no one enter, except either the servants who attended to him or Noin and Sally, who often checked up on him and reported updates of the investigation.

Heero had become lost in his thoughts and in his dreams, which were becoming more and more vivid as each day passed. In each of his dreams, the figure in black appeared and the voice reminded him to stay away from Relena. He was in a torturous cycle of dreams and depression. And sadly, he was almost positive Relena was just as upset as well. More than once a week, deep into the lonely hours of the night, he would watch his door slowly open and see her silhouette. She would debate whether or not to come in, take a step into his room, hesitate, then turn and whirl away. Each time she appeared, he recognized the silver lines of tears upon her cheeks, reflected from the starlight that was cast in from his window. Each time, he cursed himself for having to be so cruel to her without giving her a reason. He had to ignore her, to be isolated from her…he just had to. It was the only option he had to keep her alive. He never realized that the emptiness was slowly killing both of them.

<><><>

It was the same dream, over and over. Heero had Relena safely in his arms…then darkness. She fell away from him and he was left alone with the figure in black.

On this night, however, the dream was different. It had started out the same, and Heero was left standing in front of the figure, but then the darkness began to fade. A white fog encircled them, and the trees with the autumn leaves grew bare and soon disappeared, their skeleton of branches swallowed by the rising mist.

Heero felt himself grow calm. He then had an eerie feeling he wasn't dreaming any longer. He collected himself and spoke to the dark phantom that seemed to float before him, waiting for him.

"Who are you?" Heero asked cautiously.

"I have no name," the figure answered him.

"What do you want?"

"Want…want…" the voice seemed to mock him.

"You're giving me these dreams, aren't you?" No reply.

"Damn you!" Heero paused at the silence which followed. He then thought of the note in the arrow and the phantom's warning about Relena. "Why can’t I see her?" Heero asked bitterly.

"It is the way."

"ARE YOU MY ENEMY?" Heero shouted in confusion and frustration.

"Who are your enemies?" the voice echoed back like it was speaking from his own heart as the dark figure drifted away.

<><><>

Heero flashed back into reality with a shock. He was dripping in sweat. He looked at his clock. It was midnight. He couldn't stand to stay like this any longer. Maybe if he left the Palace, left Relena, the figure with the haunting voice would leave him alone. If he wasn't around the princess, he would ensure her safety as well. Though feverish and dizzy, Heero lifted himself from his bed and began packing his things. As he was throwing clothes into his bags, he found the stone from Europa. He looked at the infinity symbol, cursing at it. He clenched the stone in his fist, hoping it would break into a million pieces and rid him of his nightmares. Yet it remained.

"It's a talisman, you know," a voice interrupted Heero as he gripped the stone.

"What?" Heero looked up to see Relena, leaning against the frame of his doorway.

"A talisman," she repeated. "It's a stone or object with engravings said to possess mystical or supernatural powers, which it gives to its bearer. I was talking to Quatre about it. You know, he's into that sort of stuff."

Heero grunted a reply, deep in thought. But Relena knew she saw his eyes narrow at the mention of Quatre's name. She knew how jealous he could get. The princess looked around the room. Various articles of clothing were scattered about him, and his travel bags were out as well. Then she looked at him. God, he looked awful. He usually looked so beautiful and placid. He was now sweaty and clammy, dark circles under his eyes, his hair in messy knots. He looked like he hadn't had a good sleep in ages. Everything about him seemed weary, as if he were fighting an endless battle, one of those dangerous internal battles that a person must face alone.

Heero threw the talisman in his bag and continued packing.

"You're leaving again?" Relena asked this like a question, although she already knew the answer. She tried to be strong.

Heero looked at her and hid the hurt inside of him. "What are you doing here?" he asked harshly.

"I was thinking about you. I'm worried about you, Heero." She stood silent for a time, then went on in a very quiet and concerned voice, "What's happening to you? You're avoiding me. You're isolating yourself. Something is wrong."

"I'm sick. That's all," Heero stately bluntly. He zipped up his bags. He was ready.

"And that is the reason you give me for ignoring me? That's the reason I stayed up all of those nights thinking of what I did wrong to make you hate me? Why do you always change so suddenly? I thought I had finally found you. I thought I had found the real you. Obviously I was wrong." She was angry.

"…"

"So you're leaving?" Relena asked again, as if to make sure what was happening was actually real and not one of her nightmares.

Heero walked towards the door determinedly, brushing past the girl.

"But why?" Relena asked sadly, tears now pouring down her cheeks.

"Because I love you," he replied in a tortured voice and started walking down the hollow hall.

"You said you’d protect me," Relena wailed after him, "No matter who the enemy was. You promised." She reached out her hand and clung to the arm of his shirt.

"And I told you before, I never break a promise," he replied coldly, and pried Relena from him. Heero turned his back on the desperate girl, who had now collapsed on the ground, and again began to walk away from her. He was determined not to look back. Heero winced at the princess’s cries echoing down the vast hallway, causing him to walk even faster. "If only she knew this is the sole way to protect her," the solemn boy thought to himself. "If there was just some way to make it easier on her…" But the poor young man could think of no other way. It was killing him that he had to leave Relena with no explanation, but it had to be done. There was really nothing he could do. As Heero walked out of the mansion and into the darkness of the night, for the first time in his life, he felt completely powerless. It seemed that the Perfect Soldier had finally been defeated…for now.

<><><>

Heero now stood in his old apartment. Throwing down his bags, he flopped on his bed, sitting over the edge with his elbows on his knees, cradling his head in his hands as his fingertips ran through the messy brown locks which hooded his face. "Why?" he thought to himself. "Why now? Why the shot? Why those dreams? Why that letter? Why do I always have to be tortured just when I think I've found happiness?"

"Because all of your life, you felt like you've been searching for something haven't you?"

The voice came out of nowhere.

Heero sat up with his back rigid. That voice, it was the same one from his dreams, his nightmares.

"You're all alone now, hanging in the balance between mankind and perfection."

"Who are you?" Heero's voice stung with harshness. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I am…" the voice faded. An eerie blue glow filled the bedroom. A bright field of light appeared before the bed on which Heero was sitting. Out of nothingness, a figure began to appear in a swirling of air. It came to him as the same dark clothed phantom in his dreams, however, this time, the massive cape which had previously completely engulfed the figure now rippled off in the currents of air. Afterwards, there, in front of Heero, stood what looked like to be a human being, except this creature had skin of an iridescent pale blue. Its hair was a glittering snowy color, and its face was the same as a man's, except where the eyes should have been, there was a white light glowing from behind delicate eyelids. The mysterious guest was clad in a dark outfit of what looked like a warrior, as Heero noticed a sword. But as Heero sat in awe of the figure before him, a familiar symbol caught his eye and he saw a large silver amulet in the shape of an infinity that the creature wore around its neck.

The bluish being gave a slight bow and began to speak in a soothing voice. "Why?" it repeated Heero's question as it stretched out the syllables of the word. "I knew you were going to Europa, Heero, so I planted the gemstone with the seal of My Kind."

"That damn stone," Heero thought. "That was what started all of this."

"I wanted to see if you were ready to face your future," the creature continued. "I wanted to know if you could hear the silent call of the talisman's mystery, which sings aloud to Us, yet falls upon the deaf hears of humans. You answered its call when you brought the stone back to Earth. I knew then you were ready to see me."

"What could you possibly know about me?" Heero spat, not really wanting an answer.

"I know everything about you," the creature said, "things you yourself do not know."

Heero sent his look of death towards the bluish figure.

"I will tell you what I know, but you must believe me," the figure told the young man. "Believe what I am about to tell you, even when you think you cannot."

Heero gave a nod and in its cerebral voice, the creature slowly began.

"You were never born. You were made. Yes, you may have had parents, but when you were just a fertilized egg, you were taken from your mother's womb and placed into the care of the Creators, a group belonging to a top secret genetic engineering project."

Heero sat baffled. He was never really born? Did he even exist?

"Your genes were rearranged into a pure and perfect code according to your purpose. You, Heero, were bred for the battlefield. Based on that fact, you were genetically engineered into a machine, given the brains and body of a soldier. Your mind was accelerated for attack plans, reaction times, and decision making in battle. They perfected everything to make you a Perfect Soldier, disregarding emotions that weren't needed for battle. They did not realize the repercussions of this error. By not engineering emotions into your flawless mix, that void grew into a fatal imperfection. Basically, you were a killing machine, perfected in body and mind, but left in the dark as how to show and deal with your emotions, knowing no more about your feelings than would a little child."

Heero's mind raced, eager to absorb this information about his unknown past, yet his face, as always, showed nothing.

"You might have been fine if you had real parents, teaching you about love and how to interact with others. But you were kept in the care of Odin Lowe, an infamous assassin, who taught you only of killing and coldness. You then worked for Dr. J at the beginning of Operation Meteor, and your training with him further isolated you from a normal childhood. Predetermined to be a military genius, battle exercises came easily to you. Then you were introduced to the Mission. The Mission was your life."

Oh, the Mission, the Mission…the thing that controlled his entire life, the thing that was his purpose. Heero didn't need to be told any more of that. He was aware that he was just a puppet long ago.

The voice went on, "You see, in all of this time, during all of the killing you were exposed to, you had been taught to feel nothing. Maybe they were trying to protect you, just a mere boy, from the harshness in which you lived your life. In reality, you knew nothing of Love or Hatred. Actually, at this young stage in your life, you were not callous, as some view you today, but rather, simply ignorant.

"All of this changed on your first real mission, when your plan to destroy a Mobile Suit base went awry and the housing complex next to the base burst into flames. As a result of this error, innocent lives were lost. You went to survey the damage and you found the dead body of a dog you had seen earlier with a little girl. When you saw the torn and tattered fur, the life which had been taken by your hands, you felt something for the first time. You experienced feelings of guilt, sadness and pain. As you brought the puppy's lifeless body back to Dr. J, the scientists working on Operation Meter were finally faced with your greatest error. Your Creators did not realize that the deepest part of being a human is to possess feelings and emotions. How were you expected to be a killing machine when they ignored your very essence? The scientists then took it upon themselves to alter you again. Dr. J was ordered to bury these new emotions or even erase them completely. The fools! Did they not see they could never suppress the raw elements of human nature?"

Heero was shaken with memories of the little girl and her dog. No matter how hard the scientist tried, no matter how cold and unfeeling they made him, they could never erase those painful memories or the feelings that came with them. No, he would be left to suffer because of them for the rest of his life.

"This is your story, Heero. This is the truth. You were never a human in the eyes of the scientists who built you, who made you what you are today. They used you for their own purposes, then left you to deal with their mistakes all by yourself. I'm different, Heero. I've been watching you. I see great things in you. I want to help you. You can finally be released from this life that has kept you in agony. You can benefit yourself and the whole human race if you agree to come with me. Heero, you have strains of immortality intertwined in your mix of man and machine. You see, some codes the Creators formed were so perfect that they discovered the key to everlasting life, so to speak. That is why you have been known to cheat Death time and time again. This immortality is the thing that brought me to you. Don't you understand? Part of you is of My Kind."

"How do you know this?" Heero looked at the figure through narrowed eyes.

"I can see into your heart and the essence of your soul with eyes you never even knew existed. I can see your pureness and your light and I have chosen you to accompany me."

"And where is it we're going?" said Heero, with a hint of impatience in his usual calm voice.

"Into the Beyond."

"And what if I refuse?"

"One does not refuse such things as these," the creature said ominously.

<><><>

Relena again found herself glued to a chair by Heero's side, as the young man lay in a comatose state in the hospital.

Fearing for Heero in his feverish condition when he had left the Palace the previous night, Relena had called Duo to check on his friend. Because no one had heard anything from Heero, Duo assumed he was in his old apartment, and possessing a spare key, decided to stop by. The braided pilot knew something strange was happening from Relena's worried expression when she had called him.

Duo found Heero lying on his bed. He appeared to be sleeping, but spoke and tossed vigorously in his sleep, like he was in a dream, but Duo could not wake him up. Rushing Heero to the hospital, he was immediately handed over to Sally's care. She managed to bring Heero down to a more stable condition and sought desperately to rid him of his fever, which was now growing to a dangerously high temperature.

Relena came to the hospital as soon as she heard Heero was there. And now she sat next to him, holding his hand. He often whispered incoherent words in his sleep. Every so often, she would she him wince and could feel his grip on her hand tighten.

"Relena," Sally spoke in a grave tone as she entered Heero's room.

Relena tore her eyes away from Heero to speak with Sally. "Have you discovered what's wrong with him yet?" she asked hopefully.

Sally exhaled a long, deep breath and pulled up a chair across the bed from Relena. "At first we thought he may have gotten an infection from his injury, but Heero's shot wounds seem to be healing beautifully. He just can't seem to shake this fever. He's had it on and off for the past few weeks, and it's getting worse now. The problem is, we don't know what's causing it. We're actually not quite sure what his happening to Heero. His mind is experiencing high levels of activity, but he seems to be getting weaker. The only thing I do know is that…" she trailed off.

"What?" Relena asked impatiently.

"Relena, he's dying."

The princess sat silent and still, her eyes staring at the ground. She was trying to believe what she had just heard. Her heart wouldn't let her.

"You've got to understand, we're doing everything we can," Sally tried to comfort Relena. It was almost as if the doctor could see the pain oozing out from the girl's heart and collecting in a puddle on the floor. "I--I'm sorry," Sally stuttered.

"Leave me," Relena managed to get out in a barely audible whisper. Sally complied.

Relena directed her attentions back to the struggling dreamer who lay before her. Her hand shook as she touched his sleeping form, and her vision grew blurry from the tears flooding her eyes.

"Why won't you wake up?" Relena choked on her words. "Please, wake up."

Fresh, hot tears fell without restraint as the princess threw herself on Heero and held him tightly in her arms.

Sally stood leaning against the closed door to Heero's room. She clinched her fists tightly as she heard Relena's painful sobs through the doorway.

Noin walked up from the lobby. "She took it hard, I take it?" Noin asked solemnly.

"More than you know. I think my heart just broke back there," Sally said shaking her head.

"I tell her we're going to bring Heero back to the Palace as soon as she calms down," said Noin as she and Sally walked down the hallway. "There's really nothing more we can do for him here."

<><><>In Heero's Dreamworld<><><>

"Before you told me of my past, I asked you who you were. You never answered my question. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me exactly who or what you are," Heero told the figure.

"I am a child of the moon. I am the Bringer of things. I am the Seeker. I know all that is unknown."

"Do you think yourself a god?"

There was a pause. "No…but I am higher than you."

Again, Heero gave the figure a look that meant it needed to explain itself.

"I have come to you in the form that most resembles your kind so that you will be able to understand me. I have chosen to look like a soldier so you may feel comfortable around me. In reality, I do not look like this. I do not look like anything, but yet, I still exist. These things are hard for humans to understand, as they have always been taught that 'to see is to believe', so I will try my best to tell you what I am.

"There are things beyond Life and Death. There are things beyond Heaven and Hell. I am one of those things. You can be, too. Your kind was always meant for greatness. Both of us came from a common ancestor. But somehow, as these things often go, we evolved into the Higher Beings that we are today, and you were left to roam the Earth. You humans still had much to learn, you still have much to learn. But it has always been prophesized that when the time is right, there would be one, the One who would come to lead the humans into greatness. The One would be both mortal and immortal, both innocent and tormented. With the help of Our Kind, they would transform into a Higher Being and open up a gateway for all humans to pass through so that they may enter into the Beyond."

"The Beyond?" Heero asked.

"That is the symbol of Our Kind. That was the symbol on the talisman. An infinity, I think you call it? To you it means Without Limit. Really, it is something different. The Beyond is an everlasting cycle that exists always. It is a constant stream of energy, of souls, of forces, and of knowledge. It is the balance that streams throughout the universe. It is the universe. It is everything and nothing at the same time. The Beyond is something humans are still incapable of understanding, and thus they are forced to keep on living as they do now, so that they may continue learning. Yet they never understand, and so are still only human."

"And you think I am 'The One' that you are looking for?" Heero asked the Seeker.

"Yes, but we will find out very soon."

"I think you are seriously mistaken," Heero told the supernatural being, then thought, "Humans still have way too much to learn before they will ever be able to comprehend something as great as 'The Beyond.'"

<><><>

"Why did you bring me here?" Heero asked the Seeker as he looked at the foggy whiteness surrounding them. It was as though he were in a cloud. Everything was hazy and sparkling.

"To see if you are the One," the Seeker answered.

"So you're testing me, aren't you?" Heero asked.

"In a way. I'm watching and waiting."

"For what? That gate to open? Oh yeah, I forgot, I'm supposed to be the key to humanity's ascension into the Beyond," he spat sarcastically.

"When you leave them all behind, you will open a pathway to greatness."

"What do you mean, 'leave them all behind'?" Heero asked suspiciously.

"The One must sacrifice himself so that the gate may be opened."

"But what about Relena? I can't just leave her behind. I think I…I love her." Heero said.

"That girl unlocked emotions that had once been lost," the Seeker sneered. "She was the first person to teach you about love and hope, and knowing nothing of emotion, you learned from observation. But do you really love her, or are you just trying to mirror her love for you?"

"I don't know…" Heero started, but then grew cold. "You're playing games with me. I've been toyed with too much not to realize you're toying with me now."

"You're a smart man, Heero, and I'll not insult your intelligence any further by trying to make this easier for you. The One who goes into the Beyond must leave everyone and everything behind. He must be willing to give up his position on earth and must not regret leaving. The One has always known he was meant for a greater purpose, searching for something more to life. I am convinced you are the One, Heero. I'm just trying to make you see it for yourself."

Heero thought about this for a long time.

"You know, you almost had me convinced that I was the One," Heero told the Seeker after much contemplation. "But now…now I see that I am not. I've never been searching for something beyond this life. I've always been trying to find my place in it. I realized that when I met Relena." He paused for a moment of reflection. "I just want to be a human being. Just like a human, I still have much to learn."

"If that is how you feel, so be it. If you are the One, we will find out soon enough. And if you aren't…we have already gone too far to turn back now. Only Death's cold hands can touch you if you do not pass into the Beyond," the Seeker told him.

Heero stood silent, then spoke slowly, realizing what was happening. "All of this time that you were testing me, I was dying, wasn't I? You were killing me. I'm still dying. But now I understand. It’s the death of the One that will open the gate to the Beyond, am I right? The final test is my death."

"Your view of death is highly misjudged," was all the Seeker replied.

"I am right. And now you're saying that I will die, even if I'm not the One?" Heero tried to confirm.

The Seeker gave him a slight, solemn nod.

In a low, controlled tone, Heero whispered, "Take me back."

"I do not think that would be wise, the transformation could take place any--"

"Take me BACK," Heero growled. "If I should die, it's not going to be in this dream world. I want to see Earth. I want to see Earth one last time."

"As you wish," whispered the Seeker as the dream began to fade.

<><><>

Heero awoke to find himself in his room at the Peacecraft Palace. He felt weak and tired, yet somehow calm. Outside, it was still dark, yet morning's sunlit blush began to creep out from behind the hills. A soft rain looked as though it was slowly fading as the pitter-patters against the window began to gently grow still. Relena was asleep in the chair next to his bed; her arm was stretched out upon his bed, her hand resting lightly next to his. Heero watched her sadly. The entire room was silent, except for her even breaths. In…and out. In…and out. Heero listened in wonder. The innocence in her every breath left him spellbound. He carefully took her hand and pressed it to his face, kissing her fingertips lightly. Heero spoke in a murmur to Relena's sleeping form. "You're the only one I ever loved. You were the only one who dared to show such a creature of darkness how to love. I thank you from the bottom of my soul, or whatever is left of it." Little stabs of pain were now clutching Heero's heart as he noticed his breaths growing shorter. "Goodbye…Relena."

Heero quietly slipped out of bed and snuck out of the Palace, dragging his aching body blindly into a forest.

After hours of wandering Heero fell to his knees, not fully knowing where he was, or where he had been. As he sank low to the ground, a rust-colored dewy leaf fell from somewhere above him and landed on his cheek. It left a tear-like trail as it slipped off his delicate face and descended to its final resting-place in the cemetery of dead leaves and branches covering the forest floor.

Heero was in a wooded grove. High, arching trees formed a hidden cove all around him. Sunlight tumbled in through the gaps of the treetops and gently filled the ground with a dimpled glow. It was late autumn now, and the leaves were burning bright in reds and golds. Heero lay down on his stomach in the lush grass of the grove and took in the scent of the rich brown earth.

He had left her. He had left Relena…again. And Heero felt an eerie chill growing inside of him. It was the haunting feeling of a heavy heart that knows it's slowly dying.

Heero didn't want Relena to hurt anymore; he didn't want her to see him like this- dying like this. He did not want her to feel the pain of the growing coldness that had been engulfing his entire body. But here, close to the soil, breathing in the grassy dampness of the rugged clay and dirt and rock, Heero welcomed a warmth that had managed to overcome the shadowy cold locked inside him. He closed his eyes and let the Earth hold him like a little lost child. But that's what he was, wasn't he? A child always searching for love and comfort, yet wearing the solid mask of a warrior. A warrior knowing of nothing but pain and what he must do to overcome it. Yes, he was still a child, hidden inside the Perfect Soldier, for he had never experienced those bright years of youth…of ice cream and kickball and laughter. No, he never knew of those. He never even had a mother, a real mother to hold him and love him. So in that moment of light and dark, as he held the Earth and the Earth held him, Heero realized something. The Earth was his mother now. He had finally found her. And now that he had found her, he could die here by her side and fall into the great plan of things like every other creature.

In one empty moment, Heero felt his tense body curl when no breath came…and then release. No gate was opened, yet a transformation did occur.

Mother Earth looked down upon her child and wept for the pale face that she cradled in her warm embrace. She healed Heero's wounds with her undying love. She nourished his soul with the spirit of the forest. She gave him her strength in the power of the wind, which stripped the flaming leaves from their ancient branches and sent them spiraling in intricate circles downward to the ground. The Earth gave the boy new life with her sacred, silent blessing. From her gifts and precious prayers, Heero was reborn, and he stayed there in her arms as the dying leaves fell from the trees and gave their lives to him.

<><><>

A quiet figure watched the suffering boy slowly die in the dappled forest. And without surprise, the figure watched as Heero was miraculously healed. The Seeker knew then that Heero was not the One it was looking for. It was clear that the strangely beautiful boy was something else entirely. An angel, perhaps? No…Heero was now a human being, entirely mortal, made of living flesh and blood. Although his spirit was still uniquely strong and his purity unscathed, the divine strain of immortality that had run throughout his very essence was now gone. Somehow, Heero had been granted a new life of his own, as the oppressive genes that had predestined the boy to be a killing machine were completely erased from his being.

<><><>

The sun had finally peeked its golden head over the horizon as Relena sat stupefied in a blurry confusion. "How could you have let him disappear?" she scolded herself, looking at the empty bed next to her. Pulling on a cloak she flew out of the mansion. Heero couldn't have gone that far on foot in his sickly condition in the hour she had been asleep, could he?

Walking to the edge of her grounds, Relena headed towards the nearby woods, which would have been the best place to hide if someone wanted to run away and disappear. She saw footprints lightly embedded in a woodland path, which was slightly muddy from the morning's gentle rain. The cool damp forest seemed to call to the girl and urge her to continue her quest to find Heero.

<><><>

She found him some time later in a secluded grove, lying on the ground, in front of the base of an ancient oak. Fallen leaves surrounded him, and Relena rushed over to Heero, thinking he was dead.

Relief washed over her as she heard his soft, yet strong breaths. In…and out. In…and out. Relena couldn't believe she had never listened to him breathe before. He was so pure, so gentle in his unassuming beauty. As much as she wanted to sit there and listen to him breathe forever, Relena found herself whispering for him to wake up. She needed to be sure that he was okay.

"Heero? Heero?" the princess called to him.

"Hmmm?" Heero let out a soft groan, and opened his eyes to a completely different world.

"You came for me?" he asked her tenderly, as he sat up to face her.

Relena only nodded.

Heero looked at his surrounds, vaguely remembering what had happened. He knew that he was supposed to die, but this did not look like any Hell to him.

"Am I in Heaven?" he asked the princess, with such an innocent sincerity that at first she thought he was joking. She giggled, but then realized her soldier was being quite serious.

"No…" she answered cautiously, "not that I know of. You're still here on earth."

"Still on earth?" he thought in amazement. Something had happened. He had been spared.

"I'm just glad you're all right," Relena interrupted his thoughts. "You had me so worried. How do you manage to always run off like that? Luckily for me you were sick, or I don't think I could have ever caught up with you. By the way, you look better, much better in fact. How do you feel?"

"Feel?" Heero repeated.

He looked to his heart for the answer and found that he could finally see what had been hidden in darkness. A feeling washed over him, and for the first time, there was nothing holding him back from expressing himself.

"Right now, I just have this urge to…" He looked at her, eyes twinkling.

"To what?" Relena asked.

"To do this!" Heero said as he pounced on her, causing them both to fall back in a pillow of leaves. His lips claimed hers playfully as he gently pinned her to the ground.

After a few moments, they broke the kiss in the sea of leaves to come up for air.

"Heero…Yuy," Relena said between breaths. "Where did that come from?"

"Don't you see?" he said with more expression in his eyes and voice than Relena had ever noticed before.

"I'm truly alive. I'm free. I'm not some scientific plaything anymore. I'm just a man."

Relena looked at him. He was talking nonsense. Maybe he was still sick. "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Heero?" she asked him suspiciously.

"I'm feeling--I'm feeling…wonderful. I'm feeling! Is this how it's supposed to be? I never knew happiness could feel this good. I can feel so many things now. And, I can finally love." He looked at her through caring eyes, a true smile appearing on his lips. "I know now what love is, Relena, I finally understand. You taught me about love, you gave me your love, and I tried and tried, but I never had anything to give back to you. That's because I was empty. I couldn’t give you anything, because I didn't have anything to give. But now…now I do."

Relena was completely confused as Heero was now hugging her. What in the world had happened to the Perfect Soldier she thought she knew?

"Oh God…" he whispered sadly as he held the princess in his arms.

"What?" Relena asked him in a worried voice as she pulled out of the hug to face him.

"I was just thinking…about my past…I've killed so many people," Heero said in a small, astonished tone, as if he had realized it for the first time.

"But you saved the lives of so many more," Relena told him gently. She bit her lip as Heero stared into the ground in a trance. What else was there to say to him?

"These new emotions, feelings…they effect my soul ten hundred times more than what I am used to experiencing," Heero quietly explained to her, breaking the silence. "Even though my feelings were repressed, I've always known they were in me somewhere. I could still feel some things, although never without restraint. I never thought of my enemies as people, they were just obstacles to overcome. Everything was a mission…" he looked away from Relena in shame, "…including you."

He continued, "Believe me, you were always special. Mid-way through the One Year War, I was convinced you were someone worth protecting, so I viewed you as a mission. At first, your safety was my mission, and I protected you with my life. But then, you cared for me and tried to teach me of love and peace and everything that had purposely been left out of my being. You were the one who caused what little emotion I still possessed to surface. Lord, how you confused me, tortured me, even. You brought out feelings that had lurked in the depths of my soul, programmed never to see the light of day. You became my world, and I wasn't so lonely anymore. It was then that I viewed your happiness as my mission. But one day, gathering what I knew from some distant instinct too pure to ever be repressed, I discovered that I loved you, although I knew I could never feel true love, or express the deep feelings I had for you, buried somewhere in the lost shadows of my heart."

Heero looked up at her. His eyes were glazed, full of quivering, clear tears that had yet to run down his face.

"Everything's different now. I can finally feel with the intensity that a human being was meant to possess. And even with all of the joy that comes from being with you right now, I can still feel the guilt of my blood-stained past, to which I am no longer immune."

Tears were now falling silently from Heero's electric eyes, yet his face was calm and he did not make a sound. Relena moved to wipe the tears away, but he caught her hand with his.

"No. Let them fall," he told her, barely above a whisper, "they've been waiting for so long."

The two sat kneeling in front of each other for what seemed like hours, the deep blue of Heero's eyes blazing into Relena's memory forever.

"Heero…" Relena whispered, breaking the silence, "what happened to cause such a change in you?"

"A dream," he replied softly, "only a dream."

<><><>

When Heero arrived back at the palace later that day, he searched everywhere for the gemstone from Europa, wondering what had happened to the Seeker, but the talisman was gone. From that day on, the Higher Being no longer haunted Heero's dreams.

Everyone didn't notice Heero's transformation right away, but slowly his voice lost its monotony, though it still held its deep, musty appeal. Although his experience as a soldier had not been erased from his memory, and the strength of his body seemed as though he were still superhuman, Heero now seemed a little less invincible. He began to laugh and hug and joke more openly. He felt more comfortable in social settings. None of the others quite knew what had happened to Heero, but branded the cause of his changed emotions a result of Relena's endless efforts to break through his defenses.

"Relena somehow always gets what she wants," Duo would often joke to the new couple, and cause them both to blush. "But then again, so does Heero."

Heero and Relena had decided to have another go at a relationship, and so far things were working out beautifully. Their friends would often let out an exasperated sigh and shout "Finally!" whenever they saw the happy pair together.

Relena was always interested in what had happened to Heero during his illness, and she would often ask him to tell her his stories, about the creature from the far-off place, and how Heero had learned about his past. Although Heero explained to Relena what had happened between himself and the Seeker many times, he always told her that the whole experience had been one long, terrible dream, and that it took such a dream to finally bring out his emotions. He, however, knew better than that. The young man was positive that the events that had occurred as a result of the talisman were all very real. But somehow, Heero thought that the information he had learned from the Seeker must be kept secret, and he kept it as such. So, to Relena, the Beyond was just some fantastic place that only existed in dreams.

<><><>

 A voice echoed in silence throughout the vastness of the universe, a mute whisper whisking past stars and planers. "So he was not the One?"

A similar call carried its message mournfully, mixing with moon dust, "No."

"You wanted him to be the One."

"Yes."

"It was not time, your hopes were too high. They are not ready yet."

"But soon…soon, they will be ready. The One will come and join our kinds together, two as one, into the Beyond."

"Patience, patience, all in good time…" a stoic wisdom filled the expanse of outer space.

"I will be watching, I'm always watching. I'll seek out the One, I'll find them."

"Of course, of course, you are the Seeker."

"I'll wait for the final transformation, I'll wait for the One…always remember, I'm still searching..."

The Seeker looked down upon the earth, which remained unchanged, all of humanity still wandering unaware. And the universe grew hushed, the unspoken voices fell away, yet the constant cycle of energy kept flowing, flowing…

<><><>THE END<><><>

A.N. Wow! Another one finished. This story was really different for me. I left it very vague in some parts so you, as the readers, could experience your own introspection. I hope I didn't confuse anyone too much, I just wanted to make ya think. Basically, this story was written to answer why Heero was so cold and unfeeling. I took it to the extreme by saying he literally couldn't feel like the rest of us because of genetic engineering. The fantasy/sci-fi stuff was just really fun to do. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to hear what you all thought of this fic. Pretty please!!!!!

BIG THANK YOU's to everyone who has been kind enough to review this fic, especially my good friend, Lady Perina! YAY!!!! Luv ya!