Hark! How the bells
Sweet silver bells
All seem to say,
"Throw cares away."
Christmas is here
Bringing good cheer
To young and old
Meek and the bold…

Duo glanced over his shoulder in recognition of a familiar carol. It was strange, it was the week before Thanksgiving and already there were carolers out on the streets of New York singing. The song Carol of the Bells was always Duo’s favorite Christmas carol, only because of the way it wasn’t as cheery as the rest of them. It had a very haunting quality, and haunting memories were what Duo was long used to around Christmas. The holiday season was fast approaching and it was always a time of turmoil for the pilots. So Carol of the Bells was an eerie tune that matched Duo’s holiday mood perfectly.

Heero was listening to the music too. His gaze was kind of far off, like he was remembering Christmases long past as well. Quatre’s cell phone conversation sounded kind of dissonant against the carol. "Are you sure they’re going to push it back? That’d really help us out a lot. For time I mean."

The pilots and Cassandra were off to have a meeting with Mariemaia Kushrenada. Wufei had repeated himself over and over that this was a pointless endeavor but Heero had insisted that they try to talk to the girl responsible for almost starting another war. The building they had arranged the meeting at was only a few blocks down the street so all six companions had decided to just walk there. Heero’s laptop read 20 hours until Moiya called back for a decision, the pilots had until then to figure out a plan. Quatre was on the phone regarding the Giza Conference, the meeting at which over twelve thousand people would be signing a peace treaty.

"If they really push the date back that far then we’ll have lots of time to handle MIND. Oh? Really? They’re going to host it on top of the pyramids of Giza? Well how do they expect to do that? Oh. Okay, if they really want to put that much effort into this one treaty. Yeah, I know why they would too. So what’s the date? New Year’s? Whatever, this is their show, not mine. Okay, I’ll talk to you later. Oh, by the way, Heero’s here, you want to talk to him?"

Heero perked up instantly. "Who wants to talk to me?"

Quatre covered the cell phone with his hand. "It’s Relena. I think she misses you. Why don’t you say hi?"

Heero’s face went instantly blank. "Um…"

Duo laughed. "Oh, what a wuss. Isn’t that right, Cassie?"

"Yeah," Cassandra stuck out her tongue, "Mr. Heero won’t even talk to his own girlfriend."

"What did you just call her?!"

Cassandra ran behind her brother. "Girlfriend, girlfriend, Mr. Heero’s got a girlfriend," she sang like the eight year old she was.

Wufei pushed the little girl away irritably. "Cassandra. Hasn’t anyone ever taught you not to hide behind people for your safety? You know how to defend yourself…"

Cassandra shrugged and walked back to Duo. "They’re all meanies anyway. And," she lowered her voice, "I could kill all of you pretty quickly if I wanted to, I’m more like you than I think you guys get. I was taught to kill at a young age too. But you all are too cute, and I wouldn’t want to help Mishii or Moiya out any."

Duo blinked. "Um…’kay, I’ll keep that in mind."

Very reluctantly Heero snatched the phone from Quatre and strode ahead a bit to have a private conversation. Trowa Barton had a huge scarf on that covered half his face to keep out of the cold. For it was cold outside, a frosty fifteen degrees above zero to be exact. Duo decided that in light of becoming absolute icicles the group had better keep moving.

The building Mariemaia had told them to go to was called ‘The Barton Center’, supposedly out of honor for Mariemaia’s dead grandfather. The pilots would have guessed that the little girl would have had more allegiance to her father, Threize Kushrenada, but apparently that wasn’t the case at all. Honestly Duo thought that at the age of ten you couldn’t really understand where your loyalties lied at all, but Mariemaia seemed sure of herself, and who could argue with someone like her?

The windows of the buildings were reflective glass and the entire structure was easily over a hundred stories tall. The doors were open; men and women looking very official in three piece suits were streaming in and out of them. The pilots looked and felt just a little out of place as they entered into the enormous lobby, which was at least four stories high in it’s own right. A man in a black suit and sunglasses immediately met the pilots. "Good evening. Ms. Kushrenada has been expecting you, this way please."

***

"So they’re going to go talk to Mariemaia?" Mishii gave a grand giggle from her side of the phone. "Brother, you were wrong, they’re a bunch of idiots! What could they possibly hope to accomplish? That brat has already sworn her secret alliance to us."

Moiya laughed too, though softly, never letting his eyes stop moving. He was using a public payphone at an airport, never a smart idea. To stay still in public meant trouble sooner or later, that was the lesson he’d learned from his first few years of life. "That alliance means nothing. She has no interest in acting when we need her. She just promises not to interfere."

"Good enough. So what will she say to them? ‘Good luck boys, you’re on your own’?"

"Something like that, only she’ll make it very philosophical and such. Probably with another ‘history is an endless waltz’ comment. We shouldn’t worry about it."

Mishii sighed. "You think they’ll join us?"

"Um…you want the truth or sugar coated version?"

"Let’s try truth than sugar coated."

"Truthfully? Never, they still remember the war too well, better than everyone I’m afraid. They’ll be having echoes of the whole ordeal for years. Sugar coated though, they have absolutely no other option. They can’t resist us because of the stance they’d be taking. So they’ll probably try to fake it."

"Fake it? What would that prove in the end?"

"That they’re still trying. It’d be smart since we’d have no choice but to train the faker, and just to be even we’d train him excessively."

"Train him as a telekinetic pilot?" Mishii couldn’t help but gasp. "Brother, that would be our death sentence if we ever get into a conflict with them."

"Mishii," Moiya’s voice was very severe. "How many times do I have to tell you that there isn’t going to be a conflict at all? There’s no war coming unless absolutely necessary, and that scenario isn’t likely. I just told Duo that to scare him into thinking seriously about it."

"Well said scenario might happen after all, and if so we should really be prepared. But it would be fun to train one of the pilots anyway, just to see how long they last."

"None of them, save Wufei, would probably last at all."

"Yeah, it would be so funny to see them go insane. Not that it’d take much anyway," Mishii giggled again. "So are you on your way home?"

"Yes, I’m going to catch a plane in two hours. How are preparations?"

"Oh they’re going splendid. Idauyu Zenello passed his final test today. He’s ready to fully pilot Wing Zero."

"Really? With the ZERO system turned on at full power?"

"He tested it with 6g’s beyond full power and survived. Let’s see Heero Yuy top that."

"He couldn’t. Not a chance. Great job sis."

"Thanks."

Moiya sighed. "Listen, as soon as I get home I’m going to call the pilots. It’ll be early but they’d better start expecting stuff like that. Mishii…for everything that’s going to happen…I’m sorry."

"For what?" Mishii stopped dead, obviously perplexed. "You only snapped at me for a second, I don’t mind-"

"No, no…" Moiya’s voice got disconnected. "I…um…this isn’t going to end well either way. I can tell already, the pilots are too wrapped up in their own issues. I think…I think that…forget it. We have to accomplish this, you know that right?"

"Of course," Mishii nodded quietly. "This has always been your dream, I’m right behind you."

"I know…but it’s going to get bad. I can’t falter now, especially when the mission gets so vital to our people. I have to do anything to accomplish this…okay?"

"No problem, kill as many people as you need."

"I…uh…that wasn’t the point but never mind. I’ll talk to you later. Bye."

Mishii heard the phone click abruptly. She shrugged and twirled a piece of long red hair, taking her thoughts elsewhere, not bothering to heed Moiya’s warning.

***

Mariemaia Kushrenada hadn’t changed a bit. She was still pathetically short but making up for it with a gracefully respectable stature. She still had her eerily blue eyes and short auburn hair neatly parted. But she was dressed in a purple jumper and turtleneck, an outfit made clearly for a child. Heero had tried many times to envision her as a child, but it just wasn’t possible. After what she had almost done, she always seemed so adult. This girl was just another child that had been torn from any potential childhood the moment she was born.

"I’m so glad to see you," Mariemaia smiled lightly, indicating a bunch of chairs for the pilots to sit down in. They had been led from the lobby, twelve floors up and down a hall, immediately to Mariemaia’s office without any words or questions. It was odd and putting the boys on guard very efficiently. "Please sit down."

The pilots did so, but for some reason Cassandra didn’t, and this exposed her instantly to Mariemaia. Wufei’s sister was dressed in a tee shirt several sizes too big and jeans, she was also wearing the dark navy coat that Duo had given her.

"Oh my, who’s your friend? What’s your name?"

Cassandra stood up a little taller; her attitude wasn’t going to fail her because she was nervous. "Chang Cassandra. I’m a student of MIND, whom I’m sure you’ve heard of. Moiya says that you’re a-"

"Oh," Mariemaia didn’t drop the smile. "You are acquainted with Mr. Moiya Tomoyo? He’s a very interesting young man. Are you telekinetic?"

"Extremely."

Mariemaia nodded. "Fascinating people, telekinetics, they all seem so philosophical about everything. They’re very deep thinkers usually, although they tend to keep to themselves to a fault. But anyway, it’s very nice to see you’ve met the gundam pilots. Tell me, do you like them?"

It was very easy to see that Cassandra wasn’t appreciating the fact that Mariemaia was talking to her like she was a child, especially since the two’s ages were extremely close. "Well my brother is exactly what I expected, and the others are very…interesting."

"I see," Mariemaia dropped the smile for a mildly polite look and turned to the pilots. "You want my advice on what to do about MIND."

Heero seemed surprised for an instant but then nodded. "You seem to have the experience to know."

"I do. Well there are three options, and only three options I’m afraid. You could resist them and be partly responsible for another war, join them and avoid a war but give in to their demands, or you could all just get back on a shuttle, go back to the colonies and forget about it. Personally I’d choose option three."

"But you can’t be serious," Quatre shook his head. "With the treaty being the place he’s going to announce this…conflict, we can’t afford to do any of those things."

"Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret, since I am acquainted with MIND and know how they work. They don’t want a war, they have six gundams and about a thousand or so students, but they don’t have enough to take on the task force you could assemble if there was another war. You pilots have more power over the world than any politician or leader. If you say the right things to the people of the Earth Sphere they will trust you with anything."

"I know," Quatre sighed. "That’s what I’m afraid of."

"Well you ought not be," Mariemaia shrugged. "If I still had that sort of power over-…well never mind. The point is that unless MIND was extremely desperate and hatched some brilliant plan to counteract your forces, you pilots could win any war."

"A war would be a last desperate option," Trowa explained, "we really wouldn’t want to be responsible for dragging anyone into something like that. Humanity really has learned to live peacefully."

"Well, first off I really would recommend forgetting about it. Secondly, however, you are very mistaken about humanity. I’ve told you my ‘endless waltz’ philosophy, right?"

"Um…no."

"Really? Well it’s about time you heard it. History is much like an endless waltz; the three beats of war, peace, and revolution go on forever. You can’t change human nature, unless you’re telekinetic, and even there you’re only evolving the human mind, not changing it. At the end of the war there is always a loser, always hard feelings and always someone who burns for revenge. In the beginning of time humans should have had the knowledge to not make war in the first place and the cycle would have never started, but they didn’t then and we don’t now. Unfortunately for you I don’t think this is going to end without conflict, unless MIND themselves deem it so. I’d have a little faith in them if I were you, they smart and they do understand hardship, in some ways better than yourselves."

Duo gave the auburn haired girl a long look. "So you’re sure this won’t end without a war?"

"Oh, it certainly could, I’m not saying it’s impossible. In fact, if Moiya Tomoyo has it his way, there won’t be, everyone will just feel kind of guilty for a little while and forget about it. But Moiya has let his own sadness and troubles cloud his judgment. I’m not exactly sure if he knows what he’s doing."

"That’s comforting," Heero commented curtly. "But you aren’t assisting us in making a decision."

Mariemaia got indignant for a moment. "Of course I’m not, it’s your decision. I’m not involved in wars anymore, they’re too much work, and no one likes me anyway so I’m always the bad guy. I’ve known war for my entire life, and it’s about time I knew something else. So I’m just going to sit back and watch."

"And if you were us you’d do the same."

"Exactly."

"Mariemaia, you’re being very frustrating."

"Well what did you expect? You’re asking advice from a ten year old," Mariemaia’s voice grew distant. "That is how old I am, right? I thought I had to have been older but everyone keeps telling me that I’m not. They’re forcing me to wear this childish clothing, very annoying."

Cassandra blinked. "How old do you think you are?"

"Oh, at least fifteen or so."

"Really? Sometimes I feel the same way. Okay, Mr. Duo, brother, we can go now. I think we’re hurting Miss Mariemaia’s feelings."

Duo stood up. "What Cassie? We never-"

"It’s hard to understand," Mariemaia sighed.

"Yes," Cassandra echoed. "Very hard sometimes. Let’s go, I want to hear the carolers outside and you boys get to escort me. Come on then."