Several months after Endless Waltz—The Prequel until the tears freeze.

This month is a SPECIAL EDITION!
What happened to them before the MC era?!

NEW MOBILE WAR REPORT GUNDAM W —FROZEN TEARDROP—

SPECIAL PREQUEL
Interlude of the Heart
—Preventer 5— (Part.01)

Written by Katsuyuki Sumizawa
Character Illustrations by Sakura Asagi
Mechanical Design by Hajime Katoki
Original Planning by Hajime Yatate & Yoshiyuki Tomino
Cooperation by Bandai Hobby Division

---

AC-196 DECEMBER 26

A gunshot rang out out of nowhere.

Dekim Barton was shot in the back of the head and collapsed to the ground. Standing behind him was an adjutant.

“I’ve executed the rebel. I express my apologies for betraying His Excellency, Treize.” he said pensively as he saluted.

“Mariemaia, hold on!” Relena Darlian cried out as she embraced the small body of the young girl who collapsed.

“I was mistaken. I’m sorry.” she apologized earnestly while wincing from the pain of being shot in the chest. A happy yet weak smile filled her face. The sound of a music box could be heard somewhere. With her consciousness fading, Mariemaia knew it sound was wrapped in kindness like a lullaby.

“That music box… it was such a gentle song. I feel as though I can hear my mother’s voice…”

The one who had the music box was a wounded Heero Yuy.

“I’ll relieve you of your pain.”

“Heero!” Relena called out in disbelief the name of the pilot of the Wing Gundam Zero who was shot down not long ago.

He held a music box that played “Endless Waltz” in one hand and in the other, a pistol, his finger placed over the trigger.

“I thank you,” Mariemaia said, peacefully closing her eyes.

Heero set his sights on Mariemaia. The rhythm of the music box slowly started to cease. A sad and tender melody of Endless Waltz.

The tune ceased completely. As if that were the absolute signal, Heero pulled the trigger without hesitation.

“…!!”

It was a shocking scene.

However, Mariemaia was safe.

There weren’t any bullets in Heero’s gun.

“I’ve killed Mariemaia.” said quietly.

“I… I will never kill anyone ever again.” he continued, slowly lowering the gun in his hand.

Although the man completed his mission, he was at a loss for words.

“I don’t have to anymore…”

Just as he said that, the mask of a soldier was cast aside and the lone young man collapsed to the floor. Relena caught him just in time.

“Heero!” she said, pulling him in close to her chest. The young boy covered in wounds closed his eyes, a sense of relief coming over his face. He slept with an innocent face, something that hadn’t been show to anyone until now.

Lady Une carried out Mariemaia with one of the soldiers.

“There’s still hope for her! Take her to the doctor!”

Relena picked up the music box that had fallen out of the sleeping Heero’s hand.

“Finally it’s over.” she said, stroking his hair gently.

A tear fell from her eye and dropped onto the music box.

AC-197 JANUARY

Peace has returned to the people. Mariemaia is said to have been taken in by Lady Une and is quietly spending her days. And from this point on in history, weapons called mobile suits, including the Gundams, were never seen again.

“Well, it’s good-bye for real, buddy.” Duo said with a satisfied look on his face. He gripped the Gundam’s self-destruction switch in his hand.

He felt for this battle, the Gundam was no longer necessary. Trowa and Quatre felt the same.

The three nodded their heads and pressed the switches on the self-destruct device.

The Gundam Deathscythe Hell, Gundam Heavyarms Kai and Gundam Sandrock Kai exploded one after another.

“I’ve once again become nameless.” Trowa mumbled while watching the rising smoke. Quatre negated that right away.

“Trowa sounds fine to me. Why not keep it?”

“Names are things other people give ya. There’s no point wasting time worrying about it.” Duo said to Trowa and Quatre giving them a thumbs up.

“What’s important is having a place we can call home. Right?”

“Yeah, you’re right…”

There’s circus tent where Catherine is waiting in a colony. There, as expected I’ll probably be called Trowa Barton.

There will be a name.

“If I go back, maybe Catherine wouldn’t mind if I call her ‘sis’.” Trowa pondered.

If Quatre returns to space again as the heir of the Winner Family, there’ll be various jobs left behind.

“I have to welcome all the Maguanac’s home from Venus before that, huh?” he thought, not being fond of being head of the Winner Family.

“Maybe I’ll run away from home again…” he pondered.

Duo made a carefree living as a junker, living his life with just enough. Still, he didn’t throw away his thoughts of he’d like to do something to make someone happy some day.

“Maybe I should give being a jack of all trades a try… I might make a buck or two.”

The three of them, each with their own beliefs, returned to outer space.

* * * * * *

“The era that went mad has ended, Nataku.” Standing in the old village of the Long Clan on Earth, WuFei pressed the self-destruct switch.

“May you rest in peace.” he said, reminded of a smiling Meiran. She could spend her time quietly now.

The Altron Gundam disappeared in a flash. WuFei stayed staring at it for some time.

“Now, where do I go from here?”

As he thought this, Sally Po was standing behind him.

“Hey, WuFei.”

WuFei looked back over his shoulder.

“It seems Noin and Zechs have disappeared somewhere. So, what do you say? Wanna come and work with me?”

“Do you mean work as a Preventer?”

“Why not?” he replied after grunting slightly.

AC-197 FEBRUARY

A spacecraft was heading toward Mars.

On it were Noin and Zechs.

“Are you sure? The terraforming project hasn’t even officially started yet.”

Since the fall of the resource satellite MO VII in the southern hemisphere of Mars twenty years ago, an atmosphere close to that of Earth seemed to have formed due to the multiplication of Europan algae. However, one still cannot go without a helmet as it’s only possible to live in the para-terraforming domes.

An immigration plan and urban planning haven’t been implemented yet, and while there was a government body in name but not reality, it was all so delayed comparisons to space colony construction couldn’t be helped. The fact of the matter is, Mars currently was not a place for which mankind could live.

“Relena’s been working on it, and it won’t be easy.”

Zechs thought about his sister pursuing her ideals.

“That’s why a dead person would be perfect for the job. Noin, are you sure …”

You don’t have to come along with me—the usual phrase he’d try stringing together.

But, Noin put her index finger on his lips, “Zechs, please don’t make me repeat myself, again.” She whispered.

Zechs was silent.

The truth was Noin had complicated feelings. Her father, Nove Neuenheim, was the original driving force for the Mars Terraforming Project. She disliked her father who was a utilitarian—giving profits a priority—and had a history of fleeing to Earth.

There was only a bitter recollection on Mars.

Still, there was no hesitation in doing this with her beloved Zechs. They agreed they’d return home. After all, they still had a mission as Preventers. They simply couldn’t let Nove Neuenheim do as he pleased with Mars.

That was the thought process from the Earth’s side.

Meanwhile, Zechs was bothered by the existence of the Gundam Epyon that had been hidden on Mars. The unit was entrusted to Zechs’ old friend, Major Elev Onegel. Although he didn’t consider the worst case scenario and dispose of it, but he thought it should have been blown up like the other Gundam pilots.

The two didn’t need words anymore.

If these strong feelings of two people exist, then perhaps it may be paradise on the new grounds of Mars despite its severity.

No, it has to be.

AC-197 APRIL 7

That day, the Earth was very quiet.

The peacekeeping by the Preventers seemed to be going smoothly.

Particularly, here in Northern Europe, the Sanc Kingdom nothing at all happened. And so, it was natural to assume that Relena’s 19th birthday party would end peacefully as well.

“Everyone, thank you all for coming here today.” said Relena. She was wearing a trim, white dress as she politely addressed the nearly two hundred men and women gathered in the banquet hall.

Considering it’s a birthday party for former World Nation head Queen Relena, it was quite modest and simple.

Heero was nowhere to be found. Neither was her brother Milliardo.

Although she invited those closest to her, she also invited politicians who would sooner or later become her political opponents as well as military personnel of the former Alliance Forces. Also in attendance were her friends from the Saint Gabriel Institute, the mother who raised her, Marlene Darlian, someone who understands total pacifism: Dorothy Catalonia, the head of the Preventers Lady Une, and Mariemaia who was recovering from her wounds in a wheelchair.

Each of their faces were filled with calm relief.

They seemed to believe that a lasting peace would likely continue on.

The gentle sunlight of spring coming from the window wrapped them in its warmth.

Just then, an armed group of twenty camouflaged men burst through the door. All of them held machine guns and had sunglasses and scarves concealing their faces. Several women in the room let out screams upon seeing them. The men standing behind these women moved in front of them. Some even tried resisting.

However, one of the militants raised his submachine gun overhead, and fired it at the extravagant chandelier on the ceiling. When the countless shards of glass rained down on the people, the noisy assembly hall turned silent.

The goal of the armed group became clear only through this behavior.

“Who are you people?!”Relena said without hesitation.

There wasn’t anyone among them who answered the question. Keeping silent was an eloquent declaration of their intentions. If they had no intention to respond with any kind of discussion,

A man wearing sunglasses with long blonde hair who appeared to be the groups leader calmly stared at Relena.

“…”

Relena had a hunch that the man’s face resembled her brother Milliardo.

Of course she understood at once that it’s another person entirely given the atmosphere created. However, she didn’t notice that was intentional.

It was several hours later that the Executive Office of the President in Brussels was notified of the armed groups statement.

“We, the ‘Epyon de Telos,’ have occupied the Sanc Kingdom castle. Our demands are as follows: the release of our imprisoned comrades, the official acknowledgement of Secret Clause 203, Part 51* and the immediate breakup of the said governing agency and the budget from AC-196 to AC-197 for that government agency as ransom. If these demands are not met within 72 hours, we will detonate a nuclear warhead left behind by the Alliance Forces. That is all!”

* * * * * *

Secret Clause 203, Part 51 referred to the details surrounding the formation of a special agency to prevent war and their activities recorded therein. In other words, the agency was none other than Preventer. Of course, the budget expenses for this secret intelligence are carried out in absolute secrecy.By disclosing that to the public, dissolving the organization and informing the populace is the same as losing methods of peacekeeping for the future. And to pay the ransom simply could not be done. It was an impossible demand.The executives at the President’s office decided to firmly reject this and gave a special order to Preventer

“Retrieve the nuclear warhead and rescue the hostages.”

A resulting investigation determined that the nuclear weapon in question was genuine. It was a narrow area nuclear explosive device used for cut mining on the resource satellites at the asteroid belts between Mars and Jupiter. The bomb has very little residual radioactivity. Even though it can be used in confined spaces, there’s no doubt that the Sanc Kingdom would be leveled in an instant.

“I never thought it’d be something left behind by the Alliance Forces. I wonder if this is intentional political propaganda. “

“Indeed.” WuFei said upon hearing Sally Po’s report. He was usually calm.

“’Manten kakai’ {瞞天過海}, huh? Seems like their target is something different.”

“What do you mean?”

“Deceive heaven and cross the ocean.”

“So you’re saying…?”

WuFei gave a tiresome reply.

“Their goal is to buy more time. They ask unreasonable demands from our side and while we’re running around like a chicken with its head cut off, they’re likely intending to carry out their real objective.”

“Take over the Earth Sphere, huh?”

Around this time, WuFei was flying around the L-4 colony sector on another mission. Sally, on the other hand, was orbiting the moon. They were the only two Preventer agents who could freely move as their director, Lady Une, was currently being taken hostage.

“Although they’re calling themselves the ‘Epyon de Telos’, they must be terrorists in disguise. We don’t have to release their comrades, give ourselves up or prepare the money for that matter.”

“Still, the fact is an armed group has taken 200 hostages and barricaded themselves in the castle.”

“If we forget about the hostages, I can go finish this right now…”

“No! That’s not acceptable!”

“So shall we join forces with them and take over the world?” WuFei joked with a serious face.

“Yeah, real funny… There must be another way?”

“Force our way in.” WuFei said with clear eyes.

Sally couldn’t think of any other way.

“As I thought, we’d have no choice…”

“Can you call for backup?”

“I’m organizing a strike team.”

Sally was calculating in her head the number of people she could possibly call on.

“How many do you need? I can get 1000 people together within 48 hours.”

“By then the Sanc Kingdom will be a mushroom cloud.”

“Then I’ll get 500 in 24 hours!”

“We hardly need that many to take over a castle.” WuFei said, a steadfast look on his face.

“Five, including myself, will be enough.”

As one would expect, Sally replied in shock, “Five?! Only Five people?!”

“We don’t have much time. I’ll tell you where to find them.”

When he said this, Sally finally realized the five people he meant.

“Because it’s a fairly large area to cover, I’ll help you too.”

“Right. I’ll meet with them personally and ask for their help.”

“Otherwise they won’t move either.”

* * * * * *

Several hours later, Sally paid a visit to Duo Maxwell by herself, as indicated by Wufei. The place she was told was a Junk shop in the L-2 colony cluster.

“He’s not here…” the young woman named Hilde Schbeiker responded, somewhat pensively. She looked down as she continued, “He wandered off, as usual. He won’t be back for a while.”

Sally couldn’t find the words to respond to her.

As for being in a position to ask someone to cooperate with Preventer, she felt it was the worst, cowardly and irresponsible thing to ask but, it had to be done.

“The boy you like left a gaping hole in your heart.” She couldn’t help but think.

In the end, she left, having been told nothing. However, she headed to another location after hearing about it from Wufei.

“If he’s not there, another possibility is a place where you can see the moon.”

Viewing the lunar surface from a colony is a very merciless world of death. Is it because the God of Death has a fondness for such scenery?

The place Sally headed for was the outer wall near the space port. There, Duo sat isolated staring at the huge surface of the moon in his astro suit. His tiny figure carried his lonely shadow, something she often noticed on the Peacemillion.

“Hey! Long time no see!” she heard him say blankly.

After three months, the two met again.

“I have a job for you, Mr. Jack of All Trades.”

“Heh, not if it’s going to be a pain.” Duo replied, uninterested as he continued gazing at the moon.

A smile filled Sally’s face replied in alluring voice, “You’ll like the reward.”

She understood. The meddler that was Duo just wanted the “reward” to be an excuse.

* * * * * *

On the top floor of the Winner trading company on an L-4 colony, Quatre Raberba Winner was plowing through work as company president at his desk. His eyes passing over the first quarter sanction documents as he approved them. Such simple work was nothing but a pain for him. Although Quatre was savoir-faire for everything, when it came to managing a company, he crashed into a seemingly insurmountable wall. Maybe it was a fatal lacking as a son and heir to the Winner Family.

“If someone can act as an agent, then I don’t have to be here, right?” Which would mean he “didn’t do anything and left it to a subordinate”. So, Quatre didn’t like giving up that easily and was making an effort to the best of his abilities to finish the work.

Without a knock, the door to his office opened.

“Could you close the door?”

A breeze came in from outside and hurled the papers on the desk into the air.

“It’s taken me three days just to read these files!” Quatre said, his voice rising unusually.

“Got a lot of work?” said Wufei, closing the door.

“W-Wufei!” Quatre rejoiced as he shot up from his seat at their unexpected reunion. Wufei folded his arms and looked outside.

“Something troublesome happened. I was going to ask for your help.”

“Something troublesome…?”

The view from the top wasn’t bad.

“I won’t force you. And, I have no time for persuasion.”

“You need me?!”

Wufei returned his gaze to Quatre.

“You more than anyone…” he said.

“I’ll go! I’ll do anything!” Quatre replied immediately.

“I was just thinking this isn’t me.”

When a secretary appeared with the latest approval documents, the two were no where to be found, the documents left in an avalanche on his desk.

* * * * * *

The Circus had come to an L-5 colony, something he was fortunate to notice earlier.

According to Wufei’s intel, it appeared to be in an L-3 colony. They nearly headed from L-4 to the furthest place, wasting time. With the latest intel in hand, Quatre and Wufei paid Trowa a visit.

“All right… let’s go.” Trowa said following the meeting with them. Nevertheless, he didn’t waver.

“Wait, Trowa! It’s almost time for your act!” Catherine Bloom called out to stop them.

Wufei greeted her, “Thank you for that unpalatable soup.”

If it were the old Wufei, such a thing minght not have been said. But, in front of Trowa he was someone else.

More than a year ago on Peacemillion, Wufei was told, “At the very least, give her some sort of greeting. It’s easy to hurt a woman’s feelings.”

With that in mind, it may seem something like unpleasant towards Trowa but it wasn’t. Cathering, had a keen sense for such sentiments.

“Hey! If anything happens to Trowa I’ll feed you that soup again!”

Wufei laughed.

“Is she self-conscious over that tasteless soup?”

Standing between them, Quatre looked at his wristwatch.

“Let’s hurry. Only 50 hours to their deadline.”

“You’re right…”

“Are you sure about this?” Wufei asked Trowa again.

“Don’t worry.”

Catherine was always letting him go.

“She’s just my guardian.”

* * * * * *

Relena’s birthday on April 8th ended without hardly anything happening. The former Gundam pilots spent it moving to Earth. Some were calling it, to an extent, a third “Operation Meteor.” Although they had come and gone between the colonies and Earth numerous times, it was their third time descending all together. The first was already well known and the second was during the battle at Brussels…

AC-197 APRIL 9

Sally and Duo were on a small shuttle descending to Earth. Neither one of them could find Heero anywhere. Prior to their entry into the atmosphere, they reported to Quatre on the matter.

“Oh, Heero wouldn’t sit still at a time like this… Don’t worry, he’ll show up for sure. Meanwhile, please hurry to the rendez-vous point.” he replied smiling.

Sally believed in Quatre’s assessment of the situation.

“Seems we better do like he says, huh?” Duo said from the seat next to her. Although he had a dissatisfied look on his face, he understood all too well.

“He has a soft spot for her… But, even though he’s desperately searching, it’s really just more hassle than it’s worth.”

Sally gave a sarcastic laugh at Duo’s innocence.

“True, but despite his pointless work but, he’ll calculate his hourly wages exactly and only ask for that.” {this line is so not correct}

“Right, right.”

Duo’s cheerfulness was a relief during the difficult struggle they were in. It was strange and hopeful, somehow brimming with courage.

* * * * * *

Eight hours remained until the time limit was up.

On an extravagant passenger boat floating in the Sanc Kingdom bay, a room of the ship had been converted into a primary operations control room for the Preventers. From the deck, they were able to do a complete sweep of the Sanc Kingdom castle in one go. In the bay was another passenger boat and many civilian boats anchored about.

“If this mission fails, it won’t be just those guys in the castle, but they people in the bay too.”

“Quite the serious mission…” Wufei and Quatre could do nothing but endure the pressure.

Trowa was investigating the outskirts of the castle.

“While we may get fairly deep inside, we don’t know where they’re keeping the two hundred hostages…”

“Video cameras installed everywhere with very few blind spots and twenty armed soldiers keeping watch.” Trowa reported to Quatre upon his return.

“Thank you, Trowa.”

During the hour by hour changes in the situation, Quatre gathered information as best he could and worked out a hostage rescue operation.

“I suppose rushing in with tanks and mortars is out of the question.” Trowa suggested, typical of his gaudy combat strongpoints.

“We’ll prioritize human life in this mission–there will be no casualties. Of course, we won’t let them use the nuke either.”

* * * * * *

The hostages were separated into four rooms of 50 people each and secured. Two men with machine guns were put in charge of each of the rooms. Their presence warning them that ‘any sudden movements means and they’ll be shot instantly.’ Apart from those people, specific individuals were taken to the nuclear bomb shelter in the basement. Relena Darlian and Marlene Darlian, the mother who raised her. Rounding out the three was Pargan, their long-serving butler. Pargan believed in ‘duty until death’ to protect Relena and Marlene.

“Please trust in my skills…”

He believed he could stick close to the two men guarding them, take their weapons and lead Relena and Marlene from there.

“Even though I may be old, I’m not quite that rusty.”

“You won’t, pagan. I will not allow any rash actions on our end otherwise it will cause trouble for everyone.”

“But.”

The group finally arrived at the underground shelter. Waiting for them there was the long blond haired leader. It was the man Relena noticed looked like Milliardo in the beginning.

“Welcome, Relena Peacecraft.” the man said removing his sunglasses and mask.

A distinct nose, thin lips and blue eyes. It was all just like Milliardo.

“Master Milliardo!” Pargan muttered, unable to hide his surprise.

“What do you think? I look just like your brother, right?”

“What do you plan to do? Who are you?” Relena inquired in a calm voice.

Laughing to himself, he replied, “Please excuse me. My name is Dixneuf Neuenheim.”

“…”

“I am a someone who is attempting to bring perfect peace to the Earth Sphere and Mars.”

“And what in the world would you use us for?”

“I’d like you to activate a certain program.”

Dixneuf produced a small, old-type computer before Relena.

“The password is PEACECRAFT X 2 HEERO YUY.”

On the monitor was an image of a Norwegian Forest Cat. The cat gave a soft meow.

“Sam…” Pargan muttered, horrified with what he saw.

*  *  *

The VTOL that Sally and Duo were on touched down on the passenger boat.

“Heero still isn’t here?” Duo asked, looking at the members who greeted them on the deck.

“No, he just arrived.” Quatre answered with a smile.

The sea suddenly swelled and a red unit rose to the surface.

“T-that’s! It can’t be!”

Duo was shocked.

“OZ-08MMS Cancer?” Trowa politely responded with the units name.

The hatch opened from the top part of the Cancer and Heero appeared.

He was wearing a Preventer unicorn though they didn’t know where he got it from.

“…”

His cheeks were soaked from the waves splash.

“Am I late?” he asked, wiping off the wet spots with the back of his right hand. It was as though he didn’t want them to see his real face.

“No, there’s still time. We’re glad you came, Heero.” Quatre replied immediately.

“Hey! Is this some kind of joke?!” Duo protested, pointing with his finger at the Cancer.

“According to records, it’s a machine that shouldn’t exist.” Sally laughed albeit bewildered.

“Hey, hey. Don’t go yanking my chain, Ms. Preventer. What good is it if we let that sorta thing loose?!”

“Quit yelling” Wufei said, folding his arms and turning away from Duo.

“He probably gathered the parts from the wreckage that sunk to the bottom of the ocean and assembled it himself.”

“Whatever the case, you better control it perfectly. Christ.”

There was no end to Duo’s quibbles.

“You’re just like a spoiled brat who’s had his toys taken away, Duo.”

“Ah, my bad. But still!”

Heero fired the wire gun, the point of the magnet burhsing past Duo’s face as it fastened to the body of the VTOL craft behind him.

Duo fell silent without a thought.

As the wire wound up, Heero effortlessly glided down to the deck. His astounding physical abilities hand’t changed a bit.

“The bastard…”

When it comes to shutting Duo up, there was no one other than Duo.

Ignoring Duo who was grinding his teeth next to him, he looked straight at Quatre.”

“Fill me in on the situation.” he said in his cool, cold voice.

To be continued…

WILL HEERO AND THE OTHERS RESCUE RELENA SAFELY?!

Notation: *機密事項二〇三の51号を公表し  I haven’t the slightest idea. No. 51 of confidential information 203? What?