By: Ame-san
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, and I am not making a profit off of this fanfic.
Author's Note: Happy New Year everyone!
Chapter 3
" Are you positive that she said her name was Relena?" Heero Yuy cornered the already frightened nurse with his cold eyes.
" I, I'm pretty sure that's what the patient said, sir." The young woman kept looking away under his scrutiny.
" Where is she now?" He cared not for politeness.
" She was discharged a few days ago and ..." She was too afraid to speak.
" Just tell me where she is now." He demanded.
" An old couple, the Neirins, her rescuers; they asked her to stay with them and she agreed. They, they live in the nearest town from here, about an hour away." She stuttered a bit. She came from a small town herself, and this was the first time she spoke to a Preventer. She had heard that they were a kind of special police of both the earth and space, but she didn't think they were this frightening. The man standing in front of her was absolutely horrid. If it weren't for his ID and his uniform, she would have called security right away.
" Do you have their address?" The tone was forceful.
" Yes, yes sir. Let me look into the database. " She quickly typed something into the computer. " Here." She printed out a copy and handed to the man.
" Thank you for your cooperation." He spoke in a monotone. " The subject of out meeting today does not leave this room, do I make myself clear, Ma'am."
She watched in awe as he vanished from her sight.
* * *
" Ian, don't you have to work today?" Relena turned to look at the man who was pushing her wheelchair from behind. They were on a rather insignificant sidewalk that led to the town square. Nearby were buildings and homes of small family businesses and restaurants
" Night shift. Starts at five. That's why I offered to take you to the city." He explained. " The Neirins need some time to do house work."
" I know I was a bother from the start." She felt rather guilty.
" No. Don't say it like that, Relena. You are not a bother. All of us here are trying to help you, and we are doing it willingly." He reassured her.
" Why? " She whispered. " I just..."
" Small town mindset. We've got that gut feeling to care for one another. I've never seen anything grand or cared for the world outside. I was brought up as a country boy and I figure I'll remain one even though I work in the city now."
" It must have been nice growing up in a small town. No worries and all." She almost spoke with envy.
" Hey, don't be so grave. How do you know that you weren't from a small town like me?"
" I just don't feel it, you know." Her lands lay in her lap. " Anyway, we'll find out soon, won't we? We are going to the police today, right?" She tried to sound hopeful.
" Yeah. But not after I've fed you some lunch." He said playfully.
" It's eleven in the morning, Ian." She shook her head. " I'm not hungry yet."
" Well, it's for me." He admitted guiltily. " All this walking and pushing have made me starving. I didn't have breakfast like someone here did."
" Hey, you offered yourself to take me walking today and showing me around town." She tried to act indignant. " Fine, pick yourself a place and eat. "
" Don't mind if I do." He stopped her wheelchair, turned left and was ready to cross the street to what it seemed like a small cafe.
It didn't take him long to spot a table at the entrance that allowed the space to fit Relena's wheelchair.
" You know, I am going to walk this time next week." She promised him that.
" We'll see about your condition." He smiled. " You sure you don't want anything?"
" Positive." She nodded.
He left for the counter to order something for himself; she sat there admiring the view of well...nothing in particular until she saw those Prussian blue eyes staring straight into her own.
She saw him; she saw the man in her recurring nightmare, the man who kept calling her name, the man whom she tried desperately to reach but to no avail. The man who was now walking toward her and looking at her as if looking at a ghost.
" Relena." She recognized that voice. It was him; there was no mistake about it. But...
" Who, who are you?" That was all she could manage to say.
" What?"
" Who are you?" Her head began to hurt again and out of habit, her hands found their way to her temple. " I...I'm sorry. I can't remember...there was this accident and...you were there...in my dreams... but I don't know..."
" Sir? Can I help you?" It was Ian.
" Relena, look at me." Heero demanded, completely ignoring Ian.
" Sir, please stop. She's not well." The doctor tried to intervene.
By instinct, Heero grabbed Relena's arm, trying to get her to look at him. But he was surprised to find someone else blocking him.
" Don't." He warned the guy with glasses.
" I suggest you to back away now, sir." Ian held his own threat. " Leave her alone."
They were starting to cause a scene. The few people in the cafe had their full attention directed at them.
" Move." Heero ordered.
Though a bit intimidated, Ian stood firm in front of Relena. " No."
" Ian, it's ok. He's...I know...I think I know him." Relena emerged from behind in her wheelchair.
" What? How can you be sure?" He stayed close.
" I don't know, but I feel it." She looked deeply into Heero's eyes. " I know him." Her hand automatically reached for his. This time she was able to touch his skin, yet nothing happened like she thought it would. No sparks flying, no sudden flashbacks, nothing. Nothing.
" Relena, what...what happened to you?" Heero clasped her hand tightly. " Tell me."
" I don't know. I've said I don't know what happened! I can't remember!" Tears began to gather in her eyes as she fought to keep them in. It wasn't because she couldn't remember him but because all hope she had in meeting him was now fading away quickly. He was supposed to be the key to her past. What happened? What happened to the trigger she needed to regain her memory? She felt nothing.
" She was in a coma, and her brain injury has caused amnesia. She has no memory of anything before her accident." Ian said on her behalf, seeing that she could barely form a sentence.
" It wasn't a fucking accident!" Heero hissed.
" Stop it! Stop it! I want to go home. Take me home, Ian." She couldn't handle it anymore. There was too much pain.
" No. You are not taking her anywhere. She's coming home with me." Heero protested, seizing her hand once more.
" No, not you. Ian, take me back to Hannah's, please." She fought to keep her emotions in control.
" Sir, I think we should continue this somewhere else." Ian suggested. " Let me take her home and give her some medicine, and then you can say whatever you need to say."
Knowing that further argument wouldn't achieve anything, Heero complied. A particular thought kept running in his head, and it was giving him hell.
She doesn't remember me. She doesn't know who I am.
* * *
" You mean she's working for the government?" Manfred and Hannah eyed one another in disbelief.
" Yes. She's Relena Dorlain. The current Vice Foreign Minister." Heero repeated. He couldn't believe it himself that there were still people out there who didn't know very much about Relena. He glanced at Relena who had her back turned against all of them and continued. " I am one of the Preventers who is in charge of her safety. I cannot tell you what happened, but six weeks ago, her life was put in jeopardy."
" Vice Foreign Minister...Relena Dorlain? But I didn't see anything on the news..." Ian spoke his thoughts out loud.
" What I don't understand is how you could not have recognized her?" There was a tone of accusation in Heero's tone.
" Well I...I didn't think...I mean I did suspect...but..."
" But what? What I also don't understand is why didn't you report this to the police?"
" I...they did," Ian eyed the Neirins. " But they haven't had time to examine her because she was unconscious the whole time." He did his best to explain, but Heero's attitude was getting on his nerves.
" That's no excuse for -"
"Look Sir, we are a bunch of small town people who don't usually get involved in things like this. We've never seen anything like it and we don't sit around all day waiting for it to happen." Ian took a deep breath; he had never spoken to anyone like this before. " It's true that we've all heard of a Vice Minister Dorlain and probably seen her on TV, but she and people like you are part of a different world we live in."
" Ian, that's enough." Manfred interrupted. " Just let it go."
" No, I'm going to make him understand." This took Heero by surprise. " I might have suspected, but I don't expect it to be true. People like us don't immediately link the Relena here to the famous Relena Dorlain out there. It's not like we personally know Miss Dorlain and can recognize her just by her face. Pictures and real life people aren't the same. We doubt, but we just don't believe. Is it so hard for you to understand? There had been so many look-a-likes of famous people; how are we to know that she was the real person?"
Silence.
Relena took the time to turn her wheelchair around and face Heero. She couldn't hide from him anymore. She needed to know everything.
" Tell me, Mr. - " She couldn't recall his name.
It pained him to see her like that. " Heero, Heero Yuy."
" Mr. Yuy."
The impersonal tone of her voice was a stab in his chest.
" Mr. Yuy. You say that I am the Vice Foreign Minister, and I'm some sort of a celebrity to the people?"
His silence confirmed her question.
" Dorlain." She said to herself, hoping to gain something from the sound of it.
" I do not think it's wise to discuss your past in front of these strangers." Heero said.
" Strangers? Right now, Mr. Yuy, I'm afraid you are the stranger to me. These people are my friends." She was rather cold in her choice of words.
" Very well. But I cannot tell you anything unless you come back with me to the Cinq Kingdom and resume your recovery there. Information concerning your past is strictly confidential, Relena."
She wasn't too fond of his attitude either. Something about the way he was treating her seemed to irritate her. She just felt like screaming at him for reasons she did not know or just couldn't remember.
" Were we good friends, Mr. Yuy?" She took a bold step asking him the question.
He was completely unprepared for it. Friends? He couldn't answer her. Their relationship had always been in a stalemate. Were they ever considered as friends? Or maybe something more? He didn't know, and now it was his job to tell her. It had always been her who knew what they were, not him, but...
" Mr. Yuy?"
" No." He decided this answer was for the best. Whatever there had been was now no more.
" I see." She thought quietly for a moment and decided to let the subject drop. " You mean that there is no choice for me but to go back with you, if I want to find out who I was."
" Yes."
" Hannah?" She looked at her for support.
" Go with him, Relena. We are fine; don't worry about us. We are just happy that you are going home." She didn't treat her any differently even after finding out her identity. Relena was grateful.
" Same as always, if you need us, we'll be there." Manfred added.
" Yes, Relena. We'll be there." Though his words were encouraging, Ian had a pained expression on his face.
She lowered her head to let everything sink in and when she looked up again, there was a new found determination.
" Mr. Yuy, you may take me... home."
* * *
" He did what?" Duo Maxwell winced at his superior's yell. Colonel Une was beyond just displeased at agent Yuy's behavior, she was in somewhat a mixture of shock and rage. A strange pair indeed.
" You can't blame him for that. You know he had to go." Maxwell spoke in a way as if walking on eggshells.
" But without making any plans of action. Too impulsive." She shook her head. " This is too impulsive, especially for Heero."
" Well, when it comes to Relena, Heero's never kept a clear head."
" True, true. I hope this time-"
There was a loud thud outside of the door, and the rose wood door of Colonel Une's office almost disintegrated as the figure outside kicked it open.
" What the hell happened to her!" That wasn't a question.
" Zechs, is that you?" Upon recognition, Duo Maxwell almost fell out of his chair.
" It's me, Maxwell. Now care to tell me what happened to my sister?" The man the world hadn't seen in ten years suddenly came back with a vengeance.
" Zechs, calm down before -"
For a second time, Milliardo Peacecraft cut off Colonel Une. " You have no right to talk to me right now, Une. Clearly you tried to keep this from me."
" Why would I -"
" Then why didn't I get the message right after she was captured? I would have come back sooner if it weren't for you and your damn preventers." He looked as if about to kill.
" Zechs, you were on Mars. It takes people at least four weeks to book a flight back. You wouldn't have been any help."
Duo watched in silence.
" You could have sent a shuttle to get me." Zechs argued.
" I didn't have the time and the resources to send a space shuttle to get one person, who isn't much of a help, from Mars. Zechs, we had the best team searching for her after she fell." Her tone softened a bit. " And I did get the message to you when I had the chance."
" Where is she now!?"
" We think she's in the Netherlands. Heero is already there making progress, " She then added. " I hope."
" You only sent out one agent?" Disbelief.
" That's actually a long story." Duo interrupted.
" I didn't ask you, Maxwell." He glared at the other preventer. " And out of all people, you had to sent Heero Yuy. "
" He is the best." Une replied not wanting to reveal the other part of the story. " He can be difficult at times, but right now you have to trust him."
" I could trust him with everything including my own life but not with Relena. Never with Relena." His last words sounded almost like a threat.
Zechs is really tempermental... 
Elyn Yuy
...keep it up...on to the next chapter 
...
