Cloak and Dagger [chapters 2 and 3; pg-13]

[RelenaFanel]

Title: Cloak and Dagger
Chapter: 2 and 3
Author: RelenaFanel
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Our king says his sister didn?t survive the fall, but local legend dictates that she did, and will some day return to save her people from her brother?s tyrannical control. They say that she will rise with an army of men and reclaim her heritage. 1xR
Alternate link: On Fanfiction.net
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Chapter 2: Hooded Robber

?You might have heard of her. She cleaned out the royal coffers in the Southern garrison. She was the one who returned the unjust taxes to the people in the lower valley region. They call her Justitia, because she extracts justice for us poor folk. She?s a regular bleeding-heart outlaw. She takes from the rich and she gives to the poor!? Duo paused for dramatic effect. ?And she does her job so well there are rumours she?s moved to town to get justice for the entire country!? His eyes caught a hooded figure watching him from a corner booth, and as his eyes lighted on her form, she jerked her head to signify she expected his company.

?Excuse me,? he said to the group gathered for his interesting nightly tales. He wandered over to the empty seat with his drink firmly clutched in his hand. ?Ah,? he said, sitting. ?The hooded robber herself.?

?Soon,? she said, ?you?ll be telling wild tales about how I took the crown right out of the castle vault.?

?You were the one who wanted your presence known,? Duo defended his art. ?I hear that all those stories are true, too.?

?Precisely,? she said, handing over a burlap sack.

Duo?s eyebrows winged up as he glanced inside. ?Right out of the castle vault?? he said weakly.

?Yes.?

?You stole the royal crown,? Duo wondered in a small voice, still not recovered from his shock. Part of him wondered what Trowa had gotten himself into, but a greater part of him was relishing the excitement and the beauty of years of planning finally coming to fruition. The world was a?changing.

?No. The King had a crown made for him out of tax money a few years ago and retired the royal crown to the back of the treasury. I?m just giving it back to the people.?

?What am I supposed to do with a crown?? Duo demanded, finally getting his sense back.

She shrugged. ?Melt it down and sell it, keep it as a souvenir, role play in it, I don?t care. I stole it for the symbolism. The princess is back, and the crown has been stolen from the king.?

?Excellent,? Duo mused, a bit put-out that he hadn?t thought of it himself. ?I received another letter from Trowa.?

?Oh?? The woman asked, settling back in her seat. Her delicately pointed chin was visible from under the hood, but even the interested gleam of her eyes was secreted in shadows.

?He backed up your story and told me that I was to help you no matter what.?

?That?s nice of him,? she mused.

?He said he trained you.? When Duo didn?t get the response he wanted out of her, he continued. ?He also backs up your support in our Queen.?

?I didn?t realize,? she said with amusement, ?that it was in question.?

?You?ve gotta understand,? Duo said, ?the risks involved if we get caught, especially now that she?s back in the castle. If a spy manages to infiltrate our underground support, not only are all of us dead, but she probably will be too. There is no way the King would believe that this entire operation was independent of her knowledge.?

?Is it, really??

?Are you asking if she knows? How could she??

?How could she not?? She stood, adjusting the folds of her large cloak around her. ?This circular reasoning will get us no where.?

?Justice?? He mused, deep in thought. Now that the seed was planted, he couldn?t help but wonder if the princess was aware of the revolution slowly building momentum outside of the castle walls. ?I?m not quite sure that?s the name you should be going for.?

?No,? she said with laugh, ?More like Furiae.?

He looked up sharply, but she had slipped silently into the group of tavern patrons, flowing through the bodies agilely so she was nothing more than a ghostly memory of a face he had never seen.

.xXx.

?This is foolish!? Relena proclaimed from her new chair. Heero had brought it to her that morning when he took his post, telling her it was a gift from her brother. She didn?t know Heero as a liar, but she very much doubted the validity of that claim. He had also said that it was a new design by some physician meant to give easy mobility to people who didn?t have it on their own. It kind of burned her pride that she needed it at all. ?I feel like I?m going to roll away at any moment.?

?It isn?t so bad,? Hilde said in a subdued voice. She could never read the moods of her new mistress. Sometimes she was happy and carefree and other times remote, angry, and temperamental at the flip of a switch. ?You get to control your own movements.?

?Control!? Relena snorted. ?Don?t think I can?t tell that you?re pushing me around. My feeble attempts at moving this thing wouldn?t have gotten me out the front door.?

Both women ignored Heero trailing behind them with his intense gaze unwavering from the path of the chair, and yet he saw everything in the surrounding area that could be a risk to his charge.

?I?d like to go to the lake,? Relena mused, her gaze landing on the grassy slope leading towards the body of water. She internally smiled as the chair turned to where she hoped to go, the shadow of the person pushing her falling far heavier across her body in a way that had nothing to do with the direction of the sun. ?Captain Yuy?? she asked without turning to confirm her observation. ?I see you?ve taken your vow of service to heart.?

?You knew your maid couldn?t push you up this hill.?

Relena laughed, turning her eyes up to see him. ?Are you saying I orchestrated this? Captain,? she warned with a light-hearted glint in her eyes, ?be careful or I might assume your willingness to assist speaks to a wish to be alone with me.?

Heero didn?t respond and for a while the only noise was the crunch of grass as the chair rolled over it. His steps weren?t audible, and Relena realized she had guessed right again. Hilde was no longer with them.

Once Heero parked her beneath a willow tree next to the water, ensuring that she was in the shade, Relena?s hands grasped the arms of the chair and flexed as she attempted to lift herself into a different position. Heero moved to help, but she stopped him cold with a warning glance of her eyes. ?You would think that after five years, I?d have the strength to do this myself.?

They fell silent again. Relena stared out over the calm lake waters, ignoring the pit of fear curling in her stomach. Before, she had always been drawn to the lake and to the nearby sea as a source of calming influence, and on occasion, extreme exhilaration, but now she could barely look at a harmless forest stream without anxiety. She hoped to someday get back to where she had been. She looked at Heero again, seeing his alert figure against the sun behind him, and for a moment she was reminded of gods and warrior heroes. ?I remember you kissing me under this tree.?

?You remember a lot of things when it suits you,? he responded.

?I conveniently forget them, too,? she agreed. ?When you can?t walk away from a conversation, you need to develop new techniques.?

?There are things I remember too,? he said cautiously.

?Such as?? Relena asked, smiling up at him, but he was no longer focusing his glance on her. He had gone cold, no longer just alert, but practically vibrating with it. ?What is it??

?Shh,? he hissed, balancing on the balls of his feet as his hand hovered next to his sword. He stood next to her, his body protecting her from one side with the tree bookending her in. She rued the fool who ever tried to get through Heero to reach her. Instead of outlaws with bows and arrows intent on killing her as she almost expected, her brother rounded the corner, his pale blond hair gleaming in the patches of light shining through the tree branches in a pattern of green shadows. His hair might have been the color of an angel?s, but the expression on his face was pure fury. Heero took a step closer to her.

?Where is it?? Milliardo demanded, his shoes digging holes in the grassy slope as he gained ground towards the two of them. ?Don?t defend her, Yuy, or by the gods you?ll find yourself executed in the most demeaning way possible.?

Surprisingly, Heero moved out of the way. Under her breath, Relena called him a coward, but at the same time she couldn?t blame him for not disobeying his monarch. She would not take insurrection lightly, either, and she was far less malevolent than Milliardo.

?What can I do for you, Brother?? Relena asked politely, unable to help the slight bite contained within the last word. The only kind thing he had every done for her was sending her off to a far-off villa to wake from her coma instead of finishing the job he had started. She wondered how they had gotten to this position. When they were younger, he was the one who played games with her when she didn?t have a suitable friend her own age. He taught her the footing to all the local dances, and defended her against their sour-faced governess. Looking at him now, she could see her cherub-faced brother, but her heart had already been hardened against his deceptive mask.

?You can tell me where you put it. I swear, Relena, this better be a joke, because if you meant it as some threat, I?ll? I?ll??

?You?ll what?? Relena scorned. ?Throw me off a cliff? Maybe if I knew what grievance I?ve committed against you, I can think of a more suitable punishment.?

Heero threw her a warning look at the same time Milliardo grabbed the arm-rests of her chair and leaned forward so he was directly in her face. ?Don?t be glib with me, Sister.?

?Fine,? she hissed. ?I?ll be straight with you. What did I do??

?You stole my crown.?

Relena sat back with a short, derisive laugh. ?I?m assuming you mean that literally ? the physical crown? That?s a nice trick, but you shouldn?t be so hasty to accuse me.?

?You deny it?? Milliardo asked, standing straight so he was towering over her in an act meant to intimidate.

?Of course I do. I may not have lived in the castle for a number of years, but I remember the door to the vault being far narrower than the width of this chair you obtained for me. Never mind the fact that I?ve been accompanied by either my servant or my watcher? she jerked her head at Heero, ?since I received it.

?Last night?? Milliardo suggested weakly, knowing he had already lost the argument.

?I what? Stood up out of bed, walked to the vault, and stole your crown??

?That still doesn?t mean you aren?t behind this,? Milliardo defended his stance.

Relena shrugged. ?Captain Yuy, if you would be so kind as to return me to my chambers. I sense a headache coming on and I feel my brother is not up to the task of pushing this contraption.?

.xXx.

The castle walls were tricky to navigate, and she had to be careful of the stones crumbling underfoot. She had been this way before, but a single misstep was equally as dangerous to her profession as getting caught by the guard was. Despite the constant worry and stress she was under, her footing was sure and swift, showing an agility which signified that she was a true master of her craft. She had been taught by the best, and sometimes after a particularly well-done job she entertained the notion that maybe she had become the greatest. Then she remembered Trowa?s unknown origins and knew that whatever he had done before they met had been far more daring, dangerous, and covert than all the trifling thievery she could commit in her lifetime.

She used the disrepair of the castle wall to find footholds, climbing up the vertical surface as though she were using magic. In this, she was fortunate to be female and tiny-boned, for even the smallest crack could be used as a hold for her hands and feet if she could figure out how to use it. She entered the seemingly impenetrable window at the top of the turret with a gentle flip, and landed on her hands and feet so softly that even if someone else was in the vault tower, they wouldn?t hear her.

Presumably.

Feeling secure in the knowledge that the hardest part was finished, she stood and brushed herself off, flexing her fingers in an attempt to ease the aches. This was when she paused, eyes nervously scanning the room and her heart suddenly in her throat. She couldn?t define what was wrong ? the shape of the shadows perhaps, or the slightest sighs of movement that she shouldn?t be hearing ? but she knew instinctively that she wasn?t alone even though her senses couldn?t detect what it was that told her this.

?I?d recognize that technique anywhere,? a voice said from the shadows. A moment later, he stepped forward, his bow readied to aim and shoot. She moved backwards in accordance, until the back of her knees brushed against the sill of the window she had just entered. ?You?ve been trained by Barton.?

She stared at him, a cold sweat trickling down her back. He was still half-concealed with shadows, but she recognized his warrior stance and knew that only a miracle would get her through this alive.

?Yuy,? a voice came from below, down the stairs which led into the bowels of the castle and the treasure room. The only way in was through a heavily guarded door, and she imagined that after the theft of the crown the night before that security would have risen. She had presumed that it was limited to the outside of the vault doors. Her mistake. ?Is someone up there??

His eyes narrowed at the vocalization of his name, and it was with a start that she realized that a dim, flickering light was narrowing in on their position as the other man climbed the stairs. She could almost see the color of his eyes now, and the muscles of his shoulders bunching beneath his uniform as he held the bow string taut. She had to resist the urge to check her hood.

?You were careless to be caught,? the man with the bow said, aiming at her with his string only pulled back a fraction of the way. When he let loose the arrow, it whistled through the air with an unwavering accuracy, far too quick for her to dodge from this close proximity. The arrow entered her shoulder with a thwack of tissue splitting and a fine spray of blood coated her front. She stumbled backwards, but kept her footing through sheer will. ?Fuck,? she hissed once the urge to scream passed and blood oozed from around the arrow to pour down her arm. His eyes narrowed further, but he didn?t move to finish the job.

The other man finished climbing the stairs, huffing at the top with wide eyes cast over her. The light illuminated the two men, and she knew she had nowhere to go but down. Quickly she jumped back out the window, but without the agility she arrived with. With only one arm, the trip down to the ground was a series of short falls, one of which pushed the arrow further into her flesh.

But somehow she survived an encounter with Heero Yuy. That fact alone made her realize that he never intended the blow to be deadly.

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Chapter 3: Arrowsmith

?What?s going on here?? Milliardo demanded, his wide stride causing the gathered soldiers to scramble quickly out of his way. ?I don?t appreciate being woken at this time of night. Do you know how difficult it is for me to sleep?? His words weren?t directed at anyone in particular, but those who heard him couldn?t help but wonder if his guilty conscience was getting the better of him. ?Yuy!? Milliardo bellowed, finally finding a person he deemed worthy to harass.

Heero stood at attention, his narrowed eyes showing no sign of resentment from being pulled away from his task.

?What?s this I hear about the thief, this Justitia, getting away? I never would have thought you incompetent, Yuy.?

Where a lesser man would have gritted his teeth or glared hotly, Heero merely looked at his monarch with his blank eyes, not rising to the bait. ?You requested the outlaw to be brought in alive so you could question him, so I did not aim to kill.?

?You messed up and you know it! I?m bringing Barton back. He?s better at these matters of felony. He wouldn?t allow something like this to happen!? When Heero still gave no response, Milliardo scowled at him. ?Now tell me, what are you doing to fix it??

?Patrols are set up to scour the area for signs of the intruder.?

?Make sure they check every church, inn, and hospital. Knock on doors if you have to. I want no stone unturned.?

?We?ll find him.?

Milliardo stood, thinking for a moment. ?Are you sure he made it off the castle grounds??

?Positive.?

.xXx.

She was experiencing a sense of vertigo brought on by blood-loss, exhaustion, and the looming sense of her own mortality. Her back pressed against the cold stone wall as she inched her way across a small ledge. Hours before, when she had been in the best form of her young life, she had easily trapezed her way past this section as if she were walking on the ground. Again, her sight wavered and she felt a curious sensation of falling, though she was almost sure her feet hadn?t given out from under her. Her cloak was off, exposing her features to anyone who cared to look at her clinging to the side of the castle, and she had the hefty material padded around her wound in an attempt to staunch the blood flow.

Clenching her jaw, she pressed against her shoulder, feeling the arrow shift within her flesh. The pain shocked her back to reality, and she shuffled a bit further out on the ledge. She only had a few more steps to go, but it might as well be miles. She had thought about trying to make it to Maxwell?s, but she knew Captain Yuy was an intelligent man and if he managed to find her, the whole underground movement would be in jeopardy. The best place to hide was in plain sight.

Finally making it, she tumbled through the window, landing hard on her back with the long curtains tangled around her. Her shoulder jarred, and she hissed in pain.

Lying there, she promised herself a minute of rest before putting herself back into motion. Unfortunately, this backfired on her. She didn?t hear the footsteps until the door to the room was opening and someone stepped in. She was only able to get her head up enough to stare when the other person shrieked, moving towards her in a flurry of motion.

?Princess! Are you alright??

?I?ve been shot, Hilde,? Relena said dryly as she struggled to her feet. ?Of course I?m not alright.?

Hilde stopped dead, staring at her with a horrified expression of shock. ?Ohmigod, there?s an arrow in your chest.?

Relena stared at her, clinging to the curtains with all her remaining strength.

?Oh my GOD, you?re standing!!?

?Yeah,? Relena said anticlimactically. ?You have to keep quiet. We don?t want to bring Captain Yuy and the cavalry.?

?Why not?? Hilde demanded. ?Someone shot you. It?s his job to make sure that doesn?t happen.?

Relena laughed breathlessly, swaying slightly. ?He was the one who shot me.?

?Why?? The raven-haired woman was appalled.

?Because I broke into the treasure vault. Now could you help me get this arrow out before I die on the ugly rug in this room.?

If anything, Hilde?s eyes widened even more. Relena sat heavily on the floor, making more noise than she intended. ?I don?t do well with blood,? she said, even as she moved to kneel beside Relena.

?You have to push it through,? Relena hissed, grabbing Hilde?s hand as the girl attempted to pull the arrow out of her shoulder. ?I?ve seen the tips Heero uses, and they?re designed to break off in the body if you pull the arrow.?

Hilde blanched. ?I can?t.?

?You have to.? Relena gritted her teeth, exerting force with her good arm against Hilde?s grip so that the arrow moved slightly farther into her flesh. She was shaking, and a fine layer of sweat coated her body, but still she refused to cry out in pain. ?If you can?t do it, you?ll have to get Heero.?

?But he shot you!?

?Yeah, well,? Relena said dryly. ?Imagine his surprise.?

?I think I can do this,? Hilde affirmed.

?Good,? Relena mused, ?because I?m going to need you to break the feathered end off the arrow without jarring too much. Any more into my shoulder and we won?t have any leverage.?

Hilde nodded, but Relena wasn?t sure she was really getting the point. She seemed a little shell shocked.

?Hilde!? Relena snapped. ?I?m going to need boiled water as well. Why don?t you start setting that up now?? Hilde nodded again, but this time she at least stood and moved towards the fire. Once her back was turned, Relena reached up with her disabled arm, holding the arrow still between her fingers, and used the other hand to snap the shaft in two. She grunted in pain as the arrow shifted inside her arm, opening the wound up farther. At least she knew it wasn?t stuck in a bone.

?You didn?t need to do that,? Hilde accused, suddenly by her side. Relena wasn?t sure if she had passed out or was just losing time through the pain. ?Can I push now??

Relena nodded, unable to talk.

?Ok.? Hilde was visibly sweating as she pressed down on the stub of arrow. ?How am I supposed to know if there is bone or not??

?It?ll. Stop.? Relena panted, closing her eyes. Hilde, true to her word, actually pushed the arrow into the live flesh despite the fresh ripple of blood dribbling from the wound. Relena peeked. She wasn?t sure, but she didn?t think dribbling was good. It meant she had lost a lot of blood already. Too much. She wanted to tell Hilde to get Heero if she passed out, but couldn?t speak past the wave of nausea flooding her senses.

The arrow finally dug through the last of her muscle and broke skin. Without asking what to do next, Hilde grabbed the arrowhead, her fingers sliding off the slick metal as she tried to get a good grip. Giving a frustrated sigh which blew her bangs off her face, she attempted to push the arrow further into Relena?s shoulder, but it was already as far in as it would go.

?I?m sorry,? Hilde muttered, pushing her finger into the wet, hot flesh of Relena?s wound until she was able to force the wood in farther. The motion ripped at the hole, widening the wound. Relena whimpered, her face drenched with sweat. In an attempt to be as quick as possible, Hilde used her other hand to find purchase on the head of the arrow and rip the entire thing out of Relena?s shoulder in one sharp jerk.

Relena screamed, the sound muffed by her own closed mouth. She then wrenched herself forward and vomited from the pain.

?I think I?m going to faint,? Hilde said a moment later, belying her comment by helping Relena lie back on the floor. The rug beneath her back was smeared with blood, but none had spread into the grain of the wooden floorboards beneath.

Relena took a long moment to catch her breath. ?You?ll have to pour the water over it.?

?What?? Hilde asked, appalled. ?Haven?t you been through enough??

?Both sides,? Relena continued. ?To cleanse it.?

?That?s barbaric,? Hilde muttered, moving towards the fire. She gathered a pot sitting next to the fire up with her skirts, carefully carrying it back towards the window. ?It?s only warm.?

?I don?t care anymore.?

?So tell me something,? Hilde said conversationally as she grabbed a cloth from Relena?s dressing table and soaked it in the water. ?If you can walk, and you were shot in the treasury, does that mean you?re that thief everyone keeps talking about??

Relena nodded sharply, her jaw clenched against the pain of water being poured over her open, bleeding flesh. The injury screamed from the abuse, and she wanted to follow suit.

?That?s ?? Hilde cut off, clearly not sure what it was. ??amazing. You have everyone fooled into believing you?re a bitter, crippled woman who hates her life, when instead you?re saving your people from starvation.?

?Secret,? Relena panted, ending the word with a whimper.

?Of course,? the servant insisted, pouring the remainder of the water over the entire shoulder. By the time she put the pot down, Relena had fallen unconscious.

The next morning, Relena awoke to her right shoulder on fire and her arm practically immobile. She moaned, a dull pounding behind her eyes accompanying the ache. She looked towards the area beneath the window to find it scrubbed clean, the hideous, stained rug removed, and all traces of bodily fluid as if they never were. If it wasn?t for her shoulder, Relena would have assumed it had all been a horrible nightmare.

Sitting up was difficult work, but it afforded her a better look at both sides of her body. A small cotton bandage hid the wound from her view, but just from the size of the covering she could tell it would heal into a small circular scar. For that she was thankful. She had seen the effect of the instruments used to dig out stuck arrowheads, and if a physician had used one on her shoulder, not only would the flesh be pulverized, but she probably wouldn?t have full mobility in her right arm.

She flexed her fingers to make sure they were still working. The movement brought on a tight pull of pain, but her hand moved into a fist easily.

This time she heard the footsteps before they entered the room, and she pulled her nightgown down over the other shoulder to ensure the wide neck didn?t slip the wrong way. ?Captain Yuy! You can?t ??

?Captain,? Relena snapped once the door opened to reveal his frame shrouded in the early morning sunlight from the open window in her sitting room beyond. ?This is highly offensive behavior. Usually even you know to wait until I am dressed before barging into my inner chamber.?

Heero didn?t have the grace to be abashed. ?I?m afraid my presence is necessary today.?

?Really?? Relena said coldly. ?Does it have anything to do with the commotion which kept me awake last night? I?m very delicate, Mr. Yuy, and I require my sleep. Somehow, I don?t think you understand the brevity of the situation. If I?m tired, I?m cranky, and if I?m cranky, everyone else around me is in a foul mood.?

?We had an incident,? he returned with equal passion. ?A thief was caught breaking into the vault last night. We believe it to be the same person who stole your brother?s crown.?

?You?ve caught the man?? Relena said with amazement. ?That still doesn?t explain why you came barging into my room at the ungodly hour of???

?Eight.?

?Eight!?

?The man is still at large. We have been unable to find a trace of him.?

?Oh?? Relena asked, suddenly aware that Heero was staring at the empty spot on her floor where the rug used to be.

?Did you see or hear anything??

?Unfortunately,? she said, watching him carefully, ?the only thing I heard was the cries of our own people. What is it?? Relena asked as his eyes narrowed.

?There used to be a rug on the floor.?

?Yes, and it was one of the most hideous things I have ever seen. Even you?ve witnessed how often it got stuck in the wheels of my chair. I had Hilde get rid of it.?

Now he turned his attention back towards her, and Relena was keenly aware of his eyes and how little they missed. She had to resist the urge to pull the neck of her nightshirt up to cover her good shoulder. When she spoke again, it wasn?t nearly as defensive or prickly as it had been before. In fact, it revealed her exhaustion and the amount of energy she had used just conversing with him. ?Can I go back to sleep now, Heero??

He nodded curtly. ?I?ll be outside the door.?

Despite the pain in her shoulder and the one in her rear, she did manage to catch a few more hours of rest.

[SerenityDeath]

I loved it keep writing more. Its getting really good

[Midge-14]

Keep this coming, it's excellent! I wonder how long Relena can keep the secret from Heero?

[Nihal]

ah, I knew it was her!

[The Angry Angel]

I am totally up to speed. What a spiffy little spin we've got going here. Kudos!

LOVE it. Can't wait.