Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Perfect Assassin ❯ The Fallen Princess ( Chapter 17 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
PERFECT ASSASSIN

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters in any way.


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE FALLEN PRINCESS

All five Gundam pilots sat around Une’s mahogany desk, contemplating their next move. Like Quatre, Une agreed that their best bet in getting any piece of information out of Relena was to have the blond soldier talk to her.

“OK Quatre, I’ll give you clearance into Relena’s cell tomorrow morning.” Une offered. “Let’s hope she’ll be more cooperative.”

Now that the moment had arrived, Quatre was unsure of how to greet his trusted friend. Small talk seemed somewhat inadequate in her situation. The moment he was permitted entrance into the cell nothing prepared him for the scene in front of him. She sat unmoving on her bed, which gave him an eerie feeling as if he were in a horror zombie film.

“Relena? It’s me, Quatre.” No response.

He sat down gently beside her on the seemingly uncomfortable mattress and reached for her hands that were placed firmly on her lap. She didn’t even move from her position when Quatre touched her. What scared him even more was the fact that she felt ice-cold. Growing nervous, he waved a hand in front of her face and even then, she didn’t flinch or blink.

“What’s wrong, Relena?” Quatre demanded. “I know this probably isn’t the best time for conversation but I really want to help you. There must be something more than meets the eye.” When he laid a hand on Relena, he couldn’t feel any thoughts from her. Unlike the previous time when he touched her back at his mansion, this time, she felt almost blank and hollow on the inside. “Please, let us help you.” He noticed the trails of dried tears on her pale face. She seemed frailer and weaker than the last time he saw her. How was he possibly going to get the information when he couldn’t even talk to her?

Relena remained silent.

He brought her to her feet, trying to shake her out of whatever spell she was in. “C’mon, Relena, don’t scare me like this.” For some reason, she couldn’t hold herself up.

“Say something, dammit! Anything!”

It was unusual for him to make such an irrational outburst but something was really off the chart and he didn’t know what. Quatre’s strong arms were the only things keeping her from crumbling to the ground. The moment he released her, she fell uncharacteristically on the bed, still unmoving.

“Oh my god!” Quatre whispered and ran to the door, yelling. “Guards, please call a doctor. There’s something wrong with her.”

~*~*~

She was immediately relocated to the medical wing of the building, surrounded by concerned individuals including all five Gundam pilots and Sally Po. Quatre notified the other four men as soon as he informed the guards of the situation. Relena was placed on an examining table, facing up at the stark white ceiling. As much as Sally Po examined Relena’s indistinguishable illness, she came up with the only reasonable diagnosis for her condition.

“Relena’s experienced a traumatic experience. Something caught her off-guard and she’s still fixated on that one moment.” Dr. Po explained to the others in the room.

Wufei remained well hidden behind the rest of the members, leaning against one wall and with his arms loosely crossed in front of him. Duo looked impatient, dying to know what really occurred back in that cell. Trowa maintained his stoic composure as usual, standing across from Wufei and Duo. Quatre looked most worried for Relena’s current state. He wanted to slap himself for not realizing how pale she looked until later on. And Heero…

He was able to preserve his uncaring composure on the surface. When Sally briefly glanced at him, she thought that he was indifferent for Relena’s well being. In truth, he was bleeding for her on the inside. Seeing Relena lying limply on that table cried out to him. Heero knew that he failed her somehow and he wanted to do nothing more but to run to her side and think of a way to get her out of the trauma.

“What do you mean by that?” Quatre asked curiously. “She has been in that room for the past few days. I don’t see how she could have been exposed to something as dramatic as you say.”

Sally reached for her patient’s right hand and tried reading her pulse; it was weak. “It’s hard to say, Quatre. I’m not even sure what she experienced.”

“Does the traumatic experience have any influence on the paleness of her skin?” Heero asked, surprising all occupants of the room.

Sally Po illustrated her point by stroking her chin with one hand and saying, “That’s a good question. It could definitely be a factor but I would have to do further analysis on her blood sample. Judging by the color of her skin, as you’ve noted, I’d say her blood count is far too low.”

“How can we counter this, low blood count level, as you call it?” Duo wondered. “And how can we get her out of this trance that she’s in? I find it so strange that she’s not even blinking.”

Sally simply shrugged. “I honestly couldn’t give you a feasible answer right now. Let me get back to you guys on that. Things are looking somewhat stable, if that. We’ll get to the bottom of this in no time.”

~*~*~

Under Sally’s orders, they needed to all leave the room and give her patient some personal space. This time Wufei didn’t object. He knew if their only suspect died, they would have no case.

Once they returned back to Une’s main office, the surveillance tapes, monitoring Relena’s cell, were brought up. Trowa suggested looking into them for there may be something on them that could explain Relena’s strange behavior. Duo and Trowa both volunteered to go through the endless hours of tape from the first day Relena was in there.

Wufei would continue working on the murder cases, although, he felt that they were drawing closer to finding the culprit, mainly Relena. However, they were all beginning to feel that Relena wasn’t the only one responsible for their deaths.

After further discussion, Wufei admitted, “Now that I think of it, why would Relena go through the trouble in offing those men? She already holds the power to the government so there really was no need. We do need to make the assumption that the culprits, minus Relena of course, had something to gain from their deaths.”

Duo said, “That certainly makes more sense. Being the evil-incarnate doesn’t really fit Relena’s profile, does it?”

“Don’t try to be cute, Maxwell.” Trowa interjected. “Wufei does bring on a good point though. Further research must be done. Relena could have been a puppet in this.”

Une stood from her seat and stared at each man, “Don’t make any rash assumptions, gentlemen. As far as we know, Relena’s still guilty of the crimes. We need to figure out why?”

Une reminded them of their new agendas: Trowa and Duo were to look into the security tapes. Wufei and Heero were to continue with the murder cases in hopes of finding the reasoning behind the deaths. Of course, Quatre was not involved with Preventers so he was not mentioned. Une suggested for Quatre to return home since there was really nothing more he could do for them.

They were all dismissed and soon went off on their own tasks, agreeing to regroup in one week’s time. Duo was already carrying the small box of videotapes down the hall to find a VCR machine.

“Chang, there’s something I got to do first. Go on without me for a few hours and I’ll meet you back at your office.” Heero stated passionlessly.

“What do you mean, ‘there’s something I got to do first?’ We have a murder investigation here.” Wufei argued. However, seeing the look on the Perfect Soldier’s face, he dared not interrupt further. “Fine. I’ll see you later.”

~*~*~

Heero walked silently against the walls down the corridor, hoping to avoid detection from the hallway monitors. He felt like a young child sneaking out of the house but he needed to see her. Since the moment Relena was moved into another room, he never had a moment alone with her. Undoubtedly, he knew he was doing a foolish and childish thing but if he didn’t see her, he wouldn’t be able to focus on the case anyway.

Very slowly, he turned the doorknob and walked in. Relena was still lying lifeless on the matted table. He did notice that she had her eyes closed now. ‘She must be sleeping.’

Heero gently knelt down and gazed at the sleeping beauty. She looked a lot paler than he had ever seen her. Her forehead was flooded with perspiration and it seemed as if her breathing was labored. He carefully used a hand to wipe the sweat from her brow and smoothed her hair back from her face. With an index finger, he traced her jaw line and remembered that night when he held her in his arms.

Heero wished they could return to that time and that perfect moment where neither of them had a care in the world. Leaning closer to her, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead and continued to trace her features with his fingers.

“How did you end up in this position, Relena?” He whispered.

It felt as if there was a strong force pulling him to her and he couldn’t help himself. Without a further thought, he closed the gap between them and placed his lips on hers. She felt so much colder but still possessed the same tender spirit of her personality. He had wanted to do this from the moment he met her. Despite the fluttering sensation at the back if his mind, it felt somewhat wrong of him to violate her in this way. Relena’s sick for god’s sake!

However, he simply couldn’t pull away. Heero deepened the kiss and surprisingly found Relena’s lips moving under his. Their mouths were captivated in an ancient dance of man claiming what’s rightfully his. To his astonishment, she was kissing him back.

‘Was she out of the trance?’ He thought.

He wanted to continue kissing her but knew it would be impossible. He would have to resurface for air and when he broke the contact, he wanted nothing more but to return to her lips.

Heero stared down at her and noticed her eyelids blinking slowly; she was waking up and the glossy look to her eyes was disappearing.

“Relena? Can you hear me?” He said softly, hoping not to break her attempt at coming back.

She stared straight into his face and looked deeply into his soul. “Heero…”


TBC…