Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen Memories ❯ Chapter 22 ( Chapter 22 )

Chapter 22

Relena Darlian, Foreign Minister, a woman in her twenty sixth year frowned as she stood on her balcony breathing in the cool autumn air. Her long honey brown hair was caught up in a loose knot on the top of her head and loose strands were floating in the wind in front of her face. She ignored the distraction concentrating on her breathing. Closing her eyes she started counting slowly to five with each inhale and exhale. She tried to blank her mind, to shut out the painful memories of the last twelve months.

Relena had no family left to her, she had killed her last remaining relative. Her brother. Every time she closed her eyes she would see him falling to his knees. She would see him smile up at her. She would hear his last words to her "…go…to…hell…"

It had not taken long for the press to get hold of the news that the Foreign Minister had been arrested on the charge of murdering her brother. Initially the people had protested that she had been unduly detained and had only calmed down once Relena had made a statement confirming that she had handed herself in. The acting head of the Preventors Sally Po had assured the public that the trial would be televised so that the proceedings would be seen to be completely unbiased.

Heero had not taken Relena's arrest well. He continually claimed that he had shot Millardo even when threatened with arrest for wasting police time. He had only stopped when Sally, with Wufei's assistance, forcefully pointed out that he was doing more harm than good to Relena's case. After that Heero and Duo had tried to persuade Relena to flee earth, to relocate in the colonies under an assumed name. Relena had sent them away, momentarily angry that they should think that she should not be accountable for her crimes.

Duo had left Earth shortly after that to return to Hilde, who had been imprisoned by Lady Une during the time that Duo was helping Relena. Hilde had not left the colony as quickly as she should have and had been arrested by Preventors as a spy aiding the Gundam Pilots. She had known the officers who had arrested her and had been treated well as the Preventors had been suspicious of Lady Une's motivations.

Dr Holt had been relaxed when arrested on the charge of kidnapping, grievous bodily harm and conspiracy against ESUN. Whilst on bail and awaiting trial he had word that the General Medical Council had struck him off the medical registrar for malpractice. When he had word that he would never be able to practice medicine again he suddenly disappeared. His car was found parked at the top of a sea cliff and it was widely publicised that he had committed suicide. His body was never found.

Heero had personally co-ordinated a search for Noin as Relena was so desperate to find her. But unfortunately the trail was very cold. Noin had disappeared from Mars some four years earlier, Millardo had told the local authorities that she had returned to Earth. Relena thought Heero had made a mistake as she had talked to Noin during those four years, but Heero showed her some transmissions that had been manipulated and Relena realised that she had not been talking to Noin, but to her brother.

Lady Une had been hospitalised and once back on the proper medication and with a little therapy was back to her old sane self. However, she had been distressed to find that she had been so easily manipulated and had resigned her command with the Preventors, instead opting to keep her hand in with consultancy work. Heero told Relena that he thought it was the best thing for Une to do, no one readily trusted her anymore and a Commander without the trust and respect of his or her staff was not a good Commander.

Relena had hoped to return to politics sooner rather than later, but the President had advised her that she would not be able to rejoin the assembly until after her trial had been completed. He regretted his decision, but it would not have been seemly to have a person that was charged and about to stand trial for murder making policy for ESUN. This was the biggest blow to Relena. She had hoped to throw herself back in her work to try and reduce the pain of what she had done.

The trial itself had been fast-tracked in the interest of keeping stability through ESUN and the colonies. It had been a brief affair, Relena had not denied any of the charges and made no real effort to defend herself. She wanted to be judged by twelve of her peers and she wanted to be punished to help rid her of the pain and guilt that she was feeling. Her council, however, had different ideas and was very articulate in Relena's defence, calling a large assortment of people to testify on her behalf.

The defence demonstrated that Millardo Peacecraft has manipulated many people in an attempt to regain power and authority. It was proven that Millardo had met Dr Holt many years earlier whilst at university and formed a friendship. That friendship had strengthened after Holt's injury, through a common dislike of Heero Yuy. When Mariemaia had died Millardo had seen his opportunity and had recommended Dr Holt to Lady Une as an expert in paediatric cardiology. Une had hoped to better understand the condition that had killed Mariemaia. Dr Holt had prior knowledge of Une's condition from Millardo and had exchanged her medication for a placebo drug and had so started her mental deterioration. Relena had been shocked at so many people from Mars giving evidence of Millardo's dissatisfaction with his life. He had on many occasions said that he would only return to Earth when Relena re-established the Sanq Kingdom as a monarchy and ceded the rule to him. Millardo had felt that he couldn't return without this sanction due to his involvement in nearly destroying the Earth in the Oz conflict.

When the verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter was given, had Relena felt disappointment at the lesser conviction. She had been horrified when the judge gave her a suspended sentence on the basis that Relena had probably saved many lives by taking Millardo's. She was free to leave. She was free to live her own life. Where was the punishment in that? How could she absolve herself of her sins if no one would punish her?

She had left the courtroom amid a flurry of flash photography, reporters crowding her way, supporters calling her name waving, and protesters booing her holding placards high denouncing her light sentence as an act of blatant favouritism. She had stood at the top of the steps leading up to the building and had smiled at the people, those who supported her and those that did not. Relena had felt her hand grasped by a warm firm hand and turned slightly to see that Heero was at her side. He had warily regarded the crowd, and gently squeezed her hand giving her support.

After Relena had taken questions from the reporters as to how she felt about the result of the trial, Heero had cleared a path to her car. He had not let go of her hand as the car had made its way through the crowd, protestors banging there hands up against the glass, reporter holding cameras up in an attempt to get any photo through the darkened glass. She had been silent all the way to her house, and he had spoken only once, almost in a whisper "You are not alone. I am with you." He had not let go of her hand.

And Heero continued to be by her side, offering silent support when she needed it. Guarding her day and night and being her companion. Cradling her at night when she could not sleep and waking her from nightmares when she could. And finally it had been Heero who made her see that she could never be free of her guilt. She would never forget what she had done. She would have to simply learn to live with the guilt. As Heero had. As all the pilots had. As any soldier who ever fought and killed in a war had.

Unfortunately as soon as Relena realised the truth of his words and had felt the heavy burden lift slightly from her shoulders the next crisis occurred.

A vote of no confidence had been levied against her by other ESUN members due to her change of mind about punishing war criminals. The people who forwarded the motion of no confidence did not wish to work with someone who changed her mind about policy so dramatically and so quickly even when it was not her fault. She was also being held to account for her lack of performance since the trial.

And today was the day that the vote was to be conducted. Today. This afternoon. This very hour.

And here she was trying to pull her thoughts together before she returned to the debating chamber of ESUN to hear what they had decided.

She closed her eyes again and saw Millardo falling to his knees. She saw him smile up at her.

"…go…to…hell…"

"I did brother." She couldn't help murmur to herself, shaking her hand when she felt the retort of the gun once again tingle through it. Relena smiled as she felt a familiar strong warm hand capture hers and opened her eyes to see Heero standing beside her.

"Come inside, its cold". He said, pushing her gently back into her office. Once inside he closed the door to the balcony and turned to wrap his arms around her, rubbing her arms gently to help her warm up. He regarded her closely and tilted her face up to his before kissing her gently on the lips.

"I am so scared that I will lose the vote." Relena whispered when Heero's lips left hers. She turned to look out of the window. "What will I do if I lose. Politics has been my life. I have never done anything else, how will I live if I can't be promoting peace?"

Heero gently turned her around so she was facing him, and tilted her head back so she was looking directly into his eyes.

"You are the strongest person I know." He said gently "What ever happens you will survive. You will still go on to do great things because peace matters so much to you. And I will be there with you."

"But what if I change. What if I don't find a new niche in life. What if I lose and become like my brother, bitter and twisted. I didn't like not being in control during the crisis. I could almost understand why Millardo so yearned to return to power. Oh Heero, you won't want to be with me then, I won't be me. I will be someone else. Some megalomaniac living in the past trying to live past glories."

Heero laughed before replying. "I cannot imagine you changing that much Relena, but we all do change. I am not the same person I was when you found me on the beach. Would you still want to be with me if I was exactly the way I was when we first saw each other? I wouldn't let you be like Millardo, and you wouldn't either." Heero smiled at her.

Relena smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I love you Heero." She said and hugged him, burying her head in his shoulder again. He kissed her hair lightly and hugged her back. He still didn't return the endearment, but Relena was comfortable with that. She knew that he loved her. And she knew that he would stay with her. For as long as they needed each other.

They silently left her office and walked down the hall, down the stairs, and on to the doors of the assembly hall. The guard on duty nodded at Relena indicating that she could enter. Relena looked at Heero, drew a deep breath and squeezed his hand gaining strength as always from his presence. Heero squeezed her hand in return, before letting go. Relena pulled her jacket down straight, smoothed her hair and took a deep breath.

"Shall we go in?" she asked.

The End.

Authors Note: Please note that I do not live in America and so the ruling I used in the final chapter was not based on US law. In addition, this is a futuristic piece and I am working on the assumption that ESUN would adopt their own laws based on a merging of laws from its member states. I hope you have enjoyed this story and would love to get feedback on it. Cheers, kmf.

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