Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Project Isis ❯ Fall of the Great Queen ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or its characters. But Kyana is mine all mine!!! You can't have her!!! Well….unless maybe they give me Duo in exchange. ;p

Fall of the Great Queen

Lady Eclipse

~And lo, the rains came, heavy and forbidding like an omen of evil portents. There was a darkness upon the horizon that did make the steadfast quake for the trembling soothsayers did envision the fall of a mighty queen. ~

Relena pressed a cold hand to her temple in hopes of clearing the heavy dizziness that had been prevalent for the last eight hours. Around her droned the angry buzz of voices that belonged to the dozen officials crammed into the president's office. Each voice vied with the others for supremacy eagerly proclaiming their views with merciless tones. Just as she suspected, the involvement of other officials would only complicate the matter but the president had insisted on listening to their opinion before deciding on a course of action. Half the room screamed for 1085's immediate destruction while the other half demanded him to use it to fortify the armed forces against Carrington. The combined body heat made the room insufferably hot and stuffy, Relena was finding it harder and harder to catch her breath amongst the turmoil.

"Vice-Foreign Minister," the president said a bit too loudly trying to bring order to the chaos, "you met with Miss Silas. Perhaps you could answer some of the cabinet's questions." With a carefully concealed grimace, Relena rose swiftly to her feet but soon regretted it as the room swayed dizzily underneath her while her vision blurred and a great roaring filled her ears. At that moment of weakness, the coughing fit she had been trying to suppress since the meeting began broke free with such force that she fell to her knees. She brought a hand to her mouth but was helpless to stop the tide of chest wrenching coughs that went on for so long that she was gasping frantically for air. She became fuzzily aware of a warm, thick fluid dripping down her palm just as blackness swirled before her eyes claiming her oxygen deprived brain in unconsciousness. For the first time since the meeting began, the room had gone dead quiet.

* * *

Kyana was alighted upon a third story, covered balcony watching the torrential rain thrash the ground with the strength of a weak waterfall. Just within the room Silus was discussing the surgical enhancement made upon the arches of Kyana's feet with a handful of doctors accompanied by Heero and Trowa.

"When Kyana was still an infant and her bones were still soft enough, we broke the arch and placed a pin into the bone to allow it to act like a locking hinge. This allowed her to be able to run on her toes like other four-footed animals, which greatly heightened her speed. It also allows her to walk flat footed for balance and a better ability to blend in with other humans."

"Has this surgery caused any deformity or health issues in the bone?" One doctor asked.

"No, however it is important to note that her immune system and body structure is different than that of most humans. Carrington was also only testing the procedure on her with hopes to perfect it by the time he had his final specimen. We were very lucky that the operation was only beneficial, but I would wager that no human or even another subject such as Kyana would fare so well under the same procedure. Now, if there are no more questions, we'll adjorn for the day."

"Papa," Kyana called softly from the balcony once the medical staff had filtered out of the room rifling through their notes.

"Yes?" He walked over and stood just inside of the sliding glass door.

"Questre melefas te resti canque elefe?"

"Hmm... Yes, colds and the flu are mostly found in the colder seasons here." He replied with a touch of perplexity. Kyana fidgeted in a most uncharacteristic way with one of her braids before quietly asking,

"Caeist de tame lerri se mele te..." she hesitated as though searching for the proper word, "....te supriesame `shot' telesrem."

"A flu shot? No....flu shots are mostly only given right before the season starts. Unless there is a sudden rash of illness, a flu shot would not be given at this time of year. Why do you ask?" Kyana frowned heavily but returned her steadfast gaze to the rain. Heero, frowning more heavily than she, joined Silus,

"What are you talking about?" Silus shot a confused glance at his daughter but she ignored him twisting her braid fretfully between her fingers.

"She was asking if flu shots were commonly given here during this season."

"Why?" Heero's tone was sharp with suspicion. Silus shrugged,

"She has yet to reply to that question."

"Kyana." He grumbled. Kyana continued to ignore them. "This is about Relena isn't it?"

"Why should you think that?" She shot back peevishly.

"I saw how you looked at her, as though you saw something important. She's obviously been sick lately so if you noticed something important, you better tell us."

"I will not violate her privacy." She declared after a long moment of contemplation. Heero's brows knitted together but before he had a chance to prod her further Quatre burst into the room,

"Miss Relena just collapsed in the president's office. They're taking her to the hospital right now." Kyana bit her lip as she hopped down from her perch.

"Kyana, tell me what you know right now," the iciness in his voice only making it seem more urgent and forceful.

"If it is her life at stake..." Silus did not need to finish the sentence.

"I....I thought I had scented the coughing sickness on her. But.... father told me that that hasn't been in this area for a long time. There are so many new scents here that it is very possible that I am mistaken."

"Coughing sickness....?" Silus frowned; there were many serious illnesses in the third world nations that involved coughing.

"I don't remember the name...Kestri had it and he died."

"Kestri...my god. You mean Tuberculosis?"

"Yes! That was the name you gave it. That is what I thought I smelled on her."

"Heero, I think you had better get to the hospital and inform them." Silus said in a shaky voice.

"Damn it, why didn't you say anything? Were you waiting for her to die?!"

"I wasn't sure and speaking before I knew would only cause false distress. I would not alarm unnecessarily especially where you are concerned."

"What do you mean?" Kyana leveled her piercing eyes directly at him,

"You do not hide your feelings as well as you think. You are not rational when it comes to her." Heero swung away from her and swiftly left the room. Quatre remained standing in the doorway for a moment longer sending Kyana a confused glance then hastily followed Heero.

"Well, at least it's curable. The next step is finding out who did this and why." Silus said running a hand nervously through his hair. Kyana remained silent staring at the rain with an unreadable expression.

"Why…" she whispered softly to the rain, "why such unnecessary death and pain? Why such hatred? What good does any of it do?"

"That's a good question, I wish I had the answer to it. Unfortunately, man is not so easy to understand as animals." Kyana sighed sadly and folded her arms tightly against her chest.

"I worry for her. I liked her and I saw much in her eyes. She reminds me of Mahail the Wise One. There is much goodness and wisdom in her eyes. What a tragedy it would be for these lost people to loose her."

"A tragedy indeed."

* * *

The room with filled with the hostile scent of cold sterility. The only sounds were the steady beep of the heart monitor and the hiss of oxygen as it was forced into her mouth. In the middle of a small, white bed covered with crisp, clean hospital sheets lay one of the most important people of the age. Various tubes were attached to her hand injecting clear fluids to nourish and heal. Blood was also present trying to replace that which she had lost from her coughing. She looked small, frail, and pale, as though it were not a woman at all lying in that bed but a lifeless dummy. Even her normally glossy hair was tangled and straw like. Heero stood in the doorway for what might have been forever staring at her, so near death. None of the roiling emotions that ate at him from the inside showed on his face. He might as well have been a statue, a statue standing forever in guard of an empty body.

Heero was jolted from his shock by the entrance of Milliardo followed by a doctor. He too was frozen in place for a moment in pure shock at seeing such a vibrant and passionate woman so changed, so motionless. He soon regrouped though and pulled on a mask of stoicism.

"We've stabilized her and have begun injecting her with the appropriate antibiotics," the doctor explained, " however she is not responding very well. We are positive that it is Tuberculosis but there are some irregularities in this strain. It seems to be much stronger than the normal strain and it is resisting all of the usual methods of treatment."

"What are you saying, that she's going to die?" Milliardo growled.

"What I'm saying, Mr. Peacecraft, is that we really don't know. For now we've been able to slow down the process and we are working very hard to find an antibiotic that the virus isn't resistant to. For now, all we can do is wait."

"How long will she have if you don't find a cure?"

"I'm not sure, her body may be able to fight it off with the medicine we are giving her now." Milliardo raised his voice,

"How long?"

"If everything fails, then I'd say two weeks." The doctor replied with a remorseful sigh. "There have been great discoveries made in antibiotic research within the last few years, there is some hope that we can find an effective treatment." The doctor went over to Relena's bed and examined her chart and the various read-outs of the machines supporting her life. "It's so strange," he mumbled to himself, "the virus is perfect. If I didn't know any better I'd say that the damned thing was engineered." Heero started at that barely audible comment. His eyes darted to Zechs and saw the light of an idea flicker in the depths of his eyes. Zechs made eye contact with Heero for a brief moment, the first time he had acknowledged Heero's presence since he had arrived, reading him even as Heero read Zechs. Zechs then nodded curtly,

"Heero, go get Silus." Heero narrowed his eyes at Zechs before they traveled to rest upon the young Vice-Foreign Minister. "Just go. I have no doubt that you'll be faster than me." With a lasting look at Relena Heero spun around and left the room with large strides.

True to Milliardo's prediction, Heero arrived at the Research Facility in record time. He found Dr. Silus in the same room where he had left him quietly going over some papers. Kyana was still on the balcony watching the rain, her shoulders were slumped displaying a deep weariness. Upon his arrival, her ear twitched and swiveled in his direction. A quick glance at him had her straightening her shoulders and assuming the careful poise and grace that was untouchable.

"Silus, how much do you know about viral engineering?" Heero cut straight to the point startling Silus from his reading.

"Not much, I'm afraid." He replied after a moment of surprised hesitation.

"How much does Carrington know about viral engineering?"

"Oh dear, does this have to do with Miss Dorilan's illness?"

"She has Tuberculosis but the usual treatments aren't helping. The doctor said that this strain was much stronger than the others. He said that the virus was `too perfect' and that he thought it could have been engineered." Silus frowned,

"Well, Carrington certainly is a master of cell manipulation. I'm sure he could if he wanted to. But why on earth would he attack Relena? If she dies you can be sure that the public won't let him live for long."

"Or there will be enough confusion and rage to blind people while he organizes his army to take over. Relena is one of the only unifying forces between earth and space at this time. Without her there could be serious chaos."

"Then either Carrington is closer to completing his research than we thought, or else he is getting desperate. I wish I could help you Heero, but I don't know anything that could be useful. I'm afraid that if this is an engineered virus, the only person who could is Dr. Carrington himself." Heero's face went deadpan and dangerous as that observation sent his mind into action.

"Then I'll find Carrington." He replied in a monotone voice. He left just as abruptly as he came in leaving Silus looking very worried and Kyana gone as well.

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Sorry that this chapter took so long but my muse has deserted me! This chapter isn't my best but at least the saga continues. Hopefully my muse will come back from her hiatus soon and make the story better.

Thank you all three of my readers for your comments. Reviews make the muse come back…;p

Lady Eclipse