Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen Memories ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Stolen Memories

By kmf

Rating: PG13

Standard disclaimers apply: I do not own Gundam Wing, etc......

Chapter One

Relena Darlian, Foreign Minister, a woman in her mid twenties 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 make the headache which had started shortly into the latest day of talks between the representatives of the terrafarmers on Mars, ESUN and delegates from the two colonies evaporate.

It had been a particularly gruelling session, Relena personally had a lot of sympathy for the farmers. Theirs was a difficult existence, filled with all sorts of dangers. With her brother Millardo and his partner Lucrezia resident on Mars Relena had made it her business to keep well informed on Martian living conditions. Relena agreed that they warranted tax relief on imported luxuries and productivity bonuses, but it was going to be a hard slog getting the colonists and ESUN to come to her way of thinking.

Sally Po, her friend and physician, had advised her that meditation was a good way to combat the headaches that Relena had begun to experience. After four years as Vice Foreign Minister and two years as Foreign Minister the strain was beginning to show. Whilst Relena had initially thrived on the lifestyle of a world leader, she had admitted to Sally that she was feeling isolated and lonely despite all the meetings, seminars, conferences and peace talks she attended.

Relena had no family left on Earth. Her brother was settled on Mars apparently content enough with his life that he only contacted Relena occasionally, and not at all in the last two years since her promotion. Relena's stepmother had died a year ago, the space shuttle in which she had been travelling had developed a fault with its life support system. When the shuttle had been recovered all passengers and crew had been found asphyxiated.

Relena had good friends, but her schedule made it difficult of see them in person very often. Duo and Hilde both worked as preventors on L1, Quatre was a delegate for L2 also had a major hand in the running of his family business. Trowa had joined the preventors on L2 after his sister Catherine had married the ringmaster. Trowa claimed that Catherine was so distracted by married life that her aim when throwing daggers was suffering. When Catherine's knifes had claimed a lock of Trowa's hair, she had laughed and said it was either time for Trowa to get a new hairstyle or a new job and that a new job would suit him better than a crew cut. Whenever Relena visited either colony, she would meet up with her old friends, but with her work there was never much time to socialise, other than catching up on news whilst being chauffeured from one meeting to another.

Sally was adamant that if Relena could not reduce her workload, then a program of meditation before bed would help with her headaches. Wufei had snorted at this and suggested that "the woman" should embark on physical exercise and had devised a fitness program for her. Releena offered no protest to either suggestion and promised to try both. And she had - a gym had been installed in one of the mansions many rooms. Mirrored walls adorned it so she could practice Tai Chi, Karate and Pilate and try and perfect the exercises. She had also read up on meditation and had often come home, lit candles and sat cross-legged on the floor willing the days troubles to disappear.

Tonight, Relena knew what was wrong. She knew what the illusive element was, the piece of the puzzle that prevented her from achieving serenity and calmness.

...Heero...

She missed him. He had been gone so long.

She mouthed the name, then shook her head angry with herself. She took another deep breath, exhaled through her mouth trying again to achieve calm. Inhale, two, three four five, exhale, two, three, four, five.....

Heero.... When she first seen him on the beach where he had washed up, she had thought what beautiful eyes he had. Eyes to stare at for hours, eyes to loose one self in. He had narrowed those eyes and fled from her. When she next encountered those eyes, they had narrowed again and he had said he would kill her. Relena remembered the shock she had felt, the disbelief that he would threaten her, the fear and also the anticipation of their next encounter.

After her father had been assassinated, Relena again courted Heero's dangerous side. She had willingly offered her life, just to be close to him, to convince him that she believed in what he believed in. That she was ready to die for those beliefs. He had saved her with his Gundam from certain death when a tower of the school they attended had been blasted and would have crushed her. He had even tried to kill her a few minutes later with the Gundam, but had been unable to. Instead he had fled. Relena snorted to herself. That seemed to set the pattern to their relationship at first - Heero was always running away.

But, after a while, Heero stopped running. He had joined the preventors and been assigned as her bodyguard after the Mariemaia affair. He had set up security systems first for Relena's home and office, and eventually for the entire Preventor network. As time passed, his expertise was called on more and more by Lady Une, and now he was an expert in cyber-terrorist prevention. And he had become a good friend to Relena, someone who was willing to listen to her ranting in frustration over a delegate idiocy, someone that understood the strain of her position. Their relationship was still platonic, but Relena was ever hopeful of something more.

Heero had been away on assignment for what seemed a very long time. Lady Une had needed him to infiltrate the computer systems of an organisation that she considered had too few loyalties to ESUN or the colonies. Heero had agreed to go on this assignment leaving Relena's security in the capable hands of Wufei. Days had become weeks that had become months and Relena had had no contact from Heero. Her strength was slowly evaporating, headaches becoming more frequent, serenity was becoming harder to achieve.

"Oh, sod this!" she exclaimed abruptly, opening her eyes and whirling around. She stormed back into her room, slamming the door so that the glass threatened to break. She opened a cabinet, one of many that lined her office, and pulled out a bottle of gin. She poured a measure into a glass and splashed in some tonic. Releena then settled back in her leather chair, put her feet up on her desk and took a sip, closing her eyes as the alcohol tingled on her tongue and burnt her throat.

"Ahhh, that's better," she murmured.

"Since when did you start drinking on your own?" said a monotone voice behind her chair.

"Whaaa-" Relena nearly toppled out of her chair backwards, her eyes flashed open and she found herself staring up into the eyes of ...

...."Heero..."