Chapter 2: The Ever Watchful Angel

Mariko watched the blood drip onto the carpet. She felt the pressure of the dagger tighten on her throat.

"Don't worry, your suffering is over." He started moving the blade across her throat.

"Don't move!" a man in uniform yelled. The attacker looked up and saw the gun pointed in his face. All he did was smile.

"I wouldn't do that, I have a hostage." He pulled Mariko up, using her as a shield. More guards showed up with guns. Relena came in and watched in terror what was going on.

"What do you want," Relena asked. "If you want me, then take me." Relena pleaded.

"At first, yes I did. But I don't think you have the information that I need, so I think I'll be taking my leave." He pushed Mariko into the group of guards and jumped out the window.

"After him!"

The guards ran out the door. Relena ran towards Mariko, who was still lying on the ground. "Mariko, can you here me?" Relena held her in her arms. "Get a doctor now!" she yelled.

Mariko wanted to say something, but couldn't find the strength. She slipped into darkness.

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Relena sat by Mariko's bedside, holding her hand. Just a few hours ago they were talking about her eighteenth birthday and the future, but now she was lying in a hospital room, possibly dying.

"Relena?" Quatre came in. He and Relena hugged. Quatre was always there for Relena whenever she needed the support. They were extremely close friends, and for a while, they were more. They dated for a while, but realizing that they couldn't commit to each other, they broke up and stayed close friends. Quatre found someone else, Dorothy. They had a daughter, Regeane. Regeane and Mariko became friends even though Regeane was three years younger than Mariko.

"Thank you for coming Quatre. Is Regeane with you?"

"No, I told her it was better if she stayed home. She threw a tantrum, but I don't think it was good if she saw her in this state."

"That's the best." Relena walked back to Mariko's side.

"Has the doctor said anything about her condition."

"No. I hate doctors."

"Doesn't everybody," Quatre said trying to lighten the mood. Quatre stood by Relena. "I think that you should get some rest, the sun will be coming up soon. And you haven't gotten one wink of sleep."

Relena wasn't listening to Quatre. "She was born today. She's eighteen years old... and she's going to die before- " Relena started to cry. Quatre comforted her.

"Mrs. Melack?"

Relena and Quatre faced the doctor. "I think its best we talk outside."

Quatre went with Relena.

"Is my daughter going to live?" Relena said trying to get to the point.


"Yes, she's fine." Relena and Quatre breathed a sigh of relief. "She has a concussion and she's lost some blood, but she'll live."

"When will she wake up?" Relena asked.

"It depends on her condition. She's pretty tired from the blood loss so maybe in a couple of hours, give or take."

"Thank you doctor." Relena was ecstatic. She was so happy she almost kissed Quatre, but she controlled herself.

"She's going to be okay," Relena confirmed to herself.

"Mariko's a fighter, just like her mom."

"Thank you Quatre, for being here."

Relena started back towards Mariko's room. "Uh, Relena. I don't want to intrude, but I think we need to talk about what happened."

"Can it wait?" Relena asked.

"I think the sooner we find out more, we can prevent this from happening again." Someone else came in. A man with dark brown hair and green eyes came in, Trowa. Also Wufei and Duo showed up as well.

"I think we should talk about Jonathan," Wufei said.

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A shadow appeared in the hospital room. He stood over the bed, watching the young girl sleep. Her bruised face was heart-wrenching to see, she was breathing steadily. He walked over to the empty chair, just looking at her. He wanted to so badly hold her hand, but he was so afraid to.

He just watched.

The pain was horrible, he was filled with anger, at himself and at the people who did this. He tried everything to prevent this from happening, from the truth being revealed, but he had no control over it anymore. He looked at Mariko's long dark brown hair. He remembered her second birthday, the last birthday he celebrated. He always carried a picture from that party, just with him and Mariko. Relena made the comment that they looked so much alike it was creepy. He wished that he could see her bright blue eyes, just like her mother's.

Mariko started to groan. He couldn't stay anymore, he quietly said goodbye and went back out through the window.

Mariko opened her eyes, blinking a few times to clear her vision, she saw no one. She swore she thought someone was in there, not her mother. "Mom?" she called out. She pushed herself up. Mariko almost fell back down on the bed. The door was closed, revealing little light into the room. She rubbed her head, hoping the pain would go away.

"Where are the pain killers when you need them?" she said sarcastically.

Getting up from the bed, she grabbed a robe and walked out the room. Walking down the hall proved to be even more difficult but she wanted to find out what was going on. Further down the hall Mariko found her mom talking to a couple of friends. She knew them all too well. Quatre and Duo, she was best friends with their kids. Trowa and Wufei she didn't get to see too often since they lived on the colonies with their families.

Relena looked tired and worried. She looked like she was having an intense conversation with them. Mariko didn't know if she should intrude on the conversation, but Relena looked like she was about to explode. So Mariko thought that she should take the opportunity to say she was all right and take the pressure off of her mother.

Relena spotted her coming down the hall. Taking her leave of the former Gundam pilots she ran to Mariko showering her with kisses.

"What are you doing out of bed, young lady?" Relena said going into full mother-mode.

"I felt like taking a walk." The group came up to Relena and Mariko.

Duo hugged her first, cutting off her circulation. Quatre gave her a small hug and a peck on the cheek. Trowa and Wufie just smiled and said they were glad that she was all right.

"Thanks, I feel almost a hundred percent better, if you don't count the pain."

"We should sit down and talk," Wufie said.

"I think it's best that she go back to her room and get some rest first," Relena interrupted.

"It's alright mom. I want to tell you everything that happened first, before I forget too much."

They sat down in the hospital cafeteria. It was still early morning so hardly anyone was in the cafeteria, giving them privacy.

"I won't be too much help since I don't know what's going on either."

"That's alright Mariko. Any information you can give us is good," Wufie took the line of questioning. Being a Preventer gave him more authority over the situation.

She described hearing the break-in, and seeing the cloaked figure.

"Was there anything distinctive about him, any scars or tattoos?"

"I couldn't see him very well, he was dressed in all black, even his face, except... he had these eyes. They were really creepy."

"What was weird about them?"

"They weren't exactly weird. They were a normal color and everything. Hazel colored, but...I don't know. When he looked at me it just freaked the hell out of me," Mariko shuttered.

"Did he say anything out of the ordinary."

"He mentioned something about 'Chaos'-"

" 'Chaos?'" Quatre said.

Mariko turned to Quatre. "You've heard of them?"

"I think you should go and get some rest now, Mariko," Trowa said.

"You know something, don't you," Mariko said.

No one said a word, not even Duo. Mariko wanted to push the issue further, but she knew it was a lost cause. "Fine. If you guys don't want to tell me anything I can't really force it out of you, can I. Be careful."

Mariko and Relena went back to the hospital room.

"Their back. I was hoping that they just disappeared," Quatre said.

"Nobody like 'Chaos' just disappears," Trowa said.

"Relena didn't know anything, how could he just hide it from her?" Quatre asked.

"People like that are good at hiding their dirty laundry. It's probably a good thing that he hid it too, because Relena and Mariko would definitely be dead by now," Duo confirmed.

"If Heero was still around I'm sure none of this would have happened..." Quatre said.

"Well, he's not around. He chose the way he wanted to deal with this and it didn't do any good. So it's time we take control of this situation ourselves," Wufei said.

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Relena helped move Mariko to her bed. Tucking her in reminded Relena of the old days.

"I'm sorry for all of this," Relena said.

"Mom, you should really stop blaming yourself about everything that I do. If you do then your going to be really disappointed."

Relena smiled. "I'm sorry, it's just that... your all I have left and I don't plan on losing you."

"I plan on being here for a while. Mom, you were in here earlier, right?"

"Yes, I held your hand, praying you were okay."

"When did the others get here though."

"Probably a half hour before you got up, why?"

"Huh, nothing. It's just that I felt... never mind."

Relena looked at Mariko oddly. She kissed Mariko on the forehead. "I'm going to go say goodbye to the others, I'll be back in a minute."

Relena left, shutting the door. Mariko could have sworn that someone was in the room at that time, watching her, someone familiar. She couldn't understand it. She wasn't going to try to rack her brain to figure out the answer. She shut her eyes and fell asleep.

He sat on the roof of the building, watching the room from a pair of binoculars. Heero Yuy watched his daughter fall asleep, being the ever-watchful father he was.

*Disclaimers apply