The Mermaids Scar…Gundam Style
Chapter 2
AnimeCat: I was hoping for a bigger turnout of readers…whatever… Lets just hope for some nice reviews this time, k? ^_^
K, Mariemaia's mom is Lady Une. Relena makes her appearance in this chapter.
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Relena looked up at the mansion. She sighed happily. It so nice that Miss Une's daughter had come to stay with her… It wasn't so quiet in the big house anymore, and now Relena had two jobs.
Relena smiled as she walked up the steps to the house. Her salary as housekeeper had already been enough as it was, and Miss Une had been kind enough to increase it so that Relena took care of Mariemaia. What a darling child!!
She came up to the, unlocked it and went inside. It was still early…time to make breakfast before anyone got up. She stepped inside, leaving her coat and things by the door. She heard someone come down the stairs. Relena turned around and saw Mariemaia smiling on the steps from the second floor.
"Good morning, Mary-M, what are you doing up so early?" She said fondly.
"I wanted to see you when you came in this morning. You always come so early, Miss Relena." Mariemaia said playfully, coming down the steps.
Relena beamed. Mariemaia had apparently been up for a while, her hair was brushed and she was already dressed. "That's very nice of you." Relena said pleasantly. "You can help me with breakfast…how does that sound?"
"Great!" Mariemaia smiled.
"Why don't you go wake your mother…oh," Relena stopped, looking at the flight of stairs. Une was already awake, as well. She stood there, watching them. Relena felt a small chill go down her spine. "Good morning, Miss Une!" She called.
"Morning," Une responded rigidly.
Relena noticed that Mariemaia had taken tight hold of her hand. She looked down, and saw Mariemaia watching Une with terrified eyes. "Mary-M?" Relena whispered. Mariemaia shuddered and raced behind Relena. Confused, Relena looked back up to Une.
Une's eyes narrowed coldly. "Mariemaia…" She said with a forced tone, "Mariemaia…come here…"
Relena shivered as the chill came again and Mariemaia whimpered softly.
What's going on here??
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Duo examined the cup again, the tea filter, and hot water. Uhhh…. He thought, Now what? He wanted to call it quits but he wanted Heero to be happy he was learning something…
This looks easy enough… He put the tea filter in the cup and poured in the hot water.
"What are you doing?!" His boss's voice rang out.
Damn.
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"I know you said he couldn't do construction but is he so helpless he can't make tea???" Duo's boss snapped. Heero sighed, keeping his gaze to the floor in a submissive gesture.
"I'm very sorry…he's lived a very sheltered life." Heero mumbled.
"What's his problem?" Duo asked loudly from behind him. Heero silenced him.
"Duo!!" He squeaked.
"Okay, okay. But it better not happen again!" The old man said in an annoyed tone. Heero had a hard time keeping a straight face as he stared at the man with the gigantic mushroom for hair…
"Yes, sir." Heero said honestly. Duo went back to work, Heero sighed as Duo shoved all sorts of food into each container to store. Looks like that egg won't be of much use tomorrow….
The old man peered out a window and saw a young woman with a small child walking down the road.
"Who is that?" Heero asked, looking as well.
"Daughter of a friend of mine. She works as housekeeper for the Une woman on the bluff."
"Oh," Heero nodded. The man went outside to greet the young woman and Heero followed, gesturing to Duo.
"Hello, Relena!" The man said. "How are things?"
Relena came closer, smiling, the young girl hanging back a few steps nervously.
"Very well, thank you." Relena said politely, pulling Mariemaia closer.
"Is this Une's daughter?"
Relena nodded, smiling. "Say hello to my father's friend, Mary-M." She said to Mariemaia. Mariemaia hesitantly whispered a greeting. "This is Mariemaia," she introduced the small girl.
Heero widened his eyes. "Look, Duo," He said, "Isn't that the little girl from the train?"
Duo examined her. "Yeah," Duo agreed, "It is."
Heero came closer and knelt to Mariemaia. "Remember me from the train a few weeks ago?"
Mariemaia studied his face for a moment before nodding. "Yes I do."
"Do you like it now that you're living with your mother?"
Mariemaia paused, and Heero noticed a cold fear sweep through her eyes before blinking it away. "Yes," She said softly, "its nice living with my Momma now…"
"That's nice." Heero said and stood back up.
"We'd better be going, now…" Relena said, looking at her watch. Relena took Mariemaia's hand and prepared to lead her away.
"It's nice seeing you again, Mariemaia!" Duo said before they walked off, Relena saying goodbye to his boss.
"Nice seeing you too, boys!" Mariemaia chirped.
"Cute kid." Heero commented lightly. Duo's boss laughed hoarsely.
"She may seem all cute, but I hear she hardly even speaks to her mother." He said. "Then again that woman always was strange…especially that one time…"
"What do you mean?" Heero asked, as Duo glanced about, listening but not obviously.
The old man, G, scoffed. "Don't even get me started on that." He said. "She came her about 11 months ago, like a breeze. No past or anything that we know of, she hardly spoke to anyone. Then the war general that lived on the bluff took her in, maybe pity of something and she stayed with him for quite a while.
"One day they're out boating on some yacht of his, and something happened and the whole damn thing exploded."
Heero gasped. "What happened?"
"The man died instantly, and she was supposed to die sometime later. The Coast Guard dragged her in, covered with burns from head to toe but the next day she woke up! And a week later, she walked out of the hospital without a scratch!!"
Heero's pulse quickened. Could it be? Could this Une lady…could she possibly be one of us?
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Relena made the finishing touches on the dinner she'd prepared, and Mariemaia was hanging in through the door, inhaling deeply.
"That smells delicious, Miss Relena…is it almost done?" She asked eagerly. Relena smiled.
"It's done, go call your mother down and we can eat."
A dark, unreadable expression crossed her face. "All right…" She sighed. The door swung shut and Mariemaia made her way up the stairs and to her mother's room, her heart pounding.
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Une narrowed her eyes at the sight of the long scar still etched into her skin across her heart. Why isn't it going away?? It's supposed to go away like all the others!
"This scar won't go away…" She whispered coldly. I need more!! Where is she hiding it?? When she sees this she'll not want to give me more!! She'll replace me because it's easier!
Une looked out the corner of her eyes.
Mariemaia stood terrified in her doorway.
"Momma…dinner…" Mariemaia whispered. Une's hand shakily shot out onto her vanity table, catching hold of a large pair of scissors. Mariemaia took a step back, her eyes widening.
Une stood slowly, bringing the scissors in front of her. "Where is it?" She whispered. Mariemaia took another step backward, her jaw trembling. "Where did you hide it??"
Une leaped toward her daughter, holding the scissors high above her head….then brought them down.
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