y2


two

Relena sat at her desk in the basement, doodling notes on a large yellow notepad. She'd logged quotes and arguments she and Wufei had taken part in to better understand what the unified world nation might be thinking. Then there was the Terra Forming Project that she still had to reason out. Of course, her brother had mainly taken over, and the idea of making more colonies was a bit ludicrous. Mariemaya had been right about the endless waltz. War never really ends, and it wouldn't help at all if there were going to be more colonies to vie for power and equality.
Perhaps another Monroe Doctrine should be made, she thought, scrawling a circle in black ink. Just to keep something like the Eve Wars from ever happening again.
The house was still and silent, and she missed the company her dog, Gloria, had given her. Relena rubbed the back of her neck and switched off the desk lamp to surrender. She padded up the stairs and flipped off the light. Then locked the door and returned the key to its hiding place in a cut out along the top of the door frame molding. The grandfather clock in the hall ticked and tocked on its escapement, the hour hand nearing twelve.
Midnight already. Time flies. She went into the kitchen and snagged a small bunch of grapes from the refrigerator.
She stretched with a cascade of pops in her back and tossed the bare grape branch into the trash can as she passed. Feeling more tired than the day before, she switched off all the lights and went upstairs. The hallway was empty, sadly, and she had no trouble with the rugs as she usually did with Gloria. It was a trade she wished was still taking place. After brushing her teeth and brushing her hair, Relena peered out of her window, and opened it to the cool night wind, not caring about the rain that sneaked in along with it. She sat on the sill and listened as the rain tapped against the shingle roof with a small smile curling on her lips. The lights dimmed, with the rest of the complex completely shut down, Relena didn't even know that sleep had hit her when she closed her eyes.

Rushing water in her ears woke her up, and she couldn't see what was going on when she touched ground to earth. The window was still open, but she wasn't on the sill anymore. She was leaned up against the wall next to it, covered with a throw from the armchair nearby. Her heart thumped like a drum in her chest when the sound, like that of the tub being filled, stopped. An intruder was in her home. It wasn't the first time someone had wanted to do such a thing, but this time it was seriously fatal, she could almost smell the danger. It took only fleeting, well prepared seconds for her to recompose herself and lower her breathing.
A human form took shape in the door way and approached her. She was scooped up easily and carried into the nearby bathroom without the stranger knowing she was awake. The next thing she knew and she was in the tub surrounded by cold water, being held beneath the surface by two strong arms. Her eyes shot open through the water to see a face distorted by the rippling water as she thrashed. Intense cold from the water and from the cast iron, porcelain coated claw foot tub sent unaided shivers through her spine. Those unrelenting arms and unrecognizable features still there, Relena's lungs burned. It only took a few more agonizing moments for her to stop moving, barely hanging on to the final shreds of oxygen left in her.
She gave up and involuntarily sucked in the water, her fingernails digging into the leather gloves of the attacker. But suddenly, the same arms dragged her out of the water quickly and spread her out on the floor. Relena choked and gagged, cringing onto her stomach and coughing for the love of God to get air back where it belonged. When she'd hacked it all up, she collapsed onto the tile floor and found the face of the intruder. He was standing at the doorjamb, his eyes not registering much more than a bit of shock. Relena shuddered and shrank away, pulling herself into a ball in the corner, lodged behind the tub with anger boiling in her veins.