Canta Per Me
Episode Seven: Kiss of Death (Part Three)
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Noir. I own Meia Krane, and this story. Please use with permission. ^_^
Author's Note: I've been thinking back to my older works in Gundam Wing. My favorite stories are in the Fushigi Yuugi area because I took things that I didn't like in the plot and made it my own. Gundam Wing is just right the way it was, and I couldn't have been happier. I've reviewed episode nine of Noir to do a great job on this finale of the Mafia Trilogy. Has anyone figured out who's come back to Earth after a five year absence? As I have said before there are a lot of mysteries that haven't revealed themselves in the plot. This isn't the only fic I'm working on. I'm also working on a Fushigi Yuugi fic, but I'm ahead in that, while I'm barely keeping up with this. Besides, I needed a little break from the Fushigi Yuugi world. I've also got incomplete fics in other areas, but they can wait. I seem to have some regular readers for this story. And some of you are wondering where to get Noir…well they are only available as fansubs for now. I'm eagerly awaiting episode thirteen just as some of you are waiting for more episodes from me. The memories I have here from Relena's past have nothing to do with the other work known as Nightmares. This series is separated from all the rest.
* * * * * *
"NOIR.
The word
designates the name of destiny from a distant time.
The two Virgo
reign over death.
May the Black hands
over the green field…
Please protect the newly born peace."
- opening from the anime, Noir.
Sicily, Italy
The private plane that Dona Cora Salvano came on finally touched down on the runway of an air strip near the Mediterranean Sea. The three remaining Archangels: Michelangelo, Uriel, and Gabriel. Rafael's body was returned home to Sicily for a proper burial.
"Thank you, Dona Salvano, for bring Rafael to be buried in Sicilian soil," said Michelangelo gravely. She nodded slightly.
"But, why did you also return to Sicily, Dona Salvano?" asked Gabriel.
"I want it to be finished here," answered Cora enigmatically.
* * *
Meia and Relena were standing over a cliff that over looked the sea. The wind whipped through their hair as they stood there. Meia took out the pocket watch from her pocket and opened it. Adding the atmosphere, the haunting melody played. Relena looked at Meia with sad eyes. The watch brought back memories of a past that she thought that she had forgotten another lifetime ago.
"Do you know why I have to know where you got that?" asked Relena quietly, and Meia shook her head. "I was about two years old when the Sank Kingdom was destroyed. That's the song that I heard the day that they killed my parents. I came down the corridor and heard the shots. I saw my father cover my mother to protect her, but…the bullets went through his body and killed her anyway. I just stood there, looking at them. The men who killed my parents were prepared to do the same thing to me. My brother pulled me out of the doorway before the bullets were even fired, and we ran for a pass way out of the castle. Millardo carried me all the way through the night because I was too little to keep up with him. When the Darlians came, he said, 'Forget about me, Relena. It's better that you forget everything. You'll be happier. At least one of us will be.'" Relena finished in a whisper. There was no emotion in her tone or manner.
"You have a brother?" asked Meia with interest because she had no family of her own.
"Yes…I had a brother. He died five years ago," answered Relena giving Meia the impression that she didn't want to discuss the matter any further. They stood there looking out at the sea in total silence.
* * *
Paris, France
"What do you mean no one knows where my sister is?" demanded Zechs Marquise. He had been known by his Preventer codename, Wind, for the past five years. Instead of any of his other names. He wasn't happy to hear that no one knew where Relena was.
"It's just that. We don't know where Relena," answered Heero emotionlessly.
"That's not a good enough answer, Yuy!" shouted back Zechs.
"That's all the answer I can give you. It's no longer my job to know where Relena is," said Heero in a steady voice.
"We can try to call her, Zechs. I'll try to call her," said Noin, hoping to appease his anger. She reached for the phone and quickly dialed Relena's portable and waited. Zechs glared at Heero who just looked at him plainly.
"Hello, this is Relena Darlian. I'm not here right now…or I just don't feel like picking up. Please leave a message, and maybe I'll get back to you," said the recording in Relena's voice.
"Um…hello..Relena. This is Lucrezia Noin. Please call me back as soon as you get this message. I just want to know how you were," said Noin. She hung up and looked at Heero and Zechs.
"Relena's not going to return that call. She never does. Maybe, if he did it she might actually call back," said Heero as he pointed to Zechs.
* * *
Sicily, Italy, Fifteen Years Ago
Relena
stood there looking at Cora as she drew out her dagger. "With that crown of
flowers, you should be braver, Relena," said Cora. Without any further warning, Cora came charging at her with incredible
speed. Relena stood there with her eyes
opened wide and her little body trembled. The dagger came at her.
Then all
was still, the only thing that had been cut was the crown of flowers from her
head. Relena stood there and Cora was
still in the same position she was in after she charged Relena with the
dagger. The flowers fell on the green
grass…time stood still.
Meia saw that Relena was off somewhere far way or in another time entirely. She stood there looking over the edge of the cliff. There was the sound of seagulls circling the sky. "Lena…" started Meia.
"Go back to the hotel, Meia. I'll meet you back there," said Relena quietly. She just wanted to be alone for a moment.
* * *
Cora talked to an old priest in an old church that looked like an old fashioned mission. "What does this mean?" asked Cora as she handed him a piece of paper to read. His old eyes focused and widened as he read the contract.
"This is an old contract. And this is proof that your family is one of the oldest in the Mafia, Dona. The date on this contract means that it was made two hundred years after the formation of the Mafia. That is all I know. Do you want my advice, Dona Salvano?" asked the old priest.
"Thank you for telling what this means. It's a rather old contract. And I'm always open to any wisdom you are will to part with, Padre," said Dona Cora with a smile.
"Do not pursue this matter, Dona Salvano. You have been given another chance and have received pardon for your sins. Leave this be," the old priest told her.
"Our Lord, our God would say that the truth must always be pursued at all costs," said Dona Salvano.
"Very well," said the priest as he closed his eyes. Dona Salvano left after that and was picked up by a sedan with black colored windows. The three Archangels picked her up. It was the middle of the day, and everything looked so nice from the windows.
"The contract was made two hundred years after the formation of the Family," said Dona Salvano.
"I heard the history of Noir is older that the Mafia itself. The Mafia was first created when the land mangers had too much power and abused the people. Noir is part of the dark history of Europe," said Michelangelo.
"But, why would Noir come after us?" asked Uriel who was driving the car.
"There's no way of knowing. No one knows how or why Noir works," said Gabriel.
"How fascinating," commented Dona Cora Salvano.
* * *
Relena stood there alone near the edge of the cliff. The wind had died down, and she was ready to go back to the hotel. She saw a path that lead to another covered bridge towards the hotel that they were staying at. Relena froze in her place when she saw who was waiting for her.
"You—you.." stammered Relena as she backed away from Cora Salvano.
"The daughter of the Darlians. Or rather the Peacecrafts. No…it's neither. You're something else entirely. The sword known as Noir," said Cora with a smile on her face. "You were trembling then…fifteen years ago…you're still trembling right now," she added.
"Once. We only met once before the compound. How could you still know me?" gasped Relena as she edged away further away from Cora.
"The moonlight shined through. It reveals the things in the shadows, Relena," said Cora, coming closer to Relena.
Relena stood still out of sheer fear, and with a sudden movement, Cora grabbed her and pulled her closer. Cora's lips met Relena's, and they shared a short closed mouth kiss. Cora broke the kiss, and Relena gasped, "The kiss of death…"
"You know what that means, Relena," said Cora. Anger rose in Relena with her loose hand she attempted to hit Cora, but she was stopped by Cora's other hand. Her grip was tight. "Come to the ruins on the hill where the fallen pillars are before sundown," she said letting go of Relena's arms. Relena looked back at her with strengthen resolved as Cora walked off, but she paused slightly and looked over the edge of the bridge. When she was gone, Meia stepped out of the bushes over the edge of the bridge.
"I thought you went back to the hotel," said Relena quietly.
"Intocabile…" whispered Meia as she looked Relena straight in the eye.
* * *
Paris, France
Zechs Marquise was pacing up and down his new flat in Paris wondering where Relena was. He had always known where his sister was because he protected her from the shadows, and had Mr. Darlian report any thing about his sister. That was the one of the reasons why he had decided to no longer do deep space missions. Noin visited Zechs whenever she could in space, and that was why she didn't visit his grave in cemetery in Paris. Noin watched as he paced.
"Zechs…you're making me dizzy. Stop," said Noin gently.
"Why isn't she answering you back?" he asked as he continued pacing.
"Give her some time, Zechs. She's probably working right now. Just because she's no longer the Vice Minister doesn't mean that she's not working anymore. She's got a life that's all her own away from everyone else. It was her decision to make. Things were so bad for Relena ever since Operation Meteor began that she doesn't want to be around reminders of that time. Think about it, Zechs. She lost her father, Mr. Darlian, only to find out that she's not even his real daughter, so she lost that family, along with your parents. And then you…" said Noin.
He halted in his tracks when Noin was talking. Was she right? Did Relena cut everyone out because she didn't want to remember anything? He remembered what he had told her when he was six years old. Maybe, this was all a big mistake.
* * *
Sicily, Italy
Cora looked around the ruins with the fallen pillars around it. It was centuries old even before the Mafia. The three Archangels watched as she surveyed the area where she was supposed to meet Relena. "Is this the place?" asked Uriel.
"Yes. This is the same place where I killed my father," said Cora.
"Intocabile!" said Gabriel with a certain amount of adoration because she truly was unstoppable.
"Go now," ordered Cora with a slight smile.
"May this ground be bless with the blood of our enemies," said Michelangelo as he followed the other men to wait in the other structure. Cora waited.
Relena and Meia were in front of the old structure that lead to the ruins with the pillars. They stood at the entrance looking at each other. They both nodded at the same time, and they turned around and took off running in opposite directions without saying a word. Relena ran for where the ruins were by taking broken corridors what were exposed to the open air. Meia's part was to take out the remaining Archangels.
Michelangelo was waiting for Meia in the dark corridor that was filled with broken rumble. The structure was destroyed during the wars, but no one had decided to rebuild it. Meanwhile, Gabriel was waiting in another part leaning against the wall smoking cigarettes. There were several cigarette butts on the floor in front of him. In the tower's lower level, Uriel was waiting. She sped into the dark corridor carefully to avoid making a sound, but it was impossible. Michelangelo smiled when he heard her coming, and he prepared his semi-automatic double barreled gun. Meia hid behind one of the large marble pillars knowing that someone was nearby. Michelangelo started to fire his gun, which was more like a miniaturized bazooka, the bullets took out the upper part of the pillar causing rumble to almost fall on Meia's head. Gabriel came out on Meia's other side with a smaller semi-automatic machine gun and proceed to fire. Meia tumbled away just in time because Michelangelo fired and accidentally hit Gabriel. His eyes widened in horror at what he had done, and he rushed to Gabriel's side. Meia took that as way to get out, clutching her upper arm because she was grazed by the bullets that Gabriel had fired.
"Gabriel…I'm so sorry. I'll help you right now," said Michelangelo as he fumbled around for his cell phone to call for help.
"No…don't do that. This isn't your fault. Take out Noir. That will be enough for me," gasped Gabriel as he died.
"Noir," said Michelangelo after his comrade died. He had to take out Noir, so he took off in fast pursuit. He took the route that he saw Meia take. The route lead to the entrance of the ancient aqueducts that the Romans built over two millennium ago. The old system was still operating, and there was water flowing through. Meia hid herself behind one of the mini, artificial waterfall, and she attempted to hold her gun with her right hand. However, she was in pain and dropped the gun as she winced in pain. Michelangelo heard where that sound of the gun hitting the ground. He smiled as he looked around; the sound was barely audible because of the rushing water all around them. He heard a shot fired from somewhere. He smirked and looked down.
There was a bullet hole in his torso, and his body crumpled into the water. A silhouette emerged from the sheet of rushing water right in front of Michelangelo's body. Meia looked at the body that was tainting the water red and simply stepped over the body to go look for the final Archangel. She made a makeshift bandage for her arm. The final Archangel, Uriel, was waiting for Meia at the entrance just before the ruins that Relena was supposed to go to. It required a short walk up a slope, but Relena went the another way knowing that Uriel was there. Uriel saw her and started to fire with his machine gun. Meia took off running up the crumbling wooden stairs to the top of the tower. Uriel fired shooting up each step that she took and he started to go up another way because there were two sets of steps that met at the top. He continued to shot wildly causing dust to go up into the air creating a misting effect. Uriel stopped when he realized that Meia was no longer on the stairs at all. He looked around because it would have been impossible for Meia to get away without him noticing. Suddenly, a rope came from the air to which Meia had suspended herself with her left ankle. "Aaaaaahaa!" screamed Uriel as Meia shot him when she came traveling down. He fell off the stairs and landed on the hard dirty ground below them. Meia remained dangled upside down from the ceiling of the tower.
Relena moved quietly as she walked on the green grass on an incline. She stopped at the top of where the ruins were. There was a set of short stairs that she took down to a stone floor that was surrounded by some standing pillars and fallen ones as well. She came down the stairs and froze when Cora Salvano emerged from the shadow of one of the few standing complete pillars.
"I've been waiting for you, Relena. It's almost sunset, but I knew that you would come," said Cora who appeared to have no weapons on her.
Relena held up her gun with a slight tremble as she looked at Cora. Her face was twisted with some emotion that was a mixture of fear and anger. Cora looked at her. "You're trembling again," said Cora.
"This ends now," said Relena with a surprisingly calm voice. Her hand steadied finally as she glared at Cora.
"We having a saying in Sicily…'Revenge is the best forgiveness,'" said Cora as she drew out her wide dagger without warning, throwing down the sheath, and charged at Relena. Relena's fear over took her, and she couldn't stop Cora.
"LENA!" shouted a voice in the distance followed by a gunshot. Relena dropped her gun when Cora grabbed her other hand to make room for her dagger to go into Relena's torso. Relena's face distorted in horror as Cora drove the dagger into her stomach, and she slumped slightly. Cora smirked as she continued to hold Relena's body.
In the distant, Meia had called for Relena. Her gun was raised with her right hand being supported by left hand. There was smoke coming out of the barrel. Finally, the pain over took Meia, and she relax her grip letting her hands fall to her side. Relena looked the down to her stomach as Cora pulled away from her. The half the dagger was shot off by Meia's bullet. The tip was on the stone ground across from Relena's gun. Cora and Relena looked at each other for a moment and dove for the ground. Relena tumbled over to the dagger tip because it was closer to her. Cora picked up Relena's gun. They pointed the weapons at each other.
Cora smiled because she had the gun, but Relena didn't look afraid of her anymore. "Aaaaah!" shouted Relena in a fury as she charged Cora with the dagger tip. Cora's hand let go of the gun because Relena had stabbed her in the chest. She fell on the ground in the same spot that her father's body had landed before seven years ago.
* * *
Paris, France
Heero also wondered where Relena was because she had been gone from her apartment for a solid week. He decided to do some poking around without telling Zechs. He knew that Zechs would want to know where Relena was if he could find out anything. And maybe, Heero would tell him if he found anything. There were no records of any plane tickets to go anywhere, not even the Colonies. Heero decided to do some other hacking into bank accounts and found that no money was taken out 'Where was she?' thought Heero.
* * *
Sicily, Italy
Cora Salvano landed on the ground dying from the fatal wound that Relena had inflicted on her. She took a piece of paper out of the pocket of her long skirts. "You do want this, don't you?" asked Cora as she offered it to Relena.
Relene was sitting away from her with her side to Cora. She looked far off into the distance as she still clutched the dagger tip with Cora's blood. Relena had also cut herself on the dagger tip because she was holding it tightly. "What is it?" asked Meia who had joined them on the stone floor.
"It's the contract for the Salvanos," answered Cora with a slight smile. "Why do you want this?" she asked.
"Because I want to know who killed my parents. I need it to finish this," answered Relena without looking at Cora.
"Your parents? Very well. I understand. I offer this to you, Princess Relena Peacecraft of the Sank Kingdom," said Cora in the same fashion she did when she offered the crown of flowers fifteen years ago. She held up the piece of paper that was free of blood, but Relena didn't turn around to get it. Meia took it from Cora's hands. "A member of the Sank Kingdom as Noir. How appropiate…" whispered Cora as she died when the sun went down into the Mediterranean Sea.
* * *
Paris, France. Twenty-four hours later.
Relena was sitting at the billiard table looking at her portable as she listened to the two messages that were left for her. She finally decided to answer back one of them, "Hello, Noin. This is Relena. I'm back in Paris…and I'm fine," said Relena as she left a message for Noin on the phone. She closed the connection and placed the portable on the table. Meia looked at her and then back out the window. There was a breeze coming in through the only opened window.
"Mafia was made to protect the people. Who would hire Noir to take them out?" said Relena out loud as she placed her hands behind her hand. Her bandaged right hand went over her left hand as she leaned back in her chair. The breeze came into the room and blew over the contract on the table that was written in Latin. A dagger tip was on top of it acting as a paper weight.
Next Episode, Episode Eight: A Day at the Park