Canta Per Me

Canta Per Me

Episode Fourteen: A Visit Home

Disclaimer: I've told you numerous times: I don't own Gundam Wing and Noir.  I own this story.  Use with permission.

Author's Note: The last chapter was pretty heavy.  Actually, it's pretty heavy almost all the way for this story.  I have to say this has become my favorite Gundam Wing fic out of the three total that I've done.  I don't use Endless Waltz for this fic, but as you can see there is reference to it.  I use the stuff that Endless Waltz covers as the pasts of the Gundam pilots.  Heero was affected by the little girl dying with her little dog in Endless Waltz, so I came up with the fact that Meia would be around the little girl's age; he would have been fourteen, and she would seven years old.  Even with his memories purged of Meia, he would still have the feelings of loss; and in a sense he felt like he killed her.  If you've noticed they don't seem to know each other.  Meia is like a soulless doll.  Perhaps, the damage done to her is more extensive than what was done to Heero.  Relena's got her work cut out for her.  This story is now official gone for the Noir plot line more or less.  I've already seen up to episode eighteen of Noir.  This episode is a little slow going because of the intensity of the last episode.  Essentially, both Heero and Relena pay visits home. http://www.gundamw.net/ is yet another good resource site.  ^_^  By the way, my French is lousy, so don't sue me.  :P

*          *          *          *          *          *

"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.

London, England

            "Hello," said a familiar voice at the video phone for Duo.  It was Professor G.  The one who had created the Deathscythe and the Deathscythe Hell; the expert on sheath technology.  The familiar figure with his mushroom shaped hair and pointy nose was right in front of Duo's screen; he was the same person who had encouraged him to steal Deathscythe when they found out what the true purpose of Operation Meteor was.  Duo regarded this man as sort of a parent.

            "Professor G?  It's been so long since I've heard from—" said Duo in surprise.

            "No.  I don't want to talk to you, Duo.  I need to talk to Heero," interrupted Professor G. 

            "I'm hurt.  I'm really hurt," said Duo with a pout. 

            "What is it?" asked Heero who was standing behind Duo.  Duo allowed him to go in front of him. 

            "We haven't heard from Doctor J in the pass three days.  He cut communications.  We can't even get a signal into his lab, so we thought that you would like to see what happened to him," said Professor G. By "we", he meant all the other Gundam creators.  They maintained a network to keep track of each other, not that they were building any more mobile suits.  Heero merely nodded, which Professor G did as well. 

            "Well, that's it.  Goodbye, Duo," said Professor G with a slight smile as he looked at Duo.  He truly was his pride and joy. 

            "I'm not talking to you," said Duo, whose feelings were still slightly hurt.  Professor G let out a small laugh as he finally closed the connection.  Heero was putting on his Preventer's jacket.  "Are you going to L1?" asked Duo, looking up at him from his chair.

            "Yes," said Heero as he finally left the office to go to the shuttle port to take the next available flight to L1.

*          *          *

            Relena looked around her old room in the Darlian house in London; it had been so long since she had last visited home.  Mrs. Darlian was downstairs, while Meia was in one of the guest rooms.  Two days ago, Relena had carried a contract for Dr. J.  She wanted to get away from Paris before the news actually caught up with the Preventers.  Little did Relena know that going home to visit her mother would cause the Preventers some relief as to the worry of her safety.  They weren't going to be monitoring her activities as much.  Mrs. Darlian took a liking to Meia, but she wasn't sure as to why.  Relena was slowly going from partner to older sister/guardian to Meia.  She knew that Dr. J trusted her to help Meia, and she was going to keep her promise.  She thought that a visit home would be nice for Meia.  She came back down from her room after she had good look around.  There were pictures of her parents, the Darlians, and the teddy bear that Heero given to her for her birthday on the dresser.  Heero.  She was now thinking of him in terms of Meia.  Did he really remember nothing about her?  Heero and Meia were close enough to be declared siblings.  Relena shook her head because the thought of siblings immediately brought thoughts of Millardo to her mind, so she decided to come back downstairs.

            "Relena, it's been so long since you've even called me," declared Mrs. Darlian. 

            "I'm sorry.  I've been busy," said Relena sheepishly.  Mrs. Darlian, like everyone else, was unaware of Relena's true occupation as Noir.  She was, however, aware that there was more going on inside Relena more than anyone.  Mrs. Darlian could tell that Relena was hiding something, and it was something dangerous.  She wasn't ignoring it, but she didn't pry either. 

            "I understand.  You seem so busy, just like your father," remarked Mrs. Darlian.  She and Relena knew the truth about her adoption, but Relena insisted that the Darlians were her parents, and not the Peacecrafts.  Relena liked it whenever someone told her that she looked like Mrs. Darlian, or when Mrs. Darlian simply forgot that Relena was adopted; it made Relena feel secure and loved that Mrs. Darlian could complete forget that there wasn't a biological bond between them.  There was a bond of love that couldn't be broken.   

            "Yes…but I don't do the work that Father did, Mother.  Are you disappointed that I quit?" asked Relena frankly with her hands in fist on her lap. 

            "No…you had to find your own path in life.  It's hard work.  Dangerous work.  I'm not disappointed.  Nothing you could possibly do could disappoint me, Relena," said Mrs. Darlian in a very tender tone that she only reserved for her daughter.  Relena knew that she was talking about how her father was assassinated by Lady Une. 

            "Nothing," whispered Relena.  She looked up to see that Meia had come downstairs.

            "Tell me, how did you two meet?" asked Mrs. Darlian as she smiled at Meia.

            "She found me," said Relena with a smile.  Meia nodded in agreement.  'She's a quiet one.  Relena seems to be very protective of her,' thought Mrs. Darlian.  "I needed an assistant, and Meia was willing to travel with me," added Relena. 

            "Well, Meia, I hope that I can make you feel at home here.  It's so rarely that Relena visits, and it's a treat that she came.  It's also wonderful of her to bring someone else, too," said Mrs. Darlian with a welcoming smile. 

            Meia gave her a small smile. 

*          *          *

            "So, Heero went to L1," said Quatre.

            "Yeah, Professor G told him that Dr. J hasn't called in a few days," said Duo.

            "I wonder what happened to him," said Trowa in a quiet tone.

            "What about Relena?  She went home to London to visit her mother, and I think she took that strange girl with her," said Wufei.

            "You mean, Meia Krane?" asked Quatre.  Wufei nodded.  "Yes, she does seem a bit strange, yet familiar somehow," added Quatre.

            "I know what you mean.  It's like she lifeless," said Trowa.  The others looked at him. 

            "You mean like she has no emotions," intoned Duo. 

            "Relena seems awfully protective of her.  Like she's afraid someone's going to hurt Meia.  It doesn't make any sense…I mean they don't have a boss-assistant relationship," observed Quatre.  That was the first thing that Quatre noticed about Meia and Relena. 

            "Yeah, Meia calls Relena, 'Lena,'" said Duo.

            "That means that they're really close," said Trowa. 

            "I don't think Heero or Zechs is going to give up until they find out what she's really up to.  I feel bad.  I mean we know that her brother is alive, but we're lying about it," said Quatre.

            "Relena's stronger than she ever was during the war," said Wufei. 

*          *          *

            Relena and Meia weren't just in London for a visit with Mrs. Darlian.  They were also there for business. The contract was for an ambassador who was from the Colonies.  He was a member of the Society of Night, and Relena wanted to take him out.  His name was Thomas Riley.  However, Relena received an interesting message in her e-mail from one of her regular contacts, Jack.  That was the only name she knew to call him because he had worked for the United States' Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia.  Jack had been one of the deep cover agents for Earth during the war, but when it was over, he quit.  Relena was always the one who looked for him, and it wasn't usually the other way around.  Whatever he needed to see her for, it had to be important.  Jack told her to meet her at a pub in downtown London, The Lion and the Golden Ring. 

            Meia came along with Relena as they entered a very crowded pub.  She looked around to see people playing darts and drinking ale.  Relena cut through the crowd to get to a table.  "Sit here, but don't touch anything," said Relena with a smile as she set off to go and look for Jack.  She looked around the pub looking for something specific, and then she heard Jack's distinctive voice.  He was from the Southern United States, specifically from Cajun Country near New Orleans in Louisiana.  She found the tall, sandy haired American with a pool cue in his hand at a pool table.  She knew that he would be there.  He was an avid pool player, but Relena was a better pool player than him. 

            "You're a pool shark," accused another man with a Cockney accent as he threw the pool cue to the floor.

            "Are you accusing me of cheating, my friend?  Please, I'm above that sort of thing," said Jack with a smile and had a twinkle in his light blue eyes.  Relena shook her head because she thought that he had reformed after Relena had took him for over $5,000.00 Dollars, American.  She went to another pool cue stand and grabbed a cue for herself.  She walked over, clearing her throat first, she said, "Jack…you haven't changed."

            "Lena Marquise?  It's been forever, moi cherie," said Jack with a laugh when he saw her.  He was around her brother's age, but he never told her how old he was, just like he never told her his real name.

            "You still don't know how to play pool properly.  I can still beat you blind folded," remarked Relena with a cocky smirk.

            "You're still has ballsy as ever, cherie.  And just as cocky.  Would you like to play a game?" asked Jack as he gave her a wonderful smile.  This was usually how their meetings went.  It was a playful game of verbal flirtation that never went anywhere beyond that.  Jack knew better; he knew that Relena could kill him if it suited her.  She was very beautiful to look at, but dangerous to even consider touching. 

            Relena nodded as she twirled the cue a little bit, "But, you break first.  I want to give a fair chance," she said flashing him a beautiful smile.

            "Since you're so kind, I'll take it," said Jack as he set up the game and did the first shot.  The balls spun in various directions.  He sank three balls on the first break. 

            "Why did you call me here?" asked Relena, wasting no time.

            "I thought that there was some information that you needed to know," said Jack as he missing the black eight ball.  He looked at Relena as she started to take her shot.  She sank the eight ball that he had miss along with another ball. 

            "What kind of information?" asked Relena with a raised eyebrow. 

            "You'll have to win the game first, cherie," said Jack with a flirtatious drawl in his accent. 

            "Is that what I get if I win?  What do you get?" asked Relena, playing along. 

            "Whatever I want," said Jack.

            "Fine, but we both know that I'll kick your ass," said Relena frankly.  Jack laughed at her statement because both of them knew that it was true.  Within five minutes, Relena flawlessly sank all the remaining balls on the table and smiled at Jack triumphantly.  "It's time to pay me," she said softly. 

            "The information I have is from the Preventers' Offices.  It seems that your activities are being watched, but you already knew that.  What you don't know is that L.U. brought in another agent whose been doing covert missions in the Colonies for the past few years.  He was working on the Mars Terraforming project.  But, he's back here on Earth, Paris," said Jack in a low voice. 

            "What does that have to do with me?  Who care if Lady Une brought in someone new?" asked Relena in an annoyed tone. 

            "You should. He's absolutely ruthless.  Come to think of it, just like you.  He's a real hatchet man.  He's called in when the job can't be done, and considering all the trouble you've caused the Preventers, it's no wonder they called him in, cherie," said Jack. 

            "I see," said Relena.  Jack rarely ever showed concern for her, but when he did it was always with good reason.  She looked at him straight in his eye, and he sighed.

            "You maybe the best in the business, cherie, but he could do a lot of damage to you before you take him out," said Jack.  He had no doubt about her skills. 

            "What's his name, Jack?" demanded Relena in a low tone that could barely be heard.

            "Look, Lena…maybe, I shouldn't tell you.  I don't think it's a good idea that you go after this guy," said Jack quietly.

            "His name?" demanded Relena again.

            "I don't know his real name.  The Preventer computers are good about keeping his identity a secret.  He's what one would call a ghost, and that's a term used for people who don't have identities or have had their identities wiped clean.  They never use his real name in the files, and there are no records of him really.  But, he does have a codename.  Wind.  That's his codename, Wind," said Jack with a sigh at the end.

            "Thank you," said Relena as she threw the pool cue to the stand; it landed perfectly into the slot.

            "You best be careful, cherie," said Jack as she walked off.

            "I will be," said Relena with a smile.

            "He could very well take you down," said Jack.

            "Not if I take him down first," said Relena.  Jack let out a laugh, as the man who he had beaten before Relena came, returned to talk to Jack.  He saw Relena walk off. His eyes followed her as she went back to the table to get Meia and leave the pub.

            "Don't even think about, my friend.  She maybe the most beautiful creature in the world, but she's like a rose with a thorns.  Don't touch her.  She's probably the most dangerous female in world," said Jack.

*          *          *

            Relena and Meia returned to the Darlian home.  Relena was quiet all the way back, and she didn't mention her conversation with Jack.  She and Meia were in Relena's childhood bedroom.  "Jack says that there's a Preventer agent who was brought in by Lady Une.  It seems that this agent is monitoring our activities.  Jack didn't even know his real name.  Just his codename, Wind," said Relena.

            "Wind," whispered Meia softly.  They had a contract to carry out tonight, but they were still waiting.  Relena was on the computer not only to look up information on the target, Thomas Riley, but to look up some information on Preventer Wind.  She believed Jack when he said that there was virtually no information on Wind's real name or any statistics on him.  She was looking for missions completed by Wind, and she found a wealth of them in the Preventers' mainframe and achieves.  She sighed because Wind's track record was perfect.  Meia had the guns ready for the evening.  As always, she used plastic gloves to load the bullets, so that there were no finger prints on them.  Relena set out her clothes for the evening.  There was a plan that they had to carry out the contract. 

            "We'll leave after dinner," said Relena as she went downstairs.  Meia stared after her.

*          *          *

L1

            Heero arrived to L1 rather early in the morning, but he decided to go straight to Dr. J's lab.  He didn't know why he had a strange, foreboding feeling inside, but he knew that he had to get to Dr. J.  The lab was large, but Heero got pass the lab's security protocols without any trouble because they were inactive.  Heero now knew for sure that there was something wrong.  Dr. J would never leave himself completely defenseless.  The lab was stark and sterile, but Heero walked until he got to Dr. J's study.  There he found Dr. J sitting in his armchair with two wine glasses in front of him.  The room was dark, but Heero could see that Dr. J wasn't breathing and that his sunglasses were on the floor.  Heero walked up to him cautiously.  There was a smell in the air that Heero could identify, but he wanted to be certain that he was right.

            "Dr. J," he said in a low voice.  He turned on the light to see why Dr. J wasn't responding.  His eyes widened slightly when he saw the stab wound behind Dr. J's neck.  Heero frowned.  Someone had killed Dr. J.  He took out his portable and made a call. 

*          *          *

London, England

            Relena wore a pair of black slacks with a black leather jacket that concealed her upper half.  She had her hair down in a sheen of lovely honey blonde locks.  She wore sunglasses that were small and oval shaped.  She had put the tracking device that was needed just behind her right ear.  She ran into the target, an elderly gentleman with a beard.  He looked like the grandfatherly type, but that was far from the truth.  Thomas Riley ruthlessly killed the people of an entire Resistance enclave during the war.  The enclave had men, women, and children.  A survivor from the enclave hired Noir to take him out. 

            "I'm so sorry.  I wasn't paying attention," said Relena in a soft voice.

            "It's quite all right," said Thomas Riley with a smile.  Relena touched the back of her neck near her right ear to pick up the tracking device.  It was very crowded hotel, and there were lots of witnesses. 

            "I should really pay much better attention.  Your tie is loose.  You really should look your best. Everyone should," said Relena with a smile as she adjusted Riley's tie.  She gently slipped the tracking device under his collar. 

            "Thank you, Miss, but that's not necessary," said Riley as he regained his composure, clearing his throat at the same time.  Relena simply walked passed him, when he turned to see which direction she had gone, she was no longer there.  It was as if she had simply vanished.  He shook the disconcerting feeling that she gave him and walked into the hotel. 

            Relena walked a little further off back to the little convertible sports car that her mother owned, which she borrowed for the evening.  She took out a hair clip and put up half her hair in a bun, leaving the rest of it loose.  She stripped off the jacket.  She was dressed like one of the waiters or waitresses of the party that evening.  She took out an in-ear monitor and placed it into her right ear.  The portable computer would be able to trace Riley's movement through out the hotel.  Meia simply had to take out Riley.  Relena had the harder task of taking out security and creating a distraction, so that the guests wouldn't be able to see.  They really didn't want to kill so many innocent people.  She decided to cut the power, thus turning off the lights in the entire hotel.  All she had to do was find the circuit breaker.  Relena walked in through the hotel's kitchen.  Most of the people ignored her because there was too much going on.  She found out that the circuit breaker was conveniently next to the security room.  She could take out security and just get out. 

            The box was rusted on the outside, but Relena was wearing white gloves that went with the waitress uniform that she was wearing.  She opened it with relative easy and started to play around with the switches moving them to off positions.  She stopped at the last switch that would turn on the generator. She closed the breaker and took out her gun complete with a silencer.  The door to the security room was promptly open, and she pressed her body against the wall.  The man walked over to where the circuit breaker was to see what the problem was, but he never got to the it because Relena shot him in the chest.  Relena stepped over his body and headed for the security room.  With the power off, the cameras weren't working.

            "Davidson, did you figure out what the problem was?" asked one of the security guards when Relena showed up at the door way.  She didn't need night vision goggles because she was trained to be able to shoot targets without seeing them directly.  She could hear the movements they made.  She shot all six of them in less than a minute.  After that, she left the hotel and returned to the car to wait for Meia to start.

            Meia came in through one of the side entrances, specifically through a fire escape with the power shut off, the alarms weren't going to sound off.  "He's in his room in the hotel on the third floor," said Relena's voice through her in-ear monitor.  Meia could see just fine in the dark as she moved towards Riley's room.  The tracking device that Relena had placed on him was working fine, and she was guiding Meia using her portable.  "Turn left when you get out of the fire escape," said Relena, knowing where Meia was.  Meia was also wearing a tracking device so that Relena could tell where her position was.  "Now, go down that corridor and turn right.  His door should be the third one on your left," said Relena.  Meia didn't say a word, but Relena knew that she was fine. 

            Riley was in his room wondering what had happened to the power.  He tried to call downstairs, but there was no answer because the line was busy.  Everyone was calling to see what had happened.  He frowned as he closed the phone, but then he heard a small sound.  The door opened, and he gasped because the door was locked.  Meia shot the lock to open the door.  She pointed her gun at his forehead and took her shot.  Riley never had a chance to even react.  Meia turned and walked out of the room back the way she came. 

            Meia got back to the car and nodded to Relena.  She got into the car, and they drove back to the Darlian house.

*          *          *

London, England: Preventers Office

            "Dr. J was dead when I got there.  I called the local authorities, but I still looked around myself.  There was no evidence as to who killed him.  Whomever did it, did it with care.  His death was quick and painless," said Heero in a monotone.  The other Gundam pilots looked serious.  Heero had returned to London very quickly after discovering Dr. J's body.

            "Who would do this?  I know that we have lots of enemies during the war, but why?" asked Quatre out loud.  All the other Gundam creators were informed of the death of Dr. J.

            "I'll tell you what I found in my autopsy report.  As best as I can tell, Dr. J's been dead for the past two days.  Like you said, Heero, his death was painless.  The stab wound was deep, so the dagger used was wide and very sharp," said Sally as she read her own report.

            "Do you think that the others are in danger?" asked Duo with concern for Professor G.

            "I don't know for sure," said Heero.  He was as monotone as ever, but there was something about his actions that made everyone a little jumpy.  He was angry and sad, but he wasn't expressing it openly. 

            "We just got a call from The Royal Hotel downtown.  There's a problem.  Someone shut off power to the hotel.  When the power came back on, they found the body of that ambassador from the Colonies, Thomas Riley," said Trowa quietly.  Everyone in the room looked up. 

            "An ambassador from the Colonies?  Aw, Hell man!" exclaimed Duo in alarm. 

            "Something else has come down from the wire.  Information on Riley.  I think we'd better look at this," said Wufei as he came in with a disk for the computer.  The Preventers got to work.

*          *          *

            Relena woke up the next morning to find her mother already waiting for her to have breakfast.  "Good morning, Relena," said Mrs. Darlian tenderly. 

            "Good morning, Mother," said Relena. 

            "I was wondering when you would get up.  You came home so late last night," said Mrs. Darlian with concern for her.  Relena knew that she was worried about her.  Relena walked up from behind and kissed her on the cheek   She placed her arms around her mother in an embrace.

            "I'm fine, Mother," Relena assured her.

            "I know that you are, Relena…it's just that you seem like you're…" trailed off Mrs. Darlian.

            "I'm what, Mother?" asked Relena.

            "You seem like your lost.  You look more lost now than when your father died," said Mrs. Darlian softly.  Relena stood up straight in surprise because she couldn't understand what her mother meant. 

            "I'm not lost, Mother.  I'm right here…it just took me a while to find myself," whispered Relena with her back to turned to her mother. She looked down at the counter and noticed the news.  The person who had hired Noir turned in all the information on Riley's war crimes, but there was no information as to who killed Riley.  The client wasn't even suspected of hiring an assassin.  Relena looked at the newspaper expressionlessly with her arms crossed over her chest.  Finally, she flipped over the newspaper, so that she wouldn't have to see it. 

*          *          *

            The Preventers had a long night, but Heero had the longest.  He had to arrange for Dr. J's burial.  According to his last will and testament, he said that all of his affairs were taken care of, and that he wanted to be buried in Kyoto.  Heero had to go and do it by himself because he wanted to do it alone.  Lady Une gave him time off without hesitation.  Heero set off the airport to get to Japan by the evening. 

            Relena and Meia were at the airport, so that they could returned to Paris quickly.  Relena was surprised to see him at the airport.  She walked over, while Meia was still talking with Mrs. Darlian who wanted to say that she wanted to see her again. 

            "Heero," said Relena quietly as she approached him.  He looked up at her from his chair in slight surprise.

            "Relena, what are you doing here?" asked Heero.

            "I came home for a visit to my mother's house in London," said Relena as she cast a look towards her mother and Meia.  Heero followed Relena's gaze and saw them also.  He looked at back at Relena.  She was dressed indigo blue jeans and a white long sleeved shirt.  Her hair was up in a bun.  How could anyone take such a casual look and turn it into a high fashion statement?

            "I'm going to Japan.  Kyoto," said Heero.

            "Why?" asked Relena.

            "To bury Dr. J.  He was killed by someone," replied Heero.  The expression on Relena's face didn't change.

            "Oh…" whispered Relena.

            "Where were you when Meia was alone in Paris?" asked Heero suddenly.

            "W-what?" stammered Relena. 

            "Where were you?" asked Heero as he stood up so that they were eye to eye.  His cold Prussian blue eyes looked directly into her violet eyes.  She didn't back down like she used to do before whenever he did that.  There was no fear in her eyes.

            "It's none of your business.  I don't have to answer to you.  I was out on business and that's all you need to know," said Relena in an icily tone.  Heero was a little taken back by the coldness he was met with.  There was a cold fury in her voice that Heero had only seen in Zechs.  He never expected it in her.  The announcement was made for the flight to Paris.  She stepped back away from him and turned to walk to the gate.

            Pausing, without turning around, Relena said, "I'm sorry, Heero.  I'm so sorry." She left for the gate quickly.  Heero stood absolutely still wondering why Relena acted like she had done something horrible wrong to him. 

Next Episode, Episode Fifteen: Return to the Sank Kingdom…