Canta Per Me
Episode Twenty-two: Darkness in the Snow
Disclaimer: Noir and Gundam Wing are owned by people in Japan. ClareBear owns this story and the original characters.
Author's Note: A good cliffhanger at the end if I do say so, myself. Fanfiction.net is acting up and my posts after eighteen aren't showing up. If some of you are smart, you're reading the posting at ClareBear's website, http://www.geocities.com/clarebear24. But, if you're already here, good for you. ^_^. Anyway, the last two parts were kind of short, and this is long, so let's start.
* * * * * *
"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.
Moscow, Russia
The sound of the machines beeping was the only sound that filled the room. The sound of lingering voices filled her head even if she wasn't awake. Every once in a while she could hear the sounds of footsteps coming in and out of the room. Where was she? Two people were having a conversation at the doorway.
"There's been no change," said an unfamiliar voice.
"I can't believe we'd find someone like her in that condition," said another unfamiliar voice.
"She lost so much blood. It's a good thing that a donor came with them that was such a close match," said the first voice.
"Don't you know who he is? He's her older brother," said the second voice.
"I can't believe the looks on their faces. One would think that they never heard of her getting shot before," commented the first voice.
"Are you kidding? I was surprised to find that as well. We've never heard on the news or anywhere else that of her getting shot," said the second voice.
"I don't think she'll be waking up soon anyway. She's not only lost a lot of blood, but she also had a lot of internal damage to her organs, but not to her bones. Her head was knocked around pretty bad. It was a good thing that she had a helmet on when she was on that snow mobile," said the first voice.
"I think we should go. The Preventer guards are watching us," said the second voice. The two people walked off. 'Wait, don't go. Tell me what happened!' she thought frantically. Another person walked into the room and watched her as she remained absolutely still. He walked up to her finally and smoothed her hair with a slightly trembling hand. He kissed her on the forehead and sat down, waiting for her to emerge from her coma. He didn't know that the kiss on her forehead was reminiscent of another.
~*Flashback, Four years ago*~
Relena Darlian was introduced to the world of Noir and the Society of Night for almost a year now. She had seen what the duties of Noir were, but she didn't adhere to such things. She still believe in the idea of pacifism, but one that wasn't so absolute. However, she was starting to believe in the idea that the Society held above all others: the idea of balance. They were playing around and tipping scales of power all over the world and the Colonies. They were getting more done and with actually results compared to all the work that Relena was doing. She still couldn't get passed the idea of killing another human being. Gustave was having a hard time training because of the ideals that Mr. Darlian fed to her. The true irony of his situation was that even in death Augustus Peacecraft had influence over his daughter. Gustave's concerns were for the well being of his niece, but she still had to become what fate and destiny had been already selected for her. She sat outside of his home in France that over looked a vineyard. The occupation of the Gustave Reinheart as the world knew it was nobleman.
"You look like her. Just like her," he said in a tender tone as he gazed at the vineyard that she was staring at.
"Do I really, Uncle Gustave?" asked Relena eagerly. He smiled and nodded. He was grateful that she looked nothing like her father, but her brother had the same hair and eyes as their father. She smiled at him her mother's smile. His expression changed once again to a more serious one. Her eyes saddened because that meant that there would be work to do. Relena already killed three people during the contracts with her uncle. She didn't know if she could continue doing it, and she was starting to not care about her work as vice minister.
"Let's get going," said Gustave. Relena stood up reluctantly and cast a look at the vineyard. Why couldn't things always be like the vineyard? Peaceful. She walked up to her uncle who placed his hands on her shoulders. "You must learn to understand, Lena. The world is full of evil and those who commit such deeds. You have a sacred duty. What good is it to have ideals such as your father's?" he asked. He was referring to both of them. Darlian and Peacecraft were too much alike. So, it didn't matter who he referred to.
"My fathers, both of them, died for what they believed," said Relena softly, but without the defensive tone that she regularly used before.
"Yes, and looked what happened? For all the talk they did, a war happened anyway. They did no action. Words are fine, but actions are better used when words are no longer heard. They died and still nothing could be done. Don't die by a belief, Lena. That is foolish," said Gustave wisely. Relena said nothing as he placed a tender kiss on her forehead.
Tonight would be the night that changed everything for Relena. They were to go to another vineyard outside of France and into Belgium. The contract was for a man whose name Relena couldn't remember. They were driven to the site of the next hit by his driver who knew that his employer's true occupation was assassin. The beginning of the job was relatively easy and Relena was separated from her uncle. She shot three men, and finally she found herself face to face with the man who was on the contract. Relena frozen when she saw him. Her breathing deepened as her felt her right arm lower her gun. She just couldn't do it. The man sneered at her with a gun in his hand. He knew that she couldn't shoot him. He fired his gun without a second thought.
The bullet entered her abdomen around her stomach close to her liver. At first all she could feel was the heat from the bullet, then a wetness from the blood, and finally pain in less than a moment. She stumbled back in agony and fell forward onto her left side. She could hear footsteps followed by another gunshot. There came dying gasp of the other man who shot her as he fell to the floor also. Gustave shot him again to make sure that he was dead. He ran over to where Relena was. She was losing so much blood so quickly. "Lena," he whispered as he looked at her. His hand touched the blood that came out of her. His eyes narrowed, and he gathered her up into his arms. Her breathing was becoming swallow as some blood rose up from her throat and trickled down the side of her mouth. Her blue eyes were opened in pain as she pressed her hands against her uncle's chest. He was carrying her out of the compound like she were a child and moving with great speed.
Gustave raced to the car with his driver waiting for him. "Drive! Go to Lancaster's house!" he ordered in a shout. The driver's eyes widened in the rear view mirror when he saw Gustave enter the car with Relena bleeding in his arms. Relena was in so much pain. 'Why? How? Why did this happen? I was willing to spare him. He didn't have to shoot. Why?' she thought frantically. Gustave began to whisper softly to her, "It's alright, Lena. You're going to be just fine. Don't die on me now. Look at me, my love. Please look at my eyes." He held her tightly with one hand covering the wound with his handkerchief, applying pressure to it. The other supported her upper back. "Help me," she murmured softly grabbing on to his arms out of desperation and fear.
"Stay with me, my love. I'm sorry this happened," he whispered as he tried to calm her back down. The driver hit a bump in the road suddenly, "AAHHHH!" she shouted in pain.
"Sorry about that Master Reinheart," said the driver quickly.
"You idiot! Watch where you're going!" growled Gustave, "It's alright. We'll get help for you soon, Lena," he reassured her. Her eyes started to close, and she could see black spots. "Stay awake, Lena. Lena, stay awake," he said.
"It hurts," whispered Relena as she closed her eyes and breathing became even harder.
Finally, the car came to a stop at a house that wasn't too far away from the compound that they were just at. This was the house of another member of the Society of Night. Lancaster came running out of his house. "Oh my goodness, get her inside, Gustave," he said. Gustave carried Relena into the house. "This way," said Lancaster as they made it down the dark corridors to a guest room.
"She's lost a lot of blood, and she'll stop breathing soon," said Gustave.
"I'll get the oxygen tank, and what's your blood type?" asked Lancaster who was a doctor.
"Same as hers," said Gustave as he rolled up his sleeve to get ready to give her some of his blood. This was his fault for not watching her properly. Lancaster came back quickly with the oxygen tank, while Gustave cut the blouse that Relena was wearing open with a pair of scissors. He gently removed her bra without flinching. And place a white towel over her breasts. Lancaster injected something into Relena's arm that knocked her out completely after placing the oxygen mask with a respirator over her nose and mouth. The Society funded his medical research and that was why he had all the necessary equipment to help Relena. He was the one who was watching the compound for the Society. "What about the bullet?" asked Gustave.
"I'll take it out right now," said Lancaster as he took out his always prepared medical instruments. Gustave watched as he took out the bullet after making another small incision first to make more room for his forceps. Gustave gently smoothed Relena's hair with his clean hand whispering words of comforting even though she was asleep. "Alright. The bullet is out. It's time to give her some of your blood. I can't say for certain how much she's lost," said Lancaster.
"Give her as much of my blood as she needs," said Gustave with a nod. Lancaster inserted the needle into his arm and one into her arm to do a direct blood transfer. Gustave sat in a chair that was near Relena as he watched and felt his blood leave his body and go into hers. Later on he had to handle frantic calls from Mrs. Darlian demanding to know where Relena was. Gustave had to admire the woman because she didn't seem to care that Relena wasn't showing up at the meeting she was scheduled to, but after reassuring Mrs. Darlian; she help by telling people not to be worried, buying them some time.
"All we can do is wait once this is over," said Lancaster. After the blood transfusion was over Gustave stayed by Relena's bed side waiting for her to wake up. Lancaster came in a few hours later. "She is fine now. You have a call, but you can take it on the phone in here if you'd like," he said.
Gustave nodded and asked, "Who is it?"
"Athena," answered Lancaster with that he left the room. Gustave stood up and took the call, thinking that Relena couldn't hear anything. "Athena. Yes, she was shot last night. I don't think she can continue this," he said reluctantly on the phone.
"I understand. The choice is hers. It's always been hers. You must not push her. The darkness within her could consume her," said the gently voice on the other line. They closed the connection. Relena heard him leave the room. She was no longer on the respirator because she could breathe on her own. 'My compassion is a vice. It was thrown back to my face. Uncle Gustave was right. There is evil everywhere. If I don't fight it, who will?' she thought as she opened her eyes. Her uncle came back into the room with a smile on his face, "Lena, you're awake. Thank God. Listen, I've been thinking that I'm pushing you too hard. You don't have to do this if you don't want to," he said immediately and sincerely. There were bandages wrapped around her upper body, around her stomach and chest.
Relena sat up from the bed abruptly that Gustave was surprised. He moved to say something about it, but she stopped him by saying: "What do I have to do? What do I have to do to become Noir?" Her eyes were looking forward at nothing in particular. There was something in her eyes that Gustave had never seen before, and it caused shivers to go down his spine. It was hate. Cold hate. The darkness was consuming her as he watched. She looked at him with her eyes. There was no emotion, especially the ever present compassion that still lingered that only he could see. Others would say that even with the compassion her eyes would be emotionless, but Gustave knew better. All he could do was nod in agreement.
Relena renewed her efforts to become Noir. She was unstoppable after that with her strong resolve. Slowly, she slipped back to a middle ground between the naïve person she was before getting shot and the cold hearted person she was when she woke up. When she was eighteen, she official resigned as vice minister although she had already quit at seventeen after the gunshot wound. The announcement didn't come as much of a surprise because they felt that she had slacked off her. They had no idea that Relena had taken the harder duty of becoming Noir. Her uncle stayed until after the announcement, and she rode with him to the airport because they would be going their separate ways.
"I don't need you now. I can take care of myself," said Relena in a soft voice.
"I know that you can. Remember what you've learned and never forget," said Gustave as he gave her a kiss on her forehead and walked away. She placed her hand over her scar; she would never forget because the scar would serve as a reminder.
~*End of Flashback*~
Relena continued to remain as she did three days ago when she was brought into the hospital. Millardo worried that she would never wake up and his questions about her would remain unanswered. The other Preventers were there along with a security force. It looked as if they were there to protect her, but no, they were there to make sure that she stay there just in case she woke up.
Heero was concerned that none of them had seen hide nor hair of Meia Krane. Where was the ever present assistant of Relena? He had feeling that she knew what was going on even if she wasn't there. Duo had to stay in London because he had married two days ago, so he wasn't even informed about what was happening. There were only a few Preventer agents: Zechs, Noin, Wufei, Heero, Trowa, and Sally. The waiting was horrible for all of them. Millardo waited for Relena to wake up and deny anything they said about her being Noir. He wished he could believe her, but he couldn't.
~*Flashback, Three Days ago*~
Heero looked at the blood on his hand; he knew that he had shot Relena during the attack after Mrs. Darlian's funeral. He looked at the other Gundam pilots who looked as if they were all thinking the same thing after Relena and Meia disappeared off into the darkness. Heero just announced that he had shot Relena before when Zechs started to get angry Wufei dropped the ultimate bombshell.
"She's Noir," stated Wufei in a clear voice.
"What are you saying?" said Zechs in a dangerous voice.
"Think about it. It's so obvious, but we were blind to see it. She was in Spain when the mission failed. Her mother was killed, but there was another attack soon after. There are too many holes in her story. She's bleeding. Blood doesn't lie, Zechs," said Quatre all in a rush for fear of stopping.
Zechs stood there letting all that knowledge sink into his brain. He looked at the darkness in front of him; the one that Relena and Meia had disappeared into. "Noir," he said in a whisper. It still didn't make sense.
"I think Meia isn't her assistant. I think she's her partner. Relena was the only one who knew that Noir was coming," said Duo.
Dorothy looked at them, and sigh. "I have something to tell you about the day that Mrs. Darlian died," she said. They all looked at her and she described what happened at the transport station.
"Why would Relena want to kill me? Why would she kill Mrs. Darlian and our uncle? It doesn't make any sense," said Zechs as he tried to process the information in his head.
"The only one who can answer these questions is Relena," said Heero.
~*End of Flashback*~
The room was empty again leaving Relena in relative peace, but she was alone with her thoughts. She was thinking how things could have gone this wrong. Finally, she opened her eyes and turned her head to her left. She could see the monitoring devices that registered her blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing. Shes saw that an IV was attached to her arm to some form of medicine being given to her in small quantities which she knew was a form of pain killers. 'I can't stay here. They're going to find out about everything. I need to get out of here,' she thought as she pulled her left arm back to yank the IV closer to her. If she couldn't leave, then she had to make sure that they couldn't get any information out of her. With her weakened state, there was no way of making sure of that, so she reached for the buttons of the IV with hopes of increasing the dosage, so she could either kill herself or put herself back into her coma. She was so intent on her pursuit that she didn't hear Heero come into the room. He calmly walked over to the IV and pulled it away from her, and then he pushed her back down to the bed rather forcefully.
"What were you doing, Relena?" demanded Heero coldly.
"I don't know," answered Relena. He knew what she was thinking because he had almost done so himself more than once. He took out something from his pocket. It was a .35 caliber automatic gun. It was Relena's .35 caliber automatic gun. She looked at it rather impassively.
"What were you doing outside in the snow with this nearby?" asked Heero sharply.
"I don't know," answered Relena as she turned her head away from him. Heero didn't believe any of her answers. Feigning ignorance about things wasn't going to stop him.
"I'll tell you what happened. We were called from this hospital because a farmer found you at the bottom of a snow embankment near a river just outside of Moscow. There was a snow mobile on top of you. It looked like it got flipped over with you on it. Luckily, you had a helmet and the snow had just fallen enough so that you sank in a little. Otherwise, the snow mobile would have been directly on top of you. This gun was near you. According to ballistics, it was fired by someone who had just killed more than a dozen people three miles away from where we found you. The casing of the gun clip has your fingerprints, so does the handle, and the trigger. I ask you again: what were you doing here in Russia?" finished off Heero. Relena looked forward with a glazed over look on her face. She fell back into the bed again, apparently from exhaustion. There came the sound of fast approaching footsteps.
"What are you doing? She just woke up," said Zechs in a cold tone to Heero, and then he came to his sister's side, "Are you alright?"
"No. I hurt all over. All over," she whispered as she closed her eyes.
"Just rest," said Zechs, he looked at Heero sharply and ordered, "Don't ask her anymore questions until she recovers some more." Heero just give him a deadly glare.
* * *
Meia was back in the hotel that Relena and she were staying in Moscow. She was pacing back and forth as she tried to formulate a plan to get Relena out of the hospital, but she knew that she couldn't move her around in that condition. Meia had paid attention to all the reports about Relena that came in; she knew that the Preventers were present in Moscow, and they had Relena under guard. She turned around with her gun in her hand when she heard someone enter the room, which was locked. The person who was able to do that with such stealth was Kurai.
"What are you doing here?" asked Meia as she kept her gun trained on Kurai.
"I am here to help you. We need to get Lena out of there and get her some help from outside," said Kurai. Meia lowered her gun because she knew that she couldn't do it on her own. She reluctantly nodded.
* * *
Relena was in no condition to fight them and their questions. She thought of how she would be able to escape and prayed that Meia was alright. Was this the end of everything that Relena had worked for? She knew that her brother gave her blood and kept the wolves at bay, so to speak because Heero and Wufei were going to interrogate her, if her brother hadn't intervene. She wished that her brother would have never known about Noir. How did things unravel like this? She was still trying to collect her thoughts into an organized fashion, but was failing. She thought back to the events that led up to this moment.
~*Flashback*~
Relena and Meia were in Moscow because they had learned that one of the members of the upper level of the Society was living in Moscow. It didn't matter to Relena. She was going to kill him anyway. Her plan was to kill the heads of the Society and bring them down from the inside, so Meia came along. The house was just outside of Moscow. However before they went inside, Meia and Relena found some ruins outside in the snow from old mobile suits that weren't cleared away after the war, but no one really cared because it was the middle of no where. "These are mobile suits, Meia. Old relics from the war. Reminders of the things that happened during that time," said Relena.
"I don't remember the war, Lena. Does that make me strange?" asked Meia. Relena knew that Meia didn't see the war at all. It was the one good thing that Dr. J did for her. He protected her from seeing the horrors of war.
"No. It doesn't it. It makes you fortunate. There are people who wish that they could forget," said Relena. Meia looked at the mobile suit with interest. Relena let her read about them on the data base on her laptop, and she read more about them from the Preventers' files. She felt an attraction to the real thing in front of her. It was an old Taurus suit. She walked up to it while Relena was looking at the compound for a point of entry to kill the member of the Society that was inside. Meia climbed the Taurus and settled herself in the cockpit. Relena turned around to see Meia at the controls and the cockpit of the suit. 'She looks like a natural,' thought Relena, and she suddenly realized that Meia shouldn't be doing that.
"What are you doing? Get down from there," demanded Relena in an angry tone, even if she didn't mean it. Meia looked rather surprised and climbed down the suit.
"Sorry," she said softly. 'What did I do wrong?' thought Meia.
"Let's go," said Relena without looking back at her. Meia followed her until they reached the compound. Relena and she separated while Meia ran to take out the guards, Relena went to find the target. She kept running and killing people who were in her way without a second though, changing the bullet clips twice. She finally reached the target.
"Noir! What are you doing here? You can't be serious!" stammered the man who had ring with the seal of the Society on his finger.
"Yes, I am Noir," she said in a whisper and shot him.
"Why? You're supposed to be the harbinger of peace. You're not supposed to do this," he whispered as Relena simply stood above him and shot him again, silencing him.
"Death…is the ultimate peace," she said softly as she gently rubbed his cheek with her hand and in a very serene voice. She looked behind her to see that more than a dozen men were in the room, surrounding her. She shot five of them, but she had no time to change her clip, so she managed to grab one of their guns. She shot at the chandelier, causing things to go dark. The men didn't know what was happening. Some were silenced by Relena. Finally, she shot at window glass and jump down two stories on her feet, bracing her fall with her arms. Men on the ground started to pursuit her. She ran until she got to a stable and killed a sixteen year old stable hand who looked so frightened when she did it. She got on one of many snow mobiles after putting on a helmet and took off.
The guards got to the snow mobiles and chased her through the cold and snow. She could feel her fingers losing feeling from the cold. The men were shooting at her, but she kept up her speed. Relena had no chance to shot at them even with her gun loaded, she couldn't possible steer the snow mobile and shot at the same time. Finally, she saw a large snow embankment. 'It's too big and too high. I don't know what's on the other side,' she thought as she looked back. 'But I know what's back there,' she thought. She noticed that snow was still falling and so it was softer on the ground. 'Please don't let there be a frozen lake on the other side,' she thought. She hoped that the helmet would keep her head protected as she sped for the snow embankment. When she reached it at the speed she was going at, she was launched into the air. She could see at the top that there was a lake, but there was still plenty of land between the embankment and the lake. 'OH MY GOD!' she thought as she got thrown off the snow mobile, which got flipped over mid air. She felt her body hit the ground with massive impact, causing pain to shoot out everywhere. She could feel her head get knocked around the helmet. She sank into the freshly fallen snow, but then something slammed all around her. The snow mobile landed right on top of her, pinning her legs to the ground. It sank around, but didn't go any deeper because Relena's body had taken up space. (AN: Don't care if this don't sound believe. Think of it as a big action sequence. ^_^)
Relena passed out upon impact. The only thing she could feel was the pain before she black out completely. She wished that she was dead.
~*End of Flashback*~
No, she didn't die like she wanted to because fate and Heero kept her alive. Why was there no point in all this? She didn't want to be around any longer. She just wanted to stop because she was tired of everything. She knew that people were hovering around her. Her brother stayed by her side to protect her from Heero and Wufei's questions. Noin and Trowa went out to look for Meia. While Heero and Wufei were with Sally looking at the body of the man who owned the house that Relena had killed so many people in.
"Look at what was found on his body," said Sally as she pulled out a ring. It was an ordinary ring; it had the head of two maidens on it.
"What's so strange about that?" asked Wufei.
"That's not all," said Sally as she took out a pocket watch and opened it. It played a haunting tune that filled the room, and Sally shut it immediately.
"I've never seen anything like this before," whispered Heero.
"I think we have," said Sally as she took out the things that they found on Relena when they found her. One of the items was a pocket watch identical to the one that belonged to the man who was murdered. "They're identical. Right down to the music that they play," she added.
Heero took the watches with one in each of his palms. He studied the pictures on the watched. Two maidens. Two. His thoughts went immediately to Relena and Meia's close relationship. "Relena and Meia," he said finally.
"It could be, but they could mean nothing at all. Or the seals could mean everything to this whole mystery," said Wufei.
* * *
Kurai snuck into the hospital ahead of Meia with her daggers and killed three staff members. She was in the medicines room. She found two syringes and filled them both with something to knocked people. She left and found a trail of bodies; she smiled because that Meia was already inside. Meia was standing at the corner waiting for her. "Her brother is with her. We can't kill him," said Meia simply.
"We won't," agreed Kurai. She went passed Meia, who didn't stop her. With the quick flick of both her wrist, she killed the two Preventer guards at the doorway. Zechs saw this immediately and stood up. He took out his gun and aimed it at her. She looked passed him at Relena and smiled again.
"Who are you?" asked Zechs.
"I am Noir," she answered as she raced at him with incredible speed, taking advantage of his momentary shock. She dig one of the syringes into the back of his neck while knocking the gun out his hand. He fell to the ground because the medicine took an immediate effect on him. She pulled syringe from him and threw it cleanly to the ground. Meia came inside, walking over Zechs. Relena's eyes fluttered opened. "Meia?" she whispered.
"Lena," said Meia with a happy tone, "Thank God."
"You really are a fool," returned Relena with a smile. She looked at Kurai and then at her brother. "What have you done?" she demanded in a cold voice.
"Don't worry. I gave him the same stuff that I'll be giving you," said Kurai as she dug the second syringe into her arm. Relena couldn't fight her, but with Meia standing there actually smiling, she knew everything would be fine. Kurai made sure that she was knocked out, they had to get out of there before security or any of the other Preventers could return. Meia ran and came back with a stretcher. Kurai and she helped Relena into it and went to the ambulances below. The ambulance drivers never had a chance because Kurai killed them with her throwing daggers. They took an ambulance for Relena.
The ambulance sped out of the hospital with Kurai driving, and Meia staying with Relena in the back. They got out before anyone would notice.
* * *
Relena woke up again in a bed with the sunlight streaming into the room. Her body was surprisingly healed. She sat up and when she noticed. "What?" she whispered.
"Kurai said that the Society has the most advanced cures for injuries that the rest of the world doesn't know about yet. She said that you should be fine," said Meia who sat next to her.
Relena laid back in bed even with the advance medical technology these days, she still expected many weeks, possible even months worth of recovery. She wondered what would happen next. Why was Kurai doing all this? Even with all this, she was just keeping Relena alive so that she could suffer. The last person she wanted to save her was Kurai. She swore that she would kill her, and she still had ever intention of doing so.
"Why did you do this?" asked Relena because she was aware that Kurai was standing at the doorway without turning her head to see.
"I was ordered to," answered Kurai.
"By the Society," said Relena harshly.
"No, by Athena," corrected Kurai.
"Who is Athena?" asked Relena with wonder.
"You will find out soon. You can return to Paris tomorrow," said Kurai with that she exited the room as she cast a look at Meia. Athena also told Kurai to tell Meia the truth about her identity, but she would do that later.
Relena laid down as Meia looked at her. Perhaps, things would end just the way Relena wanted them to.
Next Episode, Episode Twenty-Three: Return to Society…