Canta Per Me
Episode Twenty-Five: Final Contract
Disclaimer: I don't own Noir or Gundam Wing. I own this story and some of the original characters. ^_~
Author's Note: I thought that the last part was gothic. This is a very important episode. It's the decisive one. Well, it ain't pretty. Actually it's pretty bloody. Oh well, think like it's Kenshin. ^_^ Because there's only part after this, I'll just wait until get enough reviews. I won't say how many until I'm willing to post the last part. ^_^
* * * * * *
"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.
Germany
It was about four in the morning when Noir arrived at the ridge that over looked the fortress that the head of the Society of Night resided in. True to her word, Athena described it perfectly. The castle was deep in a ridge that acted as a natural defense. Near the castle was a large river ran beyond it was a man made waterfall that was at the end of one side of the castle, but it looked like the real thing. Relena had been docile ever since she had returned to the Society of Night. She was quiet and expressed very little emotion. They both looked rather solemn because of the task at hand.
"It will be dawn soon," said Kurai out loud. They hadn't said a word to each other since the night before. Relena nodded.
They would carry out the contract at dawn.
* * *
Paris, France
Meia was still at the medical bay of the Preventers headquarters. It was around two in the morning when the Preventers Headquarters were attacked. Some of the Preventers were actually members of the Society of Night's elite team, the Knights of Shadows. They attacked from the outside first, and one of the Knights came up the window to Meia's room. She looked around for a weapon to use and decided to take out her identification card; she was able to use it as a weapon before
"There is no need for that. I was informed to bring you to Athena," said the man who she recognized as one of the Preventers she had seen earlier. The Society really was everywhere. Meia nodded and looked around. "Please don't kill them," she said softly.
"It is for them to decide," said the Knight simply.
Meia left with him. She didn't know that Athena reached one of the other members of the Society, who was one of the upper elite members and on the President's cabinet. He had handed orders down to Lady Une that with the threat of Noir that all Preventer agents be sent back at their assigned posts and locations which meant that Heero, Duo, and Wufei were ordered back to London, England, while Quatre and Trowa were ordered to L4 and L3 respectively. Zechs, Noin, and Sally were also relieved for the evening. Athena also ordered the attack at the Preventers' Headquarters. Meia had no idea as to why, but she knew that Athena would led her to Relena.
* * *
Germany
Relena and Kurai watched as the sun rose in the east. It was a beautiful sunrise that cut through the gray clouds above their heads. However, the sun was soon overcast again. It was time for the contract to be carried out. Relena and Kurai slid down the ridge to get to the castle grounds. They ran until they reached the entrance of the castle. The two guards were silenced with two blades thrown by Kurai. Both women had leather gauntlets with metal protection on both their hands and wrists. Kurai wore a long cloak that was black with her daggers concealed within its folds, a pair of knee high boots that were heavy, a sleeveless, black mock turtle neck, and her stainless steel chopsticks to keep her hair up. Relena wore black slacks with a pair of riding boots, a white button up, long sleeve shirt, and she kept her wide tipped dagger in her right gauntlet. Both also wore swords on their left hips because both were right handed. The swords were actually heavy and wide tipped. They weren't the fencing swords that Relena was used to.
They moved quickly through the castle taking out man after man without any difficulty. They moved with the same precision as they did at "The Ruins." Their movements were either in sync or complemented each other. Relena used a new .35 caliber with a silencer and took out man after man, while Kurai used her daggers and did the same. They didn't say a word throughout the entire time.
A man came up to Relena from behind when she was reloading her gun, and she swiftly kicked him in the chin with incredible speed killing him instantly with force by breaking his neck. The man fell in a heap. Kurai threw daggers into the backs of men's necks without any hesitation. Relena broke a guard's neck from behind. They stopped and looked around because they were the only two people left standing at that part of the castle. Relena nodded and they took off running for the part of the castle that Dekim Barton would be in.
Neither one knew about Dekim Barton's involvement in Operation Meteor six years ago. They didn't know that the man had almost single handedly brought the tensions between the Colonies and Earth to the surface and caused the war to break out. After the failure of Operation Meteor, Dekim Barton set his sights on becoming head of the Society of Night. He entered as one of the lower ranking members, unlike many in coming members, he was the first person in his family ever to become a member. New blood wasn't as good as the old blood. Relena, Millardo, and Kurai were children of the Society and were considered precious in each of their own rights. The last leader of the Society of Night died of natural causes. The leadership of the Society was up for grabs, and almost any member could be the leader. Barton eliminated his competition through unknown means, but his competition met with unexplained accidents. Athena watched helplessly as all the events took place. That was why Athena ordered Gustave to train his niece like she was supposed to be long ago. After the war let out, Athena was willing to let Relena live the rest of her life without knowledge of the Society or her destiny as Noir. However, corruption within the Society of Night was tearing apart the Society from within.
Noir was given a map to find their way through the castle by Athena. They had memorized it earlier, so they didn't need to carry it. Dekim Barton was an over confident man, so he was at the throne room. He didn't think that Noir would be able to get passed his defenses. He was fatally wrong. Barton sat on his throne not knowing that the end was coming soon.
Relena and Kurai swept into the room silently and stopped right in front of him. Dekim Barton opened his eyes to find the two looking at him with emotionless eyes. "So, you finally came. I did not think you would be able to get passed my defenses. I am the Society of Night. I am its sovereign leader and I command you to stop," he said, standing up.
Noir drew out their swords. Kurai started, "No one is…"
"…above the Society," finished Relena.
The swords came down in a flash, not giving Dekim Barton the time to scream. Their swords cut through his neck, beheading him. His head landed on the stone floor with a sickly thud. It rolled slightly. It happened so quickly that the body dropped to the floor promptly after the head. There was blood everywhere, but not on Relena and Kurai.
Kurai smiled with satisfaction that the job was done she sheathed her sword. She looked again at Relena who was staring at the body and head on the floor. The sword was still in her hand, dripping with blood. Kurai shook her head, "We've done our duty. It's finished, Lena."
"Yes, it's finished," agreed Relena in a quiet voice, but there was a strange tone on it.
"Let's go," said Kurai with her back turned as she started to walk off. She turned around again when she noticed that Relena wasn't following her. The tip of a blade was up to her face. She looked down the blade to see that Relena was pointing it at her. Her blue eyes were narrowed.
"The contract is finished, but you're not. You're dead," whispered Relena coldly.
* * *
Unknown Location
Athena waited for the Knight to arrive with Meia. The Knight promptly left after that, and Athena kindly smiled at Meia who stood there without any expression. "I have waited for a long time to meet you, Child," said Athena as she looked at Meia with her calm violet eyes. It was only 2:30 in the morning. "You know about me? Why does everyone know about me, but myself?" asked Meia out loud.
"You wish to know why you exist?" asked Athena with a laugh. Meia looked at her strangely, but her laugh was a kind, musical one. "Relena has done well for you," she added with a smile.
"I don't understand," whispered Meia.
"Do you remember what it's like not to have any emotion? Did you ever wonder if you were human or not? You did. That was your quest, wasn't it? It was no accident that Dr. J sent you to her. Relena is a very special woman," said Athena.
Meia understood. The reason why she had been acting the way she had was because she was starting to feel human. In the past few days, she had felt sadness, fear, and betrayal. Those were human emotions. Why did she come to the convent and vineyard? It was out of loyalty and love. Why did she tell Heero the truth about almost everything she knew? It was also out of truth and love. These two were family. Relena watched over her like a mother and a sister, while Heero was the one who she called "Niichan."
"Why did you summon me here?" asked Meia.
"I don't know exactly how this will end, but I know that Relena needs you. Go to a castle in Germany. Noir is there for the Final Contract," said Athena as she gave her a map of the castle and the surrounding area. "Do not take the front entrance at the drawbridge. Find another way inside," she said.
Meia took the map in her hands and took off to find another person who was another Knight waiting to drop her off at the castle.
* * *
Germany
Kurai stared down Relena's blade. Her hand was steady. All the time she was with Kurai and Athena she never let on that she was going to do anything like this. Kurai should have known better. She thought that Relena understood why Kurai did what she did. She believed as Noir, they had a deep understanding of each other. Kurai couldn't predict that this would happen.
"I am your other half," hissed Kurai through her teeth. This was betrayal.
"Then you should have known better," whispered Relena coldly. She flashed the blade against Kurai's cheek. Blood seeped out of the cut immediately. Relena reached forward and touched the blood on her cheek. "I didn't know someone like you could bleed," she whispered.
Kurai clutched her jaw and pressed her own fingers against the cut. She did a back flip away from Relena that almost hit her face, but Relena moved in time. Kurai drew her sword and stood in a battle stance. Relena set her sword back down on the floor with the tip touch the floor with her eyes closed. "Remember, I said that I would kill you. I always keep my word," said Relena in a haunting voice.
Kurai charged her because she realized that she would have to preserve her life or die at Relena's hands. Relena lifted her sword quickly and blocked her. It wasn't going to be an easy duel because they were equals. The two of them struggled against each other. Relena slid her sword up and over her head to shake off Kurai. Kurai came at her side, but Relena jump back. Relena finally did an attack and hit one of Kurai's gauntlets. She sneered and took a swipe at Relena's head, but she moved before it could do too much damage. Blood poured from the cut that Kurai's sword made, but it still wasn't very deep compared to Kurai's. What she had was a scratch compared to Kurai's deep cut. Relena came at her again and managed to cut Kurai's top left hand. Kurai hissed through her teeth in pain, but blocked the pain to move forward. Kurai's cloak was cut to pieces by Relena's sword, so she had superficial cuts on her arms. Kurai manage to cut Relean's arms as well.
The two of them were fighting all over the throne room stepping away from Barton's body into another darken corridor. Relena parried forward, but her sword hit the concrete walls around them, and Kurai decided to attack her then. Relena brought out her wide tipped dagger to block the sword. Kurai attempted a roundhouse kick, but Relena jump before she could hit her, and took another swipe at Kurai with her dagger. Relena retracted her dagger back into her gauntlet.
It was impossible for every strike Relena made, Kurai blocked her or countered her. It was the same way for Kurai. Kurai managed to strike one of Relena's gauntlets but it didn't phase her. She continued to attack Kurai, and Kurai continued to counter her. They did this back and forth without any sign of tiredness from either one. Relena was determined to kill her, while Kurai was determined to stay alive. 'It doesn't matter anymore. Why can't I just kill her now? Because I'm too busy trying to stay alive myself. I have to finish this even if it means finishing myself off,' thought Relena. As she struck Kurai's blade, over powering her. Sparks came from the blade, or was it from within each one of the women?
'I can't let her kill me. No matter if she's a part of me,' thought Kurai as she pulled her chopsticks out of her hair, causing her jet black hair to cascade down. They were grappling with the swords, grinding against each other. Kurai pulled her chopsticks out of her hair and stabbed Relena in her side in almost all one motion. Relena pulled back from her. The wounds weren't too deep.
'I can't fail. I am Noir. Survival above everything is what Noir does. I won't fail my mother. I won't fail my family. I'm fulfilling my destiny. I can't fail myself. This is for my peace,' thought Relena as she flicked her wrist to bring the dagger out of the gauntlet again, while blocking Kurai's sword at the same time.
"I WILL NOT DIE HERE!" shouted Kurai with a passion that she never thought possible. She used both her chopsticks and sword together with either ones in her hands.
"One of us will," whispered Relena as she plunged forward with her sword and dagger. Her dagger met with Kurai's sword, while Kurai's chopsticks met with Relena's sword. They slid apart again and pulled away from each other. Relena could feel the pain in her side from the chopsticks. Kurai could feel the cut on her face starting to burn. Both for gasping for air. Relena was losing blood that it was dripping on the floor of the corridor. They were fighting near a window for light. The sun was still over cast by the shadows of the clouds. Relena lunged forward with her dagger and threw it with the same precision that Kurai did before, but Kurai moved just in time. The dagger did hit her upper hand that held the sword. Kurai smiled because she had two chopsticks, two shots. She lunged forward with both weapons, but Relena wedged her sword, catching all of Kurai's weapons with the blade. She rotated her arm to shake off Kurai. Kurai defiantly held on, but Relena shook her off anyway.
"Who are you doing this for?" whispered Relena.
"I am doing this for my survival," answered Kurai, heaving from exhaustion. They had been fighting for over an hour straight now, and neither one was going to surrender to the other.
"I am doing this not just for my survival, but for my life. And my peace," whispered Relena. Kurai lunged forward throwing her chopsticks the same way she did with her throwing dagger. To her surprise, Relena raised her sword just in time to defect them, causing them to fall to the floor. Relena could feel the life draining out of her. She felt colder and harder of breathing due to the blood loss. 'For my peace…' she thought.
Kurai noticed that she was in pain from the blood loss, so she took that opportunity to attack. Relena blocked her with her gauntlet clad arm. She could feel the bone break underneath the force, but the blade wasn't able to cut through. Relena smiled at Kurai. The smiled the same kind of unsettling smile that Kurai had shown her many times before. "You know there is one thing you should know about us Peacecrafts, we never really surrender. Nor do we stay dead," whispered Relena with a small laugh escaping her lips. Kurai looked rather shaken by Relena's statement. With the sword of Kurai still touching the gauntlet, Relena plunged her sword into Kurai's stomach.
She gasped and looked down to see the blood gushing out of her. She stumbled back and then forward, dropping her sword from her hands. Relena caught her in her arms. "I made the mistake that the others made with you," she gasped softly.
"What is that?" asked Relena.
"I underestimated you. That was my mistake," replied Kurai. Relena pushed her back and let her body fall on the floor. The blood trickled down the sides of her mouth. Relena stood there waiting for her to finish bleeding to death. "Have you any compassion left in you, Lena?" asked Kurai as she looked at her with imploring eyes, begging for mercy. She coughed up blood.
Relena looked at her with emotionless eyes, but there was still that thread of compassion in them. Her hand was pressed up against the wounds on her side. A large lock of her hair had escape that messy bun that she had placed it in. The lock covered one of her blue eyes. She removed her hand from her side and placed both hands on the handle of her sword. She walked over to Kurai and buried her sword into the fatal wound that she created. Kurai ceased breathing after that. She had died with her almond shaped, almost black eyes wide open.
Releasing her hands from the handle of the sword, leaving the sword standing there, she staggered away from Kurai, but she didn't get very far. The combination of getting stabbed and continued fight caused the blood loss to greatly increase, but she wasn't dead yet. 'No…I'm a survivor. I survived the death of my parents. I survived the abandonment by my brother and my friends. I survived the betrayal of my uncle. I survived being Noir. I won't die here,' she thought as she reclined her head back against the wall. She closed her eyes and opened them again when she saw felt something on her chest.
Her eyes were opened to the sight of dark blue ones. She looked to see Meia Krane and looked down further to see that Meia had her gun touching the breastbone of her chest. The barrel wasn't even that big. It wasn't the usually gun that Meia used. Meia had both her hands wrapped around the gun. Her eyes were emotionless. "Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Relena softly. She still had her gun in her pocket, so she kept her hand on it. On her once white shirt, she could feel the weight of both Kurai and her blood on it, and the barrel of Meia's gun.
"I can't do it," whispered Meia softly.
"Why?" asked Relena.
"Because it would make me feel sad," answered Meia simply. It was a childlike answer. Relena smiled softly at her and touched her cheek with her bloody hand. Her hand brushed against Meia's soft, short, straight, and dark red hair.
She lift her other hand from her pocket with a soft smile. "Then leave now, before I shoot you myself and make good on my promise to you," Relena ordered. Meia pulled her gun away from Relena, giving Relena strange look she walked away from her. She paused when she saw Kurai's body. Kneeling down to her, Meia closed her eyes for her. She stood up to get out of the castle. She looked back at Relena one last time at the end of the light in the corridor and then simply vanished.
As soon as Meia was gone, Relena struggled to get up from the floor. She staggered down the hall again heading back the way she came. Using the walls, she supported herself, leaving a trail of blood as she went along. Finally, she was back in the throne room where the decapitated body of Dekim Barton laid. Without using anything for support, she walked passed his body and headed to get to the balcony that was in the throne room. She looked outside. It really wasn't a balcony because it had no railings, just stone.
The man made waterfall rushed underneath her. She took a deep breath and fell down. Relena could feel the breeze against her cheeks and her hair. She struggled to get back up again and looked up at the sky. The sun peeked through the clouds above her. Relena renewed her efforts and crawled to the edge of where the waterfall was rushing below. She got up and turned around to look at the castle again. Relena stepped back along the edge, letting herself fall two stories to the cleansing water below.
'I am done. The contract has been fulfilled. The contract was being Noir. My destiny,' Relena thought as she let herself fall.
Episode Twenty-Six: Final Act…