Chapter 8: Good news…

Chapter 8: Good news…

Relena had been pushed into a cell. It was dark and humid. Vice-foreign minister Darlian-Peacecraft was scared. Why was she here? To start a war, for sure, but what would Gabriel do to her? She fell on the floor, tears in her eyes. She wanted him to be here, to tell her he would protect her, that everything would be ok, but he wasn't. She was alone in an empty cell, at least she thought, she couldn't see anything, and she wasn't going to be protected, she was at Gabriel's mercy.

"Heero." She whispered.

"So you really do still love him."

Relena moved further back in the cell, she heard the voice but couldn't make out the face, it was too dark. Taking back her courage, she asked.

"Who are you?"

"That hurts, you don't recognize your friends. "

Relena stayed quiet for a moment, she did recognize the voice but could hardly believe who the person was.

"Hil…Hilde. Hilde! Is that you?!" She called hoping that it was really her friend, that she was alive and that she wasn't alone anymore.

"Yeah! It's me."

"Hilde!" Relena jumped in the direction the voice was coming from, not knowing where she was going. She felt Hilde's arm that was trying to reach her and grabbed it. Hugging the woman tightly, she started to cry. Hilde's eyes were also full of tears.

"I… I thought you were dead! I thought it was all because of me! Duo will be so happy."

Hilde backed away.

"Duo thinks I'm dead?!"

Hearing the distress in Hilde's voice, Relena bit her lips. I should have kept my mouth shut! When will I learn?

"Well, Trowa told us somebody saw you being shot. He said that you were dead."

Realizing what Relena had just said, Hilde froze. "You… you mean he thinks I'm dead?"

"I'm sorry Hilde. We didn't know! We really thought they had killed you. Trowa didn't want to hurt Duo, he just thought that it would be better for him not to keep false hope… I'm mean… it's that…"

"It's ok Relena." Hilde answered sadly "You all did your best for him." Cheering up she added "And besides, he'll be a lot happier to see me alive next time!"

"You're right!"

Relena and Hilde kept silent for a short moment, not knowing exactly what to say to each other. The situation was awkward. They were happy to see each but sad to learn that they had both been captured. Suddenly, they heard a weird noise.

"Hilde, was that you?" Asked nervously Relena.

"It's Paygan."

"Paygan! What do you mean? What is he doing here? Where is he?"

Surprised, Hilde asked, "You didn't know he had been captured?"

"No! When did it happened?"

"Just after the anniversary of the end of the war. "

Relena stood up, trying to find her chauffeur in the dark. "He's just beside you, Relena."

She finally reached her friend. Paygan was on a small bed and didn't move or respond when she tried to wake him up. "Paygan, please, talk to me. What's wrong with him? Is he hurt?"
"No, they brought him just before you arrived. He's been drugged and that's why he can't answer." Hilde came beside Relena. "I'm sorry for him."

"It's all my fault." Relena fell on her knees trying not to cry. "I trusted that bastard! I was so naïve!"

Hilde knelt beside Relena. Every move was in slow motion because of the darkness.

"It's not a bad thing to trust people, Relena. Think about all the wonderful things your trust did instead. He will pay for betraying you, one day, but for now, don't think about it. You need to be strong, you need to live to make that Peace of yours true!"
Relena smiled at Hilde though it went unseen. "You're right. Now is not the time to feel sorry for myself. We'll be strong Hilde, and we'll defeat the enemy our way!"

"Yeah! That's my girl!!!"

Both laughed then went silent again. They needed time to think about all this and besides, they were both exhausted.

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3 hours later.

Relena and Hilde awoke to the sound of someone opening the door. Both straightened, ready to defend themselves against the enemy. Once the door was finally opened, the blinding light forced them to turn away. Shielding her eyes with her arm, Relena looked at the shadow that was in the dark. Even if she couldn't see his face, Relena knew that it was Gabriel. Sadness and anger raised in her heart. It would take a lot of time for her to forgive him, she thought that for the first time in her life, she would be vindictive.
Gabriel was standing in front of them, proud and arrogant. He had succeeded, or almost. It was impossible for him to lose. He would be master of this planet, and then the colonies. They wouldn't be hard to conquer. Without the gundams, the colonies were nothing. Smiling at Relena, he offered her his hand.

"Vice foreign minister Darlian, would you please give me the honor of accompanying me?"

Behind him, Karov gritted his teeth. He still couldn't believe how nice the General was to that little brat. He would have gotten rid of her a long time ago.

Relena death-glared Gabriel; she wasn't in the mood to play that little game. She stood up; refusing the hand that was offered to him. "I don't need your help, thank you."

"My, my, sharp little lady."

"You play tough Kale, but you're not."

"Shut up Hilde."

Hilde smiled defiantly. "You don't scare me Kale."

"Kale?"

Gabriel turned to face Relena. "Oh! You didn't know. He bowed deeply. "May I present myself. My name is Kale Barton; I'm the General in charge of all this operation. "

Relena was shocked, she couldn't move. She knew Gabriel was a traitor but not the chief traitor! She looked at Hilde who looked surprised too. "Relena, you didn't know?"

"No." She turned to face Gabriel, or should we say Kale, still not able to move.

Finding her lack of reaction boring, Kale grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the cell. "I want to talk to you. I'll give you some time to digest the news and then we'll talk."

Relena was brought into a small room with no window; normal for an underground base. Only two chairs occupied the room. Kale invited her to sit down, then order the Colonel that had followed him to leave them alone.

Relena's chair wasn't facing Kale's and she didn't turn to look at him. She didn't want to see him, especially after knowing that he was the one that wanted to destroy her peace. Her ex-friend, the one who had helped her through so many tough moments was the one who was leading those fools. Kale went to sit on in chair and looked at Relena. He didn't like her attitude.

"Look at me."

"I don't feel like it."

Grabbing her chair, he forced her face her. "Now, that's better." He backed up in his chair, smiling at her. "Well, you look angry, Ray."

"Don't call me that! My friend was allowed to do it. Not a bastard that betrayed me!"

He slapped her again, unable to control himself. Relena didn't react; she only put a hand on her cheek that was red. "That's it Kale, hit me, you'll pay one day."

Kale inhaled deeply. "Relena, let's not start this way. I still wanna be your friend and…"

"You are not my friend!"

"Would you shut up and let me finish!" Relena turned her face, not to look at him.

"You don't understand me, Relena. My real name is Kale Barton. I'm the grandson of Dekim Barton. " Kale stopped, hoping that she would react to this but she didn't, he continued anyway. " I want to avenge my Grandfather's death. It was you; it was all because of you that he was killed and that he failed to accomplish his dream. Even that Gundam pilot fired on you, he thought that that perfect soldier wouldn't dare, knowing what you were supposed to mean to him. But my Grandfather never thought that he didn't care about you and that he would kill you, even for Peace."

"Heero cares about me!"

Kale started to laugh. "Poor girl!!! You still don't know guys! Just because he kissed you, doesn't mean he loves you."

"He… he loves me. I know it."

Kale laugh even loader. "Listen Relena, if he really did care about you, he wouldn't have left you for 4 years. He would have come back before."

"He left because he had to think about stuff, that's all!" Relena tried to be convincing be she had difficulties convincing herself.

"He doesn't love you! Open your eyes!" Kale stood up and grabbed her chair. "I love you Relena! I was there for you, for all that time! Why can't you see that instead of that damn pilot!"

Relena turned her face around; tears were falling down on her cheeks. "I wanted to kill you after they killed my grandfather but then, I started to know you better." He gently dried her face with his handkerchief. " And then I realized I had fallen in love with you. I know you are against war or battles, but you can be with me. I'll make this world perfect for both of us, you'll be my Queen."

Relena started to laugh. His queen! "Kale Barton, you are nothing but a traitor that cannot be trusted. Maybe you are right, maybe Heero Yuy doesn't care about me but he does care about what I represent and that's peace. Your Queen!! I'm already the Queen of the world, Kale Barton. I don't need you. " She stood up, looking defiantly at him, her strengths were coming back to her. "And you know what Gabriel Dulipovici? Heero does love me. I know it. I can't explain why but I know he does. I would rather die than to be with you!"

Kale death-glared her. His pride was now more than attacked. He grabbed her by the arm again and brought her into another room.

The room was full of monitors and two guards were seated at the control panels.

"Start the operation! Now!" He pulled Relena closer to a monitor and told her to look at it. "This is all because of you, Vice foreign minister Darlian!"

Relena looked at the screen and couldn't believe what she was seeing. Men were entering the senate and firing at the senators. They were killed one after another.

"No! Stop it! Don't do that!!!!"
Kale looked at her, madness in his eyes. "And it's all because of you. If you had accepted my offer, this wouldn't' have been necessary because you have the charisma to make them change. Now, since you won't work with me, I have to destroy the enemy."

"No!!!!!" She tried to escape his grasp as if she could run to them and stop the massacre. But it was too late anyway, they were all dead.

"Why?!" She looked at him, tears of anger falling on her cheeks.

"I told you."

"It's only an excuse to justify yourself! You have no heart Kale Barton. I will stop you! I swear to God!"

Gabriel laughed madly then pushed her to the guards at the door. "Take her back to her cell, I don't want to see her anymore."

It was the General's Colonel who brought back Relena to her cell. Pushing her inside, he warned her: "I don't know why the General wants to keep you alive Miss Darlian, but know this, I don't like you." He then closed the door behind her.

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They were all sitting, in the Preventers' HQ cafeteria, at a round table. Duo had already finished eating while Quatre, who had been surprisingly silent, was still picking at his food. Wufei had also been eating in silence, but for him, it was only natural not to participate to Duo's constant chatting.

"Quatre, you should eat more than that."

"I know Duo. I'm not really hungry tonight."

"A soldier should always be prepared for the battle, you'll need all your strength if you want to be able to fight."

Duo sighted. "Wufei just repeated, in more complex words, what I just said."

"Maxwell, you're really getting on my nerves."

"Regardless of the way they said it, Quatre, they are both right." Trowa had joined them, giving a plate to Midii. She gently smiled back to thank him. It was still weird for both of them to be together, especially for Midii. Trowa was so nice to her, even after the way she had treated him back on L-3. She took the plate and asked Quatre what was wrong.

"I don't know, maybe I'm just nervous."

"You're always nervous before a mission, Quatre. You should relax a bit. Hey! Where's Heero, buddy?"

Sitting between Duo and Midii, Trowa answered. "He's getting ready for tonight."

"I can't believe we're doing all this for a woman."

"She's not just an ordinary woman, Wufei. Without her, there's no Peace. No offence, but without you, Peace would go on."

Everyone turned to look at Midii; surprised by the way she answered Wufei. He wasn't happy at all about her comment but he had to admit that she was right. She was now officially part of the group of women Wufei respected. Only few had the chance to be part of it: His wife, of course, Noin, Hilde, Lady Une and even Relena, but she wasn't completely in. Trowa had introduced her as an old friend of his but it had turned out that she was Lady Une's niece and one of the best "underground" agent of the Preventers. By the expression on Trowa's face at that announcement, he was clearly not aware of this. Quatre, however, seemed not surprised.

Trowa ha been impressed but not surprised by the way Midii had talked to Wufei. He discreetly and proudly smiled to her. Duo, on the other hand, wasn't as discreet.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Trowa, you've got the girl! Wu-man, that was in your face!"

Wufei death-glared Duo who didn't noticed and started to chitchat about something else. Everyone was happy to leave the troubled subject behind.

The light conversation was cut off when Lady Une entered the cafeteria. However, Quatre and Trowa didn't see the serious look on her face, they were more concerned about the person who was accompanying Lady Une. Trowa jumped to her while Quatre started to examine his plate.

"Cathy! What are you doing here?" Trowa hugged his sister tenderly. When they detached, she smiled back at him.

"I wanted to see you. I knew something was wrong by the look Quatre made you when he came to get you. Also, Eve had been missing for the past two weeks and I thought that maybe you could do something about it, after all, it's your job."

"I'm here Cathy." Raising from her chair, Midii went to Trowa's side to find her friend.

"Eve! We were so worried about you! Where were you?"

"It's a long story."

"I'm sorry to interrupt the happy reunion but we really do have a situation on our hands."

Quatre looked directly at Lady Une, avoiding Cathy's eyes. "What is it?"

"It's Zechs. He kn…" Suddenly, the ground started to shake like and earthquake.

"Lady Une! Lady Une!" Annoyed and not knowing what was going on, she turned to face the person who had called her. It was a security guard.

"What is it?"

Trying to take is breath, the man spoke. "It's… the Tallgeese… ma'am! It's in the yard!!"

"Shit! I wasn't fast enough!" Lady Une, followed by everyone, ran to the Preventers' yard.