Author: Demeter
Disclaimer: All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. All characters belong to them, and all stories, relationships, ideas are fiction, in no way related to the original storyline. The story, the relationships and original characters within the fic are copyright of the author Demeter.
Part Six: Gone but not forgotten
Loss is a hard emotion to comprehends. It gapes open, almost swallowing a person whole when taken unaware. With the loss of Relena Darlian, what happens to Earth and the Colonies?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dorothy paced up and down, unable to rest, unwilling to sit. Catherine, sipping a glass of tea, watched her thoughtfully, before standing up and gently pushing the blond into a seat. Looking between a cup of coffee and a shot of vodka, she debated silently, before pouring the alcohol into the coffee. Handing the cup to Dorothy, she said, "Drink it."
Ice-blue eyes stared at the cup, before taking it with shaking hands, and draining the entire cup with one gulp. Her thoughts grew wild, ranging from wanting to kill the pilots to dreading the outcome of the search going on at the moment. The media were in a frenzy, trying their hardest to find the people closest to Relena to interview them.
"I can't believe this happened. HOW could this have happened?"
Catherine turned sympathetic eyes to Dorothy. She did nothing but pat her gently on the shoulder, before leaving the room quietly. Standing in the hallway, she leaned against the wall, her back sliding down the concrete until she was sitting on the floor.
Leaning her head on her arms, she felt something burning in the back of her eyes. Swallowing hard, Catherine worked to keep the tears from pooling.
"Cathy."
"Trowa."
She felt him slide down to sit next to her, before cracking open one eye. His hair was tousled, and there were faint lines under his eyes. She wasn't in the least bit surprised. None of them had gotten any sleep since the whole kidnapping.
She doubted she would ever go to sleep again.
"Cathy... I'm sorry."
Catherine looked at her younger brother, turned her head to stare at the ceiling, before replying, "It's not your fault Trowa. It's not any of the pilot's faults. Though, I bet that Dorothy feels differently." She paused, her tone light, before continuing, "Nothing could have prevented what happened today. If you two had indeed killed the other three, Relena would have loathed herself for causing what happened. And everyone would've been unhappy."
He was silent, his one visible eye pained. Noins had had to sedate Zechs in order to prevent him from launching himself at Heero to kill the young pilot. The amount of tension in the office had been excruciatingly high. Sally had commented bitterly that she was in disbelief that the room didn't go up into flames, the way hateful words had been screamed at each other. Her words had seemed to strike a chord in Wufei, as he could not come up with his customary insults.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and found himself looking into Catherine's gray eyes. "Trowa, listen to me. You can't beat yourself up over what happened." She paused. Her gray eyes roamed over her brother searching for an answer.
Trowa watched her steadily.
"You can't." She whispered softly.
Her expression suddenly making her look much older than she really was, she slowly lifted herself from her uncomfortable position on the floor, before patting him awkwardly. Walking down the hallway, she called behind her. "Oh, and try to avoid Dorothy. She's a bit unbalanced right now."
Trowa stayed there, long after she had left.
And it was Quatre who found him, two hours later.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The search went on almost continuously for a six months. There was neither a hide nor a hair of Relena Peacecraft. It was as simply as if she had disappeared off the earth, into oblivion. And, with the colonies, that was not a highly unlikely idea. The colonies volunteered to conduct sweeps, and sweeps were seen through. Yet, no sign was found of her.
The Preventers had searched unfailing, but even they, in the end, had to give up. The Gundam Pilots continued looking afterwards, but no indication that she was even alive ever found their way to their reports. Heero worked his way back to the L1 colony and picked up old habits. However, the perfect soldier uncharacteristically was found out, forcing him to give up and return to earth.
Milliardo refused to stop and threw his entire being into searching for his little sister. After eight months, however, Noins forced him to stop for his health. Lady Une, Sally, and the Preventers used the best of their technology, but nothing turned up. Catherine inquired at all the towns she stopped at and found nothing but rumors and false hopes.
Dorothy hunted with all her being. Looking, trying to find some evidence, a shred of something that would tell her that the girl was still alive. She found nothing and sank into despair at ever seeing her friend again.
Chaos broke loose. The fragile negotiations between Earth and the Colonies fell apart and the relationships on earth grew tenuous at best. Battles between different states broke out, and there was little peacemakers could do. A group of dedicated Sank officials tried desperately to retrieve order, but in vain. What Relena Darlian had managed to hold together with her two slender arms, now grew torn, even with hundreds of people trying to bring them back. Rebel factions started springing up, and before long, the two worlds, Earth and Space, found themselves entangled in another war.
And there was nothing anyone could do.
~*~ Part Six ~*~
~*~ FINIS ~*~
