Author: Fallen Angel

Email: fallen_angel_2012@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. Don't sue.

Chapter 7

Inside the farmhouse, Relena felt the first tingles of worry go through her. The place was huge and she had no idea where her father might be and worse, where Governor Trieze was. She was sure he wouldn't be as easy to fool as his guards and would see through her disguise straightaway.

But there was no time to worry - she had to find her father. And all she had for a guide were her instincts.

Still, she thought, they've brought me this far…

So she followed them, walking softly but surely down the dimly lit corridors. All the rooms were sparsely furnished and far too open to be housing a hostage. No, Relena thought, he would have to be somewhere secret. With this in mind, she checked every nook and cranny she passed. Under the stairs, in the cupboards and pantries, knocking softly in search of a secret door. But there was none.

Wearily, Relena sat down on the kitchen floor, resting her hands against the rug beneath her. Where could he be?

Then it struck her and she almost hit herself for being so stupid. The rug!

With lightning fast movements, Relena pulled aside the heavy sheepskin rug to reveal a small trapdoor. Fingers frantic, she grasped at the edges and pulled it open, wasting no time in lowering herself down into the darkness below.

She held her breath and listened. There was the sound of soft breathing, coming from further in the room. Carefully, she walked towards them, her feet making no sound on the soft dirt floor.

Relena found him around the next corner, lying on the ground, his hand over his chest. In the light from a small window near the roof she could see his breathing was shallow and his eyes closed.

"Father!" she couldn't stop herself calling out, running to his side and bending beside him. "Oh, Father, what have they done to you?"

Her father opened his eyes slowly, the blue irises unfocused and bleary. It was then that Relena saw what his hand was covering and she understood his pain, tears welling in her eyes. He had been shot in the chest, his blood already pooling on the ground beneath him.

She didn't need to be a doctor to see he was dying.

"Oh, Father," she whispered, pulling him up into her arms. "Please, hold on. I'm here now. We'll get you out of this place."

"Relena?" he said, finally recognising the voice of his rescuer. "What are you doing here…it's too…too dangerous."

"No, I won't leave you. I don't care if Trieze himself comes in."

"He won't," her father gasped. "He left…you see…the man Ghost was his assistant…I didn't recognise him at first…but I knew soon enough…"

"Father, don't speak. Save your strength."

"No, you need to know this…" his breath wavered with every word, but Relena could see in his eyes that he meant to say what he wanted to say, even if it killed him. Sadly, she held her tongue. "The man…Ghost…he is your brother…Milliardo…"

Relena gasped. "What…no, how can that be?"

"I don't know…but he was trying to help me…Trieze suspected…Milliardo was going to get us out tonight…we were ambushed. I was shot and so was your brother…though not as badly…Trieze took him away…to Sydney…find a boat…to get out of the country…"

Relena heard his words but not all of them registered. Her mind could only find a few to latch on and these it clung to the way a starving child would cling to food. Milliardo is alive.

My long lost brother is alive somewhere.

Trieze has him, but he is alive.

The thoughts echoed through her mind so strongly that she barely heard another person enter the cellar and walk up behind her. It was only when she felt a hand against her shoulder that she gave a soft cry.

"Don't worry, it's only me," said the voice and Relena's heart skipped a beat.

"Heero." He took her hand reassuringly and knelt down beside her. With the other hand, he checked her father's pulse. "He's dying, isn't he?"

Heero didn't need to say anything for her to know what his answer was.

"Heero Yuy…" her father said suddenly and Relena's attention shifted. "Is that you?"

"Father, you know him?"

"One of His Majesty's men…Trieze spoke about you…and I remember you from the boat…" he shuddered as he struggled for breath and Relena choked back tears. "Trieze fears you and your friends…like Captain Chang…you fight for the people…a good man…" His blue eyes dimmed as he tapped the last of his strength to speak. "Please…take care of my daughter…if her brother does not make it…she will be alone…she is strong…but not that strong…"

Each word became softer and softer as the wound in his chest hampered Dorlain's ability to breathe. But Heero heard each word as if they had been spoken straight into his ear, going directly to his heart. He lowered his head.

"I swear I will do as you ask."

Satisfied, Dorlain smiled before looking up at his daughter. "My child…my dear sweet daughter… Know that I love you and that…that you couldn't have made me any prouder than I already am…" he sighed and his last breath left his body. He closed his clear blue eyes for the last time and died.

"Father," Relena whispered, bending over his body and placing a soft kiss on his still warm lips. "Father, I love you too."

"He knew that Relena," whispered Heero just as softly. He prepared to stand up, in case Relena wanted one last moment with her father. But she turned to him, tears glistening in her eyes and Heero remembered her Father's words.

She is strong, but not that strong.

Without a word, Heero pulled her into his embrace and comforted her as she cried, bitter tears that fell on his shoulder and pierced him straight to his heart.

And he reaffirmed his vow, silently, that he wouldn't let anyone hurt Relena ever again.

When her tears had subsided, Heero picked Relena up from the floor and began to guide her towards the door.

"Wait for me upstairs," he said. "The others have taken care of the guards so you won't be bothered. I will take care of your father."

That was when Relena broke out of her stupor. "No, Heero we can't. Trieze…"

"We couldn't find him. He's not here."

"I know. My father told me. He's gone to Sydney and he's taken my brother with him."

Heero's eyes widened. "Your brother?"

"My brother is the man you know as Ghost. Your insider. Trieze found out his real identity and has taken him to Sydney where he'll try and escape out of the country." Her voice was tinged with panic and she was clinging to Heero's shirt in desperation. "He was your spy and we can't just let Trieze go. We have to go stop him."

Heero frowned in thought. "I don't know if we can make it in time. They must be long gone by now."

"Are you giving up?" she asked, voice cold with anger that had no outlet. "You haven't completed your mission."

"How can I?" Heero grasped her by the upper arms. "The others have already left. You and I are the only ones still here. And Trieze still has some of his best guards with him. Are you saying we chase after him ourselves?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying," she responded angrily and shook herself from his grasp before scooting up the ladder into the kitchen beyond.

"Damn it, come back Relena!" he called to her retreating back before chasing after her. She had a head start and moved quickly so it wasn't until they'd reached the stables that he was able to catch up with her. She was pacing up and down the stalls, picking the best horse of the group and saddling up.

Heero's voice was like ice when he spoke. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"You're insane! Are you planning to rescue your brother on your own?" he glared at her but she ignored it.

"Not just that," she answered. "I plan to kill Trieze."

Heero's heart stopped beating for a full 10 seconds. She was serious. He could hear it in her voice and see it in her face. "And," she continued, "if you aren't coming with me, then yes, I am going on my own."

Heero scowled. "This is very dangerous."

"I know that."

"You could die."

"I know that too."

"But you're still going to do it?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Silently, Heero walked over to the wall and grabbed a saddle and reins. He threw them over a large black stallion and rode up beside Relena. "Well, princess," he said. "It seems you were wrong about one thing. You won't be going alone."

They rode non-stop for hours, fast and hard, pushing the horses - and themselves - to the limit. The mountain terrain was just as difficult on the way back and Heero was beginning to feel the strain. Not just from the hard riding and the lack of sleep: he still hadn't had a chance to rest from his journeys with Relena.

He looked over at his lover but her face showed nothing but focus. He wished he understood what it was that drove her. For the mission, he could understand. For justice. For pride. But he had never gone all out for love before.

Not until today.

They rode flat out until the reached Sydney, just as the first hints of a sunrise were peaking over the hill. From the hill they'd stopped on, they could see all of the harbour and the many boats and all the people jostling about.

Relena's face fell suddenly and Heero knew what she was thinking. 'How will we ever find them in all these people?'

"We only have to look for a boat," said Heero to reassure her. "We know that's what he's after."

"What if he's already left?"

"Are you giving up?" asked Heero, echoing her words from before.

His comment had the desired effect. Relena frowned and shook her head. "No, of course not. Come on."

She kicked her mount and tore off down the hill, Heero right behind her.

On one of the ships Heero and Relena had been staring at a moment earlier, Milliardo Peacecraft was straining against the ropes that held him tied to the mast. It was a hard job, made even harder by the fact that he was wounded, his shoulder bleeding profusely.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a smooth voice interrupted his work and he cursed inwardly. "I wouldn't want you hurting yourself any further."

"Damn you, Trieze," he said viciously. "You're the one who shot me. Why won't you just let me die already?"

"Ah, because, my dear Milliardo," the other man said, strolling over to look him in the eyes, "then I wouldn't be able to get all the juicy details about your treachery out of you."

"I won't tell you anything."

"But I already know nearly everything, Milliardo," Trieze said, as cordially as if they were at a dinner party. "Or do you go by the name Ghost now? Never matter. A traitor by any other name…"

"I'm not the traitor, Trieze," cried Milliardo. "You are. All these people wanted from you was leadership and you betrayed that, just to further your own power and wealth. I was loyal to you until you began to abuse the colonists."

Trieze was silent for a moment, blue eyes gazing out over the ocean. "Is that why you think I did this, Milliardo? For money and power? If so, you are mistaken. I have treated the colonists in the manner they deserve. They are all ex-convicts or pickpockets or thieves. I hardly see how that is abuse."

"You're not only a murderer," spat Milliardo. "But you're a liar too!"

"Liar? Murderer?" Trieze gave one of his unnerving not-smiles as he tapped his rapier against his thigh. "I am no murderer. I wouldn't have killed your father if you hadn't been trying to help him escape. I wouldn't have even kidnapped him if I hadn't discovered your real origins as a Dorlain , and with that, your treachery as the spy, Ghost. I needed your father to flush you out." He smiled to himself. "Fate is an unusual thing. My original plan was to kidnap your sister and use her against you and your father. Shame she was lost overboard. Still, I got my desired outcome."

"You sick bastard," cursed Milliardo. "How dare you try and convince me that I was responsible for my father's murder. And how dare you bring up my poor sister. Have you no respect for the dead?"

"You'll find out soon enough, once you too have passed along, old friend," said Trieze, sarcasm dripping at his last words. "But there is a lot we have to do before then. Now…" he took out his rapier and held it to Milliardo's throat. "…I need to know exactly how much you passed on to your friends…to Heero Yuy and his merry men."

"I'll tell you nothing. There is no one left alive for you to use against me."

"Going to play the martyr, are we?" asked Trieze. He ran the tip of his sword back and forth across Milliardo's jugular before suddenly swishing it to the side and driving it into the bullet hole in the blonde man's shoulder. Milliardo cried out in pain and thrashed against his bonds but it was no use.

"Very well," said Trieze. "Do as you wish. There is a lot of time between here and our destination for me to find out what I need to know." He then smiled to himself as if he had stumbled on a great joke. "You know, Milliardo, it will be interesting to see how you die. Whether it will be a gunshot wound like your father, or drowning at sea, like your sister."

Relena stood at one edge of the harbour and sighed. Even with Heero, it could take forever for the two of them to search each and every boat moored there. She bit her lip in frustration.

"Hey," Heero said. "Don't be so pessimistic. You found your father, didn't you?"

"Father…"

Heero could have hit himself. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

"No, Heero, you don't understand," she said quickly. "Father said something to me, something that might indicate where they are."

"Relax, and try and put yourself back in that moment."

Relena did as he suggested, closing her eyes to put herself back in that cellar. "He said…he said that Trieze was afraid of you…and that he knew of you…And Captain Chang! That's it!" Realisation washed over her, filling her with hope. "Think about it, Heero. If he knew Wufei were on our side, what boat would he immediately think of stealing? What boat is now moored here, basically unattended?"

Heero's eyes widened as he comprehended what she was saying. "The Nataku."

They crept though the crowd to where they saw the Nataku moored, it's unusual red flags at the mast standing out against the clear blue sky.

"That's it, alright," whispered Heero to Relena as they stood behind a warehouse wall. "And I can see Trieze's guards nearby." Sure enough, a dozen or so of Trieze's best men were piling up boxes near the ship. Supplies for a journey, Heero guessed.

"Can you see anyone on deck?" asked Relena.

"No, not from this angle. But I'd bet my right arm Trieze is up there with your brother."

"Then we have to go. Now."

Heero frowned at her. "Are you serious? With those guards there and all these people around? What were you planning to do, princess? Start a gunfight?"

"No," Relena rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Heero, you call yourself a strategist." She moved around him and pointed. "Look, the guards aren't actually on the ship. All we need to do is get the ship away from the jetty and onto the ship at the same time." She rubbed her chin in thought. "I'd say cut the mooring line, perhaps, but we'll be too visible while we do it…"

"Not if we're below water," said Heero. "Can you swim?"

"Of course I can swim," she said proudly.

"Good."

Before she even had a chance to speak, Heero had grabbed her hand and pulled her through the throng of people, towards the water. Hidden from view by the crowd, he held her hand tightly and jumped into the water.

He didn't let go of her hand until they re-emerged beneath the jetty the Nataku was moored to. Spluttering and wiping water from her eyes, Relena hissed, "Could you at least warn me when you're going to do that?"

"That's for insulting my abilities as a strategist," he replied as he reached into his boot for a knife. Slowly and surely, he swum over to the mooring lines that ran between the jetty and the Nataku and reached up and began to slice through the ropes.

"You'd better hold tightly to me. There's a strong wind up and the anchor isn't weighed," said Heero. "So when this line is cut, the Nataku should start moving pretty quickly."

The last cord snapped and, as Heero predicted, the Nataku began to move. Or at least, Relena assumed it did, since she and Heero were now being pulled through the water: Heero's hand wrapped firmly around the end of the mooring line and her arms wrapped firmly about his waist.

As the water washed over Relena's body, memory washed through her mind. She was in the ocean, but it was night and the wind was howling about her ears.

"Stay alive," a voice had told her sternly. She couldn't make out a face, only a set of Prussian blue eyes, staring into hers, willing her to breathe, to fight the cold and the dark and the almost irresistible urge to surrender to death. "Fight it, princess," the voice told her again. "Fight and live, Relena."

"Relena!" she blinked and found herself back in the present, the water still rushing around her. Heero was above her, climbing up the mooring line, pulling her hand in a appeal she do the same. Shaking herself out of her memories, she pulled herself up, following Heero out of the water and up the side of the Nataku.

Up on deck, Milliardo noticed they were moving straightway and prayed that, below decks, Trieze couldn't. After all, it couldn't be an accident that they were suddenly free of the jetty - mooring lines just don't snap on their own. Someone had to be responsible.

His suspicions were confirmed when he heard a man's voice at his shoulder.

"Ghost?"

"Yes, who are you?" A man with the darkest blue eyes he'd ever seen was cutting him free from the mast. A friend. It had to be… "Heero Yuy?"

"You got it," the other man said, pulling away the ropes. But Milliardo had stopped paying attention. His eyes had fallen on the woman standing behind Yuy. She was dressed as one of Trieze's soldiers, but even so, her figure and stance said clearly 'female'. But that wasn't what had Milliardo so curious: it was her eyes. Blue and expressive, they seemed so familiar. They seemed so like his mother's…

"Relena?" he asked, recognition hitting him. "Is that you?"

The girl's face went from concern to surprise to happiness in a split second. "Oh, Milliardo," she cried, bending down and hugging him gently so as not to hurt his shoulder. "Brother, it's been so long. I thought you wouldn't recognise me."

"How could I forget my little sister?" he asked with a smile, wrapping his good arm around her. "Has it really been so long?"

"We thought you were dead," she almost sobbed. "When you disappeared like that…"

"Bandits," he said curtly, as if he didn't want to remember. "But I survived and I have found my way back to you again. And father…"

Relena's face fell and she didn't meet his eyes. Milliardo needed no further explanation.

"But you spoke to him?" he asked softly.

"He was very proud of you," she responded. "And he died bravely. It was his words that led us to you."

"Then perhaps I will get a chance to avenge his murder," muttered Milliardo grimly.

"No, you don't," said Heero quickly. "First of all, we have to get off this boat. Then you can worry about revenge. Trieze won't be able to get far. Not without a crew."

"I have to agree with Heero," Relena said, ignoring the brief look of brotherly worry that she was on a first name basis with the other man. "You aren't in any condition to fight." She lifted one arm over her shoulders. "We'll get you into a boat and then…"

"But you mustn't," a cold voice said, sending shivers up Relena's spine. From her position she couldn't see who it was, but Heero's sudden defensive stance and the look of pure hatred on her brother's face told her all she needed to know about who was standing behind her.

Trieze Kushrenada.