Author's Notes: (Tensei) * takes a deep breath *  OOOKIE!  Wells, this is what happens when Tensei gets carried away!  I wrote 214k, people!  214k!!!!  In… * counts * About a week!  This is a record for me, so give me a pat on the back!  Pweese?  I ended up having to split it into 2 chapters, so… review, and I'll post the next part!

Kudos:  Okie… now, no one can write so much without a little(LOT) bit of assistance, ne? 

Musha-chan: For encouraging me as I wrote this, keeping my hopes up!  And just for always being there for me!  You are so valuable to me, don't you EVER leave or I'll hurt you.  ^^  Oh, and P.S.   YOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOU (this is revenge for last night) YOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOU!!!!!!

Karen: Babe!  You're the greatest!  Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge of criminology and… erm, yeah.  You knew a little TOO much about all this business with the alcohol.  O.o  Be good, k?

Susie Bek:  Thank you for confirming that my mind is not merely in the gutter – it's swimming in the septic tank, trying to rescue yours from drowning.

Marika Webster: * squeals * My first and coolest onee-san!  * glomps and bakes cookies*  Thank you SO much for encouraging me, and helping me through this!  * glomps and sobs * I don't know how I would have gotten through this without your wackiness and fun lectures!  You deserve way more than that Trowa fanart that I drew for ya.  * wink *

~*~*~*~*~

Tainted Dream

Chapter Three

~*~*~*~*~

Renee sighed as she walked through the long hall down towards her own apartment.  She absentmindedly ran her fingers though her tangled hair and glanced down at her watch.  It was already eleven-thirty AM.  She was tired, so tired!  What was happening to her!  Everything had been fine until HE came.  Why did she even let Elizabeth do this to her?  She was perfectly happy, wasn't she?

She finally got inside her small apartment and collapsed onto the sofa.  She didn't feel that her legs would make it all the way to her bed.  She would rest for a bit…  She had spent the entire night running.  She wasn't exactly sure why.  What was she running from?  Quatre's friends?  Having to face even MORE people?  Or was it something else?  Something… deeper?

For hours and hours, she did nothing but run.  She didn't even know where she was going, nor did she care.  Was this how she would live her life from now on?  Running from her fears?  Her uncertainty?  She hated this about herself, but she couldn't deny the absolute fear that had taken over her soul.

But now, she was back home.  Her little adventure was over, and it was time for her to once again face the daily routine of her life.  There was no escaping who she was, but still, she fought against herself.

Sleep.  That was what she needed now, and she had time for it too.  Elizabeth had blurted out something about going somewhere else tonight, but she didn't even hear her as her mind was focused on getting away.  Oh well.  She allowed her eyelids to flutter shut and curled up on her sofa, surrendering to the peace of slumber, and the nightmares of her soul.

~*~*~*~*~

"How'd it go?" Sally asked the pair as they emerged from the prison.  "Did you get any information?"   The only responses she earned was a growl from Wufei, and a glare from Musha.  All right… something was wrong.  "Come on, you two!" she picked up her pace to catch up with them, "I need to know what happened!"

"Nothing." Wufei's voice remained steady as if he was making an obvious statement, and how dare Sally even bother him about something so trivial anyway?  "Absolutely nothing."

"Fei-baka…" Even in stressful times, Musha never failed to use her favorite nickname for the Chinese man.  It had become as second nature to her.  "A lot happened, only… it wasn't quite what we expected.  When can we set up a meeting?"

Sally looked at her watch and nodded.  "How about in an hour?  I've reserved a conference room at the hotel for a week."

"That sounds fine.  See you then."

~*~*~*~*~

Duo made a face as a strange smell invaded his senses. Without so much of a word, he reached over and swiftly extracted the offending cigarette from between Elizabeth's lips and deposited it into a nearby trashcan. 

"Hey!" the said woman glared at the braided man, reaching into her purse for another, "What the hell did you do that for?"  She grinned triumphantly as she located the small package.

"Ah ah ah!" Duo scolded her as if she were a three year old as he reached over, and wrenched the box from Elizabeth's death grip, crushing it in his hand and tossing it into the can with the first. 

"Duo!" Elizabeth just glared at him, "Come on!  I needed that!"

Duo shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.  "I'm just doing this for your own good, sweetie.  You're too young to get wrinkles anyway."  She still didn't look convinced, but Duo was determined.  "You know, King James I called tobacco a "vile weed."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.  "And I suppose that some ancient dead guy is supposed to know better than I do?" She just glared at Duo as he nodded his head matter-of-factly.  "Moron…"

"Hey!  Come on, babe!  I'm only doing this 'cuz I love ya!  You know I'd do anything for you?"

Elizabeth's eyes lit up.  "Anything?"

"Woah woah woah…" Duo suddenly regretted his choice of words, "You know what I meant, sweetheart.  I just want to make sure you're healthy."

"MmHmm…" Elizabeth just nodded slowly and circled around him like a vulture, eyeing him carefully.

"Okay, babe?  You're… really starting to creep me out now."

Grinning brightly, Elizabeth launched herself at Duo and enveloped him in her arms.  "Duo!!!  Honey???  Will you help me plot and plan some more evil?"

Duo backed away as far as he could and winced at the thought.  Usually what this girl defined as evil, other people defined as "despicable and satanic".  He was officially worried.  He shouldn't ask, right?  Screw that, he was still curious.  "What kind of 'evil'?"

"Oh, just a little bit of mischief.  Just another date for Renee and Quatre."

"I thought that Renee didn't want to go on any more dates."  In fact, he had recalled hearing her say something to Elizabeth on the boat… something to the effect of 'If you ever dare set anything up like this again, I'll take these darned high heeled shoes and shove them down your throat!'

"Nah…" she just shook her head and waved her hand, "Don't worry.  She'll come.  If I surprise her last minute and tell her that I've already prepared everything, she'll come.  She can't say no to someone who's put themselves to a lot of trouble for her."

"Well." He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned back against the wall, "What did you have in mind?"

The sly grin that crossed Elizabeth's face made Duo very nervous.  "Remember that bar where we met?"

At that moment, Duo broke down laughing.  "A BAR?!  Babe, you and I BOTH know that there's no way in hell that we can get those two to drink!  I mean, I don't know Renee all that well, but I know that Quatre avoids the stuff like a plague!"

"Aaawww… come on, Duo!  We can pull this off!  They'll probably do it!  They may be a bit hesitant, but all we need to do is nudge them in the right direction and let the alcohol take them from there!"

Duo looked at her strangely and crocked his head to the side.  "Are we talking about the same thing, here?"

Elizabeth's grin only widened.  "Maybe we can get them a teeny bit… tipsy?  That's how our relationship started, you know."

Duo frowned slightly.  "Yeah… that's the problem.  I DON'T remember.  All I remember was waking up with a hangover, and a hot chick in my arms.  I don't think that those two would appreciate that kind of experience.  They're too… proper for that sort of thing.  And 'tipsy' isn't quite the appropriate word.  Try downright pissed!"

"Oh, come on!  They don't have to SLEEP with each other, just get a teeny bit cozy!  Even if it's just a little bit of supporting each other to steady one another!  Come on, Duo!  You know that they both need this!"

"I don't know about this, Liz.  There's another factor to consider."

"And what would that be, Duo?  Come on, nothing can stand in our way!"

Duo raised his hand and shook a scolding finger.  "Oh, yes!  Remember the chick that got all pissed off when she found out that Quatre went on a date with Renee?"  Elizabeth simply nodded, seemingly not understanding the conflict, so he continued, "Well, this chick may appear to be sweet as sugar, but she's got a bad ass attitude if you piss her off.  I'm serious. She's a highly trained assassin.  You don't want to get on her bad side."

Elizabeth pretended to pout and sighed.  "Well, then…" she thought for a moment, then perked up as she got an idea.  "I'll just take Renee, as if it was going to be just us, and we'll just happen to run in to you and blondie!"

Duo sighed and slumped down in defeat.  "You're not going to give up, are you?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, what do we know about this guy so far?" Sally folder her hands and leaned forward on the conference table, watching the others intently. 

"Colin Foster.  Twenty-six years old." Musha read off the files in a flat tone, not seeming to have any particular interest in his past.  What she wanted to know was how he knew her, how he recognized her!  Nevertheless, she focused on her task.  "When he was thirteen years old, his parents were killed – shot to death when they awoke to find burglars in their home.  The children were spared, but they took his younger sister, Melody, age five.  Years passed, and she still hadn't been found, not even a body." She paused for a moment, willing her own tears to stay inside.  Now was not the time to get weepy, it just wasn't the time!  But she couldn't help but feel sorry for this family.  Like her own, they had been ripped apart without mercy.  She hated those responsible for such pain, and she had made it her own personal mission to hunt down such criminals and do away with them.

When Wufei noticed that Musha had stopped talking, he took the folder from her hands and resumed from where she left off.  "Four years later, at age seventeen, Colin Foster had discovered the meeting place of a local gang that was notorious for their kidnapping and selling of children.  Convinced that they knew something about his sister, he armed himself and attacked them without warning.  He was soon apprehended and psychologists confirmed that he suffered from a severe case of schizophrenia.  He single-handedly killed two of the gang members with no remorse."

"So, why is he in isolation?" Sally wondered aloud, sitting up straight, "I would assume that he would have served a normal sentence."

Musha shook her head and retrieved the folder, all emotion not forgotten, but pushed aside for now.  "During one of his psychological reviews, he managed to break free of his handcuffs and strangle the psychologist to death, before the guard could even make it into the room.  He was deemed too dangerous to live in a facility where he was free to have contact with any other people.  Over the years, his condition worsened."  Musha's eyes darkened now as she thought of what went on when she and Wufei went to see him.  They had been his only visitors in years. 

"So…" Duo blinked a couple of times, trying to make sense of the situation, "This guy hasn't had any contact with anyone, besides the guards, for the last ten years, but we're investigating him for an attack that took place two years ago?"

"Well," Musha began to answer, with a sigh.  This was the hard part.  "Some of the guards claim that Colin Foster possesses some kind of telepathic ability.  Many of them recall being taunted with a voice that they all knew to be his.  If this is true, he could easily have been contacting someone from the outside all this time."

"So what motive would he have to destroy this plane?" Hiiro asked, a hint of curiosity could be detected in his usually monotone voice, "He killed the men that he saw as enemies."

"Some of them." Sally added, "But the leader of the gang survived, didn't he?"

Musha nodded.  "And he was on that flight."

"All right.  So tell us what happened when you two interviewed him.  What did he say?"

"He said nothing."  Wufei stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and turned away angrily, as Musha just sighed.

"He recognized me as Samantha Ling, and called me a murderer.  After that, he didn't say anything else."

"Samantha Ling was your original name, wasn't it?" Hiiro questioned as Musha just nodded.  "How could he know you, then?"

"I don't know.  He just… did."

"Then could the crash have had anything to do with Tensei?  I mean, you two are connected, and he had never even seen you before."

Musha shook her head.  "It's unlikely.  Tensei's ticket was dated for the very morning of her flight.  It wouldn't have been enough time for him to plan something like this."

"That's true." Hiiro nodded, taking another drink of his coffee, "But we should at least keep that in mind.  It may be handy to know later on down the road."

"All right." Sally stood up and pushed her chair back underneath the table.  "So everyone knows about this guy.  We'll start questioning old friends of his.  See what you can find out, all right?"  Everyone else nodded and got up as well.

Musha remained silent, glaring slightly when Quatre met her gaze.  She was still mad at him.  No, mad was an understatement.  Furious and enraged was more like it.  He had remained silent through the entire meeting, which she saw as a good thing.  She was afraid that she would challenge anything he said.

Do, taking notice of the dangerous glare stepped between the two and grabbed Quatre by the arm.  "Hey, Q-man!  We've gotta get going!  We're going out tonight!"

"Huh?" The first sound that Quatre made all afternoon, but he was still confused. 

"We're going out, just us guys, all right?  You need this, and you know it!"

"Duo, I'm not so sure…" He didn't even get a chance to finish before Duo dragged him away.

~*~*~*~*~

Renee stared down at the glass before her.  It was filled half way with a strange looking brownish substance, and its smell was even less appealing - bitter and rancid.  She squinted her eyes, as if she could better analyze the makeup of the liquid by doing so.  No such luck.  The substances used to compose this strange concoction would forever be a mystery, unless… 

She turned her head slightly and focused on Elizabeth, who was chatting up a storm with that braided friend of hers.  How did she know him in the first place?  Renee just shrugged and turned back to face the offensive looking drink and just stared at it, as if she could will it to disappear.

She moved her gaze to the man across from her and watched him for a moment.  He seemed to be as bewildered as she was about this place.  This place, that was in her mind very dirty and indecent.  She assumed that Quatre shared her feelings.

She didn't even quite remember how she got here.  She was sitting at home, wallowing in her own self-pity when Elizabeth burst inside, something that her friend had grown accustomed to in the last few days.  Another outfit was shoved into her hands and orders to change were promptly issued.  It was a short, leather skirt, and a sleeveless, coppery red shirt, that was cut way too low AND too high for her taste.  Two black, lace up boots were forced onto her feet, and a pair of sunglasses pulled her hair out of her eyes, resting on top of her head.  She looked dreadful!  However, it only took minimal threats and blackmail for Elizabeth to finally get Renee to go out in public like this.

It appeared that Duo was much nicer to Quatre.  He let the blonde man get away with denim jeans and a navy blue polo shirt.  Duo and Elizabeth wore almost identical outfits, black pants, white t-shirts and black leather jacket.  Those two were strange, Renee could definitely attest to that.  She was told that they had a relationship long ago, she wondered why it never worked out.

"Well?" Elizabeth's too-perky-for-comfort voice interrupted the other woman's thoughts. 

Renee blinked and looked blankly at her friend.  "Well what?"

"You haven't touched your drink!"  Elizabeth spoke as if Renee had committed some atrocious crime, she heard this tone used by her friend often.

Renee pretended to look surprised and gasped.  "You mean you drink this?"

"No, babe.  You bathe in it." Duo added sarcastically, then shook his head, "Of COURSE you drink it!"

"Maybe she doesn't want to drink it." Quatre offered, shoving his glass as far away from him as his arm would allow, "It does smell rather… repulsive."

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head.  "You two are no fun!  We really wanted you to have a good time tonight!  It would be terribly disappointing if you didn't enjoy yourselves!"

"Besides!" Duo added, "You guys only have beer.  It's nothing compared to a nice shot of Absolute!"

"Please, Renee?" Elizabeth had finally resorted to begging.  Renee had actually expected this long ago.  With a sigh, the younger woman hesitantly took a sip from her glass and made a face.

"This tastes awful!"

"Just finish this glass!  That's ALL, okay?  After that, I won't bug you again!" There was something about her tone of voice and the way that her sly grin never faded that made Renee nervous, but what choice did she have? This woman was an expert at blackmail.

"You too, Q-man!"  Duo added with a goofy grin, "If the lady does it, you should too!"

Quatre looked nervously down at his own drink.  Since Renee was being forced into this, he did feel a sense of obligation to suffer this injustice alongside her.  After all, it was only fair, right?  With a sigh, the man shook his head and took a sip of the liquid, making a face that matched that of the previously disgusted girl.

"That's a boy!" Duo applauded Quatre and gave him a rough pat on the back.  "See?  Another step towards manhood!  Boy, if Wufei could see you now!"

~*~*~*~*~

Renee squinted her emerald green eyes at her watch, finding it particularly hard to make out the numbers that she so often read with no trouble at all.  Eleven P.M?  Or was that One A.M?  She couldn't tell.  Deciding that either one would still mean that it was too late to stay out, she lifted her gaze to her friends.  "Hey guys…" the 's' at the end of her phrase lingered lazily as she felt the room spinning around her.  "I think we should get home or we'll miss the Easter bunny!"

Elizabeth broke down in laughter at this point.  Her plan had worked!  Quatre and Renee's drinks were not really beer, but a carefully mixed rum and coke.  The bubbles had been stirred out of the coke, and the flavor was still bitter enough that these two first-time drinkers wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway.  This combination would certainly be enough to send both victims beyond reason, and Renee was giving a beautiful example of this.  Quatre, on the other hand, showed no signs of being anything less than perfectly sober.  He didn't even seem tired or dazed, just watched Renee, every once in a while shaking his head in disapproval.

"Woah, babe!" Duo leaned back in his chair, his entire frame shaking with laughter, "You've got it bad, huh?"

"This was wrong." Quatre broke in, his tone one of disappointment and annoyance, "You two knew that she would get drunk, didn't you?"  His eyes narrowed at the guilty couple, giving them a glimpse of one of Quatre's rare angry faces.

"Sorry, Quatre…" Elizabeth managed, still unable to control her laughter, "We didn't know that she'd get this bad." She looked back to Renee, who was making shadow puppets – in the dark room, then looked back to Quatre, who was still level.  "I just want to know… why didn't the alcohol effect you?"

"Part of my training as a Gundam pilot.  I'm immune to many drugs, alcohol being one of them."

"Oh yeah…" Duo sunk into his seat, "Sorry, Quat.  We just wanted you two to have a little bit of fun!"

Quatre shook his head, clearly fending off a headache.  This was all too much, and the loud music blasting in the background didn't help any.  "I'm taking her home."  He reached down and grabbed one of Renee's arms, pulling her to her feet and helping to balance her as she tottered from side to side.

Renee fixed her eyes on Quatre and looked at him curiously.  Only a moment later, did she break out in a huge grin.  "Quatre!  You never told me that you had a twin!"

Quatre threw one last glare at the other two, before slinging her arm over his shoulder, and wrapping his free arm around her waist.  "I'll see you two tomorrow." He muttered as he made his way through the crowds, dragging the poor girl along with him, trying his hardest not to trip over her wandering feet.

"Damn…" Duo commented once the two blondes were out of earshot, "That was a mistake.  I knew that he'd get pissed off."

"No…" Elizabeth corrected him, her eyes still glowing with mirth, "You thought that he'd get drunk too.  Then they'd wake up the next morning and hopefully have no recollection of tonight's activities!  But SOMEONE forgot that a certain someone ELSE can't GET drunk!" She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, a proud grin on her face, "And I'm not the one who's screwed, 'cuz Renee is going to forget ALL about this tomorrow.  But YOU, on the other hand…"

"No way!" Duo raised his arms defensively, "You're not gonna leave me hanging!  We were in this together!  If I go down, I'm taking you with me!"

"Sorry, sexy." Elizabeth stood and winked at the braided man, "You're on your own." That said, she turned and left quickly, leaving poor Duo to ponder his own inevitable fate.  Shaking his head, he ordered himself another drink.  He was going to need it.

~*~*~*~*~

"What does this button do?" a slender finger reached out and pressed one of the many buttons on the stereo in Quatre's rental car.  The speakers blared with some kind of hard rock music, causing Quatre to swerve momentarily, before finally getting the car back under control and turning off the music. 

"Please don't touch anything, Renee." He said, wrapping a free hand around her wrist that moved out to turn on the radio again.  "We're almost home."

Renee grinned and leaned back.  "Okie…" she sang, looking at Quatre and staring at him.

He did his best to ignore her, focusing on the road.  But there was something about this woman that unnerved him, but why?  He had only known her for a few days now, but there was just something strangely familiar about her.  As if he had met her before.  At a conference, maybe?  He had only been to about ten thousand in his lifetime. 

He breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached her apartment building.  Quatre stopped the car, then walked around and helped Renee out.  "You'll go right to sleep now, right?"

Renee blinked and looked at her watch. "But it's 2 o'clock!  Morning time!"

Quatre shook his head and walked her inside, fumbling through her purse for her keys, reasoning that it was okay for him to do this, as at this moment, Renee couldn't tell the difference between her keys and her lipstick.  It only took him a moment to open the door and help the young woman inside.  "Just go to sleep, Renee, alright?"

Renee just grinned.  "Why???"

"Gods…" Quatre sighed and shut the door, "I'm gonna kill them for this, okay?  I promise."

Renee took her hand and pointed it to Quatre like a gun.  "BANG!" she giggled and spun around, "I just saved Relena Peacecraft!"

Quatre's eyes went wide as a memory from years ago hit him head-on.

~*~

She spotted a smirk on her target's face as he pulled something shiny from his coat pocket.   This was it. It's now or never. She pulled the trigger, sending the bullet flying towards his hands, knocking the gun down as he cried out in pain.

~*~

What was this that Quatre felt from this woman?  Something… that had been waiting to break free?  On the outside, Renee appeared as a giggly, silly girl who needed a good tranquilizer dart to calm her down, but from her soul, he could feel unspeakable pain and despair as well as her own memories.

"Oh! And don't forget this!" Renee suddenly launched herself at the helpless former Gundam pilot, effectively pinning him to the floor.  "Remember that?"

"What?!"

~*~

'Oh well,' she thought, 'It's now or never.' she jumped into the room, accidentally landing on the blonde guard.

"All right, Quatre!" the braided guard shouted.

~*~

"All right, Quatre!" Renee squealed, finally rolling off of the stunned man and onto the floor, clutching her sides as she now found it painful to laugh. 

Quatre just sat up then stared down at her in stunned silence.  She… no!  She could be…?  No!  It was impossible!!  "Miss Williams?  Are you all right?"

Renee shook her head and sat up.  "Quatre!  I've told you time and time again NOT to call me 'miss'!"

"No… You've… never said that to me."  Quatre was beyond confusion now.  These memories that he felt from her... he knew them! Who was she?

"Yes." She corrected him matter-of-factly.  "You ALWAYS called me 'Miss Tensei', and I ALWAYS told you NOT to!"

Quatre's skin turned a ghostly white.  Tensei?  But… "Tensei is… dead!" he finished aloud, eyes wide as saucers. 

Renee shook her head and grinned.  "Nope.  Everyone THINKS that Tensei is dead!  They thought that she went to Tokyo and her plane crashed when in FACT, she came right here to New York!" Her eyes darted around the room for a minute before she grinned once more and pointed to herself.  "And here she is!"

In a moment… the blink of an eye – everything happened.  Quatre's world both collapsed and came together, was destroyed and resurrected, was made wrong and right at the same time.  It… couldn't be.  That was… impossible!  But… She had died!  It was impossible!

"Ouch.  That hurt…" Renee rubbed her chest where she had previously poked herself.  "Maybe I should trim my nails?"

Quatre shook his head in disbelief and just stared at her.  The plane ticket that Tensei had dropped was… a decoy?  So, the death of his friend and the destruction of his soul had all been nothing but a lie?  Tensei was alive after all?  There must have been some mistake.  She was, after all, too drunk to stand straight, but still – he couldn't help but wonder…

It took a moment before he finally got his voice to work again.  Taking a deep, shaking breath he reached out and gently took Renee's wrist into his hand, looking into her emerald green eyes.  Green eyes… Tensei had brown eyes.  He shook his head and continued, nonetheless.  "Tensei?"

The woman just grinned.  "I'm a smart cookie, ain't I?" She turned away for a moment, lifting her hands to her face, then turned back a moment later, showing off her deep, chocolate colored eyes, holding a pair of color-contacts in her hands.  "All it takes is a 'lil hair dye and some contacts, and you can be a new you!" 

She stopped for a moment and tilted her head to the side, studying Quatre's face curiously, then carefully she reached a hand out, gently tracing her fingertip along a wet line on his cheek.  He was crying.

He had never admitted to himself just how much he cared for her until after she died, and in his eyes, that was unforgivable.  He had never allowed himself the luxury of crying, of releasing the sorrow that had built up over the years and slowly choked him out of his very life.

"You're crying…" she said softly, regarding the tears with such reverence that you'd think she had never seen any before, "Why are you crying, Quatre?"

"Is it you?" he whispered back, closing his eyes as his own hand reached out and traced her features.  "Is it really Tensei?"

Her eyes widened suddenly as everything finally processed.  Her secret was out, but her mind was still clouded with alcohol.  "I'm Tensei Williams." She shook her head, that wasn't right!  "Renee Jiaino!  I'm… I'm…" the color seemed to drain from her skin as reality hit her hard from above.  Her life as Renee Williams was over… she'd failed.

Nothing else was said.  A small sob pierced through the silence and arms flew, as two old friends, two souls embraced eachother once more.