Disclaimer: Like I said before, I don't own Gundam Wing; I just want to mess around with their characters.

Author's Note: Again since Zechs is no longer ruling Sanc I had to change all the stuff that had him in it. I replaced him with Lady Une in the ending speech because she has more experience than him in terms of public speaking.

ZERO SOUL

Chapter 4: Fading Hope

By: Vegie-kun

Six days came and went without further incident; the Gundam pilots and Preventers still had yet to discover any evidence of Relena's whereabouts. They couldn't even confirm whether or not she was still alive or dead. It seemed like she just vanished off the face of the Earth. Quatre and Duo returned to the colonies in hopes of finding some indication that she had been taken there. However, chances of that were slim since analysis of recent shuttle flights, both for passengers and cargo, yielded nothing suspicious. Wufei and Trowa decided to go undercover in an attempt to unearth any information they could get in the underground syndicates and black-markets. They knew Relena was a valuable person and countries would pay anything to get their hands on her, to use as a trophy, propaganda or negotiation tool. Sally and the Preventers had fanned out across the globe, spurred on by rumors, logical guesses, and whatever little information they were able to glean from the captured OZ soldiers. In the meantime Zechs and Noin had taken over Relena's workload to cover up the fact that she was missing but giving the politicians of the E.S.U.N the runaround was proving to be more and more difficult with each passing day. Heero on the other hand had vanished, though he made daily calls to the Preventer's Headquarters to report his findings, or rather lack-there-of. It was a valiant attempt on his part to show the others that he was giving them his full cooperation. They had only one day left before they had to announce to the public that the Foreign Minister of the E.S.U.N had been kidnapped and the week was drawing to a close.

In a port located on L4 a shuttle had just landed. Once the spacecraft was secured, a throng of people began to file out. The last to leave were two young men. The taller of the two wore a black leather jacket, a red T-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. His chestnut colored hair was covered by a black cap, his braid tucked underneath his jacket. The smaller one had platinum blond hair and wore a blue button-down shirt, nicely pressed khakis, and dark sunglasses. Both walked out carrying a large duffle bag and looked like they hadn't had a decent night's sleep in days.

The blond looked towards the artificial sky and sighed heavily, visibly weary. /We've been going through every single colony and we still haven't found anything. Wherever OZ took her, they made sure she wouldn't be easily found. Even those OZ soldiers we detained and interrogated refused to talk... They even killed themselves so they wouldn't betray the organization... This situation is getting more hopeless by the minute./

"So, Quatre," Duo piped up, bored from the silence that hung in the air, "when are we gonna have lunch? I'm starving!"

"Duo, this is not the time to be thinking about food!" Quatre snapped uncharacteristically, "Can't you be serious for once? If we can't find her on this colony then Commnader Une will have no other choice than to release this news to the public. When that happens, all hell will break loose," Quatre's voice turned serious and grave. "For all we know, she could already be dead-"

"Now stop that!" Duo jumped in front of Quatre, his face burning red, trying to suppress his anger. "Relena is not dead! She can't be. They wouldn't kidnap her just to kill her. It just wouldn't make sense. We're going to find her, even if it takes us forever, b-because I know she's out there..." Tears started to formed at the corner of his eyes but he held them back as best as he could. Quatre saw his pain and placed a hand on Duo's shoulder to comfort him.

"... I-I'm sorry Duo," he apologized, "I know you care a lot about her... it's just that I'm so frustrated. I mean... we're doing our best to find Relena so that those damn politicians won't worry, but they never really cared for her or for what she tried to do for everyone. I just get so riled up when I think about how Relena was fighting to protect those kinds of people." He turned his head to the side to hide the tears also forming in his own eyes.

"You know that she didn't do it for them; she did it for the innocent people who suffered during the wars. She did it for you and me and the rest of the guys... C'mon," Duo comforted with a forced smile, though a smile nonetheless, "are we going to start looking for her or what? The sooner we get to a computer, the sooner we can hack into this colony's files and records and go back to Earth and rejoin the others." With that said the two pilots were off again heading in the direction of the Winner estate.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"Come in."

Noin poked her head through the door before walking into the office carrying a manila folder under her right arm. She walked across the length of the room to the desk situated near the window in the back. Before the man behind it could address her, she seated herself in a chair and threw the folder on his desk.

"After six days, this was all we managed to get done," the woman said in disgust.

"Lu..."

"Zechs... what are we going to do? The Earth Sphere Unified Nation has already started to ask questions about why they haven't been able to speak to Relena personally. We can't withhold this information any longer... have you finished overlooking the recon data the team in Australia sent today?" she asked, frustration etched on her face.

The man got out of his chair and walked around the desk to stand next to her. He laid a hand her shoulder and squeezed gently in an effort to comfort her. /If this wasn't such a grave situation I'd be able to show you more affection. I'm sorry I can't do anything more to ease your pain, Lucrezia.../ "Lu, Relena is a strong girl; she wouldn't die on us that easily. And about the data, I just finished when you walked in." Hesitating momentarily he took his hand from her shoulder and reached out to grab the folder. Opening it, he scanned the pages and gave a slight gasp. He looked at Noin questioningly. "Is this correct?"

"Yes," she sighed as if anticipating his thoughts, "those numbers are correct. After we finished calculating the data Heero gave us, this was the lowest estimate we could come up with. The amount of material reported missing is enough to make those amounts for each type of mobile suit," she paused as her brows furrowed in concern, "but that isn't the worst case scenario… that's on page three. It seems that this has gone unnoticed for a longer period of time than we had anticipated; however, we don't know if they plan on building the old mobile suit models or if they've come up with something totally new. If it's a different breed of suits who knows what the numbers may be... I don't know which scenario I'd rather face; larger numbers of the basic models or smaller numbers of the more advance units…"

"Dammit! Heero should have come to us about this sooner! Then we could have avoided all this turmoil," the man scowled and tried to walk away only to have a hand grab his wrist none to gently. He turned around and met impatient dark eyes.

"Zechs, stop blaming Heero for all of this. It wasn't his fault. He couldn't just go and make a move without confirming things first. Heero's actions were what Relena would have taken if she was the one who found out." She eased her grip and her eyes softened. "I know that you and Heero haven't really gotten along in the past but you two have to make amends with each other now. If not for your own well being... then for Relena's. You and Heero are the two most important men in her life and whether you believe it or not, she loves him."

"I will not make amends with him until I see Relena back in this office safe and sound. Until then I will continue to place him at fault because we could have been better prepared had he just given us an idea of what was taking place," he said in a voice with steady, cold anger. "Surely you haven't forgotten all the stunts he's tried in the past: withholding information from us and making things more difficult for himself and the rest of the world? And if she turns up dead then I will make him wish that he was as well." With that he stormed out of the office leaving Noin to stand there alone and helpless, with a desolate look on her face.

"Oh Zechs, aren't you the one making it more difficult than what it has to be?" she asked, staring at the door he exited.

"Damn! Another dead end," growled a young Asian man wearing a well-tailored dark navy-blue suit. "This information is garbage. We might as well stop downloading the rest of it; it's practically useless."

Trowa and Wufei had decided to go undercover as the bodyguards for a particularly wealthy arms dealer with high access in many underground organizations and crime syndicates. Despite their youthful appearance, their natural skills in handling guns and hand-to-hand combat made them the obvious choice as protectors for the syndicate's arms dealer. Prior to being hired they had created false identities for themselves. Should the syndicate ever need to check on their backgrounds they would only find one Marcus Taylor and one Zheng Mingshan. They suspected the organization had a lot to gain with Relena's death, mainly by selling weapons to the countries that would easily go to war without the Foreign Minister around.

"Don't always take things at face value, Wufei," Trowa interjected calmly, as he hovered above a computer. "Things that appear useless are probably meant to look that way so as to throw off suspicion." With that the room became silent once more.

"We have one eight more days before we leave this investigation to start training once more," the Asian man mused to himself. "By that time our Gundams will be 85% complete." Wufei didn't like the idea of staying in this place for any longer than they necessarily had to. It wasn't because the potential danger of being caught scared him; it was that being around such degenerate lowlifes disgusted him. In the three and a half days that he and Trowa worked there, Wufei had seen some of the most disturbing sights ever, especially during their trips to the black market. He saw slave trades, drug deals, and lots of corruption. Deep inside he hoped that Relena was as far away from this place as possible; the thought of any girl here was sickening.

"I'm done," Trowa's voice broke Wufei from his thoughts.

"Well then," Wufei sighed, "we better get back before they suspect something. I'll contact Major Po later tonight to tell her about our findings and ask her to send a troop of Preventers to break this up before it gets worse."

The two fixed the office making it look as if their intrusion had never occurred. They checked to see that no one was around in the hallway before walking soundlessly back to their rooms.

Inside a small apartment in a building seemingly all but abandoned, a faint glow could be seen beneath the doorway. Unfurnished and bare, it was as if it'd been vacated long ago if not for the slender figure hunched over a laptop. His face, bathed in the blue glowing light of the screen, showed nothing, his mind solely devoted to the task at hand. His fingers flew over the keyboard like a blur, almost unconscious of what they were doing. Suddenly the screen changed and the image of three metal claws appeared before him.

"Doctor J." the boy acknowledged, his concentration broken.

"Hello, Heero," the image of the old man soon graced the screen, "How are things going? Have you located any of their bases yet?"

"Just one," was the cold and monotone reply, "it's too small to do much harm, but I'll go ahead and destroy it anyways." Judging by his tone of voice anyone could see that Heero Yuy had gone back into complete soldier mode. He was totally different from the person just six days earlier who vented his anger at an unarmed wall. Any emotion that once presided in that body was completely gone now.

"Good, Heero, that's my boy. What about Darlian? The Earth and colonies are getting uneasy and trust is wearing thin."

"There are still no signs of her so far..." At the mention of her name Heero seemed almost lost, a vacant look washed over his face. /I swore I'd protect you... and I failed-/

"Hmm… I wonder what they've got planned for her. With such a person in their grasp one would think they'd already try to use her as some sort of bargaining chip." The doctor contemplated things for a few seconds before returning his attention to his pilot, "Heero, I also wanted to inform you that I'm going to make some minor modifications to your Gundam. Because we don't have the same resources at our disposal as we did during the war we weren't able to get enough Gundanium to build the Gundams to their original specs. I had to sacrifice giving WingZERO a double reinforced outer armor so it won't be able to withstand the same amount of impact as before. The thrusters and jet engines have also been modified to give higher output and combined with the lighter weight it'll much faster than what you're used to, but I'm sure you'll adjust to it all nicely after some training. We will tune WingZERO to your specific needs once you arrive. You know where to meet us." The old man stopped and waited for acknowledgment from the silent boy.

"Ryoukai," With that the image disappeared and the previous screen reappeared. Heero began typing away again only to find that his concentration had not returned. Staring at the screen for a moment he saved the data before turning it off. /What's wrong with you, Yuy... it's not like you haven't botched a mission before... so why the shitty feeling?/

Not even aware of his actions, he turned the laptop on again. Instead of finishing his previous assignment he clicked of a file entitled 'Peace'. Suddenly the bio for Relena Darlian/Peacecraft popped up and Heero quickly scanned through the reports that pertained to her. /She tries to do too much... for too many people-/

*FLASHBACK*

"... I've done nothing but try to be your friend."

*END FLASHBACK*

"Relena..." he said softly, "I nee-... you are-"

*FLASHBACK*

"Friends aren't needed on the battlefield, allies are."

"Oh, is that all I am?"

"Friends aren't needed on the battlefield."

"Oh, is that all I am?"

"Friends aren't needed."

"Oh, is that all I am?"

"Friends."

*END FLASHBACK*

"A friend..." Silence fell once again as he turned off the device and proceeded to get some sleep. Tomorrow he would be off to destroy that base and regardless of how small it was, he would give them no mercy. /::B-But what if she's there? Can you handle another innocent life on hands?::/"…."

"Ow... my head," the girl's soft voice echoed throughout the empty cell. "Why does my head hurt so much?" She grasped at her head and squeezed, trying to contain whatever was threatening to bursts out. /God! It's so excruciating!/ Her breathing became erratic and her heart began to race as she sat there huddled on the cold floor. It was minutes before the throbbing pain finally began to subside. Her quiet gasps soon faded and she opened her eyes once more.

She made to get up and look around but gave up in a few seconds when she realized that the room was completely void of light. She sighed in exhaustion and slumped to the ground once more. Her brows furrowed deep in concentration as she tried to recall the events of the past few hours, days, or weeks that she had obviously missed. /Hmmm... the last thing I remember was being blindfolded and then 'escorted' out of my cell... and then being led to another room. Then I felt... a needle jab my arm... and... and then... nothing... Oh God, what have they been doing to me? How much time have I lost?... Am I going to die here?/ She shook her head violently to halt her frantic thoughts.

"Heero..." she cried out softly, tears lightly rolling down her cheeks, "I wish you were here... I need to borrow some of your strength once again... Oh, if those politicians could only see me now, crying like some damned child... but isn't that what I am?... I'm still a child who was too stubborn to listen to Heero… and now look at where I am! God, I haven't even turned eighteen yet... Please God... don't let me die without seeing those I love one more time... please..." She cried herself into an exhausted sleep.

In front of the colonial government building on L1 a massive crowd had gathered, composed of the media and general public; all there to hear a speech that was about to take place near the building's steps. They didn't know what it was about, but it seemed important enough if the conference that was to be held today was being rescheduled because of it. The members of the E.S.U.N. found themselves watching the event unfold itself from the confines of the conference room inside, their curiosity piqued. Silence swept the crowd as the figure of Lady Une walked up the platform to stand in front of the podium. She studied the crowd for a moment before proceeding onward.

"Citizens of the Earth and colonies," she began, "My name is Lady Une and I am here as the representative of the office of the Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere Unified Nations. I know you are all curious as to why I have called for this press conference when another was to be held this morning. To be quite honest, you would have probably found out sooner or later after this day had passed, but I believe that this will make things less complicated. I hope that you can all stay calm for what I am about to tell you." She cleared her throat and waited until everyone's attention was focused on her, "Foreign Minister Darlian is nowhere to be found." She stopped when the wave of gasps and whispers grew too loud. Holding up a hand and giving a commanding stare she forced the crowd into silence once more.

"She disappeared a week ago," she continued, "since then we have searched without rest for any signs of her whereabouts. I know you're probably wondering why we didn't disclose such information earlier and for that I apologize. We were hoping to have found her before this conference took place in order to prevent hysteria and worry among you," her jaw clenched when she recounted the past week's lack of progress, "But it seems we have failed. However, I, along with the Earth Sphere Unified Nations, will exhaust all available resources necessary in order to find her. I hope that you understand why we took the actions we did," her voice lost its hard edge and softened slightly. "Since we cannot predict how long her absence will be for, we will have the Earth Sphere Unified Nation find a temporary replacement for her position," she stopped once more when the crowd erupted with questions once more and waited until the noise died down enough. "Before I end this conference I would like to make a request of the people of Earth and the colonies. I would like for you not to lose hope. Relena will be found, but until she is, please remain calm. I know that she would not want you to worry about her like this. Thank you."

As Lady Une left the podium the cameras started flashing and reporters began to hound her, badgering her on whether or not conflicts would directly result from this among many other irritating questions. Lady Une ignored them and made her way inside the building. The rest of the crowd soon dispersed minutes later except for a shadow loitering in a corner.

"Hope, huh?"

-to be continued-

I felt that having Lady Une inform the people of Relena's disappearance was the right way to go. When comparing the original chapter to this revised one, I definitely like the flow of this one much more.