"Reminiscing"

Chapter 2: Strangers

Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.

It was two weeks since the incident with the reporter, but the memory of it was still fresh in her mind. She thought to herself, "I wonder what he meant about, 'You haven't seen the last of us, once everything is in place.' Get a grip, girl, you're on vacation now. Just relax." She looked out her window and saw the Atlantic Ocean below her on a cloudless day. Zechs and the others were hundreds of miles away from her now. After her endless debate with them, she finally decided to leave in the cover of darkness, so that none of them could stop her from leaving, not even Heero. As for her own personal safety, she carried a small gun with her that was concealed in her purse. No one would have of thought that she was armed in public.

The plane finally landed in England. "I'm finally here, I might as well enjoy myself while it lasts for these three weeks and I'm then off to France." After finding her luggage and hailing a taxi, she ended up in the heart of London. During those three weeks, she visited Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and the Tower London. By the end of those three weeks, she felt relax as ever and was ready to head over to France.

The plane ride to France was uneventful and after navigating her way through Paris, she finally managed to check into a hotel. The concierge greeted her in French at first, but after she tried speaking her French, he knew to speak in English. "Welcome to Paris. How can I help you?"

Relena replied, "I need a single room for the next three weeks."

"I have a room for you up on the tenth floor. It has a nice view of the Eiffel Tower. Will that be alright for you?"

"That will be alright. Thank you." The concierge then gave her the card key and directed her to the elevators. Once in an elevator, the bellboy looked at Relena suspiciously, but she figured that it was a long night for him. The ride to the tenth floor seemed like an endless period of torture, but after looking at the screen showing the floor numbers, the number ten finally appeared. The bellboy then helped Relena with her bags and escorted her to her room. She said good night and the bellboy did the same. She shut the door and headed straight towards her spacious bed and fell on it, "I'm glad that's over."

The room that she stayed in looked more like a mini apartment with a spacious bed and that the living room was furnished with a black loveseat and glass coffee table. She saw a telephone on her nightstand and decided to call home, since it would be her first contact.

"Hi Zechs."

"Well it's about time you called. We've been wondering where you ran off to."

"I'm still in one piece and that everything is going fine. Anything new over there?"

A pause was heard on the other line, "How can I put this...do you remember the day that phony reporter was caught by Heero?"

"Yes. Why?" A sense of fear then crept into her mind.

"He escaped yesterday from the Preventers Headquarters with help from someone posing as a false Preventer."

"I thought the headquarters was safe and impossible to escape."

"That's what I thought."

"Is everyone safe over there?"

"Everyone is safe over here, but Heero seems to have disappeared. I can never find him anymore. You take care of yourself now. Alright, I mean it. I have to get back to work now."

"Keep me informed if you hear anything."

"Agreed."

"Goodbye." She hung the phone back on its receiver. After sitting still for ten minutes on her bed, Relena decided to take a shower to escape from the fears she once thought that she abandoned from the start of her vacation. Once inside the shower stall, she had warm water bath her along with the scent of lavender. "I could live like this forever." After a fifteen-minute shower, she headed out in her white robe and slipped into her pink nightgown. After reassuring herself that everything will be okay, she headed towards the balcony of her hotel room. Once she opened the door, she saw the Eiffel Tower in the near distance, radiating in the night with its lights. She whispered to herself, "Heero, where are you?" The breeze began to pick up but she didn't mind, her wet air swirled about her as she looked up towards the night sky.

Down below her on the street, somebody standing within the shadows was watching her. He had a pair of binoculars in his hand and was determining her balcony's position. He then dialed on his cell phone, "Boss, it's me. She's here in Paris."

"Good then, make sure you've done the job right or you'll be heading back to where you came from."

He gulped in response, "I won't botch the mission, sir."

"You better not, we were damn lucky of not getting caught back at the Preventers." The other person on the line hung abruptly.

"Well, Ms. Relena Peacecraft. You will have a night to remember soon." He then walked off onto the busy city street posing as a regular tourist, just admiring the city. In his backpack, a bellboy uniform was in there. As he was walking away from the hotel, he was unaware that a man was watching him with dark glasses sitting at a local café. He had his laptop out on the counter. He looked towards the lighted screen and saw a message waiting for him.

"Mission accepted."

Relena had slept peacefully during her first night in Paris. During her three weeks there, she shopped practically every store that she could think of. "Zechs will have a fit when I get back since I almost maxed my credit card to the limit." She left a fashion boutique and headed back to her hotel room. On her way there, she accidentally bumped into a man disguised with dark glasses and his hair was concealed under a black hat.

"Sorry about that, miss. Here let me help you." He picked up the odd number of shopping bags that Relena was carrying.

"Thank you." After that incident, Relena quickly went back to her hotel. As she was walking away, the man continued to follow her with his eyes.

After walking for another two blocks, she finally made it to the hotel. The doorman greeted her in French and she acknowledged. She then went on an elevator that took her up to the tenth floor, she noticed that the bellboy was different again, but as soon as the elevator stopped at her floor, she decided to dismiss the thought. She then entered her room, and noticed that her phone was blinking with a red light. She then pressed the message button.

The message played an eerie calm of silence. It lasted for only a minute, but it baffled her as to why no one would speak on the other end. She heard someone breathing, though she thought. She pressed another button on the phone to delete the message. Within seconds, it was gone. She decided to call Zechs, but when she called him, no one answered on the other line. She left a brief message stating that she would be coming home over the weekend. With that, she placed the phone back onto its holder. She peered out the window and saw the Paris night skyline come to life.

"I'm going to miss Paris so much." She tossed her black high heel shoes towards the corner of her bed. "I knew I should have brought walking shoes instead." She walked over to her luggage and prepared her things for her flight home that would happen in just a day. Once everything was in order, she decided to unwind herself in the shower as always. The warm mist hung like a cloud in the room, but it made her feel more relaxed and that it began to feel like a sauna. After stepping out onto the cold white marble floor tiles and reaching for her white robe, she grabbed a towel nearby her and started to dry her hair.

As she was doing that, someone managed to slip a single red rose under her door. After making sure that her hair was somewhat dry, she headed out into the main room and slipped into a lilac colored nightgown. She then noticed the single red rose on her floor and picked it up, "I wonder who could have left this here." She placed it in a small vase on a nearby table and headed over to her nightstand to grab her gun. With the slim weapon in her hand, she opened the door cautiously.

She looked towards the left and the right end of the hallway, but no one was to be seen at both ends. "That's strange." She closed the door behind her and felt a chill in the room. The door leading towards the balcony was open and the white curtains surrounding the door were flying in the cold air. "I thought I had shut those doors before." After standing still for a minute and looking around her room, she decided to call hotel security, but her phone line was dead. "That's funny, this phone was working just an hour ago." She placed the phone back on its tan receiver and decided that she was just over-exaggerating things. With that in mind, she placed her gun on the glass coffee table and headed towards the balcony to get some fresh air.

While standing on the balcony, she heard the city nightlife below her. The sounds of horns beeping and sounds of clamoring footsteps on the pavements were present everywhere. After absorbing her last scene of Paris in her mind, she headed back into her room and noticed that something was different. The rose that was in the vase had a black ribbon tied to it and was lying on her bed now, "What's going on in here?" Right then, a cold hand wrapped around her neck from behind her.

TBC