Disclaimer: Gundam Wing does not belong to me but its respective owners.

Relena Was Dead: Chapter Five
by Wicked Child

Over the next several days, Heero became increasingly frustrated. All searches for Trowa Barton came up empty. Unless of course one counted the real Trowa Barton and Heero didn't. Pilot 03 had seemingly vanished. For the life of him, Heero couldn't remember the name of the circus he used to perform in as cover. He only remembered the first name of the girl Trowa had befriended, Catherine.

Neither Duo nor Wufei knew anything else and Quatre had suddenly been called on a mission. Any search he ran on circuses brought up several dozen, none of them employing a Catherine. Heero was beginning to get pissed off and when he got that way, it was a bad thing. A bad thing indeed.

"Oy Heero! DNA results are in. Looks like Q got on their asses down in Lab before he left." Duo looked at his friend through the vid-phone and stopped briefly. Heero looked like hell. "Man you look like hell. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Heero snapped. "What are the results?"

"Huh? Oh right. Well the hair has a 99.9% chance of being Relena's but the nail Q took doesn't."

"What?"

"The nail is a synthetic material used in creating fake limbs for film purposes as well as wax or latex based dummies."

"So she used her own hair on a dummy."

"That's my guess. Man that'd take some time wouldn't it?" Duo became quiet as he contemplated the length of time needed to collect a whole head's worth of hair with the follicle still attached. Too long. She never wanted to be found.

To Heero he said, "Maybe we should let her be. She went to a lot of trouble to not be found. Maybe we should let her rest in peace, so to speak."

"I can't do that Duo. I need answers." Heero turned off the vid-phone.

~~~

A few days later, Quatre returned from his mission. The first thing he did was seek out Heero. He found him in his office.

"Heero, I just found out the news regarding the tests."

Heero clicked away on his keyboard. "Interesting wouldn't you say?"

Quatre nodded.

"You know what else is interesting? The Preventer's keep a record of all former and present Preventer agents ever on staff. Even those lasting only a week and definitely those who've served faithfully for years. We're in here."

Heero turned his laptop around to show Quatre. "So are Duo and Wufei, Zechs, Noin, Sally, Une. All in here."

"What are you getting at?" Quatre asked. He had to tell him something.

"You know who isn't in here? Trowa Barton. No record of him existing in the Preventer organization. Can't even find him through any other search. We used to be able to, so why not now?"

"Maybe because the Preventer big shots believe Trowa has gone back to being a mercenary."

Heero's head shot up. "What do you mean?"

"That's what this last mission was. Reports have been coming in stating that a man resembling Trowa has been responsible for several skirmishes between countries and maybe even assassinations. I was to head to the last reported sighting to confirm or deny."

"And?"

Quatre shook his head. "I saw a man who did resemble Trowa but I couldn't be positive. In any case, I tailed him half way around the world to where I can only guess is his home."

"Have you told Une?" Heero asked, his pulse quickening.

"No. At least not the last part." Quatre handed Heero a slip of paper bearing an address in America.

"Why are you giving it to me?" Heero questioned.

"I don't think I can handle seeing my best friend revert back to his old ways. I know you'll be able to deal with him more...effectively."

~~~

Une gladly let Heero take two weeks time off considering he had never taken a vacation or sick day during his entire career. Heero headed straight to the airport once Une let him go. His destination: a small mid-west town in America.

Nearly a half day later, Heero found himself on a two-lane highway in Missouri. Luckily it was November so the humidity wasn't a problem. After checking into a quaint motel, Heero took a shower. He was exhausted. Ever since that last night with Pagan he hadn't been getting any sleep. Since the night in the mausoleum, he really hadn't been getting any sleep.

Poor Natalie. She's always known she was competing with someone. I just never told her it was with a dead woman. Heero chuckled in spite of himself. My dear Natalie. I'm so sorry. I've been having an affair with a ghost. With that as his final thought, Heero fell into a dreamless sleep he hadn't experienced since the Eve Wars.