A/N: As much as I love my Mac, I sometimes have to wonder if it deliberately screws me over just to prove it can. After accidentally deleting my files, I am once again attempting to rewrite what was lost. Therefore, I hope you enjoy this slightly revised version of "A Stray Child," whose previous title I've now forgotten. I do not own these characters, and have simply borrowed them for your reading pleasure. Please don't forget to review!
Entry 100499: I have often wondered how others see me. Am I merely a tool for achieving our means, or can others separate the person from the name? What of he who watches from the distance? How do I affect him?
one: a stray child
She couldn't remember...
Anything.
Though she searched for her memories, anything that might reveal her identity, the only things she could remember were events that just recently happened. Like...
She had passed this corner before.
And try as she might, she could not recall even the simplest of things...
Not even her name.
God, how pathetic.
She was starting to sound like one of those tragic heroines, so bothered by the little things they couldn't see the monster looming in the shadows, waiting to devour them.
Wait.
Why did that sound familiar?
Her forehead creased in concentration, she tried again to recall something from her past. For instance, what was her favorite color? Pink? Somehow that didn't sound quite right, though a hideous pink limousine did come to mind.
Perhaps, she had lost her mind.
And yet, in spite of these discrepancies in her memory, she could remember what year it was.
After colony 200.
She took a few unsteady steps forward, her head still fuzzy and disoriented from whatever ordeal she had escaped from, if she had indeed made an escape. Maybe it had been some boring political function, she thought with a small grin. But her smile quickly dimmed as the impact of her words sank in.
Boring political function?
Somehow, that didn't seem as implausible as it should have. But why?
Clutching her head, she heard a deep, male voice whispering something.
Escaping the ball, Cinderella? You know I'll find you in the end.
The young woman shook her head in confusion. A fairy-tale princess who had run away, leaving only a glass slipper behind?
I'll find you, Princess. Never doubt that.
This had to stop. These thoughts, these voices, whatever they were, whomever they belonged to—they hurt. Clenching her hands into tight fists, the young amnesiac woman pounded them gently against her temples in hopes of stifling the voices that resided within. But it was to no avail and hot tears of pain and humiliation ran down her cheeks as she was forced to listen to their hurtful comments over and over again.
I will kill you myself when the time comes. Until them, no one else may touch you. Do you understand that?
The young woman suddenly broke into a fast sprint, her paces frenzied and chaotic, her current state of mind unbalanced by images of a dark, horned demon with a raised scythe set to strike at any moment.
If she kept running, perhaps she could escape.
But from whom?
"Dammit! Where could she have gone? I leave you alone with her for a short while and not only do you manage to lose her, you also lose our one link to the Heart of the Universe! How can you be so stupid?"
"I'm s-sorry, Lord Aku. I-I didn't mean to. But she looked so sad when she asked for a g-glass of water, I didn't think she'd try to escape after so m-much time had passed."
"That's right...you didn't think." Aku's lips curved upwards in delight and bloodlust shone brightly in his blue eyes, turning them the color of dark sapphire.
The pasty-faced creature cowering before the one known as Aku collapsed suddenly the to floor, unable to stare any longer into his master's eyes. He had displeased Lord Aku and betrayed his confidence, which was more than he could bear. Prostrating himself before his master, the servant prayed for a swift death, that he might still keep some semblance of dignity and honor, but it was to no avail. Aku bent down and grabbed tightly his servant's scalp, so that he who had betrayed him might see the undisguised contempt that Aku had for him and remember it in his afterlife. Raising the sharpened blade he kept close to his body always, Aku made a quick slicing motion, and watched as the body of his once-trusted servant sank to the floor.
Tossing the decapitated head off to one side, Aku turned around to face a large monitor mounted to the wall.
"Now, little princess...where could you have run off to?"
Aku punched in a series of what looked to be gibberish but instead activated a large grid that was immediately followed by a flashing red dot, indicating that some sort of tracking device had been activated. Following the red dot's movements, Aku chuckled softly to himself.
"There's nowhere you can hide where I can't find you, Princess. Don't you know that by now?"
No Name.
It was a really poor excuse for a name if she truly thought about it, but somehow the name (or lack thereof) was comforting and had a familiar ring to it. Perhaps it had been a stage name she had used before?
Whatever the case, it was enough to give her some sense of identity.
At least, that's what she kept telling herself.
No, it was enough for now; enough to comfort her and act as a defense against the faceless voices that threatened what little sanity she had left. A resolute look on her face, No Name ignored the snide laughter echoing in the deepest recesses of her mind and continued walking. North, south, it really didn't matter, just so long as she got further and further away from Him.
But who exactly was He?
Was He the one who called her "Cinderella," the one she couldn't run away from?
A sudden pang struck her, as if she were close to remembering something her subconscious didn't want her to remember. Stubbornly, she forced herself to imagine who this mystery man could be, but all she could recall was a dark-haired man with piercing blue eyes so cold and empty-looking, she instantly recoiled in fear.
Maybe her subconscious knew what it was doing, she thought as she murmured a small apology. Oh god, now she knew she was crazy. Next thing she knew, those little old men with the white jackets would come to cart her away.
"Out of my way, woman."
A flash of white caught her eye.
Oh god, how could they have known so soon? She had barely come to terms with her own insanity!
Screaming in fright, she whirled around and blindly ran in the opposite direction.
"Now what do you suppose that was about?" a voluptuous blonde asked, her hair twisted tightly together to form two pigtails around the sides of her face. "Do you think she might have recognized us?"
"I haven't the slightest idea, but I suspect the woman's crazy from the look of her," the woman's black-haired companion replied, his eyes narrowing slightly as he followed the brunette's retreating form. "After all, did you see the crazed look in her eyes? Who screams at a Gundam pilot in this day and age?"
"She's been missing for a year now! How can a person with a face as well-known as hers just disappear off the face of the universe?" the current prince of the Sanq Kingdom yelled as he stomped around the palace's impressive library, its soothing atmosphere doing nothing to calm him from his swiftly rising fury.
The young soldier, just barely out of training, cleared his throat nervously before replying, "I don't know, sir. The Preventers have done everything in their power to find Princess Relena, but it's as if she never existed in the first place."
Before the unsuspecting youth could be blasted for his poorly chosen words, a dark-eyed brunette in his early twenties appeared at the door and with a brief glance dismissed (and possibly saved) the foolish young soldier rather than letting the already irate prince inflict any permanent damage upon him.
"You didn't have to excuse him, you know. I wouldn't have killed him at all, just...maim him. A lot."
The man's lips twisted sardonically. "He isn't so bad once you get to know him. Just impulsive and slightly too eager for his own good, like someone else I used to know."
"Or someone else you used to be."
The brunette bowed imperceptibly, accepting the comment as truth, before continuing. "Zechs, I—we are doing all we can to find Relena but as of yet, there are no leads to her whereabouts or even how she was kidnapped in the first place. We've combed every inch of her rooms but found no signs of a forced entry or even a struggle. Whoever the bastard was, he was someone we all knew and trusted."
"Dammit! To what use are the Preventers then if they can't even prevent things like this from happening? Relena's been missing for a year now...there's no telling what kind of harm can come to her!"
Zechs was really upset today, more so than usual, the brown-haired man noted with mild interest. Mentally running through several scenarios that could explain the prince's distress, he neglected to react when the prince misdirected his anger toward him.
"And you! You were supposed to be guarding Relena! Fine job you did of protecting her!" Zechs' voice trailed off as he realized the impact of his words.
"Heero, I apologize. I know that you c—"
Heero shook his head, dismissing the apology as unnecessary. The look in his Prussian blue eyes told Zechs all he needed to know, however, and the prince hastened to assure him that Relena's disappearance was not his fault. Yet although Heero's demeanor remained relaxed, those who knew the dark-haired man could tell by the small frown that courted his handsome features that he was just as upset as Zechs was by Relena's sudden and lengthy disappearance.
I failed her. Failed in my mission to protect her ideals, her dreams. But how?
Zechs' request interrupted his guilt-filled thoughts. Did I just hear correctly? For a split second, neither person moved until the silver-haired prince spoke again.
"Heero, I know this is asking a lot of you, especially since you're busy with all those other missions Lady Une keeps insisting on giving to you. But..." he spoke slowly and uncertainly, reluctant to ask this favor but knowing it was the right thing to do, given the strong feelings both he and Heero had for his baby sister. "I'd like for you to be in charge of finding Relena. From here on out, all and any missions previously appointed to you will be transferred to someone else. I want your full attention on this case only, is that clear, Heero?"
Though it had been issued as a command, Heero heard the pleading behind Zechs' request and understanding dawned on him. Zechs still didn't trust him not to hurt Relena, in spite of the fact that he'd never attempted to, but he was willing and desperate enough to give him a chance.
Meeting his commander's steely-eyed gaze, Heero nodded grimly and accepted the documents Zechs held out to him.
"Mission accepted."
Brown hair.
She had brown hair.
Rubbing the offending lock of hair she held between her forefinger and thumb, No Name stared back at the face in the mirror, wondering why her reflection looked so...foreign.
With clinical detachment, she took note of the smooth, flawless complexion, the clear, violet-blue eyes, and the full, bow-shaped mouth that seemed more inclined to smile than it was to frown.
No, it wasn't that she was ugly. Indeed, if No Name weren't so disturbed by what she saw in the mirror, she'd have to say that she was quite pretty, beautiful, in fact. But still...
Why did it feel like there was something wrong with this picture?
"Something wrong, dearie?"
Startled, No Name shifted her eyes to the woman standing at the sink next to her and shook her head in mute bewilderment. With a shrug, the woman smiled reassuringly and left, leaving No Name alone once again.
Brown hair.
But how?
Zechs had been right, Heero reflected as he shuffled through the massive piles of paperwork that covered his desk. It was his fault for not protecting Relena and for not finding her yet. Today, exactly one year ago, Relena had disappeared from her bedroom while Heero had been out performing a routine check-up.
"Sir, there's something in the west end that you should see!"
"Colonel Yuy, report immediately! I repeat, Colonel Yuy, report to palace security headquarters immediately!"
"Relena!"
Gripping his head in his hands, Heero sighed, running his fingers through his already mussed-up hair and causing the ends the stand up even more. Try as he might (and he hadn't tried very hard), Heero could not rid himself of the nagging guilt that had become a constant bedfellow since the night of Relena's disappearance.
A soft beep, then a whirring noise, diverted his preoccupied thoughts and alerted him to an incoming fax. Picking it up, Heero scanned its contents briefly, the message already being memorized and filed away for later use. Shredding the paper into neat little pieces, Heero headed toward the door, a feral gleam in his eyes.
The hunt had begun.
A/N: To preserve continuity of this story's format, does anyone know how to add section breaks so that they appear across the entire screen and not just in the center of it?