An Orphan's Life
Disclaimer: I think we get the picture at this point in the story. Gundam Wing is not mine.
~ ~ ~
Elysia waited patiently by the door for her uncle.
He was taking her to visit her mother's grave.
That morning, when she had woken up, she found that the others had all went home, including Caterina, who Lisette had said was staying with Theo at the circus.
As far as Elysia knew, nothing was mentioned about the conspiracies that Lisette had come up with.
Lisette had assured Elysia that all they talked about were the kids' parents and what had transpired since they had all last seen each other.
That was it.
Zechs later went to the room she was sleeping in and had asked her if she had wanted to go see her mother.
She hadn't really thought much about the cemetery her mother was buried in. She kind of ignored the fact that her mother was dead.
But she accepted the invitation, knowing she should probably talk to her mother first, before she went to see her father.
She looked up as Zechs came walking down the stairs, putting on a jacket. He smiled at her and she smiled back.
She couldn't stay mad at him. She knew he was just as upset about the whole situation as she was.
The one thing that bothered her was why neither of them about each other. What was her mother doing those last three years of her life?
Zechs opened the door and waited for her to go out first.
She went out and walked over to the car.
Zechs followed and opened the door for her.
He still couldn't believe how much she looked like his baby sister. It hurt him to know that Relena had never told him about her pregnancy.
Although, he wasn't the only one, considering the comments from the ex-gundam pilots' children last night.
He got into the car and started it, no words spoken yet between the two.
Not that they didn't want too or were feeling awkward. They just liked the comfortable silence.
As quickly as it had come, the snowstorm had left. The roads weren't so bad to drive on as Elysia had expected.
She stared out the window, trying to memorize everything that was happening.
As much as it was probably going to hurt, she wanted to remember as much as she could about this day. She didn't know why, but she did.
She glanced at her uncle every now and then, wondering what was on his mind. He seemed to be thinking about something.
He looked at her, must have sensing what she was thinking, and asked," When do you plan on meeting your father?"
Elysia frowned, confused on how he had known what she was going to do. Then she stopped when she realized that the others must've mentioned it to him the night before. She gave a shrug and looked out the window. "I was planning to go after I talked to you, but I guess I'll have to wait a while."
"How long of a while?"
Elysia looked at him, not sure of the answer.
Zechs nodded, seeming to understand her hesitation. "I think you should see him as soon as you can. It's bad enough that I didn't know about you, but it's even worse that your own father didn't know either. I think it's been long enough."
Elysia stared at him silently, then nodded.
She sighed and looked back out the window.
The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
She wondered how much longer it would take to get to the cemetery.
~*~*~
Lisette wandered the house, trying to find something to do. Her mother had gone to talk with Lady Une about Elysia, Jacob had gone out with Caterina and her dad had taken Elysia to see Aunt Relena.
Why did her family always leave her home alone?
The talk the night before consisted of each child voicing their opinion on the current matter to her parents.
The conclusion being that there was no conclusion. Nobody could figure out what it was that caused Relena not to say anything.
Why had she been so quiet about that? And why hadn't anybody known?
Noin had mentioned that there was a time when Relena wasn't allowed in-person interviews and meetings. Her people had made it impossible for anybody to speak to her personally. Her security was extremely tight. Nobody could get past them.
That's when Lisette began thinking.
Why couldn't anybody know about the Vice Foreign Minister's pregnancy?
She had looked the papers over that Jacob had printed out hundreds of times.
There were many attempted assassinations upon each of the pilots and their families. Even those who worked for the Preventers.
Her aunt's killer was never caught. Neither were the people who were responsible for the other assassination attempts.
Something was wrong with the system.
Whoever was involved with this had to be working for either her father or some other government job.
But which one? And who was it?
Lisette sighed, knowing she couldn't find the answers alone. She would have to work with the pilots and their families in order to figure this one out.
She made a face and wandered into the den to watch a movie. She needed to clear her mind for a while.
Spacing out in front of the TV ought to do it.
She flopped onto the couch and let out another sigh.
* Where's the remote? *
She fumbled around on the couch with her hand, trying to find it.
She closed her eyes in annoyance when she knocked it off the couch trying to get a better grip on it when she found it.
She sat up and looked over the side of the couch to see where it landed.
She frowned when she saw it on top of four videotapes. She picked it up along with the tapes and looked them over.
* Oh, yeah. These were the tapes that Aunt Relena had put in that locker. *
She frowned some more when she saw that two of them were marked to someone named Heero.
* Who the heck is that? *
She studied the tapes some more as she fought with her conscience over what she should do.
She really shouldn't watch something that doesn't belong to her.
But there might be something of importance of them.
She looked around a bit, then nodded.
She stood up and put one of the tapes into the VCR.
~*~*~
Elysia looked around the large cemetery as she got out of the car.
It was so quiet. And empty.
She looked at her uncle as he began to walk through the snow filled lot.
He glanced back at her and raised his eyebrow. "Aren't you coming?"
She frowned slightly, then nodded. She would have to stop thinking completely if she wanted to see her mother. She was delaying time doing so.
She followed her uncle slowly as he walked down the many pathways.
There were a lot of trees that still had their leaves. She looked at them confusedly, then figured they were probably genetically enhanced like the rose bushes.
She frowned when she saw her uncle stop by a willow tree on a hill. He kneeled down and brushed the snow off of something on the ground. He looked up at her and motioned for her to come over.
She took a deep breath and walked over slowly.
Zechs looked at her sadly and stood up. "I'll leave you two alone," he said quietly and walked away. "I'll be with my parents when you're done."
Elysia blinked at the statement. He had meant her grandparents, she knew, but this was the first time someone had ever mentioned them.
She looked away from him and turned towards her mother's grave.
This was it.
What she had wanted her whole life.
To be back with her mother again.
She took another deep breath and walked over to where her mother lay.
"Mom?"
She brushed her hair back from her face and kneeled down to look at the gravestone bearing her mother's name.
She could feel the tears coming as she read the words on the black marble.
Relena Darlian- Peacecraft. February 21, AC 180 - December 19, AC 206. Beloved Princess, sister, leader to all.
Elysia closed her eyes as this all sunk in.
Princess. Leader.
Not mother.
Nothing about the child she had.
Elysia sniffled a bit, trying to hold the tears in.
Why did her mother say nothing about her?
Elysia shook her head, not wanting to hate her mother.
Her mother was gone. She was actually gone. She was right here, under all the snow. She had been here for the last fifteen years.
"Why? "she whispered as the tears began to fall. She hated that she kept asking it over and over, but it was the only thing she could think of.
She touched the black marble as she cried harder. All the things she had wanted to say to her mother, all the times she had dreamed of the moment when she would see her mother again; they were gone for her mind.
There was nothing to say.
Her mother wouldn't answer her, no matter how many times she would beg her to.
She continued kneeling on the ground, silently crying to herself.
~*~*~
Theo watched as Rene and Gabriel gently laid the bouquet of yellow tulips onto their mother's grave.
When Lisette had told him that her father was going to take Elysia to see her mother, he realized that he hadn't seen his own mother in a while.
He and his father always went whenever they were in the Sank Kingdom with the circus. They only went once this time so far, though.
He decided he would go every week to see her from now on. Especially since he was hardly in the Sank Kingdom.
He smiled slightly as he heard Rene's voice drifting over. She loved to sing to her mother whenever they came.
And she had such a pretty voice.
She reminded him of their mother so much. Kate would always sing to him.
He missed that.
Gabriel was sitting down and twirling one of the tulips with his fingers. He was the one who remembered the flowers. He always did.
Yellow tulips. Their mother's favorite flower.
It was amazing to Theo that Gabriel even remembered that.
Rene continued singing, getting a little louder.
Gabriel looked annoyed by this, but he didn't say anything.
The two older boys never fought with their younger sister. There was no need to.
Theo stood a few feet away from them. He sighed, not quite believing that it had been twelve years since she was killed.
It seemed so much longer.
He wondered how Elysia was doing right now. Seeing her mother for the first time in fifteen years would most likely be an emotional strain on her.
He hoped her uncle knew what he was doing.
~*~*~
Elysia had finished crying long ago. Now, she was sitting there quietly, staring at her mother's grave.
She frowned when she began to get the feeling that somebody was watching her. She looked up slowly and glanced around.
Sure enough, there was someone at the bottom of the hill staring up at her. He was too far for her to see, but she knew he was looking right at her with piercing dark blue eyes.
She looked away, growing uncomfortable, and tried to look for her uncle.
He was walking around on the other side of the hill, not seeming to notice another person's presence nearby.
She looked back to where the man stood.
He was gone.
She frowned some more, trying to figure out what just happened.
* Did I just see a ghost? *
She shook her head at her question, knowing that those eyes were as alive as alive could be.
But who was it? And why was he just staring at her?
She stood up slowly, trying to see any sign of him in the rest of the cemetery.
The whole place was empty.
She sighed and looked down to her where her mother was.
She needed to go now. She had been here too long.
She blew a kiss to the stone. "Bye, mom. I love you… I promise I'll come again to see you." She bent over to touch the marble headstone again, then stood up and walked over to her uncle.
He smiled at her when he saw her coming over. "Ready to go?"
She nodded. "Yeah." She looked back to her mother's grave, deciding that she wouldn't tell anybody about the man.
There wasn't a need to. He hadn't tried to do anything to her and she wasn't really afraid. She was just surprised that somebody else was in the cemetery.
She walked back with her uncle to the car, quickly forgetting about the man.
~*~*~
Heero stood behind one of the many statues in the cemetery, trying to get over what he had just seen.
Relena's ghost was right over her grave. She had looked right at him.
She didn't seem to recognize him. She looked completely confused on who he was.
He mentally cursed himself, knowing he shouldn't have gone today to see his lost love.
He should've waited.
Maybe he shouldn't have gone at all. He should've let go of Relena a long time ago.
He closed his eyes, trying to get a grip on things.
He did not see Relena. He was imagining things.
Yes. That's it.
He took a deep breath and sighed. He better leave now, before he goes crazy. He took one last look at Relena's grave and walked away.
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A/N: … Don't just sit there! R&R! And I'll see you next chapter. ~_^