Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing
Trapped Within Two Worlds
Chapter 2: Reunion
By Symee-Sama
Relena sighed softly, resting her forehead against the thick pane of glass that separated her from the rest of the world. She hated it here. She absolutely hated being trapped behind glass, and fake mirrors. Did they think that she didn't know that they were watching her? She had smashed the glass once, and had seen the looks on their faces when they realised that she knew they were there.
She wasn't insane! Relena buried her face in her hands to stop the tears that were running down her cheeks. They were real. She refused to believe that they weren't. How could her entire life be a lie? She had never been a political figure, she had never kissed a man, she had never fallen in love. It was all a lie. A trick of her mind to make a new world when the old one had become to hard for her to bear.
Clutching her legs to her chest, Relena rocked slowly back and forth. For some reason, she felt like she should be in a closet, and had a vision of a little girl with tangled blonde hair hiding in the darkness. If she believed Dr. Curtis, then she had been in here for years. Her parents had been highly abusive, hitting her, and abusing her regularly. Her darling mother who she could remember so well in her mind as a kind, gentle lady had been a monster, leaving her bruised and broken in body and mind.
Her parents had isolated her from people, refusing to let her establish contact with other children, convincing her that she was quite alone in this world. When they had died, she had hid in the house, not sure what to do until the police had found her, staring into the darkness without seeing anything. She had hidden in her closet, screaming when the men had touched her, crying and clawing at them until they had been forced to sedate her.
She had read this in Dr. Curtis' file on her, and she still couldn't believe it. Everything that she had known, everything that she had loved was nothing more than a figment of her imagination, and her life, instead of being a glorious rise through strife to prominence, had been a downward spiral into hell.
She heard a familiar laugh, and her head snapped to the side so quickly that it hurt. Duo? She thought incredulously, tears welling in her eyes. "Duo!" She cried, running towards him and wrapping her arms around him. "Duo, I can't believe that it's you!"
"I'm sorry?" He looked confused. "Do I know you, lady?" Gently, he grabbed her wrists, and pushed her away from him. Relena looked up at him, shaking her head slowly. No... this was all wrong. His braid was gone. His hair only ran to his shoulder before curling inwards, and his bangs hung loose around his face. And he didn't have the same eyes. They weren't the eyes of a person who'd killed people for a cause. They were much too innocent, and... this was all wrong.
Tears ran down Relena's face. She knew him, but he didn't know her. All the things they had been through, all the hours they had shared, he didn't know about any of them. Sobs wracked Relena's body, and she buried her face in her hands, turning from him and making her way back to her room.
"Wait!" Relena froze at the sound of Duo's voice, a faint hope rising in her. "Miss! Did I say something wrong!" The hope died as quickly as it came, and she continued walking, shutting the door behind her as she entered her room.
A knock sounded at the door, and she stared at it irritably before opening it. Duo stood there, his eyes full of concern. "Can I come in?" He asked quietly and when she nodded, he made his way to the bed, settling himself on the end of it.
"I kinda got the impression that you know me, but I don't know you." He smiled at her, that smile that was so famous in the AC world. "Trust me, I would remember a fine looking lady like yourself. I want to know how you know me."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Relena said sullenly, hugging her knees to her chest as she stared out the window. "You would say the same thing that everyone else does. That it's all in my head, and that if I want to get out of here, I should stop talking about it."
"Try me," Duo suggested easily, reaching out to grab one of her hands. "I'm not going to promise that I'll believe ya, but I'll hear you out." He smiled again, leaning back against the wall. "There are worse ways to spend an afternoon than with a beautiful girl."
She stared at him for a few moments, unsure of what to do. Was this a trick? A way for Dr. Curtis to find out if she still believed in the world that existed inside her head? She pushed those thoughts away as soon as they formed. Whether he remembered her or not, this was Duo, and she couldn't bring herself to believe that he would do something so underhanded. Not to her.
And as she began to tell him about her life, and how he had become a part of it. She watched as the expression on his face began to change from mild interest to a singled minded intensity that scared her, and she wondered if she had been wrong about the Duo of this world.
......
Heero scowled in frustration as the wind blew softly through the trees, disturbing his papers and distracting him beyond belief. Damn it! This was just another thing to disturb his concentration. With a sigh, he rearranged his sketches and placed them in his bag. Didn't he have enough on his plate without worrying about finding a suitable subject for his art course?
Grumpily, he glanced around him, seeing couples walking hand in hand, and kissing on the park benches. It was spring, and if you were a romantic, the season of love. Heero snorted, nothing better than clichés to make you bitter after a bad relationship.
He thought of his last girlfriend, one whom he had loved, had wanted to share his life with, and he thought of how she had walked away, had left him without a single word. Why'd you do it, Sylvia? He thought miserably. Why'd you leave me? He closed his eyes, letting the wind move through his hair, and praying for answers that refused to come.
They never did.
He stood up, brushing the dirt from his pants and walking briskly down the street. There was no sense in trying to continue with this, he was late for lunch with his friends anyway. He glanced at his watch, and cursed, he was supposed to meet with them nearly half an hour ago. A small vibration in his pocket brought a wry smile to his face, chasing away his dark thoughts. That had to be Duo.
"What's up, buddy boy?" Duo asked, intentionally being overly cheerful. He knew that Heero was most likely in one of his moods. He was still hung up on Sylvia, and that was one memory that wasn't likely to fade any time soon. "You're late."
"I got distracted," Heero replied offhandedly, knowing that Duo wasn't fooled by his nonchalance. "You still waiting?"
"The others already left for the movie already," Duo spoke in confidential tones, as if he was letting his friend in on a huge secret. "I told them that we wouldn't be coming with them today."
"We're not?" Heero's eyes narrowed. "Where are we going then?" An idea wriggled its way into his mind, nagging insistently at him. "Is this about where you've been disappearing to for hours at a time?"
"Well you're not going to believe this," Duo's voice got so low that Heero had to strain to hear it. "But I went to St. Margaret's a couple months ago, and the most amazing thing happened. I met an angel, Heero. A real angel."
"At the mental institution?" Heero laughed, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice. "You're losing it. You found someone who thinks they're an angel and you believed them? I'm worried about you, man."
"You don't understand," Duo snapped, hurt that his friend didn't believe him. "She knows things. Things that she shouldn't have any idea about. She knew about my name, Heero! She knows why my last name is Maxwell!"
"If this is your idea of a joke," Heero threatened, a strange light- headedness coming over him. He was the only one that Duo had told about his last name. He was the only one that Duo had trusted enough, and even then, it had taken years before he had said a word about it. If this girl somehow knew about Maxwell, then there was something seriously wrong, and Duo, trusting fool that he was, wouldn't be able to see it.
"I'll meet you there," Heero decided, and signaled for a taxi. "I want to meet this angel of yours."
......
Cold...dark...wet...
She was running, running as fast as she could. The rain drenched her, making the thin fabric she wore cling to her like a second skin. All she knew was that she had to get away... She knew that things were chasing her, and she knew that if they caught her she would never be free again. She would never see Duo again.
They sent chills down her spine, and as she ran on, she noticed people staring at her, pointing at the strange girl wearing nothing but a hospital gown. More and more people joined the hunt for her. Doctors in their pristine white lab coats, their faces made hideous by anger and fear, men and women who tore down everything in their path in order to reach her.
Relena watched with growing horror as a little boy, no older than two stumbled into the street, raising his arms to her, begging her to pick him up... but she ran past him. She couldn't afford to carry anyone. They would catch her if she did. She turned her head slightly to see if he made it to the other side of the street and was barely able to contain the scream that bubbled up in her throat.
They had torn the little boy apart, waving around his limbs like weapons, and gaining on her. She kept running, and this time, when a little girl appeared in front of her, she didn't ask any questions, simply picked her up, and kept running, even though her legs were tiring, even though she was getting short of breath.
Finally, she couldn't run anymore, and sank to her knees in the middle of the street, still keeping her protective hold on the child. She whimpered slightly as they surrounded her, those horrid doctors and the nameless evil that drove them.
"Come back," one ordered her, his voice harsh and guttural, and Relena curled in on herself, screaming when one of them touched her shoulder. "We'll take good care of you. Just come with us quietly and we won't hurt you or the girl."
She screamed again as she felt hands grab at her, forcing her to her feet. She heard them shouting too, sensed movement above her, and curled up into a ball. Almost wishing that she had never left the hospital, but then, as soon as it had started, it was over, and she was being helped to her feet by someone."
"Duo?" She asked softly, tears of relief streaming down her face. "Duo, is that you?"
"Sure is Princess," Duo smiled, and gestured towards a figure in the distance who was fighting what seemed to be a shadow. "But it ain't over yet."
Relena watched, the feelings of fear and despair returning as she realised that it was Heero she was watching, and that he was losing. Sick with foreknowledge, knowing that if he continued to fight he would die, she ran forward, pushing her way past Duo. Right into the shadows that had followed her here.
And moments before they ripped her to shreds, Relena heard someone screaming, and if she hadn't known better she would have said that it was Heero.
......
She woke with a small scream, afraid that it was still there, that it was still eating her, and hurting Heero. Inanely afraid that if she opened her eyes she would still be on those dirty streets with the crazed doctors... Shuddering slightly, she curled up into a ball and rocked back and forth.
"What's wrong with her?" Someone droned in the doorway. "She's acting like a nutcase."
"Give her time, man." Duo's voice snapped, and she could feel his presence as he moved to stand beside her. "She has these dreams..." He sighed. "I don't know how to explain it, but she had these dreams that she can't escape from, that haunt her. So just... cut her some slack okay? She's had it pretty rough."
Relena looked up, sure now that she had only been dreaming and that Duo and Heero were safe and whole. "Heero!" She launched herself into his arms, and buried her face into his chest. "Oh god, I've been so scared!"
"Who are you?" His voice was harsh, his words biting into her. He held her at arms length. "Who the hell is she, and what have you told her?" He asked, all his attention on Duo now, and acting for all the world like she didn't exist.
"Heero..." Relena moved back from him in shock, her eyes shifting towards Duo in askance. "You don't know me?"
He shook his head and she fell back onto her bed, unable to support herself anymore. In an instant Duo was there, supporting her gently, and rubbing her back. "Easy Princess," he whispered, brushing the tears from her eyes. "It was the same with me, remember? I didn't know you, and still don't the way you think I should, but he'll listen, and he'll learn to love you like I have. It may not be what you want, but it's the best that I can offer."
Slowly, she moved, wiping the last of her tears away and hugging Duo. "Thank you," she whispered back to him, watching sadly as he made his way towards the door. "For everything."
"Not a problem, princess" he smiled his easy smiled, and with a last wave at Heero, was gone, shutting the door behind him. Relena stared at the man whom she loved. The man who didn't even know who she was.
"Heero?" she began uncertainly, gesturing for him to sit down, and shrugging uncomfortably when he opted to keep standing. "What is it you would like to talk about?"
"What do you know about me?" He spat, his face livid. "You may have sucked Duo into your tricks,. but you won't get me that easily. Tell me what you know about me and Duo, and how you know."
"What passes between me and Duo is his own business, and if you really want to find out about it, you should ask him." Relena replied, trying to keep her dignity. "But I can tell you about yourself if you'd like."
And she did, starting with what she knew, and of his abandonment as a child. She spoke of their first meeting, and of the role he had played in the fight for the earth. She even spoke of the troubles that had always passed between them, of his coldness towards her and her frustration.
When she finished, he simply sat there, staring at her with his cold blue eyes. Most of it was bullshit. Giant robots, and wars in space. Things that could never happen. And him? A hero? Heero laughed harshly and Relena shot him a strange look. This was all too bizarre. He couldn't believe that Duo had actually believed this crap.
"And what of Sylvia Noventa?" He asked her, his eyes challenging hers to defy him, to tell him more about this world that didn't exist. "What was my relationship with her in this futuristic world?"
"You met her once," Relena began softly, wondering to herself why Heero would ask about Sylvia. "You had killed her grandfather and offered her the chance to kill you to make amends for it, but she refused, and that was that. You had no further contact with her except when she was visiting me. Her and I were... are good friends."
"You're lying," Heero yelled, and Relena could hear the raw pain behind it. "Sylvia wouldn't be friends with someone like you! And I wouldn't kill anyone, especially if it would hurt her!" The last words were growled out, and made Relena wish that he was still yelling.
"You cared for her," Relena said softly, and he nodded stiffly. "If it helps, she's happy in my world. She's very well loved by her family and friends. She loves her job, and she's doing great things for the ESUN."
"The sports network?" Heero muttered, and Relena stared at him blankly. "Never mind. Is she in a relationship? Is she with someone?"
"No," Relena shook her head. "She's never been involved with anyone for as long as I've known her."
"Why not?"
"Because..." Relena took a deep breath, unsure of what his reaction would be, but knowing that it wouldn't be good. "She's in love with you, and has been since the day that she met you, but you've always had a strange fascination with me. A need to protect me, and watch over me."
"I don't love you," Heero snapped, angry with himself for losing his temper over some ridiculous story. It wouldn't even sell in the tabloids it was so unbelievable, and he was glad that he had come and listened to her so he could keep Duo far away from this place.
"No," Relena smiled sadly. "I don't think that you do in my world either. I'm sorry if I've upset you, Mr. Yuy by talking of Sylvia, but I don't think that she would want you to let grief consume you, she would want you to move on."
"To you, I suppose," Heero snarled, grabbing her shoulders and shaking them violently. "She would want me to move on to you? And let everything in your twisted little story fall together, so you win and get everything you want while she's left with nothing?"
"No," Relena tried to make her voice strong, but was unable to keep from whimpering at the pressure on her shoulders. "She would want you to be happy, whether it was with me or with someone else, she would want you to be happy."
"You have no idea what she would want!" He threw her back against the wall, not caring when she cried out. "You shouldn't even be talking about her! I could kill you for talking about her!"
"You're in pain," Relena gasped out as he reached for her again, his hand stopping inches from her. "But all that means is that you truly did love her. She used to say to me that 'love and pain are intertwined, and if you didn't care when someone left a relationship, then there was really no reason for them to stay'. You loved her, Heero, and you're in pain, but don't let it consume you."
"I'll do whatever the hell I want," Heero said, managing to regain his composure and stared with disgust at the girl who cowered before him. He noticed the bruises on her shoulders, and the tears that threatened to flow down her face, and the disgust transferred to himself. No matter what they said, he had always prided himself on his treatment of women, but now? Now he was no better than a thug on the streets.
Two thoughts warred within him. Should he stay and comfort her or make his escape? Escape won, and he turned to leave, doing his best to ignore her when her breath hitched in pain. "Stay away from Duo," he ordered and was gone, and Duo came in, his eyes wide with worry.
"Oh Lena," he breathed, and carefully wrapped his arms around her. "He hurt you."
"Yes," Relena agreed, leaning back into his embrace, not mentioning that it wasn't the bruises that were bothering her. "In my world, I love him, and he always kept his distance... a very careful distance between us." She laughed bitterly. "I fired him for that distance, but now I want it back. I don't want him to last out at me anymore."
"He won't," Duo promised. "I won't let him." Guilt overwhelmed him, it had been his idea to bring Heero here. To let his best friend meet this 'angel' that he had been talking to for months. He'd had no idea that Heero would react this way.
"He told me to stay away from you," Relena whispered, her words almost carried away by the gentle breeze that wafted through the window. "He doesn't want you anywhere near me and my ridiculous stories."
"That's not his choice," Duo whispered back, tightening his hold on her, but still being careful of her bruises. "He doesn't have any say in this Relena."
Relena relaxed slightly, glad that she wasn't going to lose a friend, and bolted out of Duo's arms as an image came to her. "Duo?" she began incredulously, "have you seen a girl with blue hair around your work?"
"In the coffee shop?" Duo creased his forehead as he thought about it. "Yeah, there's one... she's kind of weird though. Gets the same thing every week, and then just sits in the back of the shop and reads."
Relena smiled a small secret smile at the shocked and confused look on her friend's face. She could still picture Hilde in her mind, a beret covering most of her blue hair, as she studied in the back of Duo's work, and she could still see the glances that Hilde shot Duo when she thought he wasn't looking. "Her name is Hilde," Relena's smile grew, "and you should definitely meet her."
......
Relena slept uneasily that night. They had slipped the same sedatives into her foods as they always did, but today, instead of helping her sleep, they trapped her in it. Making her unable to escape her dreams of violent fights in other worlds. She was always involved, and Heero too, but the situation was always different.
In one, they had gundam like machines destroying cities, in another they were back to using bows and arrows, and in yet another, they were special beings, able to destroy one another with a single thought. They kept coming, only stopping when she reached the world that she had lived in for so long, the after colony world.
Heero looked at her with his emotionless eyes, and reaching for the invitation she held, he tore it in half, letting the two pieces of paper fall to the ground. The wind blew between them, piercing Relena's already wounded soul.
"But, why?" She asked quietly, not sure why her attempts at friendship pushed aside so violently, and unbidden, tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. Gently, ever so gently, he reached up to wipe her tears away.
Relena looked up in surprised, her mouth opening to ask the millions of questions that flooded her mind. "I'll destroy you," Heero said tonelessly, and walked away from her, leaving her speechless and scared.
What kind of person are you? She wondered silently before turning back towards her friends, and why are you this way?
The scene shifted, moving its way through a life that Relena knew and loved. She could feel Heero's arms around her, could feel her pushing her away, but she still loved him, and she wanted to be there, wanted to be in this world she knew.
"Heero," she whispered, watching him impassively as the scene shifted once again, this time taking her to an underground base, and she watched his face on the screen as Dekim shouted orders. She was numb with shock. He was going to kill her. He was going to shoot the base and kill her.
Relena's eyes locked with his, and she could see the pain in them, the awful choice that he knew he had to make and she could see his eyes pleading with her asking for her forgiveness. She glanced around quickly, no one else had noticed his silent pleas, and turning back to the screen, nodded, placing a hand over her heart.
"Heero," she murmured, not caring about the screams of the people around her as the base collapsed. All her thoughts were on the young pilot whom she loved. "Heero., please be safe."
Thousands of memories poured into her, until she thought she would burst, but then, when the pain threatened to overwhelm her, she screamed, wanting to go back, needing to go back. "Take me back!" She screamed at anyone who would listen. "Please! Send me back! Take me away from the hospital!"
She opened her eyes, and sat up slowly, unsure of where she was. She w as still in a hospital, but she wasn't in her regular room. The entire set-up was different., and Heero was sitting beside her. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her eyes widening in surprise when he let out a hoarse cry, and pulled her into his arms.
She blinked uncertainly at the unexpected display of affection. He seemed worried about her, legitimately worried about her. "Heero?" she reached out, brushing away strands of hair from his face. "What's going on?"
This wasn't the Heero whom she had seen today, but it wasn't the same Heero whom she had left behind in her world. "We thought we'd lost you," he rasped, and pulling her even closer to him, kissed her on her forehead. "I thought that I'd lost you" He paused unsure of what to say. "Relena... I'm sorry for the pushing you away, just... please..." he grimaced out the word "please don't leave me like that again."
"I can't promise that," Relena whispered her eyes filling with tears for what seemed like the millionth time that day. "I don't know how to control this, Heero. Just... tell me something. What year is it?" She was afraid of the answer, but desperately needed to know if this was real.
"The year is After Colony 205." Heero answered, more than a little confused, and when Relena burst into tears, he comforted her awkwardly. "Why Relena? What does it matter?" But Relena didn't answer him, she just continued crying. She was home. She was really home.
Author's Note: Okay, I finally got off my lazy butt and wrote the second chapter for this fic. I hope you guys enjoyed, and again any comments/crticisms let me know.
Symee
