This Fic starts less than a year after Libra, but several things are different. Relena had no part of the 195 war with the Gundam pilots other than meeting Heero in space who she helped from time to time. Many soldiers are still alive and it was the people who worked together to bring peace not the politicians who tried to move history into their direction. Unofficially, the colonization of Mars has begun, but things are starting to heat up when many disputes intensify.

Standard Disclaimer: Characters and other aspects of Gundam Wing belong to their rightful owners, this work is purely for enjoyment.

Special thanks goes out to all my reviewers. It means so much to have your thoughts on the story especially those of you who make notes on every update. With every new review the block stopping me from writing the next part vanishes.

Much thanks goes out to:

SerenityDeath

Nicoli

Purple-Jaxie

Jero

JasLine

Yvette

Jellybean-Kitty

RedLion2 (thanks for pointing out the mistakes!)

Gundam Wing

Ballad of Revolution

From the Desktop of Rei "Of Reminiscence"

Episode Three: Pervasion of the Spirit

Heero scanned the Aroma coffee house before nodding to Noin and Wufei. The café, where before it had gleamed in the sunshine and bubbled with the laughter and merriment of the customers, now sat slumped in the shadow of the block building beside it. Thinking of the last day he was here visiting Relena, he unintentionally smiled and thought of some jingle he had heard in passing Good Food Good Times. The three Preventors approached the café walking past the pile of broken chairs beside the back door. The uniforms pervaded the atmosphere of the café until Wufei turned from the serving line and walked to a corner table. Noin watched him with curious eyes before shaking her head and following him leaving Heero in column of customer.

Once the line in front of him cleared, Heero placed an order for 1 espresso, chai latte, and hot earl grey tea. The old man fumbled with adding the cost before finally glancing up. Startled, Mr. Smythe dropped the pen. "Heero my boy! You didn't say you were coming."

Heero gave him a rueful smile, "I didn't know myself sir. I'm not exactly here for personal business."

Mr. Smythe nodded and motioned to a petite blonde who took his place at the register. Heero ducked under the side service counter and entered the side of the shop where Relena's adopted father had already started making the drinks. "You hired new help?"

"Eh? Oh well that's one of Relena's friends, Anabelle. She offered her help when she heard about what happened. Are these other drinks for your friends out there?" Heero took a moment to understand what he meant before nodding. "Well, I'm not sure what else I can tell you other than what I told the officers. I only found out what happened when I discovered the shop ransacked."

"Well, if you don't mind sir, we would appreciate to talk with you and Relena's mother after you close up." Heero took the two finished drinks and snapped lips onto the cups while the tea mixed in with the hot water. "Our supervisor wants a report for the analysis of the colony."

Mr. Smythe chuckled, "All right I get your point. Bring your friends on over to the house for dinner and we'll talk then." The man's hands shook as he inserted the cups into the carrier and snapped the counter's latch free with his cane. "Be careful now, the drinks are quite hot."

Relena rested against a pillar as she looked at the grinning faces of three Orphens. Elise, Edward, and James. Her heart still throbbing from the shock they gave her, her own grin was rather weak. "I always did say you three terrors would be the death of me."

Elise frowned, "Are you okay Rel? I thought you were adopted."

"I'm not and I was." Relena groaned and shifted around trying to find some place to sit. "God its good to see you all again, I'm just –I can't be seen right now." She hugged Edward with her good arm and sat down beside him.

"No one can really, not with the revolution all stirred up and twitchy."

Relena eyed James whose eyes bugged out in wonder.

"You're her!"

"What?"

"You're the one they're looking for aren't you?" James grabbed Elise and screamed, "I told you there weren't that many Relenas around!"

Relena stared in confusion at her old friends as they argued what to do next. She faintly wondered how they knew about her would be abduction and waited with Edward as Elise and James argued between themselves. When things finally died down, Relena stared at her friends, "What do you mean? Why can't I stay here?"

"You ninny! The revolution is looking for you and even among the Orphens there's spies. Someone is sure to remember that we knew Relena Orphen." James frowned, "So where do we take you?"

Elise was for taking her to the Home while James thought taking her to the old crone was the better idea. Edward, tired of the argument more than Relena was, insisted on the quiet before someone came to see what they were arguing about. "We can't take her to the Home—it's not the safest even for us and we can't even reach the old crone."

"Duo Maxwell."

"That's not a bad—" James stopped and stared at Relena, "How do you know Duo Rel? He moved here way after you left."

Relena bit her lip and pulled out her pendant, "I was told to find Duo Maxwell here on his colony at his salvage shop if I ever needed help."

James reached up and stretched, "That was good advice from whoever gave it to you. We can't all go and get him though. It'll be too much. Ed you take Rel to the old church and we'll go get Duo."

Relena watched them go before turning back to Edward, "Was it always like this?"

Quatre smiled apologetically and typed something onto another panel while Zechs glared at Duo who was struggling with the controls. A few clicks and a beep later, Zechs gritted his teeth suppressing the need the throttle the so called God of Death. Quatre said he needed some tea and would come back with a cup for them all. Duo smiled and waves him off and then the God of Death started whistling whilst clicking keys and cutting wires. Whistling. At least the pilot remained in tune Zechs told himself. B flat, D, F sharp, G, G sharp… It could very well be worse. C, G, E flat, double octave B, A… "Maxwell! Stop that infernal noise and get to work!"

Duo grinned, "Relax I'm almost done."

"When we started out of this mission you said you knew this colony like the back of your hand." Zechs was sure his eye twitched when Duo absently examined the back of his hand and rubbed off a spot of dirt. "We are trying to rescue Relena Smythe before the Revolution gets her and you're humming a cartoon theme song!"

"You've seen Voltron?"

"We need to get on that colony, but we can't since the Revolution is controlling the docks. We need a plan."

"The Revolution won't necessary outright shoot at us—they aren't ready for the war yet." Quatre handed each of the men a mug and sat down adjusting the comm. unit on his ear. "If we attach ourselves to an outside dock and use the EVA suits we should get in just fine and begin looking for Miss Relena."

A receiver bleep and started spewing small sheets of paper out covered in code. Quatre sat down his cup with a determined look and nodded to Duo who increased his efforts, "Une has asked us to increase our effort with all deliberate speed—another satellite has fallen silent and Preventor Marcus sent Preventor Rachel with one backup to investigate. I'll go get the EVA suits, secure the panels when our done Duo, we got to find Miss Relena."

Heero sat in the security office as Noin and Wufei browsed the video tapes from the building next door to the cafe. After sitting at Aroma drinking his tea, Wufei noticed that the building which over shadowed the café had cameras surrounding the building, and so they had decided to the browse the tapes looking for evidence. Heero glanced at his watch and pulled on his jacket, "I'm going to the Smythes, stay here and look through the tapes before you call Une and tell her she was right. The address is 611 Linden Lane, it's the only place with flowers out front."

Wufei nodded and continued looking through the tapes while Noin only spared him a quick glance and pursed her lips. The door to the security room quietly clicked into place and Heero shoved his hands into his pockets. That was the difference between the colonies and Earth. The colonies had that definable edge. They had a certain amount of predictable space, with predictable weather, and predictable people. Heero could walk in a colony and know where he was, but on Earth there was no edge, and no boundaries expect for those invisible margins created by politicians.

Approaching Linden Lane, Heero thought about contacting Duo for any updates, but decided against it, he had his own mission to accomplish. He passed 612 Linden Lane and crossed the street to 611. Stepping past the lilies that took years for Relena to grow, Heero stepped up to the door and knocked politely although he felt like breaking the door down. His opinion of the older couple had changed completely in just over four minutes of video, yet the Revolution still needed to believe the schemas, and the Preventors still needed the appearance of being ten steps behind them. The door's curtain fluttered and fifteen minutes later Heero was sitting down to a light meal sitting across from an empty chair and flanked by Relena's parents.

"I thought your friends would be joining us son."

Heero resisted the urge to scream I am not your son and instead replied, "They are just finishing at the security office."

They ate quietly and afterwards retired to the living room where Heero examined the police reports and quietly glanced at his watch ever minute or so. "It says you waited for over an hour to call for help." Heero closed the folder and watched the nervousness spread between the older couple. Seriously contemplating for the first time the possibility that Relena's parents were involved in the Revolution since the beginning five years ago Heero's eyes narrowed, "Tell me Mr. Smythe, what do you know about Relena's first family?"

"I didn't know Relena knew her first family. What does this have to do with her kidnapping?"

Heero checked the newest shorthand hand message on his watch from Noin and stood up. "Let me tell you what my superiors have suggested. We know from our own sources that an insurrection has been forming and that the rebellion has civilian spies. Let alone spies, we also know that they have supporters. You waited to call for help when Relena was kidnapped, but did you know the building right next to the café had cameras? Did you know that the cameras caught the kidnapping? I wanted to believe that you wouldn't do something like this and that my superior office was wrong. However, the evidence and truth is overwhelming for even the most compelling arguments."

Heero thought back to the first time he saw the footage of Relena fighting off her attackers. The soldier in him swelled him pride when she evaded their grasps, applauded when she grabbed a handful of money, and smirked when she threw chairs or pieces of equipment in her wake to buy some more time. His first thought when he saw the one attacker grab her from the back door was that it was over but Relena rose to the occasion and planted a nice knee to the man's crotch. Relena had evaded their first attempt to secure her and managed to stumble into the help of Quatre who gave her the resources to reach L2. Relena was strong enough to live the way she wanted to Orphan or not. Mrs. Smythe fretted with her handkerchief while her husband chewed his mustache ragged. They knew of Relena's fortune both past and present. "Tell me everything you know before Noin and Wufei gets here and maybe I'll consider letting you see Relena again."

"I don't know what do say…"

"Start from the beginning."

Heero listened to Mr. Smythe as he leaned against the wall. At some point, Noin and Wufei broke the lock and came in but Relena's "mother" gave them the same curtsey she had always shown him. Heero nodded to Wufei afterwards and waited until he left before turning to the Smythes. "We found the proof while we shifted through the tapes starting with the day of Relena's kidnapping but then we started seeing a pattern. Same car out front every fourth day and two spies everyday that were always there at 9—could have been dedicated costumers but then again they wore holsters."

"We loved Relena like our own daughter."

Wufei came in accompanied with two Preventors that had just graduated, "We are only on standby communication with group Alpha, if we wait much longer we won't be able to reach Maxwell. Une also insists on having Preventors Jonas and Hopkins bring the Smythes to her office."

Heero longed to draw his gun as he stared into the faces of those who Relena loved. Instead, Heero clenched his fist and made to follow Wufei. "You betrayed her. For all your so called love you still gave her to the wolves."

Outside, where they awaited their transport, Noin turned to Heero. He had acted different during this mission than the other ones she had worked on with him yet she could still feel the dedication he had for his work. It truly was amazing how close Zechs and Heero were, and perhaps that was the reason they couldn't always get along. They both strived for perfection in their work and they both could just barely stand the unconscious competition. Perhaps they would be friends if one ever willingly yielded to the other. "What should I tell Zechs?"

"Relena Orphen, adopted by the Smythe family from the Home on L2, was once the ward of the Darlins after the murder of her father King Peacecraft. She is the biological sister of Milliardo Peacecraft."

Noin nodded absorbing the information before smiling. So Heero acknowledges the blood between Peacecrafts but is reluctant to connect Relena, someone he is close to, with Zechs. I'm not surprised. Both of them will stake their claims to Relena in their own ways which I'm sure would irritate anyone. Noin sobered as the transport arrived and waited to board the helicopter last, That is if—no when we find her.

Noin typed in her security code to the onboard computer after Heero gave her the headset. She had thought Wufei or Heero would have preferred to contact group Alpha, but by their expressions, they weren't so distressed with the situation that they would contact Duo if they had someone else who could. The image of Zechs appeared on the screen. He looked surprised, but quickly recovered when he saw Noin's face. "Preventor Wind, have you found the target?"

"Duo just received a message; we leave in two minutes to go EVA."

Noin frowned, "That's something."

"What is it?"

"Zechs, Relena is your sister, the Smythes took guardianship of her after the Darlins, but the Smythes worked for the Revolution." Noin watched the raging emotion flying across Zechs's face before they settled behind the mask she knew so well, "They knew the truth all this time and never told anyone including Relena. It's not your fault."

Relena sat with Edward and gazed at the sacrament that stood proudly in the front of the old Maxwell church. Her arm, though it still hurt, burn more with the heat of an infection that desperately needed to be treated. Later, Relena promised herself, I'll get it checked later. She talked in small bits to Edward who shyly told her how much she changed. She smiled, it was nice to see her old friends but the promise of finally reaching Duo dulled the giddiness from the memories they collectively shared. After briefly describing Heero (and blushing when Edward asked if she found him attractive) she also talked about her new family. Relena painted the picture of the Aroma coffee house which cause Edward to smile when she promised to always give him free drinks. Slowly, Relena relaxed and slumped against a cushion covered in years of dust and grime. After she had just started to slip off into blissful sleep, Relena heard the soft murmur of voices.

"Rel wake up."

Slowly blinking her eyes awake, Relena sat up and looked into the calm yet beautiful eyes of a woman she guessed was about her own age. "I didn't know you were a girl Duo."

James laughed, "No Rel this is Hilde, Duo's girl friend."

"It's nice to meet you Relena, I've heard a lot about you." Hilde brushed back her own short hair and gave Relena a small printout. "Duo sent this before all communications were jammed."

Relena gazed at the picture of herself smiling brightly in the sun. It was from her last birthday and it caught one of the rare times she wore something other than jeans and a shirt. The light print of the sundress came out next to the hat Relena held in her left arm. She smiled and brushed away the sweat on her temple, "Heero's looking for me?"

"Heero, Duo, and any other Preventor they can use without raising too many red flags." Hilde took Relena's arm but ended up supporting Relena's whole body when she looked about ready to pass out. "Shh… I'm going to have to rewrap the bandage, stay awake though and take this." Relena swallowed the pill and watched while Hilde worked.

The church filled with silence after Relena's arm was rewrapped except for the occasional movement or speech. Hilde kept glancing at her watch. The five of them had been at the church for over three hours now and nothing had been heard or seen from Duo. Breathing deeply, Hilde only hoped that Duo had gotten the message.

Elise cried out and ran over "Hilde! Some men are coming!"

Relena held her arm close as Hilde walked down the aisle towards the front of the church. Barely able to breathe as Hilde peeked out the window she took a breath, "Is it Heero?"

"No. I don't think so." Hilde narrowed her eyes before tensing and throwing herself back towards the front of the church, Relena and the other Orphens. "Run!"

They scrabbled through the church putting as much distance between them and the equalizer the men carried. Relena collasped just barely reaching the meager shelter the sacrament provided and Hilde grunted pulled her closer to the church's center. Elise cried out whimpering when she twisted her leg, but tried her best to keep moving when James and Edward rushed up to support her. The equalizer shook the remaining ruins of Maxwell church causing what was left of the roof and wall to fall upon them

Relena struggled to breathe in the dark as heavy dirt and dust pervaded the air and the debris trapped old air in while keeping fresh clean air out. She was amazed to still be alive let alone conscious. Feeling around with her good arm, Relena reached out for Hilde and tried to shake her awake. "Hilde…" Relena coughed and tried to blink the dust out of her eyes. "Hilde wake up…" Not knowing where her other friends were, Relena concentrated on the sound of a dog barking and the sounding of moving debris. For a frightful moment, Relena saw the sides of her vision darken, but then her mind cleared and the growing nausea she felt since the accident seemed to drift away. It then occurred to Relena that any rescue she would receive would also be her surrender. Her arm hurt and her friends, those who had tried to help her to safety, might be seriously injured or dead. Relena moaned as the debris shifted above her until the metal sheets and rubble was pulled away. Her arm throbbed and she resented the men who stood above her and Hilde. Something deep inside screamed for her to get up and run, to flee the men with distant eyes, but the voice quieted to the encompassing murkiness that came with the prick of a needle.

End of Chapter Three

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NEXT TIME: Episode Four – Trapped in the Darkness of Ignorance

The cast on her arm felt like lead weight and the IV itched terribly but the cool beep of the monitor was soothing. She was not dead. Relena blinked her eyes as four figures entered the room. Well she wasn't dead yet.

Heero lunged forward and felt with satisfaction his fist crack against Duo's face. "If she dies Duo...She means more to me than any of you. I won't..." Heero growled out his frustration and left leaving the other pilots shocked beyond belief.

Preventor Marcus stared down the barrel of a gun. The others had to make it back home, and Commander Une had to be warned. Well...I always wanted a medal... He grunted as he charged his opponent and fell to the ground. "Shit." He pressed his knees on the other man's chest and took his gun.Another gasp and Marcus stood up;the wound in his own chest tore at the movement. "Shit! Chang said it didn't hurt!" Thesoldier chuckled and Marcus scowled, "You're a prisoner, my prisoner! I don't see what's funny."

The dead of spaceswallowed most of the noisebut the colony creaked with the effort of moving. "No more trade, no more good will. As a separate entity we will exist separately--Earth will receive no more iron, minerals, or any other resource and itwon't export its garbage, prisoners, or other waste--it will merely die on its own like it was meant to. We won't be the lifeline and the garbage bin anymore.