Hiding Scars

Chapter 14

A/N: Oh my goodness everyone- this story is long. Sorry! I haven't finished writing the text yet, but I have a good like- maybe 6 chapters all written. I've been stuck at one point but managed to get past it this weekend so hopefully I can get this finished. I literally have so many other story ideas rolling around in my head and filling up a notebook right now. And of course, when I try to write a simple 1xR story, it ends up being some long, involved thing. Ah well. Hope you are still enjoying 'Hiding Scars'!

Relena was stuck. She couldn't move. It was like her feet were glued to the ground, which was ridiculous, because she was standing in sand. A man was staring at her, his eyes gleaming, his mouth curved up into a wicked smile. Relena tried to pull her feet up, but she was simply stuck right there. The man was approaching her, and quickly. Relena increased her efforts to move. He kept coming forward, closer and closer. He reached for her neck and clasped his hands around it and started to squeeze...

Relena jerked away. Her hands immediately went for her neck, where she found her braid had fallen over and was stuck under her arm, putting a slight pressure against her neck. She sat up and tried to calm her nerves, but her heart was racing and her head was spinning. She also realized that she was still naked. Beside her, Heero was sleeping peacefully. Relena glanced at her alarm clock, which showed the time as 4:18 am. She groaned and climbed out of bed. She crossed to her closet and found the nightgown she had worn the night before. She slipped it on and pulled on a clean pair panties. She was too restless to go back to bed, however, but she worried that Heero might wake up and catch her roaming her own house. She thought the action was strange, and she felt weird doing it, even if she was the only one there. But sometimes it comforted her to wander around and touch various objects. She decided she didn't care, and left the room and walked quietly down the steps, dodging the squeaky spots in the stairs. When she reached the first floor, she began her wander, picking up books and cups and pictures. She stopped in the kitchen and drank a glass of water. When she walked back into the living room, Cherry was awake. She was standing at a window, growling. Relena walked up to her and looked out, too.

"What's wrong, Cherry?" Relena asked. Cherry continued to growl. Relena moved to a different window and looked out. She thought she saw a movement, or some shadow. It wasn't normal for Cherry to react to nothing. Relena wondered if there was another animal outside. She wandered from window to window, peeking through the curtains. Cherry followed her, the low growl rumblings in her throat.

Relena stepped up to the window beside her front door and carefully pulled aside the curtain. When she looked out, the face from her dream was staring back at her, a snarl on his face. Relena stepped back and tripped over her own feet, screaming. She fell hard into her back, the scream still flying from her throat. She pushed herself backwards away from the door. Cherry barked over and over again, the hair on her back raised up. A pounding of feet on the stairs added to the cacophony, and in a moment, Heero was beside her, wearing only his boxers, his gun in his hand.

"Relena," he said, kneeling beside her. Relena stopped screaming and clutched her arms around his neck. "Relena, what happened?" he asked. Relena couldn't speak, but pointed at the window where Cherry was still barking. Heero dislodged her arms from his neck and he rose, his gun held tightly between his two hands. He moved the curtain aside with the barrel, and looked out. A man was walking calmly away from the house down the walkway that led to the sidewalk. He threw a glance back and caught Heero's eye. Heero memorized the man's face as quickly as he could, including the evil glint in his eyes. Heero mind flitted between running after the man or staying at the house to protect Relena. When he looked at her huddled mass on the floor, tears falling down her cheeks and her chest heaving rapidly in anxiety and panic, he knew he couldn't leave her. The man would have to wait.

Heero checked the doors and windows to be sure they were all locked. Only then did he return to Relena. He picked her up in his arms and carried her to the couch. He sat down, cradling her in his lap. She pressed her face to his shoulder, her knees drawn to her chest. Cherry hopped up on the couch beside them and rested her head on Heero's knee. Relena's breathing was still rapid, and her tears and sobs came out in harsh breaths and choking sounds. Heero calmed himself so that she wouldn't pick up on his own anger. He gently stroked her hair, whispering words to her to try and calm her down.

After a while, her breathing slowed and the tears dried. "It was him," she whispered.

"Who?"

"The same man I saw at the beach. The man who attacked me..."

"I thought you didn't see his face," Heero said.

"I didn't, but I know it was him. He found me. Probably the same why you found me. How could I have been so stupid?"

"No, no," Heero said, tightening his grip on her shaking body. "You're not stupid." Heero wanted to tell her that only someone as insane and obsessed as that man would have been able to find her through the book, but he had to stop himself, knowing it would only make her uncomfortable.

Her panic wore her out after a while, and she eventually fell into a restless sleep against his shoulder. He carefully carried her back up to her bedroom and laid her on the bed. He dug his cell phone out of his jeans and walked out to the hallway and dialed Lady Une's number.

"Yuy," she said in a cold voice when she picked up the phone.

"Une," he replied. "This situation has gotten dangerous. I need all the information you have about Relena's stalker tonight."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone was just walking around her house, looking in through her windows," he said.

"How do you know it's the same guy?"

"Relena knows," was his response. He knew it was a weak one, but he had to try. He heard Lady Une sigh.

"If you truly feel that her life is in danger, whether it's the same guy or not, then I will send you my documentation about the incident," Lady Une conceded at last.

"Thank you," Heero said. "And I am sorry about the way I acted before," he added.

"I understand," she replied. "I'll pull everything together and send it over as soon as I can."

Heero thanked her again and they disconnected their call. Heero wanted to rush back to the vacation house to get his laptop, but he couldn't leave Relena. He instead climbed back into bed with her and wrapped his body protectively around her.

-

Relena woke up in the morning feeling like she hadn't slept at all. She carefully dislodged herself from Heero and climbed out of her bed, not remembering how she made it back up to her bedroom. She walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy, and there were dark circles etched into her skin. She frowned at herself, then traced a finger down a wrinkle that appeared. It was still a faint line, but she knew it would grow deeper as time went on. Shaking her head, she stepped away from the mirror and turned the water on in the shower to try and wash away the memory of the night before.

Heero woke up when he heard the shower turn on. A moment later, his phone began to ring. He picked it up and saw that it was Duo.

"Hi Duo," he said.

"Hey buddy. We're gonna grab breakfast. Do you and Relena want to meet up?" he asked.

"She's in the shower, but I'm sure that will be fine."

"Awesome!" Duo gave Heero the details of where they were going, then disconnected. When Relena stepped out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam, wrapped in a towel, Heero climbed off the bed and circled his arms around her.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. She nodded, her forehead resting against his chest. "Do you want to get breakfast with the others?"

"Yes. Maybe it'll help get my mind off everything," she said. Heero nodded and let go of her. She dressed quickly in shorts and a t-shirt, and they left together.

During breakfast, Heero quietly asked Hilde to suggest to Relena that they go shopping or something, and have some girl time. When Hilde asked why, Heero just shook his head and told her that he would explain later. Relena didn't mention the events of the night to anyone, so Heero didn't either. He would tell them later on when Relena wasn't there. Hilde agreed to suggest it to Relena, and once breakfast was over, the girls left together to shop and get their nails done. Quatre suggested going to the festival events for the day, until of course, Heero told them what happened during the night. The three of them spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon pouring over the documents that Lady Une had sent Heero.

Her file about the stalker and the incident after Relena's birthday was nothing short of disturbing. Une had scanned in some of the notes that the stalker had sent Relena, each one more awful than the last. The tension in the house as the three boys read the notes grew during each one, as they shook with rage over the man who felt like he could defile Relena. But the worst had yet to come.

The was a folder titled "Pictures." Heero opened it hesitantly. Right from the beginning, the three former pilots were stunned.

Relena had taken pictures of her bed, where blood stained the sheets. There were pictures of her wrists and ankles, marked from being bound to the bed. She'd even gotten pictures of the words cruelly etched into her back, before and after she wiped away the dried and crusted blood. There were pictures of the bruises on her body. After they looked at the last picture, the three of them agreed that they needed a break. None of them spoke much as they drove out to the beach area, and they hardly spoke or smiled as they walked along, looking for a place to eat. They eventually chose a place, ordered food and sat down at a small table to eat, though none of them were particularly hungry.

"I don't blame her for running," Quatre said quietly between bites of his sandwich. The other two nodded solemnly.

"I may break my promise I made to Relena," Heero confessed. He was holding his spoon for his soup so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

"To never kill again?" Duo asked, and Heero nodded in response. "Only if you get to him before I do."

"And he might be here, somewhere," Quatre mused. The mood at the table darkened more as the three of them thought through that knowledge.

"He can't be perfect. There has to be evidence somewhere," Duo said. "He has to have made a mistake."

"We just have to keep looking," Quatre said, absently nodding his head over and over. The rest of the meal was spent in silence.

On the way back to the house, Duo's phone rang.

"Hi baby," he said.

"Hey! We're done with our nails. What are you guys up to?" she asked him.

"Keep stalling her. We need more time," Duo said.

"Why?" Hilde asked, both suspicious and concerned.

"It has to do with the reason she disappeared. We're looking into it. Just keep her busy," Duo said. The emotion in his voice told Hilde the situation was serious.

"Alright," she said, then hung up her phone.