Hiding Scars
Chapter 16
When Relena woke up to the sound of the doorbell, it was already nearly dark outside. Groggily, she wandered down the steps to the front door and peeked outside. It was Milly. Relena opened the door to let her in.
"Oh Cass," she said, still using the name she'd known her by for four years. "Are you doing alright?"
"I'm fine," Relena replied. Milly studied Relena's face, with the swollen eye and the swollen nose and sighed.
"I'm glad you are okay, but there's something you should see," she said. Milly led Relena to the television and flipped on the evening news. "They've been playing this segment over and over."
On screen was a low resolution video and Relena being attacked by the man, him screaming out her real name. The camera caught the image of him punching her, then of Heero and Duo nearly pouncing on him to pull him off of her. Over and over. The news woman's face appeared.
"The man called out the name "Relena Darlian," who of course is the former Vice Foreign Minister, who disappeared over four years ago after her eighteenth birthday. If this man's assertion is correct, then the city of Virginia Beach is housing a runaway politician," she said. The image cut back to the low resolution video again. Relena groaned and put her head in her hands.
"I guess my anonymity is over," she said with a moan. Milly rubbed Relena's back with her hand, trying to comfort the young woman.
"And the worst is that anyone who latches onto this news story isn't going to know the real story," Milly said. "They're going to make up all kinds of things."
"I know," Relena said. An idea nagged at her. Perhaps she would have to announce herself sooner than she had planned. "I'll have to come clean," she said. Milly leaned over and pulled Relena's hands away from her face.
"Are you sure, honey?" she asked. Relena nodded, her eyes shifting back to the images on the television.
"It's the only way I can put my story out there before rumors begin," she said. "I'll have to go back. I was planning on waiting until my friends' vacation was over, and I would just go with them, but that's not gonna happen."
"If you need anything, you know we'll help you," Milly said. Relena smiled at her and hugged her friend.
"You and Paul are the best. I'm so glad I met you," she said. Milly returned the hug, unable to hold in a few tears.
-
Sally Po and Wufei Chang were immediately put in charge of the investigation of a man they now knew to be called Howard Munns. When Lady Une got the call from Quatre, the process began quickly. She called the duo into her office, and showed them the same stuff she'd sent to Heero. Naturally, they were shocked by the entire thing, including that Relena was alive and well in the Americas. Lady Une explained that the police in America would be willing to work with the Preventers. Less than twenty-four hours after Quatre called Lady Une, Wufei and Sally were en route to Virginia Beach.
After Howard Munn was arrested for assault, an investigation commenced on the urging of Quatre. An investigator was appointed to the case, and it was found that Munn had been living in a nearby motel room for a long time. Inside the room were pictures taken of Relena Darlian/Cassandra Cooper at various events. Some were obviously taken from the outside of her home, looking in through the window. There was a stack of books on the end table, all the same book, The Invitation by Cassandra Cooper. There were maps on the walls, the location of her home circled in red. There were news articles about Cassandra Cooper taped to the walls. In the drawers of the dresser were stacks of letters he'd written to her but never sent. These were all collected into evidence. The investigator lost his lunch when he read through a letter at random.
"This guy is a maniac," it was declared.
-
Relena Darlian, aka Cassandra Cooper, barricaded herself in her home. The news story about the fight at the fair was picked up, and soon reporters and news vans were running all over her street, sitting in front of her house and knocking on her front door. She couldn't even take Cherry out for a walk because if she showed her face, she was hounded. Not even Cherry's ferocious bark could scare away the people all over her yard. Relief came in the afternoon the next day when several police vehicles arrived. Relena watched from her window as several officers got out of their cars and forced all the reporters and news vehicles off the street, citing them for loitering. Two other people climbed out of the police cruisers, but they weren't dressed like police officers. Relena turned away from the window and rushed down the steps. She reached the front door just as the doorbell rang.
Relena threw open the door and jumped at Sally, hugging her around the neck.
"I'm so happy to see you!" she cried. Sally laughed and returned the hug. Relena even hugged Wufei, who looked less than pleased about it. Once Relena pulled away, she let them into her home.
"Since you gave us such a warm welcome, I assume you know why we're here," Wufei said as he settled himself in a chair at Relena's dining room table.
"The man at the fair, and the news report," Relena said. The two Preventers nodded.
"Since you were in the capacity of VFM when you disappeared, your person is still under the protection of the Preventers, and the case still belongs to us," Wufei informed her. Relena nodded, understanding. "So far, a preliminary investigation has happened regarding this guy, Howard Munn. He is the one who attacked you at the fair. We have not yet linked him to the events of four years ago, but that is our next stop."
Relena sighed in relief. "I'm going to tell my story to the world," she said. The two looked at her, surprised. "I have to. I can't stay hidden any longer, and I don't want people making stuff up."
"Makes sense," Wufei said, with a flash of what might have been admiration in his dark eyes.
"When?" Sally asked.
"After you prove it was him from four years ago," Relena said. "Then I will go back home. I have a plan."
"Plan for what?"
"I want to help women. I want to help them when it comes to self defense and protecting themselves from men who would hurt them," Relena explained.
"Will you go back to your old job?" Sally asked. Relena shrugged.
"It depends on what the president wants, I suppose," she said. The two nodded. Wufei stood up.
"A police vehicle will remain here at all times to keep the media away. We have given them pictures of Duo, Heero, Hilde and Quatre, to allow them on the property. We will keep you informed on how the investigation is going," he said. Relena thanked them and walked them to the door. Sally hugged Relena once again.
"I'm happy to see you again, and happy to know that you are alive." Relena hugged her back, then let the two Preventers leave her house.
On the way back to the borrowed car, Wufei leaned over to Sally and said, "Did you see that tattoo on her back?"
-
That evening, Heero, Duo, Quatre and Hilde showed up at Relena's house. The officers checked their faces against the pictures given to them by the Preventers, then allowed them to her house. Relena welcomed them inside.
"Your eye is still swollen," Duo commented, looking her over. Relena stuck her tongue out at him.
"Maybe I should punch you so that we match," she commented. Duo laughed and hugged her. "Thank you all for what you did yesterday, though," she said. "I had no idea that anyone was following us." Hilde had told Relena about her noticing that someone had been following them all through the fair. "Who knows what could have happened."
"We don't need to think about what could have been, Relena," Quatre said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "All that matters is that you are safe again, and the Preventers are going to get that guy sent away for a long time." Relena nodded and hugged her friend. As they settled into her house, Duo and Hilde offered to cook dinner for everyone. Relena gratefully accepted and settled in to relax with Heero and Quatre. They turned the television on and watched the news. They were still playing the same low resolution film over and over again. Since Relena never left her house afterwards, and the police kicked them off her street, they didn't have much by way of new material. However, they seemed to be doing a lot of digging around, and reported some old news about her. They also gave her some advertising for her book by announcing that, "it is probable that Relena Darlian and Cassandra Cooper are in fact the same person."
Just before they sat down to eat, Relena's phone rang, the caller ID showing her editor. She quickly answered. His worried voice came over the line.
"Are you alright?" he asked, sounding frantic.
"I'm fine," she replied. "Did the story already make it up to New York?"
"Of you getting punched by some crazy guy calling you Relena Darlian, yes it made it here," he said. "What was up with that?'
"Well..."
"Wait a minute... are you?"
"Surprise," Relena said with only partial enthusiasm. Her editor seemed to explode with questions, statements and general ramblings about working with a missing Vice Foreign Minister, but never really giving Relena a chance to explain herself or answer his questions.
"Should we rerelease your novel with your real name?" he asked, when paused to allow her to answer.
"No, I like it better this way," she said. "Though my next book will be released under my real name."
"Which one?"
"The autobiography."
"Ah, makes sense now, knowing who you actually are. I did think that your knowledge of certain things during the wars was a little too specific and informed." Relena laughed.
"Because I was actually there," she said. Her editor 'ah hah-ed' on the other line.
"Well Miss Darlian or Miss Cooper, I have a PR statement to put together, since it is spreading like wildfire that the recent debut novelist Cassandra Cooper is actually a missing political figure. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Ok, thank you," Relena said. They said good bye and Relena put her phone down. "I didn't think about the fact that this situation would cause problems for my editor at the publishing company," she said to her friends. They sat down at dinner and discussed the events of the last day, and speculated about what Wufei and Sally would be able to put together about Howard Munn.
Through dinner, Relena noticed that Heero was rather subdued, and she wondered what was going on in his mind. She had a couple of guesses, but she knew she'd have trouble getting the truth out of him. She assumed it had something to do with the recent events of the last day. At the moment, however, she didn't want to worry about his sense of priority or his ideas of protecting her. She was just happy, feeling weights lifting off her shoulders, slowly but surely. Relena looked around the table at her mostly smiling friends, sighed in contentment and leaned back in her chair.
Plates soon emptied and glasses were drained. Duo leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. "Hilde makes the best chicken," he declared. Hilde smiled at him. Relena rose and began to gather up the dirty plates. Quatre stood up and helped her as well. Relena couldn't help but notice that Heero still looked rather sullen.
As the group cleaned up the dinner dishes, there was a knock at the door. Relena excused herself and went to the door, checking out the window before opening it. Wufei and Sally were standing outside, waiting. Relena pulled the door open and greeted them with a smile.
"Hello again!" she said happily. They said hello and Relena stepped back to allow them into the house.
"We just wanted to give you an update about what is going on," Sally said, taking a seat on the couch. Wufei sat down beside her and spread a few folders out on the coffee table. The others trickled into the livingroom as Relena sat down on the carpet beside the coffee table. She pulled a folder to her and flipped it open to sift through the contents.
"Howard Munn, thirty-four, was born in northern Europe. He was a bad student in school and eventually dropped out of high school. After dropping out, he joined up as a soldier for the Alliance. He piloted a mobile suit a few times but never excelled on the battlefield. From what we can determine, he became aware of your existence during your reign as Queen. The Preventer agents who found his hideaway found ramblings in journals from around that time in A.C. 195, mostly about you. He left the Alliance when OZ gained control and seems to have spent the remainder of the years stalking you, unfortunately," Wufei recited. Relena had been looking through the folders, listening to Wufei and nodding. Her face betrayed no emotion as she saw pictures of letters, pictures of herself that he'd taken, and pictures from his various hideaways. She slowed slightly when she uncovered a series of pictures that were taken post-rape, where she was still lying prone on her bed. In one picture, she could clearly see the words etched into her back, still raw and fresh. She reached up and rubbed her scars absently on her shoulder.
"We have an interrogation scheduled for tomorrow with him, and from there, the Preventer attorney will begin to put together a case," Sally added. Relena nodded in understanding. "You should also know that the media may become more aggressive. They've latched onto this story and it's spreading quickly. Une is monitoring the situation overseas and trying to keep the situation under control."
"I see," Relena acknowledged.
Heero had been sitting in a chair nearby. When Wufei spread the folders out on the table, he itched to snatch them up and spare Relena the horror of having to look at them. However, he watched her face as she read the papers and looked at the pictures, and she showed no emotion. He wondered mildly where she'd learned that from. He saw her reach up with one hand and rub against the spot on her back where he knew the scars to be. He leaned forward and saw that she was looking at a picture of herself on her bed. Heero grimaced and leaned back, hoping Relena was alright.
His ears perked up when he heard the word "interrogation." He looked hard at Wufei, willing him to catch his eye, but Wufei remained concentrated on Relena and the folders on the table.
"Do you have any other questions, Relena?" Sally asked, looking at her with a sad expression. Relena met Sally's eyes with a smile.
"I should be alright, thank you," Relena said. Sally nodded and the pair rose from her couch.
"We're exhausted, so we're going to head back to our hotel. We'll get in touch with you tomorrow," Sally said. Relena nodded and walked them to the door. She hugged them gratefully and they walked outside. Heero jumped up from his chair and chased after them. Relena stepped back, startled.
"What's wrong Heero?" Relena asked. Heero stepped outside with Wufei and Sally.
"Yuy?" Wufei asked.
"Let me sit in on the interrogation tomorrow," Heero said. Sally and Wufei glanced at each other, uneasy.
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Heero," Sally said, the expression on her face apologetic. Heero arched an eyebrow. "I understand your feelings about this situation, but you are too close to the victim in this case. It wouldn't be a good idea."
"She's right," Wufei said. Heero stared at them, but they did not relent.
"Alright," he mumbled, and they turned away towards their car. Heero, his shoulders slumped slightly, walked back into the house. Relena had returned to the couch with her friends and they were chatting easily about nothing in particular.
It wasn't long before Quatre and Hilde began to feel tired as well, so they decided to head back to the vacation home. Quatre, Duo, and Hilde gathered their things and began to make their way to the door. Heero followed. Relena stepped up to him and rested her hand lightly on his shoulder.
"Heero?" she said quietly. He looked at her over her shoulder. "Are you going to stay with me tonight?" He turned to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"I can't," he said. Relena looked up into his eyes and saw a glimmer there that she hadn't seen in a long time. The intensity of his soldier's upbringing shone out, and behind those blue irises, she knew his mind was turning cold and calculating. It frightened her a little. But she understood, at least as much as she was able.
"I understand," she said. Heero pecked a quick kiss on her forehead, then turned and left with the others. Relena watched them go, and saw the police wave them away. Relena turned away from the door, closed it and made sure it was locked. She looked at her empty living room, empty except for Cherry, and sighed. She always hated that empty feeling she felt whenever people would all leave at once.
She didn't want to let that bring her down, however, so she climbed the steps to her room, picked up the novel she was reading, and read until she fell asleep, the book slipping from her fingers.