A/N: Whoo! So I tripped on my power cord and killed it, thus the delay in updates. Don't worry, I'm back on the bandwagon, and with four new stories being planned for after this one is finished, I'm almost antsy to git 'er finished up, so expect at least an update a week (or more if you offer cookies!).

Enjoy, please read and review!

-picimadar

When You Run Among Shadows
Chapter 12: A Little Secret

February 15, A.C. 200, X-18997

Relena laid in bed, tossing and turning, the ghostly white sheets tangling around her body as she protested lightly in her sleep. Downstairs, Heero woke, rubbing a hand over his face before sitting up. Momentarily he was disoriented, turning his head quickly before realizing he was asleep on his couch. "Leave me alone," he heard again, and Heero's mind reeled as he remembered why he was asleep on his living room couch, and who was in his bed. Standing, he picked up his gun off the coffee table and stood up, examining the front and back doors carefully.

Heero groaned quietly before continuing slothfully upstairs, dragging his feet. He had been unable to sleep for days, and now Relena Darlian was sleeping in his bed. For a moment he paused at the top of the stairs, his brain fully awakening and furiously trying to decipher the feeling that arose in his gut as Heero thought, for the fifth time that night, that she was here, with him, in his house, in his bed… Shaking his head hard, he continued down the hall, peering into his slightly open bedroom door.

"Please… no," Relena said, pulling the dark blue comforter against her body, lashing out with her hands and legs. Her face was pulled into a frightened grimace, and Heero stood, immobilized, unable to wake her. He had remembered his nightmares from the war, how frustrating and disorienting it had been to be woken during something so fundamentally frightening.

He sighed, putting his handgun down carefully on the desk before picking up the chair and turning it around before putting it down quietly on the soft rug that layed under his bed. Heero sat down, crossing his arms over the back of chair and sitting down. His dark eyes drifted over to where the young woman lay, still struggling and gasping in her dream, and he rested his head against his forearm, waiting.


January 15, A.C. 200, X-18997

Relena stared at the ceiling, her arms both chained to the walls of the small cell where she had been held for weeks, now. Rolling her eyes to the side, she licked her parched lips carefully, shifting her arms in their shackles as they hung over her head, engineered to ensure her discomfort.

"I'm thirsty!" she shouted indignantly as she could manage, shifting her sore hipbones on the cold metal floor. The Foreign Minister was a dull, sad image of her long-passed self, only more deteriorated since her capture by Lavie and his lackeys. Her hair was loose, dirty and lacked the luster it had held in years past, falling against her sallow cheeks. Relena knew she must look horrid; she felt as though she had been dragged over a gravel pit and left alone in the Sahara at night.

"Hey!" she shouted again, hoping one of the guards would pity her. "Please, I need water!" Relena resorted to her most tested and true tactic, banging her shackles against the metal of the wall with increasing intensity, the sound no longer jarring to her, but clearly infuriating to whoever was on the outside of the heavy locked door.

"Alright, shut the fuck up!" a voice shouted from the other side, a fist rising to bang against the outer side of the reinforced barrier. "I'll be back in a minute with food and water for you, and if you stop making that fucking noise you might get it warm." Relena halted her irritation, letting her arms fall limp against the chains. "That's better. I'll be back."

Relena sighed, her arms exhausted by even a few moments of exertion. Holding them continually above her head had already tired her muscles, which, she supposed, was their previous intention. After moments of waiting, the door finally opened swiftly, the light from the corridor blinding her as she stood quickly, trying to shield her eyes, Relena's arms tugging futilely against her bonds.

"Here," the man said, walking closer to her and putting the tray of food down on the small table next to her. "That should tide you over for a while. And, the water you asked for, 'cause you've been such a good girl." Relena ignored the lecherous tone of the guard's voice, her body practically screaming at her as she waited for him to open her shackles. She took the bottle out of his hands and drank deeply and greedily, savoring every drop of water as it passed through her throat. Gasping, she put the tossed the empty bottle into the corner, barely noting its addition to the growing pile there. She was given four bottles a day, enough to keep her alive but unhealthy. Her only way of keeping track of time was watching the pile of plastic bottles grow.

"There now, feeling a little better?" the young man crooned again, and for the millionth time, Relena felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she tried to back away from him, taking in the darkening of his eyes and his hands reaching out for her. She cried out, but it was too late; the blonde man blocked her into a corner, placing his arms on either side of her body, forcing a leg between hers so he could press his body against her. "I knew you'd come around. Been down here a long time, haven't you?" his hand brushing against the side of her cheek. "I'm sure a good, home cooked meal isn't the only thing you're hungry for."

"Leave me alone," Relena gritted out, kneeing the unnamed guard as hard as she could in the groin before running away from him and throwing herself against the door. Throwing her fists against it, she cried out again, her conscious telling her to yell for help, to save herself, but her present mind knowing that now, after weeks in this confinement, there would be no savior for her. The man cursed before coming up behind the blonde young woman, taking a handful of her hair and hauling her off her feet. Relena shrieked as she clawed against the man's hands, trying to free herself from his grasp. Ignoring her pain, he threw the prisoner against the low-lying cot in the opposing corner, his face screwing into a smile as he watched her struggle to sit up and press herself against the far wall.

"Please… no," Relena begged, putting her knees up in front of her, pressing her hands against the wall. The man ignored her pleas, climbing onto the cot after her, forcing her down against the flat, tough mattress with ease. Relena struggled against him, hating herself for becoming so weak. Tears came to her eyes as she tried to shut out what was to come, her mind seemingly leaving her body as it continued to struggle, feeling the guard reaching to unfasten his belt.

"Shut up, you stupid whore. You're going to get what's coming to you." Both Relena and the guard both jumped as the door slammed open behind them, a tall figure silhouetted in the bright light.

"Get off her now," the bass voice commanded, the sound of a gun's safety being disengaged as the guard hauled himself off the cot and onto his feet. "Out, or you'll get what's coming to you," the voice continued, pointing the gun nonchalantly at the guard as he scrambled to take his jacket before running out of the room. The man looked over his shoulder and down the corridor before continuing into the room, partially closing the door behind him. He sheathed the gun into the waistband of his pants and approached the cot slowly, holding a hand out compassionately toward the broken young woman. Relena continued to cry quietly, still shirking away from his tan hands as he took hers gently.

"Relena, relax. I'm not going to hurt you." He took his hands and began feeling his way up her arms carefully, then switching to pressing and prodding her feet and calves. She winced unwillingly a few times, unsure of who the man was and why he had saved her.

"I was sent here," he said, seemly reading her mind. His voice was deep, with a kindness that ran through it, making it feel like velvet in her ears.

"Do you work for Lavie?" she asked, her voice quiet and rasping, causing her wrinkle her nose after hearing the intruding savior's smooth baritone. Relena's eyes were beginning to adjust, now, and she could see the man's dark hair obscuring his equally dark eyes, his tan skin disappearing into the uniform her usual guards also wore. He had the five o'clock shadow and under eye circles of a man who clearly longed to go home and take a deep sleep.

"I guess," he finally answered, motioning for her to lift her arms. He ran his hands over her ribcage and finally pressed her closer to him in order to prod his fingers along her back. His hands temporarily stopped as she stiffened in his grasp, her breathing rate increasing dramatically as he pulled her closer to him, and she inhaled deeply. Recognizing the shape of his body, Relena pulled herself out of his strong arms before looking the visitor in the eyes, then inspecting his face.

"Why are you here?" she finally asked, pushing him away. "You already rejected us. You have no reason to care about me. You work for Lavie, you're part of the reason I'm here." Her blue eyes bore into his deep brown ones furiously, daring him to deny her.

"I rejected them. Never you," he whispered, running a hand up her jaw, moving a stray lock of hair off her face. The gesture revealed a long, deep black bruise and the man gasped slightly as Relena pulled away, embarrassed.

"Then why leave me here? Why work for him? I offered you everything, and this is how you repay me? Leaving me here to die?" Her voice took an edge of hysteria as she reached the final word, a shudder running up her spine.

"To get you free. Today, Une gave a press release saying they're no longer looking for you. That they'll abide by Lavie's rules and assume that if you are alive, he will keep you alive if they let alone with this colony."

The man she now recognized looked at her sadly, the compassion in his face breaking through to her core and forcing up long-held tears.

"No one is coming for me. No one's even looking anymore." Relena sobbed hard, pulling herself away from her companion and putting her hands against the wall. "I can't stay here, I can't!"

"Relena, please!" The man implored, moving closer to her and putting his arms around her. "Please, shhhh! If they hear you, someone'll be down here in seconds. Quiet, quiet…" Soothing her with a hand brushing through her hair, he held the crying woman against his chest until, finally, her breathing slowed. "There. Relena, you will get out of here. With the search off, security here will fall. Lavie doesn't seem to know, or care, but there are more here who are sympathetic to your cause than you believe. Get out of here, find someplace to stay, and I'll find you. L'Ombre will find you, probably even before I do. Just do that, and everyone will take care of the rest."

Relena nodded slowly, the gravity of the makeshift plan taking root in her chest.

"But Neil, what… where am I supposed to go?" she asked, standing as Neil left the bed and began walking away.

"Just trust your gut, or your heart, or whatever it is you go by. Hasn't led you astray yet." Turning to face the hallway, Neil grimaced as he heard heavy steps approaching. "I'll try to keep them away from you. I can't take guard duty, but I'll try and get guys down here who won't hurt you." He looked back over his shoulder, his dark eyes sparkling in the dim light. "I'm so sorry, Relena. Be safe, get out of here when you can. I love you."

And he was gone.


Heero watched as Relena's motions slowed, her arms and legs falling limp at her sides, her blonde hair splayed about her on the pillow. Heero shook away the memories that arose at seeing her sleeping, disheveled, wrapped in bed sheets, and stood up. Approaching the bed, Heero sat down on the edge carefully before he reached out and put a hand on Relena's far shoulder.

"Hey, wake u—" He got halfway through the sentence before Relena awoke suddenly, hitting him as hard as she could muster in her sleepy state, her elbow connecting hard with his head, knocking him over and farther onto the bed. Her eyes now open, but she was still massively disoriented, her mind reeling from the shock of being woken up and the dream that had disturbed her sleep. Looking down, she grabbed the first weapon she saw, Heero's handgun, and pointed it at him.

"Get away from me," she growled, leveling it at him, her balance on the bed shaky at best. "Get away!" Relena shrieked again as Heero reacted, trying to grab her by the legs. Realizing quickly that she had the upper hand, the young man jumped off the bed swifly and stood between her and the door. Holding his hands up slowly, he looked at his foe.

"I'm not kidding. Get out of my way, or I'll kill you." Relena disengaged the safety on the handgun and stepped forward on the bed menacingly. Heero had to struggle not to laugh, holding his hands above his head as he grinned, watching his one-time-employer shakily hold her balance on top his mattress.

Heero quickly tilted his head, staring just past Relena's shoulder and out the partially open blind, where early morning light streamed through into the room. Distracted, Relena turned to see what he had looked at and Heero took his chance to tackle her, knocking her off her feet and the gun out of her hands. Just as Relena caught her breath to scream, Heero clapped a hand over her mouth, using the other to try and keep her hands from clobbering him.

They stayed like that for some time, Relena struggling underneath Heero as he used his bodyweight to hold her down, trying to calm her. Eventually she quieted, tears beginning to trail down the sides of her face as she tried, less forcefully but just as persistently, to get the man off her.

"Are you going to scream?" he asked, looking at her. Relena narrowed her eyes, but shook her head. "Good," Heero said, backing off of Relena quickly and stepping off the bed. Relena also sat up quickly, drew herself up to her full height and, definitely not for the last time, struck Heero with a closed fist across his cheek bone. Heero cursed as he reeled from the hit, a hand coming up to the double bruise he was sure to develop from the past 15 hours of abuse.

Relena hissed as she straightened out her fingers. "I wasn't kidding. You better invest in a gun safe, because if you ever touch me like that again, I'll kill you in your sleep." With that she turned, took her still-damp towel off the floor near the doorway and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Heero continued to stand, stunned, as he heard the water turn on and the lock turn with a distinct click.


"So, when did you meet Relena?" Trowa passed Middie the small white porcelain creamer, watching the look on her face as she stared into her coffee, the expressiveness of her eyes as she watched the whiteness of the cream swirl into the darkness.

"A long time ago. Before I met you, even, I guess," she said quietly. "We met when we were really young. She tracked me down in Brazil, I was doing small-time work then, mostly. I guess we musta been ten or eleven…" Middie smiled, looking into Trowa's eyes. "She set the whole thing up like she was some con artist or arms dealer or something. Offered me big money to do a job for her. I was supposed to met her in this park one night… And there she was, just sitting in the middle of the only decent green space in Rio, drinking a tea and waiting for me. We've been close ever since." She lowered her eyes again now, her expression melancholy. "We have to find her, Trowa. I can't imagine they'll keep her alive much longer, if she even still is… you know, alive…"

Trowa reached across the small table and took the young woman's hand, wrapping his fingers around hers gently. "We'll find her, Middie. I know she's alive. She would never give up, and I can't give up hoping that she's figuring something out. She's smart, she'll get out of there."

Middie sighed, looking over Trowa's shoulder. "We've got company… Well don't look!" she scolded as Trowa went to turn his head. She smiled contagiously, her nose wrinkling as she took her hand from his. "I'm just kidding. It's just Wufei and Ming." She waved over Trowa's shoulder to the couple and they approached the table quietly, waving off the barista as she approached. The young woman gave the table a strange glance, handed the pair their menus and hastily walked away, seemingly glad to avoid the stoic pair.

Mingmei groaned as she slid into one of the plus chairs, Wufei waiting as Trowa shuffled closer to Middie to accommodate him. "Long day?" Middie said laughingly, ignoring her friend's glare.

"You have no idea. I just got off my flight from Shenzhen. I swear to god, it gets worse every time." Mingmei ran a hand down to the small of her back, kneading it for herself slightly before settling back into a slouch.

"How was the trip, though? Find out anything interesting?" Trowa asked, looking at Wufei.

"Unfortunately, not in particular. We've got a lot of contacts there, but there's just not a lot of information coming in from any of the colonies to Earth since Relena's been gone… I think we're going to have to head up, personally."

"Go to space, really? Come on, man, I like having my feet on the ground. Actual ground." Middie took a drink of her coffee, widening her eyes cheekily as Wufei rolled his.

"We've got contacts in space, Wufei. We don't necessarily need to go… What would you tell Une? "Oh, you know, just a family vacation to a militarist colony to see the sights? I don't want to leave Mai alone that long…"

"We could go…" Trowa suggested softly, looking over at Middie, who was shaking her head vehemently.

"Dammit! Why would you even say that! You can't offer for me!"

Wufei laughed at the blonde woman. "What, are you afraid?"

"Fuck you, asshat," Middie answered spitefully. "I'm not afraid of any freaking plane, I just hate space. The only time I've been there I was sick as a dog the whole time, and everything's so crowded…"

"Aren't you from Paris? For crying out loud, you think a colony's crowded… Get a grip."

"Both of you just shut up," Mingmei said, waving over the shy barista. After the two newcomers to the table placed their order, something suddenly came into Trowa's mind.

"Hey, wait. You two are married, right?"

Mingmei looked at Wufei carefully, raising an eyebrow. "Until I kill him, yes." Middie howled loudly, banging a hand against the table. Wufei just rolled his eyes again, but Trowa noticed a slight grin forming on his friend's lips.

"Yes, we're married… Sorry I never told you… it was just sudden. I figured you guys either wouldn't understand or wouldn't really care. We got married so we could adopt a child of a friend, her parents didn't survive our colony's implosion. The hospital wouldn't let us take her unless we were married, so we just got a civic service."

"Well, that's not the way most shotgun weddings go," Trowa said before he finished off the last of his coffee. Putting the mug back down, he looked more pertinently at his friend. "Are you two happy? I don't want you going into space if you're worried about your daughter. She can't afford to lose two sets of parents…"

Middie put her mug down hard on the table, startling her companions and a few other patrons of the coffee shop. "Goddammit man, don't bring the kid into this. I'm a sucker for kids. Don't even talk about Mai, don't, don't, 'cause then I'll have to go." Middie held her hands up in front of her, looking away from the rest of her compatriots.

"Too late. Looks like the decision's been made, and not a moment too soon," a smooth alto voice came from behind them. Katarina wound her tall, thin body between several tables before arriving at theirs, tossing a thick manila envelope into the center of the table. "Passports, driver's licenses and your flight passes. We can't put you on Lavie's colony, because they've seen Trowa, and there's only so much you can do to disguise a face like that." Looking down her nose at him, the dark-haired woman continued, "But I got you as close as I could. Jesse and Liam will meet you there, I've already sent them as well as some others. We're trying to space the traffic out, keep suspicion down, so make sure that you're leaving the colony in the same way. I don't like my good work being undone." With that, Katarina took the large sunglasses she had perched on her head and replaced them on her nose, and walked out of the small shop.

Trowa shook his head slightly, before turning to see Wufei and Mingmei smiling broadly.

"Oh you bitch. You did this on purpose, didn't you? Wow. Just… wow. Playing the kid card? Fuck this noise, I'm out," Middie said, picking up her bag and storming out of the glass front door.

Trowa sighed, pulled out his wallet and tossed a few bills onto the table. "Guess that's my queue. We'll keep in touch… I don't know what your channels are, but I'm sure she'll explain." He stood up and held a hand out to Wufei, who took it tightly.

"Speaking of explaining… anything you wanna tell us about?" The Asian man asked, cocking a brow as Trowa looked away without expression.

"Nothing to tell," he replied with the same tone, as if he was daring his friend to question it.

"Well, you're in good hands. Be safe, we'll expect to hear from you soon," Mingmei said, patting Trowa on his free shoulder. "Be safe."


Across an unmeasurable distance, Lawrence Lavie was having possibly the worst migraine headache he could imagine. Pressing his fingers into his temples, he sighed heavily, resting his elbows on his desk. A quiet beep sounded over his intercom before the voice of his secretary sounded. "Mr. Lavie, Neil Oppen and Caden Li are here to see you, as you requested."

"Very good, send them in," he replied, attempting to straighten his tie and sit up in his chair. The two young men entered his office one after the other, closing the door tightly behind them and continuing to stand just before it. Lavie studied the two young men, watching as they changed their stances, waiting patiently to be addressed. Neil stood with his hands clasped behind his back, moving his weight slightly between each foot with a slow rhythm. The expression on his tan face was, as always, inexplicably amused, his lips turned up slightly into a smile as he looked out the corner of his eye at his partner and friend, Caden. Lavie shifted his focus to the younger man, who stood with his hands at his sides, his feet spaced perfectly to his shoulder width, stock-still and completely unreadable. Smiling to himself, Lavie motioned the two men forward to the chairs in front of his desk. He had no idea how they managed to work so well together, but they got the job done, and that was not only all that mattered, but why he had called them to his office.

"I suppose you have heard by now that Relena Darlian has unfortunately escaped our premises." He practically spat the name, shaking his head slightly in disgust as he sat back in his chair.

Heero and Neil looked at each other, seeming to gauge each other's reactions. "Well, yeah, you kind of can't not hear about something like that, but I figured it was just hearsay," Neil said, looking back at his leader. "How did she get away?"

Lavie raise his eyes toward the ceiling in annoyance. "Unfortunately though she is naïve, she is not stupid. She seemed to wait until she was under the least supervision and got away before we could track her down. She also killed a guard to do it."

Heero swallowed deeply. "How did she do that? She couldn't have been armed…"

"The man was pushed under an oncoming freight carrier. She stole his keys and gun before taking off into the city."

Heero breathed in deeply again, slightly shocked, and made a mental note to check for a dislocated shoulder when he got home.

"That was bold of her, but where would she go? You think she's hiding out with civilians?" Neil asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"We have reason to believe someone is helping her to hide, yes. It's only been about twenty-four hours, but I've had agents scour the areas we suspect she could be. So far, we've found nothing."

"So, you want us to find her." Neil looked his leader directly in the eye now, his face a complex mixture of emotions that Lavie could not decipher.

"Yes. I believe you two are the best for the job. If anyone says anything about her, I want to know. If you find out where she is, I want you two to personally apprehend her and whatever fool choose to hide her."

Neil pursed his lips slightly before leaning back in his chair. "But what if there's just no signs? Or what if the person hiding her won't give her up?"

Lavie smiled slightly, a menacing smile that he could see brought his two prized agents to attention. "It's simple. If you can't get her to come out, smoke her out. If you can't get the family to give her up, kill them." The two young men nodded, standing at his gestured hand toward the door and began heading out.

"And gentlemen?" he added quickly as they reached the door. "If she will not come quietly, then kill her, too. She has long outlived her use."