Note: Read my previous Fanfics titled "Time" (#1) and "Chaos" (#2) before you read this one, or this one will make no sense to you.
Lost
by JAG
Lost are the ways of peace. Here are the ways of war. When did our best hope become lost? When did we become lost?
'This castle is a lot more guarded than Romefeller's,' thought Heero, looking up at the large castle that was the Peacecraft residence, 'It'll be a lot harder to pull this one off.' They had been in the Sanc Kingdom for two months now, trying to figure out a way to take back the country without causing harm to the people of the town. No one had had any bright ideas except Duo and his jokes. None of the pilots had any idea how to take something without using force. They only knew destruction and death to be the best way to get results. "Except Quatre," Heero said aloud.
"What about me?" said a familiar voice behind Heero.
"I was thinking that you were too soft to be a Gundam pilot," Heero believed in telling the truth. When it was necessary that was.
"Really. Is it just because your frustrated that you can't find a way to take the castle, or are you really thinking that?" Quatre actually sounded sarcastic.
"And do you have any bright ideas on the subject, Quatre?" Heero was really annoyed now. Most people would back down before questioning him in such a manner. He had to give Quatre credit. He had more guts than most.
"As a matter of fact, I do," Quatre smiled, "The soldiers have a new leader. He was shipped in a week ago under cover of darkness. That's how we missed it. Obviously, the soldiers are insanely loyal to him."
Heero smiled as he understood Quatre's idea. "Cut off the head and the body dies. Right, Quatre?"
Quatre nodded.
"I'm surprised you would come up with something like that. I thought you hated death."
"I can come up with ideas like that easily, but I have problems carrying them out. Usually. This time something's different. There's something strange about this guy. I've seen him at a distance, and his soul doesn't feel right."
"There you go with that soul stuff again," Heero said under his breath as he turned to survey the castle once more.
Milliardo walked through the crowded town market of the Sanc Kingdom capitol. He somewhat enjoyed the constant noise of the shopkeepers calling out the virtues of their products and the customers' talking and haggling, sometimes shouting, to get the best price from the shopkeepers. However, it also made it really hard to hear. He was really surprised when he turned to see Wufei right behind him.
"Wufei! What the...? Why'd you follow me?" Milliardo stammered.
"Because your sister didn't trust you to get our supplies without getting noticed. You do seem to cause a lot of trouble," Wufei told him, "Plus, you seem to be taking your good, sweet time."
"Ok, as long as your here, you can..." Milliardo trailed off as he stared through the crowd at someone he thought he'd never see again. 'Could it be? Have I found him?' Milliardo started running.
"Hey!!" Wufei yelled at him as he followed.
Milliardo didn't hear him. He kept running through the crowd, keeping his eyes trained on the man he had seen. Suddenly, the man looked up and saw Milliardo. 'There's no mistake. It's him,' Milliardo thought as he got a good look at his face.
The man took off running, but slowly. He looked as if he was injured. 'What the...? Why would he run from me?' Milliardo ran faster, but lost him in the crowd. "Damn!" he yelled, drawing some eyes. A nearby family backed away from him, "I was so close!"
"So close to what, Milliardo? You look as if you've seen a ghost," Wufei said, running up to him.
"Maybe I have, Wufei. Maybe I have."
Relena walked through the camp looking for anybody not on a mission at the moment. She was not allowed out of the camp since anybody at all could easily recognize her around here. Some days got so boring without anybody to talk to. This was one of those days.
'Let's see, Milliardo and Wufei are buying supplies, Heero and Quatre are surveying the castle, and Duo's seeing what the people's opinion of Romefeller is,' she thought, 'That leaves Trowa and Dorothy. That'll be an interesting conversation.'
Walking to the center of the camp, she found both of them sitting on the logs around the cold ashes of last night's fire. Niether spoke, just looked thoughtfully at nothing in particular. Relena expected this from Trowa, but Dorothy... "You heard the news, Dorothy?"
"Yes," she replied. Relena understood. Duke Dermail had disowned her. She no longer had any family at all. Relena knew the feeling.
Sitting down next to Dorothy, Relena put her arm around her. "It'll be ok, Dorothy," she said in a soothing voice.
"I know, Ms. Relena, but that doesn't help me now," Dorothy said without looking up.
"I hear he's letting people in the castle," Trowa broke in.
Relena jumped. She had forgotten Trowa was there. "What?" she asked, surprised, "Who?"
"The new leader of the Romefeller soldiers here. I hear he's giving people tours of the castle. Showing it off as a trophy," Trowa said in a monotone voice, "I think one of us should take this tour. It would help to know where the guy has guardposts and his main control center in the castle."
Relena and Dorothy stared at Trowa for a moment. He had never spoken so much that Relena could remember. "Ok, Trowa, who do you think should go?"
"Dorothy," replied Trowa.
"Me!! Why Me?!" Dorothy screamed.
"Because a woman will get less attention, and Relena's too recognizable," Trowa stated.
"And I'm not?" Dorothy yelled back, "I was part of Romefeller, remember?"
"Yes, but you weren't too widely known within the organization. You can easily infiltrate the castle."
"But what if I am noticed?" Dorothy sounded scared.
"Dont' worry, we'll be able to get you out."
Dorothy thought about it for a minute before she made up her mind. "Ok, she said, but you better be right," she said, threateningly.
Duo looked at the man walking through the door of the local tavern he had chosen as his stakeout. The man had a plain face, and Duo did not think that he would have noticed him in a crowd. it was for people like him that Duo was on the lookout for. Normal people. So far, everyone he had talked to felt the same. They all wanted things to be the way they were before Romefeller had come. he had found no one yet that felt otherwise. Duo watched as the man sat down at the bar. Getting up he moved to sit beside him.
"So, what brings you to these parts?" he asked the stranger.
"I live here," he replied.
"Ah, so you're a local," Duo meant it as a statment of fact, but the man answered anyways.
"Yup," he said.
"So I hear Romefeller's been causing a big ruckus up here," Duo probed for answers.
"Where haven't they haven't been causing trouble?" the man said sarcastically.
"Yup, I reckon," Duo said just as sarcastically.
"Look, young man, what are you doing here? You're obviously not old enough to be in this tavern, and you're asking too many questions," the man said, getting angry.
"Oh, nothing. I'm just enjoying myself here," Duo backtracked, "I just wanted to make conversation." Duo walked away quickly. It had been the same elsewhere too. People didn't like Romefeller, and it had the people on edge being ruled by them.
Dorothy walked down the street that led to the castle's main gates. Relena had wasted no time in dressing her in local clothes and putting a small microphone and camera on her. "Great, now if I'm caught, I'll be in twice as deep," she said to herself as she walked up to the gates.
"If you're caught in what?" Milliardo asked from behind her.
Dorothy jumped about five feet in the air before realizing she wasn't in danger. "Milliardo, you nearly scared me to death!" Dorothy yelled.
"I'm sorry you must be mistaken, Ms... Brison," he said, looking at her name tag for the tour. "I'm Jand Sandar," he said pointing to his own, "Anyways, it was Wufei's idea, but he's already back at camp by now."
"So you had the same idea, Mr. Jand?" Dorothy asked, "And call me Leene."
"Well, Ms. Leene, allow me to escort you on the tour," Milliardo said, offering her his arm.
"I'd be delighted, Mr. Jand," said Dorothy, making sure to remember what to call him. Together, they walked through the castle gates.
From a window high in the castle, a man watched the two people progress across the castle grounds...
About midway through the tour, Milliardo realized that they were going nowhere near guarded sections of the castle nor the main control center. He made his way to the tour group leader and whispered in his ear, "Excuse me, good sir, but my lady must use the 'facilities.' Could you please point us to the nearest one? We'll catch up quickly."
"Aah, yes. Ms. Brison. The nearest restroom is back the way we came and to the left. Please hurry, we would not want to lose you," said the guide.
"Don't worry. It won't take but a minute." Grabbig Dorothy, he moved back down the hallway. "Come on," he whispered to her, "I have an idea."
For a while, they just studied the castle's layout and found as many posts as they could, looking for weaknesses. Until Milliardo heard Dorothy yell, "Hey, Jand, over here. I've found the main control center."
Milliardo walked over and saw the large, heavily-protected double doors. "This is the main throne room," he said, "How arrogant this man must be."
Dorothy worked on the door panel for a bit until she heard the magnetic lock undo and the doors slide open. "Come on, we need to see what they're pla...," she trailed off as she entered the room. On the throne was Mandron.
"Ah, Ms. Catalonia. So glad you coud make it," Mandron said as he sneered at her.
"Mandron, I thought you were dead!" exclaimed Dorothy at the same time Milliardo said, "Logain, I thought you were dead!"
"Logain?" Dorothy asked, confused.
"Ah, and Milliardo Peacecraft. It's so good to see you, brother," Mandron said.
"Brother?!" Dorothy exclaimed, even more confused.
"Yes, Dorothy, his real name is Logain Peacecraft. But Mandron? I never thought my brother could be the infamous killer, Mandron," Milliardo explained.
"Believe it you worthless scum! But in the long run, it is of no consequence. Guards!" Several soldiers jumped them. Milliardo dropped and kicked up in the air, taking one of the soldiers out with a killing blow to the throat. Jumping up he ran out of the throne room. "Get him, you fools!" Mandron called. Several soldiers ran after him.
Dorothy was not as lucky as Milliardo. She was caught between two soldiers, struggling to get free. "Bring her to me," Mandron called, beckoning the soldiers as they carried her to him. "Young Ms. Catalonia. I haven't decided what to do with you yet. Kill you or turn you over to your grandfather. There's a hefty reward for bringing you in, but where's the fun in that. One thing's for sure, next time you shoot someone, you'll make sure they're dead!"
Dorothy was very afraid.
Most of the people had returned to the camp, but there was no sign of Milliardo or Dorothy. "Where are they anyways, Relena? The tour should've ended hours ago. It's already dark," Duo asked just as Milliardo came running up, out of breath.
"What happened? Where's Dorothy? Why were you running?" the questions bombarded him from all directions. Milliardo held up a hand until he could catch his breath. After doing so, he told them what had happened.
"That's terrible," Relena said, "I knew I shouldn't have sent her there."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it," Milliardo said, "I'm the one who left her there, but I will be the one to get her out. That's a promise."
Lost and found. The dance begins. What's once was lost, now is found, yet lost again...
To Be Continued...
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Gundam Wing. Those belong to the good people at Asahi TV and the Sotsu Agency. No lawsuits please.
Thanks to Grant, Becky, Lisa, Ruza and Amanda for all their nice comments on my stories. You are the true heroes.