In the morning, two days after Quatre and Heero arrived at the Sanc Kingdom would be a surprise that Relena Peacecraft would never forget.
The day started innocently enough, with morning classes, the normal duties of the leader of the kingdom...and of morning exercises.
It was almost noon when Pagan came to the office doors, saying, "Miss Relena...there's someone here to see you. She says she's Natalie Merca."
Her eyes widened in surprise as she asked, "Nati? From St. Gabriel?"
"The very same."
Why would she be here? she thought but said out loud at the same time, "Please, let her in."
A couple of minutes later, a slightly-above average height woman entered the room. She had long brown hair that went down to her back and green-grey eyes that twinkled as she curtseyed.
"Princess Relena," she simply said as she finished the curtsey.
"Nati! What brings you here from the Institute?" Relena asked, "Please, sit down."
She nodded and said, "Relena...I'm not who you think I am."
"What do you mean by that?"
Natalie looked around to make sure that she and Relena were the only ones in the room, took a deep breath, taking out a golden, rectangular object from a pocket and said, "First off, although it's what have been using for the past three years...my name is not Natalie Merca."
Relena looked at her, puzzled and remembered...
Relena had been walking by one of the courtyards, on her way to a class when she had heard rather loud voices.
"What're you doing here? You some kind of a newbie?" a harsh male voice demanded, "Well, answer me!"
"Yes...I'm sorry, I'm just trying to find my classroom. I didn't mean to run into you," another voice, this one a quiet, and frightened woman, replied.
"Sorry isn't going to get you anywhere," another cold, cruel voice had sneered.
She turned and saw a young woman surrounded by a group of bullies. Without thinking, she walked up to them, shouting, "You get away from her!"
There had been panicked whisperings about Relena at that right before they ran into another direction, leaving the bewildered young victim there.
"T-thanks...I think," she said, "Who are you?"
"My name's Relena. Where's your classroom at?"
It had been quite a few minutes later. Relena was glad that she had not been late to class after showing the new student where to go.
The teacher and a young woman walked in from another room, the older person approaching the podium.
"Class, we have a new student today," the teacher simply said and gestured to the young woman.
She curtsied and said, "I'm Natalie Merca. Nice to meet you."
"Well," Relena asked, returning mentally to the present, "If you aren't Natalie, who are you?"
Natalie gripped the golden object tightly as if to draw support from it, then said in a more grave tone, "Princess Relena...My name...my real name, is Tira Felice. I am from what is known as the L4 Colony."
Relena's eyes widened as she exclaimed, "Felice? The Felice family, I've heard, is one of the few influential families in existance."
Natalie...or Tira, nodded and said, "My story is long and sad, but I beseech you to listen to all of it."
The princess replied, "I'm listening."
"I am the heiress of the family, as you guessed. Along with another of the colony, I was born with...a strange power. The other one called it the Soul of the Universe, a term that just might be apropos. I read minds and feel others' emotions...and in some people, I can remove emotional pain."
"That must be tough..."
"More so than you know. The heir of another family and I grew up together as close friends...we even went on family outings together."
Tira's eyes misted over and she took a deep breath before continuing.
"Unlike the other person with the Soul of the Universe, my ability was made public by my mother. She had said that she was proud of it and that it was not something to be kept secret. That same power fascinated Oz..."
"Oz?"
The younger woman nodded, "The very same. They saw my power as a seriously threat and decided to kill me."
A look of sympathy appeared on Relena's face at this.
"In the middle of the night, my parents woke me up, telling me to pack everything. I tried to get a message to my friend, but there wasn't time, they said...I had a kind of date with him that afternoon at the amusement park and I didn't want him thinking I had stood him up..."
Tira shook slightly as she paused for a moment, "Almost a year after that, my parents tried to send a message to him, telling him that I was safe and to not worry. I don't know if the message made it or not, but they both died...and I had to disappear quickly."
Relena saw a trickle of blood run from her friend's fingers where the gold edges were cutting into them and said, "You're bleeding...let me take care of that. What is that golden thing...?"
The younger woman shook a little harder, saying with a catch in her voice, "When I took on a new identity...I was told to get rid of everything from my past. It took me a lot of pleading to change their mind about this...it's a picture of me and the one I left behind...I don't know if he's okay...if he's been hurt or killed...it's for him that I'm coming forward now, asking for asylum here."
Relena found the catch and opened the case, revealing a picture of two children. Both of them were in a field, running. One had brown hair in pigtails, wearing a simple dress. The other child, a little boy, was laughing and trying to keep up with her while gripping one of her hands.
The princess gasped and blurted out, "That--That's Quatre!"
Tira looked up in surprise and asked, "You know him?"
"Yes. I met him a couple of days ago."
Her eyes widened with relief as she said, "He's still alive! Where is he? Is he hurt?"
"One at a time, Nati--I mean Tira. He's here in the Sanc Kingdom. As far as whether or not he's hurt..."
She nodded, listening.
"Quatre...thinks that you're dead, killed by Oz. He told me about you last night when I found him outside in the courtyard."
Relena shuddered as she remembered the look of deep grief and shining tears that were in Quatre's eyes as he held a golden, rectangular object in his hands and heard the quietly spoken question, "I've lost Trowa and Tira...the ones so dear to me...why can't I simply die?"
"Gods," Tira muttered, "He's hurting badly..."
Relena was startled by the comment and then she remembered that her friend could read minds.
"I wish I could go to him," she continued, "But I took a great risk coming to you."
The princess thought a moment and said, "Hmm...If you write a message, I can have someone deliver it to him as quickly as possible."
"Oh, would you? Thank you, Relena," she replied.
The older woman took a piece of paper and a pen, giving both to Tira and saying, "But how are you going to word it without alerting any spies that might be here? As you said, your coming here was a risk."
Her friend thought for a moment, then wrote something down. Upon reading it, Relena asked, "Is that a code-name?"
"No. It's an affectionate nickname I called him. Thing is, I never called him that in public, so he'll instantly know it's me."
Both young women nodded and the older one called for Noin.
"Could you please give this to Quatre as soon as you can?" was the only thing Relena asked.
"What is it?" the strange woman with purple hair asked, then looked at the woman seated closely, "Are you....you're Tira Felice!"
Tira's face paled considerably just before Relena said, "Yes, she was in Oz...but Noin can be trusted now. She's in contact with Quatre daily."
"You're the other friend Quatre speaks a lot of," Noin mused.
"Yes. Please, Miss Noin...can you please give this to Quatre? Because of circumstances, I can't do it myself. Please..."
She thought for a moment then said, "I'll do it as soon as I can."
Sandy,
I asked Noin to tell you this. I've been on the run for years and the only way I can come home is for you to get rid of Oz and Romafeller Foundation. I'm depending on you...
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