Disclaimer: Do I have to write one for every chapter?!  THANKS to my beta reader ANNE, most helpful person in the world!  I want to thank all who have reviewed!  Yeah!  I hope you guys like the sequel!

Joy To My Life

Chapter 1: While on Vacation…BOOM!

By: J.B. Santiago

This <italics> indicates flashbacks.

         ******************

  - ESUN Office, Earth – Real Time -

“Relena.”

Relena looked up from the trade documents she was reading as Heero walked up to her desk, placing a thin sheet of paper in front of her.

“What’s this?”  Relena picked up the paper reading the heading, “Itinerary for April 28th to May 1st.”  Relena gave a questioning glance at Heero. “I already have this Itinerary.  Why are you giving me another one?”

Heero pointed to a part on the paper.  “The Ambassador Cordell has changed his schedule and you’ll be meeting him in Rome, Italy, with the Ambassadors for the Colonies X-2935 and C-22987.  We leave tonight.”

Relena read what he was pointing to. She nodded her head, resignedly.  “Ok.  Thanks for telling me.”  She gave a weak smile to her fiancé before reading the trade documents again.  Heero sighed inwardly before walking out of the office, closing the door softly shut.  Relena would be mad at him for rescheduling her meetings so she could take a break but he hoped a few days with friends would make her relax.  He nodded to himself. Yes, it was for the best. It had been a godsend when Bethany had called him asking if he and Relena would like to visit her estate in Florence for a few days.  Quatre and Dorothy were there, recuperating and it would be nice to see them again.

<Heero hid his surprise as his private line opened to reveal Dorothy’s cousin on the vid-phone. ‘How did she get this number?  Only Relena knew this number.’ Before he had the chance to ask her, she spoke.

“Hello, Mr Yuy!  It’s Bethany Montague.  You’re probably wondering how I got this number…well lets just say, Council technology is very good for hacking.”  Bethany smiled mischievously continuing, “I was just wondering, if you and Miss Relena aren’t busy, you would accept my invitation to stay at my home in Florence for a few days.  I’m trying to get everyone here, for a get together…Quatre and Dorothy are here, and they’d love to see you two again.”  She hastily added, when Heero’s face gave away nothing but indifference.

Heero stared at the girl, whose features were strikingly similar to Dorothy’s (except her eyebrows were the same colour as her hair) and her eyes were a pale green.  She seemed almost eager to please.  Heero studied her more.  This was the girl who had saved Relena but at the same time cause Relena to become so insecure and so determined to run herself into the ground.  He nodded slightly, “Yes, we’ll be there.” 

Bethany’s face brightened, “Really?  Great! Can you make it on the 28th?”

Heero nodded again.  “We’ll get to your house, don’t pick us up from the airport.”  With that he logged off.  This would be good for Relena, letting her be with friends, away from work; yes it would be good for her.>

Heero blinked, standing guard at Relena’s door, as diplomats walked past it.  Mission Status: Green.  All signs are good.

         ********************

  - Preventer HQ, Earth – Real Time -

“Romefeller’s most senior members are meeting at Luxemburg Hall, on the 21st of May.  They’re planning to discuss and debate over the Summit Peace Talks.”  Lady Une paused, looking at her two best Preventers, “As you know the Talks didn’t go too smoothly, with that one terrorist attack nearly destroying years of work.  We still have no leads on who that terrorist group was but I do NOT want a repeat of it at this meeting.”  She gave them a manila folder each.  “Here are your mission details.  Dismissed.”

Wufei left without a word, he had been gradually returning to his old self again but he wasn’t continuously mumbling ‘onna’.  Sally looked at Lady Une, “You think the same terrorist group will attack this Romefeller meeting?”

Lady Une shrugged.  “Better to be safe than sorry.  These senior members hold a lot of influence over the ESUN, most of them have pacifistic intent.  I’m not willing to lose those.”

Sally nodded.  “Neither am I.”  With that she walked out of Une’s office, heading towards Wufei’s office.  She wanted to tell Une that the ‘terrorist group’ weren’t about to resurface any time too soon.  Bethany had explained to them that Darkness Soldiers were like zombies, their ‘life force’, if you could call it that, came from the Darkness.  So when Dorothy eliminated the Darkness, they just stopped functioning.  Sally shook her head.  It would be dangerous to tell Une, not that she would believe her.  Magical powers. Darkness. Subspace. Time-travelling.  Sally hardly believed it and she was there. 

“Hey Wufei, no costume on this mission.”

Wufei grumbled lightly but it didn’t hide the uncharacteristic softness, gleaming in his obsidian eyes as he stared at his partner.

“I guess we can’t accept Bethany’s invitation to visit her and the others.  I wonder if this is a meeting of Romefeller or really the Council.”  Sally tapped a pencil to her chin. “I’ll ask her, when I tell her we can’t come.”  She smiled at Wufei,  “I’ll do it after lunch.  Come on, you’re buying.”

Pulling a not too disgruntled Wufei out of his chair, she linked arms with him and headed to the door, leaving their mission details, unopened on the desk.  The door locking shut.

         *********************

   - Paris, Earth – Real Time –

Catherine folded her clothes carefully into her well-worn suitcase.  Paris was a beautiful city but she was glad they were leaving it.  Bethany’s invitation to her and Trowa to visit her Florence home was a good excuse to leave Paris.  She just couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling that it gave her.  A knock broke Catherine out of her reverie.  Leaving her clothes she opened her trailer door to reveal a small woman, with blond hair and grey eyes.

“Nanashi!  It’s good to see you again!”  Catherine quickly gave the woman a hug.  She returned it hesitantly.

“Uhh…Hi Catherine.  I-I was, uh, I wanted to see how you were going.” Replied the woman.  “And…umm, Catherine, my real name is Midii Une.  Nanashi is a, uh, childhood nickname.”  Midii didn’t know why she had just told a nearly complete stranger her real name but Catherine was just so open and friendly.

Catherine nodded eagerly, she was glad to see the woman again.  “Midii.  That’s a nice name. Oh! Sorry, please come in!”  She stepped aside to let Midii into her trailer.  Midii seemed hesitant as she looked around the other trailers nevertheless she entered Catherine’s trailer.

“Would you like something to eat?  I have some soup…Or would you like a drink?”  Catherine directed Midii to the couch, as she turned towards the kitchen.

Midii shook her head, fervently, “No, no.  I’m ok.  I just wanted to see how you were going.” And to see your brother again, she silently added.

Catherine nodded, sitting on the same couch.  “I’m good, although…” She trailed off, staring at the coffee table.

Midii nodded, knowingly.  “I still have nightmares too.”  She said softly, giving Catherine a small smile.

Catherine smiled back at her, squeezing her hand gently.  Her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her.  “Come with us!  Were going to Florence for a few days.  I want to get away from Paris; you’re more than welcome to come with us.  Trowa wont mind at all.”

Midii recoiled as Trowa’s name was mentioned.  She got up suddenly.  “Uh, thanks Catherine but I would be intruding.  I-I have to go now.  It was good to see you again.”  She made her to the trailer door only to have it opened by a tall, emerald eyed, uni-banged man.

“Catherine are - ” Trowa abruptly stopped when he realised the person in front of him wasn’t his sister but that woman he was trying hard to forget.

Catherine smiled broadly at her brother.  “Trowa!  Remember Nanashi? – I mean Midii Une!  She came to see how I was and I invited her to go to Florence with us but she doesn’t want to go.  Convince her Trowa!”

Trowa dimly heard what Catherine was saying; he was trying not to drown into Midii’s eyes.  He could hear himself say, ‘Yes, you should come.’ ‘Not a bother at all.’  He blinked dragging his eyes away from her.

Midii shook her head again, her eyes suspiciously watery before she pushed past Trowa mumbling a good-bye to Catherine.

“Midii!”  Catherine yelled at the retreating figure.  Her shoulders slumped as Midii disappeared in the midst of trailers.  She shook her head. “Poor girl…” She stared at her brother who was staring blankly into space.  “Trowa, you ok?”

Trowa snapped out of his trance, blinking several times before speaking.  “Yes, Cathie.  Are you ready?”

Catherine stared at her little brother doubtfully, before letting it slide, “Nearly.  I’ll be ready in thirty minutes.  I’ll meet you in front.”

Trowa nodded and made his way back into his trailer.  He turned the knob before stopping, the door slightly ajar.  He stepped away from his trailer and sprinted towards the direction Midii had run to.  He reached the perimeter of the Circus trailers, now on the footpath, streaming with people walking in both directions.  Even with his height advantage he couldn’t see a certain blond head.  Slumping slightly, he walked slowly back to his trailer.  Pushing his door open he almost ran into the figure standing by his door.

“Midii.”  He stared at the woman in front of him, resisting the urge to touch her face.

Midii watched him, nervously, “Uh…I-I wanted to see…I – uh, how are you?”  Why did she always feel so clumsy and nervous around him?

He continued to stare at her.  Midii felt like she was wilting under his hawk gaze.  Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to go see him.

“You should come with us to Florence.”

Midii released the breath she didn’t know she was holding. She shook her head.  “I can’t.  I – do you have any idea how hard it was just to come see you?  I – I don’t even know why I came…I can’t get you out of my head.”  She let it all out, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Trowa was torn from sweeping this wonderfully sad woman up into his arms or to ignore those tears.  Years ago he fell for those tears and it had lost him his mercenary ‘family’.

So they just stood there.  Time passing them by, neither one moving.

         ********************

  - Luxemburg Hall (Council Headquarters), Earth – Real Time -

“The meeting is in five days.  On the fourth day, all the members will be here.  We eliminate them all at 0300 hours.  We will detonate the entire area – we don’t want to miss anyone.”  Said Henry, his cold blue eyes boring into the three sitting around him.

“How about the Preventers sent to sweep and guard the area?  How will you hide that many explosives?” questioned Giovanni, he still didn’t like this plan but he wasn’t about to risk his family’s chance at world domination.

“Ha!  I am the Black Council.  We are the creatures of the night.  Those Preventers will never see what we hide.”  Scoffed Mario Sr. He didn’t need his walking cane anymore; the old powers welling inside the Heads of Council had made them all decrease their ages.

“Then it’s settled.  The Outer Council will perish in four days.  We will rule.”  Emeline smirked; she looked like she was twenty-one again.  She looked strikingly similar to her granddaughter, Sylvia. 

Giovanni didn’t like how easy this was going, “How about Red?  Dorothy or Bethany hasn’t sent a reply back.  If they don’t come, we will still have Red as our leader.”

Henry laughed snidely.  “Even if she didn’t come, she is still weak AND has no idea that she carries the old powers, anyway.  We could kill her and Bethany like that - ” He clicked his fingers together, “If they don’t attend the meeting, it doesn’t matter.  We know where they are and before they can react to the news, they’ll be dead.”

Giovanni wasn’t convinced. “How do you know that Dorothy doesn’t know about the powers?  She IS red.  She’s stronger than us.”

Emeline sighed.  “Giovanni, dear, stop being so pessimistic.  We can defeat Red, easily.  All we need to do is to hit Dorothy with our powers at the same time.  Bethany will be a piece of cake – she didn’t enter Subspace so has had no contact with the magic that flows there now.  In five days time, we will have eradicated all magical opposition.  Humans have always been easy to conquer.  We should have the world within a month.”  She smiled triumphantly, the plants in the room, growing healthier and stronger.

Giovanni narrowed his eyes at Emeline, she had never spoken so authoritatively before.  He sighed, looking around the table.  She was right.  He shook his head, his doubts and conscience silenced as Henry and Mario Sr. told them the plan in detail.

         *********************

  - Florence, Earth – Real Time -

Bethany smiled as she saw her driver pull up into her driveway.  ‘Catherine and Trowa are here.’ The more the merrier she thought.  Relena and Heero had come the day before, by plane while Catherine and Trowa had taken the train.  Catherine wanting to see the scenic views of country France and Italy.  ‘Too bad Sally and Wufei couldn’t make it.’ She thought as she ran down the stairs to greet her new guests.  She remembered her talk with Sally that yesterday afternoon.

<“So the meeting we’re guarding is really a Council meeting?” asked Sally.  “I thought so.  Doesn’t that mean you’ll be attending?”

Bethany shook her head, “Dorothy is claiming to be too ‘exhausted’ to be able to attend.  She’s just being lazy and a certain blond, blue- eyed person is also distracting her.” Bethany smiled, ‘Quatre Winner as a cousin-in-law was going to be fun.’

“So you’re a no show as well?”  Sally smiled back at her.  “Not that I’m blaming you or anything.  It would have been nice to see you again.”

Bethany’s eyes brightened.  “You’re always welcome at my home, Sally.  And Wufei as well.”  She gave a wink.  “If you can, try to drop in.  Miss Relena and Heero are arriving today and Catherine and Trowa are coming tomorrow.  They’ll all be here for a few days.”

Sally nodded, “We’ll try.  How about Duo and Hilde?  They can’t make it either?”

“They’re still celebrating their anniversary.  I didn’t want to disturb.  I tend to do that a lot.” Bethany said teasingly.  Both women laughed.

“Ok, then.  I’ll talk to you later, Bethany.  Thanks for the invite.  We’ll try to make it.”  Sally logged off as Bethany waved good-bye.>

Bethany walked past the parlour room, where Miss Relena and Dorothy were playing chess.  She could see her cousin cheating and hid a smile.  The sound of Relena laughing was a welcome sound to both Heero and Bethany.  When they had arrived, Relena, (understatement of the year) wasn’t pleased that Heero had lied to her about her schedule; she was still a little awkward around Bethany and vice-versa.  But as the night progressed she relaxed, surrounded by them and Quatre and Dorothy.  To Heero’s relief she hadn’t gotten into a frenzied need to accomplish everything.

Bethany stood out on the marble steps of her mansion, smiling broadly at Catherine who was climbing out of the limo, stretching her legs and arms.  She waved to Bethany. “Hi!”  She moved away from the open door, still stretching.

Bethany expected to see tall, muscular legs, a shock of dark chocolate hair and deep emerald eyes emerge from the limo but instead a diminutive woman with blond hair and grey eyes stepped out, looking at her nervously, like she was expecting Bethany to tell her to get off her property.

“Bethany, remember her?  This is Midii Une.  I hope you don’t mind me inviting her to come.”  Catherine said, almost apologetically.

Bethany shook her head, smiling at the nervous woman.  “No, no!  The more the merrier, I say!”

As she said that, Trowa finally stepped out of the limo, stretching his long body.  She smiled at her last guest.  “Now everyone’s here! Come in, come in!”  She motioned her butler to grab the bags and her guests followed her up into her home.

Dinner had gone along smoothly, the atmosphere friendly and inviting.  ‘I’m tired Quatre.’  Dorothy thought, looking over to where Quatre was standing, talking to Trowa.  They were all in the lounge room, dubbed the ‘entertainment room’ by Bethany since the entire entertainment system was in there.  Quatre suddenly stopped talking, standing straighter as he turned to gaze back at Dorothy. ‘Are you up for a walk?’

Trowa stared at his friend who had suddenly stopped talking and was now just staring at his lover.

‘Let me think about it.’ Thought back Dorothy before smiling mischievously and turned back to listen to the conversation Bethany, Relena and Catherine were having.

Quatre smiled back, continuing to stare at Dorothy’s pale gold silk hair, forgetting he was talking to Trowa, until Trowa coughed discreetly bringing him back to Earth.  “Huh?  Oh!  Sorry Trowa!  I kinda spaced out there…” He laughed nervously.

Trowa just nodded. “I could see that.”

Quatre blushed, picking up where he left off, “uhh…so that girl, Midii is from your past…She seems really nice.  I’m sure if you - ” Quatre stopped again, his face turning a deep red.  “Uhh…Sorry Trowa but I need to…ummm...Can we talk later?  Sorry, again.”

Trowa nodded and Quatre walked quickly out of the room.  That’s when Trowa realised Dorothy had already left.  He sighed inwardly.  He couldn’t ask Heero for advice on what to do about Midii.  Heero just didn’t seem the type to dole out advice about relationships.  Besides, he wasn’t even in the room but outside making sure all the perimeters were safe.  He watched Catherine talk amongst Bethany and Relena.  Midii was in her room, claiming to be tired and wanting sleep.  ‘I should check on her.  Make sure she doesn’t try to disappear again.’  He thought making his way upstairs to the bedrooms.

Quatre walked outside near the maze area, a light breeze tousling his hair slightly.  ‘Dorothy, Dorothy, where are you?’ he thought.

‘Right behind you.’  He felt two slender arms wrap themselves around him, hugging him to her body.  She gently kissed his neck before nipping his ear.  He twisted around in her arms, wrapping his arms around her, their faces inches away from each other. 

“Now about those images you sent me…” he whispered into her mouth before capturing her lips with his.  They stood there for quite some time before the need to breath became too great and they parted.  Dorothy ran a hand through Quatre’s hair making it even more cutely dishevelled.  “I take it you like?…If you’re up for it we could do it tonight.”  She smirked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

Quatre returned her gaze, “I thought you were tired.”  Giving her neck small hot kisses.

‘Tired of our guests.  Not tired of you.’ She relayed her thoughts to him and he lifted her up in a fireman’s carry, heading towards their bedroom.  “Bethany did say you needed as much bed rest as possible.” He chuckled; yes ‘bed rest’ was a very good thing.  They made it to the bedroom without too much fuss (and no one saw them).  Quatre placed Dorothy carefully on the bed, before locking the door firmly behind him.  He thanked Allah the rooms were relatively soundproof.  Making his way over he could feel Dorothy’s predatory eyes on him; he just smiled innocently.  He loved being prey to her.

Relena covered a yawn with her hand.  She was sitting in front of the vanity, combing her hair.  The past couple of days had been exactly what she had needed.  After the initial anger and annoyance at Heero for lying to her subsided, she realised how lucky she was to have him.  He cared so much.  She sighed placing the comb on the vanity.

“What are you thinking about?”  Heero asked from behind her.  A wry smile appeared on Relena’s face.  ‘Always straight to the point, Heero.’

Relena faced her fiancé.  “You.  I was thinking about how lucky I am to have you.”  She felt him hug her close; her eyes closed just breathing in his scent.  “Thank you.”

Heero just nodded.  She was still insecure about what had happened but she was strong.  He would always be there for her.  Relena felt a sharp pain in her mind before it disappeared.  Heero felt her tense and he held her out at arms length, looking into her eyes.  “What’s wrong, Relena?”

She shuddered, blinking several times to get her bearings.  “Nothing.  Nothing.  I think I have a headache coming along.”

Heero wasn’t thoroughly convinced but he let it slide, leading her to the bed and embracing her tightly to him.  Relena hugged him back, the pain in her head slowly diminishing.

The moon shone on the koi pond, giving it a beautiful silvery colour.  Bethany shivered slightly as the night got colder.  She hadn’t been able to sleep and had decided to take a walk outside.  Now sitting at the same place she had sat just a few days ago, she let out a contented sigh.  She had always been a people person.  Getting to know Dorothy’s friends better was a joy.  Even that new girl, that Gatekeeper seemed so nice.  Life just felt *good*.  However, even with everything running along smoothly, she still had an uneasy feeling niggling in the back of her mind.  She couldn’t place it, though.  She shook her head.  ‘Must be the Dermail genes coursing in my veins.  Of course I would be thinking something bad was about to happen.’  She rolled her eyes, getting up from the bench to head back inside.  She gaped at her house, which had a certain room glowing a bright red.  ‘Sheesh Dory; You’re supposed to be resting.’  She shook her head, grinning.  ‘Dorothy was healing much faster than she or Dorothy herself had expected.  She had put it down to Dorothy being a conductor of sorts for all five Colours when she had entered the Darkness.  There hadn’t been any signs of the full power of Red except Dorothy did give out a glow when she and Quatre did certain things. You could always tell when they were getting some.’ Thought Bethany as she made her way inside.  Unbeknownst to her and her guests, something stirred… “Soon.” the wind picked up suddenly and violently before returning to normal.

         *********************

   - Luxemburg Hall, Earth – Real Time -

The scanners picked up nothing.  Sally hid a yawn, staring at the screens inside the van she and Wufei were sitting in.  It was a little past midnight, May 1st, the date of the meeting of senior Romefeller members upon them.  It had been rather quiet, even with some of the media still hanging around.  No threats of any kind.

“Wonder what they’re going to discuss?” Sally asked Wufei, sipping her fourth cup of coffee.

“Their relevance, now that the Darkness is gone.”  Answered Wufei, never taking his eyes away from the screens. “They’ll probably ask why they don’t have their ‘powers’.  They’re part of Romefeller - its all about greed and power.”

Sally raised an eyebrow and nodded.  She hadn’t expected that answer but it was a good point.

“Time.” asked Mario Sr. to one of the Locandro men.

“0030, Sir.  When should we detonate?”

“In five minutes.  The Black Council is out, right?”

Steven Locandro nodded to his leader.

“Good.  The rest of the Council is still there?”

Steven nodded again. “The Greater Council including the Heads of Council are all sleeping soundly.  Red Council is the only one not accounted for.  We received a vid-message an hour ago, sent to us by Bethany Montague.  She said she would be here at 1900hrs, May 1st.”

‘So those two butanas won’t die with the rest of these snivelling idiots.’ Mario Sr. dismissed Steven with a gesture.  ‘Red will be killed last.  No problem.’  He smiled maliciously as he counted the seconds going by.

This had to be the most boring assignment he had ever gotten.  Mike Jennings, fixed his slightly crooked Preventer jacket.  Patrolling the outer perimeter of the Luxemburg Hall was ridiculously tedious.  This was his twelfth mission out on the field and this rated right up there with watching a salvage yard of space parts suspected of weapons making (in truth the man who owned the salvage yard was making a female robot because he was lonely).  This was so boring, even the night animals must have fallen asleep, he hadn’t heard one chirp or tick in half an hour.  He stopped suddenly, realisation dawning on him that it would be rather strange if all the insects stopped making noise.  Before he could take a step further, explosions rocketed the inside of the Hall, blowing apart the sleeping quarters before more explosions caved in the roof and what was left of the building burst into flames.  The last thing Mike Jennings thought of as a piece of debris fell on him was ‘Well, I wasn’t expecting this.’

         *********************

Person who says, “I told you so”:

Hmmm…I just blew up the Greater Council…Oh boy…why did I do that?!  All will be explained when I write Chapter 2! (Ok that’s a lie, nothing will be explained because I’m as confused as you are!)  Oh! And before I forget, I want to thank all the people who reviewed TCoL after I had finished it!  Double thanks to Midii Une (I’m a HUGE fan of your Price of Redemption fic!) and was just wondering if you think I wrote Midii right? (since I haven’t actually read the manga, only seen the anime!)  ANYWAY, thank you all for the reviews, again! R&R, C&C and flames AND e-mail (setm_29@hotmail.com just in case you guys don’t know ^_^) are all VERY welcome!!!  See you guys next time!  Thanks again Anne! ^_^    …………….My sister wants to draw Trowa……….///_-    Happy?! Bye now!