Disclaimer: I never have and I never will own Gundam Wing. I’m not that
fortunate. :P
Rating: PG-13 for the most part
Pairings: Non-yaoi, see Raptures of Paradise and Phases of Memory for pairings.
Surprises: Enough to make your head spin. ;P
Genres: Sci-fi, drama, horror, some fluff, and other delightful things.

AN: A shout out to my beta Midii Une, Bryony, and everyone else who reviewed my
fics. You’re my cheerleading section! ^_^

Gundam Wing: Legend of the Dream Stalker
Part 5: Judgment
By Sailor Celaeno

With the exception of Trowa, Zechs, and Noin, all the senior Preventer staff
members arrived at Preventer headquarters the next morning to attend the
emergency meeting. All present were very aware of what the situation was.
Sally began with a brief report updating them on the condition of victim 13.
“Samuel Phillem was admitted into the hospital at 3 am. He was driving home
late from a party when his car crashed into the highway partition. Two other
cars crashed into his. Luckily those other passengers are not seriously
injured. However, Phillem is in a severe coma just like the Dream Stalker’s
other victims. The police believe he inexplicably fell asleep at the wheel.”
Une nodded as Sally finished. “What we need is to find out why these people
were chosen.”
Duo growled. “Some wacko like this is out there putting innocent people in
comas for no reason. Plain and simple.”
Quatre understood Duo’s anger better than even Duo. He had seen the nightmare
existence that the Dream Stalker forced Fiona and the other victims into
living. “There must be a reason that these people were attacked. This Newtype
is powerful and capable of attacking more people than this. It’s almost as if
he’s deliberately picking these people for a reason.”
“So you think he’s sending a message?” Heero followed his comrade’s train of
thought.
“I believe so. If we can only discover what these people have in common...”
replied Quatre.
“Which is the other reason why I asked you here. We’re going to piece this
puzzle. What is the Dream Stalker’s motive?” Une spoke again.
Wufei opened the thick file in front of him. “Michael Morrison. Age 40.
Married with 2 children, a son and daughter. No criminal record.”
“Karena Kolzjac. Age 37. Married with 2 children, a son and daughter,” Sally
read from another file.
“Luis Cortez. Age 16. Both parents living and older sister,” Hilde read
another file.
The first twelve victims were looked over and a pattern emerged. “Wait a
minute…” began Duo.
“It’s strange, all adult men are around 40, married with a son and daughter,”
Hilde noted.
“The women are around 36, married, and have one son and daughter,” added
Quatre.
“The young boys are 16 with sisters. The girls range from 14 to 15 years and
have brothers. Oddly Miss Laramie doesn’t fit the pattern,” Heero replied.
“Yeah, but don’t forget, I’m practically her brother,” Duo huffed at his
inability to do much else for Fiona.
“But Phillem doesn’t fit the profile of other men. First off, he’s not that
old. He’s only 25. He’s not married. He has a record though. DWI,” Sally noted
grimly.
Une spoke. “Duo, Hilde. I want you two to find out more about Phillem. See if
there’s something about him that we missed.”
“Sure thing,” Duo replied.
“A criminal like this wouldn’t change choices of victim without a reason,”
concluded Une.


*****

Midii was ready to leave her apartment. “Where are you going?” Trowa asked
with a look of concern on his face.
“I’m going to find Moritz and make him tell me what I want to hear.”
“You shouldn’t do that alone. You only left the hospital less than two days
ago,” Trowa gave a sound argument.
“Trowa, now that I have my memories again, I realize that there is much I
still don’t know about. Moritz experimented on me and several others. I want to
know…” she stopped her train of thought.
Trowa held her by the arms. “Know what?”
Midii looked into his face. “It began a few months after I got the injection
of Blue 102.” She decided to sit down. “It began with strong gut instincts. I
thought that’s all they were. I always had a strong feeling about what would
happen. But ever since I regained my memories… something’s happening to me,”
she said quietly.
Trowa was getting more and more concerned. “What exactly?”
“After I collapsed, I had strange dreams. I saw you flying on airplane… to see
me…” she began.
Trowa didn’t say much. “Go on.”
“I dreamed that your friend… Quatre was in danger. Something strong… was
fighting him, and was too strong for him.”
Trowa had to admit that Quatre had told him about the near confrontation he
had while he was meditating. “There’s something else?”
“I have other dreams… I guess premonitions you could call them. I’m just
worried that they might really happen.”
Trowa knew from Quatre’s progress that anything Newtype related was always
possible. “Tell me about them.”
Midii sighed. She looked at Trowa a little surprised as she felt his arms
around her in a comforting manner. “Trowa?”
“Don’t feel that you’re alone because I’m here and I’ll always be here when
you need me,” he answered.
Midii nodded. “Right.” She settled closer to Trowa. “I saw… that something bad
will happen to Quatre.”
“What exactly?” Trowa was frowning at what she said.
“It’s very vague I know. I can’t be more specific. It was a jumbled batch of
images. Dorothy is grabbed from behind. Quatre is knocked out.” Midii shook her
head. “I can’t get more specific.”
Trowa tried his best to put her at ease. However he couldn’t help wondering
what her seemingly new found abilities could mean.

*****

Mariemaia didn’t like keeping secrets from her mother, but she realized the
difficulty of explaining that she was visiting her supposedly dead father at
Pleiades Inc.’s laboratory. Treize and Mariemaia wished to visit each other.
Nova gave it some thought and promptly informed Lady Une that Pleiades was
planning an educational program for children about how science and technology
was changing the world for the better. Une agreed programs like that would
benefit Mariemaia and children like her. Mariemaia showed eager interest in
science while at school. So it no longer became unusual for Mariemaia to leave
the large apartment she lived with Une in and go to Pleiades’ lab.
Mariemaia enjoyed walking in the giant greenhouse with Treize. He was an
amateur botanist and had great pleasure in sharing his knowledge to his young
daughter. He enjoyed gardens and explored in gardens, even into adulthood
because he had a strong sense of what was true beauty in a flawed world. Since
he wasn’t permitted to leave the premises again, he took up Nova’s offer to do
all the reading and personal study he wished. He took full advantage of the
arboretum. “You know, Pleiades’ collection of flora is extensive. Botanists
fortunate enough to work for this organization can not find a better collection
outside of the rainforests. The collection here would take a field scientist
years to locate and study in the wild.”
“Yes, I agree father,” Mariemaia listened to everything her father had to say.
The charisma of her father could keep her listening to him forever.
“How… how is my lady?”
“Mamma is well, but has her hands full with this strange case.”
Treize seemed to be pleased that Mariemaia had considered Une her mother. “I
do hope she doesn’t strain herself with work. She often overexerts herself and
neglects her well-being.”
“You needn’t worry. She’s doing well.”
“I’m glad to hear. Shall we sit?” he gestured at the small gazebo built in the
center of the arboretum. Often scientists and visitors enjoyed a place to sit
down and observe the plant collection. Tea was waiting for them. Treize took a
seat after his daughter took hers. He poured her a cup of lemon zinger. They
didn’t say a word as they added sugar, lemon, and milk. There was only the
sound of the sprinklers watering the tropical plants. The water made pattering
noises on the leaves as they dripped onto the dark soil. As they sat there
together in the perfectly comfortable silence, there was only the sound of
water.

*****

Duo parked the car near the address they had on file. He and Hilde walked
towards the small house that seemed so inviting. It was like staring at the
proverbial grandmother’s house. “So, that’s Mrs. Larson’s house,” said Hilde.
Phillem’s only relative was a grandmother. She was elderly and alone. Her
grandson Samuel was her only caretaker.
Duo pulled on his shirt. He and Hilde decided that the polite thing to do was
to dress in the proverbial Sunday best. The woman was no doubt in a desperate
situation, now that her grandson was comatose. They wanted her to make her
comfortable around them. No need to disconcert the poor woman. Duo rang the
bell.
“Yes?” an elderly woman answered the door.
“We’re with Preventers. We were wondering if we come ask you a few questions.
We wanted to clear up a few things about your grandson,” Duo said in his most
polite tone.
“Come in,” woman allowed them to enter.
Duo and Hilde sat in the elegant living room. The tan-colored couch was
comfortable. The elder lady busied herself in the kitchen before coming into
the room with a small tray. There were two glasses of lemonade, and a small
bowl of sugar. Duo immediately got up and set the tray down. “Thank you, young
man. Your mother certainly taught you manners. Not like some other young
people.”
Duo replied. “No trouble at all.” Duo thanked whole-heartedly that Sister
Helen made so much effort in teaching him manners.
Hilde cleared her throat. “We just had a few questions. Now… we saw your
grandson had a record of DWI. We were wondering if could tell us about that.”
The woman sighed. “My grandson has always tried to be good. It was difficult
losing his parents so young. I tried hard to take care of him, but there is
just so much a woman in stage of life to do for a little boy more than
one-sixth my age. I raised him into a young man, and then… that night.”
“What happened?” Duo asked politely.
“Well Sammy had gone drinking with his friends. They were all drunk no doubt
because no sober person would allow a man in Sammy’s condition drive that
night. He was driving home, when he hit another car. It wasn’t until the trial
a week later that I found out about the other car,” the woman paused her
narrative with a sad lilt.

*****

Quatre couldn’t allow this to continue. He sat beside Fiona and took her hand
as before. There was no sunny field to greet him. It was like his horrible
dream of a terrible apocalypse. He stared around the desolate environment and
tried to find Fiona. “Where could she be?” he wondered aloud.
He soon got a strong sensation that pulled him towards a particular direction.
He saw a figure sitting crumpled on the ground. “Miss… Laramie?”
The figure didn’t react to his call or his approach. She had a traumatized
expression on her face. “Have ever had the sensation of complete exhaustion?
When you can’t run away anymore because something tells you how pointless
everything is.”
Quatre wasn’t quite how to answer the pessimistic words. “Is it here?”
“It’s always around me. And it doesn’t leave until I become a quivering mess.
I want to die. I want this to end,” she said with hopelessness.
“But…”
“But nothing… she will embrace death, and I will give it to her…”
“Dream Stalker…” Quatre glared at the dark shadow that owned the evil voice.

Next time: Is it the end of everything? Will Quatre and the Preventers find out
the truth about the Dream Stalker? Tune in next time for the conclusion of
“Legend of the Dream Stalker.”