Possession

Just so you all know I'm still alive and thinking this story over, I am putting up this kind of teaser chapter. It does bear importance to the story, but I wasn't planning on revealing this part here. It focuses on Howard and Relena. Mostly, it is foreshadowing and set up.

Warning: Howard gets pretty OOC at some parts.

All previous disclaimers apply.

Chapter 4

Fate
...

Relena Dorlain sat behind her desk at Sweeper's and stared at the clock, the frown line between her eyebrows deepening with every second that ticked by.

"Something's wrong..." She whispered.

In her mind she saw all the lines that connected people to events and all the cross sections between them like delicate silk scarves tied taught to posts while looping around others. It was a very beautiful, intricately woven patterns which required every piece in order to remain whole and stable. Through her entire existence, this was how she saw the world and all the people in it; as a lovely tapestry that expanded out from the center with every new wedding, business meeting, birth, or death that caused one person's path to cross over another. She knew each and every one like her next breath. All alone in this woven world, she could see every person as they traveled through their lives and how those paths rippled outward to effect everyone else. The impact of a single scarf could be localized to its immediate area, only changing the pattern in one spot, or it could change the entire course of the woven design. However, no matter how abrupt or different the change, the pattern would flow smoothly into the next as if it was always part of the design. But now...

"What's wrong, Darlin?" Came a husky, low, familiar voice as it teasingly played with the pronunciation of her last name.

Relena jolted a little in her seat and turned abruptly to the doorway leading into the main office.

"Oh, Howard! You startled me!" She laughed lightly at her jumpiness. "I-it's nothing..."

The old man looked at the woman in front of him with scrutiny as she abruptly rose from her seat and walked to the window. Everything about Relena spoke of high class propriety from the way she carried herself to the light blue, floral dress she wore. Her beautiful, honey blonde hair, swept back and low, and tied with a white ribbon, and clear, blue eyes set in lovely, fine boned features conveyed elegance, intelligence, and humility all at once. That youthful visage did nothing to betray the truth of her age the way her posture did. Straight and rigged with her chin tilted just so, as if she had gone through finishing school in a time and place long passed. Howard could see no difference in her now then when he'd met her many decades ago. At a time when he himself was an ernest teen, and not this balding, laid-back, gray haired old man who never went out with out his hawaiian shirt and sunglasses, Relena looked just as refined, poised, and timeless as she did now. The only thing that reveled her distress was the way her fingers nervously twined with each other. Twisting and fretting, the old man could tell she was lying.

"Come on..." He said cajolingly. "You can certainly tell your oldest friend, can't you?" When no answer was forthcoming, he dropped any playful pretenses and said seriously. "Relena, tell me what's wrong."

She glanced at him before sighing in defeat. Once again facing the window, Relena lifted her hand up and began tracing a complicated pattern through the air. "One of the threads disappeared a couple days ago." Her voice was low, tense, and a little sad sounding.

"Did they die? Was it one of yours?" Howard asked, concerned. He knew Relena tried to keep herself as separated from the lives of others as much as she could, but sometimes she would become attached to a few and their deaths would devastate her. These people Howard had dubbed 'Relena's Favorites' and spoke of them as if they were her own children. At first, she had vehemently rejected the terms, but after a few years she had relented and began speaking the same.

"No." She replied quickly. "When someone dies, their scarf or thread simply ties off where it was and the others around it continue on. But this one's just gone. It left a space where it used to be and, what's worse, the pieces that have intertwined with it most have all stopped weaving."

"What does it mean?"

Relena shook her head, her blonde locks fluttering with the motion. "I don't know, I've never seen this before. The only thing close to it is my own scarf... I've told you before... I don't have one, I never did. My existence doesn't play a part in the design."

"Relena!" Howard burst. "You can't be suggesting-"

"I am." Firmly uttered as she turned to her friend. For a minute, their eyes locked before she broke off, biting at her bottom lip in consternation. She knew what she would say next would sound ridiculous to Howard, but it was the only explanation she could think of. "I think someone has found a way to see the patterns."

Howard was shaking his head 'no' before Relena even finished her sentence. He knew better then anyone how unique the woman was because he'd once asked him to show him the section his pattern was in. The amount of information that flooded his mind was both incredible and unbearable. It was so overwhelming that it knocked him out for nearly two weeks. Relena had warned him it would happen, but he had insisted until she relented. There was no way someone else could use even a fraction of her ability.

"Howard! This is the only explanation that fits! It isn't as impossible as you think. If I am capable of this it is possible that somebody else is too."

"That's not enough of a reason. What other evidence do you have to convince me?"

Relena huffed in frustration before turning back to the window. Raising both hands this time, she traced delicate embellishments as if searching for something. Finally, her shoulders dropped in dismay as she seemed to find what she wanted.

"I see it now." Laden with sadness and eyes becoming glassy, she turned back to the patiently waiting man beside her. "Over the last few days, the patterns have become nonsensical and some of the scarves are fraying. It's only a matter of time before the whole thing starts coming apart. Someone with my ability could intervene and create those kinds of changes." Howard could hear Relena's voice beginning to waiver as she continued. "It is all concentrated in one section, so I think he's playing around, testing his limits..."

As she finished her sentence, she turned back to the window and simply stared as tears began rolling down her cheeks. "All those lives will be destroyed... And..."

Howard lay a comforting hand on his old friend's shoulder as he gently asked, "And?"

In a jerky movement that defied her usual grace, Relena brought her hands back up to the design only she could see and stroked the scarves in a gentle, loving manner. "This section of the design... is where all my abnormal psychics are weaving their patterns... Including my baby..."

With that, Relena buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Howard's eyes widened as the implication of what she said became clear. Quickly, he turned the woman around to face him and pried her hands away from her face.

"Relena! Relena! Listen to me, can you see a way to fix the patterns as they weave?" He asked urgently.

Not bothering to turn back around, Relena raised her hands and again began tracing lines in the air in front of Howard's face. Calming down a little, she shook her head, "Yes. I could fix it, but..."

"But what?"

"I-I shouldn't be meddling with people's paths... And... With someone else working against me-"

Howard grasped Relena's shoulders and forced her to face him fully. "I know that you're feeling shocked and uncertain because of this thread that disappeared. I know that you hesitate and question yourself whenever you feel the need to step in and change a pattern so it can follow a more harmonious path. That your afraid of inadvertently destroying the whole thing. But, I also know that no one knows this design, how it weaves, how it changes, and how to stabilize it better then you."

After he finished his little pep talk, Howard released Relena's arms and she gave him a shaky smile in return.

"Now, can you do it?" He asked again.

His old friend smiled a bit wider as she said simply and politely, "Yes."

"That's m'girl! Fix that design and show 'em who the better artist is!" He then clapped his hands together before shouting, "A~lll right then! So tell me who this guy whose thread disappeared is so I can get to diggin up some info!"

Relena giggled a bit as the flip switched and Howard was back to his goofy old self again.

"Fine. His name is Trieze Khushrenada."

...

Ahhh... That ended up being longer then I thought it would be... It's also in an awkward spot. I may move it at a later time... Or not. We'll see.

Oh well. Please r&r!

Also, the last chapter, the person who performs that song is Sarah McLachlan. Can you guess who performs the song title for this chapter?