Chapter 10

Zechs had been standing calmly near the dance floor, talking quietly with his wife and a few grand politicians, when the explosion came.

A deafening boom resounded throughout the room, and the floor dropped out of under their feet. Thankfully, the ballroom was on the first floor, so it did not have far to fall. However, the ceiling immediately begin to sag, raining debris onto their heads.

Something hit Lucrezia on the base of her head, and she collapsed, blood trickling from the wound. With a yell, Zechs ran to his wife's side and fortunately found her alive, but unconscious. Grimacing, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulders, then looked around.

There were screams of terror from everyone as the ceiling creaked and moaned. Zechs thought fleetingly of his children, asleep on the floor above – well, definitely not asleep now – but knew he had to take his wife to safety.

He saw a strong-looking young man dash by, and yelled, "Sir! Sir, please, help me!"

The young man turned around and gave Zechs a hard look. "Sir, I am afraid it is every man for himself." He dashed off.

With an inward sigh, Zechs tried to get to the grand doors as fast as he could. A stream of people, many injured, were pushing and shoving to get out, but Zechs was able to get out safely.

As soon as he was out on the grass, in the cool night air, he set his wife down in a safe place and look up at his mansion.

The top three stories were engulfed in flames, a burning inferno that blasted heat continuously. With a yell, Zechs dashed back into the house, unaware of the tears streaming down his cheeks as he climbed the stairs furiously. Running faster than he ever had before, he burst into his children's room. He could hear them screaming – for what reason, Zechs felt he did not want to know.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Relena screamed as she fell to the floor, knocked flat as the very earth shook. A wave of heat struck her so strongly that she dropped immediately to the ground, hitting her head on a nearby table and wrenching her neck painfully. Suddenly, things began dropping all around her, and people began screaming in pain and terror. She was aware of something above her, something shielding her from the raining debris above, and a harsh breathing, clothing smelling faintly of gunsmoke, gave her shield away as Heero.

Something near her feet crashed to the floor, sending bits of something sharp into her right leg. Relena gasped in pain, trying hard to hold back tears. What in the world was happening? A bomb? Was everyone okay? She heard a low groan near her, and with a jolt of terror recognized it as Duo's voice. Relena wanted to reach out, to try and find him, but she knew it would endanger her – and her protector – greatly.

More screaming, and then suddenly Heero had jumped up and pulled her after him. "Run outside," he hissed into her ear. "There's a fire."

Relena tried to catch his gaze, to see what he was feeling, but he pushed her roughly away. Defeated, Relena dashed to the entrance.

People were streaming out of the huge grand oak doors, crying and yelling and clutching their injuries. Relena's friend Ashley passed her, looking dazed as blood streamed from a cut above her ear, holding her arm to her chest, an arm that was completely twisted around. Relena swallowed and looked away, but all around her was destruction, blood, and death.

She broke into a fast run, bursting outside and into the nearby trees, where she caught her breath. Just about to dash off again, Relena stopped when she heard a very familiar voice just to her right.

"Zechs! Oh, Zechs, please come back…"

Relena dove through the bushes, yelling wildly, "Lucrezia! Lucrezia!"

There was some frantic thrashing near a rosebush, and Lucrezia cried, "Relena! Oh, Relena, come here!"

Pushing a branch aside, Relena came face-to-face with her sister-in-law. She gave a gasp of surprise and horror as she saw blood running down Lucrezia's back.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" Relena asked in a hushed whisper.

Giving her sister-in-law a crooked smile, Lucrezia said quietly, "The building decided to try and kill me. Don't know why."

Relena rolled her eyes. "You need medical help."

Lucrezia shrugged. "Actually, it looks worse than it really is. Head wounds tend to bleed a lot more than other injuries."

Raising an eyebrow, Relena said wryly, "I'll take your word for it."

They were quiet for a moment, then Lucrezia said, "Why?"

Relena didn't need to ask what she was talking about. "Lucrezia…they found out where the pilots were staying."

Lucrezia gasped. "Seriously? They never told us!"

Relena stood up and said, "I know. Look, I've got to find them, and now. They could be hurt, or – or worse."

For a moment, Relena was afraid her sister-in-law would refuse to let her go. Then, Lucrezia gave a short nod and said in a strangled voice, "All right. Go, Relena. Hey…do you think you could find that insane husband of mine for me?"

Relena could tell that Lucrezia was struggling not to cry. "Of course I will, Lucrezia. Besides, he's my insane brother, you know."

With that, she dashed back to the building.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Duo had no idea what hit him. Before he could even walk another step, he was on the ground, his foot twisting painfully beneath him, covering his head, trying not to get hit.

Something thudded into his back, and Duo let out a low groan of pain, closing his eyes. He glanced to his right and saw Heero, on all fours, covering Relena, and despite his injury, Duo felt a sense of pride well up in himself for his friend. Heero wasn't doing that just out of love for Relena – he was doing it out of love for the world, and for peace.

Duo winced as something shattered near his leg, and he heard Relena breath in sharply. He guessed the grand chandelier had fallen…and that was bad.

The falling debris slowed a bit, and Duo felt Heero get up near him and say something to Relena. Hurried footsteps announced her exit.

Suddenly, Heero reached down and pulled Duo up. Duo shook himself slightly and winced as lighting-hot pain spread throughout his lower back.

"Heero…" he gasped, clutching his stomach. "Back…"

Heero looked and, despite himself, grimaced. "Duo, get out. You've got half of a window in your back."

Trying hard to be the irrepressible Duo he usually was, Duo managed a half-grin and said, "Jeez…seems like we always have problems at this place. Hey – " Duo studied his friend. "Heero, you okay?"

Heero nodded once, then inquired curtly, "Can you walk outside by yourself?"

Duo paused, then nodded once. "I think so. Yeah, I bet I can."

"Then go and get some help. You won't be moving long…you're leaving a blood trail."

"At least there's not an enemy…" Duo suddenly caught himself and stopped.

Heero looked down and said quietly, "Now there is. Go, Duo."

However, as Duo walked away, he heard Heero say quietly, "It's time to be the Perfect Soldier again."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Quickly, Heero found his other comrades. Miraculously, none of them were seriously injured except for Duo and Quatre, who had a cut running down his leg. He sent them all off after the braided pilot, also finding Hilde – who had, fortunately, been outside at the time the bomb went off, Dorothy, Rebecca, and Sally uninjured. They trooped outside, leaning on each other and nursing their many scrapes and bruises.

Heero didn't leave with them. He stood amid chaos and destruction as the flames licked the walls and people ran around him screaming. His back hurt more than almost anything he had ever known; he knew he had taken a risk when he had covered Relena. He probably looked as bad as the others, too; all their formal evening wear was in shreds.

Heero glanced around coolly, noting the damage. At least two bombs had been placed, both under the first-level flooring. They had been placed strategically, and Heero had to admit that whoever had placed them had done a good job; the entire mansion was going to collapse soon – very soon.

Suddenly, a child's frantic wailing reached his ears. Heero turned around, almost casually, to find Zechs stumbling down the staircase with his daughter in his arms. He caught sight of Heero and said in a breaking and rushed voice, "Heero, Treize is still up there. He – he's trapped under his bed, I couldn't – "

Without a word Heero dashed off up the staircase, passing a stunned and shaky Zechs. He had been in this house only once before that night, but somewhere deep inside he knew exactly where the little boy's room was.

Heero burst inside and gasped for air as the heat wave hit him. Flames licked the walls, and from a corner in the room came the pain-filled, anguished screams of the five-year-old. Heero tore to the other side of the room, holding his breath and ignoring the unbelievably intense heat that hit him from all sides.

Treize was indeed stuck under his bed, his right leg pinned beneath the collapsed frame. Heero, with one glance, summed up the situation and got a good footing. Then, gripping the bed with both hands, he heaved upward.

It was harder than it looked, but for nearly eighteen years Heero had trained for things much harder than this. The little boy, seeing his leg broken and bloody, fainted from shock. His clothes were on fire, and Heero quickly beat the flames out and picked up his the bruised little body. Then, he whirled around and dashed into the hallway just as he felt, rather than heard, the walls start to cave in.

They made it outside in the nick of time; with a huge roar and a gigantic crash, the flames consumed what was left of the Peacecraft mansion's foundation and began falling sideways. Heero, still cradling the unconscious little boy to his chest, dashed into the forest and ran as fast and far as he could. He knew from personal experience that fire was deadly; and it could travel fast.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Relena found four of the Gundam pilots staggering out the door, and ushered them the farthest from the fire she could get. All of them were bruised and battered, but Duo was by far the worst. Relena called a paramedic – fortunately, as soon as the fire had started the rescue workers had dashed over – and much more quickly than she would have guessed, Duo was lying on the grass in a blanket, his entire abdomen bandaged.

Quatre sat beside him, nursing his now cleaned and bandaged cut, and all four of the pilots had their wives clinging to their arms. Even Sally, who was usually calm, cool, and independent, held on to Wufei, glaring at him if he even moved an inch.

"Get away, woman, you've got me in a death grip!" Wufei yelled, trying to pull away.

"Yeah, well, I've just lived through the collapse of the biggest most protected mansion in the world, I'm bruised all over, and I have no idea if the baby is okay!" Sally yelled back at him, and then, startling everyone, she began to cry.

Wufei stared at her in stunned silence as she sat down on the grass and began sobbing, her face buried in her hands. Then, slowly, he knelt down and said, "I – I'm – what – you – you're…pregnant?"

Crying even harder, Sally nodded.

Wufei grinned the biggest grin anyone had ever seen on his face before, and he pulled his wife in for a big hug. Sally accepted, crying into his shirt, and the other pilots and Relena grinned as they heard her mutter "jerk." All was well in the Chang family.

That triggered something in Rebecca; she looked up at her husband and murmured, "Trowa?"

Absentmindedly he looked down at said, "Hmm?"

She smiled, hugged him tight, and said, "I'm pregnant too."

There was a thud as Trowa sat down hard in the grass, looking beyond stunned, his mouth open – something no one there had ever, ever seen Trowa do before. Rebecca, expecting that exact reaction, sat down near him and hugged him again, closing her eyes, a knowing smile on her lips.

Slowly, Dorothy turned to look at Quatre, a slow smile forming on her face. Hesitantly, Quatre turned to look at her and said, very shakily, "D-don't tell me – we – we're not –"

"Yup," Dorothy said cheerfully. "We are."

Relena, Duo, and Hilde laughed as Quatre's mouth opened wordlessly and he followed suit with Trowa. Duo pulled his wife in for a hug and said, "Boy, am I glad you were the first, Hilde."

Hilde smiled, but she glanced at Relena with a different expression. Relena knew exactly what she meant.

They stayed there, in that little clearing, for what seemed to all of them like forever. The mansion fell, but luckily it toppled the other way, and they were seperated from the building by the road and lots of forest. The fire would spread, most definitely, but it wouldn't be near them for a while. They were safe - for the moment.

Relena and Duo circled around to where the X-103 was still landed; it had been scheduled to be flown out the next morning. Their bags were still in it, and together they managed to drag everything back to their little clearing.

There, they handed out bags, and Relena gave each of the women a change of clothes to wear. They split up, never going far from the clearing, but far enough to change.

Relena stepped into a small grove of thick oak trees, the branches low to the ground, so that she was protected by a screen of leaves on all sides. Straightening, Relena slid out of her white gown, which was now in rags. Moving quickly, she changed into jeans and a plain, dark-purple T-shirt, brushing her hair and pulling it back. Then, she found her extra pair of sneakers and put those on without any socks. She didn't mind; she was just glad to have a change of clothes, period. The tattered gown was hardly modest.

She returned to the clearing, leaving what was left of her gown behind. It wasn't worth it to carry it back. The others were just entering, too, all back in casual dress and looking more tired than ever.

They had just barely sat down to relax for a minute when there was a violent shaking of some nearby bushes. The pilots leaped up, hidden guns immediately in their hands, herding the girls behind them. However, Relena surprised them all by pulling out a pistol and aiming it straight into the bushes, her bright blue eyes hard and cold.

Duo gave a yell as Heero himself stumbled out of the woods, holding something to his chest and staggering blindly. His tuxedo - what was left of it - was soaked with blood.

They dashed forward to help. Trowa gently took Heero's burden from him, and Relena let out a gasp as she saw the bruised and broken body of her nephew. However, just then Heero gave a groan and collapsed to the ground.

The pilots were silent, working hurriedly and business-like. Relena knelt down to help as the other women tended to the little boy. Wufei and Quatre gently rolled Heero onto his stomach, and Duo let out a moan. "Oh, man, buddy, why didn't you tell me?"

Heero was a mess; his entire back was torn and bloody, with glass shards everywhere. A cut on his forehead was bleeding, soaking his suit. He was limp and unconscious, and suddenly Relena felt her throat constrict in fear.

Trowa dashed off to find a paramedic, and Quatre went to a nearby stream to find clean water to wash Heero's injuries. Wufei, Relena, and Duo gently took off Heero's shirt and jacket, and everyone contributed the remains of their fine evening clothes for a bedding.

Quatre got back first, and, working quickly, they washed Heero's wounds as gently as they could. Some of the cuts and slashes were deep, and at even the slightest touch they began bleeding again. Duo, his face grim, tore his tuxedo apart and began to bandage Heero lightly, doing the best that he could.

The paramedic arrived, and the look on his face told all. Relena stood up, and, with a glance at Duo, excused herself into the trees.

She walked for a long time, holding back the tears that she knew were going to come soon. Her sneakered feet padded quietly on the carpet of pine needles, and Relena lost herself in her thoughts.

Suddenly she came out of the forest and near the road, and her face was lit up with the blaze of the fire. She stared at the death and destruction that had replaced her once peaceful and beautiful estate, and Relena had to turn around and go back into the forest.

Once there, she found the oak grove she had changed in just a few moments before, and gripped the low branches of the biggest tree she could find. Reaching upwards, Relena began to climb.

She moved methodically; reach, grab, pull, step, push, reach, grab, pull. Her feet and hands moved as one; she scraped her knees and elbows countless times but didn't care. She lost track of the time; she focused only on getting as high as she could.

Relena reached a comfortable nook against the huge trunk and two other branches, and settled into it. She was just below the line where the leaves thinned out, easily seventy-five feet above the ground.

That was where she finally let the tears fall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Zechs found Lucrezia where he had left her, sitting among the bushes. She was pale and looked on the verge of tears, clutching the grass around her and trying not to move her head too much. Her husband came around a big tree, and Lucrezia let out a gasping sob, and there she started crying. Without a word, Zechs put the sniffling Ashlyn on the ground. She ran to her mother, and Lucrezia held on to her daughter tightly, rocking back and forth as she cried.

Zechs sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around his wife. Together, they sat in the dark forest, grieving for all that was lost amid this death and destruction.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Wufei stepped back from the paramedic, who was working furiously on Heero's injuries, eyeing the old man warily. He did not trust paramedics. At all. However, the man seemed to be doing a passable job, but Wufei was far from satisfied.

No surprise there.

He crossed the clearing to where the women were huddled around the little boy. Wufei recognized it instantly as Zechs' son and Relena's nephew, the little boy they had named Treize. He looked at Sally, and she gazed up at him with sadness in her eyes. Wufei looked down at the boy, and he knew that it had all been too late.

Treize was dead.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They sent Trowa to find Zechs and his wife, and hopefully their daughter. He strode off silently into the trees, passing the other pilots with a worried glance.

Duo sat back from working for a minute, eyeing his 'buddy.' Heero was still unconscious, but at least he was breathing. There was no way he would have ever gotten his horrific injuries if he hadn't protected Relena, but Duo knew never to say that to his face. Besides, what did it matter? Duo knew, in his heart, that Heero would give his life for Relena any moment of any day.

He had stopped bleeding, but his breathing was shallow and labored, and the paramedic hoped that it wasn't internal injuries. The only way to know would be to get him to the hospital.

At a glance, the pilots knew what they had to do.

"I'm sorry, sir, but that's not possible," Quatre said, as politely as he could.

The paramedic looked offended and beyond startled. "This young man needs medical help more than you think you know, mister. You get him to the hospital or he may very well die."

However, Quatre stood firm. "Sir, we thank you for your help. If you have done all you can do, then you are free to leave. He will not go to the hospital, and that is final."

The paramedic stood up, picked up his bag, and said coldly, "Then you are killing him yourself." With that, he strode out of the trees.

Quatre sighed and gave Duo a tired look. "What are we going to do?"

Wufei came over to them and sat down, looking shaken and worried. Quatre touched him lightly on the arm and said, "What's the matter, Wufei?"

The Chinese man waved an arm to where the women were huddled and said, "Treize is gone."

Duo sucked in a breath and then buried his face in his hands. "Oh man, oh man," he groaned.

Quatre sighed. "I feel bad that I'm not crying, but I think I'm beyond tears."

Duo raised his face and said grimly, with no trace of his usual cheerfulness, "We've been beyond tears, all of us, since we started that training."

Wufei and Quatre were silent, but Duo knew they both agreed.

Surprisingly, Wufei then remarked, "Let's try not to kill another one, okay?" He motioned to Heero.

But Quatre and Duo shook their heads. "You know he can't go to the hospital," Duo said firmly. "We haven't been able to since we started Operation Meteor. DNA matches and things like that....they'd know who we are instantly."

Wufei said quietly, "They already know who we are."

Duo shook his head fiercely. "No," he said sternly. "Heero always said that he'd rather die than give away who he is, what he's done, get captured and risk the rest of us. We are not taking him to the hospital."

"But he's not going to die."

The three pilots looked up to see Trowa returning with Zechs, Lucrezia, and their little girl, Ashlyn. Zechs had spoken firmly, but he looked beyond sad and Lucrezia was crying with her little girl.

Quatre stood up and said calmly, "Zechs, I'm so sorry, but we lost Treize."

Lucrezia let out a wail and fell to the ground. The other women, nearby, rushed over to her. Sally picked up Ashlyn and held the little girl tightly.

Zechs stared at Quatre, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "Heero saved him?"

"What do you mean?" Wufei asked. "Saved him from what? Talk, Zechs."

"I got Ashlyn from her room, but the fire was too big and Treize was trapped under his bed. I - I couldn't save him," Zechs explained, choking on the words. "I saw Heero on my way out with Ashlyn, and asked him to go back and try to save Treize. I guess he made it out, but it was too late anyway. At - at least we..." Zechs took a deep breath, then continued, "At least we have his body for the funeral. That was always my second-worst fear. I have Heero to thank for that. And that is why Heero is going to live."

At that moment, there was a rustling at the edge of the clearing, and Relena came into view. She was so pale she looked like a ghost, but she walked over to them and stood, shaking slightly.

The sight triggered something inside Duo, and he walked over to give her a hug.

"We lost Treize," Zechs said quietly.

Relena did not cry, but she nodded once. They knew why, too. It was the same reason Zechs hadn't cried when he had heard the news. They were both beyond tears.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They decided on Duo's house to stay for the night, small as it was. It was comfortable, and it was familiar and cozy. It could be called home for a while, and that was all that mattered.

They piled into two cars, Relena's and Zechs's. Zechs had to half-carry Lucrezia to the car, as she was sobbing on his shoulder uncontrollably. Everyone felt sorry for her, but no one really knew what to do. They took Treize's body, too, wrapping it gently in cloths. After a few minutes of debating, Zechs agreed to let Wufei drive it to a nearby coroner's, something that the Chinese man strongly resented. But he was the only one with his car at Duo's, so it was inevitable.

They all drove in silence all the way to Duo's house. Quatre drove Relena's big Suburban, with Duo next to him, and Wufei, Sally, and Hilde squeezed in behind them. They assigned Relena to sit with Heero in the backseat - Duo didn't think she'd mind, and she didn't - and the rest piled into Zechs's Ford Explorer.

Duo's house was, indeed, warm and comforting. Everyone settled into the living room while Relena and Duo went to lay Heero down on Duo and Hilde's bed.

Duo's room was dark and quiet, with a light breeze drifted in from the open window. They laid Heero down and Duo went to go get some water. Relena sat down in an armchair by the window, closing her eyes and laying her head back.

As much as she didn't want to, in less than five minutes she was sound asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Bombing of the Peacecraft estate was successful, sir."

Mr. Shaefer looked up from his usual stack of huge paperwork and managed to smile. "No problems whatsoever?"

"None, sir."

"Did you kill them? Kill them all?"

The younger man shuffled his feet nervously and said, "Well, sir, we got a count of the bodies and..."

Mr. Shaefer sat down with a sigh and finished it for him. "The pilots weren't among them."

"Merquise's son was killed, though."

Shaefer's head snapped up, and he looked rather interested. "Really? Well, then, that'll give us a weapon to use if we ever have to confront them face-to-face. Any other news, soldier?"

"Heero Yuy was seriously injured."

Shaefer shrugged. "He'll heal. That man is as close to invincible as anyone I've ever seen. Now, listen up; since you know the Peacecraft girl, I want you to meet up with her sometime. Be her friend. Get to know her better...let her think you're on her side. Can you do that, soldier?"

The younger man nodded once. "Yes, sir, I most certainly can."

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