~*~

Relena glanced to her side and saw his piercing gaze upon her… She quickly looked away. ‘Why is he staring at me like that?’ Relena kept her back straight and her eyes focused at the audience in front while she tried not to think of him. ‘Why does he have a swollen nose?’

Make-up helped her pale face that morning, especially with Hilde’s help. ‘But why did they have to leave today?’ She rather liked having Hilde and Duo around, if not to keep her sanity in place, then so she could talk to someone.

‘Why is he staring at me?!’ Her eyes almost strayed but she caught herself… The bad thing was… she didn’t need her eyes to know that he was looking… That was how conscious she was of him.

‘Relena…’ He couldn’t stop himself from staring… But, unlike before, when she openly met his gaze… now, she would look away… She wouldn’t meet his eyes.

‘What did you expect, anyway?’ He wants to kick himself. He looked behind him and checked the men in front of the monitors with the state of the art equipment… They combed the whole place from basement to attic… No harm will come to Relena… He can’t chance it, for both his sake, and hers…

But… How he wished she’d just look over here and give him a smile.

Relena glanced at the elected president by the United World Alliance and for the first time, she couldn’t feel the pride she felt before… Pride at how far the world and colonies had gone since the war…

When was the last time she was in this place? She remembered blurred images… She was giving a speech to the people and she thought she saw Heero’s figure just on the far left corner of the second floor…

‘Darn! Why did I have to think about that right now?!’ She looked up, trying to make her tears disappear when she thought she saw a shadow move… Relena quickly dropped her gaze. A frown appeared on her face while her heart pounded against her chest.

Heero frowned as he saw the change on her expression. He became so adept to her feelings that he could tell when- ‘Something’s wrong…’ His sixth sense to these kinds of situation made him look around but he found nothing out of place… The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he walked back to check on the person monitoring the cameras.

His quick eyes checked each colored screen. "Anything?"

"No sir… There was a slight discrepancy on Camera Fifteen, but I’ve already sent Number Twelve up there."

Heero nodded, his body in a rigid stance. "Eight, Get a hold of the medics and tell them to be ready."

"Yes sir."

Heero looked back at the stage… ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this…’

"It’s nearly over sir."

Heero shook his head. "It isn’t over until the stage is clear." He looked around the place once again and just couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was seriously amiss, that something was about to happen. And his instinct was rarely wrong…

The President motioned to the speakers on stage and Relena and the others promptly stood up. The audience started to applaud. Relena used that chance to scan the third floor once again.

Heero turned to the surveyor. "Where’s Twelve?"

"He went to Camera Fifteen, sir."

"Why isn’t he back?!" Heero demanded as he checked camera fifteen on the monitor.

"I-"

Heero turned his back to the surveyor and faced another man. "Seven! Go to Camera Fifteen and look for Twelve!" His order was nearly drowned by the thundering applause from the audience, but the man nodded and ran to do as was commanded.

Heero looked at the crowd… They were all standing… Anyone could hide in them right now…

Relena squinted as she saw the fleeting shadow she thought she saw earlier… The glinting lights from the chandelier overhead sprinkled its radiance into that direction and she saw…

Her eyes widened and her blood ran cold. ‘A gun!’ She willed herself not to show notice and glanced to Heero’s direction, but he wasn’t looking at her… He was giving orders to someone… Her eyes snapped back to the dangerously glinting barrel and followed its aim… The President’s heart! Everything she had worked for… everything the people had striven for… It couldn’t end like this!

"NO!" She didn’t think as she ran forward.

Heero snapped his attention to the stage when he heard her cry. He saw her run to the President who was oblivious that Relena’s about to tackle him- ‘What the-’ He looked up and… saw it… His eyes widened.

"NO!!! RELENA! STOP!"

But he was too late! A sound almost like a deafening roll of thunder reverberated inside the room…

The President toppled down from the stage…

Relena staggered in mid step…

The audience started screaming…