Past Ghosts Part 2 By K.T.

[blackrose]

Read first chapter here:

Chapter 1



Gundam Wing does not belong to me.

Thank you, Sabriel Aerran

PART II



1:03am

"I remember dragging the river for your body." She told him, her voice breaking the stillness they had been sitting in for the past half-hour.

Trowa remained silent, waiting for her to continue. He heard her sigh.

"Ryden wouldn?t give up...he said that if you were left alive it would mean our deaths." Sabriel shook her head, marveling at how different her brother had become after the serums. After the tests...

"He wasn?t always like that...we used to live in an apartment with my mom....it was demolished by a horrible explosion...an explosion caused by a thirteen-year-old boy...." She looked at Trowa. "We survived...my brother and I. Men came. They took us away, locked us up in strange rooms...taught us to fight...day and night. Taught us to use every thing around us as a weapon...I remember some things...others I can?t ever remember just learning...it seems that I?ve always known them. Always known that way of life...as if the other...my mom, my sane brother, my...puppy...Mary..." A funny smile quirked the corners of Sabriel?s lips..then it was gone. "were all just a dream."

Trowa met her questioning gaze with his steady one. He nearly turned away but then caught her tortured whisper.

"Heero is my only reassurance that I really lived a good life once before." She closed her eyes. "It wasn?t his fault...Ryden?s...he saved me..."

*Troubled blue eyes met her golden-brown. He brought the needle close, holding it between them. Her gaze dropped to the long, thin sliver of needle and she looked back up, eyes wide in apprehension. Her body was already starting to go into deep shock from missing her daily dosage.

He turned the needle point toward himself and injected it into his chest.

Sabriel gasped and shook her head, moaning for the words that would not come. He held her down while her body writhed in agony. She could feel her body try to tear itself from her...*

Sabriel shuddered, trying to shut off the unpleasant memory.

"Midi gave this to me once before." A male voice brought her back.

She turned her amber gaze to stare at the golden cross the young man fingered around his neck. "I threw it back at her feet when I left her at that burning building..."

He glanced at her, his dark green eyes a shadowed black.

"When we fell into the river, I swam with her under the bridge, waiting until you and Ryden left to get more soldiers. Then I floated downstream with her," his gaze moved back ahead. "Not too far. She couldn?t breathe. She was dying."

Sabriel swallowed hard, her throat tight with guilt.

"We struggled on shore and I sat next to her..."

* "Nanashi?"

"I?m here." Trowa answered evenly, his heart seeming to have stopped as he stared at the pooling blood beneath the blond?s dying body. His face stung furiously but he ignored it and eventually it faded into a dull throb in the back of his consciousness.

"Don?t leave me." Midi whispered, lips trembling. "Don?t leave me alone."

Trowa bent over her and stared into her glazing eyes.

"I?ll never leave you, Midi."

Her eyes focused in on his.

"Never." He whispered fervently. Then he moved closer, pressing his lips to her cold forehead.

She closed her eyes, smiling, her grip on his hand tightening. They sat for a moment in quiet. Trowa saw the lights from the small landing crafts as the New Dawn soldiers began to drag the river.

"Nanashi?"

Trowa looked back down into her glazed gaze.

"Take it..."

She was struggling to pick up her necklace with numb fingers.

"My cross..."

Trowa silently slipped his arm beneath her and sat her up in his lap. Her head lolled against his chest like a rag doll?s and he rested his chin on top of it as he fumbled with the necklace?s clasp.

It slipped from the girl?s neck, pooling in a golden puddle on her thigh.

Trowa shifted the girl more carefully against him to reach for the chain when he froze.

"Midi?" A stranger asked. A stranger Trowa had never heard before. He stared at her empty face. Her wide open, blank eyes stared back at him.

The silence shrouded around him. Cold, empty, bleak. He shivered, alone. He was alone. In space...his air gone...he was suffocating...choking...

Movement through the long grasses around him made him start and turn. It was the girl with the long red-orange hair. The one who had tried to stop Ryden Alayn.

Trowa stared at her, tears he hadn?t even noticed glinting on his cheeks.

She met his dark-green gaze, her own an incredible golden color.

"AERRAN!" Ryden?s voice called out.

The red head turned towards the sound, walking away from her enemy.

Trowa let out the breath he didn?t realize he?d been holding and gathered Midi?s dead body into his arms. Clenching her necklace in his fist, he ducked through the grass until he reached the road. With a quick glance around, Trowa darted into an alley and into the darkness. *

"I didn?t think I?d ever see you again." Sabriel whispered.

Trowa glanced down at his hands, staring at them as if he?d never seen them before.

"I can still see her blood on my hands." He went on in a tortured whisper.

Sabriel stared at him a moment before reaching out her bare hands and grasping his. He visibly started, like he had so many months ago, when she had found him, defenseless, alone...

"You?re hands are no more dirty than mine. Or anyone else?s, for that matter."

His long, elegant fingers curled under hers, biting into the soft skin on the underside of her own fingers. He regarded her with a strange statement on his face before it melted into the usual bored "Trowa" look again.

He released her hands and she pulled back, wondering if she should apologize. Before she had time to dwell on it, a beeping noise alerted them to the arrival of their destination.

--------------------------

Heero couldn?t believe it. Wufei stood, not four feet away, wearing a dark outfit. He held a gun, motioning to the hostages to move into the main hangar of the docking bay. Glancing down the walk, Heero saw more of deGallo?s men moving the line of people toward the baggage room.

Heero cast his gaze around, edging his way closer toward an off ramp. His shadowed blue eyes took a quick glance around the area before he stepped off the walkway.

Heero?s arm shot out, his strong hand gripping the under wires on the platform. He swung silently for a moment, staring down at the square-cut glass of the docking dome. He wondered in one brief moment, what would happen if he let go. Gravity wasn?t at one-hundred percent. He doubted it was even close to eighty. He probably would just end up bouncing off the glass.

Dismissing unnecessary thoughts, Heero pulled himself along the walk.

Duo looked around for his friend while leaving his arm around Noin?s stooped shoulders. She leaned heavily on him, her gait clumsy and slow.

"Is it just me, Maxwell, or have you gotten taller?" Noin muttered.

Duo couldn?t help the deep chuckle that escaped his heavily breathing mouth.

"I?m right up there with Quatre, now, Noin...and they all said I wouldn?t grow again."

"You Americans!" Noin gave a snort.

"Hey!" Duo complained under his breath. "America was once the greatest nation in the world! You forget your history, Noin?" He taunted.

"Shut-up, Maxwell and shove me into that soldier."

Duo glanced up at the soldier nearest them. Wind.

With a realistic trip, Duo sent Noin careening into her young husband.

"What the hell?" A soldier ran towards them.

Milliardo, a.k.a. Wind, pulled out his gun and shot the terrorist. He held Noin tightly to his side.

"Hi, Honey."

Noin smiled up at him, batting her eyelashes in a poor attempt at flirtation. Her smile

quickly turned to a grimace as people began crying about the, now dead, terrorist.

More began to edge away, exposing the newly married couple to their enemies.

"Noin!" Duo hollered to the dark haired woman, tossing her a gun.

She stared at it in her hands, shaking her head slightly before her gaze came up and around.

"Where?s Heero?"

Duo gave a characteristic shrug while aiming at another pair of terrorists running toward them.

"Beats me."

Milliardo fired a shot, catching one of the men in the shoulder.

Duo let off another.

Both terrorists were down.

"Let?s find N?Brekk and Lady Une." Noin ordered her husband and the younger man.

"I think that is an excellent idea." A voice came from the crowd as Wufei pushed his way through the throng of hostages.

Duo snorted.

"How?d *you* get here so quick."

Wufei stared at him, his nostrils flexing slightly, as if he were inhaling a bad scent.

"That is none of your concern, Maxwell."

"All right, you guys." Duo held up his hand. "My name is DUO not Maxwell."

"Get a move on, Maxwell!" Wind called out to him.

Duo opened his eyes, turning to see Noin, Wufei, and Wind all making there way back towards the docking area.

He sighed, shoulders slumping.

"With all this friendly atmosphere it?s a wonder Heero didn?t stick around." He muttered sarcastically.

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1:23 am

Relena scanned the small screens on the large vid-com as she checked the various rooms of space station *AX0012*. So far, the rooms were nothing but...nothing. Empty. Nada. Zip...!

"There!" She shouted excitedly to Quatre, pointing to the dark haired body crouching beneath the overhang between the underside of the walk-way leading from the docking bay and the support beam stretching from the steel wall to hold up the walk. Her eyes widened in recognition.

"Heero?"

-----------------------------

1:30 am

The shuttle was banking in at too high a speed. Trowa eased off on the throttle, punching

in the coordinates for the measurements of the docking area and switched the shuttle back to manual.

Then he leaned back, arms folded loosely across his broad chest.

Sabriel unbuckled and moved toward the back of the ship.

"What should I do once I find Heero?"

"Tell him to take out deGallo." Trowa answered. "No matter what, deGallo must be killed. Otherwise, his beliefs will never die."

Sabriel nodded, her mind all ready moving to thoughts of a dark haired young man with dark blue eyes. She picked up a machine gun, swinging it up and over her head as she settled the strap between her breasts.

"Don?t make any rash decisions in there."

Her heart stopped.

Sabriel whirled and stared up into Trowa?s visible eye, the pinkish scar, slashing down from mid-forehead to lower cheek, stood out against his olive colored skin.

Sabriel felt the sudden thrum of her blood as her heart suddenly picked up its beat, slamming in her rib-cage.

The ship shuddered as it slowed and prepared to dock. Trowa turned back toward the cockpit and floated up to the captain seat.

Sabriel turned back to the box of equipment and loaded up, telling herself that her shaking hands was just a sign of her subconscious? reluctance to fight again.

She waited for the ship to come to a groaning halt before opening the cargo hold and jumping out.

---------------------------------

Heero saw a helmeted figure exit the small shuttle. He watched as the long limbed figure moved toward the electronic panel near the door.

The loud hiss of compression reverberated in Heero?s ears as the docking bay filled with oxygen.

The figure opened the door and landed silently on the walking-transport. Heero pressed himself into the shadowed corner beneath the walk, counting down to his attack.

The space suit swished as arms moved up to remove the space helmet. Heero pushed out and swung up, over the rail, hurling his body toward the tall...red head.

Sabriel turned just before a wide-eyed Heero smashed into her. They flew off the walk way and fell down toward the bottom of the glass dome.

Or, would have, if Trowa hadn?t grabbed hold of Heero?s ankle. Sabriel kept falling and Heero shot out his own hand to grip whatever he possibly could.

"OW!" Sabriel hollered.

Trowa glanced over the walk-way?s railing, eye brows raised. He lifted the, nearly weightless Heero and then gave a short laugh at what he saw.

Heero held, pinched between his forefinger and thumb, spiky red hair, attached, to a grimacing Sabriel.

Heero glanced up at Trowa when he heard the laugh, and couldn?t keep a grin off his own face.

"I?m glad you two can get some amusement out of this, but could you please PULL ME UP!"

Heero and Trowa both met eyes, holding in their laughter by sheer will.

With a few...er, interesting maneuvers, Trowa managed pull Heero back over the railing and then leaned down to grasp Sabriel?s space suit, when the red head grasped the walk-way railing and boosted up and over it.

She landed as silently as she breathed and looked at the two young men for orders.

--------------------------------------------

1:47 am

Duo scanned the crowd once again before uncharacteristically setting his jaw. He met Noin?s gaze and gave her a quick nod.

Wufei moved quickly toward the terrorists hustling the large group of hostages into the baggage room of the docking area. He nodded to one of them and the taller man gave an imperceptible nod back.

Wufei pulled out his pistol and shot two of the terrorists. The men fell, screaming out in pain as they gripped their thighs.

Wind pulled out manacles and cuffed the fallen men. Wufei already moved on to the other twelve. He caught sight of a familiar braided pilot and motioned with is hand.

Duo fired off several, fairly accurate shots. Only one missed, lodging into the metal wall with a loud, echoing clang.

Suddenly, more shots fired as a relatively tall N?Brekk and grim faced Une rushed out from the baggage room.

Pandemonium broke loose.

-----------------------------------------

1:54 am

Heero and Trowa heard the shots and screams of people well before catching sight of them. They ran faster, skidding around the walk and into the baggage claim. People were down on the floor, covering there head with their arms, as Preventers and Terrorists fought.

Trowa noticed the larger group of people inside the baggage room and motioned to Heero. The dark haired young man moved forward in quick decision.

----------------------------------

Relena, Quatre, Catherine, and the rest of the political leaders, negotiators, and guards watched the scene before them play out in breathless silence.

"Is somebody taping this?" Relena suddenly asked.

"Yes, Miss Darlian."

She nodded, her gaze going back to the small war going on in the baggage area of the space station.

-----------------------------------

2:00 Am

Sabriel fiddled with the strap of her gun and then removed it from around her body. She felt a strange mixture of anger and relief that Heero had told her to stay.

"This battle is mine." He said simply and she left it at that.

It was almost frightening how well he fit with her. Were she anyone else, she might admit to more physical/emotional feelings of love...but she just couldn?t see him that way.

She loved him, naturally. He had both destroyed and saved her...

He was her personal hero.

Maybe that?s why she understood him so well. They both needed others. Others to protect.

Sabriel felt a slight smile curve her small mouth.

The air-lock doors opened with a whoosh. The gravity distribution was deactivated, full gravity in work. Sabriel winced from the sudden change in weight.

Her gaze snapped towards the five figures entering the docking area. She ducked down, darting for the nearest luggage cart and sliding underneath it.

Mikkal deGallo motioned for his four bodyguards to check out one of the cargo shuttles and followed them in once the cargo platform lowered.

Sabriel?s eyes darted toward the air-lock. She wouldn?t make it. They would open the air seal before she could press the entry code.

Decision made, Sabriel ran for the ascending platform of the shuttle and threw herself up, gripping the edge with her fingers.

Gritting her teeth, Sabriel curled her arms up and pulled her upper body onto the platform. She glanced up quickly, noting the enclosing shuttle and the edges the sides of the platform were about to meet.

With a grunt and a kick of her long legs, Sabriel managed to wriggle the rest of her body up onto the platform. She lay there, gasping as her the muscles in her arms burned.

The platform clicked into place.

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2:38 AM


Heero glared at deGallo?s "family," his steady blue eyes searching the large group of terrorists for the devil himself.

His eyes narrowed as he saw, or didn?t see, any trace of Mikkal deGallo.

"Shit!" He muttered, moving toward his braided friend.

"I don?t see deGallo." Heero told the other man.

Duo?s gaze snapped up and around before landing back on the group of children he was herding toward the lobby.

"He?s gotta be around here somewhere."

"Well, he?s not." Heero told the braided man, his temper beginning to rise. A child darted by, trying to run past the two young men.

Duo opened his mouth to call for the kid to stop when the child was suddenly lifted up and thrown over Heero?s shoulder. The child was too stunned to even struggle and rode the rest of the walk in silence.

Duo pressed the kids into the lobby and toward the back where the adults were waiting before giving Heero an extreme grin.

"What?" Heero asked, deadpan. He grabbed the kid on his shoulder and swung him down, directing the child toward the group of civilians.

"That?s the last of them." Duo sighed, his grin still fully loaded and aimed at the young man beside him.

"What do you want, Duo?" Heero cut to the chase.

"Who, me?" Duo asked, wide eyed. "Nothing really...I was just wondering when we should all expect Relena to be...um, expecting."

Heero?s eyes narrowed dangerously and Duo laughed.

A ding went off, signaling an open air lock.

Both Heero and Duo?s heads snapped around. Their gazes met with a startled Une and N?Brekk?s as the two Shadow warriors came out of the lobby.

Trowa, Wufei, Wind, and Noin ran into the small hall from the space station?s operations room.

"DeGallo?" Trowa asked Heero.

The dark haired man nodded. Then, to the amazement of everyone save Trowa, Heero?s eyes widened in horrified recollection.

"Sabriel!" His tortured whisper was thrown back at them as Heero sped down the hall, Trowa on his heels.

"That crazy red-head! Trowa brought her with him?!" Duo asked...the empty hall way.

"Hey, wait up you guys!"

Duo ran down the hall after the group of Preventers and Shadow warriors.

--------------------------------------

2:50 am

"Are you sure you don?t want someone to go with you, Heero?" Duo asked his friend while Heero prepped a cargo shuttle.

The emotionless young man moved to the co-pilot seat, his hands playing with the controls.

"I need you to stay and help Noin, Milliardo, Wufei, N?Brekk, and Une get all the passengers to their destinations. This station must be up and running within the next two hours or else it will set back the other flights for months."

Foot steps sounded behind them and both young men turned to regard a stoic faced Trowa. Heero straightened his eyes meeting those of the taller man.

"Uh...hey Trowa! What?s goin on?"

Both men turned to look at the braided pilot who promptly sweat dropped.

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3:00am

Relena smiled up at the large vid-phone.

"We?re getting rides home for everyone."

"And Heero?" Relena finally asked, unable to keep her worry masked any longer.

Noin smiled.

"He, Trowa, and N?Brekk are tracking down deGallo and a few of his men who got away." Her smile morphed into a thoughtful frown.

Quatre stood before the vid-phone, his own face marred in a worried look.

"Do you think Heero and the others will be able to catch deGallo, Miss Noin?" Quatre asked, his filled with another question.

Noin met his gaze with her honest one.

Quatre nodded.

"We?ll wait until you guys get here."

Noin smiled softly.

"We should be there by eight at the very latest."

Relena watched the silent exchange in a thoughtful silence of her own before smiling her goodbye?s to Noin.

"What now, Quatre?" Catherine walked up slowly to the two diplomats and allowed the blond, young man to draw her next to him with an arm around her shoulder.

"We wait." he smiled softly at the auburn haired-girl, missing that funny look Relena gave them both.

-------------------------------------------------

3:19 am

Sabriel ducked down, lowering herself into the crate she was balled up in. She held her breath as the footsteps moved around the crate.

Eyes squeezed shut, Sabriel held her small gun tightly against her chest and relied on her ears...

"Unload the weapons."

Sabriel?s eyes snapped open. The steps came closer and closer to her hiding place. The tarp above her was thrown up and off.

"What the...?!"

Sabriel jumped from the crate as the man?s body fell to the ground, his forehead leaking blood onto the cargo hold?s floor.

Someone gripped her short hair, snapping her head back before ripping the short strands out. Sabriel elbowed the man behind her in the face, feeling her arm connect with the hard cartilage and bone of the man?s nose.

He howled in pain, stumbling backwards.

Sabriel brought her gun around and someone kicked her in the side.

The red-head?s breath left her in a whoosh as her body flew across the cargo hold. She slammed into the door, her body crumpling to the floor.

"A little rat problem." She dimly heard one of the body guards yell to his master. "Easily taken care of..."

The silence unnerved her. Sabriel pushed herself up onto her hands, her hazy vision moving around to see what the terrorists were doing. They were all staring at the man she had killed.

Sabriel moved silently to her knees.

The man who had talked to his master looked at her...and Sabriel prepared to die fighting.

He?s going to kill me... she thought, her brain already throbbing from the hit with the wall.

"You did this!" He pointed his finger at her. "YOU DID THIS!"

Sabriel cringed back, gathering her strength for the oncoming attack.

The man came at her, yelling unintelligible expletives.

Their bodies collided, Sabriel?s knee into his gut, his fist into her face.

Darkness crowded in but she refused to give up. Sabriel held her bleeding nose with one hand while trying to focus her eyes and aim at the man coming for her. His next punch hit her in the ear. Stars exploded.

Her air was being cut off, her feet dangling in the air. She brought up an arm to claw at the great paw around her neck. Hot breath felt cool upon the blood still pouring from her broken nose. She struggled to see his face and gathered what little spit she could into her mouth.

The man was laughing, his face close, his nose turned slightly up as his mouth gaped open before her. Gathering was little breath she had left, Sabriel launched a wad of spit onto the man?s face, hitting right on target.

The room was, once again, silent. The spittle dripped down the man?s nose and off his upper lip onto the lower. He released her, wiping his hand across his mouth in disgust.

"For that, I?m going to blow your brains out."

Sabriel stared down the barrel of a gun with her one good eye. The other seemed to be blinded, the whole left side of her face, numb.

She waited, heard someone shout out an order, and fainted.

-----------------------------------------------

"I?m sure her body wasn?t jettisoned into space. She must have found a way to sneak onto their shuttle..." N?Brekk told the silent Heero.

"Or else they took her with them." Trowa stated easily enough.

Heero glanced at the older ex-pilot, his eyes shadowed, a muscle jumping in his jaw.

"They had better not hurt her..." N?Brekk spoke what main thought they all shared.

Heero shook his head in thought. Where would deGallo be going? And if he did have Sabriel, why would he take her? She was nothing to them. DeGallo had already showed his feelings about hostages. They were expendable. Like putting out a cigarette. So, then, where was he escaping to? Now that he was out, every inch of the galaxy would be searched for his capture...the Family didn?t have too many friends among the other gangs since they pretty much kept to themselves.

No, deGallo wasn?t going to run away, just crawl into some hole, and wait to be smoked out...that would wound his pride worse then losing his great land scheme to a handful of young men and women. He would go out publicly...and he would go out with a bang.

The answer dawned on the dark haired pilot so quickly he jerked.

"Heero?" Trowa questioned, his ever vigilant gaze noting the stoic man?s spasm.

"I know where they?re going."

Turbulent blue eyes met comprehending green.

--------------------------------------------

3:50 am

Dorthy held Marimai?s hand as she led the little girl down toward the control room where Noin and Une were working with Wufei.

"Do you think Miss Relena will be okay?" Marimai asked the silent nymph.

Dorthy looked down at the child with a wide-eyed statement.

"Miss Relena...?" Her gaze moved back up and she stared blindly down the hall. "My God..."

Dorthy ran the rest of the way to the control room.

----------------------------

4:29 am


Quatre held the schematics of an older space station in his hand as he pointed out some newer accommodations to an engineer who had come in for approval.

"Uh...Mr. Winner?" Another man interrupted them.

Quatre dismissed the engineer with a smile and turned to the other man, a patient look plastered onto his weary features.

"One of our main satellites is down. We can?t communicate with anyone within the 0.297 coordinates of Space Station *AX0012*."

Quatre frowned.

"Get a repair team up there on the double, I want to have communication back up within the next four hours."

"Sir." The man saluted and scurried out of the room.

Relena caught Quatre?s hand, her eyes over bright with emotions and sleepiness.

"Quatre, what if deGallo escapes? What then?"

Quatre rested his hand over the petite woman?s.

"Do you really think Heero will let deGallo escape, Relena?"

Relena smiled.

-------------------------

4:35am

"It?s no use, the systems are still down!" Noin banged a fist onto the control panel. "How are we going to warn them if we can?t even tell them what?s coming?!"

Dorthy exchanged a worried look with Wufei.

"Heero will stop them." Marimai said from the doorway.

The three adults looked at her.

----------------------

4:40 am

"Here! Over here!" N?Brekk called to his two comrades. He ducked into the cargo shuttle deGallo and his minions had used to escape and saw nothing...

"HEERO! TROWA!"

The two ex-pilots came running at the sound of urgency in N?Brekk?s voice.

They stood beside the tall man, their gazes all fixed on the pools of blood leaking over the cargo hold?s floor.

Heero felt fury well up inside of him. He balled his hands into fists, clenching his jaw. In his mind?s eye he saw deGallo laughing while shooting Sabriel over and over. Sandy colored hair suddenly replaced the vivid red, Sabriel?s eyes infusing with a blue-green until Relena?s face stared back at him in horror.

"No!" Heero shouted, running out of the shuttle and jumping into a nearby land rover. He jerked out the under wiring and, with a few twists of the wires, the vehicle started up. He shoved the gear stick, grinding the engine, and backed out.

A body slid in the passenger seat and another landed in the back with a loud thud.

Heero ignored his friends, shifted the gears into drive and speeding down the space-port?s air strip, heading for the main gate.

-------------------------------

4:55 am

Sabriel struggled against her captor?s hold as deGallo?s men shot up the guards and secretaries in the lobby of the Civil Defense building.

DeGallo dragged her across the room toward the elevator and threw her inside. Sabriel fought back, her punches directionless. She could hardly see to focus her hits anyway. She was fading.

DeGallo suddenly gripped the front of her tank top and smashed her against the elevator?s wall as his men stepped inside the elevator. He pressed the muzzle of his gun into her forehead, slamming her head back into the elevator?s wall.

He released her and Sabriel slumped to her knees, her head swimming in a haze of pain.

"Don?t worry," deGallo said calmly. "We?ll kill you soon enough."

----------------------------

5:00am

Milliardo prepped a shuttle for launch, glanced back at the shuttle load of civilians and then locked gazes with his co-pilot.

Duo grinned and gave him the thumbs up.

------------------

Heero crashed through the doors of the front lobby and jumped out of the rover. He glanced around at the wreckage of dead or dying bodies and ran for the emergency stairway.

-------------------

DeGallo propelled Sabriel down the hallway, his men walking ahead to clear the way.

-----------------

"Vice-Foreign Minister?"

Relena, Quatre, and Catherine turned to regard the young secretary. "We have news that a Preventer, Shadow Warrior, and...circus performer have landed at the nearest space port and stolen a land rover. They seem to have made their way here."

Catherine, Quatre, and Relena exchanged smiles.

----------------

5:05am

"Watch the door." DeGallo ordered to his three remaining body guards before shoving Sabriel in front of him and moving to open the doors into the diplomatic council?s room. ---------------------

Relena turned to the opening door, a welcoming smile warming her eyes.

Quatre looked up at the people entering the negotiations room and froze.

Relena?s smile faded.

Sabriel stumbled into the room, tripping to her knees in front of the large man who held the back of her torn and blood stained shirt.

Relena stared at the red haired girl in horror. One of Sabriel?s eyes was swollen shut, her nose and mouth dripping blood off the end of her pointed chin.

"No..." Relena gasped, her pain filled eyes wandering up to meet those of Mikkal deGallo.

"Now your people will know what it is to lose something precious." Mikkal held up the gun, pointing it at Relena.

-----------------------------------

Heero felt his chest begin to burn but ignored the sensation. He dimly recognized the sound of pounding footsteps behind him.

Throwing open the twelfth floor door, Heero glanced down the hallway before taking off. --------------------------

5:07am

Quatre moved in front of the sandy blond, glaring evenly at the terrorist leader.

"If you want to harm Relena, you?ll have to go through me."

De Gallo laughed.

"Suit yourself."

Sabriel lunged at the man, knocking into him just after the fired shot.

---------------------

The men infront of the door barely broke Heero?s pace. He smashed his adrenaline filled punch into one man?s face, indenting the man?s nose into his face and shoving shards of bone up into the man?s brain.

He died instantly.

Two more men came for him, but Trowa and N?Brekk were there. Heero through himself against the doors.

--------------------

Quatre fell back, breaking his fall with his hands. He stared up in horror at Relena?s back. The girl stood straight, arms spread out, her chin set firm in defiance.

"No one else..." she choked. "No one else..."

Sabriel?s golden eye met her green-blue ones.

"Must suffer...because of me."

----------------------

Heero stood in the doorway, his breath coming in gasps. He stared at the blood spurting from Relena?s chest and just barely reached her in time as she collapsed.

A shot rang out.

Heero?s confused gaze shot up, staring at Sabriel as she unloaded the clip into Mikkal deGallo?s head.

Blood and chunks of flesh flew up, sticking to her bare, bruised legs, but Sabriel ignored it, standing straight as she held her arms out, clutching the gun in her hands, destroying the man who had destroyed another one she loved.

The gun clicked over and over as she fired the, now empty, clip. She couldn?t see. Tears blurred what little vision she had left in her good eye. A strong hand closed over the gun and her two and Sabriel dropped her arms, turning to bury her tears into Trowa?s chest as the gun clattered to the floor.

Heero stared for a moment at the two, wondering why he wasn?t holding Sabriel...

He glanced down at the beautiful woman in his arms.

"Relena?" Heero called her, knowing she had to answer. She always answered him.

"RELENA?!"

He asked the impossible. He always had.

He shook her, hard.

"RELENA, WAKE UP!"

Sabriel gripped Trowa?s arm so tightly he winced.

Quatre sat stock still, his eyes riveted on the pale sandy blond and the wild, dark haired man who held her.

Catherine gasped out a sob.

"Stop it, Heero! She?s dead! She?s DEAD!" Catherine sank to the floor sobbing helplessly.

Heero glared at the fallen woman and then gave a hard shake of his head.

"Don?t you say that. DON?T YOU SAY THAT! Relena?s not dead! She?s not DEAD! SHE CAN?T BE DEAD!"

He gathered her lifeless body into his stiff, bloody arms and stood wobbly to his feet.

"Somebody get a doctor!" He yelled at them. His gaze flew around the room wildly as he stared at each person in turn, all of them had their gazes averted. All except three.

Quatre?s eyes were filled with tears which spilled over and coursed down his pale cheeks.

Trowa merely stared at Heero while holding up a wide-eyed Sabriel.

Heero met and locked gazes with the tall red-head. He saw it in her eyes. The same denial pulsing through him. The same disbelief. She knew! She knew Relena was not dead as well.

Heero gave her a shaky smile and then moved his arm, his hand, up toward his head.

"Heero, NO!"

Quatre shouted out to his friend, the glinting gun in the ex-Zero pilot?s hand shining with its own deadly glory.

Sabriel shook her head once, standing her battered body up-right.

Heero pushed the barrel against his temple, still smiling that wild smile at the amber eyed girl. Then it slowly changed. Softened. He pressed Relena?s dead body so tightly against his they heard the slight crack of her ribs.

Trowa released the girl he held.

Sabriel ran, Trowa?s gun gripped tightly in her hand.

Quatre pressed Catherine?s face to his chest.

Heero pulled the trigger.

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[silversong]

Is there a missing chapter? I read the first chapter, but there is a lot unexplained between the two chapters...It's like there's one missing. Chapter two immediately starts with Trowa and Sabriel talking, where last we heard of Trowa in part one, he had just pulled his disappearing trick. Not to mention we don't know how the Preventers got on the shuttle. If the bits and pieces were filled in, this would be a very nice fic. I think it also has a fairly realistic and likable original character, something you don't see very often.