Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The True Victor ❯ Chapter 21

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

AUTHORESS NOTES: Uh....hehehehehehe.....*sweatdrop*

Chapter Twenty-One

"How long until we reach the E-block?" Roy asked to nobody in particular as he and the others rand through the empty hallways of the Preventer base.

"It's not far now," Zechs shouted back, carefully helping his pregnant wife along. "Once you reach the second corridor, make a left."

"Yeah, and we need to make an emergency stop to patch up Heero here," Kaitou added as he dragged his older brother's limp body along with him. Heero had been in and out of consciousness, but now it was more unconsciousness than before; the blood was still continuing to drain out of his body between the cracks of Kaitou's rusted gloved hand.

Relena, silently running in the back with Kitsune behind her to keep her moving along, let her eyes drift from the thin trail of blood to the seemingly lifeless form of Heero Yuy. She silently prayed that they would reach the hangar in time to help Heero.

<to...the other situation>

Wufei involuntarily let out a cough as he, Kaede, Yuuki, and Gally crawled through the air ducts. They all had to crawl in a single file due to the tiny width of the air vents with Wufei last in line. He had never imagined tha the would ever be INSIDE the air ducts and now regretted the fact that the clean up crew had never cleaned them since the creation of the base three years ago.

"Sorry about the lack of comfort in the transporation department," Yukki echoed back to the others as she led the way. "Demo, this is the only way we can get through without getting detected, I think."

"You think? That's reassuring," Gally commented softly.

"Maa, it depends on how much noise we make with all the alarms going off," Yukki explained to her, brushing away yet again a stray lock of hair. "We're very good at hearing, but it's easy to distract our depth by the amount of noise. The only person who are really good at keeping their hearing focused is Roy."

"So, you can't hear as well in, say, at a party?"

"Well, yeah. We hear too many things going on at once. Sometimes its stuff that we don't want to hear and we hear it anyway."

Wufei chuckled silently to himself at this comment and almost rammed his head into Kaede's butt if it wasn't for his quick reaction timing. Yukki had called for silence in the front. At first, he heard nothing but the sounds of the alarms, but eventually the sounds of gunfire ran in his ears. Gunfire the seemed to be aiming for them. Gally stifled her scream and covered her head as bullets bounced off the flimsy metal of the air vent. The others quickly reacted by protecting any vitals that were vulerable to the gunfire as it became louder and louder with every passing minute in the vunerable position that they were in.

And just as soon as it had started, the gunfire ceased. With the exception of Gally, the others slowly lifted their heads and waited.

"We know that you're in there, traitor!" a deep, male voice shouted. "Why don't you stop playing these games and face your death like a real AES soldier."

"Kuso..." Wufei could hear Yukki's voice echo from her position.

"...What now?" he asked, not addressing anybody in particular. Chang Wufei wasn't afraid of death, even if it meant that he died before marrying the woman that he loved who was patiently awaiting for his return.

Yet for some reason, fear and foreboding grew in the pit of his stomach.

"I'll cover for you," Yukki slowly replied. She took off her communicator, crushing it in her tiny hands, and ripped out the silver chain dangling around her neck. "Just keep on going."

"Demo, we can't leave you---" Gally protested, but she fell silent when Kaede gently touched her ankle and shook her head.

"I understand, arigatou," Kaede said in an emotionless voice, but her eyes showed a great deal of gratitude and respect. She turned to Wufei behind her. "Wufei, can you guide?"

He silently nodded.

Yukki turned around halfway and handed the silver chain to Gally. "Give this to Roy. He'll know what happened."

Biting the bottom of her lip, Gally hesitantly nodded. Yukki smiled and then punched open the vent below her, descending. Her face was carved like a stone and her eyes were prepared for the worse. She could hear Gally, Kaede, and Wufei shuffle ahead, but she didn't let the others know or give them the chance to. She looked at each and every one of the soldiers in front of her. These very same people were once her childhood friends, her comrades. They had shared the same values that she had shared before encountering the falling events of the national Vancouver address assassination attempt of Prime Minister Dorlain. Before meeting a man named Andrew Lowe who looked so familiar in his unconscious state that she hesitated for the first time in bringing death upon a human being. She had wanted to find out who he was and why she knew him, but that chance would never come now. It probably was never to have been.

The AES soldiers aimed their weapons at her body as she lifted her hands in surrender and closed her eyes, waiting for Death to welcome her. Without mercy, without any sympathy, they fired.

"Okay, so where does this go?" a familiar voice faded in the darkness.

"Red button," another replied. "No, that's green. I said, red, Andy."

What's going on?

The metal shaft opened in a loud clang, revealing the gateway to freedom. Still, Heero could not comprehend what was going on.

My eyes....I want to open my eyes, but why can't I open them?

"Yosh," another voice said. "Somebody apply some pressure there. Oi, where are they?"

"They should have been here by now," someone replied. Someone that he couldn't recognize.

Heero heard someone tear something, but he wasn't quite sure; a slight pressure was applied on his side. He involuntarily flinched at the touch.

"Heero," a soft voice called to him, the only voice that seemed comprehendible to his head. He struggled to force his body awake, his eyes straining to open, but a cool hand felt his forehead. The touch soothed his panic, if only a little.

"Heero, you have to keep still," the same voice pleaded in his ear. This time, however, he finally managed to open his eyes.

He stared into the familiar depths of an ocean, an ocean that looked scared and too weak to fight. "Relena..."

"Ah! Finally got out of there!" Kaede's voice exclaimed from afar. "I thought that we would never get out."

"You can say that again," Wufei murmured, vainly trying to dust off the soot from his clothes.

"I guess..." Gally said softly, too absorbed in her own thoughts.

"Where's Yukki?" Roy asked.

Without looking at him, Gally slowly pulled out the silver chain necklace that Yukki had given her and handed it to Roy. He looked at Gally quizzically and then stared down at the necklace. A pang of hurt swept over his cool interior as he understood the meaning of the necklace. And again he wondered to himself why Reinhardt was so cruel in indirectly taking the lives of the very children he had created and brought up to overthrow the government. His hand enclosed the necklace in anger.

Kitsune, with tears that were deathly close on falling, cried out, "Kaede-neechan!!"

Roy's head turned at the direction of her voice, looking at her with a blank expression as she sat down beside the man who had been her uncle, her guardian. Kitsune's hand was over Heero's wound to keep the blood stabalized, but Roy could clearly see that the blood was already beginning to seep through the cloth she had torn from her jacket. Relena sat in front of Heero's limp body, his head resting in her lap. Kaede had rushed over to the two younger woman to attend to her brother.

Heero slowly closed his eyes, too weak to keep them open any longer.

"Heero, Heero!"

His eyes snapped open at the familiarity of the new voice. A pair of warm hands cupped his face, lifting his head to face the voice's owner. He could barely recognize the features of his older sister's face as his vision began to blur.

"Heero, stay with me, okay?" Kaede asked. "Try to stay awake."

Slowly, he nodded, his eyes telling her: Get me out of here.

"Can you help him?" Relena asked as Kaede released her hold on Heero to get to work.

"As long as those AES soldiers don't find us," Kaede replied, rolling up the sleeves of her shirt. "Kitsune-chan, help me take off his shirt. Your cloth and your hand isn't enough to stop the bleeding. We need to compress the wound more."

"Uh...hai..." Kitsune stammered, following her "aunt's" orders.

"What should I do?" Relena asked again, desparately wanting to help the two relatives somehow. She watched the two quickly unbutton the dress shirt.

"You can just keep him comfy," Kaede replied lightly. Then she looked up at her and winked as she carefully and quickly took Heero's arm out of one sleeve. "I don't think he minds being in your lap."

Relena blushed furiously as she watched Heero's eyes try to take in the situation. He was murmuring something that she couldn't quite hear, so she leaned in a bit closer, her face just inches away from his.

"Nani?" When she heard just a murmur, she leaned in even closer until she finally heard:

"Have to...destroy this place."

"Nani?!?"

A loud boom echoed in the hangar, distracting Relena for the moment. Zechs, Noin, and Andy discovered a private jet that was miraculously left untouched. Andy had just finished igniting the engine for the keys were missing indefinitely. He poked his head out of the side window, his midnight hair flying in all directions of the wind.

"Oi, we're ready to go!" he shouted over the jets. "How's Heero?"

Another boom echoed in the opposite direction of the jet, coming from the entrance of the hangar. Roy, who had decided to keep an eye out for the soldiers to finally catch up to them, loaded his gun and turned to Kaede.

"We don't have enough time," he said.

"Kitsune-chan, go ahead with Roy," Kaede said to the young girl. "Relena-san and I will catch up."

Reluctantly, the girl nodded and followed Roy to the jet as Kaede tore Heero's shirt in half lengthwise and slipped part of it under his back, aiming to tie a knot.

"This is going to hurt," she warned him.

He nodded, his vision returning to normal. Kaede tied the cloth around his ribs tightly. He gritted his teeth in pain, but as soon as it came, the pain had disappeared. A minor irritation lingered now.

"I...can go on my own," Heero said just loud enough for his sister and Relena to hear.

Kaede had only lifted him up halfway, staring at him with disbelief. "No, you're not, Heero. You lost a lot of blood."

Ignoring his sister's comment, he effortlessly stood up, shaking away the dizziness as gravity hit him again. "I'm fine."

Kaede eyed him suspiciously as Heero stretched out his limbs a bit before returning her stare.

"I told you I'm fine! Get to the plane before it takes off," Heero growled in annoyance.

Kaede gave in to her brother's implied request, sighing in defeat. She walked passed him, touching Relena's shoulder gently to follow. Yet Relena vehemently shook her head, also knowing what Heero was intending to do. She had heard his thoughts after all. Kaede sighed again and headed to the jet alone. They needed some business to be settled.

Heero looked at Relena with a tired look in his eyes. "Relena..."

"Ie, I'm not going!" she exclaimed angrily, looking up at him. "I know what you're going to do, and I'm not letting you sacrafice yourself again to save me!"

Another boom echoed in the hangar. The AES soldiers were breaking through the second barricade. He didn't have that much time left.

"I'm not going to die, Relena," he tried to explain.

"I don't believe you!" she retorted, tears in her eyes. "I'm not leaving unless you go with me."

Hesitating for a brief second, Heero took Relena by the hand and led her to the jet. She was at first surprised by his reaction; she had thought that he would at least give another reason to leave and force her to go into their only hopes of escape. Either that or let her stay with him. Too lost in her thoughts, Relena almost didn't notice that Heero was beginning to bleed again.

"Heero, you're---"

She was cut short by his kiss, taking her by surprise yet again. However, she submitted to his actions by returning them with her own until he broke the kiss off. His damp forehead touched hers and she stared up into his closed eyes.

"Aishiteru," he murmured and opened his eyes. "And I promise you that I will be back."

Before Relena could react, he lifted her up to the jet's open door as it began to turn and walked back. Relena tried to jump out of the jet, but Kaede held her back, her Prussian blue eyes frowning at her brother with disagreement. Yet he nodded at her and headed for the control panel as the jet lifted and flew away to safety.

She had tried so hard to keep him where he was, but she didn't know that it was too late.

Too late for him to run now.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the empty space around him.

"Kaede, let me go! Andy, please turn back! We have to get Heero!" Relena pleaded with Heero's siblings as Kaede still held her back from the open door.

Andy's lips set to a thin, straight line as he continued his course, ignoring her plea and his own heart to get his cousin back. Roy, sitting in the co-pilot seat, eyed Andy with vague curiousity before staring back out the windo, watching the vast forest disappearing under them.

"Why won't you turn back?" Relena pleaded after some minutes of silence, looking at everyone in the plane.

"...We can't," Kaitou quietly replied, the first words he had spoken since they had entered the hangar. Kitsune sniffled in his arms, turning away from Relena to not let her see the tears.

"Why not?"

Every person in the jet she turned to had the same look on their faces. Every face said the same thing that she didn't want to understand.

This was what he had wanted.

They finally blasted open the final barricade, piling into the hangar like flies. Heero guessed that there were about two thousand or so soldiers, but it didn't really matter to him anymore. Their leader was with them and that alone was enough.

"Search the area!" Reinahardt ordered for he hadn't yet noticed Heero yet.

"There's no need to," Heero called out, casually leaning against the control panel of the hangar above them. All attention turned to him. "They're gone."

Reinhardt smiled, slowly, cautiously, as he looked up and stared into Heero's eyes. He pointed his gun at Heero's wound. "I'm surprised that you're not dead yet."

Heero shrugged. "I'm surprised that you didn't find us sooner. I did leave a good trail of blood to follow."

When Reinhardt didn't respond, Heero pushed off the control panel to stand up straight and stare down at the soldiers. The pain from his bullet wound disappeared; it didn't really bother him anymore. All guns were aimed at him, but he wasn't afraid. Heero Yuy had never been afraid of death since the day his older brother died.

He was only afraid of his family being hunted after again.

"I won't let you take them," he said after a few minutes of silence. "Nor will I let your soldiers find them."

Reinhardt arched a curious eyebrow, oblivious to Heero's plan. "Nani?"

Heero turned his head at the control panel behind him and calmly pressed the self destruct button.

Explosives the long remained dormant since its construction fufilled its dark duty. The Preventer base exploded in a large ball of flame and ashes along with its inhabitants.

In the jet, Kitsune Lowe opened her eyes, not letting the tears fall anymore.