Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Always There For You ❯ 10 ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing!

-Always There for You Chapter 10-

Relena opened her mouth to scream again, but she passed out before the noise escaped her lips. Rain and the others heard footsteps running down the hallway and stopping before the door. Someone banged his or her fist on the door.

"Ms. Relena? Are you alright in there?" A voice called from the other side of the door. "Ms. Relena?" The voice shouted again when there was no answer. The guard on the other side of the door turned to one of his three companions. "You go get Shelly, you radio for back-up, and you come with me." The guard barked.

"Yes sir." The other guards replied. Rain and the others didn't wait around to see what the remaining two guards would do. Aldrico quickly scooped Relena up in his arms and walked over to the wall adjacent to her bed. He nodded towards the wall and Rain quickly felt around the panel for an opening. She pulled the hidden doorway open and Aldrico lead the way into the servants' corridor while still carrying Relena. The others followed close behind, Rain in the rear. Rain closed the hidden panel-door behind them right as the guards broke into Relena's room. Rain sprinted to catch up with the others who were already running down the maze of the servant's corridors.

The group paused in the dimly lit hallway of the servants' corridors to catch their breath. Aldrico gently set Relena down on the carpeted floor and crouched down beside her while he waited for his breathing to go back to normal. Rain kneeled on Relena's other side and watched her closely as she became conscious again. Relena sat up slowly, and she glanced at Aldrico and Rain. Relena opened her mouth to scream, but Aldrico quickly clasped his left hand over her mouth to silence her. Aldrico pulled out a gun and held it to Relena's head.

"Relena! Be quiet if you don't want to get hurt!" Aldrico hissed. Relena stared at Aldrico; her eyes were wild with fear.

"Ok, if I take my hand from your mouth, are you going to scream again?" Aldrico asked. Relena shook her head quickly. Aldrico slowly removed his hand from Relena's mouth. Relena opened her mouth in preparation to say something. She thought better of it and quickly clamped it back shut, unsure if Aldrico would assume she was going to scream again. Aldrico looked at her carefully.

"What do you want to say?" Aldrico asked, sensing her desire to speak.

"Why are you kidnapping me?" Relena asked in quiet, frightened voice.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Aldrico replied. Relena furrowed her brow.

"Why not? I'll be the judge of my beliefs. So tell me and we'll see." Relena said with a hint of defiance in her voice.

Aldrico shrugged. "Alright. About ten years ago, you were kidnapped by Shelly and brainwashed so that you wouldn't have any memory of your family, or what had happened." Aldrico said. Relena shook her head slowly from side to side.

"You're insane...Shelly would never do such a thing. He loves me..." Relena said softly. Aldrico thought for a moment, trying to think of something to convince Relena that he was telling the truth.

"Look at her, does she look at all familiar to you? She should, she's your daughter..." Aldrico nodded towards Rain. Relena scrutinized Rain. She looked down blankly at her hands, which she was wringing together in her lap. Her face held a thoughtful expression.

"Daughter...My daughter..." Relena whispered. An image of a little girl and a little boy sitting on a merry-go-round with a young man pushing the merry-go-round flashed through Relena's mind. She could hear the children laughing, but the sound seemed muffled, as though Relena were underwater.

"My daughter...R...Rain...?" Relena said softly. She tilted her head slightly to the side as though she were unsure. Aldrico glanced at Rain, then back to Relena. While Relena was distracted, Rain turned to look behind Relena where the others were leaning against the wall, no longer out of breath. Jason tossed Rain a small vial and a rag. Without missing a beat, Rain took the cap off the vial and poured the sweet smelling chloroform onto the rag. Rain lowered her hand with the chloroform rag to her side, where it wouldn't be noticed. Relena turned to look at her again. She studied Rain's face again.

"Rain...?" Relena repeated softly. Rain smiled slightly in an attempt to reassure Relena. She nodded slowly. Relena bowed her head and rubbed her temples slowly as though fighting off the remainder of a headache. She stopped, buried her face in her hands, and let out a cry of anguish.

"No...Lies..." Relena began softly. "It's all lies...you're LYING!" Relena screamed. Rain's smile fell. She glanced at Aldrico and he nodded at her. Rain quickly clamped the chloroform rag over Relena's mouth and nose. Relena's eyes slid shut and Aldrico caught her head before it hit the floor.

Rain and the others could hear footsteps rushing down the servant's corridor towards them.

"We have to go now!" Rain said as she and Aldrico quickly jumped to their feet. Aldrico picked Relena up again and started running down the hallway again. The others were not far behind.

Aldrico stopped before a doorway. Mei Li opened the door for him and the group ran out into the room beyond. Mei Li quickly shut the secret passageway behind them. They were now in the VR Simulation room.

Rain was relieved to see her father, Derek's parents, and Jason's dad, Trowa, were all there as planned.

"Glad you guys made it in ok." Aldrico said. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Carrying Relena while running from Shelly's guards had become a burden. Heero walked over to Aldrico.

"Here I'll take her." Heero said. Aldrico nodded as he handed Relena over to him.

"Thanks. She's pretty light, but carrying her while running wore me out." Aldrico said. Heero simply nodded again. He glanced down at Relena. Heero couldn't believe that Relena was there; alive; in his arms...

Heero shook himself from his thoughts, knowing that getting out of the mansion was more important at that moment.

"So we got Relena without too much trouble...now what?" Derek asked. Aldrico glanced towards a door at the back of the VR Room.

"We're going to go out that door, down the hall way to another secret passage leading down to the underground tunnels. The rest of the back-up should be waiting there." Aldrico replied while nodding his head towards the door he had been looking at.

"Then we're going to follow the tunnels to the shuttle station where there's a Preventors shuttle waiting." Hilde added. No more words circulated among the group before they headed towards the door.

Once in the hallway again, the group located and crept through the secret passageway in the wall. A light came on once the doorway was shut behind them. They had come to a flight of metal stairs leading down into the underground tunnels the Heero, Duo, Hilde, and Trowa had entered from. The group hurried down the stairs, slowing only when they were about a quarter of a mile into the tunnels.

Rain looked around curiously as she walked silently between Derek and Jason. The walls of the tunnel were a shiny, silvery color that showed somewhat blurry versions of their reflections. The tunnel was extremely large, large enough for even a gundam to pass through. Rain and the others passed by countless side tunnels leading to different spots all over the colony. Rain figured that the tunnels were used during wartime for mobile suits to travel across the colony in secret should the colony be attacked.

Rain stirred from her thoughts and glanced at her father who was walking in front of her, with Duo and Hilde on his left. Heero was still carrying Relena in his arms. Rain noticed the tight, yet gentle way he was holding her, as though she might slip from his arms and disappear forever. Rain frowned slightly, remembering how Relena had reacted towards her when she, Aldrico, Mei Li, Derek, and Jason had first shown up in her room to get her.

"It has nothing to do with you. She just doesn't remember because she's been brainwashed, that's all." Derek whispered to Rain, reading her thoughts. Rain felt him grasp her left hand and squeeze it reassuringly. Rain looked down at her hand, then up at Derek. She laced her fingers together with his and forced a weak smile.

"I know...She'll remember everything after she gets help from the doctors over at the Preventors headquarters...and then everything will be OK again..." Rain whispered back, becoming more optimistic with those future plans. Derek nodded, smiling at her. Rain smiled back. They brought their gazes forward again. They were still holding hands, but neither seemed to notice or care.

About fifteen minutes later, Rain and the others were about a mile away from the shuttle station. Rain spotted Wufei, Sally, her aunt Noin and her uncle Milliardo, and a tall woman with shoulder length dirty blonde hair whom she recognized as Jason's mother, but couldn't remember her name. They were all standing next to three black, open topped, five-seat jeeps.

"The shuttle's all ready to go, we just have to get to it and hope Shelly and his guards don't show up on the way." Milliardo said when Rain and the others reached the jeeps. No one spoke aside from Milliardo's announcement. They were all too eager to get to the shuttle station, get home, and write the mission off as a success.

Rain could hear a strange mechanical sound in one of the side tunnels to her right. The others heard it too. They turned to peer down the long side tunnel. In the distance, Rain could make out the shape of a serpent mobile suit. The others had seen it too and were rushing to get in the jeeps. Rain jumped into the back seat of the first jeep and Derek jumped in after her. Heero handed Relena over to Milliardo, and jumped in the back seat with Rain. Milliardo handed Relena back to Heero while Noin got in the driver's seat and started the engine. Rain turned to see Derek sitting on her left and Heero sitting on her right with Relena still cradled in his arms. Noin floored it as soon as Milliardo was in his seat up front. Rain didn't bother to see where everyone else sat in the other two jeeps.

Rain could feel her heart pounding as the Serpent entered the tunnel they were in. The Serpent was gaining on them. Rain glanced behind herself to see how close the Serpent was and saw two other Serpents had appeared behind the first one.

"Oh...shit..." Rain said quietly. The front Serpent was just about to fire at the jeep when blast fired from one of the tunnels behind the jeeps, to the left. A pair of white Tauruses with the Preventors symbol on the left side of the chest came out of a tunnel and began warding off the Serpents. Rain brought her gaze forward again and let out her breath slowly. Rain grasped Derek's hand and she laced her fingers with his again. She could feel her heart rate returning to normal. Rain was about to comment on how close they'd been to destruction when a blast from one of the Serpents suddenly hit the ground directly behind the jeeps. A wave caused by the explosion sent the jeeps rocketing forward, out of control.

Rain felt dazed as she was flung from her seat. She could feel her adrenaline flowing rapidly throughout her body. She put her arms out in front of her right before she hit the floor of the tunnel. She did an awkward half somersault; half flip as she hit the floor of the tunnel and slid to a stop several feet from where she'd landed.

Rain lay on her back, breathing hard. Her heart was thundering in her chest. She took a deep breath and sat up. As soon as Rain was sure she wasn't dead and had no serious injuries, she painfully stood up on shaky legs and looked around for the others.

Rain had narrowly escaped serious injury. The only injurious she had were several small cuts all over her body and she would have twice as many bruises the following day. Rain's outfit was torn up and filthy from the explosion as well as from when she'd slid to a stop along the ground. Rain didn't care about her injuries or her outfit though she only cared if the others were all right.

Peering around the smoky tunnels, Rain spotted what looked like her father lying on his side a few feet away. She quickly ran to him, stepping carelessly over small piles of debris. She knelt by her father's side and checked for a pulse. Rain was relieved to discover he was alive and the only injuries aside from scrapes and bruises was a mild concussion on the right side of his head and his right arm was broken. Rain tried to rouse him from his unconscious state.

"Daddy? Daddy wake up. We've gotta get out of here." Rain said. She coughed from inhaling so much some smoke that was still billowing around in the tunnel. Heero didn't respond though. Rain looked around, trying to spot some of the others and figure out what had happened. Rain saw Derek, his parents, Milliardo, and Mei Li walking towards her. She spotted the others sitting or standing near by. She couldn't find Relena though.

Rain looked beyond them at the smoldering jeeps as she pieced together what had happened. One of the Serpents had been able to get a clear shot at the jeeps and had taken it. At the last possible second, one of the Preventors Tauruses had hit the Serpent, causing the shot to hit the ground directly behind the jeeps instead of hitting them head on. Rain saw that one of the Serpents had disappeared and the other two were lying on the ground in charred pieces. The two Preventors Tauruses were standing nearby with only minimal damage.

"Rain? Are you ok?" Someone disrupted Rain from her thoughts. She turned to see Derek standing over her.

"Yeah I'm fine. My dad's unconscious though..." Rain said as she looked back down at Heero. She watched as Milliardo picked Heero up and slung him over his shoulder.

"Is everyone else ok?" Rain asked as she slowly got to her feet.

"Everyone else is fine...some broken bones, but nothing too serious though. That's not the more pressing issue at the moment...we need to get to the shuttle station. One of the jeeps is still intact and it could blow at any second." Hilde replied, a bit of urgency in her voice. Rain nodded. She saw that a few of the others were already heading in the direction of the shuttle station. Rain furrowed her eyebrows.

"Where's...?" Rain began. She stopped when she saw Trowa walking towards them with Relena in his arms. Sally and Wufei were at his side.

"Everyone's accounted for. Now lets get the hell outta this tunnel before the other jeep blows." Sally said. Rain and the other remaining few started walking towards the shuttle station, picking up their pace as seconds ticked by and the fire from the explosion came closer to the third jeep.

They weren't fast enough. The explosion from the last jeep shook the tunnel. Rain lost her balance and fell against the wall of the tunnel. Her forehead connected with the wall and her vision blurred. She fell to the floor with a thump. Rain blinked, trying to see through the haze of the smoke and fire around her. Her vision was twice as blurry while she fought to stay conscious. Rain could see Trowa and the others getting to their feet, but she couldn't make out who was who. She saw someone pick up who she thought was her still unconscious father. Rain's eyes felt extremely heavy. All she could see was shadows. Rain felt tired. She just wanted to close her eyes and hope her headache would go away. Rain's eyelids slid shut. She could hear voices shouting around her, but she couldn't tell what they were saying. It all sounded garbled.

Rain had the sensation of being lifted up. She felt as though she were flying. The person who had picked her up was running. Rain heard one thing clearly that made her head hurt even more than it already did.

"Where the fuck is Relena!?" Duo shouted while he ran.

"Mommy..." Rain murmured before she slipped in the black abyss of her unconscious mind.

*****

Two weeks later in L.A.,
Dusk was on the horizon. Heero sat on a bench facing a fountain in the middle of a park. It was the same fountain, in the same park where Heero had first confessed his feelings for Relena. The park was empty aside from Heero and a pair of ducks swimming around in the fountain.

Heero stared intently into the fountain, listening to the gurgling, trickling sound the water made. It had been only two weeks since the mission to rescue Relena. Heero had been comatose for two days after the explosion in the tunnels. He'd woken up to discover his daughter was recovering from a concussion and Relena had disappeared again. Heero thought back to the conversation he'd had with Trowa when he'd come out of his coma.

'"...I was carrying her right before the third jeep blew up. We didn't make it out before it went though. The explosion knocked everyone over. Rain hit her head on the wall and Relena was flung out of my grasp." Trowa paused to see how Heero was grasping the news so far. He took a breath and continued.

"Derek picked Rain up and carried her to the shuttle...we couldn't find Relena anywhere...just the skid marks of some kind of automobile leading out of a side tunnel. Shelly must have shown up and grabbed Relena during the confusion when the third jeep exploded." Trowa studied Heero closely. He was clutching the sheets of his hospital bed and glaring at the wall in front of himself.

"Heero...I'm sorry." Trowa said sincerely. Heero loosened his grip on the sheets and let go of them. He masked his pain and turned to Trowa with a stoic look.

"No. Don't be sorry... At least Rain's alright." Heero said. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get some rest." Heero said monotonously. Trowa nodded. He knew Heero really just wanted to be left alone.

"Sure thing. I'll tell the others too." Trowa said as he headed for the door. He walked out without another word.

When Heero knew Trowa was gone, his masked expression fell. He buried his face in his hands and for the first time since he'd been told Relena was dead, Heero let his anguish free. Sobs racked his body as he cried...'

Heero frowned at the fountain. He'd been going to the park every evening since he'd left the hospital the previous week. Heero wasn't sure why he always went back to that same park. He figured it was because he thought that by some miracle, Relena would be there; waiting for him.

Concentric circles began forming in the fountain as rain droplets fell into it. The rain started as a light drizzle, then turned into a light shower. Heero barely noticed. He was far too enveloped in his thoughts and his memories of Relena. He didn't even notice that the ducks had flown away.

"Heero...?" A sweetly soft voice called from behind him. Heero looked up.

"Heero..." The voice repeated.

'There's no way...' Heero thought as he turned around. He nearly fell off the bench from shock.

"Re-Relena? You're alive!?" Heero said. He stood up and walked towards her. Relena smiled at him.

"Hello Heero." She said softly. Heero stopped directly in front of her and studied her closely. He told himself that he had to be imagining things. Relena was not really there before him, her clothes soaked with rainwater, her bangs plastered to her face. Heero quickly wrapped his arms around her. He had to know she was there, had to *feel* that she was there. Relena snuggled up next to him, pressing her face against his chest.

"Oh Heero..." She said softly. Heero knew then. He knew it was real. Relena was really there, in his arms.

"Relena I can't believe you're here." Heero said as he buried his face in her hair.

"I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry..." Relena said quietly. Heero loosened his grip on her and took a step back to study her face.

"What? Why are you sorry? There's nothing to be sorry about." Heero said with confused look creeping across his features. Relena smiled.

"I'm so sorry Heero...My dear, innocent Heero. " Relena said as she gently pulled out of his grasp. Heero got even more confused.

"Relena? What's going on?" Heero asked. Relena shook her head and reached for something in her jacket. She pulled out a gun and aimed it at Heero. His eyes grew wide.

"What the hell is going on?" Heero asked.

"Good bye Heero." Relena said as she clicked the safety off the gun in her hand. Heero spent a fraction of a second deciding what to do. He decided to first dodge the shot, then try to knock the gun away from Relena. Heero was about to act on his plan when Relena let out a startled cry. She pitched forward, her gun clattering to the ground. Heero caught Relena before she hit the ground. He looked behind her and saw Rain standing there, holding an automatic with a silencer at her side. Heero gently laid Relena down on her side and pulled off her jacket. He could see blood pooling on the damp, cement walkway from the shot wound on her back.

Rain ran to Heero's side.

"Daddy are you ok? I came here looking for you when you were late for dinner and then I saw that person was about to shoot you so I shot them first and...I'm sorry I didn't mean to kill 'em." Rain said; her hands were shaking at her sides. Rain suddenly noticed exactly whom she had shot. Her gun clattered to the ground and she covered the lower half of her face with her hands. She gasped.

Heero took off his shirt and pressed it to Relena's wound. Milliardo and Noin arrived in the park at that moment and ran over to Rain and Heero.

"What happened?" Milliardo asked as he looked from Relena, to Heero, to Rain, and back to Heero.

"Relena got shot." Heero said simply. Milliardo nodded, accepting the answer.

"I'll go get help." Noin said as she ran off.

"Oh no...I-I killed Mommy..." Rain said, her voice shaking. Rain took a step back. "I'm sorry...I didn't know-I..." Rain shook her head slowly as tears began streaming down her cheeks. Heero and Milliardo looked up at Rain.

"Rain, it wasn't your fault. You didn't kill Mommy." Heero said, trying to reassure Rain and not show the panic he felt. Rain just shook her head and took another step back.

"Rain, listen to me. Mommy died a long time ago...you didn't kill her." Heero said. Rain had a faraway look.

"Mommy...I'm so sorry." Rain whispered before she turned away and ran.

"Rain wait!" Heero called after her. He started to get up, but Milliardo stopped him.

"Let Rain go. I don't think we can help her right now, but we may be able to help Relena." Milliardo said. Heero nodded, realizing that Milliardo was right.

'Rain, I hope you're ok...' Heero thought as he brought his focus back to Relena.

"Hold on Relena help's on the way." Milliardo said as he looked at Relena's paling face.

~~~

Rain had stopped running and had been wandering around aimlessly for two hours. She had stopped crying and simply felt numb. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel, so at that time, numb was good.

Rain looked around. She finally wondered where she was. She recognized her surroundings immediately. She'd recognize the cozy little neighborhood anywhere. Rain looked up at the house before her. It was a large, three story, light blue house that looked very inviting.

Without making a sound, Rain silently walked through the lawn, around to the back of the house. She stopped in front of a tall tree that grew beside the house. She skillfully climbed up into the tree and didn't stop climbing until she was level with the roof of the house. Rain silently climbed onto the roof from an overhanging branch. The roof was slanted and slick with rainwater, so Rain was careful not to loose her balance. She crouched down beside a skylight and tapped on it lightly. A figure stirred on the bed below the skylight. The figure sat up slowly, unsure if they'd simply imagined a noise. Rain tapped on the skylight again and the person on the bed below looked up at her.

Derek peered up at the skylight. He could see Rain looking down through the glass. He stood up on his bed and unlatched the skylight. He pushed it open.

"Rain? What're you doing here?" Derek asked. He noticed that it had stopped raining outside. Rain wasn't sure exactly what to say. She wasn't even positive on why she was there.

"I...something bad happened and I don't want to go home right now...can I stay here with you?" Rain said softly. Derek nodded slowly.

"Sure. Come on in." Derek said. Rain slowly slid in the small opening, feet first. She landed on Derek's bed with a muffled thump. Derek reached up and closed the skylight, then sat down beside Rain on the edge of his bed. He noticed that she was shivering.

"Rain you're soaking wet...what happened?" Derek asked, noticing the far away look in Rain's eyes.

"I..." Rain choked back a sob as her eyes filled with tears again. She couldn't bring her self to talk about what had happened. Derek rubbed her back gently.

"Hey, it's ok. We can talk about it later. Right now, let me just help you get dry and warm. Derek stood up gently pulled Rain to her feet. He led Rain over to the open door of his bathroom. He flicked on the light.

"Ok, go take a nice hot shower, and hang your wet clothes up on the shower curtain rod when you're done. I'll try to find you some dry clothes to wear." Derek said. Rain nodded and walked into the bathroom. Derek watched as she closed the door then he walked over to his closet walk-in closet. Derek walked in and looked around for something for Rain to wear. He walked back out a few seconds later and shut the door to his closet.

Rain stuck her head out of the bathroom door about a minute afterwards. She was clad in only a dark blue bath towel.

"Here. Get dried off, then put these dry clothes on. You'll feel better." Derek said as he handed a dark blue t-shirt and a pair of black soccer shorts to Rain. Rain took the clothes and shut the bathroom door again so she could change.

Rain walked back out and sat down on the edge of Derek's bed. She opened her mouth and started to speak, but clamped her mouth shut again when she couldn't form the words.

"Later...For now, just try to get some sleep OK?" Derek said. Rain nodded. Derek reached towards the top of the bed and pulled the covers back for Rain. Rain climbed under the covers and laid her head down on the pillow. She looked as though she were on the verge of tears again. Derek lay down on Rain's right. Rain curled up beside him and laid her head on the front of his shoulder. Derek wrapped his arms around Rain her to comfort her. She snuggled closer to him and nuzzled his chest slightly, gathering warmth from his nearness. Rain's eyes slowly slid shut and she drifted off to sleep, feeling cozy and serene in her best friend's arms.

"Goodnight Rain." Derek whispered before he fell asleep too.

-End of Chapter 10-

Please review minna! Domo arigato!
-AlyRain.