They were running

They were running. They had been running for a long time it seemed now. How could it have really come to this? It had seemed that the pacifism which had been discussed so long ago had been about to become a reality, and yet here they were in this lost a once again plagued world: running. He hated running. There was no honor in this weak thing. If not for who they were protecting by running, he would have long since given up on the run and turned to share the fate that had taken the other soldiers who had been with him at the time; so much for a preventing society.

It had been a long campaign to even be able to run, and as most of them thought back on it, the singular view of their comrade had not kept them from doing it. It had all been out spoken before, and had been overruled that they should fight this time instead of run: that might have been a better choice. The Neo Faction of The Zodiac was not as forgiving as their former existence had been. NFZ had taken it upon them to have personally handled the execution of the 5 scientist; only three years after the war had ended.

Running seemed easy to do; indeed it was the most logical thing to do. Heero kept his eyes sharp and let nothing pass his gaze, although they most likely did not know what direction they had gone in there could still be anyone out there. Abandoning the car had been one of the things that had saved their life, yet it might have been good—seeing as what the aftereffect had been. Even with her in his arms it didn't slow him. More likely it seemed to the other five to speed him along. Quatre, Duo, and Trowa all watched—while running. Wufei paid no attention at all: Yuy had always been able to do abnormal things: especially when it came to that woman.

Heeros' stoic gaze was not wasted on anything. Every now and again he would peek down at the woman he held in his hands bridal style. She was still semi-unconscious. That had been more his fault than anything else—or that was how he saw it. If he had been watching her when she had fallen she wouldn't have had the chance to hit her head. The others could see it plain on his face—though stoic, that he blamed himself for it.

"That's enough," Quatre looked around as they came into a secluded part of the place. "We have been running for well over an hour; if I'm right they won't know we are even in this direction."

A little huffing came from him as he stared around him. The surrounding area was filled with trees. A clearing right by a river, the road was not too far off either. That was the trick to this escape. They had expected them to escape cross country—jungle. Traveling near the road had thrown them for a loop.

"Well now, I should be the one to take the credit for that;" A sheepish grin was on Duo's face; one that would make a cheshire cat jealous. "Victoria was pretty easy to set up. No sooner than I pushed the buttons were we able to leave."

"That's because the person who was leading them was a woman." No one reacted to the sexist comment that was made. It seemed to be the usual mundane thing for the pony tailed man to say. "And also, I was the one who had originally blown this, so I'm the one to thank for that stunt." Wufei smiled a little at his small victory over Duo, whose once triumphant face now mixed embarrassment into it. "I'm still the one who set the bombs off." A small, usual comeback for the self proclaimed Shinigami.

"It's pretty much pointless who set the bombs off, and who blew the place in the first place. Stopping now would be a good idea however." A small shift in the usually silent warrior's head that pointed towards Heero and Relena was all the other Pilots needed before they began to sit down. Trowa didn't say much, but when he did, it was usually worth saying.

Heero, who was still standing, and who had gotten a little ways—enough not to hear the argument between the others, carefully set down Relena before taking off into the woods. Duo jumped and began to follow. "Heero, where ya going?" Usually the only one to ever be crazy enough to bother the perfect soldier, he was only a little bothered when that classic death glare looked at him. "Hey now, none of that; I was only asking."

Glaring at him a little more, Heero turned put his concentration on where he was going. The stream was not far away, and they were in a prime spot. Shade cooled the water below, and it looked cleaner than most rivers were. Not wasting anytime he grabbed a water bottle that had been hanging from his shoulders and dipped it into the water, letting the cool liquid pour into the canteen.

"Well, you know you could have just said you were going to get water, I mean it's not like we're enemies or something." The offhand remark drew no glace from Heero as he made his swift way back to the place where she was.

Upon returning he had noted that they had some wood ready for a fire, and Wufei was already at work lighting it. The smoke wouldn't be noticed; not with the others all around. An odd stand had been made here at Victoria, so if anyone saw smoke, they would most likely account it too a mobile suit that had been shot down.

Without saying a word to anyone he quickly returned to Relena, who was being cared for by Quatre. Tossing Quatre the water, he finally opened his mouth. "She's not hurt badly. And we should only rest here for a moment. Zechs and Noin will be waiting for us at the base." Another quick look around seemed to satisfy him. "If you guy's did your jobs right, then no one should have any reason to return to the Lake Victoria base."

The other shed him a quick look before they went back to doing what they were doing. I had been a classic escape. Out before anyone had even guessed where they would be going. The NFZ had already deserted the base, Relena had been the last one there, and with some body guards to make sure that their "Pickup" went smoothly. Bodyguards had not been enough.

No sooner had Heero caught on that she had been kidnapped again he had jumped strait into the fire. Luckily Quatre had been with him at the time; if not he would have come and made sure that Relena had been the only one to have escaped that place. As Duo had once said to them, "Anything at all for the one you love." Heero seemed to take that phrase to the next level.

Staking out the place for a couple of hours had been a breeze, and executing the plan had been easy. What had gotten them was the escape. Originally the plan had been to steal whatever transport had been planned to take Relena. Realizing that this would have been a bad idea, Duo—whose brains had been on the mission instead of food, came up with the idea to make them think they had stolen the plane. Dorothy and Sally should be landing the thing sometime in the next hour, and meeting up with them at Victoria.

Having sent the pursuit on a wild goose chase, Zechs and Noin had returned to Victoria to make sure that all was secure. The others had gone running. When they were the most wanted people in the entire universe, what else could be done? Hiding themselves had been a breeze; but when the Vice Foreign Minister had been kidnapped, they knew it was time for them to come out of their seclusion.

She had fought a long fight to see if the pilots of the 195 wars would be pardoned for their "treasons" against Oz, more like against the Rommerfeller Foundation. It had long been rumored that the only reason she had been tolerated was because of her influential power over the people. Now with the military powers that the New Oz had, there was no problem in "dismissing" away with the "woman".

After A.C 196 the Gundams had been destroyed; and with their destruction came the fall of the ESUN. Sure, against the Baton foundation alone they had been able to fight to the end. Traize Kushranada's spirit had been with them during that fight, and out of respect for their Excellency's memory that had cast down their weapons. This time around there was no Traize who would be able to help them. A society fully devoted to its cause; not to a man. The Barton and Rommerfeller foundation's working together had finally done it. Within one swift move they had taken out every single strategic battle point in the world. With the worlds lack of retaliatory powers it was too easy.

The Preventers had been trying their best to beat them, but with the most mediocre of equipment, they could not do much. It was only when a rumor had spread that the pilots of 195 were once again on the move did the world band together. A failing resistance had been formed. The current rescue of Relena had been one of their biggest victories against NoZ. Even so the pilots showed no real looks of victory in their faces. They were all worn, and tired.

"We did the job rig—" Relena shifted as they Duo had been talking. Heero, with a noticed haste, quickly walked to her side. A weak and whispered word escaped her mouth as she opened her eyes. "Heero…." Looking up at him she slowly rose to sit up from where she had been laying in the grass. Heero had been quicker to steady her rise than even Quatre—who was sitting right beside her.

"Don't waste too much energy talking. You were unconscious for a little." Heero didn't notice when Duo whispered to Wufei, "How come he never helped us like that when we were out?" Duo's sly grin gave away the answer, and even Wufei had to take a small laugh out of the implications that were made. "Because she's a woman, never been sure about you though Maxwell." The quick cut had been all that had been needed for the chestnut brown haired pilot to go off the edge.

"Hey, not cool!" Duo shoved Wufei a little to the side, and no sooner did he, than a bullet hole appear in the ground in front of them. Giving the bullet hole a glace was the last thing anyone was doing. Heero was already picking up and running off with Relena. The rest were scrambling. Shot's continued to fire from their unseen adversary.

"Sniper!" Duo was quick to be behind a tree as soon s he could. The bullet hole was not a small one, and it was clear that it had been shot from a distance. Pulling out his gun he turned to his other comrades. The Pilots looked at each other, giving Heero a quick nod they all spread out along the woods, each having their weapons cocked and ready. No sooner than Heero broke into the open to run with Relena clinging onto him did they break out a spread into the woods. This wasn't the first sniper they had dealt with…