The piece of the space fortress was descending too fast. There was no possible way he was going to be able to catch up with it. His shoulders slumped with defeat until her face flashed across his minds eye and the promise he made echoed in his ears.
I will protect you...
He gritted his teeth and gripped the controls once again. He wouldnt let it end like this.
"Mission Accepted."
The Wing Zero hurtled through space at a terrifying speed. The temperature in the cockpit was becoming unbearable as he approached the earths atmosphere and the unbelievabe forces tearing at the suit reverbated throughout his entire body.
Still he pushed on.
He brought his glare on the large mass of twisted metal and rock plunging towards earth. He felt the controls for the buster rifle rattle and vibrate in his sweat slicked palms, and it took all of his strength to keep his hands wrapped around them.
The target cursor flailed around wildly and he strained to get a perfect shot. All the while however, his thought were with her and he was muttering to himself without even realizing it.
"I will..."
"Wait! I-I-I dont want you to go!"
She hiccuped softly and her breathing became choked as tears threatened to stain her cheeks.
"I will..."
Anger flashed in her eyes, "No! Dont give me that! You dont have to do anything you dont want to do, you're worth more than stupid missions. You're worth more than that to me."
"I will..."
He closed his eyes and their last encounter replayed in his mind.
"Please come back!"
His gaze never left her even as the cockpit closed. "Relena, believe in me." He whispered.
"I will survive!" He screamed and fired the last thunderous bolt.
He didnt wait to see if his shot hit its mark, he wrenched the controls and forced Zero to come out of its fatal dive towards earth.
Consciousness was quickly slipping from his grasp.
Still, through the foggy haze of exhaustion and delerium that shrouded his mind, his last coherent thought were of her.
"Relena..."