Relena's heart filled with an incomprehendable grief as she stared over at the crushed village. Walls had crumbled into one another, people were on the ground, bleeding or worse...
"No," she whispered faintly. "No, this can't be."
She had seen nothing from her place on the balcony. The city had been perfectly intact, it had even seemed bust and bustling with activity from the palace balcony when she had decided to take a walk.
But her walk had led her to death and destruction.
Her gaze shot to the killing machine. The defeated Gundam lay on its side, it's shut-down eyes staring blankly at her. The giant seemed to wish it were dead.
"Heero!" she cried. she lifted up her skirts and ran frantically to the Gundam's stomach. "Heero, are you alright in there?!"
No reply. Her hand turned into fists and she banged them frantically against the door. It wouldn't open.
The skin on her hands split, and blood trickled down her forearms are she slammed her fists harder and harder into the gundanium alloy.
"Heero, please," Relena sobbed, her voice getting hoarse. "Heero, please, oh please, God, come out...answer me!"
A noise. A faint, whispered sound came from deep within the metal tomb.
Fwooooossshhhh.
The door opened, and Relena took a step back. Blackness. Darkness was all that could be seen as she peered tentatively inside the Gundam's cockpit.
In the corner of her eye, Relena saw something drip from the corner of the door. Crimson.
"Oh, God," she gasped. The crimson liquid made a lake around her feet, staining her shoes forever in scarlet red blood.
"Re...Rele...na..." came a choked voice from within the blackness.
The figure's head fell back, and it's shoulders started to heave, but no other sound escaped from it.
"Oh, Heero," Relena said softly, her hand flying to her mouth. Was he really hurt that badly? "Heero...tell me what happened."
She took a step closer, looking deep inside the cockpit. Tears suddenly blinded her eyes again, and she turned her head away.
Blood was dripping down his temples, reivers, they seemed. The flowed down his temples, down his neck, soaking his pilot's uniform. No one could be alive with such injuries...no one!
He looked...dead.
That thought struck fear into Relena's heart, spiked her so sharply and vividly that that her world reeled. Not Heero! He couldn't die, Heero Yuy was invincible...
"I'm going to get an ambulance," she whispered, and then turned to rush off.
"Relena, wait."
A bloodied hand grabbed Relena's wrist. She stared down at it, bile rising in her throat...it was as though a corpse were trying to pull her down into its grave.
"Yes, my Heero?" she asked, feeling ashamed at the thought.
"Tell...tell the others that...it was...Sage," he gasped through his pain. "Sage...attacked."
Anything, my love, she thought. I'll do anything for you...
She took his hand, turned it around and pressed his palm to her lips.
"Try to hold on," she commanded. And she turned on her heel and ran.
"Dammit. Cocky, very cocky," Lieutenant Griffon muttered under his breath. He watched as the child was hooked up to the training device.
"What is it, Griffon?" Colonel Richard Gyres asked. He had obviously heard the off handed remark.
"Hmm? Oh yes. Sir." Griffon turned back to the child as the child was given a taste of the ZERO system. The child fell to one knee, grunted, but placed a hand in front to steady the balance. "I said, sir, that maybe Crow is over doing it with the subordination. Sir."
Gyres smirked, turned to Crow. The child was amazing, Gyres had to admit. Only one year into training, and the child was already far more advanced than any of the other training Sage Soldiers.
"This kid's gonna do wonders for us, Griffon," Gyres hailed. "I don't care if this kid goes up against our ranks, just as long as the enemy is caught off guard."
"Yes sir. But Crow--"
"Crow is our main weapon," Gyres interrupted. He smiled smugly, but his eyes wore a certain stern chill that froze Girffon's blood. "Oh, yes. Sage's pride and joy."
Griffon saluted and clicked his heels together. "Sir, yes sir. Would you like to prepare for the gundanium finish?"
"Hold it off for a little while, Griffon. I want to see how long Crow lasts with the ZERO system before the child steps foot into a Gundam."
Duo Maxwell yawned lazily and stretched back onto his reclining chair.
"Nothing like a relaxing day under the sun," he drawled.
"Unless you get sunburned," a voice behind him rang. "Or get Melanoma or something. Skin cancer can leave you in so much pain that it'll make you want to kill yourself."
Duo turned, rolled his eyes at Trowa. "What are you doing here? I thought you were gonna spend the whole day with that computer of yours."
"I decided against it," Trowa answered, slipping his thumbs through his belt loops. "A day like this makes you want to get out here and risk skin cancer."
Duo smirked, settled back down into his chair. The balcony had no roof over it, and the sun shone freely down on the two boys. The village wasn't far off, and the merchants and sellers were busy doing their work.
"Reminds me of a song," Duo mused.
"Please don't sing, Duo."
"Why not?" Duo asked, a little irritated. "I have a pretty good..."
Duo stopped. Trowa straightened, frowned. They both strained their ears to listen again for the sound.
"Is that Relena?" Duo asked.
"Mr. Maxwell! Mr. Barton! Anyone, please, it's extremely urgent!"
"She sounds panicked," Trowa muttered.
"Other than the fact that she's screaming at the top of her lungs on the west wing of the palace?" Duo asked sarcastically. "Gee, what makes you think that?"
They ran into the bedroom and down the marble hallway, their heels clicking on the freshly polished floor.
"Relena!" Duo called. He stopped, panting, and leaned against a wall. "Geez this place is huge!"
Trowa disappeared around the corner.
"Found her!" he yelled.
Duo turned the corner and found Relena panting, gasping for air.
"What is it?" Trowa asked, grabbing her wrists. "Slow down, take a deep breath."
"Heero," Relena gasped out. She shook her head, seeming ready to cry. "Heero, in his Gundam...down in the village, he was bleeding..."
"What?" Duo asked. "Something about Heero and bleeding?"
"The village was attacked!"
Trowa and Duo stared. Then the rushed to the nearest window and glanced out at the village.
Which was perfectly intact. Children were playing out on the streets far off, and women were buying things at the stands.
Duo raised an eyebrow and his eyes wandered over to Trowa. Trowa shrugged.
"It's a trick," Relena said, slamming in between them to look out of the window. "I was taking a walk. It looked exactly like that before my walk, but when I arrive there, guards were posting up roadblocks. I managed to slip in without notice, and I found it was...destroyed."
"A hologram, then," Trowa concluded. "If what you're saying is true, then there's a possibility we've got enemies."
"Hey, hey, hold on there, buddy," Duo said. "We're not sure that they're enemies. They might've attacked the village for a totally different reason."
Trowa stared blankly at him. Then, "For what, Duo?"
Duo shrugged. "I dunno, maybe they don't like the clothes the people over there wear?"
"Be serious, Mr. Maxwell," Relena urged. A worried look crossed her face. "Heero is hurt, and I think he's going to need medical assistance."
Trowa shook his head. "This is bad. We have to get in touch with Quatre."
Crow stared up at the ceiling of the craft. It was rather large, and extremely heavy to a pilot Crow's size. A Gundam, they had called it.
Gundam Echo. Envisioned and Controlled Holocaust Order.
It was larger than a mobile suit, and much more advanced. Crow was glad that Colonel Gyres had let the ZERO system take affect before stuffing the likes of this soldier into a Gundam.
The ZERO system. That horrid, borrible system that had made Crow hallucinate, nearly throwing the child into the brinks of insanity and pain.
But Crow was a soldier. Young, but fully trained.
Crow could handle that dreadful system any day.
And then this child, as everybody insisted on calling Crow, was going to have a fresh first impression on the people of the colonies, especially the L4 cluster.
But not exactly a good one.
Heero shook in pain. He leaned foreward in his seat, letting the belt straps around his shoulder support him.
Such pain, such horrible pain...
He gasped as another spasm of it hit bis body. A wave of nausea crossed over him, and he swung back to lean against his seat instead of the belts. Sweat and blood started to trickle down into his eyes.
"Start surrouding the Gundam!" a voice shouted. "We're going to close off any means of escape for the pilot."
Heero peered painfully out into the village from within the darkness of his cockpit, and he saw men starting to post themselves around him and the Wing ZERO.
Heero started to pant from the sting that weaved throughout his body. He glanced to his left. The self-destruct was still optional. He grunted against the anguish and pressed the animate button. Lights suddenly surrounded him, Wing ZERO had activated up.
"The pilot's up to something, sir!" a voice rang out.
"ZERO..." Heero exhaled. "Are you still...optional?"
Heero started to cough, a wet, hacking cough that projected a stream of blood that splattered against his screens.
"He's concious! How can anybody be concious after an attacked like that?"
I hope this works, he thought in torment.
"He went against at least sixty to seventy of our cloaked mobile suits!"
Cloaked. No wonder I couldn't see them. But the radar on ZERO...
Heero rammed his left fist into the wall, slamming into the self-destruct button. It made a few beeps, and Wing ZERO started to light a deadly red.
"Oh no! He's self-destructing! Everybody, move out!"
"Work," Heero begged, spitting blood out of his mouth. A stream dribbled down his chin, down the front of his shirt, spreading a red blossom against his chest to match with the ones already down his shoulders.
Then ZERO began to shut down. One by one, the lights flickered off, and the hum of the engine died down.
"Aarrrrggghhhh!" Heero cried in frustration. He slapped his hands against the sides of his head. "Shit! No!"
Tears started to stream down his cheeks, mixing with blood and sweat as he shuddered in pain.
"Damn it, ZERO," he more sobbed than screamed in lost hope.
Flash...Terror shone in Relena's eyes, but then it flickered into sorrow. She took his hand, turned it around and pressed his palm to her lips.
"Try to hold on," she had said.
"Enclose the Pilot within the cockpit!" a voice commanded.
ZERO, Heero thought in his mind. He could no longer speak, it was much too painful for him to bear. Don't let them take you, because I can no longer do anything about it. It's up to you now. Up to you.
And then he slipped into the blackness of oblivion, where the mental and physical pain he'd had to endure was irrelevent.
Duo ducked down as he watched Wing ZERO glow red.
"He's self-detonating," he whispered harshly to Trowa.
"Heero," Relena said softly, with worry, as she started to walk foreward.
"Miss Relena." Trowa grabbed her wrist firmly, and she stared back at him. "I wouldn't advise you to get any closer to the Gundam than you already are."
"Why'd she come, anyway?" Duo asked, putting his fingers in his ears and shaking his head.
Heero, Duo warned his friend in his mind. Don't be a fool...
Suddenly, ZERO started to shut down. The red glow vanished, and ZERO's eyes blinked off and out.
"It didn't work," Trowa perceived.
"Are you sure?" Duo calmly asked, being sarcastic.