A/N: AND THE MADNESS COMMENCES! Goodness the amount of hate Zechs got from the last chapter makes me feel absolutely guilty. And thanks Purdy, that's my favourite scene as well, I loved writing it!

Midge-14: *Pats Zechs head*
Zechs: *whimpers*
Midge-14: I'm sorry Zechs but the way the story's going you're gunna get creamed
Zechs: *cries* Why me!?
Midge-14: *shrugs* Well I've nothing against you personally but I need someone to make matters complicated and you're it. Oh and you might want to keep out of Sommer's way, I hear she's got a bigger frying pan.
Zechs: *Sweatdrops*

I'm quite worried how this chapter will be received because some people liked the drama in chapter 3 and some people wanted more funny so I really am trying to balance between the two. Please tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: Puh-lease...I'm a student, self-explanatory.

CHAPTER IV – The Mad Race for Space

Relena stirred in her bed and buried herself in her pillow. She felt terrible and her face was caked with tears. For a moment she couldn't remember why and then it all came crashing back to her…Heero never came. She felt something furry by her hand and grabbed it. It was the teddy bear he had given her. She had cuddled it close as she waited all night. By midnight she had begun to worry and by 2am she could barely keep her eyes open. She had fallen asleep crying and her heart felt like lead. He had promised…why didn't he come?

She finally got up though her senses felt heavy and simply ended up sitting on the edge of her bed and stared out the window as the sun rose over the horizon. She didn't even hear the knocking at her door nor did she register when the door opened and someone walked in.

"Relena?" It was Trowa's voice that finally snapped her out of her thoughts. She stood up as he walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, his green eyes full of concern, "Are you all right?"

She bit her lip but his words made her crack and she fell into his arms and hugged him tight. Trowa's eyes softened as fresh tears started falling down her cheeks, "He broke another promise…why would he do that? I waited all night…all night." Her knees buckled and Trowa sat her on the bed and brought himself level with her. "Relena, Duo came to see me this morning. He's downstairs and on the verge of collapse. He says that he's been looking for Heero all night but it's too late and he's probably gone by now."

"What do you mean he's gone?" She said with a small voice.

"The reason he never came to see you is because he's been reassigned to Space Colony L1."

~~~*~~~

I n the outer rim of the space colony L1, Governor Quatre Winner stood in the cabin and watched as Heero started unpacking his belongings, not that they amounted to much anyway since Heero never had many possessions. Quatre was currently visiting to attend a series of important meetings and had chanced to discover that Heero had just arrived from Earth. Being the caring friend that he was; he had dropped in to say hello and Heero had, in short straightforward answers, explained what had happened.

They were in one of the control sectors that manned the colony away from the artificial earth-like atmosphere maintained in the main area. The cold backdrop of space stared out at them from the window. Heero was glad at the sight, the Earth was beautiful but he loved looking out at space from the colonies because he felt home, lost among the countless stars.

"Heero…you can't just take this quietly." Quatre looked at him sadly. Heero straightened and looked at him, "It's my job," He simply replied.

"But what about Relena?"

"This is best for her."

Quatre shook his head, "Oh Heero, you could at least have talked to her about it. You two deserve to be happy after all you've been through."

"She'll find someone else who'll make her more happy than me," Heero stated. Quatre frowned, "And what about you?"

"The only happiness I was trained to understand comes from peace between the colonies and Earth."

Quatre threw his hands up in frustration, "You're hopeless!" Heero just continued unpacking quietly. "I'm going Heero, I have some important appointments to keep but I'm coming back. Sally and Wufei are here too… I hope we'll all get some sense into you."

Heero didn't reply and Quatre sighed and left, the door swishing shut after him. Heero paused and stared out the window. Space, unlike the Earth seemed so vast that it made everything seem lonely. He fought down the feeling that rose in his chest and squashed it with a wilful determination stemmed from the thought that what he was doing was right, "Goodbye Relena…" He said sorrowfully.

~~~*~~~

" I can't believe this!"

Duo and Trowa tried to calm the angry Vice Foreign Minister down as she paced her bedroom in a rage. "How could this happen!?"

Duo looked weary and rough, "If you could only have seen the look on his face princess. He thinks he's not good enough for you now." Relena put her head in her hands, Oh Heero, don't run away, you'll always be good enough for me.

"God, I searched everywhere but when that guy's on the move …" He fell on Relena's bed tiredly and was promptly dragged back to his feet by Trowa who told him he was dirtying the sheets. Duo yawned and nodded.

Relena whirled around, "Why does nobody care what I want or what I think? Why does being Vice Foreign Minister mean I always have to live for others and never for myself?" She clenched her hands, "What else did Milliardo say?"

Trowa shook a sleepy Duo who snapped awake, "Wha? Err…something about him not being a flowers and hearts type and that any relationship would be short-termmmm…" Trowa shook him awake again, "…aaaand that he would break your heart or something by not living up to your expectations…" Trowa let go of Duo who fell to the floor snoring. Relena was shaking with anger. "Everybody thinks they know what's best for me! Well this is the last straw!" She grabbed Duo and started shaking him, "Duo! I need you to get me a ride out of here, can you do that?" Duo saluted, "Yes princess," He got to his feet sleepily. Relena jabbed a finger at Trowa, "Trowa, I need you to call the office and tell them I'm taking a vacation as of today, get me as much time as you can. After that, I need you to arrange me a shuttle to outer space." Relena had that Heero look in her eyes, a look that brooked no argument and was unstoppable. Duo rubbed his eyes, "Are we going somewhere?"

Relena smiled, "We're going to the L1 colony to find Heero."

~~~*~~~

Oh no you don't, Zechs thought to himself as he watched the security monitor showing Duo, Trowa and Relena in her bedroom. He had seen Trowa let Duo in and had listened in on the braided pilot's tale. Personally he was proud that Yuy took the initiative to leave immediately. Worried that Relena might do something irrational he decided to check up what was happening and was dismayed to see the events unfold before him. Noin stood behind him with her arms crossed and a frown on her features. Zechs reached over and typed a number on the vidlink. Lady Une's face appeared. "Yes Merquise, what can I do for you?"

Zechs tapped his finger on the terminal, "I need to stop Relena from going to outer space."

"Zechs this is going too far," Noin protested but Zechs ignored her.

Une's eyebrows went up, "What? Why would you want to do that?"

"This is important. She's abandoning everything to find Yuy and I need to stop her."

"Is she resigning?"

"No."

"Well," Une looked put out, "I can't see the harm…"

"Neither can I," Noin interjected.

Zechs growled, "She's not in the right frame of mind. She's distraught, emotional and she's doing something rash so help me stop her and give her time to think about things rationally."

Une went silent and looked from Zechs' determined face to the distraught face of Noin behind him. She pursed her lips and opened her mouth to express what she really thought about the matter but she simply said, "I'll see what I can do." Her image vanished from the screen.

Zechs stood and began to walk out when Noin's hand on his arm stopped him, "Zechs can't you let her go just this once? Is this really worth it?"

Zechs gave her a frown, "She believes in him but what'll happen if he lets her down? I can't stand to have her defeated in any way. All of us have made something of our lives, I have yet to see him make something of his. Now are you coming with me or not?"

Noin let go of his arm in defeat, "I'm coming with," she sighed but directed a stern look at his back, but that doesn't mean I agree with you.

~~~*~~~

L ady Une sat back in her chair and flexed her fingers as she considered her next course of action. Zechs was formidable and she needed to play this right without throwing herself in the line of fire. She dialled a number and a Preventer's face popped up, "Preventer Simmons, any flights booked for the Vice Foreign Minister need to be cancelled." The man looked taken aback, "Ma'am?"

"Yes, I'm afraid there's a security risk that the Minister isn't aware of. I'll inform her shortly." She explained. The Preventer nodded and went off-screen. Une's fingers went quickly to work, dialling another number.

"Hello?" Came a silky thin voice. An image of a woman with long blond hair and dark eyebrows came on. Lady Une put her chin on her hands. "I believe a situation has come up regarding a certain Preventer and the Vice Foreign Minister and I may need your help."

The woman looked interested, "Oh really? Please do tell."

"First things first, I believe you have access to a private shuttle?"

"I do."

"Okay this is what I need you to do…"

~~~*~~~

R elena stuffed her belongings in a small bag hurriedly. Her phone began ringing and she picked it up.

"Princess, your ride's waiting out back…hurry!"

"I'm coming," She answered quickly and threw a few more things in before zipping it up. She slung it around her body and opened the window, crawling out. She shimmied down a nearby pipe shakily, nearly losing her grip a couple of times. Come on, if Heero can do it then so can I, she thought. She raced across the grass till she reached the bushes. Max came running up from behind her and barked joyously. She put a finger to her lips and he whined. She pushed aside the leafy foliage creating a gap which she began to squeeze through when Max gripped the bottom of her jeans and pulled her back out, growling in his throat.

"Let me go Max!" She demanded crossly, "I have to go." He whined again and she snorted in frustration, "Fine, come with me then." He let go and bounded through the gap she was holding open.

Duo was waiting in a black car a short way down the street looking awake and alert. Relena opened the door and Max jumped in barking happily. She sighed and clambered in after him. The car sped off without a pause.

"Hilde what are you doing here?" Relena fought off Max who was climbing over her and licking her everywhere. The dark-haired girl turned back and grinned at Relena, "Duo told me and I had to come along. It's a love story come true and I wouldn't miss it for the world," She had a crazy gleam in her eye that made Relena uneasy. "Err…well I'm glad you're here I guess." Hilde reached back and gave her a hug, "We'll let nothing stop us! Right Duo?" She said loudly. Duo grinned back, "Got that right sweetheart." Relena groaned inwardly, she had a bad feeling about this.

The vidlink in the car started flashing and Duo flicked the switch. Relena leaned over the seat to see. Trowa's face appeared. "Hey, is everything all right?"

"You betcha'. Princess is secured, now we need you to tell us which spaceport to go to."

Trowa's face revealed nothing, "All your flights have been cancelled and apparently, there's a security risk regarding your safety so I don't have clearance to get you another."

"WHAT!?" Three voices simultaneously yelled. Relena clenched her fists, "Someone's trying to stop me." Milliardo, she thought and then, How dare he?

"However," Trowa continued, and here he hesitated which immediately made the three attentive. "I was shortly contacted by Miss Catalonia who also has got wind of the situation. She has offered the use of her private shuttle."

"WHAT!?" The three voices sounded again.

"Duo, make your way to her estate."

"Read you loud and clear buddy," Duo affirmed.

"See you there," Trowa nodded and signed off.

"I didn't know Dorothy had a private space shuttle," Relena said incredulously, "Even I don't have a private space shuttle!"

"She inherited it. The Dermail estates had a small spaceport built for emergencies and she uses it to go see Quatre every once in a while," Duo smirked. Hilde and Relena gaped at her.

"You never told me that," Hilde whined and was comforted by Duo leaning across and giving her a quick kiss, "Sorry babe, I guess it never came up."

Relena leaned back in her seat and rubbed her temples tiredly. Max pushed his head into her lap and wuffed.

~~~*~~~

Z echs stormed into Une's office. "I can't believe this! I've called the Darlian Manor and Relena's run off! Nobody knows where she is."

Une looked up at him calmly, "Well perhaps she wanted a vacation. That girl has a lot of responsibility riding on her shoulders, it's natural she'd want a break from it all."

"A break!" Une could almost see the steam coming out of Zechs' ears. Noin was clutching his arm and trying to get him to calm down. "I've got to find her and there's only one place she'd go; the L1 colony."

"I thought you told me to cancel all her flights," Une sipped her coffee. "How could she possibly go to space?"

Zechs wagged his finger at Une, "Don't underestimate her, she's found a way. This calls for desperate measures. Une, I need you to prepare a shuttle to take me to the L1 colony immediately."

"All right but I'm coming with you."

"What?" Zechs and Noin blinked at her. I want to see this, she thought and stood up gracefully and gestured, "My Preventer agents are involved in this fiasco as well and need to be brought to justice. We'll get a shuttle prepped and ready. We can all leave whenever you are ready." She sipped her coffee again.

Zechs' face set in grim determination, "Let's go."

~~~*~~~

T he car pulled up in the massive drive of the estate and the blond woman greeted them at the door. "Relena what an honour it is to see you."

"Dorothy, thank you for helping us."

"Not at all Relena, you know how I love to play my part as the match maker." She smirked and held the door for them all.

Relena, Max, Duo and Hilde filed in one after another and Dorothy's eyebrows rose. "My my, we've gathered quite a crowd."

Hilde looked at Dorothy as if to say she had as much right to be here as everyone else until Duo ushered her along. Dorothy closed the door and turned to Relena. "I'm afraid I have bad news. My sources have confirmed that Mr Milliardo is also planning to board a shuttle so we must make haste."

Relena paled, "Oh god! Let's hurry."

"Right this way," Dorothy led them through the vast corridors of the estate and down underground. The massive cellars of the estate were more like hangars for storing mobile dolls. Since the end of the war, Dorothy had cleared them all out but the space shuttle remained; in case of emergencies of course. Trowa stood waiting for them.

"Duo and me will pilot," He said shortly, "You ladies get in and belt up."

Everyone complied and Dorothy flicked a few buttons at the control panel. The roof of the cellar opened out and the whirr of machinery sounded as a huge curved runway began to extend up into the sky. Dorothy joined the others in the shuttle and belted in.

"Impressive isn't it?" She couldn't resist saying. The others nodded mutely and Trowa's voice broke over the intercom. "We're ready to take off."

Max whined again and buried his head in Relena's lap as the engines of the shuttle kicked into gear.

Heero…I'm coming.

A/N: The next chapter will be up shortly as soon as I hear what you guys think of this one and screw up my courage to continue :S