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Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

For the heart I once had

Chapter 7

It was way past midnight when Trowa's phone pinged and alerted him. It was the app he had installed that was connected to the mansion's alarm system. He unlocked the screen and cursed under his breath when he saw a dark shadow moving through the main hallway at the back of the house.

He pulled his gun from the waistband of his sweatpants and quickly called Aalia. She was quick to pick up but her voice was groggy from sleep. "What's the matter?"

"There's an intruder in the house," he said as he soundlessly crossed the kitchen. He made sure to keep his voice low, so that the intruder wouldn't pick it up. "Get your gun and come downstairs."

A quick check told him the intruder had moved towards the east wing. "He is in the east wing."

"Okay…" Aalia was up and moving. "I'll take the stairs in the west wing to avoid him. Where are you?"

"In the kitchen."

"I'm on my way."

Trowa hung up and checked the app again. He cursed when he noticed the intruder had moved back from the east wing and was now moving down the main hallway again. If Aalia crossed it towards the kitchen, she'd become a target for sure. He quickly texted Wufei to let him know about the situation, and then slid his phone into the pocket of his sweats.

Trowa crossed the kitchen again and walked through the dining room and into the living room. If he used the door in the back to enter the main hallway, he'd end up behind the intruder and could take him out without alerting him.

He narrowed his eyes and clicked the safety on his gun off. It had been stupid to go downstairs, he told himself. He'd been unable to sleep and had gone to the kitchen for some water and to sit in the quiet for some time. And now Aalia was in danger because of him.

He pressed his back against the wall and crept along it towards the open doorway. His eyes had long since adjusted to the dark, and he froze when he caught a shadow of movement. The intruder had left the hallway and had walked into the living room.

His heartbeat sped up, adrenaline coursing through his body as he quietly stepped forward. This man clearly was no friend, judging by the gun he held in his hands.

Knowing he still had the element of surprise on his side, Trowa launched himself up in the air.

-x-x-x-

Aalia quietly inched down the hallway towards the staircase in the west wing. Her heart was beating a mile a minute as she moved through the darkness. The house was quiet, and the unease in her belly nearly had her knees quivering. She was terrified.

She knew Trowa would do his best to protect her, but still her years at the cruel hands of Razouli crept up on her. She halted and pressed her back against the wall, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She needed to get to Trowa and it wouldn't do any of them any good if she arrived like a frightened rabbit. She tightened her grip on her gun and noticed her hands were slick with sweat.

Calm… Stay calm…

She started to descend the staircase, carefully testing each step before putting her weight onto it. She briefly allowed herself another moment when she reached the bottom, before moving down the hallway towards the main part of the house.

Trowa had to have alerted Sally and Wufei, she guessed. The two of them had been hot on the assassin's heels, but he had been able to evade them and had gone off radar. They had been chasing leads all over the L4 cluster the past few days. But now he was here. Aalia was sure it was the assassin and not some random burglar. It was too much of a coincidence.

Gun at the ready, she rounded the corner and turned into the long hallway that ran down the central wing of the house. She quietly moved down the hallway towards the kitchen. Trowa had said he was there, but when she carefully pushed open the door, the kitchen turned out to be empty.

The sound of a scuffle reached her ears and she quickly pressed herself back against the wall, squeezing her eyes shut and frantically trying to keep her breathing under control.

But she couldn't stop a terrified gasp from escaping as a gunshot shattered the silence in the house. It had sounded way too close for comfort. The living room…

Gathering all her courage, she pushed away from the wall and approached the open door towards the dining room. She made sure to keep her footfalls light and quiet as she crossed the kitchen, and stuck her head around the doorway. None… She swallowed thickly and inched into the dining room with wildly beating heart. Dread tied her stomach into knots. Something was not right.

The living room was deadly silent when she stepped into it. She carefully crept through the darkness, avoiding furniture.

She tripped over something and lost her footing, gun clattering against the hardwood as she found the ground coming up to meet her. She quickly scrambled for the gun, wrapping her trembling hands around it as she scooted back into the corner of the room. Her heart nearly stopped in her chest when she heard footsteps moving into the direction of the living room from the hallway.

Suddenly she realized that the thing she had tripped over was not a piece of furniture. The smell of blood was in the air, thick and coppery and it made her stomach roll. The panic settled for real this time when she realized that the footsteps that were coming for her weren't Trowa's.

She carefully moved away from the corner, crawling back towards the place where she had tripped. Tears burned in her eyes as her fingers touched the sticky wetness that pooled on the ground. The smell of blood was sickening and nearly had her retching. There was so much of it. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as she realized that she had tripped over Trowa's body…

-x-x-x-

The assassin heard the girls breathing, labored with panic. She was sobbing, trying desperately to be quiet. Of course, he had long since heard her.

The panic radiated off of her as he gazed around the doorpost and found her kneeling over the man's body.

He'd been damn lucky. This man had completely surprised him, jumping through the air as if gravity had no effect on him. He almost had not heard him move. The man's eyes had glittered with ferocity in the darkness, and it had been clear he'd do anything to protect the girl. Well, not much had come from that.

The assassin grinned darkly and inched into the room. Idiot should have worn a kevlar vest.

Now he was dead and could do nothing to protect Aalia Winner. She was left at his mercy. He was still alive and he was going to kill the girl. Slowly, like Razouli had ordered him to do. He was looking forward to it and the prospect had his hands itching.

-x-x-x-

Aalia scrambled away from Trowa's body, while tears rolled down her cheeks. He was going to die and the assassin was still around. She quickly wiped at her tears, not caring if her cheeks got smeared with blood.

She had to stop him.

The assassin entered the room with a smirk on his face, no longer caring about being quiet. His expression was terrible, as if he was looking forward to getting his hands on her. The terror clawed at her body and made her tremble to her bones, but she did her best to fight it down. She had to try and remain calm.

Realizing that he probably assumed she was unarmed, she kept her gun out of sight.

"What do you want from me?" she asked with a trembling voice.

The assassin's smirk widened. "I'm paid to do what my clients ask. I don't care about my victims."

She scooted backwards against the wall when he took out a knife and held it up for her to see. It flashed cold and silver in the moonlight that fell through the windows. "I'm going to have so much fun playing around with you."

She had to get him out of the room if she wanted to keep his attention away from Trowa. She bolted up and moved alongside the wall, back towards the dining room. He stalked her, grinning madly as he did so. He seemed to find her scrambling amusing. Gasping with panic, she made a dash for the door. She screamed when he jumped onto her and knocked her to the ground, his hands shackling around her ankles. Another scream tore from her throat when he drove his knife into her calve.

The pain was searing and she nearly lost consciousness as her body threatened to shut down. She managed to twist onto her back. She was weakened by the pain and moving her injured leg made her head spin. Stay strong, she told herself, even though she barely could get enough air into her lungs. The assassin scrambled and tried to move over her, but she managed to raise her leg and kicked him in the face.

He cursed and a pained groan escaped her.

He sat up and pulled his knife free from her leg, which nearly caused her to black out again. Through sheer will she managed to keep her vision steady, and aimed her gun at his head.

"I will never let you take my life," she hissed and fired.

His body convulsed with the impact and landed on the floor with a dull thud. Blood pooled around it and she didn't need to check to see if he was dead.

She scrambled up and bit back a scream as pain lanced up her leg. Blood was oozing steadily from the wound, but she had to get to Trowa first. She limped over to where he lay and collapsed beside him.

"Trowa?" She touched his cheek.

He didn't react. His body was stone cold and his face pale and ashen looking. She dug his phone out of his pocket and pressed the speed dial button.

Wufei answered immediately. "Trowa?"

"No, it's Aalia," she managed to choke out. "Trowa is hurt."

"Shit. We're almost there. Can you put me on speaker?"

Aalia did as he asked and lowered phone down on the floor. "H-he's been shot."

"I'm paging for an ambulance as we speak." Sally's voice came through the speaker. "Where's he been shot?"

"The chest…"

"Shit. Is he still breathing?"

Aalia felt along de side of Trowa's throat with trembling fingers, searching frantically for a pulse. She sighed in relief when she felt it throbbing faintly beneath her fingertips. "Yes…"

"Okay, that's good." Sally sounded just as relieved as she felt. "I need you to put pressure on the wound. Preferably with a piece of cloth, to stop the flow."

"I-" Aalia looked around frantically. One of her sweaters was hanging over the side of the couch! She bolted up to retrieve it and then knelt next to Trowa again, pressing the fabric against the bullet wound. "Okay. I got it."

"Good. You're doing great Aalia." Sally's praise was meant to soothe, but it did little to stifle the terror and fear.

"Please, Trowa," she whispered on a sob. "Don't die on me."

"Aalia…"

His voice was so weak she could barely hear him over her own frantic breathing. But his eyelids were fluttering and she sound herself stifling another sob.

"I'm here."

"Is he…"

"He's gone."

He was still struggling to open his eyes. "Good…"

"Try to stay awake, okay?" she pleaded with him. "Wufei and Sally are on their way."

No sooner than she'd said it, she heard a loud cracking sound before the front door slammed open.

"Aalia?" Wufei called out.

Running footsteps entered the main hallway.

"Over here!" she called. "In the living room!"

She turned her attention back to Trowa and found that he had slipped into unconsciousness again. "Trowa!"

He didn't react to her frantic call. His body was cold and his breathing shallow. Fear squeezed like a fist around her heart. She couldn't lose him like this!

"Please…" her voice dropped to a soft whisper as her vision swam with tears. "I love you…"

Wufei and Sally came racing into the living room and Sally was quick to take Trowa's other side.

"Aalia, you're hurt," Wufei said when he noticed the blood dripping onto the floor from her wound.

She wildly shook her head. "I'm fine… Take a look at Trowa first."

Sally pried her hands away from Trowa's chest and lifted the sweater to check the bullet wound. "It doesn't look like it hit anything major, but he's loosing a lot of blood."

Wufei opened the first aid kit they had brought with them and made quick work of bandaging Aalia's leg, before he helped Sally to stabilize Trowa.

"The ambulance should be here soon," Sally reassured her.

"I-I'm so scared…" She broke all over again, tears streaming down her face as the enormity of what had happened hit her.

"Hey." Wufei squeezed her shoulder. "You did great. Try to breathe slowly."

She nodded and sniffed, wiping her cheeks on the sleeve of her shirt. She willed herself to ignore the way the fabric got tainted with blood.

It wasn't long before sirens could be heard outside and soon paramedics were rushing into the house.

Sally's face was grim as she addressed the men. "We need to move him now."

- End chapter 7 -