"I love you, you know. From the very first time you walked into my class two years ago, I've loved you" Shane spoke as his hand searches for her bra. "I got you gifts for you birthday, I put cards in your locker for Valentine's Day. I offered to drive you home everyday, but you never loved me. You never went to a single dance with me, not one date. I have a room dedicated to you, for fuck's sake, you know that?!" he cried angrily. "But you, you little bitch, you don't deserve any of it. Now I'm gonna make you love me, I'm gonna make you."

Something wasn't right, his eyes widened. Something was missing; he felt rock hard abs, muscles, but no bra or breasts. 'Oh shit…' floated through his mind. How could he have made such a mistake? Just then he was elbowed hard in the ribs. Bending over slightly, his hand loot the hold on the mouth. He was slammed against the wall and the only thing he could see in the darkness were two blue orbs, dancing with Prussian fire.

"Omae o korosu"

* * *

Trin stood in the cold, dark, hallway. She leaned against the wall as she waited for Heero. He had sensed someone ahead and told her to switch places with him. She didn't protest, and he had proceeded to disappear. Standing in a deserted hallway where she could be attacked at any moment did not exactly appeal to her, but being around Heero was worse. With time she had learned to suppress her feelings, but she wished she could block them out all together. There was a time where she could be able to do that, but after meeting Heero she had seemed to lose that ability, and it angered her. She still envied him, wishing she could be like him; a perfect soldier with no need to worry about pesky things like feelings. She sighed in aggravation and shifted her weight to another foot.

She heard footsteps and turned, her fists ready. Trin relaxed as she saw it was only Heero. She saw blood seep out of the side of his mouth and raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to you?" she asked reluctantly.

He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand, "Nothing"

Ignoring the comment, she followed him down the hall.

"What now?"

"We find the others"

"Simple enough"

* * *

Duo was huddled in the corner of his cell where he was thrown. He didn't know how long it's been, there was nothing but darkness and pain for him. The sound of footsteps and someone calling his name brought him back to reality. He lifted his head and saw Trin.

"Duo" she called again in a hushed whisper. He stood unsteadily and staggered toward her.

"Hey Duo, you okay?" she asked, concern seeping into her voice. She reached through the bars and placed her hand on his.

He looked at her as if in a daze, his eyes blank.

"They took her" he said hoarsely and her eyes widened.

"Acire?" He nodded. "Where?"

"I don't know"

Trin saw he was hurting badly and she squeezed his hand reassuringly, even though her heart was beating fast on the inside.

"Don't worry, Heero'll be here to let you out in a few; he found Quatre, Trowa and Wufei in another cell. Then we'll find her"

As if on queue, Heero and the three other pilots came running down the hall toward the cell Duo was being kept in. Heero skillfully opened the lock on the cell with the blade he had borrowed from Trin, and did the same with Duo's handcuffs.

"Are you okay?" she heard Quatre's soft voice to her right.

"Yeah I'm fine, but they took Acire" she answered hastily, not taking her eyes away from the blade as Heero opened the handcuffs with it. He tossed it to her as he finished and she caught it easily. Duo's arms dropped to his sides, the same blank look lingered in his eyes. Trin watched him with sorrow, but turned to Heero nevertheless.

"We have to find Acire," she said flatly, "*now*"

At the mention of her name, Duo had seemed to be brought back to life. His fists clenched and his normally laughing eyes, flared with anger. Without a word, he took off down the hall.

"Hey! Duo!" Trin called after him, but he ignored her. She cursed heavily.

"Trowa and Wufei, get to the control board and disable the security. Quatre find our gundams, Trin, go with him." Heero barked, going into his soldier mode. "I'll find him"

Neither of them uttered an argument, as they all ran in separate directions. Trin followed Quatre as told, but she wasn't happy about it. Finding the gundams sounded hardly all that important, besides, revenge flowed through her veins. She craved vengeance like an addict craves for drugs. The feeling was all too familiar to her, but she made no attempt to suppress it. She was entitled to revenge, for what he did to her, for whatever he did to Acire. What he did to Duo. Heero. Yes, even Heero. Just because he didn't love her, didn't mean he deserved any of this. Didn't mean she didn't care what happened to him; if he lived or died. The last thought was the final straw. Without hesitation she turned, and soundlessly backtracked and followed the hallway Heero took. She slipped into the darkness so quietly Quatre hadn't noticed and kept running, unaware he was leaving her to defend for herself.

* * *

"What did you do with her?"

Duo had one of the men that had taken Acire by the throat, the others were unconscious on the floor. The guard glared at him, and he pressed harder.

"Answer me,"

Harder yet. Gasping for breath, the man pointed a shaky finger at the door to their left. Duo released his grip and the guard plummeted to the floor. He swung the door open. He was outside, and his first thought was that he had been tricked, but then his eyes fell on a fresh pile of dirt and shovels; his breath caught in his throat and his heart sank.

Grabbing one of the shovels, Duo began frantically digging the earth away. The blackened brown mass seemed endless, and he had lost all hope when his shovel hit something hard. He dug faster and in seconds uncovered a long coffin-like wooden box. The shovel dropped from his hands as he leaped down. The lid was heavy, but anger had given him extra strength. What he saw as he moved the lid out of the way, drained all the color from his skin.

In the small wooden space, lay Acire; her skin was pale, blood just beginning to congeal on the side of her forehead. Her upper body was partially covered by dirt; worms crawled through it, oblivious to their new residence. His gaze fell on her hands. Her fingernails were torn and bloody, as she must have tried to claw her way out. But the worst was her face, her eyes wide open, her mouth frozen in a silent scream.

"No," a choked cry escaped his lips. "No"

He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, as if that would put life back into her cold body. He pressed his mouth against hers, trying to force air back into her lungs. His hands pounded her chest, attempting to restart her long-stopped heart. He continued to routine, unable to accept the truth. Suddenly his hand slipped and he collapsed onto the corpse, tears choking him, blinding his vision.

* * *

The door opened easily as she pushed against it and ran into the room. Shutting the door behind her she froze and listened. A few pairs of footsteps passed the door and continued down the hall. She grinned; unnoticed once again. A dull glow came from behind her and she turned, to see that she was in a large lab. Tables lined with computers and chemicals covered most of the space. The computer nearest to her was the source of the light. She came closer and her eyes widened as she looked at the screen. On the left side of the monitor was a picture of her and a molecule of her DNA. On the right side, too quickly for her to register, came and went other pictures and molecules. The computer must have been looking for a match.

Her fingers curled into fists as anger flowed through her. Looking for a match, was he? With her DNA, was he? Well, she'd show him.

She reached down and tapped a few keys, interrupting the procedure. Working quickly, she deleted all her files from the database. Then a thought struck her, and she did a quick search for Acire's files. As they came up one by one, she deleted them. As she finished she smiled with satisfaction and as she turned to leave, came face to face with a guard, his gun pressing into her gut.

"Don't move a muscle"

She blinked. Was he serious?

With one swift kick, his gun flew across the room and smacked into a wall. A smirk spread across her lips. Too easy.

Without his gun the guard wasn't half as confident. He backed away as she walked toward him and bumped into a table. As he looked up, his face met her fist and he fell to the floor unconscious. Pathetic.

With a final distasteful look, she turned and left the room. In the hallway a half circle of guards, all armed, greeted her.

'Damn'

* * *

Heero ran down the hall, not really knowing where he was going, but his instinct told him to go that way. Suddenly an ear-piercing siren sounded and red emergency lights flashed. He cursed. It was only a matter of time before they found them missing. He ran faster. A heavy oak door loomed ahead of him and he kicked it open. Heero found himself in a large room. Hardly lit, and seemed to be the only place where bright red lights didn't flash in his eyes. At the far wall, on a small pedestal stood a heavy wooden desk. Behind it was a leather chair, its back facing him.

"Heero Yuy. I wasn't planning to see you until later but, welcome" It was the voice of the man in the mask, the one Heero found so familiar. The chair turned and for once, he was not hidden in the shadows and the light of a candle on his desk reflected off of the metallic mask that hid his face. A smile spread across his lips as he leaned his elbows on the desk.

"This is the last time I'm gonna ask this, who the hell are you?" Heero barked from his end of the room, the gun he had taken from a guard, pointed directly at the man.

His features –at least those visible- twisted in fury. His right hand shot out and the candle along with the candleholder flew off the desk. It fell to the floor and cluttered down the stone steps. A few miscellaneous papers caught on fire, but neither paid attention.

"You don't even remember any of them, do you? All the people you've killed. All the lives you've destroyed. Do you see their faces? Hear them scream in agony? *Do you?*"

His normally steady hand shook slightly and the gun had seemed to greatly increase in weight. The shadows in his mind began to float together again. Making a picture. Recreating a memory.

"I am Melody Kaichou's father"

**He turned his gundam just in time to see the Shuttle XZ6 574 crash into the ground. His entire body froze as he saw explosion after explosion erupt where the shuttle hit the earth. His eyes widened in horror as he realized that was the shuttle Relena was on.

"No! Relena!" he cried desperately. But he knew it was too late. There was no chance she could have survived *that*.

"Heero!" Duo's voice cut into his trance.

His eyes frozen with terror and disbelief looked up at the screen just as Duo connected him with a communication link the others had just received inside their cockpits.

"I hope this will be a warning to you all-" a shadowed figure on the screen spoke. Suddenly as he became aware of Heero he leaned forward in his chair slightly.

"Heero Yuy! You were supposed to be on Shuttle XZ6 574!" he exclaimed. "No matter. I will deal with you later, but let this be a lesson to you all"**

No. Impossible. Heero knew he had seen him before. He was the one who crushed Relena's shuttle.

His hands shook harder.

**'I'm not lost at all. I know exactly where I am. I'm just taking Mary here for a walk'**

That girl…She was so young…so helpless. So Melody was her name, huh? He hadn't even known.

Memories blurred his vision. The scenes replayed in his memory as if someone had pushed the 'repeat' button.

It wasn't his fault. It was his first mission. But he was careless. She never saw it coming. She didn't deserve it.

Heero's head dropped.

She had given him a flower and he gave her death.

* * *

Trin allowed the guards to drag her through the halls, letting them think they had succeeded in capturing her. She didn't see the significance of fighting them at this point. Even if she was able to take them down, she'd be tired and most likely injured in the end. Plus, they were all armed, and getting shot didn't really appeal to her. Besides, she had a different plan in mind.

She grinned as the flashing emergency lights and the siren silenced abruptly. So Wufei and Trowa finally got to the control board. What took them so long?

"What the hell?" one of the guards shouted as they were bathed in the dim light of the backup system. "What happened to the goddamned security system?"

Murmurs of confusion answered him from the other guards and he frowned. Trin raised a sly eyebrow.

"Problem, boys?"

The guard behind her grunted and pushed her forward as they continued walking.

"Shut up if you know what's good for you" The comment made her smile. She knew what was good for *her*.

Once again giving them the illusion they were in control, she let them push her through the halls until they reached a heavy metal door. She was led through it and into a large room. Directly in front of her was a wooden desk and a figure sat in a chair behind it. They had entered from what seemed to be the back of the room and the only thing she could see over the high back of the chair was a metal mask on the person's head.

She smirked. Just like she had thought. Why waste time searching when she could be led straight to where she wanted to be?

But as she looked across the dimly lit space her breath caught in her throat. On the other side of the room was Heero; his arms and legs chained to a metal plate by heavy chains. His head was bowed and she couldn't see his face for his bangs covered it. He wasn't moving.

The chair turned, making a nasty squeal of metal against metal.

"Ah, Miss Silverlight. So glad you could join us." He stood and walked toward her, easily covering the small space between them. His hand reached up to brush her cheek and it took all the strength she had to restrain herself from breaking his neck. 'Not yet' she told herself, her fists clenching nevertheless.

After a moment he stepped back and waved off the guards.

"Lock the door behind you" he instructed.

A cold shiver ran down Trin's back. This wasn't a part of her plan, but no problem, she could work around it.

"What brings you here? I'd think you would be as far away from this place as possible, by now." he asked calmly as he walked around the desk and turned to glace at her over his shoulder.

She ignored the question.

"What did you do to Heero?"

His right eye glinted dangerously in the reddish light of the growing flame.

"It's not what I did, Miss Silverlight, it's what he did"

"Which would be?"

"He murdered my daughter"

* * *

A final shower of bullets swept down the remaining guards and Quatre was able to enter the hangar. As suspected, the gundams were lined up with Wing Zero and Deathscythe in the front and Shenlong, Sandrock and Heavyarms in the back. The only security visible to a naked eye was a thin see-through green shield that surrounded each gundam, but Quatre suspected there was more.

"Go to the security panel and see if you can-oh no,"

He had been so caught up in battle that he hadn't realized Trin was gone. Last time he checked she was right behind him, of course that was when they had first separated from the others. He ran his hand trough his blond hair. How could he have been so careless? But there was nothing he could do now except hope that she was okay or that she was with another pilot. With a sigh he started toward the security panel.

* * *

His daughter…? Trin remembered Heero telling her about his first mission the night after the incident at the mall. So he *was* telling the truth, then. This was not what she had expected. No double-cross, no stolen data; only a grieving father looking for revenge.

"He murdered her in cold blood and he will pay greatly for it"

Trin's head jerked up from her thoughts.

"It was an accident" she stated bluntly, her eyes burrowing into his until he turned his back to her.

"You don't even know what you're talking about."

She saw he was loosing his edge and pushed further.

"And you do?"

His hand twitched on the smooth surface of the desk.

"He killed my only daughter!" The unexpected cry made Trin jump. It was so full of angst and anger, it sent another icy shiver down her spine. He whirled around, his eyes burning with anger.

"*It ends today!*" His hand slammed on a tiny red button underneath the edge of the desk. The metal plate Heero was chained to began to glow; bluish silvery energy crawled up the sides and grabbed onto him like claws. It ran through his body as the plate began to spin, elevating slowly off the ground. Heero's head snapped up, his features strained with obvious plain.

"*He will experience all the pain he's cost anyone! Ever!*"

Trin stared up at Heero in dismay. His eyes forced open slightly and locked with hers for a brief second. The pain in them was unbearable; she had to do something immediately. Without thinking she lunged at the taller man in front of her. He fell forward and they rolled down the stone steps. Once on the floor, he pushed her away from him and began to get up. Trin jumped to her feet and kicked his ribs making him bend to the floor.

"Stop it! Now!" She cried, and he laughed. His arm moved quickly and grabbed her ankle. She cried out as her feet were pulled out from underneath her and she fell backwards onto the hard ground. Bright colors swam in front of her eyes as her head hit the floor. Through the loud ringing of her ears she heard the man get up and run. The next thing she knew there was an explosion and the room was filled with smoke. Another explosion followed and she was bathed in the red glow of the flames. The colors in front of her eyes subsided and she stood up unsteadily. She squinted, trying to find Heero but was nearly thrown off her feet by another explosion.

"Heero!" she called out shakily, but received no response. A bluish glow cut through the haze and she stumbled toward it. Beads of sweat ran down her face, it was becoming increasingly hot in the room. She winced as her right arm was licked by a flame and dove forward. She landed on her stomach and as she looked up, saw the metal plate with Heero strapped to it. She could hardly make out his shape in the smoke and the plate was spinning extremely fast at that point.

"Heero!" Trin yelled once again getting to her feet, she tripped and scraped her ankle, "Damn, Heero!"

She couldn't make out his face, but it was like he was in some sort of trance. A hoarse cry of pain sounded and she winced, recognizing Heero's voice. She couldn't even imagine the pain he must've been feeling, it would have to be unbearable for him to cry out. She knew she had to do something. *Now*.

* * *

Bits of debris, some on of fire, some just plain hot, showered down on Duo and he instinctually covered Acire. The unbearable cold of her body chilled him to the bone and he looked up slowly into her cold dead eyes. There was nothing that was alive there; all he saw was cold dark death. He felt a sharp pang in his heart as reality sunk it. She was dead, there was nothing he could do. No bad guy to kill, no special potion that would revive her. This was the hard reality and he felt powerless.

He bent down and kissed her forehead gently, then as he got up, ran his palm down her face, letting her eyes close and her soul rest. With a final sad look, he turned and ran toward the building as another explosion shook the ground.

* * *

Trin spun around once more in panic. Another set of bombs had gone off and the walls were starting to crumble. The switch that was used to activate 'the torture chamber' had been damaged and she had no idea as to how else she could stop it.

As a last desperate attempt to free him, she grabbed her blade and stabbed it into the machine up to the dragon's head. Sparks flew as the machine short-circuited. The chains opened and released Heero tumbling to the ground. Trin dove on top of him and both of them rolled to the side as the heavy metal plate fell to where they were just moments ago.

Trin pulled herself up on her hands and looked down at the pilot underneath her. His muscles were tense and his entire body twitched. She ran her hand down his cheek where skin opened and blood began to ooze. A couple more seconds and he would have been dead.

"You okay?" her voice came out strained and slightly shaken.

"Yeah" he replied trying to regain his posture, but his voice cracked.

A sudden explosion sent Trin falling onto him. His hands reached up and caught her, she felt him shake.

She became mesmerized by his eyes, as she often did, but this time she pulled away, remembering what had happened earlier that night. She stood and reached down to help him, but he brushed away her hand and stood up alone.

"We have to get out of here!" Trin shouted over the crackling of the flames and parts of the walls collapsing. "The building won't hold up for much longer!"

Heero nodded and looked around swiftly.

"There" he pointed to a staircase behind a partially collapsed wall and took off toward it without any further comment.

Trin rolled her eyes as if saying, 'I just saved the guy's life, the least he could do is say thanks', and ran after him.

Heero leapt over the collapsing stone easily and reached back to help Trin only to find her on his side smirking up at him. Fixing her with a cold glare he continued up the steps, missing the deathglare she sent him in return.

Taking two steps at a time they reached the top quickly and Heero kicked the door down without hesitation.

"Kuso," he cursed as they found themselves on the rooftop. Trin turned back to the stairway and immediately took a step back. The stairs, the walls, everything was engulfed in flames.

"Heero, what the hell do we do?" she cried, backing away as the flames grew.

He walked toward the edge and looked down.

"We jump"

* * *

Quatre grinned as he finally broke the code to the security panel. He tapped a few keys quickly.

"Security disabled" a computerized voice deadpanned.

The ground shook from yet another explosion as he jumped into Sandrock's cockpit after setting all the other gundams on automatic to follow his.

"Hey there buddy" Quatre smiled gently and ran his hand over the controls as the gundam came to life "Good to have you back"

* * *

"We *what*?!" Trin shouted as she crossed over to Heero "I'm sorry, did I mishear you? We *jump*?! Are you out of your mind?!"

Heero silently grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her so she was looking down at a tree that reached about to the fifth floor of the ten- story building.

"That'll break our fall." he explained.

"Oh." Trin stood dumbfounded "Are you out of your mind?"

Heero glared in exasperation. "It's either that or death. Take you pick."

Trin sighed.

"Well if you put it that way"

They took a couple of steps back and Heero outstretched his hand for her to take. She hesitated, but took it nevertheless. She swallowed hard. "Three...Two…One"

It took just four short steps to reach the edge and before she could prepare herself, they were falling through the air.

The ground came rushing forward at them and just as a thought floated through her mind that this wasn't a good idea, the tree jumped out practically out of nowhere. Heero's free hand reached out and grabbed a thick branch. Trin reached with hers as well but her sweaty palm slipped, tearing her fingernails and she continued falling.

As she opened her mouth to scream, she stopped with a jolt and suddenly found herself suspended in the air. She looked up, startled, just then remembering that Heero had her other hand.

Before she could do anything else, another explosion shook the ground and the building blew up from inside out. The branch cracked and they practically fell the last five stories, hitting the dirt. As explosion after explosion erupted through the base, Heero jumped to his feet and pulled up Trin roughly, dragging her after him.

They barely ran a few tenth feet as a final, almost nuclear-like blast erupted, sending them to the ground, Heero diving on top of Trin to shield her. A wave of fire swept above them along with a shower of rubbish and a flare of wind ruffled their clothes and hair.

Heero lifted his head slightly and seeing that they were out of danger, got to his feet, pulling up Trin along with him. They turned, and watched as the blaze engulfed the remains of the base, the highest flames licking the bottom of the night sky and the black smoke blowing over the moon. Neither noticed that Heero's hand was still on Trin's forearm. Five dots appeared in the sky, the five gundams nearing and two figures walked through the smoke, revealing Trowa and Wufei. Another figure neared as well. Duo.

Trin turned slightly, giving Heero a sly smile. "So it's over," she said.

"It's never over," he murmured back.

His other hand came up to rest on her shoulder. Her body jerked instinctually, but she hadn't noticed and Heero let it go. She knew she should pull away, but she couldn't. Her hand reached up to rest on his back. She knew he didn't feel for her what she felt for him, but at the moment she didn't care. She looked up into his blue eyes and he gave her a small, but real, smile. She smiled back. Their faces neared, then, a deafening blast filled her ears. A look of shock passed Heero's face and she saw genuine pain in his eyes for the first time. Something warm and wet trickled down her hand, the one she had around his back. She brought it to her face. Her hand was bloody. Heero's blood.

Her lip trembled, she looked up at him, a strong feeling of déjà vu sweeping over her. As if in slow motion, she looked over his shoulder and saw Shane standing there, jealousy and rage written on his blood-spattered face. His clothes were torn and black and he leaned to the side slightly.

Trin looked back at Heero, his eyes were glazing over. She reached into his jacket pulling out the gun he had taken from a guard. She aimed.

Another deafening blast pierced the air. Then another and another. The gundams had landed and the others were shouting to her, but she didn't hear them. Shane long had fallen, but she kept shooting the body and it would jerk slightly as the bullets hit it.

Finally, a dry click. The bullet chamber was empty. She lowered the gun and looked down. Heero was now on the ground, his lips parted as he struggled to breathe and blood flowed out of his mouth. The gun fell from her hand as she dropped on her knees next to him, burying her head in his chest.