Chapter Seven: To Live and Die by Your Side

Chase stood as Lee Ares stepped out of Lady Une's office. "I've told her all I know," he said quietly.

The small pilot gave him an encouraging smile. "And that's all she asked, I'm sure."

Ares looked as if he were thinking very hard on one thing. He closed his eyes, mind in turmoil. When he reopened them, they were hard, much like the night that he had come to take Chase away. "I want to go with you," he said, his voice slightly cracked.

"Excuse me?"

"I want to go with you and the Gundam pilots to take out Tyler."

"That's not necessary, Lee-kun. I wouldn't ask.."

"I know you wouldn't. That's why I'm offering. Une-sama said to ask all of you, because in the end, it would be all of your choices."

Chase nodded. "Well, we were all going discuss our plan of attack over dinner and then go into a meeting with Lady Une. I think you should join us for dinner tonight if you're serious."

"I'm very serious, Chase-san."

The pilot of the Galaxy nodded. "Be sure you know what you're getting into, Lee-kun. We can't promise your safe return."

"I understand fully."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I'd say no one has a problem with it," Heero said as he took a sip of his sake. He and Chase had been pleasantly surprised to find the Japanese rice wine on the ship some days ago.

"Then I hope I can only help," Ares responded. "I can show you detailed maps and tell you where to go for everything. I know the ship like the back of my hand."

"May I make a proposition?" Anna asked. Everyone nodded. "I say we try to shed as little blood as possible. Only Tyler, if at all possible. We should put this ship into the hands of its rightful captain."

Ares gave her an odd look and a sad smile when everyone nodded their agreement. "Thank you," he whispered.

"We owe ya," Ryuujin said, setting down his own cup of some sort of liquor than no one was quite sure what was in it. "You're the one that got us the information we need for this attack anyway."

"I did that because I felt it was right, not for any reward," Ares whispered.

"More the reason to help," Quatre said with a smile.

Ares smiled again. "Thank you, everyone," he whispered. "Thank you so much..."

Chase grinned and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We live to repent," she whispered and stood, starting off to the meeting.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chase sank back into the depths of the ZERO System and let her mind go. She saw images fly around her as someone had hit the fast forward button on a video. Her eyes blanked for a moment and she briefly wondered why she had become so dependent on the dangerous system.

In a way, she admitted only to herself, the ZERO System was like a drug. Addictive and helpful for a short while, but with potentially deadly side effects. She remembered all too well Quatre's run in with it and the loss Ryuujin still had from that run in, and the sorrow that plagued the blond pilot day in and day out from that one time.

Emerald eyes snapped open. "Ikou yo," she whispered into the comm. system.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Gundams set down with little to no resistance, which made them a bit anxious. Tyler knew they were coming.

"Tyler will be in his personal chambers. The ones where you met him, Chase-san," Ares stated. He checked his watch. "Whether they know we're here or not, the guards will change their post on the door entering the hallway where Tyler's quarters are in two minutes exactly. We have to wait for that exact time."

"Anna, Duo, and Wufei should go down to the weapons bay and disable what you can," Heero instructed. "Quatre, Trowa and Ryuujin, you three are heading to the control room and doing what damage you can do there." He turned to his wife. "I'm assuming you want to be the one to take him out. Or at least be there."

Hatred burned in her eyes, making them much darker. "Yes," she whispered.

"What do you want me to do?" Ares asked.

Heero closed his eyes for a moment. "You were a last minute addition to all this. I hadn't gotten that far yet."

"Then let me do something for myself," he said quietly. "I need to regain my ship."

Heero nodded. "Call for backup if you need it."

"I won't."

The Japanese man nodded. "Arigatou, Ares-san. You don't know what a help you've been to us all."

Ares smiled. "And you wouldn't begin to think of what you all have done for me."

Heero nodded again. "Ikou yo, minna-san."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Of all the group that bastard had to stick me with," Ryuujin muttered harshly, not caring if Trowa and Quatre heard.

Quatre caught it. "Ryuujin-san," he said quietly, "I do not wish for any of us to die here, but if we do not work as a team, we most certainly will. Please, can we put this behind us for a moment? Just a while until we can get this done."

The blue haired man glared daggers at the small Arabian man. "Who the hell are you to tell me to put what you did behind me?" he demanded.

"I'll tell you this, Ryuujin," Trowa said evenly. "If you don't straiten out you WILL get one of us killed. I will not stand for it. Either put your personal feelings aside or I will remove you. I have enough authority to do so and so help me I will. I'm not saying that it will be one of us in this small group hurt or killed, it could be any one of the pilots." He paused. "Including Chase."

This caught Ryuujin's attention. "Fine," he bit out. "Let's just get this done."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ares felt the gun pressed against the small of his back before he head a familiar hiss in his ear. "Lee Ares, former Captain of this ship, you are under arrest for treason to the New Revolution."

"Dimitri," Ares whispered the name quietly so no one else would hear. "It's been a while."

"I'm disappointed, Captain. His Expectancy General Tyler had such high hopes for you."

"I'm sure he did," Ares said. "But I had higher." He spun away from the gun and caught Dimitri by surprise, slamming a fist into the slightly taller man's gut. "I'm sorry, old friend," he whispered, "but vengeance is going to be mine today."

A shot rang out through the all way and Ares felt the sharp pain in his right shoulder. He gasped in shock and fell to his knees. "Dimitri shouldn't have been sent," a new voice said. "He was too close to you when he worked under you. I, on the other hand, have not attatchments to you, Ares," the man growled, pressing down hard on the former captain's wounded shoulder.

Ares gasped again. "Who.?"

"Your successor. That's all you need to know," the man stated as he brought the butt of the gun across Ares' scull.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"There it is," Chase whispered. "Looks like the guards are changing now."

"We timed it perfectly then," Heero answered, his voice hushed as well. "Ikou."

The two stepped forward and entered the room with their guns drawn. They found themselves surrounded in complete darkness. "What the hell?" Chase growled.

"Your language, Ms. Yuy, has never suited a woman of your beauty," Tyler's voice said from the dark.

"I don't want to hear it from you, Tyler," Chase growled. "Come out and face us like a man."

A couple of dim lights flickered on and her emerald eyes met haunting gold ones. "Do you know how I knew that you were not of this world, Ms. Yuy?" he asked as he stood. He smiled a chilling smile. "You see, my father wasn't really part of OZ. I had that information created to gather followers mostly. My father was a scientist." He walked around the desk and towards the fire that had suddenly started blazing. "He made a mistake one day, and I happened to be there to witness, and to have my life changed. I was taken from my home in Texas to this world." The smile returned. "Yes, Chase, I am like you, not of this place nor this time." He reached forward to touch her, but she jerked back, gun in hand.

"Don't. Come. Near. Me," she bit out.

He smiled coldly as he lunged forward, catching the pilot off her guard. He grabbed her gun and aimed it at her husband. "Really, he is such a hassle for me," Tyler muttered.

"Heero!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Something's happened," Quatre whispered.

"What?"

"I don't know. Something's gone wrong on Chase and Heero's end. I can't."

"Stay here, get done what needs to be done," Trowa ordered. "Ryuujin, keep in mind what I said earlier."

"Yeah yeah," the elder man muttered.

Trowa nodded and rushed off. He rounded the corner to come face to face with a guard. "Surprise, surprise," he muttered under his breath. "They do have guards."

"Don't move."

The guard before him was really no more than a boy. Trowa jumped to one side dodging the bullet that followed and came up and around, knocking the boy out cold. The green eyed pilot reached down for the fallen boy's gun and heard another one go off behind him. He gasped as he felt the impact of the bullet with his body and fell to the ground, blood pooling around him.

"What do we do with him?" one of the men asked.

"Leave him for his buddies to find and mourn."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The gun went off and Heero stumbled back, blue eyes wide. His mind slowly registered the past seconds' events as he felt his knees give way below him.

The Perfect Soldier collapsed into his wife's arms and she eased him to the ground. "Heero?" she whispered. "Stay with me, please?"

He looked up at her, eyes sad. "Gomen ne, Chase-chan," he whispered, reaching a hand up to touch her face. "I couldn't.. protect you..." He fell limp in her arms.

"No.." she breathed. Her mind raced as she looked up to Tyler who had the gun pointed at her head.

"Such devotion," he spat. "Devotion gets you nowhere in this world, Chase Yuy. This 'love' that you claim to feel for this man is not what will keep you going. How can you love this man? In our world, he doesn't even exist."

Chase's eyes burned with hatred. "We're not in our world."

Tyler smiled a bit. "Ah yes, we're here, aren't we? So you think that love has some significance?"

"It has every significance," she growled.

"I've come to a conclusion," Tyler said, sounding bored with the conversation. "Sometimes, one comes across a spirit that is untamable." He cocked the gun. "I believe this is the case in this situation, Ms. Yuy, but I'm a selfish man. If I can't have you, no one will."

Chase vaguely heard the door slide open and she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen. Those were most likely Tyler's men coming into the room. She didn't have a chance.

The gun went off and the Destined Soldier braced herself. After nothing happened, she opened one eye to see Tyler staggering back and clinging to his desk for support. "No," he whispered. "I am invisible. I am a god to these people! Not you! Not you damned pilots! I am!" he screamed as best as he could, falling to the ground. "You can't win forever," he rasped before loosing awareness and his life.

Chase looked up and over to where she saw Trowa leaning against the doorframe, gun in his hand. Blood was streaked across his clothes and he looked as if he were about to collapse then and there. "Is Heero alive?" he asked, voice strained.

Chase pulled her husband close, checking his pulse. She nodded. "Trowa-kun. Daijoubu ka?" she whispered.

Trowa nodded. "I'll be all right. Wounds heal in time."

"Trowa!" Quatre's worried voice came from behind. The blond man came running up behind his friend. "Oh my. Trowa!"

"I'm all right, Quatre," the Silencer whispered.

The Arabian nodded. "I just got word from Ares-san. He'd been captured but is now loose. He said he had no choice but to take the ship down and that we should evacuate now."

"We've let the others know, but none of your comms were working," Ryuujin added. "Damn. What happened here?"

"I need your help to get Heero out of here!" Chase barked, taking control of the situation. "Quatre, help Trowa, ne?"

The blond nodded as he slung his best friend's arm around his shoulder. Ryuujin knelt down and picked up the Japanese pilot as carefully as he could. "Don't worry, Chase-chan," he whispered. "He'll be fine. Him and Trowa both."

Chase nodded. "I know."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Ares? You read me?" Chase called into the comm. after she had reached the Galaxy.

"I read you loud and clear, Chase-san," the other man responded. "I'm taking down the ship. I don't think it's salvageable." His voice sounded saddened.

"We'll pick you up," she responded.

"No," Lee Ares called back. "I'm the captain of this ship. I will go down with her."

"Lee-kun." Chase whispered, "No! You can't! Please!"

Lee smiled on her screen. "Thank you for bringing meaning back into this, Chase-san. All of you pilots. Thank you."

Chase felt tears come to her eyes. "I'm sorry we can't save you in the end."

"You have all ready saved me, Chase." He smiled again. "You remind me so much of Lydia-chan," he whispered and the comm. link was cut.

"Everyone get out now!" Chase yelled over to comm.

The ship exploded in the dead of space, light shining everywhere from it. The pilots watched in awe as if fireworks had just been shot into space and lit it up along with the stars. That's about what it looked like.

"Let's get everyone back," Anna whispered, her voice sad. "We need medical attention for some, ne?"

"Roger that," Chase answered.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The room was dark when twin blue eyes opened. Heero Yuy groaned a bit and attempted to sit up, but found a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down. "Don't move. You're hurt," Chase's gentle voice reached his ears.

"Chase-chan?" he whispered. "How long.?"

"Not too long," she whispered as she placed a kiss on his forehead, finding his fever all but gone. "A few hours, and probably because of the pain killers that Sally gave you."

He nodded and grabbed her hand, giving it a tight squeeze. "What happened?"

"Trowa got the pleasure of killing him," Chase said with a small smile. "But he was hurt all ready. He was conscious on the way back, so he must be okay, but I haven't seen him." She paused. "Lee Ares died."

Heero gave her a questioning look. "How?"

"He self-destructed the ship, and said he would go down with it," Chase whispered brokenly.

Heero nodded. "Then it was his choice."

"Still.."

"I know, Chase-chan," Heero whispered, wiping a tear from her green eyes. "It'll be all right, though."

"I know. Over time...."

"Yes." He smiled. "Now go see Trowa before he thinks you dropped off the ship, ne? I'll be all right."

"You sure."

"Just go."

Chase gave him a smile and a quick kiss. "Arigatou, Heero-kun."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chase poked her head into the room where Trowa had been taken to find him buttoning up a loose shirt. He turned to her. "Chase-chan," he greeted.

The Destined Soldier grinned. "Hey there. They letting you go all ready?"

"As long as I promise to rest in my own quarters until we reach Earth," he answered with a small smile.

"That's good then."

"How's Heero feeling?"

"Much better," the small pilot assured him. "He told me to come check on you before you thought I dropped off the ship."

Trowa chuckled at this. "That's good to hear he's not planning to kill me."

"No, I think he's over his little jealous streak."

Trowa nodded. "I'm glad. It was putting a rift between the two of you."

Chase smiled. "You know what, Trowa-kun? I think you're going to meet someone amazing."

He gave her a gentle look. "Honto ni, Chase-chan?"

She nodded. "Yep! And Soon, I bet."

He smiled. "Thank you, Chase-chan."

She winked and headed out of the room. "You better get well soon, Trowa-kun, you hear?" she called on her way out.

"Chase-nee-san!"

Chase turned around to see Mariemaea running up and the little girl wrapped her arms around the elder woman. "I'm so glad you're safe!" she exclaimed. "Une-sama told me to wait until you got back to ask you!"

"Ask me?"

"Une-sama's just so busy that she can barely take care of me anymore. I wanted to know if you and Heero could look after me." She stopped, unsure of how Chase was reacting. "You wouldn't have to adopt me or anything.."

Chase gave the girl a smile. "I'll have to talk to Heero about it, you know. He's half of our marriage, and you did try to kill him once."

"I think that would work out nicely," her husband's voice came from behind her as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Heero Yuy! What on earth are you doing up?!"

"I was ordered strait to my quarters, but I thought I heard you so I came to see you. I think that's a good idea, Mari-chan," Heero said with a small smile.

Her eyes lit up. "Really?! Oh really, Heero-kun?!"

"Honto."

Mariemaea grinned. "I'm going to go tell Une-sama!" she announced and started to dash off. She stopped, turned and gave both of them a big hug. "Arigatou," she whispered, and ran off down the hall.

Chase turned to her husband and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned down and kissed her. "I love you," he whispered. *~*~*~*~*~*~~*~* Profile 07

Name: Anna Maxwell

Age: 21

Height: 5'7''

Weight: 130 lbs

Hair Colour: Brown

Eye Colour: ocean blue

Gundam: Star

Past: Same as Chase's and she married Duo Maxwell at the age of 17 and had Jack, their son. *glomps Jack* I love him! He's sooo cute!

A/N: Yay! Wrapping up part one! There is another part to go after this! Whole new line of characters!