DISCLAIMER
I don't own any of the GW characters (such a shame too) and I don't own 3x3 Eyes and all that other stuff that goes into disclaimers.
Yeah, um, This is a GW crossover with 3x3 Eyes. Um, sorry, there's prolly not going to be any Pai or Yakumo popping up anywhere (Sorry fans ^_^) but I am using
their concepts and so on and so forth. There is YAOI in here so if you don't like it then don't read, ne? Um, pairing's are 1xOC, 2x5, 3x4. It's KINDA an AU cuz there's
magic and stuff but... not really.
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Chapter 4
Quatre was slapping Heero's cheek lightly, a worried look on his face. Heero had been out for at least twenty minutes and he showed no signs of waking soon. They hadn't seen any sign of OZ but there was no telling what could happen soon. He's been left to watch Heero as the others took up defensive positions around the crystal, eyeing it wearily but not doing anything to it. What worried Quatre the most was the gurgling noises Heero had made, the way his boy had jerked around and finally the blood. There was blood leaking out from between his slightly parted lips. His Space Heart had also picked up several mixed emotions that he hadn't expected the stoic pilot to express in a situation like this. Fear, desperation, amusement and love. Strong, unadulterated love. He almost cried at the intensity of it.
"Heero? Heero, wake up. Come on, wake up." He slapped his cheek lightly. A moment later, Heero's eyes snapped open and his entire body jerked, startling everyone.
"Hn." His eyes closed slightly and then opened again. He sat up and looked around, his eyes falling onto the large crystal that Trowa and Wufei and Duo were standing in front of, their guns raised slightly.
"He's awake!" Quatre chirped as he gently reached out to steady Heero as he wavered slightly.
"Hey man! Are you okay?" Duo asked as he looked at him from the corner of his eye.
"Hn." Heero stood up.
"You shouldn't try to stand..." Quatre trailed off as Heero pointedly ignored him and walked up to the others.
"Move." Heero said as he came to a stop directly behind the other three.
"What if it attacks you again?" Wufei asked.
"I broke the ward. It's not going to be doing anything any time soon." He pushed them aside and they watched wearily as he stepped up to the crystal. He reached up and grabbed the ivory rune and crushed it in his hand. The golden ring that surrounded the crystal glowed brightly and he heard the other pilots raise their guns.
"Put your guns down." He said. He didn't want Li Mei to be frightened when she woke up. Besides, the sight would probably awaken Shirin and he was in no mood to be ripped apart protecting the others.
"What? Are you out of your mind? What if that thing's a demon?" Heero turned and glared coldly at Wufei, his gaze cold enough to make even Wufei shiver. He turned back to the glowing ring.
"She's not a demon. Never say that again." Wufei nodded even though Heero couldn't see him. The glowing finally died down and they waited with bated breath as the ring flashed once more and then disappeared. Heero seemed to reach out but before he could touch the crystal, the entire thing cracked. Tiny, minute spider webs of cracks marred the surface of the crystal. Before anyone could move, it broke, several large chunks hitting the ground with an audible glass like sound and then they disappeared. The girl floated in the air for long tense moments and other pilots could only gape as they watched her eyes flutter open, the deep crimson enough to make them pause and stare. As a sleeping statue she was pretty, but alive and breathing, she was breath taking. She slowly, very slowly, uncrossed her arms from around her chest and flexed her fingers, her eyes blinked one, twice and then she lowered her head slightly to meet Heero's gaze. She smiled, her full lips turning up.
"Heero!" She breathed as she moved forward, her long legs stepping out into thin air. Her voice was soft, sweet. She floated down to the ground, her feet touching down on the dais was the only sound in the room. They watched, stupefied, as Heero reached out and pulled the girl into a crushing embrace.
"Li Mei!" They heard him say softly.
"I've missed you." She said back softly. They watched as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down. They stared in a amazement as he not only returned the kiss but bent her backwards over his arm as he deepened it.

Heero slowly eased away from the kiss, his eyes warm as he smiled down at the small girl in his arms. He straightened and held her tightly against his chest. He tucked her head under his chin and rubbed his cheek against her silky hair. They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity until Li Mei moved away slightly. She stood back, still holding onto his left hand and looked him over.
"A tank top and bike shorts?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Spandex." Heero corrected with a small smile.
"Spandex. Mm... Not that you don't look good in it, but why the change of clothes?"
"You mean he wears things other than..." The voice trailed off as Li Mei peered around Heero's shoulder. She saw four boys, all teenage boys. There was a tall slender one with an interesting gravity defying bang who stood protectively by a shorter and more child like blonde. The one that had spoken had a long chestnut brown braid and was wearing a black priest's outfit and the last boy was wearing white Chinese robes and had his black hair pulled back into a severe ponytail.
"Are these your friends Heero?" She asked. He jerked up, remembering their presence. He turned to see his friends looking at him with varying degrees of disbelief. He smirked.
"Hn."
"Really? Wow! That's great!" She beamed happily at them and walked forward, tugging Heero behind her. She stopped a few feet away and bowed deeply.
"My name's Li Mei. I'm so pleased to meet you!" She raised a hand in greeting.
"Er..." They stared at her dumbly, quite startled by her behaviour and Heero's rather unexpected and his puzzling relationship to her. Her smiled faltered slightly and she tilted her head to Heero.
"Do they talk?" She whispered.
"Sometimes the one with a braid won't shut up." He smirked.
"Hey!" Duo said indignantly.
"Uh... Hi." Quatre was the first to respond to her greeting as he glanced uncertainly at Trowa beside him. Trowa was still staring at the pair with amazement in his eyes, if not on his face. Quatre shook himself out of his daze, his well ingrained manners deciding to kick in and he smiled tentatively at her and offered his hand.
"What's your name?" Li Mei asked as she reached out to take his hand in a warm and gentle grip.
"I'm Quatre. Quatre Reberba Winner..." Quatre wasn't quite sure to make of this. This young girl, who looked no more than fourteen, had just come out of a block of crystal. She knew Heero's name. She even kissed Heero and he hadn't tried to kill her, in fact, he had hugged her and kissed her back.
"It's very nice to meet you Mr. Winner." She had a very charming smile. Quatre felt his face flush slightly and he shook his head.
"Just Quatre's fine."
"All right Quatre." Duo took the initiative and introduced himself next.
"I'm Duo. Duo Maxwell. I run, I hide, I never lie." He winked and Li Mei giggled softly.
"Pleased to meet you Mr-" Duo shook his head.
"Duo's fine. After all, any friend of the Perfect Soldier is a friend of ours." Li Mei looked at Heero and then giggled at his sour expression.
"It's very nice to meet you Duo." She glanced at the two silent men by the other two. The tall one was watching her with an impassive expression on his face but there was a hint of curiosity flitting through the emerald eye that wasn't covered by his bang. The other one, the black haired one was looking at her with something akin to hostility and a lot of mistrust. She flinched slightly and looked away in an attempt to look as though she didn't notice. Heero frowned at Wufei in annoyance.
"This is Trowa Barton. Just call him Trowa." Quatre gestured to the taller boy when the taller boy nodded to something Quatre had whispered to him. Li Mei smiled
"Nice to meet you Trowa." She smiled and Trowa nodded his head slightly.
"This here's Wufei." Duo said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Wufei growled softly and glared at her. Li Mei gave him a small, timid smile as he glared. Heero growled at Wufei but Li Mei tugged on his sleeve and she tilted her head up at him with a smile.
"You've got very nice friends Heero." Heero grunted, casting Wufei a cold glance. The other boy didn't back down as his eyes shifted distrustfully towards Li Mei.
"How do you know Heero?" Duo asked in his normal straight forward fashion. Li Mei was about to reply when Heero started to talk.
"We can talk about this later. We should return to our gundams first." Heero said as he started towards the broken glass window. While the others moved, Li Mei didn't budge. Her eyes had widened slightly and she paled.
"Don't go that way." She said softly.
"Why not? We came in that way." Duo said as he turned to look at her over his shoulder. Heero looked down at her in concern.
"I... The Court's in there... Dead." She whispered. Quatre's eyes widened in understanding. She knew who those people in the tubes were! A slight trickle of emotions made their way to him from her. Sorrow was the first and foremost thing to reach him followed by fear and anger. He assumed it was directed at whatever or whoever had put them into the tubes.
"What is this Court? Heero's mentioned it before." Duo asked as he looked back towards the lab.
"They were my guardians." She said softly. "They were killed a while ago."
"There's no other way out of this room but through there." Heero said calmly and Li Mei nodded slightly and swallowed. He started walking again, keeping a firm and reassuring grip on her hand. Li Mei had moved closer to him, gluing herself to his side as they moved. The other pilots followed after them silently, each left to their own thoughts about the strange girl who Heero seemed awfully fond of.

Heero only let go of Li Mei's hand when they reached the broken window. He casually hopped up and through it before turning and reaching out a hand towards Li Mei. She shook her head and leapt up beside him and stepping further into the room. She walked slowly and felt tears prick the corners of her eyes as she caught sight of the large tubes. She walked up to them slowly, her hands rising to rest against the tube holding a dark brown haired woman. She leant forward, pressing her face against it sadly.
"I'm so sorry Ting Ting." She said softly, a tear tracing its way down her cheek. She turned to the next one and repeated the process, their names whispered softly as she sought their forgiveness.
"What's she doing?" Heero turned to see the others watching her with a mixture of puzzlement and tension.
"Paying her respects." He said coldly. He had an air of sadness as he watched her stop in front of each one and whisper words to them.
"Li Mei. We have to go now." He said softly as she turned away from them. She rubbed her hand over her eyes and nodded.
"I'm coming." She took a step forward when suddenly there was a burst of commotion down the hall. Heero growled and ran towards Li Mei, backing them both up against the side of the door. The other pilots quickly made their way to the opposite sides.
"They're here! I saw a light!" The voices of soldiers carried down the passage way and Heero frowned. They'd have to fight their way out. It might be risky, Shirin might awaken and then all Hell would break loose. He glanced over to see the others were ready for the upcoming fight. The pounding of footsteps came nearer and he tensed. A group of guards flew through the door and the gundam pilots opened fire. The sounds of guns blasting away filled the room but it was over as quickly as it begun. A pile of bodies lay on the ground and Heero didn't waste any time waiting for more people to come. He threw himself around the corner, dragging Li Mei behind him. The others followed suit and they raced down the hall way. Another group of soldiers rounded the corner and Heero aimed and fired repeatedly. He ducked into a corner with everyone else as they returned fire, their panicked shouts making him smirk. He peeked around the corner and saw them regrouping. He poked his gun around and fired a few shots, the sound of bullets hitting flesh and then the cries and footsteps pounding up and down the hall way was his reward.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Quatre asked.
"I say we run around the corner, guns blazing." Duo said cheerfully, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
"Too risky." Wufei pointed out.
"We could go through the air vents." Everyone turned to Li Mei as she looked and pointed above them.
"The air vents?"
"Yes. As far as I know, they don't have any defensive systems up there."
"And how would you know?" Wufei asked sceptically. She tilted her head.
"I may have been sitting in a rock for the past four hundred years but I'm not a fool. I know what they've been doing here since I first stepped onto this land." She pointed up again. "They didn't think you would find this place or attack it. They placed it specifically near that residential area for that purpose. Of course, they didn't count on the people leaving when they heard that they were OZ and they left. The town is now populated by the soldiers and other staff that work here. That's why they have reinforcements."
"Right..." Everyone blinked. They didn't think she was the type of person to pick things up like that.
"Wait... hold up, four hundred years?" Duo asked with a raised brow.
"Ye-" Heero cut her off.
"We need to get out of here now. Let's go." Heero gestured to Trowa and Wufei. They recognised what he was going to do and quickly put their hands together to form a stirrup of sorts. Heero put his hands on their shoulders and then pushed himself up. He pressed his hands against the grate and slowly pushed it up. It moved slightly and then he grunted and pushed it again, this time it did move and he pushed it to the side. He grabbed onto the edges of the grate and hauled himself up. Just then, a spray of bullets blasted away the wall and Li Mei ducked to the side but didn't scream. She frowned slightly and peered around the corner. Another blast of bullets made her lean back.
"Li Mei! What are you doing?" Heero barked out as he stuck his head through the hole. She tilted her head at him.
"Just hold up a sec." She crouched by the corner and they watched as an electric blue ball started to form above her palm. She waited until it was around the size of a baseball. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it flying around the corner and a loud explosion rocked the area. She stood up and dusted off her hands. She blinked. Quatre, Duo, Wufei and Trowa were staring dumbly at her.
"What?"
"You... what was that?!" Wufei asked as he continued to stare at her.
"It was just a little energy ball. Besides, it'll give us enough to get out of here." She turned her head up and saw Heero was shaking his head at her. "What?"
"Nothing. come on." He reached down and grabbed her upraised arms and hauled her up. She quickly disappeared into the hole but not fast enough and Wufei had to look away as he got a good look up her skirt. The others soon followed, Duo poking fun at Wufei and laughing at him. A muffled "Kisama!" was heard as they crawled through the small space in single file, Heero at the front followed by Li Mei, Quatre, Trowa, Duo and Wufei.
"Which way do we go now?" Heero asked as they came to an intersection. Li Mei gently pushed her smaller frame past his and then looked down one side then the other side. She tilted her head and closed her eyes. After a long moment she opened them again. She started crawling to the left.
"This way."
"Are you sure?" Quatre questioned even as he followed after Heero.
"Yup. Can't you smell the fresh air?" She replied in a cheery tone.
"Huh? Fresh air?"
"Yeah. All air vents lead to an opening to the outside."
"Oh." Quatre blinked. That was logical. He shrugged mentally and concentrated on crawling.
"I feel like a dope." Duo muttered as he crawled along.
"You are a dope." Wufei muttered back good naturedly. Duo turned his head and stuck out his tongue.
"Nyah!" Wufei smirked and continued crawling after his lover.
"What do you mean she's gone?" A voice barked out below them. It was deep, commanding, powerful.
"Sh. Quiet." Heero hissed as he stopped. Everyone followed his lead. There was the sound of feet shuffling underneath them and Heero peered down the grate that was close to him. All he could make out was a few soldiers lining up. Then he saw something he never wanted to see again in his life.
"Shing." He hissed softly.
Through the grate he could make out a tall man, probably in his mid twenties from the sound of his voice, with dark blond hair and a fairly powerful build. He was wearing a black suit and a white scarf around his neck. Heero could barely make out his face but he would know that voice anywhere.
"She's... the crystal's gone. There's nothing left in the chamber, my lord." The commanding officer seemed to shrink before the him.
"What do you mean it's gone? It cannot just vanish into thin air." Shing grated out in a hiss. The soldier seemed to shrink even more.
"My-my Lord, we're searching the facility. She will be found."
"She had better be. Or I will be coming for you next." Shing snarled as he viciously back handed the smaller man. He slammed up against the wall and crumpled down, groaning in pain. The other soldiers seemed too scared to move. Shing turned to the other men.
"I want her found. Whoever helped her to escape is going to die. Slowly and painfully." Heero looked up when another head bumped into his. Li Mei was gripping the edge of the grate tightly, her knuckles white. She looked up at Heero with horror filled eyes.
"Oh no. Shing." She whispered softly. Heero nodded in response.
"If Shing's here, where's his Wu? Where's Ballard?" Li Mei's eyes widened and she looked down again.
"He's not there?" She whispered.
"No. I can't see him."
"We've got to get out of here. Now. Ballard must be skulking around here somewhere and when he finds us..." She trailed off. "We have to move! Now!" She hissed out urgently, tugging at Heero's shirt and looking at the others. She quickly turned and started quickly but quietly making her way down the air vent. Heero hurried after her and so did the others, not knowing what the two had been whispering about but from the sound of their voices, it would be a good thing to get out of the facility as quickly as they could and hopefully without incident. They had made it a few hundred meters and they saw light filtering through a grate up against the wall. Heero pushed Li Mei out of the way and kicked against the grate. It went flying backwards and hit the ground with a dull thunk.
"Let's go!" Heero pulled Li Mei out and they started running for the cover of the trees as everyone crawled out of the grate. They sprinted towards the line of trees that they had hidden their gundams in. They quickly broke through the bushes and made their way to their separate gundams, pulling off the camouflage netting they had covered them with. Heero grabbed Li Mei's hand and pulled her towards a large mound several meters away from the other gundams and began pulling off the camouflage netting. Li Mei stepped closer to him as her eyes searched the shadows, her newly awakened senses picking something up and causing her to shiver. She reached out and tugged on Heero's tank top as she looked around.
"Heero? Heero, there's someone here." Heero turned, his own eyes scanning the area. Unfortunately, he didn't have quite the same sensory talents that Li Mei had and had to rely on his hearing and eye sight alone.
"What? Where?" The mechanical whiring alerted him that the other gundams had already been started up.
"Hurry up Yuy." Wufei said through the speakers of his gundam. Heero frowned at the added noise and peered through the shadowy trees.
"Whatcha waiting for man? Come on!" Duo's impatient voice sounded over the speakers and Heero grunted and waved his hand towards them. He pulled the rest of the camouflage netting off his gundam and leapt onto the foot of Wing. He reached down to help Li Mei up, grabbing her around the forearms and pulling her up beside him. No sooner had he settled her down beside him and prepared to jump up when he heard something whistling through the air and barely managed to duck something metallic sliced through the air. He felt a slight breeze pass over his head and looked down with narrowed eyes as a few strands of hair drifted down to the metal foot of Wing. The gundams moved nearer to them, the huge metallic giants quickly training their weapons towards the threat to their team mate. Heero turned burning eyes towards the shadows where the attack had come from. He pushed Li Mei behind him and tensed in anticipation. He heard Li Mei suck in a breath as a tall man stepped out of the shadows.
"Ballard." Li Mei whispered softly. He was tall, taller than Heero by at least a foot and had a powerful frame. Broad shoulders, powerful arms and legs. He was wearing a body hugging black t-shirt with no sleeves and a pair of black jeans that hugged his long legs like a second skin. He was tanned with dark blond hair that was cut short in jagged, uneven lengths and piercing grey eyes. He smirked at them condescendingly as he stepped further into the light. He tilted his head slightly to look up at them.
"Get away from them." Wufei's voice said coldly. Ballard raised an eyebrow and held up a hand and clenched it. Suddenly, the gundam seemed to slump like a rag doll, falling to the ground on its knees.
"Shit! Wufei!" Duo yelled. Another wave of his hand and Deathsythe crumpled to the ground like a broken doll.
"Stop it!" Li Mei yelled as Ballard threw his hand out again and caused Heavyarms and Sandrock to crumple. She threw out a hand, a ball of energy flying from her hand. Ballard casually batted it away with a hand and looked at her.
"Is that all you have Princess? You've gotten rusty." He sneered. Heero tensed and growled.
"Ballard." He hissed warningly. The older man waved a hand.
"Don't be so sensitive. Your Sanjiyan doesn't seem to care."
'Sanjiyan?' The thought passed through the minds of the other pilots as they lay in their immobile gundams. They couldn't move their gundams, but they could move their cameras and trained them on the three.
"Leave her alone." Heero's voice was cold enough to send shivers up their spine. Ballard didn't even flinch, in fact, his smirk grew wider and he started to slowly walk towards the gundam.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Always so quick to react." He stopped and looked up at them again. He stuck his hands into his pockets.
"Better come back with me now, Princess. You too Heero. Shing isn't going to be too happy if you get away. He might be forced to kill a few people." He paused, then smirked. "Not that that isn't a good thing."
"I wouldn't go with you. I know what Shing wants me for. I'm not going to let him turn this world into a Hell on earth." She said with conviction, her voice ringing out. "I know he killed the court, I know he killed my family and I know he killed almost every single Sanjiyan left!" Her voice had gone higher, her anger and sadness sweeping over everyone. In Sandrock, Quatre clutched at his chest and began to wince at the intensity of it.
"True. But he did it in order to bring on a new age, a new era. The Elders were lazy, lax, stupid. The young had incredible split personalities and we were a dying race."
"All Sanjiyan have split personalities!" She retorted.
"Shing no longer has one. He merged with Valerious just before the... unfortunate mess occurred." Li Mei's hands tightened their grip on Heero's shirt and he heard the faint sound of her breathing quickening.
"Heero..." She whispered softly. Heero reached back and squeezed her hand comfortingly. He would never let Shing/Valerious get her.
"So, if you come with me now, I won't have to hurt your precious Heero or the others." He held out a hand. Heero growled and kept Li Mei behind him. Ballard shook his head and dropped his hand.
"Well, this will just make it more difficult on you, my dear." He said. He looked at her for a moment. Then he moved.

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A.N I just changed the ending of chap 4. Sorry! I just couldn't write with the ending of the previous version. It seemed so... lacking to me. Anyways, I'm halfway done with chapter 5 so it'll be out later today or tomorrow. I'm so sorry! I've just been so busy with school. I'll try, really try, to get it done! Thanks to everyone who's read it and commented. ^_^