Disclaimers Note - I don't own Gundam Wing, or any of the characters therein. All of the unfamiliar characters are my own, but some unfamiliar ones might become familiar, in which case they are not mine, or they may not! You'll have to read this and find out! Any correlation of this story to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental, honest. Phew! The characters of Hayley Reo, Kaia McInrae and Emma Kentley are mine, 'though, all mine! MINE!
**The Original Age Part 6 – Lost and Found
By Espion
Thank you Dark Vengeance (You'll see. She's a product of my unsubtle imagination!), Mayhem's Brainchild, (*blushes* Awww…thanks for the nice review) and D S S Offline (That's your name *whimpers* Je suis confuse!) for the reviews. I've made a vow to plan ahead, so my story won't seem too haphazard anymore, but forgive lack of updates in coming weeks, GCSEs, no da.
Hayley shrank away from the boy called Heero as he sprang onto the shoulder of the mech, and began to look for identifying marks.
Hayley didn't know why, but this guy was carrying a ton of suppressed anger and grief. When she'd first met him, it had nearly knocked her over. Maybe he'd lost someone to the war, like she had, but it was different with Heero, because mixed in with all the raw emotion hidden so deep inside his psyche, was hope. Hope that the people he'd lost would return. Hayley realised she looked spaced out and snapped out of it.
'Date's AC 192,' called Heero, dropping down onto the forest floor next to Trowa.
'It's another Gundam too,' muttered Quatre, 'the name's on the other side; Gundam Omega.'
'We have to destroy it. Now,' said Heero, 'The nation's media will descend upon this valley soon, and we'll be in the floodlight.'
'Relena would be able to draw attention away from us,' spoke up Hayley. One by one all five others looked at her. She carried on, 'That's why she looked after me at the school, and didn't let on that I was here.'
'Woah, back up…' began Quatre, but Duo interrupted.
'It's raining mech! Alleluia, it's raining mech…eep!' Duo's rendition of the hit by The Weathergirls was cut short by Heero grabbing his braid as he walked past without slowing down. Just as quickly, he stopped, clapped his hand over Duo's mouth and motioned to the others that someone was approaching. Five seconds later, the clearing was empty.
*
'Relena?' Hilde tapped gently on the door to Relena's study.
'Yes?' asked Relena, taking off her reading glasses as her best friend entered the room.
'I'm sure I'm just getting edgy over nada, but I have to ask; Where's Kaia?'
Relena stopped breathing.
'Wasn't she in self-defence class?' Hilde took that class at the school.
'No, and none of her friends know where she is…Relena?'
'Oh God!' Relena put her hand over her mouth. She'd gone back. Of course she would go back.
Relena didn't quite understand how or why yet, but this… thing… that had happened was deadly important to the young girl. If only she could see the bigger picture. Kaia wouldn't be looking out for the Gundam pilots in the woods, because although she'd seen them, she would probably assume they were just muggers. Relena tried to avoid the areas of the forest that she knew they used, but they were still there, and dangerous.
*
Kaia stepped out of the undergrowth and looked around. She knew that there were people around, but she hoped that she'd be done by the time they arrived.
Almost exactly as Heero had done, she sprang onto the shoulder of the machine and read the information printed there. Then she hopped over to the other side and read the other information.
'If you're here…' she muttered, '…then surely… 'Flowne is close.'
*
Heero motioned for Duo, Wufei, Trowa and Quatre to lie in ambush while he and Hayley went forward to apprehend the girl.
'Hey,' whispered Trowa, 'it's her, the scorpion. Watch it, guys, she's tougher than she looks.' Heero nodded, and then the two of them crept forward.
*
Kaia was oblivious to the danger she was in as she pottered about around Doloria. She was set on finding the hatch, and had a feeling it was in the head. Above her, a rock that had been loosened by the original impact shifted slightly, causing dust to fall onto Doloria.
*
Heero and Hayley drew closer, and Heero levelled his gun at the unaware target, preparing to kill. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Hayley grabbed his wrist and pulled it down. He shot her a glare of previously unequalled venom, which she easily countered.
'What the hell did you do that for?' he whispered visciously, as he saw Kaia looking around for the source of the noise.
'Just listen Yuy, and listen good. You kill that girl, and you'll regret it.' The iciness of her words almost drew a shiver out of her stoic companion.
'I never regret anything,' growled Heero. This was bad. If Hayley knew something, then she knew it. No questions. He reluctantly lowered his gun again. Hayley blinked. That had been easy. From what she'd been able to figure out about Heero, he wasn't easily persuaded.
'Why did you do that?' asked Hayley quietly.
'What?'
'Listen to me.'
Heero just grunted and focused on the girl again. She had just heard the noise of someone approaching and was looking frantically for somewhere to hide. She didn't find one quick enough, and Heero cursed under his breath as Relena walked into the clearing. He heard other very muffled curses emanating from his comrades' hiding places.
Relena had twisted her hair up with a clip to keep it out of her face, and she was still wearing her glasses. I doing so, she had unwittingly made herself look like Lady Une.
'Kaia, what the hell are you doing out here?' Relena's voice was angry, but also concerned, when Kaia didn't answer.
'It's not safe here, you should have stayed in the school.'
'You don't understand.' Came Kaia's voice, 'This is important, and you don't understand why.'
'Tell me why, then I'll understand,' said Relena gently.
'No, I don't want you to know. You're too nice to know. I'm not going back to the school. You'd better go.'
'What do you mean?' Relena was confused. Too nice?
'Get away from here, I don't want to…' Kaia's voice broke slightly. Relena felt a chill go down her spine. This was all too familiar. Kaia turned and raised her arm, which was holding a nasty looking weapon. Hayley gasped.
'What the hell is she doing?'
Heero didn't answer, but he knew he'd have to kill one of the people in the clearing, for the safety of the other. Problem was, he didn't know which.
'Kaia…' muttered Relena. She didn't look away, and Kaia broke eye contact first.
'Just go, I don't want to… but I will.'
'Why?' Relena wasn't afraid now. She was sure that she could talk Kaia around.
'It's best if you don't know,' replied Kaia, brushing her dark brown hair out of her eyes with her other hand.
'It's about this thing, ne?' Relena pointed to Doloria. Kaia growled. She looked to Doloria for a second, then back to Relena, who was standing perfectly still.
*
'What's she doing?' muttered Duo, 'that kid is crazy!'
'I don't think so,' replied Quatre.
'They'd better move soon, 'cos I don't like the look of that,' said Duo, motioning toward the huge rock over the two people in the clearing.
*
'You don't think I'd do it, do you?' said Kaia, her eyes narrowing. Relena held up her hands quickly.
'Oh, I know you'd do it, don't worry about that.'
'Then why are you still here?' Kaia stepped towards her, 'Why?'
Relena opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, a noise from the cliff face stopped her. She turned slowly. A boulder the size of a minivan was rolling incredibly fast down the cliff towards her and Kaia. Kaia's jaw dropped as the rock bore down on them, and her feet seemed to be fixed to the ground. Her gun was still trained on Relena.
'Oh God!' cried Hayley, and shot forward out of the bushes. She watched helplessly as Relena grabbed Kaia's arm and pulled her to the ground. A gunshot rang out, and rock hit the ground.
*
'Aaaaaaaargh! Get off mee!' Her tormentor stood over her and watched her curl herself up into a ball with glee.
'Had enough?' he asked cruelly, grabbing the girl's chestnut coloured hair and yanking her head back.
'Please… Please leave me alone… I've done nothing wrong…'
The man threw her down and stalked away.
'We'll see how responsive you are in the morning. I don't usually take this much trouble with the likes of you, guess that makes you special, love.' He leered nastily. The broken girl pulled herself up onto her elbows and glared at him with as much hatred as she could, but her vision was beginning to swim. She sank slowly down, and as she lost consciousness, muttered, 'Omae o korosu, kisama.'
*
Hayley, Duo and Quatre ran towards the huge boulder. Trowa found Kaia lying against a tree not far away, covered in blood. She slowly regained consciousness, and then what had happened returned to her in a flash. She looked woozily up at the face above her, and muttered, 'Who are you?' Trowa didn't answer, but helped her to her feet anyway.
'It looks as though you're badly hurt,' he said quietly, but Kaia shook her head.
'This isn't my blood,' she whispered.
*
Relena had been knocked further away by the impact, and was lying in some longish grass about ten metres away from Kaia. She tried to sit up, but fell down again, groaning.
Ow, she thought, as she checked herself for cuts.
OW! She continued, as she found where Kaia's shot had hit her, in her right arm. It had grazed her arm deeply, and there was blood everywhere.
Calm, calm, calm, calm, she told herself firmly. The bleeding seemed to have been largely restricted by her shirt, so there didn't seem to be any need the wrap it in any way. She got carefully to her feet, using her left arm to push herself up.
Kaia, she thought, and began to make her way back to Doloria.
*
'Who are you?' asked Kaia, looking bemusedly at Hayley, who was wiping the blood off of her face. Hayley smiled.
'That doesn't matter, who are you?'
'Kaia,' muttered Kaia. There seemed to be a lot of people around her.
'Just Kaia?' asked Quatre kindly. Kaia tried to focus on who'd spoken.
'I don't have a middle name…'
'No, surname.'
Kaia's head was fuzzy from where she'd hit the tree, but the fuzz was gradually clearing.
'Where's Miss Peacecraft?' she asked. Hayley looked away.
'We don't know,' she said quietly.
*
Relena silently made her way back through the forest to the clearing, but paused as she heard Duo's voice.
'Correction, we haven't looked.'
She wondered what they were talking about. Then she spotted Kaia, right in the middle of the group. Good, she was all right. She'd leave her here; she'd be all right. She obviously had links with the Gundam pilots, and this was the best place for her.
Relena turned, and to her horror, found her way barred by three men. One was her caretaker, and the other maintenance workers from the school. From the looks on their faces it was obvious that they hadn't come to escort her home.
'These woods aren't safe Miss Peacecraft,' sniggered one of the maintenance workers, taking a step forward.
'Yeah, a lady could really get hurt.' agreed his colleague.
Relena was scared. She couldn't run into the clearing, because then she would've led the undercover agents to their goal, and she couldn't take them on herself, not three of them, with a hurt arm.
'Don't you think it's a little unfair, three men against a fifteen year old girl?' she said quietly, making her voice shake.
'We aren't gonna take any chances, missy,' growled the only man who hadn't spoken yet.
*
'What was that?' asked Kaia, as her sharp ears picked up gruff male voices. She suddenly found herself under Doloria as Heero and Trowa sprang forward and into the surrounding trees.
*
'Grr…' growled Relena as one man tried to grab her, 'You people sicken me!'
'Please make her stop hurting me,' mock-whined the man who had tried to catch her. He lunged again, and his fingers grasped her left wrist, but she was ready. She spun around and hit him in the stomach with her bad arm as hard as she could. Pain shot through her, but her attacker crumpled to the ground, and she turned and ran away from them, into the forest.
*
Heero quickly took out the two men who were left, staring in shock at their fallen colleague. Trowa called from near the clearing.
'Look,' he was holding Relena's hair clip.
'She was wearing that,' said Heero thoughtfully, 'so she's either dead or she isn't.'
'Well done Einstein,' muttered Duo crabbily, 'I think we'd all figured that out.'
'Who were those men?' asked Hayley.
'Oz operatives within the school. One of them was the caretaker, look.' Hayley took a card from the man's pocket.
Kaia was still sat where they'd thrown her. She was in shock. None of the others had seen, because they'd all been running towards the men, but when she heard her teacher growl, Doloria had twitched.
*
'Ah, you're awake, Xara, come and meet these people. The man grabbed her hair and dragged her to where three unpleasant people were leering around the room.
'I have a name,' growled the girl, 'It's Emma, not Xara.' The man twisted her hair, and she whimpered in pain.
'If I say your name is Xara, then it bloody well is. Understand?
**
ooohh? Who's he? Thanx for reviewin, sorry this part is short…