The outers and the inners were all giving Serena their worst glare they could give her. They didn't know how or why, but they knew that it was her fault. It was always her fault. Why shouldn't it be again?
Serena shied away from all the piercing looks she was getting. "Stop scowling at me!" She regained some of her lost courage and stepped forward, but just a little.
"Where is Setsuna mama?" Little Hotaru spoke up and looked about in confusion. They were at the time gates. Why wasn't she here? Everyone else looked about curiously, noticing a senshi member missing. The all looked back at Serena expectantly.
Serena felt a stab of guilt hit her. It wasn't really her fault. But it seemed like she was always given the blame. So much so that she started to take the blame automatically. She pulled out Setsuna's staff out from behind her and held it for the scouts to see. Some of them gasped.
"I don't know what happened. When I got here, I found the place empty and the staff lying next to the gate." She looked down at her feet. She thought she saw a glimpse of Setsuna when she got here. She was looking closely at the gate. When she called her name and. . .oh no!
"Could she have gone through the time gate?" Mina asked curiously. She looked at the outers who all shook their heads.
"No. Setsuna would not have gone anywhere without her staff." Michiru spoke as the other Haruka nodded her head in agreement. Hotaru didn't know what to do or say. Her adopted mother had just disappeared.
"Could she have fallen in the time gate?" Mako asked suggestively. Nobody really had any ideas as to where or why Setsuna would go anywhere. Without her staff that is.
"I find that to be highly doubtful." Ami spoke up she pulled out her pocket computer. She began hoping that it might in some why help her come up with an answer. She knew this time it wouldn't. "She is the time guardian. I can't see something like this happening without her knowing it beforehand."
"I'll do some fire readings. I don't know if it will help or not." Rie suggested. They all nodded their heads in agreement. "Serena, keep an eye on the time gates for us, would you?"
Serena nodded her head. Feeling all the more guilty. This was all her fault. Yet for some reason she failed to speak it aloud. The scouts left the time gate. Hotaru stayed behind. She walked up to her, noticing her sad and withdrawn expression.
"Serena?" She took her hand and brought her out of state of shock. She smiled faintly at Hotaru, but it quickly returned to a sad expression. This was her fault. She had to fix this herself somehow. "Hotaru, I'm so sorry."
Alarms began buzzing and screaming across the ship when she woke up in her room on the ship. Setsuna jumped up and ran out the door. Looking for the cause of the commotion. The halls were dark, save the blaring red lights on the wall.
"EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY." A mechanical voice spoke over the COM systems. Setsuna could take a hint.
She ran down the passage way as fast as she could. Trying to remember where she had come across the control room the other day. Movement caught her eye to her left. Trowa and Quatre were also running down the passageways. To where she did not know. But it was best decided that she should follow them. Find them, find the problem.
The control room burst open. Trowa and Quatre rushed in to where Heero and Duo were already sitting and working on the panel to shut the alarm off. Setsuna ran in the room just as the alarms went silent. Though the red lights were still flashing everywhere.
"Heero! What's going on!" Quatre looked over his shoulder and gasped at what he saw. His eyes were wide with fear. Setsuna felt something slightly wrong about the atmosphere. But she wasn't sure what.
"Micro Meteorites." Duo growled at himself. "Where the hell did they come from? Our scanners showed nothing."
"Cabin pressure is at 94 percent and falling. Oxygen is at 75 percent." Heero said monotonly. As if this were not a problem to him what so ever. Duo whimpered and noticeably. This falls into the VERY bad category.
"If we lost cabin pressure in the ship too quickly, we will have a major system shut down. We might not be able to get the ship running again." Trowa pushed the whimpering Duo aside and sat down at the console.
Setsuna looked back and forth to each of the pilots. What should she do? She was the person everyone back home looked to when there was a problem. The person who had a solution for everything. AND SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! She could only be thankful for her calm exterior. God help her if she started acting like her hime'.
"The Gundam's could sustain us out in space, but not for very long. Not this far out in space." Quatre looked over his shoulder and looked at Setsuna standing behind them. He gulped at the thought of leaving her here. "And we couldn't leave an innocent here to die."
"Not innocent." WuFei walked in the control room and surveyed the damage over Heero's and Trowa'a shoulders. He grunted in response to what he saw. His eyes widened slightly. "Damn. This is a problem."
Setsuna glared coldly at him. No. Not innocent. But not guilty either. She watched him shudder slightly under her gaze. She smirked. Hoping that it was because of her that the bastard was feeling uncomfortable.
She noticed how quiet it had become all of the sudden. No one was speaking. She looked at each of the pilots in turn. And saw that four of them all had their gaze on Heero. His eyes looked in conflict as he looked at the console in front of him.
He looked up suddenly and turned his head to look at the pilots one at a time. Until his gaze fell on her. For a moment longer than it had on the others. She saw that they were looking at him for a solution. For a response. An answer. Like the scouts did with her.
As those hard blue eyes fell on her, she felt like the front that she had put up, that she had put so much effort into creating, to keep her emotions in check, came crashing down. Shattering like glass on the floor. She felt like those eyes had seen into her soul. No matter how short a period they had looked at her.
Heero looked back to the console a moment before he stood up. He walked over to the wall and pressed a button on it. The wall slid open to reveal some weird looking suits.
"Everyone put on a space suit." He ordered. Everyone moved quickly to comply. Including Setsuna. Once everyone got a suit on, he turned to all of them again. "Wufei, secure the Gundam's outside of the ship immediately. If we do lose power the Gundam's will do us no good locked in the hanger."
WuFei nodded and ran out of the console. Setsuna suddenly felt very queasy as she felt herself begin to float in the air. Trowa shut the artificial gravity off in order to work faster around the ship.
"Trowa, Quatre, do everything you can to keep the system up and running for as long as you can. With the system malfunctions, expect possible fires on the ship." Quatre and Trowa nodded their heads at him as Quatre sat down in the seat Heero had left.
"Duo, work on sealing the holes on the inside of this ship caused my the Micro Meteorites. I will work on sealing them on the outside of this ship." Duo nodded his head but stopped to look shockingly at Heero.
"But Heero, the Micro Meteorites! We don't know if there are more! You could die-" He was cut off by a sharp glare from Heero. And noticed the looks of Trowa and Quatre as well when they heard where he was going.
"Life comes cheaply Duo. Especially my own. Better one of us dies that all of us die. If we want to survive we have to keep this ship up and in running order. We cannot fail this mission." Heero turned around and walked down the passageway. Duo nodded sadly as did the other two pilots and went about to work.
Setsuna, after looking at everyone, knew that Heero really did put his duties above everything else. And his friends too. Though she knew he would probably never say it. She followed him down the passageway.
As he was turning a corner, he saw that she was following him. "Where are you going?" He asked none to easily. It was bad enough other peoples lives were at risk. Now he had to deal with one more.
"What does it look like? I'm helping you." She retorted just as harshly. If they guy wanted to be an ass, then she would be one too. Though this guy was more tolerable than WuFei was.
Heero was about to tell her off when she glared at him coldly. He gulped and his eyes widened ever so slightly. Is this what other people felt when he glared at them? He suddenly regretted ever doing to Duo. He smirked at her. "Hn." He grunted and continued down the passageway with her at his side.
They walked into a room and Heero closed and sealed it. He released the air lock as a small door slowly opened. Letting them out into the vastness of space.
Setsuna was not very accustomed to weightlessness. And quite frankly felt like she might throw up anytime. She tried to hold it down. Inside of a space suit was not a good place to vomit. Unless she were looking to choke on it. Weightlessness. Something else to add to her list of things she hated. Right below cockroaches.
Heero handed her a small jet pack and adjusted it to her shoulders before doing so with his own. They exited the ship and floated about. He seemed to be looking for something. He noticed the lost expression on her face. "Look for any signs of gas escaping the ship." He looked about before moving onto another section of the ship.
"01, Gundam's have been secured outside of this ship. Awaiting further instructions." WuFie's voice spoke over the COM systems in their suits.
"Affirmative. Hold position." He continued to look about the ship. Setsuna slightly behind him. Looking over everything he had, double- checking his checks. Something to the right caught her eye. A white gaseous substance was leaking out of the ship. She tapped Heero on the shoulder and pointed it to him. He nodded and made his way in that direction.
"The pistol like device on you hip, hand it to me." He held up his hand and waited for her to hand it to him. She suddenly realized that he was talking to her. She pulled it off and handed it to him.
He pointed it at the tiny hole in the ships hull. A gel like substance came out of it and covered the hole. Turning almost immediately into a hard solid. He stood up and handed it back to her.
"02. Do you have the locations of the leaks in the ship yet?" Heero spoke again into the COM system.
"Yes. We have three leaks. Sections 4, 8, and 13. Leaks are sealed from the inside. Awaiting further instruction Heero." Duo's replied.
"Affirmative. Leak sealed in section 8. Moving to the next section." Heero and Setsuna moved into the direction of the next closest leak. He stopped just before he got the next hole when they both heard something beeping irregularly.
"What is that?" She looked at him when she saw that the beeping was coming from him. He shrugged and continued to work on the leak. After she had handed it back to him.
"Oxygen canister on the suit was low. I have five minutes left of oxygen." He stated monotonously. He sealed the hole and stood up. Preparing his jet pack for the next hole.
Setsuna's eyes widened. "WHAT?" She screamed at him. Unbelieving that he could be so calm, or care so little for himself.
"Damn it onna!" WuFei screamed into the com. "Turn down the volume level of your com system before you break my ear drum!"
Heero started off toward the next hole. Followed by Setsuna who glared at him the whole way there. Even if he didn't see. The only damn person here who trusted her and now he was going to kill himself. Damn idiot. It sounded too much like something she might do. Which made her hate it even more.
It took them a good three minutes to get to the next section. He sealed the hole. She saw his hands shake slightly. The effects of breathing his own carbon dioxide. The hole was sealed and she saw him start to lose consciousness. "Mission completed." He stated before losing it.
She grabbed his arm and moved back in the direction of the air lock. As quickly as she could with only one jet pack. After a few minutes she returned to the air lock and pushed the buttons on the control panel furiously until the door finally shut. Damn it! It sucked knowing nothing about how this universe worked. The air came streaming into the room. She pulled off her helmet and shrugged to pull of his own.
Thankfully, he gasped in air as it was pulled off. She turned him on his stomach and patted his back.
Heero looked up to see he was back in the air lock. Setsuna smile faintly at him. He locked eyes with her. He never saw anyone so happy to see him alive. At least, not in the sense that she was looking at him. Her face showed only a faint smile, but he could see it in her eyes. The look that said she was intensely gratified that he had not died.
He opened his mouth a few times. Trying to find the words to say for helping him complete his mission. And in essence, helping him complete the mission ahead of them.
She smiled wryly at him. "Your welcome."
He smirked at her; thankful to her again that he did not have to say it.
Duo rushed into the room and stopped when he saw what was in the room. Heero looked away and Setsuna blushed slightly when she realized that they were staring at one another. But Duo didn't seem to notice this.
He whistled. "Man, you sure make that suit look good, babe." Duo smiled a trademark grin. His hand covered his mouth when he realized what he just said. Or rather, the last word of what he said. He moved his hand from his mouth and moved to cover his crotch wearily.
Setsuna stood up and glared at him coldly. She took a single step in his direction. That's all it took to send Duo running and screaming from the room down the hallway. Not stopping to look back or to remove his hands from his crotch.
Setsuna smirked. As did the other four pilotswhenTrowa, Quatre, and WuFeistepped in the doorwaylong enough to seeDuo running off. Heero had to cough to avoid laughing.