Shiane: Okay, I kow that it's a self-insertion...but that's the way I write.

Shiane: But thank you for the reviews everyone.

Oh yeah, I don't lay claims to the Gundam Boys and/or any of the other characters from that series—Gundam Wing………But Shiane, Lucy, Savannah, Amethyst and Jonathon are mine.

Chapter 3

While Shiane was buried under all the glass and metal, Duo and Quatre revived the last two of their group. They protected each other from the debris flying everywhere. When the explosions ended all of them, Heero included, went over to what was left of the machines and started looking for the girl.

It took about an hour to find her through the ruins of the metal, but when they did it was the tall pilot, Trowa, who found her.

"I found her!" he called to the others. He had to move a few things to get to her, but he found her lying unconscious under a large sheet of metal. Everyone else stopped what they were doing and carefully made their way to him. Trowa bent down and scooped the girl into his arms and turned to the others.

"Is she okay?" Hilde asked standing beside the tall young man looking at her.

"I think so, but she's unconscious, so I'm not totally sure," Trowa replied looking down at the girl cradled in his arms, "But I'm going to take her away from this," he added. The other three nodded and followed as he walked away to a clearer space.

Shiane started waking up a couple of minutes later while someone was still carrying her. Using just her eyes she looked around and realized that Trowa was the one who was carrying her and looked up into his face. She could feel his strong arms holding her and it was then that she really noticed that he was muscular.

He, on the other hand, felt her stirring, but did not know she was fully conscious.

"Trowa?" Shiane asked quietly, a small curious frown on her face. He looked down at her and met her brown eyes that for some odd reason seemed familiar and tugged at his mind. She seemed familiar but he could not figure out why. Maybe he would get some answers soon.

"So you're awake now," he said to her, "She's awake." he told the others over his shoulder. Heero had remained at the explosion site and was examining the ruins, trying to determine what exactly had set off the detonation.

Trowa stopped and set her feet on the ground; they were in a clear enough space in the room. She put her arm around his shoulders so she could stand though she had a tad problem since he was so tall. But he didn't seem to mind at all. As Shiane stood there regaining her balance and calming her unsettled nerves, she looked the best she could at her arms and legs. She had lots of cuts, scrapes, and bruises, but other than that, she felt fine. Even with the slight headache she felt fine.

Shiane looked up and saw that all of them, even Trowa were looking at her.

"I'm fine you guys," she said looking around at their faces. She took her arm from Trowa's shoulder and took a wobbly step away from him, to show them she was fine, but she was tired from all the excitement and her legs hurt. Actually her whole body ached. But she was still unsteady on her feet so she ended up falling. Trowa grabbed at her waist and caught her before she hit the ground and hurt herself even more.

"Shiane, you're not fine. You need to rest for awhile," Quatre told her as Trowa held her around her waist so she wouldn't fall again and she put her arm on his shoulder again.

"Okay," Shiane replied looking down at the ground feeling younger than her sixteen years. With Trowa helping her, they walked to an unlittered spot and sat down so they could get the girl to rest. Shiane sat next to Trowa cross-legged just a couple of inches from his body.

They all started talking about something but Shiane didn't pay any attention. Her eyes felt heavy and started to droop and she fell into a light sleep with her head on Trowa's shoulder. She was just so tired and only wanted to rest for a few minutes.

"Shh…Shiane's asleep," Heero said coming up to the group, "I found out what triggered the explosion."

"Well, what was it?" Duo asked curiously.

"The machine was triggered to explode about a minute after Hilde was out." Heero said looking at the girl.

"But why would they put a detonation device in the machine to begin with?" Duo asked in a quiet outburst.

The other four looked at him with solemn eyes and it was Trowa who answered.

"Maybe what they put us in was only an experiment and we were just the test subjects. The doctors could have placed the device to make sure if it fell into the wrong hands and we were awakened that they would die before they were able to reproduce it. They also assumed that we would most likely die with it before we could be used in evil plots. We were the best," the usually quiet Trowa said. Duo's mouth dropped a little, but in the end he and the others all nodded.

"And Hilde? Why her?" Duo inquired for curiosity's sake.

The others looked at each other, but this time it was Hilde who answered, "They couldn't find Wufei. So I was the next best person that would not be questioned about or missed." She gave a small shrug.

Everybody thought quietly for a few minutes until Heero brought up an issue nobody could think about.

"What are we going to do about her?" Heero asked jerking his head towards Shiane.

Everyone was taken by surprise at his question and they all glanced at the girl, who was still sleeping, oblivious to their conversation. She looked young and innocent and the five didn't want to be held accountable if something happened to her while she was with them.

"What do you mean Heero?" Quatre asked looking back at him.

"What are we going to do about her when we get out of here?"

"She might know where our Gundams are," Duo said thoughtfully.

"Hmm…She might, but…she's only heard stories about us," Heero pointed out, "They might not be true," he added quietly.

"Yeah, but she heard them from Lady Une," Duo retorted. "Besides, we have no real idea how long we were out of commission. We don't exactly know how much has changed since our time," he added.

"Do you mean Lady Une is related to Shiane?" Hilde and Quatre asked in unison, while Trowa looked on quietly with a puzzled look on his face. They knew she looked familiar and until that moment they couldn't place why, but now they could see the great resemblance. Shiane was almost identical to the woman they knew from when before they were put into suspended animation.

"Yeah, she told us that Une is her grandmother," Duo told them, "Shiane even looks like her!" he added. The other three looked shocked at the news and all wondered just how long they had been kept in suspended animation.

"But…Lady Une might not have told Shiane anything about where the Gundams could be! She may not even know where they are," Trowa replied quietly but firmly.

Silence followed that statement for a few minutes.

Shiane stirred and began to wake up right about then. Rubbing her eyes, she lifted her head off of Trowa's shoulder. When she was wide awake she looked around at the others.

"Hey, what's going on?" Shiane asked in a soft voice, somehow aware that they had been talking about her. Besides, Heero was there, so she was certain that they were talking about her.

"Did Lady Une ever tell you where our Gundams are?" Heero asked bluntly. Coldness had entered his dark blue eyes and bore deeply into hers.

She was a little taken back at his question, but she answered the best she could. "No. She told me that the Gundams disappeared with you guys, but she always seemed to be not telling the whole truth," she replied thoughtfully, "And…" she trailed off.

"And what?" Duo asked growing slightly impatient. He was itching to get out and see the world again. He wanted to know all that changed.

"And we're in an abandoned building with lots of rooms I haven't seen, like the basement. But I've seen some blueprints of this building and there should be another room under the basement," Shiane said, "I know the way down there," she added quietly.

"Well then, let's go down there!" Duo exclaimed jumping up instantly excited.

"But…the door…something's blocking it on the outside," she said with a frown. "When I actually got into this room, the stone that had been in front of the door somehow was jarred and moved. It's now to where you can't even open the door without a lot of brute strength."

"Hmm…" he said as he reached up into his hair and took something out. Bending down he opened his hand to show her. Hilde leaned over from where she was sitting and got a glimpse of it and rolled her eyes at him. In the palm of his hand lay a tiny bomb.

They were about five feet from the door so Duo said, "Y'all better go take some kind of cover or something. I have no idea if it's gonna make a big blow or not work at all."

Quatre rose and helped Shiane to her feet since she still hurt though not as much. The others (except for Heero, who had already been standing) also rose. They all walked to a corner away from the door and stood there waiting for Duo to set the bomb.

Heero on the other hand was still leaning against the wall where he had gone back to after Shiane tried to answer his question the best she could.

Duo finished setting the bomb and ran over to them. They waited in the corner expecting an explosion.

Nothing happened.

"Are you sure it was going to work Duo?" Quatre asked from beside Shiane. Duo and Shiane separated from the group and went to the door, followed by the ever-silent Heero.

"I don't think it will work Duo. It's too old," Heero said looking critically at the bomb. He had, along with the others, already assumed that a great amount of time had passed while they were "put away", considering that the girl who had found them was the granddaughter of one of their allies.

"Shiane!" came a feminine shout from the other side of the door. Both Heero and Duo looked at her.

The girl shrugged and said, "It must be a couple of my friends. In here!" she shouted the last part.

"Shiane?" another voice shouted sounding louder.

"Yes. In here! Open the door!" she shouted.

The people on the other side tugged as Shiane and Duo pushed the door until it opened. There stood two brunette girls both of sixteen years, Shiane's best friends Savannah Marroquin and Lucy.

"Savannah, Lucy!" "Shiane!" "What are you doing here?" all three girls cried at the same time. Duo cleared his throat and looked at Shiane, who looked at him, seeing his pointed look.

"Oh, this is Duo and Heero," she pointed to the guys, "And these are my best friends Savannah and Lucy. How did you know where to look for me?" she asked Savannah.

"You've always wanted to explore this building so we came here, but it took awhile for us to find you though," she replied as Lucy nodded her head in agreement.

"Come on, the others are probably wondering what's happening," Duo said a tiny bit impatient. He almost had to drag the three girls back to the others.

Heero disappeared through the door and started searching on his own. The other four pretended not to notice, at least Shiane did.

"The bomb was a dud!" Duo informed the others, "But these girls, Savannah and…Lucy were on the other side of the door and with their help we got the door opens!"

"Umm…Savannah, Lucy, this is Quatre, Trowa, and Hilde. Guys, these are my friends Savannah and Lucy," Shiane said pointing to each person as she said his or her names. Shiane looked at her best friends and noticed that they were looking around at the others with odd looks on their faces. Maybe they were starting to remember the stories they used to hear from her grandma. She knew Savannah at least would remember all the stories she heard about Duo. Savannah's favorite Gundam pilot just happened to be Duo Maxwell.

"Can we leave now?" Hilde asked anxious to get out. She had seen enough of the room and desperately wanted a change in scenery.

"Yeah, if everyone else wants to," Shiane said looking at everybody who were nodding vigorously.

They walked out the door together but Savannah, Lucy and Shiane hung back a little to talk.

"Shiane, are they the people in those stories your grandmother used to tell us? And where is the other one, uh, Wufei?" Savannah asked, taking another look at the older people.

"Yes, they are from the stories. They were in these tube things…" Shiane replied as her voice faded into a whisper. She proceeded to tell the other two what events had taken place ever since she first saw Heero and Duo.

As they spoke Shiane guided the others down two flights of stairs and a couple of turns to the basement.

"Go through the door in front of you and you're in the basement, I think," Shiane said with a thoughtful frown.

As she walked through the door, Quatre found the light switch and turned the lights on.

"I'm surprised this place still has electricity!" Savannah exclaimed.

"No kidding," Lucy added.

"Well, we're lucky," Shiane told her, "We need to look for some kind of trapdoor, but I have no idea where it is."

They split up the group; Quatre, Lucy, and Trowa, Hilde and Shiane, and Duo and Savannah.

"What year is it?" Hilde asked the girl.

"It's AC 272. Do you remember what year it was when you got put in the tubes?" she inquired.

"Um…It was AC 197."

"Did Wufei really disappear?" Shiane asked.

"Yeah. The doctors were going to use all of the Gundam pilots but they couldn't find Wufei, he disappeared before we "disappeared", so they used me instead. I was the last person they put in the tubes. The others, well except for Quatre, were already asleep."

They talked about other things as they searched for the trapdoor.

All of a sudden Heero popped out of nowhere and said, "I found it. Hilde, Duo's waiting for you. Just go to your left. I'll bring Shiane. Go!" he commanded when she hesitated.

A little bewildered, Shiane looked at Heero thinking, "What in the world does he want to say to me?"

"What is it Heero? Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, nothing's wrong. I wanted to tell you…thanks," he said looking uncomfortable.

"For what?" she asked puzzled.

"Well, for getting me, I mean us, out of the tubes," he said still looking uncomfortable.

"I had help after you and Duo woke up, remember?" she replied.

"I know, but you still had to get me and Duo out by yourself."

"Don't continue Heero. I can see that you're uncomfortable and you're making me nervous. I can also see that you're thankful just by looking at you." she told him truthfully looking into his face.

"Come on you two! Hurry up!" Trowa called.

"Well let's go!" Shiane said taking him by the arm, leading him in the direction of the others. He looked relieved for the most part. "I don't think he really likes expressing his thanks very much. He may look relieved, but he still feels stiff as a board under my hand," she thought. "He needs to lighten up!" she added.

The trapdoor was set in the far wall of the basement and she could see it clearly as she drew nearer. It looked like a portal into the darkness beyond. Shiane released Heero's arm as she approached the door and with a little cautiousness stepped through.

"Ow," Shiane said as she bumped into someone, that someone was Quatre, "Sorry. Is there a light switch anywhere?"

"Um…Yeah. Here it is," Trowa said from the darkness. Shiane could hear him flip it and one by one the lights turned on. A few minutes later the room below the basement was lit.

"This room is bigger than I expected!" Savannah said looking around, "So, what are we looking…"

"Gundams," Duo interrupted pointing to the far right.

TBC