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 9

She spun around as Wufei rose sharply and in three long strides was behind the girl. He grabbed one of her arms, holding her back and away from her blond companion. Shiane struggled to get out of his grasp, but he tightened his grip, causing a small cry of pain to escape her lips.

"Now I remember why your name sounded familiar. You must be one of the granddaughters of Lady Collins," he said calmly. She ignored it but he knew she had acknowledged that fact.

"Let us go! We didn't do anything to you!" she exclaimed using her free hand to try to pry his off.

"But you did do something. You asked questions that made me think, Ms. Collins; your questions about the Gundams. 'How many more are there?' and 'What are their names?'" Wufei said calmly, his eyes were cool and blank.

Shiane flinched at that. She accidentally made him think she knew about Sandrock and Deathscythe. She hadn't meant for those questions to come out the way that they did. They just popped out before she could stop herself.

"That doesn't mean anything!" Shiane cried desperately. She ceased her struggling to get out of his grip, realizing that it was no use; he was so much stronger than she was.

"Ah. But it does. How would you know that there were any other Gundams and that they had names?" he asked.

"Uh…stories. My grandma…Lady Collins told me." Shiane replied thinking quickly.

"She couldn't have remembered what their names were! It's been too long!" he said with a hint of anger. "There are ways to get you to talk." he continued a few moments later. Signaling to one of his bodyguards, Shiane watched as he punched the unsuspecting Quatre in the stomach before she could cry out a warning.

She watched as Quatre doubled over in pain, but the bodyguard kept his grip on the blond's pinned arms, keeping him off the floor. Then she turned a little after a few moments and looked at Wufei, who said, "Tell me what I want to know!"

"No!" she half shouted. With that Wufei signaled again but this time Quatre got punched not once, not twice, but three more times. The bodyguard who had been holding the blond's arms let him go. Quatre sank to the ground in a kneeling position but clutched his middle in pain.

"Stop! Can't you see that you're hurting him?" Shiane shouted. She started to cry, which didn't exactly make a big difference, but she didn't like seeing friends get hurt, especially since it was a new friend.

"I can, but it will not stop until you tell me what I want to know." Wufei said.

She looked at him through her tears and wrenched her arm from his; he wasn't expecting that. Shiane walked quickly, though she wanted to run but did not want to fall in her heels, over to Quatre who was still kneeling on the floor.

"Quatre are you okay?" she quietly asked as she knelt down beside him and lifted up his head with her hand. He had a bit of pain in his green eyes, but he would be fine in a little while. Rubbing his chin gently in a soothing motion with her thumb as she continued to stare down into his eyes.

"What did you call him?" Wufei asked slowly as if he had not heard her right, taking a step towards them.

"I called him Quatre. That's his name if you hadn't recognized or remembered him," the girl replied dryly.

"But he's dead." Wufei said quietly looking straight at the blond.

"No I'm not. The others, including Hilde and I were in sleeping tubes. We were like that for seventy-five years, and then Shiane found us and woke us all up." Quatre said weakly.

Shiane then picked up one of Quatre's arms and pulled it across her shoulders. Rising slowly to help Quatre get his bearings and balance again, she was aware that the two bodyguards were still behind them. She put her other arm around his waist as she once again looked at Wufei.

"They were in an abandoned building like you were, my grandmother informed us, but in another city," she said. "A couple of friends helped me get them here."

"Were the other two Gundams found?" Wufei asked, his eyes curious and with a touch of hope, but he had also drawn a half-blank expression over his features.

Shiane hesitated, not sure if she should tell, which left the blond to answer. "Yes. We found them in the same building we were," Quatre said, "Will you return Heavyarms and Wing Zero back to Trowa and Heero?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," Wufei said with a sigh. Glancing at a clock on the wall he suddenly said, "I have to go now," With that he walked past them, unlocked the door, opened it, and walked out. His two bodyguards kept a watchful eye on the two teenagers while he was leaving and then they too, left the room following their employer.

"Can you walk?" Shiane asked Quatre after the others left.

"Yeah. I think so," he replied still a little weak.

They quietly and slowly made their way out of the room and onto the dance floor. Both of them were hoping that they wouldn't draw attention to themselves and luckily they didn't.

"Let's…no." he started but thought better of it, "Do you want to go to the others?" he asked her.

"Yes. I'd feel better if we did." she replied. "Oh, Quatre, you owe me a dance," she added with a smile. He looked at her and smiled, nodding his agreement.

They slowly made their way to where they saw their friends last. As they walked Shiane became lost in her thoughts. She was thinking about what had been happening the past day or so; actually, ever since she went to the building that had once held the Gundam pilots and Hilde. She didn't even notice when Quatre took her hand from his waist and held it with his other hand to lead her, but she did notice that he was walking normal once again.

Five minutes later he stopped, causing Shiane to break out of her thoughts and stop too before running into him. Looking around she found that they were standing with the others, but they were now at the front of the ballroom. There was now a small stage with a podium and a few feet behind it and to the side Maremeia and Amethyst waited on stage for Wufei.

Someone beside Shiane lightly touched her left shoulder. Looking over she found Trowa beside her. Quatre had dropped her hand when they joined the group and turned his own attention to the others. Shiane's eyes went up to Trowa's face as she said, "What?"

"Did you and Quatre see Wufei by any chance?" he asked, his tone flat of emotion.

"How did you know?" Shiane asked curiously.

"Just a hunch," he replied, allowing a hint of a smirk to twitch at his lips.

"Well, we did, but I don't really want to talk about it," she said, "But when I asked if he was going to give the Gundams back to you and Heero, he said he was sorry, and he left," she added.

Trowa looked away in slight disappointment, something she didn't miss. Just then Wufei walked onto the stage up to the podium.

"Good evening everyone!" Wufei said loudly. "I know I'm supposed to be presenting the Gundams to the representatives of Lady Collins, but I find that I cannot," he continued.

"WHAT?" people through the crowd exclaimed loudly.

"I can't give them to Lady Collins because I feel I must give them to the original owners," Wufei said.

Maremeia smiled. Somehow she knew this would happen if he knew the other pilots were still alive.

"What do you mean?" one of the guests from the back shouted to be heard clearly.

"I mean, I must give them back to Heero Yui, and Trowa Barton," he said, "But I will give Lady Collins my Gundam, Nataku."

Shiane looked over at her two quietest companions, wanting to see their reactions to the news and found that Trowa looked somewhat happy, and Heero, well, Heero looked like he always did.

Wufei came down to join the group and was followed at a more sedate pace by Maremeia and Amy.

For some reason, Wufei looked relieved about something. He shook hands with Duo and Quatre, apologized to the blond, which made all the others with the exception of Shiane curious as to what had happened and then asked Hilde to dance with him. When they went off dancing Shiane asked the remaining pilots,

"So what are y'all going to do now that you all have your Gundams?"

"Don't know. Whatever we do, we'll remember you, Savannah and Lucy. We wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you three," Duo replied, the others nodding in silence, "Want to dance?" he added to her.

"Sure," she replied. As he escorted her to the dance floor, she also noticed that Amy and Heero had also gone too.

They went and danced for a couple of songs and then she changed partners. She danced with Heero, and again Trowa, and finally Quatre, who had still owed her a dance. And unexpectedly Jonathon even claimed a dance from his cousin.

TBC