Disclaimer: Still don't own Gundam Wing. . .though my determination may pay off some day in my plan to rule all the major anime companies….moo-haha. . .. I also do not claim that Trowa can swim, Heero would apologize, Duo likes apples NOR do I claim to ever take these disclaimers seriously. . .

Chapter 7

"Hey Duo, do you know where your riding companions are?" Heero said over the comlink.

"They went in the hangar bay, why?" Duo responded.

"Well, you may feel a draft because your hangar door's wide open."

"WHAT!" Duo hit the auto pilot button and jumped out of the chair, racing over to the door and opening it only to be hit by the wind blowing in from outside. He cursed and screamed over the howling wind, "RACHEL, TROWA!" Sweating, he slammed the door shut and ran over to the radar, searching for his missing crew. Two faint blips appeared on the screen and he knew it was them. Quickly, he pressed the com button and yelled, "Quatre, they fell out!"

"What!" Quatre responded.

"Trowa and Rachel, they're down there in the water! I don't know if they're alive or not. . ."

"After a fall like that, impossible." Heero said coldly.

"SHUT up, Heero! Quatre, you have to go down there and save them!"

"10-4, over and out!" Duo fell into his seat, pale and shaking as he desperately prayed, "God, if you're listening, please don't let them die. I know I haven't exactly been good or anything but not Rachel, she doesn't deserve to die. . ."

Rachel and Trowa floated on the surface, bobbing up and down with the waves as a storm cloud crept in from the east. Trowa opened his eyes and looked up, noticing the darkness consuming the clear skies. A little worn out from trying to stay a float while holding onto Rachel, he laid back in the water and held her head above the water on his chest. She had passed out when they broke the surface. He rested his arm over her back and his right hand on the back of her head as he stared up at the sky in exhaustion, not wanting to close his eyes for fear he'd fall asleep.

I hope they figure out we're missing before they get too far away. Trowa thought as he sighed, How did she save us like that? Was she telling the truth to Heero and the others? Could she really be from another world? I guess anything's possible. . .she's strange enough to be an alien. But knowing about all of us. . .is she a telepath or mind reader of some sort? All this thinking is making me tired. Maybe a little rest wouldn't be bad. . . Suddenly, as his eyelids grew heavy and started to close, strong gusts of wind whipped across the water, waking Trowa. He squinted as the sun reflected off of Sandrock's black, white, and gold armor, almost bringing a smile to his morbid expression. The Gundam's hand reached down and scooped up the soaked teens, carrying them back to their plane. He gently dropped them into the hangar and closed the hangar gate, using Wing's beam saber to melt the edges of the door to the plane body so it would stay shut till they could do something about it. Flying away, he returned to his plane.

"Are you guys okay! How the heck did you fall out?" Duo said as he ran up to them and knelt next to Rachel, pulling her off of Trowa and holding her limp body in his arms.

"It's a long story." Trowa said, barely able to move as he lay motionless on his back, his eyes closed and his chest heaving from exhaustion.

"Is she okay?" Duo asked as he stroked a few stray hairs out of Rachel's face.

"Yeah, she just passed out from the rush of it all." Trowa responded quietly. Duo looked up at Trowa and said, "I can't believe you survived that fall, we're at least a thousand feet in the air!"

"I. . .I don't know. I think. . .it was. . .her." Trowa managed to say before he also passed out. Blinking, Duo looked down at the sleeping girl in his lap and thought, Her? Man, he must have swallowed some sea water or something. . .

As Trowa finally came around, he opened his eyes to see Rachel staring at him. She smiled and said, "Good, you're awake! How are you feeling?" He sat up and still felt a little dizzy as he touched his head and said, "I'm. . .okay. . ."

"Great! Let me get you something to eat." She stood up and walked over to their food crates to retrieve something. Trowa looked around and found himself to still be in the same place he was when he passed out.

"How long have I been unconscious?" Trowa asked quietly as he looked over at Rachel.

"About an hour." Rachel said. She struggled with the crate lid as she mumbled threats to it if it didn't open. Trowa stood and wobbled across the hangar to her, putting his hand on her shoulder to pull her aside. She jumped a little as she backed away and watched him hit the side and pop open the top. She looked at it in wonder and said, "Gee, and I was trying not to be violent. . ."

"What are you?" Rachel's eyes widened and she responded, "I guess I'm weak but you don't have to point it out. . ."

"No, that's not what I meant." He turned to face her, a slight frown on his face as he looked her in the eyes. She swallowed and said, "Um, what. . .did you mean?"

"You healed my cheek earlier. . .and you somehow kept us from being crushed and drowned by the water. Are you. . .an alien?" She couldn't hold in a snicker that rose from inside as it snorted out, followed by a laugh. Trowa looked a little insulted. She stopped and cleared her throat, saying, "No giggle I'm not an alien. I really honestly don't know how I did it. I just thought about it and it happened, simple as that."

"But Heero said that you claimed to be from another dimension."

"I am, but it's the same earth. Well, my earth has a different year than yours and we currently aren't having a world war nor do we have any colonies in space. It's. . .kind of boring, I guess, if you saw it. . .no big robotic suits, no OZ-although some of the cults out there can be almost as bad. No one has hair like yours for one thing. . ." Rachel said with a smile. He looked at his hair questioningly.

"So. . .how did you get here?" Trowa asked, fingering his long bangs.

"I don't know. I've been wondering that ever since I got here, trying to convince myself it's only a dream but things keep happening that obviously aren't dreams. Especially when it hurts so much. . ." She said, rubbing her arm that was still sore from holding onto Trowa. He looked at it and said, "Why were you so determined to keep me alive? Am I that valuable to you?"

"Of course, you're a gundam pilot! Why wouldn't you be? I mean, Trowa, you have such great talent in piloting that we need to take down OZ once and for all! I realize it. . .and I'm sure the others do too." Trowa seemed impressed by her speech.

"You should be a politician. . .you come up with speeches fast. . ." She frowned and said, "Don't insult me like that, I am nothing like a politician. For one thing, I don't lie about things I promise to people. I also share my honest opinion instead of laying it on with lies and big words no one can understand but a dictionary."

"So you're like Relena?"

"In a way yes, but I understand why wars happen and why they sometimes have to happen. Though I don't believe it should happen because someone wants to take over the world, that's just ridiculous. This world is big enough, everyone should learn to share and not be so power hungry. But if a war starts because someone wants to free an oppressed country under a cruel dictatorship or to stop something worse from happening, like Treize taking over the world, I could understand the reason for it. While peace would be nice it's just a dream in some people's eyes and you'll never get everyone to agree to it. On my earth there's never peace, but there's plenty of truces between countries to lower the likelihood of a war starting. At the moment on my planet there is a war going on between my country and Afghanistan's dictator. It's kind of sad when you know there's a war and you can't really do much about it. . .but I guess that's part of life." She sighed and looked down at the floor, remembering all her friends and family and hoping they didn't miss her too much. His hand twitched at his side like it wanted to go to her but Trowa stood still just staring at her. She looked up and said with a smile, "I gotta work on my feelings, I keep wanting to cry all the time like some baby. Hey, how about that food." She stepped toward the crate and finally Trowa put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and he said, "I'll leave you alone now."

"You mean. . .you believe me?" He nodded and she smiled.

"Thanks." She began to rummage through the crate.

"Duo wanted an apple." She looked back at him and pulled an apple out.

"I know."

"We're almost to shore, just 10 more minutes." Heero said boredly. Quatre sighed and looked at the ceiling with a sad expression on his face.

"Another battle to be had. . .why do we keep fighting when they just come back again in more numbers? Not that I'm saying we should give up, it just seems hopeless sometimes. . ." Quatre said, folding his arms across his chest. Heero didn't respond as he started to lower his plane closer to the ground as they grew closer to the next city. Suddenly, the radar began to beep madly and Quatre jumped in his seat, shooting forward and staring wide-eyed at the field of spots all over the radar.

"HEERO!" Quatre yelled, just before lasers flew unsettlingly close to their plane.

"It's a trap, they knew we were coming." Heero said calmly as he took evasive action to keep the plane from being shot down.

"I'll warn the others, they're a little behind us!" Quatre ran to the comlink, sliding across the floor as Heero took a sharp turn to avoid being blasted. He held onto the control panel and hit the button, yelling, "Guys, watch out, it's a trap!"

WE KINDA FIGURED THAT OUT! Duo yelled back, just now running into the barricade of lasers and missiles. Cursing like mad as he came close to being shot down, Rachel held on for dear life to the crate as Trowa did the same and yelled to Duo, "What's going on!"

"We're under attack, get in your gundam!" Duo yelled back. Trowa didn't hesitate as he waited for the plane to level out and launched himself at the Gundams. He landed on Duo's and crawled down its body to leap over to his, quickly jumping in and starting it up. Rachel's eyes were wild with fear as she held on for dear life. Finally, she risked it and jumped for the cockpit door, throwing it open and rushing in.

"Duo, get in your gundam, I'll fly!" Rachel said as she grabbed onto the back of Duo's seat.

"WHAT! Are you crazy! You can't-" Duo exclaimed.

"You have to! NOW!" She unbuckled him and bumped him out of the seat, quickly grabbing hold of the steering as she strapped in and attempted to pilot. Duo jumped up and almost lost his balance as he screamed, "RACH-"

"GO, DUO!" Rachel yelled to him. He grit his teeth as he fought in his mind over what to do. She gave him a quick glare as she said, "Get your butt in that Gundam of yours and get them before they get me!" He finally but reluctantly nodded and ran to the door, sliding across the cabin as he grabbed for the knob to stop himself. He pulled the door open and dashed to his Gundam, quickly jumping up and into it. She heard them both stand and blast the back gate open to get out, causing the plane to go off balance. She quickly pulled it back on course as they jumped out and rocketed off to battle. With a sigh of relief, she started flying away from the combat to get to safety. As she rounded about, she saw Wing and Sandrock leave their plane as it went careening off course and plummeted to the ground where it exploded on a group of mobile suits. She watched them with wide eyes and thought to herself, Man, I don't know how they can battle like that and not get hit. . .I'd die the second I got out of the plane!

Just then, a barrage of bullets flew through the air and her tail and right wing got ripped to shreds. The plane wobbled and started to spiral down toward the ground and the battle.

"gasp RACHEL, NO!" Duo screamed as he watched their plane nosedive out of control. Desperately, she tried to do something but found her efforts to be hopeless. As the ground came flying at her, she thought, Oh man, please let that not have just been a fluke. . . Her arms flew up in front of her face as she mowed down a clump of mobile suits. Duo's heart wretched in his chest and he screamed, "NOOOOO!"

Quatre's eyes were wide as he saw the massive explosion.

"Rachel. . ." Trowa muttered as he too saw the tragedy. In fury, Duo slashed through the mobile suits like a tornado, going on a killing spree through the shocked OZ fleet. Before long, Duo's scythe cut through the last mobile suit standing and continued to cut it apart as he screamed curses at it. Quatre flew over to him and grabbed Deathscythe, pulling it away.

"Duo, stop! He's dead!" Quatre said to his wild friend.

NO, they deserve to be tortured for what they did! Duo screamed back, tears flying from his eyes and he struggled to free himself of Sandrock's clutches. Wing Gundam watched from the sky, staring down as Sandrock and Deathscythe staggered back and forth in their own battle.

She. . .she didn't jump out. . .why? Trowa thought as he stared morbidly at the still blazing wreckage, almost crying himself. Just as a tear came to his eye, he saw something flicker in the fire. With a blink, he turned and walked toward the rubble, a little mesmerized by the dancing and leaping flames. Quatre and Duo stopped struggling for a second and stared at Heavyarms as it knelt by the blaze, reaching into the fire.

"Trowa, what are you doing?" Quatre said. As soon as he spoke, the hand came back out with a small ball of light in its palm.

"Huh?" Duo stared at the glowing sphere as did the other pilots.

"I thought so. . ."Trowa said to himself as he looked down at his hand, watching the glow disappear to reveal a curled up girl still a little shook up from the explosion. He stood his gundam and walked away from the fire to a safe distance from the heat before stopping and opening his hatch. Jumping out, he made his way down to the hand and knelt next to the curled up form. He laid his hand on her shaking side and she slowly looked up into his eyes.

"It. . .it wasn't a fluke. . .after all." Rachel muttered with a grin. Trowa smiled.

Wow. . .he's smiling. . .Rachel thought as she groaned from the ache of the ringing in her ears.

"Are you okay?" Trowa asked her. She blinked and stared at his lips as they moved but no sound came out. He frowned at the blank stare she gave him and said, "Can you hear me?" She blinked again. She mentally spelled out the words his lips spoke and figured out what he was saying. She shook her head. Deathscythe came barreling over to the still Heavyarms and Duo leapt out of the hatch, jumping down to Heavyarm's hand to join the two teens. He fell to his knees next to Rachel and said, "Rachel, you're alive! How! I thought you were-" Trowa put his hand on Duo's shoulder and Duo looked up into his eyes.

"She can't hear you, she went deaf from the explosion." Trowa said. His eyes still wildly dancing around, Duo looked back at Rachel. He put his hands on her shoulder and slowly mouthed out, "Are you okay?" Watching very closely, she said, "Y-yes." She suddenly got pulled up and into a hug as Duo said with tears running down his face, "Oh, thank GOD!"

Yes, thank God. . .Trowa thought as he watched Duo smother Rachel with his hug. Duo suddenly looked down at her and found her asleep.

"Huh. . .she passed out again." Trowa said, almost sounding a little glad. Duo smiled and just cradled her in his arms.

Oh, my head hurts. . .where am I? Rachel thought as she slowly opened her eyes. At first her vision was a little blurry but as her pupils focused, she saw the smiling face of Duo Maxwell appear over her bed. Blinking, she muttered, "Where. . .am I?"

"You're in a hospital. I thought it would be good to make sure your hearing wasn't gone forever. How is it?" Duo said in a cheerful voice, happy to see her awake.

"Mmm. . .a little muffled but I can hear you. It's almost like listening to you speak behind a door." She said quietly. He smiled kindly and said, "That's good. Are you hungry?" Slowly sitting up, she said, "Now that you mention it, yes I am."

"Great, I'll go get you something from the cafeteria! Don't go anywhere!" Duo said with a wink and a grin just before dashing out of the room. She sighed and closed her eyes as she relaxed her nerves and thought about what had happened.

"Hello, Heero. I'm guessing you're here to drill me some more on how the heck I did what I did?" Rachel said with a grin.

"I was trying to be quiet. . .another of your hidden talents?" She opened her eyes and said, "Nah, just figured you were waiting for Duo to leave. . .like you usually do in situations such as these."

"You studied my character well I see." Heero said as he walked into the room, "But not well enough, I didn't come here to 'drill you' on anything."

"Oh? Don't surprise me like that, I might have a heart attack." Rachel said sarcastically. Heero looked across the room with a low grunt at the window letting dim sunlight in as the sun set in the distance.

"I came to apologize." She sat up and stared wide-eyed at him. He looked back at her and said, "I'm sure you know that I rarely do this so treasure the moment."

"Nah, just a little. . .why are you apologizing?"

"I didn't believe you and I almost killed you for telling me the truth. But just because I'm saying I'm sorry doesn't mean that I like you now or we're going to be friends."

"I'm sure, no emotional ties for soldier boy." She said, trying not to look overly pleased. He looked away again. With a sigh, she said, "And. . .I'm sorry too."

"For?" Heero asked.

"For calling you. . .shorty. I was way out of line and for that I'm sorry. And I'm sorry if I said anything to hurt you when I was chattering on and on over the comlink. I need to learn some, oh what's it called. . ."

"Tact?" Heero muttered, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Um. . .yeah, that stuff. . .I haven't quite figured out how to use it yet." She said with a laugh as she scratched the back of her neck. She became serious suddenly as she said, "Heero, tell me, how hard is it to build a gundam?"

"Why do you ask?" He said, a little surprised by her sudden question.

"I. . .wanted to build one for myself. I want to help you guys end this war!" She said, her voice sounding quite fervent.

"It's not as easy as it looks. You have to have a blueprint of it first before you can do anything else. Besides, with the way supplies are in this area, you won't be able to get anything half-decent to build one with and I don't even want to get into the math and construction time."

"Math?" Rachel said, the word looking as if it left a bad taste in her mouth as she cringed.

"Yes. You're not good at math, are you?" He said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Not when it comes to Algebra and I haven't even started on Geometry!" She said, sounding hopeless.

"Well, I can't help you and now isn't exactly the time to be working on a project of such great magnitude."

With a sigh, she said, "Oh well, I guess it's really the thought that counts, huh?"

"I guess." He looked back out the window in a musing manner as he said, "Why do you think you can even help us? You may know how the Gundams work but you have no battle training that I know of in these type of scenarios, you didn't take flight training so even if you knew how to make it start you couldn't get it to maneuver the ways needed in combat. I'm not even going to get into the chances of you getting captured. . ." Heero said.

"Man, way to squash dreams. Was that part of your combat training too?" Rachel said in sarcasm.

"I'm just looking at the reality of you being of any help to us."

"All I need is a few days of training in the basics and I'll be fine! I'm a really quick learner!" She said, sounding determined. Heero shook his head. Grabbing the sheets in her fists, Rachel exclaimed, "Please, give me a chance!" Heero looked over at her and said, "A chance? Just one. . ."

"Yes, one. I don't want to waste all your time if I can't even handle a little practice. Just one chance. . ." Heero seemed to think about it for a long time before saying, "One chance, that's it. And I won't go easy on you." Her face exploded into a smile and she said, "Oh thank you, Heero! I won't let you down, I promise!" He just grunted and turned to leave. As he walked through the door, Duo came in after him, looking at him as he left then staring at Rachel's ear to ear grin. Sitting the tray of food he brought on her bedside table, he said, "What are you so happy about?"

"I'm gonna be a gundam pilot just like you!" She exclaimed, grabbing Duo in a tight hug. He blinked and said, "Uh. . .yay?"