Chapter 18 (Warning: Lots of blood in this chapter, so beware, all my young readers!)

Rei clenched her teeth against the scream that worked its way into her throat. Pain seared through her lower half and she glanced down to see harsh red blood splattered across her leg and the hand that now gripped at the source of her agony. (They shot me! Those freaking assholes shot me!) She grit her teeth harder against a shout of pain, and tried to concentrate on the muffled voices that came from somewhere nearby.

"...believe...she got out...think?" Rei held her ragged breath as she recognized Duo's voice. The pain in her leg was now pounding and more blood seeped from beneath her hand.

"...Possible." Heero's voice came low and intermittently through the blood racing through Rei's ears. (Calm down and get control! It hurts!) Swallowing hard, she concentrated on her surroundings. (Move. If they catch you-) Gripping her leg against the blood flow, Rei shifted further behind the showcase, allowing her breath only in small gasps. (Quiet! They'll hear you! They'll question you and they might shoot you again!) Her mind shot out thoughts and she cringed in anticipation. Trying to calm, Rei closed her eyes slowly and tried to block out the throbbing in the lower half of her body.

Footsteps clicked on the floor behind Rei and she slowly opened her eyes again. (Get out. Auditorium!) She focused on the stairs in front of her, but clenched her teeth harder as she realized she would be putting herself in plain view, if only for a few seconds, if she tried to pull herself there. (I don't have a choice.)

Reaching over, Rei slowly wrapped her hand around the bag's strap, and bit her lip against a cry as the movement brought shocks of pain down her leg. (Ignore it, pull yourself together, get moving...) She repeated the thoughts as she slowly drew the bag towards her.

"What now?"

The sudden voice came loud in Rei's ears and she started, not only sending another jolt of pain through her leg, but her other hand faltered, creating several, very obvious clinks as the rest of the bag collapsed against the floor. (Oh, sh-)

A few more clicks sounded, these ones coming from above Rei's lowered head. She looked up unsteadily to see several gun barrels and very stoic faces behind them.

"Get up." Heero's voice commanded coldly.

Her hand gripped harder against the blood and Rei silently cursed herself as agony pushed tears behind her eyes. (Stop it! Never let them see that!) Swallowing hard, she took in a slow breath. "I. Can't. You shot. Me." She kept her voice level, but lifted her face to glare at Heero defiantly.

His eyes shifted and Rei was suddenly aware of someone kneeling at her side. She looked over and surprise dulled the pain for a moment, as Treize looked at her with genuine concern, his hand drifting around Rei's own clutching to her leg.

"She needs to get that bullet out." He said decisively and looked up at Heero. Silence and a glare met his statement.

Rei looked down at the wound and realized with a sudden burst of panic, that blood had now covered her thigh and created a good sized puddle on the floor beneath it. The raw pain increased drastically with the sight and she bit down hard, breathing forcefully through her teeth.

Heero looked back at Rei, her eyes closed tight in agony. His gun wavered. Old words rang in the back of his head. ('Stop it! What do you wanna shoot him for?!') "What do you want to shoot her for..." He whispered lowly. He let the gun fall to point harmlessly at the floor.

As Heero's gun lowered to his side, Treize pulled his attention back to Rei. The girl was only half paying attention to her surroundings and seemed to be focused on the blood that was now pouring from beneath her hand. "Need to get that bullet out." He repeated softly.

Rei gripped her leg tighter. (No! I can't let them make me dependant on their help!)

"What are you waiting for?!" Relena's voice suddenly cried. Rei glanced up to see the girl standing behind Heero, arms crossed. "Didn't we already decide this?! Shoot her and question her! We went over this!"

"The first part is already done, Relena." Zechs said from behind Rei and his footsteps thudded as he too knelt by her. "We can dress the wound and-"

"No! I won't let you!" Zechs leaned away from the flurry of fine, black hair that suddenly swept up. Rei snatched a hand around Treize's neck and held Heero's missing gun in her bloody right hand. Pressing it to the man's head, her breath shook with her body, even as blood now flooded from the bullet wound, coloring her whole leg. She jerked back towards the stairs down to the auditorium.

The pain became unbearable and Rei settled for clenching a fist around Treize's shirt collar. Hot pain flowed down her leg with the blood and her breath came intermittently. An abstract piece of her mind noted Treize's oddly submissive behavior. He could have easily thrown her to the ground, but instead stood with his back arched, keeping his head easily within her reach. His hands were held out from his body, open and unarmed.

Rei's interest once again put her mind above the pain and she gained control of her breath. The others now had their own guns out and were slowly advancing on her.

"We just spared you, woman, don't give us a reason to shoot you again." Wufei threatened in a low voice. He took a step forward, gun already aimed, obviously not caring how Rei had Treize at gunpoint.

"Let him go, Rei." Quatre softly coaxed. "We are going to help you."

"No!" Rei yelled again. "You can't!" She screamed, almost trying to drown out the pain pounding through her leg. "You will only get hurt if you stay around me!" Her foot suddenly felt the sharp drop of the first step behind her. "In danger.." The thought came out half formed and she leaned back and tried to get down the steps, but only succeeded in practically falling down them and dragging Treize with her, the door at the bottom, luckily, keeping her from falling all the way to the floor. The pressure of the landing shot needles through her, and a strangled whimper worked its way from her throat. "You're all in danger..." She whispered softly.

"Stop this, Rei." Treize suddenly murmured. "How can you keep in control when you are upset like this?" He asked innocently.

"He's right." Rei jerked her head up to see Zechs creeping down the stairs, gun carelessly in one hand. "You are going to lose too much blood if you keep going like this. Just stop and we'll-"

"Aren't you hearing me?!" Rei screamed again, now shaking more than ever. "You are in danger if you stay around me!"

"We'll take that danger!" Heero replied angrily, jumping nimbly down the steps.

Rei pushed back away from them, but only succeeded in jerking open the door, where she fell back to the floor, pulling Treize down with her. He fell out of her hands and she didn't reach for him again.

She lay there for a moment and drowsiness suddenly took over her mind, sending the pain drifting away. She felt warm all over and smiled softly. (Well. So this is what it's like to die... At least now no creatures will kill them...because of me...) She sighed and her smile stayed firmly on her lips.

After Rei fell, Heero was at her side and immediately checked her pulse. He breathed relief and looked up to see the others already jumping down the stairs, Treize was now next to him, his cloak off and against the wound. Zechs was on Rei's other side, also checking her wrists for a pulse. "Sleeping." He glanced up at the trail of thick red blood Rei had left in her struggle. "The bullet must have hit an artery." He said simply, as though this was obvious knowledge, and Heero nodded in agreement. Their gazes met over Rei's body and they locked.

(He is still an enemy. But...) Heero broke the stare and looked down at Rei, her body moving slowly with regular breaths. (Rei was considered an enemy also.)

Duo watched them from the door. There was nothing to be done, except watch, along with Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei. (Wait a sec. Where's Relena?) He tilted his head and looked up the bloody path Rei had left on the stairs and saw Relena, standing angrily at the head of the crimson stream, which dripped down and flowed in small rivulets down the yellow-gold stairway. (Why...did we ever think Rei was the enemy?) Duo frowned and looked back at the bloodstained body of the pale, strong girl. (She was helping us, and we thought she was an enemy! Why did we ever believe all that stuff?) He looked back up at Relena.

Relena did not see the stares the other boys gave her. She only concentrated on the way Heero held Rei's wrist, if only checking her pulse, and how he supported her neck under his knee. (I can't believe this! One minute they all hate her, then she gets a little hurt, gets blood all over the place, and now they are all up close again! How could they act like this?!) She made her way down the stairs, carefully avoiding the rivers of blood that ran there.

Quatre watched Relena descend the stairs slowly, eying the harsh red blood with little more than distaste. (How can she be so calm?) He frowned as the girl stopped and stood tensely on the other side of the door. He pursed his lips and looked back at Rei's pale body.

Treize could practically feel Wufei's eyes burning into his back. (The boy was ready to fight whether I died or not. Did he figure she wouldn't kill me, or did he truly not care?) He frowned into the blood- soaked cloak pressed into Rei's leg. But his attention was called down to something else. (What?) Blood no longer blossomed spots in the cloth, and nothing ran down her leg anymore. Slowly, he removed the bundled cloak.

Heero saw Treize slowly remove the pressure from the coat and Heero darted out to stop him, but halted his own action as he saw what was left of the bullet hole.

"Impossible..." Quatre breathed. He and the others had quickly moved to Rei's side.

The bullet hole was now half the size of an average wound, but the bullet itself wasn't imbedded into her leg, as it should have been. Instead, the round, metallic base was pushed back up in the hole, and climbing slowly outwards, as though Rei's body were physically pushing it out from the inside. Finally came the dully pointed end, and it rolled off her leg and landed on the floor with a soft clink.

"Man, that is just a little too creepy for me..." Duo commented quietly as he straightened and backed away a step.

And, with a slight impression of finality, the bullet hole squeezed closed, leaving only the blood to show there was ever a wound at all. Heero delicately reached out and tapped the new skin there. Brushing away the blood with his thumb, he ran his fingers along her skin.

"Don't suppose you got a fancy explanation for this, do you?" Duo looked sarcastically up at Relena, who stood, just as amazed, behind Heero. She responded with a simple glare.

There! How did you like it? Hope it wasn't too bad for any squeamish readers out there... But I said so in the beginning, so don't say I didn't warn you. ^_^ Anyway, I hoped you liked the details, I was trying to give you a real nice perspective, and I got a p.o.v. from almost everyone! Don't worry Wufei fans, he'll have a nice part in the next chapter. And I do apologize for any OC-ness you may see, I tried to keep everyone In-C, but let me know if I missed anything. And if you think Rei was acting a little strange... Well, she was losing a lot of blood at the time! That can mess up anybody's attitude! Anyway, I must thank every single one of my reviewers, this story finally passed up my best, One Summer Day, and with only half the chapters! Thank you all! Oh, and to Purple Hotagi, (I think that's right) yes, not very many SM characters here, but I like it this way. I don't know why, I just wanted to write this with Rei in the spotlight. Anyway, thanks for the long, and very constructive review! Thanx! And the same to all my other lovely reviewers! Give me another one! Tell me how I'm doing! (Whew! That was a pretty long A/N!)