Chapter 9

Lily woke up breathing heavily. Was that a vision? She got up from her bed and threw on her robe. She then went downstairs to the family room and turned on the T.V.

"…been destroyed. Most people were killed, but some have managed to survive. The gundam pilots seem to have retreated while OZ continues its attack."

"Oh my God." Lily drew in a deep breath and buried her face into her hands. "I shouldn't have come back here. They need me."

"Lily-neechan?"

Lily looked up to see Umi walking towards her. Behind Umi were her other siblings, Timmy, Alicia and Joey. Why were they all awake?

"Go," was the only thing Allie said. Lily smiled at her siblings and nodded.

"Hai!"

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"Rei, won't you see her off?" Jadeite questioned his wife as he stood by the window watching Lily run across the courtyard.

Rei just stared off into the distance, not bothering to respond to her husband. Lily was leaving. Rei knew there was no way to stop her. Her friends needed her. The people needed her. Lily was a true princess.

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"Duo! Heero!" Lily ran into the gundam base looking for her friends. "Anyone here? Nikki! Quatre!" This was frustrating. Where was everyone? "Wufei! Trowa!"

"Well, look who's finally come back!" Lily let out a gasp as Koji strolled out of the control room. "Glad to see that you're okay. Guess the wounds weren't as bad as I intended them to be."

"How did you find this place?"

"Remember when I put the bug on your dear Mariemaia? It was a tracking device as well."

"No…"

"Lily!"

Lily spun around and six wonderful pilots ran towards her. Duo! Duo was there. Without realizing it, she ran to Duo and he caught her in his arms, holding tightly onto her.

"God I missed you guys."

"Lily, the colonies," Nikki had started.

"I know," Lily interrupted. "I saw it on the news."

"What will we do?" Quatre asked.

"We pay them back." That said everyone turned to where Koji was only to find him gone. "No, I can't believe we let him get away."

"Lily…" Duo started.

"Ikimasho ka."

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"You can't hold me here forever, I hope you know," Relena explained to Treize. Lily had explained to her once that Treize had been alive, so when she saw him again after her kidnapping she wasn't surprised. "The gundam pilots will come to rescue me."

"Are you still counting on Heero to always be there for you? Haven't you learned yet that he now follows after Lily? You hate Lily, don't you? The question in why."

Relena stood proud and tall. She wouldn't fall to Treize. "I do not hate my own soldier. Lily is the bravest of them all. She works solely for her missions. She has trained the boys and they have all taken a liking to her."

"Which is why you hate her so much."

Relena didn't answer. Jealousy wasn't becoming of her, but Treize was right. Because of Lily, the G-boys hardly paid any attention to her anymore. Not that Relena would admit it bothered her. She was better than that.

"Well, I hate to leave you unattended in this room by your lonesome so my friend here shall keep you company. I have a meeting to attend to. I shall be back in a little while."

As Treize got up and left the room, a soldier entered and sat on the couch across from Relena. She only glared at him, then turned away to stare at the space just outside her window. There was nothing. The space was void of everything but this one ship and it's inhabitants. Relena prayed that her pilots would come rescue her.

"Praying for a rescue?"

Relena glanced at the soldier but only briefly. She quickly looked away. She didn't want to speak to this soldier. The door opened causing Relena to look over, curious to know who had just entered the room. To her surprise it was Amelia.

"Amelia?"

"Hello Relena. Soldier, you are released of your duties here."

The soldier nodded and left the room, allowing Amelia to take his seat. For awhile neither woman spoke. Relena knew Amelia was here on business, but she wouldn't rush the girl into telling the new that she brought.

"As you already know," Amelia started, breaking the silence, "I'm her for a reason. I just heard from Lily." This caught Relena's attention. Lily hated her, probably almost as much as she hated Koji.

"Lily said that she and the other pilots are headed here on her order. She is very loyal Relena. I hope you realize that." Relena nodded. "Feel lucky because we both know how easy it would be for Lily to just leave you here."

Relena did feel lucky. Lily was the last person she ever expected to issue and order to rescue her. Sighing, she looked out again. She owed Lily a lot now.

"Thank you Amelia."

"Don't thank me. Thank Lily when she gets here." With that said, Amelia left the room, sending another soldier inside.

This was crazy. Lily was coming to her rescue. Relena knew she should thank her but she didn't want to. She would though only in respect for Lily's efforts. Lily was one who when setting out for a mission, didn't fail, ever if it cost her own life.

It took a while before Relena had realized that the soldier was talking to her. She hadn't paid attention to him once but his voice sounded soft and comforting. It was almost familiar.

"Daijoubu. Lily-chan will come rescue you. I promise you she will."

It was the first time that Relena looked up to even glance at the soldier and upon meeting his gaze she now understood. Lily and Eric had once commanded a very skilled group of soldiers. This had been one of them. After Eric's death, Lily had practically resigned her role, causing the group to head in its own directions.

"Takuto, naze?"

"I'm under cover. Amelia called me up. Personally I was surprised since I hadn't heard from anyone in the group for such a long time."

"What? Even Tai?"

"Especially Tai."

Hope grew in Relena. Maybe now things would begin to pull themselves together again. Two of the group members were together again, and soon a third would be here as well.

"Does Lily know you're here?"

"Not yet." Takuto sighed. It's been awhile since he'd seen Lily and it was kind of hard. At one point he'd really loved Lily and he still felt that way, but Lily would never feel the same way towards him.

"Takuto, that's sweet, but gomen ne. I can not return those feelings." The words had hurt, yes, but that smile on her face hurt more. It was almost like as if she was just playing it off. "You should spend more time with Tairiana. She really loves you."

"But I don't love her. I love you."

"Gomen nasai Takuto." Now the smile faded and Takuto could have sworn he saw a tear. Before he could say anything more Lily turned and ran away.

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"What? Koji was with Amelia?" Takuto nearly shouted. "Didn't she just transfer here last week?"

"Yes, but what's worse," Tai started to explain, "is that Amelia and Lily have known each other since they were kids. Koji just met Amelia and already he's made a move on her. Poor Lily walked in on them. Amelia never knew that Lily and Koji were dating, let alone engaged."

"Hey!" Timmy strolled into the room and waved towards Takuto and Tai. "I just talked to Relena. She said you guys all split up a while ago."

"That was Lily's idea," Tai explained. "She didn't want Relena in our business so she figured a way to get her off our backs. You know Lily can't stand Relena."

Takuto listened to the two continue to talk, but slowly their voices were drowned out by his own thoughts. That's why Lily had been crying earlier. So it wasn't his imagination. Damn Koji.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Seven gundam pilots have been spotted at the bridge. All soldiers report to battle. I repeat, all soldiers report to battle."

"Looks like she's arrived. Be grateful Relena. Anyway, that's our cue. We better go."

"Go where?" demanded Relena as Takuto took her hand and pulled her up and out of the room. It was a mess out in the hall. Soldiers were running everywhere.

"What about Amelia?"

"Her job is to stay here. I am only to bring you to Lily and then report back to Amelia." Takuto pulled Relena into a small room and opened up a vent. "Climb in."

"What?"

"Do it! If you don't then I'll shoot you. We don't have time for any of this. People need you Relena. Colonies have gone insane and now they've been destroyed. There's a war raging just outside of this base and now OZ wants to claim war against the planets. You have a job to do. You are the only one who can clean up this mess. Now climb in."

Relena nodded and climbed through the vent. It was small and dark, but just big enough to climb through. She heard Takuto climb in behind her. As they both climbed through, Takuto was silently giving directions.

AN: So, what ya think? Reviews people. Reviews.