Chapter 8

It was like having every inch of skin ripped off her body at once, leaving Relena shaking in agony so intense she should have passed out.

"Minister Darlian! Agent Yuy! Can you hear me?"

Trapped against him as she was by the jacket, it was impossible to see his face, but the newly illuminated cavern showed her the rivers of dried blood trailing down his neck and disappearing below his collar. The familiar green of his tank top peeked out at her, but most of what she could see of the fabric was almost black where it had absorbed the crimson liquid.

I do love you.

The words rattled around inside her like razors, lacerating unprotected, tender organs.

I do love you.

That fleeting, unguarded expression of affection upon his face before the conference flashed in her mind.

"Let me out," she gasped.

"Relena?"

"Let me out!"

One hand, scraped and bruised so brutally that it was no longer the correct color, drew the zipper down on his coat. It was the hand that had cradled her head as they fell. Relena sprang away as though burned, stumbling to her feet so abruptly that she could feel the shift of her broken ribs beneath the skin. She bit back a scream of agony, caught herself on a pile of debris, and made herself look at Heero.

He was standing now, watching her. Half of his face was swollen and covered with blood from a gash that arced from the middle of his forehead down to his left ear. A network of mottled discolorations was blooming over his left cheek and jaw. The tank top, now exposed through the opening in his coat, was stained almost entirely on the left side to black. Pieces of white fabric peeked out at her from odd places until she realized that he must have used the white t-shirt of his Preventer uniform as emergency bandages when he had slipped away from her earlier. His jacket, despite the heat it had provided, was in tatters. More bruises and blood shone where the fabric of his clothes had been torn completely through, and as she watched he listed subtly to one side before steadying himself.

"Minister? Are you there? Can you speak?"

She stared at him, at the wreck of him. He stared back, but it was a lethargic rendition of his normally flawless composure.

"Minister!"

"We're here," Heero called, breaking eye contact to turn toward the newly opened path of rescue.

She could not stop the strangled gasp that escaped at the sight of his back.

Ropes and industrial lamps dropped through the hole where brightness streamed in, spreading the light and casting shadows across what revealed itself to be a cavern big enough to fit a small city. Just like Heero had described, the cavern was a maze of half-walls that weaved haphazardly, some sloping suddenly in angles that would have been impossible to climb, and many more ending abruptly fifty meters below the ceiling of the cavern. She could see pieces of the broken podium, twisted metal scaffolding, and large chunks of fallen rock littering a wide, open space about twenty meters across. Amidst the debris, marked by pooled blood and red smears like neon signs saying, "You were HERE", lay a jagged sheet of rock thicker than the width of her palm and almost as long as a man.

Had that been what fell on them?

She looked again in horror at Heero's back. Something had sliced roughly through the heavy fabric of the Preventer jacket in multiple places. More green and white peeked through the torn material, but it was not enough to hide the lacerations beneath or the colorful bed of ground meat his blood was painted upon. So much blood. Relena was not a person who became queasy at such a sight, but even she knew it was dangerous for that much blood to be shed from one body. She remembered the way he had wrapped himself around her, shielding as much of her as possible from the onslaught of their wild tumble. She remembered the moment as they rolled when they hit so hard, he almost lost his grip on her. She remembered the impact with which they landed, and the way he rolled her beneath him so that she was protected against the jagged, broken debris that followed. She remembered the feeling of the crushing weight upon them after they landed, his body covering hers. She remembered his struggle to lift and move that weight.

She should have been crushed; lacerated beyond recognition.

Had she fallen on her own, she would be a pizza they scraped off the floor, if they even found her body at all.

I do love you.

A vice clamped her, merciless, crushing her like a reminder of what her fate should have been. His name escaped her lips, little more than a gasp forced from her petrified lungs, only audible to her own ears as the sound of their rescuers filled the open space.

A dozen people with bags—medical supplies, she guessed—rappelled down the ropes, landing amidst a sea of space rock and immediately running in the direction where they stood. Eric Lossen was among them, his face painted in concern. Heero backed up until he was standing abreast with her.

"Stay close to me. Don't let them separate you from me until you're up with David," he warned her.

The medical team descended upon them like a whirlwind, pushing back debris and erecting a makeshift clinic in minutes while a blur of faces and voices surrounded them. Relena found herself ushered onto a piece of rock, her suit jacket and blouse cut away until she was only in her camisole and bra, a heavy blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Her eyes remained glued to Heero as they did the same to him, the blue-eyed pilot stoic beneath their ministrations as they exposed the battered surfaces of his body.

"Minister, do you have any dizziness? Pain?"

The medics tending to him wore pained expressions as they catalogued a long list of injuries. Heero remained unruffled. His mouth moved on occasion as he answered questions the medics asked of him, his gaze constantly sliding back to her face. She saw the moment the medics realized that the deadly slab had landed on his back, visibly taken aback as heads swiveled between the quiet man and the mass of stone in question.

I do love you.

"Minister? Can you hear me?"

"She's in shock, Keith; could be bleeding internally," she heard Eric's voice intone gravely. "We need to get her back up to the surface."

"Right. We'll have to get a gurney lowered to pull her up, I don't like the look of these bruises. Broken ribs, I think. Minister—? Minister Darlian, we need to get you up to the medical ward. Can you walk with us?"

"…Might be best to bring the gurney over here and wheel her to the opening. I don't know if she's lucid enough to walk."

"Minister? Can you hear me? Can you squeeze my hand?"

The pieces of his improvised bandages were discarded as they used fresh, clean wraps to cover his wounds. Murmurs of conversation about a blood transfusion drifted to her from across the space. She could already picture him with an IV taped to his arm. An old memory overlaid the image, where he was strapped down to a table with restraints, locked inside an Alliance hospital while allowed to bleed freely from bullet wounds. It was quickly replaced by another of him in a different hospital, unrestrained and sleeping, wrapped in clean white bandages, where she had sat with him after he destroyed Mariemaia's bunker.

"Alright, Minister Darlian. Time to get you out of here—"

"No."

There was a startled pause, then gentle hands attempted to guide her onto the gurney. "You may be feeling confused, Minister, but Mr. Litz will—"

Relena tore her gaze from the dark-haired soldier long enough to stare down the young medic at her side. He recoiled at the expression, visibly shocked.

"If you attempt to remove me before Agent Yuy is tended to, I assure you that you will no longer be a part of this project or any other excursions related to me or my colleagues' endeavors, Mr. Megora." She shifted her gaze to the other, taller man at her side, leveling him with all the authority her position and background afforded her over the years. "The same goes for you, Mr. Lossen, or any of your associates who are down here. I will not be going anywhere unless it is with my Preventer detail. Do you understand?"

She had always found it exceedingly impactful to know the names of the people she met, no matter how briefly. Usually it was because humans responded favorably when they realized their individual identities were acknowledged and remembered, but on occasion the Foreign Minister also realized that intimidation was a more effective tool when you showed a person you knew who they were. Politics was always a game of intimidation, especially when you were a petite blonde teenaged girl surrounded by old rich men.

Keith Megora went pale, released her, and swallowed hard. To his credit, Eric Lossen raised both hands in supplication and very deliberately stepped back from her. Relena waited a beat, then returned her gaze to the quiet man having his ruined back stitched and slathered in some sort of salve.

I do love you.

No regret, no guilt. No hesitation. Guileless, direct honesty. He jumped into bottomless holes after her and shielded her from falling debris, even when it chewed up his body like paper. He stood behind her ambitions, even when he disagreed with her. He yielded to her wishes, even when he knew better.

He never lied to her. Even when he should.

If I went by your logic, you would be the most dangerous person to me on this satellite.

I've tried to tell you that for years.

But he also did what he thought was best for her, whether she would agree or not. Whether or not she had a voice in that decision.

Your husband is a good man.

The realization hit her so hard that she could not see through the haze of it for what must have been several minutes because when she focused again Heero had keyed in on her like a raptor, completely still in what she had come to identify as his 'ready' position. When he sat like that, he seemed as though he would launch into the air like a rocket and obliterate whatever he met. Anyone who had not gone through the war with him could not see it, but the change, subtle as it was, made the medics around him squirm in discomfort. He, on the other hand, was oblivious to the needles piercing his skin and sewing it back together; oblivious to himself in lieu of her needs.

He ignored himself in order to protect her.

I've tried to tell you that for years.

Your husband is a good man.

Rage crystallized inside her, instant and bone-deep, straightening her back and raising her chin despite the beating her body had taken and the constant, nagging stabs of pain that radiated with every breath. The emotion settled heavily over her shoulders like the weight of his bloodied, torn jacket.

When they were ready to move him, Heero refused the second gurney they had lowered for his benefit. Unlike Relena's need to intimidate with words, Heero simply ignored their suggestions and rose from where he had been seated, walked to her side, and, with infinite care, helped her to her feet.

Side-by-side, they ascended out of the belly of Coranis.

She slept fitfully in the small twin bed beside his in the medical ward, her back to him. David was slumped in a chair next to her bed, head lolling over his chest at an uncomfortable angle. They had both fallen asleep a few hours ago, exhausted after the medics had finished their rather extensive workup on the injured Foreign Minister. Thankfully, her broken ribs had been the worst of her injuries, leaving her to recover slowly and painfully but completely. He suspected one of the only reasons she was sleeping now was because of the sedative they had administered through her IV.

They had given him the sedative as well, but Heero's superhuman metabolism chewed through it quicker than they could infuse such a mild concoction. He had used the opportunity to feign sleep while keeping a watchful eye on the conduct of the medical staff as they treated Relena. So far, there had been no identifiable threats. Litz must have decided it would be too coincidental to try to kill her here, so soon after rescue. Too many witnesses to her state of health when she had emerged, most likely.

Not that Litz was not tempted. Heero had been looking for him when they were pulled up and saw the moment the engineer laid eyes upon a seemingly unscathed Relena: caught the angry press of thin lips, the way his posture had turned rigid, the tightening of the skin at his eyes as they narrowed in rage. It was there, and then Litz exhaled and it all disappeared into grateful relief.

The next place Litz had looked was directly at Heero, and Heero had looked back. Recognition flickered in the other man's eyes before he moved on. There would be no more hiding. Now both men knew what the other was.

In that moment, he had been tempted to reach for his gun.

And then Relena's hand touched his arm.

It was an absent gesture, one she performed habitually in passing as she stepped forward into her husband's embrace, but it was enough.

From the moment they surfaced, David had been stuck to her side. As it should be, Heero thought. As Relena predicted, he mused.

The sandy-haired businessman looked like he wanted to collapse in relief when he saw his wife emerge from the abyss of the satellite, his face betraying the flood of emotions that filled him as he rushed forward to embrace her. Like the civilian he was, it had taken a startled, painful exclamation from Relena for him to recognize that he had to be careful with her after the fall, but he made up for it by ordering a wheelchair with his next breath and refusing to let her go anywhere unless she was being wheeled there, despite her protests.

Litz was a persistent presence through it all, expressing relief that they had both been recovered more-or-less in one piece (although, from the variety of shocked expressions he received, Heero was not sure how much of a single piece he represented to anyone). He had ordered that they both receive a thorough exam and treatment, eyeing Relena in particular. Heero noted that the man kept any interaction with himself brief and professional, seeming to focus on the foreign minister.

Once they reached the hospital ward, the medics had swept Relena up in a barrage of tests and x-rays, refusing to let her rest until they had identified each and every scratch upon her body with Litz looking expectantly over their shoulders. It was only after they had determined that the minister would recover in full that he wished her a speedy recovery and left.

Relena had not spoken to Heero since his emission in the cavern.

Something had shifted in her, something Heero could not yet identify. For now, she refused to acknowledge him, her back stiff and posture rigid in his presence.

His words had cost her something.

Her expression when the light bloomed had been…

Inside the cold and darkness, fatigue from blood loss mugging him of his inhibitions while holding her so close that he could feel every exhale brush his skin, Heero had… slipped. It was a monumental slip, but that seemed to be the only kind he was capable of. With all that he tried to do to keep himself out of the equation of her life, he knew he was not infallible. And, truly, it felt right to say it out loud.

But there was a cost when he answered the questions she asked of him.

What had he cost her this time?

She stirred beneath her blankets, a pained gasp whispering through the air, and turned gingerly on to her back to blink up at the sterile metal ceiling of the ward. He watched recognition come to her eyes, saw her turn to see David, pause, then look in his own direction.

Cerulean grabbed him and held him, powerful in the knowledge that now simmered behind her eyes. Her expression flickered, she inhaled, and her lips parted to say something.

"'Lena?"

David's head lifted at the rustle of her sheets, the businessman groaning in discomfort and rolling his neck and shoulders at the movement.

Those eyes remained on Heero a beat longer, then she turned on her side to look at her husband, her back once again facing him. It was like a shutter being brought down between them.

"How are you feeling, Love?" David leaned forward to caress her hair, concern evident on his face.

"I'm sore, but I'll be ok," Heero heard her reply.

Tomorrow they would return to Earth. She would go home with the knowledge that Litz was a threat. She would be conscious of his actions, proceed more carefully around him. She would be wary of any suspicious invitations or associations that might be linked to him. There would still be plenty of danger, but, as she said below Coranis, now she would at least know to be ready for it.

Relena's hand lifted to rest upon her husband's forearm. She sighed deeply. He could not see her face, but Heero knew there was relief painted across her face at David's touch. The blonde businessman smiled affectionately, lovingly down at her.

Heero closed his eyes.

It was time he went back to the shadows.

"I think that you disappearing would be the worst thing you could do."

Quatre's warning lingered in his head, but he had come to realize that it was best if he became a silent participant once again. The thought had pushed on him ever since he realized Litz was suspicious of his presence. It had solidified after their fall and the confirmation in Litz's eyes that he viewed Heero as a threat to be eliminated. His presence only ever amplified her risk—if it did not instigate the danger to begin with, such as severely shortening the timeline upon which a madman wanted to end her life.

He would have Une put someone else on her detail, someone like Wufei or Sally; someone that he knew could still protect her in the public eye in his absence. If he asked, Duo would probably even take on the task for a while.

…Actually, Duo would probably throw a party if Heero asked him to do anything.

Either way, it would be better if it were one of the others by her side, at least until Cecil Litz was neutralized. That way, he could strike at Litz on his own terms, long before Litz could strike at her.

He thought of the gun he always carried, unused for so long now. Even as he considered the situation, he itched to aim the weapon at the older man and end his life before the situation could escalate. It had been a long time since he felt that way. He had vowed never to act on that inclination again.

Back then, she was there to catch him.

He would do what he had to in order to protect her.

"L2?"

"They moved a conference there that I need to attend next week. Hilde invited us to stay with them."

Duo.

"She mentioned that Quatre and Dorothy might attend, too."

He really would throw a party.

"You should rest after Coranis."

She looked at him coolly. She had been looking at him in that manner almost continuously since they returned. When she looked at him at all.

Relena did 'imperious' well when she wanted.

"I have been resting all week. I will not sit in my apartment nursing broken ribs for a month because you believe I am made of porcelain. You, of all people, should understand that my duty comes before my interests." She was also very skilled at throwing verbal daggers. He wondered if she would light him on fire right now if he were doused in gasoline and she held a match. "This is not a question of whether I will be going, merely a formality to inform you I will. I leave tomorrow."

She sat stiffly in her office chair inside the ESUN building, supported by a rather impressive, well-cushioned pillow that David had bought for her as soon as they reached Earth. When she made it clear that a day off would not be an option, her husband had practically redecorated her office to provide comfort while she recovered. Now, there was a recliner directly next to her desk, an ottoman for extra storage and to put her feet up, extra clothes on a stand within arm's reach, and an abundance of pillows for her to adjust as she chose. Her door was closed to the rest of the world, the blinds drawn shut and the lights off save for a small desk lamp that illuminated the immediate area. It was almost ten in the evening but trying to pry her from the office had become nearly impossible since her return.

In the past week, Relena had become almost fanatical in her need to promote the Mars Project. She had already managed to push through several significant milestones in a matter of days through her zeal. Now when she walked the building, ESUN officials were seen suddenly ducking down the nearest hallway or turning abruptly on heel to retrieve forgotten items in their offices. Preventer officers bowed a little deeper and stood a little straighter in her presence. The medical staff showed up at odd hours, bringing her food and medication, concerned for her health. The security staff was enamored, like a fan club that would have trailed after her if they had a choice. The public was enraptured by the passion with which she had returned from her would-be tragedy. All eyes were on the Foreign Minister and the Mars Project.

There were bags under her eyes. He had seen the bruises on her body, particularly the one over her ribs that stretched across almost half of her torso. She had to be in pain, no matter the medication she was taking to alleviate the discomfort. There were several more impressive siblings to that bruise from where his body could not buffer hers against the violence of their fall, not to mention a variety of superficial cuts and scrapes. She was sleeping 4 hours at most, gauging from when she was leaving the office and when she was arriving in the morning. If she was not approving paperwork or speaking to ESUN or Colony representatives, she was on the phone or her computer, even forgetting to eat because she was so consumed by her work.

When Heero entered minutes ago to check on her, she had casually relayed to him that she would be traveling to L2, less than a week after they had returned from Coranis.

'Resting' to her must have entailed spending all her time in one building, for she had done anything but rest from what Heero observed.

She was monumentally angry with him. And she was scared, but not of Litz. Both fueled her current fervor. Something had occurred to her while they were being tended to within the space rock, he had seen the recognition spark in her eyes, something provoked by his emission. His words below Coranis had cost her, but she was not yet ready to tell him what that cost was, instead focusing almost obsessively upon the Mars Project. She was holding back from him, and so her demeanor became more distant. Her eyes stayed averted. She refused to even say his name since they had emerged.

Heero studied her, but her eyes had returned to her desk again.

A Gundam Pilot understood when to retreat, whether he wanted to or not.

"Tomorrow. Understood."

Relena ignored him.

"Goodnight, Relena."

Her jaw tightened; her fingers gripped her pen a little too tightly. He saw the war raging behind her eyes as she stared vacantly at one spot, deciding whether to respond.

"…Goodnight."

He turned and made himself leave her office.

She would only resent him further if he tried to send her home. David would be along soon enough; he made it a point the last couple days to come fetch her if she stayed too long.

L2. If she was going to travel so soon, better for it to be into the care and confidence of allies, especially since he no longer knew whether she considered him to be part of that category.

I do love you.

Heero wondered if the price of those words was too high. He supposed he would find out soon enough.

The night swallowed him as he left.

Two weeks is better than two years, right? Next Chapter: L2, Duo, Hilde, and maybe an epic argument. :)

-Sar