Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Road Not Taken ❯ Part VI ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

ROAD NOT TAKEN


Disclaimer: Gundam Wing, I don't own it!


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(Previous Chapter)
"Time to die my dove." The attacker announced in a hoarse whisper. He held the blade mid-air, prepared to make the final plunge.

Relena waited.


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Time came in an immense standstill as soon as Relena's delicate body made full contact with the imported Persian rug. The moment seemed devastatingly surreal to her and she couldn't shake off the thought that she will die within a few minutes.

With crystal clear precision, the blade taunted her frightened visage, beckoning the intended victim to make her final wishes before it all ended here and now. The attacker reached back with all his might, aimed the shining tip at her heart, and swung his arms in a propelling motion. The blade drew closer and closer to Relena's flesh, so close from its intended target...


"Stop what you're doing." Called a strong, masculine voice from the shadows beside the windowsill. It was so commanding that the blade seized to move right above Relena's chest cavity. If it weren't for the sudden interruption, the weapon would have gone straight through Relena's flesh and sent her into oblivion.

"You're too late!" Yelled the man, straddled above her. "She WILL die!!"

"I want you to move away from her." Retorted the new stranger. Relena couldn't help herself but turn her head towards her liberator's direction. She recognized the voice, yet she couldn't distinguish who it was. The shadows clouded his appearance and her judgment. Her inability to see became a bitter annoyance. First, from her attacker and now from this new character.

"Think you can save her with a gun?" The man claimed as he slid away from her and pulled them both to their feet at the same time. From his last utterance, she knew that the new stranger held a weapon and it could save her life. Now upright, he still restrained her to him with one hefty arm around her waist and the other hand, positioning the knife to her neck, using her body as a shield from the other man. However bleak her thoughts of escaping were, she was far from being freed from his grasp.

With short notice, the gun was fired and the bullet soared through the air, penetrating her attacker's right shoulder and forcing him to drop the blade and grunting in tremendous pain at the same time. The pain was so invigorating that the assailant began to lose his focus on the task at hand. From the moment the bullet pierced the attacker, his blood trickled from his body and soaked through Relena's nightgown from their close contact. She could feel his blood on her skin and she suddenly felt unclean. As time progressed, she noticed that he began to lose his hold on her and he unconsciously moved back towards the doorway leading downstairs.

Before he made his departure from the unsuccessful attempted murder, he screamed to Relena and her saviour, "I shall return and finish what I started. Make no mistake!"

Relena turned to face where the aggressor left the scene. She was shaking badly although the threat was over. Without facing the man who saved her, she whispered in unsteady breaths, "Who are you?"

"Relena..." was all he provided.

"Tell me, please." she begged, close to tears. The ordeal had taken a major toll on her once-controlled and objective mind.

He waited several seconds before replying reluctantly, "Some things are better left unexplained."

"For what is worth, thank you. If you weren't here, I..." The words were caught in her throat and she needed to recollect her thoughts. This one-sided conversation proved to be more difficult to her than she thought. Then she continued, laughing quietly, "I thought you were Heero for a second there: by the way you handled yourself, through your strength, your words, your undying courage..."

He remained unmoved by her comment. She laid a hand on the smudge of where the blood stained her and texture of the mark remained damp and wet. Suddenly, she remembered the dream...



[ "Affirmative. And this time Relena, I won't fail." Without any further exchange of words, he aimed the weapon at her heart and fired once.

The bullet pierced her white blouse easily and penetrated her skin with the greatest precision and accuracy. She didn't feel the pain, but only felt the dampness of her clothes, sticking to her skin: Her blood. Still warm. ]




The stench of the blood and gunpowder gradually began to occupy her senses. She was overwhelmed by the extreme strain of anxiety and stress. No longer could her mind sustain her frail temperament and darkness took her under.

Still standing beside the window, the man heard a strange sound in Relena's direction and he raced to her side with short strides, catching her before she collapsed.

"Relena, I'm so sorry." he murmured, more to himself as he stroked her hair softly. He reached for her bloodstained hand and held onto it, remembering her words.

"I thought you were Heero for a second there?"

To him, it felt so right holding her within his arms. If only he had the experience in talking to people, especially to those of great importance. Unfortunately, his excessive training never covered such lessons. If only his life had taken him down another path. If only...

Relena began to stir slightly but remained unconscious. He rested his cheek on her forehead and whispered, "I won't let anything happen to you." All the memories they shared together flooded back into his memory: the moment she discovered his body by the beach, when he ripped her invitation, when he saved her from the mobile suits, the instant he recognized her whereabouts on Libra, the gift he left for her... They were all too painful to swallow. He despised the life that he was destined to carry out.

Suddenly the lights in the hall were turned on and footsteps were coming his way. The immediate flush of lights blinded him for a short while, then he regained his sight and surroundings. He noticed how pale Relena looked when the sounds crept nearer. His mind instructed him to flee the scene before he is discovered. However, he was reluctant to pull away from Relena. A wooden door opened with great force and in-walked Zechs with a judgmental appearance.

Too late! It was too late for him to leave without being noticed. Zechs peered down and eyed him with a death glare.

"YUY! What are you doing here and what have you done to Relena?" He hollered, reaching for his phone. Heero couldn't blame him for his infuriated emotion. Lying in his arms was what appeared to be a dying Relena bleeding to death, with her blood on his hands. "What else could anyone expect?" he thought.

"Get me security. We have an intruder." Milliardo ordered with heart-filled hatred.

TBC...