Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Um, Untitled As of Now ❯ 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Taara was the first to awaken, her eyes opening to find a boy's face leaning over her. Trowa, I think, her mind whispered to her.

"Are you alright?" asked the boy.

"Yeah, I think so," she mumbled, slowly sitting up. Her body felt sore, as if something had slammed her onto the ground. "Where am I?"

"You're in the same place you were half an hour ago."

She blinked. "I can't remember…"

Trowa looked concerned. "Quatre, come here. She says she can't remember where she is. What do you think?"

Quatre hustled over and handed Taara a drink. "It's good that you're awake. Do you know what happened?"

"What happened when?"

"Just a little while ago. What knocked you and the other two out?"

"What? I don't know what you're talking about!" she said, sniffling.

Quatre gave her an odd look and turned to Trowa. "You'd better just stay here with her for a while. Something strange is going on."

Trowa nodded and sat down on the chair next to Taara's couch, watching her sip at the drink. What's going on? he wondered.

After a while, Regine stirred, once again being the one with the most memory. She mumbled about something invisible throwing her backwards and a "plucking" sensation in her mind. "I can't remember anything past a few hours ago. Something about being far away, and then we were here, and that's all I can remember!" she moaned. Duo tried to shake Sarrea awake, and got a bloody nose for his efforts when she punched him.

Groaning, she muttered, "Leave me alone. My head hurts!" She then proceeded to roll over and go back to sleep. Regine sighed and aimed a kick at her side.

"SARREA! GET UP NOW!" she screamed, right into her friend's ear.

"OW! I'm up, I'm up already!" cried Sarrea, rubbing her side.

She remembered about as much as Regine, giving them no more clues to the odd event than they'd had before. Duo took Quatre, Trowa, and Heero aside and talked quietly to them, discussing the fact that oddly enough, the "event" had happened just after the girls started saying stuff about gundams and OZ.

"Maybe their TV show was a prediction of this future, and the "thing" that brought them here didn't want them remembering. What do you think?" he asked.

The others only shrugged and shook their heads. This vacation was becoming less relaxing and a whole lot more confusing.

***

The house was dark. Duo silently slipped through the hallways and stood at the entrance to the room where the girls were sleeping. Peering in, his eyes picked out the sleeping form of Regine, laying on the king-sized bed to the left of Sarrea and Taara. Regine's blonde hair shimmered in the moonlight that streamed in through the window, and her face took on a beautiful, almost ethereal, quality. Duo smiled. He refused to admit it to the others, but he found himself liking Regine the best. Her emerald eyes, ready laughter, and simple, yet efficient ways to do things charmed Duo to no end. He started as footsteps sounded behind him. It was Quatre, blushing sheepishly, come to look at Taara.

Quatre creaked the door open a bit more, giving both of them room to peer in at the same time. He felt his heart jump as Taara rolled over in her sleep, long black hair shifting in a wavy mass. He found himself always thinking about her delicate blue eyes and slender frame.

"Duo, I think I'm falling in love," whispered Quatre.

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Duo whispered back.

Duo, feeling daring, crept into the room to stand next to the bed, looking at Regine. After a few seconds, Quatre followed his example, and stood at the foot of the bed on the far right, daring to even reaching out to touch Taara's foot through the covers. For a split second, Quatre frowned, feeling pity for Sarrea, who lay alone in the middle of the bed. She arrived alone, and it looks like she'll stay alone, Quatre thought. After a few minutes more of gazing at Regine and Taara, Duo and Quatre crept out of the room, grinning at each other before disappearing into their own rooms.

***

Heero woke with a start, sitting up quickly and scanning the room, his ears straining to find the source of his rude awakening. His eyes, trained for many years to adjust quickly, picked out a foreign object in his room. It was a person, standing near the door in a long white nightgown. She stood out like a lone star on a black night as she crept into his room.

"Heero?" she hissed.

"What do you want?" he asked, irritated, as he recognized the voice of Sarrea.

"Something's going on," she coughed softly, her breathing rushed and irregular. "Some people are gathering outside. I got up for a drink and saw them."

Heero jumped out of bed and followed her silently, his heartbeat becoming quick. He was fully dressed already, he always wore his clothes to bed. Heero had been awakened in the dead of night too many times to wear pajamas. As they approached the window, Heero shoved Sarrea aside just before she could part the curtains and look out.

"They'll see your white clothes," he muttered. To his surprise, she merely nodded her head and moved aside. Heero parted the curtains very slightly and gazed outside. Soldiers were gathering quietly, motioning to each other in the early morning darkness, nervously fingering their guns and shifting on their feet. His mind whirled. How did they find us? No matter, I have to get the gundams out. "Sarrea, help me wake the others. You and Wufei need to start a shouting match, and make it loud. I have to get the gundams loaded onto a carrier and get them out of here."

Sarrea nodded and hurried off towards the hallway with three rooms: hers, Duo's, and Quatre's. Gundams? she puzzled.

Heero went to wake Trowa, quickly telling him what was happening and then hurrying towards the garage. Trowa calmly started packing his guns and explosives into a bag, loading a machine gun in the process. Sarrea found Duo and Quatre awake already, filled them in on the situation, and darted down the hall to her room. She woke Regine and Taara, told them to get dressed, and began following her own instructions. Kicking open her suitcase, she stripped off the nightshift and pulled on black shorts and a tight black tank top. What's going on? she thought.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she heard the quiet scratching of someone picking the lock of the front door. She felt like crying; she was frightened and this situation brought back bad memories. Suddenly remembering the job Heero had assigned her, she headed towards Wufei's room, dreading angering the Chinese boy. He was very deadly, and Sarrea knew only street fighting. She would never equal him in strength or fighting skill, and if all the other boys were busy, there would be no one to protect her from Wufei this time. Sarrea paused outside his door, took a deep, determined breath, and charged into the room, screaming at the top of her lungs. A startled Wufei let out a roar of anger and charged towards her, shirtless. She would've laughed at his comical white pants and purple face, but she was far too busy running away while simultaneously shouting insults. Heero needn't have feared, Wufei made noise enough for three people, and with Sarrea's strong voice added to his, they made quite a racket. The lock picking stopped for a few seconds as the soldiers nervously contemplated the strange shouting and wondered what was going on, but their leader told them to continue, an amused smile playing across his face.

"I didn't know gundam pilots kept whores around the house," the leader said, snickering cruelly. The soldiers laughed quietly and entered the house. They saw a Chinese boy chasing after a girl who appeared to be a shadow, dressed all in black and screaming insults. She skidded to a stop in front of the soldiers and stared as if she was surprised. One raised his gun to shoot her, but his partner placed a restraining hand on his shoulder and told him to save the girl for later use. The soldier smiled crookedly and turned to aim at the gundam pilot. OZ had orders to kill all but one pilot, and capture the survivor. As the soldier raised his gun, the girl flung herself at him and knocked him flat, grabbing his gun and screeching. The others started hitting her with the butts of their guns, beating her into unconsciousness.

***

Wufei, enraged as he was, had sensed something was wrong from the moment Sarrea had run into his room. As he chased her around the corner, he froze at the sight of soldiers crowding in through the door, more waiting outside. A soldier sneered something about whores, and one raised his gun to aim at Wufei. Wufei didn't have time to move, the second he even twitched he'd be shot. Something happened then that he'd remember for the rest of his life. Sarrea jumped onto the soldier, tackling him to the ground and taking his gun. Wufei turned and ran, somehow knowing she'd risked her life to let him escape. But why? He winced as he heard gun butts slamming into flesh, and nearly ran into Trowa, who was heading towards the room with a machine gun. Trowa handed Wufei a bag full of guns and explosives, telling him to go to the garage where Heero was waiting.

"Wait!" cried Wufei. "Did everyone know about this except me?"

Trowa nodded and kept going. Wufei watched him disappear and heard the sound of gunfire. He started towards the garage and felt something strange: guilt. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he realized that Sarrea, knowing he would automatically be angry at her, had used him to allow the others to escape, then used herself to let him escape. He angrily wiped the tear away, squashing the guilt with more anger at the soldiers, at the others for not telling him, at life in general. Wufei started running, barging into the garage and tossing the weapons to a waiting Heero. There was no time for emotion now.

***

Trowa took out the soldiers who'd crowded around the door, snatched Sarrea from their midst, and ran back around the corner and up the stairs, knowing more soldiers would be soon to follow. He smiled grimly as he heard one of the carriers with the gundams take off. Just a few minutes more. I just have to hold off the soldiers for a few more minutes. He was practically dragging the girl now. She was limping along as best as she could, tears streaking her face. He was astonished though, a civilian like her should be screaming in pain. With a newfound respect for the three girls, Trowa hooked his arm under both of hers and dashed up the stairs, pulling her beside him. Quatre and Duo were waiting with the other two girls, and as they saw Trowa and the third girl come around the corner, they turned and prepared to jump out the upstairs window.

"When you hit the ground, roll!" exclaimed Duo, flinging himself out the window to land below. Quatre shoved Regine towards the window, and after a moment's hesitation, she jumped after Duo. Quatre pushed Taara towards the window and glanced back to look at Trowa. Something was wrong with Sarrea, she was clinging to Trowa and cringing. Quatre gave a horrified gasp as he realized she was bruised and bleeding, but turned to jump after Trowa gave him a scalding look.

"We don't have time for this Quatre! Get out!"

Quatre jumped, rolling to his feet on the ground and stopping to help Taara up. He turned to look back at the window, but no one else was jumping. Gunfire sounded within the house. Trowa was holding off more soldiers. Heero appeared behind Quatre and gave him a rough shove towards the garage.

"Follow Duo," Heero commanded.

Quatre obeyed, still worried, but more concerned about getting Taara to safety than staying and getting himself shot.

***

Regine broke away from Duo's grip, crying. She ran back towards the house, shouting Sarrea's name over and over again. Quatre ran by with Taara and made a grab for her, but kept going when he missed. I won't leave my friend. I won't! Regine thought. She heard gunfire and shouting, and saw Heero ahead, standing below the window. Trowa's head appeared out the window, and seeing Heero waiting, he shouted, "I'm out of ammo!"

Heero shook his head. "Get out! I don't have any with me!"

Trowa disappeared for a moment, then came hurtling out the window, Sarrea slung over his shoulder. It looked like the two of them were going to make it for an instant, and Regine smiled hopefully. In the next instant, a shot rang out, and Trowa's body convulsed in mid-air. He'd been hit in the back. Trowa and Sarrea crashed to the ground, Sarrea bouncing from the impact and landing a few feet away. Heero swore and ran towards Trowa, and Regine screamed. Heero was carrying the taller boy towards the garage when the OZ soldiers started coming around the sides of the house. Heero glanced at Regine, decided she wasn't as important as Trowa, and ran off.

Regine dashed to Sarrea's side, sobbing, and tried to wake her friend up.

"Please! Please, Sarrea! Please be okay!" she cried. The soldiers overtook the two girls and Regine felt something hit her in the back of the head. Blackness swept over her mind…

***

Duo was waiting outside the remaining carrier, watching for Heero to return with Trowa, Regine, and Sarrea. When Heero came running around the corner carrying a bleeding Trowa, Duo became frantic. "Heero! Where's Regine?"

"They've been captured. We don't have time to get them, Duo!"

Quatre, who'd stepped out of the carrier to wait with Duo, felt tears well up in his eyes at Heero's announcement. At least Taara made it to safety. Quatre immediately felt guilty and selfish for thinking that, but he couldn't help it. Taking Duo's arm, Quatre pulled him inside as Heero pushed from behind, Duo struggling all the way. As soon as the four boys were inside, Quatre ran for the cockpit and started the plane, driving it through the hole in the back wall, courtesy of Wufei, who'd taken off earlier, and onto the long stretch of grass the pilots used as a runway. He could barely see for the tears in his eyes, but kept going anyway. He heard guns firing as the soldiers tried to stop the plane, but it was a futile effort. The carrier took off and disappeared into the night.