I do not own Gundam Wing.  This fan fiction has no commercial value and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this.  

Chapter 9

            Wu-fei couldn’t reach her in time to stop her fall.  She fell to the ground, her right shoulder taking the brunt of the blow.  Debris fell everywhere, as the blast subsided into a raging fire.  He dove for the ground, and covered her with his body.  A second explosion sounded in the distance.

            He didn’t know how long he had been out.  Only a few seconds, he guessed.  His body was sore and it was difficult to breathe.  As consciousness gripped his senses once again, Wu-fei remembered where he was and what had happened.

            He pushed himself off of Relena, and dug himself out of the rubble.  He checked her wrist for a pulse.  Faint, but still there.  He pulled her gently out from under the wreckage and carried her over to the cab.  He cursed under his breath as he surveyed the damage to the car.  The back windshield was shattered, glass shards covering the backseat and floorboard.  The top had a huge dent where a large piece of concrete was resting.  A large beam lay across the hood of the car.  He could tell he wouldn’t make it far without attracting attention.

            Wu-fei opened up the front passenger-side door, and placed a battered and bleeding Relena gently in the seat.  He picked the large rock off the top of the car, but didn’t bother with the beam before he slid behind the steering wheel.  He started the engine, and threw it into reverse.  The wooden beam fell to the ground in front of the car.

            He made the quick turn-around, and headed away from the motel.  But he needed a destination - someplace close.  He thought quickly.

            “Maxwell!”  Wu-fei yelled into his wrist-com device.

            “Hey hey hey Wu-man!  Good to see ya!”

            “Shut-up!  Where are you?  Relena’s hurt, I have to get her out of sight!”

            “Shit!” Duo cursed, his tone instantly became serious.  “We’re in Kendall Hall….Heero’s dorm. What happened?”

            “Where the hell is Kendall Hall?  And I don’t have time to explain, just tell me how to get there!” he yelled, swerving down a back alley to avoid a patrol vehicle he spotted on the main highway.

            It took a major feat of skill, but Wu-fei finally arrived and parked in the lot adjacent to Kendall Hall.  He didn’t have time to worry about what people thought.  Relena was still unconscious and losing blood.  He threw open the car door, and picked her up, carrying her lifeless form into the lobby.

            Heero and Duo were waiting inside.  They saw him enter, and Duo gasped.  Heero was stunned.  Wu-fei was covered in dirt and dust, bleeding from a cut over his left eye, and presumably under the blood-soaked right sleeve of his jacket.  In his arms, lay an equally dirty, dust-covered Relena, blood and soot matted in her honey tresses and soiling her once-beautiful suit.

            Heero rushed forward to take the burden from Wu-fei’s arms, as the Chinese man staggered forward.  Duo caught him, and half-carried the Preventer as they followed Heero down the hall to his room.  The few heads that poked out into the hallway as the foursome passed by quickly disappeared under Heero’s glare. 

            Heero kicked the door to his dorm room open and stepped inside, carrying the bloodied body of Relena Peacecraft in his arms.  Brian immediately stopped what he was doing as he stared in horror at the sight in front of him.  “Shit! What the hell happened?” he gasped in surprise.  “Is she….” His voice trailed off as Heero turned to glare at him.

            Heero laid her down on his bed, ignoring the blood now covering his hands, and smearing his sheets.  Her breathing was shallow and ragged.  He checked her arms and legs for trauma.  She had several shallow cuts on the appendages, but nothing requiring more than a few stitches.  So why was she losing so much blood?  He wanted to scream.

            He patted her face with a firm hand, trying to wake her.  No response.  He shook her, nothing.  He was getting desperate; the sheets were growing dark with blood.  He turned her over; the sticky substance seemed to be oozing from the back of her head.  He dug through her matted hair, and found the hideous gash located at the base of her skull.

“Brian, I need some medical supplies – go get Mike’s bag,” Heero commanded without tearing his gaze from the girl lying in front of him. 

            Mike was the Bulldogs’ team trainer.  He had a vast assortment of first aid supplies, including a surgical needle and invisible thread.

            “But he won’t just give it to me without an explanation!” Brian protested, though he didn’t know why.

            “I don’t care how you get it, just get it!”  Heero shouted and pressed a washcloth to the back of her head in an attempt to stop the flow of blood.

Brian jumped at the sound of his roommate’s voice.  He had learned when not to push the man, and this was definitely not the time.  He quickly exited and ran down the hall towards Mike’s room.

            An eternity seemed to pass before the bleeding started to slow.  She was so pale, her blood seeming to be everywhere but inside her needy body.  Wu-fei emerged from the bathroom where Duo had been bandaging him up.  He started to slip on his bloody shirt, when Heero told him to borrow one of his.

            “How is she?”  Wu-fei asked in a worried tone.  Heero was surprised.  He didn’t think Wu-fei had cared anything about Relena before.

Heero glared at him.  “She needs medical attention, why didn’t you take her to the hospital?”  He demanded angrily from his position on the bed, too afraid to jar her head and possibly start the bleeding again.  He needed to stitch up the wound quickly.

“We can’t take her to the hospital, you fool!  She’d be detained and extradited to Earth so they could execute her!”

“What?”  Heero didn’t understand.  She needed medical attention.  She was dying here in his arms, what was Wu-fei talking about?

Wu-fei started across the room in anger, but Duo held him back.

A few seconds later, Brian entered with a lanky, dark-haired young man, wearing glasses and a worried expression.  Heero glared at them as they walked in.

            “Oh my God!  She’s lost a lot of blood.  She needs a doctor, not me!”  Mike exclaimed.

            “Not an option,” Wu-fei said, from across the room.  He chose to ignore the icy glare he received from Heero.

            “What?  Why not?  She could die….” Mike protested.  “I’ll call an ambulance, they can be here in a few minutes,” he said, and picked up Brian’s phone.

            Duo raised his gun, leveling it at the young man holding the receiver.  “Put it down.”

            Mike looked up in fear at Duo, and then turned to Brian.  The blond man nodded and told him to put it down. 

            Heero was getting impatient.  “Stitch this up, Mike.  Now.”

            He nodded and removed the necessary supplies from his duffel bag.

            The wound stitched up, Relena lay quietly resting on Heero’s bed, the sullen young man watching the labored rise and fall of her chest with a growing sense of alarm.  Mike spoke to Heero in a hushed tone.         

            “She’s lost too much blood.  Depending on the force of whatever it was that caused that injury, she could have some sort of neural damage as well.  We won’t know unless a doctor does a diagnostic.  She could use a prescription of antibiotics to combat infection of that gash as well as the various other lacerations I stitched up on her arms and legs. The longer she remains unconscious, the worse her chance of survival is.  I strongly urge you to seek medical attention.”

            Heero glared at Duo and Wu-fei.  “She needs to go to the hospital.  I’m taking her there,” he said flatly, bending down to scoop her up in his arms.

            Wu-fei raised his weapon.  “You will put her down, Yuy, or I will shoot you.”

            Heero straightened up and snarled at him from across the room, “She could die, you idiot!”

            “Better here with us than at the hands of her enemies.  You were a soldier once, Yuy, you’d want the same thing,” Wu-fei spat at him, while keeping the gun trained on his former comrade.

            “Heero, she once told us if something ever happened to her, she’d rather not have to face an executioner.  She’d rather die like this,” Duo tried to sound soothing, but he was miserable on the inside.

            Mike turned to Brian, “What are they talking about?”

            “Well, I guess Heero won’t really be able to keep it a secret anymore…he’s in love with Relena Peacecraft,” Brian whispered.

            Heero turned around and glared at him.  “You were supposed to keep your mouth shut.  And I never said I loved her.”

            “But….but the radio report said she was killed in the blast, the explosion at that motel a few blocks from here!”  Mike exclaimed.  “You mean, this is her?”

            “That’s really nice Yuy! She’s dying and you still can’t admit your feelings for her!” Duo yelled angrily.

            Heero whirled around to confront his friend, rage contorting his features.  His whole body went taut with anger, and a tremor visibly passed through his body.  He quickly gained control of himself, and walked over to his desk.  He opened his bottom drawer and pulled out a metal box.  Everyone watched as Heero unlocked it, and withdrew a 9mm pistol from the container.  He checked the clip, tucked it in between the waistband of his jeans and the flesh of his stomach, then moved toward the window.  Determination gleamed in his eyes.

            “Where are you going?” Duo asked, putting a hand on Heero’s arm to stop him.

            “I’m going to get a doctor,” he said flatly.  “I won’t let her die.”

            “You’re going to kidnap a doctor?  That’s rich, then your precious kickball career will be over,” Wu-fei sneered.

            Heero lunged at him.  The two grappled on the floor for a moment before Duo and the others could move to stop them.

            Brian watched the sleeping face of the pale girl on Heero’s bed.  She looked so peaceful, completely oblivious to the chaos erupting around her.  Suddenly, her brow twitched.  “Um, guys?”  He called out.  No one heard him.  The three still wrestled on the floor for supremacy.

            Eyelids fluttered like tiny wings.  “Guys!” Brian yelled. “HEY!”

            Her head rolled to face the voice; a soft sigh escaped her lips.  “Heero…?”

            Everyone stopped.  Wu-fei pushed Heero off of him.  “See…you pathetic coward.  She still calls for you even though you abandoned her.”

            “Relena,” he said and moved to her side.  He felt a tremendous sense of relief to see those beautiful blue eyes staring up at him.

            She saw the blood all over his clothes, hands, and face. “Are you hurt?” she asked him with concern. 

            If he hadn’t already felt like the world’s biggest ass, he did now.  “No, I’m fine.  How do you feel?”

            She shivered involuntarily.  “I’m so cold,” she whispered and brought a hand up to touch his face.  Her fingers felt like ice.

            Suddenly she frowned.  “Wu-fei.  He was there.  He drove….the cab.  Is he all right?”

            Wu-fei called out from across the room, “I’m fine, Relena.”

            She smiled.  “Good.”  Her eyelids drooped, as she started to fall back into darkness.

            “Relena!”  Heero called to her sharply; her eyes snapped open.

            “Hmm?” She replied softly.

            “You can’t sleep.  We need you to stay awake.  Stay here with me, Relena.”

            She smiled.  “But I’m so tired….” Her eyelids closed again.

            “Relena!”

            “Heero,” she started shaking.  “I’m cold….why can’t I sleep just a little longer…”

            “Relena, you have a head injury.  You can’t sleep right now.  We need to make sure you’re okay - otherwise, you might not wake up.”

            Her hand dropped from his face.  He found himself missing her touch.  “Relena…”

            “Maybe that would be for the best,” she said softly.  “I’m so tired of fighting, Heero.  I need some rest.  Let me sleep forever…….”

            “I can’t do that.  Look at me, Relena.”

            She moaned and another tremor passed through her body. 

“Look at me!”  Heero screamed.

There was no response.