Flash Point

Chapter 10

 

Three days later...

               

                Arys stretched contentedly in bed.   The pain was gone.  It was a wonderful feeling.  It had taken three days for her to recover from her multiple brushes with death.  Thanks to Heero, she felt normal again.  She reached for her husband as was her custom and found his place empty.  She opened one eye to see that Heero had disappeared again and panic struck her.  She sat up and calmed down when she saw that Heero sat on the floor by the window, a laptop propped up on his lap.  He was glaring at the screen but his gaze softened when he looked up to see Arys staring at him. 

                "Hi," Arys said, smiling at him shyly. 

                Heero put the laptop down on the floor and sat down on the bed.  Arys scooted over to give him room, and they leaned back against the wall behind them.  Heero trailed a finger down her cheek lovingly. 

                "How are you feeling?"  Heero asked.  His face bloomed with a mischievous smile.  "Did you sleep well?"

                Arys, irritated at his tone, nudged him with her elbow, but her smile matched his.  "Very well, thanks to you."

                "Good."  Heero kissed her quickly on the lips and got off the bed.  "I just sent off a report to Colonel Une.  I've requested a full checkup for you when we get back."

                Arys wrapped a robe around her and sat on the edge of the bed, watching as her husband sat back down on the floor and picked up the computer again. 

                "Why, Heero?"

                Heero glanced at her, then back at the computer screen.  "I don't want to take any chances.  With what you've been through, Arys, it's amazing you're still alive."  He put down the computer again and sat down next to her.   He put an arm around her and hugged her tightly.  "You're a tough woman, Arys."  Arys grinned at his statement.  "And I'm glad..."  His voice trailed off.  "This is the second time I've almost lost you, Arys.  I don't want there to be a third."

                Arys leaned against Heero's shoulder.  For a moment, she was silent.  Then, she spoke up again, hating to break the comfortable silence.

                "Do you have my gun and the disk?"

                Heero squeezed her playfully.  "Of course I do."  Heero went to the dresser and picked up an unmarked disk.  "I haven't looked at it yet."

                Arys stood up and took the disk from him.  She grabbed Heero's computer and sat on the bed, motioning Heero to sit down next to her. 

                "This disk contains the coordinates for Remir's planted bomb."  Arys' fingers flew over the keyboard as she pulled up a blueprint of the colony on the screen.  She hit a key and the image zoomed in on a circular area near the edge of the colony.  Arys pointed to it.  "Here.  If we can get to it without being seen, we should have no problem disarming it."

                Heero reached over to tap on the keyboard.  The coordinates popped up onto the screen in big, green letters.  "We aren't going to disarm it."

                "What?"

                Heero reached in front of her again and pulled up the colony map.  He typed a few more commands  into the keyboard and the directions to the bomb's coordinates showed up onto the screen.   "We'll disarm it at the site, but I think we can come up with a more creative way of disposing of it."

                Arys kissed Heero on the cheek, a huge grin blossoming on her face.  "Heero Yuy, I like the way you think."

                Heero shut down the computer and placed it on top of the dresser.   He turned to Arys.  "Should we go get it now?"

                "Now?"  Arys asked, her eyes wide.

                Heero shrugged.  "We can keep it here until we decide to use it." 

                Arys smiled.  "Sounds like a plan to me."

               

               

               

                Heero hunkered down next to Arys as she studied the bomb sitting in front of her.  His empty duffel bag sat on the ground nearby.   Arys carefully opened up the bomb's control panel after searching for any devices that would set the bomb off if she tinkered with it. 

                "What do you think?"  Arys whispered, looking down at the mass of wires in front of her.

                Heero put a hand on her arm.  "We can't cut any of the wires."

                "That's for sure.  If we're still going to need it."

                Heero looked over at the two laptops beside the duffel bag.  "Your laptop or mine?"

                Arys grinned at him.  "Yours.  I'll watch you.  Yours is the one that has a cable that size."  Arys pointed to the port located on the right side of the bomb. 

                "Hmm..." Heero grabbed his laptop and connected it to the bomb.   "This'll take a bit of hacking."

                "But that's your specialty."

                "I know."

                Heero called up a program and the timer countdown showed up on the screen.  The bomb was set to go off the next night at midnight.   Heero tapped on the keyboard.  Arys studied the screen over his shoulder. 

                "There."  Arys pointed to a line of computer code on the screen.  

                "I see it."  Heero quickly changed the code to stop the timer.

                With a low whine, the timer flickered off and the bomb's ticking ceased.  Arys heaved a sigh of relief and smiled at Heero. 

                Arys planted a kiss on Heero's cheek.  "I love you." 

 

_________________

 

Later that night...

 

                That voice...  Arys listened carefully.  It sounded familiar.  Then, she realized who it was.  Remir.  That voice belonged to Remir! 

                "What did you see?" 

                Arys opened her eyes to see Remir staring down at her.  She drew in a sharp breath.  What was going on?  His hand reached toward her face and she felt his grip on her chin. 

                Let go of me!  Arys wanted to say but found that her vocal cords were frozen.  

                She suddenly found herself plunged into darkness.  A cold darkness.  This scene was too familiar.  And then the pain hit her.  The overwhelming pain.  She thought she had been rid of it!   But no, it was still there, lurking in the shadows, waiting for her to weaken.  She shivered as the cold seeped beneath her skin.  It was draining the life from her.  She hugged her arms around herself to ward off the cold, but it continued creeping up her body insistently.  It was like a snake, curling up for the final strike.  

                She felt so vulnerable!  There was nothing she could do.  Her shoulders slumped in defeat, and with the last of her strength, she opened her arms to the darkness, as if to embrace death itself.

                Take me, she thought.  I have no more strength to fight you.

                The darkness crowded in on her, accepting her invitation. The cold slid into her heart.  She could hear it pounding in her ears.  Then, it began to slow.  Arys felt the floor beneath her.  She had collapsed to the ground.  In surrender, she willingly lay her head against the floor.   Gently, she swept a hand across its icy surface.  Never again would she feel Heero's warm arms around her.  Never again would she see the fire in his eyes when he looked at her.  Never again... 

                Arys closed her eyes, listening to her heartbeat.  She could feel herself dying, slowly dying.  Her hand fell limply against the floor. With a beat of finality, her heart stopped.

 

                Heero sat up in bed and looked over at his wife.  He had heard her cry out in her sleep.  But now she lay still.  Then, he noticed that she was not breathing.  Heero knelt beside her and took her shoulders, pulling her upright.  He began to shake her desperately.

                "Arys!"  He shouted.  "Breathe!  Come on, breathe!"  

                With a sharp intake of breath, Arys woke up and stared blankly at her husband.  Confused, she looked at the hands he had set on her shoulders. 

                "Heero?" She raised a hand to sweep away a few hairs hanging in front of her eyes.  "What happened?"

                He gripped her shoulders tighter.  "You stopped breathing."

                "I was dreaming."

                Heero looked into her eyes and saw that now-familiar haunted look.  "You died again, didn't you?"

                Arys nodded, her eyes sad.  "I'm sorry."  She shivered.  "It seemed so real, Heero!  I felt everything, the pain, the cold, the beat of my heart slowing..."

                Heero pulled her close to his chest to keep her from saying anymore.   She buried her head against his shoulder, squeezing him so tightly it was almost painful.  He embraced her back.  He kissed the top of her head.  "It was only a dream..." 

                But she had stopped breathing.  If he hadn't woken up in time, she may have died.  Heero resolved to hold her when they slept from now on.  That way, he would be able to tell when she had one of her nightmares.  

                Arys leaned against him wearily.  "I don't want to die, Heero."

                "You won't."  Heero's reply was short.  "Not if I can help it."