Chapter One

Releena Dorlian Peacecraft looked down at the enormous mass of paper, lying neatly on her desk, and resisted the urge to bang her head against the polished mahogony surface.

"Aargh! How many proposels can one be expected to stare at every morning, of every day, seven days a week?

I swear, I'm going to go blind before my eighteenth birthday." Wearily, the sixteen year old peace administrator rubbed at her blurry eyes and stared out the window. A small, pure white bird landed on the sill outside in a flutter of snow white wings, and she smiled faintly.

So many things had happened since those last terrifying days with Marianne...Releena's green eyes clouded over as her mind played back the last moments with the girl who had kidnapped her. She remembered the frighteningly intent look in the other's eyes, her own voice pleading with the child to end it, Heero Yuy suddenly appearing with death in his eyes and a gun trained on Marianne. Heero Yuy saying he didn't have to kill anymore. Heero falling into her arms......

Releena closed her eyes as a lump suddenly lodged itself in her throat. Heero, her dark, mysterious fallen angel. The sullen, dangerously perfect Gundam Pilot who haunted her dreams and most of her waking moments; the boy she was hopelessly in love with, and the one she knew could never return her feelings. After the last "incident," he had disappeared, and Releena knew with a sickening certaintly she would never see him again.

'Heero, I can't let you go.'

"Shimatta," she whispered, blinking back the sudden, stinging sensation at the corners of her eyes. "It's just as well, baka. You know that he hates you."

'And with good reason,' whispered that snide voice of self loathing she was growing accustomed to. 'Heeo, come save me! Heero, come kill me! Idiot, no wonder he avoided you. And you followed him around like a clingy puppy dog with no life of your own, no thought in your silly little head but of him. You were pathetic.'

"Yes, I was," Releena agreed, although it didn't help the ache in her heart. "I'm sorry, Heero. You were very patient with me; you and everyone else I burdened while chasing you around. I hope you can forgive me; and someday, if we meet again, I hope you'll see how much I've grown, thanks to you."

A knock on the door roused her from her thoughts, and a moment later Lucrezia Noin entered the room without waiting for a reply. Her dark eyes settled on the girl in a fitting but casual buisness dress, and frowned slightly.

"Miss Releena? You're not ready."

"Hm?" Releena gazed at her, confused for a moment, then slapped herself on the forehead. "The meeting," she groaned, hating herself for looking like an unresponsible child in front of Noin, the woman who chased her around and essentially "babysat" her while she carried out her own foolish whims. "Are we going to be late?"

"Not if we hurry."

"Umph." Releena gave an unladylike grunt as she heaved herself out of her chair. "Well, we shouldn't keep the masses waiting then, ne?"

The meeting was essentially a formal gathering of politicians and important people, all with a vital role in keeping the fragile concept of peace from shattering in a war torn world. Releena murmured polite hellos to the nameless faces that flashed by, well aware of her significence to this cause, but wishing more and more that her big brother Miliardo could take her place. Her life as a naive, ordinary school girl seemed so long ago, now, and Releena sometimes wished she could return to the undemanding world she had once known. A world where she was happy and safe, with two loving parents, a gaggle of loyal friends, and a bright future ahead of her.

All that was gone now. She knew too much, had seen too much. And the burden resting on her young shoulders seemed to weigh down her soul.

'God, it's hard! What do they expect of me, anyway? I'm only sixteen." Suddenly she felt incredibally weary and very, very old.

As the gathering drew to a close, she was expected to make a speech. As she sat quietly to the side of the stage, waiting her turn to speak, her thoughts turned again to another gathering not so long ago. She had been standing on a stage like this one, speaking to a crowd like this. And then she had looked up into the rafters to see...

'Stop it, Releena. He isn't here; why can't you let him go?'

She swallowed the lump in her throat and reluctantly got to her feet as the present speaker announced: "Foreign Minister Peacecraft," in grandiose tones, and stepped aside, starting a round of applause.

As Releena stepped up to the mic, she suddenly caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Someone was hiding in the corner shadows, watching her intently as she took the stage. Her breath caught in her throat and she half turned, but whoever it was had already disappeared; the shadows were empty once more. But in that breif glance, Releena was almost sure she had caught a glimpse of a touseled brown head, and a pair of burning blue eyes.

"Foreign Minister Peacecraft?"

She turned back, facing the concerned stares of the whole assembley. "I...forgive me. I thought I saw..." She hesitated, suddenly feeling very foolish. 'You're losing it, Releena,' mocked that insidious inner voice. 'You're starting to see him everyw-'

Then, a small greenish object dropped from the skylight above and all hell broke loose.

Almost in slow motion, Releena watched the fist sized, round oval plummet directly for the stage, a vague sence of horror stealing over her. 'Is that what I think it is?!'

Then something slammed into her from behind, knocking her off the stage. Almost at the same time, the tiny green object struck the platform...

...and a tremendous explosion rocked the room, sending politicians and peices of the stage flying in all directions! Releena screamed as she struck the ground, feeling the body of her...savior? slam down beside her with a grunt, peices of wood and morter showering them both. Thrashing free of the debris, the girl pushed herself up on one elbow and gazed at her rescuer.

Two prussian blue eyes glared back at her, underneath a mop of shaggy brown hair. Despite the horror of what had just happened, Releena felt her heart skip a beat.

"Heero?"

"Get up!" he ordered in that familiar, emotionless, growling voice. Surging to his feet, he grabbed her wrist and hauled her upright. "We don't have time to--"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Death to the Peacecrafts! Red Fang rules!" Gunfire suddenly rang out through the room as a group of crimson clad soldiers burst in and began firing on the crowd. Heero snarled a curse, pulled a gun and sprinted toward the back exit, pushing Releena on ahead of him.

"The Peacecraft blasphomer is still alive!" roared a voice in the chaos behind them. "Follow her! Shoot her down! Kill her!"

Bullets struck the doorframe as they raced through, making Releena shriek in terror, shielding her head as splinters peirced her skin. Heero growled at her and gave her a hard shove, then grabbed her hand and pulled her along at a breakneck pace, Releena stumbling to keep up.

"H--Heero-o-o-o! Wh-e-e-ere are we goiiiinnng?" Releena panted, her breath catching in her throat as she tripped and stumbled down the endless corridors. She could hear the sounds of pursuit behind them, and gasped as a bullet richosed off the wall above her head just as Heero yanked her around a corner. The young boy pulled her forward as he spun around, placing her behind him in one smooth motion. Raising the gun, he fired several shots at the soldiers chasing them, forcing the red uniforms to take cover around the nearest corner.

"Run," Heero growled, releasing her hand from where it had been crushed in his own. "The parking garage is through the door on your left. Run for the black van; I'll be there in a second."

"But, Heero.."

"Go!"

Releena obeyed, running full tilt for the parking garage, fully expecting a bullet in her back at any moment. She flung herself through the door and into the comforting darkness of the garage, searching frantically for the black van.

"This way!" Heero appeared by her side out of nowhere, grabbing her elbow and steering her toward the escape vehicle. He wrenched open the door and shoved her inside, just as the red soldiers burst into veiw and began firing on them again. But Heero had already slammed the door, gunned the engine, and was speeding away down the street.

Releena clutched at the dashboard until her fingers were white. She hated going at such a reckless, breakneck speed, even though Heero probably knew what he was doing. Sparing a glance at him, she shivered at the intense, chilling look in his eyes. The look of Death. Closing her eyes, she began praying for their safety.

Heero yanked the van around a corner, sending pedestrians diving for the sidewalks, as two more vehicles roared out of the parking garage, following them on either side. Red uniformed soldiers stuck their bodies out the open windows and began spraying the van with bullets. The van swerved from side to side, and Releena felt faintly nautious.

"Heero!" she managed to gasp, as the vehicle barely missed a young family on the edge of the street. "The civillians! Innocents are going to be killed if we keep this up!"

Heero shot her a Death Glare, but as another rain of bullets showered the van, she saw understanding dawn in his eyes. Without a word, he gunned the vehicle down a fairly deserted road, leading their attackers away from the city.

'Now what?' the young Peacecraft thought, trying to control her panic. The three vehicles were now speeding down a two lane highway, going away from the city and into the outskirts of town. 'Heero can play cat and mouse with these maniacs for however long it takes, but sooner or later we're going to run out of gas, and then what?' She could not control a scream as one of the pursuing trucks suddenly slammed into them from the side! Heero fired his gun out the window, but he was jolted again as the second truck rammed them from behind. Releena looked out the passenger side window and her stomach turned as she saw what they were trying to do.

The right side of the road abruptly dropped away into a deep ravine, an enormous yawning gorge that seemed to go on forever. "Heero!" she cried, as the enemy truck crashed into them again, and Heero fought the steering wheel for control. They were gradually being pushed closer to the edge. Hastilly, Releena buckled her seat belt, then began giggling hysterically at what she was doing. How could a seat belt save her from a drop over a cliff? But that didn't stop her from reaching over, past a snarling Heero Yuy, and snapping his belt into place as well.

WHAM! The truck was through trying to knock them over the edge, and was now trying to muscle them over using brute force. Heero manuvered desperately, but the van teetered on the very edge of the ravine, it's tires skidding on the loose gravel as it sought purchase back on the middle of the road.

HOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNK! The sudden blare of a sixteen wheeler's horn caused everyone to jerk their attention towards the semi baring down on them. Releena was mezmorised like a deer in the truck's flashing lights, and could only watch in horrid facination as the semi loomed above her, filling her sight until there was nothing left. Then, with a violent jolt, the van seemed to leap sideways...to the right, and into thin air.

For a moment, it seemed to hang, suspended, defying gravity. Releena could see the sky and a flock of birds.

Then, reality kicked in, and they began to fall.