Disclaimer: You guessed it! What are you psychic or something? No, sad but true, I am not affiliated with Bandai, Sotsu, Sunrise, or any other companies or corporations that own Gundam Wing. I am just a fan who has a creative interest in inflicting pain on a certain Perfect Soldier. So, please don't sue me....I'm already penniless!

Author's Note: Woo-hoo! What a wild ride, huh? But I see a lot of you are still sticking around....I can see the torches and pitchforks from here....and is that a noose in your hands?....Wait, if you kill me now, you won't be able to see how I wrap everything together. I'll try to be good, but I can't promise you that there won't be any more cliffhangers. I'm telling you, there are evil forces working through me....they're the ones who keep doing that to you....IT'S NOT ME!!!!....I swear it!

For those of you just tuning in, don't start here....or you will be totally confused. For those of you who have been reading and reviewing on a regular basis, my most sincere thanks! I do it all for you-so please keep those responses coming! And remember, the large sections of italicized print are either dreams or memories, whichever you prefer to think of them as!

And, just one more thing....A special thank you going out to Stella for all of her patience in putting up with my whining and annoying questions! I hope you like what I did with it!

The voices stabbed at him relentlessly, obliterating all but the panic....

The screaming inside his mind ceased with a second injection, and the pain began to slowly fade away, as his eyelids strained against the growing weight of his own exhaustion.

"Wha....What are you....?" He was struggling, his lips failing to form the words that his mind could no longer keep from asking.

His eyes felt the sting of solution still sweeping over them, mingling with the unwanted tears that were burning deep trails down the sides of his face.

The light was all around him, fracturing each coherent thought before it had the opportunity to solidify in his mind, and all he wanted was to escape from it. Even through closed lids, he could sense its terrifying and maddening presence, encompassing him, holding him still....complacent....exactly where they wanted him.

Every inch of him felt numb; his limbs awkward and heavy, and his body no longer his to command.

The voices became like a muffled distortion inside his ears, each word slurring into the next in a predictably indecipherable pattern.

He could feel hands fidgeting roughly with the thick leather bands around his wrists and ankles, but didn't dare open his eyes, in fear of the light and the pain it inflicted.

Before he knew what was happening, his world tilted crazily, and the hands pulled him sharply to his feet. Had it not been for the two figures on either side of him, he was quite positive that he would have hit the floor immediately after, but somehow, they managed to hold him upright.

He had little choice as the figures pulled him along, effortlessly dragging him to what he could only hope would be someplace away from the needles....away from those voices....away from that light.

The light....

The words seeped slowly into his consciousness as he forced his eyes open, realizing with frightening clarity that he couldn't see.

He blinked furiously, but the resonant tingling across his retinas was the only answer to his desperate efforts. A faint haze of shadows was all that greeted him as the sudden and overpowering panic gripped his entire body yet again.

....I can't....What did they do to me?....Something inside him screamed.

The words floated in his memory....hovering like scrambled puzzle pieces inside his head. The voices had said something....

What was it?

The injections....No, that....

What was it?

Memory....Won't remember....

What....was....it?

Optic nerves....Permanent....

Oh, God!

Permanent damage....

Without warning, the adrenaline surged. Momentarily pulling free of the guards, he pushed back a few feet, stumbling slightly, but refusing to go down, as his hands searched the air around him. The shadows shifted dizzily as he brought his hands to his face, scrubbing at the liquid that still coursed from his eyes.

He could hear the voices, raised in anger.

He didn't need to hear the words to recognize their tone.

....He had to run....Escape somehow....

That single thought left all others behind.

But he couldn't....Everything was uncertain now, and he spun around, expecting to find something definitive or distinguishable, but found only the same dull, gray fog that brought fear to his other working senses.

Fear....

He was afraid....

And for quite possibly the first time in his life....he was powerless....

He awoke to the stillness of the room, the air thick with the stale purity of oxygen.

The other noise that assaulted his ears was hard to identify, but as he fought to rid himself of the nightmare, he realized it was his own anguished and ineffective gasps for air that had caught his attention.

His eyes scanned the room, savoring the fact that he could see, despite the dull choice of colors that surrounded him.

....Where am I?.... He wondered, silently, struggling to push himself upright.

The excruciating tug at his side caught him off-guard and he couldn't prevent the sharp hissing noise that spilled from his lips, in an answer to the pain.

Although, his efforts were considerably slower, he didn't allow it to stop him altogether. Too many questions plagued his mind, and the uneasiness of such foreign surroundings made it too unnerving to rest any longer.

....You can do this.... He assured himself, swinging his legs to the side of the bed, and sucking in several deep breaths as his bare feet made contact with the icy texture of the floor.

With a swift and calculated motion, he pulled the large bore needle of the IV from his forearm, and rose unsteadily to his feet. His vision blurred as he inched his way closer to the far end of the bed, feeling several cold beads of sweat trickle down the side of his face as he did so.

....You have to do this.... His mind insisted, as nothing shy of strict determination fueled his measured steps to the door.

He could feel the pressure in his lungs increase, and clamped his eyes shut as everything began to spin around him. He forced himself to stop, concentrating all of his efforts on the not-so-simple task of just breathing, knowing that if he didn't stop, he would more than likely faint away.

His body took the reigns as all logic abandoned him.

....Damnit! You're in trouble, you idiot! Get back in the bed before you end up killing yourself!....

His mind and body continued to wage their private little war as he steadied himself against the raised handrail at the foot of the bed. In the end, though, it was self-preservation that claimed victory, as he prepared himself for the first experimental step to the door, without the proverbial safety net of his hospital bed.

She wasn't expecting to find anything out of the ordinary.

Wasn't expecting Heero to be awake, let alone out of bed.

The small paper cup full of hot chocolate fell from her grasp, tumbling to the linoleum tiles below, as her eyes drank in the sight of him, standing right in front of her.

Time ceased to exist as the shock settled in her mind, and a momentary flood of emotion churned somewhere deep in the pit of her stomach.

He was oblivious to her presence, oblivious to all but his own silent effort to reach the door. But something in the way he carried himself, in the way his body trembled at the tiniest of movements, in the way each agonizing breath escaped his body. Everything about him cried out to her that something was very, very wrong.

Her heart constricted painfully as she saw him manage two small steps before his strength abandoned him.

"Heero!" She screamed, as her body reacted in just enough time to prevent him from collapsing.

She found her arms lacing themselves around his midsection, and used the strength of her own body to steady him, as she guided him back to the edge of the bed so he could sit down.

His skin still felt like fire when she made contact, but she resisted the urge to pull away as his entire body was wracked by a sudden fit of coughing. His face was sheet white and she carefully scrutinized every inch of him, despite the terrible things it was doing to her heart.

Somehow his cobalt blue eyes found hers, through the mass of tangled brown locks, and for a moment, the pain stopped.

Their eyes met as briefly as a vague flirtation, before she found the emotions too overpowering, and was forced to turn away.

"You shouldn't try to move...." She whispered, as her concern got the better of her, and a small tear escaped her eye. "You might start bleeding again."

The words reached his ears, but were lost to him as he memorized the anguish displayed on her face, the tear that glistened on her cheek, and the sheer perfection of her beauty.

....An angel.... His mind repeated, as he searched for the reason behind such sadness.

Without really knowing the reason why, he brought his hand up to meet her cheek, hesitating only slightly when he saw her sapphire eyes grow wide with surprise, before a new sadness overwhelmed them.

Brushing the stray tear from her cheek, his hand lingered for a moment, not wanting to relinquish the comfort such a small gesture could provide.

It felt right, somehow....

Even familiar....

Before he could speak, pain lanced through both temples, as a surge of images assaulted his mind, and the small gesture returned in his memory.

A young boy standing at the balcony, overlooking the large expanse of countryside below. An exchange of words that held with it a promise that would never be kept. A brief and fleeting moment when his hand brushed the pale surface of her cheek, catching the tear that had slipped from her eye. And a smile, more innocent and graceful than any he'd seen before, touched her lips.

He could hear his angel crying that name. The name he couldn't place, but that somehow, also seemed all too familiar.

"Heero!"

The name echoed in his mind in a seemingly endless loop.

....Heero....

....Is that my name?.... He wondered, as the visions assaulted him once again.

His angel, calling to him, this time from a boat....a dock....He couldn't place it, but was sure she'd been calling to him....asking him questions, though she knew he wouldn't answer.

....I want to know who you are!....

She had never felt so helpless.

"Heero, speak to me!....Please, tell me what's the matter....Heero!"

She didn't know what to do. He was shaking so violently and just by the way he was clutching the sides of his head, it was obvious he was suffering. She felt her heart break as she could do nothing but stand by idly and watch.

....Can he even hear me?.... She wondered, silently, struggling to subdue her fears of leaving him to get help.

"I'm going to find you a doctor, Heero. You'll be okay!"

She was about to move for the door when strong fingers closed around her wrist, blindly searching for her and drawing her back.

....Is he trying to tell me not to go?.... She asked herself, while wordlessly pleading with him to tell her what to do. ....I've got to get help, though!....

There was something pleading in his eyes as well, as they finally worked their way back to her, the pain slowly diminishing.

He could still hear her voice, always pleading, always searching, and always trying to save him from himself.

....Talk to me, Heero....

She had said that to him that day, and he found that the only response he had been able to manage then, still lingered in the back of his mind.

He swallowed hard, attempting to force the remaining shakiness from his voice, along with the rest of his body, before lifting his face to meet hers. She was looking at him so tenderly that he almost lost his nerve, but found himself longing to see that smile that haunted him from the past he could scarcely remember.

His angel....

"Relena...." He whispered, causing her eyes to grow wide with shock, before blurring over with tears.

"Do....Do you....remember me, Heero?" She stammered, through several broken breaths, fighting the despair that had been her faithful companion since her arrival at this godforsaken hospital.

For the first time in the past 28 hours, she allowed herself to hope....

* * * * *

Duo Maxwell threw his hands into the air in a swift and exaggerated expression of frustration. Patience, having never been his strong suit, was once again wearing a bit too thin for his liking.

"I still don't get what the big deal is. I mean, so what if Heero's memory is a little hazy....I still think we should be up there." He yelled, drawing everyone's attention.

Noin's last transmission had come in a few hours before, and despite her vague report of Heero's condition and mental state, the situation was grim enough without all the gruesome details.

"I know, Duo, but Sally is concerned that it might be too much for him to have all of us up there, right now." Quatre replied, softly. "Colony ST-1893 has some of the best resources in the colonies. I'm sure he's getting the best care possible. In his state, we can't afford to be the cause of any potential setbacks."

"Besides...." Wufei added. "....until he does remember, we still don't know who's behind this. We shouldn't be letting our guard down."

"Wufei's right." Trowa agreed. "The best thing we can do for Heero right now is to keep our eyes open for any more of those containers. We have to assume that whoever created that toxin, would have also created something to counteract it."

"Yeah, even mad scientists aren't crazy enough to make something that they can't stop." Duo joined in, happy for the distraction that could free him from having to think about Heero any more.

"Maybe that's why Lady Une called us all back to Headquarters for this briefing." Quatre replied, hopefully. "Maybe they've got a new lead on the scientists."

"Well, if she doesn't, then it looks like I've come all the way back to Earth for nothing." A voice stated from the doorway.

The voice was unmistakable, soft, yet deadly, and all four pilots turned their attention to the platinum blond-haired pilot that had once been their enemy.

"Zechs, how is Heero? When's he coming home?" Duo asked, anxiously.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." The former OZ Lieutenant replied, his response cold and unusually detached.

Quatre could read through his expression, immediately, and could tell without a doubt, that Zechs was not being entirely honest with them.

"Noin and Sally are doing all they can, but the treatments are going to take time."

He felt a slight pang of remorse in telling them such a sugarcoated farce, but knew it would do no good to have them distracted.

....There is no further margin for error, now.... He told himself, rigidly.

As long as they stayed sharp out there on their patrols, none of them would end up in the same condition. If lying could help avoid having to relive the past week again, then he would learn to live with himself.

"The important thing now, is that we all keep focused. Remember there are more lives at stake here, than just our own." Zechs added.

In a small, private room down the hall, unbeknownst to anyone, Colton Reid smiled to himself.

"You don't know how right you are, Zechs. You don't know how right you are...."

Well, another one bites the dust, huh? Hope you all enjoyed it, and sorry it took so long. I'm trying to get my art going, as well as spend a little time trying to get over the hump in Legacies. I'm really trying to work on that one, but Writer's Block is just so killer when I'm working on battle scenarios. Wish me luck and please leave a review....good or bad, Ok? Thanks! -Luvspook