Disclaimer: How many of these things do I have to write?!?!? Anyway, I don’t own Gundam Wing, any of its’ character, mobile suits or anything of that nature. I’m not making any money off of this and I never will, so there! >=P

Author Notes: This thing is taking longer than I thought it would, but anyway, here’s

In the Nic of Time-Chapter Eight

Everyone looked at Kitty, they studied her, except for Relena and Trowa who knew where every smile, lock of hair, and thought came from. Her hair was a soft blond that trailed to her shoulders, she wore bangs that were somewhat spiky and covered her forehead in distinct, thick locks of hair. Her blue-gray eyes were just a bit too large, giving her a look of innocence, that after hearing her bark orders, they knew she didn’t truly posses it. Her lips were thin and her nose was round at the tip. All in all, she looked younger than she truly was, looked more frail than the warrior girl was. Her moods tended to change, they had all noticed from the start. She was soft spoken most of time, but was quick with words when they were needed and bossy when it was time for a leader. And know they studied her, because she told them she was from the future, as if they could find the truth or lies behind her words by listening to her.

The Gundam pilots and the girls were jilted from their semi-gawking by a sound of snickering. Nuef, hunched over the computer/wristband couldn’t help but laugh at his findings.

“What’s so funny?” Duo asked.

“They made plastic explosives,” Nuef began.

“Explosives?” Relena said, “that’s no laughing matter.”

“Let me finish, they tried to make plastic explosives, but they don’t work. Left out a component, or something. If Breyer was expecting a big bang, the very most he’ll get is a little fizzle.” Nuef explained.

“So we’re safe?” Catherine said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Not exactly. As for right now, everything’s fine, no harm done, but in a few years, when Red Hand gets the hang of this whole terrorist thing, they are going to be a bit of a problem. But, if we work with Wing-chan and,” Nuef grimaced at the nickname, “Vinnie and stop Breyer before he does anything, we’ll be okay and stay okay.”

“Wait, didn’t Wing keep calling you her cousin?” Quatre asked Nuef.

Nuef looked up from the wristband and held his hand out to Quatre.

“Nuef Peacecraft, nice to meet you,” he said while shaking Quatre’s hand.

“Zechs’ and Miss Noin’s...?”

Nuef grinned and nodded.

All eyes around Nuef were wide, even Wufei was shocked, not an easy person to amaze.

“Hey, Leader-Girl, we got him cornered,” Vingt’s voice came over the wristband communicator.

“What are your options?” Kitty asked.

“Well, I wanna shoot him in the head, but Wing says the neck is better, he’ll suffer longer that way.”

“Ugh, Wing would want to do the most morbid thing possible, just stall her until Nuef and I get there.”

“Right.”

“Wing’s morbid?” Relena asked, shaky.

“Ah normally Vinnie can get her mind off of the whole dark death demonic thing, but I guess she got caught up in cold blooded vengeance. That happens sometimes.”

“She’s not demonic,” Nuef said curtly, “she’s a goth, she’s just been in a really good mood the past couple of days and now I think it’s wearing off and her personal dark cloud is back.”

“Gothic?” Duo asked. “Cool!”

“And it’s not that cold blooded, I mean thanks to this guy, she doesn’t even have a family. It’s not like she sees my parents much, and most of the time, her father’s sanity is in question.”

“Cease your nonsense! These terrorists are an injustice! They must be stopped!”

“Right, okay, Nuef, were are the bombs positioned? If we start from there, we might find Breyer’s accomplices.”

“Upper and lower levels, north and south wings. Sorry, that’s as narrowed down as I can get it.”

“Okay, Heero, you take the north wing, Duo you get the lower level, Trowa, you and Quatre go to the upper level, Wufei, you take the south wing. Nuef, stay here and notify his highness and Miss Noin when they get here, Nuef, where are Wing and Vinnie headed?”

“North.”

“Relena and I will go with Heero, Hilde, go with Duo, Catherine, stay here, Dorothy, go with Trowa and Quatre, Miss Po, go with Wufei,” Kitty ordered.

“Who put that woman in charge?” Wufei grumbled.

“A man by the name of Dr. J did, now shut up and do what I said!”

“Why should we listen to her?” Heero said, suspicious.

Kitty sighed. “Heero, this is your mission, Duo, it’ll be all creepy in the lower levels, Quatre, you get to help people, Wufei, you can stop the injustice, and Trowa, can, um, do his job. Happy?”

“Good enough, let’s go!” Duo shouted, he and Hilde took off for the lower levels.

Wufei grumbled, but never the less proceeded to the south wing with Sally.

Dorothy dragged Quatre to where she hoped a beautiful fight would begin, and Trowa followed, shaking his head.

Heero and Kitty dutifully left for the upper levels, with Relena following Heero like a love sick puppy.

Catherine slumped in her seat and turned to Nuef. “Why’d we get the boring job?”

**********************

Mission: North Wing

“What did Trina-chan say?” Wing asked Vingt while holding her pointing her gun at Breyer.

“To wait for her,” Vingt told her.

“Nuef coming?” Wing asked, turning to look at Vingt while she spoke to him.

“Dunno.” Bored with waiting, Vingt sat on the ground, leaning against the wall. “I can’t believe this guy is trying to mess with a party the Gundam pilots are at.”

“No one ever said terrorists were very bright,” Wing said, twirling her gun, still looking at Vingt.

“Obviously smarter than you,” Breyer hissed, pulling out his own gun.

“Hmm?”

Three shots were fired in rapid succession before Wing even acknowledged Breyer was an immediate threat. The first bullet went into her side, causing the gun to drop from her hand. The second lodged into her chest, tearing at her lungs and piercing a vein near her heart. The third missed entirely, but two were enough. Vingt jumped to his feet, pulled out his own gun and shot Breyer five times in the head before Wing was on the ground.

Blood dripped from her side, chest and mouth, her eyes almost glossy already. Vingt’s eyes teared.

“Wing-chan,” he whispered, “no.”

“You-ou know what the worst part is?” Wing croaked out, struggling to speak.

“No, don’t talk, Wing,” Vingt whispered, “Hold on, Wing-chan, please.”

“I didn’t want to go like my mom did, I didn’t want to go without saying good-bye. My last words to Tousan were yelling at him. He didn’t want me to leave, but I kept saying I was fine.” Tears were running down her cheeks now. “I didn’t say good-bye, or sarabada, or anything. Didn’t say good-bye to Maxwell-san either, an’ he was always nice to me. Vinnie, I wanna go home, I want to say good-bye, I want to tell them all that I love them, and now I can’t.” With tears streaming down her face, Wing laughed at the irony of it all.

When Heero, Relena, and Kitty arrived, there were two bodies in the room, Breyer’s and Wing, on the floor, bleeding still, her eyes rolled to the back of her head. And Vingt held her, sobbing, refusing to let go of his best friend.

Kitty stared in shock.

Relena choked back a sob and buried her face in Heero’s shoulder, crying. Silently, Heero wrapped his arms around Relena, and picked her up. “We better go back,” he said.

“I don’t want to leave her,” Vingt mumbled, still holding on to Wing’s body.

“She didn’t die alone, but now she’s gone and there’s nothing more you can do. And if you are from the future, then she’ll be back anyway.” Heero said. Kitty and Vingt looked at him questioningly. “She has to be born doesn’t she?”

Vingt took the coat of his tuxedo off and draped it over Wing’s head, and then folded her arms over her chest. “See you next lifetime, Gothy Girl. Only three years, and you’ll be back, just wait and see.” In the dust on the floor, he etched her name next to her body, in Japanese characters, she had shown him how to write all their names once, and he always remembered. Yuy Wing. He stood then, and trailed behind Heero and Relena with Kitty following, numb.

**********************

Mission: Lower Level

“So what are we looking for?” Hilde asked Duo.

The self-proclaimed ‘God of Death’ shrugged. “A broken bomb and the guy who made it, I guess.”

“I wonder what the bomb will look like,” Hilde mused.

“Prob’ly a black box or something,” Duo said.

The two wandered aimlessly around the lower floors of the palace. Neither knowing what to look for, but both keeping their eyes open.

“We’re going to miss dinner looking for a stupid bomb aren’t we?” Duo growled, as did his stomach.

“This is more important than your stomach, Duo,” Hilde said.

“But I’m hungry,” he whined.

“The sooner we find the bomb, the sooner we can go back, and you can get food,” Hilde said.

Within half an hour, they were staring at the bomb, and silently both asked the other, now what?

**********************

Mission: Upper Level

Trowa Barton generally doesn’t laugh. But poor Quatre’s expression at being dragged to the North Wing of the palace was funny. Trowa followed them, covering his smiles and snickers with his hand, or his hair, or just by looking away. It was hard to believe that those two would fall in love. Maybe Quatre was in one of his psychotic moods at the time, or maybe opposites do attract. Whatever the case of their romantic future, they had more immediate concerns, namely terrorists and bombs. And they were finding neither. Ducking into one room, searching though it, back to the hallway and into another room.

Deciding it was time to free Quatre, Trowa spoke up, “We’re not finding anything, you should go back.” Quatre was only too happy to comply, Dorothy was not, she had wanted to see a fight. This time it was Quatre’s turn to drag Dorothy away.

**********************

Mission: South Wing

Wufei barely had time to rant about injustice and how weak Sally was. It wasn’t long before they found what they were looking for: a would-be bomb, and someone trying to put some last minute touches on it, oblivious to the fact that either way, it wouldn’t work.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Hunter asked, turning to see Wufei and Sally.

“Sally Po and Chang Wufei, we’re here to stop you,” Sally said, wishing she had brought her gun.

“How do you plan on doing that, girlie?” Hunter hissed, drawing a pistol.

Before Sally or Hunter for that matter could react, Wufei did a high kick, knocking the gun right out of the terrorist’s hand. Wufei picked up the gun and held it pointed at Hunter.

“I’ll call for security,” Sally said, running as best she could in high heals to the elevator they had passed, knowing there would be an intercom there.

Hunter was put under arrest, and the bomb was taken for evidence. When Wufei and Sally were asked if there were any other terrorists, a question which Hunter refused to answer, Wufei told the officer that they believed there to be more, but at the current time they had no proof. Their mission taken care of, Wufei and Sally decided to return to the ball room ‘base of operations.’

**********************

Mission: The Boring Job

Catherine sat at the table, bored, at a huge party, but without a date. Nuef Peacecraft was the antithesis of good company, she decided, looking at the boy, just a little bit younger than herself, tracing their friends with Kitty’s abandoned wristband.

“Anything?” Catherine asked for the fifth time since the others had left.

“Not yet,” Nuef answered.

When Milliardo, Noin and a lot of guards finally arrived, Nuef jumped up to inform them of the situation. Catherine stayed seated, not knowing Zechs, or being very knowledgeable in the current goings-on.

When a man in the crowd stood up, Nuef, Milliardo and Non were deep in discussion, softly talking so not to disturb the other guests. The man began walking towards them, the guards having been dispersed at Milliardo’s orders when Nuef first informed him. Catherine barely had time to shout out a warning as the man held a up a gun and fired at Milliardo.

The bullet racing towards his father, Nuef’s mind blanked, and he shoved him out of the way, only to get hit himself. Immediately, Nuef was rushed to the medical wing and the gunman was disarmed and placed under arrest. Catherine ran towards Noin and Milliardo.

“Is Nuef gonna be okay?” she asked worried.

“He saved Zechs’ life, but I don’t know if he’ll be all right,” Noin said. “You said his name is Nuef?” Catherine nodded. Noin smiled, “If this baby is a boy, I think we should name it after him.

“So his name would be ‘Nuef Peacecraft?’” Catherine asked.

Noin nodded. Catherine smiled. “I think he’d like that.”

Neither women noticed two of the lighted buttons on the forgotten wristband had changed color.

**********************

Author Notes: Wing-chan and Nuef are gone, but we haven’t seen the last of them yet! Like Heero said, they have to be born! ^_^ This fic will have a happy ending, I promise.