Once Upon The Night Of Death
By: Moonlit Love

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing but I own (most) of this story line. I have no idea
why I like to spell Relena's name the way I do, but I do. Sorry if you don't like it.

AU

Prologue: The Night of Death
The pain was so fresh, the reality so new. Everything had been going so happily,
and then death came. Heartache was the meaning of life for them now and they had to get
used to it. Death would not stop at the recent soul it had claimed.

To find the explanation behind this death, we must first travel back ten years,
when love was beginning to blossom for three young couples. The males with secrets,
and the women fighting for peace. Traveling back...

~Ten Years Ago~(and some change)

(A.N. They are all twenty as of)
Relena Darilyn quickly walked through the darkened streets of Rosewater. A few
flickering street lamps glowed overhead. The click of shoes showed there was someone
other than her in the streets that night. Relena quickened her pace and the echoing
footsteps seemed to become rapider.

Relena shook her head and laughed at herself. 'It probably is nothing more than
the click of your own shoes,' she told herself.

She stopped for a split second, just to see if she was correct. But to her terror, she
was dead wrong! The footfalls came swiftly through the street she was on. Relena
immediately started to run. She heard the person coming closer to her. She ran faster and
faster, trying to escape the follower.

Relena screamed as she was knocked to the ground from behind. Then she heard
the whiz of a bullet overhead. Relena was about to look at her rescuer when it stood up
and carried her under its arm. "Let me down!" Relena demanded.

"Can't do that. Someone's after you," the person replied, its deep voice telling
Relena her rescuer was male.

"Do you know why they are after me?" Relena asked, trying to calm her nerves.

"Because you are the Foreign Minister. And it is also the Night of Death," he told
her.

"What is the Night of Death?" Relena asked, tilting her head so she could get a
look at him.

The occasional flicker of the street lights allowed her to she he had dark brown
hair that was a mess. His eyes were a Prussian blue, and they were staring passionately
forward as if on a mission. He wasn't heavily built, but Relena felt huge sources of
strength within him. 'Yet he is so gentle too,' Relena thought silently.

"It comes but once a year when a mysterious, unexplained chain of murders
happen. They are all linked, either by blood or friendship. No one knows why it
happens, but it always does. You are the current victim of this plague. If you can survive
until midnight, you will be death free. But it will come again for you, and then you must
once again survive," he answered her question.

"How long until midnight?" Relena asked.

"Too long. Why are you out if you don't know the time?" he replied.

"I worked late tonight and was on my way home," she informed him.

"It is eleven thirty," he suddenly stated.

"Midnight is but half an hour from now. Why is it so long until midnight?"
Relena inquired.

"Death will be swift for those who are on its list. Death is all around us and we
cannot escape the clutches of its grasp. I have no clue how long I can keep you from
Death," he informed her.

"Oh. What is your name and why were you following me?" Relena asked.

"You don't like to make a man's work easy. The name is Heero Yuy. I can sense
who Death will choose to torment, and I try to prevent it. I have only succeeded once
before," he replied.

"I'll be quiet now. And since you seem to know who I am, I will not introduce
myself to you," Relena told him.

"I know the basics."

They had been running from 'Death', as Heero had called it, for ten minutes.
Relena was beginning to tire, but Heero didn't seem to be fatiguing in the least bit.
Relena wanted to ask him why he wasn't tiring, but she soon fell asleep.

~~meanwhile in another city~~

Hilde Schbeiker was leaving her house in Crest Falls. She was going to go out
and do some club hopping that night. Darkness dominated the light as there was no moon
that night and the streetlights were turned off to save electricity. The darkness didn't
bother Hilde, though. She was used to going out late at night, and she was also a
free-lance photographer, who spent much time in the dark room.

She had gotten her pale complexion from the lack of UV rays. Her skin deeply
contrasted her dark, purple hair. Hilde sighed as she pulled her pink tube top a little
further up.

Hilde kept a brisk walk into the darkened night. She followed the curb until she
got to the end of the street and turned off onto another street. About halfway down, she
turned into an alley.

The sounds of metal trash can lids and screeching cats filled Hilde's ears. The
putrid smell of rotting garbage filled her nose. The sticky garbage water clung to the
bottoms of her high heels. Hilde hated the condition of the alley, but she saved ten
dollars a night by taking the free entry.

She was seconds away from the door when all the hair on the back of her neck
stood on end. She wasn't scared, but felt the presence of someone. She turned around to
see if anyone was there. All was quiet, the once screeching cats were now sleeping on the
torn newspapers.

Hilde shook her head to clear her thoughts. She took another step when she was
knock to the ground. Her face and clothes were soon covered with the filth of the
concrete. The smell of rotting flesh filled her nose. Hilde tried to free herself from her
captor.

She was about to scream when a hand was placed over her mouth. "Keep quiet,"
the soft, male voice of her captor ordered, "There is something out to kill you. Stay still
and it will pass us by."

Hilde continued to struggle, not caring what he said. She was ready to bite his
hand when her neck hair once again stood on end and a shiver of fear raced up and down
her spine. She no longer continued to fight. Slowly, the fear was beginning to fade away.
Then, the back door to the club opened and a girl with long hair stuck her head out.

"Hilde?" she whispered, "Are you out here?"

The girl turned her head back and forth to try find Hilde. Then she saw her under
her captor. "Get off her!" she yelled, "I'm going to call the police if you don't get away
from her!"

And then the fear all came rushing back to Hilde. Her ex-captor and now rescuer
stood and placed her over his shoulder. He began to run forward. The girl came to stand
in his way. Hilde itched her nose from the long braid that tickled it as he ran.

Hilde didn't see what the guy did, but he saw her friend, Dorothy, sitting in a
puddle of garbage water, pouting. Hilde turned her head to see where they were headed.
They were going straight for the brick wall!

Hilde closed her eyes in anticipation for the crash. The crash never came, though.
Instead, she felt them lift off from the ground and land squarely on the other side. Her
rescuer took of once again, flying through the streets like a champion racehorse. She
turned her head back around and saw a mist of deeper black than the night following
them.

"What is that??!" Hilde shrieked.

"Death," was the terse reply.

"Why is it chasing us?" Hilde asked, her eyes growing big at his answer.

"Do you know Miss Relena Darilyn?" he asked.

"What does it have to do with this now?" Hilde inquired.

"Just answer the question," he ordered.

"Yes, I do. We used to be childhood friends, but we are becoming further and
further apart," Hilde told him.

"Death has chosen her to attack. It attacks her and all her friends and family," he
replied.

"So, what happens if she doesn't have any family?" Hilde questioned.

"Death then only goes after her friends," came her answer.

"What is your name? Mine is Hilde Schbeiker," Hilde wondered.

"Duo Maxwell. Nice to meet you," he greeted her.

Hilde smiled in spite of herself. "How do we get death to leave us alone?" Hilde
asked.

"I almost had him tricked into believing you weren't there, but you stupid little
friend interrupted us. Death goes on smell, and I can assure you, that alley will cover up
any smell. Now our only hope is to continue outrunning him until midnight arrives," Duo
informed her.

"It is at least eleven forty five. We don't have much longer to go," Hilde
commented.

"We have fifteen minutes, enough time for death to catch up to us and kill you,"
Duo told her.

"Why did you rescue me from death and how did you know death was going to
come for me?" Hilde wondered.

"I can sense Death. I have two other friends who can do the same. They are
getting Miss Relena and Catherine Bloom. To our knowledge Death isn't going to attack
anyone else. We want to dissuade Death from killing anyone, hoping it will one day
leave. The sense of Death can be used to find who its targets are and we will locate you
on the day of no moon and try to keep you alive," Duo educated her.

"Okay, and why aren't you getting tired?" Hilde asked as she stifled a yawn.

"Intense training. We once were training to be Gundam pilots when our senses
awoke. Then we were put to work trying to end the Death streak," he began, "Training
was very hard.

"We would spend days at a time running on end. We got one-hundred push-ups if
we stopped. We exercised day and night, stopping only to get nutrient water. Used to the
running. We also had intense training when we were assigned to be Death protectors."

Hilde nodded sleepily. She laid her head down and let her eyes grow heavy with
sleep. She took one last look at Death and fell into a sweet sleep.

~~Meanwhile in yet another city~~

Catherine Bloom threw another dagger into a small fly. The circus tent was
buzzing with them and she was getting tired of behind distracted. She threw her hands up
in frustration as the one she killed seemingly brought twelve more with it. She put her
daggers in their case and set them on the stool.

She quickly scrawled a note to the others saying she went into town for a drink.
Then she left the main ring and headed out into the night. She ran her hands over her
arms, wishing she had grabbed her coat. She was too far out into the country now to turn
back. It was but two or three minutes until she got to town.

The highway was dark, it was rare to see a car during the day, (except on circus
days), and even rarer to see at night. She was used to the dark and feeling alone. Which
was why she was surprised when she heard the crunching of gravel behind her. She
whirled around to try catch the person off guard, but no one was behind her.

She continued to walk, fully aware she was being followed, yet fully aware she
wouldn't be able to catch them in the act. She couldn't do anything about it and let
whoever it was follow her.

Then she was knocked to the ground. She didn't make a noise as she was pushed
down to the ground, somehow knowing she was being protected. She heard something
ahead cut into the gravel in front of her. It was one of her knives!

Catherine then proceeded to panic. She felt her protector stand up. She too began
to stand, but he grabbed her around the waist and over his shoulder. Then he began to
run.

Catherine pouted as she had to carried in such a fashion, but when she was the
blackest mist she had ever seen, she wanted to go faster. "Hurry up! What ever it is back
there is going to catch up to us!" Catherine yelled.

"That is Death. We'll make it. We only have five minutes until midnight, and I
can usually outlast running Death for twenty minutes. We are going to meet up with
some of my friends when we get into town and away from Death," he told her.

"Why is Death after us?" Catherine asked him.

"Relena Darilyn must be your friend or something. She is the main target of death
right now, and you being connected to her has also made you a target. Death chooses one
person once a year when the moon is gone. Then he kills all relatives and friends," he
told her.

"Tell me your name and a little bit about you," Catherine requested in a sleepy
voice, lack of sleep catching up with her.

"My name is Trowa Barton. I am a Death protector and was assigned to keep you
alive. There isn't much else to me," he said.

"Why?" Catherine asked, barely able to keep her eyes open.

"It is a long story, and talking and trying to breathe at the same time is an
un-mastered..." was all Catherine heard before she fell fast asleep.

To Be Continued...

How did you like the story? I know it is different from I Loved You Too Late, but
I hope you liked it. I will finish this before I put out My Heero and My Enemy. I hope
you enjoyed.
~~*Moonlit*~~
PS: if you like Tenchi Muyo, read I'd Give My Life For You, my recent love story.