"Be careful Relec."

Allana's voice filled Relec's head as he revved the engine of his mazda.He glanced over at Puck and the other man grinned sardonically at him. The offical brought his arms down, Relec let go of the break and pressed his foot to the floor. Both cars roared down the section of pavement designated for the races. Relec shifted into fourth, then quickly into fifth, nosing ahead of Puck. His eyes narrowed as Puck hit his NOS button, then he quickly shifted into sixth (an extra he'd added onto the car). He pulled in front of Puck as they flashed over the line.

Puck's eyes narrowed dangerously and he spun the wheel to the left, slamming the side of his own car into the side of Relec's RX-7. Relec let out a curse as he puled a complete 360 degree spin in order to regain control of the car and downshift repeatedly at the same time. The car fell down into third and Puck sidelined him again and suddenly, Relec wasn't in his car anymore.

*Flash*

He was screaming as he ran across the intersection at Speedway and Alvenon. NOS was leaking from the aquamarine 280XL and the stench reached him before he had gotten fifty feet from the overturned car. He dodged a little compact car and ran to the car, ripping the door open and pulling her out, running away and hitting the ground twenty yards away, covering her body with his own as the car exploded. He laid her down on the ground, cradling her in his arms as sirens blared in the distance. Her hazel eyes opened and she smiled softly, lifting one hand to his cheeck and whispering.

"I love you..."

*End Flash*

Relec shook his head slightly and tears began to course down his cheeck as Corrin's last words echoed in his mind. He was vaguely aware of his car hitting something and flipping end over end, flying off the road. He was vaguely aware of the strong scent of NOS as it started leaking. He felt the heat of the flames as they licked at his skin. He snapped out of his daze and somehow managed to kick the door open, crawling out of the overturned car to collapse five yards away.

"Corrin..."

~ * ~

Allana didn't know when she'd started screaming. But she had. She watched with wide eyes, tears pouring down her cheecks as she watched her brother's car flip end over end once, twice, three times. She collapsed as the car exploded, Vince caught her and sank to his knees, holding onto her tightly and rocking back and forth slightly as she cried.

Some ways away Kittie and Jesse were walking through the Tran camp when she saw it. She screamed Relec's name and started sobbing. She fell to the ground in the middle of the Tran camp, wrapping her arms around herself and rocking back and forth muttering "Not again. Please, not again.." over and over. Jesse knelt next to her and wrapped his arms around her. The contact seemed to pull her out of the trance she was in and she started crying, burynig her head in the crook of his shoulder. He looked up at Johnny Tran, eyes pleading, "Call and ambulance..."

Reighn stood, staring in shock as the the car flipped and exploded moments later. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. She had to be the strong one now. She had to make sure Allana and Kittie were all right. Out of the corner of ehr eye she saw Puck and Devra take off out of the park and she started running toward the mass of twisted metal, yelling as she passed for someone to call an ambulance. She was vaguely aware of Leon following her along with Dom and Letty as she saw Relec laying on the ground five yards away from the reckage. A large peice of shrapnel was imbedded in his stomach, and he was covered in third degree burns. Reighn slid to a stop, falling to her knees and leaning over him.

"Relec?"

~ * ~

"Yes, I need an ambulance at the abandoned base being used for Race Wars. There was an accident. Severe burns suspected."

Johnny Tran was walking rapidly toward the reck site as he talked into his cell phone before hanging it up and kneeling down next to Reighn and Relec. He looked Relec over quickly assesing the damage, "Lance?"

"There's another tank in there. We gotta get him outta here."

Johnny nodded, nearly to himself, "We need a blanket and something to life him on."

Easier said than done. Letty ran off, reappearing minutes later with a blanket, a first aid kit and a log wood board. Okay, maybe not. Johnny ordered Leon and Dom to specific areas and the rolled Relec onto the makeshift strecher. Dom took off his belt and wrapped in around Relec's legs to keep them in place while Leon placed his over Relec's forehad to keep his head and neck from jarring. They lifted it and moved away from the wreakage and up onto the road as the second NOS tank blew. They immediately set Relec down and Johnny knelt, taking the first aid kit from Letty and pulling things out.

"Dom, take your shirt off and place it around the shrapnel, keep the pressure on, it'll help slow the bleeding. Leon, do the same with yours to the gash on his leg, tie it around the leg, keep the pressure on." Johnny said as he stared cleaning and wrapping Relec's arms where they were burned. "Letty, may I suggest going and rounding up Mia, Brian, Allana, Vince, Kittie and Jesse? The last two are next to my car."

Letty nodded and took off. "Lance, go down to the gate and lead the ambulance down here when it gets here. We haven't got time for them to look for us. He might go into shock, or worse, aresst."

Lance took off and Reign knelt down next to Relec's head, keeping him focused on her as Johnny worked. The wait was in scilence, but when the paramedics got there they went to work, getting Relec onto a real strecher and secruing them. One of the EMTs looked up and said, "Who here knows what's going on?"

"Severe third degree burns along both arms and down the right side. Shrapnel burired in the midsection, about an inch, inch and a half. Large gash in the leg, nearly to the bone. Went into shock about five minutes ago, is awake and responsive." Johnny replied as they lifted Relec and placed him into the ambulance. Johnny got into the ambulance behind them after asking Reighn if she was going with them.

~ * ~

Reighn had told them to take the girls home and not to the hospital. She'd gotten into her car and taken off after the ambulance as it headed for the nearest hospital. She didn't know how far behind she was, but she knew they couldn't have been there for more than a few minutes since she'd been going nearly 180 miles an hour. She parked and ran into the building, heading up to ICU at a dead run.

The waiting room was nearly empty when she got there. Johnny Tran was on one side of the room pacing as he thought hard. She approached him and placed a hand on his arm. His head snapped up and he stared at her for a moment before recognition filled his eyes, "Reighn."

"Relec?"

Johnny sighed and ran a hand over his face, "He went into arrest on the way here. He died before they reached sugery."

She stared openly at him, "Relec? My Relec?"

"Yeah."

She sat down, staring at the floor. "What... I don't understand..."

Johnny sat down next to her and rubbed her back, "I'm sorry."

She looked up at him, "I - thank you for trying to help Johnny. It means a lot to me."

He smiled softly, "I still sorry I couldn't do more."

"N-no. Y-you've already done so much... You kept him alive a lot longer than any of us could have." Reighn said softly.

Suddenly Leon and Dom bolted into the room and ran over. Leon wrapped his arms around Reighn and spoke to her softly before leading her out of the room, Dom turned to Johnny, "Relec?"

Johnny shook his head and Dom paled. "Damn... The girls... Shit..."

Silence reigned over them until Dom spoke again. "Look, Tran, I know we have our differences, but what you did today... Thank you for keeping him alive for so long."

Dom offered Johnny his hand, willing to create a peace between them. Johnny stared at it for a minute before he shook his hand, "If you guys need anything you know where to find me.

~ * ~

Allana was still crying, curled up on the couch, Vince's arms surrounding her when Leon and Reighn got home. They entered the house and Reighn went immediately upstairs, a door closing after her. Leon walked over, extreemly pale as he sat down next to them and rubbed her back, "How you dealin' girl?"

"I'm not."

Leon sighed, "I can't not tell you this... But I don't want to..."

"Tell her what?"

Leon looked up as Letty, Mia and Brian entered the room, Jesse following. "Relec... He..."

"Relec what?"

"He died on the way to the hospital."

"No..." Allana brought a hand to her mouth and shook her head, tears coursing down her cheecks, "Not Relec... Please no..."

"I'm so sorry Allana." Leon said soflty.

"Not again!" Allana said, "Not like this!"

She stood and bolted from the room. Vince got up to follow her but Leon stopped her. A scream sounded from upstairs as Kittie found out and a thud allowed the group to know that Allana and Kittie had fallen to the floor. Kittie shrieked again and was suddenly quiet. The group wandered upstairs to see all three women huddled together on the hallway floor, two of them wrapped up in Reighn's arms, bawling as she stared off into space.