The Last Beat

Warnings: Violence, language, and character death (No worries, none of our G-boys)

Oh, and there is a sweet moment between 1&2, as well. I wouldn't really call it a pairing, at least not yet anyway.



Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Gundam Wing or any of their wonderful characters, so do a kindness and don't sue. I don't really have any money anyway.







The Battlefield Again

***







Duo Maxwell was humming softly to himself as the music pounding from his head phones into his ears began playing one of his favorite songs. He turned in his seat and glanced out at his home colony L2 as it shrank slowly in the distance through the transport shuttle window.



Suddenly, a wave of energy burst forth from the colony--



"What the--"



--and the colony exploded with a flash of white and a sound like an angry god stomping his foot on a thunderbolt.



The shuttle shuddered violently and Duo was thrown across the cabin with the few other colonists who had decided to make a trip to L3. As wave after wave of exploding energy ricochetted the shuttle through space, Duo clutched his head, eyes wide, and tried fiercely to comprehend what was happening.



Then the shuttle stopped shuddering and everything went dark and quiet except for the beeping and red flashes of the emergency alarm.



Slowly, Duo climbed back to his seat and looked once again out his window, searching futilely for his home colony.



To no avail.



"No." It was a whisper at first, but then Duo began to tremble. "No, no, no...."



He shut his eyes tightly and reopened them.



Still no L2.



Then a thought gripped his heart and he froze.



"Oh God...Hilde!"



The trembling became violent.



Then he screamed. "NNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"



It was a wretched sound. It was like a thousand mothers wailing for their murdered children, like a million souls shouting for their redemption as they were hurtled towards hell. It was filled with a despair he'd felt only twice before. When Father Maxwell was blown to bits with the church he loved so much and Sister Helen died in his arms. And when Deathscythe was completely destroyed for all the colonies and the Earth to see. And they had cheered. Yes, they had cheered as Duo's heart was shredded to pieces. Now, that terrible sound filled the cabin and Duo went mad.



He began trying to scratch his way through the window. When that did not ease his pain, he proceeded to destroy the cabin around him. Ripping up chairs and throwing tray tables and luggage around like he was possessed.



It took five flight attendants and the captain of the transport shuttle to restrain him.



"Please, sir--" the captain grunted as he dodged a fist, "Please, sir. Calm down!"



Duo suddenly went very still and he stared up at the captain. "Why?"



"Because...I have to get us out of this general area and I can't do that with you acting like a ma--"



"No! Why is the fucking colony gone!?"



The captain frowned. "I'm sorry, sir. I have no idea, but--"



"Then don't you fucking tell me to calm down!" Duo shouted at the captain. Despite his words, Duo remained still and the captain and the flight attendants left him to go see after the other passengers.



Duo looked around the shuttle and took in all seven passengers. He knew all their names. He had developed a habit of memorizing every person who had seen him during the war. Most habits developed during war were very hard to break. I know one of you had something to do with this, thought Duo as a darkness crept over his soul.



This will never be forgiven.



***





Trowa and Quatre were laughing about something inconsequential, like the time Trowa leaped off of a motorcycle, landed on a clothes-line, and walked away with his hands in his pockets, when the report of L2 came on the TV screen in the corner of their cafe.



"Oh God, Trowa!"



Seeing Quatre paling in front of him, he turned and looked at the TV screen.



"This just in...L2 has just exploded...cause unknown and under investigation...casualties in the thousands...no known survivors...Preventors are--"



"The Preventers, Trowa!" Quatre exclaimed suddenly.



Trowa stood up. "We have to report in", he conceded.



Quatre stood up quickly. "My office is around the corner..."



***





"I thought you said your office was around the corner", Trowa said, annoyed as he watched the numbers on the elevator control panel slowly increase.



Quatre looked helpless. "It is around the corner...and about one hundred and fourteen stories up."



Finally, they stepped onto the 114th floor of the Winner Foundation Headquarters. Trowa followed Quatre as he nearly ran down the hall to his office. Upon reaching it, Quatre threw open his door and all but pounced on his computer.



Quatre had a direct line to Noin's office. However, he rarely contacted her and had no way of telling if she would recieve him.



"Come on, Noin. Answer the damn--"



"Hello, Quatre." Noin's image flickered on his computer screen. "I've been anticapating you contacting me. It seems you boys are popping up all over the place."



She looked weary as she ran a hand through her hair.



Noin's eyes flickered from Quatre face. "Hello, Trowa."



Trowa had come up to stand behind Quatre.



"What the hell is going on, Noin," Quatre demanded.



"I wish I knew...You guys want in?"



"Pardon?"



"Well, Heero sure as hell did. He's on his way to L3 with Wufei as we speak."



Trowa put a hand on Quatre's arm and leaned over his shoulder. "Where are you?"



"At the Rennell Base," Noin replied.



Trowa looked at Quatre and Quatre smiled faintly. "I always have a jet standing by."



"How soon can you get here?" Noin asked. "Believe it or not, I'm kinda swamped here..."



"Understood," Quatre said. "We can be there no later than tommorrow morning. I don't like discussing this on this line anyway, it may not be secure."



"My thoughts, exactly," Noin replied. "Good. Briefing is at 1100 hours, tommorrow."



"Roger that," Trowa said before Noin's image disappeared.



Quatre and Trowa looked at each other. They were quiet for a moment. As much as they said they missed the old days, they didn't mean they wanted another war. Both were trying to weigh what the consequences of their earlier conversation was going to do to their consciences.



Trowa took a deep breath. "I have to say goodbye to Catherine."



"I know."



"Wait for me?" A strange look passed over Trowa's face.



Quatre almost snorted. Of course I'll wait for you, he thought. I'm always waiting for you.



Instead, he inclined his head. "The jet will be ready in two hours. Just make sure your on it before it takes off."



"I'll be there." With that, Trowa turned and left the office.



***





"No, Trowa! I won't stand for it!" Catherine was doing everything in her power to keep Trowa from leaving--including standing bodily in Trowa's way.



"I'm afraid you don't really have a choice, Catherine." Despite his calm, Trowa was battling the twisting feeling of guilt in the pit of his stomach. Trowa hated himself for putting Catherine through this.



"I know that because that colony blew up, you're gonna run off on some crazy mission to save the world! It's not your job anymore! Let someone else handle it, dammit! You belong here! With the circus, with...with me..."



"It will always be my job, Catherine. You should know that--better than anyone. I exist to keep you safe."



"Save the bullshit, Trowa. I know you're really running off to protect that blonde guy! Tell me, Trowa, was he there for you when you when you lost your memory? Huh?! No! No, he wasn't! I was there for you! I took care of you when no one else cared enough to give you a passing glance! Me! But you always run off when that Quatre beckons at you. Leaving me to wonder if I'll ever see you again!"



"That's not fair, Catherine, and you know it. No, don't pull the waterworks, Catherine, they won't work..." It was a lie. Every word she was saying hit him like a blow and he hated seeing Catherine cry. Absolutely despised it. It made him feel two inches tall.



Catherine looked away as the sparkling tears streamed down her face. "You really think I can just command them at will, Trowa?"



Trowa smiled gently. "I know you can, Catherine. You're an actress, and a very talented one at that."



"Goddamn you, Trowa."



Trowa walked over to Catherine, slinked one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders. With a sigh, she melted into his embrace.



"I love you so much," he said fiercely. "If anything else, know that."



"Oh, Trowa..." she murmured into his shoulder.



Trowa slowly lifted her up, turned one-hundred and eighty degrees and set her down. Now he was in the doorway and Catherine in the room.



"I have to go, Catherine," he said as he peeled her from him.



She stepped back and regarded him with a bland look. "I know."



I know.



Quatre had said that to him with a similar expression. God, am I so transparent?



"Goodbye, Trowa." She couldn't even look at him.



"Never goodbye..." Catherine looked up at Trowa who favored her with a small smile.



Then, just like that, he was gone.



Never goodbye...



***





Duo was hacking steadily into the mainframe computer hard drive when Heero walked into the room.



Duo glanced up and rolled his eyes. "Imagine, seeing you here," he muttered sarcastically.



Heero looked around the L3 Hard Drive Chamber. Duo was surrounded by bodies of L3 officials. He walked over to one of the bodies and checked for a pulse. Finding none, he looked up at Duo, startled. "Duo, did you really have to kill them all?"



Duo moved his violet eyes over the body briefly and then back to the computer screen. "His name was Robert Hippogotham. Didn't put up much of a fight."



Heero blinked, this wasn't the cheerful Duo he remembered. "Duo..."



"Ahah!" Duo pulled out a disk and put it in the massive computer system and leaned back as he waited for the information he pulled up to download.



Duo glanced back up at Heero. "Found some tasty tidbits on CR and ER. Also--I'll bet you'll get a kick outta this one--there's stuff on a White Fang uprising...also something about 'Orion'." Duo flicked his hand absently, "probably some prophetical nonsense about the constellation. You know how those war junkies can get..."



Heero started. "You know about the Colonial Rebellion Association and the Earthatorial Rebellion Association?"



Duo glared at him. "Don't insult me, Heero. When will you stop thinking of me as some brainless punk and start giving me some goddamn credit? You're no better than me, no matter how often people feed you that crap about you being superhuman."



It was true, Duo was an excellent pilot and had considerable computer skills. Also, it was Duo, not Heero who had thought of keeping a light flare on his person so people couldn't see his gundam. It was Duo, not Heero, who had thought enough in advance to have a contact on Earth with gundam parts. It was Duo, not Heero, who had found Trowa when he'd had amnesia. It was Duo, not Heero, who brought the Professors to the Peacemillion in time reverse the Peacemillion's thrusters and push the Peacemillion and Libra confabulation away from Earth. These things still bothered Heero. If Heero was the perfect soldier, then why was he not able to do these things; most of which were common sense things to do? Maybe that's why they had such a connection. What one is unable to complete, the other finishes. Heero thought maybe it had something to do with teamwork. Maybe he'll never know.



"Actually," Heero said at long last. "I thought you died in L2."



"Thanks for the vote of confidence, you piece of shit," Duo raked out nastily.



"Duo--"



"Hilde's fucking dead and you can't think of anything better to say!"



Heero frowned. This was not going the way he wanted to. Still, he couldn't stop himself from saying what he said next. To this day, he couldn't figure out why he'd said it.



"Well, I'm sorry I couldn't be there to save your little girlfriend for you. After all, I'm not superhuman, remeber?"



Low blow.



Duo snorted. "Yeah, and the next time someone kidnaps your little girlfriend, you can ask someone else for help."



Another low blow.



Before the Barton Uprising, Heero had never asked anyone for help before.



Minutes passed as they glared at each other.



Then the disk popped out. The information had finished downloading.



Before Duo could grab the disk, Heero had pushed his way in front of him, and stood looking down into Duo's haunted violet gaze.



Heero reached out tentatively, and put a hand on Duo's shoulder. "What I really meant to say was, I'm glad you're okay...I'm sorry about Hilde. I know you really cared for her."



Duo was on his feet, quick as lightning; swatting at the hand on his shoulder. "Don't you do that!"



Duo punched Heero hard in the chest. "Don't you--" ...another punch... "--fucking--" ...another... "--feel sorry for me!" ...and Duo swung for Heero's face. Heero, who had been taking Duo's punches stoicly, dodged the last punch, and used the opening to wrap Duo in a tight embrace.



Duo froze, and then wrapped his arms around Heero's neck, nearly squeezing the life out of him.



"Goddammit Heero, I can't...I can't even cry for her!" he ground out while burying his face into Heero's neck. Duo began to shudder violently.



"I know..." Heero murmured against Duo's braid. He understood. He really did. What the hell would he do if Reylena died? Would he be able to cry for Reylena?



I know...



"I feel like I'm going crazy, man." Duo was still shaking. Heero would have thought he was seizing if he hadn't been talking.



"I've got you, Duo. You're not going anywhere..."



Slowly, Duo's shuddering subsided.



Finally, they pulled away.



"Thanks, man. I guess I really needed that."



As they regarded each other silently, Duo reached up and mussed up Heero hair. It didn't really do anything. Heero's hair always looked like he combed it with a sock.



Slowly, Duo broke into his usual, lopsided, maniacal, grin.



God, that smile's like the dawning of a new day, Heero thought. It was like coming home.



It was that moment when he realized how dark the world felt when Duo didn't smile.



***





The briefing hadn't gone as well as they had expected. All Trowa and Quatre got out of it was a lot bullshit about how they did't know anything...about anything. And then they were sent to L3 to fetch Wufei and Heero, just because Noin and Sally had a 'bad feeling'. Quatre could see why Noin didn't want to discuss anything over an insecure line. He wouldn't have wanted anyone listening in to know that the Preventers were doing a piss-poor job of preventing chaos, either. L2 was gone and no one had any answers.



Quatre hated it when innocents had to suffer needlessly. It was such a waste of life. It made him feel hollow and utterly helpless.



What angered him more, was that no one had stepped forward to take responsibility for the demise of L2. It was concluded that there was no way an explosion of that magnitude could have been an accident and that it was the work of some terrorist trying to strike fear into the heart of the general public. Still, even terrorists take credit for their work. No matter how ghastly and despicable it is.

The more intense the evil deed, the stronger the urge is for the criminal mastermind behind it to boast about it. That was basic phsycology. Quatre just couldn't get his head around this.



Trowa, who was being just as quiet as Quatre was, shared many of the same thoughts.



And so they mused silently, as the shuttle hurtled them through the Earth's atmosphere, towards L3.



***







"Oh hey, Wu-man."



Heero and Duo found Wufei walking briskily towards them in a dimly lit corridor.



Wufei turned to glare at Duo. "If I've told you once, I've told you fourteen thousand times, don't fucking call me that."



"I'll call you anything I damn well please, because, of the two of us, I'm the only one who hasn't betrayed everyone I knew to fight for the enemy on some retarded justice trip."



"Duo..." Heero warned.



No one talked about that, not even when Wufei wasn't around. It was just too touchy of a subject.



"I don't trust you either," Wufei replied angrily. "Because, of the two of us, you, also, were the only one near L2 when it blew to bits!"



That, too, was a very touchy subject.



"Both of you, enough--"



"What's he doing here, anyway?" Wufei asked the question with contempt. He never really liked the braided boy.



Heero glanced at Duo, who was shaking with anger. "Same as us, actually. Had the information up and running before I even got there."



"Convenient." Wufei spared another glance towards Duo's direction and then stared evenly at Heero. "Come on. I have to show you two something."



***





Duo and Heero found themselves in an obscure bunker, staring in astonishment at the rows and rows of mobile suits hidden there. The way there, had been littered with bodies. Wufei must've had a little difficulty getting out of there.



"Jesus..." Duo whispered.



There was every variation of mobile suit he'd ever seen in that bunker. Libra, Taurus...even a few makeshift versions of the Mercreus.



Duo looked at Heero. "This was definitely not on the Hard Drive."



"No, it wouldn't be," Wufei murmured from behind them. "This information would be too sensitive for the Hard Drive."



After the Barton Uprising, the Earth Sphere Unified Nation demanded every mobile suit, mobile doll, and every other weapon of mass destruction--including the five of their respective gundams--to be destroyed, in an effort to uphold peace.

Everyone had been under the assumption that the colonies had complied, as well. After seeing this, who knew what weapons were hidden in the depths of space? Furthermore, if the Colonial Rebellion Association had weapons such as these, did the Earthatorial Rebellion Association have weapons, too?



"Hot damn," Duo exclaimed. "What the hell are we gonna do about this?"



"You are all going to die for seeing this."



The voice that drifted up from behind them belonged to a man who was pointing a gun at them. He was backed with some fifty-odd men standing behind him; they were all wearing the same black uniform. They had no name tags, however, they all sported an orange cloth wrapped around their right arm.



Heero immediately put up his hands and began walking up to the man with the gun. "We surrender..."



"Wha--" Duo was incredulous.



"Stop right there--hmph!" Heero had kicked the gun out of his hand and delivered a killing blow to the side of his neck. Heero turned quickly as the flank of black-uniformed men moved to surround him. "Quick! Wufei, Duo...the Libras! They're better equipped for space!"



"Gotcha!" Duo glanced at Wufei, who was already running at breakneck speed towards the nearest Libra. Duo looked frantically back at Heero. "Wait! Heero, what about you!" Heero was trying to ward off all fifty men by himself.



"Dammit, Duo!" Heero snarled. "Go! I'll be right behind you!"



"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Duo muttered, as he turned back and ran headlong towards a Libra, dodging bullets the whole way. "He hasn't changed one bit! Still the same suicidal maniac..."



As Duo powered up the Libra, he spared one last glance at Heero, who had broken away from the CR soldiers and was climbing up the questionable-looking Mercreus mobile suit. The left screen of his mobile suit beeped and Wufei appeared. "Come on, Duo! You've got the information disk! I can't afford to lose you!"



Wufei's Libra turned and began flying recklessly towards the hanger that lead to outer space. Duo followed, but not before firing a shot behind the Mercreus, giving Heero more time to power up his mobile suit.



***





"Lueitennant Breitan!"



A soldier had radioed into the CR Headquarters outside L3.



Lt. Breitan was an irratible man with greying hair and dark green eyes the color of a forest at twilight. "What?"



"Three Preventers have infiltrated our mobile suit bunker and are taking off with two Libras and our Mercreus!"



"What!?" Steckel Fawn, the CR Mobile Suit Overseer, looked up in shock. Steckel Fawn, a man in his early forties, sporting grey dreads and the palest blue eyes that Breitan had ever seen, had taken special care to keep those suits hidden. Mr. Fawn grabbed the microphone from Lt. Breitan. "Davies! How could let this happen!?"



Davies looked severe. "I'm very sorry, sir. We're also getting reports of their being in the L3 Hard Drive Chamber shortly before entering the bunker, sir."



Mr. Fawn and Lt. Breitan exchanged a worried look. "Fawn, get a squadron over there immediately," Lt. Breitan said to Mr. Fawn quietly.



"Yes, sir."



"Davies!" Lt. Breitan barked. "Follow them with every soldier you've got!"



"Roger that, sir."



"Tibult!"



"Yes, Lt.?" A blonde man looked up.



"Get Commander Chrissen on the line!"



"Yes, sir!"



She'll have my balls for this one, Lt. Breitan thought.



***





"Christ, they're everywhere!" Duo swerved his Libra, narrowly missing a torpedo.



"Don't lose your focus, Duo. We're severely outnumbered here." Wufei said quietly, surrounded by at least twenty enemy suits.



"Shut up, Sherlock." Duo hadn't flown a mobile suit in nearly five years. "This sure is one hell of a crash course into the past!"



Duo fired a round at a Taurus and blinked away the brightness of the exploding mobile suit.



"Don't tell me that five years of scraping metal made you soft, Duo." Wufei was purposely trying to goad Duo. It was his opinion that Duo never flew better than when he was angry. It was working like a charm.



"I said, shut up!" Duo fired again and two more enemy suits exploded.



Duo's Libra suddenly shuddered and went still. "What the--" An enemy suit had snuck up behind Duo and grabbed him from behind.



"Fuck, man! Get off!"



Suddenly, he was free and he looked up to see the Mercreus destroying the enemy suit that had had him pinned.



"I told you I'd be right behind you," Heero said in his usual monotone voice. "Don't lose your focus, either of you."



As the battle raged on, Wufei, Duo, and Heero began taking serious damages to their mobile suits.



There was still an entire squadron heading their way.



***







"Quatre, look at this."



Quatre looked up to see two Libras and a terrible-looking Mercreus fighting a losing battle against fifty-some-odd mobile suits of every known variety known to man. The squadron coming from the other direction looked just as ominous.



"Jesus..." Quatre breathed. "Do you think Wufei and Heero are in there?"



"Heero's in the Mercreus. I'd stake my life on it," Trowa answered. He'd seen Heero fight; that was definitely him.



"Then Wufei must be in one of those Libra's. Who do you think is piloting the other one?"



"Judging from the battle technique, it has to be none other than our Duo Maxwell." Trowa smiled ruefully. It was true, the Libra was weilding its cannon rifle like a scythe.



"I agree. Damn! You see that squadron coming up on the left...how the hell are we gonna help them with this shuttle?" Quatre was right. Even though only the two of them occupied the civilian spacecraft, it had no weapons and was considerably useless in a battle.



"I see it..." Trowa was thinking as fast as he could.



Quatre sparked with a sudden thought. "Wait, Trowa. We chose a civilian spacecraft so we could get on L3 undetected, right? Well, we could use this." Quatre began redirecting the shuttle. "If we positioned ourselves between the squadron and the battle, they might mistake us for civilians and back off for a moment. It could buy them some time!"



"I see what you're saying, Quatre. But...what if they're the ones responsible for the destruction of L2? They wouldn't give a damn about a civilian aircraft!" Trowa shook his head sadly at the irony of it all. Before yesterday, they were civilians.



"Yeah, but...it's the only chance they've got."



Oh, Quatre, Trowa thought. You are always so willing to sacrifice your life for your friends.



"You're right, Quatre. Let's go, then."



***





In the distance, a lone figure stood watching the battle. It was a mobile suit. A mobile suit made of gundanium alloy.



The figure inside the mobile suit glanced at the shuttle containing Quatre and Trowa as they positioned themselves between the squadron and the battle.



Lids closed over cobalt blue eyes and the owner's head bowed as the mobile suit powered to life.



"It's time."



The mobile suit shot off towards the battle.



***





"Heero, what the hell is that!"



Heero looked up at Duo, who's image was flickering on his left screen. "That's a civilian spacecraft." He had seen it coming. He had no idea why they would stray into the middle of a battle.



"No, you moron!" Duo showed him the coordinates of the object he was tracking. "That!"



Heero turned his Mercreus to get a better look at the object heading straight for them. It looked like a shooting star.



"It's a Gundam!" Wufei yelled.



"What?!" Duo couldn't believe his ears.



Heero narrowed his eyes. There's no way...



"If you have any intention of making it out of this battle alive, I suggest you remain within five feet of your current position." The Gundam Pilot radioed Duo, Heero, Wufei, and the transport shuttle.



"Pilot, identify yourself!" Wufei demanded.



"Five feet," the pilot repeated.



"Roger that," Heero stated. "Wufei, Duo, comply!"



***





"I don't get it, who is that!" Quatre was incredulous.



"I don't know. Quatre, send this image to the Preventers. I think they'll appreciate knowing that there's another Gundam."



"Trowa..."



"Just do it!" Trowa gave Quatre a stern look and then set the shuttle to remain still.



As Quatre sent the images, he could barely keep his eyes off the gundam. It was beautiful. It had a head like an Egyptian god. Two curved swords like Sandrock, the left hand had a detachable rocket sheild identical to that of Deathescythe, the right hand was extendable just like the Shenlong's had been, it had torpedo launchers very similar to those of Heavyarms, and the wings, God, the wings were just as beautiful as the Wing Zero's. What was this thing? Who the hell was inside of it?



The gundam positioned itself between the shuttle and the squadron. Then, inexplicably, it began to glow.



***





The pilot had sufficiently locked the two Libras, the Mercreus, and the shuttle into the Gundam's computer. Now, the pilot had to wait for the remains of the squadron to get within range. "...9...8...7...6...5..." The cockpit system counted down. "...3...2...1..."



"Now!" The pilot pushed a bright red button and the galaxy exploded.



***





"Aaaahhh!" Duo screamed, convinced he was dead. So this will end everything, will it?...Hilde....



Finally, everything came back into focus...and there was nothing there.



The enemy mobile suits were completely destroyed and the squadron, that was heading toward them only seconds before, had been reduced to mere scrap metal. Only Wufei's Libra, his own, Heero's Mercreus, that suicidal civilian spacecraft--that Duo was beginning to think held no civilians--and the gundam remained intact. He glanced at L3 to make sure it was still there. Relieved, Duo looked back at the gundam, which was crackling with energy from its excursion.



"I'm going to Earth," the pilot said. "You can come with me...if you wish it."



If you wish it...



With that, the gundam turned and headed towards the planet.



One after the other, the five former gundam pilots followed suit.



***





They landed in the middle of the Arabian desert.



After the five former gundam pilots exited their respected spacecrafts, they gathered in a half-circle and waited expectantly for the cockpit of the gundam to open.



Finally, it did. A slender figure in a space suit stepped out and jumped down onto the sand before them. The figure lifted an arm and pressed a button on the mechanism held in the owner's hand.



To their left, a bunker appeared from under the sand, revealing a hidden hanger.



When they looked back at the pilot, they were staring at the most beautiful and exotic-looking woman they had ever seen.



The woman, no older than them, was slightly tanned. She had fierce cobalt blue eyes and wealth of thick brown hair that curled at the ends. However, her most striking feature, was the bilateral tattoos that she had on her fair cheeks. Quatre thought that they had to be some kind of Egyptian cuniform. He glanced up at her gundam, which definitely had an Egyptian influence.



Her husky voice brought Quatre's attention back to the lithe figure standing before them.



"My name is Nefertari Wakara. Welcome to my safehouse."



***





I suppose it was strange, the first time we all met. Eerie even...perhaps. For them, though, more than I.

I, however, was filled with a sense of vertigo. An exhilaration I didn't expect.

I almost laughed aloud at the look on Chang Wufei's face when he saw that I was, indeed, a woman.

Truly, it was priceless.

I gazed at Heero the longest. We levelled our eyes to each other and had a sort of contest of wills.

I forget who looked away first. I'm not sure it matters.

He looked restless. His stature didn't give anything away, but, his eyes spoke a thousand words.

His heart wasn't ready for another war.

My own heart ached for him. If I could have spared him this pain, I would have.

For the longest time, that puzzled me the most. That I would care for what another person should or shouldn't feel.

I suppose, even then, I was more human than I would ever like to admit.

Millions of dollars were spent on my training; to make me this coldhearted leathal weapon.

Money could make and break me, but, it couldn't take away the fact that I was human. However, I didn't realize this until much later.

I knew everything on file about the infamous Gundam Pilots. From Quatre's rich father father to his own kind heart. From Trowa's mercenary childhood to his circus days until late. From Wufei's young broken marraige to his tragic duel with Treize Kushrenada. From where Duo's name originated to his deadly battle technique. From Heero's ruthlessness to his own soul-changing acts of heroism.

It would be much different; knowing them on a personal level.

If I had known, ahh, if I had known what I was getting myself into; the person I was then, would have turned around and flew my gundam far, far away.