Hold Her Down

Ri-chan

A story inspired by the songs "Hold Her Down" by Toad the Wet Sprocket and "Angel" by Sarah McLachlin, but not a songfic. This story takes place a year after the battle with Dekim Barton and Mariemaia, AC 197.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the boys, not the gundams. Not even twelve cents. Just an original Nintendo. Sue and you can't have those, but you can have my sister's dog.

Warnings: Violence, lots of language, original characters, LEMON warning, AU. If I give the pairings here, it would spoil the story. You can't make me tell. >.<

Spoilers: Takes place after Endless Waltz.

"Vice Foreign Minister Relena Dorlian is still missing after a two day search for her," the announcer stated over the radio. "If you have any information on her whereabouts, you are asked to call the hotline..."

Duo turned the radio up, catching the end of it. Memorizing the number, he was stunned by the news. Relena was missing? How was that possible? She always had security surrounding her. He went back to the papers on his desk, but really didn't see them. He was thinking about the former queen of the world, and what was going on.

The vid-phone rang and he went to pick it up.

"You hear the news?"

"Quatre," Duo said. "Yeah, just now. What's been going on?"

Quatre sighed at the other end. "She was at a peace conference outside of New Paris and disappeared a couple of nights ago." He pinched his nose, trying to stave off the headache that threatened to erupt. Since he had heard the news, he had been trying to help as much as he could.

"How'd you get the info?"

"She was staying at the hotel I was in that night," Quatre said. "Her security was going around to all the rooms to see if she was there."

Duo looked up, his eyes not focused on anything in the room. "Did you hear from anybody else?"

"I got a hold of Trowa and Wufei, but nobody has heard anything from Heero yet," Quatre said. He looked up as Rashid came in through the door carrying a tea tray. "Would it be possible if you could come to Earth?"

Looking out over the heap of metal outside the window, Duo could see Hirde dealing with an irate customer. "I think it's very possible. I'll be on the next shuttle, 'k?"

"Thanks, Duo," Quatre smiled at his friend.

"Sure," he answered with a grin. "We'll just have to show them what we can do, ne?"

******

The girl tried to open her eyes, but found it painful. Managing to open the right one slightly, she could see a young man's face close to hers.

"Shh," the boy said. "Don't worry. You're safe, now."

His voice was very calming, and she tried to relax as she felt a cool cloth on her forehead. She didn't know what had happened--couldn't remember what had happened. Couldn't remember--what was her name? What was it? Why...?

"Hush," came the voice again. "I'm here to help you get better."

******

Heero looked out over the trees below him. He had just finished reworking the engine for the plane behind him, and he was taking a break. It was peaceful here in the mountains, but he hadn't had any peace the last two days. He had felt something had happened, but couldn't put a finger on it. When he had come up here, he had deliberately left his old life behind him, trying to make up for everything that he had taken from others.

"Lowe-san," came a voice behind him.

Heero looked over at the older man. Balding, the man was bent over from age and wearing the traditional robes of the temple that rose up on the mountain behind him.

"Hai."

"We have just received word that something terrible has happened," the old man continued. "We have learned that Vice Minister Relena Dorlian is missing."

Heero hid his shock behind his mask. The peace that he and the others had fought for lay with the girl that he had just been told was missing. He had to get with the others, with...

Shaking his head, almost negligibly, Heero stopped the thought before it got any further. He looked up at the old man, who seemed to waiting for something.

"Yes, you may leave at any time," the old man said. "You have other obligations, haven't you." It wasn't a question. In the old man's eyes was the knowledge that the young man before him had many secrets around the world.

"I will leave in an hour," Heero said, turning around to see the land before him.

"Please, take the plane," the old man offered. "It is rightfully yours."

Turning around again, Heero nodded. He headed inside to gather his things.

******

Wufei stood on the tarmac, waiting for Duo's shuttle to stop. He sighed, wondering why Quatre had asked him to come and meet him. He heard his name being shouted and turned into a bear hug.

"MAXWELL!"

"Wu-bear!" Duo shouted happily.

"Maxwell, let me go," Wufei said angrily.

"In a minute," was the reply. Duo let go a couple of seconds later. "Or maybe now," he said as his braid was tugged.

"We don't have time for this," Wufei said as he walked over to the car he had come in. "We need to talk with Quatre and Trowa."

The two rode in silence for several minutes. Wufei drove fast, speeding just enough so that he wouldn't get caught.

Duo watched the scenery passing by the window, wondering if Quatre had been able to get a hold of Heero. He had the feeling that only the five of them would be able to do this. He looked over at Wufei, noticing that the Chinese boy had grown taller, but not as much as Duo himself had.

"When did you get here," Duo asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Last night," Wufei replied, turning down a lane bordered by tall trees. He pulled up in front of a large house, Quatre and Trowa waiting by the front door.

"Quatre! Trowa!" Duo yelled as he raced over to hug Quatre, finding that the smaller pilot had grown some and had started to fill out. He went to hug Trowa but saw the look on his face. He put his hand out and the two boys shook hands. The silent pilot looked over at the other three, his face in its usual mask. Only his eyes betrayed the relief that he felt when he saw the other pilots.

"Sally will be here in half an hour," Quatre said as they went into the house.

Wufei looked at him strangely before nodding his head slightly. "She might be able to help."

In Quatre's office, a large table had been set up. On it laid a large map of the city. Quatre went over to it and pointed to a red X in the middle of it.

"This is the hotel..."

An hour later, the four boys had gone over what had happened three nights ago. They looked up as they saw Sally Po walk into the room, following Rashid. "The longer she is missing, the more doubtful it will be to find her," she said.

Trowa nodded, as Quatre and Duo looked at her. Wufei glanced at her before turning back to the map.

******

The girl opened her eyes again, able to open them a little wider than before. She saw a young man with dark red hair talking animatedly with a man with short black hair. It was obvious that they had been arguing, for as she listened, their voices got louder and louder.

"Nii-chan," the boy said. "She needs to see a doctor."

The man shook his head. "It's too dangerous. Whoever she is, she has enemies, and the more she's above ground, the more likely whoever did this will do it again."

The young man gasped. "But, who would do this? How...?" He took a deep breath and looked over at the girl laying on the bed. He saw that the girl had her eyes partially open and he went over to her.

"Hi," he said softly. "Are you ok?"

The girl on the bed started to nod before wincing. The boy looking down at her, ponytail hanging over one shoulder, looked vaguely familiar, but she didn't know why. She wondered why she could think that when she couldn't even think of her own name.

"Hush. You have a concussion, so you probably have a pretty bad headache, no? By the way, my name is Alex--"

"Don't," the man said harshly. "Don't tell her where we are. It causes too many problems."

"I don't care Dae," Alex said. "She's hurt, and probably needs to know where she is, right?" He turned back to the girl on the bed. "You're safe, ok? What's your name?"

The girl on the bed stared at her, fear and confusion in her eyes. "I..." she said, her voice cracking. "I...I don't know."

"You don't know what?" Alex asked. "Your name?"

"No," the girl whispered.

"That's ok," Alex said. "Would you like me to give you one, at least until we can find out your real one?"

There was a slight nod from the girl on the bed.

"How about 'Anju?' I really like that name."

"Yes," the girl whispered. "What does it mean?"

"It's Japanese for 'peaceful living.'"

The girl now named Anju started, a flash of recognition in her eyes. 'Peace...'

"Is it ok?" Alex asked, starting to get worried. From the look on his face, the girl was sorry to cause the worry that spread over his face. His golden eyes looked down at her with concern. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

"It's ok," Anju said. "I thought I..."

Alex hushed her again. "Don't worry. We'll figure out who you are in a little bit. But first I want you to get well again." He looked behind her to find that man had gone from the room and whispered, "And I will get you to a doctor, no matter what Dae says, 'k?"

"Thank you."

******

Lady Une heard a soft knock on her door. She looked up from the paperwork that she had been doing to find somebody standing in the doorway.

"Ah, Alex, was is los?[1]" she asked as she stood.

Coming in through the door, Alex looked behind him furtively. "Um...Frau," he started to say, closing the door. "I need some help."

Lady Une was surprised. She had gotten help several times from this young man before, but had been refused to return the favor all but one time. "Yes, what is it?"

"Bitte, could you please follow me?"

Nodding, she followed Alex down to the ground floor. Instead of turning to the door, the young man headed to the back of the building. Stopping before an unmarked door that she had never noticed before, Lady Une followed Alex into the room and down the stairs.

"Wo ist das?[2]" she asked.

"Welcome to the sewers," was the soft reply. "And my home." The last was said even softer.

Lady Une could barely make out the words. Now she understood how this boy could get information so quick. He never was in school, and probably could travel over this entire city without ever being seen.

After walking for fifteen or so minutes, they turned down a small tunnel, coming upon a door. Ushering Lady Une in, Alex went over to the girl on the bed. "Anju," he whispered softly. "I brought someone who can help."

Looking over at Lady Une, Alex motioned her over.

As she glanced down at the girl on the bed, Lady Une gasped. On the bed lay Relena Dorlian, both eyes blackened, split lip, and a huge gash across her forehead. A makeshift bandage was on her left arm, and her right leg was propped up on a couple of blankets.

"Relena-san..."

"Who?" Anju looked up at the tall woman standing next to Alex. The name sparked something, but she couldn't grasp it. She looked over at Alex and saw him smiling down at her.

"Don't worry," the young man said, patting her hand. "You just get better, 'k?"

Nodding slightly, Anju closed her eyes, suddenly worried that the world had just changed again.

******

Heero landed the plane on a small runway just outside the city. Two miles away was the house the Quatre owned, and he figured that the others would meet there. He had gathered all the information he could before he had come here.

Making his way to the house where the other former gundam pilots were, Heero stopped for a couple of moments. It had been almost a year since he had seen any of them. He briefly wondered at the feeling of nervousness that flowed through him. He had seen more of the war than most people could handle, and now all of a sudden he didn't want to face the others.

Shaking it off, he pushed the doorbell.

Quatre and Trowa had separated from the others. They had been discussing how to get in contact with Heero when Rashid ushered him into the room.

"Heero!" Quatre was surprised to see the former Wing Zero pilot. He had had no luck in getting any word on where the Japanese boy had gone.

Duo looked up from the argument that he had been having with Wufei. In the doorway stood the last of the group to assemble. Over the last year, Duo had found himself going over his-- infatuation?--with the other boy. He didn't know exactly what it was, but ever since the end of the war with OZ, he had found himself watching the other boy closely, studying him. He realized that Heero had been watching him as well as he heard Wufei muttered under his breath about onnas and bakas who don't pay attention.

Heero had greeted Quatre and Trowa and turned to find Duo looking at him strangely. He was stunned when he saw the expression in the violet-blue eyes of the American. Taking a deep breath, he buried the thought, remembering why they were all gathered there.

"Any news?" he asked, not expecting anything.

The others shook their heads. Silence fell over the room, only to be interrupted by the beeping of the video phone on Quatre's desk. Answering it, he saw Lady Une looking at him worriedly.

"Une-sama," he exclaimed.

The others looked up at this, and gathered around the phone.

"Quatre-san," Lady Une began. "Relena-san has been found." She took a deep breath, visible to the others. "She was beaten badly, but was found by a friend of the Preventers. She's in the hospital at the moment, but we need to find who did this to her."

Quatre nodded.

"Where?" Heero wanted to know.

"Meet me at my office," Lady Une said. "We'll be there by then." With that, the screen went black, indicating that she had hung up.

Duo whistled softly. "This doesn't sound good."

Sally nodded. "We should get going."

******

Une greeted the former pilots and Sally at the door to her secretary's office. They could hear voices inside, but couldn't place them. Raised in anger, they stopped when the door opened.

"Iria!" Quatre was stunned to see his sister standing in Une's office. "What...?" He turned to find her husband, Marius, standing next to her. Shaking off the shock he had received, he went over to talk to them.

The other four pilots looked around the room, searching for Relena. They didn't find her.

A door opened on the other side, and they saw Relena being helped over to the couch by a young man, his dark red hair in a ponytail high on his head.

The voices raised again, and Duo saw two men arguing. They looked like Quatre's sister's husband. Siblings...

"Nii-chan," the young man said in a soft, high voice. "Yamero."

The two men stopped fighting to look over at the young man, to burst out laughing.

The young man huffed before turning his attention back to Relena. "Anju-chan, just rest here, 'k? I'll try to get those two to be quiet so you can rest." This shut up the other two. "Frau?"

Une looked over at the young man. "Alex, thank you for helping Relena-san." She sat down on the chair on the other side of the couch. Alex pulled her chair from behind the desk and sat in it, next to the couch. The others in the room gawked for a minute, even the former pilots, and settled down.

"Now, Alex, please tell everybody here where you found Relena-san," Une said.

"I found Anju-chan on the east side of the river, near the old church--the one they called Notre Dame."

"Anju-chan," Heero muttered under his breath. Alex looked up at him with a questioning look, but went back to the facts.

"There were three men, wearing the uniform of a local gang, but they kept on talking about how much money they were getting for this." At this, Relena made a little noise, and the young man reached over to pat her hand. The two men who had been arguing stiffened a little at this, but didn't say anything. "They must have heard me, because they shut up. I don't think they saw me, but I can't be sure about it."

Une turned to the former pilots. "I have a mission for you, if you would like it. Wufei, this is outside of the Preventers, so you are not obligated to take it."

The five boys looked at each other, before each nodded their assent to the mission. As talk turned to what would happen next, Duo watched Alex a little more, sure that something was wrong with him. Heero noticed this, and wondered what was going on. The two arguing men were introduced as Marius' brothers, Pieter and Michael, but the young man kept on calling the one with short black hair, Dae.

Anju soon grew tired. She had been a little excited to see these pilots who might be able to help her, but didn't want it to be for the reason it was. She looked up at Alex, wishing that she could help more in trying to describe her attackers. She wished that she could remember anything from her life before she was attacked, but only flashes of the past shone through the heavy curtain that was in her mind. Her eyes grew heavy, but she opened them wide when Alex bent down in front of her.

"Anju-chan, did you want to lay down?"

Giving a slight nod, Anju stood up shakily. Alex held her arm carefully and guided her toward the small room where Une kept a cot.

Michael got up and went to follow them when Pieter stopped him. "They don't need you, Dae," he said quietly.

Quatre looked up at this and found Iria watching him.

She smiled at him after seeing the two enter the room off to the side. "Please come over to our house after this, please?"

He nodded. Beside him, Trowa made a small movement, almost unnoticeable, but Quatre caught it. "Would you like to come with me?" he asked the silent pilot. A slight nod was the reply.

On the other side of the room, Heero was staring out the window out at the city. It was a much different scene than the one he had seen this morning. Night had overtaken the city, and the lights sparkled in the dark.

Duo walked up to him. "What did Alex call Relena?" he asked softly.

"It means 'peaceful living,'" Heero said. "Une-san said that Alex called her that, since Relena doesn't remember her name."

"Whoa..." Duo found this a little too much of a coincidence. He was suspicious of Alex, especially since he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the guy.

He looked up to see Heero watching him, a question in the cobalt-blue eyes.

"Nothing," he said.

"Iie, it's not nothing," Heero said. "Tell me. It could be important."

"Important? When did I say anything important in my life?" Duo was kind of stunned that Heero could consider what he had to say important. Even through all of their missions, he had always that that the other pilot casually discarded whatever he said if he didn't agree to it.

"Baka."

"Huh? Ok." Duo looked over at the door where Relena and Alex had disappeared a couple of minutes ago. "Did you notice that Michael and Pieter laughed at Alex when he spoke to them when he and Relena came into the room?"

Heero nodded.

"And the way he acted with Relena--patting her hand, and helping her to lay down?"

Again a nod.

"Something's not right, here. I mean, why would Quatre's sister be here? And these other guys? And the guy's voice?"

Heero looked at them. Michael was sitting next to Sally, Une on the other side as the three looked at the map of the sewers. Quatre was talking with his sister and her husband, Trowa sitting silently by his side. Pieter had gone out into the secretary's office for something. Wufei was watching the whole group, his eyes avoiding looking at Sally. Heero stored that bit of information away to deal with later, and took in the scene as a whole. The others weren't worried about Relena being with this strange young man. He could remember hearing Une saying that Relena had been found by a friend of the Preventers. Why wasn't Alex in the organization, when he was clearly familiar with Une's office?

Duo watched Heero process everything. He could almost hear Heero's brain working at the speed of light. He looked over at the door and found it ajar, no light coming from the room behind it. Duo crossed the room and silently went it, nobody noticing except Heero.

Creeping in, Duo was stunned at the sight before him. Relena was sitting next to a girl in a tank top that said 'Goddess' on it. The former queen of the world was held in the girl's arms as she slept, but Alex was nowhere in sight. He blinked his eyes, then looked again. The golden eyes of the girl across from him watched him carefully. This was the boy from the other room. Suddenly things became clearer, but not by much.

Mentally sighing, Alex watched as Heero came in behind Duo. She closed her eyes briefly, wondering if she was getting the same reaction as she had gotten from Lady Une the first time that she had seen Alex's hair down, noticing that she was a girl all along.

"Nanda?"

"Shh," she said softly as she lay the girl in her arms back onto the cot. At the foot of the bed was the jacket of the boy's uniform she had been wearing. Picking it up, she put it back on.

"What?" Duo looked again at Alex's face.

Duo looked at Relena, who shifted slightly before settling down. Looking back at Alex, he saw that her face was more feminine than before and her voice now fit with what he had heard earlier. Her petite body had been hidden in the cut of the uniform. She looked their age. "Can we talk?" he asked quietly.

Nodding her head, she sighed softly and headed over to a door on the other end of the room, opposite of the office itself. Inside was a smaller office with a large desk taking up most of the space. Alex sat on the corner of the desk and motioned for the two boys to sit at the chairs in front of the desk. On the desk was a picture of Alex, Une, and Mariemaia. In the background rose the Preventer's headquarters, indicating that it had been taken nearby.

"This is May's desk," Alex said.

"Who?" Duo was confused.

"Mariemaia's."

Duo looked over at Heero before turning his attention to this girl. As he did so, he noticed the hunted look in Alex's eyes in the picture, as if she was afraid somebody would see her.

Alex saw him studying the picture. Mentally sighing again, she picked it up. "This was taken two weeks ago. I should have known that she would put it here." Shaking her head, she put it back on the desk and crossed over to the picture window behind the desk. She looked outside for a couple of moments before turning back. "So.... What did you want to talk about?"

"How did you meet Une-san?" Heero wanted to know. It was more of a demand than a question.

A sad look crept into Alex's eyes before it disappeared into an anguished look. "At Matthew's Academy." It was stated baldly, almost spat out as some strong emotion flashed in her gold eyes.

Duo inhaled sharply as Heero looked at him.

"The same academy that collapsed on itself, and nobody is known to have survived," Duo said pointedly.

"Nobody is known to have survived what went on in that school," Alex corrected with a dagger's edge to her voice. "Everybody, or at least almost everybody was dead to the world before that building went down."

"Alex," came Une's voice from the doorway. The three looked over and saw the sad expression on the woman's face. "Don't torture yourself about it. You did what you had to do."

"Sure, I had to do it," Alex said in a cold voice. "I had to give up my life to do it, everything I had ever strived to accomplish, my friends, my sanity, my..."

"Alex," Une said again. Alex looked at the woman and blinked a couple of times, the only movement in the room.

Duo and Heero were spellbound by what had been happening. The anger radiating from the girl in front of them had been suffocating, almost palpable. Even at the worst of fighting the war had either of them encountered such anger, not even from Wufei trying to bring justice to the world, fighting for Mariemaia.

Alex made a small noise, and sat in the chair behind the desk. She turned it to look out over the night skyline.

Une looked at her briefly before turning back to Duo and Heero. "This can wait a little. We need to gather more information about Relena-san quickly. We've been discussing how to get in touch with the gang leader, and from that point we'll be able to figure out who put this hit on her."

Without turning around, Alex rejoined the conversation, "What about her anmesia?"

"Sally is checking it out," Une said. "I want her to check out the both of you."

"Why does Sally need to check me out," Alex wanted to know, finally turning around. "Nothing's wrong." A look from Lady Une silenced her. Standing up, she gathered her hair into the ponytail again, and went over to the door. "You know where to find me now?" Seeing Lady Une nod, Alex left the room.

Duo watched her go out of the room out of the corner of his eye. He was still a little wary of this girl, who could imitate a boy fairly well. As he turned to Une, he saw the frown on her face.

"We need to talk with the others," Une said as she held the door open.

The three of them went through the small room, Lady Une checking on Relena before continuing on. Heero noticed that Quatre and Trowa were still talking to his sister, or rather, his sister's husband. Wufei standing off to one side as they talked. The other two men were at the desk with a map, looking over the sewer system. Walking over to Quatre, he waited to get his attention.

Quatre could feel he was being watched and found Heero looking at him. "Heero?"

"What's the plan?"

Quatre and Trowa looked at each other for a couple of seconds before the blond boy turned back to the wing pilot. "The first stop that we should find how they got Relena over to where Alex-san found her in the sewers."

Lady Une paused as she heard this. "That's the opposite side of the city from the old Notre Dame. Why would a gang from that side of town invade the old part of town?"

"That's the side of town that Relena was taken from," Pieter said. "Her hotel is on the west side of the river, about five miles from the old church." He held up the map and pointed out the places. "There is a direct sewer line to the old church once you cross the river, but we haven't been able to figure out how they crossed the river without anybody noticing, since the bridges there are always a popular route for tourists and city natives alike."

Wufei still hadn't said anything since they walked in. He had been studying the three strange men, even though one of them was Quatre's brother-in-law. As Alex had walked out of the room, he had noticed the youngest followed the young man's movements with his eyes, never really seeming to watch him move. Intrigued, he continued watching the black-haired man closely while steadfastly ignoring Sally. Why had she been invited.... Wufei stopped his thoughts from going any further. Was he so lacking in honor that he must repeat his mistakes over and over again in his head, when he had tried to correct them?

"We should go to the bridge first," Wufei said. The others looked at him almost in surprise, for he had been so quiet.

Lady Une nodded. "We should be able to investigate it later today, in plain sight."

Sally came out of the small, off-side room. "Well, other than the obvious physical injuries, I can't find anything wrong with Relena-san. I am concerned about her amnesia. She can't remember anything about her life, but she said that she gets flashes."

Trowa looked off into the distance. It was a lot like what he had been going through when he had amnesia in the battle against OZ. The feeling of uncertainty that followed you around, no matter where you went. Even though he had battled these demons before, he found himself fighting the feeling of being constricted. His face showing none of these emotions, inside he was a maelstrom of seething sentiments, boiling as the ocean in a great storm. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Quatre looking at him in concern, but he couldn't seem to stop looking within himself for the moment. That terrified him the most, that he couldn't escape the feeling of dread he felt, and he wasn't even the one who had amnesia.

Quatre looked up as Lady Une walked into the middle of the group. She raised her arm up a little, putting out her hand, palm up close in to her body. It was almost a gesture of supplication, but he didn't think that the others really recognized it for what it was. Lady Une was hiding the fact that she was scared. He looked over at Trowa again, worried that his friend was so within himself.

"At 1300 hours, we'll meet at the front steps to Notre Dame," Une said. "That will give us time to regroup ourselves."

******

Duo stared up at the ceiling. The shades had been pulled over the windows, but they still let in enough light to show that the sun was rising high in the morning sky. He hadn't been able to sleep, his body too used to being up at this time of day. As he watched the shadows dance on the white paint, he put his arms behind his head, deciding that if he wasn't going to sleep, he might as well do some thinking.

Scenes from the last two days flashed through his head, going faster and faster until they started to run into each other. He saw Quatre's face on the vid-phone asking him to meet him, then a fast-forward to meeting Wufei off of the shuttle, the emotions in Heero's eyes when he saw the other pilots gathered in Quatre's study, the...

Sitting up quickly, Duo tried to banish the thought. He had been dating Hirde for the past year, ever since he had returned from the battle against Dekim Barton's plans for world domination, Mariemaia at his side. They had lived together on and off throughout the years, but they had never seemed to get very far in their relationship. Now that he thought about it, he realized that what Hirde had said was true. She had said that there was a phantom third to their relationship. Duo had wondered who she had been talking about, never thinking about who it could be since he had only been dating her and no one else.

There was a knock on the door, a welcome interruption to some serious thinking on his part.

"Come in," he called.

Wufei stuck his head inside. "We're going to be meeting downstairs for an early lunch in a couple of minutes, Maxwell."

"Wu-man," Duo said as he jumped off the bed. "You must have been reading my mind."

"I don't think I was."

Duo looked over at the Chinese pilot. When had the guy been able to read minds? Laughing, he put his arm around Wufei's shoulder as he walked out of the door, practically pulling the other pilot with him. "So, what exactly was I thinking about," he asked with a leer. He laughed again when he saw the faint blush across Wufei's cheeks.

He was still laughing when the two entered the dining room, finding the other three pilots already there. In front of them was enough to feed an army, or at least Duo and a couple other people.

"Q-man, you are a life saver!" Duo happily sat down and eyed the food appreciatively.

Quatre laughed. He had missed the gregarious pilot, and was happy that he had been able to do this. He looked at the others and indicated that they should seat themselves as well. "Please, eat."

The former gundam pilots soon found themselves full, Duo rubbing his stomach contentedly.

Heero looked up at the clock. It read 1200 hours. His action brought the others out of their reflections and got them moving. As they made there way to Notre Dame, each was thinking about what was going on.

Heero's thoughts were the darkest. Over the last couple of years, he had realized that Relena was needed to keep the peace in the world. Her attempts to keep it, first through the Sanq kingdom, then as the queen of the world through the Romafeller Foundation, had been necessary. There now was a group of people out there, who, like Dekim Barton, thought that she was wrong in her beliefs. Believing that the world still needed to be protected, he slowly pieced back the shell he had inhabited during the war with OZ. He didn't have his gundam anymore, and owned no arms, but his body was still a weapon, honed by the year he had spent in the mountains and the training he had been put through in his life. Even though he hadn't trained the way that he had, he readied himself for a battle.

He was mentally running over everything in his mind when something flashed through it. A flash of vibrant purple, half-hidden by a shock of chocolate-colored hair. As if like lightening the thought struck his plans right in the middle, spreading a quickly growing flame. As its path spread, it left behind the destruction of Heero's ability to totally become the Perfect Soldier. It now seemed unattainable, now that he had let himself be free of the training that he had been given in his life.

Heero glanced over at the former DeathScythe pilot and watched him as he talked with Quatre, who was in the front seat as Trowa drove. Maybe there was some humanity left in him after all, and all it had taken to find it was a look from the other boy. 'No,' Heero thought. 'A man. That is what we have all become--is men.'

"Hey, Heero," Duo's voice cut through his thoughts. "We're here." There was concern hidden within the words, as if the other pilot could tell what he had been thinking.

Lady Une stood on the top step leading into the sanctuary of Notre Dame. Next to her stood Pieter and Sally, who had stayed behind to keep watch over Relena the previous night. Wufei looked around. "Where are the others?"

"The others will be coming," was the soft reply. "Alex has already been searching."

Pieter looked at her for a moment before pulling out small maps and handing them to everybody. As he did so, a tall man with long, blonde hair walked up to them, a pretty woman with short black hair next to him.

"Ah, you have returned," Sally said to Lucrezia Noin.

"Yes," came the gravelly voice of the former WhiteFang leader. "We came as soon as we heard the news." Zechs looked over the former gundam pilots and realized that things had gotten bad if they were involved. He had seen his sister earlier.

At this point Michael came running up, huffing slightly. In his hands he held several communicators. "Sorry," he breathed. "I was almost met up with you when I realized that I had forgotten these. When I saw you climbing the stairs I remembered."

Pieter looked at him. "Good one, Dae."

Duo looked at the two as the communicators were being handed out. "Why do they call you Dae?"

"My nickname from school," Michael said. He looked a little cross.

Pieter laughed. "He's just mad at because he found out what the name means. Dae or Damon in Olde English means demon."

Michael scowled as the other two men laughed. He opened his mouth to say something but Une started telling them where they should meet up if they didn't find anything.

"We'll meet back here around 1900 hours and plan accordingly."

The former gundam pilots looked a little uncomfortable about this, but knew that they would help if it was to keep the peace. As they broke into small groups, Quatre looked up to see Trowa beside him. With a crook of one eyebrow, the silent pilot asked if he could join the Arabian boy. A small nod was his answer.

******

Anju sat on the couch in the small room, watching as Alex tried to get a station on the radio. She couldn't think of herself as Relena Dorlian or as Relena Peacecraft. The names were not familiar, and the pictures that she had looked over this morning had triggered nothing. She had met the man that was Relena's brother, but Zechs Marquise was a stranger to her. The only person that she had met so far that she felt comfortable around was Alex.

She felt comfortable around the girl, but that didn't mean she understood her. Anju laughed as she heard Alex swear at the radio before giving up on it. She watched as the other girl grabbed some disks off a shelf and load one of them on the computer. She was surprised when a heavy disco beat pounded through the air in a primal rhythm.

"Ah," sighed Alex as she sat down at the computer. "Donna Summers. Nothing can beat this." She started typing something in, pulling up different screens.

Anju was curious. Alex had put on headphones, her head steadily moving to a beat only she could hear as she surfed from window to window. She looked closer at the computer and found it to be a mismatched set of various parts, none of them seeming to fit together. Moving closer, Anju saw that Alex was looking at bank accounts, none of which had her name on them. She must have made a noise loud enough for the other girl to hear, because Alex ripped the headphones off.

"What did you want?" she asked, startled.

"Why are you in there," Anju wanted to know.

"I was looking for any large amounts of cash transfers the last couple of days. I figured that if whoever did this paid out the money, I would be able to track them like this. I think that I've managed to get the names of the leaders of all of the big...oh, let's call them cults of war. I don't know how else to describe it." Alex pulled up a different screen. On it there was a lot of activity between different accounts. Huge amounts of money flowing into one account, as if it were being siphoned off. "I've found out that the name for this account is the name of a man who's been dead the last two years."

"What's the name?" Anju looked closer.

"Treize Khushrenada."

******

Lady Une looked over at the young man who walked next to her. Duo Maxwell had grown since the last time that she had seen him a year ago. She knew that he was bursting with questions, and she almost dreaded answering them. Silently she wondered if all the backbone had seeped out of her in the last year. First she had had to deal with Mariemaia and her trip through adolescence, then meeting up with Alex and her crew. They were two things that she hadn't been taught to deal with in the military academy. Only the thought that Treize's daughter needed her and the fact that the world needed the Preventers kept her going on some days.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed that Duo wasn't anywhere around. She looked over the area, and found him gesturing for her to follow him. As the two walked down a dark alley, Duo pointed out a small door, almost hidden behind a mass of crates piled haphazardly. They looked like they had been put there deliberately to the trained eye, a sure sign that somebody wanted it hidden.

Duo's attention had been wandering around the street when the alley had caught his eye. Growing up on L-2 had had some advantages in fighting, and they way the crates had been stacked was curious. As they got up to them, he knelt beside one of them and touched it. Empty. Looking up at Une, he started unstacking the crates and piling them in the same way, two feet from where they had been. When he was done, it looked like the crates had never been touched. Dusting off his hands, he opened the door and waited for Une to enter.

As they entered the small room, they found a collection of dusty books scattered across the floor, along with everything else that had been there. "This is a real piece of work," Duo said as he went over to a pile of furniture. Something caught his eye as he looked over it, and he reached down to pull it out. Holding it up, he saw a poster for an old rock group, one that had popped up and disappeared over the last year. The lead singer was the only female in the group, her gamine face grinning at the camera. The group had been at the Matthew's Academy when it had collapsed and were believed to have perished as well.

Rolling up the poster, Duo stuck it in his back pocket. He could remember seeing the girl somewhere, and until he satisfied his curiosity, he would keep it. He saw Une carefully pick her way across the room, scanning the mess for anything useful.

He crossed over when he saw her stop in front of another pile. In the middle of it lay a newspaper, Relena's picture on the front page. Around the picture was a series of numbers. Finally they had found something.

Lady Une picked up the newspaper, being careful not to dislodge the pile it had laid in. As she did so, a noise shot through the room, coming from outside the door. Stunned, the two quickly hid behind the pile and watched as the door opened up, revealing a young man who gasped when he saw the mess.

"Shit!" He started to gather up some of the books near the door when something made him look up. He noticed the two trying to hide behind a pile that wasn't big enough and he dropped the books. "What are you doing here?"

Duo stood up and the man stopped. The two men looked at each other for a couple of seconds before they met in the middle of the floor.

"Duo!"

"Max!"

"Dude, what are you doing here? The last I had heard of you was that you were working with that one chick," Max said.

"Well," Duo replied. "I'm here looking for something." He watched as Une stood up. "The crates caught my eye and I wanted to know what was behind them."

"You didn't put those crates there?"

Duo shook his head. He watched as Max scanned the room, looking to see if anything was missing.

"Damn," Max yelled. "They took my guitar."

"How can you tell," came Lady Une's soft voice.

Startled the young man looked at her for the first time. "Um, who's this?" He turned to look at Duo.

"I am Une," she said.

"Une. Is that a first name or last name?"

"Please, just call me Une," was the reply as the woman crossed the room. "Is anything else missing?"

"Um... Just the poster of my band." Max searched through the piles. "It can't be missing. That poster was the one that was supposed to be on the next cover of our album until..." He cut off his own sentence with another exclamation. "You look familiar, but I don't know where from."

Holding up the newspaper, Lady Une walked over to Max. "Is this yours?"

Staring at it for a couple of seconds, Max slowly shook his head. "I never get the paper. Too depressing."

******

The communicator that Heero had been given started to beep. Pulling it out, he gestured to Wufei that they were being called. On the small screen flashed Duo's face. Behind him a man was talking to Lady Une in a room that was dimly lit.

"Hey guys! We found something and somebody. We need to talk," he said, broadcasting it to everybody that had a communicator. "You'll need to go to these coordinates..." He gave out a number and letter and winked saying it was on the map before the screen went black once more.

The two pilots looked at each other after Duo hung up. The maps that they had been given had been strangely numbered, and were actually the overlay of the sewer system over the road system of the city. Heero pointed out that what they had been given was for the sewers, not far from the church. Making their way through the city, they closed in.

Searching for the entry point, Wufei noticed Sally and Pieter looking around them. Pushing unwanted thoughts out of his mind for the moment, he followed their movements with his eyes, never seeming to look in their direction. He could feel Heero's impatience grow as he continued not to search. Wufei watched as Pieter looked for something. He must have found whatever he had been looking for when he motioned Sally over to a small cafe.

Wufei signaled to Heero to follow the two and they headed inside. Over by a door near the back lounged Duo, hands in his pockets. His eyes brightened at the sight of the other two pilots as they made their way over.

"Go right inside, gentlemen," Duo invited. As Heero passed by, the two quickly looked at each other, then turned away in embarrassment when they saw the other looking at them.

Inside the room was the strange man, Sally, and Pieter, but what caught Heero's attention was the trap door that lay open in the floor. A narrow set of steps led down into darkness. Crossing over to it, Heero looked down and found himself face to face with Relena.

"Follow me," she said. She didn't say anything else as Heero and Duo trailed behind her.

They soon stopped at a door, Relena knocking on it. Lady Une answered and bid the others in before she stepped out.

What met their eyes was not what you would expect from a room in the sewers. Plants abounded in pots and bowls, covering most surfaces. An odd-looking computer sat over in one corner, and a media center close by. Books of every shape and size lined the numerous bookcases along the walls, in any language imaginable.

Heero went over to them. He found an instruction manual written in Greek next to a collection of manga in Japanese. They all looked well read.

Duo came over to the bookcases as well, looking them over. He found an old science book in English and picked it up. Flipping through the pages, he found notes written in the margins.

"I really liked that book," came a soft voice beside him. Duo turned to find Alex standing next to him. He hadn't heard anything and was surprised. He felt Heero come over to stand next to him.

"What is this place," Duo asked.

"This is where I live," Alex simply said.

The two former pilots looked at each other for a couple of seconds before turning back to find Alex waiting for them. She beckoned them to follow her over to the computer.

"Lady Une said that I should show this to you," she pointed at the screen with the bank account information on it.

Duo let out a low whistle. "Wait until Wufei sees this."

"Wait until I see what?" Wufei walked into the room, followed by Michael. The Chinese man was not a happy camper. He had been waylaid by Sally at the surface and now he was in a foul mood. He crossed over to the computer and scowled when he saw what was on the screen.

Heero turned to Alex. "How did you access this?"

He got a wink for a response. The other two pilots were surprised when the Japanese boy reddened slightly. Duo mentally made a note to wink more often, if it got a response out of the normally sullen boy.

"That's a secret," Alex said. She sat down and pulled up a couple of different screens on the monitor. "I also found this..."

On the monitor was a bank account that had large cash flows into it. The name on the account: Relena Peacecraft.

"Let me see," Heero said. He sat down when Alex stood and switched between the windows. The amounts matched perfectly, and they were all dated the day after Relena had disappeared. "Relena started using Dorlian again after the war with OZ, correct?"

Alex nodded. "According to everything that I could find, yes. She hasn't used the name Peacecraft for almost two years. I asked her about it, but she still doesn't remember anything."

The four looked over to find Relena showing Quatre and Trowa through the door, soon followed by Lady Une and Max.

Alex was shaken, but didn't show it. 'Not now,' she thought. 'I can't take this now. Anybody but him, please.' With a slightly shaking hand, she reached over Heero to print out what she had found. Hoping that her disguise would work just a little longer, she went over and sat next to Anju, who was looking a little overwhelmed by everything that had happened today. The guy couldn't be trusted, and it was just a matter of time before something went wrong.

The Japanese boy looked up at her after seeing her hand, watching as she made her way over to Relena. Something had made this girl tremble. He looked around the room and found Duo making his way over to the strange man. The guy was scooping out the place, but Heero didn't trust the look in his eyes.

******

After making plans, Alex watched as everybody filed out of the room. She headed back to the kitchen area she had built and was looking for something to fix for dinner when she felt somebody enter. Turning around, she saw Max looking at her with a deadly look in his eyes.

"Thought that you could hide from me, didn't you?"

Alex shivered slightly at the cold, dark voice that came from the man in front of her. The only person left in her apartment was Anju, who had gone to lay down again. Keeping her hands behind her, she took a step forward, putting a mask on her face to hide her fear.

"Actually, I thought that you were trying to hide from me," she said sarcastically. She saw the man's face slip a little at this before the eyes became colder. As he looked around the kitchen, waving the small gun in his right hand around, she silently pulled the drawer behind her open and quickly grabbed the knife she knew was in it.

"You know what I'm going to have to do to you, don't you," Max threatened. He growled as he stepped forward, raising the gun a little. "You come back with me now, and you might live."

Duo stepped back from the corner. He had left the communicator that Lady Une had given him, and he had come back to get it when he realized that somebody hadn't left. Max was not the man that he had thought him to be, and had changed since the time that he had worked with Howard. Now the numbers on the newspaper made sense. He felt somebody by his side and saw Heero.

The two heard Alex gasp after a quick movement in the other room. Peeking around the corner, they found Max's hand on Alex's throat. Grasping at it with her right hand, she was sliding the knife around. Almost too quick to be seen, she sliced his back, grabbing the gun as she dropped the knife.

As Max tried to hold his shoulder, Alex pointed the gun at him. She could see Duo's face out of the corner of her eye, but she was too mad at this man before her. "You sadistic fuck!" she yelled. "I wouldn't go back there even if you threatened to rip out my guts. And to think I once trusted you with my life. I should just shoot you again."

Max looked up at her, an evil glint in his eyes as she said this. "Maybe this time you shouldn't miss the vital organs."

"You know," Alex said as she lowered the gun slightly. "I think that I won't."

Max winced as he covered his crotch. On the other side of the corner, Duo was trying not to laugh. This girl was starting to grow on him. He could feel Heero moving closer and he grabbed him before the other man could enter the kitchen. "Don't," Duo mouthed. "She can handle this."

There was a scraping noise across from them, and the two former pilots looked up to see Relena coming out of a door in the back. Heero held up a hand, halting the girl in her tracks.

A sudden squeal in the kitchen caught their attention, and all three were astonished to see Max wrapped up in the coat he had been wearing, the knife in one of Alex's hands, the gun in the other.

When she turned around, the three saw the grin on Alex's face. "That was fun," she said with a happy lilt in her voice. She looked back at Max and pointed at him with the gun, very casually. "And you're going to get what's coming to you, mister."

"Alex?" Anju stepped into the kitchen behind Duo and Heero.

"This, my good people," Alex said grandiosely, "is the only person to have known to successfully complete the 'special' training at the Matthew's Academy. 'Special training' my ass." She tossed the knife onto the counter and left the room. Anju, Duo, and Heero looked at each other questioningly as they heard Alex get on the phone, speaking in a low voice.

Duo was studying Max when Alex came back in.

"So, want to help me take out the trash," Alex asked as she hauled Max to his feet, lifting an eyebrow.

******

Quatre looked out the window of the car nervously. He was worried that Duo and Heero hadn't come back. When they had left Alex's place, he had gotten a bad feeling. Absently rubbing his chest, he searched the area for the two boys.

Trowa glanced worriedly at the boy next to him. Taking a quick look in the rearview mirror he saw that Wufei was looking out the window. He focused his attention back on the Arabian boy, wondering what was wrong.

The three pilots thoughts were interrupted by the beeping of Quatre's communicator. Duo was smiling at them, a sure sign that trouble lay ahead. "Hey, Q-man! Want to help us have some fun?"

Those in the car looked at each other before turning back to Duo. "What kind of fun," Quatre asked, afraid of the answer.

"Just come and see," Duo said.

In the background they could hear a muffled whimper followed by Heero's voice yelling at Duo to put that down and come help. Duo eeped and said a quick "bye!" and shut off the communicator.

"We should go so Maxwell doesn't end up where he shouldn't," Wufei said.

Anju watched as the other three hauled Max up to the street outside of the cafe. The wrapped up man was struggling against his bindings, not finding any relief. As she watched, the three were met up with Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei who grabbed a hold of the man, while Wufei wanted to know what was going on. Half afraid to follow, she paused before deciding that she would rather be with them than be alone down below the cafe.

The six of them carried Max over to the local police station, Alex running up the stairs and knocking on the door. The seven of them split, leaving Max on the steps to face the police, a note pinned to his chest.

Finally stopping in front of a grocery store, Alex laughed as they got their breaths back.

"Ah, poor, poor Max," she said in a soft, laughing voice. "I don't envy what's coming to him."

"Why did we just do this," Quatre wanted to know.

"That man is currently wanted in twelve countries for the serial rape and murder of 40 women. Besides being a bad guitar player," she added as an afterthought.

"He was complaining about his guitar being stolen," Duo said.

"Have you ever heard of the band 'Tenshi?'" Alex looked at them.

Duo pulled the poster out of his pocket, finally remembering what had made him pick it up. "This is them, right?"

Alex nodded. "Max was the bass guitar player. They were students at Matthew's Academy, and were supposed to play for the school dance the night the school blew."

"How do you know this?" Anju wasn't liking this one bit, but she didn't know what else to do.

"Because I was there," Alex said. "And I'm not going to say anything more about it because it's bad and I'll start swearing up a storm." She went over to stand by Anju. "Let's say we get some ice-cream, 'k?"

The two girls waved good-bye to the pilots.

"That...was strange," Duo said. "But now it makes more sense." When he saw the others watching him with weird expressions, he explained. "Why Max wanted to take her somewhere. I think that we should talk to Une soon."

******

Finding that Lady Une had been called off on a case, the pilots went to Quatre's house. As they settled to sleep, Trowa found himself worried. Anju had looked so lost when they had helped Alex take Max to the station. Duo and Heero had told them what had happened, and he had been impressed by the skill that Alex wielded. Even Catherine wasn't that quick with a knife.

That brought him to his reasons for going back to the circus. After seeing HeavyArms' destruction, he had felt as he had when he had before he had taken Trowa Barton's name--alone. Even Duo and Quatre's understanding about being nameless hadn't gotten through the darkness that had surrounded him. Going back to the circus really hadn't helped, as even Catherine didn't understand what he was going through. As they had wandered from city to city, he had begun looking for the other pilots, often scaring himself while doing so. When Catherine had asked him why he was acting so strange, he had found himself telling her about how he had gotten his name. While she had been shocked, she told him that it didn't matter what had happened in the past, he had people in the present that cared for him.

{"Trowa, everybody here doesn't care about what happened to you. It's who you are now that matters," she said putting a hand on his shoulder. Looking him straight in the eye, she continued, "I care about you, so does everybody that is here. Even the other pilots probably care for you in one way or another. Don't let a something like a name get you down."

Trowa looked at Catherine, seeing the steel resolve in her face. He hadn't noticed the reactions of the other pilots when they had learned about his name, but now that he thought about it, none of them had cared. He was there, and that was all they cared about.}

Over the next couple of months, Trowa had slowly come to the realization that he cared for the other pilots, Quatre the most. He found himself searching the crowds whenever they set up the circus near towns that he knew the Winner family had homes. He had thought that he had seen the Arabian boy a couple of times, but it never was him. Getting the call from Quatre about Relena's disappearance had been a relief, but the quickening of his heart beat at the sound of the other's voice had told him that things were going to get better than they had been. Trowa promised himself that he would let himself be free for once and not hide behind the mask he wore when it came to Quatre.

A soft knock on his door brought him quickly to the present.

"Hai."

"It's me," Quatre's soft voice said. "May I come in?"

"Hai."

The blond walked in and shut the door. Crossing over to the bed, he pulled a chair over as Trowa sat up. He seemed embarrassed by the other boy's naked chest, visibly gulping.

Trowa thought this was cute, but he didn't want to shame Quatre anymore than he was already going through. "What did you want to talk about?"

Quatre looked at Trowa, before watching a point somewhere to the left of Trowa's left ear. "Um..."

Waiting for the other boy to talk, Trowa watched as the blonde's face slowly got red. "Daijobu?"

Startled, Quatre jumped out of the chair. "Um...I just remembered..." He was cut off by a strong hand on his shoulder.

"What is it?" Trowa was mystified by Quatre's behavior.

Taking a deep breath, Quatre hoped that what he was about to do would turn out. Closing his eyes, he pulled the taller boy into his arms and kissed him squarely on the mouth.

Surprised, the silent pilot stood still for a couple of seconds.

The blond boy pulled back. "I'm...I'm so sorry," he stuttered as he stumbled towards the door. Just as he was about to turn the doorknob, a hand fell on top of his.

"Little one," came Trowa's soft voice. "Why are you sorry?"

"Because you didn't want that." Quatre's voice was so low that Trowa almost didn't catch the words.

"I didn't say that..."

"You didn't say anything. You..." He was cut off again, this time by a pair of soft, warm lips that pressed gently against his. Sighing, Quatre bent into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Trowa.

Lifting his head slightly, Trowa let a small smile spread across his lips at the sight of Quatre's face. Bliss shone in his eyes as he opened them to gaze up at the other pilot. Looking into the azure eyes, the silent boy decided that he would take this chance that he had been given.

Wrapping his arms around the other boy's slight waist, Trowa dipped his head and captured the soft lips that were offered. Becoming more and more heated, the kiss continued until broken by rapid gasps. Guiding Quatre over to the bed, he laid them both down and kissed the other boy's neck. The salty skin there beckoned his lips to roam over it as the hunger Trowa felt grew.

Quatre sighed as Trowa strung kisses over his neck and jaw. Growing impatient, he dragged Trowa's head up and kissed him roughly, sliding his tongue over his lips. Opening them, Trowa felt Quatre's tongue twist and dance with his, encouraging his to play. He rubbed his tongue over Trowa's sharp teeth and pulled back slightly to take the lower lip between his own, nibbling on the soft flesh. As they continued to kiss, clothes fell off to the side, skin brushing against hot skin as they did so. A sigh broke the kiss as Quatre felt Trowa's hand rub a hardened nipple. The sign turned into a moan as Trowa's hot mouth descended down his chest, tongue moving against the small nub. Hot saliva moistened the small nub followed by a soft blow of cool air, hardening it further. Trowa swirled his tongue against it, sucking it slightly into his mouth.

Moving to the other nipple to nibble at it, Trowa was encouraged by the moans coming from the other boy. He pinched the nub he had just left with one hand, slowly letting his other hand drift across Quatre's stomach to his pajama bottoms. Tugging at the drawstring, he pulled them and the boxers beneath down. Kissing his way down the flat stomach, he kissed the tip of Quatre's erection and moved between his thighs. Rubbing the downy legs, Trowa moved further down, stroking his knees before getting off the bed.

Quatre opened his eyes when he felt Trowa get up. They widened as he watched Trowa take off the shorts he had been wearing to bed. "Oh, Trowa," he breathed. He sat up and reached for the other boy. Grabbing him, he frantically kissed Trowa's face as he pulled him back onto the bed.

When their erections touched, an electric shock flowed through them. Rubbing against the erection that pulsed along his pushed Trowa over the last little edge of hesitance. His left hand reached down and started to stroke Quatre's erection, thumb massaging the head. Hearing Quatre moan his name, he moved back down to it and licked the shaft. Tasting the salty, slight bitter taste, Trowa slowly sucked on the head, almost reverently. Engulfing it, he worked Quatre into a frenzy as he showed the other boy pleasure. He let it slide deeper into his mouth until the tip was touching the back of his throat. Pulling back, he ran his tongue around the tip, moving his hand along the shaft.

Quatre was overwhelmed with desire. He felt Trowa work his mouth and hand on his erection and decided that nothing in the world could feel better. Then, as he felt a moistened finger work its way along the crack of his ass, he decided that this was just the start of something better.

Trowa watched the boy's face as he stretched Quatre as gently as possible. Adding a second searching finger, then a third, he began to suck hard on Quatre's erection. Feeling him stiffen, Trowa looked up at Quatre and saw that he had thrown his head back in bliss.

Quatre's eyes opened wide as he felt Trowa hit some wonderful spot inside him. Stars burst behind his eyelids, increasing the intense feelings that were welling up inside him. "Ugh, Trowa," he breathed. "I...I...Please..." Unable to get a coherent thought out, Quatre let go in release as the world exploded behind his eyelids.

Floating on a bed of clouds, Quatre vaguely felt movement beside him. He came down from his high when a soft pair of lips touched his. As he kissed Trowa, he could taste his own essence. Opening his eyes again, he saw Trowa's green eyes darkened with passion.

"Oh, Trowa, I love you," Quatre whispered. Realizing what he had said, he opened his mouth.

"I love you, too, little one," the silent boy said softly. Kissing him again, Trowa let his hands play across Quatre's chest, soon going lower and moving against the returning erection. Leaning over him and spreading Quatre's legs wider, he looked into the blue eyes that watched him. "Are you sure about this?"

Quatre nodded. He felt Trowa shift slightly and felt his erection enter him. He felt invaded, a delicious feeling sweeping over him as the pain turned into pleasure.

Trowa moved slowly, pulling out slightly before pushing in again, being careful not to hurt his lover. As he watched Quatre's face shine again when he managed to hit his pleasure center, he began to move harder.

Wrapping his legs around his lover, Quatre pulled Trowa down for a kiss as the taller boy pumped into him. Their movements became erratic, unable to keep up with the desire that drove them into such passion. He felt Trowa's hand wrap around his erection and couldn't take it anymore. "Trowa!"

Feeling Quatre's muscles tighten around him, Trowa couldn't hang on any longer, and followed the smaller boy into release, a soft moan in the form of his lover's name slipping from his lips. He shifted to Quatre's side, sliding out carefully. Pulling the covers over them, he held the blond close as they drifted off to sleep.

******

Wufei stared up at the ceiling. He could hear faint sounds of passion coming from the room next door to him and he felt uncomfortable. He wasn't disgusted by the thought of it, or even that it was Quatre and Trowa, but by what had happened the only time that he had wanted to get that close to somebody.

'Stupid onna,' he thought, even knowing that that wasn't true. He now realized that there had been signs that he had ignored, trying to make himself look better in the eyes of one Sally Po.

When he had first joined the Preventers, he had been paired with the woman, a risk factor in his book. The only thing that compensated for having been paired with a woman was that she was skilled in certain types of warfare. Feeling unworthy of Nataku, he had started to transfer his feelings to the woman he worked with. Then, a month ago, he had asked her to go catch a bite to eat with him after they had been working late.

It was while they had been eating that he noticed Sally checking out their server, who was female, and the other female servers, even the women customers in the restaurant. As he did so, his mind flashed back to all of the different missions they had been on when they both had been checking out the same woman, unconsciously mimicking the other's hungry looks.

Wufei didn't know how he had managed to get through that dinner, but he did somehow. Afterwards, he had driven for what seemed like hours, finally ending up at the place where he had destroyed his beloved Nataku for the last time. Gazing at the moonlit valley, he tried to piece back together his honor.

Coming into work the next day, he distanced himself from the others again. Wrapping himself up in the cold armor he had once protected himself in, Wufei held onto the last shred of honor that he believed was left within him. The others in the Preventers had wondered what had happened. When Sally had questioned him on his behavior, he had turned away from her, not wanting to answer her. He had felt it sting his heart, or rather his honor, since he refused to let his heart see the light of day again.

Noticing that the sounds next door had stopped, Wufei rolled over and tried to sleep. For some reason, it didn't come, and he switched on the small bedside lamp and opened the book that he had taken earlier from Quatre's library. 'Kiss the Girls' was as good as any of the books he had seen.

******

The rising sun had a surprise audience the next morning. Alex watched the sun as it rode through the purple sky, lighting everything it touched. Even though she had made jokes yesterday about dropping Max off, she still didn't feel right. She had seen Anju's concern, but had brushed her off. Pushing the other girl off to bed, she had tossed and turned all night on the couch. She had dreamt strange dreams, some clouded with passion, others with dark thoughts on love and romance. In between she had found herself flying, the wings on her back stretched out so far it seemed as if they wrapped around the Earth.

Looking down at the street below, Alex moved away from the edge of the roof and sighed.

As she cooked breakfast, she wondered what else could happen in her life. Thinking about that question, she really didn't want to know the answer. Flipping the pancakes before they burned, she turned the disk player on, the soft strains of Vivaldi's 'Spring' concerto flowing through the kitchen.

She popped her head into the bedroom and found Anju waking up.

"Breakfast will be ready in a couple of minutes," she said. Tossing the bread into the toaster, she was curious how her guest would have started her day if things were normal. She had heard many things about Relena Dorlian, and the peace that the girl had fought so hard to keep. Even in the face of daily threats on her life, she had been willing to lay it on the line to keep peace in the world.

Shaking off these thoughts as Anju walked into the kitchen, Alex smiled at her and put the food on the table. "Mangia!"

"Man-what?"

"Mangia. It's Italian for 'eat.'" Alex sat down on the other side of the table and grabbed a couple of pancakes from the stack. Piling them high, she poured syrup over them in a fanciful design before smearing it.

Anju took a small sip of orange juice, fascinated by Alex. Starting to eat, she kept an eye on the other girl. Alex never seemed to notice as she ate, taking small drinks from the milk in front of her every couple of bites.

Cleaning her plate, Alex jumped up and went over to the sink. Putting the plate and pans she had had used into the sink, she ran water as she peeled an orange. Taking a section of it, she put it in her mouth and smiled at Anju, making both girls laugh at the orange grin. "Good," Alex said as she took Anju's clean plate. "Things were a little too quiet this morning."

Getting ready for the day, the two chatted about nothing in particular. Only when they were ready to leave did Anju hold back. "Alex," she said softly.

"Yeah?"

"Um...what's going to happen now?"

Alex scratched her forehead lightly, a gesture that Anju recognized as one of thinking. "Well, I'm not sure, but whatever happens, you're always welcome to stay with me for awhile." Smiling at the brown-haired girl, Alex stepped out the door, leading the way to Lady Une's office at Preventers headquarters.

Arriving, they went up the elevator and walked through the secretary's office, waved on in. Inside Lady Une was talking to a young girl with short, bright red hair.

"Hi May," Alex said as they walked through the door.

The girl turned around and stopped short at Alex's companion. "Relena-san."

Anju shook her head. "Anju-san, please."

"Oh," Mariemaia said quietly. She understood that Relena's memory hadn't come back. Turning to the other girl, she smiled. "Alex, I have something I want to show you."

Anju watched the two go into the other room before looking at the woman in front of her.

"Have you remembered anything yet, Anju-san?" Lady Une asked as she sat on the couch.

Sitting next to her, Anju shook her head. Her eyes troubled, she asked, "what's going to happen? I mean, where will I be going?"

"Is that worrying you?" At the girl's nod, Lady Une sighed. "Don't worry about it for the time being. You can think about it for the time being. Your brother Zechs has offered for you to stay with him and Lucrezia, but I'm sure that he will understand if you don't want to."

Taking a small breath, Anju said, "Alex said I could stay with her for a while, and I think I will. At least until I feel a little more comfortable with myself."

Nodding, Lady Une rose and went to look out the window. "I think that will be good." They both heard a shriek of laughter come from the next room. "If you want," she continued, "you can join those two." She hid her smile as she watched Anju scurry over. She listened as it got louder in the smaller office for a couple of minutes before sitting at her desk. She was interrupted soon after, her secretary asking if some young men could speak with her.

As she watched the former gundam pilots walk in, she knew what they wanted to ask. Rising, Lady Une greeted the young men, noticing that Quatre and Trowa stuck together even closer than usual. Not even batting an eye at this, she bade them be seated. Another shriek of laughter came again, and all six heads swiveled towards the sound.

Sighing, she crossed over and knocked on the door. Three voices cried, "sorry," before there was more laughter. 'I knew I shouldn't have let her bring that movie in today,' Une thought as she sat behind her desk.

Duo started. "What's the connection between you, Alex, and the Matthew's Academy? Also, do you know about Max?"

Even knowing what she had to speak about didn't make it any easier to answer. Taking a deep breath, Lady Une began: "Matthew's Academy was started to encourage those with above normal intelligence to be more creative. Last year it was bought by one of its former students, and continued to run as it had. At least, that's what everybody thought. Reports started to leak that the students were being put through tests that had nothing to do with the education they had been promised. The most famous of the students were the band Tenshi, who enrolled a couple of months before the end of the school. Max was a member of the band, and from what information I could gather about him, was one of the more successful students in the training that the academy had forced its students through."

"What kind of training was it, Une-sama?" Quatre asked.

"Mental strength training. It was a modified version of the system used to run the Mobil Dolls and Epyon."

The former pilots were shocked.

"They were using that system on humans?" Wufei jumped up at this.

Lady Une nodded. "Most of the students couldn't take it. I found that out when I went there on personal business. At that point I sent in a couple of our agents as teachers.

"Those that were running the system were cruel in what they made those students do. They forced them into sick, depraved acts, or drove them to suicide. Our agents were found, and forced into the system along with the students. Before they had, they found a couple of students who had been able to resist the system. Mentally strong and confident, they had been able to keep control of themselves. Together they had banded together, squeaking by the system.

"On the night the school was destroyed, the band Tenshi was scheduled to play at the school dance. The system administrators had decided that they would be able to put their plan into action the next day--that of sending their students out to pillage the surrounding countryside. Their plan from there would involve taking over entire towns, and eventually the Earth, then the colonies. The students that had been fighting the system found this out and came up with a plan themselves. They would make sure that the system wouldn't claim another of their life."

Lady Une took a deep breath and opened her mouth to continue when a neutral voice went on with the story.

"The morning of the dance we found one of the Preventer's agents hanging in her own room. She had killed herself the night before, unable to withstand the system anymore."

The pilots looked over to see Alex standing inside the door, hands in pant's front pockets, leading to the small room, Anju and Mariemaia standing close behind.

"Banding together, we promised that this wouldn't happen to anybody else. We had seen enough of it. While the rest of the student body was getting ready for the dance, we crept into the main computer room. We had just gotten into the system when we were caught."

A slight hitch of breath was the only interruption to Alex's story.

"Put up on the stage at the dance, the group was ridiculed by the others. It was discovered that the singer for the band was one of the ringleaders of the small resistance group and she was brought forward. Mocked by her own bandmates, she stood waiting for the moment when she would be able to initiate the plan they had come up with before the school owners could put theirs in action.

"As the student body grew more restless bringing the rest of the group up on stage, there was a loud rumbling through the school. Smoke puffed through the doorways, indicating a fire. As teachers ran to it and the crowd panicked, the resistance group tried to make their way back to the main computer room. Doing so, they found themselves blocked by the other members of the band, guns in hands. Somehow the leader managed not to get hit by the rain of bullets and barrelled through the boys in front of her.

"Shutting the door and locking it behind her, she pulled the plug on the system. Outside she heard strangled noises and a wail rose from the gym, the last sound of the OverMind System." Alex stopped there and closed her eyes for a second, then opening them again. She went back in through the room, leaving everybody staring at her.

"I wondered how she got through that," Mariemaia said softly. Feeling everybody's eyes on her, she explained. "She was the one she was talking about. She won't tell me how the school buildings were destroyed, but what she will tell me is always in third-person like that."

The room fell into silence, the faint sound of a television playing in the background. Suddenly, soft laughter burst from the small office on the other side of the small room through the open door, breaking the silence.

The pilots looked at Lady Une, surprised by the shocked expression on her face.

"Did you know this?" Anju asked as she walked into the room.

Shaking her head, Lady Une bowed her head for a moment. "No. She wouldn't tell me."

"Who is this she," Wufei wanted to know.

"Alex," Mariemaia and Anju said together.

He, Quatre, and Trowa looked surprised. They had all thought that Alex was a young boy. Looking over at Duo and Heero, Wufei saw that they weren't surprised, that they already knew.

"When I arrived at Matthew's Academy that evening," Lady Une said, "it was already a pile of rubble. In the middle of it stood Alex, surrounded by police. I think that she didn't see them, but saw something else entirely. She came up to me and gave me a necklace. It was the necklace that our agent had been wearing. I don't know how she knew to give it to me. From then on, she's been helping us with cases that we wouldn't have been able to help with."

"Like the Denniston case," Wufei said.

Une nodded.

"How does she know my sister?" Quatre asked.

"Alex kept her from being run over by a bus," Mariemaia said. At Quatre's gasp, she continued. "She wasn't hurt. She had been fighting with Michael over where they would go next to shop." She stopped and smiled.

"She was the singer for Tenshi?" Heero asked, startling everybody.

Lady Une nodded slowly. "Yes."

Heero sat back, satisfied that his question had been answered.

The phone on the desk buzzed. Une picked it up and started talking, facing the window. Hanging up, she looked at the pilots. "We've found the gang's hideout."

******

Duo dragged himself to the bed. After getting the word that the hideout had been found for the gang that had beaten Relena, things had gotten hectic. He hadn't seen that much action in a year, and his body was protesting it. Stretching out on the mattress, he drifted off to sleep, not noticing somebody creep into the room.

Heero watched the other boy sleep, chest rising and falling in time with his dreams. Earlier he had seen the American jump into the thick of things like he always had, taking men twice his size down with little effort.

Sitting against a wall, he looked over at the bed, trying to keep awake.

Down the hall, Quatre snuggled closer to Trowa. The night before had been eye-opening. He had wanted to let the other boy know that he cared, but had been scared that he would frighten the silent boy off. Now he was content lying in his arms, exhausted from the afternoon's efforts.

Wufei refused to be sleepless again tonight, and had stayed down in the study. In front of him was the book that he had been reading earlier, finished. As he surfed over the books in the library, he heard a scratch at the French doors leading out into the gardens.

Crossing over to them, he was astonished to Anju and Alex, clothes and hair disheveled. Both of them looked at if they had met up with something terrible. Opening the doors, he watched as Anju helped Alex over to a sofa.

"What happened?"

Anju looked up at him as she put Alex's feet up on the couch.

"We met up with one of Max's 'associates.' They wanted to talk with us about a poster that was missing," Anju brushed some loose hair back from her face. "I guess that there's something written on the back of it. And something that Alex gave to me."

"How did you get here?" Wufei went over to the doors. "I didn't hear any vehicle pull up."

"Through the sewers." At the expression Wufei had on his face, Anju explained. "The sewer system used to be part of an old subway system."

"Ugh," Alex's voice came from the couch. "Did somebody get the name of the truck that ran me over?" Slowly sitting up, she yelped when she moved her left foot. "Itai!"

Wufei looked the foot over. There was a huge gash along the ankle, indicating that it had gotten caught in something. Badly sprained, the cut needed stitches. This was something that Heero was much better at. 'Too bad Sally...' Wufei cut off the thought, determined that he didn't need the woman in his life.

Standing straight, he told Anju where the kitchen was and to bring back a bowl of lukewarm water, and he would go get some towels. 'This is something Heero needs to look at.'

Knocking at Heero's door, Wufei didn't get an answer. Pushing it open slightly, he looked in to see nobody inside. 'Maxwell's room.' Opening this door, he saw Heero sleeping next to the wall. Walking softly over to him, he put his hand on the Japanese boy's shoulder.

"Heero," he whispered.

The cobalt eyes shot open quickly.

"Your help is needed downstairs."

Nodding, Heero looked one last time at Duo before leaving the room with Wufei. Neither boy noticed the pair of violet eyes watching them. Curious, the American climbed out of bed. He had felt like he was being watched, and had found Heero sleeping in his room. He hadn't been surprised, more like comforted, by the other boy's presence.

In the library, Alex was trying to stand up. "I need to get back," she kept on muttering. She had just gotten to both feet when the three boys entered, Anju close behind with the water.

"Alex," Anju said urgently.

Turning, Alex caught her ankle again and went down hard. "Itai!" came the small whimper from the other side of the sofa.

All four rushed over and found the girl crumpled up, hair flowing in a tangled curtain around her shoulders, hanging to her knees as she tried to stand up again. "fuck," came an angry mutter when she couldn't get her feet under her.

Heero picked up her, Duo grabbing her feet as Wufei moved the cushions. He silently hoped that Quatre wouldn't get mad at a little blood on the sofa.

They were surprised when Alex fought to get off the couch. "Stay put," Heero said in a cold voice.

"No," Alex said. "I gotta get back." She tried to sit up again when a strong pair of hands held her down. "NO!"

"Shh," Duo whispered as the others backed away from the scream. Keeping his hands on her shoulders, he leant closer. "It's ok. We just want to look at your ankle." He gasped when he saw the fear in Alex's eyes, darkening them to black.

"Please," she whispered. "Let me up, please."

Shaking his head, Duo refused to let up. He looked up at Wufei and Heero to start on the damaged ankle. "This is going to hurt, but the ankle will heal faster."

Taking off the bloody shoe, Heero looked over the ankle. A bruise was already forming over most of it, the darkest in color at the sight of the cut. Lightly probing the wound, Heero saw that there was something in it. Pulling the tweezers out of the medkit Wufei had found, he poked in and grabbed it. A slight stiffening of the muscles of Alex's leg was the only reaction to what must have been painful.

In the tweezers was a piece of black glass three inches long. "Window," was all Alex hissed.

"She kicked through it," Anju said softly. "There was no other way."

"Disk," came the soft mutter from the girl on the sofa. As Heero probed again at her ankle, she clenched her teeth. She could handle the pain, but when she saw the needle he pulled out to numb the skin to put stitches in, Alex fainted.

Duo looked at her and realized that he didn't have to hold her down anymore. He mentally laughed when he thought that she could handle all that pain but couldn't handle a needle. This girl was another Heero in the making, except for being more vocal. Well, almost. Nothing could touch Heero in that respect. Embarrassed at the way his thoughts were turning, he watched Heero put stitches in, neatly sewing up the long cut. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wufei treating Anju.

'Anju,' Duo thought. 'Maybe that name fits her better than Relena ever did.'

Heero grunted, finished with the work set before him. This had been different than doing this to himself, almost as if he were afraid to hurt Alex. Even though she was unconscious, he had been hesitant to touch her in fear of hurting her. Maybe he was getting soft.

Alex started to wake up, ashamed at herself for letting the needle get to her. It brought back too many bad memories, being held down and getting shots.... Mentally shaking herself, she looked up into Duo's bright eyes. "All done," he said cheerfully.

"Thank you," she whispered. She looked over at Heero, who was watching her. She nodded at him in thanks and struggled to sit up a little.

Thinking that she was trying to leave again, Duo put his hands up. Heero stopped him by handing him one of the cushions Wufei had tossed to the floor.

"Thanks," Alex said again. She blinked up at the two boys and her face got red. "Um, could you help me get my jacket off?" she asked shyly. As she unbuttoned the jacket, she winced as some of her hair got caught in the buttons. Impatiently throwing it over her shoulder, she pulled her jacket open. She was wearing a sleeveless shirt, the words, "Just because I have writing on my chest doesn't mean you can stare at it" written across it.

Stifling laughter, Duo reached over and smiled at her, tugging the jacket off. He heard a snort behind him and looked back at Heero. The Japanese boy was struggling not to break into a smile. As Duo and Alex alike watched, he got red in the face.

The two turned to each other and winked at the same time, making both burst out in laughter.

Across the room, Wufei looked up from his task of cleaning the last of Anju's scrapes at the sounds coming from across the room. She had flinched a couple of times, but hadn't made a sound. He watched her carefully as he cleaned up the supplies he had used. Noticing that she turned her attention towards the sofa, Wufei sighed as he thought about the trouble she had caused Heero. Then he realized that the former queen of the world wasn't looking at the wing pilot, but Alex as she laughed with Duo. It wasn't that same look that she used to have on her face, but was more of a wistful look in her eyes, as if she wished she could be like the other girl. Thoughtful, he turned to Anju. "All done," he said.

Thanking him quietly, she went over to the couch and sat down in a chair next to it.

"Hey, Anju-chan," Alex said, twisting to look over her shoulder at the other girl. "Would you please give me that disk that I gave you? I think we have to look at it."

******

Quatre slowly made his way down the stairs, Trowa close behind. He went into the kitchen, ready to make breakfast, when the scene that met his eyes stopped him in his tracks.

Duo and Wufei were making breakfast. Well, Wufei was trying to cook and Duo was trying his best to help. Anju was reading the newspaper. Heero and Alex were looking intently into his laptop.

"Q-man!" Duo came racing over. "So, what would you like for breakfast?"

After that, there was mass confusion as breakfast got eaten and everybody talked.

"Go into that file."

"Hey, Anju. Pass me the funnies, would you?"

"Maxwell, stop doing that!"

"Trowa, would you like some more orange juice?"

"..."

"Whoa, would you look at that.... That's some monster of a picture. You think that's some trick photography?"

"Thank you, Quatre-san."

"Stop that, Maxwell!"

"Please pass the milk, Duo."

Conversation stopped as Alex started laughing, in an odd sort of way. Realizing that everybody was watching her, Alex turned red in the face. Shutting her mouth quickly, she refused to look at anybody.

"We need to get this information to Une-san," Heero said when he realized that Alex wouldn't say anything.

"What info?" Duo reached over and grabbed another slice of bacon as he asked.

"It looks like Max was part of a group that wants to bring a new revolution to humanity," Heero said.

"One using the system developed at Matthew's Academy," Alex quietly said. "Only this time, they would send it out over communication waves, hidden in shows, movies, songs, and so on."

There was a heavy silence around the table as each considered what that would do.

"Allah!" Quatre breathed, the only one willing to break the silence.

"Whoa," Duo said as he leaned over to look at screen of Heero's computer. "That is just not possible." His eyes widened when he saw what was there. "Masaka!"

******

They agreed to meet up with Lady Une at Preventer's headquarters.

Alex wanted to stop by her rooms to gather up some stuff before the meeting. Meeting up with those 'friends' of Max's hadn't been fun, and she needed clothes that weren't bloodstained. Numerous cuts covered her arms, too small to need anything but antiseptic spray, but had been deep enough to ruin her jacket. Heero had been forced to cut some of her pants away in order to fully take care of her ankle, and now she looked like she was some island castaway. She looked over at Duo, who had wanted to tag along with her and Anju. She couldn't understand how why he wanted to come.

Duo could feel Alex looking at him, but he was determined not to let it bother him. He and Heero had agreed that the two girls needed protection after what had happened last night, just in case.

Alex stumbled slightly and Duo reached for her arm, balancing her.

"Oops," she laughed lightly. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's okay," Duo replied. "You shouldn't be on that ankle anyway."

"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt," Alex said. "Much," she muttered under her breath.

Duo caught this and smiled.

"Besides, I have to check on a couple of things." Alex watched Anju walk in front of them. The other girl hadn't spoken a word since breakfast, and she was getting worried.

Duo followed Alex's gaze and focused on Anju. Even he had been surprised at the way that she had been acting. For once the girl hadn't been following Heero around, but Alex. Frankly, he was wondering if her amnesia was making her act weird. Thinking of weird, he was still a little puzzled by Alex's behavior last night.

Mentally shrugging, he forced his thoughts to think about Max. The guy that he had known while they were with Howard had been a pretty carefree kind of guy, always jotting down stuff or humming some tune only he knew. What he had seen yesterday was completely different from the Max he had known. 'How did this girl meet up with Max?' Duo wanted to know what had happened last year, and what had gone on at Matthew's Academy. It obviously was so terrible that Alex wouldn't speak of it. He could still hear the dead voice that she had talked in when she had been telling the story. Her voice had been so different from what she normally spoke in. That was a low, melodious voice, haunting almost in its beauty.

Her voice kind of reminded him of Heero. Not when he was saying his hourly death threats, but when they were relaxed, taking things easy in their off-time. A connection shot through his brain that maybe both of these were trying to hide their feelings behind a facade, and were trying not to let the world know what was really going on inside. Walking through the sewers, his thoughts continued to drift towards Heero. Fighting alongside of him through both wars had taught him how the Japanese boy thought. He had made an art out of reading the Perfect Soldier's face and mannerisms. Fascinated, he had watched Heero fight. Thinking back to what Quatre said as Heero fought against the falling piece of Libra, he realized that Heero did have a heart. {Heero is the heart of outer space.} If he was the heart of outer space that meant he could care about him as well as the people he had been trying to protect.

'Whoa, man.' Duo stopped as he cut off his thoughts again. Realizing that Alex and Anju were watching him, he smiled a quick grin and started again.

Alex watched him out of the corner of her eye for a couple of minutes before looking ahead. He seemed different now that he was with the two of them. Duo was always so hyper around the others, most of all around Heero. She had watched the two closely as they had worked through the night. Each were falling for the other. 'This will be kind of fun,' she thought happily. It came to her all of sudden that she would be a little sad, too. She had found both of them to be what she wanted to find in the world. Then she remembered the promise that she had made when her life had turned upside-down--to stay the way she was. Nobody would get inside her defenses ever again.

Her thoughts wandering, Alex realized they had almost missed the turn to the back door. Turning left, she went into a small alcove, soon hidden in the shadows from Duo and Anju. There was a small click as a door opened and then a sharp gasp. Catching up with Alex, the two saw that the room in front of them was in shambles. Bookshelves that had once lined the walls were overturned, the precious books in them scattered haphazardly over the floor. The computer lay on the desk smashed to pieces, the desk itself torn apart.

"Hielige Schiesse[3]!" Alex turned to the back room and saw the lock still in place. They hadn't been able to decipher the lock that held everything she treasured most. Quickly opening the door, she heaved a sigh of relief as she saw her bedroom was intact. Going over to a cabinet, she pulled something that Duo and Anju couldn't see out and hugged it close to her. As she turned, they could see she held a small fox plushie, worn around the edges.

"Let's leave," Alex muttered.

"What?" Duo looked back into the destruction in the front room.

"Just go." Alex looked at him with pleading eyes.

Anju looked at the both of them. She didn't understand their silent conversation. All she did know was that she wanted out of this place, now.

"We'll leave," Duo said softly. The three raced to the Preventer's building, taking turns that left Duo and Anju dizzy and unsure of where they were. At their destination, they headed up to Une's office, Alex still clutching the fox as if it were a lifeline. Going swiftly inside, they found the others just sitting down.

Une crossed over to the three when she saw that the two girls were still wearing the same clothes they had worn the previous day. "What happened?"

"My place is trashed," Alex said, no emotion on her face.

In the corner Iria took in a swift breath, also crossing the room. She and Marius had been brought back to Lady Une's office to try to help. While still overjoyed to learn that Quatre's unrequited love was now returned, she was worried about the girl that felt like another sister to her. The way that Alex was clutching the plushie worried her.

Une noticed the fox in Alex's arms and guided her to sit in her chair. She knew that the small plushie was actually a bag that contained everything Alex was.

The rest of the room started to throw questions into the air, Duo answering most of them.

In the meantime, Alex pulled a couple of disks out of the fox bag and looked at Une questioningly. A nod answering her silent question, Alex loaded the contents of one onto Une's computer, bringing up the construction plans for Matthew's Academy. A little bugle sound came from the speakers, alerting the others to what was going on.

"Heero," Alex said. "Would you please hand me the disk we were looking at earlier?"

Handing it over, Heero watched as she loaded the contents and overlaid them on the Matthew's Academy site. The building that was on the disk that Alex and Anju had found would be the headquarters for the revolutionary group.

"This is no coincidence," Une said darkly.

Everybody gathered around the computer, looking at the lines that intersected on the screen. The outlines of the buildings matched perfectly, resurrecting the school, and all it once contained, once more.

******

Une sat down on the couch, exhausted by the upheaval the day had brought. Mariemaia was in her bedroom, listening to some music--loudly--but was in for the night. Sighing, she put her head on the back of the couch. 'Treize-sama, what would you think of what is about to happen?'

A noise from the hallway caught her attention. Looking up, she saw Sally Po standing worriedly in the doorway.

"I'm sorry, Une-san," she said. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"It's alright."

Sitting down on the couch, Sally watched the other woman's face for signs of strain. Working with her for the last two years had taught her how to read Une's expressions.

Catching Sally's watchful glance out of the corner of her eye, Une wondered out loud, "Do you think that the gundam pilots will be able to search this group out soon?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. Those pilots know what they are doing." Sally sat up a little more before continuing, "Even as they are reaching the point where they are becoming men hasn't slowed them down in the slightest. I've learned that much from working with Wufei." At this, her face became a little darker.

Une noticed this. "What happened to him?"

Shaking her head, Sally thought about it a couple of times. "I don't understand it. I thought that he was warming up to other people, and then he just changed overnight. Something happened and I don't know what it was."

Looking at the clueless woman, Une mentally shook her head. 'I don't think that Sally ever realized that the boy liked her, and she is the one that helped him warm up,' she thought. 'I will not be the one to tell her.' Reaching towards the sofa table, Une picked up a small photo. Within the frame was a picture of Mariemaia and herself, taken several months ago. The girl had been so unsure of herself, but meeting up with Alex had changed that. She shuddered at the thought of what that girl had gone through.

"What's the matter?" Sally's voice cut through her thoughts.

"I was just thinking about what went on in the Matthew's Academy, how anyone survived it."

Sally looked a little disturbed.

"What's wrong?"

Hesitating, Sally wasn't sure if she should tell Une about what she had found out. "Alex," Sally said before stopping. Seeing the expectant gaze of Lady Une, she continued, "She said that she found Relena in the knick of time. That if she had been even a minute later, it could have been a lot worse than Relena just having amnesia."

She was determined to dig to the bottom of this, both to help Relena get her memory back, and to pay back all of the help that Alex had given in the six months she had known her. There was a connection behind the attack on Relena Dorlian and Matthew's Academy. She would find it and make sure that it was taken care of.

Mariemaia crept back from the doorway. She had heard Sally come in and wanted to know what she had to say. Deep inside, she was worried about what would become of the world if that mind system ever got out. It would be even more horrible than what Dekim Barton had made her believe humanity must become for there to be peace. Silently closing her door, she rested against it before going over and laying on her bed.

[1] German for "What's up?"

[2] German for "What is this?"

[3] Another German phrase, this time "Holy shit."