Title: Immortal

Word-count: 3191

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4x5

Timeline: Semi AU, post war

Author notes: A story that hit me late in the evening after I finished the Cathy's book series. This series counts 3 books: Cathy's book, key and ring. The series was about a teenage girl artist who loves to draw and as superb art skills. She finds out her boyfriend is immortal and ends up knee deep in trouble with his immortal family who want her dead for knowing their secret. This story is inspired by that series.

Immortal;

In the dead of night a lone shadowy figure slipped out of the large mansion. It'd taken forever for him get out and he knew he'd be late. It didn't matter though. He'd wanted to do this his own way. They'd agreed that tonight would be the night. On the 20th anniversary of what was now known as the eve wars. He silently slipped out of the bushes near the bus stop and casually walked away as the moonlight played over pale blonde hair giving the youth an almost inhuman glow to him.

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"You're late." a quiet voice said once the blonde haired boy reached the point chosen for their meeting.

"I know. Atiya wouldn't sleep. I think she knew this would happen." the blond answered as he sat down with the other four already there.

"It's alright. I counted on him being the last one; being CEO and after all." said a young man with messy brown hair who stood leaned against the old oak.

"Yes, but even given the extra time it took him long and we can't afford to waste more time." the quiet one said stepping aside to let a taller youth pass him; his black hair shimmering in the moonlight like ink.

"We know Wufei. The longer we stay the more we risk. It's painful and difficult, but we agreed upon this." the tall one said wrapping his arms around the blonde who smiled warmly at him. He'd missed this; had missed his true family.

"We knew this day would come. I'm glad we're able to do it together this time. I've always hated doing this, but it's made easier now I know I'm not the only one." the taller one said smiling.

"Yeah...I just...hope they can understand." said another youth who slipped out of the shadows the old oak cast over the area; his braid swinging behind him. The messy haired one placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We can't stay...eventually they will realize...will ask questions...will hurt." he said quietly.

"It will never be easy and only we can understand fully. I've tried enough times to know." the black haired one said. The others nodded their agreement. Together they watched as the sun rose over the horizon and in the city below their loved ones woke up as usual and went about their usual routines.

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The five under the old oak, the gundam boys; they were the heroes of the people. They'd fought and won a war that had been fought forever and during it all each had kept their own horrid secrets, but above all they'd kept one very deep and painful secret that they could share with no one. These five, they were immortals. Born as everyone else upon this planet the mortal way, but upon dying they awoke immortal. Since their death and rebirth as immortal humans they had been faced with long endless lives. Some more than others and yet none of them upon meeting in the war knew from the other that they were immortal.

Trowa Barton had been Triton a young soldier in the Roman army when he first died. He'd been murdered in a mercenary attack. He woke up days later with dried blood on him. They'd left him in the forest to be devoured by wild animals, but he'd simply woken up to a wild goat nibbling on his shirt. He'd caught and killed it before getting a fire going and cooking the meat over the fire. It'd taken him weeks to get to the nearest town and from there he'd gone on to the city of Rome. He reported the betrayal of his captain who'd sent the location of the army to the enemy resulting in the brutal slaughter by mercenaries from which he'd escaped only to be murdered in the forest where he woke up finding out that he was not as dead as his captain had wanted.

Triton had been shocked to learn that the captain had told the emperor that HE had been the one to hire the mercenaries to murder the army and he was thrown in jail. All he could do was bide his time and during the chaos following the death of the emperor he was able to escape.

Since that day he'd gone through life as a nameless warrior going from one place to the next and living the only way he'd ever known. It wasn't until he began noticing that the people around him got older when he retained a youthful sixteen year old look. Over time this began to bring new problems and Trowa was forced to keep moving so he wouldn't attract any attention to his lack of aging. After living for well over 200 years he found an old manuscript which spoke of a unique condition that allowed one to live forever. Since learning this he'd come to the conclusion that this must be what he had. After all one simply didn't wake up in one's own dried blood after having ones throat slid...not unless one could not die. It wouldn't be until 2000 years after he first discovered he couldn't die that he met others like him.

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Heero Yuy had been a normal teenager in 1995 Japan when he first died. He'd been walking down the streets pondering on his thesis for a computer class when a billboard came crashing down on him. He woke up in the hospital where they were just about to shove him in a freezer in the morgue. The doctors spoke of a miracle and the news was all over him. Heero had hated the attention and stayed at home from then on, but he too began to realize as the years went by that his classmates and his mother got older, but he didn't and no one could explain it. Heero did research into his condition and came across documents that described immortals; humans that never aged or died.

Being however a young genius in the field of computers he was easily able to create a new identity for himself. He simply lived at his mom's house. His father had died prior to Heero's birth and his mother had raised her son by herself so when he told her what he'd discovered she'd been happy to help her son keep his secret. She loved her boy and the last thing she wanted was for him to end up in a science lab where people would poke at his genes. She hated the very idea of that and had no problem telling his school and anyone who asked that her son's fragile health meant he couldn't leave the house or his room. Life though was lonely to Heero and he soon created himself a fictional family to explain why his old mother had a 15 year old living in her house. So when his mother passed away he was to everyone her grandson who looked exactly like his father and whose mother passed away in a car crash.

Heero found the act of hacking and creating fake information very useful and easy and used it to hide his immortal existence for many centuries.

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Chang Wufei was born in a family which had been appointed the guards of the scrolls that spoke of the immortals. He grew up with the tales and as such wasn't very surprised when he woke up alive after a thief had shot him through the head. His family of course was very proud to bring forth an immortal, but Wufei soon found that being immortal meant a pain filled eternity.

Wufei for years lived one life after another leaving behind families to die as they grew old and or got sick. For years he lived like this living out several life times and living vastly different lives with different jobs and different people. He even spent a lifetime trying to end his life. He found though that nothing could kill him and grew tired of living after more than 2000 years. Having finally gone with the new family Chang of AC 167 moved to the colonies he chose to live alone and keep himself away from people.

Mei-ran however changed this. She drove him insane and caused him to do reckless things and then she passed away. Wufei had fought countless wars, but none were as confusing as the eve wars and he had been left raw and lonely after Mei-ran died. Master Long had been the only one to know the boy was an immortal and as the old man had loved the boy like a son he'd given the boy the advice to decide for himself what path is just and to follow it.

Wufei had realized soon that the four he during the war had called comrades were immortals too. He didn't know how to breach the subject though until he and Duo Maxwell had been trapped in a cell without oxygen and the two were suffering greatly, but hadn't died yet when any normal human should have.

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Duo had been a medieval street rat who was put to death for the crime of stealing food. His body had been dumped after the killing and some five hours later Duo awoke finding himself to be devoid of any scars at all and still alive. He quickly discovered he was able to survive where no ordinary human could and used it to his advantage to survive, but he never strayed from his street born roots knowing that they were the best way for him to stay hidden. As the world changed and he grew weary Duo began to long for company and tried his best to surround himself with people.

Having so long lived without a family Duo realized he longed for one, but could never have one because his secret would be found out when his wife would turn old and wrinkly and he still looked all of 13 to all the world. Of course when he died at 16 a malnourished lifestyle left his growth stunted forever and his youthful looks were permanently both a curse and a gift.

During the eve wars Duo had come to find family that had been accepting of him and when he lost them he for the first time experienced the true pain of living. He'd been through so many wars by then that he wanted to end this one and make sure no war would ever plague the world again. He had gained a unique view of the world and a soul who shared his troubles.

Chang Wufei a Chinese scholar turned Gundam Pilot who had become immortal upon his death some 2200 years prior to the eve wars. He understood Duo's pain and his view on the value of life and the pointlessness of war. Duo had known also that Heero Yuy was an immortal, but the other knew this not of him. He'd suspected as Heero had that Trowa was also immortal as the taller male had survived the explosion of his mobile suit in the cold death of outer space and survived floating toward a colony for days before being found and brought in.

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Quatre Raberba Winner was the newest immortal. He had only become immortal in the presence of one Trowa Barton. He'd until then lived his life as gundam pilot expecting to die in the battle field. He'd never expected that a fall off the overseeing platform in the hangar where his gundam was stalled would be his death and he'd certainly not expected to wake up in the arms of Trowa Barton to be told that he'd been legally dead to the world for more than 30 minutes before awakening to the world as an immortal. He'd been shocked and scared, but Trowa had sworn to help him and even told him of his own life. The two gained a bond that was very strong, but after the war Quatre's family insisted on it that he marry a woman and bear new heirs to the family fortune.

A sharp mind and good friends made that Quatre early on began to plan how to extract himself from his family. Leaving his wife was the easy part. He had left her the freedom to see whomever she please as they both agreed that their marriage was out of duty and not out of love. She bore him 2 children Akil their son and Atiya their daughter. The son was sharp witted as his father and warm as his mother, but the daughter was every bit her father's child and it had been hardest for Quatre to leave her behind, but he knew she wasn't immortal and it would be too troublesome for them.

Everything had been prepared for. He left at night having left a note to his wife that he had an emergency meeting and in three days Rashid who'd been trusted with the truth by all five young men would bring the family the news that the winner aircraft was found and Quatre's dead burned body close to it. The body scorched beyond recognition and the alterations Heero made to Quatre's dental records would ensure that the fake body would be ID'd as Quatre and the necklace with the wedding band that Quatre personally put around the neck of the fake corpse, along with his burned wallet and briefcase would ensure that there was no doubt. It had hurt him a lot and still hurt him to know that he left this burden on his family, but Wufei and Trowa had been right it would be a bigger burden on them to watch how he stayed eternally youthful as they grew old. Quatre had even gone as far as to dye grey streaks in his hair and thanks to Wufei's skill with makeup he was able to give his face an aged look to it; all so his family would suffer as little as possible and to hide his own immortality.

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After the war the five met at this location under this tree each year to celebrate the anniversary of the end of the wars, but they agreed that on this year 20 years after the war and at 35 years of age they could no longer wait. At this age other men would grow wrinkles and grey hair and show the signs of time on their bodies and faces; staying longer would mean risking their secret being found out.

Heero had spent his days after the war with his immortal lover Duo. War had drawn the two together and finding out each other's secret only strengthened the connection; a mutual desire not to be alone anymore had done the rest and it didn't hurt that both boys were actively aware of their preference for men.

Trowa had from the moment he met him felt a strong connection with Quatre and only the petit blonde's duty to his family kept them apart. Neither denied the irresistible attraction to the Chinese youth that throughout the war had guided the four other pilots through many a tough time and open their eyes to the truth as well as the strange coincidence that the five of them had in this time met although Quatre hadn't yet joined the ranks of the immortal until 2 days after inviting Trowa to his base.

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"Well it's time." Duo said as the sun had risen fully.

"Where will we go then?" Quatre asked quietly. He still had doubts and had since learning about his immortality pondered on what to do and where to go when he could no longer hide it.

"Back to the colonies? I've managed to secure J's lab and the research he did on me. We could hide there for quite some time." Heero said quietly.

"Wouldn't anyone notice the activity there or the food and supplies being brought?" Trowa asked as he got up from where he and Quatre had sat.

"Nah...J made sure no one will be able to find his true lab. He also made sure that there was a special part of the lab reserved for growing food. No one will ever know." Heero said calmly.

"Yes if you wanna spend eternity on a vegan diet." Duo muttered.

"J made sure to store a lot of non-perishables and we won't be there an eternity. Just long enough to ensure that the world has forgotten about us." Heero said yanking Duo's braid playfully.

"It sounds like a good plan. We must take care not to become famous in our new lives. It's rather a hassle to deal with disappearing when literally everyone in the world knows who you are." Wufei murmured.

Since these were friends who knew his secret and shared it Wufei no longer needed to keep up the appearance he'd kept during the eve wars and had fallen back to his old mannerisms and speech patterns. Heero too had dropped the cold stoic facade and become his true self again now he was among those he could truly call brothers. He'd surprised all of them with a playful side none of them knew he had. Trowa had dropped his indifferent mask and had shown them a genuine enigmatic smile that rivalled the famous Mona Lisa's. His mannerisms and speech returning to that of the royal warrior of olden days that he'd been born as. Even Duo had dropped his usual mask and in return showed them the mature, street wise, warm young man that he truly was. His speech however didn't change; he was proud of having achieved a proper way of speaking over the years.

The five looked down that the city in which they'd spent a good 20 years of their eternally youthful lives and sent silent wishes of good fortune and happiness to those they left behind. Each in their own way had gone and met the others at the pre determined place and together they would face the isolation that living eternally brought. For so long had four of them roamed the world alone; now they finally could face the future together and already they had agreed to guide their young brother who'd only this century joined the ranks of immortality.

Trowa looked over Quatre's head to Wufei who nodded in silent agreement. The two knew better than anyone the hardship of eternity as they had lived the longest; had lived the most lives. They would protect their young brother and lover and would attempt to make sure he'd not feel the desperation as they had and still did. Heero and Duo had also agreed when it was discussed prior to the blonde arriving. Heero had at that time mentioned also the research J had done into what made them immortal and how he wanted to continue it in hopes of finding one day a way to cure this eternal life they had so that they too might finally end their journey and rest in peace.

To most immortality would seem like a gift, but only those who live eternally know the true curse of immortality.

The end! R&R PLZ?