AN: I'm terribly sorry this took so long to get out, and I do realize it is not as long as I hoped it would be. But I didn't want to keep you guys waiting that long, especially since you guys have been so great with reviews. I never would have thought anyone, and certainly never all of you guys, would have read my story and enjoyed some part of it.

Because school has started, my writing time has been cut short drastically. I've also run into a small wall with this story, so if any of you guys have any insight you would like to add, please feel free. I need all the help I can get.

As for showing my appreciation, I've decided to dedicate every chapter from here on in to all of you who take the time to read and respond. My dedications will consist of people who reviewed in the previous chapter. As for all the chapters before the last one, I'll integrate the other reviewers in.

Dedications: Ali, Tengokunou Arashi, RubyRedDragon05, Alitheria, Pierce, Z.Z. Zarah, Krissy, Tahjako Hino, Princess Ren, Icyfire, Chibi Sarcasm, Mars_G, SeeMe?, Raye Maxwell, Myst Lady, zero, Jammie, Dan Inverse, monoxide_child, marzy001, Mikomi, bleh, IsleofSolitude, Black Aura-Sama, lady pyro, PrincessGamgee.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon. I only wish I did.

It was a gorgeous day outside, but inside the Winner Mansion, the mood was far from joyous. Five somber pilots were gathered downstairs in Quatre's closed study where the young master had dropped a bombshell on them. Usagi had amnesia. This was starting to turn into a soap opera. Needless to say, none of the pilots were too happy when they found out what was going on, and now, several minutes later, they were still trying to overcome the initial shock of Usagi waking up a month earlier than the doctor had believed. And now throw in amnesia. This was just too much; no one knew what to make of the situation, except Wufei. The Chinese pilot was the only one who didn't seem to be fazed by the situation. In fact, he had a smug expression on his face.

"What have I been telling you from day one?!" He exclaimed indignantly, his nostrils flaring slightly. "Those two onnas are scheming for Oz. Why else has it been so quiet lately? Why bother attacking when THEY ARE ALREADY IN THE HOUSE?!"

Duo scowled viciously at the Chinese pilot, jumping to the two girls' defense. "For the last time, those two are not with Oz!"

Before another infamous argument could erupt, Quatre held up a hand to silence the braided pilots. "Wufei does have a point, but once again, my senses pick up nothing malicious about Rei or Usagi. If they are Oz agents, I am positive I would have picked up something by now."

"Not if they are trained-" Wufei started, unwilling to back out of this argument.

"Trust me, Wufei," Quatre told him quietly. "They are not from Oz." *I've sat by Usagi's side everyday of every week for nearly a month now. I should know.* Wufei was about to protest again, but one look from the blonde silenced him on the mater. Taking control over the situation, Quatre had stepped up into a leadership role, and the stern look on his face held no room for arguments. He had the floor.

"There are many matters Usagi's amnesia brings about we will have to address. I do want to thank all of you for respecting my request of not interrogating Rei about her past. So far, even Wufei has managed to leave that subject untouched, and once again I am thankful. But Usagi's amnesia does bring about too many unanswered questions, so I am afraid we will have to pry a bit. Rei will undoubtedly be devastated at Usagi's current state, and we must do all we can to help her cope." At this, Wufei snorted but remained silent. Quatre continued on as if he had not been interrupted.

"I believe one of us should break the news to her before she finds out for herself. That way, she would have time to comprehend the situation before meeting Usagi. Although this will most likely be a trying time for her, she will have to shed some light on the situaion at hand. But that does NOT mean an interrogation." He shot meaningful glances at both Heero and Wufei. The latter did not look too pleased at Quatre's last comment.

"So who's going to be the messenger?"

That seemed to be the question of the decade. None of them wanted to be a messenger of bad tidings. Silence smothered the study, as for once, no one dared to accept a mission.

Mars grimaced at the sight that greeted her. Even after all the lifetimes of fighting, of bloodshed, the devastating consequences of this particular battle would haunt her like no other. Crystal Tokyo had been utterly destroyed by from what she could tell, was only the first wave of the attack. Gorgeous green hills that she and the others always had picnics on were now charred to an ugly burnt umber. The beautiful blue skies they had gazed upon were now marred with ash gray smoke that hung ominously over the broken city. The Crystal Palace, which had once stood proud and tall, had long since crashed to the floor in a heap of rubble.

The fire senshi's first concern was the Royal Family. Where was Neo-Queen Serenity? She could not sense her or any of the other senshi for that matter. Ever since she had set foot back on Earth, her senses had gone haywire. She had not even been able to sense a youma creeping up on her from her blind side. It was not until it was a yard behind her when she realized she was not alone. On a bad day, she would have been able to sense it coming at least a mile away. That was how keen her senses had developed over the years. So now after that incident and although she still could not sense her friends, she did not allow panic to seize her. Reason told her there was no way the senshi could have gone down in battle. Reason told her Setsuna would have seen it coming and warned them. Reason told her they were invincible.

Yet despite trying to reason with herself, she practically flew down the hill towards Crystal Tokyo. She turned a blind eye to all the destruction that lay in between her and the palace. She was deaf to the heart wrenching pleas for help. All that mattered was making sure the Queen was alive. She did not have any time to spare for the other casualties. Otherwise she would have failed her duty, and most importantly, she would have failed her Queen. Lifetimes would have been wasted. The fire senshi was just reaching the city borders when a cry stood out from the others.

"Rei." Mars halted in her tracks. She could place that voice anywhere. Minako.

"Minako?"

She turned around and found her friend yards away lying in a puddle of her own blood, with a crustacean like youma crushing her from above. The fire senshi flew to her leader's side, all the while pushing back the tears that were welling up.

When she got there, she let out a horrified cry at the grotesque image before her. From a distance, it had appeared that the pretty blonde was crushed to the ground, but now that Mars was next to her, she realized it was not so. Minako was, in fact, painfully hovering inches above the ground. The monster had impaled its claw right through her abdomen, and because of the long, razor spikes that lined the side of the claw digging into her skin, Minako had been unable to slide off.

"Took you long enough," the blonde managed to choke out. The small wink told her she was only joking. At that, Mars nearly lost all her composure, but at the last minute when it felt like she was going to cry, choked down any emotion other than anger.

"Usa?" she asked softly, afraid of what the answer could be.

"We forced her inside. She should be alright." Minako gasped out, spewing out a few drops of blood. Mars nodded as reassuringly as she could. The last thing her friend needed to hear right now was that the Crystal Palace was in ruins.

"I'll go get Hotaru." Mars was about to move when her friend quickly stopped her.

"No, it's too late for me." Minako paused, taking in huge gasps of air. The conversation was taking it's toll on her. "Hotaru . . . must . . save . . energy."

"Minako, I can't leave you here!"

"You're . . our only . . hope. Go! That's . . . an . . ord-" With a choking gasp, her body went limp as her head fell backwards, hitting the ground. The sentence remained unfinished as her eyes gradually closed shut.

Mars tightly shut her eyes, bending down to give her blonde leader a farewell kiss. A single tear dropped onto Minako's face before sliding down her cheek and down onto the ground, mixing in with her blood. Mars was no where to be seen.

Rei shot out of bed, panting heavily. Her brow was lined with sweat, making it look like she had just finished a workout. She clutched at her sheets as she battled the ghosts of her pasts. This was the first night she had had nightmares ever since she had found Usagi. Somehow, even in her inanimate state, her queen comforted her. Just knowing she hadn't fallen prey to those bastards was comfort enough. Her queen was safe, and that was all that mattered. Her queen! Of course!

The fire senshi tossed the covers aside, and without even bothering to check her attire, bolted out of the room. Her queen should be completely healed by now, which meant she could have someone to share her pain with. It meant someone could finally answer all her questions regarding the final battle. It was still a mystery to her as to how Usagi managed to escape. All Pluto had managed to tell her was that Usagi was no longer in Crystal Tokyo, and then the wild goose chase had begun. But now that Usagi was awake, Rei could put the ghosts of the past away. Now she could finally have some answers about the enemy, about the attack, about everything.

She threw her door open, and without bothering to check to see if the coast was clear, sprinted out the room. She managed to take two long strides before slamming into something rock solid. Something rock solid that moved.

Heero was on his way to his room when he passed by Rei's room. All of a sudden, the door swung open with a force hard enough to put a hole in the wall. He barely managed to avoid being flattened like a pancake against the wall when something soft collided into him, knocking him down to the floor. He hit the ground with a thud as a mass of raven landed on top of him with an 'oof'.

The Perfect Soldier soon realized the mass of ebony was actually hair, and that someone, not something, was pressed on top of him. Just his luck. Rei. She slowly raised her head, a blush staining the sheepish expression on her face. It was then he realized why she was so embarrassed. She was clad in a skimpy nightgown, one she undoubtedly got from one of Quatre's sisters' wardrobe. It didn't leave much to the imagination. He swallowed hard as his eyes slowly found hers in a clash of glossy amethyst and blazing Prussian blue.

Rei scrambled to her feet, quickly fixing her nightgown. Her face remained at its red hue, refusing to die down. She should have been more careful, but in her excitement to see Usagi, she had forgotten there were other occupants in the mansion, other occupants that walked by her room all the time. Mainly, there was Heero. The one next door.

"Sorry about that. I didn't know you were outside." She fidgeted with the hem of her nightgown, avoiding his gaze. He slowly got up, his eyes never leaving her for even a second. Rei hastily muttered another excuse before trying to rush past him again, towards Usagi's.

"Wait."

Heero grabbed her arm as she tried to dash past him. She turned to him, her eyes questioning. Now that he had her attention, he didn't know what to say. He hadn't meant to grab her arm. It just happened, but he knew where she was headed. They had all finally decided Trowa was best fit to break the news to Rei. He would simply have to distract her until Trowa got here.

"You can't go down there," He blurted out, mentally cursing himself for his sudden brain freeze. He was the Perfect Soldier. Lying was part of his job, yet now he couldn't even think of a simple excuse!

Rei arched an eyebrow, staring at him impatiently. "And why not?"

"Because Quatre said so." He took a deep breath, calming himself. Realizing he was still holding onto her, he gave her arm a gentle tug, pulling her closer to him. Bad move. She immediately blushed again, and Heero couldn't help but drown in her beauty. She was the first to look away again.

"Heero, I really should go check on Usagi." She started to pull away, but his grip remained firm. "Hee-"

He shook his head, cutting her off. "Usagi's fine. She's still in stable condition and recovering rapidly. Quatre says at this rate, she'll wake up a lot sooner then the doctor predicted, but he doesn't want anyone in the room disturbing her rest. He's even posted Rashid at the door to make sure no one disturbs your friend."

He held his breath, hoping she would buy his story. Since when did lying become so difficult? She stared at him for long, torturous moments. He could read the mixture of emotions on her face, ranging from doubt to uncertainty to understanding.

"I suppose Quatre's right. Usagi does need her rest. Are you sure there's been no change? None at all?" She asked, nibbling on her lower lip as she considered what he had just told her.

"Only that she is recovery rapidly." It was definitely time to change the subject. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you go change, and I'll take you out shopping? I'm sure there's stuff you need to pick up." Rei stared at him in disbelief, causing Heero to shift uncomfortably. Was there something on his face she was staring at? "What?"

Rei shook her head, snapping out of her daze. "You just don't strike me as the type to go shopping. I would have thought shopping was more of a Duo thing."

"So does that mean we're going?"

She stared at him a while longer, contemplating on whether or not to take him up on his offer. She did really need to go shopping, and he did say Usagi was beyond stable. If she stayed at home, she still wouldn't be able to get past Rashid. But going shopping with Heero? What were they going to talk about? Up until now, he had barely spoken to her. How was she going to survive shopping with him?

Rei was about to decline, but one look at him wiped all doubts away. He looked so adorable with his hands stuffed in his pockets and his hair all tousled. For a moment, she was reminded of a shy little boy not knowing how to confront a girl. She flashed him a smile. Oh, why not? She deserved some fun.

"Sure, just let me get changed, okay? Then I'm all yours."

Heero waited until she had shut her door before letting out a huge sigh. What had he just gotten himself into?

= = = = = =

So how was it? Hopefully it met an inkling of your standards. Once again I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter out and for how short it was. I promise to make the other half of this chapter considerably longer. Once again, if you have any ideas, or etc, just let me know!

As for pairings, man you guys are making it hard for me. Don't get me wrong, I love your responses and I take everything you guys say into consideration. At first I thought I was favoring Trowa to be the final pairing, but with the sudden influx of requests for Heero, I started favoring Heero. Now, after much deliberation, I'm still back at square one. I haven't finalized my decision yet, but there will be plenty of romance between Rei and both guys (it is a love triangle, afterall). But, I already have an idea for the sequel which will include the pilot that doesn't end up with Rei in this story. (Yes I know, I'm not even done with this story and I already have an idea for the sequel, unless if you guys don't want a sequel.) - - ;