Part Four

Everything Ends

Waking up beside someone was a rare occurrence for Wufei. It was something he generally avoided, as he had spent the years since Trowa's death avoiding emotional attachments. He had temporary bed partners, fleeting relationships where he generally left whomever he had slept with prior to waking up, but this time he stayed. This time, he woke up next to Duo Maxwell.

He was still asleep and Wufei used the opportunity to trace a black line that intersected his back, the wings of a raven large and imposing on his skin. It was one of many tattoos he'd acquired in the post war year, a haze of marks imprinted over scars and pale skin. Wufei understood. His dragons. Swords. Cherry blossoms. The silhouette of Nataku. Merian's name. It was all etched into his skin, as though his skin was the blank pages of his own autobiography. He supposed it was.

And of course, there was the half mask, hidden within the intricate waves and blacks of his arm.

The process of waking up beside someone brought flashes of Trowa to life. Eighteen, tall, that small smile, that hidden eye, that firm body, those rough hands. And he remembered the death – the funeral, the pomp and ceremony that Preventer wanted, due to it being the first "big" tragedy. The four of them carrying him in some mocking tradition that Trowa would've hated. The burial in the rain, a sea of black umbrellas, some eulogies that meant nothing done by Une, and Wufei left at the side, alone, finally, throwing in a half mask as dirt was piled on the shiny surface of the coffin.

Then there was the fight, his hands around Duo's throat, the neck that Wufei had bitten in the heat of climax only hours before. The skin that he'd dug his fingernails into as their bodies moved together in some silent, angry fucking.

It had been a long time to grieve, to resent, and he had resented and hated Duo for so damn long. And now he didn't.

Not because of sex. But because Duo had been just as broken by Trowa's death – just as lost. None of them ever recovered. And the world fell into disrepair.

Perhaps sensing him awake, Duo stretched, and the tight space in the bunk made their bodies, already too close, grind together in a way that send shivers up Wufei's spine and created bumps over his over-heated skin. But they'd promised. Never again. And Duo only turned his head, cracking an eye open before he got up without ceremony, sitting on the edge of the bed for a moment before he grabbed for his clothing, finding it where it had landed the previous night.

Wufei watched, his eyes narrowed in the dim light as Duo moved fluidly, no words shared between them as it seemed there was nothing left to say. They now only required a plan of how to get the full ramifications of the Equinox project out, and how to do that without losing their lives. And how to stop that weapons being made on the base from ever leaving it.

"I'm gonna wash up," Duo said – the first words since the night before, and his voice sounded raw.

"Fine."

They didn't need to speak anymore as Duo left, Wufei sitting up on his bunk and then rising to grab for his sword, pulling it out from where he had stored it, running his fingers over the blade. Naked, uncaring, he practised swift motions, cuts and arcs through the air, building a sweat in the tiny room, his skin glimmering in the light that came from the cracks underneath the door.

It felt cleansing. Liberating, as he swiped and parried his invisible foe, sweating out the previous night until he was breathing deeply, kneeling on the floor, his knees feeling the hard metallic surface underneath his bare skin.

And he let his breathing return to normal, his body come down from the high, before he rose, seeking out something to throw over his naked body and go in search of the showers.

As now he needed to be dowsed in water, clean, and ready to focus at the task at hand. No more ghosts haunting him. No more confused feelings. Only a mission to right the wrongs and stop an injustice from destroying the people they had fought to protect.

Equinox was a labyrinth. Or maybe it was more spider like. It had a central hub of labs and green houses, and "arms" that went out to various locations around the base, linked by other corridors. Wufei stared at the blueprints, stared at them as he heard Duo and Zechs argue, his own opinion not aired. Not yet. He would let them fight, act like the stubborn, pig-headed men they were. Maybe he had a thing for stubborn assholes. Wufei briefly looked up to see Duo with his hands in fists at his sides and Zechs with his arms folded across his chest.

Obviously he did. Trowa counted in them.

"… all I'm sayin' is that you can't guarantee the explosion won't rip into that 'wing' and destroy the integrity of the walls and then you'll be fucked, right? You'll all die suffocating in your damn spacesuits."

"It has to be destroyed."

"I'm not disputing that. At all. As fuck, let's make sure the virus never makes it off this red hunk of dust. But man, you can't speak for everyone. You ain't the leader. This ain't White Fang."

Wufei looked up sharply at the accusation seeing Zechs shift between his good and bad leg. "I can speak for them. All you need to do is get the information off here and distribute it. And the proof is in the vials."

Duo kicked at a chair and Wufei made a "tsk" underneath his breath at his childish action, which earned him a glare from those blue eyes before he turned that anger back towards Zechs. "There are kids here."

Equinox had children born here. Had families. And they'd seen them, and Wufei understood. It was one of the things he had always protected in his own colony, in his own neighbourhood. People who hurt children, who endangered them, who killed them, were shown no mercy. And Wufei knew Duo had a similar code of ethics. Two old terrorists who had killed for less reasons, but still wanted protect those who needed it. Maybe because they had not been. Or only for so long.

"They will be safe," Zechs assured them, "I am not letting anyone else die needlessly for this damned project."

Duo made a frustrated noise. "I'm gonna call 'Ro."

"They'll listen."

"Huh," Duo said with a chuckle, "hell, if they can get through the encrypted channel me and Heero use, they deserve a fuckin' medal."

And with a sarcastic salute, he pushed himself off the wall and Wufei watched his casual walk out of the room. A stride that suggested that he had nothing to do in the world rather than be in the middle of a potentially lethal situation, in a situation where they would kill again, and potentially not survive. The truth of Equinox covered up again.

The door closed, and Wufei saw Zechs take a seat, his body seeming heavy and his expression was one of exhaustion. He seemed old. And there was only a few years difference between them, nothing now that they were men and not teenagers, but Zechs had lost. And loss always took its toll on a man.

"You don't plan on surviving," Wufei said shrewdly, "you are going to ensure the rest of your people are safe when you blow the labs and the rest of Equinox."

Zechs laughed, an almost hysterical laugh, and Wufei only stared at the reaction. It continued for a while, the rolling laugh, and when it stopped Zechs wiped his shirt sleeve across his face as though tears had formed in his eyes.

"You always were so observant," Zechs drawled, "are you going to tell Maxwell?"

"He'll figure it out when he's ready."

"Would he stop me?"

Wufei thought, and, despite the fact that Duo was hostile towards him, he probably would. Something about his often skewed sense of morality.

"He might."

Zechs leant forward across the table, and Wufei saw his hands, the pock-marked skin. "You always knew I used you."

"Yes."

"I shouldn't have been like that. You were young."

"I was never young."

"True," Zechs replied, his tone amused, "I can't imagine you as a boy. Or maybe I can. Serious."

"You are close."

He didn't admit how close – that he had been the scholar, studious, serious – just as Zechs believed. And he remembered his long destroyed colony – a colony that had been decimated just as the ESUN planned to do to the unviable colonies. It wasn't so grand but it was the same result – obliteration.

"I'm sorry it had to be you."

"You're not," Wufei responded.

There was a shrug of shoulders in response, and Wufei saw this was like a chess game, the board set, evenly matched as they stared each other down.

"You never were sorry. And it never mattered. You were always going back to her," Wufei said it evenly, no malice in his tone, as the situation with Zechs had led to Trowa.

It had led to that first slightly drunken moment when Trowa had done that thing he'd done, where he flipped his hair a little out of his face and gave that smirk that led to them making out in a men's room of the nearest old-fashioned "pub" to Preventer HQ, and then impatiently, drunkenly, having rough sex on Trowa's creaky old couch. And Wufei got up, his head bowed as he pushed himself up to walk away, to mentally prepare for the plan to be put into action, to feel the weight of his sword, a gun in his hand and the knowledge that he soon would be fighting his way out of Equinox.

"What you didn't know, Zechs," he said, pausing at the doorway, "is that I was using you."

With that, he left the room, as maybe Zechs had been older, more mature, but Wufei had been forgetting the mistakes and heat of war, and had been using him just as much. Just as he had used Duo to forget the shadow of Trowa. Fuck.

The weapons stash was impressive, and Wufei eyed up the guns, blades, grenades. It was easy to see how Zechs had commandeered the base with these threats, and with the threat to destroy what the ESUN needed so badly. Wufei watched as Duo picked up a gun, opening the chamber briefly and then pointing it like a child practising for a game.

"You not gonna have a gun?"

"I have my sword."

Duo raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, well I know that but come on, we might not be in close quarters combat, right?"

Reluctantly Wufei pushed himself off the wall to select a gun, not really caring which. He'd never been a fan of the impersonality of the weapons. He preferred a blade. Nataku had had a soul despite being a large machine made for the purposes of war. Guns were clinical. No artistry. He'd only ever met one man who seemed to have the same view, and Treize Khushrenada was long dead.

"You don't like the plan?" Wufei queried aware of how Duo was acting.

"I never like plans. Plans get fucked up. I mean, I was planning to be on some nice, deserted island by twenty five, not on this god-forsaken rock."

He knew that Duo was being sarcastic but still, the sentiment was true. Wufei should've been anywhere but here. In his store, living a life as a Preventer with a Trowa who hadn't died at eighteen, with Merian even. Plans. Nothing ever went according to plan, but this time it would.

Wufei sighed and holstered the weapon, folding his arms across his chest. "They'll try to kill us."

"Nothing new there, huh?"

Their eyes met and Wufei was tempted to laugh were it not for the door opening, the tall figure of Zechs Merquise in the frame, his face set in a grim determined line.

"We're ready."

"Guess we are too," Duo said, inclining his head towards Wufei, "or as we'll ever be."

"I'll give you this."

In Zechs hand was the most innocuous looking items without the knowledge of what they contained – the flash drive with all the information about Equinox, videos of the dying, the labs and the green houses, and all the data that could be collated. Enough for Yuy to be able to put together something for the public. And then a small vial, the liquid inside it clear. It would have to be analysed, evidence of what the purpose of Equinox became.

Wufei took them, securing the vial over his heart in a pocket in the utilitarian grey uniforms that they'd been provided with. He felt the coldness against his skin. Maybe he imagined it , but Wufei felt something unnatural towards that small amount of virus that intended to kill.

The flash drive he handed to Duo.

"In case we don't both make it," Wufei said blandly as he handed it to Duo.

It wasn't questioned, only secured inside his own uniform and a short nod was given towards Zechs. "The civilians all secured?"

Zechs nodded. "Only the three of us left in this area. The advantage of the purpose of this place. The labs are well protected and the blast doors will hold."

"Just give us enough time, right?" Duo said, giving a small wink that seemed a gesture of false confidence.

"As soon as you give me comms, I'll act. Then you'll have five minutes."

The silence palpable then. Five minutes wasn't a long time. They had to get from the damn command room that Kent used to the Odyssey within that time, and that was if there was no resistance. And Wufei doubted that.

"Get this out," Zechs said softly, "tell the world."

And without another word, he turned, leaving the small weapons store to do whatever a dead man walking did. Wufei didn't imagine Zechs Merquise a religious man. He was like them – had seen too much to find faith or believe in anything beyond the mortal world. When you had seen people die in your arms, faith was not something you had. But maybe he needed time, time to face his own morality, and Wufei turned to Duo to see his expression thoughtful, a gun still poised lazily in his fingertips.

"You ready to put on a show?"

Wufei only looked back to the open door and continued to watch Zechs walk away. He was as ready as he'd ever be. For a fight he'd not expected he'd have to fight.

They were marched from the barriers, Wufei looking back once, knowing that it was ineffectual. Zechs was somewhere in the centre of the Equinox base and not visible anymore. He didn't know whether he should have said something else, but his words were hollow. Words had never been his strong point, and he would offer no comfort to a man. A man who probably wanted to be alone with his thoughts as death confronted him.

The men stood close to them, and Wufei could see that Duo had clocked the additional suspicion, the additional security and caution. Kent was scared. Kent wanted to know what they knew, as did Quatre and whoever else was involved in Equinox.

He was almost surprised their weapons were not removed. It seemed an oversight. And that was even with Wufei having a sword across his back.

The room was as Wufei remembered, the swishing doors reminding Wufei of the systems that Kent had shut down on the other side of Equinox. The comms, the temperature regulations, the automatic doors – things that didn't effect what they did not want to be effected. The calculated measures that hadn't worked.

"Agents," Kent said. This time there was no 'take a seat', no politeness, and Wufei suddenly took in their surroundings and clocked the guards around them. The military presence on Equinox was limited, men were rusty – old ex-Ozzies and Alliance guys come out to Mars for the easy life. It was why so many had died in the battle, and so Wufei knew they had a chance if this became violent.

He was sure it would.

"The demands?"

Wufei turned towards the disembodied voice and saw Quatre on the screen, the slicked back hair and the conference table, the veneer of respectability.

"That the truth of Equinox is revealed and the base is decommissioned," Wufei said clearly, his voice steady, and he glanced towards Duo, whose fingers were already clutching for a weapon, his eyes darting around the room.

"I don't know what Merquise told you- " Kent began, and Wufei didn't bother looking at his face, his gaze was on Quatre's expression, which had barely shifted, but enough to indicate he was shrewd enough to know that they couldn't be bullshitted.

"He told us everything," Duo interrupted. "And gave us more than that."

Wufei looked sharply at Duo who appeared too damn cocky, revealing their hand and that they had evidence. It was enough for Kent to realise they were a threat.

There was the subtle change of atmosphere, and Wufei did as he had always done, tensed, his fingers itching for a weapon as hostility radiated from Kent.

"You have what? Evidence?"

Duo shrugged, took a few steps forward and Wufei wanted to warn him, wanted to tell him to use caution, as this was reckless, but then recklessness had perhaps always been a characteristic of Duo Maxwell. And he didn't want to show fear – not that Wufei wanted Kent to know they assessed him as even a minor threat – but he still felt the hairs at the back of his stand on end.

"We have enough."

He had stopped within a few feet and Duo glanced up to the screen and looked at the man who had once been their comrade. "I just wanna know… why? This ain't a solution. It's genocide."

Kent opened his mouth, but the question hadn't been addressed to him, it had been addressed to the screen.

"You wouldn't understand," Quatre said and Wufei saw Duo's anger in his body language.

"Try me."

The weary sigh from Quatre's lips was one that made Wufei level his stare at the screen to see a few things – that he looked exhausted, conflicted, and while Wufei could see that, he felt no sympathy.

"It is not an easy decision, the lives of the many have to be valued above that of the few…"

The justification was enough to make Wufei balk, but he didn't expect Duo's reaction, the gun drawn from its holster at his waist with a speed that was unsurprising, and instead of Quatre continuing his own tirade about how his action were justified, the screen shattered when a single gunshot hit the centre, a bullet directly in the centre of the blond man's head. It was only a screen, it was only some vid-feed, and Quatre Winner was somewhere safe within a boardroom, or in an office in some office of his large conglomerate, but it was symbolic. Yet the symbolism was lost, as drawing the weapon had been enough for gun shots to start, the small confined space of the control room sparking with the smell and sound of weapons being discharged.

As expected, there was some rustiness to the guards, and that was used to their advantage. Wufei was able to draw his gun and fire at a man who was still aiming, shooting at the knee with precision he had not used in years. He briefly glanced to assess Duo's position to see him currently wrestling with Kent, unable to make out the exact actions but being aware there were punches being thrown and attempts to disarm.

Wufei had to trust that Duo would be able to win that fight, as he had his own men to deal with, suddenly finding a man dragging at him from behind, grabbing at his arm in what seemed to be an attempt to disarm him. Wufei used his elbow, smashing it hard into a face and then spinning on his feet and raising his arm to bring the side of his hand on the man's neck, watching him crash to the floor.

With a small spin, Wufei poised his weapon to shoot at two more guards, keeping his aim low and in a non-life threatening locations. Even though they would die anyway when Equinox exploded as this part of the base would not be sealed. The sound of gunfire paused and Wufei looked over to where Duo had Kent on the floor, punching him hard, repeatedly, and with a violence that seemed almost manic.

"Maxwell!" he growled and swiftly made his way across the room, pulling up on Duo's arms to stop the continued show of aggression. Kent was incapacitated, his face bloody but Duo did not need to beat him anymore. "Stop!"

Duo stopped as Wufei pulled him roughly to his feet and Wufei could feel his heavy breathing, his laboured breath ragged and he raised his knuckles to see the remains of blood.

"Do what we are here for," Wufei said low, and Duo stepped away, nodding, carefully walking over Kent, who was making a low noise of pain.

Duo sat at the console, quickly logging into the bases system like he had intended to. They all had working knowledge of computers, but Wufei knew that Duo's was superior. He had been out of it for far too long – barely using technology in the slums of his district on L5.

"Ready," Duo said after a few moments, and Wufei nodded.

He couldn't imagine they had much time until more men appeared, and they had a limited time-span to get to the Odyssey and get it up and running.

"Hey Zechs… welcome back to comms and enjoy control of the base. We'll let you know when we need the doors opening."

"Good luck," Zechs murmured and while he was a faceless voice, Wufei could imagine his expression as he sat alone in labs of Equinox. "And thank you."

Duo hung his head, his bangs falling into his eyes, and Wufei put his hand on Duo's shoulder. "We need to go."

The moment, brief, almost in grief, was done and Duo's face split into a dangerous smirk. "Time to blow this joint, right?"

"Right."

In his mind, Wufei flashed back to a moment in the war when they were escaping the Lunar Base, their upgraded Gundams waiting, and there was a pang for that moment – for a time when they were five, when they were heroes, and before Trowa was in the ground. It was brief, as Wufei drew his sword and they made their swift exit to the hanger, knowing the limited time they had. That if they did not make the Odyssey, that if the doors didn't open in time, they'd burn with the rest of the men and Zechs.

The resistance, as it was, was not as bad as Wufei's mind imagined, yet it was not entirely without danger. And they were against time, the five minutes that they had burnt inside Wufei's brain, trying to count the passage of seconds as they ran through the base to make their escape. Duo took point, as much as it was "point," which amounted to reckless running towards the hanger, holding his weapon close to his chest.

When they rounded a corner, the first attack came, the shots firing erratically and Wufei barely looked as gunfire was exchanged as he dived to make himself smaller, less of a target.[They paused, the shots fired took time, but soon they were back on their feet, Duo running slightly bent over and they didn't know whether they'd killed who was there or if they'd injured them]. They only knew that they were behind them, Wufei glancing back as bullets ricocheted against the metal, almost feeling the wake of the bullets against his skin.

This kind of rush had been something he'd long since given up, and he had not missed it, but there was a certain excitement as Duo reached the doors to the hanger, pushing the panel and then being faced by men with guns raised. There a moment of mutual staring, they were outnumbered, as they often were, but neither of them flinched.

"Surrender."

The word was barked out by a man who seemed to have the most authority, and it was him Wufei aimed for, drawing his blade without any elegance and slashing at the guy's arm in a stroke that cut deep without severing anything. He wasn't that cruel. Or at least not in this scenario. The pure shock of a sword being used, the blood, made everything pause, and guns were being fired and Duo was shoulder barging some guy and Wufei was following, the Odyssey sat in the hanger without anyone in their way.

The run towards it was accompanied by the whistle of gunfire and it was as they approached that the sound of an explosion rippled, and Wufei fell to the floor fearing that Zechs had jumped the gun and the whole plan had evaporated along with Equinox and themselves. Yet he was aware as he raised his head it had only been a grenade, a mark on the floor from its impact, but nothing more. Until he looked to Duo, who was awkwardly getting to his feet, gripping his shoulder.

He raised an eyebrow to acknowledge Duo's injury and he waved his unhurt arm. "Go ahead."

Wufei did, running the rest of the way to the Odyssey, inputting the codes for the hatch and watching the slow process of it opening as he turned to see Duo's run a little lop-sided. He wasn't sure what had happened, and how he was injured, but they had no time, not now, and before the ramp had fully descended, Wufei climbed up to make his way to the cockpit, looking back once to see Duo firing his gun as it finally hit the hanger floor.

He trusted that Duo would follow quickly, that he'd close the doors as he ran to the cockpit, knocking at panels as he went. Their only hope was that the Odyssey had not been tampered with and the awful thought filled him that it had. But Wufei pushed it aside as he took the pilots chair, starting the sequence for flight and then opening the comm channel.

"Open the doors," Wufei said.

"Roger that."

Wufei's fingers stilled on the button that controlled the comms, pausing as the start-up sequence initiated and he wondered what to say. Something reassuring to the dead man? That even though Wufei had no faith, that he hoped that he would find Noin again in some cliché of heaven?

"You don't have to say anything," Zechs said, a small chuckle heard over the comm channel, "good luck. I hope you can make this world better again."

"I -"

It didn't matter what Wufei was going to say as the comm shut down, the heavy hanger door was opening, and Duo was holding his arm awkwardly and throwing himself into the co-pilots chair in an inelegant sprawl.

"How long?" Duo asked.

"Another thirty seconds."

He saw Duo swallow and check Wufei's assessment of the start-up sequence and the lift off time. Wufei poised his fingers over the controls as the time ticked and the Odyssey rocked once, Duo's eyes narrowing at the damage.

"They're firing at us…" he growled.

Wufei nodded and gunned the controls, rising the Odyssey as something else rocked the shuttle. It was not a shuttle intended for battle, it couldn't survive a barrage, and even though it was not fully through its initiation sequence, Wufei piloted the Odyssey out of Equinox, a few more shots hitting their thin hull.

Flicking his fingers over the controls, Duo put the rear camera on one of the small screens to see the base for one last time. And then it exploded. It was odd to watch it, the base where they'd spent those few days suddenly become nothing but a raging ball of flames until it subsided.

"It's nearly done," Duo murmured, his fingers gripping for the flash drive. "Once this goes to Heero."

And with that, Wufei set the auto-pilot course as Duo sent the data, and he closed his eyes, needing the solace of meditation to forget the deaths that they had just caused and Zechs.

Being shaken awake was not something Wufei liked. It made him edgy, and he was almost ready to fight Duo until he realised why he'd been woken.

"Show time," Duo said.

Wufei saw Duo's smirk as he saw the largest of the vid screens suddenly flicker to a stern Heero Yuy. He was sat straight on from the camera, his gaze fierce and intense and Wufei knew that this was going world-wide. Not even world-wide. Colony wide.

"My name is Heero Yuy. I was Gundam Pilot 01. I fought for this world and the unstable peace we have now."

Wufei got to his feet and put his hand on Duo's shoulder and Duo glanced up to meet his eye as he reached up to the sound control, putting Heero's words through the system so the low rumbling tone of his voice could be heard reverberating around the small cockpit. The Odyssey was on auto-pilot, Mars already becoming a spec, and the ruined parts of Equinox becoming a testament to man's attempt to play with lives like toys. A grave marker, or something.

Duo got up, walking away from the co-pilots chair, and Wufei took a moment to see Heero's brief editing of the footage, the data he pulled up to the screen. He hadn't needed much time to make it shocking and grim. It didn't surprise him.

"The colony expansion programme has failed, and the ESUN's solution to this was to destroy unviable colonies. To infect the population with a chemical weapon that would kill the civilian population and 'solve' the population crisis. I have proof obtained from the Mars base Equinox that implicates high ranking members of the ESUN, Preventers, and Winner Enterprises Incorporated…"

Wufei, having seen enough as pictures of familiar faces appeared on the screen, followed Duo's lead, tracing his steps to the living quarters where he was laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling, one arm behind his head and his body relaxed. Folding his arms across his chest, Wufei looked down at the way he was inelegantly sprawled and, despite himself, he approached and pushed at Duo's shoulder, earning a grunt from where he'd been injured in the explosion that rocked them as they made their to the Odyssey.

Duo took the hint, rolling enough for there to be space for Wufei, snorting at his abrupt moves that were without words. The beds weren't designed for two so Wufei let a leg dangle off the edge as Heero's disembodied voice echoed.

"… the truth is that experiments of Equinox are now destroyed. Thanks to men who risked their lives, and those who died to make sure they cannot be used as intended. But now those who are responsible need to be held accountable. And people like me will make sure of that."

The broadcast seemingly ended, the Odyssey became silent apart from the everyday sounds of a shuttle in motion, sounds that both of them knew so well, and their own breathing. Neither speaking in the aftermath.

"Do you need me to look at your shoulder?"

"It's nothin'," Duo replied.

There was a silence then, and Wufei closed his eyes, resting them shut to forget about the explosions, and the knowledge of Zechs' death somewhere in the rubble of the greenhouses and labs.

"You going back to L5?"

"It hadn't occurred to me."

Nothing had. He could go back, Wufei knew, to his store. To his smuggled liquor, to the peace-keeping of his small turf and district.

"Just thought you probably ain't safe there anymore… after this…."

Wufei opened his eyes to see Duo emphasising his words with his hands in some way, and he let a small smile cross his face. "And you have somewhere safe, I assume?"

"Naw, nowhere's safe, but we could lay low awhile with 'Ro. You need to meet Mr. Paranoid and his security procedures."

"I can imagine."

"We should do something… you know, for him."

Duo didn't say anymore. Zechs had made the ultimate sacrifice, but then he'd already lost it all. Blowing the labs and the green houses was his last rebellion against the people who had killed Noin and his future family. And right now, Wufei didn't want to think about that, only find some inner peace and get rid of the horrifying sound of explosions and the dying words of a man he had respected.

"I think I just want sleep."

"Yeah, me too," Duo murmured.

The bed was too small, but Duo didn't kick him out, didn't reach out for any physical affection either, only turned over, his back against his side, and in between the rhythmic breathing and the sounds of the Odyssey, Wufei fell asleep thinking of how he'd run from his comrades once.

But not anymore. And with Heero and Duo, he had wrongs to right, and a world to try and make better again. For Zechs. And for Trowa.

A/N: This is now complete and I have added the amazing art links to my profile page please check them out as both Puck and Nachte did amazing art to capture two scenes in this fic. My intention is to, one day, write a sequel called Solstice but whether that happens or not will be another matter! But perhaps.. one day! Thank you for reading and do check out the amazing art.