A few tiny things to say:

This is the first of the two epilogues, one for the Gundam team and one for the Quests. I needed to give them both an end, as well as a possible beginning if I ever came back to this crossover for a sequel. Also, my reference to Wufei and a certain stinging insect is just a quiet nod to my own allergy (that had the unexpected effect of giving me some of the ideas that wound up in this narrative when I was bedridden and medicined up to my eyeballs last summer). Lastly, this chapter I originally conceived as a oneshot, but realized fit far too well with this story's narrative. I do have a whole set of oneshots written, and I'll be posting them one a week for a while as I get more of the next big work done.

And I do have another massive GW fic in the works. Stay tuned.

Thank you everyone for the amazing support I've received on this story. It means worlds to me to have the feedback and the interest. This and the next chapter are for all of you.

Enjoy!

Duo had pleaded and insisted and cajoled and even guilted the four others for two days until at last they decided that they would follow him outside into the gardens. Not that any one of them had the beginnings of an idea what he intended, but if it would stop his bouncing, even Wufei was willing to take a stroll. The stoic disinterest was mostly for show anyway – they all knew the reason they hadn't left the Winner mansion on L4 was to spend time together and catch up on some rest. Still, resisting was expected.

"Tell me again why we're doing this," Wufei grumbled as he took off his jacket under the bright warmth of the L4 artificial sunlight.

"Because even you need a break from doom and gloom, Fei-dude," Duo grinned.

Wufei started to move to retaliate, but something caught his eye and he stopped. Quatre was looking at a planter filled with tiny ferns that, when he reached out to touch one, folded up as though startled. His face broke into a delighted smile and he immediately reached for another frond to see it close up as well. Wufei huffed and shook his head.

"You're a pain, Maxwell," he said. "But maybe you're not wrong. About the break, that is. My name is another matter."

"So now that we're here, what exactly are you expecting us to do?" Heero wanted to know.

"I dunno! Whatever! We just needed to get out, you know? Have fun? Like normal people." Duo grinned, throwing out his arms.

"When have you ever been normal?" Trowa quipped.

"Ha ha."

"Oh, I don't know," Quatre put in suddenly. "Duo's got a point. We're in a beautiful private garden, we have time to spare, and we're friends. What would anybody else be doing right now?"

"Probably beating Maxwell to within an inch of his life," Wufei said darkly.

"Don't bark at Quatre for pointing out the obvious," Heero perked up defensively. He looked to the blond with a razor-quick expression, then turned back with a very slight smile. "I think you may be outvoted, Chang. You would do well to admit when you are being foolish."

"Are you deliberately baiting me, you…" the Chinese pilot tipped his head warningly. "You weakling," he finished a little lamely.

"Let's find out if I am or not," Heero's face twisted in predatory anticipation.

Within two minutes, Heero and Wufei were facing one another in a clearing of grass. Trowa stood between them to act as judge. Duo and Quatre sprawled on the ground nearby. Trowa signaled and at once the two began sparring in earnest.

"Go Hee-chan! Take him down! Wuffle-bear doesn't stand a chance!" Duo cheered.

"You know," Quatre looked across impishly, "if you really wanted to do that, it should be 'Hee-kun,' not 'Hee-chan.' 'Chan' is usually for girls or babies or puppies or something else cutesy."

"I know!" Duo said brightly. "That's what makes it so much fun!"

"I see."

"Anyway, you're one to talk."

"I can't imagine what you mean." Quatre looked the picture of innocence.

"You goaded them both into sparring," the braided pilot looked out from under his bangs at his friend, "and don't pretend. I know you better than that. You did something with Heero so he'd challenge Woozles."

"Well…"

"Just answer me this – why?"

"Because they'll never relax unless they posture first," he shrugged. "They both have to remind themselves how tough they are every now and then. When they're done they'll feel like it's okay to just be here."

"That your space heart talking?"

"Nope," Quatre winked. "Plain old instinct. Besides, I know them pretty well, too."

"Yeah."

They sat in companionable silence for another few minutes, watching Heero and Wufei try increasingly aggressive moves against one another. Trowa looked on impassively, ducking the occasional blow that was deflected wide. The air moved gently through the trees and the light played brightly on the scene.

"Think they've got it out of their systems yet?" Duo asked abruptly.

"Um," Quatre observed, then nodded. "Close enough. Why?"

"You'll see!"

Duo sprang to his feet and, silent as a cat, sprinted across the grass. So engaged were Heero and Wufei in their own little private combat they didn't notice his approach until it was way too late. Duo hit them both running, driving them into Trowa, who either was also caught off-guard or didn't bother to resist. In a tangle of arms and legs and shouting in various languages, Duo's momentum sent them over the edge of a nearby incline, with him laughing as they went rolling down the hill.

Quatre rose from his place, shaking his head, and he tentatively made his way down to where his four friends had landed on the grass. They were all breathing pretty hard, and Duo had a bright smile on his face.

"So, why…?" Quatre began. But Duo's arm flashed out and he caught ahold of Quatre's wrist and gave it a yank.

A very un-Gundam-pilot-like squawk made its way out of the blond's throat as he was pulled into the heap. But he landed completely softly, Duo keeping his grip on his arm, Heero reaching up with his un-buried hand to catch his back, and he wound up with his head bouncing softly off Trowa's chest. Duo curled up to him like a puppy, tucking his head under Quatre's arm and cuddling down in a nest of bodies. Quatre's legs were across Wufei's torso, while Heero was somehow reversed so he was resting his head on Wufei's shoulder, even though his legs were caught under Trowa.

There was a very long quiet as they remained there, shuffling around just slightly until they could all lie comfortably. Nobody spoke – there was nothing worth saying. What little they may have needed to communicate passed between them wordlessly like the light through the trees.

A wasp began lazily investigating them, and Wufei tensed, not much, but enough to be perceptible. Without a word, Trowa reached out and cupped a hand around the creature, carefully redirecting it to a patch of flowers on the other side of the pile. As it wandered away, Wufei breathed out a deep breath. Even in a pile in the grass, even having never until this moment admitted that particular weakness to anyone, he was safe. They were all safe.

Duo fell asleep almost at once, curled against Quatre's side as he was, and not long after began twitching. But he only gave one real spasm before Heero leaned his head over, knocking their skulls together lightly. He said something low in Japanese that got a little lost under all that hair, but Duo immediately quieted, snuggling even closer to Quatre, bumping his nose on the blond's chest. Trowa huffed and carefully extracted Duo's braid where it was pinned beneath him so that it could lie without being pulled. Then he ran his hands through Quatre's hair for good measure.

Heero and Wufei got into a very intense but silent war with an ant crawling nearby, trying to coax it onto the other person's face, but their shuffling back and forth started to disturb Quatre so he poked them both in the ribs. They poked him in retaliation, but he did not respond; having dozens of sisters makes one immune to tickling by necessity. Trowa, however, was not so lucky. But he scooted so Quatre's chest was between his stomach and the ones who were trying to make him shriek as he would have if he hadn't been so reluctant to disturb Duo. Not to mention it was very undignified.

Trowa started sketching things in the air with his free hand, tracing the curves of clouds and turning them into everything from pictures of lions to tactical maps of past battles fought. When Quatre began to hum very softly, he began instead scoring the music along with him. Heero looked around, his dark blue eyes sharp and suspicious for a moment, before leaning his head against Wufei's shoulder again and allowing himself to fall asleep to the sound. Trowa started up a low baritone counterpoint to Quatre's humming, moving his hands through the air to it, conducting or just experiencing the tune. Wufei sighed and slowly the tension seemed to bleed out of him and he let his head tip sideways and his eyes close.

After what felt like a long time, Trowa's hands dropped so that he had one on Quatre's chest and the other he tucked under his own head. Quatre shifted the melody to something low and sweet, until he was the last to remain awake, humming a lullaby of peace and contentment to his four friends. Only when he had finished, and when he was assured they were all truly asleep and fully relaxed, did he allow himself the slightest bounce of satisfied laughter, soundless but his stomach shook with it. Duo curled up more tightly and Heero shifted a bit so his arm could flop over Quatre's ribcage.

Quatre made sure his watch was programmed to vibrate when the alarm he'd set went off, then curled one hand over Trowa's and buried the other in the end of Duo's braid which was just mixing itself in Heero's wild hair. Wufei moved so his hand was resting across Quatre's ankles, and the warm happy peace of it was overwhelmingly potent. Quatre smiled into it, finally allowing his eyes to flutter closed even as he passed the feeling to the others unreservedly, that their hearts might know their shared comfort and safety even in sleep in his care.

Once all five had been killers of the first order, terrorists and assassins and thieves, trusting of no one and safe nowhere. Then they had found one another and warily come to an agreement, and eventually, an accord. From there, it had been short steps to allies to comrades to friends. Now they were more still – they were not five young men with five scarred minds. They had become one whole, five pieces of a greater center in which they could find what individually they had always sought: a family, a home, a reason to believe.

How far they had come.