The battle raged outside the Scorpio colony, when Kiyoshi picked up a small vessel leaving the colony…

"Basim! That might be the captives! Go lead them to Podhopper, but be careful not to get to close."

"Right!" Basim answered over the comm as Faris left the fight…

Kiyoshi turned on a separate comm channel…

"Scarlet! Report!"

"I know who your mother is, Scarlet." Came a crackling voice before a shot rang out… and it was silent.

Kiyoshi turned his head… he couldn't concentrate on her. She could take care of herself… she knew what risk she was taking.

She had no idea what she was doing.

*~*

She stood there, chest heaving, holding a smoking gun in her hand. The green of her eyes seemed almost feral, wild to the core. She was standing on an abyss of knowledge, and only the Scorpion could tell her, it seemed, how to dive in without dying.

She could know who her parents are, where she came from, why she was named Scarlet.

Scorpion smiled gently; almost grandfatherly at the girl holding the smoking gun a bullet embedded in the wall having missed his head by only inches. He looked down his long nose at the crimson haired pilot, and nodded.

"Yes, you have your mother's eyes, Scarlet." He whispered, as if in her ear. She lowered the gun slowly; her arms still stiff and ready to lift the firearm again.

"How do you know who my parents are?" she narrowed her eyes at her enemy, the lights blinking red hypnotically around her.

"Your mother was a Scorpion. I knew her a very, very long time ago. I knew her when she was just a little girl. You have your grandmother's color, your father's texture in your hair… the color… yes that is your paternal grandfathers in deed. Your uncle's too."

Scarlet closed her eyes… her family, she had a family. Uncles, grandparents, the whole thing…

"Why… why did my mother leave me?" she whispered, looking through the glasses at the Scorpion, those emerald orbs wet with tears.

"She didn't care. She dumped you because she didn't care Scarlet. You were a burden to everyone you met. The only reason your are named Scarlet is because of your hair… that little middle name is of your trainer's invention. He doesn't care either. He only trained you for war, Scarlet. Trained you for violence and bloodshed to continue a battle he couldn't. He got old… he will die and you will die soon after if you believe he cares."

Scarlet dropped to her knees, her eyes wide and trails of silver running down her cheeks… Mr. Maxwell just trained her for war? Was that all she was… a killing machine? She couldn't be… it just couldn't be.

She looked down as something fluttered to the floor… a picture. Mr. Maxwell and her together at the park… the pony ride when she was little.

"Scarlet, families are not just mommies and daddies and kiddies, they can be granddaddies and grandmommies and kiddies, or uncles and sisters and kiddies… or they can be someone who's not even related…"

She raised her face and looked to The Scorpion, shaking her head.

"He loves me… Mr. Maxwell loves me! There are people who care! They all care about me just like I care about all of them!"
"It's all a lie…"

"Yes! It IS all a lie! Lies out of your mouth! Just SHUT UP!" she cried out, leaping at the frail-looking old man like a lioness upon prey with a cry that would rouse the dead from their dusty tombs.

A shot rang out, and a soft thud announced a body hitting the floor.

*~*

"Kiyoshi! Scarlet's down! Scarlet's down!"

"Bran's not responding…"

"Zechs! The Scorpion's dead! There's nothing coming from the colony!"

"Colony radiation levels reaching critical… it's going to blow up!"
"We have to get Scarlet! It's sacrilege to leave her in there! She could still be alive!"

"Something tells me we're the ones who aren't going to be alive, Basim."

"Max…"

"Kiyoshi, what did Scarlet say to you when we left?"

"She just gave me a…"

*~*

Heero and Relena, Duo and Lyla, Trowa, Wufei, Milliardo and Lucretzia, Treize and Une… all watched as the colony exploded… but as the others turned away Lyla ran to the screen screaming.

"SCARLET! NO! SCARLET!" she cried out as if in mortal pain, her eyes wide and terrified.

Duo grabbed Lyla, and held her to his chest.

"Shh… shh it's OK Lyla… it's Ok… it's OK." He wrapped his arms around the old woman that he loved, and clung to her.

Everything was totally destroyed…

"I know Lyla, it's hard to loose your home." Wufei said, offering some comfort…

Lyla tore herself from Duo's arms, and looked out the window to space again.

"It's not the home, the graves, the lab… nothing mattered that I couldn't replace on there…"

She turned around, taking her glasses off, and Duo noticed something strange… Lyla and Scarlet had the same eyes… the same slender bridge of the nose…

"We both lost her, Lyla. We both lost her." He whispered, and held her, looking out the window into the void of stars called space, and saw something glimmer brightly among the debris.

"Well… we have to get home, and make… arrangements." Relena said softly.

As they all turned, Lyla followed, leaving Duo alone to seek out that brightness in the stars he had glanced.

A single silver cross floated in space, the chain almost liquid-like as it danced in the emptiness…

"Wait for me on the other side, Scarlet… there's so much we have to talk of yet." He whispered, putting his hand on the window, and feeling a warm, salty tear drift down his leathery cheek.

*~*

It was a solemn affair, that raining April day in the Cinq State, where a funeral was to take place. Several families, as well as well wishers, reporters, and new fans that considered the dead their martyrs made the scene.

There was a short sermon, but as a solemn Milliardo Peacecraft took the podium, thinking to give a much more meaningful

"The Reign of the Scorpion was over in the wake of his death, but seven brave young people also lost their lives that day in the eternal fight of freedom versus tyranny.

"Kiyoshi Magnum Yuy, aged seventeen. Pilot of New Generation Gundam Raidon, grandson of Heero and Relena Yuy.

"Scarlet Erin Maxwell-Moore, her real last name finally brought to the world, aged sixteen. Pilot of the New Generation Gundam Bran, daughter of Duo Maxwell and Lyla Moore.

"Max Leo Bloom, aged eighteen. Pilot of the New Generation Gundam Blaze, son of Christine, grandson of Catherine Bloom, adoptive nephew of Trowa Barton.

"Basim Atif Winner, aged seventeen, pilot of the New Generation Gundam Fairs, grandson of Quatre Rebarbra and Dorothy Winner.

"Lian Chen, aged eighteen, pilot of the New Generation Gundam Shen-Li, half-great-nephew of Wufei Chang.

"Nicholas Benjamin Catalonia, aged nineteen, pilot of the Scorpion Suit Zephyr, grandson of Quatre Rebarbra and Dorothy Winner.

"Milliardo 'Zechs' Peacecraft the Third, aged nineteen, pilot of the Scorpion Suit Destroyer, grandson of myself and Lucretzia Peacecraft."

He shifted the papers, his face solid as rock though others around him cried for the dead.

"These seven may have fought against each other, but it only comes out after the fact that 'Zechs' had helped Lyla Moore escape from prison, which had proved vital in repairing Gundams onboard the Podhopper II. The lessons those children by our standards have learned can not compare to…"

Duo yawned slightly; he hated having to wear black. He loved wearing it, but hated when he had to.

"Bah… it's a bad idea, having a wedding after a funeral, eh Lyla?"

"I'm not sleeping with you again until we've had one." She whispered back, taking the old man's hand in hers. He could tell she was crying, even through the veil.

"I think it's silly to have coffins - there weren't any bodies to recover. It's a waste, I'm telling you."

"Duo, shush."

In front of the podium there were coffins, six black and one white, though in each there was buried instead something that reminded the people of them.

Inside Kiyoshi's coffin, there was his old stuffed bear, the one he had when his parents were killed so long ago, a few letters and grade papers from school.

Inside of Max's, someone had placed his clown mask, along with a recipe for "Grandmother Catherine's Soup", and his stuffed lion.

Basim's was full of clothes. Lots of clothes, as well as a few stuffed animals and a fencing foil.

Chen Lian had a real sword inside his coffin, along with his cookbooks. He'd probably complain if he didn't have his cookbooks.

Nicholas had a few toys slipped in, dusty and dirty as they were from long years of un-use. His favorite books were slipped in.

To be buried with Milliardo the Third, models. He used to love building them; a lot were old, biplanes and ships in bottles. He even had one of the Tallgeese.

The last was Scarlet's casket, weighted with two heavy hearts. There were pictures, lots of pictures. On the very top, there was a picture of Duo and Lyla, standing together. Written underneath was "With all our love… Mom and Dad", this weighted down with a silver cross…

SCARLET ERIN MAXWELL - BORN NOVEMBER 22, AC 139

*~*

There was a group of people standing beyond the fence, five of them.

The figure at the very end wore a dark business suit, the jacket over his shoulder, black hair shining.

The second in was leading against the third, wearing a snappy white button-down with a good pair of black pants, platinum blonde hair waving in the wind.

The third had an arm wrapped around the waist of the second, a single long peace of hair hanging in front of his eye, wearing a pair of nice jeans and a sports jacket.

The fourth had semi-messy hair, his stance almost comforting as he wrapped an arm around the last.

The very last was a young woman, wearing a short violet skirt and sky-blue blouse, a yellow hat with a violet ribbon hiding her face; a few stands of red hair hanging down.

"How long until they find out, do you think?"

"Soon. They'll figure it out. If they don't, you'll tell them."

"Oh. So… where's everyone gonna go?"

"I'm probably going to go to China. There is a large business opening there, they need someone to be in charge."

"I dunno… wherever he goes, I suppose."

"I was going to follow you!"

"Oh."

"Hn. Somewhere."

"Oh, that's cool. I think that maybe I'll go to the Amazon. I hear it's nice this time of year, I've always wanted to see one of those white dolphins."

"You're weird."

The five figures turned, and just as they began to walk off, Duo turned, unable to watch them lower the caskets.

He opened his eyes, just in time to see a young woman take off a yellow hat and let a long, crimson braid fall to her shins.

And thus, the battle may have been lost, or won, but each of the pilots knows there is still a war to be fought. There is something bigger ahead - there always is.