Disclaimer: Don't own GW, never did, never will.

AN~ Here's the second chapter. I think the last chapter is more like a prologue and this is the actual beginning of the story.

Roses in the Wind - Chapter Two

Approx. 3 years ago

Mission objectives:

Infiltrate the OZ base and retrieve missing data on the Gundams before eliminating them from the database.

Hack into local OZ mainframe and download security plans for their next construction project.

Report in 20 days_

***

"This….is ridiculous" Duo Maxwell announced, grumbling around a mouthful of dry cereal. He lifted a liquid-filled carton and downed its content with a noisy slurp. Then he grimaced. Raising the carton close in front of his face, he frowned and squinted at the small letterings neatly printed on the box.

"Hm…milk. They call this milk?! How do they expect us to function properly when they feed us this…this…" Duo frowned, trying to find the appropriate word to describe the substance he'd just dumped into his stomach.

Dark eyes glanced up in amusement as Wufei lifted his head in response to his friend's rant. Duo spun around to face his audience and waved his arms in the most dramatic way possible.

"C'mere Wufei," he said invitingly, holding up an unopened carton, "try this thing will ya? It's yummy! It's delicious! It's a nice refreshing way to start your day!" he paused, " it's a friggin injustice!" he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed, blowing at his bangs and doing a remarkably accurate impression of Wufei himself.

The dark haired boy looked at Duo, and then turned to regard the offending carton. He wrinkled his nose.

"My sentiments exactly" Duo exclaimed, happy to get a reaction out of the stoic pilot.

Wufei just shook his head slightly in resignation. No matter how hard he tried, he could never resist Duo's happy act. The braided boy's humor was just too contagious. After all, that was the first thing that drew his attention. That, coupled with the serious and fearless nature beneath the bubbly surface Duo had shown during battles, had slowly earned Wufei's grudging respect and eventually formed an uneasy friendship between the boys. Wufei had never been the social type, preferring to be alone with his thoughts rather than trusting them to anyone else. However, he liked Duo. Although he's rather kill himself rather than to admit it. Duo reminded him a lot like his younger cousin. Ming was a fun-loving kid who would run around the colony stirring up mischief. He was reckless, loud and utterly adorable, which is probably the reason why he seldom got punished for his pranks. A lot of the older folks had frowned upon this untraditional behavior, but once Ming gave them a sweet innocent look, black shining eyes wide open and lips curved into a childish grin, it would be enough to soften their aged hearts. He'd always liked Ming as a brother, admiring him for his free spirit, untouched by the world of politics, greed and power struggles. That is, before the war, before their colony had blown up right in front of Wufei's eyes. Adding another reason to hate OZ, to hate-

"Hullooo? Earth to Wufei!" Wufei started in surprise as Duo snapped his fingers right in front of his eyes. "You still there buddy?"

Wufei snorted and stood up. He was walking past Duo when the felt a tug on his arm. He turned around to see Duo sniffing at the air.

"Wufei man, you stink! What the hell have you been doing? Yuck!" Duo made a face of disgust.

Wufei was suddenly conscious of his dishevelled state. He'd been up early this morning to train and practice his kata. This morning's exercise had been extremely strenuous as he tried to master a particularly difficult combination. After a few hours of working out, he'd gone into the main room, plopped himself onto the couch and proceeded to eat his breakfast before Duo could hog all the good food. Not that there was much of a variety.

Wufei scowled darkly, "Mind your own business, Maxwell."

Duo grinned and gave his friend a shove towards the door, "go take a bath Chang. It is my business if you're polluti-"

"Maxwell."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

***

When Wufei returned to the main room after a quick dunk in the tub, Heero was already up. He was sitting on the couch with his laptop in front of him and typing furiously as he glared at the screen. No surprise there. Duo, however, was nowhere to be seen. Wufei settled himself beside Heero and watched as he hacked into the various OZ mainframe systems with practiced ease.

"How's it going?" Wufei inquired, curious at the progress of their mission. Heero grunted in reply. Wufei took that as a good sign. Normally if things don't go too well, Heero would get a bit excited. He'd pull out his gun, shoot and break something, before getting back to work as if nothing had happened. The other pilots had learned, the hard way, to stay away from Heero when he's in 'that' mood. Luckily, it didn't happen too often.

Wufei leaned back and said quietly, "I hope Trowa and Quatre are ok."

***

The metal doors slammed shut and a battered body was brutally thrown against the wall. There was a click and then chuckles from beyond the bars. Trowa waited with bated breath as the sound of the guards' footsteps shuffled around a bit before fading away into the distance.

"Quatre!" he whispered urgently, "Quatre, are you ok?" Trowa felt a stab of fear when he heard no reply. He put his hands on the floor in front of him and then lifted himself off the ground. He winced as his left ankle twisted under his weight and he fell painfully back to the floor. Stifling a growl of frustration, Trowa slowly crawled towards the wall.

Quatre was lying in a strange and pitiful way. His clothes were shredded and torn, his arms wrapped around his body, curled up in a fetal position. He was shivering violently. Trowa placed his hands on Quatre's shoulders and said softly, "Quatre?" He gently turned the boy's body around so that he was facing him. Trowa gasped in horror and sympathy when he saw Quatre's face.

Then he whispered harshly, "who the hell did this to you?"

Quatre's face was a mess of blue, purple and red bruises. One of his eyes was swollen shut, while the other one was half-hooded in pain. A trickle of blood dripped from Quatre's lips. The wounded boy let out a small whimper as Trowa tried to move him onto his back. Then, as if suddenly realizing where he was, Quatre grabbed Trowa's arm with one hand in a surprisingly fierce grip.

"Trowa, I…I…" he sobbed. His eye was glazed over in confusion and pain.

Trowa murmured some soothing words, "Shh…it's alright Quatre, you're ok. You're safe."

"No, you don't understand! They did things…oh god, I couldn't help it. And they know! They know. I'm sorry Trowa, but it hurt so much." Quatre's words tumbled out one after the other, half jumbled up.

"Ok, calm down. Tell me what happened," Trowa looked into his friend's eye, "I'm here, they're not coming back to hurt you anymore."

Quatre took a shuddering breath and then sighed wearily, "They know about us now, they know about the mission. I lied to them about the location of our safe house, but they know we're here. Heero, and Wufei, and Duo…we have to warn them and then get out of here. I'm so, so sorry. I tried…I….I couldn't stand…" his speech was slowly going back to hysterics.

"Listen Quatre, it's OK. We've completed our mission anyways. I still have the data chip, thank god they didn't take it away. All we have to do is leave." Trowa wish that he sounded more confident than he felt. But he pressed on, "now tell me how you got…this" he waves a hand vaguely at Quatre's wounds.

Quatre gave a short laugh which turned into a cough, "I'd rather not talk about it Tro." he said with uncharacteristic bitterness. "They wanted information and they hurt me for it. I tried to resist as long as possible, I lied as much as I could." He coughed again, " I passed out a couple of times. Then they were done playing and took me back here. Oh yeah, I saw Kushrenada. Dunno what he was…" Quatre's words gave way to a violent coughing fit.

Trowa held him silently, he place a hand gently against Quatre's back and moved to check for further injuries. Inside he seethed in anger. Kushrenada. That bastard. He thought that the self-proclaimed gentleman would not stoop to such…methods. It was low. Very low. He vow to give the man a piece of his mind as soon as he get the chance. Better yet, get Wufei to partner up with him and they both beat the cra-

His musings were interrupted by a jangling sound.

"I did get the keys," Quatre gave a tired grin of triumph. He blinked up at Trowa and pressed them into his hand.

Trowa smiled back. About time things start going our way. With a half-formed plan in mind, Trowa leaned down and said quietly to the other boy.

"Alright Quatre, here's what we're going to do."

To be continued.

Moonlit Eyes1X2X1- Thanks for your kind comment. I hope that my story won't turn out to be cliché in the end. I hope you are enjoying it so far.

Madisonne- Thank you for your review. I'm very curious to see where this is going myself ^^ I hope you keep reading.

This chapter sounds a bit too broad and not as focused on Treize and Wufei and I would've liked it to be, but I'm trying to set up a meeting between them in a logical and feasible way…somehow -_-

Please forgive my English grammar. I realize that I've probably made a lot of mistakes, but I'm trying hard to improve. I really am! ^^ Also, I hope that the story is going ok. I know that I might/will get some of the details messed up, because I haven't watched GW in a while.

Everyone please review and tell me what you think, it'll really encourage me to keep going.