1 Disclaimer: I don't own blah blahdy blah blah…

Matsuri: Hello lovely people. I'm back and with a new chapter! Those of you that have been reviewing, good job! * Gives the thumbs up sign * Now let's see… poor Hiro gets caught up in the explosion! What happened to him? You're about to find out. Here's chapter five! Enjoy! ^_^

5 Chapter Five

"Hiro! Answer!" Noin practically screamed into the scream. There was still no answer but the static.

"Ugh!" Lieutenant Noin moaned. "Hiro…" The static then subsided and a distorted view of Hiro came on her screen. He seemed to be fine except for a cut on his temple, but it's impossible to tell Hiro's condition from just looking at him. Blood ran down the side of his face.

"Hiro! Are you ok?" Noin asked.

"I'm fine," Hiro said, his eyes glued ahead as Wing Zero flew through the clouds. Noin sighed, a sign that she was relieved.

"Unfortunately, that bomb has destroyed a whole section of the city," she said. "Many people got away in time, but some people…some people didn't make it." A picture of the little girl and dog flitted for just a second in Hiro's mind and then disappeared. Hiro moaned softly. 'Will this haunt me forever?' he wondered.

"Ok guys," Noin said popping up on the side screen of the other pilots. "Sally has requested to speak to you. You can meet her here at the base camp." At the camp, Sally stood outside. Wufei stood a little behind her. The camp was located in a secluded forest. There were a few small buildings where people of the military stayed and worked. Wing Zero, Sandrock, and Heavyarms landed a few feet away from the camp. The cockpits opened and the pilots appeared.

"Hiro I'm glad you're alright," Sally said, stepping forward. She had on her uniform and wind blew her hair gently. "I was beginning to get worried." She smiled faintly and then it faded. "Unfortunately, because of today's events, Relena has decided to go to extreme measures."

"How extreme?" Quatre asked.

"She has issued a search to find Treiz Kushrenada."

"I thought they had already done that," Trowa said.

"It's more intense now," Sally declared. "Hundreds of mobile suites are being sent into space. New models that can go to the farthest corner of space are being made so that Treiz can be found. Changes are being made. It's getting hectic. She even wants to send you all out." The guys froze at this. Wufei's eyes lowered in thought. They couldn't go into space at a time like this. Especially when they were housing two women.

"That hasn't been confirmed yet," Sally said. "But you guys should be ready if she decides to. We can't afford anymore attacks like this one." The leaves from the trees fell silently around them and the wind blew softly.

"Hm…you know, I just noticed that something," Sally said. "Where's Duo?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Duo took a step back, staring up at Deathscythe. Perspiration ran down his neck. He had just finished his gundam. He learned a long time ago (from a fellow gundam pilot) that it was better to fix his gundam himself than to have someone else do it. It was less expensive. Duo sipped at a glass of water and wiped at his forehead.

"Good as new," he said.



"He's been in there all day," Usagi said. "What do you think he's doing?" Usagi sat on the couch next to Makoto.

"Who knows," Makoto said, shrugging. "Right now we have to figure out what we're going to do when we get to our own time." Makoto looked down at her leg. "There's no doubt that Visus is causing even more destruction since we've been gone. And…it's just us two, so we have to work even harder."

"Us two?" Usagi said, turning to Makoto. "Are you saying that maybe…the others are…" Makoto quickly raised her eyes to meet Usagi's.

"I'm guessing that they're alright," Makoto whispered. "Setsuna saved us so…she saved them, right?" Usagi lowered her eyes.

"I don't know."

Makoto looked away. She hated the fact that she didn't know the answers. She hated that she had to stay helpless with people who were her 'Babysitters.' She wanted to cry, but then again she didn't. What were they going to do if when they got back everyone was dead? Even worse, what if there was no home to return to except left over particles of earth? Makoto hadn't noticed that her hands were in tightened fists on her lap until her hands started to ache. She quickly stretched out her fingers. 'There's so much going on,' she thought. 'So many problems.'

That night the others got back at 10pm.

"So where have you guys been?" Makoto asked but right after that, the doorbell rang. Soon Rasheed walked in leading three girls.

"Master Quatre, you have visitors," he said.

"Hotaru?" Usagi cried.

"Usagi!" Hotaru ran into Usagi's arms. "I'm so glad we found you!"

"Yes, we thought that damned Visus had taken you too," Haruka said, walking behind Hotaru. The guys just watched as the girls reminisced and embraced each other. Duo tapped Hiro on the shoulder and motioned for he and the other guys to step into the next room with him. Once there, Duo closed the door behind them.

"So what's going on?" Duo asked.

"Relena might send us into space to help search for Treiz, meaning we'd have to stay on Space Colonies," Quatre said.

"But we can't do that," Duo said.

"But if she does send us, we'll have to go," Trowa replied.

"But what about them?" Duo asked, motioning to the girls through the door. Nobody said anything. There was nothing to say. The girls didn't know that they were gundam pilots. Hell, so far as the guys knew, they didn't know what a gundam was, but the guys weren't about to tell them. Meanwhile, in the living room, the girls were just calming down.

"We're staying with this old couple," Michiru said. "They're pretty nice, but I think they're suspicious of us since we kind of crash landed in their home unexpectedly."

"All we have to do now is find the others," Usagi stated. Michiru got quiet.

"No…we can't," she said, softly.

"W-why?" Usagi asked knowingly.

"The inners," Hotaru said sadly. "They… they have all…perished." It was Makoto could take. She burst into tears and Usagi followed suit. They clung to each other, their tears blending together.

"Dead!" Usagi managed to choke out. "Couldn't Setsuna…couldn't she…couldn't she save them too?"

"It was too late," Haruka said. "Visus had already drained them of their energy and their life force." Makoto couldn't stop sobbing. Her friends, her closest friends were gone! She could never see Minako's smiling face, hear Ami's sweet voice, or hang out with Rei. No one to reassure her! No one to help her out in a time of need! She couldn't control herself! Gone! They were really gone! Makoto stood and ran to her room.

"I'm really sorry," Michiru said softly to Usagi. "I thought Setsuna had told you already. We have some information on Visus."

"Visus is the ruler of a very small planet called Gacia," Hotaru began. "Gacia has revolved around earth with the moon since the beginning of time. My guess is that Visus wants to be the ruler of many nations and he'd do anything to achieve this goal."

"We found out that before you and the others fought him, he had been on the earth for a few hours," Michiru stated. "And during just that short time, he had drained many people. We tried to defeat him after you all failed, but we too failed and were sent here."

"Now that he has more energy, he's even stronger," Haruka said. "And harder to beat. The question is…how do we beat energy?" Everyone was silent. Usagi stared at the floor, tears continued to leak from her eyes.

"Obviously we have something to think about," Michiru said. "It's getting late and we better be going. We'll try to figure out a way to defeat Visus." They left, leaving Usagi to stare at the floor. The tears still flowed.

Later that night, Duo got up from bed for a glass of water. He'd heard Trowa get up also, but he was probably gone by then with Heavyarms. As he walked, half asleep, he noticed that Makoto's bedroom door was open. The problem was, though, that she was not in it. Duo's eyes went wide. Where could she be? Something had told him that she was going to cause trouble. Quickly, he slipped some shoes on and hurried to the front door. He grabbed his black jacket out of the closet and ran out into the night.



She couldn't sleep. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't block the memories, couldn't block the faces, the voices. Makoto wrapped her arms around her knees that were drawn up against her chest. She watched the waves in the lake roll from her position on the dock.

"Minako…Ami…Rei," she whispered, letting the wind gently caress her hair. Tears slowly rolled down her cheeks.



Duo had been running restlessly. He just couldn't find her. Before he knew what he was doing, he turned a corner and headed for the place he dreaded the most, the dock. The place where he and Hilde had spent most of their time. He had tried to avoid going there, but it seemed that he didn't have a choice. Sure enough, there she was, sitting at the edge of the dock.

"Makoto," he said her name softly, but still he had frightened her.

"What do you want?" Makoto snapped. Her head was turned so that she could have a view of the intruder.

"We have to go back," Duo said.

"Iie!" Makoto said. She looked out over the lake. "Not now. I…I want to watch the sunrise." Duo blinked twice at this. Sunrise? When was the last time he had the time to watch one? He sat down next to Makoto, his legs dangled over the edge.

"You know, we have a good thirty minutes to wait," he said. Makoto nodded, her head resting on her arms that were propped up on her knees.

"So…what's wrong?" Duo asked. Makoto sighed.

"I came up here to be alone," she said.

"Life?" Duo asked, totally ignoring what Makoto had just said. "It's still not good to you?" Makoto stared at him for a second or two. The she turned to look at the lake once again.

"I…I lost three friends in the same day," she whispered, her voice shaky.

"Oh? What happened?"

Makoto turned to see Duo's face.

"They were killed." Right then and there, Duo saw the pain in her eyes. It went farther than just her friends. She actually had endured pain her whole life and it was taking a toll on her. Makoto quickly looked away as another tear slipped from her eye. Duo didn't know what to say. He felt so close to Makoto and he hardly knew her. 'I'm sorry' definitely wasn't going to cut it, but he said it all the same.

"Gomen…"

Makoto didn't say anything. They sat there in awkward silence and waited for the sun to rise.



Matsuri: Just a taste of the romance because I know you all are wondering Where's the romance? Where's the Hiro/Usa, Duo/Mako? Well it's all coming soon so keep reading and reviewing! Sayonara! ^_^