Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing. I have nothing to do with the creation of that series.

Chapter 3:
Till We Meet Again

Operation Meteor was to launch in less than three hours. Dekim Barton had sent out a small group of soldiers to the old colony in the L-5 cluster to oversee the beginning of the operation. When escorted to the mobile suit factory, the Barton Soldiers were assaulted by the technicians and taken them prisoner.

MeiLi looked down at the gundam from the control room. She could still remember the day the man Dekim Barton had arrived in the colony. He came straight to the Long Clan. He had come under the pretext of helping to bring peace and freedom to the colonies by building a machine that will help eliminate the Earth Sphere Alliance. After months of debating, Master Long and the heads of the clan had agreed to cooperate with Dekim, allowing him to bring in scientists, engineers, and technicians to the colony. The gundam had been built in less than two years. The pilot was originally going to be chosen from among the clan members. However, MeiLan, in another of her attempts to show her superiority, voted herself the rightful pilot of the gundam. No one questioned her.

Now, Yao, WuFei, and MeiLi watched from the control room of the factory as the technicians captured the Barton Soldiers. A week before, Master O had stumbled upon the layout of Operation Meteor. Finding the plan a rather inappropriate way to use his machine, he gathered the gundam's technicians and pilot. Calmly he outlined the true intentions and purpose of the operation. Upset and deeply angered the group began to plot their uprising against the Foundation.

Yao looked up at the clock hanging over the main entrance. Its bright red numbers read two hours, fifty minutes and forty-nine seconds till operations commence. The three children had been in the control room for a little over an hour now. Each bringing a single bag of personal belongings with them, they prayed that this wasn't the last time they would see each other.

"Gēge," MeiLi outstretched her arms to her brother. He knelt down to hold his sister for the last time as the intercom in the room came on. Master O's voice assured the three that it was now safe for them to roam about. "Please be careful," MeiLi's tearful voice said softly. WuFei nodded.

"Oh, wait!" she exclaimed as they were about to leave the room. "Come here," she beckoned her brother once more. Again he knelt down. This time MeiLi made her way to her brother's back.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Your hair," she said gently as she pulled out a small hair band from her purse, "it'll be flying everywhere and get in your way." Quickly she gathered her brother's hair, pulling it back and tying it in a small ponytail. "There, now it shouldn't get in your way."

"Thank you," he said as he got up again. She smiled lovingly up at him.

"Thank you, Gēge," WuFei said turning to Yao. "I will do everything I can to raise hell. Take good care of MeiLi."

MeiLi looked up at her brother. Confusion was written all over her round face.

"Yao is going to be your guardian while I am gone," WuFei didn't miss a beat. "You two are leaving this colony as soon as possible."

"But..." MeLi began to protest.

"You're going to do as your told," WuFei began, "you'll be leaving this colony today and-"

"I will not!" MeiLi cut her brother short.

"You will do what you are told to!"

"I'm not leaving home!"

Yao watched as the two began another argument. He had watched them fight for years now and was still amazed at how easily they could start a fight. "Mèi mei" he cut into the argument, "your brother has good reasons for wanting you to leave this colony. The Barton Foundation is not one to mess with." He took in a deep breath, trying to come up with the right words to use. "When the Foundation finds out that Operation Meteor is not going the way they planned, they're going do everything they can to get to WuFei, even if it means hurting you."

"Not going as planned..?" MeiLi glanced from one boy to the other. Why wouldn't the plan go accordingly? For that matter, why had they even captured the Barton soldiers? Her small eyes widened as realization set in. "What... what's really going to happen, gēge?"

WuFei looked down at his sister. Taking in a deep breath he finally revealed to her the situation and his plans to foil Dekim Barton's plans. MeiLi stood in disbelief as her brother talked calmly.

#####

The room grew silent. WuFei had stopped talking for a while now.

Sally was still sitting on the bottom bunk. It had never crossed her mind that WuFei had been holding back so much. "That doesn't mean your sister is dead," she finally said. "You said yourself that you asked Yao to take her to another colony. She's still alive and probably waiting for you to return." She smiled at the thought. Finally, there was something that could possibly make the young man happy.

"She's dead."

Sally got up, frustrated. "How could you say that?" she yelled, "I know that your home colony was destroyed during the war five years ago, but-"

WuFei sat up, glaring down at her angrily. "Chang MeiLi is dead," he repeated steadily, "she died on the colony, and she is gone. Now drop it."

Sally stepped back. "How could you be so narrow minded?" She could feel her temperature rising. Her partner was indeed a handful and even she had trouble getting along with him most of the time. "You told Yao to take your sister to another colony and you just said he did!"

WuFei turned to face the wall as he laid down again, his back to Sally. He kept quiet. She crossed her arms, upset she looked up at her young partner. "I swear you can be so stubborn!"

"They never left the colony. The letter Duo gave me... Master O said they never left the colony..." WuFei spoke softly.

#####

The falling section of the Libra had been destroyed in a spectacular explosion of light. Its fragments scattering across Earth, raining meteors over the fragile blue planet. Slowly, pilots from both side of the battle began to gather at MO-II on orders of Lieutenant Colonel Une of OZ, filling its cargo bays with mobile suits and other small ships. The war had finally ended.

Five distinctive mobile suits made their way into one of the many hangers in MO-II. Badly battered, they slowly maneuvered their way to the back of the hanger as the pilots of the surviving Leos, Taurus, and Virgos watched in silence. The five gundams finally came to rest in their designated areas, side by side. Lieutenant Colonel Une and a small personal escort of hers were already waiting for five young pilots as they made their ways out from their mobile suits. She quickly escorted them out of the hanger bay. "You must all be exhausted," she smiled down on them, "I have assigned quarters for each of you boys."

The Lieutenant Colonel showed each boy to his quarters, a small soldier's room equipped with only a small bed, desk, chair, and a shelf embedded into the wall. WuFei flopped onto the bed in the corner of the tiny room. He was emotionally drained and physically exhausted. His eyes wondered around for a moment before drifting off to asleep.

Sometime later he was awakened by a knock on the door. "I will not thank that woman for her hospitality..." he muttered as he opened his eyes. "She and Trieze are the reason that this war dragged on." He slowly got up and opened the door. Standing on the other side was Duo, an envelope in his mouth as he finished braiding his long hair.

Duo handed the envelope to the other youth. "It's from one of the scientists," he informed after observing WuFei's questioning look as he tied the end the braid. "The big bald one. He told me to give it to you as soon as I could." WuFei looked down at the envelope in his hands. "Sorry I didn't give it to you earlier, but I just forgot. It's been quite an eventful day after all," Duo continued smiling. "Man I so needed that shower. Hey, you hungry?"

WuFei closed the door on the happy pilot without saying a word.

"That answers that..." Duo frowned, "asshole."

Fifteen minutes later, WuFei made his way into the closest cafeteria he could find. Heero and Trowa were sitting together at a corner table, eating and playing a round of chess while Duo sat on the other end stuffing his face. They watched as their Chinese friend made his way into the cafeteria, dazed and pale-faced.

The Chinese youth absentmindedly took a soda from a counter as he automatically made his way to where his fellow gundam pilots where sitting.

"You ok?" Duo asked as he swallowed his food. "You look all sickly."

WuFei didn't answer. The expression on his face suggested that the question hadn't really registered in his mind at all. Cautiously, he put down his soda and a piece of paper on the table as he sat down. The three boys eyed their friend over.

"You don't look well," Trowa's voice seemed to get the youth's attention. "Do you need to see a doctor?" he asked as he made his move on the board.

WuFei looked up at Trowa. His eyes looked swollen and bloodshot as his face grew even paler. He felt his blood run cold through his veins as his eyes began to tear up. Shaking, he opened his soda and took a drink, but the upset feeling in his stomach failed to go away. He continued to feel the pain and disgust throughout his entire body. Slowly he got up, making his way to the large window behind the table. He stared out aimlessly into the void of space as he felt his heart sink.

Duo came up from behind, placing one hand on his shoulder. "WuFei..?" his voice was full of concern. "Hey... you really don't look too good. Maybe we should get you to a doctor or somethi-"

Duo cut his sentence short as WuFei let his body fall to the floor, the tears in his eyes now streaming down his face. The braided youth quickly came down to try and help his friend, but WuFei refused the helping hand that stretched before him and pushed the other pilot away. The nauseous feeling in his stomach grew stronger still until he finally vomited on the floor. Duo jumped back with a small yelp as WuFei released all his anxiety.

"Get a doctor in here now!" Trowa's voice quickly faded from WuFei's ears as his head began to spin. He was crying uncontrollably now. Both Duo and Trowa had managed to get him back to the bench and a soldier from a nearby table was blowing some fresh air in the young man's direction with at tray he had grabbed.

As the commotion continued, Heero took up the piece of paper that WuFei had been clinging onto when he had walked in. His dark blue eyes quickly scanned the lines of the hand written letter in his hand. "Sister..." he muttered to himself a bit surprised. He looked up as someone in a white lab coat quickly began to exam the young man. Heero returned his attention to the letter, "...I regret to inform you that Chang MeiLi and Wong Yao never left the colony. The two only moved to the other side of the colony where you had attended at the private institution..."

End

A/N:
That was depressing, but I hope it was enjoyable.