Author's Notes:

Okay, this is a crossover between Gundam Wing and Sailor Moon. I think the plot I came up with is fairly original, but that's only my opinion. I don't know practically anything about Gundam Wing, but a close friend of mine does and he will probably be reading this before I put it up on the Internet for some glaring oversights about Gundam Wing. It's like the exact opposite for him. If he writes a SM fanfiction, he gives it to me and I look for glaring oversights. Don't flame me about how I do the characters in Gundam Wing. Like I said, I'm new to the show.

This starts a month after Marie Maia's army is defeated in Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. The Gundams have been destroyed. In Sailor Moon…well, you'll find out. I use references to and use manga attacks for Sailor Moon.

I don't own SM, or Gundam Wing so don't sue me. If you need to contact me with anything, flames, or even a one liner saying the story was good, my email is Guardian4@atlantic.net. Please put Fanfiction in the subject line.

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The End Is The Beginning

Part 4: Feel Their Pain

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"What are you doing out here? It's freezing," Duo said as he walked up beside Quatre.

Quatre stared into the darkening night. It was soon to be Christmas, but he felt uneasy and sad. They hadn't seen or heard of or from the Senshi in near two and a half months. Just as quickly as they had appeared, they had disappeared without a trace. Had something happened at their last meeting that required them to stay away from the Gundam pilots?

"I'm thinking," he finally answered his friend.

"What about?"

"The Senshi."

"I thought so. Where are they? They want our help, but then disappear without a yes or no. What are they planning?"

"I have no idea, but I don't like it." He sighed.

"That's not all that's bothering you, is it?"

Quatre sighed again, this time at Duo's shrewdness. "No, it's not."

"Then what is it?"

"Well, think about it Duo. They've been alone for so long. And did you listen and go over what they let slip? They could be the only people in the entire worlds and colonies that understand us, Duo. They are fighters, like us, and are protecting something and someone. We've had our troubles like them. Surely we can sympathize?"

Duo scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know about sympathize, Quatre. We don't know them all that well."

"Have you also considered the possibility that the women who went missing were the Senshi?"

"You know, the other guys and me were talking about that. We're almost positive that it's them. We aren't a hundred percent sure, but damn near. We're also hoping to meet them in the city tomorrow. Come with us; you can work on a few."

"Work on a few?" Quatre repeated, finally looking at his friend, in surprise.

"Yeah, surreptitious questions to elicit some answers that they might let 'slip'." Duo smiled.

"Well…okay. I know we need the answers."

"We'll switch off people after a while, in case someone else has better luck, though, so be prepared."

"We're being overly shrewd and cold about this, you realize?"

"Yes, and don't think I like it," replied Duo grimly. "But it is something we just have to do. Now, because it's so cold out here, let's go back inside."

Quatre nodded and followed the American back inside the house.

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Armed with a plan, though he didn't much like the idea, Quatre and his friends entered the city. They found who they were looking for almost at once, since they were the only people on the streets that early in the morning. The sun barely touched the horizon then, and many people were taking full advantage of the holidays by sleeping in.

However, there were only five of them. Heero, in the lead, turned to his friends. "Change of plan. Each one of us gets a girl."

"Heero! Cheating on Relena?" joked Duo.

Heero rolled his eyes. "I'll take on Tsukino-san, Duo you have the job of dealing with Aino-san." He rather delighted in the downtrodden look on Duo's face.

"I think I could get more out of Usagi than you could," he argued.

Heero ignored him. "Quatre, you'll question Mizuno-san. You'll work better together and are more subtle than most in here. You'll need that; she seems rather shy and wouldn't take to being pushed.

"Trowa, you will talk with Kino-san. Your traits match up and you will probably have the most success there. She's fairly tough, I think, but we don't want to offend her. If you do, she might either withdraw and nothing will get out or you'll end up on the receiving end of her fist.

"And Wufei, you'll take Hino-san."

"Why?" he demanded. "Why not Kino?"

"Because you have a temper when it comes to women. You'll probably end up offending her in the first five minutes. Several other articles said that Hino and Kino both had tempers, but that Hino had better control over hers. You should do fine. I hope."

Wufei sighed irritably. "I will if I have to, but I guarantee I won't like it."

"No one is going to like what we're doing, but we don't have a choice."

They approached the girls, who turned and smiled at them. The pilots did their best to draw the group into pairs, but they immediately noticed they would only go so far from Usagi or let Usagi go so far from them. Though they were discreet about it at first, when they had reached their limits, they planted their feet and would not move another inch away from her or let her move another inch from them.

But it was enough. They wouldn't be so near to any other that their conversations could be overheard by another.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Trowa commented to Makoto.

She smiled at him, a little strained, and it was then he noticed the dark circles under her eyes that weren't there the last time he had seen them.

"We've been fairly busy."

"Really? Doing what?" He contrived to innocently curious, but he was terribly afraid that he didn't pull it off very well.

It apparently was enough of an innocent query to suit her, though, for she answered without the slightest reservations. "Each of us is working on setting up our dream home, but it's going slowly and with many interruptions."

That could be construed to mean so many things, he thought irritably. But he had to admire fencing words with her. He could tell from his glance at Duo and Quatre and how they picked their words carefully that Minako and Ami were better at it, but Makoto had a blunt kind of edge to her words. It was fairly exhilarating, in a way.

"And what's your dream home?"

"Oh, a place where I can be myself and not have to hide who I am. A place where everyone is equal and happy most of the time."

"Why do you have to hide who you are?"

She suddenly looked uncomfortable and glanced around. Trowa watched as she caught Rei's eye. Wufei caught his and attempted to keep the two from coming together and making a plan to avoid the question.

It was obvious that Wufei's strategy was working. Indecision was on her face; she did not want to leave Makoto when she needed help, but she didn't want to offend Trowa's friend by leaving abruptly. She eventually shrugged her shoulders at Makoto in defeat.

Makoto caught Ami's eye, but Ami, glancing at everyone else, shook her head. A calculating look in her eye told Trowa she might have gotten the idea of what the Gundam pilots had been trying to do. Makoto, in her last desperate attempt, caught Minako's eye.

Minako immediately excused herself from Duo before he could react. It was so smooth that he had suspected she had practiced such a move for years to get it so perfect, so flawless.

"If I may speak with Mako-chan for a moment?"

Trowa, left with no choice unless he wanted to seem belligerent, nodded. He caught Duo's eye and raised his eyebrow. Duo looked properly chagrined at this development.

Heero watched from over Usagi's shoulder at the two girls. The smallest of frowns appeared on his face before he was forced to return his attention to Usagi before she noticed it had wandered.

A moment later Makoto came back, looking relieved and Minako went back to talk with Duo.

There was silence between Trowa and Makoto for a bit, until he repeated his question.

"Well, there are things you don't know about me that I have to keep secret."

"Indeed?" Hmm, is she trying to tell me that she's a Senshi? Or is she referring to something else about her that I don't know about? he asked himself.

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Wufei couldn't believe his luck. His strategy had worked! A simple thing of keep asking easy questions had kept her from leaving. It was almost beyond belief. But then that baka Duo couldn't keep Minako from going to Makoto.

"You look tired," he remarked, studying her rather haggard face.

"I am, a bit."

"Get up too early?"

She laughed. "Up too early? I used to always get up with the dawn before—" Rei stopped talking, but couldn't stop the sad look from crossing her face.

Wufei felt a bit of compassion for her and asked, "Before what?"

Her expression shuttered and she looked away. "That was a long time ago. I would rather not remember it."

But you loved it then, he thought shrewdly. "If that's what you want, then fine. Haven't seen you around lately. Where have you been?"

"Oh, we've been out of the country for a while, visiting friends we haven't seen in a couple of years. Usagi's relatives to be precise."

"Ah." I wonder what the others said when asked that question, Wufei pondered. He smiled at Rei. "If you're really tired, you and the others could come to Quatre's house with us and rest." And if you come, he thought, we could possibly get some more answers without footing around.

"No, but thanks for the offer." He could see the suspicion in her eyes and he felt strangely pleased that she just didn't take things at face value.

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With many waves, the five girls departed an hour later, just as everyone was waking up. Trowa joined up with his friends and they found an out of the way area of the street in which to talk.

"So, where did everyone say they were?" Heero asked without preamble.

"Makoto said that they were building or working on their dream homes."

"Rei said they went to visit friends in other areas of the country."

"Ami said that they were doing some research for something. She wouldn't say what."

"Minako said they traveled, sightseeing."

"And Usagi said they all had jobs and were working," Heero related grimly. "None of their stories coincide. They obviously did not expect to be questioned, especially not each of them."

"That proves it," Wufei said. "There is something definitely going on with them. Did anyone get any information on where they lived?"

"Not an inch," Trowa muttered. The others shook their heads as well.

"So what do we do now?" asked Quatre.

"Now we find the Senshi and ask the same thing. Hopefully we'll find out what happened to them."

"I suppose it would be beneficial to mention this," Trowa said at last. "I put a tracking device on Makoto's shirt."

"You did? Why didn't you mention it before?" Wufei demanded.

He shrugged.

Quatre pulled out a laptop from his bag and connected the other half of Trowa's tracking device to it. A map came up, with a blinking green light. It went north for a few kilometers, and then stopped. Suddenly it plummeted.

"My God!" Quatre exclaimed in shock. "They're going down! Down into the earth!"

"What do you mean?" Duo asked, watching the tiny dot going down instead of any compass direction.

"I mean that they are going deep into the earth, the only area left where caves are riddled! They live in the caves! Look, it stopped! It's at least 150 miles underneath the surface! At least!"

"Why do they live there? How can they survive down there?" Duo muttered.

"I don't know, but we'll find out," Heero said grimly.

"How?" Trowa questioned his friend.

"I don't know yet, but we will."

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 End Part 4