The next morning Quatre woke to a gentle nudge on the shoulder. He turned his head to find Relena standing over him. "Today we'll be touring headquarters. You can go ahead and get ready while I make breakfast ok?" She smiled and turned on the light as she walked into the kitchen. Quatre slowly stood and wandered into his bathroom, shedding clothes as he went. His mind was not on neatness; only on the tour he had been dreading since they had arrived.

Relena's smile faded away as she began cracking her eggs. She had spoken to Une and Noin last night about this tour instead of sleeping like she had told Quatre. The staff there was fully aware of Quatre's frailty of mind and she hoped that they would not comment much on his presence, at least in a bad way. The two women assured her that things would run smoothly and that there would be nothing to bother him in the slightest, yet she still worried.

Steam quickly filled the small bathroom as Quatre stepped into the shower. The water cascaded over his body, pounding as fiercely as it could, almost as if it were trying to wash away his impurities. He stood there unmoving, letting the hot water scald his skin. Absentmindedly his hand reached for the knob and changed the water to an appropriate temperature. His hands worked of their own accord, lathering his hair as his mind wandered freely. Today was the day in which he would be judged yet again, only this time by former friends…

Relena frowned. The eggs were beginning to get cold and Quatre still hadn't come into the kitchen. She walked back toward his room and peeked in. She could faintly hear the sounds of running water. She rapped the door lightly with her knuckles. "Are you nearly finished Quatre? Breakfast is ready."

"I'll be there in a minute."

"All right." Relena returned to the kitchen and poured them each a glass of orange juice. She laid the food upon the table and waited for him to come. Was it too soon to be entering Quatre into society like this? Should he be left alone…No he has already been alone too long. Relena shook her head, affirming to herself that this would be good for him. He needed to realize that things could really become better, more like they were before everything happened.

Quatre, opened the bathroom door slowly, incase Relena was still there. He walked toward his dresser and managed to find a decent shirt and a pair of jeans. All of his assets were gone, liquidated, given to the families of the deceased. But that is the way things should be; they deserved something to help them move on, even if it were only money. He sighed and walked barefoot to the kitchen and joined Relena at the table. They both ate in silence, each afraid of disturbing the other. Finally Relena laid her fork down and watched Quatre for a moment.  He was pushing his food around on the plate, playing with it more than eating.

"They're not that bad are they?"

Quatre chuckled slightly. "No they're not bad at all." He ate a forkful and looked up at her. "I'm just not very hungry."

The corners of her mouth drooped slightly. "Oh…well Quatre, try not to worry about today. Things are going to be just fine. Everything is going to be better. I'm sure of it."

"Are you really?"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" She watched him carefully, looking for signs of what he was thinking.

"No reason I suppose…"

She reached across the table and placed a hand on his, hoping to console him. She barely contained a small gasp as he jerked away his hand, as if her touch had burned. She stood quickly and fumbled with her dishes as she carried them to the sink. Relena quickly bit her lip. She was not going to cry in front of him.

"I…I know that this may seem sudden for you Quatre but you need to become accustomed to people, to normal life again." Relena paused for a moment to see if he would respond but he did not. She frowned and continued. "Noin will be taking us through the building and will explain the jobs we are to receive. It was very kind of she and Une to help us this way you know…"

"I know."

Relena jumped when Quatre spoke beside her. She hadn't noticed him at all, but stealth was a Gundam Pilot's specialty was it not? She quickly wiped a tear away and laid a hand upon his shoulder, smiling to him. He flinched slightly but she chose to ignore it. "I just want you to be happy again Quatre."

Quatre nodded slowly as his mind scoffed at her remark. He understood that she just wanted to help him but it was so hard to accept after all he had done. His eyes flickered to the side and he watched Relena smiling at him. But why couldn't he accept her kindness? What was holding him back? His mind continued to ponder it's own questions as Relena led him back toward his room for a pair of shoes. He slipped them on quietly and followed her from their tiny apartment.

"You see it was very kind of Miss Relena to donate this land to us for Preventers' Headquarters. If it hadn't been for her I doubt that we would have been able to find the proper funding for our organization, even though it is so important to keeping a lasting peace in this world."

Quatre barely heard a word of what Noin said as she led them through the white hallways of the building. "And this room to our left is used for…"

The words drifted in and out of his thoughts but what he was really concentrating on were the stares that he received from the workers. No one looked at him directly; it was all glances and murmurs. They were obviously trying to do such things without him noticing. Oh but he did notice. He could see their hands tremble, their lips tighten and he could see the fear in their eyes. They feared him…but then again didn't everyone? No…Relena didn't fear him, a small part of him hoped. 

Quatre's head sank and he managed to memorize the pattern in the carpet by the time that they had reached the final destination in their tour. He just didn't want to see the fear again. He couldn't handle seeing the fear anymore.

"Quatre what do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm cleansing humanity of its urge for war…"

"And this is where you two will be working." Noin opened the door and ushered them into a large office space.

There were no windows; Noin had been that thorough at least. Relena had requested that their office have no windows. She wanted Quatre to re adapt to living a normal life but she wanted to avoid any conflict in the process and if that required hiding Quatre from the public as much as possible then so be it.

"Why don't you realize the mistake you're making Quatre?"

Noin pointed to the first desk that was near the far wall. "That will be your work space Miss Relena."

"Please Noin," Relena spoke up. "You can just call me Relena. There's no reason for formalities anymore."

Noin nodded. "Relena you'll be working with our public relations department. Generally your assignments will come from either Une or myself." She turned toward Quatre who stood blankly near the door. "And Quatre will be working with our finance department to help keep our books straight, at least as straight as an organization like this can be."

Relena smiled as Quatre slowly approached his desk and sat down. He stared at the computer monitor nearly unblinking. She could tell that the tour had unnerved him. 

It didn't seem like mistake then though…show them all how horrible fighting truly was and they would stop…they would stop the war, the death, the sadness…But maybe Trowa was right. Why didn't I see it then though? Why didn't I stop before it was too late? Why did they all have to die?

"You've gone crazy and I'm going to kill you."

But it wasn't fair Trowa; no…Heero had said that. Maybe he was right…maybe I did lose my mind somewhere in the shadows of space…

Author's note: Wow….that took nearly forever didn't it? I apologize for taking so long to update but I just got stuck on this chapter and had to bash my way through writer's block to get to this point. Well I hope that I didn't turn everyone off totally from the story by taking so long. :P Maybe the next one will be out sooner…maybe reviews would make it come sooner….maybe this is a pathetic attempt for reviews to boost my deflated ego? Who knows? I just hope you're enjoying.