Disclaimer: Y'all should know the drill by now. I've got only one word for you: et cetera.

Sei: Um...I think that's two words...

Me: ...Quiet, you. Don't make me get out the shock prod.


Sons of the Stars

By Sieth Realder

Duo was brushing his teeth when he heard the gunshots. Please, he begged silently as he hurriedly rinsed the green toothpaste out of his mouth, PLEASE don't let that be Heero going all trigger-happy on the neighborhood. He jumped in surprise when Heero himself opened the bathroom door to shout, "Let's go, Duo!" The braided boy abruptly spit out the last of his rinsewater before rushing out of the bathroom after Heero.

The three remaining Gundam pilots met Heero and Duo as they raced down the stairs of their immaculate safehouse. Together, they ran out of the back door, towards the sharp cracks that still rang through the chill night.

The boys stopped on the back porch and listened. The gunshots had stopped, but angry shouts took their place. "Dammit! I can't believe you lost him!"

"I lost him! Where were you, you friggin'…" The heated conversation between the two rough voices faded away into the blackness of the night. Quatre let out a relieved sigh that was cut short by a rustling sound at the 7-foot tall, 4-foot wide, carefully trimmed hedge that surrounded the boys' house.

They peered cautiously at the hedge. Heero and Trowa simultaneously motioned at a small section of the huge bush that seemed to tremble slightly. They all crept slowly towards the hedge, fanning out as they approached. Heero signaled Duo to go forward as he pulled his ever-present gun carefully out of his jeans pocket and trained it on the quivering shrubbery.

Duo made his way forward, step by step, until he was close enough to touch the bush. He waited for what seemed an inexorable time before he pulled the leaves and branches aside with the speed of a striking snake.

The light streaming from the windows of the house illuminated the huddled figure of a young boy. Wufei guessed his age to be about eleven. The boy had his little arms wrapped around his knees and was breathing shallowly into their pitiful shelter. He wore a dark grey trenchcoat that looked a little too big for him over his baggy pants and ripped T-shirt. The light shone on shaggy burgundy hair and pale bruised skin. What was most appalling, Quatre thought, was that he was covered in blood that oozed sickeningly from several slashes and gunshot wounds that decorated his body.

The boy looked up weakly at the curious teenagers that closed in around him. The light illuminated his eyes, two immense shining burgundy orbs that penetrated the souls of the youths surrounding him. There was something distinctly wrong about those eyes, but the boys couldn't decide exactly what it was that bothered them. He smiled feebly at them, his breath coming raggedly in his throat. His mouth, lips cracked and bleeding, opened just a bit as he croaked hoarsely, "Brothers…" and abruptly passed out without another word, his head dropping back onto his arms.

At that moment, something happened. Something strange, something, for lack of a better word, alien. The back of Wufei's neck prickled, crowds of people closed in around him, he closed his eyes for a moment, hoping the stifling, uncomfortable feeling would end soon.

Trowa heard the wind whisper around him. He paused for a moment, poised for anything, listening, but he could not decipher the elusive poetry of the night. There was a hollow place in his stomach, and he couldn't feel his legs. What's happening?

Quatre heard a tiny voice, a little child's voice, behind him, murmuring to him, telling him something, something important, but he couldn't hear clearly, the sound seemed to blur once inside his ear canal. It sounded so real that he whipped around…but no one was there. He stared at the spot of grass behind him, a dull ache resting in his heart.

Heero couldn't breathe, he was drowning, drowning in the screams and explosions that he remembered hearing on so many missions, the pain was coming back, the pain of sending all those people to their graves forevermore….

Duo felt an awkward ache in the center of his back, as if something was missing there, he turned to look at Heero, but everything was a swirling black on black. He gasped in fear; he couldn't see, he couldn't see!…

He blinked. They all stood there, looking as if they had seen ghosts. They seemed all right other than that, but all appeared severely shaken. Duo knew without asking that he looked the same way. His gaze turned back to the boy, still huddled in the hollow of the bush, now unconscious. He heard Wufei sigh in relief behind him and Trowa ask pragmatically, "What do we do with him?" Then he heard, as if in answer, a sharp click.

He spun towards Heero and gaped wide-eyed as the dark-haired boy removed the safety on his gun and pointed it at the child. Quatre gasped. "Heero! You're not serious!"

Heero didn't move. There was a pause. "He's seen too much," Heero grunted abruptly, harshly, sounding as if the words had been forced from him. His finger tightened on the trigger.

Duo couldn't control himself as he darted forward and smacked the gun sharply out of Heero's hand. The two glared at each other, silently battling their wills. The others held their breath, waiting; for what, they weren't sure. Suddenly Duo spoke up.

"What the hell has he seen, Heero? Anyway, the kid needs our help, goddammit, unless those perfect eyes of yours didn't notice the wounds that happen to be covering his body! Who knows what this kid's been through? He's still alive, you know," Duo hissed fiercely, pointing at the huddled figure still half-hidden in the bushes, "and I, for one, am not gonna be some weird sadist or something who'd just watch a little kid die in that condition! Or kill him without giving him a chance!" He held Heero's intense gaze, his determination matching the Japanese boy's.

There was a long silence, during which Heero glowered at Duo; Wufei tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for them to fight it out already; and Quatre wrought his hands until they were bright red. If it comes to blows between them, the blonde thought, there's not much we can do to stop them. And there's still that kid to think about. Trowa put a protective hand on Quatre's shoulder as if in answer to his musings.

Finally the stillness was broken by Heero's grunted, "All right. We'll help him."

Quatre blew out a relieved sigh, not realizing that he had been holding his breath, and shared a small smile with Trowa. At a small, purposeful nod from Duo, Wufei stepped forward, carefully lifted the child, and carried him inside.