Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters. Sue me if you want, but all you'll get is books and lint.

A.N. - Sorry everyone, I know it's been awhile since I last updated, but I haven't been sleeping well lately, and trust me, you don't want to read anything I write while sleep deprived. Anyways, since a lot of people have been asking about some of the OOCness in this story, I'd better explain why I had them act that way.

The tv show, where you learn the most about them, ends a year before Endless Waltz. Since my story begins just after Endless Waltz, I figured that the pilots had grown and changed in the year after the Eve Wars ended. With the successful defeat of Mariemeia's army, the pilots finally sorted out where they belonged, especially with Wufei and Trowa. Wufei found a place to belong with the other pilots in the Preventers, and a lifelong goal with their transformation into angels. Trowa gained a name when he decided to continue using Trowa Barton (even though I've ignored the destruction of the Gundams). He also has a kind of family, with Catherine and the other pilots. Since they no longer have reason to doubt their future or purpose, Wufei and Trowa have begun to relax around the people they trust. (Long note, I know, but it needed to be explained)

Last Chapter:

Heero shrugged. "Once you have the basics of one kind of instrument down, it's relatively easy to learn how to play the others of the same type."

"Why did you choose the cello then?" asked Quatre, curious.

"I like the way it sounds, and it matches well with the instruments the rest of you play."

The pilots spent the rest of the night sitting and playing, Heero demonstrating some of the other instruments he knew how to play. They also learned that Duo and Heero could sing very well, so voices joined some of the songs they played. After a calm evening spent getting to know each other better through music, they all went to bed.

Chapter 11:

After a week relaxing and truly coming to terms with their transformation, the pilots headed back to the Preventers' headquarters in Beijing. They met up with Une, Noin, Zechs and Sally in a small café near the building.

"Are you ready for this?" asked Sally.

"Lead the way," Duo replied while the rest of the pilots nodded decisively. They followed the older group into the middle of a whirlwind. Many people had decided to join the Preventers after Mariemeia's failed coup, and the established staff had developed a routine for newcomers. Papers were thrust at them to sign and as quickly taken away again. People asked for their clothing sizes and shoved new uniforms in their arms. They were told to report for physical and psych evaluations at certain times which were shouted so quickly it was impossible to catch. The pilots were constantly twitching in an instinctive, aborted attempt to defend themselves from the lunatics they were surrounded by. Finally the others succeeded in dragging them into an empty conference door and locking the door against the frenzy outside.

"You've just seen the organisation of the Preventers at work," said Une wryly. "Don't worry about all the tests you've just been told to show up for, we're waiving them for all of you. We know you're more than physically able to do the job, and as sane as you can be, for what the five of you have gone through."

Wufei regained some of his customary grumpiness at the poking and prodding he had just received. "Hmpf. It's only right that you acknowledge our skills, woman."

"You're right Wufei, it is only right that we acknowledge your skills. But if you keep calling me woman, I might just make you take every single test we have. Do I make myself clear?" Une asked in her wartime voice.

Duo clapped a hand over Wufei's mouth before he could answer. "Perfectly clear, Commander."

"Good." That resolved, Duo removed his hand and received a blast from Wufei.

"What do you think you're doing, Maxwell? I can answer for myself you know."

"I know. I just didn't want Sally to get stuck doing drudge work because you insulted the Commander. She is your partner after all."

"Thank you, Duo," said Sally. "That's very considerate of you." Wufei was left gaping, unable to come up with a good response. It was Heero who got them all back to business, as usual.

"Won't all the other junior agents be upset about our skipping the tests?" he asked.

"Possibly, but you won't be working with them much anyways. You're all too valuable to use on regular missions, which is mostly what the agents ranked Corporal and under get. You all start with the rank of Captain, same as Sally, Noin and Zechs. The five of you, plus Sally, will nominally be a unit. One of you will be in command, when needed, but I'll let you decide who. I need to know by the end of the week."

"We don't need a week to decide," Quatre told her.

"Really? Who do you want as your commander then?"

"Heero," the four answered in unison, Sally adding her agreement.

"I thought you might choose him," commented Une. "Right then, Heero, you're going to be a Captain General. I'm sure you can handle the post. I don't have any missions for any of you right yet, so just use the time to get used to the building and your offices. I'll have your Level One security clearance cards for you by this afternoon, but for now you're going to have to stick to the general access areas."

"Where's the cafeteria?" was Duo's first question. Noin, Sally, and Zechs agreed to play tour guide. As they all turned to leave, Une called Heero back.

"Are you all right with being in charge?" she asked him.

"I'll be fine. Once we all came together in the Eve Wars, it became more or less my role to lead. They all just automatically looked to me for guidance. When we came back together to fight Mariemeia, they again relied upon me for leadership, even Wufei who was fighting for the other side. They've also gotten me to do most of the planning for the future now that we're angels. All that my being Captain General is, is putting a name to what I've been doing all along."

"I'm glad," Une told him. "I didn't want to be responsible for placing yet another burden on your shoulders."

"It is a burden," Heero acknowledged, "but I'll manage. None of them need much guidance anyways."

"Good. I'll add Noin and Zechs to your unit then. They won't be here much longer anyways. They're planning to go to Mars for the terra-forming project soon."

"Zechs won't have a problem taking orders from me?"

"Good question, but I don't think it'll be a problem. Unless you all have a mission together, all you'll be doing is checking over the mission plans to make sure everything is planned properly."

"Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about? If not, I should probably find the others before they get too far."

"No, that was it. Go ahead." As Heero exited the room, a shadow detached itself from the wall to greet him.

"Hey buddy, I thought I'd wait for you so you didn't get lost. Sally told me where they'd be and how to get there."

"Thanks, Duo. Where are they going to be?"

"In the gym. Wufei said he wanted to train," Duo replied, rolling his eyes at the Chinese pilot's obsession with fighting. "Hey, are you ok with us choosing you to lead?"

"Une asked me the same thing. It's fine, I've been doing it all along anyways."

Duo looked startled at that. "You're right, I never thought about that. I guess we did always ask you what to do. It's probably because you always had an answer for us, even when we had no idea why we were even fighting anymore." The two walked in silence the rest of the way to the gym, passing agents who gave them curious glances.

When they got to the gym, Wufei was sparring with Trowa, and losing. He could never even hit the Heavyarms pilot. Every time he got close enough to land a hit, Trowa would simply flip away and dart back in to score on Wufei. It was like seeing a cat playing with a mouse. Finally Trowa got tired of it and swept Wufei's feet out from under him, pinning him to the mat. Wufei was quite obviously fuming at the defeat, and challenged Duo as soon as he regained his feet. Duo agreed, and the two of them began. The fight was a contrast in styles: Wufei's trained karate style to Duo's raw street fighting. They were evenly matched however, Duo's experience in dirty fights balancing Wufei's strict training. As they watched the match, Zechs walked over to Heero.

"Congratulations on getting command," he said. Heero shrugged.

"It's not really that big of a deal. They already look to me for leadership. By the way, Une added you and Noin to my unit. She seems to want to keep our groups from the war together."

"Good, I'm glad you're commanding." Heero's face visibly betrayed his surprise, so Zechs continued. "You're an excellent, honourable fighter. I know you have no grudge against me from the war, otherwise you would have killed me that day on Libra. I also know that you would never ask someone under your command to do something you wouldn't do yourself, and you go to great lengths to protect those under your care. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have commanding me." Heero bowed his head, humbled.

"Thank you, Zechs. That means more to me than you can ever know." Now it was Zechs' turn to be surprised.

"What do you mean?"

"For most of my life, I was considered a weapon, not a person. I was just a tool to be used to accomplish a goal. You're someone I respect, and your opinion means a lot to me. You see me as a person, not a tool, and I'm glad of it."

While they had been talking, the fight between Wufei and Duo had been winding down. They were too evenly matched, and so ended up calling it a draw.

"Why don't you spar with someone, Heero," asked Zechs. "I'm not volunteering though."

"Yeah, Heero," agreed Duo, "we've never seen you actually fight hand to hand. You killed people too quickly."

"All right. Who wants to spar?"

"Not me," said Quatre. "I'm not a hand to hand fighter."

"I'm pooped," said Duo.

"Not you, Wufei," put in Heero. "You've fought enough matches today."

"I'll spar with you, Heero," said Trowa.

Both walked out onto the mat, faced each other, bowed, and sprang into action. Trowa leaped quickly at Heero, hoping to catch him by surprise, but Heero ducked under and straightened as Trowa passed over him, throwing him into the air. The circus performer landed neatly but with a bit more effort than usual. Heero spun quickly, aiming a roundhouse kick at the other pilot. Trowa blocked it and returned a kick of his own, blocked by Heero. The two exchanged blows for awhile, none connecting. Finally Trowa resumed the tactics that had worked so well on Wufei. Instead of wasting his strength on attacking uselessly, Heero concentrated on blocking Trowa's attacks, occasionally returning a blow after blocking. The fight continued in this manner for awhile, but eventually Heero made his move. Instead of waiting to block the attack, he moved into it, grabbing Trowa and using his steel-strong arms to pin him.

"Do you give up?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Trowa. "I can't break your grip."

"Good," said Heero. Releasing Trowa, he commented, "that's the first fight since I started training where I haven't had to kill or seriously injure someone."

"That was a good strategy of yours," Trowa told him. "You lured me into thinking that you couldn't do anything more than block and attack occasionally. If you'd tried that grab any earlier, I might have evaded it."

"I learned how to be patient very young. I can wait as long as I need to to win." Turning, he said to Wufei, "that's your problem. You get impatient or frustrated and rush in. That's when you lose. Did you learn meditation techniques with your training?"

"Yes," Wufei replied sullenly.

"Centre yourself before a fight. If you are calm, you can see all sorts of possibilities that you miss otherwise. I'm not saying this to criticize you, but you'll find reaching your objectives easier if you're patient and look for an opportunity instead of trying to force your way through everything."

"That's good advice," conceded Wufei. "I will try in future to restrain my temper. I am very aware that it has lost me fights in the past."

"Quatre, you just said that you're not a hand to hand fighter. You'll have to learn. It was alright during the Eve Wars because we hardly ever had missions that didn't involve our Gundams, but now most of our missions will probably involve hand to hand combat. I suggest that all of us work with Quatre to teach him, and with each other. It can't hurt to know each other's style, not when we're all working together."

"He's sounding like a commander already," commented Sally. Heero glared at her mildly.

"I've been in military training since I could walk, why wouldn't I?" The dispute continued, degenerating into childish name calling. Above it all could be heard Wufei loudly saying his favourite word.

"INJUSTICE!"

A.N. - Hooray! I wrote a longer chapter! I'm so proud of me! As for Heero being a Captain General, I'm the authoress, I can invent military ranks if I feel like it.

Clarobell - I know, the back-rub scene is drowning in sap. Oh well, I think people liked it. Food fights are always fun. No prob about writing a music scene that took care of that niggling little voice in the back of your mind. They will be more music later. Maybe. I don't know when one of the pilots will ask about the wing colours, they haven't mentioned that they're curious yet.

Griffen - Lol. I guess insanity would have to be a good thing. Sane people are boring. I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for wishing me a happy holiday, but I'm Canadian, so I celebrate Canada Day on July 1st.

The Chaotic Ones - I don't know if I'm going to pair Wufei with anyone. It's up in the air right now, but he strikes me as the Lonely Dragon type.

Chaos - I've never seen YYH or Weiß, so I can't write about characters from them. The demon suggestion is intriguing though.

Angel - Lol. I'm sure you wouldn't mind being paired with him.

Jef - Wufei's so popular! He should feel so special. It's good that you didn't ask me to answer what I have planned in a review, cause I don't know yet. I'm making this all up as I go.

Aries - Yes, Heero's way OOC. He's more fun that way. I can give him words to say instead of grunts and glares! Thank you for the plushy and the pixy stix. I enjoyed them muchly.

Windy River - ;-)

Chibis Unleashed - I understand completely. Just don't pester the author too much. She also has a novel she's writing and might try to get published, if she ever finishes it. I love music personally, I don't think I could manage without it, so it seemed appropriate to have music involved. Especially since we already knew that Trowa and Quatre played.

Scotty-lass - A lot of people seem to have really liked the food fight. Heero started the food fight cause he's opened up a lot, and since he couldn't shoot Duo, he threw food instead. Trowa helped because he's loosened up. If you read carefully though, it was actually Duo who started the food fight. Heero and Trowa would have called it even with the applesauce in exchange for the orange juice. It was Duo who declared war. Thank you for calling my writing brilliant. It's all thanks to my insanity that I can write stuff like this, so I don't mind craziness. waves back

Katreda - I'm glad you like my story. And the OOCness. Which is explained in the authors note at the beginning. Yeah. Keep reading and reviewing! :-)