Hi everyone, thought I was gone??? Well… almost, I had a few problems with my computer and it took me a while to have it running again. But everything went all right and here's the next chapter in this fic.
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The Missions"Well, at least we might be able to save some" said Sally more to herself than to the rest when they exited the lab. "By the way, I have just finished filing your next missions. Please come by my office for a few minutes to explain them to you"
The five pilots headed for Sally's office. Waiting on top of her desk were all the files minus Wufei's, which Quatre had delivered earlier. She passed them each a folder with their respective names.
"It basically comes down to this, Heero will go back to looking for any data on the virus in the cluster of deserted colonies, Quatre, Duo, and Wufei will be looking for any traces of the Disease inside the colonies so that infected people may come for cryogenic freezing, and Trowa will be smuggled into Earth to try and find something there"
"I thought travel between colonies and Earth was banned due to the Disease, how do you expect to smuggle Trowa in?" interrupted Duo.
"The last space ferry to leave the colonies will be vice foreign minister Dorlan's" replied Sally, "we have asked Relena to take Trowa as personnel"
"She won't be denied the entrance to Earth from the space colonies as long as she proves she's not infected" added Heero, "former queen Relena will always be received with open arms"
This explanation seemed to satisfy all pilots because there was no further discussion. They each left Sally's office reading their own files and parted their ways for their respective rooms.
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Next day Trowa headed for the circus. He had to see Catherine before he left for Earth. He promised her to let her know whenever he had to leave.
"So you're off to Earth" sighed Catherine handing him a mug of hot coffee.
"There might be a possibility that the virus comes from a terrorist down on Earth, we mustn't discard any chances" said Trowa taking the mug from her.
"Well, at least you'll be safe there… I mean, there hasn't been a report of the Disease reaching Earth, has there?"
"No"
"Then, I hope you have a safe journey… what about Quatre?"
Catherine had never entirely approved of Trowa's lover. She seemed to think Trowa was too much of a gentleman and too strong and caring to be gay… her own point of view. Still she had accepted it and somehow took a liking to Quatre when she met him. Still, she usually spoke of the matter in a stiff sort of way.
"He'll go a different way, if that's what you want to know"
"No… I was just curious… will you stay the night at the circus?"
"… all right"
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Wufei was staring trough a window in the headquarters. It was late and the light was dimming slowly. He looked intently down at the city that extended itself before his eyes. A short, inaudible sigh escaped his lips.
"Hey Wu-man, what's up?" behind him came Duo.
"Nothing"
"It's really beautiful, isn't it?" Duo pointed at the darkening space, "you know, for a moment I thought you wouldn't be joining us in this mission"
"And why is that Maxwell?"
"Well, you know, you're not the type to do something like this…"
"Something like what?"
"Going all heroic for weak people, according to you"
Wufei looked for a brief moment at Duo. The guy was smiling good-naturedly playing with the tip of his long braid. His gaze returned to the city.
"People change with time… experience also changes people"
"Yeah… but still, I suppose you took quite a while to change, maybe you were still defending your position…"
"Have you ever suffered the loss of a loved one?" interrupted Wufei.
"Er… what? A loss… well, no. I've always been on my own so there hasn't been anyone to lose… and Heero's still here so… no, I haven't"
Wufei made a sort of dramatic pause in the moment. He was thinking of the people that died in the colony were he used to live… his elders, the one's who taught him everything he needed to know. They wouldn't really qualify as loved ones, but they were the closest he had had to a family. Then he thought about Treize. Contrary to his fellow pilots' opinions, he wasn't in love with Treize… he didn't even fancy guys like the others did. What he felt for Trieze wasn't love, it was respect and admiration. When he lost him he felt empty and incomplete.
"I suppose that, even when people are weak, they deserve an opportunity to be with the ones they love…" finally spoke Wufei.
Duo turned to look at Wufei wondering what could be possibly going on inside his partner's mind. Wufei simply stared down the window without further comments wondering if he would ever get a chance to spend some time next to a loved one. Secretly, he wished he wasn't to late… what if the one he had been looking for all this time had already been taken by the Disease?
Surprised at himself for having such thoughts, Wufei decided this was a dangerous matter for him. Never had he felt true love for someone yet, why was he thinking about this now? Was he envying Maxwell and the others for accomplishing what he had not? That was impossible, he had better things to be thinking about.
"I have to go" said Wufei.
"So do I" answered Duo in return, "see ya"
Wufei watched Maxwell's retreating back for a while before turning on to his own business. He left for his own dormitory trying hard to forget what he had just been thinking of.
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Quatre was looking trough some old files. In them were the early reports on the Disease: newspaper headliners warning about a strange Disease that killed its victims in a reduced time, laboratory records about the increasing number of patients affected by this mortal virus… for a long time now they had lived with this increasing danger.
Three years ago when his sister had died the Disease had recently become a topic in the Preventers list of probable terrorist attacks. He had felt guilty for some reason after the sad event, but he didn't really know why. Trowa after a while made him aware that it had nothing to do with him and that he really didn't have anything to blame himself for. But that explanation alone hadn't totally satisfied Quatre. He knew he was still guilty, maybe not for his sister's death, but for being away when they most needed him. When his father died he became the only man in the family, he should've realized that his sisters would probably need him.
No, he knew perfectly well that there was nothing to do inside his family anymore. He wasn't needed at all and the best way to help them was doing his best with the Preventers…
An image of his sister appeared in an old newspaper. He hadn't really been expecting this.
"Prominent leader of the Winner family dies victim of the mysterious virus" said the newspaper's headline. His sister was a great personality in the political and economical sphere of the space colonies, her death had caused a big uproar.
"I'm sorry sister" muttered Quatre.
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Time went by quickly and the week was over before they knew. After spending their last days together in a very long time, the parting came as something so natural and monotone, they all felt surprised. They knew work would keep them busy, hardly any time to spare to think about the rest.
The lovers said their good byes and they all parted to their respective sections of the hangar to board their transports. Before boarding, they all had to go trough the sanitary check up, but before they even got started, they were notified that they weren't allowed to leave.
"WHAT!"
"All personnel will proceed to the headquarters' main building for a throughout sanitary check up" spoke a voice through some intercoms.
All pilots gathered themselves at the entrance to the hangar.
"What the hell's going on?" asked Maxwell.
"A trace of virus has been located inside the headquarters, all personnel will proceed to the headquarters' main building for a throughout sanitary check up" repeated the voice in the intercom.
All pilots exchanged dark looks.
"Let's go" said Heero cutting trough the thick atmosphere that was suddenly created amongst them.
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A/N: Once again, sorry to have kept you waiting. I do realize this chapter has a lot of sentimentalism, but it's kind of the preliminary stuff to what I hope you find to be the really good stuff… well, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, I'll try to write more often from now on.
