Author's Notes:

We're finally at the end. ^_^

I decided to upload the last two parts simultaneously, because it just feels weird not to. While personally, I wish I could have done better on this fic, I'm happy about how far it has gone considering that it has been by first for Gundam Wing. Writing this has taken me back to the series, and I thoroughly enjoyed rereading and reliving it.

I'd like to thank all of you who have read this far, and those who still have me in their watch lists, despite my long hiatus. The fact that I did something that you have somehow enjoyed means a lot.

See you in my next GW-AC fics! Trust me, there will be more.

Disclaimer:

Gundam Wing is still not mine.

Lunar Ember Presents

A Gundam Wing Fanfiction

Death and Taxes

Epilogue: Speakeasy

"Quatre. Darling. I told you not to call."

"I know, but I just had a feeling that you're up to something again."

"I'm offended. Whatever do you think I'm doing?"

"Dorothy, you're in that arms auction right now, aren't you?"

"No."

"I could hear it in the background."

"…Damn it."

"You do know that Preventer already has that operation in their radar, right? In fact, I think Trowa's there."

"Yes. I saw him. I couldn't talk to him, but I'll tell him sometime that he wore his hair nice tonight. He could do without the standing bangs more often."

"You could do without the forked brows."

"Hey, it's not something I can help. These really grow that way."

"Just please tell me you're not buying another humongous cache of weapons to get them off the market. At least, not for now. Let Trowa do that. It's part of his job. He has to trace the source."

"Just a small cache then?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No, Dorothy."

"You're no fun, Mr. Winner. I might as well go home then."

"Really?"

"Of course not. Have you already started with drinks?"

"Not yet. There's only Duo here. I'm not sure if Wufei is coming, but Heero and Ms. Relena are, and I think Zechs and Ms. Noin are going to follow. You should have joined us instead of attending that auction, you know."

"Everyone meets up almost every month. I'll catch the next one."

"You said that the last time. Anyway, I won't keep you. Be good?"

"Never, my love."

"I'll see you for dinner in a couple of days."

"Was that Dorothy?"

"Yeah," Quatre said, returning his phone in his breast pocket. "She's at the same event as Trowa is, apparently."

Duo chuckled, reading through the menu of cocktails. The small speakeasy interestingly hidden in one of the older wings of the BOZAR Center for Fine Arts was owned by Quatre, and during nights like this, he would have it closed for friends. He didn't even know how this whole meet-up business started—it was just that whoever was free came over when they could—but he didn't mind. The drinks were good, and the former Zero-Four pilot always picked up the tab.

"You and Dorothy have got to be the most unusual match-up ever," Duo said. "I mean, that woman is craaaaaaaaaay…"

Quatre nodded, not even bothering to defend her. "She pretty much is."

"How long have you been together?"

"A year, I guess?"

"But you've started seeing each other…"

"I'm not exactly sure. After Sylvia, there were a couple of years of just doing things with her. I wouldn't call that seeing each other."

"Tony, would you get me a Sazerac please?" Duo waved at the bartender before looking back at Quatre. "Yep, weird taste in women, but I honestly can't think of anyone else you'd end up with. And at least I can talk to you about it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I work with Heero, but the dude isn't exactly the guy you'd go to about stuff like this. The last time I tried to ask him for help when Hilde and I fought, he kicked me out of his apartment."

"Well, you did puke on his couch."

"So I had a few bottles to drink. Big deal. Thanks, Tony," he said as the bartender put down a glass in front of him. "I mean, how could you kick out a drunk, sad friend? I slept in his hallway!"

"At least he gave you a pillow and a sleeping bag."

"Like that's a good thing?"

"He would have literally killed you thirteen years ago."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Once a douchebag, always a douchebag."

It was true, though, that things are now vastly different from when they all crossed each other's paths. The decade hadn't been kind, but the past few years have been relatively quiet. He would even come close to saying that they had finally started growing roots. Quatre actually being in a relationship with Dorothy was something that he didn't expect, but Heero was all together a different story—with him and the Princess dancing around the obvious for so long, he almost believed that they'd never get together.

She was good for him, he thought. Heero would still get special assignments away when needed, but mostly, and especially during the few months after Relena's surgery, he stayed put. The fact that he actually did already have a couch the last time he dropped by was a sign that he was more or less getting used to being stuck in one place.

"Well, speak of the devil. Glad you made it."

Heero walked up to their table and pulled a chair for Relena before he sat down. The woman whispered her thanks and smiled at them. "Anyone else joining us tonight?" She looked at Quatre. "Dorothy?"

"She sends her regrets."

"Did she really?"

The man laughed. "No."

Duo watched as Heero raised his hand to Tony, who waved back to acknowledge his usual pick. He technically ordered the same thing each time—a Bourbon Old Fashioned—and more than once Duo had told him that he drank like an old man.

But while everything seemed like clockwork, something felt off. For one thing, Relena was subdued. She rested her hands on her lap and her eyes stared blankly at the hundreds of bottles displayed in the bar.

Duo tilted his head to block her line of sight. "Yo. Princess. You okay?"

The woman blinked at him before smiling to hide her fluster. "Yes, I am. Were you saying something?"

"No. You're weird tonight."

"Am I?" She said, and she picked up a menu from the table. There was a quick twinkle in the corner of Duo's vision, but he ignored it when he noticed in the dim lighting that her eyes were puffy and red.

Quatre took the words right out of his mouth. "Ms. Relena, have you been crying?"

The woman hid behind the menu and let out a small, "No."

Duo reached out and pushed down the laminated sheet to see her face. Even her nose was red.

"Aw shit, Heero. Did you make her cry?"

The man in question calmly sipped the drink that Tony had set down before him. "I may have."

"Dude, you've been together three years and you still don't know how to treat her right? I shouldn't—"

Quatre cut him off with an elbow to his side. Following his gaze, Duo felt his jaw slowly go slack as Relena raised her left hand.

"You're engaged!"

Zechs stopped by the door of the bar when he heard Duo's crow of bewildered excitement. Of course, he would be the one to state the obvious. The man slapped Heero's shoulder from across the table, while Quatre stood to give his sister a hug.

Noin stepped beside him, and he could see her pursing her lips.

"Did you know about this?"

"Yes," Zechs answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"He only asked me this morning. And it's been a busy day." A formality. He knew that Heero would do it whether or not he approved.

Not that he didn't.

"You didn't want to tell me, did you?"

Zechs looked at her, and finally allowed himself a smile. "I'm sorry. I was sworn to secrecy."

Noin tried to look hurt, but her eyes lit up as she returned her gaze to the group before them.

"Of course."

Years ago, he wouldn't have imagined being in a dark but cozy speakeasy in Brussels, a few steps from congratulating his sister on the new path that suddenly opened up before her. Years ago, all he could think of was playing his role in a war that he was destined to lose: a war that was to be claimed by five teenagers who had to transform themselves into soldiers as they carried the fate of millions on their shoulders. It was a life of blood and steel and smoke, and by all means they should be dead, but here they were, in a future that he had never thought he'd live to see.

For a quiet moment, he watched them. It wasn't a perfect life, but as he saw his sister radiate with a joy he had never seen before, he knew that at the very least, this was a perfect moment.

She caught his gaze as she slightly turned, and she smiled as he approached.

"Milliardo, there's something you need to know..."

He already did, but he'd rather hear it from her.

owari