A/N: Review for an update, even though there only seems to be one of you...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything I didn't create.

WARNING: Dark.

"Lemme go!" I screamed, struggling against the grips of the two stronger, older men as they pulled me by the wrists towards a set of shackles hanging from the ceiling. "Lemme go, lemme go, LET ME GO!" A seven-and-a-half year old's strength wasn't nearly enough against the two men who held my wrists so tightly they cut off the blood circulation. If I had been stronger, I might've been able to give them a bit more of a run for their money, but as it was, they had me lifted up into the air with those shackles closed around my wrists in no time, putting the chains in my hands. "LET. ME. GOOOO!" My voice was turning hoarse from the screaming when they dropped to their knees and grabbed my wildly kicking feet and holding me still as best as they could. Then the branding iron came. "NOOOOO!"

I stood listlessly amongst the crowd of lifeless kids around my age, my wrists shackled together, a gun in my hands, dark, dirty, stringy hair in my face with a pulley system that went up to the 3-storey-high ceiling above, my shackles chained to it on the other end. Somewhere behind me and to my right, in another section, a kid started screaming bloody murder when I heard his gun clatter to the floor, the static shocks starting, undoubtedly making his hair stand on end until he begged for the gun to be put back in his hands. I was nine years old now. Didn't give a damn about the half, and I closed my eyes when I heard him scream, not even bothering to turn around. I knew what it looked like.

"3 –2 – FIRE!" The pulley systems pulled our wrists up to right degree angles from ourselves, and reflexively, we gripped our guns and shot the captured soldiers bound to the poles, barely looking at our targets as blood splattered everywhere. We had done this too many times, and I would've sighed if I wasn't so tired as a girl to my left and a section back started screaming, along with a few other new kids back there who had refused to shoot. This happened more than dropping the gun did. Too many kids still remembered what it was like to be Outside, still had strong hearts and senses of justice. Others like me, who had been here for awhile, were broken or had given up resisting. We'd become numb to everything, tired of everything, and just didn't want any more pain. At least once every three weeks to a month or two longer, a kid shot himself just for that reason. Didn't want to deal with it anymore.

I held the gun loosely between my hands as I looked at the floor dully as the adults- mostly those who had grown through this without shooting themselves, and some faculty- walked among us, trading our spent guns for new ones as they removed the dead bodies. This was were the executions were held- what they called 'training'. I limply let the gun in my hands be taken, and limply held onto the new one the person gave me. I only had one reason I didn't shoot myself.

I could remember a face, a boy, and happier times. I could remember his face-splitting smile and eyes shining when he laughed. I remembered that his name was Duo. He was a strong boy. He never gave up. I remembered his long, red-brown hair that went down to his butt, his dirty white shirt-tunic and little army green shorts. My wrists were pulled up again and I shot. The gun was removed and replaced. I remembered him calling me 'Trio', and if that was what he called me, then that would be my name. Not 4600. I didn't like numbers. Trio was a nice number, a nice word. It meant three, like three people. Three people was a small family. Three people was a warm place to be. I wanted to find that boy whose name meant two. I wanted to find that bright smile that was meant for sharing between one person and another. If I ever got out of here, I would find that bright boy with the happy smile whose name meant two. I remembered him. I would find him.

My chain fell with a mighty clang, and I blinked in surprise. What happened? I kept my head down and I listened. There was a tremendous amount of yelling going on by the entrance to this place, and a lot of scuffling. The entrance to this place was behind me, and I looked up. There was no one in front of me but the people tied to the posts that we had just shot, and the man with the keys running by. I pulled my wrists up and shot. The man fell. I was by his side, taking his keys. I found the key that was used for everyone's shackles- one of many keys- and I unlocked my shackles, the heavy metal cuffs falling to the floor with a metallic thud. I took the key off of the ring, spotting the one that opened the space pods that could shoot me toward earth- and ran to the kid who had stood next to me, slapped him into focusing, showed him the key, stuck it in his cuffs and turned and ran away.

I ran through hallways, dodging and sneaking and knocking out guards, running to the space pods in my dirty, light-blue, pillow case dress, long, dirty hair streaming out behind me. I opened the space pod door and left the gun on the floor outside. Climbed in, shut the door, vacuum-sealed it off, and started the air. I pushed the buttons that detached the pod, let it drift away, set the co-ordinates and hit the boosters, falling against the door from the force of the flames that shot me away from the only colony I'd ever known. I turned over, lay on my back on the soft, cushy floor, and stared at the roof as I opened my mouth and began to sing.

"I know you're somewhere out there,

Somewhere far away,

I want you back…

I want you back….

My neighbors think I'm crazy,

But they don't understand,

You're all I had…

You're all I had…" I would find that brown-haired boy with the bright smile whose hair came down to his butt. I would find that strong boy called Duo, whose name meant two. I had been waiting for this opportunity for two years. Hell take me if I wasted it.

Her breathing was calming down. Instinct told me she'd wake up soon, and I rubbed her arm absent-mindedly, thinking about her, Quatre sitting in the chair I had abandoned before shifting to the bed and being held there. Heero was leaning on the wall by the door, legs and arms crossed, watching me and Trio. I hadn't moved her since she pinned me and passed out, though I used her side as an armrest. Wufei and Trowa had left to do whatever it was that they did, and the room was silent.

We all knew what the KOS was. We had infiltrated them to destroy them from the inside out last year, though there wasn't much left of it except for a few pro-war crazies left over from when they were still in business. We could have just gone and blown them up- dealing with them the easy way, but Une had put information about them on top priority. To prevent the same things from happening again in the future. So over the course of three days, we had infiltrated them and learned everything we could about them. KOS was a battle station designed for deprogramming children and turning them into child soldiers. In their heyday, they had over 2,000 children in just that station, an estimated half of which had committed suicide by shooting themselves, or had died thoughtlessly in the war zone. We had found what we had been told had been the training room by old enthusiast, who had been there from the beginning. Heero had been the one to get most of the information out of him. The room had been divided into multiple sections, was three stories high and had rusty chains hanging from the ceiling, electrical wires running through the links, which had been used to 'correct' disobedient children. Some had even died by those methods.

I glared at the wall opposite me as Quatre glanced sadly at Trio's burn scar again, making a fist and hiding it between Trio's body and mine. I had infiltrated the system secretly, as a spy, and I had found a series of five foot by five-foot rooms, each seven feet tall, each one exactly the same. A pair of shackles hanging from the ceiling and an iron chair, bolted to the ground. Only a few had lacked the feature of the branding irons. I gave the wall the evil eye. If I had known that they had had Trio in their grasp at the time, I would've done so much worse than simply blowing up their station after we had gathered all the information we had and left. I squeezed my fist tighter and then relaxed, looking down at Trio's face sadly. That was in the past though. There wasn't much more that she could tell us. The mark on her shoulder explained everything. She had been trained to be a child soldier. Though I doubted that they managed to break her will too easily. Trio was clever, she could be a very good actress when she wanted to be, and could trick people into thinking what she wanted them to think.

She jerked awake, stiffening. I leaned back and looked at her face. Her eyes were open, and met mine, so I smiled at her, gently squeezing her reassuringly. I'm still here. I glanced up at Quatre, and he smiled at me, knowing she was awake, and I glanced over at Heero, who stared at me. No answers from either. My best guess would be that they would grill her if she was feeling up to it. She sat up suddenly and wrapped her arms around my neck, and I stiffened in surprise. What? Oh. She was re-adjusting herself already, yet she still didn't let go, burying her face in my hair. This was a hug. I smiled over her shoulder with an amused look. She was so cute sometimes. Even at 15, she still had the cute thing down pat. I slowly wrapped my arms around her, and she sighed quietly. I closed my eyes, smiling in amusement. She probably didn't even know she did that.

"Thank you." She whispered in my ear. I frowned and turned my head slightly into hers. Her voice sounded a little shaky. "For not leaving." The smile was automatic, yet of habit.

"Course. Just got you back." I wouldn't let you go so soon. She gave a shaky, small laugh.

"You know…" she whispered, and putting her hands on my shoulders, pushed herself away from me and onto the bed beside me. I angled myself to face her. "-I never stopped wanting to find you." I blinked, somewhat awed. Never? Never at all? Surely she'd have forgotten me at some point. Well, apart from the amnesia of course. She let out a short sigh and looked down. "I was caught running away after getting towed out of the Alliance on that truck, and for two years, I was trained to be a soldier, from when I was seven, to nine. It…" She trailed off, looking for words, and I frowned at her worriedly. This couldn't be very easy for her to remember. "-was horrible." She admitted. "Many other kids killed themselves- shot themselves under the chin, usually- but… I always remembered your face, and how strong you always were." Crap. I could feel a blush coming on. "You never let anything get you down- for long, anyways- and that was something I admired about you." My face was dusted pink now. "So… I remembered that, promised myself I'd find you, and tried to be a person you could be proud of." I was looking at the wall now- thankfully Trio wasn't looking at my face- for now I was completely pink. She let out a short laugh and rested her forehead on my shoulder, smiling wryly, her hair falling into her face. "Sappy, huh?" Silently, I lifted a hand and rested it on her head, careful not to dislodge her head from my shoulder. Nothing more needed to be said.