Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 13: True Colors

Eight hours after having a building dropped on their heads, Heero, Harry, and Relena were tucked into the back of a pink limousine cruising towards the airport. Heero was worried that they would be spotted (I mean come on, really, a pink limo!?) but surprisingly no one had followed them and according to the world Relena Darlian had died in a tragic terrorist bombing just like her father (along with at least twenty-five other unnamed teenagers). That grated on Heero's nerves but there was really nothing he could do about it at the moment.

Half sprawled across Heero's lap, Harry was once again sleeping off his exhaustion; the young wizard having tunneled through over two hundred feet of dirt, rock, and concrete in order to get them out of their death trap and away from the search crews that were digging out those that had been trapped inside when the building fell. Heero had then used Relena's phone to contact her driver and let him know that they had found a way out and they needed to get away before someone saw Relena. To explain the unresponsive state of both Relena and Harry, the blue eyed teen had used Harry's earlier excuse of having passed out due to a lack of oxygen while they'd been digging their way out since he couldn't exactly tell the man the truth.

Sighing, Heero dropped his head back against the seat cushion and closed his eyes as he felt his own exhaustion washing over him after the rather stressful night. He eventually dozed off until he felt the car slow to a stop and he sat up to find they were at the airport. They were soon sitting on a private jet as they traveled to one of the Darlian's less known estates in South America.

Heero didn't like jumping halfway around the world just so he could turn around and jump half way back again in order to get him and Harry back to the Winner Estate but he had no choice at the moment; unless it was stay in Japan to wait until one of the others could collect them and risk getting caught (something the pilot wanted to avoid). Howard, Duo's main contact on Earth, would be picking them up in his salvage barge two days after they arrived in South America and he'd drop them off at the mouth of the Nile in Egypt where the Maganac Corps would pick them up and take them back to the Winner Estate.

Shaking off the maudlin thoughts, Heero turned to watch over the pint-sized teen as he slept on oblivious to the latest twist in their current predicament.

Harry stood on the edge of the bow of Howard's salvage barge as it cut across the Atlantic Ocean. He'd been feeling rather numb and detached since he woke up shortly before Relena's jet had landed in Northern Brazil except during the nights when his dreams were haunted by an endless cycle of vicious nightmares. In all that time, he hadn't actually spoken a single word to anyone except for Heero and that was only when he was alone with the teen and only because Heero usually got frustrated and ended up ordering him to respond verbally. Even then he didn't say much beyond what was necessary to follow the order.

Relena had been sad to see the two of them leave two days after they arrived but Harry was happy to be away from her as she periodically displayed what Harry saw as fan-girl type behavior around Heero; meaning the girl had a major crush on the blue-eyed pilot and often acted like an airhead when in the same room as the pilot. Harry did not have any fond memories of fan-girls. He was at least thankful that she focused her attention on the taller teen, since he didn't think he'd have been able to stop himself from hexing the snot out of her if she'd attempted to latch onto him the way she latched onto Heero every once in a while. He couldn't understand why the pilot tolerated the behavior but chalked it up to the other teen just being weirder than usual.

Trading a large mansion and a harmless (if annoying) fan-girl for a salvage barge crewed by a dozen burly men hadn't really been a welcome change in the end though. The fact that he'd basically be stuck on the boat with said men for a minimum of two weeks in addition to having to put up with Heero constantly watching him like a hawk only made matters worse. The green eyed wizard had felt trapped and hunted the moment he stepped aboard the salvage ship as the crew took an immediate interest in him (most of them seeing him as a child that needed to be entertained or kept out of trouble). The first two days aboard the barge had been particularly trying as the adults had constantly tried to draw him out of his shell.

The constant attention had set him on edge until it got to the point where he'd fall into a defensive stance and reach for his wand or flinch any time the adults on board glanced his way or attempted to approach him. On the third day aboard the barge the unwanted attention he had been receiving abruptly stopped for no apparent reason (Harry completely unaware that Heero had spoken the crew and asked them to ignore the pint-sized teen after explaining that Harry been treated poorly in the past without giving them any details). The moment it appeared that the crew had lost all interest in his presence, Harry's earlier emotional numbness returned; though he'd still recoil away from any of the adults if they got too close to him or if he happened to catch their eye in passing.

The only solace Harry found over the course of their voyage during the six days following those first few days was in the endless expanse of sky and sea that surrounded the barge as it reminded him poignantly of flying. He spent close to eighty percent of that time precariously perched on the railing of the bow staring out over the vast ocean as the water and wind tugged at his hair as they plowed through the rising and falling swells of water. The rest of the time he spent trying to sleep, picking at the food Heero brought him, and covertly monitoring the other individuals on the barge in order to prevent any of them from sneaking up on him.

"You should be able to spot land in another two more days as we pass close to the African Coast on our way to the Mediterranean Sea," Heero announced as he walked up to stand at the rail just a few feet away from where Harry was perched. "So long as the weather remains clear we can expect to reach Egypt in five or six day's time. Are you looking forward to having solid ground beneath your feet again?"

Harry studiously ignored Heero's latest attempt to draw him into a conversation; not even providing any indication that he'd heard the other teen speak. Any further attempts to break through the apathy that had enshrouded Harry in the wake of the near disastrous retrieval of his things and the foiled assassination were placed on hold as Howard approached Heero with the news that the pilot had an urgent call from Duo. Harry tensed and snapped his head around to watch Heero trot off with the older man towards the helm to take the call; a sinking feeling building in his stomach and piercing his earlier numbness as the niggling suspicion that trouble was brewing began to form in his mind.

His fears were confirmed less than ten minutes later, when the barge began angling around so that they were now heading south-east instead of north-east as they had been. Terrible images of mobile suits assaulting the barge flashed through Harry's mind briefly and the detachment he'd been feeling lifted partially as memories of the fight that had taken place in the air over his cave came rushing back. Harry nearly fell overboard as a sudden bout of nausea followed by a wave of dizziness hit him in the wake of the reminder of the lives he'd taken that night.

Dropping down to the deck, Harry curled up and held his head as he waited for his sense of balance to return. He'd been sitting there for nearly fifteen minutes when a shadow fell over him and he looked up to find a grim faced Heero staring down at him with concern. Scrambling up onto his feet, Harry staggered once from the slight sense of vertigo he felt from rising too fast. Grabbing hold of the railing, Harry shook of the feeling before he returned his gaze to the pilot and waited for Heero to tell him what was going on.

"There's been a slight change in plans," Heero began after studying Harry critically for a few moments before he paused and glanced out over the ocean.

"You have a mission," Harry stated in a flat voice that was rough from disuse; drawing Heero's attention back to him and Harry imagined the other teen hadn't expected him to say anything after the long days of prolonged silence.

"Yes. OZ is looking to use the Gundam pilots to assassinate several high placed Alliance officials and a handful of ambassadors from the colonies attending a peace conference at New Edwards Base in California. Originally, the mission called for us to eliminate a number of OZ officials that were supposed to be meeting at the base but the information leaked about the OZ meeting was nothing but a pack of lies to mislead us. Chang discovered the duplicity when he was researching the information all five of us received when we were all assigned the same mission from our contacts in the Colonies."

"You're looking to rescue the officials and ambassadors out from under OZ's nose and expose them for the traitors they are because if you don't show they will kill them anyway and blame you or the Colonies in some way," Harry stated knowingly as he turned away from Heero and stared out over the sea. "Just like they did after they blew up the school while trying to kill Relena Darlian. What is going to happen to me while the five of you are doing that?"

"You've got three options; you can stay here on the barge with Howard until we finish and can pick you up, you can catch a ride back to the Winner Estate with the Maganacs that are delivering my Gundam to me, or you can go with one of us providing you can keep your magic under control and not fry the suits."

"I don't want to be left alone with a bunch of strangers," Harry stated flatly after a moment.

"Then you have a choice of staying with me or going with Barton as Barton and his Gundam hitched a ride on the plane that is bringing me Wing."

"What about Quatre?" Harry asked, a part of him wishing for the comforting presence of the blonde pilot.

"Winner is already in the States; as are Maxwell and Chang."

"Oh…"

"I realize you've been stuck with me for days on end now and will not be offended if you wish to fly with Barton or change your mind about tagging along for the mission. Barton might even be able to help you with your dizzy spells or whatever else is bothering you."

Harry shrugged, not really certain if he'd feel any more comfortable with the pilot he had spent the least amount of time with than he did with the pilot he disliked the most. Instead, he climbed back up onto the railing and simply sat there lost in thought as Heero wandered away and left him to his own devices. The rest of the day passed in a blur and before Harry knew it the sun was setting just as land was spotted directly ahead. Several hours later, Harry slipped down off the railing and headed towards the small cabin he'd been sharing with Heero in the hopes that he'd be able to get a good night's sleep for once.

It took him a long time to drift off to sleep though; his thoughts refusing to settle down at first and then once he did drop off, the nightmares that had been haunting his dreams since the night they raided his cave slid through the shadows of his mind. Harry was back on the bow of the barge before the sun rose, the smudges beneath his eyes darker than they'd been the night before; his mind empty and detached once more unlike the previous night when his thoughts had chased each other endlessly.

Near noon, the salvage ship dropped anchor off the coast of Africa and Howard took Harry and Heero ashore on the row boat that usually sat on the starboard side of the deck. Harry could see a small group of blurs that he assumed were people waiting for them on the beach and focused on them as best he could for a few minutes before he swung around to stare back out over the water. A small part of him would miss the sea but he wasn't exactly sad to be off of the barge or to be saying goodbye to the rather odd man that captained the boat.

Actually stepping onto shore turned out to be a tad more difficult than anticipated as he stumbled when an incoming wave overbalanced him and he ended up being washed up onto the shore which reminded him poignantly of the day he'd first woken up in this world. The memory of that long ago day actually cut through the last of numbness that he'd been feeling for so long and Harry began cussing and cursing as he coughed up salt water and crawled the rest of the way out of the water. He was helped to his feet a split second later by a smirking Heero and Harry couldn't resist kicking the taller teen in the ankle out of spite.

Cold, wet, covered in sand, and exhausted; Harry was not in the mood to be laughed at because of a moment of clumsiness that was the fault of his reduced stature. He stalked away from the now wincing Heero in order to move himself clear of the tide line; his entire body shivering as the cutting wind chilled him to the bone through his sopping wet clothes. A warm, dry blanket being draped around his shoulders made Harry jump unexpectedly and he whipped around to find a familiar green eyed teen standing over him.

"Thanks," Harry murmured as he pulled the blanket close, wishing there weren't so many people around so he could use his wand to clean and dry his clothes; the young wizard still uncomfortable using his magic in front of strangers.

"We set up camp not too far from here," Trowa announced as he gave Harry a critical once over. "You can get cleaned up and changed into dry clothes there in addition to getting some sleep before we fly out."

Harry shivered a second time and this time the wind had nothing to do with it as he recalled the nightmares that had filled his dreams lately; he had no desire to revisit those dreams any time soon. Still the prospect of being warm once more did appeal to him so he allowed Trowa to lead him back to their camp. They ended up walking further than Harry expected and they hadn't even covered half of the distance when his legs began burning from the strain of the long march on top of the lack of proper sleep, a poor diet, and the week and a half of inactivity.

The moment he began staggering due to the pain and exhaustion, Heero scooped him up off his feet and he briefly considered demanding to be put down until common sense asserted itself and he simply crossed his arms and scowled as he held himself stiffly in Heero's arms. When they reached camp, Harry was carried to a tent that was sitting off to one side before Heero finally set him back on his feet and told to get changed. Harry nodded absently as he limped through the tent flap while he dug into his pocket for his trunks.

He took a few minutes to restore all three trunks (his old school trunk and Moody's seven compartment trunk both permanently stored in his supply trunk and his money trunk back at the Winner Estate in the box that held the rest of his belongings) and determine which one was which. Harry then dug into his pocket to retrieve his shrunken broom and set it down behind the trunks (where it would be stepped on) before he climbed down into his supply trunk after a quick scan of the tent and a long glance towards the doorway of the tent to confirm he was completely alone. Once inside, he wasted no time in shedding the cold wet clothes he'd been wearing before slipping into a clean pair of pants, a loose shirt, and a warm jumper.

The wet clothes he'd been wearing were then piled off to one side so he could clean them later when he wasn't feeling quite so tired. After that, he made his way over to the shelves housing the health related potions and pulled down a general healing draught, a weak pain relieving potion, and a vial of Pepper-Up Potion that he mechanically drank down in order to wash away the lingering ache in his legs and the fatigue he was feeling.

While he waited for the potions to start working, he gathered up another couple of changes of clothes, two large rolls of parchment, a pack of unopened quills, a couple bottles of ink, the deck of cards Quatre had given him the day they headed off to Japan, and a sleeping bag that he packed into medium sized duffel bag. Unable to think of anything else he might need that he couldn't dig out later, Harry climbed out of the trunk at that point and practically ran into Trowa and Heero who'd both been standing in front of the trunk.

"Where did the suitcases come from and why were you hiding inside that one?"

"I was changing, not hiding," Harry corrected absently as he warily glanced between the two teens since they were both staring at him intently.

"Relax," Heero chided when he saw the look on Harry's face.

"Can't… you two are up to something," Harry shot back with a slight frown as he glanced over to Trowa as the memory of the last time he'd seen the taller green eyed teen surfaced. "You're not here just to give me another shot are you?"

"No," Trowa replied with a shake of his head and the slightest upturning of the corner of his mouth giving the impression he was amused by the question. "Everything I need to test your blood is back at the estate and I'll only need to administer the immunizations if it becomes apparent that you never received them. I wouldn't risk giving them to you before a mission regardless though because of the slight chance of you having a negative reaction to the vaccines."

"We're here to discuss what you're going to be doing during the mission," Heero revealed as he sat down on one of the two camp beds set up in the tent.

"I have to go with one of you and no using magic near the Gundams."

"Close. You could go back to the Winner Estate with Abdul and just relax," Trowa pointed out.

Harry shook his head even as he repeated, "I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of strangers."

"Which is why you need to decide which one of us you will be going with," Trowa stated with a nod. "Yuy had already explained your decision to me while you were changing but I wanted to confirm that was what you still wished to do. We also need to figure out what you will be doing throughout the duration of the mission since we'd rather not have you bored."

"Can you tell me what exactly the mission going to entail?" Harry asked tentatively. "I mean, I know what Heero said the mission was supposed to be but he said it was a trick and that you were going to save people instead of kill them. All you have to do is get those people out, right?"

"It will be a bit more complicated than that," Heero corrected as he eyed Harry critically. "Though you are correct in that we will basically be doing our best to make certain those that OZ is trying to assassinate aren't killed; which means we will at some point end up fighting."

"Oh…"

"The conference will be taking place in about twelve days," Trowa further explained. "Two of us are going to sneak onto the base before the majority of the delegates arrive so that we will be in a position to safely evacuate them when the time comes. We will also be sabotaging the base's defenses and secretly planting explosives throughout the facility."

"And you can't take me into the base because a kid doesn't belong anywhere near the base," Harry surmised as he dropped down to sit on the lid of his supply trunk.

"Which means you'll be virtually alone for an indeterminate amount of time or you'll have to go with one of those who aren't sneaking into the base."

"Precisely," Heero confirmed with a nod. "Chang, Winner, and I will be in our Gundams playing decoy while Barton and Maxwell infiltrate the base and chances are those of us in suits will be attacked at some point during the mission."

Harry stared at Heero with a deer-caught-in-the-headlights-look as he saw again the mobile suits he'd destroyed flashing through his mind. He pressed one hand over his mouth and the other over his stomach as he felt his insides twist sharply in response and it took all of his willpower not to throw up the little bit of food he'd managed to choke down for breakfast earlier that morning. Closing his eyes, he shook his head back and forth to clear away the terrible memories of that long ago night before taking a few deep breaths to quell the queasiness in his stomach.

"I'll leave you two to work out the details of how you're going to proceed," Heero quietly stated after a few minutes as he studied Harry critically. The brunette then turned to leave, pausing briefly once he reached the tent flap so he could glance back at Harry as he ordered, "Harry, you will need to cooperate with both Barton and Maxwell for the duration of the mission. That means that you will need to obey them as you would obey me until the mission has been completed."

Harry opened his eyes in surprise and watched Heero go with mixed feelings before he turned and gave his full attention to Trowa who was watching him with concern. The green-eyed teen then quietly stated, "It's not too late to chose to go to the estate instead, Harry."

"I don't trust them," Harry whispered as he dropped his hands into his lap (his fingers automatically tangling themselves in the hem of his shirt) and lowered his gaze to the ground. "Not that I really trust any of you but better the evil you know… not that I think you are evil. I just…"

"I think I understand. Come on; let's go introduce you to Heavyarms so you can familiarize yourself with what not to touch while you're in the suit later. That and I can show you how to activate the external sensors and the communication system in case you have to get in touch with one of us during the mission. We can also discuss what else you can do to keep yourself occupied for the duration of the mission."

Harry dutifully followed the green eyed pilot, weaving through the camp towards where a cargo plane was sitting half hidden beneath a huge beige and green cargo net. They ducked beneath the net, climbed in through the open cargo bay door, and headed for the mostly red and white Gundam. Harry couldn't help but sneak a glance at Heero's familiar white, blue, and red Gundam as they walked between the two suits before he studied the Gundam named Heavyarms. He couldn't help but notice that Trowa's Gundam wasn't as sleek in design as Heero's suit; making the large suit look far more intimidating than Wing. As they reached the torso of the machine, Harry watched as Trowa effortlessly pulled himself up onto the suit.

Recalling the cold alien and hateful feel of the other suits he'd come into contact with, not counting Heero's Gundam, Harry hesitantly reached out and brushed his fingertips against Heavyarms' side. Despite the cold metal beneath his fingers, Harry could feel the same warmth coming from Heavyarms that had radiated from Wing and he unconsciously pressed his hand flat against the suit in an effort to hold onto the feeling of security that the suit was giving off. As he stared at his hand sitting on the suit, a part of Harry couldn't help but wonder why the Gundams felt so different when compared to the other suits he'd dealt with in passing.

"Do you need a hand up, Harry?"

Startled out of his contemplation, Harry glanced up to see Trowa crouching on the edge of the suit's chest and he took a minute to take in just how far up the top of the chest was when compared to his current height and Harry pursed his lips in annoyance. He huffed a moment later and reached up with both hands in an unspoken supplication as he muttered, "I hate being short."

Trowa gave another one of his almost smiles as he leaned down and obligingly hauled Harry up onto the Gundam. The moment his feet touched down again, Harry scampered away from the teen and took a moment to take in the orange and yellow accents scattered about amidst the red and white armor of the giant robot before he crept up to take a closer look at the head and face of the machine (this being his first chance to really study any of the Gundams up close). He then glanced down to take in the huge gun that the suit had in place of a left arm and swallowed hard as he was abruptly reminded that these suits were designed to kill.

Turning away from the gun and the terrible memories it stirred, Harry found Trowa watching him and he slowly crossed the chest once more so he was standing just a few feet away from the teen. Peering down through the open door, Harry noticed immediately that there was only one chair that took up most of the room in the cockpit. Surrounding the chair on three sides were several large monitors and a slew of gauges, buttons, levers, and other devices that Harry couldn't even name. It looked far more complicated than anything Harry had ever seen and at the same time reminded him of some of the futuristic shows and movies Dudley used to watch.

"Here, I'll help you down," Trowa offered when Harry finally glanced back up from his inspection. "You can step on the chair and then climb off to the left; there's nothing on the back wall on that side that will break or activate anything should you step on it."

Harry grudgingly accepted the hand Trowa held out for him and was soon standing on the back rest of the pilot's chair. He allowed himself to glance around once before scrambling off to the left as requested so Trowa could drop down after him. Harry watched as the younger boy confidently twisted around in mid-air as he settled into the chair so that he was sitting down properly before he flipped the switch that controlled the door.

Harry felt a thread of nervous fear snake through him as the door swung shut, effectively locking him inside of the cockpit with Trowa, and he unconsciously let out a strangled whimper. At the same time he shifted himself back as far away from Trowa as he could safely get without accidentally stepping on anything. The brief moment of darkness reminded him of his cupboard under the stairs but that feeling vanished the moment the moment the suit came alive; and there was no other way to describe what happened the moment Trowa engaged the systems.

Where his feet touched the wall, Harry could feel a soft thrum as the small cockpit was filled with light from the many different screens that were currently displaying different images rather than showing the visual feeds from the external cameras like they normally would. One depicted the inside of the cargo bay, one showed a small section of the African Coast (the satellite feed of their current location), another had a map of the United States with three red lines labeled Maxwell, Chang, and Winner marking their current courses, one showed what appeared to be a newscast, and yet another displayed a bunch of technical jargon that Harry couldn't even begin to decipher.

Harry took another step backwards and unexpectedly bumped into the raised panels that covered the ceiling, nearly tripping over one section as he threw his hands out and back to steady himself. The moment his hands came into contact with the cool metal the feeling of warmth he'd felt when he'd touched the suit earlier washed over him stronger than ever and Harry gasped softly at the unexpected sensation. He couldn't help but compare the soothing and comforting warmth that the Gundam generated with the uplifting and reassuring song of a phoenix.

"Is there something wrong, Harry?"

"No," Harry automatically replied as he jumped a bit; the not quite seventeen year old having forgotten the other teen was in there with him the moment he'd felt the wave of warmth from the suit washing over and through him.

"Well, if you are certain. Why don't you move up a bit so you have a clear view of the various systems while I explain the basic function of each one; so you will know which ones you might need to use and which ones you want to avoid at all costs."

They spent an hour inside of the cockpit with Trowa patiently teaching Harry just enough about how his Gundam worked for Harry to move about in the tiny cockpit without accidentally activating the various weapons or worse the self-destruct mechanism. Another hour was spent fashioning and installing a seat and safety harness for Harry to sit on during their journey. It was nothing fancy, just a slightly curved twelve inch by seven inch section of metal welded onto the back wall behind the pilot's chair with the straps of the safety harness bolted directly to the wall above makeshift seat.

To make the seat a little more comfortable, Trowa had allowed Harry to add a cushioning charm for comfort and a weak sticking charm that would help him stay in place should they run into any turbulence. Both spells had been cast upon the seat prior to installation after hauling the small scrap of metal a good twenty yards away from the camp to prevent his magic from interfering with either the Gundams or the plane's circuitry. Once cast, the magic in the spells would not extend past the metal they were anchored to, so there was no reason to worry about the spells affecting any of the inner circuitry of the Gundam.

Harry had then been given an early supper (which he only picked at halfheartedly) before being led back to the tent he'd used earlier where he was instructed to remove his shirt so Trowa could check on his injuries. Harry tried to get out of the impromptu check up by letting Trowa know his injuries were long since healed but the taller teen refused to just take Harry's word for it. The sight of Harry's virtually unblemished back and side (bar the scars he'd acquired during his first fourteen years) shocked the pilot as he'd fully expected Harry's injuries to have scarred given how severe they had been in combination with the infection that had set in shortly after he'd fallen ill. The healing cream that Harry had used the first couple of days after he'd been injured had prevented the wounds from scarring though, for which Harry was eternally grateful; he had more than enough scars already.

After that, Harry spent about an hour hunting through the large library Sirius had put together for him in order to gather the books he would need to decipher the notes Sirius had given him on the enchanted motorcycle. He also picked up a couple of spell books he wanted to skim through for a few useful spells so he'd have something to occupy himself with during the upcoming mission. He tucked the books and Sirius's notes in the duffel bag holding the things he'd packed earlier before digging into his trunk of food to grab a few bottles of butterbeer, a few snacks, and some fresh fruit.

He then shrunk the three trunks and returned them to his pocket along with his Firebolt. Heero turned up at that point and told Harry to get some sleep until it was time for them to leave.

Harry would spend the hours before they left Africa and the majority of the long flight over the Atlantic Ocean sleeping fitfully as his dreams were still troubled by nightmares each time he closed his eyes despite how tired he felt. The few hours of uninterrupted sleep that he did manage to get (both while still in Africa and during the flight) hadn't actually helped; the short, broken naps leaving him feeling even more exhausted and feeling rather drained.

Once they were flying over the United States, Harry watched Heero climb into his Gundam and drop out of the back of the cargo bay (in order to meet up with Wufei and Quatre) with mixed feelings. Trowa and Harry in the mean time were due to meet Duo in Nevada in another eight hours to do the same before the three of them would sneak into California. When it was their turn to go, Harry sluggishly followed Trowa and silently allowed the taller teen to help him up onto the chest of the mobile suit once more.

Harry then jumped down into the cockpit with far less trepidation than he had felt that first time he stepped inside the Gundam and quickly slipped off the chair and settled into his makeshift seat before buckling the safety harness into place. Trowa leaned around the chair a minute later to test the straps and make certain they were secure (much to Harry's embarrassment) before he strapped himself in and fired up the suit. Harry sighed softly as he pressed both hands to the wall behind him and allowed the intangible warmth of the suit wash over him and before they even dropped out of the cargo plane, Harry had drifted off to sleep.

He woke up sometime later feeling refreshed for the first time in days after the long and surprisingly nightmare free nap. Glancing about, the first thing he noticed was that everything inside of the cockpit was off and that the warmth radiating from the Gundam suit was once again muted. The next thing he noticed was that Trowa wasn't inside and the cockpit door was open. Unbuckling his harness, Harry crept forward until he could hear voices floating up from somewhere below and he cautiously stuck his head out to see two people seated beside a camp fire a short distance away with their backs to the Gundam.

A brief glance around the dark rocky canyon they were in turned up a familiar second Gundam and Harry surmised that it was Trowa and Duo sitting down by the fire. Relaxing now that he knew nothing had gone wrong, at least as far as he could tell, Harry turned his attention to his current predicament; finding a way down as he was currently stuck in the cockpit of the Gundam with no idea how to get down and the distance between the cockpit and the ground too far for him to just jump. After looking about for several minutes, Harry sighed in mild frustration as that was one topic that had not been covered in Trowa's brief tutorial and his broom was currently still in its shrunken state (which he couldn't fix while sitting in the unwarded Gundam).

He considered calling down to the two pilots to ask for help but he wasn't certain it was wise to disturb the teens when it appeared they were having an important discussion. Instead, he simply sat down on the short ramp sticking out of the cockpit with one foot dangling over the side as he leaned against the side of the doorway so he could stare up at the starry sky while he waited for one of them to notice him. After sitting there for about an hour, Trowa suddenly appeared from below and Harry jumped in surprise, nearly slipping over the side of the ramp as his weight shifted.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to startle you; I didn't know you were already awake and I was just coming to check on you," Trowa stated once Harry had recovered from the near fall and moved away from the edge. "Any particular reason you didn't let us know you were awake?"

"You two were busy and it was nice to just sit and watch the stars for a while," Harry replied with a shrug as he eyed the cable that Trowa was holding onto.

"Ah, I see. You do know we wouldn't have been angry at you for interrupting right? We were just sharing a few stories, nothing too important. No matter, let's get you down so you can grab a bite to eat and go to the bathroom if you need to."

Getting down involved Harry riding piggyback on the taller teen (to Harry's discomfort) and he quickly dropped off the moment they reached the ground. Harry then slipped off behind the two suits to empty his bladder (out of sight of the other two) before he joined them at the fire where he was passed a plate of thick stew. He ate in silence for a few minutes while Duo got up to check the perimeter of their camp for any suspicious activity, leaving Harry with just Trowa for company.

"You look like you finally got a decent stretch of sleep," Trowa commented after a few minutes, making Harry pause mid-bite as he glanced warily over his plate to meet those green eyes that were so like and yet so unlike his.

"Heero told you about the nightmares."

"Yes, Yuy mentioned that you'd been having difficulty sleeping since the two of you left Japan and I couldn't help but notice how restless your sleep was before we broke camp in Africa and during our flight over the Atlantic. If you wish, I can give you a little something to help you sleep, so the nightmares won't bother you."

"I'll be fine," Harry stated as he shook his head and continued to nibble at his stew.

"Well, if I can't offer you something to help you sleep better, would you at least be willing to talk about your dreams? See if we can't lay some of your inner demons to rest?"

Harry sighed and set his plate down on the ground beside him before he turned his eyes to the fire, watching the individual flames dance wildly across the logs. After several long minutes of silence that Harry spent lost in thought, he softly asked, "Why? You don't even really know me; why would you care?"

"Because we see ourselves in ya," Duo answered as he appeared from out of the shadows behind Harry, making the pint sized teen whip around in fright before relaxing the moment he caught sight of Duo. "We look at ya and we see our own difficult childhoods and we want ta help ya because we all know how hard it is bein' on your own. Except maybe Quatre but our little Kumquat is a special case because he's all heart."

"We also need you to be strong and clear headed if you insist on tagging along with us during missions," Trowa pointed out. "A split second's inattention at the wrong moment could get any one of us killed or captured."

"If it ya think it might help, we can find something ta occupy your hands with while ya talk, that way ya don't actually have ta think about what you're talkin' about," Duo offered. "I can teach ya how ta pick a lock if ya want."

"I already know how to pick locks; both with and without magic," Harry absently replied as he glanced back and forth between the two teens. "The twins taught me how after they rescued me from my relatives' house just before my second year at Hogwarts. You actually remind me of them sometimes, Duo. They were always laughing, telling jokes, playing pranks, and always inventing new things."

"Sounds like a couple of great kids ta know."

"Their parents were paid to encourage their children to make friends with me; paid with money that was stolen from my dead parents," Harry countered in a dead voice. "They pretended to treat me like family when in truth they were nothing more than leeches that were bleeding me dry. It's not that I even care about the money… it just hurts to know that none of it was real to them while it meant the world to me because I thought I'd found something special."

"Okay, maybe not so great but how do ya know all of da kids were in on da deal?"

"I don't… but I don't know that they weren't either."

"Ya know ya could always just focus on da good times ya shared with them and forget da rest of da mess since ya don't know da full truth. Ya wouldn't want ta tarnish their memories if they weren't what ya feared; would ya?"

"I try… but sometimes it just hurts too much; even after all this time."

Silence fell over the trio as Harry picked up his plate and played with the remains of his meal; no longer feeling all that hungry. Eventually, Duo relieved him of the plate when it became obvious he wasn't going to finish and Harry sighed as he pulled up his legs and propped his chin on his knees as he stared moodily at the fire.

"Here, sit back a bit," Trowa instructed as he stood up and walked around the fire carrying a wooden case he'd just dug out of the pack that had been sitting on the ground beside him. "Maxwell had a good idea and since we have the time there's no reason not to start your training. What do you know about knives?"

"They're sharp and useful."

"Do you know how to care for a blade? How to sharpen one? Or how to throw one? Can you fight with a knife or defend yourself against someone attacking you with one?" Trowa prompted while ignoring Harry's rather flippant answer.

"My aunt taught me how to take care of her kitchen knives and I think I'm half decent when it comes to cutting up fruits, vegetables, and potion ingredients but I've never thrown one or learned to fight with one. I am also intimately aware of just how much it hurts to be sliced open with a knife."

The looks on the faces of the two pilots turned grim as their eyes tracked Harry's left hand as he unconsciously clutched his right arm over the scar where Pettigrew had drawn the blood from him for Voldemort's rebirthing ritual (the two younger teens wrongly thinking that Harry had given himself that scar based upon his constant talk of death and how he'd worded his statement just now). A pained look crossed over his face as he dug his fingers into the hidden scar as he recalled how helpless he had felt at the time, tied to the headstone as he had been. He was pulled out of those dark memories by Trowa's voice a minute later and he dropped his hand away from his arm as he gave the teen his attention once more.

"So you know the basics of handling a knife; good. That makes my job just a little easier. In this box I have a set of throwing knives that I picked up for you while I was in France; they are very well balanced and extremely sharp. I want you to familiarize yourself with them because I'm going to teach you how to throw them."

Harry opened the wooden case that was handed to him to find a set of eight rather dark and plain blades nestled in a bed of red felt. The blades were long and slender and shaped like spear heads with black hilts that were nearly as thin as the blades and no cross guard. They were elegant in their simplicity and Harry settled the box on his lap as he lifted one of them out so he could inspect it. He found the blade to be a touch heavier than he expected but well balanced and that the edges were as sharp as Trowa had said they were after Harry tested the one edge with his thumb.

"Until I know you know how to handle them, I don't want you wearing them but once I'm certain that you aren't going to accidentally cut your own fingers off or drop one on your foot I'll give you the sheaths I bought for them and show you how to hide them in your clothes," Trowa explained as he lifted out another of the knives. "The first thing you need to know is how to hold the blade properly."

The handle of the blade fit into Harry's palm much like the handle of his wand and he actually felt far more at ease handling the knife than he had originally thought he would. Trowa picked up on that fact as well and set up a small log a few feet away and moved on to showing Harry how to properly throw the knives, telling him to focus on the feel of the knife as he threw it instead of worrying about hitting the target for the moment.

As he worked on learning to throw the knife, Harry tentatively began speaking of his nightmares after the third or fourth time Duo prompted him. With his mind fully occupied with what his hands were doing, Harry didn't even notice when he went from describing the nightmares he'd been having of the pilots he'd killed when he had destroyed the mobile suits to describing some of the nightmares he'd been having since he first woke up in their world (focusing on those he had of Voldemort's rebirth since they had been the most frequent of his nightmares over the past two years).

"Sometimes I really wish Sirius had never given me back my memories or that he could have taken away my memories of everything that had happened the night of the third task," Harry tiredly finished as he stood there close to two hours later staring at the quivering knife sticking out of the target log; his first successful throw.

"That last throw was perfect; do you remember how it felt when you threw it? See if you can do it a second time," Trowa encouraged as he passed another blade to Harry handle first; the teen purposefully not drawing attention to Harry's pained declaration.

Harry managed to hit the log another five times in a row though never twice in the same place. After that, Trowa set him to oiling the blades of the throwing knives while keeping a close eye on him to make certain he wasn't going to cut himself (either accidentally through inattention or intentionally because of his inner turmoil).

"How are ya feelin', kiddo?" Duo asked after a few minutes.

"I don't know; tired, I guess… and kinda numb again; though not quite as detached as I had been after I first woke up on Miss Darlian's pink plane."

"When you're finished taking care of your knives, you can grab your sleeping bag and sleep for another couple of hours; we won't be moving out until after sunset tomorrow."

It didn't take Harry long to finish oiling the knife blades and once he'd put the last one away he made to give the box back to Trowa only to be told they were his to keep. Harry awkwardly thanked the teen (not really used to receiving gifts outside of holidays and his birthday) and slipped the case into the duffel bag he'd packed with a few supplies before leaving Africa. He then pulled out his sleeping bag and set it up well away from both the fire and where he noticed the other two had set up their beds. It didn't take him long to fall asleep once he curled up inside of the sleeping bag and though his dreams were far from peaceful they were no where near as dark as they had been up until that point.

Harry rose the next morning long before sunrise; his body still out of sorts from the change of time zones and from his recent nightmare induced insomnia. He ignored Trowa, who was standing watch over their camp, and wandered off behind the Gundams to empty his bladder and change his clothes. He then spent the rest of the predawn darkness perched in the branches of a pine tree watching the stars fade out one by one.

Duo dragged him down out of the tree after the sunrise to eat breakfast and kept the diminutive wizard occupied for the rest of the morning by asking a slew of questions about Harry's magic; focusing specifically on wards. Trowa, in the mean time, hacked into the base's network and set up his and Duo's aliases in order to get the two of them onto the base without drawing unwanted attention to them. A task that was made more difficult than usual due to the base tightening security because of the fast approaching conference.

Lunch time saw Harry's second knife throwing lesson with Trowa while Duo spent a couple of hours up in Deathscythe hunting for the perfect hiding place to establish a base camp. It had to be a place that was not only far from prying eyes but one that was well protected by natural defenses and easily defended by a single person with a limited arsenal since Harry would be on his own for over a week. He also made arrangements for a military vehicle to be delivered to a remote location that wasn't too close or too far from the proposed base camp to use as transportation to get them onto base; the long haired pilot would pick up the jeep once they reached California and stashed their Gundams out of sight.

Harry spent the rest of the afternoon plotting out the wards he would be placing around their camp once they arrived in California. He would need to set up an array of temporary wards that would not affect the stationary Gundams but still be strong enough to offer both him and the two suits enough protection while the two pilots infiltrated New Edwards Base. He also had to make certain that he didn't draw the attention of the American Wizard's Council (if it even existed in this world) or any fully trained wizards in the area. Harry wasn't certain whether or not he wanted to find a magical society here on this earth; his experiences with the magical society on his home world less than pleasant for the most part (though there were some things he missed).

Mid-night found the trio in California setting up camp in the Angeles Crest to the south of Lancaster and Palmdale, just a short drive from the New Edwards Base. While Duo and Trowa secured their Gundams, Harry secured the camp with the low powered wards he'd spent the afternoon researching. He'd tied both teens into the Collapsible Ward Scheme (the technical name for temporary wards) and set up a release trigger that could be activated by either pilot in the event that Harry wasn't in any condition to drop the wards himself (something that was only possible because both teens were squibs).

Six hours later, Harry watched the two teens drive off in the borrowed truck feeling slightly depressed to see them leave as the forest seemed to close in around him. Shaking off the sudden loneliness, Harry slipped on the radio headset that they had left with him and turned it on so he could keep track of what the others were doing. He then dug out Sirius's grimoire (where his godfather had written the notes on warding the motorcycle) and climbed up on the left foot of Heavyarms where he curled up beneath the large bar that covered the ankle joint.

Once he was relatively comfortable, he turned on the torch he'd brought with him, opened the notebook, and began reading through Sirius's notes while trying not to think about his absent godfather. He'd only been reading for a couple of hours when he came across the information that would eventually help him to protect the Gundams from magical interference.

When I first put the bike back together after taking it apart to layer on the various
enchantments and spells, I thought I had either messed up the enchantments or put
the bike back together wrong because the engine refused to start. I was at my wits
end trying to figure out what I'd done wrong until Lily made an offhand comment
about how magic could be considered a form of energy that is between ten and one
hundred times more powerful than the electrical current produced by the starter on
the engine.

It turns out the magic I used had killed the starter and blown all of the fuses because
the current was far stronger than what the components could withstand. Lily said I
was damn lucky I didn't blow myself up with my tinkering.

As much as I hated it, I had to tear the entire bike apart a second time and strip the
enchantments from every single piece because I needed to start over from scratch in
order to protect each individual piece from the magic that needed to be layered over
it. This was done through a series of protective runes that Remus helped me design
since I was pants at Ancient Runes.

Each part of the bike had to be carved with the protective runes, even the ones that
seem like they wouldn't need it (like the mirrors and seat) because the runes function
as a an entire ward system and if there are any gaps then the wards won't work
properly. I don't know why it only works that way and even though Moony tried to
explain it to me, most of it went right over my head and all I really needed to know
was that every single piece needed to have the runes; even the little screws that hold
everything together.

The one time I ignored Moony's instructions to carve the runes onto to everything, my
poor bike exploded the moment I turned it on and used active magic on it to test the
wards. Moony said I was damn lucky to walk away from that with my life and with both
of my legs still attached. He also almost refused to help me buy a new motorcycle.

Once the runes are in place, the protective spells need to be cast before adding the
various other enchantments otherwise the protective spells won't sit right and the
structure of both enchantments and spells tend to break down and fail utterly; I found
that out the hard way when I had to take apart and rebuild the bike for the fourth time.

When everything is in place, the activation and deactivation runes must be placed on
the finished product otherwise the enchantments will run endlessly which could
potentially pose a problem; especially if you are using any type of invisibility spells.
Thankfully, adding the control runes in was a piece of cake (according to Moony).

Harry chuckled sadly as he imagined Sirius throwing a tantrum each time he had to take the motorcycle apart again to start over or potentially bawling his eyes out the time it exploded. Harry also immediately realized that Mr. Weasley must have tried to do the same thing that Sirius had done, only the older man hadn't exactly known what he was doing; hence the reason why the enchantments had failed several times during the flight between London and Hogwarts and when the car crossed the wards at Hogwarts.

That made him wonder if it was even Mr. Weasley who enchanted the car since Pettigrew would have been living with the Weasleys at that point and Pettigrew would have known about Sirius's bike (possibly even helping to enchant it at one point). If Pettigrew did help Mr. Weasley, it would explain why the wards hadn't been done properly as the rat-like man struck Harry as forgetful and lazy when his life wasn't being threatened.

In an attempt to think about something other than those who had betrayed him and his family, Harry studied the rune scheme that Sirius (or possibly Remus) had drawn in the grimoire before digging out the Rune Dictionary so he could look up the definitions of the runes to better understand exactly what it was the runes were supposed to do. He needed to know if the same rune scheme would work for the Gundams or if he'd need to create a new scheme in order to ward the robot suits.

That led to him hunting for a book on the basic theory of runic wards so he could better understand what made rune based wards work since he'd not chosen the class as an elective and he'd not studied the subject beyond what he'd needed to set up the bathroom and kitchen in his cave with running water and some of the pre-set runic wards he'd used to protect and hide his cave (after all, copying a rune scheme out of a book wasn't the same as building your own). He also began taking his own notes as he researched the runes and the basic theory behind runic wards.

Harry became aware of the passing time near noon when the headset he was wearing crackled to life and Duo's voice announced that they'd successfully infiltrated the base. Harry replied back as he'd been instructed to do; announcing that base camp was secure. And even though he was expecting it, the sound of Heero, Quatre, and Wufei each checking in with the news that they were in position over the next ten minutes, made Harry jump. Huffing over allowing himself to be caught off guard by something so simple as hearing the others' voices, Harry slid down off the Gundam and set about putting together a light lunch for himself.

After he ate, he returned to his research for the remainder of the afternoon in order to avoid allowing his mind to wander to less pleasant topics. By the time the sun set, Harry was feeling exhausted and he skipped supper in favor of getting some sleep. He mechanically set up his sleeping bag between the two Gundams and crawled into bed but found the mostly unfamiliar sounds of the forest (not counting the hooting of wild owls) intruding on his mind and feeding his overactive imagination. Eventually, he gathered up his things, dug out his broom, and flew himself up to Heavyarms' cockpit where he curled up in the pilot's seat and promptly fell asleep after closing the door.

The next nine days dragged by slowly for Harry as he divided his time between practicing his knife throwing, reading through the various spells books he'd brought out, and researching the runes he would need for the protective wards. Radio communications were few and far between since they ran the risk of someone picking up their conversations if they weren't careful. Mostly it was just Duo and Trowa checking in every now and then with an update on which delegates had arrived and the steadily rising number of mobile suits that were being brought on base.

Occasionally, one of the other three would radio in with an update or to just check in on Harry to see how he was handling the solitude but that didn't happen often (the three of them busy scouting the off-site base facilities, revising their plan of attack, and making note of potential escape routes should things get ugly). Each night Harry would try sleeping on the ground before he'd give up and retreat to Trowa's Gundam to sleep in the pilot's chair; the feeling of warmth and security the suit radiated offering him a measure of comfort (unconsciously avoiding Duo's Gundam because of what how upset Duo had been over the suit's incapacitation by magic).

Harry lived for those periodical updates because they were proof that he wasn't completely alone. Sure, he'd grown used to living alone in his cave for two years but now that he'd spent so much time in the company of the five pilots (most of it with Heero) the loneliness ate at him even more than it had when he first found himself alone the beach. He would be the first to admit that he was socially inept and that large crowds made him uncomfortable but even he preferred dealing with unwanted company than being stuck in complete solitude.

The fact that he was alone in a forest this time, in a way, made the isolation even harder to cope with because of the knowledge that Hedwig would have felt right at home beneath the towering trees. Each time he heard an owl hoot, Harry would find himself searching the sky expectantly in the hopes that she'd be dropping down to land on his shoulder any minute.

Dawn of Harry's tenth day alone found the seventeen year old trapped in an eight year old's body clearing away any signs that any one had been camping in the area as best he could. His entire body radiated tension as the knowledge that there was any number of things that could go wrong once the pilots set their plans into motion hovered in the back of his mind. When the order came through for them to start the mission, Harry flew himself up to the cockpit and began activating the systems like Trowa told him to; engaging the long range scanners as it would be his job to monitor the number and position of the mobile suits on the base and notify the five pilots of any enemy reinforcements headed their way.

It was a job given to him mostly to keep him occupied rather than out of any real need since the five pilots were more than capable of gathering that information themselves in their Gundams (or within the base) far more reliably. In a way, it was part training session and part test to see if Harry had what it took to handle more such missions in the future or if they would need to work harder on keeping him someplace safe and otherwise occupied. The communication system was the next one activated and Harry soon had visuals on the three pilots inside of their suits along with audio feeds for the two inside of the base.

"This is Base Camp; long range scanners confirm the presence of six hundred active suits split between the hangers on both the east and west end of the air stripe. An additional four hundred fifty active suits are being housed in a series of off site warehouses to the north, east, and south," Harry announced the moment he scanned the monitors displaying the feeds from the scanners.

"We read you loud and clear, Base Camp," Quatre replied. "Decoy Zero-Four moving in to disable the troops in the western hanger."

"Decoy Zero-Five proceeding to disable the troops in the eastern hanger," Wufei stated next.

Harry watched the two Gundams appear on the center screen as they moved onto the base and he tensed as both of the hangers in question exploded outwards as the two pilots fired on them. Barely one third of the suits managed to survive the destruction due, in part, to the explosives Trowa and Duo had secretly set throughout both hangers over the past several days. Harry made a strangled sound in the back of his throat at the knowledge that hundreds of people had just been killed.

"One h…hundred F…fourteen and s…seventy-eight surviving suits east and west re…respectively," Harry choked out once the numbers appeared on the monitor. "Sc…scans show the f…four-fifty on the outside mm…moving in fast."

"You're doing fine, kiddo; just take a deep breath and try not ta think about it too much," Duo instructed in an effort to keep Harry focused on something other than the dead and dying. "All pigeons are currently being evacuated ta an OZ shuttle instead of their individual craft. Mole Zero-Two preparin' ta intercept pigeons and transfer them ta an unmarked shuttle now."

"Unmarked shuttle is secure and ready for loading of pigeons. Mole Zero-Three now heading towards OZ shuttle in order to rig original transport to self-destruct at an altitude of three thousand feet," Trowa interjected calmly just a few minutes later.

"Decoy Zero-One reporting successful interception of reinforcements coming from the north."

"Southern reinforcements have been disabled as well," Wufei reported on the heels of Heero's announcement.

"Scans show a fleet of ten airborne carriers approaching from the south-east; estimated time of arrival is eight minutes," Harry stated in a far calmer voice once his initial panic passed along with the nausea that had come with the knowledge that he was helping to kill people as he focused his attention on his current task the moment he saw the blips appear on the monitor to his left.

"Roger that, Base Camp; reinforcements from the east have now been contained."

"Original pigeon trap turned transport decoy has been successfully sabotaged; autopilot has been engaged and the transport decoy is approaching runway. Transport decoy set to take off in T-minus one minute and thirty seconds."

"Three pigeons have split from the flock and were last seen headed towards a private jet; suspect cuckoos in the nest,*" Duo barked out on the heels of Trowa's report.

"Incoming carriers due to arrive in three minutes; initial scans indicate all ten carriers are hauling an estimated twenty-four inactive suits each. Scans also indicate approximately fifty tanks moving in from the south-west sector and a small group of foot soldiers hauling anti-aircraft missile launchers creeping in from the north."

"Transport decoy has successfully lifted off the ground and rapidly approaching target altitude; detonation expected in T minus fifteen seconds. Destruction of decoy shuttle has been confirmed. Private jet holding the suspected cuckoos is heading for the runway."

"Pigeon coop is leavin' da hanger now. Private jet holdin' da trio of cuckoos has reached the runway and preparin' for take-off."

"Decoy Zero-One splitting off to provide escort to pigeon coop," Heero reported as his Gundam transformed into a fighter plane and shot off after the unmarked shuttled carrying the majority of the delegates.

There was no time for celebrating the completion of a successful mission; however, as the reinforcements were nearly upon them and those who were still on base would have to fight their way out.

Notes:

Cuckoos in the nest – refers to the cuckoo's parasitic tendency to place their eggs in the nests of other birds. Often times the parasitic hatchling will kill the hatchlings of the host (but not always).

AN: What a busy chapter. I'd tried to write more of the end sequence of Harry and Heero meeting Relena but the Pink Princess is very hard for me to write and Harry really wasn't in the mood to cooperate; he really doesn't like fan-girls. There was a ton of other comments I wanted to make about the chapter but my mind is full of mush so I'll just bow out gracefully and leave you with the promise of the next chapter being up tomorrow.

Before I do go, I'd like to thank every for their get well wishes; they were very much appreciated (as were all of the reviews) ~ Jenn