Everything is still in bold. It's still heavy zero manipulation. Do not trust anything.

When? Duo tried to think. When? Hilde always seemed like Hilde. Carefree. Sweet. I always liked her because she was an every day, average kind of girl. That apparently any every day, average kind of girl could replace. He started to head behind everything, over to Crystalia.

Hilde. Not Hilde. "When did you take over?" Duo asked her. "Were you really at the burner house with me?"

"Yeah!" she said from the other side of Crystalia. "I've been with you for years, Duo."

"Then? Were you just luring me-"

"No, of course not, Duo!" She explained. "I mean? I don't think so? I remember being shoved into Deathscythe most of all. But? You made things better. I had my life to latch onto again."

"But it wasn't your life." When did she switch? "Do you like kids?"

"I don't know," she answered. "I don't want to think about it. I just want to live in the moment. It's easier. More delightful."

Duo smiled sadly. "Yeah. I'm the same way. You had that same kind of personality," he admitted. "Your more Hilde than Hilde is now. No wonder I was duped."

"Why did you ask me about kids though?" She asked. "Is it because she's stuck with triplets? You really shouldn't worry about that, with no past memories, I'm sure she's grasping for anything . . ." She stopped talking at first. "Well. If there was a reason in the past she didn't want them, and she forgot. Then, everything's a new beginning. She's a whole different person now. Things she likes. Things she hates. I think? I kind of . . ." Her eyes danced around. "I kind of know that. That the zero system can really change a person. Not just memories. She's not really like me at all. She was jittery and weird and she didn't like cheese. I mean, she named her kids after the three musketeers, I would never do that. Sorry, Duo."

"Maybe she's not like the old Hilde." Maybe she had changed. "She looked really happy with her babies. She liked being a mom. But?" She also gave him back his wallet. "She's still Hilde."

"But? Well, if she is Hilde. Then, who am I?" she asked. "I mean, are we really sure anyhow?"

"DNA test," he said. "They're pretty steady proof. Can't change DNA."

"But, Duo? I mean, is it all . . . sure? Am I really not . . ."

Duo nodded. "I don't know your real name. I can't even say if all of this has been one huge act by the greatest actress on the face of this planet, I'm just the worse friend of all the colonies. I don't even . . ."

"Duo? I'm still your friend," she said. "Seriously. I've been your friend since I left Deathscythe at least. I remember that terror. And. Look, I'm Hilde. The Hilde you remember, that you know! Besides. That other woman is gonna have responsibilities up the ying yang, I mean triplets? Come on, Duo. You know that wasn't Hilde. Let's just . . . keep pretending? I'm Hilde. I mean, if I'm not, then who am I?"

"I don't know. I'm sure they will run some tests to find the real you," he said. "I gotta go."

"But, Duo-"

"I don't know if it was your fault or not, but I'm not going to cast anything against you, and I think that's being merciful enough!" He hollered at her. "Don't come back. Don't see me again. Just walk away."

"Duo."

"And don't call me by my first name, don't call me period. This is over," he said. "I should have listened to Deathscythes screams." He walked off. The imposter tried to talk to him, told him they could still be friends, and so much more. Just trying to comfort him. But it was all fake. Heidi's smile. I knew it was Hilde's smile. No matter how much she changed, a part of Hilde was still there. He looked toward Heero. "Don't arrest the woman. Don't let them get her. Just, I don't want to be near her again."

"Understood, we won't let her near you," Heero said as he moved his hand from Sora again. "Is the suspect Hilde Schbeiker moving toward the Momma Bears, or are they coming toward her?"

"I'm fixing a card she'll give me. She'll stay until I get it fixed. Then, she'll be off," Duo insisted. "I meet her around 1:00 or 2:00. Same place."

"We need to follow them," Zechs said as he came over with Wufei.

"From a distance, we should all follow. That way if they split up, there is backup down the line," Wufei agreed. "Duo. You cannot reveal the truth to her."

"Yeah, I know," Duo said calmly. "Not yet. She can only trust so far, there's no way she's going to squeal on them or just let me give her some random DNA test. I got Middie's number and I ditched her phone. She wasn't going to give me any physical contact. I could tell her and get her out of there . . ."

"But it will screw up the rest of our chances." Quatre wasn't quiet as he came over. "I know, it's really, really hard to not just grab her and hang on. I really do." Quatre's eyes said a lot about it. "We've got to do things for the greater good sometimes. Please?"

Quatre knew more about that sacrifice than anything else. Relena had to add her own opinion. "Duo Maxwell. If you care for any of your friends, you can't just grab her. She will lead everyone to the rest."

"That and I need a fingerprint," Duo muttered.

"If you fix her account, then you can get a good fingerprint off of her," Heero insisted. "Take her somewhere nicer, you can get a fingerprint off a glass. Before she leaves tomorrow, we will know whether she was the real Hilde or not."

"Nicer, huh? Really, that's not suspicious. She has three kids with her. Triplets!" Duo yelled at Heero. "It's like your insanity, but with one more added to it. What kind of nice place am I going to take her to that has glasses but a low bar for screaming babies?"

"Then, you can give her a glass gift?" Quatre recommended.

"Why would I do that? She found my wallet and returned the kid. Meanwhile I am fixing her account, switched rental cars, and- "Oh. Can we get fingerprints from a rental car?"

"If we have to, we could try, but it is a rental," Heero reminded him. "We should stick to figuring out a way to get it directly from her."

"Yeah, it's going to have lots of prints on that wheel and the handles." Anywhere she touched, he probably touched too. They would need- "Ah, the nursery!"

"It's probably been trampled by authorities already," Heero confirmed. "They'll hit everything once. We'd have to dust all over, and we don't want to sneak into there for too long. You can try if you want."

"I think Duo's got a good idea," Quatre agreed. "I am not losing this lead on Dorothy. I'm taking a flight and heading straight to the nursery first at the Outreach. I can get a rental car afterward. There might be more clues too, or maybe some fingerprints that aren't smudged," Quatre said coming toward him. "Since Trowa isn't allowed visitors yet, there's no reason to stick around. If they had just wanted to shoot to kill, he wouldn't even be alive anymore." His voice was so soft. His eyes were definitely jaded. "I want to do something useful. Since all the authorities are spaced out everywhere, I'm just gonna dive the authorities and get into that nursery. Do you want to come with me, Duo?"

"Break the law some more?" Oh yeah, Duo was in the mood. "Sounds good, I'll come. Flight and a rental sounds better than another ten hours by car. Used to be direct flights to the Sank Kingdom."

"Kind of dissolved," Quatre chuckled. "From there, we can head straight to where I'll meet her at."

"Duo, wait! Please! Let go, Heero, I want to talk to Duo! Let go, Wufei, knock it off you guys! I'm Hilde Schbeiker, I am!"

Yeah. He couldn't look back at the woman he thought was Hilde for so long. That part of her? Was gone now. "What kind of friend am I, Quat? When someone so close to me is replaced for so long?"

"I think you are an excellent friend," Quatre said back. "It makes sense why you don't talk about your past. She probably has one she doesn't talk about either. Plus, the zero system is pretty powerful. With the right research in the right areas? I think anyone could be fooled for awhile. I don't think it made you a bad friend. I think you might have even helped that woman by being her friend."

"No." No. "I don't know for sure if she's legitly sorry and doesn't know, or she's just the best con-woman I've ever seen. Doesn't matter. This is the last time I see her." That was final. She needed to find her own true self. "I've replaced Hilde for months and gave someone else her life, while she was trapped. I just . . ." He needed to save the real Hilde from the horror that being his friend had caused her.

Quatre nodded. "Nursery?"

Nursery.

Zhang Colony

"What do we do about the nursery, Da Cao?" Andrew Shuttle asked. "I didn't expect their minds to want to go there."

"We have pictures we snapped. Enter it into the system," he insisted. "Just a little extra feed like at the Sank Kingdom."

"We don't have much feed. What do we do about the fingerprints and things?" Andrew asked.

"It works itself out. It always works itself out. Keep them all in synch."

Nursery of Outreach 53

There were authorities but not much. Quatre and Duo easily ducked them and headed toward the nursery. None of them was concentrating on the area much.

They tried to dust for some fingerprints, but there were so many. They didn't want it to look like anyone was trying to dust for fingerprints, that's the last thing they needed.

They took the best ones they could find, with what time they had. In the meantime? They searched around it.

"This is so cute." Quatre touched one of the bears holding a triton. "They look like they were all well loved." The area wasn't extremely beautiful for a nursery, but it had something in it that made it look that way.

"Middie Une's paintings." They were really sweet, with each of five of them on a Merry Go Round horse. Each picture had one of them on it, with the shadows of the others in the back. "It's like they actually took pictures on a Merry Go Round." Pretty amazing.

Quatre went over to the other side. He expected to see some kind of dark paintings, Trowa said she drew perfect fantasy and dark reality, but there weren't any. He looked back at the merry go rounds. "They aren't perfect fantasies. Maybe the reality of the pictures, is enough for her now." She wasn't painting only positive things. Noin had some scars on her. The dressing wasn't the greatest, probably what they did wear. There was some grime and some tiny tears here and there.

Dorothy didn't even wear a dress. She wore blue jeans and a T-shirt. So unlike her. When he saw her last time, her clothes weren't the best but she still had her charm. A way of moving. Certain airs. This person had nothing like that. No, no, Quatre. I can't be like that, whoever she is now, I have to accept her. I won't make her feel bad when I meet with her, because she isn't exactly who I remembered.

"I found something."

Quatre moved away toward Duo. "What did you find?"

Duo held up a journal. "A diary. Might help."

Quatre looked at the other cribs. Oh. This was theirs. Amira had a princess doll on her side, while Zara's was covered in stars. Even the mobile was all stars. He moved it around.

"Hey," Duo said to him. "Did you ever start to like Dorothy?"

Quatre smiled. "That's a silly question. I like a lot of people."

"I mean, to start asking her out," Duo asked as he started to wipe up fingerprints too, to make it less detectable by others. "Did you ever get those tingly feelings that you should tell her how you feel, but straight up ignore them?"

Oh. "We just, we feel each other out. We sort things out by being near one another. She sees into me, and I see into her." He looked back toward Duo.

"Okay, good job dodging the question," Duo muttered.

"What about you?" Quatre knew what he really wanted to discuss. "Did you ever want to ask Hilde out?"

"Yeah," he admitted, "but I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't. My heart just wanted to attach itself to anything good. I probably would have started to like anyone, as long as they were fun and comfortable to hang around. New Hilde though. I don't think. I mean?"

"Life, gets kind of confusing with things like that." Quatre checked the vacant cribs, set up but nothing there. He still wiped them down anyhow.

"Yeah. I just don't know where to start with this. I like . . . being around her?"

"That's a start," Quatre said. Quatre moved toward the set of cribs that had to be Duo's triplets since he was hanging around it. He couldn't help a small laugh. "She was more than a typical girl, Duo."

Duo picked up all the tiny pillow names. They weren't for sleeping on, they were more on the foot of the blankets. "Yep, she really did that. She pulled through a joke all the way. These are terribly made, definitely her work. She hated sewing so much, she'd only do it for something important. This one likes kids."

"This one?" Quatre pushed.

"The real Hilde wanted us to just be Aunt and Uncle if we had one," he admitted. "She didn't want to get wrapped up in parenthood anymore than I did. And look at her now. It's like, she reinvented herself. When we had stuff we had to patch up, I was the one who always had to do it." He found some more knitting and crocheting on her side. "Weird. Who knows what else is different."

"She's just learning how to live again with what she has," Quatre said. "I don't know how different she'll be. I don't know how different Dorothy will be, but if I can just see her, I know I can reach her."

"She might be ready to have a stabbing session with you."

"I can convey I'm there to help. She'll feel the truth. If I could just get to her for a little while." Quatre looked at Duo. "I know it's hard."

"But if I just grab her before she's ready for it all, she won't give us anything on the others until they are far gone," Duo finished. "I know. I'll be good. I'll play my part."

Quatre moved back toward the crib with the triton bear. "Things in the distant past might be remembered as comforting for them. Childhood maybe. Where did they grow up? Where did they want to live when they were small? What did they want to see when they grew up?" Hmm.

"I wouldn't know," Duo said casually. "I don't know anything about much of anything. I'm useless when it comes to Hilde's past. I know the basics of 'had parents, stuff happened, now free' and then that's it. She didn't want to get into anything more than me, and I wasn't going to pry. I know she always lived in the colonies, so maybe some part of her will remember that and want to travel back up there. Then again, Earth is like a breath of fresh air down here, she always wanted to visit. Maybe she'll stay down." He held the three little pillows before tossing them into the cribs. "I'm taking Hilde's diary, but I'll try not to look into it. We really shouldn't, unless we lose track of them." He looked at the Merry Go Round picture with her. "That's really stunning. Love how she once again has long sleeves and I didn't notice until now."

Yeah, that probably didn't sit well with him.

"We should probably find some scrap of Mei-Lin around here," Duo said. "She's not very pregnant yet, but maybe there's a clue about what she'll want to do." He looked around the beds. "She kept to herself. She's actually got some fancy clothes. Instead of eating better, she bought nicer clothes? Oh, she's got some numbers over here. Better yank those. Think Wufei could use these numbers?"

"Wufei . . . I can't say, maybe they will help?" Quatre said honestly. "We can get the numbers to Wufei."

Duo waved at him with another diary. "Diary happy."

"I don't see much on Noin." Quatre found the last bed, but it wasn't deeply personalized in any way, except a diary. "They all kept diaries. I'll hold three. You can hold two."

"You lose yourself, you want to hang on to what you do have to find it again," Duo said expertly as they all changed their amount of diaries.

"Oh, wait." Before he forgot. He grabbed the little star blanket, the little star mobile, and the little princess doll. "There, I can carry all this."

"So, when you told me about the names of these little guys?" Duo said awkwardly.

"Yeah, I know. Zara isn't very masculine. His real name is Sandrock. She couldn't openly call him that. Maybe she thought something out of place would help her see something wrong if she lost herself." He was surprised Duo looked into it. "You were interested in them?"

"Of course I was interested in them, what kind of friend wouldn't be interested?" Duo said. "I'm a good friend." He cleared his throat. "It just takes a good nine months to detect a fake in my circle of friends."

Oh, Duo. That was gonna haunt him for awhile. "The zero system is a master system," Quatre empathised.

"When we first came up, I spotted right away she was a fake. Didn't take personality though, just water. Just hot water. I know hot water, better than I knew my friend." Duo was going to be down on himself for awhile. "I guess it was a good thing I found out she was so easily replacable before I made any kind of above friendship mistake. One wrong move."

"Come on, Duo. Let's get out of here," Quatre insisted. "They are going to be reaching a destination soon. Let's be ready as soon as possible when we finally get the information we need. We are really close. I'll stay on Earth for a little while."

"Yeah, maybe they will feel connected to the colonies, and maybe they'll feel nothing." Duo shook his head. "Do you want to go get a drink with me later, Quatre?"

"Only if it's non-alcoholic," Quatre said to him.

"Right. Let's go," Duo decided. "We've got a long way to go, but we're getting closer. Then, I just have to pretend to smile at my best friend who was alone by herself went through pregnancy by herself, early with preemies by herself, and just surviving taking care of them by herself. Yeah. I'm sure I can totally do this flawlessly."

Quatre touched his friend on the back. All he really wanted to do was race to her, give her the proof of who she had been, and just end the chase. But? Even official paper. From someone as nervous and jittery as Duo said she'd been? It was better to just follow and watch.

Duo's phone rang. "What." He paused. "Yeah, it was a fancy hotel. Continental? I don't know, they might have glasses for the service. Change the meeting to there, got it. Quatre and I also lifted some fingerprints and tried to smudge the rest. We'll give them to you next time we meet up." He hung up. "I'll see you Quatre."

"Yep, I am not going to be far behind." Just, enough.

Wufei's Vehicle

Two months. Two months just because I left her alone to sleep. Wufei continued to drive as he felt a text from his phone. Fingerprints and a few phone numbers found around her room. If he explained to Sally Po, she could do that research for them the fastest and with less questions.

Two months. Wufei didn't really know how else to feel. He was expecting knews of her death, not this. She lost her pride. She lost her colony. She lost her memories. I will make sure she loses no more just in my name for revenge! This time. This was it. 24 hour surveillance if necessary until every fiber, every shred of it all was stomped out for good!

After that, he had no idea what to expect. Traditionally, he would take her as his wife and to his colony after it was confirmed to be his children. She would not protest this, as it was the way with them. However, without memories, this wouldn't be as easy as a task. Would she still follow tradition? Would she rebel against it, not remembering her life?

So many questions, and he wouldn't have any answers until he caught up to her. Duo better get this right. Don't blow it. Don't assume your friend will just side and believe you easily. "Be cautious for once, Duo Maxwell. We are all counting on you."

Heero's Vehicle

"I am going to take the movie offer."

Relena turned her head to look at Heero at the front seat as he drove. She had stayed in the back with the children, while Crystalia stayed in the front passenger seat. "What do you mean?"

"The movie offer," Heero said. "I'm going to take one. Which one should I take?"

"I don't know which one, we can have professionals look at them." Relena was still stunned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, more than ever." Heero seemed to almost speed up the car. "For one, putting me in the spotlight is how Revenge of the Lost tried to make me uncomfortable. I am turning that against the enemy, eliminating that powerhold."

Heero.

"The second reason is it's hard to do things for new sources for much money, when I am around a Vice Foreign Minister. Older sources won't touch me."

Oh. She didn't think about money being a problem for him.

"For three, I'm tired of these nannies all the time half watching Sora and Sophia when you have to leave. You are a Vice Foreign Minister, peace between Earth and the colonies rely on people like you. If money isn't an issue, then I can watch them instead."

Oh, he wanted to watch the children himself. He had already been hanging around a lot more than she had ever expected. Neither of them had relied fully on Crystalia to be able to watch the children.

"For four, making money through dishonest means he can't hold his coach," Crystalia said.

Hold his coach? It was always much harder to understand Crystalia. Hold his coach?

"Point four isn't important right now, which is why I skipped it," he said to Crystalia. "It will be in the future. After the others have finished their own endings with RTL. Bad or good."

Can't hold his coach? Yes, that phrase wasn't going to be so easy to understand. "I support whatever you want to do. You are sure about this, though? They've been able to talk about things, but no one ever made anything official." It would be illegal.

"I want one with a contract where I can control how it's being told too," he said.

"I am sure we can arrange that," she said. Can't hold his coach? That one would be bothering her until she could figure it out.

"I'm sorry I have you out on this road with us stalking people, Relena," he apologized. "Trowa is out of commission. Someone needs to take over his part for watching over Middie Une. I doubt he'll let me send Crystalia. She is for emergency use only."

"I understand, Heero." She looked back at the tablet. Every single pilot had placed their own micro-chip on their own vehicles. It would prevent them from getting too close to the targets, without getting too far.

Duo was in front at least twenty minutes with a black dot on his new rental he checked out.

Quatre was next with the color gold, riding with the Maguanac Rashid and his friends. He was going to use a regular rental, but when they knew what was going on, they were ready to assist. They could even speed up in an emergency to help in a separate car because the ladies wouldn't know them.

Wufei found . . . something. He had stuck the micro-chip on it though for white.

Dead last was them in blue also in a rental, low-grade to stay hidden better, and they were staying about two hours behind. The time also came in handy when Heero heard from Quatre that Middie Une had paintings all around the nursery of the ladies. He took time to retrieve them for Trowa. They were staying very close to messaging with the doctors about Trowa's condition too. It would be good to break the convoy one pilot at a time so everyone could see him, without taking much risk.

Once Duo arrived, there would be another micro-chip added to the car that Duo would put on the suspected real Hilde's rental.

A convoy of help waited behind a simple mom of triplets that she was so unaware of. It was almost funny, except if they somehow lost track of her, they could lose track of any chance of getting them back.

That would be so awful. "Everyone is stopping, Heero."

Heero pulled over to the side of the road. "Did she reach a town?"

"I don't think so, I don't see any impressions of any towns." She played with Sora's little feet to get him to start to play with his own feet. "It seems to be in the middle of nowhere."

"Hm. Did she run out of gas? No, Duo and her haven't even met again yet. Maybe a long stop light or construction."

"Yes, it's moving again," she said. Heero started the car again and started to move. "Did you get any answer about Lucille's mother?"

"Negative, the authorities still can't find her. She'll be okay though, she's being taken care of by the right side now," Heero told her.

Right. Although, without the wrong side? She never would have made it out alive in the first place. She looked toward Crystalia a moment before looking back at Sora. He wasn't playing with his feet but Sophia had started to. He just stared at his momma. "We have to get them, Heero. We have to let this world see what's been really going on with RTL and all of its associations. Not just the bad, but the good. It would help free so many."

"It would," Heero agreed, "but getting them to listen is never easy. Not even for you, Relena."

It was true. She could try all she wanted, negotiations were never easy. Especially when the person who could have said the most, wasn't in the right mind to talk.

"I'd do it all over again. If Trowa gave me that tablet that lead us to this disaster, I'd do it again. RTL needed to be stopped, and the casual fallout will land where it has to."

"All we can do is pull our friends from the burning wreckage." Relena held Sora's hand. "For now." She would eventually make them all see, but it would take years. Way too long to ensure the others would be safe.

Milliardo was staying in touch, but his location was unknown. Most likely, he was following somehow too.

So a convoy of five gundam pilots would continue to stop and start, and follow the mother of triplets, hoping she would lead them to the others.