Name: Cailan Voss
Rank: Lieutenant
Birth: A.C. 169 October 31
Gender: Male
Height: 177 cm
Eye color: Blue
Hair color: Black

Lt. Voss of the Specials forces was stationed at the M———— training facility in the year After Colony 188. During his term there he received orders to deploy ground Leos to an undisclosed location. April 3rd, three days before the commencement of said mission, the Lieutenant was abducted traveling from an off-base establishment to the mobile suit hanger. At exactly 0300 hours on April 6th an alarm was triggered in the main barracks; the soldiers complied with procedures and evacuated the building. Within a minute an explosion destroyed the hanger housing the MS, damaging all twenty suits beyond repair. Four minutes following the initial blast a bomb in the arsenal was detonated, taking out the entire supply of weaponry and a majority of the barracks. No human casualties were reported. Upon investigation of the remaining buildings five more bombs were found. It was discovered they were set to go off in concurrence with the bomb placed in the arsenal; crossed wiring prevented them from detonating.

Walking, Lt. Voss returned to base approximately 0730 on the morning of April 6th. At the hands of his captors he received several injuries: a broken tibia, set and braced before his arrival, multiple lacerations on the upper back, the larger cuts previously sealed with a pharmaceutical adhesive, and a minor skull fracture; full medical report attached. When questioned about his abductors he could only give a slight description. Lt. Voss could only give one name, F———, the man he assumed to be the leader, having only heard the name he could not give an account of physical appearance. As to how he gained his freedom Lt. Voss only offered that he had escaped; when asked who had helped he only replied ‘a mysterious creature.’

Heero went over the report in his mind once more, nearly word for word, wondering what it meant pertaining to the girl. He was sitting between Mouse and Trowa, absorbed more in his own thoughts than the debriefing that Lady Une was about to begin.

“Why had they used an exact amount of explosives? Nothing excessive, just enough to totally demolish all the buildings and kill every officer on base. If he knew the proper amount of power to destroy the suits and he knew when he needed to act before the mission, why had five of the bombs been wired incorrectly…? If all the bombs had been planted he would have cleared the area. What could have triggered the alarm…? The time between the alarm and second explosion was just enough time for the people nearest to get away; someone had sounded that alarm intentionally,” Heero thought, and then looking at Mouse, continued his silent query. “You know more than what’s written there. Was this base on Earth or in space?” He turned from her, still asking his mind more questions. “Mouse must have been involved, but how? She would have been too young… This man Voss, why had he said ‘mysterious creature’? Wouldn’t most men say ‘an angel’?”

Noin paced the back wall near the door; she seemed distraught, her hair was a little messy and a deep look of concern filled her violet eyes. When the group had arrived at the L1 colony she escorted them to the new temporary base, hardly saying a word, managing to avoid any contact with most of them.

Lady Une glanced at her friend and then stated, “I understand that you all wish to accompany Mouse, but in my view I think it would be wiser if only Trowa and Wufei go.”

“We all go,” Heero muttered.

“Suki are you sure this is possible?” Une faced the girl and asked, “You know more about him than any of us. Will he be there and can you get in?”

“He will be there.” The brunette turned so none of the boys could see her face.

“We will proceed as planned then.” The head of the Preventers unrolled the blueprint for the building; she traced her finger along the paths of easiest entry. “The five of you can get in through any of these ways. There are video cameras here and here, and a motion detector here,” Lady Une said, pointing to the key corners where the devices were located.

“It doesn’t seem difficult,” Trowa stated in an indifferent voice.

“The problem lies here.” Une pointed to a door. “Suki, you are sure you have the code to open it?”

“If she has a code to open it,” Duo blurted out, “why doesn’t Mouse just give it to us?”

“Because.” Mouse began her answer even though the braided man hadn’t asked her, “It’s something only I can do, something only I would know.” She continued, now addressing all of the former pilots, “There will be a camera placed at the door. It will probably be set to take a picture every time the door is opened or at selected intervals. My presence will not be questioned by anyone.”

“Your best chances are if no one is noticed coming in, even if they won’t question your presence.” Lady Une continued looking over all the information and not finding anything about that camera. “We can jam the camera’s frequency, preventing it from functioning, but only for approximately thirty seconds before the interruption will be detected.”

Duo was going to ask another question but decided against it when he noticed that Wufei was glaring at him.

“After you get past the door there are no more mechanical securities. Your first priority is to capture Fujihara. Mouse and Heero will need to break away from the group to disable the security system, after that the remaining Preventers will come.” The Lady added, “We are unsure of how many people are working with him or what their level of training is. Contact over the comms will be maintained at all times. Is everything understood?”

No one stated a contrary answer so they were permitted to leave, to wander around, to rest or use the time until the mission began however they wanted. Duo brought the girl some food along with his own. The braided boy poked at Mouse’s ribs begging her to smile and urging her to eat, which she did rather reluctantly. They all ate a small meal and lounged in the padded chairs, trying to relax.

As the others lounged in the foyer, Heero folded his arms and waited for the remaining Preventers to convene in the large conference room. Everyone had entered the room and the Japanese man looked around. Lady Une opened with her explanation of why this was important, a reiteration of safety procedures, and then she listed the details they needed to know.

The meeting adjourned and about twenty men filed past Mouse. She scanned their faces and whispered, “Something’s not right.”

“What do you mean?” Trowa asked her, walking down to the street.

“I didn’t see…” the brunette stopped realizing she didn’t know his name, “The other Preventer who was here before.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He pulled her up into the truck, a little concerned himself about the absence of the tall blond.

“Why doesn’t she seem afraid?” the Japanese man asked Wufei, after glancing at the girl again.

“She’s not afraid,” he answered and waited to continue as the truck drove over a bumpy patch of road. “She is terrified.”

Heero fell silent, puzzled by his companion's answer. How was it everyone could read her but him? Duo had known she was leaving, Quatre too, but they knew without her telling them and they could frequently guess what she was thinking. Even Wufei was now telling him something about her that he had not noticed for himself. He thought about Trowa, but the circus clown always seemed to have a sensitivity to women’s emotions.

The truck pulled into an alley, all the passengers jerked slightly as the brake gripped on the wheel. Wufei jumped from the back of the truck, taking the comm. units and handing one to Heero as he jumped out. Straightening her legs after her landing, Mouse looked at the two and without saying a word walked around them. In the side view mirror Lady Une watched the backs of the five young people, one of them doing perhaps the most difficult thing she would ever have to do in her life; Une knew Mouse was not going to disable the security as assigned.

After slipping into the building through a second story window they cautiously made their way down the gray marbled floors of the long empty halls. The florescent lamps cast their imitation light; the footsteps of the five people slightly echoed off the bare walls as they made their way into the stairwell.

Once within the enclosure of the four walls, the small area containing the stairs, Duo asked Mouse a question, the one he had wanted to ask back at headquarters. “So you don’t know what the code will be?”

The other pilots glared at him.

Mouse stepped next to him and in a low voice answered, “It’s not exactly a code.”

“How do you know it will be programmed to accept you?”

“I was promised I would always have access.”

Heero Yuy glanced at her, somewhat curious about this almost naive statement. If this man had gone through the trouble to hook up this security system, why would he allow access to someone who wanted to stop him?

She saw him and said, “I’ll explain later, but I was told I could always get in.”

“Things change,” Duo stated. “He may not have kept his word.”

“He may be many things,” the brunette glanced at him as they inched along the wall under the second camera, “and he may say many things--but he doesn’t lie.”

“But Squeaker…” The braided boy saw the look Mouse was giving him and stopped; he placed his hands in the air and said, “Okay, I won’t call you that.”

They made their way past the motion detector without setting it off and Duo continued with his questions, “What happens to you if this fails?”

“Please don’t ask.”

He grabbed her wrist, stopping her from heading to the front of the group, “I already did.” Duo gazed into her brown eyes; seeing the sorrowful look, he said with a weak smile, “I thought you said he wouldn’t kill you.”

“Sometimes death isn’t the worst thing that can happen.” She pulled his hand from her wrist, holding it for a moment saying, “We cannot fail; what will be lost is too precious,” before she let it go.

“Lady Une, we have made it,” Wufei announced their arrival to the head of the Preventers.

“We are on standby with the equipment,” the reply came back instantly.

Unsure of where the camera was aimed the boys stood off to the side, hugging the slate-colored textured wall. Mouse looked at the door; she scanned the sides for the panel that would give her entrance. She took a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds before releasing the air. Slowly she raised her hand to place it on the palm pad, in hesitance she pulled it back a little making a slight fist and rubbing her index finger with her thumb.

Heero, the person closest to her was the only one to notice this action, he recalled she had done the same thing on several other occasions. He slid his tan hand into the one hanging at her side, giving it a little squeeze and making her close her long slender fingers around the rank badge that she had given him days before. With this sign of encouragement Mouse once again lifted her hand to the pad, she slightly touched it with the tips of her fingers. The brunette closed her eyes and, extending her fingers, pressed her palm flat on the device. A green bar of light scanned up then down, making a small noise and taking in her prints. A computer generated voice asked for her name.

She paused as Wufei made ready to contact Lady Une as soon as the door would open.

Clearly she pronounced her full name, “Suki...”

Preventer Chang yelled, “Now!” into the communication unit.

The door slid open and they walked into the next hallway, cautiously checking for signs of other people. Instinctively Mouse led the way; no one questioned how she knew or why she and Heero hadn’t separated from the group to disable the security system. She stopped and signaled without speaking, the boys held their guns ready as they flung open the door.

Behind a large wooden desk the dark man with a scared face looked up, an evil smirk curling his lips. He put down the tool in his hand and said in a cold demeaning tone, “So, you couldn’t keep away. My little marionette has returned. I knew you would, you cannot break from what I have taught you. You will never forget your training, my petite doll, and you will always return. I know everything about you.” He pushed on the desk and his chair rolled back, “I was not expecting the extra company though. Even after all this time you can still surprise me.”

Mouse glared at him as he walked around the desk. She said nothing and impulsively stood in front of Heero, blocking him from the older man’s view.

The man, only a few inches taller than the brunette, stepped closer to her, he glanced over her shoulder and addressing the boy said, “The pilot of zero-one, what story did she tell you to make you come here?” Without waiting for an answer he continued, “Suki can be deceiving, maybe even conniving at times. She is beautiful, ne? Is it a physical attraction that brings you here?”

Wufei took a position near Fujihara, aiming his gun at him; Heero stood on other side, saying nothing to the questions he was asked and glaring intensely at the maniacal man.

“You say nothing, you do not defend these boys,” Fujihara turned to the girl. “I underestimated you, I didn’t know you had it in you to bring the Preventers in.” He grinned widely as she tried to look away, “You do not look at me; will you continue to refuse to speak? I know that’s why you came here. Will you not even say hello?”

“Hello, Father.”

“Is that it?” He continued, “It is in you, this hate grows within you, I can hear it in your voice. You hate me—good, I will still have some control over you. Don’t deny it, my influence over you will never change. You may remove me from your life but I will still have some power, and you will destroy what you claim to protect. You will fulfill your destiny.”

Duo tried to charge at the dark figure but Trowa placed a hand on his shoulders stopping him; he glared at the taller pilot, who made no response.

“I will not give you that satisfaction,” her tone was cold and harsh.

“Do you still fancy yourself the victor, triumphant over your own destiny? You cannot change the future I have planned for you.”

Mouse said nothing as she stared at a fixed point over the man's shoulder. The braided pilot shuddered; it reminded him of her conversation with Lady Une. Even Trowa Barton, the seemingly emotionless pilot, secretly wished she would put it to an end. She reverted to the cold hollow defiant person they had met only over a week ago; they knew it wasn’t the real her, or at least they hoped it wasn’t the real Mouse.

Fujihara stepped closer to her yet again; Wufei and Heero went to hold him back but she signaled for them to stop.

The dark man questioned her further, “Do you not argue with me because you know you will loose? Is your silence a sign that you know I am right? Those people took everything away from you, and you will fight them like I have ordered you to.”

“No.”

“No,” he snarled at her. “No, is all you will say. They do not care for you,” he gestured toward the pilots. “The Preventers only want what I took from them.”

“I do not desire their affection nor do I care what you say.”

“They didn’t tell you, the agency doesn’t trust you and yet you will still betray me to them? I have their Preventer code named Wind. The blond man formerly known as Zechs Merquise.” Fujihara was trying to get a reaction out of the pilots but his eyes were constantly focused on Suki’s face. “I know you did not come for him, so I suppose you came because of your precious Lieutenant.” He saw the questioning look in her brown eyes, “Little Suki still cares for the man she let escape, that entire mission failed because of you. You failed your first mission.”

The brunette refused to respond; she noticed that Trowa had walked around the desk and was looking at the computer, noiselessly hacking into the files.

“I thought I trained you better than to feel that useless emotion,” the dark man growled. “Love, what do you know of love? He is nothing, he means nothing.”

“He means more than you ever will,” her voice only contained half the fierceness of his, but it was still powerful.

At the first sign of open defiance her father wrapped his large callused hand around her neck, lifting her slightly. Her toes barely touched the floor, she gasped for air, but she continued to stare straight into his face, never loosing the bold look in her eyes.

“Where is he?” Only half of her words could be understood.

Wufei mouthed the word ‘fight’; he begged for her to retaliate, knowing that she could free herself from the hold.

“You are too late; you can not save him this time,” Fujihara laughed. “He will die along with the Preventer.”

He felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed against his temple as the demanding voice of Heero said, “Let the girl go.”

Fujihara released his grip bringing his other hand around and slapping her hard across the face before the pilots could react. She toppled with the force of his blow, her head landing against Duo’s chest as he stopped her from falling to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her, not to steady her but to prevent her from facing the old man. The side of her face grew red, the fingerprints plainly visible, Mouse pulled herself from the boy, ignoring the pain, never even venturing to touch the cheek that was now throbbing.

“No Mouse, don’t,” the self-proclaimed god of death whispered as the girl turned toward her abuser.

“Where is he?” she hissed at the man now being held by the two pilots.

“The prison block is one floor down,” Trowa calmly stated. “There is a bomb set to detonate…”

Trowa never finished his statement, as soon as he said bomb Mouse grabbed the tool from the desk and bolted out of the room.

After the brunette left Wufei punched Fujihara, his fist making contact with the older man’s stomach, causing the man to double over in pain.

Duo smiled, wishing he had been the one to do it; then he turned to his companions saying, “I’ll follow her.”

“No,” Heero ordered.

He couldn’t understand but for once Duo didn’t object to the Japanese man’s command. They stayed with the silent Fujihara while Wufei and Trowa separated to disable the system and alert Lady Une to the changes.

Mouse sprinted down the hall, her long legs making large strides. Her heart beat uncontrollably against her ribs, almost as though it wished to break free from its cage. She managed to get to the stairs only confronting one other person, whom she easily overpowered. The brunette ran down the steps three at a time. Faltering in her last leap she fell to the floor, sliding a short way and careening into the wall. Undaunted by the mishap, she continued. Peering through the small windows in the cells she searched for the one that housed the two men.

“Mouse, over here,” she heard a feeble male voice answer her call.

She quickly made her way to the cell were the voice had called, peeking through the opening she saw a tall man slowly making his way to the door. His limp was seriously noticeable and when he stopped he balanced all of his weight on his left leg.

“I’m sorry I was so late.” Mouse glanced at the man lying in the bed. “Is he all right?” She was startled when she saw the hand that reached out to touch her face. “What did he do to you?”

He feigned a smile, though every muscle in his body ached. “It’s not so bad. Worry about the bomb first.”

She looked around for a sign of the explosive device. Spotting it above the doorway attached to a support beam she instantly decided to use the small window; if it was allowed to explode the entire building would collapse; it wouldn’t kill the prisoners instantly but there would be no way they could survive the injuries. Precariously balanced near the wall with her feet in the hole and the tool she had taken clenched between her teeth, she cautiously lifted the cover. Using all the force he had left, the blue-eyed man held to the back of her calves helping her maintain her position. Mouse followed the interweaving wires, studying their paths and making sure she knew each one’s purpose, she looked at the time counting down, 18…17…16.

“It’s the same type he used…” she mumbled to herself not bothering to finish her sentence. With the tool she pulled at the one wire that would stop it, the thin strand of metal gave, snapping and curling back it sliced deep into the flesh below her thumb.

Mouse jumped down, bending her knees to absorb the shock and touching the floor with the palm of her hand to prevent herself from falling forward. She managed to open the cell door. Her accomplice wrapped his arm around her shoulder and leaning on her for support she helped him sit on the dingy bed.

The blond man in the cell slowly stood, his legs a little wobbly under the weight of his body. Preventer Fire ran down the stairs to the prison block, her heart leaping into her throat as she saw Zechs leaning in the doorway of his former cell; one arm hung limp at his side, the other was wrapped around his middle, holding his ribs. She joyously embraced the wounded man, a slight moan escaped and he took a deep breath causing a piercing pain in his side. More of the Preventers wandered into the hall and along with a young man, Noin helped Zechs out of the building and to a waiting medical truck.

Heero, Duo, and Trowa passed the violet-eyed woman, her shoulder tucked under the arm of Wind, as they walked down the hallway. When they reached the cell they saw Mouse kneeling on floor at the feet of a badly beaten man, her head was bowed and in a hushed tone she was speaking unintelligible expressions of regret. The black-haired man held his hand on the nape of her neck, stroking the soft skin with his thumb. His fingers were misshapen, the dry russet-colored blood cracking, forming intricate patterns over his flesh. He looked up, his pristine azure eyes filling with tears but none of them brave enough to fall; meeting Heero’s own blue eyes he stood.

“Go now, I’m fine,” she directed her order at the older man.

Wordlessly, Duo Maxwell supported the man and helped him out, leaving the other two with the girl.

Mouse saw Trowa’s shoes appear, they stopped near her knees, before he could move to help her up she said, “Leave me. I want to be alone.”

He tenderly touched her back, then turned to go. As Trowa approach the door he paused and placed his hand on Heero’s shoulder, with his emerald eyes he mutely asked the Japanese man to leave as well.

Understanding the taller boy’s request and having no intention of complying, Heero answered with his usual, “Hn.”

Assuming that Trowa had left, never moving from her kneeling position, Mouse began to talk. “You were right, Heero. He was right. I hate him; I do this because I hate him. For a brief moment, just the smallest inkling of time I convinced myself I didn’t want revenge; that I didn’t care what happened to my father, but I was wrong. I was such a fool to believe in my own lies, to think that I could change who he made me to be. To think that I could stop him from hurting any more people.”

“You have stopped him and what is it that he has made you become?”

Suki flinched at Trowa’s words, his unexpected kindness. In a tone even lower than before she answered, “A person so consumed by hate that her judgment is clouded. A person so blinded by that hate she cannot see until it is too late. I was too late, I could not stop him from hurting people and even though he is gone it will not stop. He lives in me, every word he has said is engraved in my mind, in my head somewhere, and through me it will happen again.”

Heero knelt down on one knee before the girl, he leaned to one side then the other trying to look into her eyes, but when he moved so did she. The Japanese man placed one hand on each of her cheeks turning her to face him. The brunette winced, although his touch was more than gentle, he let go and she let her head fall once more. This time he lifted her head by tenderly placing his finger below her chin, before she could move away he said, “I was wrong. If you hated him you would not have asked for our help; if you truly hated your father you would have fought back in there.”

She smiled and sniffed, “I didn’t ask for your help.”

He whispered so that Trowa could not hear, “You are not the person he trained; that influence has become weak.”

Mouse believed him; Heero never said what he didn’t mean, and having a slight knowledge of the training he received she knew that the influence may last forever, but over time it diminished. The Japanese man helped her to her feet and she allowed him to escort her outside. As they passed Trowa he permitted a smile to adorn his usually masked face.

As they stepped out of the building Duo nudged Wufei, earning him a severe glare. “Look who made friends when I wasn’t watching,” he enthusiastically blurted out. “Man, I miss all the good stuff.” The American grimaced as he heard the sound of the medics popping Zechs’ dislocated shoulder back into place, “That’s worse than Heero.”

“Hey Squeaker,” the tall man greeted his rescuer, sitting on the bed of the med. truck ignoring the medic’s pleas to hold still.

The brunette shook her head.

“That’s not fair. She never let’s me call her that,” the braided boy said with a mock pout.

“Don’t worry kid; she doesn’t let me call her that either.”

Seeing that everyone was accounted for, Lady Une ordered everyone to board the trucks and head back to the temporary HQ. The medic finished resetting the bones in the man’s fingers before climbing in herself.

While climbing in Mouse glanced around, she caught a brief glimpse of Fujihara; he was crouched over, still holding his stomach. Halfway in the vehicle she turned her head to Duo and asked, “What did you do to him?”

“Not me.” He held up his hands. “Wufei.”

The brunette looked at the Chinese man before pulling herself all the way in.

Seated between Mouse and the female medic the blue-eyed man started to ask questions as the truck began to roll down the streets. “What happened before you came down?”

“Just one of those father-daughter talks.”

He looked at Mouse studying her appearance: the red welt on her face, the trail of crimson blood that started to flowed from the cut below her thumb when she moved and reopened the wound. With a smile and a recollection of another time he said, “You look better than the last time he had one of those ‘talks.’”

Heero, too, studied the girl sitting across from him; he noticed the cut and without saying anything, took her hand.

“What are you doing?”

“It needs to be bandaged,” he said never lifting his Prussian blue eyes from the wound. He wiped away the fresh red fluid and cleaned the dried blood from the cut. More of the liquid began to spill but he quickly covered it with gauze and, taping the pad to her hand, he sat back, saying nothing more.

“Don’t listen to anything Fujihara told you.”

“Yes sir, Lieutenant Voss sir,” Mouse answered in a mocking tone.

“So now that this chapter of your life is over you don’t have to go by ‘Mouse’ anymore.” Suki looked at Cailan with raised eyebrows but before she could say something he added, “How about Aunt Squeaker?”

Duo laughed at the expression on her face.

Thinking about Cailan’s wife, Suki’s dearest friend and teacher who dreamt of nothing more than having a child, Mouse said, “You mean Leilani is…”

Excited, Cailan cut her off, “Yes! I’m finally going to be a father.”

Mouse asked in a flat tone, “Why didn’t you tell me before I left for Earth?”

“Because you stuck your tongue out at me,” he said, almost laughing, trying to get Suki to laugh as well or even smile, but her confidence was still shaken and she made no response.

Trowa looked at the man, now aware that he was the one she had called; she obviously had great feelings for this man with the thick wavy jet black hair, a smooth baby-like complexion, and azure colored blue eyes. As the truck rolled to a stop his emerald green eyes were still focused on the man and the girl, deep in thought he watched them get out. Cailan held Suki in his arms as the others exited; a crowd of people were forming in the street, they watched Zechs limp between two men to the infirmary, Noin following close behind. Lady Une came up to them and observed the group for a moment.

“They are looking at you,” Cailan whispered.

“They are waiting for an explanation,” she answered.

He addressed the boys peering over her head which was level with his nose, “You better find a nice spot to sit then. This could take a while.”

Mouse pulled away from him as Lady Une instructed him to go to the infirmary; she excused herself and led the way.

With only the four pilots left, and now safe in the walls of the temporary Preventer base, Mouse turned to the boys and asked, “Where should I start?”

“Why does a man like that have a daughter?” Wufei began the interrogation.

“I do not know why he had a daughter, I have been told he was different before me but I cannot remember. He left when I was three. My mother never talked of him and she died in childbirth seven months later, her first son died hours after.” Knowing this didn’t answer the question Mouse continued with, “I was born to save the life of his first born. A genetic match was needed for my sister Midori.”

“How did you know Heero was a gundam pilot just by his name?” Duo asked, hoping this would lead to how Fujihara knew.

“They asked my grandmother permission to use Heero Yuy as the code name of the pilot. There were two requests though,” Suki said. “First, the pilot needed to understand that he was not to complete the mission set by the Barton Foundation and second, he must have a heart devoted to space. Then she explained that she was only doing it as a favor for their help.”

“What did this organization do to help her?” Trowa asked.

An unexpected answer came from Heero, “They helped the Yuy family hide something.”

“I don’t understand. What did the Yuy family have to hide?” a newcomer asked, only hearing Heero’s last statement.

Mouse turned slowly toward the person the question had come from; she lifted her head to face Quatre and said, “Me.”

Nearly everyone was floored by the response, but no one showed signs of the shock. They all questioned why the group would hide Suki; the only person she needed to hide from was Fujihara, and why would such a powerful group feel it necessary to help her?

“Suki was the intended pilot for Wing Gundam,” the Japanese man answered the question on everyone’s mind. Upon seeing Fujihara in person Heero had finally pieced together the information Mouse had given him, the data was that of a mobile suit simulation; her first scores a little below the average Oz soldier; fairly good for an eight-year old. He recalled his first tests, taken the same year, scores slightly higher than average.

“Is that what he meant when he referred to your training?” Wufei inquired.

Bewildered, Quatre asked, “Who?”

“Fujihara, my father.”

The blonde was beginning to think he should have stayed home but he remembered walking by the room she had stayed in, looking at the emptiness, the rainbows dancing on the walls but no one there to enjoy them.

Heero explained further, “As the youngest, and now the last living blood relative of the Yuy family, the Barton foundation appointed her the hopeful pilot, but she never completed her training.”

“You can’t train what you can’t find,” supplied Mouse.

“That picture?”

The brunette looked at Quatre and said, “Yes that was my uncle, Heero Yuy.”

“Suki, is that why Fujihara said you failed your mission, because you never became a gundam pilot?” the boy with the chestnut braid asked.

With a sorrow filled tone Suki answered, “I have never succeeded in any of my missions.”

“What will you do now?” Trowa asked, sure that now she could not disappear like she had planned.

“There is always an opening in the Preventers agency,” Lady Une answered, just entering the room and hearing the comment. “We can always use someone with expert computer skills.”

With the discussion now over everyone, except Heero and Mouse, excited the room; Duo busily asking what made Quatre come, Wufei telling him to leave the blond alone and Trowa quietly following, with one last glance at Suki.

“You were the one who wired the bombs incorrectly and triggered the alarm?”

“Why, Heero?”

“The ‘mysterious creature’?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“If you did those things on purpose then why do you sound regretful when you say every mission was a failure?”

“His mission wasn’t my priority.” Tears formed behind her brown eyes, the moisture never falling. “I had an earlier mission, for my sister.”

“You had no control over her death.”

“No, it’s not that. She told me to never let him have power.” She bite her lip before continuing, “Midori would always say, ‘if it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t.’”

In an awkward moment of revelation Heero offered, “The only words of advice I ever received were, ‘act on your emotions.’”

“After he returned she changed, her smile became weak, she begged me to do what I could to never become like him, to never hurt people like he planned to.” Mouse’s voice was hushed. “At night she would cry, I pretended to be asleep but I could always hear her. When I asked she couldn’t explain.”

“Mouse, you did not fail that mission.”

“I failed the mission set by my grandmother, too.” She turned her back from him. “She begged me to become a person with a good heart, full of honest intentions, strong, beautiful in mind, happy. Many times she said in this world that was all she desired.”

Mouse recalled the frail hand of her grandmother touching her cheeks, the kind look in her eyes, the fragrant perfume she wore to diplomatic affairs, the powerful woman who died just months before the gundam’s decent. The brunette remembered her exact words on that day, words that her grandmother had said many times before, “Suki, for me please become a strong woman, gentle and wise, filled with honest intentions, seeking only what is attainable. Never quest for what is not necessary, restrain your anger, your hate, be quick to forgive others and put aside your own pride. My child, be beautiful in mind, carry yourself with dignity, let your heart rule, cherish the time you have with friends. You do not need to be elegant or exalted, crowned with glory and showered with riches. I only ask that you grow to be a woman who will always be a queen in one man’s eyes; true to yourself, simple, loved, and happy.”

Heero turned his Prussian blue eyes to face her and quietly said, “Mission accomplished.”

Standing in the doorway, unseen by either of the people in the room, Quatre whispered with a smile, “Yes, I have to agree--Mission accomplished.”

Fin

*Thanks for reading this, I hope you enjoyed and haven’t become too confused. If you have any questions I’d be glad to answer them.

Toodles.

GO BACK TO GUNDAM WING FANFIC

GO TO THE MAIN PAGE OF THE SHOOTING STARS COLLECTION: A GUNDAM WING IMAGE ARCHIVE

E-MAIL THE AUTHOR!: timidtigress@hotmail.com