I am soooo terribly sorry about the long wait for this chapter. I don't really have an excuse other than completely losing my muse. So…here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Next Chapter

Quatre was quick about hacking through the computers, brushing his dirty hair from his face with shaky fingers. In the three weeks that they'd been there, things had been getting steadily worse. He gave a relieved sigh when he finally connected to Lady Une's office and her face flickered into view on the vidphone.

"Agent Winner!" Une cried in surprise, the pure relief in her voice plain and unhidden. When the boys had failed to check in for weeks, she had nearly panicked.

"Commander," Quatre answered, his voice somewhat raspy. "We apologize for not getting in touch earlier, but things are not good here."

Une frowned, obviously looking him over and not liking what she was seeing. His clothing was torn, stained with dirt and blood and obviously hadn't been cleaned since they had gotten there. His face was bruised and his hair dirtier than she'd ever seen it, even during the times she'd run across him in the war. There were dark circles under his eyes, nearly bruises, and he looked far too thin to be healthy. "Winner? How are the others?"

Quatre flinched slightly, having been somewhat startled by her question. For a moment there, he had forgotten he was supposed to be reporting to her. He definitely needed to rest. "They're at the Demon Lair," he mumbled. "Wufei's in bad shape. He was captured two weeks ago, but we got him back. We don't know if he'll last very long though. Trowa's sick too." He paused, chewing on his lip, glancing over to where the teenaged boy, Canada, was keeping watch, MP5 in hand. "You get sick here and you die," he said, absently repeating something that Duo had stated earlier on.

"None of you are going to die, Winner," Une practically commanded.

Quatre gave her a desperately weary look. "We're so outnumbered. Even with the Pack, Flock and Pride. Every adult on the colony are with the Neo-Oz. The Money-Runners are backing them. We've been forced to put guns in the hands of five year olds and hope they survive against fully trained adults." He shook his head against the memory of the massacre of the puppies that had only happened three hours ago. They were running out of time. "We can't keep doing this."

He was ready to collapse, Une could see that. And it worried her greatly. "Heero and Duo?" she asked gently, even as she started jotting down plans to send an army's worth of agents.

"Heero's fine," Quatre murmured. "Or as fine as he can be… Duo's… Duo's the Demon. He's too busy to be anything but fine." The little laugh at the end of that statement was just shy of hysterical, and it worried Une as well. There was a clatter and Quatre spun around, gun raised, allowing Une to see the fresh, red and slightly infected third-degree burn on the back of his shoulder. A brand, in the shape of a cross, backed by a leaning scythe.

"Winner! Your shoulder!" Une said in shock, not liking the look of such an obvious injury.

Quatre glanced at his shoulder, then at her, allowing his gun to drop back to his side. The whistle that had accompanied the clatter had reassured him of his current safety. "Demon brand. You get caught, you get branded." He shrugged lightly, wincing in pain as he did so. His ribs had yet to heal. "All of us have gotten branded but Duo. But then Duo's the original Demon. He knows this colony like he built it." Quatre fell silent when he realized he was babbling. He shook his head again and had to brace himself against the computer console when the world spun around him.

"Winner, are you okay?" Une asked in concern.

"Just dizzy," Quatre mumbled, head bowed. "Not enough food. Never enough food."

"Or sleep," another voice interjected. Quatre glanced over at his lover as Duo stepped into view of the vidphone. He placed a hand against Quatre's back and motioned him to the ground. "Rest, love. Mallard informed me of what happened this morning." Quatre shuddered at the memories of watching children get gunned down by merciless soldiers and not being able to do anything. Duo waited until Quatre had settled on the ground, leaning against both the console and Duo's legs. He then turned back to the vidphone and gave a wane smile that was merely a shadow of his usual grins. "Hey Commander."

She looked him over and noticed that he looked no better than Quatre, he was only handling it as though he was used to fighting this way. His braid was messy and coming undone, his clothing torn and dirty. There was a thin cut down one cheek that looked somewhat fresh. And his eyes…his eyes were dark with anger and disgust, Shinigami plainly in control and having been for some time. But around his neck, hung the golden crucifix, just as it always had. "Maxwell," she murmured.

"We've got control of the shuttle-port, Lady," Duo said, gently running his hand through Quatre's hair as the blond dozed. "I can't guarantee we'll be able to hold it long, but we have it now." He looked up at her, his violet eyes holding carefully controlled desperation. "We need help. Backup, food, medical assistance. Every day we're losing Wufei a little more. If we don't get help soon, he's going to die, and Trowa's not far behind him."

Une nodded, frantically writing. "You'll have your help. Hold the port for at least two days. And Maxwell," Une added. "Good job."

Quatre had returned to guard the shuttle port after his and Duo's impromptu nap. Duo had let him, not allowing his worry to consume him as he headed back to the Lair beneath the destroyed church. The Neo-Oz refused to set foot anywhere near the church, their superstition overweighing their heartlessness. When he got there he was met with a rather concerning sight.

Trowa had finally collapsed.

He had gotten a rather bad infection from the brand on his collarbone, and it had finally taken him down. Heero was watching over him with worried eyes as he mumbled incoherently from fever. "Funny, he's never this talkative when he's healthy," Duo quipped, hating how his voice broke. Heero looked up at him, blue eyes tired and just shy of desperate, and Duo turned away, slamming his fist into the wall.

HE reveled in the stinging pain of torn flesh as the skin was scraped off his knuckles, forcing himself to focus on that pain instead of the overwhelming urge to just break down and cry. "Duo," he heard Heero say gently from behind him, and he just let go. He slid down the wall, curling up and sobbing into his knees. He'd held it back so long, forcing himself to stay strong for the others, that he could no longer hold it in. Heero walked over, crouched down next to him and wrapped his arms around Duo in an entirely uncharacteristic hug.

Duo collapsed against him, his hands grasping Heero's tattered shirt tight enough that it threatened to tear even more. Heero held him, whispering useless nonsensical words as he gently rocked his friend. There was nothing that could possibly be said to fix this.

Except of course, Duo's next words.

When he finally calmed, still leaning against Heero's chest, Wing Zero's pilot absently running a hand through Duo's long hair, the Demon told of his recent conversation with the Commander. "Two days. They'll be here somewhere within two days and we can all go home."

"Wufei won't last—"

"He has to," Duo interrupted, looking over at the broken, unconscious form of their injured comrade. He could remember the panic when they heard that Wufei had been captured. He remembered the anger when he saw that Neo-Oz had decided to use the pilot as an 'example', tying him up, beaten and broken in the middle of the compound. He remembered the feel of rock and dirt against his stomach as he and Trowa shimmied closer, in an effort to get to Wufei. Could remember the horror at the sight of the demon-brand, burned into the hollow of Wufei's throat. They still weren't sure if that would create any permanent issues. "He's lasted this long. He can last another two days." His voice was firm, displaying none of the doubt that he felt. Wufei hadn't woken since they had gotten him back.

And he refused to remember Heero's reaction to when they had brought Wufei back. He'd never seen the Perfect Soldier so broken. Absently he traced the dirty bandages around Heero's wrist, hiding the demon-brand. Chances were, it was infected like all the others. Duo had been lucky; he hadn't been caught yet. Or at least, he hadn't been caught long enough to be branded.

"We're getting out of here. All of us."

Agents Zechs Marquise and Lucrezia Noin had never seen anything like this before. Even during the war. They had landed their shuttle ports at L2 and a mass of soldiers had streamed off, just in time to help round up a group of kids being led by three of the five Gundam pilots. The other two were being carried on make-shift stretchers.

Every child, down to the youngest of five, was carrying a gun or weapon of some kind. Somewhere in the distance there was an explosion, but no one flinched, aside from the Preventers that Zechs had brought along. "Diversion," one of the far-too-skinny teens murmured as he passed.

"Hello Zechs," Quatre whispered, looking up at him through dirty bangs. "Thank you."

He looked just shy of falling over. Heero and Duo were the same. And Zechs had never expected to see any of them look so down. Even at the end of the war, both wars, the five had stood tall, injuries notwithstanding. This…this was too much.

It didn't take much effort to load the five pilots into the shuttle, nearly five dozen kids spread out among the other four ships that would be returning to Earth. There would be two that remained, with the soldiers that would take down what was left of Neo-Oz. Although, the Demon had certainly decimated a large majority of their troops with help from the Eagle, Lion, Dragon and Wolf.

But now it was time to go home.

And maybe, just maybe…they'd be able to get through this mess intact.

Chapter End

Yeah, so I totally skipped three weeks and now the boys are headed back to Earth. But don't worry, the story isn't over yet, and it's not like you won't know what happened on that colony. There's still more to go.

HK