Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

Epilogue

*

The fight was over.

All of the new Preventers had met up together in that middle path of the Devil's Backyard on the red planet Mars. They each told each other about what happened in how all of the deaths of the Silencers. One was an accident, one was a suicide, and another was in a situation where there was no other choice. It was so odd, in the beginning of the mission; it seemed like a game for them. Then they had to fight the enemy face to face…it was no longer a game.

The children…yes…the children, after all that's what they were when it was all boiled down to it. They were only kids, still in High School, no older than 15, and yet they seemed to handle what has happened to them in the past month very well with ideas of vengeance for their loved ones. Yet the events of the past day were a different matter. Most psychiatrists would call what the children were experiencing as PTSD or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Funny thing about psychiatry, there's always a label for something that was wrong with a person. Whatever it was, the children were experiencing it…so much that many of them had to sit down in that path trying to cope with what they had done. Then something snapped in one of them.

It was William Maxwell; he sat on a rock towards the mouth of the path where it met the other three in its rough intersection. His Cross-Punisher laying at his side while he looked down into the soil. His vision began to distort, his nose began to clog up, and the water poured from his eyes. He dipped his face into his hands and wept at what happened. As he wept, he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and a woman's voice.

"It's Ok." Hikaru told William, "You'll be alright."

Hikaru hugged William as he began to weep into Hikaru's shirt and wrapped his arms around her waist.

With all that's happened, the only one who wasn't phased by this was Kaworu Nagisa. He had seen death before, he had wept his tears, but for some reason he couldn't cry for his former comrades. It bothered him in a silent way, like how when someone makes a rude face and even though its trivial it still is bothering. There was one last thing that Kaworu had to do. He got up and went to Id the Lion who was sitting far away from the body of Angelina Lestat who when she died, died on her back and with her eyes open. Id had closed them and decided to look away from it.

Kaworu approached, "Id?" he asked

"Yeah?" Id responded

"There's something I need to take care of. I'll be taking the Gundam Angel with me."

"What are you going to do?" Id asked

"There's one last enemy I have to face alone." He had explained, "The ones who were pulling the strings of the Silencers…the Dark Zodiac."

"Why do you have to face them alone?"

"They robbed me of my life." Kaworu said his face stern with a seriousness that Id had only seen in one other person...Heero Yuy. "I have to stop them."

"Alright." Id nodded. "Go."

"Take this." Kaworu said as he took his beam saber from his side and gave it to Id. "Hold onto this. I'll be back for it as soon as I finish this old business. I promise I'll come back."

And off Kaworu went to pick up his Gundam ready to take care of his old business. It was strange that Id never questions Kaworu's loyalty, perhaps this run in with the Silencers has made him paranoid. Still in his heart Id did trust the kid, he took the self-detonation device and broke it in half.

"Come back soon, kid." Id smiled

* * *

Kaworu smiled as he headed back into space. He just wanted to seal one last wound in his heart that was caused by the Dark Zodiac. He had arrived at the asteroid that he had known for as long as he could remember. It was his home and those people that had died on Mars were his comrades. Even though his expression was buried he still had a few fond memories of them. Such as that one time that Angelina had tried to seduce him, even though Angelina didn't exactly sleep with Kaworu she did it just to tease him. Yet, it was the Dark Zodiac that he had a burning spot in his heart for. It was them that robbed him of his childhood and made him a slave. He had to have retribution.

He opened a channel to the asteroid base.

"Attention." He called out, "Attention, this is Kaworu Nagisa, formerly known as Kaworu Gavrich of the Silencers."

The response was instant, but it was on the audio channel, "Have you come back to serve us Kaworu?" An old voice asked

"No." Kaworu answered without hesitation, "I came back to make my statement and make my retribution before I can move on."

"What do you mean?"

"I had served you loyally for all my existence. When the time came to use it against people…I knew that what you were doing was wrong."

"It was for the good of bringing back the old Alliance."

"The plight of old men wanting to return to the past. That does not give you an excuse for what you robbed me of as well as my comrades who are now dead on Mars. So don't even bother trying to send out Mobile Dolls because I know that Angelina used up all of them."

No response from the Dark Zodiac

"Now that I have your attention. The death of Ivan, Anton, and Angelina was freedom compared to what you did. Even I am free, I know that I am no longer Kaworu Gavrich, I am Kaworu Nagisa. Despite my compassion for all living things, I know that this must be done. For my retribution, I will make sure that you shall not make anyone suffer like my comrades and I have."

Kaworu reached under his seat and pulled out a long black box that had switches on them. Each switch had a red light near them. Kaworu flipped all the switched to their up position, turning all the red lights on. Until there was just one last on at the end of the long box. A special one that had a red plastic cover over it, he flipped it open seeing a shinning transparent candy red button staring up at him with its glow coming from within it.

"Good-bye." He whispered as he pressed the button.

His retribution was fulfilled as the asteroid crumbled from the outside in within a fiery explosion.

* * *

A week later…

The children came back to the hospital on Colony L-1. There they saw their parents nearly healed up. Some of them still had a few casts on, but it was certainly better than the shape that they were in one month ago. Each child went to their parent weeping as if they were five-year-olds once again, except for a few of them who were just sad.

For Johan and Haruka who slept side by side they watched their son and daughter come back in such shambles.

"Miho." Johan said softly as he ran the fingers coming from his left case arm through Leto's hair, "What's wrong?"

"Dad." Leto shook his head, "We've done such horrible things."
"I know, son." Johan said, "I've been briefed by both Id and Kazuki on what had happened on Mars. I know that it must be hard for you. First battles are always hard, but I'm proud of both of you."

"We all are." Haruka added, "All of us are proud of you. You had taken on a role that no normal teenager could do. It is a heavy burden to bear."

Duo heard the discussion a few beds down, "Yeah I agree." He said as his son hugged both his mother and his father, "You know son. I didn't want you to have the same experiences as I did as a kid growing up without a family. I wanted to protect you, but I knew that I couldn't protect you all the time. I think you've handled yourself well in what happened."

"You think so, dad?" William smiled

"Hey, would the God of Death lie to his son?" Duo smiled

"Thanks dad." William said as he hugged his father

All of the parents seemed to feel the same way about the situation.

A few more beds down Heero Yuy and his wife Relena marveled at how their daughter progressed. At least from Heero's point of view, his own daughter had become a Gundam pilot and he wasn't there to see it for himself. Yet he saw her in a different light hearing what Kazuki had to say, so much that some of it melted through his cold exterior that managed to come into a smile.

"Good job, kiddo." He smiled as he outstretched his arms to hug his daughter, "Looks like our plans worked just right."

Relena on the other hand had a different opinion. She shook her head, "Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy. I am surprised at you for going off and becoming a Gundam pilot." He tone at first was scolding but then something changed in it and it became a voice of approval as she said, "But in the circumstances we were in, we needed brave people to stand up to the ones who broke the laws of Earth and Space. I'm proud of you, my daughter."

The last few that came into the hospital wing were Kazuki Peacecraft and his Desbats, along with Id "the Lion" Kushrinada, his girl Birdy "The Mighty" Cephon, his sister Mariemea Kushrinada, and last of all, Kaworu Nagisa.

Id, Mariemea, and Birdy came to the beds of Treize and Lady Une.

"Mother, Father." Id smiled at both of them

"Id." Treize smiled thinly up at his son, "I want to tell you that you've done well in taking those kids under your wing and making them into shooting stars like their parents before them."

"I did what I had to father." Id said and turned his attention to his mother, "Mother. I didn't know if you heard me before, but I wanted to tell you something."

"Please." Lady Une said, "Come and sit. Tell me."

Id sat down in the hospital provided chair and spoke from his heart, "The last time I was here, I wanted to tell you that…I forgive you."

"Forgive me?"

"Yes." Id said finding it difficult to speak, "For what happened to me as a child. I forgive you for all that has happened in the past." His vision looked sharply downward but he then felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up to his mothers' sweet face, "Son. It's all right. I love you as my own son, nothing in this universe will ever change that. It does not do anyone any good to dwell on the past for we all have to put the past behind us or it will haunt us for the rest of our lives."

Id had tears in his eyes as he hugged his own mother. He quickly dried them as he reached for Birdy's hand.

"Mother, Father." He got up and introduced, "I'd like you to meet…" he blushed for a moment, "My girlfriend, Birdy 'The Mighty' Cephon of the Red Sky Police Department."

Everyone spoke of what happened, then Hikaru told her parents about something odd that happened while she used her Gundam.

"What happened?" Relena asked

"It happened after I used my attack." Hikaru explained, "Then I found something that appeared on my right hand." She held up her fist and a crest appeared like a tattoo that was made out of special ink that could vanish and appear again. It had a glow around it like a halo of orange light. The tattoo on the top of Hikaru's hand was of a Phoenix with its wings spread out showing off its colors of red, yellow, and orange. Its head reaching up for Hikaru's knuckles and its tail feathers reaching down to her wrist, and then around its legs was a banner that read one thing:

The Firebird

"A crest." Heero said

"Yeah." Hikaru smiled, "It's just like yours."

"I had something similar happen to me." Paul explained as he brought up his fist. His crest appeared in a bluish-white halo, and in the center of it was his symbol. A lightning bolt, but instead of a complex crown like what Zechs had, this one was just simple with just one spire that had a star on top of it. In Paul's banner it read the nickname that was given as well as earned by him.

The Lightning Prince

William Maxwell showed his crest to his father. It was just as simple as the others, as a matter of fact, it was a little like Hikaru's crest. It was of a black crow, with its wings spread out across the top of his hand, its head towards his knuckles, and its tail feathers spread out. The banner itself was just as simple.

The Crow

"What about yours?" Haruka asked her children

"Here's mine." Leto said proudly holding up his fist as his crest glowed with a halo of green. Inside it was the outline of a fox reaching out its paws up to a five-pointed star as if it was the treasure that the fox was seeking. Then his banner read proudly:

The Star Fox

"And here's mine." Julia smiled showing hers off like a new dress or a new necklace. Hers was about the simplest of all of them; it was just simply a long blue arrow that stretched across her hand diagonally where its arrowhead reached a star. Her crests banner was read very clearly.

The Star Arrow

"Last of all, here's mine." Id said holding up his fist as his crest had a halo of red light and his had the head of a lion roaring outward at its prey. The Lion, is what his crest read.

Everyone was engaged in some kind of conversation about what happened in the past month, at least everyone except Kaworu Nagisa. He stood back and watched all the happy families being reunited. It brought warmth to his heart, a kind of warmth that he hadn't felt in a very, very long time. He tried to find a word for it in his mind, but there was only one word he could think of that could describe his feeling. Home. It felt like home to him. Even though the dictionary defines home as a place of origin or a family's place of residence. It was so much more than that, despite the fact that he had no family there. No one was related to him. Feeling and thinking about the fact that he had no family made him sad as he sat on an empty bunk in the hospital wing.

In the commotion of parents, children, and old friends talking…more than one of the Preventers noticed the young boy sitting on the edge of the empty bed. The one who asked the question first was Quatre.

"Excuse me." He called out to any of the children that heard him, and the one that heard him was Hikaru Yuy who turned her attention from her parents to Quatre.

"Who is that over there?" He asked

Hikaru got up from her place; "I was just getting to that part of the story." She said as she went out and brought in Kaworu, "Everyone, this is Kaworu Nagisa."

"Hello everyone." Kaworu smiled

Hikaru explained all of it, how Kaworu came to their company, once part of the Silencers but broke free of them and fought against them.

"Hmmm." Wufei turned up his bandaged nose at the young boy; "I don't trust traitors."

"You barely trust anybody, Wufei." Johan commented

"It is nice to meet all of you." Kaworu said, "But I should be going."

As Kaworu was about to leave, the concerned mothering instincts of Relena kicked in as she asked the young boy, "Where will you go?"

"I don't know." Kaworu answered, "I'll just go wherever the winds of change take me."

Heero smiled, "Sounds like me in the old days."

"Please, Kaworu." Hikaru begged holding onto Kaworu's arm, "We've been through so much together. You could at least stay with us for a while."

"I have no place to stay."

Quatre smiled, "Then stay at my place." He offered, "The Winner Family Mansion is more than enough, I'm sure you'll find it to your liking."

Kaworu smiled, "I think I'd like that."

"Then it's settled."

"By the way." Johan changed the subject, "I think that this last attack has taught us all something. I think that Preventer is too clustered. Perhaps we should spread out our offices and bases all over the Earth and the Colonies. Plus we should hire more personnel."

"What about us, dad?" Leto asked, "And our suits?"

"Well, Miho." Johan shrugged, "Since you proclaimed yourselves to be Preventer officers, it seems only fair to hold onto them. Or at least until you feel that you can be a Gundam pilot at the proper age."

"Ok, dad."

"I agree with Johan's ideas." Lady Une spoke up, "I'll speak to the government about our funding as well as our personnel."

"Once you get out of bed." Birdy Cephon suggested

Lady Une shook her finger at Birdy in a comical way, "You know, Id. I think that she'd make a fine wife."

Id could only blush as the others laughed in good fun.

* * *

The kids had returned to school, but their month long time on Mars as the new Preventer was regarded as an excused absence. Though what happened on Mars in the Devil's Backyard was something of a secret in Preventer. So, naturally all of Earth and Space knows about it. Thus, the children were regarded as heroes at their school. Even Kaworu who had joined his comrades at their school and thus a new kid was a hero before anyone knew who he was. There were parties and speeches for two days solid. Even Kaworu who as a hero got a big welcome to the High School, he was automatically popular around the school with both the guys as just a "cool guy" and with the girls for being a "hot stud". Kaworu wasn't exactly used to this kind of attention, so it was good that it only lasted for two days.

Then after things had calmed down just a tad, the Preventer Teens were back where they were just over a month ago, back to their usual lives. Yet, even with things back to certain normality they were still changed by the experiences. They knew the horrors of fighting in actual combat. They seemed a little silent about certain things because they didn't seem very important anymore compared to what they went through. The whole experience made them, perhaps into adults, or they were still in shock about the things that can happen in combat.

Then an all too familiar voice called out, "HI!"

They looked and found Mervin, that same freshman of thirteen, with oversized coke-bottle thick glasses. They were at such a thickness that they actually distorted the view of his unusually honey-brown eyes. They made his eyes even bigger than what they were. His walk was goofy as if his back was a stiff board and his legs were trying to compensate for it. His head was at a crooked angle as if his neck-bones didn't know what straight was. In the crook of his left arm was a messy stack of papers, notepads, and vanilla folders.

"I heard you guys were actually in Preventer." He emphasized a lot on the word 'Preventer' as if it was the word of the day, "I also heard you got to pilot your own suits and even had your own beam weapons. What was it like? Was it cool?"

No one answered

"Well, never-mind." He said as he shuffled his papers like a dealer shuffling his cards, "I got some ideas for some new weapons, suits, and beam weapons."

William couldn't take it anymore. Perhaps it was just because he had put up with this kid for months or maybe it was his new perspective on combat. He rose out of his seat and grabbed Mervin by the sweater.

"Listen to me." He said, his voice wasn't threatening at all, it was more like a smooth counseling voice, "Using those weapons in combat wasn't as cool or glamorous as you think. We saw people die right in front of us, at the hands of our weapons, and there was nothing we could do about it. Do you think that's cool? Watching someone die in front of you and seeing him look to you for help?"

Mervin didn't answer, his glasses slipped away revealing his true eyes as he looked up at The Crow, William Maxwell.

"It isn't, Mervin." William said softly, "Trust me, I know."

He let Mervin go who then gathered up his papers and left.

"Don't you think you were hard on him?" Leto asked

William shook his head, "No, believe me. If he was there with us, he'd be designing cars."

"What do you think happened to all of you up there?" Kaworu asked

"I think." Hikaru spoke out, "That while we were down here, we thought we were invincible we thought we could do anything because we were the Preventer Teens. Then we entered combat with mobile suits of our own. We found out that we're not invincible. Perhaps that's what's changed about us."

"Probably the worst part," Julia added, "Is that now that this is happened we can't go back to being carefree and careless teenagers."

"But then again." Kaworu made his point, "Why be so glum about it? We know that life is not infinite, we know that we're not invincible, and we know that life precious. So let's enjoy every minute that we have! I know that I will!" He rose out of his seat, reached into his bag and pulled out a stereo and tuned it to a hit music station. The smiles came back to their face as they had seen Kaworu's point as he began to move to the music and enjoy every single minute of it.

"I guess your right." Hikaru smiled and then laughed, "I guess your right."

"I know I'm right." Kaworu smiled, "So get out of your seats and start moving!"

As they moved to the music they knew of the lessons that they had learned and also knew that they could make the better decisions for the future. For as Hallmark and corny as it may have sounded to the Preventer Teens, the children really are the future.

The End…