Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing; never have, never will but will always dream.

Author Note: All right, well, here is the last chapter! No specific notes for this one really though I am terribly sorry for the wait!! I had very limited internet over the holidays.

Thank you as always to my readers and especially my reviewers.

PS - Sorry if you got about 3 different e-mails about my updating. I usually get the same e-mail immediately after I update and when I didn't I tried removing and re-adding the chapter a few times. Sorry!!!

::Last Time::

Yaoi!!! MalexMale relationships!

-------Thoughts written in italic are spoken by ZERO

-------Thoughts written in bold are spoken by Quatre

Enjoy!

From Hero to ZERO

Chapter Three

On the fifth floor, ZERO was having no luck in finding regular street clothes this time around.

"That vile woman…she managed to get everyone out of the hospital. Damn…I can't exactly walk around in a hospital gown."

Why not just give up then?

"Shut up Quatre! I'm sick of your wry comments."

Then maybe you should find a new body to control, especially considering the trail of blood that led my friends right to you.

"ZERO! Drop your weapon!" Sighing heavily in annoyance, ZERO turned to find the four pilots behind him again. He noticed the trail of blood Quatre had just mentioned and cursed under his breath. Heero just glared keeping his gun aimed and ready.

"I'm getting really sick and tired of all five of you Gundam pilots."

"Oh yeah? Well until you leave Quatre alone, we'll be following you everywhere. So drop the damn gun!" Duo shouted to ZERO in a vain attempt to end things quickly but ZERO just smiled.

"You won't get the chance. I could kill you all here and now if I wanted to!"

"Then why not get it over with already?" Only Heero would make a demand like that but ZERO was up for the challenge.

"I just haven't decided who to take out first."

It doesn't matter who you shoot because the others will only fight back harder. You don't stand a chance ZERO! If you haven't even been able to suppress me, then you obviously won't beat them!

"Shut up Quatre! Do not try my patience!" Everyone looked to ZERO oddly but Trowa immediately perked up.

"Quatre?" ZERO looked to Trowa and the green-eyed pilot almost saw that old glint in Quatre's eye; he knew his blonde prince was in there. "Quatre, you have to fight ZERO! You have to overcome it again; if you use your emotions, you can beat it!"

"That's the one." ZERO smirked, aiming precisely. Trowa's eyes grew wide as the barrel of ZERO's gun turned in his direction and he froze up. Trowa flinched as the gun fired and his knees buckled as two strong hands pushed him out of the way just in time.

As Trowa caught himself before falling completely to the floor, he looked behind him frightened and he noticed that for the first time, Heero wasn't paying attention to the enemy in front of him. In fact, Heero was also on the floor staring wide-eyed at the sight before him.

"Duo…"

Clutching his now bleeding upper arm, the braided Deathscythe pilot grunted in pain as everyone looked to him in shock. "What the hell are you all doing? There's still a gun pointed to your backs!" Duo held back any further pained noises and stopped talking completely as a trembling Heero drew nearer to him a saddened look in his eyes.

"Duo…I…"

Trowa looked back to ZERO with a glare as the system rolled its eyes. Snapping out of his shocked state, Wufei again ran to get 'that blasted woman doctor who's never in the right place when you need her.' Behind them, the three pilots heard ZERO speak.

"It could've been perfect; something just always has to get in the way."

It was perfect…how did I not think of this before? Trowa kept his eyes on Quatre's body and quirked an eyebrow as a look of confusion spread across his face.

"What are you talking about now?" Trowa nudged Heero as ZERO began speaking aloud to itself. Duo also tried his best to listen in on what they could hear of the conversation.

You shooting Duo was perfect…looks like I've gained the upper hand now ZERO. Quatre's voice was shaking terribly but it was also full of determination. ZERO just shook his head.

"Are you serious? I just SHOT one of your friends! How in the hell would that give you the upper hand Quatre?" ZERO, still without realizing, was speaking aloud and the pilots stared over understanding now whom ZERO was talking to; they only wished they could hear Quatre's side of the conversation as well.

Well ZERO if you want my body so badly…then you'd better get used to ALL OF IT!

ZERO didn't have time to react as blinding pain shot through his chest. He clutched the shirt around his heart, instantly dropping his gun and panting as the pain grew worse with each passing moment. Trowa's eyes flared with determination and he shared his epiphany with the other two.

"Quatre's empathy…he's using it to distract ZERO!" Not needing any more explanation, Heero immediately reentered mission mode and rolled towards Quatre, kicking away the gun ZERO had dropped in the process. ZERO could only stare wildly down the barrel of Heero's gun as more pain shot through Quatre's body. From across the floor, Duo and Trowa watched extremely concerned. Trowa was about to close his eyes in anticipation until, through gritted teeth, Duo yelled to Heero.

"Don't you dare pull that trigger!" Heero couldn't stop himself from being distracted and turned to look at Duo. Naturally, ZERO took advantage of this, jogging in the opposite direction just trying to get away. Heero cursed as he stood but turned still to Duo with a confused expression.

"Duo…look I'm not going to sit here and let ZERO shoot all of us and I'm also not going to let Quatre be taken away from us by a computer program…even if it means killing him." Duo frowned as Heero followed Quatre down the hallway he had just run down. The braided pilot immediately turned to Trowa and furrowed his brow regretfully.

"You have to go after him." Trowa felt immediately torn; he felt more inclined to follow Quatre of course but he couldn't just leave an injured Duo behind. Trowa had no time to contemplate though as Duo read his mind.

"Trowa, there's no time. Sally and Wufei will be here soon, I'll be fine. You have to go after Quatre and Heero!" Noting the urgency and Duo's eyes and his own heart, Trowa nodded and shot up to his feet. Before he turned to leave, Duo spoke once more.

"Keep them both safe." With another brisk nod and a brief smile, Trowa secured his gun and was running after Heero and Quatre. Duo stared after his friend for as long as he could before pain overtook him and he shut his eyes, lying on the floor helplessly.

As more of Quatre's injuries continued to open and bleed profusely, ZERO found itself unable to move and fell to the floor leaning against a nearby wall. Hearing Heero's footsteps close behind, the system began running scenarios. Heero stopped a few feet away from Quatre's body gun aimed and ready if need be.

"ZERO, give it up. Quatre's empathy is stronger than you'll ever be. He will win this battle." ZERO merely smirked back at Heero, the perfect plan already in mind.

"Maybe you're right Heero but I guess we shall see. Bye for now." Heero cursed loudly and watched for the second time as ZERO swapped itself with Quatre before moving a little closer. After a gasp and shudder in pain, Quatre slumped forward breathing heavily. After a moment, his head shot up again staring at Heero intently.

"I'm sorry Heero…tell me Duo's okay. And Trowa…" At seeing Quatre's suddenly tear-stained cheeks and puffy red eyes, Heero knew for sure that it was Quatre again and moved to kneel on the floor in front of him.

"You can't worry about that right now; focus Quatre. We need to get you to Sally, can you move?"

"I tried to stop it Heero," The Wing pilot jumped when Quatre grabbed hold of his shirt. "I know that you…You have to believe that I tried…just tell me that Duo will be okay, please." Heero furrowed his brow at his friend and felt himself blush a little.

"Duo's going to be fine; the wound really didn't look too bad." After hearing the news, Quatre nodded and swallowed hard feeling his eyelids grow heavy. Heero, at seeing Quatre fading, moved closer trying to keep his attention.

"Quatre, you've got to stay awake and keep control." Quatre frowned and more tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Heero, I can't. ZERO's just too strong…Heero…you have…you have to kill me Heero!" Quatre clutched Heero's tank top tighter as he closed his eyes in pain. "If you don't, this will just keep happening!"

The Wing pilot could only stare as he tried to sort through his spinning thoughts; the grief he would put Trowa and Duo through, his own guilt. Finally, his thoughts settled on memories of the time he spent with Quatre during the war and the friendship that had formed and grown since then. With a new resolve, Heero put his gun onto the ground and put his hand over top of Quatre's on his chest.

"Quatre, I won't kill you! You are strong enough to fight this! You've conquered the system before and you can do it again. We need you to Quatre." Heero stared desperately at Quatre but found that the blonde was on the verge of passing out. He hoped that Sally was ready as he moved enough to pick Quatre up.

He fell right into my trap. You played your part well Quatre.

Just as Heero was about to scoop Quatre into his arms, the blonde's eyes shot open wide.

"No Heero!" Heero stopped in his tracks and stared back at Quatre thinking he had put the other teen in pain. He only pulled his eyes away when he heard heavy footsteps behind him. Running down the hallway, Heero saw Trowa and breathed a little in relief.

"Trowa, hurry. He's not doing well." Trowa stepped up the pace when he heard Heero's voice but stopped almost immediately. As Heero turned back to face Quatre again, he noticed the evil smirk on the blonde's face. Before he could even blink, ZERO picked up Heero's discarded gun and slammed it into Heero's temple effectively knocking the Wing pilot unconscious.

"Dammit…" Trowa ran once again as Quatre stood from his slumped position on the floor, aiming the gun for Heero. He knew now that it was up to him to do the impossible.

"Quatre!"

Trowa! Help me!

ZERO rolled its eyes at the shows of affection and ignored the twinge of pain from Quatre's empathy. ZERO kept the gun pointed to Heero but spoke to Trowa.

"Why don't you just give up? You will never get rid of me." Trowa ignored ZERO altogether and tried again to talk to Quatre.

"Quatre don't let ZERO fool you! You have more control than you think! ZERO is just a program to make decisions, don't forget that." ZERO interrupted Trowa with a laugh.

"You think that you're little friend can even hear you? He's long gone by now!"

"Use your emotion Quatre! You can overcome it. We all believe in you! I know you can." Having heard enough, ZERO turned his gun from Heero to Trowa.

"If you're not going to shut up then I'll do it for you."

No! Trowa! You won't hurt him again!

ZERO was seconds from pulling the trigger when Quatre's empathy kicked in full force again. With his speed and agility, Trowa immediately dashed toward his love and rose to kick the gun from his hand; however, he couldn't move away in time before ZERO had Trowa's neck clutched between Quatre's hands. Trowa coughed and gasped for air, dropping his own gun to the floor as well as his hands grabbed onto Quatre's.

"Quatre…keep fighting…you're almost there…"

"Will you never shut up?" ZERO tightened its grip around Trowa's neck as the boy gradually grew paler, his eyes drifting closed. Trowa was feeling dizzy with each passing second; he knew that it wouldn't be long before he passed out but he managed to speak one last time.

"I love you Quatre."

NO!

The Heavyarms pilot could feel himself drifting away and was almost ready to give up when suddenly Quatre's hands left his neck. Unable to hold himself up, Trowa fell to his knees taking in gulps of air. Through his bang he saw Quatre's feet moving away from him and looked up to see what was happening. Quatre was clutching his head tightly as his feet stumbled beneath him. His eyes closed tightly and pain flashed across his face.

"What's going on? This can't be happening! I'm in control! You don't exist anymore Quatre!" ZERO's frantic tone rang through the hallway followed by a pained cry. Pulling tightly at his hair, Quatre fell to his knees causing more stress to his injuries and another cry of agony. Trowa flinched as he watched Quatre's actions and for the first time, he actually heard Quatre's side of the argument.

"ZERO…you won't control me anymore…get out of my head!" Another cry of pain sounded as Quatre's body trembled and thrashed about. And just as it happened the first time, almost as abruptly as it had started, Quatre stopped moving, panting heavily as he fell forward onto his hands. Hoping that it wasn't another trick but unable to stop himself anyhow, Trowa was instantly at Quatre's side.

"Quatre?" Still breathing heavily, the blonde Sandrock pilot looked up to Trowa and nodded before he was engulfed in a bear hug. Quatre was happy to collapse in Trowa's arms as his body shook uncontrollably. Trowa pulled his love close to him and cradled him in his arms carefully. Quatre stared up at him longingly but obviously exhausted.

"Trowa…I love you too…don't leave me." Trowa held the blonde tightly as he shook. He heard footsteps down the hallway and turned to see Wufei heading towards him. With a sigh of relief, Trowa kissed Quatre's forehead and cupped his cheek softly.

"It's okay Quatre, it's over now. I'm going to take care of you, just hold on for me, okay?" Quatre nodded and Trowa began to scoop him into his arms. Wufei skidded to a halt next to the two of them looking for the report.

"Quatre's back for now at least. He knocked Heero unconscious. If you can grab him, I've got Quatre." Wufei nodded and immediately moved to Heero's side, carefully throwing the Wing pilot over his shoulder.

"Sally's already downstairs with Duo. Hopefully she's done patching him up so she can get to Winner and Yuy quickly." Trowa nodded as he secured Quatre in his arms.

"All right, let's go."

Duo stared longingly at Heero's unconscious form lying in the bed before him willing the other boy to wake up. Once his arm had been bandaged and put in a sling, Sally and the others had gone somewhere else to take care of Quatre leaving Duo to watch over Heero and wait for him to wake up. The braided pilot furrowed his brow in worry as he continued to watch his comrade's chest slowly rise and fall.

"Oh Heero…just come back to me." With his good arm, Duo brushed the bangs from Heero's face but he flinched noticeably when Heero's eyes twitched. Standing from his chair, Duo leaned in a little closer and watched as slowly the Wing pilot's eyes drifted open. Duo couldn't contain himself and smiled with joy. Heero lifted his hand up to nurse his temple as he sat up in the hospital bed.

"What happened?"

"Apparently you got knocked out by ZERO pretty good." At hearing Duo's voice, Heero completely turned to the Deathscythe pilot swinging his legs off the side of the bed.

"Listen, Heero, about earlier; I'm really sorry, I didn't mean the things that I said to you. I mean, if you hadn't put ZERO in Sandrock, we'd all probably be dead, right?"

"Duo…you're okay?" Duo looked back at him a little confused but nodded anyway.

"Yeah, the bullet scratched against my bone a little so I have to where the sling but overall I'm just fine…are you feeling okay?" Duo was about to reach up and feel Heero's forehead when Heero stopped his hand and held it within his own. The braided teen looked to Heero confused but saw raw emotion burning behind Heero's eyes.

"Heero?"

"Duo…" Heero could feel his hands trembling around Duo's but he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Duo, I have to tell you something. I…seeing you earlier, after ZERO shot you, it just…it made me realize…I…"

"Heero, what is it?" Duo looked to Heero worriedly but the Wing pilot stared intensely back at him. Throwing risk out the window, Heero quickly closed the distance between them pressing his lips to Duo's firmly; but before Duo could really respond or not, Heero pulled himself away and spoke.

"Duo, before now I didn't know what to think or how I felt about you and if I'm completely in the wrong, just tell me but I just know now…the thought of losing you today…I won't let that happen ever, I can't. I…I care too much about you to let it happen."

Heero dared a glance to Duo and found his friend's expression set to complete and utter shock. Duo further confirmed Heero's fears of rejection when he pulled his hand from within the Wing pilot's. Feeling his cheeks flush, Heero was about to turn away embarrassed when, to his surprise, Duo cupped his cheek and leaned in for another kiss. This time around Heero lingered a little longer letting them both enjoy the tender feeling. After a moment, the two pulled apart again and Duo spoke in a sheepish tone.

"I didn't mean to worry you…I just had to make sure that kiss wasn't just in my imagination." Heero smiled some at him and nodded.

"It's very real Duo." The braided pilot still looked confused though, pulling away slightly.

"But…you…Relena?" Grabbing hold of Duo's hand and pulling him back again, Heero shook his head firmly at the unspoken question.

"I do care for Relena and I look after her because she was the first person to show me that people care about me." Heero paused for a moment, looking deeply into Duo's violet eyes. "Relena's my good friend and I'll keep looking after her and all of the other Gundam pilots because you all helped to change me, especially you…which is why you're never leaving my sight." Duo chuckled at Heero, leaning in for another small kiss. Resting his hands around Heero's waist, Duo looked up at him thoughtfully.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this." Again, Heero leaned closer to Duo their noses barely touching; he was about to go in for another passionate kiss when they were interrupted.

"Well, I'm glad that you two finally got your acts together." Glancing toward the door, the pair saw Wufei smirking at them. Duo blushed some and turned away but Heero kept Wufei's stare.

"How's your head?"

"I'll live; how's Quatre doing?" Duo turned back to Wufei as he contemplated the answer to Heero's question. After a moment of considering, the Chinese turned on his heel and called back to his two friends.

"Why don't you come see for yourselves." After assisting Heero in hopping down from his bed, the two were treading quickly after Wufei as he led the way to Quatre's room. For the second time in that span of two minutes, the Altron pilot walked in on two boys kissing.

"Well…I guess this means I need a girlfriend now." As they parted, Trowa and Quatre blushed some and turned to Wufei apologetically; however, at seeing Heero and Duo, Quatre's eyes lit up.

"Duo, Heero; how are you feeling?" Quatre's voice was dripping with concern and Duo was ready to elaborately explain how they were considerably better compared to him but Heero distracted him by wrapping his arm around Duo's shoulders.

"We're doing just fine." Sufficiently sidetracked, Duo grinned at both Trowa and Quatre who smiled back knowingly. Before long though, the braided teen looked to Quatre seriously.

"Are you all right now Quat?" The blonde sighed a little at Duo's question and shrugged.

"I feel tired, sore and overall pretty terrible…I know that I'm in control again and I don't figure that will be changing anytime soon but I can still feel ZERO somewhere in my head and it worries me to no end. I'm afraid that I won't be able to control it."

"Don't think like that Quatre; you have already come so far, you are stronger than all of us." He Sandrock pilot looked up to Wufei gratefully and the Chinese nodded back to him. Naturally, Duo also had to put in his two cents.

"Besides Quat, you've got us still. We won't let you do anything stupid." Duo winked playfully but Quatre only frowned.

"But Duo…I shot you…I mean how do we even know that ZERO won't come back even stronger? Or get to Heero too?" Trowa squeezed his boyfriend's hand and the Wing pilot spoke up.

"I don't think you or I will ever completely rid ourselves of the ZERO system Quatre."

"But you two are strong enough to keep it at bay, most def." Duo's voice was genuine and left no room for argument on either end; the only option for everyone was to smile knowing that finally there would be peace among them as well as on Earth and in space.

-End

So, the ending is kind of abrupt I know. I was going to do some more with it, but this just seemed like the best place to end it. Anything else I would've written would've been awkward I think.

However, there is also definite possibility for a Sequel! If people want one, of course. Don't get hopes too high though; I've got a few ideas for one but who knows when it will get written. For now, I'll just leave it here though and hope that people can enjoy it on its' own.

Thank you for reading and please Review!