Chapter Fifty-eight: To the Edge of Forever

        The building rocked from side to side with the impact of the outside attacks, which was no easy feat since the stronghold was built into the side of a cliff.

        "They trying to kill us too?" Duo grumbled, breaking into one of the last rooms on their floor.

        "Maybe it's Chase's revenge." Wufei said dryly, checking the last room. "This floor is clear. Zechs has to be on one of the next two."

        Anna's voice buzzed over the intercom. "First of all, that wasn't funny. Second of all, did either of you check for a basement?" Silence greeted her. "That's what I thought. And you call yourselves gundam pilots. Get your lazy butts down there while I check these top floors."

        "Yes ma'am." Duo and Wufei called back, grinning at each other.

        They took off towards their exit downwards, Duo choosing the elevator shaft and Wufei taking the stairwell. Both routes were equally dangerous considering the movement of the building, and the guards they bypassed by coming in the back.

        Anna pressed herself against the wall on the sixth floor, but the entire passageway was dark and all the doors were open. "07 to base." She whispered into her comm.

        "Base here." Quatre replied.

        "I need a life form check on the top two levels of this rock." She said, scanning around. She just had a sneaking suspicion…

        "Just a minute." Quatre said, frowning. He set up the heat sensors to track just the top two floors, and his frown deepened when the results came back. "I'm only getting a reading on one life form, 07, and I'm assuming that's you."

        "Damn. They're not here." Anna growled. "Thanks, Base. 07 out."

        "No problem. Base out."

        Anna switched channels just as a flurry of sound exploded from her speaker. "That would have been bad if there had been guards up here…" She murmured. She hit the talk button. "You guys okay down there?"

        Duo's cheerful voice greeted her. "Just taking out a couple of strays, Tenshi. Oh, and we found the target."

        Anna brushed dust out of her hair as the ceiling started to crack. "Make it quick, would ya, guys? This place isn't going to hold out much longer."

        "No kidding."

        "Can you guys handle this?" Anna asked, pulling her laptop out of her bag.

        "Absolutely. Where are you off too?"

        "I have to find something." Anna replied.

        Wufei's voice echoed after Duo's. "We'll be fine. We'll contact the others and get Milliardo out of here."

        "Thanks guys. Take care."

        "You too."

        Quatre frowned as Anna's signal vanished from his screen, and did not reappear anywhere in the range of the scanner. "Base to 02." He called.

        Duo and Wufei were making their escape out of the basement, the unconscious Milliardo Peacecraft supported between them.

        Duo managed to grab his communicator link. "02 here. What's up?"

        "What happened to your other half?"

        "07 went to find something. We've got it covered. We can't get a signal through to the mechas, though. Would you call and tell them we've retrieved the target?"

        "Sure thing."

        "Thanks."

        Quatre reached over to a switch and opened a channel to Chase.

        "Base to 06."

        "What?" Chase answered, frowning when part of the building she hit didn't collapse.

        Quatre smiled faintly. "Same old you. 02 and 05 have reached the target and are in the process of escaping."

        "What happened to 07?" Chase asked, glancing up at Quatre's image on one of her side screens.

        Quatre shrugged. "02 said 07 went to find something. That's all I know. Base out."

        Chase frowned again. "Where did you go, Anna-chan?"

        Heero's face appeared where Quatre's had just been. "What's going on?"

        Chase looked up at him. "They got Milliardo and they're leaving. Once they're out we'll destroy the place. Anna-chan; however, has gone off to find something."

        "She abandoned the mission?"

        "I don't think that's…"

        Quatre's frantic voice and face appeared below Heero's. "Watch out! There's a whole battalion of Aries coming out of the south!"

        Chase and Heero whirled around just in time to come face to face with at least thirty Aries, all of them already charged for attack.

        "Crap! Where the hell did these things come from?" Chase growled, drawing the scythes on the Sandrock.

        "I don't know." Quatre said, quickly throwing up all sensors in every direction. "They didn't show up on the radar until they were right on you. It was almost as if they were cloaked."

        "Wonderful." Chase muttered, destroying two with a swing of her blades.

        Heero speared two with the Zero's laser sword. "Trinity must have developed cloaking technology while we were busy thinking we had everything under control."

        "Hai. You should have been paying more attention." Chase teased, taking out three more.

        "Wufei, move! Get out of there! Wu…"

        Chase glanced up, startled. "Duo?"

        "Maxwell! Watch out! Duo!"

        "It's Duo and Wufei. Their signals must be cutting across ours. It doesn't sound good." Heero said, concern masked in his voice.

        There was a moment of more shouting before a loud explosion filled the air, and the majority of the building collapsed, bringing half the cliff with it.

        Heero instantly switched channels. "Duo? Duo! 02, answer me!"

        Chase also switched over. "Wufei, daijoubu? What's happening?" she called.

        There was no response from the ground team. Apparently the remaining Aries were satisfied with this, and began retreating immediately. The two gundams paid them no heed and landed near the explosion site.

        Heero hit the ground first and yanked his gun out, sprinting for the remainder of the building. Chase was on his heels, castor propped against her shoulder as she ran behind him.

        "You guys are clear. I'm not picking up any enemy readings." Quatre said into their headsets.

        "Tell me you're picking up Duo and Wufei's signals." Heero replied.

        "I…" Quatre hesitated.

        "Quatre!" Heero barked.

        "I'm only picking up three life readings. You and Chase make up for two of those."

        Heero cursed under his breath.

        They made their way through the rubble as quickly as possible, not trusting the other half of the building to stay rooted to the cliff for a long period of time. Chase took one end of the basement and Heero took the other.

        "Heero, you're almost on the signal. Keep moving straight ahead."

        "Right." Heero said, moving in that direction. A split second later, he saw a hand with the wrist covered by a white and black cuff. "Duo!" he called, rushing forward.

        He fell to his knees, pulling rocks and rubble off the form as quickly as he could. Duo groaned as most of the debris was pulled off him.

        "Heero?" he asked, trying not to cough.

        Heero ran his hands along Duo's face and neck to check for injuries before helping him sit up. "I'm right here. Are you all right?"

        "Yeah… I'm okay…" He grumbled. "Damn OWN soldiers. Zapped in with the laptop technology, surrounded and attacked us. We didn't have a chance in hell. And that's where most of my chances come from anyway."

        Chase made her way over when she saw that Duo had been found. "What happened to Wufei, boyo? He isn't…"

        "No. They took him and Zechs both. Tried to get me too, but I've had about enough of them, thank you very much."

        "Where the hell was Anna?" Heero demanded. "She should have been here in case something like this happened. Which it did."

        "Relax, Heero. There's not a whole lot she could have done anyway. She left, said she had to find something."

        It was plain by the look on his face that Heero was not happy with conclusion of the mission. "Let's head back to the safe house. We're done here."

        Anna could hear them above her, below her, and in the rooms around her as she silently stalked the halls of the abandoned Peacecraft mansion. She'd all ready come across several bodies, most likely servants that the OWN soldiers had deemed not useful. She hadn't given up all hope; however, because if the soldiers were still here, that meant they hadn't found the children yet.

        She held her magnum level to her shoulder, and slipped into a room that had been searched and left. Anna lowered the weapon slightly. It had been the nursery that Noin was preparing for her third child. Anna sighed.

        "What a waste." She murmured. Suddenly she felt cold, like someone was watching her. She slowly turned around and saw two ice blue eyes peering out at her from the closet. Anna tilted her head and moved forward.

        The eyes went wide and vanished into the darkness of the closet, and Anna could here a small gasp. She knelt by the closet door and gently pulled it back.

        "I won't hurt you." She said softly. "I'm a friend of your mother and father."

        He looked at her hard. "You're the lady in the pictures." He said finally.

        Anna nodded. "That was a long time ago."

        "You belonged with Uncle Duo-kun, right?"

        Anna laughed softly. "That's right. Still do. I'm Anna."

        The boy moved close to her and held out his hand. "I'm Ethan."

        Anna shook it and smiled. "I'm glad I found you. I was afraid I was too late."

        Ethan shook his head. "They've been here for almost an hour. They don't know all the passages that Marq and I do. We've been avoiding them the best we can, but I lost Marq when he told me to stay here. He said he'd come back for me, but he never did."

        She patted his shoulder. "We'll find him. Come on."

        Ethan grabbed Anna's hand as they headed back towards the hallway.

        "Where did you come from?" Ethan whispered as they edged along, looking for signs of the elder Peacecraft boy.

        "Not too far away." Anna whispered back.

        "Do you think we'll find Marq?" He whispered, tightening his grip on her hand.

        "I'm sure of it." Anna whispered back confidently. "In fact…isn't there a passage behind the grandfather clock in the back hall?"

        Ethan grinned. "Yeah, there is. How'd you know?"

        Anna smiled. "Long story. Let's go."

        They went to the staircase, and luckily had a clear enough moment to get down it and hide behind the bottom pillars. Anna motioned to Ethan to stay still while they waited for another moment to get to the clock.

        "Go!" She hissed.

        They both made a mad dash for the clock at the end of the hall. Anna slammed into the side of the clock to stop her momentum and started running her hands over it to find the trigger. Ethan's shorter legs made it farther for him to go, and ten feet away from the clock he tripped on the tile and slammed against the floor.

        "Ethan!" Anna gasped, moving back towards the boy.

        "Don't!" He exclaimed, shoving himself onto his hands and knees and throwing himself into a somersault.

        Anna caught him as he rolled against her feet. "Impressive." She said.

        He grinned. "Thanks." He reached up and pulled the hour hand to five and the minute hand to the nine. The clock swung back and Anna yanked Ethan inside just as the OWN guards swarmed the hall.

        "Well that was close." Anna remarked.

        Ethan grinned up at her, even though he couldn't see her in the dark. "That was fun."

        There was an ominous clicking sound from behind them. "Stop where you are. Don't move, or I'll have to shoot you."

        Ethan rolled his eyes. "Don't be a prat, Marq. It's me, and this is Anna-chan. She's a friend of Mom and Dad's. Anna-chan, this is my brother Marq."  

        Marq swatted his younger brothers head before reaching out to shake her hand. "Marq Peacecraft. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Maxwell."

        "Please, call me Anna. Mrs. Maxwell makes me feel old."

        Marq smiled. "Very well. Then you must call me Marq."

        "Marq it is. Well, Marq and Ethan Peacecraft, shall we get ourselves out of here?" Anna asked. She reached around for her pack.

        "This passage leads to a balcony on the second floor. We could get out that way and head for the ocean. Hopefully they haven't destroyed all our yachts yet."

        "Don't worry about that. I…" she was cut off as a wave of terror shot down her spine. Her breath quickened and she gripped the laptop.

        "Anna-chan? Daijoubu?" Ethan asked, touching her shoulder.

        "He's here…"

        "Who?" Marq asked.

        "Go! Move, now!" She barked, dragging them down the passage towards the nearest opening. They let themselves be pushed along in front of her.

        Two seconds later the entire front of the passage and the grandfather clock were blown away in a storm of fire and debris.

        Anna shoved them down a turn in the passage and whirled around to see what –or who- had done the damage. A tall figure stepped out of the flames, red eyes blazing as bright as the fire around him.

        "Drizzik…" she breathed.

        He stared at her through the darkness, hatred burning in his eyes.

        "Anna-chan… come on. Anna-chan!" Ethan pleaded.

        "Why is she glowing?" Marq whispered.

        "I don't know! Anna-chan!"

        Ethan's final cry brought her out of her daze and she flung open the laptop and brought up the transporting program. "Hold on to me!" She cried. The boys grabbed on and the three of them disappeared in a blinding flash of light as the rest of the passage was engulfed in flame.

        They reappeared in a deserted hallway almost as large as the one they had left in the Peacecraft manor. Anna sunk her fingers into the forest green carpet and inhaled deeply.

        "Where are we?" Marq whispered.

        "That was cool! Can we do that again?" Ethan asked exuberantly.

        Anna smiled warmly. "Maybe. And we're at the safe house. We built this place for us…so we could always have somewhere to come home too."

        Marq glanced out the windows. "It's beautiful. We must be miles into the mountains."

        "We are."

        They all turned to look down the hall where it turned to the right, where the kitchen and living areas were, Anna remembered. Muffled shouting was emanating from that direction.

        "Sounds like Duo's angry." Anna murmured. She stood, and the boys followed suit. They were puzzled when she headed away from the shouting and towards the opposite end of the hallway. She turned left, walked a ways, and stopped in front of a shut door. She pressed her hands against the door.

        Anna reached for the doorknob, fingers shaking. She grasped the cold metal and turned it, pushing the door open. She sat the laptop down inside the door, and taking a deep breath, stepped inside.

She gasped, one hand flying to her mouth.

        The cream colored curtains were still cracked open just like she'd left them, the bed with it's black down comforter and black satin sheets made to perfection just like she'd left it, her jewelry strewn on the nightstand just like she'd left it, the photo of her and Duo on their honeymoon turned down on the dresser was there just like she'd left it.

Duo? Oh my God, Duo! What happened? What happened out there?

        She closed her eyes.

        No, no, take him to the bedroom. What do you mean you can't do anything? It can't be that bad!

        Tears fell down her face.

        Duo, don't leave me…I love you so much…Duo, I haven't told you yet…Duo…

       

        Duo…

        Anna's eyes flew open as a small hand slipped into her own. "Ethan…"

        "He died in here, didn't he?" he asked softly, his ice blue eyes gazing at the bed.

        "Yes. Yes he did."

        Marq studied his younger brother, but said nothing.

        "You left something here…" Ethan continued.

        "I left a lot of things here."

        "Something that belonged to him…"

        Anna's gaze left the room and fell on the young boy beside her. "Belonged…"

        Ethan's gaze cleared and he smiled up at here. "But you have it back now."

        "What…"

        They all turned again when they heard the sound of glass breaking in the kitchen. Anna frowned. "You two stay here. I'll be back in a minute."

        They nodded and she headed back into the hall, the voices becoming louder as she got closer to the source.

        "It was not her fault! She couldn't have done anything that Wufei or I tried to do!" Duo shouted.

        "She had the laptop!" Heero shouted back. "She could have gotten the four of you out of there, and we wouldn't still be missing two people. Now we're short another gundam pilot! She screwed up, she should have been there, and she's a failure to the team!"

        "Don't talk about my wife that way!" Duo growled.

        "I'll talk about her however I damn well please." Heero shot back.

        The Asian pilot found himself being leveled halfway across the kitchen as Duo's fist collided with his jaw line.

        "Duo!" Chase exclaimed. "You're not helping anything!"

        "You wanna fight with me Maxwell? Huh? You don't have a chance at winning, but I'll fight you." Heero snarled.

        Duo dragged him into a standing position and landed another punch to Heero's abdomen. "The first was for Anna, and that was for Endless Waltz." He growled, shoving him back. "And you're not worth fighting." He added. He turned to head out of the kitchen, but Heero would have none of it and tackled him from behind.

        "Duo! Heero! Both of you knock it off!" Chase barked. "Hey! Listen to what I'm saying, boyos!"

        Anna entered the kitchen just in time to see Heero and Duo fighting it out on the floor. She blinked, and looked at Chase who simply threw her hands up.

        "Gentlemen, and I use the term loosely, what in the world do you think you're doing?" Anna asked calmly.

        "He insulted you, and I'm avenging it." Duo ground out, trying to shove the outraged Zero pilot off of him.

        "You screwed up the mission and I'm trying to get him to understand that." Heero said, trying to get his hands around Duo's neck.

        "Well, thank you dearest, I appreciate you avenging my honor. And as for you, Heero Yuy, if you have a problem with my actions quit fighting my husband and take it up with me."

        Heero and Duo begrudgingly pulled each other to their feet. Heero turned on his partner's wife.

        "You blew the whole thing, Anna."

        "How did I do that?"

        "You weren't there when OWN swarmed the building!"

        "They swarmed the building?" Anna echoed. "When?"

        "Not five minutes after you left! And Wufei's gone because of it!"

        "Fei-chan…" Anna gasped. "Oh, crap…they think…" She remembered the party…OWN believed that Wufei was her husband.

        "Yeah. I thought's that was how you might react." Heero snapped.

        Anna's eyes flashed. "Well pardon me for not being Miss Cleo; I didn't know they would swarm the building. I had something rather important to do. So if you want to accuse me of abandoning the mission with no reason I dare you to try it, 'cause I won't be so careful as to where I locate my punches."

        "What could you have been doing that was more important than the mission they were on?"

        "Making sure Ryuujin's second mission didn't get carried out!" Anna snapped.

        "His second mission?"

        "Yes." Piped up Ethan's young voice. "Killing us."

        Marq and Ethan appeared behind Anna, the older brother looking quite serious, the younger grinning like that cat that ate the canary.

        "Heero, Duo, Chase, might I have the pleasure to present Marq and Ethan Peacecraft, crown princes of the Peacecraft estates."

        "Zech's boys?" Chase exclaimed.

        "Yup. He's eight and I'm five." Ethan said.

        "OWN was after them?" Heero asked Anna.

        "Drizzik was after them. And he's not to thrilled with me either."

        "I should think not. I wouldn't be thrilled if you'd killed my brother." Heero said dryly.

        "Well lucky for the world that you haven't got one." Anna replied in the same dry manner.

        "Well fine. You had something important to do. Next time, feel free to inform the rest of your team." Heero said.

        "Will do. However, in the mean time, would you please contact Noin and tell her that her children are safe and sound? I have a meeting to arrange."

        "Sure thing. Quatre's back, and we need to work on the Zero and the Sandrock, and see what we can do about rebuilding the other gundams. It has occurred to me that without the gundams, we have no way to fight his war." Heero said grimly.

        "We know." Duo said. "We've got to do something about it and fast."

        "Right. You and I should get with Quatre, and Chase should come too. What meeting, Anna?" Heero asked.

        "Um, just a rendezvous between friends. No biggie." She said, waving it off.

        Heero leaned over to Duo. "Is she lying?"

        Duo nodded. "Oh yeah."

        Anna sweatdropped. "Go on, get out of here."

        Marq tugged on Duo's sleeve. "Can I come with you?"

        Duo grinned. "Sure, kiddo. Ethan, you wanna come?"

        The younger Peacecraft shook his head. "I'd rather stay with Anna-chan."

        "All right. Let's go."

        Ethan and Anna smiled and waved goodbye as the other four headed for the hangar. Ethan pushed himself up on the counter.

        "Don't suppose you can cook and make meetings at the same time, can you, Anna-chan?" he asked hopefully.

        She grinned and ruffled his hair. "Of course I can. What would you like?

        "Peanut butter and jelly sandwich and scrambled eggs." He said firmly.

        "Oh, really? All right." Anna set the bread, peanut butter, jelly, plate and a knife on the counter. "Well, I'll trust you to make the sandwich, and I'll scramble the eggs."

        "Cool!"

        Anna shook her head and went about scrambling eggs as she dialed a familiar phone number.

        "Meg Collins here."

        "Heya, Meggie." Anna said. "Got a minute?"

        "Anna! How are you? I saw the news, you all right?"

        "I'm all right. How are you? And how's Jack?"

        "I'm doing fine! Thinking about moving here to Tokyo I like it so much. Jack however, is about to burn a hole in the floor. I've never seen a boy so antsy."

        "Well, I think I have the cure for that. Would you send him to me? And send me Sparky while you're at it." Anna said, stirring the eggs in the pan.

        "Sure thing. I can have them there…wait…what year are you?"

        Anna blinked. "That's right, I forgot. I'm in the future."

        "How are you calling me then?"

        "Old cell."

        "Ah."

        Anna sighed. "I guess I'll just have to beam them out of there. Have them ready though, please?"

        "No problem. I'll have them ready in an hour."

        "Thanks, Meg. See you later."

        "Bye."

        Ethan swung his legs from the counter. "Who are Jack and Sparky? Who do they belong to?"

        Anna unceremoniously dumped Ethan's eggs in a bowl and handed it to him. "Belong to?"

        Ethan nodded. "Everyone belongs to someone. You know, where their heart is."

        "You sure are philosophical for a five year old."

        "My dad trained us well."

        Anna laughed. "I'm sure he did. Sparky belongs to me, I guess you could say. He hasn't found someone to love yet. Jack…Jack belongs to a friend of mine."

        "Trowa." Ethan said.

        Anna narrowed her eyes. "Yes. How did you know?"

        Ethan shrugged. "I just know things sometimes."

        "Uh-huh. Well, finish up lunch, and then we've got an hour to kill before Sparky and Jack arrive."

        Ten minutes later, Ethan had finished his lunch and was staring at the young woman intently. Anna tilted her head and stared back.

        "What?" she asked with a smile.

        He hesitated. "Can I…can I tell you your future?"

        She frowned slightly. "My future?"

        He nodded. "I'm an oracle. Mom and Dad don't know, and Marq gets upset when I do it. But sometimes I can sense when people have questions…and you have a lot of questions about stuff."

        Anna gazed at him intensely. "You do know what you're saying, don't you?"

        Ethan smiled. "Yup."

        Anna took a deep breath. There could be no harm in indulging him. It was probably just a phase he was going through because of all the turmoil in his life. Or he was telling the truth and she was again getting into something way over her head.

        "Okay." Anna agreed. "You can do that."

        "Let's go!" Ethan said happily.

        "Go?" Anna echoed as he dragged her out the door.

        Fifteen minutes later, Ethan was looking rather disgruntled. "You mean to tell me that you picked a house without a beach?" he grumped.

        "A beach? Is that what you're looking for? Honey, we're in the mountains. I can find you a lake, but we'll have to transport to find a beach."

        "Well let's go all ready. We have to be back to get the guys." Ethan commanded.

        "Just like your Daddy." Anna said, pulling out the laptop. Seconds later they appeared fifteen miles away on the edge of the water on a secluded beach.

        "Happy?" Anna asked.

        Ethan grinned. "Yup, this'll work." He walked to the edge of the water and pulled her with him. He stood in front of her. "Okay, this is how this works. I won't remember anything I tell you. Not everything is set in stone, but I'm not usually wrong, or so I'm told. Okay?"

        Anna suddenly had the feeling he wasn't kidding. "Okay…"

        Ethan shut his eyes and cupped his hands in front of him. Anna shivered as a chill ran down her spine and the wind picked up. A grey orb formed between his hands and the wind exploded around them in a furious gale. The orb cleared and became a mirror. Ethan looked up, his eyes as grey as the orb had been.

        "You have many questions." He said softly, his voice much deeper than normal. "I have few answers, but it may help. The thing foremost on your mind is the death of Ryuujin the half-dragon. You will carry this burden always, but you must put that aside until the time is right. He has given you a gift, and you will soon need it. The thing second foremost on your mind is the child you carry. This child belongs to your soul mate, not the friend you hold close in your heart. Your friend has deceived you with the best intentions, but these intentions have led to much confusion. You must believe yourself worthy of your husband's love. It is your fate to be bound to him and no one else. Your second child will be extremely important to…" he hesitated, "..to me. The third thing is your friend Chase. To outside appearances all is forgiven but there is much underlying there. You will not deal with her face to face?" he asked.

        Anna's face had changed expressions at least fifteen times in the last two minutes, from sadness to confusion before turning to joy (she was going to have Duo's baby after she killed Mirek for lying to her, it wasn't her fault she was a forgetful drunk, and why the heck would you lie about something like that happening?) to a glittering coolness. "No. I won't. There's nothing to deal with."

        Ethan frowned. "You will face a demon who will make you face your own. He will give you a chance to face your demons later, but don't take it. If you don't do this now it will destroy everything. You're planning to do something that is a bigger betrayal to her than killing the dragon. You must do what you do best, Anna Maxwell. Fight for what you believe in."

        "Ethan…" Anna started, but the wind wove furiously around them again, and the mirror shattered and the wind faded.

        Ethan blinked several times and his eyes returned to their icy blue color. He smiled hesitantly. "Was it okay? I didn't predict the end of the world or death or plague or anything?"

        Anna smiled and took a deep breath. "No, nothing like that. It helped me out a lot." She hugged him. "That's a special gift you've got their, kiddo. You be careful with it."

        He nodded happily. "I did it once for Marq, but I don't think it came out very well. He wouldn't talk to me for three days."

        Anna smoothed the hair on the side of his head. "Not everything comes out like we want it too." She checked her watch. "Hey, we have to get back. Jack and Sparky will be back soon." 

        Seconds later they reappeared in the safe house, just in time to meet the others coming back into the kitchen.

        "Where did you guys go?" Chase asked.

        "The beach. Wanted to get out for a bit." Anna replied easily. "Finished all ready?"

        "Good heavens no." Chase replied. "We're going to need to make serious modifications to both gundams before they're ready to face another war."

        "In short, it doesn't look good for us." Heero said flatly.

        "We'll think of something. We always do." Quatre said firmly.

        "Of course we will." Anna said, checking her watch. Ethan smirked.

        "Hey, Anna-chan?" he asked.

        "Hmm?"

        "Can I see the gundams?"

        Anna looked down at him and grinned. "Absolutely. I'll take you now."

        "I'll go with you, if you want." Duo offered.

        "That's all right. We won't take long."

        "Okay."

        As Anna and Ethan left the kitchen and headed down the hall towards the hangar, Heero sighed.

        "She's doing it again."

        "Oh yeah." Duo agreed. "But it'll work out. Whatever she does works out eventually. She's just lucky that way."

        Anna pulled Ethan into the hangar and locked it behind them. She turned around and realized they were in total darkness.

        "Umm… Anna-chan?"

        "Sorry, kiddo. Hang on…Light switch…light switch…"

        "Lights activated." Answered a soft computerized voice.

        The lights came on at a dim level, but enough that they could see. Anna put her hands on her hips.

        "I don't remember that…" She muttered.

        "It's the gundams…" Ethan breathed next to her.

        "Oh, not you too…"

        "This is so cool!" He exclaimed, running up to the Zero and touching one of the legs.

        Anna smiled. He looked so small compared to the giant mecha. She sat down at one of the computer desks and set the laptop up.

        "Five minutes." She said.

        "This is so awesome!" Ethan said, walking around the Zero. "Did you ever pilot this one?" he asked.

        Anna shook her head. "No. During the Eve Wars, Chase and I were both tested to see if we were compatible with the Zero system. I refused to use it after that."

        "Something bad happened?"

        "Yeah. Something bad happened. I wasn't prepared for what the system would do."

        "Why not?"

        Anna sighed. "Have you ever met Odin Lowe?"

        Ethan shook his head no.

        "Well, I'm sure you'll have the displeasure. He's always skulking about somewhere when Chase is involved in something. He put the Zero system in the Star, my gundam, without telling me. It almost ended badly."

        Ethan grinned. "You don't like him."

        "You can tell?"

        Ethan laughed before his gaze became serious again. Anna wondered briefly how he changed expressions so fast.

        "Can I ask you something, Anna-chan?"

        "Sure."

        "You want her to hate you, don't you?"

        Anna froze in her spot, her thoughts coming to a complete halt. She smiled grimly. "It would make things easier, wouldn't it?"

        "Was it always this way?"

        Anna shook her head. "No. No it wasn't always this way. We just grew up, that's all. Chase and I simply grew up a little, and became different people. Not completely different…but enough…" She smiled forcefully again. "She said once that I would hurt her like everyone else. You would have thought killing Ryuujin would have hit that nail home. I tried…I really tried to protect her, but she wouldn't have it. And eventually I felt like someone hanging on to the edge of a really tall building with my fingers slipping, but I'd be damned if I'd let go. Some people just let go, but some of us have to have our fingers broken." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I've got one more trick up my sleeve though, and that should be enough to seal my coffin, so to speak."

        "But…"

        "They're coming." Anna said, clicking something on the laptop. The room flooded with light and several seconds later Jack Avis and Sparky were standing before them.

        "Welcome to the Twilight Zone." Anna said dryly.

        Sparky grinned. "Long time no see."

        Anna smiled back. "You okay?"

        "Yeah."

        Anna turned to look at Jack. "How 'bout you?"

        He brushed black bangs out of his face. "Yeah. I'm okay." He turned to look at the gundams. "So these are the originals, huh?"

        "Yup."

        Jack nodded. "Impressive. Mind if I take a look?"

        "Have at it." Anna agreed. "You hungry, Sparky?"

        "Yeah!" He exclaimed enthusiastically.

        "All righty. Ethan and I will give you the grand tour. You going to come when you're ready, Jack?"

        Jack was all ready climbing over the prone Zero, making mental notes about the structure. "Sure." He grunted, grimacing as part of the facing fell off the mecha.

        Anna, Ethan, and Sparky also winced. "Right. We'll be in the kitchen."

        Jack watched the three of them disappeared and leaned against the frame of the Zero. He sighed and ran his hands over his face before leaning over the wiring exposed when the facing fell off. He grabbed a toolbox from the workstation and pushed his sleeves up.

        Two hours later, he had worked his way over three panels, and was still unhappy with the way it was looking. He poked his pliers around, trying to fish out a loose wire that needed reconnecting. He couldn't quite reach it, and he cursed under his breath.

        A hand clasped his shoulder and a longer pair of pliers was put in front of his face.

        "Try these, they'll work better."

        "Thanks." Jack mumbled.

        The hand squeezed his shoulder, and Jack froze as the voice sank into his conscious. He dropped the pliers and his hand slipped up to the one on his shoulder. Jack could feel his heartbeat quicken and breathing became painful. He slowly turned his head and looked up.

        "Trowa?" He whispered.

        "Jack." Trowa replied softly.

        The younger man turned and their gazes met. Jack let out a half sob and flung his arms around the former gundam pilot. Trowa caught his embrace and returned it just as fiercely.

        Trowa buried his face in the black hair. "I missed you, Jack." He whispered.

        Jack clutched the fabric of Trowa's shirt. "Missed you too." He mumbled. "Didn't know what I was going to do when I woke up and Anna told me you were dead…"

        "I didn't know what I was going to do after Heero kill… shot you. I guess we both got lucky, huh?"

        Jack nodded, his tears disappearing into the black shirt beneath his face. "I guess so."

        Trowa squeezed him gently before holding him at arm's length. "Everything's fine now. Everything's going to be fine."

        Jack smiled and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Oh! You need this back…" He pulled the little silver cross from his neck and clasped it back around Trowa's.

        Trowa ran his fingers over it and smiled. "Arigato."

        "Anytime."

        Duo and Chase were seated at the kitchen table along with Sparky, Marq, and Ethan, who were all eating, while Anna and Heero stood by the counters.

        Chase glared at Duo when he leaned his chair back on two legs, but he simply grinned and ignored it. He sipped his coffee and glanced at his wife.

        "You look pensive, A-chan."

        She glanced up at him, startled. "Eh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something I need to do tomorrow."

        "What's that?" Duo asked.

        Anna rapped her fingers on the marble counter. "I need to go to Tokyo, my time. I need to get something out of a safety deposit box."

        "You had a safety deposit box in Tokyo?" Chase asked sounding surprised.

        "Hai. I kept a piece of jewelry there. I need it back." Anna answered.

        "You opened a deposit box for one piece of jewelry?" Heero asked.

        Anna smiled. "Hai."

        "Must be expensive." Duo said.

        Anna shrugged. "I don't know. I never had it appraised. I suppose it was. It was a gift, so I don't really know. It's just a necklace."

        "You want me to go with you?" Duo asked hopefully.

        Anna smiled. "I'd like that."

        "You're going to get all lovey-dovey, aren't you?" Ethan asked, making a face.

        Duo ruffled his hair. "I've got ten years to catch up on, so you better believe it."

        Anna smiled again. If she could get the necklace to Underground Tokyo by tomorrow night at the latest, they just might have a chance at winning this war.