Standard Disclaimer #2: I wish I owned Gundam Wing cuz if I did I'd find another girl for Heero, but I don't so I'll have to live with Relena. Also, I'd have Dorothy get a makeover or something (and I don't mean just in looks). Quatre deserves someone nice! I plan on buying some GW merchandise soon so the GW franchise will be gaining money not losing money because of me. And who do I think shouldn't change a bit? Lucrezia Noin! She needs a Gundam, the poor girl. Then, she could probably beat Wufei.

So after that, um, interesting disclaimer, on with the show!

Arys sat in the music room and listened to Quatre play the violin. It had been a long time since she had heard music. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the pillows on the couch. Quatre soon finished his song with a flourish.

Arys sighed. "That was beautiful, Quatre. I wish I could play like that."

Quatre beamed. "Come on, Arys." He held the violin out to her. "We can have our first lesson."

Arys wanted to laugh, but she stood up and took the violin from him. Quatre stepped close behind her and positioned the instrument for her. Then, he placed the bow in her hand and helped her draw it across the strings. A loud squeak was all that came out. Arys flushed. Quatre patted her hand.

"That's the wrong way to play the violin. I needed to show that to you first. Here's how to do it." Quatre placed her bow across one string. "Now draw it across that string."

Arys slowly did so, and an audible note actually sounded. Quatre smiled.

"Very good!" He was obviously pleased. "You'll be a great violinist in no time!"

Arys knew he was teasing her and it was an unfamiliar yet pleasant feeling. Quatre was one of the nicest boys she had ever met. Heero could take some lessons on kindness from Quatre.

But then, he wouldn't be Heero.

Arys turned to find Quatre studying her thoughtfully. She handed Quatre the violin and bow.

"Thank you, Quatre. It was very kind of you..."

Quatre waved her off with the bow. "It was my pleasure." He placed the violin back in the instrument cabinet. Arys went and gazed out the window. She could see Quatre come up behind her in the reflection in the glass. He was watching her in the glass too and his expression was serious.

"Arys, you're a Gundam pilot, aren't you?"

Arys looked down at her shoes. How had he known?

He put a friendly hand on her shoulder. "I see a lot of Heero in you. Of course, you're not as distant as he is." He chuckled. "Anyone who's even a little bit like Heero has to be a Gundam pilot."

"You're very perceptive, Quatre." Arys tilted her head up to see Quatre give her a gentle smile. "And you're also very kind. Heero literally had to drag the information from me."

"We all have our own ways of doing things, Arys." Quatre gestured out the window. "It's a beautiful day. Would you like to go for a walk in the garden?"

Arys flushed. She did not know how to react to Quatre's gentlemanly manners.

"Come on. I won't bite." Quatre offered her his arm.

Arys accepted it and gave Quatre one of her rare smiles. "I... I'd love to."

They were about to leave the room when Heero suddenly appeared in the doorway. His face was expressionless.

"We need to talk."

___________________

Arys frowned darkly. "So the Romefeller Foundation is trying to use the Treize faction as an excuse to attack the Cinq Kingdom. Typical Oz strategy."

The three Gundam pilots sat in Heero's quarters. Heero had a projector running that showed the locations of the Treize faction and the Oz troops.

"Relena's accepted the Treize faction as refugees, but that won't stop Romefeller. We need to use our Gundams to protect the Treize faction."

Quatre shook his head. "I don't have mine, remember?"

"Noin has a few Taurus suits hidden away." Heero's gaze landed on Arys. "We'll meet at the clearing."

Arys nodded.

"Quatre, go talk to Noin. She'll want your help."

"What if Relena refuses to fight back?" Quatre stood to his feet.

"She has no choice. If she doesn't fight back, the Treize faction will be destroyed and Romefeller will have a clear path to the city."

Arys nodded grimly. "And that will be Romefeller's first step toward conquering Earth."

____________________

Arys climbed down from the leg of her prostrate Gundam. She landed easily in front of Heero.

"What's the plan?" She asked as she tossed a screwdriver into a toolbox sitting on the ground a few feet away.

"I'm going to help the Treize faction. They won't accept my plan right away since they'll see me as a kid, but they're probably desperate enough right now to try anything."

Arys eyed the Zero-One crouched on one knee behind Heero. "When they realize that you're a Gundam pilot, they'll follow."

"I need you to come in when the battle starts."

"Sounds easy enough." Arys pulled some fingerless gloves from one of her jumpsuit's pockets. She slowly put them on. "What's the signal?"

"Tune your radio to this frequency." Heero handed her a piece of paper. "I'll say, 'Beginning the sim.'"

Arys crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. "I'll be ready."

"Good." Heero walked away and climbed up into his Gundam.

Arys shaded her eyes with one hand as the Gundam's engines fired up. The Zero-One shot into the air and transformed into fighter mode. With a roar, it blasted away over Arys' head. The resulting wind nearly knocked Arys off her feet.

"Heero Yuy. You do know how to make an exit."

Arys shook her head as she climbed back into her Gundam to wait for his call.

_____________________

Quatre stood next to Noin in a secret chamber below the Institution. He was disappointed that he did not have Sandrock with him.

Noin looked even more disappointed than Quatre did as she surveyed the mobile suits assembled in front of her. "We don't have nearly enough mobile suits or soldiers to pilot them."

Quatre scanned the shock white Taurus suits. "These things serve their purpose, but to tell you the truth, Miss Noin, I never really liked them."

"Speak for yourself, Quatre." Noin walked over to a Taurus and placed her hand on it. "You have Sandrock to fight with."

Quatre walked over to join her in front of the huge mobile suit. He had a confused look on his face as he turned to talk to her. "You're right about that, but I do have one question. How are we going to use these space mobile suits on land?"

Noin laughed as she stepped back from the suit. "Ever heard of modifications, Gundam pilot?"

"That would take some heavy changes to these things." Quatre glanced at his watch. "Heero's probably on his way to the Treize faction's camp now.

"Do you think we should head out now?"

Quatre put his hand up in a gesture of patience. "Give Heero some time. It will take him a while to verbalize his feelings."

A smile spread across Noin's face. "Feelings, Quatre? You know as well as I do that that kid isn't the most sensitive guy on the planet."

Quatre mirrored Noin's smile and began to walk off. "We'd better get something to eat before we go."

Noin followed Quatre out of the chamber while chuckling a bit. From the blackness of the exit tunnel laughter echoed out.

__________________

Heero stalked into the Treize faction commanding officer's tent. He had gotten exactly the response he had expected.

"It's a kid!"

Sometimes, Heero found it so tiring. People were always underestimating him because of his age and his height. It usually worked to his advantage though. He supposed he could be thankful for that. He walked right up to the commanding officer.

"I have a plan."

"Sir, we don't have to listen..." The soldier stopped when Heero glared at him, his blue eyes cold.

"If you want to die, you can stay here. If you want to fight, come with me." He turned on his heel and strode out of the tent, ignoring the stares of the soldiers.

As soon as Heero was out of earshot, the soldier faced his commanding officer again. "Sir, we don't have to listen..."

This time the officer cut him off with a command. "Two or three of you come with me. The rest go with him."

"But, sir..."

"Soldier, I don't think you realize who that kid was. He pilots the Zero-One." The commanding officer gave him a sharp glance.

"You mean that kid's a Gundam pilot?" The soldier was astounded.

______________

Arys finally heard the sound of an incoming transmission.

"Beginning the sim."

Arys powered up her Gundam. She reached over to press the button that would activate the Zero system, but she hesitated. She had heard about what the Zero system did to pilots. Would it do the same to her? She frowned and slammed her hand down on the button.

"I won't go insane." Arys pulled on her helmet. "This battle is too important to wonder about my own safety."

Arys took a deep breath. With a thought, she had Silverwind change to its fighter mode. Then, she yanked the controls and her Gundam shot up and over the trees, heading for the distant battleground.

_________________

"Dorothy?" Relena bolted out the front door of the institution to see the blonde girl waving from her car.

"Miss Relena! Hurry or we'll miss the fight!"

Relena ran down the steps and jumped into Dorothy's gold car.

Soon they were speeding toward the distant flashes of light.

________________

Heero spotted the Silverwind before his scopes even registered that it was there.

"Good. She's here." Heero then turned around to face three mobile dolls that had come up behind him.

He quickly dispatched them with three slashes from his beam saber. The mobile dolls fell away, each one cleaved in half. Their surfaces sparked with electricity before exploding in a cloud of fire. Heero turned away from the defeated mobile dolls to see a plane heading for the city.

"Romefeller." Heero followed it. "Goodbye." He pointed his machine cannons at the plane and fired.

The bullets opened a hole in the side of the plane from which flame spilled out in clouds. He happened to look down and saw that the dying plane was heading straight for a bridge with a lone gold car driving across it. Instinctively, Heero lowered his buster rifle and fired a shot at the plane. The energy beam was strong enough to knock the plane aside so that it crashed into the river where it erupted into a pillar of black smoke.

Heero glanced back at the now stopped car to see Relena get out of it. What was she doing here? The girl had a knack for getting herself into trouble.

Heero whirled away from the bridge to take on two mobile dolls bearing down on him.

"Is this the best you can do, Romefeller?" Heero said to no one in particular as he switched back to his beam saber. He sliced through the two mobile dolls as if they were made of butter.

"It isn't good enough."

__________________

Relena gasped when she saw two mobile dolls land right beside the car. She jumped into the car and tried to wake Dorothy who had been knocked unconscious from their dangerous skid.

"Dorothy!" Relena shook the girl frantically.

The girl remained still, her head pillowed on the steering wheel.

Relena got back out of the car and stood up. She clenched her fists and waited to die.

A flash of blue and silver streaked by and the two mobile dolls fell backwards, smoking and in two pieces. They exploded before they even hit the ground.

"What was that?" Relena shaded her eyes.

The flash made a U-turn and came back. It hovered above her.

"A... a Gundam!" Relena put a hand over her mouth in shock. She had never seen it before, and Heero's was a few kilometers away battling with yet more mobile dolls.

Two white Taurus suits in fighter mode flew over her head, heading for Heero's area.

The blue and silver Gundam followed them.

____________________

Several minutes later, Relena stood facing her makeshift army. Arys stood at ease beside Heero. Her dark eyes were impassive, but her mind was whirling with what she had just experienced. A real battle. Not a sim. It had been invigorating. She shivered slightly as a passing gust caught her hair and blew it around her face.

"I take full responsibility," Noin was saying.

Heero stepped forward, trying to make a confused Relena understand. "What Miss Noin is trying to say is that..."

Arys smiled to herself as Heero continued his speech. He was not just the Perfect Soldier. He was a politician. Arys noticed Dorothy

moving around in her car. So the girl was finally awake? Arys had the feeling Dorothy had been faking it. What had Relena and Dorothy been doing out here in the first place?

Arys did not trust Dorothy. She came from the Romefeller Foundation. She was Oz. And Oz was her enemy.

"Let's go, Arys." Heero's words snapped Arys out of her thoughts. He took her arm and led her to where their Gundams were standing.

She gave him a surprised glance.

"Where are you going, Heero?" Relena asked, almost pleaded.

"I've repaid you for your help in the search for Trowa. I am no longer needed here."

Arys glared at him, but he ignored her and just gripped her arm tighter.

Relena sighed and stepped forward. "Heero, I give permission for you and Noin to do whatever you see fit to protect this country."

Arys jerked her arm away from Heero's grasp. Then, she grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the group. While Relena and Noin talked, Arys got in Heero's face.

"We're not leaving."

Heero, shocked at seeing Arys angry, rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He tried an excuse. "I was kidding."

Arys gave him a fake saccharine smile. She reached up and patted his cheek playfully. "Nice try." Arys winked at him. "We all know that Heero Yuy never kids."

"Uh..." Heero had no response to that one.

_______________

In her car, Dorothy smiled. "Very good, Miss Relena. You didn't let the Gundam pilot get the upper hand. I'm impressed. Perhaps we'll have a war after all."

The anticipation made Dorothy tremble with delight.