Integrating the Heart
Written by AstroKender
1x2, 2+3, 4+R, 5x13
Notes: Due to the wonderful amount of feed back, I stayed up till 6am working on this part. (I hope it's coherent, God knows I wasn't.) It's shorter than the others...I thought I had to hurry up and put it out or be lynched by angry fic-readers. ^_^ GW isn't mine.

//italics// haha none in this part! The characters haven't a thought in their heads!

Part 5

Quatre burst into Heero's room.

"WuFei is here. Now will you please tell me what's going on?" Quatre wringed his hands in anguish.

"What was so important, Yuy, that I had to fly halfway across the world to hear?" WuFei's worried eyes betrayed his harsh tone as he attempted to lean casually against the doorway. Quatre saw through his act immediately. Heero wasn't even paying attention.

"The base wasn't destroyed."

"What?!"

"Nani?!"

Heero ran his hand wearily through his already disheveled hair. He turned to look at his fellow pilots...his friends...Duo and Trowa's friends...

"The information was false, a cover up. The base is still standing, still active."

WuFei frowned. "What does this mean? Why would they send out false information when they knew we'd find out."

"To delay us." The Japanese boy answered. "To finish their ‘new technology' and..."

"They have them..." Quatre whispered, slumping down onto Heero's bed in shock. "Oh, Allah, they have them." Heero closed his eyes tiredly.

"Aa."

WuFei began pacing the room, fists clenched with rage. "Justice will be served!"

Suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. The Chinese boy sank to his knees muttering, "Damn you Trowa." And "Duo no baka." He rocked himself back and forth, cursing everyone who came to mind. Heero gripped his shoulder in comfort then moved to Quatre.

"You must be exhausted." The blond boy noted. Heero shook his head.

"I'll rest later. For now we have to get equipped. Our shuttle leaves at 0300."

WuFei rose from the floor, his moment of weakness passed. Now the Dragon stood before them, ready with his Flames of Judgment.

"Right." Sloe eyes burned with determination. "We come back with Maxwell and Barton, or we don't come back at all."

~*~ Miraldo Peacecraft paced the floor of his lavish quarters. Things were behind schedule, and the Lightning Count wanted to know why. Unfortunately, pressing issues made him unable to investigate himself, so he was sending his most trusted--.

"You needed me, Zechs?"

"Ah, Noin. As punctual as always." The dark haired woman blushed.

"I try to be prompt in all my affairs." She looked longingly at the blond man silhouetted by the stars. Zechs gave her a charming smile.

"I have a mission for you. I know you are reluctant to fight those who were once your comrades, so this is a strictly surveillance operation." Noin's eyes were troubled.

"I am to be a spy?" She asked in confusion.

Zechs chuckled humorlessly. "Not at all my Dear. I have a...pet project in the works. Yet things are not going as smoothly as they should. I am sending you to make sure things get done...properly."

Relief flooded through Noin and she saluted smartly. She didn't have to do anything to betray her friends. "Yes, Sir!"

Zechs strode over to her. "Good. You will leave on the morrow." He took her heart-shaped face in his hands. "I know you won't fail me."

Noin's eyes shone with love. "Never." She whispered. Zechs released her and she backed embarrassedly through the door.

"I don't know why you keep that lapdog around."

Zechs' eyes hardened as a figure materialized from the shadows.

"Dorothy. I find it irritating that you continue to enter my chamber uninvited."

The blond giggled annoyingly as she strode up to Zechs. Ice-blue eyes held false amusement as the calculating depths studied the tall man.

"She'll balk when she finds out who she is too study." She informed the White Fang leader.

"She will not betray me."

Dorothy sneered. "She is weak. Her sentimentality will destroy you." She raised a forked eyebrow. "Or will it be your sentimentality?"

Zechs struck her, hard. "I will not be destroyed! I will win this war and the Earth shall grovel at my feet!" Dorothy rose, ignoring the stinging welt on her cheek.

"Yes my lord. Just be wary of emotional...reliabilities."

Zechs turned away. "Leave me." Dorothy bowed.

"Yes...Miliardo."

~*~ Quatre rushed around his room, gathering up a small arsenal of weapons on his bed. He was going to have to kill on this mission, Relena would be furious. He paused, debating on whether to tell her that he was leaving.

"She deserves to know." A deep baritone murmured. Quatre turned around with a sigh.

"Once again, Rashid, your able to read my mind." Quatre turned on his laptop and typed a brief message.

"There. I'm counting on you to take care of her."

Rashid bowed elegantly. "Of course, Master Quatre. Just come back safely. And...bring them home, sir. The house isn't the same without them."

Quatre remembered the times he saw Trowa reading in the study; Duo flirting with the cook; Trowa playing Frisbee with the others; and Duo sleeping quietly on the sofa, waiting for one of them to return from a mission. Suddenly overcome, Quatre swallowed the lump in his throat and blinked back his tears.

"I will Rashid. I'll bring them home."

Chapter 6