* * * * *

Zechs frowned sharply at Quatre, his pale brows drawing tightly together. "You're digging into too many old wounds, Quatre. Treize was very elegant, very effective. He could convince with a word, seduce with a glance. Even," he murmured with dark inflection, "his enemies could not resist the draw of him. You see it, Wufei's fascination, his obsession. Treize is dead." The certainty in that statement was almost chilling. "You should allow him to rest in peace."

Sad tourmaline eyes met the older man's dusky cool orbs. "Zechs. How can I let Treize rest in peace when Wufei can't? To set his mind at rest... To set *my* mind at rest. If Treize is really dead, he won't mind it. And if he's alive..."

"He's dead, damn you! Dead by his last lover's hand and if he weren't, he'd be dead by mine!" Zechs flamed, his frosty gaze heating with anger and frustration even as Quatre's eyes flew wide with shock.

The dreams... In the dreams! It seemed always that he could feel the longing, a never-ending yearning that burned and burned even at night when... A shudder broke through him as the possibility shimmered along his veins.

What if the dreams weren't dreams at all?

"I can't explain to you why I feel so strongly about this, Zechs. You wouldn't believe me," Quatre murmured softly.

A slow sad shake of Zechs's head set platinum locks in motion. "That's precisely what he said to me, Quatre. He's drawing you into his madness. You should stop before you hurt someone... me, you, Trowa. Stop before you hurt Lady Anne. She's sacrificed so much, first for Treize and his dream and afterwards for peace and his daughter. Don't make this any worse. Let it go."

"I have to know, regardless. Where is Tallgeese II?" Quatre asked solemnly.

The answer was distant and coated with frost. "I don't know... and I hope you never find it."

* * * * *

"So do we go after his partner, Hoshiro?" Duo asked, leaning back in the seat as the car sped down the highway.  The cold wind blowing through the open window was irritating on his recently-scrubbed skin.  He grimaced at the thought of what he had gone through trying to get that white gunk off.  He probably should've just let Heero blow that loser up, and then they wouldn't have had to worry about hiding their identities...

"He's been sent out of the country," Heero answered.  Duo's eyes widened in surprise, both because Heero had voluntarily spoken a whole sentence, and because of the import of what the stern-faced pilot was saying.

"So that means that someone had an awful lot of money handy," Duo mused.

"Aa."

"So where are we going, then?"

"Back to Winner, Inc."

"Oh."  Duo closed his eyes and pulled the collar of his jacket up over his nose.  The wind was cold and Heero was driving like a bat out of hell! {Well,} he decided, {might as well try an' go back to sleep while you can, Maxwell.}

* * * * *

Trowa stifled a sigh, grateful that his long bangs hid his discouraged expression from Quatre.

"...very much a waste of time," Quatre finished, rubbing at his temple as though his head ached.  "I only succeeded in alienating Zechs."

"You tried," Trowa said, moving to embrace his beloved, his long fingers soothing the tightly bunched muscles of Quatre's neck and shoulders.  "Now it's my turn."

"You have a lead?" Quatre backed up to gaze at him, and Trowa couldn't help but bask in that earnest blue-eyed adoration for a moment, his heart thudding with muted joy merely because Quatre existed, and loved him.

"I have an idea," Trowa answered, deliberately choosing not to raise Quatre's hopes again, because his golden lover seemed to take it so hard when leads didn't pan out.  Trowa supposed that Quatre was taking it so personally because of their connection to Wufei...

"Why don't you finish your work here," Trowa suggested, smoothly guiding Quatre over to the desk and the papers piled there.  "And I'll follow up on my idea.  If anything comes of it, you'll be the first to know."

"Good luck," Quatre said, and sighed as he turned to his desk.  How Trowa expected him to be able to concentrate on paperwork right now was beyond him...

* * * * *

"Yes, I went to see Wufei," Sally Po answered, meeting Trowa's gaze directly.  "I couldn't get past the front door."

"But you're aware of the whole issue-"

"That he thinks Khushrenada's alive?  Yes, he's talked about it for a while now.  In a way, I really shouldn't be surprised that he tried to dig up the grave to prove Treize wasn't in it."

"He wasn't in it."

"WHAT?"

"The grave was empty," Trowa stated flatly, glad that they were alone in Sally's office.  As briefly as possible, Trowa explained about the disinterment, carefully avoiding any mention of Heero and Duo's names, even though it was undoubtedly obvious to Sally who the culprits were.

"So what we need to do is find the pieces of Tallgeese II," Trowa finished.  "If we can prove that Khushrenada was really in there when it exploded..."

"That still might not shake Wufei's delusion," Sally interrupted.  "He destroyed that mech himself, yet he still chooses to believe Treize survived.  I think the guilt was too much for him, and that's what made him seize on this idea with such...fervor.  Though why he should feel more guilty over Treize than the other deaths he caused..."

"It might not shake his delusion," Trowa said.  "But will you help us anyway?"

"Of course."

* * * * *

"Oi, Quatre!"  The blond looked up from his pile of paperwork to see violet eyes and a wide grin not five inches from his face.

"D-Duo?" Quatre stammered, nearly jumping out of his skin.  Damn if Duo wasn't capable of complete silence when it suited him!  "I didn't hear you come in.  What are you doing here?  And where is Heero?"

"He went to Luxembourg."  Duo stated it flatly, his resentment at being left behind all too obvious.  "He's going to try and hack into the Romafeller computer system."

"Aa... because the Luxembourg estate was once the property of Romafeller," Quatre said, nodding.  "If the system is still running, he might be able to find out something about that last battle.  That was good thinking."

"I guess," Duo grumbled.  "I hate having nothing to do, though, man."

"Well... actually, there is something I've been wondering about," Quatre answered.  "I've been trying to trace Treize's last days, and it's occurred to me that Wufei must have done the same thing..."

"So you wanna go search Wu's place?" Duo's violet eyes lit up with enthusiasm as he grabbed Quatre's hand and started pulling him toward the door.  "Well what are we waiting for?  Let's go!"

* * * * *

Glancing around, Heero sidled up to the electronic lock. It hadn't been hard to slip past the 'guards' who turned out the general public -- a little flashy fireworks display and he was in.

A smirk graced his features. No matter what might have been done to the systems here in the intervening years, his voice and handprint ID were still embedded deep in the security codes. With ease, he slid into the darkened manor and jogged his way to the central computer room.

Everything was down.

Well, that wouldn't be a problem. Not for him. Not for long.

Cracking his knuckles, Heero got down to business.

* * * * *

"Man... Wu-chan's got like... *NOTHING*," Duo proclaimed, glancing around and thinking of his own cluttered possessions.

Aside from the few decidedly Oriental furnishings in the large living room, the futon in the tiny bedroom, the scattering of sandalwood candles on the counter in the minuscule bathroom and a handful of cooking utensils, cup ramen and detergent in the kitchen/utility room, the entire apartment was almost bare.

"I'm not sure we're going to find anything but all we can do is look!" Duo concluded.

Quatre nodded in response. "We'll start in the larger room and then go through the bedroom."

An hour and forty-five minutes later, Duo laid down the last cushion in the living room and sighed. "Nothing in this room, Q.  Not in the vases, cushions, pillows, under the coffee table, not even hidden in the stereo wires... inside or out. Nada."

"Then we move on," Quatre replied and the two walked as one to Wufei's tiny bedroom.

Searching here was easier. For one thing, the area was much smaller. Even the closet was uncluttered - aside from his Preventers uniforms, the Chinese man only had a small collection of tank tops and loose pants in white and black as well as a single tuxedo wrapped carefully in plastic (and probably bought for him by Sally).

"It's not looking much bette... wait a minute." The nimble fingers of the former thief pried quickly at a loose board until it came free with a cracking sort of pop. "Bingo. We struck treasure, Q!"

"Oil," Quatre corrected, dropping the corner of the futon with some relief. The problem with searching the homes of other people was that one inevitably discovered things one equally inevitably wished one had not.

"Fuck me," the braided pilot intoned finally, flipping through paper after paper, newspaper clippings with Treize's face on them, pictures. Sprawlingly elegant handwriting filled the thick cream paper of a leather bound journal which lay at the back of all these, and Duo read as Quatre flipped through the newspaper articles as well.  His fingers fumbled slightly over a picture of their fellow pilot stretched out in sleep upon a divan covered only by a black satin robe, ebony tresses loose and tangled.

"Yanno," Duo spoke up, "there's some shit I just didn't need to know about." With that, he picked up some of the newspaper clippings and handed the journal to Quatre.

* * * * *

/My dearest and most beloved,

    Though it has been hours only since last I caressed the warmth of your caramel skin, since I kissed those lips so ripe and ready for me, I find that I miss you already. Does that surprise you, little dragon? It should not for my heart yearns to be one with yours even when you are laying less than centimeters away, stars forbid when we are a heaven and an earth apart, as is too often the case.

    Our encounter barely passed will be our last for quite some time, well I know. I will think of you often while you are away from me -- but you know this, that even after the spicy scent of your body and the drugging effects of your kisses are gone, you remain with me.

    One day, Chang Wufei, this war will end, no matter who wins or what happens; and in the end, there is one thing I know with certainty. As you are mine, so am I yours. I will be with you always, connected by the red thread of our destiny which binds us together. Not even death will separate us, not even death will destroy that bond, my beloved Wufei.

    Not even death.

Yours, always,
Treize Khushrenada/

* * * * *

Quatre nearly jumped out of his skin when the communicator beeped, and he had to smile as Duo leaped up, knocking his head solidly on the wall of the bare little closet.  Quatre waited till Duo's muffled curses had quieted before he palmed the device on.

"Yes?"

"Quatre," Trowa's voice sounded a little tinny over the comlink, but Quatre nevertheless beamed with delight.

"Trowa!" he cried.  "You have news?"

"We've located what's left of Tallgeese II," Sally interrupted.  "You'd better come over here, Quatre.  You need to see this."

"I'm on my way," Quatre said. "Duo and I have found something, as well."  Duo quickly replaced the wooden board, rearranging things to look just as they had, and then the two of them left.  A casual inspection of the place would show nothing amiss, but Duo held the precious journal tucked under his shirt, and Quatre carried the other papers.

* * * * *

"I'm glad you're finally here.  Look at this!" Trowa said as Duo and Quatre walked into the garage.  His tone of voice was more animated than Duo had ever heard before, and the long-haired boy hid his smile behind his hand.  Quatre subtly elbowed him in the ribs as he pushed past.

"What are we looking at?" the blond asked, gazing at bits and pieces of charred wreckage.  The remaining pieces of Tallgeese II's cockpit were so small... surely if Treize had been on board he could not have withstood the blast!

"This," Trowa said, and held up a can of Luminol.  "I sprayed these already. These pieces here formed the inner wall of the cockpit, and this was, of course, the pilot's seat."  The piece indicated was a barely recognizable lump, even the metal constructs of the chair mangled and twisted from the blast.

"I see," Quatre said.  Trowa launched into a long discussion about the different recovered parts of the mech, and pointed out where on his blueprints of Tallgeese II the pieces would have fit.  Duo had a sudden coughing spell that sounded suspiciously like muffled laughter, and Quatre felt the corners of his mouth quirking in response, and forced himself to glare at Duo.  It was rare to see Trowa so visibly excited about anything...

"Are you ready for the blacklight?" Sally asked, and Trowa nodded.  Somehow he managed to look like a child at Christmas time, even though his facial expression remained as impassive as ever.  Duo bit down on his own hand in an effort to stop laughing.  Trowa would never understand.

The lights went out, and Trowa ran the black light over the metal shrapnel, revealing... nothing.

"Oi, Trowa, isn't it supposed to be something you can see?" Duo asked, peering into the darkness.

"So you see it, too," Trowa said.

"See what, man?  I don't see anything at all!" Duo cried.  The lights blazed back on, and Duo covered his eyes with a muffled exclamation.

"I think we should move on to the laser scan, Sally," Trowa said.

"Is there anything else we can help with?" Quatre asked.

"Not at the moment," Trowa said, and actually managed to turn from his work to give Quatre an almost-smile.

"All right, then," Quatre said.  "Come on, Duo, we'll get some lunch and go over the papers we have while they finish up here."

"Good, I'm starved," Duo said.  As they left the room, he heard Trowa muttering "fascinating..." under his breath.  Duo barely made it out of the room before another mysterious "coughing fit" left him doubled over and gasping for breath.
* * * * *

"Man, I'm beat," Duo said, rubbing his eyes and gazing owlishly at Quatre.  The blond looked up at him, stifling a smile as he noted that Duo now had black newsprint smudges on his face.

"Anything?" he asked hopefully.

"Nothing, man," Duo answered, wearily stretching the kinks out of his back and rolling his shoulders.  "The last anyone reported seeing him was a week before the last battle."

"That's all I've found, as well," Quatre said.  "But... we're missing something, Duo, I just know it!"

"All I know is, the man came to the Luxembourg base.  He made a big speech about being willing to die for his beliefs, and then he disappeared.  People reported bringing food to his chambers, fixing his bath, laundering his clothes... but nobody actually SAW him since that day."

"We have to find him," Quatre said, blue eyes gleaming in determination.  "We'll start at the top."  Duo groaned, and flipped back to the beginning of the pile of musty articles.

* * * * *

"No.. no, oh, God, no... not again..." Quatre breathed. It was too late.  The dream had begun.

/The soft stream of artificial moonlight filters down, dreamlike. It matters not, however; that pretension does not soothe me. How anyone can expect to be soothed under such circumstances, I cannot claim to know!

As always, the thread is there, tugging at my heart. It tugs more frantically now, as it has for the past several weeks.

Something is wrong, desperately, horribly wrong, with my lover.

How I know this, I could not explain. I have thought of him often in the ensuing months (years?) of my capture. I have wished for rescue, the Russian fairy-tale of Maria Morevna often running through my mind. It was foolish of me to be so easily deceived by my captor. Had I half the suspicion of my little dragon, I would not now be in this irreconcilable position. I did not suspect, however -- I did not know; and I have suffered since for my lack of perception.

This new suffering, this knowledge granted me, to know the pain of my beloved's heart... it is too much. I cannot bear it, cannot stand to know that he is suffering so. From where does this knowledge come? Am I finally gone mad in my confinement? I have to get out of here! I must be released!

I must come to the aid of my beloved!

Let me out! LET ME OUT, DAMN YOU, LET ME OUT!!/

"Let me out!" Quatre moaned. "Let me out, let me out, let me out, let me...!!!"

A hand on his shoulder, shaking him. "Quatre! Quatre-kun, wake up!" That violent shake brought him out of the dream, Trowa's face close and real.  "Quatre?"

"Trowa..." With a stuttering sob, the blond man pressed his face tightly against his lover's shoulder and wept even as thin arms settled around him, holding him tightly. "I can't bear it anymore! I can't!"

"Shhh... Shhh. It will be all right," Trowa whispered, gently smoothing tangled curls.

At that, Quatre shook his head. "No," he whispered tearfully. "It won't be all right until we find him. We have to find him, Trowa! We've got to!"

* * * * *

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