Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing. I have nothing to do with the creation of that series.

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Chapter 3:

Good-bye in December

Operation Meteor was to launch in less then three hours. Dekim Barton had sent out a small group of soldiers to the old colony in the L5 cluster to oversee the beginning of the operation. When escorted to the mobile suit factory, the Barton Soldiers were assaulted by the technicians. MeiLi looked down at the gundam from the control room. She could still remember the day the man Dekim Barton had arrived in the colony. He came straight to the Long Clan. He had come under the pretext of helping to bring peace and freedom to the colonies by building a machine that will help eliminate the Earth Sphere Alliance and allow those of the clan to finally be able to go down to earth without being persecuted. After months of debating, Master Long and the heads of the clan had agreed to cooperate with Dekim, allowing him to bring in scientists, engineers, and technicians to the colony. The gundam was built in less then two years. The pilot was originally going to be chosen from among the clan members. However, MeiLan, in another of her attempts to show her superiority, voted herself the rightful pilot of the gundam. No one questioned her.

Now, Yao, WuFei, and MeiLi watched from the control room of the factory as the technicians captured the Barton Soldiers. A week before, Master O had stumbled upon the layout of Operation Meteor. Finding the plan a rather inappropriate way to use his gundam, he gathered the gundam's technicians and pilot. Calmly he outlined the intentions and true purpose of the operation. Upset and deeply angered the group began to plot an uprising against the Barton Foundation.

Yao looked up at the clock hanging over the main entrance. Its bright red numbers read two hours, fifty minutes and forty-nine seconds till operations commence. The three children had been in the control room for a little over an hour now. Each bringing a single bag of personal belongings with them, they prayed that this wasn't the last time they would see each other.

"WuFei," MeiLi outstretched her arms to her brother. He knelt down to hold his sister for the last time as the intercom in the room came on. Master O's voice assured the three that it was now safe for them to roam about. "Please be careful," MeiLi's tearful voice said softly. WuFei nodded.

"Oh, wait!" she exclaimed as they were about to leave the room. "Come here," she beckoned her brother. Again he knelt down. This time MeiLi made her way to her brother's back.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Your hair," she said gently as she pulled out a small hair band from her purse, "it'll be flying every where." Quickly she gathered her brother's hair, pulling it back and tying it in a small ponytail. "There, now it shouldn't get in your way."

"Thank you," he said as he got up again. She smiled lovingly up at him.

"Thank you Yao," WuFei said turning to him. "I will do everything I can to raise hell. Take good care of MeiLi."

MeiLi looked up at her brother. Confusion was written all over her round face. "What do you mean?"

"Yao is going to be your guardian while I'm gone. You two are leaving this colony as soon as possible."

"But..." MeLi began to protest.

"I don't care what you have to say," WuFei began, "your leaving this colony and that's final!"

"I will not!" MeiLi snapped back.

"You will do what you are told to!"

"I'm not leaving home!"

Yao watched as the two began their routine argument. He had watched them fight for years and yet he was still amazed at how easily they could start a fight. "Mei, your brother has good reasons for wanting you to leave this colony" he finally interrupted, "The Barton Foundation is no one to mess with." He took in a deep breath, gathering his thoughts. "When the Barton Foundation finds out that Operation Meteor is not going the way they planned, they're going do everything they can to get WuFei, even if it means hurting you."

MeiLi looked up glancing from one boy to the other. Her eyes widen as she looked up at her brother, finally realizing the depth of the situation at hand. "What... what's really gonna happen, WuFei?"

WuFei looked down at his sister. Taking in a deep breath he finally revealed to her the situation and his plans to foil the Barton's plans. MeiLi stood in disbelief as her brother talked calmly.

--

The room soon grew silent. WuFei had stopped talking for a while. Sally was still sitting on the bottom bunk. It had never crossed her mind that WuFei had been holding back so many things.

"That doesn't mean your sister is dead," she finally said. "You said yourself that you asked Wong to take her to another colony. She's still alive and probably waiting for you to return." Sally smiled at the thought. Finally, there was something that could possibly make WuFei happy.

"She's dead..."

Sally got up, frustrated. "How could you say that?!" she yelled, "I know that the colony L5 A-00206 was destroyed during the war five years ago, but..."

WuFei sat up. He glared down at Sally angrily. "Chang MeiLi is dead," he said steadily, "she died on the colony, and she is gone... now drop it."

Sally stepped back. "How could you be so narrow minded? You told Wong to take your sister to another colony and you just said he did!"

WuFei turned to face the wall as he laid down again, his back to Sally. He stayed quiet. Sally crossed her arms, upset she looked up at her young partner. "I swear you can be so stubborn!"

"They never left the colony. The letter Duo gave me... Master O said they never left the colony..." WuFei spoke softly.

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The falling section of the Libra had been destroyed in a spectacular explosion of light. Its fragments scattered all over the earth, raining meteors all over the fragile blue planet. Pilots from both side of the war began to gather at MO-II, filling its cargo bays with mobile suits and escape ships. The war had finally ended.

Five distinctive mobile suits made their way into one of the many hangers in MO-II. Badly battered, they slowly made their way to the back of the hanger as the pilots of the surviving Leos, Taurus, and Virgos watched them pass by. The five gundams, finally rested in their designated areas, side by side. Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une made her way quickly to the gundams. The five young pilots slowly made their ways down from their mobile suits. She quickly escorted them out of the hanger bay. "You must all be exhausted," she smiled down on them, "I have assigned quarters for you boys."

Lady Une showed each boy to his quarters. WuFei sat on the small bed in the corner of the tiny soldiers' room. He looked around for a while before collapsing on it and fell asleep almost instantly. Some time later he was awakened by a knock on the door. "I will not thank that woman for her hospitality..." he muttered as he opened his eyes. "She and Trieze are the reason that this war dragged on." He slowly got up and opened the door. Standing on the other side was Duo, an envelope in his mouth as he finished braiding his hair. He handed the envelope to WuFei.

"It's from one of the scientists," he said as he tied up the end of his braid. "The big bald one. He told me to give it to you as soon as I could." WuFei looked down at the envelope in his hands. "Sorry I didn't give it to you earlier... but I just forgot." Duo continued smiling, "man I so needed that shower... hey, you hungry?"

WuFei closed the door on the happy pilot without saying a word. "That answers that..." Duo frowned, "asshole."

Fifteen minutes later, WuFei slowly made his way into the closest cafeteria he could find. Heero and Trowa were sitting together in the corner, eating and playing a round of chess while Duo sat on the other end of the table stuffing his face. They watched as their Chinese friend made his way into the cafeteria, dazed and pale-faced. WuFei slowly made his way to the counter. The young man at the counter looked at him.

"Hey kid, you all right?" he asked.

WuFei didn't answer. He took a soda from the counter and slowly walked away. Unconsciously he made his way to where the other three pilots where sitting.

"You ok?" Duo asked as he swallowed his food. "You look all sickly."

Again, he didn't answer. Cautiously, he put down his soda and a piece of paper on the table as he sat down. The three boys eyed their friend over. The expression on his face suggested that he had seen a ghost.

"You don't look to well," Trowa said in his melancholy way making his move on the board before him. "Do you need to see a doctor?" he asked looking up again.

WuFei looked up at Trowa. His face grew even paler and he felt his blood run cold through his veins as his eyes began to tear up. Shaking, he opened his soda and took a drink, but the upset feeling in his stomach failed to go away. He continued to feel the pain and disgust through out his entire body. Slowly he got up, making his way to the large window behind the table he looked out into the void of space as he felt his heart sink. Duo came up from behind, placing one hand on his shoulder.

"Hey... you really don't look too good. Maybe we should get you to a doctor or something."

WuFei let his body fall to the floor. The tears in his eyes now streamed down his face. Quickly, Duo came down to try and help his friend. WuFei refused the helping hand that stretched before him and pushed the pilot away. The nauseous feeling in his stomach grew stronger until he finally vomited on the floor. Duo jumped back as WuFei released all his anxiety.

"Get a doctor in here now!" Trowa's voice was barely understandable now to WuFei. He felt his head spin as he continued to throw up. A soldier grabbed a tray and began to blow some fresh air in the young man's direction.
As the commotion continued, Heero took up the piece of paper that WuFei had been clinging onto when he walked in. Slowly he read. "Sister...," he muttered to himself. He continued to read, "...I regret to inform you that Chang MeiLi and Wong Yao never left the colony. The two only moved to the other side of the colony where you had attended at the private institution..."

End

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Author's Note:
That was depressing.