Chapter Text
Prologue: As the World Caves In
"Peace is not the absence of violence, but the presence of justice." - Martin Luther King Jr.
“Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” -Albert Einstein
Peace, as fragile and delicate it may be, has been held for quite some time. Soldiers were able to hang up their arms and enjoy the time they had with their loved ones. The Gundam pilots were no different, having a good portion of their childhood robbed from them. But time had passed and each of them settled into the lives they deserved a hundred times over.
Duo and Hilde had gotten married not long after they had finished school, Duo ran an auto shop with a scrapyard behind it. Hilde had taken a liking to working on mechanical things, she helped Duo in the shop as much as possible. Duo settled into this humble life of theirs, enjoying Hilde’s company, building a future home for their children, and growing old together. As they grew older their appearance changed, Hilde actually grew her hair out and Duo shortened his. He had donated his hair to make wigs and was happy keeping it about shoulder length.
Relena continued her work as Ambassador while Heero worked on his own and experienced a life he had never even considered for himself. Despite therapy Heero had a long road ahead of him but it helped that Relena was there with him. All of the training and what the Wing Zero had done to him had left him a fractured man. It took him a long time to wind down and even then he never left the military. Relena had hoped with time he would settle into civilian life but she wasn’t going to force him into it. Heero had made great strides in becoming himself and Relena made sure he knew how proud she was of him every single day.
Trowa and Catherine enjoyed their time in the circus, now that Trowa was free they worked together on routines for the both of them to perform. Now that there was peace for them Trowa no longer had that plea in his eyes that begged for the sweet release of death. He most of all still enjoyed working with the animals, Catherine was glad that never seemed to change. It was one of the shows where there was an unexpected visitor after the show: Midii Une. It wasn’t long before a relationship blossomed between the two. Catherine was apprehensive at first, wanting nothing but to protect her brother, but eventually gave her support to them. It wasn’t long before the two of them were married.
Quatre had settled in with a lovely woman named Evangeline Olivia Martin, he had never been happier. They settled into the colony owned by his family and Quatre made sure that his wife never wanted for anything. It wasn’t just things, he doted on her making sure she never lacked for affection. Quatre and Evangeline would frequently host get together with the other pilots, keeping their friend group close. Quatre had always had a love for his fellow pilots, it was not surprising he would work to make sure his friends were taken care of too. Anything that he could do to help his friends, when asked, he would do without question.
Wufei and Sally had settled into a routine of their work as Preventers. Each little thing that would disrupt the hard fought peace was quickly snuffed out thanks to their hard work. Sally had noticed how Wufei didn't really seek out any kind of relationship, his focus seemed hard set on keeping the peace that they had all fought so hard to achieve. She did however notice another Preventer who eyed him, especially when he was in the workout room. Sally couldn't help herself and decided to play a bit of matchmaking. The woman who was interested was someone a couple years older than Wufei named Brittany Kovacs, someone who was just as hard headed as Wufei and would definitely be a match for him.
Sally put together a martial arts class and made sure that Wufei and Brittany would be there. Wufei had initially said no but Sally convinced him to help her out with some of the Preventers who weren't as strong at it. Reluctantly he said yes and Sally's plan was put into motion. Brittany wasn't inexperienced but she said yes to it to brush up on her skills and to perhaps learn something new. That class Sally made sure she paired them both up, Wufei had started off easy on her and when Brittany flipped him on his back with his low guard the pair really started to practice. Sally saw the look in Wufei's eyes and the rest was history. A couple years after that class the pair was married.
But peace is a fragile thing.
It started with small attacks, bombings of buildings. The pilots out of habit tracked the news, but didn’t see anything particularly wrong with this. Nothing in those days seemed to even remotely come close to a threat to them. They continued to live their lives, keeping an eye on events.
Heero and Relena were the first to have a child. They had a son and named him Jeff Yuy, he had his father’s eyes for sure. Steel blue and a determination in them, he didn’t cry, he just took in the world around him. The pilots all made sure they stopped to see them and welcome the baby into the world they had fought so hard for. It almost made it worth it, everything that they had gone through. This became a long tradition that they would carry out for the birth of each child.
Wufei and Brittany had their first child, a beautiful daughter Feng Chang was born a few days after Jeff. Duo had of course made a joke about Heero and Wufei racing to be the first only for Wufei to come in second. Wufei told him at least he wasn’t going to be dead like Duo would be. It also didn’t seem like the pair wasted much time before having a second child 12 months later, Flynn.
Not long after that Une gave birth to identical twin boys that they named Jesse and Joel. Trowa still couldn’t believe that not only did he have one healthy baby boy, he was blessed with two. He loved the little family he had gotten. Part of him knew that if he had known what laid at the end of his long difficult road then he wouldn’t have been so eager to self-detonate. There were small differences with the twins and each of them. Jesse had a sparkle in his eyes when he looked around the room for the first time seeing all their faces. Catherine was more than happy to play the doting aunt.
A few months after that Quatre and Evangeline had their daughter, but this was the first bit of tragedy that hit them. Despite the doctor’s best efforts Evangeline passed away shortly after giving birth to their daughter Olivia Sophia Winner. Quatre never left her and his daughter’s sides, he did at least get to tell her how much he loved her before she passed. To say that Quatre was a mess was certainly an understatement.
Things had been going rather well for all the former Gundam pilots. Two months after Evangeline passed away was when Noin called them all in for a meeting. Tension hung in the room as they all sat around the table, the seemingly random attacks had increased and a few of them were starting to hit a little bit too close to home.
Anxiety swelled as Duo stood up from his chair and slammed his hands onto the table. “Alright, I’ll say it, we know it’s about the attacks. Who do we have to go after to make it stop?”
Noin let out a sigh. “I wish it were that simple, Duo. There’s little cohesive story between the groups. The ones we’ve captured only knew what they were supposed to attack, they’re being organized by several different people which makes tracking down the source impossible. We’ve got some leads but so far nothing has turned up how these people are being directed.”
“So then what are we to do then?” Trowa asked, his hand lightly gripping Midii’s, their fingers laced together. Catherine was lightly picking at her lip as she listened.
“We have to put your children into hiding, we have reason to believe they are the targets of the attacks closer to you. We had a plan to move your children into safe homes with parents that have already been screened. But we have them exchanging hands so that they’ll be safely hidden.” Noin explained.
“Wait, do we get to know where they’ll end up?” Wufei growled.
“No, in order to keep them safe even I won’t know where they’ll end up.”
“I’m sorry, there has to be another way.” Quatre said as he stood up, there was a quake in his voice. “There has to be another way to keep our children safe, I can’t not know where she’ll be!” His hands balled into fists as he fought to keep his composure.
“There has to be some exception to this.” Relena said, “Especially for Quatre, as if him losing his wife wasn’t enough? He has to lose his daughter too?”
Noin shook her head, “I’m sorry, there’s nothing we can do that would keep Olivia with Quatre and safe. We’ve already considered this and it was for the best.”
Quatre sat down, he buried his face in his hands, shoulders shaking with a quiet sob at first. The stifled whimpers grew into keening wails. Trowa got up and wrapped his arms around his dear friend’s shoulders, Quatre then buried his face in his friend’s shoulder. “When are we planning to go through with this plan?” Trowa asked as he tried to comfort Quatre.
“Two days.” Noin stated, the tension pulsed across the room. They were all stunned how quickly this would go forward; Quatre still cried at the thought of losing his baby so soon. “Pack some personal belongings for the children, nothing that would identify them as your children.”
“This is bullshit!” Wufei exclaimed, “We are strong enough to protect our families! I don’t like running and hiding. Sally and I have been trying to track them down too; we’re so close! I know we are!”
“I know Wufei, but we don’t know if this is just an attempt on your lives and what you represent or if it’s the start of something more. We have to protect your children, that’s what our number one priority is.”
Brittany didn't look that much thrilled at this prospect. “You mean that sting we did last week didn't mean much of anything?! We've been busting our ass and we're still not safe?!”
“This is only a temporary situation, your children will be back with you before you know it.” Noin reassured her.
They all left the meeting bitter and angry, Trowa offering to let Quatre stay with him, Une and Catherine for a time. Each of them spent extra time with their children and with each other. Two days came and went faster than they expected, it would never be enough time. They arrived that morning, none of them had really slept other than making as much time with their children as possible. Each one of them handed the children off to the first leg of their trips, Trowa thought the twins would end up together at least but they too were separated from one another. Quatre was taking it particularly hard, having lost his wife to have to give up his daughter too was particularly hard on him.
It wasn’t long before all the pilots and their wives were crying. Heero has tears leaking silently from his face while he holds onto Relena while she sobs into his chest. Duo kept choking back his tears and it escaped from him in short cries. Hilde quietly wept, mouth open but no sound escaped. Trowa and Midii held onto each other and Quatre, who was inconsolable at this point. Wufei’s tears were hot and angry and Brittany did her best to contain her grief for now and to try and remain strong for those around her. It wasn’t long before her eyes watered and tears started to drip down her cheeks.
They watched as the shuttles split off in different directions. Relena was the first to speak up. “I hope that we get them back soon enough where they won’t really remember they were ever gone to begin with.” There was that same quiet hope that spread through the group, each parent grieving the time away from their children.
The parents lingered watching the shuttles until they were small dots like the rest of the stars. It wasn’t long before they gathered themselves and were going to head out. “We’ll see them again before we know it.” Brittany confidently stated as they walked out, she prayed quietly that she was right.
[Author's Note]
Welcome friendos to what will be a trilogy! The idea of them having kids and them being taken away was originally a old friend's idea, Ashley2323. Her prologue is still on FanFiction.net. But that's about where the similarities will end and will be my own ideas going into it. Maybe I'll find my friends again? Anyway, I hope you will enjoy it. If you play Sims4 at all I've been working on creating as close to what I think they would look older as well as the kids. Just search #aheroschild in the gallery to find them. I also have an official spotify playlist that I listen to while writing and that inspired some of the chapters. I hope that ya'll will enjoy reading it as much as I've been enjoying writing it. This project is to get me back into not only writing, but drawing as well. If you follow me on Bluesky or Twitter I'll be posting snippets of upcoming chapters as well as art related to the work. This story will be updated every Sunday to keep things spaced out and give me time to keep working ahead. Till next time!