Author's Note: Just picking up on a few reviews from Fantasia.

Shishio: Zechs and Relena are there mostly just as added characters, though at least Zechs will be involved in a future Gundam fic that I've yet to write. #grins mischeviously#

And to Shishio and Sutoomu: Things are about to get darker... consider yourselves warned.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, nor the name of this segment, as Adesso e Fortuna is the name of a song from Record of the Lodoss War. Anything K'Tal related, however, are mine. Thank you.

“Adesso e Fortuna”

The next two days passed slowly, without any special events. Zechs’ ankle healed enough for him to walk on it unaided, and for the Gundam pilots there was no word from Zana on the fourth lesson having been learned. They assumed it was either Trowa or Quatre, since the others said they had gotten theirs earlier.

“But who?” Duo wondered on the last day when he, Heero, and Wufei were talking, out of hearing of their other two comrades. “Quatre or Trowa?”

“What lesson could Quatre possibly have to learn?” Heero asked. “He’s the most understanding of us all. I think it’s Trowa.” Duo nodded.

“That’s what I’ve been thinking. But what? Smile more?”

“Probably.” Wufei was silent through all this. He wasn’t so certain, but had no proof to base his thoughts on. Just then Quatre happened to pass in their sight, head down and hands in his pocket, with the discman hanging in its bag. They watched him, and Duo got a concerned look on his face.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“He hasn’t been getting enough sleep, for one thing,” Wufei informed them. “I often see him up

and sitting at his window, watching the stars.”

“That’s Quatre for you,” Duo commented. “Always star watching. He can never get enough of that.” Little did they know how far from the stars or sleep his thoughts were.

For those whole two days, Quatre had been lost in thought, barely speaking to anyone. His ponderings were getting darker and darker, even darker than had his thoughts before he’d met Rashid and the Maguanacs. Now he had gone from his own uselessness down into wondering why the others kept him around.

“Hey, Quatre.” Quatre looked over to see Duo approaching him. “Is something wrong?”

“No. Nothing’s wrong. I guess I’m just tired.” He looked at Duo with a strange expression that the other youth had never seen before. Something was different about Quatre that day, something that Duo wasn’t sure he understood or liked. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll just take a nap or something.”

“Well, if you’re sure...” Duo let Quatre go wherever he was heading, and returned to the others.

“Well?” Wufei asked.

“Something’s wrong with him, but I don’t know what. Something just didn’t look--right, but I can’t place it.” He was more than a little concerned. Heero mused over that for a while, then nodded.

“I’ll take a look for myself later.”

“And I will too,” Wufei promised.

“I’ll get Trowa to help. After all, Quatre’s a friend to all of us.” So the three split up to take on

their ‘missions.’

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Duo found Quatre about half an hour later, wanting to get his mission going ASAP. The blond-haired pilot was sitting beneath a tree, staring off at nothing with that unnerving, vacant look in his eyes.

"Hiya, Poet," he greeted cheerfully. Quatre looked at him, then back out at nothing.

"Hi," he said. Duo, never one to beat around the bush, just out and said it.

"Is there something bothering you?"

"No. Just... thinking."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Well... if you're sure..." They sat there in silence for a while, and then some of the kids, seeing Duo, shouted at him to come play with them. Never one to say no to kids, Duo went. And when he chanced a glace back at Quatre, he was gone.

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Trowa took his mission in a different direction. Rather than confront Quatre, he simply observed. He didn't get much from what Quatre did - as far as he could tell the pilot had just taken a seat on the edge of a fountain, looking at nothing in particular - but if he could have read Quatre's thoughts, he might have understood a whole lot clearer.

There's nothing I can add to the team. I don't even know why they keep me around, except maybe out of pity. Heero can kill his enemies without a second thought, if they threaten his mission. Duo has been through hell, yet he laughs it off. Wufei is so independant he can do anything he wants, but he can work with the team too. And Trowa is such an enigma even I can't completely figure him out, which keeps his enemies guessing. And what am I? The rich kid who defied his own father - what's that got to say about my loyalty? - for what reason? To fight in a war, to kill other people. Sure, I give them a chance to give up, but I know they won't, and I'll have to kill them. I'm no better than those I kill, in fact, I'm worse! And now, with this gift, I'm even more awful. A danger to those I fight along side, and a laugh to my enemies.

Trowa, having gained nothing much, left the area.

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Heero also observed Quatre, at the same time as Trowa no less, from another angle that showed him more of Quatre's face. He picked up that Quatre was thinking pretty heavily about something, but the gentler pilot's face barely moved. The place he locked his gaze on was Quatre's eyes. They were distant, and vacant, and empty. He realized what Duo had mentioned before. There was something wrong with Quatre, and the answer was in his eyes. They were missing the glimmer that was usually there.

Satisfied, he went to report to the others.

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Wufei, after a bit of meditation, began his mission by speaking with some of the Half-Kins, especially Zatana, whom he'd noticed seened to click on some level with the pilot. She couldn't give much information, as she claimed Quatre had seemed to be avoiding her. Which was true. Of all the Half-Kins there, he didn't want her to get within eyesight of him, concerned that her own ability might target him. He had come to the point that he felt his problems were all his own, and didn't want to talk about them, as if the others wouldn't understand. Not even Zatana, he told himself, would understand as she was only part empath, not full like him. Wufei next sought out Quatre himself, and saw something disturbing: Quatre was sitting in a quiet, private corner of two buildings, legs crossed and hands draped into his lap, and looking oddly at his hands. It took a moment for the Chinese pilot to realize Quatre was crying. Usually when he wept, his shoulder's shook, and it was audible, but this time, there was no movement save for the tears on his cheeks. That scarred Wufei. Unfortunately Wufei had to take a roundabout route to get to the place, and again, like Houdini, Quatre had vanished.

He hurried to get to the others.