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Five young men stared at the stars.
When they had decided to take a break from all their Preventers obligations and drag Quatre from WEI as well, they hadn't gone halfway. No one on earth or the colonies even knew where to begin looking for them. And if someone had known to head to the southern continent, it was a vast, arid land with hours of distance between even the smallest towns which the ex-pilots had traveled like shadows and ghosts, unnoticed and anonymous. Now, deep in the outback, lying on rocky ground, the sounds of the night around them, the five stared at the night sky with new eyes.
"I wish we could stay out here forever," Duo breathed out easily.
"Granted," Wufei answered, "but you're turned to stone." Then he huffed and picked up the pattern. It was a well-known game they'd started on long trips to keep themselves awake; they found it oddly entertaining sometimes. "I wish everyone could see this sky the way we do."
"Granted," Trowa smiled, "but then they would all be here and we wouldn't have any quiet. I wish we could see the stars this way from the colonies. They look colder from out in space."
"Granted," Heero took a turn, "but we'll have to do it by space-walking. I wish we had more time to relax."
"Granted," Quatre giggled, "but then Preventers will be operated by those new recruits who couldn't hack their way out of maintenance shed."
Everybody groaned and Duo smacked him. "Ew! Cat, don't even say that! I wish we had a pizza!"
"Granted," Wufei returned, "but it arrives by pink limo." There was an audible shudder in his words. "I wish the colonies would think of us a little more fondly."
"Granted," Trowa said softly, "but then they would know our names. I wish we had met under different circumstances."
"Granted," Heero put in seriously, "but then we would not be what we are. I wish we could be sure we could stay together like this for—" he stopped and swallowed against the sudden tension. It was too dear a wish to risk saying aloud.
"Granted." Quatre's voice was warm and certain, and somehow the fact that he believed it so much eased the uncertainty that had blossomed in the space between them in the dark.
"Cat, what about your wish?" Duo asked. "You didn't make one either time."
"I know," Quatre smiled and they could hear it in the warm dark, "because right now I've got everything I want."