Several weeks passed. The Gundam pilots once again met when they were sent on a mission to destroy Taurus mobile suits that were being transported to a Siberian base. Everything seemed to be going well, until OZ colonel Lady Une threatened a satellite missile attack on the colonies if the pilots didn't surrender and hand over their mobile suits. Quatre's space heart again came into play when Heero, in lieu of surrendering, chose to self-detonate his Gundam. He supposedly died, which seemingly caused Quatre a great deal of physical and emotional pain.

Fleeing the scene with Maganac Corps, Quatre soon came into contact with Duo, and the two of them headed to the Maganac's hometown in the Middle East, where they lay low for a while. Unfortunately, OZ was quick to track them down, and they were forced to leave in order to save the village, with the Maganac covering their retreat.

It was over a month later that OZ began liberating the colonies from the Alliance's control, causing the Gundams to fall out of the colonies' favor. Even so, it was decided that the pilots (including Heero, who had survived his Gundam's detonation and spent a month in a coma) would head back to space in order to stop OZ's plan, which would leave the organization in control of both the Earth Sphere and the colonies. Met with heavy resistance from the armed forces, Quatre, Duo, and Wufei fought side by side at one space port, while Trowa and Heero fought at another. Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse, and Quatre came to the conclusion that he must self-destruct in order for Duo and Wufei to safely make it to space. Yet, as Sandrock's self-destruct mode was activated, Quatre was urged by the Gundam to leave the cockpit before it detonated, and although he was injured, his life was spared. He then headed for space in a shuttle and spent the next several days drifting, barely conscious. He was finally found by a small group of Alliance remnants, who were soon attacked by OZ. Deciding that the boy's life should be spared, the remnant leader placed Quatre in a Leo mobile suit and sent him off, while the group stayed behind, eventually killed by OZ forces.

After six more days of drifting, Quatre happened to end up outside of a Winner resource satellite, where he was recovered by another shuttle. Unbeknownst to him, at first, the nurse on the shuttle was one of his twenty-nine sisters, Iria Winner. She nursed him back to health, and when he finally came to, the two of them headed home to the Winner Resource Colony, where Quatre was then berated by his father, a pacifist, for taking part in Operation Meteor. Obviously, the rift that existed between Quatre and his father in Episode Zero had yet to be bridged, and it showed as the two butted heads, with Quatre claiming that his father just didn't understand him. On that same day, Zayeed was voted out of office due to disagreements over arming the colony, so tensions were already high. Their argument ended with no resolution, and Zayeed proceeded to the resource satellite, which he then separated from the colony, not wanting weapons to be produced there. After taking a vote, the colony fired a beam cannon at the satellite, destroying it and killing Zayeed, as Quatre and Iria watched in horror from a shuttle.