"I'm in this for the past and present, and shamefully I'm fighting for revenge too." He scratched the back of his neck. "You see, life for me has always been a test of survival. Nothing was ever certain, and nothing was ever stable. If you want to live, you have to fight for it. You know the past will always be there, you don't know if the future will be."

-- Duo, Chapter 6

I looked down at the small piece of paper in my hand and read the scribbled address. My eyes cautiously took in the decaying building that seemed to be crumbling before me. I felt a tinge of guilt, hoping this is where I would find him, in this miserable apartment building. I had visited so many dead ends in my search, at this point even a U-turn pointing me in the right direction would be welcomed.

Taking a deep breath, begging for this to be the place, I opened the main door and entered. Immediately I was smacked by pungent smells that caused my eyes to water. I could hear the wailing cries of a child, a screeching and constant badgering like police sirens. I felt queasy and stopped myself from thinking of the life that child had if this was called home. Reality sucked. I swallowed hard and forced myself to climb the staircase to the third floor and covered my mouth with my hand to hold back a scream as a cockroach crawled in front of my feet. Pathetic. I scolded myself and looked down at the piece of paper. 313.

I made my way down the poorly lit hallway, avoiding the unknown species that scurried and scampered in the shadows. Reaching the end of the hall, I looked at a door with the numbers 31 and an upside down 3 hanging by a loose nail. I noted the emergency exit beside the room. Soldiers always planned ahead for everything, didn't they?

Well here goes, I thought as I timidly knocked on the door three times, and waited. No answer. I was too nervous to try again. Not like I had really expected him to come and answer the door. "Heero, it's Relena." I said as loud as I dared through the wooden door. Still no answer. Now what? I sighed, releasing the frustration building up. Well I had come this far, I should at least make sure it is another dead end before calling it quits.

I eyed the flimsy looking door. It stared back at me, challenging me with its peeling paint and rusting hinges. I chewed on my lower lip before knocking one more time. It rattled in anger at my force. "Heero?" Silence. I closed my eyes and when I opened them they were set with determination as I grabbed hold of the door's handle. I forcefully jiggled it and could feel the door creak in protest. With a little bit of force...I pressed my shoulder against it and felt the hinges give and the door popped open in submission. I grinned at my victory, that wasn't so difficult, and carefully peered inside.

With one glance, I could see that the room wasn't any better than the rest of the building. It was very plain, plain and filthy. I cautiously stepped inside. "Heero?" I meekly asked, afraid that perhaps maybe I had rushed into something I shouldn't have. What if it wasn't his apartment? There was no answer. Gently, I closed the door and stood in the living room, which was adjoined to a small kitchen with a bar for a dining room table. The only furniture was a couch and a coffee table with ring stains on it. The apartment had no personality or life, unless you wanted to count the rodents, but I personally wanted to ignore them, fearing I'd throw up if I took notice.

Well, no Heero. I glanced at the couch. The cushions bulged in some places and lacked stuffing in others. They were torn and stained different shades, causing the original color of material to be unknown. I definitely didn't want to sit down. Maybe it would be best if I came back? I turned back to the door and froze when the handle turned. What if it wasn't Heero behind the door?

I moved to the corner of the room and imagined myself shrinking until I became invisible. The door opened and a boy stumbled in. Not Heero. Shit! What do I do? He fell back on the door, shutting it with his back. I stared intensely at his face, something was familiar about it...it was Heero's partner, Duo was it? Relief washed over me.

"Duo?" The boy jolted up in shock and instantly had his gun drawn and aimed at me. He stared at me and I saw a flicker of recognition in his violet eyes, which was replaced by confusion, then pain. He lowered the gun and grabbed his side.

I made my way to him, fearing that he would topple over. I wrapped my arms around his waist, stopping his fall. He didn't hesitate to place his hands on my shoulder to help hold himself up.

We staggered over to the couch and I cringed as I placed him on the filthy thing. He released a gasp as he sank into the lumpy cushions. His arm still held onto his side and I found myself staring at the blood that was barely visible seeping out from under it. His talking broke my stare.

"-bathroom, under the sink." I nodded my head and left him to get what I assumed would be a first aid kit. I flung open the sink cupboard, ignoring the cockroaches that scrambled from the light, and grabbed the white metal box and ran back to him.

He was slowly pealing his shirt off, allowing me to see the two deep gashes along his right side. Blood gurgled out like a faucet with low water pressure. Swallowing hard I moved to him.

I knelt and opened the kit, revealing its continents of gauze, ointment, medicine, and bandages. Before I could grab the bandages, he reached in with his blood coated hand and pulled out a green glass bottle. He sucked in air as the movement shot pain through him. I removed the bottle from his hand and read the label, Antiseptics. My stomach sank; this was really going to hurt. I gave him a sympathetic look as I untwisted the cap; he surprised me with half a grin.

"This is going to sting." I stated bleakly and he closed his eyes as I pulled away his shirt. I poured the liquid from the bottle over the gashes, and watched as his muscles quivered. My eyes traveled up his abs until I was looking into his face, his eyes were squeezed shut and his teeth were tightly clenched together.

"All done." I quietly said and removed the jean jacket I was wearing over my pale-yellow tang top. I gently pressed it against his wounds.

"Sorry."

The word was whispered and I smiled at him. "That's okay. You know as well as I do, that I can easily buy another." That caused him to laugh and then he cringed as he held back a scream. I felt guilty and looked away. Reaching into the first aid kit I noticed his blood covering my own hands. Swallowing the lump that was rising in my throat, I grabbed the gauze and bandages and silently wrapped his wounds.

"My ankle's twisted." He said as I finished up. I looked down at his leg that lay across the couch. Not sure if there was anything I could do, I stood to look at it when he grabbed my arm to stop me. Surprised, I looked at him as he raised a finger to his chapped lips. A gust of fear passed through me as I heard what he had, footsteps by the door. Still holding my hand, he sat up. He pointed to the first aid kit. I assumed he wanted me to grab it, so I did. He then pointed down the short hall behind us. Once again supporting him, we quietly waddled our way to a bedroom.

"Closet." He whispered into my ear. The surprise of his warm breath nearly sent chills down my spine. The closet, great, we're going to hide in a closet. They'll never find us there. It was empty, except for two wire hangers slightly swinging, bearing witness to our predicament.

Duo turned to me. "Under the bed is a bag, grab it. Put the first aid kit in. Grab the jacket too." I looked to see a black jacket lying at the end of the bed and silently obeyed. Bending down, I looked under the bed and pulled out a black backpack, sending dust bunnies everywhere. A loud crack, like the sound of thunder striking a tree, caused me to shoot up from the floor. I looked over at Duo, he was stomping his foot on the floor boards in the closet, causing the already decaying wood to snap and break.

"Duo?"

"Come on." He turned to me and held out his hand. I stood still staring at him, then I heard the front door scream as its weak wood was smashed. I ran to him and he quickly took my hand. Moving to the side he revealed a hole in the floor that he had made. I looked down into the room below and felt his hands on my shoulders as he eased me to the hole. "It's not far. You can do it." He comfortingly said. I nodded my head yes while he released my shoulders and I continued looking down, I could do it, no problem. I chewed on my lower lip before I felt a gentle nudge and I jumped.

Rubbing my sore ass, I glanced around the room, it was the same as Duo's. I hoped to God that it was vacant. I stumbled to my feet.

"Here." I looked up at Duo now wearing the jacket and he tossed the bag down. I caught it then shot my head up at him as I heard the stomping of feet above. They had gotten into his apartment. With a deep breath, Duo jumped down and landed in a crouching position. Showoff. He released a yelp as his injuries protested, but he bit back the pain and quickly stood. He glanced around the room; thankful no one lived there I assumed. The two of us shuffled to the main door and he slowly opened it and poked his head into the hallway.

"Let's go." We slipped out. "It won't take them long to figure us out." He said as we reached the second floor's exit door. We hobbled our way down the rusty metal fire escape that cried out with each step we took. When we reached the ground, he led me over to the side of the building where unruly bushes fought against each other, tangled in a mess desperate to reach the sun. Pushing the branches and leaves aside he revealed a motorcycle. I helped him pull it out, the bush clung to it, not wanting to let go of the hidden treasure. He tossed me the black helmet that rested on the leather seat, without asking any questions I put it on. I placed the backpack he had instructed me to grab on my back and tightened the straps.

The sounds of several people shouting and running reached us.

"You'll have to come with me. I can't leave you here." Duo crawled up onto the bike. Tucking his long braid into the back of his jacket, he turned to me as I flung my leg over the black motorcycle, straddling the unfamiliar machine. I instinctively wrapped my arms around his waist to gain my balance, but at the thought of his injury I pulled back.

"Here." He raised his arms slightly for me to place my arms under his armpits and then wrap my hands around his shoulders, embracing him from behind. He kicked the stand up, thankfully it was his right ankle that was injured.

"Stop!" The command barley reached my ears as the bike jolted to life and Duo guided it down the side street.

"Shit!" I vaguely heard Duo over the bike's engine.

"Duo?" I shouted his name while raising the black visor on my helmet. He turned his head slightly so that his left ear was facing me. "What now?"

"They know you're with me, so now you gotta stay with me. Damn, Heero's gonna be pissed!" I blushed at the thought of Heero. "They know we're on a motorcycle, so we'll have to ditch this. They also know I'm injured, I left the bloody jacket behind." I could sense in the tone of his voice that he was mad with himself.

"Where will we go?"

"Heero and I are supposed to meet at a checkpoint in four days. We can- shit!" I tightened my grip as the bike swerved and squeezed my eyes shut as I heard gunfire.

Duo gave the bike more gas; and it felt like we were flying. "Hold on!" He shouted, though he didn't have to tell me that. He gracefully weaved and maneuvered the bike between the cars that littered the streets. I felt like I was on a sickening amusement park ride as my head whipped back and forth. I managed to open my eyes and look behind us. Two black cars were chasing after us, just like the movies. We skidded across the pavement as Duo made a fast turn onto another street. He had to adjust to my extra weight on the turns and he struggled to balance the bike.

This was insane! I just wanted to see Heero, but now I was involved in a chase, and I was the one being chased! I heard a bullet whiz by, with a meek scream I pressed my head down into Duo's back.

He took more sharp turns, trying to lose our pursuers. The cars couldn't make such turns as fast, so the gap between us increased, but Duo still couldn't shake them. We made another turn down an alleyway. I looked up to see where we were headed and released a scream when I saw the brick wall that we were about to crash into.

I felt the bike swerving and heard the screeching of its tires, but I didn't feel myself being splattered onto the brick wall. Instead, I heard a loud explosion and felt the heat of flames and my nose crinkled at the smell of smoke. I opened my eyes to see that we were speeding down a very narrow path between two buildings. I looked back and saw that the one car had crashed into the wall and was engulfed in dancing flames.

Relief washed over me and I loosened my numbed fingers from Duo's shoulders. Carefully, I released the breath of air that I had been holding. With only a pair of jean shorts and a tang top on, I nudged closer to Duo for warmth as the wind lashed out at us. What had just happened?