By: Amy the Yu

On: November 3, 2001

Thirteenth Floor

(Prologue)

This story is dedicated to all those who died in the World Trade Center tragedy.

It takes place in A.C. 201 (or year 2257 on our future calendar).

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing (even though I wish I did). Gundam Wing owns me and the Sotsu Agency and Sunrise own everything the least bit Gundam Wing.

Warning: Shounen ai 1x2x1 and angst. NOT A DEATHFIC!

Without further ado, here's the fic:

~*~*~*~

The year was A.C. 201, all the former Gundam Pilots have ended their lives as soldiers and have begun new lives as regular members of society. After trying their hands at several other professions with no success, former pilot 01, Heero Yuy and former pilot 02, Duo Maxwell joined Chang Wufei in the Preventers to help maintain the peace that they sacrificed their childhoods to gain.

The Preventers headquarters was based in New York, not two blocks from where the World Trade Center Tragedy occurred many years ago, this exact day.

It was September 11, A.C. 201, exactly 256 years after the terrorist attack that changed the world. Since the construction of the Preventers headquarters, the New York skyline seemed almost to return to what it was, except, instead of two lean towers dominating the sky, there was one massive giant of a building standing tall above all else.

After finishing a two month long mission to L-1, Heero and Duo were both rushing to finish the extensive documentation and paper work that General Une insisted they complete after each mission. This was a low energy job and didn't take much brainpower, so they were rather relaxed and laid back as they took their time doing their work.

It had been less than an hour after they arrived at work and Duo's mind was already beginning to wander. He drifted over to Heero's desk and leaned over his handsome lover. "Heero", he cooed, "Would you like to go get some coffee with me?"

Without thinking, Heero replied, "It's only been 55 minutes since we started work, do your work and we'll take a break at 11." This was a regular routine by now as Duo went to Heero every morning at work at the exact same time to suggest that he and Heero take a coffee break.

Pouting, Duo went back to his sad excuse for a cubicle and tried to lessen the large stack of paper work sitting on his desk collecting dust. After filling out the first few forms, all the papers started to look the same and the morning dragged on.

After another agonizing 30 minutes, Duo decided to try to talk Heero into taking a break again. As he stood up to go bother Heero, the soft hum of a passing cross continent shuttle could be heard. It was a soothing sound that reminded Duo of the Gundam that was his lifeline not long ago. He looked at his watch and muttered to no one in particular, "Flight Q33NY on time as usual." Then he continued on his way to Heero's desk, but something didn't feel right.

Less than 10 meters from his destination, Duo realized what that something was. Instead of the shuttle sounds fading off as it passed the building, the hum of the engines became a loud buzz and then an almost deafening roar. Then all hell broke loose when the shuttle came flying straight for the building.

A large fireball formed and completely engulfed floors 88 through 92. Most of the windows on the other floors imploded as the shuttle hit.

Realizing that the shuttle was going to hit before everyone else, Duo ran the last few meters separating him and Heero and knocked Heero to the ground, using his own body to shield Heero's.

The whole building shook and a heat wave emanating from the crash site passed over the building. Then the world seemed to disappear in a bright flash of light. Life as we know it had ended and chaos reined supreme.

Ever so slowly, Duo climbed back onto his feet and offered Heero a hand to stand up. Heero took his place beside Duo as they surveyed the disordered mess of people surrounding them. Everyone was in such a panicked rush to leave that they were trampling each other as they ran for the stairs.

Heero turned to look out the window, but as he turned, he saw a figure on the floor, not two meters from the imploded windows, covered in glass. He rushed over to see that it was Sally Po. There were several shards of glass embedded in her right arm and shoulder, but thanks to the thick Preventers uniform that she donned, the rest of her body was unharmed.

Running back to his desk, Heero pulled out his travel sized first-aid kit and returned to attend to Sally's injuries. Using a pair of tweezers, he carefully extracted each small shard of glass from her arm and wrapped it up in some gauze to stop the bleeding. He then carefully handed her over to a passing Preventers agent to aid her in the evacuation.

Returning to Duo, they looked for anyone else that may have been in need of some help. Seeing no one else, they headed towards the stairs much like everyone else had, but in a much more orderly fashion.

Instead of going down the stairwell, Duo turned to face the steady stream of people rushing to leave the building and tried to climb to the upper most floors.

Realizing where Duo was headed, Heero grabbed him by his elbow and pulled him back. "Where are you going?" Heero shouted to Duo above the mad, panicked screams coming from the people surrounding them, "The building may collapse any second."

Even though Duo knew that this may very well be true, he faced Heero grimly and explained, "There might be more people hurt on the higher floors, Heero. I can't just leave them to die. I have to at least try to help them." With that, Duo broke free of Heero's grip and rushed up the stairs to the awaiting inferno.

TBC...



This fic was written during the month of November, 2001. It was written according to my interpretation of what happened to the survivors during and after the incident had they been gundam pilots.

In order to avoid any factual errors due to my limited knowledge of the attack, this fic is written as a parallel to the actual event.

It is set 256 years in the future, in A.C. 201.

This story is dedicated to all the people who died in the World Trade Center Tradgety.