Duo laid on his mattress and stared at the ceiling. He wasn't really looking at the ceiling but just in a blank stare, lost in his thoughts. He remembered he was overdue for the rent again this month and was once again broke. He sat up and looked around the small room he called his apartment. There was little there, just a mattress which he was laying on, a mini fridge and microwave on top, a small crate he used as a table, and his bag in the corner which contained all of his weapons. Next to his bag he just had a heap of clothing but no real way of organizing it, as well as a small sink and mirror by the mini fridge. He began to wonder how he had been reduced to this… he wanted to know why no one in L2 would give him a job simply because he was an ex-gundam pilot; Heck, he was lucky that someone would even let him rent a room from them. Duo then looked down at the small heap of mail on his crate sized table. He sorted through it, his eyes scanning each letter and organizing them into piles. One pile consisted mostly of bills, another of junk mail, and the other of letters that were ambiguous to either pile before. Duo stopped when he saw a letter personally addressed to him from his friend Quarte. Quarte had desperately tried to reach out to Duo since the incident that day when the five had a fight and he decided to leave earth and never look back. He felt betrayed by his so called friends who placed blame on him for things that were completely out of his control. Trowa blamed him for the disappearance of Cathy, Heero blamed him for missing his chance with Relena by being as what Wufei called a cock block, and Wufie just screamed at Duo for all of the little annoyances he could think of. None of them at the time had realized that they were just taking their anger out on him simply because he was always the happiest and was known to bounce right back. But the problem was that he didn't bounce back, in fact the others had missed that he was falling into an abyss of his own and having blamed himself for so many deaths that now haunted him all he wanted was acceptance. But when he needed acceptance the most, he found none, instead he found he was rejected by his so called friends. Quatre had even suggested he leave for a few days to give the guys some space and blow off some steam so that they can think about all of this rationally. So Duo did just that, he left, but he never came back again. Instead he left a note saying:

Im sorry, ill leave, don't worry about finding me I understand now where I stand in your eyes and I cant say I blame you.

Hope you all find peace and happiness.

Know that I love you all.

Shinigami

After that Quatre had desperately looked for Duo and finally was able to get an address. He would write him letters when ever he could to tell the pilot how sorry they all were and that they didn't mean it and wanted to come home. In mostly all the letters he apologized for not being able to come and see Duo personally because he was so busy with his large corporations he ran. Duo on the other hand had seen it as an excuses to ease the small blonde's conscience.

Duo looked at the letter in his hand and sighed. He threw it in the junk mail already knowing its contents. He felt no need to read a letter he would not be reciprocating. He continued on through his mail and stopped, in his hand there was an invitation from the "preventers." He opened it and began to read it. As he finished up a loud knock came from the door. "MAXWELL! I KNOW YOUR IN THERE! I WANT MY FUCKING MONEY! I WARNED YOU LAST TIME!" All color drained from Duo's face. Last time his land lord threatened to break both legs with a baseball bat and tell everyone that a gundam was in the building, this would surely cause a riot that he knew he couldn't possibly escape. So he opted for the next best option, grabbing the letter in his hand he began stuffing his duffle with what little he owned. His haste increased as the door began to come off the hinges because of the insistent ramming. He through his bag out the window and followed soon after jumping from the second story. With a thud and a roll he stood and grab his bag and ran as fast and far as his legs could take him.