"Baby, that's what love is all about

Two hearts that find a way, somehow

To keep the fire burning

It's something we could never live without

If it takes forever

We can work it out

Beyond a shadow of a doubt

Baby, that's what love is all about..."

-- Michael Bolton, "That's What Love is All About"

Duo twirled the pencil around on his chin. He was nervous, rightfully so. He'd never been really great with words, at least ones that...well...had so much weight to them. Mostly, it had been, "Hey, Fei. How's life?" or "Jeeze, Fei, when are you going to get that stick out of your butt and LIGHTEN UP!" or "Dammit, Fei, stop being so STUBBORN!!". He sighed, beginning to write again.

Wufei,

I wish this wasn't so hard, I wish I wasn't so nervous. But God, Fei, I'm scared. I'm scared that if I tell you how I feel, you'll hate me. I suppose it's too late for that, since you're already reading this note. Fei, I--

"Duo! I'm locking up for the night!" Lady Une's voice made him jump. "Go home, would you? You've been working double shifts, and you need some rest. Even Wufei's been complaining."

Duo sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

The building was silent again, leaving Duo alone with his thoughts.

Fei, I love you. I know, I sound like a lunatic. I can hear you now, laughing about what an idiot I am. But Wufei, you have no idea how much you mean to me. Heero and Trowa and Quatre, they're all great. But Fei...Every time you leave on a mission, I worry. I'm so afraid you'll leave, and won't come back. I have to tell you this now, so if that day comes, when one of us leaves and doesn't come back...We'll both have this out in the open.

Half an hour passed, and Duo was finally satisfied with the fifth draft of his letter. As the clock struck 10, he stuffed the paper in a little envelope, scrawled Wufei's name on it, and rushed out the door. He had no idea how much it would have meant if he'd stayed a few minutes more.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Duo was more than halfway home, when he realized he had left the note on his desk.

"Oh my God..." he groaned through clenched teeth, "Oh. My. God...how stupid can I get?!" He momentarily debated on whether it was worth it to go allllll the way back to HQ, unlock the doors, turn off the alarm, trudge BACK up the steps, get the note, trudge back down the steps, lock everything, turn the alarm back on...

"Screw it," he muttered, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his Preventers jacket. "It's not like I won't see him tomorrow...just...screw it."

Duo sighed, and continued to shuffle down the walk. Yes, he would see Wufei tomorrow...and the day after that and the day after that...but tomorrow...would he really have the courage to knock on Wufei's office door, pop in, hand him the letter, and watch him read it while valiantly praying Wufei wouldn't turn ZERO on him?

Probably not.

And if he did give Wufei the letter, he'd see ZERO Wufei every day, for the rest of his life...

"Gagh!" Duo violently shook his head and snorted with disgust, "I've gone mad!" he proclaimed to the wind, "Stark raving maaaaaddddd!"

And with that, he walked straight into the lamppost.

"See, it's official," he muttered. "I'm talking to myself, AND I walk into a lamppost. There's gotta be another symptom of insanity that's about to rear its ugly little face."

Using the offending lamppost as a support, he removed himself from the pavement. As he turned the corner, he could swear he hear someone sneaking up behind him. Someone very large, carrying a very nice deadly weapon.

Duo smacked his forehead. "Oh, see, there's the other sign of insanity. Paranoia. As soon as I see another personality, I'm calling in sick."

As he paused at the corner where the main street of downtown met the alley, he looked around carefully and listened. VW Beetles and Ferraris whizzed by, women dressed in sparkling tops and leather pants led themselves into dance clubs, and police officers on patrol stood nearby, looking particularly cranky. Yes, all was well.

"It's just my subconscious going on Red Alert," said Duo, waving at the officer. "There's no way anyone would DARE follow Shinigami home, anyway."

No sooner had the words left his mouth then his braid was yanked roughly from behind, and the harsh kick of a combat boot went slamming into his spine. Completely unprepared, Duo went tumbling forward, tripping over his own feet and landing in the gutter.

"That's what you think, you little punk," growled the attacker. Half hidden by the shadows of the night, his features became blurred. He was large, heavily built with thick muscles and a neck the size of a ham. If that wasn't reason enough to panic, in his hands was...well, a very long, unusually shaped gun. Specifically, the gun issued only to Preventers officers. Duo was now very, VERY scared.

"You have no idea what you've done to humanity. They need war." The man's voice was cold, deep, "You think you've created paradise, but all you've done is made more conflict. Have you even watched the news lately? You and that Asian freak's faces have been plastered all over it for WEEKS."

Duo scrambled to his feet, reaching for his gun. He was terrified when he realized that it wasn't in its holster. His eyes widened, and he instinctively began to walk backwards.

"Okay..." he said slowly, raising his hands up a tad, "Okay. Let's talk this out..."

"'Talk this out'?!" the man repeated, with a hint of amusement coloring his voice, "'Talk this out'. Talk what out?!"

For lack of anything to really say, Duo remained silent.

"Why didn't you 'talk' anything out, instead of blowing it to pieces with that damn Gundam of yours, eh?" the man demanded, "You have such pretty speeches about pacifism, but you contradict yourself! Don't you see?" he growled, "Don't you see?? Words can't solve a thing! Not when you can back up your ideas with the forces of a mobile suit! Trying to lead humanity into peace is crazy! They can't talk sense into themselves! They NEED to be violent!"

Preventers Officer Shot by Rampaging Philosopher...Duo shook the grim image out of his mind. He had places to be, people to meet, and things to do tomorrow! He could not afford to get himself killed tonight! Where in the hell had that policeman gone??

"The only way to save humanity is to get rid of the problems," his attacker said matter-of-factly, raising his gun, "One of which just happens to be you."

Duo had trained for years to become a Gundam pilot. He instincts were dead accurate, his reflexes top-notch, and everything had been honed until he had become almost the perfect soldier.

And now...every one of his reflexes had just failed him.

Funny, Duo mused as he began to crumple down to the pavement. When did he shoot?

The policeman, who had been in dispose breaking up a fight in a nightclub, did a double take when he heard the sound of gunfire and saw the Preventers jacket go crumpling to the ground. Before you could say Walker, Texas Ranger, the officer had his radio on to alert his teammates around the corner, and he was running so hard his heartbeat was thudding clearly in his ears.

As three other squad cars pulled up to the alley, the policeman used his best move and swung out a leg, tripping the thug with the gun. Things went incredibly fast, and the man had been handcuffed to a squad car before the officer had time to take a deep breath. In the heat of the moment and the adrenaline in his veins, he almost forgot about the Preventer that he'd seen fall to the ground. He knelt down at the man's side.

'Hell!!' thought the officer. 'That's not a man, that's a kid! What's someone this young doing with the Preventers?'

Bells went off in his head. 'Oh God...This is the kid who's been working his ass off with that cult in Russia...No, he can't die, not on my watch.'

"Mr. Maxwell! Mr. Maxwell! Say something!" pleaded the officer urgently. "Please, sir! Hang on, there's an ambulance on the way."

Duo was beginning to get dizzy. All of the lights from the squad cars and fire trucks were starting to blur together. The police officer at his side was mouthing something, looking terrified.

'He probably hates himself, because he wasn't here in time,' thought Duo. He felt his heart slow down, and the blue and red and yellow lights were replaced by a brilliant light one.

Duo wanted to hang on, just long enough for the ambulance to pick him up, but it was no use. He was so tired, and the hole in his chest was throbbing and oozing at an incredible rate.

"Wufei...I'm sorry...I love you..." he whispered softly, almost inaudibly. As his body went limp, the officer let out a sob. Another gunned down in the line of duty. It was sick.

He pulled out his radio. "Chief...Yes, it's Marx. The ambulance has arrived, but it won't help....Ma'am, call in the Forensic Office. And Preventer Chang. There's something between them. Don't ask me how I know."

He placed his hand on the heart of the fallen Preventer. "I just do."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Another day, another headache.

Wufei sighed wearily and plunked his keys onto the apartment coffee table. Six reports due. Three terrorist groups that needed taken out. Two hours of Sally cajoling him to take a lunch break. Four computer crashes. Eight empty boxes of donuts. One crabby-ass boss lady. The perfect recipe for a bad day.

What he needed was a cup of really strong coffee and about a dozen aspirin to put this day behind him.

Wufei trudged into his kitchen and flipped the light switch. The bulb burst. He groaned and trudged back out. He wasn't going to bother. No, no, no. Why drink coffee when he could just bang his head into the wall over and over? At least that didn't involve electricity.

Wufei shuffled over to the bathroom and pulled open the medicine cabinet's door...which promptly smacked him in the face. Okay, maybe drugs weren't going to be too helpful today either. He reached back and pulled the elastic from his hair and (slowly) shook his head. At least that helped his headache a bit.

"Today can't get worse," he mumbled to himself as he massaged his temples, "It's not humanly possible."

In lieu of a cold shower, which was the first thing that came to mind, he shuffled into the bathroom slowly. He reached out a hand, and turned on the faucet in the sink and let the icy water spray out. He cupped his hands and mercilessly splashed it all over his face, getting water in his hair and on his uniform. Three times, four times, five times. Finally satisfied with his torture, he shut off the faucet and blearily rubbed his eyes with tired fingers. He wasn't any more awake, but he was pretty damn cold now.

Wufei shuffled back out of the bathroom and stood quietly in the hallway. The only sounds were the ticking of the huge mantle clock and his steady breathing. He enjoyed the quiet, so unlike the mood of the rest of his day.

Finally, the silence was pierced by the chiming of the huge clock, which alerted him to the fact that it was 10 o'clock on the nose.

He sighed a deflated sigh. He was too awake to go to sleep, but too tired to actually do anything that require thought or movement. An idea dawned on him, and he almost smacked himself for not thinking of it sooner. If he couldn't think, and he couldn't sleep, the least he could do was meditate.

"Time to get out of the restricting...ungh...jacket," he said, slowly unbuttoning it and tossing it carelessly on the couch. Against his better judgment, because a cold chill was running down his spine, he removed his shirt and tossed it aside as well. If he was going to do this, he might as well do it right.

Wufei settled down amongst his favorite cushions that he had stashed into a corner of his apartment and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, then another, and willed himself to relax.

The tension from his whole crappy day instantly vaporized and Wufei's muscles turned into Grade A goo. He sagged into the pillows and sighed. Bliss! Bliss! He had found bliss in a pile of two dollar pillows!!

Okay. So it wasn't quite meditating. But being sprawled out on the floor was relaxing. What would Duo say if he could see Wufei now, completely lax and dead to the world?

Duo, and his beautiful amethyst eyes...Duo and his incredibly powerful mango and starfruit shampoo...Duo and his carefree attitude...Duo the womanizer...

Wufei groaned as he felt all the tension he had just gotten rid of slam back into him at full force. He just had to think about Duo, didn't he? He just HAD to. Everyone knew that nothing was more stressful than musing over unrequited love and what had he gone off and done?? Mused over unrequited love!

"Gagh..." Wufei snorted in disgust and painfully pulled himself back up to his feet. Okay, so "meditating" hadn't helped. Time for the big guns. (so to speak)

He needed his katana.

Nothing made life's little problems go away like swinging around a sharp, pointy, and deadly object. He didn't even want to practice. He just wanted to have something lethal in his hands to tackle stress.

He shuffled toward the chest in the corner, dragging his feet and stubbing a toe on a misplaced desk chair. He let out a very nasty string of words about where the chair could spend the rest of its eternity, and what anatomical things it could do to itself, if it had the parts to do so.

Assured that all offending furniture was scared enough to leave him be, he nodded to himself and unlocked the beautifully carved chest with the flick of a finger. It was an antique, shipped from China and dated back hundreds of years. Much like the relic he produced when he put his hands inside.

Wufei ran a finger down the long, cold blade and turned it around to give it a good look. Yes, the shimmering blade and carved hilt looked the same as they had the last time he'd taken it out. He remembered just how it had been acquired, and he smiled despite himself. Duo had gotten it for him, stealing it from Treize's private office as a birthday present... Duo. Dammit, why couldn't he stop thinking about Duo?!

"Unrequited love SUCKS!" he proclaimed, expertly swinging the katana over his head. It felt good to let that out, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Why does it have to be Duo?!" he shouted again, grasping the sword and taking a slice out of the corner of his couch. "Why does this have to HURT?!"

He swung again, slicing the chair from earlier into two neat halves. This felt very good, and he wondered why he didn't take stress out on his furniture more often.

"Why do the gods fuckin' HATE me?!" he cried, swinging again and shattering a potted plant. Somewhere in his mind, he knew he was out of control, but it didn't matter.

His hair swung violently over his head as he screamed again, lashing out violently.

"Why is it Duo?! Why can't I tell him?! WHY?!"

This time he took out the small coffee table, chopping it into not two pieces, but four.

A lamp fell to the floor, breaking at the base but not shattering. His car keys went flying, skidding into the dark kitchen. And a picture of Duo, in a tiny gold frame, went crashing to the floor. The glass shattered, glistening in the half-hidden moonlight from behind the curtains.

He sucked in air heavily, trying to regain control. He let go of his sword with shaking hands, and brushed hair out of his face. Well, at least he wasn't tense anymore...

The katana hit the floor with a loud -CLANG!- and just like that, Wufei's sanity snapped right back into place.

"I did want to get rid of that coffee table," he muttered as he turned to the broom closet for his ever-handy, triple strength Dust Buster Pro. His eyes landed on the ruined picture frame peeking out from under his curtains.

Wufei felt the blood drain from his face, "Oh no," he breathed and quickly kneeled down, "Nononono..."

Duo smiled serenely at him from underneath the shattered glass.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Wufei repeated over and over as he carefully picked the glass shards from the frame, "Oh, gods, I'm so sorry..."

The picture was nothing special---hell, Duo probably didn't even know he had it. It was one of Sally's famed "prank shots" of Duo sleeping on the job, and smiling in his sleep. Wufei had begged Sally for the picture because he knew, oh he knew, it was the only part of Duo he could ever have.

He pulled the snapshot from what was left of the frame and gently brushed his fingers over Duo's face, "I'm sorry," he whispered again, "I'm so sorry..."

Glass crinkled underneath his boots as a sharp reminder of what his berserk rampage had cost him.

He tenderly placed the picture on the arm of what was left of his chair and stood. Time to get the Dust Buster and clean up.

The vid-phone rang.

He had half a mind to slice the vid-phone into many pieces; twenty, at least. But something in the deep bottom of his stomach told him that the call was important, his mess could wait. He snatched his shirt from the mangled couch, slipped it over his head, and crunched his way into the kitchen.

The vid-phone rang for a few more seconds before he brought his hand down, hard, on the vid-phone. In the dark room, still minus a working lightbulb, the screen glared at him. He had to blink a few times before his eyes focused.

Hello?" he said, blinking. He couldn't tell who was on the other end; they kept pacing back and forth and he couldn't see their head. The setting looked suspiciously like Une's office But...No, whoever was calling him was crying. Une didn't cry, in public, and never that hard.

"Hellooooo?" he tried again.

The figure stopped pacing and stared him down.

"Oh...my..." said Wufei numbly.

It was Une, he was sure, and yet...he wasn't so sure. The office was Une's, and the glasses were Une's, but oh, everything else was so out of place. Her face was red and flushed and glistening with salty streaks. Her eyes were red, too, and as she put her hand on the table, he noticed her knuckles were bloody.

"Une, what....?" he stammered, eyes widening like teacups. "Why are you calling? And what the fuck happened to you?"

And he knew.

"Oh...gods..." his voice caught, and he had to swallow a few times to regain his voice, "No..."

From the other side of the vid-screen, Une nodded solemnly nodded, "It's Duo..."

Wufei's fingers tightened around the edges of the vid-phone console, "How...?" he managed to croak out.

"A mugger," Une sniffled and scrubbed furiously scrubbed at her eyes underneath her glasses, "A fucking mugger..."

"A mugger?!" Wufei whispered incredulously. A ~mugger~?? A weak, dishonorable MUGGER was responsible for taking away...

...taking away...

It finally hit him full force.

Wufei's knees gave out and he clutched at the vid-phone's console with a death-grip.

Duo...was...

Gone.

He was alone.

And Duo would never know about...

"Where?" he whispered. "Where did it happen?" Duo was gone...He was alone...Duo was gone...His knuckles turned white as he gripped the phone harder.

"Corner of Delancy Alley and Lucas Street, by the Technicolor Smoke dance club," she sniffed again, taking off her glasses and wiping them off with a silk handkerchief. "Duo was on his way home...I shooed him out, I wouldn't let him work any longer. You two both looked so tired..."

Wufei listened partially as Une gave him the facts dabbing her eyes and blowing her nose here and there. The mugger was angry, angry and him and Duo and Preventers and peace and everything...

Duo was dead. The thought made him physically sick. His mind rushed through the day hour by hour; what had he said? How had he talked? Did he yell at Duo today? If only he could have the day back again...

"--fei. Wufei, are you listening?" said Une. He blinked, snapping out of the film that was today's memory.

"I'm sorry, Une, say that again?" he said, swallowing.

"They haven't...cleaned the scene yet. Police are getting eyewitness accounts, forensics are taking pictures. I know this sounds sick, and you obviously don't have to, but do you want to go down and...see him?" she said.

Wufei trembled. Just waltz on downtown and see Duo being fussed over by a bunch of do-gooders and lackeys?

Dammit, not Duo! he corrected himself, Duo was dead! It wouldn't be Duo! Duo didn't lay on pavement, and profusely bleed! Duo smiled! Duo laughed! Duo called him all sorts of stupid nicknames like "Fei-babe" and "Wu-kitty" and "'Fei-'Fei"! Duo...Duo...Duo...

Wufei released the phone and slid to the floor, tears streaking down his flushed cheeks. He pulled his knees up to his chest and slowly began to rock, "I couldn't tell him," he whispered, "Fuck me, but I couldn't tell him..."

"Wufei??" said Une's considerably less-than-calm voice from above him, "Wufei??"

"I couldn't tell him..." he said again. He felt his keys against his hand and he quickly snatched them up, "I'm going..." he stood, and didn't even bother to hide the tears when he turned back to the screen, "I'm going down there. I have to...see..."

Une nodded miserably and cut the link.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Wufei took a few cautious steps away from his car and toward the scene. Police officers and office lackeys from the crime scene lab buzzed around him, but he didn't bother to greet them. He just flashed his badge and they let him pass. With every step, the knot in his stomach got tighter and tighter, and he was afraid he was going to be sick...

He stopped suddenly when he came to the border of yellow tape. He made a sort of half squeak, half sob when he saw Duo's body under the sickly pale glow of the old street lamp. His body was splayed on the cold concrete, arms and legs spread apart. His chest was soaked with blood, and it pooled under him like red rainwater.

"Duo..." he said shakily. "Oh, Duo..."

He bit hard on his lip, so hard that he tasted a tiny trickle of blood. No, he couldn't cry in public, not now...It was okay if he cried at home, but if all of these people saw him...

All Wufei could do was stare as the crime scene lackeys took pictures and scribbled on their clipboards in their routine fashion. It was just another graveyard shift for them. He wanted to scream at them, ask them if they knew just whose dead body they were looking at. But he was silent, gripping the tape until his knuckles were white.

Duo was dead.

"Wufei?"

Wufei started as a hand brushed against his shoulder. Lady Une quickly withdrew, as though she had been burnt by the contact.

"What are you doing here?" Wufei demanded sharply. Inwardly, he winced at his tone. He must have been high strung to be so snappy. Lady Une had been Duo's friend as well as his employer. She was allowed to do whatever she wanted!

Une didn't flinch, "I thought you could use the company," she said quietly and turned to where Duo lay, "Such a waste," she murmured.

"'Waste'?!" Wufei repeated incredulously, "Duo is lying there, and all you can say is it's a 'waste'?!"

Several of the crime scene lackeys glanced up at him from their notepads to fix him with a curious stare. He didn't care.

"And I didn't tell him goodbye earlier," he said sadly. "I stormed out of the office without so much as a 'see you tomorrow'. Gods, what a dumbass I am..."

Une shook her head, long hair swishing back and forth. "How could you know? How could you know you wouldn't be able to say 'good morning' the next day?"

Wufei let out a heavy sigh. Une looked at her knuckles, wrapped in white bandages.

"I didn't believe it, when I got the call," she said. "And then I got angry. I turned to my wall and I punched it again and again. It wasn't true; Duo Maxwell wouldn't dare die on me..."

She swallowed a lump in her throat. "But he did. He died on me."

She chuckled, and then winced. What an awful time to laugh. "And you know what he'd say right now? He'd yell at us for crying over him like this. He'd tell us not to waste our time. He was the God of Death, was he not? He'd pop back to life and show us it was just a joke, just fake blood on his shirt. Ketchup, even..."

He slipped under the yellow tape and past the lackeys who averted their eyes and looked down, fascinated by their shoes all of a sudden. He bent over and felt Duo's neck for a pulse with a shaky hand. Nothing. He hadn't expected to find one, but there was a little hope that Une was right and it was just a joke...

"Why did you have to die tonight?" he whispered. "Why did you die before I could tell you?"

He let his fingers trail over Duo's cheek, his jaw, his chin. He was so cold. Wufei shivered. It just didn't seem right! Duo had always been so bubbly, so perky...he should've been warm! Warm and...alive.

Wufei glanced down at the hole in Duo's chest and grimaced. He hadn't even been given a painless death. Blown away, like some common bystander. Wufei growled low in his throat. Oh, how he would love to meet the coward who had done this!

"Wufei?"

Wufei blinked away the tears (when had those formed?), and looked back up. His eyes locked with Une's. She studied him for a moment, and then, her hands suddenly flew to her mouth.

"Oh my God," she whispered and kneeled down next to him, "Oh my God..."

"What?" Wufei asked, genuinely confused. He realized that he was still stroking Duo's face, and quickly pulled his hand away, "What?"

"You were in love with him," she said quietly, in light of her epiphany, "Weren't you?"

Wufei opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off as Une wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, "Oh, Wufei," she murmured into his shoulder, "Oh, Wufei..."

He stiffened in Une's grasp. He was aware of every pair of eyes on them, drilling holes in his back. He couldn't be weak, not in a moment like this...

Wufei let out a sob and hung his head. "Yes..."

He began to shudder with every sob. "I loved him. I loved him and I was too afraid to tell him..."

"Wufei, I'm sorry," Une said, barely above a whisper. "I'm so sorry..."

A lackey by the name of Sanders poked his teammate, Johnson, on the shoulder. Both had their eyes glued to the two Preventers who were, for lack of a better word, cuddling near the body.

"I think we should leave," whispered Sanders. "We're done here, and Une will probably eat our balls for breakfast if she knows we're eavesdropping. The coroner will come back for the body soon, anyway..."

Johnson nodded, blinking. "Yeah. It's none of our buisness, anyway."

Wufei continued to sob softly as Une held him, still kneeling next to Duo's cold body.

"It's not fair," he moaned. "Duo was so...alive! It doesn't seem possible that he could be...he could be..."

"Ssshhh, Wufei," Une said, as she started to rub small circles into his back, "Ssshhh...it'll be okay..."

Wufei laughed bitterly, "How? The worse thing that could've happened if I had told him..." he burrowed his face into Une's shoulder, and clenched her uniform jacket with trembling fists, "Now? I don't even get rejection! What the fuck was I so afraid of??" Wufei punched at the shoulder he was sobbing into and Une bit her lip to keep from crying out, "What the fuck was I so afraid of..."

Wufei sagged into her embrace, defeated and exhausted.

"Wufei..." Une said quietly after a moment, "Wufei, I'm taking you back to my apartment, okay?" she tilted his tear-streaked face to look at her, "Okay?" she repeated. Like the lackeys, Une knew the coroner would be coming, and she knew that the last thing Wufei really needed right now was to see Duo treated as little more than a large slab of meat.

Wufei wordlessly nodded.

"Okay," Une painfully rose to her feet, Wufei still clinging to her like a life-line. Who knew? Maybe she was. She pulled her cell-phone from her jacket pocket, and pressed the speed-dial.

"Mrrf...'lo?"

"My place," she said curtly, "Now," she flipped the phone shut and looked back down to the boy attached to her, "Let's go, Wufei. Sally will be waiting for us."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Angels, by default, usually have calm tempers. They are very cool and collected. They are good under pressure. However, Michael was not a default sort of angel.

"This is an outrage! Absolutely absurd! This has to be violating some sort of code we have! Or a Commandment! Or something! Positively ridiculous! He can't do this!"

Smoke turned her soft gray eyes upward. "Father, can't you ~please~ shut his yap? He's been yelling like this for hours, and my ears can only take so much..."

Now now, he has every right to be angry. His was always the voice of reason. I'm not so happy

myself...

Smoke sighed. "Yes, but Father, you don't ~yell~ like he does..."

Michael brushed one long strand of white hair out of his eyes. "C'mon, Smoke, you aren't helping!"

She rubbed her temples. "What am I supposed to do? You're yelling pretty well all by yourself. You obviously don't need my help."

Michael stared her down. Boy, when those bright blue eyes got hold of you, you were stuck. They stared at each other for what seemed like endless moments.

"You're angry," he said simply, breaking the gaze.

Smoke nodded. "Well, of course I'm angry. He's decided to try it again."

Michael grumbled something inaudibly.

Now, Michael, you know I agree, but try using another type of language...

Smoke giggled, and Michael ~looked~ at her again. She put both hands over her mouth and snorted. Somewhere above them, they could hear faint chuckling.

There was a moment of silence. Suddenly, Michael's went wide, and he gripped his chest as if his

immortality depended on it.

"Michael, what is it?" said Smoke urgently.

"He's coming..." was all Michael could say before the sky literally exploded around them both.

There was a blinding flash of light...

And somewhere, a door slammed.

The angels were used to such shows. Standard procedure and all. But the braided, black, and bumfoozled figure that had been unceremoniously plopped before them was not. Wide amethyst eyes blinked in confusion, as the poor boy tried to get his bearings.

"What in the FUCK just HAPPENED?!"

"Language, Mr. Maxwell," Smoke chided absently, "Our Father doesn't always appreciate such words."

Duo gaped at her for a moment, before he returned to gaping at his surroundings. Where was he? Where was the mugger?? Had the ambulance been on time after all? But if that were the case, then what kind of freakish hospital was he in?? And what had happened to the--

Duo's tore open his jacket and he looked down. No massive hole. No oozing blood. It was almost like nothing had happened...

"Am I...?" he swallowed dryly, not able to finish the thought.

"Yes," Michael said bluntly, "You are."

"Dead?" Duo squeaked.

"That's usually how you get here."

"Oh...God..."

"Yes, He's here too," Michael inclined his head upwards, but Duo didn't see him.

Duo was too busy staring at his now-shaking-hands. Dead. DEAD. Cut down. Snuffed out. Wiped out of existence. Gone. Kaput. Finito. Deceased. Forever.

Duo moaned. Une was going to have a conniption over the mound of paperwork he had left behind.

Paperwork...paper...the letter...

"'Fei..." he murmured. It looked like he wouldn't have to worry about Wufei going ZERO on him for that letter after all.

"Needs your help."

The white-haired angel kneeled before Duo, and took him by the shoulders. Duo started, "What?"

"Wufei," Michael repeated, "He's going to need your help."

"Why?"

Michael sighed, "It's a long story, Mr. Maxwell, but let me start out by saying... you're not supposed to be here."

Duo scrunched up his face. "Excuse me?"

"He said, 'You're not supposed to be here, Mr. Maxwell,'" said Smoke. "I do hope we won't have to keep repeating ourselves..."

Now now, Smoke. Give him a break. He's a little shocked, mm? He was trying to sound admonishing, but it just didn't work. The smile in His voice was obvious.

Duo jumped about a foot. "Who...was ~that~??"

Michael stared at him. "Why, God, of course. What, you were expecting Groucho Marx?"

"I shot an elephant in my pajamas this morning..." muttered Smoke, looking down at her feet and smiling.

"How it got into my pajamas I'll never know," finished Michael. They both began to chuckle.

"Look, I'm glad this is so amusing, but I have to remind you...I'm DEAD!" exploded Duo, flailing his arms around. "And you're telling me I ~shouldn't~ be??"

That's about the gist of it, yes.

Smoke sighed. "It's a long, complicated story. You want the whole thing, or the sound bites version?"

Duo folded his arms. "It's not like I'm going anywhere," he said.

Michael bit his lip to keep from smiling. "He has a point, you know."

"See, Mr. Maxwell---"

"Just call me Duo," he said.

"Fine." Smoke began to pace back and forth. "See, Duo, God and the Devil have this little feud going on."

So now it's a little feud, is it?

"Okay, it's not a little feud," she said. "It's a huge feud. Enormous. Gargantuan. Behemoth. Better, Father?"

Much.

"Wonderful. At any rate, the Devil may be an ass, but he's not stupid. Getting the Father all pissed is a rather stupid idea. Of course, being the nutcase that he is, sometimes he gets bored and needs to...vent his frustrations."

"'Vent his frustrations'?!" Duo repeated incredulously, "'VENT his FRUSTRATIONS'?!"

"Yes," Michael said with a nod off his head, "Vent his frustrations. So, being the ass that he is, he goes after you."

Several awkward squawks that were supposed to be words escaped from Duo's throat.

"Is a random mugging enough to entertain him? Well, no, not really," Michael continued, ignoring the spluttering Duo, "He's a great fan of melodrama you know. What's more melodramatic than the shattering of a great love affair right before its conception?"

"Why he can't be content with cable or something akin to that, I'll never know," Smoke grumbled darkly.

Duo tried to assemble his thoughts into some semblance of sanity. The Devil was bored and had decided to kill him?? Was it really that...that...dumb?? Did his life really mean so little in the cosmic balance of things?! And Hell could get cable?!

"Why...?" he managed to say, "Out of everyone on the planet, why in the FUCK did he choose me?!" Duo feverently wished he had something to throw for emphasis. It wasn't fair! He had been snuffed out by a whim! It wasn't fair! It wasn't!

"He chose you..." Smoke took a deep breath before continuing, "He chose you because you're in love."

"See, here's where it gets all messy and junk," said Michael. "The Devil is constantly trying to turn the Earth into a nasty little ball of scum and decay. But God, being the much more powerful and intelligent being that he is, always manages to squash it before it becomes a problem."

"The only way he could avoid confronting God is to have someone do the dirty work for him." Smoke rubbed her forehead. "The whole concept is enough to give even the greatest minds a headache---"

"We should know. I asked Einstein about it just the other day," interrupted Michael.

"Do you ~mind~, Michael??" said Smoke. "The concept is basically this: all of the energy required for mass destruction such as what he wants needs a vessel. Something like a TV antennae, or a lightning rod, or whatever."

That's why Wufei needs your help. He was no longer amused. It was safe to say that He was very peeved, in fact. He wants to use Wufei as the vessel.

"He's a wreck right now, which makes him the perfect target," continued Smoke. "The Devil will use every nasty trick in the book to win Wufei on his side; offer him things like power and eternal life..."

"You." Smoke stared at Duo, pointing one delicate finger at him.

Duo's eyes widened. "Me?? Why me?"

Smoke let out an exasperated sigh. "Men, you're so bloody dense..."

He loves you. Duh.

It was certainly unnerving for Duo to hear God say "duh". Especially since he hadn't believed in a God until five minutes before.

"And if he becomes a vessel..." Michael's eyes looked very sad. "He'll die."

Duo blinked. Once. Twice. He let out the breath he had been holding. He gave the end of his braid a solid yank in a last ditch attempt to wake up. "Soooo...let me get this straight: the Devil wants to take over the world, so he waxes me to make my 'Fei an emotional wreck, and that will make 'Fei a buffer for death and destruction and---wait! Wufei ~loves~ me?!"

Smoke slapped her forehead with her hand, "Didn't He just say that?!"

"My 'Fei. My 'Fei. The honorable, justice-raving, tightwad, Chang Wufei, loves ~me~?"

"Yessssssss," Smoke hissed in exasperation, "Shall I spell it out for you? He LOVES you! You LOVE him! What is so difficult to understand here?!"

Smoke...

"And they all say that ~I'm~ the irrational one..." Michael muttered under his breath.

The outrage at being the Devil's pawn, the shock of waking up dead, all the negative emotions that had been racing through Duo's system vaporized. A slow, rather goofy looking grin started to spread across his face as realization finally began to sink in.

"He loved me," Duo said softly. "He loved me..."



"Loves you," Michael corrected, "He loves you. And if you love him---"

"Why us?" Duo interrupted in the same quiet monotone, "Out of everyone out there, why us?"

Why not? You were just lucky. He's never really needed a reason for anything before.

"What do I have to do?" Duo asked quietly.

"Stop him from giving himself up to the Devil," said Smoke. "And ~yes~, it really is that simple."

"And how do I do that? I hate repeating myself as much as you do, but I'm dead," Duo pointed out.

We'll make you an angel.

"You...can do that?" said Duo. "I thought angels were just created."

"We are," said Michael.

"He's God, for pity's sake, he can bend the rules however he wants!" sighed Smoke. "I can see this will be a long week..."

I heard that.

"I know," replied Smoke. "You hear ~everything~."

"Becoming an angel...Does it hurt?"

"Of course not!" exclaimed Michael. "You think He would do it if it hurt?"

"How should I know?? I didn't believe there ~was~ a God until I ended up here!" said Duo.

But you believe in Me now?

"How could I not?" Duo sighed. "I may be a little slow, but I'm not stupid. I can see what's happening right in front of me."

"Then why didn't you realize that Wufei loved you?" Smoke asked him, softly.

Duo opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. His mind reeled, and flung him back to every "Baka Maxwell!", every smirk, every other peculiar nuance Wufei had displayed only for him. Yeah, he called Sally a "Baka onna", he smirked every now and then at Une, but...there had always been something more when it came to him. Duo always thought he had been hallucinating.

"Idiot," he chided himself softly. Duo took a deep breath and looked upwards for the deity he couldn't see, "I'll do it," he said, surprised at the confidence in his voice. "I'm a fool, but not enough of a fool not to see a second chance when it's given to me."

For some reason, Smoke winced. Michael allowed his eyes to close. Even His So be it, was tinged with a hint of regret.

Duo refused the urge to ask. He had screwed up too much with Wufei in life. But he could fix it! He could!

"Duo..." Michael said quietly, "It isn't exactly a second chance. Even if you save him...you can't still be with him."

Duo's breath caught in his throat.

"Are you still so willing?"

Even if he saved Wufei...fate was unbearably cruel. He loved Wufei. Yes, he did. But did he love him enough to be without him? Could he put himself through this? Could he put his 'Fei through this?

"Yes," Duo swallowed, "Anything for my 'Fei."

Well then...Okay.

Before Duo could ask what happened next, he felt a little twinge in his chest. His vision slowly began to blur, and there were two Michaels and two Smokes, and two of something else he couldn't quite place. His breathing slowed down, and he was vaguely aware that he was falling backwards. Neither Smoke or Michael moved, however, to try and stop his fall.

Hands that Duo could not see...that he could feel, rather, caught his shoulders before he hit the floor. They seemed to be cupping him from behind, like he was a fragile baby bird. Michael had been right, it wasn't painful. In fact, it was just about the opposite.

That's when he felt the creaking, the stretching, the pulling. His arms, legs, chest, they were all changing shape and size. He wanted to protest, but it didn't feel so much wrong as it did...different.

You have to make a distinction between what you were and what you are, Duo Maxwell.

Somewhere in his relaxed and befuddled mind, Duo knew it made sense. He could almost feel his hair growing, the braid becoming nearly twice as long as it had been before. His age seemed to be progressing faster and faster...until finally, it stopped. The hands seemed to set him down, and his breathing returned to normal. When his vision became normal, he saw one of Smoke and one of Michael smiling at him, with a mixture of

sadness and happiness.

"You're one of us now, Duo Maxwell," said Michael.

"Yeah...Yeah, I guess I am." Even his voice had changed. "I guess I don't have to be the God of Death anymore."

That's right. Those days are over. There's only one God around here.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sally desperately fumbled for the light switch. In the middle of a wonderful dream about a beautiful rock star and a tank of chocolate fudge, her phone had dragged her kicking and screaming from the bliss. She was not amused, and Une was certainly going to get an

earful.

...If she could just find the damn light switch! Finally, she gave up and stumbled around in her room in the dark.

"Oh, she's going to regret this, alright," Sally muttered bitterly. "Being the weakling that I am, I need sleep. And lots of it. Superbeings like Une do not need sleep. Therefore, they can demand that their employees forgo slumber and do her bidding at the drop of a hat. Sometimes, this job just sucks."

Thankful that she had been tired enough to sleep in a T-shirt and sweat pants, she had no need to change. If this was urgent, then screw the formality of nice clothes. She snatched her keys off the dresser, slipped on a pair of sandals, and stalked out of her apartment. For a moment, the hall was silent. Sally came stalking back up to her apartment and slammed the door, as if there was anything to steal in her tiny living quarters. She turned on her heels and waited for the elevator to arrive on her floor, tapping her foot impatiently. Une had better have a damn good reason for this, or she would be acting like Wufei-on-ZERO for the remainder of the week.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Whew. One chapter down. Much, much, MUCH more to come. And it ain't pretty kids. Well, it is in a sadistic, angsty bishie-type of way but...oh, you know what I mean.

Disclaimer: The Boys don't belong to us, the G-girls don't belong to us...basically, anyone in here you've heard of, they don't belong to us.

Stay tuned! ^_^

~AngelAnne & Mars