Love Lost - ONE
Copyright June 2001
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters, and I don't claim to. All I own is this story. (Although I wish I owned Duo. ^_^)
The sound of ragged breathing filled the dark cockpit with its coarseness as a young man struggled for air. Weariness hung all around, but a sense of victory also pervaded the tiny space. After the young man's breathing returned to normal, he pushed a small button near his left hand. A buzzer sounded as a face popped up on the screen in front of him.
"Heero, you still alive?"
"Shut up and return to base, smartass".
"What? No 'mission complete' for me?"
"My next mission will be to kill you if you don't shove it".
Duo Maxwell flashed his trademark grin. "Yare yare…" he replied, then quickly ended transmission before his temperamental partner could chew him a new orifice. He would be cooled down by the time they reached base. In the meantime, Duo loved to piss him off.
Their mission had, in fact, been completed. A couple idiots restore some suits, and before you know it they start traipsing around space threatening to take over the ESUN. Pathetic. Just another day in the life of a Preventer.
Duo flicked on the autopilot and nestled back for a snooze. It was a good 45 minute flight back to the Preventers' main spaceport on the moon, where he was based. The work wasn't real exciting, but it was a living. No one had dared to stage a significant uprising since Dekim Barton's defeat five years ago, so real challenges were few and far between. At least, for the saviors of the universe, they were.
Duo had only been in the Preventers for about a year. The scrapyard he had worked for went out of business, since there were no more mobile suits to generate merchandise for them. By the time he joined, Heero was a commanding oficer, and Wufei had been appointed as Head of Operations. Granted, they had joined sooner. Wufei signed on immediately after the war, and Heero joined after about a year of obscurity. Nobody knew where he went for that year, and anyone with a brain and at least one good eye could tell that asking would be paramount to signing your own death wish.
Two of their fellow ex-Gundam pilots, however, chose not to continue fighting. Quatre had been reinstated as the Winner heir, leaving many resource satellites around the colonies in his care. His business often brought him into Preventer affairs, which was just fine by everyone involved. It was nice to catch up with friends every now and then.
They rarely saw Trowa, though. After the war, Catharine made him swear never to fight again, and he agreed. She refused to lose her brother again. So, he rejoined the circus, travelling throughout the Earth Sphere with his sister. It annoyed Wufei to no end. He felt that Catharine was being selfish, with no sense of justice. When asked for comment, Heero offered his standard position of, "Hmmph".
On the other hand, Duo admired Trowa's dedication. That guy definitely had his priorities straight. Family, then work. That was the way Duo had been brought up at the Maxwell Church, and it was how he tried to live now, although he wasn't nearly as successful as Trowa.
Duo nestled down into the cramped seat and laced his hands behind his head lazily as his mind wandered further along. He honestly did try to keep family before work, but it was next to impossible with Heero and Wufei as his superiors. Never in the world had two bigger workaholics managed to end up in the same corporation. It made for very long days away from L2. And home. And Hilde.
He sighed as that name flashed through his consciousness. God, he missed her. It had been three days since he last said goodbye to her. Back home, in their tiny house on L2, with a gigantic heap of scrap metal in the backyard, she waited for him. It was a hole, but it was home. And anywhere Hilde was, the condition of the place improved by leaps and bounds. She just seemed to have that effect on things. Including Duo himself. He was always incredibly grouchy when he had to be away from her for a long period of time. Wufei quickly learned that it was a bad idea to assign any missions longer than a week to Duo. Not because Duo complained, but because Heero did. According to him, Duo was even more annoying and impossible to work with when he was mopey.
Duo's eyes flicked back open as he reached towards a picture stuck in the corner of his vidscreen. He grimaced a little at the strings of gum that trailed after it as he pulled it off. Hey, it was all he had had to stick it on with at the time. His eyes hungrily scanned the photo. It was of him and Hilde in their "backyard", sitting on a pile of scrap. Hilde had her arm around his shoulders, while Duo's was wrapped possessively around her waist. The artificial sun shone brightly down on them as they smiled and held up peace signs for the camera. The picture was Duo's favorite possession. Hilde looked so happy in the photo, all smiles. It helped him get through some of his longer missions, at least until he could make his way to a vidphone.
Duo scooped up all of the little strings of gum and plastered them back on the screen before sticking the picture back on. Once he was sure it was hanging straight, he curled back up in his seat. His mind soothed by the photo, he drifted off into a light sleep.
***************
*Beep, beep* Five minutes until arrival at headquarters.
The deadpan voice of Duo's computer woke him from his nap. He yawned, stretched, scratched, then reassumed the controls for his final landing at the port. He trusted the autopilot with flying through empty space, but he always landed it himself. His Preventer-issued Taurus was a P.O.S. compared to his beautiful Deathscythe, which was probably rusting in some junk heap somewhere. With the professors gone, they had to rely on what little technology they still had from before. They just didn't have the resources to redevelop the lost Gundams.
Duo maneuvered his mobile suit into its docking bay, then very quietly jumped out and tiptoed towards the main hall and the sanctuary of a vidphone booth to check up on his babe. Just a little further to go…
"Duo".
Damn.
He slowly turned with a grimace to face Heero. "Yeeeeeeeees, sir?"
Heero's left eye gave a slight twitch. Reassuming control, he answered, "We have to file a report with Lieutenant Chang. Don't go running off somewhere".
Duo sighed. "Oh, okay… Hey, look! It's Relena!!"
Heero's eyes widened as he whipped around to look. "Huh? Where?"
Maniacal laughter brought him back to reality. He spun on his heel, only to see a flash of braid disappear around the corner. A chant floated down the hallway, slowly fading away.
"Who's a Perfect Soldier? Who's a Perfect Soldier? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Heero's eye twitched again. "…Kisama…"
***************
Duo pressed his face to the tiny vidphone booth screen. Two rings. Three rings. "Man, where is she?"
Finally on the fifth ring she answered. Hilde, in naught but a bathrobe and a towel wrapped around her hair, smiled back at him. "Duo! I'm sorry, I was washing my hair…"
Duo grinned back. "It's alright babe. I've got the patience of a god".
She chuckled. "Right. So, how'd your mission go?"
He continued to stare at her image on the screen as he replied. "The mission was fine, but I don't know if they have anything else for me to do now. I haven't reported to Captain Wuffers yet".
Hilde giggled. "Cut out on the briefing again, huh?"
"Yup!"
She sighed, a sad smile on her face. "Duo, try not to get fired. We kind of need this money…"
Duo's eyes widened as he leaned closer to the screen. "What? Is there a problem? I'm getting my next check today, I can wire it right away if you need it".
She shook her head quickly. "No, that's not it". She sighed again. "I'm just having a hard time finding another job, that's all".
Duo kissed his fingers and pressed them to the screen. "It's okay, I understand. Just wait a little longer, then I can come home and we can start over, alright?"
Hilde smiled, her eyes getting a little misty. "Okay".
Duo smiled back. "Aw, babe. Come here and give me a kiss".
They both leaned forward, kissing the vidscreen where the other's lips should have been. As they pulled away, the speaker beeped. 30 seconds remain on your calling card.
"Damn disembodied voice", Duo grumbled. Hilde giggled back. "Well babe, I'll talk to ya soon. Stay outta trouble, okay?"
"Okay. Take care!"
"Take care".
*Beep* Transmission ended. Please remove your card.
Duo tossed the card in the garbage, then strolled out of the booth, hands in his pockets, whistling a tune. "Well, better go take what's coming to me", he mumbled, turning in the direction of Wufei's office.
***************
Duo knocked, then entered without waiting for an answer. He found Wufei sitting behind his massive desk kept immaculately neat, with Heero occupying one of two large chairs in front of him. Duo snapped a goofy mock salute to Wufei, with a "Preventer Duo reporting for duty, Captain Wuffers!", before flopping into the other chair.
Wufei never moved during Duo's performance; he simply sat calmly and quietly until his was through, his eyes closed. As soon as Duo was settled, he continued on as if nothing had happened. "This particular rebel group contains 30 members all former supporters of the White Fang. Their aim is to take as many prisoners on Earth as possible and force them to manufacture goods for the colonies.
"This group would not be a problem for s to control under normal circumstances. However, the location of their main base could potentially cause a major crisis. Not three miles from their underground base is another, under Preventer control. It contains many items, including weapons and information, that we can't allow to fall into enemy hands. Commanders Noin, Une, and Po have already left for the area, and they have requested the deployment of you two, as well. If the worst-case scenario should occur, we may have to enlist the entire Preventer organization to help. Officers Yuy and Maxwell, do you accept this mission?"
"Yes".
"…"
"Officer Maxwell?"
"…I guess so…"
"Good. You leave at 0600 hours tomorrow morning. You are dismissed".
Heero rose quickly, saluted, and left. Duo, on the other hand, stuck around. "Wufei, are you sure you want me to go? Isn't there someone else you can send?"
"No. The Trifectorate requested you personally. Why, I couldn't imagine", as he wrinkled his nose at Duo. "Anyway, you accepted the mission. You're going".
"But… Hilde…"
"Your onna can wait. This mission is more important than some woman. Get your priorities straight, Maxwell".
Duo stood perfectly still for a moment, then saluted him. "Aye-aye, Captain Wuffers", he said quietly, before turning and leaving the office.
***************
AN: Well, what do you think? This story is my baby, my brain child. I've put more work into this one chapter than any of my other fics combined. -_-* Unlike my other stories, this one is actually going to go somewhere. I even have it planned out! See? Holds up a page of notes I'm going about writing this fic completely different than how I wrote my first ones. Hopefully, it'll show as the story progresses. ^_^ It may be awhile until part 2 is up, since it takes me a long time to write a fic to my liking. I will continue it, though. I've got big plans for this. grins evilly Thanks so much for reading my fics, and thanks for the reviews, too! I really appreciate feedback. See you around FF.net! Bows deeply