In Your Arms
By Amel Ravenwood

The prequel to "Time Slips Away". If you haven't read that, read it first, it'll make you cry harder. I still haven't figured out which is sadder. Anyway, this is the sad story of what happened to Duo...

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"I don't care!"

"Well, I do. The least you could do is be a little more serious about our missions."

"I can't be serious, you know that."

"No, I obviously don't..." Another worthless fight. They had been yelling for hours this time, back and forth, it made my head spin. Wufei was standing by the door to the small kitchen watching them. I knew they loved each other, knew it.

"Try and stop me..." Duo rushed out of the kitchen toward his room on the fourth floor of the shabby house. He brushed past me, drunk again. Heero followed a minute later.

"Stop him, Quatre. He's going to try and kill himself again." Heero forced me up the stairs, determined to follow Duo. His cheek was turning red from where Duo had punched him before.

These fights always ended with Duo trying to do something to himself and Heero saving him at the last minute. Duo played with him, waiting until Heero was right outside his door to jump or pull the safety. And, as always, Heero would scream, Duo would shoot in a different direction or Heero would catch him by his braid before he fell. I was tired of these, even if they were getting shorter and shorter.

We reached the door with the same result as always. Duo had just leaped off the balcony and Heero ran to his rescue. Duo yelped as his braid was tugged and he hung like a frightened puppy on the end. Heero pulled him up and held Duo, telling him how much he loved the braided baka. That was followed with a breif tickling session, then they both turned to see Trowa, Wufei, and me standing in the doorway. Both blushed and pushed us out, closing the door.

It had been this way for two years. The wars had ended but the doctors and Relena would call every once in a while and tell us there were Mobile Dolls still being produced somewhere, then we would go and destroy them and come back.

It was paradise for a while. Rasheed had called and told me that my father's fortune was mine, so I had left and gone to the L4 colony to take over. After all affairs were in order, I came back, hoping all the fighting was over. I was wrong.

They were always together, I can't blame them for having a few arguments. Even I could get tired of people. But, these were not arguments, these were full out fights. Duo would lash out at Heero. Heero would hurt Duo, then I was left, most of the time, to clean them up. It was terrible to see them after the fights. But the worst was coming.

For three weeks I heard small fights, off and on. But only once was there one bad enough to send them both crying. Now, Heero crying is very sad. I can't say I've seen it more then that one time. But he did, I'm sure of it. It was the worst thing I've ever seen.

It started out small, they were arguing over a battle, then it had turned into a fight about Duo's lack of concentration.

"Duo, are you listening to me?"

"Hm?"

"I said, are you listening?"

"Not, really..."

"Duo..."

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you listen?" Heero was boiling already. Duo had been staring at some birds out the window behind Heero. That is only the beginning though.

"I don't know why I don't listen. Maybe it's because you're boring...?" Heero lashed out and punched Duo in the nose. Duo fell, howling in pain. Trowa put his arm around me to keep me where I was. I started to feel dizzy and leaned against him, I could see he looked conserned, but I looked back at Duo.

"Whatcha do that for?"

"If you don't shut up, I'll break more then your nose." Duo stood slowly. Heero watched him, almost like a cat watching a bird. Duo whiped the blood from his nose and stared back at Heero. The two stood in silence for a few seconds, getting their bearings. Duo steadied himself against the marble counter. His eyes had started to cloud, and if he didn't stop fighting, he would pass-out.

"I want to see you try..." Duo growled the words instead of talking. It didn't sound like him. This was not Duo, the normal Duo who was always smiling. This was his Shinigami side, that none of us had ever seen before. Heero was shocked that Duo not only sounded like this, but that he had challenged him.

"Gladly..." Heero cracked his fist in his palm and lunged for Duo. Duo escaped his grasp and ran for the door, trying to hide from Heero. He was frantic now that he knew what he had done.

Duo reached the front door and ran out into the street. I followed him, behind me was Heero, burning with rage. Duo had jumped into his car and started it quickly, waiting only for me to jump in. I really didn't know why I was following him instead of staying at home and waiting for the report on the news, but I did just the same.

We raced on the highway for a while. Every few seconds Duo told me to look and see if Heero was still behind us, he was, every time. Duo swerved franticly trying to loose the angry soldier, to no avail. Duo's eyes were misted over the soft amethyst that always soothed us. He swerved more and more violently.

"Duo, slow down." As Duo turned the car sharply against the rail on a bridge. Duo tried to consentrate, I could see that, but he just didn't have the strength. Right before the car hit the rail, his head fell limp and his chest slowed.

The car hit the rail of the bridge, not falling over into the river. Heero stopped beside us a few seconds after the crash. My door was part-way open and I crawled out with Heero's help. But we couldn't move Duo out of his seat. Together, we tried to move him, but couldn't. Both of his legs were crushed under the dashboard.

As we tried, the car moved toward the edge. Finally, the car tipped steeply. We only had enough time for one last chance to get him out. The car tipped and fell. I could hear Duo scream as the rocky river rushed toward him. Heero stared down at the car as it hit and burst into flames, shaking his head. His face distorted to a look that I had never seen before, pain and anguish. It was then, and only then, that I saw a tear run down his cheek.

It made me cry just to look at him.

The next day, we got a call from the local hospital. They said that they had a patient who had been in a car crash. The took the phone to him and let us hear his voice. All he said was "I'll always love you, Heero Yui..."

Heero ran to the hospital. Not drove, ran. I cried into Trowa's shoulder when Heero saw Duo.

He was scarred, not too badly, but badly enough. His hair was charred slightly. He said that when he hit, he'd jumped out of the car somehow. Duo still smiled, though. I never saw it, but I think Heero cried again.

Duo had told us why he got out of the car before.

"I just told myself that I had to see Heero and apologize for yelling at him."

Weeks later, we came home from another mission. Everything was back to normal, as normal as it could get. Except one thing, Heero and Duo never fought again. It was the best thing that ever happened.

Anyway, weeks later, we came home from another mission. Duo had run into the house first, as he always did, followed closly by Heero. I was walking next to Trowa who was talking to Wufei. We found the door still open from Duo, but Heero was stopped in the doorway, staring. I tried to look past him and caught a glance of Duo.

He was running around like mad, banging his head on the wall and pulling his hair. I had never seen this before, and it scared me. Duo ran for a few minutes. Then, he just...just stopped. Actually, he more like threw himself on the ground and stayed there. Heero stepped up to him and picked him up carefully, carrying him into the bathroom.

We huddled in the doorway while Heero wet a peice of cloth and presses it to Duo's bleeding wounds. Duo blinked and looked up at Heero, then turned to us, then to the mirror, staring at his bleeding reflection. Then, he cried. He just broke down and cried.

That was that, we've lived with it ever since. We had to cut his hair, but I guess, you know that....

Someday, it'll be right.

Someday. Somehow. Someway.

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Isn't that sad?! Ok...I'm crying, that is not good...

Relena: Why wasn't I in it?

Amel: Cause I don' like you

Relena: Me?

Amel:...die...(kills Relena)

Noin: That was harsh

Amel: Oh well...she deserves it...

Quatre: That was sad!!!

Amel: Awww...does my brother wanna cry?

Quatre: waaaaaaaaaaaa!! (Amel rolls her eyes 9.9