A/N: I don't own Gundam Wing and I apologize now if any or all characters are OOC. This story is based off of Can't Stop Loving You by Brian Adams, and I know that it probably doesn't make sense, but Muse was bugging me to write something... You all wouldn't believe the difficult time I had trying to write the ending. I'm just glad it's done.
The wars were over; peace had been reigning over the United Earth Sphere Alliance for nearly five years. At the end of every year since the last war, Vice-Foreign Minister Relena Dorlian Peacecraft-Yuy held a celebration dance for another year of peace. Every year, all five Ex-Gundam Pilots would attend and be thanked once again for helping achieving peace. And every year, Duo Maxwell would hide his depressed feelings from all of his friends. Out of the five pilots, Duo was the only one who had never settled down.
Heero and Relena married three years earlier when Heero finally broke down and proposed. Relena had Heero at the altar before the idea of being engaged settled in Heero's mind. Wu-Fei had been irregularly seeing Sally Po and was one of the top ranking Preventor Agents and Quatre and Trowa had been together since before the first war ended. Duo had never settled down for he was deeply in love with someone out of reach. He knew it wouldn't be fair to the person he got into a relationship with for going into it with baggage he wouldn't be able to let go.
Every year, Duo would mingle for a little with the guests and his friends before he disappeared into a dark corner once the dancing started to watch, with a whimsical smile on his face, all the happy couples.
Duo sighed as he watched the couples dancing and he couldn't help wishing that it were him dancing with Quatre, not Trowa. But he couldn't really complain, Quatre was happy and this is what was good for all three involved.
Though, no matter how many times Duo told himself that it wouldn't work between himself and Quatre and that Quatre was better off with Trowa, it didn't help matters any. It still hurt. So, for Quatre's happiness and sanity, Duo buried his feelings deep inside and put on the much used joker mask.
Lately it was getting harder and harder to keep up appearances. To his knowledge, nobody knew of Duo's feelings. Only once did he ever let his feelings show, and that was right after Quatre had thought he lost Trowa for good. Duo had been there to hold the blonde as he cried out his grief and sorrow. It was only by accident that things progressed as far as they did and not once did Duo regret what happened.
Later when Duo was hiding out on L2 with Hilde and after the young woman dragged him to the circus, Duo found out that Trowa wasn't really dead, that he was found by his adoptive sister, Catherine and was performing in the circus he used as a cover once. His heart practically broke with the idea that Trowa would take Quatre away from him, then he wanted to know why the tall brunette let the kind, gentle Quatre suffer when he was perfectly fine.
After the show, Duo went backstage and was about to confront Trowa, but something in the brunette's eyes, made him stop and wonder. There was something wrong, something missing. Then Catherine entered the picture and practically told him to go to hell and never return; that Trowa was with his family now and that he had no more dealings with the war. Catherine told Duo that she and Trowa were going to live normal lives now. Then it hit the braided pilot; Trowa had amnesia and didn't remember anyone from the war.
He was ecstatic. Trowa was not going to interfere with him and his blonde angel. He could actually attempt to have a happy life with Quatre once the war was finished and if the two were still living.
It was a few days after that when Duo found out that Quatre was back in business, and he went and paid the small blonde a visit. It was during that visit that Duo's heart was forever crushed. It was then that he realized that he may have had Quatre's body, but he would never have the boy's heart. Hurting, and pinning away for the blonde, Duo revealed the whereabouts of Quatre's one and only love then vowed never to come between them ever again. He vowed that he would see Quatre happy. If his blonde angel was happy, then surely he would be happy too. He wasn't ever going to bring up what happened between them on that lonely night, but Quatre had confessed to Trowa. Trowa had talked to Duo about it, but before the braided boy could respond, Trowa had said that he understood; that Duo and Quatre were hurting about losing the ones they loved. Duo never corrected Trowa on it and just let the disillusioned brunette believe what he would, if it made them all happy, then Duo would let them think he was in love with Heero.
So, here he was, living by his vow and extremely miserable. It hurt so much to see the two of them together and happy that it drove him to drink. After the weekly pilots get together, Duo would go home and drink himself into oblivion. After every dance, or social get together, Duo would go home and drink. Even if he just passed them on the street, or happened to catch them on the news, the ex-Gundam pilot would begin to shake, his heart would contract and it felt like somebody had stabbed him in the heart with a curved dagger and twisted. It was getting to be too much for him.
It got to the point with everyone around him knowing that he had become an alcoholic. The first time Lady Une had caught him drinking on the job she had given him a warning, then the second offence she had suspended him. He was even arrested for driving under the influence once, but only Lady Une knew about that one, for Duo hadn't called anyone for help and had Lady Une come down in the morning and pay his fine with his paycheck.
Every one of the pilots were worried about him, even Zechs and Noin were worried. They stood on the sidelines and watched as their friend destroyed himself so very slowly with drinking. And when they attempted talking to him about it, he told them to go to hell.
He knew that the alcohol didn't help, it only made things worse, but it was the only way he could get to sleep without having dreams about a time long ago and best forgotten. Though after his friends teamed up against him and asked him to go get help for his problem, he vowed again that he wouldn't let them see him drink. So tonight, he drank soda.
"Hello Maxwell," a familiar voice said from behind him, but the braided pilot didn't turn around.
"Lady Une, to what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked.
"Seeing that awful pain in your expressive eyes is what brought me over here. I had promised not to bother you outside of work, but I guess I never counted on you being so quiet and out of character." She admitted.
Duo eyed her out of the corner of his eye. "And what is in character Lady? Acting like a complete and utter fool? Being the happy-go-lucky bastard? Or just staying out of everyone's way and being miserable?"
"Duo, we've known each other for many years," she started off. "But not once have I seen such pain in your eyes. Not even when you were being tortured by the enemy. So what is it that would make the great Shinigami suffer like this?"
Duo didn't answer as he watched Trowa pull out a small box out of his tuxedo's pocket and gave it to Quatre. Puzzled, the blonde took the box and opened it, then gave a squeal of delight before throwing himself into his lover's arms and kissing him. Duo's heart twisted in agony.
Duo closed his eyes to shut out the happy couple and to hold back the tears of misery. He turned to face his boss, still not looking at her. "How about a love that would never be able to be requited? How about the pain of knowing your soul mate is destined to be with another man? Or the fact that I'm going to be alone forever? Is that enough to put pain in my eyes?" He raised his eyes, every emotion he felt showing in his eyes. "Now if you don't mind, I better go wish them congrats before they realize what's going on. I just hope that Quatre won't be able to feel my pain." He started to walk off, but the hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Duo, I…" Une trailed off. "I'm so sorry Duo, I never thought that you had such feelings for him."
"Why do you think that I could never say 'no' to the man Une? I've loved him since we first started fighting together, but I was too slow in acting on it. It hurts so much Une, that it's hardly bearable any more." He shook off Une's hand and left her standing there, gaping after him with such sorrow in her eyes.
"So, that's the reason you're destroying yourself Duo," Lady Une sighed as she watched the hurting man walk up to his friends. "I hope you find peace."
8 8 8
Duo pushed his way through the group of people gathered around the newly engaged couple. Forcing his jester's mask in place, Duo went and hugged Trowa, congratulating him. Then he turned to Quatre knowing that Lady Une's eyes were on them. His smile turning a little sad and he gave the blonde a hug.
"Congrats Quat. I'm extremely happy for you."
"Thanks Duo," Quatre smiled joyously up at the braided man. "It means a lot to me. You're my best friend, and I want you to be my best man. I want you to share my day with me."
Duo started at Quatre, trying not to let the pain show in his eyes. Feeling that his mask was breaking, Duo hugged Quatre again to him and whispered into his ear the words he promised himself never to say out loud.
Duo pulled back and looked deeply into Quatre's eyes, tears were trailing down Duo's face while Quatre just stared up at the man he thought his best friend in surprise and shock. "I'm sorry Quatre! I can't! I'm so sorry! Please understand!" Turning, Duo pushed his way out of the crowed, not looking back when he heard Quatre's cry of agony, knowing who's pain the blonde was feeling and ran out of the ballroom, before finally running out of the building.
"Duo! Stop!" Heero and Wu-Fei yelled, as Duo was about to climb onto his bike. "Duo! Wait!"
Duo stopped in his tracks and waited for his friends to reach him. He turned to face them, but kept his head down. He had hoped he would be able to get back to his place before anyone would be able to react, or at the very least a decent bit away from the palace. "What is it guys? I gotta go."
"What did you say to Quatre to make him cry?" Heero demanded. "What happened back there!"
Duo sighed and shook his head. "Nothing bad," he admitted. "I didn't even mean to say what I did, but he asked me to be his best man Heero!"
The two Asian's frowned at him. "So?" Wu-Fei said. "What? Did you tell him no?"
Duo shook his head as more tears fell from his eyes. "I can't do this any more! I just can't!" Duo fell to the ground, his face in his hands. "It hurts too much! Please forgive me!"
"Duo! Snap out of it! What's wrong!" Heero snarled.
The braided man looked up, his amethyst eyes shining with pain, love and tears. Heero and Wu-Fei took an involuntary step back when they saw their friend's eyes.
"I love him too much Heero! I can't do this any more! I can't!" Duo cried. "I tried to stop, honest I did, but I couldn't! I got to leave Heero! It hurts so much!"
A shocked gasp from the stairs grabbed the attention of the three men. The three turned and stared in shock at the small group that was standing there. Relena had her hand pressed against her mouth as tears fell down her own cheeks. Noin, Sally and Zechs stared at Duo in shock along with Quatre as the blonde leaned into Trowa. Duo quickly looked away from the couple and scrambled to his feet.
"I gotta go," he mumbled and turned away from them then climbed onto his bike.
"For how long?" Trowa shot out before Duo could start his motorbike.
"Not long enough," Duo said, understanding what the tall man meant. "I'm a month short." With that said, Duo started his bike and took off.
Quatre stared after his best friend before looking up at Trowa. "What did he mean Trowa?"
Everyone but Heero turned to face the tall, silent man, waiting for his answer with curiosity. Nobody was able to determine what the braided man meant by his sentence, but before Trowa could answer his love's question, Heero answered for him.
"Duo met Quatre a month after Trowa first met up with him. Duo has loved Quatre since he first met him during the first war. It was killing him a little inside every time he saw the two of you together. That's why he turned to alcohol. When he passed out in a drunken stupor then he wouldn't dream." He said as he went and hugged his wife.
Wu-Fei frowned at his partner. "How do you know that?"
"He talks in his sleep," Heero closed his eyes and held Relena close to him. "He talked and cried in his sleep, begged death to never take Quatre. He bargained with death with his own soul to keep Quatre alive."
"How do you know he talks in his sleep?" Noin asked softly.
"From the wars. We usually shared a room. And from when Duo was hospitalized from the alcohol poisoning. That's when he begged death and bargained with his soul. He was dreaming about the time Dorothy had stabbed Quatre at the end of the first war."
Quatre sobbed into Trowa's chest. "I never knew! Not once did I get any kind of feeling from him!"
"What did he say to you in the hall Quatre?" Zechs asked. "What made the great Shinigami cry?"
"He said 'If you're feeling lonely don't, you're the only one I ever want. I only want to make it good, so if I love ya a little more than I should, please forgive me, I know not what I do. Please forgive me, I can't stop loving you. Don't deny me this pain I'm going through. Please forgive me, I need you like I do. Please believe me, every word I say is true. Please Forgive me, I can't stop loving you.'" Quatre cried some more. "I never knew! He was my best friend and I never knew!" "Nobody knew Quatre," Sally said. "Duo was very good at hiding, even from the people he loves the most."
"You don't think Duo will try to do something, do you?" Relena asked. "I know how he can get when he gets desperate."
The four remaining pilots looked at each other startled, before they rushed to Heero's SUV, with shouts of "be careful you four" following after them, Heero put his SUV into gear and shot out of the parking lot and heading towards Duo's apartment.
When they arrived at the apartment, after picking the lock to get into it, they found Duo asleep on the couch, tear-stains on his cheeks and a whiskey bottle hanging loosely from his limp fingers. Heero took the bottle away from Duo and put it away in the kitchen while Wu-Fei carried the braided man into his bedroom and put him to bed. Trowa took Quatre out of the apartment and comforted the small blonde.
After securing the front door, and making sure the alarm system was working, Heero and Wu-Fei left the apartment and drove back to the palace, where the celebration party was being held. Shortly after that, Trowa brought Quatre home and Wu-Fei and Sally went back to their home as well. Noin and Zechs told Relena and Heero to go to bed, that they would look after dispersing the party go-ers. After an order from Une, Heero and Relena agreed and left the celebration.
8 8 8
Duo wasn't scheduled to go back to work for a week and during that week Lady Une told Duo that if he showed up at work drunk that he would be fired. Duo had given up drinking alcohol after the party, instead he began doing more and more strenuous work. Once the week of suspension was over Duo went to Lady Une and requested the missions that would take him away from Earth and Colony L4 for long periods of time and he would accept the "suicide" missions when they became available. He threw himself into his work, and when that didn't tire him out he went to Howard for extra work. The former Deathscythe pilot would run himself ragged day after day in hopes of making himself too tired to dream. He wouldn't let himself idle anywhere in case his thoughts turned to his heartache. Every time a news segment would come on that showed either Quatre or Trowa or both, Duo would either turn the television off or switch stations. He blocked out his friends' numbers in his vid-phone and when that didn't work, he scrambled the picture and voice to the point of being unrecognizable. When he saw the couple walking towards him, he would duck out of the way.
Now the others watched as the former Shinigami killed himself with work and hid away from all of them.
It was two days before Quatre and Trowa's wedding and Duo found himself on a mission with a kid fresh out of Cadet School and an agent that Duo had worked with on a few missions. Duo had no idea why the kid volunteered for this mission, but he wasn't about to let the kid get killed. The mission was simple enough. They were to go in and grab some information and get out without getting caught. If they were caught, the Preventor's would not recognize them as agents. They had no back up. These kinds of missions were usually termed under "suicidal" along with the missions that the agents had no chance of survival.
"So, uh, how long have you been an agent?" The kid, whom, Duo was informed earlier when they first arrived at the safe house, was called Agent Nakano. Duo decided just to call the guy "kid" and be done with it.
"Since the organization has been established, Kid." Duo told him as he began sorting through his equipment, making sure that it was all ready for the mission.
"It's been established for six years! But you don't look that old! You must've been nineteen at the time!" Nakano exclaimed.
"I was sixteen," Duo told him as he packed up his gear. He then took out the blue prints and mission records and began to look them over again.
Brian Sanders, the other agent on the mission, chuckled at the look on Nakano's face. "The rumors are true kid," Brian laughed. "If you had clued in on the name, then you wouldn't be shocked right now. Agent Maxwell was a Gundam pilot."
"Enough with that, let's get down to business. We have to make sure that the plan goes of without a hitch. I don't want anyone to die tomorrow morning, got it Agent Sanders? Agent Nakano?" Duo barked.
"Yes sir!" Sanders and Nakano said with a salute.
Duo sighed. "Just go over the parameters again…please?"
8 8 8
The next morning found Duo sneaking into the rebel's base with Nakano trailing behind him, watching his back while Brian snuck around the other side to complete the other part of the mission.
Duo and Nakano were getting the information they were after when Brian contacted them and told them that he was already done with his mission and was waiting out in the bush, ready to be back up if need be.
Working a little faster, Duo and Nakano finished getting the info and were almost out of the building when they ran into some guards who didn't like the fact that they had a couple of unknown people running around their base. Grabbing his gun, Duo killed off the first two guards while Nakano killed the third. Running out of the base, Nakano in the lead, Duo began the transfer of the information to the Preventor's computer.
Glancing around, Duo was the one who saw the danger. To the left was a hallway with an unnoticed guard that was taking aim at Nakano. Without any other option, Duo yelled "Nakano! Get down!" and threw himself in front of the shot, taking the bullet in the upper right of his back. Without missing a beat, Duo turned and shot the guy who shot him.
"Duo, are you alright?" Nakano asked, his voice a little unsteady.
"Fine," Duo gritted out. "Pay more attention to your surroundings and let's get out of here. We're almost there."
"Yes sir"
The two continued with their escape and managed to get into the bush with Brian and then it was only a matter of loosing the guards before going to their getaway vehicle.
Two hours later, they were back in the safe house.
"Status!" Duo barked, before promptly coughing up blood.
"Maxwell!" Brian yelled. "What the hell happened?"
"He took a bullet that was aimed for me!" Nakano cried out. "This is all my fault!"
Duo growled as he straitened from his crouch and grabbed Nakano by the front of his shirt. "Pull yourself together Agent Nakano!" He snarled. "Go radio our status. There should be a medical team waiting for our call. And for god's sake, quite blaming yourself! Sanders, get the medical kit and patch me up as much as you can!" Duo swayed on his feet. "And Sanders, you're in charge while I'm passed out."
Duo promptly fell face forward; knowing Brian would break his fall.
8 8 8
The day was supposed to be the happiest day of Quatre's life, but it wasn't. Quatre knew that something wasn't right and when he entered through the doors of the church and saw Wu-Fei standing where Duo was supposed to be, Quatre knew what.
Duo Maxwell, his best friend, didn't come to his wedding.
With a sad sigh, Quatre forced a smile on his face and continued up the aisle to meet Trowa. Standing beside his soon to be husband was Heero and Zechs. Relena stood beside Wu-Fei, serving as Quatre's second.
Reaching the front of the church, Quatre smiled up at Trowa and the two turned to face Lady Une, who they had requested to marry them. Quatre had wanted a small wedding, but after realizing that he would not be able to exclude the Maganacs or all of his sisters, and Trowa had to invite most of the circus crew, not to mention all of their friends and the Peacemillion Crew and Howard. There was no way that the wedding couldn't possibly be small.
Quatre turned to look at Howard and the old scientist just shook his head sadly. With another sad sigh, Quatre faced Lady Une once again.
Wu-Fei leaned over and whispered to Quatre, "He promised you he'd be here Quatre, he'll be here. And if he doesn't show up then he'll have a damn good reason for it. You know he never lies."
Quatre smiled happily at his Chinese friend. "Thanks Wu-Fei."
Lady Une smiled, muttered "he's not back from his mission yet" and then started the ceremony.
It was after Lady Une had finished the ceremony when the church doors flew open and a young Preventor's agent with wild, wide eyes ran into the church. He looked around everyone in confusion before resting his eyes on Une. "Why the hell doesn't anybody have their damned cell phone on!"
"We're in a church and just finished a wedding ceremony, Nakano." Sally told the agent.
"Anyone ever hear of putting the cell on vibration?" he muttered to himself, before remembering just why he was barging into the church in the first place. "Right! Lady Une! You gotta go to the hospital! It's Agent Maxwell ma'am. He's been shot!"
"What!" Trowa shouted.
"Please!" Nakano said near tears. "Hurry! I think it's really bad!"
Before Nakano could blink, Quatre, Trowa, Wu-Fei and Heero were out of the church and jumping into the waiting limo, everyone else followed after them.
8 8 8
At the hospital, the nurses were shocked to see the amount of people in dress clothes run into the emergency room yelling and demanding to either see a Duo Maxwell or to find out what his condition was. The lead nurse had gotten tired of trying to talk over everyone, so she scrambled on top of the nurses desk.
"Would everyone please be quiet! This is a hospital! You are disturbing the patients. I only need to speak with one person, not a hundred! Please go sit down!"
Everyone but the four ex-pilots, Relena, Sally, Noin, Zechs, Howard and Lady Une went and sat down in the waiting room. The lead nurse climbed down off the desk and glared at her co-workers who were looking at her strangely.
"Now, who are you here to see?" She asked, looking expectedly at the group of people before her.
"We're here to inquire about the health of Agent Duo Maxwell," Lady Une replied. "We were told that he was in here for a gunshot wound and that it didn't seem very good."
The nurse, whose name tag read Linda, began going through the charts looking for the correct one. When she found the one for Duo, she read it over then looked up at them. "Uh, which one of you are his family?"
"We all are," Wu-Fei answered. "We're the only family that man has."
Linda looked up at them in surprise, taking in all of their different nationalities. She was about to tell them that she wasn't allowed to let anyone in to see him unless they were blood related, but Quatre cut her off.
"Please," he begged. "Don't turn us away. We need to see him. Please."
Linda's look softened as she really looked at the mismatched group before her, before she finally made a decision. "Fine, but I can only let five of you in to see him. But I must tell you that nobody's holding onto much hope. Right now he's in a coma. The bullet pierced his lung. But in order for the doctor to make sure everything is fine, he needs Mr. Maxwell to wake up."
"Please ma'am, just let us see him. That kid is the closest thing to a son that I ever had." Howard said.
"Then it's settled," Heero said. "Us four and Howard goes in to see Duo?"
"Seems reasonable," Relena sniffled. "You five were closer to Duo anyway. Let's go sit down and wait for them." She told the others that stood there.
"Follow me," Linda said and led the way down the hall. The four ex-pilots and Howard followed behind.
Entering the hospital room the four ex-pilots were thrown for a loop. It had been so long since any of them were hurt enough to be hospitalized let alone be put on life-support that the four of them were brought back to the wars. Instead of seeing Duo Maxwell the man, they were seeing Duo Maxwell the young Gundam pilot.
He looked so vulnerable lying on the white sheets so pale that he looked like death warmed over. Quatre was in shock, so used of seeing the lively, vibrant young man; the sight of Duo near death practically broke him.
"Duo," he whispered tearfully. Trowa, always the silent strength, wrapped his arms around the small man and held him close.
"Shh," Trowa whispered. "Everything's going to be fine. Duo's going to be fine, he always is."
"I don't think he's going to get better Trowa," Quatre confessed. "I took his away his reason. He has such pain in him, even when he's in a coma I can still feel it."
"This isn't your fault Q-bean," Howard told the young billionaire. "You know how the kid is like on missions. He would rather be the one hurting than anyone else. I don't think you guys knew about this, but the kid still has guilt over the people he has killed during the war. He also didn't like the fact that the agent he was teamed up with was a kid younger than him."
"Duo no baka," Heero whispered softly as he brushed the bangs out of his face. "He was too kind hearted."
Wu-Fei walked up behind Heero and placed his hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "He helped us keep our sanity during the wars and we never knew the real him. Maxwell was suffering and we never even knew it." Wu-Fei snorted derisively. "Great friends we were."
"You were great friends," Howard said, still watching Duo lying on the bed, deathly still. "The kid was deliriously happy for all of you when you got relatively normal lives. He was so proud of Heero when he finally got himself hitched and left the persona of the perfect soldier behind. He talked for hours on end when he found out that the great Dragon warrior had a sense of humor." Howard looked up at the couple behind him and smiled. "Even though he was hurting, he was so happy that you two were finally tying the knot. He really was looking forward to being at your wedding today. He was disappointed that he was gonna be a little late getting back from the mission, but he was truly planning on being there for you two." The old man chuckled to himself. "I was talking to the young agent on the way over here, apparently during the flight back Duo was talking in his sleep."
The four looked at him questioningly. "Oh?" Heero asked. "And just what did Duo say?"
"He was complaining about being late to the wedding." Howard grinned at them. "He'll be fine. Just you wait." Then the old man turned back to the bed. "Uh, guys, I know that this isn't the best time, but I was wondering if you would let me be alone with the kid. Just for a little while."
"I'm sure the others are waiting for some kind of news about him," Trowa said as he started ushering Quatre out of the room. Wu-Fei and Heero followed. "Howard," Trowa said, turning back to the old man. "I never had any ill feelings towards Duo. If it wasn't for him, I doubt I would be with Quatre right now." Then the tall agent left the room, letting the door shut behind him.
Howard shook his head and sat down in the chair beside the bed. "Don't make a liar out of me kid," the old man whispered as he rested his head on the corner of the bed. "Please come out of the coma. I need ya kid."
Howard stayed silent for a long moment before looking back up at the man he thought of as a son. "Duo, you sure know how to make an old man worry. Not to mention all of your friends. I should have jumped into the situation a long time ago and got you away from them. You needed time to heal but you let yourself be continuously hurt because you couldn't stand the thought of never seeing Quatre again. I'm just sorry that things turned out this way, I really was rooting for ya kid. We all were. I'm just sorry that you ended up in the hospital, but maybe now this will open your eyes to what you have been doing to yourself. We all love you Duo, we don't like seeing you in pain. When you get out of this coma, I'm gonna do my best to convince you to leave the Preventor's and come work for us. You need to get away kid, and you hafta do it soon or you're gonna die of a broken heart." Howard sighed. "I better go back to the others, they're probably wanting to come see you as well. Just remember kid, I love ya."
Howard got up and silently left the room, letting the door shut softly behind him, not seeing the single tear that trailed down the pale cheek. A few minutes after the old man's departure, the heart monitors stopped beeping, and the jumpy lines went into a straight line.
Doctors and nurses rushed into the room, doctor's yelling orders to the nurses. After trying for five minutes without any response, the doctor's and nurses stopped their actions and called the time of death.
A heart wrenching cry from the doorway made the doctors and nurses turn and look at the odd group in the doorway. The four ex-pilots, Howard and Relena had stood there while they had worked. Quatre was in Trowa's arms sobbing, while the others stood, white-faced and crying.
"I'm sorry," One of the doctor's said to the group. "We tried everything, we just couldn't get his heart to start."
Shakily, Wu-Fei walked up to his friend and brushed his bangs back from his forehead. He leaned down and kissed Duo's head and whispered softly to the Deathscythe pilot. "If you're feeling lonely don't, you're the only one I ever want. I only want to make it good, so if I love ya a little more than I should, please forgive me, I know not what I do. Please forgive me, I can't stop loving you. Don't deny me this pain I'm going through. Please forgive me, I need you like I do. Please believe me, every word I say is true. Please Forgive me, I can't stop loving you." A teardrop from Wu-Fei's eye dropped onto the pale cheek beneath him. "I love you Duo Maxwell, and I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. Please forgive me."
Duo Maxwell, beloved friend, pilot of the Gundam Deathscythe Hell, died AC 200. He will be forever missed and forever loved.
8 8 8
The End.
At least for now, I can't really figure out where else to take this story. It didn't turn out the way I originally planned. Hell, I couldn't even really work the song into this one. I guess I'm just not able to do this correctly right now.