Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, save for maybe the plot and a few OCs, but not the G-boys, or any names that you may recognize in this fiction.

Author's note: I am still working on 100 Years, but I wanted to get this done, and have something posted on this before I've forgotten about it once more. I meant to post this yesterday, but it was forgotten. Hopefully, you all enjoy this one. It's going to take me a bit to get it up, since I'll be working on this fiction whenever I just want a break from 100 Years to think.

Enjoy.

Descent of an Angel

By Ardra

Prologue

Violet eyes looked up to the dark sky as it lit up with fireworks. Everyone let out a whoop of joy, making the deafening sound of the fireworks pale in comparison. Everyone was so happy now, the war was over, no one would have to worry about something like this ever again. Relena's idea of celebration didn't include people that she didn't know. Most of them were dignitaries, dressed beautifully, twirling around as they danced, stopping only to cheer as another firework lit up the night sky like a light.

A smile stretched across the long haired male's face. He liked fireworks; the way they contrasted to the paleness of the moon; seemed to offset it. The man on the moon seemed to have hair with it, or a mustache, depending on which way the sparks fell. There was nothing like this on the colonies. The moon was so dead looking, like someone set a bomb off on it, or lit it on fire and let it burn to the ground. It was too close. Nothing looked as spectacular on the colonies as it did on Earth. It was too dangerous to let off fireworks in such a small area like a colony. Truthfully, before today, he'd never seen the blazing lights that appeared after explosion of gunpowder. He'd seen so many things explode in his life, but never deliberately for pleasure.

Shaking his head a little, he turned and headed back into the party. He moved through the people without touching any of them. He used every method of stealth that he knew so that he would be away from everyone. Truthfully, even though he smiled on the outside, on the inside, he was more than a little depressed that he'd never have to fight again. He wouldn't ever be able to just take Deathscythe into battle and use him to do what was needed to survive. He would have to be a normal person now. What was a normal person, anyways? Someone who held down a steady job, purchased a house, a car, a dog, married someone, popped out a couple kids, watch the kids grow up then just fade away?

Dismissing the thought, Duo slipped up next to his fellow ex-Gundam pilot, Trowa Barton. Duo mused silently on what might happen to this guy. He'd always been quiet, never really interested in what was going on around him, yet was so alert of it all that it was painful. He'd never met anyone that could be so intuned with a conversation yet have absolutely no interest in what the people were saying. He could tell you what they were talking about, and sometimes spout out what they'd said, but he wouldn't have been able to tell you who said it at the time, unless he thought it was a vital piece of information that he would need for later on. This was something that wasn't going to be needed now that the war was over. His appearance in its self was odd, but then again, Duo couldn't really complain as he reached behind him, gripping his extremely long braid of hair.

"Hey, guys!"

Duo blinked out of his stupor and smiled at the blond making his way towards them. He stumbled a bit, almost swept away in the crowd again, but Trowa reached out, grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled him close. Duo didn't even try to suppress the knowing smile that spread over his face. That was how Trowa was going to blend into society. He would be the one that the famous Winner heir wouldn't let out of his sight; they would be together all the time. No one would be able to separate them. Nah, Trowa wasn't going to have any trouble blending in with people now.

"Hey, Quatra. What's up?" Duo asked, choosing to break the silence that was between the blond and the taller male.

"Nothing much now that I was able to get away from those vultures. Can you believe that this all is over?" Quatra asked, sounding wistful as he looked around at all the people that wouldn't have dared being seen together before.

"Kind of…" Duo murmured softly, smiling as he glanced around, feeling on edge again.

"What are your plans, Duo?"

"Truthfully, I don't know. I probably should go up to L2 and see if Hilde needs any help with the scrap yard. I might go and do a little spelunking before I settle down. I don't know. I guess I have to figure out what I want to be when I grow up before I go to actually do it." Duo smirked.

Quatra giggled before he nodded, "I see. Wha-"

"You're going to go digging to find out what you want to do with life?" Wufei's voice came from behind them. None of them jumped in surprise.

"Not digging. Exploring. Maybe take a few trips around the world, go to the different colonies. Just to see what I can do, what I want to do for a living before I settle down." Duo said, smiling over his shoulder before he spun back on his heels, to face the Chinese male, "Besides, not all of us want a nice cushy job in Preventers, and a nice girl that we're going to marry."

Wufei balked at him, "Maxwell! No one was supposed to know about that!"

Duo snickered as the other began to rant, but it was cut short by Quatra changing the subject.

"What are you going to do, Trowa?" The small blond asked, looking up at the taller male that was surveying all of them with a scrutinizing eye.

"I don't know… probably going to go join the circus…" Trowa muttered rather offhandedly. Despite what it seemed, he had no idea what he was going to do.

"Where's Yuy?" Wufei asked a bit sour that the man who'd stopped the whole Mariemaia thing wasn't going to be there with the four of them.

"He's with Relena. Making sure that nothing happens to her." Quatra explained softly, "She doesn't seem to be taking the end of the war as well as everyone else, or she's taking it a little too well."

Duo sniggered as he scanned the crowd and spotted where Relena and Heero were. The latter of the two trying almost desperately to get the former to sit down, but as soon as he let her go, she was back on her feet and moving to talk to someone else, a glass of champagne in her free right hand, her left clutching hold of Heero in a vice grip.

"Well, so much for being rid of her." Duo muttered before he stretched out a bit, "I'm going to head back to the hotel, guys. I'm kinda beat. My shuttle leaves for L2 in the morning around ten. Give me a call before then, huh?"

"Sure, Duo." Quatra said with a smile, the American only receiving slight nods from both Trowa and Wufei.

"Tell Heero to give me a call if he can ever get Relena under control." Duo said before waving over his shoulder as he made his way out of the party, keeping to the unoccupied walls to get free.

He inhaled deeply, happily as the party spat him out into the open night sky. He lifted his head, gazing at the stars that were so far away now. He smiled ruefully at them; soon he would be back amongst them. Another rat gnawing on the beauty that was those stars, and a few satellites. He shook his head as he began to walk down the street. It felt a little weird to be able to walk down the street and not have to worry about hiding his appearance, his hair, his Gundam, his gun, anything. It was odd for him to be able to walk so freely now, when just a year, give or take a few days, ago, he wasn't even able to go to the store without causing a scene.

Truthfully, it was nice to be able to do things like this. It sort of makes him feel like a real person. He rolled his shoulders, letting them relax as he settled back into the feeling. He smiled to himself as he reached back, folding his arms over the back of his neck, arching his back to stare at the stars as he walked, a smile fixed onto his face.

"So this is what it feels like to be a normal kid… Not a terrorist or a street rat or a Gundam pilot… Just a normal kid. I guess I have some catching up to do with the others in my age group… they're probably either in high school, or getting ready to go into it. Wonder how old I really am… Maybe I'll go to school before going on my trips… Yeah. I think I'm going to finish up high school… get a diploma or something, then go on my little trip; that way I can think of it as college courses that I'm studying myself, get credit for it, and be able to say I have a degree for doing all of this. Yeah. I can do that. What's going to stop me?"

A chuckle came from his lips, his eyes sparkling at the thought of himself actually in a high school. He almost laughed at the picture that he made before he tensed. Straightening up, he stopped in mid step. Not moving, hardly even breathing. He listened closely to the night. He could still hear the fireworks being set off, but they were more like tiny little pops than loud bangs now. He couldn't hear the cheering diplomats anymore. He could still see the light given off by the fireworks; it made him cast a shadow.

He glanced down, frowning when he saw that nothing else cast a shadow besides him. Taking a deep breath, he began to try to relax. It could've just been someone opening their door, or their window that set him off. That was bound to happen often until he could squash down his soldier instincts. He smiled to himself before he started to walk again, dismissing the feeling he'd been getting as nothing.

He didn't make it seven steps before the feeling came back again, this time worse than ever. Instead of a little tug telling him that something was wrong, his whole stomach plummeted a good twelve inches into his gut. The few short hairs he had on the back of his neck stood on ends, screaming in fright. His body tensed, his fingers itched, a hot feeling formed in the back of his head, making him want to scratch at it. His heart began to hammer in his chest, making it difficult to not breathe as his ears strained to listen, to figure out what was setting him off. He heard nothing. He spun around and gasped loudly, moving to pull away but he was too close already.

Duo twisted his body around, making a strangled lurching sound as his collar was snagged and he was drug up by the man who had somehow snuck up on him. He reached up, trying to get at the man's wrist, but it was even bigger than his hand; he couldn't get a grip on it. He felt the other hand come up and grab hold of his much smaller wrists and wrench them the wrong way. His back arched in pain, his mouth opened to cry out, but he bit down on his lip to keep from doing so.

The hold on his collar relaxed, and Duo crumpled to the ground, gasping as pain shot from his shoulder blades down his spine as he was bent forward by the hold the person still had on his wrists. He moved his feet, getting a better stance, then kicked behind him, mule kicking, but only succeeded in getting the man's shin, and pissing him off.

The free hand grabbed him by his neck and lifted him off the ground, releasing his arms and letting them fell back into place. Duo gasped softly as he felt the muscles pull. They would be bruised in the morning, but they weren't broken. He almost smiled to himself at the man's stupidity for letting go of his wrists. He reached up, lacing his fingers around his wrist and went to pull his neck backwards and out, but the thick fingers clamped down on his airway, making him gag, gasp, and loose his momentum.

His body fell back straight, like holding a rag doll by its head and legs, then letting go of the legs. His hands reached up, trying desperately to pry the fingers away, but they weren't going to budge at all.

"Good… Good. Struggle a little more, yes…" a thin, whispering voice hissed from nowhere.

Duo couldn't see who or what it was. The angle the beast's hand had around his neck forced him to look up at the stars. The strength of the grip was suffocating him, making the edges of his vision slowly fade into black. The last thing he remembered was seeing the stars twinkling innocently above his head.

Duo woke much later. He groaned softly as he sat up from the cot. He rubbed at his aching head, before coughing into his other hand. A few splatters of blood littered the pale skin before Duo rubbed them away onto the cot. He swung his legs over the edge, glancing around. The room seemed to be made out of nothing but concrete. There was a small pot in the corner that was held up by a pipe that went down into the floor. The only light in the room came from a small bulb that hung bare from the ceiling above his reach.

Duo got to his feet and spotted the door. It was cut out of the concrete and put on hinges so that it would swing. He was only able to see that it was actually the door because there was a tiny dog flap built into the bottom of it, looking only slightly big enough for a cat to slide under it. There was no door handle on his side, nothing that would indicate that he could open the door, or that it was locked in any way. Slim legs carried him to the door and he bent down; reaching through the doggy door slightly, he grabbed the edge of the cut out and tested the door. There was a metallic thunk when he pulled, signaling that the door was, indeed, locked. Duo was about to pull his hand away when a harsh jolt of electricity run up his arm and made his back arch. He pulled his hand away, gasping slightly as he looked down at the twitching appendages and the now burnt tips of his fingers.

Glaring at the door, Duo rose to his feet and began to beat both his fists on it.

"Hey! Hey! Yo, ass wipes! Hello! Hey!" Duo called as he pounded.

A slight humming noise was his only warning before-

"AAAUURGH!" He screamed before he felt as if he were thrown from the door and onto the floor, twitching and gasping for breath, eyes wide and staring at the offensive light bulb that shined innocently down on him.

Duo faintly heard the sound of the door unlocking, a few tumblers being tripped then the concrete door sliding, or scraping rather, over the concrete floor. He blinked a few times, trying to clear the spots from his vision. Someone loomed over him, hands in their pockets, unknown colored hair hanging in their face like a curtain.

"Welcome, Mr. Maxwell. I trust that you've found the door all right."

"Yeah… It doesn't seem to like being hit." Duo said, coughing once before he moved his arms, pushing his body into a sitting position.

"No, it doesn't." The man said calmly, taking only a step back from the now sitting Duo. "There's a one hundred volt charge that runs through the door after it feels any vibrations; you pounding on the door, or trying to open it via the food flap, for example. Now that the warnings are out of the way, I will get down to business."

Duo sniggered before he rubbed his right eye, still trying to remove the dots in his vision, "I have a friend you should meet. He's just as clipped and straight to the point as you."

"So I've read, Mr. Maxwell. Your stay has been generously provided for by the Lord, and he is a very patient man. He is willing to wait as long as it takes to get the answers that he would like from you."

Duo made a snorting noise through his nose before turning his gaze onto the man beside him. He was dressed properly for a business man; black suit, white buttoned up shirt, black tie. Everything was neatly pressed and proper, save for his hair that hung past his ears and looked like it had been greased back, but something had happened to jostle the strands in the front loose, and now they hung in his dark brown eyes and slightly pale skin.

"And what answers would he like from little ol' me?" Duo asked, rubbing his right hand with his left a bit miserably.

"The Lord understands that you have extensive and expert knowledge in computer programming and hacking, is that correct?"

"Yup." Duo grunted as he glanced around the room once again.

There were men in the room now. All dressed as well as Mr. To-The-Point, but they looked to all be extremely over weight or were very muscular. One had a bandage around his right wrist. Duo assumed that was the man who had grabbed him. Duo mulled slightly over the man's large stature and on how he could've snuck up on him so quietly. The man looked like a baby elephant that had lost its trunk and ears to some sort of disease and learned to stand on its own two feet.

"The Lord has also been informed of your extensive knowledge in metal work, building and construction of large objects like cars, planes, shuttles and mobile suits."

Duo snorted before he leaned his head on his hand, the elbow resting on his right raised knee and peered up at the man, "And?" he asked shortly.

"Mr. Maxwell, please understand that the Lord is a very patient man, and will not hesitate to do anything that is required for his answers."

"Che." Duo scoffed as he glanced around the room again, looking for any possible means of escaping.

"The Lord requests for your skills and knowledge to build him a mobile suit similar to the Wing Zero Gundam, if not the same; he also requests that blueprints be made to outline what he would need to begin construction on his own line of mobile suits and dolls."

Duo blinked before he looked up at the man, his eyes darkening and narrowing into slits, "Seriously?" he asked softly.

"That is all he wishes. After you've produced them, you'll be knocked out, your memory of the event erased, and released back into the general population. You can do that high school thing that you wished to do."

Duo snarled at him, teeth bore before he folded his arms across his chest, "Over my dead body, bub. There's no way in God's Green Earth nor otherwise would I ever, evertell you assholes how to build a Gundam, nor am I going to give you anything to make your own line of mobile dolls. Forget it. Those prints have been destroyed, and I refuse to divulge what I know of them. So go wrap your dick around your own waist and go fuck yourself."

The man didn't seem at all surprised by Duo's outburst, but he did look exasperated. He pinched the bridge of his nose before he sighed softly, "Mr. Maxwell, please come to understand that if you do this the easy way, all will be forgotten. Do this the hard way, well then… I'm going to have to let the boys have at you."

"And?" Duo snarled impatiently, glaring as a few of the 'boys' took a step forward, some messaging their knuckles, others rolling their shoulders, getting ready for something that Duo could only assume would be the beating he was going to endure.

The man let out a long and slightly suffering sigh before he straightened the rest of the way up, fixed his coat and brushed his hair back into place with his hand.

"I tried. Okay, boys. The Lord says to use whatever means necessary."

"Whatever you say, boss." One of the men grunted stupidly.

The man nodded before he moved to the door, walking out. Duo glared after him before violet eyes scanned the men coming towards him. He leapt to his feet, backing away a few paces, moving his body into the most defensive position that he knew.

When the first man lunged at Duo, the long haired male swept forward, his movements quickly shifting from defensive to the offensive. He swept the side of his hand forward, slamming it into the man's throat, taking only a microsecond to gloat in his head before he moved to the next man. Duo swept his leg, flung his arm, and tried almost desperately to get through the wall of large men, but no matter how many he took down, they just got right back up, blocking his escape.

He stumbled; sweat covering his body, legs shaking, and arms numb. How long had he been doing this dance over and over again with these people? He couldn't tell; all he knew was that he was wiped out, and thick hands were grabbing his arms and shoulders. He took in one last gulp of breath, violet eyes searching out the bulb that hung low from the ceiling, being momentarily blinded by it before his whole world was engulfed in nothing but agonizing pain and unheard screams.

The next morning, light poured into the hotel room, shining off the sheets that had been provided the day before and spilling over to the floor. The clothes littered on the floor cast long, thin shadows like little spirits taking their time to enjoy their new surroundings. The bed had been made perfectly the day before, the sheets had been laid so perfectly that they were completely flat at one point, but now they were ruffled, and bunched in places that showed a bit of where the occupants had been the night before.

The only sound in the room was the sound of the sheets moving against bare flesh as one of the bed's two occupants started to wake. Lifting his head, he glanced around. He didn't want to have to move, but the sun was bothering him, keeping him awake. He pulled the covers over his head, snuggling into his bedmate's warmth, trying to block out the offending light. Sighing softly when he found the proverbial hole in the bed that one would find and not want to move in the bed. He smiled softly, and was so close to falling asleep once more when a small ticking feeling on the back of his neck made him shift uncomfortably.

A small growl issued from the blond, making his bedmate shift and turn to him. Arms wrapping around him, holding him close, while all he wanted was to get up and find out what was bothering him. The tickling feeling made his lower body shift impatiently, like someone was tickling his feet very faintly.

'What the hell? Am I forgetting something? No, I don't think I am… What could it be? Did I go somewhere I wasn't supposed to last night?'

He opened his blue eyes and glanced at his bedmate, watching the other's slumbering face and smiled to himself.

'Nope… that's not it. I meant to go to this hotel room with Trowa, sleep with him, the whole nine yards, as Duo would say…'

His stomach plummeted down in his gut and he bolted straight up, blanket flying from where it had been resting on top of his head and pooled into his waist and over his legs. Trowa made a noise that sounded oddly like a disturbed cat.

"Oh, Allah, what time is it?" he sputtered as he flung the blanket off himself, ignoring the slight noise of protest from his bedmate as he gathered up his underwear and shorts. He pulled them on rather roughly before he bolted for the vidphone on the desk.

"It's twenty after eleven…" came the muttered response as Trowa sat up in the bed, rubbing at his face a little, yawning more than anything else.

"Oh, no! I was supposed to call Duo before his shuttle left!" Quatra cried in despair, snatching up the phone and dialing the number to the room that Duo gave to them to call.

Quatra listened and watched intently as he waited for Duo to answer, for his face to come onto the screen, but after a few minutes, there was no answer from the other male. He felt his chest run a little cold before the man at the front desk picked up.

"Front desk, how can I help you?" He answered, his face coming onto the screen. The man looked a little older than him, his hair a bit graying at the roots, face looking more kind and still slightly asleep.

"Yes, can you patch me in to Duo Maxwell in room twelve, please?" Quatra asked softly.

"Sure." The man at the desk said and the line clicked over; it starting to ring.

He listened to it ring several times before the man at the front desk picked up and told him that Duo wasn't answering.

"Did you see him leave?" Quatra asked, wanting desperately to have said good bye before Duo left.

"Truthfully, Mr. Winner, I've just arrived here for my shift. I haven't seen anyone all day."

Quatra sighed sadly, eyes moving to the ground, his fingers tensing on the receiver, "Oh… Okay. Thank you anyways."

"Any time, Mr. Winner." The man said before they both hung up at the same time.

"He wasn't there?" Trowa called from where he was leaning on the pillows.

"No… I missed him…" Quatra muttered sadly, his hands rubbing at his bare shoulders.

"There is no use crying over it now. We'll call and apologize after he lands." Trowa said.

Quatra looked at him from over his shoulder before he smiled, "Yes. I suppose so."

He returned to bed, snuggling into the other's warmth and drifting back to sleep. When they would call Hilde the next day, she would inform them that Duo never called to tell her that he was even heading up there, and that she hadn't seen him since he had left with Heero about some sort of threat to peace.

"Did he tell you that he was going to come up here?" Hilde asked, sounding confused.

"Yes. He said he was going to head up to L2, see if you needed any help with the scrap yard, then he was going to go traveling." Quatra said, a frown marring his cherubic face.

"Maybe he just decided to skip over coming up to L2, and just started his traveling. He does that often, as you know. He'll say that he wants to do something, but then something else grabs his interest and he's gone." Hilde chuckled, "I'm sure he'll call once he's found somewhere to stay for a bit."

Quatra looked down at the desk before he sighed softly, "Yeah. I suppose. I hope he calls."

"He might, he might not. He might just try to sever his ties with the war and try to come up with something new." Hilde offered, a kind smile on her face for him.

Quatra smiled sadly, "I hope not… I've lost quite a few friends during the war. I was hoping to at least keep the other pilots close to me."

"He'll call you, Quatra."

"Yeah. Thank you, Hilde, and I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"Any time." She said before she hung up the phone.

Quatra sighed softly once more before he heard the sound of Trowa coming into the room behind him.

"Anything?" the other asked, frowning as he received a shake from Quatra.

"I guess… he wanted to leave us behind. Maybe it's for the best. He was the one that wanted nothing more than to just forget what he'd done during the war. Maybe that meant us as well."

"I don't think that's it, little one. He might just be lost, looking for his way. He'll find it, and you'll be the first person he'll call. You know that you will be."

Quatra chuckled as he nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I'll keep my phone on for him all the time. I hope he's happy, where ever he is."

Trowa nodded as he held the small blond from behind as the Arab silently mourned the loss of one of, if not his best, friend.

This was repeated by Hilde to Wufei, then much later to Heero. No one questioned why the American had disappeared from their lives after talking to Hilde. He'd told them that he was going to travel for a while, to 'grow up' as he put it, and they left it at that, not wanting to intrude on the other. It didn't seem odd to them that he would just leave randomly, sever all ties with them, and never keep communication. Life went on for the other four Gundam pilots, as it should've been. Some gathered up steady jobs, a couple others started up their own lives, getting into relationships, finding that they didn't work, and moving on to find someone else to spend the rest of their life with, while the fifth laid against the wall of his concrete prison; panting hard, blood streaking down the corners of his mouth from where he bit down on his tongue, cradling his broken wrist to his chest as the door was slammed shut with a teeth grating scraping sound, like nails on a chalkboard, and the light flicked off; plunging him into a world of darkness and pain.

What'cha think so far?