Disclaimer:  I do not nor ever have nor ever tried to pretend to be the owner of Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing or any of its characters and everything else.  It belongs to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and related companies…not to me.  I'm just borrowing the characters for the sole purpose of (self-) entertainment.  There is no profit resulting from this.

Warning/Author's Note:  This story is either told from the perspective of Duo Maxwell or Heero Yuy and does not follow the original story line presented in Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing.  It will feature/focus on a 1+2 shounen-ai relationship…others may or may not be present.  Also, note swearing.

Shi to Shi

//Duo Maxwell//

What has become of life?

            As an orphan growing up on the streets of L2, life was a constant struggle—a fierce contest for survival.  We waged brutal fights between rival gangs, shopkeepers, soldiers, and one another.  We searched for food, clothing, shelter, friendship—the basic human needs, every one of us scrabbling to stay alive, to etch a living out of a situation that grew more and more desperate as time went on.  Each new day meant a thousand new worries, crippling hunger, searing pain, and always, a growing sense of bitterness.

            We were just children then, and we were jaded.  We had grown up far too soon, for had we not forced ourselves to adapt, we would have be long dead.  It was a contest of will, of determination.  Everything we did was a direct result of our wish to be able to see and meet the next day.  We had no dreams.  We only had our wits and a burning desire to live.  Some may call it cruel.  We just knew it as reality.  However fortunately or unfortunately, I survived.

            Many did not.

            Now, as a teenager—as a Gundam pilot—life simply is battle.  Earth, the colonies, and everything in between are just a giant battlefield where no rules exist.  We play for life or death.  We play hard.  For once you're dead, it doesn't matter whether it was a fair fight, or whether you were unarmed; you are dead.  And that's that.

            And the scale grows larger.  What once may have been a fistfight in the streets is now a gunfight in a city.  I'm not out to take a single Leo from OZ anymore; I'm out to steal the lives of those Leo pilots who stand in my way.  And although these new challenges that I encounter nowadays are much more terrible than what I have faced before, I believe that once again, I, Duo Maxwell, shall be a survivor.

            …Because I am Shinigami, the God of Death.

            Destruction walks at my side, silent and cold.  Destruction is my sole constant companion in this war called life, for anyone who dares tread closely is disposed of by him.

            Such is my blessing—and such is my curse.  Destruction has preserved my life but also plagues it, for all those whom I have loved, all those whom I have ever cared for, have also died.  I distance myself from all now, the jester's mask secured, so that none will attempt to truly acquaint themselves with me again.  It's just me, myself, and I—or, more accurately, Duo, destruction, and Shinigami.

            And so, I am alone.

            I am always utterly alone.

TBC…