Takes place during the events of episodes 19 and 20. I just took some liberty with the events itself. Told from Heero's POV.

This is something I've been wanting to write since January, but never had the time to. Well now it's finished. The first fic I've written in years.

Oh god I'm scared.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. At all.

I yawned as I stretched my arms above my head. I could feel various muscles strain and some joints pop as I pushed upwards as far as my arms could go. But it was all to no avail, my body was exhausted and the only thing that would help it now was sleep. I suppose it was my own fault anyways, after all, I didn't have to save him.

With that thought, I turned to where the only bed in the room resided. A sleeping figure laid in the bed. It was hard to tell the lumps in the bed were an actual person, until you saw the inhale of his breath. I sighed myself and looked at the ceiling above us.

Sound-proof tiles. A long janitorial-looking light fixture. Paint chipped in places because it had been coated over several times with no care taken as to remove the older layers of paint first.

As I stared at the ceiling, I began to wonder what was wrong with me. I wasn't physically harmed, but something was clearly wrong with me. I had clearly disobeyed by my instincts, my training… and listened to some internal emotion that drove me. Certainly it wasn't the first time I acted on emotions, in fact, they were what led me to decide to fight against OZ. However, when it came to missions, I was about efficiency. Whatever I needed to get the mission done was all I needed.

So why had I deviated from my intended silencing of Duo? Why did I instead help carry around an extra 100 pounds of flesh to escape when I had planned no such thing?

I was lucky that I was able to set the mobile dolls to target the OZ flight suits. That was a great oversight on the part of some engineering, though I'm sure it would be fixed by the next model.

After our rather impressive escape, I brought him back to the colony I had been hiding on since I made it back to space. I knew he was injured and likely would need medical attention. Luckily, the rebel network Dr. J and I were familiar with and had worked with before several times, had connections on every colony. It only took me a few hours to get Duo to an apartment complex that doubled as a medic center for underground rebels. Rooms that looked like suites on the outside were nothing more than patient rooms of a hospital on the inside. I was relieved he only had a few fractured ribs and bruising, because this facility could at least handle that. I knew we'd be relatively safe here, this building and network had been operation since before I was born.

Outside I noticed the colony had dimmed to simulate Earth's night. For a brief moment, my mind wandered to just how much we were still like our ancestors millennia ago; we still craved the night and day, the rain and wind.

I stood up and walked over to a small chair, like those for visitors in a hospital, and decided to get comfortable. I pulled my legs up to my chest and rested my head on my knees. I knew I could sleep just fine like this, I always had been able to even when I was much younger.

"What are you doing, Heero?" A voice sleepily half-asked, and half-groaned.

"Trying to sleep." I responded, my words slightly obscured by my current position.

"You can't sleep like that, you look like a pretzel."

"I can sleep just fine, you need to as well. Now shut up and sleep." I grumbled and pulled my legs closer to me, as if signaling with my body that this conversation was over. I always got the final word... or so I thought.

"Get real." Duo's voice taunted.

"Duo…" A growl was forming deep in me. I just wanted sleep.

"Don't growl at me. You and I both know our missions require every bit of our time and energy. You will not get proper REM sleep curled up like an armadillo."

I admit, I opened my eyes in surprise at that. I hadn't encountered many people who outright argued with me when I took that tone. But it hadn't even phased Duo; he came right back with equal, if not more, intensity.

Seeming to pick up on my mental thought process wherein I debated arguing back and what to say, Duo struck another blow. "I could argue all night, man." He warned. And I knew the bastard wasn't bluffing.

Shit.

I uncurled myself from where I was sitting and walked over to the bed. Duo had moved over a bit, allowing me room to lay down. I nodded a thanks and sat down. In a moment I was laying down, closing my eyes and hoping to sleep soon.

I sat on the edge of the bed as he moved over slowly. I had no interest in even laying here, but I was honestly too tired to argue with him. I looked over and I noticed he left a pillow for me to use. I shook my head.

Here he was, the equivalent of my patient, and he was giving me helpful tips about sleeping. I could almost hear Odin's ghost laughing at me from beyond the grave as I finally laid down against the pillow.

"See? Isn't that better?" Duo chided. I could hear the smile in his voice. I frowned, though I wasn't necessarily as angry as I was before.

"Shut up before I tell OZ to take you back."

"Rude!" I gave a dry laugh.

I finally closed my eyes and it wasn't much longer before I finally drifted off to sleep.

I had maybe got about an hour or two of sleep when I felt Duo's back bump up against mine. I could tell his body was stiff, as if awaiting something. My sense went on alert, thinking that there was danger afoot and I was sleeping through it, when suddenly a loud crash exploded outside. Duo's body shuddered and moved impossibly closer to me. Realizing there was no real danger, I relaxed.

"It's just thunder." I moaned out. "Stupid colony weather system…"

"Yeah well…" Duo didn't get to finish as his statement as the thunder went off again. I opened my eyes and turned around.

"Don't tell me that a gundam pilot is scared of thunder." I commented. "Much less artificial thunder."

"Go to hell, Yuy." Was my angry retort. I rolled my eyes and tried to turn back over and go to sleep.

As I did though my mind conjured up the image of a little girl and her puppy, both of them watching me with a look of disappointment. Standing next to them was an older man who frowned along with them, his blue eyes watching me. His mouth moved as he said something, but the words were lost to the wind. I knew what he said though.

I inwardly sighed as I turned to lay on my back, because the conscience had won.

"How?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"How is it you pilot a Gundam but you're scared of colony-generated sounds of thunder?" I could feel his body stiffen again as he heard another roll of thunder outside.

"I just don't like the sound, ok?" He responded hastily. I could tell he wanted to talk, to state something else; but I made no motion to pry it out of him. After what felt like several minutes of silence, I heard him speak up again.

"Are you… familiar with L2?"

"Barely." I commented, truthfully. I knew about the specifics about the colony. It was the colony suspended at LaGrange Point 2 and was funded mostly by the United States. Much like its benefactor, the colony had an all but disappearing middle-class. People on L2 were one of two things, very rich or very poor. I could recall that even Odin had once made me stay behind by myself when I was very little because he didn't want me on L2 at the time. It was also known for the illness that had spread amongst the colony years ago...

My eyes widened with the thought of the second incident the colony was known for. The realization of Duo's name and the incident in my mind suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks.

The Maxwell Church.

"Well, it sucks. At least, the part I came from anyways." Duo turned over and laid on his back. He put his arms behind his head as he looked at the ceiling. "I grew up on the streets with a gang full of orphans like me. Our leader, Solo, was my best friend – that's where I got my name, yanno?"

I could tell by his manner of speech that he was covering something. His past was obviously a dark place in his mind, and he preferred to keep a smile on to throw people off.

I wonder how well that worked on other people?

"What happened to Solo?" I asked. I knew it was something that had to be asked. I knew that Duo would have otherwise tried to use his go-to speech to explain something, but leave out important details. Duo's face changed to that of someone troubled. His eyes almost seemed to glow with the reflection of the lightning from outside. His eyes seemed watery, though I knew better than to assume he was crying.

"You catch on quick." Duo smirked. "He died in the plague that went around L2. A lot of us poor people died in that outbreak; we couldn't afford the cure… that's why… I hate thunder."

I raised an eyebrow. For all my intelligence about the colonies, weather, and what Duo had just told me, I did not follow his explanation. "What do you mean?" I raised an eyebrow.

"When the outbreak was at its peak, right after Solo died, the colony officials decided to use the weather system to 'clean the streets of filth'." The way Duo stated that last portion, I felt like he was quoting a newspaper or speech. "For several weeks, the colony would turn on the weather system on the poorer part of the colony to create a torrential downpour to 'clean the streets.' Duo explained.

I knew the weather system served such purposes, in the time I was on X18999 and L1, both colonies had used their weather system to put out major fires that spread out of control.

Both times my fault… Duo was looking at me now, but I wasn't sure why.

My mind went back to the time of Odin's death and then it went back to the death of the little girl when the explosives I set up accidentally demolished several residential buildings in the area.

"But why thunder?" I questioned out loud.

"Having it rain all the time bummed out the rich people on the other side of the colony, since all they saw was rain. So to appease them, the colony used its simulated thunder and lightning. So now… whenever I hear it or see it, I think of those nights…" Duo glared. "Those bastards didn't even bother to have the fire department put the Maxwell Church out after it was destroyed. They just turned on the weather system… that damn thunder."

I could see his violet eyes brimming with unreleased anger and rage about the unfairness of it all. And.. I guess I couldn't blame him. I didn't know what to say. 'Sorry' seemed so cheap and useless. But anything else didn't, or probably wouldn't seem sincere coming from me.

I knew how I came off to people: cold, blunt, aloof… I don't care what other people think of me. I don't have time to.

"…what about you?" I looked at Duo like he lost his mind.

"What about me what?" Duo frowned and stared right at me before speaking again. "When I mentioned the colony weather system, your eyes became watery… I thought you might cry."

"Shut up." I growled, shutting my eyes and turning over onto my side, so that my back was to him. I felt him climb up over me, to where his body was laying across mine and his face inches from my ear. I could feel his bangs tickling my skin and I could almost hear his damn smile just in his breathing.

"Hey, I confessed to you."

"It wasn't a trade-foff."

"Oh come on. You should share. We're a gang now, gangs look after each other." I opened my eye at that.

"We're what?"

"A gang!"

"We are not a gang."

"Well, yeah we are. I mean, I don't know the other pilots as well as I do you so far Cept for maybe Quatre, but we're all pilots fighting for the colonies. We're a gang." Duo explained as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "Besides, you and I are definitely a gang now."

"I think a gang requires more than two people." I muttered. Damn, I was never going to sleep at this rate.

"Yeah but I look out for you, and you look out for me. I got you out of that hospital, and then you broke me out of Barge."

"That just makes us even." I corrected.

"Nope!" Duo almost crowed in joy. Damn, did he always get such delight out of being right? "Remember when you blew up that Leo that was sneaking up behind me?"

"You mean when you were too distracted to notice it because you were trying to get me?" I smirked. Duo pushed me, but I didn't really take offense to it.

"Because I was going to kick your ass for stealing Deathscythe's parts! Jerk!" Oh he wasn't going to get into that was he?

"Duo-" I was interrupted before I could continue.

"That's not the point, the point is you said that you were returning the favor of me saving you. So when you helped me escape from OZ, you didn't do it because you felt obligated. Which means you did it because you care. You looked out for me, face it Heero… we're a gang."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I had never really felt like I belonged somewhere other than in a battle. And yet, Duo was the first person I met that shared such similarities to me. We were so different, yet so similar that part of me wanted to be part of this gang.

"So...?" Duo stated again. Damn, the bastard was very persistent.

"A year or so ago, there was a large fire around a residential area on L1. A lot of people were injured and quite a few were killed, not to mention the soldiers inside the nearby military base." I stated clearly, I kept my eyes looking away from him, but I knew he was looking straight at me.

I felt Duo lift away off of me and lay back down on his side of the bed. He nodded knowingly.

"Oh yeah! I remember hearing about that. It was pretty big news when that happened." Duo began to elaborate, so I decided to stop him before he got too far along.

"I caused it." I felt his gaze back on me.

"What happened?" His voice wasn't judgmental or criticizing. Instead, it was filled with what I could only imagine was understanding.

"I had everything planned out. Everything. From the schedule of the guards' footpaths and routes, to the radius of the explosives I had set up." My tone was angry; I was arguing with myself. Half of me wanted to admit it was a mistake and that I shouldn't beat myself up over it. The other half of me wanted to kill that half and constantly remind me it was my fault. The latter always won. "I just hadn't expected one of the MS guards to detour from his path and leave the suit close to the perimeter. The suit fell over into a nearby apartment complex and exploded. The fire spread so quickly, the colony's weather system was the only way to put it out. There was nothing I could-"

I stopped myself, not wanting to continue any further. I hadn't even realized how much information had just poured out of me.

But, I was reliving it through all of my senses. I could still hear the screams and the explosions; the fire crackling as it burned everything. I could still smell the smoke as it choked out the air. I could feel the heat blow in waves against my skin.

If there was a Hell, I'm sure there was a place in it just for me...

"So I take it you hate the rain." Duo commented. I looked at him. Neither of us said anything, there was just a silent understanding of the pain and hurt we both had endured and had decided to keep in.

He was right.

"I detest the rain." I admitted, which made him smile.

We were a gang.

"We're the most fucked up gang in existence." He laughed. I would have laughed with him, if I wasn't amazed at how well he could read me. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought he was reading my mind.

"The thunder stopped." I commented, I had then realized that the flashes of lightning and the roar of thunder had gone away and only the patter of rain remained. I ignored it for the time being.

Instead, I wanted to try and figure out why and how Duo had got me to save him - twice - and then make me spill some of my darkest and most withheld thoughts to him. I was too tired to come up with a real reason.

But, I am relieved he doesn't work undercover for OZ.

"I guess we should sleep then." Duo fluffed his pillow and closed his eyes.

"Yes. I really need sleep." I wasn't lying either, my plan to sneak in and get rid of Dr. J and the other captive scientists would require all of my attention and energy.

"Heero?"

Did he ever go to sleep?

"Heero? Hey, you asleep already?"

Maybe if I ignore him...

"Heero! I have one more question. C'mon, wake up Heero!"

"What!?" I half yelled out.

"One more question and then you can sleep, ok?"

"Duo, at this point..." I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "I would help you find the lost city of Atlantis if it meant I could sleep." 1 He laughed, but I was dangerously serious. I was completely willing to wake up and open my laptop and do research on the lost city of Atlantis if it meant I could get some damn sleep.

"Fine. One question. What is it?" I asked. I assumed the question would be easy and I would be asleep within the next minute or two.

"Why did you steal parts off Deathscythe?"

Dammit.

1. I threw in a small homage to one of my favorite movies, "All Dogs go to Heaven". I couldn't help it.