cut

"Get a move on!" Duo snapped and looked back at the three Agents that were a part of his and Wufei's team.

Une dispatched the 5 of them on this mission saying it would be a perfect opportunity to see how the 3 rookies functioned in unusual conditions. This blizzard they were stuck in was everything but usual, that was for sure.

Wufei chuckled when he saw the scowl on Duo's face and the infamous Death Scythe Pilot glared at his friend. "Give them a break, Maxwell," Wufei drawled. "They are still green. It's normal for them to find it difficult to move through a blizzard this proportions."

Duo sneered and looked at the three Agents that finally managed to catch up with them. They were huffing and puffing up a storm and Duo scoffed. "Some Agents you are," he muttered and turned around to look forward.

"Can't we take a break?" Agent Kelly Clint asked and Duo looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You want to freeze to death?" he drawled.

"We aren't like you, man!" Agent Joshua Bane cried out and Duo sneered at him. "We are normal human beings! We aren't meant to walk through a damn blizzard."

"You are Preventer Agents!" Duo snapped and the three flinched while Wufei snickered.

He knew very well why Une didn't put Duo in charge of training the rookies.

Special Agent Shinigami was possibly the most respected and feared Agent in Preventers. He was ruthless towards his partners and expected only the best out of everyone. One could say he had become the Perfect Soldier. Only his closest friends knew that he was possibly worse than Heero had ever been.

Duo has dedicated his whole life to Preventers and expected nothing less from those who partnered with him. The only ones able to keep up with him were the other Gundam Pilots. They had no problem keeping up with his tempo, but others couldn't.

The fact that Une put Agents Kelly Clint, Joshua Bane and Bruce Thomas on this team meant either that she had high expectations for them or she didn't like them all that much.

"Yes, we are Preventer Agents," Thomas said. "But we are still human! We need a break!"

Wufei snickered and looked at Duo who growled.

"You can either keep up with Chang and me or you can go back. We're not stopping until we reach the Mark," Duo pressed out through his teeth.

"What the fuck, Maxwell?!" Bane snapped. "We aren't machines! This blizzard is unnatural!"

"You have to give him that," Wufei muttered so only Duo could hear him. The blizzard really was unnatural. It was unlike anything either one of them has ever seen.

"If we stay here we'll freeze to death, Chang," Duo said and Wufei shook his head.

"You're right. But if they fall too far back we'll lose them. I don't think Une will be overly thrilled with that."

Duo scoffed and rolled his eyes. "She can have a fit for all I care. I can't believe she sent them with us." Wufei chuckled while the three rookies bristled at Duo's words.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Thomas shouted.

"Exactly what I said!" Duo snapped and Thomas flinched back. "We have less than 8 miles to the Mark. You've rested enough, now move it!"

"We didn't rest at all!" Clint almost whined, and Wufei raised an eyebrow at her.

"If you had spent the past minutes on breathing and not complaining you would have rested sufficiently," he answered and Duo snorted, fixing his backpack and hunching forward a bit to create at least some resistance to the harsh wind blowing in their faces.

"Move it!" Duo snapped and started to push forward through the knee high snow, strong wind, and blizzard.

Wufei chuckled, fixed his backpack, and moved after Duo. He threw a small glance back and saw that the three followed after them with murdering glares. "I don't think they like you all that much, Maxwell!"

Duo scoffed and spared Wufei a glance. "They can choke on it," he muttered and Wufei laughed.

"A monster, that's what he is," Bane complained.

"This is the last time I agree to go on a mission with him," Thomas grumbled and Clint nodded her head.

"Less talking, more walking!" Duo shouted and the three tensed up, not believing Duo heard them.

"A monster, I tell you," Bane whispered.

"Not a monster, kid!" Wufei called out and smirked at them over his shoulder. "Just Shinigami!"

cut

Duo let go of a relieved sigh when they walked into a huge cave apparently made of ice. It seemed like a bluish light was coming from deep within it. It was hard to estimate just how deep the cave was. They've walked some 20 meters into the cave to get away from the storm. It has only worsened the closer they got to the Mark.

"Wufei?" Duo called out and said man straightened from where he was cleaning his backpack of the snow.

"What?"

"Try to contact HQ," Duo instructed and Wufei nodded. "Clint, Bane, Thomas, set up camp."

The three moved quickly, although it appeared not to be quickly enough in Duo's eyes. Wufei chuckled when he saw the way Duo glared at the three.

In a way Wufei could understand Duo's situation. Two weeks ago Duo returned from a pretty difficult infiltration mission. The only reason why he was on this mission was because Heero had to be home, since Relena could give birth any time now, Trowa and Quatre were in the middle of negotiating merger with another company, and Zechs and Noin were stuck on Mars.

Suffice to say, Duo wasn't a happy camper.

The fact that the two of them would have been enough for this mission didn't help either.

Why Une thought that the other three needed to go with them was beyond Wufei, but he wasn't one to question the woman.

Wufei looked down at his equipment and frowned. He looked up when Duo cursed up a blue streak, and saw that Duo was trying to get a reading on his GPRS.

"Either the equipment is malfunctioning or something here is messing with it," Wufei said and Duo looked at him.

"That means we're cut off from HQ," Shinigami concluded bitterly and threw the machine he held into his backpack.

"Fantastic!" Kelly snapped and the two Special Agents looked at the three Agents who stopped in the middle of setting up camp. "Does that mean we're actually stuck in this place?!"

"What? You're afraid you'll miss an appointment?" Duo asked and Kelly blushed. "This is a mission, Clint. Shit goes wrong on missions all the time. If you can't think on your feet then you chose a wrong job." Kelly looked at the ground.

"No need to be so hard on her, Maxwell," Joshua said and Duo snorted. "We're new to this."

"You're Preventer Agents," Duo reminded them in a threatening growl, violet eyes darkening for a moment. "You're supposed to be better than everyone else, so suck it up, grow some fucking balls and deal with it!" He looked at Wufei making it clear that he was done with the rookies.

"What's the plan?" Wufei asked.

"I say we try and see how deep this cave is. According to the mission data a huge energy source was found here. Une said it appeared a few months ago and has only grown stronger ever since. Whatever it is, it seems it isn't harmful. The gamma-radiation is nonexistent. Whatever it is, Une sent us over to investigate."

Wufei nodded and stood up. "Clint, Thomas, Bane. You three finish setting up camp while Maxwell and I investigate the cave."

The three nodded while Duo took two flashlights and two emergency bags from inside of his backpack. He threw one flashlight and one bag to Wufei who caught them and smirked at Duo.

"Ready?" Wufei asked and Duo snorted.

"Let's bust this joint," he muttered. "If we're not back in five hours, pack up and make your way back. Don't wait and don't hesitate, clear?" The three Agents raised eyebrows at him and Duo ground his teeth together, a nerve beside his right eye twitching in annoyance "Is there something you don't understand?!"

"No sir!" the three snapped and saluted Duo who snorted and nodded at Wufei.

"Let's go."

cut

"We've been walking for two hours now," Wufei said and looked at his wrist watch.

They have abandoned their winter jackets an hour ago. The deeper they walked into the cave the warmer it got. To their surprise the cave seemed to be made out of solid ice still. Even though the temperature was well above zero there was no water on the ground indicating that the ice was melting.

Duo hummed and looked at his wristwatch. "We'll go for another half an hour and then make our way back," he said and Wufei nodded.

Duo took off his turtleneck and tied it around his waist staying in a black, tight, t-shirt. His bangs started to stick to his sweaty forehead, and he seemed even more annoyed than he was when they had started their trip down the cave.

"Is there something wrong?" Wufei asked and Duo spared him a glance.

"Except the fact that we're on a mission with three useless slackers?"

Wufei laughed quietly and shook his head. "I'm not asking this as your partner, Duo," he said and the brown haired man looked at Wufei with a raised eyebrow. "I'm asking this as your friend. Is there something wrong?"

Duo sighed and looked in front of himself again. "I don't know, Fei," he muttered and Wufei smiled.

It's been long - too long since he got the chance to talk to Duo. The braided man was always on a mission somewhere and most of the time his missions forbade any sort of communication.

"I guess I'm just pissed off about everything lately."

Wufei nodded. "Is there something particular?"

Duo shrugged. "I dun know, man," Duo grumbled and Wufei smiled again. Duo was regressing back to his street accent which meant he was slowly relaxing. "I constantly feel like somethin's gonna happen. I dun know. Maybe I'm just paranoid."

Wufei frowned. "A bad feeling?" he asked.

"More like expectation," Duo clarified. "I'm constantly jumpy an' I can't get a moment's rest. It's like - like someone's constantly watchin' me, an' I know there's no one. I feel like I'll go nuts," Duo muttered and they took a turn. "Maybe I just need a damn break."

"Did you talk with Une about taking a vacation?"

Duo snorted and smirked at Wufei. "Ya really think she'd let her best field Agent take a vacation?" Duo asked and Wufei huffed.

"Right," he grunted. They took another turn and just as Wufei was about to say something he lost his footing.

"WUFEI!" Duo cried out and reached for Wufei to grab his hand.

Now, it would have been good had they had solid ground under their feet, but the moment Duo grabbed Wufei's hand he slipped and the two were sliding down.

With grunts they suddenly hit solid ground.

"This will hurt in tha mornin', Duo grumbled and Wufei made a sound of agreement while they picked themselves up and looked up the slope.

"You think we'll be able to climb up?" Wufei asked and Duo hummed.

"It'll take a li'l effort, but yeah, we can make it ta tha top," Duo said and Wufei nodded. Duo turned around to see where they were and gaped.

"Well, fuck me silly," he muttered and Wufei rolled his eyes.

"Maxwell, I don't think you should be…" he swallowed his words when he turned around and saw what had Duo cursing. Some 10 meters in front of them was an ice wall that was radiating blue light and incredible warmth. It seemed to be pulsating.

"Fuck me," Wufei breathed out and took a few steps closer when he noticed a blurry shape behind the ice. Duo walked over to it with careful steps. "Maxwell…"

"Hush," Duo cut him off and Wufei raised an eyebrow at his partner.

There was something strange about the Death Scythe Pilot. Duo stopped a foot in front of the wall and slowly raised his right hand. There seemed to be a layer of perspiration on the ice wall, and Wufei slowly walked over.

Ever so slowly Duo placed his hand on it. "It's warm," he muttered. He passed with his hand over the wall, wiping away the perspiration and the two gaped at what was revealed. "Is that…"

"Impossible."

Behind the wall of ice was a man. He seemed to be floating in the air. His clothes and shoulder long hair floated around his muscled body. His oval face was creamy white and raven black lashes rested on pale cheeks. He looked as though he was sleeping.

Duo shivered when a sense of familiarity washed over him, and took another step closer placing his left hand on the ice wall.

"Am I really seeing this?" Wufei muttered.

"He's-he's beautiful," Duo whispered and Wufei looked at him with eyes full of shock. From where he was standing he could only see Duo's profile but he could clearly see the look of wonder and shock on Duo's face.

"Duo…"

A strong pulse shook the cave and the two almost lost their footing.

"What the fu…"

"We have to get out of here!" Wufei snapped. Duo first looked at Wufei and then back at the man trapped behind the wall.

In that moment another pulse, stronger than the last one shook the cave and then happened something that had the two Special Agents gaping. With another pulse the man's eyes snapped open. Two orbs of clear emerald looked at them and cupid bow lips tilted into a smile.

"Thank you."

Those words echoed through their minds and before either had the time to really think things through, they were blinded by blue light and soon everything faded into whiteness.

cut

"Fuck this," Duo grumbled as he slowly woke up. He realized his cheek was stinging from the cold. With instant awareness he jumped into a sitting position and looked around. "What the fuck?"

They were on a snowy plain. All their equipment was scattered around them. Kelly, Joshua and Bruce were a few meters away from him, and Wufei was lying on his back a meter to Duo's right.

"Wufei?" he called out and crawled over to his friend. He shook Wufei awake and the Chinese man groaned. He woke up instantly and sat up quickly when he realized something was very, very wrong.

"What happened?"

"I have no fucking idea," Duo muttered and stood up. He looked at the three sleeping Agents and rolled his eyes.

Wufei chuckled despite the situation and stood up. "I do believe they could sleep through a nuclear explosion," he drawled and Duo snorted.

"ON YOUR FEET, SOLDIERS!" he snapped and the three jumped up, disoriented and still half asleep.

"What the fuck?" Bruce grumbled as he looked around.

"Our thoughts exactly," Duo said. "What the fuck happened?"

There was nothing but whiteness around them.

"Beats me," Wufei muttered and walked over to his backpack. He took out his GPRS and snorted. "Dead," he said and threw it on the ground. He looked at his wristwatch and raised an eyebrow. "Maxwell, whatever happened we're royally fucked."

Duo raised an eyebrow and looked at his own wristwatch. Or what was left of it. The glass was cracked. It wasn't even blinking. "I don't even want to look at the rest of our equipment," he grumbled and Wufei snorted. He was about to say something when they heard the sound of a chopper coming in their direction. All 5 of them looked up and almost immediately spotted a black dot on the horizon that was getting increasingly bigger.

"I hope as hell that's our ride," Duo drawled.

5 minutes later a chopper landed in front of them and Heero jumped out.

"I'd say thank God, but I do believe something else was at work!" Wufei shouted over the sound of the chopper.

"Our radars detected a huge explosion in the area! Une immediately dispatched three tracking teams!" Heero explained as they gathered their equipment and made their way to the chopper. "Quatre and Trowa are in their choppers!" They got in and buckled up. "What happened?!"

Duo and Wufei exchanged a glance as well as the other three before Duo looked at Heero and shrugged. "We'll tell you when we figure it out!"

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Ah, I remember this one. Good story. Took me a while to write it, but in the end I quite like the outcome.