A/N:Again, the villainous monster known as menstruation has reared its ugly head, attempting to control this author and make her a true bitch! But back off, foul beast, for in comes the brave mind known as imagination, who shall purge the world of sin and villainy!

I have no idea, my mind is going fifty thousand shades of nowhere land right now, and it's just aggravating. I had to stand in a shop full of screaming children while babies wailed; it drove me insane. We were stuck for two hours. Trying on clothes. A really, really stupid, boring activity. I know a lot of girls love it, but I hate it so muccccchhh!

Anyway, uh, it's time for the next part of this story. I'm glad some people enjoy reading this. It sucks that the Gundam Wing fandom is so inactive, but I love these characters and I ain't giving up on them any time soon!

Anyone else read the hilarious Percy Jackson titles in the books? I love them, so I might try and replicate some of the hilarious titles, just for the hell of it. I'm pretty depressed right now, so I could use some light-hearted material.

Duo is a fun character to write.

Chapter Nine Do-Duo or Do-Don't do anything at all; in which some secrets should stay hidden, Heero becomes an HEERO, Trowa-well, it was nice knowin' ya! Stay away, Quatre, and no, Zechs, we're not freakin' bad guys, for the last time!


Nothing is worse than believing a lie. I always say that I'm never gonna lie, but then again, when your entire existence of being a child soldier revolves around making up excuses for your life, you know sooner or later, that lie will warp you and you'll be caught up inside it.

We Gundam boys can't escape our destinies. We're as tied to our Gundams as we are to space. So, you might be wondering...what happened to our parents? Sure, Quatre has his dad and all, but as for me, Trowa, Heero and Wufei, we're not exactly sure where our parents are.

I found out the hard way who my parents were.

Remember how I said my parents died?

Well, that ain't exactly the truth.

I found out in a rather unpleasant way, ya see.

I'd rather have not found out, to be honest.

Perhaps the old man had been lying to me, a little bit.

He'd been honest when he'd told me that they'd abandoned me, because they valued their experiments over me, but I honestly found it hard to believe that they could initially be dead, because if they could abandon me so skillfully, then perhaps it meant that they were still alive.

Of course, that didn't mean that I was expecting to run into them the way that I did.

It was a reunion fifteen or sixteen years in the making, hooray. I was just hanging out on Earth, since we Wing boys had to go under different identities and different places.

I always carried weapons on me. Guns, pistols, etc.

I didn't carry them openly, did you think I was stupid?

The last thing I wanted was to be seen as a Gundam pilot in public and killed. The least I could do was act as innocent as possible.

I was just walking down the street when I heard a woman scream, "Help, someone stole my purse!"

The thief ran right into me.

He stopped and stared at me.

"Get moving, you stupid brat!"

But it didn't even take two seconds before I had knocked him right out with one simple fist to his head. I picked up the purse and studied it. It looked oddly familiar to me.

As I studied it, the woman came right behind me, looking me up and down. She looked like me; she had brown hair and bluish eyes.

"Kid, just give me my purse. Have we met before?" She asked.

I opened my mouth to speak. "I don't think so."

"Oh, probably not." She said distastefully, "You just reminded me of my son."

I froze at that. "Yeah, and what is your son like?"

"I had him many years ago. He died. We had to move away from him. These things happen sometimes, for the good of space, you understand?" She said, "I have a new son and couldn't be happier. What of your parents?"

I looked at her and didn't grace her highness with an answer. "They're dead."

"So you're a poor street urchin then? Get out of my sight." She said, glaring at me, and snatching her purse from my hands. What was with the sudden mood change?

Suddenly, her husband came over. It wasn't my original father, just a new one, glaring at me.

"Get movin', you little brat."

"Sure, sure! Have a good day now!" I said sarcastically, unknowingly to them, I'd taken a bit of their stuff.

Still, I couldn't help but turn around and let my eyes follow my birth mother as she was walking. She hadn't even recognized me, she'd forgotten all about me.

Then I noticed they had another kid. I had a sibling I never even knew about.

I watched them for a few moments before I felt her sharp gaze on mine, then I turned and walked away, determined to never see them again. They'd chosen to abandon me, so that meant that I was...past that, now.

Besides, they got to live as civilians because they were cowardly enough to fake their own deaths and run away from it all. If my mother had truly loved me, she would've searched for me. But she hadn't.

She showed me their true colors, so I didn't really care much that they were still alive.

"Hey, Quat," I said to Quatre over the phone.

"What is it?" Quatre asked.

"I found my parents."

"I thought you were an orphan," Quatre said.

"Well, I found my mother, but she didn't even recognize me, she abandoned me when I was younger."

"That's awful, Duo," Quatre said.

"She's forgotten about me and started a new life, but I don't care, she's not worth my time." I said as we moved on to another topic.

I couldn't help but wish that OZ would bring her some suffering for her sins, having neglected a small child like me and abandoning me.

Another day of battle happened again. I yawned inside Deathscythe as I waited for the soldiers to begin their usual charade of attempting to slaughter their enemy.

"Die, traitor to OZ!" They cried.

"I'm sorry," I said, activating my beam weapon, "You didn't say, excuse me!" I said as I sliced through the other machine, blowing it up instantly. I did feel a pang of regret for taking another life.

But it was another meaningless battle. More casualties.

"You're all getting blessed by the God of Death!" I cheered as I slaughtered their brethren, taking no pride in the act.

I turned my machine around, only to come face to face with a new machine. Who was this?

"I've got you cornered, Gundam pilot," A new voice said.

Was that Zechs Merquise? What was he doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be challenging Heero Yuy?

I guessed I had meddled with the timeline more than I thought possible.

"Ah, you're Zechs." I said.

"That's right," Zechs said, "I take it my prowess reaches even the ears of traitors from space."

Oh no, no way was I fighting Zechs. He would kick my ass.

Regardless of how talented I might be, Zechs was another level above me.

"I wasn't pursuing you. I was pursuing another Gundam, and mistook you for him. However, since you've slaughtered some of my best men, I may have to fight you to recompense for you murdering them. You're Gundam number two, correct?"

"That's right. And these things are necessary in war. I take no pleasure in the act." I said truthfully.

"You've got honor, I see. A moral compass. But that doesn't change the fact that you killed my men. What's your name?" He asked.

"You can just call me the God of Death," I said sarcastically.

"Well, then God of Death, I'd like to fight you." He said.

Suddenly, we were interrupted, as a new mobile suit came our way. It was Heero.

"Maxwell," He said.

"Heero," I said, "What are you doing here?"

"I do not turn my back on battles. Get out of here, Maxwell."

I refused, I was not going to turn tail and let Heero callously sacrifice himself.

I watched the battle unfold.

It was obvious that Heero had no idea how to fight Zechs.

"Heero, don't do it," I hissed.

Somehow, in my mind, I could picture Heero reaching for the self-destruct button.

Heero opened his cockpit and came out.

I heard Zechs gasp.

"You're just a child!" He cried, "I've been fighting a child this whole time."

"Mission complete!" Heero said, "Goodbye." Then he pressed the self-destruct button.

And fell, to the ground, limp, limp, lifeless.

My fist slammed on Deathscythe. "Dammit, Heero, why did you have to do this?"


I swore I heard Deathscythe make some sort of noise, like sorrow, perhaps mourning his fallen comrade?

"02, why would you condemn your comrade to death? That's disgraceful."

I couldn't help but feel annoyed by Zechs.

"Are you a child, also?"

"So what if I am?" I snarled.

"I do not find it honorable to fight children."

"Well, these same kids are kicking your asses!"

He chuckled, "You've got spirit, God of Death. I will enjoy this very much. What is that child's name?" He asked.

"You think I would give information to the enemy?" I said.

"You will give me his name and leave quietly and allow me to-"

"Deliver him to an OZ hospital? I don't think so. I can't let you do that." I said, advancing toward him.

"Is that a threat?" He said.

I activated my beam weapon.

"I have to fight again? I dislike fighting against young kids like you, who have no concept of war."

"I've grown up in war my whole life!" I snapped.

Damn, he was strong. My Gundam had a tough job standing up to him.

"Are you going to give up?" He asked me.

"Never!"

Suddenly, Heavyarms appeared.

"02, I'll handle him. 01 is ours. Are you all right, Maxwell?" Trowa's voice.

"I'm fine, just a bit out of sorts." I said.

"Are you sure Heero will be okay?" I asked Trowa as he had Heero in a hospital bed.

"I will do all I can for him." Trowa said. "I still can't believe he would use his self-destruct button."

"That's suicide, right?"

"Suicide is sometimes necessary, in these missions. It's just reckless that he would do it in such a disastrous situation."

"Maybe, he was so determined to win that the concept of losing just seemed like death to him." I said.

"That was very profound. You're something else, Maxwell." Trowa said, "Quatre talks a lot about you."

"Quatre?" I said.

"He talks about you a lot, you're his friend."

"And Wufei?" I asked.

"That one is hard to keep in touch with. He does things as he pleases."

"That sounds familiar," I snarked.

I heard Heero groan.

"Who saved me?" He muttered.

"I did," Trowa said.

"I'm gonna kill you, 03," I said.

"You're in no shape to do that, Heero," I added from beside him.

"Shut up, Maxwell," He said. "Why did you save me and not let me die?"

"Because we're Gundam pilots," Was our simple answer.

"You both believe that?" Heero said.

"How did you survive?" I asked.

"It's just a flesh wound." He joked.

I gaped. Heero, making jokes, it was the end of the world.

Trowa laughed.

Heero glared at me. Never underestimate his glare.

"So the God of Death is terrified of you?" Trowa said in amusement.

"No, it's not like that. It's just that Hee-chan here does stupid things," I snarked.

"No, it's because Maxwell does dumb things-" Heero flinched before he could finish his sentence.

"Well, Duo, I suppose this is where we split ways. I'll keep an eye on Yuy, and I'll let you know when he updates." Trowa said.

"Yeah, okay." I said to him.

Of course, the news spread about the defeat of the first Gundam pilot, so of course OZ was more eager to obtain our hides. So that made me even more determined to live on the streets and hide out. I would burn down my hideouts, steal what I could.

It was then that I met someone I didn't expect to; Relena, of all people.

"Hello!" She said to me, "Have you seen Heero? I figured you might know, since you shot him. You must know where he is."

"He got himself hurt in a battle, so he probably doesn't want to see anyone right now." I stated.

She looked hurt.

"I see," She said.

"Look," I said, "If you really wanna know about the Gundam pilots, you can ask one himself. We were never fully introduced. I'm Duo Maxwell. Pleasure to meet ya. I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie."

"I'm Relena..."

"Relena Darlian?"

"Yeah," She said quietly.

"I heard about his assassination."

"I know you guys are dangerous."

"Lady, if I really wanted to take you out, you wouldn't be standing here."

She laughed. "You seem kinda close to Heero. Do you like him?"

"Him? No way! He complains all the time, he's rude, a jackass, he doesn't even value anything I do for him!" I said.

She laughed again. "I see. At least Heero has a capable escort who can guard him. Tell him I said hello." She said as she walked away.