Author's Note: Big thanks to windwraith for adding her two cents in the last chapter but more people. Reviews are like drugs and we get so addicted so easily. Just a small comment, tell both KO and I how we're doing, etcetera. Hopefully the Christmas spirit hasn't left everyone yet; it's better to give than receive.

Disclaimer: We do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language

One Braided Fool Found

North Sanc Harbor that was where they had fled. Looking at the place, Duo couldn't help but feel that this place was suppose to be the scene of some action movie. Yeah, there should be some sort of battleship docked right there and some missiles with nerve gas set up all over the place. He was letting his imagination go wild again, he supposed, as he and Solo ducked into the nearest warehouse, motorcycle and all.

Crates and storage units were packed all over the place and Duo found himself feeling comfortable with it all. There were places to hide around should they be attacked and it had the musky feel that heavy equipment had been about, something that it had in common with a mechanic's garage.

After taking out a set of lock picks hidden in his braid, he picked the lock to one of the offices in the back and led the way into it as Solo parked their ride up against the wall outside of it. The braided one collapsed onto the small couch, resting his head against one of the furniture's arms and dangling his legs off the other one. Staring straight above at the ceiling, he glanced at a decorative mirror that had been hung on the wall nearby and Duo found himself staring into it, studying his reflection.

What had happen to him? Just yesterday at about the same time he had been full of life and healthy looking. Now he looked like he had been through years of hardships, what with the way his eyes looking sunken, his hair lacking luster, and his face looking taunt. He was a freaking zombie man.

Yet there were no signs of the jokester that he played as when with company. If anything, he kinda resembled the streetrat that he had been long before he had become a pilot and just a little before entering the Maxwell Church Orphanage. He looked haunted and yet it was the closest to his real self that he had seen in years. Instead of the mask he had always worn, he could see through the gaping cracks at it to see the little streetrat still in there, hiding from the world as he had been taught.

As he continued to gaze at himself, Solo entered the office and dragged the chair from behind the desk over so that he could sit next to the couch. The blond could see the vacant look on the younger's face but he wasn't completely bothered by it. He had had the same expression before on his own when he was growing up on the streets. Hell, all streetrats had that look at some point or another.

"You alright, Kid?" he asked, resting a hand on Duo's arm.

Feeling someone touching him, Duo immediately reacted, grabbing an unsuspecting wrist in a vice-like grip and twisting it somewhat, his other hand digging around for the gun that he no longer had on his person.

"Goddamn it Duo, it's me!" he heard Solo squeal as the blond was standing over him, a look of pain on his face

Blinking blearily, Duo realized just where he was and he released the blond's wrists. "Sorry," he muttered. "Force of habit."

"I'll say," Solo muttered as he rubbed his strained wrist. "You not trust me or something?"

"It's not that," the braided one sighed. "That was just a little something I picked up during the wars. Nothing against you personally but when you have an entire army after your head and everyone around you can be a potential enemy, you kinda get some sort of paranoia ingrained into you. Ya get me?"

"I guess," Solo sighed, sitting back down into his seat. "But ya know," the blond added, trying to lift the awkward silence that had sprung up between them. "I'm here now. Ya don't have ta be paranoid anymore. I'll protect ya, just like da old days."

"Hopefully not," Duo replied dryly, his newly colored violet eyes staring straight up into the blond's intense green. "If I remember correctly, you fucking died on me, came back to life, and studied magic back in the old days."

"Fine then, we'll make new ones," Solo retorted, mock-glaring down at him, bringing a small chuckle out of the braided one. "Just so ya know, I won't be leaving ya again. I'll always be there, this time."

Falling into silence again, this time a companionable one, Duo resumed his staring match with his own reflection, taking in his new eyes. They weren't bad looking, he supposed. He could learn to like them.

It just popped out of him and he wasn't quite aware that he had been speaking but what came out of his mouth all of a sudden was, "Why is this happening?"

"Huh?" was Solo's oh so eloquent reply as he stared dumbly at him.

"Why's all this shit happening?" Duo clarified. "Why now? Why to me?"

Solo's facial features softened. "I don't know what ta tell ya," he answered. "Hell, I don't even know what's happening or why it's you goin' through it. It's all fucked up, Kid. All fucked up."

Duo sighed. He knew better than to ask Solo about something neither of them had a clue about. Yet he couldn't help but feel so frustrated at it all. Hadn't he suffered enough already? The temporary loss of his best friend, the destruction of the Church, his training to become a killer, two fucking wars and a revolution on top of it all and the powers that be still weren't satisfied with tormenting him? It just wasn't fair! What had he ever done to deserve this?

He felt himself suddenly being pulled up off the couch and pressed up against a firm body that was embracing him tightly with two strong arms. He tensed up for a moment before forcing his body to relax and accepted the small amount of comfort that the blond was trying to give to him.

Oddly enough, it seemed as if all these problems were so far away all of a sudden, as if they were so distant that they couldn't affect him anymore. The heat generated from Solo's body lulled him into a calm, collected state and he actually let his guard down completely as he accepted what was being offered to him.

Damn, he hadn't done that in a long, long time, not since Sister Helen would hold him after he had come out of a fight with some of the other orphans and other street kids. And if he thought about it hard enough, he knew that whenever Solo was at his side, barely even touching him, he would be able to relax enough to actually fall asleep, even if he was still standing on his own two feet.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same…

Solo, meanwhile, was filled with an unexpected giddiness as he held on tightly to his dear friend. Looked as if he hadn't gotten his fill from last night; he had the urge to just hold on tightly to Duo and never let him go.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't surprised, though. Duo's body was as hard as a rock despite his thin form. His Kid had built up some muscle it seemed and all of it was as hard as steel. What had happened to him the past decade or so? He wasn't that bone thin brat he had known all his life, all soft and whatnot. There wasn't an ounce of fat there, he bet, and it made the blond want to get a more in depth look at what his old protégé had become without his guidance.

But he was content with just holding him like this, like they were still those little kids. Even the stench from bad hygiene was even there…wait that's right; Duo hadn't taken a shower in perhaps a couple days. Chasing down a bad guy, getting attacked by Wolf, staying up practically all night with him, getting attacked by Wolf again and getting captured, transforming into a skull faced creature, and running away to hide out here hadn't left much time for either of them to take a nice, hot shower.

Funny, a decade ago he wouldn't have cared about being clean and now here he was wrinkling his nose from a couple days' worth of grime. Despite that, he was able to smell out a scent that wasn't unpleasant, one that instilled within him a sense that they were no longer in danger.

Truly, Duo had his way of wriggling into his heart. He never wanted him out of his sight again, safe away from those that were trying to harm him. He would be damned if he let Duo get hurt again and if he did, then those responsible were going to pay dearly.

With a gentle squeeze, he snuggled back into the chair he was sitting on, almost falling off into a doze. The whole world could go fuck itself, he had the person closest to his heart with him right now and he wasn't planning on anything changing that. What more could he want?

…close to his heart…

Wait a minute…

Solo's eyes widened. That bastard! He knew! Adrian, that son of a bitch, had known about this! Protect that which is closest to his heart indeed, that asshole had…known…

His eyes widened further; was this why he was dead? Because he had known that Duo was suppose to have these weird powers? Then that would mean…that fucker was still using him, even beyond the grave! That tricky bastard, he gets the last laugh once again! And he had somehow known how much he had valued the Kid, Duo. Argh, if that rat asshole weren't dead, he'd kill that son of a bitch!

Hey, didn't he mention something else? Beware, beware…something. Oh wait, now he had it! Beware…the Collectors! No wait, that didn't sound right… No, it was the Collabs! Wait, that wasn't it either… The Collection?

Whatever they called themselves, Adrian had also known that the Collection guys were also after Duo or they were going to be. That must be to whom that Wolf guy belonged to. But if those guys were able to find Adrian, then how long was it going to take them to find the two of them here in this building?

He felt Duo stiffen in his arms as the sound of a couple cars were heard pulling up to the warehouse, car doors slamming closed.

They had been found.

---

The four pilots exited Preventers HQ at a fast clip, their demeanors serious as they radiated the presence of men on a mission.

After returning to the building, Quatre had taken over the interview with Ernest Velming, getting his license plate numbers after reducing him to a blubbering blob of human effluence. Leaving him in the interrogation room for someone else to clean up, they had accessed the database for all registered vehicles and located the tracking device that had been installed into the stolen motorcycle as a security measure.

Thank God for putting that last bit into law; it made tracking down stolen vehicles so much easier.

And now they were making their getaway before Une got her hands on them. It wasn't that they were intimidated by her, no. They just didn't…want to get…delayed, that's it, they didn't want to get delayed from reaching Duo! At least they hoped that they were heading towards where their missing comrade was. It would be such a letdown should they find the stolen motorcycle and not Duo.

This time around, they were taking two cars. One had three of them piled in while the other had Heero who was just too impatient to wait for the others to catch up.

As the Japanese ex-pilot sped off, Quatre had just said, "Let him go. I know a shortcut to the port. We'll get there before Heero does or just as he does."

"How do you know there's a shortcut?" Trowa had asked as he had climbed into the back of Wufei's car.

"This isn't the first time I've been to Sanc," Quatre had replied grimly. "I've been here enough times to know the streets pretty well despite not living here."

Wufei, preferring not to waste any more time with talk had started the car and was on his way out of the parking garage.

As it turned out, Quatre had been more than right about that shortcut. They had arrived at the northern end of the Sanc port and there was no sign of destruction. Heero either wasn't here yet or had decided that going in guns blazing wasn't going to be the best idea here.

Entering the port at a sedate pace, keeping their eyes open for any sign of a motorcycle or Duo, they had been at their search for a good three minutes when Heero finally pulled in, racing at his insane speeds only to put on the brakes to avoid smashing into the back of them. It was little surprise that Wufei, like most men, was overprotective of his car and just the slightest scratch on it would have sent him into a rant, much like the kind he would go into had it been his Gundam instead of an automobile.

And yes, they had all learned that the hard way and surprisingly it hadn't been Duo's fault that one time. It had been Heero so that would explain why he was suddenly being uncharacteristically careful as he drove impatiently behind them at the same sedate speed.

Heero meanwhile tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, contemplating. Not even for a second did it occur to him that he was being irrational in his behavior. All he was concerned about was that soon he would be able to know if Duo was ok and that he wasn't going to have to kill anyone… At least not yet.

Mainly ignoring their colleague, the remaining three pilots scanned over their surroundings, searching for just one thing out of the ordinary. When nothing was found instantly, Quatre glanced at the GPS and expanded the map feature on it. Having gotten a good look at where exactly the tracer reported the stolen motorcycle to be, he piped up and had them pick up their speed.

Pulling up to a warehouse, the blond ex-pilot had announced that this seemed like the best place to start and if they knew Duo, he would more than likely be inside the building instead of lurking outside of it.

There was still no sign of the motorcycle though so it looked like they were going to have to inspect their surroundings a bit closer.

Heero screeched to a halt beside them and had barely turned off his car as he got out, a gun in hand and his eyes trained on the entrance to the warehouse before them. "It's open," he stated, referring to the large door that they could see now was cracked open slightly.

Either someone had purposely left it like that or had forgotten to close it all the way. Or Duo left it like that as a sign to them. Pulling out their own guns just in case, they communicated with their eyes and got into position in front of the door, Heero taking the lead.

With one hand, the Japanese youth pushed the door open, sliding it down and slipping into the widened entrance in less than a few seconds. Just as quietly, the other three slipped in as well, Heero shutting the door behind them so as to at least delay anyone trying to get in or escape.

They found themselves in front of a clutter of storage containers and crates full of unknown contents and it was almost telepathic how all four of them agreed to split up with just the barest glances at one another.

Muscles tense, Quatre crept further into the warehouse, eyes darting to and fro, trying to pick out anything out of the ordinary. It was just like old times when he and another of the pilots, who just happened to be on the same mission as him, would be infiltrating an OZ or Alliance base with the intention of demolishing it before finishing the job with their Gundams and a little back up from the Muagunacs.

Yet he could feel his empathetic powers in his chest telling him that he was getting close, oh so close to their wayward friend. Tightening his grip on his gun, he peeked out from around a crate just as he was pulled out from hiding by an iron grip.

He felt a solid force press up against his back but due to the skills he had developed during his pilot training, he was already reacting as he threw an elbow back into his assaulter's gut and grabbed hold of the arm that had wrapped around his chest. Throwing himself forward, he threw his attacker overhead but apparently whoever it was had some skill as well as he had twisted his body to land on his feet and get his head and neck into a makeshift choke hold.

He could smell the stench of body odor emitting from the attacker's armpit, as if they hadn't cleaned themselves in a week or so and he did his best to block out the smell as he tried to get out of the hold only for his attacker to release him himself and back away with a hiss of "Quatre?!"

Wait a minute, why did that voice sound so familiar?

Backing away and standing upright, Quatre was able to get a good look at who had assaulted him only to see the one and only Duo Maxwell who looked like he had been to Hell and back staring right at him with an expression of shock.

"Duo!" he exclaimed as he jumped at his friend wrapping him into a tight bear hug. That embrace, however, was short lived as he found himself being forced back by some very icky looking shadows that now were restraining him. It didn't take him long to figure out there was a manipulator nearby.

"Hey!" Duo growled as he literally batted the shadows away, the amazing part being that the shadows were actually moving away from him. "That ain't no way to treat a friend!"

"They all friends then?" a foreign, accented voice spoke, one that had Quatre snapping his head to a side to find a strange blond standing nearby looking at him suspiciously.

Looking slightly behind him, Quatre could see both Wufei and part of Heero also being restrained by the shadows, both of them struggling with all their might and without success to escape.

"I'm guessing Trowa's nearby, huh?" Duo sighed. "Let'um go Solo, they aren't trying to kill us. 'Least I think they aren't."

When Duo looked at him uncertainly, asking a silent question, it was Quatre's turn to sigh as he nodded his head. With that, Duo turned back to stare down the other blond who Quatre guessed to be "Solo."

"Fine," Solo grumbled as he dispelled the shadows and released the other pilots.

It was hardly a second that passed when Heero was right next to them, aiming his gun straight at the back of Solo's head, daring him to make a move. Wufei approached them warily while Trowa came out of hiding and took his place next to the shorter blond, their guns still out but not being pointed at a certain tall blond.

Solo merely raised an eyebrow at this while Duo shook his head in dismay, stomping his way over towards the taller blond and ordering Heero to put his gun down. Quatre watched this with confusion, keeping one eye on this Solo. Who was this guy and why did Duo seem to know him?

"Good to see you're okay, Duo," Trowa spoke up unexpectedly. The suddenness startled Quatre but he regained his composure as he heartily agreed.

Eyeing them, Duo asked, "You guys ain't mad? I'd have called but I lost my cell and forgot your numbers, so…"

"It's all right Duo," Quatre interrupted, smiling gently at his friend. "These things happen. We're just glad you're safe."

Solo snorted rudely at that for some reason but Duo didn't seem to pay it any mind.

"Well, if you couldn't contact us, why didn't you just come to one of us?" Wufei demanded, huffing in exasperation. "It would have saved us a lot of time and effort."

"I was!" Duo exclaimed. "It's just we got attacked and all."

"Who attacked you?" Heero suddenly cut in, looking less friendly than before.

"Whoa there, Heero, no need to go on the offensive," Duo said, trying to calm the other down. "Those guys are dead so they can't hurt anyone anymore, 'kay?"

Heero's eyes bored into Duo and Quatre held his breath, hoping their mutual companion wouldn't do anything rash. Finally, Heero nodded and lowered his gun yet not putting it away like Trowa and Wufei had. Speaking of Wufei, the Chinese youth was giving him a look for some reason…oh, yeah that.

Wanting to put it off, the blond grasped onto the first topic he thought that might be able to distract even Wufei from what he wanted to know. Thankfully, that topic was standing right next to Duo though his eyes were glued onto Heero, watching him like a hawk.

"Who's your friend, Duo?" he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice that he winced at, hoping no one had picked up on it. "I don't believe we've met before."

Duo blinked before catching on to what he was asking. "Sorry about that. Guys, this here is Solo," he introduced and did the blond's mind deceive him but was there a bit of admiration in Duo's voice? Looked like Heero also picked up on it too as he was now having a staring contest with Solo, his grip on his gun tightening.

This didn't bode well.

Duo continued on, seemingly unaware of the sudden tension between Solo and Heero. "He may not look like much but he's been looking out for me for a long time. And he grows on ya, like a fungus."

"Kid, why'd ya have ta say it like that?" Solo said, looking away from Heero and pouting at his shorter friend, much to the other's amusement, Heero not included as he continued to glare at the blond. "And why are ya talkin' 'bout me like I'm not here? I'm hurt. Really."

"You'll get over it," Duo muttered, bringing an amused smile to Quatre's face. That little exchange was more than enough for the blond to know that these two had a history together.

"I don't think I will," Solo sniffed, his accent coloring his voice. "You're givin' my name to every hillbilly we meet. Who are these guys, Duo?"

Okay, that hillbilly comment was a bit much and Quatre found that he wasn't the only one that bristled at that.

Duo sighed, also seeing the reactions. "Solo, 'member when I told ya I was a pilot? Well, these guys are the other four." Well that was a bit of a surprise; Duo actually trusted this guy enough with something as…sensitive as that? Gesturing towards him, Duo continued with the introductions, "The guy with the bang is Trowa Barton and the other who kinda looks like your cousin is Quatre."

Both of the blonds blinked at that. Quatre, though, now that he was really looking at Solo, had to agree with Duo a tiny bit. There were some strong features that Solo possessed that did hint a bit at aristocracy, especially that chin…

"Behind you with the gun is my…other best friend, Heero Yuy," Duo said, "and right over there is Chang Wufei, Wuffers for short."

"It's Wufei, Maxwell!" Wufei nearly bellowed.

Solo looked completely confused, as if he had no idea what was going on. It was…comical to say the least.

"Duo? Think ya can clear something up for me?" the blond asked as he placed a hand on Duo's shoulder.

To Quatre's surprise, Heero actually raised his gun up and pointed it straight at Solo. Knowing that Heero usually had a good reason to do something like that but further inspection of Solo revealed nothing; not even Trowa and Wufei reacted as offensively as Heero did and both had different angles of view on the blond.

Duo just sighed and simply gave Heero a look of disappointment as Solo eyed the other's gun dispassionately as if he wasn't intimidated by it. But still the question remained: why was Heero pointing his gun at Solo, especially since the guy hadn't presented them any reason to treat him hostilely.

Rolling his eyes, Solo summoned a shadow that rose from the floor and snapped up Heero's gun, devouring the weapon with a crunch. Heero backed away, wide-eyed as he scrambled to reach for his other gun only to be caught again in a tangle of shadows that sprang up.

"That'll teach ya ta point a gun at me," Solo declared, watching Heero with amusement and heedless of the other three pilots who were aiming their guns back at him.

"Solo, let him go," Duo said listlessly. "And Heero, calm the fuck down already. He wasn't hurting me any. And guys, you can put them up now."

That seemed to diffuse the whole mess as Solo simply shrugged and dispelled his spell while Heero never took his eyes off the other.

Then Quatre's bubble was pierced once again as Wufei spoke up. "Winner, care to explain?"

"What?" the blond asked, trying to look innocent but knowing quite well what the other was referring to.

"Don't give me that look," Wufei snapped, confusing the others. "You know what's going on here. I followed you to that clinic, remember? You know what's going on."

"What's he talking about, Q?" Duo butted in, looking at the blond queerly. "Don't tell me you have something to do with those assholes."

Well this was just great. Everyone was now looking at him, demanding answers that he wholeheartedly didn't want to give…but had no choice but to. Damn Wufei and his one-track mind!

Looks like he had no choice, not only was Heero starting to glare at him but he had Trowa's more passive yet more pointed look that would make even a grown man break down and beg for mercy. Some friends he had, right? Well, guess he had no place to start but the beginning.

"You know about my family, right?" he began, sighing. This was like pulling teeth except more painful.

"Rich as hell and respected as shit, why?" Duo answered the rhetorical question, much to his chagrin.

"Well, the Winner family line is old, extremely old," he explained. "However, we aren't just some nobles or those of wealth with too much time on our hands; our family has had a slightly different purpose that you are not aware of."

"And that is?" Trowa asked.

"Protecting the Death Mage," he answered simply and knew he had lost everyone at that point due to the looks they were giving him.

"Wait," Solo suddenly blurted out. "You know about magic?"

At this point the others looked as if they were beginning to doubt him but to the blond, that didn't matter. The only person who he needed to believe his story was Duo and he was staring at his friend in shock.

Nodding grimly, he continued, "More or less. That empathy ability that you know I have is a spell of magic that has been passed down through the generations of my family for over two thousand years. Its purpose was solely to be used as a tracking mechanism to find the next Death Mage, Death's chosen soul. From there we then proceed to protect whoever is chosen while teaching them how to harness their powers. As of right now, Duo, you are the Death Mage.

"Unfortunately, not everyone is noble. You see, for most of human history there has been an organization of magic users who have been trying to get their hands on a Death Mage. My family has had to deal with them all the while trying to protect our charges before they could be used as a weapon of destruction for these men.

"They are The Collective and there is no doubt in my mind that they are the people who are after you Duo. They are ruthless, relentless, and powerful."

It looked as if a light clicked on in Solo's head but Quatre ignored that in favor of Duo's response. His braided friend was drinking up every word he said, which was good. Less time having to convince him that what he was talking about was real.

"Winner, I hear the words that are coming out of your mouth but they aren't making any sense," Wufei said, frustration clearly audible.

Oh, he had forgotten about the others for a second.

"You guys may not believe me," he sighed, "but at this point in time, I only need Duo to believe me."

"And I believe ya," Duo said readily. "The past twenty-four hours…shit, I can't even begin to describe 'um! Besides, I've never had any reason not to believe ya. Huh, what a fine way to start a forced vacation, huh? I'm getting chased by a bunch of ancient maniacs who want to use me as a weapon. Great."

"Hey, at least ya got me," Solo said, laying his arm on the braided one's shoulder. "Those Collective guys can shove it up their asses. I ain't letting them touch a hair on your head."

Heero literally had a twitch going in his eye at this point. If it weren't for those shadows that the blond had at his control he'd be willing to kick his ass and then some. How dare he touch Duo like that? It didn't help that he felt completely out of his league with all of what Quatre was saying. There was no way in hell he was going to let this guy be around Duo without him being there as well.

"Agreed," Trowa said, reentering the conversation with a small smile on his face. "I may not have a clue as to what exactly is going on but I refuse to let these people use you."

"Barton! You believe all this?" Wufei gasped in disbelief.

Trowa shrugged. "It explains some of the things we've found. Remember what we found outside of Duo's apartment?"

It was Duo's turn to gasp now. "My car! Those guys broke my fucking Mustang!"

"And for that they've got to pay," Trowa agreed though you couldn't tell if he was just saying it to placate the other.

"What about you, Heero?" Quatre asked, looking to the last of them.

Heero looked stoic, just staring at Duo and how he just let the other blond drape himself all over him. Quatre could see something in those Prussian blue eyes and it didn't take him long to figure out what it was. Jealousy, possessiveness. Then it hit him. That must be why he pulled his gun out that second time. Damn it, he didn't need this right now.

"Hn," Heero grunted as he crossed his arms, eyes not leaving Duo for a second.

"Glad to know you're on board, Heero," Duo said, rolling his eyes. "So what now? We find where these assholes are hiding and show them whose boss or what?"

"It's not that simple," Quatre cut in hurriedly. "They would love for you to do something like that, especially since you aren't that skilled with your powers. For now, the best would be to hide out."

"Hide out until I can get better control?" Duo groused. "Got no choice, I guess."

That was when an idea struck Quatre. "Didn't you say you were on vacation?" he asked.

"I guess you could say that," Duo answered, looking away.

Quatre's smile widened. "Then there shouldn't be any reason why we shouldn't hide out in the lap of luxury, right?"