Author's Note: In the spirit of Labor Day and, hey, becuase it's all you guys, I decided to update early and give you all this. It may not be much but it'll have to do for now. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to write and update in the near or distance future. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.
Warning: Return of the oblivious pilots.
Absence
The door opened easily, much to the surprise of those on the other side. One at a time, Heero, Trowa, and Wufei entered the apartment that once belonged to Duo Maxwell.
It was obvious at first sight that nobody had been living here. The three ex-pilots knew for a fact that Duo had not been here for a month or so. Thus, the furniture that Duo had left behind was covered in dust. All the rooms were dark, no light anywhere. Unperturbed, the three young men began to investigate the abode. According to what they knew, Duo had paid the last month's rent. This was the main reason that no one was now using the place. Duo had been secretive in his leaving so much so that nobody in the apartment complex had noticed his absence.
The three ex-pilots checked everywhere for any sort of clue to the whereabouts of their missing comrade. Despite leaving whatever quarters he had had during the war a huge mess, all three were surprised to find the place possessionless. All three had assumed that Duo had had a lot but to see this made them reconsider their opinions. Just because Duo usually left his quarters messy didn't mean he had a lot of things that were his own. Chances were they were seeing the same objects on the floor repetitively.
The sudden ringing of the vidphone caught their attention. Without a word, Trowa made his way over to the devise and answered it. To the banged one's surprise, the caller was none other than Quatre Winner.
The young blond looked confused for a few seconds though his smile didn't drop.
"Trowa? Is that you?"
"Yes," Trowa replied.
"And you're at Duo's right?"
"That is correct."
"Good! Is Duo around? I want to talk to him. I have these tickets to a baseball game! He mentioned them back during the war and I thought he'd liked it if I took him to a game. So can I talk with him?"
"I don't think that's possible, Quatre."
"Huh? Why?"
"Duo's not here. He's been gone for a month."
"Gone? But what about the Preventers? Is he on a mission?"
"No, Quatre, he isn't."
"Then where is he?"
"That's what we're trying to find out."
"Hold on a minute," Quatre said. "What's going on, Trowa? Why exactly isn't Duo there? Is he in trouble? Is something going on at the Preventer Headquarters?"
"Quatre, Duo resigned from the Preventers a month ago. Une told us he left Earth the very day he gave his resignation. He gave Une a means of communicating with him but he told her not to give anybody else the way."
"He resigned? But why? Didn't he have missions too?"
"About that," Trowa began, a little sheepish. "According to all the Preventer records, Duo was never given a mission in all his time there. He wasn't given any work whatsoever, his office was bare, as if no one had used it, and the only forms in the building with his name on it was the forms he used to join with and resign from the Preventers."
Quatre's eyes narrowed at this. Though he didn't show it, Trowa was a little bit nervous. "And why wasn't he being given anything to do, Trowa?"
It was that tone. Trowa recalled it from the time Quatre had been driven insane by the Zero system. "Well, I know I thought he was being kept busy…"
"Did you ever check up on him?"
"Well, no…"
"Did you ever talk with him?"
"No…"
Things were starting to get a little hairy right now. Fortunately for Trowa, Heero took over the call. "Now is not the time for this, 04. We need to find 02 now."
"Heero? Don't tell me you ignored Duo too!"
"I admit I didn't give him any attention," Heero replied but before Quatre could comment, Heero continued. "However, I didn't notice you keeping contact with him either. This is just as much your fault as it is ours. We are trying to fix this and we're going to need your help as well."
Quate seemed to deflate, guilt showing on his face. Yes, he hadn't done anything with Duo either. The company was keeping him so busy that he didn't have time for anything else. It took weeks in order to shuffle his schedule around so he could attend the baseball game with Duo but it seemed as if they weren't going.
"What can I do?" Quatre asked.
"You can start by using your connections and try to find out any information on 02," Heero answered immediately. "Try and find out what you can about his past. Where does he come from? Does he have any family? And if you can, see if you can't get any information from Une or anybody else high up on the political ladder."
"Roger that," Quatre replied, hanging up.
Heero hung the receiver back up and resumed searching for any clues Duo may have left behind. Trowa remained at the vidphone, catching on to the blinking red light that stated that there were messages on the phone. Pushing on a button, the answering machine began to recite each message, along with the date and time the messages were left.
"Message one on Tuesday, August the 17th at 11:51 a.m.: Maxwell, please pick up. I need to talk to you about this. Don't go through with this. Your skills are still needed. Come back to office as soon as you can so we can discuss this. I understand your reasoning and frustration and I would like to fix this. I'm sorry. Please call back."
From the voice it was obviously Une. Since today was the 17th of September, that would make this unanswered message a month old. According to what Une said, Duo had resigned early in the morning so that meant that he probably hadn't returned back to the apartment.
Much to Trowa's surprise, there weren't any other messages on the machine. Didn't Duo know anybody else? Didn't he go out and hang around with friends? Had he had any sort of social life? Trowa frowned. This was definitely something to look into. Perhaps he had told someone else where he went. He made a mental note to look into this further.
Ultimately, they found nothing. No clues, no hints, no nothing. It was almost as if Duo had vanished the moment he left Preventer Headquarters. With Quatre looking into Duo's origins, perhaps they would be able to figure out where Duo would go to for refuge.
They would get to the bottom of this, no matter what.
I am on the look out for more fics involving Duo and Solo. Unfortunately, I have already gone through those on this site. If anybody finds any out somewhere on the internet, please send me a link or tell me how to find it. Otherwise, until next time.
