Disclaimer- see Ch. 1

Warnings – shounen-ai, war themes, language, slightly OOCness, AU, movie quotes (yes I'm serious, that requires a warning…), Relena's not exactly a pacifist anymore.

A/N:: Again, it is in the right order, but changes around.

Fight or Flight

Chapter Fourteen – Aftershocks

o0o0o0o0o

Trowa paused as a helicopter flew overhead, then doubled back and landed near him. By the time it deposited Heero on the ground, Trowa was in the trees, his plasma rifle leveled at the rotors. Heavyarms, as he had named it, had more than lived up to the Professor and Duo's promises, and Trowa was grateful.

He dropped to the ground as Heero passed by him, the blue-eyed boy not looking surprised at Trowa's sudden appearance.

"Where's Duo?"

"I don't know. I hadn't reached him when he blew the base." Trowa sighed, gesturing at the surrounding woods. "He hasn't been back to the camp, he isn't answering his phone, and I can't find him."

Heero took in Trowa's pale face and the exhaustion lines around his eyes, then gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Take the chopper back to the base. Catherine got shot. I'll look for Duo." Trowa's face paled further and he looked at Heero in shock. "Don't worry. It's not bad, just her arm, but she wants to see you."

He nodded, gripping Heero's shoulder in wordless thanks before heading toward the chopper. Heero watched as Reed introduced himself to Trowa, then the bird flew away.

o0o0o0o0o0o

Duo lay with his back to the wall, eyes staring blank holes into the wall across from him. The rain fell in a steady stream, and despite his meager shelter he was beginning to get wet. He was surrounded by the wreckage, and he was tired. His mind was the only thing still partially functioning, slowly turning circles in his brain.

How many? How many people? He'd lost count.

And how was he supposed to know how many people he'd killed when he couldn't even remember what day it was?

What day was it? What month was it even? How long had it been since they got back from their camping trip?

Duo winced slightly, his mind hurting. He owed it to them to at least remember how many he had killed, even if he didn't know who they were. What if he forgot even one of them? How many were his fault, how many the others' faults?

No, it wasn't his fault. They'd killed the civilians. Defenseless people. They deserved to die, even if he was the one to bring Death to them.

It was here that Heero found him, nearly tripping over him as he searched frantically. He grabbed the limp boy by the upper arm and dragged him upward, shoving him toward the waiting getaway car.

When Heero unloaded him into a chair in the base, he suddenly looked around and realized everyone was staring at him expectantly.

His mind, slowed, searching for the proper words to convey everything that had happened.

"They were dead, all of them."

Quatre sat down next to him, looking at him warily. "Who was dead?"

"Everyone. They killed 'em." Duo paused to take a deep breath and steady himself. "The soldiers, the civilians, they're all dead. And now them that killed 'em are dead too."

Quatre stared and both Heero and Trowa looked away. It had been years since they had heard him slip into street talk. Duo said nothing further, and none of the boys wanted to break the silence. It was Sally who finally asked, "How many?"

Duo shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't know. The only ones left in that building were Romafellar."

They sat around the table, silent and somber. Quatre's mind raced, trying to understand everything that had happened that day. Relena, Dorothy and Wufei were sitting on the far wall, looking more dead than awake, and Trowa and Heero flanked the still quiet Duo. Catherine was upstairs, sewn up and drugged out of her mind so she could sleep. Sally was still with her, monitoring her progress.

"We should go to sleep." Wufei sounded tired, and everyone else agreed with the sentiment. As they all rose and wandered off, Heero made sure to take Duo with him, pulling him through the motions of getting ready for bed. They found a small room away from the other, pulling the sleeping bags closer and settling in for the night.

Quatre stayed downstairs, ready to stand guard as the others slept. Relena and Dorothy retired to a room, yawning and tripping over their own feet. When Quatre walked upstairs to check everything, he found Trowa in a chair next to Catherine, typing on a laptop and watching over his sister. Sally lay in a bedroll in the darkest corner, sleeping heavily. Wufei sat on the floor to Trowa's left, legs crossed and face serene.

Quatre stuck his head in and nodded at Trowa and Wufei. "Couldn't sleep?"

Trowa ignored the question and Wufei moved the slightest bit. "Not after what I did today. I will be shocked if Maxwell sleeps a minute tonight."

Quatre nodded, staring off into the distance for a moment before looking at Catherine. "How is she?"

Trowa finally moved, looking up from his computer to look at his sister. "She's… sleeping." He sighed heavily and looked at Quatre for the first time. "Sally says she should be alright, as long as she doesn't get a fever. It didn't hit anything truly important, but she'll have trouble using that hand."

Quatre nodded silently, filing the information away and refusing to feel the pain he knew it should bring. He looked at Catherine, pale and still on the makeshift hospital bed, unable to believe she had truly been shot. It seemed so… surreal.

It's like Duo used to say, back when he was young… 'theyain'tplayin no more…'

Quatre turned and left, checking Heero's improvised security room before going downstairs once more.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Duo tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable. He finally ended up completely entangled in his sleeping bag. He growled and kicked himself out of it, lying in the cool night air wishing he could sleep. Heero lay beside him, staring at the ceiling and wishing he could get more than ten minutes of sleep at a time. Sighing, he rolled over, unzipping his sleeping bag and pulling the braided boy to him.

Duo hesitated, then relaxed into the warm embrace. He was finally beginning to relax when Heero's chest rumbled. "What was the worst part?"

Duo stiffened, pulling away slightly as he thought about Heero's question. He finally leaned back into the embrace and mumbled into Heero's warm shirt, "When I heard they'd killed the civilians." Duo paused, snuggling further into the blankets and sighing. "I felt like someone had to be Death and I was the only one who would."

Heero tugged his braid lightly and wrapped his arms around him. "You weren't the one who started it."

"I know." Duo yawned loudly. "It really isn't that big a deal. Go back to sleep, you've still got some time before we need to be up for the day."

"Get some sleep, Duo."

Heero felt Duo's heartbeat and breathing slow, lulling him closer to sleep. As Heero finally drifted off, Duo cracked an eyelid and looked at his bedmate critically. Satisfied that at least Heero would be able to sleep, he began to breath evenly, trying to lull himself to sleep. He finally managed a meditative state that Wufei would have been proud of, but he knew it was useless. Once morning came Duo realized it was definetely pointless and poked his head out of the blanket, looking Heero over once more. After deciding that he was still sleeping, he slid out from under Heero's arm and covered him back up quickly. Heero frowned and burrowed into the warmth, still sound asleep. Duo took another moment to look at how… innocent he looked, shook himself out of his reverie. He crept out of the room, and along the hallway, thankful that Heero was never as aware once he was truly asleep.

Duo made his way downstairs, grabbing a sweatshirt and looking for Quatre. He found the blonde sitting in the War Room, his feet proper up on the table with a large mug of coffee in his hands.

"Hey, Quat." Quatre looked up as Duo walked into the room and flopped into a chair. "Whatcha thinkin?"

Quatre smiled faintly, looking Duo over from beneath his bangs. "Not much. Just thinking about what happened yesterday."

"Interesting day, huh?" Duo leaned back and rubbed his forehead, trying to ease the tension. When he was done with that, he grabbed the end of his braid, fiddling with the end of it as he looked around the room. Quatre watched him, a questioning look in his blue eyes.

"You alright, Duo?"

Duo looked at his friend and smiled wryly. "No. I'd be lying if I said I was. But I'm better than can be expected. It's like Wufei told me, 'people do crazy things during crazy times.'" Quatre raised an eyebrow at the very un-Wufei phrasing and Duo smiled. "Or something like that, but probably about warriors."

"That sounds more like him."

Duo smiled and sprawled out further in the chair. "So what's new with you, Q? Anything exciting happen today, that I should know about?" Something about the way that Quatre said no made Duo pause, and he fixed Quatre with a piercing glare. "Nothing? Not one, single thing happened today that made you pause and think, 'hmm… I should tell my good friend Duo about this later'? Are you sure?"

Quatre gave Duo an exasperated look and sighed. "You are such a pain sometimes!"

"I know, but you love me and still want to confide in me…"

Quatre mock-pouted for a moment, then grinned. "Trowa kissed me…" When Duo only stared at him, Quatre blushed faintly and looked defensive. "It's not like it's a huge deal or anything."

A slow smile spread across Duo's face and Quatre began to look nervous. "Soooo…" Duo raised his eyebrows and grinned. "How was tall dark and handsome?"

Quatre glared at him, his blush deepening. "Duo! It's not like a big deal. It was just…" The blush faded and Quatre's smile got decidedly perverted, "…good."

"Quatre!"

"What? You said you wanted to know!"

"I guess I did." Duo gave a soft laugh, shaking his head in amusement.

"Ahem!"

Both boys turned to see Heero standing in the doorway, arms crossed with an unhappy expression on his face. Wufei stood behind him, looking sleepy but curious as Quatre looked at Duo questioningly and Duo raised his eyebrows.

"Yes?"

"You can't even tell me you're leaving?" Duo's eyebrows quirked slightly, clearly encouraging Heero to elaborate. "The morning after you go postal and blow up a whole fucking army base, I wake up to find you gone. I thought you'd killed yourself!" He gave Duo a severe look and didn't look happy when the braided boy didn't look sorry.

"One kiss does not make you my mother Yuy!"

Quatre glared at Duo, hissing, "You kissed him? And you were giving me a hard time for Trowa!"

Heero's gaze didn't shift from Duo but Wufei's eyes flickered to Quatre. "What happened with Trowa?"

Duo smirked and looked over at Quatre. "Q-bean played a little baseball today…" Wufei gave Duo a questioning look before turning to Quatre.

"You and Trowa are engaging in recreational sports at a time like this?"

"Well, they only had time to get to first base."

"Duo!" Both Quatre and Heero gave Duo an admonishing look and Duo tried to look apologetic. Wufei was grinning, looking at Quatre with something akin to glee.

"You two have finally gotten around to it then?"

Quatre glared at Wufei. "Don't be a chick, Wufei. Stop gossiping and go away."

Wufei ignored the poke at his manliness, choosing to add, "I'm not the one kissing boys, Winner."

Quatre growled in frustration, finally bursting into laughter and shoving Duo off his chair. "Like you weren't making out with Heero. You guys are dumb." Duo looked at Wufei and Heero and nodded loftily before Quatre poked him in the stomach. "You are too, Maxwell."

Duo tried to look injured but only succeeded in looking like a drowned cat. He suddenly stopped smiling and tried to look serious. "So there's an astronaut, right?"

The other three groaned loudly, but Duo continued. "And he has this really little head, almost like that shrunken head guy from Beetlejuice. Now, he really likes this lady astronaut and he eats lunch with her every day. And every day, he asks this lady astronaut if she'll go out with him. Every time, she tells him 'No, I don't date guys with small heads.' Finally, one day she asks him how his head got to be so small. He tells her, 'When I went into space, I found a bottle on the moon. When I rubbed it, a genie came out and told me I could have one wish. I told him that I wanted him to turn into a woman and have sex with me. He told me it was against the rules to have sex with a genie, but he would still grant me another wish. Well, I told him if I couldn't have sex with him all I wanted was a little head'."

Quatre laughed out loud, and Heero and Wufei just shook their heads. There was a brief silence, then Sally's voice sounded from the other room. "Duo… That was horrible!"

She walked in several moments later, giving Duo an incredulous look. Trowa followed her, looking pale and tired, and sat next to Quatre, collapsing onto the couch and dropping his head with a dull thump. Quatre gave him a sympathetic look then glared as Wufei and Duo both smiled.

Sally ignored them, yawning and sitting next to Duo. "So what's the plan today?"

Quatre sobered, relaxing back onto the couch and mimicking her yawn. "We need to go find Skyfire. We need all the help we can get."

Duo raised his eyebrows, giving Quatre a dubious look. "And you're planning on finding him how?"

Quatre sighed. "If he's half the General they say he is, he'll figure out that Romafellar wouldn't blow up our bases with their soldiers still in them. I was going to have us spread out and just walk around. Hopefully he'll find us."

Duo looked satisfied with the plan. "You're learning, Q."

"Well, I'm glad it meets your approval, Duo…"

Trowa made a small snorting sound and rolled over, causing Quatre and Duo to laugh. Relena and Dorothy walked in, took one look at Trowa and yawned at the same time.

Relena sat next to Sally, yawning for a second time and motioning to Trowa. "Was he up all night with Cathy?" At Sally's nod, she looked upset. "What're we doing today?"

Quatre stood and paced the floor, looking like a young, blonde General addressing his troops. "Today, we need to move throughout the vicinity and let Skyfire find us. The thing with Cathy just proves, we're in over our heads, and we need allies."

Relena looked around then looked at Quatre. "Where'd the pilots go?"

"They parked the choppers on the Academy's archery range, and they're holed up in the caretaker's cottage. It was the only hidden field I could think of for the helicopters." Everyone nodded, not particularly interested in where the two men were stashed. Quatre rolled his eyes and made a shooing motion. "Everyone go get ready, we head out in a half an hour."

o0o0o00o

Once upstairs, Sally found that Catherine was finally awake, slowly eating the broth that had been left next to her. Sally set around the room, changing Cathy's bandage and filling her in on what she had missed the day before.

"Once we left the hill, that was when you passed out. Relena and Heero had to go get Duo, and I needed to get you back to the base to look at you." Sally paused to hold up a glass of water for Catherine to drink, then set it back down and continued. "It was a good thing you guys got the helicopters. If we'd had to take… Oh, crap!" Sally groaned and smacked her forehead lightly. "I left the Hummer up in the hills… Duo's gonna kill me."

Catherine managed a weak smile, watching as Sally freaked out. "I doubt he'll mind. He's got more important things to worry about."

Both girls' smiles faded as they remembered what had happened.

o0o0o0o0o

Sorry the character wasn't revealed. It's a bit later in the story line, but I am still welcoming guesses if anyone wants to try again. Thanks again to phoenixfirekitsune, snowdragonct and jess-eklom for the kind words.