Author's Note: Been having a bit of writer's block and lack of motivation recently. Though, are you glad KO and I have several chapters already written out before hand in case something like this should happen? Enjoy.

Disclaimer: We do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language, violence, death

Duo vs. Pike

Okay, this place looked fancy-schmancy what with looking all glowy and silver but Solo was not impressed by it. The air seemed to hum, though, and if he paid it any mind, he could feel every particle of magic energy in the air vibrating. There must be something here that was exciting it, something that was augmenting it perhaps? There didn't seem to be much gold around here so he had to assume that it was silver then but yet that didn't seem to be it.

Now, he would be able to concentrate on it more if only his gut instincts weren't screaming at him for some reason—oh wait, maybe there was a good reason for that.

He let himself fall to the dusty ground as the blunt end of some kind of bladed pole thrust just where his chest used to be and he rolled away, scrambling back to his feet and watched the weird pale guy with the weird white armor warily.

Trowa and Heero were firing their guns but the bullets bounced harmlessly off the guy and those that went for his head were blocked by the bladed staff. The guy suddenly crouched down, and launched himself in Trowa's direction, slashing the bladed end of his weapon and scraping Trowa's chest just barely.

However, that seemed to be all that was needed.

As Trowa backed from the guy as fast as he could, he hadn't noticed the whiteness that was spreading from where the guy's blade had cut through his clothes and bulletproof vest, said clothes and vest turning white as well. By the time any of them caught onto it, it was too late for Trowa as most of him was white and still as a statue, the rest of him following until he literally was a statue.

"One down," the weird armor guy said as he spun around to attack them.

---

It had been some time since Wufei had found himself bored in a fight but for the one he was engaged in currently, boring fit the description of it to a tee. He had, by now, broken the woman's sword and thus forcing her to resort to hand-to-hand combat.

Refusing to dishonor himself, he put his katana to a side and used only his hands and feet to fight back but not even that was able to get his blood pumping. He should have gone for one of the other two; it would seem those two would have provided a more challenging experience than this.

"What's the matter?" he taunted to the panting woman. "Can't you even put some effort into this?"

"Fuck you prick!" the woman spat at him, spittle dripping from a bloody mouth.

He rolled his eyes at that. Did she really think she could handle the big boys? She was more talk than she was action and while she had carried herself as a skilled fighter, the reality had been that most of it was arrogance. She wasn't able to back up her claim and now she was paying for it.

Of course, in any other situation, he just would've knocked her out and gone on his way. But this wasn't any other situation, it was this one and she was part of an enigmatic organization, or working with it, and he couldn't afford to let her live long enough to report any of this. When it came right down to it, he had to kill her. This was a war in which one side wanted complete domination, or so he was able to surmise. No mercy would be granted to them thus he would not grant mercy.

He gave her a "come hither" gesture, more than ready to put an end to such a disappointing spar and get on with helping his comrades. Play time was over.

He let her come at him in her amateurish style, only shifting to a side as her wild kick breezed past him. With the palm and fingers of one hand flat, he smashed it into the side of her face, not letting up as he wrapped his other arm around her leg and twisted it, causing her to practically flip and land ungracefully on her stomach.

Backing away, he tapped his foot, expressing that he was waiting for her to get back up, which she gradually did. She was glaring at him in pure hatred but he was unfazed by it as he gestured with his fingers to come at him again.

That was when she revealed that she had pilfered his katana off his person and he more than frowned at that. How dishonorable of her to do that; she was going to need to learn her place right now, and that was far below him.

As she charged at him, wielding his precious sword like it was a club, he merely rolled his eyes, dodged the slash easily and kneed her in the stomach. With one hand he disarmed her and spun away from her, slicing his sword horizontally. Taking another step back, he watched impassively as she stood there, her eyes wide before the top half of her body slid off her lower half.

Wiping his sword and not paying the disappointing female any further mind, he turned around as he was preparing to sheathe his sword only to watch as the leader of this band of foes, Pike Verso, was striking out at a newly appeared Yuy. Yuy threw himself to a side and rolled along the ground, not stopping once as he continued firing off his gun at the armored man.

He tightened his grip on his katana before rushing over to where his brother-in-arms needed him. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to reach Yuy in time as he was struck on the side of his face by the broadside of the enemy's pike. He skidded to a halt, blinking in surprise as part of Yuy had turned completely white though he was still able to move a majority of his body.

Verso, though, seemed to know exactly what he was doing as he spun around with graceful ease, Heero's movements hampered by part of him becoming frozen by the whiteness and causing his shots to miss Verso. This time when Verso struck, it was with the bladed end of his pike and to Wufei's revulsion, blood did not spew out but whiteness instead flowed to cover the rest of his Japanese comrade.

He couldn't take it; he could only see red as he roared out a battle cry and launched himself at Verso, completely ignoring a call for him to stop.

---

"Fuck! China guy, stop!" Solo yelled futilely. It took him a second to realize that he had raised an arm up like a lovesick girl yelling for her one true love to come back and he scowled at it. Fuck, despite that guy looking like he could barely move, he was so incredibly fast that he had been right in front of Heero before he had noticed that Trowa was out of commission.

Then again, he wasn't like these guys, not used to fighting in these life or death things. The only fight he ever had was the fight for survival on the streets. Well, guess he was going to have to butt in whether Wufei liked it or not.

Summoning shadows, he ordered them to attack the weird armor guy. Swarming across the distance between them, Solo was confident in his shadows but that came to a halt when not only did the armor guy spy them out, he slashed his weapon out at them, surprisingly causing them to pause.

Wufei took the advantage of sticking the guy down but the guy shifted his body so that one of the spikes sticking out of his armor caught the curved sword. The armor guy then spun, swinging his bladed weapon and cutting Wufei on the leg. Like Trowa and Heero before him, there was a whiteness expanding around Wufei's leg yet the Chinaman wasn't slowed down by this, amazingly.

While only his leg remained encased in the white stuff, he was adjusting himself onto the offensive once more and was moving it with his body, kicking the frozen leg out to stall the armor guy and give him the chance to cut at him with his sword. Strands of hair fell to the ground and the armor guy glared at Wufei as a noticeable cut began to bleed on his right cheek.

That's when Solo struck again with his shadows, his manipulations reaching and wrapping around the enemy's legs and holding him in one place. The guy jerked his body, expecting to move and shocked to find out he couldn't, also giving Wufei another chance to attack.

But the armor guy managed to jerk his weapon up so that Wufei's sword clashed against the long shaft. But then, the guy twirled his weapon and forced Wufei's sword out of his grasp, acting immediately and jabbing the blunt end of the bladed staff into Wufei's throat.

Wufei grabbed hold of his neck, clutching at the part of his body that was in agony and giving him trouble breathing. That was the position he would soon be frozen in, to Solo's horror, as the rest of his body became completely white. Then, with the blunt end of the bladed staff, the guy slammed it down onto the ground where it struck the shadows that had surrounded him and caused them to part, almost like they had been punished like a dog.

The guy then whipped his pale head around to bore his steel blue eyes right into the longhaired blond who found himself taking a step back involuntarily. He berated himself for doing such a thing and began to surround himself with shadows, preparing himself to take on this latest adversary. He couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive about it, though; this would be the first time he face down someone who really knew what they were doing. Wolf and that Bryce guy didn't have half the skill as this one did but he was more than determined to take him down.

"Leave him alone!" another voice bellowed, one that was immersed with power and commanded obedience. In fact, even he was startled by the commanding tone even though he recognized who it came from.

There stood Duo, magical power whipping all around him wildly yet completely subservient to the one who summoned it. Solo had to admit that it was awe-inspiring but it also seemed that he wasn't the only one marveling at this. The armor guy had directed his attention towards Duo and the blond was prepared to take advantage of any opportunity presented to him.

It was the street way after all.

Not wanting to hold back and possibly give this weirdo a chance to do him in, he softly voiced out the command of a spell, putting all his energy and focus into it and summoning a hoard of shadows that rose out from all around him and lunged at the armor guy.

However, the armor guy must have felt the surge in power or he had really good ears but regardless, he knew he was about to get hit from behind. He raised his weapon up and the blade shot out a pure white light that had his shadows shrieking in agony. He had to cover his ears with his hands; the shrieks were hurting his head that much.

It was only pure instinct that saved him as he jerked his arm up in time to partially stop the armor guy's blade from cutting him and getting a nick for his trouble. He gritted his teeth as he felt the blade dig into his skin and he shoved himself back as he began to feel the limb become numb. Looking down at it, he saw his hand become completely engulfed in whiteness but he felt the magic that was a part of it and realized just what it was.

It was a binding spell and thankfully Adrian had taught him how to defend against them. With a blocking thought, he stopped the spell in its tracks but his hand felt like it weighed like lead as it remained a white colored fist. He jerked to a side just as the butt end of the weapon jabbed at him and he swung his frozen fist, striking the weirdo in the cheek and causing him to stumble back.

Hey, maybe there was something useful about this.

"STOP!" he heard Duo bellow but the pale weirdo was ignoring him, swiping at the blond and nicking him on a leg and his other arm. It took him a bit to block the spells but by then the damage had been done; at least half of him was bound in this white stuff and he couldn't figure out how to dispel it completely.

There was suddenly a surge of magic and the armor guy was forced away from him as Duo stepped towards them, his eyes a pure violet that was glowing ominously.

Yet, Solo felt that he couldn't have been safer at that moment.

---

Morrigu's lips curved as he observed the happenings at the Coliseum. He had been watching this whole time and by now, he had to admit that he had underestimated their opposition by a bit. But Pike looked like he had things under control, especially when he began binding those morons who claimed to be the Death Mage's guard.

Yet he was still wary of having someone like Pike involved in this operation. Despite his obvious skill and reliability in the past, there were still times when that reliability became questionable. Especially when his inner artist's interest was perked. Already, he could see it happening; in fact, the efficiency in which he had dealt with those boys was solid proof of it.

Well, he'll just have to either intervene at the last second…or let Pike suffer for his shortcomings. He hadn't decided which since both were appealing. Ooh this was so exciting.

And now the Death Mage was about to enter combat with the mercenary. He licked his lips in anticipation completely heedless of the activity occurring far beneath his own feet.

---

If there was one thing that Duo hated being, it was late. There was no doubt that he was a bit late on coming to his friends' aid and for that he knew he could beat himself over about it later.

Right now he had some pale ass to kick.

The power of Death that flowed through his veins was invigorating and addicting and he felt that the whole world was on fire. He could do anything at this point and that included beating up the guy who turned his friends to stone. Quatre, Trowa, Heero, Wufei, and now Solo; he was almost out of friends and he would be damned if he gave up any more.

Pike was staring at him with appraising eyes, though, and not the terror that he was looking for. That served to piss him off more as he glared the pale man down, slowly setting himself between Pike and the half frozen Solo.

"You having fun?" he spat out.

"Would you believe that I'm a lover, not a fighter?" Pike said in answer. "All this fighting, it really isn't my forte."

"You could have surprised me," he retorted, not toning down the amount of venom in his voice.

"I don't want to fight you, Duo," Pike said. "It would be a travesty if something had to happen to that elegance of yours."

"Enough talk," he snapped as held out a hand and focused his power into it. Sure, he may not be as good at it as Quatre and Solo were but he had a lot to work with right now and he had surprisingly excelled at focusing his magic into one spot.

Gripping his hand as if he was holding something, two strands of purple-colored magic shot out from opposite sides of his fisted hand, forming a staff of sorts. At one end, the magic grew an appendage, slowly making the magical construct he held resemble a scythe. Yeah, it wasn't completely like the one his Deathscythe had wielded but it would do for now.

Pike raised an eyebrow at him. "I suppose that it would be pointless to try and convince you not to go through with this."

In response, Duo gave him what the others had once called a "Shinigami smirk." Tensing his legs, he launched himself at Pike, his scythe held at ready as he quickly closed the distance between them. Pike shrugged and readied himself, the blade on his pike beginning to flash its previous white light.

The two weapons, one solid and the other massless, clashed and in an instant, the white light flickered before going out like a light bulb. Both Pike's eyes and Duo's smirk widened at this, both of their arms straining as they each fought against the force the other was exerting.

Pike winced at the coldness he felt from the magical energy Duo was emitting and he shoved Duo back, prepared to twirl his pike and cut the Death Mage only to come up short as Duo's scythe intercepted easily.

Duo pushed himself away and spun around, slashing with his scythe and slicing a cut right into Pike's armor, causing the other to fumble backwards in surprise. Twirling his scythe in imitation of his precious Gundam, Duo gripped the unsubstantiated weapon tightly and made three consecutive slashes, two of which Pike managed to block and the other one he flat out dodged.

Huh, wasn't like those Mobile Suits in the past that always fell from one attack from his scythe. Well, he could work with that. Once again in imitation of Deathscythe, he flung his left arm straight ahead of him, balled his hand into a fist of magical energy congregated on his lower arm before firing out like a spinning missile. He didn't know how he had been able to do that since he uttered no name of a spell or even thought of one.

Because of the speed of the magical blast, Pike wasn't able to dodge it and was barely able to get his pike up in time to protect before he was flung away by the following explosion. He did, though, stay up on his feet and while his pike remained whole despite blackened burned marks, the armor that had once covered his chest had been completely shattered, his thin chest now vulnerable to attack.

With a quick gesture, he summoned up more of his statue minions and ordered them to stall for time while he fortified his armor.

Duo narrowed his eyes at this and with a lazy motion, threw himself to a side where he beheaded one statue man with a slice of his scythe. It was almost as if he had become Deathscythe himself with the way he easily destroyed these mindless (literally) goons. Then again, that could be all that power that was flowing through him talking.

Pike though had paused as he watched him destroy each statue and the guy was getting angrier with each one that was destroyed, so much so that he had neglected to fix his armor back up.

"How could you?" the pale man hissed, his obsession rearing its head again. "Death Mage or not, you don't destroy such beauty. You just don't!"

"Then why don't you face me instead of using your little dummies here?" he shot back cockily.

Pike only roared in response as his body was encased in swirling, white magical power. His grip on his pike tightened and he teleported himself so that he was right in front of the Death Mage, swinging his weapon downwards in an arc. Duo blocked him easily, eyes widening slightly from the force behind the blocked blow. They remained in that position for a minute, Pike trying to force the bladed end of his pike down while Duo pressed upwards with his intangible scythe.

Leaning slightly, the braided one slide to a side and broke the stalemate but Pike was twisting his waist and nearly slamming the butt end of his pike into his chest. Duo swore as he back up and then dodged to a side as Pike jabbed the spike that rested on top of his pike.

Much to his surprise, Duo found that he was actually enjoying this bout and that may have been because for once he felt that entity known as Death getting interested in it. Both mortal and immortal minds were infusing with one another and the braided one's skill with the scythe increased exponentially yet unnoticeably. He was moving yet scythe less and using his bodily energies less as well all the while blocking and catching every single blow and attack Pike threw at him, exercising all of his own impressive skill.

Adrenaline was pumping throughout his system and while he knew this was suppose to be a dire situation, Duo found that he couldn't help but enjoy this. Then again, that could be Death's influence on his mind but he couldn't be too sure about that. Never before had he ever associated fighting with pleasure but then most fighting he took place in usually had someone dying.

So much for never again, eh?

"Why" BAM "won't" WHAM "you" BAM "give" BAM "up?!" Pike roared at him, punctuating each word with a downward strike of his pike, Duo's scythe blocking each and every time.

"Oh? Is that what you want?" Duo grinned back at him malevolently before turning the tables on the pale man.

Twisting to a side as Pike's weapon came down again only to slam into the dusty ground much to the pale man's surprise. Holding his scythe just so, Duo jabbed the top of the immaterial weapon into the solid pike, causing Pike to lift it up involuntarily. Spinning his scythe in a vertical circle, Duo slashed his weapon downward and cut off the top portion of Pike's pike, the bladed and spiked end falling to the ground with an eerily loud clang.

Pike blinked at the jagged end of his pike but also noticed that Duo was wide open, taking the opportunity presented to him and jabbing said jagged end into the braided one's torso. Snarling a "Sido!" and watching with glee as Duo froze instantly into a marble statue, his scythe blinking out of existence immediately.

He had done it. He had captured the Death Mage.

---

Solo had observed the fight in awe and plain old wonder. He had known that the Kid had changed so much over the years but seeing just how quick he was, how skilled even, was something else. He supposed that Duo was unconsciously melding his magical skills with that of his physical and the combination of the two was the sight of all this.

Despite it all, he was rooting for his friend as he continued to try and figure out a way to also dispel the binding spell that was holding not only him but everyone else. He had spotted Quatre's frozen self during the fight but had looked away in preference of watching something straight out of an action movie.

Hell, there wasn't even any choreographing for this either.

But then it all came crashing down when Pike got the sudden upper hand and got Duo into the same binding spell he got everyone else into. Pike was leaning on his broken stick, panting visibly before letting out a near hysterical laugh.

"I caught the Death Mage," he managed to choke out. "He's so much more beautiful like this than I ever imagined," he added as soon as he got control over himself. "It would be such a shame that he has to be released from it eventually…but who says it has to be soon…?"

Okay, this guy, Pike, was certifiably out of his mind. Crazy. Yet that did nothing to help him pound this guy's ass into the ground. Then those blue eyes looked over at him.

"This was all worth it," the pale guy told him. "All this preparation, the loss of some of my associates, everything. And I was able to really test out my combat skills for once. I must really thank you all for this experience. Hell, getting my hands on all this moondust was worth it."

Solo looked at him strangely. "Moondust?" he repeated. Was this guy nuts? Moondust, a product of magic that only slightly augmented one's power. It was practically useless and it took a massive amount in order for any magic user to be able to get any effect from it.

"What do you think this all is?" Pike gestured to the ground around them. "For you and me, it does practically nothing but for someone of the Death Mage's caliber…"

Solo felt a knot in his stomach. He didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. "What?" he croaked out.

"Supposedly, moondust is very effective at increasing death magic," Pike explained. "The mistake most make is trying to force ordinary magic into it only to get barely little out of it. The Death Mage, though, ought to not only be in his element here but also augmented to the point that he's practically a god."

Solo then gave him a look. "Are you crazy or completely stupid?" he deadpanned.

"I wanted to see his power," Pike shrugged. "What better way to do that than to surround him with something of his element? Believe you and me, I was not disappointed."

Solo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but do ya think your little spell is going ta be able ta hold him?"

"You underestimate my power, savage," Pike retorted. "It took me years to perfect and customize that binding spell. It's now the strongest of its kind; even a high ranking member of The Collective wouldn't be able to escape or break it."

"How 'bout overpowerin' it?" the blond asked dryly.

"Impossible," Pike scoffed.

Looking over Pike's shoulder, he said, "I don't know 'bout that."

Looking at him questionably, Pike looked where he was looking and his eyes widened. "Impossible!" he gasped.

The statue that was Duo had cracks all over it, ominous violet light pouring out from each one. Pike had barely finished speaking when the Duo statue exploded with raw power.

In its place stood the transformed Duo, skull and all, living braid hissing straight at Pike as if it wanted to tear him apart. That might as well be close to the truth. There was actually fear on Pike's face as he backed away.

"No," he said to himself. "It's impossible!"

The skull grinned, bones clinking together and making the blond wince. "Pathetic mortal, do you really believe your powers are capable of holding me down? And especially in a battlefield such as this?"

Oh great, Solo rolled his eyes. Death was in control again.

"Pike Verso, you have pushed your luck too far," Death hissed out. "It's time to end your game…for good."

Raising a hand casually, a great violet ball of pure death energy gathered, shooting out immediately in Pike's general direction.

"NO!" Pike cried out as he hefted his pike up, filling it up with as much magic as he could, and throwing it like a javelin straight into Death's attack. The two slammed into one another and the result was an enormous explosion that blew Pike out of sight, what with the white light that was shining out from the epicenter.

However, the effects of the explosion didn't end there; the illusions that covered the entire Coliseum wavered and shattered, the veneer peeling off readily which also included the dusty ground on which they all stood upon.

"SHIT!" Solo cried out as he, Death, and everyone else frozen fell into the Coliseum's catacombs, vanishing into the darkness.

He could only hope that none of them shattered against the sudden stop at the end…

---

Some time had passed before Morrigu dared to enter the Coliseum. He was pissed though because as soon as the white, shiny veneer was torn off, he had been about to leap off from his perch to enter and perhaps collect his gorgeous looking Death Mage when he was suddenly caught off guard by a quick sleeping spell.

He didn't know who did it and was unprepared for it thus his temper was currently short as he entered the catacombs, searching for any sign of his precious prize. Magic still flooded the area but he paid no heed to it as he searched, ultimately finding only the unconscious body of Pike Verso and hardly anything else.

The Death Mage was gone.

He couldn't believe it. After all this, the Death Mage was once again out of his grasp but this time, he knew that it hadn't been any of the Winners or that private guard that the Death Mage had. No, it had been someone else who had come in and he hadn't a clue as to who it was.

Picking up what was left of Pike, he could only hope that this would appease Janus for now.