Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm tired, so if there are a few errors that spellcheck misses, bear with me. By the way, this is quite graphic, so you might want to keep a bucket near you.
*****
August second. Duo sat at a desk, writing an invitation to Hilde for afternoon tea. She would think it was strange and come t investigate. At least, that was how his plan went.
"Dear Hilde," he said aloud as he wrote. "Please come to the residence of Duo Maxwell for pleasant afternoon tea."
He smiled grimly. "Simple, yet effective!"
*
Hilde walked out to the front gate of her small home on Colony L2. A man on a bicycle came to a screeching halt and handed her a telegram.
"You Hilde Shi-however the hell you spell your last name?"
"Yes. And it's Schbeiker."
He shrugged and rode off, leaving her to her reading.
"Dear Hilde," she read aloud. "Please come to the residence of Duo Maxwell for pleasant afternoon tea."
She blinked and stared for a minute. "Is he on something? I should go see... And who am I to reject an invitation from him?"
She smiled inwardly and ran inside to get ready.
*
There was a knock on Duo's door. He walked over to it, and opened it, letting a hyper and happy Hilde inside.
"Hi, Duo! How are you?"
The grim smile again. "I'm fine. And yourself?
"I'm great!"
He led her into the little parlor. It got plenty of sunlight, and it looked very pleasant.
"Have a seat."
"Um... OK..."
She sat down in a little wicker chair, and pulled it closer to the delicate little glass table.
"I'll go get us some tea," Duo said calmly, smiling.
She smiled pleasantly in return as he walked away. "OK."
Doki doki. Doki doki. Her heart was beating as fast as it could. Her breaths were erratic. Why am I so nervous? Duo wouldn't do anything to hurt me. Would he? Damnit, Hilde! Just relax! You're worried over nothing!
Her eyes darted around the room. It was just like any other tea room. That was why she was worried. Duo wasn't acting like his usual self. She could expect this kind of thing from Quatre, but-
Blood splattered the windows and the floor as the metal candlestick came down on the back of her head and neck. Her open eyes became lusterless and blank. Her hand fell, limp.
"Goodbye, Hilde-chan. I'm glad I chose the day of the festival. Nobody's home. Nobody could hear you scream," he almost laughed, grinning insanely.
More blood splattered the windows and floor as a butcher knife came repeatedly down upon her neck.
"Gotta make it look like an accident," he said as he picked up a teaspoon and used it to mutilate the contents of her neck.
Without cutting her up, the pilot of Deathscythe shoved her small body into a garbage bag. He packed her head in salt and put it in another bag. He loaded them into his car, and drove towards her house.
The door creaked slightly as he entered her house. He removed her blood-covered body from the garbage bag, and looked up at the ceiling, as if judging something. He laid her body down under a rafter, and walked into her kitchen.
"A gas stove. This will make my job a lot easier."
He turned all the burners and the stove on as high as they would go. He then lit a few candles around the house. As quick as he could, he left her home.
*
Heero yawned as he sat on the couch of the Gundam pilots' safehouse. There was a knock on the door. He grumbled as he got up to go answer it.
There was Duo, at the door, holding a large, heavy-looking bag.
"Yo, Heero! I brought you and the other guys something!"
He walked past the pilot of 01, and into the house. The cold assassin closed the door after him.
"Guess what I have!" the American pilot cheerfully called out to the rest of the house's residents.
The pilots exited their respective rooms and entered the living room.
"You might want to set out some newspaper!"
Trowa set out the paper from a few days before, and Duo set the bag down on it. The young men all gathered around as he untwisted the tie. Salt that had turned pinkish in color spilled out, along with Hilde's head.
Quatre looked a little ill as everybody except Duo put twenty dollars in a coffee can.
*
That night, as they sat on the couch, the only this on that the young Gundam pilots were willing to watch was the news.
"Today, the house of Hilde Schbeiker blew up. Police say it was due to a gas leak. Also, OZ pilot Otto Hito was arrested as a local police officer stopping in for a glass of lemonade found his parlor floor soaked with blood," the pretty young male reporter said in an official tone.
Duo just whistled innocently.