For What You Believe In
By Jade Sakura
Disclaimer: not mine blah-de-blah, no money blah-de-blah, *sigh*
Part 2
*-*-*-Seven years later-*-*-*-*
The four boys in the living room heard the door open and close with a bang. Since only
one of them was missing, they knew who the newcomer was and it was confirmed when a
bag flew through the air to land beside the couch with a thud.
"I'M HOME!!!!!!"
Wufei snorted his disdain while Quatre looked to the ceiling. Trowa moved from his place
at the couch and sat in an easy chair so that he could read his book in peace. Heero,
meanwhile, continued tapping on his laptop, doing his best to ignore the boy who just
came in.
"Some welcoming committee," Duo grumbled as he plopped down on the spot Trowa had
vacated and watched the tube with Quatre. He had just come back from a mission and was
dead tired. He hoped that Dr. K would hold the next mission until he could recover.
Although the training they had all been subjected to before becoming Gundam pilots had
managed to enhance their physical stamina and mental performance, there was only so
much punishment their body could take. As it was, he had been to five consecutive
missions and if he didn't get any real rest soon, Operation Meteor would be short one
Shinigami.
He looked around at his fellow pilots and, with the exception of Heero, saw that they also
looked exhausted. Quatre was already starting to drift off beside him and Trowa plopped
the book he'd been reading to guide the small blonde to their room and into bed. The safe
house they were currently in had three bedrooms which meant that two of the rooms
would have two occupants while the other would have only one. Quatre and Trowa had
paired off immediately and Duo had picked the lesser of two evils and decided to share a
room with Heero, not that any of them wanted to share a room with Wufei. He was just a
mite too prudish.
Duo decided to go to bed himself after a few minutes -- things were just too quiet with
only Heero and Wufei for company. He picked up his bag and trudged up the stairs to the
bedrooms. Quatre and Trowa's door was ajar and he decided that it wouldn't hurt to take
a peek. What he saw touched him.
Trowa was carrying an obviously sleeping Quatre to one of the beds and tucked him in.
He saw Trowa ruffle his lover's hair and smile before turning to go back out. Duo cleared
the last four paces to his own room before Trowa managed to reach the door. He watched
the tall pilot's receding form from the doorway and smiled himself. Trowa had always
been an enigma to him and he had just seen a part of him that he never thought even
existed.
Duo thought and he smirked as he emptied the contents of his bag on his bed.
They'd been to this safe house before and he and Heero had pretty much decided which
bed belonged to who. His was the one nearest to the window. Heero didn't want that one
since someone might be able to see what he was typing into his laptop -- if they bothered
peeking in. Duo just thought that he's being paranoid.
He took out a T-shirt and a pair of boxers from his pile of clothes and stuffed the rest
inside the closet and bureau. The smell of sweat, smoke, and gunpowder still clung to him
and he decided to take a bath before going to bed. As he took off his shirt, he heard the
tinkling of the necklace that he always wore. He looked at the small mirror in the
bathroom as he held up the two items that hung from the fine gold chain. The first was a
crucifix that Sister Helen had given him when Maxwell Church had taken him in and the
other was a platinum ring that Terri had given him before he left. He had to smile when he
saw that band. It had been her grandmother's and she had been given the ring just before
General Lynch's family moved to L2. He's never known Terri to be seen without the ring
and she too wore it on a chain around her neck since it was still too large for her at that
time. The fact that she gave it to him had been a surprise. She never gave him a reason
why and he'd never bothered asking. That had been seven years ago -- a four years before
he joined the Sweepers.
After taking a shower, he was combing his hair when he spied a small white paper peeking
out of his notebook. He pulled it out and saw that it was the picture he'd been looking for
all week. It was one of him and Terri during one of the times that they'd managed to get
together without the other kids knowing. She was leaning on him from behind with her
arms wrapped around his neck and they were both laughing. They had been wearing the
same clothes that day and decided to have a picture taken. A person would think that he
was seeing two Duos unless they looked at their eyes. He slid the picture into his wallet
and proceeded to braid his hair. Terri was another one of the myriad reasons he had for
wanting this war to end -- another face in the sea of faces that he had seen through the
years, but one that he had a solid connection to. Even now, her face was starting to blend
in with the others and he wondered how long it would be before that sea would envelop
her completely.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Duo regarded the empty screen in front of him before closing the laptop. He'd had a
week's worth of rest after his last mission and was just starting to get bored when Dr. K
contacted them. Quatre and Trowa had left first thing that morning after Professor H gave
them their mission. He had emphasized the need for Trowa to accompany Quatre in their
mission and Duo thought that just about everybody was becoming a mite bit protective of
the young blonde.
He gathered his laptop and proceeded to pack some stuff he'd be using for the mission. He
had been assigned to assassinate a key figure in the OZ army. What struck him as odd is
that he'd been given the mission in the first place. Assassinations were more Heero's
specialty while he was good at infiltration and explosives. He'd asked Dr. K about this and
the mushroom-headed scientist just shrugged his shoulders saying that Dr. J probably had
some other mission for Heero.
Dr. K had told him that his target would be giving a speech at the OZ base in Berlin. It
would be an open speech so he would be able to expect a large crowd to attend. All he
had to do was kill the man and get out of there. Simple enough. Duo picked up his gun
from the dresser drawer and made sure that it was fully loaded. All the while, Heero had
been sitting on his own bed looking at Duo as he walked back and forth in the room.
"Solo mission?" Heero asked Duo as he zipped his duffel bag shut.
"Yeah, although I was surprised you didn't get this one."
"Why?"
"Because it's your field," Duo replied simply as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "Well,
I gotta go. Don't blow up the safe house while I'm gone!"
Heero narrowed his eyes as Duo left the room. Sometimes he just didn't know what to
make of Duo. then he returned to the gun he'd been assembling.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The boy leaned into the curtains that draped the second floor balcony of the main
auditorium. His target was conducting his speech at the front of the hall and Duo was
biding his time. Getting into the base had been easy enough, posing as one of the members
of an embassy's entourage. He had slipped out of the group and after overpowering a
soldier, tied and stripped him. He had been able to move freely throughout the base and he
had made sure that his braid was effectively hidden by his jacket.
He listened to the speech and wanted to retch at the words. He had heard those lies
before. The same ones that the OZ had fed everyone -- the war was being waged to attain
peace -- when, in truth, THEY were the real enemy. No tears will be shed when this
bastard dies. He was waiting for the end of the speech. The applause would effectively
hide the silent zip of the bullet that would kill him.
Duo lifted the sniper rifle and steadied his hands as he aligned the cross-hairs with his
target's head.
The speech ended and the people got to their feet for a standing ovation.
His target waved to the crowd.
Duo pulled the trigger.
Screams rose as the baron collapsed on the podium.
"Rest in peace." He whispered
Time to go home.
The last thing Duo felt was electricity coursing through him as his body fell to the balcony
floor still twitching. His trained body registered that he'd been zapped by a tazer. A voice
floated into his fading consciousness as his body started its temporary shut down from the
effect of the electrical jolt.
"Damned rebels have the worst timing...."
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Harsh white light greeted him when he opened his eyes. He was strapped to a seat, his
arms and legs bound. The light source was directly above him and all he could see were
the silhouettes of the other people in the room. He heard them whispering but he couldn't
make out the words -- his ears still buzzed from the effect of the jolt.
A man came up to him and jerked his head up by yanking on his braid. Duo winced from
the force and squinted his eyes to look at the man. He couldn't make out the features. The
light was still too strong. The man let go of his braid and made his way back to the rest of
the group. Duo tried his best to hear the conversation.
"... Kill him now..."
"... Might know something..."
The second voice belonged to the one who had zapped him. He remembered enough to
recognize the voice.
"... Inform Colonel Treize...?"
"... Done.... Should respond soon."
All of a sudden, the all the lights in the room flared into life. Duo shut his eyes and shook
his head. The sudden brightness was starting to give him an even bigger headache. As his
eyes adjusted, he was able to see that five soldiers were gathered in the room. He
identified the shortest of the four as the one who had caught him. He was surprised to see
the four taller soldiers salute to the short one and leave the room single file.
Now it was just the two of them.
Duo had wanted to try getting out of the cuffs but realized that they had been threaded
through the back of the seat. He cursed under his breath. Someone had made doubly sure
that he wouldn't be able to get away. He heard the footsteps approaching him and lifted
his gaze. There was no way that he'd let this creep see him cower. He was surprised to see
that the shortest of the soldiers was a girl. She lifted his chin with one gloved hand and he
found himself staring into the coldest brown eyes he's ever seen.
he thought to himself. He felt himself shiver as she smiled. It was malicious, an antithesis
to the girl's sweet face. Yet, there was something nudging him at the back of his mind. It
was as if his mind was telling him that he should be remembering something, only he
didn't know what.
"It's been a long time, Duo Maxwell."
That was it. Duo felt his heart constrict as he looked at his captor. The stance, the brown
eyes, the long chestnut brown hair, the heart shaped face -- he then realized that this was
exactly what he would have looked like if he had been female. Denial screamed inside his
head, his consciousness desperately trying to hold on to the image of the girl he'd known
as a child. Reality was dealing him a blow that he just didn't want to accept.
"Terri...."
It was all he could say as his voice was stolen by the anguish and pain he felt inside.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Captain Terri Lynch stood in attention before Colonel Treize Khushrenada. She had given
him a full report on what had happened inside the base's auditorium as well as the identity
of the assassin. They were in the quarters he had been given when he'd arrived at the base.
He had come as soon as he'd heard of the near-perfect assassination. Security had been
beefed up and soldiers were posted in nearly every corridor.
Treize nodded after Terri completed her report. He looked her over and smiled. She'd
been full of surprises as far as he could tell. Entered the military academy at ten, rose
through the ranks in leaps and bounds and now she was a captain. Two more promotions
and they would share the same rank, and she was only fifteen. She was truly a perfect
soldier, in Treize's own opinion. Trained in military tactics and strategy by her father
before his untimely death two years before, Terri was a master strategist and a perfect
killing machine. He remembered when she shot a man point blank. She didn't even flinch
as she was bathed in his blood, both figuratively and literally. In a way she scared him too.
There was no telling what would have happened if she had sided with the rebels and the
Gundams.
He looked at the girl standing before him and gestured for her to take a seat. He saw a
flicker of interest come to her eyes, but it was gone as suddenly as it appeared. Trying to
read her while she was still mission oriented was a waste of time, as he'd learned that the
first time he'd met her.
"What do you suggest we do with the prisoner?" Terri asked her commanding officer
coolly despite the inappropriateness of their current surroundings.
"Do what you want with him, Captain Lynch," Treize said as he got up and started
towards her. "As far as I'm concerned, our intruder did us all a favor." He smiled when he
saw her puzzled expression. "You see, we've been planning to rid ourselves of Baron
Tchaikov. When the boy assassinated him, he saved us the trouble of looking for a way to
make him disappear without anyone becoming too curious."
Terri nodded in understanding as Treize placed both hands on her shoulders. she thought,
irritated, She was about to say something when Trieze tipped her face up and planted a
gentle kiss on her lips. Terri closed her eyes and returned the kiss, letting herself enjoy the
few intimate moments she shared with the most powerful man in the OZ army.
"I missed you," Trieze murmured into her ear as he unclasped her hair and carried her over
to the bed. "Tchaikov's murder was well timed since it brought me exactly where I wanted
to be."
"But for how long are we going to keep this up, Treize? Sooner or later someone is bound
to find out about us," Terri whispered as he began to kiss her neck. "There'll be hell to pay
when that happens."
"I won't tell if you won't," he replied teasingly and smiled. "When all of this is through,
you and I can vanish from the world if you want. I want to spend the rest of my life with
you."
He hushed all further comments from her with a kiss and he flicked the lamps shut from a
panel beside the bed. She was his perfect soldier, one who was willing to live and die for
whatever mission was set before her. He hadn't realized how attracted he'd been to her
until the time they'd been planning a massive attack strategy. He had been standing too
close to her but didn't notice until they happened to turn around at the same time and
suddenly found themselves sharing a kiss. Neither thought that single incident would ever
lead to this.
How deliciously ironic it was that his perfect soldier also became his lover.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Duo laid himself down on the cot in a corner of his cell. His captors were staring to get
reasonably paranoid and had placed him in a cell with no windows. His hands were
shackled in thick cuffs that reached from his wrist to halfway up his arms. He'd tried
picking them open, but decided that it would be futile since he wouldn't be able to get out
of the cell even if he was able to get the cuffs off.
He thought gloomily, it had been at least a week since he'd left the safe house and he
knew that he should've been back by now. Heero and Wufei have probably already been
sent on different missions and who knows when Quatre and Trowa will be back.
He'd already been locked up in the cell for about two days when the door finally opened
and a guard came in motioning for him to get up. Duo wanted to try and make a break for
it, but to his dismay, three more guards were waiting outside to escort him to whatever
place he was to be led.
They led him through a series of corridors, doors, and turns. Duo carefully memorized the
path and the codes that the soldiers used -- he would need them in case he does manage to
escape.
They finally came to a room lit by a solitary lamp at the center, much like the room he'd
woken up in, only this time, there was a table at the center. It wasn't big, about four by
three feet, and it had two seats opposite each other. He was shoved down on one of them
and two guards stood behind him while the other two stood behind the other seat. He was
starting to wonder who they were waiting for when Terri stepped out of the shadows.
Duo glared at the young officer as she sat across from him. She looked too much like a
hungry spider at the center of her web. He then noticed that her hair wasn't done in the
ponytail that she had worn two days ago. Instead, it was braided with the tip touching her
slim waist. He knew that she had done so on purpose, wanting to keep him off balance and
trying to mock him by using the simple gesture of endearment that they had shared as
children.
"You did a good job, Duo," she began, leaning on the table. "It was a perfect
assassination. Rumor has it that Tchaikov was dead even before he hit the ground. You
should be proud of your abilities especially since you managed to get that far without
alerting us. Too bad you're not going to have a chance to complete any more missions."
Terri smiled as Duo lunged towards her while one of her soldiers grabbed him and shoved
him back down. He tried to squirm out of the soldier's grasp until the other guard gave
him a punch in the gut, immediately eliminating all thoughts of struggling. Duo doubled
over, trying to get air into his system. All four guards that brought him in were easily over
two hundred pounds each and over six feet tall. Terri looked like a tiny doll beside them
and yet she was so calm.
"Colonel Khushrenada sends his regards," she continued as she stood up and walked
towards him. "Fact is, he said that I can do whatever I want with you."
Duo instinctively flinched as she ran her index finger down the side of his face and along
his jaw. The touch was surprisingly gentle, but there was nothing gentle in her voice nor in
her eyes. In truth, there WAS nothing in her voice nor in her eyes. They were dead. It was
like the Terri that he had known had died and was replaced by this... thing. To Duo, she
was little more than a living corpse.
"You're not going to get anything from me, bitch," Duo said, matching her gaze with one
of his own. "There is no way in hell that I'll tell you anything I know."
"We'll see."
Duo involuntarily shuddered at the certainty in her words. He saw her pace before the
table once before retreating to one of the dim corners of the room and leaning on the wall.
He looked at one of the soldiers opposite him who also happened to be looking at her.
There was no mistaking the expression on the soldier's face. He was swallowing her up,
but then, Duo couldn't blame him. She looked like she'd been poured into her uniform and
they could see each lithe movement she made from the way the fabric hugged every curve
of her body.
She eyed the soldier with a glare promising unimaginable pain and he looked away,
focusing instead on Duo. A warning bell went off in his head. The soldier was eyeing him
with more than just passing interest. He'd seen that look before he'd joined the Sweepers
and it wasn't something he missed. Back in L2, he'd often been mistaken for a girl by the
many ruffians and pimps that roamed the streets. He'd had to fight off a lot of them when
they tried to take advantage of him even after they realized that he wasn't a girl. He shook
his head in denial. There was no way that this was going to happen to him, not now, not
ever.
"Sergeant Nicholas," Terri said and the one that she'd stared down looked at her again.
"You decide the best method to extract information from this one."
The huge brunette looked at his commanding officer in surprise and asked, "Any particular
information, Captain?"
A cruel smile broke over Terri's face and Duo saw more than one soldier shudder. "I
don't really care. Ask him about the assassination. Ask him about the rebels' other plans.
Ask him why he joined them in the first place. Ask him how he likes his clothes ironed. I
don't give a damn." The smile on her face widened as she eyed the soldier. "The point of
this exercise is to see how you four are in terms of interrogation. I am giving you the
freedom to employ any means possible to extract information from him and be aware that
this is a test of your ability to work as a group."
"Any means possible, captain?" The soldier that punched him asked, rubbing his fists in
anticipation.
"Yes, Rushtomir," she said snaring Duo's eyes with her own. "Any form of physical
torture or psychological tactic that you want to employ short of killing him." She broke
her gaze and swept her subordinates with their cold fire. "Mark my words, I meant it when
I said that I want him kept alive. To be sure that you all do a thorough job, I'll just stand
here and assess your performance. Oh, and please, do try to be creative."
Panic began to rise in Duo as saw her once again lean back on the wall. He vaguely heard
the four soldiers as they started questioning him. At that moment, they didn't register in
his head -- all he could hear were Terri's words. Exercise. Information. Torture. Keep him
alive. I don't care. Duo was brought back to reality when the first blow connected.
Rushtomir and his buddy started hitting him in the gut, on the face. Duo was sure that a
bruise was forming on his cheek when he heard Nicholas speak.
"Tell us what you know," he growled.
"I know that you're one hell of an ugly son of a bitch."
Nicholas punched him hard in the gut and Duo doubled over in pain on his seat.
They'd already been at it for a good half hour and Duo felt like he was about to pass out.
Rushtomir was swearing while his buddy was trying to calm him down. Duo's blurring
vision caught sight of Terri still leaning on the wall. Her expressionless face betrayed none
of her thoughts regarding the present events. One might even say that her mind was
starting to wander.
"I know I should calm down, Jeffries," Rushtomir said, frustration written all over his face.
"This kid's proving to be a lot harder to break than I thought."
"I know, but just listen to my idea for once," Jeffries replied, "she said that we could use
any form, right? So who says that we couldn't have fun while we get the information we
need."
"You lost me there, Jeffries, exactly what are you talking about?"
"What does the kid look like?"
Rushtomir eyed Duo and a smile of wicked realization appeared across his face. He
motioned for the other two to come closer and started whispering to them. Duo had a
sinking feeling as to what his next ordeal will be when the four men looked at him with the
same hungry gleam in their eyes. He saw Rushtomir look at his commanding officer.
"Captain...," he began.
"That's hardly creative," she snorted. "But then again, you four haven't had any leave
during the past few months." She saw the hesitant expressions on her troop's faces and
just had to laugh. "I can't believe that you are turning prudish on me. Just because I'm
only a little over half your ages doesn't mean that I have no knowledge about the birds
and the bees."
Duo's vanishing consciousness came back in a rush when he felt the cuffs behind him
being undone. He tried to get out of their grasps, but it was impossible with two of the
soldiers holding onto his arms. His violet eyes shone with the gleam of a desperate
animal's as he felt them remove his clothes.
Naked, they put his hands behind his back, cuffed him, and laid him on the table. His mind
screamed as he felt their hands moving, caressing his flesh. They had undone his hair and
one of them had his hand wrapped in it and Duo winced at the sharp pain that it elicited.
He felt hot lips press onto his and he bit his assailant's tongue when it sought entry into his
mouth.
"Bastard," Rushtomir said.
Duo gave him a manic smile. He'd bitten hard enough to draw blood. He was trying to
think of a wisecrack to go with the injury when a fist made contact with his already
battered torso. Duo felt several ribs crack at the impact. Duo barely had a chance to catch
his breath when he gasped. His rear felt like it was on fire. He looked forward and realized
what had happened.
Nicholas had entered him.
Duo wanted to scream in agony. It was like he was being turned inside out. Instead, he bit
down on his lip, drawing blood, as Nicholas rocked into him with swift hard thrusts.
"Talk, kid," Nicholas, breathed into his ear. "I promise that all of this will stop if you do...
or maybe we could make it more enjoyable if that's what you'd like...."
"Go to hell," Duo said, and spat on his face.
Face livid with rage, Nicholas picked up the boy and threw him face-down back onto the
table. In a way, Duo was glad that he did. At least they wouldn't see the tears that had
come to his eyes. His body was now starting to register the men's actions and was
reacting accordingly. his battered mind sobbed. He needed a focus to overcome the
sensations he felt and looked at the figure standing in the darkness.
Terri looked like a marble statue in the darkness. Her skin, where it was exposed, was
practically luminous in the darkness. Their eyes met, his pleading, hers triumphant.
Duo thought, feeling his sanity falling apart,
Duo closed his eyes. His body felt numb from all the pain he's had to endure. Her image
was the last thing he saw as he was enveloped in the welcome arms of unconsciousness.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Terri walked silently in the dark corridors of Berlin base and stopped at a door. It was
already about midnight and there was almost no one in the immediate vicinity. She shifted
the box she was carrying and looked at the door to Duo's cell. If she could have her way,
she would get out of there as fast as she could but she knew that, for the first time in her
life as the perfect soldier, she was doing something for herself. Taking a deep breath, she
punched in her access code and the door slid silently into the wall.
Inside, a long-haired figure lay on the cot in a fetal position.
She'd stopped Nicholas and the others when she noticed that Duo had fainted. The men
had thrown him back into his cell without even having the decency to dress him. As much
as she wanted to reprimand her subordinates, she knew that she'd be the one out of line.
This was war and as soldiers, they did whatever they could to make sure that they won.
No matter how dirty their means were. She sat down on the cold floor in front of Duo.
Even from the dim lighting of the room, she could see that his body was covered with
numerous cuts and bruises. In his sleep, his face was contorted in pain and from the way
his eyes moved under his lids, she knew that he must be dreaming... or in the throes of a
nightmare.
She swallowed the lump that had begun to form in her throat and dug out a metal basin
from the box and filled it from the faucet in the corner. The water was cold, perfect for
what she had in mind. She dipped a washcloth in the water and started cleaning his
wounds. She could feel Duo's body sigh as the cold cloth came in contact with the
feverish skin and she felt his body relax as she proceeded with her task. As the white wash
cloth began to turn pink, she wanted to put her hands to her face and cry.
She was rinsing the cloth in the basin when a hand suddenly grasped her arm and pulled
her towards the cot. She turned and looked straight into Duo's eyes and, instead of
sparkling with wry humor, they now blazed with hatred. She matched his gaze with a
mockingly cold one of her own -- one that she had perfected with years of training.
Duo desperately wanted to hit her, to repay her for what had been done to him in kind, to
kill her even, but he was still too weak and the cuffs that held his hands together were to
heavy for him to do just that. Still, it struck him as strange that Terri hadn't moved an inch
to get out of his grip. It was then that he saw the washcloth in her hands and felt the
coolness from the water that had remained on his skin that he realized what she was doing
in his cell. He blushed a deep red when he realized that he was still naked and let her go.
As he laid himself back, he was surprised to feel the cuffs on his hands fall away.
"Terri...," Duo began to say, but his mind was in a jumble. She'd made it clear to him that
they were enemies, but her actions now confused him even more. He tried to sit, but fell
back again on the bed. His rear still hurt like hell.
"I guess it's too late to tell you not to sit up," he heard her say, "not after four men took
advantage of you."
"What do you care anyway?" Duo asked her sarcastically. "I was just a practice dummy
for those guys, like you said. Why do you give a damn whether I live or die?"
She didn't answer him but went on cleaning various small wounds with water and
antiseptic and proceeded to bandage the ones that were deep. Duo was still blushing
profusely. There was not an inch of his body that hadn't been touched by that washcloth.
After she finished treating him, she pulled out his clothes from the box and helped him
dress. Duo leaned heavily on her shoulder and noticed that she was avoiding his gaze. She
laid him back down on the cot and fished out a container. It was soup and Duo only then
noticed that he hadn't eaten anything that day.
He watched her as he ate. She was still sitting on the floor with her elbows propped up on
his cot and her face in her hands. She wasn't even wearing her uniform, instead, she wore
a loose black sweater and black jeans. Exhaustion was evident from the way she held
herself.
Duo put down the empty container and forced himself into a sitting position, doing his
best to ignore the pain. He gently shook her shoulder and was surprised to see the haunted
look in her eyes. He was about to say something when she shook herself loose from his
grasp and stood up looking coldly at him. Now he was more confused than ever.
"Isn't it funny, the way fate twists our lives?" Terri began as she paced before him. "When
you said that you were going to do something about the war, I thought you'd joined the
army... or something similar. How ironic. I joined the ranks soon after, hoping that I'll get
to see you again -- that we'll get to fight together as a team. By the time I found out that
there was no Duo Maxwell in the army, it was already too late for me to turn back, not
after my first kill."
Duo shuddered at the revelation. He couldn't believe that Terri joined OZ thinking that he
was there. he told himself, Although his rational mind said that, a part of him still clung to
the stubborn belief that the old Terri was still somewhere in there. "So you stayed," he
whispered angrily, "and now, you're a captain. It's a rather high rank for a fifteen-year-old
girl, don't cha think? How many people did you need to kill to get this far? How many
lives did you have to destroy?"
"I did what I was told," she said in her monotone. "I killed when I was ordered to. And
you know what? I'm good at what I do. In fact, I was often called perfect. I am the best
soldier the OZ military academy has ever produced. I got promoted because I deserved
it... because I was fighting for peace!"
"But that's exactly what I'm doing!" Duo shouted at her. "Have you seen what OZ has
done to the people it rules over? Have you seen the suffering in the streets? Terri, OZ is a
military organization," he said desperately, "it's not interested in peace, it only exists to
create war."
"Liar," she said and hit him across the face. "Things have never been like that."
Duo winced from the blow. "Try looking and see for yourself, captain," he said, practically
spitting on the title, "or do you only see what Treize Khushrenada wants you to see?"
He knew he must have struck something because she whipped out her gun and aimed it at
him. He thought as he stared at the weapon. Mentioning Treize came to him almost as an
afterthought but he never thought that she would react this violently. She looked like she
was really going to kill him.
"You don't say those things about my commanding officer," she whispered with barely
suppressed anger.
Duo knew that he'd never get another chance like this and lunged. He tackled Terri and
the gun flew out of her hand. In a flash, Duo was up and before Terri knew what was
happening, Duo had backed her up against a wall with the gun pointed at her head.
Terri nearly laughed at the situation. This was the same thing that had happened when they
first met, with Duo holding a gun at her head. She gave him a half-smile and shook her
head. "If you're planning on killing me, you might as well do so now. I escaped that
before, but now I'd think that you know better than to let me go."
Duo took another step closer and Terri locked gazes with him. Although she'd never
admit it to anybody, she was tired of all the fighting. She heard the clunk the gun made as
it hit the floor and her eyes went wide as a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around
her. Duo held her so close that she could feel his heart beating in his chest and she didn't
doubt that he also heard hers. She heard him crooning into her ear and she hesitantly
wrapped her arms around him. It felt good. It felt safe. It was something that she hadn't
felt since her father died. Then she did something that she hadn't done in years.
She cried.
He felt her arms tighten around him as she sobbed into his shoulder and her legs gave way
beneath her. He patted her back gently as she let it all out. He knew deep inside he must
have touched the part of her that had been his friend. She was no more a soldier that he
was. Inside, she was still a fifteen year old kid, just like him and the other Gundam pilots.
He'd seen Quatre crying before while Trowa offered him comforting words. He'd always
made himself scarce when he came across them that way. It had been too personal a
moment to be observing.
They sat down on the cot and she lay her head on his shoulder. She looked so tired and
Duo was racking his brain for something to talk to her about. He came up with an idea,
although it wasn't one of his best.
"I'm surprised that your soldiers never tried to take advantage of you," he said into her
hair. "The way Nicholas was looking at you, I'd swear that he would've jumped you the
second your back was turned."
"He would've been dead even before he could touch me," she whispered quietly. "Every
soldier knew that, after finding the bodies of those who'd been foolish enough to try."
Terri snuggled more into Duo's arms until they eventually fell back onto the cot. she
thought as she lay her head on his chest,
Duo ran the back of his hand against her cheek and kissed her hair. When she looked up,
he kissed her lips and held her tighter, as if by doing so, he could undo all the years that
had made their paths meet in such dire circumstances. All at once, Duo felt Terri stiffen
and she pushed him away, rolling off the cot in the same motion.
"Don't," she whispered as she got up and brushed herself off. "Another reason why I
refused to be touched is because I already have a lover."
The boy clutched his arms as he rose to a sitting position. His entire body screamed in
agony at the movement but he ignored it. "Who is he? Maybe fate would be so kind that I
wouldn't know him."
A single tear rolled down Terri's cheek as she knelt before him, a parishioner at
confession. "You know him well enough. His name is Treize Khushrenada."
Duo nearly tipped over at that revelation. He wanted to get away from her, but he saw the
serious expression on her face. "Why?" he asked, hurt written all over his face.
"Maybe it's because I am in love with him," Terri whispered and her tone became
suddenly cold. "Or maybe it's just because I am a soldier and ambitious. The end is always
justified by the means and no price is too high to pay for success." She regained her
composure and stood up to leave pausing only to pick up the gun and the box with its
remaining contents. "You should do well to remember that what happened between us
should be left in the past. I belong to OZ now... to Treize Khushrenada, and if I am
ordered to kill you, I can't say that I won't do so."
Duo watched her cuff his wrists again before she turned and left. There was now no doubt
that what they had shared will remain in the past.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Heero stood at one of the loading bays in Berlin base and relayed his position to Quatre
and Trowa who were waiting in the outskirts of the base in their Gundams. Wufei had
gone on ahead and into the base while Heero set up the explosives that would cover their
escape. The other four had gotten back to the safe house and found it empty. It had been
almost two weeks since Duo had left and he should have been back already. They were
shocked to receive a communiqué from Dr. K saying that the OZ had captured Duo after
completing his mission and was being held at Berlin base. They couldn't risk losing Duo
now that a full scale war was about to occur.
Wufei signaled to Heero from a corridor and they both made their way through the maze
of doors and hallways. Heero had tapped into the OZ computers and managed to get the
necessary plans for the base as well as the codes that would open the locks. They knew
that Duo was being kept at the heart of the base and that it wouldn't be easy getting him
out. Thankfully, there were few guards around and they managed to get to Duo's cell
without being seen.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Duo blinked when he saw the door open. He hadn't seen Terri since she came to bandage
his wounds and he was hoping that she'd come back to talk some more. His heart
practically jumped to his throat when he saw Heero and Wufei at the doorway. Although
he still hurt some from the beating, he felt more than able to make a break out of his
prison.
No sooner than that, they encountered their first guard. Heero managed to kill him but not
before he tapped the alarm on the wall panel.
Wufei cursed as they rushed through the corridors. They heard muffled explosions as
Heero set off the explosives he'd planted. They turned a corridor and was met by four
guards bearing semi-automatic rifles. Duo's eyes blazed as he recognized the four who
had 'interrogated' him.
"Ya ain't getting away that easily, boy," Jeffries called. "It looks like you brought two
more of your pals for us to play with."
Heero tried to make a move but was met by Rushtomir's rifle fire. Heero glowered at the
man before him as he clutched his bleeding arm. They knew that they were caught.
Suddenly, the fourth member of their group lurched forward and toppled over, dead.
Jeffries and Rushtomir turned to face their new attacker and they fell backwards each with
a clean hole at the center of their forehead. Nicholas cursed and was about to open fire on
the boys when he heard an unmistakable voice telling him to stand down. He whirled to
face the voice and got a bullet lodged into his skull.
Duo shook his head in disbelief as Terri stepped out of the shadows, her silenced pistol
still smoking. Heero lifted his gun to her head and Duo pushed it away. She walked up to
Heero and helped Wufei drag him into an empty room. There, she took out some
bandages from a small pack slung over her shoulder and a small dissecting kit. Duo
watched in amazement as she extracted the bullet and bandaged the wound in under three
minutes.
"You should have been a medic," he commented as she finished bandaging Heero's
wound.
"I was too good a soldier to be kept in an infirmary," she replied tartly.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked her as they ran through the corridors, Terri leading.
"I did what you told me to do," she replied, blending herself to the shadows in the hall. "I
went out and saw the situation for myself. You were right. I was fighting for the wrong
people. My father would be turning in his grave if he knew the truth of what we fought
for."
Duo nodded as they entered a doorway and emerged in one of the base's hangars. Terri
shoved the pistol she was carrying into her holster and took the cable that would lift her
into one of the new Taurus mobile suits that OZ had just finished developing. She had
been the one chosen to test the prototypes and she knew how to use them better than
anyone else in the base.
She signaled the three boys to get out of there as fast as they could and started firing into
the assembly line as soon as they were clear. She moved the MS out of the hangar and was
surprised to see two Gundams already in the fray and three more join in.
Terri wondered as she battled the approaching Leos. Her unspoken question was
answered when a face appeared on her monitor.
"Terri, hang in there!"
"Duo!" she shouted incredulously and she saw in her monitor a black Gundam bearing a
beam scythe slicing its way towards her.
The battle raged on, but the odds weren't good. Berlin base housed one of the largest
contingents of OZ mobile suits on Earth and there was no way that five Gundams and a
prototype would be able to destroy them all.
"Trowa's almost out of ammunition!" Quatre screamed over the comm link. "We'd better
get out of here fast or we'll all be captured!"
Terri could see in her mind what would happen if they were captured. She would be
court-martialed and executed for her betrayal. In her opinion, it would be a lighter
sentence compared to what the boys would suffer. She steeled herself and opened a link to
all five pilots.
"Get out of here, all of you," she said, her voice taking on the cool tones of the perfect
soldier. "I'll cover your escape, just get out of here."
The Deathscythe Gundam moved towards her while the other four prepared to moved out
of the base.
"Terri, have you gone nuts?!" Duo called over the link. "There's no way that you'll get
out of here alive!"
"I'm counting on that," she said as she hit the raised button on the left hand panel. She
saw the shocked expression on Duo's face as the red warning light flashed in her cockpit.
"Why?!" He screamed at her.
"This is the only way I could make up for all that I've done," she whispered as she rained
death at the oncoming mobile suits. "At least I was able to finally fight by your side."
"Terri...."
"Duo, get out of here, that's an order!" She said crisply.
Terri looked back at the Gundam as it flew away from her and she continued her assault.
Duo's face was still on the monitor. His eyes took on a hurt look as a trickle of blood ran
down from her hairline onto her face.
"Are you okay?"
Terri smiled wistfully. "I never had a chance to tell you, but I...."
"NOOOO!" Duo screamed as the face in the monitor disappeared into static. From his
field monitor, he could see a huge explosion coming from the direction of the base. He
realized what had happened and wiped the tears that came to his eyes with the back of his
hand.
"Duo! Duo, are you okay?"
His eyes were slightly reddish as he looked at a worried Quatre on the monitor. "Yeah,
I'm fine," he choked out. "Let's go home."
Quatre acknowledged his reply and all five Gundams flew as fast as they could back
towards the safe house.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Colonel Treize, that is the situation."
Treize nodded as he viewed the remnants of the Berlin base. It was hard to believe that
this had been one of the OZ's primary bases just a few hours ago. It appeared that
sometime during the night, a few rebels had gotten in and broke out Tchaikov's assassin.
To make matters worse, the intruders were supported by Gundams. Although the
Gundams escaped, one of their allies, piloting an OZ Mobile Suit prototype, had been left
behind and sacrificed himself to save the others.
he thought,
He watched as the soldiers cleared out the debris from the explosion. They came to the
runaway MS and managed to extract a mangled body from the wreckage. Although there
was no possible way that the pilot could be alive, the face suffered little damage and was
still recognizable.
Captain Terri Lynch.
Treize felt his chest constrict in anger and he crushed the white rose that he'd been playing
with in his hand. He nodded his head silently as a soldier notified him on the latest
developments on the situation in Berlin, but he never heard his words.
Treize thought as he walked over to his desk and drew his sword.
He took another rose and threw it into the air. He managed to skewer it right at the
center, wishing it had been Terri's heart instead.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Duo..."
Duo looked up from his seat under the huge oak tree that grew outside the safe house.
Quatre was still worrying about him even though they've already been back for three days.
The blond boy sat beside him and looked at the horizon. It was early autumn and the
leaves of the trees have just started to turn into yellows and reds. He loved autumn and
savored the few times that he was allowed to experience it as he could. He looked at what
looked like a photograph in Duo's hand.
"I... I haven't seen that picture before," he said, unwilling to draw Duo out in case it was
too personal a matter.
"Here," Duo said, handing him the picture.
Quatre took the picture and stared at it. It showed two young Duos laughing. he thought
as he studied the picture again. He saw that the 'Duo' behind the real Duo was actually a
girl.
"Duo, who is she?" Quatre asked him handing him back the photograph.
"Her name was Terri," Duo said leaning back on the tree. "She was one of the few true
friends I had back in L2."
"She's very pretty," the blonde Arabian said appreciatively.
"She was also the pilot of the MS that covered our escape," Duo whispered.
Quatre looked in stunned silence at his friend and he knew that he shouldn't have asked
him about the girl. He wanted to kick himself as he saw tears start to form in the corner of
Duo's eyes.
"Sorry, Duo, I didn't know...," Quatre began and Duo waved his words off.
"It's okay, Quatre," Duo said as he wiped away at the tears. "It's what she wanted,
anyway. She said that it was her way of paying her dues."
Quatre nodded and looked down. He noticed that Duo had a ring on the middle finger of
his left hand. He was just about to ask him about it when Duo spoke.
"She was trying to tell me something before the suit self-destructed," he said as he looked
at the setting sun. "I just wish that I had heard it before she died."
"Duo," Quatre whispered, "I don't mean to change the subject, but where did you get
that?"
Duo held up his left hand and stared at the ring. He had taken it off his necklace and put it
on the day that they'd gotten back. It was all he had left of the girl that gave up her life so
that they could live.
"Terri gave it to me when we were still on L2," he explained as he took it off to show
Quatre. "She said that her grandmother gave it to her when she was younger. I have no
idea why she would give me something that obviously had so much sentimental value."
Quatre turned the ring over in his hands, carefully studying its make like an expert jeweler.
He knew of these types of rings. They were the old fashioned wedding rings that were
used by couples to signify their love. Although there were the newer types that had
exquisite stones on them, the intricate bands that were lovingly passed on from generation
to generation were considered prized heirlooms. To have been given one for seemingly no
reason at all was truly something unusual.
Duo was regarding Quatre's expression carefully. He raised an eyebrow in surprise as the
Arabian nodded in understanding and smiled wistfully as he handed the ring back to Duo.
He lay down on the grass as Duo looked at the ring in his hand.
"Quatre, what in the world could you be smiling for?" Duo said, turning the ring in his
fingers. He watched as Quatre turned to look at him, his blue-green eyes sparkling with
sadness.
"I know what she wanted to tell you, Duo," Quatre said simply. "You held it in your hands
for so long and you never figured it out."
"What the heck are you talking about?" he said incredulously.
"Look at the inside of the ring," Quatre instructed. "I must admit, I didn't notice it at first,
which means that the ring must be pretty old, but I believe that you'll see what I mean."
Duo did as he was instructed and looked. His eyes widened and he closed the ring in his
fist. He leaned his head on the tree trunk and let the tears come.
The wind rustled through the leaves and carried stray droplets of his tears in its wake. In
his mind, he heard the final words that she wanted to say -- the same words that were on
the ring that she had given him all those years ago.
I love you. Forever.
-----------------------The End ------------------------
***In Loving memory of my best friend Terri Lynch ( April 13, 1986- May 17, 2001) A victim of teen scuicide.
By Jade Sakura
Disclaimer: not mine blah-de-blah, no money blah-de-blah, *sigh*
Part 2
*-*-*-Seven years later-*-*-*-*
The four boys in the living room heard the door open and close with a bang. Since only
one of them was missing, they knew who the newcomer was and it was confirmed when a
bag flew through the air to land beside the couch with a thud.
"I'M HOME!!!!!!"
Wufei snorted his disdain while Quatre looked to the ceiling. Trowa moved from his place
at the couch and sat in an easy chair so that he could read his book in peace. Heero,
meanwhile, continued tapping on his laptop, doing his best to ignore the boy who just
came in.
"Some welcoming committee," Duo grumbled as he plopped down on the spot Trowa had
vacated and watched the tube with Quatre. He had just come back from a mission and was
dead tired. He hoped that Dr. K would hold the next mission until he could recover.
Although the training they had all been subjected to before becoming Gundam pilots had
managed to enhance their physical stamina and mental performance, there was only so
much punishment their body could take. As it was, he had been to five consecutive
missions and if he didn't get any real rest soon, Operation Meteor would be short one
Shinigami.
He looked around at his fellow pilots and, with the exception of Heero, saw that they also
looked exhausted. Quatre was already starting to drift off beside him and Trowa plopped
the book he'd been reading to guide the small blonde to their room and into bed. The safe
house they were currently in had three bedrooms which meant that two of the rooms
would have two occupants while the other would have only one. Quatre and Trowa had
paired off immediately and Duo had picked the lesser of two evils and decided to share a
room with Heero, not that any of them wanted to share a room with Wufei. He was just a
mite too prudish.
Duo decided to go to bed himself after a few minutes -- things were just too quiet with
only Heero and Wufei for company. He picked up his bag and trudged up the stairs to the
bedrooms. Quatre and Trowa's door was ajar and he decided that it wouldn't hurt to take
a peek. What he saw touched him.
Trowa was carrying an obviously sleeping Quatre to one of the beds and tucked him in.
He saw Trowa ruffle his lover's hair and smile before turning to go back out. Duo cleared
the last four paces to his own room before Trowa managed to reach the door. He watched
the tall pilot's receding form from the doorway and smiled himself. Trowa had always
been an enigma to him and he had just seen a part of him that he never thought even
existed.
Duo thought and he smirked as he emptied the contents of his bag on his bed.
They'd been to this safe house before and he and Heero had pretty much decided which
bed belonged to who. His was the one nearest to the window. Heero didn't want that one
since someone might be able to see what he was typing into his laptop -- if they bothered
peeking in. Duo just thought that he's being paranoid.
He took out a T-shirt and a pair of boxers from his pile of clothes and stuffed the rest
inside the closet and bureau. The smell of sweat, smoke, and gunpowder still clung to him
and he decided to take a bath before going to bed. As he took off his shirt, he heard the
tinkling of the necklace that he always wore. He looked at the small mirror in the
bathroom as he held up the two items that hung from the fine gold chain. The first was a
crucifix that Sister Helen had given him when Maxwell Church had taken him in and the
other was a platinum ring that Terri had given him before he left. He had to smile when he
saw that band. It had been her grandmother's and she had been given the ring just before
General Lynch's family moved to L2. He's never known Terri to be seen without the ring
and she too wore it on a chain around her neck since it was still too large for her at that
time. The fact that she gave it to him had been a surprise. She never gave him a reason
why and he'd never bothered asking. That had been seven years ago -- a four years before
he joined the Sweepers.
After taking a shower, he was combing his hair when he spied a small white paper peeking
out of his notebook. He pulled it out and saw that it was the picture he'd been looking for
all week. It was one of him and Terri during one of the times that they'd managed to get
together without the other kids knowing. She was leaning on him from behind with her
arms wrapped around his neck and they were both laughing. They had been wearing the
same clothes that day and decided to have a picture taken. A person would think that he
was seeing two Duos unless they looked at their eyes. He slid the picture into his wallet
and proceeded to braid his hair. Terri was another one of the myriad reasons he had for
wanting this war to end -- another face in the sea of faces that he had seen through the
years, but one that he had a solid connection to. Even now, her face was starting to blend
in with the others and he wondered how long it would be before that sea would envelop
her completely.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Duo regarded the empty screen in front of him before closing the laptop. He'd had a
week's worth of rest after his last mission and was just starting to get bored when Dr. K
contacted them. Quatre and Trowa had left first thing that morning after Professor H gave
them their mission. He had emphasized the need for Trowa to accompany Quatre in their
mission and Duo thought that just about everybody was becoming a mite bit protective of
the young blonde.
He gathered his laptop and proceeded to pack some stuff he'd be using for the mission. He
had been assigned to assassinate a key figure in the OZ army. What struck him as odd is
that he'd been given the mission in the first place. Assassinations were more Heero's
specialty while he was good at infiltration and explosives. He'd asked Dr. K about this and
the mushroom-headed scientist just shrugged his shoulders saying that Dr. J probably had
some other mission for Heero.
Dr. K had told him that his target would be giving a speech at the OZ base in Berlin. It
would be an open speech so he would be able to expect a large crowd to attend. All he
had to do was kill the man and get out of there. Simple enough. Duo picked up his gun
from the dresser drawer and made sure that it was fully loaded. All the while, Heero had
been sitting on his own bed looking at Duo as he walked back and forth in the room.
"Solo mission?" Heero asked Duo as he zipped his duffel bag shut.
"Yeah, although I was surprised you didn't get this one."
"Why?"
"Because it's your field," Duo replied simply as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "Well,
I gotta go. Don't blow up the safe house while I'm gone!"
Heero narrowed his eyes as Duo left the room. Sometimes he just didn't know what to
make of Duo. then he returned to the gun he'd been assembling.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The boy leaned into the curtains that draped the second floor balcony of the main
auditorium. His target was conducting his speech at the front of the hall and Duo was
biding his time. Getting into the base had been easy enough, posing as one of the members
of an embassy's entourage. He had slipped out of the group and after overpowering a
soldier, tied and stripped him. He had been able to move freely throughout the base and he
had made sure that his braid was effectively hidden by his jacket.
He listened to the speech and wanted to retch at the words. He had heard those lies
before. The same ones that the OZ had fed everyone -- the war was being waged to attain
peace -- when, in truth, THEY were the real enemy. No tears will be shed when this
bastard dies. He was waiting for the end of the speech. The applause would effectively
hide the silent zip of the bullet that would kill him.
Duo lifted the sniper rifle and steadied his hands as he aligned the cross-hairs with his
target's head.
The speech ended and the people got to their feet for a standing ovation.
His target waved to the crowd.
Duo pulled the trigger.
Screams rose as the baron collapsed on the podium.
"Rest in peace." He whispered
Time to go home.
The last thing Duo felt was electricity coursing through him as his body fell to the balcony
floor still twitching. His trained body registered that he'd been zapped by a tazer. A voice
floated into his fading consciousness as his body started its temporary shut down from the
effect of the electrical jolt.
"Damned rebels have the worst timing...."
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Harsh white light greeted him when he opened his eyes. He was strapped to a seat, his
arms and legs bound. The light source was directly above him and all he could see were
the silhouettes of the other people in the room. He heard them whispering but he couldn't
make out the words -- his ears still buzzed from the effect of the jolt.
A man came up to him and jerked his head up by yanking on his braid. Duo winced from
the force and squinted his eyes to look at the man. He couldn't make out the features. The
light was still too strong. The man let go of his braid and made his way back to the rest of
the group. Duo tried his best to hear the conversation.
"... Kill him now..."
"... Might know something..."
The second voice belonged to the one who had zapped him. He remembered enough to
recognize the voice.
"... Inform Colonel Treize...?"
"... Done.... Should respond soon."
All of a sudden, the all the lights in the room flared into life. Duo shut his eyes and shook
his head. The sudden brightness was starting to give him an even bigger headache. As his
eyes adjusted, he was able to see that five soldiers were gathered in the room. He
identified the shortest of the four as the one who had caught him. He was surprised to see
the four taller soldiers salute to the short one and leave the room single file.
Now it was just the two of them.
Duo had wanted to try getting out of the cuffs but realized that they had been threaded
through the back of the seat. He cursed under his breath. Someone had made doubly sure
that he wouldn't be able to get away. He heard the footsteps approaching him and lifted
his gaze. There was no way that he'd let this creep see him cower. He was surprised to see
that the shortest of the soldiers was a girl. She lifted his chin with one gloved hand and he
found himself staring into the coldest brown eyes he's ever seen.
he thought to himself. He felt himself shiver as she smiled. It was malicious, an antithesis
to the girl's sweet face. Yet, there was something nudging him at the back of his mind. It
was as if his mind was telling him that he should be remembering something, only he
didn't know what.
"It's been a long time, Duo Maxwell."
That was it. Duo felt his heart constrict as he looked at his captor. The stance, the brown
eyes, the long chestnut brown hair, the heart shaped face -- he then realized that this was
exactly what he would have looked like if he had been female. Denial screamed inside his
head, his consciousness desperately trying to hold on to the image of the girl he'd known
as a child. Reality was dealing him a blow that he just didn't want to accept.
"Terri...."
It was all he could say as his voice was stolen by the anguish and pain he felt inside.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Captain Terri Lynch stood in attention before Colonel Treize Khushrenada. She had given
him a full report on what had happened inside the base's auditorium as well as the identity
of the assassin. They were in the quarters he had been given when he'd arrived at the base.
He had come as soon as he'd heard of the near-perfect assassination. Security had been
beefed up and soldiers were posted in nearly every corridor.
Treize nodded after Terri completed her report. He looked her over and smiled. She'd
been full of surprises as far as he could tell. Entered the military academy at ten, rose
through the ranks in leaps and bounds and now she was a captain. Two more promotions
and they would share the same rank, and she was only fifteen. She was truly a perfect
soldier, in Treize's own opinion. Trained in military tactics and strategy by her father
before his untimely death two years before, Terri was a master strategist and a perfect
killing machine. He remembered when she shot a man point blank. She didn't even flinch
as she was bathed in his blood, both figuratively and literally. In a way she scared him too.
There was no telling what would have happened if she had sided with the rebels and the
Gundams.
He looked at the girl standing before him and gestured for her to take a seat. He saw a
flicker of interest come to her eyes, but it was gone as suddenly as it appeared. Trying to
read her while she was still mission oriented was a waste of time, as he'd learned that the
first time he'd met her.
"What do you suggest we do with the prisoner?" Terri asked her commanding officer
coolly despite the inappropriateness of their current surroundings.
"Do what you want with him, Captain Lynch," Treize said as he got up and started
towards her. "As far as I'm concerned, our intruder did us all a favor." He smiled when he
saw her puzzled expression. "You see, we've been planning to rid ourselves of Baron
Tchaikov. When the boy assassinated him, he saved us the trouble of looking for a way to
make him disappear without anyone becoming too curious."
Terri nodded in understanding as Treize placed both hands on her shoulders. she thought,
irritated, She was about to say something when Trieze tipped her face up and planted a
gentle kiss on her lips. Terri closed her eyes and returned the kiss, letting herself enjoy the
few intimate moments she shared with the most powerful man in the OZ army.
"I missed you," Trieze murmured into her ear as he unclasped her hair and carried her over
to the bed. "Tchaikov's murder was well timed since it brought me exactly where I wanted
to be."
"But for how long are we going to keep this up, Treize? Sooner or later someone is bound
to find out about us," Terri whispered as he began to kiss her neck. "There'll be hell to pay
when that happens."
"I won't tell if you won't," he replied teasingly and smiled. "When all of this is through,
you and I can vanish from the world if you want. I want to spend the rest of my life with
you."
He hushed all further comments from her with a kiss and he flicked the lamps shut from a
panel beside the bed. She was his perfect soldier, one who was willing to live and die for
whatever mission was set before her. He hadn't realized how attracted he'd been to her
until the time they'd been planning a massive attack strategy. He had been standing too
close to her but didn't notice until they happened to turn around at the same time and
suddenly found themselves sharing a kiss. Neither thought that single incident would ever
lead to this.
How deliciously ironic it was that his perfect soldier also became his lover.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Duo laid himself down on the cot in a corner of his cell. His captors were staring to get
reasonably paranoid and had placed him in a cell with no windows. His hands were
shackled in thick cuffs that reached from his wrist to halfway up his arms. He'd tried
picking them open, but decided that it would be futile since he wouldn't be able to get out
of the cell even if he was able to get the cuffs off.
He thought gloomily, it had been at least a week since he'd left the safe house and he
knew that he should've been back by now. Heero and Wufei have probably already been
sent on different missions and who knows when Quatre and Trowa will be back.
He'd already been locked up in the cell for about two days when the door finally opened
and a guard came in motioning for him to get up. Duo wanted to try and make a break for
it, but to his dismay, three more guards were waiting outside to escort him to whatever
place he was to be led.
They led him through a series of corridors, doors, and turns. Duo carefully memorized the
path and the codes that the soldiers used -- he would need them in case he does manage to
escape.
They finally came to a room lit by a solitary lamp at the center, much like the room he'd
woken up in, only this time, there was a table at the center. It wasn't big, about four by
three feet, and it had two seats opposite each other. He was shoved down on one of them
and two guards stood behind him while the other two stood behind the other seat. He was
starting to wonder who they were waiting for when Terri stepped out of the shadows.
Duo glared at the young officer as she sat across from him. She looked too much like a
hungry spider at the center of her web. He then noticed that her hair wasn't done in the
ponytail that she had worn two days ago. Instead, it was braided with the tip touching her
slim waist. He knew that she had done so on purpose, wanting to keep him off balance and
trying to mock him by using the simple gesture of endearment that they had shared as
children.
"You did a good job, Duo," she began, leaning on the table. "It was a perfect
assassination. Rumor has it that Tchaikov was dead even before he hit the ground. You
should be proud of your abilities especially since you managed to get that far without
alerting us. Too bad you're not going to have a chance to complete any more missions."
Terri smiled as Duo lunged towards her while one of her soldiers grabbed him and shoved
him back down. He tried to squirm out of the soldier's grasp until the other guard gave
him a punch in the gut, immediately eliminating all thoughts of struggling. Duo doubled
over, trying to get air into his system. All four guards that brought him in were easily over
two hundred pounds each and over six feet tall. Terri looked like a tiny doll beside them
and yet she was so calm.
"Colonel Khushrenada sends his regards," she continued as she stood up and walked
towards him. "Fact is, he said that I can do whatever I want with you."
Duo instinctively flinched as she ran her index finger down the side of his face and along
his jaw. The touch was surprisingly gentle, but there was nothing gentle in her voice nor in
her eyes. In truth, there WAS nothing in her voice nor in her eyes. They were dead. It was
like the Terri that he had known had died and was replaced by this... thing. To Duo, she
was little more than a living corpse.
"You're not going to get anything from me, bitch," Duo said, matching her gaze with one
of his own. "There is no way in hell that I'll tell you anything I know."
"We'll see."
Duo involuntarily shuddered at the certainty in her words. He saw her pace before the
table once before retreating to one of the dim corners of the room and leaning on the wall.
He looked at one of the soldiers opposite him who also happened to be looking at her.
There was no mistaking the expression on the soldier's face. He was swallowing her up,
but then, Duo couldn't blame him. She looked like she'd been poured into her uniform and
they could see each lithe movement she made from the way the fabric hugged every curve
of her body.
She eyed the soldier with a glare promising unimaginable pain and he looked away,
focusing instead on Duo. A warning bell went off in his head. The soldier was eyeing him
with more than just passing interest. He'd seen that look before he'd joined the Sweepers
and it wasn't something he missed. Back in L2, he'd often been mistaken for a girl by the
many ruffians and pimps that roamed the streets. He'd had to fight off a lot of them when
they tried to take advantage of him even after they realized that he wasn't a girl. He shook
his head in denial. There was no way that this was going to happen to him, not now, not
ever.
"Sergeant Nicholas," Terri said and the one that she'd stared down looked at her again.
"You decide the best method to extract information from this one."
The huge brunette looked at his commanding officer in surprise and asked, "Any particular
information, Captain?"
A cruel smile broke over Terri's face and Duo saw more than one soldier shudder. "I
don't really care. Ask him about the assassination. Ask him about the rebels' other plans.
Ask him why he joined them in the first place. Ask him how he likes his clothes ironed. I
don't give a damn." The smile on her face widened as she eyed the soldier. "The point of
this exercise is to see how you four are in terms of interrogation. I am giving you the
freedom to employ any means possible to extract information from him and be aware that
this is a test of your ability to work as a group."
"Any means possible, captain?" The soldier that punched him asked, rubbing his fists in
anticipation.
"Yes, Rushtomir," she said snaring Duo's eyes with her own. "Any form of physical
torture or psychological tactic that you want to employ short of killing him." She broke
her gaze and swept her subordinates with their cold fire. "Mark my words, I meant it when
I said that I want him kept alive. To be sure that you all do a thorough job, I'll just stand
here and assess your performance. Oh, and please, do try to be creative."
Panic began to rise in Duo as saw her once again lean back on the wall. He vaguely heard
the four soldiers as they started questioning him. At that moment, they didn't register in
his head -- all he could hear were Terri's words. Exercise. Information. Torture. Keep him
alive. I don't care. Duo was brought back to reality when the first blow connected.
Rushtomir and his buddy started hitting him in the gut, on the face. Duo was sure that a
bruise was forming on his cheek when he heard Nicholas speak.
"Tell us what you know," he growled.
"I know that you're one hell of an ugly son of a bitch."
Nicholas punched him hard in the gut and Duo doubled over in pain on his seat.
They'd already been at it for a good half hour and Duo felt like he was about to pass out.
Rushtomir was swearing while his buddy was trying to calm him down. Duo's blurring
vision caught sight of Terri still leaning on the wall. Her expressionless face betrayed none
of her thoughts regarding the present events. One might even say that her mind was
starting to wander.
"I know I should calm down, Jeffries," Rushtomir said, frustration written all over his face.
"This kid's proving to be a lot harder to break than I thought."
"I know, but just listen to my idea for once," Jeffries replied, "she said that we could use
any form, right? So who says that we couldn't have fun while we get the information we
need."
"You lost me there, Jeffries, exactly what are you talking about?"
"What does the kid look like?"
Rushtomir eyed Duo and a smile of wicked realization appeared across his face. He
motioned for the other two to come closer and started whispering to them. Duo had a
sinking feeling as to what his next ordeal will be when the four men looked at him with the
same hungry gleam in their eyes. He saw Rushtomir look at his commanding officer.
"Captain...," he began.
"That's hardly creative," she snorted. "But then again, you four haven't had any leave
during the past few months." She saw the hesitant expressions on her troop's faces and
just had to laugh. "I can't believe that you are turning prudish on me. Just because I'm
only a little over half your ages doesn't mean that I have no knowledge about the birds
and the bees."
Duo's vanishing consciousness came back in a rush when he felt the cuffs behind him
being undone. He tried to get out of their grasps, but it was impossible with two of the
soldiers holding onto his arms. His violet eyes shone with the gleam of a desperate
animal's as he felt them remove his clothes.
Naked, they put his hands behind his back, cuffed him, and laid him on the table. His mind
screamed as he felt their hands moving, caressing his flesh. They had undone his hair and
one of them had his hand wrapped in it and Duo winced at the sharp pain that it elicited.
He felt hot lips press onto his and he bit his assailant's tongue when it sought entry into his
mouth.
"Bastard," Rushtomir said.
Duo gave him a manic smile. He'd bitten hard enough to draw blood. He was trying to
think of a wisecrack to go with the injury when a fist made contact with his already
battered torso. Duo felt several ribs crack at the impact. Duo barely had a chance to catch
his breath when he gasped. His rear felt like it was on fire. He looked forward and realized
what had happened.
Nicholas had entered him.
Duo wanted to scream in agony. It was like he was being turned inside out. Instead, he bit
down on his lip, drawing blood, as Nicholas rocked into him with swift hard thrusts.
"Talk, kid," Nicholas, breathed into his ear. "I promise that all of this will stop if you do...
or maybe we could make it more enjoyable if that's what you'd like...."
"Go to hell," Duo said, and spat on his face.
Face livid with rage, Nicholas picked up the boy and threw him face-down back onto the
table. In a way, Duo was glad that he did. At least they wouldn't see the tears that had
come to his eyes. His body was now starting to register the men's actions and was
reacting accordingly. his battered mind sobbed. He needed a focus to overcome the
sensations he felt and looked at the figure standing in the darkness.
Terri looked like a marble statue in the darkness. Her skin, where it was exposed, was
practically luminous in the darkness. Their eyes met, his pleading, hers triumphant.
Duo thought, feeling his sanity falling apart,
Duo closed his eyes. His body felt numb from all the pain he's had to endure. Her image
was the last thing he saw as he was enveloped in the welcome arms of unconsciousness.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Terri walked silently in the dark corridors of Berlin base and stopped at a door. It was
already about midnight and there was almost no one in the immediate vicinity. She shifted
the box she was carrying and looked at the door to Duo's cell. If she could have her way,
she would get out of there as fast as she could but she knew that, for the first time in her
life as the perfect soldier, she was doing something for herself. Taking a deep breath, she
punched in her access code and the door slid silently into the wall.
Inside, a long-haired figure lay on the cot in a fetal position.
She'd stopped Nicholas and the others when she noticed that Duo had fainted. The men
had thrown him back into his cell without even having the decency to dress him. As much
as she wanted to reprimand her subordinates, she knew that she'd be the one out of line.
This was war and as soldiers, they did whatever they could to make sure that they won.
No matter how dirty their means were. She sat down on the cold floor in front of Duo.
Even from the dim lighting of the room, she could see that his body was covered with
numerous cuts and bruises. In his sleep, his face was contorted in pain and from the way
his eyes moved under his lids, she knew that he must be dreaming... or in the throes of a
nightmare.
She swallowed the lump that had begun to form in her throat and dug out a metal basin
from the box and filled it from the faucet in the corner. The water was cold, perfect for
what she had in mind. She dipped a washcloth in the water and started cleaning his
wounds. She could feel Duo's body sigh as the cold cloth came in contact with the
feverish skin and she felt his body relax as she proceeded with her task. As the white wash
cloth began to turn pink, she wanted to put her hands to her face and cry.
She was rinsing the cloth in the basin when a hand suddenly grasped her arm and pulled
her towards the cot. She turned and looked straight into Duo's eyes and, instead of
sparkling with wry humor, they now blazed with hatred. She matched his gaze with a
mockingly cold one of her own -- one that she had perfected with years of training.
Duo desperately wanted to hit her, to repay her for what had been done to him in kind, to
kill her even, but he was still too weak and the cuffs that held his hands together were to
heavy for him to do just that. Still, it struck him as strange that Terri hadn't moved an inch
to get out of his grip. It was then that he saw the washcloth in her hands and felt the
coolness from the water that had remained on his skin that he realized what she was doing
in his cell. He blushed a deep red when he realized that he was still naked and let her go.
As he laid himself back, he was surprised to feel the cuffs on his hands fall away.
"Terri...," Duo began to say, but his mind was in a jumble. She'd made it clear to him that
they were enemies, but her actions now confused him even more. He tried to sit, but fell
back again on the bed. His rear still hurt like hell.
"I guess it's too late to tell you not to sit up," he heard her say, "not after four men took
advantage of you."
"What do you care anyway?" Duo asked her sarcastically. "I was just a practice dummy
for those guys, like you said. Why do you give a damn whether I live or die?"
She didn't answer him but went on cleaning various small wounds with water and
antiseptic and proceeded to bandage the ones that were deep. Duo was still blushing
profusely. There was not an inch of his body that hadn't been touched by that washcloth.
After she finished treating him, she pulled out his clothes from the box and helped him
dress. Duo leaned heavily on her shoulder and noticed that she was avoiding his gaze. She
laid him back down on the cot and fished out a container. It was soup and Duo only then
noticed that he hadn't eaten anything that day.
He watched her as he ate. She was still sitting on the floor with her elbows propped up on
his cot and her face in her hands. She wasn't even wearing her uniform, instead, she wore
a loose black sweater and black jeans. Exhaustion was evident from the way she held
herself.
Duo put down the empty container and forced himself into a sitting position, doing his
best to ignore the pain. He gently shook her shoulder and was surprised to see the haunted
look in her eyes. He was about to say something when she shook herself loose from his
grasp and stood up looking coldly at him. Now he was more confused than ever.
"Isn't it funny, the way fate twists our lives?" Terri began as she paced before him. "When
you said that you were going to do something about the war, I thought you'd joined the
army... or something similar. How ironic. I joined the ranks soon after, hoping that I'll get
to see you again -- that we'll get to fight together as a team. By the time I found out that
there was no Duo Maxwell in the army, it was already too late for me to turn back, not
after my first kill."
Duo shuddered at the revelation. He couldn't believe that Terri joined OZ thinking that he
was there. he told himself, Although his rational mind said that, a part of him still clung to
the stubborn belief that the old Terri was still somewhere in there. "So you stayed," he
whispered angrily, "and now, you're a captain. It's a rather high rank for a fifteen-year-old
girl, don't cha think? How many people did you need to kill to get this far? How many
lives did you have to destroy?"
"I did what I was told," she said in her monotone. "I killed when I was ordered to. And
you know what? I'm good at what I do. In fact, I was often called perfect. I am the best
soldier the OZ military academy has ever produced. I got promoted because I deserved
it... because I was fighting for peace!"
"But that's exactly what I'm doing!" Duo shouted at her. "Have you seen what OZ has
done to the people it rules over? Have you seen the suffering in the streets? Terri, OZ is a
military organization," he said desperately, "it's not interested in peace, it only exists to
create war."
"Liar," she said and hit him across the face. "Things have never been like that."
Duo winced from the blow. "Try looking and see for yourself, captain," he said, practically
spitting on the title, "or do you only see what Treize Khushrenada wants you to see?"
He knew he must have struck something because she whipped out her gun and aimed it at
him. He thought as he stared at the weapon. Mentioning Treize came to him almost as an
afterthought but he never thought that she would react this violently. She looked like she
was really going to kill him.
"You don't say those things about my commanding officer," she whispered with barely
suppressed anger.
Duo knew that he'd never get another chance like this and lunged. He tackled Terri and
the gun flew out of her hand. In a flash, Duo was up and before Terri knew what was
happening, Duo had backed her up against a wall with the gun pointed at her head.
Terri nearly laughed at the situation. This was the same thing that had happened when they
first met, with Duo holding a gun at her head. She gave him a half-smile and shook her
head. "If you're planning on killing me, you might as well do so now. I escaped that
before, but now I'd think that you know better than to let me go."
Duo took another step closer and Terri locked gazes with him. Although she'd never
admit it to anybody, she was tired of all the fighting. She heard the clunk the gun made as
it hit the floor and her eyes went wide as a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around
her. Duo held her so close that she could feel his heart beating in his chest and she didn't
doubt that he also heard hers. She heard him crooning into her ear and she hesitantly
wrapped her arms around him. It felt good. It felt safe. It was something that she hadn't
felt since her father died. Then she did something that she hadn't done in years.
She cried.
He felt her arms tighten around him as she sobbed into his shoulder and her legs gave way
beneath her. He patted her back gently as she let it all out. He knew deep inside he must
have touched the part of her that had been his friend. She was no more a soldier that he
was. Inside, she was still a fifteen year old kid, just like him and the other Gundam pilots.
He'd seen Quatre crying before while Trowa offered him comforting words. He'd always
made himself scarce when he came across them that way. It had been too personal a
moment to be observing.
They sat down on the cot and she lay her head on his shoulder. She looked so tired and
Duo was racking his brain for something to talk to her about. He came up with an idea,
although it wasn't one of his best.
"I'm surprised that your soldiers never tried to take advantage of you," he said into her
hair. "The way Nicholas was looking at you, I'd swear that he would've jumped you the
second your back was turned."
"He would've been dead even before he could touch me," she whispered quietly. "Every
soldier knew that, after finding the bodies of those who'd been foolish enough to try."
Terri snuggled more into Duo's arms until they eventually fell back onto the cot. she
thought as she lay her head on his chest,
Duo ran the back of his hand against her cheek and kissed her hair. When she looked up,
he kissed her lips and held her tighter, as if by doing so, he could undo all the years that
had made their paths meet in such dire circumstances. All at once, Duo felt Terri stiffen
and she pushed him away, rolling off the cot in the same motion.
"Don't," she whispered as she got up and brushed herself off. "Another reason why I
refused to be touched is because I already have a lover."
The boy clutched his arms as he rose to a sitting position. His entire body screamed in
agony at the movement but he ignored it. "Who is he? Maybe fate would be so kind that I
wouldn't know him."
A single tear rolled down Terri's cheek as she knelt before him, a parishioner at
confession. "You know him well enough. His name is Treize Khushrenada."
Duo nearly tipped over at that revelation. He wanted to get away from her, but he saw the
serious expression on her face. "Why?" he asked, hurt written all over his face.
"Maybe it's because I am in love with him," Terri whispered and her tone became
suddenly cold. "Or maybe it's just because I am a soldier and ambitious. The end is always
justified by the means and no price is too high to pay for success." She regained her
composure and stood up to leave pausing only to pick up the gun and the box with its
remaining contents. "You should do well to remember that what happened between us
should be left in the past. I belong to OZ now... to Treize Khushrenada, and if I am
ordered to kill you, I can't say that I won't do so."
Duo watched her cuff his wrists again before she turned and left. There was now no doubt
that what they had shared will remain in the past.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Heero stood at one of the loading bays in Berlin base and relayed his position to Quatre
and Trowa who were waiting in the outskirts of the base in their Gundams. Wufei had
gone on ahead and into the base while Heero set up the explosives that would cover their
escape. The other four had gotten back to the safe house and found it empty. It had been
almost two weeks since Duo had left and he should have been back already. They were
shocked to receive a communiqué from Dr. K saying that the OZ had captured Duo after
completing his mission and was being held at Berlin base. They couldn't risk losing Duo
now that a full scale war was about to occur.
Wufei signaled to Heero from a corridor and they both made their way through the maze
of doors and hallways. Heero had tapped into the OZ computers and managed to get the
necessary plans for the base as well as the codes that would open the locks. They knew
that Duo was being kept at the heart of the base and that it wouldn't be easy getting him
out. Thankfully, there were few guards around and they managed to get to Duo's cell
without being seen.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Duo blinked when he saw the door open. He hadn't seen Terri since she came to bandage
his wounds and he was hoping that she'd come back to talk some more. His heart
practically jumped to his throat when he saw Heero and Wufei at the doorway. Although
he still hurt some from the beating, he felt more than able to make a break out of his
prison.
No sooner than that, they encountered their first guard. Heero managed to kill him but not
before he tapped the alarm on the wall panel.
Wufei cursed as they rushed through the corridors. They heard muffled explosions as
Heero set off the explosives he'd planted. They turned a corridor and was met by four
guards bearing semi-automatic rifles. Duo's eyes blazed as he recognized the four who
had 'interrogated' him.
"Ya ain't getting away that easily, boy," Jeffries called. "It looks like you brought two
more of your pals for us to play with."
Heero tried to make a move but was met by Rushtomir's rifle fire. Heero glowered at the
man before him as he clutched his bleeding arm. They knew that they were caught.
Suddenly, the fourth member of their group lurched forward and toppled over, dead.
Jeffries and Rushtomir turned to face their new attacker and they fell backwards each with
a clean hole at the center of their forehead. Nicholas cursed and was about to open fire on
the boys when he heard an unmistakable voice telling him to stand down. He whirled to
face the voice and got a bullet lodged into his skull.
Duo shook his head in disbelief as Terri stepped out of the shadows, her silenced pistol
still smoking. Heero lifted his gun to her head and Duo pushed it away. She walked up to
Heero and helped Wufei drag him into an empty room. There, she took out some
bandages from a small pack slung over her shoulder and a small dissecting kit. Duo
watched in amazement as she extracted the bullet and bandaged the wound in under three
minutes.
"You should have been a medic," he commented as she finished bandaging Heero's
wound.
"I was too good a soldier to be kept in an infirmary," she replied tartly.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked her as they ran through the corridors, Terri leading.
"I did what you told me to do," she replied, blending herself to the shadows in the hall. "I
went out and saw the situation for myself. You were right. I was fighting for the wrong
people. My father would be turning in his grave if he knew the truth of what we fought
for."
Duo nodded as they entered a doorway and emerged in one of the base's hangars. Terri
shoved the pistol she was carrying into her holster and took the cable that would lift her
into one of the new Taurus mobile suits that OZ had just finished developing. She had
been the one chosen to test the prototypes and she knew how to use them better than
anyone else in the base.
She signaled the three boys to get out of there as fast as they could and started firing into
the assembly line as soon as they were clear. She moved the MS out of the hangar and was
surprised to see two Gundams already in the fray and three more join in.
Terri wondered as she battled the approaching Leos. Her unspoken question was
answered when a face appeared on her monitor.
"Terri, hang in there!"
"Duo!" she shouted incredulously and she saw in her monitor a black Gundam bearing a
beam scythe slicing its way towards her.
The battle raged on, but the odds weren't good. Berlin base housed one of the largest
contingents of OZ mobile suits on Earth and there was no way that five Gundams and a
prototype would be able to destroy them all.
"Trowa's almost out of ammunition!" Quatre screamed over the comm link. "We'd better
get out of here fast or we'll all be captured!"
Terri could see in her mind what would happen if they were captured. She would be
court-martialed and executed for her betrayal. In her opinion, it would be a lighter
sentence compared to what the boys would suffer. She steeled herself and opened a link to
all five pilots.
"Get out of here, all of you," she said, her voice taking on the cool tones of the perfect
soldier. "I'll cover your escape, just get out of here."
The Deathscythe Gundam moved towards her while the other four prepared to moved out
of the base.
"Terri, have you gone nuts?!" Duo called over the link. "There's no way that you'll get
out of here alive!"
"I'm counting on that," she said as she hit the raised button on the left hand panel. She
saw the shocked expression on Duo's face as the red warning light flashed in her cockpit.
"Why?!" He screamed at her.
"This is the only way I could make up for all that I've done," she whispered as she rained
death at the oncoming mobile suits. "At least I was able to finally fight by your side."
"Terri...."
"Duo, get out of here, that's an order!" She said crisply.
Terri looked back at the Gundam as it flew away from her and she continued her assault.
Duo's face was still on the monitor. His eyes took on a hurt look as a trickle of blood ran
down from her hairline onto her face.
"Are you okay?"
Terri smiled wistfully. "I never had a chance to tell you, but I...."
"NOOOO!" Duo screamed as the face in the monitor disappeared into static. From his
field monitor, he could see a huge explosion coming from the direction of the base. He
realized what had happened and wiped the tears that came to his eyes with the back of his
hand.
"Duo! Duo, are you okay?"
His eyes were slightly reddish as he looked at a worried Quatre on the monitor. "Yeah,
I'm fine," he choked out. "Let's go home."
Quatre acknowledged his reply and all five Gundams flew as fast as they could back
towards the safe house.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Colonel Treize, that is the situation."
Treize nodded as he viewed the remnants of the Berlin base. It was hard to believe that
this had been one of the OZ's primary bases just a few hours ago. It appeared that
sometime during the night, a few rebels had gotten in and broke out Tchaikov's assassin.
To make matters worse, the intruders were supported by Gundams. Although the
Gundams escaped, one of their allies, piloting an OZ Mobile Suit prototype, had been left
behind and sacrificed himself to save the others.
he thought,
He watched as the soldiers cleared out the debris from the explosion. They came to the
runaway MS and managed to extract a mangled body from the wreckage. Although there
was no possible way that the pilot could be alive, the face suffered little damage and was
still recognizable.
Captain Terri Lynch.
Treize felt his chest constrict in anger and he crushed the white rose that he'd been playing
with in his hand. He nodded his head silently as a soldier notified him on the latest
developments on the situation in Berlin, but he never heard his words.
Treize thought as he walked over to his desk and drew his sword.
He took another rose and threw it into the air. He managed to skewer it right at the
center, wishing it had been Terri's heart instead.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Duo..."
Duo looked up from his seat under the huge oak tree that grew outside the safe house.
Quatre was still worrying about him even though they've already been back for three days.
The blond boy sat beside him and looked at the horizon. It was early autumn and the
leaves of the trees have just started to turn into yellows and reds. He loved autumn and
savored the few times that he was allowed to experience it as he could. He looked at what
looked like a photograph in Duo's hand.
"I... I haven't seen that picture before," he said, unwilling to draw Duo out in case it was
too personal a matter.
"Here," Duo said, handing him the picture.
Quatre took the picture and stared at it. It showed two young Duos laughing. he thought
as he studied the picture again. He saw that the 'Duo' behind the real Duo was actually a
girl.
"Duo, who is she?" Quatre asked him handing him back the photograph.
"Her name was Terri," Duo said leaning back on the tree. "She was one of the few true
friends I had back in L2."
"She's very pretty," the blonde Arabian said appreciatively.
"She was also the pilot of the MS that covered our escape," Duo whispered.
Quatre looked in stunned silence at his friend and he knew that he shouldn't have asked
him about the girl. He wanted to kick himself as he saw tears start to form in the corner of
Duo's eyes.
"Sorry, Duo, I didn't know...," Quatre began and Duo waved his words off.
"It's okay, Quatre," Duo said as he wiped away at the tears. "It's what she wanted,
anyway. She said that it was her way of paying her dues."
Quatre nodded and looked down. He noticed that Duo had a ring on the middle finger of
his left hand. He was just about to ask him about it when Duo spoke.
"She was trying to tell me something before the suit self-destructed," he said as he looked
at the setting sun. "I just wish that I had heard it before she died."
"Duo," Quatre whispered, "I don't mean to change the subject, but where did you get
that?"
Duo held up his left hand and stared at the ring. He had taken it off his necklace and put it
on the day that they'd gotten back. It was all he had left of the girl that gave up her life so
that they could live.
"Terri gave it to me when we were still on L2," he explained as he took it off to show
Quatre. "She said that her grandmother gave it to her when she was younger. I have no
idea why she would give me something that obviously had so much sentimental value."
Quatre turned the ring over in his hands, carefully studying its make like an expert jeweler.
He knew of these types of rings. They were the old fashioned wedding rings that were
used by couples to signify their love. Although there were the newer types that had
exquisite stones on them, the intricate bands that were lovingly passed on from generation
to generation were considered prized heirlooms. To have been given one for seemingly no
reason at all was truly something unusual.
Duo was regarding Quatre's expression carefully. He raised an eyebrow in surprise as the
Arabian nodded in understanding and smiled wistfully as he handed the ring back to Duo.
He lay down on the grass as Duo looked at the ring in his hand.
"Quatre, what in the world could you be smiling for?" Duo said, turning the ring in his
fingers. He watched as Quatre turned to look at him, his blue-green eyes sparkling with
sadness.
"I know what she wanted to tell you, Duo," Quatre said simply. "You held it in your hands
for so long and you never figured it out."
"What the heck are you talking about?" he said incredulously.
"Look at the inside of the ring," Quatre instructed. "I must admit, I didn't notice it at first,
which means that the ring must be pretty old, but I believe that you'll see what I mean."
Duo did as he was instructed and looked. His eyes widened and he closed the ring in his
fist. He leaned his head on the tree trunk and let the tears come.
The wind rustled through the leaves and carried stray droplets of his tears in its wake. In
his mind, he heard the final words that she wanted to say -- the same words that were on
the ring that she had given him all those years ago.
I love you. Forever.
-----------------------The End ------------------------
***In Loving memory of my best friend Terri Lynch ( April 13, 1986- May 17, 2001) A victim of teen scuicide.