The world was swimming in complete and utter chaos, with the political movements in America, the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the western nations, and the conflicts in Northern Ireland escalating at an incredible rate, all of them meshing into the web of confusion and hatred spreading across the globe....

The year...?

1966....

*******

The crowd pushed against him, waving the signs proudly as banners of hatred -- proclaiming how their loving, peaceful god loved them best and was going to exterminate all others. Heero Yuy was jostled around through the sea of hot, sweaty bodies, the sights, sounds and smells assaulting him from all sides. He stared wide-eyed as a police officer stood on a platform in the middle of the mob and allowed it to continue. //Shouldn't he be doing something about this...this...mess?// "Hey, watch it!" He complained when he felt an elbow dig into his back.

A man glared down at Heero's skinny twelve year old body and raised an eyebrow. "If you're gonna be here, do something other that complain, why dontcha?" He growled before returning his attention to the chaos he was helping to create.

The boy gasped as he sensed himself being shoved closer and closer to the front linesof of the 'battle', the insistent shoving of the massive crowd moving him quickly towards the doldrums between the two groups. "Shit...." He looked down briefly at his feet, struggling to figure out how to escape from the group, then glanced back up into a pair or scared and startled violet blue eyes.

********

Duo stared at the boy in front of him, his eyes flicking down to Heero's chest where an empty cross hung from a long golden chain. His eyes widened in fear and he tried to back away, but his progress was impeded by the angry crowd behind him. Somehow, he had ended up in the front of the group, which he had never even meant to be a part of -- he had been caught up in the excitement of the others; allowed himself to be pulled along. He fingered his own crucifix anxiously, the calloused pads brushing against smooth, familiar wood and the cool metal of the crucifix.

A hand grabbed his shirt from behind and pulled angrily. Duo looked up into the face of Sister Helen, a frustrated expression on her face.

"What have I told you, you little demon?!" She berated him, though the scowl seemed so out of place on her face that it soon softened into a gentle yet sad smile. "'Tis dangerous, these things... ye shouldn't be here, and ye know it."

Duo lowered his head in shame. "I know, an' I'm sorry...I just..."

She shook her head and placed a hand on the small of his back, leading him quietly but forcefully from the crowd. "I know, I know...you just got caught up in the crowd. However-- Duo, please don't let it happen again... you had me worried." Helen sighed and gazed back at the crowd as the police finally began attempting to break up the riot. //If only those bastards would just leave us the hell alone...//

********

Heero made his way, gasping, to the edge of the crowd and slid to a sitting position against the wall, his head resting against his knees. "N-never....never again..." He shook his head, clearing it. //That was all THEIR fault...someone needs to get organized about all this; decide what's going to happen and where... then we can actually DO something about the problem....//

*~*~*

And so the year of 1966 passed....