Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Preventer HQ

Duo Maxwell's head fell on the table rather roughly and a choked, surprised, and horrified whimper emitted from his throat. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, but then again he realized that none of his fellow Gundam pilot friends could believe it either. Quatre Raberba Winner just shook his head and muttered Arabic under his breath, staring wide-eyed at the picture before them. There were tears in his aqua eyes and occasionally he would let out a tiny squeak of shock. Wufei Chang was leaning back in his chair with his head thrown back against the backrest and his arms folded across his chest. He seemed to be trying to concentrate on regulating his breathing. Trowa Barton had his head in his hands. Heero Yuy just stared at the monitor that displayed a static covered image of a gaunt boy and girl in torn, dirty clothes running from some huge white thing, an explosion lighting up the screen behind them. He seemed fixated and appalled at the same time, but being 'The Perfect Soldier' it was still hard to tell exactly what was going through his mind at the time.

The news of other realities existing and been shocking enough news as it was, but the news that a reality only one over from their own had seen a literal Apocholypse and that there was still two survivors running around was almost sickening to Duo. Their pictures showed that they had been living off barely anything, and their appearance was so distressed and helpless that it made even the happy-go-lucky Deathscythe Hell pilot depressed.

This proves it…there is no God. What kind of God would let two kids live in such a hellish world?

"You alive over there, Maxwell?" came Wufei's snippy voice.

"I wish I wasn't." Duo muttered, hiding his face with his arms and trying to keep himself from hurling all over the place.

They're all alone…everyone's dead…it's just like L2…everyone was dead around me…

"You guys don't have to take this mission." Lucrezia Noin said from the head of the briefing table, "We're asking you this simply because we have sent five units there now and none have returned. We've gotten some information on what has been causing their demise, but it's not much. There are two survivors in this reality and they need rescuing quick. It's up to you what you want to do."

"If you guys don't take this mission, though, we're not sure how much more man power we can waste on trying to get them." Sally Po intervened, hoping to give the five young Gundam pilots a little push in to the mission.

"I accept the mission." Heero said in his usual monotone, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs as he glanced to Wufei.

"I…" Wufei trailed off momentarily. He pulled his head back up and gazed at the screen again, frowning in thought; "It would be an injustice if they're just left there." Wufei then turned his attention to Trowa, who raised his head slowly and ran his hands through his long light brown bangs. His hair instantly fell back in to its original place, one long swept over part covering one of his shining emerald eyes.

"What else can we do? Wufei's right, it would be just wrong to leave them there." He spoke with a heavy heart. Trowa looked to Quatre who was sitting beside him and saw the Arab pilot shed a tear over the scene before them. He reached over and gently placed a hand on Quatre's shoulder, breaking the blonde's concentration and making him look in his direction, "Quatre?" he questioned.

"I…I…" Quatre stuttered, his lips quavering horribly. He dropped his head in to his hands and sobbed loudly, his shoulders wracking with each sob. Tears fell on the dark blue table from Quatre's eyes and Trowa instinctively put his arm around Quatre's shoulder, pulling him close and letting the boy cry.

"It's so horrible…I can't believe…I can't…" Quatre stammered through his choked sobs.

"Quatre, are you in or out?" Heero said, a tiny hint of irritation creeping in to his voice.

"Don't be so callous, Heero." Trowa snapped bitterly, rubbing Quatre's shoulder softly.

"If he doesn't want to do it, it's fine by me. We can do it on our own." Heero retorted without so much as a sign of remorse for his harsh words.

"No I'll…" Quatre sniffled and pulled his head back up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his small hands, "I'll do it. I'm in."

With Quatre now in the party, that left Duo Maxwell's vote to deal with. Heero nudged his braided comrade a little roughly in the ribs and was surprised when Duo didn't cry out in protest.

"Duo." Heero snapped. Duo still did not move. He kept his head down and his shoulders hunched, his long chestnut braid draped over one shoulder and around his folded arms.

"Duo we need an answer." Wufei demanded, getting equally irritated.

"W…w…" Duo tumbled over his words. For the first time since any of the Gundam pilots had known the American, Duo Maxwell was left speechless.

"Duo…" Quatre urged, getting up out of his seat and walking over to his friend. He bent down near his seat so he was eye level with Duo and brushed his long bangs out of his face. Duo glanced up at him with one watery amethyst eye, "Are you all right?"

"I'm gonna be sick…" he muttered, burying his face deeper in his arms. Heero could hear Duo attempt to take deep, calming breaths that only came out as shaky gasps, "This is unbelievable…" he continued in a muffled voice. The images of his home colony just wouldn't leave his mind, and his stomach was churning inside him.

"Yes or no, Duo." Heero snipped again. This time Quatre gave him a mean look.

"Heero stop it! You're not helping!" he yelled rather angrily, surprising everyone in the room but Heero by the tone of his voice.

"He needs to make a decision." Heero replied, attempting to disarm Quatre with one very angry look. Quatre wasn't fazed, he just returned the look with the same amount of intensity.

"You shouldn't pressure him in to things like that, Heero." Quatre spat, "He's obviously upset and you're just being a jerk." He added, getting to his feet. Heero did the same, pushing the chair back and walking up to Quatre, standing just inches from the Arab.

"And you're going to do something about it?" Heero asked him, keeping his tone low and even.

"I…" Quatre bumbled around for a moment with his wording, "We're friends." He reasoned, "We shouldn't be arguing with each other like this."

From across the room Wufei snorted.

"Ever the peacemaker, ne, Winner?" he quipped in a very cynical voice, "Never could throw a punch, could you, Blondie?" he continued to ridicule Quatre, who was just turning redder in the face by the second. Trowa jumped up from his seat then, pointing a menacing finger at the Chinese pilot. Meanwhile Duo continued to try and keep himself from losing his lunch right then.

"You keep your damn comments to yourself, Chang." Trowa cursed vehemently. Wufei was out of his seat in a second, grabbing Trowa by the shirt collar.

"You really are pushing it, Barton." Wufei seethed angrily, his black eyes flaming with fury. Trowa just stared down at him with one green eye, getting ready to strike the other pilot down.

"Stop it you guys!" Sally tried to plead with the four angry pilots.

"I wouldn't have a problem if Heero would just stop being so rude to Duo! He's upset and Heero won't leave him alone!" Quatre cried out in a slightly whiny voice.

"I wouldn't have a problem if some people wouldn't cross lines they're not supposed to." Heero retorted, starting at Quatre with contempt.

"Well some people need to learn to keep comments to themselves." Trowa growled, grabbing Wufei's arm and yanking the martial arts master's hand off his shirt. That was one wrong move Trowa was going to seriously regret. Wufei smirked confidently and grabbed Trowa's hand. With one fluid motion he had Trowa crying out in pain on the floor, the sickening sound of several vertebrae cracking loudly still echoing in every one's ears. A few rolling chairs were sent flying to other ends of the room, and papers were scattered about. Trowa tried to get to his feet but screamed out when hot pain went rushing through his right shoulder. Even Duo was now looking at Trowa with worry, his complexion rather pale and his lips sickeningly white.

"Trowa!" Quatre cried out, rushing to Trowa's side along with Sally. While Sally was checking him over, Quatre glared daggers at Wufei, "What did you do that for!" he screamed.

"He asked for it." The Chinese boy shrugged it off as though it where no big deal.

"He only partially dislocated his shoulder, but I'm still going to have to take him in." Sally informed the group aloud. With Quatre's help they were able to get the HeavyArms pilot to his feet and started out the door. Heero walked around the table and faced Wufei, who was sneering at the other boy.

"What?" he snarled. Before Wufei even had a chance to react Heero sent him reeling with one swift punch to the face.

"Don't ever do that again." Heero threatened, walking back over to his spot and sitting down. Wufei scrambled to his feet, holding his bloody nose with his hand. He had half a mind to show Heero what he was really made of, but a tiny voice at the back of his mind told him to leave well enough alone.

"Hai…" he muttered, sitting back down and taking some tissues handed to him by Noin. Noin flopped back down in her chair and sighed, glancing at Duo who was staring in to space.

"Have you come to a decision, Duo?" She asked softly. Duo's mouth opened and closed in surprise. Some how his eyes wandered back to the screen that still showed the picture of the boy and girl on the other reality. He felt the horrible taste of bile rise up in his throat and he bolted out of his chair, holding his mouth and gagging. Noin let out another sigh and gave a pleading look to Heero. Heero nodded and got out of his seat, heading after Duo.

"Heero…" Noin started just before Heero made it to the door of the briefing room.

"Hai?"

"Don't be too hard on him…"

Duo sat on the cold tile floor, hung over the toilet in the men's bathroom, sweat dripping down his pale face, making his brown bangs stick to his forehead. Horrifying images of deathly ill people dropping like flies around him ran through his mind, causing his all ready upset stomach to do more flip-flops. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and tried to rid his mind of the memories, but it only made it ten times worse.

"Solo! Solo, don't die! I've got the antidote! You're gonna be fine, right!"

"It's too late for me, kid…"

"SOLO!"

Duo's eyes shot open wide and he felt another round of retching coming on. As much as he desperately tried to suppress it, the nausea soon won over and he found himself praying to the porcelain god all over again. The bathroom door creaked open and soft footsteps could be heard outside the stall.

"Duo?" Heero's nonchalant monotone voice greeted the sick pilot.

"What do you want?" Duo snapped angrily once he was sure he could speak without retching again.

"I'm checking on you." Heero replied.

"Noin made you didn't she?" Duo grumbled, pushing the bathroom stall door open, "I'm fine." He said to the dark haired man leaning against the sinks.

"You don't look fine." Heero stated.

"Well I am." Duo mumbled, attempting to get to his feet. He failed miserably when his quavering legs gave out from underneath him and he wound up back on the floor. The motion jarred his stomach more than he would have liked and he realized there was no way he was going to hold the next one in. He turned back to the toilet and let it all out, his sore throat protesting horribly against the feeling of stomach acid coming up. He suddenly felt some one take his braid and lift it above his head, out of the way.

"Gomen, Duo." Heero said suddenly. Duo continued to gag as he looked over his shoulder, seeing Heero kneeling down beside him holding his braid out of harm's way.

"For what?" he croaked out.

"The way I treated you."

"You're not sorry." Duo snapped, feeling another round of bile come up. He held it down long enough to say, "You're never sorry."

"Yes, I am, Duo. You were affected the most by it and I was…" Heero trailed off, stopping himself from admitting any more flaws to the American pilot.

"Being a jerk?" Duo was able to rasp, taking deep, gulping breaths of air and leaning against the flimsy metal stall divider. Heero let Duo's braid go and started at Duo's watery violet eyes.

"Why did you get so upset over it?" Heero asked, a touch of genuine concern actually coming through. Duo was a bit shocked to hear it, and almost thought that he was imagining things.

"I…" Duo let the word hang in the air for a moment, "My colony was infected with a plague when I was very young…I was lucky that I survived, though I don't know how I did. I was an orphan, and I hung with other homeless people…other orphan kids." He explained in a pained voice, his eyes diverted. He finally allowed himself to look up at Heero, wishing he could just banish the tears in his eyes forever. Duo hardly cried, but when it came to the touchy subject of what happened on his colony, he could never keep his emotions hidden for long, "You may be an assassin, Heero, but you have no idea what it's like to watch your friends falling around you, dying from an incurable plague, when you're standing there perfectly healthy but completely helpless."

Heero was silent for a long moment, and the only sound around the two pilots was the buzzing of the neon lights above their heads. Finally Heero nodded.

"You're right, I don't." he admitted. Duo buried his face in his hands, willing the mental images away.

"I just felt so sorry for those two kids on that planet. And…" the image that had been presented to them in the briefing room flashed through Duo's mind again, and he remembered the pained look in the girl's faded sapphire eyes.

"And what, Duo?" Heero encouraged his friend to continue.

Duo ran his hands through his wet chestnut bangs and he returned his scared gaze to Heero.

With one heavy sigh, and a prayer in his mind that he was doing the right thing, he looked his friend in his Prussian blue eye and said, "Tell Noin I'll do the mission."