Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from GW

Note: This was for a contest from Shades of Color. It didn't win and I wanted to post it somewhere.

word = Italics

// word \\ = thoughts

PART ONE

Chapter One

The remaining Gundam pilots looked up as the cell door opened. They watched in silence as two bodies were thrown in and the door was slammed shut. Nobody moved, nobody could move. Duo had been envisioning every horrible thing he could come up with happening to Heero and now he had scared himself so bad he couldn't look.

Finally, both bodies moved and a few curses flew at the closed door. Duo grinned, knowing both boys were all right. As he went over to his koi he looked at the furious blonde. "Still damning them Q?" He asked as he helped Heero to his feet.

Quatre mumbled something about dumb jackasses as Trowa helped him to his feet. "Are you alright?" Trowa's soft voice had a hint of concern within its depth and only Quatre could tell.

He forced a smile as he looked into those beautiful eyes he loved so much and nodded. "I'm fine, nothing that some ice won't fix." He said, trying to be cheerful, but his mind was wondering what he had been injected with. But he shook himself of those thoughts and began to fuss over Trowa's injured side.

"I'm fine." Trowa promised. "Nothing you won't fix." He smiled and drew Quatre into his arms.

Heero suddenly pushed away from Duo and stalked over to Wufei, "You! This is all your fault!" He hissed, slamming the Chinese boy against the wall, surprising Quatre, Trowa and Duo. Duo ran to his side and tried to pry him off of Wufei.

"Whoa, Heero! Dude, calm down." Duo spoke, trying to coax Heero's tightening hand away from Wufei's throat. "What's gotten into you?" He asked when Heero didn't pull away.

Heero ignored Duo for the time being as he focused all his energy on Wufei; he was putting up a great battle with himself, stopping himself from just killing the boy right there. "Tell me about Gemini." He growled between clenched teeth.

"I can't." Wufei croaked though he did not move away from the grip. He deserved it.

"Why not?" Heero grabbed his shirt and slammed Wufei into the wall.

"Gemini?" Duo wondered out loud.

"Tell me about it now!" Heero growled, digging his fingers into Wufei's neck. "Quatre and I were injected with something called Gemini. Treize said that you covered up this trap so he could get two of us. Why?" He demanded.

Hearing that Quatre had been injected with something too Trowa looked down at his lover with a questioning look. Quatre nodded silently, which made Trowa go over to Wufei. Slowly he pried Heero from Wufei's throat then stood in front of the boy. He looked at the Shenlong pilot, "If you have any honor you will tell us." He said calmly.

Wufei looked at Trowa, then back at Heero and finally he sighed. "Gemini is a virus with no known cure. You will eventually die." He whispered.

"Virus?" Duo piped up again, "What kind of virus?" He looked at Wufei as he stepped up beside Heero.

Wufei sighed again; "Oz has been working on it for some time, I don't exactly know how long, but the characteristics make the virus adaptable to any persons body." He explained.

"Why is it called Gemini?" Quatre spoke, stepping beside Duo.

"Before it kills it advances into a different level, it is still the same virus in the next level, only stronger. It's like HIV; it sometimes advances to AIDS. But that's only sometimes, this virus always does. Also because of it's characteristics which I do not know."

"Why'd you do it Wufei?" Duo asked.

"I didn't exactly know I was doing it Maxwell. I learned of this virus accidentally a few months ago. Treize never told me what it was for or who he was going to use it on. It's not contagious through anything." He said. "I only realized what Treize was doing with the virus when they took Yuy away and when they took Winner I was sure of it."

Everyone was silent. "How long do we have?" Heero finally broke the silence. Duo quietly wrapped his arms around his lover's waist. Heero found one of Duo's hands and locked their fingers together.

"It's different with different people. I believe it depends on the immune system and a persons ability to fight off colds." Wufei shrugged.

"Well, I'm fucked." Quatre mumbled. Everyone looked at him, surprised at his wording. He looked at them, "What? I curse in Arabic until my voice goes hoarse and it's funny, then when I say one word that everyone can understand I'm suddenly a bad boy?" He raised an eyebrow. "I got stabbed in the ass too, there's another bad word."

"Why are you 'fucked'?" Duo asked.

Quatre bit his lip. "When I'm sick.I don't fight off colds very well. They stick around for a really long time." He explained. "The tea I drink, it's a herbal medicine. My immune system has always been really weak."

"We have to find a cure." Trowa said. He wouldn't be able to live without his little lover. Quatre was not only his mate, but he was also his best friend. Everyone seemed to agree. "But first, we've got to get out of this cell and to our Gundams."

"They're going to let us go." Heero remembered. Everyone looked at him. "Treize was talking to me. He said that he was going to let us go as soon as they had injected two of us. I think he was trying to get Duo but he got Quatre instead." He recalled.

"That's what they wanted." Duo growled then looked at Quatre who was silently staring at the floor. If the blonde had only let them take Duo then Duo would have been the one injected instead of him. "Thanks Q." He whispered, Quatre only shrugged.

"When did they say that they were going to set us free?" Trowa asked.

"They didn't." Heero shook his head. "It might have only been a fake promise. We're dealing with the enemy. So, all we can do now is wait."

***

(four hours later)

Heero was awakened by the sound of talking. He opened his eyes, fully alert. He looked around the cell, spotting Wufei on the other side of the room where he had been shackled to the wall. He was awake as well and was staring intently at the closed door. Quatre and Trowa were sitting together both shackled to the wall, though Trowa had wrenched one of his arms free, he wasn't sure if either one of them was awake until Trowa moved, putting his hand to Quatre's forehead. Heero looked at his side to find Duo shackled to the wall next to him. // I'm going to find a cure, for you, I will find a cure. \\ He looked at the braided boy; he always looked so innocent in his sleep.

Suddenly the door to the cell opened, causing the two sleeping pilots to awaken. Two people stepped in. Heero caught a flash of long almost white hair in the light seeping into the dark cell. "Zechs Marquise." He said in his usual monotone.

"Lieutenant Noin." Trowa recognized the woman.

"We're here to escort you boys out." Lt. Noin spoke as she went over to Wufei and unlocked the shackles from his wrists. Zechs slowly approached Heero and Duo. He unlocked Duo first. While he was doing that Noin had unshackled Trowa and Quatre. All six pilots noticed that Quatre couldn't stand on his own and was leaning against Trowa for support.

"Its already taken effect." Trowa replied softly.

"I know we're enemies." Noin spoke quietly, just above a whisper, "But water will help slow the virus down." She said then pulled out a gun and sighed, "Have to make this look real." She motioned for the five pilots to step out the door. Heero noticed that Zechs had also pulled out a gun and that there were more soldiers in the hallway. He quickly decided not to try anything.

"Just in case." Zechs saw the look on Heero's face and grabbed Quatre, pulling him away from Trowa. Quatre grumbled something in his language that made Duo grin. He knew Trowa understood as well, but the banged boy would never admit that he was amused. Zechs caught the grin on the Deathscythe pilot's face. "What did he call me?" He asked as they pushed the boys out of the room.

"He said you bleach your hair." Duo smirked as the other guards pushed then forward down the corridor, with Zechs, Noin and Quatre behind the squad.

As the four pilots walked Trowa looked at Duo, "I thought you never lied." He whispered, a hint of a smile twitched at the corners of his mouth.

Duo's grin got bigger. "I didn't think telling Zechs that Quatre had told him that his face was uglier than a horses' ass was the best option at the time." He shrugged and the rest of the walk was silent.

They were led into a large hanger. "There are your Gundams." Zechs said as everyone stopped walking. He threw Quatre over to the group. "Get out of here before we change our minds." He said, still aiming his gun at the pilots.

"Sheesh, you used to be a nice guy, what happened?" Duo mumbled as he helped Quatre catch his balance.

"I don't like people comparing my face to a horses' ass." The Tallgeese pilot snapped as the five pilots ran to their Gundams. Quatre blushed, though nobody would have noticed, his entire face was flushed with fever.

With the systems on the boys ran through their systems, making sure that this wasn't a trick. When neither of them found anything suspicious they made there way out of the base. Heero gave the other Gundams directions to a safe house. They needed to stay together; together they would find a cure, they had to.

***

Duo glanced at Heero who was sitting at the small table in the safe house. He had been on his laptop ever since they had arrived at the small beat up cabin. It only had one room, but that had been three hours ago. They only had six hours left before the virus would effect Heero. Duo looked across from him where the Sandrock pilot sat sipping a glass of water.

The small pilot had been suffering from a fever, but so far he complained of no other pains. Wufei and Trowa had left with a vile of Heero's blood and a vile of Quatre's blood to give Sally Po so she could test it. Heero had also sent a sample from both boys to Dr. J.

It was Duo's job to monitor the two boys and note any changes in their personalities, moods or health. So far Heero had showed no signs, though Duo wasn't surprised. Treize had told Heero fifteen hours, but if the time depended on the strength of the immune system then they probably had a lot longer for the Wing pilot. Besides that, Heero had done nothing but type. No talking or even grunting. Duo didn't figure that it was something important. Heero had given himself a mission.

Duo sighed and looked at Quatre, for him, they probably didn't have the remaining six hours.

Suddenly Heero moved and got up out of his chair, startling both pilots. He grabbed his computer and sat down on the floor beside Duo and moved the computer so both pilots could see. "I hacked into Oz's files and found Gemini." He explained.

Duo began to read out loud. "Virus name Gemini: characteristics shown in lab tests: quick-witted, changeable, it advances into another level much like the AIDS virus. Versatile, it seems to adapt to a different body type/form/structure/sex/species. Crafty and mischievous, seems to have fun within the host, symptoms are never the same for two people, always different." He finished. "Great." He mumbled.

Quatre continued. "No known cure has been developed, new test subjects needed, preferably human." He said then looked up at Heero. "Okay, so there's no cure." He sighed and shook his head. "Exactly what do we do then? If there is no cure, and if this virus spreads it could wipe out the entire human race."

"We don't have to worry about it spreading yet." Heero spoke. "Oz doesn't want innocent people hurt, they want us hurt. I sent Dr. J samples of our blood and he has been able to create a type of vaccine. It doesn't cure the virus, but when injected into an organism, the organism becomes immune. Duo, you Trowa and Wufei need to be injected with this vaccine. If.when Quatre and I die you three will need to continue fighting, no matter what." Heero looked at his friend.

Duo swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded, but otherwise, he remained silent.

Heero cleared his throat and continued. "When Trowa and Wufei get back we need to take a trip to L1. Dr. J will administer the drug from there." He explained. "I've already contacted them and they are going to try to get back as soon as possible."

The other two nodded in agreement.

// Shit. \\ Duo thought. // No matter what we do, they're going to die. \\



To be continued.

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