The slow fall into slumber was quick, the emotional turmoil of the past several days making the transition from wakeful to sleep a mere few seconds from the time he closed his eyes. He wasn't asleep very long before the door opened, and Cathy stepped into the room.

She was silent, though she wanted nothing more than to grumble out loud about the men in the adjacent room. Leave it her brother and associates to stick her with being the one to watch over Duo. Grudgingly, she admitted that she didn't mind. If it had, she wouldn't have done it, pure and simple. Besides, babysitting was not a requirement in their line of work.

While she was being honest, she admitted to herself that the entire situation was unconventional. Creating an asset and using that person was one thing, but to allow a civilian to know so much and then to trust them was highly irregular. It still amazed her to know that it had been Heero who had started the whole business by trying to break into Duo's car.

Heero Yuy was, by far, the best agent the corporation had ever had. He was the perfect killing machine, except on those rare occasions when his targets were to be kept alive, and even then his methods brought about the flawless delivery of some rich person to utilize for their needs.

Standing over the bed, she smiled down at the sleeping form lying sprawled atop the covers. As of yet, Heero had yet to justify his actions. He refused to give her or Trowa the reasons behind his continued interest in Duo, or his insistence that they stay with him. It had been Heero who agreed to let them stay, not Duo.

She felt bad for the young man. At first glance, he seemed innocent, but the moment he opened his mouth, he seemed to be a walking contradiction, knowing everything and nothing. Odd as it may have seemed, especially in a profession where having friends could get you killed, he seemed to draw people to him, including her and the three in the room next door.

"You're an odd man, Duo Maxwell," she said softly, turning back towards the living room. He was fine, and they had some things to work out.

~~~~~_____~~~~~

Everything was dark. Duo felt the sensation of walking, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly where he was. It could have been outside, but there was no noise, either of traffic or wilderness. He could have been in his apartment, but he couldn't detect the presence of another person…

Wait! There –was- someone else in the darkness. He stepped forward, hands in front of him to stop his body from running into anything. After a short moment, he stopped, feeling the presence move around behind him, almost as if it were circling him. "Who's there?" he asked the darkness.

A light flashed and his eyes closed instinctively. When he opened them again, he was standing in the middle of a deserted road, just on the edge of a ring of light given of by a nearby lamppost. Around him stood the strangest assortment of people, all of whom he had met in one lifetime or another.

"This is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Duet," Dorothy said mockingly, one forked eyebrow raised in a familiar expression of superiority. At the use of his previous name, he looked down at his body, only to find out that he wasn't Duo anymore.

She was wearing the same dress as on the night she was killed, but her violet eyes could see the rips and tears in the fabric, and the stains of her own dried blood. Duet looked up again, her eyes flickering uncertainly among the faces that seemed so familiar and yet so strange.

"Silly woman. You should stay out of things that are beyond you," Wufei said coldly, leaning against the lamppost. Beside him, leaning against the same pole, Heero nodded. Duet winced, looking away. It was obviously that they wanted nothing to do with her.

"You should have stayed with us, Du," Sally said quietly. Duet had to turn around to see her. "If you had stayed where you were, none of this would have happened. Now you're stuck like that and left defenseless."

This time, when Duet looked down, she was Duo once more. He sighed, reaching up to rub a hand against his temple.

"Why did you take her away from me?" Quatre asked, causing Duo to whip around again to face the blonde. "She was my best friend, but you took her away. From all of us?" He waved his arms to encompass the entire group. Cathy and Trowa were there, with Noin, Milliardo, and Relena. Une was standing next to Dorothy.

His head reeling with a feeling of disorientation, Duo glared at his best friend. "I didn't do anything! I'm right here, Quatre. I'm still Duet."

"No, you're not." Relena shook her head. "You're not the girl that was our friend."

"You will never be her again," Noin agreed, her dark head bowed. "She was the only thing that held us all together, and you've taken that away from us."

"I'm sorry," he said, for lack of anything better. They were right. He could never be Duet again. Her time in life had come and gone. That didn't mean that he couldn't be their friend again, however. "I won't let you down. I'm not Duet, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of her left in me."

"You'll have to live before you get a chance to prove that," Trowa warned, his green eyes fixed on Duo.

"I'm not dying a second time." His voice was firm.

Cathy smiled sadly. "How can you stop what is meant to be?"

Duo jerked upright in bed, breathing hard. His heart was racing and the blood was racing through his veins in a desperate attempt to bring his body back under control. He licked his lips and put a hand to his head, rubbing at his temple.

He froze when he realized that it was a move that he had done in his dream. As far as he could remember, it wasn't something that Duet had ever done. He took a calming breath and stood up slowly, making his way from the room.

The rest of the apartment was dark. He frowned. That seemed odd. When he had gone to bed, the others had seemed ready to spend at least the night, if not longer. He could almost understand Wufei not being there, since he was still a detective and probably had to work and sleep at some point.

The absence of the others, however, was more pronounced. He had thought that it wasn't safe for Cathy outside the apartment, but it seemed that he had been misinformed. It didn't surprise him. Much.

If he was honest, had had kind of expected them to disappear on him without some warning, but it still hurt.

He squared his shoulders and headed into the bathroom. He needed a shower and a change of clothes. There was a moment's hesitation during which he tried do decide to shower first and then get his clothes or get his clothes first and then shower.

He rolled his eyes at his own indecisiveness. "Clothes first." He walked into the still darkened bedroom and pulled the blanket off the window before throwing open the top drawer of the dresser. He sorted through the drawer by touch until he finally pulled out a pair of boxer shorts. In the second drawer, he picked a pair of soft-feeling pajama bottoms.

Back into the living room and then into the bathroom. He shut the door and turned on the light, then started the water for the shower. The light from the bathroom leaked under the door, lighting the rest of the dark, empty apartment.

~~~~~_____~~~~~

He stepped out of the shower thirty minutes later and wrapped a towel around his hair. Violet eyes sought out his body in the mirror on the back of the door, and he twisted this way and that, admiring his body. He had done the same thing every day since acquiring it, and he had yet to grow tired of it. It was hard to believe that he looked like that. He wasn't complaining though.

He toweled his body dry and then stepped into his bedclothes. He was starting to feel tired again, a fact belied by a yawn that stole from his mouth. He smiled at himself in the mirror, baring his teeth for inspection next. His teeth now were okay, but Duet's had been better, perfected after three years in braces. He set about brushing his teeth next.

When he was done and satisfied that he was clean from top to bottom, he flipped off the light and then opened the door.

Silence greeted him, except for a near-silent hissing sound from across the room. "Great. The only people that I know have up and disappeared on me. Nothing like abandonment to make a girl…a man feel loved." He laughed over his own slip up.

He yawned again, breaking off into a cough. He stumbled his way to the kitchen and reached for the switch that worked the light over the stove. His hand hesitated, as something in his mind clicked. He cocked his head to the side, listening. There was still that quiet hissing sound.

His nose wrinkled as he sniffed the air, and his eyes widened. The air was unnaturally thick, almost to the degree of being cloying. He slowly moved his hand away from the wall, taking a step back as he did so.

He heard the sound of a key in the lock and his eyes widened. The door opened, revealing nothing more than a silhouette in the light from the door. "Don't move!" The person froze. "There's a gas leak, and it's bad. Go next door and call the police."

The figure hesitated and the disappeared, leaving the door open. Duo made his way quickly out of the apartment, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it has he took a deep breath of clean air. He went to move down the hall, toward the open door of his neighbor where he assumed the other person had gone to, but has halted by a sharp tugging at the back of his head.

His braid was stuck in the door. He gritted his teeth and angled his body around so that he could cautiously open the door. The knob didn't budge. His eyes widened as he realized that the door was locked. He was stuck.

"Help!" He yelled, tugging frantically at the tail of his hair, hoping that his hair would come unstuck. "Somebody bring a pair of scissors!"

His voice echoed up and down the hallway. He frowned. If whoever had come to his door had gone for help, then someone from that apartment should have come out to check on him. He narrowed his eyes at the doorway that he could see. There didn't seem to be movement nor sound coming from hit.

He twisted his body to face the other way and looked closely at the only other door in his hallway. The door was shut, or looked to be, but on closer inspection, he noticed that it was slightly ajar.

He wasn't alone on his floor, but whoever was out there didn't seem too friendly.

~~~~~_____~~~~~

Heero frowned at the street below. It was empty and had been for the better part of an hour. Behind him and across the rooftop, Trowa and Cathy stood guarding the rear of the building and the alleys beside it.

He turned around, his Prussian eyes narrowing as he studied them for a moment. His earliest lesson in life had been to trust no one, but it seemed that recently, he was having a difficult time following those rules.

He sighed quietly, turning back around to watch the street in front of Duo's apartment building. After a long discussion downstairs Wufei had left, and Heero had decided that the best way to protect themselves was to keep anyone from getting too close to the location they were staying at. The three of them had headed to the roof shortly after that.

At the end of the street to his left a shadow moved. He stiffened, his hand going to the gun in the back of his pants. A cat stepped out of the shadows and he relaxed fractionally. There was still too much danger to let his guard down completely.

"Someone should go down and check on Duo," Cathy announced, turning around to face Heero. Trowa was still keeping careful watch of the alley behind the apartment building.

Heero turned to look at her once and then returned his gaze to the street. "If you're so concerned about him then go." He said it coldly.

She sighed in frustration. "He's in danger because of us! It's not right to leave him without explanation! He deserves to know enough to at stay alive." Her anger was a palpable thing, but it was her logic and the fact that she was right that made Heero turn around.

"I'll go. Come up here." She looked at him in surprise, but complied. He walked away from her without further discussion. When he was gone, she smiled slightly. He might like to think that he was cold and heartless, but she was starting to think that that was little more than an act.

~~~~~_____~~~~~

Duo strived for patience and prayed for mercy. Neither strategy seemed to be working. The thick smell of gas was starting to leak under the door and into the hallway, and he'd heard a short, muffled scream come from the hallway perpendicular to his, then nothing.

The silence was interminable, making him want to scream in frustration. He didn't dare, for fear of attracting unwanted attention. He was slowly coming to the conclusion that he wasn't the only person who was supposed to die of asphyxiation or in an explosion.

From what he could tell, the 'other guy', as he had decided to deem him, was making his way through all of the apartments on the twelfth floor and killing all of the inhabitants. He sniffed the air again and his eyes widened.

There was too much gas in the hallway for it to have all come from his apartment. He looked at the open door on his right and whimpered in fear.

The whole upper floors of the building was going to explode, all due to one gigantic gas leak. The bodies would be torched beyond recognition. If Heero, Trowa, or Cathy were anywhere in the vicinity, they'd either be dead also, or be warned. Neither scenario comforted him at all, since they both included him dying.

He heard the elevator at the end of the hallway ping and held his breath. It could be back up for the other guy, or it could be one of the assassins. He sincerely hoped it was one of the latter.

Muffled footsteps came closer and his eyes glued themselves to the corner where his new mystery guest would appear first. Yellow sneakers came into view, and he wilted in relief. Then all of Heero stepped into the hallway, and his relief was short lived.

Right behind that head of messy brown hair appeared a hand gun, one that Duo recognized as Heero's. The long-haired man smiled sadly. At least he wouldn't die alone.


Angstish, isn't it? Rejoin the story at Chapter 18, please.