Duo slowly woke. He kept his eyes closed and did not move. He tried to assess his situation. He was lying in a bed. A hard bed. That meant a hospital. Awww, man! He grumbled in his head. What the hell have I done to myself now? He tried to remember.
He remembered being pitched forward in Deathscythe's cockpit. And the agony. That sharp piece of metal that had broken away from the panel…Ewwwww! That is just so gross! I guess it must have gone right through me. Gross, gross, gross!
But he felt no pain now. Not even a dull ache where the shard would have gone through him. In fact, he felt no pain at all. None of the old aches and pains that used to always bother him, that were just a part of him. His back didn't ache from lying still for so long like it usually did. The almost constant headache he used to have was gone.
Man, what kinda hospital is this? A pretty good one, he decided, since he had managed to survive being impaled on a thick splinter of metal without so much as a twinge to show for it.
That's all he remembered. Except…oh god! Heero. He had told him. He had finally told him. After all the times of working together, after all the secret longings, after all the suffering of fearing rejection Duo had finally told Heero that he loved him.
Dammit! He cursed. If I'd known I was going to survive I wouldn't have been stupid enough to tell him that. Duo was just running over all the painful ways in which Heero Yuy was going to kill him when he remembered something else…
"Ai shiteru, Duo,"
No, no it couldn't be. He thought harder. It had been Heero's voice, Heero's hands on him. But no, the Perfect Soldier didn't love, especially not him! I mean, for Christ's sake, he had the Queen of the World panting over him and pushed her away. No way would he love me…But for some reason, Duo suddenly felt the happiest he had been in years.
Right, he decided, now it was time to figure out where he was.
He listened. There was no one in the room with him. He slowly blinked his eyes open. He almost cried out as the light pierced his eyes and weakly pulled his hands up to cover his face. His eyes fought to adjust to the glare. It was as if they had never seen a bright light before.
When they finally adjusted he looked around him. A small room: a mirror on one side, a small cupboard on the other. One window protected by bars. A door: locked probably. He was indeed lying in a bed with thin, clinically white sheets. He was naked. Aww, man, like I didn't have enough to worry about.
Well, it seemed like a hospital, but not any kind of hospital Duo had ever been in. He could hear no noise, no rushing of nurses and doctors, no overhead announcements, no buzz and whirr of equipment. And there was nothing in his room. No curtain to pull around the bed, no chair for visitors, no table for flowers or cards. Just that cupboard, that mirror, the bed and a security camera. He was starting to get worried.
He heard a key in the lock. He quickly feigned sleep. He would find out where he was then decide what to do about it.
He couldn't tell how many people walked into the room. Not many, he thought. Two or three. A few men and one woman, all talking in low, gruff voices. Nothing like any doctors Duo had ever encountered
"Damn you, Doctor," one voice said. "I thought you said he was awake?"
He heard a sigh. "Yes, I did, but as I tried to explain on the phone, at this stage he will be fluctuating between consciousness and unconsciousness quite a lot. But you were in such a rush, you must not have heard me." Duo could hear the smarmyness in the guy's voice.
Well, someone was in a rush to see him as soon as he had woken up? He didn't know whether to be complimented or worried.
"Will he wake up again soon?" The woman's voice.
"I really don't know, Lady Colonel," the doctor said.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh dear, thought Duo. Lady Une?! I'm in deeeeeep shit. He knew now, he wasn't in a hospital. He was in an OZ facility. He had been captured. Duo cursed in his mind fluently in several languages he wasn't even aware he knew. Ok, ok, calm down, Maxwell, he told himself. They don't know you're awake yet. Listen.
The doctor was still talking. "His body is completely functional now, including his brain. It's now only up to him when he wakes up fully. It shouldn't take too long. All these Gundam pilots are notorious for having quick recovery rates."
He felt cold, professional fingers test the pulse in his wrist and then his neck. He had to fight hard to remain 'unconscious' when one of his eyelids was pulled open and a bright light was shined in his eye.
"Is he alright, doctor?" Lady Une's voice again
"Perfect," the doctor said with no small element of pride. "We should have no problems."
Hang on, hang on, Duo was confused. Perfect? What the hell do you mean?
"So this is the infamous Duo Maxwell," the captain's smug voice was heard and heavy booted footsteps stepping closer to his bed. He heard an "Urg," and a scuffle as the doctor was pushed away so the captain could get closer. "Doesn't look so threatening now, does he?"
"Captain, I suggest you conduct yourself with decorum," Lady Une's voice was flat but threatening. "Duo Maxwell was infamous for good reason. If we want him to be the same for us, I do believe respect is in order."
There was a silence as the Colonel moved to the door and left.
"Respect my arse," the captain muttered. "This kid caused me enough misery. He's not getting any respect out of me."
"Captain…"
"Leave, doctor," the captain ordered tersely. "I want a few moments alone with my new recruit."
You don't, you really don't, Duo warned the man silently.
Duo heard the doctor open the door. "Don't you dare harm my new boy," the doctor warned.
Nani?! What the hell are these guys on? Have they adopted me or something? Eww, that's a scary thought.
"You can relax, doctor," the captain said. "And don't you be skulking behind the mirror cos if I think you are, I'll break through it to see if I'm right. And if I am, I'll have you hung, drawn and quartered so you can study your own intestines, is that clear?"
The doctor gulped. "Clear, captain."
Plans were already beginning to form in Duo's mind.
The door closed. He heard the heavy man walk to the other end of the room and heard a plug being pulled out of a socket. He had unplugged the security camera! How dumb could these guys get! Duo couldn't help but smile slightly. This man was basically asking him to escape. What the hell did they think he would do? Just sit around and wait for whatever was planned for him?
Well, Duo's escape was decided now. Now all he had to do was knock out the obnoxious captain and nick his clothes. Duo only briefly wondered why the captain wanted no one watching the room.
He soon realised when he felt the hot breath of the guy on his face. "Why are the Gundam pilots all so pretty?" he wondered. "I think it must be a clever new device. You know it makes it hard for half my platoon to concentrate on fighting you when their all imagining what it would be like to fuck you until you screamed?"
Duo almost choked. You sick bastards…
He involuntarily flinched when callused fingers ran down the side of his face and neck.
"Ah, you like that, do you, pretty-boy?" the captain muttered gleefully. Duo felt the captain's lips against his ear as he whispered. "You know, when you sleep you look so goddamn fuckable I wanna make sure I'm always around when you sleep. How about that? Would you like to sleep in my bed? I bet you would. It'd do you good to be fucked by a real man once in a while. I bet you'd like it. You can't be that pretty and not a slut along with it."
You're only making it worse for yourself Duo thought at the man. Fury was boiling inside him. It was all he could do to not jump up and throttle the life out of the disgusting bastard.
The hard, cold fingers brushed against Duo's lips. The man's breath was hot against his skin. The fingers returned to his lips and slowly pushed them apart and his fingers eased themselves into Duo's mouth.
The man moaned slightly. Duo almost threw up. He felt the bed shift and then felt the man's considerable weight as he sat across Duo's hips. "You know, I think I like you like this," the captain muttered as his fingers probed Duo's mouth. "But I would like you better awake. I think your mouth would look nice as it screamed."
Then the man used his other hand to lift Duo's hand and he pressed it against his abdomen. "You Gundam pilots think you're so goddamn hard. But you're all just tiny, pretty little fags."
As the disgusting man pushed the 'pretty little fag's' hand into the waistband of his pants Duo snapped. He yanked his hand away and bit down hard on the man's fingers.
The man yelped and tumbled off the bed. Duo sat up and delivered a punch to the surprised man's face. To Duo's disappointment, the man was unconscious immediately. Duo got out of the bed, surprised slightly at the shakiness of his legs. He pulled the guy into a sitting position by his tie and straddled him. He repeatedly slapped the man's face until his eyes blinked open.
"You like this, you dirty bastard?" Duo hissed as he continued to slap his hand hard enough to draw blood across the man's face.
"You filthy brat," the guy spat and tried to stand up. "I'm gonna teach you…"
"Oh, teach me master," Duo continued to hiss. "Teach the pretty little fag, dirty master."
The man growled and wrapped one large hand around Duo's throat. He tried to push Duo away and beat his head against the metal bedpost but Duo delivered another whopping blow with his fist and the man slumped to the floor. Duo stood and kicked the man sharply in the ribs.
"Nope, sorry mate," Duo sighed. "You really just don't do it for me."
Duo chuckled and swiftly stripped the man down to his under wear. He dressed himself in the man's clothes. They were roughly ten sizes too big. Duo had to pull the belt onto its smallest hole to stop the trousers falling down. He tucked in the tent of a shirt and looped the tie loosely under the collar. He threw the jacket over the top. Now, Duo needed to get out fast.
He looked down at the ugly, half-naked captain lying on the floor. He knew that even OZ forces had some sense of dignity. This guy must be new. He chuckled again and snapped the elastic out of the guy's underwear to tie his hair back in a messy braid. He then took the guy's limp hand and placed it on the captain's crotch. He stepped back and admired his handy work. "I really hope your platoon find you like this," Duo giggled.
He swiftly turned. As far as he could see out the window it was open grounds to a fence. Not really high security. Must be a research facility. Duo snorted. How did they expect to contain a Gundam pilot here?
He wrenched the bars off without too much trouble. "Ha, take that, Heero Yuy," Duo smiled. "You're not the only one with super-human strength." Duo paused a second. "Heero…" soon he would be with him again. What was going to happen? Did Heero really say those words that Duo had longed for? He repeated Heero's name softly. He shook his head. "Aww, man. I'm gonna turn into Relena if I'm not careful."
But why hadn't his friends come to get him out? They'd always done in the past. Heero could always find out where any of them were being held and it was simply a case of ripping off the roof and plucking the pilot to safety.
Why had they not come for him? He must just have been well hidden. I mean, I don't even know how long I've been gone, Duo reasoned. I might have only been gone an hour. They might not even miss me yet. Duo involuntarily cringed at the thought that they might not even miss him, even if he had only been gone an hour. Would they miss him if he left? Except for Quatre, none of them seemed to pay him any sort of friendly attention. They all just told him to shut up and go away.
No time for self doubts now, he decided. He stood on the windowsill and kicked through the glass. He jumped outside and ducked behind a bush. He doubted that he would be able to walk past the guard in this uniform that was like a tent around him. If he could get to the fence, he would be able to climb over.
He strolled casually so as not to attract any attention. There were a few people wondering around. They gave him odd looks, probably because of the clothes, but Duo just grinned back and they all carried on about their business. He got to the fence and leant against it, examining his fingernails and whistling.
Suddenly there was uproar from the building. Duo looked up to see the doctor at the broken window, yelling and looking around. People rushed to see what the commotion was.
"I guess that's my cue to make like a banana and split," Duo muttered. He turned and jumped. He grabbed onto the wire fence and climbed. He was soon swinging himself over the top. Someone shouted and pointed. Duo looked up. People were running towards him, guards with guns following close behind.
Duo waved jauntily and jumped to the ground. There were plenty of cars around, belonging to the scientists, Duo guessed. He efficiently broke into one and hot-wired it. In a matter of minutes he was speeding away into the distance. There was an attempt to follow but the boy had a head start.
Duo grinned. "All in a day's work," he smirked. "Now, where the hell are the guys?"
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Duo went back to the last safe house that he remembered being stationed at. It was abandoned. No one had been in it in a long time.
Duo frowned as he looked around the dusty interior. "How long have I been gone?" he wondered aloud.
He shook his head. He decided he would stay here tonight, somewhere reasonably safe. It was going to be hard to track down Heero and the rest of the pilots, but it wasn't beyond Duo's powers. He would go to a library tomorrow and get his hands on a computer. It would take him the best part of the day, but Duo knew it probably wasn't a good idea to be on his own for too long. If OZ had wanted him for something then they were going to try and get him back.
Duo shut the door behind him. "I'm gonna need some new clothes as well," he said to himself, scowling in distaste at the too-large guard's uniform. He blew his bangs out of his eyes and headed into the bathroom. "But first, a shower."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Duo had been wrong. It hadn't taken him the better part of the next day to track down his comrades. It had taken all that day and most of the night. In the end the librarian insisted that he had to leave. The kind old woman had been powerless before Duo's smile and, against her better judgement, she had let the eager young man stay on past closing time.
But when the clock in the library had chimed out nine forty-five p.m., she was insistent. Duo quickly finished up on the computer (Duo was sure that the machine gave a sigh of relief as he shut it down) with as good a lead as he was going to get. He had managed to hack into some of the pilots' coded mission statements. It had taken him a while, but he had found the area in which the other four pilots were currently residing.
He already knew where the only safe house there for miles around was. That must be where the other pilots were staying.
Duo thanked the old lady for her kindness. Secretly he was pained to see the innocent, wrinkly face smile at him back. How many people like that had he killed already?
As Duo walked down the moonlit street he hung his head and ground his teeth. His hands clenched into fists deep in his pockets. He hated this war. He had no doubt many other people did also, but that didn't make it any better.
He paused to look at the moon as it hung over his head. The silvery light bathed him in coolness. He blinked slowly in it's cool light. He was so tired. Not just from the day's computer work but from running, hiding and killing. He was tired of being hated. All his life things had gone the wrong way. As soon as he ever got any happiness it was snatched away.
Father Maxwell, Sister Helen, Solo. Heero. Duo had been happy in that last moment before he'd passed out, happy that Heero had uttered those words, but he couldn't even stay conscious to tell Heero what his words had meant.
Duo looked at the heavens. His violet eyes reflected the thousands of stars. He breathed the deep cool air. "Are you punishing me, God?" Duo whispered to the air. "Are you punishing me for all the crimes you knew I would commit?"
Duo shook his head. God had never answered him all these years, why should he answer now?
"But you sent me Heero," Duo corrected himself. He stood still on the moonlit pavement and smiled quietly. "I asked you for forgiveness, I asked you for happiness. You sent me Heero. Thank you."
Duo grinned. And now he was returning to Heero. He didn't really mind if he had imagined Heero's "Ai shiteru," He would have loved it to be true, but for Duo it was enough that Heero was alive and that he would soon be near him.
Duo virtually skipped the rest of the way to his stolen car, his braid bouncing jauntily against his back. Yes, he loved Heero. He could admit to himself freely now because it made him feel happy. He loved his strength. He loved the way his deep cobalt eyes sparkled with intelligence and secret emotions whenever he was deep in thought. Duo wanted to find out his secrets, to bring them to the surface. He wanted to heal him when he was in pain and hold him when he was lonely and he wanted someone to do then same for him. He wanted to make Heero smile.
"There's time," Duo said with conviction as he opened the door of his car and climbed into the front seat. "There's all the time in the world."
He remembered being pitched forward in Deathscythe's cockpit. And the agony. That sharp piece of metal that had broken away from the panel…Ewwwww! That is just so gross! I guess it must have gone right through me. Gross, gross, gross!
But he felt no pain now. Not even a dull ache where the shard would have gone through him. In fact, he felt no pain at all. None of the old aches and pains that used to always bother him, that were just a part of him. His back didn't ache from lying still for so long like it usually did. The almost constant headache he used to have was gone.
Man, what kinda hospital is this? A pretty good one, he decided, since he had managed to survive being impaled on a thick splinter of metal without so much as a twinge to show for it.
That's all he remembered. Except…oh god! Heero. He had told him. He had finally told him. After all the times of working together, after all the secret longings, after all the suffering of fearing rejection Duo had finally told Heero that he loved him.
Dammit! He cursed. If I'd known I was going to survive I wouldn't have been stupid enough to tell him that. Duo was just running over all the painful ways in which Heero Yuy was going to kill him when he remembered something else…
"Ai shiteru, Duo,"
No, no it couldn't be. He thought harder. It had been Heero's voice, Heero's hands on him. But no, the Perfect Soldier didn't love, especially not him! I mean, for Christ's sake, he had the Queen of the World panting over him and pushed her away. No way would he love me…But for some reason, Duo suddenly felt the happiest he had been in years.
Right, he decided, now it was time to figure out where he was.
He listened. There was no one in the room with him. He slowly blinked his eyes open. He almost cried out as the light pierced his eyes and weakly pulled his hands up to cover his face. His eyes fought to adjust to the glare. It was as if they had never seen a bright light before.
When they finally adjusted he looked around him. A small room: a mirror on one side, a small cupboard on the other. One window protected by bars. A door: locked probably. He was indeed lying in a bed with thin, clinically white sheets. He was naked. Aww, man, like I didn't have enough to worry about.
Well, it seemed like a hospital, but not any kind of hospital Duo had ever been in. He could hear no noise, no rushing of nurses and doctors, no overhead announcements, no buzz and whirr of equipment. And there was nothing in his room. No curtain to pull around the bed, no chair for visitors, no table for flowers or cards. Just that cupboard, that mirror, the bed and a security camera. He was starting to get worried.
He heard a key in the lock. He quickly feigned sleep. He would find out where he was then decide what to do about it.
He couldn't tell how many people walked into the room. Not many, he thought. Two or three. A few men and one woman, all talking in low, gruff voices. Nothing like any doctors Duo had ever encountered
"Damn you, Doctor," one voice said. "I thought you said he was awake?"
He heard a sigh. "Yes, I did, but as I tried to explain on the phone, at this stage he will be fluctuating between consciousness and unconsciousness quite a lot. But you were in such a rush, you must not have heard me." Duo could hear the smarmyness in the guy's voice.
Well, someone was in a rush to see him as soon as he had woken up? He didn't know whether to be complimented or worried.
"Will he wake up again soon?" The woman's voice.
"I really don't know, Lady Colonel," the doctor said.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh dear, thought Duo. Lady Une?! I'm in deeeeeep shit. He knew now, he wasn't in a hospital. He was in an OZ facility. He had been captured. Duo cursed in his mind fluently in several languages he wasn't even aware he knew. Ok, ok, calm down, Maxwell, he told himself. They don't know you're awake yet. Listen.
The doctor was still talking. "His body is completely functional now, including his brain. It's now only up to him when he wakes up fully. It shouldn't take too long. All these Gundam pilots are notorious for having quick recovery rates."
He felt cold, professional fingers test the pulse in his wrist and then his neck. He had to fight hard to remain 'unconscious' when one of his eyelids was pulled open and a bright light was shined in his eye.
"Is he alright, doctor?" Lady Une's voice again
"Perfect," the doctor said with no small element of pride. "We should have no problems."
Hang on, hang on, Duo was confused. Perfect? What the hell do you mean?
"So this is the infamous Duo Maxwell," the captain's smug voice was heard and heavy booted footsteps stepping closer to his bed. He heard an "Urg," and a scuffle as the doctor was pushed away so the captain could get closer. "Doesn't look so threatening now, does he?"
"Captain, I suggest you conduct yourself with decorum," Lady Une's voice was flat but threatening. "Duo Maxwell was infamous for good reason. If we want him to be the same for us, I do believe respect is in order."
There was a silence as the Colonel moved to the door and left.
"Respect my arse," the captain muttered. "This kid caused me enough misery. He's not getting any respect out of me."
"Captain…"
"Leave, doctor," the captain ordered tersely. "I want a few moments alone with my new recruit."
You don't, you really don't, Duo warned the man silently.
Duo heard the doctor open the door. "Don't you dare harm my new boy," the doctor warned.
Nani?! What the hell are these guys on? Have they adopted me or something? Eww, that's a scary thought.
"You can relax, doctor," the captain said. "And don't you be skulking behind the mirror cos if I think you are, I'll break through it to see if I'm right. And if I am, I'll have you hung, drawn and quartered so you can study your own intestines, is that clear?"
The doctor gulped. "Clear, captain."
Plans were already beginning to form in Duo's mind.
The door closed. He heard the heavy man walk to the other end of the room and heard a plug being pulled out of a socket. He had unplugged the security camera! How dumb could these guys get! Duo couldn't help but smile slightly. This man was basically asking him to escape. What the hell did they think he would do? Just sit around and wait for whatever was planned for him?
Well, Duo's escape was decided now. Now all he had to do was knock out the obnoxious captain and nick his clothes. Duo only briefly wondered why the captain wanted no one watching the room.
He soon realised when he felt the hot breath of the guy on his face. "Why are the Gundam pilots all so pretty?" he wondered. "I think it must be a clever new device. You know it makes it hard for half my platoon to concentrate on fighting you when their all imagining what it would be like to fuck you until you screamed?"
Duo almost choked. You sick bastards…
He involuntarily flinched when callused fingers ran down the side of his face and neck.
"Ah, you like that, do you, pretty-boy?" the captain muttered gleefully. Duo felt the captain's lips against his ear as he whispered. "You know, when you sleep you look so goddamn fuckable I wanna make sure I'm always around when you sleep. How about that? Would you like to sleep in my bed? I bet you would. It'd do you good to be fucked by a real man once in a while. I bet you'd like it. You can't be that pretty and not a slut along with it."
You're only making it worse for yourself Duo thought at the man. Fury was boiling inside him. It was all he could do to not jump up and throttle the life out of the disgusting bastard.
The hard, cold fingers brushed against Duo's lips. The man's breath was hot against his skin. The fingers returned to his lips and slowly pushed them apart and his fingers eased themselves into Duo's mouth.
The man moaned slightly. Duo almost threw up. He felt the bed shift and then felt the man's considerable weight as he sat across Duo's hips. "You know, I think I like you like this," the captain muttered as his fingers probed Duo's mouth. "But I would like you better awake. I think your mouth would look nice as it screamed."
Then the man used his other hand to lift Duo's hand and he pressed it against his abdomen. "You Gundam pilots think you're so goddamn hard. But you're all just tiny, pretty little fags."
As the disgusting man pushed the 'pretty little fag's' hand into the waistband of his pants Duo snapped. He yanked his hand away and bit down hard on the man's fingers.
The man yelped and tumbled off the bed. Duo sat up and delivered a punch to the surprised man's face. To Duo's disappointment, the man was unconscious immediately. Duo got out of the bed, surprised slightly at the shakiness of his legs. He pulled the guy into a sitting position by his tie and straddled him. He repeatedly slapped the man's face until his eyes blinked open.
"You like this, you dirty bastard?" Duo hissed as he continued to slap his hand hard enough to draw blood across the man's face.
"You filthy brat," the guy spat and tried to stand up. "I'm gonna teach you…"
"Oh, teach me master," Duo continued to hiss. "Teach the pretty little fag, dirty master."
The man growled and wrapped one large hand around Duo's throat. He tried to push Duo away and beat his head against the metal bedpost but Duo delivered another whopping blow with his fist and the man slumped to the floor. Duo stood and kicked the man sharply in the ribs.
"Nope, sorry mate," Duo sighed. "You really just don't do it for me."
Duo chuckled and swiftly stripped the man down to his under wear. He dressed himself in the man's clothes. They were roughly ten sizes too big. Duo had to pull the belt onto its smallest hole to stop the trousers falling down. He tucked in the tent of a shirt and looped the tie loosely under the collar. He threw the jacket over the top. Now, Duo needed to get out fast.
He looked down at the ugly, half-naked captain lying on the floor. He knew that even OZ forces had some sense of dignity. This guy must be new. He chuckled again and snapped the elastic out of the guy's underwear to tie his hair back in a messy braid. He then took the guy's limp hand and placed it on the captain's crotch. He stepped back and admired his handy work. "I really hope your platoon find you like this," Duo giggled.
He swiftly turned. As far as he could see out the window it was open grounds to a fence. Not really high security. Must be a research facility. Duo snorted. How did they expect to contain a Gundam pilot here?
He wrenched the bars off without too much trouble. "Ha, take that, Heero Yuy," Duo smiled. "You're not the only one with super-human strength." Duo paused a second. "Heero…" soon he would be with him again. What was going to happen? Did Heero really say those words that Duo had longed for? He repeated Heero's name softly. He shook his head. "Aww, man. I'm gonna turn into Relena if I'm not careful."
But why hadn't his friends come to get him out? They'd always done in the past. Heero could always find out where any of them were being held and it was simply a case of ripping off the roof and plucking the pilot to safety.
Why had they not come for him? He must just have been well hidden. I mean, I don't even know how long I've been gone, Duo reasoned. I might have only been gone an hour. They might not even miss me yet. Duo involuntarily cringed at the thought that they might not even miss him, even if he had only been gone an hour. Would they miss him if he left? Except for Quatre, none of them seemed to pay him any sort of friendly attention. They all just told him to shut up and go away.
No time for self doubts now, he decided. He stood on the windowsill and kicked through the glass. He jumped outside and ducked behind a bush. He doubted that he would be able to walk past the guard in this uniform that was like a tent around him. If he could get to the fence, he would be able to climb over.
He strolled casually so as not to attract any attention. There were a few people wondering around. They gave him odd looks, probably because of the clothes, but Duo just grinned back and they all carried on about their business. He got to the fence and leant against it, examining his fingernails and whistling.
Suddenly there was uproar from the building. Duo looked up to see the doctor at the broken window, yelling and looking around. People rushed to see what the commotion was.
"I guess that's my cue to make like a banana and split," Duo muttered. He turned and jumped. He grabbed onto the wire fence and climbed. He was soon swinging himself over the top. Someone shouted and pointed. Duo looked up. People were running towards him, guards with guns following close behind.
Duo waved jauntily and jumped to the ground. There were plenty of cars around, belonging to the scientists, Duo guessed. He efficiently broke into one and hot-wired it. In a matter of minutes he was speeding away into the distance. There was an attempt to follow but the boy had a head start.
Duo grinned. "All in a day's work," he smirked. "Now, where the hell are the guys?"
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Duo went back to the last safe house that he remembered being stationed at. It was abandoned. No one had been in it in a long time.
Duo frowned as he looked around the dusty interior. "How long have I been gone?" he wondered aloud.
He shook his head. He decided he would stay here tonight, somewhere reasonably safe. It was going to be hard to track down Heero and the rest of the pilots, but it wasn't beyond Duo's powers. He would go to a library tomorrow and get his hands on a computer. It would take him the best part of the day, but Duo knew it probably wasn't a good idea to be on his own for too long. If OZ had wanted him for something then they were going to try and get him back.
Duo shut the door behind him. "I'm gonna need some new clothes as well," he said to himself, scowling in distaste at the too-large guard's uniform. He blew his bangs out of his eyes and headed into the bathroom. "But first, a shower."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Duo had been wrong. It hadn't taken him the better part of the next day to track down his comrades. It had taken all that day and most of the night. In the end the librarian insisted that he had to leave. The kind old woman had been powerless before Duo's smile and, against her better judgement, she had let the eager young man stay on past closing time.
But when the clock in the library had chimed out nine forty-five p.m., she was insistent. Duo quickly finished up on the computer (Duo was sure that the machine gave a sigh of relief as he shut it down) with as good a lead as he was going to get. He had managed to hack into some of the pilots' coded mission statements. It had taken him a while, but he had found the area in which the other four pilots were currently residing.
He already knew where the only safe house there for miles around was. That must be where the other pilots were staying.
Duo thanked the old lady for her kindness. Secretly he was pained to see the innocent, wrinkly face smile at him back. How many people like that had he killed already?
As Duo walked down the moonlit street he hung his head and ground his teeth. His hands clenched into fists deep in his pockets. He hated this war. He had no doubt many other people did also, but that didn't make it any better.
He paused to look at the moon as it hung over his head. The silvery light bathed him in coolness. He blinked slowly in it's cool light. He was so tired. Not just from the day's computer work but from running, hiding and killing. He was tired of being hated. All his life things had gone the wrong way. As soon as he ever got any happiness it was snatched away.
Father Maxwell, Sister Helen, Solo. Heero. Duo had been happy in that last moment before he'd passed out, happy that Heero had uttered those words, but he couldn't even stay conscious to tell Heero what his words had meant.
Duo looked at the heavens. His violet eyes reflected the thousands of stars. He breathed the deep cool air. "Are you punishing me, God?" Duo whispered to the air. "Are you punishing me for all the crimes you knew I would commit?"
Duo shook his head. God had never answered him all these years, why should he answer now?
"But you sent me Heero," Duo corrected himself. He stood still on the moonlit pavement and smiled quietly. "I asked you for forgiveness, I asked you for happiness. You sent me Heero. Thank you."
Duo grinned. And now he was returning to Heero. He didn't really mind if he had imagined Heero's "Ai shiteru," He would have loved it to be true, but for Duo it was enough that Heero was alive and that he would soon be near him.
Duo virtually skipped the rest of the way to his stolen car, his braid bouncing jauntily against his back. Yes, he loved Heero. He could admit to himself freely now because it made him feel happy. He loved his strength. He loved the way his deep cobalt eyes sparkled with intelligence and secret emotions whenever he was deep in thought. Duo wanted to find out his secrets, to bring them to the surface. He wanted to heal him when he was in pain and hold him when he was lonely and he wanted someone to do then same for him. He wanted to make Heero smile.
"There's time," Duo said with conviction as he opened the door of his car and climbed into the front seat. "There's all the time in the world."