Duo gazed at the screen of the thrice-damned laptop without seeing it. He was tearing up inside. All this time, all this time he had been happy because he had told Heero, finally, his feelings and Heero hadn't laughed in his face or punched him out. But all the time Heero had been in love with Relena. Sure, the others had not said it in so many words, but Duo knew a gentle let down when he saw one.

Wufei had disappeared, the small room had disappeared, the laptop, everything had melted away from around him just leaving him in this tiny isolated hole that no one would ever bother to pull him out of. He knew, really, that he should not have expected Heero to wait around for him if he'd been gone so long…but it still hurt. But what if Heero never planned to wait around for him? What if he'd misread Heero's reactions right from the very beginning?

The problem wasn't just with Heero either. The others were acting strange towards him as well. It was as if he had been evicted from their group, as if they didn't trust him any longer. They didn't act the same way he remembered. Sure, they were pleasant enough, but it was little things. Little things like not telling him about the mission, not including him a little more in the planning. They often kept going into soft conversations so he would not hear what they were talking about, sometimes leaving the room or asking him to do so. He remembered being sent upstairs to get the first aid kit whilst they asked Wufei to explain what had happened. Neither had the others told him about when he would start on missions again or when a new Gundam would arrive for him.

And none of them thought to tell him about the seven months he'd been gone. No theories had been suggested as to why he had been captured for so long and not killed or why he could not remember any of his imprisonment.

All these doubts were nibbling away at him like evil black mice, slowly destroying his faith in himself as well as his friends.

He took a deep breath and blinked back the useless tears. The room snapped into sharp focus around him and he noticed he'd won the solitaire game. He closed down the laptop, unable to stand the sight of it any longer. He looked up and saw that Wufei was watching him. He couldn't make out what was going on behind those heavy, onyx eyes but all the same, he was somewhat unnerved that he had been watching him.

"Wufei? Daijoobu desu ka?"

"Hai, but are you?" Wufei asked.

Duo sighed and stretched, a shadow of his grin lighting up his face. "Hai, I'll be ok. Just a bit mixed up, I guess. I'd rather not talk about it, if it's all the same to you, Wu-man."

Wufei nodded. "As long as you stop calling me that."

Duo giggled. He got up, deciding to bury his miseries just for the moment so he would not drive himself mad. He threw himself on the bed next to Wufei, who winced as the bed rocked under his injured leg.

"So, what do you wanna do, Wu-bear?" Duo asked angelically, stretching out on his front, chin in hands, elbows on Wufei's pillow. "You know, we might have ages till they get back."

Wufei felt decidedly uncomfortable at the close proximity of the other (extremely attractive, he belated realised) pilot, but would not let it show. "Stop flirting, Maxwell," he accused, closing his eyes. "Why don't you get some sleep?"

"Flirt? Me?" Duo asked innocently. He laughed. "I'm sorry, Wu-man, it's just your reactions are always priceless!"

Wufei opened his eyes to glare at him. "Oh, is that it is it?" he leaned forward ominously, so he was scant centimeters away from the other pilot's face. "And what if, one day, I react in a way you don't expect?" His voice was husky.

Duo looked…terrified. "Ok, Wu-man," he said, leaning away. "Now you're scaring me."

Wufei chuckled and drew away, once more settling down to sleep.

"Hey Wufei!" Duo said, with realisation. "Was that a joke? Wufei! You just made a joke! This is a cause for celebration!"

Wufei groaned inwardly as Duo sat up on the bed and started to sing, very loudly, 'For he's a jolly good fellow'. Wufei clutched his hands over his ears and turned over. He just wanted to sleep!

He opened his eyes. Duo had stopped. Wufei craned his neck to observe the braided pilot and was surprised to find him sitting still, his hands frozen in mid-clap and listening intently.

"What's wrong?" Wufei asked.

"Shh!" Duo hushed him. "Listen…"

Wufei strained his ears. Nothing came to him at first, but then…loud humming noises, crashes, bangs and shouts of lots of people.

Duo and Wufei exchanged glances. "Mobile suits?" they both asked in unison.

Suddenly a deafening roar rent the air and the ground shook. Duo fell off the bed. In other circumstances, Wufei would have found this unbelievably amusing, but this was serious. As the roaring and earth tremors died away Duo climbed to his feet.

"Hang on here, Wufei," Duo said, heading for the door. "I'll go check it out."

"No, Maxwell!" Wufei said, but he was gone. Wufei listened carefully. He could still hear all the noises from outside. Yes, there were definitely mobile suits out there, and people, but how many and for what purpose he could not determine.

Presently, Duo's braided head popped around the door again.

"It's OZ, Wu-man," he said with a serious statement. "They've got like three dozen soldiers with them and three mobile suits."

"Shit!" Wufei cursed, sitting up. "But what was that huge roaring noise and shake?"

Duo bit his lip. "The noise and commotion of the suits landing so close outside the cave has made half of the whole bloody roof come crashing in."

"Nataku!?" Wufei shouted in a sudden fear.

"Relax, pal," said Duo, coming forward into the room. "It's fine. But we can't get out the door. But then again, they can't get in either."

Wufei took Duo's offered hand and hauled himself to his feet, wincing. "What are you planning to do, Maxwell?" he asked dubiously.

"We'll have to climb up the rubble of the landslide, out the hole in the roof and then scoot down into the forest, pretty sharpish like before they cotton on." Duo paused as he helped Wufei down the corridor. "You think you can do it?"

"Hai," Wufei said with certainty. "Let's just go, quickly."

Duo nodded. They reached the door into the cave. Wufei could see what Duo meant. One entire half of the cave roof had caved in, leaving a landslide of rocks and debris which, luckily, piled right up to the new opening in the ceiling. Wufei could see Shenlong standing stoically besides the mess and seemed to be frowning disapprovingly.

"Don't Worry, Wufei," Duo said, guessing the Chinese pilot's thoughts. "You put all the security and anti-intruder devices to full power. No one's gonna get in Nataku without frying to a crisp."

Wufei nodded, knowing it was true. He also knew another reason why Nataku would be safe: these were local troops from the facility, again. They were after Duo, not the Gundams. He could hear them shouting and bustling outside. A rhythmic thumping had started up as the mobile suits endeavored to break the metal door down. But, what they didn't know was that on this side a pile of rocks and rubble had piled up behind the door. They only way they were going to get in was with a very large bomb. It belatedly occurred to Wufei that they just might have a very large bomb.

"C'mon, Maxwell, we gotta get out of here!"

Duo nodded in response and they both clambered over bits of fallen cave to get to the bottom of the slide. Wufei looked up. Small stones and sometimes large bounced at regular intervals down the unstable-looking pile. There was still dust in the air from the cave-in. The pile of rubble was strewn with tree roots and sticks that had fallen in from the forest above the cave when the thing had come crashing in. The whole thing looked about as stable as Heero when Relena Peacecraft was in the vicinity.

But climb it they must and climb it they did. The sounds from outside were getting more and more urgent. Duo was just ahead, but frequently paused to make sure Wufei was ok or if he needed any help. There was one near miss when Duo put his foot on a boulder only to have it slide away from under him. He slipped and slid down. Wufei managed to grab his arms as he slid past. They continued on.

Finally, with heaving chests and bloody bruises they hauled themselves out through the hole in the ceiling. The sudden daylight made them both blink. They crawled away from the hole that lay black and deep behind them. They crawled up to the edge of a small rise to look down. From there they could see the front entrance to the cave. Sure enough, there were two mobile suits stood in the clearing with a third ramming the door futilely.

As Wufei and Duo regained their breath it occurred to the OZ soldiers (of which there were about three dozen, as Duo smugly remembered he had predicted) that this was not getting them anywhere fast. Captains began barking orders to the rest of the soldiers and they started moving about. Wufei had not been able to hear what the orders had been, but he could have sworn he heard the words "very" and "big" and "bomb" in the same sentence.

Duo and Wufei exchanged a single glance and clambered to their feet. They dodged between the trees and ran down the rise. They were soon on level ground right on the edge of the clearing.

A shoat rent the air and Wufei and Duo looked up to see one of the soldiers pointing in their direction.

"Kuso!" cursed Duo. "They've spotted us. C'mon, Wu!"

They took to their heels. They sprinted off into the forest as fast as they could. They could hear the soldiers yelling and shouting not far behind them. The ground was difficult and they both stumbled more than once on the uneven path.

Wufei was in agony. His wound throbbed and the pain was like a knife continually stabbing him in the leg with every step he took. He soon fell behind Duo.

Duo stopped and looked around. Wufei was far behind him. The running soldiers were not. Duo ran back to his comrade.

"Stop, Wufei," Duo said seriously. "You can't run anymore with your leg like that."

"Baka!" Wufei cursed. "Don't stop, they'll catch us!"

"Quick," Duo insisted. "I've got an idea. C'mon, up a tree with you, Wu-man!"

"You're mad!" But there was no time to argue. Duo and Wufei rushed to the closest tree. Duo went up first then gave Wufei a hand. His injured leg was protesting loudly to every movement. They scrambled up into the highest branches and tried to get their breath back.

Duo leaned out and peered down through the leaves to the forest floor. He could hear them coming and then five soldiers skidded into view.

"Halt!" one of them cried, right below their tree. "It's around here somewhere."

Duo frowned in confusion. It was not just coincidence that had led them to stop right under their hiding place. Duo looked harder. One of them was holding some sort of hand-held computer. The man put to work the other soldiers searching the nearby undergrowth.

Duo and Wufei looked up and met each other's eyes gravely.

"Wufei," Duo whispered. "They don't know you're here. It's me they're after, ne?"

Wufei shook his head, "Duo, no."

Duo nodded. "They won't look for you if I lead them away. You can get away."

"Duo, don't. You'll never make it."

"Cha!" Duo scoffed. "Me? The infamous Shinigami? I can out run a few corn-fed Oz soldiers!"

"Duo, no!" Wufei said urgently. "And that's my final word!"

Duo shrugged. "Well it's gonna be a lot quieter then, if that was your last ever word."

"Duo, you know that's not what I…Duo!"

Duo clambered down the tree.

TBC real soon