Okay, this is an idea I've had for a long time. It takes place in two different time periods, which I'll specify at the beginning of each chapter. The rating will be higher as chapters go along, but for now it's nice and PG. ^_^ This has het and yaoi in it. HeeroxRelena, but they barely even show up in the story. There are also a lot of original characters in here that I needed for the story. This is a Duo and one of my original character centric fic.

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"Wake up Duo." A soft voice whispered to the huddle of blankets. No movement.

"I said it's time to get up and go to work Duo." The voice hardened. Still no sign of life from beneath the covers.

"Get out of the freakin bed!" A boot came flying towards the mass of blankets and body and connected solidly with the person's back. A few mumbles from the disturbed hibernator, and a tousled brown head popped out.

"What are you," Duo yawned, his violet eyes closing as his mouth took up his entire face, "waking me up for so early Jason?" The 21 year old blinked sleepily up at the man who stood smiling above him.

"Cause the doc has requested your presence." Jason poked Duo's forehead and laughed at the younger man's reaction of crossing his eyes and staring at the finger. Standing back up to his impressive height, Jason folded his muscular arms over his chest. The head mechanic was about six and a half feet tall, and had messy brown hair that he kept very short. He always had stubble around his chin, and a dark tan with a few grease spots here and there. His gray tight fitting tank top showed off his enormous muscles. But despite his impressive size, he had gentle brown eyes and a smile to match. Of all the people working at the base, Duo and his head mechanic got along better than anyone else.

"Can't he wait a few hours, I still got some healing to do from the last mission." Duo threw his covers back over his head and tried to fall back asleep. Two strong arms yanked the blanket off of him and Duo shivered, only wearing a pair of black sweatpants. Jason grabbed him by and arm and held him in the air above his bed.

"It's important Duo." The weathered warrior opened his eyes as he heard all the playful joy leave Jason's voice. Placing him back on his bed, Jason turned to leave.

"It has to do with the injuries you got in the last mission. Howard says to see him in his office. Some new things are going to happen around here Duo, better be ready." Before leaving, Jason smiled once more at the boy who was sitting on the bed thinking, and left the room.

Duo looked in his mirror and winced. Given his living conditions, one might think he was wincing at the ragged bed, harsh metallic walls, or the lack of any real light. But Duo's eyes were focused on the bullet hole in his side and the burn marks on his shoulder. His last mission had been really close. Even for a Gundam pilot. 'One of a kind now.' Duo rose from his bed and got dressed and braided his hair.

As he walked out into the hallway of the base he called home, Duo began to think about the other pilots. Quatre was head of his company, and had so much to do that he didn't have time to debate whether he should fight or not. Overworked wasn't a mile close to a description of the Winner heir's life. Trowa, on the other hand, was living out a dream of rest and relaxation and having knives thrown at him. 'No place like home.' Duo smiled at his memories of visiting Trowa at the circus. It was the only place the boy truly looked at home. The only pilot that Duo saw often was Wufei. He had chosen the life of a Preventer along with Sally Po. 'I always knew those two had something for each other.' None of the other pilots were willing to give up a real life and go back to killing. Wufei couldn't stay away from it, but he did it legally and under restrictions. If anyone found out that he gave important tips and information to Duo, a renegade Gundam pilot who disobeyed the laws, he would be fired at the very least.

'Heero.' Duo paused on his way to Howard's office and just stood in the hallway. 'When was the last time I saw Heero? Four years ago was it? Yes. When Relena had their kid.' Relena and Heero had married immediately after the Mariameia incident. Even more surprisingly, 9 months later Relena gave birth to Alae Yuy. Duo and the others had been at both the wedding and the birth of Heero's son. But those were the last times they had been together. Heero had a vice foreign minister as a wife and a son to take care of, so he had naturally been excluded from the chance to once again become a Gundam pilot when Howard offered. 'Swearing to never kill anyone ever again doesn't help a pilot's resume anyway either.'

Duo still felt a slight ache when he thought of the other pilots. They had all went back to a normal life. All he had to go back to was an alley and a gutter. Still, life wasn't as interesting without a certain Japanese pilot to lust after.

A few mechanics who were up this early looked up as the black clad man walked through the hangars. They all waved and gave friendly hellos and Duo returned them with his usual grins. Putting his hands in his black jeans, Duo strolled over to what appeared to be a huddled mass of green and brown on the floor.

"Heya Matt. Whatcha working on?" Duo stood there, waiting for a response from the boy. Jason's son resembled his father in the fact that he had brown hair, although it fell straighter than his father's, and his soft brown eyes. Looking up, the seven year old held his grubby hand out from underneath the camouflage jacket he wore that was more of a blanket that a coat.

Duo took the small device in his hand and wondered just how much Jason had taught his son about electronics and mechanics, and how much the boy just knew on instinct.

"What does it do?" Duo cocked his head to the side and pondered the small round device in his hand. Matt pointed to a red button on the top and gave a small smile. If Matt ever spoke, it was where no one was. Duo had yet to hear him say a single word, which was a thankful difference between Matt and his dad.

Duo pushed the red button and dropped the ball the second he had. His jaw dropped as the small metallic ball fell and smashed into the floor. It had been too heavy for him to hold, and now it was sitting in it's own dent on the floor. Matt giggled and pressed a blue button then picked up the once again light ball, handing it to Duo with a smirk.

"You know, you shouldn't play around with the density of stuff. It's not nice." Duo laughed and ruffled Matt's hair as he passed the proud inventor. 'That kid is going to make some interesting stuff when he's older.'

Finally Duo came to the door of Howard's office and walked right in, having never knocked in the past, he wasn't going to start now. The old man in his Hawaiian shirt turned and smiled at his favorite pilot.

"Yo Duo. I'm glad you came so fast. I only sent Jason to get you an hour ago." Duo could feel that the old man's eyes were smiling beneath his sunglasses.

"So maybe I got a little distracted, it's too early to be up anyway." Duo plopped down in one of the chairs in the small office and lounged with his arms above his head.

"Duo, I have something important to talk to you about."

"I'm listening." The soldier looked up and paid more careful attention to the man who was responsible for everything he had. Howard was the only surviving doctor who had created the Gundams, and he felt the same way as Duo, someone needed to keep the peace. The Preventers were helpful, but they had no real power when they were being restricted by Relena's pacifist laws. Howard had even been kind enough to give Duo a permanent home and rebuild the Deathscythe for him. Without the old man, Duo would be without weapons, a home, or the team of mechanics he had worked with during the war.

"You got beat up pretty bad in that last battle. I know you used to fight on your own, but you're getting thrashed on every mission."

"If it means keeping any more wars from happening, I don't mind a few busted ribs every now and then."

"One Gundam isn't enough Duo. We can't keep up with all the dangerous insurrections happening on the colonies and on Earth."

"Look, we've had this conversation before, the other pilots have lives of their own. None of them can help us." Duo looked away from the brightly dressed man and gazed at a few of the pictures Howard had on his walls, pictures of the two of them and the workers during the war. Everything had been simpler when there was a war going on, an actual enemy to fight, not just assassinating troublemakers for the good of those who were against them to begin with.

"I'm not talking about the original pilots, Duo." Duo snapped his head back. 'What is he getting at?"

"What would you say if I built you three more Gundams."

"What good would that do? I can only pilot one at a time, and I refuse to let a Gundam become a mobile doll." Duo angrily interrupted his teacher and stood up. He had grown taller in the last few years and was now a foot higher than Howard.

"I'll make you the three Gundams." Howard poked Duo I the chest to emphasize his point. "But you're the one who's gonna train three new pilots."

"WHAT?!? I can't train somebody!" Howard sighed, he had been hoping that Duo would take this better.

"Look, what happens if you ever die? Or are caught, or get to old to be a soldier? Who's going to take over and keep this world from going out of control?" Duo finally calmed down and sat again, as Howard leaned on his desk and stared at him intently.

"Maybe. But who would be the new pilots?" Duo looked much older than 21 as he contemplated raising three new Gundam pilots. 'It'll be different. I'll train them. Not like the doctors did to us. And if I'm there with them, they can just be my backup. Yeah.'

"I leave you to decide Duo. But if you ask me, I think that boy Matt would be a good choice to start with."

"Yeah. He would be the best, he's young enough to be taught everything, and he already knows about the Gundams. But what about the other two."

Howard just shrugged. Duo stood and walked out of the office, mumbling to himself about who should be a pilot. 'Better go talk to Jason, make sure it's okay with him.' Jogging down the hall, Duo came out in the hangar and saw that Matt was right where he had left him.

"Hey Matt! You seen your dad anywhere lately?" The boy raised his arm and pointed to the secret hangar, where the Deathscythe was.

"Thanks kiddo!" Running down the hallways, Duo ran every child he knew through his head, trying to find someone suitable to be a pilot. He was coming up short.

"Yo Jason!" Duo waved up to the man who was lugging a heavy metallic case up the stairs to the catwalk. He just smiled back and continued with his load.

"Wait up!" Duo swung himself over the railing and took the steps two at a time. When he reached the catwalk beside the Deathscythe's cockpit he stopped and panted for a few seconds. Jason just laughed at him and pried the top off of the box he had. Inside were rows and rows of cockpit system files. Duo recognized most of them as ones he had inside his own Gundam, but there were many new ones too.

"Look Jason, I talked to Howard." The head mechanic just nodded to him and began to sift through the system files, looking for a specific one.

"He wants me to train three more pilots. That way I'll have some backup when I go into missions." Waiting for a reaction Duo just stood there. But Jason was intent on his search for the file. Duo pouted and decided to go on, whether the muscle headed mechanic heard him or not.

"I was thinking that Matt would make a great assassin. Plus the kid is amazing with mechanics, he could probably fix his own Gundam. And training him would be a snap since he lives here already." Duo paused, hoping that he wasn't about to be hit for even suggesting it. But Jason never moved.

"Sure."

"What did you say?" Duo gawked at his friend.

"I said sure. Matt's the most logical choice. And I'll be here to keep an eye on him while you train him."

Duo was speechless. A rare thing, and Jason smirked at him when there was no witty comeback.

"Ah ha. There it is." Pulling one of the files out, Jason blew away all the dust that had collected on this one. He stood up and towered over Duo. For a second, his smile faded and his face was emotionless.

"If you get Matt hurt, I'll kill you. Understand?" Duo gulped and nodded. Then the small smile returned to Jason's face and he held up the diskette for Duo to see.

"What is it?" Duo took the disk, and thought it looked strangely familiar.

"It's the Zero system."

"No way." Duo calmly tossed the disk back to Jason. He turned to walk away but a strong hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Doc ordered that you learn how to control the Zero system Duo. Don't worry, we'll have it set up in virtual reality so nothing can really happen."

"In other words, so I don't kill all you guys off." Duo brushed the hand away from his shoulder and looked into Jason's soft eyes.

"Howard ordered that the new Gundams will be fitted with Zero. You need to train the kids to use it. These Gundams are made to be operated with this system, they'll never be strong enough on their own."

"The new kids will be trained on Zero." Duo let his sentence trial off. There were only three people who had mastered the Zero system. Quatre, although he hadn't been the best at it. Zechs, who was in space with Noin working on the terraforming project. And Heero. Duo's eyes lit up. Heero, who was taking care of his wife and son. 'His son. If Alae inherited anything at all from Heero, strength, intelligence, anything at all, he'd have the best chance of becoming a pilot like his father. Maybe he could even control Zero.'

"I've got an idea for a second pilot Jason."

"Huh?" Jason just blinked at the retreating form of Duo, who was planning how to steal his best friend's son from under his nose. 'It'll be a challenge all right. But I've never been one to walk away from a good dare.' Duo smiled and wondered what Alae had grown up to look like.

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Well, I hope you all liked this first chapter. Please review, so I can know if I should keep it up. I wonder if any of you know why Alae's name is Alae. Take a guess on your reviews and I'll tell you guys in the opening of the next chapter. ^_~ by the way, it's pronounced "ally". Later people!