Hilde smiled as the sun peered into her bedroom. All of the events from the night before rushed back to her in warm waves. Her eyes remained on the ceiling for a long moment and then she turned to put her arm around Duo, who was sleeping next to her. A feeling of dread washed over her when she felt her arm fall through nothing but air. Duo was not there. She shot up and looked around. Everything was normal, as if he never came into her room last night. Biting her lip, Hilde shot out of bed, pulling on a huge t-shirt that had once belonged to Duo. The apartment was eerily silent. She clutched the t-shirt to her trembling body. Oh Kami, please, let it not have been a dream. Let it have been real. The silence was driving her mad. She turned and peeked around to corner in the kitchen. No one was there. She looked in the living room, no one. Her heart was now panicking. She quickly sped to Duo's room and found that everything was in place. Her eyes roamed around and then she decided to go back into the kitchen. Maybe he had gotten up and gone to get some food. She sat and waited in the kitchen for long moments, and then something caught her eye. A flashing red light on the vid screen showed that a message had been sent. Hilde slowly made her way over, as if being cautious of something. She hit the button and the vid came to life. Quatre's face appeared on the screen. His face was grim.

"Duo, there's been an attack on the civilians on Earth. Evidently the rebels down there are taking it too far. Meet us at the base twenty miles from London. We'll brief when everyone gets there." By the end of the vid message, Hilde's teeth were grinding. He had done it. Her top was about to go flying off the handle and Duo was off on another mission without her! She wanted to scream so badly, it was bubbling up within her. Hilde slammed her fist down on the table, holding in her fury from Duo's sneaky trick. Not a goodbye even. And he thought that she was going to just sit there while he was off on some mission. Hell, she said she was going to fight again, so she was going to fight again! Immediately, not even bothering to shower, she packed up her things, dressed and as she walked by the vid screen, she stopped and gave it a thoughtful look. She reached over and deleted the message Quatre had given to Duo. Giving a moment's thought to leaving a message for Duo in case he should come back while she was away, she decided she was going to skip that. If he couldn't stand saying a simple goodbye, then neither did she. She picked up her suitcase, small pouch full of meager money and headed out the door, destination… Earth. London huh? Well, then, that's where she would go.

Duo felt guilty as in to what he had done, but he saw no other way of doing it. Hilde would have argued him down and wanted to go with him. He wasn't about to put her in that kind of danger. He stared straight ahead as Deathscythe made its way towards Earth. Quatre had made it clear for the pilots to gather near London without being tracked by OZ. He sighed as he remembered Hilde the night before. Kami, she was so beautiful. The way she sighed into his ear as they became complete, what he would have given to wake up with her the next morning. He shook his head. Stop it. Stop thinking of something that never happened. Concentrate. His mind turned to the situation at hand. The rebels on Earth had gone too far and attacked a civilian town with OZ guards posted all over. More civilians were killed than OZ soldiers. The Gundam pilots were sent to deal with it. Innocent people didn't deserve to die because of the mere presence of enemies. Duo knew he and the other pilots had their work cut out for them.

London came into view and Duo slowed down as he passed it and then further into the wooded areas. He landed his Gundam safely and managed to hide it among the trees. The moment he jumped out from his Gundam, he was greeted by Trowa.

"What took you so long?" Duo rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I got here as fast as I could, given the circumstances." Trowa remained stoic. He turned and Duo took that as a cue to follow him. They walked into the woods where an old wooden cabin came into view.

"Whoa, nice hide out, did you pick it out yourself." Trowa ignored his sarcasm. "Geez, you could at least be a little more friendly." They entered the small cabin and Duo found Quatre, Wufei, and Heero sitting around a table with a lamp hanging overhead. They all looked up and Wufei seemed to grow even sterner looking, if that were possible.

"What took you so long, Maxwell? We were all here a day ahead of you." Duo swore if he heard one more word about him being late he was going to punch someone. If it weren't for this stupid mission, he could have been back at home with Hilde, making love. This and added that Hilde was going to be royally pissed at him did not put him in a good mood. Instead of giving a cocky remark he only growled and sat down harshly on a nearby chair.

"Hey, I suggest you just back off right now." No one made any further comments; instead, they got back to their mission.

"Basically, I think that we should stand guard for a while. I know that this war is drawing to a close, but…"

"You mean I came all this way just to stand guard over a bunch of weak simpletons?" cried Wufei with outrage. Trowa and Heero shot him death glares. One he could handle, but two was more than he could take. He silenced himself immediately. Quatre ignored Wufei's earlier comment and continued.

"I have a hunch that this will happen again. London is chalk full of OZ soldiers and I think it's only a matter of time." The others agreed. "We'll reason with the rebels first, but if they refuse to cooperate with us on the matters of civilian lives, I think we will be forced to defend and attack."

"Just how long will this whole thing last do you think?" Quatre looked thoughtful for a moment at Duo's question.

"It could last a while, depending on how everything goes." Duo groaned. He wouldn't get to see Hilde for a long time then. The others looked a little shocked at Duo's reaction. He was the Shinigami after all.

"Duo, what's the matter with you?" asked Quatre. He had unknowingly spoken for the other three pilots as well. Duo laughed nervously, tucking an arm behind his head.

"N… nothing… why do you ask?"

"Well, you're just acting a little strange. It's almost as if you want to leave and go back…" Quatre trailed off and Duo blushed. They all knew that Duo and Hilde were living together, but up until then, they had also known that they were living together as friends only. Duo's red face took away any doubts that Hilde and him were having anything else beyond a friendly relationship. Wufei smirked and mumbled something about Duo being weak. Quatre could have sworn that Trowa almost smiled. Heero had a glazed look on his face, as he was thinking about someone as well. Wufei broke the silence.

"Well, it looks as if Shinigami has found his mate…" Duo growled and jumped up, chasing after the young Chinese man.

"Get back here you greasy rat." Wufei turned around and glared at him. Duo nearly caught him, but Wufei only slipped away and sat on a chair comfortably. Duo flexed his fingers, as if he craved to strangle his comrade. He lunged at the relaxed looking Wufei. Suddenly, Wufei was not in the chair anymore and Duo ended up tackling a wooden object. He crashed to the ground and Quatre and Heero flinched at the sound of wood cracking. Duo laid there stunned for a long moment, then he sat up and held a hand to his head. He glared at Wufei who was only smiling a little at his triumphant get away. Trowa sighed and mumbled something about preparing to get some rest. Duo continued to glare at Wufei's retreating back into the darkness of another room. Grumbling something about strangling a certain Chinese pilot, Duo stood and brushed off his rear from the dust that had accumulated there after his misfortune with the chair. Quatre smiled and stated that Duo got the couch. Of course, the smile didn't hide the mirth that was lurking behind those ocean blue eyes.

Heero remained sitting there in silence as the others went off to Kami knows where and Duo settled down with a blanket and pillow he had found in a closet nearby. He turned and noticed Heero still sitting there, but thought it wise not to say anything to him being that he was deep in thought. Duo shut his eyes and listened to the fire blaze softly in the fireplace. He opened his eye a little and peaked out at his friend. Heero still sat there with a look of total concentration on something. Duo closed his eye once again and tried to count himself to sleep. By the time he had counted to 139 he had enough of being wise and sat up to question his friend.

"Hey, are you planning on going to bed or what?" Heero still looked concentrated on something only he could see. His hands were folded into a big fist, resting over his mouth. Not once did he look up.

"Do you think a pilot can purify his bloody hands?" This completely caught Duo off guard. He rubbed the back of his head in thought.

"Well, that would depend I guess. Do you mean philosophically or literally?" Heero now looked at him and gave him a glare that meant to say not to mess around with him. Duo backed off and knew that he wasn't exactly in the best attitude either.

"Yes, I think if a person works hard at paying for what they have done with return of kindness, a soldier can purify himself of blood that he has made others shed. I'm still doing this. It's the only way…" Heero smiled as Duo trailed off.

"You can stand to be with Hilde." Duo laughed a little nervously and turned away, immediately becoming serious.

"As much as it scares me, I love her… to the bottom of my very soul and Kami shoot me if I ever let that go to waste. I thought I had run out of chances at a home and a person I can call a friend and love." Heero stared at his friend's back. "I'm not about to let her go." His shoulders were hunched over as he folded his own hands together and let his head hang limply with his elbows on his knees.

"So it's true then?" smirked Heero, suddenly changing the mood. "You did sleep with her!"

"What! Why you…." Duo turned around and let out a cry of a warrior and tackled Heero. The two rolled around, wrestling like two young men their age should wrestle. The ruckus brought the other pilots running to the entryway and found the two pilots locked in a battle. As they were trying to pull the two apart somehow they were all caught up into the wrestling match as well and everyone no longer knew who was enemy and who was a lovesick friend.