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The Truth Comes Out

Heero's POV

It had been three days since Duo confessed his love for me and I hadn't seen him once. His stealth skills are truly amazing, when he doesn't want to be seen it's like he's dropped off the face of the earth. The only solid evidence that I had to prove he still lived here was that Quatre's chocolate brownies, that he had baked the other day, were slowly disappearing from the fridge. We all knew how much Duo loved them and this time Quatre had put in an unnatural amount of chocolate chips especially for him.

Maybe I shouldn't have yelled at him so much, it was so out of the blue that I didn't realise that I was hurting him. If I had seen it coming I would have thought about my reply a little before jumping down the poor guy's throat. I'm starting to regret saying stuff about Quatre and Trowa too, they keep looking at me funny and I'm starting to get a little worried. A bleeping from my computer interrupted my thoughts; it was a new mission, one for all of us. Looks like I'm going to see Duo after all, I grabbed the intercom that went over the whole house "New Mission, all in lobby in T minus 20!" Quatre's house was so big that it had a lobby. At first Duo had asked if we were staying in a hotel because of how it looked. I'm starting to miss him saying stupid stuff like that.

When I got down to the lobby Quatre, Trowa and Wufei were there but I couldn't see Duo. I glanced around and in the shadows of a corner I saw a familiar braid. We were all here then. "Where's the mission?" Trowa asked

"In the atmosphere just out of the Earth's gravitational pull"

"How are we going to get there in time?"

Quatre joined in "There's a carrier in one of my hangers that'll be fast enough"

"Great, are we all ready?"

Then Duo immerged from the safety of his shadows "What do we have to do?"

"Battle, there are some rouge forces up there that need sorting out. They're dangerous so we've been told not to hold back."

"Lets go then" And Duo led the way out.

I closed the cockpit of Wing Zero and got comfortable in my seat. I saw the others get into their Gundams and then we were all ready. The carrier was on autopilot until we got back. Then, Quatre hit the release button and we were sent into space. There were more rogue forces than we thought. We decided to separate and each take a section of them. I took the far right and Duo volunteered for the far left. I didn't realise that he wanted to get away from me so much. A few minutes later all thoughts of Duo were abandoned and I had to use my full concentration on the task at hand. These guys were good, really good. I decided that since we were told not to hold back I'd go Zero on them. I turned on the Zero system and felt that familiar rush of intensity reach my senses. All of my guys were gone within half and hour. I turned Zero off so I could go and help the others. There was no point in taking all of their fun away by me killing all of their guys as well.

As I travelled over I saw that Duo was a little sluggish today. His scythe swings weren't as precise as usual and he was letting some of then get behind him, he needed help and the others were still preoccupied so no matter how much Duo hated me right now I was going over there. It was going to take me about ten minutes to get through Wufei, Trowa and Quatre's sections. I didn't take my eyes off Duo and I noticed that some of the enemy was realising that he was the weakest one of us today. More of them we going towards him, that was it. I turned on my vide-com and Trowa's face appeared on the screen "Trowa, can you get over to Duo. They've almost got him surrounded!"

Trowa quickly looked over at our American companion and panic spread across his face "I can't, there's no time to get through. None of us are fast enough!"

Quatre's face suddenly appeared on my other screen "Can't somebody go and help Duo!" the Arabian was paler than usual and I could see a few tears in the bottom if his goggles.

Then Wufei turned his Vide-com on "It's impossible, Not even Wing Zero will be fast enough to get over there in time!"

I gripped hold of my controls "Well I can try!" I turned Zero on and my friend's faces disappeared. I pumped Zero up to full power and turned on my boosters. Anyone who got in my way was going to meet an unfortunate end. I was going so fast that the enemy seemed a blur but Deathscythe was clear in my vision. I was getting closer but I was nowhere near close enough. A missile flew past me and got one of the mobile suits surrounding Duo, it was Trowa. He was a fair distance behind me but Heavyarms had a better projectile than my Gundam. I was getting close; I only had to get a little further before I could fire. Then something stopped me. I slowed down "Hey! What's going on!!!" A message came up on my monitor / Booster malfunction. Speed decreased. Boosters inactive. / "No!" I was so close! I could see every hit on Duo's Gundam. They'd closed in on him, and I could do nothing about it. Then I gave up; I turned off Zero and put on my Vide- com "Duo? Are you going to be all right?"

Duo's face looked pained, there were slithers of electricity dashing across his cockpit "No worries. Just give me a few minutes and these guys'll be toast. Nobody picks on the God of Death and gets away with it"

I lowered my head "Duo, you know that you don't have a few minutes"

He sighed; "Yeah, I know" I looked into his eyes. Those deep cobalt eyes I'd never noticed the beauty of "I tried to get over there but my boosters have blown"

"I know, I heard you all on the vide-com. Thanks for trying"

"No problem. You're handling this pretty well"

"It's better than dying in a bed all old and wrinkly!" He did that cheery smile that I knew would haunt me forever. Then somebody aimed a perfect shot at Deathscythe and Duo cried out in pain. The electricity in his cockpit was everywhere now. I knew it wouldn't be long.

"Duo! Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Heh, why d'you ask?"

I couldn't help but smile "You'll be a fool 'til the end Duo"

His cockpit began to vibrate and red lights began to flash. He looked me square in the eye, tears running down his cheeks. He smiled and said, "I love you Heero" and his vide-com went blank.

That was the last time I ever saw Duo Maxwell. His cockpit and Gundam blew up, taking at least fifty of the enemy around him with it. He was a brave guy. I found myself crying. I had this huge pain in my chest and I couldn't figure out why. Quatre's face appeared on my screen it was wet with tears and his voice was shaking "Heero... I know. I know what you're feeling right know"

My crying got harder "I know."

"Why didn't you tell him!"

"I was in denial Quatre! I didn't believe it myself until just now!"

"So you didn't mean it? What you said about me and Trowa?"

"No! It was just something that came out! I don't even know why I said it!" I was sobbing now, this pain was getting unbearable. I couldn't take it. "Quatre! Make it stop!"

Fresh tears were rolling down his face "I'm sorry Heero, but I can't. But you're not alone, I can feel it too remember"

"But I am alone! Duo was my only chance and I blew it!"

"I don't know how I can make it any easier for you Heero"

"I do!" That was it. I was really mad now. Nobody takes Duo away from me. Nobody! Now that Duo was gone the enemy came over to me. They were going to regret that.

After ten minutes not a single one of them was left alive. I was still crying, looking for something else to kill. Then Trowa came on my screen "Heero, they're all gone. You can't kill anything else if there's nothing left to kill"

I sighed, "I know" and with that we headed back to the carrier.

A week later we held Duo's funeral, I felt quite bad that he had no family to be there. I'd seen pictures of him and his parents in his room. He was only small in them, about three years old, he was wearing his signature grin and his hair was falling down his shoulders. It was odd, as I'd never seen it out of his braid. I'd spent every night after the battle in Duo's room. I looked out of the window and watched the rain and when it didn't rain I'd look at the pictures that were plastered on corkboards. Mainly pictures of the five of us, we were Duo's family; there was one that I decided to take back to my room and put by my bed. In the centre of the board was one of Duo and I, I was giving my usual half smile and Duo had jumped up behind me, put his arm around my shoulders and grinned. In the picture I was looking up at him. I didn't realise it then but I could see it in my eyes now.

I walked over to his open grave and placed a rose with a note attached to it. It read 'I love you too, Duo'

Aww, I'm sorry but I was crying as I wrote this. I'm ill and in a depressing mood. Please Read and Review! Please! For poor Duo's sake!