A/N: Chapter 7! Chapter 7! I'd put more up here, but I'm in a hurry! Normal warnings; look back a few chapters if you happen to be unawares! Nothing R in this one, that I can see...But there IS...(Sorry, I couldn't resist!) murder and torture, gender-switching, and the devil. Probably something I'm forgetting...OH YEAH! Profanity too. K, enjoy! (Oh, and if you notice similarities between the devil & a twisted Miracle Max from the Princess Bride, that's intentional...)

And, I'm sorry if I sound like a poor little soup-craving urchin, but please review while I'm on a two-week hiatus. It'll just make me love you more!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own the boys, the devil, or anything else except this story.

Dawn to Dusk

Chapter 7
Torture and Tests

"HEEROOO," Duo's yell went straight through the wall and woke up Trowa and Quatre, who had been happily snuggling. Heero said something, and Duo said something, and the noise was done for a while. With a shared glance and shrug, Trowa and Quatre went back to sleeping and snuggling.

Meanwhile, Duo was getting dressed in an outfit that was like a cross between Zorro and something from the Matrix, with black boots, black pants, a black shirt, and a long leather trench coat. His limp was practically nonexistent, now. Heero also noticed the gloves on his hands, black of course. Heero himself was just in his normal outfit.

They walked out quietly, although Duo's boots seemed to echo no matter where they walked.

"Where are we headed," Heero asked. He looked much better after sleeping, although his bruises were much darker. However, he looked to be in fighting condition, and like he'd kill Duo if he didn't get to come.

"We're going to kill some people," Duo said, checking his weapons again. Two guns, three knives, and one grenade just for fun. Heero probably had more on him, but Duo still had no idea where he put it. It's not like spandex covers a lot, after all. Not that Duo was complaining. He rather enjoyed the view.

Eventually, they found themselves in front of a secluded corner, right next to a fence and an alley. Duo shivered, even with the leather coat on. There was dried blood everywhere, lit by the neon blue sign above advertising something. He didn't bother to see what it was. There were two trails of blood, one that led back the way they'd come, and another that splattered away. Duo followed this one, remembering Wufei had cut one of the men' feet.

The trail led to a back door, which Duo opened, one hand on his gun. Inside, he was moderately surprised to see a strip club. He cursed, though. The floor was the exact color of dried blood.

"Eh...Heero? Which way," Duo asked, genuinely pissed off. He'd wanted to do this himself, but yet again the Perfect Soldier was needed. Damn.

"Hn," Heero said, and after glancing down at the floor took the lead, his gun held loosely at his side. In two minutes, Heero stopped in front of a curtained-off room. His eyes locked with Duo's violet, and smirked. "After you." Duo smiled at him, and pulled out his own gun. He walked through the curtain, and raised his gun.

Immediately, he recognized the two- Knife Boy and the leader. He smiled grimly. Wufei had left the best for last.

"Shit," Knife Boy yelled, but Duo was too fast. He went down, shot in the arm. The leader spun, and Heero shot him in the leg almost nonchalantly. Heero approached first, grabbing the two's guns as screams and running were heard in the central stage area. Duo just stood back, and Heero gagged and tied them expertly with their own red bandanas.

"They're all yours. Mind if I stay," Heero asked as he walked over to the other boy, who looked like death.

"Just don't say anything," Duo said calmly, and pulled out a knife. Knife Boy's eyes were suddenly huge, and Duo smiled darkly as he approached the man.

"I bet you don't remember me," he said calmly, and shrugged as the man shook his head violently. "Well, that's understandable, since I was a girl. This afternoon, remember? The 'monster'? Yes, that's right. See, the problem is, you didn't rape a monster. You raped Shinigami." The two looked terrified. "And you know what Shinigami is? The god of death. That's me. And guess what? You're about to die." With that, Duo sliced the boy's other foot, and he screamed through his gag.

(An hour later...)

Duo stepped out of the shower. It was almost dawn already, and he had class tomorrow. Not that he was going to go. Heero needed looking after. With a sigh, he watched the blood go down the drain. He hated doing laundry in the shower, but sometimes it was necessary.

"Duo," Heero began, but Duo stopped him by holding a hand up.

"Go to sleep. You need your rest, or you'll be beaten up again," Duo said with a smile. "And you did deserve it, you know. Oh, and if you can, tell me when I wake up if I start screaming when I turn into a girl. This will be the first time it's happened without me being hung over or hurt." Reminded of his pain, Duo looked down at his bandaged, stitched left foot. It looked mostly fine to him...

"Don't take the stitches out," Heero stated after seeing Duo's examination. "They're in for a reason." Duo sighed, and glanced over at Heero. He was already in bed, laptop on in front of him although he wasn't doing anything, apparently, save looking over at Duo.

"So, are you really going to class tomorrow," Duo asked, sliding into his black bed. Heero shrugged. "I'm not. I've got to catch up on sleep." Heero just nodded. "You must be really good at charades." Heero smirked, closed his laptop, and got into his bed after storing it. "Goodnight, Heero."

"Goodnight, Duo," Heero said blandly like he had countless times before, and turned off the light.

But, neither went to sleep.

"Hey, Heero, I can't sleep," Duo said. Heero sighed, and Duo sat straight up. "I'm sorry, but did you just sigh?" Heero glared at him. "You're turning into a human!"

"Hn," Heero said, smirking again. "Go to bed."

"GO TO SLEEP," Trowa screamed in the room next door.

"Heh...like they were sleeping," he grumbled, and couldn't help but look back over at Heero. He wanted that. He wanted what Trowa and Quatre had. But, Heero wasn't asleep either. He normally fell like a rock on TV with the mute button on. "So, what is it you wanted to say to me?"

"Hn," Heero said, almost like it was a question. That noise meant everything, it seemed.

"You know, when I was changing and yelled for you to go away," Duo explained. "You wanted to tell me something, but I cut you off with all the screaming and stuff. It must have been important, if you were willing to wake me up about it."

Heero panicked. In other words, he skipped a breath, and his eyes snapped straight to Duo's. "Go to sleep," he said, and Duo grinned. Uh oh. Duo grinning at four in the morning is not a good thing when not on a mission.

"Want to go out some night," Duo asked coyly, and Heero glared. "We could go to another bar, if you want. Or just skip straight to the dumpster." Heero glared some more, and Duo chuckled. That was one sexy glare. "You don't have to answer right now." They were silent for a moment. "Want me to jump in bed with you?"

"Hn," Heero said, genuinely amused. He did want Duo to jump into bed with him, it would just be inconvenient in a couple hours. "What about sunrise?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Duo launched into the bed and flung his arms around Heero.

"Don't worry, we're only cuddling," Duo murmured into Heero's hair. "And, feel free to push me out when I turn into a girl." He curled closer to Heero, who finally put his arms around the braided boy.

"Goodnight, Heero," Duo muttered, snuggling closer, and Heero let himself smile down at the other boy. He pulled Duo closer, and relaxed.

"Goodnight, Duo," he whispered. Duo was already asleep.

(Two and a half hours later...)

"AAAAAHHHHH," Duo screamed, and Heero shoved him out of the bed. He took nearly all the covers with him, and in a screaming, wriggling mass of sheets and appendages, Duo turned into a girl. Heero, slightly panicked (which meant he blinked...), jumped off the bed and backed up against the wall. Finally, Duo stopped screaming, and groaned.

"Ohhh, what a headache," he whimpered, and passed out.

Heero shook his head. This was just strange. With a fast twitch of his head, he set Duo in his black bed, careful to avoid waking him...her...oh, whatever! It was still Duo! Quatre walked into the room sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"Nothing wrong with him this time," Quatre said without opening his eyes.

"Correct," Heero stated, and Quatre walked back out.

But, as soon as Quatre closed the door, time stopped.

"Hello, Heero," a smooth voice said behind him, and Heero turned around to be face to face with the devil. "How'd you sleep?" Heero glared at the devil. "Whatever. I'm just here to tell you, Duo needs to choose by midnight on Friday. It's Thursday, if you can't remember."

"I know it's Thursday," Heero stated coolly, and the devil chuckled.

"Of course you do. Now, I'm going to tell you something that you can't tell Duo, because...well, let's just say I'm the devil, and obviously you don't want to cross me. See, the man upstairs and I have a little wager going right now. He wants to keep you guys around to save the world, but me...not so much," the devil said. "So, here's the deal. You make Duo choose...CORRECTLY, shall we say, and I won't make your lives any worse than they are."

"Hn," Heero said. "I think that would be pretty hard to do, as we're all in a living hell already." The devil shrugged.

"Whatever. I already showed Duo a bit of what I can do, though," the devil said, and with an extravagant flourish of his arm, a screaming female Duo was shown glistening in the air as Knife Boy cut a long slit in his/her left foot. With another gesture, it went away in a poof of smoke. "Now, if you have a thing against causing your friends and yourself pain, you should make Duo become the next devil." Heero glared at the devil.

"Omae o korosu," he stated very clearly, giving the deity a fierce death glare. NOBODY did that to his Duo! The devil chuckled.

"I doubt that can happen, what with me being the devil and all that," he said cheerily. "Now, just for that little outburst...POOF!" With that, the devil struck a dramatic pose and disappeared in a flurry of laughing smiley-face glitter, which then ignited and fell to the floor as ash.

The phone rang. Heero picked it up.

"Hello! I assume this is one of the new students' rooms, correct," a far-too-cheery voice came over the line loudly. "Well, we need you all to come in for a psychological profiling. We've already called the other two rooms; you'll be coming in two hours. And...according to this, there's a Duo Maxwell and a Heero Yuy in the room, is that correct?" Shit.

"It's Dea, actually," Heero stated. "She's asleep right now." There was a very long pause on the phone.

"...And you share a room?"

"Yes." There was another pause.

"OKAY THEN! SEE YOU IN TWO HOURS! TOODLES!" Heero slammed the phone back down.

"I will KILL the devil," Heero snapped, and Duo woke up, since the girl on the phone had been practically screaming at the end of the conversation.

"I thought that's my line," he muttered, and practically crawled into the bathroom with his girl clothes on his back. He took a shower, and then came back out completely dressed as a girl. He rubbed his eyes, and smiled at Heero. "Hiya." Heero glared.

"The devil is a bad man," Heero stated, and Duo chuckled.

"Gee, thanks," he said, smiling brilliantly. "You should see me naked!" Heero shook his head, and just walked into the bathroom.

Two hours later, the five gundam pilots sat in a classroom, each with a huge questionnaire in front of them. Duo slammed his head on the desk. He was screwed first question. It read:

GENDER: M F

He was royally screwed. With an already-exhausted sigh, he moved onto the next question.

"Damn," Duo muttered. Screwed again.

NAME:

He decided to leave the two blank, and moved on to the actual questions.

TRUE or FALSE. I have a healthy family status.

Aww, crap. He was going to get a 0%. Circling false with a disgruntled look, he moved on.

TRUE or FALSE. I have never attempted to harm myself.

Well, they'd all self-destructed...He circled false a little guiltily, and moved on to the next question.

TRUE or FALSE. I have never committed a felony.

'Damn,' he thought happily. 'Murdered and tortured some people last night.' With a quick circle, he put a happy-face around false. They'd deserved it, the rapist bastards.

TRUE or FALSE. I have not consumed illegal substances, such as drugs and alcohol.

'Eheheheh...Good thing it didn't say 'and have gotten others drunk so as to make out with them', or I'd be in REALLY big trouble,' Duo thought to himself with a chuckle, and circled false with a heart and little swirly lines around it. Ahhh, what he owed alcohol.

The questions continued. He finally got to circle true when it got to school uniforms- he wore his...when in school, at least... That probably made 1 true, 99 false for the whole packet.

He was smiling as he turned it in, name filled in finally with 'Maxwell' and gender left blank. It was probably the proudest 1% he'd ever get.

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A/N: Well, that's chapter 7! Sorry it's kinda short...didn't realize it was until right now. Moreover, if it's a cliffhanger somehow, I did NOT mean for that to happen. So...I'm off to vacation for two weeks, but please review in that time. And if you're wondering, the survey's based off one I had to take...horrible things! It was really funny, though; I especially liked the questions concerning how many vegetables you ate, and how many children you remembered having in the past year. If you really want me to put something in, please tell me. I am open to suggestions...(and don't worry, there'll be more 1x2, 3x4 in later chapters.)

THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE REVIEW! HAVE A GOOD TWO WEEKS!!!

And the Reviewers Of Last Chapter are (in order of appearance, as always...):

Pretty Pilot! Regina! Kate Maxwell!

I love you guys! GROUP HUG!!!