A/N: Okay… this is my second attempt at a 1x2 fic, and a Gundam Wing fic too, so please don't get all offended if I tend to make Duo or Heero or Solo or somebody OOC. That is, except for Relena. Let's face it, I hate the woman and I am definitely over-exaggerating her for the purposes of this fic.

Disclaimer: Do I sound like someone who would own Gundam Wing? If I did, I wouldn't have any need to make this fic 'cause I'd probably have Relena killed by Heero there, and a definite 1x2 factor appearing throughout the show. Gundam Wing is owned by Bandai, Sunrise and stuff like that. I forgot what their names were.

To all the guys who so generously reviewed me, a huge THANKS! I've had this plot idea for quite a while but it took me a long time to get around to actually doing it.

-Rei:)

Descent Into Dissonance

Chapter I – Slumber

It was a cold, empty night on the outskirts of Tokyo. The atmosphere seemed unnaturally eerie, and the lights were out. A bell rang hesitantly in the midst of those who slept peacefully, as if unwilling to break the fragile silence that encased the city. It was midnight.

A lone silhouette stood on top of a building, wearing a dark cloak. His clothes billowed from under him, but he remained still, staring at the reddish hue of the moon. His long chestnut hair, braided neatly, contrasted brightly against the darkness, and his startling violet eyes glimmered like jewels in the night. He reached out a hand to the sky, head cocked inquisitively, as if searching for an answer, and in return, a reverse pentagram glowed on the ground beneath his feet. He extended his feathered ebony wings as he leaped off the structure and headed north, pausing in mid-flight to simply float and enjoy the scenery of the night. He noticed an attractive young man walking down a street and closed his eyes.

The boy was an assassin, a professional killer who bathed his hands in the blood of innocent children. It should have been easy to take him, to let him die painlessly and snatch his soul, but there was something compelling about the messy mahogany hair and those deep sapphire eyes… and he couldn't resist, couldn't stay away.

An amused smile curving on his lips, he followed the boy as he continued to walk around. At one point, the boy stopped to look at the place where the unknown stalker lay hidden, as if he sensed it, and that was when his power started to wane.

Fooling around again, Shinigami? I thought you didn't want to get unnecessarily attached after your last…affair. But evidently I was mistaken. You must like the company of mortals better…

He yelped when his wings folded in on themselves and disappeared inside his back, and with it came the realization that he had once again transformed into a mortal, unwillingly.

Perhaps I should make you one as well.

'No… not again… not again… not again! I don't want to…! You can't make me… not after Solo… You can't make me do this!' He gave a piercing, mindless shriek as he fell from the skies; his braid flailing as he went lower and lower, then finally a sickening crack as he landed on the cement. He uttered a soft, inaudible cry, tried to pick himself off from the ground, and slumped back down. His eyes slid shut and he lay stiff and motionless afterwards.

Heero Yuy had been prowling restlessly again even after it was lights-off in the dorms, unable to sleep, with an obviously annoyed expression on his face. That was what happened after one was stalked by the human parasite/Barbie named Relena Peacecraft. He shuddered, thinking of the main reason he'd been up and walking twelve at night around the dorm, then outside.

Dream Sequence

He was sitting on a bed with pink sheets, and pillows with frilly pink pillowcases, muscles tensed as he watched warily from the corner of his eye as the girl approached.

For some inane reason, he had suddenly become Relena's personal slave.

"Heero! I've waited so long for this day! Here, I want you to try out these clothes I bought especially for you!" She gave him one of her overly bright smiles, and then shoved the shopping bag at him. He nodded sullenly, and left the room, glad for an excuse to escape her and the rest of her disgustingly pink room.

He couldn't say he was happy, though, by the time he exited the dressing room. He had taken one glance at himself and run back to the bathroom just in time to puke up what little he had eaten. Relena, however, had taken one glance at him and squealed in sheer delight. He honestly thought she sounded like a pig, but he kept his mouth shut. It only became worse, however, when she started talking.

"Oh, Heero, that carnation pink tuxedo suits you so well!"

Alarm bells started ringing in his head. Was she going to make him wear it all the time now? He barely refrained from visibly cringing at the thought.

" And that matching pink tie! I knew you'd look good in anything! Now I'll have to buy you other shades of pink to match what I wear!"

He knew he should have stayed in the bathroom. It was better than hearing all this crap about him wearing pink. And he couldn't even do anything about it.

She sighed in content. Her eyes glazed and wandered off into empty space as she imagined what she and Heero would wear to the elegant dinner parties, and how everyone would say she was so lucky to find someone like him, and how they were the best matched couple in their district. Then she remembered something else she had bought.

"Oh, and Heero, could you put this on?" She put her best puppy-dog look as she thrust a big pink teddy-bear costume at Heero. He fainted dead away.

End of Dream Sequence

He'd given a particularly loud gasp as he awoke from the dream, and that alone had made one of the other dormers, probably that obnoxious Chinese boy Wufei Chang sporting a tight ponytail, snicker and mutter under his breath, "I never knew that Yuy could gasp…how girly of him…"

That had inspired an unnecessary comment from another transfer student, blond and blue-eyed Arabian Quatre Raberba Winner, already popular for being courteous and friendly even in his short term. "Yes, well, of course you wouldn't, Wufei… every person has his secrets… perhaps Heero's is gasping from nightmares…" Heero didn't know what he wanted to do, reach for the gun that was tucked in his holster and shoot Chang for even daring to talk, or Winner for having to feel the right to answer so matter-of-factly, or himself for being a complete and utter idiot. After that scene, he'd immediately walked out, only in his spandex shorts and green tank top.

But he hadn't expected to hear the snapping of bones behind him as he skulked around, nor a boy who was probably the same age as him, with an absurdly long braid of hair, lying motionless on a cracked section of the walk just a few steps from where he was. Heero frowned, and bent down to further observe the boy who was surrounded in a pool of his own blood.

There was something about the chestnut strands meticulously braided that aroused Heero's curiosity. In fact, to his surprise, he almost found it… endearing. The boy was definitely different. He was wearing peculiar clothes, and was most likely a foreigner. Before he knew it, his fingers reached to touch the boy's hair, when a hand shot up and got a surprisingly strong grip on Heero's wrist. His gaze shifted from the slender hand wrapped around his wrist, to the braid, and then to the face.

He stared into pools of amethyst, opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it. His captor grinned, purple eyes flashing in the darkness.

"Nobody. Touches. My. Hair." He hissed. Then he assumed a pensive air when he got a good look at the intruder's face and quipped as an afterthought, "Well, you're an exception. You just have to warn me if you want to touch it, 'kay?" Heero observed that for someone who had lost so much blood, the guy was pretty strong and unusually talkative. He should have been in a coma already. Just as he was about to threaten the boy into letting go of his hand, he was pulled down and he landed ungracefully on top of the bloodied teenager. He tried to disengage his hand from the vise-like grip, but was unsuccessful. The braided boy had simply smiled mischievously and chided him, caressing his cheek and smearing it with blood.

"Uh-uh-uh…you may be strong, but even you can't do anything this time."

Sighing in defeat, he prepared to lie still until he got the chance to knock his companion unconscious. Then the braided boy whispered something that made even him slightly nervous.

"Care to stay for a while, hm? I'm not letting go of you anytime soon, and right after this sentence I know I'm gonna drop off, so what do ya say…

Heero?" And with that his eyes closed and Heero was left stranded, lying on top of him, watching his descent into oblivion.

There was something undeniably attractive about the braided baka who currently held him prisoner, Heero mused to himself. And it wasn't just the looks, although he had to admit the sleeping boy had alluring eyes and hair that made a person want to unravel it and run his hands through it…

He shook himself off those kinds of unwelcome ideas. Yes, he was beautiful, he admitted, but there was also something about the energy he seemed to radiate. He made Heero forget, even for just a moment, the countless killings he had committed as part of his mission for peace, and that he was just enjoying a quiet moment with someone who was special to him.

Not that this stranger he was stuck with right now was that special to him, although somehow, that same stranger knew his name, or at least his codename. And he thought rather ironically, it definitely was not a factor that at least one of them be damn bloody. Which made him look at his own clothes, or rather lack of them, he belatedly corrected himself, that had several red stains. But it wasn't like he minded, although he wished the boy didn't have to fall asleep on him.

He sighed again, then grit his teeth. He was getting all too used to sighing. Soldiers don't sigh, he reminded himself sternly. He resumed staring.

"Sweet dreams…" He said softly against his captor's ear. Then the wind rustled and he thought he heard someone croon, Duo. Sweet dreams, Duo.

Duo…

Heero frowned. He scanned the vicinity for any other persons who might be potential threats, but he found none. He repeated the words he'd heard.

"Sweet dreams…" He paused hesitantly, then added, "Duo."

The slumbering boy's lips curved into a peaceful smile unconsciously. And against his will, Heero sighed yet again.

An ebony feather fell to the ground, unnoticed.