This is the sequel to my fic, The Past Becomes You. It won't make any sense unless you've read that fic, and reading Rainy day would help too. But that one is more an interlude between the two fics, and is not as important.

Warnings: yaoi, mentions of rape, mutilation, murder, prostitution, yadda yadda…these things are mostly for the ambiance of the fic, don't be scared off

Genre: I say this once, and only once, this is a drama/mystery fic. This means I will be talking about solving the mystery a lot, and having the characters trying to do so. This means I'll be dropping clues throughout this fic, so don't think that the "boring" parts aren't worth reading. It'll make it a lot better in the end.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this except the story. Solo I don't own, although this particular version of him is my own, and that includes his backstory. I'm not gonna put this on every chapter, so this goes for all of them.

And without further ado, the fic!

PS: sorry for the funky breaks to tell you when the fic ends/a new scene begins...FFN and its stupid editing system hates me.

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Something warm was touching him. Warm and soft, but prodding him in the arm, it was starting to get annoying.

"Five more minutes..."

"Duo."

A voice broke through the haze in the boy's mind. He was 18 now, but still appeared young; his boyish charms had only lessened slightly as his body filled. His hair was the same length as it had been since he was 13.

Sitting beside him, on another soft chair, was Heero. Both had grown in the years, but the height advantage was with Heero now. His dark sapphire eyes were only an inch above his lover's, but it gave him all the power he needed when convincing the boy to stay on task. Filling out his black muscle shirt nicely, the boy with the wild brown hair had drawn quite a few looks from the female passengers on the plane. Although, it was a futile attempt whenever his lover was close by.

"The plane is landing."

Abruptly out of his dazed, half-sleep, Duo sat up and yawned loudly. A few older women shot disdainful looks, but returned quickly to tending to their grandchildren, or snoring old husbands. With his head having been thoroughly scratched, Duo returned his seat and tray table to the full upright position, and nodded to the automated voice above him.

"How long have I been asleep?" Oblivious to whether there was or wasn't an answer, Duo pressed his face against the window and his eyes widened as he looked at the place he had once called home.

Building rose over the horizon, but like trees, only the healthiest and strongest reached the sky and sunlight. Smaller, condemned buildings seemed to shudder and withdraw beneath the skyscrapers. The colony curved around itself, like all colonies, taking up all the space possible without blocking the small sky that rose above it. The earth was hanging low in the sky as the colony orbited around it, the sun blaring down onto the inhabitants of L2.

"Home sweet home," he said, grinning sideways at his partner. Duo stood up along with the other people on the plane and gathered up his CD's and CD player and stuffed them into his book bag. Heero followed suit, sliding his laptop into his own book bag.

Stepping out onto the asphalt of the ground, the scent of the colony hit Heero in a wall. Duo just inhaled deeply, smiling as a million memories flooded his mind. Car smoke smelled like hot summers. The factory gases smelled like cold winter nights. The markets nearby smelled of oranges and fresh fruits, all of which were prime targets for the thieves of L2.

"Man…I'm starving."

Heero rolled his eyes and surveyed the dirty colony. Of all the colonies surrounding the earth, L2 was the most dilapidated. Sickness was rampant, homelessness was even worse, both spread throughout the colony. Even his home on L1 had its rough areas, but the entire L2 colony was on the wrong side of the tracks.

Heaving their bags over their backs, the two casually dressed Preventers waded through the hot, sticky airport. Children were running around, a few stopping momentarily to look sad and hold out a tin can. If the person passed without giving any money, they would stick their tongues out and flick the person off, then run back to their suddenly childish games. The line between young and old blended on the streets of L2, and one could easily walk the line, taking their pick of which side they'd like that day.

In passing, Duo pulled out a few dollars and held them out to the kids, but didn't look at them. He knew that he would only see himself. The grimy hands snatched at the money, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see the kid take his hat off and bow, before grinning and leaving to brag to his friends.

"So where to first?" Duo piped up. The sunlight bore down on the heads of the two brunettes as they emerged from the airport. Being one of the few tall and clean buildings on L2, let alone being one with air conditioning, the homeless of the area flocked to it. Gangs of orphans sat around in the shade, sneaking in through the doors to cool off inside, until they were caught and thrown out. An old man was asleep on a bench that sat in the shade of the airport, a newspaper pulled over most of his face.

"We should find a safe place to stay, then begin the mission." Heero seemed completely out of his element on Duo's home colony.

"Assignment."

"What?"

"Wufei said to call them assignments, because missions sounds suspicious."

Heero grumbled something unhappily before picking a direction where the map had said a good hotel was. Duo came trotting up to him, and fell behind again. He insisted on looking at everything, remembering flashes of it from when he was a child. With his pace slowed, Duo took in the brick of the buildings, the smell of the food vendors, and fell into his own past. Until his present reached in and grabbed him by the wrist, tugging him along.

"Come on Duo. We have things to do," Heero pried his way through the crowd, his fingers wrapped tightly around Duo's wrist. He was amazed that even after being together for two years, Heero's slightest touch still made his heart beat faster.

"So what kind of things?" Duo ran up and leaned onto Heero, smiling seductively to him.

Recognizing the area, Duo pulled Heero to the side and maneuvered him down a side street.

"Where are you taking us?"

Duo just grinned more.

"A shortcut."

Heero groaned and tried to resist, but now he was the one being forced down the street, and used as a shield for Duo.

"Watch it!"

"I'm walkin here!"

Heero tried to look inconspicuous with all the people shouting at him as he ran into them, Duo's hands on his back still urging him forward.

"Duo…stop…alright already! You can lead the way."

Duo stopped his pushing and marched in front of Heero, heading towards the hotel he knew was at the end of that street. Heero mumbled some more before taking in the sites of the city around him, then felt himself bump into something.

Duo had stopped walking forward and was turning around, his bright purple eyes following something down an alleyway.

"What—" But Heero never finished as Duo tore down the alleyway, tossing his light duffel bag over his back as he ran full speed down the dark alley. Coal black eyes peered out of the darkness for an instant, before turning around and fading into the shadows, leaving only the echoing footsteps.

With no other choice, and essentially lost on the colony, Heero ran down the dark alleyway, following the sound and brief glimpses of the two he was chasing.

A wooden fence blocked the end of the alley, and was bathed in the sunlight that had snuck down through the two apartment buildings on each side. Running into the bright light and then launching herself over the wooden fence, was a young girl, no more than 10 years old and obviously a street kid. She had pitch black hair, which was knotty and hung a little past her shoulders. She wore a headband around her head, keeping the wild black hair under control. Her shirt and jacket were both far too big for her thin shoulders, but were enough to keep her clothed. She was barefoot, like most kids in the city, but her feet were used to the rough street.

Duo ran to the bottom of the fence, and stared up at the girl. She was crouching on the top of the fence like a cat, waiting, her intense black eyes staring directly at him.

"Listen little girl, just give me my wallet back, and we'll forget this ever happened."

Duo spread his hands out in a placating gesture, and proved that he wasn't armed. The girl seemed to contemplate him for a moment, then stuck her tongue out at him and blew raspberries. She fell silently on the other side of the fence, and Duo continued to give chase.

Heero had arrived by his side, but stayed in the shadows, not wanting to frighten the little girl. After Duo climbed up the wooden fence and over in a few seconds, Heero stepped forward and jumped over it in one clean bound.

"You know, you make me look bad," Duo said before taking off, but there was a small smile on his face. The mass of black hair had turned down the street and was darting in between the people wandering the streets. Duo and Heero were catching up to her, slowly, and they saw her take a turn down another alley.

For the second time that day, Duo stopped in mid-stride and Heero ran into his back.

"What now?"

"I know where she's going."

Duo's voice was soft, and almost hopeful. Instead of heading to follow the girl down the alley, he ran to the corner of the street and took off at full speed, leaving behind a very confused Heero to give chase again.

Swinging himself around the corner of the street, Heero barely caught a glimpse of Duo darting down an alley that was farther down the busy street. Following him blindly, Heero hoped that his lover knew where they were going. Getting lost in this part of town, with the sun only a few hours from setting, was not part of his plan.

Using his speed, Heero finally managed to catch up to Duo, who was taking turns and curves without even pausing.

"You know where we're going, right?" Heero shouted to him.

Duo just turned his head briefly and threw a cocky glance back at him. Each building and each block looked the same as they ran past. Brick, with black doors and window frames. Fire escapes snaking their way up the sides of the apartment buildings. Children and adults crowding their way down the narrow sidewalks, walking across nearly deserted streets. On a colony as poor as L2, cars were a rare thing, and mostly belonged to people who preferred not to be seen in daylight.

Taking a sharp turn to the right, Heero ran directly into Duo, who was again standing perfectly still.

"This is getting old," Heero mumbled, but was quickly shushed by Duo.

They had stopped in front of an apartment building, identical to all the others. There was no front door, although pieces of the rotted wood still clung defiantly to the sides of the doorframe. A large green piece of tarp hung from the top, and made a makeshift door. It was still flapping back and forth, as though something had just ran through it. Heero had no doubt that the street thief must have gone in there.

The building was only three stories tall and to its right side was an open field, covered in trash but which was obviously used often. The empty lot had barely any grass growing on it, all trampled down by the constant visits it received by the orphans who lived nearby. On the other side was a nicer looking apartment building, a few stories higher. On that side, there was the typical fire escape leading up the smaller building. The alleyway was small, perhaps only a few feet across, barely enough space to let the landings of the fire escape hang without scraping against the next-door building.

"An old hangout of mine," Duo said.

"Fine, let's get in there and get out. We have a mission to accomplish."

"Assignment."

Duo walked slowly forward, crossing the abandoned street without even so much as glancing either way. Heero followed, his hand straying to the gun in his backpack. Duo reached the flap first, and stepped bravely inside.

At the shouts and sounds of people jumping, Heero burst through after him, with his gun up and pointed at the nearest person.

Duo was struggling in midair, his feet held off the ground by a man who was easily 7 feet tall. His arms were the size of tree branches and incredibly muscular. Bald and with a bushy mustache, the man looked like a professional wrestler. He had Duo in a headlock and was holding the boy, who was kicking and fighting with all his might. Heero leveled his gun at the large man's bald head, before realizing that there were more targets in the lobby of the building than he could possibly take at once.

The entrance and lobby of the apartment was just an open area, with an open door across from the entrance. Sunlight came in and lit up the rest of the floor, which only had a decrepit couch sitting on the left side of the room, and an old wooden desk on the right, where people had once checked in. A small, lanky boy was sitting on top of said desk, a long chain resting in his hands. He had red hair and was wearing a striped shirt and a pair of old jeans. Crouched down and ready to attack, the redhead smirked at Heero as his cold gaze failed to intimidate him.

Standing beside the couch was the small girl they had chased, panting and hiding behind the legs of a larger teenage girl. She had short hair, dyed a bright lime green, and had more piercings than Heero had ever seen. Five silver stud earrings ran up her right ear, and 2 hoops up her left. A small green gem pierced her nose, and a silver bar was over her left eyebrow. A blue stud was in her lower lip, and when she opened her mouth to lick her lips, Heero saw the flash of a silver ball on her tongue. Wearing a black shirt that had the lower half cut off, the girl's midriff was exposed as well as the black bar that went through her belly button. She wore a pair of black pants, which had been cut and torn until they were only the length of capri's, and showed off the green snake tattoo that twirled around the girl's ankle and up her right calf.

After taking in the girls' appearance without a problem, Heero's eyes widened at the fact that she had a machete. The long thick blade reflected some of the light coming through the doorway, and made it seem all the more sinister.

"Put him down," Heero growled as he returned his eyes and the point of his gun to the large man's forehead. He just laughed and was joined by the other members of their gang. Not liking being made a joke of, Heero turned off the safety on his handgun, and the audible click made the laughter stop, but the gang was still grinning.

"Lookie here, boy, ya don wanna mess wit dis here gang," the girl said in her strange accent, almost Cajun, but not quite.

"Aw, let him mess with us. Give us a workout."

The redhead sneered at them and jumped down off the desk. When he stood up he appeared even taller and thinner than he did crouched down, and began to swing his chain around and around, apparently out of boredom.

"I don't know," the large man readjusted his hold on Duo, who was still trying to squeeze out of the enormous arms. "That one over there has a gun; we really don't want to take a chance getting shot, now do we?"

The others all agreed and nodded to each other.

"Listen here, she didn't take much, why don we all jus try an to forget about it," the green haired girl smiled happily, and made a shooing motion with her hands.

"Give the wallet back, and let go of my friend, and then we'll forget about it."

"Yeah right!" The small black haired girl yelled and stuck her tongue out at both Duo and Heero.

"Your choice," Heero aimed at the man holding Duo, but let his aim trail down until it was on one of his mammoth arms.

Above the lobby, a staircase went along each wall, leading up to the three levels. Large windows, most of which were broken, lined the ceiling, above the final level of rooms. The few that remained intact were covered in dust and grime and only let a trickle of sunlight through. But the light from them all was enough for Heero to see a quickly approaching shadow.

A body fell from the third floor, and landed with barely a sound in the center of the room, crouched down on all fours. The dust on the floor swirled up in eddies around the body, which slowly stood up. His jeans were ragged, the bottoms becoming unraveled and the color was so faded it was nearly white. He wore a white tanktop with a jean jacket over it. He was a few inches taller than Heero, and almost as muscular. His shoulders were wide, and his arms and neck showed that he was strong, but he was thin. Malnourishment on a place like L2 will make someone waste away.

"Put him down Bruno."

The large man immediately dropped Duo, who fell ungracefully onto his ass. He stood up and brushed himself off, gasping for air before giving the man called Bruno the bird. He growled and took a menacing step forward, but Duo leapt back to stand near Heero, making him feel much more comfortable.

"Well well well. Look at that. The cat came back, and he brought himself a friend."

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