ZT: Hey! I'm just sitting here doing absolutely nothing…My selfdefense is over with for today and the house release is finished andI have a few more hours untilNASA aims research center opens.So, yeah, I think I'll just get on with it. I don't own Gundam Wing. Enjoy!

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Dark Devotions- Yeah, I guess that makes sense… So you think Hell Fire's a girl, too? I need to work on guy attitudes better. Anyway, I couldn't leave LAVA out on a limb because they become important later on. And I mean REALLY important!

Fate Sucks

Chapter 12

Duo whistled a tune as he walked around the Sanc kingdom grounds aimlessly. It was a perfect day and it would be even more perfect if he could play a prank with Laury, but she went to town to stock up on food and other…things for the party... He couldn't help but smirk; the party was a few days away, giving them MORE than enough time to perfect their plan. It was going to be SO awesome! Those affected would never know what hit them! Now all they had to do was get Sai's help with the techy stuff.

Speaking of the girl of a thousand faces, Sai went into town to check out some self-defense classes and Wufei went with her, so hanging out with them was out of the question.

Allison was too boring for Duo; she only talked about academic, economic,and political stuff. Quatre was with Allison at the moment.

Heero was probably typing away on his laptop again, trying to find something on either Night Star or LAVA. Honestly, the guy needed to learn how to take a break. And Duo knew he wasn't the only one to think about that; Sai actually asked him before if Heero had some sort of speech problem. She didn't mean anything by it, but she never heard him talk and really was wondering if he was able to talk or not.

As for Alex, Trowa, and Vanessa, he had no clue where they were.

He stopped; scratch that, he didn't know where two were. Duo tried to play it cool as he walked over to a shady tree where Vanessa was sitting and sketching something. "Hey, NesAH!" His foot caught on the edge of a root and he tripped, falling flat on his face in front of her. Vanessa didn't even acknowledge him, let alone look up from her work.

Duo didn't let that bother him, though. Instead, he got back up and tried to look at her sketchbook, "What'cha drawing?"

Vanessa flipped the page she had been working on and started something else. It was bold, fiery capital letters that spelled out "Go away".

"Aw, you know you love me," Duo said, trying to hug her.

Vanessa shoved him away, "Now and no!"

He just grinned, "I love it when you play hard to get!"

She just stared; there was no getting through to this guy, was there? How many times did she have to say get lost before he got it? She was not interested in him. Not now. Not EVER! I mean, come on! She was the serious, to the point type, and he- well he was almost as bad as Laury. Although he didn't drink to her knowledge and he didn't stuff his face constantly, so those were two good points…but there were too many differences between the two of them for it to ever work out. And he knew nothing of her. If he did, he would not have even bothered to ask her out in the first place… "G-Get out of h-here M-Ma-Maxwell!" Damn it! Her stuttering always got in the way of sounding intimidating!

"Y'know, your stutter isn't as bad as you think," Duo pointed out. "Have you ever considered voice therapy? Shoot, with technology today, that stutter could be gone within a few sessions!"

"Tried it," Vanessa replied, turning over a clean sheet of paper and absentmindedly sketching a few things.

"Really? So, is your stutter better than it originally was?" Duo asked.

"No," Vanessa replied, "Worse."

Duo blinked at the comment, "What? How could you get worse?"

Vanessa checked her watch; she needed to meet Heero at the shooting range. She stood up, dusted herself off and began to put away her art equipment, making sure not to let Duo see her sketches; she would never hear the end of it if he found out what she drew…

"C'mon, you can tell me. How can you tell it's worse? Maybe you just think you're worse but you're really better," Duo commented, trying to get something out of Vanessa.

He did, but not what he expected. Before walking over to the shooting range, she turned to the braided haired pilot, "I didn't use to stutter."

Duo watched her go, slightly dumbfounded by the comment. She didn't stutter before? What happened to her? Was that the reason why she was so cold to everyone? Did the girls know? A million questions ran through his mind and it all came down to one conclusion: He was going to find out the mystery of Vanessa…Vanessa…well he didn't know her last name but he would find out about her past so that he could have a better future with her!

Heero looked over as he heard someone sign in. He gave a slight nod of acknowledgement to Vanessa as she walked over. As she put down hersketchpad on the bench next to him, he raised an eyebrow; the picture she had absentmindedly sketched was a picture of the one and only, Duo Maxwell.

Seeing the look on Heero's face, Vanessa sighed, "Don't ask."

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