ZT: Hey! I'm starting up school pretty soon, so the updates may become a little more spread out…but I'm NOT giving up on this at all! So don't worry about that! I don't own Gundam Wing. Enjoy!

Review Responses:

Dark Devotions- Yeah, they're gonna be about the vacations.

Calli Maxwell- Poor Inuyasha? Poor Duo! Inuyasha started chasing him with the Tetsusaiga! I think they're cute too.

Gundam Gurl- BOBO? (Gets image of Bobo blowing up an Oz base and stealing reports ect.) That's the scariest thing I've ever heard: the Gundam boys enlisting the help of a chicken! …Actually it flat out hilarious! As for the money and credit cards…well one of my friends is writing a song dedicated to Bobo, and Bobo needed the cash and stuff so that she had money when she crossed the border in the song… Laury and shoe shopping go hand in hand, it doesn't matter whether there's a bargain or not (especially when you're in control of Quatre's wallet...). I don't know HOW Quatre got Laury to sit still...maybe he hypnotized her or something... I'm gonna get your wallet back from Bobo now. P.S- loved the sticks and mud comment!

Fate Sucks

Chapter 29

Vanessa gazed out the window as she accompanied Duo on his deliveries. He was holding to his promise surprisingly well; she had yet to hear a single, flirtatious comment from the young man behind the wheel. He seemed to be a man of his word…she respected him for that.

When the two finished delivering the packages to their addressees, Duo drove the delivery truck to the junkyard they had originally started out at.

"Should we see if that friend of yours is in now?" Vanessa asked, stepping out of the truck.

Duo got out as well and grinned, "Wouldn't hurt…probably save me from a beating later." He walked over to a small building and walked in. He was greeted by the sight of a young woman with short blue hair filling out some paperwork at a small desk. Grinning, Duo snuck up behind the unsuspecting girl and slapped her shoulders, "HILDE!"

Hilde yelped in surprise, jumping out of her seat. She whipped around, "What in the name of- Duo!" Seeing who it was that shocked her so, Hilde threw her arms around her friend. "I'm so happy to see you! What're you doing here?" she asked.

"Just running some errands. I stopped by earlier, but you weren't in," Duo explained. He remembered something, "Oh yeah!" He turned Hilde towards the dark haired girl behind him, "Nessa, this is Hilde. Hilde, meet Vanessa."

Vanessa gave a curt nod. Hilde looked at the dark haired girl, something tingling in the back of her mind, 'This girl looks familiar…' Then she realized who she was looking at, "Oh my god! You're Vanessa Vaughn!"

Vanessa blinked in surprise, "You know me?"

Hilde nodded enthusiastically, "My dad used to be a mechanic. He often worked on your family's limos and-"

"Whoa! Time out!" Duo butt in suddenly, " 'Limos'? As in the looooooong cars that rich people drive in?"

"Yep, that would be them," Hilde answered. She turned back to Vanessa, "I thought the clan died out though…"

"Almost," Vanessa answered.

Hilde nodded in understanding, "You're lucky."

Duo looked in between the two. Okay, he was missing something…

"So I suppose you're going to visit them?" Hilde asked. Vanessa nodded in confirmation. "Well, don't keep them waiting for my sake!" Hilde exclaimed, pushing the two towards the door, "Nice seeing you again Duo! Keep out of trouble, k?" With one final push, the two were outside with a door shut behind them.

Duo and Vanessa shared a glance. "Okay, what'd I miss?" Duo asked.

Vanessa sighed, "Used to be rich. Now I'm not. Come on."

Duo looked around at the numerous tombstones and their different designs. He saw a few with angels, a few with crosses, some with pictures, some with flowers, even some with cards to the passed on…

He looked up to see Vanessa walk towards a mausoleum decorated with angels and had flowers naturally growing upon and around it. She stopped in front of it and he came up beside her.

"I didn't know they had these things on the colonies…" he said in slight wonder.

Vanessa sighed, "You'd be surprised…" She gently set some flowers at the entrance.

"So everyone's here, huh?" Duo asked a little solemnly, remembering what Vanessa had told him a few weeks before.

Vanessa nodded, "Yeah, I was the only one to survive when that assassin attacked my family… and even I didn't get away unscathed." Her hand unconsciously trailed to her throat. If someone were to look closely, they would see the slightest hint of a scar going across her neck, no thicker than a thin wire.

Duo wrapped his arms around her in comfort, "Well, bottom line is, you got away. That's all that matters."

"Shit luck," she stated.

Duo chuckled, "Someone was watching over you."

Vanessa resisted the urge to laugh at the comment; SOMEONE had been watching her all right! That someone stopped her from committing suicide afterwards! "If you're talking about God or angels Duo, why would they bother protecting me?"

Duo shrugged, "Who knows? They saved me from the Maxwell Church Tragedy." At Vanessa's surprised look, he continued, "I was a war orphan. Me and this group of kids used to live in this run down building. When it was torn down, the Maxwell church let us in. All the other kids got adopted save for me. Since I was there for so long, the church, Father Maxwell, and Sister Catherine sorta became my family… When the revolt broke out and made the church a base, the guys said they would leave if they got a mobile suit. I got one for them, but by the time I got back, the church had been destroyed." He looked up at the sky, "Y'know, I had always said that I never believed in God, that the only God there was, was the God of Death. My whole reason around that had been that I had seen a lot of death but no miracles…"

"And now?" Vanessa inquired curiously.

He looked back down at her and smiled, "I'm not so sure anymore. One boy was saved from one of the most devastating tragedies of the war, and one girl was saved when her whole family was killed by an assassin…those sound like miracles to me."

"Me too…" Vanessa looked back at the mausoleum. "Think they're watching us right now?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Duo answered, "I would guess that they're always around, seeing how WE are turning from miniature versions of them into grown versions of them."

Vanessa chuckled, "That's a scary thought; my mom loved pink."

Duo laughed, "Yeah and I just suddenly had an image of myself in a nun's outfit."

The dark haired girl let out an actual giggle at the thought.

Duo stopped to listen to the sound. "You have a nice giggle. You should do that more," he suggested. He beckoned for her to follow him, "C'mon, let's get out of here."

Vanessa nodded, "Sure."

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