Yay, a climatic chapter! That's all I'll say! Read, please!

Duo's eyes shot open, the violet eyes darkened and shaded with black, the white a bit bloodshot. He blinked in confusion, then realized he was back in his room. It had been another dream, just another dream. But this dream had been horrible. Duo curled up his knees and pulled the comforter over him to his chin, shaking. This dream had seemed so real. It had felt real. Duo trembled as he remembered it.

First, it had been at the base. He had relived himself shooting Renn, and getting shot himself again, but this time, when he tried to help Renn, it was different. He didn't pick her up and bring her out. She had yelled at him, screamed at him. She had cursed him for hurting her, for shooting little girls. She had hated him, with such hatred and jealousy, it still ached when he was awake. Renn had pushed him away, told him to get out of her sight. And he had. He left her there and got out himself. And then the base had exploded, and he had heard her pain filled scream. He saw her burn right before his eyes, and saw her scream out her hatred at him as her soul left her. She died, shot and burned to death, because of him.

Then it had been Wufei. Wufei, too, had cursed him. Wufei hated him, because he knew Duo loved him. Wufei had beaten him and cursed him and raged on him. He spat and insulted him and then left him, battered and broken, all alone in the dark.

Quatre. Quatre hurting and crying out in pain, holding his chest. And Duo was the one who was hurting him. Duo was hurting the little angel. Quatre was in so much pain, yet still Duo had stayed, even though his presence caused Quatre more pain.

Heero. He killed Heero. He let his gaurd slip, and Heero was shot, straight through the heart. It wasn't one of those stray shots in battle he could recover from. This one was delivered when Heero was helpless, captured, and Duo just stood there and watched while he died. Duo could have helped him, but he didn't.

Trowa. Rage and hate burning int hose emerald eyes, clouding them. He hunted Duo. Duo had let his lover die, and now Duo had to die himself. He was being hunted by his friend. He had to run away from him, run and hide, but Trowa kept getting closer, with only revenge in his heart.

They were all from mistakes he had made. He was a mistake.

Duo shuddered and sat up, longing for the TV's distraction. He stood up, only to collapse again from dizziness and blood loss. He realized he had never bandaged his foot, and it ached beyond belief now. The pain in his arm had numbed somewhat, the healing process beginning, but his foot was on fire with intense pain. Wrapping it quickly and pulling on a pair of high ankle slippers, he hobbled outside and down the stairs, his left arm gripping the banister tightly to keep from slipping and tumbling down. He reached the main floor with only a little difficulty and limped towards the livingroom. Walking in, he made his way tenderly to the couch and sat down heavily.

"You're limping. Why?"

Duo's head whirled to the side to see Heero, sitting in the corner chair motionlessly, looking at him with those stony blue eyes. Damn, no one was supposed to be awake. Duo quickly glanced at the clock. Five fifty three. Oh, that was real great.

"I sprained my ankle," Duo replied quickly, using the most obvious excuse. Heero didn't know it was an excuse, of course, so he believed it, but not before staring at him for another minute. Duo breathed easier when he looked away and grabbed the remote. Clicking the TV on, he began to channel surf, the simple clicking and attention to the screen distracting him.

"No-o!" Quatre shot into the room, running wildly while holding his sides. Trowa appeared after him, with a devious look in his eyes. Trowa pounced upon Quatre, attacking his sides with his long fingers. "Trowaahahahaha!" Quatre shrieked, collapsing to his knees.

"Heh," Wufei appeared in the doorway, observing the torture session. If he hadn't known about Trowa loving Heero and Trowa's big brother like relationship with Quatre, he might have been jealous. But, luckily, he did know.

"Stop!" Quatre cried, and he stuck his foot out and pushed at Trowa with the strength he didn't often show. Trowa was forced backwards in surprise, and he stumbled back to collapse upon Duo's side.

Duo's sharp cry of pain stopped everyone, stunning them. Trowa recoiled with grace and watched Duo as he grabbed his arm with his hand and hissed in pain, breathing heavily. That much pressure on his arm that suddenly caused the automatic reaction. He had yelled. And they reacted.

"Duo, what's wrong?" Quatre gasped as Duo's pain washed over his heart.

Duo looked at him through dark violet eyes. He knew he was caught. He couldn't use an excuse this time, since Quatre was feeling the amount of pain he was in. A wet liquid stained his fingers, and he looekd to see he was bleeding again. The jolt must have torn open the wound again.

"You were hurt," Heero stated at the sight of the blood.

"You baka, why didn't you tell us?" Wufei snapped.

"Oh, no reason," Duo said through gritted teeth. "Didn't want to worry you guys. It's nothing. I took care of it."

"You got shot, didn't you?" Quatre asked forcefully. "Didn't you, Duo?"

"Just a little nick, don't worry about it."

"It looks like more than a little nick," Wufei replied.

"I'll help you clean it up," Quatre said, sitting beside Duo and trying to pull his shirt sleeve up to examine the wound. Duo couldn't have that.

"Q, I am fine," Duo said. "I can fix myself. I'm not a baby, I'm a gundam pilot."

"C'mon, just let me help you, Duo," Quatre replied with his cuteness on full. "You shouldn't strain yourself."

"No, I'm fine, Q. I'm fine!" Duo shouted, standing up and jerking himself away from Quatre's grasp. Quatre looked stunned and hurt that Duo had yelled at him, but Duo didn't really notice, seeing how his ankle gave that moment to flare and collapse under him. He cried out again, going down to his knees. They all stared at him as he dealt with the pain.

"You didn't just sprain your ankle, did you?" Heero said. He seemed to have a dissaproving, angry tone.

"No, I got shot there, too, what of it?" Duo snapped irritably. He was starting to get sick of all of this.

"You got shot twice?" Quatre yelled. "Duo, you stubborn headed mule!"

"I'm fine, Quatre!" Duo yelled back. "Leave me alone."

"Quiet," Trowa suddenly ordered. They looked at him in confusion, then followed his rapt gaze at the TV, where the six o'clock news was on.

"...top story tonight is about a little girl searching for her angel, a boy named Duo."

They all looked at Duo, who's gaze was stuck on the television, his breath caught in his throat as he watched the reporter speaking.

"Eight year old Renn Chihiro, daughter of General Chihiro, was visiting some old soldier friends at Werrington Base today when a battle occured inside. Little Renn, an innocent bystander, recieved a bullet wound to the shoulder in the crossfire when she left her room to investigate. The term 'curiousity killed the cat' almost came true today. Renn is alive and on the road to recovery right now, due to what she claims was her angel. According to the little girl, a braided boy named Duo bandaged her wound and took her out of the base just before it exploded into flames, saving her life. A constant horn alerted paramedics, who found her in a jeep near the woods and were able to help her in time. Duo, however, was not at the scene. Renn is now searching frantically for the braided angel named Duo, wanting to thank him personally for saving her life. If Duo is out there and watching this, please call our station so we can reunite Renn with her angel. Our next story, an apartment fire nearly killed..."

"You saved her life...?" Wufei blinked, looking sideways at Duo.

"I..."

"Oh, wow, Duo. We have to call the station," Quatre said. "You have to go talk to Renn."

"I can't," Duo said firmly.

"But...why not?"

"She's the daughter of the enemy," Heero put in.

"She doesn't know that," Quatre argued. "And her father won't either. And I'm sure she deserves to see you. You left her in a jeep, of course, but you deserve the thanks." Quatre reached for the phone.

"No, don't Quatre!" Duo said loudly.

"Stop being so modest, Duo," Quatre replied. Damn, Quatre was getting persistent lately.

"You can't call! I can't see her!"

"Don't be stubborn," Quatre huffed. "Why not?"

"Because," Duo cried out. "I'm the one who shot her!" The phone dropped from Quatre's hand, and Duo cursed inside. Now they knew what he had done. They would hate him.

"You...you were the one...," Quatre was stunned.

"Yes," Duo yelled. "I was the one! I shot her! Oh, god, I shot her..." Duo held in a breakdown. He couldn't break down here, not in front of them. Why was everything falling apart now? Why?

"Duo," Quatre suddenly said consolingly. Duo swore inside again. He hated how Quatre was an empath. It was so hard to hide from him. "I...I'm sure it was just an accident. And you did save her life."

"I shot her...," Duo repeated. "I'm not an angel, I'm a demon!"

"Don't say that," Wufei pulled Duo's chin up to meet his onyx black eyes. They were set firmly. "Don't you ever say that, ever."

"You don't understand," Duo replied. "I'm a mistake."

"You are not a mistake, Duo," Trowa said firmly, with absolute belief in his words.

"How could you think that?" Quatre said, wrapping his arms around Duo and embracing him. "You're..." He stopped as Duo suddenly winced and hissed through his teeth, backing up. "Oh, Allah, I'm sorry, Duo. I forgot...here." And before Duo could react, Quatre pushed his sleeve all the way up, revealing the blood soaked bandage just above his elbow and, more importantly, the red cuts from yesterday and the scars from before. Duo pulled his arm away and hugged it to his chest.

"Damnit!" he swore angrily.

"Duo...?"

"What...that's...," Wufei was lost for words.

"You've been cutting yourself," Heero said angrily, pulling Duo's arm out to see, ignoring his protest. Heero's sharp eyes met Duo's. "Why?" Duo glared back at him, but Heero's gaze remained on him. Quatre was holding his chest and Trowa's eyes were wide as he looked at Duo's arm. Wufei's hand brushed down Duo's forearm, rising over the faint pink scars to the fresh red ones. Duo closed his eyes and withdrew from them, shuddering.

"Why, Duo?" Wufei asked. "How could you...why do you hate yourself so much?" Duo didn't answer. He couldn't answer, and he wouldn't no matter what they did. He didn't want to explain it. And they did persist, trying to get him to explain himself, but he kept his eyes closed and his mind blocked.

Quatre finally huffed and announced the giving up of trying to get a reason. But he wasn't just going to let Duo go. "From now on, you are never going anywhere alone. And no more missions for a while. Une will have to let you have your vacation time. We aren't going to leave you alone for even a minute." And so Quatre took charge, starting with cleaning, mending, and bandaging his bullet wounds over again, as well as cleaning his cuts. Duo saw no pain or anger on Quatre's face as he did so, since only determination and care was in those blue eyes of his. Wufei wouldn't take his eyes of him for a moment, as if he was afraid Duo would die if he did. Heero seemed to be quite angry for a while, glaring at Duo, until Trowa took him outside to talk. When he was all bandaged, Quatre firmly told him to go to bed, and sat himself in a chair in Duo's room. Wufei joined him, the two of them ignoring all Duo's arguments and protests and whining quite well, until Duo finally fell asleep.

And, while Duo was scared and angry that he had been found out, he couldn't help but feel very peaceful with Wufei and Quatre in the room. It wasn't so empty and dark. And Duo, for the first time in a long while, had a peaceful, dreamless night.

Besides Quatre's rule about someone being with him at all times, he also laid down some others. Such as Duo not being allowed to wear long sleeved shirts anymore. Quatre insisted he wore short sleeve shirts, so he could be sure Duo wasn't going behind their back. Anytime Duo forgot and wore a long sleeved shirt, Quatre insisted he show him his arms and then change immediately, no arguments allowed.

The peaceful nights didn't last long, even with someone always there when he slept. He had the unfortunate luck to have a rather violent nightmare when Quatre was taking his turn on the mat they set up on Duo's floor, and he now had his own sketchbook with some rather disturbing images inside. Since Quatre knew Duo was good at drawing, he instructed him to draw out his nightmares on paper to get them out of his head. Duo wouldn't let any of them see, however, and he wouldn't tell them either, and Quatre had let him keep that private.

Heero had found his stash of smokes and burned them all immediately. The stoic pilot seemed to enjoy getting rid of it, since Duo saw him come in after with a look of satisfaction and a smirk on his face, and Wufei had emptied his bathroom of all sharp objects and confiscated all the knives he could find.

Everyone was enjoying making Duo's life a living hell, since all methods of relief were now banned from him. He was agitated and annoyed at them all, and he snapped their heads off a lot more. They just ignored him, which made Duo even more angry. But finally, after getting over having no smokes for cravings and getting used to the cramps he got in his hand after a drawing session, Duo relaxed more and began to accept the facts. He still refused to tell them why he had cut himself, or what the nightmares were about, no matter how they pressed him.

Duo's highlight of the month, however, was when Une called, informing them that Duo's vacation time was a week over and he had to come back to work. Duo had highly enjoyed watching Quatre yell at her for the two hours, and it would have been a very good day had he not had a nightmare that night. He had to admit the drawing was helping, though. The story about Renn searching for her braided angel Duo came on four more times that he saw, but he adamantly declined when Quatre suggested they call. And this was his routine for around a month, until something in it changed.

He hath been discovered! But they're takng care of him. I hope I did the reactions good enough. But I figure the GW boys wouldn't yell at Duo, since they probably understand somewhat. So they'll be understanding yet firm! Go Quatre, take control! He's a powerful little blonde arabian empath!

Review, please!