Disclaimers: I do not own GW.

Warnings: General warnings such as OOCs, shounen ai.

Notes: This is the promised Sequel to A Place to Belong. Not a long story but I hope you like my attempt at 2x6x2 anyway.

Leaving the Past

Chapter Two

"How can two people as prominent as a former Gundam pilot and Crown Prince of Sanq disappear so utterly?" Quatre blurted, completely disgusted at his staff. A month had passed since that disastrous meeting with Duo and he had been trying to track his friend down, or at least he hoped Duo would be his friend again. There was nothing he could do about the past and his blaming Duo about what happened to Heero. All he could do was to try to make it up to him.

News that Duo Maxwell was currently with Milliardo Peacecraft and about to be married came as a shock to all. Especially Wu Fei. He had wondered often what happened to Zechs Marquise after he had told him that Heero needed him. At that time, Heero was completely broken up about Duo disappearing and Wu Fei wanted to be there for him.

Zechs had been pissed as hell, especially with the former Deathscythe pilot and took off after him, vowing to drag him back by his braid. He too disappeared soon after.

Things between the four of them were still tense, but Quatre, being the eternal mediator, had been willing to listen to reason and explanation. What he heard, he still didn't like, after all, Heero did lie to them all, even by omission. But he could see that Heero did really love Duo and when the American disappeared without saying anything, did break his heart. Quatre still had the wedding ring Heero ordered for Duo and him. The Japanese man refused to keep it thereafter.

Relena was completely frosty with Heero. It was for him after all, that her brother might never speak with her again. She still remembered how incensed Zechs had been when she threw those insults at Duo.

"I am sorry, Mr Winner," his staff apologised profusely.

Quatre sighed, waving him away. He rubbed his aching head and picked up the many stacks of company profiles that countless people send in for hopes that Winner Inc might invest in them.

"Stop scowling so hard, it might get stuck on your face," Trowa said, amused.

"It should be really easy to find them, Trowa. No one, no one can vanish like that without leaving a trace," Quatre threw the stack of papers across his table in frustration.

Trowa came around to stand behind Quatre's tall executive chair. He placed his hands on either side of the blond's shoulders and started massaging the tense muscles. "Guilt is a powerful motivator, love, but please, don't burn yourself out."

"He was my best friend, Trowa," Quatre muttered dejectedly. "And I was so eager to believe the worst in him."

"It's a misunderstanding on both sides, Quatre. And it's a chain effect that caused this problem. Simple as that," Trowa reasoned. "If Duo hadn't run, this wouldn't have happened. If Heero and Wu Fei had kept their pants on, Duo wouldn't have run. If Heero didn't have such insecurities about Duo's feelings for him, he would have kept his and Wu Fei's pants on. If Heero's training and upbringing hadn't been so rigid and him taught to be so emotionless, he wouldn't have so many insecurities about emotions and particularly Duo's toward him."

"What are you saying?" Quatre tilted his head back, looking at his lover in confusion.

Trowa shrugged. "Shit happens."

"Trowa, shit happens isn't an adequate explanation for anything!" Quatre got up and started stalking around the room.

"Look, you're going to get an ulcer if you keep doing that," Trowa advised. "It will do no one any good for you to be like this. You need a level head to figure out where they went." He knew the amount of guilt his lover was going through.

Quatre was the one who took responsibility for everything, and was probably the most sensitive of all. He knew his lover believed he should have seen that Duo didn't just disappear. He should have known something else was probably the matter. It wasn't that Trowa had no feelings in that matter. He also felt the need to apologise to Duo, but there had to be some amount of level headedness in a situation fraught with emotions.

"Trowa Barton, you might not have known him too well, but Duo was a friend. A damn good friend!"

Trowa felt slightly insulted. "I do know him, Quatre. Please, he was my friend too."

Quatre subsided, ashamed. Of course, they were all friends. They didn't know each other well during the wars but subsequent to that, a rather strong relationship grew. Each was important to the other in their own way. Each enjoyed the other's company immensely. Some were more vocal and tactile about it than others but some preferred a comfortable silence in each other's presence.

Trowa steered his partner to his chair once more and sat him down. "Here, have a look at some of these damned company profiles your staff insists on cluttering up your desks with. Perhaps you might just get some idea of how they vanished?"

The blond nodded morosely. Besides, there just wasn't much he could do at this point. He was definitely never going to get an idea of how they vanish but hope that some form of twisted fate would bring them face to face again. Or perhaps Relena would be able to get a clue of where they are.

"Hmm," Trowa commented softly, reading over his shoulder. "Catchy name."

"Huh?" Quatre looked down at the file he was holding.

Braides & Tresses.

Quatre smiled. Yes, it was a catchy name and reminiscent of Duo's ridiculously long rope of hair. He scanned the names of the management team.

Chief Executive Officer, Zach Tresses.

Managing Director, Max Braides.

He frowned. Max… could it be? Could he have for some reason found the person heretofore unable to ferret out his location? There were many people named Max in this world and even a lot more named Zach, which reminded him instantly of Milliardo Peacecraft's other name during the Eve Wars. He quickly scanned the information presented to him. This was still a small and young company, being in existence for the past 5 years.

"You're interested in them?" Trowa asked, surprised.

Normally, Quatre would just dump the entire stack to his investment manager to deal with. Two years ago, Quatre had decided to dabble in a venture capitalist company in efforts to help young and struggling entrepreneurs. Soon, his office had been flooded with proposals by eager businessmen trying to establish some sort of tie with Winner Inc and capitalise on their contacts. It was an opportunity of a lifetime. Most of the time, the proposals and the companies weren't workable and Quatre had been known to stop looking through them, leaving this to his analysts. So, such a sudden interest was unusual.

Quatre nodded, his eyes widening with every page he read. "They have had phenomenal success. They manufacture a rather elite line of hair care products. Hey, how come I haven't heard of them?" He pouted.

Trowa read over the blond's shoulder. His eyes scanning the information quickly. "You should, we use them at home. They don't look like they need our backing, Quatre. How did this business plan land on our table?"

The blond ignored him and called for his assistant to set up a meeting with the management of Braides & Tresses.

XXxxXX

Hilde was giggling as she twirled around with a veil over her head.

"Hilde," Duo mock growled as he watched indulgently his friend enjoy herself within the bridal shop. "I believe I am the one getting married and I don't believe I would be wearing a veil."

Hilde stopped spinning and threw her friend a pout.

"Of course not, sir," a salesperson by the name of Marcy sauntered over with a bright smile. "It's your lovely fiancée here that would wear the veil. We have the latest collections of wedding gowns and tuxedoes available." She ran an appraising eye over Hilde's trim form. "Your lovely fiancée here would fit into many."

The dark haired girl giggled softly as Duo rolled his eyes in exasperation. "No, no," Hilde said, finally taking pity on Duo. "I'm not the one marrying him."

"Oh," Marcy gasped. "I am sorry. Perhaps you would want to choose something for your bride?"

"He's the bride," Hilde laughed, earning her a cuff from her friend.

"Am not! Just because I have this hair doesn't mean I am the woman in this relationship. He has long hair as well!"

Hilde continued to poke fun at her friend. "You're younger, and slightly shorter, that's makes you the automatic bottom."

"What are you, a yaoi fangirl? You know that isn't true!"

Marcy blushed, realising what they were talking about. "Uh… sir…"

Duo attention snapped back to her. "Oh, I'm sorry." He flushed and escorted Hilde out of the shop. "Sorry this idiot wasted your time."

"You blushed!" Hilde poked at Duo's cheeks. "That's what bottoms do! They blush like girls!"

Duo covered her mouth with his larger hand. "It's called a flush damn it! Men don't blush! They flush in an extremely macho manner!"

Hilde freed herself from Duo's restraints. "Hmm… I don't believe men flush at all. They also don't like to put the toilet seat down."

"Hilde!" Duo wailed, exasperated. "Please stop trying to make me spontaneously combust. It is not very attractive."

The girl smiled, hooking her arm around her friend's. She came over from L2 a few days ago, hoping to catch up with her friend before the big wedding in a week or so. They hadn't seen each other for months now and Duo truly missed her.

Duo had intended to take her to lunch, but was waylaid by her leading him to have a look at wedding gowns. For him, she had teased. Hilde had been disappointed that most of the wedding preparations had been completed with nothing much left for her to do but to think of naughty presents to give the two grooms for their wedding night. Duo had explained that their wedding night wasn't going to be any different than any other night they spent together, which sparked off more questions of 'what exactly they did together'. Duo was fast learning that ignoring Hilde and her gibes would be much better to his fragile sanity.

They sat down for lunch at a small café that Duo loved to patronise. After a quick order of two sandwiches, they sat down to talk. They hadn't had much time to actually catch up since Hilde got here. He had been busy with the wedding preparations and his work while she constantly worried about the business she left in L2 with her assistant. A scrap yard might be hard work, but it was satisfying and it put food on her table. She was content.

"Everything ready?" Hilde asked.

Duo nodded. "Almost."

"Something old?" She smiled.

Duo rolled his eyes. "Yes, and something new. Something borrowed and something blue as well."

"The invitation list ready?"

At the mention of invitation list, Duo's mood darkened. He was still stinging about that little drama he had created a month back. Milliardo kept going on and on about how he should try to put it behind him. But Duo already had. What was left to say? He was already over Heero, the lying, cheating blaming bastard and it was clear he had no more friends in that sector. Not that he minded.

"What?" Hilde queried, serious now.

Duo shook his head. "Nothing."

"I don't think so, Duo. You are a lousy liar. And also Quatre called me after five years to ask me where you were. Besides that first angry 'I want Duo dead' phone call when you first left Sanq, they hadn't bothered to contact me."

Duo sat forward. "You didn't tell him anything, did you?"

Hilde studied her friend, her eyes sad. "No, I didn't. If you are over them, why are you still trying so desperately to run? And you never really told me what happened in the past. Only not to tell Quatre anything if he called."

"You of all people never judged me. You never asked me why I was with Mill and not Heero. That was enough for me."

Hilde slid her hand over her friend's rougher, more calloused ones. "Please Duo? Tell me? After all, you are getting married to the man of your dreams in a week. You still need the closure and not talking about it tells me you still haven't gotten it."

"Closure," Duo spat. "It's always about closure. Well, I don't need it. I listened to Mill about closure and look what it got me?" He got up, the chair sliding sharply across the floor. "Look, enjoy your lunch, it's on me." He stalked out of the café without looking back.

"Duo," Hilde sighed, shaking her head in resignation. She took out her cell phone and dialled. She waited while the call connected. "Hello? Yes, it's me. I'm sorry. It didn't work. He walked out on me."

"I'm sorry about that, thanks for your help."

"You're welcome, Milliardo."

XXxxXX

"Mr Braides is out for a lunch appointment." The secretary said by way of apology.

"It's alright," Quatre Winner waved it away breezily. His sharp eyes took in everything. The office had a pleasant set up but it was one that spoke of necessity and practicality than of aesthetics.

Trowa, however, wasn't so nonchalant about it. "How can Mr Braides forget a meeting such as this? He is irresponsible and already shows us he lack the ability to prioritise." He looked over at his partner. "Quatre, let's go."

"No, Trowa, it is fine."

Trowa stared at his lover, unable to believe Quatre just said that. Quatre was ever the stickler for punctuality, especially in the business scene. He took no nonsense from his business partners. And if they pulled something like this, they would have been out the door two seconds ago. But right now, Quatre wanted to wait?

"Quatre, I already told you, and you agreed. They don't need us, and I am not about to wait here like a beggar," Trowa snapped, causing the secretary to retreat even further.

"No, we do need you. At least Duo does," came a smooth voice from the door.

"Mr Tresses," the secretary stammered. "Thank goodness."

"Zechs Marquise?" Trowa and Quatre chorused in unison.

tbc