Dear Readers,

About six months before I started this fanfic my classmate died in a car accident. I remember getting the phone call. It was disbeleif and then a sort of numb calmness. Duo's reaction in this chapter mirrors my own. Sort of a "What? Can you repeat that, I don't think I heard correctly…" A kind of shock.

I do not own Gundam Wing

I do not own "Hello" by Evenescence

This chapter is dedicated to the Patrick family and to our own #51 who never made it to his tournament and who never scored the winning touchdown… You are greatly missed.

Stay safe Stay healthy Sincerely,

Starr Bryte

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tuesday, October 27, 197 After Colony 10:30 P.M. Sanq Time. Sanq Capital. General Hospital.

"Emergency! Ninteen-year-old male! Severe cranial trauma! Prepare the OR for emergency surgery!"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Duo Maxwell skidded around the corner, almost slamming into several people and nearly blowing the dorrs off their hinges on his way to the waiting room. Th eother ex-pilots were already there along with some random Preventers and Relena.

"Duo!" Quatre called, waving him over.

"Quatre!" The former Shinigami answered, "What the hell happened!"

"That's what I'd like to know." The blonde pilot said, "One moment I'm going through some files and thinking about turning in for the night when suddenly I get a call saying to come to the hospital!"

"How's Relena taking it?" Duo asked, lowering his voice.

"Why don't you go over and ask." WuFei cut in flatly, "She's over there looking like a female version of Buddha." Duo glanced over at the politician. She was sitting in one of the hard plastic chairs, ankles crossed, hands neatly folded, face serene as if she were posing for a portrait, or she was a statue.

Standing up Duo walked over to the politician. She didn't look worried, or even concerned. She looked dead.

"Relena." Duo called her softly. Relena blinked as if coming out of a deep trance and looked up at him.

"Hello Duo." She said, just as softly, her voice even and unchanging. A feminine monotone.

"Relena, you've got to hang in there, everything's going to be fine." Duo said, trying to reassure her, even though the expression on her face was giving him chills, "He's too stubborn to die, you know he'll get through this."

Relena smiled, a soft, wry smile. It didn't belong on her face. Not on the one they had fought so hard to keep clean from the emotional stains of the war. Not the one HE had fought so hard to keep clean from the emotional stains of the war. It didn't belong on her face. But it had somehow found it's way into her smile. Duo fought back a shivver.

"Don't try to be hopeful Duo. He was dead before I even picked up the phone."

Duo swallowed hard and tried to grin. He was supposed to be the ever cheerful one. The one who made everyone, even enemies, laugh. The one who made his friends feel at ease in spite of themselves. So if he was the one who made everyone smile… Why wasn't it working?

"What are you talking about? You don't mean that. You're just in shock, Princess."

Relena shook her head slowly from side to side.

"He took a bullet straight to the head, Duo. No one can survive that. Not even him." She said. Duo felt his thorught tighten. Clearing it he tried again.

"He's had bad injuries before and he always survived. He survived then, he'll survive now." But now he could hear the doubt in his own voice and what Relena had said started to sink in, painfully. He blinked rapidly and struggled to remember his training even as his voice choked. It couldn't be true. He wouldn't believe it. He refused to believe it.

A doctore came out of the Operating Room.

"Relena Peacecraft?" He asked as all eyes turned to him. Relena stood up and walked measuredly over to him. Almost as if she were gliding. Or walking on eggshells. As if the ground she tread was fragile and would break if she stepped too solidly. As if the moment she lived in was all an illusion and she half hoped it would disappear and she would wake up again to see him standing in the shadows, watching her. Protecting her. They way he always had and always would.

"Yes?"

"Ms. Peacecraft. We did all we could, but the damage was too sever. The patient didn't make it… I'm sorry." There was a pause. Like the wind before a storm. Stillness before action. Then there was reaction. Shocked silences, silent tears, shared looks of disbeleif. Duo tried to wrap his mind around what he had heard. Not possible. Wasn't it only yesterday that he was eating ice cream in the park with him? Talking? Laughting? He had seemed fine. He had said he was fine. They had made plans to meet up with the others and do something together… Like the old days. Duo felt as if the bottom of his stomach had fallen out. The room swayed violently and he shook his head to clear it. And suddenly it wasn't a nightmare. It was real. Like the pain.

Time seemed to freeze. He never knew his legs had given out before he was sitting on the floor.

Don't loose it now Maxwell… The cold voice that was the Shinigami in him said, Stay strong… Stay strong… You must stay strong… He looked up at Relena and had to do a double-take… What he saw was a smile on her face… The serene, cold, unfeeling 'my-world-is-falling-apart' grin of someone who had seen something terrible… He knew that feeling well… Had felt it when Maxwell church had burned to the ground. She swayed suddenly, her eyes rolling back into her head.

"Someone catch her!" WuFei shouted. Duo, being right behind her, had only to open his arms and Relena fell into them. Blinking rapidly he stared at the operating room doors and it finally began to sink in. Really sink in. It didn't feel real… He didn't want it to be real. Please.. Let this be a dream.. Please God… Don't let it be real… It can't be real… It is real… It has to be… The floor is cold and hard… The lights are bright and the white of the walls hurt the eyes… The smell of disinfectant burns the nose… It can't be a dream… It's not a dream anymore… He's dead… He's gone… He's never coming back… Duo never even realized he was crying until he felt the weness on his cheeks.

"Heero…" He gasped, "Why…?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Playground school bell rings—again

Rain clouds come to play—again

Has no one told you she's not breathing?

Hello—I am your mind giving you

Someone to talk to—Hello

If I smile and don't

Believe

Soon I know I'll wake

From this dream

Don't try to fix me—I'm not broken

Hello—I am the lie living for you so you can hide—

Don't cry

Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping—

Hello—I'm still here

All that's left of yesterday—

Hello…