Chapter 8: Don't You Remember?

Heero's POV

"Who are you?" Duo had asked. My heart skipped a beat when I had heard those words.

"We're your friends Duo," Quatre said.

"Duo…" I paused, "…don't you remember us?"

"No!" it was a statement that Duo said firmly, "I don't know who you are. So why are you here?"

I took a step closer "Duo…" I whispered.

He pulled out his gun and pointed it at me. "Stay were you are or I will shoot," he said, aiming the gun at my head.

I paused, and saw out of the corner of my eye how the others stiffened a bit. We wanted to help Duo but he was treating us like an enemy, and we were his friends.

"Maxwell come off it you have to know who we are!" stated Wufei.

"That's just it. I don't know who the hell you are, not one of you." Duo growled.

"But we were friends. How can you say you don't remember your own friends?" Quatre asked.

"How can you be my friends if I don't even know you?" Duo had asked, "So stop with the charades and tell me who you are and why you are here."

"This isn't a charade; we are telling you the truth. We were your friends until you lost your memory a year ago." Trowa said the longest statement he made so far.

Duo looked startled at being told this, "H-how did you know I lost my memory last year?"

"We told you that we were your friends," Quatre quietly said.

Duo looked confused at us for awhile; disturbing me a little since I still had the gun pointed at my head by a confused Duo now, not making me feel exactly safe. Then he was startled by a little voice calling his name "Duo," it sounded timid and afraid.

Duo let the gun fall to his side and turned to look at a small girl looking no older than 7. "What is it Ashley?" Duo asked in a quiet voice.

"Duo, why are you pointing that gun at these people? Are they the ones who hurt Nicholas?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know but I'm trying to figure out who they are," replied Duo.

"But they don't have guns out and the blonde one looks friendly. Have you asked them yet or did you jump to conclusions?" Ashley seemed to be a smart girl for her age, and didn't seem afraid to talk down to Duo.

"Well…shit your right. I guess I did jump to conclusions. They…they just said they knew me. You know before I lost my memory."

"So why didn't you believe them?" this was a new voice coming from the right of us. It was an old looking man, maybe about mid 60s, there were also 3 other men probably around mid 20s.

"I…I just didn't believe that after a year someone would actually come and say they knew me. Especially after so many have died, and they come saying that we were friends." Duo said making the 'they' sound harsh.

"Well you could at least try and hear them out before you shoot them," said the old man. Then he turned to look at as. "I believe we have some things to discuss, but not here. Come with us, we shall talk in a less depressing surroundings." and with this we followed the old man. We followed for about 10 minutes before we came to a slightly damaged house.

"Come in and we shall hear your story and I will tell you mine," facing the other men, he said, "John you and the others stay out here, I think they would feel more comfortable if only one heard their story." and with that the old man disappeared inside with Duo following. After a few seconds of thinking I moved to go in and the others followed my lead.

"Thank you sir for allowing us to tell you are story. I'm sorry we couldn't be here to help you with the OZ forces that attacked you." I said trying to earn some more trust from the old man and more importantly from Duo.

"Ah, so I'm guessing you are the ones who received are message when we were attacked a day ago." the old man replied.

"Yes, are ship was the nearest to the colony, but it still took us a whole day to get here and by then we noticed that the battle was already over." I said.

"I see… Oh forgive me I for got to introduce myself, I am Amiel. I am, I guess now, the one who is in charge of the things for now. I hope that Duo didn't give you too much trouble. As you can tell by the graves that we have lost many in this battle. If it wasn't for Duo we would all surely be dead by now." Amiel said giving Duo a glance.

Duo had a grim look on his face and said, "I should have saved them all if I knew about that machine earlier."

"You mean Deathscythe!" Quatre said aloud and quickly covered his mouth with his hands.

Duo looked up and stared at Quatre a bit with wide eyes, "yes… that is the machines name isn't it…wait no…" Duo paused, and then whispered "…Deathscythe…Hell." Duo looked up at us, surprise clearly written on his face. He gave a glance at Amiel before he hurried out of the room before anyone could say anyone.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it aloud…will he be alright?" Quatre asked in a worried tone.

"Yes, yes he will be fine. It's not an easy thing to lose. Your memory's that is. They are the things that help you define who you are. After a year I guess he just believed that he would never get them back and now that he can he is afraid to know…" Amiel paused

"What is he afraid to know?" I asked slowly.

"…He is afraid to know what he did in the past. He used to try so hard to remember things, but I guess after he fought with that machine and realizing that he had a past with it, he doesn't want to know what he used it for."

It was quiet for a little while when Trowa spoke up, "We know what that machine was and still is used for, we all have similar machines. They are called Gundams and are used to fight in the war."

"Well I knew what the machine was when we found Duo. I also already knew you four are the other Gundam pilots that are said to be terrorists. Once you all came saying you knew Duo, and already knowing what the machine was it was not hard to figure the rest out. Do not worry I will not tell anyone who you are, I swear on my honor that your secret is safe with me."

I looked at the Amiel trying to see if he was lying, but detecting nothing I nodded. "I believe you and my name is Heero Yuy. This is Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner, and Chang Wufei. We as you already know are the other four Gundam pilots. We have been looking for Duo ever since he ran trying to save us. We were still fighting the war so are searches were slow, but efficient, in the areas we occupied during our missions. When we got your video feed we rushed right over hoping to catch him."

Amiel nodded to each of us as I introduced are selves. "I am honored to have your trust. As you said you lost Duo a year ago we found him. He was unconscious and had fallen out of his Gundam in the fields. We saw his Gundam and knew what he was, but we decided to help him anyways. We hid his Gundam the best we could while he slept in one of our houses. When he woke he had no clue as to who he was or how he had gotten here, so we never told him. When he got better, he began to walk around town getting to know everyone and befriending them. He became the life of the town and made us all happy. That lasted for awhile until we were attacked. When the first of the OZ force came we were in a panic. We didn't have many weapons, but we used what we had. We were slowly losing an impossible battle. That is until Duo began to remember that he had fought against the OZ forces before. Finally, one night he asked how he got to this colony. I showed him his Gundam and he immediately got inside to start it up. He didn't waist anytime. He got out into the battle and saved us from destruction. And then after the battle he took it upon himself to bury all the ones he said he let die. And then you four came."

We nodded at this tale of what Duo has been doing for the past year. We were absorbing the information, trying to make since of what has happened and of what to do.

"We need to take Duo back," I stated flatly.

Amiel simply nodded and said, "I suspected you would want to do this. Duo may not want to go, but I know its for his own good."

I looked at Amiel and saw that he cared for Duo, and felt a little bad for taking Duo away. But we still needed him for the war…I still needed him.

"I suspect that you know how to get his memory's back I suppose." Amiel said snapping be out of my daze.

"Not really he has to remember on his own. We just have to help him know what was in his past." I replied, looking down thinking of Duo.

"Well he will also need your love." I snapped my head in Amiels direction. "Don't look so surprise, it's not that hard to tell you care for him. The look on your face was also very easy to read. He's never got involved with anyone in the colony. He said that he knew that he loved someone; it's just that he couldn't remember who. I remember him telling me once that he had a dream of who it was but he couldn't place the name or what the person looked like after the dream, he only knew the outline of the person. I don't know if you are the one he was talking about or if it was someone else, I just know he cares deeply for someone."

I stared at Amiel and then looked away. I couldn't help but blush, I couldn't believe I was that easy to read.

'Damn it. Stop blushing; it's nothing to be ashamed of. Ahhg, why did he have to point it out so easily?' I thought to myself. Then thinking of what Amiel said 'But what if he cares for someone else and its not me...Oh god please let it be me he cares for...I don't want to see him with anyone else'

"Well, I'm sure you need to head out soon so we need to talk to Duo…" Amiel paused for a second, "Did you even reintroduce yourselves to him?" he asked.

I thought back and reran are entire meeting with Duo. "No, I don't believe we ever mentioned are names to him. Given that I don't think he really cared at the point." I said recalling having a gun pointed at me.

"Well maybe that will help you to get him to come back with you easily. You probably already know he is stubborn." Amiel stated.

Wufei snorted then added, "We already know how stubborn he is by are past encounters with him, and I doubt he's gotten any better."

Amiel laughed a little, "Yes, well, we need to find him to get you all going." and with that said we started searching for Duo to reintroduce ourselves and hopefully leave in a peaceful manor.