Author's Note: Nothing much going on here. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Warning: slight strong language

Confess Your Fears

One week had passed since that declaration and things had deteriorated.

A section of L2 had been taken over by the rebels. The Preventers were holing up towards the center of the Colony. The battle lines had been drawn between the two forces. But that was not the worst of it.

Some of the gangs had joined forces, creating a third force and taking a piece of L2 for themselves. Now, not only did they have to worry about rebels, they had a mounting gang war on their hands.

L2 was falling apart.

Only now was Earth and the other Colonies concerned. It seemed as if the new outbreak of violence was just the catalyst for other revolutionary groups to come out of the woodwork. The Earth had to reinstate an armed force to deal with it all while the Preventers were stuck in the quagmire of L2.

But there was one thing that Duo did find positive about this. It wasn't his fault and nobody thought it was either. But not at first. Fortunately, Une had managed to curtail that train of thought early, when he had first contacted her about the situation.

Now, he was being conferred with over how to deal with the situation, as he was the "expert" on L2.

His response was simple. "This was just waiting to happen."

Nobody quite liked that statement. When they asked what they could do to solve it, he had an answer for that as well.

"You can't. Something like this was inevitable. You're the ones who set this all up. No amount of cash is going to fix L2 now. If you're going for the cheapest way possible, then evacuate every single person that you can and blow this shithole up."

That wasn't well received either.

And now he found himself in his sleeping quarters, laying on his stomach on the bed, his head buried into his arms. This was going all wrong. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever thought something like this would happen. It wasn't too surprising but the magnitude was. And he was just being pragmatic. Save L2? That was laughable.

It was too late for this colony. It was too late years ago.

But then again, politicians did enjoy spending taxpayers' money. Revitalizing L2 would be nothing more than a waste of money.

He felt a gentle hand rub his back, accompanied by a voice. "Hey, you all right?"

Duo smiled to himself sadly. Good ol' Quatre. Always there to lend you a shoulder to cry on. Well, this time, he needed more than a shoulder. He needed a few bodies to mutilate. What? It was a great way to let out stress! Just as long as no kids saw it of course; don't want them doing it.

"No, Quatre, I'm not doing all right," he answered. Seeing Quatre's look urging him to continue, he did just that. "It looks like L2 is finally going down the crapper. I always kinda expected it to happen but not like this. This is where I grew up, where I use to live. There's still memories here…memories I'd like to not forget."

"Why?" Quatre questioned, hoping to get Duo to open up more.

"Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'those who forget history are doomed to repeat it?' I'm afraid, that if all the places I have memories, the good and the bad…what if I forget and…"

"You won't forget, Duo," Quatre stated, rubbing his back. "How can you? You still remember them and you've been away from here for what? A few years? You don't need physical reminders of your past; they're still with you. Isn't that why you grew out your hair?"

"That was to remember people, Quatre. Not events."

Quatre wanted to continue this, but he couldn't. Time didn't permit it. He was growing so much closer to Duo…

"I really want to continue this," he spoke, "but I'm afraid I came because Une wants you. They've figured out who is responsible for this."

"You really know how to kill the mood, you know that?" Duo quipped. However, he didn't seem irritated as there was a small smile on his face.

"I want to hear more though," Quatre insisted. "At least later. But now…"

"Yeah, yeah, we have a son of a bitch to take care of. Well, no time like the present."

Quatre smiled at him then. Duo could have sworn it was blinding. What did this mean though? Sure, Quatre was amazing, not just in the looks department but as a person… But still, there was still him, the one who still had his heart, even after all this time. And he didn't want Quatre to share his fate either.

As Quatre led the way out, Duo glanced back at an object that laid on the bed. Reaching back, he picked up the hat that he had purchased from the street kid and tucked it into his shirt. Not wasting anymore time, he followed after Quatre.

---

"Is everybody here?" Une asked.

Only the five Gundam pilots were at her side and each nodded.

"Very well then. Let's begin."

Using a clicker, Une pressed a small button on it, causing an image of the leader of CLAF, or Colonial Liberation Armed Forces. Duo's eyes narrowed. Oh yeah, that was the bastard alright, no doubt about it.

Hardened blue eyes stared out from the picture, surrounded by weatherworn skin. Shoulder length gray hair grew from the sides of his head, the top already bald. He was dressed in what looked liked an Alliance military uniform and he was quite big. There was no doubt about it, he was responsible for the current situation on L2.

"This is Victor Katsaris. The picture he is in, as you can guess, comes from the days when the Earth Sphere Alliance was in power. According to what we know, before you all arrived for your altered Operation Meteor, he had achieved the status of Brigadier-General when he was dishonorably discharged. At the time, he had been in charge of none other than the base here on L2 from which he stole the VX from."

Well, that answered a few questions. Duo cursed himself. He had been looking at present day suspects when he should have looked at past ones. But…why hadn't his name come up in the inquiries? Hmmm…

"As of yet, we do not know why he was discharged but whatever it was, it must have upset him, giving him the motivation to carry out this."

"But why start now?" Wufei asked. "Why not when he was discharged?"

"You all had something to do with that," Une answered. "As I said before, he was discharged just before you all arrived with your Gundams."

"But why didn't he transport the VX off the colony?" Quatre asked. "Why did he stay here?"

"We don't know precisely about why he's still on L2," Une answered, "but from what we dug up, he's a native of L2. That might be the reason, although we're not completely sure of that."

"So what's the battle plan?" Duo asked, his eyes not leaving the picture.

Une nodded and clicked the clicker, changing the image. A layout of several buildings appeared. The map was mainly blue except for small areas of green, yellow, and orange.

"This is a thermo image of part of the area controlled by CLAF. The orange dots here and here are confirmed locations of two rockets of VX gas. We have yet to find the others but as of now your mission is this.

"I want you all to go in to this area and disable the rockets. After that, I want you to find and neutralize General Katsaris so we can at least eliminate one of the forces here on L2."

"Who's in charge?" Heero questioned.

Une remained silent for a minute before turning to Duo. "I would like for you to lead this mission, Duo."

Heero frowned. "After what's happened?"

Une cut him off before he could go any further. "We were all caught off guard by this. Duo is not to blame for it either. The reason I want Duo to lead is because he is still our only expert on L2."

"But he's our only expert," Heero argued. "If we lose him, then what?"

"He's the only one who knows this Colony intimately," Une countered. "He should be able to identify which buildings these are and get into them without anyone the wiser."

"And why are you talking about me as if I'm not here?" Duo cut in. "Look, Heero. Une's the boss around here and she's trusting me again. Deal with it. Besides, I'd rather do something else that debate with petty politicians over what to do about L2. Une's doing them a big favor by getting me away from them. Any longer and Katsaris over there won't be your only problem.

"Now I know this area. In fact, this is where I grew up. I know lots of ways in and out that only a few people know exist. I'm going whether you like it or not so shut your piehole, okay?"

Heero's eyes narrowed and Duo thought that he had just made things worse when the Perfect Soldier just crossed his arms over his chest and sat down. Whew, okay, one crisis averted. Anymore?

"Now's not the time to be arguing." The person who spoke was not the person Duo expected. Trowa now took center stage. "We need to work together and end this as soon as possible. We're helping no one if we are divided. So forget any differences right now and work together."

"Very well said," Wufei praised, smiling slightly at the unibanged man.

Trowa successfully fought against a pinkish tint that threatened to show up. The mission first, he told himself. Do that first and then maybe…maybe…

"You heard him," Une picked up. "Now's not the time to be fighting each other. Duo, when do you want to head out?"

Duo closed his eyes and thought to himself. Opening them, he answered, "Tomorrow morning, about what would be three in the morning, when it's still dark. All of you rest up while you can. We're all going to need it."

One by one, the other pilots nodded first, Heero being the last one and doing so reluctantly.

"Alright, people," Duo then said. "See you in a few hours."

Abruptly, he turned around and left them all, much to their surprise, to go to his quarters.