It was a moral dilemma of epic proportions. Her dad had confided in her, after all, and Faith didn't like to break a promise or share someone else's secrets. But she knew she was in trouble and spilling the beans might be the only way she could save herself.

Besides, it wasn't like her dad had planned on surrendering to the Red Fang. And Faith was sure that, secret or no secret, he would probably not want her to go insane and die, as Zero predicted she would.

Finding the right words was hard, though. She had bided her time all afternoon, convincing the doctor to release her from the hospital, riding home alone with Duo, waiting until the right moment—which was about to be over—and she still had no idea exactly what to say.

"Duo?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you—have a minute?"

His shoulders tightened visibly when Faith asked, and it was obvious that he didn't want to give her any more of his time, at least not tonight. But then he blew out his breath in a long sigh and came to sit beside her.

"I think a minute, Fay," he said. "But that's it. You promised you'd rest, and I'm holding you to it. You look like hell, kiddo."

A minute wasn't good enough. Faith still wasn't sure how to begin. Or if she should even say anything. But she knew she had to try.

"What happened to the gundams after the war ended?"

Duo sighed again and Faith was afraid he thought she was wasting his time. He never liked talking about what he used to do. He'd always said that war wasn't the sort of thing that should be glorified, that he was afraid it would only encourage the younger generation to pick up where his own had left off, and Faith had never been able to get anything more out of him. She hoped tonight would be different. That it would be a way to lead into what she had to tell him.

"I blew it up," he told her shortly. "All of the gundams were destroyed because we knew having weapons like that around would just encourage more fighting. The world was at a point where weapons were no longer necessary, and we wanted it to stay that way."

Faith nodded; she'd heard this before. His voice was cold as he said it, and his eyes were hard. Duo didn't like talking about the gundams. Or the war. Faith looked away, unable to brave the intensity in his stare. She wasn't up to this after all, she decided. Not tonight.

"It's late," she said softly. "I'm sure you don't want to talk about things that happened a million years ago. Why don't we just pretend I never asked?"

From the corner of her eye, Faith watched Duo stubbornly cross his arms over his chest. "I have a better idea," he said. "Why don't you just tell me what's eating you, Faith? I can't help if I don't know what's wrong."

I can do this, she thought, meeting Duo's eyes again and seeing only concern for her. If Duo thinks he can help, then I have to trust him. I don't want to lose my mind. I've lost enough already.

"Dad—didn't destroy Wing Zero," Faith whispered. "He said it was all deactivated, but it wasn't. The Zero System is still operational—and I don't think it's all in the gundam anymore."

"What—what do you mean?" he asked. Faith heard the fear in his stammer, saw it in his widened eyes, and knew he understood what it was like to be a slave to the machine. "Faith? What did you do?"

"I never meant for this to happen," Faith whispered. "I wish Dad never showed me that awful thing. I wouldn't have gone near it if I had known its full capabilities."

She mumbled through the story, starting with how her dad had taken her to the gundam's resting place in the catacombs of an old castle and ending with what she had seen before she fainted in the spaceport that morning.

"I don't want to go crazy," Faith finished. "Duo, what happened to the other pilots? Is this why you never want to talk about them? Did they all go insane and die, too?"

"No, not at all," Duo said, smoothing her bangs out of her face. "They were just able to keep their anonymity. I couldn't, not after I got captured and OZ plastered my face all over the news. Heero couldn't, either, but that's because he married your mom. People wanted to know more about this nobody who just up and married the vice foreign minister and, somehow, somebody found out and published it. That's all. Nobody went crazy. Nobody died. And I'm not going to let anything happen to you, either."

"I don't see how you can stop it," Faith said morosely. "I hear it. I see it. I didn't think this thing could get to me outside Wing Zero's cockpit, but it's here. Following me around. Locked inside my head. I can't get rid of it!"

"Easy," Duo murmured, pulling her into his arms. Faith detested the closeness, the smell of the hospital that still clung to Duo's shirt, but she didn't fight him. "Just try to calm down. Zero thrives on fear, and stressing yourself out over this is only going to make it worse. Understand?"

Faith nodded.

"Yeah," she whispered.

"That's your job, then, Fay," he said. "Just focus on staying calm. Leave the rest up to me."

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I don't know yet," he said. "I need to make a phone call."

Notes: Cut scene from the end of Chapter 7. After going over the chapter, and the outline for Chapter 8, I decided this was really unnecessary. I guess I'm posting it here as kind of a teaser for Chapter 8, although I don't think I'm spoiling anything.