Day Two:

"Mariemaia! Hold still!" Lady Une commanded, holding a brush to the young girl's head. The girl froze instantly.

"Hum, that's better. I'm almost done." Lady Une stated brushing the snarls out of her hair. "When I'm done you can move around all you want."

"Lady Une, when the circus comes to our colony, can we go see it?" Mariemaia asked, just as innocently as any child would. It made Lady Une smile, the girl had been through so much, yet she was strong enough to return to the life of a normal girl. "I take it that you're referring to the circus Trowa is in?"

The young girl only smiled in response. She saw the Gundams as her heros, and liked to see them as often as she could. Unfortunately that wasn't very often, considering the fact that they were spread out all over the galaxy. Trowa was the one Gundam pilot that she saw on a normal basis, considering that the circus he was in visited the colony every year. Mariemaia always made sure she went to see it.

"You know that we always go see Trowa." Lady Une put the brush down announcing that she had finished the girls hair.

Mariemaia jumped up and promptly ran around the room.

Lady Une smiled and the happy girl, then shivered, there was a draft in the large bedroom.

"Lady Une?" A strong male voice asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She screamed causing Mariemaia to stop her activity of making as much noise as possible. Lady spun to face the stranger.

"Oh Duo." She said in relief. "What a surprise, we were just talking about you and the other Gundam Pilots." She glanced over to the open window. 'So that's where the draft was coming from.' "But you could have used the door."

"I'm sorry." Duo stated. He had a strange look on his face, one that was never seen on the bubbly pilot. It was grim...like something was really wrong.

"Don't worry about it, I know how you guys are...always needing to do things differently." but she wasn't smiling. Duo's presence was making her uncomfortable. And it must have been doing the same for Mariemaia, instead of glomping the pilot before her, like she usually did, she was staying as far away as possible.

"That's not what I'm sorry for." Duo replied. Keeping the same face, he walked over to Mariemaia and picked her up, and carried her over to Lady Une. He then promptly hit Lady in the head and knocked her out. "That's what I'm sorry for."

She staggered, confused at what was happening. Before the world went black she saw Duo put a gag on Mariemaia and carry her out the window.

"Duo..." Lady Une moaned. "Why...?" She then passed out.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Duo handled the girl as gently as he could. He didn't want to hurt her in anyway. Hell, he didn't even want to take her away from her home.

"But what else am I supposed to do?" He asked himself. "That guy will kill Heero, there's no question about that."

Mariemaia began to stir. Duo hoped that he could reach the truck before she woke up. The drugs in the gag lasted a little longer usually.

Duo sighed in relief as the truck came into view. 'Almost there, then this will all be over.' Duo's impractical side said, trying to reassure himself.

Duo laughed bitterly. 'Yeah, but what is he going to do with a little girl? And what do you think he's going to do with you...let you go? Even if he does, Lady Une saw you. Who's the first person she's going to go to? Relena of course. She in turn will find the rest of the former Gundam pilots and they'll all be looking for you. Telling them the truth will work, very convincing story, but it still doesn't take away from the fact that you're kidnaping an innocent girl. Protecting Heero? Yeah great excuse...Shinigami trying to save the perfect soldier."

Carefully opening the back of the truck he placed Mariemaia inside and wrapped her in a blanket. It was cold outside.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as his lips gently touched the girl's head. He preformed a ritual that he only took the time to do in utter desperation, something he didn't really believe helped. He prayed.

Getting into the front of the truck he turned the keys to the ignition and drove down a long lonely road. It was a good hours drive before they would arrive. All to soon Mariemaia woke up.

"Hummm, Duo? Duo where are you taking me!" She demanded through the small hole between the back and the front. Her part had no windows and was completely dark.

"I'm sorry Mariemaia." Duo whispered. "Just do as you're told and you'll be safe.

"Duo?" Mariemaia whimpered in tears. "Please let me out, I don't like the dark."

Duo hoped to god that they wouldn't crash because he could hardly see the road through his tears.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was hours before Lady Une finally woke. Her head was spinning and she felt slightly nauseous...why...? Something about Duo...and Mariemaia?

Lady Une sat up trying to regain what had happened.

"Duo!" She cried suddenly as it all came crashing back. "Mariemaia! Bring her back!" She ran over to the still opened window but they were long gone...but where, and why?

Rage filled Lady Une's heart. She loved that little girl as her own, she loved her just as mush as she had Treize. And now she had been taken as well.

She didn't care why anymore. She just wanted her little girl back. And the quickest way to do that was through Relena Dorlin. Normally Lady Une resisted the temptation of using her "friends in high places" to get what she wanted, but this was an emergency.

Leaving all rationalization behind she ran for her car.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Relena sighed as she looked at the papers that littered her desk, there was a lot of work involved in doing what she did.

She needed to speak to Quatre Winner to get an okay to sign some papers, but he had mysteriously disappeared. She had begun to work a lot with Quatre in the past year.

"Where could he be?" She questioned of no one. "I can't move on until I get the okay for the funding that he promised."

Suddenly there was a burst of commotion from outside her office, and Lady Une stormed through, despite the protests of several of her secretaries. She didn't look happy at all.

"Why hello Lady Une, what a surprise. Can I offer you some tea?"

But Lady Une was in no mood for formalities. She shot straight to the point. "Mariemaia was kidnaped this morning."

"Kidnaped! By who? Why?" Relena asked in shock.

"I have no idea...but her assailant was Duo Maxwell." Lady Une stated grimly.

"Duo Maxwell?! As in former Gundam Pilot 02?"

Lady Une nodded.

Relena sighed and placed her hands in her head. "This calls for immediate attention. We'll start by contacting all the Gundam Pilots." She called up a phone, then placed a hand on Lady Une's shoulder. "It's okay." She whispered. "We'll find her...I promise."

Lady Une took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right."

A face appeared on the screen of the phone. "Hello? oh! Miss Darlin! Can I help you?" A very flustered young girl asked, surprised that someone so important would be calling.

"I'm looking for Trowa Barton." Relena said in her formal, business-like fashion.

The girl paused. "I think my brother is in his trailer, I'll transfer you, hold on a moment please. She pressed a button and the screen went blank again. Relena turned to Lady Une.

"Quatre is usually the easiest to track down because of his business place, but I haven't been able to locate him since yesterday. So I figured we'd try Trowa first." Relena knew this was irrelevant, but she was trying to keep her friend calm. The screen flashed on again.

"Hello?" Trowa asked.

Relena blushed deeply. Trowa wasn't wearing a shirt. The worst part is that she could also see Quatre in the background, also not wearing a shirt, he was sitting on a messy bed pulling on a pair of socks. "Oh...Quatre...so that's where you went..."

"Relena, is there anything you need?" Trowa asked. He realized her discomfort and quickly pulled on a shirt and hid Quatre from view.

"Yes there is actually. Mariemaia was kidnaped this morning."

"Mariemaia?" Trowa asked shocked. He had developed a certain fondness for the girl.

"Yes..." Relena answered, lowering her eyes. "Duo took her after knocking Lady Une out with his fist."

"Duo!" came Quatre's muffled cry.

Trowa nodded, ignoring Quare. "I take it that you want us to help you find her."

Relena nodded. "Yes."

"We can be at Duo's place in two hours." it would be best if we started there.

Relena nodded. "Thank you both. And...erm...sorry for...interrupting you."

Trowa grinned, making Relena's heart stop. "Interrupt what? If you were interrupting anything I wouldn't have turned on the phone...Trowa and Quatre, over and out." The screen went blank again.

Relena shook her head. "Those guys are something else."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Wufei, we have an incoming call." Sally stated as they came into view of the colony.

"Predator here." Wufei said.

"Hello Predator this is Relena." Relena said speaking seriously into the phone. "We have an emergency that requires the knowledge of the Gundam Pilots."

"This is Wufei, what's up?"

"Mariemaia Khushrenada was kidnaped late this morning...by Duo Maxwell."

"No way!" Wufei said getting angry. "Duo would never kidnap a child, there has to be a mistake of some kind!"

Lady Une appeared on the screen, shaking her head. "No mistake. I saw him and talked to him myself just before he knocked me out and took her.

Wufei instinctively looked over to Sally who was looking troubled. "What do you want us to do?" he finally asked.

Relena sighed. "You know I'm really not sure yet. I figured that you guys knew him best so you might be able to figure out what is going on. Trowa and Quatre are heading to his house now. Maybe if you and Sally could head over here...?"

"You're in luck miss Dorlin. We're in that vicinity, we'll see you in an hour in a half." Sally said still sitting at the controls.

Relena nodded. "Until then."

"Predator over and out." Wufei shut off the phone, not able to over look the soft crying in the background.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Duo! Are you in there?!" Trowa demanded pounding on the door.

The door swung open and there stood Hilde. Her eyes were wide and puffy, like she'd been crying. "What do you want?" she snapped.

Quatre stepped between the two of them before a fight could break out. He knew that Trowa was close to Mariemaia, and Hilde was close to Duo, so there was potential danger for a fight. "Please, we're looking for Duo, have you seen him?"

"Not since yesterday morning." Hilde stated looking away. "He disappeared."

Quatre's eyes narrowed. "Disappeared? How so?"

Hilde shrugged her shoulders. "One minute he was out here, fixing that thing." She pointed to an old mobile suit. "Asking me to get him a wrench. I went in, got it, came back and he was gone."

She had said all this like it was no big deal, but then she broke down in tears. "A-at first I thought that he had to just run out somewhere, b-but then he-e-e didn't come back. I don't know what happened to him!"

Quatre's heart went out to the girl and he wrapped her in a hug, but all Trowa gave was a "Hn."

"Trowa!" Quatre exclaimed, obviously embarrassed at his partner's actions.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Trowa asked, ignoring Quatre and glaring at Hilde. "Is he inside, hiding out with Mariemaia? Are you covering up for him?"

Quatre was about to shush him, but Hilde beat him to it. "Why the hell would I lie about something like this?!"

"I dunno, kidnaping is a serious offense." Trowa snapped back.

"KIDNAPING!?!?!?" Hilde screeched. "Why I otta...!" She took a step towards Trowa swinging her little fists.

"She's telling the truth Trowa." a calm voice said from behind them all that caused everyone to fall silent.

"Heero?" Quatre asked at last, shocked that the former pilot had just shown up out of nowhere. "How do you know about this?"

"I know because I'm a step ahead of all of you. I have the one advantage that you don't. I was there."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Duo walked into the large room holding a shivering Mariemaia. He looked around for a non-existing TV screen.

'Okay, so now what am I supposed to do?' He thought to himself.

"Ah, my dear Duo," a chilling voice said. "So you have done what I asked after all, very good."

Duo spun around and for the first time met his assailant face to face. He glared at him. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"My, my, such language my dear. Now we can't have that around the small child can we?" He reached his arms toward Duo and took Mariemaia from him.

"W-w-who are you?" Mariemaia asked, trying to sound in control, but it was obvious that she was very scared.

"I am Timish! The remainder of your living family! Duo has taken you from that awful home to come and live with me! Aren't you happy?"

Mariemaia shifted her gaze to Duo. "Duo? Why did you take me away? I was happy their, you knew that."

Timish laughed "Nonsense! You'll be that much happier with me, now come, I'll show you to your room."

"Hold it." Duo snapped. "You've got the girl, now what do you plan on doing with Heero?"

"Mariemaia is not part of the game." He said simply. "You are, The rest of the pilots may or may not play a part. As will...well, you'll see, but Heero Yuy...he is the cause for my little game. Mariemaia is my own personal gain. When this is all over, she will be my comfort." He put down the girl and she scampered off, trying to find an exit that did not exist.

Timish smiled evilly. "I've watched Heero, watch you for the past two years. Physical torture on his part would be useless...so I've figured other ways of hurting him."

At the look of shock and horror on Duo's face he continued. "There will be chances for him and you of course. It's all part of the game." He smiled evilly. "But before we get started...I'm feeling very...restless...and lonely...Come join me in my bed this night. You *will* enjoy it. There is no question about that."

Three men ran up and grabbed Duo by the arms as he fought. 'This isn't happening. This is all an awful dream. I'm home and tomorrow I'll wake up, and finish that mobile suit, and have lunch with Hilde...and daydream about Heero.' But Duo knew that he was in denial. There was nothing that was going to stop Timish...at least not now.