Untitled (January 2001 version)

-----part 1-----

"Four Aries coming in at ten 'o clock." Duo warned as Deathscythe's weapons sliced through an Aries that had made the mistake of getting too close to the Shinigami pilot's Gundam.

"I see 'em." Heero's eyes narrowed as he opened fire, taking down three of them in one shot. As he loosened his grip on the trigger, preparing for another volley, he felt the impact of a blast as it struck Wing, sending the badly damaged Gundam crashing into the ocean below.

"HEERO!!!" Duo cried out. With a few well-placed swings of his Gundam's thermal scythe, Duo dispatched the last few Aries fighters that were attacking him. Then, he sent his Gundam diving into the ocean, determined to save Heero from drowning.

"There's no way in Heaven or Hell that I'm gonna let you die before I hear you say 'I love you'." he vowed. He knew how Heero felt and the words weren't really necessary. But he still wanted to hear them all the same. It would be his sweetest victory, he decided, when he was able to finally get Heero to admit how he felt.

Deathscythe finally reached Wing. Dropping the thermal scythe, Duo turned Wing over to open the cockpit. But when he did so, he discovered that the cockpit had already been opened.

Of Heero Yuy there was no sign.

-----part 2-----

Heero opened his eyes and saw a large fish swim by. He drew his gun, instinctively. Further assessment told him that he was in an undersea prison and that discharging the weapon would either result in the bullet ricocheting around the cell or in the window breaking and his eventual drowning. Since neither option was particularly appealing, he put his gun back into Spandex Space (tm) and waited for the first window of opportunity.

*****

Duo searched the ocean floor for any sign of Heero, but could find no sign of his fellow pilot. Where was Heero? Had he been eaten by sharks or... 

"No," Duo shook his head, "Heero would never get eaten by sharks. Any of them tries to eat my Hee-chan, and he'll give them a nasty surprise."

Desperate to find Heero before he drowned, Duo took a deep breath, left the safety of his Gundam's cockpit, and set off one of his flares, illuminating the dark ocean for about fifty yards in every direction, including up. 

He turned slowly, wondering where Heero was in all this dark mess. And why was he having so much trouble breathing. Something was smothering him, but he wasn't sure what it was. It wasn't important. All that mattered now was finding Heero and getting him to safety.

He felt something grab hold of him as he lost consciousness.

-----part 3-----

"He's coming around."

Duo heard the soft, dulcet tones of his friend and fellow pilot, Quatre Raberba Winner as he slowly blinked his eyes, bringing them back into focus.

"Heero?" Duo asked, looking into Quatre's eyes and trying to see some sign that the man he loved was all right.

"I'll make you some tea." Quatre offered, standing up and leaving the room. Heero wasn't dead, he was certain of that. But he didn't know what to tell Duo. If he told him that Heero was alive, but could not tell him where the Perfect Soldier was, Duo might think Quatre was lying to avoid hurting him.

"Where's Heero?" Duo turned to Wufei who was sitting stiffly nearby, pretending not to be concerned.

"Heero's dead." Wufei said, angrily. "Quatre can't face facts, but that's all there is to it." his face softened as he saw the tears well up in Duo's eyes. "Be strong, Duo. Heero would not want you to cry over him."

"I will be strong." Duo nodded, letting the tears come anyhow. "But Heero was my friend and my lover, so I'll let myself shed a few tears for him. But only for him, because that's how much he meant to me."

"Duo," Quatre said, returning with a cup of tea and setting it on the end table near the bed, "Heero's not dead. We haven't been able to find him, but he is alive out there somewhere."

"Stop it, Quatre." Wufei said, curtly. "Duo doesn't need false hope. He needs to accept Heero's death and learn to get on with his life."

"You said it yourself, Wufei," Quatre pointed out, "we found no body. If he had drowned, don't you think one of us would have spotted him?"

"I'm not going to give up on him," Duo decided, brushing his tears aside. "I'll look until I find him, dead or alive. I will never stop looking."

*****

"Well, I see our guest has awoken," a prison guard wearing an OZ uniform remarked, looking into Heero's cell. "I'll inform his majesty. He'll be quite pleased."

Heero said nothing. He had a very good idea of who 'his majesty' was.

A short while later, his suspicions proved true.

"Heero Yuy, Gundam Pilot 01," Zechs smiled as he stepped into the corridor of the underwater prison. "Why don't you tell us the codes to the five Gundams?"

"Hn...."

"What a wonderful conversationalist you are. I bet you never told Duo you loved him, did you?"

Heero's eyebrows went up involuntarily.

"Oh, I know all about how you and Duo felt about each other," Zechs told his prisoner. "The whole world knew, even if you did try to hide it. I suppose God will forgive him under the circumstances. It was quite tragic."

"What are you talking about?" Heero tried to keep his voice firm, and his tone crisp and military, but there was nevertheless an edge of fear to it.

"Duo thought you had drowned," Zechs told him, "so he killed himself."

"You're a liar!" Heero spat, hatefully, at Zechs. "Duo would never do such a thing!"

"I know how hard it is for you to accept," Zechs said, his tone reassuring. "But I'm afraid it's true. After the battle was over, when he realized you were gone, he leaped from his Gundam and plummeted to his death."

Heero shook his head, trying to purge the morbid image of Duo's suicide from his mind. It couldn't be true. Zechs had to be lying.

~He's trying to break me.~ he told himself. ~He's trying to use my feelings for Duo against me. But it won't work. I know Duo's alive. I know he's looking for me. My love won't weaken me. It'll give me strength because I believe in him.~

-----part 4-----

Duo opened Heero's laptop and began carefully trying to hack into OZ's main computer. He had to find where they were holding Heero. He had watched Heero use the programs on his computer to break into OZ's various databases many times before, so he was certain he knew what he was doing.

"Heero's going to kill you if he finds out you were touching his laptop." Trowa warned, bringing Duo a plate of food.

"Thanks," Duo nodded, selecting a piece of gyoza, and making it disappear with a speed that would have made David Copperfield envious. "Trowa, as far as I'm concerned, Heero can kill me all he wants. All that matters now is getting him home safe and sound and... BINGO!"

"What is it?" Trowa asked.

"According to this, OZ was working on a force field which is supposed to render objects invisible." Duo explained, pointing at the screen. "We need to work on a scanner that will counter the force field."

"In order to do that we'll need to find the force field's blueprints." Trowa pointed out. "We need to know what type of energy is being used. Once we know that, creating a scanner to counter it will be easy."

"In theory at least." Duo agreed, cautiously. "However, until we know exactly what we're dealing with, let's not make any hasty assumptions. I don't want anything to keep Heero and I apart."

*****

Heero carefully removed a phaser Dr.J had been working on from Spandex Space (tm) and pried it open.

"Maybe I can use the wires in this thing to create some kind of beacon." he told himself as he set to work on accomplishing this goal. "A year ago I would have simply killed myself to prevent OZ from finding out the information they've been demanding from me. But things are different now. If I self-destruct, it will hurt Duo. I can't cause harm or pain to a fellow pilot. Especially Duo. I guess he was right after all. I do love him. And when I'm back with him, that's the first thing I'm going to tell him. No matter what." A grin appeared on his lips. "I will come back to you, Duo. Nothing will keep us apart."

-----part 5-----

"Wake up," Zechs ordered, smiling through the cell door at Heero as the Perfect Soldier opened his eyes. 

Heero staggered to his feet. He no longer knew how long he'd been in his cell. Of this fact, Zechs was certain. The platinum-haired pilot had gone out of his way to have Heero drugged in and out of sleep. The plan was to disorient Wing's pilot to the point where he would think that he'd been a prisoner for years.

"It's been a long time now," he told Heero. "Don't you think if your lover were still alive he would have rescued you by now?"

Heero's eyes narrowed. "Duo would never kill himself," he said, evenly. "If he is dead, you killed him."

"Still in denial after all this time." Zechs shook his head, as if in pity. "I guess I can understand. I felt the same when I lost my family. But sooner or later, we must all come to grips with the truth."

*****

"EUREKA!" Duo cried out, triumphantly as a captured Aries appeared out of thin air on Deathscythe's scanner. "I finally finished it! Not bad, eh?" He climbed out of the cockpit as he finished speaking.

"Yeah, not bad." Howard agreed. "But, Duo, I think you should take a break before you head out after Heero. I know you miss him, but if you go now, you'll be too tired to work efficiently."

"You just don't want to lose your best customer." Duo grinned as he stretched out atop Deathscythe's chest. "And thanks for finding the parts I needed."

"Any time." Howard agreed. "And you're right. You are my best customer. You're also one of the best friends anyone could have. You know, I..." his voice fell silent as he noticed that Duo had fallen asleep. Carefully, he picked Duo up and carried him into the house. He'd been there a few times and knew his way around pretty well, so he carried Duo to his room and put him to bed. "Sleep well, Duo." he said, as he backed out of the room. "Heero's the luckiest man in the world, you know, because you love him."

-----part 6-----

"Duo, where are you?" Heero asked the cell, which was empty save for himself, a hard cot, and a toilet in the corner. "Please come soon. I can survive OZ and this prison. But it's so hard being without you. And every day that you don't come, I wonder more and more if Zechs wasn't telling the truth after all. Did you die of a broken heart? I don't know how long I've been here, but it's been too long. Any time is too long without you."

*****

Duo made a few last minute equipment checks before powering up his Gundam for his mission to rescue Heero.

"I'll find you, Heero Yuy." he vowed, starting Deathscythe's power supply. 

"Duo, listen to me," Trowa warned, "going alone is suicide."

"I'm only going *in* alone. I'll have Heero with me on the way out." Duo explained. "So don't worry. I'll be fine."

"And what if Wufei is right, Duo? What if Heero's dead?"

"At the moment I see Heero's lifeless body, I'll drop dead of a broken heart." Duo promised. "We don't want OZ to trace the location of this safehouse, so this mission will be silent running."

Trowa tried to add something, but Duo had already cut off all communications. There would be no way of getting in touch with the Shinigami pilot until he returned with Heero.

*****

"We still haven't retrieved the data from that handsome pilot." Treize pointed out. "Are you sure you're interrogating him to your fullest potential?"

"And just what is that meant to mean?" Zechs wanted to know.

"I think you're letting your desires cloud your judgment." Treize pointed out. "Admit it, Zechs. You'd like nothing better than to have that young man break down so that you could take him in your arms, comfort him, and then make love to him."

"Carefully, Treize," Zechs warned, "your jealousy is showing."

"Is it?" Treize asked. "Then explain why you have strict orders for the prisoner to be left in his cell, not brought topside for interrogation?"

"I simply don't want him to know how long he's been in that cell. The less contact he has with others," Zechs explained, "the less chance of that information being accidentally given to him."

"You do want him, though, don't you?" Treize smiled, knowingly. "You've wanted to have sex with him ever since you first fought him in battle during Operation Meteor. You didn't know who he was, but you wanted him even then. Because he was the first pilot in a long time who had fought you to a standstill. You found he could take you in the air, and you wanted to know if he could take you in bed as well."

"You know me too well, Treize Kushrenada." Zechs nodded.

*****

Duo took Deathscythe underwater at the spot where Heero's Gundam had crashed. Wing was no longer there, but Duo knew he was in he right area. The coordinates where he'd lost Heero were burned forever in his memory. 

He didn't have to look very far. OZ's underwater facility was visible as soon as he turned to face away from where Wing had been.

Duo's eyes went wide. He hadn't expected anything so large. Looking over the base, carefully, he saw it was armed with missiles, torpedo, and over fifty Leos. 

His mission was still to get Heero out of there, he told himself. But now he also had another mission. The base had to be destroyed before OZ used it to launch an attack.

-----part 7-----

"Duo never should have gone incommunicado," Wufei argued as he walked into the kitchen. "We have no idea now if he's all right. And we can't afford to lose another pilot."

"Duo will be fine," Quatre assured, handing Wufei a soda. "He did the right thing by not exposing our location. All we can do right now is wait and hope for the best."

*****

Duo was figuring on anything but the best at this point. "This place is too big for me to handle alone." he told himself. "I sure as hell wasn't expecting anything of this magnitude. Okay, all I have to do is get Heero. Remember that, Duo Maxwell. Just get Heero. The two of you together can work on doing some damage to this base. The only question is, how do you destroy a base as armed as this. I've got no doubt Heero and I could wipe out the main computer, but that's probably rigged to send every missile flying the minute someone tampers with it."

It occurred to him that the same might be true if anyone tried to break in.

"Ah," he smiled as two Leos came into view. "here comes my escort."

Duo attacked one Leo, he had to give a convincing performance after all, but let the other one sneak up behind him.

A smile came across the face of the Leo's pilot. He would take this pilot alive. The pilot of the Gundam: Deathscythe was known throughout the Colonies and the planet Earth for his incredible beauty. "And tonight," the man told himself, "he will become mine. I shall make love to him and he will give in to me and be my lover."

He struck Duo's Gundam, and watched as it sank to the ocean floor. Then, he left his Leo, retrieved Duo from Deathscythe's cockpit, and brought him back to his fighter.

*****

Duo kept his eyes closed, though he was fully conscious and alert. Until he was certain they were inside the undersea base, he did not want his captor to know he was awake. 

He felt the man groping him, felt the man's lips touching his. He wanted to throw up. 

~No one but Heero is allowed to do that.~ he told himself. 

He felt himself growing hard, despite his mind's inner protests.

~The body doesn't care who touches it.~ he reminded himself to keep his face from flushing in anger and shame. It would not do for him to be found out yet. ~Only the heart cares about those things. Your heart will always be faithful to Heero, no matter how your body responds. You have nothing to be ashamed about as long as your heart stays faithful.~

He felt his pants being pulled down and prepared for the worst. It would take a lot, he knew, for him not to react to the pain that was sure to come. The Leo pilot's pressed his erection against Duo's opening, then, thankfully, withdrew.

"No," he heard the OZ pilot decide, "not here. Not like this. A beauty like yourself shouldn't be taken so crudely or unconscious. I want you to feel every thrust. I want to look into your eyes as you ride me."

Stifling a sigh of relief, Duo felt his pants being pulled back up and heard the Leo's engines powering up. 

The OZ pilot gave Duo one more kiss, then brought the beautiful captive back to the undersea base.

*****

Quatre breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he felt the would-be rapist withdraw from Duo's body. He had been keeping tabs on the Shinigami pilot with his Uchu-no-Kokoro and the close call had been unpleasant.

"Duo okay?" Wufei asked.

In deference to Duo's modesty, Quatre decided not to report on the molestation and attempted rape. "He's fine." he replied. "Just had a close call there, that's all."

"We should have gone with him." Trowa said, sensing that Quatre was holding something back. He had a pretty good idea of what it was and he was angry that anyone would put their hands on Duo.

"He'll be fine." Quatre assured Trowa. He sent Trowa a psychic message that the would-be attacker had not raped Duo and that the braided pilot's virginity was still intact.

Trowa relaxed a little, but he would not be fully reassured until Duo was safely at home.

*****

As soon as Duo felt the impact of the OZ pilot's jump to the hangar floor, his eyes flew open and he drove his right elbow into the man's back.

The OZ pilot fell, surprised, to the hangar floor and tried to call out an alarm.

Before he could, however, Duo slashed his throat with his knife.

"That's what you get for touching Shinigami." he told the corpse as he straightened up and looked around.

No one was in the hangar at the moment. That was no surprise. The base was underwater and invisible, so they wouldn't have much security. They probably felt they didn't need any under the circumstances.

He put the pilot's uniform on over his clothes and tucked his braid into the collar. Then he carefully made his way to the prison cells.

*****

Heero heard feet approaching his cell. Some OZ interrogations, no doubt. 

"I've been sent by Lt. Zechs to interrogate the prisoner." a voice, muffled and distorted, but somehow familiar, to the guard outside.

"Why hasn't Zechs himself come?" the guard asked.

"Treize was getting jealous, so he decided to have me do the questioning from now on. You know how Zechs feels about Treize"

"Very well." the guard nodded and went to patrol another area. He knew the drill. No guards were allowed in the area when a prisoner was being interrogated. Especially a Gundam pilot.

Heero heard the new interrogator approaching his cell. He would not give him. He would not tell them anything.

"Heero Yuy. Pilot 01. Gundam: Wing." the interrogator said, coldly. "I have just one question for you."

"Hn...." Heero threatened.

"How about you and me getting the hell out of this dump?" Duo laughed, dropping the voice-disguise and smiling, cheerfully, at his koi.

Heero looked up. "Duo, I knew you'd come for me."

"We have to destroy this place." Duo told Heero. "This is a huge OZ base with more missiles and fighters than I've seen in a long time. There's got to be some way to destroy them without setting off booby traps or alarms."

"It's an underwater base," Heero reminded the braided pilot. "If we destroy the shields surrounding this place, we should be able to short out the entire system and drown most of the personnel."

"And us too." Duo pointed out.

"Not if we're in a Leo." Heero explained. "If we can get to the hangar, we can get into a Leo. Then, I'll hack the shield program from there."

-----part 8-----

The OZ guard stared up at Zechs with a hand on his freshly bruised cheek. "B- but, sir!"

Zechs glared down angrily. "I told you not to let anyone near the prisoner."

"He... he said he was here under your orders, sir." the guard stammered. 

"Did you get a good look at him?" Zechs was furious. He could not believe all the work he'd done trying to break down Heero Yuy had just gone out the window because of this imbecile guard.

"He looked just like a standard issue interrogation specialist except..."

"Except what?" Zechs asked.

"Well, sir, he was...."

"Yes?" Zechs was growing more impatient with this idiot by the minute.

"He was beautiful, sir."

A smile of recognition crossed Zech's face. 

"Duo Maxwell." 

*****

Heero and Duo weren't far from the hangar when a team of OZ soldiers came rushing toward them.

"So much for a nice clean getaway," Duo shrugged, rushing forward and cutting down soldiers with his thermal scythe while Heero followed, taking care of the others with his gun. "This way," he said, turning down the corridor that lead to the hangar.

Heero followed, firing on one OZ soldier after another, until he and Duo reached the hangar and...

"Zechs." Heero's eyes narrowed. He aimed his gun, but lowered it as a number of guards surrounded himself and Duo. His life wasn't all that important, but he would not risk Duo's.

"Well, what a wonderful surprise," Zechs smiled at Heero, then turned to Duo. "And you've brought me a present. How nice of you." 

"Don't you lay a finger on him." Heero warned.

Zechs tilted Duo's head upward, then covered the Shinigami pilot's mouth with his own.

"Prepare him for our wedding." he told the guards, smiling at Duo with eyes full of malevolent lust. 

"Wait, please?" Duo pleaded, sweetly. "First, let us toast to our engagement."

"Duo?!" Heero was stunned. Was Duo actually just casting him aside?! For the enemy?!

"Then, you accept?" Zechs was incredulous.

"A child of the streets, a poor orphan like myself, is asked to wed the richest man around and you're surprised I said yes?" Duo smiled. "Of course, I expect to have sole rights to our prisoner." he looked over at Heero who was looking more and more stunned with each word Duo said. 

"Consider him a wedding present, my love." Zechs got out some wine glasses and poured them for himself and Duo. 

"I believe it's customary, is it not," Duo asked, "for the couple to be to drink from each other's glasses first?"

Zechs nodded and handed Duo his glass as he took Duo's and sipped the wine from it.

Duo sipped the wine from Zech's glass, slipping a sleeping pill from behind his tongue and dissolving it into the glass.

"To us," Zechs toasted, taking a sip of his own wine. "Hmmm, odd how wine tastes so much different when drunk after a toast."

"Agreed," Duo nodded, cheerfully. "Here's to Mickey Finn."

"You..?!" Zechs began. A moment later, he was out like a light. 

The guards at Heero's side rushed forward to help Zechs. The minute they weren't looking at him, Heero dispatched them all.

"I should've known you'd never turn on me." the Perfect Soldier laughed at his one true love.

"You believed that I...?!" Duo blinked.

"Your acting was perfect." Heero praised, smiling at the way Duo blushed at the compliment as he helped Duo into the cockpit of a Leo and climbed in with him. "Now, let's get those shields down."

-----part 9-----

As the cockpit door of the Leo closed, a guard rushed into the hangar and began firing.

Heero ignored him. The Leo would protect Duo and himself and once the shields were down, the ocean would flood the base and kill everyone who lived there, including the guard, who was still firing on them.

"Just a little more..." Heero mused, continuing to ignore the guard. He heard the cockpit open a little, and two shots followed by the sound of a body thudding to the ground.

"Got him," Duo closed the cockpit door. "How's that coming along?"

"Brace yourself, Duo." Heero warned, pressing a button.

*****

"Lt. Zechs! Wake up! We've got to get out of here!" An OZ pilot shook his beloved leader. "Please? The shields are down. It's only a matter of time before..."

... a second later, it was too late.

*****

Duo was lying in a grassy field, looking up at the clouds with Sister Helen, which was odd since she had been dead for years. His shoulder hurt badly and he soon found the reason for it. He'd been lying on a board and a nail was imbedded in it.

"Oh, look," the nun pointed up to one of the clouds, smiling kindly, "a bunny."

"With very long ears." Duo agreed. "And that one looks like one of those really old Earth cars, what did they call them?"

"Volkswagen Beetles," Sister Helen replied, using all the distractions she could while removing the nail from Duo's shoulder.. "I saw one in a museum once as a child."

"Funny," Duo mused, looking at one cloud that seemed to have a bit more color than it should. "That one looks a lot like my boyfriend..."

"You have a boyfriend?" Sister Helen asked as she started to fade a little.

"Yeah," Duo said, a little sad that she was fading away. "He doesn't smile enough and he's always trying to be a perfect soldier. But that's okay, he's also always there for me and I know I can always count on him."

"Does he love you, Duo?" Sister Helen asked.

"I'd like to think Heero loves me." 

Heero smiled. He'd been watching Duo's lips move silently for the past several minutes. The boy's eyes were focusing more now.

"I do love you." he said, softly, giving Duo's ear a nip.

Duo was suddenly awake. "What the...?!" he asked.

"You were wounded." Heero told him, handing him a bullet. "When the water hit our Leo, you passed out when the impact caused you to bump against the seat. That bullet was in your shoulder, but it didn't do much damage. And by the way, in case you didn't hear me before, I do love you."

"I'm glad." Duo smiled. "Because I'd like nothing better than to spend the rest of my life with you."

Heero smiled. "I'd like that, too, Duo-chan."

-----Owari-----