Untitled (July 2000 version)

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

It felt as though he were drowning. He tried to take a breath, but couldn't. 
Something was in his mouth, in his throat, stopping his breath. At first he didn't 
know, then, realization hit and he felt a wave of nausea come over him. He 
wanted to push the vulgar man away, but his arms were tied behind his back. He 
tried to remember how he'd gotten there, how he'd been captured. Nothing. 
Perhaps if they left him alone, he'd be able to remember. But right now he 
couldn't. He couldn't even remember going on a mission.

He felt his clothes being torn from his body, then felt a sudden tearing pain as 
something was shoved up inside him. It was mostly cylindrical, aside from 
something small, but sharpish that tore him as it was shoved in. 

Duo tried to scream around the erection still shoved deep into his throat. It 
only made him gag more and nearly black out from lack of air.

//Oh, God, please let that not be what I think it is.// 

The cold steel was pumped in and out of him for what seemed an eternity. Fear as 
icy as the thing he was being violated with clutched his heart. Dizziness mixed 
with the nausea and made everything seem to sway as though someone had put the 
world on a boat in a very stormy ocean.

Finally, the cold cylinder was yanked out of him, that little sharp piece 
tearing him one last time as it caught on the fragile skin at the opening. He 
went rigid with pain as it ripped him. Less than a second later, before his body 
could relax even just a tiny bit, he felt the gunman's erection being shoved 
into him. The pain overwhelmed him, became the center of the universe. He wanted 
to die, to escape the world that now hurt so much. 

There was a series of loud noises, then the weight of both of his attackers as 
they slumped over onto him, their members going deeper into him. He felt them 
being pulled off of him, felt their erection leaving his body. Then he felt 
someone pick him up, felt them putting clothes on his body.

"Duo," the familiar voice whispered. "Duo, it's Heero...."

Duo wanted to answer, but he was too weak, too tired.

"Duo....?" the voice faded away as Duo lost consciousness.

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

Trowa and Wufei ran into the room, having heard the gunshots. 

"Heero, what..." Trowa began. He froze, seeing Duo's current state. Memories 
returned and he clenched his fist in a mixture of anger and remembered pain.

Wufei looked at the open window. "Any idea who they were, or how they found us?" 
he asked.

"They're street punks." Heero replied as Quatre came in, tears in his eyes. "I 
think they just picked a random house, one with an open window, and forced 
themselves on the first person they saw."

Quatre frowned. Something wasn't quite right. He looked over the two dead 'street 
punks', then stopped. "They're not street punks." he said.

"What do you mean?" Heero asked. "How can you tell?"

"Their fingernails." Quatre replied. "They're too clean for street punks. They 
were just dressed up as punks to throw people off. I don't think this was a 
random attack at all."

"You're saying that someone sent them to...?" Trowa asked, Quatre's presence 
soothing him a bit.

Quatre nodded. "Someone ordered Duo's rape."

"But why?" Trowa asked. "I mean, I could see OZ ordering an assassination. But 
why this?"

"I never said I thought it was OZ." 

"Okay, then who? And why have him ..." Trowa still couldn't say it. The word 
left a foul taste in his mouth.

Duo let out a soft moan.

"Let's continue elsewhere." Quatre suggested to Wufei and Trowa. "I think Duo 
needs to be alone with Heero right now." he lead them out of the room.

Duo opened his eyes just in time to see the three pilots walking out of the room. 
"Everyone knows, don't they?"

"Yes." Heero replied. He wasn't going to lie to Duo. "And we don't think any 
less of you for it."

"They took me while I was sleeping." Duo said, his voice full of a strange 
mixture of rage and shame. 'If I'd been awake, they never would've gotten near 
me."

*****

"So what's the deal?" Trowa demanded. "Why was Duo assaulted that way?"

"Some people still have very old fashioned views on sex." Quatre explained. "Especially 
the rich or members of royal families. They believe that if you're not a virgin, 
you can't marry someone."

"Royal families," Wufei considered, pacing the kitchen. He spun around and faced 
Quatre. "You think Relena had something to do with this?"

"No." Quatre shook his head. "Relena's obsessed with Heero. But she's too much 
of a pacifist to order anything that would hurt someone this way. But I think 
that a member of her household, a servant perhaps, may have done this. I think 
they were trying to make Relena happy. I think they assumed if they did this, 
Heero wouldn't want Duo any more and would turn to Relena."

"It didn't make me happy at all."

They turned and saw Relena standing in the doorway. "I came to warn you. To warn 
Duo." she said, sadly. "My maid, she told me what she'd done. I fired her. I don't 
want people like that in my house. Then I came here as fast as I could. But I 
guess I'm too late." she sank down to the floor on her knees, putting her face 
in her hands and crying softly.

Quatre nodded. "Heero killed the men who hurt Duo." he said as he went over to 
Relena and took her in his arms, trying to console her..

"Was Duo hurt badly?" Relena asked. "Please, tell me the truth. How far did they 
get before...?"

"They raped him."

"Oh, God." Relena's tears fell faster now. "Duo was a good person. He didn't 
deserve that."

"What do you mean 'was'?" 

Everyone looked around in surprise. Duo and Heero were standing there in the 
doorway. 

Duo and Heero exchanged a brief glance, then Duo went over to Relena. "Relena," 
he said, "please, listen to me. What happened wasn't your fault. You didn't 
cause this. I don't hold you responsible."

"It was my fault." Relena wept. "If I wasn't always going on about how jealous 
of you I was, of how much I wanted Heero..."

"You're a young woman who fell in love with a young man you couldn't have. " Duo 
said, gently. "That's all. You're not to blame for any of it." 

As Duo brushed a tear from Relena's face, she noticed a ring on his hand. "From 
Heero?"

"He asked me to marry him." Duo nodded. "I told him 'yes'."

Relena stood up and crossed her arms. "Well, I object." she said, firmly.

Everyone tensed.

A smirk came over Relena's face. "There's no way I'm letting you marry Heero 
unless you make me your maid of honor."

Duo nodded. 

"You'll be a fine husband for Heero... or is it wife?" Relena wondered. 

"Either term. They both mean the same thing." Duo smiled. "I'm so lucky to have 
found him. He still wants me even though... even though I was...oh God. I was...." 

Duo tried to bolt from the room, but Heero caught him. The Perfect Soldier took 
the braided pilot in his arms and held him close, stroking his hair and 
whispering words of love in his ear. 

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

Duo sagged in Heero's arms. "Heero, why did you ask me to marry you? I want the 
truth. Please?"

Heero cupped Duo's chin with his hand and turned the tearstained face up to look 
at him. "I asked you to marry me because I love you, Duo." He pressed his lips 
to Duo's and kissed him. He could feel Duo shaking like a leaf in his arms. "You're 
going to be all right." he whispered against the traumatized boy's lips. "I 
promise. I'll never let anything like that happen to you ever again."

"None of us will." Relena promised. "Now come on, dry those tears. I want to see 
you smile again. You want to look pretty for when you marry Heero, don't you?"

Duo nodded. 

"Well, then, dry those tears and I'll take you back to my place and we can get 
you fixed up."

Duo cringed.

"Oh, Duo." Relena reassured him. "That girl isn't working for me any more. I 
fired her. You'll be safe. I promise. Look, there's a war going on, so there's 
no sense in your or Heero waiting. You should get married now. Who knows what 
tomorrow will bring?"

Duo and Heero both nodded in agreement. But Duo still seemed troubled.

"If you want," Relena suggested, "one of the others can come back with us. But 
not Heero."

"Why not?" Duo asked.

"It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride's dress before the wedding."

"Quatre, then." Duo decided. "If that's okay with him."

"It's fine, Duo." Quatre replied. "Meanwhile, Heero, Trowa, and Wufei can 
dispose of what's left of the garbage."

They started to leave, then Heero stopped them.

"What is it?" Duo asked.

"I just wanted to look at you for a moment." Heero smiled. He kissed Duo's 
forehead, his nose, and his lips. "When we meet again, it will be to take our 
vows and you'll become Duo Yuy or Duo Maxwell-Yuy. I won't have time to say this 
then, so I wanted to say it now. Farewell, Duo Maxwell." He kissed Duo once more 
then waved to the braided pilot as he, Quatre, and Relena headed back to Relena's 
home.

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

"Stop there." Relena told her driver, pointing at a little ice cream parlor. "Come 
on, my treat."

Relena, Duo and Quatre got out of the car as soon as it was parked. They went 
into the parlor and selected a table.

"I'll have the chocolate trifle deluxe." Duo selected, when the waiter took 
their orders.

Relena opted for a mint sundae.

Quatre's choice was a classic hot fudge sundae with extra whipped cream.

The waiter took the orders and returned to the kitchen. He walked through and 
out the back door. "Sir," he said into a radio, "two of the Gundam Pilots are 
here. I recognize the braided one. Your orders?"

"Do they suspect this place?" Treize asked over the line.

"I don't know." the waiter admitted. "The Peacecraft woman may simply like our 
ice cream, but she has been coming in here a lot. I think she may have been 
checking the place out."

"I'll leave the decision up to you." Treize hung up.

The waiter returned to the table some time later with the sundaes and some ice 
water for everyone. It was a hot day and they were grateful for the additional 
water.

Duo managed to get a bit of whipped cream on his lower lip. It saved his life.

Relena reached over to wipe the whipped cream from Duo's lip. When she did so, 
it upset the Duo's glass spilling water and ice onto the table. But it wasn't 
ice.

"Shit." Duo whispered. "Hey, don't drink the water." he told Quatre and Relena. 
"That's broken glass in there."

Quatre, who'd taken a small sip, quickly spat it out. He howled in pain.

"Quatre?!" Relena exclaimed as she and Duo dragged Quatre out of the parlor and 
back to Relena's limo. "Hospital!" she ordered the driver. "NOW!"

Quatre was examined at the emergency room and it was determined that he hadn't 
swallowed any glass shards. He did have to have one removed from his tongue, 
which resulted in him getting novocaine on the tongue to dull the pain of the 
removal and the four little stitches he got afterward. Once Quatre was ready to 
leave the hospital, the three headed back to Relena's mansion.

"Wait here." Relena left the two pilots in the front hall and ran upstairs. A 
moment later, she came back down carrying a beautiful wedding kimono. "It was my 
mother's." she told them. "Let's see how it looks on you, Duo."

Duo went into a spare room and put the kimono on. "How does it look?" he asked.

"Beautiful." Relena wept. "You're going to be a beautiful bride."

Quatre watched her in amazement. She'd been kind and compassionate all day and 
it made her look more beautiful than he'd ever thought possible.

"Um, guys." he suggested. "I think you may have to make a slight change in plans."

"What do you mean?"

When Quatre dropped to one knee in front of Relena, it was pretty obvious what 
he meant.

Relena's heart raced and skipped with joy as she answered 'yes'.

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

"Nervous?" Wufei asked as he drove Heero to Relena's home. 

"Yes." Heero admitted. "It's not everyday one marries the most beautiful boy in 
the world."

"No, I suppose it's not." Wufei agreed. 

"Heero, about what happened to Duo..." Trowa began, but fell silent.

"Trowa?"

"I went through something very similar when I was younger." Trowa explained. "He's 
acting like everything is fine, but its not. He's been traumatized. Be very 
careful if you touch him tonight, or you could damage him, and not just 
physically."

Heero decided not to ask Trowa about what had happened. //He'll tell us if and 
when he wants to,// he thought. //Until then, it's none of our business.// 
Instead he asked, "Either of you have a good idea for where Duo and I should go 
on our honeymoon?"

"I'm sure we'll think of something before the day is over." Wufei decided as he 
pulled into the driveway and parked the car. 

*****

Relena's servants finished fixing Duo's hair. It was done up in a classic 
Japanese bridal style with the exception of the long braid that trailed down 
from the center of the bun. A bridal headdress was set upon Duo's head and the 
kimono was adjusted.

"You're beautiful." she told him. "Isn't Duo beautiful, Miss Relena?"

Relena nodded as another servant completed work on her hair. It was similar, 
though minus the braid. Her kimono was white with pink trim and a pink obi. 

Duo's own bridal kimono was pure white. The only time he'd ever been touched had 
been when he'd been raped, so Relena still counted Duo as a virgin.

With tears of joy in their eyes, Duo and Relena waited for the cue for them to 
approach the spot in the house where vows would be exchanged.

Relena's servants lead Heero and the others into the room where the wedding was 
taking place.

"Quatre?" Heero asked as he stood where he and Duo would be exchanging their 
vows. "Quatre, what are you doing up here?"

"Marrying Relena." Quatre explained.

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

Relena and Duo both approached the spot where they were to be joined to their 
respective husbands. Duo took his place next to Heero and Relena took hers 
beside Quatre.

Trowa and Wufei served at witnesses for both couples. And since four were needed, 
Quatre's servant was requested. But a fourth could not be found.

"What are the requirements?" Duo asked.

"They must be able to confirm that they witnessed the ceremony if asked."

Duo smiled. "I have an idea. If you don't mind continuing outside."

Three humans and a Gundam witnessed the double wedding. When the ceremony ended, 
Heero thwapped Duo on the nose, playfully scolding him as he kissed him.

"Only you would solve that problem by asking for your Gundam to be your witness." 
he remarked.

"Deathscythe has got me out of a lot of bad situations." Duo shrugged. 'I owed 
him one."

The two couples turned to go back when two gunshots were heard. No one was hurt 
or even hit.

"What the?" Quatre turned and stared at Relena for a moment, then ran into the 
house. He examined the bullets, the angle they'd been fired, noticed the paths 
they would've taken. Then, he went outside, turned on Relena, and slapped her 
hard enough to knock her to the ground.

"Quatre!" Trowa exclaimed in horror.

Quatre took the ring from his finger and hurled it at Relena's feet. "You bitch." 
he swore at her. "You're the one who had Duo raped."

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Relena protested.

"You set the whole thing up to get Duo and Heero over here." he turned to the 
other couple. "The bullets that were fired would've killed Duo and left Heero 
crippled." he told them. "If Duo hadn't suggested having the ceremony outside, 
he'd be dead and Heero would've been left paralyzed or worse. Then Relena would've 
stepped in as the 'helpful friend' and nursed Heero in the hopes that they'd 
fall in love and marry."

"I swear, that's not true!" Relena exclaimed. 

"So, what was I to you, Relena?" Quatre asked. "A better deal that just happened 
to come along?"

Relena put her face in her hands and wept. "Okay, you're right. I did set Duo up 
and I was going to do all that. But, I ... I fell in love with you, Quatre. I 
forgot about the sniper, or I would've called it off. Honest. I'm glad we're out 
here. I'm glad that Duo wasn't hurt. Now that I know I love you and not Heero, 
if I'd hurt the one Heero loves, I would never be able to forgive myself."

Quatre was about to lash out again when something stopped him. He looked at 
Relena for a long moment, studying her with his spaceheart. His features 
softened and he knelt beside her. "Relena, I'm sorry. I truly am. I know that 
your heart has changed, but I'm afraid it changed too late. I will always care 
about you. But I can't love a person who had my best friend raped."

He turned and walked over to Trowa. "I was a fool, Trowa. I thought..."

"You thought you found a soulmate?" Trowa asked. "Perhaps you have. It's just 
not the person you thought it was." he took Quatre's hand and led him away from 
Relena.

They were around the corner and halfway to Trowa's car, when they heard a scream. 
Without stopping, they turned around and ran all the way back.

Duo and Heero were huddled on the ground in each other's arms. Relena had a 
blood-soaked knife in her hand. It was one she kept in her purse as a letter 
opener.

"If I can't have my marriage, then you can't have yours either!" she was saying 
as she stabbed at them repeatedly, no longer caring which of them she hit.

"Relena! Stop!" Quatre exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

Wufei pulled his gun, whispered, "Justice must be served." and fired. 

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

"Hang in there, the ambulance is on its way."

Heero heard Quatre's gentle voice as if from far away. From deep in this dark 
pit where he'd gone to escape from the pain.

"Damn it, keep that pressure on!" Wufei was screaming.

"I am, damn it. It's not helping." Trowa swore. "Where the fuck is that 
ambulance?"

As if to answer the question, the sound of sirens came moments later.

Heero heard the sounds of a paramedic team as they bundled him and Duo into the 
ambulance. He could hear fragments of what they were saying, mostly instructions 
being yelled to one another, then something that shattered his heart.

"We've lost him."

When he heard those words, Heero stopped fighting, too. Without Duo there was no 
point in continuing.

A few seconds after Duo's death, Heero Yuy was also dead.

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

"Heero?"

Heero turned from looking at his corpse and found himself looking into Duo's 
beautiful violet eyes. "Are we dead?"

"Yeah. Let's go." Duo led Heero through the back door of the ambulance. Soon 
they were both standing on the back bumper.

"Can't we just disappear and reappear at will, wherever we want?" Heero asked, 
skeptically.

"And deprive you of the all this excitement?" Duo laughed. 

The two souls kissed and tumbled from the bumper, rolling off into a beautiful 
field.

"Da-da?"

Duo and Heero looked up and saw a little boy standing there. He looked like he 
was about two years old. He was dressed in a pair of shorts and t-shirt with a 
picture of Deathscythe on it.

"Who..?!" Heero blinked.

"Shinigami." Duo hugged the child. "I'm glad you're here."

"Duo... who's?" Heero tried again.

"Heero," Duo explained, two years ago, Dr. J and Dr. G contacted me. They asked 
me to carry a child that would have both your DNA and mine. Their ultimate 
soldier. The procedure was too complicated to explain, but the implant took and 
I was pregnant."

"So, what happened?" Heero asked.

"I was captured by OZ troops when I was about twelve weeks along. By the time 
that you and the others rescued me, I'd lost the baby." 

Heero had so many questions, but he dismissed them. They had no place here. They 
didn't matter. All that mattered now was there in that field. He and Duo laid 
back on the grass, looking up at the sky, while their son pointed out shapes in 
the clouds. 

-----Owari-----