Flashing light and an explosion was all Heero could really remember. Very slowly, so as not to agitate any broken bones, he sat up to glare at his surroundings. He was somewhere in northern Russia, covered in freshly fallen snow. The land around him glistened like cut crystal. So pure and untainted. Slowly he reached out his hand as if to touch that purity, but his hand left behind only a bloodstain. It always seemed that way to him. Always striving for perfection, but knowing that all he ever did was destroy it. He stood, looking at the charred remains of his Gundam, Wing Zero. Self-destruct meant you died too, right? Then how come he never died. He always thought that maybe not even death desired him. Off in the distance, brilliant against the snow, something gold glistened like the sun. It was Duo's cross. He remembered back to that morning when he had last seen Duo alive…

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 "Hee-chan! Be careful! You just about dropped that pot on your foot!" Duo leapt up from his seat to take the pot of oatmeal away from him. "Sit down, Hee-chan. Let me serve the food."

 "Duo……" Duo just hummed happily as he served the food, his chestnut locks flowing free from their braid. Duo never looked more magnificent than he did that morning. It seemed as if the sunlight danced around him, jealous of his awe-inspiring beauty. He was an angel, Heero always insisted to the voices that plagued him, an Angel come to set us free. He stared for a while, not noticing until Duo began to get upset that he had been talking.

 "I'm sorry, Duo…" Duo just laughed, brushing his hair behind his ear.

 "It's alright, Hee-chan. If I didn't like it so much, I'd ask you to stop." Heero reached up and pulled the young boy close to him.

 "Who says I'd listen?" Duo's eyes danced as he curled up on Heero's lap. He removed his cross from around his neck and placed it gently into the other man's palm.

 "Take this with you today. For luck." He could see the tears welling up in Duo's eyes and he tried his best to comfort him.

 "I'll be just fine, Duo. I swear I'll come back to you." Slowly Heero stood and kissed his violet eyed angel goodbye, perhaps for the last time. AS he was walking out the door, he heard the scrape of the chair against the floor as Duo stood very quickly.

 "I love you, Heero!" Heero turned and gave him a genuine smile.

 "I love you too…Duo…"

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As Heero stood something else in the snow caught his eye. It was a piece of Deathscythe, Duo's Gundam. Fear gripped his heart as he rushed over to it, broken bones forgotten. Looking around he realized that all of the wreckage was not from Zero alone, but from Deathscythe as well. Duo, you fool…Heero began to search the wreckage carefully for any sign of his one and only. Perhaps death did not want him, but Duo was quite another matter entirely. He lifted a large piece of the cockpit and nearly collapsed. A delicate hand that had once caressed his entire body now lay lifeless and frozen in an awful shade of blue. Carefully, although knowing it was all to no avail, he pulled the rest of the wreckage off of Duo's form. He grit his teeth at the sight that awaited him. Duo's eyes were staring to the sky and a large rod protruded from his chest. In his other hand he gripped the broken escape lever, a sign that he had no intentions of dying. Slowly he lifted Duo from the Gundam, having all but forgotten about the searing cold around him. He plucked the rod from his lover's heart and tossed into the pile. "Duo, baka…why did you have to do something like that? I told you I'd come back…"

No response came from the slumbering form, but on the horizon, two bright white orbs began to grow larger. As they neared, Heero could see they were connected to a large Russian made SUV. The men were screaming things at him in Russian, but he didn't understand. He just held Duo's body close, tears forming in his eyes. Three men got out and leveled guns at him as another, with thickly accented English, began to speak.

 "Who are you?" The man demanded. Heero looked up at him.

 "I am Heero Yuy." They all seemed taken back by this claim. This young boy was the great warrior Heero Yuy?

 "You must be kidding us, boy?"

 "No…I never kid…" The man passed a large hand over his face wearily.

 "You know we have to kill you if you really are, right?"

 "Would you?" The desperation in Heero's voice was hardly hidden as he eyed the guns hopefully. Once again the man was left in a confused stupor.

 "You…want to die?" Heero nodded, gripping the hand of his fallen angel.

 "Without him, I am nothing…" The man took a moment to puzzle over this and nodded sadly.

 "Alright, boy. We shall do as you ask us. In Russia at least, we understand such needs. Sleep well, Yuy." The man turned and climbed back into the vehicle. They lowered their guns at him but a large siren went off as several international planes landed around them. A sneering voice came over the intercom, as if barely hiding laughter.

 "Halt! That boy is ours! You will hand him over to us, Czar Vlemya!" the large weary old man who had spoken with Heero stood inside the open-topped vehicle.

 "Let the boy die already! He has been through so much! He deserves at least that!" His thickly accented voice as filled with tightly controlled rage. Heero wondered at this as he looked at the man curiously. Why should he be so concerned about his safety?

 "That will be for the courts to decide." Soldiers, lots of them, exited the planes and surrounded Heero. Zechs walked out of the main one, a sneer of contempt on his face. Wufei was right behind him, looking frightened and worried. When he saw Duo's lifeless form, his jaw set and he turned to glare at Heero.

 "You did this to him…" Wufei said no more to him, just those few words. The soldiers picked him up leaving the body in the snow. Czar Vlemya gestured and two of his men wrapped Duo in a warm wool blanket and placed him carefully into the back as if he were made of glass.

 "We'll take care of him for you, Yuy."

 "Bury him warm."

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The sentence had been given and now the courtroom was thinning out. The trial had lasted months, with families of victims coming to state things and even Dr. J himself. Wufei, wearing only the purest white, as Chinese do to mourn, hissed at Heero as he passed,

 "Rot in your hell, Yuy. It's all you deserve." Heero watched his once friend walk out with Trowa in tow. Quatre paused for a moment, chewing on his lip.

 "I don't blame you, Heero. It was all meant to happen. But…I'll write you, Heero." He sighed and turned, leaving Heero to be carried off to his new home in a cell. Life in prison, when all he had wanted was death. The weeks passed in an agonizingly slow pace, with only the delivery of meal and letters from Quatre to keep him busy. Voices crept to life in his mind, talking to him. Even they blamed him for it all. He had killed, he knew, but Duo was not his fault! He had punched the wall many times after he had argued with them over it. His hands were blood stained and covered with scabs. One day, he received a visitor. Czar Vlemya. The old Russian Czar sat across from him in the cell, his hands in his pockets.

 "Heero…I'm sorry I couldn't kill you out there." Heero said nothing and after a while he continued. "We buried Duo in America. We did some research and found where he was born, so we buried him there. I've brought you something, Heero."

 "What would that be…?" His voice was hoarse from screaming. Vlemya pulled his hand out of his pocket and leveled a gun at Heero's head.

"Peace, Comrade. Peace…" Heero smiled welcomingly as the gun fired and he was lowered into abyss, following a pair of violet orbs…