Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. This story is merely the result of my deep love and respect for the show.

Author's Notes: This story is researched and built entirely around the canon universe, but it may not always feel like that because I write a lot in between what happens in the show. To help you keep track of where I am, I'll do my best to include episode numbers. This story is long and there is more written than posted, with an outline for what is not yet complete. I won't abandon this story (as I know how frustrating it is when authors do that!) Some small parts may be scripted directly from the show, in translation. The main pairing should be evident by the time the first chapter is over, but there will be probably be other pairings throughout.

I am a musician and gleam a great deal of my inspiration from music, so you will find lyrics everywhere. I'll try to have the next chapter's song listed at the end of each current chapter. www-dot-mediafire-dot-com/?sharekeyb36dbb0ff0f6648f8c9e7c56ba37815f0ba2850049113844

I have been writing fanfic since 1996, but this is my first venture into the GW universe and I hope that this story brings you as much happiness as so many other fanfics have brought me. This story is dedicated to the 1 to my 2, who writes here ( www-dot-fanfiction-dot-net/u/436026/ ) as StrawberryL.

o/ Meet me at the end of the world
I'm waiting
Meet me at the end of the world
Please save me
This could be the place where we start the rest of our lives /o

Chapter 1 – Life is a Highway (Episodes 1- 8)

o/ Life's like a road that you travel on
There's one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind /o

Ethereal. Glorious. Breathtaking.

All of these words and more rushed through Duo Maxwell's mind as he took in his first glimpse of the Earth from within its atmosphere. No pictures he had seen or descriptions he had heard could possibly measure up to seeing it all with his own eyes.

Piloting the shuttle down through the wisps of white clouds, he skimmed it along the water beneath him and could not help his whoop of joyous laughter. The turquoise ocean spread out below him, seeming to go on forever into the infinite blue sky and Duo longed to touch that water with his own hands. There was no such thing as a horizon line on L2.

It was possible that they'd discovered his theft of Deathscythe by now, but no communications or missions had come in at all yet, so he figured he was free to do as he wished. Piloting the shuttle towards the coastline while checking the maps to be sure he was far away from any major population center, the God of Death decided that he could take a few minutes to indulge before deciding what to do next.

The coastline was rocky and the forest dense just beyond the shore – a perfect place to stash a Gundam. Knowing the shuttle was far too big to try and hang onto, Duo set the autopilot straight into the ocean, bursting out of the back of it just before it went under. After laying Deathscythe flat among the vegetation, he picked his way out of the forest and down the rocky ledge to the narrow strip of shoreline.

"Hello, Earth!" Falling to his knees with a sigh, he jammed his hands as far into the hot sand as they could go before rolling onto his side and laughing uncontrollably. A heartbeat later and he was yanking his boots off, pulling his shirt over his head, kicking his pants aside and running towards the water.

The sun was warm, the water cold and the air sweet. The wide-open space, the limitless horizon... from his vantage point, Earth seemed to go on forever into the distance, right to the line where the sky and sea met. The edge, the end of the world... Duo had never felt so free in his life.

Looking back on that first moment several days later, Duo wondered how everything could have possibly gotten so complicated so quickly.

Two words... other pilots. Well, if he wanted to admit it to himself – which he didn't – one other pilot in particular, whose name he didn't even know. One pilot he'd gone from admiring to wanting to strangle to ... to needing to... he wasn't exactly sure.

When he'd first seen the report coming in on Deathscythe's monitors, he hadn't ever guessed that the object being hunted feverishly at the bottom of the ocean would turn out to be another Gundam. Another Gundam, with another pilot... another pilot I accidentally shot! Well, the shooting had been intentional, but that was simply because he hadn't known the other was also a pilot.

Folding his arms behind his head and staring up at the moon bemusedly, Duo could not seem to get that other pilot out of his mind. What kind of crazy idiot jumps out of a building and doesn't use a parachute? Who has such pain tolerance that they can reset their own goddamn broken leg?!

Duo might have admired the other boy more if he hadn't turned out to be such a self-serving jackass too. Or maybe he was just pissed that someone else had managed to steal something from him, master thief extraordinaire! He had trusted that other pilot and it had bit him in the ass. Don't you know better than that by now, Duo? It had made his blood boil to watch that kid take off with parts of his Deathscythe worked into the other Gundam, leaving him completely incapable of following. Luckily, Howard had been more amused than annoyed at the lack of gratitude.

Would he have done the same thing if he'd been the one with the mission? It wasn't as if he hadn't stolen parts before, but wasn't it ridiculous to destroy one Gundam to rebuild another? How could he know the answer if he didn't even know if they were on the same side? No, no... we have to be on the same side to have shown up in the same place today...

Sitting up suddenly, Duo beat his fist into the open palm of his other hand and growled in frustration. That jerk had shown up after ripping him off, acting all high and mighty and saving him a blow from a few Mobile Suits. As if he thinks he can write me off that easily! Hell no!

Now, Duo was more determined than ever to find this boy on the next mission and demand some answers. If they were on the same side, they should work together! Even if he is pretty fucking crazy... I suppose I'm not any better. With a sigh, Duo lay back against Deathscythe again and gazed up at the moon, idly wondering if somewhere else, that other pilot was also looking at the moon. He probably hasn't taken the time to appreciate how beautiful this world is...

"Hey, Duo! Duo!!" Duo sat up, the sound of Howard's voice startling him out of his thoughts. "What's up, Duo?"

Glancing over his shoulder and down to where Howard was standing, he gave a small smile before turning back to gaze upwards again. "Just thinking how beautiful the moon looks from Earth."

Howard lifted the bottle he was drinking from as if he was toasting the moon itself. "You bet; it's a beauty."

"From the colony, the moon is just too close," Duo continued, his eyes wandering over it and comparing it to his memories from L2. "It's just like a graveyard."

"Yeah? A graveyard?" Howard echoed him, waiting to see if the young man would say more. He'd been oddly quiet since returning from his mission earlier that evening.

"Wonder how long I'll be able to see the moon like this..." Duo laughed softly to himself, his words barely loud enough for Howard to hear. "I doubt if that guy even looks at the moon." Folding his arms behind his head, Duo stretched out on top of Deathscythe again. "He should enjoy life rather than trying to outsmart me. While he's alive, that is." Because tomorrow... tomorrow I'll make him see that we're better off sticking together!

"I know what you're saying, but it's not that simple," Howard replied, shaking his head and turning away as he realized that Duo wasn't even listening to him anymore. He was convinced that the other pilot had gotten under Duo's thick skin and he muttered to himself as he walked away. "It's just human nature."

"What's that guy doing?" Duo murmured, lapsing into silence once Howard was gone. He was already itching for it to be dawn – the next mission was tomorrow and this time... this time, he already had a plan. At least, part of a plan...

And maybe I'll find out that other pilot's name...

o/ There's not much time left today... /o

Heero Yuy had royally fucked up.

This was the first thought that ran through the pilot's mind as he jumped down into the hole he had just created with Wing. He had seven minutes to salvage this disaster of a mission – not so much because he felt he was worthy of living himself, but simply because more lives would be lost if he let the New Edwards base explode.

How had everything spiraled so far out of his control?

Heero grimaced as he followed Quatre's directions to the missile he needed to disable. He wasn't scared or worried about running out of time – he'd already calculated the percentages of his success and how fast he needed to move to achieve it. If only he hadn't let himself get thrown off by...

Duo...

The name drifted through his thoughts, calling up the image of the cheeky pilot and his quirky sense of humor. Certainly, the entire Operation Meteor had started out badly thanks to that Relena girl, but it had only gone to worse when the other pilot had shot him, gotten him captured and then proceeded to botch a rescue attempt when he could have escaped unnoticed much more easily. Damn, that kid is annoying. No matter where he went, every time he turned around, Duo and his smirk were right in his face, pissing him off.

What the hell is the matter with me? I should have killed Relena multiple times by now. I should have told Duo to fuck off. I shouldn't be thinking about either of them! I'm not thinking clearly!

Heero was angry with himself for the games he'd been letting that other pilot play with him, but couldn't admit to the smug satisfaction he'd felt in stealing parts of Duo's Gundam and then saving his ass on top of it. It might have ended there, but Duo had shown up yet again to stow away on his stolen freighter and made it seem like they were now the best of friends.

-- This time I definitely won't let the mission fail! How about trusting me a bit? --

Trust... impossible! Duo's request echoed in his ears. Heero did not have friends and did not trust anyone and he didn't see any reason to change that fact.

Reaching the missile, he quickly disarmed it, turning off his radio so he didn't have to hear the joyous exclamations from the other end. This was no success in his book. He had acted too impulsively and doomed them all and he had no idea what the hell he was going to do next.

Destroy OZ.

Teeth and fists clenched, he made his way back to Wing, surprised to find a shuttle waiting for him nearby. All of the other Gundams were gone already, so he quickly loaded Wing and hurried to the cockpit. He would not let himself get distracted again. He would lay low, alone, and wait for news from space. He would plan, alone, a new way to take out the OZ leaders. He would find a way, by himself, to make amends for the mess he had created. And then he could die in peace.

The only snag in this new plan, he noted as he flew the shuttle away from the base, was that he was being followed again.

Shit.

o/ Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long
If you're goin' my way, I wanna ride it, all night long
There ain't no load that I can't hold
Road so rough, this I know
I'll be there when the light comes in
Just tell 'em we're survivors... /o

Up Next: Chapter 2 – Here's my Hello (Between Episodes 8 & 9)