"A Life's Time"

Written By: Zazu

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. Any characters outside of those you recognize from Gundam Wing are my own, especially Lily. If you know of anyone or anything that looks like an existing character, event, or idea, it is purely a coincidence.

Archive: Gundam Wing Diaries

Rating: M (Mature) Rated for language and citrus.

Pairings: 1=2, mention of 3+4

Notes: Beta-read by ShenLong Deb...thank you! This was written for Under The Bridge's 2006, the Colour and the Shape, a 1=2 Contest. The ideas within are completely fictional. An unbeta-ed version was submitted for the contest, thus if you read this on the Under The Bridge website, the contents (namely grammar) will be different.

/blah/ denotes thoughts

Warnings: This story involves mature themes, war, and death of a main protagonist.

Summary: After a mysterious disappearance for six and a half years, Heero Yuy finds Duo Maxwell on L2, bringing the news that they are needed at Preventers to stop an impending uprising. At Preventers, Duo finds not only Wufei, but another person, a child named Lily, who must now work with them in attempt to stop the faction from taking over the peace they had fought for over six years ago. Must sacrifices be made for every battle and every war?

Completed: July 1, 2006

"A Life's Time "

Chapter 3

It was four thirty in the morning and Duo slid two envelopes into Hilde's mail slot, knowing the young woman would see them first thing in the morning. One contained the document that she had brought over the day before; it was unopened and Duo knew she would bring it back to the company after she read the contents of the second, smaller envelope. The second envelope contained a brief, cryptic message that he knew Hilde would understand with her training and work in the war several years previous. It simply stated he was requested to leave for confidential reasons. He urged her, through the letter, to pretend she didn't know what happened to him and to destroy the letter right away. She was to tell the company that she had last seen him at the deli and had failed to deliver the document to him in the afternoon. He sighed, looking at the door for a moment, assuring himself that Hilde would realize it was critical that she do what he asked of her.

As they stood in the shadows provided by her house in the dark morning, Duo recalled the information Heero had given him.

**Flashback**

"Done." Duo finished scribbling the letter to Hilde and slid it into an envelope he then licked and sealed. "Yuck." He made a face at the taste of the adhesive edge before turning to Heero, who's eyes flickered with a bit of amusement. "So," he stated, tossing the letter on top of the sealed document on the coffee table. "We deliver these at around four thirty. Then how do we get to the shuttle port, and what shuttle did you have in mind would take us to Earth in the middle of the night without costing a fortune and alerting who knows what sorts of authority?"

Heero leaned back, sipping his cup of coffee before he spoke. "An agent by the name of Ryan works in the small L2 division of Preventers. He will pick us up at Hilde's and drop us off at the shuttle port where Agent Victor will be waiting at a Preventers shuttle to take us back to Florida." Florida, Duo knew, was the home base of Preventers where Wufei worked.

"Home sweet home," Duo murmured dryly in reference to going to America. He thought over the plan for a moment, then glanced at Heero. "How are we supposed to stay under wraps if we travel about in Preventer-issued vehicles? And wouldn't the faction have tabs at the shuttle port?"

"Yes." Heero nodded. "But considering they had sent Wufei and you both one of those coded sheets, it's acceptable, and probably in their plan that you join Wufei in decoding them. They will expect you to move out. They just don't know when."

"I'm a little confused. Maybe it's from being off action for six and a half years, but let me get this straight." Duo worded his sentences properly. "Assuming they sent me the coded slip, they expect me to move. They sent it, I received it. They don't know when I plan to move out, but when I do, I'm going in Preventers shuttles. That actually lets them know when I'm moving, in case you didn't realize."

"They're expecting us to try and crack the coded sheets. To them this is a game. Basically, since Preventers knows that they exist and knows that they expect you to join Preventers, neither Wufei nor I think there's a need to skulk around trying to travel in the dark and as you say, pay a lot of money and alert a lot of authority." Heero paused a moment. "What they *don't* know at the moment is that there's someone at Preventers this very moment trying to work through all the information I had collected on the AI up to when it was at fifty percent accuracy. They didn't realize it was on my body when they tried to kill me and the AI responded that I intended to alert Preventers of their actions. Naturally that would mean I would tell Preventers that the faction had an AI machine and it didn't mean that I had any, let alone all of the information on the machine. They left my body in front of Wufei's house as a personal message that they existed and I had all the information and blueprints placed in a microchip hidden at the back of my left hand."

"They what?" Duo sputtered.

"That's where Wufei found me. I had picked up on a technique that brings me into a sedated, non-breathing, non-pulsing mode. That's why they presumed me dead. I had the coded sheet in what was left of my clothes, according to Wufei. It was the one thing in tact on my body. I guess you could say the second thing they don't know is that I'm still alive." Heero sighed, draining the last of his coffee. "Anyway, this is how they're expecting us to move and the safest thing is to go with it right now. Our secret weapon is the person or people decoding the AI information and they've been at it for a week; Wufei had no idea that I had a microchip on me or they could have started six months ago. We have to keep them thinking that they can predict us." Heero rubbed his eyes, tired. "Leaving in the middle of the night simply doesn't attract civilian attention and our goal is to take the faction on with Preventers, and Preventers only."

"Hey, Heero." Duo shifted, suddenly feeling tired as well. "It's practically midnight. Why don't you take a shower and catch some shut eye? I'm going to doze off on this couch and we'll leave the house at four ten. Hilde's house is a twenty minute walk."

"Thanks." Heero offered a small smile of appreciation and shoved himself off the couch, putting his cup on the coffee table and slipping into the bathroom.

**End Flashback**

/Heero said the faction wanted to unite the colonies through some bizarre twisted logic,/ Duo mused in the dark as they waited for their ride to the shuttle port. /And then to take over the world. Haven't people learnt from the last war? Why do they need to own the world?/ Duo sighed silently. /If they have the AI and we can't counter it, when they have control of the Earth and colonies they will be able to run the AI over everyone they think is a threat to them. No one will be able to retaliate. How are *we* even going to counter the AI?/

Heero touched his forearm, nodding at the dark car driving up the street.

"Agent Ryan," Heero whispered, glancing around and leading the way out of the shadows. Duo followed with his heavy duffle bag in hand; it contained his clothes and necessities, his gun, a spare magazine of bullets, a switchblade and his old and trusty lock picks. Somehow though, he didn't think lock picks would be handy for dealing with Artificial Intelligence, but it didn't hurt to have them along.

It was roughly forty five minutes later when Heero and Duo were seated on the shuttle, headed for Earth.

"It's been a while," Duo murmured, looking out the shuttle window.

"Since what?"

"Since I went to Earth," Duo murmured. "Quatre and Trowa are usually on L4. Wufei visits when he's on Preventer business. There was never really a need to go back there, not since I lost all the leads..." he trailed off.

"All the leads to me." Heero hesitantly put his hand on top of Duo's. "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, Heero, I realize that." Duo turned his hand to entwine his fingers with Heero's. "So basically, now we go back to Earth and get the sheets and the AI information decoded and then see what happens?"

Heero nodded. "The faction leader is rather...arrogant. He will most certainly alert us when he attacks, he thinks it is ridicule towards us. Like I said, he doesn't know we have people working on the AI and this handful needs to be kept away from the AI they have at all costs. If this handful is anywhere near successful, they are our only hope." Heero whispered. "The AI used on me was close-range. No doubt if they have reached a constant accuracy, they would have made it usable at a distance too."

"This is a big chance," Duo murmured. "If this handful doesn't succeed, then we can only hit them head on. Who's working on it? Anyone I know?"

Heero shook his head. "As far as I know, two decoder and hacker agents are working on Wufei's coded sheet. Wufei himself is shuffling with, I believe, two other agents through the AI information and blueprints. One of them is a relatively new addition to Preventers, I think she joined around seven months ago. An asset, according to Wufei and I take his word on it. So far she's managed to change the security system to a fail-safe retinal scan system and have the security computer talk to her."

"Security computer? Like the thing that says 'error' with no mind, she got it to talk and communicate?"

"Yes." Heero nodded. "Strange eh? And because of her talents she's got Wufei under her thumb as well."

"I think I'm going to like her very much."

"Yea." Heero lay back against the seat. "We'll be on Earth soon enough. Get some rest."

"Oh wait." Duo reached down with his free hand and rummaged around his duffle. "I've something for you."

"For me?"

Duo grinned sheepishly and handed Heero a watch. Heero accepted the item and looked it over. "Isn't this-" he began.

"Yours? Yea," Duo cut him off. "I pilfered it from you at the hospital when you fell asleep. It wasn't working, and at first I wanted to..." He looked away and stared ahead. "You see Heero, at first, I honestly wanted to tinker with it and just fix it for you. I wanted to modify it somehow, and when I gave it back to you, I wanted it to have a couple of meanings to it."

"Like what?"

"Well, initially..." A hint of a blush tinged Duo's cheeks. "It was to tell you that I'd fixed it and...since it was a watch and everything, I wanted to tell you along with its return that I had feelings for you and they wouldn't stop with the time. That if your watch ever failed you I'd fix it again and again, as a kind of message that I don't intend to let time measure my feelings for you. And a part of me hoped that since I'd tinkered with it, when you wore it, you'd think about me when you looked at it." Duo shrugged slightly. "Then you vanished. I fixed it and now the battery has died I think. I didn't fix it again, but it's not because I don't care for you anymore."

"Then...why?" Heero asked when Duo didn't elaborate.

"Because over the past few years, I've realized how human life is restricted by time. How controlled we are by time. So I thought, by wearing a watch that didn't work, I'd be defying time in some way. Kind of stupid, I know, but anyway, my life became so routine that I never had to look at the watch anyway-"

"It's not stupid," Heero said sincerely. "It's really not." Heero looked at the watch, then handed it to Duo. "I have a new one now, Preventer issued." Heero raised his wrist to show a watch that no doubt had several more functions than his old one. "Keep this, okay?"

"You sure?"

"Duo..." Heero slid the watch over Duo's hand to his wrist, then shut the clasp. "I want you to have it." He didn't release Duo's hand; instead, he slid his index finger under the little knob that was used to stop the ticking hands in order to adjust them. He tugged it out. "There." He squeezed Duo's hand tightly, reaching his free hand up to tilt Duo's head by his chin so they could make eye contact. "Now, it's not that the battery has stopped, Duo," he said softly. "I've stopped the watch. And I want it to mean that I...I love you so much," he whispered. "So much it hurts Duo. And this is our moment. No one can change it, and no amount of time will decrease any of my affection for you. It will only grow over time. When you look at the watch, I want you to think that Heero Yuy stopped the time for you, stopped it to tell you how much he...loves you."

Duo's eyes misted over, and he sought to cover it. "When did Heero Yuy get all emotional and romantic?" he asked.

Heero gave Duo a soft smile. "When he realized there was someone he loves a lot and that that someone loves him back." He leaned close. "You kept me moving when I was at the faction, Duo." He pressed his lips against Duo's. After a moment, Duo's hand slipped around the back of Heero's neck to hold the other man in place.

As they kissed, however, Duo couldn't stop one thought in his mind.

/No matter how much we say we can defy time...we don't have much of it left before this face off. I can feel it in me. Time still is, and always will be, controlling us./

~ * ~

Chapter 4

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