~*~
Oh my love
Please don't cry
I'll wash my bloody hands and
We'll start a new life
~*~

Duo sat, blank violet eyes staring at the ceiling. His thoughts lingered at Heero, off in some distant country dealing with something for the Preventers. Duo was always lonely when Heero went away, but for some reason this trip had been worse than ever. He had actually tried to stop Heero from leaving.

That hadn't ended well.

~*~
I ripped out
His throat
And called you on the telephone
To take off
My disguise
Just in time to hear you cry when you
~*~

He was stirred from his thoughts with a knock on the door, and he got up off of the chair to answer. When he opened the door he was surprised to see Relena standing there. He invited her in nonetheless.

"Hey, Relena, what's up?" he asked.

Relena smiled, and for some reason Duo became uneasy. "Nothing really. I was just bored and decided to pay a visit."

Duo showed her a seat and sat across from her. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, it's alright," Relena said, that almost-too-sweet smile still in place. "How's Heero?"

"As far as I can tell, he's fine. Off a mission, but you knew that, right?" Duo chuckled. Relena just smiled at him. Duo stopped. "Hey, are you okay?"

Relena's smile turned slightly crazed. "I'll be much better soon…and so will Heero…"

She pulled a handgun out of her bag and aimed it point-blank at his heart. Duo froze.

~*~
You mourn the death of your bloody valentine
The night he died
You mourn the death of your bloody valentine
One last time
~*~

"Relena," Duo said slowly, "put the gun down."

Relena giggled, but held the pistol steady. "Why would I do that?

Duo stepped toward Relena, intent on getting the gun out of her hand before she hurt herself or anyone else. Relena set the trigger, her smile suddenly gone. "Don't move, Duo Maxwell. This gun is loaded, and I won't hesitate to shoot."

Duo froze again. "Relena, why would you want to shoot? I'm your friend, aren't I?"

"Friend?" Relena spat the word. "You took away the only person that ever mattered to me. I'm just taking him back."

"Relena," Duo said, trying to reason with her. "Heero won't like you simply because you get me to dump him or something."

A crazy smile curved her lips. "No, no. Of course not. But if I get rid of the competition, he will."

Duo gulped. This did not look good. "Please, Relena…Heero would hate you if you killed me, or anyone he cares about…"

"He won't know it was me."

There was no one to hear the sound of a single bullet being fired.

~*~
Singin'...

Oh, my love
Please don't cry
I'll wash my bloody hands and
We'll start a new life
I don't know much at all
I don't know wrong from right
All I know is that I love you tonight
~*~

Tap tap tap. Tappity tap. Taptap *pause* TAP.

Taptaptaptaptaptaptap. Tap. Tap. Taptaptap. Taptap. Taptaptaptap. Tap *pause* tap.

Heero's fingers moved over the keyboard of his laptop with expert ability. His fingers paused as he found another possible lead to his case. He scanned the screen, snorted, and resumed typing. Another dead-end. If he had a nickel for every time he came across one of those, he's be rich.

His fingers stopped again as a chill shot down his back and a sudden cold permeated the room. He had a sudden flash of Duo, lying on the floor of their apartment, blood pouring from a bullet wound right below his heart. Then the scene was gone, the cold retreated, and Heero was left to scold himself for his foolishness. The loneliness is getting to me, he thought, then resumed his typing.

~*~
There was
Police and
Flashing lights
The rain came down so hard that night
~*~

An hour later, a package came to him. Heero inspected it, since it had nothing else but his name. Finally deciding that there was nothing wrong at all with the box, he undid the string and ripped off the brown-paper wrapping. His nose wrinkled at the disgusting scent wafting from inside the box: like rotting meat.

An unexpected surge of apprehension stabbed him. What could possibly be inside this box? Decided to get it over with, Heero lifted the lid.

And had to swallow many times to keep from heaving his scant lunch onto the carpet.

Inside the box was a heart. A human heart.

~*~
and the
Headlines read
A lover died
No tell-tale heart was left to find when you...
~*~

Heero hastily covered the box again, feeling the contents of his stomach churn. He threw the package into the garbage, the scene replaying over again in his mind. Much to his chagrin, he had to rush to the bathroom. There, he heaved until there was nothing left.

After he was done, he had the inexplicable urge to call Duo, make sure everything was all right. He went to the phone and dialed a long number. The ring came over the phone, and eventually the answering machine: "You have reached the number of Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy. Neither of us can come to the phone right now, so please leave your name and number after the tone."

Assuming Duo was out, Heero pressed the 'off' button on his phone, and then dialed another number. This one was for Duo's cellphone. But, again, all he heard was the ring and the voicemail message. Now Heero was worried. Duo always kept his cellphone on, and always checked it in case there was an emergency. He could always be reached by his cell.

So he did the next best thing: called Quatre. He remembered that the blonde Arabian was in his part of town on business. He was sure Quatre wouldn't mind putting his nerves at rest, especially since he had a sickening feeling that something was wrong. His instincts had always been right before. He hoped they weren’t now.

~*~
You mourn the death of your bloody valentine
The night he died
You mourn the death of your bloody valentine
One last time
Singin'...
~*~

Quatre answered his cell, to Heero's immense relief. "Winner Corperation, Quatre Winner speaking."

"Quatre, it's Heero," Heero said.

"Hello, Heero! What's up?" Quatre asked cheerfully.

"I need you to go check on Duo for me. He didn't answer his cellphone," Heero replied, ever to the point.

Quatre's tone was slightly worried as he answered, "Of course. I've got a meeting in an hour, but I'm pretty close to your apartment right now. It wouldn't be a problem."

Heero gave a small, gratified smile, even if Quatre couldn't see. "Thank you." And then he hung up.

~*~
Oh, my love
Please don't cry
I'll wash my bloody hands and
We'll start a new life
I don't know much at all
I don't know wrong from right
All I know is that I love you tonight
~*~

Quatre stepped out of his limousine, looking up at the third floor of the building where Heero and Duo's apartment was. The fact that Duo hadn't answered Heero's call worried him more than he let on. He knew how lonely the Deathscythe pilot was, and knew that Duo wouldn't miss a chance to talk to Heero when he was away. He took the elevator up to the third floor, and knocked on apartment 342. There was no answer. But when Quatre tried the door, it was unlocked. That's strange, he thought. Duo wasn't one to leave his door unlocked when he went out.

Dread had been building in his stomach since Heero's call, almost 15 minutes ago. It sat there like a rock, only growing with this new development. That he had gotten a strange twinge from his space heart yesterday--like pain, at the beginning, and then something he couldn't quite name--made him unwilling to open the door fully.

The scent wafting out of the apartment, though, convinced him that he needed to do something. So he opened the door fully, reeling back at the smell of spoiled meat. It was almost overwhelming.

Hesitantly, he stepped inside.

~*~
Tonight
~*~

Quatre closed the door behind him, and then turned to meet a sight that would haunt him for years to come.

Duo lay on the floor, on top of what looked like a giant crimson stain. He was splayed out like he had been thrown, or like he had fallen, and there was a gaping hole in his chest where his heart should have been. Blue-violet eyes stared unseeingly at the ceiling, wide with surprise. Flies buzzed around his corpse; for what else could it be but a corpse?

On the wall behind, written in red paint--blood, Quatre thought--was the message: "Happy Valentine's Day, Heero". Quatre raced out of the apartment, struggling to keep his stomach in its proper place.

~*~
He dropped you off, I followed him home
Then I stood outside his bedroom window
Standing over him, he begged me not to do
What I knew I had to do cause I'm so in love with you
~*~

Two days later, there was a funeral for Duo Maxwell, pilot 02 of the Gundam Deathscythe Hell Custom. The other four were there, and even Zechs attended in mourning for a fallen enemy and comrade.

Afterwards, Heero regressed quickly into the emotionless man the pilots had first met in the war. A month after Duo's death, Relena Peacecraft, former Queen of the World, was found murdered in her room. There was no trace of the killer.

I wish I could say they lived happily ever after, but there was no "happily ever after." For Heero, for Quatre, for Trowa, for Wufei, "happily ever after" was not more than a fleeting dream, a memory; like brilliant blue-violet eyes that would be forever closed.

~*~
Oh, my love
Please don't cry
I'll wash my bloody hands and
We'll start a new life
I don't know much at all
I don't know wrong from right
All I know is that I love you tonight
Tonight
~*~