Alternate Gundam Wing Universe:

Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Chapter Two

***

Slouched back in the cockpit of gundam Apocalypse, Solo regarded the glowing screen before him with little interest. His tired ice blue eyes settled on his hand, which was slowly tapping the seat in boredom. The purple jacket wearing man on the screen in front of him, however, looked very impatient.

"Maxwell! Are you listening to me!? You've got to remember your mission! You've had more than enough time for your own little vendetta! You must strike now before it's too late!"

His lips tightening, Solo turned his eyes back towards the screen. "I can hear you perfectly, Prof. Falkner. I promise you, the mission will be underway by tonight. I swear it. There's just a few little loose ends I need to take care of."

Falkner began to protest rather loudly, but was swiftly silenced when Solo reached out and switched off the receiving monitor. The light flickered off, leaving Solo in nothing but a fading glow.

"What a nuisance..." Solo muttered, running a hand back through his messy raven black hair. The braid had come partially undone from sleeping on it. He paused a moment in thought. Then he opened the cockpit and stood.

"Speaking of which..." He shrugged his shoulders into his green jacket and stepped out of Apocalypse. Reaching up to brush aside his black bangs, he looked into the treetops. It was almost dusk, and in the deep woods, it was especially dark. Solo had better than average night vision though, and he could see his captive in the branches above. "How are you doing up there?"

Hanging by a rope was a small boy with an unruly mop of platinum blonde hair. His small form swayed slightly in the breeze, but there was no other movement. He was completely limp.

Solo raised an eyebrow up at him curiously. "Hey, kid. Wake up when I'm talkin' to you." There was no response. Solo's harsh expression cracked slightly with concern. "Kid?"

When there was still no reply, Solo jumped from the gundam, and ran over to where the rope was tied to a tree. He untied the knot and carefully lowered the boy to the ground. His chest tightened when the small form fell limp to the grass.

Beads of sweat formed on Solo's brow as he hurried to release the child from the rope. Once untied, there was still no movement. Solo took the boy's shoulders and shook him roughly. "Wake up, kid! Damn you, wake up!" His eyes widened as the boy's head rolled loosely onto his chest.

"Sweet mother..." Solo whispered. "What have I done?"

Although the boy had been ripped from a speeding vehicle, and roughly handled by both himself and his gundam, Solo hadn't honestly believed he had seriously injured him. And he hadn't given much thought to the fact that he'd been hanging there since the night before. He hadn't given much thought to any of it. What did he care for the son of Heero Yuy, who he hated with a passion? Even so, Solo now felt sick to his soul.

Without warning, the blonde boy's steely blue eyes flashed open. They were absolutely filled with terror. With a speed Solo hadn't imagined such a small boy could possibly have, his rather short leg flew out and delivered a crunching kick to the jaw.

Crying out in pain and clutching his face, Solo fell back onto the ground. He was seeing sharp shards of light as he heard the scuff of shoes on the grass and the receding pounding of little feet. Agony still jolting through him, Solo forced himself up. This only ended him on his face. Whimpering softly despite himself, his body hunched over, shuddering with pain and anger. Internally, he cursed himself, hating himself for having allowed a little kid to get the better of him.

Suddenly, he realized that two little feet were standing in front of him. A tiny trembling hand reached out and touched his black hair. Hardly believing what they were seeing, ice blue eyes raised themselves to look into steel blue ones. Solo's lips parted slightly in questioning wonder. The boy had tried to escape...and had returned?

Why?

"A-Are you okay?"

Solo's eyes wavered with tears suddenly, as overwhelming emotion threatened to take control. Feeling himself about to burst into tears, his brows furrowed in rage. With an anguished cry, he threw his fist out and sent a hard blow across the boy's face. He didn't watch as the boy fell sobbing to the grass.

The braided boy finally staggered to his feet, wiping away his tears in disgust. "Damn kid! You should have run while you had the chance."

"My name's not kid," the tearful boy managed to speak in a tiny, frightened, yet defiant voice. "I'm Duo Peacecraft...and I want to go home!"

"You don't deserve that name," Solo intoned coldly, snatching Duo roughly by the front of his sweater and lifting him up. He slammed Duo against the nearest tree trunk, causing the little boy to flinch. "You're a mockery of my father's name with that bastard Yuy's face..."

Duo's eyes found his wearily. He seemed beyond fear at that moment. Solo suspected it might even be shock. "What are you going to do with me?" Duo asked.

"I'm going to kill you," Solo replied, feeling sick to his stomach as he said it. Flinching slightly at his own words, he let Duo fall to the ground. "But there's something I need to do first." He turned back to Apocalypse. "I would stay here if I were you. These woods are in the middle of nowhere, and you'd never survive out there." He paused. "However, do as you wish."

Still sitting where he was dropped, Duo watched Apocalypse lift off, leaving him in a rushing wind.

***

There was a strong scent of disinfectant overwhelming Quatre's senses as he stood beside Relena's hospital room. He felt as though he had been bathed in the stuff, after the nurses had gotten through treating his injuries. Now he waited in that sterile white hallway, wondering how Heero and Relena were doing within.

When he had first contacted Heero about the situation, he had been afraid Heero would breakdown, indeed, he had felt near one himself. And at first, the ex-gundam pilot's face had twisted into such a sheer look of agony, it had literally sent a lance of pain into Quatre's own heart. Then, Heero seemed to retreat into himself, locking himself into his old stone expression.

Quatre sighed. Heero could try to keep his pain inside, but Quatre knew it was killing him on the inside. Then Heero had left for the coast so fast, that Quatre hadn't even had time to ask what had become of Solo.

His aquamarine eyes shifted sadly towards the door at the sound of Relena crying again. He kicked the wall with his heel in anger. There had been nothing he could do to save Duo, but he still felt incredible guilt. I wonder if this is how Heero felt, he thought to himself as he closed his eyes.

Of course, he wasn't a father himself. So he suspected that as much as he loved Duo, he probably couldn't really imagine what Heero and Relena were going through. His thoughts drifted towards the recent problems between himself and some of his sisters. Lately they had been pressuring him for an heir to the Winner family legacy, but between himself and Trowa, it didn't look like anything that would be resolved anytime soon.

He had suggested adoption, of course. But his sisters were deadset against any but his own blood relative. Nothing he else he suggested, such as an heir from among themselves, was satisfying them, and they had even started his own lawyers in on him about it. He opened his eyes and stared over at sign that directed towards the maternity ward.

And there was absolutely, no way, that he was going to consent to some sort of surrogate mother. The idea of hiring out some woman like that simply appalled him. It certainly wasn't the first time it had been done in his family, but it was a practice that Quatre just couldn't stomach. No, he thought to himself, I refuse to bring a child into the world by someone I don't even love, just for the sole purpose of forcing all my responsibilities onto him or her.

Still, he had to resolve the problem somehow with his sisters. They would have to come to realize what they wanted from him, the way they wanted, just wouldn't happen. It was too bad, really. Although impossible, he had often wished for a child of his own, as he openly envied Heero and Relena's dear little Duo. And he was certain Trowa would be an excellent father himself.

Trowa. Quatre pushed himself from the wall with one foot and glanced towards one the hall clocks. He really needed to call about everything that had happened...

Just then, Heero exited Relena's room.

"Heero! How is she?" Quatre noted the dark circles beneath Heero's eyes. He clearly hadn't slept any the night before. None of them had. Quatre's eyes caught Heero's numerous cuts, bruises, and the tattered clothing. When Heero had arrived, he had rushed to Relena's side so quickly that Quatre had barely time to notice. "And...Allah, just what happened back at the house!?" His eyes strayed with concern towards his shoulder. "Are you shot?"

Heero just waved a hand and nodded.

"We'd better get a nurse...!"

"I've already taken care of it," Heero gave him a firm look. "As for Relena... she needs some time to rest. She's depressed, but I've told her I've got everything under control..."

Quatre gave him a knowing look.

"Which I clearly do not." He took Quatre by the shoulder and led him further out of earshot of the room. "Solo came to the house, Quatre. A few hours before he attacked you..." His hand tightened on Quatre's shoulder. "If I had known this was going to happen..."

"There's nothing you could have done, Heero," Quatre quietly reassured him. "I still feel horrible about it myself. I'm so very sorry... I was supposed to protect him..." Quatre closed his eyes in grief.

Heero patted his shoulder comfortingly. "I've told you, Quatre, it wasn't your fault. We don't blame you at all."

Despite Heero's words, Quatre's mood barely lifted. He turned his eyes from under his bangs and looked closely at Heero. "What did you think of Solo, Heero? Do you think he'll really hurt Duo?"

"I honestly don't know. He wants to kill, but I don't know if he's currently capable of it. You should've seen his eyes, Quatre. He's just teetering on the edge of sanity." Heero lowered his voice. "He reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age. And that scares me."

Quatre just stared at him in amazement. He had never heard Heero admit to being afraid of anything aloud before.

"He tried to kill me," Heero continued. "But I don't think he could do it. Maybe it was Duo watching over me, who knows. With that boy in the room, his presence was incredible." He looked up at Quatre. "I have to find him, before he harms Duo, or himself."

***

Dusk was setting over the vast fields of communication buildings. It was like a town. The people who worked there also lived there with their families, casually moving through life in the streets below, and buzzing with activity in the towers above. Years ago places such as these had doubled as military bases, but since the end of the war, all official military had been reduced to nothing more than titles.

One small time official in particular was spending his last hours of the day watching the sunset. As he leaned over the building railing, however, he noticed the sunlight warp eerily in the sky.

"Huh?" He watched as darkness flowed from out of nowhere, until it formed something huge with bat-like wings. His mouth dropped open and he went stumbling backwards. He hadn't seen anything like that in years... "Oh my god..."

An alarm sounded out over the entire complex. The monster in the sky had been spotted as it landed in the midst of the base. There was no defense, though. Nothing could stop the gundam as it began to glow with a terrific light that burst from all around its wings like a giant shockwave. It expanded away from the gundam in huge concentric circles. A tremendous rumble followed and the landscape shimmered. It was as if everything was converted into light. When the light finally faded, everything was nothing more than fine dust.

Gundam Apocalypse stood in the wasteland, like an eternal zombie. Within, it's pilot lay slumped over the controls. He had been the last witness to see the people scattering in the street, screaming. The last witness to the school children who had been staring in innocent wonder. And he had been the last to cry as they all disappeared from sight forever. His form shuddered. He hadn't expected it to be like that.

And he had used only a fraction of the gundam's actual power. He didn't want to think what might happen if he used it at full power. He didn't want to think about how many innocent people had just died. And for what they had died for...Solo couldn't help but question in his heart.

"I hope this makes him happy..." Solo mumbled as he pushed himself back up. He couldn't stand himself. He had waited so long...and now that everything was at his fingertips, he wasn't doing anything right. Or feeling the way he was supposed to. Something inside him had changed somehow, but he wasn't sure how it had happened.

Why am I doing this, he asked himself. I'm supposed to be using Prof. Falkner, not the other way around. Why should I pull myself out of shape for his crazy ideas? This is wrong. This shouldn't have happened. There was a cold place in the pit of his stomach as he realized that his decision had come at the expense of all the dust around him that had once been alive. They had all died needlessly. He was no better...no better than Yuy. He clenched the controls, fighting the urge to throw up what little he'd eaten in the last twenty-four hours.

Fleeing back into the sky, feeling like a fool, Solo wondered what Prof. Falkner might say when he discovered that he'd quit after only one strike. He'd have a fit, there was no doubt about that. But Solo had made up his mind. Now that he had the gundam, he didn't have to do anything Prof. Falkner told him to do anymore. If there was to be any new world order, Prof. Falkner could do his own dirty work.

"I've got enough to worry about," Solo frowned as he went spinnng off into the horizon. He didn't bother cloaking the Apocalypse as night fell once more.

***

As he landed back in his hiding spot in the woods, Solo noticed the blinking red light on the control board. Prof. Falkner was trying to contact him. Solo had expected he'd be hearing from him when most of the communication bases turned up still intact. Ignoring it, he switched off Apocalypse's systems and ventured outside.

Stretching, he checked the woods around him for signs of Duo. As he had expected, the area was deserted. "Mmm..." He wasn't sure if he glad the boy was gone or not. On a whim, Solo reached into his pocket and pulled out two oranges he'd gathered in an orchard on his way back. He tossed them out onto the grass and walked over into Apocalypse's shadow, where he promptly curled up and fell asleep.

In the dark underbrush of the trees, two little blue eyes watched him warily. Then they set their sights on the oranges sitting in the grass. A few minutes passed. Then, as quietly as he could, Duo crept out and snatched up the fruit. They didn't last five minutes.

Trying to wipe off his sticky hands on his pants, Duo looked up at Apocalypse. He had seen pictures of machines that looked like that before, but he had never seen one in person. It was huge, especially next to a little boy. Seeing the open cockpit, curiosity became too much for him, and he tried climbing the gundam.

Unfortunately for him, his short little limbs weren't very suitable for climbing a big gundam with a smooth slippery surface. Everytime he tried to scramble up one of the legs, he would only come sliding down the squeaky metallic surface. Finally, with a pout, he gave up and went running around the side of the Apocalypse.

When he ran around a corner and saw Solo sleeping there, he skid to a stop. Duo crept up carefully. The boy with the long black braid confused him. He had been mean to him, but for some reason he didn't strike Duo as being a mean sort of person. Maybe it was because he reminded him of the big boy in the pictures his father had shown him a few times before. Duo remembered his father telling him about the person in the picture, and that it had been neat because they had the same name. That person had always been smiling.

Duo nudged at Solo with his foot. This one never smiled at all, but still, it made him think of the nice smiling face. Duo noticed the other shivering. Maybe it was because he was cold?

***

Solo awoke to the sound of his own quiet sobbing. He cursed himself for crying again, though it was by no means anything new. He cried every night. When he tried to move his hand to rub away the tears, he noticed something different.

He couldn't move. Solo looked down to see Duo curled against him. The little boy had his arms tight around him, as far as the little arms could go, making it difficult to move. Solo's eyes grew larger than usual in surprise. Did the kid have some kinda deathwish?

After considering pushing Duo away, Solo decided it was strangely comforting, and didn't move. As he began drifting back into sleep, he found himself remembering his mother. Bright blue eyes that held him and loved him...

"Why are you sad?"

Solo blinked back awake at Duo's small voice. He frowned and pulled away from the boy to sit by himself. "I'm not sad. What are you doing back here anyway? You really wanna die that badly?"

"Nope. I wanna go home."

"Stupid kid."

"Are you going to kill me now?"

Solo moved his head very slightly and cast an annoyed look at Duo. "Tomorrow. Now would you please shut-up and go to sleep!?"

"I can't sleep." He tugged on Solo's braid curiously. "Are you a boy or a girl?"

"What!?" Solo's face whipped around to face Duo. The older boy had turned a bright red. "I'm a guy, you moron!" He grumbled something under his breath about 'Yuy's inbred son.'

Duo blinked innocently. "Then why do you have long hair? Only girls have long hair like that." He pulled on Solo's braid, trying to see if it was fake.

"OW!" Solo pulled his hair away, clutching it protectively. He glowered at the boy. "I'm not a girl! And I can wear my hair any way I want!"

Duo gave him a doubtful stare.

"If you're going to be irritating," Solo grumbled, "I keep it this way because my mother always put my hair into a braid when I was little, okay!?"

"Weird. My Mommy always wants to cut my hair. My Daddy told her that it would calm down one day, then she said to look into a mirror. I don't know what she meant by that, but I always have my hair cut. Mommy says it's proper for little boys."

"Hmph."

Duo chewed his lip a little. "But now that I think about it, Uncle Mill' has really really long hair, and he's a boy too."

"See." Solo rested his head on his knees.

"But he doesn't have it in a ponytail like you do. Girls keep their hair in ponytails like that."

"It's a braid!" Solo shouted in exasperation. "And I'm not a girl, you little brat!" The side of his face was starting to twitch. "Listen very carefully. From the time I was smaller than your twerpy self, my mother put my hair into a braid." His tone softened as he remembered. "I couldn't stand it. Everytime she'd look at me, she'd look so sad. I didn't know why for a long time, until the first time I saw a picture of my father. Then I knew that everytime she looked at me, she was seeing him. And it was killing her." He squeezed his eyes shut in quiet misery. "Still, she insisted on putting my hair into this damn braid, making me look even more like him. Several times I almost cut the thing off myself. But I didn't..." His watery blue eyes opened slightly, unfocused. "Because she was always so happy when she was braiding it. She would take her time with it and talk to me... I think the best memories I have are of her fixing my hair..."

Solo was suddenly flooded with memories of a warm lap and soft loving words. "Then after she was gone, I couldn't bear to part with it." He whispered. He glanced over at Duo.

The little platinum blonde had fallen onto Solo's side and was snoring in a deep sleep.

"Stupid kid." Solo sighed. As if hearing a voice only he could hear, he glared up at Apocalypse. "No, he isn't cute."

The gundam almost seemed to smile to itself.

***

"It's possible he's still somewhere in the area." Quatre stood in front of a large shattered window. The golden light rising over the tree tops touched his form lightly. He glanced down to where Heero was standing on the walkway right outside. With Solo still out there, he hadn't wanted to leave Relena behind, not even with her hospital room under guard. But she had insisted they start searching for Duo immediately, which had raised no argument at all. "That communications base that was destroyed is only a couple of hundred miles out. Do you think...?"

"He's responsible for that too," Heero stepped back inside through the window. "A gundam was reported, and there was definitely a large mobile suit out here the other night. And I don't recognize the marks it left. But if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say gundam."

Quatre put his hands on his hips and shook his head with a frown. "But why would he destroy that base, if he's after your family? I thought this was a personal matter. Unless he's completely insane."

"I don't think he is. At least not yet." Heero crunched a piece of glass beneath his boot. "He's working for someone with their own agenda. It's the only way he could have gotten a suit."

"But there's no one who wants a war anymore," Quatre said quietly. "Who could he possibly be working for?"

"I'm hoping Solo can tell us himself..." Heero paused and turned his head sharply. "Do you hear that?"

"What?"

Without giving a reply, Heero bolted out the window and around the side of the house. Quatre hurried to keep up, but Heero was already far ahead. When Heero turned the corner that faced the backyard patio, he froze as he felt his heart skip a beat.

Standing there was a small figure with a head full of platinum blonde hair. Hearing a noise behind him, Duo turned around with wide curious eyes. "Daddy?"

With a joyful cry, Heero ran to his son and hugged him tightly. "Duo!" He could feel the tears flowing freely down his cheeks, but he didn't care. Heero was so happy to have his son back in his arms again, still warm and alive, that nothing else at the moment mattered at all.

Quatre turned the corner and smiled, his own aquamarine eyes glittering with thankful joy. He wanted to go over himself, but decided to leave Heero with his son for the moment.

"Duo...how did you get here?" Heero finally pulled back to look Duo in the face. He flushed slightly with anger, noting the bruises and swollen eye on the boy. The dirty and tattered little boy just smiled and looked past his father, out into the yard.

Following his gaze, Heero saw a small dark figure walking out into the woods on the edge of the property. A long dark braid swung behind him as he walked.

"Quatre...!" Heero quickly handed Duo over to Quatre and ran off across the yard. He was fast, and soon caught up with the figure. Heero slowed his pace a few feet behind the dark boy. Hearing Heero approach, Solo stopped where he stood, keeping his back to him.

"Solo...thank you."

"Don't. Thank your son."

As Solo moved to leave again, Heero took a few quick steps forward. "Wait. Please stay..."

Solo paused and turned his head slowly to look over his shoulder at Heero. There was a torn longing on his face. "Heero..."

A streak flashed past Solo's vision, followed by a sharp pain in his shoulder. He staggered back and cried out as from a blow. Clutching his shoulder, he felt something cold there. Feeling as if in a dream, he pulled it out and held it in front of his face. The color drained from his cheeks as he realized it was some sort of dart.

"Solo!" Heero cried as Solo suddenly swayed and passed out. He tried to reach him, but an explosion of light flew at him from out of nowhere, throwing him back onto the grass.

When Heero recovered, Solo was gone.

---------

(author's notes: Argh, it's getting a bit too long, so I'm gonna cut it there. ...Purple Jacket Wearing Man was starting to sound like an X-Files character...o.o; The next part should be finished sooner than these past chapters were, I'm introducing the next major player in this, and she may scare some of ya. ^^;;; Hope I haven't confused y'all too much...^^; Please step carefully as you depart this installment of the fanfic, and have a nice day. ^_^ )