DISCLAIMER: Not my characters. Some are original. I have no money for anyone
to sue me for! Just enjoy!


Trial By Fire
Part 1
by SkyLark

Heero was flying Wing Zero and demolishing an OZ base along with Commander
Starks and Lieutenant Reinhart witnessing in their mobile dolls. Only
occasionally would the two soldiers lend a hand in the young child’s attack.
This was to ensure that there was nothing left of the base by the time they
were through. The boy really didn’t need much help. However, they needed to
monitor him closely. The red-haired Lieutenant smiled on his Commander’s
screen. Both men were in their young twenties and looked like they would
give anyone that stood in their way a hard time.

Reinhart smiled and laughed evilly, “This kid is going to give the Earth
Hell when he’s sent out!” The Commander smiled and ran his hand through the
thick blonde strands of his hair. “Doctor J sure has done an impressive job
on him and Kumi. They‘ll be ready for battle by the time they turn fifteen
this year.”

The Lieutenant nodded and looked to the destruction all around. Dead bodies
of OZ soldiers lied all around as flames grew and shot from everywhere. The
Wing Zero pilot then fired a shot into the base’s main generator. “Mission
accomplished,” Heero stated with no emotion in his voice as he and his
supervisors flew from the exploding building.

Overhead in the star-filled sky, the three suits hovered and watched the
last of the base blown away by the explosion. The two men laughed and
hollered in chorus. Heero merely watched in silence. “Nice job, Heero,”
Starks applauded loudly. “Excellent work, kid,” Reinhart added with applause
as well.

The thrill of the fight had both of the young adults’ hearts pounding and
their adrenaline coursing fiercely through their bodies as they continued to
laugh as if obsessed. “Now, what can we hit,” Reinhart questioned as he
scanned the area all around. He saw a quiet town just to the west of where
the base once stood. Licking his lips, he smiled, “What do you say we hit
that quiet town just over there now?”

Heero, still with no emotion in his words, simply replied, “Doctor J said
simply hit the OZ base. Those were my orders and my mission. They were
carried out. And that town is an innocent home to almost a hundred people
from this colony.”

“Don’t talk back, Heero,” Starks harshly called. “Your orders were also to
listen to us. Surely you could not have had enough fighting yet. This is the
only town for hundreds of miles. Nobody would be able to find or stop us.
For us, it would only take five minutes to destroy it. This will be fun.”

“He doesn’t know what fun is, remember, Commander?” Reinhart reminded him.

Starks smiled and chuckled, “I almost forgot.” His mobile suit was turned to
face Wing Zero “Stay here and watch if you don’t want to be a part of this.
We haven’t had our chance to really fight yet.”

Heero gasped and shouted, “You can’t! Those are innocent people down there!”
But it was too late. Before the Japanese pilot could finish, the two
soldiers were zooming down on the small village. Firing their guns, they
brought a row of homes down to their foundations. A warning alarm from the
center of the town echoed all around. People, men women, children, animals
of all kinds sprang from their sleep and ran out to see what was happening.

Heero swooped down for the sky as quickly as he could. “STOP! YOU CAN’T DO
THIS!” he screamed as he tried to hold his leaders back. “Get out of the
way, Heero! This is an act of insubordination by trying to stop us!”
Lieutenant Reinhart shouted.

Heero gasped as his head fell when he realized that it would mean death if
he stood in their way. Confusion and fear penetrated every part of his body,
but the young soldier didn’t even know what there emotions were. He looked
to the people below as they ran and screamed below them in terror. They he
looked to Starks and Reinhart. He lowered his head yet again. “Yes,
Lieutenant. I am sorry.”

“Good, Heero. Now, stay here as I ordered and maybe I’ll go easy on you when
we return to Doctor J’s base.”

“Yes, sir,” Heero whispered, never lifting his head as the two soldiers few
off faster then before as to stop everyone that attempted to escape.

Heero’s eyes were screaming in agony as they witnessed every living person
and creature in that once peaceful town get torn to shreds by gunfire.
Explosions were set off by the mobile suits in all directions. The few ships
that made it off of the ground in attempt to make it to space were sliced by
the suits’ swords and other weaponry. All the while, the two men shouting
and screaming like demons.

“DIE! ALL OF YOU DIE!” they shouted along with other terrible things. As
much as Heero couldn’t stand the sight of the devastation, he could not take
his eyes away from the massacre. It would not have been right to look away
when all of these souls were doomed. He just watched, silent and still. His
eyes were soon dancing with the flames that before too long consumed the
entire village. The bloodcurdling screams and cries of the dying could be
heard perfectly from where he was as that was all he could hear. Flames and
screams were all that he knew, all that was in existence.

Heero sat up instantly in his bed, screaming. When his scream ended, he was
looking at the walls of the room that he and Duo shared, in their bed. He
was drenched in sweat and was thankful that he didn’t sleep with a shirt on
tonight. It would have been soaked. It took a minute of taking deep breaths
and wiping the sweat from his brow before Heero was certain that what he saw
was only a dream. But it wasn’t a dream, it was a memory that he had tried
to block for so long. It was a memory that he was certain he had buried.
Only now, every detain of that night was pictured perfectly. He lied his
face in his hands and whispered to himself, “Why now? Why do I have to see
that again?”

Taking his hands away, Heero turned to Duo’s side of the bed. It was empty
since Duo was off taking care of business on L2. Quatre had offered the
American a donation that was more than enough to have an orphanage built
where the Maxwell Church once stood. Heero was there for the groundbreaking
to share the wonderful excitement with his lover. However, Heero was needed
on a mission not long after the ceremony. Duo understood, just happy that
Heero was there to see the beginning stages of the project unfold with him.
The orphanage wouldn’t be finished for several months. They would both
return to see that and the grand opening. Still, Duo told Heero that he
wanted to stay and help a few days longer. They planned on meeting back at
the mansion where their friends were.

Heero returned at Quatre’s mansion early the day before. Duo was expected
back late this day, or early the next one. Heero sighed as he gently stroked
the sheets that his love would have been sleeping under. “Just when I need
you...” he whispered.

This was the first night that he had a nightmare and the braided pilot was
not there to hold him. He sighed again as he lied on his back. He turned to
his side to look at Duo’s side of the bed. “Hurry, home, Love. I have a bad
feeing about this.” He lied there like that until morning, unable to sleep,
not wanting to sleep after that terrible memory haunted him when he was most
helpless.

***********************************************************************

“Heero? You’re weren’t hungry this morning?” Trowa asked as he stood in the
doorway of the lounge. “We missed you at breakfast.”

“Hn,” the classic response came. “Quatre just asked me to come up and check
on you. He was worried that something might have been wrong. From the looks
of you, I think he’s right,” the pilot of Heavy Arms stated.

Heero looked at him, “I am fine, Trowa. Please tell the others the same.”
Trowa shrugged and walked into the room, sitting beside the Wing pilot by
the window. He smiled, “I don’t know what is happening between you and Duo,
Heero. But, he will return soon. He’s expected anytime now. I can sense that
you miss him.”

Heero almost smiled as he looked away from his friend. He and the American
were involved for almost two months now, but they were not sure just how to
tell their comrades that they were sharing more than just the same room.
Heero had a feeling that Trowa would be the first to sense something. Seeing
that his hunch was right, he almost has to bite his lip to keep the smallest
of laughter inside.

Turning back to his friend, he nodded and smiled, “I know that he will.
Thanks, Trowa. But, really, I‘m fine. I’ll be down in a short while.”

The third pilot smiled and nodded. “Good. I’ll tell the others.” With that,
he was out the door again. Walking down the hall, Trowa giggled to himself,
“I wonder just what is going between the two of them, anyway.” He figured
that he would discuss this with the other pilots.

Quarte and Wufei were resting in one of the countless living rooms of the
mansion. This one was the most commonly inhabited by the pilots. It bore the
most furniture and a beautiful view of the beach not far from the estate.
Quatre was watching the news on the television as he heard Trowa walk in.

“Heero is just fine. He‘ll be down before too long,” he informed them as he
sat on another sofa to watch the news as well. “Good. I thought that
something might have been bothering him,” Quatre sighed with relief. “I
think that he just misses Duo,” Trowa smiled.

Wufei smirked, “It amazes me that he hasn’t killed that baka by now. He
could talk anyone to death.”

“Duo is the only one of who saw the potential for a family amongst the five
of us. He was right to request that we all stay together,” Quatre stated.
Wufei nodded, “True. I just feel bad that Heero has to share the same room
with him. I bet he has some interesting stories with that experience.”

“You never know,” a familiar voice interrupted from behind all of them. They
turned in shock to see Heero standing there with his hands crossed and a
smirk as he leaned against the wall behind him. “But Duo’s not one to tell
everyone what happens behind closed doors, so I won’t say anything, either.”

Trowa and Quatre laughed at their friend’s remark and Wufei fought to keep
from blushing. “Sorry, Heero, I know it’s not right to talk about someone
behind their backs.” Heero nodded and chuckled deeply, “It’s okay. It
happens. Just make sure you know what you’re talking about before you make a
remark like that about someone.”

Wufei nodded and tried to change the subject real quick, “So, nice day out.
Think you‘ll be heading out at all?” He shook his head at the weak attempt
his friend made to change the subject.

“What’s going on in the news?” he went on to question. Quatre turned his
head from the screen to the Japanese pilot. “Two soldiers who fought for the
colonies were arrested and are being held for all kinds of murder charges.”

Something about this caught Heero’s interest as he asked, “What are their
names?” The blonde young man looked back to the television to make sure he
remembered the names correctly.

“Commander Daniel Starks and Lieutenant James Reinhart,” he answered. Heero
froze instantly. After a brief second to make sure that he still wasn’t
dreaming, he ran to the sofa where the Arabian was sitting. The anchorwoman
was still speaking of the arrests.

“Both men are to face trial on Colony S9. There, they will be questioned
before a jury of their peers. The soldiers apprehended are possibly
responsible for the destruction of over thirty helpless towns in the
Colonies. None of the evidence is to be released until they are mentioned in
the trial.” The images of the two young men that destroyed the town Heero
wanted to defend came on the screen just behind her. Heero couldn’t breathe
as he felt his face growing pale.

“Currently, there is a search or ore witnesses that will aid in the
conviction of the Commander and Lieutenant. While there are several people
being protected in order to testify, any and everyone with more information
is greatly needed.” The television went dead as Quatra lied the remote on
the table in front of the couch.

“Man, over thirty towns destroyed by those guys,” he sighed as he recalled
what the reported stated. “I hope that they get what’s coming to them,”
Wufei growled as his fists were clenched tightly.

Heero’s glare at the television and look of shock never left. Trowa noticed
and asked, “You okay there, Heero?” “Huh?” he asked as he snapped out of his
daze. “Fine,” he states as he rose to his feet. He looked to his friends.

“I have something that I need to take care of,” he told them as he made his
way to the doorway again. “H-Heero?” Quatre asked. “Is everyth-” “Everything
will be fine, Quatra, thank you,” Heero interrupted.

“I have a mission that I need to take care of, that’s all.” The others
couldn’t say anything more. Their friend left before they could say
anything.

However, Trowa managed to follow Heero into the basement. Heero walked to
one of the shuttles that would take him to space as he heard the acrobat
call, “Heero?” He turned quickly to see the young man standing there.

“What is it?” he asked coldly. Trowa simply asked, “Shall I tell Duo that
you went to Colony S9?” Knowing he was caught, the Japanese pilot looked at
him with shock first. Then, his face melted to a look of gratitude. He
smiled and nodded, “I’d appreciate that. Thank you.”

Trowa returned the nod, “I’ll tell him as soon as he arrives. Let us know if
you need more assistance.”

The Japanese pilot nodded once more as he turned and entered the shuttle.

************************************************************************

Late that same night, Heero landed on Colony S9. Resting the shuttle safely
from sight and detection with the stealth mode on, he went on foot to find a
place to rest. Soon, he came across a hotel and was lodging there until he
knew where he should go from there.

Kicking his shoes off and lying on the bed, he sighed, “I don’t even know if
I can go through with this.”

The newspaper that he bought was lying next to him. On the front cover the
two soldiers were pictured. He stared at the cover for what seemed an
eternity. News of the trial was everywhere on the colony by now. It was all
everyone was talking about. The schedule decided was two days from now. If
Heero was serious about testifying, he would have to let the Prosecutor know
before the second day passed. But to do this alone, to recall that
nightmarish experience and what happened after...he wasn’t sure if he could
handle it.

Sleep was tugging at him. Though he tried to fight it, he would eventually
give in. Maybe after a good night’s rest, he
would be able to think more clearly. After turning the light off, he threw
the covers over him and drifted off.

************************************************************************

Heero was in a room with Doctor J, Commander Starks and Lieutenant Reinhart.
The room was dark, aside from the light that beamed down on the chair in the
center of the room where Heero was sitting. The soldiers were standing
side-by-side, glaring at the boy through the darkness they were standing in.

Doctor J was pacing just ahead of the child as he finally sighed, “Did I not
tell you to follow the orders that your supervisors gave you, Heero?”

Heero hung his head and whispered, “Yes, you did, Doctor J.” The old man
looked into the young pilot’s eyes. “Then what is this I hear of you trying
to stop them from destroying that town? Most likely, someone would have seen
you and your Gundam. They cannot be allowed to live.”

“They were sleeping, Doctor J,” the boy tried to protest. “They were
innocent people and-”

“And what, Heero!?!” Doctor J shouted harshly. “You are the perfect soldier.
If you intend to stay that way, you cannot be concerned with the fact that
innocent people are going to die. Starks and Reinhart are here to show you
that. The Perfect Soldier does not feel anything. I thought that you
understood that. The Perfect Soldier CANNOT feel anything. If he or she
does, then they are weak and foolish. There is nothing worth your effort to
feel anything. I did not give this life to you and Kumi just so that you
could walk away without becoming the ideal creations that I know you are.”

“I’m sorry, Doctor J.”

“I don’t think you’re sorry enough.

The old man walked to the door between the soldiers. Heero squinted and saw
that he was carrying a limp being over his shoulder as he walked back to the
center of the room.

“See what happens when you make mistakes, Heero,” the doctor yelled as he
threw the bundle before the pilot. It was a girl, but her face was to the
ground as that’s how her unconscious body landed when it was hurled. Her
hair was long and straight and silver. Her body was bleeding in many places
from where she had been brutally beaten.

“KUMI!?!” Heero cried as he jumped out of his chair and gathered his cousin
into his arms. Her face was cut and her eyes would not open. Heero couldn’t
take his eyes away from her hair as he stroked it gently.

Fighting tears, he shouted, “What did you do to her?”

“Everyone pays for a mistake that you make. You’re both Perfect Soldiers and
you have no room for mistakes. You will pay for each other’s mistakes.” He
kneeled in front of the boy and his fallen cousin. He stroked the girl’s
hair and smiled, “It doesn’t look too bad. The bleach that we pumped her
with was enough to make her hair fall out. Instead, it changed from it’s
lovely dark shard to this.”

Heero couldn’t believe his ears as he hoarsely gasped, “Bleach? You pumped
her full of bleach!?!”

“She can’t die that way, Heero. Remember, both of you are unable to die
through blood contamination, or through brutality brought upon you. However,
it does hurt like hell.”

Heero held Kumi close and kissed her forehead as the doctor slapped him
across the face with his metal hand. From the force, Heero dropped his
cousin as he was knocked back across the room.

“Damn it, Heero! You still don’t get it! You have NO feelings! DO YOU
UNDERSTAND!?!” he shouted.

Heero sat up and nodded. The old man sighed and turned his back as he made
his way out the door. “I’ll leave you to your supervisors. They’ll break you
from any feeling.”

When the door was closed, the two soldiers smiled wickedly as they ran
across the room and began to beat the young pilot across the room. The
terrible acts did not end with the brutal physical attack. Both soldiers
took their turns in raping the child several times. The shouts and cries
from Heero finally ended when he realized that there was nothing he could
do. He simply blocked the pain, blocked all feeling, blocked all thoughts,
blocked everything that was seen as weak.

After an hour of the punishment, the soldiers left the room, laughing. They
slammed the door behind the boy, leaving him empty and unable to move as he
lied not far from his cousin’s form. He forced himself to sit up after
several minutes passed as he crawled and lied next to Kumi. She was lying on
her side that face facing him now. The bleeding from her wounds had stopped
but she had not waken up yet. Heero just lied there, looking into her face.
He lied like that for sometime before she finally woke.

Kumi looked at her cousin without any expression in her face. Though she saw
that her cousin had been tortured terribly, she did not know how to feel, or
what it really meant to feel anything. She couldn’t even feel the enormous
pain in every pair of her body after her experience.

“Hi, Heero,” she said to him, with no emotion behind her words.

“Hi, Kumi,” Heero responded the same way.

Some of the silver hair was falling to her side. “Hn.” she shrugged as she
got a good look at it. Kumi couldn’t even begin to know how she should
react, she couldn’t react of she tried. “We have to get back to our rooms
and get ready for tomorrow’s mission,“ she informed him with emptiness in
her tone.

Heero shrugged as well, “Yea.”

************************************************************************

Again, Heero woke with a start, unable to breathe. Again, he was drenched
with sweat. Again, he turned to see Duo lying beside him. And again, his
love was not there to comfort him. He fell back into the bed, agonizing over
the terrible nightmares of days gone by.

“I can’t do this,” he told himself. “I can’t confront those faces
again...not again.” Looking at a clock beside the bed, he saw that it was
3:23 in the morning. This time, he didn’t even wait until the sunrise. He
quickly got out of his bed, threw his green shirt and shoes on, grabbed the
key to the room, a light windbreaker, and left in less than a minute. The
chill in the air was not enough to cause a person to bundle up. The light
blue windbreaker that he grabbed was enough as he threw it on and placed the
key in one of the pockets.

He knew what he needed, a drink...*lots* of drinks. He walked to a bar that
was stationed not far away. Just his luck, it was open all day and all
night. Taking refuge there, he planned to drink every thought and feeling of
the past away, as soon as possible. When he reached the bar, it was almost 4
am. and when 5:18 rolled around that night, he was still there, drinking
away.

The bartender there was amazed by the fact that the young man was able to
hold his liquor as well as he was. He couldn’t have been more than the age
of 17. With the legal drinking age being 15 at this time, he didn’t stop
him. Besides, he was buying drinks left and right. And he liked something
about the young man. Their conversations were short, but being a
grandfather, the bartender was able to know a good kid when he saw one.

Heero ordered yet another shot at this time as the kind man behind the bar
smiled, “You better not be driving home, young man.” Heero smiled and shook
his head, “No, sir. I walked here.”

“Good. I don’t want a kid like you getting hurt out there on the road.” He
poured the shot of Aftershock as the pilot took the glass.

“I’ve lost count of how many drinks you’ve had, you know,” he stated as he
watched the young man in the blue windbreaker and green top suck the liquid
down like water.

His head spinning just a bit, Heero laughed, “So have I.” Heero was
beginning to lean a bit to one side as he was continuing to feel the buzz
that began late that morning. Only now, that buzz was quickly becoming much
more. He pulled out a picture from one of the pockets of his light coat and
stared at it for a while. The man behind the bar noticed that the young man
did this countless times since he had been in the bar.

The bartender leaned on the bar with his folded arms and smiled to Heero.
“Picture of your girlfriend?” he asked kindly.

Heero broke off into a great fit laughter. When he regained some of his
composure, he chuckled, “Boyfriend.”

The bartender now found himself laughing. “Well what do you know!?! I never
would have thought that you were the type!”

Heero fought laughing hysterically again. “I didn’t even know that I was any
type!” The man went back to leaning and smiling. Heero showed him the
picture in his hand.

The image was one that was taken when the he and Duo were on the beach. It
was on a night that the couple held a game of beach volleyball with their
friends. Quatre loved taking photos and took this particular one. Heero and
Duo were sitting with their backs to the ocean. It was obviously just before
sunset as the sky was colored beautiful shades ranging from violet to red.
Duo had his arm around Heero’s shoulders with that huge smile he always had
on. Heero had a big smile on his as well as his arm was around Duo’s
shoulder as well. The man smiled and nodded as he looked at the photo.

“That was the night we admitted out feelings for each other,” Heero informed
him. Handing the picture back to Heero, the man smiled, “That’s real nice,
kid. He looks like he really cares a lot about you.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” the pilot admitted quietly. “So, why don’t you go
see him? You look like you could use his help,” the bartender offered.

“I do need his help, but he doesn’t know I’m here. I have something I need
to take care of here.” The man gasped and nodded, “Ah! I see. Well, just
make sure that you get back to him safe, okay?” Heero saluted, “Yes, sir!”

Just them the door to the bar flew opened with a crash as everyone inside
spun to see who was there. Three men, tall and built, stood there with guns
and masks on.

“All right,” the man in the middle stated. “Just get down and nobody will
get hurt!” Everyone got down to the ground as the three men made their way
to the bar. One of them made sure everyone stayed down, making the mistake
of standing next to where Heero was lying. Another smashed the register
behind the bar with a stick he had with him and the third gathered the money
inside, throwing it into the bag.

Shaking he dizziness out of his head, Heero grabbed the man’s foot how stood
before him, pulling him down to the ground and punching him dead in the jaw
once he fell. As he and the robber wrestled, the other two men were trying
to shoot Heero, but couldn’t in the confusion as the two rolled and fought
each other. Just then, the door flew opened again as someone flew in and
looked at the scene before him.

He dodged two bullets fired by the man who obviously called the shots
amongst the three and landed a kick right in his face as he did so. He then
picked the third person up over his head and threw him into the glass wall
next to them. Heero knocked out the man he was fighting and pulled his gun
from him. He was not able to steady himself much as he fought to stand
straight. Instead, he leaned against the wall and held the gun to the man
lying on the floor. When he soon came out of his slumber, he looked up at
the man he was struggling with. His gun pointed to his head, the man lied
there and put his hands behind his head.

The man in charge of the three managed to make a break for it somehow, but
with his weapon gone, he could not shoot the person that knocked the living
daylights out of him. That man was now using the third robber as a punching
bag. Just as he flew out of the building, the sound of sirens echoed as they
approached the bar. He managed to make it through the dark ally beside the
bar and made a clean getaway.

Inside of the bar, the man who came to aid in stopping the three burglars
came out of the shadows as he knocked his opponent out with one last punch.
His braid fell to his thighs as he looked over to where Heero was lying. He
also managed to knock his opponent out after giving him a whack across the
face. The braided man stood over him. Heero covered his eyes as he looked
up, trying to look past the bright lights.

“We’re split for a few days and look where I find you,” the man teased
kindly.

“D-Duo?” Heero gasped. The man over him bent down, threw his arms around the
fallen pilot and stood him on his feet to look him in the eyes. Sure enough,
the American pilot stood before him, with his arms around his lover and a
huge smile on his face.

“How?” Heero began as he wasn’t sure if the alcohol, exhaustion or confusion
from the fight made him imagine Duo standing there with him in his arms. Duo
softly kissed Heero’s lips. Tasting all of the alcohol on Heero’s lips and
breath, Duo frowned.

“Heero? What have you been doing to yourself?”

The bartender stared at the young man in his priest outfit. Recognizing him
as Heero’s lover in the photo, he gasped and laughed, “Well I’ll be damned!”

Duo heard this and turned to him with a smile as he handed the man the bag
still filled with the money from the register. “This belongs to you, I
presume.”

“Thanks for your help, kid.”

Duo smiled, “Anytime. I’m just glad I got here when I did. Oh! Here,” he
added as he handed the man a fifty dollar bill. Looking at the money, he
asked, “What is this for?”

Duo answered, “You tip for looking after him for me til I got here.” The man
laughed, “Thanks. It wasn’t any trouble at all.”

Heero began to stumble a bit as the alcohol was causing his head to spin.
Duo managed to catch him as he held him close. “Let’s get you back to your
room before you get hurt, Love,” he giggled.

“I’m fine, Duo. Just leave me here for a while.” Knowing that Heero was only
going to protest, Duo sighed and put his hands to his hips.

“Heero, whatever I do, you know that I love you, right?” Heero nodded, “Of
course.” “Good, just as long as you know that.” Duo smiled and swiftly
punched Heero across the cheek. The blow on top of the alcohol and fatigue
in Heero’s system was enough to knock the pilot out without difficulty.

As he fell, Duo quickly picked him up and cradled him in his arms. As he
turned to walk out of the bar, he smiled to the bartender, “Thanks again,
pal.” The man nodded and returned the smile, “It’s been a pleasure. Take
care of him, kid. He really loves you.”

Duo stopped when he heard this. He looked back at him and his smile grew.
Not knowing what to say, Duo simply nodded and headed outside, gently
carrying Heero in his arms.

TBC