Fire.. We were surrounded by fire. Why is ambition like this? Couldn't anyone let the peace go? Just let everyone be happy? We destroyed our gundams. We helped create the Preventers. We failed. Our peace.. It failed.

Duo woke, drawing deep ragged breaths. Then he cried. He'd been having these horrible dreams for weeks now. The war wasn't over. He was still fighting. Why was he dreaming of a twice destroyed peace already? What did he do to deserve such a torture? He tried to keep his sobs quiet and failed, even as he curled up on his side, his face burried in his knees.

The muffled sobbing drew Heero from his light sleep. He was confused at first, trying to understand what was going on. They were currently hiding out in a school. Nothing strange there. So what was that noise.. Duo? "Duo? Is that you?"

Duo drew a sharp breath, trying to stop the helpless tears that refused to heed him, his body shaking with the suppressed sobs. When he spoke his voice was a pitiful whisper. "Go back to sleep Heero." He already knew he wouldn't. This was Heero he was talking to, but he had to at least try.

Heero threw the covers aside, his feet bringing him to Duo's bedside, where he looked down on the curled, shaking figure even as another silenced sob tried to escape him. "What happened?"

Duo rolled onto his back and up to a sitting position, head tilting up to show Heero his tear streaked face. His eyes were haunted, and there was an unsettling calmness to his grief. "It won't ever end Heero."

Slightly alarmed by the normally happy boy's appearance, Heero carefully knelt in front of him. "What won't end?"

"War.. We fail. Again and again. We'll win, then fail again. Every night.. I see how we fail.. Every night for weeks now. We win then the peace is destroyed. A horrible cycle of destruction that will not stop." Duo closed his eyes and ducked his head, his voice trailing away into his whisper. He hadn't shared his night phantoms before. He hadn't been tipped over the edge of tears before. But it was pointless. He would be Shinigami. Never would he be allowed to be Duo for long. Always he would be the esteemed God of Death. The other pilots.. He would title his fellows soon. He leaned forward and clapsed Heero in a tight hug before pulling back. "Just go back to sleep Heero, I'll be fine by morning. You'll see."

Heero didn't understand Duo.. Not when he was like this. It was too strange for him. So he did as told. He went back to bed. And things were just fine in the morning. But that didn't stop the future. It didn't stop them from awakening to their god powers.. It just made things seem like they would be alright. Because it hadn't happened yet. Because they had a war to fight. Because everything was just like normal the next morning. Just like Duo promised.

To be continued...