HONOUR

[Insert disclaimer here]

AN: Uh… yeah. This one isn't as well written as I'd hoped, mostly because my computer's being a pain in the arse and I had trouble editing it. Just bare with me here!

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Wufei sliced his way through the dense tropical rainforest with his booay knife, followed closely by a war-weary Heero.

"The safehouse is just another kilometre or so away," 01 commented, looking down at his compass. "Keep going straight ahead." The pair continued through the roughage, until finally it relented and started to thin out. Wufei put his blade away.

"It's good to be out of that," he said, continuing forward.

"We're almost there," came the reply.

The safehouse was almost in sight. Wufei inwardly sighed in relief at the thought of finally being able to get some sleep after a seventy-hour operation. Too bad he had another mission the very next day.

*Click*

The Shenlong pilot stopped dead in his tracks. Heero looked up from his compass.

"What's wrong?"

"Shit," he cursed, clenching his fists. "Heero… I'm standing on a landmine."

"What?"

"I'm standing on a landmine. I heard it click underneath me. See for yourself."

The Japanese boy crouched down on the ground and brushed aside some of the surrounding grass and dirt around his comrade's foot, soon discovering the round, metal object he was standing on. It was a landmine, alright.

"I'll defuse it," he stated, reaching into his pocket for his bomb defusing kit.

"No, wait," Wufei quipped, "is the mine yellow?"

"Yes," Heero replied, after further inspection.

"Then don't touch it. The yellow ones are specially designed to go off under the slightest amount of pressure after the button's been pressed down, even if its just a blade of grass brushing against it." The former explained. "If you touch it, or if I take my foot off it…"

"Understood. We'll think of another way then."

Wufei sighed in frustration, careful not to shift his weight.

"There isn't another way, Heero," he finally concluded. "These things have been specially designed to trap even the most cautious and learned of soldiers. They've been made by OZ itself- I found details about it after I hacked into one of their bases." Incidentally, that was the very base he had been assigned to attack the next day.

"So you're giving up?" His friend questioned, standing up to look him in the eye.

"No. I'm making an informed decision," came the answer, in a voice that was both confident and nervous.

"Wufei…"

"Heero, I have one final thing to ask of you." 05 remained eerily calm. "I want you to shoot me."

For the second time that day, the Wing pilot was caught off guard. Seeing the confusion in his face, Wufei continued. "The blast from that mine will kill me instantly. However, if it does, that means that I will have not died an honourable death on the battlefield, but out here where my death means nothing. I'd die without honour." His expression softened. "But if you kill me, I will have died at the hands of another soldier, and there is honour in that. I'm asking you as a fellow soldier, and as a friend."

The perfect soldier furrowed his brow. He was familiar with Wufei's strong sense of honour, and his stubborn streak.

"Wufei, are you sure about this? Are you absolutely certain there's no way to defuse this thing?"

"Yes. On both counts." He extended his hand to Heero, and the two firmly shook hands. The mousy-haired boy then took several steps back, away from where he could be caught in the blast of the landmine. The whole time he made sure any emotions, any voices inside him screaming against his actions, were well surpressed. After all, he was the perfect soldier. Slowly, he pulled his gun from its hiding place, and aimed it at Wufei's head. The 05 pilot smiled sadly.

"Goodbye, Heero."

A gunshot echoed throughout the rainforest, startling its inhabitants. Birds took flight from the trees, and lizards scurried underneath their rocks. Heero looked over his friend, lying dead on the forest floor, a river of blood pouring from the gaping gunshot wound between his eyes. Warily, the boy with the gun lowered his weapon. He had expected to hear an explosion from the landmine the Chinese boy had been standing on. Though he knew he shouldn't, he approached the round, yellow device near his comrade's body, and dug it out of the ground. He turned the thing over in his hand and examined it closely.

"It… it was a dud…"

OWARI

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