February 6, 196 AC

LETTERS FROM DUO
(Sidefic series for the Death and the Dragon Arc)

By: Mel and Christy
Warnings: Angst!

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Duo chewed on his lip, trying to decide if he should email Wufei or not. The Chinese pilot hadn't attended the 'party' on Howard's ship, and Duo had missed his presence. He still tended to ignore Duo and make disparaging comments, but the braided teen felt he couldn't just let Wufei drift further and further away from the rest of them. Wufei needed the group, that was all there was to it... not the fact that Duo was possibly, maybe, kind of starting to fall for their taciturn comrade. Nope, that had nothing to do with it.

"Keep telling yourself that, Duo. You might just start to fool that squirrel on 'Scythe's foot," Duo muttered to himself, scrunching down in the camp chair. Sighing, he booted up his laptop and started typing.

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FROM: Demon@Ninth-Circle-of-Hell.org
TO: Dragon_Dude@Scales.com
SENT: 18:26 February 6, 196AC
SUBJECT: Party Pooper!

---message begins---

Wufei-man!

What's happening? You missed the get-together on Howard's ship. It was a blast. We all really needed the down-time, short as it was.

We did some deep sea fishing. Heero has the damndest luck, as usual... he caught a huge swordfish right off the bat. Trowa got a few smaller fish, don't ask me what kind they were. Me? I didn't catch anything but a major sunburn. I look like a broiled lobster in spots, and probably will for a while. Moral: unless you ENJOY extremely painful sunburns, pile on the sunscreen. We almost lost Quatre over the side when he got a massive hit on his line. Luckily, Trowa and Henri grabbed hold of him, but the monster fish got away. Henri is this huge Cajun guy, and one of Howard's top mechanics. He's almost as big as Rashid.

Heero's swordfish ended up as the main course at the luau that night. Howard's cook whipped up a whole bunch of 'tropical' foods. Have you ever had poi? Oh, and did you know Quatre could hula dance? Well, almost.

We only had four days, but we sure made the most of them... fishing, gabbing, swimming. Even played shuffleboard. Weird game, but kinda fun. Heero and Trowa showed up looking like the walking dead. I just felt like a snowman from that damned waste-of-time mission in the frozen tundra. Quatre was the best off of all of us, but he got called away first. Heero and Trowa are off on a joint mission now, and I'm on another solo one. I'm tired of solo missions. At least after this one, I'm supposed to meet up with Quatre at a boarding school. Maybe we'll see you there and I can give you your souvenirs.

Got to run! Things to make go BOOM in the night.

Take care of yourself.

Duo

---message ends---

* * * * *

Wufei spent a very long time staring at Duo's message with a sad, wistful look on his face before starting to compose his reply.

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FROM: Dragon_Dude@Scales.com
TO: Demon@Ninth-Circle-of-Hell.org
SENT: 14:49 February 7, 196AC
SUBJECT: Re: Party Pooper!

---message begins---

Duo,

< < DELETE > >

Maxwell,

It sounds like you had fun. I wish I could have come but...

< < DELETE DELETE DELETE > >

It sounds like you had fun. Please accept my apologies...

< < DELETE DELETE DELETE > >

It sounds like you all had fun. Unfortunately, I was busy. I wouldn't mind so much if it had actually been a productive mission...

< < DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE > >

It sounds like you all had fun. Unfortunately, I was busy on a mission that turned out to be a complete waste of my time. I would have enjoyed...

< < DELETE DELETE > >

I would have liked to...

< < DELETE DELETE > >

I...

-----------

*click*

< < This message has not been sent. Are you sure you want to delete it? Y/N > >

*click*

< < Message deleted. > >

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FROM: Chang@5.NATAKU.ORG
TO: Shi-chan@XXXX.com
SENT: 14:57 February 7, 196AC
SUBJECT: No Subject

---message begins---

Maxwell,

I didn't consider indulging myself sufficient reason to neglect my duties. And I do not consider those email aliases humorous.

Chang

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Wufei hit 'send', then slowly crumpled forwards to rest his head on the keyboard with a defeated sigh.

*Judging by past experience, that should keep him from trying to draw me into group activities for... approximately two and a half weeks.*

"I'm sorry, Duo," he whispered. "I'm sorry."