She opened the door on the second knock, cracking the door as far as the chain guard would allow. It was a move I heartily approved of. Relena would have just flung the door wide open and let herself get killed but Sylvia was proving more cautious than that. That was one less person I had to baby-sit and right now, I was baby-sitting too many as it was. This mission was turning out to be a lot more of a hassle than the easy in and out job Duo had promised. Of course Duo was part of the problem.

Her china-blue eyes widened as they raked over me and the dark clad bundle in my arms. Maybe it was something she read in my face or maybe I was giving her too much credit a moment ago, but what ever it was, she shut the door, the chain rattling as she scrambled to remove it.

"What's happened?" the words tumble out of her mouth before she even gets the door completely open.

"..." I pushed past her into the foyer of her home shifting the precious burden in my arms to allow circulation to flow there. Now was not the time for questions like this--there were too many people around, too many servants and servants had a nasty tendency to gossip amongst themselves. The last thing I needed right now was to start a panic.

"Heero?" Her voice was soft with questions, questions that she would have answered. I could see that in the firm set of her jaw and the tightening of skin around her eyes.

"I need a room," I said curtly.

"Heero, what's going on--"

"Sylvia!" I snapped. She tensed, arms half-raised as if she expected to be struck. Hah, like I could actually free my hands long enough to do so even if I wanted to. I was good but I wasn't that good.

I forced myself to calm down. "Sylvia...please. I promise that I'll explain everything to you later but I need your help right now."

Maybe please really was the magic word--or at least it was magic enough to get an abrupt nod and wave of her hand to follow. I was already regretting my words. I would explain later? Oh yeah, good one, Yuy. Explain that you're Immortal? Explain that your dead partner is the one you're carrying and oh, in a few hours he's gonna wake up as good as new? Oh I can't wait to hear this.

Shut up, I told that snickering inner voice as I followed Sylvia upstairs. She waved her maid--Angelina, if I recalled correctly, away and led me into the room nearest the top of the stairs. I headed straight for the bed and dropped Duo's still blanket covered form onto it. Pushing the blanket aside from his face, I did a quick check. Of course, he would still be *dead*. Oh no, my life can't get anymore complicated, I rolled my eyes.

"Heero, what the hell is going on?" I admired the restrained control of her voice. Unlike Relena who would have probably been in hysterics by this time, Sylvia was displaying remarkable restraint. It made things a hell of a lot easier to tell you the truth.

I studied her, weighing my options and deciding that honesty--the plain, unvarnished truth might be best in this case. If nothing else, it would cut to the chase and there would be no misunderstandings. "Duo's dead and I need a place to hide us until he wakes up."

She blinked then shook her head, rubbing her ears. "I must be hearing things," she muttered, "Duo's dead and you need a place to hide until he wakes up?"

I nodded.

"Oooooooookay," she said slowly. "What, is this some kind of terrorist code talk or something. Like dead mean--"

"Dead means dead," I interrupted. "Sit down, Sylvia. We need to talk and I need you to hear me out."

She frowned but acquiesced, pulling a chair from a nearby desk and plopping it down close to the bed. Okay, so far so good. At least she hadn't said--

"Heero, are you feeling all right?"

I rolled my eyes in despair. Why was that always the first question out of their mouth? You'd think that something more original would come along in a couple thousand years but no, of course not. That would be far too easy.

"If I told you I was delusional or hallucinating, would you at least humor me then?"

"I thought I was doing that when I let you have a room," she snapped. "Don't play these oblique games of yours with me, Heero. You might enjoy them but I most certainly do not."

"Fine," I snapped back, feeling my temper rise. This had been a long, emotionally upsetting day and though I realized she had a point, I wasn't about to concede it to her. Reaching over, I ripped back the blanket covering Duo. "You want to know what's going on? He'd dead, Sylvia. They probably broke every damn bone in his body while they were beating him to death and to add insult to that, they left him hanging like a rack of meat."

My words were harsh, savaging and I didn't stop to consider their consequences as I uttered them. For once I was too caught up in the heat of the moment to let myself slip back into my comfortable mask. And what an effect those heated words were having.

Sylvia had risen from her chair, taking small hesitant steps towards the prone figure on the bed. I closed my eyes though I could clearly imagine what she was seeing. Duo lying against her fresh sheets, waxen and broken, his long hair and clothes matted with blood. She inhaled sharply and I opened my eyes.

"Oh my God," she whispered, pushing her fist against her mouth. She stumbled back and I caught her arm, holding her upright and for the first time, feeling a little bit of guilt about my cavalier attitude. After all it wasn't Sylvia's fault--she wasn't the one I was really enraged with. I was lashing out at a girl who had probably never seen how violent a dead body could be. Get a grip, Yuy, I hissed at myself.

I held onto her, gently propelling her until the back of her knees hit the chair she'd been sitting in earlier. She slid down, never taking her eyes from Duo. I knelt down beside her, "Sylvia?"

She turned towards me, eyes vague then clamped onto my upper arms. "He's really dead," she said hoarsely.

I nodded.

Her eyes were filling with tears but she held them in check. "I'm sorry, Heero. I'm so sorry."

She... she was what? I stared at her stupidly trying to make sense of her words.

"I know he was your friend," she squeezed my arms. Her face was so open, so sympathetic... Please don't let her latch on to me like Relena, I thought with dismay.

"Still is," I muttered, wishing to hell that braided idiot hadn't landed me in this mess. "Providing I don't kill him when this is all over."

"Heero!" Sylvia chided, "I realize that you must be in shock but jokes like that are tasteless, don't you think?"

I shook my head. "You really don't understand, Sylvia. Duo's not dead."

"Uh..." Her eyes got a little wild and I could already see the doubts about my sanity beginning to creep in.

"Well, he's dead," I fumbled, "but not for long."

"Heero," Sylvia said patiently, kindly even. "Dead is dead. You don't come back." ***End Teaser.