Disclaimer: La, la, la...not mine...la, la, la.

Author's Notes: After much debate, my inner voices have decided to go ahead and post this second part in honor of my having been chosen to be on the staff of FSU's undergrad literary magazine. And now, all the voices are getting drunk thanks to Tini, my inner bartender.

Dedication: To Bob, my muse.

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Close Your Eyes
by Kristen Elizabeth

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"Look, I don't know what you're expecting me to tell you."

The younger detective leveled his eyes with the violet ones that stared at him, cooly amused "We're expecting you tell us what happened, Mr. Maxwell. The whole truth and nothing but the truth."

An infuriating smile spread on the braided man's lips. "How do you know that my truth is the same as anyone else's?"

"Tell you what." The older detective paced just behind Duo's chair. "Why don't you just tell us what you know and leave it at that? Starting from when you ran into Relena Dorlian on L2-175. Can you do that, Mr. Maxwell?"

Elbows on the table, he leaned forward. "You don't really think she murdered him, do you?"

The younger detective snorted. "You don't really think she's innocent, do you? I mean, we only found her covered in blood and holding onto a gun, the same caliber as the bullets the coroner just pulled out of his body."

Duo shook his head. "She didn't murder him."

"Then who did?" When Duo failed to come up with an answer, the detective continued. "You can start talking anytime, Mr. Maxwell."

After a long moment, he began to speak. "When I heard she was coming to my colony, I had to see her."

The older detective frowned. "Miss Dorlian says she ran into you accidently."

"I'm sure she thinks that she did." Duo crossed his arms over the dried bloodstains on his tuxedo shirt. He was quiet for another minute. "If you know anything about Relena, you ought to know that she doesn't lie. So it's fucking ridiculous that you think she could have taken a gun and in cold-blood shot the man she lov..." Duo stopped.

The detectives looked at each other conspiratorially. "Do you know something about Miss Dorlian's relationship with the deceased that we don't?"

Duo looked up at them and laughed. His words were mocking. "I know more about 'Miss Dorlian's' relationship with 'the deceased' than Miss Dorlian does."

"Really?" The younger detective uncapped his pen. "Why don't you let us in on it?"

He lowered his head; chestnut brown bangs fell over his face. "First of all...you've got it all wrong. It didn't start when I saw her on L2. It all started much earlier than that...."

"Do go on."

Duo closed his eyes as he began to talk. "I met Relena Dorlian during the height of the Eve Wars. We...um...went to school together. Yeah, school. That's pretty much the truth, I guess. The funny thing about truth...it can be as subjective as any philosophy." He shook his head. "Woah, deep thought. Okay, back to the story.

When I met her, she was already helping him out. It bugged the hell out of me, but it also made me stop and think. A wisp of a girl was willing to put herself in front of a gun for someone she barely knew. I guess I thought I was the only one capable of sacrificing my life. But I was very wrong. After those first few encounters, I didn't see her again for a long time. We both fought the battle in different parts of the world and on different kinds of battlefields." Duo paused to take a breath.

"We met again when it was finally all over. Man, had she ever grown up. I only say this 'cause Hilde's not in the room, but the little wisp of a girl had turned into a real knockout. Of course, he was such a moron that he pretended not to see it. I guess that's where it all really started. The masochistic little waltzes they did for the next year. Trowa Barton told me once that he thought they got off more on the idea of each other than on actually being together. But I don't think he was right. There was something there. A connection no one else could see because most people don't look deep enough."

He held up his hands. "Oh, don't get me wrong. They never fucked. That would have required actually getting to know each other. All the time they were together as protector and protectee, they were never just Heero and Relena. They were the soldier and the princess. They didn't know anything more about each other. I mean, did he have any idea that she liked tulips and that she couldn't stand wearing breeches? And did she know that he kept a journal and prayed at a Shinto shrine? I don't think so."

The younger detective cracked his jaw. "Can you arrive at a point any..."

Duo shrugged. "Hey, you two asked about their relationship! I'm just telling you what I know. So...after a year of being together and never being together, Heero split for points unknown. Well, unknown to most. He called me a week afterwards and told me where he was. She got on with her life. I kept in touch with them both for awhile, but after another year, Relena stopped talking to anyone. When I told him, he asked me to keep an eye on her because he couldn't do it himself. Something about it being too hard. Personally, I just think he realized how much he missed her. But pride is a really shitty thing.

Anyways, I got caught up in my life and didn't even really think about Relena until I read that she was coming to L2. I faked the whole 'meeting in the streets' thing. Let me tell you...she looked like hell when I not so accidently bumped into her. Have you ever picked a flea off a cat or a dog and held down in a bowl of water and watched it drown? It kicks all those little legs, begging you to let it breathe. Relena had that look in her eyes, like she was on her last breath of air and at any second, her legs were going to stop kicking.

Geez, that's a disgusting analogy. Sorry about that.

After talking to her for awhile, I did the manly thing. I rescued her. Took her home, made her eat a decent meal and invited myself to her 21st birthday party. I was already planning to drag him along with Hilde and me. Hey, it would have been a great birthday present! At least, that's what I figured. I didn't know he was already planning to go. And I certainly didn't know he was..." He stopped short.

There was a long pause before Duo blinked. "Sorry. I...uh...lost my train of thought."

The older detective massaged the aching space between his eyes. "Anytime you want to get to the murder, Mr. Maxwell...."

"Relena isn't capable of murder, you idiots." Duo plucked at his bloody shirt. "She'd do anything for a friend in need. She has a heart of pure fucking gold."

"What happened at the party, Mr. Maxwell? It's not a difficult question."

Duo abruptly stood up. "How the hell should I know? I spent the whole time with my girlfriend underneath the staircase!" He winked. "She has a thing for public places." His face became serious again. "We only came out when we heard the gun go off upstairs. No one else heard it 'cause that damn orchaestra was playing so loud." He took a breath. "We ran up the stairs and just opened doors until...until we found him."

The younger detective leaned forward, eagerly. "Did you see Miss Dorlian?"

"All I saw was blood." Duo pulled his shirt away from his chest, displaying it. "You see it, too. Heero's blood. Everywhere. Too much blood..." He lifted the back of his hand to his mouth. "Someone shot him and made him bleed so fucking much." The braided man grabbed the edge of the table for support. "He was supposed to be perfect! No one should have been able to get close enough to him to..." His voice faltered. "No one."

"No one...except maybe Miss Dorlian?"

Duo had no response.

The older detective spoke up. "Do you have anything else to say, Mr. Maxwell?"

"Just one thing," Duo said in a voice so quiet and low that it almost wasn't audible. "She would do anything for a friend." He straightened his back, ignoring the wetness on his cheeks. "Don't fucking forget that."

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TBC
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