It had been four years since the war and still he hadn't grown up, hadn't found a place to settle, hadn't committed to anything except maybe the idea that he should probably be committed. He wasn't crazy in the contextual sense, but in the 'fucked up and emotionally disconnected' sense. But hell, he didn't really care; he liked being fucking unpredictable in that predictable sort of way.
"Shit," he muttered under sultry breath, as a throb assaulted his skull. He reached up to touch an old injury he'd gotten after abandoning the only person who ever actually cared about him in a hospital on X-18999. It was some kind of fucked up karma for running out when things got shitty.
He'd been caught in an explosion, a terrorist bomb on one of the vague colonies he'd been hiding out on. Half his scalp had been removed from the bonds of his skull and though his braid still hung down his back, most of the right side of his head was shaved in an oddly attractive way due to the fiery explosion. Shit fuckin' painful, but he figured he'd had some kind of twisted good luck that his whole head hadn't been blown off. So now he had these gnarly scars and his hair wouldn't grow right in some places, thus the new look was born.
Karma didn't want to kill him, just fucking maim him and take away part of the thing he valued most. Fuckin' karma.
When the words left his mouth Duo had the worst impulse to laugh again, though he didn't because Wufei was being all business and seriousness, as improbable as his statement could possibly be. A ringing began in his head as the words echoed back through his ears. "Heero Yuy is dead." Several years after the war, on the streets of Earth, Duo Maxwell is pulled out of his reclusive life by an old comrade seeking help with a murder conspiracy. 1x2x1.
My notes: This starts out as a murder mystery and then turns into a thriller - someone wants the pilots reunited, but who, and why? And more importantly, how do they manage to keep staying two steps ahead of the pilots? There's a decent amount of angst in this, and some TV-show levels of violence. Much like the pilots, the "what is going on?" will frustrate you until the plot becomes clear - but it's a very satisfying plot and resolution.