Duo shook his head, feeling the darkness touch him, as if it were the hand of Death. He had been dreaming, but always his dream morfed into nightmares. He adjusted his eyes, placing the place where he had woken up again. He closed his eyes. Candelaria Cathedral. Free sector 19D. The mission that had been delivered to them had been completed, and they had abandoned their Mobile Suits and hood here, desperate to survive. He opened his eyes as their reality came back to him.

He shook his head, clearing his mind from the nightmares it had been having. All throught the night he had woken up in intervals, reached out to graps reality, found himself here, and drifted back to restless sleep. Only to wake again. The nightmares kept hunting him. Huge machines, its huge legs destroying the ground they invaded; their huge arsenals spitting fire at the streets; the cries of the people grwoing louder each time. Louder. He had been standing in a mountain in each dream, just standing and overlooking the destruction. As if he was part of the OZ, and he was the master mind behind the devastation. He had woken up each time he had seen the look of his eyes in the dreams. His eyes, so much evil and cruelty he saw in them. Not his eyes at all.

The dark ceiling with its huge domes loomed above him, dark and cold. He moved his hurting neck; it had stiffened from sleeping in a bad possition. He looked at the pew where Hiro had fallen asleep. He got up from the floor, his back creaking inmensely, looking about for Hiro, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. A sleepless night.

Hiro felt when the other boy woke up. He watched Duo in the darkness, as the boy stretched, walked around, and sat again in one of the pews. Duo was having a terrible night, he could tell. Like him, Duo had slept little if at all. The young boy turned his gaze back to the view outside the window he was sitting at.

Outside, a soft, gentle rain had begun to fall in the night. The streets were lit dimly with an ocational light post that had survived the Mobile Suit attack. There were a few night walker outside, taking the risk of walking in the war infested city. He looked at a lone man, battling with his umbrella, walking down the street, leaning against a mail box. The man seemed familiar to him, and ever so kind, but Hiro shook his head. Like Duo, dreams had kept him awake all night and the past kept crawling up from its darkness to wake him.

"Slept about as much as me, I guess, Hiro," Duo said, his voice grodgy from lack of sleep in the darkness.

Hiro turned around his head, acknowledging the other boy's presence. He had known he had been looking at him. He wondered what Duo's violet eyes saw in him. Duo walked closer to one of the windows and looked down at the streets Hiro was looking at. Quiet rain hit the painted window glass. He rested his elbow in the stone arch around the window, and looked at the falling rain. It seemed so quiet outside, so different from his head.

Hiro had leaned back against the arch, shifting his tired legs, Duo noticed. The boy couldn't help but look at Hiro's now bare feet; at how tiny and delicate they looked. Duo smiled grimly, running a hand over his hair. It needed a good washing, and a good combing, but there was no time for such things. Hiro got up from the window arch, and walked to the back of the penitance box, going around the altar, his bare feet hardly making any noise. Duo drew away from the window, watching the man with the umbrella walk into one of the coffee shops along the street.

Duo walked back to the pews, looking at the many statues that lined the walls, at the Virgin Mother that held the long candle, the patron of the cathedral. He smiled, remembering the many tales about her he knew as a child. She, her lovely dark eyes and dark hair, looked down at him silently, the long candle in her hand shinning in the darkness. Duo turned his head, looking at Hiro, who stood by the ambon.

"Will you return to your Gundam Suit?" Duo said, his voice sounding strange in the darkness.

Hiro looked intensely at the Virgin he had been looking at and did not answer. Duo frowned, cursing himself. Why couldn't Hiro at least pretend to be in this world and do a little talking? That was a good way to make this hellish night to end. Duo looked outside at the rain. The dawn seemed so far away, yet the night had gone on forever.

"Who is she?"

Duo gasped and turned his head to look at Hiro. He had spoken, his voice lifeless in the darkness, his eyes uncaringly looking at the statue. Duo blinked and looked back at the Mother Virgin, running a hand over his hair.

"She is the Lady of Cinders," Duo answered. "The Virgin of the Candles and patron of this cathedral."

Hiro looked at the statue closer, his brown eyes devoid of any feelings, his mouth closed tight. He walked closer to see her better, coming closer to Duo's side. The statue was beautiful, her long blue robes lined with golden. Her hair hung down over her breasts, curly and dark. A lovely crown of gold adorned her head, and the long, white candle she held in her hand seemed to reach towards eternity. The wall she was part of was adorned with the richest of golden engravings, the Neoclassical arquitecture surrounding her set her magestically apart. Duo looked at Hiro silently, wondering if he saw the beauty as well.

"She is the mother of God, granted life without sin," Duo said, as Hiro stood silent. "It is common to burn and gather cinders in her honor in some parts of the country. Looks like this cathedral is a replica of the one in Mayaguez. A very old city, mind you, and I have never been at it, but in my orphanage they used to tell me all about other countries. Maybe after I am done with these missions, I'll go there. They say they sell great drinks there, good sangria. I'd have to see for myself-"

Duo fell silent as Hiro turned around, his brown eyes angry, anoyed at such ramblings. The young pilot blushed, aware that he talked too much sometimes, and angry at Hiro. He had asked who she was, hadn't he?

Duo wondered what was going on in the boy's mind. He wished he could find out, and take it away. Whatever it was. Duo wanted to share his thoughts with the boy, tell him about the many things he had seen, the stories about the Virgin, but he didn't dare. Hiro was such a strange boy. Lightning lit the building, its noise booming, echoing in the ceiling. Duo cringed his teeth. He had never much liked lightning. Hiro's brown eyes were looking at him again.

The long haired boy laughed wearily, ashamed that such silly things scared him. He stopped, old nightmares coming back to his head. Hiro frowned, looking at him more intently. The boy bit his lip, looking at Hiro. Silently, Hiro sat down, letting his tired body and broken legs collapse bellow his heavy body. Duo watched as the boy slid into the ground, the white altar hidding him.

"Doushita, Hiro...?"

The young man only looked at him, his eyes revealing a human tiredness that Duo had never seen before. The young boy frowned, his heart aching for Hiro. How he wished he could take whatever thorn lay in the boy's soul. The night indeed was tireing, the long runaway seemed like a nightmare now along with the desperate plan. The wild mission had collapsed after the OZ officials had taken control of the base again. Deathscythe and the 01 had been abandoned recklessly, counting on their intelligence and logistics to proove better. OZ had prooved better, not them. Both machines' self destroy mechanisms had been activated, and both boys had run off into the night. Chance had kept them alive, luck and Heaven's mercy.

Duo closed his eyes, thanking God that he had kept them alive. Hiro lay his head backwards, his eyes closed. The boy was so tired, his body ached as if Death was coming for him, but it was taking too long. Duo slid down into the floor, staying a few feet away from Hiro, giving the boy privacy. He looked at his face, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm tired, Hiro," Duo said. "When will this night be over, and this cursed war?"

Hiro looked at him, his eyes darkening. Without the war, Duo wondered, Hiro was nothing. He wondered if Hiro had any family to return to when this was all over; if he would stay with Relena. Hiro's head slid fowards into his chest. It was becoming too tired to keep up for much longer. Sleep was taking over, his whole body wanted to sleep and he had lost so much blood his limbs were weak. Duo watched the boy struggle to stay awake, perhaps fearing that someone would catch him sleeping, unprepared. Defeat. Failure had always haunted Hiro, ever since he met him.

"Not any time soon."