Episode Zero Act 2
Duo Maxwell

A.C. 192. A lone ship drifts through space.

"Let me go! Let me go!!"

Inside the ship, two men restrain a child.

"I'm warning you, let me go!"

"You've got a lot of courage, kid, stowing away on our Sweepers ship."

An old man with a long nose..."abundant" hair, and a white lab coat walks in. "What's going on?"

"A stowaway! And he's been stealing our food supplies!"

"Hey, even I want to eat some decent food once in a while. Let me go!!"

The old man ponders. "Let him go."

"But..."

"It's alright. Let him go."

AFTER COLONY 187 - DUO MAXWELL

Ruined buildings populate the inside of a colony. Some are simply leaning too far in one direction, but others are actually severely damaged. A group of children steals some food from a booth in what appears to be a city market.

"Hey! You kids!"

A boy with long hair runs off, carrying food. He laughs. "Go charge it to the Alliance army!"

"What are you talking about?!"

Suddenly, the boy runs into a man and falls to the ground. He drops his food and rubs his head. The priest he ran into kneels down.

"I'm sorry."

The man from whom he stole is still in pursuit. "You!! Get back here!"

The boy jumps up and leaps over the priest's head. "Oops! Sorry, man!" He runs off.

The man finally arrives, rubbing his head and looking around. "Damn! They got me again! I do pity those war orphans, but they steal from me all the time..."

The priest stares off in the direction the child ran.

* * *

Three children gather in a run down old house.

"We pulled it off again, huh, Duo?"

"Yep. Tomorrow, we're gonna sneak into the army warehouse."

The other two children are shocked.

(Original kid) "What?! Won't that be a bad idea...?"

(Second kid who has been silent thus far) "If they catch us, we're dead!"

Duo bites into an apple. "We're lucky we're still alive anyway. Why not do what we can!"

* * *

The three children run toward the warehouse as machine guns fire at them.

The original kid screams. "Run! Run!"

He covers his ears and Duo asks, "Why'd they have to start firing right away!? Are they serious!?"

"The army doesn't care, even if they shoot women and kids!"

"Damn!!"

* * *

Back at the shabby old house, Duo and his friends are surrounded by a bunch of men.

Duo yells at them. "Go away! We haven't done anything! What did we do, anyway!?"

"Don't say you haven't done anything! You stole from the army, fools!"

"Well, we live here! After they destroyed it, what do you expect us to do!"

"The Maxwell Church has just agreed to take you all in. Be thankful!!"

"Church?"

* * *

"Quit it! I'm telling you, stop!!"

The priest walks into the room. "What's wrong?"

Duo sits in a chair, dressed in a priest's outfit. A nun holds him down with one arm while she holds a pair of scissors in the other.

"This child doesn't want to have his hair cut!"

"You got that right! I can't stand to wear these weird clothes, and I'm sure as heck not gonna put up with having my hair cut!"

"But it's all mussed up and dirty..."

"It's fine!"

"Sister Helen, do as Duo says."

"But..."

The priest smiles, and Sister Helen decides to braid his hair instead.

* * *

"Alright, I'm finished."

Duo now sports his braided hair from the TV series.

"You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

Duo grins. "This is awesome! Now I can steal anything without it getting in the way!"

"Are you still carrying on like that?"

The priest pops back up. "As long as you stay with us, you have no need to steal, Duo."

Duo puts his finger to his chin, thinking. "Oh, right. Not a thief anymore. Instead, I'm a beggar."

The priest asks, "A beggar?"

Duo crosses his arms behind his head as he explains. "The church gets its money from donations, right?"

"This kid..." (I think Sister Helen is probably saying a whole lot more right there because of all the text in her little speech bubble, but well, I can't read Japanese, so...)

"I suppose that's right."

"Yep! Don't pretend!"

The priest smiles at Sister Helen.

* * *

A group of kids walks to school, greeting each other. Duo, obviously uncomfortable, stands back.

"Is he going to be alright?"

The priest smiles. "With the proper education he could receive, he could become the best priest this world has ever seen."

"But Duo? All of the other kids have been adopted by families, but they keep sending Duo back to us."

"He's like me when I was younger..." And yes, the priest is still smiling. I wonder if he has any other facial expressions.

* * *

Snow begins to fall on the church. "Wait, Duo!" Sister Helen stops him inside the church near a statue of a woman. "You did it again, didn't you?"

Duo struggles against her grip. "It was their fault!"

"Duo, you put those children in the hospital. How can you say they did wrong?"

Duo stops struggling; he looks guilty, but sad too. "...Yeah, but..."

Sister Helen kneels down in front of him. She thinks, "Duo..." Outloud, "What did they say to you?"

He blushes. "They said... I smell dirty."

She reaches out and hugs him, and he blushes a bit more. "You don't smell dirty at all."

"Re...really?"

"Really. So the next time they say things, just ignore them."

Duo smiles. "Okay."

* * *

"You say there's no god?"

Duo replies, "If there really is a god, he should stop the war." He sits on the priest's lap. "If the war didn't exist, there wouldn't be orphans like me."

And for once, the priest isn't smiling. "Duo... God doesn't start wars, but people do. People have to end what they start."

"Hmm... So it doesn't matter if there's a god or not?"

Sister Helen tells him, "That's not true!"

"I think the only god in this world is Shinigami." (The God of Death)

"Duo... You don't believe in God, but you believe in Shinigami?"

Duo smiles, looking happy for...some reason. "Yeah! I've never seen a miracle, but I've seen lots of dead people!"

Sister Helen just stares at him.

The priest laughs. "It's hard to argue with you."

"You're quite an interesting child."

* * *

"Since Duo came to live at the Maxwell Church, the building was always full of laughter. But... One day, the laughter stopped."

Fire and explosions. Soldiers with machine guns. Mobile suits. Corpses.

"The year was A.C. 188."

At the Maxwell Church, Duo watches as the injured keep pouring in.

An injured man groans, and a second man who's supporting him states the obvious by telling us, "He's injured."

Duo watches in silence and Sister Helen attends to the injured.

One man stands at the altar, apparently the leader. "We have to destroy the Alliance's G2 Point base! It's the only thing left for us to do!"

The followers reply, "Yes, sir!"

Duo thinks, "Is it gonna start all over again? We've all been living here happily until now..."

The leader continues. "All we need is one mobile suit! If we could just get one, our freedom is assured!"

The priest steps up. "Isn't it enough..."

"What!?"

"I believe Hiiro Yuy said before, 'We colonists did not come to space to fight. Whatever happens, we mustn't fight.'"

"You! You try saying that again!"

"And I shall say it as often as possible. We mustn't fight."

An underling yells, "You...!" and hits the priest hard with his rifle.

Duo is stunned. "Bastard!"

Sister Helen runs out and stands between the priest and the militia group. "Please stop! Don't do anything more!"

A woman slaps Sister Helen. "Shut up! We all have to be united! Why do you preach peace and stir up confusion at a time like this!?"

Sister Helen is on her knees now.

One man says, "They might be Federation spies..."

Another, "It's possible, isn't it?"

Sister Helen protests. "N...No...!"

One follower asks the lader, "Shall I make them confess?"

"WAIT!"

Everyone turns and sees Duo.

"One mobile suit is good enough, right!?"

The leader asks, "What?"

"I'll steal one for you! In exchange for that, you guys are out of here, right? This is a place for peace."

"Kids' nonsense..."

"I run, I hide, but I never lie like you guys do."

"What!?"

"Duo! Stop..."

Duo turns and runs out. "I'll get a mobile suit! I'll bring it here to you!!"

"DUO!"

* * *

Duo runs through the ruined colony. He thinks to himself, "Sure I hate the Alliance Army!! But... But...!! If they want war so much, why don't the people who enjoy it fight each other and just leave us alone!?" At some point, he jumped a wall (can't place it exactly due to my lack of ability to read Japanese) and now keeps running as shots are fired all around him.

"St...stop! He's just a kid!!"

"Doesn't matter! We're to kill all colonists!"

"All you do is create more orphans like me!"

He stops momentarily when he arrives in the garage, then spots a truck. "That's it!"

"Huh?!" He runs past some surprised Alliance soldiers and jumps into the truck.

"Hey! Who the hell are you!?"

He starts driving right by the stunned soldiers, and a group of them open fire.

"Don't let him get away! Fire! Fire!"

Duo races through the colony in his stolen truck. "It's just by chance that I'm still alive... I may as well be the one to do the dirty jobs..."

* * *

Duo walks around the rubble, his face a mixture of shock and sadness. "It...can't be..."

"Du...Duo..." Sister Helen lies in the rubble, her face beaten up and blood trailing from her mouth. "I'm so glad... You're alright, aren't you...?"

"Sister!" He runs up to her, kneeling beside her.

"Don't worry us like that... Father was thinking of you until his very last moment..."

"I-I'll call a doctor right away!!"

"The Alliance Army has come... We can't... leave here..."

"I-Is it my fault!? Because I stole a mobile suit from the Alliance!?"

"Father was... a wonderful example... He preached peace to... everyone... until the end..."

"What do you mean, wonderful!? He was just stupid, wasn't he? What did he accomplish by getting himself killed?"

"Duo..." She reaches up and touches his face. "May God... bless you and... keep... you..." Her hand drops.

Tears run down Duo's cheek. Sitting among the ruins, he throws his head back, screaming.

* * *

"The death toll was 245 people. The rebellion in the colony was put down by the Alliance and the OZ Special Forces. The event became known as the Maxwell Church Massacre."

Duo sits on the floor in a prison cell. He's still wearing his priest's outfit, as well as a black cap. Two Alliance soldiers converse outside his cell.

"Hey, you know, he's a survivor from the Maxwell Church."

"Really? He must have made some deal with Shinigami, eh?"

Duo sits in sad silence, staring at the floor.

* * *

A.C. 192. The Moon's north pole. A space ship rests on the lunar surface. Two men in spacesuits stare up at a pyramid type thing.

"With this ship, we could have left the solar system."

"However, right now, it will not do us any good. All we can do is leave it here until the day comes when we can use it."

The first man turns around and we see that it's Professor G. "What are you going to do now?"

"Go back to Earth. I want to go to the seaside and feel the waves."

"Hm. Just what I'd expect from you."

"Take care."

"Yeah."

* * *

The ship has left the moon and is now flying through space. "Let me go! Let me go!!"

Professor G orders, "Let go of him."

"But..."

"Its alright, let him go."

Duo stares ahead defiantly.

"Kid... I can't believe you snuck into this ship. I thought my security system was flawless. How did you do it?"

Duo's eyes are closed and he holds up his hand as if explaining something (or as if he's about to explain how he got in, I guess), but instead says, "That's a professional secret. But, so your pride isn't hurt too badly, I'll admit I had a rough time getting in."

"Interesting brat."

Angrily, Duo replies, "I'm not a brat. My name is Duo. I run, I hide, but I never lie -- Duo Maxwell."

"Maxwell...?" He chuckles. "Maxwell's demon, huh?"

He grins. "Not a demon. I'm Shinigami...!"

END

Written by Dash