LIFE, LOVE AND FAMILY

A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH

BY THE ORACLE AT DELPHI

Thanks so much for your patience. And thanks for all of the reviews. YOU GUYS ARE GREAT!! By the way, do you guys want a sequel? I know this one isn’t finished but I was just wondering.

Legal stuff: I don’t own Gundam Wing. Santa left coal in my stocking instead.

On to chapter 9 by the way keep an open mind about this one:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lady Une and Simon spent the entire night pouring over the dossiers of new recruits of the last six months. The sun peaked over the horizon alerting the pair that it was now dawn. They had put the dossiers of the possible suspects in a separate pile.

“What about her?” Simon asked as he handed Lady Une the dossier.

“Samone? I don’t think so. She’s my secretary and I trust her.” Lady Une replied as she tossed it into the no pile.

Simon took it from the pile and placed it in the suspect pile.

“From what I heard the girls were ambushed at that base. That information could have come from someone high up.”

“Are you second guessing my judgment?” Lady Une said with a hint of annoyance in her voice as she stared at Simon.

“No” Simon replied going on the defensive staring back, “I just don’t want to over look anybody”

‘Still as feisty as ever’, Simon thought.

They held each other’s gaze for a moment before they went back to work. Twenty minutes later they finally got down to the last dossier.

“Steven Bishop” Lady Une said as she read the name on the last dossier looking at the picture of the man with short blond haired.

Simon took the dossier from her hand brushing his fingers against hers and placed it in the suspect pile.

“I know he’s up to no good. I’ve met him before.”

Simon gathered up the suspect dossiers and placed them in his briefcase. Lady Une gathered up the remaining dossiers and placed them in her desk drawer to file later.

“I’ll start doing background checks later today but first I think we both could use a little sleep.”

“Good Morning, Lady Une” Samone said as she entered Lady Une’s office.

“You’re in the office rather early. Are you always here this early.” Simon asked suspicious of the black haired Chinese woman.

“I’m sorry. Who are you?” Samone asked as she eyed Simon up and down.

“Samone Ling this is Simon Davis. Simon this is Samone” Lady Une said as she introduced the pair.

Simon and Samone shook hands.

‘What the hell is happening to me’ she thought as she controlled her jealousy. She looked over his features trying to find something wrong with him. The man was flawless much to her chargin.

“I’ll buy you breakfast.” Simon stated to Lady Une startling her out of her musings.

Something about Samone rubbed him the wrong way. He opened the door for Lady Une and followed her out.

Samone was left alone in Lady Une’s office.

“What’s your angle Simon Davis?” Samone asked out loud as she shut the door to the office.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Orange and Yellow rays played across the faces of the sleeping couple. She snuggled closer to him as he tightened his arms around her. He brushed her hair back from her forehead and kissed her. She stirred and yawned before opening her eyes. He smiled down at her and she smiled back.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve dreamed of waking up in your arms?” Noin asked.

“Yes I do.” Milliardo replied before kissing her passionately.

They were slowly getting swept up in their passion.

***POUNCE***

“Mommy!! Daddy!!!” Duce shouted as he landed in between his parents.

“Good morning little man”, Noin said as she pulled Duce into a hug.

“Good morning son”, Milliardo said as he held his family.

Duce chatted endlessly about school and his friends for ten minutes making sure to leave nothing out. He was having the time of his life catching his father up on the first five years that he missed.

“Duce, have you had breakfast yet? It’s almost time for school.” Noin said getting up from the bed.

Duce looked at Milliardo, “Daddy, will you have breakfast with me?” he asked with pleading eyes.

Milliardo smiled at his son, “I’ll be down as soon as I get dressed. Why don’t you go and do the same.”

Duce kissed Noin, jumped from the bed and ran from the room, “YYYYYYAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!”

Milliardo pulled Noin to him for another kiss, “We’ll finish this later.”

“Count on it”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The vibrant colors of the stain glass windows glowed as the morning sun shined through them. Heero awoke. He was slightly startled to realize he fell asleep in the chapel. He turned his head to see Relena snuggled close to him. Heero smiled, a rare real smile. He put a stray strain of golden blond hair behind her ear.

‘This is how I want to wake up every morning.’ Heero thought.

Relena bolted straight up from her slumber, “Who, What, Where…” she stammered disoriented.

She look at Heero’s smiling face then she remembered that they were in the hospital’s chapel. She smiled back at him.

“You have a wonderful smile, Heero. You should flash it more often”

“For you, anything.”

Relena looked at him dumbfounded. Heero took her hand and stood up as she did the same. They left the chapel hand in hand.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Wufei, Quatre, Trowa, Kellee and Catherine were sitting in the chairs around the waiting room. Heero let go of Relena’s hand as they emerged from the left hallway heading toward the waiting area causing Relena to frown. Sally and Jase were coming from the right hallway discussing the antidote Jai had went to inject into Duo’s IV line. It was early in the morning and silence permeated the waiting room.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jai and Hilde immediately stopped their celebrating. Duo was crashing again. Jai placed her hand on Duo’s forehead and closed her eyes concentrating on searching his mind. Hilde grabbed Duo’s hand in hers.

“NO DUO! DON’T LEAVE ME!!!” She shouted trying to make him hear her. Jai’s eyes flew open and she ran to the desk that was in the room. She shoved the desk in front of the door and locked it. She ran back over to the bed, jumped on top of Duo straddling his hips. She grabbed Hilde’s hands and pulled her towards them. Hilde was crying franticly.

“Hilde, I need for you to listen to me. What I’m going to do is odd and unexplainable. I only did it once and I don’t know how the hell I’m able to it. I need for you to trust me and do as I say if were going to save Duo. OK?”

Hilde calmed down a bit and shook her head in agreement.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At the sound of that dreadful tone everyone ran for the door to Duo’s room. Sally and Jase were the first to reach it. When they tried to open it they found it locked.

“What the?” Jase said as he tried to shake the door off its hinges.

“Jai!! Hilde!! The door is locked!! Let us in!!” Sally shouted as she banged on the door.

“Why did they lock the door?!” Quatre asked worried that they will not be able to get to Duo in time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Hold Duo’s hand and take my hand.” Jai told Hilde.

Hilde did as she was told. Jai placed her hand back on Duo’s forehead.

“When I say go, I want you to tell Duo how much you love him and not to leave you”

Hilde nodded her head and looked back at Duo. Jai closed her eyes. All of a sudden Hilde felt an immense power she couldn’t begin to fully explain. The power was strong, warm and comforting. At once Jai, Hilde and Duo were surrounded by a golden glow. Hilde was amazed at what she saw. Jai had her eyes close and her eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. All of this seem so strange to Hilde but she put her trust in Jai to bring Duo back to her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Death continued to strangle Duo. Duo was struggling to get out of Death’s grip. The longer Death held on to him the more strength he seemed to lose.

“Duo! Duo! Where are you?”

Duo heard his name and tried to locate where it was coming from while fighting death.

“Duo! Duo! Where the hell are you?”

Duo heard his name again and figured out it was coming from the golden light, the land of the living. Duo began to fight harder. He was finally able to flip Death over on her back and began banging her head on the ground. Death screamed, loosen her grip on Duo and he broke free. He quickly got to his feet and made another run for the golden light.

“Jai, is that you?!” He yelled as he made his way to the golden light.

“Give me your hand Duo!” Jai yelled to him from the other side.

Duo saw Jai’s hand emerge from the golden light. He reached out for it but before he could grasp her hand, he felt Death grab a hold of his ankles and pull him back.

“Damn it Maxwell. Didn’t I tell you no one escapes Death!” she shouted as her began to punch Duo. Duo fought back with all the strength he had but he was already weaken from earlier. Death was able to get a hold of Duo’s neck again. He felt the sharp coldness course through his body once more as he became weaker and weaker. Duo’s eyes slid close.

“I’m sorry Hilde”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In Duo’s room the monitor continued its screeching noise and the door continued to pound against the desk.

“I’m sorry Hilde”

Jai increased her power and yelled, “HILDE GO!”

“I LOVE YOU DUO!! DON’T LEAVE ME!”

Duo’s eye’s popped open. “HILDE!”

“COME BACK TO ME!! I NEED YOU!!”

Duo felt his strength returning to him.

“I LOVE YOU, ONLY YOU DUO!”

Duo began to fight back fiercely. He gained more and more strength as he heard Hilde’s repeated words of love. He was feeding off of it. Her love for him was giving him the strength to live.

“DUO! GIVE ME YOUR HAND!”

Duo heard Jai’s voice again and this time he saw her hand stretched out to him from the golden light.

“DUO! I LOVE YOU! PLEASE DON”T GO!”

At the sound of Hilde’s plea, Duo was able to gather enough strength to throw Death off of him as he made another attempt for the golden light. Death quickly recovered and was in hot pursuit of Duo. Duo could fell the coldness as Death closed in on him. Just as Death was about to reach for Duo again, he dove for the golden light.

Sweat began to bead on Jai’s forehead as she fought to maintain the connection with the other side. Hilde continued to tell Duo how much she loved and needed him. Jase and Sally continued to bang on the door and the monitor continued to wail.

“COME ON DUO! GRAB MY HAND!” Jai yelled.

Duo felt himself glide through the air toward the golden light, which was more intense now than it had been the previous times.

“I WILL NOT BE DENIED MY PRIZE” Death yelled as she dove for Duo.

Duo felt himself descending toward the golden light and the coldness of Death hovered near him. Duo stretched his arm reaching for the hand that was waiting for him. Death made a grab for Duo’s ankle again. Duo could feel Death on him and he stretched his arm straining the muscles in it.

“COME ON! COME ON! DUO”

“DUO! I LOVE YOU! PLEASE, PLEASE COME BACK TO ME”

Death touched Duo’s ankle and the coldness shot through his leg. All of a sudden Duo’s hand landed in Jai’s and he felt himself being pulled into the golden light.

“NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Death wailed as she watched Duo go into the light.

There was a flash of golden light as Jai thrown off of Duo and into the desk in front of the door.

***BOOM***

The door jerked as Jai slammed into it and landed on the desk. She slid off of the desk and onto the floor. She was now unconscious.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Duo was back amongst the living. Hilde ran to the door, moved the desk and unlocked the door. Hearing the steady beep of the monitor Hilde ran to check on Jai. The door burst opened and seven bodies came crashing in.

“What the hell happened in here?!” Jase asked as he survived the desk out of place.

“Why was the door locked?” Sally asked.

“What happened to Jai?” Heero asked as he spied his sister on the floor unconscious.

Heero kneeled down by his sister with Quatre close behind him. Heero pulled Jai into his arms.

‘How in the hell am I suppose to explain what happened when I don’t understand myself’, Hilde thought.

“Hilde” a raspy voice whispered.

All eyes shot to Duo who began to stir in his bed. Hilde ran to the right side of his bed and grabbed his hand.

“Duo. It’s me. I’m right here”, Hilde said as she ran her fingers through his hair. He fought to open his eyes. When he was finally able to get them open he was rewarded with the sight of his angel with tears of joy in her eyes. He reached up and wiped her tears away with his thumb and smiled at her. She smiled back and kissed his forehead.

“Well welcome back little brother.” Jase said as he and Sally approached the left side of his bed.

“It’s good to be back.” Duo replied never taking his eyes off of Hilde.

“Uh” Jai moaned as she slowly began to regain unconsciousness. Her head felt like an out of tune marching band was inside of it, tormenting her. She felt drained and tired.

Heero looked down at his sister as she opened her eyes. Quatre continued to stroke the back of her hand.

“Why am I in your lap?” She asked Heero in a low voice.

“I was going to ask you the same thing?”

“Jai, why was the door locked and what happen in here?” Jase asked.

Jai sat up in Heero’s lap, “Jase there are something’s in the universe that can’t be explained and that’s one of them.”

Jai got up from Heero’s lap and walked over to Duo’s bedside.

“Was that real?” Duo asked Jai.

“As real as it felt. How do you feel?”

“Tired” he replied.

“Me too” she said as she smiled at him.

“I hate to break this up but we need to examine him. So would you all..” Jase trailed off as he gestured toward the door.

Everyone started to leave the room. Hilde began to leave also when she felt Duo tug on her hand.

“I’ll be back as soon as he’s finished.” She said as she flashed him a smile.

Duo nodded and shut his eyes. He was so tired but he wanted to tell Hilde how much he loved her.

Relena, Trowa, Catherine, Kellee, Quatre and Jai each took a seat in the waiting room. Heero and Wufei leaned against opposite walls. Hilde waited patiently outside the door. Twenty minutes later Jase emerged from the room with a smile on his face.

“I think he’s going to be just fine. He just needs time to rest and we need to run some more tests but he should be out in a couple of days.”

Yelps of joy erupted from the girls, Quatre smiled and Heero, Trowa and Wufei smirked.

“He wants to see you Hilde.”

Hilde made a “B” line for the door with a big smile on her face. Catherine walked over to Jase and gave him a hug. Quatre looked over at Jai when he felt someone slump against him. Jai was fast asleep. He ease her head down in his lap and Kellee put her legs on the chairs next to her. She was so tired she didn’t even stir. Relena smiled at Heero and he nodded his head at her. Trowa went to call Milliardo and Wufei to call Lady Une. They all decided to wait for the test results before they headed home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hilde quietly shut the door to Duo’s room. She walked over to the bed and took the seat next to it. Duo heard her sit down next to him and opened his eyes. They smiled at each other as Hilde took his hand in hers.

“I heard you calling to me when I was on the other side.” Duo said as he face turned serious.

Hilde gazed into his eyes, ”I meant ever word of it. With all of my heart and all of my soul.”

Duo brought his hand up and cupped her face. He began lowering her face to his never breaking eye contact. When their lips were nearly touching he said, “I love you too. Not even Death could keep me from you.”

Their lips met in a soft first kiss. It was short and sweet. There would be time later to explore the depth of their love for each other. Duo moved over and Hilde slipped in beside Duo mindful of the blue colored IV still in his arm. They both held each other as they both fell into a light sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~Two hours later~*~*~*~*~*~

“Test results came back negative. Duo is going to make a full recovery.” Jase said grinning from ear to ear. All of a sudden he burst out laughing hysterically. He doubled over holding his sides.

“What the hell is wrong with the unbraided baka?” Wufei asked. He called Duo the “braided baka” and Jase the “unbraided baka”.

Jase pointed to the source of his laughter, “Look!”

All eyes turned to look at Quatre and Jai and widen. Quatre had fallen asleep. He was slouched down in his chair and his head was tilted back resting on the wall. His hand was tangled in Jai’s hair. Jai had somehow turned over in her sleep and had her head buried in Quatre’s crotch with her arms wrapped around his waist. From the way Jai’s head was resting in his crotch and Quatre’s head tilted back, it looked like Jai was giving Quatre a really great blow job.

“Damn! Where is a camera when you need one? Jai’s going to have a fit.” Kellee chuckled.

Jase, Sally, Catherine, Kellee and Relena began laughing hysterically. Wufei and Trowa tried to keep a straight face. Heero was furious and walked over to Quatre and smacked him in the head waking him.

“What the…” Quatre said startled awake. He turned his face toward a very pissed off Heero.

“What the hell is your problem?” He said getting pissed.

Jai moaned and nuzzled her face in his crotch. Everyone but Heero laughed harder. Quatre felt something rub against him and looked down in lap.

“What’s so funny?” Jai said slowly waking up staring at Quatre’s belt buckle.

Prussian blue eyes met aquamarine and froze as the reality of the situation dawned on them.

“SHIT” they both said as they sprang apart.

Jase, Kellee and Catherine fell in the floor laughing.

“This is embarrassing”, Jai said trying to figure out how they ended up like that.

“It’s all a misunderstanding. I wasn’t trying to do anything with your sister.” Quatre said taking a few steps away from Heero.

“He knows you would never “force” his sister to do anything she didn’t want to do. But you have to admit the sight was priceless.” Relena said as she stood between Quatre and Heero.

“There’s not a picture of the little scene is there?” Jai asked as she turned on the Yuy death glare at Jase.

“No. I didn’t have a camera handy”

“You’re lucky. You’ll live to see another day.”

‘But there’s always the surveillance tapes. I bet Duo would love to see it’ Jase thought as he got up from the floor.

~*~*~*~*~*~Two days later~*~*~*~*~*~

Duo was about to tuck his shirt in his pants when a young red head nurse walked in. She gaped at the sight of the handsome man before her. She let her gaze travel up and down the length of his frame.

“Are you Duo Maxwell?”

“Uh yeah.” Duo replied.

“I’ve been looking for you.” She said.

The red head nurse walked up to him and kissed him on his lips wrapping her arms around him. Duo put his hands on her waist to push her off.

“DUO! YOU JACKASS!”

A startled Duo pushed the red head girl away from him.

“HILDE! Its not what it looks like”, he said as he approached her.

“Whatever Duo. You are such a bad liar”, Hilde shot back.

Duo could see her heart breaking in her eyes. He had to think of something quick.

“Hey I don’t lie. She was kissing me. I don’t even know who she is.”

“Duo, this was a bad idea. We should just forget about it.” Hilde replied as she stormed out of his room.

Duo felt his heart break into a million pieces. The pain was over whelming. He was losing her and the pain in his chest intensified.

“Hilde!! Wait!!”

Duo tried to chase after Hilde only to run into Quatre and Trowa.

“What the hell did you do now?” Quatre asked.

Trowa looked over at the red head nurse and back to Duo noticing his untucked shirt, “You didn’t”

“No I didn’t but Hilde thinks I did”

“You really blew it this time.” Quatre said.

“I love her and I will get her back.” Duo said as he grabbed his bag and left the room.

The red head smiled knowing that her job had been done.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Catherine, Kellee and Jai were waiting outside of the hospital for the others to come out. Kellee reached in her pockets and pulled out the ID’s of the assassins that had tried to kill Felicia Baker.

“I found these on our, would be assassins from that apartment”, Kellee said as she showed the ID’s to Jai and Catherine.

“The Starlight Foundation?” Catherine said confused, “Aren’t they a charity foundation?”

“They supposedly help people who where misplaced during the war of ’95.” Jai replied.

“Well it looks like they have a side business. What would a charity need with assassins?”

The doors of the hospital burst open and a visibly upset Hilde came storming out.

“What the hell did he do now?” Jai asked.

Hilde laughed, “You know Quatre said the exact same thing. Are you sure you two have nothing going on?”

Jai frowned, “No there’s nothing going on. Remember I don’t date. This isn’t about me. It’s about you. What’s wrong?”

Hilde burst into tears, “I trusted him and he said he loved me but he was in his room half dressed kissing a young red head nurse. She had her arms around him and he had his around her waist. The pig. I’m going home. To hell with Duo”

Hilde walked toward her car and Jai followed. Catherine and Kellee looked at each other and walked into the hospital. They took the elevator up to Duo’s floor and ran into the guys who were waiting for the elevator.

“Hilde’s gone Duo. I wouldn’t try to talk to her right now she’s too upset. You really hurt her this time, Duo.” Catherine said.

“Damn It” Duo said as he punched the side of the elevator. Things just went from bad to worse.

“Hey guys wait for us. Jai and Hilde left in her car already. We’ll be down in a minute.” Kellee said as they walked down the hall and the guys boarded the elevator.

“Where are you going Kel?” Quatre asked.

They girls didn’t reply they just kept on walking. Trowa saw the look on his sister’s face and knew she was on another hunt. More than likely the prey was a certain red head nurse.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hilde was driving like a bat out of hell but this didn’t scare Jai at all. She lived her life on the edge everyday and this day was no different.

“Hilde. There must be a perfectly good explanation about what happened back there.”

Hilde whipped the silver Jaguar around the corner and on the freeway heading back to the Loft. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she tore down the freeway. The pain in her heart was too much to deal with. She waited seven years for him to say, “I love you” only for it to be a lie. All of her dreams were shattered. Something’s were a fate worse than death.

“I don’t ever want to talk to or about Duo ever again, Janai”

‘This is really bad. She said my whole name. Getting them together just got a whole lot harder’

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kellee spotted the red head nurse as she entered a room pushing a cart of cleaning supplies. Catherine and Kellee followed her and close the door behind her.

The red head nurse turned around. “May I help you?”

“You sure can.” Kellee replied.

Catherine and Kellee pulled out their guns and pointed it at the girl’s head. The red head gasped.

“What do you want from me?” she asked scared.

“Why did you kiss Duo Maxwell?” Catherine asked as she and Kellee walked over to the girl, their guns till aimed at the girl’s head.

“An old rich woman with gray hair paid me $5000 to do it. She said a kiss from a beautiful girl like me would make her grandson feel better.”

Catherine and Kellee looked at each other, put their guns away and walked out of the door.

“Sorry for scaring you and thanks for the info”, Kellee said as she exited the room.

Catherine turned to Kellee with a disgusted look on her face and pushed the elevator button down.

“Do you ever leave those damn manners of yours at home?”

“I can’t help it.” Kellee replied as they boarded the elevator.

When they arrived at Kellee’s Mint Green Mercedes SUV, Duo was swearing up a storm, Quatre was trying to calm him down and Trowa was leaning against the SUV.

“Well?” Trowa asked.

“It seems our gray haired friend has made another visit. She paid that girl $5000 to kiss Duo.” Catherine responded.

Trowa raised an eyebrow, “That’s interesting.”

Duo and Quatre looked at Catherine and Trowa.

“Are we missing something?” Quatre asked.

“What the hell do you mean she was paid to kiss me and who the hell is “our gray haired friend”?” Duo asked irate.

“Well it seems a rich gray haired old woman is our enemy. She paid one girl $50,000 to poison your food then sent three guys to kill her. She paid that nurse $5,000 to kiss you.” Kellee answered.

“Oh, so you’re saying some old lady is paying big money to fuck up my life?” Duo replied sarcastically.

“That’s about the jest of it.” Catherine answered as she climbed into the SUV.

“That bitch had got to go. Living without Hilde is a fate worse than death.” Duo stated.

“I think that’s what she’s trying to accomplish” Trowa said as the doors to the SUV closed and roared down the street.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Duchess, do you have the Yuy girl in your possession yet?” The doctor asked through the vid phone.

“No. Not yet. These things take time. Were not dealing with a normal girl here.” The Duchess replied.

“Of course she’s not a normal girl. She’s more powerful than even her mother. That’s why I want her. I never would have given you my support if I knew your organization was so incompetent.” he spat at her.

“If you’re so damn sure of yourself go get her yourself. I want her dead anyway. You want her alive. You misguided bastard. She has destroyed my family in the name of peace. What makes you think she’ll come work for you?” she retorted.

“I’ll be able to control her. She won’t have a choice”, he said sure of himself.

“Well may the best camp win.” She said.

“As you wish”, the doctor vanished from the screen.

The Duchess removed the pins from her gray hair and let it cascade down her back.

“Mother nothing is going as planned. Relena Peacecraft and Duo Maxwell are still alive. We still haven’t gotten Janai Yuy for the doctor yet. What are we going to do?”

“Mary calm down. We will have plenty of chances to get rid of them.” The Duchess replied to her daughter Mary.

The Duchess and Mary had the same slender frame but Mary has fair blond, shoulder length hair.

“As long as we don’t get rid of my prize, I’ll be happy.”

The Duchess and Mary turned to look at a younger version of themselves enter the room.

Mary ran her hand through her daughter waist length hair, “Honey you have to move on. It’s over between you two.”

“No it’s not. He will always be mine.” She replied as she tore away from her mother.

“Grandmother, I will win him over to our side. He is a soldier. He knows he loves to fight just like I do.”

The Duchess regarded her granddaughter, “Do what you must, Dorothy”