A Gundam Wing/AC Fanfiction – Discarded Swords
Character(s): Heero Yuy/Odin Lowe
Pairing(s): Heero YuyxLucrezia Noin
Genre(s): Adventure/Drama
A/N: Warning, possible AU and AR. And please note that English is not my native language, so please pardon me for any possible grammar and vocabulary mistakes.
Prologue
March 7, AC 203
L1 Colony
"Fancy for a drink?"
A young man, in his mid-twenties, slightly moved his head as he peered at his intruder. A sharp, deep, and glimmering of intense Prussian blue eyes narrowed suspiciously; the glare didn't lose its intensity despite the unruly dark brown bangs obscuring it.
"Whoa," the other man who was possibly older—from his face lines and subtle wrinkles around his bright hazel eyes—held up his hand in the air as he laughed. "What they say is true, eh? Your mere appearance speaks for yourself. I see why you've got all the spots."
"Identification." The younger man whose name was of Heero Yuy spoke coldly. The voice was no louder than a mere whisper; deep, calm, yet intimidating. The older man actually felt the hair on his neck stood to no end when he was graced with that daunting voice.
"Smoky," the man said casually, taking a seat in front of Heero without waiting an invitation he knew would never come. "You have swept over this area to make sure—?"
"I do my job excellently." Heero cut Smoky off sharply. "I said, identification."
"Didn't I say I was—"
"Don't you understand what I told you? Identification. Define the word."
Smoky sighed as he rubbed his blond locks. "Okay, okay, sorry, that was my mistake." He pulled out his wallet and a card from it, tossing it across the table. Heero glanced uninterestedly at the white object, and slowly darted his penetrating eyes to Smoky.
"God of Death." Heero said nonchalantly. "And what news you could be bringing to me tonight?"
"The clown has escaped," Smoky informed. "The Dragon Sword and the Heart are en route to the rendezvous point. They are waiting for your next command."
"We played our card just right." Heero reached for the tablet on the table and typed something. "Which point?"
Smoky hesitated. "The LX-1744458."
A twitch made its way to Heero's temple. "That little bugger."
"Yeah, the God of Death." Smoky quickly said. "It was him—I was just following his order."
"You should have made your own better judgment," Heero said quietly; his facial expression and tone were unreadable. "I despise high risks."
"But you always do risky things," Smoky countered, scratched the back of his head, sighing. "But I reckon he didn't have any other choic—like all of us."
Heero narrowed his eyes. "Since when were we given any choices?"
Smoky couldn't answer.
"That's why we always make decisions on our own," Heero said dryly. He returned his attention back to his tablet. "What's been done cannot be undone. Precise time?"
"In 7 days, 4 sharp." Smoky answered. "They've got another message for you."
The other man didn't respond.
"They said not to do anything flashy," Smoky stifled a grin, steeling himself for a posture. "They said they will kill you for sure if you go with something flashy."
Heero scoffed. "Tell them to say that to their own selves."
Smoky shrugged. "Anyway, they don't dare to bring the Fallen Stars, so it all relies on yours."
Heero nodded curtly. "I understand that. Just make sure their route is safe."
"Right." Smoky rose from his seat and put back on his hat. "See you around."
Heero Yuy didn't even spare the older man a slight movement for acknowledgment, already occupying himself back to his tablet. Smoky shook his head at this and left the almost empty parlour in dismay.
March 14, AC 203
L4 Spaceport, 2325 hours
Duo Maxwell tapped his black, heavy military boot impatiently. He glanced for the nth time on his weather-defeated wristwatch, and grumbled in annoyance, yet again. He took a long draw on his cigarette, puffing white smokes to the air.
He was in the shuttle port, along with Chang Wufei and Trowa Barton. They were supposed to depart an hour ago, but Quatre Winner had yet shown his existence since. They were to rendezvous with Heero in less than an hour at an incomplete, deserted colony construction, nearby the L1 cluster area. Their schedule was damn tight, but Q-ball had now decided at the most eminent time to wreck their perfectly planned plan—courtesy of Heero's brilliant mind, of course.
But knowing Quatre, worry started to develop within Duo.
"This is ridiculous," Duo grumbled. "Something must have happened to Quatre. We've waited long enough, 'Fei. I'm contacting Heero."
Wufei snorted and scowled indignantly. "We should have done that a long time ago, Maxwell. I'm going to track Winner's bloody location."
Fuck it. Wufei was probably being a bitch because Duo had brushed off his concern for the minimum contact with their comrades.
"No shit, Wufei. Not now," Duo barked warningly, feeling his temper rising to a dangerous level. Wufei could be so damn annoying when he wanted to, and now was surely not one of those times Duo could be so tolerant—even though Duo knew the part of it was his mistake.
"I'll ping it," Trowa interjected plainly. "You both, just call Noin and Lady Une."
Duo pulled out his mobile from his jacket pocket and dialled. "I'm trying Heero first."
Trowa nodded and produced a laptop from his duffel bag and set himself calmly against the circular couch. There were only another few passengers, most probably waiting for the last flight of that day. Wufei followed Duo's example, and walked away for privacy.
But before Wufei could patch a call, his mobile already vibrated and he smashed the screen forcefully with his thumb upon seeing the name flashing on it. Face burning red angrily, he hissed furiously into the microphone, "Where the hell have you been?! We're lacking one bloody hour behind! You better have a very good explanation, Winner! Speak!"
Duo frowned; looking up as he gave away a vicious scowl, signalling that he was unable to reach Heero. He shifted his attention fully to Wufei, noticing the drastic change of expression on Wufei's visage. Wufei listened for a while longer, before muttering a stiff 'I understand' and ended the call.
"Wufei?" Trowa called calmly. "Was it Quatre?"
Wufei's feature was terrifyingly distraught. "Yes. The whole plan was cancelled. They got Yuy."
Duo jerked around sharply. "What do you mean?"
"Noin and Merquise found Yuy at the engineering construction site with serious injuries. Winner said that he got information that Yuy's situation is perilous. Winner was forced to go low profile by an encrypted call from Noin as soon as they found Yuy."
"But surely they found evidence of Heero fighting back, right?" Duo slumped to the couch beside Trowa who remained calm.
"Yes. This is bad news. Anyone who managed to overpower him in a fight must be someone very dangerous. Unless they are more than one party. This isn't good." Wufei said rigidly, looking at his two companions.
"Of course they were more than one party!" Duo scowled darkly. "We all know Heero! Fuck, this is so fucked up! God… didn't Quatre offer more than that? He just said that?"
"He is en route to the L1 with some of Preventers' Theta Special Ops. He said he will send us the details once he's in safe territory. We can go to the L1 in an hour after they make sure our route is safe too."
"Heero's in the Preventer hospital, right?" Trowa asked, checking at the computer once again before closing its lid. "What kind of perilous?"
"Five of eight," said Wufei grimly. "Not out of the woods. That's all Quatre volunteered."
"Jesus Christ..." Duo groaned, burying his face into his hands. "So we wait? We can't get updates on Heero? Shit... he's not gonna die, isn't he? After all he did..."
"No," said Trowa confidently. "He won't die yet. Heero always pulls through."
"For a man who did self-destruct in a goddamn Gundam, so I bet he's very good," said Wufei bitterly. "So yes, Maxwell, we wait. I'm not going to put my bet on Yuy. As Barton said, he will pull through. Let's patch up the holes on our own right now. We know the strings; we do what we can to finish all this up. Yuy's sacrifice will not be in vain. We can make sure of that."
"Hell yeah, Heero's bent down on that," Duo murmured tiredly, slouching forward in exhaustion. "Yeah, 'Fei, let's make ourselves subservient this time, eh?"
Wufei ignored the braided man, already indulging in his own tablet. Duo blinked and grumbled, snatching the computer from Trowa's lap and began his search. "Fuck you, Wufei."
"Fuck you too, Maxwell."
Trowa only smirked.
