TITLE: Deliver Me
AUTHOR: Nika
PAIRINGS: 1+/x2
WARNINGS: AU, angst, death, sap, blah blah blah
AN: This fic was actually inspired by a book that I recently read. Well, not only the book, but also a movie, the musical of the book and one song in particular. Heh heh, I don't want to tell you which book, though, because I don't want to ruin the story.

[prologue]

Quatre Winner sat in the lavish office, openly staring at the paintings that loitered the walls. He had nothing better to do as he waited for the lawyer to come back into the room. /Please hurry/ he thought as he fiddled with the sleeves of his shirt, thinking that the man wouldn't come in soon enough.

"Mr. Winner," announced a voice as the door to the office opened, revealing a tall, handsome man with a shock of auburn hair that obscured one emerald eye.

"Y-yes, that's me," Quatre said, standing to greet the young lawyer. "Mr. Barton, I presume?"

The other young man nodded as he took his seat behind the desk. "Quatre… I want you to tell me everything you know about what happened. You are the only one left that knows."

Quatre sighed as he flopped back down into the overstuffed chair. He ran a shaking hand through his short blonde hair and focused his ocean blue eyes on the taller man. His fingers absently traced a nonsensical pattern on the lush blue material of the chair as he began to speak. "Duo left me a couple of letters before he died. I wasn't supposed to keep them all, but…" He shrugged his shoulders as if to indicate that Trowa knew what had happened. "The letters pretty much explained everything that had happened, but then there were also his journals, and other notes I had found."

"Please tell me…I know that you were a friend of his, but I was as well, and I would like to know what happened to my friend."

Quatre smiled slightly. "Worry not, Mr. Barton, I will tell you all that I know…"

--

Heero Yuy was a man of little words after all these years. His manner hadn't changed much since he was a child, but his appearance did. He was now a tall man of twenty-three, his midnight blue eyes still intense as ever. His facial features were more chiseled than before and he had become an extremely handsome young man.

He worked at the family corporation, co-partners with his sister, Relena. Together, they ran the family business, keeping track of the steady cash income. His sister had actually found someone that she had been seeing for a while now, but despite their parents' constant badgering, Heero had yet to bring anybody home for dinner.

He walked briskly down the deserted street, hurrying to get home. He didn't live too far from the business, and he refused to take a car the short distance. The walk helped him to keep a better eye out for any suspicious activity going on around the streets.

He had stayed late at work this night, as he had been in the habit of doing as of lately. He brushed his dark hair out of his eyes as he brought his watch close enough to his eyes to examine the face in the dimness of the street lights.

1:23 am

It was later than usual, he noted absently to himself. Despite the late hour, there were still a few people loitering about the streets, most of them in a drunken stupor. Heero pulled his long coat tighter around his body and narrowed his blue eyes as one man made his way towards him.

He stumbled down the street, blindly grasping for the walls to hold him up. As the young man made his way towards Heero, he grasped the lapels of the long jacket Heero wore and leaned his forehead against the other man's chest, breathing heavily.

The young man looked a mess, his long hair had come undone from it's an unfettered braid, his white dress shirt was splattered in a dark-looking liquid, his violet-blue eyes were filled to the brim and his face was tear-stained.

The violet-eyed man grasped helplessly onto the other young man as Heero tried to help him stand. "Are you ok? What's wrong with you?!" He pulled the other youth into his arms to help him walk the short distance to his house.

"Help me…" Heero heard the other man whisper.

"Don't talk; I'm taking you somewhere safe …"