"The Chain"
Introduction: by Madame deLune
I wrote this before I actually did research on the characters…(I know, stupid move…)
so some of the things will be inaccurate, so I do not need to be told…and I will keep them the same throughout, so as to not damage the continuity of the story… Thanks!!
You may notice that the Parts are named after songs, (don't worry, this isn't a songfic, I hate those things! No offense meant!) I just felt that in a roundabout and metaphorical way, those songs had something with either the character themselves or the things that they face in that part. The title of this fic is The Chain, also a song. This is meant to imply that the friendship of the boys is like a chain, strong and true. (Also, I love the song!!)
Prelude:
"Wufei, you know I must go! Do not try to make me stay! I must fight, fight for our freedom!"
"But, Nataku, I feel something different for this mission, I want you to stay here with me…"
"Wu-chan, you know I can't," she said, affectionately stroking his cheek. "I have my destiny and you have yours!! I must fight, and you will still learn! You will lead our colony someday!"
"No, I know my Fate is not that, I have seen visions, horrible, bloody battle, and I am the cause!"
"Wu-chan, you know that you couldn't really kill anyone, hell, you get angry when I have to!"
"I know that, but I also know that my visions are correct! And, I don't really want you to go!" he yelled, pounding his fist onto (and through) the table for emphasis.
"Wufei Chang, you know I must go!" and with that, the young girl, ran out the door, her long black hair trailing behind her.
"Nataku! Please, come back!" he pleaded, reaching out, but she was already gone…
The scene then shifts to a few weeks after the previous image…
Wufei, sitting cross-legged in his bedroom, reading (so what's new?). 'I wonder what's been going' on…' He casually turns on his news monitor. A familiar reporter is immediately shown on the small screen.
"It appears that there has been another attack on the Lunar Base by the people of the colonies! We're here, live, waiting for the action! (MS appear onto the screen) Look! There's the leader, in the Libra Mobile Suit!"
Glancing up, Wufei notices the screen and scene really, for the first time. 'Is that…Nataku?'
A video window appears on the screen, it's the same black-haired woman that we saw before…"Everyone, this is for the colonies!!!!!!!!!" she yelled, before piloting her suit straight for the Lunar Base. Just as quickly, a flash appears from the base, filling the entire space, instantly taking out any and everything in it's path. The screen turned to snow, and the transmission ended
"Na-nataku? Dead? How can this be? Just as she and I were, just as…NO!!"
______________________________________________________________
"The Chain"
Part 1: I Go To Extremes…(Duo)
Section 1
"Call me a joker, call me a fool,
Right at this moment I'm totally cool,
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife,
I feel like I'm in the prime of my life…"
By Madame deLune
__________________________________
"Mr. Chang, are you alright? Mr. Chang?" a quiet voice snapped him out of his prison of memory.
Immediately putting on his aire of aloof-ness, Wufei faked anger, and said, "Of course I'm alright, Quatre, and stop calling me 'Mr. Chang'. It's getting damned annoying."
"Y-yes, Mr.-, er, Wufei." Quatre stammered.
"Wufei, Quatre was only seeing how you were, there was no need to be angry. You and Quatre are both vitally important to our group." Heero stated from his position leaning against the wall.
Quatre looked surprised, Heero, defending him? "Heero…" Quatre sighed.
Looking over to the blonde, "What?"
Just then, a certain braided boy comes bounding into the room, practically tripping over the cords strewn about the floor, "Hey! Wu-man!! Waz up!"
"Don't call me 'Wu-man'. Can none of you get my name right?"
"Okay, Wu-man! Sheesh! Hey! Heero!" Duo said, bounding over to Heero, placing his arm around the other boy's strong shoulders.
Heero gave him a look, but said nothing.
"How are you doing today, buddy?" Duo asked Heero, getting right up next to his face.
Heero simply looked at him, but voiced no reply.
"Uh-huh…ok…Quatre!" Duo said, now clinging to Heero's arm, "What're you up to?"
Heero said nothing.
Quatre smiled, "Oh I'm just fine, Duo, thanks for asking J. How are you doing?"
"Ah..I'm great!"
"That's wonderful, I take it your day is going well?"
"Of course, when doesn't it?" Duo said, with a huge grin, still clinging to Heero's arm.
Wufei took one look at them, "You're hiding something." Heero seemed surprised at this. 'What could he possibly know?'
Duo, who hadn't lost his composure, (when does he?) said…"Well, yeah, I was gonna wait until Trowa got here, and all of us were together… Hey, where IS Trowa?" he said, looking around.
Quatre looked around also, " Not here, I guess…" he said, with a frown on his face…
Duo, finally letting go of Heero's arm, started to dig around in his pockets. After a bit of searching, he found what his quest had been for, a set of 5 little white pieces of paper.
"What?" Heero asked since he's not really a man of many words.
Grasping what Heero meant, Duo explained, "These are tickets I won on a radio show"
Waving his hand in the air like a schoolchild, Quatre asked, "What are the tickets for?"
Even Wufei was curious, "Yeah, Braid-Boy, what are they for?"
"Well…"Duo started, waiting for a while for dramatic tension, "These guarantee a week in a mansion for me and 4 of my friends!"
"Duo, I already have a mansion, and you all know that you all are welcome to stay over at any time." Quatre said.
"Yeah, but-"
Just then, Trowa had entered the room, silently, as usual. Quatre simply smiled, "Hey, Trowa, want to sit down?" he asked, jumping up from his chair.
"Thank you." Trowa said, sitting down. Heero, Duo, and Wufei watched this exchange curiously.
Leaning over to Heero's ear, Duo whispered, "I know Quatre's nice, but that nice?" Heero understood, and nodded.
"Hey, Maxwell, go on about the tickets." Wufei requested (or would it be ordered?).
"Okay! Well, these tickets get my friends and I into the mansion for a week!"
"You've said that already." Heero stated.
"Yeah, but that's important." Duo explained, using his number one cute grin. (Hehe)
For once, Trowa spoke up…to his and Quatre's dismay…"What's the big deal with spending a week at a mansion? I do that all the time" Just realizing what he said, he blushed.
And was met with a somewhat angry glance from Quatre and confused glances from the guys, especially from Wufei.
"Well, anyway…" Duo continued, nonplused, "This mansion is supposedly haunted!"
"So?" Heero asked.
"If we spend the entire week there, we each get a million dollars, right?" Wufei asked, sarcastically.
"Uh, something close to that…you see…if we get proof of the ghosts, we each get 2 million dollars." They all sat there for a moment, thinking, and Trowa (!!?!) actually broke the silence, with, "What kind of proof?"
Quatre answered with, "Probably something that can be proven to not be a fake, right?"
"Like a picture, or video?" Duo asked.
"No, even those can be falsified." Heero explained.
"Then what?" Wufei asked.
"Duo…" Quatre started…"Since you said that you were taking 4 friends, who did you mean?"
"No one really…" he started, waiting for dramatic effect, "except for my best friends in the world!"
Wufei gave him a sad and puzzled look. "I mean you too, Wu-man.." he said gently.
"You think that I actually care?"
"Yeah! I think you do!!"
"Well, that shows what you know!" Wufei said, pulling out a knife.
"Enough fighting, both of you!" Quatre almost yelled, "Haven't we done enough of that already?!?"
"Yes, Quatre's right, we have fought enough, let's have some fun and enjoy ourselves." Heero (?!?) said.
This, needless to say, surprised all of the Gundam Boys…"Heero, my man, you're been around me WAY too long!" Duo said, smiling. Soon, Heero found himself smiling too, but then he noticed that there were more people than just he and Duo in the room, so he stopped. 'This is getting weird! What's going on between Heero and Duo, and Trowa and Quatre?' Wufei thought, trying to analyze the situation.
"Anyways, we'd all better be packing!!" Duo called out, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
"Why?" the rest of the pilots said in concert.
"We're there tomorrow!!"
"So much for notice…" grumbled Wufei.
_________________________________
"The Chain"
Part 1: I Go To Extremes…(Duo)
Section 2 (Quatre's Dream)
"Call me a joker, call me a fool,
Right at this moment I'm totally cool,
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife,
I feel like I'm in the prime of my life…"
By Madame deLune
__________________________________
So, each of the boys spent the night at Quatre's mansion on Earth, so it'd be easier to leave together the next morning…
In his room, Quatre already had his things packed, and of course, his violin included. Inspite of being ready, he couldn't calm himself to get to sleep. ' I wonder what tomorrow will be like? And the mansion? And being there, in constant contact with each of the guys?'
Crawling out from under his sheets, our blonde friend walked to the end of his bed and grabbed his violin, and started to play. After a while, he was getting tired, playing his violin always made him feel better! Tired, he wearily crawled back into his bed and fell into a fast, deep sleep.
+++++++Dream Sequence Alert! +++++++
"Quatre…Quatre…" A young blonde woman stood at the end of the bed, calling his name. Sitting up in his bed, he asked, "What's going on, who are you?"…"Quatre…" she said, and tears sprang to her eyes. "What's wrong?" "Oh, Quatre…"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Quatre! Quatre!" a male voice sounded, the woman faded away…
"Quatre! Wake up!" Bolting up, Quatre awoke from his dreamland. "Quatre, you've had me worried, I've been trying to wake you up for the past half-hour! Do you always sleep this deeply?" Trowa, said, with obvious concern in his voice. "You've been here for a half-hour?" Trowa nodded. Looking around, Quatre could see no trace of the pretty blonde woman. "What are you looking for, a ghost?" "I don't know, probably nothing, nothing at all…" "Anyway," Trowa said, getting off the side of the bed, "even though you do look cute in your PJ's, the guys'll probably expect you to be wearing something different."
Blushing, Quatre replied, "You're probably right…I'll go and get dressed." And so, he went to his chest of drawers, grabbing his usual pink shirt and khakis, but decided to be a bit daring, "Hey, Trowa…" he started, pulling out another outfit, "what do you think of this?" Trowa's jaw dropped, to probably floor level. "I think it'd look really great, but that's so different from your norm." "Well, I'll be back in a moment!" Quatre said, skipping off to his dressing room. In his absence, Trowa looked around. Noticing that the violin was out of its case, he assumed that Quatre had a long night, needing the violin for comfort. 'Lucky me, I'm bringing my flute, so maybe while we're there, we can play some more duets?' he thought, remembering the first time that he and Quatre had met, and played some sweet music.
After a bit of pacing, sitting, more pacing, and more sitting, Quatre finally emerged, with the new outfit of his choice. Leather pants and jacket, with a light blue shirt!
"What took so long?"
"I couldn't really figure out how to get it on…" he replied, reddening at the cheeks. It was then that Trowa noticed the pants were terribly tight! "Oh Quatre, what am I going to do with you?" "Love me?" "Don't I already?" "Of course!" "Anyway, we'd best be going, are you sure that you can walk?" "Uh-huh, for you, I'd do anything." Trowa went and grabbed the suitcase off the bed. "You don't have to carry that, I can" "I want to, Quatre" And with that, Quatre followed the bang-impaired-boy out the door and out to his car. A 1975 blue mustang (An antique, remember this is AC 195). Much to his surprise, all the guys were already piled in!
"Lookin' sharp there, Sleeping Beauty! Nice of you to finally join the world of the living!" Duo yelled as soon as he saw Quatre emerge. Then, he wished he hadn't, because he felt a rather hard elbow jab his side. "Shut up, Maxwell! You slept nearly as long as Winner did!" Wufei pointed out, with a slight grin. 'Ahh…the justice of it all…'
Thinking of no comeback, Duo just sat there, dumbfounded. Meanwhile, Quatre had climbed into the passenger seat, and Trowa had loaded Quatre's things into the trunk. (Sans the violin, Quatre clutched that to his chest, protectively) After Trowa had gotten in, and turned on the car, the "discussion" for the radio began…
"I want folk music!!!!!" Wufei yelled into Duo's face.
"And I want rock and roll!!!!!" Duo yelled back into Wufei's face.
"And I wouldn't mind classical…" Quatre said, but that fell onto deaf ears, since no one could really hear him, thanks to Wufei's and Duo's yelling.
Heero just sat there, staring out his window. Trowa wasn't even really paying attention to anything but the road, and meanwhile, Quatre had turned the radio to classical. 'I wonder why there are still radio broadcasts around?' he thought.
After about an hour, Duo noticed that the radio was on and playing classical! "Quatre, you old dog you!!!" Duo said, playfully hitting his comrade on the back.
"It doesn't really matter what the radio is playing." Heero said, not taking his eyes off the scenery outside. 'Outside is so much more interesting than in here!'
"What do you mean, Heero?" Quatre asked.
"We're here." Trowa answered for him, and pulling up into the long dark gravel driveway. Even though the sun was high in the sky, light rarely made it past the leaves and branches of the many trees covering the way.
"Man…freaky…" Duo said, with obvious awe.
"It's like night…" Quatre added, with the same feeling in his voice.
Recovering his composure, Duo slipped over to Heero's ear, "Hey, Heero, do you know what's fun to do in the dark?" he whispered, not without a hint of something in his voice.
"…"
"Be that way then…" Duo said, pretending to feel hurt.
"Let's be going" Wufei said, jumping out his door, and going to the trunk to pick up his things.
"Shouldn't we get out at the door?" Quatre asked.
"No, Quatre, Wufei's right," Trowa answered, getting his and Quatre's things from the trunk, "We may need to get out in a hurry, and may have to hide the car."
Heero nodded, and also getting out held the door open.
"Why thank you, my good kind butler!" Duo said, walking out the door, with an obvious grin on his face.
"Hn."
Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei all exchanged the same glance, 'Heero, being nice?'
And so, the boys continued their way on foot, with the mansion looming in their vision. Almost the entire way, it was silent, except for the occasional "ow!" from Duo, who kept on poking Heero, who retaliated by punching the object of his aggression. This went on until the boys made it to the doors, where they were greeted by a nervous little man in a suit. "W-what took you so long?"
"Sorry, we decided to get some exercise and decided to walk about half the driveway." Duo explained.
"Well, your instructions are that you are to be locked into the mansion, no contact from the outside world for a week. Got that? Good. Bye!" said the man, running off.
"Wait!" Quatre yelled, but to no avail, the man had already driven off.
__________________________________
"The Chain"
Part 1: I Go To Extremes…(Duo)
Section 3 (The House)
"Call me a joker, call me a fool,
Right at this moment I'm totally cool,
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife,
I feel like I'm in the prime of my life…"
Madame deLune
__________________________________
Wufei was the first into the house, already waiting in the hall, "You guys coming?" The other boys pushed their way in, only to stand in the hall gawking.
"We get to stay here?!" Trowa amazed. The place was huge! In the hall alone, you could fit over 200 people!! Heero was the only one not gawking (well, not really) and so he went to look around.
"Hey. Look what I found." Heero called from the receiving room. The three still in the hall made their way to Heero, and after a bit of searching, found him.
"What is it, Heero?" Quatre asked. Heero held a small piece of paper in his hand.
"Let me see!" Duo wailed, lurching for the paper.
Heero easily pulled it out of Duo's grasp, like a matador enticing a bull.
*CRASH*
We then see a broken chair, it tried to break Duo's fall, poor thing…
"Oww…" Duo moaned, clutching his head. With Duo on the ground, Heero had given the paper to Quatre, who read it out loud…
"Hello, and welcome to the winner (s) of out contest 'The Stupidest Thing Your Friends Have Ever Done!' Duo Maxwell, you and your four friends are to spend a week in this Haunted Mansion. If you get proof of the spectres, you get 2 million dollars each! Good luck to you all! Love, Your Friends at 105.6"
Recovering quickly, Duo got up and ran to the nearest door, "Come on! Let's go exploring!"
And so, the other boys followed, with Heero leading the safari for Duo. After some searching, they found him lounging on a bed and listening to his music. Searching the rooms nearby, they discovered that there were only four bedrooms on that level. "I'll sleep somewhere else." Heero volunteered.
"No, Heero, we need to be somewhat together," Wufei said, "There's safety in numbers."
Coming out of his room, Duo understood what to say next, to cause Wuffie the most embarrassment.
"So, what you're saying, Wu-man, is that we need to stay in the same room?"
Before Wufei could react, Quatre stepped in, "Actually, Duo, Wufei, that's a great idea! That way, we can all keep an eye on each other!"
"W-what?!?" Duo uttered, taken aback, "I was only joking!" And with that, all the boys barged into Duo's already-staked-out-claim.
"I get the corner."
"I get the sofa."
"I get the bed."
"I'll take the floor!"
Duo just stood there at the door, that is, until Heero came and pulled him in…
A few hours later…
Everyone was settled in, with Wufei in the corner, Trowa on the sofa, Quatre on the floor (in front to the sofa), Heero on the bed, and Duo, who sat on the bed, wondering where he was to sleep. 'Heero has the bed…" he thought glumly.
"Why not sleep on the floor with me? There's plenty of room!"
"I'll let you have the sofa…" Trowa offered.
"No thanks guys, that's nice Trowa…" Duo muttered.
"Or, you can do as you originally planned and sleep on this bed." Heero said.
"But aren't you going to stay on the bed?" Quatre asked.
"Yes." Heero answered, "I'm willing to share."
"Are you sure that's such a good idea Yuy? Maxwell might kill ya in your sleep." Wufei called from his 'fort' in the corner (which was made with chairs, sheets, and pillows).
"I happen to think that it's a good idea, Heero," Quatre said, "It just shows how much we've influenced each other!" ___++++I did not mean that they'd influence why Wufei had a fort…. (Brought to my attention by my sister, Bunny)++++____
"Even though some things will always stay the same." Duo pointed out.
"Yes, he's right. Trowa will always be the silent, strong type, Quatre will still apologize for everything and look like a 10-year-old, Wufei will always prefer to battle alone than with us, and Duo will always be the joker, an endless bundle of energy, always taking everything to the extreme." Heero said.
"And what about you?" Duo asked.
"I don't know." Heero said, smiling. And they all sat there, happily thinking in the silence.
"We all better get to sleep, if we're to be ready tomorrow." Trowa said.
"Amen to that!!" Duo yelled, running over and flicking the light switch, bounding back to bed, and jumping under the covers. After a bit, they all fell asleep, with Heero and Duo sharing the bed (very well, actually! In fact, Duo had cuddled up to Heero in his sleep!), Trowa on the sofa, Quatre not too far away, and Wufei in his 'fort'.
_________________________________
"The Chain"
Part 1: I Go To Extremes…(Duo)
Section 4 (Duo's Dream and Nightmare on Waking)
"Call me a joker, call me a fool,
Right at this moment I'm totally cool,
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife,
I feel like I'm in the prime of my life…"
By Madame deLune
__________________________________
+++Dream Sequence! +++
"Duo…" a woman's voice whispered.
"W-what? Time to get up already?" Duo said, upon 'waking' in his dream.
"Duo, how've you been? My! How you've grown!" the small brunette exclaimed.
"Just who are you? What are you doing here? And how do you know my name?!?"
"You don't know who I am?"
"No, that's why I just asked you."
"Oh, sorry, I get spacey sometimes…"
"Well? You have some explaining to do, lady."
"First off, I'm not just some lady, I'm your mother."
"My mother?"
"No, that's why I just said that."
"OK, point taken."
"And second, I'm dead."
"Uh-huh…that's why I'm talking to you right now…OK whatever…"
"Yes, I was killed in a raid on L02, right after I had taken you to the Maxwell Church."
"Why did you take me there?"
"I felt that I couldn't take care of you, so I found the best place, and it was with family, which was even better!"
"I had family there?"
"Yes, Father Maxwell, he's your uncle, your father's brother."
"Hmm…. So, what's my name?"
"Your birth name? Don't you like Duo?"
"Yes, I like Duo…but I've always been curious."
"Well, I called you Martin. Martin Wayne."
"Martin?!? Martin Wayne ?!?!?! Sheesh! That's so totally uncool!"
"There's nothing wrong with Martin Wayne."
"OK whatever…I'd be a geek for sure…like Wu-man over there…" he said, pointing to Wufei and his 'fort'.
"My, my, that boy does have problems, doesn't he…"
"Yeah, but he's OK, all these guys are."
CRASH!!! FLASH!!! (That's lightning)
Duo woke up with a start, bolting upright in bed. 'A storm!' he thought to himself (how else can you think?). 'Why, oh why a storm?'
He started running, out the door, stepping on Quatre's hand, and smacking into the door before running out into the hall. He ran to the only place where he could find salvation, the kitchen.
Once there, he grabbed some milk from the 'fridge, and some cookies from a cupboard. Then he sat down and started to eat. And eat. And eat.
CRASH!! FLASH!! (Lightning again)
Duo started to whimper, like a lost little puppy, but continued to eat.
CRASH!! FLASH!!
Now, the tears flowed freely down his face, and yet, he kept eating.
There came a hand on his shoulder. "Duo, what's wrong?"
He looked up to see the owner of the hand and voice, (surprise, surprise) and it's Quatre.
"Ah, nothing much really, I had a weird dream, so I thought I'd have a snack and think it out."
"Why are you crying?" Quatre asked, concerned. "Has the storm scared you?"
"Actually, yeah, it has…" Duo admitted, sheepishly.
Having a seat next to Duo, Quatre started to eat too. "It's OK to be scared sometimes. If you want I'll stay here with you until you want to go back to the room."
Duo smiled, "Thanks Quatre, you're the greatest! You won't tell anyone, will ya?"
"Not if you don't want me to."
"OK, good."
"Everyone's scared of things sometimes, Duo, like me, afraid of snakes and spiders."
Duo's eyes widened, "Really?"
"Yeah, and we both know what Heero's afraid of!"
"Uh-huh, Relena!" they both said at the same time, as they started to giggle.
"Thanks, Quatre, you're like the little brother I never had." Duo said, placing his arm around Quatre's shoulders. Quatre simply smiled. Glancing about the room, Duo paused at the doorway, it appeared that there was a person leaning against the doorframe, watching the activities in the kitchen.
"Quatre…do you see that?" Duo whispered, pointing to the door.
Looking in that general direction, Quatre answered, "You mean that lady?"
"Yeah."
"What about her?"
"Is she a short brunette with a big dopey grin on her face?"
"Yes…"
"Hello, Martin." She said, smiling, still in the doorway.
"Who's Martin?" Quatre asked, confused.
"My son." She replied.
"And who would that be?"
"Why, you're sitting with him right now!" Quatre turned to Duo, and saw his friend's face as white as a sheet. Just then, Quatre realized that he had no idea who this lady was, or how she got where she was.
"Oh dear…" Quatre said, as he was making a new friend…the floor…
Heero awoke when dawn broke, sitting up as the sun hit his eyes through the open window, he noticed that both Duo and Quatre were missing. Getting out of bed, he trod carefully around Trowa's outstretched hand and Wufei's 'fort'. Out in the hall, he realized he knew the only place where Duo'd be…the kitchen.
Walking in the door, something caught his eye on the floor, it was Quatre! And Duo was just sitting there, staring at the door. Immediately going over to Duo (stepping over Quatre), he sat at the table, and placed his arms around Duo. "What's wrong, Duo?" he asked, softly.
Waking up, Duo realized that Heero was 'hugging' him! "What are you doing out here? Why did you leave the bed?" Heero asked, releasing Duo from the embrace.
"I couldn't sleep, so I came out here for a snack."
"Then why is Quatre on the floor?"
"He fainted."
"Why?"
"My mother came."
Heero was puzzled at this…hadn't Duo's mother perished on L02 a long time ago? "Your…mother?"
Duo nodded.
"But isn't your mom dead? Duo?"
"Martin."
"Huh?"
"She said that my real name is Martin Wayne."
"So, I'll still call you Duo." Heero said, while trying to shake Duo out of this stupor he was in. 'Why won't he snap out of it?!?'
"Yuy, Maxwell, what's Winner doing on the floor?" Wufei grumbled sleepily, stumbling onto the scene.
Snapping out of the stare, Duo said, "He's still there?"
"Yes, Maxwell, he's still there."
Standing up, Duo went to the floor to check on his blonde comrade. "Quatre, my man, wake up…" Duo whispered softly into his friend's ear.
"No, no…don't make me go…" was Quatre's reply…
Heero went over to try to help…"Quatre! Your mission is to wake up!"
"Mission denied…"
Wufei, not wanting to miss out on the action, decided to participate. Picking up Quatre, Wufei slung him over his shoulder, and walked out of the kitchen with him! (Man, what won't he do when he's tired!) Carrying him back to the room, he set him gently on Heero and Duo's bed. Duo and Heero simply followed, surprised.
Now awake, Quatre sat up in the bed, looking around. "What am I doing here?"
"You had fainted in the kitchen, from what I here." Wufei explained.
"I- I fainted?"
Now in the room, Duo awoke Trowa, and Heero went to his bed.
"Yes, Quatre, do you remember why?" Heero asked. Quatre just sat there, watching Duo try to wake Trowa (by dragging him off the sofa!).
"Get up, you lazy bum!"
"No, sleep…"
"C'mon! Get up!!"
"No, sleep now…"
Wufei, Heero, and Quatre sat on the bed, watching. Smiling, yes, but watching still. Suddenly, Duo stopped yanking on Trowa's arm and a light bulb appeared above his head. Snapping his fingers, he said, "I know how to get him up!"
Bending down, he whispered into Trowa's ear. Quick as lightning, Trowa was up on his feet, looking around the room, then, spotting Quatre, breathed a sigh of relief. Then, his expression quickly turning to anger, he grabbed Duo by the night shirt collar, and said, "*Never* do that to me *again!" The other pilots looked on in confusion.
"What did you say to him, Maxwell?" Wufei asked.
Duo shrugged his shoulders, "All I said was that Quatre needed him, and when doesn't he?"
"…" was Heero's response.
"Trowa, you know that'd be nonsense, if I ever really needed you, I'd make sure you got the message through either Heero or Wufei." Quatre replied, blushing.
Standing up on his tiptoes, Duo clenched his hands into fists, and yelled, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, it means nothing at all…"
"Yeah, right."
"Seriously."
"Sure."
"Cut it out, Maxwell."
"No! You!"
"Duo, just shut up or…"
"Or what?"
"I'm going to kill you."
"Ooh, I'm sooo scared! Remember, I shot you, twice no less!"
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
"Trowa!" all the pilots yelled out.
Still holding the knives, Trowa tried to look innocent. "Oops?"
The now hanging-from-the-wall-by-knives Duo yelled, "Get me down!"
Shaking their heads, the pilots reply was "No."
A grumbling sound could be heard from Duo's general vicinity.
"So why is Quatre the center of attention?" Trowa asked, turning to the bed.
"Poor blondie here," Wufei gestured to Quatre, "he fainted."
"Why did he faint?"
"YO! OVER HERE!!" Duo yelled, still attached to the wall.
"Shut up, Duo! We're trying to figure out why Quatre fainted!" Heero said, not even looking over at his braided buddy.
"LET ME DOWN!!"
"Shut up, or I'm going to kill you!"
"How dare you threaten him in that manner!"
"Duo, since when could you imitate a women's voice?" Heero asked, almost afraid to turn around.
"Uh…I can't…"
"Then who said that?"
All eyes were on the doorway; there stood the same young woman from Duo's dream and the incident in the kitchen. Instead of the happy attitude she had before, now she had assumed a more hostile, angry mood.
"T-that's why…" Quatre said, weakly, and fainted…again…
"Oh dear, that poor boy, why does he keep doing that? Is he diabetic?" she asked, instantly switching from angry-rampage to maternal-caring.
"No, woman, you scared him!" (Do I need to tell you who said that?)
"Don't take that tone with me, young man!"
"Whatever…"
Turning to Heero, she asked, not too calmly, "Why did you threaten to kill my son? And why is he attached to the wall?"
Trowa answered for Heero, who was sorta tongue-tied at the moment. "He always does that, threatens to kill him, and never does, it's just his way of showing affection."
"So you'd never hurt my son?"
This time, Heero answered for himself, "No, I couldn't do that, he's like a brother to me, if I'd hurt him, it'd be 100X worse than hurting myself."
Looking away, she said, "Oh, alright…that's always a good thing. But that doesn't explain why he's attached to the wall!"
Heero looked over at Trowa, who didn't attempt to hide the knives this time, "He needed to be quiet, we had to make sure that Quatre was alright."
"So, why sharp knives? Weren't you afraid of hurting him?"
"No, my sister is a knife-thrower in the circus, and she has trained me well."
Introduction: by Madame deLune
I wrote this before I actually did research on the characters…(I know, stupid move…)
so some of the things will be inaccurate, so I do not need to be told…and I will keep them the same throughout, so as to not damage the continuity of the story… Thanks!!
You may notice that the Parts are named after songs, (don't worry, this isn't a songfic, I hate those things! No offense meant!) I just felt that in a roundabout and metaphorical way, those songs had something with either the character themselves or the things that they face in that part. The title of this fic is The Chain, also a song. This is meant to imply that the friendship of the boys is like a chain, strong and true. (Also, I love the song!!)
Prelude:
"Wufei, you know I must go! Do not try to make me stay! I must fight, fight for our freedom!"
"But, Nataku, I feel something different for this mission, I want you to stay here with me…"
"Wu-chan, you know I can't," she said, affectionately stroking his cheek. "I have my destiny and you have yours!! I must fight, and you will still learn! You will lead our colony someday!"
"No, I know my Fate is not that, I have seen visions, horrible, bloody battle, and I am the cause!"
"Wu-chan, you know that you couldn't really kill anyone, hell, you get angry when I have to!"
"I know that, but I also know that my visions are correct! And, I don't really want you to go!" he yelled, pounding his fist onto (and through) the table for emphasis.
"Wufei Chang, you know I must go!" and with that, the young girl, ran out the door, her long black hair trailing behind her.
"Nataku! Please, come back!" he pleaded, reaching out, but she was already gone…
The scene then shifts to a few weeks after the previous image…
Wufei, sitting cross-legged in his bedroom, reading (so what's new?). 'I wonder what's been going' on…' He casually turns on his news monitor. A familiar reporter is immediately shown on the small screen.
"It appears that there has been another attack on the Lunar Base by the people of the colonies! We're here, live, waiting for the action! (MS appear onto the screen) Look! There's the leader, in the Libra Mobile Suit!"
Glancing up, Wufei notices the screen and scene really, for the first time. 'Is that…Nataku?'
A video window appears on the screen, it's the same black-haired woman that we saw before…"Everyone, this is for the colonies!!!!!!!!!" she yelled, before piloting her suit straight for the Lunar Base. Just as quickly, a flash appears from the base, filling the entire space, instantly taking out any and everything in it's path. The screen turned to snow, and the transmission ended
"Na-nataku? Dead? How can this be? Just as she and I were, just as…NO!!"
______________________________________________________________
"The Chain"
Part 1: I Go To Extremes…(Duo)
Section 1
"Call me a joker, call me a fool,
Right at this moment I'm totally cool,
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife,
I feel like I'm in the prime of my life…"
By Madame deLune
__________________________________
"Mr. Chang, are you alright? Mr. Chang?" a quiet voice snapped him out of his prison of memory.
Immediately putting on his aire of aloof-ness, Wufei faked anger, and said, "Of course I'm alright, Quatre, and stop calling me 'Mr. Chang'. It's getting damned annoying."
"Y-yes, Mr.-, er, Wufei." Quatre stammered.
"Wufei, Quatre was only seeing how you were, there was no need to be angry. You and Quatre are both vitally important to our group." Heero stated from his position leaning against the wall.
Quatre looked surprised, Heero, defending him? "Heero…" Quatre sighed.
Looking over to the blonde, "What?"
Just then, a certain braided boy comes bounding into the room, practically tripping over the cords strewn about the floor, "Hey! Wu-man!! Waz up!"
"Don't call me 'Wu-man'. Can none of you get my name right?"
"Okay, Wu-man! Sheesh! Hey! Heero!" Duo said, bounding over to Heero, placing his arm around the other boy's strong shoulders.
Heero gave him a look, but said nothing.
"How are you doing today, buddy?" Duo asked Heero, getting right up next to his face.
Heero simply looked at him, but voiced no reply.
"Uh-huh…ok…Quatre!" Duo said, now clinging to Heero's arm, "What're you up to?"
Heero said nothing.
Quatre smiled, "Oh I'm just fine, Duo, thanks for asking J. How are you doing?"
"Ah..I'm great!"
"That's wonderful, I take it your day is going well?"
"Of course, when doesn't it?" Duo said, with a huge grin, still clinging to Heero's arm.
Wufei took one look at them, "You're hiding something." Heero seemed surprised at this. 'What could he possibly know?'
Duo, who hadn't lost his composure, (when does he?) said…"Well, yeah, I was gonna wait until Trowa got here, and all of us were together… Hey, where IS Trowa?" he said, looking around.
Quatre looked around also, " Not here, I guess…" he said, with a frown on his face…
Duo, finally letting go of Heero's arm, started to dig around in his pockets. After a bit of searching, he found what his quest had been for, a set of 5 little white pieces of paper.
"What?" Heero asked since he's not really a man of many words.
Grasping what Heero meant, Duo explained, "These are tickets I won on a radio show"
Waving his hand in the air like a schoolchild, Quatre asked, "What are the tickets for?"
Even Wufei was curious, "Yeah, Braid-Boy, what are they for?"
"Well…"Duo started, waiting for a while for dramatic tension, "These guarantee a week in a mansion for me and 4 of my friends!"
"Duo, I already have a mansion, and you all know that you all are welcome to stay over at any time." Quatre said.
"Yeah, but-"
Just then, Trowa had entered the room, silently, as usual. Quatre simply smiled, "Hey, Trowa, want to sit down?" he asked, jumping up from his chair.
"Thank you." Trowa said, sitting down. Heero, Duo, and Wufei watched this exchange curiously.
Leaning over to Heero's ear, Duo whispered, "I know Quatre's nice, but that nice?" Heero understood, and nodded.
"Hey, Maxwell, go on about the tickets." Wufei requested (or would it be ordered?).
"Okay! Well, these tickets get my friends and I into the mansion for a week!"
"You've said that already." Heero stated.
"Yeah, but that's important." Duo explained, using his number one cute grin. (Hehe)
For once, Trowa spoke up…to his and Quatre's dismay…"What's the big deal with spending a week at a mansion? I do that all the time" Just realizing what he said, he blushed.
And was met with a somewhat angry glance from Quatre and confused glances from the guys, especially from Wufei.
"Well, anyway…" Duo continued, nonplused, "This mansion is supposedly haunted!"
"So?" Heero asked.
"If we spend the entire week there, we each get a million dollars, right?" Wufei asked, sarcastically.
"Uh, something close to that…you see…if we get proof of the ghosts, we each get 2 million dollars." They all sat there for a moment, thinking, and Trowa (!!?!) actually broke the silence, with, "What kind of proof?"
Quatre answered with, "Probably something that can be proven to not be a fake, right?"
"Like a picture, or video?" Duo asked.
"No, even those can be falsified." Heero explained.
"Then what?" Wufei asked.
"Duo…" Quatre started…"Since you said that you were taking 4 friends, who did you mean?"
"No one really…" he started, waiting for dramatic effect, "except for my best friends in the world!"
Wufei gave him a sad and puzzled look. "I mean you too, Wu-man.." he said gently.
"You think that I actually care?"
"Yeah! I think you do!!"
"Well, that shows what you know!" Wufei said, pulling out a knife.
"Enough fighting, both of you!" Quatre almost yelled, "Haven't we done enough of that already?!?"
"Yes, Quatre's right, we have fought enough, let's have some fun and enjoy ourselves." Heero (?!?) said.
This, needless to say, surprised all of the Gundam Boys…"Heero, my man, you're been around me WAY too long!" Duo said, smiling. Soon, Heero found himself smiling too, but then he noticed that there were more people than just he and Duo in the room, so he stopped. 'This is getting weird! What's going on between Heero and Duo, and Trowa and Quatre?' Wufei thought, trying to analyze the situation.
"Anyways, we'd all better be packing!!" Duo called out, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
"Why?" the rest of the pilots said in concert.
"We're there tomorrow!!"
"So much for notice…" grumbled Wufei.
_________________________________
"The Chain"
Part 1: I Go To Extremes…(Duo)
Section 2 (Quatre's Dream)
"Call me a joker, call me a fool,
Right at this moment I'm totally cool,
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife,
I feel like I'm in the prime of my life…"
By Madame deLune
__________________________________
So, each of the boys spent the night at Quatre's mansion on Earth, so it'd be easier to leave together the next morning…
In his room, Quatre already had his things packed, and of course, his violin included. Inspite of being ready, he couldn't calm himself to get to sleep. ' I wonder what tomorrow will be like? And the mansion? And being there, in constant contact with each of the guys?'
Crawling out from under his sheets, our blonde friend walked to the end of his bed and grabbed his violin, and started to play. After a while, he was getting tired, playing his violin always made him feel better! Tired, he wearily crawled back into his bed and fell into a fast, deep sleep.
+++++++Dream Sequence Alert! +++++++
"Quatre…Quatre…" A young blonde woman stood at the end of the bed, calling his name. Sitting up in his bed, he asked, "What's going on, who are you?"…"Quatre…" she said, and tears sprang to her eyes. "What's wrong?" "Oh, Quatre…"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Quatre! Quatre!" a male voice sounded, the woman faded away…
"Quatre! Wake up!" Bolting up, Quatre awoke from his dreamland. "Quatre, you've had me worried, I've been trying to wake you up for the past half-hour! Do you always sleep this deeply?" Trowa, said, with obvious concern in his voice. "You've been here for a half-hour?" Trowa nodded. Looking around, Quatre could see no trace of the pretty blonde woman. "What are you looking for, a ghost?" "I don't know, probably nothing, nothing at all…" "Anyway," Trowa said, getting off the side of the bed, "even though you do look cute in your PJ's, the guys'll probably expect you to be wearing something different."
Blushing, Quatre replied, "You're probably right…I'll go and get dressed." And so, he went to his chest of drawers, grabbing his usual pink shirt and khakis, but decided to be a bit daring, "Hey, Trowa…" he started, pulling out another outfit, "what do you think of this?" Trowa's jaw dropped, to probably floor level. "I think it'd look really great, but that's so different from your norm." "Well, I'll be back in a moment!" Quatre said, skipping off to his dressing room. In his absence, Trowa looked around. Noticing that the violin was out of its case, he assumed that Quatre had a long night, needing the violin for comfort. 'Lucky me, I'm bringing my flute, so maybe while we're there, we can play some more duets?' he thought, remembering the first time that he and Quatre had met, and played some sweet music.
After a bit of pacing, sitting, more pacing, and more sitting, Quatre finally emerged, with the new outfit of his choice. Leather pants and jacket, with a light blue shirt!
"What took so long?"
"I couldn't really figure out how to get it on…" he replied, reddening at the cheeks. It was then that Trowa noticed the pants were terribly tight! "Oh Quatre, what am I going to do with you?" "Love me?" "Don't I already?" "Of course!" "Anyway, we'd best be going, are you sure that you can walk?" "Uh-huh, for you, I'd do anything." Trowa went and grabbed the suitcase off the bed. "You don't have to carry that, I can" "I want to, Quatre" And with that, Quatre followed the bang-impaired-boy out the door and out to his car. A 1975 blue mustang (An antique, remember this is AC 195). Much to his surprise, all the guys were already piled in!
"Lookin' sharp there, Sleeping Beauty! Nice of you to finally join the world of the living!" Duo yelled as soon as he saw Quatre emerge. Then, he wished he hadn't, because he felt a rather hard elbow jab his side. "Shut up, Maxwell! You slept nearly as long as Winner did!" Wufei pointed out, with a slight grin. 'Ahh…the justice of it all…'
Thinking of no comeback, Duo just sat there, dumbfounded. Meanwhile, Quatre had climbed into the passenger seat, and Trowa had loaded Quatre's things into the trunk. (Sans the violin, Quatre clutched that to his chest, protectively) After Trowa had gotten in, and turned on the car, the "discussion" for the radio began…
"I want folk music!!!!!" Wufei yelled into Duo's face.
"And I want rock and roll!!!!!" Duo yelled back into Wufei's face.
"And I wouldn't mind classical…" Quatre said, but that fell onto deaf ears, since no one could really hear him, thanks to Wufei's and Duo's yelling.
Heero just sat there, staring out his window. Trowa wasn't even really paying attention to anything but the road, and meanwhile, Quatre had turned the radio to classical. 'I wonder why there are still radio broadcasts around?' he thought.
After about an hour, Duo noticed that the radio was on and playing classical! "Quatre, you old dog you!!!" Duo said, playfully hitting his comrade on the back.
"It doesn't really matter what the radio is playing." Heero said, not taking his eyes off the scenery outside. 'Outside is so much more interesting than in here!'
"What do you mean, Heero?" Quatre asked.
"We're here." Trowa answered for him, and pulling up into the long dark gravel driveway. Even though the sun was high in the sky, light rarely made it past the leaves and branches of the many trees covering the way.
"Man…freaky…" Duo said, with obvious awe.
"It's like night…" Quatre added, with the same feeling in his voice.
Recovering his composure, Duo slipped over to Heero's ear, "Hey, Heero, do you know what's fun to do in the dark?" he whispered, not without a hint of something in his voice.
"…"
"Be that way then…" Duo said, pretending to feel hurt.
"Let's be going" Wufei said, jumping out his door, and going to the trunk to pick up his things.
"Shouldn't we get out at the door?" Quatre asked.
"No, Quatre, Wufei's right," Trowa answered, getting his and Quatre's things from the trunk, "We may need to get out in a hurry, and may have to hide the car."
Heero nodded, and also getting out held the door open.
"Why thank you, my good kind butler!" Duo said, walking out the door, with an obvious grin on his face.
"Hn."
Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei all exchanged the same glance, 'Heero, being nice?'
And so, the boys continued their way on foot, with the mansion looming in their vision. Almost the entire way, it was silent, except for the occasional "ow!" from Duo, who kept on poking Heero, who retaliated by punching the object of his aggression. This went on until the boys made it to the doors, where they were greeted by a nervous little man in a suit. "W-what took you so long?"
"Sorry, we decided to get some exercise and decided to walk about half the driveway." Duo explained.
"Well, your instructions are that you are to be locked into the mansion, no contact from the outside world for a week. Got that? Good. Bye!" said the man, running off.
"Wait!" Quatre yelled, but to no avail, the man had already driven off.
__________________________________
"The Chain"
Part 1: I Go To Extremes…(Duo)
Section 3 (The House)
"Call me a joker, call me a fool,
Right at this moment I'm totally cool,
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife,
I feel like I'm in the prime of my life…"
Madame deLune
__________________________________
Wufei was the first into the house, already waiting in the hall, "You guys coming?" The other boys pushed their way in, only to stand in the hall gawking.
"We get to stay here?!" Trowa amazed. The place was huge! In the hall alone, you could fit over 200 people!! Heero was the only one not gawking (well, not really) and so he went to look around.
"Hey. Look what I found." Heero called from the receiving room. The three still in the hall made their way to Heero, and after a bit of searching, found him.
"What is it, Heero?" Quatre asked. Heero held a small piece of paper in his hand.
"Let me see!" Duo wailed, lurching for the paper.
Heero easily pulled it out of Duo's grasp, like a matador enticing a bull.
*CRASH*
We then see a broken chair, it tried to break Duo's fall, poor thing…
"Oww…" Duo moaned, clutching his head. With Duo on the ground, Heero had given the paper to Quatre, who read it out loud…
"Hello, and welcome to the winner (s) of out contest 'The Stupidest Thing Your Friends Have Ever Done!' Duo Maxwell, you and your four friends are to spend a week in this Haunted Mansion. If you get proof of the spectres, you get 2 million dollars each! Good luck to you all! Love, Your Friends at 105.6"
Recovering quickly, Duo got up and ran to the nearest door, "Come on! Let's go exploring!"
And so, the other boys followed, with Heero leading the safari for Duo. After some searching, they found him lounging on a bed and listening to his music. Searching the rooms nearby, they discovered that there were only four bedrooms on that level. "I'll sleep somewhere else." Heero volunteered.
"No, Heero, we need to be somewhat together," Wufei said, "There's safety in numbers."
Coming out of his room, Duo understood what to say next, to cause Wuffie the most embarrassment.
"So, what you're saying, Wu-man, is that we need to stay in the same room?"
Before Wufei could react, Quatre stepped in, "Actually, Duo, Wufei, that's a great idea! That way, we can all keep an eye on each other!"
"W-what?!?" Duo uttered, taken aback, "I was only joking!" And with that, all the boys barged into Duo's already-staked-out-claim.
"I get the corner."
"I get the sofa."
"I get the bed."
"I'll take the floor!"
Duo just stood there at the door, that is, until Heero came and pulled him in…
A few hours later…
Everyone was settled in, with Wufei in the corner, Trowa on the sofa, Quatre on the floor (in front to the sofa), Heero on the bed, and Duo, who sat on the bed, wondering where he was to sleep. 'Heero has the bed…" he thought glumly.
"Why not sleep on the floor with me? There's plenty of room!"
"I'll let you have the sofa…" Trowa offered.
"No thanks guys, that's nice Trowa…" Duo muttered.
"Or, you can do as you originally planned and sleep on this bed." Heero said.
"But aren't you going to stay on the bed?" Quatre asked.
"Yes." Heero answered, "I'm willing to share."
"Are you sure that's such a good idea Yuy? Maxwell might kill ya in your sleep." Wufei called from his 'fort' in the corner (which was made with chairs, sheets, and pillows).
"I happen to think that it's a good idea, Heero," Quatre said, "It just shows how much we've influenced each other!" ___++++I did not mean that they'd influence why Wufei had a fort…. (Brought to my attention by my sister, Bunny)++++____
"Even though some things will always stay the same." Duo pointed out.
"Yes, he's right. Trowa will always be the silent, strong type, Quatre will still apologize for everything and look like a 10-year-old, Wufei will always prefer to battle alone than with us, and Duo will always be the joker, an endless bundle of energy, always taking everything to the extreme." Heero said.
"And what about you?" Duo asked.
"I don't know." Heero said, smiling. And they all sat there, happily thinking in the silence.
"We all better get to sleep, if we're to be ready tomorrow." Trowa said.
"Amen to that!!" Duo yelled, running over and flicking the light switch, bounding back to bed, and jumping under the covers. After a bit, they all fell asleep, with Heero and Duo sharing the bed (very well, actually! In fact, Duo had cuddled up to Heero in his sleep!), Trowa on the sofa, Quatre not too far away, and Wufei in his 'fort'.
_________________________________
"The Chain"
Part 1: I Go To Extremes…(Duo)
Section 4 (Duo's Dream and Nightmare on Waking)
"Call me a joker, call me a fool,
Right at this moment I'm totally cool,
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife,
I feel like I'm in the prime of my life…"
By Madame deLune
__________________________________
+++Dream Sequence! +++
"Duo…" a woman's voice whispered.
"W-what? Time to get up already?" Duo said, upon 'waking' in his dream.
"Duo, how've you been? My! How you've grown!" the small brunette exclaimed.
"Just who are you? What are you doing here? And how do you know my name?!?"
"You don't know who I am?"
"No, that's why I just asked you."
"Oh, sorry, I get spacey sometimes…"
"Well? You have some explaining to do, lady."
"First off, I'm not just some lady, I'm your mother."
"My mother?"
"No, that's why I just said that."
"OK, point taken."
"And second, I'm dead."
"Uh-huh…that's why I'm talking to you right now…OK whatever…"
"Yes, I was killed in a raid on L02, right after I had taken you to the Maxwell Church."
"Why did you take me there?"
"I felt that I couldn't take care of you, so I found the best place, and it was with family, which was even better!"
"I had family there?"
"Yes, Father Maxwell, he's your uncle, your father's brother."
"Hmm…. So, what's my name?"
"Your birth name? Don't you like Duo?"
"Yes, I like Duo…but I've always been curious."
"Well, I called you Martin. Martin Wayne."
"Martin?!? Martin Wayne ?!?!?! Sheesh! That's so totally uncool!"
"There's nothing wrong with Martin Wayne."
"OK whatever…I'd be a geek for sure…like Wu-man over there…" he said, pointing to Wufei and his 'fort'.
"My, my, that boy does have problems, doesn't he…"
"Yeah, but he's OK, all these guys are."
CRASH!!! FLASH!!! (That's lightning)
Duo woke up with a start, bolting upright in bed. 'A storm!' he thought to himself (how else can you think?). 'Why, oh why a storm?'
He started running, out the door, stepping on Quatre's hand, and smacking into the door before running out into the hall. He ran to the only place where he could find salvation, the kitchen.
Once there, he grabbed some milk from the 'fridge, and some cookies from a cupboard. Then he sat down and started to eat. And eat. And eat.
CRASH!! FLASH!! (Lightning again)
Duo started to whimper, like a lost little puppy, but continued to eat.
CRASH!! FLASH!!
Now, the tears flowed freely down his face, and yet, he kept eating.
There came a hand on his shoulder. "Duo, what's wrong?"
He looked up to see the owner of the hand and voice, (surprise, surprise) and it's Quatre.
"Ah, nothing much really, I had a weird dream, so I thought I'd have a snack and think it out."
"Why are you crying?" Quatre asked, concerned. "Has the storm scared you?"
"Actually, yeah, it has…" Duo admitted, sheepishly.
Having a seat next to Duo, Quatre started to eat too. "It's OK to be scared sometimes. If you want I'll stay here with you until you want to go back to the room."
Duo smiled, "Thanks Quatre, you're the greatest! You won't tell anyone, will ya?"
"Not if you don't want me to."
"OK, good."
"Everyone's scared of things sometimes, Duo, like me, afraid of snakes and spiders."
Duo's eyes widened, "Really?"
"Yeah, and we both know what Heero's afraid of!"
"Uh-huh, Relena!" they both said at the same time, as they started to giggle.
"Thanks, Quatre, you're like the little brother I never had." Duo said, placing his arm around Quatre's shoulders. Quatre simply smiled. Glancing about the room, Duo paused at the doorway, it appeared that there was a person leaning against the doorframe, watching the activities in the kitchen.
"Quatre…do you see that?" Duo whispered, pointing to the door.
Looking in that general direction, Quatre answered, "You mean that lady?"
"Yeah."
"What about her?"
"Is she a short brunette with a big dopey grin on her face?"
"Yes…"
"Hello, Martin." She said, smiling, still in the doorway.
"Who's Martin?" Quatre asked, confused.
"My son." She replied.
"And who would that be?"
"Why, you're sitting with him right now!" Quatre turned to Duo, and saw his friend's face as white as a sheet. Just then, Quatre realized that he had no idea who this lady was, or how she got where she was.
"Oh dear…" Quatre said, as he was making a new friend…the floor…
Heero awoke when dawn broke, sitting up as the sun hit his eyes through the open window, he noticed that both Duo and Quatre were missing. Getting out of bed, he trod carefully around Trowa's outstretched hand and Wufei's 'fort'. Out in the hall, he realized he knew the only place where Duo'd be…the kitchen.
Walking in the door, something caught his eye on the floor, it was Quatre! And Duo was just sitting there, staring at the door. Immediately going over to Duo (stepping over Quatre), he sat at the table, and placed his arms around Duo. "What's wrong, Duo?" he asked, softly.
Waking up, Duo realized that Heero was 'hugging' him! "What are you doing out here? Why did you leave the bed?" Heero asked, releasing Duo from the embrace.
"I couldn't sleep, so I came out here for a snack."
"Then why is Quatre on the floor?"
"He fainted."
"Why?"
"My mother came."
Heero was puzzled at this…hadn't Duo's mother perished on L02 a long time ago? "Your…mother?"
Duo nodded.
"But isn't your mom dead? Duo?"
"Martin."
"Huh?"
"She said that my real name is Martin Wayne."
"So, I'll still call you Duo." Heero said, while trying to shake Duo out of this stupor he was in. 'Why won't he snap out of it?!?'
"Yuy, Maxwell, what's Winner doing on the floor?" Wufei grumbled sleepily, stumbling onto the scene.
Snapping out of the stare, Duo said, "He's still there?"
"Yes, Maxwell, he's still there."
Standing up, Duo went to the floor to check on his blonde comrade. "Quatre, my man, wake up…" Duo whispered softly into his friend's ear.
"No, no…don't make me go…" was Quatre's reply…
Heero went over to try to help…"Quatre! Your mission is to wake up!"
"Mission denied…"
Wufei, not wanting to miss out on the action, decided to participate. Picking up Quatre, Wufei slung him over his shoulder, and walked out of the kitchen with him! (Man, what won't he do when he's tired!) Carrying him back to the room, he set him gently on Heero and Duo's bed. Duo and Heero simply followed, surprised.
Now awake, Quatre sat up in the bed, looking around. "What am I doing here?"
"You had fainted in the kitchen, from what I here." Wufei explained.
"I- I fainted?"
Now in the room, Duo awoke Trowa, and Heero went to his bed.
"Yes, Quatre, do you remember why?" Heero asked. Quatre just sat there, watching Duo try to wake Trowa (by dragging him off the sofa!).
"Get up, you lazy bum!"
"No, sleep…"
"C'mon! Get up!!"
"No, sleep now…"
Wufei, Heero, and Quatre sat on the bed, watching. Smiling, yes, but watching still. Suddenly, Duo stopped yanking on Trowa's arm and a light bulb appeared above his head. Snapping his fingers, he said, "I know how to get him up!"
Bending down, he whispered into Trowa's ear. Quick as lightning, Trowa was up on his feet, looking around the room, then, spotting Quatre, breathed a sigh of relief. Then, his expression quickly turning to anger, he grabbed Duo by the night shirt collar, and said, "*Never* do that to me *again!" The other pilots looked on in confusion.
"What did you say to him, Maxwell?" Wufei asked.
Duo shrugged his shoulders, "All I said was that Quatre needed him, and when doesn't he?"
"…" was Heero's response.
"Trowa, you know that'd be nonsense, if I ever really needed you, I'd make sure you got the message through either Heero or Wufei." Quatre replied, blushing.
Standing up on his tiptoes, Duo clenched his hands into fists, and yelled, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, it means nothing at all…"
"Yeah, right."
"Seriously."
"Sure."
"Cut it out, Maxwell."
"No! You!"
"Duo, just shut up or…"
"Or what?"
"I'm going to kill you."
"Ooh, I'm sooo scared! Remember, I shot you, twice no less!"
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
"Trowa!" all the pilots yelled out.
Still holding the knives, Trowa tried to look innocent. "Oops?"
The now hanging-from-the-wall-by-knives Duo yelled, "Get me down!"
Shaking their heads, the pilots reply was "No."
A grumbling sound could be heard from Duo's general vicinity.
"So why is Quatre the center of attention?" Trowa asked, turning to the bed.
"Poor blondie here," Wufei gestured to Quatre, "he fainted."
"Why did he faint?"
"YO! OVER HERE!!" Duo yelled, still attached to the wall.
"Shut up, Duo! We're trying to figure out why Quatre fainted!" Heero said, not even looking over at his braided buddy.
"LET ME DOWN!!"
"Shut up, or I'm going to kill you!"
"How dare you threaten him in that manner!"
"Duo, since when could you imitate a women's voice?" Heero asked, almost afraid to turn around.
"Uh…I can't…"
"Then who said that?"
All eyes were on the doorway; there stood the same young woman from Duo's dream and the incident in the kitchen. Instead of the happy attitude she had before, now she had assumed a more hostile, angry mood.
"T-that's why…" Quatre said, weakly, and fainted…again…
"Oh dear, that poor boy, why does he keep doing that? Is he diabetic?" she asked, instantly switching from angry-rampage to maternal-caring.
"No, woman, you scared him!" (Do I need to tell you who said that?)
"Don't take that tone with me, young man!"
"Whatever…"
Turning to Heero, she asked, not too calmly, "Why did you threaten to kill my son? And why is he attached to the wall?"
Trowa answered for Heero, who was sorta tongue-tied at the moment. "He always does that, threatens to kill him, and never does, it's just his way of showing affection."
"So you'd never hurt my son?"
This time, Heero answered for himself, "No, I couldn't do that, he's like a brother to me, if I'd hurt him, it'd be 100X worse than hurting myself."
Looking away, she said, "Oh, alright…that's always a good thing. But that doesn't explain why he's attached to the wall!"
Heero looked over at Trowa, who didn't attempt to hide the knives this time, "He needed to be quiet, we had to make sure that Quatre was alright."
"So, why sharp knives? Weren't you afraid of hurting him?"
"No, my sister is a knife-thrower in the circus, and she has trained me well."