Sentinels and their Guides - part 2

by KatiKat




Duo was sure that someone was following him. You learned to trust your gut feelings living on the streets and it was telling him now that someone was after him. He raced down the dimly lit main street and snuck into one of the even darker side streets. He pressed himself to the cold and damp metal wall and listened carefully. He couldn´t hear any footsteps or any other sounds indicating that there really was someone behind him. Maybe he was just getting paranoid.

Duo snorted. Yeah, sure. There was no such thing as being too paranoid or overly careful on these streets. Here it was a fight for survival. It was run or fight - or get killed. And Duo had no intention of doing the latter.

Still hearing nothing, he allowed himself to relax slightly. Maybe he was wrong this time. But he had never been wrong before. And he just couldn´t imagine any reason anybody would have to follow him. Another silent snort. As if some of the more dangerous types needed a reason to slit someone´s throat. Or to grope someone. He knew how it was to get roughened up in that way. His long braid fooled a lot of people in the past. Some of them backed off when they realized their mistake. Some of them... Some of them didn´t. But now was not the time to think about the past. He had to be sure that he lost his tail and then get back home.

Yeah, home. A rusted hole in one of the older warehouse buildings near the docks that led into a small room where he and his brother Solo lived. It was dark, cold and damp but it was their home. At least they had a place where they could hide from the poisonous rain that hit the colony every couple of days. A simple way of reducing the street rat population. The ones who didn´t have any place to hide got wet, sick and died in a matter of minutes. Black van-like cars roamed the streets after every rain episode getting rid of the bodies. No need to scare the regular population, right?

Duo looked up at the dark sickly gray sky. It was almost dark. Solo would be worried if he didn´t hurry up. He took another peek around the corner and when he didn´t spot anyone he ran further down the side street and jumped over a small rusty wall. Everything was rusty here near the docks. The poisonous rain killed the people and destroyed the metal buildings too. Not as quickly as human beings but just as thoroughly.

Another street, another turn... And there was this shadow again. He always noticed it only from the corner of his eye and when he turned it was gone. It was getting frustrating. He needed to get home. He was hungry and tired but he couldn´t risk leading someone to their hiding place. There was only one thing he could do...

Turning into one of the more smelly and dirty streets, he stopped in the middle of it and turned around resting his hands on his hips, his legs slightly spread, his knife in reach on his belt.

"Okay, who are you and what do you want?" Duo asked, hoping his voice didn´t show his nervousness.

There was no answer, but he could swear that he saw a movement in the shadows near the entrance of the street. What did the person want from him?

"I haven't got all day, buddy. I have places to go. So come out and tell me what you want!" Duo was starting to get annoyed. He could hear some of the street rats scrambling away, not wanting to get in the middle of a fight.

The sky above him darkened and grew black. Duo couldn´t see much of anything now, but he was determined to not show his growing nervousness. He couldn´t see the person anymore, not even the flicker of movement he was able to register before. But then he realized something - he didn´t see him, but he could feel him. His excitement, lust, impatience and... happiness? He shook his head to get rid of these feelings that weren´t his own, but it didn´t help. What was going on here? This never happened to him before!

"I want you," came the whisper from behind him, the person´s breath caressing his neck.

Duo jumped pulling out his knife and turning around he slashed at his invisible enemy. "Why? What do you want from me? Kill me? Or fuck me? Because I won´t give up without a fight, pal," Duo snarled, crouching a little to get in a fighting stance.

"Fuck you, maybe..."

Now the voice was on his right. He turned quickly but there was nothing, only the darkness.

"But not kill you... never... not now that I have found you..."

Duo couldn´t help but shiver. He could hear the voice all around him, he could feel it vibrate through him, setting every vein in his body on fire. What was happening here? Had he been drugged and this is some sort of a hallucination?

"Found me? What are you talking about?" he sneered, gripping the knife more tightly in his hand.

There was a chuckle in the darkness and it was as if it caressed his skin. Duo got goosebumps all over his body. Why didn´t the man attack? He had the perfect opportunity here.

"Yes, found you. I have been looking for you for years... My Guide..."

Duo froze. A Sentinel. Oh shit. He wouldn´t stand a chance against a Sentinel. They could see in dark, hear his heart beat with fear and their speed and strenght, their reflexes, their senses were deadly. They were the real predators that only the jungle could have given birth to before the genetic experiments came. They were the throwbacks to pre-civilized times driven only by instinct, the protectors, the warriors, the killers – at least that was what he read about them in an old newspaper he had found in the trash one day. But if that was the truth then the man could snap his neck any time he wanted. Then it hit him. Guide? This man thought he was his Guide? Impossible...

"I think you´ve mistaken me with somebody else, dude. I ain´t a Guide. Just a street rat like all the others here in the slums."

There was the chuckle again. "There is nothing ordinary about you... you are my Guide... can´t you feel the connection? My feelings? My desires?"

Duo opened his mouth to deny it, but then he felt the warmth spread through him as if something caressed his mind. It was like a feather on a naked skin. So soft and non-threatening... It felt like he found something he never knew he had lost. Could it be...?

No way! Duo denied it immediately. There was no way he could be a... a... Guide. Street rats like him weren´t born with abilities like that. Mutations, disabilities - that was the mark of the slum people. Not a talent as rare as the empathy, the only talent that didn´t come from genetic manipulations, the only talent given to people by the nature itself… He couldn´t be an Empath. He would know, wouldn´t he? Wouldn´t he???

He didn´t know what exactly Sentinels needed from their Guides. They were pretty secretive about that. He heard that not even the scientists knew everything. But whatever it was – he didn´t have it. He opened his mouth to say something, anything that would get him out of this when he felt a touch on his hand. The one holding the knife. He wanted to pull away but found that he was unable to. And what shocked him the most was that he found himself leaning back against the hard body behind him. He just couldn´t help it.

"That´s the pull of the Bond," explained the man as if he was reading his mind. "You can´t escape it. The more you fight it the more you are drawn to me."

The Bond? Duo heard about that. The eternal connection between the Sentinel and his Guide. The mental link that bound two people together so tightly that even the death couldn´t break them apart. But... there had to be some sort of contact before the Bond clicked in place and he didn´t... "I don´t know you. We have never met," Duo whispered, not even protesting as the man pulled the knife out of his hand. "There can´t be any Bond between us."

"No, you don´t know me... but the Bond is there. It appeared the moment you looked in my eyes... That means we´ve been destined for each other. You are the other half of my soul..." the man breathed in his ear.

Looked in his eyes? The wheels in Duo´s muddled brain turned so slowly. When...? And then he remembered. The limo. That was the only possibility. He would have noticed if the invisible stranger followed him before. The guy that opened the door as he jumped on it from the bridge when he had been fleeing from the Police Corps Droids. The only thing the robots weren´t able to do was jump from such high places without breaking or twisting something and messing up their systems. Well, at least the old models weren´t able to do that. He had been lucky that he didn´t meet the new Android Units when he had been stealing the food bars that were currently hidden inside his black shirt and in his pockets. But if this guy was right, then maybe he would have been better off had he met the AU's. The Bond meant a thing for life, nothing that could be broken if you didn´t like it. Somehow he suspected that there would be more things he wouldn´t like.

Duo coughed self-consciously feeling the arms around him, holding him tightly but gently. "So if - and I mean IF - the Bond really exists... what would that mean?" he asked carefully. He needed to find out what the man wanted from him.

There was the chuckle again. "It means that I´m taking you home, Guide."

THAT got Duo´s attention, breaking the fog that clouded his mind. Suddenly angry, he twisted away from the tight hold of the invisible Sentinel and turned around. "Now wait a fucking minute. I am not going anywhere with you. I am going home. And I mean like now." He looked at the place where he suspected the man´s eyes would be. "I don´t care about all these crazy things you´ve been babbling about here. I have my life and I won´t allow you to mess with it." He nodded to himself, satisfied that he could still hold his own. But the lack of response from the Sentinel was grating on his nerves. He took a couple of steps back, swallowing nervously.

"Do you hear me? I am NOT going with you!" He turned around and started to run.

The Sentinel pounced.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Quatre looked out of the window of the limo frowning at the dirty damp streets. "Are you sure they are here, Trowa?" he asked. "Not that I don´t believe your Sentinel senses but... the slums are dangerous. And we are sticking out like a sore thumb with the limo."

Trowa pulled his Guide closer to him. "Yes, they are here. And I am sure it won´t take much longer now. Actually-" he cocked his head to the side and smiled just a little "-Heero is coming back." He pulled his arms away from Quatre and opening the car door, he got out. He moved to the side to let Quatre get out after looking around carefully. He didn´t hear anybody but there was no need to take risks.

The blond man stepped out of the car and stretched just a little. He looked around but didn´t see almost anything in the near darkness of the street. "Where...?"

Before he could finish his question he could hear voices. Actually one voice. And it was really loud and sounded really annoyed. "Put me down, you neanderthal! You hear me? I don´t want to go with you. Let me go or I will... I will... bite you!!!"

Quatre looked to the left, and after a couple of seconds of squinting he could make out a moving shape in the dark. When Heero finally moved near the lights of the car Quatre´s jaw hit the floor. There was Heero, looking quite smug and satisfied with himself, carrying a kicking and screaming black clad person over his shoulder.

"I see you caught him," Trowa commented impassively.

Before Heero could answer, the black clad figure started to rant again. "Caught? What am I? Some deer or fox and you the hunting dog?"

"Actually a white tiger," answered Heero, calmly referring to his spirit animal.

There was a confused "Huh?" from the person hanging over his shoulder.

"Oh, dear, Heero, what do you think you are doing?" exclaimed Quatre. "You don´t need to drag him here like some cave man."

Heero frowned at him. "Yes, I need to. He wouldn´t come with me otherwise."

"But to throw him over your shoulder? Don´t you think you exaggerated things a little? I am sure that if you would put him down he wouldn´t run away. Would you?" Quatre asked the twisting and kicking boy.

"Of course I would," Duo shouted at Quatre which earned him a hard slap on his behind. With a loud "oww" the braided boy pounded a fist against his captor's back. "The short one is right. You are a cave man. You have no manners. You are impertinent and rude and..."

Before he could rant further Heero just pulled him down from his shoulder and pushed him into the limo.

"Hey, what are you doing? I am not going anywhere with you! Let me out of here!!!" screamed Duo as he started to pull on the handle on the other side of the car to open the door.

Heero didn´t react to it, knowing that the other door was locked and only the driver could open it. "Could we go now? I am getting quite hungry." When Quatre nodded he got in the car and sat down next to the protesting youth.

Hearing the braided boy´s voice gain on volume, Quatre looked at his Sentinel who only nodded to himself not at all fazed by what had happened. "They will make a great pair," Trowa said as he waited for his Guide to get in.

"Yeah, if they don´t kill each other first," muttered Quatre quietly as he prepared himself mentally for the long ride home. And long it was.

The End