DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. I do, however, own this story and any characters I may choose to add to it.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for your reviews, though I haven't received any from my previous readers of this story. This next chapter, I feel, is not that interesting but it is vital to the story. Read, review, and enjoy.
CHAPTER 2: A terrible, heart-wrenching scream rose above the gunshot.
Oh, dear God, a voice that sweet shouldn't be able to make such an awful sound.
Would that be the last memory he had to follow him into the black, cold after life? He assumed it would be dark and cold. None of the young pilots had any reason to believe that something better lay beyond. Eyes squeezed shut, Heero waited for death to overtake him. A thought occurred to him after a few painless, non-cold moments. He wasn't dead. A muffled thud behind him made his eyes fly open as he turned. A guard crumpled to the floor with a bullet between his eyes behind him. Instantly rage heated his blood as he turned back to the woman who stood before him. An infuriating smirk fell over her full lips.
"Miss me?" she grinned.
"We have to get out of here," was Heero's strained reply.
He turned to the others. Trowa held an unconscious Duo and Wufei clutched at a struggle Quatre. Desperation lay in those aquamarine eyes. To get to him? To save him? Heero's brow furrowed, and he went to help Trowa. As Trinity made to follow him though, she was met by the raised guns of both the slight Arabian and the fierce China-man. She held her hands up in surrender though one still held her own gun. She raised an eyebrow and Heero sighed.
"It's alright," he commanded.
Neither boy seemed pleased with that statement, but they obeyed nonetheless. So they walked. Down this hallway. Turn. Down another. Trowa swiftly grew tired of dragging Duo's dead weight. Even with Heero's help the lanky American was an awkward haul. As gently as he could, he slung Duo over his shoulder. Quatre took the lead. Functioning as a walking map he led them out a back entrance of the base. It was probably the only one that wasn't swarming with soldiers. 3 steps from the door and they were in the safe cover of the dark forest. Turn directly west, walk for 6 minutes, and they were at their hidden van.
"Little genius isn't he?" Trinity purred, eyeing the blonde.
"You have no idea," Heero mumbled, passing her to help Trowa again.
Sliding down from Trowa's shoulder, Duo stirred. He gave a violent jerk and a strangled cry, obviously thinking that the enemy had him. Instantly Trowa's arms locked around the struggling boy, holding him steady and still. It seemed no words were needed, for a moment later Duo calmed.
"Tell me it was a dream," Duo whispered in a shaky breath, clinging to Trowa's shirt with a white-knuckled grasp. "Please, Trowa, tell me the pain in my leg's gone to my head."
The words struck them all with a nearly audible smack. The perfect soldier. Failed. Defeated. Or worse. Commanded. They had all allowed themselves to fall into the security of having Heero as their leader, as if no one gave him orders. As if he ran things. To him there were no Doctor Such and Such. No Professor What Not. He was Heero. The perfect soldier. The one strong enough to make it on his own. To lead them. And even though, deep down, they all knew this to be untrue, it still crashed down on them like a piece of the sky. At Trowa's lack of response, Duo knew. They all knew. Trowa helped the limping pilot into the back-most seat of the can. Instantly the braided boy sprawled across the seat, laying his head in Trowa's lap. Trowa's long-fingered, pale hands cam up to stroke his hair tenderly. Wufei took the wheel and Trinity the passenger seat. Quatre and Heero the back seat in front of Duo and Trowa's. As he climbed into the van, Quatre paused and looked over his shoulder. He met Heero's eyes with a confused, questioning look. Silently asking what was going on. Heero could only shake his head and look away. The back to their safe house was long and silent. Tense thoughts hung in the air. At every bump they crossed, Duo stifled a whimper. For the sake of the braided boy's pride, no one turned to look at him. Observation of his wound could wait. After 2 hours though, Trinity finally spoke.
"You've all grown closer than we planned," she said levelly, in a tone mocking Heero's. "You care about each other. Even you, Heero. Raised to have no emotion."
No one made reply. They drove a little while more and finally arrived the safe house. It was a 2 story lake house, lovely in its design but cheaply rented for its solitary location. They had Quatre to thank for even that tiny amount of money. Between Heero and Trowa, Duo was unloaded with doors opened ahead of them by Quatre. Wufei and Trinity followed closely behind. For a little while the boys went about functioning as if it had been just another mission. As if Trinity weren't there. Trowa and Quatre set in on Duo, the taller pilot holding him still as they blonde dug out the bullet with small but capable hands. Involuntary yelps and cries rang out against the walls. Wufei made coffee. Heero updated the mission status on his lap top. FAILED, he typed into the data log.
There was a deep sinking feeling in his stomach. Because at any moment, he would have to tell them. He would have look into their trusting gazes and tell them everything. All of it. He wanted to scream. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to -
"Heero?" the world froze as he heard that quiet voice. "Heero, what's going on? Who is that girl?" silence. "Damn it, Heero," at the whispered curse he turned with slightly widened eyes. "Please."
He swallowed, his throat dry, and rose as if the weight of the world lay on his shoulders. In the living room they had congregated. Duo's leg was bandaged and propped up on the coffee table. Trowa was at his side. Wufei stood by the now roaring fireplace, a mug of steaming coffee in his hands. Trinity leaned against the stair rail. And Quatre stayed with him, close to his side. As if to lend him what little gentle strength he had to spare. That any of them had to spare.
"Her name is Trinity," he began in his monotone way. "She was not born. She was made. We were chosen, each of us, for our own unique abilities. Aside from me," he did not elaborate on that short statement about himself. It was a deeper glimpse into his past than any of them had ever seen before. "Trinity was created. Generations of biotechnology, stealing eggs and sperm cells from carefully chosen parents, secretly implanting them in desired mothers, and finally they had their perfection," cobalt eyes fell upon Trinity. "She is everything we are, everything we're not, and everything the professors thought the human raise should have become by now."
"Then why the hell are we here?" Duo snarled.
"We..." another dry swallow and he had to start again. "We were only the beginning. I knew every mission we would all get ahead of time. Initially we were not to meet at all, but as that became increasingly impossible, we calculated a plan to accommodate it. After a certain vital mission, I would self-destruct. This signaled Trinity into action. She would then..." another pause, another dry swallow, and he had to look away from them. To the wall. To the floor. But their eyes were on them and he couldn't shake the cold sweat lurking beneath his skin. "She would kill the rest of you, finish the job, and also self-destruct. Thus the fall of Oz and the preservation of the secret of the Gundam Pilots."
Silence. Near him, he felt Quatre stiffen. Duo's eyes were wide. Trowa and Wufei were as unreadably as ever. But he saw the tightness in their lips and fingers. Tiny things that one only learned with spending every day with a person for months. Trinity watched him with her perfect green eyes. She was 12 the last time he'd seen her. That made her 15 now. God she looked 21! Beautiful. Perfect. But not the same. Not the Trinity he had left behind.
"So we've been used," it wasn't a question, and all eyes lay on Quatre. "All this time. All this fighting for peace and freedom and just. And we were just forerunners for her. We would never see the end, be it peace or not," aquamarine orbs lighted on his face, and something lay deep within them that he'd never seen before in the smaller boy. "And you knew," Heero's heart broke and his throat tightened painfully.
"What's gone wrong then?" Trowa asked. Always the voice of reason. As calm as ever.
"I umm..." Trinity cleared her throat. "Escaped."
All eyes flew to her. Trinity shrugged like a guilty child, a little, almost apologetic, smile on her face. She looked 15 then. Brows furrowed, and they turned back to Heero for more explanation.
"You can tell us the rest in the morning," Heero sighed, pushing a hand through his hair.
Duo looked like he might protest, but a look from Trowa kept him grudgingly silent. Wufei helped raise him up, and between him and Trowa they got the braided boy up the stairs with little racket. For reasons unknown, the China-man offered his room to Trinity. It was unlike him, though it did make sense. His room had a couch, and everyone would sleep better knowing the girl was watched. If they slept at all. Quatre and Heero found themselves alone in the living room. They shared a room, in this house at least. Duo and Trowa had taken to be roommates early on, and Wufei was avidly happier sleeping alone. And secretly, Heero welcomed the comfort of another body in the room when darkness fell. Yet now, unable to meet the hurt glare of the blonde, Heero settled on the couch. Quatre didn't move for a long moment. And then he was gone up the stairs. And the dark closed in around Heero, thick and hard. What had he done?
