Toxic
Chapter 6: Freedom in Many Forms
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or Gundam Wing.
The dim orange of the city's nighttime glow drew bubbling patterns on the walls of Duo's cell. The fractals that constituted the crystalline tower shimmered like licks of fire. They threw distortions of Duo's face along its surface and as he stood in front of it he came face to face with a perpetuating audience of his own eyes.
Duo reached out a hand and brushed the cool crystal. A rainbow wave pulsed outwards from his palm and a honeycomb of shimmering power became visible. Like dissipating frost, the cold blue hue that usually comprised the dome above his head became warm with a glittering web.
Duo sighed, his breath clouding on the glass-like countenance of his barricade. Over a decade he'd been trapped within these walls. Over a decade the magical web of power had prevented anything and anyone from breaking their way in or out of his cell.
He folded his hands behind his back, well aware that if he touched the walls too much the guards would be alerted. He'd toyed with the idea of escape long ago but those attempts had not only been thwarted by the impenetrable magical fence that cocooned him but also a week of harsh beating from snickering guards. They'd enjoyed breaking his arm, his nose, bruising his ribs and fashioning the two black eyes he'd sustained. As obstreperous as Duo was, he'd learned long ago to wait for opportunity rather than create personal devastation out of hard headedness.
Back when he was a Gundam Pilot there was no doubt in his mind that he would have been out of the cell maybe seven years ago. But there'd been no magic back then—at least not known or utilized.
So when the light steps clacked up the stone stairs outside of his door his ears immediately perked. His body remained rigid, facing the detestable city and its burning lights, while his eyes slid slowly to his wooden door. There was chatter for a moment, the faint garble of his idiotic guards mixing with something lighter and less known.
Suddenly there was a loud clanking of armor accompanied by startled grunts. Duo turned slowly to fully face the door as silence loomed past its wooden confines. He waited for something to happen, not sure what all of the commotion had been, but nothing came of the strange interaction. Curiously annoyed by the persisting staleness of the quiet he barked an order.
"Who are you?" he asked bluntly and sternly. Duo was no fool. While he may not have known particularly why the scuffle had happened he knew that the two guards outside of his door were unconscious. Who had enough sanction to slip through the most protected bastille in the world?
Duo's own unsteady breaths answered him as he heard a faint, child-like sigh from the opposite side of the wood. Cautious and excited at what was transpiring he took tentative steps towards his bed, eyes glued to his door. He'd been incarcerated for so long, trapped in the same room for seventeen years. Duo wondered briefly if his mind had finally given way to insanity and if the entire thing had been made up in his head. But he'd come to grips with his situation long ago…
He heard someone sit against the door and took a seat cross-legged on his bed. The creak was slow and loud as he bounced despite his steadiness of his perch. The silence perpetuated as Duo waited with bated breath for the strange assailant to say something. His visitor's quiet inclined something towards silent rumination or tarrying in overall hesitation.
"I'm like you," he finally heard.
The voice was soft and young but sharpened with a particular edge. Duo raised an eyebrow at first. He wondered why his silent visitor would decide to open conversation with such an outlandish and, to him, highly contestable topic. Its relevance, as well, eluded him.
He looked to his hands and thought about the possibility of someone being like him, suddenly chortling at the absurdity. Who on Crystal Earth would risk such trouble to tell him this? Clearly they were not as much like him as they thought.
"Yeah," he said sarcastically, putting his hands behind his head and lying back on his bed. "Yeah, you're just like me."
He heard a girly grunt from behind the door. Slowly his patronizing smirk ebbed away and his eyes glanced in the door's direction. "You may find it hard pressed to think we're alike Duo, but we really are very similar."
Duo rolled his eyes, his once burgeoning interest in the silent visitor flittering away. She'd had him captivated for a moment but his curiosity grew fainter with the small tinge of persistence that laced her seemingly steady and nonchalant voice. "Oh really?" he parried, "How's that…what's your name?"
"Hotaru," she answered confidently.
"Hotaru," he parroted.
She let out a hum of building thought and Duo imagined her to be staring at the ceiling with a finger to her chin. If he'd been able to see through the wood he would have seen that she was, in fact, doing as he'd envisioned.
"You see," she finally began, "I could mention many extenuating factors that would make sense to me but very little to you. So, you know, there's no need to make nonsensical comparisons," she explained conversationally.
Duo sat up from his bed and made a mocking and derisive face towards the door, mimicking her words silently. He was becoming irritated. "Whatever kid," he blurted gratingly.
"I'll have you know I'm far older than you are," she insisted as Duo propped his head upon his fist, his growing boredom evidenced by a yawn.
"Oh yeah?" he mumbled, picking at his nail distractedly.
She could tell his attention was fading and she tsked. "I suppose bitterness is an expected side effect from captivity," she chided and Duo shot a snobbish look towards the door.
"What would you know, oh similar one?" he spat, infuriation growing at her pretentiousness.
"I know what it's like to have no family, like you," she began to explain and Duo glared at the wood. "My mother died long ago and my father was turned into a demon."
At first he thought she was kidding but when Hotaru had yet to giggle at her own ingeniousness or announce her jest, Duo's mocking look faltered. He knew there were demons, it was something the queen had divulged the first time she'd visited him; a pity ploy he'd always dubbed it. But yet here was someone announcing it and Duo couldn't help but find the passive tone of her voice a modifier to that presumption. For some reason the revelation that Hotaru's dad had been transformed into a demon didn't sit with him as fodder for his previous judgment.
"I know what it's like to watch someone I care for die, like you," she persisted. Duo's lips pursed and he looked serious for a moment, the lines of stress barely shading his features before letting them soften into a small, uncertain smile. He leaned forward with his arms on his knees and appraised the door with a look of growing admiration. She was beginning to captivate his attention again. "Is that it?" he jabbed. "Are we best buds now?"
"Well Duo," she began as he heard her stand, a clamor of something metal assisting her and brushing the armor of the unconscious guards. "You are the only person I've seen to have a mask as beautiful and well kept as mine."
Duo, not expecting that sort of revelation, pressed his hands to his mattress and stood from the bed slowly. He took careful, decisive steps towards his door and stopped just shy of it. His calloused hand reached out and pressed flat to the rough wood. His look became hardened, hidden behind the growling and defectless façade. Gently he leaned in close to the frame.
"And…" he could hear her voice as if they were next to each other, her mellifluous tone much more appealing than the screeching chatter of the help. "We both have something decidedly darker harbored within our bodies."
He remained in his position for a moment before pushing back slowly and crossing his arms. A look of contemplation fell into his features as he heard something placed into the keyhole. He stayed his ground as the wood creaked and crept open. It revealed her inch-by-inch, leg to hip to body to head, a girl emerging from the shadows. He had a face to match the voice now, a beautiful, round face that sported eyes a striking shade similar to his own. She was pale and thin but there was a certain structure to her stance that read strong and confident. There was a different durability that made her intimidating and powerful, something more ethereal and ageless. And she was a Sailor Senshi.
All of this, her mysticism, the fact that she'd just opened his door, the dangerous prospect of freedom, and all Duo could think of to say was, "you look hotter than you sound."
She gave a smile and that all-knowing look in her eyes faded, her face dissolving from disarming to teenager in seconds flat. He saw a small blush creep onto her cheeks. "I can't say I get that a lot," she joked.
Duo didn't smile back, all seriousness still plastered to his face. He stayed within the barriers of his room, confusion and skepticism overriding the dire desire to flee. "Why are you doing this?" he asked, not quite ready to ask how.
The seriousness returned to her and she took a step back, inviting him to leave his dank cell, to step out of the tower and into the word he'd been shut off from for many years. "Because I've been told that you're an integral part of a very important job."
"What job?" he asked, not taking her invitation and staying exactly where he stood. If there was anything Duo wanted to stay far, far away from it was the Sailor Senshi. "And by whom?"
"By the Guardian of Time," she responded quickly and then waved him off. "And to save the universe."
Both of Duo's eyebrows shot up as he was frozen for a moment in a sense of brief disbelief. It washed away after a second and he waved his hands out in front of him, shaking his head. Was she being serious? When he thought about it Duo suddenly found the whole situation absolutely absurd.
"Whoa kid, you can't just throw that out there," he said, noting that due to her rank she could have been very serious. But she worked for the queen, why was his freedom imperative when she had put him there?
Hotaru blinked, confused, and cocked her head cutely. "Why not?"
His eyes bulged for a split second as he looked at her like she was crazy before placing a hand to his forehead and turning around. Duo stalked hardheadedly back to his bed. "Why not, she says," he repeated theatrically, waving his hands in the air. He turned back around to face her and held his arms open wide. "How do you even—what are you—" Duo sighed, shooing her away. "No, no," he said, backing up towards his bed. "I have no time for saving the world—oh excuse me, the universe."
Unfazed by both his serious and childish actions Hotaru waited patiently. When he had yet to move she waved her fingers in a 'come hither' motion. "Yes you do," she said. "Come on."
Duo looked at her as if she'd grown another head. "You're a lunatic," he said with such finality that she pouted. "Quick," he made more shooing motions with his hands, "lock me back up."
When he stepped forward to push her back, Hotaru's look melted into a serious one. "Duo," she said sternly and quickly, sensing his dissipating attention. "You once dedicated your life to freeing people from what you deemed obsequiousness to a totalitarian regime."
He looked her dead in the eye, surprised that she'd actually read something that he'd written. Hotaru recognized the intensity brimming in those indigo eyes. "You can push away all you want but you need to know that you're a vital piece in keeping everyone from falling into a more literal slavery."
Duo disliked the thought of working with the people he'd strived to condemn. She was garbed in the ridiculous dress of Neo-Queen Serenity's once fabled warriors. He knew that what she so direly protected he absolutely abhorred. But whether he liked it or not there was now a magical component in the world that he could not deny, one that they were far more privy to than anyone else. Plus he disliked the sound of the whole universe being destroyed on behalf of his potential stubbornness.
Duo shrugged and stepped from his room, a shiver coursing through his body as he breached the confines he'd been jailed in for seventeen years. For some reason the similarly constructed flooring felt different, the air felt different, the world felt different. He turned to her, body alive with trembling excitement.
"Alright Hotaru," he said, moving his eyes to a body crumpled to the ground. He gave it a rough nudge, remembering that he'd been the one to break his nose. "How do we save the universe?"
Sailor Venus tore down the streets in search of Mars's signature. She'd latched onto it earlier and ran with a speed she didn't know her legs harbored towards the fire Senshi. Her mind began to drift, wondering about Wufei's worried eyes as he'd shaken her awake, when something pulled tightly at the back of her mind. Her head snapped around, having caught sight of Mars's skirt on a rooftop to her left. Her blonde hair whipped around and the cement grinded under her shoes as she spun and leapt up to the top of the building.
Mars sat perched at the opposite end, toes curled precariously around the ledge of the roof. Her hair flapped wildly around her hunched form, black tresses waving crazily around her face but leaving room for one sharp, amethyst eye. She looked as if she'd been ready to jump but had felt Venus's presence, hugging the ledge like an ethereal gargoyle.
The wind picked up, a howling that marked the tension between them and Minako idly wondered if perhaps this was not such a good idea. Mars looked in no mind to talk to her and her own thoughts drifted to moments less than favorable. She too sat perched on the opposite ledge, hair a perpetual golden wave compared to the savage, erratic arc of Mars's.
The air became taught between the two of them as they eyed the other testily. Their muscles twitched like cats ready to pounce, hair stuck on end. Trying to set aside her personal grudge Minako cleared her throat, Rei's form tensing even more. "Did you sense it?" she said, voice more sour than she'd anticipated. Internally she sighed, overwhelmed with begrudging feelings for her former best friend.
Rei snorted and scowled, like the question was an insult. "What do you think?" she bit back hair lifting beautifully in the wind and revealing both sharp eyes before going wild once more. The one eye glared at Minako testily and she returned it whole-heartedly, not liking the tone of her voice.
Mars looked ponderous for a moment, her cold gaze shifting before turning back to her reinstated leader. A scowl was plastered on Venus's mouth. "Have a little respect," she growled, nails scratching at the ledge's stone makeup through her white gloves.
Mars's look of detestation matched hers. "Take yourself off of the pedestal for a moment," she hissed. "Makoto's in danger."
Highly put off by her slight Minako pushed off from the ledge and bounded forward, stalking towards Mars's slightly surprised, still hunched form. "Shut the hell up," she barked, still walking towards her.
Mars's face flush with anger as her eyes glowed with resentment. She stepped off of the ledge as well and moved to meet Venus in the middle. "What did you say to me?" she growled lowly. Her hand warmed with the tell tale power of an offuda. They weren't friends anymore, she had no reservations tossing a fireball and singing the tactlessness out of her.
Venus's ire matched hers as her chain appeared in her hand. The pent up disdain she had for everyone was almost doubled for Mars. They'd been close, extremely close for so long that her desertion had almost hurt the most. That hurt had morphed over the years into a pit of pure resentment, a pool that was now disturbed by her angered proximity.
Two flashes of blue suddenly appeared between them and Venus shook off Neptune's strong hands. Uranus grabbed Mars's wrists and pushed her back, a low growl rumbling from her throat. Mars did not struggle but her glare did not part from Venus.
"What is wrong with you two?" Neptune asked as if she were speaking to two children. "Your comrade has just been severely injured and you're going at it?"
"What the hell?" Uranus barked, shoving Mars back. She crossed her arms as Mars's ebony hair settled eerily over her face. One purple eye glared back at her for a split second before turning testily back to Venus.
Neither of them spoke, Venus's chest rising and falling with small breaths before she settled into a nonchalant gaze. She eyed Neptune, still well aware of Mars's cold look on her form. Choosing to ignore her as the best choice Venus spoke. "Not quite human," she said, crossing her arms, "but not quite demon."
Neptune, abandoning the tenseness her body maintained in readiness, nodded. She stood straight and peeked over her shoulder. Uranus was not as lucky with Mars, who kept her blazing glare plastered to Venus. Her full expression was hidden by the wild wind that tossed Neptune's hair as well. The Senshi of the Sea pushed a few strands out of her face and turned her eyes back to Venus. "A hybrid," she said softly.
"You know this for sure?"
Neptune shook her head. "No, not for sure," she admitted. "But I have a gut feeling." She could tell Venus's anger was rising as Mars's uncomfortable staring had yet to cease.
Uranus peeked over her shoulder, still facing the frozen Mars. "Do you think whoever's creating hybrids is linked to the serial killer?"
Venus nodded. "Most definitely," she responded irately, setting her eyes back to Mars. Then suddenly, without explanation, Mars tore her gaze from the blonde, looking instead directly at Uranus. The Outer Senshi had to admit that she was struck with a brief uncomforting sensation at the iciness captivated in those amethyst orbs.
"Time to conference with the queen," she snarled, crossing her arms.
Trepidation coursed through Uranus as she abandoned her readiness uncertainly. She knew she could take Mars, that wasn't the issue. It was what she'd feel after she put her down that was. Senshi on Senshi crime, while they'd been proponents of it long ago, hadn't been a part of their lifestyle since their first introduction.
"You two head back to the palace," she said, blue orbs glaring at Mars. "You think you can handle—"
Mars suddenly sprung backwards, landing on the ledge once more before exacting a graceful backflip and landing to the street below. Uranus stepped up to the ledge, legs braced wide as she crossed her arms and glared down. The Senshi of Mars glared back up, body similarly braced as her gloved hands fisted at her side. The wind not as crazy as it was on the roof, Uranus caught sight of the entirety of her face.
A sense of pity ran through her. Mars's face was conflicted; anger, inferiority, and fatigue all evident on her face. If it had been long ago Uranus was sure Mars would have been able to rein it in…but there'd been a change in her.
Without another word she darted down the street and disappeared around the corner.
Neptune watched as a frown marred Venus's lips, a look of contemplation swimming in her eyes. She'd felt slightly unnerved by the command shot in her direction by Uranus but chose to be the bigger woman over her ego. It sat in her stomach like a churning sickness but she decided to save face. Giving only a nod she stepped up to the ledge. Venus paused for a moment, an abashed wave coming over her at what could have transpired. She looked over her shoulder to Uranus and Neptune.
"Stay on night watch, ok? We don't want anyone else getting hurt." The two nodded, waiting for her to depart but Venus hesitated. She seemed as if she wanted to say something more, an apologetic look edging into her eyes before she turned away quickly and leapt from the ledge.
Ami awoke to the sound of a bouncing ball. It was a slow and rhythmic beat that contrasted against her own pulse. The oddity between them unnerved her and caused her eyes to open in mild distaste. Her lids rose slowly, adjusting to the fact that there was little light in the room. Her head pounded with a ferocity she'd never experienced before and she reached a hand up to touch her temple. Only when she realized that she could not, in fact, touch her temple did Ami's eyes truly open.
She looked down swiftly, head protesting with the quick movement and her eyes closed tightly in pain. She moved her body around, noticing that her hands were bound behind her back. She tried to remember what had happened, racking her brain for any memory.
Setsuna, a man, blood, a single green eye…
Ami gasped. "Trowa," she whispered, remembering the injured man. Flashes came back to her of their interaction as she struggled to free herself from the confines. This then became evidence of Ami's lack of fieldwork as she remained clueless of her surroundings and how to escape the tight rope.
The beat that woke her ceased and Ami froze.
"Yes?" she heard from the opposite side of the room.
Ami lifted her gaze and found herself staring into the startlingly beautiful eyes of the man she'd been trying to help. She smiled.
"Thank goodness you're okay, Trowa—" Ami cut off her next words as the entirety of the situation hit her full blast. She was tied and bound, sitting against the wall of a boarded off room. Only slivers of moonlight cut through the splits in the wood. One fell across her leg and the other sliced directly across Trowa's face, illuminating the emotionless gaze he threw her way. He held a fuzzy tennis ball in his hand, the obvious source of the beat. And he was bound in no way, shape, or form.
Ami's vision narrowed. "Why am I—"
"How do you know Setsuna?" he asked, cutting her off.
They sat across from each other in a moment of silence, Ami acknowledging his presence and Trowa waiting for his answer. It was as if there was a divide between them. On one side of the room Ami sat silently and patiently as if she'd been the one to ask him the question. Her posture was proper now that she'd awoken. On the other side of the room Trowa sat hunched and silent, waiting patiently for the answer to his question. His eyes bore unnervingly into her.
"How do you know Setsuna?" he asked again, a cold twinge marring its otherwise emotionless tone.
"Why am I tied up?" she asked in rebuttal. Trowa's hands toyed idly with the tennis ball captured between them.
"How do you know Setsuna?" he repeated, his tone and posture the same as if telling her he could play this little game all night.
Ami frowned. She was patient but there was little to this banter that she found necessary. She closed her eyes and sighed, wishing that the harsh pounding would simply cease. "She's an old friend," Ami replied tiredly, giving him a weary glance. "We've known each other for quite some time. We did…business together when I was younger."
"What bus—"
"How do you know her?" Ami asked, the drowsy look and her once fatigued posture righting perkily. She'd divulged her information, now it was time for him to spit out his.
He sat in silence, watching her with those cold, beautiful eyes in an air of quietude. It seemed as if he was analyzing her, every twitch of her muscle, the sound or waver of her voice, every sigh she took. A tickle of anger shimmied up her back at his blatant dismissal of her question and Ami let it run its course to her mouth.
"Listen, I've got some serious business that I need to attend to that deals with matters far above your head. If you're done with this game, let me go. If you're going to kill me, I dare you to try." Her glare intensified. "If you don't want to choose option A or option B I'm afraid I'm going to have to hurt you. And I really don't like hurting people."
Trowa's emotionless look seemed to reveal a brief flash of surprise. The line of his mouth curved upwards and he watched as she glared at him with a firm resolution. He gave a small shrug of his shoulders and used the wall as leverage, pushing himself up. He reached a hand into his pocket.
Crossing the borders of the room, Ami watched as the moon played slicing shapes across his body, one momentarily flashing across his head wound as if it were the blade that created it. From his pocket he pulled out an object that Ami could barely decipher. It was small but long enough to fit in his entire palm. Only when he knelt in front of her could she actually manage to make it out. It was obvious, very obvious due to the fact that with a flick of his wrist a metallic blade was produced.
Trowa held the butterfly knife in front of Ami's face as if it was an offering.
She swallowed harshly and in a moment of pure instinct flicked her wrist. Her wand materialized in her hands as Trowa leaned in. He and Ami were now face-to-face, almost nose-to-nose. The only object that hovered between them was his knife.
Ami's heart thudded in her chest and the words of her transformation begged release from her lips. And even so, despite the gravity of the situation, she couldn't help but blush at the closeness of his face.
He leaned over and Ami closed her eyes, her mouth squeezing out the first syllable of her transformation. It would have finished too had she not felt a certain liberty regained by her arms. Her hands had been freed.
Ami looked down in astonishment, gripping her slightly chafed wrist and wondering just what the hell was going on in Trowa's head. She looked up to ask him this question when she realized that his eyes were trained solely on her hands.
Confusion and slight panic coursed through her veins as Ami too looked down. Her bright blue wand sat glistening in her vice like grip. The blue and gold of Mercury nearly startled her and the shiver that ran through her body was a welcomed one. Just by holding the case of her power she could feel its strength pouring into her. It was a sensation she hadn't felt in far too long. But a momentary sense of terror gripped her body as she realized Trowa's eyes were trained on it as well.
He stood. "It's strange," he said softly and Ami could only watch in amazement as he reached down a hand to help her up. "Setsuna mentioned she was taking me to someone." Ami took his hand and he hoisted her up. Such a feat was too arduous for Ami's hazy brain and she nearly collapsed again right then and there. Trowa caught her around the waist, grimacing at the strain it put on his own injuries as Ami closed her eyes in momentary pain. "You don't seem very strong to me," he mumbled.
Ami sighed, annoyed at his slight but relishing in the fact that she didn't necessarily have to hold herself up. "It's been awhile," she deadpanned and used her strength to pull herself up. She looked curiously to him. "Setsuna brought you to me?" she questioned softly.
Trowa nodded, pressing a hand to his abdomen as it pulsed with reawakened pain. "She told me I was an integral piece in some plan," he relayed before scoffing and looking down to his wound. "Some precious piece I was, to have done me over like that," he mumbled to himself, internally cursing the green haired woman.
Ami eyed him curiously. "What happ—"
She was cut off by a mysterious beeping sound coming from her wrist. She looked down, surprised at the familiar melody, and hastily flipped it open. Her face lit up with the light of the screen.
"Ami?" a stern voice asked on the other side, a slight crackling disrupting the frequency.
Ami glanced at Trowa before turning her eyes back to the screen. "Present, Minako."
"We need you to report to the palace immediately."
Ami's eyes squinted. "Why, what happened?"
The other line was quiet for a moment as the bluenette watched a curious look settle into Minako's eyes. "Y…You didn't feel it?" she asked but continued before Ami could respond. "There's been an emergency, Makoto and Agent Yuy have just been released from urgent care."
Ami's heart thudded as her eyes widened. No…she hadn't felt it. She'd felt nothing. She gulped but it felt like swallowing sandpaper. "Urgent care?" she asked, body humming with annoyance at the squeak in her voice.
"They're fine," Minako responded hastily, looking somewhere off screen. "Director Po said that you've been working on the parchment, is that correct?"
Ami could easily detect Minako's irritability and matched it testily with her own. "Affirmative," she replied militaristically. Trowa raised an eyebrow at her that she chose to ignore.
"Good, bring it with you. Meet us in the palace mortuary. The bodies have been transferred there to keep the investigation hush hush."
"Got it," Ami responded curtly. "I'm bringing a companion. He's some associate of Setsuna's put in my custody." Ami made eye contact with Trowa for a split second, weathering his glare as she made him sound like some child, before looking back down to the screen on her wrist.
Minako hesitated but nodded slowly. "Understood."
"Mercury out."
Minako responded in kind and Ami shut her communicator. Looking up to Trowa she raised an eyebrow. "Ready?"
The tall man shrugged. "As I'll ever be."
It was a recurring sound, a faint and muffled beep accompanied by a similar, muffled beep. Everything was hazy for a moment when Makoto opened her eyes. The ceiling above her swam with white though the room was lit with a soft blue. For a brief moment she wondered just what she was doing and why she wasn't in her apartment…when the night came rushing back to her.
Her body shot up from its position on the bed and Makoto immediately regretted the action. Her lower back thudded with an immense ache and her shoulder let loose a cascade of sharp pain that didn't dissipate as soon as she'd hoped.
Thinking she was alone Makoto shut her eyes tightly and let loose a quick shout of pain, gritting her teeth and hovering a shaky hand over the wound. From that moment on it was as if she couldn't merely exist without a puncture of agony running through her body. Her hands fisted into balls, nails cutting harshly into her palms as she gritted her teeth and shut her eyes in a silent cry.
She hadn't felt a pain like this in years, the sheer force of it able to knock her senses loose. So much so that she hadn't noticed that there was someone else in the room.
"It hurts less if you don't move."
Makoto's eyes shot open and she sat up again, alert and surprised. She was barely able to notice that it was a calm Heero who'd spoken before another shock of almost intolerable pain rippled through her body.
"Ahh!" she cried in frustration, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth once more. She remained sitting, determined not to let her wounds decide how she would ordinate her body. The pain lasted longer, however, and she spread her shaking fingers as if to strange an invisible neck. "Fuck!" she cried when it died away slower. Her breathing was labored and Makoto could feel beads of sweat forming on her head and a warmth beneath her bandages. Her wounds had partially reopened.
She heard a tsk from the bed beside her. "I said don't move," he reiterated and Makoto turned a painful eye to him.
"You know," she started testily, "usually I'd let your snide remarks go due to your obvious inability to communicate with the human race but frankly I am in far too much pain to deal with your bull, so shut. The hell. Up," she responded, slowing her breaths and watching as he turned his head to face her.
Heero was quiet for a moment. "Hn," was his only response as he watched the beads of surprised tears that had prickled at the corner of her eyes fade away. She was getting used to the pain.
Now finding the throb that perpetuated in her shoulder and lower back more bearable, Makoto took the time to look around the room. She was on a small bed, upper body wrapped solely in bandages, just as Heero's was. Her lower half was garbed in a pair of long hospital pants. She was hooked up to a load of machines, the only one she was able to identify being the heart monitor. Clearly they'd been operated on…but why weren't they in the sick bay? Makoto turned to the large glass window in front of her and could hardly believe what she was seeing.
"You've got to be kidding me," she whispered incredulously, eyes widening in shock and disbelief. "Are they serious?" she asked, turning her body very, very slowly to face Heero. If she didn't see his heart monitor beeping she would have thought that he was dead. His whole body was perfectly still.
"They're serious," was his only response as his eyes opened. Painstakingly slow, he sat up and faced her, Makoto noticing with envy that it seemed almost effortless. She knew it hurt him but the fact that Heero could move without showing emotion was an impressive feat.
"This is—"
"Smart."
Makoto gaped. "Smart?!" she yelled and Heero gave her an annoyed look at the volume of her voice. "How can you say this is smart? We go out to stop a monster and this is the treatment we get?"
"Don't get so riled up," Heero responded and gave her a look that made her feel so beneath him. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that the immense amount of pain you're in is clouding your judgment."
"Listen you—"
"Think about it," Heero said curtly, cutting her off. She looked down to see his hands gripping the side of the bed harshly and was at least a little relieved that he felt some physical pain too. "You were bitten, correct?"
Makoto, confused at where this was leading, raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, how did you—?"
"Because I was bitten in the same place," Heero acknowledged, looking down towards the apex of his neck and shoulder.
Makoto looked confused. "Okay, but what does that have to do with us—"
"Think about it," he said, voice fluctuating very little. "If there's one creature, one mythical being that bites its victims, what is it?"
Makoto still wasn't getting it. "A vampire?"
"And what happens when someone gets bitten by a vampire?"
Makoto was quiet for a moment and then it was as if everything started to click. "Wait…" she murmured, turning her eyes towards Heero's less startled ones. "Wait, Heero, they think we're going to turn into vampires?!" She couldn't believe it. Sure their wounds gave leeway to an idea as outlandish as that, but did they honestly believe that they were going to turn into those monsters?
"Not necessarily," Heero responded. "But something could happen and it's smart to be cautious."
"But Heero," Makoto contested. "That…that thing…" she could hardly get it out, flashes of white and blood sliding through her mind. "That thing was hardly a vampire."
Surprisingly Heero nodded. "You know that," he said, "and I know that. And the blood samples they took to analyze will confirm so."
The two were quiet for a moment, the only sound echoing in the room being the heart monitor's steady beeps, reminding them that they were both lucky to be alive. But then, feeling less hurt and shunned, Makoto began sniffing the air. Heero looked at her as if she were a misbehaving child.
Makoto grinned. "Well, I can't smell your blood or hear your heart beat so I guess that's a good sign, right?" she joked, assuming that he'd just brush off her gag like usual. But she couldn't help the joke, she needed to lighten her own mood and the only outlet seemed to be shifting into their usual statures; her the jokester, him the annoyed and straight laced agent.
Needless to say she was thoroughly thrown off when Heero actually smiled. It wasn't one of his usual smirks, one of those 'sure, I'll give you that one,' looks, but a smile that actually broke through his lips and showed his teeth. He looked down as if to hide it but Makoto saw it.
Her face filled with a rouge blush when the beeping on her heart monitor sped up, the once rhythmic sound accelerating to a much faster rate. Heero looked at her with an amused glance as Makoto turned away and coughed lightly into her hand, thoroughly embarrassed. It was bad enough her heart sped up but Makoto chastised herself even more for actually finding his smile more likable than his usual stoic frown.
She cleared her throat. "So!" she squeaked loudly, trying to drown out the sound and mentally reprimanding her heart. She could still feel a slight warmth in her cheeks as she dared to look back at Heero. "What do we do now?"
Heero pursed his lips, all remnants of his smile gone. Makoto could feel her heart slow. "We wait for the blood test to confirm that there's nothing wrong with us and then we continue with our jobs."
"We wait," Makoto repeated, as if in confirmation. Heero nodded. Makoto sighed. "In Quarantine."
Heero nodded in affirmation. "In Quarantine."
AN: Whew, okay, so a little more tension with Rei and Minako. I hope that was a little bit more plausible. Two more chapters and then we'll be caught up—three more and it'll be new! Hooray! Please read and review!
angelic aquarian: Awesome! I actually think that'd be a really fun story to read—a Minako/Trowa/Wufei triangle…you should do it! Thanks for your compliment and your continuous reviews, I am very grateful :D
Requiem of Fire: Yay! I hope you liked Rei in this chapter. I imagined her like a wild warrior with awesome hair like Pocahontas lol. And yeah, poor Usagi everyone's getting on her case haha but rightfully so! I think Makoto and Heero contrast very well, she's so rash and he's not. He definitely reins her in and ignores her stupid jokes. More Rei/Quatre to come! I'm obsessed with them together, I think he's literally tailor made for her. I'm glad you love them too. Tell me what you think of the new Minako/Rei scene I'm very curious to hear your thoughts! Okay now tag, tag, tag go! More Cathedrals please! :D
Shanrei: HOORAY! I'm so glad you reviewed and even read my profile hahaha! I'm a bit whiny about the whole review thing but I just like to make friends hehehe. So props to you! I'm glad you like the story—new stuff will be coming soon it's just hard to edit over 70,000 words ugh -_- Awesome, another Makoto fan! Gotta love her. Update Basic Instincts soon, it's so good! I'm so, so happy you decided to review, it truly makes me happy. Thank you so much!
JPandS: Aw yeah. I am so, so, so close to just putting up the other chapters as they are and posting the new chapter because it's got a lovely Rei/Quatre scene that just makes me…mmm! Hahaha. And believe me, I read that Minako/Wufei scene over and over too—like it's probably one of the best, if not the best, scene I've ever written. Funny how it's not even a Mako scene lol. Setsuna is full of secrets and so is Hotaru but it's all for good. I can't imagine Setsuna caring too much about anyone besides Usagi and Chibi-Usa so when she basically says, "yeah Makoto's gonna get hurt but so what," she's just doing her job. I'm glad you like Trowa :) but ugh writing him is hard—glad to know all the work is paying off. I honestly love Makoto and Heero together, I think they mesh so well like Rei and Quatre. What I love about Wufei is that he is such a man about the job that when he strays from that you know it's important and something special. I think that's what makes his and Minako's relationship tick: the fact that he's becoming softer towards her is making her feel all girly because she knows he doesn't really feel like that about anything. Thank you so much for your review, much appreciated as always!
aquafina rain: Oh cool, I'm so glad you liked the Mako/Heero scene! I've always thought that Makoto would be so fed up with his attitude but secretly think he's cute haha. Man, if you shipped them I'd go crazy, your writing is amazing. I'm glad you found the creature scary! I tried my best but I'm not so good at the freaky stuff hahaha. Trowa/Ami is a pairing I love but I feel like I don't see much of. I think his honest resilience and quietness counteracts her shyness perfectly. Thank you for complimenting my Trowa haha it's definitely rough work to write him. I just ADORE Duo/Hotaru. I'm so excited for their relationship to blossom. He's going to keep calling her kid and she's going to keep being annoyed by it and it's going to make for some awesomeness between them hehe. I hope you liked the scene between Minako and Rei, I'm eagerly awaiting what you think of it. Thank you so much for the review…and now that I've updated again…inspiration? Hehe, I hope so.