tantrys - ffiction - After - Chapter 9 - The Pilots

After

Chapter 9 - The Pilots

Warnings: Slight shounen ai.... More mystery ::le sigh:: xD Forgive me for any mistakes, I don't feel like editing much... [tired-- ZZZZzzzz...]


".... me again why I let him near the 'fridge?"

"I don't know, Meiran," a sweet voice sighed. "But it happens all the time... Poor, unsuspecting fools."

Soft laughter drifted into Heero's world. He'd been awake for a long time, but the conversation from the entry room was only just beginning to filter in past his headache. He assumed that the tall, odd haired Gundam II crew member had brained him. He was the only one not in view when it'd happened.

Heero rubbed the back of his head methodically, soothing out the lump that was beginning to form there. The blood on his hands had been cleaned off, thankfully.

I overreacted, he thought. Attacking over a material possession... But it's all I have.

Purple eyes.

His frown increased. What? But he understood perfectly, because that glimmering, amused pair of eyes haunted him. Vibrant-- not a hint of death consumed them while all around were those tainted with it. Or, like himself, consumed by it.

He's an enemy, Heero thought fervently. Only the scheming and *brainless* would revive the Gundam after its ancestor's own gruesome end.

"Good morn--"

Heero jumped up in surprise. Surprise for a soldier was not good-- he whipped around the laser pistol he kept beneath his pillow and aimed between a wide pair of purple eyes, shadowed partially by messy brown bangs and set in an elven visage. He blinked away slight dizziness and narrowed his eyes meaningfully.

"Get out."

Duo blinked once. He raised graceful hands, revealing a half eaten Crillean bread roll in one.

"Sorry to disturb you. Mei just figured you'd be up by now." He grinned, catching Heero completely off guard. The smile was genuinely unafraid and friendly. Immediately he was suspicious. The pistol never wavered. He called her Mei, Heero grumbled.

Slowly, inch by inch, his arm lowered. Duo waited patiently, chewing on the bread. He was noisy, and staring at him.

"Stop staring at me. You can go."

Duo's smiled and shrugged. He turned around, his long braid swishing about with him. When his footsteps faded, and conversation picked back up, Heero sat down heavily. His headache was back-- he tensed. Footsteps again. By the time the small innocent figure appeared in his doorway Heero was once again in his towering pose. The gun fell however as Meiran began nagging.

"I knew you'd be up and brooding back here." She tapped her foot on the cool floor, arms crossed and her expression firm. She was pretty when calm, and ragingly beautiful when angry. Heero lowered his gaze reluctantly. She couldn't rival him in ferocity of a stare, but she had a lot of stamina. She'd stand for hours glaring at him until he relented, then she'd cheer and laugh at him.

"Please come out. Quatre is a good person-- and he knows a lot about the Gundam--"

"I've already explained that the Gundam is dead, Meiran," Heero warned. The girl was on dangerous ground. "They're trying to bring back something that needs to stay dead."

"Don't you even *care* about the human race?!" She snapped. "We have a chance because they're searching for the Gundam when everyone else has given up on it--" she gave him a meaningful look. "I thought I taught you something about trust, Heero."

"Trust." He repeated the word thickly, not liking the foreign taste. What have I got to trust in a world that always betrays me? "Non existent."

"Stop it!" She screamed and swung her arms wildly, gesturing with silent fury. "You're not a machine! You're a human just like me and the pilots--"

"Pilots?" Heero responded sharply her words. He stepped closer to her and grabbed her slender arm. Meiran's mouth opened in surprise. I'm hurting her. But she mentioned pilots-- "Pilots, Meiran, what pilots?!"

"The Gundam pilots--" she stammered. The sudden emotion in Heero's cerulean eyes was unnerving. "Quatre and Duo--"

"There were four!" Heero insisted. Meiran nodded.

"... Trowa and Wufei. Four. They pilot the Gundam II."

Four pilots for the Gundam. The II is their substitute... Heero released Meiran slowly. He swung around swiftly to face the far wall of his room to avoid her hurt, confused look.

Lowe had designed the Gundam from the first gear in the robot's hands to its fully functional wings. There were so many controls and functions that one captain would never be able to pilot it-- not even two could... So four were needed, and the fervent scientist had supposedly found the best for the job, before Earth was destroyed along with half of its population-- the pilots included.

"How were they trained?"

"What?" Meiran asked softly, not daring to speak higher than Heero's strained gasp.

They wouldn't have revealed that, Heero deduced. All they know is that they need the Gundam, and that I was the last to know it.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Heero," Meiran finally spoke, clearing her throat and moving to leave him to his dark ruse. "... But please come out, when you feel like it...."

Heero nodded, but she was gone.



He followed Mei moments later, but elected to hang out in the hall, eavesdropping. He had a perfect view of the simple kitchenette area, where Duo was rummaging around in the empty mini 'fridge and cabinets. He was humming happily. The others were still lounging in on the sofa and floor.

"I didn't mean to upset him so much," the blonde, Quatre, stated. "I knew him as a child... He's changed a lot..."

"He was a child?" A snobbish voice muttered.

Meiran's laugh was soft. Very unlike the usual cheery chuckle. "I'm with Wufei. It's hard to imagine Heero as a child... Ever..."

Heero folded his arms, still fingering the trigger to his pistol. He had a clear shot of everyone in other room...

"What're you doing hanging out here?"

Except for Duo. Heero didn't even bother looking up. The boy was weird.

Munch, munch. He ate loudly, too. Heero's gaze rose slowly. He prepared his best glare--

Duo's smile was ready, as was a wink of one glittering violet eye. On an impulse Heero raised the gun.

"*Don't* wink at me," he ordered. His temper flared as Duo's eyes crossed impishly and he began winking rapidly, smile firmly in place. Weird. This is a pilot? He wondered.

Then Duo moved. His hand flashed out, and grabbed the pistol from Heero's grasp with a simple twist. Heero now stared down the barrel of it. His eyes refocused onto Duo's. They were still bright, but a little more grave.

"You're not very courteous-- trying to shoot your guest twice in one day--" he shook his head sadly, pouting out soft, pale lips.

"You're not my guest," Heero replied evenly. He purposefully turned his head to look at the gathered audience at the front of the hall. Quatre's eyes were wide, and it looked as if his tall companion was about to knock Heero out again. Meiran held her head in her hands, and was mumbling about the "shouldn't have let him eat the rotten cheese in the back cupboard."

"You're a mistake," Heero spoke suddenly. In a swift, violent strike he reclaimed his abducted pistol and rammed Duo against the wall, arm crushing his neck. This time he held the others at bay with the gun. They were angry. Meiran began scolding him again but Heero had had enough. Enough of the false hopes and the crazed, *dead* pilots.

"You're all stupid," he hissed. "I saw the Gundam in *pieces*-- you're at a dead end." He released the struggling Duo and shoved him towards his friends. "Leave and I won't kill you like the other 'pilots' that decided to take up the search..." His head throbbed distantly to the beat of his heart. It took 45 beats for anyone to speak.

"You saw the Gundam?" Quatre asked. He was a persistent idiot, Heero decided. Duo was glaring now, at Heero and straight through him. There was anger all around. It's such a common emotion.

"In pieces?" The dark haired Asian added. "What do you mean by that?"

"He said that it was destroyed," Meiran piped up. "For sure--"

"And Jey is gone too..." Quatre's words faded as did a certain crystal light in his eyes. He lowered them, arms folded. His skin was so pale, and cool against the black of his uniform...

This is what hope looks like, when it's dying... And I'm the murderer.

"We're not done searching, Quatre. 'Heero' here might be misinformed--" The Chinese man continued forcefully, throwing Heero an annoyed glare for upsetting their leader.

"No, Wufei," Quatre whispered with conviction. "He's not lying--" Quatre's hand waved through the air before him, and he patted his chest lightly. "I feel it in my space heart...."

"...." Wufei's silence was obvious refusal. Heero watched the little captain. He was small. Weak. Pale, and emotional. Too empathetic... Yet, according to his crew members' expressions, he held their devotion. His faith, was theirs-- completely.

"I can bring you to the coordinates of the wreckage."