Bishi Pile Challenge: Challenge response to Anger, Information, Conspiracy Minor to Wind, Hair, Shadows Word count: 2,867
Series: Friends 36/??
Author: Karina
Pairings: Duo + Zechs
Ratings: M 15+ In Australia Rated in the event of bad language and violence.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the characters. That's the way it is.
Warnings: Not a death fic despite how it starts.
Many thanks to Katie for beating Friends.
Character Challenge Duo, Zechs and Trowa
Chapter 36
Chang, he noted, could not leave well enough alone and had to front Duo.
Trowa snorted softly, hammering a pin into the ice coating the floor, surprised at how deep the layer was. He could only hope the ice would not crack and the pin would hold firm, not that there was more than a chill breeze in the room to threaten the tents. Duo had found the best shelter available and if he said there was not sufficient room for them all Trowa was willing to believe him.
Duo, after all, did not lie.
Initially he had not understood Duo's reluctance to carve a place for himself in society, but following a series of long discussions, Quatre had convinced him Duo was simply not ready to settle down. Their friend was at loose ends and they needed patience and to trust him. Duo, not having expected to survive the war, was unable to settle down to any one career until he was at peace with himself. It would improve, Quatre had assured him. Duo merely needed time to find himself and Trowa was well aware that Quatre was keeping an observant eye on their friend and was prepared to help him when he might require assistance.
It was nice to have friends.
Over time they could prove to be annoying, distracting, pig headed and generally could be relied on when needed. Trowa did not like the rift developing in their group; it challenged the comfortable world he had settled himself into and he was afraid of losing a vital part of it.
Chang and Yuy were content with their positions in Preventers. Their work was comfortable for them in that it was enough like their past to give them a sense of familiarity while working to maintain the peace. Unfortunately, not having to face the prospect of becoming civilians anytime in the near future gave them time to pick at Duo, who was not prepared to maintain a quasi militaristic existence.
Duo was not the only one in that category, but neither Chang nor Yuy had a problem accepting Quatre running Winner Enterprises. In fact he was certain neither of them had considered Quatre might entertain notions other than running the multi level corporation.
Winner Enterprises had its very flexible tendrils insinuated throughout the ESUN, and as its CEO Quatre was deeply committed to working toward peace and maintaining and improving the living standards of the citizens of the ESUN. But Quatre was unhappy with his lot as CEO. Trowa was sure more than eyebrows would be raised if Quatre claimed he wanted to join Preventers in an official capacity, not that he did.
He himself had chosen to join Preventers, but not for the long term. When he had enlisted he had needed something familiar while he waited to see how his relationship with Quatre developed following the stresses and strains of the war. He had watched as Quatre struggled to settle into his role as CEO of Winner Enterprises, offering what support he could and feeling totally inadequate all the while.
He was not intending to become a career Preventer, something he was certain Chang Wu Fei would become. Heero, he suspected, could also choose to have a professional career in the organization. He was comfortable with the lifestyle but most likely Heero's fate would depend on Relena Darlian. Trowa was willing to bet it would not be an easy courtship.
The girl had so many issues to deal with, personal and public that she could not enjoy a comfortable private life. She might as well live in a glass house for all the privacy she enjoyed. Such a life certainly would not suit Trowa in the long term and he could only wonder if Heero was up to dealing with it.
He had his doubts as they, he and Heero, were not so dissimilar in many respects and he could not, in all honesty, see Relena dropping her career, or even winding it back appreciably. It would be interesting to see how the courtship developed and if Heero could tolerate over the long term the media attention focused on them.
Heero and Relena were not as natural a couple as he and Quatre. He and his blonde partner had clicked and something unique and wonderfully fulfilling had grown between them. He could do nothing about Quatre being a public figure but not being a politician Quatre could garner some privacy.
The Magunacs were wonderfully useful for security. Security at the Winner properties was better than that found at the palaces and hotels Relena frequented, and he and Quatre enjoyed more privacy than Relena. It also helped it was known publically that he and Quatre were something more than friends. Nor did it exactly hurt when you owned controlling shares in the majority of media services. You gained amazing control over how much detail of your private life became public knowledge.
No, he could not see himself remaining a Preventer for the rest of his life. Preventers had allowed him to be himself while he waited for Quatre to settle and for their relationship to develop. There would be more for him than being a glorified policeman and he was feeling confident enough in his abilities, and in his relationship, to begin thinking of a career change.
His stint in the circus had been fun, but he wanted something more than that wandering lifestyle could give him. What was more likely was that he would give in to Quatre's pleas for him to work in the security department of Winner Enterprises. His blonde lover had been after him to take up employment there for some time and now Trowa was more secure in himself and ready to give the position some serious thought.
He would not be accepting a handout if he chose to accept the position. His confidence in his own independence had flourished during his term as a Preventer and he knew the value of his skills. No, Quatre was not offering a handout but an honest job in which he succeeded, or failed, on his own merit. Quatre knew him well enough to know he would not accept charity, even from him.
Charity did not belong in their relationship.
But it was a decision he did not need to make at this time. What he should be devoting his attention to was preparing for the night and resting for the new day.
It was sure to be exhausting hiking back to their helicopter. The snow would be deeper, but hopefully the wind would be appreciably lower, making it easier to slog their way through the drifts. While they had given it no consideration before, and they should have, they might have a problem with Marquise.
Exactly what injuries the man carried was yet to be determined by anyone in his group. Trowa found himself hoping the man could at least walk under his own power, even if at a reduced speed. He was a hulking big man to have to lug around on a stretcher, and Trowa was not particularly keen on the idea. He was the tallest of the former Gundam Pilots but Marquise was taller still and heavier.
Looking around he noted Chang had fallen to erecting his own tent and was thankfully giving his bad temper a rest from vocal expression. Briefly Trowa considered their situation, glancing about the main room of the cabin.
It was not an overly large room and they were in the process of pitching three two man tents. He was well aware it would make more sense to erect only two tents but none of them had suggested it. Chang was obviously in a pissy mood and not willing to share his tent space and Heero, Trowa suspected, was not exactly comfortable with the idea of sharing with a confirmed homosexual. Heero had never said anything about Trowa and Quatre's relationship, but knowing two of your friends were homosexual and sleeping in the same tent as one of them could be construed to be two different things.
Chang would make the more sensible tent mate for Heero, but looking at Wu Fei Trowa decided it was better for everyone concerned if they had their own tents. Chang looked more than merely annoyed; real temper was sparking fire in his dark eyes.
Chang Wu Fei was a fine looking man, but there was no way Trowa would have ever considered him as a lover. He was too uptight for Trowa's tastes; too dark in nature as well. He could not have long tolerated Chang's justice rants and volatile temperament, but aside from these reasons he suspected Sally was considered to be something more than a friend by the temperamental agent.
Heero had his share of good looks too, but that self destructing stoicism was not something Trowa felt himself capable of dealing with in the long term. Not as something more than a friend at least. Besides, he knew Heero was heterosexual and Trowa's tastes ran towards blondes who could smile, not brunettes who could generate twenty translations from a single grunt.
Duo was another matter.
He was much easier to live with than either Chang or Yuy had proven to be over the years. Duo lived with Quatre and Trowa on and off as he learned to adapt and live in a world vastly changed from the one he had known. Duo would, Trowa knew, find himself given time. He was undergoing therapy and his biggest problem was the nightmares, which seemed to affect him far worse than they had Quatre, who had also experienced distressing nightmares of the war.
Trowa was no different than any of them; he was just taking a little longer to come to terms with the changes in his circumstances. He suspected in the long term it would be Duo who was more settled and accepting of the peaceful civilian life than any in their group by taking more time now to find himself. There were some days Trowa wondered if Heero and Wu Fei had really dealt with the war and what it had done to them, but the Preventer shrinks were good and there had been some intensive therapy before Une signed them all up. He knew from experience how intense those sessions could be.
Duo was having his own therapy sessions and Quatre was assisting and monitoring him, careful not to encroach too much into what Duo had to see as a personal matter. The very last thing Quatre wanted was to set Duo to running, but he was there with moral support whenever Duo needed it. They had made progress; Trowa was not blind to the advances they had made, and he hoped Duo was on the right road.
This latest turn of events worried Trowa. What was it that had set Duo off this time, bringing him out into the middle of nowhere to find Marquise when no one knew for certain he was missing? There was still so much about Duo he did not understand.
Stepping back he considered the tent and the location he had chosen without really giving it any thought. He had set his tent closest to the door through which there was now light blazing. The flickering quality of the light suggested a good sized fire was burning in the room beyond, and after rolling out a sleeping bag and setting up a gas lamp for later use, Trowa lightly rapped his knuckles on the wall beside the doorway.
He heard Chang's snort and muttered comment; a derogatory snarl on his manners, but Trowa chose to ignore him. He had found it payed to ignore Chang when he was in one of these moods, the shunning generally served to aggravate the man more than snapping back at him and telling him to get a life would.
In the interests of self preservation Chang's uncertain temper took a back seat. He had learned a long time ago it did not do to sneak up on Duo, and he was uncertain of Marquise's temper and reactions when surprised. It was only sensible, in his view, to be cautious when approaching warriors.
That was what they were.
Warriors, not soldiers.
They had passed beyond the rank and file a long time ago, and certain reactions and reflexes could not simply be unlearned. It paid to be wary of others with skills equal to his own and over time Quatre had taught him the benefits of diplomacy. He would give Duo and Marquise their due by recognizing their past and approaching them with all due caution.
"Yo' Tro."
A good beginning. Duo was relaxed by the fire, sitting slightly to one side of the tent opening and feeding small bits of debris into the flames. He looked relaxed; his braid slung over one shoulder, messy from sleep, but there was a quietness to him Trowa was very glad to see. It appeared he had calmed down from whatever words had been exchanged with Chang over their foray into the mountains at night.
He took the greeting to be permission for him to enter and settled on the opposite side of the fire from Duo. A lamp brightened the room and by its light he realized the space was a natural fissure in the rock, cut wider and squared somewhat to form a small room.
"You have a secure shelter here," he murmured. "Quatre says hello."
"I was lucky to have someone who knows the lie of the land with me," Duo returned. "Zechs told me the pantry would be here, and it made a whole lot more sense to shelter here than out there."
"Might I enquire as to your condition, Mr. Marquise?"
The interior of the tent was shadowed as Duo had the lantern on the far side of him, but Trowa could make out the pale shimmer of the man's trade mark hair. Quatre's admonition that politeness would always garner results prompted his means of address. He knew a great deal about the man from the war but nothing of him after the war, and he was not prepared to consider the man harmless. Marquise had been an officer and a gentleman, however, and Trowa was not inclined to think that much had changed.
"Well enough considering the circumstances, Mr. Barton."
The deep voice was low and husky. That Trowa could detect he sounded pain free, if wary, which was to be expected given the circumstances of their meeting. This man had proven himself not to be a fool in the past and there was a dark mystery surrounding his whereabouts since the war ended. Noin had been in a foul mood on reappearing at Preventers and her temper had not appreciably improved in the last few months. What ever had parted them had been serious and Trowa was not going to take chances by underestimating him.
"Have you got the camera there, Zechs?"
Duo turned, poking his head into the shadowed interior of the tent and after a moment he reappeared with a video camera in hand.
"I took some footage, video and stills, when I found him. You will want it I suppose,"
"That would be good, thank you."
He needed to garner as much information as he could. Quatre, much as he wished otherwise, was almost certainly going to entangle himself in this business. They were all aware there was something particularly dark and sinister involved, and since Duo had involved himself, Quatre would not leave it alone. He suspected whatever evidence they gathered and submitted to Lady Une would vanish as quickly and thoroughly as smoke on the wind. He doubted Une would give them instructions to investigate the murderous attempt on Marquise; it was more likely she would instruct them to forget the mission entirely.
"If you do not mind, I would like to make a copy of this." He took the unit from Duo and flipped open the screen, settling down to check out what it was Duo had walked into.
Duo was silent, watching, occasionally feeding the fire. Silence from the tent gave him no clue as to what Marquise was doing; resting, he suspected. He sucked in a sharp breath when the video revealed the man's condition realizing this was not simply an attempt to murder a man. Somewhere out there was a very sick individual and Trowa suspected the abductor would not let the matter rest when he learned he had failed.
"Hey, Trowa?"
Looking up from the tiny screen Trowa could not resist glancing into the tent, but other than the fall of silver hair suggested in the darkness, he could see nothing. Duo was watching him, blue eyes shimmering violet in the firelight and for an instant he could almost imagine a shadow shape hovering behind Duo, a deeper shadow amidst the flickering shadows cast by the fire.
"When you get back to Sanc..."
"Yes?"
Duo sighed and his fingers unerringly found and fluffed that tuft of hair at the tip of his braid. "Watch your back when you get back to Sanc, okay? Things aren't always what they seem."
t.b.c
Karina Robertson 2008