========================================
Role Reversal
By Sefilin
========================================
Disclaimers: Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing copyright Sunrise,
Bandai, Sotsu Agency
Dedicated, as always, to Kellryn.
==========
Chapter Seven
==========
DUO'S HOME UNIVERSE:
----------
Relena tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable
position and the peace of mind to sleep, but no matter on which
side she lay, she couldn't. An impatient sound made its way out of
her throat and she sat up, drawing her legs up and resting her arms
on them, noting in passing the early hour.
Her gaze went across the room to where Julian lay, still and
silent in sleep. A bittersweet smile pulled at her lips as she
stared into the gloomy darkness for long moments, as she
contemplated not wanting Julian to leave to return to his world.
She felt a kinship with him that was shared by no one else and it
made her feel a little less lonely. He understood the pressures
that she was under and the necessity of having a release such as
Heero; after all, Heero was Julian's release too.
A deep sigh was pulled from the depths of her soul as she
acknowledged to herself that Julian meant a lot to her, even if
they'd only known each other for a few weeks.
It was nice to have a brother.
She knew she had one, somewhere in the world, but now it
seemed as though she had another, but he wasn't going to be here
for long and it just wouldn't be the same with Duo, if he even
acknowledged the possibility that they were related.
"Relena?"
Relena started at the quiet voice that drifted through the
darkness and blinked her thoughts away, focussing on what she was
staring at. Julian had raised himself up also and was sitting in a
similar position to herself, his head resting on his knees, and his
face turned to face her.
"Mm?"
"Can't sleep, huh?"
"No," Relena whispered back, unwilling to break the spell of
softness that was settling around them.
"Relena..." Julian shifted, sheets rustling, "What should I
do if I get back?"
Relena slowly released the breath she had just drawn and
asked, "Do about what?"
But she knew what he meant. It was a decision she also had
to make, when things were once more as they had been - when Duo was
back and he and Heero were together again. She knew about them, of
course she did, how could she not, when Heero looked at Julian the
way he did? And she had been slowly coming to terms with it.
Julian didn't say anything, didn't push her into admitting
she knew what he meant and she bowed her head, her hair falling
forwards to obscure her face. Julian was one of the reasons she
had been able to accept that Heero loved someone else and they had
spent long hours talking of their Heero's, wishing and hoping, but
ultimately knowing that each of them belonged to someone else.
Relena rose from the bed, gathering the blankets about her as
she crossed the room to sit cross-legged on Julian's bed, facing
him. She leaned forwards, her hand reaching out to rest on his
nape, pulling his head forwards until their foreheads rested
against one another.
"We know, Julian, don't we? What we have to do?"
Julian's hand came up to cover her second hand, resting
against her knee, "Yeah..."
And Relena finally put into words, the realisation both had
come to through this situation they found themselves a part of,
"Heero... Heero loves Duo, I know that and I want him to be happy.
And I don't need his strength now as much as I did, so I'll be
happy for them and hope one day I'll find someone to love as much
as I do him."
"Even if I managed to take Heero away from her, he'd still
love her and I can't settle for less than he gives her. I want
everything he gives to her and I don't think I could stand being
with him and not having it," Julian finished off.
Relena nodded, something that was half-sob, half-laugh
catching in her throat, "We, both of us, deserve that."
They sat in silence, once more drawing comfort from one
another, knowing they weren't alone. Then Julian's shoulders began
to shake and he drew back, laughing silently into puzzled Relena's
face, "But do we let them off?"
"Let them... Oh!" and Relena giggled. The image of Heero's
face the last time they'd glomped him came to mind and she shook
her head, "When it's so much fun?"
Julian's laughter gained volume, "What about if we started on
the rest of them too? Can you imagine Wufei's face if you jumped
him?"
"Or Duo! And the other Relena."
Images of people's faces, caught in a series of terribly
funny shocked glances flew through each mind, for some reason
always returning back to various Wufei expressions.
"We _have_ to try it on Wufei!" Relena decided and Julian
concurred.
"No doubt about it. And we shouldn't do anything at other
times..."
"...Keep them off-balance."
They looked at each other as the grey light of predawn
lightened room and were caught in the sparkling eyes of each other,
brimming full of fun. And they burst out laughing again, Relena
falling backwards and Julian to one side as they continued to laugh
in a companionable mirth as day broke across them.
==========
JULIAN'S HOME UNIVERSE:
----------
Milliard and Treize waved to Duo and Heero as they drove away
from the safe house, heading for the airbase that would lead them
eventually to the research centre where they were hoping to find a
certain Dr. Keller and the machine he'd built to gather dimensional
energies.
Duo waved back before turning forwards. He flicked his bangs
out of his face and smiled, happy to finally be doing something
that would get him back to his own world. Even if the gadget
didn't work, at least he wasn't sitting around being Julian any
longer. Despite the fact that what he'd learnt over the past weeks
could come in handy sometime in the future, it wasn't him and he
didn't think it ever would be.
Not to mention the fact that he was a soldier and staying
would require a total change of profession and attitude, unless he
faked Julian's death. But then, Julian would be left without his
life if he ever returned.
Leaning back against the seat, Duo slowly let his eyes drift
shut in bliss and sat in contentment as they drove towards the
airbase where the other four Gundam pilots were waiting for them
with Gundams and transport planes.
A flash of sunlight momentarily warmed his eyelids and his
eyes flew open, wondering where that came from. He blinked the red
after image out of his eyes and peered intently out the back
window. It didn't take him long to spy what had caused the red
heat and frowned as he gazed at the vehicle that was pulling out of
a copse of trees on the side of the road behind them.
"Um, Heero?"
He was answered by a grunt of inquiry.
"I hate to tell you this, but there seems to be a giant
golden limousine following us."
And indeed there was. Heero tried to loose it, something
fairly difficult to do on an open country road. Nor did he have
much luck in the surrounding towns, only small ones existing
between the Peacecraft mansion and the airbase.
"Stop already," Duo muttered as he continued to watch the
limousine that suddenly began to close in on them. Heero took his
advice and slammed on the breaks, brining the jeep they were in to
an abrupt halt and jumped out, followed by Duo.
Duo squinted, shading his eyes as he tried to extend his
vision. He caught a flash of blonde hair through the windscreen
and frowned, "That's that Dorothy girl, isn't it?"
Heero grunted as he waited for the golden machine to pull up,
a gun clasped comfortably in his hand.
Dorothy climbed out of the car, and Duo found it a little
surprising that she had been driving it herself. There was
obviously more to the girl than at first seemed and he decided
keeping an eye on her would be a good thing, if he had to stay
here.
"Julian-sama! I saw you driving with this person and
wondered if you were being kidnapped."
Duo raised and eyebrow as Heero growled again, "Go away."
"Thank you for your concern Dorothy-san, but I'm not in
danger at the moment. This is, er, a friend," Duo said politely,
watching the blonde carefully.
The blue eyes narrowed as they weighed him and he found the
gaze somewhat disconcerting before shrugging it's effects off, "But
_are_ you Julian-sama?"
Neither Heero nor Duo had an answer for that, unknowing
whether she was asking seriously and unwilling to give details
anyway, so they remained silent, wary.
"When you travel with a Gundam pilot?"
Heero's gun came up at that, pointing directly towards her
face, but she ignored it, her eyes still fastened on Duo to the
exclusion of all else and there was something there, beyond the
satisfaction she obviously felt at shocking them both. And Duo
could see what it was.
"You want... to come with us," Duo pronounced slowly,
watching the excitement that dawned in her eyes and blossomed into
a desire for just that.
"Yes," she breathed.
Heero snorted, "No."
Duo glanced at the pilot and rolled his eyes before turning
back to the blonde, who's eyes were glaring at Heero, promising a
less-than-pleasant ending to the situation if it continued the way
it was going. But he ignored the hostile by-play and stared at the
blonde, seeing again the desire for excitement that dwelt within
her. Quite obviously an adrenaline junkie, he mused, wondering
what sort of life she led and whether it satisfied any of her
cravings.
A smile quirked his lips, "You might want to lose the car for
the time being - it's pretty conspicuous. We'll give you ten
minutes."
Dorothy's brilliant gaze acknowledged the time limit and she
folded herself back into the car, moving off to find somewhere to
hide it for however long she was going to be gone.
"You _want_ her to come?" Heero hissed.
Duo shrugged, "When she could make trouble, and _will_ if she
doesn't? This way we can make sure she doesn't. Besides, if her
life is anything like Julian's, I don't blame her for wanting to do
something a little different."
Heero moved closer to Duo, leaning towards him to give the
impression of looming, and murmured in a menacing voice, "Duo..."
The indigo eyes flashed, "Look, Heero, this isn't a _mission_
the same way the other ones are. But I want it completed
successfully or I won't get home. She comes, unless you can
_guarantee_ she _won't_ cause trouble. Understand?" Now it was
Duo looming, his eyes almost glowing as he stared, unflinching into
Heero's angry eyes.
Then Dorothy was back and Duo broke away to smile at the
blonde, "We'd better get going or we'll be late. Heero, you
coming?"
A frustrated sound emerged from the Japanese pilot as he
reluctantly slid back into the jeep, starting it up and heading for
the airbase once more. But he refused to speak to either of them
for the remainder of the journey.
Duo and Dorothy, on the other hand, had a lot to say.
"So, if you're not Julian-sama, who are you? And what
happened to him?"
Duo pondered for a while then shrugged, "My real name is Duo
Maxwell..."
"Maxwell?!" Dorothy broke in sharply, the name obviously
ringing a bell, "But that's the name of one of the Gundam pilots."
Duo grinned at her, "Yeah. Relena, she's cool. Anyway, I'm
not Julian, I'm his... counterpart, I suppose, from a different
world or universe or something. Somehow we ended up switching and
here I am. But I need to get back and Julian probably wants to
come home, so we're going looking for a way to do that."
Dorothy's eyes leeched of expression and remained that way as
she absorbed Duo's speech, finally casting an amazed look at the
back of Heero's head, "He believes this?"
"Yeah," Duo shrugged, "He didn't really have much choice."
Narrowing, Dorothy's eyes caught his, "And why are you
telling me this when it could be damaging to your reputation if it
was to get out?"
"Not to my reputation, to Julian's. And if he doesn't get
back here, who am I to care about what state his reputation is in?
I'm _not_ going to keep pretending to be him. Besides, do you
think people will take your word for it if I deny everything and
look incredibly cute while doing it?" Duo's smile widened, teasing
Dorothy into letting her guard down, into loosening up.
They continued to talk, light-heartedly on Duo's part and
defensively and confrontationally on Dorothy's, as they neared the
airbase and worked out the limits they had set for each other in
this outing.
And Heero continued to remain silent, fuming in the front
seat, half due to Dorothy's presence and half due to being ignored
by the two longhaired bakas in the back.
==========
Trowa glanced up from where he stood near a large
transporter, waiting for Heero and Duo to arrive. The trucks
containing Heavyarms and Wing were securely attached to the floor
of the plane, covered in the tarpaulin that usually obscured them
from view. Shenlon was also there, Meiran making the last minute
attachments as a jeep pulled up beside the tall pilot and emitted
three people.
Trowa blinked at the third, taking in the long blonde hair,
eyebrows and legs before looking to Heero for an explanation. He
shrugged and glanced across at Duo who was heading towards the
transport, followed closely by Dorothy.
"Heya, Meiran. How's things?" he asked as he waved to her.
"Fine, thank you, Duo," she called back, lifting a hand in
greeting from the top of the swathes of grey tarpaulin. She also
noticed Dorothy, following the other girl with guarded brown eyes,
then flicked her gaze to Heero and Trowa who had followed the other
two up the ramp and into the plane.
Trowa shrugged at her and stood waiting until she climbed
down, walking side by side with her towards the front of the plane.
Halfway there, the engines started up and they picked up their
pace, hurrying to find seats for take-off.
Both of them were rather surprised to find Duo in the pilot's
seat, running through pre-flight checks and chatting with Dorothy
who seemed to have a few problems with him piloting. It seemed she
was aware of Julian being unable to fly.
"But you don't have your licence, you can't fly."
"The presence of a licence doesn't mean you can fly. Trust
me, Dorothy, I can fly _anything_. I'm even better at it than
Heero."
Heero, sitting in the co-pilots seat, glared at the oblivious
Duo, objecting silently to the claim. Trowa blinked at the
annoyance that was visible in his eyes, wondering why such a
statement would cause that reaction. Normally he wouldn't care
what other people said, but this time he obviously did. Something
must have happened since he and the others had left earlier that
day - maybe it had something to do with Dorothy.
Trowa slid into the third row of chairs, behind Dorothy and
across from Meiran, settling back and clipping his seatbelt firmly
around his chest and waist. He'd take Duo's word on his piloting
abilities, but that didn't mean he had to trust he was as good as
Heero, or that this would be a smooth flight.
But it was, from the effortless lift-off into the clear blue
skies and all the way across the Mediterranean and down into Egypt
where the base was.
He was rather impressed with Duo's piloting abilities and
relaxed enough to begin to enjoy the flight, quietly watching the
clouds above and below. Then he felt something take his hand and
looked around to where Meiran sat, watching him nervously. He
blinked, not entirely sure what to do with the hand he now held and
looked down at it as though it might provide answers. He found
himself fascinated by the contrast, the tiny, dark hand clasped
delicately around his larger, rougher hand. The two of them fit so
well together, they looked right - correct.
He lifted his head and smiled gently at Meiran, who smiled
back, her eyes meltingly soft and happy. They both turned to the
front, content in the simple touch that held them together. There
was no need for words.
His thoughts drifted quietly to their current mission, given
to them by Duo. He thought about what success would mean and what
failure would mean and decided, after looking at the back of Duo's
head, that he didn't really mind how things ended up. He liked
Duo; the dimensional traveller was fun to talk to and didn't mind
that he was silent. He was willing to fill in silences for him,
never asking for, or expecting, anything in return.
He also didn't mind Julian. He, of all the pilots, had the
least to do with the Peacecraft, the other boy finding his silence
hard to deal with. But, despite his chasing Heero across the
world, he was good at what he did and would advance peace in the
world faster than if he wasn't here.
Trowa remembered a conference he'd been to sometime ago to
organise an 'accident' for one of it's attendees who had been
suspected of sowing dissension amongst the others who had attended.
It had given him the chance to see Julian in action and he'd been
rather surprised by the charismatic, reasonable and mature person
that had stood in front of an audience of thousands to speak. He'd
had as much of an effect on the people there as Treize or Milliard.
So, whether Duo remained or Julian returned was of little
consequence to himself and a little more to the world. Though he
suspected he would miss the cheerful American.
The sun sank below the horizon outside and Duo turned control
of the plane over to Heero in order to get some sleep. Dorothy's
head had already dropped forwards, soft sounds of snoring emerging
from her as she shifted minutely on her chair. Trowa glanced
across at Meiran and found her eyes at half-mast, dazed with sleep
though not quite there. He raised their hands, still loosely
joined and brushed his lips across her knuckles. She turned her
head and smiled sleepily, curling more comfortably into her chair
and slowly drifted into sleep. Trowa lifted her hand and gently
laid it on her thigh, watching it being drawn into her body and
laid his own hand in his lap before composing himself for sleep.
==========
DUO'S HOME WORLD:
----------
Quatre yawned as he drifted into the kitchen, still half
asleep. The sound of laughter made him look up and he found Julian
and Relena sitting at the table, bent towards each other and
watching Wufei, who was, in turn, watching the two of them
suspiciously and scowling.
He grunted, not wanting to know what was going on. He wasn't
a morning person and despised those who were, or those that
displayed cheerful bright eyes before him. The laughter had
already drifted gratingly down his spine, jarring him in his state
of fuzzy grumpiness. He hated noise in the morning and people who
tried to talk to him before he'd managed to shower and grab himself
a cup of strong, black coffee. Which made Trowa such an ideal
mate. He barely talked ever and that happily included first thing
in the morning.
He was glad that Duo had turned out to be a non-morning
person too; he knew he couldn't have handled a genki American first
thing in the morning. The others were all okay though, Wufei rose
long before Quatre, so he was always out of the way when the blonde
required the run of the house and Heero was as quiet as Trowa
unless spoken to.
But these two...
Ever since Julian had joined them in the safe house it had
been getting harder and harder to reign in his desire to growl
first thing in the morning. Relena seemed to have a detrimental
effect on the situation and he was glad she hadn't stayed the
entire time Julian had been here.
"Good morning, Quatre!" a cheerful voice broke in on his
thoughts.
He grunted again and sent a quelling glare towards the pair
of Peacecrafts as he shuffled towards the coffee pot and poured
himself a large mug full. Slumping into a chair at the table, he
cradled it in his hands and drew in a deep breath of the bitter
smell before taking his first sip.
Tuning out the chatter of the boy and girl across from him he
slowly began to awaken into something that was human and recalled
that today was the day they were going to find Dr. Keller and the
machine that would bring Duo back.
The sooner, the better, he told himself, wanting the bad
tempered late-riser back before the next morning, preferably.
He finished off his coffee, moved through into his room for a
shower and re-emerged refreshed and feeling much more himself.
He smiled at the five people in the lounge, "Good morning.
Are we all ready to go?"
Heero and Wufei nodded and stood as Quatre's smile widened,
"Then let's go shall we. It's a beautiful morning and we may as
well make the most of it."
They headed out in single file, Quatre followed by Heero,
Trowa, Julian, Relena and Wufei and moved towards the jeep Heero
had prepped the day before. It had a tank full of gas, all the
essentials for breaking into an installation and no roof. All the
good things in life, Quatre thought to himself as he slipped into
the back, allowing Julian and Heero the front seats.
Julian and Relena spoke quietly together for a few moments,
smiles lighting their eyes, then Relena was standing in front of
him. Quatre smiled politely and waited for her to say what she
wanted to say, only to be surprised, shocked even, when she put her
arms around him and hugged him gently. She was gone before he had
time to react and when next he saw her she was hugging Heero,
leaving a sputtering Wufei and a widened green eye in her wake.
Then she was in front of Julian again and she stooped,
leaning down to give him a hug before standing back. She would be
staying behind in case of danger where she would only be a
liability. She lifted a hand a waved as they spun past her,
heading for the narrow drive that led to the road that would take
them where they wanted to go.
Julian looked back, returning the wave with sad eyes, knowing
he may never get the chance to see Relena again, then turned away
from the girl who was standing on the front steps of the small safe
house, shading her eyes to get her last glimpse of the jeep as it
disappeared between the trees.
==Owari, Chapter Seven==
http://www.geocities.com/sefilin/
sefilin@yahoo.com
Role Reversal
By Sefilin
========================================
Disclaimers: Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing copyright Sunrise,
Bandai, Sotsu Agency
Dedicated, as always, to Kellryn.
==========
Chapter Seven
==========
DUO'S HOME UNIVERSE:
----------
Relena tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable
position and the peace of mind to sleep, but no matter on which
side she lay, she couldn't. An impatient sound made its way out of
her throat and she sat up, drawing her legs up and resting her arms
on them, noting in passing the early hour.
Her gaze went across the room to where Julian lay, still and
silent in sleep. A bittersweet smile pulled at her lips as she
stared into the gloomy darkness for long moments, as she
contemplated not wanting Julian to leave to return to his world.
She felt a kinship with him that was shared by no one else and it
made her feel a little less lonely. He understood the pressures
that she was under and the necessity of having a release such as
Heero; after all, Heero was Julian's release too.
A deep sigh was pulled from the depths of her soul as she
acknowledged to herself that Julian meant a lot to her, even if
they'd only known each other for a few weeks.
It was nice to have a brother.
She knew she had one, somewhere in the world, but now it
seemed as though she had another, but he wasn't going to be here
for long and it just wouldn't be the same with Duo, if he even
acknowledged the possibility that they were related.
"Relena?"
Relena started at the quiet voice that drifted through the
darkness and blinked her thoughts away, focussing on what she was
staring at. Julian had raised himself up also and was sitting in a
similar position to herself, his head resting on his knees, and his
face turned to face her.
"Mm?"
"Can't sleep, huh?"
"No," Relena whispered back, unwilling to break the spell of
softness that was settling around them.
"Relena..." Julian shifted, sheets rustling, "What should I
do if I get back?"
Relena slowly released the breath she had just drawn and
asked, "Do about what?"
But she knew what he meant. It was a decision she also had
to make, when things were once more as they had been - when Duo was
back and he and Heero were together again. She knew about them, of
course she did, how could she not, when Heero looked at Julian the
way he did? And she had been slowly coming to terms with it.
Julian didn't say anything, didn't push her into admitting
she knew what he meant and she bowed her head, her hair falling
forwards to obscure her face. Julian was one of the reasons she
had been able to accept that Heero loved someone else and they had
spent long hours talking of their Heero's, wishing and hoping, but
ultimately knowing that each of them belonged to someone else.
Relena rose from the bed, gathering the blankets about her as
she crossed the room to sit cross-legged on Julian's bed, facing
him. She leaned forwards, her hand reaching out to rest on his
nape, pulling his head forwards until their foreheads rested
against one another.
"We know, Julian, don't we? What we have to do?"
Julian's hand came up to cover her second hand, resting
against her knee, "Yeah..."
And Relena finally put into words, the realisation both had
come to through this situation they found themselves a part of,
"Heero... Heero loves Duo, I know that and I want him to be happy.
And I don't need his strength now as much as I did, so I'll be
happy for them and hope one day I'll find someone to love as much
as I do him."
"Even if I managed to take Heero away from her, he'd still
love her and I can't settle for less than he gives her. I want
everything he gives to her and I don't think I could stand being
with him and not having it," Julian finished off.
Relena nodded, something that was half-sob, half-laugh
catching in her throat, "We, both of us, deserve that."
They sat in silence, once more drawing comfort from one
another, knowing they weren't alone. Then Julian's shoulders began
to shake and he drew back, laughing silently into puzzled Relena's
face, "But do we let them off?"
"Let them... Oh!" and Relena giggled. The image of Heero's
face the last time they'd glomped him came to mind and she shook
her head, "When it's so much fun?"
Julian's laughter gained volume, "What about if we started on
the rest of them too? Can you imagine Wufei's face if you jumped
him?"
"Or Duo! And the other Relena."
Images of people's faces, caught in a series of terribly
funny shocked glances flew through each mind, for some reason
always returning back to various Wufei expressions.
"We _have_ to try it on Wufei!" Relena decided and Julian
concurred.
"No doubt about it. And we shouldn't do anything at other
times..."
"...Keep them off-balance."
They looked at each other as the grey light of predawn
lightened room and were caught in the sparkling eyes of each other,
brimming full of fun. And they burst out laughing again, Relena
falling backwards and Julian to one side as they continued to laugh
in a companionable mirth as day broke across them.
==========
JULIAN'S HOME UNIVERSE:
----------
Milliard and Treize waved to Duo and Heero as they drove away
from the safe house, heading for the airbase that would lead them
eventually to the research centre where they were hoping to find a
certain Dr. Keller and the machine he'd built to gather dimensional
energies.
Duo waved back before turning forwards. He flicked his bangs
out of his face and smiled, happy to finally be doing something
that would get him back to his own world. Even if the gadget
didn't work, at least he wasn't sitting around being Julian any
longer. Despite the fact that what he'd learnt over the past weeks
could come in handy sometime in the future, it wasn't him and he
didn't think it ever would be.
Not to mention the fact that he was a soldier and staying
would require a total change of profession and attitude, unless he
faked Julian's death. But then, Julian would be left without his
life if he ever returned.
Leaning back against the seat, Duo slowly let his eyes drift
shut in bliss and sat in contentment as they drove towards the
airbase where the other four Gundam pilots were waiting for them
with Gundams and transport planes.
A flash of sunlight momentarily warmed his eyelids and his
eyes flew open, wondering where that came from. He blinked the red
after image out of his eyes and peered intently out the back
window. It didn't take him long to spy what had caused the red
heat and frowned as he gazed at the vehicle that was pulling out of
a copse of trees on the side of the road behind them.
"Um, Heero?"
He was answered by a grunt of inquiry.
"I hate to tell you this, but there seems to be a giant
golden limousine following us."
And indeed there was. Heero tried to loose it, something
fairly difficult to do on an open country road. Nor did he have
much luck in the surrounding towns, only small ones existing
between the Peacecraft mansion and the airbase.
"Stop already," Duo muttered as he continued to watch the
limousine that suddenly began to close in on them. Heero took his
advice and slammed on the breaks, brining the jeep they were in to
an abrupt halt and jumped out, followed by Duo.
Duo squinted, shading his eyes as he tried to extend his
vision. He caught a flash of blonde hair through the windscreen
and frowned, "That's that Dorothy girl, isn't it?"
Heero grunted as he waited for the golden machine to pull up,
a gun clasped comfortably in his hand.
Dorothy climbed out of the car, and Duo found it a little
surprising that she had been driving it herself. There was
obviously more to the girl than at first seemed and he decided
keeping an eye on her would be a good thing, if he had to stay
here.
"Julian-sama! I saw you driving with this person and
wondered if you were being kidnapped."
Duo raised and eyebrow as Heero growled again, "Go away."
"Thank you for your concern Dorothy-san, but I'm not in
danger at the moment. This is, er, a friend," Duo said politely,
watching the blonde carefully.
The blue eyes narrowed as they weighed him and he found the
gaze somewhat disconcerting before shrugging it's effects off, "But
_are_ you Julian-sama?"
Neither Heero nor Duo had an answer for that, unknowing
whether she was asking seriously and unwilling to give details
anyway, so they remained silent, wary.
"When you travel with a Gundam pilot?"
Heero's gun came up at that, pointing directly towards her
face, but she ignored it, her eyes still fastened on Duo to the
exclusion of all else and there was something there, beyond the
satisfaction she obviously felt at shocking them both. And Duo
could see what it was.
"You want... to come with us," Duo pronounced slowly,
watching the excitement that dawned in her eyes and blossomed into
a desire for just that.
"Yes," she breathed.
Heero snorted, "No."
Duo glanced at the pilot and rolled his eyes before turning
back to the blonde, who's eyes were glaring at Heero, promising a
less-than-pleasant ending to the situation if it continued the way
it was going. But he ignored the hostile by-play and stared at the
blonde, seeing again the desire for excitement that dwelt within
her. Quite obviously an adrenaline junkie, he mused, wondering
what sort of life she led and whether it satisfied any of her
cravings.
A smile quirked his lips, "You might want to lose the car for
the time being - it's pretty conspicuous. We'll give you ten
minutes."
Dorothy's brilliant gaze acknowledged the time limit and she
folded herself back into the car, moving off to find somewhere to
hide it for however long she was going to be gone.
"You _want_ her to come?" Heero hissed.
Duo shrugged, "When she could make trouble, and _will_ if she
doesn't? This way we can make sure she doesn't. Besides, if her
life is anything like Julian's, I don't blame her for wanting to do
something a little different."
Heero moved closer to Duo, leaning towards him to give the
impression of looming, and murmured in a menacing voice, "Duo..."
The indigo eyes flashed, "Look, Heero, this isn't a _mission_
the same way the other ones are. But I want it completed
successfully or I won't get home. She comes, unless you can
_guarantee_ she _won't_ cause trouble. Understand?" Now it was
Duo looming, his eyes almost glowing as he stared, unflinching into
Heero's angry eyes.
Then Dorothy was back and Duo broke away to smile at the
blonde, "We'd better get going or we'll be late. Heero, you
coming?"
A frustrated sound emerged from the Japanese pilot as he
reluctantly slid back into the jeep, starting it up and heading for
the airbase once more. But he refused to speak to either of them
for the remainder of the journey.
Duo and Dorothy, on the other hand, had a lot to say.
"So, if you're not Julian-sama, who are you? And what
happened to him?"
Duo pondered for a while then shrugged, "My real name is Duo
Maxwell..."
"Maxwell?!" Dorothy broke in sharply, the name obviously
ringing a bell, "But that's the name of one of the Gundam pilots."
Duo grinned at her, "Yeah. Relena, she's cool. Anyway, I'm
not Julian, I'm his... counterpart, I suppose, from a different
world or universe or something. Somehow we ended up switching and
here I am. But I need to get back and Julian probably wants to
come home, so we're going looking for a way to do that."
Dorothy's eyes leeched of expression and remained that way as
she absorbed Duo's speech, finally casting an amazed look at the
back of Heero's head, "He believes this?"
"Yeah," Duo shrugged, "He didn't really have much choice."
Narrowing, Dorothy's eyes caught his, "And why are you
telling me this when it could be damaging to your reputation if it
was to get out?"
"Not to my reputation, to Julian's. And if he doesn't get
back here, who am I to care about what state his reputation is in?
I'm _not_ going to keep pretending to be him. Besides, do you
think people will take your word for it if I deny everything and
look incredibly cute while doing it?" Duo's smile widened, teasing
Dorothy into letting her guard down, into loosening up.
They continued to talk, light-heartedly on Duo's part and
defensively and confrontationally on Dorothy's, as they neared the
airbase and worked out the limits they had set for each other in
this outing.
And Heero continued to remain silent, fuming in the front
seat, half due to Dorothy's presence and half due to being ignored
by the two longhaired bakas in the back.
==========
Trowa glanced up from where he stood near a large
transporter, waiting for Heero and Duo to arrive. The trucks
containing Heavyarms and Wing were securely attached to the floor
of the plane, covered in the tarpaulin that usually obscured them
from view. Shenlon was also there, Meiran making the last minute
attachments as a jeep pulled up beside the tall pilot and emitted
three people.
Trowa blinked at the third, taking in the long blonde hair,
eyebrows and legs before looking to Heero for an explanation. He
shrugged and glanced across at Duo who was heading towards the
transport, followed closely by Dorothy.
"Heya, Meiran. How's things?" he asked as he waved to her.
"Fine, thank you, Duo," she called back, lifting a hand in
greeting from the top of the swathes of grey tarpaulin. She also
noticed Dorothy, following the other girl with guarded brown eyes,
then flicked her gaze to Heero and Trowa who had followed the other
two up the ramp and into the plane.
Trowa shrugged at her and stood waiting until she climbed
down, walking side by side with her towards the front of the plane.
Halfway there, the engines started up and they picked up their
pace, hurrying to find seats for take-off.
Both of them were rather surprised to find Duo in the pilot's
seat, running through pre-flight checks and chatting with Dorothy
who seemed to have a few problems with him piloting. It seemed she
was aware of Julian being unable to fly.
"But you don't have your licence, you can't fly."
"The presence of a licence doesn't mean you can fly. Trust
me, Dorothy, I can fly _anything_. I'm even better at it than
Heero."
Heero, sitting in the co-pilots seat, glared at the oblivious
Duo, objecting silently to the claim. Trowa blinked at the
annoyance that was visible in his eyes, wondering why such a
statement would cause that reaction. Normally he wouldn't care
what other people said, but this time he obviously did. Something
must have happened since he and the others had left earlier that
day - maybe it had something to do with Dorothy.
Trowa slid into the third row of chairs, behind Dorothy and
across from Meiran, settling back and clipping his seatbelt firmly
around his chest and waist. He'd take Duo's word on his piloting
abilities, but that didn't mean he had to trust he was as good as
Heero, or that this would be a smooth flight.
But it was, from the effortless lift-off into the clear blue
skies and all the way across the Mediterranean and down into Egypt
where the base was.
He was rather impressed with Duo's piloting abilities and
relaxed enough to begin to enjoy the flight, quietly watching the
clouds above and below. Then he felt something take his hand and
looked around to where Meiran sat, watching him nervously. He
blinked, not entirely sure what to do with the hand he now held and
looked down at it as though it might provide answers. He found
himself fascinated by the contrast, the tiny, dark hand clasped
delicately around his larger, rougher hand. The two of them fit so
well together, they looked right - correct.
He lifted his head and smiled gently at Meiran, who smiled
back, her eyes meltingly soft and happy. They both turned to the
front, content in the simple touch that held them together. There
was no need for words.
His thoughts drifted quietly to their current mission, given
to them by Duo. He thought about what success would mean and what
failure would mean and decided, after looking at the back of Duo's
head, that he didn't really mind how things ended up. He liked
Duo; the dimensional traveller was fun to talk to and didn't mind
that he was silent. He was willing to fill in silences for him,
never asking for, or expecting, anything in return.
He also didn't mind Julian. He, of all the pilots, had the
least to do with the Peacecraft, the other boy finding his silence
hard to deal with. But, despite his chasing Heero across the
world, he was good at what he did and would advance peace in the
world faster than if he wasn't here.
Trowa remembered a conference he'd been to sometime ago to
organise an 'accident' for one of it's attendees who had been
suspected of sowing dissension amongst the others who had attended.
It had given him the chance to see Julian in action and he'd been
rather surprised by the charismatic, reasonable and mature person
that had stood in front of an audience of thousands to speak. He'd
had as much of an effect on the people there as Treize or Milliard.
So, whether Duo remained or Julian returned was of little
consequence to himself and a little more to the world. Though he
suspected he would miss the cheerful American.
The sun sank below the horizon outside and Duo turned control
of the plane over to Heero in order to get some sleep. Dorothy's
head had already dropped forwards, soft sounds of snoring emerging
from her as she shifted minutely on her chair. Trowa glanced
across at Meiran and found her eyes at half-mast, dazed with sleep
though not quite there. He raised their hands, still loosely
joined and brushed his lips across her knuckles. She turned her
head and smiled sleepily, curling more comfortably into her chair
and slowly drifted into sleep. Trowa lifted her hand and gently
laid it on her thigh, watching it being drawn into her body and
laid his own hand in his lap before composing himself for sleep.
==========
DUO'S HOME WORLD:
----------
Quatre yawned as he drifted into the kitchen, still half
asleep. The sound of laughter made him look up and he found Julian
and Relena sitting at the table, bent towards each other and
watching Wufei, who was, in turn, watching the two of them
suspiciously and scowling.
He grunted, not wanting to know what was going on. He wasn't
a morning person and despised those who were, or those that
displayed cheerful bright eyes before him. The laughter had
already drifted gratingly down his spine, jarring him in his state
of fuzzy grumpiness. He hated noise in the morning and people who
tried to talk to him before he'd managed to shower and grab himself
a cup of strong, black coffee. Which made Trowa such an ideal
mate. He barely talked ever and that happily included first thing
in the morning.
He was glad that Duo had turned out to be a non-morning
person too; he knew he couldn't have handled a genki American first
thing in the morning. The others were all okay though, Wufei rose
long before Quatre, so he was always out of the way when the blonde
required the run of the house and Heero was as quiet as Trowa
unless spoken to.
But these two...
Ever since Julian had joined them in the safe house it had
been getting harder and harder to reign in his desire to growl
first thing in the morning. Relena seemed to have a detrimental
effect on the situation and he was glad she hadn't stayed the
entire time Julian had been here.
"Good morning, Quatre!" a cheerful voice broke in on his
thoughts.
He grunted again and sent a quelling glare towards the pair
of Peacecrafts as he shuffled towards the coffee pot and poured
himself a large mug full. Slumping into a chair at the table, he
cradled it in his hands and drew in a deep breath of the bitter
smell before taking his first sip.
Tuning out the chatter of the boy and girl across from him he
slowly began to awaken into something that was human and recalled
that today was the day they were going to find Dr. Keller and the
machine that would bring Duo back.
The sooner, the better, he told himself, wanting the bad
tempered late-riser back before the next morning, preferably.
He finished off his coffee, moved through into his room for a
shower and re-emerged refreshed and feeling much more himself.
He smiled at the five people in the lounge, "Good morning.
Are we all ready to go?"
Heero and Wufei nodded and stood as Quatre's smile widened,
"Then let's go shall we. It's a beautiful morning and we may as
well make the most of it."
They headed out in single file, Quatre followed by Heero,
Trowa, Julian, Relena and Wufei and moved towards the jeep Heero
had prepped the day before. It had a tank full of gas, all the
essentials for breaking into an installation and no roof. All the
good things in life, Quatre thought to himself as he slipped into
the back, allowing Julian and Heero the front seats.
Julian and Relena spoke quietly together for a few moments,
smiles lighting their eyes, then Relena was standing in front of
him. Quatre smiled politely and waited for her to say what she
wanted to say, only to be surprised, shocked even, when she put her
arms around him and hugged him gently. She was gone before he had
time to react and when next he saw her she was hugging Heero,
leaving a sputtering Wufei and a widened green eye in her wake.
Then she was in front of Julian again and she stooped,
leaning down to give him a hug before standing back. She would be
staying behind in case of danger where she would only be a
liability. She lifted a hand a waved as they spun past her,
heading for the narrow drive that led to the road that would take
them where they wanted to go.
Julian looked back, returning the wave with sad eyes, knowing
he may never get the chance to see Relena again, then turned away
from the girl who was standing on the front steps of the small safe
house, shading her eyes to get her last glimpse of the jeep as it
disappeared between the trees.
==Owari, Chapter Seven==
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