This is my newest fic. As always I do not own any of the fantastic characters, but like many, sorely wish that I did.
Visions
Chapter 1: Duo's Problem
They were running from the base. OZ soldiers on their heels. They were so close to their Gundams, they couldn't fail now.
"Wufei! Hurry up! We can't fail the mission!" Heero leapt into the cockpit of Zero clutching the precious information and waiting for the Chinese pilot to reach Nataku. It was plain that he was too far away and would never reach it in time.
"What are you doing Yuy! Get back in the Zero!" Wufei looked on in horror as the Japanese pilot jumped to the ground and ran at the OZ soldiers, gun in hand.
"We can't fail now!" Focusing his cold Prussian eyes on the soldiers he fired one round after another. Reaching Nataku Wufei watched as they slowly overtook Heero. Using his mecha as a shield the raven-eyed pilot swept the soldiers away. Heero jumped onto the Gundam's hand. The bag that he had been holding slipped out of his grasp and fell towards the ground. Before it hit, the strap caught on a piece of Altron's Gundanium hide.
'We have to get the information back to Relena!"
"No Yuy! Don't be a fool!"
"We can't fail the mission! Trust me!" With that said Heero perched himself precariously on the edge of the huge hand straining to reach the bag. Wufei gasped as a missile hit the back of his mecha. Losing his already fragile balance Heero fell.
Heero lay on his back letting the warm sunshine caress his face. Sighing he sat up wondering if Relena had missed him. They had been together for a little over a year now and the relationship was still fragile. Jumping to his feet he walked toward the city. Seeing movement his quick eyes picked out a shadowed individual running hunched up against a building. The hair gave away the identity of the figure.
"Hey! Duo, wait for me!" The Japanese pilot began to run. Despite being in better shape the Duo it still took a while to catch up to the American. Jogging along side his friend he tapped him on the shoulder. Yelping in fright Duo crouched against the wall. "Hey, what's wrong Duo?" In a shaky voice Duo responded.
"I…I D…didn't e…expect to s…see you again H…Heero. You've been gone for s…so long." Heero looked down at the quaking form at his feet. The American's eyes appeared to have lost their violet spark and no longer shown with the intensity of his intelligence or cunning. In fact, they seemed to radiate with fear and had a crazy look about them. It also seemed that he had lost quite a bit of weight and his hair though still in a braid was in disarray.
"Okay, well you should get some sleep. You look terrible and while you're at it, maybe eat something."
"A…all right. B…bye buddy." Fidgeting with the end of his braid he stood up and ran.
"Wonder what his problem was. I had better go talk to Hildi about it." Returning to his own domicile to grab his motorcycle he passed Relena coming out of a store. The Japanese teen jogged back gave her a small kiss and ran on. When he made it home he noticed the motorcycle wasn't there.
"Great, Wufei probably borrowed it." Back tracking he decided to go on foot. Making it there a bit before dusk he opened the door and walked in. Hildi was gazing out the window. "Um. Hi Hildi. Where's Duo?"
"He should be home any minute." She murmured. Saying nothing more she went into the kitchen. As she promised Duo walked in a minute later. In a hollow and despondent voice he whispered a rather uncouth greeting.
"You…you should leave. Go haunt someone else." Just as Heero was about to speak Hildi rushed in.
"Oh Duo! Do you want a drink?"
"That would be nice Hildi. Thank you." Turning back to Heero he whispered once again. "You should leave." He was about to say more when Hildi pressed a cup of something hot into the American's hands and guided him to the couch. With trembling hands he sipped it. She left once more.
"I'll go now, see you later." With a frightened and manic look Duo watched him go.
"Duo, sweet heart? Why don't you come to bed? You need more sleep." Hildi asked. Duo peered about himself with wide eyes.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" He whimpered in a small voice, staring into the darkness.
"Oh. Um, well, goodnight then." She left him alone in the empty room and went upstairs to bed alone.
Around mid-night she came back down to check on Duo. In the past year she had noticed a rapid decline in his health. She walked over to him. The pilot was stirring fitfully in his sleep.
"At least he's resting." As she turned to go his eyes snapped open and he stared in horror across the room. "Duo? What's wrong honey? What is it?"
"Why won't they leave me alone? Why, why, why?" His frightened chanting continued through the night as Hildi rocked him slowly back and forth.
Heero came back the next morning only to find them both gone. He began wandering around aimlessly for a few hours hoping that something would pop up on his head as to what was wrong with his friend. Over the course of the war, Duo had gotten to be a very close friend of the Japanese pilot. Going back home hours later yielded where his motorcycle had gone. He had been correct when he thought Wufei had taken it. The Chinese teen's helmet was perched on the seat. Walking in he heard taking in the living room. Without notice Heero's soldier instinct kicked in. He wanted to see what was going on without them noticing. Creeping to the door he heard their conversation.
"I know Relena. I know. But don't you think it's time to move on?"
"Yes. But Heero?"
"Wasn't Heero always telling you to follow your emotions? I know you still love him but it's time to get on with your life." Heero couldn't believe what he was hearing. This had probably been going on for months, why hadn't he seen it? He moved closer to see what was happening inside. Relena was curled up at one end of the couch and Wufei was standing behind her rubbing her shoulders. Heero ran from the room and out the door, tears threatening to come to his eyes. The cold night air felt wonderful on his cheeks as he ran. Finally he stopped and sat on a park bench. He would go back to Duo's house in the morning.
The early morning light woke Heero from his peaceful slumber. Yawning he walked to Duo's house. Reaching it he found his motorcycle parked out front along with Trowa's car.
"What's going on?" He murmured to him self as he ran inside. Looking to the couch he could see Hildi holding an ice pack to a large bruise on Duo's cheek. "What happened?" He asked.
"Well," Trowa began, staring at Duo's face. "We were on a mission late last night and we were running away from a base we had rigged to blow and suddenly Duo turned around and started firing his gun. Nothing was there. It was just an empty field. All the noise alerted the soldiers and they came running. Duo took them all down and kept firing even when he ran out of bullets. That's when I knocked him out and carried him away and well, you all know the rest."
"He never was that hard to knock out…" Heero murmured. The other's stared at the unconscious form on the couch. After a few moments of silence Wufei spoke.
"We should take over Maxwell's jobs in shifts. He is obviously not well enough to do them." With that said he put an arm around Relena and walked out the door. Heero decided that he would talk to her later. Right now he wanted to talk with Duo. When everyone had gone he knelt beside him and gently shook him awake.
"Duo I…"
"What's wrong Heero?" The question had taken the Japanese boy completely off his guard. Heero looked into his eyes and noticed that the nervous look was no longer present.
"What do you mean 'what's wrong'? I'll tell you 'what's wrong'. My friend is deranged and won't tell me 'what's wrong' Relena has been going out with Wufei. She didn't tell me and it's been going on for months. That's 'what's wrong'." Prussian met violet as Duo looked at Heero.
"Now I can tell you what's wrong with me."
So, how was the first chapter? Did you guess yet? As always, review. I know Wufei was a little (okay, a lot) out of character, but other than that…(Review goes here)? It will only have one more chapter. I didn't have enough time to type the rest. Gotta study for finals. ^ _^
