Chapter
8
Asuka stood in the doorway of
Duo's room, watching the poor boy thrash about in his sleep. The entire day had
just been a living nightmare for Duo, and Asuka honestly felt sorry for him.
She'd been debating whether or not she should tell him about Gendo Ikari's
theory on the mass produced EVA units, but in the end decided it was something
best left unsaid. There was really no way to tell, even with the other Gundam
pilots' confirmation of several black EVA units, if what Gendo had said was true.
Suddenly Duo cried out loudly
and bucked as though he were in pain. Asuka gasped and rushed over, grabbing
Duo's shoulders and holding him down to the bed.
"Duo! Wake up!" she yelled at
him, praying he would hear her. He struggled under her grasp, his eyes squeezed
tightly shut. Asuka wondered if she was going to have to slap him again, but
Duo's eyes shot open and he gasped for air as though some one had been
strangling him, "Duo! It's okay! It was just another dream!" Asuka cried out.
"Dream…?" he muttered, sitting
up and holding his head, "Yeah…a dream…" he muttered, becoming very dazed.
Asuka pulled herself tall and stared at the young pilot.
"Is something wrong?" she asked,
very worried about Duo. Duo stood up and shook his head, adjusting his twisted
shirt and walking towards the window.
"How did you know I was having
another night mare?" Duo asked, deliberately avoiding Asuka's question.
"I heard you." Asuka responded,
wrapping her arms around herself tightly.
"Then how come Shinji isn't awake?"
"Shinji? He sleeps like the
dead…" Asuka watched Duo staring out the window for a minute and sighed,
knowing exactly what was on his mind, "It wasn't your fault."
"How can you say that?" Duo
demanded, his voice cracking with emotion, "Heero and Quatre are in the
hospital now, Heero's barely hanging on, and it is my fault!" he yelled,
clenching his fist in the air and trying to fight back the tears that
threatened to come.
"Duo! There was nothing you
could have done! If you would have gone you would have just wound up in as bad
of a condition as them!" Asuka explained passionately, feeling her heart skip a
beat, "There's no way you guys could have known that the EVAs evolved!" Asuka
gasped and clamped her hand over her mouth, her blue eyes becoming wide as Duo
slowly turned around.
"What did you just say?" he
demanded.
"Nothing…" Asuka squeaked
through her hand, trying to back out the door. Duo took a few steps forward.
"You just said the EVAs evolved.
You know something, don't you?"
"No…" Asuka continued to back up, but Duo grabbed her arm and jerked
her roughly forward.
"What do you know? Tell me!" he
demanded, shaking her hard.
"Ahh!" Asuka cried out, trying
to push away from the infuriated pilot, "I don't know anything, I swear!" she
yelled at him. It was true, Asuka was one tough cookie when it came to messing
with her, but two things were preventing her from even fighting back against
Duo. One, she didn't want to hurt him, and two, she was still weak from living
three years in a place where she and Shinji had to scrounge for food. She knew
it would take months before she ever got back up to her full strength. Until
then she was helpless even against some one like Duo.
"Tell me!" Duo bellowed,
squeezing Asuka's wrist tighter and trying to pull the girl closer. He wasn't
sure what was coming over him, just that he was suddenly very, very angry and
Asuka was the closest person to take it out on.
"Duo! Stop it you're hurting me!
SHINJI!" Asuka shrieked, thrashing about and trying desperately to just pull
away. She opened her eyes and saw a fearful sight. Once again Duo had gained
that evil look, the same one he had in the hallway of the Preventers HQ. The
balcony doors swung open, loudly slamming in to the walls and sending a huge
gust of wind howling through the room.
Asuka felt fear take over her
heart and she became paralyzed, unable to even move her hands. Tears fell down
her cheeks as she looked in to Duo's angry violet eyes.
"Duo…please…" she begged, her
voice shaking and her throat tight. Finally the fire died in Duo's eyes, and he
stumbled forward, letting go of Asuka's wrist. Asuka cried out in surprise and
reached out to catch him, both of them falling to their knees on the floor.
"God…what the hell is happening
to me?" Duo muttered, holding his head in his hands. Asuka pulled him close to
her body, feeling Duo shake violently.
"You're stressed." Asuka
reasoned, quickly wiping her tears away.
"No…something else…" Duo groaned
and pulled back a little, seeing Asuka's tears still shining in her eyes, "I
didn't mean to hurt you, Asuka." He told her gently, brushing his shaking hand
along her cheek. Asuka turned a little red and shook her head.
"I'm fine. You just scared me a
little, that's all."
"Maybe you guys shouldn't stay
here…" Duo muttered, gazing down at the ground.
"Duo…listen to me. If
something's going on, that's fine. You don't have to run away from us just
because you're afraid you're going to hurt us." Asuka told him comfortingly,
softly running her hand down his mussed braid. Duo nodded slowly.
"Thank you…"
"For what?"
"For understanding…"
Asuka gazed off in to the starry
sky and sighed deeply. There was a long, almost comforting silence as the two
sat on the ground, Duo still not moving from Asuka's embrace.
"Asuka?" Duo finally spoke.
"Mmm?" was Asuka's rather
mumbled reply. Duo looked up and gazed in to her deep blue eyes, feeling his
heart skip a beat.
With everything that's been
going on…I haven't been paying much attention to these two. But…there's something
about Asuka…she stayed at my side when I freaked back the HQ. According to
Heero she pulled me on to Heavyarms' hand…This girl…what is it about her?
"Were you going to say
something, Duo?" Asuka asked, breaking in to his thoughts. Duo shook his head and
suddenly found himself becoming very red in the face. He quickly detached
himself from Asuka's embrace and stood up, running his thin fingers over his
thick braided hair nervously.
"I really am sorry about what
happened. I shouldn't have flipped out like that." He muttered, toying with his
hair. Asuka frowned but quickly replaced the expression with a halfhearted
smile.
"It's fine. Really." She told
him, starting to walk out of the room, "I'm going to go back to bed now. If
Shinji isn't awake by now he's gonna be up at the crack of dawn kicking me
awake." She explained. Duo felt his heart sink, knowing there was something
that he should do, something he should say right then, but everything seemed to
get all muddled in his brain.
"Asuka I…" Asuka stopped walking
and looked over her shoulder, her hair falling in soft pleats around her face.
Duo swallowed the hard lump in his throat and took a few steps forward.
"Yes?" she asked him.
"I…don't go." He finally spat
out. Asuka turned all the way around, a confused expression adoring her round
face.
"What?" she whispered, as though
raising her voice would make Duo become angry again.
"I…" Duo trailed off again,
rubbing his still sore shoulder, "I don't want to be alone tonight…" he
admitted in an almost child-like voice.
"Why not?" Asuka asked, walking
back in to the room and closer to Duo.
"I…keep having really bad
dreams." He confessed, "I feel like they're connected to what keeps happening
to me…" he let out a ragged sob and collapsed on his bed, his head once again
in his hands. Asuka, feeling sorry for the tormented pilot, walked over and sat
down beside him, gently rubbing his back.
"What kind of dreams?"
"I'm standing…" he started,
sniffling and running his hands through his hair, laying them back down in his
lap and leaning forward, "Oh, that feels good." He muttered, dropping his head
down as Asuka' rubbed his back.
"I'll keep doing it if you tell
me about your dreams." She offered with a smile.
"Fine…" Duo said, keeping his
head down, "I'm standing in this place…it's like all foggy and the trees around
me are dead and twisted. I hear voices but I can't make out what they're
saying. And this woman appears…she's like completely shadowed and has these
huge black wings and she keeps saying 'Come back to us, Duo.' But that's not
the worst part."
"What is then?"
"When she comes towards me I can
actually see her face and it's…" Duo took in a ragged breath, the images of his
dream coming back to him in a flash flood of memories, "nothing but a decomposed
skull…it was so gross."
"God…I bet it was. So that's why
you don't want to be alone?" Asuka finally asked.
"I just feel like I'm loosing
myself…" Duo admitted, "All my life I've never really known who I was. I don't
know who my parents are, I can't remember my past and…when I start having
dreams about strange winged women and going in to complete rages…it makes me
wonder…who…what I really am."
Asuka sighed deeply and ceased
rubbing Duo's back, causing him to sit up and look at her.
"Duo…you are who you think you
are." She told him softly.
"But I can't…I don't know who I
am, that's just the point." Duo sobbed, feeling tears well up in his eyes, "Am
I a pilot, am I a teenager? All I know is that I'm not normal…I've never been."
Asuka took Duo's face in her
hands and looked him straight in his watery violet orbs.
"You are a pilot, you're a
teenager, and you are yourself. Just don't worry about anything else, because
I'm not." Asuka suddenly blurted out again. She found herself turning red in
her cheeks, "I'm going now…" she said quickly, standing up and trying to head
for the door. Duo grabbed her wrist, but this time it was a gentle grab, a
pleading one that was like that of a small child begging his parent not to
leave.
"Asuka…wait." Duo sighed,
standing up with his hand still on her wrist, "I really want you to stay."
"Because you're scared?" Asuka
snapped rather haughtily, trying to hide her red cheeks by not facing the young
man.
"No…for other reasons…" Duo
whispered, leaning closer to her. Asuka slowly turned around, feeling her heart
leap to her throat. The next thing she knew Duo's lips where on hers, and her
arm was around his neck as they embraced in a passionate kiss. Asuka's heart
was fluttering in her chest and she suddenly felt as if she were on top of the
world.
She pulled back as though a
snake had bit her and gave Duo an instant death glare. She pulled her hand back
and brought it down right across Duo's cheek, leaving a very large red mark.
Duo stumbled back, holding his throbbing cheek in his hand and looking at Asuka
with wide, innocent eyes, unable to bring himself to speak.
Asuka's expression softened and
she rushed forward, wrapping Duo in a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" she
babbled, giving Duo a heated kiss.
"It's okay, it's all right, Asuka…" Duo breathed, running his large hand through her soft auburn hair.
"I
don't know what came over me…forgive me." Asuka pleaded, breathing heavily.
"I
forgive you…" Duo laughed, placing his warm lips on hers again. The two of them
exchanged passionate kisses for a few minutes before Duo finally pulled back,
gasping for air but smiling happily.
"Now will you stay?"
"Hai…"
A/N:
You knew I was going to do it. I mean, zuh, people, if Elf could figure it out
by the second chapter, I think maybe it was obvious I was gonna pull that
eventually. You know you like it! You know you do!! *laughs* More to come…as
soon as a satisfy all those damn Backstreet fans and get another set of
chapters up on Angel Eyes 2…*sigh* Never start projects that you're gonna get
killed for if you never finish…