The War of the Assassins
Part 7
"Stop right there, mister. Just who are you anyway?" Duo said fiercely as he held his ground, not caring if bullets didn't seem to work against these crazy people with swords. He wasn't going to let some stranger with a blazing, five foot sword come within two feet of the unconscious Heero. I'm not THAT stupid.
Surprisingly, the stranger started chuckling as if he had just told a hilarious joke. Duo eyed the tall, dark-haired man with bemusement. "Whaddya laughing at? Will you tell me your name already?" he asked, exasperated, "And how do you know mine?"
The stranger gradually stopped laughing, but a slight, wry, smile remained on his tan face. "Forgive me, Duo, I'm not laughing at you in particular," he said seriously. "My name is Strife Mercury, and I know about you and the other Gundam pilots because you are all very famous on my planet."
Duo rolled his eyes and didn't lower his gun. What was up with all these humans pretending that they were from another planet anyway? "Alright - Strife - I'm sick of this 'I'm-from-another-planet' crap. Where are you really from?" he demanded annoyed. Heero's breathing was still shallow and rattled strangely in his chest, and the more time he spent arguing with this Strife guy, the more danger Heero would be in.
Strife looked at him, emerald green eyes steady and calm, not worried about the gun pointed at him in the least. His sword blazed fiercely in his right hand, but he did not raise it. "Look, I'm telling the truth, whether you want to believe it or not…" he stated coolly, and then trailed off a bit as he looked at Heero, a bit of concern worming into his cold eyes. "Your friend Heero there will die if you do not let me help him, Duo," he added, meeting Duo's eyes and holding them.
Duo stared into those brilliant green eyes, and saw no evil there as he had seen in Siren's. They were cold, yes, but he could see a slight amusement and concern underneath the frost. Concern about Heero. And he knew his name…Duo heard another rattling, rasping breath from Heero and knew that it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to breathe. Also, the strange, thick, black pus around his cut was starting to spread onto the rest of his back, and Duo knew that that was not going to make things any better. I don't really have a choice, he thought ruefully, rubbing the back of his head thoughtfully with his free hand. And I can't let Heero just die without trying SOMETHNG. The nearest hospital was miles away, and all of the Gundams were disabled.
Strife was still just looking at him. "Alright…" Duo said grudgingly, lowering his gun and setting Heero gently to the ground. "But just one funny move, Strife, and I'll-"
"You'd think I'd harm my childhood hero?" Strife interrupted, with a hint of irony, as he started to move towards the two pilots.
"Childhood hero?!" Duo sputtered, surprised, looking skeptically at the tall, mature man walking towards him. "You may be from another planet, but you're obviously older than we are. There's no way that Heero could be your childhood hero," he blurted out without realizing how redundant and dumb he sounded.
"There's no time to explain. And quiet - I need to concentrate," Strife replied coldly, doing something funny with his sword and turning over Heero so that his back was facing up.
Duo was about to retort indignantly when he was silenced by the sudden appearance of red streaks of light in the air, apparently caused by the tiny movements of the fiery crimson sword. He had sort of noticed Strife doing the same thing earlier, when he was paralyzed, and was not really too impressed, but now that he was up close, he could tell that it was obviously a form of magic. The red light appeared to form a pattern, and it did not fade away as mere residue from the sword's flame. It was real light, looking as bright and solid as a laser beam. The pattern was complicated, three-dimensional, doubling in on itself, weaving back and forth to form almost an orb of sorts. Duo found himself unable to tear his eyes away from it. And then abruptly, it was heading straight for Heero, and he thought of the ball of red light that had hurled towards him just a few minutes ago. He had been scared out of his wits, but the fear had disappeared the instant he realized he could move…
The ball crashed into Heero's back with a intense flash of red light, and did not disappear, as Duo had expected. Instead, it pulsed gently on the wound and sucked up all of the black pus, like a vacuum. When the orb was full of the foul black liquid that amazingly did not seep through the large gaps in its structure, Strife jerked his sword backwards and the orb flew to him. He muttered a few foreign words and his sword flashed brilliantly as he sliced through the magical orb with tremendous force. It disintegrated at the touch of his fiery blade. Before Duo had time to even blink, Strife had formed another red pattern and threw it at Heero. This time, the red light did disappear as it hit, but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the still unconscious Heero.
"Wha - what did you do that for?" Duo stammered shakily, eyes wide. This guy is too much…
Strife did not even turn to face him - he stared fixedly at Heero instead, silent. He almost seemed to be shocked by something about the pilot…
Duo was about to ask again when he heard Heero stir on the grass, and then his jaw dropped as he watched his fellow Gundam pilot climb fluidly to his feet without assistance.
Heero appeared completely well again. He was breathing normally, he was no longer sweating, his skin was not that unearthly white color, and his eyes were sharp and alert as he first looked levelly at Duo, and then piercingly at Strife.
Heero had seen and noted Strife's sword. It was obvious to Duo, who knew almost all of his friend's subtle nuances. But he couldn't bring himself to speak quite yet to tell Heero that Strife had rescued him. He couldn't even really believe that Heero was standing there in front of him, alert and healthy. Duo could still hear that horrible rasping sound of his slow, uneven breath as he died.
Heero smoothly brought out his gun and aimed it at Strife just as Duo had done and demanded darkly, "Who are you?"
*****************
When she had grasped Diablo again in her hands, Odessa had been almost swallowed by the darkness that had been slowly encroaching upon her. He was strong, so strong, and it had taken every ounce of will she had to resist him long enough to Slice the first Thread she came upon - to the Mongolian steppes.
Once she was safely there, she could hold out no longer. The darkness overwhelmed her and she was torn from her body and physically pushed out of the heavy black mass. Even though she was utterly exhausted, Odessa had immediately bounded to her feet and had thrown herself determinedly back at the thick aura. But she was not surprised when she ran face first into a magic wall that Diablo had cast. There was no way she could get through the wall, and she did not harm Diablo by attacking it. So she had settled back down in the drab grayness of The Void for a tongue-lashing delivered by her former Blade Soul…and to wait.
For what? Odessa thought to herself, but not bitterly. She felt strangely optimistic - the combination of healing Strife's spirit and being told that he loved her had left her almost overwhelmingly happy. Seeing him again, even though for such a short period of time, had left her feeling so giddy, so joyous, so right. She could still remember the warm, comforting feeling of being held in his arms…
"Aww…isn't that sweet?" Diablo remarked sarcastically. He still sounded angry.
Odessa glared at the dark mass behind the magic wall, which she now knew was the inner aura of Diablo. "Leave me alone, Diablo," she replied succinctly, "you already gave me a lecture a few minutes ago. What do you want now?"
He laughed, and then replied with fake sweetness, "Now, now Odessa, I wasn't trying to insult you or anything." She snorted, skeptical, as he continued, "I think it's just so sweet that you and Strife have got together again - " and then his voice became harsh and malignant as he added, "because now I have even more of a reason to destroy him!"
Odessa just stared at him for a second before the words really registered in her brain. Destroy him… "But why?!" she managed to sputter. "He's done nothing to you!"
"Because you hurt me and NO ONE gets away with that," he replied heatedly. "I'll make you pay…" Odessa rolled her eyes. He was still so hung up about that…
She wasn't worried about Strife in the least. "Hmm…but how are you going to find him?" she asked slowly, as if voicing an afterthought, knowing that Diablo did not know. He probably knew from reading her mind that Strife was looking for the Preventers but since she didn't know where they were headquartered, he wouldn't know either.
"Silly girl," Diablo replied with disgust. "Just because we're in the middle of Mongolia doesn't mean that I can't Slice to a place that has people - and most everyone will probably know where the infamous Preventers are headquartered. It's only a matter of time…"
Odessa shrugged and said nonchalantly, "I don't know any of the major continents or countries on this planet and so I don't think you do either - besides, there's also the problem of language…"
"I'll find him," he replied firmly, voice dark. "And when I do, I'll destroy him."
***************
Heero did not remember clearly much of the past ten minutes or so that he had spent with Duo. He only remembered the freezing, agonizing pain of the wound on his back and this odd dark shadow that kept creeping up into the corner of his mind and whispering things to him. Telling him how he would find release, rest, and happiness if he just let go of life. Besides, life was a painful thing anyway and he had always wanted to end it, so why not just do it now?
For an instant, Heero had almost succumbed to the tantalizing rest the shadow spoke of, but at that second, he had felt a burning, searing pain overcoming the coldness of his cut. He then had a strange mental picture of the shadow being sucked away and destroyed by this fiery pain. And then he had felt warmth - such sweet, healing, rejuvenating warmth as he had never felt before - and had woken up.
Now, Heero felt better than ever and was prepared to fight the tall, slender, dark-haired man in front of him, even without the Zero System or a sword. He smoothly raised his gun that he had somehow held onto throughout his numerous ordeals. "Who are you?"
The man just stared at him for a second, surprise registering in his face. Duo waved his arms frantically and caught Heero's attention.
He appeared as if he were unable to speak. The wide, surprised look in his eyes was odd - Heero decided that Duo looked even more unhinged than when Siren had destroyed Deathscythe. "What is it Duo?" he asked, "Is there something wrong?"
The braided pilot finally managed to spit out with a great deal of effort, "Don't shoot Strife, Heero! He saved you!"
Heero frowned and looked at the man in front of him. The surprised look had disappeared, replaced by a coldness in his face and green eyes that reminded Heero eerily of his own. But underneath…there was almost a look of reverence in those eyes. It was decidedly odd.
"You are Strife…?" he asked, slightly puzzled. It didn't seem quite right that the man with the blood red sword would save him.
The man nodded and said with a touch of awe, "Strife Mercury, Mr. Yuy. It's a pleasure." Strife then saluted him and sheathed his sword as a clear sign of respect. He slid it into its sheath smoothly and without looking, which had to have taken practice.
Heero raised an eyebrow, not lowering his gun. Duo gaped. It was a strange turn of events, considering that Strife was obviously older than him. "Call me Heero," he replied a bit dismissively. "But since you apparently hold me in high esteem, do me a favor and tell me how you know my name," he added, with a slight bite to his words. This Strife was just a little too strange to be trusted…
"He's from another planet," answered Duo for him, obviously skeptical. "Like Siren."
Heero just looked at Strife, not believing it for a second. "It's true - Heero - I am from another planet, where you and the other Gundam pilots are extremely famous. You were my idol when I was a boy, and that's why I had to save you," the man said wryly, with a faint smile on his face.
Heero appraised him for a second and measured the sincerity he saw in Strife's eyes and voice. He recalled the look of awe, the salute, the man sheathing his sword, and how Duo had said that Strife had rescued him. Usually, he was never one to trust complete strangers, but this man - he had a strange feel about him, he almost radiated an aura of sincerity and friendship. Follow your emotions…
He gradually lowered the gun, but kept his eyes steadily on Strife, as if to fix him into place by doing so. "Alright. I suppose I can trust you, Strife," he said calmly. "I thank you for your help."
Duo just stared at him, and then at the taller man, and scratched his head, confused. Strife looked at Heero, nodded slightly, and replied quietly, "Thank you."
He nodded back and then suddenly sensed that someone was behind him. Heero quickly rolled on the balls of his feet and raised his gun at the intruder.
It was Quatre, turquoise eyes blinking dazedly at the barrel of Heero's gun. Trowa and Wufei flanked him. "Heero," Quatre said, obviously surprised, "you're - you're not injured anymore."
He could tell that Wufei and Trowa's usual stoicism was also shaken. Was I really that hurt?
"Strife saved him," Duo supplied helpfully, pointing to the dark-haired man standing next to him, who was eyeing the other Gundam pilots in awe.
There was immediately a tangible tension in the air when Duo mentioned Strife's name. Heero looked quickly at Quatre, and noticed his troubled, worried expression. "What's wrong?" he asked darkly, to no pilot in particular. He just wanted an answer. By the looks on his comrades' faces, and the furtive glances they shot each other, something was very, very wrong.
Finally Wufei replied matter-of-factly, "Sally has just contacted me. Relena has been taken hostage by a woman named Aerowyn Silverlyle and a man called Virgil Trysten, who are armed with 'huge, glowing, swords.' They won't release her until we bring them a certain Strife Mercury." He glanced pointedly at Strife as he continued, "We thought it best to inform you as soon as possible."
Heero froze and felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach as a strong, uncanny fear washed over him. "Relena…"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Want to find out why Relena is being held hostage? What Aerowyn is doing on Earth? Who the hell is Virgil Trysten anyway? Well you'll find out in the next part! Oh, it might take me a bit because I'm on vacation and I don't get much time to write. If you want me to write faster, inspire me and email at Cutlass317@aol.com.