Save Eternity for Me

Save Eternity for Me

Enter a new character this chapter...and no, it's not for what you think. Like I'd set things up to be /that/ obvious....

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[chapter three: fortune's star]

"We're back in the dark ages," Catherine grumbled irritably, preceding the solid thunk of a knife into the wall above the television set. "What's next, burning people at the stake?"

Dorothy, sprawled in an easy chair in the corner of the lounge, glanced up from reading her well-worn copy of /The Prince/. "Never underestimate the power of large unruly groups of stupid people," she advised sagely.

"We shouldn't have left." That came from Quatre, his voice soft and sorrow-tainted. "We could have stopped them."

"Are you crazy?" snapped Hilde. "That's why Miss Noin told us to come back--because we /couldn't/ stop them, we'd have just gotten into trouble too."

"I could have stopped them!" Quatre repeated more firmly.

Trowa, stretched out on the floor at his sister's feet, reached out to touch his boyfriend's hand gently. "Probably. But you could have made things a lot worse, too, love...using your power on them? You wouldn't want to put the whole school in danger. Trust Miss Noin."

Quatre subsided, but reluctantly. The topic of discussion was a report on the news--the demonstration they had fled from in the city the day before had ended with a riot, and an old woman who told fortunes in the park had been beaten and finally hospitalised.

"She read cards there for twenty years," Heero observed irritably. "Nobody'd ever even heard of Newtypes then, how was she supposed to be one?" His arms tightened around Duo's waist; they were spooned together on one end of the sofa. Wufei grumbled something that sounded like agreement, but he too was bent over a book, only pausing periodically to push his reading glasses up when they slipped down his nose.

"There's something strange going on, that's why." None of them had noticed Mariemaya arrive, but she was there now, lounging casually against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest, her brow furrowed thoughtfully. "There's got to be a reason for it. Somebody wants to get the public all worked up and scared."

"But why would people /listen/ to that poisonous crap?" Catherine demanded. Her dagger his the wall and clattered to the floor--she'd thrown it so many times its edge was dulling. "They should know better!"

"That's how politics works," Mariemaya explained patiently. "Trust me, I lived around it for a long time. Unc--Dekim and the others--they used to only let things leak when they wanted to cause controversy. The politicians don't even have to tell people what to think, really--they just bring the issue up, and there are always loud people ready to do the hard work for them."

"She's right," Quatre admitted.

"I'm stuck on their motivation," Wufei said without looking up from his book. "GeneTech wants to continue its experiments, right? Which nobody agrees with--wouldn't it be better for them to keep things quiet?"

"Maybe...." Dorothy let /The Prince/ drop into her lap and looked up thoughtfully. "So maybe instead it's someone opposing GeneTech. Or...they have some other motive we can't figure out in the space of five minutes."

Quatre, Wufei and Dorothy looked up, and locked eyes.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?" Quatre asked, his eyes glittering evilly.

"I think so, Brain," Dorothy replied, "but how are we going to fit in the dogsled?"

Cathy let out an incredulous laugh. "Don't tell me you're going to take on GeneTech--"

Dorothy shrugged. "If we have to. Hey, everybody needs a project."

"I'm going to help," said Mariemaya, in a polite but allow-no-opposition tone that made it very clear whose daughter she was.

"Aww...." Cathy twirled her now-dull knife on her fingertip. "If you're all doing that, while my brother and girlfriend are building that stupid sled and Heero and Duo are off in Lover-Land, what the hell am I going to do around here?"

"Try to take over the world," Wufei responded, deadpan. The dagger sailed past his ear.

****

An explosion burst into being at the corner of Duo's vision. The core of the earth shook beneath him, and tall stone buildings that looked as though they had stood for centuries toppled into wreckage around him. He ducked, covering his face from falling debris, coughing the smoke from his lungs to call--"Heero!"

No answer came. Black streaks of ash rained from the sky, searing his skin and melting his pores wherever it touched. His shirt already hung in tatters from his shoulders, his jeans were torn and only his favourite, everpresent combat boots seemed likely to survive this encounter.

"Heero!"

He ran, displacing the toxic soot with each pounding step, ducking into deserted alleys and between dilapidated buildings. Some of them he recognised from years on the street, some were completely new, and still others he thought he'd seen in postcards and history books. None were spared from the devastation.

Still there was no sign of Heero, or for that matter any other living creature. //Where the hell is everybody?//

And suddenly, unexpectedly, an answer. //Hell is very accurate, actually.//

He spun, scanning the shadows for signs of this speaker whose voice echoed in his mind. //Come out! Who are you? What the fuck is going on?//

//Which do you want first?// it replied. The shadows shifted, the grey light shimmering in front of him.

It formed into a--boy? Girl? To be honest Duo couldn't really tell. Either way it was barely adolescent, all sharp bony lines and rough angles. A tousled mop of shaggy silvery hair fell in its bright gold eyes, and its costume of jeans and a worn grey t-shirt was almost as tattered as Duo's.

"Wanna get outta here?" it asked, reaching out a hand toward Duo.

Duo eyed the child and the hand suspiciously. "And go where?"

A shrug. "Back to the ether'd be my guess. It's your dreamscape, not mine. You have a real thing for mass destruction, you know that?"

Duo stared at him--her--it--in disbelief. "/What/?"

It sighed. "You. Have. A Thing. For stuff blowing up. I'm sure it's not healthy."

Duo blinked. "If this is my dream, are you here for a reason?"

The golden eyes narrowed to an exasperated glare. "Right now, to get you out of this--unless you /like/ wandering around in the apocalypse. So make up your mind already, are you coming or not?"

//If it's only a dream anyway--// Duo reached for the outstretched hand.

****

"Heero!"

The seraph blinked awake, the frantic sound of his name on his lover's lips startling him into consciousness. But after a moment's confusion, he realised quickly there was no real, immediate danger. Duo was still cradled against his side, his hair loose and tangled, his eyelids sticky with sleep.

"Heero!" he called again, more desperate this time.

Heero shifted, tightening his arms around the other boy's body and pressing a kiss to the curve of his neck. "It's a dream, Duo," he whispered gently. "You can tell me about it in the morning...."

****

//It's more comfortable here.// It may have been a question, a request for confirmation, or it may have only been an observation on the part of the dream-child, Duo wasn't really sure. The city of destruction was gone, and he was surrounded now only by mist, a soft, comforting silver fog where he floated, silent and insubstantial.

//This is how you came to me before,// he observed. He felt, more than heard, the other's affirmation.

//Yes. It's easier than going into your real dreams.//

That surprised him. //Then you're not a figment of my dream--what are you? A spirit?//

//No,// it answered, almost laughing. //I'm as real as you are. And I'm going to need your help soon.//

//Is that it?// demanded Duo. //Soon? Is there a reason you're here tonight?//

//There was,// it replied. //I needed to know something, and I've already learned it.//

Duo started to feel used, and made no attempt to hide it. //Glad to be useful to you.//

//Don't be like that.// The voice sounded hurt, and tired, and sad. //I wouldn't be asking you for help, you know, if I wasn't desperate, and I'm trying not to get you involved til I absolutely have to....It's just that you're my only hope.//

****

Duo hated mornings.

Normally he felt a bit better about them if he woke up next to Heero, which only rarely happened on school nights. This particularly Monday morning, not even that was good enough to keep him from feeling over-tired and grumpy. His dreams had not left him rested, and apparently it had rained during the night--never mind the thermometre had been reading more than ninety for almost a month.

He sat up, shaking off the wet blankets, and Heero stirred next to him. "Is it morning...?"

"Fraid so." Duo kicked the blankets completely off and flopped back down onto the bed. "Think Miss Une will believe me if I say I'm sick?"

"Riiiight." Heero rolled onto his side, propping his head up by one bent elbow. "Duo--what were you dreaming about last night?"

Violet eyes shot wide, still glazed from their slow transition from sleep. "What--why?"

His reaction made Heero, if anything, more troubled. "You called my name is all...are you all right?"

Duo forced his expression bland again--not difficult, since he was barely conscious already. "Fine, yeah. Just a bad dream...no, nothing about /that/, so you can stop looking worried, Heero. No past lives, just my fucked-up subconscious."

It wasn't entirely true, but Duo could not explain, even to himself, why he was so reluctant to share the dreamchild's warning with his lover. //Maybe I'm over-analysing, and I really just don't want to worry him. Yeah, whatever.// He rolled out of bed, fumbling for the nearest rumpled heap of more-or-less-clean clothes.

Heero glared fiercely at the clock. "I'm buying you an alarm clock. I am. I'll see you in class, Duo, I've got to race back to my room and get my books. And dressed."

His only answer was a sleepy, irritated grunt.

****

Panting for breath, Duo skidded in the classroom door barely two steps ahead of Miss Une and virtually throwing himself into his desk. Normally she was annoyed by his perpetual tardiness, but this morning he saw a smile quirk the corners of her mouth.

"I appreciate your efforts getting here, Duo, really I do. But you're not going to be in this class today."

He stared up at her, waiting for this information to register. "I'm not."

She shook her head. "Not this time. I'm to send you down to Mr. Treize' office as soon as I see you. So now I've seen you, why don't you catch your breath and head down there now?"

She had a way of wording things that /sounded/ like a question, but really wasn't. So tired, miserable, and now curious, Duo gathered up his books and trudged down the long hallway to Treize Khushrenada's office.

He expected, when he opened the door, to see Treize. He would; it was the headmaster's office after all.

But the girl standing in the centre of the immaculate study bore no resemblance to the Khushrenada warlock whatsoever. For one thing--no, more than one thing--she was at least part Chinese, and female, and couldn't be too far from Duo's age. For another thing....

Her hair was tied up in a loose, scraggly bun at the nape of her neck, held in place by a pencil stuck through the hasty knot. Streaks of vivid purple were painted through it, dangling around her delicate, glitter-painted face in loose strands and half-finished braids. Her black t-shirt, advertising some rock band called Antisocial Behavior, was tucked into a pair of cutoff jean shorts that could barely be considered clothing. It wasn't even that they were too short--just that new holes were wearing through the myriad of patches that already decourated them. A collection of pendants dangled from her neck, without a single one matching either each other or the row of small silver hoops lining each ear. Purple socks peeked out from a pair of battered combat boots that, if such a thing were possible, looked to have seen even worse days than Duo's own. An Army surplus bag swung from her shoulder as she turned to greet him, her dark eyes lighting up with curiousity.

"Hi," said Duo, now quite confused.

"Hi," the girl returned. "Are you Duo Winner?"

He nodded, and she grinned warmly, extending a hand. "Cool. Nice to meet you. I guess I'm your new tutor...Meiran Ron."

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