Toy Soldiers
by Ashura Nagisa
disclaimer: I don't own GW. Surprise,
surprise.
pairings: subject to change, but so far: 13x5, 11+13, 2x11, 3x4
warnings/notes: AU, because playing fast and loose with the timeline and actual
events. Yaoi, het, drama, angst,
violence, sap--um, how about just "everything"?
****************
Book II: The Star Moves Not But In His Sphere
****************
Chapter Three:
"Warriors when irretrievably trapped will
be fearless, in inextricable positions will be resolute."
--Sun
Tzu (The Art of War)
"Colonel Une, you're making a
mistake!"
She sighed. She was tired of Tsuberov, tired of his presence, his greasy hair, his
musty smell and arrogant tone. //How
much easier it would be to arrange an accident...Treize would forgive me, I'm
sure. He hates the man as much as I do.//
"I've given an order," she reminded
the engineer calmly.
"You've sent a Gundam pilot out in our best
mobile suit," he countered acidly. "You should have had them all executed by now, and used the mobile
dolls!"
"Those associated with the Gundams are
still valuable to me!" Une snapped back. "We will continue to use the dolls to defend the lunar base. I'm sure you're as aware of Commander Treize'
position on them as I am. We are using
the Vayeate and Mercurius, and that is final."
He snorted derisively. "You're bringing the trouble on yourself," he
predicted, grumbling.
"Jealous?" she asked, a little too
sweetly. "That's not something to
be proud of, Tsuberov."
She spun on her heel, leaving him behind
sputtering complaints at the empty air as she returned to Fortress Barge. //Maybe he's right. Maybe we should send the dolls--if that new
Gundam uses the same system as the Valkyrie, it would wipe them all out in a
matter of seconds, and we wouldn't have to worry about them anymore.// It was an uncharitable thought, but she
allowed herself to enjoy it for a while before discarding it to the back of her
mind. There was very little good that
could come out of this encounter between Trowa, zero-one, and the new Gundam.
Trowa. That had been interesting. So he
was pilot zero-three...the Heavyarms. The suit that would have been hers, had she accepted his namesake's
offer to help him conquer the earth. She wondered where it was now. Fate had a twisted sense of humour indeed, and its lines tangled more
than was comfortable.
In essence it was a simple enough
situation. Une trusted the Gundam
pilots to protect the colonies more than she trusted Tsuberov with a chance to
show off his toys. The pilots at least
were human.
She just worried about the strange, soft look
she'd seen in her newest officer's green eyes.
//I tried to warn you, this will not go as
planned. I wonder, will you believe me?//
****
Trowa Barton settled into the carrier that would
transport himself and Heero to the location of the new Gundam, and their
battle.
And Quatre.
His notorious calm threatened to break at the
sound of that name, his cold facade crumbling a little as his heart pounded
harder against it. He was confused,
uncertain, especially in light of Une's strange confession--but none of that
would matter soon. He and Heero would
join with Quatre, who would lead them
to rescue the others and defeat Oz. All
would be clear, because he was never so sure of anything as when Sandrock's
pilot was near.
//Quatre...//
He fumbled for a moment in his pocket--he was
alone, and no-one would notice a small addition to his costume. It was a ring, very simple and plain and
ordinary, its cheap gilt tarnished by repeated wear, so that it tended to turn
his skin green beneath it. He rubbed
his fingertip along its dulled surface, remembering the day Quatre had given it
to him.
It had been raining in San Francisco that night,
the fog rolling in from the sea, the air echoing with the ghostly cries of
unseen gulls. They had alternated
between blushing, and giggling, and giddy, exhilarating kisses. He had never felt so alive.
He'd known when he first met the boy that he was
special. He'd have to be, or else
brazenly stupid, to surrender to Trowa a fight he otherwise would have
won. Trowa was well aware his
Heavyarms, in that first encounter, was almost out of ammunition, and Quatre
was backed up by his Maguanac corps. But that surrender to each other was only the first of many. Everything about Quatre was a whirlwind to
Trowa, whisking him away to emotions he'd never dreamed he could experience.
And in the space of a night, he'd promised his
life. It was easily the most absurd,
spontaneous thing he'd ever done. With
a sense of profound disbelief he remembered their first frenzied lovemaking;
they fell into each other without consultation or forethought, yet it was the
only time he could remember where afterglow had faded and left not regret, but
contentment. It was easy, then, to
grant Quatre what he asked for when he laughingly, nervously requested his
oath.
Their mission was for morning, so they had
little time. It was already after the
time any reputable shop had closed. They had gone out to find the fences and pawnshops instead, desperate to
find some token they could both take with them, both aware it could be their
last opportunity. Quatre said it would
be like the favours ancient champions wore into battle. Since then, Trowa had never fought without
it.
The whir of the engines soothed him, and he
slipped into dreams of silky blonde hair and bright, vivid aqua eyes.
****
Beep.
Dark, dazed green eyes flickered open, confused.
Beep.
The data scrolling down the screen startled him
into wakefulness. //What--Quatre--//
"Are we there already?" Heero's sleepy
voice sounded over the comm unit. "That was fast."
"That's not it." Trowa's fingers danced over the keypad,
calling up what little information Une had to send him. "Our destination just changed--we were
too late to save that colony."
"What?" Heero shook off sleep in favour of disbelief.
"It's destroyed," Trowa repeated,
wondering if his companion could detect the faint tremble in his voice. "We'll--we'll leave behind the carrier,
Heero, and take the mobile suits out alone."
Heero only nodded. "Was it him?"
"Our mission is only to determine how
powerful the Gundam is." Trowa
went on as if he hadn't heard. "We'll fight only if necessary. But it's Quatre we're up against, so there shouldn't be anything to
worry about." Even to his own
ears, he sounded as if he were trying to reassure himself.
"Trowa...." Heero frowned, his gaze darkening as if he knew more about his
fellow pilot's thoughts than he let on. "Be cautious. Something's
not right."
//Things will not work out the way you've
planned.// Une's words echoed in
Trowa's mind, but he twisted the ring on his finger and forced them away. "What's the matter?"
"Don't forget," Heero commanded
softly, "he just destroyed a colony."
Trowa bowed his head, trying to ignore the chill
than shivered down his spine as he gave the order for Heero to investigate
alone.
//Quatre...what are you doing?//
****
"My Deathscythe looks pretty cool, dontcha
think?" Duo flipped through the
plans for his upgraded Gundam yet one more time. "One month, they said, and it'll be all done. Wow--they've done some serious work on
yours, too, Wufei."
The Chinese pilot nodded. He'd been calm through the entire
ordeal--then again, he was always calm--but Duo was sure he noticed a gleam of
excitement in those dark eyes. Wufei
was just as infatuated with his Gundam as any of the rest of them.
"Now that Quatre's back, we'll be busy
again," he continued with a satisfied grin. "It's about time."
Wufei ducked his head, dropping his gaze from
Duo's. "I have no intention of
considering an unconfirmed Gundam as an ally of ours."
"What do you mean?" Duo gnawed at his lower lip, forgetting for
a moment the diagrams on the projection screen. "He's defeating Oz' forces, right? That makes him on our side."
Wufei glanced up at him again, his expression
serious. "Maybe so." He sighed, resting back against the
wall. "But I have a bad feeling
about this."
The words had no sooner left his lips than
silence assaulted them--not merely the absence of speech or noise, but rather
of background--their own breathing was abruptly the /only/ thing they could
hear. The whir of engines, of
generators, the hum and buzz that indicates a place is alive--these were
abruptly missing from the cell.
Dark eyes met violet, both wide in disbelief.
"The life support systems," Wufei said
flatly.
"No way! No fucking way!" Duo
launched himself upright, throwing his entire body at the solid metal
door. It vibrated as he slammed against
it, and the force of it echoed through the cell and probably the hallway
outside, before he slumped onto the floor. "HEY! SOMEBODY TURN THE AIR
BACK ON!" His voice caught
mid-scream; he pushed himself upright along the wall and stumbled back to where
Wufei sat calmly clicking the projector from slide to slide.
"I don't believe it. What a lameass way to get rid of
prisoners--that is just so far beneath low." He sighed, slumping forward, completely ignoring the diagrams of
his beloved Deathscythe on the wall. "I wish I could have gone out to battle today instead of
Heero. I wish--God, Wufei, there are at
least a million things I wish I could have done differently, I can't even list
them all."
"Stay calm," the Chinese boy advised,
"if you want to stay alive a little longer. We've only got so much air, don't waste it."
"Stay calm? How the fuck? Enlighten
me, please!" Duo seized Wufei by
the shoulders and spun him around, shaking him violently. "How the hell can you stay so goddamn
composed about this whole thing? Don't
you even care that Oz is suffocating us to death?"
"Duo," Wufei said, his voice barely
above a whisper, "let go."
One flash of indescribable pain in those dark
eyes and the pieces fell into place for Duo too suddenly even to realise they
had done so. //...He's in love with
one of you.// Nicole's words,
spoken in such hurt, and so quickly forgotten--he hadn't given them thought
since he left her.
Of course, he tried not to think about most of
that night, unless he had to. He didn't
need the guilt.
He dropped his hands, mumbling an apology under
his breath and lying back to sprawl on the floor, at least as much as a sprawl
could be accomplished in cuffs. "Fine, fine...you be all stoic then. I'm gonna throw in the towel. What a lame way to go!" He
was whining, and he knew it, but if it was his last half-hour left alive, he
figured he could spend it talking if he wanted to. "I don't fucking believe they'd do this to us! Well--at least not to /you/!"
Wufei spun abruptly to stare defiantly down at
him. "What do you mean by
that?"
Duo swallowed, reminding himself--despite the
anger on the other pilot's face--that they were going to die soon anyway, and
if it came down to it, he'd rather have Wufei murder him than just quietly
waste away from lack of oxygen.
"Aren't you the one Treize is in love
with?" he blurted.
To his complete astonishment, Wufei did not, as
anticipated, attack him. Rather, it was
as if he wilted, his unbreakable calm fading through his feet to leave a hurt,
frightened teenage boy. Duo found this
Wufei easier to identify with, but a bit disconcerting as well.
"How did you know?"
Duo blinked, rolling himself up til he was
sitting again. "N--Lady Une told
me." A wry, regretful smile
twisted his features. "I was here
being nursed back to health when he told her. She...was a bit upset."
Wufei merely nodded, as if it didn't really
matter anyway. "Ah."
//And then, of course, I gave her even more
reason to be upset. No wonder she's
ready to off me now without so much as an execution order.//
"Know what, Wufei? This is probably my fault after all, because
I am a class-A, award-winning asshole," he confessed bitterly. "And if I'm right, then I'm sorry to
have caught you in it."
Dark eyes flickered up at him, curious. "What do you mean?"
And Duo, because the end of one's life is a
perfect time for confessions anyway, told him. "So I left," he finished lamely, after the story had fallen
more or less completely from his lips. "Left a note about how I figured she'd have done the same thing in
my place, and took off. If I were her,
I'd want to kill me too."
Wufei curled around himself, resting his chin on
his knees. "Not necessarily,"
he said after a moment. "One thing
I've learned about these people--and it sounds like you have, too--they may be
enemies, but they're not necessarily /bad/...fundamentally, I mean. You said she'd understand your leaving, because
it was part of a war. So, having us
killed is just part of the same war. Sure, it could be revenge on you--it could also be to get rid of me, as
Treize' lover. Or it could be neither
one...only that we're two Gundam pilots, and that makes us the enemy."
"I guess you're right," Duo agreed,
flopping back onto the floor at last. "It makes sense and all. I
just wish I had a chance to explain, or something." A sigh. "This is a really stupid thing to be worried about at a time like
this, isn't it?"
Wufei shrugged. "I've always understood that in the face of death, men dwell on
what is secretly most important to them. Maybe you should consider that."
Duo rolled his eyes heavenward. "Like it's gonna do any good. I'm about to stop breathing, and so are
you."
"I haven't yet," Wufei pointed out
softly.
A sad, admiring smile turned Duo's lips
upward. "You never give up, do
you?"
The Shenlong pilot shook his head. "No," he answered. "Not as long as I'm alive."
****
