The Angel's Fault

The Angel's Fault
By Koneko

18 years ago, an angel was born....

Heero's boots pounded against the steel floor as he ran from the base. His heart pounded in his chest, even as his breathing came out in short gasps.

Fire eyed, with a temper to match....

He blinked back tears from his blue eyes. It hurt too much. He couldn't let himself be caught again and then ravished again. When did no not mean no? Was there no justice in the world?

He thought he couldn't be beaten. He took all that happened in simple stride....

He bit his lip. The metallic taste of blood in his mouth told him that his lip had been cut. It didn't matter anymore.... Nothing mattered anymore.... Nothing.... mattered..... anymore....

He thought he couldn't be taken. But he was wrong....

He continued to run. He needed to get away. He had no clue where he was running. He was just... running... Somewhere... Wherever fate sent him....

He was eventually caught and shown how humans live....

That brought him to a harsh reality stop. Fate. Bah. Fate was cruel, heartless. What had fate ever done for him? He was broken in a million pieces, unable to live, but somehow, just quite able to...

He was taken, bought, and sold. His wings were clipped, and he was forced to live among the humans....

No one actually cared for the soldier. He was supposed to be perfect. PERFECT. No one to care for, no one to have love for him.... But someone did... Someone cared for him so much that it probably hurt...

The angel grew up to face harsh reality. He was only something to play with, nothing more, nothing less. Only a toy, a meaningless, emotionless toy....

Heero's breath hitched in his throat. Duo. Duo would hold him. Make him feel worthwhile...

The angel used to have a purpose on Earth. But, wings clipped and grown up as a human, that purpose was scattered to the four winds....

Reality seriously sucked. It did. But Duo... Duo was there... There for him... Forever. Those were Duo's exact words. 'Forever, Heero. I'll be here until forever fades away to be here for you.'

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The dog's barking was what woke him up. Barking at what, he still had to figure out that one...

Heero rolled out of bed, groaning. His back hurt, but why, that was something he didn't know. A glance out the window revealed that it was at least noon or thereabouts. He had overslept!

There was the skid of bare feet on wood outside his door. "Heero! You up yet?" Phobos asked.

He could just picture how she looked right now. Her long hair tied back in a ponytail, her blue eyes, surrounded by heavy lash, were probably in the state of coldness they usually were....

"Coming!" he called. He slowly walked to the door, and opened it. Just like the picture in his mind, she wore her hair back in a ponytail, but her blue eyes held warmth in them. It was almost like they had warmth for him....

"Mornin'!" Phobos greeted her oldest friend. "How was your sleep?" She asked, looking around the room curiously.

"It was fine." Heero replied. He blinked at her. "WHAT are you looking for?"

Phobos blinked. Prussian blue seemed confused. "Looking for? I'm not looking for anything!" She glanced at her watch. "Dude! I have a mission in like a half hour! See ya around, Hee-senshi!" She ran off, waving behind herself at Heero.

Heero shook his head. That was one strange girl, but in their line of work, strange and weird was commonplace.

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"J, Heero's in no shape to be..." Phobos' voice was cut short by an older man's voice.

"I didn't ask you your opinion, Phobos. I only asked you where Heero was." Dr. J replied.

"What if I don't know where..." She started again.

"You do know where he is. You ALWAYS know where he is, Phobos. Don't start to lie to me. I did not train and raise you to lie, young lady." He said that word with a sneer in his voice. Heero, even hiding in his Gundam, didn't miss the contempt in the voice.

"I don't know where...." Phobos tried to say again.

"You do too know where he is." Heero didn't miss the contempt again in J's voice.

"He's in Wing...." Phobos whispered, utter defeat at her mentor's hands dripping into her voice.

Heero gulped as J thanked the girl somewhat coldly. He licked his lower lip uneasily as he watched J enter the lab. Even as he scooted back farther into Wing, he was very aware that J could see him.

"Heero." The voice of his mentor was cold. Cruel. He shuddered at the very sound.

"Y-yes?" Did his voice really sound that weak? ....Maybe it did....

"I know you're in here, little angel, but where in here?" J's voice came up to the cockpit. "I know your wings are clipped, so you couldn't have flown away..."

Heero's back itched at J's words, but to move to itch them might get him seen. And as far as he was concerned at the moment, being seen was not an option...

"Oh, well..." Heero could just hear the fake sadness in J's voice. "If I can't find you, angel, I'm sure the metal angel would do just as well..."

Heero gulped. "Um.... She DID tell you where to find me... I'm not exactly hiding...." Good god, what was he doing? He had just alerted J to where he was! He wished Phobos wasn't so important to him.... After all, the mission.... the mission needed her! She had the orders for it! J'd kill her just to get to him...

"Then where are you hiding, little angel?" J's voice was cold even from this distance.

Heero swallowed uneasily, easing himself out of Wing's cockpit. "H-here... sir..." He closed his eyes. Sir. What an insult for this man...

"Angel, do come down from there so I can see you on a normal level." J's voice seemed to plead with him.

He swallowed uneasily again, doing as he had been told. Even as he stood there, eyes downward and closed, he could feel J's eyes undressing him mentally. He silently begged that J wouldn't linger for long....

----------------

Duo was woken up by a sob from the bed of his roommate. "Hee....Heero?" This was surprising. He didn't know Heero was capable of crying, yet, by looking at the other bed, there was Heero, sitting up in bed, rocking himself and sobbing softly.

"Why?" Heero was whispering to the bedsheets and his knees. "Why does he do it every night? Is he right? Do I really deserve it all? Do I really deserve all he does to me?"

Duo sat up in bed. "Heero? What's wrong?"

A harsh intake of breath, along with Heero's slim form stiffening, alerted Duo to the fact Heero didn't know he was up. "How long were you awake, Duo?" Heero's voice cut through the silence like a knife. Duo could see Heero turn toward him, his cobalt blue eyes deepened to a darker blue by the shadows cast on his face by the moonbeams in the room. "How fucking long were you awake?"

"L...long enough, Heero.... Why are you crying?" Duo crept out of bed and crossed the distance over to Heero. "Is something wrong?" He brushed Heero's bangs out of his eyes, trying to look into those eyes better.

"N... nothing's wrong, Duo. Nothing's ever wrong..." There was a sound in Heero's voice Duo didn't know Heero could have. It was almost like he was whimpering the words...

Duo frowned. "There's something wrong, Heero. The Perfect Soldier doesn't cry if there's nothing wrong."

Heero started at Duo's words. "You.... you heard me crying?" His cobalt blue eyes were wide in the darkness.

"Well, yeah, silly goose." Duo sat down on the bed, next to Heero and pulled the pilot of Wing into his lap, brushing away the trails Heero's tears had left on his cheeks. The simple contact was enough to make Duo happy. He never realized Heero's skin was so soft...

Heero put his head under Duo's chin. "Duo... I..."

Duo smiled down at the little bundle in his lap. "Hush. I'm not really interested in what made you cry right now. It'll be okay tomorrow, won't it?"

"No... no, it won't, Duo.. I... wish it would be...." Heero whispered. He buried his face in Duo's night shirt.

"Heero?" This scared boy was so different from how he normally was that it frightened Duo.

To be continued.....