tantrys - ffiction - stop the world - 8

Stop The World
8


Shounen ai Gundam Wing
Warnings: Shounen ai. POV switching.
I'm getting spooked-- I've never done a mystery and I'm panicking. ::cries:: Forgive me for any errors, I'm trying to write this as fast as I can so I won't forget everything -_-*






PART 8

I squeezed the grimy rag firmly over the water filled bucket, and rose again from my crouch on the dusty store room floor. I stretched as far as my toes would allow and began wiping away layers of dust and age from the tall metal shelves.

It was hard work to keep bending, stretching, lifting and cleaning, but I liked it. It was thought draining, and in keeping up with the monotonous wiping-rinsing cycle, the pain in my back had receded, even if slightly, and I had forgotten about things... some...

The top shelf finished, I threw down my rag and retrieved the misplaced boxes of merchandise. I placed them carefully, labels up, and noticed that the wares of 'Horizons' were greatly varied. From candles, to crosses; books on spiritualism, pamphlets on herb diets. And angels... Quite a lot of angel paraphernalia.... Ironic, I mused.

"Call me Trowa." I turned at the hasty demand drifting in from the front of the store. "Please."

"Alright. Call me Quatre then." Quatre's familiar voice responded patiently, and I noted absently that he sounded pleased.

"This was found at the crime scene.... need help identifying it, Quatre."

I felt himself moving forward, out of the storeroom and into the kitchen. My curiosity was piqued, and the silence that had followed 'Trowa's' words was pregnant with mystery. Something from the crime scene that the police can't identify? I frowned and neared the curtains separating me from the mystery. I pushed them aside slowly, and peered out through a small slit cautiously.

"Quatre...?"

It's a feather.

I backed up in shock. My eyes were wide and focused on the dark curtain as it moved gently back into place. Beyond the curtain... It's an *angel's* feather it has to be. I moved backward again, getting as far away from the feather as I could manage. The gears in my head refused to turn, to acknowledge that an angel... It's not mine, I realized hurriedly. But it proves that another angel committed the crime... and blamed me...... who? Why....

"Heero?"

I whirled at the tired, inquiring voice. Duo's sleepy form was padding down the stairs on silent feet. He was wearing a loose black shirt, and black shorts, revealing slim, tanned legs. I rose my heated face from staring and watched Duo descend fully. He yawned and passed by me toward the refrigerator.

"Who's Quatre talking to?" He turned to face me with a milk carton to his mouth. I blinked and starting moving back toward the store room. Why can't I take my eyes off of him?

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. Duo polished off the milk and shoved the carton back. His cheerful smile was topped with a white line above his mouth. I couldn't help feeling amused... The corners of my mouth rose slightly, in a smile. Ridiculous, I decided.

"Aw man," he burst out. His hand swiped the milk away from his mouth and he laughed. With a firm shove the refrigerator closed and Duo was padding over to me. I froze as he leaned past me in the doorway to glance into the store room. He leaned back and smiled at me again. He's standing so close. He's warm--

"Looks great in there. I haven't been able to see the floor in months!"

I nodded. Suddenly his fingers were pulling at my hair gently, and he'd moved close enough to press me against the wall with barely an inch between us. My jaw dropped to protest, but I knew I wouldn't... Duo held up a small fluff of dust before me then.

"Was in your hair," he reported, flicking the dust ball into the air where it arched and drifted leisurely to the floor. He moved just as leisurely to tug on my hair again... "You've got a unique style going for you, Heero," he murmured. "Messy, but roguish." He winked at me, released my hair, and bounded back up the stairs in the time it took me to breathe again. With knees that shook I returned to the store room, and lifted the last evicted box. It was open and I stared down at its contents.

'Guardian Angels: Where Are They?' An intricate feather was etched into the thin volume's cover. I replaced the box, disquieted.







Duo held open the door for the flirty customer and was giggled at. He waved and skipped back over to Quatre with a snicker.

"Am I a ladies man or what?" He demanded. Quatre didn't even bother looking up from adjusting the receipt paper roll on the cash register for his answer.

"Or what. Can you see how Heero's doing before you go on break?" Quatre smiled slightly as he heard Duo sniffle in indignation.

"I'll 'or what' you, chibi," Duo puffed. He bolted however when a very riled Quatre looked up with the roll of paper clutched menacingly in his hand. "H e e r o! You wanna go get some coffee with me for break?"

Bells jangled and Quatre pointedly lost interest in braining Duo. He plastered on a smile and waited for the customer to enter.

"Angel, my angel, fly over me, angel... [1]" a soft, dreamy voice began singing as the bells quieted. Quatre upped his smile a notch and stormed out from behind the counter. Relena caught his slight figure in a bear hug and kissed the top of his soft head. "Well I certainly feel welcomed!" She felt Quatre's hug tighten briefly before he pulled away.

"You are," Quatre sighed.

"Wow Quatre you should see what Heero's done with the store room it's like, it was never dirty-- Relena!!" Duo emerged from the back rooms with an impressed look on his face that quickly morphed into excitement. He cheered loudly and literally bounced over to the pristine business woman. He gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek and backed off, looking around nervously. "Where's your man and his entourage? I am so sick of getting slapped upside the head because I'm affectionate."

Relena laughed sweetly and pulled Duo back for another kiss to the other cheek. "He has a meeting, dearest, otherwise he would be here, smacking you for kissing his beautiful, talented, rich-- did I mention beautiful?-- wife."

Laughing as Duo rolled his eyes and batted his hand dismissively at Relena, Quatre grasped her hands swiftly, and met her azure gaze pointedly.

"I'd like you to meet someone."

"Yeah," Duo agreed. "Heero'll knock your socks-- er, your pumps off!" He followed Relena as she was pulled firmly into the back room by Quatre. Duo parted with them in the kitchen however, and after a short moan of 'I lost my wallet!' he stomped upstairs. Relena narrowed her eyes as she entered the dim storage room, and paused cautiously as she heard movement. "Heero?" At Quatre's unsteady hail a shadow broke from the mass, and approached. Heero neared with a rather large box in his arms. Relena blinked in surprise, and watched as the handsome young man trudged into a corner and bent over to set the box down. Her gasp was swallowed up by the light thump of cardboard on concrete.

Quatre watched Relena pale, and tightened his grip on her hand. She never took her eyes off of Heero as he approached shyly.

"This is Heero, our maintenance man. Heero, this is Relena, she's a friend and benefactor for the shop."

Heero wiped his hands chivalrously on his pants and shook hands with Relena. "Nice to meet you," he offered curtly. Relena pulled her hand back and nodded. He sidled back to his box and hefted it again, traveling to the farthest spot in the room and setting it down.

"Why did you want me to meet him?" Relena whispered to her quiet blonde friend, who held her hand in an equal death grip.

"You-- you don't see them?" Quatre murmured in alarm. "His wings?" He felt her gaze turn on him sharply.

"*You* see them?" She demanded loudly. He nodded... With a cursory glance to Heero's figure in the back she turned and dragged Quatre into the kitchen. Holding both of his hands in hers she shook them lightly. "I can't believe it. An angel fallen by force! Do you know how rare this is?" Quatre shook his head negatively. Relena laughed breathlessly. "Of course you don't!"

"I thought I was hallucinating," he admitted. Knowing that someone else-- someone intelligent, someone balanced-- could see Heero's wings was beyond relief. It was renewed sanity. "Why... Why are they like that? I can sense that he's in pain-- is it because of his wings?"

Relena looked at Quatre in amazement. He must be quite an empath, to see even an angel's misery.... "He's suffering, but more from his fall than his wings." She glanced at the open store room door and let out a deep, shaking breath. "He must have committed some great crime to have his wings cut...." She shivered. I can't believe he's still alive... But the Fates would have him live out this life, for penance....

"A crime?" Quatre repeated in alarm. "The police found a feather in Iria's bedroom-- it looked like Heero's. Relena--" he squeezed her hands tightly, uncertainty flooding across his face. "Could it be Heero's?"

Relena was shocked. They found an angel feather? "I don't know. Perhaps; but only the Guardians would know." If *he* murdered Iria.... Relena straightened suddenly with a decision. "I'll speak to him. I'll ask him-- he won't lie."

She peeled out of Quatre's iron grip and marched back into the store room. She squinted to find Heero's willowy shadow, and she approached him. He tensed, sensing her nearing, but he didn't turn around... He continued cleaning the shelves, and Relena's eyes were drawn to the pitiful stumps of wings-- bone glittered white through the blood, and each feather was stripped mercilessly...

"I'm sorry," she found herself whispering. Heero stopped moving. Relena wiped away the single tear that leaked rebelliously from her eye as he turned his head slightly to speak.

"What?"

"I'm fallen," she explained. "Like you.... But I chose it... What happened? Why?" She knew her questions were falling like tactless bricks but she was unable to stop them. Heero turned around fully then, and she watched him lower his eyes to her shoulders. She smiled faintly, and angled her back so he could see the absence of her wings.

"They fade after a while," she explained. "No pain, just a few memories."

Heero nodded, and started speaking in a low, vibrant tone. "I didn't murder her... I would never... But I was judged... I'm not positive Iria's death is what I'm faulted for, but the Fates--"

"Have a sick sense of irony," Relena finished with a nod. "And the Guardians are always too quick to condemn. You didn't kill Iria."

"Never," he replied firmly. "I'm not fallen--"

She stepped forward quickly and touched his face. Sympathy sparkled thickly in her eyes.

"I think that you are fallen, Heero," she whispered. As his statement grew dark she continued. "Being fallen isn't a bad thing. Even the heavens aren't perfect, but the Guardians won't admit that. They saw you as fallen, and you were blamed." She smiled kindly and stepped back.

"Remember; they're not perfect." She emphasized her words by point upwards with one pink enameled finger. "The Guardians make mistakes, but they always correct them," she paused for the effect. "With a little help." Heero frowned, uncomprehending. "Help as in calling to them..."

"I can't," he muttered. Relena's smile remained calming and assured. She brushed off some dust from the front of her blouse and met Heero's gaze shrewdly.

"They'll listen to me if I have to scream at them. They'll correct it, Heero." She whirled around and left his steely gaze. Quatre watched her return bearing a mixed mask of expressions. One of relief, triumph, and determination. His lips couldn't help but stretch into a mirroring grin. She took his hand and led the way out front as Duo's voice exploded from upstairs.

"Coffee!" He belted gleefully.









The Fates need to take a few millenniums off, he decided as the object of his scrutiny moved slowly back and forth across the room. They thrive entirely too much on the sardonic...

The figure he was studying was slightly tall, and dusty. His hair was messy, uncombed and dark. He had smoldering blue eyes and a beautiful face... It's to be expected from an angel, he thought mockingly... He wanted to hurt him.

Out of all the places in the world, the Guardians put him here. They're incompetents. He nudged one of the boxes his prey had been neatening, and watched it fall with disastrous results of scattered pamphlets and pens. The figure crouched down immediately to clean up, and paused to roll his shoulders, a slight grimace of discomfort flashing across his face before finishing the job.

Those wings must feel a little stiff, he sneered. What, with all the blood and protruding bone.... He felt like laughing, until footsteps neared from the outer rooms. He glanced disinterestedly at the two blondes that entered, then fixed on one in particular....

She was beautiful. Slim, with a defined figure. Obviously very refined and polite. Familiar. v You, he fumed. You still manage to torture me as a mortal, 'Relena'.... His lips curled back in a half snarl, and he watched her disappear again after studying the poor suffering fallen angel. Moments later she reappeared, as he knew the nosy witch would. Prying as ever before she pulled his story out, and smiling like a fool.

You can't help him, he swore. All fallen are doomed... But her words, and her resolve, irritated him.... You always were a problem, sister....







Duo tapped his fingers against the counter, and shot another impatient look toward the back. Quatre kept himself busy with logging the day's sales.

"Are you done yet?!" Duo howled suddenly. "I swear all that dust will still be there when you get back!!"

There was no reply. Figures. If he won't talk to me, why do I expect him to *yell* to me?! Duo sighed.

"He likes working," Quatre related patiently. "Unlike some people..."

"Opportunist," Duo grumbled. "Everything I say you can twist so that it sounds like *I'm* lazy." He picked up an angel shaped eraser from a small tub of angel shaped erasers and tossed it at Quatre, who caught it easily and eyed it.

"You are lazy," he replied simply, shuffling over to replace the angel eraser. He leaned onto the counter to face Duo. "Duo."

"Quatre," Duo sighed. He stood straighter. He knew that when Quatre said your name once, he was going to say a lot more.

"Do you believe in angels?"

That I did not expect, Duo thought. He looked down at the angel erasers, then back up to Quatre's serious statement. I guess he's not talking about erasers...

"I don't know." Duo heaved a sigh and pushed back a few strands of hair from his face. "I don't think about it much..." He smirked and shrugged. "You know me-- one God, name of Shinigami. But angels sound neat-- I mean, it'd be cool if there were, but I dunno... I guess until I see one, I couldn't tell you, buddy." Duo tipped slightly left and glared at the curtains. "Yo! Slowpoke! Would you rather hang with the boxes, or with a cool handsome dude like me?! Take your pick-- but if you choose the dust I'm gonna be pissed!!"

Still nothing. Not even a 'hn', which is what Duo usually got.

"I think he chose the damned dirt," he huffed. "I swear, Heero has some major priority problems, you know? Hey, how come Relena had to leave so soon?"

Quatre didn't raise an eyebrow at Duo's swift change of subject. "She's a busy diplomat, Duo. She's meeting Treize for lunch, then she has three meetings to go to before seven--"

"Okay okay, your 'angel' has a busy schedule," Duo interrupted. "Round three goes to Quatre in his attempts to make me feel lazy and guilty--"

"I wasn't trying to make you feel lazy, Duo," Quatre replied sweetly. "I was just commenting on how *busy* Relena is--"

"HEERO!" Duo stomped childishly and rubbed his stomach, trying to elicit pity out of either heartless friend. "I'm starving!!" He dropped his hands hopefully when shuffling sounds began in the back, but they faded away, and he sighed, looking once more to Quatre for entertainment. "I told Heero I'd take him around town tonight; maybe show him a few of the better clubs-- okay, the *only* club. Wanna come?"

"No thanks," Quatre answered carefully, remembering the last few times Duo had decided to go clubbing... My car never smelled the same after that, he moaned. I hope they plan on walking.

"That's cool. Hey Heero," Duo greeted his Heero calmly as he finally made an appearance, and ruffled Quatre's hair before wrapping a friendly arm around Heero's neck and leading him out.

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[1] LoL, prolly no one got the significace of this song (besides the fact it's about angels).. S'okay! It's another Eurythmics song. Forgot the title ::snort::