The Password
(5) The Password


Author: Tan
Rated: Somewhere between PG-14 and R... so far
Disclaimer: ?... Don't own anything?....?
Notes & Warnings: ***Shounen ai*** alert. Mentioned that, have I? Nah, forgot it on the previous chapter. 1x2 (HeeroxDuo), 3x4 (TrowaxQuatre), no specific order or uke seme, and the 'x' doesn't mean anything more or less than a plus + would. ::shrug::. Did I mention some lovely cursing? Maybe I should rate this R...
Alternate universe from Duo's P.O.V., loosely based on The Matrix, and my own warped interpretation of a bit from philosophy class.
Lots of Role Playing action going on; stuff in double colons (::blah::) is RP language action. Lots of little anime-emoticons (o_O and ;_;). Italicized and //'d stuff is thinking.





(5) The Password



Nice set of wheels I was in. Plush leather seats, air conditioning. Even had the entire back seat to myself. I almost, almost, felt bad for being so dusty and sweaty and stinky, because the leather interior was not going to fair well.

My pack as a pillow, one foot firm on the floor and the other folded over it. Yeah, I was comfy. Nervous, too. I wasn't walking, and my feet didn't ache (although the cuts all over my face neck and arms stung). I hadn't been to a rest stop in hours. Just this car.

"What's your name?"

... from the Q-ball in the seat before mine. I angled my head a bit to stare at him, all humor gone from my face for the first time... ever. I probably had the same expression I'd worn when my home burned down.

I was lost.

"Death. Who are you?" I answered dryly. My voice cracked from thirst, and blonde Quatre just stared at me.

"I thought I heard Marie call you Duo." Quatre smiled. Damn. It was a nice smile, and true. Dude wasn't trying to coerce me into friendship. Dude was real...?

"Yeah, I go by that, too." I grumbled. "You're Quatre." I moved my hand to point, and heard the dirt crackling from between my digits. "That's Wufei, the driver is... I have no idea who the driver is, and that's Heero. Nice to meet you. Can we stop somewhere? I'm dirty, tired, and damn I need something to drink."

"We're all aware of just how dirty you are," Wufei decided to butt in. Prick.

"Trowa's driving. There's an inn in three miles," dear Quatre offered, giving Wufei a warning glance that freaked *me* out. Wufei didn't say anything else. "We're stopping for the night, to explain all of this to you."

"Whatever," I managed after a long pause to look Quatre in the eye. Yeah, I was still paranoid that they'd kill me-- maybe they'd rather do it after I smelled better and was in a public place, versus a huge, completely isolated corn field. Hey; anything was likely with madmen.





I fell asleep amongst the madmen, tired and worn as I was. I hoped I snored, talked in my sleep, and perhaps made a few disgusting gaseous bodily functions for them, as well. I wasn't a nice captive, oh no siree.

My wake up call wasn't too pleasant; someone grabbed my lower thigh and started shaking. Well, doesn't everyone know that I'm ticklish there?! Ehh?? So I bolted up swatting, and cracked heads with someone, hard enough to leave stars floating around my eyes for moments after. I rubbed my skull and moaned.

"That was just cruel--" I blubbered. "First y'all kidnap my laptop, then you kidnap me! And now you've given me a concussion--"

"A concussion?" Wufei blurted in disbelief. I moved my hand; it was his cranium I had so graced with mine. Okay, now it didn't hurt so bad. In fact, it already felt better. I grinned at him. My humor had returned to a lesser degree. It was a sturdy defense against many things.

Wufei backed out of the car and waited for me to exit as well. He was apparently the only one that had deigned to do so, because the car was empty, and nobody else was out there. I sat up with a grunt, and eyed the external environment...

It was just growing dark, and shadows melted quite willingly around everything. Everything being cars, concrete, and a giant "Motel 4" sign. Motel 4? o_O; Whatever.

"Come on," Wufei complained as I squeezed my poor little Duo limbs out of the door and stretched-- can't rush a good stretch, ya know ^^. Well, Wufei could. He grabbed my arm and dragged me across the pavement, toward the last door on the stretch of doors leading from the motel office. Being the gentleman that he... wasn't, Wufei held the door open for me. Like I'd actually runaway again, snort upon the idea.

Where could I run anyway? It wasn't like I ever had any destination. Ever. This escapade wasn't any different than its predecessors. I didn't know where I was going.

Bed. Bed bed bed bed, was the first thing I saw, then there was Heero stripping (insert ::nosebleed::), but the bed was the first thing. Really. I dove onto its pristine covers, and burrowed my head in the pillow-- while checking for a mint chocolate-- hey, a guy can dream--

"... You're sure, absolutely sure, Quatre, that he's a password?" Wufei's muffled inquiry did little to dilute my utter love for this bed, and the pillow. The frikkin dork... Dude pissed me off, but I still loved my pillow.

As I embraced my pillow, I waited for Quatre's response. He seemed to be the leader of this outfit. He had lots of answers, and had managed to do a thorough search of my laptop without so much as hacking into a system file. Was the login 'WanderingDeath' so obvious? .... Um, don't answer that.

"Yes, Wufei," Quatre replied evenly. I felt my bed dip as someone sat on the edge of it. "He couldn't have entered the portal if he weren't." Quatre's voice was closer, so I assumed he was the one invading my five full feet of personal space. I curled up defensively, and inched over to the further corner of the mattress. "Duo." I curled tighter.

I ignored him. If ignored, I was often left to my own devices. Except with Hilde... If I declined to answer her instant message within 2.5 seconds, I'd get another, and another, and a telephone call if she were able. I smiled faintly into my pillow. Hilde was nice... I'd also left her crying. I didn't even turn around to wave.

Heartless. Sadistic.

"Duo..."

Apparently, Quatre was one of those Hilde people. Persistent little buggers, they are. I shifted enought to peer at him, one eye, close enough to the pillow to burrow again...

Quatre was perched beside me, watching patiently. Past him hovered Trowa; the two were a pair I swear. And beside LongFellow was Heero, now in a tight white tank top and scowling. I think my eyes lingered too long, or Quatre was just that receptive, because he turned to look at Heero, and the next second Heero was out of view. Ah well, for the better I suppose. Don't want these jeans to get any tighter than they have to in certain areas...

"Duo," Quatre repeated. I sighed quickly, and pushed myself up to face him. Cowering just didn't seem right. This... I dunno... damnit... something was important. Damn well important, for me to abandon my pillow, and to wait with bated breath for someone else to talk. I never had conversational problems before. Before? Before what?

Before this motel; before being surrounded by madmen that had committed the ultimate three sins against Duo: 1. touching my laptop, 2. abducting me, and 3. making me curious. I think the third one was the worst (although number one was a close second, and number two I could just brush off as my irresistability). Sin three: giving me enough of a reason to hang around, to get involved, attached...

Deciding I was listening, to some extent, Quatre took a deep, thoughtful breath, and began.

"This world is a program. The most sophisticated computer program ever. It has your mind connected to the network, and your body is stored in..." Quatre paused, searching...

"... In a vat[1], I guess you could call it. This whole world-- the cities, motels, the Internet, politics-- is just part of the program. The processor feeds your brain the illusion of existence, while your real body decays..."



I really was in a room full of madmen.




[1] vat; weird word, but I got it from my philosophy professor. The Matrix was apparently (and loosely) based on the 'brain in a vat' theory... some thing some old philosopher guys believed... but you're probably not interested though, are you? =^^=;;