Alright! Another chapter, finally! I'll be getting them up a bit
faster because I have a lot less work this week for ONCE. Kiss a baby! ...
uh... that wasn't me. I don't know where that came from. ^_^ Thank you very
much for your comments you guys! I'm going to be doing some mad reading for
the next couple of days if you know what I mean ^_^ Without further adieu,
the next chapter!
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"So what's the deal?" said Duo quietly, leaning against the now closed door. Heero didn't answer right away and Duo crossed his arms irritably. "Heero?"
"I don't know yet."
"Oh really?"
"No."
"Why not?!"
"Because it depends on Trowa." Heero looked around his room and slowly moved over to his bed. Sitting on his heels, he bent over and rummaged under the bed, pointedly silent. Duo sighed and sat at Heero's desk, messing with the chipped wood that most of the Wing pilot's accessories sat on. After a moment his gazed again landed on Heero.
"What are you doing?"
"Hn," offered Heero shortly, digging further under his bed until he produced a large tan box. His gaze shifted to Duo just a moment before he began to dig in the papers inside the box. It was apparent that he was in no hurry, and Duo opened his mouth for a question when he finally said, "Who did he say took Quatre?"
The braided pilot bit his lip and rolled his eyes. "I think... Akimiko?" He nodded. "Yeah, that was it. Akimiko... and Candy Land? What the heck kind of name is that?"
"Do you ever remember hearing anything about this?" asked Heero slowly. Duo shook his head and narrowed his eyes..
"Hunh uh. Never. Heero--"
"I'll bet you 10 to 1 you have."
"Oh really," replied Duo disbelievingly. "And what if I haven't?"
With a moderately quiet sound of satisfaction, Heero withdrew a huge stack of papers, and setting himself to his feet, immediately deposited the papers into Duo's lap. "Then you haven't been living on L2 colony."
The braided pilot quickly scanned over the compressed lines of information of the first page. His eyebrows creased in question. "This is a report on--"
"Azuya Kurijiko," murmured Heero, already concentrating on the information popping up on the computer screen, of which he had booted up with unmatched speed [G: I know that sounds corny but I wanted to mention that it isn't like my computer, no da!]. "Where have you heard of her before?"
"Azuya..." His eyebrows creased in concentration. "A long time ago there was this guy who helped me when I was sick... in return I helped run a few 'errands' for him." Duo produced a leery look and shifted uncomfortably. "What I mean is that he gave out cures to kids who couldn't pay for them and his company or whatever tracked him down and threw him in jail for it [1]... but that was a very long time ago and I can't even remember exactly what he looked like or why the heck he was risking helping a bunch of no-name kids like -- no, wait. I thought that Azuya was a man?"
"A woman."
Duo's jaw dropped. "That's not freakin possible. I saw-- I saw HIM myself!"
"Yes, I saw him too." Heero shifted the laptop screen toward him. "But... take a look for yourself."
Sure enough, the flickering picture on the screen of the laptop gave proof of a pretty, young-looking female with pitch black hair just below her ears and bright blue eyes. Her features where slightly childish, but nothing betraying the male that Duo had said he had seen. Under the picture was a brief description of the woman as a medical doctor -- independent surgeon.
"Do you remember her now?"
"No."
"Think, Duo!"
"I'm trying!" yelled the frustrated boy. "How am I supposed to remember something like that?!?"
"You can't have forgotten that scandal that went down with her," said Heero calmly. He tapped three keys and another file came up. It was a missing persons report. Several missing persons reports. "Do you remember now?"
Duo finally snapped his fingers. "I remember that! That was when kids kept disappearing all over L2. I'm telling you that scared the sh--" He stopped short and a part of him froze. "But that was all OVER L2. There's no way that could have been... her if that's what you're talking about. Are you trying to say that this woman Azuya was stealing punks off the streets? And what does that have to do with Trowa and Quatre? Azuya became a missing person himself and nobody ever found those kids. Heero, you wouldn't believe the mess that was going on then. That was some of the scariest times that we ever had to go through. Kids just--disappeared."
"Not exactly." Click click. "Kids were found."
"Of course kids were found," replied Duo darkly. "Dead. Popping up everywhere. There's no telling what happened to them. It could have been anything between disease and war."
"Not these kids."
"And what's so different about THESE kids," snapped the disturbed pilot. The memories had hit and note and he had begun to feel this odd sensation at the base of his neck, and instead of crawling up his neck like fear, it crawled down toward the base of his spine, making him shiver involuntarily. He knew... he knew the answer... but he just couldn't... "Not these kids. Prove it."
Heero twisted the computer screen around toward Duo and stood. "That's your proof."
Hundreds of different faces appeared on the screen, some of them close ups, others full body. The difference was, each looked like children between the ages of 6 and 7... and each child was nothing but dried up black skin and bones. Literally.
Duo didn't have the energy to twitch. "Proof." Heero nodded slightly and he pressed his lips together tightly. "So what's your point?"
"All of these children didn't appear all at the same time. They appeared fairly randomly, and there are even a few cases of it today."
"Like all deaths, Heero."
"They appeared in graveyards."
"What?" Duo spasmed slightly, but quickly got a hold of himself under Heero's calm gaze. He looked away. "What do you mean 'appeared in graveyards'?" When Heero merely returned to typing on the computer, he swatted the computer screen away and forced Heero to look at him. "Heero!"
"Someone put these children on top of fresh graves," replied Heero calmly. "Not in the graves, not under the dirt, but on top. Deliberately. And that's what's going to happen to Quatre if we don't get him. Now."
Duo dropped his arms and closed his eyes, pressing his fingers to his brow. "I don't believe this. I just... don't..."
Heero remained still for a moment, as if thinking, then shut off his computer and walked toward the door, stopping briefly once he got there. "Duo, if you don't believe me, then I guess you will have to see for yourself."
"Dang straight."
"And on the way, I need for you to do something for me."
Duo opened one eye cautiously and suspiciously looked at his partner. "Oh? And what is that?"
"I need for you to enlist as a doctor at L2."
The braided pilot choked and nearly fell out of his chair. "Say WHAT?"
"You heard what I said."
"Well--what for, Heero?"
"So you can see for yourself." And he walked away.
* * *
"Wufei."
Heero waited patiently for Wufei to turn away from his book before continuing. "I need you to do something for me. I'm going to L1 to look for some background information, but I don't trust Trowa to say here and sit still until I get back."
"You want me to baby-sit him," stated Wufei, closing his book quietly.
"No," responded Heero neutrally. "I want you to do something to make him stay put." He turned to leave.
"Do you realize that you are taking a completely labyrinthine way of getting this done?"
Heero waited. Wufei looked at him with an annoyed look on his face. "If you're trying to set up an impenetrable defense, I suggest you quit wasting your time."
"And if you think Quatre is all there is to this then I suggest you think again."
"I know Quatre isn't it."
Heero turned to look at Wufei. "You know?"
The stiff pilot crossed his arms and looked pointedly at Heero. "I know that the enemy tried to get back at Trowa through Quatre. I know that the enemy has a hold of Quatre. They have the ways and means to strike."
A half-sincere laugh sounded from Heero at the expected response. "You want to cover your back."
"The enemy knows where we are. I don't like that either."
The dark-haired Zero pilot nodded slightly. "Understood. But in order for you to know what exactly you're getting into, I suggest you go track down some information at the library archives." Heero walked to the door and pause. "Then you might see why we will need all of the defense we can possibly get." He disappeared around the doorway.
Wufei sighed and put his book on his nightstand. "Very well."
"And take Duo."
Wufei chafed. "Take Maxwell? Are you out of your mind?" No response. "Heero?" Silence. "HEERO!"
After a moment of tangible disgust, the Chinese pilot released the book he had loosely held in his hand, realizing the utter uselessness of attempting to read it at that time. He waited until he heard the quieting footsteps of the Zero pilot before he walked softly down the hallway to Trowa's room, which had been wide open since the previous night. He leaned against the door frame and peeked cautiously into the room.
Trowa was laying on his bed in his pajamas this time on his left side facing the window, left arm propping his head up and right arm bent to the curve above his waist. It appeared as if he was reading something, but, after a moment's study of his steady breathing, Wufei realized that Trowa was sleeping. Suddenly, Wufei himself yawned and he noticed that the air of the other boy's room was somewhat warm and still. He shrugged tiredly before retreating to his own room to doze for a moment.
"I wonder what Trowa is dreaming about..."
* * *
Quatre was being prodded again. He sighed. He was sick and tired of being prodded. Not only that, but he was tired of being knocked out too. Quatre was prodded in the side again and he winced and stretched. "I'm awake, I'm awake, just let me open my eyes..."
A low, cool voice whispered hurriedly. "Get up, Quatre Winner. We have to go now." The poking and prodding continued until Quatre became fairly irritated and opened his eyes.
"Alright! I'm up! I'm up! Just--" He hesitated, seeing the darkness around him, then again realized where he was and sighed again. "I'm still here..."
"Get up!"
"I'm up! What do you want?"
"To get you back to your friends."
Quatre yawned suddenly and blinked into the darkness. "Hunh? What?"
A tug at the arm. "This room has sleep-inducing gases being pumped into it. We've got to get out of here. Trust me-- you'll feel a lot more clear-headed once you're away from the vapors."
"Vapors...?" managed he as he felt someone take hold of his arm and lead him through the darkness until a door was opened. Quatre immediately recognized the symbols and pulled back reflexively. "Oh noooo, we can't got out there. Akimiko doesn't like dirty boys..." He tried to yank away from his captor. Instead, his head snapped back as a brisk smack to the face stopped him from going any further. He stood in stunned silence as the voice leaned into his ear.
"Quatre, if I don't get you out of here, you're going to experience pain like you've never felt before. It's going to cut so deep that even if you do make it out your soul will be bound with the burden of it forever. Do you understand?" The addressed nodded vaguely and the captor resumed it's quiet trek into the hallway, motioning for Quatre to be quiet.
The hallway continued with it's familiar pattern of symbols and marbles, and finally, after several periods of halting, crouching, and waiting, the two came to a door similar to Quatre's. The stranger forced Quatre to enter the room first, then followed closely behind until they were both inside and he closed the door. A small click and all was silent.
"You can speak now."
Honestly, after forcing himself to keep from questioning the stranger as often as he felt the urge, now that he had the chance, he couldn't think of anything to say. After a moment the voice became a little confused, almost desperate. "Quatre? Can you speak?" Quatre didn't say anything. "Say your name, Quatre. Say Quatre Winner." He groaned, then slowly repeated 'Quatre Winner.' "Good."
Quatre felt awkward in the darkness. His eyes hadn't even adjusted yet and he felt vulnerable. "I-I'm sorry. I just... couldn't think of anything to say."
"That's not your fault, Quatre. That's their fault."
The blond pilot frowned at the emphasis of their. "Their? Who is there Ke--"
Another hard smack to the face prevented him from finishing. The voice became hard. "Never say their names. They'll be on you faster than you can blink."
"What's happening?" said Quatre finally, after contemplating his words a moment. He rubbed his face and winced. That hurt too now. Another abused appendage to add to the list.
"Nothing now," responded the voice after a pause, then, thoughtfully, "but a lot will happen if it turns out you stay. Which is why I have to get you out of here."
Suddenly, Quatre felt a grab at his stomach, instantly causing him to cry out in pain. A small disappointed sound came from the voice's mouth and a supporting arm came under Quatre's arm. "I apologize. I just had to make sure."
"Make sure? That I had been beat up?" winced the boy sharply. He took a deep breath and allowed the support to take the full weight and lead him to a sitting place.
"I need to fix your wounds before we go any further, and I just want to use as little light as I can so that we don't attract any attention." The support moved away from Quatre and after a few moments of shuffling, returned to sit beside him. He watched as sparks hit together three times, then caught completely. The light didn't illuminate much, but it did manage to give cast a glow on Quatre's stomach injury, and just as well a give a significant view of the male face of the stranger that had led him out of his room. Quatre inhaled sharply, eyes wide.
"Trowa!"
* * *
A boy walked the streets of L1 with his head down and his dark blue baseball cap low over his eyes. He walked with no apparent direction, like one without a place to be, someone to be with, or goal having been searched for. But eventually, his steady gait turned into one of the barred gates of the concealed, abandoned cemeteries. A children's cemetery.
He jumped over gate easily and made his way past the barren graves and even some of the impossibly tiny coffins that had long since been forgotten and left forever in silence. The moment he made it to the back right-hand corner of the cemetery he kneeled and took off his cap.
"Once I said I would defeat OZ for the sake of the colonies. The colonies abandoned us, and we were left with no one to fight for but ourselves." But you... you didn't die for anything. No one hated you, tracked you down and tried to kill you just because you could pilot one of the worst machines ever created for war. You died because you were a child. You died because you were innocent. You died because you had no place to go, no food to eat, and no mom or dad to protect you from all of the evils of this universe. We're a lot alike. You could have easily been me, and I could be you. Sometimes I wish I was you... I wouldn't have to stand aside while I watch others like you die even while the Earth and the colonies have declared peace and there isn't even any war or a reason why they have to die.
Heero took a deep breath and slipped his cap back on. "I am sorry, truly sorry that I couldn't save you." He stood. "Maybe soon we can have peace again, peace for the men and women of the colonies and Earth as well as the children who may otherwise never be able to become adults because the adults left them to die." He nearly touched the body above the grave, but didn't. Instead, he took off his jacket and covered as much of the shrivelled body of the child as he could and left before the colony woke to another day.
* * *
He dreamt. This time he was facing his colony instead of running away from it. His hands were sweating on Shenlong's controls and he felt as if he was suffocating. He knew what was going to happen.
He forced his head down and screamed aloud. "Why do I have to see the die?! Why am I the only one who has to bear witness to the death of my own colony?!"
"Because you're the one who's supposed to see why mankind must suffer."
"Hunh? Who said that?!" he threw himself back and looked frantically around him until he spotted something floating just outside of his front view-screen. Facing away from him was a small, girl shaped figure, long black hair flowing behind her. He gasped. "You don't have any air! You'll die!"
Slowly, the body revolved until it faced him, and finally transformed into another face and body... the six or seven year old version of himself.
"Now you know how I feel."
Wufei bolted up from his slumped position and absently wiped his sweat-drenched face. He looked up at the clock, sporting an evening 7 o'clock and sighed heavily. "I have no time for this... nightmares are a weakness I cannot afford..." But he narrowed his eyes and the last images of the dream lingered in his vision. "Nightmares..."
* * *
"You're good," said a cute, 12 year old boy, dark black and blue- shaded hair coming a little under nose-length. His dark blue eyes sparkled with admiration. "I'm not at all like you, especially now."
"Neither am I," echoed his deeply complected companion somewhat shyly. This one had a beautiful smile, but it was somewhat shaded with the emotions inside of him. "I wish I was you, though. Maybe... maybe you'll come back and see us sometime." Immediately he winced and looked apologetically at his counterpart.
"Drexel, you know that's kinda bad to say in front of him." But he nodded anyway and accepted the apology. "You're probably not coming back here, but we'll miss you a lot anyway."
The silent boy was not afraid but somewhat disturbed by the fact that he was leaving the boys that had been beside him as far back as he could remember. "Hikaeru... Drexel..."
"Don't worry about us!" said Drexel with another winning smile. "We know that you can't help it. You're just better than us, that's all. You deserve it."
"I don't deserve anything."
"Don't talk like that. It would be better if you'd go."
"But... but I don't want to go. It hurts."
"Of course it hurts, but it's the only way you can go, though."
"Maybe I shouldn't go. Maybe it was better that I stayed here. Maybe it's better in here."
"DON'T--" began Drexel, but something inside of him began to shake and he could only manage a sad smile. "Just go. Don't you remember what we did for you? We took out the bad stuff."
A tear went down the unnamed boy's cheek. "It... I think something's still inside of me though. I don't know how to get it out. It's telling me to stay."
"There's the door though, and it would be hard to sneak you back to your room. You'd better go." Hikaeru winked and rubbed the little boy's head affectionately, slowly taking his hand away. "And as long as you stay away from here, the bad stuff won't ever get you again, okay? You're a lucky little boy. Don't you ever say that you're too young, and that you want to be older. If you were any older they would have taken you away." Hikaeru's expression dimmed a little but he hid it. "A very, very lucky little boy."
"But I don't want to leave. I don't see a reason to leave you at all." obstinate
For a moment, both Drexel and Hikaeru panicked. They had come so far, so far to save the youngster, and now that they were at the door, he didn't seem so sure anymore... they had to get him away without frightening him into a state of flight... it was the wrong way to go out alone, and the perfect way to attract the worst attention he could possibly get...
True to his unique nature, Drexel bent down and took the shoulders of the little boy, voice solemn. "Do you remember some of those seventh nights, Star?"
Star blinked and his demeanor stiffened a little. "Yes."
The seventh nights... the nights of living nightmares. Star would be in his bed and he would hear horrible noises that frightened him so badly that he could not sleep. Images, wave over wave of vivid darkness parades, parades of death, endless dirges, sacrifices, children screaming... The sounds of crying, heart-wrenching, soul shattering... sometimes he would even imagine that it was Hikaeru or Drexel screaming, it sounded so familiar... but later that night, in the darkness, both of them would slip into his bed and reassure him that nothing had happened... that he was only dozing and that if he would just close his eyes he would be ok. They would tell him stories until he fell asleep.
"Those seventh nights are the ones that we want you to stay away from."
"You're almost six years old now, such a smart, smart boy," reassured Hikaeru, "and those seventh nights aren't very good for smart boys like you. Soon, if you go away, then the seventh nights will go away. No one will ever bother you with bad thoughts like that. Kekei might come after you and force you to have those seventh nights for real."
Kekei had been a nightmare in herself for Star. He had seen her only once or twice, whenever he had seen her come to take the obedient older boys away (for he was the youngest, and until he was old enough he could only obediently stay in his room), but her silky demeanor always frightened him. He never dared say a word in her presence for fear of... of... what was he afraid of? He didn't know, but she had always scared him stiff before... before Hikaeru and Drexel... before they... took the bad stuff away... what had they taken? He shook himself from his thoughts and blinked almost disbelievingly. "For real?"
"Yes, real. But you're okay right now, but you have to leave. Do you understand?"
"If you stay here, we might never see you again, but leaving you like this is much better. We have a chance to say goodbye to you, and you'll end up where you're needed most. We want you to live to see the stuff we'll never get to see. Go ahead, Star. Do everything for us that we can't, ok buddy? Like finding that space heart."
The bewildered boy named Star blinked at him in question again. "A space heart? What's that?"
Hikaeru laughed quietly. "I can't believe how many times I've had to tell you, little Star." He bent down and looked in the boy's intelligent, deep green eyes. "You remember that story I told you about? That story about the boy who died saving the world?"
It had been an odd, disconnected bedtime story Star had been told. A small, courageous boy had been torn away from his family when he was just a child, and when he finally found them again, they were about to have the life sucked out of them by an evil demon. He threw himself into the place of his family and died for their sake. The family lived, but the boy died. But because he had been such a courageous boy, his heart and soul escaped his body forever to cast hope and courage into the lives of those that had been just like him, courage to keep their families free and their friends safe from harm, like a true child hero. Star couldn't understand why that would be such a good thing, for a soul and a heart to escape the body and put light on people, but he decided that they had told him the story just to keep him from having nightmares when he went to sleep. But even when they didn't tell him any stories before he went to sleep he didn't have nightmares. The older boys always had nightmares. There was just so much he couldn't understand. He thought a moment and nodded slowly. "A space heart. Find a space heart."
Drexel drew the boy to himself and gave him an affectionate hug. "You take care little Star. And earn a name for yourself, ok? You won't need to be Star ever again. Just be yourself. Find that space heart so you can find a name for yourself..."
The little boy nodded. "Okay." He turned to the door and ran up to it. His tiny hands grabbed the handle, and the older boys bit their lips in anxiousness to see whether or not he would be burned. He opened it without any more difficulty than a four year old opening a heavy door and slipped through it, unheeded, finally free. "Bai Hikaeru! Bai Drexel!"
"Bye bye, Star. Remember... do everything we can't. Find a space heart for yourself... and for us too..."
* * *
Quatre's mouth dropped open to say something, but the motion was futile. He couldn't think of anything to say. Whether that was because of the vapors from his room or the fact that he couldn't believe Trowa was there, he couldn't tell.
"Trowa..." He gave a disbelieving half-laugh and half smile. "I... I can't believe it! You're here! Did you come by yourself? Where are the guys? What happened?"
The other boy gave him a confused look. "Trowa? Who are you talking about?"
"I can't believe that I didn't recognize your voice! But when I listen closer..." Quatre paused, giving him a perplexed look. "What do you mean, 'Who are you talking about?' I'm talking about you! What's wrong with you?"
"I was about to ask you the same question. Who is this Trowa? Was he one of your friends?"
"Trowa, this is a bad place for your sense of humor to kick in! Tell me how--"
"I'm not kidding. And before you say it again, I am not Trowa."
The blond boy squinted at the other boy's poorly lit face. Regardless of the light, he was still positive it was Trowa -- semi-sure, anyway. Same lean features, same brown hair, even if a little shorter... same deep green eyes... it was unmistakably Trowa. At least it had to be... unless... Quatre frowned. This had to be Trowa. He even sounded like him. After all of these years, how could he make a mistake?
The Trowa look-alike shook his head and pulled up Quatre's shirt to inspect his stomach. "Lay down, Quatre. You're hurt badly and I need to know exactly what they used on you." He paused. "But seeing you, I don't think they would hurt you enough for it to be irreparable."
Quatre lay down slowly, eyes still anchored onto the green-eyed boy's face. The other boy held the light in one hand and quickly assessed the damage, then gently prodded the scarring spots on Quatre's stomach. When Quatre winced, the other boy nodded and pulled the shirt back down, turning his gaze back to the blond pilot's face. "We'll need to get to the medical facility. Your wound is already scarring and if we don't get some antibiotics on it it might not heal correctly. It's not like her to mess up this badly unless you offended her in some way. She used a butterfly on you this time."
"A butterfly." The boy's face disappeared from the light and it was dark just as suddenly as it had been before.
The Sandrock pilot groaned suddenly and rolled over on his stomach. My head hurts. None of this is making any kind of sense. Getting stabbed with a butterfly knife... What happened to Trowa? I thought he was here... Where are the rest of the guys? Quatre grabbed his head with both hands and moaned. "What is this, a nightmare?!"
"Quatre Winner--"
"Who are you anyway?? How do you know my name??" Hysteria danced on the edge of his voice but stonily fought it back. Bringing up his legs onto the bed, he turned on his side to what he though was the wall and hugged himself tightly. After a moment, he felt that familiar tug on his arm but stubbornly knocked it away. He heard a tiny sound and felt another grab at his arm. Unlike the first time, Quatre could not pull away. One side of the bed depressed as the other boy sat down, leaning on Quatre's back just a little, almost as though he was waking a child from a nightmare.
"Quatre, I know this has to be incredibly hard for you, but you've got to stay strong through it." The sound of the boy's sounded so much like Trowa's that it maddened him and he clapped his hands over his ears. The other boy suddenly grabbed Quatre's wrists and flipped him around. "Quatre, you've got to listen to me! You are in grave danger! And the danger you continue to leave yourself in not only puts your life in danger but the rest of your friends in the path of destruction and disaster!"
"Path of destruction?" choked Quatre angrily. "Do you know what me and my 'friends' do? We're Gundam pilots. We destroy. That's what we do. We put ourselves and everyone else in the path of destruction every time we go out in our Gundams! And you know what? We'll do it again. And again, and again, and again--"
A third stiff slap sounded across Quatre's face and he began to choke back his hysteria. The
voice sounded disbelieving. "Your mind is clouded... this isn't you, Quatre. This isn't you..." The boy calmly placed a hand just above Quatre's forehead, and although he did not touch him, the action seemed to calm him. "In a place like this, no matter what your strengths are your weaknesses are what show. Don't feel ashamed... of your fear. Of your uneasiness. And at the same time, don't fear. I'm going to get you out of here and back to your friends so that all of you can stop this. You all are needed here." The boy withdrew his hand and himself from Quatre.
Quatre did not fight this time, but contemplated his words carefully. But even in contemplating, he didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything but what he knew to say. "You're not Trowa."
"If you must call me something," said the voice after a moment of silence, "call me Minoru. That is what I call myself." There was another tug at his arm and instead of resisting, he stood and waited warily.
"M-Minoru?"
"Yes?"
"Where are we going?"
"To get you out of here, Quatre. To set you free."
* * *
"Hey Wufei!" hissed Duo loudly. Wufei tensed and looked at him expectantly.
"What have you found? What is it?"
Duo frowned and grabbed his stomach. "I am so hungry!"
Wufei made a disgusted sound. He couldn't believe that yet again Heero had managed to stick the braided baka with him for a serious mission that had not yet even acquired the 'need to get to' part. He closed another useless archive and threw up his hands. "You are such an idiot! You've been sitting there for over an hour and you haven't found anything useful!"
"Oh contrare, mon ami," winked Duo. He e-mailed the info to Wufei and several hundred extra Yahoo windows popped up as well. [G: Don't we all know the feeling.]
"MAXWELL!"
"Look, I'm sorry, but do you see? I was a good little boy like you told me." He stuck out his tongue at the other boy and nodded toward the screen. "Take a look. It's unbelievable!"
Wufei stared at the screen. "Medicinal labs? What's this?" He became angry. "Are you sending me sp--"
"No, look at it! Look at what I've highlighted you tight-wad."
True to word, Duo had highlighted in blue the name Azuya Kurijiko. In every document.
"Take that, baby!"
"Which means..." Wufei squinted and pulled up each page. "He's been everywhere?"
The braided pilot grimaced. "She. Take a look, man." He scrolled down several of the pages and highlighted numbers. "Look at how far..."
"Azuya Kurijiko was involved in the white cell recount when the local lab exploded after an attack by renegade mobile suits," read Wufei quietly. The document when on and finally got to a highlighted date. "After Colony 190. We have records back that far?"
Duo's grin faded to a grimace. "It's not that far. Keep reading."
Vaguely disturbed by the normally cheery boy's change of tone, Wufei continued to read the dates. "A.C. 191. A.C. 190. A.C. 190. A.C. 90." He stopped and did a double take. "WHAT?! 90?! But that's--"
"One hundred years," finished Duo. "Azuya Kurijiko -- Akimiko -- has been running this business for one hundred years."
"But what does that mean?"
"That a one hundred and twenty year old lady is wobbling around and stealing Quatres all around the universe," said Duo sarcastically. "What do you mean 'What does this mean'?! How the heck am I supposed to know?!"
Wufei had already begun look for more, ignoring Duo's last comment by default; mostly at least. "One hundred and twenty... why would you say one hundred and twenty?"
Duo shrugged. "The guy I used to run errands for was maybe five or six years older than I was. I'm guessing."
Wufei managed to peek around the computer to Duo. "Errands."
Duo rolled his eyes. "And you say my mind is in the gutter..."
Grumble from the other end. "I didn't say you had one in the first place..."
"By errands I meant dealing out drugs to the kids who couldn't afford it, to put it bluntly." Duo laughed softly. "Medicine to the living, morphine to the dying, everything to the in between. I was the good guy then." He sunk softly into memory, visualizing the hard-hit atmosphere of his home L2 colony. "It was just like being in one of those Civil War camps from so long ago, except it hadn't even been four or five years since it ended. We feared disease more than we feared getting blown up by mobile suits or any other nightmare this freak of a universe could come up with." He frowned a little. "But Heero's giving off hints that the deal Quatre's in is worse than anything we've ever gone against. How's that supposed to happen?"
Wufei frowned as well. "I don't know. But what I do want to know is what Trowa and Heero have to do with this."
"Not to mention what we have to do with this. I can understand how I'm connected to Azuya somehow, but it was only for a brief time, and I can't even begin to figure out what you have to do with this."
Wufei's face darkened behind his computer screen. "I'm sure it's something."
Duo kicked back in his chair and propped his feet up on the computer table. "Yeah, I'm sure. Anyway, I've got nothing else to do here, so I'd better head to L2 and track down Azuya, even thought I remember him as a guy and Heero says he's a she who's missing, and yet still involved in the disappearance of miscellaneous dead children all over L2. Can't get any better than that." I can't believe it. I just can't. Kids died all the time on L2. They were just like me. If they were just like me, why am I not dead too? Why am I sitting here joking about something I'm scared to death of instead of on top of those graves like the kids in those pictures? "Weird, hunh?"
"Yes, weird," was the soft reply. Duo shrugged and stood up from the table, putting in the code to erase all previous searches and findings. He forced a grin. "Enjoy baby-sitting Trowa, Wu-babe. Sorry I can't stay and make formula for you, but y'know, it's my turn to meet the reaper."
Wufei cocked an eyebrow but didn't turn his face from the screen. "Why does that not surprise me?"
Duo shrugged and grinned, crossing his arms. "Because, I'm a kinky American Gundam pilot who has more good heart than the Care Bears?"
Wufei laughed suddenly. "Maxwell, you are a good waste of space!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're the one with the mind. You figure it out."
* * *
Are you lost?
I've been lost since I was born.
Oh, that's so sad. And you're still alive.
I shouldn't be. I should be on top of one of those graves. I don't deserve to be alive. I should have died when I self-destructed in Zero.
You haven't fought any harder.
I don't undertsand what you mean.
You haven't fought any harder to self-destruct yourself. Why is that?
I don't know. I guess I want to live.
What for?
I don't know.
Oh. Well... is it hard to live?
What?
Is it a hard fight to live? Is it hard to do it?
Yes.
Then why did you kill those orphans?
I didn't mean to do it. I screwed up.
Has anyone else screwed up and killed you?
No, but--.
No one asks to die.
I didn't know them. They didn't ask, I just--
They knew who you were. They saw your face before you killed them.
stop.
They saw past your Gundam's armor right into your face.
stop it.
They didn't see the Gundam Wing Zero, or the assassin Zero One.
I said stop it.
They saw Heero Yuy. Living, breathing, but totally dead Heero Yuy.
STOP IT!!! GET THE HECK OUT OF MY HEAD!!
I'll be here, Heero. I'll be here just in case you try to die again. Just call for me and I'll be there. I'm the only face you'll see before you die and you can count on it.
Heero started awake as the shuttle announced that it had landed on the L3 colony. As the others around him stood to exit the shuttle and beat the rush, the Zero pilot wiped the sweat from his face and wrapped his arms around him. Maybe I am going crazy...
* * *
It's cold out here. I can't think. Why... why did I leave? I forgot something there that I should have taken with me...
He was outside now, the memories of everything before that moment were a haze, just like the faces of those he had left behind. The tiny abandoned library marked the end of the city limits and the beginning of a fairly vast expanse of field, markedly one which had just witnessed another MS battle gone civilian. The little boy shivered inside but crouched no further under the staircase of the library. The chills he felt inside weren't from the wintry climate, but the emptiness... now that he had left familiar grounds, he felt simply empty. Homelessness was only a minor problem... having no clean clothes didn't even bother him that much either. His stomach growled and he looked down at it wonderingly. "What was that for?"
"I think you're hungry. Would you like something to eat little man?" The boy looked up and blinked at the war-torn man before him, of whom was goggling at him conspicuously. The boy already did not like the man and turned his head away from him.
The voice of the man grew angry. "Hey punk, I asked you a question. Answer me!" When the boy did not answer, the man grabbed his shirt collar and dragged him out of his place. "Fine then. I'll have a little something instead..." He pulled a dirty knife out of his pocket and pushed it through the boy's shirt.
The boy could only open his mouth in protest but no sound came out. He could only feel the knife sinking in through his flesh, puncturing the tight area between the thick bones of his rib cage. The older man grunted. "So now you know to respect your elders, eh boy?" He jerked the knife out, then lunged to stick it farther into the boy's chest.
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That's it for now! And I already have the second chappy in progress.. it'll be up in a day or two! Take care!
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"So what's the deal?" said Duo quietly, leaning against the now closed door. Heero didn't answer right away and Duo crossed his arms irritably. "Heero?"
"I don't know yet."
"Oh really?"
"No."
"Why not?!"
"Because it depends on Trowa." Heero looked around his room and slowly moved over to his bed. Sitting on his heels, he bent over and rummaged under the bed, pointedly silent. Duo sighed and sat at Heero's desk, messing with the chipped wood that most of the Wing pilot's accessories sat on. After a moment his gazed again landed on Heero.
"What are you doing?"
"Hn," offered Heero shortly, digging further under his bed until he produced a large tan box. His gaze shifted to Duo just a moment before he began to dig in the papers inside the box. It was apparent that he was in no hurry, and Duo opened his mouth for a question when he finally said, "Who did he say took Quatre?"
The braided pilot bit his lip and rolled his eyes. "I think... Akimiko?" He nodded. "Yeah, that was it. Akimiko... and Candy Land? What the heck kind of name is that?"
"Do you ever remember hearing anything about this?" asked Heero slowly. Duo shook his head and narrowed his eyes..
"Hunh uh. Never. Heero--"
"I'll bet you 10 to 1 you have."
"Oh really," replied Duo disbelievingly. "And what if I haven't?"
With a moderately quiet sound of satisfaction, Heero withdrew a huge stack of papers, and setting himself to his feet, immediately deposited the papers into Duo's lap. "Then you haven't been living on L2 colony."
The braided pilot quickly scanned over the compressed lines of information of the first page. His eyebrows creased in question. "This is a report on--"
"Azuya Kurijiko," murmured Heero, already concentrating on the information popping up on the computer screen, of which he had booted up with unmatched speed [G: I know that sounds corny but I wanted to mention that it isn't like my computer, no da!]. "Where have you heard of her before?"
"Azuya..." His eyebrows creased in concentration. "A long time ago there was this guy who helped me when I was sick... in return I helped run a few 'errands' for him." Duo produced a leery look and shifted uncomfortably. "What I mean is that he gave out cures to kids who couldn't pay for them and his company or whatever tracked him down and threw him in jail for it [1]... but that was a very long time ago and I can't even remember exactly what he looked like or why the heck he was risking helping a bunch of no-name kids like -- no, wait. I thought that Azuya was a man?"
"A woman."
Duo's jaw dropped. "That's not freakin possible. I saw-- I saw HIM myself!"
"Yes, I saw him too." Heero shifted the laptop screen toward him. "But... take a look for yourself."
Sure enough, the flickering picture on the screen of the laptop gave proof of a pretty, young-looking female with pitch black hair just below her ears and bright blue eyes. Her features where slightly childish, but nothing betraying the male that Duo had said he had seen. Under the picture was a brief description of the woman as a medical doctor -- independent surgeon.
"Do you remember her now?"
"No."
"Think, Duo!"
"I'm trying!" yelled the frustrated boy. "How am I supposed to remember something like that?!?"
"You can't have forgotten that scandal that went down with her," said Heero calmly. He tapped three keys and another file came up. It was a missing persons report. Several missing persons reports. "Do you remember now?"
Duo finally snapped his fingers. "I remember that! That was when kids kept disappearing all over L2. I'm telling you that scared the sh--" He stopped short and a part of him froze. "But that was all OVER L2. There's no way that could have been... her if that's what you're talking about. Are you trying to say that this woman Azuya was stealing punks off the streets? And what does that have to do with Trowa and Quatre? Azuya became a missing person himself and nobody ever found those kids. Heero, you wouldn't believe the mess that was going on then. That was some of the scariest times that we ever had to go through. Kids just--disappeared."
"Not exactly." Click click. "Kids were found."
"Of course kids were found," replied Duo darkly. "Dead. Popping up everywhere. There's no telling what happened to them. It could have been anything between disease and war."
"Not these kids."
"And what's so different about THESE kids," snapped the disturbed pilot. The memories had hit and note and he had begun to feel this odd sensation at the base of his neck, and instead of crawling up his neck like fear, it crawled down toward the base of his spine, making him shiver involuntarily. He knew... he knew the answer... but he just couldn't... "Not these kids. Prove it."
Heero twisted the computer screen around toward Duo and stood. "That's your proof."
Hundreds of different faces appeared on the screen, some of them close ups, others full body. The difference was, each looked like children between the ages of 6 and 7... and each child was nothing but dried up black skin and bones. Literally.
Duo didn't have the energy to twitch. "Proof." Heero nodded slightly and he pressed his lips together tightly. "So what's your point?"
"All of these children didn't appear all at the same time. They appeared fairly randomly, and there are even a few cases of it today."
"Like all deaths, Heero."
"They appeared in graveyards."
"What?" Duo spasmed slightly, but quickly got a hold of himself under Heero's calm gaze. He looked away. "What do you mean 'appeared in graveyards'?" When Heero merely returned to typing on the computer, he swatted the computer screen away and forced Heero to look at him. "Heero!"
"Someone put these children on top of fresh graves," replied Heero calmly. "Not in the graves, not under the dirt, but on top. Deliberately. And that's what's going to happen to Quatre if we don't get him. Now."
Duo dropped his arms and closed his eyes, pressing his fingers to his brow. "I don't believe this. I just... don't..."
Heero remained still for a moment, as if thinking, then shut off his computer and walked toward the door, stopping briefly once he got there. "Duo, if you don't believe me, then I guess you will have to see for yourself."
"Dang straight."
"And on the way, I need for you to do something for me."
Duo opened one eye cautiously and suspiciously looked at his partner. "Oh? And what is that?"
"I need for you to enlist as a doctor at L2."
The braided pilot choked and nearly fell out of his chair. "Say WHAT?"
"You heard what I said."
"Well--what for, Heero?"
"So you can see for yourself." And he walked away.
* * *
"Wufei."
Heero waited patiently for Wufei to turn away from his book before continuing. "I need you to do something for me. I'm going to L1 to look for some background information, but I don't trust Trowa to say here and sit still until I get back."
"You want me to baby-sit him," stated Wufei, closing his book quietly.
"No," responded Heero neutrally. "I want you to do something to make him stay put." He turned to leave.
"Do you realize that you are taking a completely labyrinthine way of getting this done?"
Heero waited. Wufei looked at him with an annoyed look on his face. "If you're trying to set up an impenetrable defense, I suggest you quit wasting your time."
"And if you think Quatre is all there is to this then I suggest you think again."
"I know Quatre isn't it."
Heero turned to look at Wufei. "You know?"
The stiff pilot crossed his arms and looked pointedly at Heero. "I know that the enemy tried to get back at Trowa through Quatre. I know that the enemy has a hold of Quatre. They have the ways and means to strike."
A half-sincere laugh sounded from Heero at the expected response. "You want to cover your back."
"The enemy knows where we are. I don't like that either."
The dark-haired Zero pilot nodded slightly. "Understood. But in order for you to know what exactly you're getting into, I suggest you go track down some information at the library archives." Heero walked to the door and pause. "Then you might see why we will need all of the defense we can possibly get." He disappeared around the doorway.
Wufei sighed and put his book on his nightstand. "Very well."
"And take Duo."
Wufei chafed. "Take Maxwell? Are you out of your mind?" No response. "Heero?" Silence. "HEERO!"
After a moment of tangible disgust, the Chinese pilot released the book he had loosely held in his hand, realizing the utter uselessness of attempting to read it at that time. He waited until he heard the quieting footsteps of the Zero pilot before he walked softly down the hallway to Trowa's room, which had been wide open since the previous night. He leaned against the door frame and peeked cautiously into the room.
Trowa was laying on his bed in his pajamas this time on his left side facing the window, left arm propping his head up and right arm bent to the curve above his waist. It appeared as if he was reading something, but, after a moment's study of his steady breathing, Wufei realized that Trowa was sleeping. Suddenly, Wufei himself yawned and he noticed that the air of the other boy's room was somewhat warm and still. He shrugged tiredly before retreating to his own room to doze for a moment.
"I wonder what Trowa is dreaming about..."
* * *
Quatre was being prodded again. He sighed. He was sick and tired of being prodded. Not only that, but he was tired of being knocked out too. Quatre was prodded in the side again and he winced and stretched. "I'm awake, I'm awake, just let me open my eyes..."
A low, cool voice whispered hurriedly. "Get up, Quatre Winner. We have to go now." The poking and prodding continued until Quatre became fairly irritated and opened his eyes.
"Alright! I'm up! I'm up! Just--" He hesitated, seeing the darkness around him, then again realized where he was and sighed again. "I'm still here..."
"Get up!"
"I'm up! What do you want?"
"To get you back to your friends."
Quatre yawned suddenly and blinked into the darkness. "Hunh? What?"
A tug at the arm. "This room has sleep-inducing gases being pumped into it. We've got to get out of here. Trust me-- you'll feel a lot more clear-headed once you're away from the vapors."
"Vapors...?" managed he as he felt someone take hold of his arm and lead him through the darkness until a door was opened. Quatre immediately recognized the symbols and pulled back reflexively. "Oh noooo, we can't got out there. Akimiko doesn't like dirty boys..." He tried to yank away from his captor. Instead, his head snapped back as a brisk smack to the face stopped him from going any further. He stood in stunned silence as the voice leaned into his ear.
"Quatre, if I don't get you out of here, you're going to experience pain like you've never felt before. It's going to cut so deep that even if you do make it out your soul will be bound with the burden of it forever. Do you understand?" The addressed nodded vaguely and the captor resumed it's quiet trek into the hallway, motioning for Quatre to be quiet.
The hallway continued with it's familiar pattern of symbols and marbles, and finally, after several periods of halting, crouching, and waiting, the two came to a door similar to Quatre's. The stranger forced Quatre to enter the room first, then followed closely behind until they were both inside and he closed the door. A small click and all was silent.
"You can speak now."
Honestly, after forcing himself to keep from questioning the stranger as often as he felt the urge, now that he had the chance, he couldn't think of anything to say. After a moment the voice became a little confused, almost desperate. "Quatre? Can you speak?" Quatre didn't say anything. "Say your name, Quatre. Say Quatre Winner." He groaned, then slowly repeated 'Quatre Winner.' "Good."
Quatre felt awkward in the darkness. His eyes hadn't even adjusted yet and he felt vulnerable. "I-I'm sorry. I just... couldn't think of anything to say."
"That's not your fault, Quatre. That's their fault."
The blond pilot frowned at the emphasis of their. "Their? Who is there Ke--"
Another hard smack to the face prevented him from finishing. The voice became hard. "Never say their names. They'll be on you faster than you can blink."
"What's happening?" said Quatre finally, after contemplating his words a moment. He rubbed his face and winced. That hurt too now. Another abused appendage to add to the list.
"Nothing now," responded the voice after a pause, then, thoughtfully, "but a lot will happen if it turns out you stay. Which is why I have to get you out of here."
Suddenly, Quatre felt a grab at his stomach, instantly causing him to cry out in pain. A small disappointed sound came from the voice's mouth and a supporting arm came under Quatre's arm. "I apologize. I just had to make sure."
"Make sure? That I had been beat up?" winced the boy sharply. He took a deep breath and allowed the support to take the full weight and lead him to a sitting place.
"I need to fix your wounds before we go any further, and I just want to use as little light as I can so that we don't attract any attention." The support moved away from Quatre and after a few moments of shuffling, returned to sit beside him. He watched as sparks hit together three times, then caught completely. The light didn't illuminate much, but it did manage to give cast a glow on Quatre's stomach injury, and just as well a give a significant view of the male face of the stranger that had led him out of his room. Quatre inhaled sharply, eyes wide.
"Trowa!"
* * *
A boy walked the streets of L1 with his head down and his dark blue baseball cap low over his eyes. He walked with no apparent direction, like one without a place to be, someone to be with, or goal having been searched for. But eventually, his steady gait turned into one of the barred gates of the concealed, abandoned cemeteries. A children's cemetery.
He jumped over gate easily and made his way past the barren graves and even some of the impossibly tiny coffins that had long since been forgotten and left forever in silence. The moment he made it to the back right-hand corner of the cemetery he kneeled and took off his cap.
"Once I said I would defeat OZ for the sake of the colonies. The colonies abandoned us, and we were left with no one to fight for but ourselves." But you... you didn't die for anything. No one hated you, tracked you down and tried to kill you just because you could pilot one of the worst machines ever created for war. You died because you were a child. You died because you were innocent. You died because you had no place to go, no food to eat, and no mom or dad to protect you from all of the evils of this universe. We're a lot alike. You could have easily been me, and I could be you. Sometimes I wish I was you... I wouldn't have to stand aside while I watch others like you die even while the Earth and the colonies have declared peace and there isn't even any war or a reason why they have to die.
Heero took a deep breath and slipped his cap back on. "I am sorry, truly sorry that I couldn't save you." He stood. "Maybe soon we can have peace again, peace for the men and women of the colonies and Earth as well as the children who may otherwise never be able to become adults because the adults left them to die." He nearly touched the body above the grave, but didn't. Instead, he took off his jacket and covered as much of the shrivelled body of the child as he could and left before the colony woke to another day.
* * *
He dreamt. This time he was facing his colony instead of running away from it. His hands were sweating on Shenlong's controls and he felt as if he was suffocating. He knew what was going to happen.
He forced his head down and screamed aloud. "Why do I have to see the die?! Why am I the only one who has to bear witness to the death of my own colony?!"
"Because you're the one who's supposed to see why mankind must suffer."
"Hunh? Who said that?!" he threw himself back and looked frantically around him until he spotted something floating just outside of his front view-screen. Facing away from him was a small, girl shaped figure, long black hair flowing behind her. He gasped. "You don't have any air! You'll die!"
Slowly, the body revolved until it faced him, and finally transformed into another face and body... the six or seven year old version of himself.
"Now you know how I feel."
Wufei bolted up from his slumped position and absently wiped his sweat-drenched face. He looked up at the clock, sporting an evening 7 o'clock and sighed heavily. "I have no time for this... nightmares are a weakness I cannot afford..." But he narrowed his eyes and the last images of the dream lingered in his vision. "Nightmares..."
* * *
"You're good," said a cute, 12 year old boy, dark black and blue- shaded hair coming a little under nose-length. His dark blue eyes sparkled with admiration. "I'm not at all like you, especially now."
"Neither am I," echoed his deeply complected companion somewhat shyly. This one had a beautiful smile, but it was somewhat shaded with the emotions inside of him. "I wish I was you, though. Maybe... maybe you'll come back and see us sometime." Immediately he winced and looked apologetically at his counterpart.
"Drexel, you know that's kinda bad to say in front of him." But he nodded anyway and accepted the apology. "You're probably not coming back here, but we'll miss you a lot anyway."
The silent boy was not afraid but somewhat disturbed by the fact that he was leaving the boys that had been beside him as far back as he could remember. "Hikaeru... Drexel..."
"Don't worry about us!" said Drexel with another winning smile. "We know that you can't help it. You're just better than us, that's all. You deserve it."
"I don't deserve anything."
"Don't talk like that. It would be better if you'd go."
"But... but I don't want to go. It hurts."
"Of course it hurts, but it's the only way you can go, though."
"Maybe I shouldn't go. Maybe it was better that I stayed here. Maybe it's better in here."
"DON'T--" began Drexel, but something inside of him began to shake and he could only manage a sad smile. "Just go. Don't you remember what we did for you? We took out the bad stuff."
A tear went down the unnamed boy's cheek. "It... I think something's still inside of me though. I don't know how to get it out. It's telling me to stay."
"There's the door though, and it would be hard to sneak you back to your room. You'd better go." Hikaeru winked and rubbed the little boy's head affectionately, slowly taking his hand away. "And as long as you stay away from here, the bad stuff won't ever get you again, okay? You're a lucky little boy. Don't you ever say that you're too young, and that you want to be older. If you were any older they would have taken you away." Hikaeru's expression dimmed a little but he hid it. "A very, very lucky little boy."
"But I don't want to leave. I don't see a reason to leave you at all." obstinate
For a moment, both Drexel and Hikaeru panicked. They had come so far, so far to save the youngster, and now that they were at the door, he didn't seem so sure anymore... they had to get him away without frightening him into a state of flight... it was the wrong way to go out alone, and the perfect way to attract the worst attention he could possibly get...
True to his unique nature, Drexel bent down and took the shoulders of the little boy, voice solemn. "Do you remember some of those seventh nights, Star?"
Star blinked and his demeanor stiffened a little. "Yes."
The seventh nights... the nights of living nightmares. Star would be in his bed and he would hear horrible noises that frightened him so badly that he could not sleep. Images, wave over wave of vivid darkness parades, parades of death, endless dirges, sacrifices, children screaming... The sounds of crying, heart-wrenching, soul shattering... sometimes he would even imagine that it was Hikaeru or Drexel screaming, it sounded so familiar... but later that night, in the darkness, both of them would slip into his bed and reassure him that nothing had happened... that he was only dozing and that if he would just close his eyes he would be ok. They would tell him stories until he fell asleep.
"Those seventh nights are the ones that we want you to stay away from."
"You're almost six years old now, such a smart, smart boy," reassured Hikaeru, "and those seventh nights aren't very good for smart boys like you. Soon, if you go away, then the seventh nights will go away. No one will ever bother you with bad thoughts like that. Kekei might come after you and force you to have those seventh nights for real."
Kekei had been a nightmare in herself for Star. He had seen her only once or twice, whenever he had seen her come to take the obedient older boys away (for he was the youngest, and until he was old enough he could only obediently stay in his room), but her silky demeanor always frightened him. He never dared say a word in her presence for fear of... of... what was he afraid of? He didn't know, but she had always scared him stiff before... before Hikaeru and Drexel... before they... took the bad stuff away... what had they taken? He shook himself from his thoughts and blinked almost disbelievingly. "For real?"
"Yes, real. But you're okay right now, but you have to leave. Do you understand?"
"If you stay here, we might never see you again, but leaving you like this is much better. We have a chance to say goodbye to you, and you'll end up where you're needed most. We want you to live to see the stuff we'll never get to see. Go ahead, Star. Do everything for us that we can't, ok buddy? Like finding that space heart."
The bewildered boy named Star blinked at him in question again. "A space heart? What's that?"
Hikaeru laughed quietly. "I can't believe how many times I've had to tell you, little Star." He bent down and looked in the boy's intelligent, deep green eyes. "You remember that story I told you about? That story about the boy who died saving the world?"
It had been an odd, disconnected bedtime story Star had been told. A small, courageous boy had been torn away from his family when he was just a child, and when he finally found them again, they were about to have the life sucked out of them by an evil demon. He threw himself into the place of his family and died for their sake. The family lived, but the boy died. But because he had been such a courageous boy, his heart and soul escaped his body forever to cast hope and courage into the lives of those that had been just like him, courage to keep their families free and their friends safe from harm, like a true child hero. Star couldn't understand why that would be such a good thing, for a soul and a heart to escape the body and put light on people, but he decided that they had told him the story just to keep him from having nightmares when he went to sleep. But even when they didn't tell him any stories before he went to sleep he didn't have nightmares. The older boys always had nightmares. There was just so much he couldn't understand. He thought a moment and nodded slowly. "A space heart. Find a space heart."
Drexel drew the boy to himself and gave him an affectionate hug. "You take care little Star. And earn a name for yourself, ok? You won't need to be Star ever again. Just be yourself. Find that space heart so you can find a name for yourself..."
The little boy nodded. "Okay." He turned to the door and ran up to it. His tiny hands grabbed the handle, and the older boys bit their lips in anxiousness to see whether or not he would be burned. He opened it without any more difficulty than a four year old opening a heavy door and slipped through it, unheeded, finally free. "Bai Hikaeru! Bai Drexel!"
"Bye bye, Star. Remember... do everything we can't. Find a space heart for yourself... and for us too..."
* * *
Quatre's mouth dropped open to say something, but the motion was futile. He couldn't think of anything to say. Whether that was because of the vapors from his room or the fact that he couldn't believe Trowa was there, he couldn't tell.
"Trowa..." He gave a disbelieving half-laugh and half smile. "I... I can't believe it! You're here! Did you come by yourself? Where are the guys? What happened?"
The other boy gave him a confused look. "Trowa? Who are you talking about?"
"I can't believe that I didn't recognize your voice! But when I listen closer..." Quatre paused, giving him a perplexed look. "What do you mean, 'Who are you talking about?' I'm talking about you! What's wrong with you?"
"I was about to ask you the same question. Who is this Trowa? Was he one of your friends?"
"Trowa, this is a bad place for your sense of humor to kick in! Tell me how--"
"I'm not kidding. And before you say it again, I am not Trowa."
The blond boy squinted at the other boy's poorly lit face. Regardless of the light, he was still positive it was Trowa -- semi-sure, anyway. Same lean features, same brown hair, even if a little shorter... same deep green eyes... it was unmistakably Trowa. At least it had to be... unless... Quatre frowned. This had to be Trowa. He even sounded like him. After all of these years, how could he make a mistake?
The Trowa look-alike shook his head and pulled up Quatre's shirt to inspect his stomach. "Lay down, Quatre. You're hurt badly and I need to know exactly what they used on you." He paused. "But seeing you, I don't think they would hurt you enough for it to be irreparable."
Quatre lay down slowly, eyes still anchored onto the green-eyed boy's face. The other boy held the light in one hand and quickly assessed the damage, then gently prodded the scarring spots on Quatre's stomach. When Quatre winced, the other boy nodded and pulled the shirt back down, turning his gaze back to the blond pilot's face. "We'll need to get to the medical facility. Your wound is already scarring and if we don't get some antibiotics on it it might not heal correctly. It's not like her to mess up this badly unless you offended her in some way. She used a butterfly on you this time."
"A butterfly." The boy's face disappeared from the light and it was dark just as suddenly as it had been before.
The Sandrock pilot groaned suddenly and rolled over on his stomach. My head hurts. None of this is making any kind of sense. Getting stabbed with a butterfly knife... What happened to Trowa? I thought he was here... Where are the rest of the guys? Quatre grabbed his head with both hands and moaned. "What is this, a nightmare?!"
"Quatre Winner--"
"Who are you anyway?? How do you know my name??" Hysteria danced on the edge of his voice but stonily fought it back. Bringing up his legs onto the bed, he turned on his side to what he though was the wall and hugged himself tightly. After a moment, he felt that familiar tug on his arm but stubbornly knocked it away. He heard a tiny sound and felt another grab at his arm. Unlike the first time, Quatre could not pull away. One side of the bed depressed as the other boy sat down, leaning on Quatre's back just a little, almost as though he was waking a child from a nightmare.
"Quatre, I know this has to be incredibly hard for you, but you've got to stay strong through it." The sound of the boy's sounded so much like Trowa's that it maddened him and he clapped his hands over his ears. The other boy suddenly grabbed Quatre's wrists and flipped him around. "Quatre, you've got to listen to me! You are in grave danger! And the danger you continue to leave yourself in not only puts your life in danger but the rest of your friends in the path of destruction and disaster!"
"Path of destruction?" choked Quatre angrily. "Do you know what me and my 'friends' do? We're Gundam pilots. We destroy. That's what we do. We put ourselves and everyone else in the path of destruction every time we go out in our Gundams! And you know what? We'll do it again. And again, and again, and again--"
A third stiff slap sounded across Quatre's face and he began to choke back his hysteria. The
voice sounded disbelieving. "Your mind is clouded... this isn't you, Quatre. This isn't you..." The boy calmly placed a hand just above Quatre's forehead, and although he did not touch him, the action seemed to calm him. "In a place like this, no matter what your strengths are your weaknesses are what show. Don't feel ashamed... of your fear. Of your uneasiness. And at the same time, don't fear. I'm going to get you out of here and back to your friends so that all of you can stop this. You all are needed here." The boy withdrew his hand and himself from Quatre.
Quatre did not fight this time, but contemplated his words carefully. But even in contemplating, he didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything but what he knew to say. "You're not Trowa."
"If you must call me something," said the voice after a moment of silence, "call me Minoru. That is what I call myself." There was another tug at his arm and instead of resisting, he stood and waited warily.
"M-Minoru?"
"Yes?"
"Where are we going?"
"To get you out of here, Quatre. To set you free."
* * *
"Hey Wufei!" hissed Duo loudly. Wufei tensed and looked at him expectantly.
"What have you found? What is it?"
Duo frowned and grabbed his stomach. "I am so hungry!"
Wufei made a disgusted sound. He couldn't believe that yet again Heero had managed to stick the braided baka with him for a serious mission that had not yet even acquired the 'need to get to' part. He closed another useless archive and threw up his hands. "You are such an idiot! You've been sitting there for over an hour and you haven't found anything useful!"
"Oh contrare, mon ami," winked Duo. He e-mailed the info to Wufei and several hundred extra Yahoo windows popped up as well. [G: Don't we all know the feeling.]
"MAXWELL!"
"Look, I'm sorry, but do you see? I was a good little boy like you told me." He stuck out his tongue at the other boy and nodded toward the screen. "Take a look. It's unbelievable!"
Wufei stared at the screen. "Medicinal labs? What's this?" He became angry. "Are you sending me sp--"
"No, look at it! Look at what I've highlighted you tight-wad."
True to word, Duo had highlighted in blue the name Azuya Kurijiko. In every document.
"Take that, baby!"
"Which means..." Wufei squinted and pulled up each page. "He's been everywhere?"
The braided pilot grimaced. "She. Take a look, man." He scrolled down several of the pages and highlighted numbers. "Look at how far..."
"Azuya Kurijiko was involved in the white cell recount when the local lab exploded after an attack by renegade mobile suits," read Wufei quietly. The document when on and finally got to a highlighted date. "After Colony 190. We have records back that far?"
Duo's grin faded to a grimace. "It's not that far. Keep reading."
Vaguely disturbed by the normally cheery boy's change of tone, Wufei continued to read the dates. "A.C. 191. A.C. 190. A.C. 190. A.C. 90." He stopped and did a double take. "WHAT?! 90?! But that's--"
"One hundred years," finished Duo. "Azuya Kurijiko -- Akimiko -- has been running this business for one hundred years."
"But what does that mean?"
"That a one hundred and twenty year old lady is wobbling around and stealing Quatres all around the universe," said Duo sarcastically. "What do you mean 'What does this mean'?! How the heck am I supposed to know?!"
Wufei had already begun look for more, ignoring Duo's last comment by default; mostly at least. "One hundred and twenty... why would you say one hundred and twenty?"
Duo shrugged. "The guy I used to run errands for was maybe five or six years older than I was. I'm guessing."
Wufei managed to peek around the computer to Duo. "Errands."
Duo rolled his eyes. "And you say my mind is in the gutter..."
Grumble from the other end. "I didn't say you had one in the first place..."
"By errands I meant dealing out drugs to the kids who couldn't afford it, to put it bluntly." Duo laughed softly. "Medicine to the living, morphine to the dying, everything to the in between. I was the good guy then." He sunk softly into memory, visualizing the hard-hit atmosphere of his home L2 colony. "It was just like being in one of those Civil War camps from so long ago, except it hadn't even been four or five years since it ended. We feared disease more than we feared getting blown up by mobile suits or any other nightmare this freak of a universe could come up with." He frowned a little. "But Heero's giving off hints that the deal Quatre's in is worse than anything we've ever gone against. How's that supposed to happen?"
Wufei frowned as well. "I don't know. But what I do want to know is what Trowa and Heero have to do with this."
"Not to mention what we have to do with this. I can understand how I'm connected to Azuya somehow, but it was only for a brief time, and I can't even begin to figure out what you have to do with this."
Wufei's face darkened behind his computer screen. "I'm sure it's something."
Duo kicked back in his chair and propped his feet up on the computer table. "Yeah, I'm sure. Anyway, I've got nothing else to do here, so I'd better head to L2 and track down Azuya, even thought I remember him as a guy and Heero says he's a she who's missing, and yet still involved in the disappearance of miscellaneous dead children all over L2. Can't get any better than that." I can't believe it. I just can't. Kids died all the time on L2. They were just like me. If they were just like me, why am I not dead too? Why am I sitting here joking about something I'm scared to death of instead of on top of those graves like the kids in those pictures? "Weird, hunh?"
"Yes, weird," was the soft reply. Duo shrugged and stood up from the table, putting in the code to erase all previous searches and findings. He forced a grin. "Enjoy baby-sitting Trowa, Wu-babe. Sorry I can't stay and make formula for you, but y'know, it's my turn to meet the reaper."
Wufei cocked an eyebrow but didn't turn his face from the screen. "Why does that not surprise me?"
Duo shrugged and grinned, crossing his arms. "Because, I'm a kinky American Gundam pilot who has more good heart than the Care Bears?"
Wufei laughed suddenly. "Maxwell, you are a good waste of space!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're the one with the mind. You figure it out."
* * *
Are you lost?
I've been lost since I was born.
Oh, that's so sad. And you're still alive.
I shouldn't be. I should be on top of one of those graves. I don't deserve to be alive. I should have died when I self-destructed in Zero.
You haven't fought any harder.
I don't undertsand what you mean.
You haven't fought any harder to self-destruct yourself. Why is that?
I don't know. I guess I want to live.
What for?
I don't know.
Oh. Well... is it hard to live?
What?
Is it a hard fight to live? Is it hard to do it?
Yes.
Then why did you kill those orphans?
I didn't mean to do it. I screwed up.
Has anyone else screwed up and killed you?
No, but--.
No one asks to die.
I didn't know them. They didn't ask, I just--
They knew who you were. They saw your face before you killed them.
stop.
They saw past your Gundam's armor right into your face.
stop it.
They didn't see the Gundam Wing Zero, or the assassin Zero One.
I said stop it.
They saw Heero Yuy. Living, breathing, but totally dead Heero Yuy.
STOP IT!!! GET THE HECK OUT OF MY HEAD!!
I'll be here, Heero. I'll be here just in case you try to die again. Just call for me and I'll be there. I'm the only face you'll see before you die and you can count on it.
Heero started awake as the shuttle announced that it had landed on the L3 colony. As the others around him stood to exit the shuttle and beat the rush, the Zero pilot wiped the sweat from his face and wrapped his arms around him. Maybe I am going crazy...
* * *
It's cold out here. I can't think. Why... why did I leave? I forgot something there that I should have taken with me...
He was outside now, the memories of everything before that moment were a haze, just like the faces of those he had left behind. The tiny abandoned library marked the end of the city limits and the beginning of a fairly vast expanse of field, markedly one which had just witnessed another MS battle gone civilian. The little boy shivered inside but crouched no further under the staircase of the library. The chills he felt inside weren't from the wintry climate, but the emptiness... now that he had left familiar grounds, he felt simply empty. Homelessness was only a minor problem... having no clean clothes didn't even bother him that much either. His stomach growled and he looked down at it wonderingly. "What was that for?"
"I think you're hungry. Would you like something to eat little man?" The boy looked up and blinked at the war-torn man before him, of whom was goggling at him conspicuously. The boy already did not like the man and turned his head away from him.
The voice of the man grew angry. "Hey punk, I asked you a question. Answer me!" When the boy did not answer, the man grabbed his shirt collar and dragged him out of his place. "Fine then. I'll have a little something instead..." He pulled a dirty knife out of his pocket and pushed it through the boy's shirt.
The boy could only open his mouth in protest but no sound came out. He could only feel the knife sinking in through his flesh, puncturing the tight area between the thick bones of his rib cage. The older man grunted. "So now you know to respect your elders, eh boy?" He jerked the knife out, then lunged to stick it farther into the boy's chest.
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That's it for now! And I already have the second chappy in progress.. it'll be up in a day or two! Take care!