Heero's head popped up as he heard multiple footsteps approaching his cell. He was chained up to a beam overhead, with his flight suit unzipped and yanked down to his waist and his shoes off. Why did OZ guys always like removing shoes? he wondered.
Sighing, Heero flexed his arms, raising himself off of the floor. The cuffs around his wrists cut into his flesh uncomfortably, but the pain wasn't unbearable. Heavy chains went from the cuffs to the large beam overhead, letting Heero dangle with his knees barely off of the floor. He pulled himself to his feet and propped his hands on his head. The chain was too short for any other comfortable position. He had a feeling they hadn't taken his comfort into consideration when securing him in this arrangement.
Heero wondered what happened to Jinx. Had they put her in a cell similar to this one?
The footsteps were louder and closer. Many people were walking down the hallway toward his cell. Easily at least twenty soldiers, he judged. Was Jinx awaiting her own set of footsteps?
He took a deep breath, waiting for what happened next.
The scruffy looking officer who had him taken into custody walked in, who had been the same man to send Jinx to torture, Heero noticed. A few more lower-ranking officers filed into the room, one of them holding a short whip. He shivered a little at seeing that. Then he laid eyes upon the person he least expected. Jinx.
She walked in, silent and part of the faultless formation of entering soldiers. Jinx did not look at the prisoner as she entered the room. She kept her gaze somewhere else, acting as the true soldier at perfect attention.
Jinx, thank goodness you're here, Heero said to her, recovering from the surprise of her presence. I would hate to go through this alone.
She didn't answer.
Jinx?
She didn't answer.
Heero began to panic. The silence of her mouth was understandable, given the circumstances. But the silence of her mind? Heero choked on his own grief as he waited to hear her inside of his head.
The scruffy looking officer was babbling on about something. He was probably telling Heero exactly what he was holding him for and what he was going to do about it. But Heero didn't care. He just kept looking at her unwavering face, willing her to show him some warmth.
She never answered.
"And now, Yuy," the officer said, jerking Heero's attention. "We shall administer your punishment." The man held his hand out, and the younger officer with the short whip stepped forward, placing the weapon into the outstretched hand.
"Plague!" the man called, making Heero jump at the ferocity.
Heero watched as the woman he loved stepped forward out of the ranks, standing beside her commanding officer. He watched as she never looked him in the eyes. His heart sank into the pit of his stomach.
She took the offered whip and moved around behind Heero. He closed his eyes shut, knowing what would happen next.
Nothing in his entire life prepared him for the stinging slash that ripped across his back. Nothing had prepared him for tolerating the most excruciating pain, pain which came from the hands of a girl who was supposed to love him. Nothing had prepared him for the realization that Jinx was a traitor.
Not even the burn of the whip could mask that truth. Jinx had betrayed him.
A sharp intake of breath hissed across his teeth as Heero forced himself to keep from yelling out in pain. He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of hearing him scream.
The officer counted as Jinx laid lashes over Heero's back, neck and sides. 15. The pain was beginning to become unbearable as new slashes on his skin ripped over older slashes, making the burning sensation increase tenfold. 19. He gritted his teeth. 22. Jinx, he tried calling out to her again. 23. He wanted to hear her say that she has to do it to keep up her façade as an OZ soldier. 25. He wanted to hear her say that she was sorry for being forced to hurt him. 27. He wanted to hear anything. 29. The silence was deafening, driving him insane as she pummeled his back with the whip again and again. 32. Heero's rock-hard shell was cracking under her hands. 36. His eyes were warm and stung as he tried to keep back the tears that threatened to fall. 39. Unable to keep control, his arms began to shake at having to support his weight. His knees had given out a long time ago. 40. It stopped. Heero's body relaxed, dangling from the cuffs and chains around his wrists that held him up. He could feel the warm wetness of his own blood as it oozed down his back and legs, dripping on his feet and the floor.
All of the soldiers walked out, leaving Heero alone in his cell. His body was spent, and he fought to keep conscious.
For perhaps the first time in his life, Heero Yuy cried.
* * * * * * * *
"Zero…Zero…Zero…" the dejected voice continued.
Heero's mind slowly registered what was happening. The earpiece. Duo was talking to him. His body ached, and he tried not to move so as not to aggravate his wounds further. His wounds. That's right, he reminded himself. Jinx's hands delivered the evil. She was the one who hurt him. She was the traitor.
"Zero, please," Duo pleaded.
"I'm here," Heero's cracked voice answered. He could hardly speak.
A slight pause. "Oh thank God," Duo's voice sounded relieved as he spoke. "I've been trying to hail you for the past thirty minutes." There was silence for a moment. "What happened?" Duo asked tentatively.
Heero growled unconsciously. "You know what happened."
"Please tell me it wasn't true. Please tell me that what we thought we heard wasn't what really happened, Heero." Duo sounded as if he were about to cry. He was so distraught that he forgot to use Heero's codename.
"It's true," Heero said with little emotion in his voice. "Hope has died, and the Plague killed her." He shifted uncomfortably again, blinking back more tears of pain.
"Oh God, Heero," Duo's voice said again. "I'm so sorry."
* * * * * * * *
"What do we do now?" Quatre asked, his voice shaking.
"What else can we do?" Trowa's stoic voice answered him.
"We can't just carry on with the plan," Quatre contested.
Duo rammed his fist into the copilot's chair as he got up from the pilot's station. "Fucking bitch!" he screamed to no one in particular. Within seconds, a random piece of machinery was flung across the room and into the back wall. Wufei had to duck in order to avoid the object's first attempt at flight.
"Settle down, Duo," Trowa said, his voice unwavering. At a time like this, Heero was normally the one to keep everyone under control and remind them of the mission. With Heero gone, Trowa would have to step up and take his place. Only temporarily, he reminded himself. Heero would be safe and back here in no time. Trowa tried to believe it. His faith was rapidly depleting.
"We can't just carry on the mission as planned," Wufei offered, also trying to be the strength as things fell apart around the pilots. "Things have become infinitely more complicated with Heero taken prisoner. Duo, do we know where he is?"
Duo was watching the blood trickle from his knuckles after having recently collided his hand with the copilot's steel chair again. "Huh?" he asked, jarred from this reverie.
"Where is Heero?"
Duo sat down at the pilot's station, using his left hand to type while cradling his right hand against his chest. His blood soaked into the blue flight suit. A three-dimensional map of the base appeared on the main screen. Lightly, in an underground area of the meteorite base, a red light blinked steadily.
The light was blinking slowly, which caused Quatre to rush closer to the station and grab the headset off of the consol. "Heero!" he called into the microphone.
The light continued its steady and slow blinking pace.
"HEERO!" Quatre yelled louder, using every ounce of his body to will Heero's answer.
The blinking increased. A grunt was heard over the ship's intercom. "Don't call me that," Heero insisted, his voice gruff with pain and weariness.
"Apologies, Zero," Wufei answered, having taken the headset from Quatre and not trusting Duo to act dependable at this moment in time. "We're just all a little shaken here."
"Me too, if I weren't so tired." Heero groaned again. "Any plans?"
"Negative, Zero. No plans as of yet," Wufei admitted, scooting Duo out of the pilot's chair and making himself more comfortable. Duo plopped to the ground and drew his knees up to his chin. Quatre knelt beside him.
"Have my position?" Heero asked.
"Affirmative. Zero's location is confirmed."
"I'm under it."
"Huh?" Wufei asked, uncharacteristic of his previous military speech.
"I'm under the target. I noticed as I was lead here."
Wufei gave a meaningful glance to Trowa who had recently sat in the copilot's chair. Trowa typed on the consol and the view of the base enlarged, showing the immediate area around Heero in greater detail. The small light that blinked in time to Heero's heartbeat was located one level below a large and heavily walled system of rooms.
Wufei chose his words carefully as he asked Heero, "Zero's current position is directly below the intended target. Confirm?"
"Confirmed."
"Are you sure, Heero?" Wufei asked, the military coldness left his voice.
"Yes. Blow it all."
* * * * * * * *
"WE CAN'T!" Duo screamed, nearly attacking Wufei.
Trowa held Duo's upper arms, keeping him from further injuring himself or injuring anyone else in the cloaked carrier that floated above the meteorite OZ base. Duo struggled intensely against Trowa's iron grip.
"LET ME GO!" he shouted, kicking and flailing his body around to wriggle out of Trowa's strong hands.
Wufei stepped forward and quickly caught Duo's feet, nearly getting himself kicked several times. Together, the two men held Duo to the floor, keeping him from moving. Quatre came forward, resting his hand on Duo's head.
"Settle down, Duo," he pleaded. "Now is not the time for us to get too upset to carry out our mission. The mission is what matters, Duo."
"Fuck the mission!" Duo screamed at Quatre, trying to lunge at him. Trowa held Duo fast to the floor of the carrier.
"You'll hurt yourself if you don't watch it," Trowa reasoned.
"She was our friend," Duo said softly, suddenly becoming still. "She was supposed to be our friend."
"I know," Quatre said, keeping his hand on Duo's forehead.
"She left him."
"I know."
"She beat him."
"I know."
Duo sighed and finally Trowa and Wufei released their holds on him. Duo lay limp on the floor as he closed his eyes, seeing Jinx tenderly holding Heero in his eyelids. "She could have taken care of him," he said, looking around at the others who were hovered above him. "She could have given him back everything that Dr. J and Relena stole from him."
None of the other pilots could reply.
"I never told you guys this," Duo started, "but it wasn't Heero's idea to come and move in with me when I started the salvage yard."
"What?" Quatre asked. "I thought you said it was a partnership."
"It wasn't." Duo sighed and closed his eyes again, telling his friends of seeing Heero on L4 three years ago…
~flashback~
Duo skipped through Quatre's mansion. After staying there for three days while Relena and Heero were visiting, he'd had enough of the good life and needed to get back on the streets. With his bag over his shoulder, Duo opened the front door, and he immediately tripped over a hunched form on the doorstep.
"Heero?" the braided boy asked. "What's going on?"
Heero's rain soaked body remained motionless on the ground.
"Heero?" Duo asked again, reaching out to touch his friend. Heero's body was as cold as the rain, and his skin was pale and tainted with an unhealthy shade of blue. Duo then noticed the little river of blood that washed away from Heero's body, down the sidewalk, and into the flowerbeds.
"HEERO!" Duo shouted, turning Heero over to look at him. Heero's eyes were glazed and unfocused. His hands were trembling, still clutching the mirror-bright blade that had recently made easy work of the flesh around his wrists.
Ripping his own shirt, Duo tried to stop the gushing blood from leaking out of Heero's severed veins. Furiously, he wrapped his friend's wrists and tied the strips of material tightly. Hang on Heero, Duo thought as he worked. Hang on.
"Duo," a cracked voice called to him.
"Yes, Heero?"
"Let me die."
"No way." Duo didn't offer more of an explanation than that and Heero didn't ask anymore. Even this close to death, Heero recognized a determined Duo when he saw one. "What happened, Heero?" Duo asked through clenched teeth.
"She's with him."
"Who's with who, Heero?"
"Relena and Quatre."
Duo just stared at Heero's saddened face. No way, he thought. Relena was with Quatre? Shaking his head, Duo picked Heero up to his feet, leading him down the sidewalk and toward the street.
"Please, Duo. Let me die."
"Never, Heero. If I have to live with you and chain myself to you to make sure you don't do this again, I will. You're staying alive, Heero. No matter how much you may not want to, I'm going to make sure you stay alive."