What Would You Say if I told you...?
Act 2: 'Everything My Heart Desires'
Disclaimer: see chapter one Warning: Low level, non-animated violence, mild 2+1, fluffy. Sorry if my geography is off, it's been a long time since I was in Britain.
The mission began. Sandrock, Heavyarms and Shenlong Gundams headed towards the Reading OZ base in South Britain in a carrier, as Deathscythe and Wing flew towards the Glasgow base, both missions- terminate production and destroy everything; part of the plan to eliminate the Taurus suits before they could be employed. Duo had often been sent on missions alone with Heero, but his heart raced every time at the chance to prove his strength to Heero. There was always the fear of either of their deaths; Duo knew he couldn't be as emotionally strong as Heero, to sacrifice himself for the mission callously and without reticence, but the altruism from his love meant that Duo would be almost happy to die for him. Heero never acknowledged Duo's help, claiming he got in the way, but Duo knew he just didn't know how to say 'thankyou.'
Heero flew off ahead in the transformed Wing Gundam, ignoring Duo's protests and the fact that Deathscythe is better suited to infiltration than his Gundam. 'But that's his way, he likes to take the burden all to himself; he really is kind, as well as cute.' Duo followed Heero; the brashness had never stoped Duo before, it just strengthened his resolve, besides, no one truly wishes to be alone, do they? Before, it had often crossed Duo's mind that being close to Heero would hurt him; he was always worried that Heero wouldn't accept his love, but sometimes the detachment from emotion left Duo feeling as though Heero really couldn't handle compassion. At least now Duo had some proof of Heero's humanity, however it represented Heero's empathy- the gentle touch of Heero's hand on his arm, tearing through Duo's heart, burning him, but giving him the clarity to continue his pursuit, if only for to feel that touch again and nothing more. 'Maybe I do wear my heart on my sleeve.' Duo wondered, as he flew over the rolling hills of northern England, every green space reminding him of Heero.
As the Glasgow OZ base came into view, unit2 sped up, there was a path of destruction in front of Duo: Torn apart buildings, melted tarmac and splayed mobile suits- just Leos and Aeries; fortunately the Taurus hadn't been deployed; the schematics were unknown, and not even the Gundam pilots knew their mobile suits capacities. Wing was now in sight and was battling at least twenty Leos.
"Need some help there, buddy?"
"Hn, just don't get in my way." The response was more than Duo could have hoped for; he had expected to be ignored. Powering the beam scythe, Duo rushed a pack of mobile suits. 'Time to meet Shinigami!' The Leos pulled back from the black monstrosity storming towards them, as though they had heard Duo's silent war cry. After carving through the group, Duo turned his attention to the next lot, destroying them with the same ease and grace, hoping that Heero would notice; no such luck. Heero had defeated five mobile suits, leaving a good fifteen left.
"Lure them here." The command was calm and reasonable, but Duo didn't want to lose any respect Heero might have for him by being a lapdog, and, of course, he had always had a streak of defiance.
"What for? You got a plan or something?" Heero didn't bother to respond; Duo knew he had, "well, as long as you know what you're doing." Duo proceeded, feigning cautiousness, towards the remaining troops and fired his Vulcan canon at one, damaging it severely. While the counter-barrage ensued, Duo fled towards Heero, Leos on his trail. As he approached Heero, Duo shouted some cliché to him, flying straight up. Deathscythe gave way to a fully charged buster rifle in the hands of unit1, decimating the OZ forces in one fell swoop. Another assault was launched by a small group of Aeries, but were quickly taken down by the canons of the two blue-eyed pilots.
With the special's defence forces obliterated, Duo and Heero set their minds on the mission objectives; Alliance personnel were fleeing the base but they were ignored by the pilots. One more shot from the buster rifle destroyed the rather obvious hangar holding the unmanned Leos and Aeries mobile suits. It had been decided before that Heero would destroy the Taurus suits, and Duo would terminate production.
"Well from what I can see, the production is taken care of deep underground. There's a lift around here somewhere.hmm.ah! Over there! Guess they weren't expecting us Gundam pilots, ne?"
"Don't underestimate OZ." Duo knew the truth behind the words, the specials often tried to lure the Gundams to their destruction with tricks and false information.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later, take care buddy" Cheerful as ever, Duo set Deathscythe down in the lift, knowing there'd be no reaction from Heero, he watched as Wing flew across the base. 'Just don't get yourself killed and give me strength, Heero, to fight without being distracted by my feelings, but to let them guide me. I know that's how you live.' Duo thought with a romantic, distant look in his eyes, as the ground rose up to obscure his view. 'And I promise I'll come out alive.'
Greeting Duo at the bottom of the elevator were sirens, flashing red lights and a group of modified Leo suits, charging through them to a large corridor, Deathscythe took a few mild hits before it turned around and fired its guns at the enemy, but the extra heavy shield took the damage in their stride. Another torrent of shots forced Duo to evade, hammering his mech into a wall, taking out a large section of the circuitry, the electric shock coursing through the Duos body, unable to be grounded against the insulated floor. Duo yelled out, powered the scythe and hungrily decimated the Leos, slicing the shattered fragments of the metal carcasses to cries of:
"Don't mess with Shinigami!" Detecting more mobile suits approaching, Duo quickly took out a nearby alarm, stopping the awful wailing.
Duo blasted through the wall to reveal the manufacturing plant, unfortunately, the other mobile suits had caught up, the force of their guns knocking Deathscythe onto the floor, but not damaging its Gundamium armour. Duo quickly rolled over his Gundam, blocking the volley with the buster shield. Shinigami charged into the leader, crushing his Leo into the wall, turning his attention on the other three, the scythe swung through the middle of one, continuing its swing around through another before bringing it up and burying the blade into the last suits power plant, causing it to explode in grey shards. Duo hopped out of his Gundam, taking out two incoming guards with one shot and planted a pack of explosives onto the machine in front of him. Duo ran under a maze of conveyor belts, rolled around a corner and planted another set. Then, a pack of mobile suits fired on Duo, as they flew above the production line. 'I have to lead them away from my Gundam.' Duo ran the long way around to his last target, so as not to go anywhere near unit2. Skidding around a corner, a shot narrowly missed the braided boy, the force sending him headfirst towards a wall. Duo pushed his hands against the barrier, spraining his left one, forcing himself upwards and onto the large contraption, just next to the machine he had to plant the explosives on. Duo engaged the magnetic grip on the last bomb and threw it onto the target, sticking it to the machine's metal exterior. Duo leapt onto a conveyor belt, heading back towards his Gundam as bullets sailed past him.
Quickly reaching Deathscythe with the speed of the belt, Duo clambered in and started up before the OZ troops could catch up. Continuously firing his blasters, Duo blew through the many floors to the surface.
"Time to meet Shinigami, OZ!" Duo pushed the detonator button and an expanding cloud of fire and smoke rose out of the hole Deathscythe had created.
"Mission complete." Duo mimicked Heero over the comm.
"Not quite, there's reinforcements and two transports have taken off with Taurus suits aboard." Heero replied calmly, ignoring Duo.
"What?! We can't hold them off and destroy both of them. Wait.where are the transports headed?" The mobile suits were closing in fast.
"One is long range, headed towards Northern Europe. The other is short range, headed towards Reading base." The mobile suits were almost on them now.
"Right, so we'll let the others take care of that one. I'll go after the shuttle; you hold them off." Duo really was making an effort to be strong and decisive.
"Roger!" Deathscythe took off at full speed towards the escaping shuttle, through the laser fire below. Duo caught up with the transport as it approached the North Sea and manoeuvred above the shuttle, swinging the scythe upwards, but the transport engaged boosters and avoided the mighty swing. As the shuttled past over St Andrews's cliffs, Duo picked up a comm.:
"Lieutenant! Unit1 is taking intense fire, thankyou for leading the other Gundam away." 'Heero' Duo mouthed as he drew Deathscythe's Vulcan canons and vaporized the transport.
'Don't die before you know how I feel.' Deathscythe powered back to the base, Duo screaming as he forced a group of Aeries out of his way. Duo reached Wing and saw it surrounded by various mobile suits. It had obviously taken heavy damage.
"Goodbye." 'Goodbye?' Duo thought it seemed a very un-Heero like thing to say, before he realized what it meant.
"HEERO!!" The force and conviction in Duo's voiced shocked Heero, stopping him from pressing the button. Heero remained frozen as images of a giant scythe, explosions, and bullets filled his screen, and time flew by, his hand still on the detonator, but he couldn't press it. Heero didn't move until he heard Duo again.
"Come on, Heero! Get your Gundam on the shuttle! Move your butt, buddy." Duo had learned how to get through to Heero.
"Hn.could you keep it down, baka?" I'm coming."
Aboard a large OZ shuttle, Duo and Heero in the pilot's seats, with their Gundams on the transport deck.
"So we need to pick up the others, and then we can return to school. Doesn't that sound like fun." Duo was babbling again, but he was so happy that Heero survived; his ever-present grin was extra large, showing off his dazzling teeth. It never occurred to Duo that he had saved Heero, he had long since denounced being a hero. The shuttle had taken off, and Duo had laid in a course, when Heero looked at him right in the eyes.
"Duo.thankyou." Thoughts swarmed through Duo's mind, and he got the same feeling of warmth, comfort and kindness as when Heero touched him the night before, but there was no pain. Duo's inhibitions still controlled his mouth, sealing his confession, but he felt no pain. All he could manage to say was:
"Sure pal, no problem." As the shuttle flew out of sight of the Glasgow base, Duo thought, 'You've been so different today- you've shown me gratitude, sincerity and- heck! You've even said my first name. Maybe yesterday did mean something to you.' Duo looked over at Heero, but the cute boy was asleep in his chair and smiling. 'Thankyou Heero, for what you've shown me.'
Duo and Heero picked up Quatre, Wufei and Trowa, but neither said a word about Heero's appreciation of Duo, and they returned to the continent with a normal Heero, and a very happy and extra talkative Duo.
Act 2: 'Everything My Heart Desires'
Disclaimer: see chapter one Warning: Low level, non-animated violence, mild 2+1, fluffy. Sorry if my geography is off, it's been a long time since I was in Britain.
The mission began. Sandrock, Heavyarms and Shenlong Gundams headed towards the Reading OZ base in South Britain in a carrier, as Deathscythe and Wing flew towards the Glasgow base, both missions- terminate production and destroy everything; part of the plan to eliminate the Taurus suits before they could be employed. Duo had often been sent on missions alone with Heero, but his heart raced every time at the chance to prove his strength to Heero. There was always the fear of either of their deaths; Duo knew he couldn't be as emotionally strong as Heero, to sacrifice himself for the mission callously and without reticence, but the altruism from his love meant that Duo would be almost happy to die for him. Heero never acknowledged Duo's help, claiming he got in the way, but Duo knew he just didn't know how to say 'thankyou.'
Heero flew off ahead in the transformed Wing Gundam, ignoring Duo's protests and the fact that Deathscythe is better suited to infiltration than his Gundam. 'But that's his way, he likes to take the burden all to himself; he really is kind, as well as cute.' Duo followed Heero; the brashness had never stoped Duo before, it just strengthened his resolve, besides, no one truly wishes to be alone, do they? Before, it had often crossed Duo's mind that being close to Heero would hurt him; he was always worried that Heero wouldn't accept his love, but sometimes the detachment from emotion left Duo feeling as though Heero really couldn't handle compassion. At least now Duo had some proof of Heero's humanity, however it represented Heero's empathy- the gentle touch of Heero's hand on his arm, tearing through Duo's heart, burning him, but giving him the clarity to continue his pursuit, if only for to feel that touch again and nothing more. 'Maybe I do wear my heart on my sleeve.' Duo wondered, as he flew over the rolling hills of northern England, every green space reminding him of Heero.
As the Glasgow OZ base came into view, unit2 sped up, there was a path of destruction in front of Duo: Torn apart buildings, melted tarmac and splayed mobile suits- just Leos and Aeries; fortunately the Taurus hadn't been deployed; the schematics were unknown, and not even the Gundam pilots knew their mobile suits capacities. Wing was now in sight and was battling at least twenty Leos.
"Need some help there, buddy?"
"Hn, just don't get in my way." The response was more than Duo could have hoped for; he had expected to be ignored. Powering the beam scythe, Duo rushed a pack of mobile suits. 'Time to meet Shinigami!' The Leos pulled back from the black monstrosity storming towards them, as though they had heard Duo's silent war cry. After carving through the group, Duo turned his attention to the next lot, destroying them with the same ease and grace, hoping that Heero would notice; no such luck. Heero had defeated five mobile suits, leaving a good fifteen left.
"Lure them here." The command was calm and reasonable, but Duo didn't want to lose any respect Heero might have for him by being a lapdog, and, of course, he had always had a streak of defiance.
"What for? You got a plan or something?" Heero didn't bother to respond; Duo knew he had, "well, as long as you know what you're doing." Duo proceeded, feigning cautiousness, towards the remaining troops and fired his Vulcan canon at one, damaging it severely. While the counter-barrage ensued, Duo fled towards Heero, Leos on his trail. As he approached Heero, Duo shouted some cliché to him, flying straight up. Deathscythe gave way to a fully charged buster rifle in the hands of unit1, decimating the OZ forces in one fell swoop. Another assault was launched by a small group of Aeries, but were quickly taken down by the canons of the two blue-eyed pilots.
With the special's defence forces obliterated, Duo and Heero set their minds on the mission objectives; Alliance personnel were fleeing the base but they were ignored by the pilots. One more shot from the buster rifle destroyed the rather obvious hangar holding the unmanned Leos and Aeries mobile suits. It had been decided before that Heero would destroy the Taurus suits, and Duo would terminate production.
"Well from what I can see, the production is taken care of deep underground. There's a lift around here somewhere.hmm.ah! Over there! Guess they weren't expecting us Gundam pilots, ne?"
"Don't underestimate OZ." Duo knew the truth behind the words, the specials often tried to lure the Gundams to their destruction with tricks and false information.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later, take care buddy" Cheerful as ever, Duo set Deathscythe down in the lift, knowing there'd be no reaction from Heero, he watched as Wing flew across the base. 'Just don't get yourself killed and give me strength, Heero, to fight without being distracted by my feelings, but to let them guide me. I know that's how you live.' Duo thought with a romantic, distant look in his eyes, as the ground rose up to obscure his view. 'And I promise I'll come out alive.'
Greeting Duo at the bottom of the elevator were sirens, flashing red lights and a group of modified Leo suits, charging through them to a large corridor, Deathscythe took a few mild hits before it turned around and fired its guns at the enemy, but the extra heavy shield took the damage in their stride. Another torrent of shots forced Duo to evade, hammering his mech into a wall, taking out a large section of the circuitry, the electric shock coursing through the Duos body, unable to be grounded against the insulated floor. Duo yelled out, powered the scythe and hungrily decimated the Leos, slicing the shattered fragments of the metal carcasses to cries of:
"Don't mess with Shinigami!" Detecting more mobile suits approaching, Duo quickly took out a nearby alarm, stopping the awful wailing.
Duo blasted through the wall to reveal the manufacturing plant, unfortunately, the other mobile suits had caught up, the force of their guns knocking Deathscythe onto the floor, but not damaging its Gundamium armour. Duo quickly rolled over his Gundam, blocking the volley with the buster shield. Shinigami charged into the leader, crushing his Leo into the wall, turning his attention on the other three, the scythe swung through the middle of one, continuing its swing around through another before bringing it up and burying the blade into the last suits power plant, causing it to explode in grey shards. Duo hopped out of his Gundam, taking out two incoming guards with one shot and planted a pack of explosives onto the machine in front of him. Duo ran under a maze of conveyor belts, rolled around a corner and planted another set. Then, a pack of mobile suits fired on Duo, as they flew above the production line. 'I have to lead them away from my Gundam.' Duo ran the long way around to his last target, so as not to go anywhere near unit2. Skidding around a corner, a shot narrowly missed the braided boy, the force sending him headfirst towards a wall. Duo pushed his hands against the barrier, spraining his left one, forcing himself upwards and onto the large contraption, just next to the machine he had to plant the explosives on. Duo engaged the magnetic grip on the last bomb and threw it onto the target, sticking it to the machine's metal exterior. Duo leapt onto a conveyor belt, heading back towards his Gundam as bullets sailed past him.
Quickly reaching Deathscythe with the speed of the belt, Duo clambered in and started up before the OZ troops could catch up. Continuously firing his blasters, Duo blew through the many floors to the surface.
"Time to meet Shinigami, OZ!" Duo pushed the detonator button and an expanding cloud of fire and smoke rose out of the hole Deathscythe had created.
"Mission complete." Duo mimicked Heero over the comm.
"Not quite, there's reinforcements and two transports have taken off with Taurus suits aboard." Heero replied calmly, ignoring Duo.
"What?! We can't hold them off and destroy both of them. Wait.where are the transports headed?" The mobile suits were closing in fast.
"One is long range, headed towards Northern Europe. The other is short range, headed towards Reading base." The mobile suits were almost on them now.
"Right, so we'll let the others take care of that one. I'll go after the shuttle; you hold them off." Duo really was making an effort to be strong and decisive.
"Roger!" Deathscythe took off at full speed towards the escaping shuttle, through the laser fire below. Duo caught up with the transport as it approached the North Sea and manoeuvred above the shuttle, swinging the scythe upwards, but the transport engaged boosters and avoided the mighty swing. As the shuttled past over St Andrews's cliffs, Duo picked up a comm.:
"Lieutenant! Unit1 is taking intense fire, thankyou for leading the other Gundam away." 'Heero' Duo mouthed as he drew Deathscythe's Vulcan canons and vaporized the transport.
'Don't die before you know how I feel.' Deathscythe powered back to the base, Duo screaming as he forced a group of Aeries out of his way. Duo reached Wing and saw it surrounded by various mobile suits. It had obviously taken heavy damage.
"Goodbye." 'Goodbye?' Duo thought it seemed a very un-Heero like thing to say, before he realized what it meant.
"HEERO!!" The force and conviction in Duo's voiced shocked Heero, stopping him from pressing the button. Heero remained frozen as images of a giant scythe, explosions, and bullets filled his screen, and time flew by, his hand still on the detonator, but he couldn't press it. Heero didn't move until he heard Duo again.
"Come on, Heero! Get your Gundam on the shuttle! Move your butt, buddy." Duo had learned how to get through to Heero.
"Hn.could you keep it down, baka?" I'm coming."
Aboard a large OZ shuttle, Duo and Heero in the pilot's seats, with their Gundams on the transport deck.
"So we need to pick up the others, and then we can return to school. Doesn't that sound like fun." Duo was babbling again, but he was so happy that Heero survived; his ever-present grin was extra large, showing off his dazzling teeth. It never occurred to Duo that he had saved Heero, he had long since denounced being a hero. The shuttle had taken off, and Duo had laid in a course, when Heero looked at him right in the eyes.
"Duo.thankyou." Thoughts swarmed through Duo's mind, and he got the same feeling of warmth, comfort and kindness as when Heero touched him the night before, but there was no pain. Duo's inhibitions still controlled his mouth, sealing his confession, but he felt no pain. All he could manage to say was:
"Sure pal, no problem." As the shuttle flew out of sight of the Glasgow base, Duo thought, 'You've been so different today- you've shown me gratitude, sincerity and- heck! You've even said my first name. Maybe yesterday did mean something to you.' Duo looked over at Heero, but the cute boy was asleep in his chair and smiling. 'Thankyou Heero, for what you've shown me.'
Duo and Heero picked up Quatre, Wufei and Trowa, but neither said a word about Heero's appreciation of Duo, and they returned to the continent with a normal Heero, and a very happy and extra talkative Duo.