Note: Hi, all! It's me again. This is the chapter a lot of you have been
waiting for... Of course it leaves off at yet another cliffhanger. It
felt like a good place to stop, and I have a lot of other things to fix on
here. I don't own Gundam Wing, nor do I make money off of this. Pairings
are 1+2+1; you can take some scenes on here as a semi-jealous Wufei (2+5?).
Your perspective is your reality after all! Enjoy this chapter! Please
read and review!
Chapter Sixteen
Recap:
"Heero..." he rasped in response, staring straight into the dark blue color. "No..." he shook his head slowly. "You-you-you died," his brow creased in confusion and denial. "You're dead... My dream. And-it was all over the news... The huge explosion, and oh God..." He instantaneously shot up, embracing the confused soldier with fierce fervor and to insure his reality. "There were no survivors except for, for me-you died..." his voice cracked slightly at the last word, muffled through Heero's wife-beater. The astonished soldier hesitantly wrapped his arms loosely around the normally cheerful pilot, resting at his waist. Slowly comforted by each other touch, peace seemed to conquer the nightmares and calm the fears...
* * *
For a long, lingering moment of true peace, they rested in each other's arms, just simply being near him, holding him, made everything else disappear. Heero felt content for first time in many, many years, no confusion, no thoughts, no denial, just peaceful silence. With procrastination, the Prussian-eyed soldier eased the boy from his arms. Gazes of midnight blue and soft violet locked for a small second before they became painstakingly aware of their current position. Duo's dark glance slid away shyly, and he released a soft laugh of embarrassment.
"Uh... Sorry, man," he apologized, one hand reaching behind his thick tresses to scratch the back of his head. "Bad dream, that's all." 'Nightmarish is more like it. He's still alive...'
"How did I die?" Ignoring the braided boy's apology, Heero asked him without warning.
"It was what happened after the-other dream," Duo explained, stumbling over the explanation. "You had to go, and all of a sudden, there was this big explosion. I don't know how..." his brow creased deeply, "But I survived it miraculously. And I saw that the whole place was pretty much obliterated. I ran. I ran as far as I could, not looking back. On the way to whatever hole I called home I saw the reporters and media was everywhere. No one knew what happened," his voice grew quieter with every sentence that rolled off his tongue with such difficulty.
"You hid... Didn't you?" Heero questioned softly.
"What else could I do?" All the despair and loneliness he felt then haunted his voice, his eyes. He raised his blue-violet depths after he spoke. "You seemed like a ghost when you woke me up..." he confessed, "even though denied that you had died. Until I could see evidence, I couldn't believe the news or what I had seen. Something was missing."
"What was?" confused, gently, he pressed the other pilot.
"It felt like-" he murmured, losing himself in Prussian blue orbs, "like in my heart, I knew you were alive," he breathed quietly. He shook his head slightly as if to clear stray wanderings and thoughts. "As weird as that sounds," a touch of his normal humor reentered the serious tone. "It's strange," he chortled lightly. "Even now that I'm awake, it seems like I'm remembering more and more things about it. "I know you think it's my overactive imagination, but I-" he was cut off.
"Iie," Heero interjected roughly, looking away himself.
"What? What do you mean?" Puzzlement clouded over the dark lilac. Again, the braided soldier attempted to catch the glance of the perfect soldier, matching the Japanese youth's futile attempts of refusal. "Heero," he spoke in a warning tone.
"I had the same dream," he admitted at last. "The only difference was that it was from my point of view."
Purple pools widened enormously, "Shit!" he swore. "Are you serious?" unwilling, hope flared in his heart, anticipation.
In answer to his question, Heero's callused palm reached out slowly, shifting through folds of black clothing in search of a singular object. His solid grasp brushed against Duo's skin, and he unwillingly shivered, not understanding the stoic pilot's actions. His mouth formed questions, but no words could bypass his parched throat; he could only watch. Finding the object it had been searching for, his grip extracted from beneath the layers, gingerly clasping a simple, gold cross. Duo still could only watch in surprise.
"I saw this..." Heero explained. "I saw it around your neck."
"My cross," he muttered in amazement. "I've never let anyone touch it before," mumbling sounded from his mouth. "You..." cobalt orbs turned to stare at the Japanese youth, narrowing just a little. "Whenever someone gets near it, I would get medieval on 'em even if I wasn't consciously aware of it. The Oz guards even learned to back off after the first time..."
"It didn't happen to me," the dark-haired pilot provided an obvious statement.
"I know," Duo trailed off, not knowing what to say. Abruptly, he decided to speak again, "I remember that we both found this cross the first day we met," he smiled, lips curving gently. "I guess it's as much yours as it is mine," looking thoughtful for a minute, he grinned. "Of course I had it longer," corrected the American.
'Was it really a memory? That explanation is growing more plausible by the second. I have more important things to worry about right now.' "Duo," the single word brought about the America pilot's attention.
Tilting his head to the side, absentminded, violet eyes glanced upward at the soldier expectantly, "Hmm?"
"I received an assignment last night," Sudden authority made its return in his tone of voice and body language, pushing away any meandering thoughts that lingered around him. "I depart from this safehouse in around an hour from now."
"What's the assignment?" dark orchid narrowed in question, and Duo leaned closer towards the messy-haired soldier in effort to hear the quiet words.
"Classified," he stated flatly, giving him an even gaze with dark blue eyes. "Do not attempt to escape, do not attempt to go anywhere, and do not cause any trouble," he warned in complete monotone.
'Like hell I won't...' An idea instantly lit up in Duo's mind. "Why can't you tell me what it is?" he inquired curiously.
"It's classified information as I have said before," the Japanese youth reiterated himself.
"So it's dangerous," he nodded in acceptance, carefully watching the reaction he would receive. Nothing crossed the Asian features of Heero's face.
"Not inevitably, just classified," retorted he, gazing impassively into amethyst orbs.
Blowing a stray, chestnut colored bang away from his heart-shaped face, Duo exasperated. "You can't even tell me if it's dangerous or not?"
"If by dangerous you mean there are risks, then yes, Duo, it is dangerous," Heero responded in a clipped voice.
"How big are these risks?" he murmured softly.
"Our difference in judgement of how large the risks are vary, so to provide completely accurate information is an impossibility," once again, the perfect soldier easily evaded the question.
"Well do you consider it to be dangerous?" raising a finely arced eyebrow, Duo specified.
"It does not matter. I am just doing what I was born to do," a simple statement.
"You weren't born to be a damn soldier," Duo whispered lowly, a dangerous mask of control concealed his underlying anger as he gazed at him evenly, impassively.
"It's the purpose of my existence," the Prussian-eyed youth responded.
"No," the braided one shook his head with a somehow emotionless smile playing across his lips, "you were meant to do more than just fight. What happens when this war is over?"
'I've already discussed this with him once. Stupid American.'
With a mouth already equipped with the answer, Duo immediately interrupted his voice before it had a chance to be heard, "You will live through this."
"You cannot be certain," Heero protested.
"Of this," he gestured, "I can."
"I consider it dangerous," he confessed finally, cutting off the violet-eyed one's rambling. 'I don't need to waste any further time with this baka.' "You have your answer. Do not attempt to escape, do not attempt to go anywhere, and do not cause any trouble," he repeated his initial warning, emphasizing the do nots clearly.
"Yeah, I know," Duo sighed, a bored expression relaxing his heart- shaped face. 'Guess he means no seeing Deathscythe either, huh? Well we'll see about that, Yuy.'
He rubbed his groggy eyes; yawning and stretching sleep-laden arms, the pilot blinked several times in succession before he felt like he could leave the comfort of the bed. 'I need to find Wufei... Maybe he knows that this mission is all about.' With that thought implanted into his mind, he, in a determined pace, began to dress himself. And the white, oak door was swinging closed before a minute was over.
Bounding down the stairwell, brimming with endless energy, Duo casually looked around the area. He never ceased to be amazed by the beautiful design of the house although he had resided there for five days now. The braided pilot noticed no sign of the Chinese man as he strode through each room of the lavish mansion.
Surprisingly, it was Wufei that had spotted him first, "Maxwell?" a slight scowl was present on his features, but he rarely looked happy. 'I'm lucky that I could actually find him in this place.'
"Hey Wu-man!" Duo greeted him warmly, slapping the Asian pilot behind the back.
"My name is Wufei!" going along with their almost routine greeting, the undignified soldier's obsidian eyes narrowed to glare sternly at him.
"Aww! But Wu-man is so much more fun. Plus I get to piss you off," laughed the American. "Come to think of it, it kind of sounds like woman," he mused mostly to himself yet loud enough for both soldiers to concisely hear the words.
The pilot of Shenlong growled, "You're the one with that three feet long braid," he pointed out. Instantaneously, he yelped in surprise/pain as he felt a solid grip enclose and yank at his short ponytail. "Kisama!" he swore, twirling around to face a broadly grinning Duo.
"You have pretty long hair for a guy, too!" he retorted. "Hey, maybe I can do a makeover and make you look like a true 'Wu-man!'"
"Onnas are weak," Wufei grumbled. "Look, I did have a reason that I came to find you this morning."
"What?"
"You're coming along on that mission with us. 03 and 04 will also be there along with Yuy and myself," he informed him.
"Huh? All of us?" perplexed blue-violet stared questioningly at the Asian pilot.
"That's what Master O had said on the message," he looked at him grimly.
"But that means-" Amethyst pools grew impossibly large. "Oh fuck!" he cursed. 'So it was a dangerous mission... Why else would they need all five of us? I must have gotten that assignment on my laptop, which is-in Deathscythe.' "Where's Heero?" frantically he searched for the Japanese youth with no avail.
"I saw him leave to get ready for it just a while ago," Wufei recalled from his memory.
"Then I guess he'll have to find out in battle..." he murmured softly to himself. 'That makes it so much easier to bring up...' he thought wryly. "Take me to Deathscythe," he commanded the Chinese boy, the same, hard glint in his eye during a mission flashed in the cobalt pools.
Nodding with understanding, Wufei agreed quickly to the braided pilot's order. 'It will take at least fifteen, solid minutes of running to get to Duo's hangar from here. He doesn't know where it is-so I have to go with him. That leaves roughly twenty minutes for me to be ready to fight. It should be possible.'
The cobalt-eyed soldier trailed behind him as they dashed past the dark, leafy-green cover of foliage. It wasn't as quick as a sprint; it was a pace more suitable of longer distances for both pilots. 'Thank God Wufei is here... Otherwise I would have been in quite a situation.' "Hey..." he panted out between shallow breaths of oxygen. "How... far...?" The lack of exercise and his injuries would laggard haphazardly at his pace, but still Duo could run a solid five-minute mile while keeping the stamina for a longer period of time. Not his best but it would have to do.
"Just... two and a... third... of a mile... left," his comrade responded, black gaze trained at the terrain in front of the pair.
The bobbing motion indicating his understanding nearly passed the Chinese pilot by. 'I'm coming, buddy... We're gonna fry some Ozzies tonight.' They surrounds passed by as a complete blur of the colors of nature, dizzying to look at, so instead his eyes were focused directly to the goal. A content smirked curled comfortably across his rose lips as familiarities of the area began to piece together in his mind. 'I'm back... Well almost back at least.'
His thick rope of hair slapped against his back, being whipped the by air he sliced neatly through, wisps of dark honey and chestnut framing the elfin features. Wufei's obsidian gaze ran across the sight of the running boy, jaw tightly set in determination. 'He's thinking about Yuy, isn't he? He feels more than just friendship for the guy; I know that much, but does he? Something is different, and he seems to be confused by something. He pushes it away, thinking of the battle. How long will this go unnoticed? That will depend on the success of the mission. They seem so in sync with each other. I have never seen either of them act this way. And they way they kissed... Kuso! Why am I concerning myself with other people's love matters when there is a battle ready to start?' Wiping his previous thoughts from memory, he steered Maxwell towards the expertly concealed hangar, pace slowing.
"Remember this place?" he asked, still breathless, turning his head to face the braided joker.
"Whoo!" he laughed outright. "I so out of shape!" he grinned at the Chinese boy next to him. Hands supported his upper-body weight, placing pressure on slightly bent knees, and he breathed heavily. "Yeah... Hey... Want me to give you a lift?" the suggestive wriggling of his eyebrows added a finishing touch to his humor.
Incredulous, ebony depths widened enormously at the ridiculous proposition, "Cram two people in a gundam cockpit?!"
"Hey!" Duo pouted. "How do you think I got here?"
"You two are insane..." he mumbled under his recovering breath.
"Resourceful, yes," he agreed thoughtfully. "Heero insane? Could it be?!"
"If that's how you want to put it," he couldn't contain the small smirk. "Well, Maxwell, I'll see you in battle." He gave an offhand wave with his slender digits as he left Duo in front of the hangar.
Watching the retreating figure of his friend, Duo gave a small frown, "Guess he didn't take me seriously."
With a shrug, he accessed entrance to the hangar with ease. Light filtered through the opening, and the braided soldier's smile grew even broader as the magnificence of his gundam, Deathscythe, was revealed in all its glory to his relaxed stance. He slowly approached the massive machine, examining the mecha, tracing a finger across it almost lovingly.
"Missed me?" he smiled softly. "We have to do really great tonight," he informed Deathscythe. "We got to impress Heero and the others. Completing a successful mission would do the trick, don't you think?" he patted the sleek, gundanium alloy twice.
He climbed aboard the massive advanced mobile suit without much struggle and into the cockpit. Carelessly strewn about the floor was his laptop, which he hastily picked up and turned on to rid himself of the insistent and not to mention annoying beeping. He carefully read the parameters of this mission and reread until it was ingrained into his temporary memory storage space. The instructions were not overly difficult, but the risk assessments were enormous considering the odds. Five against an entire army of elite fighters from Oz hardly seems fair but then again, a gundam pilot is trained to be the very best of the best. So wrapped up in his thoughts, one of the so-called best had forgotten to accept his mission before he took his leave...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This is all your fault, J," G grumbled rather loudly.
"How is this my fault?" Dr. J questioned, eyes blazing behind a pair of goggles.
"Your boy, 01," he sneered, "captured 02. And now, he doesn't know about the mission!"
The old man released a twisted scowl, "Well 02 should have told him who he was in the first place!"
"This is useless... I guess we'll just have to make do with four. Since there's not much we can do about it."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"02 is not coming," the impassive face of Heero Yuy flashed on the other pilots' intercoms. "He never accepted or rejected the assignment he was given." 'That pilot is the only one I haven't met yet.'
Wufei nearly betrayed his shock, obsidian depths widening only slightly before returning to the normal state. 'Maxwell, you baka! You forgot to accept the mission, didn't you?'
"05, you mentioned you have done some missions with him," Quatre remembered suddenly. "Do you know where he could be?"
As the Chinese pilot parted his mouth to speak, the strangest possibility flashed across Heero's mind. 'Is 02...?' He never got to complete the thought as the first specks of aerial mobile suits appeared. "We have to do this with four pilots," he announced, body tensing in preparation for battle.
"Make that five!" an all too familiar voice rang through the intercom. "Shinigami ga jigoku kara mai modotte kita ze!" A youthful American with a three feet long braid snaking behind him and a pair of cobalt eyes smirked at shocked faces. 'Not quite how I wanted to tell you all, but it'll do...'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Replies to reviews.
Chibi akuma- Hey! Thanks so much for the review and the comments! Lol! I guess I just took her screen name a different way. Lord of all idiots. That's a kool title. Thanks again, and I hope you liked this chapter!
Midnight- Hey! I just realized I had a poem that is the same as your screen name. Thanks a lot for a great review and all those comments! It's no problem at all for me to review your fic. I thought it was great! I hope you liked this chapter. The ending was kind of blah...
OminousuRinne- Hey hun! I finally got this chapter out, and I'm very glad I got this part done. Finally, Heero finds out! Trowa and Quatre do, too. I think I'll take time off again to map out my chapters and work on an original or something. I could start a new GW fic or SM or HP. I'm not sure! I think I'll have another poll. Well thank you so much for the review! I did review one of your stories, as you can see. I thought it was really good!
LB- Hi! Thank you very much for the review, answering my poll, and the comments. I hope you still like where this is heading. I've gotten really close to the stage I have set myself. I did this one day when I was bored in my journal. This particular stage is admittance to oneself. I'm sure you know what they have to admit. A fic based on ice cream? That's so kool! That's what I was thinking a while back, too, but I don't know how to start.
Alyssa- Hey hun! Wow, I didn't expect you to make it through the first chapter much less review. It's not a bad thing on your part. Just that the more I think about it, the more I realize how boring this could be to someone not really into Gundam Wing... You think that has a lot of dialogue? You should see my other chapters! Well anyway, thank you so much!
x2Angelofdeath- Hey! Wow, that's almost the same name I have for one of my neopets. It's my red korbat. Mucho gracias for the awesome review! I hope you liked this chapter, if you're still reading. Those comments about this fic were wonderful!
Lost in Smiling Eyes- Wow! Thank you for all the great comments and everything else. It's totally fine if you didn't answer the poll; I just wanted to see how other people thought of the characters. Ice cream flavors can tell you a lot about how they think of their characters. I realized something else about Wufei's name. When you have fei and his last name Chang and put them together-it sounds like very! And then it would be weird if his name was fei Chang Wu. It's like very five. Lol, weird ramblings! I really appreciate the review though! I hope you continue to read!
Lil-loud- Hi! I emailed you chapter fourteen like a few days back. I hope it got to you all right. All those positive comments made my day! Thank you so much for sharing them with me! I hope you can get to this chapter this time, and hopefully, you'll enjoy what you read, too!
Saturn- Hi! I'm so glad that you like where this is going! I had this all somewhat planned out in my mind, and I finally got to put it down on paper. It gets more interesting, believe me. I don't want to spoil it, so I'll just leave it at that. Good luck on your fics! I'll have to read some of them when I have time. Marching band starts next week... And you know what? I have no ride home! Mr. Niemiec hasn't replied to my email yet. Hopefully I can guilt someone into taking me home to my lovely computer. Wow. A die-hard 1xR fan with the same name as me? That's interesting. At first I was into 1xR stuff because well I pretty much never saw GW, and all the web sites I went to find information on it all talked about the "disappointment of fans when Heero and Relena just walked away from each other after the EW." What a load of bs... I mean not that I'm "against" 1xR, but haven't they noticed that 1x2 is way more popular? Then I saw some fics on this site that really caught my attention. They were like "Heero and Duo Takes Their Daughter to the Carnival." I was like aren't they both guys? How do they have a daughter (unless adopted)? I don't remember which, but I finally got into 1x2 and fell in love with it. Jeez I rambled... Thanks for answering the poll and everything else!
Baka-sama- Hi! Thank you so very much for the comments and the answer to my poll! I think I'll post the results after I'm done with this. I'll continue that poll in case anyone else wants to vote on it that hasn't already. I'm also going to ask people what a new fic should be because I have no idea. Thanks again!
Loz- Hey! Merci for the great review and answering my poll! Oh and the comments, too! Lol, yeah, I think he would be. He didn't read any of it, right? I remember physics... Newton's Laws of Motion... An object in motion will stay in motion, and an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. When a force is applied on an object, that object will give an equal and opposite force... And all that fun stuff. I preferred chemistry actually even though I got that whiff of ammonia. I love the saying on the T-shirt. Wuffie is so lovable though!
Lady Dragon- Hi! I think you missed chapter fifteen, and yes the intruder is most definitely Chang. I hope you continue to read this fic!
Nile- Kool name! I must come across as a really hyper person to you since you seemed so calm explaining the ice cream flavors... Ah well, I'm just a happy child. I think I can tone it down. Anyway, thank you very much for the answer to the poll. Otherwise I have no idea what you thought about my fic, so I can't exactly saying anything about that. I hope you liked it, though! Well I think your choices were very interesting, and the explanation was well thought out and everything. Thanks again!
Nanashi- Is it almost over? Lol, I mean... I'm here already so soon? Actually it is surprising how fast I went through these. I guess I'm enjoying myself! I think I have like three more to go. And the bittersweet or happy ending wasn't for this fic actually. I had an idea about doing the spin off of Romeo and Juliet, and the question was directed at that. Yes, I think this does deserve a happy ending. Thank you so much for the review! I hope you liked this chapter and will like POW's future!
Nanaki- Okay, answering this one will make me hyper again! Thank you so much for the review and all the comments! You seem to really like Wufei! I think his scowl and everything else is so lovable... Don't worry about the ending! I don't know how people got the idea I was talking about the ending to POW when I was talking about a fic idea! This will have a happy ending, I promise! I'll add some scenes in there that kind of hint that Wufei's jealous. I just want people to be able to take it in a friendly or more than friendly way. Your perspective is your reality after all! Good luck on trying to marry Wufei!
Lokogato- Hey! Thank you very much for the review and comments! Those are a lot of adjectives... I'm so happy that you like it so much! Yes, marching band starts tomorrow... And then band camp is the week after that. I have no ride home... That's not kool. My mom can take me to the 5-9 practices, but I need to get a ride home after that. And then 1-8 she can't take me there or bring me home. 8-6 she can take me there, just not home. I'm in trouble I think... Thanks for wishing me luck! I'll need it.
Shinigami's Voice- Hey! Thank you so very much for the review, answers to poll, and comments! So far, I think most people think Heero is vanilla. It's plain, boring and just there, but still yummy! I personally like vanilla a lot. And I love my Heero, so yay! I hope you didn't have to wait too long for this one. Oh yeah! Guess whose back? If anyone gets this wrong, they would be incredibly dense. Of course there are probably exceptions, but that's ok!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Poll!!!
The ice cream poll will be continuing until I finish this fic, probably. It's... what flavor of ice cream would best fit each of the G boys?
New!!!
If it isn't too much of a hassle, I have fic ideas on my profile, and if anyone wants to tell me which one they think I should write, I would love a response!
Also!!!
If you could marry anyone on GW, who would it be?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Results...
I'll post the results after the last chapter (ice cream/marriage poll). And no, I don't know how long this is going to be.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Another chapter is over! Haha! Guess whose back? I would really love a review and response to the polls!
Chapter Sixteen
Recap:
"Heero..." he rasped in response, staring straight into the dark blue color. "No..." he shook his head slowly. "You-you-you died," his brow creased in confusion and denial. "You're dead... My dream. And-it was all over the news... The huge explosion, and oh God..." He instantaneously shot up, embracing the confused soldier with fierce fervor and to insure his reality. "There were no survivors except for, for me-you died..." his voice cracked slightly at the last word, muffled through Heero's wife-beater. The astonished soldier hesitantly wrapped his arms loosely around the normally cheerful pilot, resting at his waist. Slowly comforted by each other touch, peace seemed to conquer the nightmares and calm the fears...
* * *
For a long, lingering moment of true peace, they rested in each other's arms, just simply being near him, holding him, made everything else disappear. Heero felt content for first time in many, many years, no confusion, no thoughts, no denial, just peaceful silence. With procrastination, the Prussian-eyed soldier eased the boy from his arms. Gazes of midnight blue and soft violet locked for a small second before they became painstakingly aware of their current position. Duo's dark glance slid away shyly, and he released a soft laugh of embarrassment.
"Uh... Sorry, man," he apologized, one hand reaching behind his thick tresses to scratch the back of his head. "Bad dream, that's all." 'Nightmarish is more like it. He's still alive...'
"How did I die?" Ignoring the braided boy's apology, Heero asked him without warning.
"It was what happened after the-other dream," Duo explained, stumbling over the explanation. "You had to go, and all of a sudden, there was this big explosion. I don't know how..." his brow creased deeply, "But I survived it miraculously. And I saw that the whole place was pretty much obliterated. I ran. I ran as far as I could, not looking back. On the way to whatever hole I called home I saw the reporters and media was everywhere. No one knew what happened," his voice grew quieter with every sentence that rolled off his tongue with such difficulty.
"You hid... Didn't you?" Heero questioned softly.
"What else could I do?" All the despair and loneliness he felt then haunted his voice, his eyes. He raised his blue-violet depths after he spoke. "You seemed like a ghost when you woke me up..." he confessed, "even though denied that you had died. Until I could see evidence, I couldn't believe the news or what I had seen. Something was missing."
"What was?" confused, gently, he pressed the other pilot.
"It felt like-" he murmured, losing himself in Prussian blue orbs, "like in my heart, I knew you were alive," he breathed quietly. He shook his head slightly as if to clear stray wanderings and thoughts. "As weird as that sounds," a touch of his normal humor reentered the serious tone. "It's strange," he chortled lightly. "Even now that I'm awake, it seems like I'm remembering more and more things about it. "I know you think it's my overactive imagination, but I-" he was cut off.
"Iie," Heero interjected roughly, looking away himself.
"What? What do you mean?" Puzzlement clouded over the dark lilac. Again, the braided soldier attempted to catch the glance of the perfect soldier, matching the Japanese youth's futile attempts of refusal. "Heero," he spoke in a warning tone.
"I had the same dream," he admitted at last. "The only difference was that it was from my point of view."
Purple pools widened enormously, "Shit!" he swore. "Are you serious?" unwilling, hope flared in his heart, anticipation.
In answer to his question, Heero's callused palm reached out slowly, shifting through folds of black clothing in search of a singular object. His solid grasp brushed against Duo's skin, and he unwillingly shivered, not understanding the stoic pilot's actions. His mouth formed questions, but no words could bypass his parched throat; he could only watch. Finding the object it had been searching for, his grip extracted from beneath the layers, gingerly clasping a simple, gold cross. Duo still could only watch in surprise.
"I saw this..." Heero explained. "I saw it around your neck."
"My cross," he muttered in amazement. "I've never let anyone touch it before," mumbling sounded from his mouth. "You..." cobalt orbs turned to stare at the Japanese youth, narrowing just a little. "Whenever someone gets near it, I would get medieval on 'em even if I wasn't consciously aware of it. The Oz guards even learned to back off after the first time..."
"It didn't happen to me," the dark-haired pilot provided an obvious statement.
"I know," Duo trailed off, not knowing what to say. Abruptly, he decided to speak again, "I remember that we both found this cross the first day we met," he smiled, lips curving gently. "I guess it's as much yours as it is mine," looking thoughtful for a minute, he grinned. "Of course I had it longer," corrected the American.
'Was it really a memory? That explanation is growing more plausible by the second. I have more important things to worry about right now.' "Duo," the single word brought about the America pilot's attention.
Tilting his head to the side, absentminded, violet eyes glanced upward at the soldier expectantly, "Hmm?"
"I received an assignment last night," Sudden authority made its return in his tone of voice and body language, pushing away any meandering thoughts that lingered around him. "I depart from this safehouse in around an hour from now."
"What's the assignment?" dark orchid narrowed in question, and Duo leaned closer towards the messy-haired soldier in effort to hear the quiet words.
"Classified," he stated flatly, giving him an even gaze with dark blue eyes. "Do not attempt to escape, do not attempt to go anywhere, and do not cause any trouble," he warned in complete monotone.
'Like hell I won't...' An idea instantly lit up in Duo's mind. "Why can't you tell me what it is?" he inquired curiously.
"It's classified information as I have said before," the Japanese youth reiterated himself.
"So it's dangerous," he nodded in acceptance, carefully watching the reaction he would receive. Nothing crossed the Asian features of Heero's face.
"Not inevitably, just classified," retorted he, gazing impassively into amethyst orbs.
Blowing a stray, chestnut colored bang away from his heart-shaped face, Duo exasperated. "You can't even tell me if it's dangerous or not?"
"If by dangerous you mean there are risks, then yes, Duo, it is dangerous," Heero responded in a clipped voice.
"How big are these risks?" he murmured softly.
"Our difference in judgement of how large the risks are vary, so to provide completely accurate information is an impossibility," once again, the perfect soldier easily evaded the question.
"Well do you consider it to be dangerous?" raising a finely arced eyebrow, Duo specified.
"It does not matter. I am just doing what I was born to do," a simple statement.
"You weren't born to be a damn soldier," Duo whispered lowly, a dangerous mask of control concealed his underlying anger as he gazed at him evenly, impassively.
"It's the purpose of my existence," the Prussian-eyed youth responded.
"No," the braided one shook his head with a somehow emotionless smile playing across his lips, "you were meant to do more than just fight. What happens when this war is over?"
'I've already discussed this with him once. Stupid American.'
With a mouth already equipped with the answer, Duo immediately interrupted his voice before it had a chance to be heard, "You will live through this."
"You cannot be certain," Heero protested.
"Of this," he gestured, "I can."
"I consider it dangerous," he confessed finally, cutting off the violet-eyed one's rambling. 'I don't need to waste any further time with this baka.' "You have your answer. Do not attempt to escape, do not attempt to go anywhere, and do not cause any trouble," he repeated his initial warning, emphasizing the do nots clearly.
"Yeah, I know," Duo sighed, a bored expression relaxing his heart- shaped face. 'Guess he means no seeing Deathscythe either, huh? Well we'll see about that, Yuy.'
He rubbed his groggy eyes; yawning and stretching sleep-laden arms, the pilot blinked several times in succession before he felt like he could leave the comfort of the bed. 'I need to find Wufei... Maybe he knows that this mission is all about.' With that thought implanted into his mind, he, in a determined pace, began to dress himself. And the white, oak door was swinging closed before a minute was over.
Bounding down the stairwell, brimming with endless energy, Duo casually looked around the area. He never ceased to be amazed by the beautiful design of the house although he had resided there for five days now. The braided pilot noticed no sign of the Chinese man as he strode through each room of the lavish mansion.
Surprisingly, it was Wufei that had spotted him first, "Maxwell?" a slight scowl was present on his features, but he rarely looked happy. 'I'm lucky that I could actually find him in this place.'
"Hey Wu-man!" Duo greeted him warmly, slapping the Asian pilot behind the back.
"My name is Wufei!" going along with their almost routine greeting, the undignified soldier's obsidian eyes narrowed to glare sternly at him.
"Aww! But Wu-man is so much more fun. Plus I get to piss you off," laughed the American. "Come to think of it, it kind of sounds like woman," he mused mostly to himself yet loud enough for both soldiers to concisely hear the words.
The pilot of Shenlong growled, "You're the one with that three feet long braid," he pointed out. Instantaneously, he yelped in surprise/pain as he felt a solid grip enclose and yank at his short ponytail. "Kisama!" he swore, twirling around to face a broadly grinning Duo.
"You have pretty long hair for a guy, too!" he retorted. "Hey, maybe I can do a makeover and make you look like a true 'Wu-man!'"
"Onnas are weak," Wufei grumbled. "Look, I did have a reason that I came to find you this morning."
"What?"
"You're coming along on that mission with us. 03 and 04 will also be there along with Yuy and myself," he informed him.
"Huh? All of us?" perplexed blue-violet stared questioningly at the Asian pilot.
"That's what Master O had said on the message," he looked at him grimly.
"But that means-" Amethyst pools grew impossibly large. "Oh fuck!" he cursed. 'So it was a dangerous mission... Why else would they need all five of us? I must have gotten that assignment on my laptop, which is-in Deathscythe.' "Where's Heero?" frantically he searched for the Japanese youth with no avail.
"I saw him leave to get ready for it just a while ago," Wufei recalled from his memory.
"Then I guess he'll have to find out in battle..." he murmured softly to himself. 'That makes it so much easier to bring up...' he thought wryly. "Take me to Deathscythe," he commanded the Chinese boy, the same, hard glint in his eye during a mission flashed in the cobalt pools.
Nodding with understanding, Wufei agreed quickly to the braided pilot's order. 'It will take at least fifteen, solid minutes of running to get to Duo's hangar from here. He doesn't know where it is-so I have to go with him. That leaves roughly twenty minutes for me to be ready to fight. It should be possible.'
The cobalt-eyed soldier trailed behind him as they dashed past the dark, leafy-green cover of foliage. It wasn't as quick as a sprint; it was a pace more suitable of longer distances for both pilots. 'Thank God Wufei is here... Otherwise I would have been in quite a situation.' "Hey..." he panted out between shallow breaths of oxygen. "How... far...?" The lack of exercise and his injuries would laggard haphazardly at his pace, but still Duo could run a solid five-minute mile while keeping the stamina for a longer period of time. Not his best but it would have to do.
"Just... two and a... third... of a mile... left," his comrade responded, black gaze trained at the terrain in front of the pair.
The bobbing motion indicating his understanding nearly passed the Chinese pilot by. 'I'm coming, buddy... We're gonna fry some Ozzies tonight.' They surrounds passed by as a complete blur of the colors of nature, dizzying to look at, so instead his eyes were focused directly to the goal. A content smirked curled comfortably across his rose lips as familiarities of the area began to piece together in his mind. 'I'm back... Well almost back at least.'
His thick rope of hair slapped against his back, being whipped the by air he sliced neatly through, wisps of dark honey and chestnut framing the elfin features. Wufei's obsidian gaze ran across the sight of the running boy, jaw tightly set in determination. 'He's thinking about Yuy, isn't he? He feels more than just friendship for the guy; I know that much, but does he? Something is different, and he seems to be confused by something. He pushes it away, thinking of the battle. How long will this go unnoticed? That will depend on the success of the mission. They seem so in sync with each other. I have never seen either of them act this way. And they way they kissed... Kuso! Why am I concerning myself with other people's love matters when there is a battle ready to start?' Wiping his previous thoughts from memory, he steered Maxwell towards the expertly concealed hangar, pace slowing.
"Remember this place?" he asked, still breathless, turning his head to face the braided joker.
"Whoo!" he laughed outright. "I so out of shape!" he grinned at the Chinese boy next to him. Hands supported his upper-body weight, placing pressure on slightly bent knees, and he breathed heavily. "Yeah... Hey... Want me to give you a lift?" the suggestive wriggling of his eyebrows added a finishing touch to his humor.
Incredulous, ebony depths widened enormously at the ridiculous proposition, "Cram two people in a gundam cockpit?!"
"Hey!" Duo pouted. "How do you think I got here?"
"You two are insane..." he mumbled under his recovering breath.
"Resourceful, yes," he agreed thoughtfully. "Heero insane? Could it be?!"
"If that's how you want to put it," he couldn't contain the small smirk. "Well, Maxwell, I'll see you in battle." He gave an offhand wave with his slender digits as he left Duo in front of the hangar.
Watching the retreating figure of his friend, Duo gave a small frown, "Guess he didn't take me seriously."
With a shrug, he accessed entrance to the hangar with ease. Light filtered through the opening, and the braided soldier's smile grew even broader as the magnificence of his gundam, Deathscythe, was revealed in all its glory to his relaxed stance. He slowly approached the massive machine, examining the mecha, tracing a finger across it almost lovingly.
"Missed me?" he smiled softly. "We have to do really great tonight," he informed Deathscythe. "We got to impress Heero and the others. Completing a successful mission would do the trick, don't you think?" he patted the sleek, gundanium alloy twice.
He climbed aboard the massive advanced mobile suit without much struggle and into the cockpit. Carelessly strewn about the floor was his laptop, which he hastily picked up and turned on to rid himself of the insistent and not to mention annoying beeping. He carefully read the parameters of this mission and reread until it was ingrained into his temporary memory storage space. The instructions were not overly difficult, but the risk assessments were enormous considering the odds. Five against an entire army of elite fighters from Oz hardly seems fair but then again, a gundam pilot is trained to be the very best of the best. So wrapped up in his thoughts, one of the so-called best had forgotten to accept his mission before he took his leave...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This is all your fault, J," G grumbled rather loudly.
"How is this my fault?" Dr. J questioned, eyes blazing behind a pair of goggles.
"Your boy, 01," he sneered, "captured 02. And now, he doesn't know about the mission!"
The old man released a twisted scowl, "Well 02 should have told him who he was in the first place!"
"This is useless... I guess we'll just have to make do with four. Since there's not much we can do about it."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"02 is not coming," the impassive face of Heero Yuy flashed on the other pilots' intercoms. "He never accepted or rejected the assignment he was given." 'That pilot is the only one I haven't met yet.'
Wufei nearly betrayed his shock, obsidian depths widening only slightly before returning to the normal state. 'Maxwell, you baka! You forgot to accept the mission, didn't you?'
"05, you mentioned you have done some missions with him," Quatre remembered suddenly. "Do you know where he could be?"
As the Chinese pilot parted his mouth to speak, the strangest possibility flashed across Heero's mind. 'Is 02...?' He never got to complete the thought as the first specks of aerial mobile suits appeared. "We have to do this with four pilots," he announced, body tensing in preparation for battle.
"Make that five!" an all too familiar voice rang through the intercom. "Shinigami ga jigoku kara mai modotte kita ze!" A youthful American with a three feet long braid snaking behind him and a pair of cobalt eyes smirked at shocked faces. 'Not quite how I wanted to tell you all, but it'll do...'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Replies to reviews.
Chibi akuma- Hey! Thanks so much for the review and the comments! Lol! I guess I just took her screen name a different way. Lord of all idiots. That's a kool title. Thanks again, and I hope you liked this chapter!
Midnight- Hey! I just realized I had a poem that is the same as your screen name. Thanks a lot for a great review and all those comments! It's no problem at all for me to review your fic. I thought it was great! I hope you liked this chapter. The ending was kind of blah...
OminousuRinne- Hey hun! I finally got this chapter out, and I'm very glad I got this part done. Finally, Heero finds out! Trowa and Quatre do, too. I think I'll take time off again to map out my chapters and work on an original or something. I could start a new GW fic or SM or HP. I'm not sure! I think I'll have another poll. Well thank you so much for the review! I did review one of your stories, as you can see. I thought it was really good!
LB- Hi! Thank you very much for the review, answering my poll, and the comments. I hope you still like where this is heading. I've gotten really close to the stage I have set myself. I did this one day when I was bored in my journal. This particular stage is admittance to oneself. I'm sure you know what they have to admit. A fic based on ice cream? That's so kool! That's what I was thinking a while back, too, but I don't know how to start.
Alyssa- Hey hun! Wow, I didn't expect you to make it through the first chapter much less review. It's not a bad thing on your part. Just that the more I think about it, the more I realize how boring this could be to someone not really into Gundam Wing... You think that has a lot of dialogue? You should see my other chapters! Well anyway, thank you so much!
x2Angelofdeath- Hey! Wow, that's almost the same name I have for one of my neopets. It's my red korbat. Mucho gracias for the awesome review! I hope you liked this chapter, if you're still reading. Those comments about this fic were wonderful!
Lost in Smiling Eyes- Wow! Thank you for all the great comments and everything else. It's totally fine if you didn't answer the poll; I just wanted to see how other people thought of the characters. Ice cream flavors can tell you a lot about how they think of their characters. I realized something else about Wufei's name. When you have fei and his last name Chang and put them together-it sounds like very! And then it would be weird if his name was fei Chang Wu. It's like very five. Lol, weird ramblings! I really appreciate the review though! I hope you continue to read!
Lil-loud- Hi! I emailed you chapter fourteen like a few days back. I hope it got to you all right. All those positive comments made my day! Thank you so much for sharing them with me! I hope you can get to this chapter this time, and hopefully, you'll enjoy what you read, too!
Saturn- Hi! I'm so glad that you like where this is going! I had this all somewhat planned out in my mind, and I finally got to put it down on paper. It gets more interesting, believe me. I don't want to spoil it, so I'll just leave it at that. Good luck on your fics! I'll have to read some of them when I have time. Marching band starts next week... And you know what? I have no ride home! Mr. Niemiec hasn't replied to my email yet. Hopefully I can guilt someone into taking me home to my lovely computer. Wow. A die-hard 1xR fan with the same name as me? That's interesting. At first I was into 1xR stuff because well I pretty much never saw GW, and all the web sites I went to find information on it all talked about the "disappointment of fans when Heero and Relena just walked away from each other after the EW." What a load of bs... I mean not that I'm "against" 1xR, but haven't they noticed that 1x2 is way more popular? Then I saw some fics on this site that really caught my attention. They were like "Heero and Duo Takes Their Daughter to the Carnival." I was like aren't they both guys? How do they have a daughter (unless adopted)? I don't remember which, but I finally got into 1x2 and fell in love with it. Jeez I rambled... Thanks for answering the poll and everything else!
Baka-sama- Hi! Thank you so very much for the comments and the answer to my poll! I think I'll post the results after I'm done with this. I'll continue that poll in case anyone else wants to vote on it that hasn't already. I'm also going to ask people what a new fic should be because I have no idea. Thanks again!
Loz- Hey! Merci for the great review and answering my poll! Oh and the comments, too! Lol, yeah, I think he would be. He didn't read any of it, right? I remember physics... Newton's Laws of Motion... An object in motion will stay in motion, and an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. When a force is applied on an object, that object will give an equal and opposite force... And all that fun stuff. I preferred chemistry actually even though I got that whiff of ammonia. I love the saying on the T-shirt. Wuffie is so lovable though!
Lady Dragon- Hi! I think you missed chapter fifteen, and yes the intruder is most definitely Chang. I hope you continue to read this fic!
Nile- Kool name! I must come across as a really hyper person to you since you seemed so calm explaining the ice cream flavors... Ah well, I'm just a happy child. I think I can tone it down. Anyway, thank you very much for the answer to the poll. Otherwise I have no idea what you thought about my fic, so I can't exactly saying anything about that. I hope you liked it, though! Well I think your choices were very interesting, and the explanation was well thought out and everything. Thanks again!
Nanashi- Is it almost over? Lol, I mean... I'm here already so soon? Actually it is surprising how fast I went through these. I guess I'm enjoying myself! I think I have like three more to go. And the bittersweet or happy ending wasn't for this fic actually. I had an idea about doing the spin off of Romeo and Juliet, and the question was directed at that. Yes, I think this does deserve a happy ending. Thank you so much for the review! I hope you liked this chapter and will like POW's future!
Nanaki- Okay, answering this one will make me hyper again! Thank you so much for the review and all the comments! You seem to really like Wufei! I think his scowl and everything else is so lovable... Don't worry about the ending! I don't know how people got the idea I was talking about the ending to POW when I was talking about a fic idea! This will have a happy ending, I promise! I'll add some scenes in there that kind of hint that Wufei's jealous. I just want people to be able to take it in a friendly or more than friendly way. Your perspective is your reality after all! Good luck on trying to marry Wufei!
Lokogato- Hey! Thank you very much for the review and comments! Those are a lot of adjectives... I'm so happy that you like it so much! Yes, marching band starts tomorrow... And then band camp is the week after that. I have no ride home... That's not kool. My mom can take me to the 5-9 practices, but I need to get a ride home after that. And then 1-8 she can't take me there or bring me home. 8-6 she can take me there, just not home. I'm in trouble I think... Thanks for wishing me luck! I'll need it.
Shinigami's Voice- Hey! Thank you so very much for the review, answers to poll, and comments! So far, I think most people think Heero is vanilla. It's plain, boring and just there, but still yummy! I personally like vanilla a lot. And I love my Heero, so yay! I hope you didn't have to wait too long for this one. Oh yeah! Guess whose back? If anyone gets this wrong, they would be incredibly dense. Of course there are probably exceptions, but that's ok!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Poll!!!
The ice cream poll will be continuing until I finish this fic, probably. It's... what flavor of ice cream would best fit each of the G boys?
New!!!
If it isn't too much of a hassle, I have fic ideas on my profile, and if anyone wants to tell me which one they think I should write, I would love a response!
Also!!!
If you could marry anyone on GW, who would it be?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Results...
I'll post the results after the last chapter (ice cream/marriage poll). And no, I don't know how long this is going to be.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Another chapter is over! Haha! Guess whose back? I would really love a review and response to the polls!
