The Necessary Evils: Chapter 11
Notes:
Thanks for your patience! *stupid physics* *stupid job* *stupid student's council!* I've been busy which coincided with a horrible case of writer's block that's been progressively worse over the past few months. It suddenly broke tonight, and all seven pages are the result of a few hours of fevered typing and long pauses at the keyboard. I'm gonna send it to be beta-d so if my grammar's horrible I apologize, but I'm going to be egotistical and assume there's someone out there waiting for the next chapter, so I'll just re-load the edited version in a few days!
It's my 18th b-day tomorrow~! *does a happy dance* Exactly nine months after valentine's day.....hmmm..... anyway: on to the story!
The cleanup took longer than the battle itself. Of course, since the battle had only lasted about thirty seconds, it wasn't surprising. Heero, Wufei and Trowa silently patrolled the battlefield, piling the bodies and charred shells of burnt-out Libras, Scorpios and Leos in their mobile suits. They were looking for survivors, away thing that could tell them how their location was revealed. Bodies didn't usually bother him, but the hair on the back of Trowa's neck rose. Through the char and ash, the metal debris and bubbled skin, he could see that whatever had piloted the mobile suits had once possessed fur and claws, tentacles, horns and wings. Whatever piloted these suits had not been human.
The carnage raised another question. How come the mobile suits and their pilots were completely destroyed, ripping apart any enemies within a kilometer radius, and nearly varporising any within a hundred meters, when the only other damage done was a few up-rooted trees, cracks in the walls, and deep furrows made by flying shrapnel. How could that be possible?
What had Duo and Hotaru done?
The logical part of his brain warred with the conflicting ideas that such power was dangerous, and should be destroyed, and that maybe this power could be useful. Try as they may, there were always civilian casualties, could this power be a way to spare the innocent?
Like it or not, the illogical part wanted to throw up though he kept an impassive face. Still, he cursed the day he brought the strange girls into their lives.
While three of the boys cleared away the carnage, Quatre and Iria were running tests on Hotaru and Duo, who couldn't seem to stop finishing each other's sentences and grinning like idiots. Duo was lying down, mostly motionless on a medical gurney, while Hotaru seemed a little tired but fine. Duo, never having been used as a channel for magical energy before, was exhausted. He was too tired to do anything but breathe, and talk, apparently.
"So, did you...?" Duo began, as Hotaru was studying his gun.
"Yeah," she replied, handing it back to him.
"When..?"
"Yesterday."
"Who?" Duo frowned. Hotaru shrugged.
"Heero." Duo's eyes widened.
"But..."
"I know."
"How?"
"Trust me." She sighed and smiled thinly. They noticed the room had fallen silent apart from Iria's excited gasps as she flipped through their test results. Quatre and Mina were staring. Quatre looked mystified while Mina looked exasperated and amazed in equal parts.
"That's really annoying you know." She commented. "It's rude to talk telepathically in company of others."
Hotaru smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. We were saying a bit out loud." She shrugged, "I guess it's nice to know I'm not deficient or anything. I mean, the rest of you could always contact each other but I never could. I was blocked until this link was blown open again."
"I don't understand," Mina said in an undertone to Duo and Hotaru as Quatre was called to the other side of the medlab to assist Iria. "You were never able to control your blasts before, it was either all, or practically nothing. You could either use small bursts, or let loose and destroy the world. I don't get it! I wasn't able to visualise before, and I heal too quickly, even without your help, Hotaru! This doesn't make any sense."
Hotaru opened her mouth to reply, to add a few theories she'd formulated from what her dreams had told her, but she was cut off by a cry from above.
"We've got a live one!" Heero's toneless voice echoed loudly as he and Wufei carried a stretcher down the stairs and into the lab. The body was large, and couldn't have had much strength left inside to hold on. Lying down, the body was about four and a half feet long, with muscled arms and torso. The legs were gone. Tufts of blue fur stuck up from where the non-flammable safety harness had covered. The rest of the skin charred and bubbled. Hotaru was revolted, but she could not look away. There were youma in the mobile suits. Oh God. Thousands of youma in mobile suits attacking.
The eyes snapped open and met Hotaru's. "Senshi." It hissed, and broke out into chest-wracking coughs. Blood flowed sluggishly from the leg stumps at his hips. The wounds were nearly cauterized by the blast. It hissed again, softer, too soft for her to hear. Hotaru stumbled off the table to lean closer as Iria frantically bound his raw flesh. You couldn't interrogate a prisoner if they're dead.
"Damn you." I hissed again.
"How did you find us? Why are you here?" Mina interrupted.
The burns on his mouth and cheeks cracked as he tried to smile. "You. Her. The dreams. Tracked'em. She blocked us later. Too late. Too late. She found you." His eyes unfocused as his weak, burned voice drifted into a raspy, whispered sing-song. Hotaru leaned in closer.
Faster than anyone thought possible, a clawed hand flew up and clamped onto Hotaru's throat. She gasped and twisted in his supernatural grip. A thin line of blood trickled out between his claws. "Your fault. We could have gone home. All your fault. Everything. Always." His last words ended in a soft gurgle.
A death rattle. Hotaru had always thought that it was just an expression, she had never been close enough to hear one before.
"Damn!" Iria cursed. "Damn! Damn! Damn!" She stopped cpr, and just leaned back onto the wall, her head tilted back, lips pressed firmly together. He was an enemy, he had attacked their home, he wasn't even human, but she wasn't a soldier. She was a doctor, and she hated death coming to anyone.
Silence.
Then; Heero spoke. His eyes were dead, flat. She hadn't notice the change, it had happened so gradually over the week, but his face had become less guarded, subtly alive. His eyes were at times quizzical, and sometimes the corner of his mouth would turn up in a slight smirk. His eyes danced like a blue flame when they fought the Youma, then softened when he put his hands on her shoulders to correct her shooting stance.
But not now. "What did he mean, 'tracked your dreams?"
The youma was right. It was all her fault. She opened her mouth to explain, as she looked around at the faces of the others. Iria was dressing the body for cremation, moving slowly with her shoulders hunched as if she was suddenly carrying something heavy. Quatre was standing tentatively close to Mina, looking back and forth between them. The wheels in his head were turning so fast you could practically see them spinning behind his big aqua eyes. Wufei was frowning, with his back held rigid. He wasn't looking at her, but rather, through her he couldn't seem to decide whether or not to believe the beast. Trowa had the same frozen look as Heero. "I..." She began. Mina glanced up at her words, meeting her eyes.
"He said they tracked you." She said. Hotaru didn't like her voice. It was empty, just like when they'd first been re-united. "You've been having the dreams, haven't you?"
Hotaru tried to answer, tried to explain that, yes, she'd had some malevolent nightmares, but she's thought it was her own guilt that caused them. She'd deserved them for letting everyone down, so she didn't want to worry Mina. She tried to reply, but her throat closed up before she could get the words out. She took a deep breath to try again, to somehow say it in a manner that didn't sound so self-pitying, but Mina cut her off again.
"You've been having the dreams and you didn't think that maybe I'd like to know?" Mina knew she shouldn't be getting angry, but everything was just building and building and she couldn't stop herself. She'd thought that maybe everything was starting to get okay again. Sure, she was sad, and no, she didn't know how to deal with the mass murder of her best friends, but then again, who does? She figured it safe to put it off for a while until she got everything straight in her head. She was starting to put things back together, fitting pieces in the jigsaw, making this world her own.
And there was Quatre. She didn't mean to, she really didn't, but he was so nice and funny and sweet. He told her she was pretty. All these years, she tried to convince herself that love at first sight didn't exist. It wasn't possible to just *know * at the first meeting, look at Usagi and Mamoru. They hated each other for years, and their love was destiny. Sometimes she was jealous, but she knew, watching them, that even if it was destined to be, it didn't necessarily make it any easier. Sometimes they died, sometimes they left for no reason, sometimes they were slaughtered in a surprise attack by an enemy long thought dead. She was stupid and sad, he was sweet as he listened to her, so she let him. Then he had to do something shitty like spy on her.
Now Hotaru was keeping things from her too. Secrets that endangered them all. She tried not to get mad, but somehow, while her mind was working on this, her body, over-taxed by the emotional upheavals of the day ended up screaming at her.
"How could you not tell me you knew something was wrong! You knew! I know you did, you just didn't think I could handle it." Hotaru's eyes brimmed as she froze to the spot under Mina's assualt.
"Don't yell at her like that!" Duo yelled, from where he was lying, he didn't hear most of the youma's last accusations. "It's not her fault!" Duo added.
Wufei jumped in, snarling. He seemed undecided still, but he couldn't resist getting in a barb at Mina. Quatre added his voice to the melee, trying to calm the high emotions, but it just raised the noise level.
The noise grew louder until Iria shreiked, "Shut up! Shut up!" Heero fired his gun into the foundation.
Silence.
Everyone turned to Hotaru. Her mouth opened an closed, but no sound came out. Tears began to spill down her cheeks. "I-I'm sorry." She stammered, then she turned on her heel and bolted out of the room.
"What was that?" Iria asked shaking her head, "I don't understand what just happened, but I hope you're proud of yourselves. Excuse me, I have a patient to bury." She shouldered Wufei and Heero aside as she wheeled the commander youma out of the room.
*****
He didn't really want to do it, but being the perfect soldier meant he must. It wasn't really her choice but he had to get rid of her. She was dangerous to the mission. She was getting dangerous to him. His programming should have allowed him to just shoot her, no guilt, no fuss.
"What?" Hotaru snapped.
"Open the door." Heero ordered. She didn't, but she hadn't locked it either. He walked in to find her curled into the fetal postion of her bed. He wondered how many tears a person could cry before they just dried up, empty. "Explain what Mina said."
Hotaru said nothing.
" Explain yourself, Hotaru." Heero repeated.
"Why don't you go ask her?" Hotaru replied. Like Iria, she didn't sound angry, just tired.
"Because I'm asking you, and I want an answer. Now."
She didn't turn to face him, but she answered. "There is no experiment, Heero. No agents, no experiments. Mina and I, well, we're the re-incarnations of magical warriors from the past." She didn't need to see his face to know that he didn't believe her. He kept silent however, allowing her to finish. "We were the court guard to the Princess of the Moon. She was beautiful, tall and silver and soft blues, like moonlight. She was graceful and kind, I liked serving her." Hotaru explained. She told him about Mistress Nine, and the first time she'd discovered her powers. How she'd hid and cried when she found out she could blow up a planet with a gesture. She was terrified of her power, as she still was. She told him about the battles, the Crystal Tokyo and the last battle, the portal, what they'd discovered since. Things she'd never told anyone, things she'd never had to tell anyone. Anyone who needed to know were there as it happened. Heero was silent during her entire monologue. "I know you probably don't believe me, but ask Mina, ask Iria. They'll tell you it's true."
Heero didn't want to believe it, but it fit too well. Every action, bits of obscure history, their occasional odd turn of phrase, all wrapped up in a neat, magical tragedy. "I believe you." he replied.
Hotaru turned over, staring with wide, red-rimmed eyes. "I believe you," he repeated cooly, "But since I believe you, your weak mental defenses from your injuries led them here, and they may have a lock on you, wherever you go. That cannot be tolerated. You cannot control your thought while dreaming. You could compromise the future of the world." He wasn't accusing, just matter-of-fact.
"You're going to have to leave. It's not a request." Heero knew he was doing the right thing, but he still had to look away as her sudden hope crumpled, "Where am I going to go?" She asked, dazed.
"I don't know." He gave her a folder. "Here's some money. Will you be gone by morning?"
She stared at the folder he placed in her hands, and nodded mutely. He was the leader. She put them in danger. She understood, she really did. She told herself not to let him see her cry.
He stopped as he reached the door and looked at her over his shoulder. His blinked and studied her face. Maybe he'd changed his mind? No, he stiffened his resolve, "Sorry." He muttered as he shut the door behind him.
She wanted to scream and cry and rage, but instead she folded the medical scrubs she'd been wearing neatly and stacked them inside a med bag. She added her toothbrush, some toothpaste, a towel, some i.d.'s Trowa made for them before they'd woken up and a gun she'd filched from the armory on the way back to her room after she'd fled their accusing glares. She'd felt so guilty, she'd thought to end it all, before she realized that it wouldn't make her feel better.
She'd felt guilty and hated herself. It was her fault. They were right. She'd kept it from Mina when Mina shared all of her discoveries. True. She compromised their position. Heero was right that she was a liability, but she'd been unconscious while they'd locked onto her! It wasn't as if she'd asked for these abilities that she could barely control or understand. Hadn't she tried? Hadn't she and Duo gotten rid of the threat with only minimal damage on their side? They were afraid of her now. She understood that, but still, she was angry.
She took the keys to Heero's jeep and a few fuel cans and set out, angry, alone and more than a little afraid.
******
Mina felt bad for blowing up on Hotaru. She'd tossed and turned all night, worrying her fingernails into ragged stumps. She had a reason to be upset, but she didn't have to do it yelling. She took a deep breath and threw off the covers. She would apologize this morning and they'd talk it over like reasonable adults. She resolved to speak to Quatre as well, explain her point of view. She knew he hadn't meant any harm, but she'd felt too violated to explain to him why she was mad.
It was her curse, she thought, to feel to strongly and too suddenly for her to be rational.
******
Mina was on a high. She'd talked to Quatre this morning over breakfast. He'd been so sweet. He'd stammered his apologies and how he should have known better. They'd ended up laughing about how Iria had chewed him out and playing on the tire swing which, amazing enough, still hung on an upright tree. They spun round and round and she'd shrieked until her belly hurt. She wished that moment could have lasted forever, but he reminded her that she'd meant to make amends with Hotaru. All her senses were cranked to the max. They were upwind from the battle scene, and the air smelled like apples and clover. He smelled like soap, cheerios, and peppermint gum. She wondered if he tasted like peppermint too.
She smiled as she skipped up the stairs. He kissed her softly, and nudged her toward the house, telling her to apologize then come back out to play. He kissed her!
"Hotaru? Hotaru? Look, I'm sorry, could you just let me in?" She knocked at the door. There was no answer. Mina waited.
.
.
.
.
.
"I'm sorry I yelled. Can we talk?" Nope, nothing was going to spoil her mood today. Maybe 'Taru was still asleep. She poked her head into the room.
"Strange," She muttered as she took in the bed, neatly made up, the open, empty wardrobe and the missing bag she'd used to cart her meager possessions from the hospital wing to a normal room.
Her forehead crinkled and she moved her head slowly side to side. The bathroom was empty. No toiletries. That's when it hit her. Hotaru was gone. "No. No. NO!" She cried. She didn't mean for this to happen! What if OZ was still tracking her? They could corner her alone. 'Taru didn't know this world any better than she did, she could be tricked, or arrested or worse!
She wouldn't run off after a little fight like that. Mina was sure she had realized the situation. She knew someone would have told her to go.
Heero. The suspicious jerk would jump to immediate conclusions. Mina hauled ass down the hall in the direction she was sure Heero's quarters lay.
*****
"Heero, what did you say to Hotaru last night?" Mina asked, stepping out of the adjacent room. She's been waiting for him. He glared at her and attempted to brush past her, but she moved with him, positioning herself between him and the stairwell. With surprising strength, she held him there, her left palm pressed against his chest, one eyebrow raised. "What the hell is your problem Yuy?" She drew herself up into a regal stance, shoulder back, neck stretched, and ribcage held high, drawing on her millennia as a princess, she looked down at him, "What gives you the right to be so rude to us?"
Heero furrowed his brow, Hotaru had many odd moments like that, where she seemed to lapse into someone older, more dangerous. Nevertheless, he wrapped his steely fingers around Mina's wrist and shoved her out of his path. She landed with a loud thump in an undignified heap on the ground, and her regal grace seemed to melt away.
He strode purposefully down the hallway, stepping over Mina to do so. As he reached the stairway he said, "I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant."
Mina flopped onto her back, her lips pursed and arms crossed, looking quite like she had tasted something sour. "Yuy," she grumbled watching his retreating back, "I don't know what your problem is, but I bet it's hard to pronounce."
"She's gone, Heero." She called. He stopped, and turned back.
"I know." He replied, crossing his arms.
"How dare you. How DARE you!" She hissed, getting to her feet. "She has no defense out there! Do you realize how much danger you've put her in?"
"How dare *I*?" He asked, his voice still lowered a few notches but his face remained impassive. "You were the one accusing her last night. I'm doing this for our safety." Mina's face reddened. "No defense? Someone who can slaughter three mobile suit formations piloted by youma in less than thirty seconds is not generally termed defenseless."
Mina blinked and looked to her feet, the wall, then back up at Heero. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. How do you know about youma?"
Heero was getting impatient. Tossing Hotaru out hadn't been something he'd expected to enjoy, but he it felt unexpectedly bad. He raised an eyebrow, "How do you think? She told me, explained. After seeing a few hundred dead, inhuman creatures, I'd say I was entitled, Senshi Venus."
Mina's eyes blazed. "You know who I am."
Heero nodded.
"Then you know what I can do. I don't care if you have a gun. I don't care if it endangers your current mission. I don't care if it compromises our position. I .DON"T. CARE. You have a new mission. We are going to find her, apologize and bring her home." Mina seemed to grow a foot as her rage grew. Her eyes burned into his and her hair moved in an unseen wind.
"Accepted." He replied. Damn her. She'd spent so much time with Quatre that she'd picked up on his tricks.
Well ladies and gents, what did you think? Questions? Comments? Critiques? All are welcome, please leave a review or e-mail me and I'll get back to you a.s.a.p.!
Next chapter:
Heero gets plastered!
Mina kicks Trieze in the groin!
Soon:
We find out who this mysterious dream-tracker is!
Hotaru finds out Heero's secret!
