I woke up in a cot, in the corner of a small room. The room was very plain, but very clean. A clean room for once, wasn't that lovely? The only other furniture in the room, besides the cot, was a desk and a chair, making me think that I was in an officer's corridor.
"Duo." My first clear and important thought came to me, which was followed by a throbbing pain in my head. I closed my eyes, trying to push it back so I could think. Where was Duo? Was he alive? Had they killed him? I got off the bed and tried the room's door. It was locked, no surprise there. I began to shout and pound on the door with my fists, my head screaming for me to stop, but I wasn't going to until someone told me what was going on. After a couple of minutes of banging on the door I pulled my sore hands back as it opened, and an officer with a smile stood in front of me. I sneered at him and his stupid smile.
"Where's Duo?" I demanded. His smile got a little bigger before he answered me.
"He's being questioned now."
"I want to see him, now." I looked at him with eyes of steel. He laughed at me.
"Miss Relena, perhaps you do not realize your position, so I will define it for you. You are a prisoner of war, therefore threats and demands from you will only bring negative consequences." He glanced back. "But, I believe I can arrange for you to see pilot 02."
He led me to a dingy prison cell, with walls and floors of cold concrete. There wasn't any furniture in this room, or windows. A light high above buzzed on and off, sounding like an annoying fly beside my ear.
"Wait here please." The officer turned and the heavy metal door slammed shut behind him.
"Like I have a choice." I scoffed.
When the door opened, I held back a scream as they shoved Duo in the room and then locked us in. Duo fell to the ground, his hands cuffed. He was badly battered; his face looked like it had been used as a punching bag. I knelt beside him and placed his head carefully into my lap. His right eye was completely swollen shut. He had bruises and abrasions all over him.
"Duo, Duo can you hear me?" His eyes remained closed as he released a shaky breath; I took it as a yes. My eyes scanned him over and stopped. I gently pulled away his shirt where his wounds form before were. "Oh no. Duo, you're bleeding badly." His wounds had reopened. On top of that, he had scratches adorning his entire body from the windshield. What monsters! How could they do this to him? Duo's wheezing brought my attention back.
"Broken ribs." He whispered. I bit my lower lip while I thought of what should be done. Well first I needed to stop the bleeding. I glanced around for a clean cloth but there was nothing in the room. I was about to take my tang top off, leaving only my bra left, when the door to the cell opened. A man threw a tin box on the floor, which caused a loud hollow clang and several echoes to follow it.
"Keep him alive." He said and shut the door. He had thrown a first aid kit in the room, which I quickly put to use.
I kept a vigil over him while he was either asleep or unconscious, I wasn't sure which, and frankly it didn't matter, as long as he wasn't feeling the pain. When his left foot began to rock back and forth I looked down at his face, his head still rested on my lap and his eyes remained closed.
"Duo?"
"Just thinking." He said in a rough voice from lack of use and water. "Did you get to see where we are? They made sure I couldn't."
"Um, no, the car had tinted windows."
"About how long would you say we drove?" He asked, still keeping his eyes closed.
"Um, let me think, about two hours."
"Hmm."
"Duo?"
"Just trying to figure out where we are. Would you say we went north the majority of the way?"
"I don't know Duo! I wasn't able to think that clear." I looked away from him. "Sorry." My tone hadn't been too pleasant. I was tired, hungry, and wanted to be as far from that place as possible.
"That's okay. I'm gonna need your help though."
"Okay."
"I want to save up as much energy as I can, for an escape, or hopefully a rescue. I need you to describe the cell's door to me." I looked at the huge door.
"It's big, metal, and looks heavy." Duo released a snort at my vague description.
"Is there a code block beside it?"
"No, nothing."
"Damn, can only open and close from the outside. Can you press and push on the door, see if it moves in the slightest?"
"Sure." I gently laid his head on the floor as I got up and walked over to the door. I tried to move it in any way I could think of, but it wouldn't budge.
"No luck?"
"Nope." I turned and went back to him.
"Describe the room." I glanced around.
"Not much to describe. It's about ten by ten, concrete walls and floors. The ceiling is, oh, I'd say about fifteen feet high with one light fixture that is annoyingly buzzing and flickering every once in awhile."
"No windows?" He asked hopefully.
"Nope." I shot down his hope and sat back beside him.
"Damn! They're not given me anything. Okay, let's see, whenever someone comes in do they close the door behind them, or leave it open?"
"They don't come in, they stay outside."
"Christ!"
"Duo?"
"Pray for a rescue Relena."
We sat in silence, me wishing we were out of there, and Duo devising a plan for that to happen. When the door opened both of our heads shot in its direction. A large man dressed in an OZ uniform stood in the doorway, glaring at us like we were some kind of disease. To my surprise, he had a black eye. I swear I heard Duo release a small groan as he looked away from the man. No, they're not-
"Pilot 02, come with me." Duo sighed.
"You know," he raised his head up from my lap and looked at the man again, "I really would like to, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have ta decline your offer." The man's face contorted, taking on the appearance of some kind of monster, that or he was revealing his true self. I gripped Duo's shoulder.
"Don't sass me you little bitch!" He sharply pointed his finger at Duo as he yelled.
"Oh, is that what I am? Then it must've been pretty embarrassing telling your friends who gave you that black eye." The officer in one movement crossed the room and had Duo up in the air by his neck. I screamed as he pushed me aside and held onto Duo.
"You're gonna pay for that!" Duo brought his hands up and tried to pry the man's off of his neck. His face began to go from bright red to purple and he began to make noises while he struggled for air. I stood up and pounded my fists on the man's back.
"Let go of him! Let go!" He shoved me away without even looking at me.
"Officer Morris!" The officer and I both turned to see a commander in front of the cell's door. "Release him."
"I'll finish this later." He whispered before he allowed Duo to fall to the ground. Duo immediately began to gag as he tried to fill his burning lungs with air. The officer left at the order of his commander.
"Duo!" I knelt down beside him. His eyes were tightly shut and he shakily wheezed in and out. He released some coughs then sat up, shaking his head. He fought to gain control over his breathing then grinned.
"That," he coughed again, "went as I thought." His voice was harsh from the damage caused to his throat, which was already turning black and blue. I looked at him in shock.
"You mean you did that on purpose!?" He nodded his head yes. I smacked him in the back of the head.
"Ow." He complained as he glared at me.
"Ah, I can't believe you! You made me worry and-Ah!" I smacked him again.
"Hey, hey!" He threw his hands up. "Enough already, enough! I'm injured remember?"
"Ha, you think that now, wait till I'm through with you." I raised my hand.
"Whoa, whoa!" Duo waved his hands. "Let me explain!" I brought my hand back down.
He opened his one eye and looked at me. Seeing that I wasn't going to strike him, he opened his other eye, but kept his hands raised still.
"Geesh, how does Heero put up with you?" I raised my hand slightly. "Okay, okay!" He put his arms down and leaned against one of the walls. "Well, it was like a test, and Officer Morris passed it." I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "You see, you said that they never enter the room, well now we know it takes some coaxing. Next time I'll jump him, then we make our getaway."
I shook my head. "He's not going to come back in here, he'll get in trouble."
"Oh no, he'll be back, because he got in trouble. His prides been wounded, he's going to want to fix that. And since he'll get in trouble, he'll make sure no one's around. That'll save us the trouble of extra guards by the cell door."
He really had thought all of this out. He looked over his shoulder at me.
"Forgive me?"
I smiled and nodded yes. "Let me see if I can do anything with your" I paused looking at his state and then just waved my hand motioning to all of him, "you."
It was awhile after I had finished bandaging the worst parts of a battered Duo when the door opened and the commander who had stopped the brute from strangling Duo appeared. "Pilot 02, come with me." Duo glanced over at me and shot me a smile before he pushed off the wall we were both resting against and walked unsteadily over to the man. He wouldn't be able to bait the levelheaded man in. I bit my lower lip as I watched the door close behind him.
–
The door opened again after a good thirty minutes had passed. I held my breath, waiting to see Duo's condition. It wasn't Duo in the doorway; it was the man who had brought me there. I sneered at him.
"Let's go." Go? What? No, I couldn't leave. I had to be there for Duo and when we escaped it'd be too hard from him to come and find me.
"I want to stay." I stood up from sitting on the floor.
"Come, you've been in here long enough."
"No, I want to stay here." I balled my hands into fists and let them rest at my sides. He studied me, like I was a puzzle that's pieces just wouldn't fit together.
"Fine. I'm warning you though, if you remain here you'll receive no special treatment. No meals, nothing." He waited, as if I would change my mind at the threat of a lack of food. When I didn't move, he shook his head and shut the door.
One point for Relena I cheered.
–
When Duo finally returned, I couldn't tell if much more was done to him, since so many bruises already decorated him. He leaned against the wall and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. "Duo?" I sat down beside him.
"We have to get out of here soon." He said it without looking at me.
"What happened?" My voice was coated with concern.
"Empty threats," he shrugged, "don't worry about it."
I touched his hands, causing him to look at me.
"What threats?"
He sighed. "They're using you." He shook his head, he wasn't about to say they were threatening to kill me to get what they wanted, but he didn't have to, I knew it. "Don't worry, we'll get out of here."
"I know it." The exhaustion that I had been fighting off for so long finally came over me. I rested my head on his shoulder. "Don't worry, everything will be fine." I said softly, even though I didn't know how that would be possible.