"I said 'hello, I think I'm broken',
and though I was only jokin',
it took me by surprise when you agreed.
I was tryin' to be clever.
For the life of me I never
would have guessed how far the simple truth would lead."
~ Diamond Rio - "You're Gone
Wufei was numb - that was the conclusion he came to as he sat hunched on Une's cramped couch, staring at his wadded-up hands. Une bustled around her apartment like a wired bee, muttering in stressed blurts about "where is Sally, she only lives seven blocks away" and "need to start the paperwork" and other random mumblings. She was dealing with the situation as only she knew how - turn it into a mission.
But Wufei...Wufei couldn't do anything. He couldn't think, and he couldn't feel a thing. After crying in Une's arms - yes, the words "crying" and "Une" had been in the same sentence without being followed by "ouch" - he had run out of just about everything. Tears, pain, energy, and even tiredness escaped him. He was just empty. He wanted to be heartbroken! He wanted to be furious! But he wasn't anything at all. Just a shell. But that's all he ever was...
A sharp rapping at the door shook him a little, but he didn't go for the door. He just sat there, wondering whether he'd fallen into an alternate universe by mistake.
"Une! Open the damn door and let me in!"
"Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the cot!" snapped Une, walking briskly out of her bathroom towards the front door, which took about ten steps.
"Don't you dare mock me, Une! I've gotten an hour of sleep tonight, and I am not a happy camper!"
Sure enough, when Une opened her front door, she was confronted with a very cranky and disheveled Sally. She placed her hands on her hips and scowled.
"Now, you're going to tell me exactly why I'm here, and then maybe you'll tell me why it couldn't wait until morning," she said, tapping an impatient foot.
"I'll do better than that," Une snapped back, "I'll show you what's so wrong!" she seized Sally's wrist in an unyielding grip and started to drag the other woman into the other room.
"Ow! Bless it, Une! Just tell---" Sally's protests and curses died in her throat.
Wufei looked up at her through red-rimmed eyes, smiling weakly, "Good evening, onna..."
"Wufei..." in two heartbeats, Sally managed to wrench her wrist free and was across the room, kneeling in front of Wufei, "What happened?" she asked, running her fingers through his fine raven hair. Wufei lowered his eyes back to his hands and said nothing. Sally turned just enough to be able to catch Une in the corner of her eye, "Une-sama...?" Sally's eyes widened at the white gauze wrapped around Une's knuckles, "What's going on here?" She stood, but didn't move away, "Did a mission go wrong? Is somebody-"
Bam!
Sally's eyes widened even more at the sudden epiphany, and she started sinking back to the floor, "Oh my God..." she blinked at the tears starting to sting her eyes, "Oh my God..."
Une nodded miserably, "A mugger, Sally. Of all the dumb ways...a fucking mugger"
Sally felt herself beginning to double over with nausea. A mugger...after all the wars and battles...to be cut down by a mugger...?! No more laughs, no more braids, no more random plushies showing up in the office...no more phone calls in the wee hours to talk...taken away by something as low as...
Sally yelped as her fist collided with the floor, "It's not fair!" she screeched and pounded the burgundy carpeting twice more. "It's not fair! Why him?!" Pound, pound, pound.
"The cat..."
Sally's head snapped back up.
"The...what, Wufei?" Une said, raising one eyebrow about a centimeter.
"The cat," he said again, with a 'duh, I just said that' silently attached to the end. "Someone needs to drive me to Duo's apartment so I can feed his cat."
"Duo had a cat?" Sally scrunched up her face. "Well, it doesn't surprise me. I kept a tally of stray cats he took in during the war; when I stopped counting, the number was about forty..."
"You're not going anywhere," interjected Une, painfully pointing a finger at Wufei. "You're staying here tonight, until we sort things out."
"I'm a big boy, Une. I can take care of myself," he said, but he didn't believe himself.
Deep down, Wufei knew that if he went back to his apartment alone, he'd curl into a ball and he would probably stay that way for a very long time.
"Has anyone thought to call Quatre and Trowa? And Heero?" asked Sally softly. "They'll want to know, and it would be better if--"
Before Sally could finish her sentence, Une's vidphone began to beep.
"If this is a telemarketer, I swear I'll hunt them down," Une snapped unhappily. She moved over to the coffee table and stabbed a few buttons.
{{Une, w-we just saw the news! Please tell me it's not true, Duo couldn't be dead! He just couldn't be!}}
"Quatre," Une sighed, feeling her heart wrench as she watched the little, normally cheerful blonde implore her with wet blue eyes. "We were just about to call you."
{{So, is it true?}} Trowa's face was completely shaded by the dim room, but his thick gray turtleneck was soaked at about shoulder height, and one tiny silver track could be placed down the side of his cheek.
"If you're referring to Duo Maxwell -" Une took quick stock of their appearances, and the TV news blaring behind them, "and I can see you are...yes, I'm afraid so."
Quatre let out something between a moan and a whimper, and Trowa put a comforting hand on his shoulder, even as he bit his lip and began to shake almost imperceptibly.
{{How's Wufei...?}} Trowa managed to ask before the short Arabian buried his face back into Trowa's shoulder.
Une stole a quick glance behind her, "He's...here."
The vid-phone beeped again. Une sighed and punched a few more buttons. The viewscreen split in half: Trowa and Quatre on the left, Heero Yuy on the right.
Une blinked.
Cold cobalt eyes locked with hers. {{It isn't true.}} he said matter-of-factly.
"H-heero?" Une stuttered. Had he just said-oh, it was too much to hope for! Maybe it all had been a mistake. An awful, awful mistake, and there had been some other boy with a long braid who had been shot. Just maybe!
"Yuy?" Une jumped at the sound of Sally's voice over her shoulder, "What do you mean?"
{{I won't accept this}} Heero said in the same tone, {{There has to be a mistake.}}
Une felt the tiny flutter of hope that had arisen in her spiral down and die. So Heero Yuy was human after all, "Heero---" she started quietly.
{{It's not true!!!} he screamed at her shrilly and raised a hand to furiously scrub at his eyes, {{It's not true...it's not...}}
Sally and Une exchanged a look.
"Heero..." Sally began and let her fingers touch the screen, "Oh, Heero..." her own voice caught, and two salty tracks made twin lines down her face.
{{It's. Not. True,}} he repeated, soft and hoarse, and ran a hand through his ruffled hair.
{{And a goddammned mugger, too}} said Trowa, his voice muffled in Quatre's hair and warbling as it sat on the edge of emotional. {{Not an enemy on a mission, but a mugger. That's what makes this so frustrating.}}
"Heero," Finally, Wufei found enough energy within himself to get off the couch and shuffle over to the phone. "I need to ask a favor of you."
"What could you possibly--..." Heero's eyes flared momentarily, but his automatically snappy defense died in his throat when he finally saw Wufei. It was, perhaps, the first time he'd ever seen the Chinese boy look remotely emotional. Emotional was an understatement, perhaps. Emotional wreck, perhaps.
"What can I do?" he said again, notably softer.
"Sometime tonight, go to Duo's apartment and feed his cat," Wufei said. "He didn't...he didn't have the chance to..."
Wufei let out a choked sob as he realized what he had almost said: "He didn't have the chance to do it himself. He never made it into his apartment."
Of course I will," Heero sighed. "Call me if you learn anything new."
With that, his connection to Une's phone was cut.
"We should go, too," Trowa added. For all his efforts, he could not control his emotionless mask any longer: his voice cracked, and he too let out a tiny sob.
"Please, call us," said Quatre quietly, letting go of Trowa's shirt long enough to cut their connection.
In the corner of the room, a shadowy angel began to cry softly. He grabbed at his braid and held it tightly, wishing for all the world that he could comfort them.
"I feel like I'm in a freaking Jimmy Stewart movie," Duo mumbled through his tears, "Except those have happy endings."
Smoke and Michael exchanged a look.
"We're trying our best, Duo---" Smoke began.
"But it won't do me much good in the long run," Duo finished and wiped his eyes, "I'm okay. Really. I just want to save my 'Fei."
The three watched as Sally took Wufei by the shoulders and led him back to the couch. Une shuffled off into the kitchen, probably for coffee. Duo bit back a slight smile as Sally began to fuss with Wufei's uniform jacket, hair, face, and whatever else appeared disheveled.
"She's always mothering him," he said affectionately and shook his head, "She chased him around the office for half an hour once because he had gotten a nasty splinter and refused to..." Duo swallowed, trying to keep the tide of emotion reigned in, "And he refused to have her help...he wound up falling down the stairs and twisting his ankle...she lived with him for a week to nursemaid..." he sighed softly and realized he was still clutching his braid. With an effort, he managed to unclench his fingers, "She loves him so much..."
Smoke smiled faintly, "Sally's a good girl."
Duo nodded, "I call...used to call her, rather...I used to call her in the early morning, just to chat...she never minded..."
"Of course not," Smoke said wryly, "All you ever wanted to talk about was her favorite subject, after all."
Duo felt his face flush slightly, "Welllll..."
There was a loud crash from the kitchen, followed by a string of rather poignant curses. Sally rolled her eyes, kissed Wufei's forehead, and quickly made her way into the kitchen.
"Une always did have issues with Mr. Coffee..." Duo said with a shake of his head. He switched his gaze from the kitchenette to the solitary figure on the couch. Without a word, he glided across the floor, and kneeled before Wufei. Wufei continued to stare blankly at the floor. Duo raised a hand, stopping just short of Wufei's cheek, and cocked his head to the side, "Hey, 'Fei..." he drawled, "SMILE!"
Wufei pulled his knees up to his chest and tucked them under his chin.
"Please, 'Fei? Smile?" Duo bit his lip, but continued gamely, "You didn't smile for me today, 'Fei..."
Smoke and Michael exchanged another look, but said nothing.
"C'mon, 'Fei, you know I love it when you smile..." It was killing Duo to see the normally headstrong, confident boy that he loved feeling so vulnerable. He was trying his hardest not to reach out and pull Wufei into his famed bear hug, the one that could even squeeze all the oxygen out of Heero. But he knew - he wasn't sure how, because Michael and Smoke hadn't told him - he knew that would be against The Rules. But
maybe one touch wouldn't hurt...?
"Duo!" hissed Michael, but before he could dart out and stop the braided angel, Smoke grabbed his arm and restrained ~him~.
"The Rules have been temporarily suspended," she whispered in his ear. "Now stop being a stick in the mud and let the poor boy do what he has to do."
Michael sighed and relented, dropping his arms to his sides. Feeling triumphant, Smoke relinquished his arm.
"I hate this," hissed Michael. "I hate this stupid game that he forces us into. I hate how much it hurts people..."
"I know you do," said Smoke softly, and pulled him into a hug with one arm. "And I know He does, too. But maybe this time...Maybe this time it will end differently."
"I wish I could believe that."
Duo finally let his hand touch Wufei's cheek, and brought up his other hand to cup the sad face that was beautiful even when it was heartbroken.
"If there's one thing I could do again, I would have told you I loved you," he said sadly. "Then it wouldn't feel unrequited to you, and you...you wouldn't have to be so sad..."
"Duo..." Wufei obviously couldn't see or hear Duo, but he seemed to know somehow that he was there, because he put one hand to his cheek to hold a hand he didn't know was there.
"He can still know, Duo," Michael interjected, trying to keep himself from becoming overly emotional. "Someone will find the letter, and they'll give it to him."
Duo brightened just the tiniest bit. "That's right! It can still do him some good to know that I loved him..."
"'Love', Duo, not 'loved'. You 'love' him," pointed out Smoke. "You may be dead, but Death doesn't stop Love."
"That's what sucks, Smoke," he said sadly. "I'm immortal now, but even when...even when he dies, we can't be together...It's over."
It's not over.
The three angels nearly jumped a foot.
"Father? What do you mean, 'it's not over'?" asked Smoke.
Nothing is over until I say it is.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" muttered Duo under his breath, smiling. Very reluctantly, Duo pulled his hands away from Wufei's face and stood up. Wufei,
still consciously unknowing that Duo had been there, could almost feel a presence hover in front of him, and then leave. Maybe it had been Duo?
"I need to get out of here," said Duo thickly, clenching his fists to keep himself from crying more. "It hurts to see him in so much pain over me."
And just with a thought, the three angels seemed to fade out of sight, leaving only three mortals behind in the tiny apartment.
*~*~*~*~*
Across town, a brown-haired boy crouched down in a tiny, dark kitchen, and poured some dry cat kibble into a small plastic bowl. A small kitten, with patches of orange and black and white spattered all over its fur, peered out with nervous eyes (one blue and one orange) from underneath an armchair.
"Come on out, kitty," said the boy softly. "I'm just a friend."
Somehow the little kitten got the message, because it walked slowly out from underneath the chair and over to the boy's feet. It looked up quizzically at him, as if to say, "Who are you, and where's my Duo?"
Heero carefully scratched the cat behind the ears with tanned, calloused fingers. "I'm sorry, kitty, but Duo...Duo isn't coming back."
"Mew," the kitten said sadly, understanding the message in the boy's sad words. As Heero stopped scratching, it turned away and began to slowly eat its food. Heero just stood there silently as the little lonely kitten ate, and wondered if Duo would be
laughing if he could see him being so kind and gentle, so very opposite of everything he portrayed in daily life.
"I miss you, Duo," he said aloud, more loudly than intended.
"Meow," agreed the kitten softly, and then it continued to eat.
Heero shook his head wryly. Yes, this kitten was definitely Duo's: eating despite the crisis.
//"Duo. No."
Wide amethyst eyes looked back at him pleadingly, "But I'm hunggrrryyyyy!!!"
Heero sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Never mind that they were tracking a suspect. Never mind that Une would have their heads if they didn't catch him. Never mind that this guy had already killed six people and was working on a seventh. Oh no. The only thing that mattered was Duo's stomach.
"Just one, Heero?" Duo pleaded, "Just ONE?"
Heero wanted nothing more than to go and bang his head into something. Anything. A pillar, a brick wall... "Duo...you'd be better off if you didn't eat one at all. They're gross."
"Heero!" Duo said indignantly, "It's a hotdog! It won't kill me!"
"Do you even KNOW what's in those?"
"Do I care?" Duo fished his wallet out of his back pocket and bounded in the direction the vendor and his small push cart had gone, "Don't lose our guy, Hee-chan!" he called merrily over his shoulder...//
Heero smiled faintly at the memory and leaned down to scratch behind the kitten's ears, "So, kitty, what's your name?" he asked quietly.
"Mew," the kitten answered around a mouthful of kibble.
Heero shook his head again. Definitely Duo's cat.
Duo. It was impossible that the beautiful, braided boy with deep violet eyes was dead. It couldn't be possible - he had been the embodiment of life, however desperately he led his friends to believe that he was the God of Death.
"Love is supposed to transcend Death, isn't it?" he asked, looking up at the dark ceiling above his head.
"Mew," agreed the kitten, nudging its food bowl with its head - indicating that it really needed more food.
"But I have to give him up." Heero reached into the bag and gave the little kitten another handful of food. It pounced upon the food bowl and munched away happily.
"I have to give him up, because...he loved Wufei. And now he's dead."
It wasn't very hard for Heero to accept that his gorgeous braided angel hadn't loved him. He couldn't express emotion like Duo needed; oh sure, Heero could kiss alright, and he wasn't really lacking in other areas...
...but he'd forgotten how it was to give up a part of yourself to someone you loved. Although he sometimes doubted he had learned how to do that in the first place.
"Wufei could have loved him so much better," Heero told the kitten. "I didn't deserve him. I couldn't give him what he needed, and I would have hurt him..."
"That's something I learned recently, kitty," he said. "You can't truly love someone unless you can give yourself to them. You have to open yourself up to them, let them love you flaws and all..."
"I'm too flawed," he said softly. "I wasn't trained to feel - I was trained to ignore feelings. Pain, love, the whole nine yards. They would have gotten in my way."
"But without them...I don't have a purpose anymore."
The kitten couldn't understand the tall human's gibberish, but its tone was obviously very sad. It waddled away from its little food bowl and sat down at his feet. The look it gave him said: Your new purpose is to feed me. Get used to it.
Despite his misery, Heero chuckled. Imagine, being put in your place by a cat!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once again, it was the same old thing. Cause mayhem. Cause panic. Kill somebody. Try to piss HIM off. Try to appease the other guy. Life was nothing but an endless circle that would never end. And, considering she was immortal, it really would never end.
Raven sighed and idly twisted a lock of hair around her index finger. What she would give for some job variety. At least she lucked out with this case and Kiran had to go to earth instead of her. She hated it up there. It was so...noisy.
Of course, considering who the target had been this time...well, she was kind of upset she had missed her opportunity. Maybe she could go for the other one! That cute little Asian...
Raven giggled at the thought. Sometimes, humans were just too pretty for their own good. Maybe she'd be able to keep this one...
...if the fiery torments of Hell didn't cause his mere mortal mind to snap and leave him a blubbering idiot.
Ah well. Such is life for an immortal. Sometimes you could have a cute companion, sometimes you couldn't.
Raven...
Raven snapped out of her reverie almost instantly, "Yes?" she asked politely. Rule number one when working in the Underworld: don't piss off the boss.
Kiran's been arrested by the humans again.
Raven sighed, "He is an idiot like that, isn't he?"
Raven...
"Do I have to go get him out?" she asked, now paying more attention to the hair wrapped around her talon than the conversation. She had things to do today. What yet, she didn't know, but she'd think of something!
There was a lonnng, slow sigh that echoed for a few minutes, It's more complicated than that.
"Oh?" She could file her talons today! That would be amusing!
He's an angel, now.
All thoughts of idle time-wasting flew from Raven's mind, "What??" she shrieked, "That's not allowed! Isn't that against one of their dumb Rules or...or something?! They can't just up and make angels!!"
They can do whatever they want.
"Well, so can we!" she said indignantly.
Yes, yes, I know. But this time, He isn't willing to let this lie. We have to up our schedule, Raven.
Uh-oh. She didn't like where this was heading.
Kiran was dumb enough to impersonate a human. He can stay in their prison. But you, my dear...
She swallowed, hoping he wasn't going to say what she thought he was going to say.
Go above. I want what's left of that pretty boy, and I want him now.
Well...the pretty boy part wasn't bad! Going up to Earth was enough to make her feel sick.
Do whatever it takes, Raven. TURN him to me. I have a world to conquer, and I need a buffer.
Raven bent over in a shaky bow. Earth. Icky, disgusting, loud, loud Earth. But if he wanted the pretty one, she'd bring him the pretty one...
...after she exhausted every chance to make him her consort.
After all, that was Rule Number Two: Every demon for themselves.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sitting in human jail was fun. Or at least Kiran thought so. It wasn't the fact that he'd been arrested that made it so...
...but the fact that the humans actually thought they could contain him long enough to give him a trial, sentence him, and possibly give him the death sentence. He found that very fun indeed.
"I've already been damned to Hell," he muttered to himself. "What more do they want from me?"
"They'll probably want the death penalty," he added. That amused him. "You can't kill what isn't alive!"
A very perturbed cell block guard regarded him with a nasty look, and Kiran returned the favor.
"Stupid psychos," the guard grumbled. "Why'm I stuck babysitting dem all?"
...Out of jail, that's where he'd be. He'd kill the guard, and disappear into thin air before anyone could notice that he had gone! Of course, he knew just how Raven would respond when she saw him next. 'You are such a moron, taking a human form! Why couldn't you just do it the normal way? Why do you make things so fucking difficult?!'
"Because it's fun," he murmured jovially. "Doing it the easy way makes it seem like work. I hate work."
He ran his hands through his short scarlet hair, and let his head rest in them. He had to think. What was his best course of action? Wait for Raven to come and save him? Kill the guard and bust out on his own?
You're going to sit here and take your punishment like the weasel little man-demon you are, until I feel like I need to save your worthless ass.
Kiran did his best not to look visibly panicked, but it wasn't easy. The Boss wasn't happy, which meant he'd either be mauled or fried. Perhaps both.
"Yes sir," he whispered, looking imploringly below him. "I won't go anywhere. It was my fault, and I--"
Shut up! I don't want to hear you grovel.
"Yes sir!" Kiran nearly whimpered. He was digging himself in deeper and deeper...it wasn't fair! The Boss never chewed out Raven! Not that Raven ever did anything noteworthy anyways...
KIRAN...
Kiran hugged his knees up against his chest at the low, menacing bass of a voice resonating in his skull. The guard outside raised a bored eyebrow at the blubbering prisoner, but paid him no more heed.
Raven is on the surface now, searching out the buffer. I suggest you find a cell with a window. Or is that too difficult a task for you, Kiran?
Kiran miserably shook his head, "No sir. I promise. I won't escape until you send for me."
Inwardly, he was seething. Raven, Raven, Raven!!! She got to search out the buffer, after the dirty work was said and done. Gods, how he hated that taloned witch. And if the Boss thought she would just cheerfully and obediently hand over that boy...
Kiran shivered. He'd seen the target. And he had known from her stunned mumblings that Raven had too. And Raven rarely let go of what she wanted...
"I pity thee, Chang Wufei!" Kiran giggled into his knees as he rocked back and forth, "Oh, how I shalt pity thee when all is said and done!"
Neither the guard nor the Boss made any comment.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The Preventers HQ was eerily silent and still, which would have been a surprise on any normal day, because it was 8 AM and nearly everyone was in the office.
Everyone except the one person who had always kept the workplace humming with energy.
Sally stared somewhat blearily over her steaming cup of what could be loosely called "coffee" as workers on various levels of office hierarchy went about their duties slowly and miserably.
"Even the people who didn't know him well miss him," she said, as Une reached past her to fill her mug with the brown...whatever it was exactly.
"He did bring a certain something to this office," mused Une, wincing a little as she hit her bandaged knuckles against the coffee maker. "He made the atmosphere less...well..."
"Serious? Consuming? God-awful?" added Sally, sipping cautiously from her mug.
Une half-smiled. "Yes, something like that." She sipped from her mug as well, and nearly spit it out all over Sally. "Oh, for the love of God! That's disgusting! I refuse to ever make coffee again."
A group of agents made cheering noises, and quickly scattered when Une picked up a stapler and heaved it in their direction. Sally just snickered.
Wufei sat at his desk, staring at the same piece of paperwork he'd been staring at for the last hour. It certainly wasn't going to write itself, but for once, he just didn't feel driven enough to fill it out.
It was the log for the last mission that he and Duo had completed together, already half-finished in Duo's broad script. Someone had to complete it, and the only someone left was Wufei. But every time he looked at it, he wanted to vomit.
It wasn't like the mission had really been anything that horrible and disgusting. Rather it had been a simple fly-over-there-and-reason-with-rioters type of deal. Just go over to what had once been a Russian city, level with some cult leaders, fly back, eat a donut, and go to bed. They hadn't even really had to do much reasoning or talking, for the riot's leader had taken one look at their uniforms and quickly scampered away in the opposite direction.
But they did get to stay in a nice, four-star hotel.
Wufei felt the corner of his lip tug upwards as he remembered Trowa's reaction when they returned from duty. The usually calm and cool ex-pilot had actually raised his voice and thrown his glass candy dish across into a wall, while storming into Une's office, grumbling something about how he was always stuck with the wilderness missions...
Duo had teased Trowa incessantly for a week after words...
Wufei looked up at the startled yelp from one of the office lackeys. She was a new recruit, by the name of McGivers or something similar to it, and she was surrounded by what appeared to be deskless paperwork. Glancing back down at his own desk, Wufei felt his face flush in mortification as he realized he had thrown the mission log at her in his mild flashback.
"Sorry," he muttered and bent to pick up the papers.
Still by the coffee machine, Sally nudged Une with her elbow and inclined her head towards Wufei. Une nodded in silent sympathy.
"That's alright," said McGivers, handing Wufei a form that had somehow managed to lodge itself in her hair. "Kind of a rough night for you, huh?"
"Aa, you could say that." He gathered the last bits of paper, and shuffled them into a somewhat neat pile.
"Yeah. Well, umm...I'll just be getting out of your way now!" And the lackey scampered away, making a mental note to avoid that side of the hallway as much as possible.
Raven giggled, stepping past the two women at the coffee maker without even making them blink. She'd taken extra care to make sure the mortals wouldn't see her; unlike Kiran, she actually planned on doing her job right.
"He's such a mess," she muttered happily, peeking into Wufei's office. "Toying with him will be easy!"
She walked around his desk, so she was facing his gorgeous front side. "What should I do now? Hallucinations? Some physical pain?"
Raven usually didn't bother with magic - people just seemed to flock to her natural beauty with out it - but this was a special case, and she really wanted this one to go right. There was no telling what the Boss would do if this didn't go off as planned...
In the back of her mind, she faintly heard that familiar bass voice booming. She couldn't catch the words, but she was almost certain they'd been directed at Kiran.
"That goof is finally getting what he deserves," she said, slapping her hands on the desk and leaning on it. "But enough about him!" she grinned and gave Wufei a wink, even though she knew he couldn't see it, "Time to more important things!"
"Raven."
Raven blanched. With a none-too-quiet curse, she slowly craned her head around to see-
"Smoke!" she greeted with a cordial nod, "My, my, my, what are you doing here?"
The silver-haired angel raised a delicate eyebrow and nodded in Raven's direction, "I could say the same for you. Did your job status change from causing suffering to causing soothing?"
Raven perched daintily on the corner of Wufei's desk and swung her legs like a school child, "You know my Boss, Smoke. I'm just following orders," she turned to fix Wufei with a lustful stare, "If conquering the world means snuffing out this beauty, well I tend to rethink my priorities."
Smoke crossed her arms in exasperation, "You never change, do you, Raven?"
"Nor do you," Raven pointed out, "You still think you can stop me when I have a scheme. And you never answered my question, Smoke. Why are you here?"
Smoke's lips curled into a broad, lazy grin that somehow sent shivers down Raven's spine, "Your Boss picked the wrong target, Raven."
Raven snickered behind her talons and leaned back on Wufei's desk. She stretched, and ran a claw down the side of his jaw. Wufei shook his head at the invisible caress, "I tend to agree with you. Why can't the buffer look more like a flattened raccoon or something?"
"That's not what I meant."
There was something in Smoke's voice-something low, and definitely dangerous-that prompted Raven to sit back up rather quickly. Smoke was still leaning back against the office wall, arms crossed, but her eyes were blazing, "You destroyed a great love, Raven. You destroyed it before it even began. We can't forgive you."
"If you want to get technical, Kiran did it," Raven pointed out icily.
"You're no innocent yourself," Smoke snapped back, "If you had any common sense at all, you'd know this isn't going to work."
"You can't be innocent in this business," Raven shrugged, ignoring the second half of Smoke's comment. "If I didn't do awful, nasty things to people, I'd have your job."
"Cha. He'd never even let you past the Gate," Smoke's grin got wider, which made Raven more nervous than the look in the angel's eyes. It was almost...cheerful. Of course, her eyes were still shooting daggers, but the rest of her expression said, "Cross me. I dare you."
Raven pretended that she could ignore it, and turned back to Wufei. "You're not going to stop me. The Boss wants him. You and your precious God want him. One of us is going to get what they want. The other one...well..."
She let the rest of the sentence hang in the air, and leaned across the accursed paperwork so that her nose was way too close to his face for Smoke to stomach. The silver-haired angel lunged forward, but all of a sudden her muscles refuse to move and she froze in place. Raven had cast a Frost-bound spell on her! Of all the dirty tricks to pull! She managed to pull her foot forward about six inches, before it dropped to the carpet again like a cinderblock.
"Don't mess with me, Smoke," Raven warned, looking at her from the corner of her eye. "I'm very serious about this job."
"And so am I," Smoke snarled. "You won't win. He can't be tainted by the likes of you!"
"Tsk tsk, Smoke. If you gambled, you would know that you should never bet against a sure thing..." Raven leaned into the final inch of space that separated her from Wufei's face, and kissed him on the lips. She lingered for a moment longer than was necessary, and then pushed away, turning her attention to the other immortal occupant of the office. She wiggled her talons, and the Frost-bound spell dissipated. Before Smoke could cast a spell of her own, the demoness snapped her fingers and disappeared in a smattering of black feathers and bobbypins.
Smoke resisted the urge to curse, and instead make a screeching noise out of frustration. She watched in anxious anticipation for the side-effect of Raven's affection.
Wufei was no longer staring at his papers, but rather some invisible point in his office. He slowly raised his hands, and traced a shaking finger over his lips. They were going numb, Smoke knew. Not exactly the most pleasant of sensations, but oh, it was about to get worse.
Wufei's hand started shaking. The tremors moved up his arm, and engulfed his body. Wufei wrapped his arms around himself in a self-imposed hug, in a vain attempt to get himself back under control. "Sally," he murmured, trying to get himself out of his office chair. He managed to stand, but was trembling so hard that he fell to his knees, "Sally..."
The door to his office was open, and another office lackey had seen Wufei collapse. Sally glanced up from her stale donut to see Lynch pointing frantically at Wufei's office, and immediately red alert klaxons sounded in her head. Dropping the donut, she jogged quickly across the office and was about to make her way into the office, when she was thrown back by a forcefield.
"Don't touch him!" Smoke hissed, even though Sally couldn't possibly hear her, "You'll end up just like him, if you do."
"Wufei!" Sally called helplessly.
Wufei couldn't answer.
Smoke kneeled down next to the shaking Preventer and ran her fingers through his sweat-matted hair. The elastic that held it back in the rigid ponytail had disappeared somewhere between the chair, and the floor, "You'll be okay," she said softly and gave his forehead a soft kiss.
"'FEI!!"
Smoke whipped her head around, and her eyes widened, "What are /you/ doing here?!"
Duo leapt forward, tears falling from his amethyst eyes, "What happened to my 'Fei?!" he demanded shrilly, "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything!" she stood to block Duo's path, "Don't touch him!"
"Why not?!" he spat at her, "You did!"
"I'm not you!" she took his arm in one hand and his braid in another, "He'll be fine, but we can't stay. Raven's out there."
"No!" Duo violently shook his head, despite the grip Smoke had on his hair, "No, 'Fei!"
"Duo!" she practically snarled, "We're leaving! I have to report this!"
"I don't care---" he was cut off as the two angels vanished in a flurry of white feathers and staples.
"Sally, what in blazes is going on out here?!" Une barked, coming down the hallway from her office where she had retreated minutes before.
Sally gestured frantically at Wufei's office, where she could see his shivering figure on the floor. "He collapsed! I tried to get into his office, but I...I couldn't."
Une stepped carefully over her and toward his door. "What do you mean, 'you couldn't'? His door is wide open!"
She promptly found out what Sally meant when the barrier repelled her too, and she went stumbling backwards and tripping over Sally, ending up on the floor with her.
"What the hell is that?" Une's eyes were as wide as dinner plates behind her glasses.
"I don't know, but we have to help Wufei!" Sally got onto her knees and crawled toward the blocked door.
"Wufei! Say something! Tell me what's happening!" she yelled shrilly, slamming one hand on the barrier as if it would help.
Wufei could see Sally out of the corner of his eye, looking frantic and worried. He would have chuckled, if he could feel his mouth. She needed to worry less...
Gods, why couldn't he stop shivering? He was being such a weak idiot, writhing around on the floor with no self-control. Could he be having a nervous breakdown? Oh, if Duo could only see him now. He'd probably be laughing his ass off--
Wufei's back arched off the floor as all of the muscles in his chest contracted at the same time, sending sharp pain through every part of his body. He was no medical expert, but Wufei was almost certain nervous breakdowns didn't do that. He couldn't help himself; he let out a cry of pain and hugged himself more tightly.
Gods, what was happening to him?? He just wanted to get his paperwork done and live this miserable day through...
"Sanders! O'Brien!" he heard Une bark somewhere far away, "I want in that office yesterday!! Chang! If you can hear me, I'm coming after you!"
"Une--!"
"Po, can it!"
Much to Wufei's surprise, the spasms and nerve-shattering waves of pain were beginning to subside. He cautiously drew in a deep breath, and just as cautiously let it back out. Maybe it was passing? Just maybe? He suddenly found himself quite glad he had passed breakfast, for he had the sneaking suspicion it would be all over the floor. Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could sit back up and get Sally to ~shut up~.
((Ah, ah, ah, my pretty one. It's not that easy now...)) Wufei started at the silky voice resonating in his mind and suddenly found himself trembling. Even without a face, or a body, the disembodied voice wanted something from him. Something he was not willing to give.
At least not voluntarily.
"Who...are you...?" he managed to gasp out in between shuddering breaths.
He could almost see the oily smile of the voice's feminine owner, ((Someone you're going to know very soon, and hopefully quite well.))
Deep down in the very depth of his being, Wufei cringed. There was just something so...so nasty about that voice. Something that screamed "I will do whatever it takes to get what I want, and you cannot stop me!"
He really didn't have time to dwell on it, because suddenly three Preventers uniforms came tumbling into the office at once. Amazingly, the strange forcefield had retreated from whence it came. Wufei didn't bother arguing as Sally picked him up, sweating, shivering mess that he was, and stalked off to the infirmary.
*~*~*~*~*
"Is it safe to say you're unhappy?"
{{OH YEAH.}}
If Michael had had a place to hide, he would have. As it was, he was already pretty damn conspicuous, standing their in the main room of the Preventers building, what with his clean white suit and "resume" in hand. And he was talking to himself.
"Do I really have to do this?" he groaned.
{{Yes. You do. And if you whine again I'll have no issues with putting you back in Announcements and Messages.}}
He sighed, "Yessir." At that moment, a secretary poked her head in, obviously looking around for someone, "Michael?" she said, and Michael almost winced at her nasally voice.
"Yes, that's me, ma'am," he said, flashing a thousand watt smile that made the secretary blush.
She waved at the door to Une's office. "Lady Une will see you now."
"Thank you," he nodded cordially and walked over to rap quietly on the office door. He hoped for an insane moment no one would answer because he REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO DO THIS. But alas, he was defeated by a muffled "come in" through the mahogany.
"And into the Abyss we go," he muttered to himself and shuffled in.
{{Not funny.}}
Lady Une wasn't at her desk, but rather staring out her rather large office window with her back to him. He slowly walked the remaining five feet to her desk, to stand somewhat awkwardly while he waited for her to acknowledge his existence and turn around.
Cripes, she's got a freaking rainforest on her desk here...Michael stared in dumbfounded amazement at the vast assortment of STUFF this woman had on her desk: thick manila envelopes with names scrawled across them in scraggly handwriting, various reports and computer print-outs, several fast food wrappers, and what appeared to be a magazine of something called "Bishounen Weekly"...
"Papers?"
Michael blinked. Une hadn't even turned! "Pardon?" he said.
"Papers," she repeated and craned her neck around to look at him, "Resume?"
"Ah," he handed it to her and hoped that whoever had been in charge of creating his "papers" had actually done a decent job this time...
Lady Une quietly scanned over his resume once, before she started muttering what she was reading, "Michael O'Toole..."
Michael grimaced. Who upstairs had come up with that one??
"You worked for the White Fang?" she asked with an upraised eyebrow.
Michael shrugged, "I was trying to protect my home." No matter how many centuries passed, no matter how much mankind evolved, that excuse always worked...
...even if the angel giving the excuse had no clue what in the frig they were talking about.
Lady Une said nothing for a while, then, "Your credentials do look good..." she trailed off and turned back to her window.
Michael counted to slowly counted to twelve before he ventured the question, "Is something wrong, ma'am?" Not that he didn't already know...
"I certainly hope you don't plan on wearing a suit to the office every day," she said snarkily, ignoring his question. She flipped back to the first page and skimmed it again. "I'd hate to see something so expensive get dirty."
Michael had expected Une to be unhappy - which was part of the reason he REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO BE HERE - and so he took it in stride. "No, ma'am, I don't plan on wearing suits every day. If I wanted that kind of job, I don't think I'd be in your office right now."
"You have a point, Mister O'Toole," she said, flipping back and forth from page to page.
((This is going to work?)) Michael thought, not daring to look upward where his comments had been directed. ((Not that I'm second-guessing you. But...I highly doubt that my replacing Duo Maxwell is going to help the atmosphere around here.))
"I hate to be putting this burden on you now, Lady Une, after that horrible incident yesterday with Mister Maxwell," Michael threw out into the silence, hoping that it would ease a bit of tension. "But I knew you would be shorthanded, and in times like these, I would presume that one needs all the help they can get..."
{{Of course this is going to work. You think I ever come up with a plan that doesn't work?}}
"That's a true statement," Une said, finally looked up into his startlingly blue eyes. Only one other person she'd ever known had had eyes like that.
"Well, Mister O'Toole, your resume is exceptional, and you seem to be a very congenial, fine young man." She set the folder of paper onto her desk, and Michael waited for her to continue.
"So I would like to tell you that you've been hired by the Preventers. You start immediately." She pressed the intercom button on her desk, adjusting her glasses. "Lainers, please get someone to give O'Toole a show of our building. And send someone to get him a uniform."
Michael sighed. Well, if anything, he was committed now. He had his boy to look after; hopefully Smoke could keep Duo in check. Into the Abyss, indeed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It didn't make any sense!
Sally felt like letting loose a frustrated short scream, but she settled for giving one of the pasty white walls of the infirmary a good THWAP!
Vital signs were completely normal! No fevers, spasms, trembles, shakes, or twitches! No dilation of the eyes, no sense of disorientation, no dizziness! No headache, no nausea, no sniffles, no sneezing. There was NOTHING WRONG with Chang Wufei! In fact, she could hardly believe that this person sitting crankily on the infirmary cot was the same one who scant minutes before had been in the middle of an awful seizure...
Wufei's arms were crossed and he was scowling up at her through the ebony strands of hair that had fallen into his face. Part of Sally wanted to coo; he looked like a petulant child! But her other parts-the parts with an iota of common sense-were, to be blunt, scared shitless.
Something was very, very wrong with Wufei. That was scary enough. But what frightened her even more was even if she did figure out what had happened to him, she didn't think there was a damned thing she could do to help him.
"Onna, can I leave?" he asked impatiently, sounding like yesterday's Wufei.
Sally huffed and glared back down at the stat board in her hand. Yup. He was still in peek condition.
"Chang," she said in the same exasperated tone, "You just threw a bunch of office papers at that poor McGivers child, collapsed into seizures in your office for what, ten minutes?, and now you ask me if you can leave?" she shook her head, "What do you think?"
"That you'll be reasonable for a change?"
"NO," she stalked forward and pushed against his shoulders, trying to get him to lay down, "This is a cot," she said through gritted teeth, "It's where sick little Preventers take nappy-byes. This," she fluffed up the lumpy bag of pseudo-cotton, "is a pitiful excuse for a pillow. It's where sick little Preventers lay down their sick little heads during their nappy-byes," Sally could feel holes burning into her forehead from Wufei's glare, but she continued, "You are Chang Wufei a la a sick little Preventer, so therefore, you need to stay where the sick little Preventers are supposed to stay."
Wufei fixed her with a long, cold look, "Are you done?" he asked bluntly. He had refused to lie down, despite her hands shoving down against his shoulders.
Sally blew out an exasperated sigh through her clenched teeth, "Wufei, PLEASE!" she shook her head and decided her temples needed massaged more than the stubborn Preventer needed to be pushed.
"I have work, onna."
"And I don't?" she snapped back at him.
If Wufei cared, he didn't show it. In fact, he was starting to stand, and from there, he would no doubt be on his way out the door.
Sally felt her abused nerves snap, "STAY!" she growled low in her throat and ~threw~ Wufei down onto the cot. He blinked at her in startled surprise, but didn't try to get back up. It was a good thing he didn't, because she sure didn't trust herself not to kill him.
"Wufei, quit trying with the Heero bull-shit. You're hurting. Duh. We all are. But I refuse to let you burn yourself out. I won't let you do it. I've seen you comatose on this same damned cot too many times! You are going to listen to me, Chang Wufei, even if I have to break both your legs and your left arm to get you to stay put!"
There! She felt mildly better. It was good just to threaten every now and then.
Sally sighed again and said a bit more quietly, "I don't want to see you hurt anymore, Wufei. Can't you understand that?"
Wufei's onyx eyes studied her through the fop of hair in his face.
Fop. Sally repressed the insane urge to giggle. "Fop" and "Wufei" were two words she had never expected to see in the same sentence. Ohhh boy, she was definitely more tired than she thought.
Finally, Wufei nodded once. Not the old Wufei who had enjoyed a brief cameo. No, this was new, heartbroken Wufei, "I'm sorry," he said in the same quiet, almost dead-sounding voice he had been talking in since... "I'm sorry," he repeated.
"So am I." Sally ran her fingers through her messy locks of hair-she hadn't really had time today to do much other than run a brush through it---and winced at the tangles her fingers snagged, "Do you want anything? Tea? Stuffed animal? Trashy romance novel?"
A light snore was her only answer.
Sally blinked in mild surprise. Well, Wufei had probably gotten significantly less sleep than she did, not to mention that...attack...from earlier. She flipped off the infirmary lights, set her wrist-watch to beep in an hour and a half, and made her way to Une's office for her report.
The stat board still listed Wufei's physical health as impeccable, and Sally wasn't quite sure how to explain that. She had better think of a way in the next two minutes, for Lady Une really wasn't a fan of loose threads...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~AA&M
and though I was only jokin',
it took me by surprise when you agreed.
I was tryin' to be clever.
For the life of me I never
would have guessed how far the simple truth would lead."
~ Diamond Rio - "You're Gone
Wufei was numb - that was the conclusion he came to as he sat hunched on Une's cramped couch, staring at his wadded-up hands. Une bustled around her apartment like a wired bee, muttering in stressed blurts about "where is Sally, she only lives seven blocks away" and "need to start the paperwork" and other random mumblings. She was dealing with the situation as only she knew how - turn it into a mission.
But Wufei...Wufei couldn't do anything. He couldn't think, and he couldn't feel a thing. After crying in Une's arms - yes, the words "crying" and "Une" had been in the same sentence without being followed by "ouch" - he had run out of just about everything. Tears, pain, energy, and even tiredness escaped him. He was just empty. He wanted to be heartbroken! He wanted to be furious! But he wasn't anything at all. Just a shell. But that's all he ever was...
A sharp rapping at the door shook him a little, but he didn't go for the door. He just sat there, wondering whether he'd fallen into an alternate universe by mistake.
"Une! Open the damn door and let me in!"
"Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the cot!" snapped Une, walking briskly out of her bathroom towards the front door, which took about ten steps.
"Don't you dare mock me, Une! I've gotten an hour of sleep tonight, and I am not a happy camper!"
Sure enough, when Une opened her front door, she was confronted with a very cranky and disheveled Sally. She placed her hands on her hips and scowled.
"Now, you're going to tell me exactly why I'm here, and then maybe you'll tell me why it couldn't wait until morning," she said, tapping an impatient foot.
"I'll do better than that," Une snapped back, "I'll show you what's so wrong!" she seized Sally's wrist in an unyielding grip and started to drag the other woman into the other room.
"Ow! Bless it, Une! Just tell---" Sally's protests and curses died in her throat.
Wufei looked up at her through red-rimmed eyes, smiling weakly, "Good evening, onna..."
"Wufei..." in two heartbeats, Sally managed to wrench her wrist free and was across the room, kneeling in front of Wufei, "What happened?" she asked, running her fingers through his fine raven hair. Wufei lowered his eyes back to his hands and said nothing. Sally turned just enough to be able to catch Une in the corner of her eye, "Une-sama...?" Sally's eyes widened at the white gauze wrapped around Une's knuckles, "What's going on here?" She stood, but didn't move away, "Did a mission go wrong? Is somebody-"
Bam!
Sally's eyes widened even more at the sudden epiphany, and she started sinking back to the floor, "Oh my God..." she blinked at the tears starting to sting her eyes, "Oh my God..."
Une nodded miserably, "A mugger, Sally. Of all the dumb ways...a fucking mugger"
Sally felt herself beginning to double over with nausea. A mugger...after all the wars and battles...to be cut down by a mugger...?! No more laughs, no more braids, no more random plushies showing up in the office...no more phone calls in the wee hours to talk...taken away by something as low as...
Sally yelped as her fist collided with the floor, "It's not fair!" she screeched and pounded the burgundy carpeting twice more. "It's not fair! Why him?!" Pound, pound, pound.
"The cat..."
Sally's head snapped back up.
"The...what, Wufei?" Une said, raising one eyebrow about a centimeter.
"The cat," he said again, with a 'duh, I just said that' silently attached to the end. "Someone needs to drive me to Duo's apartment so I can feed his cat."
"Duo had a cat?" Sally scrunched up her face. "Well, it doesn't surprise me. I kept a tally of stray cats he took in during the war; when I stopped counting, the number was about forty..."
"You're not going anywhere," interjected Une, painfully pointing a finger at Wufei. "You're staying here tonight, until we sort things out."
"I'm a big boy, Une. I can take care of myself," he said, but he didn't believe himself.
Deep down, Wufei knew that if he went back to his apartment alone, he'd curl into a ball and he would probably stay that way for a very long time.
"Has anyone thought to call Quatre and Trowa? And Heero?" asked Sally softly. "They'll want to know, and it would be better if--"
Before Sally could finish her sentence, Une's vidphone began to beep.
"If this is a telemarketer, I swear I'll hunt them down," Une snapped unhappily. She moved over to the coffee table and stabbed a few buttons.
{{Une, w-we just saw the news! Please tell me it's not true, Duo couldn't be dead! He just couldn't be!}}
"Quatre," Une sighed, feeling her heart wrench as she watched the little, normally cheerful blonde implore her with wet blue eyes. "We were just about to call you."
{{So, is it true?}} Trowa's face was completely shaded by the dim room, but his thick gray turtleneck was soaked at about shoulder height, and one tiny silver track could be placed down the side of his cheek.
"If you're referring to Duo Maxwell -" Une took quick stock of their appearances, and the TV news blaring behind them, "and I can see you are...yes, I'm afraid so."
Quatre let out something between a moan and a whimper, and Trowa put a comforting hand on his shoulder, even as he bit his lip and began to shake almost imperceptibly.
{{How's Wufei...?}} Trowa managed to ask before the short Arabian buried his face back into Trowa's shoulder.
Une stole a quick glance behind her, "He's...here."
The vid-phone beeped again. Une sighed and punched a few more buttons. The viewscreen split in half: Trowa and Quatre on the left, Heero Yuy on the right.
Une blinked.
Cold cobalt eyes locked with hers. {{It isn't true.}} he said matter-of-factly.
"H-heero?" Une stuttered. Had he just said-oh, it was too much to hope for! Maybe it all had been a mistake. An awful, awful mistake, and there had been some other boy with a long braid who had been shot. Just maybe!
"Yuy?" Une jumped at the sound of Sally's voice over her shoulder, "What do you mean?"
{{I won't accept this}} Heero said in the same tone, {{There has to be a mistake.}}
Une felt the tiny flutter of hope that had arisen in her spiral down and die. So Heero Yuy was human after all, "Heero---" she started quietly.
{{It's not true!!!} he screamed at her shrilly and raised a hand to furiously scrub at his eyes, {{It's not true...it's not...}}
Sally and Une exchanged a look.
"Heero..." Sally began and let her fingers touch the screen, "Oh, Heero..." her own voice caught, and two salty tracks made twin lines down her face.
{{It's. Not. True,}} he repeated, soft and hoarse, and ran a hand through his ruffled hair.
{{And a goddammned mugger, too}} said Trowa, his voice muffled in Quatre's hair and warbling as it sat on the edge of emotional. {{Not an enemy on a mission, but a mugger. That's what makes this so frustrating.}}
"Heero," Finally, Wufei found enough energy within himself to get off the couch and shuffle over to the phone. "I need to ask a favor of you."
"What could you possibly--..." Heero's eyes flared momentarily, but his automatically snappy defense died in his throat when he finally saw Wufei. It was, perhaps, the first time he'd ever seen the Chinese boy look remotely emotional. Emotional was an understatement, perhaps. Emotional wreck, perhaps.
"What can I do?" he said again, notably softer.
"Sometime tonight, go to Duo's apartment and feed his cat," Wufei said. "He didn't...he didn't have the chance to..."
Wufei let out a choked sob as he realized what he had almost said: "He didn't have the chance to do it himself. He never made it into his apartment."
Of course I will," Heero sighed. "Call me if you learn anything new."
With that, his connection to Une's phone was cut.
"We should go, too," Trowa added. For all his efforts, he could not control his emotionless mask any longer: his voice cracked, and he too let out a tiny sob.
"Please, call us," said Quatre quietly, letting go of Trowa's shirt long enough to cut their connection.
In the corner of the room, a shadowy angel began to cry softly. He grabbed at his braid and held it tightly, wishing for all the world that he could comfort them.
"I feel like I'm in a freaking Jimmy Stewart movie," Duo mumbled through his tears, "Except those have happy endings."
Smoke and Michael exchanged a look.
"We're trying our best, Duo---" Smoke began.
"But it won't do me much good in the long run," Duo finished and wiped his eyes, "I'm okay. Really. I just want to save my 'Fei."
The three watched as Sally took Wufei by the shoulders and led him back to the couch. Une shuffled off into the kitchen, probably for coffee. Duo bit back a slight smile as Sally began to fuss with Wufei's uniform jacket, hair, face, and whatever else appeared disheveled.
"She's always mothering him," he said affectionately and shook his head, "She chased him around the office for half an hour once because he had gotten a nasty splinter and refused to..." Duo swallowed, trying to keep the tide of emotion reigned in, "And he refused to have her help...he wound up falling down the stairs and twisting his ankle...she lived with him for a week to nursemaid..." he sighed softly and realized he was still clutching his braid. With an effort, he managed to unclench his fingers, "She loves him so much..."
Smoke smiled faintly, "Sally's a good girl."
Duo nodded, "I call...used to call her, rather...I used to call her in the early morning, just to chat...she never minded..."
"Of course not," Smoke said wryly, "All you ever wanted to talk about was her favorite subject, after all."
Duo felt his face flush slightly, "Welllll..."
There was a loud crash from the kitchen, followed by a string of rather poignant curses. Sally rolled her eyes, kissed Wufei's forehead, and quickly made her way into the kitchen.
"Une always did have issues with Mr. Coffee..." Duo said with a shake of his head. He switched his gaze from the kitchenette to the solitary figure on the couch. Without a word, he glided across the floor, and kneeled before Wufei. Wufei continued to stare blankly at the floor. Duo raised a hand, stopping just short of Wufei's cheek, and cocked his head to the side, "Hey, 'Fei..." he drawled, "SMILE!"
Wufei pulled his knees up to his chest and tucked them under his chin.
"Please, 'Fei? Smile?" Duo bit his lip, but continued gamely, "You didn't smile for me today, 'Fei..."
Smoke and Michael exchanged another look, but said nothing.
"C'mon, 'Fei, you know I love it when you smile..." It was killing Duo to see the normally headstrong, confident boy that he loved feeling so vulnerable. He was trying his hardest not to reach out and pull Wufei into his famed bear hug, the one that could even squeeze all the oxygen out of Heero. But he knew - he wasn't sure how, because Michael and Smoke hadn't told him - he knew that would be against The Rules. But
maybe one touch wouldn't hurt...?
"Duo!" hissed Michael, but before he could dart out and stop the braided angel, Smoke grabbed his arm and restrained ~him~.
"The Rules have been temporarily suspended," she whispered in his ear. "Now stop being a stick in the mud and let the poor boy do what he has to do."
Michael sighed and relented, dropping his arms to his sides. Feeling triumphant, Smoke relinquished his arm.
"I hate this," hissed Michael. "I hate this stupid game that he forces us into. I hate how much it hurts people..."
"I know you do," said Smoke softly, and pulled him into a hug with one arm. "And I know He does, too. But maybe this time...Maybe this time it will end differently."
"I wish I could believe that."
Duo finally let his hand touch Wufei's cheek, and brought up his other hand to cup the sad face that was beautiful even when it was heartbroken.
"If there's one thing I could do again, I would have told you I loved you," he said sadly. "Then it wouldn't feel unrequited to you, and you...you wouldn't have to be so sad..."
"Duo..." Wufei obviously couldn't see or hear Duo, but he seemed to know somehow that he was there, because he put one hand to his cheek to hold a hand he didn't know was there.
"He can still know, Duo," Michael interjected, trying to keep himself from becoming overly emotional. "Someone will find the letter, and they'll give it to him."
Duo brightened just the tiniest bit. "That's right! It can still do him some good to know that I loved him..."
"'Love', Duo, not 'loved'. You 'love' him," pointed out Smoke. "You may be dead, but Death doesn't stop Love."
"That's what sucks, Smoke," he said sadly. "I'm immortal now, but even when...even when he dies, we can't be together...It's over."
It's not over.
The three angels nearly jumped a foot.
"Father? What do you mean, 'it's not over'?" asked Smoke.
Nothing is over until I say it is.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" muttered Duo under his breath, smiling. Very reluctantly, Duo pulled his hands away from Wufei's face and stood up. Wufei,
still consciously unknowing that Duo had been there, could almost feel a presence hover in front of him, and then leave. Maybe it had been Duo?
"I need to get out of here," said Duo thickly, clenching his fists to keep himself from crying more. "It hurts to see him in so much pain over me."
And just with a thought, the three angels seemed to fade out of sight, leaving only three mortals behind in the tiny apartment.
*~*~*~*~*
Across town, a brown-haired boy crouched down in a tiny, dark kitchen, and poured some dry cat kibble into a small plastic bowl. A small kitten, with patches of orange and black and white spattered all over its fur, peered out with nervous eyes (one blue and one orange) from underneath an armchair.
"Come on out, kitty," said the boy softly. "I'm just a friend."
Somehow the little kitten got the message, because it walked slowly out from underneath the chair and over to the boy's feet. It looked up quizzically at him, as if to say, "Who are you, and where's my Duo?"
Heero carefully scratched the cat behind the ears with tanned, calloused fingers. "I'm sorry, kitty, but Duo...Duo isn't coming back."
"Mew," the kitten said sadly, understanding the message in the boy's sad words. As Heero stopped scratching, it turned away and began to slowly eat its food. Heero just stood there silently as the little lonely kitten ate, and wondered if Duo would be
laughing if he could see him being so kind and gentle, so very opposite of everything he portrayed in daily life.
"I miss you, Duo," he said aloud, more loudly than intended.
"Meow," agreed the kitten softly, and then it continued to eat.
Heero shook his head wryly. Yes, this kitten was definitely Duo's: eating despite the crisis.
//"Duo. No."
Wide amethyst eyes looked back at him pleadingly, "But I'm hunggrrryyyyy!!!"
Heero sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Never mind that they were tracking a suspect. Never mind that Une would have their heads if they didn't catch him. Never mind that this guy had already killed six people and was working on a seventh. Oh no. The only thing that mattered was Duo's stomach.
"Just one, Heero?" Duo pleaded, "Just ONE?"
Heero wanted nothing more than to go and bang his head into something. Anything. A pillar, a brick wall... "Duo...you'd be better off if you didn't eat one at all. They're gross."
"Heero!" Duo said indignantly, "It's a hotdog! It won't kill me!"
"Do you even KNOW what's in those?"
"Do I care?" Duo fished his wallet out of his back pocket and bounded in the direction the vendor and his small push cart had gone, "Don't lose our guy, Hee-chan!" he called merrily over his shoulder...//
Heero smiled faintly at the memory and leaned down to scratch behind the kitten's ears, "So, kitty, what's your name?" he asked quietly.
"Mew," the kitten answered around a mouthful of kibble.
Heero shook his head again. Definitely Duo's cat.
Duo. It was impossible that the beautiful, braided boy with deep violet eyes was dead. It couldn't be possible - he had been the embodiment of life, however desperately he led his friends to believe that he was the God of Death.
"Love is supposed to transcend Death, isn't it?" he asked, looking up at the dark ceiling above his head.
"Mew," agreed the kitten, nudging its food bowl with its head - indicating that it really needed more food.
"But I have to give him up." Heero reached into the bag and gave the little kitten another handful of food. It pounced upon the food bowl and munched away happily.
"I have to give him up, because...he loved Wufei. And now he's dead."
It wasn't very hard for Heero to accept that his gorgeous braided angel hadn't loved him. He couldn't express emotion like Duo needed; oh sure, Heero could kiss alright, and he wasn't really lacking in other areas...
...but he'd forgotten how it was to give up a part of yourself to someone you loved. Although he sometimes doubted he had learned how to do that in the first place.
"Wufei could have loved him so much better," Heero told the kitten. "I didn't deserve him. I couldn't give him what he needed, and I would have hurt him..."
"That's something I learned recently, kitty," he said. "You can't truly love someone unless you can give yourself to them. You have to open yourself up to them, let them love you flaws and all..."
"I'm too flawed," he said softly. "I wasn't trained to feel - I was trained to ignore feelings. Pain, love, the whole nine yards. They would have gotten in my way."
"But without them...I don't have a purpose anymore."
The kitten couldn't understand the tall human's gibberish, but its tone was obviously very sad. It waddled away from its little food bowl and sat down at his feet. The look it gave him said: Your new purpose is to feed me. Get used to it.
Despite his misery, Heero chuckled. Imagine, being put in your place by a cat!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once again, it was the same old thing. Cause mayhem. Cause panic. Kill somebody. Try to piss HIM off. Try to appease the other guy. Life was nothing but an endless circle that would never end. And, considering she was immortal, it really would never end.
Raven sighed and idly twisted a lock of hair around her index finger. What she would give for some job variety. At least she lucked out with this case and Kiran had to go to earth instead of her. She hated it up there. It was so...noisy.
Of course, considering who the target had been this time...well, she was kind of upset she had missed her opportunity. Maybe she could go for the other one! That cute little Asian...
Raven giggled at the thought. Sometimes, humans were just too pretty for their own good. Maybe she'd be able to keep this one...
...if the fiery torments of Hell didn't cause his mere mortal mind to snap and leave him a blubbering idiot.
Ah well. Such is life for an immortal. Sometimes you could have a cute companion, sometimes you couldn't.
Raven...
Raven snapped out of her reverie almost instantly, "Yes?" she asked politely. Rule number one when working in the Underworld: don't piss off the boss.
Kiran's been arrested by the humans again.
Raven sighed, "He is an idiot like that, isn't he?"
Raven...
"Do I have to go get him out?" she asked, now paying more attention to the hair wrapped around her talon than the conversation. She had things to do today. What yet, she didn't know, but she'd think of something!
There was a lonnng, slow sigh that echoed for a few minutes, It's more complicated than that.
"Oh?" She could file her talons today! That would be amusing!
He's an angel, now.
All thoughts of idle time-wasting flew from Raven's mind, "What??" she shrieked, "That's not allowed! Isn't that against one of their dumb Rules or...or something?! They can't just up and make angels!!"
They can do whatever they want.
"Well, so can we!" she said indignantly.
Yes, yes, I know. But this time, He isn't willing to let this lie. We have to up our schedule, Raven.
Uh-oh. She didn't like where this was heading.
Kiran was dumb enough to impersonate a human. He can stay in their prison. But you, my dear...
She swallowed, hoping he wasn't going to say what she thought he was going to say.
Go above. I want what's left of that pretty boy, and I want him now.
Well...the pretty boy part wasn't bad! Going up to Earth was enough to make her feel sick.
Do whatever it takes, Raven. TURN him to me. I have a world to conquer, and I need a buffer.
Raven bent over in a shaky bow. Earth. Icky, disgusting, loud, loud Earth. But if he wanted the pretty one, she'd bring him the pretty one...
...after she exhausted every chance to make him her consort.
After all, that was Rule Number Two: Every demon for themselves.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sitting in human jail was fun. Or at least Kiran thought so. It wasn't the fact that he'd been arrested that made it so...
...but the fact that the humans actually thought they could contain him long enough to give him a trial, sentence him, and possibly give him the death sentence. He found that very fun indeed.
"I've already been damned to Hell," he muttered to himself. "What more do they want from me?"
"They'll probably want the death penalty," he added. That amused him. "You can't kill what isn't alive!"
A very perturbed cell block guard regarded him with a nasty look, and Kiran returned the favor.
"Stupid psychos," the guard grumbled. "Why'm I stuck babysitting dem all?"
...Out of jail, that's where he'd be. He'd kill the guard, and disappear into thin air before anyone could notice that he had gone! Of course, he knew just how Raven would respond when she saw him next. 'You are such a moron, taking a human form! Why couldn't you just do it the normal way? Why do you make things so fucking difficult?!'
"Because it's fun," he murmured jovially. "Doing it the easy way makes it seem like work. I hate work."
He ran his hands through his short scarlet hair, and let his head rest in them. He had to think. What was his best course of action? Wait for Raven to come and save him? Kill the guard and bust out on his own?
You're going to sit here and take your punishment like the weasel little man-demon you are, until I feel like I need to save your worthless ass.
Kiran did his best not to look visibly panicked, but it wasn't easy. The Boss wasn't happy, which meant he'd either be mauled or fried. Perhaps both.
"Yes sir," he whispered, looking imploringly below him. "I won't go anywhere. It was my fault, and I--"
Shut up! I don't want to hear you grovel.
"Yes sir!" Kiran nearly whimpered. He was digging himself in deeper and deeper...it wasn't fair! The Boss never chewed out Raven! Not that Raven ever did anything noteworthy anyways...
KIRAN...
Kiran hugged his knees up against his chest at the low, menacing bass of a voice resonating in his skull. The guard outside raised a bored eyebrow at the blubbering prisoner, but paid him no more heed.
Raven is on the surface now, searching out the buffer. I suggest you find a cell with a window. Or is that too difficult a task for you, Kiran?
Kiran miserably shook his head, "No sir. I promise. I won't escape until you send for me."
Inwardly, he was seething. Raven, Raven, Raven!!! She got to search out the buffer, after the dirty work was said and done. Gods, how he hated that taloned witch. And if the Boss thought she would just cheerfully and obediently hand over that boy...
Kiran shivered. He'd seen the target. And he had known from her stunned mumblings that Raven had too. And Raven rarely let go of what she wanted...
"I pity thee, Chang Wufei!" Kiran giggled into his knees as he rocked back and forth, "Oh, how I shalt pity thee when all is said and done!"
Neither the guard nor the Boss made any comment.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The Preventers HQ was eerily silent and still, which would have been a surprise on any normal day, because it was 8 AM and nearly everyone was in the office.
Everyone except the one person who had always kept the workplace humming with energy.
Sally stared somewhat blearily over her steaming cup of what could be loosely called "coffee" as workers on various levels of office hierarchy went about their duties slowly and miserably.
"Even the people who didn't know him well miss him," she said, as Une reached past her to fill her mug with the brown...whatever it was exactly.
"He did bring a certain something to this office," mused Une, wincing a little as she hit her bandaged knuckles against the coffee maker. "He made the atmosphere less...well..."
"Serious? Consuming? God-awful?" added Sally, sipping cautiously from her mug.
Une half-smiled. "Yes, something like that." She sipped from her mug as well, and nearly spit it out all over Sally. "Oh, for the love of God! That's disgusting! I refuse to ever make coffee again."
A group of agents made cheering noises, and quickly scattered when Une picked up a stapler and heaved it in their direction. Sally just snickered.
Wufei sat at his desk, staring at the same piece of paperwork he'd been staring at for the last hour. It certainly wasn't going to write itself, but for once, he just didn't feel driven enough to fill it out.
It was the log for the last mission that he and Duo had completed together, already half-finished in Duo's broad script. Someone had to complete it, and the only someone left was Wufei. But every time he looked at it, he wanted to vomit.
It wasn't like the mission had really been anything that horrible and disgusting. Rather it had been a simple fly-over-there-and-reason-with-rioters type of deal. Just go over to what had once been a Russian city, level with some cult leaders, fly back, eat a donut, and go to bed. They hadn't even really had to do much reasoning or talking, for the riot's leader had taken one look at their uniforms and quickly scampered away in the opposite direction.
But they did get to stay in a nice, four-star hotel.
Wufei felt the corner of his lip tug upwards as he remembered Trowa's reaction when they returned from duty. The usually calm and cool ex-pilot had actually raised his voice and thrown his glass candy dish across into a wall, while storming into Une's office, grumbling something about how he was always stuck with the wilderness missions...
Duo had teased Trowa incessantly for a week after words...
Wufei looked up at the startled yelp from one of the office lackeys. She was a new recruit, by the name of McGivers or something similar to it, and she was surrounded by what appeared to be deskless paperwork. Glancing back down at his own desk, Wufei felt his face flush in mortification as he realized he had thrown the mission log at her in his mild flashback.
"Sorry," he muttered and bent to pick up the papers.
Still by the coffee machine, Sally nudged Une with her elbow and inclined her head towards Wufei. Une nodded in silent sympathy.
"That's alright," said McGivers, handing Wufei a form that had somehow managed to lodge itself in her hair. "Kind of a rough night for you, huh?"
"Aa, you could say that." He gathered the last bits of paper, and shuffled them into a somewhat neat pile.
"Yeah. Well, umm...I'll just be getting out of your way now!" And the lackey scampered away, making a mental note to avoid that side of the hallway as much as possible.
Raven giggled, stepping past the two women at the coffee maker without even making them blink. She'd taken extra care to make sure the mortals wouldn't see her; unlike Kiran, she actually planned on doing her job right.
"He's such a mess," she muttered happily, peeking into Wufei's office. "Toying with him will be easy!"
She walked around his desk, so she was facing his gorgeous front side. "What should I do now? Hallucinations? Some physical pain?"
Raven usually didn't bother with magic - people just seemed to flock to her natural beauty with out it - but this was a special case, and she really wanted this one to go right. There was no telling what the Boss would do if this didn't go off as planned...
In the back of her mind, she faintly heard that familiar bass voice booming. She couldn't catch the words, but she was almost certain they'd been directed at Kiran.
"That goof is finally getting what he deserves," she said, slapping her hands on the desk and leaning on it. "But enough about him!" she grinned and gave Wufei a wink, even though she knew he couldn't see it, "Time to more important things!"
"Raven."
Raven blanched. With a none-too-quiet curse, she slowly craned her head around to see-
"Smoke!" she greeted with a cordial nod, "My, my, my, what are you doing here?"
The silver-haired angel raised a delicate eyebrow and nodded in Raven's direction, "I could say the same for you. Did your job status change from causing suffering to causing soothing?"
Raven perched daintily on the corner of Wufei's desk and swung her legs like a school child, "You know my Boss, Smoke. I'm just following orders," she turned to fix Wufei with a lustful stare, "If conquering the world means snuffing out this beauty, well I tend to rethink my priorities."
Smoke crossed her arms in exasperation, "You never change, do you, Raven?"
"Nor do you," Raven pointed out, "You still think you can stop me when I have a scheme. And you never answered my question, Smoke. Why are you here?"
Smoke's lips curled into a broad, lazy grin that somehow sent shivers down Raven's spine, "Your Boss picked the wrong target, Raven."
Raven snickered behind her talons and leaned back on Wufei's desk. She stretched, and ran a claw down the side of his jaw. Wufei shook his head at the invisible caress, "I tend to agree with you. Why can't the buffer look more like a flattened raccoon or something?"
"That's not what I meant."
There was something in Smoke's voice-something low, and definitely dangerous-that prompted Raven to sit back up rather quickly. Smoke was still leaning back against the office wall, arms crossed, but her eyes were blazing, "You destroyed a great love, Raven. You destroyed it before it even began. We can't forgive you."
"If you want to get technical, Kiran did it," Raven pointed out icily.
"You're no innocent yourself," Smoke snapped back, "If you had any common sense at all, you'd know this isn't going to work."
"You can't be innocent in this business," Raven shrugged, ignoring the second half of Smoke's comment. "If I didn't do awful, nasty things to people, I'd have your job."
"Cha. He'd never even let you past the Gate," Smoke's grin got wider, which made Raven more nervous than the look in the angel's eyes. It was almost...cheerful. Of course, her eyes were still shooting daggers, but the rest of her expression said, "Cross me. I dare you."
Raven pretended that she could ignore it, and turned back to Wufei. "You're not going to stop me. The Boss wants him. You and your precious God want him. One of us is going to get what they want. The other one...well..."
She let the rest of the sentence hang in the air, and leaned across the accursed paperwork so that her nose was way too close to his face for Smoke to stomach. The silver-haired angel lunged forward, but all of a sudden her muscles refuse to move and she froze in place. Raven had cast a Frost-bound spell on her! Of all the dirty tricks to pull! She managed to pull her foot forward about six inches, before it dropped to the carpet again like a cinderblock.
"Don't mess with me, Smoke," Raven warned, looking at her from the corner of her eye. "I'm very serious about this job."
"And so am I," Smoke snarled. "You won't win. He can't be tainted by the likes of you!"
"Tsk tsk, Smoke. If you gambled, you would know that you should never bet against a sure thing..." Raven leaned into the final inch of space that separated her from Wufei's face, and kissed him on the lips. She lingered for a moment longer than was necessary, and then pushed away, turning her attention to the other immortal occupant of the office. She wiggled her talons, and the Frost-bound spell dissipated. Before Smoke could cast a spell of her own, the demoness snapped her fingers and disappeared in a smattering of black feathers and bobbypins.
Smoke resisted the urge to curse, and instead make a screeching noise out of frustration. She watched in anxious anticipation for the side-effect of Raven's affection.
Wufei was no longer staring at his papers, but rather some invisible point in his office. He slowly raised his hands, and traced a shaking finger over his lips. They were going numb, Smoke knew. Not exactly the most pleasant of sensations, but oh, it was about to get worse.
Wufei's hand started shaking. The tremors moved up his arm, and engulfed his body. Wufei wrapped his arms around himself in a self-imposed hug, in a vain attempt to get himself back under control. "Sally," he murmured, trying to get himself out of his office chair. He managed to stand, but was trembling so hard that he fell to his knees, "Sally..."
The door to his office was open, and another office lackey had seen Wufei collapse. Sally glanced up from her stale donut to see Lynch pointing frantically at Wufei's office, and immediately red alert klaxons sounded in her head. Dropping the donut, she jogged quickly across the office and was about to make her way into the office, when she was thrown back by a forcefield.
"Don't touch him!" Smoke hissed, even though Sally couldn't possibly hear her, "You'll end up just like him, if you do."
"Wufei!" Sally called helplessly.
Wufei couldn't answer.
Smoke kneeled down next to the shaking Preventer and ran her fingers through his sweat-matted hair. The elastic that held it back in the rigid ponytail had disappeared somewhere between the chair, and the floor, "You'll be okay," she said softly and gave his forehead a soft kiss.
"'FEI!!"
Smoke whipped her head around, and her eyes widened, "What are /you/ doing here?!"
Duo leapt forward, tears falling from his amethyst eyes, "What happened to my 'Fei?!" he demanded shrilly, "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything!" she stood to block Duo's path, "Don't touch him!"
"Why not?!" he spat at her, "You did!"
"I'm not you!" she took his arm in one hand and his braid in another, "He'll be fine, but we can't stay. Raven's out there."
"No!" Duo violently shook his head, despite the grip Smoke had on his hair, "No, 'Fei!"
"Duo!" she practically snarled, "We're leaving! I have to report this!"
"I don't care---" he was cut off as the two angels vanished in a flurry of white feathers and staples.
"Sally, what in blazes is going on out here?!" Une barked, coming down the hallway from her office where she had retreated minutes before.
Sally gestured frantically at Wufei's office, where she could see his shivering figure on the floor. "He collapsed! I tried to get into his office, but I...I couldn't."
Une stepped carefully over her and toward his door. "What do you mean, 'you couldn't'? His door is wide open!"
She promptly found out what Sally meant when the barrier repelled her too, and she went stumbling backwards and tripping over Sally, ending up on the floor with her.
"What the hell is that?" Une's eyes were as wide as dinner plates behind her glasses.
"I don't know, but we have to help Wufei!" Sally got onto her knees and crawled toward the blocked door.
"Wufei! Say something! Tell me what's happening!" she yelled shrilly, slamming one hand on the barrier as if it would help.
Wufei could see Sally out of the corner of his eye, looking frantic and worried. He would have chuckled, if he could feel his mouth. She needed to worry less...
Gods, why couldn't he stop shivering? He was being such a weak idiot, writhing around on the floor with no self-control. Could he be having a nervous breakdown? Oh, if Duo could only see him now. He'd probably be laughing his ass off--
Wufei's back arched off the floor as all of the muscles in his chest contracted at the same time, sending sharp pain through every part of his body. He was no medical expert, but Wufei was almost certain nervous breakdowns didn't do that. He couldn't help himself; he let out a cry of pain and hugged himself more tightly.
Gods, what was happening to him?? He just wanted to get his paperwork done and live this miserable day through...
"Sanders! O'Brien!" he heard Une bark somewhere far away, "I want in that office yesterday!! Chang! If you can hear me, I'm coming after you!"
"Une--!"
"Po, can it!"
Much to Wufei's surprise, the spasms and nerve-shattering waves of pain were beginning to subside. He cautiously drew in a deep breath, and just as cautiously let it back out. Maybe it was passing? Just maybe? He suddenly found himself quite glad he had passed breakfast, for he had the sneaking suspicion it would be all over the floor. Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could sit back up and get Sally to ~shut up~.
((Ah, ah, ah, my pretty one. It's not that easy now...)) Wufei started at the silky voice resonating in his mind and suddenly found himself trembling. Even without a face, or a body, the disembodied voice wanted something from him. Something he was not willing to give.
At least not voluntarily.
"Who...are you...?" he managed to gasp out in between shuddering breaths.
He could almost see the oily smile of the voice's feminine owner, ((Someone you're going to know very soon, and hopefully quite well.))
Deep down in the very depth of his being, Wufei cringed. There was just something so...so nasty about that voice. Something that screamed "I will do whatever it takes to get what I want, and you cannot stop me!"
He really didn't have time to dwell on it, because suddenly three Preventers uniforms came tumbling into the office at once. Amazingly, the strange forcefield had retreated from whence it came. Wufei didn't bother arguing as Sally picked him up, sweating, shivering mess that he was, and stalked off to the infirmary.
*~*~*~*~*
"Is it safe to say you're unhappy?"
{{OH YEAH.}}
If Michael had had a place to hide, he would have. As it was, he was already pretty damn conspicuous, standing their in the main room of the Preventers building, what with his clean white suit and "resume" in hand. And he was talking to himself.
"Do I really have to do this?" he groaned.
{{Yes. You do. And if you whine again I'll have no issues with putting you back in Announcements and Messages.}}
He sighed, "Yessir." At that moment, a secretary poked her head in, obviously looking around for someone, "Michael?" she said, and Michael almost winced at her nasally voice.
"Yes, that's me, ma'am," he said, flashing a thousand watt smile that made the secretary blush.
She waved at the door to Une's office. "Lady Une will see you now."
"Thank you," he nodded cordially and walked over to rap quietly on the office door. He hoped for an insane moment no one would answer because he REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO DO THIS. But alas, he was defeated by a muffled "come in" through the mahogany.
"And into the Abyss we go," he muttered to himself and shuffled in.
{{Not funny.}}
Lady Une wasn't at her desk, but rather staring out her rather large office window with her back to him. He slowly walked the remaining five feet to her desk, to stand somewhat awkwardly while he waited for her to acknowledge his existence and turn around.
Cripes, she's got a freaking rainforest on her desk here...Michael stared in dumbfounded amazement at the vast assortment of STUFF this woman had on her desk: thick manila envelopes with names scrawled across them in scraggly handwriting, various reports and computer print-outs, several fast food wrappers, and what appeared to be a magazine of something called "Bishounen Weekly"...
"Papers?"
Michael blinked. Une hadn't even turned! "Pardon?" he said.
"Papers," she repeated and craned her neck around to look at him, "Resume?"
"Ah," he handed it to her and hoped that whoever had been in charge of creating his "papers" had actually done a decent job this time...
Lady Une quietly scanned over his resume once, before she started muttering what she was reading, "Michael O'Toole..."
Michael grimaced. Who upstairs had come up with that one??
"You worked for the White Fang?" she asked with an upraised eyebrow.
Michael shrugged, "I was trying to protect my home." No matter how many centuries passed, no matter how much mankind evolved, that excuse always worked...
...even if the angel giving the excuse had no clue what in the frig they were talking about.
Lady Une said nothing for a while, then, "Your credentials do look good..." she trailed off and turned back to her window.
Michael counted to slowly counted to twelve before he ventured the question, "Is something wrong, ma'am?" Not that he didn't already know...
"I certainly hope you don't plan on wearing a suit to the office every day," she said snarkily, ignoring his question. She flipped back to the first page and skimmed it again. "I'd hate to see something so expensive get dirty."
Michael had expected Une to be unhappy - which was part of the reason he REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO BE HERE - and so he took it in stride. "No, ma'am, I don't plan on wearing suits every day. If I wanted that kind of job, I don't think I'd be in your office right now."
"You have a point, Mister O'Toole," she said, flipping back and forth from page to page.
((This is going to work?)) Michael thought, not daring to look upward where his comments had been directed. ((Not that I'm second-guessing you. But...I highly doubt that my replacing Duo Maxwell is going to help the atmosphere around here.))
"I hate to be putting this burden on you now, Lady Une, after that horrible incident yesterday with Mister Maxwell," Michael threw out into the silence, hoping that it would ease a bit of tension. "But I knew you would be shorthanded, and in times like these, I would presume that one needs all the help they can get..."
{{Of course this is going to work. You think I ever come up with a plan that doesn't work?}}
"That's a true statement," Une said, finally looked up into his startlingly blue eyes. Only one other person she'd ever known had had eyes like that.
"Well, Mister O'Toole, your resume is exceptional, and you seem to be a very congenial, fine young man." She set the folder of paper onto her desk, and Michael waited for her to continue.
"So I would like to tell you that you've been hired by the Preventers. You start immediately." She pressed the intercom button on her desk, adjusting her glasses. "Lainers, please get someone to give O'Toole a show of our building. And send someone to get him a uniform."
Michael sighed. Well, if anything, he was committed now. He had his boy to look after; hopefully Smoke could keep Duo in check. Into the Abyss, indeed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It didn't make any sense!
Sally felt like letting loose a frustrated short scream, but she settled for giving one of the pasty white walls of the infirmary a good THWAP!
Vital signs were completely normal! No fevers, spasms, trembles, shakes, or twitches! No dilation of the eyes, no sense of disorientation, no dizziness! No headache, no nausea, no sniffles, no sneezing. There was NOTHING WRONG with Chang Wufei! In fact, she could hardly believe that this person sitting crankily on the infirmary cot was the same one who scant minutes before had been in the middle of an awful seizure...
Wufei's arms were crossed and he was scowling up at her through the ebony strands of hair that had fallen into his face. Part of Sally wanted to coo; he looked like a petulant child! But her other parts-the parts with an iota of common sense-were, to be blunt, scared shitless.
Something was very, very wrong with Wufei. That was scary enough. But what frightened her even more was even if she did figure out what had happened to him, she didn't think there was a damned thing she could do to help him.
"Onna, can I leave?" he asked impatiently, sounding like yesterday's Wufei.
Sally huffed and glared back down at the stat board in her hand. Yup. He was still in peek condition.
"Chang," she said in the same exasperated tone, "You just threw a bunch of office papers at that poor McGivers child, collapsed into seizures in your office for what, ten minutes?, and now you ask me if you can leave?" she shook her head, "What do you think?"
"That you'll be reasonable for a change?"
"NO," she stalked forward and pushed against his shoulders, trying to get him to lay down, "This is a cot," she said through gritted teeth, "It's where sick little Preventers take nappy-byes. This," she fluffed up the lumpy bag of pseudo-cotton, "is a pitiful excuse for a pillow. It's where sick little Preventers lay down their sick little heads during their nappy-byes," Sally could feel holes burning into her forehead from Wufei's glare, but she continued, "You are Chang Wufei a la a sick little Preventer, so therefore, you need to stay where the sick little Preventers are supposed to stay."
Wufei fixed her with a long, cold look, "Are you done?" he asked bluntly. He had refused to lie down, despite her hands shoving down against his shoulders.
Sally blew out an exasperated sigh through her clenched teeth, "Wufei, PLEASE!" she shook her head and decided her temples needed massaged more than the stubborn Preventer needed to be pushed.
"I have work, onna."
"And I don't?" she snapped back at him.
If Wufei cared, he didn't show it. In fact, he was starting to stand, and from there, he would no doubt be on his way out the door.
Sally felt her abused nerves snap, "STAY!" she growled low in her throat and ~threw~ Wufei down onto the cot. He blinked at her in startled surprise, but didn't try to get back up. It was a good thing he didn't, because she sure didn't trust herself not to kill him.
"Wufei, quit trying with the Heero bull-shit. You're hurting. Duh. We all are. But I refuse to let you burn yourself out. I won't let you do it. I've seen you comatose on this same damned cot too many times! You are going to listen to me, Chang Wufei, even if I have to break both your legs and your left arm to get you to stay put!"
There! She felt mildly better. It was good just to threaten every now and then.
Sally sighed again and said a bit more quietly, "I don't want to see you hurt anymore, Wufei. Can't you understand that?"
Wufei's onyx eyes studied her through the fop of hair in his face.
Fop. Sally repressed the insane urge to giggle. "Fop" and "Wufei" were two words she had never expected to see in the same sentence. Ohhh boy, she was definitely more tired than she thought.
Finally, Wufei nodded once. Not the old Wufei who had enjoyed a brief cameo. No, this was new, heartbroken Wufei, "I'm sorry," he said in the same quiet, almost dead-sounding voice he had been talking in since... "I'm sorry," he repeated.
"So am I." Sally ran her fingers through her messy locks of hair-she hadn't really had time today to do much other than run a brush through it---and winced at the tangles her fingers snagged, "Do you want anything? Tea? Stuffed animal? Trashy romance novel?"
A light snore was her only answer.
Sally blinked in mild surprise. Well, Wufei had probably gotten significantly less sleep than she did, not to mention that...attack...from earlier. She flipped off the infirmary lights, set her wrist-watch to beep in an hour and a half, and made her way to Une's office for her report.
The stat board still listed Wufei's physical health as impeccable, and Sally wasn't quite sure how to explain that. She had better think of a way in the next two minutes, for Lady Une really wasn't a fan of loose threads...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~AA&M