Scarlet Love
Chapter One:
Battered Night
By: NightChild
***
It was a cold, wet night; rain was falling hard, beating on the roof of the small house that was hidden from the rest of the world. A young man sat on a wooden chair by the small fireplace with his eyes closed, paying no notice to the twisting yellow and orange flames. Someone could watch him for hours and not see him move, but to breathe, and even then, it was even, slow and hardly detectible.
There was a small, feeble knock at the door, yet it resounded in the house as if it were a gunshot. The young man's eyes shot open to reveal cobalt blue eyes. He stood up lightning fast but did so quietly, as he did everything. Reaching for the gun that was always tucked in the back of his jeans, he walked silently to the door. He never got visitors; it could be an enemy…though it was highly unlikely since the wars had ended nearly three years beforehand. He paused at the door and listened.
Nothing.
Steeling himself for anything, he wrenched the door open. But what fell into his arms he wasn't ready for… A badly battered and bloodied young man with a long, brown braid fell into the other young man's arms, startling him. "D-Duo?" The bleeding and bruised one, Duo, didn't respond. "Duo." Still nothing. The cobalt-eyed one tried again, a slight edge of panic seeping into his voice, "Duo!" That did get a response.
Duo moaned slightly, coming back into consciousness. "H…H-eero…?" he whispered out painfully.
The cobalt-eyed one, Heero, nodded and he felt something stir within him that he hadn't felt for a long time. He quickly shrugged it off. "Yeah, it's me. What happened?" he asked, trying to keep his voice to a monotone.
Duo stilled, and his eyes dulled. Staring up with his blank violet eyes, he kept still and said nothing, which was unusual for him. This worried Heero…a lot more than he'd like. Gently shaking Duo's shoulders, he repeated, "What happened?"
No response.
Panicking now, but not showing it, Heero shook Duo harder. "DUO! Tell me what happened!" Duo's eyes flickered to Heero's, but he still didn't say anything. Sighing, Heero picked Duo up and carried him to the only bedroom in his house. There was no point in stressing Duo any more than he was already stressed. 'Something really bad must have happened for him to be this quiet.' He thought as he laid the unresponsive and limp form of Duo out on his bed.
Once finished settling Duo into the bed, Heero grabbed two blankets and a pillow. He spread one blanket out on the chilled, hardwood floor, unfolded the other one, laid it on top of the one that he had spread out, then put his pillow at the top of the small blanket pile, and then folded back the blanket that was on top and crawled between the two blankets. With a heavy sigh, he settled in for a long, sleepless night filled with questions about what had happened to the once happy and ever cheerful Duo Maxwell.
***
Duo awoke to the smell of cooking eggs and…coffee? He tried to sit up to get out of the bed and go investigate, but his body decided then was a good time to explode with pain. He fell back into the soft bed and pillows with an audible hiss. He closed his eyes to try to block out the pain, but it only doubled in magnitude. He felt like his body was trying to tear apart in several different directions at once, like white-hot pokers were being pressed to every inch of his skin, like small, sharp needles--"No! STOP!" he screamed before he even thought about it. He didn't want to think about that. He couldn't think about what had happened….
Duo was saved from his thoughts by the sound of feet rushing to the closed door. He heard the sound of door being flung open and he just barely managed to turn his head enough to see a panicked and rumpled looking Heero standing in the doorway, scanning the room for intruders. 'Ah, same ol' Heero…' Duo thought weakly as he watched Heero walk over to the bed and kneel down next to it.
Heero looked at Duo in all seriousness and leaned in close to inspect a particularly nasty cut in his chin. "What's wrong, Duo?" he asked, his voice softer than he'd like it to be. But, his "Perfect Solider" façade never held well when it came to Duo. He felt that feeling stir in him again, but as the night before, he shoved it away.
Duo looked into Heero's eyes and thought he saw a flicker of something that he'd never seen before in his eyes, but it was gone before he could tell what it was. He quickly looked away. "I…I don't want to talk about it." He added quickly, trying to change the subject, "Hey, is that breakfast I smell?" he hoped that his diversion had worked.
Heero looked at Duo closely for a moment, then turned away. "Yeah…that's breakfast. But I don't think that I'd ever be able to cook enough for you." His tone was light, almost joking, as he turned and walked out of the room.
Duo stared at the place where Heero had once been, his pain forgotten momentarily. 'Did Heero just…joke?' he asked himself, amazed. Forgetting about his injured state, he tried to move again and pain shot through his body as it did before, but it seemed worse this time. Tears pooled in his violet eyes, but he refused to let them fall. 'Big boys don't cry…big boys don't cry…big boys don't cry…' he chanted over and over in his head as he clenched his eyes shut against the pain. He didn't notice that Heero had returned with a plate of eggs and a mug of coffee and was now watching him closely.
Heero watched in horrified amazement as a tear leaked from the corner of Duo's eye, slid down his bruised and cut cheek, and into the pillow. Heart clenching, he walked silently across the room, toward the now quietly sobbing Duo. He set the plate and mug down on the floor with a soft thump that Duo didn't seem to notice. Then he slowly climbed into the bed with Duo and pulled him to his chest, holding the sobbing ex-Gundam Pilot close. "Duo…"
***
Disclaimer: Does it look like I own the rights to Gundam Wing to you? It doesn't? Good, 'cause I'm only gonna do this once this story.
AN: This is just the start of SL…I plan on continuing this fic and adding more chapters…but I need to know if it's worth my time to continue it or not. So, please review and tell me if I should continue this or not. Thanks.
NightChild