I have no excuse for the lateness of this chapter ^-^;
Absolute Zero
Continued
7. Ours Alone
In the endless void of space, just beyond the reach of Earth's gravity, an OZ base hung cold and dull amongst the bright stars.
"Colonel Une, we've located the Zero gundam!" The soldier-woman's glasses glinted as she turned to face the large computer screen. Finally she had found the one that got away. Her eyes narrowed.
"Retrieve the gundam for further study." she ordered.
"Yes ma'am! And the pilot, ma'am?" Silence filled the room as Col. Une's orders were awaited. After a short eternity she spoke.
"Kill him."
***
Eyelids still low, weighted with the heaviness of sleep, Duo rolled over to begin his attempt at getting up. He was slightly surprised when his face bumped lightly into something soft and warm. His eyes opened.
"WHAT THE-?!" In a blur of appendages he scrambled off the bed and onto the floor. Quickly he glanced at Heero's bed and found it to be empty. He stood and walked round to the other side. Sure enough, the other person he'd bumped into was the semi-autistic boy. For a moment, he wondered why Heero was in his bed and not his own. With a start he came back to reality as the sleeping creature stirred. He watched as Heero's eyes opened. The eyes locked on him and he remembered. Heero was not the same as before. This incident meant nothing. This person, this thing, this entity in his bed was nothing but a frightened child seeking protection. He couldn't think of it as any kind of advance; Heero most likely had no idea of the implications of the words sex or attraction anymore. He could take it as a compliment, however. Heero Yuy, seeking protection from him…he laughed. The very idea was ridiculous. Still, he could take it that way… For a moment he toyed with the idea of asking Heero why he had changed beds in the middle of the night. He dismissed the thought quickly; Heero wouldn't understand enough to give him an answer.
"He follows me…" Duo blinked in confusion.
"What…? Did you…" He shook his head. Heero couldn't have said anything.
"He follows me." Yes, Heero was speaking. His eyes had traveled to the floor however and his words were slightly muffled. Curiously the second pilot moved closer.
"Who follows you?"
"He follows me. Not by Long-hair…" Duo's brows furrowed.
"Wait, I don't understand…"
"Not by Long-hair…not by Long-hair…" Heero's eyes closed momentarily. The soft sound of a computer beeping cut through the air before Duo could question Heero further. Annoyed, Duo straightened himself and opened the laptop. Once again he had to enter a password before the call could be accepted. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to recall what Heero had typed in. It was not long before he became frustrated.
"Why can't I remember…?" Slowly he replayed the moment in his mind. A sharp pang of an unidentified emotion overtook his stomach as it occurred to him that Heero hadn't typed in anything, the window had simply disappeared. Why hadn't he realized this before? Why didn't he think of it at that exact moment? Perhaps he thought the computer had made a mistake in asking for the password or perhaps he had thought J had overridden it. Whatever it was, at that time he had no reason to be suspicious of Heero; back then they had no idea that Heero possessed any sort of "powers". The computer beeped again, drawing his attention back to it. Once again the password window had disappeared, but this time he didn't get to click the accept button, either. Dr. J's half-mechanical face popped up on the screen, wearing a somewhat surly expression. Duo's normally cheerful face also soured slightly.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"I want to speak to Heero, now."
"Well Heero can't come to the phone right now. I'll take a message."
"Listen boy, this is very important. I need to speak with Heero – I have a new mission for him." At the sound the word "mission" the reclusive pilot's head shot up. His Prussian-blue eyes narrowed partially.
"You saw the condition he's in, what makes you think he can go running off -!!" Dr. J's face vanished quite unexpectedly, replaced by the words "Signal Lost". After getting over the initial shock Duo looked around to see what could have caused the disconnection. Finding nothing, he shrugged and reached for the computer to turn it off.
"It's just as well…I didn't wanna talk to him anyway." The screen went black before the tip of his finger even touched the laptop's mouse pad. He stared at it in surprise.
"What's up with this computer…?" Suspiciously he turned and glanced at Heero. The other boy was sitting silently on the edge of the bed, his eyes fixed absently on his feet. He couldn't help but wonder what Heero was capable of. Sitting there so quietly, not hiding anything but holding more mysteries than he ever had in the past, he appeared so harmless, so helpless, so…so…he looked not weak but tired. To Duo he looked as though he wanted nothing more than to sit and relax yet…they had all seen part of what he could do. What else could he do? They couldn't just ask him so how would they find out? Besides that, it was highly annoying and inconvenient not to be able to hold even a short, simple conversation with him. But why shouldn't he try? What was the worst thing that could happen if he asked Heero a question? The worst thing was that he could somehow upset Heero or not get any kind of answer.
"What can you do, Heero?" Duo asked, leaning on the table. "What kinda freaky powers are ya hidin' from all of us?" It was a joke really. After all, he was positive Heero wouldn't answer. The steely quiet went unbroken for several minutes. Noiselessly the gossamer curtains fluttered – the window wasn't open. He jumped up by reflex when the table shook. It stopped then began again, hopping wildly until it turned over, throwing Heero's laptop and other items to the floor.
"Um…" Deathscythe's pilot murmured. Suddenly it occurred to him that the worst thing that could happen if he asked Heero a question was getting an answer. Slamming loudly in the frame, the window popped open, its glass cracking slightly from the force. The door swung closed so hard it bounced open again. Duo found himself moving away as the table and the things strewn about it began to move once more, jerking on the floor as though in the midst of an earthquake.
"Heero…" Finally Heero lifted his head. Though shadowed by his messy hair, his eyes met with Duo's. Duo knew instantly that something was different. Usually Heero's face held no emotion and his eyes were empty but now he could see clearly the light of amusement shining deep within the Prussian blue orbs. Pictures flung themselves from the walls and crashed loudly to the floor. Book after book exploded from the shelves of a great oak bookshelf someone had placed in the room. The pages flapped wildly, creating a racket that dug its claws into Duo's eardrums and dragged long, deep gashes. As if to punctuate each book's shredding, the door and window slammed open and shut continually, both mimicking and mocking Duo's increasing heartbeat. The lighthearted, innocent laugh of a child echoed around him vaguely.
"What the hell…?" He looked around for the source of the noise. A hiss of pain escaped his mouth as scissors raced through the air past him, cutting his cheek as they went. Warm blood crept down the side of his face to his neck. Placing a hand over the wound to stop the blood, he glanced about himself quickly and realized that there were numerous sharp, dangerous objects circling him.
"What're you doing, Heero?" He watched the corners of Heero's mouth curl just the tiniest bit into a cold smirk.
"Ring around the rosie…" Again the voice of a child floated into Duo's ears. 'I'm hallucinating…' the braided American told himself. 'I have to be hallucinating…Heero wouldn't do this. I know he wouldn't do this to me…'
"You want to know what we can do?" He spoke slowly and clearly as though conversing with an infant but another voice lay beneath his own, barely concealing itself by echoing Heero's words. Calmly, the boy Duo had only moments ago thought of as harmless watched him try to dodge razor edges flying back and forth at him from different parts of the circle.
"A pocket full of posies…" The entire room shook as if having a nervous breakdown, and the deep rumbling of the tremors assaulted Duo's sensitive hearing along with the tearing of the books and the banging and clanging of the window, door, and drawers going crazy in their slots, ripping and splintering the dresser which held them.
"We can do many things." Soon Duo was dodging a cloud of objects whether sharp or not and varying greatly in size and shape. A thick coat of crimson liquid was beginning to cover his skin, a puddle beginning to form beneath his feet, he was panting from exertion already and couldn't make it to the door. He couldn't make it to the door. Couldn't make it out the door without getting hit. Couldn't make it without getting killed. He couldn't make it…he couldn't make it… Colors swirled around him. Dizzy from blood loss and lack of oxygen he sank to one knee, still trying feebly to avoid being hit.
"We can kill you." Heero and the Voice continued. "We can kill you and not care later." Duo swore as a book collided with his face, leaving his eye and part of his cheek bruised. But by that time the noise had awoken Wufei, whose room was just one room down the hall. Realizing the raucous was coming from the room Duo and Heero shared, he hastily got out of bed, the spread curled around his ankle holding him up but a second. With careful timing he slipped through the crazed door, already expecting whatever problem there was to be a serious one. His hands were up only in enough time to block the line of books that had flown his way.
"What the hell's going on in here?!" he demanded. It took only a moment for him to assess the situation. Nearly everything that had been in the room was soaring haphazardly in unmarked courses, all potential dangers, all potential weapons. It proved beyond difficult to fight his way to Heero; he was unable to dodge everything and came out looking almost as beaten and bruised as the near-unconscious Duo did. Movement behind him made him spin. Duo's limp body was floating into the air, his chest rising then falling, rising, falling and this time not rising again. Wufei did the first thing that came to his mind; he punched Heero. Time froze. Then one by one the levitating objects fell. Duo was the last to land but he didn't drop immediately, he sort of glided downward. Unwittingly he curled into the fetal position when he felt solid ground beneath him once more. Heero's cheek reddened a bit but didn't swell or bruise. Wufei stepped back, trying his best to maintain his air of dignity, his skin covered more by cuts and dark bruises than his sleepwear – a mere pair of boxers – and his hair flying loosely about his head. Unsure of how to speak to Heero, he cleared his throat, thinking.
"…Sorry…I had to do that…" he began. But Heero was not listening to him.
"Why didn't you kill him, Heero?"
"Long-hair is my friend." Wufei paused. He looked at Heero, wondering if he had really spoken a coherent sentence. The mentally maimed boy locked eyes with him.
"Brown-eyes…thank you." At a loss for words, Wufei muttered that Heero was welcome, still wondering why he was able to speak so suddenly. He found himself wondering where Heero was going as the first pilot stood and headed toward the door going almost painfully slow, his bare feet making no sound on the stain-free carpet. Wufei begrudgingly helped Duo onto the bed then turned back to Heero.
"Where are you going?" he demanded. No answer was given. He followed Heero out the ruined door into the hall.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
"We…are being…attacked." The Chinese boy blinked a few times, trying to process the words.
"That's crazy! No one is attacking us! If someone were attacking us, we would at least have heard gunfire or some other weapon!!" Still Heero continued on.
"We…have to…stop…the attack." Unwilling to let Heero wander about through the house, let alone the forest outside, Wufei reached forward to grab the mentally unstable pilot and keep him from going any farther. He noticed the progress of his hand impeded by pressure, as if the air around Heero had somehow become thicker, thick enough to act as a shield around him. Try as he might, he found himself unable to force his hand through it.
"What the hell?" he wondered aloud. As he spoke, the closest door leading outside swung open to allow Heero passage, shutting again before Wufei could get through it. The Chinese pilot swore under his breath. The door wouldn't open. What should he do? There was no way he was going to just let Heero wander around outside. Suppose they actually were being attacked? Glancing about, he spotted a window. He could climb out this window if needed but should he go get someone first? Duo was still unconscious; Quatre was just recovering from his…"experience", and he had no idea where Trowa was at the moment. Clearly there would be no time for him to go looking for Trowa without losing Heero and any of the few servants milling about the mansion would only get in the way. It seemed the only option was to go out the window and chase after Heero. He would figure out how to stop him and bring him back once he had caught up. Out the window he went after sliding it open. He took a moment to locate Heero then tore after him. Since the blue-eyed teen boy was only walking, he was easy to catch up with. Both of their feet stung slightly as dried plants and rocks assaulted the bare skin. Once again Wufei was unable to get his hands close enough when he reached out to grab Heero. He ran around in front of the zombie-like boy.
"Heero, we're not being attacked! Go back into the safehouse!!" His words were ignored. An unseen force, which felt like wind to him, pushed him to the side out of Heero's path. Heero continued to walk. What now, Wufei wondered. Grabbing Heero was not an option, he could move easily any obstruction put in his path, and there was nothing out there strong enough to tie him up with if he even could tie him up. How would he stop Heero? The answer was simple enough. He couldn't stop Heero. All he could do now was follow him to make sure he didn't get killed.
"But if he does get killed, it's his own fault."
It was not long before they reached the site where the Zero Gundam had been temporarily hidden. Unable to relocate it, the four functioning pilots had opted to camouflage it as best they could. Unfortunately, it only delayed OZ's discovery of it; in the end, the enemy was able to uncover it. And as they entered the clearing, the mobile suits were attacking the gundam futilely but vigorously, unaware that its pilot was not inside.
"Don't those idiots realize there's no one piloting it?" Wufei mumbled. He watched as Heero continued on into the midst of flying bullets. Knowing he could not stop him, he stayed under the cover of the trees. Why should he risk his own life trying in vain to save Heero? One of the giant machines turned to the boy.
"Are you the pilot of this mobile suit?!" its pilot demanded over a loudspeaker. Heero said nothing. "If you are the pilot," the soldier continued. "Then be prepared to die!" The words were immediately followed by a string of hot shells. Heero tilted his head slightly. Wufei frowned.
"He's going to get himself killed!!" But the over-sized ammo veered harmlessly off to the side.
"What?" The pilot's surprise was clear. It should have been a direct hit and he knew it. But for some reason… He tried a second time. The angle of Heero's head lowered. Almost immediately, the bullets turned sharply back on the OZ mobile suit, shredding its cockpit beyond recognition. The long, terrified howl of the pilot was the last sound that came from it.
"What's he doing?" Wufei's eyes blinked in confusion as he observed the slaughter of the rest of the soldiers. 'He's becoming dangerous…' Heero turned to the last, crippled Leo. Horrified, the pilot scrambled back as the suit's camera zoomed in on the boy before it, covering all his screens with the teen's face. A few people back at the OZ base jumped in surprise as the same image appeared on the main screens.
"Leave us alone." Then, showing only the beginnings of an explosion, it was gone. The glasses-wearing general narrowed her eyes. She would not let a mere boy ruin her mission. She would not let him make her fail. She would not fail His Excellency – ever.
***
"I'm telling you, he knew that they would die!! He intended to kill them!" Quatre shook his head at Wufei.
"He doesn't know what it means to kill anymore, Wufei. How could he possibly have done it on purpose?"
"His memories must be coming back or something! He can speak now – how do you know he doesn't understand killing now as well?!"
"Even if he did," Duo interjected. "What does it matter? We kill OZ soldiers all the time."
"It matters because he didn't kill them for any war-related reasons, he just killed them just because they…" Altron's pilot hesitated. "He did it just because they were there."
"How could you possibly know that?!" Duo argued.
"I know because I f-!!" The rest of the pilots waited for Wufei to continue. "I…I felt it." he murmured.
"What do you mean you felt it?" Trowa asked.
"I can't explain it. It was like a message in my mind…I can't really remember it now but I know he only did it because he didn't want them there!!"
"I'm sorry Wufei, but you really need more proof." Frustrated, the Chinese teen stood, slamming his fist on the table top.
"What more proof do I need than what he did to all of you?! I'm telling you he's dangerous!!!" His eyes perceived that same dangerous boy before he could stop the statement. Like a deer caught in headlights, he stared at the Prussian blue icicles gazing back at him from the doorway. It didn't matter that Heero could not tell them how long he had been standing there. Wufei didn't need to ask. He knew that Heero had heard enough. Heero had heard what they said. And he had understood it. Silence reigned over the room for a moment. Pilots two through five stared at the first pilot, waiting for his reaction as though it were a divine judgment from the gods.
Much to their surprise, Heero said nothing. He simply smiled. It was not a sinister smirk which implied that excruciating pain would follow. Nor was it a large, toothy grin which foreshadowed a horrifyingly slow and mind-numbing death. It was only a smile – innocent, like that of a child. It was simply a smile – which promised eternal suffering in the depths of a Hell far worse than any human mind had ever conceived. Wufei knew all too well that this was a battle he could not win. Its victor had been decided even before he began to retreat. But even that he could not do. The spray of his own blood cut his vision off from all other objects but Heero's smiling face. Through the thunderous sound of silence he could hear the singing of children. Continually they sang, raising their voices in joy as his weakening body fell deeper and deeper into despair. A voice that sounded vaguely like Heero's yet much younger spoke to him.
"Bye-bye, Brown-eyes!!" Nothing registered in his mind as his body hit the linoleum. Without so much as a scream, moan, any sign of pain, he lay, eyes wide and pupils contracted to mere pinpoints. The cries of the other pilots went unnoticed by him; no longer did the name Wufei hold any meaning. No longer were their faces of any significance for it was not their faces he saw, but rather blank slates. Clean paper upon which no name, past, or any other information was written. Blood gushing from his nose, from his mouth, from his eyes, blood running warm down his chest he lay, his mind encased in a torture chamber of its on creation. One in which he knew no one. He knew nothing. Where he was all alone. He was all alone…
"Wufei, can you hear me?" Again and again Quatre prodded the fifth pilot's body, trying to bring his mind back into focus. The blood slowed to a stop but still Wufei did not respond. His eyes were wide open but it was as though he were in a coma.
"Heero…what did you do to him?" Duo's hurt and confused gaze fell upon the Japanese teen, dissolving his smile quickly. He hadn't wanted to hurt Wufei. It was the boy. He knew it was the boy. The boy who haunted his every thought, who pursued him wherever he tried to escape, even into the recesses of his own mind – too complex was it for him to understand that there is no where to run when you are running from yourself. So far out of the range of his comprehension was all of it that he could not in any way express it to the others. But the fact that he had not wanted to do it did not mean he felt remorse. He couldn't feel remorse. He couldn't feel remorse. He couldn't feel remorse. He couldn't feel… he couldn't feel… he couldn't feel…
"You can't feel, Heero. You can't think. You belong to me now."
"I…belong…" Duo jumped before he could finish.
"Get down!" he yelled. Heero did not understand. He stood there as the tiny red dot of light moved over his body. The window through which the beam had traveled shattered, a single projectile speeding straight toward the unsuspecting Heero. Still injured, the young American pilot could not make it to Heero in enough time to push him out of the way.
"HEERO!!"