Follow the Lights

- Two -

"Wufei?"

The man addressed nods once in greeting. "Quatre. How are you?"

Blinking at his unexpected visitor, Quatre begins, "I... I'm surprised to see you... here."

Wufei's gaze roves over Quatre rather than the office lobby. Deliberately, Wufei repeats, "Are you well?"

Quatre's shoulders tense and although he doesn't glance around the open room for potential eavesdroppers, Wufei can read the other man's hypersensitivity. He responds, "Actually, I was just about to run some errands. Care to join me?"

Wufei nods and follows his old comrade to the elevator. He waits until the doors have slid closed before speaking again, "Something has happened, hasn't it?"

Quatre's expression tightens into a determined look. "Yes. I think... I think perhaps something has."

"Tell me."

Quatre glances at Wufei nervously. "I... can't. It's too... crazy. I just... I just have to check on few things first."

"I'm coming with you."

One corner of the other man's mouth lifts into a crooked, relieved smile. "All right."

...ooo...

The timing is everything.

Duo Maxwell listens to the sounds around him, evaluating his lair. All is intact. All is resting. All is safe.

Safe...

He inhales deeply, testing his strength. He feels rested.

It's time to begin again.

Without further pause, Duo reaches within himself for the ability to accomplish what he must. And he must succeed. For Quatre must be made to understand.

His eyes remain closed as he carefully shuts away any feelings of sympathy for his old friend. He knows this must be done. Quatre must lose everyone before he will be able to understand... And he will understand.

Or he will die.

...ooo...

Cathy turns at the sound of an approaching vehicle and almost collapses with relief when she sees who it is.

"Wufei! Quatre!" She waves vigorously to the both of them as they climb out of the car.

Wufei observes the young woman's anxious expression and hears Quatre immediately ask her, "Is something wrong? Is Trowa all right?"

She shakes her head as she closes the distance between them. Carefully, Quatre places his hands on her shoulders. "Cathy?" he prompts and Wufei hears something very close to fear in his voice.

"He's... he's gone," she replies with increasing frustration. "We can't find him anywhere. And he was right here. Two hours ago, he was getting ready to practice a new routine with me and then..." She sighs, wrapping her arms around herself as if she were chilled. "And then he just walked out and no one has seen him since!"

"Does everyone know you're looking for him?" Quatre asks softly, indicating her coworkers with a nod toward the trailers and tents beyond.

"Yes" is her emphatic reply. "Everyone knows but... but they're so used to Trowa disappearing... you know, from when the war was going on... that they're not taking it seriously and what if... I mean, the war's over. Why wouldn't he tell me he was taking off? I don't understand, Quatre!"

Hearing the gradual dissolve of Cathy's composure and the steady increase of what promises to blossom into panic, Wufei quietly but firmly tells her, "We'll find him." He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out one of his business cards. "Here. You call us if you find anything."

"But... but you just got here..." she protests.

"Wufei is right," Quatre assures her. "We can do more from my home than from here. You call us if anything changes."

She nods, her slender throat working to swallow back her distress.

"It'll be all right, Cathy," Quatre offers with a gentle squeeze at her shoulder.

Together, the former pilots turn back to the car and slide into their seats. Quatre turns the vehicle back onto the quiet, rural highway and heads back toward the city. For the better part of a mile, all is silent. And then:

"This... could be really bad, Wufei."

Wufei turns his full attention in Quatre's direction, silently prompting for more information.

"I... didn't want to believe it but now... now I think it's a possibility we have to consider." He glances in Wufei's direction before turning his formidable stare onto the road once more. Face set, Quatre begins, "Duo came to see me last night after his flight got in from Damascus. Something was off. Way off."

"Off how?"

"He's not the same person. Something happened to him in the desert. He's not... rational, Wufei." Quatre sighs. "Somehow, a trip to visit the Bedouin who had sheltered us right after Heero self-destructed turned into something else."

"You're not being very clear, Quatre."

"I know and I'm sorry. I simply don't have enough information to explain..."

"Then just tell me what you know."

"I know..." Quatre's fingers tighten around the steering wheel. His gaze remains focused completely on the road before him. "I know Duo thinks he can..." He takes a fortifying breath. "He thinks it's possible to... to steal the human soul. And he was going to prove it to me. Starting with Trowa, Heero, and... you."

Quatre finally glances at Wufei, offering the naked fear in his gaze to the Preventer agent. Wufei doesn't ask any other questions. He reaches for his cell phone and dials Heero's number.

...ooo...

"Hey, Yuy! Dude, where do you keep these guns, man? I've been meaning to ask you."

Heero clicks the safety back in place and tosses a bored glare at his old comrade. Were it not for the fact that Heero's reaction time had dropped recently along with his energy levels, he probably would have shot the other man. "Duo," he greets shortly.

"The one and only," he almost sings, leaning against one of the supporting concrete cylinders in the parking garage. "You gonna ask me how I am? What I'm doin' here? Why I wanna know where you keep Dirty Harry, there?"

Heero grunts in disinterested response.

"Heh. Some great buddy you are," Duo says not unhappily. He crosses his arms over his chest and looks away to study the fascinating interior of the garage. "And to think I came by to give you the heads up on some recent developments."

Heero doesn't bother to pause as he unlocks his car door and tosses his jacket and satchel onto the passenger seat. He glares at Duo over the roof of the car with mild annoyance. "What makes you think I don't already know about it, Duo? The Preventer resources are very thorough."

"See, that's where you're wrong, my friend."

Heero arcs a brow at Duo in an expectant yet speculative expression. Duo simply grins, leaning back against the pillar as if he has all the time in the world.

With a growl, Heero adjusts his grip on the open car door and slams it shut. "Okay, Duo. You've got five minutes to tell me what the hell is going on."

Suddenly all business, Duo nods once. "Follow me, then."

Heero hesitates for some reason as he watches Duo head for the emergency stairwell. Perhaps it is the look on Duo's face. The Shinigami look. The one promising eminent death and destruction to his enemies. A tightening along Heero's spine that's almost a shiver skitters down to the small of his back. He remains beside his car, watching Duo's progress to the metal door. If Duo notices his hesitance, he doesn't mention it. In fact, he doesn't even look behind him as he opens the portal. For a moment, Duo is silhouetted sharply by the harsh fluorescent lighting. Heero's gaze roves over the stark, black lines of his lithe figure for one breathless moment and then the door slams shut behind him.

For another, much longer moment, Heero simply stands, stunned. Had he just... Had he just stared at Duo like... like...? Heero shakes his head sharply, trying to dislodge these half-formed, insane, asinine thoughts which are – no doubt – caused by his inability to get a good night's rest. But he can't stop the knowledge that, for one eternal heartbeat, he'd felt physical attraction for the other young man.

With a growl, Heero decides to get this over with. Just hear what Duo has to say and get the hell out of here. He doesn't have to glance at his watch to know that if he lingers here any longer, he'll miss his flight back to headquarters.

He reaches out for the stairwell door but at the last moment, his fingers stop just shy of their goal. He stares at the handle, feeling the residual warmth of Duo's touch on the metal radiate against his fingertips.

With another shake of his head, Heero grasps the handle, telling himself that he's imagining it.

Imagining what?

Heero pulls up short as the door cracks open. The soft whisper chills him as he absorbs the sight of blackness spilling out into the garage. Blackness. What had happened to the stairwell lights?

What do you think, Heero?

This time, he does shiver. That voice. So dark. So...

Pure? So gentle?

"Duo..." Heero can't believe that slight, needy whisper had been his own voice. He tries to shake himself out of this trance, but discovers himself opening the door wider.

Closer, Heero. Just a little closer. I'm here.

He takes a step, bringing him nearer to the threshold, his palm flattening on the surface of the open door. "Duo..." he says again, the name becoming a mantra, a lifeline, a precursor to surrender.

Come into the shadows, Heero. Let them hold you close and soothe you. Do you know why I love the darkness so much, Heero? Do you?

Another step. The door wilts a little further back into its frame.

It heightens the senses, Heero. It makes every breath so much warmer. Every faint breeze results in goose bumps along your skin. Every kiss... Every kiss... Ah, Heero, shall I go on?

Heero leans closer into the darkness, every fiber of his body replying before his mouth can form the corresponding phrase, before his lungs can force up the breath required to utter it. "Yes..."

Let me show you how to live in the darkness. Let me show you everything, Heero.

Heero closes his eyes and the rushing of his blood and panting breaths fill his awareness. "Show me, Duo."

I will, Heero. I'll show you everything.

"Everything."

Come to me, Heero. Let me give you this freedom... And let me take what is mine...

The soft sound of the stairwell door settling back into its frame reverberates through the concrete structure. And an instant later, within Heero Yuy's unlocked rental car, his cell phone begins to ring.

- End of Part Two -

Author's Note: Hey, I just wanted to say: "Thanks for the reviews on Part One, folks!" It's lovely to know you're out there!