Duo's Child

Chapter 15

Duo yawned as he stepped into the dining room later that day. He blinked when he saw it covered in high-dollar decorations such as table cloths, expensive charms hanging from the chandelier, and real shined silverware perfectly placed out on the table tops. The light in the room was lit up all the way, giving the walls a sparkling reflection that shouted out high-class and posh chit-chats.

"Hi Duo," smiled a perky Quatre stepping into the dining room through doors located on the wall to his left. "Everything go okay with Uno today?"

"Um…yeah. Peachy. Quatre…what's…going on?" Duo stared up at the ceiling and found, for the first time, that around the base of the gold and crystal chandelier was a marvelous sketched designed painted right on the concrete, defiantly by a pure and perfect professional. It was a classy image that he usually wouldn't see anywhere except for a picture of a million dollar mansion with either a Duke or King living there. Then Duo remembered: he's living with Quatre Raberba Winner, the richest person in all the world and colonies, in a million dollar mansion that normally wouldn't be seen anywhere except for a picture.

Duo sweat-dropped. He looked back as Quatre sorted through a few pieces of China.

"Well, Relena's coming over with speakers from various nations across the Earth for a dinner party, meeting, conventional grouping sort of thing." Quatre laid out a couple plates on the table.

"Uh huh…and they are going to use your house?"

"Oh, I'm going to be apart of it. Don't forget, my family bloodline developed Colony Cluster 4; I was supposed to be with the meetings but they really never needed me for anything yet."

"So why all of a sudden?"

"Well," shrugged Quatre, "Relena said it would be a wise decision for me to meet the representatives from the nations of the Earth. Technically, I think it would be a better start for my governmental future."

Duo looked back up at the ceiling and to the decorated paintings just around the rim of the chandelier. "And being classy was part of your front to look proper?"

"Huh?" Quatre followed his gaze up at the ceiling and smiled. "My father was always enjoying the class of artists. He had a professional paint the ceiling in shades of gold to match the chandelier. He also was known to paint a few other parts of this mansion, but I have yet to see it. Then again, since there are parts of this mansion I have yet to even find, I may never be able to see the images he's created."

Duo snapped back at Quatre. "You've lived here all your life and you never saw the entire place?!"

Quatre smirked at Duo. "I never really bothered. I'd love to explore and see what I've missed out all these years, but I don't know where the door is."

Duo sweat-dropped. "The…door?"

"That's right." Quatre nodded. "And if it's hidden, it's probably locked and I wouldn't know where to find the key."

"Quatre! You don't need a key! You're living with Heero for crying out loud, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to blow off the lock." Duo expressed.

"No Duo! I couldn't dare put holes in wood that's over a century old! It would damage the antique feeling of this place and lower the value of this mansion." Quatre shouted back.

"Quatre, you live in a castle for screaming out loud. What value is going to drop from it? And besides, like you said, you wouldn't know where the key is and the door at that matter. Hell, if we ever found it you can just call a locksmith."

Quatre thought about it for a while. "Or you could just pick it."

Duo grinned. "So you finally gave in to the beliefs that I still got it in me."

"No." Quatre shook his head. "I never disbelieved. I just didn't want you scratching up my house."

"Hey!" Duo growled at Quatre's giggles.

"Anyways, Duo. I'm sure my father had locked it for a good reason. Maybe there was something back there that hurt him, frightened him, or worse." Quatre thought hard.

"Maybe he tried to kill someone and locked them back there." Shrugged Duo.

"No, I'm pretty sure there's doors and windows that lead out of the mansion besides this part. But, it could have been something that caused him such dread that he wouldn't want to remember for fear of being torn apart; maybe some room that had more than a bad memory in it."

"What would happen in the room?" Duo questioned.

"Perhaps someone had died in one that he doesn't ever want to be reminded of." Quatre's voice was still but unfortunately, Duo hadn't noticed.

"Who then?"

"Duo, my mother gave birth to me in her bedroom."

Uno slowly crept down the hallway that night when she heard voices. She approached from the corner of the wall where the hallway connected, remaining behind a side table with a lamp on it. She smelled coffee and tea, heard low voices that didn't sound anywhere familiar to her, and saw people she had never seen. She saw Quatre with them, but he was dressed differently than she had ever seen him before.

She was wondering what was going on, but fear of standing out held her back from entering the conversations. As she turned to return to the gym, a lady in a stunning, cream and pink colored dress crouched down besides her. She had long blond hair pulled back into a pony tail with a white bow, eyes as blue as the sky and a smile as brightening as the sun. She was beautiful to Uno and more amazing than she had ever hoped to look.

"Why hello there, little one. Who might you be?" The lady asked. Her voice had a low tone to it that hid in the shadows of her natural and dazzling voice. Her teeth were as white as pearls and her skin was an unblemished and soft ivory touch, as she took Uno's hand.

"I'm Relena Dorlian. What's your name?"

Uno stared at her, deciding to speak or ignore the lady and claim to be a mute.

"Hm?"

Damn here for being so persistent and Uno damned herself for being so hasty.

"Uno."

"Well Uno, how old are you?"

"Relena! What are you doing here?!" A startled and crackling voice made it's appearance behind the Relena. Relena rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Greetings again, Duo." She stood and faced him, then curtsied. Uno took this time to run and hide behind Duo.

"What…oh yeah. Quatre's dinner party."

Relena nodded and smiled a winning grin. "Yes, that's right. Is Uno you're daughter? I never knew Hildie had a child."

"She's not Hildie's." Duo looked down at Uno. "Uno, go play with Trowa in the gym, okay?"

"But I just had." She pouted. She knew Duo was trying to get her to leave.

"Then go play with Heero in the training room."

"Okay." Uno turned and traveled off to the training room.

Duo returned to Relena. "Be quiet, you skank. Uno doesn't know she's my biological daughter."

Relena blinked. "Did you know?"

"No. I adopted her. Her mother died in the White Fang. We…produced her at the start of everything, before I met Heero, before I got in Operation Meteor." Duo explained very softly.

"Oh." Relena blinked a few times. "So you adopted her from off the streets?" Duo nodded.

"Say nothing to her about the truth. Please. I ask you, if you would just be kind and generous to me once, will you make it this moment?"

Relena smiled and curtsied. "Will do, Duo Maxwell."

Duo sighed. "And don't do that to me! I'm not high-class and snobby like the rest of ya'!" He grumbled and turned off to leave.

Relena giggled and returned to the meeting, noticing Dorothy staring and smirking at her.

When Duo was alone in the hallway, he decided to continue on and explore each and every door he came across, whether it was a guest room or closet, explore the walls everywhere, including the guest room closets, and tapped on the walls for echoes. Somewhere, Quatre's father had hidden the door to the rest of the mansion away and he was determined to find it. Duo stepped up to a wall sconce and gripped at it. He was trying to pull it downward when a familiar Asian voice spoke up behind him, startling him and making him spin around.

"Are you trying to break Quatre's lights? I don't think he would be happy if you did." Wufei noted Duo's appearance of being sweaty. "What are you doing?"

"Quatre said his father hid away the door that extended the mansion to the other parts we've never seen…nor Quatre for that matter. So, I'm just trying to look for it while he's busy with his guests."

"Have you tried doors being blocked or built up or hallways behind walls? I highly doubt Master Winner would make the door to the rest of the mansion triggered by a tiny tug at a wall light."

Duo sweat-dropped. "Shut up and go away!!!"

Wufei chuckled and walked on. Duo growled.

"Stupid China-man. Thinking you know it all." Duo stood and frowned. He knew Wufei was right; why would the door be triggered when it was originally a part of the entire house? Duo cursed himself.

"Well I will find it one day while I am still alive! Mark my words, Wufei! I won't rest until that door is spotted!"

Uno stepped into the den and found Duo snoring away. She hasn't really ever been in the den before, just when she was finishing the book she read from Trowa. She slowly crept up to Duo and watched him closely. He eyes flickered from his dream, his mouth drooled of saliva, his body was sprawled out across the couch with arms and legs hanging off the back and side; now was the perfect time for her attack.

"DUO!" Screamed Uno at the top of her lung.

Duo remained motionless and continued snoring away. She frowned. He must have been doing something terribly wrong if he was out of energy; Duo's the bunny on the television, he keeps going and going and going.

She sighed and left the room for bed.

WARNING: Yes, I am making Quatre's mansion into a story on its own but it will not be for a couple chapters…I just gotta' figure out what chapters those might be. ;; But, can you guess what might be in the other side? Hehehe ::snickers:: I ain't telling…and Fal, don't you go blurting it out either!!!!!! ;; Anywho...okay…so…just so people don't get offensive, I made Quatre be using only a quarter of the entire castle he's living within. Picture it: a square, perfect on all four sides, cut up I into a cross of four pieces…color one piece: that's how much of the mansion is being used and seen by Quatre, the rest is blocked off or hidden or who knows. No one really knows how much they are missing (except for Quatre) because the living quarters they're in now are really big and they also don't think about the size of the mansion from outside to the size on the inside…and how many rooms that actually have. BUT, I will give you some hints later on. Also, the in between chapters will include when the key is described more and more and questioned to be either a real object key, machine key code, or perhaps...a voice decoding key for a machine that will only read Master Winner's voice… ::gasp:: Oh No!!! O.O;;;

HINT: They will find a library, new wings, and even a door that goes outside to the rest of the gardens and outside of the mansion that they can not get to due to high—very high—concreted walls (I'm thinking they may be covered in alive or dead roses, as to keep away spooks that might try to climb up and get attacked by vicious thorns… ::grins:: ), and even…a part of the outside that they have not even thought the mansion had…maybe including a large hedge style maze…no? ::grins::