Duo's Child
Chapter 29
Once again, another year has passed and the pains got harder for Uno to live with. Johnson's funeral was a week after his death. Uno attended the funeral even though she hardly knew him and stayed by Ricky's side the whole time. She had met Ricky's father and immediately wanted to punch him, but seeing how close the both of them were together made her rethink her options. Ricky's father looked calm and alright as if nothing had happened, but he stayed by Ricky's side the entire time, rubbing his back and shoulders when Ricky couldn't stop crying and even soothed him. Uno felt it a major shock; after all, he used to hit the poor child! So because of that, she didn't say a single negative thing towards him.
That same day Ricky introduced Uno to meet his father properly and Uno did her best to be nice. He looked at her a little irritated, as if he were hiding something from the two of them, but told Ricky of how happy he was for his son. Uno was a tad confused; he looked at Ricky like there was something Ricky had forgotten. He looked at Ricky with the cooling eyes of an eagle nearing down on a rodent; as if he had needed to talk with his son about something important, something his son might have forgotten.
After the funeral had ended, Uno walked to the other side to get away from the crowd and visit Theresa's grave. Coping with her best friend's death was like learning to eat snails; it wasn't an easy task and out of all that she's got talent in, she couldn't grasp this one massive blow to the mind. There was just something wrong about the whole thing. Somebody was out to get her and had killed her friend instead; but why hadn't they made the effort to attack again? Was there something about Theresa that she had to die for? Something she knew that she shouldn't have known? Ricky had given Uno more comfort that day as when looking for it for himself. He found it in Uno as she found hers in him.
Still, months had gone on and the two of them had grown even closer than they were. Uno still didn't bring up the question of how his father had all the money to give him and Ricky kept shrugging it off. She knew he was hiding something, but didn't press the subject for fear that if she knew he would have to kill her; perhaps his father was a gangster—who knew?
Especially when her birthday was coming around again was she even more tempted to ask how he got all of his money. His gift to her was a promise ring; a promise that they would never be apart. She had loved the ring to death and never noticed until the following night, when she was thinking about him again and looking at it, that it was an awfully expensive ring; Duo would have taken nearly twelve paychecks to pay for something like that and still struggle to do so.
On Christmas Day, Duo had gone over to Hildie's early that morning. Nobody knew why but when he came home with her later that night to Quatre's mansion for a massive dinner party, he announced that they were engaged; he proposed to her that morning. Ricky was sitting besides Uno and grinning at her; Uno was feeling a little under the sun because he was, once again, looking at her with the intense look saying, 'if they weren't around, I would be.' Uno knew exactly what he wanted and what he was thinking. She's only been calling him a perv for months on end because of it; he just never tried to make a move on her because he was a proper boy and also knew he'd get his ass kicked if he had—by her family and her.
Now, another couple months after that, Uno was at the grave yard, sitting on Theresa's burial, staring at the grave stone. Tears have been streaming down her face for a while now; her bike sat untouched on the path. Her cell phone was off. She told nobody where she was going…but she didn't have to; they all knew anyways.
She sat hugging her knees lightly, not a care in the world about how much she's cried out. She needed her friend the most right now. They've grown up together a lot; Theresa can't just abandon Uno now, not when Uno's hitting the second hardest stage in her life.
"Theresa." Saying her name on her lips was like molding Jello into buttery substances; it wasn't easy without a hard struggle. "I wish you were here.
"A lot has gone on since you left. Ricky and I are even closer than before. Duo's engaged to Hildie." Uno smirked. "I found out Zechs fought with them in the past wars and went to be a teacher to kill off his identity. I guess he found something out that Heero knows and is trying to stay hidden. I don't know what it is; I asked Duo but even he doesn't know what it is. I'm meeting new people that knew my family in the past. All these people know each other; they all know my family and vise versa. I think they were all comrades from the wars.
I met Ricky's father, Mr. Tanners. He's not as bad as I thought. I used to think that, because Ricky got hit so much, his father should be in jail. But since Ricky's brother, Johnson, was killed I think it may have affected him. He didn't take it the way anyone else would have and I used to think he had something to do with it all, but I began thinking against it. All during the funeral, he kept his arms around Ricky and soothed him. I only held his hand then came alone to see you and get away from it all."
Uno sniffled. She heard a crackle behind her but didn't make an attempt to look back. She didn't care who it was. It was a grave yard after all, people came to visit graves.
"Why did you leave me, Theresa? Why did you leave me here all alone? I know I have Ricky, but that's not enough; you're my best friend. I love Ricky to death but I can't go to talk to him about everything; I can't talk to him about female topics that you and I could. I can't go shopping with him and try on clothes; you'd understand better than he does what matches and what doesn't, what's a good fabric that won't stain versus one that will. You see, I can't be with him all the time. Yeah, I love him and he loves me, but it's not the same without my friend, without my monster-drawing friend who enjoyed putting classmates in those mouths she drew."
Uno smirked a little and allowed for more tears to fall. More crackling sounded and again, she didn't flinch. A sniffle made her turn her head around to see Ricky standing but eight feet away from her. She looked back to the grave and lowered her hear on to her arms.
"I sometimes wish it was me instead." Uno said softly. Ricky stared at her from behind. "That whoever was aiming at us, had hit me in place of her. Maybe she knew something that she shouldn't have known or maybe the assassin had missed." Uno paused and a few more tears fell. "I just wish it was me instead of her."
"Uno…" Ricky began but he couldn't finish. He was shaking inside and out; his fists were balled by his sides.
"I just miss her so much." Uno cried, laying her head on her arms while staring back at the grave stone."
"I…I'm so sorry." Ricky choked back and began to cry as well. He hung his head, unable to look up and face her, unable to remember all that had happened. He spun around and turned to run back to his car. Uno sniffled and looked back slowly to see him running back.
"Ricky…" She mumbled.
Ricky ran back to his car and got in. However, by the time he had he was already soaked in the face from his tears. This was too much for him: Johnson's death, Theresa's death, Uno's undying love for him, his work; they were so stressful on him right now that he didn't know what he could do, if he could anything anymore. There was one thing he knew, though, and that was he had to be there for Uno; he had to be there for Uno in every way, especially the way that was most important to him right then: getting his work done.
-
Uno came home about half an hour after that happened. When she came in, Quatre was passing by her with two big boxes in his arms. He paused and smiled and asked for her help. Uno chuckled with a smirk and accepted it; they all knew she was at the grave yard.
"What's in these?" Uno asked, struggling to hold them up. When they passed by the living room, she saw Zechs, Noin, Une, and Wufei all sitting around discussing stuff. Uno looked at them and followed Quatre out into the hallway.
"Papers Heero's asked me to take a look at. I'm not so sure what though, but he said he found them in the Military Wing shoved underneath a filing cabinet."
Uno followed Quatre to his office and set the box on the table following the first one. She opened them up and found a few leather bounded books; Quatre found a stack of papers. They scanned through them and she found out the books were diaries and ledgers, dated back to when the house was a thought to when the man gave it to Quatre's dad; there were a lot of books. Quatre found the data papers were information recorded from doing human experiments and other things similar; he almost threw up at what they did.
"I don't even think Duo will like these." Quatre handed them over to Uno. Uno blinked and looked at them, handing Quatre the books. "These are journals from the people who lived and worked here. Where were they hiding?"
"In the top of a secret closet Heero found." Quatre began looking through the books. "This'll be fun to read." He smiled. Uno put the papers in the box with the rest of the papers and lifted up the box. Quatre blinked at her.
"I wanna' see what they did." Uno pouted. "Can't I?"
Quatre smiled. "Sure, go ahead. You'll probably get a better reaction out of them than I will."
Uno left and headed the long way around up to her room. She had another date with Ricky that night and she didn't want to be all entirely drowsy looking; she had to shower, get dressed, and prepare herself. Luckily, it wasn't anywhere fancy as it was a year ago; they were just going to the movies.
But first she wanted to read what the papers were about and sat down at her desk with them.
-
About an hour later, Uno had to put them back in the box and close the lid. Combining humans with animals? Genetic splices? Inserting chemicals into made-up species? These people were drastically trying to create something evil!
Uno shook her head and looked at the clock. She had two hours until he'd come pick her up and he was going to come early because he had to stop by his work to do something. Uno didn't mind; she finally got to see what he does to make the money he makes. Since she's turned fourteen, Duo finally gave her a little more slack and began to trust Ricky more. Well, now was the night Duo was going to get corrected or proved right; they were going to be alone in a movie theater.
-
Ricky was zooming past people on the road and cutting off slow drivers. Uno didn't get frightened at all when he looked like he was about to tip them off the highway; she does the same things and worse when on her bike. Ricky at least is in a car; Uno drives between two cars and speeds up to a fatal amount. She just can't ever tell Duo how dangerous she is or even that she takes the highways; he'll have a cow.
"Ricky…where is your job?" Uno asked with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Down south, about twelve miles from here. Not far; why?"
Uno shrugged. "We've driven a long time."
"It's a long ways. There are times I stay the night over there because I have to work so much and so hard, I don't want to try driving home at night." Ricky looked through his mirrors and cut off the traffic and went off the exit ramp. "But we're not going there right now."
"Where are we going then?" Uno looked around; they were at a strip center.
"I need to meet somebody. You can come out if you want or stay in the car." He pulled into a parking lot. "Up to you."
"Okay; I'll stay."
Ricky nodded. "Suit yourself."
When he pulled up to a parking spot, a black car pulled up to their left. Uno blinked and saw a second pull up to their right and one stop just behind them. Blinking in thought, she turned around and looked around them.
"We're surrounded—why are we surrounded?" She asked in a panic.
"Chill," he said as he unhooked his seat belt. "I'll be right back." He leant over and gave Uno a slight kiss on her cheek before getting out of the car.
Uno blinked and watched in a slight bit of fear as Ricky adjusted his shirt and walked to the front of the car. Three other men—much older than him—stepped up to him. There were all dressed in pressed black suits with black leather gloves on their hands. Ricky just wore a black sweater with black jeans again.
"Does Daniel know about her?" One of the men—the one with slick-back black hair—nodded towards Ricky's Firebird in Uno's direction.
"Not another word or I'll have you fired." Ricky growled. "Now give me what I asked for."
"Here, but just so you know the files aren't all there." Another man, with slick blonde hair, stated. "We had trouble just getting these."
Ricky took the small memory stick for a heavy duty computer system and pocketed it. "You'll get your reward later; my father will see to it." He growled. "Now back down from your current location; I have things covered."
"Are you sure? You failed before." A brown haired man said with a grin.
"Leave or I'll kill you myself!" Ricky fumed. They all nodded and turned to leave. Ricky returned to the car and got in. He buckled up his seat belt, keeping his head down in thought.
Uno stayed quiet and felt a little frightened; she had never seen this part of Ricky before. He can be so determined and demanding; it scared her.
"What's wrong with you?" Ricky asked as he started up the car again. The three black cars backed out and drove off, leaving them alone once more. Uno blinked and made up a lie—well, sort of was a lie.
"Just thinking about some papers Heero found in the Military Wing."
Ricky smirked over at her. "Porno?" He backed out the car and drove off back towards the theaters.
Uno quirked her eye brows and growled at him. "My, you are one such perverted boy!"
Ricky laughed out loud. "Duh!" He smiled. Uno rolled her eyes.
"No…they're old data papers from when the mansion was in its prime state." She explained. "They were mostly from the Technology Wing."
"What's it of?" Ricky took the back roads towards the theater rather then get on the freeway.
"Well…it seems like they were trying to invent several new species. They mixed human genetics with animal genetics; there were genetic splices done. They even tried inserting chemicals and other things into the human body. None of the subjects survived so the whole experiment was a total waste."
"You got the papers with you?" Ricky questions.
"Yeah, why?"
"Let me see them."
Uno nodded and took out some of them from her purse. Ricky looked them over as he drove down a back street. He paused at a stop sign and sat there, reading through them. Uno looked around at all the older houses sitting around the lots. They were in some sort of low class, poor society neighborhood.
"Amazing." Ricky smirked and nodded with a small chuckle. "Simply amazing."
"Huh?" Uno blinked.
"Is this all of them?" He sifted through some of the folded papers to read the others. "Or are there more?"
"That's mostly it. There's an entire box of it all but they were of the failed experiments. Those were the plans."
"They didn't work?" Ricky looked at the last pages.
Uno shook her head. "No; there were over thousands of them and all had 'failed' stamped across it."
Ricky nodded again. "Mind if I keep these?" He looked at her. "At least for a little while? I want to take a closer read to them and find out what they were doing, the chemicals and stuff."
Uno shrugged. "Okay."
Ricky pulled out a black folder from behind his seat and stuffed them in without letting Uno see what was inside. She blinked and he smirked at her, putting the folder back in the pocket behind his seat.
"Nothing; just stuff for work." He sat his hands on the steering wheel and paused before putting the gears from neutral to first. He looked over at her with a smile on his face. Uno slowly looked over at him with confusion written in her eyes; he's never looked at her that way before.
"Ricky?" Uno mumbled.
"You're very pretty today, Uno." He flashed his adorable eyes at her slowly and it drove Uno's senses mad. She smiled and blushed a little.
"Thanks…" She tried to ignore him, but his intense gaze was just too strong to pry away from. She tried to close her eyes; unfortunately, it only welcomed his face closers to hers. His eyes closed and her head tilted back and before she knew it, she was feeling his lips on hers, feeling his saliva enter her mouth and greet her tongue. The sensation was magnificent; it was something she's never felt before, in all her life. It was definitely something worth keeping record of: her very first kiss.
When he pulled slightly back she found she was not in Heaven anymore. Her eyes opened slowly to reveal a layer of haziness and a dizzy state. Ricky was staring down at her lips, his own quivering with anticipation to kiss her again and fear for going further than he ever intended. He loved Uno a lot but, being a male with an ego was hard to tell a woman his feelings. Instead of saying another word, he slightly planted another, soft kiss upon her lips before pulling back all the way to sit in the seat properly.
Uno's breath was still searching for her lungs. His kiss had stolen more than just the air from her body; it had stolen her heart completely. She had never kissed a guy in all her life, and this was the first time. Was this what it felt to be in Heaven? Was it bliss that Ricky had hinted at in his kiss? She didn't know anything but one thing and one thing only: she wished he would kiss her again like he had just done, even if it'll cost him his life; she'd most definitely fight to keep him alive.
Ricky was about to shift into first gear before he realized he had forgotten something. He turned and smiled back at Uno the way he always smiled when he had a surprise for her.
"What?" She blinked, still the awareness of his kiss fading through her blood.
"I've got something for ya'." He leaned over and opened the glove department, soon reaching in and pulling out a jewel case. As soon as he closed the door he dropped it in her lap and shifted gears, all in one fast motion. Blinking down at it, Uno lifted it up and a big smile came to her face.
"Ricky! Are you serious?!" Uno stared at the cover of the jewel case and darted her gaze over to his face. He only nodded with his big grin plastered onto his face.
"I didn't want Duo to tell you that I came over the other week, but I stayed in the Rec Room for quite a while making that thing. There's only that one song on there, but…" Ricky shrugged. "I dunno'; call it a hunch but I think that, after making that song, I've got what it takes."
She read the title before turning back to face him. "Behind Blue Eyes… did you sing it?" He nodded. "Are you serious?!"
"Yeah; I did my best with all the instruments being played by only one person… I mean, I had to play the guitar, sing, do the drums, the electronics, finally tie it all together and that's all I got done; my dad loved it so much—my talent, though—he said he sent it out as my single. At this rate, I'll be in the music industry in no time flat. Don't cha' think?" He smiled over at her before he turned a corner again and entered into the parking lot of the theater.
-
"So you assume somebody is out to get her?" Une asked; Duo nodded.
"I don't know who, but…Theresa was shot and killed and Uno was besides her. I can't say for certain that it's Uno, but why else would an assassin shoot Theresa? Lori and Bill didn't know anything and Theresa was just a kid; it's Uno who knows the whole ordeal." Duo explained.
"Then what do you suppose is the plan?" Sally asked, leaning forward. "Somebody's out to get somebody; who would it be?"
Duo bit his bottom lip in thought. "I don't know."
"Duo and I interrogated the assassin who tried to kill me a few years back; he made us think but none of it could have been true. There isn't a military aid out there." Heero stated flatly. "Unless they're talking about Nopsis, the program designed to protect the machines that carry them out." He paused and shook his head. "But they've sworn to protect Relena and she's in safe condition. They even handed over their program when the Government brought them to question; they wouldn't be part of this."
"I still don't get all that's going on." Trowa quirked his eyebrows in thought. "None of this is making any sense."
"What, really, is Nopsis?" Duo had asked.
"Nopsis is a Government agency designed to fix and repair the machines that carry around the important figureheads. It repairs and keeps daily checkups on shuttles and other air crafts; it does the same to vehicles. I never understood why they couldn't expand into everyday use for the people." Sally explained.
"Oh…so that explains why they were talking with Relena a few weeks back." Duo nodded in thought.
"They had new designs and needed her approval before sending them out to the colonies. They're updating the colonies' outer protection devices and programs." Zechs added in.
Quatre entered the room. "This is one historical mansion." He sat down smirking. "You wouldn't believe the things this house has a history of."
"I can take a guess." Wufei grumbled. He looked away.
Duo laughed. "Wufei got booted; hah hah!" He joked.
"So what did y'all come up with?" Quatre asked, leaning forward. Everyone important except Relena were in his living room.
"Somehow inside information has been getting out. We don't know who can get that close to us, but somebody is." Heero replied staring down at the floor. "Somebody knows how to get close to us; knows what to do and say." His eyebrows quirked in thought and he leant on his closed fists, thinking even deeper than before.
-
The movie ended and Uno still busy laughing. The movie was a traumatic drama set but she was laughing at Ricky; he had tripped exiting the theater and almost landed on top of 'Big Bubba', some guy who resembled a man's worst fears. Ricky was grumbling, holding Uno's hand tightly and gripping firmly to try and shut her up, but stumbling into some big gay-looking man had caused her to crack up.
"Uno," Ricky growled. "Silence woman!"
Uno tried but couldn't stop laughing. "I'm sorry…" She laughed more. "But…it's…just so funny…to see…that." She giggled, covering her mouth.
Ricky rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself. "I swear, one of these days you're going to trip onto some dominatrix girl and I'm gonna' bust my ass off laughing at you."
"No, you won't," she paused for softer giggles. "Because when that girl starts touching me, you're going to get mad." Ricky turned to her and tried to glare but failed miserably. Uno was just so adorable when she was laughing. He rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around her, bringing him closer to her body.
"Come here you." He grumbled.
They walked together out of the theater and started to walk down the sidewalk towards the parking lot of the street; each street had a parking lot—this was the popular section of town considering each street was littered with shopping stores and the likes.
"Uno…I need to talk with you." His tone got soft and he began breathing a bit heavy. Uno looked up at him, the laughter dead in her eyes.
"Hm?" She smiled. He looked down at her smile and his heart began beating even faster. He had to do this eventually and now was the best time.
"I…" He paused, looking around and noticing the people. He sighed and took her hand as he began walking into the back of an alley.
"There's too many people around."
Uno blinked, her heart pounding massively inside her chest. He needed to talk to her about something really important and the only thing she could think of was their relationship. She didn't want to break up with him; she also knew he didn't want to either. The only other assumption she could come up with was his proposal of wanting to be steady.
-
"But who?" Quatre asked to no one in particular. "Who could be the person knowing what goes on?"
"If there's even crap that goes on." Duo mumbled sarcastically. "Seriously, all there is to know is Uno. We haven't done anything. Those scientists are still alive—unfortunately—but they haven't done anything; they want Uno!" Duo lifted his arm and stretched out his hand to the hallway and front door. "All there is to know about is Uno and what much is that?" He growled out loud.
"Wait a second," Zechs began, looking down in a sudden deep thought. Everyone else looked at him. "Whoever killed Theresa was meant to kill Uno; why else were they hiding out in the bushes down the street from here? They wouldn't know if Theresa was going to head over to see Uno that morning."
"Yeah, it was a last minute notice. I opened the door and saw her big shining eyes smiling up at me." Quatre stated, feeling a sense of sadness in his own voice.
"So somebody knows Uno enough to know she walks to school most of the time; at least when she's with Theresa." Duo added in.
"But even then, they didn't plan on Theresa being there; they planned on Uno leaving the house." Zechs finished. "Uno hardly had any friends. People always tried to fight with her but Theresa would insult them to the point of nothing and Ricky would fight by her side."
"Those were her only friends." Duo said softly, looking down.
Quatre's eyes shot out big. "Oh my goodness!" He shouted. Everyone looked at him. "I totally forgot!"
"What?" Duo asked, turning around entirely to face him; he was sitting on the floor by the table and Quatre was on the loveseat behind him next to the wall.
"When I put Uno to sleep that day, after Theresa was shot, I asked her what happened. She didn't answer me much but she said they were just talking as they usually do."
"Go on." Duo nodded.
"I asked her what they were talking about and she said she forgot, but she remembered the last thing she said was stating how Theresa and Ricky were Uno's only friends."
"You don't suppose…" Wufei's voice trailed off.
"Davison knew who we were talking about." Heero said with a bad taste in his mouth. "I didn't want to believe it…but I think it's true."
"Heero?" Quatre blinked.
"What are you talking about?" Sally questioned.
"Heero, tell us what you know." Heero and Duo were staring at each other, determination frozen in both their eyes. Duo had more shock written on his face while Heero still sat his chin on his fists.
"You're…you're serious." Duo's mouth slowly gaped open and his eyes slowly enlarged when Heero nodded lightly.
"Ricky Tanners works for Synodd with his father, one of the council men." Heero explained what he pulled together over the tears they've known Ricky. "I've done my share of research and nothing can be found about them on the net except that Ricky works on the same level as his father, only another branch. Daniel works for the militia section; Ricky for the science department. However, he still does work for his father and the rest of the council."
"You've got to be kidding!" Quatre exclaimed. Heero only shook his head. "Ricky? The little boy we knew as he grew up? The same one that looks—and still looks—much like you?" Heero nodded.
Zechs kept his head down and his voice low. "He missed and hit Theresa."
"His task was to kill Uno." Une stated.
Everyone looked over to Duo. Duo's face had fear creeping all over it and his heart was no longer even in his chest. His face was pale white and his eyes looked glazed over.
"Duo?" Quatre leant forward. Duo slowly turned to look at Heero.
"He's still gotta' do that…" Duo trailed off. Heero nodded.
"Uno!" Duo rolled over and got to his feet immediately. "No!"
Heero jumped to his feet and started after him but Duo was already out the door with Uno's spare bike key in hand.
"Heero!" Heero skid to a stop and looked back. Wufei flung him his keys. "Take my bike."
-
"Ricky?" Uno tilted her head some with a questionable look on her face. "What's wrong?"
Ricky wasn't looking at her; instead, he was looking off and to the side. "Uno…I…"
He sighed. He had to do this!
"Ricky?" She smiled caringly. "Whatever it is, tell me."
Ricky shut his eyes and pulled something out from behind him. He lifted it up and Uno froze looking at it. He stood five feet away from her, his arm up in the air, and a gun in his hands aiming at her face.
"Ricky?" She mumbled his name, confusion sweeping across her eyes.
"It wasn't supposed to go this far. It should have been done years ago, but I could never go through with it." His voice was serious and back to the frightening tone she heard earlier with the men from before. Her face was wiped clean of all emotion and she just stood there, serious as he was.
"You killed Theresa; didn't you?" She asked seriously, staring into his eyes.
"I wasn't supposed to, but damn it," Ricky growled. "You had to fucking say those things! Didn't you!" Ricky's breath was shaky.
"It was only supposed to be you, a quick pull and I was out of there in no time."
"Ricky…" Uno mumbled again.
"Synodd has paid me a hefty price to take you down myself; my father assigned me when I was eight-years-old. He signed me into your school so I could stalk you and learn about you and assassinate you when I gained enough information. When they found out about you being the five ex Gundam pilot's child, the pace sped up and I was forced to kill you sooner than planned." Ricky paused, trying not to let Uno's stare affect him. "For years, my father has trained me in ways you wouldn't understand. You always thought he abused me but he never had; the cuts, the bruises, the beatings—they were all from the Synodd Training Department. I was assigned the job from the very beginning to eliminate you; they trained me professionally. They trained me in the art of all you see me as today. Those obstacle courses you told me about that Heero had you do… I've completed the different sets when I was eleven."
"But…Ricky…" Uno mumbled again.
"I have been working for Synodd for a little over eleven years now, since they were just beginning and nothing but a whisper in their minds. Well, now it's a full process of attraction. Synodd's got several branches set out and determined to pull through and you're the only one in the way." Ricky growled.
"What about my family? And Zechs?" Uno took a deep breath.
"They are all too old to fight and even then, the ideas Synodd has they can't compete against. The wars we want to achieve are far greater in technology than they had almost twenty years ago." Ricky paused again to take another deep breath but he was still shaking badly. "As I said, I've worked for them for over eleven years now. The paychecks I get are enough to probably pay off half your mansion. With one check I was able to afford that restaurant. My father had taken my past two checks before that and held it for interest for my car. He told me after Johnson's funeral that I have to be stronger than I am or else I won't get things done and I won't get paid again." His voice lowered to an angry growl. "He said he wasn't happy to see you still standing."
"Ricky…" Uno mumbled his name once again.
"So this is it. I'm not going to miss now, even if I have to shoot you in point blank range." Ricky narrow his eyes, determined to pull off the shot. Uno just stood there, amazingly not afraid, staring dead into his eyes.
"Ricky…" She mumbled his name again. "Ricky, if you loved me…you wouldn't do this."
The gun started to quiver some and Ricky kept his determined look on her face. His lips were pressed firmly together into a thin line. He looked dead into her eyes.
All he had to do was pull the trigger.
All had had to do was put a clear shot into her head.
All he had to do was kill her.
But suddenly, the gun fell back to his side and he was breathing heavily, each breath jagged and harsh, filled with tremors. She didn't blink; she didn't question. She just stood there as she had been, staring back into his eyes.
He lifted the gun back up again and brought it to his head.
"God damn it, Uno." Ricky choked. Several tears fell heavily from his eyes and they didn't stop coming.
One minute, Uno was standing in front of her beloved boyfriend, her undying love for him, the next she was staring into the eyes of a blood covered wound, gaping into the side of his head. Ricky had shot himself for his failing attempts and the effect of it all carried through to their surroundings. His blood splattered across the brick walls of the alley and on the concrete below. The bullet flew right through his skull and came out the other side; the wall to her right is what stopped it. His body fell backwards into the bloody puddle that formed around his feet. The gun fell out of his hands and dropped to the ground below.
Uno had not moved one second while she watched him from the moment he cried her name to the second he pulled the trigger and fell dead before her very eyes.
"Uno!" Duo's voice rang out in the air around her like a beacon in a shadowy cave.
He spun the corner and ran towards Uno, skidding to a halt when he saw all the blood around them. He stepped up softly to the scene and slowly turned to look at Uno. Her face was stained with tears and they didn't stop coming. She stood firm and continued staring down at his body, at his bloody face, at his eyes.
Heero was the next one to spin around the corner and he, too, froze the moment he saw all the blood. If he was even several feet away from the alley he would have been able to smell the stench of blood, but he wasn't expecting it to be so suddenly. He looked at Uno and noticed her drenched face. He looked back down at the dead body of Ricky and slowly stepped up to it. He knelt down besides it and looked back up to Uno. Pain struck his own heart. He had actually liked having Ricky around; it was like he had a fan club of his own.
"Uno?" Duo's soft and gentle voice tried to reach her but it was no use. His hands were gently pressed on her shoulders and he covered her sight of Ricky's dead eyes, but she wasn't really even looking at all; she was dazing out now that the imprint of his eyes were set firmly in her memory forever.
"He loved me." Uno said softly, almost as a mumble. "He loved me and he had to kill himself because of it, because he couldn't kill me."
"Uno…sweetie…" Duo wrapped his arms around Uno's but she still stood firmly in place, her eyes draining of an endless amount of water. Heero continued kneeling besides the body, watching Uno's silent crying and slowly lowered his head to the body.
All this had happened because Ricky had loved Uno too much to go through with it… the same thing that had saved her in place of Theresa.
Note to Readers: Go ahead…say how much you hate me because he died. Believe me, I didn't want it to end this way but in order for Uno to understand how bad war is, there has to be bloodshed. Look at it this way…think of what she runs on to keep her moving to fight. I couldn't change it, as much as all of you out there were hoping, because I've been writing this fic for four years now and the entire outline had already been finished for one year; the beginning of the sequel had already been completed a year ago as well. Please understand that I loved Ricky a whole lot and may bring him back in another fic, eventually…maybe…if I can find one for him. Heck, I may stick him and Uno in something entirely different, yet still mixed with Gundam Wing! ::Shrugs:: Stay tuned for more.
AN: I will try and get the following chapter out as fast as I can. My classes are ending in three weeks and everything is getting hectic and from when I used to post this story on my other account, I don't even have half of the next chapter written. Please, bare with me; I'm writing this, my AVP fic, and the layout for my book all at the same time. I'll try and get this sent out as fast as possible.
