Disclaimer - I do not own any of the Gundam Wing characters, the only thing that is mine is the characters Allyson, Mayven and the plot. (If I forget to put this on my other chapters I apologize, I have a really bad memory for junk like this)
Rating - Most of this story is safe (Until after chapter 8 or 9) but I'll put this here on them all so people can't say that I didn't warm them of something that I might have missed.
Chapter 3 – An Ally with the Information
Mayven awoke a couple of minutes after Duo had left her. Stretching slightly she could feel the blanket that had been passed around between her and Duo all that morning and kicked it aside, letting it fall to the floor without a second thought.
"Oww," she moaned, rubbing her head with her free hand, not even realizing that she was retrained yet, "they drugged me!" She groaned under her breath. She went to stand on her unsteady feet, but soon realized that her left hand wouldn't follow. Looking down she could see the light hit the silver of the cuffs that reflected back up at her eyes. "What in the…" she mumbled, pulling at it as if it would just let go and release her. Suddenly anger filled her every being, her cheeks hitting a shade of red that she never thought possible once she realized that they had cuffed her to the bed, tied down like some animal. "That son of a…" she snarled, glaring down at the set of cuffs that held her wrist to the brass headboard. Sitting up she looked for her Oz jacket, seeing it exactly where Heero had left it in the corner of the room. She slid down the bed, getting as close to the floor as she could, sitting down with her restrained hand resting on the bed in an awkward position before reaching with all she could towards the black jacket but couldn't get anywhere close with her injuries putting her at a great disadvantage.
Realizing that the Gundam Pilots had gotten the best of her she sighed, leaning back on the bed with her wrist next to her with only the few inches of slack that the cuffs allowed. Her side burned with ever move she made, but at this point she didn't care, the only thing on her mind was getting loose and getting away back to Oz where she knew her place, as a soldier. Her head was still groggy from the tranquilizer that Heero had shot her with, her vision still a little blurry. Thinking it best to stay put until she was at her best, she remained on the floor, her foot kicking the end table next to her out of boredom and frustration. She was now at their mercy! How could she have trusted them?
"I should have contacted Oz as soon as I came too," she said, talking to herself, as she gave the end table one violent kick, "Damn it I shouldn't have listened to that…that…" she stumbled over the words to describe Duo as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, blurring her now clear vision. "He seemed so nice," she whispered, her voice cracking as the tears ran freely down her cheeks, "He set me up!!" she cried, slamming her fist into the floor furiously with a sob. "Damn him!!!" The realization that she was caught, restrained now hit her hard and she began to cry softly to herself as she awaited their return.
Duo had managed to get out of the house without hitting into any of the other pilots or Relena, who at this point had gone on another mission but Duo hadn't found the note they left, so he was clueless to the fact. He put his hands into his pockets, lowering his head slightly as he got into town. He should actually stop for something to eat seeing that he hadn't eaten in almost 3 days, but food was the last thing on his mind. Right now he wanted to pick up a bottle of Pepsi and then he'd take a short walk to get some fresh air into his lung before returning to Relena's place. He had no real reason for leaving, but the thought of staying there for one more moment made him sick, the thought of this whole ordeal made him sick but for now he had to take his walk, and hope that he'd make it back to the room before the others noticed that he was missing.
Opening the bottle of Pepsi and taking a rather large drink from it he looked down both sides of the street he was on, on way would bring him back to the room, the war, the hurt, and Mayven; the other would take him to a place that he could only imagine, but all Duo knew was that it wasn't the hurt and frustration that the other road would take him too. He took a step down the road to freedom and stopped. Could he just leave his friends like this, with no warning or note? Could he just walk away from it all and start over, alone? He took another drink of the Pepsi that remained in his right hand as if it were the liquor that would make him sufficiently drunk to be brave or stupid enough, which he didn't know. With a sigh he turned around and headed slowly back to Relena's. He couldn't just give up on everyone, leaving them like this. Allyson wouldn't have wanted him too.
Duo suddenly realized that Heero may be right, it was time to start doing things because he wanted to, not because Allyson would have wanted it. It was time to move on and try and finish this without loosing his head or heart. He stopped in his tracks for a second time. Now the question was did he want to go back? With a sigh he continued to walk down the street.
"I don't have to do this," he whispered to himself, "but I want to!" he finished with a smirk, picking up speed to a normal walk. It was time that he do this because he wanted to, it was time to let Allyson rest in peace. We would never forget her, but the memories would be the good ones, not the thought of loosing her, but the thought that he had once had her. With a bright smile, the first real smile he had smiled in months Duo took off in a full run to get back to Relena's room and help the others to fight Oz once and for all, to finish this and to leave the colonies in peace, forever.
Mayven hadn't moved from the floor, her body now back to normal if you don't include the injuries she received when she had tried to kill Duo. Her knees where up to her chest, her chin resting on them gently as tears of frustration anger and fear continued to fall down her rosy cheeks to hit her pants. She put her head down, hiding her face from view, letting her forehead rest on her knees while she sobbed quietly. She was done for! If the Gundam Pilots found it in them to spare her life then she would have to face Oz, who wasn't even close to that forgiving. As thoughts for what the future held for her ran through her mind she couldn't help but feel trapped like a moose in the headlights of an oncoming car, dead no matter what she said or did. Her mind was so busy with thoughts of her own death that she didn't even hear the door open and never noticed that Heero and Trowa stood in the doorway, soon followed by Quatre, Wufei and Relena.
"Are you alright?" Trowa asked, walking into the room, his soldier's jacket still on his back although it was fairly warm in the large room. Mayven shot her head up, glaring over at the 20 year old pilot in front of her, her cheeks red and wet. She said nothing, the look on her face telling the story all on its own.
"Listen Mayven," Heero said, unzipping his jacket and slowly pulling off of his body, tossing it to the chair next to the door, "I didn't want it to come to this," he continued, sitting on the foot of the bed far enough away that she couldn't reach him. Mayven remained silent, looking at the floor at her feet as another tear fell down her cheek. "If I unlock the cuffs, do you promise to stay put?" he asked, pulling the keys from his pocket, dangling them from his index finger. Mayven thought for a moment, what did she have to loose? She nodded slowly, as a sob escaped her perfectly shaped lips.
Heero leaned over, wrapping his fingers around her wrist just as he had that morning, only this time he put the key into the small hole and turned it, hearing the click of the cuff as they released her wrist. He let her go and watched as she pulled her arm to her chest, rubbing the tender area where the cuff had put a strain on her as she pulled to get free. She scanned the room quickly, seeing that she was beyond out numbered, five to one. With a soft sigh she wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees as she fought the tears that wanted to fall but she refused to show them her weakness…her fear of being restrained.
"We aren't going to hurt you," Quatre said, seeing the fear reflect from her eyes as she glared at nothing but the wall ahead of her. He was now kneeling in front of her, reaching out to remove the bandages from her injured arm, allowing her to use her hand freely now.
"You really proved that," she said sarcastically with a hint of cruelty, not forgetting the fact that she had been cuffed to the bed all morning, her voice still at the point of cracking as she fought to regain herself.
"What did you want me to do?" Heero asked suddenly angry, as he stood and headed over to the end table, slipping the key into the lock and opening it, "Last thing I saw was you dialing out to the enemy and pushing Duo to the floor," he said pulling the cell phone out of the drawer and tossed it with her jacket without a second thought. "Well?" he demanded, his voice rising. Mayven simply looked at him as she stood, her hands shacking uncontrollably.
"I expect you to let me go," she replied, her shacking voice not helping her situation, "to just let me go." She added with a sob. Her eyes showed a fear that Heero recognized, it wasn't a fear of breaking her loyalty to Oz, she wasn't afraid of disappointing them, she was scared of making them angry.
"I won't send you back to them," he said simply, turning away from her, his voice holding an authority that Mayven couldn't help but notice.
"That's not up to you!" she cried, clinching her hands into tight fists by her side, "that's my decision to make!" a tear fell down her cheek, but this time not out of fear, but out of anger and frustration.
Heero quickly turned back around and faced her, walking up to her and grabbing her wrist angrily, pulling her close to him. "I refuse to let you go back to your death," he said simply, his eyes looking deeply into hers. He brought his other hand up and ran a finger down the scar on her cheek, Mayven tried to pull away but the only thing she could do to protest his touch was close her eyes tightly and wince, his grip on her not letting up. "They did this to you because you didn't want to listen to them," he said, his voice suddenly going soft, "I won't let them do it again just because you accepted help from us." He let her go suddenly, pushing her back to the bed. With the soft sound of Mayven's voice cracking, she landed roughly on the bed, sobbing softly into the pillow next to her, covering her face with her hands.
"Enough Heero," Trowa said, stepping between the two of them, "She's confused enough without you adding to it with your frustration." Forest green eyes clashed with Cobalt blue ones as Heero walked away, going past the others and out of the room to go and get changed into something more comfortable and also to give him some time too cool off before he truly did lose his temper and did something he might regret.
Trowa knelt down to the side of the bed, placing a hand on Mayven's back gently, "Don't worry about him," he said handing her a pair of jeans and a tank top, "You might want to change out into some fresh cloths." He said placing them down next to her. Mayven didn't reply, keeping her face buried in the pillow so not to make eye contact with him.
"What's going on?" Mayven shot up, glaring at the young American pilot that stood in the doorway, empty Pepsi bottle in hand and a confused look across his face as his violet eyes locked with the blue fire that was coming from Mayven's eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked, dropping the bottle to the floor as he walked over to her.
"Like you don't know!" She cried sitting up fully, kicking the freshly washed cloths to the floor. The glare coming off of her was sending shivers down Duo's spine, he'd never seen such anger from her before, even if he hadn't known her all that long. "I want to go back to Oz!" she cried, more tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"But why?" Duo asked, stopping in his tracks, thinking that it would be wise to stay back. "They don't care for you," he said simply, sitting down at the foot of the huge king size bed.
"Neither do any of you!" she snapped back, standing to her full height of 5'4, hands on her hips and eyes fixed on the boy a few feet away from her. Her cloths where ripped, burnt and full of holes, but where still in one piece, surprisingly after the explosion that she survived. Duo could tell that she had been crying, and now wondered what exactly had gone down in this room while he was out.
"Mayven, calm down," he said, reaching out to her slowly, hand extended palm up, "Let's just talk about this," he said gently, pulling a small smile across his lips.
"Forget it!" she cried, turning away from him in exasperation, putting her back to him with her arms crossed across her chest, "I don't want to talk, I want to be released!" her voiced held a touch of fear, but now all that Duo could hear was the aggravation that followed close behind. Duo stood, walking over to her slowly without making a sound, placing a hand on her bare back, the shirt that should have been there ripped extensively, feeling the scars that covered her skin. She quickly spun around with a moan of pain, inches from his face, there eyes locked once again for a moment before she looked away.
"Did they burn you?" Duo asked, recognizing the scars from others he had seen in the wars he had fought before. Mayven did reply right away, she simply shook her head.
"It's not burns," she whispered back, loosing her voice out of fear, "there from electrical sticks." She didn't understand why she felt that she had to tell him the truth, but Duo had a way of calming her, a way of making her feel safe with his soft but reassuring voice and the gentleness of his violet eyes.
"You didn't deserve that," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder gently, not sure of what other injuries or tender places she may have, "you shouldn't have to go through this." He added, touching her cheek softly. She nuzzled into his touch, feeling the warmth of his strong hand, making her feel safe.
"I can't get away," she said, her voice now a measly sob as tears feel down her already wet cheeks, "I've tried and got this." She pointed to her cheek, feeling her legs suddenly start to shake. "Then I tried again, and got the sticks," she continued, her eyes fixed on Duo, forgetting that there was anyone else in the room, "and when I questioned where my biological family was they beat me to the point where I couldn't move, and shoved me off to work."
"Not anymore," he said as the others stood back and watched as Mayven fell to her knees sobbing, Duo close behind her, "You're safe now and Oz will never lay a hand on you again." He added, whipping the tears from her eyes. She shook her head, putting a hand on his chest in an attempt to push him away.
"They've always found me," she replied, bringing her eyes form the floor between them to his eyes, locking with him, "They'll never give up."
Duo smiled, taking the hand from his chest into his own, pulling the forgotten cloths closer to them with the other, "They've never won a fight against the Gundam Pilots." he said handing them to her, "Take the cloths and go get change, you're with us now." He said, taking her hand and helping her to her feet.
Mayven seemed to be hesitant about the idea, but what was the point in fighting them, she didn't want to be with Oz and this was a way out. A way that wouldn't add to the scars that she already had, the scars she'd like to forget. Suddenly and idea came to mind, an idea that would set the Gundam Pilots a step ahead of Oz, and would just maybe save her. "You got a lap top?" she asked, whipping the tears on the back of her hand. Duo nodded with a confused look on his face, "Good, I might be able to get you into the Oz data base and show you there next move. Consider it a thank you." Duo smiled.
"Can you do that?" Wufei asked from his place on the floor in the corner, leaning against the window seat that Trowa was now sitting at. Mayven simply shrugged.
"I'm not sure," she replied, "but I can try." She went into the bathroom to get changed into the cloths that Quatre had borrowed from Relena, assuming that they were about the same size. The Gundam Pilots had a secret weapon now, one of Oz's own soldiers that could show them everything that Oz was planning, but would it be enough to bring peace to the colonies? Would Mayven return to Oz if she was threatened, and how hard would Oz fight to get her back? And why have they fought so hard to keep her in the first place?
Next chapter will be up asap…..just after my math test!