(First, if you're still reading this, thank you for putting up with me. Second, I apologize for some of the grammatical mistakes I have made. Third, I'm sorry about how my story some times appears weird in its formatting, and I'm not taking responsibility for that. Fourth, there is some mild language usage in this chapter. Fifth, sorry about how short chapter...oh yeah, six was. It was, sadly, supposed to be longer (and it was) in the original draft. And last, but not least, please enjoy!)
Diolyn looked down at the boy staring up at her. Something was so familiar about him. Two things made her inner alarms go off.
"I saw you at the mini mart just now!" He smiled angelically at her. The second alarm went off and she scowled. "You followed me," she shouted.
Alex gave her a pat on the shoulder, trying, but failing, to not grin. "Its okay love, we're not all perfect, y'know." She turned and scowled at him. Putting his hands up, he pointed to the boy and said, "Don't look at me like that, and look at the intruder with those eyes, he followed you!"
Duo winced as she did as her friend suggested. She really did look kind of mad. Her anger appeared to be that he followed her without her knowing. He debated about whether or not he should tell her that she'd almost lost him, but decided she wouldn't be overly impressed. He also thought about getting out of the room ASAP, but the other, larger person looked like a person he didn't want to mess with.
Alex could practically see the thoughts going through the intruders mind. His gaze went first to Diolyn, then to Alex. Most people decided not to mess with Alex, and for once, he was thankful for his height. This guy wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. "So," he drew out the word, "what exactly do you want to do with him?"
Diolyn pulled on one of her ponytails thinking. "First, you could sit up." She stared down at him until he pulled himself into a sitting position, crossing his legs. Satisfied momentarily, she herself crouched down to about his level, still high enough, though, to have him look up at her. "Watchya doin' here and why'dya follow me?"
Duo looked up at her and grinned. "Well, I was watching the news this morning and the managed to see the most amazing thing. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Last night I went to the circus with some friends and when we left, I saw this girl that I had royally dunked dressed kind of weird."
Diolyn felt the blood drain from her face. He knew.
"Then, as you know, I was watching the news and I recognized her. I thought to myself 'Wow, I think I've seen that girl before' and decided why you needed parts and systems that would normally be found in a mecha. Here I am!" He waved his arm grandly and waited for her reaction. He was a bit concerned about how pale she'd become.
Diolyn took a deep breath. "So, now you know what I was doing, how do you plan on acting next?"
"Dunno." He shrugged. "Can I ask a question?" She nodded. "Why have you built this mecha? I mean, the systems and parts that you've chosen are all used in gundams and not considered compatible with almost anything else. Are you planning on attacking any organizations?" His tone was joking, but his stomach muscles tightened painfully.
She shot him a look that she hoped conveyed she thought he was paranoid. "No, I've built it to make sure nothing can harm this colony. Sure, it's peaceful now, but no one knows if what happened years ago will happen again. I have no reason to want to start anything."
She propped her chin in her hand and stared at him. The boy stared at her, going over her features. Suddenly, his mouth dropped open.
Duo stared at her right wrist. On her skin was a scar that ran from one side to the other, stopping before it reached her palm. "Where did you get that scare? The one on your right wrist," he emphasized his question with a gesture. She looked down at her wrist.
"When I was younger, my friend and I decided to become blood friends." She shrugged. "Why do you ask?"
Duo held up his own right wrist. The scar on his wrist was in the same place, and the slight jagged edges on his scar matched those on hers. He finally took a closer look at the girl. Brown hair and light brown eyes, pert nose. "Diolyn? That you? It's me! Duo and you're Dio!"
Diolyn blinked. Nobody had called her by that nickname for a long time. She stared down into laughing light blue eyes and took in the long brown braid. "Duo?" He nodded enthusiastically. She stood. "You. Stand up, I wouldn't feel right about beating the shit out of a sitting boy." She backed up a few spaces.
Duo scrambled to his feet and stepped forward, one hand reaching for his child-hood friend. She knocked it away.
"What do you want, you stupid dumb-ass? A nice, happy re-union, where everyone is happy to see you alive," Diolyn asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She could feel her temper rising. Alex placed one hand on her shoulder and she resisted the urge to shrug him off. "Answer my question, what do you want?"
Duo took another step forward. "Look, I just wanted to see why someone was stealing the parts used in a gundam. That's all! But I've just found you again and I want to know what you've been doing for the past, what, eight years or so?" He took yet another step foreword. "Why are you so angry?"
Diolyn forced herself to breath. She counted up to ten, then down to one breathing with each number. "I'm upset," she gritted out, "because my best friend left, without a trace and without warning for 'eight years or so' and finally shows up again like nothings changed! You left Duo. You didn't even leave a note. Like a freakin' vanishing act, one minute you're there and the next you're not. We did every thing we could think of to find you. We called the police, but they said there was no need for people unrelated to you to worry, that they could do nothing. We put out missing person fliers and paid a private detective to try to find you." She stepped forward, so that her face was inches from Duo.
Using one hand, she shoved him back and continued. "We kept all of your stuff." She pushed him again. "We cried." Another shove. "Every time the body of a boy was found, our hearts stopped beating." She used both her hands and pushed harder and he finally stumbled a bit. "Hell, we even prayed for you." Diolyn lashed out with her left foot and caught him in the stomach. He doubled over and dropped to his knees, gasping.
Alex watched as Diolyn, who was normally in control of her emotions unraveled in front of him. She'd told him about her friend who'd disappeared a long time ago, but she'd seemed like she'd accepted that they'd never been able to find him. Sighing, he realized that this particular wound was still tender.
Diolyn made a sudden move. He watched in wide eyed fascination as Diolyn pulled her gun out from the holster on her back. She cocked it and pointed it straight at the other man's forehead. He started to move up behind her, slowly so as not to startle her, and he heard her speaking as if he was under water.
"I should shoot you now," she stated quietly. "I should shoot your ankles, or your knees. I should make you physically show all the pain you've put me and Zarinthia through. I..."
Duo watched as Alex gently caught Diolyn as she collapsed. He looked at the taller youth and waited to see what was going to happen. His stomach hurt like hell and he wasn't sure he wanted to get up. "What'd you do to her," he asked.
Alex glared. "She's merely unconscious. I've gently taken her down for a bit to keep you out of a hospital." He carefully took her gun and put it in a box, which he locked. "Get up, you're coming with me. I think you should probably talk to Zarinthia."
Duo, in the process of standing, jerked at the mention of Zarinthia's name. "She's alive?" Alex nodded and motioned for Duo to go ahead of him. Duo complied, but kept looking over his shoulder. 'Oh yeah,' he thought, 'definitely Dio. And Zarinthia's alive! This is too good to be true.' His happy feeling diminished slightly as he recalled all the things she'd flung at him. 'Damn, looks like I messed up big time.'
The brighter outdoor light made both boys wince. Alex gestured at a light blue car and walked over to it with Duo following. Alex stopped at the passenger side of the vehicle. Turning, he held Diolyn out for Duo to take. Duo stared at him, then at the unconscious Dio and back. "Yeah, right."
Alex grinned. "Look, I know what you mean, but she'll be out for another half an hour and it only takes fifteen minutes to get to Anything Goes." Putting her against Duo's chest, he dropped his arms. Duo immediately grabbed her. Opening the passenger door, Alex made little motions with his hands to get Duo in the car. He laughed when Duo glared at him.
The car itself was fairly wide and Duo had no trouble getting in, even with Diolyn in his arms. Alex closed the door and sprinted around the front of the car, sliding into the driver's seat with obvious pleasure. The short drive was completed in silence.
When they finally go to their destination, Alex parked in the employee section and opened Duo's door. Handing his burden to Alex, he got out and, for the second time that day, nearly dropped his old friend. He glared at Alex, but the taller youth just grinned and started for a large, two story building. They circled to the back and stopped when Alex came to a bright blue door with a plaque that had Main Office written in gold on it. Alex knocked.
Zarinthia, sitting at her large desk looked up from her paper work and grumbled something about working in peace just one day out of the year. "Come in," she called. Standing, and going around her desk to welcome whoever it was, she smiled at Alex.
"Hey, I thought you were working with Diolyn today." She hugged Alex and stepped back. She heard another pair of foot steps and looked around the much taller person blocking her view.
Duo stared at the astonished face before him. Zarinthia was older, but she was exactly as he'd always imagined she'd be. She was plumper than he remembered, but that was probably because she was eating more. Her hair was streaked with some grey hairs, but it was still fairly long. He wanted to scoop her up into a big hug.
Zarinthia stared at Duo, recognizing him despite the years and his obvious changes. He was so much taller and he'd kept his hair long. There were some shadows in his eyes and he had lost all of his extra childhood weight. He was lean now, and apparently active. Then she noticed Diolyn in his arms. She looked at Alex. He shrugged and looked at his feet sheepishly, confirming what she was beginning to suspect. Diolyn had a bit of a temper, and she well knew it.
Looking Duo straight in the eyes, she asked, "She didn't shoot you, did she?"
He laughed.