Security Measures
The Weaver Atropos
I Felt Sort of Like a Butterfly
"I'm leaving."
"Leaving?" Startled amethyst eyes drifted upwards from amid a grease-streaked face. Duo wiped his palms against a rag pulled through a loop in his jeans and studied Heero curiously. "Where ya going?"
"Earth."
"Earth?"
A nod.
"I've always wanted to go to Earth."
"How long?"
Heero shrugged, "For however long the assignment is," he paused and regarded Duo purposefully. "Would you like to come along?"
"Yeah? I've always wanted to go there, too. But my place is here. In the colonies."
"Where are we going?"
"Does it really matter?"
Heero faced Wufei with an absent sort of expression, "I can't do it."
"You'll be dropped if you don't."
"I…"
"You don't care, then? Is that it?"
The agent hesitated, breathing in deeply and looking away, "I can't turn him in. Not after all the trust he's put in me."
"So you're saying you found something out?"
"…I think I might have."
The young man slowly drew his hair together, plaiting it evenly and with practiced ease. "Did you always have your hair like that?"
"No…it used to go loose when I was younger."
"It was always this long?"
He had to bite down on his lip to keep from reaching towards him, eager to feel the silkiness of his hair against his skin.
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you braid it before?"
"I didn't know how back then."
"Then who taught you?"
"One of the sisters at the orphanage."
Heero raised his head further, studying the man a few feet from him with curiosity. "You grew up in an orphanage?"
The man smiled faintly, "Yeah."
"For how long?"
"A few years."
"Then what happened?"
"Everyone died."
Everyone died? Vaguely…very vaguely Heero remembered hearing about something of the sort. He'd been younger—careless and ignorant to the happenings in the world. "And before that?"
"Before that was Solo and the others."
"The others?"
This time the smile was melancholic. "Yeah. Ricky and Li, and Sei."
"And what happened to them?"
"They all died, too."
Duo snapped a rubber band tightly around the end of his braid and turned to face him. "The only one I've had around me all this time has been my buddy Deathscythe."
He didn't even bother hiding his confusion at that one. But it didn't seem to matter to Duo. He was speaking—though not necessarily to him—and there was no stopping him. "Me and my buddy. Shinigami and the Grim Reaper."
And that one definitely rung a bell. Shinigami. He'd seen the name headlined so many times throughout his youth—even up until a few years ago, the name had been legend. It had been the codename of one of the rebels which had been leaked to the press. The others had been safe, but Shinigami had undergone the greatest of intelligence scrutiny to date. And they still hadn't found him.
And there he was, sitting with a pretty smile on his lips, cross legged and looking at him expectantly.
He'd delivered his secret to an FBI agent.
And he expected a betrayal.
But Just a little bit more okay.
Duo hummed slowly to himself, glancing at the man beside him absently, taking in the dark glittering expanse just outside his window. "I've always wanted to go to Earth," and his voice was a whisper, soft and nearly lost in the buzzing of the Shuttle.
"You've never been?"
"No. But I've always wanted to get away."
"Why is that?"
The braided youth shrugged. There was no explanation, really. It was just a sentiment. He turned twinkling eyes toward Heero. "Where are we going anyway?"
The other shrugged. "It wasn't something I had planned."
"Oh?"
"I hoped we could figure it out along the way."
Duo smiled, yawning and raising his arms above his head in a stretch, letting his head fall comfortably against Heero's shoulder, voice muffled against the cloth. "Sounds like a brilliant idea."
Heero smiled a little despite himself. "Yeah. How are you feeling?"
Duo closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "I'm okay."
Just okay.
Owari.
I started out daydreaming,
And then woke up hungover,
And I was looking at your and seeing someone else.
Eating Cheap Hamburgers and having a Wayward Talk,
I felt like sort of like a Butterfly,
But just a little bit more okay.
I meant to have this up a while ago, but I was having problems uploading to the site. I had to hop around a bit and improvise to finally get it up. Sorry for the wait, and thanks to those who reviewed!
