Yaay, another chapter! I started writing the next chapter to my Harry Potter fic...then started watching all my Gundam Wing DVDs and Endless Waltz, re-read 'Blood Lust', and started writing this instead.
Do any of you know that there are TWO movies after the series? I read it in Newtype, that there are TWO Gundam Wing movies! And here I thought my collection was complete! It will find it if it's the last thing I do!
(ahem) But yeah...I was going to slam pack a great cliffhanger at the end, but why try to cram in something that needs a whole chapter by itself to write out? So this is the calm before the proverbial shit hits the fan! You also get a look in Duo's memories!
Enjoy!
Heero felt exhausted even though he really hadn't done a thing except for walk around the city. His mind was running circles through different scenarios as he tried to come up with a plan that could possibly free the slayers without implicating himself and to get Noin and Dorothy to drop this issue.
Everything he had thought of so far ended with him dead and the slayers free, the slayers dead and his freedom, or them all being dead.
He had begun to seriously consider taking all the blame for himself as the only clear cut option to take. Dorothy can kill him and get her revenge and the slayers could walk free. If only he could trust that she would keep her end of the deal and leave them alone if he sacrificed himself, but knowing his mother, the moment he was a pile of ashes on the floor, she would slaughter them with no remorse.
As Heero approached Midnight Masquerade, he spotted Une ushering vampires out of the club in the usual nightly routine of getting them home before sunrise. She spotted him as he got closer and waved him over.
"You need to go down to the cellar, She asked for you to see Her before you went home," Une said cryptically, looking warily around the outpouring crowd.
"Why? I was only going to tell you or Noin that I found nothing and be on my way, there is no reason for me to spend more time with her then I absolutely have to," he muttered darkly.
"It's important."
Heero suddenly got a sick feeling in his gut. "Understood."
He went around to the back of the building as fast as he possibly could without looking suspicious to the set of double steel, sun protection doors that opened to the basement of the club.
'This can't be good...'
The ominous vibe thickened as he shut the doors behind him and made his way down the stairs, Dorothy and Noin's voices floating up towards him.
"...so what are we going to do? It's too close to dawn to have any real fun before we have to sleep."
"That is perfectly acceptable to me. I would rather have the pleasure of a full night of entertainment."
Heero went numb as he reached the end of the stairs and stared at the scene before him.
Quatre and Trowa. The empath was securely bound in metal shackles against the wall while his unibanged lover was strapped to a machine that would not have been out of place in a torture chamber from the Middle Ages. They looked the worse for wear, so they had to have put up a good fight against Noin and Une before being forced into submission. Both seemed completely impassive to their situation, but knowing them better than the women, Heero could see the slight panic flickering in Quatre's cerulean eyes as he glanced from Trowa to Dorothy and Noin.
"Ah! Heero, I was wondering how long you were going to make us wait!" Dorothy greeted with a Cheshire Cat smile.
"I apologize, I wanted to search as long as I could before reporting in to you," he replied stonily, turning his gaze to Quatre and praying the empath would understand the situation. The blonde's panic turned to sympathy and he gave a slight nod of his head before putting his stoic mask back in place.
"I want the other two by tomorrow night, and no excuses!" Dorothy demanded, her hands on her hips. "The traitor and his slayer must be here to watch their friends die slow, agonizing deaths before experiencing it for themselves. Although, I just might be cruel enough to give them a few days to let the images of their friends' suffering fester, then give them the release of death."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Heero asked caustically. "Now, I would like to return to my apartment before it gets too late, so if we're done here..."
"That's fine, but you need to be back first thing tomorrow night," Noin said with a deep frown.
"Yes, I think I will retire myself...Come, Lucrezia, let us go upstairs," Dorothy beckoned imperiously to the purple haired woman and they headed towards the basement staircase. Noin threw a distrustful glance over her shoulder before they left the room.
Heero waited until he heard them both leave and slam the steel doors behind them before making a beeline over to the couple. "I'm sorry, I tried to keep this from happening before I could warn you," he muttered lowly. "I managed to catch Duo and Wufei earlier and I hoped that they would be able to reach you two..."
"Don't worry about us, worry about yourself," Quatre smiled wanly. "You at least protected Duo and Wufei for now."
"Yeah, -for now-, I don't know how long I can keep this up before Noin suspects me any more than she already does," he scowled. "I promise we will find a way out of this mess, I don't want you two to be killed."
"It's our job," Trowa said calmly.
"But still...I will do something!" Heero bit out in frustration. "I must leave for now, the least I can swear to you is that they won't do anything until I return with Duo and Wufei. If that's one certainty about Dorothy, she never does anything half-assed, she always wants it all her way or no way at all."
"Well then, we'll just have to give her the show of a lifetime before she kills us, won't we?" Trowa responded with amusement.
"That's not funny. I don't think I could bear having to see Duo and Wufei's suffering as they mourn for your passing..." Heero's hands balled into fists so tight by his sides that his nails cut into his palms as he turned sharply away from the two. "You will make it out of here alive, I promise."
'Be careful Heero...' Quatre pleaded silently, watching the Japanese vampire stalk out of the cellar. 'I believe Trowa and I would not be able to bear their sorrow if -you- sacrificed yourself for our sakes.'
"Interesting. I always thought Duo and Wufei would be the first to admit their feelings about Heero, not vice versa," Trowa remarked, clearly enjoying himself despite their predicament.
"Emotions can cause strange things to happen in the right situations..."
"Duo, Solo, we're heading out for the night!"
A tall, beautiful blonde woman stood in the foyer with a prematurely aged gentleman smiling as they finished buttoning up their long coats. The two boys came running from the den, the older one looked about twelve with an appearance similar to her with light, feathery locks and blue eyes while the other was eight years old and seemed out of place with his dark chestnut braided hair and purple eyes.
"You go out every night and you're gone forever, why can't you just stay home for once?" Solo asked, annoyed. "Duo and I have decided that we want you to stay home tonight, don't we Duo?"
"Yes! Pleeeeease?" Duo put on his most pathetic pouty face, sticking out his lower lip.
"I wish we could, but you know we have to work," their father sighed.
"You guys be good while we're gone, all right? I don't want another call from Mrs. Smith next door complaining that you were tormenting her cats or setting off fireworks or any other form of mischief, got it?" Helen said sternly, kissing her sons both on the forehead.
"I'll make sure Solo is good!" Duo grinned.
"Hey! You were the one that blew up her flowerpots with bottle rockets last week, not me!" Solo retorted.
"That's beside the point."
"No it's not!"
"Boys-"
Father Maxwell was unable to finish his reprimand as the front door exploded open, chilling laughter filling the hallway. He instinctively put the two boys behind him out of sight as Helen ripped open her coat and pulled out a loaded pistol.
"Go- Run and hide!" he commanded, turning and pushing Duo and Solo out of the foyer as his wife opened fire at the figures pouring in the doorway.
"But Dad!"
"C'mon Duo, now's not the time for arguing!" Solo grabbed his hand and towed him away as sounds of a fierce fight echoed through the house. They ran up stairs and went into the storage closet, where there was another hidden door that led to the attic.
"I don't like this Solo," Duo whispered fearfully. "What if those bad people find us?"
"They won't, Mom and Dad will take care of them, I'm sure of it," he muttered back, taking the younger boy and hugging him close. "Everything will be all right."
"So why'd you rat me out about the stupid flowerpots?"
"You were asking for it," Solo snickered. "It's my job, as your older brother, to pick on you as much as possible."
The house went eerily silent.
"Should we wait for them to call for us?" Duo asked, peering cautiously over the boxes they were sitting behind.
"Yeah, we need to stay right here for a while."
"Oh, I do not think that is necessary."
They scrambled to their feet and stared in horror at the woman standing at the other side of the attic. She gave another icy laugh and approached them slowly, flicking her long, blood streaked hair over her shoulder.
"S-Solo...that's not Mom..."
"No, your Mommy Dearest would be the one lying dead downstairs waiting for her children to join her," the woman replied amusedly.
"NO!" Solo snatched up the first thing within reach and charged at the creature head on.
"No- SOLO STOP!"
Duo watched in dismay as the woman easily knocked the object out of his hands and lifted his brother off the floor with a bone-crushing grip by his neck, strangling him to death. She tossed his body aside carelessly, then turned her attention onto the only one left.
"You are not a Maxwell..." she remarked, taking his heart-shaped face in her cold hands.
"I AM SO! My name is Duo Maxwell!" he spit out defiantly. "So kill me! Make me dead like the rest of my family!"
She chuckled appreciatively. "My, my, such recklessness...You are not a Maxwell, you do not have the slayer blood in you. However, I cannot let such a pretty face go to waste. You shall become my child, since you are so willing..."
Fear froze Duo to the spot as she leaned in and sank her fangs into his throat, pain beyond pain flooding his system. He didn't hear the gunshots over his screams, or see the wretched creature on top of him escape before she could finish what she started as he faded into unconsciousness.
"They have won for now, little one. I will come back for you..."
Duo woke up with a violent start, breathing hard and pouring sweat. He instantly groped over to the right where Wufei laid, but found the spot empty. A look at the clock told him why, it was almost sunset and he had slept in.
He hated the nightmares that plagued his sleep. He hated having to relive that night in his last home. At least he now knew that the nightmares were real memories, not just his imagination blowing it out of proportion, though they were much more painfully detailed and emotional. No matter what Dorothy had said, he was a Maxwell, maybe not by blood, but they had been his only family before Quatre, his sisters, and Trowa took him in.
Duo picked up his hairbrush and began idly combing out tangles when his absent lover came into the bedroom, pale as a ghost.
"Wo ai, we need to hurry, Heero just called," he said grimly. "They have Quatre and Trowa."
"I was afraid of that..." Duo's expression screwed up and he hurled his brush at the wall with an angry curse. "I'll kill that fucking bitch if it's the last thing I ever do! I won't let her destroy my family again!"
Wufei saved the abused brush and sat behind Duo on the bed to complete the chore of taming his wild hair. "We'll figure something out, wo ai," he assured, feeling the furious tension seep out of his body as Duo turned around and threw himself at him, tears streaming down his face. Wufei wrapped his arms around him and kissed the top of his head.
"Come on, let me finish braiding your hair and we'll go," he said gently, wiping the tears away and giving him another kiss.
"I'm going to -kill- her," Duo growled, waiting patiently as Wufei tied off his braid and then jumped up, changing into clean clothes as they headed out into the living room and loaded up on weapons from the hall closet. "Are they keeping Quatre and Trowa in Midnight Masquerade?"
"In the basement. Heero said that the entrance is behind the building," Wufei replied, pulling on his trenchcoat to hide the arsenal he had.
"All right, let's go shoot their shit up, eh?" Duo smirked, starting to leave but he stopped suddenly and looked back. "I love you, 'Fei."
"I love you too Duo."
"I just had to say that..." he opened the door and they went into the corridor. "I never got a chance to say that to Solo and our parents. I don't want to make that mistake again, just in case something happens."
"I understand that feeling."
"Ya know, we were trying so hard to get them to stay home from their work, just to spend one night with us. If we hadn't, they wouldn't have been at the house when Dorothy came...and Solo and I were fighting over who blew up the neighbor's flowerpots with bottle rockets," Duo smiled wistfully.
"That sounds like something you would do," Wufei replied.
"Hey! Yeah well, okay it was me, but they were ugly flowers anyway, so it's not like anyone would've missed them," he shrugged indifferently. "Enough reminiscing though, we gotta go save Quatre and Trowa and show those assholes that they pissed off the wrong people tonight!"
Yaay! Enjoy the calm while you can, cause the next chapter is going to be a –very- bumpy ride! (evil cackle)
Reviews are nice, so feed this authoress' ego by leaving one:)