Relinquish the Soul

A Gundam Wing Fan Fiction by The Manwell

Sequel to Savor the Darkness

- Four -

The rage, the hunger, never leaves him. It rolls and twists in constant need, pushing against his skin with relentless, fiery friction. Slithers through his mind. Consumes him.

When he'd eliminated the threat of the Bedouin, he'd hoped their life force would assuage the hunger at least until he'd reached his objective. But he can feel it – hear it – roaring in protest at the loss of power it has suffered. Too late, he understands that once the hunger has been lulled, it will never be satisfied with anything less. Too late, he realizes that even if he feeds forever, it will never be fulfilled.

But he cannot feed. Not here. Not now. He needs Wufei alive and well and capable of leading him to the others. To Duo.

Duo.

Behind the dark sunglasses, his eyes narrow. He can feel the distance between them slowly lessening, but the closer he draws the weaker Duo's energy becomes. The darkness within him wants to growl aloud at the inexorable feeling of this one person slipping through his fingers and flowing effortlessly out of his grasp.

He will not allow it.

If there is one thing the wars and the Bedouin have taught him, it is determination. Unwavering tenacity. He will find Duo. Nothing will prevent him from evening the score between them. Not Heero Yuy nor Trowa Barton nor even Wufei. They will all yield to his will in this matter.

They must.

Any other options they might desire have all been burned away by the relentless momentum of their lives. Yes, there is no turning back. There is only the nebulous uncertainty of the future. The end looming ever closer.

And Quatre Reberba Winner will be there. Without a doubt, he will be there.

The vampire hides a smile behind a bland, tired expression and threads the tense silence with another suggestion to try calling the others again.

And as he observes Wufei's compliance, he closes his eyes and savors the taste of the man's freely given frustration and fear. Such bitter but such rich emotions. It's a shame to waste them, really.

And Wufei need never know that even now he's feeding the darkness within a young man who he had once counted as one of his trusted comrades. Unless, of course, the vampire desires to tell him.

But, no, not now. Perhaps later. Perhaps after Duo has been... dealt with he will share this subtle betrayal. And until then he will resign himself to appearing helpless and in need of Wufei's guidance. Yes, for now he will follow and he will wait.

For if there's one thing this vampire has mastered, it's the art of waiting.

oooOOOooo

Intelligence Agent Riley has seen a lot of truly horrifying things in his lifetime. He'd lived through war, after all. And now he's a Preventer. Investigating the horrible things human beings can do to each other is his job. Usually, it doesn't get to him.

But Zanoah... This gets to him.

"Sir?"

The shaky voice of one of his junior agents brings him back to the task at hand. Drawing a deep breath, he turns to address his team. "All right everyone. Let's start with locating an intact black box. You've already been briefed on the fact that Zanoah was outfitted with a dozen of these devices. The odds are good that we'll find one in its entirety. Morely, Walker, set up the locator equipment and begin scanning the area using the serial codes in your reports. Arelli, Chrisstoff, get the sensors positioned. We need to know if there are any survivors. Let's go, people."

The sudden flurry of activity is a relief. Riley knows that later, after the situation has been evaluated, he'll need a moment alone. But right now, he has a job to do.

oooOOOooo

It's a bad idea, but Trowa Barton has lost the ability to protest. He cannot look into the icy eyes of his companion and ignore the barely restrained fear and burgeoning pain. He cannot prevent Heero Yuy from doing whatever he feels he must to bring their Keeper back to them.

As the Jeep rolls to a halt, Trowa briefly tightens his hold on Duo's still limp body. Only the so very faint puff of breath against his jaw tells him Duo is still alive. Alive, but weakening. With every periodic measurement of their leader's pulse, Trowa has felt it fading a little at a time. And for the first time in memory, Trowa is afraid.

"How is he?" Heero asks, unbuckling his seatbelt.

Trowa shakes his head and forces his voice to remain steady as he relates Duo's condition. He thinks he's successful at preventing the anxiety from coloring his voice but then Heero pauses in the act of opening his door and tells him: "We aren't going to lose him, Trowa. It's not going to happen."

Trowa doesn't have an answer to that. He wants to believe, but the faith crumbles to dust when he turns his attention to the unconscious man in his arms. He listens to Heero's boots crunching in the dirt and stones outside as he circles the vehicle. Here, in the shadow of a looming rock formation in the middle of the desert, they are well-hidden but that fact provides little comfort.

He finds himself murmuring into Duo's ear as Heero begins rummaging for the first aid kit. God, how had it come to this? Why are they panicking like this? Why are they so lost without their Keeper? Is it The Oath? Or something more?

"I knew I should have deleted that fucking assignment."

The muttered words tumble over the partition supporting the back seat and into Trowa's ears. He turns his head slightly and replies, "Don't, Heero. Focus on Duo now."

"I know! I know! I am! God damn it!"

Trowa's eyes drift closed as he listens to Heero shove aside various supplies with far more force than is strictly necessary. It's futile for him to wish none of this had ever happened, but he cannot stop the ardent thought.

"Finally."

Trowa glances over his shoulder and watches Heero rip the plastic wrapping off of a sterilized hypodermic needle. With a shiver of dread dancing down his spine, Trowa watches Heero lift a shatterproof vial of stimulant. As the needle fills, Trowa finds his voice.

"Heero, we have no idea what that could do to him."

"So now you have a bright idea, Barton?"

"Don't growl at me, Yuy. I'm as concerned as you."

The glower deepens. "So what do you propose?"

"Duo needs professional assessment. We could conceivably do him even greater harm if we try to revive him ourselves."

Jaw clenched, Heero bites out, "And watching him die a little bit with every breath is better? We don't have the luxury of a professional assessment, Barton."

"So by all means, let's rush headlong into action and damn the consequences."

Eyes narrowed, Heero spits out, "You're right of course. What was I thinking? Let's have a fucking sing-along over his dying body while we wander around looking for a hospital!"

"Shut up, Yuy!"

Heero opens his mouth to retort, but the sudden, faint sound of engines drawing nearer stays his words. It's into this moment of fragile hesitance, that both Heero and Trowa take note of the deep tire tracks they've left in their wake and the lack of any breeze to erase them.

And Trowa hopes it's only his imagination that makes the soft purr of the approaching vehicle seem to have suddenly turned into an ominous roar.

oooOOOooo

He is trapped in the darkness. A darkness unlike anything he has ever known.

The young man who calls himself Duo Maxwell struggles, thrashes in the ever-night that has become his world. His Owned need him. He knows this. Its taste is a bitter tang on his tongue, a wrenching pain beneath his sternum, a restless spinning of his normally solid sense of balance.

He is needed.

And yet he cannot go to them.

Unforgivable.

But Heero and Trowa will forgive him. They must. They need him too much to turn away from him.

But Duo will never forgive himself.

And the bonds of Ownership will never let him forget this failure.

Even now, he feels himself sinking steadily, relentlessly into the numbing quicksand clinging to his soul. And all the wishing in the world isn't going to save him now. Never mind that those foolish prayers of his had seemed to save him on countless occasions during the war. Never mind that he'd give every one of them in exchange for a solid minute of wakefulness now. Never mind that he'd beg for it if only he could summon the energy to do so.

He listens to Trowa's voice and hears the broken hope, the shattered confidence.

He listens to Heero's voice and hears the impotent rage, the escalating fear.

He listens and he knows he is failing them.

And even now, their words are blurring, fading. And he wonders if it is they who are moving further away... or himself?

Perhaps it doesn't matter, either way.

Trapped in the dark, Duo refuses to give up. He reaches out, out, out to the one person he knows will never fail to hear him...

And in a silver vehicle roaring over the coarse desert sand and shrapnel-like gravel, a soft gasp sounds moments before the recipient of Duo's cry for help goes completely slack behind the wheel. Chang Wufei is deaf to Quatre's startled shout as the car issues a sickening shudder and starts to swerve.

End of Chapter Four