Hereafter

Chapter 11

March Madness Prompt #11

"Animal Instinct"

I never have to kill anyone ever again. I don't have to anymore.

Sunlight glinted off the barrel of the gun that Heero brandished from beneath his jacket—loaded, cocked, and aimed at a spot between the eyes of the perpetrator in one fluid motion.

"Heero, no!" Hilde cried out. "Don't!"

But Heero didn't care what Hilde thought. She was nobody to him. If she was anything, it was a reminder of what Duo had that he didn't have anymore. The minute he'd seen Duo standing next to Hilde, leaning into her personal space but looking so relaxed, so happy in her presence, he wanted to smack the smile off Duo's face, to knock his teeth out.

Part of him knew that wasn't fair. Duo hadn't meant anything by mentioning Relena as if she was still alive. If anything, Duo had shown more interest in Heero's relationship with Relena than anyone else he knew. But it grated. It had always grated. Duo and Hilde's relationship was so … simple. They weren't hesitant with each other. Their touches weren't awkward. They weren't new to loving each other, excited by every brush of skin on skin, wondering what the hell they were supposed to do next. They weren't afraid. They just… were.

And Heero… Heero was so… jealous of that.

But he could channel that energy. What had Wufei said? Justice. He was justice incarnate.

"Say goodbye," he said to the boy sitting in the driver's seat. "This is the end for you."

The face that stared back at him, wide-eyed with terror, barely registered to Heero as human. It was a plain face with slightly overlarge ears. A stranger's face. He couldn't see humanity in the features in front of him, couldn't distinguish them from any other random shapes. His actions were propelled by animal instinct.

His mate was dead. And this was the punk who had savagely, callously, brutally killed her. He just wanted him dead too.

He pulled the trigger.

It was Duo that stopped him from committing murder right there on the street. He came out of nowhere, flying at Heero like a bat out of hell. His hands knocked the gun aside just as Heero pulled the trigger. The bullet shot out of the barrel at an angle, denting the panel above the front wheel of the truck. The gun itself clattered to the concrete under Heero's feet. At the same moment, Duo kicked at Heero's leg below the knee with a sharp, precise jab that crippled his stance. Pain shot up Heero's leg and he crashed to the sidewalk. He cursed as Duo threw his weight on top of him.

"Get off of me!" Heero snarled. Heero's hand-to-hand combat skills were better than Duo's. It ought to have been easy to regain the upper hand, throw Duo off him, grab the gun, and finish what he had started...but he couldn't seem to think at all. His body wouldn't obey him the way he wanted it to. He flailed helplessly, emotion buzzing through him in such torrents that he couldn't see straight.

"I won't let you do this," Duo huffed in his face. "Listen to me, Heero. You'll regret it. I know you don't need a gun to kill, so please just listen to me. Don't do this. She wouldn't want you to."

The rage that obscured Heero's perception softened slightly, just enough for him to let out a sob and gasp for air at the same time. Sanity rushed back into him. He felt the cold, hard ground beneath his shoulder blades. There was ash in his hair. His head was still spinning. He lay still, taking a few deep breaths to let the anger out and the calm back in. Then he shoved Duo off of him and got up, limping slightly on the knee that Duo had kicked.

"I'm really sorry I said what I said," Duo said, breathing heavily as he too scrambled to his feet. "Heero, please believe me. I wasn't thinking. It may not seem like it, but I'm upset about this—really bewildered and just...upset. When the world goes mad, I say stupid stuff. I make jokes. I know no one finds them funny, but it's how I cope. I didn't mean it."

"She's dead," Heero said. The words left his mouth like drops of lead. It was the first time he had said them, admitted out loud that she might really be gone, that she probably was. He covered his face with his hands. He did not cry. There did not seem to be tears in him. There was nothing but a cold, yawning emptiness. But he did not want anyone to see his face.

"Heero, if she is, I am so sorry," Duo said. "But we don't know that for sure."

Heero couldn't stand it. He didn't want Duo's sympathy. He didn't want to be standing here, feeling like a wounded animal.

Wufei approached, face completely implacable, as if what had just happened hadn't happened at all.

"Let's ask some questions," he said. "Will that suit you, Heero?"

Heero said nothing.

Wufei turned to the boy. "You," he said. "I want to know your name."

"My name?" the boy said, soft and quiet, staring up at Wufei in his Preventer's jacket with a child's wide brown eyes.

"Yeah," Wufei said. "I want to know the name of the kid who blew up the ESUN. And I want to know why."

The boy's eyes flickered to Heero. "Who's he?"

"He's Relena Peacecraft's boyfriend," Wufei said. "You might have heard of him-The Gundam Pilot from the Colonies who saved the Earth? He's pretty upset so I suggest you start talking, or we're going to give him his gun back."