Chapter Two: Tears and Rain

The pressure on his arm yanked him back into reality. His head was swimming, and a light from somewhere was making his eyes water. The beeping of a heart monitor was quite calming. He had come out of his troubles alive. He didn't know what time it was, or where exactly he was. He could sense someone else in the room with him, sitting off to the right. Shimmering violet eyes seemed to catch the light as Duo stood from his place in a chair to the right of the bed.

"Are you alright?" His voice sounded so good…so unlike his own, which had been plaguing his mind for so long now. He continued:

"Quatre, I…" His name. All Duo had to do was say his name and he fell to pieces. Everything came crashing down in a pile at his feet as he thought over what had happened. Heero was gone, most likely for good, and their parting terms had been less than ideal. He hated himself, suddenly, for doing whatever he had done to make Heero go.

"Hey now, little buddy…" Quatre felt his hand being gripped in the warm hand of the other man in the room, who pulled his chair closer. "Take it easy…I'm here…no one will come at you again with me here, I promise, okay?"

His words were nice, to be sure, but somehow they didn't come close to what he wanted. He hated this…hated feeling so empty. He wanted to die. Quatre would have been satisfied with the death that Heero had planned for him.

Before he could shake himself of these feelings, and compose himself, he felt a warm body move in next to him on the tiny hospital cot. He went still for a moment, his instincts taking over and making his muscles tense. His mind regained control, and he remembered that this was one of his oldest and truest friends. His body eased, and he tried his best to relax.

Duo wrapped his arms around Quatre's shoulders, careful of his wound, and began to explain everything in a voice that was so calm it frightened him:

"You were in a coma for almost a month. The bullet wound healed pretty quickly…I guess that comes from our training and all…but some mental trauma kept you locked in your heard. The doctors told me that it might be days, months, even years before you were awake again.

"I tried to find Heero once I realized that you weren't waking any time soon, and were only getting physically stronger." Duo's voice got suddenly tight, and angry. "You don't know how badly I wanted to grab him and pull him up by the collar of his shirt…get some answers out of that bastard, for what he had done…but, I…" Duo suddenly went silent, and he lowered his face and averted his eyes.

Quatre knew…/knew/ then that Heero had disappeared for good. And, after a whole month of being out, the chances of finding him were slim to none, if there was ever a chance at all. His connections were good, but not good enough to find a man of that skill who didn't wish to be found. Quatre felt the cold hold of certainty take over, and his pondering and pleading heart grew still in his chest.

Without putting any further thought into the action, Quatre wrapped his arms around the man next to him and just lay there. Duo held Quatre, reassuringly patting his back, as he waited for the smaller man to move. Silent tears spilled down Quatre's cheeks, as he let everything drain from his body and mind.

It was almost an hour before Quatre finally felt so drained that he fell back into a deep sleep. Duo untangled himself from the other's arms and moved back to his things at the door…he had places to go, and people to see…had to check on some unfinished business. Hilde would be waiting for him outside, and he had to get started once again on his impossible mission.

While Quatre had been asleep, Duo had not only been searching for Heero, but for any signs of what might have made Heero act the way that he did. There had been very little evidence, but after three weeks of hard searching, something had been found. Hilde had said earlier that she would have the information waiting for him when he got in the car after visiting Quatre. He had kept her waiting…but, for a good reason.

He tossed a final glance at Quatre, wishing like hell that Heero had never hurt him at all, for whatever reason. He wished that he could somehow find a way to take back all of the tears that had been shed without just cause.

Stepping out into the cold, brisk night, Duo drew his black jacket closer, and pulled his hat down tighter around his head. Although he was no longer the God of Death, he still liked the old attire. Hilde was parked in the lot, half asleep, with her feet on the dashboard. The radio was so loud that the entire car was buzzing with the sounds of a virtuoso guitar solo. Upon seeing him, Hilde sat up and unlocked the car door, turning down the music, and starting the ignition.

At the end of the war, the two of them had started a small repair shop, specializing in car computer maintenance. With his training, Duo found this job less than a challenge, but loved the money that it brought in. He could teach a car how to drive itself, connect to various GPS satellites without having to be manually switched, and even have it regulate the temperature inside of the car depending on the weather outside, and the conditions. Hilde was a more than apt pupil, and had learned the trade quickly.

This car happened to be one of their privately engineered transport devices. When given the gas, the awesome machine roared to life like a beast which sat waiting for its master to return. A sleek, black body made it almost invisible in the darkness, and all the more appealing when it could be seen. This was 'The Dark Knight'…his favorite car.

"What the hell took you so long?" She demanded, when Duo opened the passenger door. Duo slowly sat himself down, and buckled his seatbelt.

"He's finally awake…and, he's less of a mess than I think I would be in his shoes." Duo responded, heaving a sigh.

"Oh…so he's alright, then. That's good…" The woman responded, down casting her eyes and changing her tone.

"I still don't get it. How could Heero have /such/ a change of heart? I've never seen him act that way around another human being, and Quatre was good for him. Ever since Relena died, Heero's been different."

"Well, the death of your first love will do that to just about anyone." Hilde stated, strapping herself in and starting to reverse out of their parking place. The freeway was empty at that time of night, and in the direction they were going, they only caught sight of half a dozen headlights.

"So, what's the news…you said you had some kind of lead for me." Duo pressed, turning to look at her. "What have you found out?"

"Well," Hilde began. "it would seem that one of the organizations connected to the death of Miss Peacecraft, has gained extensive knowledge on all of the Gundam pilots. They know every pilot's whereabouts, pre and post war info, training, education, primary contacts, employment, everything…these guys were thorough, and must have done quite a few illegal things to gain this kind of classified information.

"Anyways, a few weeks ago, night before he shot Quatre, there was a letter sent out to Heero. Now, I couldn't get my hands on what was in the letter, but a friend of mine works in the offices of this business…it seems that they were going to try and hold something over his head. My guess is, they blackmailed him into thinking that they could do something to Quatre, and Heero took the first step in removing their hold over him."

It all suddenly made sense. Duo ran a hand through his hair as he though about the implications. Hadn't Heero always tried to kill Relena, as well? Wasn't that his usual MO when it came to love and relationships? Heero must have been so scared of what they might do to Quatre that he decided to kill him instead.

"Hilde, this is huge…" He managed to mutter, as they sped down the highway, and away into the night. "We…We can't tell Quatre yet. Not until we have more information."

Hilde nodded, looking over at her friend in the passenger's seat. "Are you alright, Duo?" She asked, tilting her head before turning her attention back to the road.

"Ye…Yeah, I'm fine. Or, at least, I will be fine when all of this is over."