The instant Darius stepped into the cramped examining room, he knew he was too late. It occurred to Armand that Duo would take the possibility of losing his lover hard, and he should hurry to relieve them of the outdated theory. He had hurried down as much as he dared, not wanting to alert his mercenary soldiers. This batch of men he had hired could smell blood in the water a mile away.
"Isn't this just a pity party?" he said unpleasantly as he stepped through the door. Pierce's lover turned and glared at him, and for a moment, Darius thought he might actually challenge him.
"I need to borrow Heero for a few moments," he continued, rubbing his temples with gloved fingers in slow circles. "If that's all right with you." Duo stared at him blankly, mute.
"Heero needs to--" Sarsis began, holding up a long, curved finger.
"Heero needs to come with me," Darius said coolly. The two friends scowled at each other, in perfect understanding. "Now. Heero?" He turned expectantly towards the Japanese boy. It was practically an order, one that the soldier in him would be unable to refuse.
Casting a dubious glance towards his lover and the healer, Heero nodded and slid from the table, pausing as Duo caught his hand in his, creating a massive knot of flesh and bony knuckles. "I'm coming too," he said firmly, jaw set in a hard uncompromising line.
The skin around Darius' eyes tightened for a brief moment before he nodded sharply, motioning them both forwards with a mere flick of his wrist. Duo practically marched to the door, knees climbing higher with ever step, braid bouncing proudly against his back.
He led them wordlessly into a maze of endless metal paneling and fluorescent lights. Down one flight of stairs and up another. Duo had the feeling that he was putting on a show for him, that he was unwanted and unappreciated. It didn't matter. His hand tightened around Heero's unconsciously, and, a bit startled, the Japanese boy gave him an uncertain smile. Almost like he wasn't sure that it belonged on his face.
God. The true beauty of a person lay not in their defined cheekbones or their full, collagen-enhanced lips. Every time he looked at his lover, he saw that tiny smile that he reserved only for him, only for Duo.
One last door, and they found themselves standing on the roof of the abandoned OZ base. "We're here," Darius said in a flat voice, his eyes studying the gray cement. "I have a mission for you." At the word mission, Heero's head snapped up and his eyes hardened. "Duo, you don't know what I'm talking about, but Heero does. Do you remember the two pools?" Heero gave no outward sign of emotion, which was taken for a positive reaction.
"Retrieve a flask of the water from the cold water pool, and return to the point at which you are dropped. You have two hours until the portal closes. After that, we'll have to come get you." he was obviously disgusted by even the idea of having to come save them *again*. "Are you ready?"
Heero glanced at Duo, one heavy eyebrow quirked in question. "We are," he replied. Darius nodded absently, his eyes seeing the unseen, twisting the threads that surrounded them, bending them until--
He felt a sharp pain behind his eyes, and tried to clutch at his face, only to find that he had no face. He had no substance, only ethereal matter, the likes of which neither of the pilots could see.
Darius looked down at his own body and swore. Bitch! The blonde-haired woman's aura surrounded and pervaded his physical form. She'd forced him out of his own body! He--she?-- wore a faint smirk, probably congratulating herself on a job well done. He'd always known that she would jump at the chance to bury the knife hilt-deep in his back.
"Step through." Her voice was like steel, cutting through to them over the high winds.
The portal was a giant, gaping black hole, bearing a frightening resemblence to the one Yalith had been pulled into. The American glared at Darius, who seemed to wear a slight smirk, challenging him to be the first to move. He started to step forward, then jumped as a searing pain tore through his insides. Wha--? Then he knew. A trap! How...base. Peering closer at the diminuitive commander, he grinned. "Nice try. I want to take our Gundams. Where's Deathscythe? And Wing Zero?" Seeing a shocked look cross over his face, his grin widened. "See? I knew you rebuilt Wing Zero, I just knew it!"
"Who told you?" His voice was higher than usual; it seemed Duo was really making him angry. He shivered as a cold finger ran down his back, leaning instinctively towards the warmth Duo provided.
"You did, with that silly look of yours. Come on, where are they?" He poked Darius in the chest, much to Heero's own dismay, grinning like a fool. "Which hangar? If you've got the coordinates of the Palazzio in the computer, we can go from there. Whaddaya say?"
Darius made a strange grunting sound, and with a loud clap, the portal collapsed on itself. "West wing. I want you back in a day, then." With one lingering look at the two lovers, he departed, his booted feet clattering down the steel stairs.
"You heard the man. The West wing it is," Duo said agreeably, all traces of viciousness dissolved from his sugary countenance. "I don't know what this flask of water crap is, but something's telling me that we can find out a lot more at the Palazzio than we can here. What a secretive bunch," he sighed, tapping a long finger against one heart-shaped cheek.
"Aa," Heero said significantly.
They landed half a mile from the Palazzio in a great lush jungle, with strange birds of all colors never imagined by man, bugs with eight eyes and no legs, flowers that threatened to bite their hands off if they strayed too close.
Duo's bangs were sticking to his forehead from the humidity and his own sweat. "You're walking too fast," he complained, slapping at his neck as he felt a prick high in the crease of his jaw.
Heero ground to halt and turned around, half-amused. "You're walking too slow, Duo." He cut his partner off with a finger on his lips, sensing the underlying tension of barely restrained rebellion. "Maybe it's my fault," he lamented. "I haven't been giving you any incentive." Before Duo could move, Heero pressed a soul-searing kiss to his lips, hands wandering all over his body, one pausing to undo his fly. Reaching into his boxers, his thumb rubbed slowly over the tip of his slowly hardening erection, sending jolts of pleasure through him. He reached up to wrap his arms around his neck--
"HEY!"
Duo began to whimper as Heero disengaged himself from his arms gently. "Gotta keep up, Duo." He would have sworn that he saw the beginnings of a Duo-type foolish grin spreading over his handsome face. To Duo's dismay, Heero began to walk again, leaving him behind to stare at his retreating form. "If you don't hurry up, I'm going to leave you like that."
Needless to say, they made it to the Palazzio in record breaking time. A mere one hundred yards away from the front gate, where two very suspicious thugs were keeping watch for any strange figures, they consummated their love, bodies moving together in liquid motions. They came quietly and quickly, and were soon scaling the walls, using the decorative brick ledge for footing.
Duo felt a wave of vertigo wash over him as he looked down, the canopy spinning in his vision. "Uhn..." One hand came off the wall to steady his head, the other gripping the bricks so tightly his knuckles were slowly turning white.
"Duo?" Heero...sounded...concerned... The American felt his stomach heave, and the other hand came off the wall to grab at his chest. He--couldn't--breathe--
"DUO!"
"Baka," Heero sighed, cradling Duo's unconscious form in his arms as he flew up to the roof. It was a good thing the damn wings actually worked, or...
Or...
He didn't want to think about the other possibility. He'd been frozen in place as Duo's hand slipped, eyes wide with horror. But his training had kicked in in record-breaking time, wings slicing through the cloth to unfurl, stretching tentatively, then beating rapidly in powerful motions that made the tree branches sway.
Diving down after his freefalling lover, heart in his throat, the Japanese boy had grabbed him by one dangling leg and pulled him into a tight embrace. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins, sharpening his vision, his hearing, even his tactile senses. He could feel the shift in atmospheric pressure as they rose, could feel the slight moisture that meant rain later that day. It was a strange sensation, and one that faded as soon as his feet touched the cold stone.
"Saved again by an angel," Duo murmured as his eyes fluttered open to see dumbfounded blue eyes staring back at him. "Where are we?"
"The roof. What did you think you were doing, Duo?" His voice cracked as Heero's eyes demanded an answer, and they demanded an answer *now*. The slight tic beating under his left eye told him his answer had better be damn good.
"I got dizzy," he blurted out.
"Dizzy?" Heero felt light-headed. Dizzy...what a baka. He realized his arms were trembling as Duo laid a calming hand on his shoulder. "Just don't do it again," he said, his poker face snapping back on with a 'click'.
"Okay, okay, you've convinced me. I'm never scaling a wall without a harness again. Now," he said, trying, rather obviously in Heero's opinion, to change the subject, "how about those two pools?"
"Are you sure this was the way?" Duo asked for the seventh time that minute. "I don't know...something about this just isn't right." He jumped as something furry skimmed over his foot, sending blatant chills down his spine. He would never be able to forget that feeling, hanging over a pit of rats, all intent on sharpening their incisors on his skinny hide.
"I'm sure, baka. Stop wiggling, you'll set your braid on fire," he hissed, frowning as Duo jumped again, tipping the torch precariously close to the long chestnut coil. Duo stuck his tongue out at his lover, only to lose his footing and go tumbling to the ground.
"That's what I'm talking about, Duo," Heero sighed as he pulled the still smiling American to his feet. The darkness began to sink in, and he suddenly threw up his hands in exasperation.
"Ow! That was my nose..."
"Well, *that* was our torch, Duo. Now we can't see anything. It'll be slow going from here."
"It's dark in here and I'm cold!" He sniffed pathetically, hugging his jacket around him against the dampness that was slowly seeping into their clothes.
"Here." He felt around until his hands connected with solid flesh covered in a thin layer of black cotton. "I don't want you wandering off." Duo snorted, mildly perturbed by the idea that Heero thought he needed to be watched, but slid his hand into his waiting one. And nearly jumped five feet into the air as he felt a hand cupping his ass.
"Jesus, what are you doing?"
"Carrying you."
Duo paused to consider. "That sounds nice," he sighed, voice slightly dreamy. "Like the virginal bride and his oh-so-sexy groom as they step over the threshold and into their new home." Heero chuckled softly, one arm winding around Duo's back to hold him up. Their combined body heat kept both of them warm.
"Except you're no virgin. And I really don't want to stay here longer than necessary." He closed his eyes, letting his senses guide him down the stone corridors, down a slightly sloped hill, to a thick oak door. This was it. He could sense the faint scent of sulfur, curling around his nose. His eyes watered abruptly, and he tried to convince himself that it was because of the smoke.
"We're here," he told Duo, nudging him with his nose.
"Um," the braided boy said, heaving a sigh. "Do I have to get down? This is comfortable..." He fought down a laugh, and set him down on the ground, taking care not to hurt him.
"We just need to get the flask of water, now," Duo chirped, bouncing into the room with all of his exuberant energies at their peak. "Aha!" Leaning down, he dipped a single finger into the water, and smiled, pleased, as he discovered he'd picked the right one. "This is the cold one. Where's the bottle?"
Heero handed him the small blue glass bottle, eyes surveying the room with disinterest. Something wasn't right. No, he was just being paranoid--
CRACK!
It was the longest three seconds of Duo's life. His eyes widened to an impossible size, making them nearly twice as large as they usually were, as he saw the black blur fly at Heero, slamming him into the ground. Heero's own face was hidden by the loose swathes of black cloth his attacker was wearing.
He let out a cry of pain as he felt, rather than saw, Heero's head snapping back, connecting solidly with the intricate tiling on the floor. A sharp pain exploded behind his eyes as bright lights flashed in his sight, blinking in and out slower, then faster and faster until it all simply exploded into darkness. He was vaguely aware that the person attacking his Heero was slamming his head repeatedly against the tile, trying to kill him quickly and efficiently.
Although it wasn't as if knowledge of that little fact was helping either of them. Duo fell to his knees, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, eyes weeping tears that his soul couldn't touch. They were in serious trouble this time--there was no Zechs to save them. There would be no timely arrival by Quatre or Trowa.
How could they have so terribly underestimated their enemy? They were Gundam pilots. It had been drilled into their heads, over and over and over until they could eat, drink, sleep, breath, one small phrase:
"Never underestimate your enemy."
And yet here they were, both poised on the brink of death, helpless as kittens in a sack, with no sign of help coming. They had insisted on bringing their Gundams, not the most discreet of modes of transportation. Hell, they'd even had a nice romp in the jungle! That was how seriously they took their missions.
Duo began to crawl on his hands and knees, fingers outstretched, searching along the cracks, waiting for the feel of clammy flesh and sticky blood. <Heero,> he called out weakly, wincing as something in his rib cage cracked. <Heero!>
< Run away, Duo!> His voice was filled with such a sense of urgency, Duo felt the urge to flee begin to boil in his veins. He wouldn't let Heero push him away! He gritted his teeth and began to crawl forward again, towards Heero, towards the attacker clad in black that was strangling his lover.
< No,> he replied stubbornly. <I'm not leaving-- >
Duo gasped as a sharp pain stemming from his spine flared to life, sending flashes of agony all over his body. His legs collapsed out from beneath him, and he was aware that he was falling, falling into something soft and cold, breathing in the water, choking on its overwhelming *everything*. It surrounded him, it became his world. Breathe in, breathe out. Vomit up more water, choke more down.
And then, it suddenly stopped.
Strands of DNA began to twist and mutate, brain cells activating and awakening with a painful slowness. The water ceased to burn his lungs and instead, he found himself breathing the cold water of the pool like air. His eyes snapped open at the realization, and he discovered he could see again.
It began as a tearing feeling deep inside, like someone had reached inside his stomach and torn out his intestines, leaving them in a trail on the floor. Then it changed, became something else, something so powerful he felt as if it would rent him in two, splitting him from crotch to sternum. He felt a strange sensation rushing over every pore of his skin, pushing its way inside him. Tiny green lights began to flash around him, collecting to form a small green ball. With a soft sigh, it buried itself in his chest, slowly expanding outward, dissolving his clothes.
Duo felt the water rushing past his face, realized he was smiling. The feeling of the power rushing through him was intoxicating; he craved more. It was heady, almost like the rush that comes with really good sex or danger. His fingers twitched, aching to feel the air on his body, to let the light inside him explode outward.
With a loud boom, he exploded from the pool, green eyes narrowing as he saw the mysterious assailant standing over his lover, one arm raised to deliver a death blow.
"SHINIGAMI LIVES!"
End Book Two, Part Four
Ariana
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