Title: ESO
Author: bonnejeanne (bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) and von (sablexo1@yahoo.com)
Archive: GW Addiction (eventually)
Category: yaoi, AU? Epic Saga...
Rating: PG-13 for language but no guarantees on later installments
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, ?
Warnings: Yaoi. No lemon yet but no guarantees for later. Old guys. Original characters. AU? You decide... OOC? Same.
Spoilers: Brief for Endless Waltz. This takes place primarily after events in Endless Waltz.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing characters and universe are the property of the copyright owners. My stuff is mine. No money being made here.
Notes: Thanks for the support to continue this!
As with all our fics so far, this is the first time we are doing some characters, so, while our goal is to stay as in character as possible, any discrepancies are our mistakes.
Feedback: Any and all comments, feedback, critiques welcome, be they short or long.
Duo was at the Sweeper's landing when he got the message from Wufei. It was short and to the point, which fit with the sender.
"Duo I need to see you, alone, about a personal matter. Chang Wufei."
A personal matter... for a split second Duo wondered if Wufei was going to confess his undying love for Heero and tell Duo to get out of the way, or something. That fantasy vanished quickly, though. Duo and Wufei had never spoken openly about their feelings in this area, but Duo had long since gotten the clear impression that while Wufei definitely showed an attraction for the Japanese pilot, and had in fact awakened him to awareness of sexual love, that Wufei somehow approved of Duo being Heero's partner. It had never been spoken of openly, but there had been many looks, many expressions, many intangible indications of support.
For this reason, if for no other, Duo would have agreed to the meeting. Beyond that, the last two years had given him a deep appreciation for all his fellow pilots. What they had done, endured, and accomplished together would bond them forever.
Whatever it was, the Chinese ex-warrior clearly wanted Heero to be left out of it, and Duo respected the implied request.
He grabbed his sunglasses and left the Sweeper's landing, remarking that he would be back soon.
He found Wufei at the indicated meeting place, an old warehouse.
"What's up, Wu-man?" he asked, wondering idly how long this would take.
"I want you to meet someone," Wufei answered, after bowing slightly in greeting. "And I want you to listen to what she has to say."
Something about this sounded weird. Duo raised an eyebrow.
"What's going on here, Wufei?" Duo said, with dawning suspicion.
The Dragon Clan fighter met his look squarely. "Listen and find out," he said simply. He turned, and a small figure walked out from concealment behind a stack of crates. She didn't seem too unusual, but there was something about her that caused gooseflesh to crawl on Duo's arms. Something.
"This is Alfa," Wufei said.
The woman looked at Duo through an unruly shock of auburn hair that reminded him of... Deep indigo eyes met his wide violet ones and he took a step back.
"Who the hell are you, lady?" he breathed. Could... could Heero have a sister?
"That is not important. What I am about to tell you *is* important," she said. "Have you ever heard of ESO?"
"That is the wildest piece of cockamamie shit I have ever heard in my entire life!" was Duo's reaction.
Alfa studied him. Wufei simply watched.
"Hey, sorry, lady, whoever you are," he said, still feeling uneasy about her. "I have stuff to do. Wu-man? You seriously buying this? Why don't you come with me, I'll buy you a beer, or a soda, and we can hash over old times."
Wufei simply shook his head.
Duo stopped, looked them both. His brows drew together dangerously.
Then he said, "I am not going to buy this."
Alfa nodded. "I understand. You want confirmation of some kind."
"If you had any..."
"If I do... I only give it to you on the condition that you keep it to yourself. Strictly. No one else is to be involved except the person I tell you to speak to." Alfa said.
"Look, I would just as soon blow this whole thing off..."
"Yes, but what if, what *if* this is not just a story... are you comfortable taking that chance?"
Duo scowled. "Alright. I won't tell anyone else."
"Fine. You want verification? Go talk to Howard," she said.
Duo blinked. "Howard..."
"Tell him Alfa said to go see him. Tell him everything I told you. See what he says. If nothing else, he'll confirm the dates and places. Oh, and Maxwell..."
Duo continued to scowl. "What?"
"Professor G says hi."
Then she turned and left, without waiting for Wufei to follow her.
Duo stared. "No..." he whispered. "Not those guys... not again..."
Quatre made his way around to the back of the circus tent, following the thick musky scent of the lion cages. He knew Trowa would probably be somewhere close by, since the big felines always rested more quietly when he was near.
Turning the corner, he saw the one he was looking for, kneeling beside on of the cages, stroking the big male lion through the bars.
For a minute Quatre just stopped and watched, a small smile on his face. He loved watching Trowa with the lions.
Trowa looked down at the grand animals head. With all of the changes, he could still count on the lions to remain the same. 'They always are the same,' he thought, 'Keep that in mind, Trowa.' Suddenly, Trowa looked up. "Quatre," he spoke and turned his head to confirm what he already knew.
Quatre's smile widened and he walked over, placing his arms around the other boy to give him a hug and a quick kiss.
"Hi," he said, renewing himself in Trowa's green eyes. "I know you weren't expecting me until the weekend, but something came up, and I need to talk to you."
"Ok," Trowa said. He moved back slightly and then grabbed Quatre around the waist as he hugged him hard. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking down at Quatre's golden head.
Quatre smiled and touched Trowa's cheek gently. "I didn't say anything was wrong," he began teasingly. Then he sighed and his expression became more serious. "But... it might be. I had a very unusual visitor today. She told me things that... I can hardly believe. The only thing is, if I don't believe them, there might be a great danger which will not be averted."
Trowa listened carefully and then reluctantly released Quatre. He took Quatre's wrist and pulled him over to sit down. "Who was your visitor?" Trowa asked. His mind ticked off several female faces and he warned himself to hear all of the facts first before forming an opinion. However, one face in particular came to mind that made Trowa mentally hold his breath. He then looked over at Quatre.
"She called herself Alfa," Quatre answered. "And she was a very unusual person. She seems to be quite young - maybe twenty three or four, but there is something about her eyes that seems so familiar, and something that seems much... much older." Quatre took a deep breath. "She said that she had known my parents - both of them. That wouldn't be possible if she's as young as she looks. She also said she had once known Heero Yuy - the original."
"Looks can be deceptive. I trust your feelings," Trowa said as his mind processed the information. "What are they telling you, Quatre?"
"They are telling me that something terrible is coming," Quatre said softly, his blue-green eyes wide. "That... that it has been coming for a long time... maybe all our lives. I thought when we fought for peace, both last year and then with Mariemaia, that we were doing what we were each destined for. I thought it was over. But now..." Quatre touches his own chest gently. "Now I feel that I understand why I have been so restless... why I couldn't really seem to accept that we could enjoy what we fought for. Because there was another destiny waiting for us... for me, all along."
Trowa reached over and covered Quatre's hand with his own. Moving closer, he put his free arm around Quatre's shoulders. "For us," he said, quietly as he held Quatre against his side. "I'm going with you."
Quatre looked up at Trowa face, his expression very serious. "I want you to think about this, Trowa. Think harder. I believe what Alfa told me - I believe that she believes, that is. And I know something is coming. But there are things involved here that... that may be more than any of us can possibly handle. Each of us has earned our right to do with our lives what we wish... no matter what has been destined for us. You have, Trowa. And I want you to think about this before making any decision."
"Quatre," Trowa said as he reached up and brushed his fingers through Quatre's hair. "Quatre Raberba Winner. If what you say is so, then I exercise my right to stand, fight and exist by your side. I am not going for the 'cause'. I'm going to be with you."
Quatre hugged Trowa tightly, closing his eyes for a moment. Then he looked up, a little moisture shining in them. "I want you to come... and at the same time I don't. If... if I knew that you were going to be here, and safe... I'd have something to come back for. But if you go with me... and something happens... I won't return either."
Trowa nodded. "I understand," he said. "The same goes for me. I'll go and tell Catherine. She'll be sad, but it is different now." Leaning over, he kissed Quatre's lips lightly and then stood up and offered a hand up to him. "Besides, if you left me here, I wouldn't be able to sleep. This way, I won't be forced to do something foolish."
Quatre took Trowa's hand and kissed it tenderly. "I won't let you do anything foolish... besides coming with me, I mean. But, Trowa, you can't tell Catherine anything about this - not that you are going to fight. That was the promise I made to Alfa. That we could be trusted not to tell anyone else about this. In truth, I almost wouldn't know what to tell anyone, but I think... I think it is simply, if we win, there is no need to have anyone waiting in fear. And if we don't win... then everyone will have that much longer to enjoy their lives, until it's too late."
Trowa tightened his grip slightly, pulling Quatre to his feet. Without hesitation, he pulled Quatre against him and kissed him deeply with everything that was in him. A short time later, Trowa looked down into the deep pools of Quatre's eyes and found something there. "Then there is no time to waste and I can tell you everything there is to tell you. I love you, Quatre. Above and beyond what I feel for our fellow Gundam pilots. I'll fight with you, for you and if I'm lucky, when the time comes, die with you. Mostly, though. I'd like to live with you." Trowa said, his green eyes looking into Quatre's.
Quatre blinked, and a little silvery liquid spilled down the side of his face. He smiled, a smile of happiness that also carried a very slight hint of pain. Without saying anything, he lifted his mouth for a kiss.
Leaning down, Trowa kissed Quatre again. The rest of the world was no longer calculated into his opinion of what he thought about himself. He had learned a lot in a short time. He no longer sought death, but life. For Trowa, going with Quatre simply made sense. A bond had been formed.
"Then we go together," Quatre said at last. "We are supposed to meet at a set of coordinates she gave me. I think it's a resource satellite, but one that was supposed to have been abandoned after the Oz war. I'm not sure who else we'll find there. She said I was the first person she talked to. But I have a feeling we may meet some old friends when we arrive."
Trowa nodded. "Hmm," he said. "I suppose she is aware that the Gundams have been destroyed."
Quatre nodded. "She said... she said that wouldn't be a problem. Trowa, I have the strangest feeling about this woman. I feel as if... as if she has been in the background of our lives, waiting and watching. And that thought frightens me... but at the same time, it gives me a strange kind of comfort, and I can not explain why."
Trowa listened carefully. "I understand." he said. "I would like to meet her, then." He looked down for a moment and then back up to Quatre. "I'm going to talk to Catherine and I won't say anything about this, I promise. I just don't want her to worry too much. I can't help it if she does anyway, but I would not feel right disappearing like before. Do you understand?"
"Of course," Quatre answered immediately. "Tell her whatever you wish. I told my sisters and Rashid that I was going on a surveying trip, and that I might be imposing on you to come with me. If you wish, you could tell Catherine the same thing. It's... it isn't *exactly* a lie - we are going to check something out."
Quatre was treated to one of Trowa's rare smiles. Trowa cupped his hands around Quatre's face for a moment. "Thanks, but I don't need to explain it that far to satisfy myself that I did the right thing. You can come with me or I will be back shortly," he said.
Quatre simply stood, taking Trowa's hand to walk with him.
"Why did I think things were going to get quiet?" he muttered to himself. "And why did this have to happen *now*." Heero would be back any day from a trip to Brussels. Duo had been looking forward to the time that they were supposed to have together. There were still so many things they had never talked about, and Duo wanted to talk about it to make sure that both he and Heero knew where they stood.
Immersed in internal dialog, he almost missed the turn into the little alley that led to Howard's current digs. A couple more turns, jump up to the fire escape, in through the window that was the ‘front door' the apparent front entrance was blocked.
"Hey Howard!" he called, coming in.
There was movement on a scaffold. "Kid? That you?"
"Yeah. I need a few minutes of your time," Duo said, making his way through the maze of equipment and multi-story braceware to the sound of the older man's voice.
Howard jumped down from above, dressed in his usual, Hawaiian print shirt, Bermudas and sandals. He took the welding mask off his face and dropped it on the ground.
"I was about ready to take a break anyway," he said, smiling. The sunglasses on his head dropped down over his face. "Let's get a couple of beers."
Sitting in the small, tidy storage room/kitchenette, Duo drank about half the beer and sighed.
Howard laughed. "Alright, Duo. What's this about? I haven't seen a look like that on your face since..."
Duo held up a hand. "Don't say it. And I hope it's nothing. I hope it's just some crackpot with a rather unconvincing disturbed fantasy, but that's what I need to find out from you."
Howard swallowed some beer. "You definitely got my attention."
Duo took a breath and finished the beer, trying to dispel the chill that had settled in the pit of his stomach before he got here.
"I had a visit today from Wufei, and someone he's taken up with," Duo said, hearing the tone in his own voice. Wufei... Treize, Mariemaia, now this... "She called herself Alfa. Told me some lame story about a project way back..."
Duo stopped, because of the expression on Howard's face and the fact that the Tallgeese designer had just sprayed about half his beer across the length of the room. ‘Good thing I was outta the line of fire,' Duo thought, but the chill in his stomach crawled up into his throat.
Howard wiped the beer from his face, goatee, and brushed at his clothes.
"Describe her," he said.
"Five-two, slight build, mostly muscle... auburn hair that needs a comb... deep blue eyes..." Duo answered obediently, shivering inwardly. Her appearance was one of the things that disturbed him the most.
Howard shook his head. "Damn." He sat up, going to a small cabinet, from which he pulled out a bottle of single-malt scotch and two plastic cups. He poured some of the liquor in each one more for his and pushed the other to Duo. After downing most of his cup, he sat back.
"Give dammit!" Duo said, his voice rising slightly.
"Okay, okay easy kid. Now I understand why you look that way. That woman would disturb anyone. For one thing, she's supposed to be dead. Long time ago dead. I did hear a few rumors from time to time but never had any confirmed reason to think otherwise," Howard said. He took off his shades and wiped his face with a red handkerchief from a pocket.
"So who the hell is she? Or was she?"
"I knew her about twenty years ago. She was the team leader of the research group that developed the mobile suit. Prof G and his buddies all worked for her. I did too, matter of fact, though I preferred to remain a contractor. You know me, too independent to be a company man. She didn't have a problem with that, though. I never had a problem with her," Howard said.
Duo twisted his lips in a skeptical expression. "If that's so, why the big reaction?"
Howard shook his head. "Alfa... that's what she's callin' herself?" He shook his head as if at a bad joke. "Alfa was the center of a hurricane, kid. People around her... got blown around. And when I said she was supposed to be dead... it was officially listed as a accident but most people who were around at the time figured it for a murder cover-up."
"So what did she do that would make someone wanna kill her?" Duo asked, trying to assimilate all this.
"Well, there would have been several reasons," Howard said. "I guess the most obvious was that she was determined to get to the bottom of the assassination of Heero Yuy."
Duo rocked back in his seat. That was a name he wasn't expecting to here, at least not in such a context. "Hn. Okay, so why was she, if it was so dangerous?"
"They were lovers, kid. It was a big secret but you know how it is, most secrets aren't that secret, they're just ‘unofficial'. I don't know what kind of bond there was between ‘em, but it must have been pretty deep. Alfa went... a bit crazy when Yuy was killed. Of course, most of us were in bad shape over it," Howard said reminiscently, remembering with fresh sadness what he had felt on the day that the dream of the Colonies... the idealistic belief that they were in fact creating a life that was fundamentally better, which would help raise humanity to the stars... had shattered when the charismatic Japanese leader had been taken from them in such an ugly and violent way.
Duo listened, and shook his head. He remembered hearing about it all of his life. The adults spoke of Heero Yuy as if he had been a saint, but there was something more. It was as if he had somehow been taken personally into each and every family, each and every heart in the Colonies. The only thing Duo could compare it to was when, in the school classes he'd attended so sporadically, he'd read in ancient history about the deaths of the great peace leaders of the late 20th century, Martin Luther King, the Kennedy brothers...
"But wait a minute, Howard," he said. "This can't be the same person we're talking about, She looks... maybe eight years older than me..."
Howard nodded. "If you hadn't said that, I might have thought your Alfa was an imposter. But that makes sense for it to be the same woman. She was a scientist as well, Duo, only not an engineer of metal. Her field was genetics, and she did pioneering work on a number of areas, particularly gene therapy. One of the things that was hushed up around her death was that she had been using herself to test some of the work that she was doing towards the future pilots of the mobile suits we were designing." Duo's eyes popped. Howard tapped the side of his nose with a finger. "I guess Zechs Merquise thought I made Tallgeese cranky just to spite him...heh heh...I was working to specs. It was intended from the beginning that the pilot would be an enhanced human."
Duo stared. "Howard... do you hear yourself, man? ‘Enhanced human'... it sounds..." Duo shook his head, unable to put his feeling into words. The cold inside him cinched up another notch. It sounded like... Heero.
"What?" Howard asked, watching the boy once known as the God of Death. "Creepy? Yeah, I guess it does sound that way now. At the time... well we were all a lot younger, kid. And not as wise as your generation, it seems."
Duo bit his lip, trying to focus his mind. "Okay, look. This is all... totally weird... but... the story this woman was telling me was even weirder than this..." If possible, he amended mentally. The things Howard was telling him actually disturbed him more, because they seemed so damn plausible.
Howard watched him closely, feeling sympathy. Too bad all this had to come out now. It would get harder on the kid, maybe on all of them, Howard guessed.
"Let me take a guess. She talked about something called ESO..."
Duo stood up, staring at Howard for a minute, then started to pace the tiny room. "I really wish you hadn't said that. I had just about convinced myself it was a sick fantasy."
Howard nodded. "The trouble is, kid, I can't really tell you if it is or not. All I can tell you is this: Alfa believes in ESO. She's always believed it. I never knew on what rock her certainty stood, and neither did anyone else. When they told us it was a hoax, which they'd used to get the mobile suit project funded... she tried to fight it. In the end, she was fighting alone. Then we got the report that she'd been killed in a suit test. I sent flowers but I didn't go. By then I'd been soured on what was happening and wanted to get as far from it as I could."
Duo continued to pace, his brain trying to make some sense of the information he'd received. He had a sick feeling that wouldn't go away, like his whole understanding of the universe, an understanding that had been hard won and at a high cost, had been pulled out from under him and ripped to pieces.
There was one more question he wanted to ask... but in the end, he didn't quite dare. Was there a connection between this woman and Heero, his Heero? It seemed incredible... it seemed to add up to a handful of coincidences and implications, any one of which resembled some mildly obscene joke. Wait a minute... Howard said all the Gundam scientists worked for her... Including Prof G... and Doctor J... Her parting shot to him was fresh in his mind. And what of Doctor J... was Heero something to him besides some randomly chosen orphan from L1?
Duo shivered. What ever was going on, he didn't like it. He had to find out. And he had to keep Heero from finding out anything until he, Duo had a handle on it, because Duo sensed something in all this that could tear the one he loved apart.
Taking a deep breath, he turned to Howard. "Thanks for telling me." The he turned to go.
"What are you gonna do, kid?" Howard asked before he could get out the door.
"I don't know," Duo said. "I'm making this up as I go."
Howard stared at the closed door for a while after Duo left. "Be careful, kid," he said at last, draining the rest of the scotch from his cup. "ESO... of all things to come up now..."
Next, Duo digs a little more, acts... Heero finds all the Gundam pilots are missing...
Comments eagerly welcomed!
bonne & von
Comments? Email bonnejeanne@yahoo.com or sablexo1@yahoo.com
Back to the Bonne-Von Project page