12-Sep-2000
Warnings: Shonen-ai, some angst. This one is not a comedy.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters do not belong to me, if they did I'd be turning all the wonderful stories I've read into GW sequels, with the authors's permissions of course.
I've been so wrapped up in Triangle, it took me 2 weeks to get this one together. C & C more than welcome, it can only help me get better (I hope).
Note: Prologue is a set up for future events.
Note: This fic is one in a series of stories with the same continuing characters, The Belle of the Ball Arc, or BotB Arc for short.
Prologue:
Lady Une was sipping tea in the solarium waiting for Treize's arrival. She was thinking back to the night of Queen Relena's coronation ball.
"I hope I did not disappoint you, my love," she thought.
She felt a hand gently squeeze her shoulder, she looked up at Treize, who was wearing his Oz uniform and a big smile.
"So, it worked," Lady Une remarked.
"Like a charm," Treize responded. "They could not wait to talk me into returning. They said I proved I had Oz's best interests at heart, and I have you to thank for it." He gave her a low bow and kissed her hand.
"I can never repay you enough for the sacrifice you made for me, tell me what you want, and it is yours." Treize said softly.
"There is only one thing I want right now," Lady Une said.
"Tell me," responded Treize.
"Get me out of here before I really do go insane. For all it's trappings, it is still a mental hospital," she said with a slight chuckle.
"It is done," said Treize, turned and left the room.
"Oh, Treize", Lady Une thought as she watched him leave, "I wish I could make you understand just how much I love you."
Treize Khruzenada did understand, a little too well, and he used that love to his fullest advantage.
Start:
The five Gundam pilots had their hands full. The battle had already been waging for hours with no end in sight. For every Leo they cut down, it seemed that two took it's place. They slashed, stabbed and fired on the Leos till finally, the few that were left retreated, their pilots allowed a chance to live at least one more day.
The boys headed back to Quatre's estate to repair, rearm and recoup for the next battle. One by one they arrived, first Wufei, then Heero, then Trowa, then Duo. Rashid had made sure there was a hot bath and a sumptuous meal waiting.
After they bathed and relaxed a while, they went downstairs to the dining room to have dinner. They all sat at the table, all that is except Quatre.
"Rashid", Trowa started, "Is Master Quatre about ready to join us?"
"No, Master Trowa", Rashid said, "He has not yet returned, nor has anyone heard from him, I am beginning to worry."
"WHAT! Why didn't you say something earlier?" Trowa said angrily. "I need to go look for him - - NOW".
Trowa threw down his napkin and ran out the door. The others followed behind.
They went to the hanger where the Gundams were being worked on.
"We'll take one of Quatre's jets," said Trowa, "We can't take the Gundams right now and they'd be a little too easy to track anyway."
Heero volunteered to pilot but Trowa turned him down.
"I need to keep my mind and my hands busy right now," he said.
Trowa didn't show it but he was worried and scared. Scared of the possibility of losing Quatre so soon after they had found each other. They had only recently taken their relationship to it's final step, making love. Trowa thought about the passion that lay deep within Quatre, the heat in his kisses, the feel of his skin on Trowa's fingers, the sounds he uttered as they made love and how their making love made Trowa feel whole. Quatre made Trowa tingle all over and weak in the knees. Trowa loved him more than life, Quatre had to be found.
They loaded the jet with everything they thought they'd need for a rescue mission. The jet took off from the airstrip next to the hanger. Once they attained cruising altitude, Trowa adjusted the directional settings to backtrack the path they had traveled from the battle, turned on the radar, infrared sensors and the homing guide set to Sandrock's frequency. He then turned on the autopilot and went over to where the others were sitting, studying a map of the battleground, which was in a region of earth once known as Eastern Europe.
"What do each of you remember about the battle and the last time they saw Quatre?" Heero asked.
"Trowa and I weren't anywhere near him, I don't remember seeing him at all," said Duo.
"I don't remember seeing him either," said Heero.
"I remember seeing him here," said Wufei, circling and area of the map. "He was fighting a Leo at the time and I honestly don't remember seeing him after that."
"Then that's the first area we'll search," said Trowa. "Damn, if I only knew he was in trouble, if I had only made sure he was following when we returned. I was trying to give him some space, he's always complaining I'm overprotective, won't let him fight his own battles. Why didn't I just follow my own instincts?" Trowa emphasized each sentence by pounding the table the map was on.
"We'll find him," Heero tried to reassure Trowa.
"I know," said Trowa, but added to himself "Cause if we don't, I'll die inside."
Trowa got up and got back into the pilot's seat, disengaged the auto pilot and resumed flying.
Duo went over to him, "I promise Trowa, we'll find him ...alive."
Trowa gave Duo a weak smile and Duo reached out and squeezed his hand then gave him a hug. Heero felt a small twinge of jealousy and felt ashamed because of it. Duo looked over to Heero and wondered how he'd react if Heero were missing. He didn't think he'd hold up half as well as Trowa and he and Heero didn't even have a relationship, not that Duo hadn't tried. He used every subtle and unsubtle hint he could think of to let Heero know how he felt, but had never gotten any reaction from Heero. The only reason Duo never came right out and told Heero he was in love with him was because he was afraid of being rejected and there was no way he could survive that. One part of Duo wished the war would end tomorrow so he and Heero could go their separate ways and give him a chance to get Heero out of his system. The other part secretly wished for the war to never end, so Heero would be at his side always. It sure hurt like hell to love someone and not be loved back.
"I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't," Duo muttered to himself.
Heero glanced over at Duo and saw the worried look on his face.
"I wonder if he would be that worried if it were me," Heero thought, "I know he's been trying to tell me how he feels, and Heaven knows I feel the same for him, so why can't I tell him? Why can't I show him? Why am I so afraid of love?" Heero just didn't have an answer for that. He only knew that if it were Duo missing, nothing short of his own death would keep him from finding him.
They flew for hours but there was still no evidence of Quatre anywhere. Whatever happened to him, it must have been on that battlefield.
They finally arrived at their destination and circled until they found a clearing big enough to land. Once they were on the ground, they unloaded the equipment, which included dirt bikes and headed to the last place Quatre had been seen.
As they rode along, chilling evidence of the battle that took place was everywhere. Smashed and broken Leo's lay strewn about, like a giant child's toys scattered across a playground. There were no bodies, Oz must have already returned to claim its dead. There was no sign of Sandrock anywhere.
They finally reached the area Wufei had last seen Quatre. Laying on it's side was a Leo, split in half, it's dead pilot still dangling from the pilot's seat. But there was no Sandrock. Looking around, they saw trees uprooted and overturned, great gouges dug into the ground and just past the Leo, there were what looked like two trenches dug, or possibly two skid marks, made by a Gundam....they trailed off the side of the cliff that lay a short distance away.
All four went to the edge of the cliff and looked down. There was Sandrock, laying on it's back, it's limbs stuck out at odd angles, looking very much like a rag doll thrown to the floor. They all called out Quatre's name and waited, no answer. They called again, and again no answer. Trowa took out a pair of binoculars and looked the Gundam over. There was no movement, no evidence that anyone was about. Trowa noted that they bay door on the Gundam was shut, Quatre must still be inside.
Each pilot had brought his share of the equipment with him, ropes, pulleys, flashlights, a stretcher (just in case, Duo had said), and first aid supplies. They each found a tree to secure their ropes to and started repeling down the side of the cliff. Sandrock was about a thousand feet down and it took them just a few minutes to get to it. They landed on top and Trowa pulled the lever that opened the bay door.
It was dark inside, Sandrock had either used up or lost its power. Trowa and Heero turned on their flashlights and entered, working their way up to the cockpit. They found Quatre, still strapped to his chair, unconscious. Upon examination, they found a huge gash on the side of his head, dried, clotted blood formed a stream down the side of his face. His skin felt dry and hot, a sign of dehydration whereas his eyes were dilated, which meant the possibility of shock. They needed to get him out and quick. There was no way to check for more serious injuries, especially internal ones. They started two IV's, one was saline solution for the dehydration the other was Wringer's lactate, for possible shock.* They then immobilized Quatre's neck and back with a backboard and strapped him in. Next they placed him in the stretcher, strapping him in as well, then made their way with him to the bay door opening.
Once at the opening, Duo and Wufei helped them get Quatre the rest of the way out. They secured ropes to the sides and the ends of the stretcher and Duo and Wufei climbed back up the cliffside to set up a pulley system to hoist the stretcher up to the top of the cliff. It took them a lot longer to climb up than it did to repel down. Once they reached the top, Duo and Wufei took the pulleys and climbed a large tree that had a thick branch that overhung the cliff. They then worked the ropes through the pulleys, climbed down from the tree and signaled Trowa and Heero they were ready to start pulling Quatre up. Trowa and Heero made one more inspection of the ropes, making sure the knots they'd tied were tight and not about to come loose.
Heero signaled Duo and Wufei they were ready and they started pulling. It took a few minutes to take up the slack in the rope but finally the stretcher started moving upward toward the edge of the cliff. Trowa and Heero sat down for a moment, to rest before they started their own ascent up the cliffside.
"Quatre's going to be fine," said Heero, "He's one of the toughest guys I know and he's going to come out of this ok. Besides, I think he has something to live for, don't you?"
"I certainly hope so," answered Trowa. "I know I do.....now." Heero could have sworn he saw a slight blush cover Trowa's cheeks.
"What about you?" Trowa asked. "I know it's none of my business, but it has become fairly obvious, even to Wufei, that there is something going on between you and Duo. Quatre was the first who saw it."
"What do you mean?" Heero asked a bit defensively.
"That you and Duo are attracted to each other," Trowa replied, not taking his eyes off the stretcher the whole time.
"What makes you think that I would be attracted to him? He's a hyperactive, overtalkative bottomless pit and a baka besides." Heero said and regretted it as soon as he did.
"Because, Heero, when he's around, you never take your eyes off of him, you watch every move he makes, you hang on every word he says and...."
"And what?" asked Heero.
"Your eyes take on this glow whenever you talk about him." Trowa pointed out.
"Hn. I think you're own feelings for Quatre has got you seeing things that aren't there," Heero said curtly.
"Whatever," Trowa answered.
"It's time we started our climb," Heero pointed out.
They started their climb up, making sure to catch up to and stay even with the stretcher. Duo and Wufei kept pulling even though their arms had already gone numb, until the stretcher reached the top. They held on until Heero and Trowa reached the top as well and they picked up the stretcher and carried it to a safe distance away from the edge. Wufei and Trowa set about collected limbs to make a travois for the back of Trowa's dirt bike. Heero and Duo climbed the tree to retrieve the pulleys and ropes. Once the travois was made, Trowa lashed it to the back of his bike, loaded up Quatre and he and Wufei started back for the plane.
Duo and Heero were working on taking out the knots to untie the pulleys, Duo was sitting pretty far out on the limb when a huge gust of wind started blowing ferociously and violently shaking the branch. Duo wasn't hanging on and the wind caught him by surprize and Heero watched in horror as Duo slipped off the branch and fell from the tree. He landed next to the edge of the cliff. Heero grabbed one of the ropes and swung down as fast as he could but Duo rolled and started slipping off the edge of the cliff.
"N-O-O-O-O-O, DUO!" he yelled, dove down and grabbed Duo by the arm just as Duo was about to fall over the edge. Heero got up and dug his heels into the softened earth and pulled with all his might. He wrenched Duo up from the side of the cliff, grabbed him by the waist and fell backward. He then started pulling Duo as far away from the edge as they could get, his arms tight around Duo's waist. Duo too had a firm grip around Heero.
They both lay there, their hearts racing as they tried to catch their breath. Heero couldn't believe it, in a split second he had almost lost Duo and any chance he would ever have of telling him how he felt. Heero tightened his grip around Duo even more and rolled Duo over on his back. An unspoken communication passed between them at that moment and for the first time in his life, Heero acted on an impulse, pressed his lips against Duo's and started kissing.
Duo's eyes grew wide with surprise, then he closed them in pleasure. He had waited a very long time for that kiss. Duo returned the kiss, parted Heero's lips and filled his mouth with his tongue. Heero returned in kind, their tongues doing a delicate ballet of touching and tasting each other. Duo shifted his arms from Heero's waist to his neck and pulled Heero in tighter, their tongues still dancing, still touching still tasting.
Duo was totally enraptured by Heero's kiss, he never wanted it to end, but suddenly he stopped. He just remembered what they were there for. Duo very reluctantly broke the kiss and a quick flash of hurt passed over Heero's face. What had he done wrong?
"Quatre," Duo said, half out of breath, "..need to get Quatre back... need to get back to the jet."
"Let's go," said Heero. He felt guilty, he had almost forgotten about Quatre, from the moment Duo fell out of the tree until Duo broke the kiss, Duo had been the only thing on Heero's mind.
They got on their bikes and started back for the jet.
"Uh, Heero..," Duo said hesitantly, "We are going to continue that kiss when we get back?" he half said, half asked.
"Mission accepted," Heero said, smiling.
Let me know what you think.
KwyckSylver
Please send comments to: kwycksylver@yahoo.com