14-Sep-2000
Category: Adventure, Action, Emotional Angst, Romance.
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4x5 (Combinations there of)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money being made here or sought.
NOTES: Okay, we're back to the plot. I suggest listening to Tori Amos Little Earthquakes-track 4 while reading parts of this. I personally do not play the piano, so I apologise if I've got terminology wrong. Bonne ( bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) is the wonderful puppeteer of Heero in this part and I'm keeping track of the little blonde.
Quatre spent the evening with Duo, laughing over the perfectly horrible pornography collection the American boy had. He'd been hard pressed to keep from giggling as Duo had practically tackled Heero when the Japanese boy had returned from whatever nefarious activity he'd been up to. The look on Heero's face had been priceless.
A nice, long, *active* shower had helped dispel his own tension and Quatre had settled down for what he'd hoped would be a good night's sleep. However, the insomnia was back.
It wasn't bad, just that he felt pressured to sleep. He had a full schedule the next day... when didn't he have a full schedule and he knew he had to be at his best if he was going to be any use to Relena and the cause. There was nothing like feeling pressured to do something to make it unfun, Quatre through to himself as he tossed and turned in the large, empty bed.
Quatre finally gave in and sat up in the bed. He grinned at himself a little.. probably pressure to have sex would make it unfun.
Nah.
He got up, pulling the soft silk robe on over his bare body. Pattering quietly out into the main room of his suite, he bee-lined for the piano that was set up there. He didn't turn on any lights; he didn't need to. The artificial night light and the proximity of the moon and stars lit the room enough for his young eyes.
Walking to the ebony baby grand, he settled behind the keyboard, lifting up the keyguard. He meant to play something soothing, relaxing. Maybe help quiet his mind but concern over Trowa and Wufei inevitably over-rode his conscious decision and he felt his fingers take up the position for one of the jazzier tunes. Smiling gently, he made no move to stop the action of his fingers and soon the piano was in full cry, filling the suite with the sassy, if slightly melancholy tune.
One of the things Heero had made sure of was that the rooms Quatre occupied had a number of extras, whenever possible. One of those were sound dampers, although they were usually kept off at night. He woke immediately hearing the sound of the piano through the walls, floor and mattress. It might not have wakened anyone else - Duo continued to sleep - but Heero rose, tucking the covers around the braided boy and dressing quickly.
Slipping his gun into the back waistband of his pants was automatically part of getting dressed. Heero ran a hand absently through his hair and left the bedroom, moving silently. Going to the room controls for the suite next door, he set the dampers on so that other guests of the establishment would not be disturbed.
Leaving his suite, he quickly patrolled the entire area, making a circuit and returning only after having peered in every crack and shadow large enough to contain a baby mouse. Pausing outside the door to the suite he stopped, thinking. Stay here, go back to bed. After a moment he chose the third alternative and input the lock code, entering silently and locking the door behind him.
Heero walked through the short entranceway that lead into Quatre's suite. He entered the main room and leaned against the wall, his arms folded, watching and listening as the blond boy played the lively melody. He'd made certain that the piano was placed in such a way that Quatre would not have his back to the door when playing but he also knew it might be a while before the blond looked up and noticed him. He observed the tiredness and tension lurking in the Arabian's face, smoothed a bit by the relaxation of concentrating on the music.
If Quatre had ever slowed down long enough to.. pay attention.. he would have noticed the little extra amenities that Heero had arranged. The existence of the piano, the placement of the piano and the other extras the room came with. However, he had put his trust fully in Heero and Duo and as such, he concentrated where he was needed to concentrate.
When Quatre played, Heero could have landed Zero on either side of his piano bench and he probably wouldn't have noticed for a few minutes at least. The robe had slid a little, off one shoulder, with the violent movements of his hands up and down the keyboard.
He was improvising with the melody, adding little extra cords and scales. Shifting some scales higher, some lower. It was... an escape. One of the purest he knew. From childhood, he'd been able to escape into the peace of the music. Not only the actual sound but the act of playing it, of creating it, pulling it from his soul and turning it into sounds that then dissipated into the air. Though he'd started out the evening with his foot on the mute peddle, that had slid away and the powerful instrument played at full cry. Giving a vocal expression to a fretful soul.
Heero merely watched and listened, observing with the concentration he gave to any mission. Adding to his knowledge and understand of Quatre, to the already vast store of observations the Arabian probably had no idea existed, carefully stored and catalogued in Heero Yuy's consciousness.
Quatre threw an intensity into the music that was as fierce as anything he'd ever used in Sandrock. Opening himself up completely while he played, perhaps that was what triggered his awareness to the presence of the other quiet soul. Quatre's head snapped up and he quickly searched the shadows, an automatic soldier's response to that sixth sense alerting him.
Seeing Heero's outline, he softened the music. He didn't stop playing, he just... lowered the strength of his playing a couple of notches, as well as the volume of the piano.
Heero smiled imperceptibly as he saw Quatre look up, targeting on him. Mentally shrugging when the volume went down - too bad. It was predictable that his presence would have a dampening effect. Nothing to be done about it now. He simply stayed where he was, leaning against the wall, listening to the continuing strains of melody, continuing his observations.
Quatre studied Heero for a moment.. waiting to see if he got admonished for trying to wake up the entire hotel or otherwise encouraged to give sleeping another attempt. When the other boy didn't move, Quatre continued to play. He did change tunes however... while he could listen to the same song over and over, playing with subtle nuance changes, he didn't figure it would be too much fun to listen to.
The music never did quite shift to his predictable classical tunes though. The songs strung together, snippets really, then it settled. Away from the more sassy, jazzy stuff to something, thoughtful, introspective. It spoke of insecurities and a certain level of hostility.
Heero's eyes closed, his body completely still as he listened. Sifting through the nuances, comparing the subtitles to past occasions, past observations made during the time they had been living together in the same house. Feeling through the emotional threads that he was so accustomed to observing in others. It was only his own emotions that Heero found difficult to understand. As the time passed, the Japanese boy never shifted, never moved. Waiting, waiting, listening, he might have been part of the room's furnishings.
In time... Quatre seemed to forget the presence in the room, or perhaps, rather... he reached out to it. Words.. actions.. they always seemed to get fuzzy between he and Heero. Intentions lost, misunderstood. So, in this true dark, Quatre dropped all his defenses and he opened himself up fully. The music, shifted tone again. The hostility building, the feeling of... panic and desperation threading through the music. His eyes were focused down on the blur his hands made as they swung up and down the keys. The piano's voice became edgy.. almost hard to listen to. His fingers struck the keys with a certain level of violence. At one point he was playing with just one hand but it almost seemed as if those fingers did little more then tremble over the keys and it just happened to be in a pattern that made coherent notes.
It was a good thing, Heero had reactivated the dampeners. The storm of sound washed over the Japanese boy, telling him a great deal about what was happening in Quatre's mind and heart. In observation mode, he would not intervene until Quatre 'came down' of his own accord. Heero was prepared to stay and listen until morning.
He ran through the gambit of emotions a couple of times... till finally the storm exhausted itself for the moment. Blowing, disheveled blond hair out of his eyes, Quatre continued to play but the music was toned done and back to a... well something you might hear in a Broadway soft shoe routine. It invited approach, as did the way Quatre's eyes once more searched Heero out of the shadows.
When the music changed again, Heero took a deep breath, letting it out. He unleaned from the wall, indicating his recognition of the change to anyone who could read *Heero-ese*. He left the room for a minute, going to a small side room that contained a few more amenities he'd made a point to seeing to, whether they were noticed and used or not. He returned in a few moments with a mug to steaming tea, walking, with his graceful stride to place it, with a napkin, on the top of the piano. He looked down at Quatre, his dark cobalt eyes calm.
Quatre watched Heero's movements with a curious expression on his aristocratic features. His nostrils worked as he caught the scent of tea. Looking up at Heero, then to the mug.. then to the piano which he still played. Though his fingers rested atop the keys, it was almost as if he had a death grip on the instrument. Slowly... he released the piano and the music died away as he reached up and took the tea.
Curling one leg up on the bench he turned a little towards Heero, blowing on the tea before taking a grateful sip. His expressive eyes watching the calm gaze above him.
"The sofa would be more comfortable, for drinking tea," Heero said quietly.
Quatre looked back to the ivory keys. Reaching up one slender hand he stroked his fingers across their slick surface. Then he nodded, pulling the keyguard down carefully.
"The poor thing will probably need to be tuned, after that." He spoke softly.. the way people tend to do in the deepest night.
Shrugging himself a little more into the robe, which was all eschew, Quatre got to his feet, watching Heero the entire time as he padded barefoot to the large soft and curled up in an end.
"I'll take care of it." Heero said. He tilted his head slightly. "You're right.. high E is going flat."
Quatre drank some more of the tea, feeling it's soothing warmth slide down his throat into his stomach, helping to dispel the knot down there. He peeked up quickly at Heero's words and gave a little grin.
"I bridged off it, too much. My music teachers used to chastise me for that all the time. They ... disliked it when I improvised."
"All good musicians improvise." Heero said, shrugging slightly.
Quatre whispered under his breath, "but not dutiful heirs."
"Probably not," Heero answered. "Nor obedient soldiers." There was something ever so slightly bleak about the words. "You managed."
Still something of an exposed nerve, Quatre alerted on the very subtle change in Heero's tone. His bright eyes searched out cobalt blue. "Heero?" The simple word held so many questions.
The Japanese boy looked back. His mouth pulled slightly at one corner, then he turned and sat down at the piano, raising the keyguard. Back straight as always, he placed his hands on the keys and began to play. The music was something Quatre recognized as being the work of a late 20th century composer and performer. It was intricate, challenging, and complex.
What Heero played was not according to the official sheet music that had been published for the piece but the actual notes one could hear on a recording of the composer playing. Perfect. Precisely, exactly, perfect.
Quatre shifted around, watching Heero with wide eyes as he sat behind the piano. When the music began, the little blonde's eyes closed slightly, letting it spill across his ears and soul, listening to the keystrokes. He recognized the slight differences, between the sheet music and what Heero was playing.
As he listened.. Quatre felt his muscles tighten and his body began to move even without his conscious direction. The movement, seemed to surprise him even as his body stood and moved back over towards the piano, till he was standing just behind Heero.
Reaching over Heero's shoulder, tentatively, Quatre leaned down and placed his fingers atop Heero's left hand. Very gently, he coaxed the hand, down one scale. The music... was no longer, precise or *perfect* compared to the original but the sound changed, very subtly, shifting the emotional impact of the piece.
Heero's hand obediently followed the silent direction. His head tilted slightly as he listened. He let it continue for a while, then, at the end of a phrase, stilled his hands on the keys. He turned, his face inches from the Arabian's. "That's something I can't do on my own. I don't have the capability."
Quatre turned his head a little. He didn't automatically jump back out of Heero's personal space, rather he used the close proximity to study Heero's eyes. It was.. natural for him to dismiss Heero's words, to try to show his friend that he did have the capability. Those were the words that leapt, unbidden to his lips but Quatre swallowed them. Something in Heero's eyes stopping the words in his throat. Quatre searched for words, sought them valiantly but for everything he could think to say... it all sounded wrong.
So, in the end, he tilted his head up and very lightly pressed his lips to Heero's forehead.
Heero ... blinked.
"You should try and get some rest," he said at last, his tone as even as ever.
Quatre straightened and turned, looking towards one of the clocks. He smiled ruefully and reached up, brushing his hand through his pale hair.
"A nice thought, I agree but hopeless." Quatre dropped back from the piano, moving to pick up his tea, taking it with him to the large window that overlooked the colony.
"Why hopeless?"
"I've gotten used to fighting Wufei for the pillows and Trowa for the covers." He grinned over his shoulder, showing a hint of the sassy innocent young man they had all been living with down on Earth. Then he turned back towards the window, his features rearranging themselves into..'Master Winner' mode. "More importantly ... there's something.. niggling the back of my mind. Something is wrong."
Heero placed the keyguard back down and stood up. "Something is always wrong. You still need sleep to do your job." He watched the blond framed in the window. "Want to talk about it?"
Unconsciously, Quatre braced his feet slightly apart, taking the mug of tea in both hands and frowning down at it. If Heero had ever seen the vids, the stance was very much one Quatre's father often took. "Yes. Perhaps it would shake a few things loose."
Heero nodded and went to the sofa, sitting in a relaxed position. "Go ahead."
Quatre flushed a little and held his finger up towards Heero. He ducked into the bedroom grabbed a pair of tailored suit pants, they were the first things he laid his hands on. Tugging them on, he left the robe hang open off his shoulders as he stepped back through the door.
"Having a discussion in a state of.. erm undress just..."He grinned, blushing a little at the Japanese boy, then he took up the tea mug. It was almost empty but it gave his hands something to do.
"I've been thinking... there is a piece of something we've lost focus on, in regard to Unity. The primary goal of all those companies is research. It's where they get most of their money. The documents Wufei is trying to secure will give evidence that these companies all had ties to the Alliance Military and later Oz."
"What about Romerfeller?"
Quatre nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised. But getting to Rommerfeller's documents is... difficult. They tied many of their files up under security measures. I'm just working off what I have come to me through, well, mostly legal sources. I doubt that anyone would have tied Yurst to Unity, unless they personally knew Yurst and understood what his signature on those two contracts meant."
"There's something you said that doesn't make sense. Companies don't *make* money on research they spend it there."
Quatre leaned against one of the large armchairs and bowed his head slightly. "I misspoke. Let me see if I can clarify. WEI, made a lot of it's money not only in the mining and refining of raw materials but also in the research and development of faster, more efficient, cleaner ways to both mine and refine. Yes, there was an initial outlay of monetary resource in the production of this equipment but it was vastly outstripped by the patent rights and then selling rights of these machines to other mining and refining companies in space. "
Quatre took a sip of the cooling tea sort of launching into Master Winner mode as he talked. "When most of what you are researching, is something that you know there is already a market for, it takes a lot of the risk out of the initial outlay of funds. Yes... you might have a few washes where you loose invested money but you know that over all, once you get results you have a made market for it. As we've discovered, the companies of Unity have in the past, had lucrative military contracts. Developing new weapons that were being used by the military as well as new weapon components. Contracts like that... are very hard to just, let go. The danger of such research is... once you get started with it, it's very.. not cost effective to just, let the projects come to an end."
"So they want to keep making weapons." Heero said, boiling it down to essentials.
Quatre finished the tea and rolled the mug in his hands. "Not just making, Heero, developing." Quatre frowned deeply.
"Then the Preventers should be able to shut them down."
The little Arabian pushed away from the chair and paced, restlessly to a low table, putting the mug down on it. "There... are a few, difficulties there. First, we don't have enough proof to give Sally Po and Zechs so that they can legally take the necessary actions. Second... even if we do get enough proof, to so publicly shut down so many foundation corporations, will cripple the Space Colonies economy as a whole. You're talking, hundreds ... thousands of jobs. Even WEI and the corporations on board with us would not be able to handle the influx of workers. You risk ending up with economic chaos that lead to the situation on the L2 4th."
Quatre reached up and rubbed his hand across his brow." Gah... there are so many theoretical variables in this."
Heero shrugged. "You should still tell Sally and Zechs. Even if there isn't proof yet, they can be alerted to watch those companies closely, do spot checks. They have the authority to do that. It's not something the companies will be able to hide forever. The real danger of someone hiding the production of weapons is not that they will keep producing them forever, but that they production will go on for long enough to build up and effective force for taking over a government. So far you seem to be saying that they want to market new weapons. I haven't heard you say anything about any attempts to use those weapons in a coup but with the present Earth Sphere government founded on peace, their plan has no future. " Heero's eyes narrowed. "It would require nothing less than the destruction of the present government to give those companies a future. Is that what you suspect?"
Quatre's eyes never left Heero's face as Heero spoke. Once Heero posed his question, the little blond turned and walked towards the tall window. His steps were silently graceful and there was a hint of the elements that made him a pilot in the stride. The hints he usually tried to throw off to appear 'normal.' Reaching the window, he slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks, pushing back the folds of the robe. His features looked ... older wearing the full weight of his thoughts on them.
"Yes... it is one of the outcomes I've been foreseeing Heero. I haven't breathed a word of it, because the words themselves are dangerous. Along, with these thoughts.. come others. One's I feel ashamed for having but I can't seem to shake. I was raised to follow proper channels. To trust in people's better nature and the law. I went against, all that training once. What keeps me up at night Heero is I'm... prepared to do it again. I haven't gone to Sally and Zechs and the Preventers because if, " he paused, took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "If I choose to take this fight into my own hands, I don't want them looking too closely at *my* activities."
Heero did not appear to react to Quatre's words. He watched the blond for a few moments then said, "It's not just up to you."
"Believe me Heero, I keep going over and over this in my head. Weighing all the angles and all the options. There are ... many options but I'm not sure I am satisfied with their conclusions. I'm not saying that, my possibility is in any means right or that I'm going to start charging ahead. " Quatre ducked his head a little, looking at Heero and smiling tiredly. "The fact that I'm have come up with the contingency and am prepared to follow through with it, is bad enough, believe me." He turned and looked back out the window.
Heero watched Quatre turn away. "I think you need to talk to Wufei," he said after a moment.
Quatre smiled gently at his reflection, his turquoise eyes finding Heero's face in the window. "Think I've finally gone around the bend my friend?"
"Only if you don't realize that someone else is way ahead of you."
Quatre turned then, looking quickly at Heero. "How do you mean?"
"What do you think Wufei and Trowa are involved in?"
Quatre sometimes felt as if he'd never truly *unjacked* from the Zero system. As if it's enhancing qualities still infected his neurons and synapses. Sometimes thoughts and images and came crashing through his mind's eye so fast, ordering themselves in the way the Zero had presented information so quickly, it left him reeling and with a headache. Now was one of those times and he blinked back a wince.
"Oh, hell."
Suppressing a sigh, Heero got up. "You've been very tied up in emotional issues, Quatre. Ones that involve Wufei and Trowa. Otherwise you'd have seen and understood that only something like this could explain Wufei's decision to be somewhere other than next to you."
Quatre turned around and leaned his back against the window. There was a soft hollow little thunk as the back of his head plunked against the glass. "I thought I had everything in front of me. I pushed the emotional stuff back, without thinking about what I was doing or the information I was blocking in doing so. Gah... and here I thought I was handling the situation." Quatre reached up and rubbed at his closed eyes, whispering so softly that perhaps Heero was not meant to hear the words, :"I have got to learn to stop running."
Heero shrugged. "Don't feel too bad about it. You're not the only one who has ever run from something be. Everyone has," he said, his mouth twitching slightly. "All of us. Maybe the problem is that with peacetime, you have gotten sucked into the illusion of having power over things. In the war, we knew we were dealing with forces beyond our control, and each of us simply had to make the best choices we could. "
Quatre remained leaning against the window, his eyes thoughtful. He took a breath, ready to speak but it was Duo's voice that cut through the air.
"Heero! Get down to Relena's rooms immediately. There's been a break in."
End Part 12
Laekin
Please send comments to: seregill@aol.com or bonnejeanne@yahoo.com