23-Oct-2005
Title: Seasonal Drift Part Twelve
Author: Ebonydove
Archived: GWAddiction
Warnings: sap, Duo's POV, OOC, language, and struggling plot bunnies.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: yes - some vaguely from the series.
Authors notes: Uhmm, I can't think of anything clever to say just now. Thanks to Nikki for the quick proof!
His eyes glinted in the softening light and were cold and clear as they stared down at me. I'd seen that grim determination in the depths of those eyes before. Only this time I don't think he had the presence of mind to allow me to try and talk him out of it. The sound of my voice did nothing to diminish the dark shadows in them or spark any recollection he may have had for me and the gun he held was precisely aimed at my heart. I knew that I'd have no chance for survival if I provoked him in releasing that hair trigger, but the part of me that was so very tired of struggle simply accepted that I'd taken him as far as I could and that my death was very near. If I had it in me I would have smiled at the thought that my death would be by his hand at last; almost like putting down a wounded dog that didn't have the strength to recover. Despite that I really didn't want to die, I accepted that it was better to just put me out of my misery than make me endure that lost, defeated look on his face for one more second.
My mind wandered lazily through scattered memories of the time we had passed together. I hadn't realized that he was present in so many of the things that had shaped my existence. I thought of the things that I would never see, the people I had meant to talk to before I left this world, and all the things that I wanted to know and learn myself. They weighed heavy on me as I stared down that barrel. Another bullet with my name on it, only this one wouldn't miss its mark. I tried to ignore the great feeling of sadness washing over me and decided at last that it was much better to die in a sunny field with the ghost of Heero's caresses still lingering on my skin and the sound of nearby songbirds in the air than in the way I remembered him looking at me from the doorway of that dank and darkened cell the last time we found ourselves in this same situation. I suppose I should have known back then that fate would come whirling back around sooner or later to bite me in the ass. I suppose that I was just biding my time until now and that it was just simply meant to be this way. I let my eyes slip closed and allowed the words I muttered once so long ago fall quietly from my mouth again. "So, are you going to kill me Heero?"
I felt the breeze sweep through the grass I was kneeling in and it tickled my thighs as I waited patiently for the end. But the longer I waited the more I realized that it was taking too damn long for him to do it and finally cracked one eye open to see where we were at. I was struck by the sight in front of me; tears were streaming down his face from eyes squeezed tightly closed as he pressed the barrel of the gun up under his chin. His wild hair blew gently in the air as the golden grass swayed all around us. Before I could stop myself I was standing and reaching for him; amazed at how sharp the sound of my voice was as it came out from my tight throat. "Heero! NOOO!"
His eyes flew open at the sound of my shrill voice and he looked at me with such despair that it froze my forward movement instantly. I can't say how long we stood there just staring at one another, but finally he dropped his gaze and breathed a heavy sigh. When he spoke, I was hard pressed to hear him. "I'm tired."
Although his voice was shaky, it was his own. There was no sign of the ice that had been there before so I knew he had been able to drag himself back from where ever it was that he had gone. "Heero?"
My own voice sounded so small. I reached a hand out to him and watched as he took another deep, shuttering breath. "Talk to me, please. Tell me that you're okay and that you won't do what I think you want to do."
He smiled at me then; at least it was a s much of a smile as I was going to get from him, and gave a little snort as if I'd said something funny. He still had the gun held loosely under his chin and the slight tremble in his hand was making my stomach knot painfully, but he seemed to be listening to me. The relentlessly optimistic part of me had hoped it was my voice that had snapped him out of it, but the look on his face told me that we still weren't out of the woods yet.
"I just don't want to do this anymore. I just want to rest." He said with another sigh. "I'm so tired, Duo."
I took a few slow steps towards him and saw the tension began to seep out of his frame. "I promise that we will rest soon, Heero. I just need to get us someplace safe. So we can regroup. I need you with me, so you can't give up yet. It will only be for a little bit longer."
He still hadn't moved and when al I got from him was a heavy silence, I added the last thing that was swirling around in my brain. "I promise I'll protect you, Heero. I'll always stand by you, b-because I love you and that's what you do when you love someone."
I watched as the gun slowly began to slip from his fingers. I lunged forward; just as his knees buckled beneath him, catching him in my arms before he hit the ground completely and let the gun fall away from us. "Heero?" I wrapped my arms around him and held him to me. "Heero?"
Despite the warmth from the sun and all the adrenaline, his skin felt cool to me as I held him tight against my chest. My mind was spinning. Dark swirling memories of the past came crashing into our present situation and nothing in that bright sunny field around us could help chase them away. He was the one who always led us out of every bad situation and I had come to rely on his steadfast ability to be precise and decisive. Now everything had changed again. I accepted it was time to die and found myself still living. Worse, he was relying on me and I couldn't even get him out of the damned state to someplace safe where we could figure things out. I found myself whispering into his hair as I held him to me and began a slow rocking that I never did understand how, but found soothing somehow. "Please Heero, I need you to tell me what to do. I just... don't know what to do anymore. I just know I can't go on without you."
As if on cue from some crazy God that loved to fuck with me, I suddenly heard the muffled sound of a cell phone ringing. It took me a few moments to pull myself together and register the sound. It was a playful little jingle I remember Quatre programming into Trowa's phone meant to annoy him in an affectionate way. The sound of it was enough to snap me out of the fog I was in and get me moving. Heero and I were both running on empty and my mental strength was obviously failing almost as much as Heero's. We didn't have time to be wallowing in dark memories or playing games with death knowing that Trowa and the rest of them were hot on our tails. Heero's internal battle would need to be shelved for now and I needed to pull my head out of my ass in order to get us to some place safe before I could think of trying to deal with it all. And I would be dealing with it. My heart was tied up in all the mess that Heero and I were now fighting our way through and I was not about to go quietly into the night without fighting tooth and nail for my well-deserved-happy-goddamn ending.
I eased Heero down to the ground and scrambled to gather up our clothing. It was damned hard to dress him and he wasn't helping any. He just watched me with a blank expression on his face as I wrestled getting pants on him and then hauled his dead weight to the car to let him lay down in the back seat. Once I knew he was settled, I scrambled back through the tall grass and threw on my own clothes before going quickly to the trunk and opening it.
Trowa's phone had stopped ringing, but I knew it was in there somewhere. I cursed as I dug through what little I had in the trunk that I considered useable and finally ripped out the cover to the spare tire; finding it tucked inside. I quickly scanned the face and saw that he had four new messages. Without even looking at the numbers I quickly clicked to the last received call and hit send. It only took an instant for someone to pick up.
"Duo?" Trowa's voice was oddly sharp on the other end.
"Yeah, Tro it's me." I muttered glancing around the field and throwing the last few remaining articles of our clothing into the car and getting in.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Is Heero there with you?" He shouted and it sounded as if he might be running at the same time. There was a lot of noise in the background and it was hard to catch what was making the humming sound.
"No, he decided to go on a fucking cruise with an all-you-can eat shrimp buffet for some fucking r & r! Of course he's here with me! Ya mind telling me just what the fuck is going on?" I snapped back and backed the car out of the field, forgetting the promise I had made to the farmer about trying not to cause any more damage to the field. I pulled back onto the road and for a moment couldn't decide what direction to go in.
"Just calm down and listen to me Duo. There' isn't much time. The phone that you're holding has a tracking chip in it. As soon as we hang up you need to smash and dump it, got it?"
"Fuck." I muttered as I turn left and floored it. I knew that. It was precisely why I hadn't brought mine or Heero's with us. "Got it."
"Good. You need to get Heero to Doctor Ishikawa's laboratory in Kenshiro. Wufei and I will try to meet you there in two days."
"Ishikawa?" I stammered as I raced down a dusty road towards a small house set back off a gravel driveway.
"Yes, Duo. Doctor Kogi Ishikawa. His lab is at the University in the down town district."
"Isn't that Niomi's father?"
"He's Niomi's grandfather. Please Duo, I don't have time to explain any more to you now. Just get somewhere safe for the next night or two and we'll meet you there. We're trying to divert the helicopters from you're present location."
"Fuck." I swore again finally understanding what the hum was I had heard in the background and hung up not waiting for him to say any more. Then I smashed the phone to pieces against the dash and glanced to the rear seat to see Heero starting to focus. I wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing given the last few moments he was with me.
"What's wrong?" He asked in a gravelly voice.
"Nothin', just losing my temper a bit."
I heard him huff to himself and it instantly made me feel better. Heero annoyed with my sudden unexplained behavior was a very normal thing making me think that he had finally drifted back into a place that was familiar for both of us.
The dirt road was making the car bounce and buck all over. I tried to keep my eyes on the road, but glanced in the rear-view to see Heero trying to shimmy himself into a shirt. The car skidded to a stop in front of the house with a great deal of dust as I slammed on the brakes and I hoped that whoever lived there wasn't on the phone to the local authorities seeing the state Heero and I were in as I scrambled out of the car. I threw his arm over my shoulder and practically dragged us forward even though he seemed to be moving pretty well under his own power again.
I rushed us up the steps as fast as I could manage and onto a broad front porch. After easing Heero into a nearby rocker I began pounding on the front door. The house was neat and had window boxes full of bright, cheerful flowers and I found myself chuckling darkly as I hoped even more that said inhabitants wouldn't be to alarmed when they saw us on their front porch. I'd rather be surprising some stay at home mom with a plate of cookies or a dish towel in her hand than some grizzly, old man with a shotgun in his hand as I'd had just enough of guns being pointed in my general direction for one day. That's about when I remembered that I had left the gun in the damn field and swore again, just not as loud.
My mind raced to come up with a good story to tell the person inside, but it all went flying from my brain when the door opened and the old codger from the field came forward from the dark room inside and stood there staring at me with an irritated look on his face and what looked to be a freshly cut slice of cherry pie.
I can usually bluff my way through most uncomfortable situations, but I was simply not prepared to be face to face with a guy who recently had a shot gun pointed at my head. I stood there stuttering and stammering for a few moments, before looking to Heero for some kind of help. Needless to say there wasn't any help coming from his corner. He was looking at me almost as expectantly as the farmer was. I finally gave up trying to sound together and sighed.
"Um, yeah. Hi. We ah... "
"I thought you and your friend had left already. Ya lost, still?" The guy said with a look that said he wasn't quite buying the story I had told him earlier given our current appearance. I could only imagine how haggard we both looked.
With another quick glance to Heero, who was glaring hotly from where he sat, but still not offering me any suggestions, I decided it was better to just forge ahead and tell the old guy the truth. "Actually sir, we're completely fucked."
He looked at me for a moment before opening the wide screen door and stepping out onto the porch. I backed up to give him space and Heero made a movement as if he intended to stand up before I waved him off.
He gestured to the row of high backed chairs, one of which Heero was already sitting in, and spoke very calmly to us. "Why don't you boys start at the beginning and tell me what is really going on. I take it yer in some kinda trouble?" Relief rushed through me and I staggered to the chair beside Heero. Just as I opened my mouth to start my story, he shoved the plate of pie at Heero. "Here. Ya look like ya need some sugar, boy."
Heero's scowl seemed to drain away as he stared at the plate before finally taking it with a shaky hand. He took a timid taste, and I smiled when he blinked and quickly began forking huge chunks of the flaky pastry into his mouth. While he ate, I turned my attention to the farmer who was eyeing us carefully.
"I wasn't being dishonest when I told you we got turned around and lost in your field. Truth is... well, my partner and I... you see... "
"Spit it out, son. I ain't got all day." He groused as I continued to string coherent sentences together.
Heero lifted the plate up and spoke more clearly than I had heard him in days. "We work for the Preventers Special Unit 6 and have been betrayed by our administration and abandoned by our teammates. We are currently on the run and trying to prove our innocence in recent allegations of wrongdoing. We are seeking your assistance for shelter or a mode of transportation and nothing else." The farmer took back the plate and Heero added a polite thank you for the desert. All of which left me speechless.
"Well then. How do I know you really work for the Preventers?" He asked plainly.
I didn't have a badge, or ID, or any credentials of any kind to prove our story, and started feeling the desperation rising up again in me again. I stood and glanced to the car trying to think of anything in it I could use as proof.
"Nothing but our word, sir." Heero answered directly and pulled me back down into my chair with a quick tug with his left hand.
"You both look awfully young to be in on such a group as that, but... it don't do me no harm to let you stay for the night as long as you're out by morning. I don't want no trouble from them or any government types. They've made enough of a mess these past years so I prefer to keep my nose out of it."
Heero stood and gave him a tight nod then looked to me.
"Thank you... uh... I'm Duo and this is Heero. We'll be gone by morning."
"Ya can call me Butch. Everyone else around here does. An I 'suppose you should pull your car around back. You can put in the barn, just don't let it run for too long in there. The horses don't like the fumes. Then come up to the house and I'll git you boys some food. Ya look half-starved." Then he turned without another word and entered the house leaving Heero and I to stare after him.
End Part 12
(:./ebony/drift12)
