11-Aug-2002
Heero was true to his word and hadn't left my side at the hospital since the day I had woken up. It took a few days for me to regain most of my brain functions, but at least I had stopped speaking in German, much to Wufei's relief. While I was there I had been treated for a mild concussion, a cracked rib, smoke-inhalation, tore muscles in my throat and trachea, a hairline fracture in my elbow, and various bumps and bruises. All in all, I had worse. After a very long, very boring week I was finally allowed to leave.
Wufei insisted Heero and I stay with him in his loft, which wasn't too far from HQ, and even allowed the cat. Quatre preferred staying on his plane. Don't ask me, I have no idea why. He also insisted that Heero go and buy me some clothing seeing all I had left was a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt that had a Social Distortion skeleton on the back of it in white. Not really appropriate to wear around the office, despite the fact that my thrice-damned Preventers jacket had made it through all my mishaps unscathed and could be thrown over the top of it. Said articles of clothing still reeked of smoke and had been liberally smeared with dirt and clay from being...
Yeah.
Well anyway...
Heero had bought me some stuff and I was fairly impressed that he had grown some fashion sense after spending all that time with Relena. I had helped myself to using all of Wufei's clean towels and his best shampoo and was waiting for him to get back from dropping his bike off at the Preventers motor pool to be fixed. Rule number six hundred and forty two; never allow Wufei's bike to hit the ground or he will kick your ass. He hadn't yet, but I was just waiting for it. He always gets you when you least expect it.
I found out from Wufei and Heero that when they had arrived at the scene of the fire, the firefighters had all been pulled back and were basically waiting for the building to collapse in on itself. They were looking for me outside the building, but when one of the local police found a half dressed firefighter knocked out behind a truck they rushed inside fearing foul play. They knew me better than to strip someone of a uniform, and there hadn't been time for me to do so anyway, seeing they were right on my heels in Wufei's car from Preventers HQ.
Heero had found the tied up, mewling pillowcase on my bed when he burst into the apartment but found no sign of me there. He grabbed it and met up with Wufei, telling him that I had obviously been there and something had gone wrong. They barely got out of the building before it collapsed.
They could tell by how quickly and how hot the fire had burned that it had been set intentionally. The firefighter that had been stripped of his suit and gear told them that he was hit from behind before I had even gotten there. But no-one seemed to have any good information or a description of any unusual looking person there besides a kid dressed in black with a yard long braid, which just happened to be me.
Go me for once again leaving an impression. Just not enough of one for anyone to remember seeing a guy dressed like a firefighter, but who hadn't been wearing a mask, helmet, or a pair of those big yellow boots carrying a kid dressed all in black with a yard long braid out of a burning building.
Civilians.
As for them finding me after that, Quatre had shown up at the still smoldering PTH site in time to meet Wufei and Heero. When he had arrived at Headquarters and Elise had told him that there had been a fire, he raced there and they all high tailed it back to Wufei's office to see if I had left any messages for him or Heero; seeing I took Wufei's cell phone when I ran out of there that morning. That's also when Elise suggested they use the tracker that Wufei, in his frustration and I dare say fear for me, had forgotten about up until then.
I was indeed found seeing that I'm telling the tale, but I asked them not to tell me the rest. And I'm sure that everyone was wondering why. But I really didn't want to hear how heart sick Quatre was as they searched for me for hours without any luck. I certainly didn't want my over active imagination painting pictures of the horrified expressions they had worn when they had figured out the guy who jumped me at the fire, had buried me six feet under the ground. I was still trying not to think about those harrowing hours I spent there; thinking I was really going to kick it this time. But like I said before, it's a dance and I was left alive for another round of orchestrated madness by the powers that be. Oh joy.
Now about the cat. While I was still recovering in the hospital Heero named the cat Lucky. I laughed when he told me, which hurt like a bitch seeing my throat was still pretty damn sore. Being found in an alley on L2, dragged all the way to earth, to be saved from a horrendous fire by a guy from L1, I guessed Lucky made perfect sense for her. Anything that could survive me had to be lucky after all.
So that brings me to where I am now, which is finishing my shower in Wufei's very modern, and very well stocked bathroom while trying to ignore the muffled yelling I can hear through the hiss of the shower spray.
Remember how I had said that Wufei always seemed to blame Heero for the things that happened to me? Well this time was no different. They were having quite the heated argument while I was in the shower. I only caught the tail end of any actual words as I opened the bathroom door and was heading down the hall to the guestroom that I was sharing with Heero.
"Damn it, it is your fault Yuy!"
I strained to hear what Heero's reply was, but couldn't make out his soft words over Wufei slamming his way around the kitchen.
"Then what are you going to tell her?"
I almost tripped on Lucky who always tends to be underfoot when I'm trying to be stealthy as I crept closer to hear what they were arguing about. I had a pretty good idea though.
"You got him into this, and now you want to run out on him just like before? And on top of that, Maxwell almost was... almost... "
I didn't want to hear him say that I almost died. Me talking about it was one thing but other people talking about it gave me the willies. I ducked back around the corner and got dressed quickly before heading out to see who they were talking about other than me, but when I got out to the living room I found it dead quiet.
Heero was sitting at the dining table stirring his tea with a spoon. I watched him for a few moments as he concentrated on his cup. He looked tired and stressed with his eyes closed and his head slightly bowed. I knew the tea had long since grown cold by the simple fact that no hint of steam was forthcoming from the small china cup in front of him, so I also knew he had been sitting there for a while after Wufei stormed out.
I flipped my wet hair over my shoulder and I cleared my throat to speak. He didn't look up, or stop swirling the contents around in the cup as I approached him. "Wufei left?" Obviously.
Heero just nodded once and continued stirring his tea.
"He's pretty pissed about the bike, huh?" I could only manage to speak in a harsh whisper, my throat still healing, but was glad that it seemed to be doing better every day. I was damned tired of trying to write everything down.
"You should write down what you want to say and save your voice."
If it didn't hurt, I would have laughed. The other thing keeping my mirth at bay was the way his voice had taken a cool edge to it. I couldn't tell if it was my dripping hair or the way he wouldn't even look at me that made me shiver. I sat down in the chair across from him, grabbed the pad that Wufei had given me earlier, and wrote down what I was thinking and held it up for Heero to read.
Is he mad at you or me?
After he read it, his cool, blue gaze finally met mine as I lowered the pad back down to the tabletop. "He's angry that you keep getting hurt."
Huh. Well, it was true that every time I seemed to join up with Heero I found my ass in a sling, but that was to be expected seeing that he was dealing with matters of interplanetary and colony security and life for our operatives as we knew it. I thought twice about asking my next question, but with a shrug I scribbled it down and held the paper up to him again.
And for running out on who?
He turned back to his tea, taking a slow sip and leaning back in his chair. Then he fixed me with a level look. "On Zechs."
"What?! What are you talking about? Zechs is with Noin. Damn it Heero, what the hell does he have to do with you? I mean, I know he's Relena's brother, but he left the Preventers after the Mariemeia thing. How could you run out on him?" I abandoned my pad of paper; throwing it across the table at him, and any regard I had about trying to save my voice as I hollered from across the table, earning a hard glare from him as he crossed his arms over his chest. "And here I was thinking Wufei was pissed at you for running the fuck out on me!" I really had been expecting him to say he ran out on Relena.
He didn't answer any of the questions or statements that I had rattled off as he got up from the table and made his way into the kitchen. He took his cup and refilled it and poured me one too. Then he came back to the table and set the cup down in front of me and frowned down at where I was fuming in my seat. "Drink it. If you plan on yelling like that, it will soothe your throat when you're done ranting like a lunatic."
I hated that he was so friggin' calm when I was jump-up-Jesus pissed. He barely even raised his voice above normal speaking volume. "When are you going to stop leaving me in the dark?" I growled out between clenched teeth and completely ignoring the luke-warm tea.
"When you're able to keep from blowing my cover, having your head bashed off the concrete, your elbow from being smashed to pulp, repeated blows to the head, or getting yourself burned or buried alive!"
All I could do was sit there and stare at him.
In all the time that I had known him, he never really screamed at me the way he did just then. Before I could stop them, I felt tears prickling behind my eyes. None of those things would have happened if I hadn't come to L1 to get him. None of those things would have happened if I hadn't loved him the way I did, or wanted to help him like I did. On one hand I was so pleased that he had shown that much emotion about me, but on the other hand he didn't trust me not to get one, or both of us, killed. I scrubbed at my eyes before the tears let loose and shoved my way up and past him. "Fuck you Heero."
"Duo... "
He tried to grab my arm as I brushed by him, only making me more upset. I hate when people try to smother me or hug me when I'm that angry. I spun on him and fixed him with a heated look. "You selfish son of bitch. If you let me in on all your little secrets maybe some of those things wouldn't have happened! Maybe then I wouldn't have been running around with a giant bullseye painted on my ass!"
"You're right. You wouldn't have become a target and gotten hurt if it wasn't for me."
"If I hadn't fallen in love with you, then you'd still be on L1 playing bodyguard to Relena while the wolves got closer to finding out that you were the one who developed the damn code that keeps all our shit together!" Okay, so blowing our way off a colony wasn't the best way to avoid suspicion or our adversaries either, but I was too miffed to think of something better to say.
"Wufei is right. It is all my fault. I thought that by keeping you in the dark I would be able to keep you safe. I didn't want to hurt you anymore. I thought that as long as you were happy I could be happy, even if you were light years away from me. I would have been able to keep you safe, if only I didn't fall in love with you."
Him telling me he loved me again threw off my train of thought. My throat was raw from yelling and from keeping the tears that were threatening to come bursting through my composure. "But you did fall in love with me, Heero."
"You weren't supposed to love me back."
I slumped down in the nearest chair and hung my head. Did he honestly think that he wasn't worth my love? That he wasn't worth the risk? That the people after him and his damn code were dangerous enough that he would turn away from me? From us?
"Heero... I love you. Nothing's going to keep us apart anymore."
"You were buried alive and left for dead, Duo. When I watched Wufei pull you up out of the mud and dirt I thought I had lost you. The entire time you were in the hospital I waited for those damn machines to buzz telling me that you had flatlined again." He paused as came closer to me. "You did, you know. In my arms, just after we pulled you free. When you opened your eyes again I knew right then and there that I would do anything to keep you safe. Anything."
I understood what he was getting at. He'd run away from me, to keep me from getting hurt because of something he was involved with just like he had done with Relena. The only difference was that I wasn't Relena. I had no problem fighting back. I would fight to keep Heero from his noble sentiments by kicking some serious bad guy ass.
Besides I had my own score to settle. They buried me in the goddamned ground to send a message? Someone was going to die for that one.
"And what about Zechs? How does he tie into this?" I whispered harshly and reached for the cup of cold tea on the table.
"Zechs failed to report in after going undercover at StarQuest a few months ago. I promised Relena that I would do whatever it took to find him. He is either our mole, or has been captured by those who are looking to trade him for my cooperation. They tracked me to Relena's, which is why I contacted Wufei. It's also why Wufei didn't object to you coming to L1. It was a way to lead them away from her. Very few people know they are related. I needed to keep her safe from those who were after me too."
Just like I figured. In his own weird way he was trying to keep us safe by leaving us out of it. I felt his hands on my shoulders and looked up at him. "I kept you in the dark because I love you."
I was still feeling hurt from the way he reminded me that I had been... for lack of a better word, a decoy. And Wufei seemed to go along with all this too, even after I joined up. "And Wufei knew this all along?"
He nodded, confirming my suspicion that Wufei allowing me to truck off to L1 for Heero wasn't just out of his concern for my love life and mental health. It was convenient for getting Heero and his precious code back to earth safely. He and I were overdue for a chat it seemed.
"But Wufei didn't know how I felt about you until we found the grave."
I closed my eyes, not wanting to think about it. The night before I had the feeling that spiders were crawling over me while I slept. I was panting and scratching the skin on my arms practically raw before Heero shook me awake.
"Duo, I don't ever want to come that close to losing you again. I don't know what I'd do."
Before I could get my thoughts to form coherent sentences he crushed me to him. I could feel his breath hitch but knew I wouldn't feel any tears from him. Heero Yuy did not cry. I on the other hand...
"No more secrets Heero." I sniffled into his shoulder.
I let him bathe my face with kisses and decided not to fight with him about the rest. How we had gotten here wasn't perfect, but I was damned if I was going to let anything pull us apart now that we had fallen into eachothers' lives. Not any commitment to Relena, or Zechs, or even Wufei for that matter.
And God help the bastards who were after Heero.
"Okay okay. So what else haven't you told me?"
He paused in his task of kissing every inch of my face and began reciting objectives "Trowa has gone underground and is acting like a liaison between StarQuest and Winner Enterprises with Quatre providing financial resources and backup. It is our hope that he will be able to find out what has happened to Zechs. Once we know if he is clean or not, we can proceed in eliminating the threat, including him if we have to."
"And what do we do in the meantime?"
"They have some talented people hunting me, Duo. Grabbing you, and burning down the temporary housing was their way of sending me a message. I won't allow any innocent lives to be lost and I won't give them the key to breaking the code."
"Are you saying you want to run?" It wasn't a bad idea, but for the first time in a long time I didn't felt the need to. I wanted to dare anyone into trying to take from me what I had finally found.
"Until we know what happened to Zechs, we aren't safe here. So far they think only you and I have the code sequencing. That code, if broken, will allow StarQuest to eliminate all obstacles both economically and physically to them on a global scale. It would be a hostile corporate takeover of mammoth proportions. They already monopolize so much of the world's resources. If they broke the code that keeps our agents able to gather important Intel against dishonest practices, we would be facing a war between the have's and have not's."
"Why not just take them out?" It seemed obvious enough to me. See threat. Blow threat up. No more threat. Return to new life with Heero. But I really did know things were rarely that simple.
"Because we have put checks and balances in place and laws to protect the people of the earth and colonies. If we break those rules and destroy those laws then we are no better than they are. We need to keep the code safe without causing harm to the colonies or earth. If we expose them for what they are and what they are trying to do, the public will want justice and we may be able to avoid bloodshed."
"But these are peaceful times. No one has any weapons to fight with anymore."
"Hunger is a great motivator for war."
He was so grim when he said it. That one sentence made a shiver run up my spine and evoked images from my childhood better left in the past. "What do you mean?"
"StarQuest provides ninety percent of the world's heat oil, coal, and petroleum. They also control the factories that produce the solar energy panels that are instrumental on resource satellites and mining colonies like those owned by Winner Enterprises. Without them, those facilities will not be able to run efficiently, or find suitable substitutions for power. They'd shut down. The trickle down would be enormous. Life on the earth and colonies would be like life on L2 before we won our peace."
L2 was still recovering from the unscrupulous practices of the corporate bigwigs that ran the energy resources for the L2 colony quadrant. It was one of the driving factors behind why I had taken the path I had. If things weren't so dire many of those on the L2 colonies may not have turned to war for answers. But hunger does breed desperation and war.
Only now I wasn't some kid living hand to mouth anymore. Shinigami was all grown up and I'd rather die and take the whole friggin' universe with me than ever allow that to happen again. I knew Heero felt the same. I could see it in his eyes.
"All right Heero. You lead, I follow."
End Part 13
(:./ebony/magic13)
