26-Jun-2003
07-Jul-2004
Title: Snapshots
Author: Natea <natea4yahoo.com>
Pairings: 121 leading to 2x1, 3x4, 5xS
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Shounen ai, Yaoi, AU, Gore.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Sunrise/Bandai/Sotsu and I am making no money at all from writing this.
At a little after five o'clock in the morning the beach was a deserted place. Still dark, with a myriad of stars shining in the sky above, the ocean below catching their light and throwing it back with every glossy wave that swept the shallow shoreline.
Further out on the horizon where the sea met the sky there were shades of that familiar predawn lavender hue, in a few minutes the sun would be up and another balmy summer day would be established. At the moment though it was still pleasantly cool, a soft breeze blowing in from the ocean.
The narrow stretch of beach was empty; not a single footprint broke the surface of the wave-smoothed sand. Further back from the shoreline a messy area of grasses and small shrubs were gallantly growing in amongst the beginnings of the sand dunes, despite the poor soil conditions.
The only sounds to be heard were those of nature, the soft lapping noises of the water as it swept in and receded and the dry rustle of the grass as it moved in the breeze. There was one instant of clamour as footsteps crunched between the dunes. A dark figure hunkered down at the very edge of the grass line, slipping down into a tailor-made hollow with an air of familiarity. Small clinking noises came soon after; the sounds of metal sliding against metal. Then everything fell silent once more.
It was a full forty-five minutes before the soft sounds of nature were shattered again. The sun had risen now and the temperature had increased accordingly, already warm despite the earliness of the hour; it was definitely going to be another scorcher of a day. In the distance came the sound of a dog barking.
The figure in the hollow shifted slightly at the noise, all senses alert. The dog in question came into view a few seconds later, bounding about in the shallow waves joyfully.
It was small and scruffy, a mongrel with a large smattering of golden retriever in its heritage. Its fur was patchy along its back and its left hind leg had been amputated close to the body; closer examination would also reveal that the lower half of its left front leg was a plastic prosthetic.
Despite this though it still ran easily, its hindquarters bouncing higher than usual as it compensated for the absence of the leg. Suddenly it startled, stopping dead in its tracks and looking down the beach with its head to one side. It stood like this for a while before giving another happy yip and loping further along the shore.
The reason for its behaviour became apparent soon, as its owner came into view, jogging along the shoreline dutifully, passing the dog as it leapt about in the waves.
The figure shifted a little more, rising up onto one knee and 'sighting' along the sleek, black contraption that had been set up out of view in the hollow. This was what they had come here for. Days of preparation leading up to this one moment.
They raised the back of their hand up, brushing away a stray lock of hair and a few beads of sweat that had begun to form from a combination of the sun and nervous excitement.
The jogger was closer now, almost in range.
Nearly there...
The black tube tracked the runner's movements along the beach; gliding smoothing along as it panned across the scene. Small last-minute adjustments were made to the sights, bringing the subject into sharp relief.
Not yet though. Wait for it. Patience...
Time slowed down as the dog stumbled suddenly, the sand shifting underneath its paws. It almost toppled before recovering, giving a short yelp of distress. The jogger turned his head immediately, throwing a glance behind him to check on the animal, still running.
Perfect.
'Click'
The sound of a button being pressed, a shutter opening and closing once. The electronic whirr of a reel of film winding on. Then the click again, and again. Quick, easy movements as the figure captured that one instant for eternity.
And the moment was over. The jogger, unaware of the silent stranger watching him close by, continued his morning run closely followed by his manic pet. They rounded a bluff and were soon lost from view, tracked the entire way by the lens.
As soon as they were gone the figure stood up brushing the sand from their body briskly. The camera and tripod were taken apart and packed away in a padded bag that was then carelessly thrown over a shoulder. A few seconds later the hollow in the dunes was empty once more.
WuFei poised, cup raised to his lips, as he heard the door open behind him.
The silence of the approach and complete unexpectedness of the action was enough to tell him who the person entering the room was... he had no need of any sort of visual confirmation and so refrained from turning around.
Instead he swallowed his mouthful of coffee and set down his mug. "You're late."
"You're right," was the answer, spoken in a tone that stated just how little the fact actually mattered.
"Any reason for it?" WuFei poured out a second cup of coffee from the jug and gestured to the seat next to him.
Duo set his coat down over the backrest of the chair and took the seat, reaching out for the steaming drink with a sigh of relief. "Not my fault. Some idiot on the sixth floor of my apartment block decided that first thing in the morning would be the perfect time to have a sofa delivered, and the elevators were out. The delivery guys got it stuck on the stairwell just below the second floor wouldn't let me climb over so I had to wait till they'd got it up to the next level before I could slip past."
He snickered, taking a tentative sip of coffee before continuing. "I made a pretty inspired joke about squeezing something that big into such a tight passage. They forgot to laugh, I forgot to tell them about the huge, comfy service elevator at the back of the building." He shrugged in a 'what can you say?' manner.
"Any idea why we're here."
"None." WuFei answered. "Une was pretty insistent though so I think it's safe to say we're looking at a big case."
"Hmm." Duo's answer was non committal, voiced while taking a much bigger gulp of the hot drink, secure now in the knowledge that the reckless behaviour wasn't going to land him with third degree burns to his tongue.
His eyes though, belied his relaxed actions, and gleamed in anticipation as they looked about the room.
It was nothing special; a typical, Preventers office, small with white walls and a single large window. The overall appearance was cold and clinical, only slightly offset by the colourful posters scattered about.
Against the left wall there was a small gunmetal grey cabinet. It was locked but held nothing more important than the coffee supplies and a half packet of biscuits. On top of the cabinet sat an old, stained electric kettle with a cable so frayed it was almost a fire hazard.
Two small, rectangular tables had been pushed together in the middle of the room to form one larger desk around which six chairs had been set out.
"Any idea when Une'll get here?"
"She was delayed by a phone call, sent a gopher in to tell me about five minutes ago." WuFei answered. "Shouldn't be too much longer though."
Duo nodded in answer and the room fell into a companionable silence.
After the war the five pilots had gone their own ways. Heero being the first to leave, disappearing from the hospital overnight after recovering a little from Wing's disintegration in midair and the general stresses and strains of battle.
WuFei had decided to remain on Earth and join the Preventers. At first he had worked mainly alone, seeing no point in having a partner and not really needing one either as most of his assignments had been solo. He had looked on partners as a hindrance rather than a help and had shunned Une's attempts at getting him to join a team, despite the allure of longer and more complex missions.
That is, until the day another Gundam pilot joined the Preventer ranks.
Duo Maxwell to be exact.
Duo had approached the matter with the same gusto he did everything in life. Delivering his CV with a very personal touch.
Arriving at work one Monday morning, Une had unlocked her office to find him sitting, waiting, with his feet on the table in front of him and the computer booted up and decrypted. Of course she had been equal parts impressed at his skills and horrified at the obvious lapse in security and he had been hired on the spot, spending his first week there in working out the kinks in the systems, both to the building and to the intranet.
When it came time to partner him up with someone else WuFei had actually been the one to approach Une and request a trial.
They had never looked back.
Despite some teething troubles, they did seem to get along very well now. Duo was no longer a defensive joker, although he would still fall back on the humour often. WuFei was no longer quite as justice driven as he had been during the wars. They worked well in tandem, drawing on each other's strengths in a way they had never done during the war.
The door opened again suddenly and Lady Une made her way into the room. In her arms she held a stack of thick, manila folders that she placed down at the head of the desk before drawing out a seat and sitting down in silence.
The former Oz colonel looked tired, her eyes were red-rimmed underneath her glasses and her hair was mussed a little, as though she hadn't brushed it in a long time. Despite that though she was still a formidable presence.
WuFei passed down a mug of coffee in silence, which Lady Une accepted with a grateful nod. She took a sip, closing her eyes briefly in bliss, before replacing the mug on the desk and took in a deep, steadying breath.
"I suppose you want to know why I've called you both here?" She began without preamble. At the assortment of nods she smiled thinly, pushing two of the folders down the table while keeping one back for herself. "Take one each but don't open them just yet." She said.
Duo, the nearest, grabbed the top folder before pushing the other over to WuFei. Curiously he stared down at the A4 sized packet in front of him, taking in the large red letters stamped across the otherwise blank front cover 'CLASSIFIED INFORMATION'.
"Gentlemen," Une started briskly, "I'm tired. I haven't seen the inside of my house for almost forty eight hours now and I have another five hours to go at least before I can leave this building. Therefore I'm not in the mood for jokes... " she glanced fleetingly at Duo as she spoke, "... or idle chitchat. We're going to get straight down to it. Any questions?"
The two Preventers shook their heads in answer and Lady Une smiled, it didn't reach her eyes.
"Good. As I'm sure you've guessed, a mission has come up that requires your particular skills. It's not something you've dealt with before and, I stress this now, it is a high priority case, extremely confidential.
"You do, however, have the choice of whether or not you wish to be a part of it. I hope you will stay but if you do decide to walk out the door at the end of this briefing then I would ask that any and all information discussed here remains private. Is that understood?"
They nodded again.
"Good." Lady Une opened her notes and scanned the first page for an instant. She looked up and began. "On January eighth this year the body of a young woman was discovered in the deep end of a university swimming pool down in the south of England. She had been murdered. You may or may not have seen the incident on the regional news?"
She waited for their response which came in the form of two serious but blank looks. "Never mind, it wasn't highlighted at the time." She skimmed the pages again, looking for the place where she had left off.
"Another murder was committed exactly seven weeks later on March the fifth, another on April thirtieth and a fourth on June twenty ninth; again with precisely seven weeks between each killing, even down to the day; a Tuesday in each case. We have enough evidence in existence to suggest that these deaths were all caused by the same person."
She flipped the page and looked up once more, waiting for the questions she knew would follow.
They weren't long in coming. WuFei frowned, "If this killer has been in operation since January why are we only hearing about it now over halfway through the year?"
"We have known of this killer for a little over two months now, since before the forth murder." Une informed the Chinese Preventer coolly. "You were not briefed on the details earlier as it was not your case. The reason you have been added to the mission now will become apparent later on I can promise you."
She took a sip of her coffee before continuing. "This is a serial killer on a vastly different scale to the usual. Certain tactics have been used to hinder the discovery of the killer's modus. The murders are spread out... not just across one country but across the globe. One murder per country; so far England, Germany, Japan and Australia have been targeted. The very fact that the victims have been so wide spread has hindered the matching of information.
"You have to understand, each country has been dealing with what they believe to be a small-time, one off murder. We may never have discovered the truth except for one major flaw on the part of our killer, " she smiled sadistically, "They are an artist."
"An artist? What kind of artist?" Duo threw a puzzled look at WuFei before glancing back at Une. .
"That would be easier shown than explained." Une said. "If you open your files to the first page, I'll show you an example of his work."
They did so with varying levels of trepidation and curiosity; the rustle of paper as the covers were turned back sounding overly loud in the room. Duo stared down at the contents in interest.
The folder was split into four parts sectioned off by red, A4 sized cardboard dividers. They each contained a tab on the right hand side that jutted out from the main body of the notes and on each tab was a number ranging from one to four.
Duo surmised, correctly, that they contained the details of each victim.
At the very back of the file was another divider, this one emblazoned with the number five. As of yet though there was nothing behind it. The papers were held in place by a plastic lace that threaded through two holes in much the same way as the usual ring binder did. The only difference being that the lace lay flat against the paperwork and therefore enabled the files to be a lot thinner, saving space in filing cabinets.
He flipped over the first divider.
"Victim number one." Une said, tapping her index finger on the folder. "Jessica Hanley, a single, white, female, twenty five years old and a mature student reading psychology at the University of Exeter. She was in her second year at the university and had just moved into a one-bedroom apartment close to the halls of residence. Her parents were killed in a road traffic accident ten years prior and she was an only child. Raised by her aunt who died last November of a stroke."
Staring at the page in front of him Duo took in the details.
Most of the paper was filled with typical identity information. Name, age, weight, height, next of kin; at the bottom of the page was a printed out commentary box that was filled with more general input.
A small passport sized photograph in the top right hand corner held the face and shoulders of a young woman who was skinny rather than slim. Her hair was long and looked greasy, falling below the bottom of the picture; bleached blonde with the natural, dark roots beginning to show through. She had no bangs.
Large blue grey eyes, made even larger by square rimmed spectacles, stared out at him silently. Her face was free of makeup and she had a weak chin and a large spot on her forehead.
She was pretty, he decided, but if she had made an effort she could have been a real beauty.
"I don't expect you to read through this right now," Lady Une was saying, "It's the pictures that I want you to take note of for the moment. If you turn over."
A rustle of paper once more and suddenly the words were gone, replaced by an A4 sized photograph of the same girl. This one though was vastly different.
Again it was a shot of the upper body extending down to just above the waist; the single subject practically filled the entire photograph. In the bottom left corner of the print out, stamped in small white text, were the date and time, 01.01.199, 00:01.
Jessica's hair was pulled back off her face with a set of clips; it had been straightened and her roots bleached to match the rest. It fell to her lower back. The glasses were gone, replaced by a small, tasteful, silver mask that covered her eyes and nose. Her loose halter-top was silver also and glittered with sequins; obviously she had been at a party of some sort.
She had been captured on film in the process of turning away from the camera and so her face was in a three-quarter profile shot while her hair had fanned out a little from the force of the spin. She was smiling, her eyes sparkling with mirth, their colour striking, made even more potent by the lack of warm colour in the background.
From the angle of the shot it was clear that the camera had been raised slightly above her.
It was also clear that the person who had taken the shot had been a professional.
The whole scene was intricately set up for maximum effect. The major light source was coming in from the left, bathing the whole scene in cool, sharp blue - obviously from a regular disco strobe - it reflected off the sequins on Jessica's top and tinted her hair to an ethereal white grey.
The angle of the light picked out the strong features of her face, throwing long shadows across the arc of her cheek while highlighting other parts, such as the curve of her lips and chin. The existence of another, smaller light behind her was shown by a halo of clear white light that picked out the glossy shine in her hair.
Blue, white and silver, they were the only colours apparent in the picture. Even the normal pink, fleshy tones of skin were absent, Jessica's arms and face leeched of colour. Dry ice and a subtle use of soft focus and depth of field obscured the background and added to the effect.
There were no other people in the shot.
"Damn." Duo whispered, "It doesn't even look like the same person." He flicked back the page and studied the small passport photo once more, comparing the two.
Lady Une nodded in agreement. "This photograph was taken at a New Year's party in Exeter's student union at one minute past midnight; just after Big Ben had finished its chimes."
"That explains the mask." WuFei murmured.
"This was the first photograph taken by the killer," Une continued, "but it wasn't the last. There were six others taken in total, one for each day she was watched. I'm afraid I don't have the time right now to go through them all with you in detail. The most important picture is the last." She flicked through her own file briefly. "If you could turn to the photograph labelled 1G please."
There was the sound of paper rustling once more and then a gasp.
"This picture was taken on January eighth, exactly one week after the first." Lady Une said quietly, breaking the sudden silence that had fallen over the room. She looked up and caught the eyes of the two boys.
Neither of them looked unaffected.
WuFei looked utterly disgusted at the sight on the paper in front of him. Duo... it was harder to judge.
It was a beautiful portrait. A horrifyingly, morbidly, beautiful portrait.
Again the major colour scheme had been blue, white and silver. Again the composition was an upper body shot of Jessica. Only this time there was no glittering mirth sparking from her eyes. Their blue grey colour gazed sightlessly through the camera.
She was floating submerged in water, the scene backlit and surrounding her in a liquid-blue luminescence that was curiously dappled. It was brightest directly around her body, a soft turquoise darkening to more of a sky blue farther away from the centre of the shot.
Her arms were stretched out to her sides and supported by the fluid she was bathed in, elbows, hands, and fingers curling lazily. Her hair had spread out, following the pull of the water, and now surrounded her, a dark halo as opposed to the bright white aura of the first photograph.
Adorning her body and weighting it down in the water was a long, fine blue-grey chain no thicker than a necklace; it had been wrapped around her figure in a loose intricate pattern that began just below her jaw. A series of gentle loops were formed around her throat before the chain criss-crossed her chest and finally snaked down her arms to wind through her fingers.
She was naked.
She was also, very obviously, dead.
There were small bubbles clinging to the fine hair on her cheeks, more trapped within her eyelashes, brows and hair; a larger bubble was caught in the area between her breasts. The light caught them, distorting and highlighting the small spheres. Each, individual bubble was focused clearly; it was obvious that the camera used was a good one.
"What the hell?" Duo's voice broke the silence that had fallen over the room. He sounded horror stricken.
"You've noticed I see." Lady Une nodded in grim satisfaction. "Good. It took me a lot longer."
"That's disgusting!"
"I agree."
WuFei looked puzzled, "What is?" He looked down at the picture in front of him once more and squinted, as if hoping that the gesture would show him what Duo and Une could obviously see.
"Jessica is floating face down in the water. Our killer, in the interests of artistic effect, entered the pool and took the photograph from underneath the body." Une explained.
"The whole scene was intricately set up. Forensics investigated the pool, which was incidentally, the students' pool in their gym." She grimaced at the thought.
"They reported back that the only way that lighting effect could have been created was by setting up one single white spot directly over the centre of the shot and then submerging themselves and positioning the body in between the camera and the light source. A flash was used on the camera to avoid silhouetting the subject against the bright backdrop." She sounded disgusted at the very idea of it all.
Suddenly it all made sense.
"That's why the chains are hanging that way." WuFei muttered. "I wondered how they could be floating up towards the camera."
Une nodded, "They're not. They're hanging down towards the camera."
"How was she killed?" Duo asked, his eyes still firmly riveted on the photograph.
"Forced overdose of barbiturates injected into the left brachial artery." Une informed them matter of factly. "She didn't drown, there was no water in her lungs; she was dead before she entered the pool. In fact, wait a second... "
she paused, flicking through the file to double-check some information. " ...Yes, I thought so." she mumbled before raising her voice once more. "She had been dead for at least two hours before she was arranged for the shot. Apparently her body had been cleaned, her skin was scoured, shaved, and waterproof makeup was applied to her lips, eyelids, fingernails and nipples." She snorted, "Silver glitter paste."
Duo glanced back at the picture, noticing for the first time the hint of sparkle on the girl's face and chest.
"Jessica's toenails were also painted and her groin shaved." Lady Une looked up from the picture; "this could suggest the existence of other pictures."
WuFei nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, whoever it was wouldn't go to all that trouble for nothing. Just because it's not shown on this picture doesn't mean it wasn't taken."
Lady Une nodded, "Exactly."
"What about the other photographs? The ones taken in the days between the first and last?" Duo asked, pulling his attention away from the dead gaze of the girl on the paper before him.
"They're merely day to day shots, still artistic in layout but nothing on this level. The major pictures are these two. The final one... the one taken after Jessica's death... was posted to the local police station by first class post. It arrived two days after her body was recovered from the pool. This has occurred in all the cases so far."
"That's a strange thing to do."
"Not really... serial killers have done similar things in the past. You have to remember that we're not dealing with a person who thinks in the 'normal' way. They like to showcase, to show off their skills."
"And this has happened to three other people?" WuFei looked disgusted. Lady Une nodded.
"Not the exact same scene but yes, and it is about to happen again." She said matter of factly. "You may remember I mentioned the killer had a flaw?
"They are immensely proud of their talent," she said. "We know from the previous kills that all the victims were chosen at least one week before their deaths and followed closely. Photographs were taken of each individual daily,"
She looked at both of the boys in turn, her eyes piercing. "These photographs are not your average run-of-the-mill snaps. A lot of care and forethought has gone into each and every one of them." She looked down at the file once more.
"Unlike the photograph taken post mortem these pictures were scanned into a computer and placed on various photography sites on the 'net on the same day they were taken."
"But... but that's crazy." Duo said. "Why put yourself at risk of discovery like that? It's just courting disaster."
"How so? The pictures taken before the death are innocent. They are merely life studies... highly artistic, and in some cases poignant, life studies. We can't even connect them to the murders officially; there's no evidence to support the fact."
"No evidence?" Duo shook his head in disbelief, "All you have to do is look at the damn things," he said. "Even the colour layout was the same."
Une shrugged. "Coincidence." She murmured lightly.
"No way."
"Without hard, physical proof that the pictures were taken from the same camera or by the same person there is no link. It wouldn't hold up in a court of law Duo, no matter what we know to be true."
WuFei had pulled out a small pocket organiser and was studying the calendar on the inside of the front cover thoughtfully. "You mentioned earlier that all the murders took place on a Tuesday exactly seven weeks apart."
"I did."
"We're now six weeks after the last date," WuFei continued. "If that fact still stands then that would mean that the first photograph of the fifth victim would have been posted on the 'net yesterday."
"You're right and it was."
There was silence in the room for a while as they digested this information. Duo was the first to break the quiet. "So... " He picked up his mug of coffee and sipped at the long cold brew absently, "What you're telling us is that we have six days left to catch a killer before he strikes again and he or she could be absolutely anywhere."
"No." Une shook her head. "That's not what I'm telling you. We already have a team in place who are working on that angle... who have been working on that angle for almost a month now." She held up a hand, forestalling the queries. "You were both Gundam pilots, soldiers, not detectives." she explained in a placating tone, "Neither of you have sufficient training in this area; I would feel... apprehensive at the very least, sending you out there."
"Then what--" They were looking confused now.
"Your mission is a little out of the usual. If you do decide to accept it then you will be working alongside the main body of the investigation but you will be searching not for the killer but rather for the victim."
"Why search for the victim?" WuFei asked. "Surely that would be even harder than locating the killer? With the killer at least we have some form of MO, the victim is just a face on a piece of paper."
"At first I would agree with you. But this killer has proven him or herself to be extremely adept at going to ground. They have money enough to be able to travel the world at will as they've shown by the different locations they've killed in. Even a search on the 'net came up empty handed," Une said with a sigh. "They are competent enough with computers to be able to hide their tracks well. Locating the victim may very well be the only way we can catch them."
"If you've known of the killer since before the forth murder then why didn't you try this idea then?" Duo asked with a frown.
"We did. It didn't work. We do have procedures for dealing with this sort of thing you know." Une replied, looking slightly annoyed. "The photographs taken before the death only hold very basic background information and we had no concrete leads to go on. We couldn't broadcast a worldwide plea for obvious reasons; we would cause an international panic and we would be tipping off the killer at the same time. The information we had was, in the end, simply too little to save them."
"And you think we'll be able to do better this time? The World is a big place Lady Une. What makes you think we can succeed when you failed before?"
"I have faith in your abilities."
Duo snorted at the words, spoken in a tone so blase, and spilling coffee over the side of his mug in the process. Lady Une glared at him. "I'm sorry... " he sniggered, "... but what you're asking is impossible. You may have faith in our abilities, " he quoted mockingly, "but you're asking for a fucking miracle here. You're saying we have six days in which to correctly identify and locate one person... one person," he held up his index finger and gestured wildly, "... out of billions on this planet, and we have to do it without being overt about it?
"Forget about looking for a needle in a haystack, this is like looking for a needle in a huge pile of other needles. Jeez Une, this person could live in a log cabin halfway up Mount Everest or in the apartment above mine for all the good it'll do. How are we supposed to locate them if we can't do an active search? I think I'll have to pass on this one."
"If that's the way you feel... " Une said softly.
"That's the way I feel. This victim is going to die whether I'm involved or not. I'd rather not have it on my conscience; I have enough deaths there already without adding another." Duo replied coldly. "Sorry Lady but this whole thing just sounds like a complete waste of our time."
"And does this go for you too WuFei?"
WuFei didn't answer for a while, closing his eyes. Eventually though he looked up and nodded seriously. "I have to agree with my partner on this point Lady. This is nothing more than a wild goose chase and I don't believe it is possible in the time frame we have."
Lady Une frowned slightly at the answers. "As I said at the beginning, you can walk out of that door at any time, all we ask is that you keep all the information you hear in this room to yourself."
Taking this as a dismissal Duo stood up with a scrape of his chair against the cheap carpet-tiled floor, closing the file as he did so."I'm sorry we didn't live up to your expectations." he said, with a hint of real regret in his voice as he grabbed his jacket and slipped one of his arms inside.
Une simply smiled, a small, strange smile that made Duo feel distinctly uneasy.
"Perhaps you'll feel differently after you see the most recent photograph."
Duo shook his head, still standing with coat half on half off. "I doubt it Lady Une, why would we?"
Lady Une didn't answer but pulled a large, brown envelope out of her folder and opened the top wordlessly. Removing a single sheet of glossy printer paper carefully she placed it face up on the table, within easy view.
"That's why." She said.
A small smirk crossed her face as she watched their reactions. "Well gentlemen, we have a lot of work still to cover. Shall we get back to it?"
Duo stood in silence for a second, just staring down at the picture on the table. He blinked once; twice... then suddenly without warning he threw his head back and laughed.
Standing next to him WuFei winced; it was not a happy sound. Still laughing Duo sat back down in his seat and smiled broadly, falsely, at Lady Une, "I think we should." he said as WuFei too sat down.
In the middle of the table the reason for their abrupt change of heart remained.
Against a background of blue sky and sea Heero Yuy's face stared out impassively from the surface of a glossy photograph.
End Part 1
(:./natea/snapshots)
