<Okay, now THIS is a little more what I was expecting,> Duo thought triumphantly from behind his hiding place among the shadowed, dusty crates. The room sprawled in front of him, metal and machinery and tubing everywhere he could see. Gone entirely was the facade of the cheery cottage. This was a laboratory and nothing else. All around the room, OZ soldiers dismantled various large contraptions, placing the attached tubing and wires inside wherever they could fit, then setting the piece in another box. Farther in, they could see a small lift which was being used to raise the boxes to the surface.
Heero caught his eye and held it, then glanced toward the soldiers. They'd have to take them out. There were twenty, ten for each of them. Light work. Then Heero's shoulder jerked toward the wall behind where he crouched. Duo stared for a moment, then finally saw what Heero meant. Next to Heero's shoulder, nearly invisible seams in the metal seemed to indicate a hidden opening. Duo frowned. Another room in the lab?
Heero motioned to himself, then to the wall. To Duo, then the soldiers. Duo nodded. His eyes moved to his prey as he crouched, pre-fight adrenaline coursing through him... along with Shinigami's voice. It was a triumphant, almost joyful sound. <Yes! Let me free!> It made him shudder. But even worse, it made him... eager. His hand tightened on the grip of his hidden knife; the gun he relegated to his belt.
<Yes. Let's play.>
Heero waited anxiously for Duo's move. He could sense something strange on the edge of his consciousness... a heartbeat. Pounding in his ears, bringing a flush of heat to his skin, as his own body responded, answering the familiar call. The beacon, calling him... home?
It was there, behind the wall. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew. Whatever was within was what had summoned him. There, he would find his answers. Finally, Duo moved from the shadows, swift and silent, almost a shadow himself. Only when the first man cried out and fell, did the other soldiers react. A flash of silver was the only sign of Duo's weapon, moving almost too fast to follow. Guns were drawn, and fired, but Duo danced among the bullets effortlessly, manic laughter bubbling from his lips, almost unnerving.
Heero shuddered, and turned away. The blood was pounding in his veins, and he felt as though they would burst from his skin. <So close, so very close...!> The heartbeat was overwhelming. Beckoning. Breathless and yearning, his fingers slid along the cool metal, finding the spot, the single fingerprint-reading square inch that allowed him access.
The door slid open with the tiniest whisper of sound, and he slipped in, unnoticed. The wall closed seamlessly behind him, shutting out the world. Then all he heard was silence.
<Yes... yes... YES!> Shinigami's voice echoed triumphantly in his mind. <Freedom, after so long... Glorious! You've kept me trapped away so long..!> Even as his dark counterpart exulted in its liberation, it also struck out at his opponents, the knife a flash of quicksilver, shining in the darkness, bright with blood. Crimson stained the blade, his skin, his clothing-- he was soaked in it. More splashed across the floor and the walls. Bodies lay in sprawled heaps, which he leapt over carelessly, continuing his assault. Their screams were beautiful music to Shinigami. Duo shuddered helplessly, withdrawing himself deep into the recesses of his mind, his stomach twisting with horror. He wanted to vomit; he wanted to cry, and scream. Even more, he wanted reality to go away; wanted the killing to stop. But Shinigami would not go back in so soon. And he knew he simply could not bear to witness the horror his own body was perpetrating. So he hid, trembling, his eyes shut tight against everything. And Shinigami danced.
It was several minutes before the last soldier fell. There was a moment of silence. His own heartbeat roared in his ears, drowning out the world. His eyes fell shut; his mind reeled. Shinigami was oddly disappointed. He wanted more soldiers to play with. A sound came from behind him, a soft whoosh of air, and he whirled sharply, raising the knife. But the figure emerging from the darkness was familiar; tanned skin, green tanktop, piercing cobalt eyes. He sighed, submerging himself within Duo's consciousness once more.
Duo shuddered for a moment, knowing what lay behind him, and wishing he could bury himself in Heero's arms and cry. Instead, he fiercely held back both the tears and the bile, and moved toward his friend.
"H-Heero...?" His voice was weak, and trembled faintly. "Whatcha got, man?" His partner's eyes were bright with excitement, though his countenance was as cold as ever.
"Hn." Heero motioned for him to follow, then turned back to the hidden doorway. Duo followed soundlessly, glad to be moving away from the carnage he had caused.
Inside the doorway, he paused, shocked. Before him stretched another laboratory, machines and wires and panels of blinking lights, tubes pumping strangely colored fluids. But they all led to a single glass chamber. <It looks like some mad scientist's experiment from a sci-fi flick,> he thought, repulsed but strangely fascinated.
The chamber was filled with a thick greenish-brown fluid, translucent, and in it he could see what looked like a giant... something. A mass of tissue, vaguely round in shape, like some kind of alien womb, ready to release a hideous monstrosity from within. It pulsed gently, like a heart pounding. Almost reluctantly, Duo tore his eyes away, glancing toward his partner. Heero was almost transfixed, his cobalt eyes seeming to glow as he stared at the chamber.
"Heero..." Duo whispered, the words sounding very tiny in the charged atmosphere, "What the hell is this?" For a moment, it seemed as though Heero did not even hear him, but then his lips parted, and slowly curled into a smile as he answered.
"It's... my parents."
End Part 5
(:./madcat/separate5)
