22-May-2003
edited: 01-Sep-2005
Title: The X Faction 2/?
Author: Kitty Chou
Archive: None... ask and you shall receive. *^-^*
Category: AU, Deathfic (or is it!?), Shounen-ai, Angst, Possible OOC-ness (depending on how you think of the guys thinking)
Pairing: mentions of 3+4, past 1+2
Disclaimer: *clears throat* I do not in any way, shape, or form own Gundam Wing or it's wonderful characters! I just pull them out to play and then clean them up and put them back when I'm done! I'm making no money and if you sue me you will receive no money because *shock* I have none.
Rating: R
Warnings: Language, mentions of death (or is it!?)
Spoilers: Well, if you don't know who won on the show, then yes. Oh, and if you haven't read 'Three Seconds' yet, then this has spoilers for that.
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback! It is for you that I get over my fear and start writing! This chapter is mainly guys thinking and flashbacking (ooh I made a new word) since I needed a filler chapter to come between the opening and the base. Special thanks to Megabitch, who read through each part as I finished it and told me to write more!
Feedback: Please send feedback! Feedback makes the chapters come quicker! ARNIE HUNGRY!!!
"It's a trap," Sally insisted, balling her fists on her thighs with a worried expression. "It has to be. If Quatre were still alive, and that's a pretty big IF, he and Duo wouldn't start a war."
"Perhaps... " Wufei mused from his position against the dry erase board, unmindful or unknowing of the horrible black smudge that was working across the back of his work shirt. "But then Gundam pilots aren't known for their sanity."
"Quatre would not start a war," Trowa protested vehemently.
"Not without reason, no. Though there was that incident with the Zero System... " Wufei drifted off as Trowa shot him an angry look. Trowa remembered that incident quite well as he'd actually been there.
"It doesn't matter what Quatre would or wouldn't do," Heero stated firmly, getting to his feet with his hands flat on the table before him. "He's dead. I watched him die."
"So, a trap then," Sally declared decisively. "They must be trying to call you out and neutralize you. It obviously got your attention well enough." She gave them a knowing look in the way only a woman can.
"Yes. And since they went through all the trouble to get it, I think I'll pay them a visit. Care to join me?" Trowa asked his partner, folding his arms across his chest resolutely.
"Of course," Wufei smirked, cocking his head at Heero. "I assume you're going with us?"
Heero nodded curtly, avoiding Sally's gaze. To her credit, she managed to wait several seconds before she lost her temper. "What, I can't go because I'm not a member of the 'I Saved the World' club?" she demanded angrily.
Sighing, Heero turned to face his outraged partner. "You know that isn't it. You've more than done your part, for one thing."
She glared at him for a minute before deflating, leaning back in her chair and covering her face with her hands. "You want me to take the heat from Une," she voiced tiredly, muffled from her mask of limbs.
"Basically," Heero smirked before returning his attention to the other two. "When do we leave?"
"Now, would be good," Wufei answered, checking his watch. "If we leave now, we should arrive near the resource satellite early tomorrow. Besides, I don't particularly want to be here when Une finds out we've jumped ship to run headlong into what is almost certainly a trap."
The others agreed and the three of them made plans to meet at the spaceport within the hour. From there they would board Wufei's ship 'Fengshen' and fly out to the L4 colony cluster. There they would wait until a transport was made to the resource satellite, giving them the opportunity to attach themselves to the ship with MRCs (Magnetic Rocket Capsules) and therefore escape detection by radar. The hardest part would be landing somewhere on the ship so that they were provided with enough cover to keep some stray technician from glimpsing them by chance. Then they would only have to infiltrate the base. Compared to some of the missions they had worked during the war, this was simplicity itself.
But as Heero was leaving, Sally accosted him, glaring reproachfully and trying unsuccessfully to hide the fact that she was apprehensive. "Don't go and get yourself shot just because I'm not there to keep your dumb ass out of trouble," she ordered, poking him in the chest none to gently. “This isn't the war.’
"I'll try and I know," Heero replied sarcastically. He turned, exiting the room and heading for the stairs. "I owe you one, Sally. Thanks."
"You owe me more than one, Heero Yuy!" she called after him. "I expect a pint of Double Fudge Chunk, a bottle of Wild Turkey, and a striptease to 'I'm Too Sexy'!"
Three and a half hours later, Heero found himself in a small cabin aboard 'Fengshen', staring at his laptop with a scowl. He wouldn't be able to salvage any of the hardware, so he was trying to figure out if he could at least detach the top half of his poor computer. If he had to, he would cut the little painting off the top and fasten it to his new one. When he built a new one.
If he weren't so reserved, he would have sighed much more heavily than he did as he pulled out his compact beam knife. The picture meant a lot to him, so if he couldn't save the laptop, he would at least save the fond memories the paint enthused. It had been a present for his 18th birthday... or the day Duo designated as his 18th birthday anyway.
He had been working late that night... Relena gently insisted that he stay with her while she finished up her paperwork for that day, so he wouldn't go home and be lonely. She had often insisted on things like that and he always agreed, never bothering to correct her idea of himself. He knew she was too important to the world to let her get upset over the fact that he just wanted to go home and fall into the arms of his lover. His male lover. His male lover, Duo.
The laptop stayed at home unless Heero went on business, so when he arrived home late that evening, it was to the sight of Duo crouched over it. He was wearing the glasses he almost always wore when he randomly decided to paint so when he looked up at Heero, he blinked owlishly as his eyes adjusted. Curious and expecting some joke or prank, Heero moved to stand behind him, looking down at the cover of his laptop.
"Happy Birthday," Duo said happily, standing so he could wrap an arm around his waist as he stretched.
"What is it?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"It's a present obviously!" Duo laughed, wrapping his other arm about him and snuggling into his shoulder. He was often affectionate since they had gotten this close, enough that Heero suspected he might be a bit starved for it. But then, Heero was starved for it as well.
Duo laughed again at the look he gave him as ‘present' was not explanatory enough for him. "It's Duo-bat and Heero-bear!"
"Duo-bat and Heero-bear?" he repeated, a smile pulling at his lips the utter foolishness of it. It was one of the things he found charming about Duo.
"Yes."
Heero laughed softly, turning into his lover and completing the embrace. "Idiot," he whispered affectionately, lightly pressing his lips into Duo's hair. They stood like that for several minutes, swaying slightly to the tick of their internal clocks.
"I love you, Heero-bear," Duo murmured against his collarbone with an impish grin, bringing forth a chuckle from his lover.
"Love you... " He kissed his hair again before pulling back to look back at his laptop. He looked at Duo after a moment, his right eyebrow rising inquisitively. "Why is Duo-bat riding Heero-bear?"
Duo grinned evilly up at him. "A sign of things to come?"
Heero let out a loud bark of laughter and heaved up his partner in a fireman's hold, earning him a shout of surprise. "Not tonight, little bat," he stated, carrying his charge off to Heero-bear's den.
Heero did sigh this time as he finished cutting the painting away from his laptop. Those had been the good days... Before they started fighting... and Heero made the worst decision in his entire life and left. He wished he could turn back the clock and change that horrible day. He wished he had listened to Duo and agreed to stop working for Relena when even he noticed that she had started clinging too closely. He wished he had given his two weeks notice and concentrated on his damn job when it mattered most. He wished Duo were here with him. He wished... he wished he had saved Quatre.
If wishes were horses...
Trowa lay curled on his side on the bunk in his cabin, staring at an old vid clip in the palm of his hand. From the clip came a beautiful, heart-wrenching air that even the static of the little overused speakers couldn't mar. It filled the room like a tangible presence, seeping into every fiber of Trowa's being with an aching sadness. But to him, the music paled in comparison to the actual feed of the vid clip.
From the minute holographic projector came the image of a young man whose quiet presence and beauty put the music to shame before Trowa's eyes. His face was relaxed, eyes closed as he concentrated on bringing the melody to life from the violin that rested on his shoulder. A great sadness seemed to surround the youth and it echoed in his music in great swelling waves of unrequited love.
It was at 5:12 PM on Wednesday, January 3, AC 197 when that love had gone unanswered.
They were walking through the grounds of one of Quatre's estates, having only narrowly escaped being forced into a game of Twister 4000 with Duo, who was unfortunately very drunk. It began to rain and they ran to a nearby gazebo, getting soaked despite their best efforts. When Trowa turned to comment on the downpour, he found that he was much closer to Quatre than he realized, something the blonde noticed quickly as well.
Falling silent, they stood like that for what seemed like forever with the steady sigh of rain around them, the sound of their quickened breath mixing in gently. Looking into Quatre's eyes, he felt the exhilarating and alarming feeling of falling, and he was...in a way. His eyes, so bright and clear, bore into him and he knew suddenly, without a doubt, that he loved Quatre Raberba Winner.
With the aching slowness of sudden, hesitant realization, Trowa moved forward, lowering his lips to meet the upturned ones before him. Their breath mingled as he neared and they stayed like that for a moment, reveling in the moment as they shared their baited breath. Then Trowa moved again until they were a hairsbreadth apart, lips brushing slightly with every pulse of their heartbeats.
"Trowa... " Quatre breathed, his eyes sliding closed. The name slid across his lips like a caress and he froze. Trowa... The name of a dead man. The name Nanashi the mercenary, Nanashi the killer had taken to fly a Gundam in the war. And he couldn't, he knew he couldn't give him Trowa without giving him Nanashi. And he hated Nanashi.
No, he refused to answer that beautiful, perfect love presented to him and left, running away a coward into the storm. He'd chosen instead to lurk in the shadows, all but stalking his golden calf of a former friend when the emptiness threatened to consume his soul. At the time, he had known without any doubt that he was doing the right thing. A part of him still felt that was true.
And now... The possibility that Quatre was still alive, despite Heero's logical protests, filled him such desperate hope and longing that he felt he would burst. He would sell his soul to bring him back, but... If Quatre were alive, could he keep from making the same mistake twice? Could he give himself to Quatre?
Unable to answer, Quatre played on unaware.
Sitting at the bridge of his ship, Wufei folded his hands on his chest and stretched out his legs before him. He was deep in thought, thinking, as he often did, about Quatre's death and the rift and weakness it had since created among his friends and comrades. Heero blamed himself, naturally, despite the fact that he was in fact a human being and not one of the 'perfect soldiers' the doctors had wanted them to be. Duo had been nearly insane in his obsession over Quatre's death before he disappeared, muttering to himself as he scribbled note after note in his ever-present yellow pad. Trowa... Trowa was all but dead himself and Wufei suspected he blamed himself even more than he blamed Heero. But Wufei...
Wufei had always been the odd man out, the fifth wheel, the loner since they first met in the war. He was the one who fought on the wrong side of the war and cried at the death of the enemy. He was upset and saddened by Quatre's death, but it hadn't destroyed or weakened him. Did that make him a bad friend? Or did it simply brand him as a survivor?
When Meiran died, Wufei had been proud of her and respected the strength she had shown in his own shame at being unworthy of her. He was sad that she was gone, but in a way, she hadn't gone anywhere. She became a cause, an ideal, and a constant belief that he could bring justice to an unjust world if only he could escape his shame and worthlessness. She became his Nataku.
But Quatre... he was different. He had been a comrade, an ally, and a friend. Wufei had known Quatre in a way he had never known his wife...as a person, not an ideal. If someone asked him who Meiran was, he simply would say that she was a woman who died, because he never knew her as Meiran. But if that person asked the same of Quatre, he would begin with, 'He was my friend'.
A chime sounded, bringing him out of his reverie and calling his attention to his ship. They were only two hours outside of the satellite's orbit and he wasn't sure what kind of radar detection they would have. He switched into stealth mode and slowed the ship, flicking the lights in the cabins twice. Having done that, he returned to his post and his previous position.
The stealth mechanism had been a gift from Duo and used the same technology Professor G and the others had installed in Gundam Deathscythe Hell. It made his ship virtually undetectable by any form of radar and had saved his life numerous times. He frowned suddenly. What if it hadn't? What if he'd died? Would any of his friends be so totally destroyed that they disappeared or lived as an icy shell of themselves? No... No he supposed not.
Perhaps it was based on love? But then, did Heero and Duo, who had no romantic interest in Quatre, have more love for him then he himself did? Wufei sat for a long time, theorizing his relationship with his friends and wishing desperately that Duo were there to challenge his thoughts.
End Part 2
Next chapter: Headquarters of the X Faction and some rather interesting discoveries!
(:./kitty/faction2)
