Archive: http://www.fanworkrecs.com
Disclaimers: I don't own the characters from Gundam Wing, I just play with them for non-profit fun until they run screaming back to their creators.
Warnings: AU - AAAAAAAAAAAU. Some yaoi, lemon, violence, language. You should be a legal adult to read this. Open-mindedness helps, too.
Pairings: all over the map; Duo-centric. yaoi and het.
Author's Notes: A huge helping of "suspension of disbelief" would be appropriate before you read this. I'm sure J or G could explain the science behind it, but they're kinda dead right now...
Part 7 ~ Premeditation (cont'd)
Their kisses lengthened, deepened, and could have led to all sorts of fascinating things, when a doorbell shrilled abruptly out in the hall. They jerked apart, startled and dismayed.
Wufei sighed and shot a rueful glance at the clock as he straightened from the bed. "The others were supposed to pick us up at 6:30, and it's only just past six now. I think Quatre's still worried about you."
Duo rolled off the bed and grabbed a black robe hanging askew off the back of a chair. "Probably. How long do you think it will take him to apologize for showing up early?"
Wufei chuckled, but said, "Be nice, Duo. He only does it because he likes you, gods know why..." With a smirk, the Chinese man deftly caught the pillow thrown at him in response, tossing it back onto the bed as he left the room to answer the door.
Duo thought about warning 'Fei that his hair was sticking up, but since he hadn't managed to connect with the pillow... He turned the robe right-side-out and pulled it on, listening to the greetings floating down the hall.
"Why, Quatre, what a surprise to see you," came Wufei's amused voice.
"Oh! Wufei, hello... um..." Duo grinned as he searched the drawers on his side of the room for underwear, imagining the look on the gentle Arabian's face at the sight of 'Fei's mussed hair. "I'm sorry, but I wanted a chance to speak with Duo before we left. If you'll excuse me, I'll just go see..."
"Nice hairdo, Wufei. Is that Duo's touch?" Trowa asked innocently.
"Hm?" Wufei's puzzlement was followed by a huff of chagrin - obviously there was a mirror out there somewhere. Duo snickered and pulled on a pair of boxers. Apparently Wufei didn't appreciate the fashionable new Hedgehog Look.
He slipped into the hall, spotting Quatre coming towards him. The Arabian held out his arms for a hug, his entire face lighting with relief. "Duo! I'm so glad to see you're all right!"
Duo hugged back, smiling. "I told you I was fine, but would you listen? Noooooo..." His gaze went over Quatre's shoulder, and he felt his breath leave him in a rush.
Heero had stepped from the entryway into the hall, his tight-knit form lit from one side by the westering sun. The streaming rays highlighted each tousled strand of hair, each crease in the immaculate uniform, and each swell of muscle in the powerful body beneath the fabric. Steel blue eyes met Duo's, and then a heart-melting smile curved those enticing lips. Duo felt a wave of admiration and fierce longing sweep over him. Heero...
Suddenly, firm hands on his shoulders pushed him back a step, whirled him around and propelled him towards the bedroom. "I'll help Duo," Quatre called out from behind him. "We'll be out when he's ready."
Duo caught the steely tone under the Arabian's words and winced as he belatedly realized his mistake - hugging a sensitive empath while being overcome with lust for that same empath's lover was an incredibly stupid thing to do.
Oh, crap. He was so doomed. He just hoped Quatre wasn't armed...
The door shut behind them rather firmly, and Duo turned to face his friend nervously.
"What the hell is going on with you, Duo?" Quatre hissed in angry confusion. "And don't tell me everything is 'fine' because I can feel your anxiety and guilt. When you collapse in the shower and die - and don't you tell me I was imagining it, because I've felt people close to me die, Duo, I know what it feels like! - everything's not 'fine.' When you reunite with the lover you've been missing terribly for three weeks," Duo flushed deeply as Quatre waved a hand at the still-rumpled bed "and then turn around and start eyeing another man, everything's not 'fine.' And when you start feeling like that" Quatre pointed to the hallway, "about someone you once described as 'as far from normal as it's possible to be,' someone you yourself warned me wouldn't make a good husband because 'he favours expediency over morality,' someone I have never known you to feel more than deep friendship for, then I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything is very definitely NOT 'fine!!'"
Quatre glared at him, as if daring him to speak, but Duo could think of no truth to say that wouldn't make the situation worse. 'I think I'm in love with your lover, but don't worry because I'm not really the Duo you know, and I'll be gone tomorrow or the next day and things will be back to normal - well, if this body survives, which it probably will, but I can't guarantee anything.' Yeah, that would be a good way to cause panic.
The silence stretched.
Quatre ran a hand through his hair and sat down abruptly on the bed, the angry tension draining from him. "OK," the Arabian said a little more calmly, "You were in the shower, and you died. Then I felt you again, and you're obviously alive now, so you managed to... what, Duo? Come back to life?"
Duo bit his lip and looked away from his friend's inquiring stare. How could he explain?
"So you came back to life, but you've been changed by the experience. You're feeling things you've never felt before... But it's more than that..." Quatre's voice trailed off, and Duo looked up in time to see the blond's eyes glaze over slightly. "You're... it's like your emotions aren't really here... like you aren't really here..."
Duo sat on the bed facing Quatre and asked urgently, "Can you feel anything of what I used to be? Is it still here?"
Quatre, his gaze still unfocussed, whispered, "No..." before comprehension flashed over his face, and he leapt up from bed, startled, backing towards the door. "...'what you used to be!?' What are you now?" He stretched one hand for the door. "Does Wuf-"
"No, wait!" Duo held out his own hand, trying to calm Quatre and prevent him from running out into the hall or calling for their friends. He really didn't want to face either Wufei or Heero right now. But he had to tell Quatre something - something truthful - and given that the little blond was intelligent enough to spot any holes, it would have to be the whole truth.
"Quat, please, don't go telling the others just yet. I'll tell you what I know of what's going on - I could really use some help figuring it out. But it sounds crazy, and I... I don't want to worry Wufei, or mess things up with him. Please, will you hear me out in private?" Quatre stared back at him with wide eyes, his hand on the doorknob, undecided. "Please!"
Quatre stared at him, stared through him, the ragged breathing slowly evening out, and finally nodded. "All right. Tell me."
"OK..." Duo licked his lips nervously, and pulled his braid into his hands. He began to speak quickly, hoping that Quatre's innate politeness would prevent him from interrupting.
"Heero and I are partners at Preventers," Quatre frowned, shaking his head and opening his mouth, but Duo hurried on, "and we were sent on a mission to infiltrate and investigate Pandora Research Labs, looking for a new secret weapon they were supposed to be developing. We found one, a black hole generator, but we were discovered, and the weapon powered up while I was pinned down in front of it. I tried to disable it, but I got sucked towards the singularity and..." So far, so good. Quatre was just standing there, leaning against the door and frowning.
Duo took a breath and continued. "When I woke up in hospital, things were... changed. Some of the wounds I had taken were completely gone, the sleeve patches on the Preventer uniforms had a red background, and Heero was, uh... affectionate." Quatre raised an eyebrow at that, but thankfully refrained from commenting.
"Then I felt this itchy, tingling sensation all over my skin, and then I was waking up in a different hospital room, hurt bad, gasping like I'd run a marathon and my heart pounding fit to burst. Wufei was there, and he told me Heero had been killed in the Pandora raid. I... I thought I'd just dreamt waking up earlier." Quatre's frown was melting into sheer puzzlement, but his posture seemed more open than it had been.
"I stayed in that hospital room for about a day and a half, and when I woke up - with the pounding heart and lack of breath again - I was in the office at HQ. And then Heero came waltzing in the door with takeout and coffee. I looked on the desk, and there were floor layouts..." Duo shrugged helplessly, kneading his braid between nervous hands. "We were just in the planning stages of the Pandora mission."
Quatre's puzzled expression was fading, but it was being replaced with what Duo had dubbed "the corporate negotiation face" - the non-revealing mask Quatre sometimes wore to hide what he was thinking. Quatre wasn't any good at faking emotions, but he had learned how to hide them a little better in the past few years - must be his association with Trowa... and in this universe, Heero.
"I tried to explain what was happening, but Wufei and Sally thought I was having an episode of what they called Zero Syndrome, which is... uh... really violent delusions caused b-"
"Zero?" Quatre whispered, his fist pressed tightly against his chest. His eyes met Duo's. "You're afraid..."
Duo swallowed. "Well, yeah. I tried to tell them what was going on, and 'Fei damn near shot me in the head. It wasn't one of my favourite moments, and I'd really like to avoid a repeat performance right now with you."
Quatre drew in a shaky breath. "Go on."
"So, Heero believed me. Well, sorta - he said if it turned out I had Zero Syndrome after all, he'd shoot me himself." They both half-grinned at that, but Quatre's lips smoothed back into an unrevealing line right afterward.
"As near as we could figure, the black hole generator somehow... ripped my soul out of my body and transferred it into another universe, well, a series of universes, actually. As far as I can tell, this is the sixth. Each time I arrive in a new one, it's like... banking into a climb at full power, 10 Gs pressing me down to the floor, can't think, can't breathe, pulse throbbing in my ears. I come out of it after a bit and I'm fine... except I'm in another Duo's body and I have no idea what's going on in his life."
He bit his lip and squeezed his braid anxiously. "And, uh... speaking of his life, I think that he returns to his body after I leave. I was in a medbay last time, and when I left the body, it..." oh crap, there was no way to put this delicately, "...it died. I managed to hang on a little longer and see when my..." damnit, words didn't proper describe what had happened, "uh... his heart started beating again, so I'm hoping he came back... but I don't know for sure."
Quatre looked at Duo soberly for long moment. "So. The Duo I know is gone - you don't know where - and his body is temporarily being inhabited by the soul of another Duo from a different reality who knows nothing of this one. It is your belief that 'my' Duo will return when you leave his body to jump to the next universe. Does that sum it up accurately?"
"Uh..." Gods, it really sounded hopelessly unbelievable when it was put like that. "Yeah, that's about it." Duo scratched his head, feeling distinctly unhappy. He should have done a better job of describing what had happened.
Quatre took a deep breath and pushed himself away from the door. "I'll arrange for someone else to take your post tonight - you're in no condition to stand duty."
"Quat, I told you I'm fine! And if you pull me off duty Wufei will think I was hurt worse than he thought, and I-"
"If what you've said is true," Quatre interrupted firmly, "then you would have no idea what the situation is - what the codes and emergency call signs are, what to look for, who to be wary of. Damnit Duo, you wouldn't even know where your assigned post is and who you're reporting to! And if your story isn't true, then you're either delusional or concussed. In any case, you should not be on security detail tonight."
Duo dropped his gaze to the floor. He couldn't really argue with that reasoning.
"I want you to have a full medical exam." Quatre stared him down as Duo whipped his head up in annoyance. "I'll tell Wufei that I'm worried about you - which is true, by the way - and he'll just chalk it up to me letting my emotions get the better of me. If there's any evidence of a brain injury, or recent strain on your heart, then it should be detectable."
"Strain on my... from when I arrived! So you do believe me?!" Duo asked eagerly.
Quatre looked thoughtfully at him for a moment. "Empathically, I can tell that you believe what you are saying is true, and I know I felt you die, but I want all the hard facts I can get. A detailed exam could show evidence of a recent heart attack, which would support your story, or it could show clear signs of a concussion, or some sort of psychosis. But for now... I suppose I believe you provisionally."
Duo flopped back onto the bed. "Ohhhh - thanks, Q! You have no idea how much of a relief it is to not be instantly labelled crazy."
Quatre smiled finally, one hand rising to rest above his heart. "Oh yes, I think I do."
End Page 31
(:./wingnut/alter31)
