Duo had fiddled with Deathscythe all morning and was beginning to run out of things to check and recheck. He had been giving a lot of thought about how he was going to handle seeing the guys after so long. He didn't think much had changed but after the brief and strange meeting with Quatre from the day before he felt a creeping apprehension crawl over his mind that was making him second guess just how much he did or didn't remember.
He knew he had been sick. He read the files. He remembered that they thought he had died, but he wasn't prepared of how much of an impact that all had made on the rest of the Gundam pilots. Had they really grown so close that they would see him as something other than a necessary causality in their struggle? Apparently, based on how Quatre nearly fainted at the sight of him. He shook his head and tightly screwed the panel shut that he had been working on.
"Well buddy seems we're in kinda new territory. Any suggestions?" The glistening black Gundam just looked down silently at him providing no answers. "Huh, didn't think so." He really wished Quatre had it together a little better so he could ask more questions about just how much he had missed while he was away recovering, but after Quatre woke up from his faint he didn't seem in a talkative mood. In fact he didn't look well at all. "Well no sense in procrastinating. I had better get this reunion over with so we can all get back to business. I'll check up on ya later ol' buddy. Don't you flirt too much with any of those pretty little shuttles over there, k?" Laughing he headed off for the Winner office building he was supposed to be meeting up with the rest of the guys.
"Quatre? Wake up." Quatre felt the gentle nudging against his shoulder and tried to pull himself back into the world of the living. He had slept hard. He didn't even dream. Trowa was holding a steaming mug of tea and the scent of it alone made the tension ease from his body. He sat up and rubbed the grit out of his eyes and took the cup from Trowa with a small smile of thanks.
"You really do look like Hell, Winner."
Quatre blinked sleepy eyes over to where he heard the sound of Wufei's voice come from and smirked around his mug. He was perched on the edge of the long meeting table staring out the window. "Yeah well it's been a shitty couple of days." Wufei's turned, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline and he flashed a look to Trowa who was amused for some reason at Quatre's new found use of explicatives. "But despite that I am relieved you're here."
"I imagine so. This whole thing about Duo being alive... it's simple amazing."
"Trowa filled you in I take it." Wufei nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. For the first time he noticed there was no sign of Heero in the room. "Heero?" He asked quietly.
"Couldn't find him. He's damned elusive when he has the mind to be." Wufei huffed as he rubbed his temple with one slender finger.
"That's not good. Seeing Duo here; alive will be too much of a shock." Quatre frowned and stood immediately wishing he hadn't as a sudden wave of vertigo washed over him causing him to almost lose the grip he had on the mug and slip his eyes shut as he tried to steady himself.
Wufei was there in an instant catching his elbow and shot a quick look to Trowa who was already pulling the chair over to get Quatre to sit back down in. "Careful. Sit yourself down. I have enough on my mind without worrying about you falling on your face, Winner." Wufei grumbled.
"I sent Sally to try to track him down before Trowa and I headed back here to check up on you. Apparently the right choice."
Quatre laughed softly and smiled a bit like his old self. "Did I mention how glad I am that you guys are here?"
Trowa dropped his hand on Quatre's shoulder and gave him a small squeeze before returning to his post at the doorway that led to the hall. He expected Heero to come around the corner any moment.
What he didn't expect to see was Duo.
Duo cracked his knuckles on both hands before heaving a huge sigh and turned the corner of the hall that would lead him to the office he had been at the day before with Quatre. He was watching the floor so intently and so deep in thought that when he looked up and saw Trowa standing in his path he nearly yelped.
Recovering more quickly than the Heavyarm's pilot, he quirked a grin and waited for Trowa to say something. Anything. But Trowa just stood there with his green eyes wide and his mouth working despite the fact no sound was forthcoming. Duo laughed a little and Trowa blinked. "You're not gonna take a swan dive to the floor like Quat did, are you?"
Wufei heard the sound of Duo's laugh in the hallway and paled. He willed his feet to move but the message wouldn't get through to his brain. Then he heard him say something to Trowa who was standing in the doorway with his mouth agape and found himself moving to the hallway next to Trowa to confirm what he was hearing was true and not just his over worked imagination.
"Hey Wu-man, Tro. Ummm, I had planned out everything I was gonna say when I got here but now that I'm here in front of you guys I can't seem to think of what it was." He gave them a sheepish grin and folded his hands behind his head tugging slightly on his braid seeking comfort where he could. They stood unspeaking and unmoving for several moments making Duo look away and start to study the wall on his right side before he tried to speak again. "Well... this is uncomfortable, huh?"
Quatre appeared and slipped between Wufei and Trowa and a bit of relief lit Duo's face. "Duo."
"Q-man, I know you said they'd be surprised, but dumbstruck?" He tried to laugh but it didn't quite seem to come out as anything more than a weak chuckle.
"Come on guys let's get out of the hallway." Quatre ushered Duo inside past Wufei and Trowa to get them settled on the sofa at the far side of the room.
Before Duo could turn to sit he found himself being spun around and hugged harshly by Wufei. "Uhh... okay man. I'm all right." Duo squeaked out in surprise as he padded Wufei's back softly. Wufei released his hold and blinked away the moisture in his eyes before turning abruptly to stare out the window and get his breathing back to some kind of normal rhythm.
"We just are a little out of sorts Duo, after all it's very much like seeing a ghost." Trowa said quietly not able to stop himself from staring at Duo.
Duo frowned and nodded his understanding. The stare was beginning to unnerve him though and he looked to Quatre for some sign of what it was he was to do next. "So... what now?"
Duo was a thin, but looked much better than he had the day that he had run from the hospital. His color was good under the circumstances and his eyes were bright, reminding Trowa of irises that grew near Cathy's trailer back at the circus grounds on L3. They were alert and not dulled with pain the way they had been on the shuttle as they raced him back to the medical center. He was close to death that day. Trowa shivered and finally looked away.
Quatre smiled softly and placed a hand on Duo's knee as he sat down on the sofa next to him. "We're waiting for Heero to get here. Then I'll explain our next course of action. How are you feeling?"
"Like I've stepped into the twilight zone." Duo said quietly.
"We all just so very glad to have you back, Duo." Quatre smiled first at him and then at Trowa.
A sudden gasp brought all their attention to Heero who was standing with Sally in the doorway; shock plainly written across their faces.
"Damn it." Wufei hissed as he saw Heero's expression go from shock to anger, to nothing in under three seconds.
Heero's piercing look was fixed on Duo's wide eyes. Everything else fell away. "W-what is this?" He whispered; barely audible against the rushing of blood in his ears. He reached out and grabbed the frame of the door and leaned heavily against it never breaking his eye contact with the phantom on the sofa next to Quatre. His knuckles were quickly turning white with strain as he gripped the wood.
Quatre and Duo rose instantly and Duo met the intense look and tried to smile. It took him a moment to find his voice and when he spoke he frowned as the words faltered and hung in the air. "H-hey Heero. H-how are you?" Thoughts and images screamed through his mind at the sight of Heero causing the edges of his vision to begin to gray. He cocked his head to one side desperately trying to remember what the last thing he had said to Heero was. Where they even friends? He swayed slightly and felt Wufei's hand on his arm while he was settled back onto the sofa. He then watched as Heero bolted from his place in the doorway almost knocking Sally over in his haste; unable to stop him or even make a sound in protest. Wufei was cursing up a blue streak next to him as he turned his confused eyes to Quatre who was shaking his head sadly from side to side.
"Heero wait!" Trowa was out the door in the same moment going after Heero as Sally rushed over to the sofa.
"Duo are you all right?"
He met her worried expression and smiled. "Yeah, just a little overload is all." He turned to Quatre who was twisting the hem of his shirt with his fingers. "Is Heero all right?"
Wufei let out a soft snort from behind them. "He had no idea you were alive."
Duo stared down at his hands that were clutched tightly in his lap and frowned sadly. "Oh. I didn't realize that he would be so upset seeing me. I gather that things haven't changed then?"
"What do you mean Duo?" Sally asked softly.
"I was just hoping his opinion of me had changed. I mean... the last mission we were on... I screwed up royally, I had hoped he wouldn't still see me as... a liability." He shrugged and looked up at Quatre and smiled again. "I guess things haven't changed as much as I had thought they did while I was gone."
Quatre grabbed Duo's hand with his and gave them a little shake. "Oh Duo. That's not it all. He and you had grown close in the past year. You were partners, friends. He doesn't feel that way about you at all. He's just in shock that's all. He thought you were dead."
Duo shook his head as tears filled his eyes. "I don't... I don't remember us ever being friends. I don't remember... " He closed his eyes tightly and blew out a sigh. When he reopened his eyes they were bright with anger and he was frowning again. "This is harder than I thought it was going to be. Just what the fuck happened to me?"
Quatre looked up at Wufei who shrugged. "I guess we should start at the beginning then." He took a deep breath and settled himself comfortably. "You had just gotten back from seeing Howard... "
End Part 4
(:./ebony/red4)
