11-Feb-2002
Title: Death & the Phoenix
Author: Ebonydove
Pairings: 1x2, 3+4
Warnings: Language, Duo-torture, sap, yaoi, some slight OOC, maybe some
spoilers.
Disclaimers: At this point I would love to keep them in my back pocket for
use at a whim, but I still don't own them. Drats.
Heero was relieved that Duo had finally fallen asleep. The braided pilot was so restless at times, sleep coming hard for him more often than not. His violet-eyed love had moved closer to him and drifted off. He lay just looking at Duo, asleep in his arms for the past hour. Heero smiled to himself, as Duo snuggled closer in his sleep, glad that Duo was always the one to initiate the snuggling. Duo was always so trusting when it came to things like that. He would risk peace, endure threats of death, or just about anything else to say where he was forever.
Although in the entire time he had known Duo, he never appeared outwardly needy. But Heero had seen through the enormous hole in that almost impenetrable upbeat façade, and knew what Duo craved more than mere snuggling or a good romp in bed. He needed to feel protected, trusted... loved. He knew that even before Duo got sick. Even though Duo had always went on about how good he was on his own, Heero didn't buy that completely either. He was diligent. No doubt. An expert in every sense of his missions, but it was in the space between that Duo got himself into trouble. He didn't think that Duo was good left to his own devices for too long. He could always find cause to blame himself for all the wrongs he had witness or participated in during his life.
In the silence that Duo always tried to fill was the torment, laying in wait for a moment of vulernability to spring up and rip him to shreds. It was truth that Duo ran from. The knowledge that he is only human and is powerless to keep things from happening no matter what he could do. Heero knew that the truth behind the L2 plague and Duo's own role in it had to be tearing him inside out. And wasn't quite sure how to keep Duo focused, and from spiraling down the dark path he had put himself on. Heero knew Duo's intentions. He was going down fighting for Earth and the nameless millions threatened, but he had stopped fighting for himself. He had accepted that he was going to die. Now he had to give him another reason to continue to fight for life.
Duo rolled over on the tiny cot to find Heero awake, but still holding him close. He let out a yawn and stretched. He looked at Heero thoughtfully, noting the seriousness of Heero's gaze. "We gotta go soon."
"I know." Heero's gaze softened. He kissed Duo again, and breathed a heavy sigh as he felt Duo's heated skin. The fever that he had thought was brought on by their lovemaking hadn't cooled. It had only grown leaving Duo slightly flushed and his brow damp with sweat. Heero had hoped that he would have gotten some rest. He himself, hadn't slept at all. Instead he guarded over Duo's restless slumber and holding him in his arms for a while longer.
Four hours later, Heero stretched, his back popping as vertebrae moved back into place. Heero frowned slightly at Duo's pale complexion and sweat soaked bangs. They had an hour to rondevue with the others before making their way to the borders of the L2 colony and the base where the labs were supposedly located. Hating to wake him, he shook Duo gently watching dull eyes focus on his.
"Duo?"
"I know. It's starting." Duo wiped his face and sat up, the red spots dancing before his vision and his head swimming. Heero steadied him and frowned deeper.
"I'm sorry, we shouldn't have... "
Duo turned and smiled affectionately to him and brushed his lips over Heero's. "I'll never regret what we shared last night and if time went backwards and I had to choose again, I do the very same thing. You are my only one. My one true heart."
"Duo, I'm worried, your fever." Heero held his hand against Duo's cheek.
"I'm fine. I feel fine." Duo took Heero's hand in his own and kissed it. "Shower, then it's time to go. The clock is ticking." He saw Heero wince slightly at the words, but he got himself untangled from Duo and pulled on his briefs.
"Down the hall to the left. My stuff's in there. Let the water run for a few minutes or you may freeze your personals." Duo gave him a wicked smile and a wink. "And I know, I'd hate to see that happen to such a nice... "
"Duo." Heero mock growled. The fierceness had been replaced with something far softer.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." Duo threw the blanket off and grabbed his pants, tugging them on and leaving them unbuttoned at the top. "You're gonna need a new shirt, Yuy. Good thing Howard has extras." He laughed as he followed Heero to the door. He paused at the frame to steady himself as dizziness threatened to send him to the floor, but thankfully Heero hadn't seen. By the time he had turned around to see if Duo was behind him, Duo had managed to slap on a smile and steady himself completely, releasing his white knuckled grip on the doorframe.
After a quick systems check of the shuttle and a complete refuel and supply load from the Sweepers, the two set off to meet with the others. Twenty minutes later Heero watched the affectionate goodbye between Howard and Duo on the platform from a distance. They both put on appearances in front of the rest of the Sweepers, but Heero knew better. He watched as Duo tried to tie up loose ends, just in case.
Howard didn't watch Duo get into the small craft they were going to take, but chose to remain below deck in Peacemillion's massive hold. Duo stared at Deathscythe and clutched his cross in a moment of silent prayer. Then he turned and got into the cockpit of the shuttle next to Heero.
They flew in communications silence as raced to meet up with the others at the rondevue point. They had gone through all the details of their mission. Heero's eyes were closed and his head was bowed, chin almost touching his chest where his arms were folded neatly across. For a minute it seemed as if he was asleep, but when the perimeter beacon flashed on the console he opened his eyes and addressed it.
"T minus four minutes. Thrusters engaged. Killing engine." Duo recited as he shut down any electrical systems. The lab was located on a small outpost base near the 02 LaGrange point. It was nestled secretly on a chunk of asteroid that was held in the natural magnetic pull from the colonies own inertia. The Sweepers had used it as a jump point on occasion, but it had long been abandoned after the Alliance was destroyed and Oz took over. Duo had already been sent to Earth during the takeover of the L2 colony of Oz forces so he wasn't sure if it had been left booby trapped or not. But they'd know soon enough.
Heero could hear Duo suiting up in the small space behind the cockpit, securing the hoses that fit from behind the suit to the helmet in order for him to breathe. They were docking fifty meters from the backside of the asteroid where Quatre and Trowa should already be waiting. Wufei not too far away, was using cover from L2 to hide his Gundam and would be providing back up for Trowa and Duo.
Trowa agreed to the plan only stating that he wanted more detailed maps of the interior of the base they were to infiltrate and destroy before going in with Duo. He had added that a backup plan was necessary in case Duo couldn't make it, which Quatre quickly devised and organized. But Duo was really the only choice to go, seeing he knew the layout and could disarm any bombs faster than any of the rest of them could in the zero gravity environment.
Heero would be taking care of the magnetic locks and the security if it was still intact, as well as shielding any communications from detection by rerouting them through his laptop.
"Maxwell." Wufei glared at the pilot of Deathscythe with impatience. "Maxwell, are you listening? You had better be. I'm not going to be the one who comes charging to rescue your ass, so you be careful."
Duo's eyes snapped up at hearing Wufei's voice buzz through his headset and smiled. They were supposed to be under silence until Heero secured their frequency. He never thought for a minute, that it would Wufei who was the one to break it. "But oh what a nice ass it is, Wu-babe." He laughed back picturing Wufei's face. He wiped the sweat that trickled towards his left eye away and secured his helmet.
"Especially in that astrosuit."
"Trowa?!" Duo almost facefaulted hearing the dry sarcasm coming from Trowa over the comm as well. And laughed hearing the squawk from both Quatre and Wufei.
"I'm glad I secured the comm link six minutes ago, or Oz may know just how nice Duo's ass is as well." Heero's nasal monotone droned over the line, causing Duo to giggle in his helmet. Then laugh, then cough, hard. "Duo?"
Heero waited with a white knuckled grip on the handle of the shuttle's hatch for Duo's coughing to stop. He couldn't see Duo's face through the blaster shield on the helmet so he couldn't judge Duo's condition completely. From what he was hearing though, it sounded like Duo was getting worse. He was breathing shallow and shakily, the coughs biting through the comm line, and Heero knew that his fever was still raging from the night before. Duo had taken something that he had from Sally, but it didn't seem to help all that much. He tried to ignore the growing sense of dread as he watched Duo tug on his lines and secure his suits' seals.
Duo could hear the panic at the edge of Heero's voice as he asked the question by using his name. He coughed again and tried to get a deep enough breath to answer, but found each time he tried to catch it he would bark out another throat ripping cough. It felt like his lungs were trying to expel the fluid that was beginning to fill his air deprived lungs. Finally he swallowed a few times and took some deep breaths through his nose and was able to answer. "Yeah, Heero I hear you. I'm a go."
Hero heard the determination through the comm and although he couldn't see Shinigami's face, he knew he was in attendance. Somehow it made Heero feel better knowing that Death would be watching over Duo today, instead of taking him. "We will encounter heavy resistance at the edge of the asteroid belt if they figure out we're here. We know that there will be Oz patrols, as well as soldiers that have sided with the White Fang in the area. If they figure we're going for the base, they may also figure out what we're after."
"That's why we have to work together as a team and stick to the plan precisely. To buy as much time as possible to find if there's anything left in the labs we can salvage." Quatre spoke softly, but with force to convince him of the gravity of their objective.
"I remember when I was with the Sweepers, that the lab is very close to the Orion belt. It's like the Bermuda Triangle of L2. A great place to hide things you don't want found. The dead ships and Mobile suits are rigged with explosives and are floating in that maze of rock as booby traps. I know, 'cause I rigged some of them myself, so we can use them if things get hairy." He flashed his eyes to Heero who was studying him intensely, but knew that Heero couldn't see him under the shield.
"How do we set them off?" Heero asked Duo suspiciously.
"Remote. I got the frequency code. If things go bad, they can be triggered manually." Duo answered quickly getting ready to open the bay door and make his way to the asteroid.
"And you have the frequency code and want to be the one to blow them if things go bad?" Heero growled, not liking the sound of it at all.
"Seeing that I have the code and the experience in the area, yes. Plus the fact that of all of us, I'm expendable if it all goes to shit."
"We are all expendable, Maxwell. But I agree with your thoughts." Wufei broke in silencing any protest from Quatre or Heero.
"We have the information that is necessary for our mission. We don't need anything else. Duo's right. He and I will go in and see what's left there before destroying the lab. The rest can back us up and watch for patrols." Trowa stated calmly.
"Duo?"
"Yeah Q?" Duo had to shut his eyes willing not to invision Quatre's worried expression. "You're my best friend, Duo. Be careful."
"I will Q. You just concentrate on keeping us on your tracker, k? You gotta be the one to pick our sorry asses up." Duo reassured him as much as possible through the comm link.
"Duo." He could hear the emotion in his friends' voice. He and Quatre had grown close during the war. Like brothers. And he could hear the fear hanging in the eerie calm over the comm link as Quatre searched for the right words to say.
"I know Q. I love you too."[1] Duo sighed and steadied himself. He broke the soft mood, forcing Shinigami to stand back up and take control of his battered nerves and his aching heart. He needed to focus on the mission ahead of them, nothing else.
Heero watched Duo carefully brush his fingers over his chest touching the metal relic that hung there under his suit. It seemed he needed to remind Duo that suicide wasn't the correct course of action, again. He was about to float over to squeeze Duo's shoulder before he left the safety of the shuttle but stopped short when he spoke again.
"Enough melodrama. Let's do this. 02 standing by."
"03 standing by."
"04 in position."
"05 on target. Coordinates being transmitted."
"01. T minus three... two... and mark."
"Roger that." Trowa was off.
"Ditto. The game is afoot.[2]" Shinigami spoke evenly breaking through the buzz on the link. Duo was gone out the hatch door in the next second. Using the thrusters on his pack to push him towards the asteroid, he drifted into the blackness of space.
End Part 12
Notes:
[1] - I didn't want to confuse anyone about Quatre and Duo's relationship. I
think that of all the characters in the series, they would have been the most at
ease with expressing their feeling about each other, even though I don't see
them as a couple necessarily. I think they are best friends and love each other
in that sense, not the same as Duo and Heero.
Quatre: "I don't know. I think Duo and I could be good together."
Trowa: "... !"
Duo: "He's kidding, Tro. Really, put the gun down and step away from the braid."
Quatre: Giggle.
Duo: Glare. "You are not helping."
[2] - A quote from Young Frankenstein, a movie I saw a long time ago.
(:./ebony/death12)
