16 Apr 2000
Hi hi! Here's the next part of the AU fic I've been working on. Tyr is
helping me title this one; I really liked the choice "Twenty Years After"
with the explanation that even though that isn't the exact number of years I
stated in another part, it's about the sense of removal and distance from
the beginning and the whap the present is currently giving you in the face.
Well, here you go: next installment!
Disclaimer: GW isn't mine even though I spent my last
tooth wishing for that. :(
Mariemaia slept in on an over-stuffed couch, covered with a thick quilt against the evening's chill. Duo had wandered to the fireplace, leaning against the heated stones and smiling just a little with the influence of Quatre's cleansing company--and the glass of brandy he'd cautiously consumed. Quatre himself sat somewhere behind him, winding up a very long tale of his doings and the lives of the other pilots. All the faded memories that Duo had begun to lose one by one over the years of harsh confinement were coming back, with new bright colours and life. It was almost as if the old company was here with him, the only family he could remember any more, with Maxwell Church so long ago buried and Solo no more than a meaningless word... He thought he caught Heero's unique smell and almost turned; or heard the musical rustle of Trowa's elegant movement and half believed the thin young man must be beside him.
Quatre let his speech trail into silence, and joined Duo by the fire. "I still can't quite believe it," he said. "You were alive all these years, and none of us knew. Oh, Duo, if we'd only known!"
"But you didn't," he shrugged. He was tired, very tired, but his senses were curiously sharp and clear. "It's done with--apparently. The OZies told me the Senate still had to vote on whether to try me?"
"I think it's just a formality, at this point," Quatre told him. "I'm fighting for you. They've come to rely heavily on Winner Resources, has Romafeller; for once I'm glad my opinion carries such weight. As far as I'm concerned, you're here to stay."
Duo nodded. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "I don't have anywhere else to go."
"Mariemaia is welcome, too. I wouldn't dream of seperating you; you move like one person, you know."
"Yes."
Quatre brushed his knuckles over Duo's face. "How did this happen, Duo? I've heard OZ's side. Tell me yours."
The tall ex-pilot-ex-prisoner shrugged slightly. "Wufei and I escaped from the Lunar Base with our Gundams; mine crashed. He was far ahead of me; I think the scientists had gotten farther on Shenlong than on my Shini. I don't know exactly what went wrong--suddenly all these alarms were going off, and I couldn't adjust my entry-angle as I approached Earth."
In mute sympathy, Quatre put his hand on Duo's shoulder.
"I banged my head up in the crash when Deathscythe broke apart mid-atmosphere. I remember that... sort of. I woke up in Jordan Base, laid out on a table with my hands and ankles tied." Duo's expression tightened, then smoothed out. "There was a doctor there, young, smart, friendly. He tried to stop them from hurting me more. Tried. He told me that something broke inside my head--blood vessels, something, I forget now--and that was why I began to have trouble seeing. He tried to stop that, too, even though I was a Gundam pilot, but he couldn't keep those OZ goons from interrogating me with heavy sticks." He forced a smile. "I was blind before I ever reached Rudee. I barely notice it anymore; Mariemaia helps me with everything I can't do for myself, which isn't much. I like having her near me. I like her. The only real regret I have is never being able to see how beautiful she is."
Quatre stroked his fingers over Duo's braid. "She's enchanting. You love her?"
"Yes," Duo said simply.
They were quiet for a while, before Quatre suggested they move the balcony for a breath of fresh air. Duo had consumed a second glass of brandy by now, and the slightly dreamy expression that turned the corner of his thin lips upward was indicative of the lessening of tension between them. The years were melting away, and Quatre felt suddenly a very strong sense of deja vu. He turned to Duo, and reached out to his shoulder slowly, reassured by physical contact. "Do you remember the last time you were here?" he asked.
Duo slowly smiled. Quatre continued. "Even in the middle of all the anxiety of trying to hide from OZ, you still relaxed by nightfall and went running through the gardens in just your tee shirt and boxers. You kept laughing like you'd never seen such life before, and to me it was just another garden in just another of my father's estates."
Duo chuckled softly. "And you came with me, exhausted from all the discussions with the Manguanacs but keeping me company. I played that dreadful game of hide-and-seek with you, and you never once got angry--"
"Well, not to your face."
"Hmm. And... " His husky voice became even softer. "And we made love, right in the middle of all the flowers, and I'd never seen anyone as golden as you, with such beautiful eyes... "
Quatre's throat was tight. "I thought the same things about you. All I'd wanted all day was to kiss you, taste you--"
Duo's hand brushed his, clasping it warmly and the long callused fingers tickling his palm. "Treize is your lover now, isn't he."
Quatre shook his head. "Duo. You've been gone; you don't understand. You say his name with such hate, but you don't know--you can't blame him, really. The war--"
"Don't," Duo commanded gently. "I didn't mean to bring it up. Forget it. You can't convince me, and I'm being stupid, thinking all these things."
"No, not stupid."
"Then try frightened and small, and--lonely, I think, in the middle of all these people, and you, who've grown up without me."
Quatre finally turned in his chair, twisting his head to look up into Duo's dim blank eyes. "Are you really lonely?" he whispered.
Duo shook his head. "Forget it."
"All of it? Duo, I mean... all of it?"
For a moment Duo's thin lips twisted as if in pain. "Seeing you again, it made it all come back," he mused. "For a long time, I *had* forgotten it, and it seems you had too. Probably, that was best, Quatre."
Quatre shook his head, but he didn't know what he meant. After a moment, Duo's hand touched his face, his fingers traveling like the breeze over his cheek and jaw and finding his lips; and then Duo bent and kissed him, slowly, exploring the feel of him and matching it to his memories. Quatre kept his eyes open and stared into Duo's, finding them open too, but blind forever.
"Don't ask me to forget again," Quatre whispered, and this time he kissed Duo, more aggressively, working against the other man's mouth until it opened for him, letting him inside. Duo's fingers slid into his hair, and he leaned against the back of the chair, taking Quatre's tongue into the recesses of his mouth, lifting his free hand to caress the Arabian's throat.
Sleepy sounds from inside the sitting room broke them apart as Mariemaia began to wake. Duo licked his lips and fumbled slightly when reaching for the rail; Quatre flushed and turned away.
"We should really get her to bed," he muttered.
Duo nodded. "Thank you, Quatre. For--everything. This is a dream. A waking dream. In the morning, will you still be here?"
"I have a meeting. But after nine, I'll be here."
"Will you come and talk to me?"
"Of course," Quatre said softly.
Duo smiled in automatic response to that. "Then good night, Quatre."
He forced himself to breathe. "Good night, Duo."
End Part 4
(:./erin/20years4)
