22-Aug-2007
Title: Seasonal Drift Part Sixteen
Author: Ebonydove
Archived: GWAddiction
Warnings: Duo's POV
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: yes, vauge from the last episodes of the series
Authors notes: Forgive me know for where this is heading...the muse decided late in the game. Thanks again to TK and Sunhawk for the encouragement!
We had only been driving for a short while before it started. We left the highway and headed north to where I could only guess the mysterious Doctor Ishikawa's lab was located. Once clear from general traffic, I followed Trowa and Wufei into a semi populated area and we ditched both cars. I only rolled my eyes when they looked to me to aquire a new vehicle. It only took me about 20 minutes to find a decent van for us to borrow and as soon as we had all the gear in the van we took off down the road again. Trowa took over driving and at some point soon after both Heero and I had fallen asleep in the back. I woke up slowly to a soft conversation between Trowa and Wufei, with Trowa not sounding very happy. And even though I'm sure Trowa would sense it, I feigned sleep so I could hear as much as possible before they noticed I was awake.
"I don't think it's a good idea at this point to encourage any kind of relationship between them. Heero has said so himself." Wufei was adamant and sounding rather pissy about the current topic of what I could only assume was Heero and I and how we obviously had become more than just partners in a work sense.
"And my point is that Heero has decided to get him involved and we need to respect his wishes. If Quatre had excluded me from all this, I know I'd feel like Duo does now and I don't agree with prolonging it just because it's outrageous."
Wufei sighed and said nothing for a long while and I was about to let them know I was awake when Wufei said something that made me a little afraid. "What happens if Duo decides he doesn't want to do this? If after Heero tells him what is happening that he decides not to get involved?"
"I don't see that happening, but if it does, then we do what we have to in order to support Heero any way that we can. Quatre wouldn't want it any other way either."
And that sounded like it was the end of it. Up until right then I hadn't really thought about Quatre and where he fit into everything and I was getting a little irritated that everyone seemed to have more information than me...again. I made a point of sounding like I was waking up and wasn't surprised to see Trowa watching me in the rear-view mirror when I opened my eyes.
"You feeling okay, Duo?" He asked pleasantly.
"Better." I sat up and leaned over the back of the seats in front of me to peek in on Heero who was still lying across the seats. I didn't think he was asleep either, but let him pretend. "So how long before we get to this lab and what's the deal when we do get there? Is this guy going to be able to help Heero with this whole mind - drift thing?"
"Duo, do you remember a few months back when Heero had that mission that took him to L4 with Quatre?" Trowa asked me instead of answering my question about the lab.
"Yeah. I remember they both came back exhausted. Some kind of research on a relic that was discovered. This has something to do with the lab and this doc we're going to see I presume?" I didn't need to hide my irritation any longer, they both knew I was annoyed and wanted some straight answers.
"They were asked to consult on something that was believed to have fallen from the nearby planet of Gamma 16. Heero and Quatre met with Dr. Ishikawa's daughter Naomi, there."
Sudden flashes of blood spattered walls jumped into my mind when I heard her name. Heero lying on the floor...Heero who I thought had been killed. "Why?" I asked quietly trying to keep my voice and my thoughts steady.
"Maybe we should wait until we get to the lab to tell him the rest Barton." Wufei interrupted; obviously concerned with the course the conversation was taking.
"No, I'll continue." Heero's voice interrupted us suddenly as he sat up and rubbed his eyes a little. Trowa slowed down and pulled the van over in order to give Heero our undivided attention. "Quatre and I traveled with Naomi to investigate what appeared to be the remains of an ancient craft. No-one knew at the time, but after considerable research we found that it was the remains of a Taiidan Ion Canon Frigate."
"I remember, you and Quatre presented a report on it when you returned." Trowa mentioned as if something had just fallen into place for him.
"Correct."
"It was also around then that you and Quatre both came down with some weird-ass flu." I added, remembering that Heero was beyond his normal cranky self and was down right difficult even for me to deal with.
"Correct."
"Quatre seemed to improve, but you didn't. That's when Naomi recommended you see her father based on the symptoms that you were showing and because it seemed to be tied to the directly to the relic you were exposed to." Trowa added.
"Correct. I traveled back to L4 and the doctor performed some tests."
"That's when he put you under the hypnosis, correct?" Wufei asked.
"Correct."
I frowned hard. I was not fond of anyone, especially a doctor messing around with shit like that. I don't care how good the intentions may have been and was suddenly alarmed. We were not a group of people who had 'normal' upbringing. We all had some serious demons buried in our physicies that were best left alone. Heero more than any of us had people in his head before without a positive result, so I was surprised that he had allowed such a thing again.
"When I returned I still was not well." It was starting to come together for me. He had been calling in sick to headquarters off and on for a few days. "Naomi had been studying the relic when she had come across something very unusual. I was not able to meet with her about it and traveled back here without connecting with her on her findings. She called me to let me know that she would be coming to see me about what she had discovered and eluded to it being connected with my symptoms."
"And...she arrived the day you were late...the day I came to your apartment looking for you..."
Yes, she came to confirm something that apparently only I knew...something that her father had also asked me when I had been under hypnosis."
"About the relic you had been researching with her?"
"Yes."
"What was she trying to get you to confirm?" I asked and tried to keep the Preventers tone from it. Heero tilted his head and looked at me for a long moment.
"Before that dead planet was named Gamma 16, it was known as the planet of Kadesh. Not unlike earth during the Oz wars, it was a planet ravaged by wars, disease, famine, unchecked population growth, squanderous waste of few precious natural resources and factions who did nothing more than devour everything good and beautiful about it." He paused and turned his face away from me. Despite feeling compelled to each out and take his hand, I remained very still as he continued. "The Taiidan were soldiers who believed in truth and order and were fighting for the freedom of their planet from the Kharak."
"How do you know all this?" Wufei asked carefully.
"Kadesh was my home." Heero said, finally meeting my eyes.
I didn't mean too, but I laughed. It was a loud bark of laughter that bubbled up from my gut and exploded from my mouth before I could stop it. They all stared at me and I knew why. My laugh sounded borderline hysterical to me and for good reason. Gamma 16 had been extinct before earth had been formed...it couldn't be Heero's home..."it's impossible."
Heero dropped his gaze and seemed to be gathering his thoughts as I tried to re-gain my composure. I wiped away the tears from my eyes and squeezed his shoulder. "Heero, I'm sorry. It's just...it's impossible. You came from L1, you fought in the wars to free the colonies from the earth's oppression, from Oz..."
"I did. And it wasn't until I stepped onto the wreckage of that ship did I remember...that I...awoke."
"So this 'drifting' you have experienced since your return is a result from your exposure to the craft." Wufei stated.
"Hai."
"But what does it mean? This awakening?" Wufei asked like some kind of excited student with his eyes wide and his full concentration focused on every word Heero was saying. I however knew by the buzzing in my head that I was in trouble. Not quite shock, but not quite ok either.
"Is it like the zero system..." Trowa whispered. "You and Quatre were able to use it at a whole different level than anyone else. It almost became a part of you. Is it...the same?"
"Not quite the same, but similar." Heero answered quietly. "It means that I am aware now."
"Aware of what?" Trowa asked in a tone almost as hushed as Heero's now was.
"Before the Kharak had consumed everything that Kadesh could offer the Taiidan, who held the secrets of their technology, terraforming, and culture, split from them and fled in an attempt to save what was left of their civilization. Although the Kharak pursued them ferociously, the Taiidan disappeared into the depths of space and were thought lost forever. The Kharak were thought to have died out a long time ago. But when I stepped onto that ship I became instantly aware that the Taiidan were not lost, and neither are the Kharak. I...felt them. We appear to have a link."
Wufei rubbed at his temple a little and sighed. "So then if the Taiidan are aware of your existence, the Kharak are as well."
Heero nodded.
"And what came looking for you at your apartment that day...that killed Naomi..." I whispered, suddenly very afraid of the answer.
"It was a Voodun. A creature that is mostly machine and was used during the Kadesh wars for assassinations." Heero paused and looked at my stricken face. "I know the location of the Taiidan. If the Kharak find them and recapture their technology, they will return here to reclaim what they lost."
"Earth..." Wufei and Trowa said at the same time.
"But why come after you and only kill her?" Trowa asked after a long thoughtful pause.
"Because from what the doctor and I have discovered through the hypnosis, I am the heir of the lost empire of Taiidan and am the only one that can stop the Kharak. They won't stop, but they won't kill me until they have everything. I am the key to unlocking the Taiidan technology and all of their secrets."
My stomach rolled. Heero was some kind of alien? It was the stupidest, most ridiculous thing I had ever heard...Memories flooded my mind. Heero's lack of emotion when it came to the people around him, with Relena, his uncanny ability to heal and survive things that no other human being could. Human. He wasn't human...I erupted from my seat and flung the van door open, barely making it to the ditch before I got violently ill. I couldn't seem to catch my breath and even after I had spilled every last drop of liquid from my stomach I couldn't seem to stop.
Trowa was at my side instantly where Heero and Wufei were obviously absent. "Duo, calm down...it's okay...it's going to be okay..."
They knew. They had known this and kept it from me all this time. Even if they didn't know the details they had suspected long before Heero's admission. I threw my arm out and knocked his hand away. I just needed a few minutes...just a moment...to decide what I was going to do now.
End Part 16
(:./ebony/drift16)
