Okays! This story has a bit of background, so you people get to hear about it, aren't you excited? ^_~
About a month ago, I took in a stray puppy that I'd found /starving/ on the street. He was in poor condition and just one terrible sight. I started to try and think of a name for him, and of course the first thing I thought of was Duo (duh) I mena here was this little streetdog who had no home and he needed someone to watch out for him. But I'll tell ya, for some odd reason, I couldn't stick with the name Duo, and I kept thinking of him as Solo. /Big/ mistake, cuz we all know how Solo ended up, ne? Well here's a spoilor for anyone who doesn't know, Solo died of a plague. ::whispers::: About two weeks ago, the puppy got /really/ sick and I took him to the vet. The vet said he had distemper, and the only /humane/ thing to do to a dog that has distemper is to put them down. I actually cried when I heard this, I NEVER cry. I brought the puppy home so I could consult with my grandmother on whether or not we wanted to let the vet put Solo down, or take him to an animal shelter.
It was then that I started this fic. I needed some way to get rid of all the grief and regret I had locked up in me. I was going to have this done before I had to put the puppy down. :::sniffles::: But the night before I was going to put Solo down, he started to eat again.
He hadn't eaten anything for nearly a week and he couldn't even keep water down without throwing it up or having the ::coughs:: the trots so to speak. This was like at 12 at night and I ran into my granma room and woke her up, I was soooooo happy. The next day, Solo was looking even better and I took him into see the vet. Both my grandmother and the vet assistant had told me that Solo had distemper, so I went to the vet with a heavy heart, thinking I was /still/ sentencing Solo to death. But the vet took a look at him and said maybe he'd thrown the virus off and maybe he was doing better and to wait and see. Well I'm VERY happy to say, Solo seems have have a made a full recovery. He's back to /attacking/ his food without even bothering to chew as he inhales it and he's no longer sick ::::hugs everyone happily:::: So I guess that's why I named this story 'The Choice' it was about both Heero's choice and my choice between following what everyone was telling me, or clinging to the fragile hope I had for one little lost puppy. ::looks at the looooooong story she just told::: Yare yare, well we'll just call this lovely little piece of rambling 'Solo's story' and get on with the GW fanfics ne? :::winks:::
Warnings: None really, maybe a tiny bit of angst if you wanna call it that and a tiny bit of shounen ai. I don't own GW, nor do I own the G-boys :::sighs::: No matter how much I wish I did, oh well. :::snaps fingers::::
Please send c&c to sheira_kagema@yahoo.com
"Heero! Hurry up!" Duo called over his shoulder as he grinned manically at the Japanese boy.
"Baka!" Heero growled as he was jostled by another person. "Duo chotto!"
"Beeedah!" Duo replied as he held up a hand. "You should hurry up. Can't have Mister Perfect Soldier falling behind on a miss-" Duo was abruptly cut off by Heero's hand covering his mouth.
"Duo no baka." Heero growled, his voice deadly soft.
"Gomen." Duo whispered around Heero's mouth, his eyes huge. Heero scowled and released Duo.
"Let's just get to this safehouse you mentioned."
"Yoshi!" Duo cried exuberant as he all but bounced forward. Coming back his home colony on L2 filled Duo with an odd light-heartedness that he rarely experienced. Maybe it was because Heero was here with him and he wanted to show the stoic Japanese pilot all there was to his home colony. "Heero! Hayaku!!" Duo cried impatiently and Heero scowled even as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. The Japanese pilot was having a bit of difficulty adjusting to this colony for some reason. Heeo sighed and hefted his carisack on his shoulder. The artifical sun beat down mercilessly on him as he trudged along in Duo's wake.
With each passing moment, his annoyance at the braided boy grew. Why was he so dammned hyper?! Didn't this blasted heat have any effect on the loud-mouthed idiot? Heero growled in frustration and winced as some sweat got in his eyes. Duo laughed from up ahead as he knelt down next to a thin waif of a child. The Japanese boy paused a moment, frozen at the sight of Duo so carefree and open. The merry ring of Duo's laugh met Heero's ears and the dark haired boy was surprised to hear true happiness in that laugh instead of the usual desperate maniacal tone he'd come to associate with Duo's laughter.
'He runs... he hides.' Heero thought silently as he caught up with Duo. Truly, that was what Duo did, his laugh was one of a desperate man who was trying so hard to run from his own daemons. Maybe coming back to L2 wasn't such a bad idea, Heero found he could stand the heat if only he could hear Duo laugh like that more often.Wait a minute!! Where had /that/ come from!? Heero blinked in surprise and he was even more shocked to find his legs unsteady. By sheer force of will, Heero made himself walk forward one step at a time.
"Duo, the safehouse." Heero said as he shook his head, trying to get rid of the odd ringing in his ears.
"Hai!" Duo said goodbye to the child and led Heero through some back streets till they stood before a rundown, ramshackle hut.
"This is it?" Heero asked looked at Duo incredulous.
"It doesn't look habitable."
"It's not." Duo grinned mysteriously and pulled Heero into the hut. "That's what makes it the perfect place for the /entrance/ to a safehouse." Duo pushed a pile of wood out of the way and moved a mat aside to reveal a small lever. He pulled on it and a small hole appeared in the ground. "This leads to some abandoned hangarbays that pretty much everyone has forgotten existed. The perfect place to store Shinigami and Wing, ne?" Heero nodded and Duo tossed his and Heero's bag into the hole. After that, Duo lowered himself cautiously through the hole. "It's about a six foot drop, so be careful." Duo warned as he let go. Heero heard the American pilot land with a muffled 'Umph'
"You okay?"
"Fine!" Duo called and Heero nodded. He maneuvered himself into the small opening and dropped to the ground below. Heero landed wrong and his ankle twisted, sending him crashing to the ground. "Heero!? Are you alright??" Heero laid on the ground stunned for a moment before he pushed himself up.
"Aa." He muttered as he glared down at his right leg. "Just landed wrong." The Japanese boy looked around into the murky gloom and he could just barely make out Duo's outline with the help of the slight light shining down through the hole. "How are we supposed to close that?" Heero asked motioning at the hole. "Can you give me a boost?" Duo asked and Heero nodded as he bent down next to the braided boy. He cupped his hands and Duo place his foot in them. "One, two, three." Heero lifted Duo up and gritted his teeth as his arms protested the strain. His ankle felt like it was on fire and Heero had to bite back a cry of pain as Duo pushed the latch up and locked it. They were plunged into total darkness and Heero's head reeled from a sudden lack of orientation.
He wavered a bit and Duo grabbed onto his shoulders in panic "Oi!" Duo said as he leapt to the ground. "Don't do that! You nearly had me crashing into a wall!" "Gomen." Heero said softly as he leaned against a wall. "Do you have a light?"
"Che, thanks for the understanding." Duo muttered as he felt around blindly for his and Heero's packs. Duo found his and dug a flashlight out and flipped it on. He winced as the light hurt his unprepared eyes. "You ready to go?" Duo asked turning towards Heero but making sure to train the flashlight away from the Japanese pilot's face.
"Aa." Heero said as he grabbed his pack. Duo grabbed his and the two made their way through the access tunnels quickly. Every now and then, Duo would consult a small map he carried and finally Duo opened a side door and led Heero into the room that would become their temporary home.
"This is it." Duo said grinning as he turned on the lights. "Oi, I'm gonna go and arrange to have Shinigami and Wing flown into the hangarbay. It's right through that door there." Duo said pointing at a door on the far side of the room. Heero glanced at it and continued his survey of the room.
The Japanese pilot noted the double bed off to one side along with the shabby but sturdy looking table next to a small cooler unit. "The bathroom's through that other door next to the closet." Duo said pointing at two doors directly in front of Heero.
Heero walked over to the table and pulled his laptop out of his bag. It was expertly packed between clothes so it hadn't been damaged in the six foot fall it had suffered. Duo tossed his bag next to Heero. "There should be some food in my bag if you get hungry, same with water. I'll pick some more stuff up after I deal with the Gundams."
"Okay." Heero said as he booted up his computer. "I'll inform Doctor J that we made it here with no problems. Duo nodded and his eyes lingered on Heero's back before he tunred to leave the room. "You know where to reach me if there are any problems."
"Aa." Duo sighed and hung his head. Why did he even /bother/ to try and talk to Heero? "I swear the extent of his vocabulary is mainly composed of 'Aa', 'Hn', 'Baka', 'Ninmu Ryoukai', 'Ninmu Kanryuu', and everyone's favorite 'Omae o Korosu'!" Duo muttered to himself as he stalked down the hallway. Although he didn't let on about it, Duo was hurt that Heero hadn't at least /attempted/ to be more friendly with him.
He'd been partners with the psychotic pilot for months now and he was lucky if he got more then five word sentences out of the Japanese pilot. "Che, not like I'm asking for his life's story." Duo grumbled as he took an alternative route than the one he and Heero had taken earlier. "I just want someone to talk to, is that so bad?" Duo shook his head. He wasn't fooling himself, he wanted more then just friendly conversation with Heero. But he also knew better then to not even /hope/ the taciturn pilot would return his feelings. Heero was so obviously straight, and Duo was.male. "Kuso, there went /my/ good mood."
Duo sighed as he opened a hatch that lead to a small forgotten sidestreet. No, Duo had no hopes of the Japanese boy seeing him beyond a friend at the most, if that much. "Heh, he's got Relena ojou-san." Duo muttered as he walked down the street. "And I got nobody... Nobody but Death, that is."
Heero blinked as more sweat dripped into his eyes and stung them. His fingers faltered a bit as they raced across the keyboard; the Japanese pilot growled in frustration as he backspaced. Heero pushed away from the table and finally gave into his overwhelming thirst as he dug through Duo's bag searching for the water the American had mentioned. He found a bottle and uncapped it.
Heero tilted his head back to take a drink when he suddenly became /very/ dizzy. He grabbed at the table but missed it and the floor seemed to drop out from beneath him. Heero fought to regain his balance even as his vision started to gray out. The Japanese boy felt blindly for something to hold onto even as he weakend legs gave out and he fell to the floor unconscious.
The water that had been held in Heero's hands trickled out of its bottle and formed a puddle around the Japanese boy's body.
Sheira
Please send comments to: sheira_kagema@yahoo.com
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