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"Endangered"Written By: Artemis Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters are
copyright to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties.
I make no money with this fic. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: yaoi lemon, sap Pairings: 6x2, implied 3x4 Summary: The pilots must separate to talk with
various colonies on behalf of GAIA. "Endangered" 23)
Zechs had exchanged his long coat and uniform for a more suitable pilot's spacesuit for his testing of the new Tallgeese II. Just as his mobile suit, like its predecessor, was predominantly white, so was his spacesuit. Though he was anticipating that testing the Zero System as well could easily make his facial color match them both. He was excited, however, despite the incipient dread he felt toward the Zero System. Tallgeese II looked like a splendid vehicle; his engineer, Eric Meiser, had done a masterful job on the upgraded suit design. He was expecting the promised increase in speed. [Just so I don't get a heart attack again in this one,] he chuckled darkly to himself. After Zechs climbed into the cockpit from the catwalk, Treize handed him his helmet. "You've got all my data on the Zero, Milliardo. But I have a hunch your experience will be completely different than mine. Just... a hunch." Zechs nodded solemnly. "I feel that, too, Treize. Forgive me for saying this so bluntly, but I've come to believe that the biggest change in me is the rootedness I feel when I think of the love Duo and I share. It centers me... locks me into my place in the world in a way I haven't felt since I was a child." He closed his eyes... and closed a hand into a fist. "We've been through so much together... I know all of that will see me through this necessary ordeal. I will master the Zero System..." Treize nodding, accepting. "I believe you will, my friend," he murmured. "Go with God, Milliardo." "Thank you, Treize." Treize withdrew and the cockpit closed up again. Retreating to ground level a few minutes later, he felt a stab of inner pain assault him as he realized something for the first time. [So... that is why I failed. My heart... does not know its home... that is why... But if I find that which my good friend Milliardo has found, will that change my future? Will there yet be a future for Treize Khushrenada?] Alone now in the cockpit, Zechs settled into the pilot's couch, though he still did not put on his helmet. Instead he reached into an inner pocket of his spacesuit and withdrew a small disc case. Opening it, he beheld the fat snip of chestnut hair - Duo's, from the end of his braid. Reverently Zechs touched it, felt its silkiness... and closed his eyes again. [Oh, my Dancer,] he thought fervently, his heart full, [Are you all right? Do not despair... be strong for yourself... hold hard to your own center.] Softly he spoke aloud to himself... to his absent lover. "Soon you will be in my arms again, my Dancer. Soon you will be in your Wolf's arms... but before then, we both may have to fight. We are strong, love... we will prevail." Sighing, Zechs opened his eyes. "Duo..." he breathed again, then closed the case and replaced it next to his heart inside the suit. He donned the helmet, securing it and his spacesuit for flight. "What's he waiting for?" Noin asked nervously on the bridge. "He's just... sitting there." "Focusing, if I know him," Treize replied as he entered the bridge. "Our Zechs is a brooder, you know." "Oh, please don't remind me," Noin retorted, then sighed. "He gets so intense! The first time he flew Tallgeese, I thought he was going to explode with the tension. I hope this doesn't happen again with his new model." "Not likely," Howard chimed in, yawning. "The Tallgeese wasn't made with his skills in mind. Tallgeese II, however, was tailor-made for him. It'll know its master immediately, I'm guessing. Don't worry!" Treize glanced over at Noin, who was biting her fingernails. "Lucrezia," he murmured to her, causing her to look up abruptly. "Please, Lucrezia, could you tell me what you think of Zechs and Duo... together? I know I avoided the subject on Earth, but I think and he thinks this relationship will see him through the worst of this." Noin smirked. "I have no doubt it will! Really, though, Zechs turns into a big, tall pile of mush around that fiery little pilot! They're rather cute together, actually. Duo is adorable, of course, and that braid!" She snickered and jostled Treize with an elbow playfully. "I think it's their long hair that brought them together!" A flash of an image of Wufei with long hair abruptly came to mind, and Treize was coughing, his composure seriously disturbed. "Ahem, excuse me," he said hastily. "Yes, well, that is something to have in common." [What the hell was THAT?] "Is he ever going to launch?" Sally Po asked, coming up beside the others just then. "We're all ready here!" "He's focusing," Noin explained, giving Treize a wink. Indeed, Zechs Merquise was doing precisely that. It was this quality that made him an exceptional pilot and allowed his abnormally fast reflexes free rein. Zechs would become one with the mobile suit as if it was merely an extension of himself. And after clearing his mind and fully familiarizing himself with all of the Tallgeese II's features, he was prepared to launch. "Ready," he announced to the bridge over the radio. "Good luck, Zechs," Sally said for them all.
The testing of Tallgeese II proceeded flawlessly. The mobile suit, using a revolutionary new design that Zechs in fact had been working on ever since he first took over the 20-year-old Tallgeese, was faster and vastly more powerful than its namesake. Zechs found himself stretched to his limits, but not beyond them. It was as if he was evolving to match this magnificent suit's parameters. [I'd been limiting myself with the old Tallgeese,] he thought ruefully, wondering when his skills and reflexes had passed that mobile suit's limits. [This is so marvelous! It feels like a part of me! I suppose that makes sense as I designed it myself and Meiser did manufacture it to my personal specifications. This is effortless...] Zechs had only one regret. [Duo should be here now to see this,] he considered sadly. [My Dancer, if you could just see me fly now! Your upgraded Deathscythe and my new Tallgeese II will be awesome in battle together! If only you were here now... if only you could be beside me when we must take on OZ...] "Zechs," the radio crackled suddenly, "we've got nothing but green lights here." The voice was Howard's. "How does it feel?" The group assembled on the Peacemillion bridge gasped as the mammoth head of Tallgeese II slid into view directly before them. "Incredible!" Zechs exclaimed, still feeling the pumping adrenaline surging through him from the flight tests. "Nothing OZ has could possibly match this suit! Not even those two new ones they're building." "You're the fastest thing in space, that's clear," Howard replied, exchanging a thumbs-up with Sally beside him. Adjacent to them stood Quatre, Noin, and Treize. The Gundam pilot looked excited, too, as did Noin. The former OZ general, however, seemed more reserved. "Isn't it awesome, Treize?" Noin asked, poking the stiff man at her side with her elbow. "You and Zechs should have a race - Epyon against Tallgeese II!" "That won't be necessary," Treize murmured, then turned away from the sight of the white mobile suit cavorting in the heavens. "It's time to test the Zero System as well. That... may be a different matter." Everyone turned to regard Treize, then Sally slowly turned back to the radio. "Zechs," she called, "any time you're ready to activate the Zero System, go right ahead. We're sending out a new set of remote targets now." No answer. Zechs closed his eyes and touched his chest over where he had stored the disk case bearing the clip of Duo's hair. [Duo... this is a terrible, terrible weapon, from all that Treize tells me... and what I've seen of the design. I do not know what effect it will have on my mind. I only know that Treize was traumatized by what it showed him. I must... I must keep you firmly in my center... you who are the other half of my soul. I will endure this... I must... for the sake of our love and for the sake of peace in the Earthsphere. Duo...] "Zechs?" Sally inquired, tilting her head. Treize turned and looked over, wondering. "Yes," Zechs answered after a moment, and everyone sighed in relief. "I'm ready. Commencing the test of the Zero System..." "Proceed," Sally affirmed. Zechs typed in the code word: ZERO. Returning his attention to his screen, he now saw the arc of approaching remote targets. [This should be easy...] And it was. In seconds, Tallgeese Zero swept through the targets effortlessly, dispatching each one without challenge. [Not much of a test,] Zechs thought, frowning. [So how...] He gasped. And blinked. An image was forming on his screen, shadowy and indistinct. But clearly it was Duo Maxwell. Zechs blinked some more, then reached over and turned off his radio transmitter. "He turned off his transmitter!" Sally exclaimed. "No matter, he can still receive," Treize quickly replied. "Let him go through this alone if he chooses. I assure you, the experience can be very personal. And the cockpit system will record everything anyway." Sally subsided, but she exchanged a worried look with the others.
The image of Duo Maxwell fully developed... only this was not Duo Maxwell, God of Death and pilot of the Gundam Deathscythe. This was Zechs's sweet Dancer, Duo as he was in Cairo during those idyllic three days he and Zechs spent before they'd each learned of the other's identity. "Duo, my Dancer," Zechs sighed and as the image reached for him, he reached back. But the image was gesturing, each index finger pointing away to a side. "You... you want to show me something, Dancer?" Zechs asked, mystified. "Yes, what can you show me? Or should I call you Zero? Are you the Zero?" The figure pointed in opposite directions more firmly. "You want to show me two paths," Zechs murmured, bewildered that he seemed to understand what the apparition of Duo wanted. [Well, it is connecting to my brain waves...] "Show me..." He considered for a moment, then understood. "Show me the path my life would have taken if I'd never met Duo Maxwell!" In moments, Zechs was gasping for breath as a rush of images assaulted him: A legion of OZ Cancer and Aries mobile suits hunting him down like a dog Quatre's Sandrock exploding Duo dragged before an OZ tribunal, beaten and demoralized The Deathscythe exploding and Duo's scream of anguish Gundam pilots in OZ captivity on the Moon: Heero, Wufei, Duo Duo and Wufei suffering as the air supply to the prison level on the Lunar Base was shut off Himself fighting Wufei in mobile suits The Sank Kingdom burning... again! Zechs slicing open Space Fortress Barge in a blood-red Epyon - Epyon!! Treize Khushrenada's mobile suit - a blue and white version of his old Tallgeese - exploding!! A monsterous cross-shaped battleship firing a massive beam cannon directly upon Earth!!! "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zechs started screaming, every muscle in his body straining in negation of the alter-reality that was his worst nightmare. "What's he doing??" Sally cried as the monitor showed the Tallgeese Zero flying erratically and dangerously close to Peacemillion. "Is he trying to crash the Tallgeese??" A pale Treize swallowed carefully. "I'll go intercept him in the Epyon," he offered. "No, don't do that," Quatre interjected, a hand on the man's arm as Treize turned to go. "I think he's seen something terrible, but I can't believe he'd endanger us in any way. Wait a moment..." Sure enough, a few seconds later the massive white mobile suit veered away from the battleship. "Zechs, please call in!" Quatre said into the transmitter as Sally moved aside for him. "What's happening? Are you all right? Zechs!" Beside him Noin was biting her lip. [Oh, Zechs, what *are* you seeing? Come back to us...] After another couple of bad moments, the receiver crackled into life again. "Stand by," Zechs reported, his voice hoarse. But he shut off the transmitter again. Everyone relaxed... but only minutely. Zechs was catching his breath as the Duo-image reappeared. "So that's... what would have happened if I hadn't... met you, Dancer," he gasped. "That terrible reality would have happened!" The Duo-image nodded. Then raised a hand to point in the opposite direction. "You're now going to show me my enemy?" Another nod, then "Duo" disappeared again. Out of a swirling mist a face coalesced. Zechs recognized a man he'd once known as a minor officer sent to the OZ Space Force - Trant Clark. "This man - he's my enemy? Well, that's not so hard to figure out. He's the leader of the Aft Faction of OZ and he's also developing the Zero System. He's the one I will be fighting! But what about Lady Une and Nikol?" The figure shook his head. This admission stunned Zechs; Une and Nikol were not, in fact, a threat to him... or to GAIA? [Perhaps Trowa is having an effect on them after all? Can we really hope for that? And now that Heero is there...] "What about Duo? Can you show him to me?" Zechs asked the apparition with sudden eagerness. But the image shook his head in negation again, then began to fade. "No, wait... Duo... Dancer..." Zechs felt as if the dissolution of the image represented the shattering of his own reality. "Come back, Duo... come back to me... COME BACK!!!" (tbc)
Chapter 24 |
