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"Lost "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: implied yaoi, angst, violence, language Pairings: 6x2, mention of 4+3 Summary: Sequel to Interfacing: Found. Quatre
has some shocking information for Duo about his new lover; there's
trouble in Cairo... "Lost" 10) "Are you all right?" Quatre asked anxiously, approaching the man. [That was close - I don't know what Duo would have done if they'd actually touched!] "Yes," Zechs breathed, returning smoothly at Quatre's side to the chairs. They adjusted the chairs so they somewhat faced each other, then sat down to continue their discussion. "Forgive my precipitous departure," he added quietly. "I am finding it difficult to deal with..." He gestured toward the door. "I can well imagine," Quatre replied, folding his hands in his lap as he regarded the former OZ officer. "I don't suppose you've seen any glimpse of the God of Death before, have you?" Zechs blinked, feeling a rude shock at the name. "I beg your pardon?" Quatre took a deep breath. How to explain Duo Maxwell? "It's his battle persona, you could say," he began, smiling sheepishly. "His Gundam is called Deathscythe." The blond man went even paler. "That's a fearsome name - so his Gundam is that one we call 02, the one with the thermal scythe." Zechs thought about the reports of the Gundams Lady Une had displayed in the briefing directly before the Siberia maneuver. He remembered 02, fiercely black and gold, wielding that deadly green scythe. He bowed his head, fingertips pressing against his forehead for a moment. "I'm sorry, but I suppose I haven't yet dealt with the fact that my little lover..." There was a hesitation as he almost stumbled over the word. "... is a soldier like me at all, much less a Gundam pilot. I am not proud of the blood stains on my own hands, but to think of *him* like this... it's a shock." Quatre could feel the man's confusion and anguish. "I see that," he replied softly. "I have killed as well, and it is not in my nature to do so. This is war, Zechs, and we do what we have to. I do not see you as a bloodthirsty killer... and I don't even see Duo that way. He had to create this God of Death person in himself to even do what he has to." "We each have our methods of handling our jobs," Quatre continued, seeing that Zechs was listening closely and taking it all in. "Heero doesn't allow himself to feel emotion, or at least he tries not to feel..." "Heero?" Zechs straightened. Noin had mentioned that name. That was... "The pilot of Wing Gundam," Quatre explained. "Heero Yuy." "The one who..." Zechs could see again that strange little pilot and the fierce look in his eyes. "Yes." Quatre took a deep breath. "He's the one who saved us all at New Edwards, you know. He got into the missile silo building and stopped the detonation sequence just in time. Duo's told me some things about him. Heero doesn't seem human half the time, he says. He's pretty impressive, I have to say." "Amazing..." [That name, Heero Yuy... he calls himself after the martyr of the colonies... fitting.] "Another is Trowa Barton..." Quatre smiled to himself. "Ah, I've got a bit of a thing for Trowa myself." "Indeed?" [This one is so pure...] Zechs thought. [He feels so much from others that it's a wonder he can kill at all... but then this one has others around him who care for him. Somehow that makes it bearable, to know one is cared for...] "Yeah..." Quatre blushed a faint pink. "I really like him a lot... but I don't know him that well yet, I suppose. He's very quiet. He once told me he didn't have a name... but that I could call him Trowa Barton." Zechs nodded. [They'll each have a story, I sure. What drives them, what has led them here...] "Which Gundam is his?" "The HeavyArms," Quatre replied, sighing. "Odd that the one who says the least has the Gundam with the most firepower." [That's the one who picked up Heero from the plain of Siberia,] Zechs thought, remembering. "He carried that boy from the battlefield -Heero," he said quietly. "I wouldn't have believed anyone could have survived that explosion. But I know he's alive." He snorted softly. "I rebuilt his Gundam so that I could fight him again one day, have a rematch. Well, I won't be doing that now. I no longer have that urge - to fight the Gundams. I only hope we can convince those two to join our new alliance, Quatre." "You will," Quatre said with conviction. "What you know about the mobile dolls will convince them. If mobile suits fight in a group like that, coordinated by one mind, individual suits can't stand against them." "Don't sell the Gundams short," Zechs replied quickly. "You'll stand, all right, but you simply won't win. What is needed is to show the Earth and the colonies that there is an alternate to military might wielded by Romefeller. That group seeks total domination, not peace. They must be revealed to all for what they are, then their power must be eroded. It won't be easy." "I look forward to hearing your ideas, Zechs," Quatre said, smiling. "So... when do we leave?" Zechs looked at the blond boy blankly. "I beg your pardon?" "For your base. It'll start there, won't it? The new alliance?" Quatre looked supremely confident, still smiling. "I would never insist... but yes, I had thought for us to assemble there, though you're a step ahead of me." A small smile graced the older man's lips. "Tired of sitting around, are you?" "You said it!" Quatre exclaimed, blowing out his breath in exasperation. "And I'm going to have to leave my - as you say -'personal army' behind. They're going to be unhappy with me again, but the Maguanac Corps is the only defense the independent Middle-East nations have against, well, OZ." "You're from the colonies, though - L4?" "Yeah... I guess my family is pretty well known." Quatre sighed. "Long story how I got the help of these guys... anyway, I'm sick of their over-protection. It's time the Gundams got going again." "What of the fifth pilot?" "Oh, him... I don't know his name," Quatre admitted honestly. "He's Chinese, I think. He was the only one who hadn't been fooled at New Edwards - he came to tell us that at the end. I don't know anything about him or his Gundam, though." Zechs's thoughts returned to his erstwhile lover. "Do you know what Duo will do?" [Jump back into your arms, Zechs Merquise, just as soon as he trusts again,] Quatre thought wryly. [I hope...] "He's off to his room to 'think' - I dunno. I got him a little calmed down, I think, but he's one pretty confused boy right now." "Yes. Well." Zechs smoothed out a pleat on his linen pants, thinking. [I need this alliance... Treize needs it...] "Quatre, I love a man that I met here in Cairo whom I nicknamed Dancer. This 'God of Death'... well, I don't know if I can come to love that. I keep seeing his gun..." He closed his eyes, the image still so painful. "But you really do love him," Quatre prompted softly. Zechs bowed his head, the platinum hair veiling his face. "I will love Dancer until the day I die." [Oh, my,] Quatre thought, feeling a happy tingle. [That's so beautiful... and tragic if they don't make it back. It was my fault this happened... but I can't let myself think of that. Not now. They've got to make it... for both their sakes *and* our new alliance!] Duo returned to his room and closed the door softly behind him. Leaning back against it he shuddered, desperately holding back the tears. [He won't even hold my gaze,] he thought painfully. It had been pure hell to see his former lover again. To stand in the same room, breathing his scent. To look at him, drinking his beauty. To hear his voice, breaking his heart further. And then... to nearly touch him. [Something's got to give,] he thought taking off his cap and running his hands through his hair. [Or I'll go stark raving mad.] Across the room, he grabbed the video Quatre had left for him and popped it into the televideo. [This could either be a very good thing... or a very bad thing,] he thought and settled back on the bed with the remote. Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for what he was about to see and the first image rocked him to the core. It was Merquise huddled in the middle of the holding cell floor. His head was lowered, his arms wrenched back in handcuffs, and his posture defeated. Duo sat very still on the bed, his legs dangling over the edge as he watched for minutes on end. Watched as Quatre very professionally, but gently interrogated Merquise. He was impressed with his friend's demeanor, but the revelation was Merquise himself... sad and cooperative... the man was anything but an enemy. What enemy would give information like this without being tortured? He listened as Merquise told Quatre how he had been about to tell Duo everything... about OZ. That he didn't know Duo was a Gundam pilot. [Ha!] That he had fought Heero in Siberia and believed the pilot to still be alive. [Really?] That he was rebuilding Wing Gundam to return to the pilot. [Hmm.] "He's either a really good actor or he's telling the truth," Duo said aloud. He still believed that their meeting was not coincidental... that somehow OZ had set him up. Lured him to Cairo to the bed of their most beautiful ace pilot, Colonel Merquise. "But why?" Duo asked. For information? In three days he had hardly told the man anything... other than childhood memories. And Merquise had been a perfect gentleman... an enthusiastic lover the entire time. "I just don't get it," he said, and focused his attention back on the interrogation just as Merquise told his "fairy tale" about being the heir to the throne of the Sank Kingdom. Duo shivered. [There's no way a future king would want a guy like me... not the way he wanted me,] he thought. Once again his mind was trying to convince him of Merquise's deceit. Then Quatre was explaining to Merquise that Duo thought he had raped him... abused him. Duo got off the bed and walked over to the TV. He looked closely, leaning into the monitor. [He looks ill,] he observed. Certainly the handsome face, though already fatigued, looked mortified by the news. And then the final blow, as Rashid explained how Duo asked that Merquise be killed after the interrogation. The man turned aside and vomited. "That's not faked," Duo said, slumping to the floor in front of the TV. He reached his hand up, touching the image of his lover on the screen. "Zechs... what have I done? You really loved me." He was shaking, crying, wanting desperately to comfort the man now. "Shit!" he yelled, slamming his fists into his thighs. This was all so damn confusing. He still believed he had been setup, that meeting this man in Cairo was an elaborate, sickly spun web to ensnare a Gundam pilot. But he also believed that Zechs truly loved him... and that they were ripped from each other's arms by a well-intentioned friend. "Damn it, Quatre. Why couldn't you have waited?" He was angry, grieving and confused all at once. [But I can't hate Quatre for wanting to protect me... maybe something terrible would've happened at the end of my time with Zechs.] Yes, he could say his lover's name now... on his lips and in his mind. And it felt wonderful and terrifying at the same time. "Zechs," he repeated as he cried. [I think that my Colonel didn't plan on falling in love with me...] His mind was moving toward disbelieving again, but he didn't want that. He wanted to believe. He wanted to be happy again in that wonderful man's arms. "Are you a rebel, Zechs? Are you really running from OZ?" He finished watching the tape and then decided to head back downstairs to speak with Quatre. Maybe his friend could help him sort out his feelings some more. [Quatre's moving forward with working with him, but he's being cautious. Maybe I can do the same.] Before he opened the guestroom door onto the hallway he noticed a note had been slipped under the door. He picked it up and read. It was from Quatre, explaining that he and Zechs had gone to look at Zechs's mobile suit. "The Tallgeese," Duo said aloud, curious at the name. He turned back to the room and began pulling off his priestly shirt and collar. "The God of Death can take a rest," he decided. Instead, he put on a black muscle shirt with high neck... to hide the love bites that he was still embarrassed to show.
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