|
"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" 2)
The fruit market was only a few blocks from the hotel. The young man's steps were quick as he bounced along the sidewalk determined to make this last day with his lover the best one yet. They had shared so much in the little time they had been together... making love, sightseeing, going out dancing, and talking. But Duo knew there was one very important fact lying beneath the surface that he still needed to share... his true identity as a Gundam pilot. If Zechs could accept this about him, then they would be free to love each other completely. If not, Duo would have to accept that this was merely a beautiful dream and would sadly, broken-heartedly, move on with his life. "Yes, I'll tell him over breakfast," he said aloud as he reached the market, immediately spotting his fruit vendor. "Here... come here, my little American," the man shouted over the crowd in his broken English. Duo walked over, his mouth watering at the delicious fruit on display. "You buy from me today, yes?" the man asked, smiling widely despite his bad teeth. "That depends," Duo snorted, trying not to wince at the man's ugliness. Then he went into flirt mode and looking at the man through his heavy fall of chestnut bangs asked, "Have anything special for me?" "For you... of course. Here," he said picking up a blushing mango. "Extra sweet just for you." "Heh," Duo chuckled. [If Zechs saw me flirting with this guy he'd swat me good!] "Quite a handful," he replied running a finger over the mango. "Lovely and ripe for you," the man winked. [Oh, dear God!] "Well, then I'll just have to take one." "No, two... and these," the dark skinned man said, pointing to brown bananas. [Mmm, now that's an idea. I could go down on one of those... that'd make Zechs crazy.] "All right, and those." Before long, Duo had a bag full of fruit. He took out some money to pay the man, but the vendor refused. "No, no... you come back and see me again. And tell your friends." "All right... thank you," Duo smiled, and just as he turned to head back to his waiting lover he heard a familiar voice. But not a voice he expected to hear in Cairo. "Quatre?" There, approaching the vendor's stand from the other direction, slowly walked Quatre Raberba Winner, Duo's fellow Gundam pilot and friend. The huge Maguanac leader, Rashid, tread close on his heels, probably functioning as "Master Quatre's" bodyguard here in the large city. Quatre had spoken to his companion in an aside as they'd neared and now turned his attention to his friend. "Hi, Duo," the short blond boy greeted him, raising a hand in a little wave. Despite his smile, his large, aquamarine eyes were studying the other pilot intently. When his glance fell upon Duo's neck where the "love bites" were all too evident, his eyes widened, his throat going dry. "Duo, I have to talk to you," he managed to say calmly, though his internal alarms were going full blast. "Uh, hi," Duo responded, a little less excited to see his friend than he should be. "What's up, buddy? You here checking on one of your sisters or something?" Duo didn't like that Rashid was hovering so close, but then he was never far from Quatre's side. "No, actually, I'm checking up on you," Quatre replied with a momentary smile that immediately faded. "Everything okay? You having a good vacation?" [I have to tell him, even if he hates me or gets upset with me,] Quatre thought, already feeling terrible about this "visit". He'd argued with Rashid that they didn't have enough information yet, but had been won over by the insistence that time was of the essence. Duo blinked, his heart beginning to pound at his friend's unusual tone. "Since when do I need checking on?" he asked with an indignant snort. [What's up with him? And why is he looking at me like that?] "Or did you just get bored back at your palace?" Duo turned then, brushing his friend off to head back to the hotel. "Adios!" "Duo!" Quatre yelled after the other pilot. He grabbed his arm and spun him around to face him again. "I really need to speak to you, Duo, it's important!" he insisted, frowning. "Hey!" the fruit vendor shouted. Rashid took a step forward and glared at the little Egyptian. He could see the man was getting anxious for his customer, but the look from the large Arabian was enough to stop him from taking further action. "What the...?" Duo asked, his brow tightening as he locked eyes with his friend. "What's gotten into you, Quatre?" Now his heart really was pounding in his chest. Then a light went off his head. "Did you hear something... from the colonies?" he asked, lowering his voice slightly. [Please, no. Not now.] Quatre's gaze was steady. "This isn't a good place to talk, Duo. Come with me - there's a side street over there that I think is pretty quiet. There's too many people here in the marketplace." He released Duo's arm and gestured off to the left. "A bit dramatic, don't you think?" Duo chuckled, though on the inside his stomach was doing flip-flops. [What the hell *is* going on?] Reluctantly he nodded that he would follow Quatre to the side street. He trusted his friend and if Quatre was this insistent on speaking to him, it was probably in his best interests to listen. Once they had reached the deserted side street, Quatre turned back to his friend, looking as serious as he'd ever seen him. "Duo, there's something I have to tell you... but it's going to be hard." He swallowed hard and exchanged a quick glance with Rashid who guarded the narrow entrance to the street. Duo gave a sidelong glance to the tall Arabian and then turned his attention back to his mysterious friend. Internally he was shuddering from his friend's extreme caution, and his heart was still hammering away against his chest. To hide his nerves he laughed and then lowered his voice into a playful tone, "You're not going to ask me if I'm interested in a threesome, are you?" "Duo, this is serious!" Quatre retorted, giving him a momentary scowl that all too quickly faded into sympathy. "First of all, what's the name of the guy you're, ah, staying with?" He already felt the anguish in his empathic sense. There was nothing good about what he had to do, but it had to be done for his friend's ultimate well-being. And he could be in danger. "Hmm. You've come all this way to ask me the name of the guy I'm staying with?" Duo's eyes narrowed behind his dark glasses. [Is this a setup? Rashid never did trust me...] He began to scan the street, memorizing its layout, the location of garbage cans, doorways, windows... every detail. [There's something wrong with this picture, but for the moment I'll play along.] "His name is Zechs," he said finally with a grin. "Kind of sexy, huh?" "Depends," Quatre murmured, clenching and unclenching his hands. "How much do you know about him, Duo? I mean, *really* know?" Duo slid his glasses down his nose to peer over them at Quatre. "What are you getting at?" he asked a bit harshly, his heart rate going up several notches. Then it occurred to him that the Maguanacs' intelligence probably uncovered information about Zechs being a soldier. "Oh, is this about him being a soldier? He told me about that. Please, Quatre, you really should mind your own business," he snorted and then gave a defiant toss of his head, sending the braid swinging behind him. Quatre's own internal fight response was gearing up. He knew Duo well enough to know that if the boy with the braid did *not* know the rest of that little fact, he was going to go ballistic. And if he already knew... then they had a more serious problem than a heart getting broken. Duo could have told Zechs Merquise where the Maguanac base was. "Did he also tell you he's a colonel in OZ, Duo?" Quatre said testily. The boy with the braid blinked several times. [He's joking... this has got to be a joke.] But the moment he heard the words tumble so precisely from Quatre's mouth flags went off in his head. Flags that had been suppressed for several days. "Heh, nice one, buddy," Duo joked nervously. "I suppose next you're going to tell me that I'm actually the leader of OZ," he chuckled with a shaky grin. The feeble attempt at a joke was ignored. [Shit. Vintage Duo. I hate this...] Quatre stuck his fists against his hips, leaning in. "Colonel Zechs Merquise is OZ's premiere ace mobile suit pilot, Duo! He's our enemy!" [Though I wish we knew exactly what his current status is...] "Why you... little SHIT!" Duo shouted with a fierceness he reserved for battle. He dove at his friend, dropping the fruit and lunging forward... his hands going for Quatre's neck. The force of his attack threw them back into a group of trashcans. "DUO! Stop it!" Quatre yelled back, his hands now gripping the other's wrists as he tried to break Duo's strangle-hold. "This is for your own good!" He thought he felt a trickle of blood down his wrist where he'd cut himself on one of the trashcans, but he couldn't worry about that now. "Tell me you're lying!" the Deathscythe pilot yelled, his hold on the other boy's neck tightening. [Zechs... No...] "Tell me, or I'll kill you!" Suddenly Duo felt his body being pulled... lifting off Quatre and into the air. It was Rashid and he was very unhappy with this attack on his master. "This is no way to treat your friend," Rashid said in a deep, scolding voice. He set Duo down on his feet, holding him tightly by his muscle shirt, the giant ensuring his little captive couldn't bolt to warn his lover. Duo tried to twist and squirm out of the large man's hold. "Let go of me!" [God, Zechs! Have to get back to you!] "What the HELL is going on?!" Quatre had picked himself up, waving off Rashid's alarmed glance. Having heard shouting, a couple more Maguanac pilots wearing red fezzes appeared at the entrance of the street. Quatre glanced at the cut on his hand, then looked back at the struggling Duo, his gaze intent but sympathetic. "Rashid, let him go, he can't leave this street. Show him the photos." The grip released immediately and the young pilot swung about to see his route of escape was blocked. "You brought the whole Maguanac army with you?" Duo asked sarcastically. [This can't be happening... this has got to be a bad dream... I'm going to wake up any second and I'll be in Zechs's arms,] he thought and closed his eyes tight. He waited a moment, opened his eyes, and when he saw that nothing had changed, he threw his sunglasses to the ground. "What do you want with me?" he asked, turning back with fists clenched and peering at Quatre with a vehemence he never thought he'd have toward his friend. Quatre stared at him silently with a look very close to pity. "Here," Rashid said, handing him a small stack of glossy color photographs. "You'll see that Master Quatre was telling you the truth." Duo swallowed hard and with a trembling hand took the photos. "Heh, a group of OZ soldiers... so what?" "Look there," the tall Arabian said and pointed to the officer in the photo. The young man's blue eyes began to water. There, standing at attention at the end of a row of soldiers was a tall man in an OZ officer's uniform and wearing a metal mask that covered the top half of his head. But even with the mask there was no mistaking the man's identity... long, platinum hair falling down his back. "No," Duo whimpered, shaking his head. [No!] Rashid turned to the next photo. "These were taken by our undercover surveillance team just five days ago at OZ's Lake Victoria base here in Africa." The next photo made it all too clear that this was Zechs in a blazing red OZ uniform standing out boldly next to his subordinates. "This is a trick," Duo said flatly in a near whisper, but he knew in his heart and his mind it was true. He dropped hard to his knees, the photographs falling from his shaking hands onto the ground all around him. [Please... I want to wake up now...] he pleaded to the universe as tears began falling down his cheeks. [You were used, Maxwell,] his inner voice told him. [OZ... Zechs used you!] "NO!" he screamed from the final and painful realization. Then a wave of nausea hit him as images of his intimacies with Zechs flooded his mind. He turned away from the others, doubling over and vomiting on the street. "Duo!" Quatre cried and rushed to his friend's side, holding him by the shoulders until he stopped heaving. "Oh, no, I knew this would tear you up! Duo, if we could have found this out sooner and gotten you out of there, we would have. I'm so sorry! As it is, we've got a man watching Merquise right now. We'll capture him and take him to a house I have outside Cairo for questioning. There's lot of information I'm sure we'll be able to squeeze out of him. We'll use him like... like..." Quatre couldn't finish, the pain in his chest sharp. Tears fell down Duo's cheeks as Quatre tried to reassure him, tried to comfort him in this impossible situation. But there was no comfort to be found. Not from this betrayal. Not from his own failings to be cautious and responsible. As he listened, his heart turned against the pain of loss toward the heavy sweetness of revenge. "I'll kill him," he said softly, barely heard by his kneeling friend. His eyes narrowed then, turning dark and angry as he looked to Quatre, seeking to ground himself in his friend and the mission before them. He curled his hands into tight fists and let the depth of his emotion be voiced for all to hear, "I'll kill the bastard." [No!] Everything in the heart of the sensitive Arabian lurched at the abrupt ice dropping like poison from Duo's lips. He barely kept in the gasp, telling himself he had no right to object to Duo's decision, though the twinge in his empathic sense told him again not to be hasty here. He'd found Duo and told him; the urgency was over, and Abdul was watching Merquise's door. Now they could slow down lest anger sweep them all into something they'd deeply regret later. Especially if Duo bore any love at all still for the man he'd just sworn to kill. "Duo," Quatre began nervously, "I know you're angry. I'm upset, too, that you were apparently taken advantage of like this..." "Apparently?!" Duo barked angrily as he stood. "What part of rape don't you understand?" he asked, his stomach turning at the word. There was no getting around it. That was exactly what had happened. He had been lured to this place to be repeatedly fucked for the Colonel's pleasure and cleverly seduced into giving over tidbits of information... [My God, I was about to tell him everything!] Duo's knuckles whitened as they clenched and unclenched... now looking his friend in the eye as Quatre stood to face him. "I was raped, Quatre. And that OZ bastard will pay." Quatre nearly shook, feeling the horror that his friend was feeling as if it was his own. "Yes, he will pay, Duo," he replied firmly and strongly, facing off easily with the other pilot. "But not until we have used him - not until he has given us valuable information." When Duo was about to erupt with more negation, Quatre clasped his upper arm, shaking him a little. Now he spoke vociferously, intent on forestalling any more disaster. "Don't forget, Duo - we are cut off from our sources! Instructor H who trained me has not contacted me in a month, and neither has Professor G contacted you - don't forget that! We have the Maguanacs who have been about our only eyes on the enemy, but even they can only discover so much. If we are to resume our missions, Duo, we have to have information! This OZ Colonel can tell us much... and we will use whatever means necessary to get that information out of him." It made him feel sick to think about torturing someone, but he knew the mission had to go through at whatever cost. The request was both logical and tactical. They needed information... were starved for it in fact, but the anger that seethed from Duo clouded his sense of duty. He put his fists firmly on his hips and squinted at the other pilot... the bright morning sun beginning to shine down this side street. "You're going to make me wait, huh?... Well..." he said, and for a long moment contemplated if he could actually go along with Quatre's plan. [He's right about this opportunity,] he reminded himself. "All right," he breathed, his posture relaxing only slightly with the agreement. "I'll go along with your plan and then take my revenge." Quatre nodded curtly, keeping in the relief he felt flooding through him. [Now we need the time,] he thought as they departed the little street to head toward the inn where Abdul was keeping watch on Merquise.
|
