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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" 8) The other Gundam pilot was sound asleep... at last. He'd cried for what seemed like hours after returning from the guardhouse. If he even heard his friend's call it was incorporated into the crazy stream of dreams he was having. Dreams of crashing to the Earth in his Gundam. Dreams of running endlessly in the desert. Dreams of crowds and voices and even of sex. When there wasn't a sound, Quatre paused. [I need to get this over with, then go talk to Zechs. OZ is out there looking for him and we might need to move quickly. I can't be worried about Duo's beauty sleep at a time like this.] Resolutely, he opened the door and went in. Putting the videotape down on a table, Quatre went to the other boy's bed with the rest of the evidence. Duo was obviously dreaming something very active, as he was moving restlessly in his sleep, his brow furrowed. [He might like to be woken up,] Quatre thought, frowning, then reached over and shook the boy's shoulder. "Duo, wake up!" he said loudly. "Hmm?" Duo answered. The combination of the shake and the loud greeting brought him more quickly out of sleep than he was used to. "Hey, buddy," he said, slowly sitting up and noticing that he still had all his clothes on. "Oh... I hate it when I fall asleep in my clothes," he whined unhappily, rubbing at his eyes. Quatre sat on the edge of the bed beside his friend. "Yeah, that sucks," he agreed softly. "Duo, we have new information on the OZ Colonel that's been gathered overnight, just brought to me. I think you need to see these things." Duo's hands fell away from his face as he focused on his friend. The little blond's features were so calm, he couldn't be sure what they had found. "All right," he said, the haze of his new wakefulness keeping his tone easy. [Wow, that was easy,] Quatre thought, then noticed that Duo was wearing his old outfit with the funny priest's collar. [Er...] "Here," he began, opening the folder and removing the family portrait. He handed it to Duo. "That's him... on the far right." "Oh, great, baby pictures. Quite a find," Duo said with a little chuckle. But he didn't dismiss the image as easily as his words seemed to indicate. The boy in the photo wore an intense expression; his likeness to the grown man all too clear. [This is his family... before they were killed.] Duo felt a painful twinge in his heart. A pain for the orphan he knew the man to be. A pain they shared... once. Quatre tensed, feeling the faint tingle in his heart sharpen suddenly, then subside. [He knows something about this,] he guessed. "His last name is really Peacecraft," he explained quietly. "It's why he wears that steel mask you saw in the other pictures. His family was devoted to total pacifism and his father the King of Sank was a leader of pacifist nations before the Alliance killed all but the two youngest children and destroyed the nation. A pacifist prince... yet a soldier. I'm guessing he wore the mask to protect his family's name." Duo shuddered then closed his eyes. This was too much. He couldn't believe it. The Colonel was actually a prince and a pacifist to boot? [No way.] He opened his eyes and shoved the picture back at his friend. "This is crap. I'm surprised at you, Quatre... believing this man's fairy tales." Quatre ignored the verbal slap. "Deny all you want, Duo, I have more." Coolly he handed over another photo. "Remember when I told you that Zechs believed that Heero was alive? This is a photo of the rebuilt Wing Gundam being transported by Zechs's people from Lake Victoria Base. Here it's being loaded onto a ship in Mombasa to be sent to Zechs's secret base in Antarctica." A hint of frustration crept into his voice. "Go ahead and call that another fairy tale, but this is a *photo*." "I see..." Duo said, his eyes narrowing on the large object being transported. "So, that's his game... stealing Gundams," he bristled. "Rebuilding it for Heero!" Quatre snorted. [I don't need him treating me like this...] He stood up and folded his arms over his chest, glaring at Duo. "He's got a mobile suit, he doesn't need to steal Gundams. He said he was giving it back to its pilot. He's got someone looking for Heero now." Duo shook his head. "I don't get it, Quatre! Yesterday you were all rabid to get me to see that Merquise is our enemy," he said looking up at his friend with large, concerned, cobalt blue eyes. [Shit, he's really scaring me... he believes this guy,] Duo thought, feeling he was truly losing his friend to the other side. "Now you're... well, you're championing his cause." Quatre counted to five and drew his breath in slowly. "I was never rabid to get you to see Merquise as our enemy, Duo," he said fairly calmly. "I was anxious to remove you from a potentially dangerous situation. We were working under limited information, which made it... listen, I've told you this before!" He sighed, clasping and unclasping one hand in a fist. "Duo, the evidence clears him in my eyes. And I know you're going to hate like hell that I tell you this, but your own refusal to give me straight answers on a couple things yesterday also worked in his favor." "What are you talking about?" Duo asked, his voice growing louder as he stood to face the other pilot. "I told you all you needed to know." His hands curled into tight fists as he felt newly betrayed. "If you're choosing to listen to him over me then I don't think I ever knew you at all," he said, his stance becoming more and more menacing as his body tightened with anger. The blond pilot sucked his breath in sharply as the anger rolling off the other boy hit him in the chest, but he was adamant to respond, only holding a fist to his heart as he bore the pain. "I asked you straight out, Duo Maxwell, if he'd ever forced himself on you and you did not answer me. I asked you straight out if you fought him when he bit you on the neck and you did not answer me." The pain was increasing, but he ignored it. "Instead you made some snide remark about how I should be a defense attorney!" Shocked by the obvious pain his friend was suddenly feeling, Duo reached his hand out... almost touching the other's arm, but not quite. He listened to the words, spoken with difficulty, and winced a little at the accusation. [I didn't lie to you... but I wasn't honest either.] Looking his friend in the eye, he felt his anger mellowing with the growing pain in his heart again. "What happened between me and Merquise... I am ashamed of," he said evenly, determined not to lose his composure. "It's over," he said, as a shudder raced through him, "and I never want to speak of it again." Something seemed to lance outward from Duo straight into Quatre's heart, and he gasped out loud from the quick, sharp pain, even as he cursed himself within for his weakness. He backed away toward the table. "Fine, don't worry, I won't," he snapped, pressing his fist against his heart to try to relieve the pressure. "Quatre, are you all right?" Duo asked, his heart pounding from his friend's odd behavior. Quatre picked up the video tape and brandished it. "This is the tape of my interrogation with Zechs..." - he'd purposely used the man's first name - "You really should watch this. And this..." He indicated the tape recorder. "Listen to this now." Quatre didn't care if he sounded like he was giving orders. "I'm going to release Mr. Merquise now and bring him up here to the house. I have more questions for him. I hope you'll join us... and listen." With that, Quatre hit the play button of the tape player, and then stalked out. "You're releasing him?..." Duo shouted after his friend. "Shit!" he said, hitting his thigh with his fist. He turned around to the tape recorder, snarling at the crackling sounds emitting from it, but just as he was about to turn it off he heard the words "Merquise was missing." That stopped him. "Huh?" Duo wondered, scratching his head. He didn't move then, but just stood there looking at the recorder intently, his ears focused on every syllable of the OZ transmission. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Something about Merquise faking documents... keeping a Gundam from some guy named Acht... and betraying OZ! "What the hell is going on?" he asked aloud, baffled by this intercepted transmission. "This has to be a set up... they scripted this," he said, shaking his head. That belief spun in his mind a long moment before he began to think perhaps this transmission was real. But did that mean Merquise was telling the truth? That he was really working against OZ? [That's what Quatre wants to believe.] And for a flickering moment that's what Duo wanted to believe, too. To have his life back. "No," he said finally, firmly. [It only means he has his own agenda. He's more dangerous than we thought.] A chill shook him. Shame shook him. He had very nearly brought down their whole operation by following his heart... by being so easily manipulated... so easily seduced. And the mission could still fail. Quatre believed Merquise and was releasing him. [No, I can't argue with Quatre again... but I can be watchful.] Yes, he could let the "God of Death" be the one who saw things clearly, who would be there when Merquise revealed his true self. [I'll let him hang himself,] he thought with some satisfaction. [And I'll look out for Quatre... stay at his side.] He went into the bathroom then and took a quick shower... making sure not to get his hair wet this time. He was in tune with his fighting self when he re-emerged, putting on his priestly garb once more and his black cap. [I won't make the same mistake twice,] he thought and hurried downstairs for some much needed breakfast. About an hour past dawn, Zechs rose from the small bed in the holding cell and stretched. He was unused to this much inactivity. [A good run right now would feel so good...] Then he remembered why he didn't let himself go to sleep, though he'd lain down again for a couple hours. [I keep seeing his twisted face...] Abruptly he heard a sound at the door, then realized someone was opening it up. He turned to face it, brushing more than the usual amount of hair out of his face. To his relief, it was Quatre Winner. "Good morning," the little blond Arabian greeted him, smiling. "Did you sleep okay?" Quatre felt much calmer since his encounter with Duo, and the pain in his chest had subsided completely, thanks to Rashid's insistence that he drink a whole glass of water. The large man had caught him further down the hall after leaving Duo's quarters. [Why does he look so chipper?] Zechs shrugged. "Good morning, Quatre. Did you find anything out?" he asked instead of answering the question. The boy narrowed his eyes at him, taking in the Colonel's bleary expression and reddened eyes. [I'll bet he didn't sleep at all, not after his lover threatened to kill him. Damn.] Aloud, Quatre responded, "Yes, quite a lot, in fact." He straightened, determined to reverse this poor man's situation as quickly as possible. "Mr. Merquise, you're now my guest. Please accompany me to the house. You can clean up there, and breakfast will be brought to your room. You're no longer going to be held in custody. I do hope you decide to stay at least a day until we can make some plans together for our new alliance." Zechs was openly staring at the young man. "You believe me now!" It had seemed such a fantasy to convince a Gundam pilot to work with him. Quatre grinned. "Yes, I do! Wing Gundam was apparently loaded onto a ship at Mombasa last night, bound, we believe for Antarctica. And we have some other evidence that eases my mind." The former OZ Colonel blew out his breath, immensely relieved. "It was last night, then... I'd given the order to Meiser before I left, but I lost track of days..." Suddenly, he sagged as a wave of dizziness hit him. "Zechs!" Quatre cried, rushing forward to his side. Hastily he put the man's arm around his shoulder for support. "Halim, come in here!" he called to one of the Maguanacs waiting outside. When the guard rushed in, Quatre waved him over to take Zechs from him. "Halim, help Mr. Merquise into the house. Take him to the guest quarters in the east wing, please." "Master Quatre?" the man inquired. Wasn't this man their OZ prisoner? "He's been cleared," Quatre snapped. His glance fell on the plate of food that had been left inside the door for Zechs last night. It appeared untouched. "I don't think he's eaten, so that's why he's dizzy. Please, assist him there and I'll call for some food to be sent." "You don't need to go to the trouble," Zechs murmured, his voice shallow. "I think I just need sleep." "Right," Quatre muttered, looking him over. "Well, I can't have my new ally fainting on me. Go with Halim... I'll come talk to you when you've had a chance to eat and clean up. I can tell you more about what we've found. Oh, and I've told Duo." He paused, feeling again the tight ache of hurt in this man's soul. "He's quite stubborn, I'm finding." "Is that so?" Zechs said dully, his voice gone flat. [Another thing I don't know about the changeling.] Then his voice changed, going bitter. "Does he still think I raped him?" "Uh..." The three of them began to leave the holding cell and head for the house. "Yeah, I think he does. He's not real happy with me, either." "I never meant to hurt him," Zechs murmured, leaning on Halim as they crossed to the house. "Of course not," Quatre replied quietly, believing it deep in his heart. His eyes widened when a moment later, the proud prince put off the assistance with a politely murmured thank-you and walked the rest of the way into the house on his own.
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