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"Chasing Wings"Written By: Impish 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: Graphic violence, strong
language, mild sexual undertones, AU (ish) Notes: Thanks to Startirs for beta-ing. Pairings: 1+2 Summary: Duo teams up with an enigmatic boy who has amnesia and very unusual tattoos. Written for the Moments of Rapture 2010 fic comp
- second place; Duo & Heero long fic section.
Part V "So it's two this time?" The man resembled a sort of humanoid gremlin that enjoyed touristing in warm, beachy climates, but Duo called him Howard. Howard's shirt alone may have been the most confusing thing Heero had ever encountered. "Four, actually," corrected Duo, gesturing to Heero. "We're coming with. If that's cool." There was a pause. "You got a bad case of ethics, kid." Subject closed, Howard showed them onto the ship. Enormous, it seemed to hold hundreds of low, cramped corridors, the hatches and doorways low enough that Flora's boyfriend, Danny -- who looked like he could have ripped animal hides from ferocious beasts barehanded to wear as a loincloth -- had to duck to avoid hitting his head. The cargo bays, of which there were several, were huge -- cavernous and open, with catwalks and walkways overlapping in every direction. The gravity fields were split, explained Howard, to better fit cargo into every available space, which was why people appeared to be walking upside-down and sideways from those walkways with as little trouble as a living Escher drawing. The four were shown how to hide from the checkpoint sensors, where the metal plating was thickest, how the contents of certain crates would mask a human form, if one stayed quiet and still. No one spoke, not from the moment the ship hummed into life, engines, thrusters, and pumps all cumulating in a great vibration. They could hear the shouts of the crew, both banter and orders as they prepared to debark. The small, cramped nook in which they hid was at almost pitch darkness, but Heero's night vision was good enough that he could see the way Flora's hand was clutched in Danny's as they both held tightly to each other. Flora's eyes were squeezed shut, breath held tight as though his hand in hers replaced her need for oxygen. It made him want to know, for the first time, what it would be like when he reached the end of this journey. What he would do when he had to leave Duo behind. What it would feel like. He would be alone, like the dream with the tank and the pain. A horrible coldness held his lungs. He reached out without looking, his hand wrapping around the firm, warm skin above Duo's wrist. He could feel Duo's curious eyes on him, their surprise, but Duo didn't move away, only turned his hand, let Heero's slide down, and threaded their fingers together in the dark. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I wanted to save up. You know, so Flora and I could get married, get started on our own," explained Danny, looking down at his large, rough hands, his thumb of one hand rubbing over the forefinger of the other. When they had been clear to move freely about the ship, Duo had taken them to an unused bay with a huge, round viewport that extended out from the ship at an angle. It felt like the inside of a diving bell, the unending blackness of space like an ocean beyond. "Pay was under the table," went on Danny, voice echoing softly, "which suited, and had nothing to do with gangers, which was even better. They couldn't connect to the main pipe systems, 'cause they couldn't chance popping up on Alliance radar. So they needed someone who knew how to work steam and gears -- none of them knew anything about it themselves. Not local, see. It went all right, no interruption, no fuss, 'till them Alliance bastards busted in." Heero could feel it as Danny spoke. Could imagine the ways the doors would have been broken in, the strategy they would have used -- pure surprise and devastating power, held in sold ranks, filing in with expert efficiency, covering the escape routes and overwhelming the security measures with sheer force. It would have been over so quickly. "I heard the claxon's go, but the boiler room's right out of the way, so by the time I got to the main lab, they'd already mowed most everyone down." Heero hadn't heard the alarms, but felt the vibration through the glass. The rattle of gunfire had felt unsteady as it neared, before cracking the glass, which punctured, splintering like ice. The bullets had burst through, whizzing through the liquid, stirring his hair against his face, raising bubbles. Then his world had collapsed, the liquid rushing away in a great crash. "They were distracted looking for something, but had sealed off the exits, so I snuck back past the back offices." It would have been a desperate dash, expecting a bullet in his back at any second. And worse, hiding there, with no escape route, knowing that if he was caught, he was dead just as quickly. "I just grabbed a box, hoped it was worth something since it was marked special-like, and hid out back in my boiler 'till they'd gone." "So what was in it? Blueprints?" asked Duo. "Yeah. Files, too. Couldn't make sense of most of it. Different sort of engineering than what I'm used to, plus loads of science I couldn't make out. I know I'm not much help -- not knowing what went on outside my own work 'n all -- but for all you've done to help us you're welcome to the lot." "You've been more help than you'd know, really. I'm glad you got out okay." "Doz," started Flora, who had wilted from exhaustion against Danny's side, "Thanks. For everything. Rocco was right, liking you." Her eyes flicked to Heero. "You, too. I can't believe you went through a Challenge for us. You can't know what it means." Heero didn't understand her gratitude. He'd only fought for Danny so that he would be alive to give them the information they needed. Hadn't he? It couldn't have been that catch in Flora's voice, that echo of the desperation that had seemed to reverberate around the colony. Except that he'd been so quick to make sure he, not Duo, was the one to go in the cage. Why had he done that? It felt wrong to even ask. The flow of information in his mind usually made sure he didn't have to ask questions. That he had to unbalanced him, felt like a malfunction. And any possible motivation had nothing to do with his mission at all. "Hey, you okay?" asked Duo, concerned, touching Heero's arm lightly. Heero pulled away. "Yes," he said, then mumbled something about operating effectively while his mind raced wildly, trying to recover information that would restore his equilibrium. "He's tired. You guys look knocked off, too. You should get some rest. Need anything before you turn in?" "No, we're all right, mate," said Danny. "Thanks again, I mean it." When they'd gone, Duo looked at Heero, but didn't ask again if he was all right. Opening the box, Duo lifted several folders from it, handing them to Heero, and then taking more for himself. "Here," said Duo. "See if anything stands out to you." Quietly, they went through the files, both setting aside anything of interest, and Heero used the new information to settle his mind. There was a partial list of names he folded, tucked away, and then his eyes were jumping from diagram to diagram, familiar words now in front of him. Bioskin weave, Gundanium blend, crosspatching patterns. The formulas were so delicate, so complex; it was a wonder that anyone had actually been able to accomplish the science, much less the art. "So it really was rebels, not Oz, who set up that lab," said Duo, reading over his stack. His eyes were uncharacteristically neutral, but the quirk in his lip said some theory had just been confirmed. "Loaded motherfuckers called the Barton Foundation. They're a big name in the L3 cluster, but they're fucking insane. I think they had connections with Heero Yuy. The original one, that is, but it could be how you got the name. There's some stuff in here about a resource satellite just near X18999. Ship's going around that way, anyway, so it won't be too much trouble to get Howard to drop us off. Looks like there're some blueprints in here for that as well. Should be a help to sneak in past their security, which looks tough, by the way." Heero glanced over, mind automatically processing the data. "That's a Stheno system." "Fuck. You're right." Duo's frown twisted into a smirk. "I think we have something we can use to get past it." "Get past a Stheno?" said Heero. "But the neutralizing capabilities --" "Let's just say we really lucked out when I took that other key from Kal." More seriously, Duo said, "You know we could be walking into anything, right?" "Yes," said Heero. "I know." "Ok. Can't help but feel I'm about to jump out of an airship without knowing if I've got on a parachute or a backpack." Duo flipped the prints Heero had been reading about the tattoos around so he could look at them himself. "Jesus. They did all this to you?" said Duo after a while, still reading. "No fucking wonder you can heal like you do; they must have fucked with your system just so you could heal enough to survive the tattooing process." "Pain was all I could remember," said Heero, slowly understanding, "because that's all there was. I can't remember anything else because there's nothing else to remember." "You were in a tank, getting fucked around with, your whole life," Duo caught on. "Jesus. These Barton guys really are some sick fucks. Maybe the Alliance did us a favor, for once. You know, except for the part where they stabbed you." "Sometimes, I think I remember voices, shapes, outside the tank. Vibrations against the glass. But I don't think anyone ever touched me. You were the first person to touch me." Maybe that was it. Maybe it was because Duo had helped him, because Duo had been the first human he'd met. The first person to really touch him. "Heero..." "They programmed me to fight. I know about every statistic and fact there is, but you taught me how to..." he almost stopped. He looked at Duo, shrugged. "Feel. You taught me how to feel." Duo's eyes were large, and Heero was suddenly tired of the war in his head. Of the voice that kept telling him no, that kept him supplied with answers without allowing him to ask questions like, why not? Duo leaned forward, brushed the hair from Heero's eyes like he'd been aching to do it since the moment they'd met in the rain. Heero closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the brush of skin on skin, and he heard Duo's breath hold. "Will you show me?" said Heero. "Heero?" Duo shivered slightly. Heero's eyes were drawn to the lean curve of Duo's neck. Heart pounding, he wondered if it was unusual to want to lick up that strong line to his jaw. Duo met his eyes like they were magnetic, like Duo knew what Heero was thinking. Suddenly, Heero was very aware of how their breaths were synched. "Show me." "Heero," Duo breathed, resisting, looking down, "I don't think --" "Show me." Reluctant, Duo met Heero's eyes again, but Heero was looking at him a certain way, that way, the way that made Duo want to help him, love him, save him, touch him. "Okay," said Duo, taking Heero's face in his hands and kissing his forehead. "Okay." The tip of his nose brushed down the bridge of Heero's, and Duo pressed their lips together in a soft, openmouthed kiss. And he showed him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Why do you hate them?" asked Heero, knowing Duo would understand who he spoke of. "You hate them more than anyone else. That man, Kal, he knew why." There was a long quiet, and Duo was very still. "I don't tell people why," he said finally. His eyes flicked up to Heero and he sighed. "I don't tell people why," he repeated. He was angry -- Heero could feel it in a slow simmer, just under his skin -- but he wasn't angry at Heero. Sighing again, Duo glanced at the stacks of files at the bedside. "You're not really people then are you?" Duo's eyes were closed, shut tight against whatever he was thinking. With everything in him, Heero knew Duo didn't want to say it aloud, to release it from his mind and into the world. Heero said nothing, but reached out, fingers brushing the hair at the nape of Duo's neck. Finally, Duo said, voice steady and cold, "They killed my family. The only family a fuck like me could have. So I killed 'em right back, all right? I fucking killed them all back." At the word family, it made sense. With that connection, Duo's last name brought forth a stream of information about a Maxwell Massacre, the lone survivor, an L2 colony base and its mysterious destruction. The statistics and dry data came alive to him as he realized how Duo had known those people who'd died, the ones whose autopsy reports were burned in his mind. Family. The word suddenly gained more power. What they must have been to him for Duo to do that in revenge. How Duo must have come to live there, why he wouldn't have left. The orphanage program on L2-V08744 hadn't kicked in until AC 187, so Duo would most likely have lived on the street before then, during the viral outbreak that killed a large portion of the lowest classes. The orphanage would have been the briefest period of stability. Duo's every action since they'd met suddenly seemed a somewhat futile attempt at regaining even a sliver of what he'd lost: taking in strays as he was taken in, attempting to connect with the people around him, and trying to mimic, even in small, sad ways, the domestic environment of a loving home. Studying Duo's expression, Heero understood Duo was well aware that his attempts fell short, but that it wouldn't keep him from repeating these actions. "Every time I find a home," said Duo, "the Alliance takes it away. So I fight back. Not just for the people I lost, not only for revenge, but so that no one's home will ever be taken from them again." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The rounded tunnel in the outer shell of the satellite echoed faintly with every step they took. It was nothing like the Underground tunnels; here both the oppressive heat and the pumping, clanging sounds of life were noticeably absent. Everything was bare and seamless, the air stale and thin despite the bulky suits they wore. They said nothing, as though the slightest noise could awaken ghosts from the darkness. They hadn't gone far when they saw the first one -- a charred, ashy imprint on the wall that looked ominously like a human shadow branded into the steel. Duo and Heero's eyes met, grim and on guard. Stheno. Further along, there was a second imprint, then a third, then a dozen more, alone or in clusters as they went on. Each was the remainder of gruesome death, forever burned into the exoskeleton of the satellite in warning. Despite the steady pulse of trepidation, there was the sense they were growing nearer. Eventually, the corridor twisted and tapered down into a dead end, where Duo found a latch in the wall. The heavy seal swung open and then... everything went sideways, opening into the dark abyss of the satellite Zone. With strong pushes off the side, they floated across the empty Zone to the interior wall. Once safely inside an inner tunnel, they wasted no time unlatching the seals of their suits and pulling them off from over their clothes. Their movements were efficient, but hurried, as the suits had been equipped with jamming devices that temporarily withstood security probes. Now virtually naked to the Stheno's lethal eyes, they had to be quick to engage their defense against her. "How does it work?" asked Heero when Duo pulled out the smaller key from one of his belt pockets. "It's called a Hack Key. They're made of Microflex and they jumpstart certain high-tech instruments. This one might have enough Gundanium alloy blend to give me the kick start I need, but it won't last long." "Might?" echoed Heero. Duo smirked, the devil himself in the line of his grin. He put the key to the back of his neck, twisted as if he were putting it in a lock, and then there was a small, violent spark there in the near-darkness. After a moment Heero asked, "Did it work?" "Just wait for it," Duo told him, focused. Heero did, but with the threat of the Stheno hanging overhead, seconds stretched dangerously long as he tried to avoid looking at several more blackened shapes on the wall that just wouldn't leave his peripheral vision. It was subtle, at first, but the air around Duo seemed to suspend itself, and he had an odd look in his eyes. It was ghostly, almost supernatural. His eyes were more than eerie and far away; they were glowing, lit up from within, as though an unholy light had been born inside him. Under his skin, a web of ultra-violet lines streamed down in a perfect grid, from face to feet to fingertips. Like someone had dimmed the lights on only him, his skin darkened, faded, chameleon-like, until it was as though the background had been projected over him, the detail focusing finer and finer until he had disappeared completely. No wonder Duo had been able to avoid Kal's security, thought Heero, his breath stopped. "Quick," urged Duo's disembodied voice. "Put on the shades; we don't have much time." Heero pulled down the welder's goggles, coated in Gundanium, lenses blacked out completely to swallow his world in darkness. He felt Duo take his wrist in hand, and he stepped out blindly to follow. Almost immediately, Heero felt the heat of an intense light bathe over them. They stilled, Duo's grip tight against his arm as the Stheno washed over them, searching for vulnerable eyes she could penetrate, burn in a flash from the inside out to leave behind only a charred flesh behind. Heero could feel Duo's harsh breath against his skin as Duo stood close. The hair on Heero's neck raised as they waited, both tense. Unable to sense Duo at all, and with Heero's eyes completely sealed and protected, the light eventually faded, passing them over. Hearts still pounding with relief that the tactic had held up, Duo led Heero on, careful not to trip them up as they moved along their memorized route. The deadly light searched over them several times more, but every time they were able to escape unscathed. Treacherously close to the end, Duo began to shimmer in and out of sight like a faulty projector. "Shit," muttered Duo, inspecting the door that was the last barrier before they were safe from the Stheno. "Lock's been upgraded from the configs in the blueprints. I can't get it with what I brought." Duo's face flickered into view, then faded again. "Hurry," he said, uneasy eyes all that remained in sight. Heero pulled the knife from his left arm to cut the lock and seals, the Gundanium blade slicing clean through. Duo was fading into visibility, an acid-washed version of himself. By the time Duo had solidified completely, Heero had the door busted open. "Just in time," breathed Duo, rubbing at his arms. "God that feels weird. Tingly." "Stay alert," reminded Heero, alert and scanning the corridor. "The Stheno most likely alerted security every time it passed over us." They found the predicted security around the next corner, as a pair of guards that seemed to have responded to Stheno's alerts were patrolling the corridor. In a flash of movement, Heero knocked them out from behind as Duo shot out the security cameras. The guards made twin grunts as they fell, overlapping with the muffled sound of the suppressed gunshots. Not wasting any time, they moved at an even run through the corridors, up and down stairs until they reached an open atrium, taking out another few guards and every security camera on the way. They came to a halt there, looking up at the dozens of floors above, all the windows floor to ceiling to be able to look down on the atrium below. When they brought their attention back down, they were surrounded by guards in every direction, with all guns sighted on them. "Couldn't have been too easy," griped Duo. They dropped in unison, Heero with a protective arm over Duo's shoulder, his wings bursting from the tattoo on his back, ripping through the cloth of his shirt and enveloping them both amidst a flurry of feathers and torn fabric as the guards opened fire. Bullets ricocheted from the Gundanium, sparks flying, shortly followed by pained cries as they rebounded back into soft flesh. Heads pressed close together, Heero found himself staring into Duo's eyes, inches away from his. Duo was grinning with mischief, eyes lit with adrenaline. He felt a small smile on his own lips in return, which only made Duo's brighter. The barrage continued until clips ran empty, a few final shells dropping to the ground with hollow clinking noises. "What the hell?!" "How did --?" "What the fuck is that?!" "Fucking move in!" commanded a voice of authority, and Heero could see several men move to obey. With a quick upward sweep of his wing, he sliced through two men -- one through his shoulder and torso, and the other at the neck -- the razor edges of the feathers cleanly severing muscle, sinew, and bone. Blood sprayed fresh and dark, showering wide over everything. Duo hooked an arm around Heero's neck, leaning into him as Heero wrapped an anchoring arm around his waist and pushed off the ground, taking to the air untested. With a few, experimental flaps of his wings, they rose, the remaining men cursing below at the sight. Moving with more conviction, Heero lifted them high above, level with the thick, glassed windows. Without hesitation, Duo aimed his weapon with his free hand and fired three times into the glass, but the bullets did little but pockmark the pane. "Shit," said Duo as the men below reloaded. "Another upgrade. Bulletproof." Again, bullets began to whiz around them. Undaunted, Heero pulled one of the guns from his lower back and fired. This time the bullet passed clean through. The glass shattered, raining down on the guards below. Duo laughed. "That's my boy." Heero landed, boots crunching on glass as he let go of Duo and folded his wings back into his skin. "This must be it," said Duo, tone edging on nervous, eyes on the solid oak double doors at the end of the darkly marbled hall. They looked at each other and went forward. Duo held his gun at the ready, covering Heero as he tried the handle. It was unlocked. Warily, Heero opened the door with a soft click, quickly snapping his own weapon into position as it swung open. Duo and Heero's eyes searched the room for threats, but the room seemed vacant. It was an office, modern with clean lines, centered around a large, sleek desk. The dark leather chair behind it was facing away from them. "Ah, the boy," came a voice from the chair. Their guns clicked in unison, zeroing in on the chair, which slowly turned. They both recognized the man who sat there from the Barton Foundation files. "I've been expecting you, though I can't imagine why you'd still have the thief with you," continued Dekim Barton. "Hey," protested Duo, aim unwavering. "I understand you used him to navigate the Steam Colony," said Dekim to Heero. "Resourceful, I suppose." "How did you know that?" asked Heero, gun trained. "I have sources on most of the colonies, of course," responded Dekim. "You must have noticed the men I sent to retrieve you? You killed one of them, but I should have only expected that from you after all the money we put into conditioning you." Duo bristled, and Dekim's eyes slid to him. "A man named Kal was very helpful, given the proper compensation. He had some interesting things to say about you, Duo Maxwell. Or should I say VK? I'll be needing my key back. Pure Gundanium weave is terribly expensive." "Your key?" said Duo. "Yes. The skeleton key with the 'I' on it belongs to me. As does the weapon you call Heero Yuy." "I don't think I like your boss very much, Mental," growled Duo. "You won't be needed any longer," said Dekim, as though it was an order Heero was supposed to follow. "He stays," said Heero. Dekim's gaze snapped back to Heero. "He'll do as I say. And so will you." "Why?" Heero wanted to know. "Questions?" wondered Dekim with suspicion. "What has he done? Is there a malfunction?" "There is no malfunction," said Heero. "I've been assigned a purpose. My orders are to find it." "Ah. I see." Dekim relaxed slightly. "Clever J. He always did cling to his ambiguity. Well, Boy, this is it. This is the destiny you were created for. To free the colonies from the Alliance, to rid them of the Earth that has bound them in slavery for so very long." The words felt right to Heero, made him feel complete. He thought about the Alliance, the way they'd destroyed the lab and everyone in it, about Doc, taken from his home and tortured, about Flora, whose love had been willing to trade his life for her safety, about the cages, the fighting, the secrecy and overwhelming desperation and how none of it should be like it was. He looked at Duo, who fought so hard to get back, even for a second, the memory of what he'd lost. And here was this man, the man who'd all but created him, telling Heero it was up to him to end the suffering the Alliance caused. "Watch it, Heero," warned Duo in a low tone, edging closer. "There's always a catch." "No," said Heero. "The Alliance is cruel and oppressive. It's unnecessary. If it's my purpose to destroy them, I will." "Heero, remember why I didn't kill Chim and his guys?" Heero paused. "The inveterate structural balance between the authorities and street gangs." "And?" "...And disrupting it could cause a power vacuum and social disorder, with the additional probability of personal retribution," said Heero. He faltered, lowered his gun slightly. "A power vacuum that large would be extremely detrimental without a new system to replace it." "We already have that," snapped Dekim, impatient. "The Foundation is fully prepared to step in and lead the colonies to a better future, one without the shadow of Earth's oppressive rule." "What, and we should trust you guys?" mocked Duo. "You kept a boy in a goddamn lab for most of his life, used experiments so deranged his memories had to be wiped so he couldn't remember the fucking pain you put him through." "Heroes must always suffer for their cause, and pain is the greatest instructor a soldier has." "No!" said Duo in anger. He turned, stepping in front of Heero, putting his hands on Heero's shoulders to look into his eyes. "You're not a weapon, Heero. It's not your destiny to be used. After all this, don't you get it? You make your own." Heero hesitated. Duo was right, even if his mind screamed in every tongue that he had to follow the path J had set him on. But what path was that? He'd been created to liberate the colonies, but did that mean he had to follow Barton's orders? Or... was Duo right, and he was meant to choose? "This is nonsense. What is he? Some petty vigilante? What does he know about honor, about devotion? Does he have a cause, a path? All he knows is cheap, fatuous revenge. What you're meant for isn't some childish scheme with no real objective or course of action. You're meant to change the world." "You don't know who he is," said Heero. "Not at all. He's much more than you realize." It was far more true than Dekim knew. Two cracking sounds rang out, horribly loud and unexpected. In the ringing silence, Duo's body snapped with the impact, dropping to the floor. The bullet had hit him dead center, smashed straight through his breastbone. For a few seconds, Heero's heart felt like it had been sucked from his chest as something dark and wet blossomed in the fabric of Duo's shirt, welling out with distressing speed. Heero hardly noticed the burn across his cheek, something warm sliding down his face. Then Duo wheezed, gasping for shallow breaths, hands twitching like he wanted to bring them to the wound, and Heero felt the return of his own heartbeat, loud and wild. The gold disc over his heart stirred, clicked. "Sir!" shouted the guard from the doorway, gun still raised. "Are you alright, Si--" The man dropped as another shot rang out, a perfect hole in the center of his forehead. Heero lowered his gun, not even looking back, entire being centered on Duo, the blood welling from the wound. Heero ripped Duo's shirt open, wadded it up and pressed it there in a futile attempt to stem the bleeding. "That was quite unnecessary," said Dekim, referring to the dead man in the doorway. "And so is that. He won't last long." Heero couldn't breathe, like all the air in the world had been replaced with ash. Duo was so pale, eyes so dull, the life fading from them so quickly. His skin had already tinged grey and waxy. In Heero's chest, the gold apparatus ticked away. Duo was dying. Heero had always known he would leave Duo in the end. He just hadn't thought it would be like this, with his hands drenched in Duo's blood. The clock was ticking down, and he still had a job to do. He had a decision to make. "Heero," wheezed Duo, the name barely strong enough to pass his lips. You have to lose your heart to save it. Heero wavered, the blood pumping thick and fast from Duo's body. The shirt was so soaked with blood it squished between his fingers. The apparatus continued to tick. There wasn't any time. Heroes must always suffer for their cause. Roughly, his slick hands left the wound to tear at the flaps on Duo's belts. Fumbling, he came up with the skeleton key, the one Dekim claimed belonged to him. "Heero? Heero... please." Duo's voice was weak, panicked, but Heero had to shut it out or he wouldn't be able to do this. Dekim smiled at the sight of the key. "You're doing --" he froze. "What are you doing?" "The right thing," whispered Heero. With the same focus he used with the other tattoos, Heero pulled the gold disk from his chest, a chain heavy against his skin as he dragged it out. On the back of the gold piece was a keyhole. Heero slotted the key in the lock, turned it as Barton shouted for him to stop. He heard the tumbler click and the dial popped open. There were four similar keys inside, each labeled with a roman numeral. The I in his hand, he took the next in line -- the II -- and gently moved Duo's braid from his neck. As he'd hoped, there, at the base, just over the knob of spine, was a silver patch of Bioskin in the shape of a keyhole. "Every time I find a home," Duo had said, "the Alliance takes it away. So I fight back. Not just for the people I lost, not only for revenge, but so that no one's home will ever be taken from them again. They were doing it to the people on Steam Colonies. That's part of how I ended up there. "After... L2... I stowed away on a Sweeper shuttle like this one, which is how I know Howard. Instead of dumping me on the nearest satellite, the guy in charge decided he liked my style. He wanted the same things I did, so he helped me learn to fight better. To hide even better. After a while, I had to split, and wound up on a Steam Colony looking for some technology to help me out taking Alliance apart, brick by brick." "That's why you took Kal's key," realized Heero. "Yeah. But it didn't work the way I hoped it would. Or at all, really. It didn't fit." Heero pressed the key against the patch. It slotted in easily, and he turned it. There was a fizzle of electricity, a blue-violet spark that sizzled down Duo's spine, and Duo's entire body jerked. "No!" raged Dekim, pulling a pistol from his desk drawer and aiming it at Duo's prone form. He dropped, limbs jerking as Heero methodically shot a hole through every major artery. Barton bled out in seconds. Again, Heero paid the body no attention, focused only on Duo, whose body thrashed, ultraviolet light coursing under his skin, spreading like a web of lighting. He was obviously in agony, the pain so great he couldn't even force out sound to express it. Veins swelled, body arching, and Heero could do nothing but hold Duo's body tight and hope he hadn't made a terrible mistake. "Please," he whispered, throat tight. "Please." Duo's mouth opened, screaming soundlessly, convulsing on his side. The skin on his back felt hot enough to combust and burn like a phoenix at its death. Then, as gradually as the change when Duo had disappeared, something dark curled under his skin by his shoulder blades, like trapped smoke. Like ink in water, it spread in lines and plumes across his back, arching down, solidifying. Solidifying into black wings. Duo gasped for air, and his panting slowly became more steady as the pain passed. Only then did Heero notice the tattoo darkening in a straight line down Duo's side, the blade of a grim reaper's scythe curving across his lower back. The bullet hole in his chest had shrunk to nothing, an angry, dark scab in its place. Heero pulled Duo to his chest, buried his nose in the crook of Duo's neck, a strange wetness on Heero's cheeks. "Holy shit," gasped Duo. "That fucking hurt." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heero stood next to Duo, back on the Sweeper ship again, in the open bay that looked out into space. The gold disc felt warm and secure over his heart. It was gone. The incessant voice that ruled the back of Heero's mind, that had taught him everything he knew. It was gone. His mind was, for the first time, completely his. He was, for the first time, completely lost. Using the key hadn't been the choice, it had given him choice. Free will. It was all over. They'd been through so much in such a short span of time; Heero could hardly believe it was finished. That feeling of intense devotion to his quest, of really believing in it with every fiber of his being hadn't left. It was as a part of him as breathing. It had been the first action he'd taken in his life and something like that didn't just vanish. In the beginning, Heero hadn't even understood what other people were doing around him without a purpose like his. But he had come to realize that other people did have paths; they just weren't the same as his. And some of these, he had learned, were better traveled with company. "How'd you know what to do?" asked Duo. His hand absently rubbed over his shirt, the bullet wound healed to a thick scar beneath. Heero looked at him, gaze soft. "It made sense, with everything you said. I knew you had to have been part of a project like mine, even though Barton didn't realize you were a subject." "The original died," admitted Duo. "Couldn't take the pain, and his heart gave out. I took his place, but the final phase was never completed." Heero paused. "This could have ended very badly." "Tell me about it." Duo nudged Heero's shoulder. "So what now? Got a destiny in mind?" Now sure he wasn't meant to do someone else's bidding, but to find his own way, with Duo, Heero couldn't help but give the slightest of smiles. He pulled a crumpled paper from his pocket, unfolded the list of names he'd taken from the files and smoothed it out to read. Trowa Barton Quatre Raberba Winner Long Meiran Heero looked out the viewport, where the Earth shone in the distance, a large, blue-white swirl. The colonies were all beyond, resting in the stars. "Do you want to save the world with me?" asked Heero. "Sure," replied Duo, grinning, because the two of them? They could do that.
~ End ~ |
