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"Greeting Cards"Written By: Kaeru Shisho Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Yaoi, funeral practices, AU, fluff Pairings: 1+4, 1x2x1, 3+H, 5xH, 3x4, 6x9 Summary: Each chapter is based on Heero’s
greeting cards and Duo's mortuary. "Greeting Cards " Chapter 28 -- January Cheer, Part 3 I felt rather foolish for acting like an ass to Heero. How could I have doubted him? Him! I don't deserve a guy like him. I felt like banging my head against the table in order to forget what I'd done, or punish myself or something stupid. He and I needed to talk, and not about us. Just go out and have fun and talk about stuff not relevant to our feelings or our future or our past for that matter. Hilde was the one I needed to set straight, but she was in such a mood everything "Duo" set her off. I was fuse and anything I said was the ignition. Put us together and watch out. Exploding Hilde! Which made me think of all the work literally stacking up. Andres and Endive had their tasks, but they were severely limited in how much they could take in. I had two funerals to conduct this week and here I was sitting around listening to... not listening to... the prince. Thankfully, I managed to miss Zechs' brilliant recap of the Dekim Barton story, catching on as he began the new material. "From what I learned as part of the White Fang, Barton was despondent over General Khushrenada's treatment of Leia and joined the organization to destroy OZ. "And White Fang is what exactly?" Hilde asked. "I take it you don't mean a big ivory tooth, right? And I want to hear from Zechs, not you, Duo." Tick, tick, tick... The joke fell flatter than the Peacecrafts' giant screen TV. "The White Fang clan was established to counter the evil activity of OZ. they call themselves a clan but they are more of a quasi-military organization. Barton brought his band of mercenaries and joined to get revenge for Khushrenada locking away his daughter, and was secretly gathering evidence to use against OZ at the time of his death." The Preventers agent, Wufei Chang, had been sitting quietly up to this point, jotting notes into his hand-held electronic device, his datatron, and listening. He spoke up now. "And that's where the knife originated? The one confiscated from the burned out car as evidence in a murder?" "The one I found," I pointed out. "That ought to be there in your notes. Want me to check?" My hand offered to relieve him of his device. "No." And I swear he would have pulled a gun on me to keep my greasy little fingers off his valuable toy. Asshole. Evil little dataron. "He doesn't need your help, Duo!" incendiary Hil informed me. Ooh, burn! I decided to keep a low profile and let Trowa take center stage after that. "Duo is correct. He found the dagger with White Fang origins," Zechs replied. "Shut up a second," Trowa said, pressing his hands to his head. "I remember something. That knife... I met Leia; we were talking, but I'm not sure when. She asked me if I still had a fancy knife. I didn't get what all Leia was trying to tell me, which makes the memory harder to pin down, but I think she told me that the knife came from her father. It was so her 'soldier-prince' would know me. I'll bet she meant you." "Yes." Zechs dipped his chin slightly. His long, silky hair swept forward, whisper-quiet, shimmering in the light of the crystal chandelier overhead. I wondered if the nobility practiced their moves to look more elegant. "In the last letter I received from Leia," he continued with another easy motion to whirl his mane back in place, "she beseeched me to take care of our daughter and look out for her step-brother Triton Bloom. I would know him by his ceremonial blade. Naturally, I tried to locate Mariemaia on several occasions, but Khushrenada had her well hidden away, going so far as to call her his offspring and giving her his name. I had never heard of any step-brother; she'd never mentioned you before." Wufei stopped that infernal typing and cleared his throat. "I am having a difficulty working out the time frame for all this to happen. The facts aren't clear to me. Let's say that Dekim Barton passed his White Fang knife on to Leia. He must have had great faith in her judgment to trust that you would come to his aid. He had to trust your abilities, Merquise, to could track down a child that was not his and care for him. Why should he choose a child whose parents had died to pass on the knife?" "My parents must have had White Fang connections," Trowa said. "And then so must have this Doctor S. He was part of the plan; made certain the knife was passed on, the boy settled in. He probably set up the bank accounts. White Fang seems to have a large network inside the OZ facilities on Zodiac Island." "Trowa," I put in, "tell them what you told me, about the dream you had with Leia in it." "Dreams or memories flooding back," he said pointedly in Wufei's direction should the agent doubt the validity of his words. "The circus was shut down for repairs in its winter camp, and I was in a high school work-study program at Voyate Laboratories as a delivery boy. I dropped some supplies at the OZ Asylum hospital every day. Once, I met a volunteer nurse named Leia Barton. Leia sought me out, actually, after learning that she had a younger stepbrother with my name, Triton Bloom. She told me I was the adopted son of a man named Dekim Barton. That's when she asked about the knife, if I still had it. And... that's all I can piece together." "So you were, what, fourteen or so?" Wufei checked his notes. I could have done that, if I had a nifty little hand-held like he did. I wondered how much a datatron would cost. A new business expense? Could that work? Sure it could. I'm sure my smile was disarming, because Wufei flinched when he looked up. Zechs nodded. "That would coincide with the death of Dekim's son, Trowa Barton. All I know is that he had died for 'the cause' in a shooting incident." "How did you get his name?" Hilde asked. Trowa shook his head. "Catherine said she was surprised to find out that my named had changed after my accident. That was why it took so long for her to locate me." "I doubt Dekim Barton thought that Triton Bloom would be renamed after his long dead son, Trowa Barton." Wufei leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. "Someone changed it when you were at the hospital. Someone who knew everything about you." "Friend or foe?" "Foe," Zechs said. "Here's what I believe. Khushrenada tried to kill Triton Bloom after discovering he had been in touch with Leia. The man was afraid Leia had told Triton the family secrets. As we know, he survived the murder attempt. Someone must have interfered and he ended up being rushed to the hospital under a new name. Even supplied with a fake birth certificate when it was discovered that he had survived, but lost his memory. We know it was an enemy because of the name chosen. It's a warning. The real Trowa Barton had been killed, and this one nearly." "The problem is that Dekim didn't get the message and we know how he met his end. Leia—I'd like to investigate what happened to her. I'm certain she is dead. Her daughter... we know is dead also." "What about your cousin? You don't suppose she had anything to do with--?" Hilde began. "No," both Zechs and Trowa said simultaneously. "Catherine Bloom doesn't know anything about Dekim's past activities or Khushrenada's. She was too young to know what had happened when Trowa was first brought to the circus." "She really isn't a part of this," Quatre agreed. "I would have sensed it when we met." "Would you care to explain how you have come into so much inside information, in particular, that pertaining to the White Fang?" Wufei asked. Zechs nodded. "Of course. I was getting to that. I resigned my commission and after a time secretly joined the White Fang clan so I could follow up on her letter and search for Mariemaia and Tristan Bloom. Only more recently was I able to get information out of Zodiac Island and attempt to trace Leia's whereabouts." "I made connections, important ones. Connections." "Shari," I said to myself and Heero rustled in his chair. He was probably thinking the same thing. "I uncovered most of what I've just told you. I discovered that Leia was no longer living on Zodiac Island. I believe she was buried there, and want to look for her grave as proof of what Khushrenada did to her." "And before you ask, Dekim Barton and I never crossed paths. I returned to my ancestral home, here, and took back my name. I had plans to convince the authorities to investigate; of course, I realized that no one would accept my word over Khushrenada's. Even if I was a prince. They would at least listen to me, though, so I arranged a private meeting with the chief of police. "Khushrenada framed you for something or forged some info that would discredit you, I'll bet." "But that could be 'covered up' due to Zechs' rank." "But if he starts whistle blowing on Khushrenada, he could claim Zechs has a grudge against him for whatever reason." "It was all part of his undead secret," Heero whispered. I agreed, but held my tongue. Wufei and Zechs were having such a fine tete-de-tete without us. But what they said struck a chord in me. I was supposed to feel sorry for Zechs? "Treize knew me well and knew my Achilles' heel. He threatened Relena should I make any public accusation against him." Enough. "But she was attacked," I pointed out. "And Heero saved her from the unfortunate fish-faced Sidney. I--" killed him. Heero cut me off. "You defended yourself, protected me, from his attack on Zodiac Island. It was his fault he fell on his knife." His deep blue eyes bore into mine, begging me to accept this version of the truth, especially in front of a Preventers agent of the law. "It was unfortunate that you couldn't bring him back to face justice, calling in the police." Wufei clipped off. "These Sanc people are a thankless bunch for all some of us have done," I said, staring down his honor. Yeah, I felt it was my turn to glower at Zechs. I was feeling Trowa's pain all the way I was from him. Zechs and Trowa had worked side-by-side and still he'd withheld important knowledge from the poor guy. I let him into my workplace, trained him, made him a part of my staff and he'd been playing my all along. That got me. Of course, Heero had certainly been on the receiving end of enough of Zechs' glares, his distain, especially when he first arrived at the palace, at Relena's bequest. He had been particularly antagonistic towards 'Ro. Yeah, that was pretty unprincipled for a dude who made himself out to have such grand ideals. "Especially considering how one of us saved the life of some other's sister and everything." Oh, Zechs grasped my meaning completely. He even addressed his next comments to Heero. "Yuy, I thought we had moved on from our rough start. Don't you see how I might have thought the attack on Relena was a set up from the start? Here was this mysterious young man with no past tuning up on my doorstep as my sister's hero, and his name was Heero! How was I to know that you weren't actually one of Khushrenada's men, trying to ingratiate yourself into my household so you could keep tabs on what I was doing and be an ever-present threat to Relena?" "He's an artist. Dontcha know artists are never the bad guys?" I asked. Except for Hilde's barbed glare, I was totally brushed off. "The man who attacked Relena was a thug of Ty Keel's, not one of Khushrenada's heavies," Heero clarified. "With a little checking on your part, you could have known that." "I did, eventually, or you wouldn't still be living here. But you have brought Ty Keel to my palace in the form of—" Zechs turned towards Wufei. "Who was that slime?" Wufei had arrested the man who had attacked me. He replied, "Ed Knute." "Hey he attacked me and we got the police involved. You were there and got one of the bad guys. Did I hear any thanks? Credit for being a helpful citizen? No, I did not." This also went over their heads when they ducked. "You missed the point," Hil cut in. "No, I didn't—" I began in my defense. "Knute. He was on my property, bringing the police here. Also, palace security blocks incoming calls to you from Keel, but that hasn't stopped the hooligan from reporting numerous facts, and lies too, I suppose. Information like... you were one of Odin Lowe's assassins; in fact, you were his son. Oh, and if that's not off-putting enough, you were Keel's bitch." Oh, that was low. A commotion commenced with me leading off with a right hook into Zechs' midsection. Heero called for Trowa's help to subdue me, while he took on Zechs himself. Wufei stepped in, threatening to arrest us all if we didn't cooperate, sit down and behave. "Although it warmed my heart to see you defend my honor," Heero said as he settled me into my chair again, "you know everything Zechs had said was true." "Yeah, but...he had no right, that's all I'm saying." It helped that a slew of servants flowed in, carrying covered dishes, and warmed plates. "Lunch is served, Sir." We returned to a respectable silence, helped ourselves to the excellent food, and settled down. I chose several things that looked promising and new. I certainly was in no hurry to start up the discussion again. More was simmering in the room than our soup. (o) Lemon sorbet sparkled from the crystal goblets set before us. I tasted the lacy cookie embellishing the top, closing my eyes, savoring the caramelized sugar, and pictured myself far away. Duo and I at a small beach café. Sun, warm breeze... "You realize, Winner Corporation owns Voyate labs, so if there's information you need--," Quatre's voice said in a modest tone that, to me, meant the opposite. The vision collapsed and in its place were rows upon rows of blue-green tanks containing floating, incomplete bodies. Talk about reality crashing in on my brain! Quatre, Wufei, and, in a peripheral way Hilde and Trowa, were already going over what they knew about the Voyate Laboratory connection to OZ. Wufei appeared interested in pursuing Voyate from that angle and entered Quatre's family contact numbers as Quatre reeled them off by memory. When he typed the last number, he said, "Many facts point to an unsavory partnership. Barton's body was discovered there." Duo drew circles in the air with his spoon. "Not table talk." Wufei ignored him for the most part, although I was in agreement. The discussion of remains, human or otherwise should wait until the meal was over. Where were the "politeness" police now? "Also, one of Maxwell's employees identified Dr. Silvia Noventa as the assistant to a Voyate lead chemist by the name of Dr. Tsubarov." "That was Andres," Zechs said since Duo refused to participate while eating. Wufei typed a bit, pulling up more notes. "Dr. Tsubarov was an employee at Voyate and many leads point to his involvement in her death. What motivation did he have?" "I think it's clear that he silenced her because she was threatening to go to White Fang, with facts about testing," Zechs commented. "My sources say they had arranged a meeting with her." "Hold on, why would she do that? Barton was a part of White Fang, and wasn't it her husband who killed him?" Quatre asked in a mild tone. "This is so confusing," Hilde moaned. "Go back a bit for me. How did Barton die? Duo—shut up!" My love sat in gloomy silence. He deserved more respect for all he did. I promised that if I ever was allowed to handle the datatron, I would share my turn with him. I meant it, but still he slumped. I think he liked to keep his eating activity separate from his business, especially his mortuary business. Trowa spoke up. "He was shot at close range in the back of the head execution style, some seven to ten days before body found floating in tank." "Thanks," Duo mumbled. He dropped his spoon and the last of his cookie drifted to the bottom of the muck in his goblet. Trowa went on. "When we autopsied Dekim Barton, he'd swallowed a gold chain and medallion. I recognized the jewelry, but couldn't remember where I'd seen the chain before. Naturally, it turned out to be our first clue linking him with White Fang." Wufei nodded and sat up glowing with pride. I wondered if he never received enough positive feedback from his chief. I also wondered why he was sharing so much with us, why was this not a Preventers mission? "Barton's car was located in Voyate lab site, and we successfully linked Marshal Noventa to Dekim Barton's death by his fingerprints on that car." "I hate to ask," Hilde said, "but is this Noventa dude still roaming around free or did you lock him up?" "He was murdered." Zechs said truthfully. "I was with Duo when Noventa's body was found in the burned out car and later when he and Trowa identified him." "So, Marshal Noventa worked for OZ and killed Dekim Barton because, well we don't know why, but old DB must have had the goods on OZ on account of TK reneging on their dealings and locking Leia away. So let's take that a step further and just say that Dekim Barton was killed by Noventa under orders of Treize Khushrenada. Anyway, he leaves Barton's body and car at Voyate. Next, some dude offs Noventa--," "After leaving evidence linking the murder to White Fang," Wufei said. "We can get to that in a minute. Proceed." "Thank you, sweetheart." Hilde smiled and continued. "Then a chemist at Voyate kills Noventa's wife, who we think was about to meet with White Fang." She rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "Trowa's parents worked on Zodiac Island and died there and Trowa was sent away... but Dekim Barton must have been pretty close friends of theirs because he left you a hefty inheritance, right?" Trowa nodded mutely. I wondered if he had thought about that before. "Whata guy, huh? Uses his son as his right-hand man, his daughter was another tool, and leaves everything he's got to some other folks' kid—I don't know. All I can say is that these White Fang guys have found out something to tick off the OZ dudes big time. My guess is they got the good on the Voyate connection. Am I right, Zechs?" Wufei agreed for him. "Preventers agents have been following the activities of all the organizations for some time. As of late, the goings-on, like the murders and drug transfer, which we'll discuss soon, have raised more interest. By sharing what I've learned I hope we'll be able to combine all of our discoveries and formulate a common plan. Yes, I know some of you have been planning to act on your own, but I hope we can work together." He looked my way, probably because I was shaking my head disapprovingly. "You disagree, Yuy?" "You would rather we work as a team?" I shot at him. "I would have thought you would rather have your own team of specialized agents reporting to you, following your orders, your plan." He leveled a dark look at me and said with an elaborate shrug, "I have my orders, which are to work with," he paused to consider who he should include, I guessed, "critical players and those willing to cooperate." "And that's all of us?" I wanted to know. Chang nodded grudgingly. Wonderful. A reluctant team leader. "It is time to go over the lab results," Zechs announced. Wufei took a deep breath and consulted his handheld computer. The moment it came into sight, I noticed Duo's eyes start to track its position. Mine did the same. When I looked, Trowa and Quatre looked mesmerized as well. It was rather funny. I wondered what would happen if I suggested he give us all one as a contingency for working with him? "We should move on," he said in an off-hand tone. "First off, the DNA collected at the recent crime scenes turned up something expected and something else totally unforeseen. When Mariemaia Barton-Khushrenada was killed, she was pregnant. Maxwell's autopsy sent the fetus in for further testing, and we were able to recover and isolate out the unborn child's DNA. Keep that thought in mind." "Marshal Noventa, as we've said before, was murdered with one or more knife stabs, and the murder weapon was left in the car. We were excited when you pointed out the importance of some mark on the knife Duo found in the burned car. It was a White Fang ceremonial dagger embossed with their wolf canine insignia. Whoever used that knife did it to implicate the clan and left it as evidence." Wufei turned to look directly at Trowa. "Originally it had been Trowa's blade, putting him in a sensitive position." "Although it had been burned, experts were still able to recover DNA from the knife, and here's the shocking part, the man who killed Noventa with that knife was also the father of Mariemaia's baby." "Oh, God!" Trowa exploded angrily, and then moaned and sagged in his seat. Quatre pulled him into his arms and enclosed him a moment. Duo chose the moment to leave the room. I watched him as far as the door where he spoke to a servant. I could hear Quatre whispering gentle-sounding words until Trowa shook his head and straightened his back. "Another memory... thing," our memory-plagued friend began, but faltered and stopped. I recognized that he was putting himself in emotional lockdown. Duo returned to his chair. "You don't need to explain, buddy." Quatre held him in his arms and did so anyway. "He's suffered lots of trauma in his lifetime and memory loss seems to be the way his mind and body has dealt with it. Everything that happened around the time of some accident was a complete blank at first, including the accident. And then he found most of his memories before the accident were gone, too. It's coming back in bursts. I think discussing these events is helping him recover more, but it can be a painful process. "For us all," Duo muttered. Before Quatre could formulate a comeback of his own, a servant entered the room, removed his malted desert goblet, and placed another fresh portion at his place. "Thanks," he said and plucked the cookie off. "Just thinking one step ahead." He wiggled it at me. "Like a carpenter who make stairs. Want it?" "No. Thank you." "No problemo. Tro'? Cookie?" Trowa shook off his funk, faking composure, and reached for it. "These are good. Thanks. Bet they're tricky to make." "Yeah, can't buy anything like this at the Kwiky Mart, heh, heh." Trowa made an act out of breaking the cookie and pretending to pick up a note falling out of it. "My fortune." Duo sat forward in his seat. "Cool. What's it say? Lucky in love or riches?" "Why not both?" Trowa squinted at his invisible paper, then read, "Help! I am being held prisoner in a Chinese bakery. Lucky numbers 6, 13, 19, 33, and 43." Then I understood what was happening. Duo had just bought Trowa ample time to collect himself. My Duo was a smart, sweet man. "Speaking of lucky," Trowa began before pausing to nibble on the edge of his crisp cookie. "Ye-es?" Duo drawled out. Trowa munched on the cookie, looking thoughtful as he leaned closer to Duo. I barely made out his next comment. "Heero showed me his art collection upstairs." "He doesn't have--," an art collection, my lover started to argue, but clipped off what he was going to say to mull over what Trowa had meant. "Showing a collection" was slang for making up an excuse to see someone in private for sexual relations. Was Trowa deliberately teasing Duo? Our meeting had been completely platonic, nothing improper had happened between us, but I had to think that what Trowa had said implied he and I had done more than examine my studio's contents and chat. I wondered why he had said that, because nothing Trowa said was by accident. Was he trying to make Duo jealous? Duo was certainly curious if I interpreted his expression correctly. "You don't have to say anything," Quatre told him. I think he was feeling left out of the joke. "If Trowa has had another 'breakthrough', then I believe he needs to get this off his chest," Zechs said. "Am I not right?" Trowa's shrug carried some weight. He was dealing with more emotional issues than he usually did. If I was right about the man, he avoided hassles as often as possible. "Guess so." He turned away from Duo, seated between him and me, and took up his lover's hand on his left. "This I do have to talk about, love. It's okay." "I just don't want you to get those nightmares again." I could detect Quatre's sincerity two seats away. Apparently Mr. Winner cared deeply for his memory-impaired boyfriend. Trowa pressed his lips to the back of Quatre's hand. "I can do this, okay?" He sat straight in his chair and, while gazing down at his hands layered between Quatre's, he said, "What I remembered were these meetings with Mariemaia. She was upset. Someone had threatened her on the phone and she was afraid. I told her it was probably some asshole messing with her and not to worry. She wanted a gun, but I didn't have anything like that, so I—I gave my knife to her. More of a prop, you know? I didn't think there really was someone stalking her. I should have taken her more seriously; I see that now. God, I set up a whole string of murders, didn't I?" "You didn't know!" Quatre tried for reassuring. "Sounds like the stalker man attacked her, murdered her, took the knife, and knowing it was from the clan, used it to kill Noventa and left it behind to implicate the clan." Hilde smiled. "Wow, I could be an investigator." What if? I had my own mini mind fuck. I was used to revelations of one sort or the other, but this one shook me to my very core. The m.o., the modus operandi, was so familiar. Hit man, knives, cover up, picking on the defenseless and fucking them over. "Your murderer is Tyler Keel." There I said it. It was easy. Still, my heart was pounding. "I need proof. Some of his DNA would be a start," Wufei said. "You will get it." On one condition. But before I could bring that up, Duo shot out of his seat. "Break time!" "We'll be at this all day if we stop now," Wufei said, practically whining in frustration over the interruption. "Hey, you and Zechs may spend hours poring over crap in stuffy meetings, but not me. I'm taking up Heero on his offer to look at his art collection, heh, heh... Eh, don't worry, I'll bring him back." "You had better. We can do this without you, but Yuy is critical." "What I don't get," Duo piped up, "is why your agents just don't go after Keel, OZ, all these jokers. Yeah, yeah, orders. I heard." He paused to let what he'd said sink in, then hardened his voice. "I want the bare truth. Why is it that you and Zechs have got us involved here at all?" "If you would just sit down and listen to the rest, if would be clear the extent to which this—" Not my Duo. "Wrong answer!" He waved Wufei away, as if the agent would vanish with a quick spell. "Hold that thought," he said as he took my hand in his and tugged. He put a hand under my elbow and shepherded me toward the door. I heard Trowa and Quatre in the hall behind us, taking advantage of the sudden break to have some alone time, too. The shorter blond lavished his boyfriend with carefully worded praise and voiced gentle concern for his well-being. From the warm, attentive look on Trowa's face, I do not think he minded it a bit. (o) "Where are we going?" "You mentioned my new card. I think now would be a good time to see it." He practically ran up the stairs, full of anticipation. I hoped the card would be good enough. I had felt confident when Trowa was here, but now I was less sure. Certain or not, it was too late to stop him from locating it on the desk and opening it to read. I watched his eyes admire the cover picture and scan the words. A broad grin spit his face. "Cool." He read it aloud, "The New Year's firework displays may be over, but not the one's I see when you and I make love. Hoping for many, many more." "It's the truth. I thought you would appreciate that. Do you like it?" I wanted to know. "I like it plenty. It's just less poetic than the others. Suits me, though." I stripped off my overly-warm sweater, leaving on my snug t-shirt. I expected him to look. His eyes caught mine, and in a suitably husky voice, picking words I thought he would use, said, "I suit you okay?" "Oh, yeah--" The rest of his answer was lost in the banging on outer door, ending our break. "I was sent to bring you back." Trowa sounded apologetic. "Thirty more seconds and youda been too late!" Duo remarked with a laugh. "We're on our way." I received a not-so-lingering kiss that left me wanting more. Desire for him sparked my imagination, which set off my creative juices. Tonight would be fabulous.
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