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"Amanhã "Written By: Painted Smile Disclaimer: Not mine Rating: PG 13 Warnings: Some violence, yaoi, supernatural theme Pairings: 1x2, 3x4 Summary: Sudden storms, disappearances, murders.
Strange creatures and even stranger animals on the streets. Duo knows
something wierds happening, and he knows the other pilots know what
it is. But they won't tell him. Amanhã Chapter 4
Não esteja receoso das sombras, eles dizem apenas
que há uma luz em (Don't be afraid of shadows, they just tell that there is a light somewhere nearby.) [1] * Scratching against my cheek. Oh, my neck hurts. So does my back, for that matter. But my side is comfortably warm. Turning my head, groggily, I remembered falling asleep, waiting for Heero. I was so worried about him. It’d been well into the early hours of the morning, and he still wasn’t home. I wasn’t dealing with this whole Special thing at all. I’d just pushed it to the side, to the back of my mind. There are a lot of dark hidey-holes in my subconscious. What was one more? So last night, while I was feeling all nice and philosophical, I decided to do some mental spring cleaning. Alright. Here goes. I am the only human in a team of five elite soldiers. Do the doctors know about the others? Probably. Why did they choose me as a pilot, without any special abilities? Ask Quatre at some point. My partner and major crush, aka: the Perfect Soldier, was one of the Specials. More powerful than all three of the others combined. He could light fires with his mind, and control people. And some other stuff I didn’t really remember. And he’d messed with my mind. That was what was _really_ pissing me off. Heero bloody Yuy had gone into my mind and screwed with my thoughts. If it had been anyone else, I would’ve killed them. This was Heero. Even if I could kill him (not bloody likely) I wouldn’t. Yanking myself back to the present, I glanced beside me, searching for the source of the warmth. And froze. A tousled head of dark brown hair was lying beside me. And I could smell Heero. If the Perfect Soldier was going to have a scent, you’d expect it to be oil, or metal. Or that tangy scent, of guns. But no. He smells like.....well, cinnamon doughnuts. Don’t ask me why. Ask him. If you’re suicidal, of course. Beside me, Heero stirred, teetering on the edge of consciousness. I froze, and then started to move away. A hand reached out and snagged my elbow, dragging me back. In his sleep, Heero turned to face me, pulling me into a rough embrace. And promptly fell back into the deep sleep of before. Okay. I could learn to like this. I started to drift back off to sleep. Heero’s breathing was tickling my ear, but his heartbeat was soothing. Who’d have thought I’d ever get to hear his heartbeat? Suddenly, something collided with the back of my head. I yelped, and twisted to glare at Wufei, who was looming over us, looking extremely tired and confused. “Watch where you’re going!” I hissed at him. “Don’t lie on the living room floor, and I will. Otherwise, it’s just too tempting.” He replied coolly. Glaring at him, I was about to retort, when I felt the arms encircling my waist tighten for a moment. Looking over my shoulder, I could see Heero was awake, and obviously trying to figure out why he was cuddling up to me. His face flushed pink, and he glanced almost guiltily at me, before letting go. Damn. “Mornin’ sunshine.” I said cheerfully. “You look like shit.” Which was true. There were dark rings around his eyes, despite our little siesta, he still looked dead tired, and his hair was even wackier than usual. “Hn. Call Quatre and Trowa. I have new information.” * “They’ve lost the baby.” Heero told us bluntly. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who didn’t have a clue what was going on. “WHAT?!” yelled the other three at once. Heero spared them a disparaging glance. “You heard me. The Ligue found the witches who were fostering the baby. One of the bitches decided the only way to save the creature from falling into the humans hands, was to put it in a.....basket..... and let it float away downriver. Just like a fairy tale.” Heero’s expression said clearly what he thought of that. “Unfortunately, her.....plan.... was not successful. The baby was taken from the river by the Ligue half a minute later. This was a few days ago. I heard them talking about it, while I was hiding from them.” Heero muttered something about baka witches under his breath. Wufei muttered something about onnas in general. “So.....where is it now?” I wondered. Heero shot me an irritated glance. “How should I know?” he snapped. Sometimes I suspect Heero has a permanent case of male PMS. Still, he didn’t need to be such a jerk. “Don’t know, aren’t you supposed to be the omnipotent Heero Yuy?” He glanced at me again. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looked..... hurt. Quatre shot me a look, that said clearly ‘don’t start’. “Well,” he began reasonably “It’d not really any trouble to us, is it? Whatever we’ve go to do with it, can work itself out on its own. We’re not here to baby sit anyway.” “No, it just concerns the future of our race!” hissed Wufei. “And Duo’s.” he added as an afterthought. “Nothing at all important.....” he continued sarcastically. A low growl from Trowa shut him up. Ok, maybe it’s a Specials thing? They all get male PMS. “Have you told Duo all of it?” asked Heero. Quatre shook his head, guiltily. Turning to me, he smiled reassuringly. Oh dear. “Well, Duo, it seems there’s.....more to this prophecy then we first thought. Most prophecies are just junk. Some old lady had a funny dream, and boom, a new prophecy is born. But this one..... it mentions us, Duo. Me, Heero, Wufei and Trowa. Not by name, but by description.” I think someone up there hates me. Whoever it is seems to be determined to make me feel about an inch tall. “Oh. Great. So this means what?” I deadpanned. Wufei took over. “You know the child will either destroy the Specials, or save them. Basically, the prophecy says that we will tip the balance, in either way-” “Not necessarily us.” Heero broke in. “It could be something we say, something we own, something or someone we know. Anything.” Wufei shot him an irritated glance. “As I was just about to say, Yuy. So we can’t just ignore this, Quatre, we’ve got to find the baby. With that brat, we’ll be in control of this situation.” Trowa nodded. “It makes sense.” He admitted. Quatre sighed. “Guess I’m outnumbered. Where’re the Ligue’s headquarters?” “I read one of their minds last night. It’s on Salisbury Circuit, third house from the post office.” Said Trowa flatly. “Reconnaissance mission. It’d be best if Duo went on this one.” Wufei pointed out. I nodded. Finally, I get to do something. But Heero shook his head. “I’m coming. Just in case.” Quatre gave a little, secretive grin. Don’t let him fool you. He acts dumber than he is. And he knows a lot more than he says. Like now. * “So Heero, you reckon there’ll be anyone there?” Heero glanced at me, and shrugged. “Ok, well then tell me about this Ligue thing. I know it hunts Specials. Why? Why hasn’t it just told everyone else about them?” I pressed. “Because if it told the general public, the Ligue would be disbanded. The three founding members are all Specials, with grudges against their race, for varying reasons.” What would make someone want to kill their own race? I’d seen massacres, monstrosities, things that should not exist outside of nightmares and horror stories. And yet, I loved people, most of them, anyway. It was just Ozzies I was against. “That’s it.” Said Heero, nodding at a house ahead of us. Big, white, dark roof. Looked like a family home, not a HQ for a cult of vampire hunters, or whatever. Appearances lie. Heero jerked his head at some low flower bushes at the side of the house, and, without waiting to see if I was following, dashed off. And I followed. Of course. Crouching under the cover of the shrubs, we waited, listening. The bushes were conveniently planted right underneath a window. Furious whispers issued forth. “I cannot believe your incompetence!” a woman hissed. “I-I’m sorry, Commander.....” wavered a second woman. “My team found an inconspicuous hiding place, like you ordered, it.....it just.....” Woman #2 seemed unable to explain. #1 wasn’t a happy camper. “I also warned you not to underestimate the little monster. The creatures develop their mutations young. It comes as no surprise that the thing has force-shielded the place. You do realise, that you’ll lose your medallion over this, don’t you?” sneered #1. Ouch. Suddenly, I heard sobbing, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the poor lady. She was just trying to do her job. Even if her job was to kidnap infants. So, the Ligue had lost the kid too? This kid seemed to be having an awful lot of luck. What the hell was force-shielding? Like force-fields? Probably. Heero elbowed me, and then began to move off, silently. I glanced back at the window. Surely we could learn more here? Heero, seeing my hesitation, yanked insistently on my arm. ‘Come on!’ he mouthed urgently. I’m coming, I’m coming, keep your shirt on..... or don’t. No, bad Duo. Bad thoughts. We crept around to the back of the house, keeping close to the walls. No one in the large, overgrown backyard. The wild foliage was somewhat at odds with the brand new, squeaky clean shed. We traded glances. Heero went left, I went right. We were circling the shed, looking for any other entrance, besides the main door. Nothing. I met up with Heero at the rear of the shed. He shook his head, mutely. We back tracked to the front. The stupid people hadn’t even locked the door. Made things easier for us. Inside, I fumbled around for the light switch. A single, bare bulb lit up the cramped space. Shelves upon shelves, full of weird and lethal looking objects, filled the room. Heero went straight to a glass cabinet. “These are Devorn Bands.” He informed me, holding up what looked like a big yellow rubber band. “They protect the wearer’s mind from powers like mine or Trowa’s. It’s how the Ligue has survived against us.” I took the band from him, as he gathered up the rest. Seemed they were coming with us. I should get one of these things. I quickly, and almost guiltily, slipped the band over my wrist and onto my upper arm, pushing it up far enough to be hidden by the sleeves of my T-shirt. I glanced back at Heero, and our eyes locked. He looked sad. “Duo, we promised we wouldn’t use our powers on you.” He reminded me quietly. “Don’t you trust us?” “Of course I do. But, even if you guys leave my mind alone, there’re others who could try. Better safe than sorry.” Heero just turned back to his bag, grabbing handfuls of the bands, and shoving them angrily into the bag. I’d really pissed him off this time. I walked over beside him, and helped him load the last of them into the bag, silently. Something flashed in the corner of my eye, and I turned. And stared. “Heero, what are _those_?” Heero looked briefly at it. “Werewolf skull. Unicorn horn. Vampire fang. Mermaid’s dorsal. Come on. We’re going.” He turned and walked out. I lingered for a moment, still caught up in gross fascination. One row of shelves was dedicated to weapons. An oddly shaped gun, a silver collar, a mirrored net, a set of iron horse-shoes (what the hell were they supposed to do?) [2] a sword with a curved edge, and more oddly-shaped guns. Curious, I checked to see whether they were loaded. Yes, with silver bullets. For werewolves. I tucked the gun I was holding into my own bag, along with a tin of extra bullets, and _all_ of the bullets from the other guns. By this time, I’d wasted a good 15 minutes, and Heero’d be well past the murderous stage. Let’s hope he didn’t decide to get creative. * The trip home was uneventful. We retrieved the stolen motorbike from where we’d hidden it, about a kilometre from the house, and rode right on out of there. If Heero wondered why my bag was so heavy, he didn’t say anything. When we got home, first thing I did was go straight to our room, and empty all my silver ammo, and the gun, into a box under my bed. Great hiding place, ne? Heero was still pissed at me, but it honestly wasn’t my fault. I had every right to ensure the protection of my mind. I was dozing, leaning against my bed with a tattered manga on my lap, when I heard a shout. Reaching under my bed, I grabbed out my gun, and, after a second’s hesitation, the werewolf gun too. Just in case. I darted along the corridor, and stopped at the end, peering cautiously around the doorframe, gun cocked. Four strangers stood in the entrance hall. One had a gun, pressed to Wufei’s temple. The other, was dragging Trowa out the door. I could see Quatre, about to leap out of the lounge-room from the door opposite me. I also saw Heero grab him, and drag him back. The door slammed behind the men, and I stepped out into the corridor. Quatre jerked out of Heero’s grip. “Why’d you stop me?” he asked. I’ve never heard him speak like that before. His voice, normally so friendly, was cold, tight and controlled. He was P.I.S.S.E.D. Heero was unfazed. “If you had shown yourself, they would have simply used Trowa and Wufei as hostages to make you go with them. This way, only two pilots are captured.” For some reason, this didn’t seem to reassure Quatre. On closer inspection, he looked very, very upset. After all, his koi had just been kidnapped. Duo to the rescue. I stepped forward and put my arm round his shoulders. “We’ll get them back Quat, no worries.” I assured him. He spared me a grateful smile. * A few hours later, we were sitting around the table, trying to figure out who took them, and why. The obvious answer would be the Ligue, but apparently not. “The Ligue wear medallions.” Heero said certainly. “These did not. Therefore, it was not the Ligue.” “But they were from an organised group.” Quat piped up. “They were all wearing red ribbons on their left wrists.” Were they? I hadn’t noticed. But something else struck my memory. “Their guns were weird.” I pointed out. In fact, the guns were very, very similar to my werewolf gun. Not the same, but close. “Why would they want them?” asked Quat. I thought for a moment. “The same reason you guys wanted the baby. If they’re in the prophecy, they’re probably pretty important. Same goes for you two.” Heero shot me an unreadable look. “Fine. I will ask Dancy.” He stood abruptly, and walked out. Quat and I looked at each other. We spoke simultaneously. “Who’s Dancy?” * Well, that was a bit longer than normal. An improvement, anyway. [1] Proverb [2] The myth says that iron kills magic. A unicorn is a being made entirely of magic, so shoeing it with iron is about the cruellest thing you can do. And for the people who've been asking whether Duo's
going to suddenly develop powers..... yeah ok. He will get them, trust
me, but not for a while. I'm currently fighting off plot ideas that
keep changing the direction of this fic. I know basically where it’s
going, I just keep finding more interesting ways of getting there. |
