Goodbye LJ...
Feb. 20th, 2006 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windandwaterThis is just to make it official for those who don't know, but I'm leaving LJ completely. For the rest of this week at least. Tomorrow is the Bar Exam and it runs for three days, so don't expect to see me about at all until Thursday night. Or even until the weekend since I plan on spending Thursday after the Bar drunk and crying. No online time for me at all. *whines* It will be hard, but I know I can do it.
So, because I'm a total h0r like that, I am declaring this to be a spam post. Go ahead. Run wild! Give me fics, give me links, give me pics, just babble to your heart's content and rape my inbox so I have something to see when I finally DO come back to the wonderful world of LJ. I don't even care if you write me a drabble and post it one word at a time. XD;
Though, I've tried to make a spam post before and it failed a bit miserably, so I don't have very high expectations this time around. Feel free to prove me wrong though!
♥
So, because I'm a total h0r like that, I am declaring this to be a spam post. Go ahead. Run wild! Give me fics, give me links, give me pics, just babble to your heart's content and rape my inbox so I have something to see when I finally DO come back to the wonderful world of LJ. I don't even care if you write me a drabble and post it one word at a time. XD;
Though, I've tried to make a spam post before and it failed a bit miserably, so I don't have very high expectations this time around. Feel free to prove me wrong though!
♥
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:12 am (UTC)Trowa nodded, his face blank and still. "And Commander Yuy?" he asked after a minute.
The guard shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, sir. Nobody's been able to get in contact with him yet."
Trowa cursed under his breath. "What about Captain Chang?"
"He's been informed of the situation. Best I know, he said he was going to check on the Commander, and hasn't been heard from since."
Well, that was something I could fix. I let my eyes slip out of focus, and forced myself to push through all the static and noise to Wufei. It was a distinctly unpleasant sensation, as though I were feeling through murky water; between the lingering aftereffects of the drugged smoke the assassin had used, and the sickening psychic miasma that seemed to permeate the entire base, it was enough to make my stomach churn. I only touched on Wufei for a moment, long enough to make sure he was alive and unhurt, before I was forced to retreat into myself. Sometime during my absorption, the security guard had moved away again; Trowa was staring off into space, a worried expression on his face, one hand gently and unconsciously stroking my back.
After a moment, I cautiously raised one hand and touched his cheek. "Trowa?" I asked softly. "Wufei's all right. I just looked."
He snapped back into focus, staring at me blankly for a moment before the meaning of what I'd said sank in. "I don't think they were after all the Gundam pilots, then," he said quietly. "If Wufei has not been attacked, and no-one has even looked at me strangely..."
"...Then maybe they were only after me," I finished for him. "And..."
"And maybe Heero." Trowa met my eyes. "Can you contact him?" A slight hint of anxiety crept into his voice.
I couldn't suppress a shudder at the thought. "I can't touch him," I said fervently. "Sorry, Trowa. I don't dare..."
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:12 am (UTC)"That's all right, Little One." He didn't press the issue further, instead giving my shoulder a reassuring pat. "I'm just glad that you're safe, that you didn't..."
That I didn't end up like Duo, right. A deep rent was cut in my soul just when I read the autopsy report, just imagining the things that Trowa had seen with his own eyes. How it must be hurting him now, to wait all unknowing if he was about to see another friend's body...
I seized upon the thought and rejected it. The past few days had been one shock after another, battering at my self-control and weakening my resolve; I had to stay focused! Duo was alive; my heart knew it, even if the evidence tried to convince my mind otherwise. So many things had happened while I was gone, but I hadn't lost any friends, not yet...
Something abruptly surfaced in my memory, and I clutched at Trowa's arm. "Trowa," I said sharply, bringing his focus back to me. "Trowa, did you know that Heero tried to kill himself?"
"What?" Shock was plainly written across his face. "When?"
"I don't know. I was talking to him about the shuttle just this afternoon and I saw the bandage on his wrist. What else could it have been?"
Trowa's eyes narrowed in thought. "I... Somehow, that surprises me more than it should. Heero's tried to self-destruct before, after all... but for some reason I just can't imagine him doing it now. Heero's perfectly well aware of how important he is to the war; he doesn't think of himself as expendable any more, at any rate..."
"Even after what happened with Duo --" I broke off as a chilling thought occurred to me. Given how deeply Duo's loss had affected Heero, the thought of him turning suicidal was believable. But the same implacable sense of duty that had driven Heero to self-detonate before would not allow him to destroy himself now, not while the Colonial Rebels needed him. And yet, there was a difference between killing yourself, and allowing someone else to do the job for you --
It was almost enough to drive me to reach out to Heero again with my Spaceheart, sanity notwithstanding.
When I spoke again, my voice was too carefully even. "I think we'd better go talk to that assassin, Trowa," I said. "I'm almost positive there was a second man..."
"I'll go. You stay and..." Trowa began, but I interrupted him.
"I know you're worried, love, but you can't read his mind," I pointed out as I attempted to stand. I made it on the second try, steadying myself against Trowa as he rose with me.
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:13 am (UTC)"Maybe not, but I can come closer than you can," I muttered.
Trowa stops me more than five feet away from the would-be killer -- well out of range of any last-ditch suicidal attempt on my life, but close enough to talk to him. Trowa stared at him for a long moment; I looked around at the crowd surrounding him. Every face had some varying degree of anger, shock, disbelief, or disgust written on it. I closed my eyes and looked at them through my uchuu no kokoro as well; right away I could tell that the strange sour taste of fear that had bothered me before was coming from the assassin. For the others, their emotions matched their faces. There were no more traitors here.
"Sergeant Dankin." Trowa's voice called my attention back to the assassin; it was flat and detached and barely showed a hint of his rage. "Would you care to explain this." He didn't make it a question.
The assassin looked up at him, then quickly looked down again. "I don't have anything to say to you, Gundam pilots," he spat. "You're the ones who are continuing the war. It's your fault."
"Continuing the war?" I blurted out, shocked. "Then why try and kill me? For Allah's sake, I'm the one running the peace talks!"
He looked up to gaze into my eyes; his own were blank and empty. My Spaceheart couldn't see into them. "You're nothing but a damned hypocrite. You deserved to die!" He shut his mouth then, and I knew I wasn't going to get anything else out of him.
Trowa looked at me, questioning. I shook my head in frustration. He gave a little sigh and paused to think, staring at the man wondering how to crack him open. He was just opening his mouth to speak again when there was a commotion at the inner end of the hangar.
The assassin was momentarily forgotten as heads turn all over the room; I strained to look, cursing myself for being so short, when the crowd melted away as if by magic and Heero Yuy came through. He looked like hell. He'd definitely been through a fight; even from that distance I could see where a bruise was forming along his jaw, and he still bled from a wound on his arm. And he was angry. Really angry. As he stalked between the rows of soldiers that parted for him like the red sea, the very incarnation of an angel of vengeance, I could only thank Allah that it was not me he had come for.
Wufei came in after him, trailing in his wake. I never thought I'd see Wufei trail in anyone's wake, but he was definitely not the one in charge here. He spotted me and Trowa and hurried to join us.
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:13 am (UTC)"Maybe not, but I can come closer than you can," I muttered.
Trowa stops me more than five feet away from the would-be killer -- well out of range of any last-ditch suicidal attempt on my life, but close enough to talk to him. Trowa stared at him for a long moment; I looked around at the crowd surrounding him. Every face had some varying degree of anger, shock, disbelief, or disgust written on it. I closed my eyes and looked at them through my uchuu no kokoro as well; right away I could tell that the strange sour taste of fear that had bothered me before was coming from the assassin. For the others, their emotions matched their faces. There were no more traitors here.
"Sergeant Dankin." Trowa's voice called my attention back to the assassin; it was flat and detached and barely showed a hint of his rage. "Would you care to explain this." He didn't make it a question.
The assassin looked up at him, then quickly looked down again. "I don't have anything to say to you, Gundam pilots," he spat. "You're the ones who are continuing the war. It's your fault."
"Continuing the war?" I blurted out, shocked. "Then why try and kill me? For Allah's sake, I'm the one running the peace talks!"
He looked up to gaze into my eyes; his own were blank and empty. My Spaceheart couldn't see into them. "You're nothing but a damned hypocrite. You deserved to die!" He shut his mouth then, and I knew I wasn't going to get anything else out of him.
Trowa looked at me, questioning. I shook my head in frustration. He gave a little sigh and paused to think, staring at the man wondering how to crack him open. He was just opening his mouth to speak again when there was a commotion at the inner end of the hangar.
The assassin was momentarily forgotten as heads turn all over the room; I strained to look, cursing myself for being so short, when the crowd melted away as if by magic and Heero Yuy came through. He looked like hell. He'd definitely been through a fight; even from that distance I could see where a bruise was forming along his jaw, and he still bled from a wound on his arm. And he was angry. Really angry. As he stalked between the rows of soldiers that parted for him like the red sea, the very incarnation of an angel of vengeance, I could only thank Allah that it was not me he had come for.
Wufei came in after him, trailing in his wake. I never thought I'd see Wufei trail in anyone's wake, but he was definitely not the one in charge here. He spotted me and Trowa and hurried to join us.
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:13 am (UTC)"There was another man?" I asked, seeking confirmation.
Wufei grimaced. "There were two other men."
Right, so, Heero was considered more of a risk than me. I was torn between feeling relieved and feeling vaguely insulted, but set it aside for the time being.
"Did you get anything out of them?" Trowa asked.
Wufei made a small noise. "Other than a lot of blood, no. They're both dead." When Trowa and I both stared at him in shock, he explained in a low voice. "By the time I got there, one assassin was dead and Heero was fighting the other. I joined the fight but he was killed before the fight was over."
"So I guess this man is our last hope for finding out what happened," I sighed. "He's being stubborn."
"So," Wufei replied, "is Heero. Perhaps..."
Heero ignored all three of us. His attention was focused completely on the assassin. The man refused to look up when Heero reached him, coming considerably closer than Trowa or I had before he stopped and stared down at him. After a long moment, he looked at the small crowd restraining the assassin. "Let go," he ordered, icy steel filling his tone.
One of the Maguanacs protested. "He might attack..."
Heero just looked at him.
After a moment, the three men holding the traitor released him, and backed away. A circle was rapidly clearing in the crowd, with Heero and the traitor at the center, and Wufei, Trowa and I on the edges.
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:13 am (UTC)The assassin looked up at Heero, a snarl on his lips. The snarl died as his gaze locked with Heero's, and he couldn't look away. He tried. Several long moments passed, and I wonder that anyone could breathe under the silence the two men were putting out.
After an eternity, Heero spoke; he didn't stir a muscle more than was necessary to breathe and shape words. "You were to kill Quatre Winner," was what he said, and my flesh crawled to hear my name spoken in that tone.
The man half-choked, half-sobbed. "Y-yes," he stammered out.
"How many others?"
"Two others... only two. I... I don't know anything about them, only that they received their orders at the same time I..."
"Who gave those orders?" There was an unearthly patience in Heero's voice, an inhuman stillness in his posture, his words. He knew he could get anything he wanted from this man.
"OZ... orders from OZ..." the man said, agitated. "Co... Colonel Une."
At the sound of that name, the temperature seemed to drop twenty degrees, and it hadn't exactly been tropical to start with. Heero's eyes burned with fury, and his lips curled back just a bit to show teeth. "When did they transmit these orders?" he grated from between clenched teeth.
"S... several months ago. We were on patrol and OZ transmitted a radio signal to our shuttle. We were supposed to act when -- when opportunity presented itself."
Heero did nothing for a long moment, then suddenly he leaned forward. His voice was softer, more quiet, but not an inch less deadly.
"You were one of us," he said -- like an indictment.
The assassin nodded, shaking uncontrollably.
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:13 am (UTC)The assassin looked up at Heero, a snarl on his lips. The snarl died as his gaze locked with Heero's, and he couldn't look away. He tried. Several long moments passed, and I wonder that anyone could breathe under the silence the two men were putting out.
After an eternity, Heero spoke; he didn't stir a muscle more than was necessary to breathe and shape words. "You were to kill Quatre Winner," was what he said, and my flesh crawled to hear my name spoken in that tone.
The man half-choked, half-sobbed. "Y-yes," he stammered out.
"How many others?"
"Two others... only two. I... I don't know anything about them, only that they received their orders at the same time I..."
"Who gave those orders?" There was an unearthly patience in Heero's voice, an inhuman stillness in his posture, his words. He knew he could get anything he wanted from this man.
"OZ... orders from OZ..." the man said, agitated. "Co... Colonel Une."
At the sound of that name, the temperature seemed to drop twenty degrees, and it hadn't exactly been tropical to start with. Heero's eyes burned with fury, and his lips curled back just a bit to show teeth. "When did they transmit these orders?" he grated from between clenched teeth.
"S... several months ago. We were on patrol and OZ transmitted a radio signal to our shuttle. We were supposed to act when -- when opportunity presented itself."
Heero did nothing for a long moment, then suddenly he leaned forward. His voice was softer, more quiet, but not an inch less deadly.
"You were one of us," he said -- like an indictment.
The assassin nodded, shaking uncontrollably.
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:13 am (UTC)"And you betrayed us."
Another half-choked sob; there was no need to answer.
Heero straightened abruptly. The man slumped down slightly, but Heero had one more question to ask.
"Why?"
The traitor broke down entirely. "My family... OZ has my family... my wife, my sons. If -- if I didn't -- they would have killed them --"
He sobbed, his body wracked with anguish, and I felt my own breathing hitch. It was sickening. It was cliché. It was exactly the kind of thing OZ would do. The man was dissembling no longer -- I doubt he was even capable of it at this point.
Heero turned his back on the traitor. He took five steps away, close to the edge of the circle. I saw him draw his gun, turn on one heel, and point it at the kneeling man. The expression on his face held me frozen in place as he pulled the trigger, and the man screamed as his right leg exploded into a mess of blood and broken bone. And again, and again, as Heero emptied four more bullets into him. The gunshots sounded like thunderbolts through the absolute silence of the hangar bay; as the echoes faded, the would-be assassin hit the ground with a quiet thump. He was not dead yet; his body was a mess of shredded tissues and splintered bones, but he was not dead yet. Over the man's agonized whimpers, the soft ::click:: as Heero reloaded his gun was louder than a detonation. And then he spoke again, with the voice of the vengeance of God.
"There can be no excuse and no mercy for a traitor."
His last bullet silenced the man forever.
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:13 am (UTC)The echoes of that final judgment rolled around the silent room again and again, fading with each repetition until they melded with the precise sound of booted footsteps as Heero turned his back and walked away. I was the first to break out of the paralysis that gripped the room; when I moved, my vision suddenly grayed out as though I had stood too quickly. I stumbled, and felt Trowa's supportive presence at my elbow as I clutched at my head. There was just too much going on, too much that I didn't understand about what I had just seen. I shook my head to clear the dizziness as I hurried after Heero's retreating form, the other two pilots closing ranks behind me.
We caught up to him before he'd gotten very far. Heero was leaning against the wall; his head rested on his upraised arm pressed against the cold chrome. His eyes were closed, and for the first time I could see lines on his face, worn marks of stress and exhaustion. The bruise along his jaw stood out in sharp contrast to his pale skin, and faint red-brown streaks marked the places of too many tiny cuts, too small to be attended to, each one leaving a scar.
I stopped dead in my tracks, Trowa and Wufei still slightly behind me. As the sound of our approach, Heero's eyes flickered open. Slowly and carefully, he lifted his head to meet my stare, and suddenly the marks on his face, on his body were less than inconsequential. The answers I wanted were in that shadowed gaze, shuttered tight and hidden deeply until not a hint of his soul showed in his eyes. He just stared at me, and I stared back, sure that my own eyes were huge with shock and concern, demanding answers as effectively as putting up a billboard would be. I knew that now, just for this near-unguarded moment, there was no point in shuffling around the question. Now, just now; there was never any better chance that he would hear me than now. I searched within myself for the right words, for something that would mean something to him any more -- for a way to make him understand. It was the same art I had been perfecting on Earth for the last six months, and I drew upon all that experience to guide me now.
The words came.
"Do the lives of innocents mean nothing to you in this war any more, Heero?"
He held his silence for a moment more, before answering. "Now that the man is dead, OZ cannot use his family for leverage against him any more. They have no reason to harm them now." He actually shrugged. "The only way to fully ensure their safety would have been to let him fulfill his mission. Did you want to die, Quatre Raberba Winner?"
Slowly, I shook my head. "I have too much to live for now." My gaze flickered to Trowa for a moment, then back to remain steadily on Heero. The other two stayed silent; anything they could have done to reach Heero, they had tried months ago. "But what about you, Heero? Do you want to die?"
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:13 am (UTC)The echoes of that final judgment rolled around the silent room again and again, fading with each repetition until they melded with the precise sound of booted footsteps as Heero turned his back and walked away. I was the first to break out of the paralysis that gripped the room; when I moved, my vision suddenly grayed out as though I had stood too quickly. I stumbled, and felt Trowa's supportive presence at my elbow as I clutched at my head. There was just too much going on, too much that I didn't understand about what I had just seen. I shook my head to clear the dizziness as I hurried after Heero's retreating form, the other two pilots closing ranks behind me.
We caught up to him before he'd gotten very far. Heero was leaning against the wall; his head rested on his upraised arm pressed against the cold chrome. His eyes were closed, and for the first time I could see lines on his face, worn marks of stress and exhaustion. The bruise along his jaw stood out in sharp contrast to his pale skin, and faint red-brown streaks marked the places of too many tiny cuts, too small to be attended to, each one leaving a scar.
I stopped dead in my tracks, Trowa and Wufei still slightly behind me. As the sound of our approach, Heero's eyes flickered open. Slowly and carefully, he lifted his head to meet my stare, and suddenly the marks on his face, on his body were less than inconsequential. The answers I wanted were in that shadowed gaze, shuttered tight and hidden deeply until not a hint of his soul showed in his eyes. He just stared at me, and I stared back, sure that my own eyes were huge with shock and concern, demanding answers as effectively as putting up a billboard would be. I knew that now, just for this near-unguarded moment, there was no point in shuffling around the question. Now, just now; there was never any better chance that he would hear me than now. I searched within myself for the right words, for something that would mean something to him any more -- for a way to make him understand. It was the same art I had been perfecting on Earth for the last six months, and I drew upon all that experience to guide me now.
The words came.
"Do the lives of innocents mean nothing to you in this war any more, Heero?"
He held his silence for a moment more, before answering. "Now that the man is dead, OZ cannot use his family for leverage against him any more. They have no reason to harm them now." He actually shrugged. "The only way to fully ensure their safety would have been to let him fulfill his mission. Did you want to die, Quatre Raberba Winner?"
Slowly, I shook my head. "I have too much to live for now." My gaze flickered to Trowa for a moment, then back to remain steadily on Heero. The other two stayed silent; anything they could have done to reach Heero, they had tried months ago. "But what about you, Heero? Do you want to die?"
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:14 am (UTC)"What I want..." Heero looked away from me, his arctic blue eyes fastening on a patch of nothingness. "What I want is irrelevant to the mission. I must not fail."
"Everyone fails sometimes, Heero," I began, a trifle desperately, taking a step towards him. "It's a part of being human. You survive, you pick yourself up and go on..." No response. He wasn't ready to listen to this. "Trying to kill yourself isn't the answer, Heero."
His eyes snapped back up to mine, and I registered a brief moment of undisguised panic before the barrier slipped down over it once more. "I did not try to kill myself," he snapped, a raw edge of tension to his voice.
I knew better than to press the issue about the wound on his wrist. I took another step forward, then another, and lowered my voice so that the other two pilots couldn't easily hear, giving him some semblance of privacy. His excellent hearing would pick up my next words, I was sure. "But you are, Heero. Did you think nobody could tell? You're freezing yourself, choking yourself, cutting yourself off from everything. Something's eating you from the inside out and it will kill you, sooner or later. And you're letting it happen, Heero."
He stared at me, his features drawn tight, eyes impossibly wide. I knew I'd said something important, something that cut a little too close to home. I watched him carefully, trying to feel my way to the heart of the problem judging by his responses. But there weren't any -- he didn't move, didn't make a sound, and I wasn't even sure if he was breathing. He didn't say anything -- he didn't deny it, either. I drew in a deep breath, and took a chance. "Heero. Talk to me. Tell me. Whatever it is, let it out. You can trust me. Please?"
One frozen second passed, and then another, and I then I saw him draw in a ragged breath. My heart leapt wildly into my throat as he sagged against the wall, letting it support him, and I leaned forward as he began to say something. A name.
Something passed through the air then, drawing across my taut nerves like a rasp, slicing off the beginning of whatever Heero had been about to say. Alarmed, I blinked and twisted my head around, to see if the other pilots had felt anything; Wufei looked unsettled and uneasy, while Trowa just seemed confused. In my moment of inattention, Heero pushed himself away from the wall and retreated step by step away from me. "Heero?" I demanded sharply.
"I need to go," he said, from between clenched teeth. "I need to leave now." He saw me about to speak and shook his head, a snarl peeling back his lips. "Don't ask, Quatre, just don't. It has nothing to do with you. You are not involved." His voice had returned to the cold threat I had learned to dread, and I felt the doors I had struggled to open slam shut once more. He swung his freezing gaze past me, raking across the other two pilots, and then turned and nearly ran down the corridor away from us.
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:14 am (UTC)For a moment I gave into the frustration, slamming my fist against the corridor wall. "Damn it, I don't know! For a moment, I thought, I thought... He was going to say something. And then something happened to stop him. Couldn't you feel it?"
Unexpectedly, Wufei stirred and spoke. "I felt it," he said, almost inaudible. "I have felt it before. But, I do not understand what it means."
I closed my eyes, trying to steady my thoughts. "I am so sick of all this," I groaned. "Talking, and going in circles, and getting nowhere. There's so much happening that I don't understand, so much going on between the lines that I'm just not getting. Something was going on in the hangar just now -- why did he shoot that man five times before killing him? It's not in Heero's nature to be that cruel, even against enemies. And there was something when he said the word traitor..."
As I trailed off, a palpable silence fell. Startled, my eyes blinked open, and I saw the look that Wufei and Trowa exchanged. More insider information. More things I didn't understand. "And..." I began, looking between the two of them; my gaze finally settled on Trowa. "And you two are hiding something from me."
Trowa flinched, visibly, and refused to meet my gaze. Wufei would, but his own face mirrored his troubled thoughts. "It does not matter, Quatre," he told me, his voice just a little too full of conviction to be certain. "It is something best left in the past. There is no need to dig up old ghosts with all of the troubles we have now."
A thought, an idea, a suspicion -- something flickered ephemerally through my mind, then was gone again in an instant. It might even have been a stray emotion I picked up through my Spaceheart, and just for that instant, connections formed in my mind. They broke an instant later, but left me with a slowly growing uneasy suspicion I could not quell. "I don't think so, Wufei," I said, and my voice was not as steady as I would have liked. "There is something that you are not telling me, and don't even try to pretend that it isn't important. It is. It's got something to do with Duo, and with the raid on Dixon, doesn't it? It's got something to do with Heero, and it's got something to do with the man he killed today. Doesn't it?" My voice was rising steadily, until I finally nearly shouted those last words.
Wufei, too, dropped his gaze and turned slightly away. Furious, I turned on him, barely in control of myself. "Answer me, Wufei! Damn you, how are we supposed to fight this war if we can't trust one another? One of us is missing, another is going mad; every day OZ is stronger and the deaths pile up and you are letting this tear us apart! ANSWER M --"
Re: Torn 4
Date: 2006-02-21 11:14 am (UTC)"QUATRE, STOP!" Trowa shouted, breaking into my half-hysterical rant. I stared at him in shock as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. I wanted to reach him, I wanted to get past his barriers and make him talk to me. So I unsealed my Spaceheart, and instinctively reached out to my friends --
-- and fell to my knees as the shock hit me, as I felt something that all common sense told me could not be true. I heard rather than saw Trowa and Wufei rush to my side, the question of the secret momentarily pushed aside in the face of whatever this sudden new development was. It couldn't be, it couldn't be, couldn't be but it was...
"Quatre?" Trowa's hands were on my shoulders, shaking me gently, and I forced my eyes to focus on his worried face. "Quatre, what is it?"
I felt so far away, but I managed to get my voice working. I swallowed, attempting to moisten my throat, before I could get the words out. "It's Duo," I said, scarcely able to believe my own words. "He's here. Now. And he's nearby."
They followed me as I stumbled along in the daze, once again not really seeing where my feet took me; homing in on Duo's presence like a beacon. Trowa and Wufei followed me closely, brushing aside the occasional soldier that approached us with business. I scarcely registered them, no more than I realized when I was standing in front of Heero's room again. Having broken in once already, it was a small task to hack through his security again; he hadn't changed any codes since the last time.
As if in a dream, I passed through the sterile outer room and once more sought and found the hidden door in the closet. It hissed as it cycled open, and I raised my eyes and blinked as my vision cleared to the room within.
This time, the room wasn't empty. A teenaged boy sprawled across the couch on his stomach, legs crossed at the ankles kicking idly in the air. His chin rested on his fists, elbows propping his head up as he read from a comic book lying open before him. A short, heavy chain ran from the handcuffs around his wrist to the stout metal bar at the end of the bed. I stared, disbelieving, and a single word escaped my lips.
"...Duo?"
The boy on the bed looked up. His eyes flashed violet as they met mine, and widened, and a huge grin split across his face. He pushed himself to a sitting position, bouncing slightly on the couchbed. "Yo, Q-man!" he greeted me enthusiastically. "Long time no see!"
Duo's smile.
Duo's voice.
Duo's eyes.
Heero.