Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ G-men ❯ Enemy Territory ( Chapter 36 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Arigatomina 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.13.2004 | Updated On: 12.13.2004 | Pages: 8 | Words: 10.8K | Visits: 605 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.13.2004 | Updated On: 12.13.2004 | Pages: 8 | Words: 10.8K | Visits: 605 | Status: Work In Progress
Author's Notes: Thanks go to lemmings for the rouge/rogue correction.
Treize has dark blue eyes in the anime (though they look black or dark brown depending on the scene). Here they're brown, and they'll stay that way. I wanted to mention that in case anyone noticed.
Also, I miscounted - there are two new characters introduced in this part, not one.
To Prosopopeia, I love Yukina, she's my favorite female anime character to date. As such, I will have to torment her a little more, but I'll try to be gentle. o.o;
And just a small warning, I cried while writing part of this. So if anything seems overly sappy, or melodramatic, I apologize. I wrote it the way I saw it.
Vague fusion with the original X-men animated series.
This Part: Featured characters include Quatre, Hiei, Duo, Kuramam and Zechs.
Category: Yaoi, Anime, Gundam Wing, Yu Yu Hakusho
Warnings: shonen ai, minor (?) angst
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, Kurama-Hiei, will be 6x5
Author: Arigatomina
Email: arigatoumina (a) hotmail . com
Website: www . geocities . com / arigatomina
Gmen
Part 36: Enemy Territory
Kuwabara woke to find his face sore, as if he were sunburned, but also a little numb. The sensation reminded him of how he felt after being slapped around by his older sister, annoying and uncomfortable, but not really painful.
He reached a surprisingly shaky hand up and touched his cheek, his brows drawing when he found the skin overly warm. Maybe he had been slapped. His last memory was of being hit by something he couldn’t see, possibly that black scarecrow who’d been-
A soft sound caught his ear, at the same moment he recalled the intruder. His eyes snapped open and he turned onto his side. He spotted the small pearl-like gem as it rolled across the floor. Then he was stumbling to his feet and rushing over to Yukina.
Trowa was leaning against the wall, his arms over Quatre’s shoulders to support the boy while Yukina healed the worst of his injuries. He’d been almost dozing himself, between the harsh landing earlier, and his own blood loss – neither of which were important enough to be healed by Yukina, considering Quatre’s state.
Someone choked near him, and Trowa’s eyes flickered open, blurry for a moment before settling on Kuwabara. The boy’s face was oddly pink, the only real sign left from the attack on him. He was staring down at the girl in front of them, and Trowa followed his gaze. One glance at Yukina’s tearstreaked face told him why Kuwabara looked so stricken.
Trowa hadn’t really noticed how many of those small gems had collected around the girl’s pale skirt. He’d been too busy holding onto Quatre and listening to the boy’s breathing as it grew steadier with each passing minute. Now he lowered his gaze to Yukina’s glowing hands so he could see the wound she was working on.
It was still a torn mess without a trace of the pale skin that should have been protecting the boy’s organs. The sight made Trowa tighten his arms over Quatre’s shoulders, almost willing the boy not to wake up. Yukina was only going to stop the bleeding until Zechs could get there and take over. Trowa had done a survey of the others and knew Zechs would be arriving soon. They could wait for him, just as long as the bleeding stopped.
Internal bleeding. Only it wasn’t internal when he’d been as good as gutted.
A soft whimper broke through Trowa’s thoughts, causing him to loosen his grip with sharp guilt. Quatre shifted against him and curled cold hands over his arms. The boy hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but he was clearly awake. Trowa ducked his head close to Quatre’s neck.
“Don’t try to move,” he whispered.
Quatre let out a little affirmative sound, not so much as nodding his head. He could feel a cool tingling sensation, numbing the pain in his midsection, and he wasn’t about to interfere with that. He did open his eyes, though, mostly because he sensed panic and grief too close to ignore. His gaze went directly to Kuwabara, then down to Yukina. If he hadn’t been deathly pale already, he would have blanched.
“Yukina...”
The girl flinched, her hands shaking for a moment before dropping to her sides. That healing energy had faltered and died, leaving her hair damp with sweat and clinging to her cheeks instead of floating on the energy waves. She lifted miserable eyes to Quatre and took a ragged breath that stuck in her throat.
Kuwabara had crouched the moment Yukina stopped using her healing talent. Along with that pale blue glow, her tears had stopped. Whether it was a sign of how worn she was or not, he sighed with relief. He placed a tentative hand on her shoulder.
Quatre had opened his mouth to say something, anything, to those grief-stricken eyes. But Yukina flinched away, her gaze dropping to the hand on her shoulder. She took a hitching breath and all but dove into Kuwabara’s arms with enough speed and force to knock the boy out of his crouch.
Terror fleeted over Kuwabara’s face as he wrapped his arms around Yukina’s shoulders and prayed for help. She was sobbing. He could feel the tears falling in his lap, could hear them hit the floor, and he could see, could see what it was doing to her. Her energy was more white than blue, with an edge of pale sickly yellow.
“Don’t cry,” Kuwabara mumbled. “Please? Yukina-chan, please don’t cry.”
If anything, his words had an opposite effect. She dug deeper against him and cried all the more. Kuwabara let out a miserable sound and poured as much of his energy into her as he could, trying to counter the loss. He knew those tears were draining her as much, if not more than her healing had. And aside from giving her more energy to drain, he didn’t know what to do.
“I’ll make it better,” said Kuwabara, “I promise!”
Helpless and desperate eyes flew to him, and Quatre tightened his hold on Trowa’s arms, needing the warmth.
“Hiei was taken,” he whispered, “and Duo.”
Kuwabara paled, his panic increasing. “Who could do that...? Who would be strong enough to-“
He stopped himself, cutting off that vocal thought as quickly as he could. Yukina needed reassurances, comfort, not to hear his own horror over what had happened. He straightened his shoulders and pushed the girl back enough to see her face. She let out a hiccuping breath and turned eyes to him that were so miserable they cut right through his heart.
“You’ll get him back,” Kuwabara said sharply, the emotional pain keeping his tone harsh enough to make Yukina blink in surprise. “He’ll be fine. Kurama won’t let him get hurt, right? You know that. And you know...Hiei wouldn’t want you to cry.”
- - -
Someone was talking to him. He couldn’t quite make out the words. He didn’t want to make out the words. He didn’t want to hear or feel or care.
He curled tighter, deeper, pushing the world away. He was cold, cold convulsing pain, and Yukina was crying, dying, and he couldn’t help her.
‘I can’t stop her, I’m making her cry. My fault, again, always my fault. I couldn’t, didn’t protect her. Didn’t? What did I do? Or is it what didn’t I do? I don’t even know what happened to her...again! Why? Why do I do that? Always failing...? When all I want, all I ever want is just, just...’
Not again... Enough, already. Stop that and open your eyes. Do you really want to lose her again? Permanently? Now’s not the time for sleep and condemnation. You have the rest of your life for that.
‘I hate you.’
Do I care?
‘You know everything, but you only tell me what you think I need to know. I understand. Do you know that, omniscient fool? I understand. If I die, you die. I’m ready to die, but you aren’t. So you push me.’
Don’t be stupid. You’re not ready to kill her, to selfishly choke the life out of her and drown her in her own tears. Ready to die? You’d sooner kill the fox with your bare hands.
‘Leave me alone! I can feel her, she’s fading out even now. And I can’t feel, can’t...’
He’s not dead. You can’t feel him because he’s locked himself away from everyone, including me, us. You can’t shut down every time he closes himself off. He does that instinctively. You have to accept it like I have, that he won’t change.
‘And Yukina...?’
Wake up and find out for yourself. I’m tired of how pathetic you get every time something goes wrong. I was never like that!
‘Liar...’
What do you know?
‘That you’re me, and I hate myself.’
...always have, always will...
‘How boring.’
I know...
Pained, disorientated, blinded, sickened. All of the things Hiei had been cringing away from flew back to him the moment he pushed for awareness. He couldn’t feel his arms or legs, but his head was awash with pulsing pain, echoed by his clenched stomach. Nauseating pain. And something else.
He felt a sharp yet dull pain press his face, followed by the feel of warm liquid trailing down his neck. Cutting him? Touching him.
Hiei recoiled, his eyes snapping open to a bleary darkness. He didn’t know how long it took for his vision to adjust, but he glared until he could see who he was glaring at.
“Either you have a high tolerance for pain, or you’re just a very deep sleeper,” said Karasu.
The rogue mutant was looming over him, telling Hiei why he felt so disoriented. He was leaning back on something that was tilted strangely. And judging from his numb arms, he’d bet they were held at an odd angle as well. Not that he cared. The mutant was right, he did have a high tolerance for pain. If the man didn’t intend to kill him, he was wasting his time by taunting him.
“You’re such a little scrap of a thing,” Karasu continued, sneering at the bored look Hiei sent up at him. “I’d have thought a Quest class mutant would have better taste than that.”
The term struck a cord in the back of Hiei’s mind, and he gave a mental growl at his subconscious. It had been shifting around uneasily since he’d first seen the rogue mutant. He doubted he’d get any more from it now than he had then. So he ignored it. With a very dull look, he waited for the mutant to get on with whatever he had to say. He looked like he’d been waiting for Hiei to wake up so he could taunt him, so he probably had a lot to babble on about.
”You have no idea what that rank means, do you?”
Hiei sniffed, not bothering to answer that. The mutant let out a cold laugh. Obviously, Hiei thought, he was easily amused.
“You really are quite simple, aren’t you. Did you really think your plant-wielder was just another B class mutant?”
That got a response from Hiei, though he didn’t voice it. It was clear to him that either the man didn’t know about Kurama’s fox form, or he was just talking nonsense to hear himself talk. Hiei had stopped considering Kurama a B class mutant the day he’d shifted.
“Creation,” said Karasu, “is the key. No normal mutant can create. A fire user might use fire, but the fire exists without him, doesn’t it? A true controller does more than harness his element, he shifts it to fit his needs. No, your pretty little plant wielder is Quest class for certain. I can’t wait to get my hands on him – or into him, in this case.”
Taunts were easily ignored, but a threat against Kurama, especially the sort he could hear in the man’s almost purring voice, that was too much. Hiei growled and jerked away from the thing his back was pressed against. The rogue backed up in surprise, but he needn’t have bothered.
Pain erupted everywhere. Something was holding his wrists, and the tension of his pull disturbed sleeping wounds he hadn’t been aware of. He also might have just dislocated one shoulder, though he couldn’t tell if it was a fresh pain or an old one. The worst, of course, was in his head. He hadn’t known he was capable of feeling that much pain.
His jagan pounded in his ears. He didn’t wonder how that was possible, didn’t wonder if it had healed from the point-blank explosion it had suffered. He felt it pulsing over his entire body and shrouding his vision with dark cloudy purple ghosts.
The mutant said something he couldn’t hear over the pounding heartbeat. His heart? The pain was more than he could remember having felt in his life, but could it be strong enough to effect his heart? The thought was alarming in a faint, distant sort of way. He’d drift again, not curled, just standing back from his body and watching those dark ghosts swim before his dazed eyes.
Someone was standing outside his eyes, over his body, he realized. A tall slender man with long wavy blonde hair and eyes so bright and green they were blinding. And he shimmered, pale green energy pulsing around him, particularly his mouth and hands.
Hiei stared in confusion, easing forward into awareness so he could find out who the stranger was. And the image faded, blurring and darkening until only the black-haired mutant stood there, watching him.
A cold calm voice responded to his confusion, making Hiei’s pain fogged eyes narrow in understanding. The mutant was not what he appeared to be. He wasn’t just a B class mutant with the ability to combine combustible elements and use them as incendiary attacks. He was something beyond that. Not S class either, not quite so powerful as that, just...different.
‘Quest class...? I don’t care.’
“What happened to Duo?” asked Hiei, his voice hoarser than he’d expected.
The mutant reacted with sharp, painfully loud laughter that seemed to echo in Hiei’s ears. He glared at it, wondering absently if the echo were due to the dark place they were in, or to his own jagan-enhanced feedback. He didn’t trust any of his senses right now.
A hand patted Hiei’s head, startling him too much for him to move at first. Then it was pulled away so he could see red claws tipping pale fingers. But they weren’t, he noted. They were sharp blood-stained fingernails, not claws.
“That boy is as good as dead,” Karasu explained, smiling at Hiei. “They don’t want him alive. They never did. He’s too difficult to restrain with his talents, not even useful as a toy. They’ll keep him for now, but the moment he wakes up he’ll probably die. The first hint of teleportation and the cell he’s in will be blown to bits before he can get out.”
Hiei reacted to that threat, jerking against his restraints without showing the pain that movement caused. And the mutant laughed again, softer this time.
“You shouldn’t worry about him,” he said quietly, privately. “You should worry about yourself. If you’re lucky, they’ll kill you before they dissect you. But don’t count on it. It’s far more entertaining if the body struggles when you slice into it...”
- - -
The cockpit of the plane was crowded with so many people, but no one wanted to separate. Wufei was piloting, the others arranged as comfortably as possible where they could see the windshield, to look forward rather than inward.
They’d switched planes after seeing Relena back to the Sanq Kingdom, and picking up Trowa and Quatre. Kurama assured them that Yukina would be safest with Relena inside the border. The girl had never been attacked in all of the years she lived there, and even this attack hadn’t been against her. She’d only be in danger if she were caught in the crossfire again. They wouldn’t let that happen.
After Zechs had healed Quatre and Trowa, they’d told him what they knew about the attack. It was clear to them that Quatre had been the main target, but Zechs imagined there was more to it than that. He was quick to remind them that Treize had had two primary objectives concerning their group – to catch and use Quatre, and to kill Duo. It was something none of them wanted to think about.
The attack had broken a lot of their illusions, particularly Kurama’s, though Zechs was the only one to notice. The redhead remained absolutely emotionless. He’d barely touched Yukina, and hadn’t said a word of reassurance to her, despite her exhausted, hopeful expression. That alone told him Kurama was stricken too deeply to respond to what had happened. He’d thought them safe, Hiei more than anyone.
The last time he’d spoken had been to ask Zechs if he could reach Hiei. Zechs had tried, just like he and Trowa had both tried to reach Duo. They hadn’t felt a breath of Duo, and all Zechs had gotten from Hiei was an image of purplish-black shifting shadows, like smoke or dark fire. Kurama hadn’t responded to that with anything other than a sober look.
The talk of Duo had reminded Quatre of something he hadn’t really had time to notice before. Now he caught Trowa’s arm and pulled the boy back into the other part of the plane, where they wouldn’t be overheard. He chose one of the seats far enough away for privacy, but close enough in case there was a change in plans. Then he caught Trowa’s hand with wide eyes.
“Heero,” said Quatre.
Trowa knew what he was talking about, though it had been a while before he noticed the difference. They’d both been far too distracted to think about it.
“I think it happened sometime during the attack,” Trowa admitted. “His pain faded and disappeared, along with his thoughts.”
“I felt him before,” Quatre said quickly, his eyes wide and wary, “when that man first attacked me. I tried to control him and my block against Heero collapsed. I felt him, then, as bad as it was this morning. But now I can’t find him at all.”
Silence passed between them, and Trowa wanted to say something to reassure the boy. He could easily have thought of reasons for Heero to go from continued pain-transference to absolute silence. A coma, perhaps. But somehow he didn’t think that were the case.
“We can’t feel Heero anymore,” Quatre whispered anxiously, “and now we can’t find Duo. You don’t think they’re both...”
He shook his head, pulling on Trowa so the boy would wrap an arm over his shoulders. “I know they don’t have a reason to keep Duo alive, but he can’t use his abilities. He can’t teleport or even turn invisible, so wouldn’t they want to keep him alive? He’s not a threat now.”
“What do you want me to tell you?” Trowa asked quietly, his eyes sad and sober.
Quatre dropped his eyes, curling into his lover’s warmth. “That they’re not dead. Tell me they’re not dead. Tell me my own abilities are too worn to feel them, and that they’re not dead.”
“I don’t believe Heero is dead,” said Trowa. “What he planned to do wasn’t something that would kill him. I didn’t probe, but I know the chances of it going wrong were very slim. I don’t know why I can’t reach him, but I don’t believe he’s dead.”
“And Duo?”
“...”
Quatre jerked away, his eyes wide and bright. “Why?”
“They sent a mutant in, just to kill him.”
“But that man took him,” Quatre protested. “If they just wanted him dead, he’d have killed him, wouldn’t he? He could have. None of us could have gotten to Duo fast enough to stop him.”
Trowa sighed and stood up, pulling Quatre along with him so he could wrap his arms around the boy in a proper embrace. He squeezed him tightly, his voice a soft apology. “I don’t believe he’s alive, Quatre. I want to, but I don’t. OZ wants Duo dead. Whatever reason that man had for taking Duo, it had nothing to do with keeping him alive. You felt his mind, didn’t you? Do you believe Duo could survive that? Would you want him to have to survive that?”
A soft mournful sound caught Zechs’ ear and he glanced through the door to the cockpit. He didn’t need to know what Trowa and Quatre were talking about. There were only so many things on their minds right now. He eased the door shut so no one would overhear and interrupt.
“Will you try again?” asked Kurama.
Zechs turned slowly, wanting to see a tiny spark of hope in those mottled eyes and knowing he wouldn’t. The colors had glazed sometime after they’d left the Sanq Kingdom, and now Kurama’s eyes had a dull yellow-green sheen that was almost ugly to look at. It made his emotionless mask even more disturbing.
Yusuke was watching them with a wary expression, and Zechs sighed. He took a seat behind Wufei and gave a slow nod. “I’ll try again.”
The shadows were still there, obscuring his view, but he could hear and feel myriad thoughts mixing behind that veil.
Pain, physical torment, slow, taunting, unimportant. He’d survived worse and would again. Sickly deep self-condemnation, curdled, festering, righteous. He’d heard her scream and knew what it meant, again he’d forced her to do what went against her being to do. Stubborn frustrated anger, smoldering, struggling, indignant. He hated being helpless, hated being touched.
Curled serpent, glowing eyes, fury and retaliation. Striking and shoving away.
Zechs was pushed back into his own mind, so similar to that first reading he’d tried on Kurama that he almost wondered if he’d gone into the wrong mind. Then he heard it, a whispered message, a warning, not from Hiei, but from that subconscious voice.
‘Mind your own business and protect the youko, watch the fox. I’ll wake you soon, so be prepared.’
The shock must have shown on his face, because Kurama made a tiny sound in his throat, almost an emotional response. Zechs shook his head, doing his best to wipe away his stunned expression. He didn’t know what to make of the reaction, or the words – what the hell was a youko? – but he had to tell Kurama something. He had an idea Kurama’s sanity could very well ride on what he said.
There was a tiny flicker in those glazed eyes, and Zechs winced away from them. “He’s resisting me, somehow, his subconscious is. All he would tell me is that he’s worried about you.”
“Me,” Kurama repeated, his voice monotone.
“Yes,” said Zechs. “But he’s definitely alive. He’s hurt, but it doesn’t seem life threatening, not if he has the strength to worry about someone else like that.”
Kurama stared for a moment before turning away, his arms folded protectively over his chest. He knew better. Hiei would think of himself last, even if he were dying.
‘And if I lose him, there’ll be nothing left of me. What am I without him? Shuuichi is long dead. Or am I long dead? I am what he made me. I’ll be a shell, with nothing to hold me to it. If he dies, I will have to follow till I find him again. And I haven’t lived this life yet...I’m not ready to die. Please, Hiei...I don’t want to die... I want this life, this life. With you...’
- - -
“Why do you sleep up here?” asked Duo, his voice a quiet whisper in the dark.
“I feel safer here,” Heero whispered back, curling closer to him.
They were curled together, their bodies far too large to be comfortable in the small crawlspace that followed the rafters. Duo wondered at that, the sense of strangeness in how cramped it was with the two of them there. He thought there should have been more room. He remembered there being more room.
A thick acrid smell caught his nose, and Duo sniffed at it, just as Heero let out a muffled cough. “That’s-“
“Smoke,” Heero whispered, his eyes very wide.
He pulled away from Duo and scrambled down the boards to the floor below. Duo hurried after him, jumping straight down to the floor and catching himself in a light crouch.
‘But that’s wrong...I didn’t land. I stumbled and fell and choked. I lay there until I could barely see through the smoke and their cries were coming from all around me. And Heero wasn’t here with me...’
“Heero...! Where did you go?”
He shoved to his feet, wading his way through thick smoke that stung his eyes as he tried to see. The exit was near to him, he knew it was. He should have seen Heero there, pushing on the door that wouldn’t open.
‘But that’s wrong, too...I didn’t wade. The smoke was over my head because I crawled to the door. I couldn’t see anything, but I felt the edge of the carpet and it took me straight to the door. They were screaming and I closed my eyes, just feeling my way to the door. I thought they were with me...all around me. I didn’t want to slow them down...’
He saw him through a haze of smoke, tears from the stinging air clouding his sight even more. But he saw him jerking at the door with quiet panicked sobs.
‘Heero would never cry like I did...that should be me. Heero wasn’t there...’
“Heero! Wait, Heero! I’ll get us out, I promise. Just wait for me to-'
He saw him disappear, the smoke swirling to take up the space where Heero had been a moment before. And Duo stumbled into the door, his wide eyes burning in the smoky haze.
‘He teleported...? He can’t. I do that...I did that without knowing what I was doing. This isn’t right...’
He pulled on the door, a frantic thoughtless endeavor that seemed like the most natural thing in the world. And when it wouldn’t budge he sobbed and fell to his knees, willing himself out, through the door and out to where he could breathe.
‘And I did go out...I left them behind. Why can’t I go now? How could Heero go when I can’t...? He wouldn’t do what I did, wouldn’t leave them to die like I did. Leave them...and me...?’
He could hear them crying now, the screams choked into gags and suffocated coughs. They were moaning and knocking into things. And the sounds were dampened until he felt like they were all around him.
‘This is what made me crawl to the door...I’m ahead of myself now. I thought they were with me, I swear I did. I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known they weren’t with me. Like Heero went...? Is that the reason? I left them, loved them, loved them and left them anyway. So he left me anyway...? Is this what they felt, dying and wanting to know why, why they were dying alone...? I loved them...’
He slid to the floor, crumpled with his head close to the carpet, knees drawn tight to his chest. He could feel the heat creeping toward him, following the smoke and he whimpered. His hair was falling all over him and his voice was small.
‘I’m small...I was so small I could barely reach the doorknob when I tried to get out. If I’d lain here, I could have covered myself in my hair...it would have caught fire quicker that way... I wouldn’t have to suffocate that way...’
“But I’m not! I’m not a child anymore...I can’t lie here and cry like this...it isn’t right...”
‘This isn’t how it happened...’
“Come back for me. Heero, come back for me... I’m sorry I didn’t save them, but please, please come back for me...? It was selfish and horrible, but I lived through this! I’m supposed to live through this...”
‘...in exchange for letting all of them die...’
“Don’t move.”
‘Heero...? No...no, not Heero...not in this place...’
“Please don’t move.”
The voice was soft, ragged, a whisper in the darkness.
Duo blinked groggily, half immersed in the dream, his eyes still damp from the smoke and tears. It hurt to move and he groaned quietly, pausing for a moment before waking completely. Then he saw the cold metal he was facing, the dark wall inches from his head.
“Please...don’t move...”
The words almost made him jump, just to spite the order of whoever was behind him. But a few seconds told him that hadn’t been an order. It was a whispered plea, soft, hopeless. The sort of plea he’d made in his dream when he’d begged Heero to-
“W-why shouldn’t I move...?” whispered Duo.
“If you move, or make the slightest attempt to escape...this cell will be blown up. I...I don’t blame you if you want to escape. But please, please find another way? I don’t want to die here...”
The voice was soft and light, a girl or perhaps a very young boy. Either way, he believed the fear he heard in that voice.
Duo gave a wry smirk, staring wearily at the wall in front of him. "I'm not going anywhere, don't worry."
He knew he couldn't teleport now. Just being invisible earlier had nearly killed him, not to mention the attack on top of that. The explosions had sent glass into his arms and side, along with bits of the plaster and cement from the wall. He could feel the wounds now that he thought about them, they hurt when he tried to sit up.
The other person in the room gasped, probably afraid the cell would blow up. But Duo knew he'd go insane if he had to lie still for who knows how long. He kept his motions very slow, but he did sit up. And he felt tight bindings around his arms and waist and neck - bandages. Whoever had him had at least bound the wounds to keep him from bleeding to death. Hopefully if he kept still and stationary they wouldn't just kill him out of hand.
After a few minutes his eyes grew accustomed to the dark room, and he looked from the small cot he sat on over to the person who'd spoken to him. It was a girl, short dark hair, overly thin and pale with wide dark eyes that watched him like he was a viper about to snap at her. She looked like she could have been his age, though it was hard to say when she was curled into the dark corner. He could see a metallic glint from where her hands were settled in her lap. She was wearing some sort of cuffs that bound her wrists together and covered her hands.
The girl followed his gaze down and looked at him with wild, challenging eyes. "My talent is making things disappear by touching them with my hands. They keep them covered so I can't use it on them."
"I can do that," said Duo, "if I hold things they're invisible along with me."
"No," the girl said, her voice rough with disuse but forceful at the same time. "I make things disappear. I touch them and they're just gone, to nowhere. I wear gloves all the time, or I used to. Otherwise anything I touch with my hands is gone."
"It sounds strange," Duo admitted. "I can teleport myself and things I'm holding, but I have a destination in mind. My name's Duo, by the way."
She moved at the introduction, a half forward, half backward shuffle that made Duo raise an eyebrow. Then she did it again and made it to her feet, moving closer to him and sitting on the floor again where they could see each other clearly. "Hilde."
"It must be hard getting around with your hands like that," Duo said softly, frowning down at the cumbersome gloves.
"You get used to it after a while," Hilde shrugged.
Duo changed the subject, hoping to brighten the mood a little. "That's a cool talent you have. I've never heard of anything like that."
"It's not cool when you touch a person and have to watch him disappear into oblivion."
Silence spread between them and Duo flushed at his mistake. He couldn't imagine having a talent like that. "Uncontrolled...?"
"Entirely," said Hilde. "They said I'm under C, possibly D because I have no control whatsoever. Didn't stop them from using me, though."
"How long have you been here?"
She frowned at that and shuffled a little closer. "You mind if I sit by you? There's only the one bunk."
Duo's eyes widened and he scooted over, leaning forward a little and wondering if he should offer to help her up. "Go ahead."
"Thanks," Hilde sighed. She shifted back against the wall and folded her legs comfortably, telling him without words that she was used to sitting for hours on end.
She turned and gave him a faint smile. "I have no idea how long I've been here. Sometimes it feels like I've been here for years, but it might have been weeks, or a few months. It's just hard to count days when you don't have a clock and you can't see the sun."
"They just keep you here...?"
"They tested me at first," she said, "forcing me to kill other mutants with my talent."
She waited for Duo to absorb that, her expression a little sad, but more resigned than anything. "I haven't seen anyone for a while, but I've killed at least four mutants since they brought me here."
"At least...?" Duo whispered.
"I'm not sure if I killed the last one," she explained, still making no excuses. "He wasn't like the others. He was one of them, the soldiers. I wanted to kill him, but he was so fast I'm not sure if I did it or not. Someone hit me and he wasn't there when I woke up."
Duo didn't know what to say to that, though thinking of the mutant who'd attacked them, he could understand where someone might want to kill one of their own kind.
"I'm really sorry," he offered. "I know that doesn't help, but-"
"You don't need to help," Hilde said quickly, flashing him another of those faint smiles. "You're keeping me alive just by sitting with me. You don't owe me anything."
"I can't take credit for that," Duo smirked, ducking his head. "I couldn't teleport if I wanted to. I guess you'd say I'm burned out. Of course, I wouldn't do it if I couldn't take you out with me. But I can't do it anyway, so...yeah, doesn't really matter..."
"You'd..."
Duo blinked and looked up to find the girl giving him an almost horrified stare. He didn't know what he'd done to disturb her, so he moved back on the cot with a small smile he hoped would seem harmless. She'd been held prisoner for some time, so he thought maybe he'd said something to scare her.
"You'd really take me with you...?" she asked, disbelief coating her voice. "Why? You don't even know me!"
"Hee-"
Duo grimaced, his eyes darkening for a moment before he looked up again. "I've been told I'm too trusting. But I don't think you're lying about anything you've said to me. Of course I'd take you with me if I could. I wouldn't leave any mutant in OZ's hands. Never."
"You say that now," Hilde said, her expression falling into a tense frown. "You're not thinking clearly - you haven't been here long enough. Once you can use your talent again, you'll do what anyone would do, you'll save yourself. And I won't blame you for it if that's the only way you can get out. I just want you to see if there isn't another way first, just in case. I'm not afraid of dying, you know. I just don't want to if I don't have to."
Indignation spread over his face, and Duo almost glared at the girl. "I said I'd take you with me, and that's what I'd do. I never lie. And I wouldn't just - just save myself in exchange for-"
'...in exchange for letting them all die...'
"Oh, God..."
Duo ducked his head into his arms, curling close to the wall on his side of the cot. He could hear them, echoes of those cries, screams, whimpers and choking coughs. Could he honestly say he wouldn't leave her, a stranger, if that were his only chance to live? He'd left loved ones behind, what was she to him? How could he promise something like that when he'd already abandoned innocent children?
She watched him for a few minutes, just staring with her wide, darkness-enhanced eyes. Then she turned away and ducked over her own knees. "When they brought me here, they told me they wanted you dead. They said they might play with you a little, but that they had no use for you...or me, either. That's why they put me in here with you, because they're done using me. They'll get rid of both of us at once. I guess...if it came to it, being blown up would be quick. It wouldn't hurt that much..."
The tone struck him more than the words, cold, sad, small and hopelessly resigned. Duo glared against his damp eyes and rubbed an arm over his face.
"It won't come to that," he growled. "It won't. I'm not going to get either of us blown up, at least not on purpose."
He straightened his shoulders and got off the cot, wincing a little as his cuts pulled. "Is there any way out of this room aside from teleporting? Are they monitoring us with some sort of camera? I mean, how will they know if I try to teleport?"
"I don't know if they have cameras or not," Hilde admitted, frowning a bit at his optimistic tone. "I think they might have some sort of heat sensors - if it registers less than exactly two of us, the place would explode. That way it would register the second you started to teleport - and get you before you can fully leave this room."
Duo whipped around with wide, appreciative eyes. "You thought of that?"
"I used to...be interested in mechanics," Hilde smiled. "I was going to be a scientist. Well, someday I thought I might be one. I'm only fifteen. I also wanted to be a race car driver."
She stuck her tongue out and Duo laughed. The sound surprised them both, but in a nice way. He shook his head with a smirk and started circling the room.
"What sort of doors do they have?"
"Over there," Hilde pointed, "in the corner. It slides sideways so there's no chance of levering it open. And there's a very thick door on the other side of that - you'd never force it open. I really don't see any way out of this room. They've lined it so the rest of the base won't be affected by the explosion..."
"Yeah, well, good for them," Duo sniffed. "They must not be counting on how strong some of my friends are. I bet Hiei could cut right through the walls if he had a mind to..."
"You have mutant friends?"
Duo turned back to her and tilted his head to the side, giving a little frown. "You don't?"
"I had a friend before I left," Hilde said quietly, dropping her eyes. "I used to think someone would rescue me, back when I was first brought here. But I waited for a long time thinking that. Now I know it won't happen. No one's coming for me. Or if he is, he can't find me here. Even if he could, I'm starting to think he wouldn't bother...he didn't know, you see. He didn't know I was a mutant..."
"I'm sorry," said Duo. He was thinking how nice and romantic and touching it would be if Heero were to rescue him. He knew just how Hilde felt. That sort of hope could last through months of torment before finally dying out. And once it was gone, only resignation and loneliness would be left. "I know how you feel."
'And I wonder what he'll think. If he comes back to the school like he said he would, I wonder what he'll think when I'm not there to greet him. Will he think I left on my own? Or will the others be there to tell him what happened to me? How long would it take them to find me? If it's too long, I might not be here by then... I wonder how Heero would react to that...finding out I died while he was away...'
"We'll just wait together," Duo said, forcing a bright smile onto his face. Hilde just watched him, so he didn't think she was fooled. But she nodded to him when he sat back down again.
"We'll wait," Duo said again, "and if someone doesn't come, I'll get us out. One way or another."
"It would be quick," Hilde whispered, shooting him a tiny, sad smile. "It wouldn't hurt very much..."
"That's something..."
- - -
Zechs caught Duo the moment the boy regained consciousness, but there was some sort of interference between them. He could barely hear the boy's thoughts.
"I think he's being held within a very thick cell, and the metal is dampering me. But he's fine, a little torn up and depressed, but otherwise fine."
Wufei gave a relieved smile and nodded in thanks. He didn't see the way Quatre turned into Trowa's arms behind them, or the guilty look that passed over Trowa's face for having doubted their friend's resilience.
"He's not alone, though," Zechs added. "There's someone in there with him, another prisoner. She's been there for some time. I think they're...commiserating with each other..."
Wufei smirked at the strained tone, shooting a glance back. "Are you trying to say Duo's cheating on Heero?"
"No," Zechs said quickly, sending the boy a light frown. "Just that we're taking her with us when he break him out. We'll have trouble managing one person, with two it'll be worse."
"Why?" asked Quatre.
"Something about the way the cell is set up. The girl suspects there might be a heat monitor of some kind to register if there are two bodies in there. If one fades, the cell is set to destruct. We'd need to get in through the walls themselves - very thick, maybe steel - and then we'd need to be extremely fast to get them both out at once and to a safe distance for when it explodes. Unless we can break into the base and disable their system."
"I can disable it," said Kurama.
Zechs turned, his expression turning wary again. He didn't know how to deal with Kurama now. The redhead had pulled up information on the base, proving himself as much of a hacker as Heero. But so far the information he'd given them had all been stated in that same cold, factual tone. He couldn't help but wonder if Kurama were telling them everything, or just what he'd decided they needed to know. He just didn't trust such a dead delivery, too poker-faced, perhaps.
"I could do it from here," Kurama continued, "but it would register within two hours. I'll do it when we're closer. They won't know the mechanism is down until we're already there. Then, it will be too late."
"Then we sneak in?" asked Wufei.
"There are a number of weak spots in the regular security," said Kurama. "But he knows we're coming. They'll know to tighten those weak spots. A frontal assault would be best. They can't prepare for an attack waged by all of us, not in the open. Not now."
Not now, Zechs thought warily, that Kurama was out for blood.
"And Treize?" asked Zechs.
"He changed course," said Kurama. "He's heading far west of La Guardia."
"So we won't be confronting him," said Yusuke. "Too bad."
Wufei nodded, knowing just how he felt. "But the important thing is to get our friends back. Without him, that's one more body we don't have waste time getting through."
"Yeah," Yusuke sniffed, "but I still wish we could-"
Zechs jerked in his seat, blinking wide eyes for a moment before turning to stare at Trowa. The two looked at each other and shared an oddly amused look.
"We've picked up another passenger," Zechs smirked.
Kurama snapped around, and he hurried to wave the teen back.
"I don't think it's dangerous," Zechs said quickly. "He's just hitching a ride on our plane."
Yusuke's eyes widened comically, and Trowa gave a small smirk.
"I've done that," Trowa admitted wryly, "often. It's nice to take a break when you're flying long distance, providing you can hold onto the outside of a plane. Catching them is the tricky part. You have to get in front of one and wait for it to get near you, then try not to get caught in the wind sheer while you're grabbing hold of it."
"Sounds cool," Yusuke smirked. "So you think we should invite him in? Can't be very comfortable riding on the outside of a plane."
Kurama sent him a sharp look and he waved at him. "No complaints from you, Kurama. You're not thinking clearly. If you were yourself, you'd invite him in for tea."
Yusuke raised an eyebrow when he found Zechs sending him a strange look. "What? Am I supposed to tiptoe around him just because he's upset? He's not stupid. Kurama knows he's being unreasonable, he just can't help that right now. I thought a mindreader would know that. As long as I don't touch him, he's not going to slice my head off with one of his plants."
Kurama made no response to the talk except to sit down in the seat Yusuke had vacated. Zechs looked at him for a moment before giving a light shrug. He didn't know Kurama the way Yusuke did, and since he'd sworn to Hiei he'd never look in Kurama's mind again, he had no idea what the redhead was feeling. All he knew was what his instinct told him - to keep an eye on Kurama because he could be a ticking time bomb.
It even fit what Hiei had said to him in that brief message, to watch the fox. Zechs was determined to do just that. And as soon as he found out who the youko was, he'd do his best to protect him, too.
Yusuke was prodding Trowa about the person hitchhiking on their plane, and he grinned when the boy offered to invite him in. "And if he gives you any trouble, just knock him off and let the wake spin him away."
"I'll do that," Trowa said soberly. "But it's nothing to joke about. Getting hit by the wake of a plane is very painful. With a jet, it's deadly."
"You've tried it?" Yusuke asked, his eyes wide.
"Not on purpose, but yes."
A few minutes after Yusuke and Trowa headed off to the back of the plane, Kurama sent a look to Zechs. The man straightened when he saw it, and Kurama stared at him closely.
"What do you think I'm going to do?" asked Kurama.
"What?"
"You're watching me," said Kurama. "What do you think I'm going to do?"
"Nothing," Zechs said quickly. "Earlier when I looked into Hiei's mind he said to watch you. I told you, he was worried about you. I'm just doing what he-"
"What else did he say?"
There was a flicker in those yellow-green eyes, a hint of the gold Zechs had seen back when Treize first called him Shuuichi. Zechs stared, hoping the flicker would happen again. Anything was better than that glazed look. "His exact words?"
"Yes," said Kurama. "Don't keep me in the dark. Not now."
Now that he was out for blood, Zechs' mind said warily. "He said to mind my own business, to protect the youko, and watch the fox. You're the fox, so I'm-"
"Youko?"
"Yes," said Zechs. "I don't know what that means. Do you?"
Kurama looked away, thoughtful, though it didn't show on his face. "Maybe. It's familiar to me. But he's never called me that."
"Okay, guys!" Yusuke broke in cheerfully. "Meet our hitchhiker!"
Wufei sent a harried look over his shoulder and promptly did a double-take. He'd seen some strangely dressed mutants, but this one took the award for strangest yet.
The mutant was dressed in baggy white pants, held up by a dark red scarf-like belt. And for a shirt, he had two strips of white cloth coming up from his waist, crossing over his chest, and going back over his shoulders. The point of them, Wufei had no idea. He guessed maybe they were another bit to help keep his pants up when he flew. They certainly didn't cover anything.
He was tall, easily as tall as Zechs, but broad-shouldered and muscular. He was also the tannest redhead Wufei had ever seen. His hair was wild, almost a ball of thick red tufts that didn't even try to hide the horn in the center of his forehead, or the points to his ears. He definitely wouldn't pass for human without a very very large hat.
If he hadn't been flying a plane, Wufei could have stared in fascination for hours. As it was, he gave the young man a quick nod and turned back to the sky.
"His name's Jin," said Yusuke, still grinning widely.
"I can speak for myself, you know," Jin said back, his smile just as amiable. "Nice to meet you all! I saw you passing through and thought I'd nab a ride."
He had a thick Japanese accent that reminded Kurama of Kuwabara, only he guessed Jin's was an Osaka accent, rather than just street slang. He gave the smiling stranger a sweeping look and decided he was as harmless as he appeared. He had the same sort of open honesty Yusuke did. Kurama turned away, leaving the others to deal with the newcomer.
"Where were you headed?" asked Quatre. "We'll be going south for a few more hours if you'd like to ride along."
"That's right where I'm headed," Jin grinned. "South! Due south, and then a little east, I think. Some garda base. I never could get the Spanish ones out right."
"La Guardia?" asked Zechs, his eyes wide.
"Hai! That's the one! It's next on my list to blow away."
The redhead gave a vigorous nod, and Yusuke raised an eyebrow at him. "How are you planning to blow it away? And why, for that matter."
"With wind, of course," Jin said, cocking his head to the side and giving Yusuke a funny look. "How else would I blow away a base?"
"I don't know," Yusuke drawled, "with ammo, maybe?"
"Ah, who needs ammo when I've got the wind? It's much cleaner, and more fun to play with."
"You use wind, then?" asked Quatre. "As your talent, I mean? In addition to flying?"
"Addition?" Jin frowned for a second, not sure what Quatre was asking him. "I use wind, yeah, but I don't fly 'in addition' - I use wind to fly. That's my talent. I'm a Wind Master."
"You were right, Kurama," said Wufei. "I guess I can use wind to fly."
"Sure," Jin smiled. "You just have to be careful you don't blow yourself into next week the first time you try. Need a tough head for that sort of thing. I can't remember how many times I knocked myself right out before I got the hang of it. Ah...that was fun..."
Yusuke laughed, earning him a wink and a grin.
"And why are you heading to La Guardia?" Zechs prodded.
Jin glanced back at him, some of the humor fading from his face. "That. Well, I have a list, see? I'm chasing someone and he keeps hopping from base to base. Always gets off before I get there, really annoying, I can tell you. So I'm just blowing them away as I go - that way he can't backtrack. I figure he'll run out of bases, or I'll catch him. Slimy guy's fast, but he can't run forever."
"You've been destroying OZ bases?" asked Zechs. "How many?"
"OZ?"
Jin blinked wide blue eyes, confusion clear on his face. "Is that military? I don't know much about the bases. Like I said, I'm just chasing someone and wiping out his hiding spots, can't remember how many it's been now. I don't kill the soldiers or anything, I just...blow them around for a while. It's kind of fun, come to that..."
A slow smile spread over the teen's face, and Zechs felt his eyebrow twitch, just a bit. It wasn't the sort of attitude he expected from someone who claimed to have destroyed too many bases to count.
"Is it Treize you're chasing?" asked Zechs.
"Don't know his name," Jin shrugged. "He's a dark guy, acts like some kind of bat when he jumps. Funny looking, really. Likes to go around blowing the heck out of things. That's his talent, blowing things up. I don't know much else about him."
Trowa and Quatre exchanged a look, and Trowa nodded to Zechs. "That's the one." He looked at Jin. "Tall, black hair and a mask over his face?"
"You know him?!" Jin asked sharply, his eyes wide. "Where did you see him last? I've been looking for him for-"
"He's the person we're after," said Trowa. "We have good reason to believe he's at La Guardia base. That's where we're headed now."
"Great!" Jin cheered. "Thanks for the lift and all, but I have to get over there before he takes off again."
"Aren't you tired?" asked Yusuke. "I thought you stopped because-"
"Yeah," said Jin, "but that's okay. If I catch him, I can take a nice long rest after I'm done."
Trowa frowned and stepped to the side, blocking Jin's exit. "You'd do better to come with us. Treize, the person in charge of that base, knows we're coming. You'd be flying right into a trap if you went alone, even if it's not one for you specifically."
Jin didn't look too worried at that possibility, but he paused when Yusuke joined Trowa in blocking his way.
"That bomb guy is probably going to be heading the defense when we get there," said Yusuke. "So you don't have to worry about him running away this time."
"Really?" Jin gave a little sigh, glancing out of the plane for a moment before shrugging. "Guess there's no hurry, then. Mind if I nap on the way? One of those seats out there-"
"There are bedrooms in the back," said Quatre. "You're welcome to rest in one."
"Thanks, kid. Nice of you."
Quatre's eyes widened at being called a kid, and Trowa let out a quiet laugh. He frowned at him in reproach. He wasn't that short.
"So," Yusuke drawled, following them out of the cockpit. "Why are you after this guy?"
"I have a grudge to settle," Jin said, his cheerful manner faltering for a second. "And not much else to do with myself till I kill him."
"I think you'll have to get in line for that," Yusuke said, shooting a look over at Kurama. The redhead was staring at Jin like he wanted to say something and he had an idea it wouldn't be anything pleasant.
"No way," Jin scoffed. "I've been chasing him for months. I've got first dibs on his rodent carcass."
"Rodent?"
"Said he looked like a bat, didn't I? Flying rodent. That or a crow."
Kurama followed the teen with his eyes, but didn't say anything. Whatever the strange youth thought, he wasn't going to be the one to kill the mutant. One way or another, Kurama was determined to have that right. What Trowa and Quatre had told him of the attack, the way Yukina had looked at him when he was helpless to comfort her, what Treize had implied, and what Hiei had told Zechs - to mind his own business - it all served to put Kurama into a very murderous mood. If he was going to die, he'd spend his last days torturing the man responsible...maybe weeks if he could hold out that long without Hiei...
'I've given him up already. How do I know he's dying? And why do I feel like I'm dying with him? Hiei...what did you do to me...? Do you have any idea? Can you feel my pain now like you did before? Because I can't, Hiei. I can't feel my pain... I can't feel anything but this tie holding me here and it's slipping. You're pulling me with you and...soon...I won't care if I die...'
TBC
--notes--
Next part will focus on Hiei, Zechs, and Duo. (PS: Did I promise longer parts? The next will be shorter than this one, but like I said, they should even out in the end...)
Treize has dark blue eyes in the anime (though they look black or dark brown depending on the scene). Here they're brown, and they'll stay that way. I wanted to mention that in case anyone noticed.
Also, I miscounted - there are two new characters introduced in this part, not one.
To Prosopopeia, I love Yukina, she's my favorite female anime character to date. As such, I will have to torment her a little more, but I'll try to be gentle. o.o;
And just a small warning, I cried while writing part of this. So if anything seems overly sappy, or melodramatic, I apologize. I wrote it the way I saw it.
Vague fusion with the original X-men animated series.
This Part: Featured characters include Quatre, Hiei, Duo, Kuramam and Zechs.
Category: Yaoi, Anime, Gundam Wing, Yu Yu Hakusho
Warnings: shonen ai, minor (?) angst
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, Kurama-Hiei, will be 6x5
Author: Arigatomina
Email: arigatoumina (a) hotmail . com
Website: www . geocities . com / arigatomina
Gmen
Part 36: Enemy Territory
Kuwabara woke to find his face sore, as if he were sunburned, but also a little numb. The sensation reminded him of how he felt after being slapped around by his older sister, annoying and uncomfortable, but not really painful.
He reached a surprisingly shaky hand up and touched his cheek, his brows drawing when he found the skin overly warm. Maybe he had been slapped. His last memory was of being hit by something he couldn’t see, possibly that black scarecrow who’d been-
A soft sound caught his ear, at the same moment he recalled the intruder. His eyes snapped open and he turned onto his side. He spotted the small pearl-like gem as it rolled across the floor. Then he was stumbling to his feet and rushing over to Yukina.
Trowa was leaning against the wall, his arms over Quatre’s shoulders to support the boy while Yukina healed the worst of his injuries. He’d been almost dozing himself, between the harsh landing earlier, and his own blood loss – neither of which were important enough to be healed by Yukina, considering Quatre’s state.
Someone choked near him, and Trowa’s eyes flickered open, blurry for a moment before settling on Kuwabara. The boy’s face was oddly pink, the only real sign left from the attack on him. He was staring down at the girl in front of them, and Trowa followed his gaze. One glance at Yukina’s tearstreaked face told him why Kuwabara looked so stricken.
Trowa hadn’t really noticed how many of those small gems had collected around the girl’s pale skirt. He’d been too busy holding onto Quatre and listening to the boy’s breathing as it grew steadier with each passing minute. Now he lowered his gaze to Yukina’s glowing hands so he could see the wound she was working on.
It was still a torn mess without a trace of the pale skin that should have been protecting the boy’s organs. The sight made Trowa tighten his arms over Quatre’s shoulders, almost willing the boy not to wake up. Yukina was only going to stop the bleeding until Zechs could get there and take over. Trowa had done a survey of the others and knew Zechs would be arriving soon. They could wait for him, just as long as the bleeding stopped.
Internal bleeding. Only it wasn’t internal when he’d been as good as gutted.
A soft whimper broke through Trowa’s thoughts, causing him to loosen his grip with sharp guilt. Quatre shifted against him and curled cold hands over his arms. The boy hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but he was clearly awake. Trowa ducked his head close to Quatre’s neck.
“Don’t try to move,” he whispered.
Quatre let out a little affirmative sound, not so much as nodding his head. He could feel a cool tingling sensation, numbing the pain in his midsection, and he wasn’t about to interfere with that. He did open his eyes, though, mostly because he sensed panic and grief too close to ignore. His gaze went directly to Kuwabara, then down to Yukina. If he hadn’t been deathly pale already, he would have blanched.
“Yukina...”
The girl flinched, her hands shaking for a moment before dropping to her sides. That healing energy had faltered and died, leaving her hair damp with sweat and clinging to her cheeks instead of floating on the energy waves. She lifted miserable eyes to Quatre and took a ragged breath that stuck in her throat.
Kuwabara had crouched the moment Yukina stopped using her healing talent. Along with that pale blue glow, her tears had stopped. Whether it was a sign of how worn she was or not, he sighed with relief. He placed a tentative hand on her shoulder.
Quatre had opened his mouth to say something, anything, to those grief-stricken eyes. But Yukina flinched away, her gaze dropping to the hand on her shoulder. She took a hitching breath and all but dove into Kuwabara’s arms with enough speed and force to knock the boy out of his crouch.
Terror fleeted over Kuwabara’s face as he wrapped his arms around Yukina’s shoulders and prayed for help. She was sobbing. He could feel the tears falling in his lap, could hear them hit the floor, and he could see, could see what it was doing to her. Her energy was more white than blue, with an edge of pale sickly yellow.
“Don’t cry,” Kuwabara mumbled. “Please? Yukina-chan, please don’t cry.”
If anything, his words had an opposite effect. She dug deeper against him and cried all the more. Kuwabara let out a miserable sound and poured as much of his energy into her as he could, trying to counter the loss. He knew those tears were draining her as much, if not more than her healing had. And aside from giving her more energy to drain, he didn’t know what to do.
“I’ll make it better,” said Kuwabara, “I promise!”
Helpless and desperate eyes flew to him, and Quatre tightened his hold on Trowa’s arms, needing the warmth.
“Hiei was taken,” he whispered, “and Duo.”
Kuwabara paled, his panic increasing. “Who could do that...? Who would be strong enough to-“
He stopped himself, cutting off that vocal thought as quickly as he could. Yukina needed reassurances, comfort, not to hear his own horror over what had happened. He straightened his shoulders and pushed the girl back enough to see her face. She let out a hiccuping breath and turned eyes to him that were so miserable they cut right through his heart.
“You’ll get him back,” Kuwabara said sharply, the emotional pain keeping his tone harsh enough to make Yukina blink in surprise. “He’ll be fine. Kurama won’t let him get hurt, right? You know that. And you know...Hiei wouldn’t want you to cry.”
- - -
Someone was talking to him. He couldn’t quite make out the words. He didn’t want to make out the words. He didn’t want to hear or feel or care.
He curled tighter, deeper, pushing the world away. He was cold, cold convulsing pain, and Yukina was crying, dying, and he couldn’t help her.
‘I can’t stop her, I’m making her cry. My fault, again, always my fault. I couldn’t, didn’t protect her. Didn’t? What did I do? Or is it what didn’t I do? I don’t even know what happened to her...again! Why? Why do I do that? Always failing...? When all I want, all I ever want is just, just...’
Not again... Enough, already. Stop that and open your eyes. Do you really want to lose her again? Permanently? Now’s not the time for sleep and condemnation. You have the rest of your life for that.
‘I hate you.’
Do I care?
‘You know everything, but you only tell me what you think I need to know. I understand. Do you know that, omniscient fool? I understand. If I die, you die. I’m ready to die, but you aren’t. So you push me.’
Don’t be stupid. You’re not ready to kill her, to selfishly choke the life out of her and drown her in her own tears. Ready to die? You’d sooner kill the fox with your bare hands.
‘Leave me alone! I can feel her, she’s fading out even now. And I can’t feel, can’t...’
He’s not dead. You can’t feel him because he’s locked himself away from everyone, including me, us. You can’t shut down every time he closes himself off. He does that instinctively. You have to accept it like I have, that he won’t change.
‘And Yukina...?’
Wake up and find out for yourself. I’m tired of how pathetic you get every time something goes wrong. I was never like that!
‘Liar...’
What do you know?
‘That you’re me, and I hate myself.’
...always have, always will...
‘How boring.’
I know...
Pained, disorientated, blinded, sickened. All of the things Hiei had been cringing away from flew back to him the moment he pushed for awareness. He couldn’t feel his arms or legs, but his head was awash with pulsing pain, echoed by his clenched stomach. Nauseating pain. And something else.
He felt a sharp yet dull pain press his face, followed by the feel of warm liquid trailing down his neck. Cutting him? Touching him.
Hiei recoiled, his eyes snapping open to a bleary darkness. He didn’t know how long it took for his vision to adjust, but he glared until he could see who he was glaring at.
“Either you have a high tolerance for pain, or you’re just a very deep sleeper,” said Karasu.
The rogue mutant was looming over him, telling Hiei why he felt so disoriented. He was leaning back on something that was tilted strangely. And judging from his numb arms, he’d bet they were held at an odd angle as well. Not that he cared. The mutant was right, he did have a high tolerance for pain. If the man didn’t intend to kill him, he was wasting his time by taunting him.
“You’re such a little scrap of a thing,” Karasu continued, sneering at the bored look Hiei sent up at him. “I’d have thought a Quest class mutant would have better taste than that.”
The term struck a cord in the back of Hiei’s mind, and he gave a mental growl at his subconscious. It had been shifting around uneasily since he’d first seen the rogue mutant. He doubted he’d get any more from it now than he had then. So he ignored it. With a very dull look, he waited for the mutant to get on with whatever he had to say. He looked like he’d been waiting for Hiei to wake up so he could taunt him, so he probably had a lot to babble on about.
”You have no idea what that rank means, do you?”
Hiei sniffed, not bothering to answer that. The mutant let out a cold laugh. Obviously, Hiei thought, he was easily amused.
“You really are quite simple, aren’t you. Did you really think your plant-wielder was just another B class mutant?”
That got a response from Hiei, though he didn’t voice it. It was clear to him that either the man didn’t know about Kurama’s fox form, or he was just talking nonsense to hear himself talk. Hiei had stopped considering Kurama a B class mutant the day he’d shifted.
“Creation,” said Karasu, “is the key. No normal mutant can create. A fire user might use fire, but the fire exists without him, doesn’t it? A true controller does more than harness his element, he shifts it to fit his needs. No, your pretty little plant wielder is Quest class for certain. I can’t wait to get my hands on him – or into him, in this case.”
Taunts were easily ignored, but a threat against Kurama, especially the sort he could hear in the man’s almost purring voice, that was too much. Hiei growled and jerked away from the thing his back was pressed against. The rogue backed up in surprise, but he needn’t have bothered.
Pain erupted everywhere. Something was holding his wrists, and the tension of his pull disturbed sleeping wounds he hadn’t been aware of. He also might have just dislocated one shoulder, though he couldn’t tell if it was a fresh pain or an old one. The worst, of course, was in his head. He hadn’t known he was capable of feeling that much pain.
His jagan pounded in his ears. He didn’t wonder how that was possible, didn’t wonder if it had healed from the point-blank explosion it had suffered. He felt it pulsing over his entire body and shrouding his vision with dark cloudy purple ghosts.
The mutant said something he couldn’t hear over the pounding heartbeat. His heart? The pain was more than he could remember having felt in his life, but could it be strong enough to effect his heart? The thought was alarming in a faint, distant sort of way. He’d drift again, not curled, just standing back from his body and watching those dark ghosts swim before his dazed eyes.
Someone was standing outside his eyes, over his body, he realized. A tall slender man with long wavy blonde hair and eyes so bright and green they were blinding. And he shimmered, pale green energy pulsing around him, particularly his mouth and hands.
Hiei stared in confusion, easing forward into awareness so he could find out who the stranger was. And the image faded, blurring and darkening until only the black-haired mutant stood there, watching him.
A cold calm voice responded to his confusion, making Hiei’s pain fogged eyes narrow in understanding. The mutant was not what he appeared to be. He wasn’t just a B class mutant with the ability to combine combustible elements and use them as incendiary attacks. He was something beyond that. Not S class either, not quite so powerful as that, just...different.
‘Quest class...? I don’t care.’
“What happened to Duo?” asked Hiei, his voice hoarser than he’d expected.
The mutant reacted with sharp, painfully loud laughter that seemed to echo in Hiei’s ears. He glared at it, wondering absently if the echo were due to the dark place they were in, or to his own jagan-enhanced feedback. He didn’t trust any of his senses right now.
A hand patted Hiei’s head, startling him too much for him to move at first. Then it was pulled away so he could see red claws tipping pale fingers. But they weren’t, he noted. They were sharp blood-stained fingernails, not claws.
“That boy is as good as dead,” Karasu explained, smiling at Hiei. “They don’t want him alive. They never did. He’s too difficult to restrain with his talents, not even useful as a toy. They’ll keep him for now, but the moment he wakes up he’ll probably die. The first hint of teleportation and the cell he’s in will be blown to bits before he can get out.”
Hiei reacted to that threat, jerking against his restraints without showing the pain that movement caused. And the mutant laughed again, softer this time.
“You shouldn’t worry about him,” he said quietly, privately. “You should worry about yourself. If you’re lucky, they’ll kill you before they dissect you. But don’t count on it. It’s far more entertaining if the body struggles when you slice into it...”
- - -
The cockpit of the plane was crowded with so many people, but no one wanted to separate. Wufei was piloting, the others arranged as comfortably as possible where they could see the windshield, to look forward rather than inward.
They’d switched planes after seeing Relena back to the Sanq Kingdom, and picking up Trowa and Quatre. Kurama assured them that Yukina would be safest with Relena inside the border. The girl had never been attacked in all of the years she lived there, and even this attack hadn’t been against her. She’d only be in danger if she were caught in the crossfire again. They wouldn’t let that happen.
After Zechs had healed Quatre and Trowa, they’d told him what they knew about the attack. It was clear to them that Quatre had been the main target, but Zechs imagined there was more to it than that. He was quick to remind them that Treize had had two primary objectives concerning their group – to catch and use Quatre, and to kill Duo. It was something none of them wanted to think about.
The attack had broken a lot of their illusions, particularly Kurama’s, though Zechs was the only one to notice. The redhead remained absolutely emotionless. He’d barely touched Yukina, and hadn’t said a word of reassurance to her, despite her exhausted, hopeful expression. That alone told him Kurama was stricken too deeply to respond to what had happened. He’d thought them safe, Hiei more than anyone.
The last time he’d spoken had been to ask Zechs if he could reach Hiei. Zechs had tried, just like he and Trowa had both tried to reach Duo. They hadn’t felt a breath of Duo, and all Zechs had gotten from Hiei was an image of purplish-black shifting shadows, like smoke or dark fire. Kurama hadn’t responded to that with anything other than a sober look.
The talk of Duo had reminded Quatre of something he hadn’t really had time to notice before. Now he caught Trowa’s arm and pulled the boy back into the other part of the plane, where they wouldn’t be overheard. He chose one of the seats far enough away for privacy, but close enough in case there was a change in plans. Then he caught Trowa’s hand with wide eyes.
“Heero,” said Quatre.
Trowa knew what he was talking about, though it had been a while before he noticed the difference. They’d both been far too distracted to think about it.
“I think it happened sometime during the attack,” Trowa admitted. “His pain faded and disappeared, along with his thoughts.”
“I felt him before,” Quatre said quickly, his eyes wide and wary, “when that man first attacked me. I tried to control him and my block against Heero collapsed. I felt him, then, as bad as it was this morning. But now I can’t find him at all.”
Silence passed between them, and Trowa wanted to say something to reassure the boy. He could easily have thought of reasons for Heero to go from continued pain-transference to absolute silence. A coma, perhaps. But somehow he didn’t think that were the case.
“We can’t feel Heero anymore,” Quatre whispered anxiously, “and now we can’t find Duo. You don’t think they’re both...”
He shook his head, pulling on Trowa so the boy would wrap an arm over his shoulders. “I know they don’t have a reason to keep Duo alive, but he can’t use his abilities. He can’t teleport or even turn invisible, so wouldn’t they want to keep him alive? He’s not a threat now.”
“What do you want me to tell you?” Trowa asked quietly, his eyes sad and sober.
Quatre dropped his eyes, curling into his lover’s warmth. “That they’re not dead. Tell me they’re not dead. Tell me my own abilities are too worn to feel them, and that they’re not dead.”
“I don’t believe Heero is dead,” said Trowa. “What he planned to do wasn’t something that would kill him. I didn’t probe, but I know the chances of it going wrong were very slim. I don’t know why I can’t reach him, but I don’t believe he’s dead.”
“And Duo?”
“...”
Quatre jerked away, his eyes wide and bright. “Why?”
“They sent a mutant in, just to kill him.”
“But that man took him,” Quatre protested. “If they just wanted him dead, he’d have killed him, wouldn’t he? He could have. None of us could have gotten to Duo fast enough to stop him.”
Trowa sighed and stood up, pulling Quatre along with him so he could wrap his arms around the boy in a proper embrace. He squeezed him tightly, his voice a soft apology. “I don’t believe he’s alive, Quatre. I want to, but I don’t. OZ wants Duo dead. Whatever reason that man had for taking Duo, it had nothing to do with keeping him alive. You felt his mind, didn’t you? Do you believe Duo could survive that? Would you want him to have to survive that?”
A soft mournful sound caught Zechs’ ear and he glanced through the door to the cockpit. He didn’t need to know what Trowa and Quatre were talking about. There were only so many things on their minds right now. He eased the door shut so no one would overhear and interrupt.
“Will you try again?” asked Kurama.
Zechs turned slowly, wanting to see a tiny spark of hope in those mottled eyes and knowing he wouldn’t. The colors had glazed sometime after they’d left the Sanq Kingdom, and now Kurama’s eyes had a dull yellow-green sheen that was almost ugly to look at. It made his emotionless mask even more disturbing.
Yusuke was watching them with a wary expression, and Zechs sighed. He took a seat behind Wufei and gave a slow nod. “I’ll try again.”
The shadows were still there, obscuring his view, but he could hear and feel myriad thoughts mixing behind that veil.
Pain, physical torment, slow, taunting, unimportant. He’d survived worse and would again. Sickly deep self-condemnation, curdled, festering, righteous. He’d heard her scream and knew what it meant, again he’d forced her to do what went against her being to do. Stubborn frustrated anger, smoldering, struggling, indignant. He hated being helpless, hated being touched.
Curled serpent, glowing eyes, fury and retaliation. Striking and shoving away.
Zechs was pushed back into his own mind, so similar to that first reading he’d tried on Kurama that he almost wondered if he’d gone into the wrong mind. Then he heard it, a whispered message, a warning, not from Hiei, but from that subconscious voice.
‘Mind your own business and protect the youko, watch the fox. I’ll wake you soon, so be prepared.’
The shock must have shown on his face, because Kurama made a tiny sound in his throat, almost an emotional response. Zechs shook his head, doing his best to wipe away his stunned expression. He didn’t know what to make of the reaction, or the words – what the hell was a youko? – but he had to tell Kurama something. He had an idea Kurama’s sanity could very well ride on what he said.
There was a tiny flicker in those glazed eyes, and Zechs winced away from them. “He’s resisting me, somehow, his subconscious is. All he would tell me is that he’s worried about you.”
“Me,” Kurama repeated, his voice monotone.
“Yes,” said Zechs. “But he’s definitely alive. He’s hurt, but it doesn’t seem life threatening, not if he has the strength to worry about someone else like that.”
Kurama stared for a moment before turning away, his arms folded protectively over his chest. He knew better. Hiei would think of himself last, even if he were dying.
‘And if I lose him, there’ll be nothing left of me. What am I without him? Shuuichi is long dead. Or am I long dead? I am what he made me. I’ll be a shell, with nothing to hold me to it. If he dies, I will have to follow till I find him again. And I haven’t lived this life yet...I’m not ready to die. Please, Hiei...I don’t want to die... I want this life, this life. With you...’
- - -
“Why do you sleep up here?” asked Duo, his voice a quiet whisper in the dark.
“I feel safer here,” Heero whispered back, curling closer to him.
They were curled together, their bodies far too large to be comfortable in the small crawlspace that followed the rafters. Duo wondered at that, the sense of strangeness in how cramped it was with the two of them there. He thought there should have been more room. He remembered there being more room.
A thick acrid smell caught his nose, and Duo sniffed at it, just as Heero let out a muffled cough. “That’s-“
“Smoke,” Heero whispered, his eyes very wide.
He pulled away from Duo and scrambled down the boards to the floor below. Duo hurried after him, jumping straight down to the floor and catching himself in a light crouch.
‘But that’s wrong...I didn’t land. I stumbled and fell and choked. I lay there until I could barely see through the smoke and their cries were coming from all around me. And Heero wasn’t here with me...’
“Heero...! Where did you go?”
He shoved to his feet, wading his way through thick smoke that stung his eyes as he tried to see. The exit was near to him, he knew it was. He should have seen Heero there, pushing on the door that wouldn’t open.
‘But that’s wrong, too...I didn’t wade. The smoke was over my head because I crawled to the door. I couldn’t see anything, but I felt the edge of the carpet and it took me straight to the door. They were screaming and I closed my eyes, just feeling my way to the door. I thought they were with me...all around me. I didn’t want to slow them down...’
He saw him through a haze of smoke, tears from the stinging air clouding his sight even more. But he saw him jerking at the door with quiet panicked sobs.
‘Heero would never cry like I did...that should be me. Heero wasn’t there...’
“Heero! Wait, Heero! I’ll get us out, I promise. Just wait for me to-'
He saw him disappear, the smoke swirling to take up the space where Heero had been a moment before. And Duo stumbled into the door, his wide eyes burning in the smoky haze.
‘He teleported...? He can’t. I do that...I did that without knowing what I was doing. This isn’t right...’
He pulled on the door, a frantic thoughtless endeavor that seemed like the most natural thing in the world. And when it wouldn’t budge he sobbed and fell to his knees, willing himself out, through the door and out to where he could breathe.
‘And I did go out...I left them behind. Why can’t I go now? How could Heero go when I can’t...? He wouldn’t do what I did, wouldn’t leave them to die like I did. Leave them...and me...?’
He could hear them crying now, the screams choked into gags and suffocated coughs. They were moaning and knocking into things. And the sounds were dampened until he felt like they were all around him.
‘This is what made me crawl to the door...I’m ahead of myself now. I thought they were with me, I swear I did. I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known they weren’t with me. Like Heero went...? Is that the reason? I left them, loved them, loved them and left them anyway. So he left me anyway...? Is this what they felt, dying and wanting to know why, why they were dying alone...? I loved them...’
He slid to the floor, crumpled with his head close to the carpet, knees drawn tight to his chest. He could feel the heat creeping toward him, following the smoke and he whimpered. His hair was falling all over him and his voice was small.
‘I’m small...I was so small I could barely reach the doorknob when I tried to get out. If I’d lain here, I could have covered myself in my hair...it would have caught fire quicker that way... I wouldn’t have to suffocate that way...’
“But I’m not! I’m not a child anymore...I can’t lie here and cry like this...it isn’t right...”
‘This isn’t how it happened...’
“Come back for me. Heero, come back for me... I’m sorry I didn’t save them, but please, please come back for me...? It was selfish and horrible, but I lived through this! I’m supposed to live through this...”
‘...in exchange for letting all of them die...’
“Don’t move.”
‘Heero...? No...no, not Heero...not in this place...’
“Please don’t move.”
The voice was soft, ragged, a whisper in the darkness.
Duo blinked groggily, half immersed in the dream, his eyes still damp from the smoke and tears. It hurt to move and he groaned quietly, pausing for a moment before waking completely. Then he saw the cold metal he was facing, the dark wall inches from his head.
“Please...don’t move...”
The words almost made him jump, just to spite the order of whoever was behind him. But a few seconds told him that hadn’t been an order. It was a whispered plea, soft, hopeless. The sort of plea he’d made in his dream when he’d begged Heero to-
“W-why shouldn’t I move...?” whispered Duo.
“If you move, or make the slightest attempt to escape...this cell will be blown up. I...I don’t blame you if you want to escape. But please, please find another way? I don’t want to die here...”
The voice was soft and light, a girl or perhaps a very young boy. Either way, he believed the fear he heard in that voice.
Duo gave a wry smirk, staring wearily at the wall in front of him. "I'm not going anywhere, don't worry."
He knew he couldn't teleport now. Just being invisible earlier had nearly killed him, not to mention the attack on top of that. The explosions had sent glass into his arms and side, along with bits of the plaster and cement from the wall. He could feel the wounds now that he thought about them, they hurt when he tried to sit up.
The other person in the room gasped, probably afraid the cell would blow up. But Duo knew he'd go insane if he had to lie still for who knows how long. He kept his motions very slow, but he did sit up. And he felt tight bindings around his arms and waist and neck - bandages. Whoever had him had at least bound the wounds to keep him from bleeding to death. Hopefully if he kept still and stationary they wouldn't just kill him out of hand.
After a few minutes his eyes grew accustomed to the dark room, and he looked from the small cot he sat on over to the person who'd spoken to him. It was a girl, short dark hair, overly thin and pale with wide dark eyes that watched him like he was a viper about to snap at her. She looked like she could have been his age, though it was hard to say when she was curled into the dark corner. He could see a metallic glint from where her hands were settled in her lap. She was wearing some sort of cuffs that bound her wrists together and covered her hands.
The girl followed his gaze down and looked at him with wild, challenging eyes. "My talent is making things disappear by touching them with my hands. They keep them covered so I can't use it on them."
"I can do that," said Duo, "if I hold things they're invisible along with me."
"No," the girl said, her voice rough with disuse but forceful at the same time. "I make things disappear. I touch them and they're just gone, to nowhere. I wear gloves all the time, or I used to. Otherwise anything I touch with my hands is gone."
"It sounds strange," Duo admitted. "I can teleport myself and things I'm holding, but I have a destination in mind. My name's Duo, by the way."
She moved at the introduction, a half forward, half backward shuffle that made Duo raise an eyebrow. Then she did it again and made it to her feet, moving closer to him and sitting on the floor again where they could see each other clearly. "Hilde."
"It must be hard getting around with your hands like that," Duo said softly, frowning down at the cumbersome gloves.
"You get used to it after a while," Hilde shrugged.
Duo changed the subject, hoping to brighten the mood a little. "That's a cool talent you have. I've never heard of anything like that."
"It's not cool when you touch a person and have to watch him disappear into oblivion."
Silence spread between them and Duo flushed at his mistake. He couldn't imagine having a talent like that. "Uncontrolled...?"
"Entirely," said Hilde. "They said I'm under C, possibly D because I have no control whatsoever. Didn't stop them from using me, though."
"How long have you been here?"
She frowned at that and shuffled a little closer. "You mind if I sit by you? There's only the one bunk."
Duo's eyes widened and he scooted over, leaning forward a little and wondering if he should offer to help her up. "Go ahead."
"Thanks," Hilde sighed. She shifted back against the wall and folded her legs comfortably, telling him without words that she was used to sitting for hours on end.
She turned and gave him a faint smile. "I have no idea how long I've been here. Sometimes it feels like I've been here for years, but it might have been weeks, or a few months. It's just hard to count days when you don't have a clock and you can't see the sun."
"They just keep you here...?"
"They tested me at first," she said, "forcing me to kill other mutants with my talent."
She waited for Duo to absorb that, her expression a little sad, but more resigned than anything. "I haven't seen anyone for a while, but I've killed at least four mutants since they brought me here."
"At least...?" Duo whispered.
"I'm not sure if I killed the last one," she explained, still making no excuses. "He wasn't like the others. He was one of them, the soldiers. I wanted to kill him, but he was so fast I'm not sure if I did it or not. Someone hit me and he wasn't there when I woke up."
Duo didn't know what to say to that, though thinking of the mutant who'd attacked them, he could understand where someone might want to kill one of their own kind.
"I'm really sorry," he offered. "I know that doesn't help, but-"
"You don't need to help," Hilde said quickly, flashing him another of those faint smiles. "You're keeping me alive just by sitting with me. You don't owe me anything."
"I can't take credit for that," Duo smirked, ducking his head. "I couldn't teleport if I wanted to. I guess you'd say I'm burned out. Of course, I wouldn't do it if I couldn't take you out with me. But I can't do it anyway, so...yeah, doesn't really matter..."
"You'd..."
Duo blinked and looked up to find the girl giving him an almost horrified stare. He didn't know what he'd done to disturb her, so he moved back on the cot with a small smile he hoped would seem harmless. She'd been held prisoner for some time, so he thought maybe he'd said something to scare her.
"You'd really take me with you...?" she asked, disbelief coating her voice. "Why? You don't even know me!"
"Hee-"
Duo grimaced, his eyes darkening for a moment before he looked up again. "I've been told I'm too trusting. But I don't think you're lying about anything you've said to me. Of course I'd take you with me if I could. I wouldn't leave any mutant in OZ's hands. Never."
"You say that now," Hilde said, her expression falling into a tense frown. "You're not thinking clearly - you haven't been here long enough. Once you can use your talent again, you'll do what anyone would do, you'll save yourself. And I won't blame you for it if that's the only way you can get out. I just want you to see if there isn't another way first, just in case. I'm not afraid of dying, you know. I just don't want to if I don't have to."
Indignation spread over his face, and Duo almost glared at the girl. "I said I'd take you with me, and that's what I'd do. I never lie. And I wouldn't just - just save myself in exchange for-"
'...in exchange for letting them all die...'
"Oh, God..."
Duo ducked his head into his arms, curling close to the wall on his side of the cot. He could hear them, echoes of those cries, screams, whimpers and choking coughs. Could he honestly say he wouldn't leave her, a stranger, if that were his only chance to live? He'd left loved ones behind, what was she to him? How could he promise something like that when he'd already abandoned innocent children?
She watched him for a few minutes, just staring with her wide, darkness-enhanced eyes. Then she turned away and ducked over her own knees. "When they brought me here, they told me they wanted you dead. They said they might play with you a little, but that they had no use for you...or me, either. That's why they put me in here with you, because they're done using me. They'll get rid of both of us at once. I guess...if it came to it, being blown up would be quick. It wouldn't hurt that much..."
The tone struck him more than the words, cold, sad, small and hopelessly resigned. Duo glared against his damp eyes and rubbed an arm over his face.
"It won't come to that," he growled. "It won't. I'm not going to get either of us blown up, at least not on purpose."
He straightened his shoulders and got off the cot, wincing a little as his cuts pulled. "Is there any way out of this room aside from teleporting? Are they monitoring us with some sort of camera? I mean, how will they know if I try to teleport?"
"I don't know if they have cameras or not," Hilde admitted, frowning a bit at his optimistic tone. "I think they might have some sort of heat sensors - if it registers less than exactly two of us, the place would explode. That way it would register the second you started to teleport - and get you before you can fully leave this room."
Duo whipped around with wide, appreciative eyes. "You thought of that?"
"I used to...be interested in mechanics," Hilde smiled. "I was going to be a scientist. Well, someday I thought I might be one. I'm only fifteen. I also wanted to be a race car driver."
She stuck her tongue out and Duo laughed. The sound surprised them both, but in a nice way. He shook his head with a smirk and started circling the room.
"What sort of doors do they have?"
"Over there," Hilde pointed, "in the corner. It slides sideways so there's no chance of levering it open. And there's a very thick door on the other side of that - you'd never force it open. I really don't see any way out of this room. They've lined it so the rest of the base won't be affected by the explosion..."
"Yeah, well, good for them," Duo sniffed. "They must not be counting on how strong some of my friends are. I bet Hiei could cut right through the walls if he had a mind to..."
"You have mutant friends?"
Duo turned back to her and tilted his head to the side, giving a little frown. "You don't?"
"I had a friend before I left," Hilde said quietly, dropping her eyes. "I used to think someone would rescue me, back when I was first brought here. But I waited for a long time thinking that. Now I know it won't happen. No one's coming for me. Or if he is, he can't find me here. Even if he could, I'm starting to think he wouldn't bother...he didn't know, you see. He didn't know I was a mutant..."
"I'm sorry," said Duo. He was thinking how nice and romantic and touching it would be if Heero were to rescue him. He knew just how Hilde felt. That sort of hope could last through months of torment before finally dying out. And once it was gone, only resignation and loneliness would be left. "I know how you feel."
'And I wonder what he'll think. If he comes back to the school like he said he would, I wonder what he'll think when I'm not there to greet him. Will he think I left on my own? Or will the others be there to tell him what happened to me? How long would it take them to find me? If it's too long, I might not be here by then... I wonder how Heero would react to that...finding out I died while he was away...'
"We'll just wait together," Duo said, forcing a bright smile onto his face. Hilde just watched him, so he didn't think she was fooled. But she nodded to him when he sat back down again.
"We'll wait," Duo said again, "and if someone doesn't come, I'll get us out. One way or another."
"It would be quick," Hilde whispered, shooting him a tiny, sad smile. "It wouldn't hurt very much..."
"That's something..."
- - -
Zechs caught Duo the moment the boy regained consciousness, but there was some sort of interference between them. He could barely hear the boy's thoughts.
"I think he's being held within a very thick cell, and the metal is dampering me. But he's fine, a little torn up and depressed, but otherwise fine."
Wufei gave a relieved smile and nodded in thanks. He didn't see the way Quatre turned into Trowa's arms behind them, or the guilty look that passed over Trowa's face for having doubted their friend's resilience.
"He's not alone, though," Zechs added. "There's someone in there with him, another prisoner. She's been there for some time. I think they're...commiserating with each other..."
Wufei smirked at the strained tone, shooting a glance back. "Are you trying to say Duo's cheating on Heero?"
"No," Zechs said quickly, sending the boy a light frown. "Just that we're taking her with us when he break him out. We'll have trouble managing one person, with two it'll be worse."
"Why?" asked Quatre.
"Something about the way the cell is set up. The girl suspects there might be a heat monitor of some kind to register if there are two bodies in there. If one fades, the cell is set to destruct. We'd need to get in through the walls themselves - very thick, maybe steel - and then we'd need to be extremely fast to get them both out at once and to a safe distance for when it explodes. Unless we can break into the base and disable their system."
"I can disable it," said Kurama.
Zechs turned, his expression turning wary again. He didn't know how to deal with Kurama now. The redhead had pulled up information on the base, proving himself as much of a hacker as Heero. But so far the information he'd given them had all been stated in that same cold, factual tone. He couldn't help but wonder if Kurama were telling them everything, or just what he'd decided they needed to know. He just didn't trust such a dead delivery, too poker-faced, perhaps.
"I could do it from here," Kurama continued, "but it would register within two hours. I'll do it when we're closer. They won't know the mechanism is down until we're already there. Then, it will be too late."
"Then we sneak in?" asked Wufei.
"There are a number of weak spots in the regular security," said Kurama. "But he knows we're coming. They'll know to tighten those weak spots. A frontal assault would be best. They can't prepare for an attack waged by all of us, not in the open. Not now."
Not now, Zechs thought warily, that Kurama was out for blood.
"And Treize?" asked Zechs.
"He changed course," said Kurama. "He's heading far west of La Guardia."
"So we won't be confronting him," said Yusuke. "Too bad."
Wufei nodded, knowing just how he felt. "But the important thing is to get our friends back. Without him, that's one more body we don't have waste time getting through."
"Yeah," Yusuke sniffed, "but I still wish we could-"
Zechs jerked in his seat, blinking wide eyes for a moment before turning to stare at Trowa. The two looked at each other and shared an oddly amused look.
"We've picked up another passenger," Zechs smirked.
Kurama snapped around, and he hurried to wave the teen back.
"I don't think it's dangerous," Zechs said quickly. "He's just hitching a ride on our plane."
Yusuke's eyes widened comically, and Trowa gave a small smirk.
"I've done that," Trowa admitted wryly, "often. It's nice to take a break when you're flying long distance, providing you can hold onto the outside of a plane. Catching them is the tricky part. You have to get in front of one and wait for it to get near you, then try not to get caught in the wind sheer while you're grabbing hold of it."
"Sounds cool," Yusuke smirked. "So you think we should invite him in? Can't be very comfortable riding on the outside of a plane."
Kurama sent him a sharp look and he waved at him. "No complaints from you, Kurama. You're not thinking clearly. If you were yourself, you'd invite him in for tea."
Yusuke raised an eyebrow when he found Zechs sending him a strange look. "What? Am I supposed to tiptoe around him just because he's upset? He's not stupid. Kurama knows he's being unreasonable, he just can't help that right now. I thought a mindreader would know that. As long as I don't touch him, he's not going to slice my head off with one of his plants."
Kurama made no response to the talk except to sit down in the seat Yusuke had vacated. Zechs looked at him for a moment before giving a light shrug. He didn't know Kurama the way Yusuke did, and since he'd sworn to Hiei he'd never look in Kurama's mind again, he had no idea what the redhead was feeling. All he knew was what his instinct told him - to keep an eye on Kurama because he could be a ticking time bomb.
It even fit what Hiei had said to him in that brief message, to watch the fox. Zechs was determined to do just that. And as soon as he found out who the youko was, he'd do his best to protect him, too.
Yusuke was prodding Trowa about the person hitchhiking on their plane, and he grinned when the boy offered to invite him in. "And if he gives you any trouble, just knock him off and let the wake spin him away."
"I'll do that," Trowa said soberly. "But it's nothing to joke about. Getting hit by the wake of a plane is very painful. With a jet, it's deadly."
"You've tried it?" Yusuke asked, his eyes wide.
"Not on purpose, but yes."
A few minutes after Yusuke and Trowa headed off to the back of the plane, Kurama sent a look to Zechs. The man straightened when he saw it, and Kurama stared at him closely.
"What do you think I'm going to do?" asked Kurama.
"What?"
"You're watching me," said Kurama. "What do you think I'm going to do?"
"Nothing," Zechs said quickly. "Earlier when I looked into Hiei's mind he said to watch you. I told you, he was worried about you. I'm just doing what he-"
"What else did he say?"
There was a flicker in those yellow-green eyes, a hint of the gold Zechs had seen back when Treize first called him Shuuichi. Zechs stared, hoping the flicker would happen again. Anything was better than that glazed look. "His exact words?"
"Yes," said Kurama. "Don't keep me in the dark. Not now."
Now that he was out for blood, Zechs' mind said warily. "He said to mind my own business, to protect the youko, and watch the fox. You're the fox, so I'm-"
"Youko?"
"Yes," said Zechs. "I don't know what that means. Do you?"
Kurama looked away, thoughtful, though it didn't show on his face. "Maybe. It's familiar to me. But he's never called me that."
"Okay, guys!" Yusuke broke in cheerfully. "Meet our hitchhiker!"
Wufei sent a harried look over his shoulder and promptly did a double-take. He'd seen some strangely dressed mutants, but this one took the award for strangest yet.
The mutant was dressed in baggy white pants, held up by a dark red scarf-like belt. And for a shirt, he had two strips of white cloth coming up from his waist, crossing over his chest, and going back over his shoulders. The point of them, Wufei had no idea. He guessed maybe they were another bit to help keep his pants up when he flew. They certainly didn't cover anything.
He was tall, easily as tall as Zechs, but broad-shouldered and muscular. He was also the tannest redhead Wufei had ever seen. His hair was wild, almost a ball of thick red tufts that didn't even try to hide the horn in the center of his forehead, or the points to his ears. He definitely wouldn't pass for human without a very very large hat.
If he hadn't been flying a plane, Wufei could have stared in fascination for hours. As it was, he gave the young man a quick nod and turned back to the sky.
"His name's Jin," said Yusuke, still grinning widely.
"I can speak for myself, you know," Jin said back, his smile just as amiable. "Nice to meet you all! I saw you passing through and thought I'd nab a ride."
He had a thick Japanese accent that reminded Kurama of Kuwabara, only he guessed Jin's was an Osaka accent, rather than just street slang. He gave the smiling stranger a sweeping look and decided he was as harmless as he appeared. He had the same sort of open honesty Yusuke did. Kurama turned away, leaving the others to deal with the newcomer.
"Where were you headed?" asked Quatre. "We'll be going south for a few more hours if you'd like to ride along."
"That's right where I'm headed," Jin grinned. "South! Due south, and then a little east, I think. Some garda base. I never could get the Spanish ones out right."
"La Guardia?" asked Zechs, his eyes wide.
"Hai! That's the one! It's next on my list to blow away."
The redhead gave a vigorous nod, and Yusuke raised an eyebrow at him. "How are you planning to blow it away? And why, for that matter."
"With wind, of course," Jin said, cocking his head to the side and giving Yusuke a funny look. "How else would I blow away a base?"
"I don't know," Yusuke drawled, "with ammo, maybe?"
"Ah, who needs ammo when I've got the wind? It's much cleaner, and more fun to play with."
"You use wind, then?" asked Quatre. "As your talent, I mean? In addition to flying?"
"Addition?" Jin frowned for a second, not sure what Quatre was asking him. "I use wind, yeah, but I don't fly 'in addition' - I use wind to fly. That's my talent. I'm a Wind Master."
"You were right, Kurama," said Wufei. "I guess I can use wind to fly."
"Sure," Jin smiled. "You just have to be careful you don't blow yourself into next week the first time you try. Need a tough head for that sort of thing. I can't remember how many times I knocked myself right out before I got the hang of it. Ah...that was fun..."
Yusuke laughed, earning him a wink and a grin.
"And why are you heading to La Guardia?" Zechs prodded.
Jin glanced back at him, some of the humor fading from his face. "That. Well, I have a list, see? I'm chasing someone and he keeps hopping from base to base. Always gets off before I get there, really annoying, I can tell you. So I'm just blowing them away as I go - that way he can't backtrack. I figure he'll run out of bases, or I'll catch him. Slimy guy's fast, but he can't run forever."
"You've been destroying OZ bases?" asked Zechs. "How many?"
"OZ?"
Jin blinked wide blue eyes, confusion clear on his face. "Is that military? I don't know much about the bases. Like I said, I'm just chasing someone and wiping out his hiding spots, can't remember how many it's been now. I don't kill the soldiers or anything, I just...blow them around for a while. It's kind of fun, come to that..."
A slow smile spread over the teen's face, and Zechs felt his eyebrow twitch, just a bit. It wasn't the sort of attitude he expected from someone who claimed to have destroyed too many bases to count.
"Is it Treize you're chasing?" asked Zechs.
"Don't know his name," Jin shrugged. "He's a dark guy, acts like some kind of bat when he jumps. Funny looking, really. Likes to go around blowing the heck out of things. That's his talent, blowing things up. I don't know much else about him."
Trowa and Quatre exchanged a look, and Trowa nodded to Zechs. "That's the one." He looked at Jin. "Tall, black hair and a mask over his face?"
"You know him?!" Jin asked sharply, his eyes wide. "Where did you see him last? I've been looking for him for-"
"He's the person we're after," said Trowa. "We have good reason to believe he's at La Guardia base. That's where we're headed now."
"Great!" Jin cheered. "Thanks for the lift and all, but I have to get over there before he takes off again."
"Aren't you tired?" asked Yusuke. "I thought you stopped because-"
"Yeah," said Jin, "but that's okay. If I catch him, I can take a nice long rest after I'm done."
Trowa frowned and stepped to the side, blocking Jin's exit. "You'd do better to come with us. Treize, the person in charge of that base, knows we're coming. You'd be flying right into a trap if you went alone, even if it's not one for you specifically."
Jin didn't look too worried at that possibility, but he paused when Yusuke joined Trowa in blocking his way.
"That bomb guy is probably going to be heading the defense when we get there," said Yusuke. "So you don't have to worry about him running away this time."
"Really?" Jin gave a little sigh, glancing out of the plane for a moment before shrugging. "Guess there's no hurry, then. Mind if I nap on the way? One of those seats out there-"
"There are bedrooms in the back," said Quatre. "You're welcome to rest in one."
"Thanks, kid. Nice of you."
Quatre's eyes widened at being called a kid, and Trowa let out a quiet laugh. He frowned at him in reproach. He wasn't that short.
"So," Yusuke drawled, following them out of the cockpit. "Why are you after this guy?"
"I have a grudge to settle," Jin said, his cheerful manner faltering for a second. "And not much else to do with myself till I kill him."
"I think you'll have to get in line for that," Yusuke said, shooting a look over at Kurama. The redhead was staring at Jin like he wanted to say something and he had an idea it wouldn't be anything pleasant.
"No way," Jin scoffed. "I've been chasing him for months. I've got first dibs on his rodent carcass."
"Rodent?"
"Said he looked like a bat, didn't I? Flying rodent. That or a crow."
Kurama followed the teen with his eyes, but didn't say anything. Whatever the strange youth thought, he wasn't going to be the one to kill the mutant. One way or another, Kurama was determined to have that right. What Trowa and Quatre had told him of the attack, the way Yukina had looked at him when he was helpless to comfort her, what Treize had implied, and what Hiei had told Zechs - to mind his own business - it all served to put Kurama into a very murderous mood. If he was going to die, he'd spend his last days torturing the man responsible...maybe weeks if he could hold out that long without Hiei...
'I've given him up already. How do I know he's dying? And why do I feel like I'm dying with him? Hiei...what did you do to me...? Do you have any idea? Can you feel my pain now like you did before? Because I can't, Hiei. I can't feel my pain... I can't feel anything but this tie holding me here and it's slipping. You're pulling me with you and...soon...I won't care if I die...'
TBC
--notes--
Next part will focus on Hiei, Zechs, and Duo. (PS: Did I promise longer parts? The next will be shorter than this one, but like I said, they should even out in the end...)