Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 2 Reign ❯ Helter Skelter ( Chapter 24 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Kyeian

Chapter Twenty-Four: Helter Skelter

Two days.

My stomach was sore from hunger, I felt near shaking—and I just hurt. Jun hadn't shot me up with any more of that drug, but he hadn't been so cordial on his next visit. He'd hit me every time I said something he didn't like, which didn't stop me from saying anything, it just made me hurt now.

On the flip side, I had figured out where in Deniel I was. There were a series of buildings near one edge, bridging onto Jaded's land. I could actually see my old apartment building from the very window I was looking out.

When I'd finally attacked Jun out of anger, his guards had come in, and that was another reason my stomach hurt. When someone's got your arms behind your back, it's really hard to protect your stomach. My arms were bruised, I was sure my stomach was, though I hadn't bothered to check, and I pretty much just felt like shit.

If someone would come in sight of the damn window, I could signal them…

Two whole days.

I leaned against the window, staring again vaguely. There'd been a time when two days without food wasn't that bad, when I could sit and meditate to maintain myself…but meditation wouldn't come. I couldn't get away because I knew the second I did, Jun would come in.

But…

“All right, a lot of people are scared.” Heero looked very serious as he studied a piece of paper in front of him.

“We've got at least half of Reality,” Quatre agreed, “I'm sure First-Rite is watching the border very carefully right about now.”

Duo was drumming his fingers on the table and hadn't seemed to hear a thing that had been said since he'd shown up. Selena had disappeared, though, and I was beginning to wonder if we should be worried.

“What are we going to do?” I asked, looking at them, “It's been two days, this is taking too long.”

“Unexpected resistance,” Duo finally joined in the conversation, “Underestimation. I told them…”

“Duo,” Heero muttered, laying a hand on Duo's shoulder, “It's fine. We know. People don't realize that you have any way to estimate this.”

Duo focused on Heero and I could see that his eyes were burning.

Duo really didn't look too sane anymore…

“It's fine,” Heero repeated, “I let them make their mistake so they would take you seriously.”

“So you knew this would take more than a day?” Duo snapped.

“I didn't realize how stupid Fellinger was.”

Duo made an exasperated noise, bouncing out of his chair to pace around the table—he looked about ready to start talking to himself.

“Is he okay?” I asked quietly, meeting Heero's eyes.

Heero shook his head sharply at me once as Duo focused on me with narrowed eyes.

I ran a hand through my hair and stared directly back at him. I wasn't going to give into his bullshit right now, this was not a time to play at dominance, but I was not going to let him tweak on me.

He took a long and shaky breath before sitting back in his seat, his eyes going distant again.

“Where's Nira?” Quatre asked.

Duo focused on him, but didn't reply.

“Here, eat.” Jacob snapped at us, setting a tray down in front of us.

“I'm not hungry.”

“No thanks.”

“Not now.”

“Eat,” Jacob insisted, setting plates around in front of us, focusing on Duo, who hadn't spoken, “Now.”

Duo shoved the plate away as the rest of us looked at the food and exchanged glances.

“Oh my god!” Jacob sounded more exasperated than I even thought he was capable of. He paced away from the table a moment before coming back and grabbing a fork.

Before anyone could react or even realize what he was doing, he'd shoved a bite into Quatre's mouth.

“What the…” Quatre tried to shout at him, but that's hard to do with unexpected food in you mouth.

Jacob leaned down and mumbled in Quatre's ear, his tone low.

Quatre froze.

Duo focused on them, blinking.

Jacob muttered again and Quatre started chewing.

“What was that, now?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the pair.

Quatre snatched the fork from Jacob and leaned over the plate, starting to eat. He didn't acknowledge that I'd even spoken.

Jacob surveyed his first conquest with a grin, then met my eyes, narrowing his own.

“What?” I asked.

“I'm going to tell Hilde that not only are you refusing to eat, but that you deliberately put yourself in danger…if you don't eat what you have in front of you.”

I blinked at him in amazement.

His hand reached for his phone.

“Wait!” Heero muttered quickly, grabbing his own fork, “Don't call them…just…take a few bites, Trowa.”

I blinked at him in amazement before looking to Jacob again.

The guy still had his phone in view.

I took a bite, realizing that Hilde would flip out on me—and realized I was starving.

Duo studied Jacob almost curiously, probably wondering what the guy could pull up to make him eat.

Jacob didn't try, however. He sat down beside Quatre and started eating off his own plate—ignoring Duo.

Duo watched this for a moment, then focused on the rest of us as we ate, then looked down to his own plate. He considered it a long moment, then shoved it away again, sitting back in his chair to stare at the ceiling.

If I didn't know better, Duo wanted Jacob to make him eat.

“Eat, Duo.” I muttered, pausing a moment, “You'll see, you're hungry.”

“Leave him alone, Trowa,” Jacob muttered to me, still not looking at Duo, “He's a big boy.”

“And we aren't?” I demanded, then started eating again.

“Nope.” Jacob grinned at me.

I flipped him off.

Another few minutes passed before Quatre sighed, “Duo, eat.”

“Leave him alone,” Jacob repeated.

I studied Jacob a moment, then looked back to Duo. He had an expression of mild irritation on his face.

“D…”

“Shht,” Jacob cut Heero off before Heero could even get the words out.

We all blinked at the guy and Duo now looked us over again in mild amazement.

Heero glanced at Duo, starting to nod at the plate.

“Heero.”

Heero frowned, then started eating again as a waitress brought out more plates.

“Eat up, love,” she muttered sweetly to Duo.

“Take me…”

“Don't you dare,” Heero cut him off before he could even finish the sentence.

Duo smirked at him as the woman smiled slightly at him in confusion and started away.

“Don't be nasty,” Heero added, giving Duo a level look.

I blew on some still-steaming roast-beef, knowing it was too hot to eat yet…

Duo focused on my plate, then on me, then down the table on Jacob.

“I think you should all drop the coffee as well,” Jacob added.

“Why aren't you making me eat?” Duo demanded of him.

Jacob gave him a look, then glanced at Quatre, who was realizing how hot the roast-beef really was.

Duo frowned, looking us all over again.

I blew some steam at him.

He focused on the food, then picked up his fork. I couldn't tell if he were just being immature or if he really wasn't hungry.

He poked at his roast-beef.

“You should stir it up a bit to let the heat out,” Jacob muttered, meeting his eyes briefly.

Jacob was not…

It occurred to me suddenly what Jacob was doing. He didn't have a weapon to use on Duo like he did the rest of us. Hilde and Relena would freak out, and who knew what he'd said to Quatre, but Duo didn't have anyone at home to face. Jacob was showing the three of us that he cared and seemed to be ignoring Duo. Duo was sure to be feeling left out…

Duo took a bite uncertainly.

“You look really tired,” Jacob muttered, frowning slightly at him, “Haven't you been sleeping?”

“No,” Duo replied dully.

“Maybe Selena should stop staying the night,” Jacob suggested as Duo ate a few more bites.

“We haven't been fucking,” Duo muttered, eyes distant again.

“Fighting?”

“No,” Duo muttered again, wiping at his eyes quickly.

“She knows about Kayla,” Heero said suddenly, looking us all over.

Duo set his fork down.

I studied Duo's eyes a long moment, noticing that he was about to start crying.

“Eat, Duo,” Jacob muttered, pointing at the plate.

“I'm not hungry.”

“Do it anyway.”

Duo sat forward and started eating again.

I studied Heero's eyes a long moment before looking to Quatre. Quatre and Heero exchanged a long glance before Quatre finally looked to me.

So Duo was finally grieving…

Great timing.

“Chang? Chang, shit…”

I jumped, confused a moment before focusing on…

“You!” I snarled, jumping forward at Ace, curling my fingers around his throat.

I wasn't sure exactly what happened then, but after a moment I was pinned to the floor and the guy was hovering over me with a mildly pissed look on his face.

“Why aren't you dead?”

“The same reason you aren't,” he snapped back, sitting back and letting me up slightly, “God, I just wanted to tell you that I found you.”

“And what good does that do for me?” I snapped back, pulling myself into a sitting position as my bruises protested.

“I'll tell Selena and she'll tell Duo.”

“Selena?” I asked blankly, blinking at him, “How do you know Selena?”

“She's my sister!” Ace looked really annoyed by this, “God, you'd think we weren't twins the way you five act!” He blinked as he thought about that, then met my eyes, “You're a pilot.”

I blinked at him.

“You don't just have a similar name…you actually are a pilot…”

“You're quick,” I muttered, dropping back onto the floor, then, “Why aren't you dead?”

“Obsession,” he replied quietly, “Duo's obsession. When he finally could have killed me he, didn't do it.”

“Selena is your sister and Duo's obsessed with you, but you're going to tell your sister where I am so she can tell Duo…”

“Risking my own life in the process,” he muttered, glancing back to the door, “You realize that you're left unguarded for fifteen minutes every day, don't you?”

“I haven't been trying to figure anything out yet.”

“You should eat.”

“I'm not too fond of kaseen and I really don't want to fuck Jun.”

“Hm,” the guy considered this a long moment.

I sat up and blinked at him, “You really are Selena's sister?”

He blinked at me.

“Err…brother, sorry.”

That got a slight grin and a nod.

“You're aware that she wants to have children with Duo?”

His face darkened.

I chuckled slightly.

“I'll get you something to eat.”

“How do I know you aren't just working for Jun? You're known as a lunatic.”

“And you're known as a bitch, but that doesn't mean I'll try and fuck you.”

I reacted before I could help it, but he caught my wrist, shaking his head.

“I don't trust you, you killed Kayla.”

He groaned, leaning forward and shaking his head, “I'm an assassin, Chang. It's what we do.”

I glared at him.

He sighed, shaking his head, “I've already met up with your fuckin' friends.”

“Don't call them that,” I muttered, thinking about Miguel a moment.

He let out an exasperated breath, “I nearly got killed, but Selena told me what's going on in full. Do you trust her?”

“No.”

“What can we do to make us trust you?” he asked, studying my eyes.

I studied him as well for a long moment, then looked to my left hand, “My ring.”

“What?”

“My ring…from Duo,” I met his eyes again, “Show up with that and I'll trust you.”

There was no way in hell Duo would give that ring up to anyone—maybe to Selena, but I doubted it.

“Fine, I've got to go. What the hell were you doing, anyway?” he gestured toward the window.

“I was…meditating.”

He blinked at me

I grinned slightly at him.

He shook his head, then disappeared.

“You found him?” I demanded of Selena in shock, not believing that.

“Yes,” she muttered, “He's on the North Eastern edge of Swathe's land. There's a series of skyscrapers that Jun owns and they're both in the one that Jun lives in.”

“Great,” I muttered, sitting back on the bed and wondering what the fuck to do. I could get in there and kill everyone, but I doubted I could make it back out with Wufei.

“Duo,” she muttered, grabbing my hand, “Keith found him.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“He talked to him. Wufei said that he'll only believe that we're helping if we give him this ring,” she touched it.

I blinked down at the sapphire ring I'd forgotten I was wearing, then met her eyes again.

“Sweetie, we…he hasn't eaten…he has water, but he hasn't eaten in like, four days. I know you guys are different, but…”

I stared at her a long moment, sitting up and looking at the ring. I didn't question her at all. She believed her brother—but Ace had never actually lied to me. Keith saw me as at least an equal, if not a better, and though he was terrified of me, he treated me with respect…

And he'd always liked Wufei.

I rubbed my face a moment, thinking it over. He had a way of going on about how Heero was a liar, I was an asshole, Quatre was a deviant, and Trowa was insane. He'd said the only one of my friends who was normal was the bartender…

But I'd told Wufei I'd give him the ring myself.

“No,” Selena muttered before I could speak up, “You can't make it in there. He's up on the thirtieth floor. There's no way in hell you'd be able to get all the way up there and out again.”

My very own thoughts.

“Duo, please,” she muttered, running her fingers through my hair, “Trust me.”

I studied her a long moment, then nodded, looking away, “If you or your brother loses this ring, I will kill him.”

“Even if it's my fault?” she demanded petulantly.

“Especially if it's your fault.”

She glowered at me.

I walked down the street with my hands in my pockets, wondering that all the populace had been evacuated.

Reality was mine again.

I smiled slightly, realizing that three years before, I'd been in charge of the city—or could have been if I'd just taken the time to do it.

“Majesty,” a man muttered, running across the road to me, offering me an envelope.

I frowned, taking it from him as he bowed and ran off again.

Great, it was either a ransom letter or…

Duo.

I groaned, dropping my hands a moment before raising the thing into sight again and reading down it.

Heero, you're probably going to be pissed at me.

Just peachy.

Selena found something, but that's not what I'm doing. I'm going to get lost for a day or so since we both know that Citadel will be paying attention to us now. I'm going to work some subtle magic for you. Don't you dare ever say I'm not a loyal servant.

It was signed haphazardly by Duo, and I wondered if he got off on saying shit like that to me.

“Trowa?” I called into my walkie.

“Yes, Sir?”

I should smack him for that.

“I just got some mail. Meet me at the cars.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Really hard…

“Quatre?”

“I'm coming.”

“Jacob?”

“Right on his heels.”

“Duo?” Trowa asked hesitantly when I stopped calling people.

There was no reply.

“I'm going to hurt him,” Trowa muttered.

“No you're not,” I replied, smiling slightly.

“Either way…”

“Happy, fucker?”

My ring suddenly fell in my lap.

I stared at the sapphire in amazement before meeting Ace's eyes again.

“I told you, I'm for real,” he glowered at me a moment, sitting next to me and passing me a brown-paper bag, “I'm imagining bland food is just as good as anything…and spicing might upset your stomach.”

“I'm glad you care,” I muttered, ripping open the bag and pulling out the sandwich.

“I don't care, not really. I just know that the Cat isn't sane, he loves you. If you died he'd be completely out of control…and, well, Selena cares about you, too. If my sister weren't involved, I wouldn't be here.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, starting to eat.

“Don't eat too fast, you're going to make yourself sick.”

“Yes, Mother.”

I got a look for that.

I grinned at him, feeling suddenly much happier to have company.

“I would almost ask how you got into this group, but you're a pilot, so I don't need to.”

“That's dubious.”

“So if you're so normal, what happened to the assassin and the cat?”

“Heero was never normal,” I muttered, “And Duo neither.”

“The Cat played at normal.”

“He's a great actor. He even taught children up in the colonies before coming here.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, he was even tutoring a bunch of fifteen, sixteen year-old girls.”

That got a shocked look.

I laughed evilly.

“I don't know if I like the sound of that.”

“He was different then. You could…trust him.”

“What happened?”

“You killed the woman his entire world revolved around.”

Ace fell silent.

“Here,” I added, passing him the bag and the ring, “I can't keep these in here. Jun would notice them.”

“I think he'll notice that you're not starving, though.”

“Just bring me something to eat tomorrow, please.”

Ace nodded, then disappeared.