Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Making Heero Human ❯ Chapter 18

Cherry Blossom: Well the last chapter was certainly…

Duo: Terrible! It was horrible! You are a very sick person, doing that to my poor Hee-chan!

Melpomene: It ain't over yet, honey. ::laughs psychotically::

Heero: ::shivers:: My God, what is wrong with you people?

Matteo: Hey if it were up to me there'd be nice fluffy comedy and touching sap right about now.

Melpomene: But it's not, is it? ^__^

Matteo: : P

Cherry Blossom: Anyway, since I have partial control now, it's not going to be quite so angsty.

Duo: ::sarcastic:: Oh goody.

Cherry Blossom: But it will be slightly confusing.

Duo: Well what else is new?

Cherry Blossom: ::whaps him with her whacking stick:: That's enough out of you!

Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam Wing I would have enough money to buy a decent word processor. Since I am presently typing this on the word processor from HELL this scenario is very improbable.

Warnings: Shounen ai!! Shounen ai shounen ai shounen ai shounen ai shounen aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!! Have I made it clear to you people yet? MALE/MALE RELATIONSHIPS!!!! HOMOSEXUALS!!!! Got it? Good. So don't flame me because of it.

Making Heero Human - Part 18

At the first scream, Duo was already bounding up the stairs two at a time. The others followed at a slightly less frantic pace behind him, Wufei and Trowa having already pulled out their guns while Quatre reached for his own. But before the small blonde could produce his weapon, a sharp wave of pain hit him and he fell to the floor with a startled cry.

"Quatre!"

Trowa whirled around and ran back to his fallen beloved's side, cradling his head carefully in his own lap. Duo, already a third of the way up the stairs, did not turn around, his entire focus on the screams coming from the upstairs bedroom where he had left Heero sleeping peacefully.

'Oh God, oh God…what could make him sound like that? I've never heard Heero scream, not even when he set his own damn leg! He's better not be hurt, dammit, or I'll…'

Lost in his own worry, Duo had no time to spare for Quatre, who was now whimpering fretfully in Trowa's arms, not quite conscious yet.

Wufei, torn between seeing to Quatre and following Duo, finally decided that whatever would make Yuy scream like that was too much for Duo to handle by himself. He followed the braided boy who, by now, was at the top of the stairs, his handle on the doorknob.

"Wait!" Wufei hissed, before Duo could turn the knob. "You don't know what the hell's in there!"

Duo turned and glared at Wufei with cold, violet eyes. Wufei shivered and wilted under that stare, despite himself.

"I know exactly what's in there," he replied. "Heero's in there. And he's in pain. So fuck off, Wufei!"

"Think about it Duo," Wufei whispered urgently. "If there's OZ soldiers in there what good will you do Yuy if you get yourself shot?"

Duo was about to reply when the harsh screams coming from inside the room cut off into abrupt silence.

'Oh God, oh God…is he dead? Heero!'

Duo's gaze was anguished and he pleaded with Wufei with his eyes. After a few tense seconds, Wufei gave and impatient sigh and positioned himself to the side of the door.

"Open it," he whispered. "I'll cover you."

Duo gave a grateful smile and took out his own firearm, holding it in front of him as he kicked the door in with a loud cry.

He gaze focused immediately on the bed, which was empty, the rumpled sheets piled messily on the floor. Sweeping the room with a watchful eye, Duo cautiously approached the bed. A whimper in the corner made him whirl around, pointing his gun at the source.

A tearful Relena met his gaze.

Duo lower his gun, a confused and somewhat annoyed look on his face.

"Relena? What the hell are you doing here?"

The princess couldn't answer. She shook and huddled on her knees in the corner, her pale cheeks streaked with tears.

Wufei, who had crept into the room soon after Duo had gone all the way in, knelt down beside her, frowning.

"What is it, woman? Where is Yuy?"

"T-there…" Relena lifted a shaky hand and pointed at the opposite side of the room, where the window was open wide, letting a cool night breeze in. "He went out the window," she stated.

"Dammit," Duo muttered, walking over to the darkened window. "If he slips and breaks his neck in his condition it's gonna be all your fault."

Relena only wept harder, pressing closely against Wufei who looked like he wanted to shake her off his arm.

"For Heaven's sake, why are you bawling woman?" the irate Chinese man asked.

"H-he said he'd kill me," Relena said in a tiny voice.

A snort of laughter escaped the braided pilot, who was now leaning out the window, searching for his missing boyfriend.

"Well that's nothing new," he said, rolling his eyes. "It is Heero we're talking about, remember?"

Relena shook her head and clung to Wufei, digging her fingers into the fabric of his overcoat.

"This time was different," she whispered. "This time…this time he meant it. He really was going to kill me. I could see it in his eyes. He's gone mad."

Wufei pulled away from the pink-clad princess, a look of disgust on his face.

"Don't be absurd woman. Heero would never harm you. For reasons beyond my understanding, he seems to have developed a bond with you in some way. Besides, his mission is to protect the peace. He couldn't kill you even if he wanted to," he said.

"Yes…" Relena said. "His mission. It was the only reason he didn't kill me. It the only reason he stopped. But would have killed me if he needed to. I could see that. He's not the same Heero."

"Would you just shut up?!" Duo said, harshly, beginning to crawl out the window and onto the roof. "I don't know how the hell you managed to upset my boyfriend so much but I'm not going to have you go around saying he's mad and shit. That's just crazy."

"Boyfriend?" Relena parroted, sounding confused.

But Duo couldn't answer her. He was already on the roof, making his way across the sloped shingles towards the shadowed figure sitting on the very edge.

"Heero?" Duo called to him. "Come back inside buddy. I'll keep the bitch away from you but you need to come back inside. The roof's no place for a sick guy."

Heero stood up and slowly made his way across the roof, never once looking at where he was stepping. Duo waited, one hand outstretched towards him, his face displaying relief that his lover did not appear to be hurt in any way.

The storm that Trowa had sensed earlier was now gathering and soft thunder grumbled in the distance.

"Come on Heero," Duo urged. "We don't want to be stuck out here when it starts to pour, you know."

A sudden flash of lightning illuminated the face before him and Duo gasped, his body swaying as he became unbalanced.'My God…Heero's eyes are so dead. His face is like granite, so stern and emotionless. He's _never_ looked at me that way before, not even when I poked around in his gundam without his permission.'

Duo shuddered and took and involuntary step back. Heero brushed right past his and slipped into the window, not saying a word. After a few moments of shocked silence, Duo followed him inside.

"Heero?"

The boy stood in the center of the room, his eyes surveying the scene coldly. He said nothing. Duo walked towards him and placed a hesitant hand on his arm. Immediately, Heero grabbed at the hand and twisted it cruelly, ignoring Duo's cry of pain and surprise.

Wufei left Relena's side and came up beside the boy, gesturing angrily.

"Yuy, what do you think you are doing? Let Maxwell go!"

Heero regarded him calmly, not a flicker of recognition in his dark eyes.

"Heero…" Duo whimpered, feeling the skin begin to bruise beneath Heero's tight grip on his arm.

"I am not Heero," the boy said, his voice flat and mechanical.

Gasps echoed around the room as three sets of eyes looked on in shock. Duo managed to squirm out of Heero's grasp and back up a few paces, a look of hurt and confusion on his face. Wufei frowned and took another step towards Heero.

"What are you talking about Yuy?"

"I am not Yuy."

"Of course you are!" Duo cried, feeling something akin to panic welling up inside of him. "You're Heero Yuy! You pilot the Gundam Wing Zero and you say 'hn' all the time and you wear that godawful spandex even when it's freezing outside! You fight for the colonies and you're my boyfriend and I love you and you are Heero Yuy!"

"Wrong. I pilot the Gundam Wing Zero and I fight for the colonies but I am not Heero Yuy and I am not you're boyfriend. I am the Perfect Soldier, the ultimate weapon, and I have no use for things like boyfriends and love."

Duo recoiled as if struck, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"No…" he whispered. "That's not true. You are Heero. You are," Duo insisted, his voice becoming high and wavering in his panic. "Heero please…"

Duo tried once again to take Heero's arm, but this time the pilot showed no mercy, grabbing the braided boy by his shoulders and tossing him into the wall with a sickening thud.

"Duo!" Wufei yelled, running over to help his friend.

From his position on the floor, Duo groaned and rolled over, his hands going to his head where he sported a nasty looking cut. Leaning heavily on Wufei, Duo pulled himself to a sitting position, his face showing his anguish at Heero's betrayal.

"Why?" he asked softly, searching desperately for a reason that would justify this. Heero could never hurt him on purpose, right? Heero loved him, didn't he? Why was he acting like this? Was his fever making him delirious? There had to be some explanation.

Heero merely stared at Duo with his cold, dead eyes, ignoring the threats and angry exclamations of the Chinese man beside him.

"I exist only to complete my mission. You and the other pilots are vital to this mission, so I will not kill you. Beyond that we have no relationship, no friendship, no connection. The only reason I am allowing you to live is because you are of use to me. Don't forget that," he said, turning his back on the braided boy.

In the corner, Relena wept silently, her face buried in her hands. Her image of the kindhearted person she had followed across the continent was shattered, along with any love she might have had for the Wing pilot. Fear was all she felt towards the boy now, and she was beginning to wish that she had never seen his face.

"You bastard," Duo whispered, getting to his feet slowly and painfully. "After all we've been through this is how it's going to be? You make me sick, Heero!"

"I told you before," the spandex-clad boy said, not turning around, "I am not Heero."

"That's bullshit-" Wufei cried, but was cut off by a soft exclamation from the doorway.

"He's telling the truth. That's not Heero Yuy."

All eyes darted to the doorway, where Trowa was holding up a haggard looking Quatre. Quatre's eyes were full of pain and one hand clutched at his chest.

At first, Duo felt only concern at his friend's worn appearance. But as Quatre's words sunk in, he felt confusion and anger take over.

"What the hell are you talking about Q-man?! Of course that's Heero."

Quatre winced and clung to Trowa, letting the taller boy support his weight completely.

"No, it feels different. My space heart can tell…I know it's impossible but…That's not Heero. It may be Heero's body, but he's not in control of it right now."

Heero ignored this and walked out of the room, not even sparing a glance in his lover's direction. Too shocked to think to stop him, Duo let him go, focusing all his attention on the blonde boy in Trowa's arms.

"Winner you are not making any sense," Wufei argued. "How can that be Heero's body, but not Heero?"

"I don't know," Quatre replied. "But it's not him. I can still feel the real Heero inside, but he's being repressed somehow. I'm not sure how…I just know that the man you just saw was not the Heero Yuy we know."

"What could have happened to make him like this?" Duo wondered out loud. Then a quiet sob caught his attention. His eyes narrowed and he strode over to the forgotten girl in the corner, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her roughly. "What did you do?" he seethed. "I know you did something to make him like this! What did you do to my Heero?"

Relena refused to fight back, her head flopping down onto her chest while giant tears rolled down her cheeks. Her sobs shook her so much that she couldn't answer, making Duo shake her even harder.

"Duo! That's enough!" Wufei called.

Sneering, Duo reluctantly dropped his hands and moved back from the sodden princess.

"I'm s-sorry," Relena sputtered, her arms wrapping around her knees as if to gain comfort. "I d-didn't mean for this to happen. I just wanted Heero to realize his true feelings…"

Duo resisted the urge to smack the girl and settled for giving her a scalding glare.

"I'm not going to ask you again. What. Did. You. Do?" he snapped.

Sniffling pitifully, Relena answered.

"I kissed him."

"You did WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry! Quatre said that Heero was concealing something from everybody and that it was slowly tearing him apart and I thought that he meant that Heero was concealing his feelings for me and if I kissed him then he could finally admit his feelings and then he'd be happy and we'd get married and he wouldn't have to be a soldier anymore or kill anyone and I never meant for him to end up like this. I don't know why he screamed after I kissed him and I don't know why he became so cold and violent afterwards and I never wanted to hurt him…"

Duo sighed and held up a hand for Relena to stop her babbling. He really wanted to hit her, but he knew that it would solve nothing. Besides which, she was only doing what she thought would be best for Heero, even though her judgment of the situation was totally _wrong_. Placing the blame wasn't important. What was important was finding out what was wrong with Heero and how to reverse…whatever had caused him to be this way.

"Okay…" Duo ran a hand through his hair in nervous habit. "We have to find out what's wrong with Heero. Quatre you said that you could feel him being repressed or something? Do you know how-"

Whatever Duo might have said was cut off by the sound of gunfire from outside. The gunfire was followed by loud explosions that rocked the house, throwing everybody to the floor and knocking out the power.

"Dammit!" Duo cursed, looking outside the window to see a fleet of Aries heading towards the house. "It's OZ."

"But how could they find us here?" Trowa asked, helping his lover up off the floor.

Duo wasn't about to shrug in reply when he froze and turned to Relena, eyes narrowed.

"You…" he said. "They must have followed you! You led them right to us!"

"I'm sorry," Relena gasped, fear making her eyes grow wide.

"That's not good enough," Duo hissed, grabbing the girl by the wrist and hauling her up. "It's your fault we're in this mess but we've got to save you anyway because peace with the colonies and earth fucking counts on it! We've got to get you someplace safe and you are going to stay there and never some near us again, you got that?"

Relena nodded meekly and followed Duo out of the room, the other pilots close behind him. Using the emergency passage beneath the house, the group fled to the cavern that held their mecha, only to find that Heero had already gone with Wing Zero.

"I don't like this," Quatre whispered as he strapped himself into Sandrock's harness. "Heero…or whoever he is now, is not in a stable condition. Who knows what he might do if attacked?"

Relena was put with Trowa in HeavyArms, her body curled behind the seat in a most uncomfortable position. The plan was that as soon as they got to the surface, Trowa would take Relena to a safe place while the others covered for him. Trowa didn't particularly like this plan, as it separated him from Quatre. The blonde was not looking very healthy at the moment and although he insisted that he would be fine, Trowa wasn't sure about his ability to fight while still feeling Heero's pain.

But he knew that this was the only way to ensure Relena's safety, and since HeavyArms was less adept at hand to hand combat then the others, this really was the best plan they had.

'But I don't have to like it,' Trowa thought, sending one last worried glance towards his lover before moving his Gundam out of the underground hanger.

Behind him, Relena crouched in misery, guilt, fear, and an aching sadness plaguing her heart. In the distance she could hear a battle being waged and she new that it was her fault people were fighting.

"I sorry," she whispered to herself. "I'm so sorry. I know that it will never be enough but I am sorry, sorry, sorry…"

If Trowa heard her it did not show on his face.

To Be Continued…

Duo: ::blink blink:: What the…what the hell was that?!

Heero: How come I'm suddenly an asshole?

Matteo: Yeah, I fail to see where this is leading.

Cherry Blossom: Don't worry. All shall be revealed in time. But for those of you who want to take a guess at what's going on, there's a prize for getting it right. Correctly identify exactly what happened to Heero this chapter and I'll give you a cameo appearance in one of the upcoming chapters.

Melpomene: Nobody will get it. Your logic is just too screwed up.

Cherry Blossom: Go piss up a rope.

Melpomene: : P

Cherry Blossom: Review! I want to make it to six hundred reviews people!

Matteo: Greedy isn't she?

Cherry Blossom: Go die in the street.

Matteo: ^__^