Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Making Heero Human ❯ Chapter 20

Angry Mob: ::still chasing Cherry:: Raaaaaaarw!!!!

Cherry Blossom: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! ::still running::

Duo: You'd think they'd get tired of that by now.

Heero: Hn.

Matteo: Hey guys, can we start the chapter without her?

Duo: I dunno. Doesn't seem right. Can't we uh…divert the angry mob for a bit?

Melpomene: With what?

Matteo: ::evil grin:: Glad you asked. ::grabs Mel and throws her into the path of the angry mob:: Here you go people! Beat up the lazy angst muse!

Melpomene: YOU DIRTY TRAITOR!! ::runs from the angry mob::

Cherry Blossom: Phew. Thanks guys. Think she can outrun them?

Duo: At least until this chapter's over. She's pretty quick on her feet.

Cherry Blossom: Right. Let's get this party started minna.

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 20

Quatre watched the Wing Zero fly a good distance away from him and the other pilots with trepidation. He could still feel Heero inside himself, pieces of his mind, his memories imprinted on his own brain. Feelings that he knew were not his battered at his soul. The merger had cost them both more then he expected.

'So black…and so much fear. How could I have missed it? I should have known that this would happen. I failed you Heero, I'm sorry. I should have felt this before. How could you have hid it so well?'

"Are you all right Winner?" Wufei's voice, worried and tense, brought Quatre out of his thoughts and back to the moment at hand.

"I'm fine," he answered, his pale face and harsh breathing saying otherwise. "Help Heero."

The Wing Gundam was quickly being surrounded by the remaining OZ mobile suits. Quatre waited for the buster rifle to raise and the following blast but the Gundam remained still, even as OZ closed in a circle around it.

"What's he doing?" Quatre asked, puzzled. He thought about reaching into Heero's mind to find out but rejected that idea with a shudder, knowing that if he went back in he would lose himself completely this time.

"I know what he's doing," a soft voice intoned.

"Duo?"

"I know what he's doing. It's the same thing he always does, running from his problems. He's going to self-destruct," the braided pilot hissed, darkly.

Quatre's eyes widened impossible. "HEERO!"

"Don't worry," Duo said. "He can't hurt himself."

Wufei frowned, watching the Deathscythe Gundam slowly get to its feet. "What are you talking about Maxwell? Don't you care if Yuy lives or dies?"

Duo chuckled, but the sound held no mirth. "Oh I care," he said. "I care so much, I made it so that he'd never try to leave me again. I spent quite some time in Wing before he caught me. I made a few adjustments."

"You mean…"

"I disabled his self-destruct mechanism. He can press that damn button all he wants. He's not going anywhere," Duo confessed, his eyes darkening to a glassy black. "No one takes what is Shinigami's. I thought he would have learned that by now."

Commander Cheriko growled as she and her troops surrounded the Gundam that had previously been trying to destroy one of its own team. Common sense told her to take out the Gundam that was already down; Deathscythe would be easy prey at the moment. But the cry in her heart for vengeance against the pilot who had obliterated most of her unit and her second in command would not be silenced. She wanted pilot 01 at her mercy.

"Do not damage the cockpit. Aim to disable, not destroy. I want the pilot alive!" she snapped.

'I will not fail you Trieze-sama. Laos…this is for you.'

"Attack!"

The mobile suits around her hesitated, not understanding her order. Didn't she always tell them to take opportunities when they appeared? Training dictated that they should go after the weakest target, and always shoot to kill. The Commander's orders did not seem rational. One of the younger soldiers pulled up beside the Commander's mobile suit and contacted her, nervously.

"But Commander, shouldn't we go after gundam 02?"

"Are you questioning your superior officer?" Cheriko growled, face white with rage.

The soldier swallowed and shook his head frantically, not wanting to risk her famous temper. Commander Cheriko was not known for her kindness or her lenience when it came to her job.

"N-no, of course not Commander!" he stammered.

"Then attack!"

"Yes, Commander."

The remaining mobile suits gathered in formation and took off, quickly surrounding the Wing Gundam. Commander Cheriko gave a small, tight smile and targeted the Gundam carefully, not wanting to damage the cockpit too much.

'I want you alive, fucker. I want you alive so that I can hear you scream for mercy and beg me to send you to hell where you belong. No one messes with my team. You're mine."

"Mine…" she whispered softly, and fired the first shot.

Heero watched dispassionately as the remaining OZ troops surrounded him.

/Enemy. Enemy. Target…fire…destroy…/

Zero's voice was insistent in the back of his head but he paid it no attention. Below that, the Perfect Soldier seethed, cheated of his momentary control. And somewhere, deep in his consciousness, there was still the frightened wailing of a child. Too many voices, too many memories. Heero Yuy shut them all out as he concentrated on what he knew he had to do.'I endangered the mission. I…hurt Duo. There is only one way to make things right. Duo…'

The boy released a shuddering breath and wiped a hand across his eyes. How could he possibly cry so much in so few days? He, who had never cried since that day-/Don't think about it!/

Heero bit his lip and looked at the self-detonation device in his hand.

'I'm doing the right thing,' he said to himself. 'It's better this way. Monsters shouldn't be allowed to live.'

An explosion rocked Heero's gundam and it drew the boy's attention away from the detonator for a moment. Zero shrieked in his ears, the images of battle assaulting him at once. He could see the enemy surrounding him. He knew that they could kill him if he gave them the chance.'At least I will be able to take some of them with me…'

/…on my journey into hell!/

The memory of Duo's voice mocked him and Heero's hand tightened on the detonator. He looked over to where Duo's gundam was, now standing, half leaning against Sandrock. Shenlong stood in front of them both, it's protective stance making Heero smile briefly.

"At least I know he'll have someone to look out for him afterwards," he sighed, as another shot hit the right arm of his gundam, rendering it useless. "Take care of them for me Wufei."

Heero closed his eyes and brought up the detonator stick in front of his face. His thumb moved over the button and pressed down…

And nothing happened.

"What the-" Heero's eyes few open and pressed the button down, again and again, producing only a dull clicking sound.'It's not working! I don't understand, I made sure there were no malfunctions the last time I repaired Wing Zero and no one's touched it since then…'

Suddenly, Heero remembered that he hadn't been the only one to be inside the cockpit of his beloved gundam.

"Duo…" he hissed, anger flashing in his eyes. But then anger quickly faded, leaving Heero with only a sad emptiness in his chest. He should have known better then to let Duo inside his heart. He knew when he had found him snooping around inside his gundam that caring for the boy would only bring trouble. It was his own fault for believing Duo when he said that he loved him. No one could love him. He was stained, impure, imperfect…a monster. He didn't blame Duo for using him. That was all he was good for anyway.

Two more explosions rocked the gundam, bringing it crashing to the ground. The Zero System called warnings and screamed at him to attack, to defend himself, but Heero wasn't listening.

'Monster,' he thought, 'monster inside of me. The darkness is where I belong. I deserve to die this way…'

< I always keep my word Heero. Just a little pinch…and then sweet. You'll never escape me Heero, I'm always here inside of you. You're mine>

"No," Heero whimpered, closing his eyes./LET ME OUT/ the Perfect Soldier begged. /I can take care of this for you/

"No," Heero whispered furiously. He would not let the Soldier break through. He might hurt Duo again.'I'm going to die. But that's okay, because I deserve it.' <You deserve it>

"HEERO!"

Someone was screaming at him.

"HEERO!"

Another explosion hit, closer to the cockpit this time. Heero was thrust painfully at the glass window, his harness snapping with the force of the hit. The pane cracked slightly under his head and Heero could smell the copper scent of blood. The hand that held the detonator was being crushed underneath the metal panel, which had been jarred off in a twisted heap. Heero could feel the bones of his hand being squeezed and ground together and sharp pains traveled up his arm. Heero stayed silent, watching as his blood pooled around his head, matting in his hair, creating a warm, sticky puddle that ran into his eyes. Fuzziness invaded the edges of his vision and he soon slipped into the comforting dark of unconsciousness, hearing the last strains of violent laughter over someone insistently calling his name…

"HEERO!"

Duo watched as the Wing gundam crashed to the ground and lay still. He went to take a step towards the surrounded gundam but Wufei stood in front of him, blocking his way.

"What the hell are you doing?" Duo shrieked, trying to go around, but his movements were slow and Wufei easily stopped him. "You fucking idiot! What are you doing?! I have to get to Heero!"

"Shut up," Wufei commanded. "You're in no condition to fight and neither is Quatre."

"I'm fine…Wufei…" Quatre's shaky voice proclaimed, but the blonde's face was pale and his hands clutched his aching head as if he could keep the thoughts in there from breaking free and killing him.

"You are not," Wufei proclaimed coldly. "You are injured and so is Duo. And I cannot defeat all those troops on my own."

"But we have to save Heero!" Duo shouted, panic making his vision blur. He couldn't lose Heero now! He couldn't!

Duo swung his gundam forward once again, only to gasp in surprise when a wave of vertigo almost set him tumbling to the ground again. Luckily, Shenlong caught him just in time, putting him back on his feet.

"I know you want to save Yuy," Wufei said, his calm, clear voice cutting through Duo's fear and panic like a knife. "I do not relish the thought of OZ getting their hands on him either. But at the moment we can do nothing to help him."

Duo cried out angrily, not convinced, and struggled in Wufei's grasp.

"Listen to me!" Wufei commanded. "They are not shooting to kill. For whatever reason, they want Yuy alive. They are not going to harm him…for awhile at least. We should regroup with Trowa and formulate a plan. Yuy is strong. He will be all right until we can find a way to rescue him."

"But-"

"Duo!!"

That got the braided boy's attention. Wufei never used his first name unless he was really serious.

"Duo, either we all die now, or we escape and come back later to rescue Heero. There are no other choices, do you understand? Think damn you! What would Heero want you to do?"

Duo slumped in his seat and ceased his struggling. He knew Wufei was right. The best thing to do to help Heero would be to regroup and fight later, when they had full strength. But he didn't have to like it.

"Fine," Duo spat, letting Wufei drag him away into the line of trees, Quatre following close behind. "But we're coming back for him. You have to promise me that we're coming back for him."

"I swear it," Wufei said, "on Nataku's honour."

"Ah!" The sharp cry broke through Duo's frustration and he quickly turned towards the Sandrock gundam, which was swaying precariously back and forth.

"Quatre!"

The blonde gasped and twisted inside his harness, sweat soaking and darkening the platinum bangs that hung into his face.

"I'm…fine…" he panted, trying to catch his breath. "I just-" he slumped over in a dead faint, his head lolling lifelessly against his chest.

"Shit! Quatre!" Duo started towards the boy, only to have Wufei get there first.

"We are leaving," the Chinese pilot snarled, picking up the gundam and rising into the air. "Now! Can you still fly, Maxwell?"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Let's just get the hell out of here," Duo said, ignoring the pain in his ribs as he piloted his Deathscythe away from the battle scene. He tried not to look over his shoulder at the OZ pilots who were now dragging Heero and his gundam off to God knows where, knowing that if he did, he would try and take his lover back and probably get them all killed in the process.'I'm sorry Heero. I'll be back for you, soon, I promise. You're not leaving me again God dammit!'

Commander Cheriko watched with immense pleasure as the bloody form of pilot 01 was pulled from the cockpit of his gundam.

"Is he alive?" she questioned the troops who had hold of the boy.'Strange…I didn't expect him to be so small. Are all the pilots children like this one?'

"Yes ma'am. He's just unconscious. I think he has a concussion," one of her senior officers replied, pulling a penlight from his belt and flashing it in the boy's eyes.

"Hmm…let's get him back to Trinity Base and I'll have Sanchez have a look at him. And bring the gundam. I'm sure we can get some information from its design. Contact Lady Une at once."

"Yes Commander."'His Excellency will be so please with me. Maybe I'll finally be able to join the Specials…just like Laos always wanted to do.'

Feeling herself bristle in anger again, Commander Cheriko took solace in the fact that she had the person responsible for her second-in-command's death at her mercy. And by tonight, pilot 01 would know just how little mercy she actually had for murdering terrorist scum like him.

To Be Continued…

Cherry Blossom: There. That wasn't too much of a cliffhanger, was it?

Heero: So I'm not dead. But I'm probably going to be tortured. And then killed.

Cherry Blossom: Most likely.

Heero: I hate you.

Duo: What's up with Quatre?

Cherry Blossom: Merging is hard work. He's going to be out of it for a while.

Melpomene: ::drags herself into the room:: O…meo…koro…su…

Heero: Stop stealing my lines.

Matteo: Hey, how'd you ditch the angry mob?

Melpomene: Ice…cream…truck… ::faints:: X . X

Duo: ::perks up:: Ice cream?

Heero: Great. Now you've done it. He's going to get a sugar high…

Cherry Blossom: Review minna! Let me know you guys are still interested in this story, 'cause I have no idea what this stupid plot is going to do next.

Matteo: You mean you don't know either? We're all screwed!

Heero: I knew that from the firs chapter.

Cherry Blossom: Shut up.