Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Duo's Jewel of Peace ❯ Chapter 6

Duo's Jewel 6/?

By Nix Winter

Disclaimer… I don't own Gundam Wing, nor any of the characters thereof.

Warnings… I took liberties with the Catholic

Notes… It needs an epilogue.. some happy times

"What a sorry lot you are," Papadopula sneered at his new captives. A priest, a gypsy, the escaped son of his late head of technology, and he would give a lot to know where that red headed bitch got to. She was pregnant; how far could she have gotten anyway? And then there was the head of the prime minister's personal security. How they all got to be headed towards his L2 in a smuggler's ship filled with food, he wasn't sure, but some of the cargo left tantalizing hints. He was currently going through the priest's papers, and those were more than hints. She was assigned to Maxwell Church, with a sizable credit chip, which he was more than happy to acquire for his personal account, through appropriate laundering services, of course. The young man with the red hair was obviously coming back to help his mother, or protect his position in the L2 technocracy. The gypsy, well, it was likely her ship, even if Heero Yuy had been piloting. At least she knew her limitations. Yuy, however, was a real prize.

Papadopula had not gotten where he was by being slow. Since he'd realized who it was running like a rat in his castle, he'd done some research. Maxwell was an interesting lunatic and Papadopula would lay odds that, especially as Yuy was the one to come to the rescue, that Yuy was Maxwell's great sin, great secret. He knew already as well that Maxwell had breached his private quarters and gotten his toy out, that by the time his cruiser docked with L2 again the little girl would be beyond his reach, safely on a luxury liner headed for Earth. Score one for L2's resident rat.

"So, Mr. Yuy, have you ever considered yourself to be rat poison?"

Inside L2, in a maintenance closet…

Far behind some racks of cleaning solution, Duo Maxwell huddled ignobly under a tarp with a bucket. Some minutes after he'd killed a guard, neatly enough to collect his uniform, trying not to think about how badly he was traumatizing Laura, he'd gotten her into a taxi headed towards the space docks. He'd had to hide his riffle to be in uniform, and that had brought him to his closet, where his stomach had decided to spontaneously pump itself into a bucket. It had been a long time since he'd killed anyone, no matter that he thought he was an angel of death. It hadn't been quite so long since he'd had food that wasn't a nutra-pack and needed to be digested, but his body seemed to have forgotten how to digest steak anyway. So that brought the strawberry up as well, with at least part of the drug, or maybe got the drug into him more, as it came back up. He didn't know, didn't care and he couldn't seem to think clearly at all, even in the euphoria that cradled him.

Huddled hidden in the closet, he was quite sure that Heero was madly in love with him, and Wufei too for that matter! That Relena respected him completely and that somehow he'd managed to be Jewel's biological father, even though he'd never actually slept with a woman before. Some small sane part of his mind told him that was all utter nonsense, that he was drugged and if he just sat there long enough, he'd start thinking clearly again, and until he did, he ought to just sit there.

Outside the closet, he heard the sound of the internal call system, "Vid call for a Mr. Duo Maxwell. Please pick up at any terminal. Mr. Duo Maxwell to the nearest vid terminal."

He closed one eye, wrinkled his nose, fingered his favorite pistol, the one he'd had holstered at the small of his back. It could just be an hallucination of the drug. He didn't think anyone other than maybe Une would just page him as he was raiding a base. He was older and wiser and had more of a reputation now though, his drug inflated ego told him.

"Oh Mr. Maxwell," the call system said again, but this time it was a male voice. "You were expecting guests? I understand that my guest is now safely nibbling chips on a very expensive cruiser due to your meddling. I'll need a new companion for the evening. I have a Mr. Yuy here in my company. Quite unconscious. Aren't you pleased I didn't suffocate him on that little smuggler ship he was in? What do you think? You think he'd like to keep me company tonight? Do come to a vid terminal, Mr. Maxwell. I'll let you see that he's breathing."

Adrenaline and drug combined to make Duo's heart beat so quickly that he wasn't sure he could breath at all. He couldn't go to a vid terminal. They'd know exactly where he was. Oh Heero. Under the glorious sweet of the drug that told him he could save Heero, he'd just waltz right in and shoot his second person for the day, yeah. He was Shinigami, no angel even, he was Death itself. Heero was in trouble now because he'd liked Duo and that was proof. Duo was the plague, but the drug took that deep seated self hate and made it like swirling steel. He was Death. Therefore Heero could not die, because Duo simply would not accept his soul. Papadopula would die though. He reholstered his pistol.

"You don't trust me," the man's voice said. "Such a shame. I don't really fancy your boyfriend anyway. He looks like a fagot to me. I'm going to make such deviant behavior illegal on L2. I want to remake this place. Did you figure out yet how? Meet us at the oxygen generators, will you? I'll let you help me improve the gene pool of this colony, not to mention the real estate value. You have twenty minutes. If you're not there, I'll either take my pleasure of your boyfriend, or shot him, or maybe both. Not which first. Oh, and did I mention? The church sent a priest for your little church. Think I should shoot her first, or make her watch? I think her name's Helen. Does that ring a bell for you?"

Duo growled, silently, teeth grinding against each other. Now it was anger that melded with the drug in his system, drawing every last kilogram of energy his body possessed, he took off at a sprint for the same transport lane that he'd gotten Laura a taxi on. He felt almost ghost like, both in his body, and watching himself as he jumped in front of a man on a motorcycle, right into the stream of traffic. Horns honked and the man lost control and laid the bike over on the side, skidding towards where Duo stood in the street. As if he were all powerful, which the drug certainly made him think he was, his piloting skills had him jump at just the right moment and he landed, one foot on the seat, one on the hot engine as it skidded to a stop.

Quickly, he lifted the bike off the man, who was getting his helmet off and turned out to be a woman who threw curses very well. She swipped her helmet at him, as he righted her bike and swung his leg over. "Sorry," he mouthed. The bike hadn't even shut off when it had gone over and he put one foot on the foot peg, revved it, got it going in the right direction, almost lost control of it as he got his other foot off the ground, and he still wasn't sure he was breathing. Distantly he thought his heart rate had to be through the roof. He knew his body, just like the other pilots did, and he was glad the time dead line was twenty minutes. He didn't think his body was going to go full out much longer than that.

L1 Relena's Office of State.

She did not seem even slightly drunk, dressed impeccably, face flawless and unyielding. "My good sir," she addressed the senior Papadopula, the chairman of Rexant, "I am the prime minister of the united earth sphere. I do not need more proof than I have to freeze every account that Rexant has access to. Genocide is a horrendous crime and the evidence that I have is quite credible. By my calculations, freezing Rexant's accounts will create a loose of capital equivalent to twenty-two billion ES credits every 24 Earth hours. I have the necessary legal documents already drawn up on my desk. I will be happy to send you a copy."

The elder Papadopula studied her through the vid phone. Vile creature, he decided. For that kind of money, however, they'd be better off to build a brand new colony. Terse, he snapped, "What do you wish?"

"I wish Rexant to renounce, publicly, all claim and interest to L2. Everyone of your agents must know that Rexant no longer finds L2 viable, and," she paused, eyes narrowing, face hardening, "And that each and every single one of them will be held accountable for what actions that might be considered war crimes. I personally will follow this through."

The old businessman's face was nearly whiter than the lace at Relena's throat. "And if I do as you ask, you will hold Rexant harmless in any prosecutions. I assure you, any agents there have acted completely without my knowledge or approval."

Blue eyes flashed in anger. "As long as there is no major disaster and no more lives are lost. Is that clear, sir?"

"Completely, Madam Prime Minister. I do appreciate you bringing this to my attention in such a timely manner."

"It is no less than my honor and responsibility to assist the well meaning business people of our community."

"Yes, of course," he said, lip twitching. He was going to kill his son, personally.

Inside the Oxygen Generation Station…

Papadopula held the ear piece away from his ear. His father's voice carried very well and was easier to make out a bit farther way when he was screaming. His own plan would work well still, but he didn't bother to tell this to his hysterical and possibly senile father. All he needed to do was make sure that Mr. Maxwell took responsibility for the explosion of the Oxygen Generators. Even if he died doing it, he would be a family hero and his father's favorite forever. His father would be proud of him, perhaps put a big statue of him in the lobby when they rebuilt Rexant's Offices on L2. After all, he couldn't be responsible if he died. The logic was flawless. Then he shot the priest.

Her eyes went wide, her mouth open. Tied to the chair as she was, wrists behind her back, the shattering of her shoulder would very likely have knocked her over. Heero lay at her feet. There was a head wound at the back of his head that had yet to stop bleeding. "Hail Mary, full of grace, hear our prayers, guide our steps," she started the chant that her abbey had taught her, "Hail Mary, full of grace, hear our prayers, guide our steps."

"Oh shut up! Duo Maxwell is going to torture you to death!" Papadopula snarled, without realizing that his own personal guard was withdrawing.

"Hail Mary," she continued, eyes closed, head rocking slowly with her chant.

"I'm going to shot you again! Pay attention to me!"

"Hail Mary, full of grace," Duo said, fury in his voice, only slightly tempered by the memory of Sister Helen, who the priest bleeding before him looked nothing at all like. He'd come in, passing by the retreating Rexant guards. Now he stood, pistol aimed at Papadopula's head. The man looked up at him, eyes twitching and the pistol moved away from where it had been aimed at the priest to where Heero lay slowly regaining his consciousness. Duo fired. "For the Lord art with thee."

The red dot appeared right in the center of the man's forehead, just a little above his eyebrows. Papadopula went over backwards, gun still held tight in his hands. Duo stood there, watching him go, aware that he'd killed again. It was over though. The church had sent a priest. Heero was here, and moving, so he was alive. Heero was strong. Duo took a step down into the control center of the station, his pistol slowly dropping to his side.

Heero had made it all the way to his knees, one hand on the chair that the priest was bound to, head turned to face Duo. The look of.. Duo sought for the word.. horror? On Heero's face shattered something inside Duo and if he'd had the strength he would have lifted the pistol back up, bent his elbow, and protected those he loved. He didn't have the strength though, and metal hit metal as the pistol dropped.

Drug burned out of his system, Duo kept his feet only because he didn't know how to fall down.

Emotion so seldom passed over Heero's face, and Duo knew he didn't like killing, but to have that emotion directed at him. He wished he'd fall, fall into the darkness until he could have the energy to pretend he hadn't seen it. Then Heero was on his feet, one hand raising, his mouth making the word, but no sound came with it, "Duo?"

Blown over by his name on Heero's lips, Duo finally fell, dropping forward, knees buckling, and Heero was there, catching him, going down with him, one arm around his waist, one at the back of his head, cradling him gently.

Heero could not believe how fragile Duo was, how little he weighed as they went down towards the ground. He could not believe the sense of loss and fear he had as he held his friend, felt the rapid beating of his heart as their chests touched. "Duo," he said again, holding his friend close. He didn't know if what Relena had said was true or not, but he knew that he did love Duo. This had to be love, to feel that one's heart would die with the other. "I will get you medical treatment. I wouldn't leave you for as long as you want me to stay. Please don't leave me."

"Death." Duo whimpered, confused by the warmth and tenderness in Heero's embrace. "Hurt you."

"You saved me, Duo. You didn't hurt me. Trust me, do you trust me?"

"Trust you," Duo said, feeling himself lifted in Heero's arms, head against his shoulder. "Yes. Always. Don't steal my parts though."

"Never, I'll take care of your parts. I'll take care of you, always."

Duo lost consciousness as Heero walked out of the station into the fake sunlight of L2, his face sliding forward to rest against Heero's neck, his braid bouncing against Heero's leg as he walked.

Rexant employees, suddenly at the service of the Prime Minister arrived then, with a mobile medical treatment center. Heero refused to be separated from Duo.

On the way to L2's primary hospital, there was an actual doctor working to help Duo, while an emergency medical technician worked to irrigate and tend to the gash at the back of Heero's head. Heero kept an eye on the doctor, who seemed to be getting more and more agitated. Heero kept his opinion to himself though, not able to find fault with the doctor's treatments, yet.

Duo's breathing was rapid and shallow, his pulse nearing 150 by the time they reached the hospital and Heero was seriously considering bodily harm to someone. Other workers came in, transferred Duo, getting him out of the mobile unit and on in towards the major trauma center. Heero caught hold of the doctor, having plenty of strength to lift him off his feet. "Explain."

"The drug." The doctor spat out. "It's making his heart race and his body has no reserves. The antidote will slow his heart, counter the drug's effects, but he's not strong enough. I'm afraid it will put him into cardiac arrest. He's just too weak."

"The drug will wear off." Heero said, searching for answers. "How long till the drug wears off?"

"That's just it," the nearly desperate doctor said, wishing he'd learned more self defense, "The drug pumps the person's metabolism. It wouldn't slow on it's own, not for a day or so. Most users take a downer. He had to know that. Taking it in his state was suicide."

"Duo is not a user." Heero said, letting go of the doctor, unable to get himself to walk into the hospital yet. If he just stood there for another moment… he'd find some answer.

Mika, however, had been picked up by other Rexant aides, her and Jewel as well. And brought to the hospital. Seeing Duo on a table in a waiting room, his uniform sliced open, chest bare, she winced. She'd never seen him without clothes and seeing his ribs was more than she'd wanted. Jewel hadn't stopped crying, not for hours. Mika bounced, it was a habit, just like Duo, but with less effect. A nurse glared at her, suggesting she should take the baby out with her eyes.

When Heero did get himself into Duo's room, he came in with a dark cloud around him. Only to find Duo laying there, covered over by a pink blanket, an odd lump on his chest, a smile on his face. He stood there, just watching, waiting, until Duo's chest rose, gently, deeply. He stepped closer and a woman rose. She laid her finger over her mouth. She hadn't known about the drug or Duo's heart rate, about the near certainty of his death. She had known that if she laid Jewel on his chest, the baby would quite.

Heero lifted the blanket to find a sleeping baby, Duo's braid tip held in a tiny hand. Gently, he took Duo's pulse, to find it a very acceptable 78. "She's his Jewel of Peace," Mika said. "I'm Mika. Are you One?"

Heero blinked, catching a chair and sitting down. "I'm Heero. Duo's jewel of peace? Jewel of life."

There will be an epilogue… Relena is sending a picnic

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