Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Reasons to be Queen ❯ four ( Chapter 4 )

Reasons to be Queen 4/?

By Nix

Notes: Been a long time since I updated, but I got a review and it made me think of this story again… I can't wait till I can get to a trio lemon!

Warnings: A bit AU.

Pairings: working towards 1x2xr or Rx2x1, depending on the day.

The first three chapters of this are posted on MediaMiner and on ff.net

The trip to Howard's ship was timeless. It was supposed to be one of those timeless, profound moments where the answers to everything occurred to her, but mostly she was too concerned with holding onto leo held against Wing's chest. Everything evaporated in the need to hold on; even the burns on her hands didn't fully register.

Howard watched them approach from the deck. Trowa stood with his shoulder touching Quatre's. The smaller blond stood almost protectively in front, one hand lying against his lover's thigh. They were young enough to believe in the myth of their own immortality. Guilt fogged up around them too, as Wing beat in reverse, slowing and moving towards the landing deck. The small woman clinging to ruined armor seemed too small, to impossibly vulnerable to be real, but recognized her heart and confirmed that Relena was with them, that Duo lived still. Quatre thought he should have been relieved, but there was something unsettling in the confusion that was Duo, and the violent anger that was Relena.

Wing land air pushed out and up as wings drew in and the armor of very strong man went to one knee, the huge metal hands shaking as they drew back from the limbless leo. They'd argued the last time they'd talked, over parts, over salvage and really over whomever it was that Duo had been talking to, laughing with, over the someone Heero hadn't known who it was.

Heero had been in a dark, argumentative mood when Trowa had sought him out, right after that last conversation with Duo. Trowa had explained what only a true best friend really could. This feeling Heero struggled with them, this urge to grab Duo and shake him, to argue with him until the other person went away, this was called jealousy. The scientists responsible for Heero had summoned him sometime after his 17th birthday, collected samples of reproductive fluid, so that his unique DNA could be passed to another generation. After that, for reasons he had not investigated, the rising sexual tension he'd been experiencing had completely evaporated. Until Duo Maxwell smiled at him.

Heero thought about these things as he jumped out of Wing's cockpit. He thought about these things as he heard Relena screaming his name, screaming for Duo as they dragged her back from the metal casket. His last conversation with Trowa came back to him, as their eyes meet. He was in love with Duo Maxwell, laughing, dancing, shaking the sheets at night when no one was looking, chocolate syrup on his pancakes, endlessly playing with his braid, this impossibly human warrior had stolen Heero's heart.

Trowa held up a hand, defusing tool pressed to the external release. "It's rigged, a minute."

The metal of the leo wasn't hot anymore, thought the scent of Relena's burning hands flicked in his memory and he looked over to her, to see her struggling against a couple of Howard's boys, tears on her scorched face. She loved Duo Maxwell. She was the one he'd been talking to, laughing with. He'd fantasized about marrying her, having a little house, a baby, but it was an ordinary fantasy, a daydream of mission peace. He did not want to think about what they'd find when they opened the hatch. Mission alive had replaced mission peace and the outcome of that, of Heero's human spirit lay under this hatch.

"Stand clear." Trowa said, tossing the defusing gear back towards Howard. None of them really wanted to open the hatch. Relena was screaming about a hospital. They had an OR, field medicine. Any of them could pull a bullet, set a bone, bandage a burn, but delicate surgery, internal damage, nerve damage from chemical weapons, there wasn't really much they could do for that, short of a quick bullet to the head. Heero laid a hand on Trowa's arm, shook his head, then motioned his friend away. Trowa reached out and gripped Heero's forearm, held tight for a moment, then nodded.

Heero could hear Relena yelling still and he had no time to explain to her how what he was probably going to do would be a kindness, to all of them. He gripped the hatch handle and pulled. It rose, hissed on hydraulics and exploded, but instead of heat and shrapnel, only streamers and silver confetti flashed around. Dorothy's voice cheered, "Well done, Miss Relena! Don't feel bad; you did your best to save him! Death is part of war as well though. Try to remember that in your peace games."

Heero's eye twitched and he muttered promises of death in Japanese. Quickly he disengaged the hatch and shoved it farther away, sending it crashing to the deck and quickly surveyed Duo. Pulse 143, respirations 30, bleeding, broken ribs, one bullet wound, excessive facial bruising, but there was nothing that he could not hope to see mended. Until Duo opened his eyes, Heero was laying out his rescue operation. Violet eyes, so echoing through his memory, almost all his positive memories involved those violet eyes. "Duo?"

"Heero," Duo wheezed, hardly believing that he was somewhere near Heero. "Gonna be late with those parts."

"Idiot," Heero said softly, tenderly. He reached out, surprised by his betraying hand and touched Duo's face, ran his fingers over swollen lips. "Are you going to live?"

Slow eyes blinked. "Don't make me cry! Salt burns, you know."

"Disinfects. How long?"

"Take care of the blood loss, I don't know, but Heero they gave me some drug, hurt like a fucking bitch. You gotta blow them up for me, okay? And Heero, I can't see." Tears did fall then, drawing Heero's fingers to wipe them away. "Shoot me?"

"I liked you, Duo, a lot. I started remembering me before the training when I was near you. Would you have gone to a movie with me?" Heero pulled his pistol, chambered a bullet as quietly as possible. "I'd have bought you popcorn and tried to hold your hand. Would that have been okay?"

Duo tried to lift his hand, but found no bones there to get any leverage. "Yeah. I would have tried to kiss you though. Heero, 'Lena's my best buddy, like Trowa's for you, and she loves you. So like, if you ain't got anything better to do, would you take her instead of me? She might kiss you too, but she bites, so be careful."

Heero's arm slipped under him, lifted him, hand holding his head up and he got the hug he'd wanted for months. "Kiss me now, Duo? Don't worry about Relena Peacecraft. I think she'll be okay." Heero quietly pushed the safety off. "Kiss me Duo, because that's all I really want."

"Help me, 'kay? I can't move my fucking head. What a time, uh?"

Heero took Duo's mouth, kissing him like he'd seen in the movies, lips and tongue, the language of forever, while at the same time he pressed the barrel of his pistol, enough power to shot through steel against the back of Duo's head.

Quatre screamed. Relena screamed. Heero didn't listen. Duo's tongue danced in his mouth, with the taste of blood and soda pop, innocence and violence. The pistol popped and Heero fell over the side. Duo slumped back into the cockpit, his braid trailing over the side. Relena fired again, just because she was so pissed. The man she'd stolen the pistol from was holding a broken nose, the one that had been on her other side, held some broken testes. She spun on them.

"You misguided fools!" The pistol steady in burned hands, she somehow found a path up the side of the leo until she stood on the chest of the thing, looking in at Duo, pistol trained on a very pissed and confused Heero. He held his bleeding hand, his own pistol having skidded off the edge of the ship. "Okay you fuckers!" she snarled, pistol held in both hands. "This is the meaning of peace! We don't die if we don't have to. We shot only to save a life. The war is henceforth finished. Over! The rules are new. I'm rewriting them in favor of logic and truth. I am the Queen of the World. We do not take the easy way out because it's more work to do it right! As long as people's goals are to keep fighting, that's all we'll do. We win this by declaring peace. Peace now. You!" She pointed the pistol at Heero. "Help him survive! The next time you kiss him, you better not try to blow away my best friend! He loves you, dumbass!"

Duo laughed, a small little sound that echoed out of the cockpit. "'Lena! Queen of the World. Go, 'Lena. You shoot Heero again, I'll kill you."

"You just do that," she snapped, nose twitching. She wasn't imitating anyone. She was Relena Peacecraft and there would be peace on Earth and beyond.

Heero climbed back up, giving Relena an I might kill you later glare. The chance that Duo might recover enough to kiss him again, and this little greedy voice in him echoed up from before his training, he wanted to live as well. As gently as possible, he scooped Duo up into his arms. Being dropped back into the cockpit more than aggravated whatever possible back injuries he had. Blood loss seemed more immediate.

The rest of the ship mobized to provide medical care, doing what she'd said, the old rules not applying just then.

Right from Howard's ship, she required the company that made veracid to send drugs to ease the damage. She bought media spots and she campaigned right to the people of the world. Her message was so unlike any heard before. Some people called her Queen. Some said saint. Very few complained when she announced her intention to marry both Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell. The story of their wedding in the next chapter….