Elyndys 
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Disclaimer: I am not owning these characters, to use the Indian
English construction.
Pairing: will be 1+2+1/1x2x1; reference to
past 1xR, R+1.
Warnings: Part 9 has a shonen-ai warning. Also, *sigh *,
sap... It's unavoidable!
Escaping Part 9
It was late when Heero got back to the house. After leaving the
gardens he had driven around for a while, noticing again things he had
grown accustomed to. He had stopped the car on one of the quiet little
roads towards the house, got out and stood beside the road, looking at the
sky away from the glare of the city lights.
He should visit the
colonies again, he reflected. It was only recently he had noticed how much
he missed space. He thought back: this had been.... He had to admit it had
been an amazing evening. The rest of the day seemed like a dream. He knew
something important had happened this evening - several important things.
He knew that now was the time to make some important decisions.
He
had realised Relena no longer needed him. As for loving him... he wasn't
sure about that either. He knew he didn't love her; it seemed so
ridiculous now, marrying someone he didn't love - but at the time he
hadn't seen any way he could refuse. She had needed him then, in those
still-unstable times; she had even loved him, she had said, and still said
- but Heero didn't see how it could be true now. He had never lied to her
and said he felt the same way: he suspected she thought he was just not
willing - or able - to express his emotions; maybe he had thought she was
right. But when he thought about it now, it seemed like he felt, and had
always felt, that there was just no such emotion to express. But now...
Heero thought carefully. He knew that, lurking in his mind, there
was a decision he had already made but could not quite confront yet. He
turned to other, related matters. Duo had said - he let his thoughts drift
over Duo for a moment - that the colonies were experiencing great hardship
at the moment. He felt a small thrill run its fingers down his spine, just
briefly, as he thought of the challenge. Things that really needed doing.
If nothing else, he was certain that his police skills would be as
necessary as anything. He felt that excitement touch him again, more
forcefully: yes, that was what he would do. He could be of greater use in
space than on earth. That was where he would go. As son as he...
...left Relena. The thought brought a slightly bitter dread: but
he knew it was what he should do. There was no point in staying; Relena
didn't need him. There might be a scandal, or at least a great deal of
media interest; but it was nothing Relena's agents couldn't handle. They
could always just lie.
He wondered if maybe he was being selfish.
After all, it would be very awkward for Relena, even though he felt sure
that if she looked deep inside herself she'd see it was no great personal
loss or emotional wrench. But… he had a chance to find happiness… A way of
escaping the deep-set sorrow that seemed ingrained in him recently, and
not quite so recently. He had to take that chance!
As soon as he
realised his decision, he felt a weight lift from him; although he would
still have to face Relena with his choice, he knew he had to follow it
through.
He had a little time, though. While the conference was
still on, he would be needed still. That gave him time to speak to his
superior officers, make enquiries into where he could be of most help to
the colonies, and how to get there. He felt a sparkling thrill run through
him again, a deep sense of motivation that re-ignited feelings he had
thought were gone, passed away: but they came alive at his thoughts.
Pushed forward by anticipation, he drove quickly back to the
house. Checking the clock: it was twenty past one. Entering the main
sitting room, he found Relena, sleeping a little awkwardly on the large
couch: quietly he picked her up, carrying her upstairs o softly deposit
her on her bed. She half-woke, murmuring meaningless sentences she
wouldn't recall in the morning; but by the time Heero drew the cover over
her still-clothed body, she was asleep again.
He looked at her for
a moment, like he'd never seen her before. It felt as though there was a
gulf between them, a thousand unfamiliar miles. He wondered whether a
normal person would regret the decision he'd made, seeing her like this,
as he had for years… But, he knew and now accepted, he was not one of the
normal people. He should never have tried to be.
He turned away
from her form on the bed; lay down on his own for a while, but couldn't
still his mind enough to sleep, or even rest. He thought again about his
strange relationship with the woman who was his wife: they *had * slept
together, but, he realised, only because… it was the normal thing to do.
He almost wanted to laugh. He had always found it difficult, uncomfortable
even, to think of Relena in a sexual way: almost like she could be defiled
by something so… human. No, that wasn't right: that made it sound as
though respect and sexual desire could never be reconciled. It was more
that… he just couldn't see her in that way. She was so far removed from
him… even after seven years. And she… She saw him in his role as a tool
for peace; and - his eyes darkened briefly - as an instrument of war… He
cut those thoughts off. No, not now.
He got off the bed again
soundlessly, restless. He knew he would end up doing without sleep
tonight; but he felt like he didn't need it. Running on nervous energy,
adrenaline flooding him. He undressed and made his way to the bathroom;
showered, taking his time, letting himself feel the strange kind-of
excitement. He knew the feeling would fade, leaving him tired by
mid-afternoon; he reflected that once, he wouldn't even have noticed such
minor sleep deprivation - but he was different now.
Clean, dried,
he half-dressed, leaving off his shirt so he could tell Relena, if she
woke, that he had just got up, rather than trying to explain why he had
been awake all night. He found himself drawn onto the bedroom balcony, the
view overlooking the open country away from the city. The first faint
shimmers of approaching light caught his attention, fading the dark sky;
in a few hours he would have to leave for work. Until then, though, he
felt entirely content to sit and look at the earth. He realised he would
miss it when he left; but he could always return to visit. And space had
its own beauty.
Heero leaned against the balcony rail, and watched
a new day open and bloom, rubbing out the darkness. 
By the
time Relena awoke I was fully dressed and ready to leave. I didn't feel
like eating, even though my last meal had been lunch yesterday: Duo and I
never did order in the restaurant. I knew the lack of nutrition was
contributing to my jittery feeling - but the other reasons for that
feeling kept me from feeling hungry. I picked up an apple, thinking I
might want to eat later: by lunchtime I would feel it - but I was meeting
Duo for lunch, and that thought too took away my appetite and replaced it
with a tension, an anticipation… That feeling again of being on the edge
of something… something I couldn't quite make out, but I knew I would
soon… That was the feeling I got when I thought of Duo.
I let
Relena kiss my cheek as she sat at her dressing table, then left for the
city.
My free moments of the morning were spent investigating the
colony situation. There was a great deal of information that the news
didn't tell us: the resentment the colonies felt towards the earth because
of the reparation being done here, while they had to wait and struggle.
The crime rife in the worst hit areas, where the authorities were too busy
trying to find people places to live, help them find missing relatives, to
worry about drug dealers and street gangs.
I made up my mind to
take my professional skills to such a place. I may just have been one
extra person… but that was better than doing nothing. I would never know
what I could achieve unless I tried.
Before I could believe it, it
was half past twelve. I put on my coat and headed in the direction of the
park.
It was a similar day to the one when I'd first met Duo.
Grey, rainy. But today… I smiled.
Duo sat on the bench watching
the rain. He smiled when he saw me. "Heero!" He seemed to like saying my
name.
I sat beside me and thought I should ask. "Anything to
report?"
He looked at me for a moment, then I saw realisation. He
shook his head. "No. I don't know whether I should say I'm sorry or not…"
"Don't apologise for giving me good news." I trusted him.
Thinking, though, of what I had found this morning… "But I think we need
to be even more careful now."
He turned to look at me
questioningly.
"I never realised, until today, the true state of
the colonies." My home. " The poverty… The resentment towards the earth. I
suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But I didn't understand just how close
we've been to war, or something like it, for the past seven years."
Duo gazed at me. "That's why I'm here. Things are slowly getting
better… but it'll be slow progress unless something drastic happens."
"It seems even more likely to me now that something might happen.
So… thank you again for your help."
Duo smiled. "Not a problem."
We were silent for a few minutes, before I finally said what I
wanted to tell him. "I've decided to go back to the colony." I spared him
the details. "After we were talking last night I decided I could be more
use in space than down here." I turned to look at him, and once again got
the feeling… he knew what I wasn't saying. He was smiling.
"That's
a great idea." A short pause. Then… tentatively, almost? "You could come
with me."
I didn't say anything: held his gaze and nodded. Yes. It
was starting to rain more heavily, I noticed. I thought of something.
"Don't you have family to go back to?"
His eyes darkened, smile
faded. He looked away. "No." I thought he was going to leave it at that,
and I wouldn't have pressed him - but he carried on. "I don't remember any
real family. Anyone I would call that… I lost in the war."
So like
me. I was silent again. Then, another thought. "What about your… partner?"
Now Duo looked back into my eyes. A quirk of his lips. "We broke
up. I rang him last night…" A shrug. "Like I said, it wasn't serious. And
besides -" a look directly in my eye. I couldn't look away. "- I thought
it wouldn't be fair, being with him… when I was thinking of someone else…"
Before I could think, he stood up. "Come on. Let's get out of the rain."
We walked, heads down, quick, to a spreading tree. Huddled to its
trunk, waiting for the shower to pass.
"Come back with me." He
took me by surprise. "When the conference is over. By then, I hope, things
will be different. Come to the colony. L2 is one of the most deprived
areas. Come, work with me. Help me."
Like he's helping me… I
thought for a moment, but I'd already made up my mind. I made it up last
night. I nodded, meeting his gaze. I realised again how close we were.
Realised, like waking up from an unfamiliar dreamscape to surroundings
you've known all your life, the sensuality Duo radiated. In everything he
did. I had been fascinated, I knew it, I wouldn't fight it. I turned my
head just a little, and so did he, and our lips touched… He was soft,
smooth against my mouth, cold-wet from the rain and warm-wet inside. My
tongue traced his lips, slipped inside, touched at his own, gentle. His
hand slid up, holding me at the junction of neck and shoulder, and I held
him to me with one arm, the other slowly creeping up to rest against his
damp cheek…
I felt elated, light inside, like I had an answer:
free… was that it? Breaking now, I caught his lip between mine, feeling
the softness to remember. He rested his forehead against mine, arms round
my neck as I held him still; yes.
"Yes. I'll come with you. I want
to help you like you're helping me." Like you've already helped me… "Let
me know what it is you want me to do."
"I will."
Once more
we touched lip to lip, and I felt again the same: released… The edge I'd
perched on since I met Duo, I had touched it now and it was bright, open,
showing me new things. I wanted to see. I wanted Duo to show me.
"Meet me tonight."
"Yes." I agreed at once.
One
more kiss; fitting together like it was right: I was surprised, almost -
but when I thought about it, I expected it from him. I smiled as he
squeezed my hand when we parted. He smiled back to me.
A template
for freedom; a plan. A map. I could follow. As he walked
back to the police station, Heero noticed that the rain that grazed him no
longer seemed miserable: but, more, it cleansed, a spring shower. Fresh.
Working with renewed enthusiasm that afternoon, tying up loose
ends, tidying up for his successor. He thought of researching more on the
colony, but decided instead to get the information first hand, from Duo.
Walking along the corridor to the DCI's office, only to meet him
halfway along.
"Sir?"
"Heero, I was looking for you. A
phone call, Duo Maxwell, said he couldn't hang on to talk to you himself,
but you should go and speak to him right now. The phone operator said it
sounded urgent…"
Heero was already on his way back to the office.
"Trowa!" He grabbed his coat and keys.
"Sir?"
"You ready
to go?"
"Yes, what?"
"We're going to the summit."
Elyndys
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