Quatre stumbled out of his room the next morning at 4:30. Trowa was already in the kitchen, eating toast and reading over the mission again, looking as awake as ever. Quatre sighed and set about making himself coffee and a muffin.
End Chapter 4 (1)Poe, “Hello”
“Good morning.” Trowa said without looking up.
“Good morning.” Quatre mumbled back, sitting down at the table with his breakfast. He leaned over and read the mission from over Trowa’s shoulder. “So all we have to do is infiltrate the base, steal the disks from the main control room, and destroy the base, right?” Quatre asked. “Doesn’t sound too difficult.”
“It’s the infiltration that’s the problem. The base’s leader is a very paranoid man and he doesn’t let anyone in without an extensive background check. What we will have to do is dispatch two employees, a soldier and a janitor, and take their place.” Trowa said, finishing his toast and setting the mission printout between Quatre and him.
“Why a soldier and a janitor?” Quatre asked, moving his chair so he could see the sheet better.
“A soldier for the anonymity and a janitor for access to the control room.” Trowa said. “Now, you’re the tactical genius. Can you find us a way to do this?”
Quatre smiled briefly at Trowa and nodded. He slid the map of the base onto the table. “If we go in here and here we can stop the janitor and soldier without anyone knowing. We can park our gundams in the forest near the base. We should be able to get in and out of the control room tonight, get our gundams, launch a few missiles and leave. In and out in one day.”
Trowa stood up. “Are you ready?”
Quatre nodded and popped the last bit of muffin in his mouth. He stood up and he and Trowa walked to the hanger in a companionable silence.
Later on (at a much more reasonable hour) Sally woke up feeling really, really warm. She opened her eyes through a sleepy haze and looked at her surroundings. She was in a bed in a very Spartan room. Still half asleep she tried to get up only to find herself held down. Looking to her side she saw pilot 05, still asleep and drooling slightly. Suddenly she remembered the night before and the fact that she was now living with the pilots.
“Wufei’s not going to be happy to see me here,” she though. “He’s probably embarrassed he showed any weakness.”
To help Wufei keep his pride, she decided to leave before he woke up. She gently lifted his arm and slid out, then carefully put an extra pillow where she had been and placed his arm back. Sally then walked out of the room as stealthily as possible. As she reached the door she thought she heard her name. She turned around to see Wufei still dozing. She shook her head and left the room.
“It’s gonna be a long day.” She said as she quietly closed the door behind her.
Duo had been nervous for hours. He sat in the kitchen with his coffee and a piece of burnt toast.
“Stupid toaster,” he mumbled to himself. He’d been restless since he left Wufei’s room the night before. Sally and Wufei were right, he did have a note from Heero. It’d said,
02,
Are you out there?
I can’t see your face
I lost my way home
I’m cut off from our mainline
Word has it on the wire
That you don’t know who you are
Well if you could jack into my brain
You’d know exactly what you mean here.
How do I reach you?
01
It was no fancy love note, but Duo knew it was the best Heero could do, especially on a mission.
“Of course, life is a mission to him,” Duo said aloud. “But I hope he forgives me and alright. All I can do is wait.”
We’re just a wish away
27th letter
much maligned
beat me clever
say you will
nevermind
open up
open wide
bonedriven
see we’re taking all the life
to all pollutants
share your face
we’re all confusion
we’re all the rage
maybe I can’t erase
all that’s left
inside out
heaven knows who walks away
heaven knows who walks
bonedriven
bonedriven
I was wrong and I will wait
I was wrong and I will I will wait
a thousand lamps
won’t lift the dark
rest of our lives
might have already passed
“What did you do wrong?” Sally asked, walking into the room, startling Duo.
“Wha, wha, um, me and Heero had a fight before he left,” Duo answered, trying to get his heart calmed down.
“Oh Duo. I’m sure you two will make up. Don’t worry,” Sally said sympathetically as she poured herself some coffee.
“I hope. Have a good time after I left?” Duo asked with a knowing smirk.
“What are you talking about?” Sally said innocently.
“Nothin, it’s just that I saw you asleep in Wufei’s bed.”
“He was cold.”
“Uh-huh, and he wanted something hot, huh?”
“Duo! Nothing happened.”
“Yeah, whatever. That’s what me and Heero said at first but then…”
Duo said, but was cut off when a loud boom was heard.
“What the?” Sally asked, running to the front door with Duo right behind her. They looked outside to see Wing on the front lawn.
“Heero!” Duo yelled, scaling the side of the gundam to get to the cockpit. He heard Sally call up to him, but ignored it in his haste to get to his lover. Inside he found the Japanese pilot slumped over with blood all over the cockpit.
“Oh Hee-chan,” Duo whimpered. He carefully unhooked his partner and yelled to Sally that Heero was unconscious. He slowly lowered the two of them down to Wufei, who was waiting at Wing’s foot.
“What happened to Yuy?” Wufei asked.
“I don’t know. Where’s Sally?”
“In your room, fixing the bed for him. Need help?”
Duo nodded and the two pilots took their comrade into the house.
“Lay him down. Duo, go get me a bowl filled with water from the kitchen. Wufei, get me my bag. It should still be in your room.” Sally commanded as she looked Heero over.
“Please be okay,” Duo said quietly as he went to the kitchen.
“Alright, the important thing is that we don’t show that we recognize each other or know each other in any way.” Trowa said, pulling the last of the soldier’s uniform on. “This could get the attention of an authority and if we have to show our picture ids they’ll know right off that we’re not them.”
Quatre nodded. “Okay. Then I’ll meet you in the hallway right off the control room at 1:00. I’ll give you the key and head for my gundam. You get in, get the disks and meet me at 1:15 at the edge of the forest in your gundam. We’ll destroy the base and head home. Good luck, Trowa.”
“Likewise.” Trowa said and ran down the hall. Quatre looked after him a moment before taking the janitor’s cart and walking down the hall.
At 1:00 on the dot that night Quatre stood against the hallway wall, apparently mopping the floor. He heard a sound from outside the hallway and looked up, expecting to see Trowa. Indeed, it was Trowa, but three other soldiers surrounded him. Quatre quickly turned his back and hunched his shoulders and continued to mop. The soldiers passed by him, not noticing. When they had passed, Quatre turned back around and watched them as they walked away. Suddenly one turned and pinned Trowa to the wall, grinning.
“Hey pretty boy, if you don’t scream I won’t tell the boss you’re a fake.” He said. Quatre cringed. Trowa’d been found out. He pushed back further against the wall as the soldier began to speak again.
“Well, fag, you’ll enjoy this,” he said. The other two soldiers laughed and held Trowa’s arms to the wall. Trowa had a neutral expression, staring at the wall across from him. The soldier not holding his arms back leaned forward and kissed Trowa roughly. Quatre’s eyes widened. Those same lips that had kissed him so gently- those same lips…
As the soldier reached for the button on his pants Quatre heard Trowa’s name escaping from his lips. As the soldiers and Trowa turned he stepped out of the shadows, gun drawn.
“Let him go.” He said in a low voice, his eyes narrowing. As the two soldiers Quatre could see raised their hands, the soldier that was partially blocked from his view by Trowa raised his gun and shot. The bullet entered Quatre through his shoulder and went straight through, embedding itself in the wall behind it. Quatre gasped and was thrown backwards onto the floor. He quickly got back up, clutching his shoulder, but it was too late. One soldier jumped him and pushed him too the wall. He handcuffed him and led him down the hall. Trowa looked after him and allowed himself to be handcuffed and led in the opposite direction.
Wufei couldn’t believe he’d given into his impulses the night before. “She probably thinks I’m a weakling,” he thought to himself. He was currently watching over Heero while Duo kept on babbling to his lover. No one had questioned him when he came to help. He hoped that Sally would forget about his behavior.
“Wufei?” Duo timidly asked, breaking Wufei’s train of thought.
“Yeah, what is it?” he asked sharply, taking out his frustrations on the currently distraught braided pilot.
“Um, do you think Heero will be okay?”
“Yeah, Maxwell. He is the perfect soldier, remember?” Wufei said, to which Duo nodded his head.
“Don’t worry Duo, Heero’s strong,” Sally said walking into the room. “Why don’t you go put Wing in the hanger. I don’t trust Wufei to do it and I know Heero would rather you go in his gundam anyway.”
Duo gave her a look that said he didn’t believe her, but he slowly got up and put a chaste kiss on Heero’s brow.
“I think you just want to be alone with Wufei.” Duo said saucily.
“Like I’d try anything with Heero in here. But I do need to check Wufei over to see if his virus is gone.”
“Uh-huh, all over. I’ll be outside,” Duo called as he laughingly left. Wufei stood like a statue in the corner, giving Sally a look as she went to Heero’s side.
“Oh, come off it Wufei. It’s not like I could check on Heero with Duo hovering like he was. Now strip!”
Wufei’s eyes went wide as Sally said this and he choked on the words he wanted to say.
“I’m kidding. Man, are you gullible. Look, do you feel sick or anything?”
“No onna. I’m not a weakling.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Sally grumbled as she began to check him over. “Seems like you’re fine now. Must’ve been a 24-hour bug. Now you’re back to the justice freak we all know and love.”
“I’ll have you know onna-“
“Yeah, yeah, I know everything, remember. Now leave me to my work. Shoo, shoo, I need to check over Heero and I’m sure he’d rather you not be around if I remove clothing. But if you want to stay…”
“Shut up onna, I’m leaving.”
“Bye-bye Wufei,” she sing-songed as he slammed the door.
“Stupid onna,” he grumbled to himself as he went outside. He went to the hanger and found Duo singing as he was repairing Wing.
When all the stars were falling,
I reached up like you said.
All the stars were falling, one hit me in the head,
And I fell down, down down.
I fell down, down.
When all the stars were falling,
They fell from above
And I thought of hate, and I thought of hate,
And then I thought of love.
And I fell down, down down.
I fell down, down.
And I’ve learned to dance from a Vincent Van Gogh,
And the nights were wrapped in a white sheet,
And now no one even says hello,
‘Cause I couldn’t stand on my two feet.
I fell down.
I fell down.
Now the peace you’ll find, in your own you have found,
The lights of the city are the stars on the ground.
“I may not be a quaalude living in a speed zone,”
but I could be restful, I could be someone’s home,
if I fell down,
and I fell down, down.
Now all the stars have fallen.
“Maxwell,” Wufei called, startling his companion.
“Yeah, Wu-Wu?”
“Need help?”
“Sure. Just don’t talk too much.”
Quatre woke by himself in a tiny white room. Apparently they’d thought he’d lose enough blood to keep him knocked out, so they just dumped him in a closet.
“Stupid,” Quatre murmured, standing up. He was still handcuffed, but he managed to get to the door, which was, suprisingly, unlocked. He estimated that it was
about 2 o’clock in the morning and wasn’t surprised when there was no one in the hallway. He looked around him, mentally calling up the floor plan of the base. The control room, he realized, was actually only a hallway over from where he was. As he walked closer he began to hear voices. He reached the control room and realized that the voices were coming from the room next to it. He leaned closer to listen.
“Who are you? Why are you here? I’m not going to ask you again!” There was a moment of silence, then the sound of something bearing flesh. Quatre shuddered. Trowa was in that room, he had to be.
Quatre stepped back and stared at the control room and the room where Trowa was. He had to get those disks or the whole of the colonies could be in danger. But yet, in the time it would take to get them, Trowa could be killed. The disks could save hundreds, even thousands of lives. Trowa could lose his. With a small cry Quatre ran towards the control room. He found the disks and in the process the key to his handcuffs. Thanking whatever deity he could think of, Quatre shoved the disks into his pocket and unlocked the handcuffs. Gun drawn with his good arm, he rushed into the other room. Time seemed to slow to a standstill. There were three men from the base there- two screaming questions and one simply beating Trowa at every silent response. And there Trowa lay, so still it was hard to tell he was still alive. There was so much blood that it was difficult to define all of his injuries. His eyes were still open, even in his unconscious state. Emerald green, staring straight ahead to the gray ceiling. Time jolted back into normal rhythm and Quatre raised his gun, shooting all three men dead. He was not fast enough, however, and an alarm began going off as he took Trowa into his arms as gently as possible and ran to the nearest exit. As he ran soldiers burst out of their rooms, firing at Quatre. A shot grazed off his calf as he jumped out of the exit door and onto the steep hill that led to the forest their gundams were hidden in. The soldiers were following him, still firing, but he had no way of defending himself with Trowa still in his arms. He finally reached their gundams and he made Trowa as comfortable as possible in the back of Sandrock before going to set the autopilot on Heavyarms.
Trowa blinked as his mind slowly blurred back into consciousness. He found himself inside Sandrock. Quatre was not there. He wanted to call out to him, but found that his voice would not cooperate with him. In fact, no part of his body would respond. He looked around, searching for any sign of where Quatre could be. He looked forward into the forest. Suppose they had captured Quatre… but then, how would he be in Sandrock? Then, all of a sudden there he was, pulling himself up into the seat with one arm. The other arm’s shoulder was soaked in blood and Trowa also noticed blood dripping off Quatre’s leg. He wanted to reach out, to take Quatre and heal him. But he could not move.
“I’m so sorry, Trowa. So sorry,” he heard Quatre say as the hatch closed. It was then that he realized that Quatre was crying very hard. Because of him?
“Quatre! Quatre! It’s okay! I’m fine!” he screamed in his head, but no sound came out. The gundam took off and he could hear Heavyarms taking off beside them. Quatre launched the largest missiles he had towards the base and headed towards the safe house.
“Trowa-“ Quatre choked, leaning his head forward onto the controls.
If I should choose to live in my cocoon
Wrap myself in me and cry myself to sleep
If I should choose to protect my tender heart
Build a shell from you steal myself
From you
If I should choose to fall apart
Don’t you think you should let me if I should
Choose to die alone
You should forgive and forget me
If I decide I can’t do it anymore
Try to be so hard I’m trying to be so fucking hard
If I should choose to keep lying to myself
Pretend my mind is telling truths
Well I’ve got my own so who are you
I know
Trowa felt like crying inside. But he could not move.
Heero woke up and began to mentally access his injuries.
“Broken ribs, concussion, small lacerations… wait, I seem to already be wrapped up. Could I be at the safehouse? He asked himself as he slowly opened his eyes to see his braided lover asleep beside him.
“You awake, Heero?” he heard a soft female voice ask and he looked up to see Sally in the corner watching him.
“Yes. What happened to Duo?”
“He’s worn out. He wouldn’t leave your side till I almost forced him.”
“Hn.” Heero replied as his hand unconsciously gripped Duo’s hand, which held his own tightly. This movement woke to braided pilot.
“Hee-chan?” Duo questioned as he blinked open his eyes like a kitten.
“Hn,” Heero replied, looking into his partner’s violet orbs.
“I think I’ll go find Wufei,” Sally said as she backed out of the room and gently shut the door. Duo and Heero never lost eye contact.
“Oh Heero! I’m so sorry! Forgive me. I missed you so much and I didn’t find your message till last night and I was so worried that something had happened. I don’t care if you have missions but please don’t leave me. I love you so much, Hee-chan!” Duo exclaimed with more feeling as he went until eventually he was sobbing on Heero’s chest.
“Shh baby, it’s okay,” Heero crooned as best he could as he stroked Duo’s hair and rubbed circles on his back.
“I hate it when we fight, but I hate it even more when you leave,” Duo choked out.
“I’m no good with words Duo, you know that. And you’re the most important thing in my life.”
“Really? Duo asked as he tried to blink away his tears.
“Of course.” Heero replied as he thumbed away his lover’s tears and started to sing softly.
Finally I figured out, but it took a long long time
And now there's a turnabout, Maybe cause I'm trying
There's been times, I'm so confused
All my roads, They lead to you
I just can't turn, And walk away...
It's hard to say, What it is I see in you
Wonder if I'll always, Be with you
But words can't say, And I can't do
Enough to prove, It's all for you
I thought I'd seen it all, 'Cause it's been a long long time
But then we'll trip and fall, Wondering if I'm blind
There's been times, I'm so confused
All my roads, They lead to you
I just can't turn, And walk away...
It's hard to say, What it is I see in you
Wonder if I'll always, Be with you
But words can't say, And I can't do
Enough to prove, It's all for you
Rain comes pouring down (Pouring down)
Falling from blue skies (Falling from blue skies)
Words without a sound, Coming from your eyes
It's hard to say, What it is I see in you
Wonder if I'll always, Be with you
But words can't say, And I can't do
Enough to prove, It's all for you
When Heero finished singing he snuggled up with his lover and the two fell asleep. They slept better than they had in days.
(2)Bush, “Bonedriven”
(3)“When All the Stars Were Falling” by Lisa Loeb
(4)“Cocoon” by Joydrop
(5)“All For You” by Sister Hazel