After, in the dark

Chapter One

By Devon Masterson

Aoi37@hotmail.com

Heero sat up in bed and buried his face in his hands. "That nightmare again," he sighed as he threw off the covers and walked into the bathroom. He turned on the cold water and splashed his face, but it didn’t shake off the vivid images that echoed in his mind.

Desperate for some sort of shock to his system, he turned on the cold water in the shower. He stepped inside the stall and led the ice cold water stream down his chest and boxer shorts. He cut the water off after several minutes and stood shivering with his head bowed finally achieving the desired effect. He stepped out of the stall and peeled off the wet clothes. He hadn’t had a decent night sleep since the nightmare started. For the past three months, almost every time he closed his eyes the same torture.

He pulled on a fresh pair of boxers when the vid phone started to blink. He walked over to it and pushed a button. "What is it?" he asked lowly. The nightmares were wearing him down.

"Trowa’s dead," Quatre answered simply.

"What?" Heero asked incredulously. He would have thought that his sense of surprise would have been used up by now after the past few months. "Was there another card?"

Quatre nodded as he finally broke down. Trowa was his best friend. The young Arabian turned away as he showed his vulnerable human side. The past three months had been hell for all of them. At first they thought it was random killings of sick and twisted individuals until the cards started showing up. The killer would always leave a ripped up queen of hearts card near the body that they brutally mutilated. Lady Une, Noin, and Hilde were the first to fall and the pattern with them.

"Someone is picking us all off one by one," Heero commented as he realized the fiber that connected all the victims. "You, Duo, and I are the only one’s left."

Quatre wiped his eyes and looked at Heero. "What about Miss Relena? She was associated with us and with Zechs dead…"

Heero paused at the mention of her name. His countenance darkened as he thought of the circumstances of their parting. They had not spoken in months. He had heard that she tried to kill herself four months ago. She was too complicated to figure out. She was the one who ended things before they begun. He tried to go see her in hospital but she refused to see him. "It will be difficult to protect her when we’re targets ourselves, but I think we should stick close to each other."

Quatre nodded. He was determined to find out who was doing this.

"We need to get in contact with Duo," Heero commented.

"He’s on his way over," Quatre commented. "His shuttle should be arriving in a couple of hours." Heero nodded and yawned instinctively. "You haven’t been getting much sleep either, I see."

"I will when this is over," he remarked. "I’ll be over in fifteen minutes."

"Okay," he said quietly. "Bye."

"Bye," Heero said as the screen went black. He stood and sat on his bed then laid back as the events past three months weighed on his mind. He rubbed his eyes and hit the bed in anger. "Damn it!" He hit the bed once again and drew his hand back as he felt pain. "What the hell?" he thought as he sat up to see what stabbed him. His eyes widened as he saw the sharp end of an ice pick sticking out from under the pillow. He threw the pillow against the wall and saw a deck of playing cards as well. He felt lightheaded as the information started to process in his mind. "Can’t be," he whispered as he quickly got up and went into the bathroom. He looked in the sink and saw no evidence of blood.

"Someone must be playing with me," he growled. He mentally cursed himself for what he had been thinking as he quickly dressed and packed his knapsack. True he had been walking around like a zombie the last few months due to a lack of sleep, but he was well aware of his actions. He looked at his apartment one last time and shut the door behind him.

Quatre looked at his watch and sighed nervously. Duo’s plane had been delayed for over a hour. He looked around for some sign of Heero with information about why the delayed occurred. If he had been thinking with his right mind in first place he would have suggested that his private shuttle go to L2 and pick him up. This taking a shuttle to the main shuttle port in the Sangk Kingdom and then flying to Old New York was rattling his nerves today.

They should be out looking for the maniac that killed their friends. There was no telling where he could be or who was next. The only consolation that he had was the Maganac Corp. they vowed to protect him and help find the sick bastard. "I just hope Miss Relena is okay. In her state of mind she would be a very easy target," he thought sadly. Relena had once been one the most optimistic and strongest people he knew, but then something happen to her and she gave up on everything she loved. No one could figure out what happened or saw her again after she broke up with Heero. They all tried to see her when she was hospitalized for her failed suicide attempt, but she refused them all. After that the glue that held them all together lost cohesion and they drifted apart then the killings began. "Why do these things always have to happen to us?" he wondered.

"Did you hear what I said, Quatre?" Heero asked, breaking into his thoughts.

Quatre blinked. "I’m sorry," he answered. He looked confused for a moment and wondered when he showed up in the first place.

Heero looked at him coldly. "Now is not the time to fall apart, Quatre," he assured him in his usual way.

"You’re right," Quatre nodded. "What did you find out?"

"His plane just arrived so he should be around here somewhere," Heero commented as he looked around. "Let’s split up and meet back here in fifteen minutes."

"Right," Quatre commented as he walked off in search of Duo.

Heero started to wade through the crowd of travelers bustling around in the port. He gave several of them a glare as he moved through them more forcefully. "This is useless," he said mostly to himself. "I’ll just meet up with Quatre and have him paged."

He started back for the spot where he and Quatre agreed to meet. A smell of lilacs caught his attention and he turned his head. A woman with long blond hair appeared just barely inside his peripheral vision. "Relena?"

The woman did not respond only kept walking. Heero started after her. "Relena?" His pace quickened as he tried to reach the woman, but the travelers acted almost like a wall slowing him down as he picked through them. He saw her turn a corner and knew he would finally catch up to her. "Relena?" he called again as he got around the corner and saw no one. His eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance and he hit the wall in frustration. A wave of dizziness swept over him and he leaned against the wall for support. "What’s going on…"

Quatre gave up the search for Duo and went back to spot where he was supposed to meet Heero. He looked at his watched annoyed. Twenty minutes had passed. "He must have found him, because it’s not like him to be late," he said to himself as he looked around.

"Someone help," a woman screamed. "He’s dead."

Quatre turned to look towards the disturbance. It was in the direction that Heero walked off in. "No," he whispered as he ran off. He stopped briefly when he saw a crowd of people standing around in a circle. He pushed through the crowd to the front. His eyes widened as he saw Heero kneeling over Duo’s body. "Heero!"

Heero looked up in a daze as he saw his friend’s eyes. He dropped the ice pick in his hands and looked at Quatre. "He was already dead. I didn’t do it," he declared as he shook his head. He could feel his grip on reality starting to slip as he looked at Quatre’s eyes. He genuinely had a look of fear and horror in them and he couldn’t bare to look at them. "Stay away from me," he said as Quatre started to move forward.

"Heero," he sighed.

Heero pulled out his gun. "Stay away. I…don’t know what’s going on, but you have to trust me. I didn’t do it. Just stay away."

Quatre took a deep breath. He could hear the security guards coming and trying to get through the crowd. He took another step forward. "We’re in this together."

"No," Heero replied as he shot near Quatre’s feet. "You know how I feel about killing, don’t make me do it to protect you from something more horrible."

"Heero…" his sentence trailed as he heard the guards break through the crowd. He turned towards them.

"Step aside sir."

"I have everything under control," he replied. He turned back to Heero. He sighed as he saw the door at the end of the hall swinging shut

"You’re going to have to come with me, sir," one of the security guards commented as he grabbed Quatre by the arm. "I can walk by myself." He looked backed to Duo’s body and looked down. Another of their friends had fallen and the other fallen apart.

© 2001 Devon Masterson

Another Bond Girl Production

We all know who belongs to who, Gundam Wing belongs a whole bunch of rich influential people and I just have some concepts. Don’t sue me, hire me instead ;p