Title: A Murder of Crows
Part: 1/12
Author: KKChitown
Status: Final
Category: Fic
Rating: PG
Pairings: None
Warnings: Shounen ai (hooray), OOC out the wahzoo, and totally AU. Timeline won't fit so don't even try. No one is a couple but 1+2, 3+4 implications are made. Have at it!
Feedback: Craved
Disclaimer: Don't own the GW boys. *cries*
A Murder of Crows
by KKChitown
"Damn, it's cold out here!"
Duo whined as usual as we made our way into the deserted house. To
my surprise, the mansion wasn't too chilly inside. That didn't say
much though, since we are coming in from sub-zero temperatures, but
its safe to say that we could take our coats and shoes off without
worrying about hyperthermia. The windows, which were about the size
of the wall, seem to be incredibly thick-well-have to be thick in
order to shield the inside from the violent snow storm that seems to
be following us. The mansion itself had extremely large cobwebs,
some that stretched from the corner of the ceiling to the floor. Of
course, for a web of that size, this place had to have been abandoned
for quite some time. Besides the collection of dust that I presume
to be decades old, the air also smelled old. It held a light musk
odor that was somewhat pleasant, probably due to the lack of
circulating air, but I had a bad taste of something at the back of my
tongue. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I hate that feeling.
Something is off balance, but I don't know what it is, and its making
me feel very uneasy. It's hard to settle down after a battle, and
with the traveling we've been doing, our bodies have been on constant
alert, and right now all of my nerves are firing simultaneously,
ready for anything and everything. It's even worse when I'm tired,
and right now I feel like I have my gundam sitting on my shoulders.
Wait, let me back up.
The day before, we were at one of OZ's bases in Moscow, trying our
best to turn it into `a big pile of dung heap', as Duo so eloquently
put it. Heero and Duo were trying to take out a major generator that
supplies energy for the creation of the unmanned mobile suits, Trowa
and I were a distraction, and Wufei was destroying what mobile suits
were being built. Everything went according to plan: the generator
was destroyed, the only trace of the mobile suits left were a couple
of fingers and glass, and Trowa and I didn't get killed.
That is my most favorite part. Anyway, we ended up driving our way
out of Moscow because this was in the dead of winter, and the snow
storm was so bad, there was no way for us to fly out of there. OZ
was close on our trail, for once, which made our escaped even harder
to do without involving civilians, so we hot-wired one of OZ's jeeps
and tried to drive someplace safe. We couldn't get back to England
because the carriers were grounded, so we were waiting for the
weather to slow down then go back. Thank goodness we were on break
at school. For what reason, I honestly don't know.
I must tell you that driving around in sub-zero temperatures is not
the ideal escape route. It was very grueling, especially listening
to Duo whine for 22 hours straight. I can never figure out how his
mouth doesn't get tired. There were a few times that I honestly
thought Heero was going to kill Duo. It was a good thing that Heero
was driving, but to be fair, I don't think that would have stopped
him. Anyway we couldn't do anything except drive to find a
safehouse. All contingency plans failed. That was a huge shock in
itself. I know Heero is beating himself up over that one, but it
wasn't his fault. I will tell him later, if there is a later.
Knowing him he'll just glare at me, so maybe I shouldn't bring it up.
The only other option was to freeze to death. We can't die yet.
So we just kept driving.
After maybe ten hours of arguing over where to go, Trowa started
driving, Wufei sat in the passenger seat, and Heero squeezed in the
back with Duo and I. Heero had his laptop out trying to find
someplace to stay. So far we drove through Ukraine and Poland, our
last stop was in Prague [1] to steal another car, which ended up
being an old beat up stationwagon. Nice going Duo. Anyway, I'm not
sure what Heero is looking for, and I'm afraid to ask.
He finally came across something. A quarantined house, far out in
the country too, but this was in Frankfurt. It would take two hours
to get to the next city. Plus, we were a days drive away from the
two carriers that had our gundams in an abandoned hanger. Not one of
the smartest things we ever did but truthfully, it was the best we
could do at the time. As for our carriers, we had time to figure that
out later. Our gundams were on self-detonation mode.
Yes, the mission to take out the OZ base went according to plan, but
it was very difficult. The security there was unbelievable. The
fact that we succeeded is amazing. Either OZ had seriously weak
soldiers, which is very possible, or they underestimated our
strength, which is also very possible. I would flip a coin to find
that out later.
With all the fighting, especially with Trowa and I, the gundams were
okay, but we got banged up pretty badly. I'd gotten knocked down
more times that I can count, kissing the screen basically, and Trowa
got thrown down by a somersaulting Leo, and had bad bruises on his
face and the back of his shoulders. Poor Trowa.
The roads weren't too bad, till we came upon the road that the house
was on. You could tell no one lived there anymore. The snow was
about as high as we were tall. No one's been driving in or out of
here recently. And since we figured no one would be out here for any
reason (who would be driving around in the middle of nowhere in
freezing temperatures), we opted to leave the jeep where it was and
scrambled, with containers and duffelbags of provisions across the
snow to what I guess is a house. When I got closer, it didn't
resemble a house. It looked about three stories, maybe the size of
one of my smaller estates. And the snow was so hard, we just climbed
on top of it and walk as if it was cement. Now that brings us to the
present.
We all ran in, throwing whatever we were carrying on the floor.
Trowa and I quickly swung around and slammed the door shut. It felt
good to be away from the winds. All of us had gotten some frostbite
on our ears and noses. But a little bit of lukewarm water should
take care of that.
Slowly, we surveyed the room. It was HUGE. It kind of looked like
one of those houses in the haunted house movies. I guess the front
room was a sitting room and dining room, because it had a couch, a
large dining table, the type in bugs bunny cartoons that the table is
so long that you would have to shout to the other person so that they
can hear you, and chairs. The couch was very long, like one of those
Victorian couches, meaning it just looked like a very long and wide
chair. It was black, but the legs and arms were gold colored and
there was a red rose design in the middle. To be perfectly fair, it
was beautiful. It also had two matching chairs to it, both of them
exactly like the couch.
Surprisingly, and much to my delight, there was a large fireplace.
The fireplace itself was also black, with gold outlining where the
fireplace met the wall, and the wall itself was maroon colored. It
was very nice looking. Even though it was covered with cob webs the
size of my entire being, it was still pleasant looking.
Heero walked further in, telling us to wait while he checked
everything out. Duo just snorted. "He acts as if OZ would plant a
bomb here. Like they had a clue where we were going, even though
*we* had no idea we would be here." He had a point, but I didn't
want to argue, so I just shrugged.
In front of Heero were two high black staircases. One was to the left
of him and the other to the right. The staircases lead to the second
floor, which appear to be bedrooms. Five bedrooms. Perfect. Things
were looking up for us. Heero won't be as tempted to kill Duo.
They've been sharing a room for so long together, this would give
them a chance to miss each other. I hope.
Next was the kitchen. It looked like a kitchen. I wouldn't
necessarily call it a refrigerator, but something like a huge freezer
sat in the corner of the wall across from a window. The window
itself was about the size of a car. There was a sink, which seemed to
be made out of marble, and the counter was in the middle of the
room. I wanted to say it was made of cement, but I could be wrong.
Other than a table and some chairs, that was it for the kitchen. No
cabinets or anything. I don't know if that is good or bad.
After we checked the rest of the house, we (or Heero) decided that it
was suitable for us to stay in for a couple of days. But the
strangest thing is that in the kitchen, beside the refrigerator or
freezer was another staircase that lead to the third floor. First,
the stairway was completely clean, meaning that weren't any webs or
dust of any kind. Not very likely. Second, the stairway was also
different from the rest of the house that it was rotting wood, the
kind that an old wooden fence would be made out of, not elegant or
painted like the rest of the house. The walls were a very cold grey
stone. It felt like we were walking through a dungeon. Third, we
reached the top of the stairs at a very well preserved light tan
wooden door. If it didn't smell like mold I would've guessed it was
new. But the door wouldn't open, it was locked from the outside!
"Hn."
Of course Heero does that all the time, but there was something
behind that `hn' that made me really, really uncomfortable. Not like
I'm comfortable all the time between hiding underground or in
Sandrock, but a mental uncomfortable. I was nervous. I'm not sure
why.
After we all settled down, unpacked and ate, it was getting dark so
everyone decided to go to a room. I got the one dead in the center,
Duo was to my right, with Wufei to my left. Trowa and Heero had the
ends.
I was laying in bed, my upper back and head were on a pillow resting
against the headboard. I vaguely watched the candlelight in my room
flicker every time I exhaled, twirling the ends of the blanket with
my fingers, enjoying the fantasy I was allowing myself to have about
a green eyed angel. The candle illuminated my room enough for me to
see a figure close my door quietly and tip toe his way towards the
whale size bed, braid over his shoulder.
"Hey cat, can I stay in here for a while?"
"Sure Duo, you know you are always welcome."
With that he jumped on my bed, causing me to fly up in the air and
land with a light thump as the back of my head hit the headboard.
"Oops! Sorry cat."
"Don't worry about it," I said, rubbing the back of my head, "what
happened, another nightmare?"
"No, just annoyed and feeling....weird."
One of my eyebrows raised to my hairline. "Feeling, weird?"
"Yeah," he continued, fussing with the end of his braid, "something
about this place is not hitting my spot. I don't know what it is,
but I got this feeling that we should get the hell out of here asap."
Since we all found out about each other, Duo and I have become good
friends, even best friends most of the time. During the time Heero
had self destructed, and Duo and I were hiding in the desert, we
formed an unbreakable bond. Since then, we've talked about
everything. When I told him about my feelings for Trowa, he told me
about his feelings for Heero. Sometimes, I feel we have too much in
common. But its great that I have him, and he has me to lean on.
"Well, Trowa told me that he and Heero were leaving tomorrow morning
to go get the carriers. How the two of them manage to bring back two
carriers is a mystery to me." Which is true. I know they are both
smart and strong, but what they wanted to do made me scared for them.
"What about Wufei and us?" Apparently, Duo was thinking the same as
me.
"Just keep everything going until they get back I suppose."
"All of us should go."
I agreed with him. If something happened, we would never know that
they need help, and after a while we would need help, but since we
are in the middle of nowhere, what would we do? But then, with all
of us going and something happened, we would all probably die
anyway. It was a lose/lose situation.
"No. Don't worry Duo, they will be fine. It would be better if you
or I went along, but I have a feeling that we would just get in their
way."
"You're probably right. I just don't want to be stuck here. As much
as I hate school, I'd rather be there than here at Adam's family
manor."
I laughed. He could always make me laugh. He cracked a smile, but
it was something in it that smile that made me stop laughing.
Worry. He was worried about us. As if he read my mind, he
answered. "I just feel like it would be better if we all left, cat,
I do. Something is hovering over this house and its driving me
bonkers. Worst yet, I can't put my finger on it."
I hate it when the others feel pain or sorrow. If I could take it
from them, I would. I would do anything right now to make Duo feel
better, to make him smile. So I did the only thing I could do.
Looking him dead in the eye, I started.
"I'm a little tea cup...."
"No cat, don't."
"Short and stout. This is my handle, this is my spout......"
Okay, the story is this. One night, after a huge success in a
mission, Duo had brought out a couple of bottles of wine made from
honey. *I* do not drink. But, with much pleading and begging on
Duo's part, I had a couple of little bity sips, to the point where I
was completely out of my mind. Then I started singing this, for what
reason only Allah knows, to teach me a lesson I assume. But I wasn't
so out of it that I couldn't remember what had happened, and Duo
doesn't let me forget either. So standing on top of my bed, I
reenacting the whole ordeal. It had the desired effect.
"Stop, Quatre, STOP! You're ah ha a ha ha, killing ah ha ha haha,
me!" He fell off the bed onto the floor, rolling around holding his
stomach, laughing his heart out. I plopped down on the bed, laughing
also. It only happened once, but looking back, it was a precious
moment between me and Duo, something to tell our children about, if
we had children, and there are more reasons than one that we probably
won't.
"What the hell is so funny?" Wufei stood at my door, hair loose to
about his shoulders, wearing nothing but some loose white pants. He
was doing that more and more, not tying up his hair when we weren't
doing anything. He looked at me, then at Duo, then at me again.
With one eyebrow raised he just shook his head, muttered something,
and closed the door.
Duo, with tears in his eyes at this point, covered his mouth like a
little child. I did the same, both of us trying to stifle the
laughter from escaping our lips so that Wufei won't come back in here
to kill us. He quickly jumped in the bed, and both of us raced each
other under the sheets. I then turned over to blow the candle out,
and we laughed ourselves to sleep.
***
"This is boring, Quatre! I don't want to clean." Trowa and Heero
were already gone by the time I woke up. That is kind of strange.
Usually, I'm the one that would get the sun up, but with the
exertions from yesterday, or last night with Duo keeping me up, or
the time zones I don't know. Right now we are cleaning-well-I'm
cleaning and Duo is complaining. That's how it works,
mostly. "Quatre, are you listening to me?!"
"I can't help but listen to you, you are screaming in my ear."
Spending enough time with Duo, I've unfortunately picked up a few of
his habits, like quirky responses or choice words every now and
then. I've also picked up a few of Heero's death glares, if you
could believe that.
"Fine Duo, you could actually *clean*, or help Wufei bring in the
fire wood."
"No way man! Then I'd be `Duo, the human popsicle.' I'm skinny, ya
know? No fat here of any kind. I swear, my butt would freeze first,
followed by my braid."
"Okay." I just laughed it off. Of course I could see Duo frozen in
the middle of saying something, not carrying any firewood, that's for
sure.
I looked outside and noticed that the wind was picking up. I know
that Heero and Trowa would have to come back soon, hopefully by night
fall. It would be too dangerous for them to keep on going. There
wasn't any electricity in the house, so naturally there wasn't a tv,
which was brutal for Duo, and that we didn't have a radio, so we
couldn't get weather reports. Heero's laptop battery was going to
give out, eventually, so we were all anxious to get back to the
boarding school. At least there aren't any missions for the time
being. The weather is too bad even for OZ to try something, which is
good because its hard enough to move Sandrock with the wind as strong
as it is, let alone on snow.
My beloved Sandrock. I can't wait to get back to you.
I was brought out of my reverie when the back door to the kitchen
slam shut. Probably due to the wind. I ran back to see if Wufei
needed some help, but he was just finishing up with four logs in his
arms. The logs were frozen together, along with about twelve other
pairs.
"This should last us until tomorrow morning. Hopefully by then we
will be on our way back."
"I hope so." I really did.
"There's not much snow on here, so the logs should thaw without
leaving too much water on the floor. That's all we need is to slip
and break our necks."
I smiled. Wufei may come off as a stubborn, ignorant chauvinistic
type, but actually he is a very nice and considerable person. He is
showing himself more and more, at least around me.
Then I heard the most too familiar sound since we've been in the
mansion. I could hear his back grinding against the stairs, his
fingers clawing at the wall, a few choice words on the way down, and
finally a loud `thud' as his head hit the floor, causing the rest of
his body to hang over his head. The slight moan that escaped his
lips let me know he was still conscious, and that he still didn't get
the door open.
"Duo, what the hell are you doing?" I couldn't tell if Wufei was
concerned for his well-being, or if he was annoyed by all the noise
Duo was making.
"He has been trying to get the door open to the attic all morning.
He is curious about what could be up there."
"Really?" Now Wufei had that `curious george' look in his eye. This
was going to be a loooong day.
As if there was a psychic connection between the two, Duo bolted
right off his back and up the stairs, followed closely by Wufei. I
turned to leave the kitchen, the last remnants of noise being Wufei
trying to kick the door down screaming in chinese with Duo yanking at
the knob.
Just another day.
-------------------------------------------------------
[1] Prague is the capitol of the Czech Republic.
I know I use 'cat' alot, but I like that nickname for Quatre. It's so
cute to me!! So please don't be upset. I've only seen GW on cartoon
network and don't have access to subs or anything, so I don't know
how his name is pronounced without it sounded like the number four.
Don't hurt me! *cowers away in shame*
