Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Deceptions Revised ❯ Dark Deceptions Revised 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Last Chapter

~Truly?~

~Yes. What is also disturbing is what Gary Jansen told me recently. He met an old warrior named Traian Trigovise and his lifemate Joie Sanders in Austria where he was sent by our Prince. Traian had battled vampires that discovered a cave with ancient and powerful spells created by wizards.~

~Wizards? Father, this is something that sounds straight from a fantasy novel.~

~Wizards existed, boy, side by side with Carpathians. Just because the humans blew everything out of proportions and added meaningless trivial nonsense to everything doesn't mean they weren't real. The vampires were after those spells for some unknown reason and they want a female who can touch objects and know everything there is to know about it. Those three mortals you're guarding are now targets for these monsters and it's up to you to protect them. You're the only thing standing between them falling into the clutches of the vampires.~

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Chapter 7

Duo slowly awoke from his nap, a jaw-breaking yawn signaling his return to consciousness. Blinking bleary eyes, he glanced around, his eyes lighting on Heero who was busy typing on a laptop.

"Whatcha doing?" Duo asked groggily.

"Typing a report," was the automatic response.

"What for?"

"For Darlian's advisors."

"I've never been told to type a report before. How come they're making you do one?"

Heero smirked as he cast an amused glance at Duo. "Because no one can make heads or tales of your incessant ramblings, Duo."

"Hey!" Duo punched Heero's arm in indignation. "I resent that remark! I make perfect sense, thank you very much!"

Heero snickered as he closed the laptop with a click. "We're almost to our destination," he said, tucking the machine in carrying case.

"Oh? Where is our next destination, Heero? I was too pissed at you to pay any attention."

"I noticed. We're should be arriving in Austria and staying for three days then travel to Hungary for another five days. Our last stop will be Poland where we will be stationed for two weeks."

"Poland, huh? Always wanted to try Polish sausages. Think they're any good, Heero?"

"I refuse to answer such an asinine question," Yuy replied just as the overhead lights came on. Dutifully, the boys fastened their seatbelts and returned everything to their upright and standing position.

Duo, never having traveled to this part of the country, had his face pressed against the window as the plane landed. He giggled and gasped at the lush countryside while the other part of his brain focused on the possible sniper locations that were a threat to Quatre.

As they stepped off the small aircraft, Yuy grabbed Duo's arm and pulled him away to the terminal. "Don't worry about your bags or customs," Heero stated, steering Duo through the airport. "Relena and her father have already arrived at the hotel. I'm to bring you and Quatre there immediately after dinner."

"Dinner?"

Heero stopped for a moment, a banal look on his face. "You are hungry, aren't you? I could take you straight to the hotel if you wish while Quatre enjoys a five star meal at a restaurant Barton and I scoped out."

Duo's eyes widened and he waved his hands in front of him. "No, no! I'm hungry! I really am! Listen to my stomach, do you hear it growl?"

Heero snickered again as he strode off again with a not so reluctant Duo following him.

Two hours later, Duo leaned back against the plush booth seat, hands patting his round stomach gleefully as a sated look flickered across his face.

"Aahh. That hit the spot!"

From across the table, Quatre giggled into a napkin. And promptly burped afterwards. His face flushed scarlet as Duo whooped with laughter, Heero smiled wryly, and Trowa held back chuckles.

Smiling, Duo propped his elbows on the table, palms cupping his chin to prop his head up. "You know," he mused, "if I didn't know any better, this could classify as a double date."

Heero smacked the back of Duo's head. "That's because you don't know any better, baka," he retorted. "Are you finished? We've yet to check in at the hotel."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sheesh, Yuy! And I thought I was a slave driver!"

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Heero prowled the perimeters of the large building, his senses flaring into the night to detect any disturbances. It bothered him that there were so many zombies and their masters, the vampires, so close to his homeland. Hunters lived throughout this region, as did his Prince, and they should have easily been able to sense the evilness that surrounded the minions of darkness. But none of them did. It troubled him greatly to no extent.

~Find anything, Yuy?~ Wufei asked.

~No. Nothing. It makes me suspicious.~

~Trowa feels uneasy as well. He's been hovering over his blonde since you've arrived.~

~We can do nothing but be on guard until whatever it is out there presents itself. Expect the unexpected, Chang. And be prepared to send out a call of aid. I have a feeling things are going to get ugly.~

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Duo stared with wide, unblinking amethyst eyes at his victim sitting across the table from him. When he received no response to his usually fail proof scheme for attention, he tried another tactic. "Heeerrrooo," he whined nasally. "I'm bored."

Heero didn't even bother a glance at the braided boy. "I don't have time to entertain you, Duo," he replied.

"Let me play on your laptop then."

Heero's fingers froze above the keyboard. "You're kidding, right?" Heero scoffed. "No way am I going to let you touch this thing. You'll crash it like you did last time."

"It wasn't my fault! I didn't know I couldn't press those series of keys! No one told me before!"

"Well I'm telling you now, you're not touching my laptop. Find something to amuse yourself with."

"Like what?" Duo retorted, crossing his arms against his chest and sulking in the chair. "Trowa's with Quatre. Relena is with Wufei. That leaves me stuck with nothing to do, with you."

"Actually, Relena is being guarded with half a dozen men and has no further assistance from me."

Two head turned to the direction of the speaker. Leaning against the doorframe stood Wufei, an incredulous look on his face.

"Did she kick you out, Fei?" Duo chuckled.

Wufei fought back a sneer. "Yes. And my name is Wufei, Maxwell."

Duo stuck out his tongue, a finger pulling down the bottom eyelid to reveal a network of red veins. Shaking his head, Wufei entered the room and collapsed on a chair next to Duo.

"Anything of interest in here?" he inquired.

Scoffing, Duo went back to sulking at Heero. "No! Heero won't let me do anything. Not even go visit Quatre. I'm stuck here with Mr. Hey Everyone, Enjoyment's Really Overrated Yuy."

The corners of Wufei's lips twitched at Duo's quip. Coughing into his hand, he smoothed his face into a bland expression. "Must be excruciating for you, Duo."

"You have no idea, Wu-bear."

"I am merely protecting you from dangerous situations," Heero defended himself, secretly irked at the nicknames Duo created for his friend. Wufei wouldn't appreciate such cuddly stuff like that. "And his name is Wufei, Maxwell."

"Whatever. Names are what other people give you. What you call yourself is what matters. Right, Wu-baby?"

Wufei shot Duo a baleful glare.

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The stay in Austria proved uneventful and boring. Vice Foreign Minister Darlian completed his speeches and press meetings behind of schedule but they still managed to make it to Hungary on time. Thanks to Heero Yuy.

By then, Duo was seriously contemplating the benefits of strangling the man. He fumed, he seethed, he smoldered in a sea of righteous indignation. He was the boss! He was the head of the bodyguards and security detail! He was the one who should be calling all the shots! So who the hell did Yuy think he was taking over his job and manhandling him into doing whatever he wanted to do.

He knew he had been pushed to his limit when, after Heero blithely ordered him to stop moping and start coordinating orders for the staff, Duo had hurled one of his throwing knives at him. The blade had whizzed by Heero's face, slicing off a few of his chocolate brown locks, before imbedding itself in the wall behind the boy. Heero, that infuriating male idiot, merely raised an eyebrow. And repeated his damn order.

With nothing to do, Duo had plenty of time to reflect on his life. One thing that was a constant in Duo's life that he had noticed was his inability to follow the rules. Every chance he got, he bucked the system and created chaos. It was due to chaos and destruction that Shinigami was born. Sure, he couldn't remember much about his mother before she was murdered, relying on pictures to recall her face and appearance. But he did remember the scent of her perfume, the way she hummed when she brushed her hair, how she would twirl around and around with him in her arms. His most cherished memory was her laughter. It reminded him of wind chimes tinkling in the air. What no one knew, not even his own father, was the memory of her blood. Duo, at the tender age of four, had walked into his parents' bedroom, having been woken up from a nightmare and seeking his mother's embrace, when he saw the splash of bright, vibrant scarlet across the walls. His mother lay in a mangled heap on the floor, her chestnut hair tangled and matted down with blood. She was laying on her stomach, her favorite yellow sundress soaked and stained red, her face turned to Duo's. He remembered her once sparkling violet eyes gazing back at him cold, flat, and lifeless.

At the moment, at that precise instant in time, Shinigami was born. Duo had red the message smeared across the wall in his mother's blood. Mine. The assassin had taken his mother's soul for his own. Another life ended. Another number to the body count. Duo had closed the door to the bedroom and returned to his own. Monsters under the bed didn't frighten him anymore. It was the monster that he let willingly inside his soul that did. The demon, the dual identity that came to be known as Shinigami. The God of Death. The other half of Duo's soul.

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Quatre walked into Duo's room and immediately spotted his friend slouched forward in a chair by the table. His face was hidden in his arms, face pressed against the polished wood, a dejected air about him. Smiling, Quatre tapped him on his shoulder.

"Duo? What are you doing?"

Duo lifted his head from the table, eyes bloodshot, a large red spot on his forehead. "I'm bored out of my mind, Quatre!" he groaned. "I was just banging my head against the table in hope of knocking myself out so I could escape this depravity!"

A peal of laughter erupted from the slender youth. "Heero being hard on you?" he chuckled.

"And then some. I swear to god, Kat, that man has a permanent stick shoved up his ass! I haven't been this supervised since my dad hired two nannies, a military instructor for a tutor, and my own personal bodyguard when I was ten!"

"Duo, the only reason you had two nannies, a military instructor for a tutor, and a bodyguard is because you kept running away from your lessons."

"That's because the lessons were boring! I was fleeing from terminal insanity, Q-man. Homer and Plato are dead. Dead! Who wants to hear the preaching and theology of dead guys anyway?"

Quatre tisked, hands on his hips as he shook his head in helplessness. "And here you are, a certified mini-genius," he mused. "How that happened surely is a quirk in nature."

Duo grinned cheekily as he leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs and arms out. "What about you, Q-call? Where's your around the clock shadow?"

Quatre blushed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I sent him to go get me some McDonalds," he replied sheepishly. "Then I sneaked passed the four bodyguards he assigned in his absence and snuck over here."

Duo whooped with laughter, his body shaking so hard, he toppled over backwards in his chair, clutching his sides for air.

"Aahh! Ah - ha-ha-ha! Quatre, that's s-s-superb! Couldn't have done it b-better myself!" Duo continued to stammer, limbs flailing helpless as he took deep wheezing breaths, stuttered, then continued the entire cycle of hilarity over again.

Quatre nudged Duo's side with the toe of his shoe. "Stop that!" he giggled, caught up in his friend's infectious laughter. "So maybe I was bored too!"

Duo stumbled, gripping the edge of the table for leverage as he crawled to his feet. He leaned his hip against the table, wiping the tears from his eyes as the last vestiges of laughter died. "God Kat, I think I'm rubbing off on you too much."

"You can say that again," replied a new voice. Relena stepped in, a Cheshire grin on her face. "I think you're rubbing off on all of us, Duo."

"Oh god! Not you too!"

Relena smirked, looking very much like the cat who got all the cream. "If I have to stand one more moment of Wufei's rants about the injustice in the world, I'll go mad," she stated drolly.

"It's the Terrible Trio back together again, eh?" Duo chuckled. "Jeez, remember when we were kids and gave our parents nightmares?"

"How could we forget?" Relena snickered. "Father blames us for his grey hairs."

"What say we relive those days?" Duo suggested with a maniac gleam in his amethyst eyes. "Just for tonight? They say Hungary is a party country."

"You say that for every country!" Quatre mocked.

"But Duo's proposal is tempting, Kat," Relena declared, an answering glimmer in her eyes. "I'm feeling a little wicked tonight. Let's bust out of this cellblock and have a little fun tonight? What do you say, boys?"

. . . TBC . . .

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Lady S: Wicked! Relena's feeling wicked! Mwa ha ha ha . . .

Duo: If you ask me, she's not the only wicked witch around here.

Lady S & Relena: Hey!

Heero: Baka. Be nice to the author.

Duo: Or what?

Heero: Or she'll never write a lemon scene with you and me!

Duo: Yipe!

Lady S: *smirk snicker sneer*