Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil And Demon ❯ Anger Management ( Chapter 5 )

A/N:

 

justkat: In the beginning, I had some scenes where Berns indeed was paired with D&D, but I decided that they didn't fit into the story. Sorry about that. OC's are great for offering a new perspective, but rarely something to include into already established group dynamics. Don't worry; Berns is pretty happy in front of his TV.

 

Thank you very much for your encouragement; I really hope Devil and Demon won't fall prey to the same underworldly creature as its role model Dominion Road. I already have most scenes planned until the end; I've only got to finish about half of them…

 

 

~oooOoooOoooxxxxxxxxxxxxoooOoooOooo~

 

 

Anger Management

 

 

 

A heavy knock on his door interrupted his solitary readings. After the episode with that troublesome police officer, Wufei had retreated to his room once again to get the Devil out of his sight because he did not want to be held responsible for anything - say, some unexplained physical injuries - happening to Maxwell. The Devil really had gone too far that time.

 

It was quite a large room with a huge double bed in one corner, right next to a big glass door leading to a balcony populated with several potted plants. At the foot of the bed, there were two wardrobes and a dresser with a small door to a private bathroom adjoined. On the other wall, there was an antique fire place faced by a seating arrangement with a couch, two armchairs, and a small coffee table that currently was cluttered with several books. Chinese poetry, a dictionary, antique Roman and Greek plays, and, beneath a well-worn book, a small hand-held data-pad and some chips.

 

Except for the fire-place, everything was laid out with a soft, beige carpet that muffled all sounds so that it was relaxingly quiet in the room. And just when Wufei had more or less managed to forget what had happened yesterday evening, someone had to knock and disturb his precariously balanced peace.

 

Glaring at the door, he lowered his book exceedingly slowly and sat up straight in his arm chair.

 

“Yes?”

 

The solid wooden planks swung inward to admit the lonely form of Heero Yuy, and Wufei barely suppressed a groan.

 

Heero Yuy was just about the last person he wanted to see, second only to Maxwell. He knew he hadn't made a good impression on them earlier this day with the way he had sulked and almost attacked Maxwell. And glowering throughout the whole interrogation of the UESN-officer certainly couldn't have improved that impression. But that didn't mean that they would get the chance to rub it in. He would finish the mission even if it killed him.

 

Not giving the Perfect Soldier a chance to sit down, Wufei immediately went on the offensive with a distinct frown on his face.

 

“What? If you want to talk about yesterday - shove it. I'm faring quite well on my own despite popular opinion, so I think you can leave now.”

 

Of course Yuy sat down nonetheless, but at least, he didn't look that self-confident and assured anymore. A lonely victory that left a sour aftertaste on the roof of his mouth, but Wufei swallowed it together with the tail-end of his heatedly rising emotions. It would do him no good if he exploded right there and then. Was there any way to get rid of Yuy without applying physical violence? He really didn't want to talk to the Perfect Soldier right now.

 

Carefully, Wufei set his book down onto the table. He could see the gears turning behind those icy blue eyes, trying to extrapolate the best approach after that rather harsh welcome. Wufei almost sighed, keeping up his thoroughly displeased mask in hope of conveying his wish for solitude. Yuy took no heed of his unvoiced request though, and to be honest, Wufei had expected nothing else from the Perfect Soldier. Whenever Yuy had set himself a mission, he would neither abort nor let anyone discourage him from his goals. New parameters would be factored in, but the main objective always remained untouched.

 

They were staring at each other, one scanning for an opening, the other defiant and not wanting to back down.

 

When Yuy finally began talking, the attack came from a direction Wufei had not anticipated at all. “Actually, I have come to keep the Devil's promise.”

 

What? Which promise of the Devil? The one where the Devil had promised to tell about his past?

 

Well, that was certainly overdue by now. Wufei had almost been dying of curiosity ever since he had first set eye on Devil and Demon. Was Yuy trying to mend fences between Wufei and Maxwell? No, that was laughable. Probably just Maxwell being too cowardly to come himself and talk to him.

 

Whatever.

 

He really wanted to know how the joking jester Maxwell could impersonate such a ruthless player like the Devil. And last night had told him that there was something seriously wrong with the Devil, almost as if he was a completely different person.

 

Sure, role playing was an essential compound of the Scene, and he also did so to some degree. It made things much more interesting. But that was all: a simple game. He had the dark premonition that it was far more than a game for the Devil. Even Treize, who must have had quite a name in the scene, had never exuded such an intense aura of malevolence and unquestionable authority.

 

Motioning for Yuy to go on, Wufei kept listening. Despite his bad mood, he was slightly curios as to who and what the Devil was. The more he heard though, the more his anger found a focus on Professor G, the man who had put Maxwell through some serious mind-bending shit.

 

To his surprise, Yuy's tersely modulated voice hinted at a stunning amount of emotions while retelling Maxwell's past, but his report was as short and concise as Wufei was used to hearing from the Perfect Soldier. The story itself though raised the fine hairs on Wufei's neck.

 

He could understand that G saw it necessary for his war preparations to train Maxwell to resist torture, and one best fought fire with fire. Pain, he could understand. That was what basic torture was all about. In a very theoretical sense, he could even understand rape having been part of Maxwell's training - there had been some seriously loony fucks with OZ. That did not mean that he approved; it only meant that he could understand the reasons.

 

But apparently, G had limited himself to merely exposing Maxwell to such situations, never supplying the talkative American with methods of dealing with the psychological aftermath. Apparently, G had operated under the motto `grow stronger or die', and the Devil had been a more or less coincidental by-product of this inhuman training. From what he had seen during the last few days, Wufei could only affirm that the Devil was almost completely separate from Maxwell.

 

He hadn't known that Maxwell was so close to being a split personality, but considering his past, it was a small miracle in itself that Maxwell's psyche was not completely fucked up beyond repair. During the war, Maxwell had constantly fed them tidbits of his past, but apparently, he had never even begun to touch the juicier parts. From what he had told them, Wufei had gathered that Maxwell hadn't led a sheltered life, but that it had been that bad? That made Wufei almost grateful for not having had any official pilot training at all.

 

When Yuy was done, he merely kept studying Wufei with one of his intense gazes, apparently searching for any reactions. Slightly put off by the silence, Wufei had to actively restrain himself from commenting on the injustice that had been committed against Maxwell. It was an injustice, but Yuy knew that as well as him. Had Yuy told him all that to excuse Maxwell's behavior?

 

Yuy was still watching his hands clench and unclench around the arm-rest, an unconscious sign of his inner turmoil. Fishing for words, Wufei tried to find a response to that incredible story. Finally, he resorted to some sort of half-attack.

 

“Why are you telling me all that? Keeping the Devil's promise cannot have been the whole reason.”

 

Without batting an eyelash, Yuy stood question and answer. “It is necessary that you know about the Devil and his history. After this mission, Duo will need all our support to find back to himself.”

 

How much more had they been hiding from him during the war? “So the Devil is beyond his control and not willing to go back to wherever he came from? How much exactly can Maxwell do while the Devil is active?”

 

“The Devil is not one to let himself easily be shoved away; that goes against every grain of his nature. But there are certain things Duo can influence while the Devil is in control, as long as they don't run counter to the Devil's intentions.”

 

“Maxwell has an influence on the Devil's decisions? Does he know what the Devil is doing?”

 

A silent nod.

 

Wufei cut a grimace, getting some horror-visions of a hyper Maxwell accusing him all day long of being a pain-slut. “Everything?”

 

Yuy nodded once again, looking at him with a gaze he couldn't quite interpret. Pity? Alertness? Expectations? “But Duo won't think less of you because of what has happened during the last few days. If anyone can understand you, it's him. He knows better than anyone else that the Devil is a master at this game. Unfortunately though, you will have to deal with the Devil again because at the moment he is the primary mission leader.”

 

Disbelievingly, Wufei looked at Yuy. Dwarfed by the large chair he was sitting in, Yuy did not seem like a war-hardened soldier but more like a teenager barely out of high school. He knew though that appearance was deceptive. Did that also apply for Maxwell's joking jester-personality? But still, Maxwell showing enough initiative to somehow take over the mission? Whenever they had worked together in the past, Maxwell had always provided comical relief, explosive backup, and stealthy support. Never though had he wanted to take lead.

 

Yuy's eyes spoke a warning. “Don't mix up Duo with the Devil. The Devil thrives on control, making him even more focused than Duo. And Duo is more than capable enough for leading a mission. You know that as well as I. He only lacks the will to lead. The Devil takes care of that - the Devil couldn't not lead a mission he participates in. The only problem might be that the Devil's goals are not necessarily ours, and Duo and I only have limited influence on him.”

 

Magnificent. Why in the world had Maxwell taken that mission if he knew of the dangers? For that matter, why had Yuy allowed Maxwell to take it?

 

But despite all his misgivings, he had to grudgingly admit that Maxwell - the Devil - had been a god-sent addition without whom they would not have come as far. Now though, they apparently had to deal with an entity focused on pursuing their own objectives, which coincidentally had been the same as theirs - so far. “Can the mission still be finished successfully with such a high risk? I think we would be better off without the Devil if he is as unstable as you say.”

 

An almost helpless shrug. Something must be seriously wrong for the Perfect Soldier to display such human behavior. “Duo and I have been discussing this for a long time. We need the Devil's reputation if we don't want to blow our cover like Sam or Bartch. Devil and Demon have been established for a long time before we entered Preventers, and still the Owner suspects us. I think it's only due to the Devil and your show that he gives us the benefit of doubt.”

 

“Then what is all that talk about Devil and Demon, the Duo from Hell? You as the Demon are supposed to have a reputation almost equivalent to the Devil.”

 

Yuy shook his head. “After my reconnaissance yesterday, I am only tolerated because of the Devil. In the scene, we are an established pair where Devil is the dominant, the master, and I am the slave. And I hope that you are aware of the fact that a master is always responsible for the actions of his slave. So, because the Devil showed yesterday that he is as hard-core as ever, they are still reluctant to take any measures against me, even if they think me suspicious. If they accused me of something, they would implicitly accuse my Master of the same. And they apparently aren't ready yet to do that.”

 

So much for getting the Devil out of the equation. “So what now?”

 

“Continue the mission. Between the two of us, Duo and I are reasonably certain that we can steer the Devil into the right direction. For that, we need your input of you playing your part of the game without hesitation.”

 

Wufei intently looked at Yuy, not quite believing that he was talking so readily, but he didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. At the moment, they couldn't do much about the Devil, so he should use the chance to get more answers out of Yuy. Studiously ignoring the implicit question, he asked about the other side of the Duo from Hell. “And what's your story? Is the Demon your equivalent to the Devil?”

 

A slight flash of - pain? fear? - flitted across Yuy's face. “Partially. The Demon is not so much of a split personality as an alternate mindset that allows me to blend in with crowds such as the one in the club. You didn't think that J had trained me to be no more than a machine, did you? If J had merely wanted a perfectly trained war-machine, he could have built himself a robot - with much less trouble. I am the Demon, just like I am the Perfect Soldier, and several more facets which are all equipped to deal with different situations.”

 

The Perfect Soldier? There were other aspects to Heero Yuy?

 

Not even a week ago, Wufei would have shaken his head, but the Demon clearly was nothing at all like the Perfect Soldier. Other personas though? Well, he had always wondered how Yuy could have survived for several weeks at Peacecraft's school without drawing too much unwanted attention to himself. It was alarming to think that he should have misjudged the Wing pilot so thoroughly for such a long time. How much was Yuy -

 

“But our past is only part of the reason I have come here.”

 

- still hiding? Well, that one he'd already known. Yuy only coming to his room to give him intelligence on their mission parameters was apparently too good to be true. How many more reasons did Yuy have for coming to his room?

 

Slightly exasperated, Wufei glared at Yuy, albeit with much less heat than at the beginning. “If you want to talk about yesterday, forget it. Maxwell - or the Devil, or whoever he is - has already been here this morning. I don't need any more `good advice'.”

 

“Do you think me weak?”

 

Say what? What was Yuy trying to tell him? “Of course not.”

 

“Even now that you know that I am submissive to the Devil?”

 

Oh, now he knew how the wind blew. Was Yuy by any chance trying to make use of a psychology degree one of his unmentioned personas just happened to have?

 

Anger rising once again at that insult to his intelligence, Wufei gruffly shot back. “That doesn't make you weak. Don't think me so naïve as to consider submissive being equal to weak. Now what do you want here - all of the reason this time, please.”

 

Yuy was still sitting there completely unfazed, as if he had known that Wufei would respond in such a way. Had the Wing pilot swallowed too much of the Zero System during the war? Or was Wufei just that predictable? Gradually, Wufei was getting the unsettling feeling that he had deliberately been herded into a direction he couldn't quite see yet.

 

“You are behaving irrationally towards the Devil for reasons that are closely related to yesterday. In your present state, you are unable to perform your part of the mission, a part which is essential to the overall success.”

 

Why had he even asked? He should have known that the Perfect Soldier wouldn't hesitate to point out all his flaws unfailingly. Unable to perform his part of the mission? That was an outrageous accusation. When had he ever failed a mission because of personal troubles? It was not his fault that earlier, the Devil had hit all of his buttons to set him off. He was very much able to deal with last night, no thanks to the Devil! With a forced calmness that robbed his voice of all expression, he tried to remain civil.

 

“Just what has given you the impression that I am unfit for the mission? If you have nothing better to do than insulting me - there is the door. As I said before: I would appreciate it if you left.”

 

“So you do not deny it.”

 

Sucking air sharply, Wufei murderously glared at the outrageously composed person sitting in front of him. Why the hell was Yuy so insistent that he did not partake in the mission? Yuy knew damn well that he rather wanted to die than be a liability. So what had brought on that humiliating turn of opinion? Was Yuy trying to make him angry to show that he indeed was not fit for the mission?

 

Deliberately unclenching his fists, he tried to stay rational. Yuy was entirely calm, but somehow his mere presence grated so badly on Wufei's nerves that he barely could keep himself in check. He'd never had such an extreme reaction to one of his fellow pilots. Yes, he grudgingly admitted to himself, he had some issues. But as long as his performance didn't suffer, no one should be complaining.

 

“I do not have any problems working together with Maxwell.”

 

With disgust, he realized that his voice had become so monotone that it rivaled that of the Perfect Soldier during his worst days. Wufei had to control himself too strongly to allow any emotion to slip through, another sign of his unsettlement that he studiously ignored. But Yuy had no such compunctions.

 

“I never doubted your abilities to work with Duo. I was talking about the Devil.”

 

Was that Maxwell's - or the Devil's or whoever's - idea of a joke? Did he get a kick out of riling him up?

 

But Wufei didn't see anything funny in sending Yuy to try and psychoanalyze him.

 

“Do you really want to tell me that you doubt I'm professional enough not to let our discrepancies affect the mission?”

 

“Under normal circumstances, I would not. But this situation is strikingly different. It requires you to completely submit to the Devil, something that cannot be faked, especially not after your performance yesterday. Duo is concerned that you don't trust him enough to pull it off.”

 

Trust? Maxwell dared to talk about trust when he had done anything to discourage it?

 

Wufei would have to have a serious talk with that word-breaking liar; after all, Maxwell had promised to answer Wufei's questions, but what had he done instead? Cuffed and chained and humiliated him in front of an audience in ways that weren't fit for a dog! Wufei's anger was mounting dangerously fast, rage bubbling up his throat at Maxwell's absolutely dishonorable actions, and -

 

“You are angry because I am right.”

 

- Yuy's studious observations were the last straw. Unable to tolerate the maddeningly dispassionate gaze any longer, he surged up from his chair right into Yuy's face, shoving the coffee table away, hanging on to his restraint with barely more than the skin of his teeth.

 

“Why would you think that I am angry? No, I am not angry because you only have been watching me like a hawk since yesterday. Sure, you and the Devil have come in purely by accident, interrupting and insulting me in MY room, and afterwards you have the gall to tell me that I have no place in the mission because of irrational behavior. No, I'm not angry at all!! If you know what's good for you, get out NOW!”

 

Almost spitting from rage, Wufei missed the split-second cue that would have forewarned him in any other situation. Yuy twisted, and then the world went askew. One moment, he was standing in front of Yuy, yelling at him, and the next, he was flat on his stomach with Yuy locking his arms behind him at an increasingly uncomfortable angle. Cursing himself for being caught off-guard, Wufei focused his anger to get out of the hold, bucking and writhing on the carpet, but Yuy did nothing more than adjust his grip a little, and Wufei's vision exploded into a collection of painful stars.

 

For several moments, he could do nothing more than pant heavily and will the stars away, not even able to flatter Yuy with all the interesting names that were multiplying like rabbits in his brain. Yuy's weight straddling his back was not making matters easier, and all the whip marks and slashes he had gotten the night before were burning. Yuy knew exactly where to dig in his knees to hit the short ribs, making his breath even shorter than it already was.

 

Helplessly, he raged against the iron-clad grip. Damn Yuy for being so thorough.

 

Baring his teeth with the urge to snarl into the floor, he nonetheless kept on trying to unseat Yuy with all the tricks he knew, not caring about the twinges of pain that were coming from his half-healed wounds.

 

One or two times he almost had him, being the slightly taller and heavier of the two, but Yuy's casual strength was like an unbreakable wall. A growl so low that his whole body was vibrating sat in his throat, almost making him choke from the pent-up anger that couldn't find a physical outlet quickly enough. Why the fuck couldn't Yuy have the decency of keeping at least an arm in biting range; that would be so much better than fruitlessly kicking into the air and clawing at his own shirt. He wanted to hurt someone, and…

 

Not caring about the last time the long, hairy carpet had been vacuumed, he bit down so hard that he could feel his teeth crush the fibers and complain about the harsh treatment. A furious scream of utter rage finally ripped itself out of his throat, muffled only by the mouthful of carpet he was grinding between his teeth, and he threw himself so hard against Yuy's grip that bursting stars of pain clouded his vision in a sea of neon lights.

 

Blood was roaring in his ears, but he nonetheless heard Yuy's grunt of effort. Serves him right. He felt that Yuy was sitting on top of him like someone would sit on a racing horse, digging his heels into Wufei's flanks to get a better grip. And just at that moment, someone knocked at the door.

 

Both of them froze, Wufei panting quietly, spitting out carpet hairs with as little sound as possible, Yuy disgustingly calm. They said nothing, waiting with their breath rustling almost inaudibly. Who would knock on his door? It couldn't be Winner because Winner either would have come in by now or felt with his space-heart that any interruption would be untimely. It couldn't be Maxwell, either, because he would let Yuy do his work. Barton?

 

Again a hollow-sounding rap from the door, followed by a concerned voice. “Are you all right?”

 

At first, he didn't recognize the speaker, then some connection deep in his brain clicked all of a sudden. That annoying police officer. What was his name? Berns something?

 

Spitting out some more woolen fibers that were making his mouth all fuzzy, Wufei bellowed into the carpet. “Yes, I'm alright. Go away!”

 

A little bit quieter, he hissed at Yuy. “Get off me!”

 

Yuy refused to budge. “Are you going to listen to me afterwards?”

 

Through the door, Berns' voice was a little bit muffled, but clearly understandable. “Are you sure? It sounded as if you had quite a nasty fall.”

 

“Yuy, get off me,” Wufei hissed again, trying to keep his humiliation in check, then added for Berns to hear: “A little accident. I'm fine. Thank you for your concern, but it is unnecessary.”

 

“Then you won't mind me having a quick look, will you?”

 

Cursing quietly into the carpet, Wufei tried to sit up, but to no avail. Yuy was still holding on too strongly. What the hell was he thinking?

 

Yuy's breath tickled the fine hairs along his ear when he whispered into Wufei's ear. “Promise that you will listen to what I have to say, and I will let you go.”

 

Swallowing harshly, Wufei called towards the door. “No problem, just hang on a minute, please.”

 

To Yuy, he snarled: “I promise, now get off me!”

 

Yuy was gone as quick as the wind, and Wufei scrambled to his feet in humiliation. Smoothing his hair and his clothes down quickly, he went to the door and wrenched it open. Berns, who had been leaning against the doorframe, almost toppled into the room and caught himself at the last moment. Eyeing Wufei closely, he finally nodded. “Sorry about that. Just wanted to make sure that you're ok. Chalk it up to an overactive sense of police duty, don't believe what you don't see and all that crap they fed us during police school.”

 

Wufei grunted, a little bit mollified. “Now that you have ascertained that I'm alright, is there anything else I can do for you?”

 

Looking anywhere but the small Chinese man in front of him, Berns was fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable with something. Finally, Wufei had enough with all the hemming and hawing. “Out with it!”

 

Despite the height difference between them, Berns behaved like a schoolboy who had received a dress-down by the principal. Hastily, he mumbled so fast that Wufei almost couldn't follow: “That was an excellent performance yesterday…”

 

Wufei cut a grimace at that wording; it reminded him very much of Treize and his way of talking. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought that the police officer had known the late Oz general, and he neither wanted to be reminded of the general nor of yesterday's events. Berns though seemed to interpret his face differently. “Don't look like that, it really was. That was really hot… I don't know how you did that. I mean, Lady Une demanding that of you…”

 

Harrumphing, Wufei corrected Berns. “First of all, Une did not command anything. We volunteered for this mission. And secondly, the Devil did all the work, so give him your compliments.”

 

“That's not true! From what I've heard, the Devil has pulled off such a show only once before because no one has been able to keep up with him - except for the Demon. And he didn't go easy on you at all; for some time…” Trailing off, Berns looked to Wufei's right, and his eyes went comically wide. If Wufei hadn't known better, he would have thought that they were threatening to pop out.

 

A slightly reddish tinge was spreading across Bern's face, and he hastily stuttered. “Eh, sorry, I didn't know I had interrupted something. Sorry about that. I'll be going then.”

 

With an increasingly heated face, Berns fled to the stairs with Wufei staring after him a little bit perplexed. He had felt Yuy moving behind him, but that was no reason for such a rushed exit, was it? Turning around, he had to take a second look, not quite believing what he saw the first time. Spluttering from surprise, Wufei slammed the door shut. No wonder Berns had run off like that.

 

“What the hell are you doing!”

 

Yuy just smiled lazily, stretching out a little bit further in the armchair that miraculously had been turned to face the door. His arms were caught above his head in the tank-top that he had divested not completely, and his legs (fortunately still clothed) were spread lewdly, hanging over the armrests with considerable space between them. Despite the bandages running across his torso, Yuy was writhing sinuously, his eyes lidded half shut, and his opened legs were drawing all attention to…

 

Wufei didn't need to be a mind reader to know what had gone through Berns' head, especially taking in his own mussed appearance. Riveting his eyes on Yuy's face, he cleared his throat. “Care to explain?”

 

Shrugging, Yuy got off the chair and leisurely pulled on his tank-top once again. “Got rid of him pretty fast, didn't I?”

 

Wufei opened his mouth to say something, but instead, he merely closed it again, shaking his head slightly. It would be a complete waste of time to talk to the Perfect Soldier about embarrassment and things you just didn't do. He had better things to do than arguing with a stubborn mule.

 

Focusing on what had happened just before the untimely interruption, Wufei got back to business despite his misgivings. The Perfect Soldier never did anything without reason. “Now, why are you really here? Was it just to show me how easily I can be angered?”

 

The seducing, comfortably relaxed Yuy from just moments ago was gone as if he had never existed, and instead, the Perfect Soldier was back. “Contrary to what you might think, I did not intend to imply that you have become obsolete to the mission. Rather the opposite. You are a center piece that is indispensable for success. It is in our interest that you are at peak performance. And as events of last night were our fault, Duo and I are even more obligated to help you recover.”

 

Stubbornly, Wufei refused the offer. “I don't need your help; I was doing fine on my own. And how was you holding me immobile supposed to help anyways?”

 

“I apologize for causing you discomfort - “, Wufei snorted at that. Yeah, right, as if Yuy was sorry. “ - but you needed to act out your anger. If we had several days for you to recuperate, I would have left on your demand, but we do not have that much time. Devil and Demon have to make an appearance tonight to show that Andrew Berns has not affected our performance, and I fear that you now are considered the Devil's pet and as such are obligated to accompany him. And despite your reassurances on the contrary, you are dangerously volatile at the moment. We cannot afford you to ignore this situation any longer.”

 

Growling low in his throat, Wufei almost jumped up again. The only thing that held him back was the truth in Yuy's words. If he had not been blinded so much by his anger, he wouldn't have missed Yuy's attack, something that could have cost his life during a mission. And if he had acknowledged his anger, he wouldn't have been blinded by it.

 

Judging by the tension in the room, Yuy was prepared for him to fly off the handle once again, and Wufei took momentary pleasure in not satisfying this expectation. When it was quiet for several seconds, Yuy continued as if nothing had happened. Cold bastard.

 

“You have been very angry all day long. This usually hints at unresolved problems. And as you normally are quite balanced, it seems safe to assume that those problems are linked to last night.”

 

If it hadn't been him on the receiving end of the treatment, Wufei would have found it hilarious that Heero Yuy, the Perfectly Emotionless Soldier, was trying to apply Psychology 101. And, to his chagrin, Yuy was quite right. Not that it was difficult to guess at the source of his problems, but they were talking about Yuy.

 

Sitting down in his previously vacated chair, Wufei gestured for Yuy to take a seat once again across the small coffee table separating them. Fortunately Yuy respected his whish for a little bit of distance and turned the other armchair around so that he was facing Wufei.

 

Leaning forward with his arms braced on the coffee table, Yuy continued. “I have a proposition to make. I ask you several questions that you answer truthfully - with the complete truth - and then I will leave you alone to deal with it on your own.”

 

Questions? Had he heard right? Did Yuy honestly believe that a few questions were going to help that much? In his opinion, that sounded far too much like an interrogation. He had better things to do than answer Yuy's doubtlessly intimate and highly offensive questions. But if that was the only way to get rid of Yuy without resorting to a similar scene like earlier…

 

Frowning, Wufei tried to impose his own conditions.

 

“Only if I get to ask questions, too, and no holding back from you, either.”

 

“Agreed.”

 

Yuy's quick-fire answer made Wufei choke back promptly on all the arguments he had prepared, catching him completely off-kilter. He barely kept himself from asking if he had heard right; his already open mouth had trouble voicing any coherent thought for a few moments. Finally, he worked up enough brains to finish the agreement, considerably less in control of the situation than he had wanted. Damn Yuy for turning the tables on him.

 

“So we have a deal. You a question, me a question, no holds barred. I assume that there is a limit to the amount of questions.”

 

Yuy's weight shifted a little bit, but his arms were still braced on the coffee table. He was watching Wufei like a hawk. “No more than ten questions. Is that alright with you?”

 

Making a conscious effort to relax his muscles, Wufei leaned back. Body language could tell a thousand small details, and he'd be damned if he gave the Perfect Soldier that advantage.

 

“Yes, that is fine. Now that you've already used your first question, it's my turn. You said that Demon and the Perfect Soldier were only two out of several different personas. What are the others?”

 

To his secret glee, he saw Yuy stiffen, the first sign today that he had been taken by surprise. Apparently, Yuy had not considered their game already started. Satisfied that he had unsettled at least some of Yuy's ironclad control, Wufei curiously waited for the answer with a slight smirk on his face.

 

Who had said that he would play fair? He had only agreed to answering Yuy's questions honestly and not try to deliberately misunderstand them. Anything else was free game as far as he was concerned. That would teach Yuy to be more careful with what he said in the future.

 

“Besides the Demon, there are the Physician, the Student, and the Scared Child. Their names should be self-explanatory. Of course, the Perfect Soldier is the basic template from which all the others operate, but each one of them is complete enough to be considered an independent entity. Nine questions left. What did you feel the first time you saw the room where you performed yesterday?”

 

Wufei barely cut back on a grimace. The very first hit already a low one. Despite how naïve the Perfect Soldier seemed emotion-wise, he sure knew how to find sore spots. Perhaps the Student or the Scared Child helping him? That would teach Wufei to be more careful of agreeing to seemingly harmless suggestions from Yuy. But now it was too late; he was honor-bound to answer truthfully.

 

“With OZ, I made the questionable acquaintance of torture chambers that were equipped more poorly and were still quite effective. But I was aware that there would be pain. It was the audience. They were staring at me and I didn't take well to it. I have never performed for... Contrary to you, I'm not very partial to others observing me having sex.

 

“But enough of that. What is the Demon's earliest memory?”

 

Whew, one down, eight to go. What joy.

 

“I already told you the Demon is part of me. The Demon's memories can not be separated from mine. But if you are asking about the time Dr. J declared the Demon to be ready, that was in August 194 when I was sent to one of the more dangerous night clubs on L1. I was told to entice the target into following me to a motel room and then shoot her. The Demon took exception to shooting someone in a rented room, so instead, he slit the target's throat in a dark alley-way.

 

“What is your best memory of Fire?”

 

Just great. The Demon was just as murderous as everyone else of Yuy's personas. But from the Demon's reputation, that shouldn't have surprised him. The only thing that irked him was that Yuy was able to speak so calmly of killing someone. Sure, Wufei had killed hundreds - if not thousands - of Oz soldiers himself during the war, but that hadn't been anything as - personal - as an assassination. The only time he had really killed someone face to face had been with Treize, and that memory was still haunting his dreams occasionally.

 

But enough of that. What was his best memory of Treize? Certainly not that one fateful sparring match that had resulted in that ridiculous promise. And not those last few minutes during space battle. No, it had to be somewhere in between. But where?

 

“I think when he taught me how to control a submissive. He was just sitting there in his chair and watching me and Zechs play. I saw that he was really getting into our scene, and I knew that that was a way of honoring my promise without running into danger of revealing war-relevant information to the enemy.

 

“You mentioned that you have played with Fire before. When was that?”

 

Yuy looked thoughtful for a moment.

 

“Late August, 195. A few weeks before he was forced to resign as OZ general. We met at a private party, and despite our different political opinion, we did a scene together soon afterwards. He was quite - inventive.

 

“Seven questions left. Compare Fire and Devil. What are similarities and differences?”

 

Feh. Apparently, Yuy really had a psychology degree - or Wufei just had a rotten stroke of luck. How the hell did Yuy know what to ask to get straight to the hurting spots? But as he had already thought about it earlier, answering was not such a big problem as it might have been otherwise.

 

“Similarities: Both of them used circumstances to force me into a scene with them. Both of them are Tops. Dominants. Both of them have a knack for making me react without thinking first - both in and out of the scene. Differences: Treize always left me a chance to back out. He never pushed the envelope too far. He had earned the right of being called `master'. He never pretended to be anything else.”

 

Thinking about his next question, Wufei was looking anywhere but Yuy. Finally, his eyes fell on the picture of a hunting party above the fireplace. The picture was a replica of an old paining, but the replica itself was so old that it also was worth quite a bit. Dogs were running alongside several horses on which stiff men and women were sitting in unnatural poses. He wondered how they had caught any deer at all because such a big party must have made a lot of noise. No, hunting was a much better sport when someone was on his own.

 

Suddenly, he knew his next question. “Why did you choose to submit to Maxwell?”

 

“I do not submit to Duo. I submit to the Devil. And I submit to him because there is no other choice. We met up in a night-club on one of the lesser L2-colonies. J sent me there to increase the Demon's knowledge and spread my name. The Devil was off-duty. As the two of us were the youngest, some patrons interested in boys demanded we did something together. From the beginning, the Devil had made clear that he didn't tolerate anyone exerting control over him, and so I took the role of submissive. It wasn't so much of a choice but rather necessity. With his history of abuse, the Devil is unable to take on any other role than that of the dominant.”

 

Yuy was utterly focused all of a sudden, and that was making Wufei's skin itch and tingle uncomfortably. What did Yuy have in store now? Keeping a tight lid on all reactions, he waited for the inevitable next question.

 

“But I don't think that was the real question. You want to know why I want to submit to the Devil without reservations. But that's an answer that everybody has to find for himself. There is no generic answer. Some do it because they seek the thrill of danger, some because they get off on being humiliated, beaten, bound, controlled, or any other variation thereof. Some do it because they feel they need to be punished, some because they want to be loved, and some because it is their way of showing their love.

 

“My question now. You said that both Fire and Devil forced you to participate in a scene. Is there anyone you could imagine to scene with as a sub - voluntarily?”

 

What did Yuy want to get out of him? Someone else to replace the Devil for the mission, or just whether he generally was interested? He couldn't ask outright because that would be counted as one of his questions, but he had to answer… Dumb luck that they hadn't covered that situation in their rules. Well, he could say that it was Yuy's fault that he didn't ask his question right. But, to be fair, it probably would be better if they cleared that up front before there was a misunderstanding.

 

“Time out. Question towards the rules of the game: Can I ask you to clarify your question without that counting as one of my own questions?”

 

Raising an eyebrow, Yuy nodded. “As long as you haven't answered my question, none of your questions will count towards your quota. But I have the choice of not answering.”

 

That seemed like a reasonable solution.

 

“The person you are talking about: Anyone at all or someone for the mission?”

 

“Anyone. Does not have to be involved in the scene or interested in you - or alive.”

 

Ok, that was a whole different sort of question. He had an inkling what Yuy was asking about, but he wasn't sure. In any case - it couldn't have been an accident that Yuy had included Treize in the available persons. Would he really submit to Treize without having that promise hang over his head?

 

Remembering those last weeks before the grand battle in space, there was only one possible answer.

 

“Without the war, Treize. And if Zechs was of a more dominant nature, him probably, too.”

 

Yuy didn't look surprised in the least, the answer apparently having been quite obvious. Anyone else he could imagine?

 

Despite being with Preventers for more than four years, he hadn't made any close friends in the agency, probably because of his age. Even if he was one of their top agents, he often was mistaken for a little boy who was supposed to be in school, and the rest of them just balked at receiving orders from someone not even twenty years of age. Une had seen that problem coming and had circumvented it - partially - by giving him and the other pilots the status of Special Consultants, meaning that they were not required to jump through a majority of the hoops all regular agents were forced to. And most of the time, they were sent on missions that didn't require anyone else besides three or four Gundam pilots.

 

But during clean-up afterwards, they had been mistaken for loitering teens more than once, and in some cases, not even their badges had helped them. Wufei could remember at least two or three different incidents when it had taken the Lady to verify that, yes, they were Preventer Agents, and, no, she could not tell them more because they didn't have high enough clearance.

 

That already eliminated most of the people he knew. Mei Ran? No, that just felt wrong. Maybe if she had lived, she would have changed, but all of her personality before she had died… She had been completely straight-forward, focused on being the strongest warrior. There had been no room within her for games of any sort.

 

So who was left? Sally? Une? No, you just didn't do that with your doctor or your commander. Well, you didn't do that with the enemy, either, but Treize had happened under extenuating circumstances. So, who was left? There were only the other pilots, and if he had a choice, he wouldn't ever scene with Maxwell again.

 

“Theoretically, I could imagine Winner in the position of a dominant. Perhaps even Barton.”

 

No way he'd willingly scene with Maxwell, so that only left…

 

Staring intently at Yuy, he deliberated whether he could submit to Yuy. Well, `could' was the wrong expression. He always could submit to Yuy. The question was whether he wanted to do so in a context that could mean everything from light bondage to heavy blood-play.

 

Finally, he made his decision, and he forced himself to keep looking at Yuy, not taking the cowardly way out.

 

“You, after adequate discussion before-hand.”

 

Thankfully, Yuy didn't react at all, not surprised, but not knowingly either. Now that that embarrassing part was over, it was time for his next question. And Heavens be damned if he didn't try to come up with a suitably embarrassing question in return.

 

“What does submission to the Devil mean for you?”

 

Yuy wasn't embarrassed in the least; he even had the gall to smile at Wufei. Thinking back to his last question, Wufei had to admit that this one was a bit predictable. Nonetheless, he was interested in an honest answer. He couldn't quite fathom the relationship between Devil and Demon, which irked him considerably.

 

“Being close to Duo. The Devil is part of Duo, and if I want to live with Duo, I have to live with the Devil, too. Since the Devil doesn't allow for anything else than submission, this is what I do. It means that I give up all control to the Devil and trust that he doesn't abuse it. Ironically, I have found out that the more I surrender to him, the less he is inclined to humiliate me. Since the Devil knows that I wouldn't hesitate if he told me to strip and do the Macarena naked in front of the Parliament, he can allow himself to not make me do it.

 

“But Duo is the main reason. He doesn't like to see me humiliated or harmed, so I don't give the Devil reason to.”

 

Wufei raised an eyebrow. Although he knew better, he asked anyways. “You don't consider what the Devil did to you the day before yesterday hurting you?”

 

Yuy actually smirked. “I believe you witnessed first-hand how much I enjoyed that. You have enough experience to understand that the right combination of painful and pleasant stimuli can be immensely pleasurable. When I submit to the Devil, he can feel free to abandon his own defensive gestures and give me pleasure.”

 

“By beating you bloody with a riding crop.” Wufei shook his head almost disbelievingly. Yuy looked as if he wanted to say something, but Wufei cut him off. “Don't. I know what you mean. It's just that spoken out loud, it sounds quite insane. You can't allow yourself the slightest doubt in your submission because otherwise the Devil will react and really harm you, and then your doubts will become even greater. A vicious circle if I've ever seen one.”

 

To Wufei's surprise, Yuy nodded.

 

“I know. One more reason to finish the mission as quickly as possible. Fifth question. You mentioned that Fire never `pushed the envelope too far'. In which way did the Devil cross your limits?”

 

Wufei grumbled a bit at the intrusiveness, but he was not really angry. After the last question he should have known that they would only get more embarrassing. Damn Yuy and his Psychology 101.

 

With some effort he kept his dignity in front of Yuy's steady stare.

 

“Oh, just about from the beginning. When he made me agree to participate in his nice little show yesterday, that was under undue influence,-”

 

Suddenly, Yuy looked alert and tense. “You wouldn't have agreed otherwise?”

 

Shooting Yuy a dirty glare in response to that obvious question, Wufei continued as if nothing had happened. “- as I said, undue influence, he didn't keep his part of the agreement we struck in the club, and to top it off, he forced me to beg like a mangy dog in front of all those vultures you call audience.”

 

He became more and more aware that he was whining.

 

“If it hadn't been for the mission and his manipulations, I would never have agreed to a scene with him. How was your first meeting with the Devil?”

 

Leaning forwards slightly in the chair, Yuy shifted a tiny bit, and Wufei watched with a hawk's eye. Yuy seemed uncomfortable. For the first time during this tedious session, he seemed to have scored a hit on his own. About time! It was a pity that he had calmed down enough to realize the childishness of such actions. Yuy was trying to help him, for goodness' sake.

 

“Painful. Mind-bending. He took me as far as I could go, and then pushed some more. He demanded more from me than I thought I could give. He was flaying me alive for those patrons that were interested in two boys going at each other.

 

“Why I returned to him?” A bitter laugh - from the Perfect Soldier? “Once the Demon emerges, I feel exactly what the Demon feels. And the Demon likes the Devil and his commanding nature. The Demon likes being forced to exceed his own limits. So I struck a deal with the Devil: he can live out his need for dominance as long as he does no permanent damage, and the Demon will be his as long as there is no mission. In return, he perfects the Demon's personality, trains him to resist pain, and I will have a safe way for physical release as both of us work for the same side. But all of that was before I met Duo.”

 

How far exactly did Yuy and the Demon mesh? That one sounded as if they were not very similar to each other. Had Yuy's first encounter with the Devil been similarly unsettling?

 

After a small pause where several strange almost-expressions flitted over his face, Yuy continued. “My question: Can I summarize your problem with Devil that he surprised you and did not tell you about what the evening would entail?”

 

“Not quite. I do not do well going into a situation completely blind, but the greatest part is that he crossed several of my limits - “

 

He stopped to search for words to describe what exactly made him react that badly to the Demon. He had not thought that Yuy's childish game of `Ten Questions' would be that effective in making him open up, but he didn't draw back. What exactly was the cause for his animosity towards Maxwell?

 

“ - and I think that I went in with the wrong mind-set. Unconsciously, I was expecting the Devil to be like Treize, and I was angry at the way you were manhandling me to the club.”

 

A brief pause for thought. Now that he had started, it was becoming easier, but words were still difficult to find. “I think it is that I had lost my footing from the beginning. Straight away from your first appearance in the Club as Devil and Demon. Your completely changed behavior: you not being the Perfect Soldier, and Maxwell not being his usual manic self. You two surprised me in my motel room, then all the people trying to touch me, and then that the Devil was completely different from Treize. I think that I had the illusion that it would be similar to one of my meetings with Treize. With him, I always knew that he would let me go if I struggled too much, so in the end, I had some measure of control over the situation.

 

“With the Devil, there wasn't any such safe-guard. And, in the end, he - “ Wufei swallowed nervously, deliberately not looking at Yuy, “he could have demanded anything from me, and I would have done it without thinking first. If he had asked for it, I'm not sure I could have stopped myself from declaring to the public that I was a Preventer Agent, a former Gundam Pilot, and everything else he wanted to hear.”

 

It took everything he had to not add anything else to lessen the dangerous truth of his words. An agent who would spill all secrets was a liability to the mission, and as such had to be eliminated. Deliberately, he relaxed into the chair, handing the decision on how to deal with that liability to Yuy.

 

He was just glad that Yuy had had enough sense to not start their ten questions off with the truth that most of the time, fear was the reason for anger. He probably would have charged at the Perfect Soldier's throat once again. Since when had Yuy been that insightful?

 

“What was your mission yesterday?”

 

Yuy's voice was calm, not carrying any of the accusations he had been sure would come from the Perfect Soldier. All thoughts of `Ten Questions' were forgotten as he meekly answered without any thoughts of self-preservation.

 

“Distract the Owner for you to complete your mission unimpeded.”

 

“And how were you supposed to distract the Owner?”

 

“By being the Devil's partner in his show.”

 

“And what were your mission parameters as the Devil's partner?”

 

What exactly did Yuy want from him? “Give the audience a show that would captivate them for as long as necessary.”

 

“What kind of show?”

 

“A heavy BDSM-scene.”

 

“And what was your role in that scene?”

 

For a moment, he was a little bit stumped. “Be the Devil's pet, submissive, whatever you want to call it.”

 

“And what does a submissive do in a scene?”

 

Huh? He didn't want to sound cheeky, but he couldn't think of a better answer. “Submit to the dominant?”

 

“What does submit mean?”

 

“Do whatever the dominant says, I guess…”

 

“Let's say that he had asked you to tell everyone you were a Preventer, and you did exactly that. Wouldn't that mean that you have stayed true to the mission by keeping your role of submissive?”

 

Eh? What kind of convoluted logic was that? “I would have stayed true to the letter of the mission, but…”

 

Yuy held up a hand. “Stop. So we agree that telling everyone would have been part of the role of a submissive, and that the mission demanded you to be one. Do you think the Devil would have asked you to tell or do anything else that would compromise the mission?”

 

“Not Maxwell, but…”

 

Yuy held up his hand once again. “Let me finish. Do you really think I don't know how good the Devil is at bending people to his will? The Devil will never ask you to betray the mission. Otherwise neither Duo nor I would have allowed you to expose yourself to the Devil.

 

“So there was no danger to the mission in submitting to him. It would have been more dangerous if you hadn't reached that level of submission. Believe me, the audience would have known, and they would have lost interest in a half-baked show without real conviction. Earlier, I asked you who you could imagine to submit to. Quatre, Trowa, Zechs, and I wouldn't have made you compromise the mission, either. And you qualified Treize for that category, too, because you added `without the war'. Do you still think you are a liability?”

 

Well, if you looked at it that way, it didn't sound all that bad. There was only one flaw in the logic… “If I had reached that stage of submission with anyone else…”

 

“Have you ever submitted to Treize that deeply?”

 

Wufei shook his head. “Of course not. He was the enemy. I wouldn't have told him anything.”

 

“Do you think anyone else could have forced you to reach that state?”

 

“I… I'd like to think not, but I'm not sure…”

 

“I talked to Zechs. He told me about that `one night of trust'. Do you think Treize didn't do everything he could think of to get that `one night of trust'? Do you think that any of the times you were held for `creative questioning', OZ-interrogators didn't do everything they could think of to get you to talk?”

 

“Well… anything else would have been stupid, I guess…”

 

“But you never gave him that night of trust, even though you promised him. And you never talked. You couldn't because the war had been more important for you.”

 

How in the world did Yuy know so much about him? “Yes…”

 

“Treize was a dominant almost without equal. And you scened with him as a submissive. And yet, you never told him any war-relevant information despite his attempts to make you trust him completely. Do you really think we would have let you return to him if we thought even the slightest chance of you spilling?”

 

“No. I think you'd have shot me.”

 

“I would have. Duo probably would have introduced you to the Devil, and Treize knows not to mess with the Devil's. But that is not the point. We trusted you to hold your tongue and pull out if it became too dangerous. To hold out long enough under interrogation to allow one of us to either kill or free you. That should count for something.”

 

“But you hardly knew me back then!”

 

“Would you have betrayed us?”

 

“Of course not!”

 

“Exactly my point.”

 

Before he could voice his objections, Yuy got up from the chair headed for the door. Just before he left the room, he turned around a last time. “Think about it. In two hours, there's dinner, and afterwards, we have to prepare for the club.”

 

With those words, he was gone, and Wufei was alone, completely flabbergasted.

 

Two hours.

 

He sighed. Well, he was long overdue for some serious meditating, anyways…

 

~oooOoooOoooxxxxxxxxxxxxoooOoooOooo~

 

 

A/N:

 

Argh, that chapter was just impossible to write! Yuy may have a psychology major, but I sure as hell don't! I've got about four times that amount of deleted scenes, and that's not even counting the many edits I had to do. Please tell me if all that work was worth it and both Wufei and Yuy turned out believable.

 

~*Sakiku*~