Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Duo Maxwell, Gun for Hire ❯ More than Meets the Eye ( Chapter 9 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

XXX

It took a few days, but Heero adjusted to the lack of hearing. As for me, I was jumpy. Do you blame me?

Heero rarely speaks now. Yeah, his speech wasn't affected. He just explained it's weird saying something and not being able to hear himself. Plus, not long after realizing his hearing was gone he tried to speak English. I was surprised to learn that English was harder for him to speak with his hearing gone than Japanese was. He explained to me that his parents raised him in the US but they insisted he knew Japanese before they died. It stuck with him apparently.

The problem with that was that none of us knew how to speak Japanese. So Heero just kept quiet and stuck by one us when we went somewhere.

A few days of hiding in my apartment and adjusting, we were ready to face the world again.

So guess where we end up? Yeah, you guessed it. Elysium again. Where else did you think we'd be heading? Just because I got to sleep for a week, doesn't mean the moment I'm better I don't have to go back. I'm just happy Milliardo let me take two extra days off. I guess Cathy was keeping order well enough in my absence.

XXXX

“Welcome back Mr. Maxwell.”

Figures I couldn't walk in without encountering my so-called boss. I gave him a fake smile. “Hey, I hope everything's been quiet while I was out.”

Milliardo gave me a slight smile. “As a matter of fact…” His smile dropped as he moved in closer. I felt a hand wrap around my braid and knew Heero was standing behind me.

“In your absence, I've had several complaints by the Tremere of this city. They finally decided to show some interest in something outside of their chantry. I've also had to help Cathy do your job. You better not miss any more night's here Mr. Maxwell or we will have to have a talk.”

Well if that didn't sound ominous. That's just what I needed, the Prince to be breathing down my neck. As if things weren't bad already.

When we finally got away from Blondie, we headed into the main part of the Club. Heero still had his hands on my braid and Trowa and Wufei were flanking Quatre. While I was still on my mini vacation, Quat filled me in on what had been happening in the last week.

After Mandy took control of the Sabbat Pack, she cleaned house. She had the Bishops blessing of course. For some reason, she approached Quatre and offered him the position of leader of the Independents in the city. This included ownership of Cloud Nine. He accepted.

I didn't like what I was seeing when I looked around. Mandy and her pack were sitting in a dark corner, just watching what was taking place. Dorothy was with them even. I guess Victoria was able to fix her. Damn.

And speaking of the Fiend, Victoria was standing near the bar with Johann. I wonder if Fei ever got him his books. I don't remember if Q ever mentioned that or not.

I could hear her voice over the crowd. God did it carry. I sighed and took a deep breath. She wasn't doing anything wrong now, but I knew that could change at any moment.

Deathscythe stirred. It seemed to be hesitant and wanting to retreat as we moved past to another one of my personal nightmares.

I hoped she didn't see us as we went though. Shit. No such luck. She spotted us.

Victoria smirked as she watched us come near.

You know, I wonder if that was her natural beauty of if she crafted it herself. Tzimisce's are the plastic surgeons of the Kindred world. Only minus the plastic, or the antiseptic.

“Ah, Mr. Maxwell. I'm glad to see that you're up and about. It must have been quite the fight to knock you out for so long and burn a valuable resource of this city to the ground.”

Ouch. Now that was a low blow. “Well, at least when I cause destruction its on a grand scale and not just terrorizing innocent people.”

I winced as her expression darkened slightly. Yeah, I did it again. I could feel Deathscythe become uneasy. I was in for a world of hurt now.

“Stop being stupid Victoria. You're acting like a child.”

Okay, I know I looked surprised. Johann was the one that spoke.

Victoria turned to her companion and gave him an annoyed look. “I'm only having a spot of fun you know. I don't get to stay in one place anymore and you know it.”

“Your fault for being Camarilla. Not mine.”

“Like you're any better off.”

“At least I can come and go when I please. I'm not limited to the will of the Camarilla.”

I'm guessing this was an on going argument between these two. I guess it's not surprising if those files were right, they've known each other for an eternity.

I glanced behind me to Heero and the rest. Quatre shrugged. I guess he didn't know what do to about this either.

“Perhaps we should walk away and leave those two elders to their own bickering.”

Yeah, That made sense, thanks Trowa.

“Okay then. Lets get out of here before they decide to do something nasty again.”

We headed off to our own part of the club and sat down. Heero was basically glued to my side as the other guys sat around us. We were quiet for a bit before Wufei spoke up.

“You know, that apartment of yours is getting cramped Duo.”

“Well what do you want me to do about it?”

“Cloud Nine has living quarters. We can make it our new headquarters as it were.”

“It would also give us ready available feeding. For all of us.”

That would be Wu, Quat and Tro making one interesting argument. If we did this, I'd loose the coziness that was my apartment. But then again, no roommates means bedroom time. I like the idea of that.

“Sounds like a good idea to me.”

Heero frowned a bit and tugged on my braid. He murmured something in Japanese and sighed.

Somehow I got the feeling that he wasn't comfortable here. His eyes were half closed, nearly hiding his blue cat eyes.

I think the lights were getting to him. Sally warned us that cat's eyes were meant to see in dim light and actually had a limited range of vision in full light. Elysium was nothing but shadows and bright lights.

Trowa seemed to get the idea too. He moved out of Heero's way and let him out of the circular booth we were sitting in. I watched as Heero slinked off into the shadows. I was worried about him. He hasn't been the same since he woke up. It worried me. A lot.

XXX

I sat here for a while waiting for Heero to come back. For my entertainment, I got to watch Tro, Quat and Wu flirt. You know it's kind of cute in it's own way.

Then movement caught my eye. I looked up to catch a peculiar sight. Relena was waltzing around by herself. The girl looked like she was heading our way with every twirl. When she got closer, we could hear her singing. You know, she doesn't have a bad voice really. She came to a stop before us and gave us a smile before bowing. Her clothes tonight looked similar to the last time I saw her. She had on a pair of torn jeans and a gothic type top. This one was a simple tank top with a fishnet shirt over it. Only the fishnet was neon pink. It kind of hurt the eyes.

She stood there for a moment sucking on some sort of sucker before dashing off into the crowd. She was an odd one. A real odd one.

“Are all Malkavians like that?”

“No, not all of them. Take Hilde for example, she's really intelligent. She's also somewhat of a historian.”

There goes Quat, answering all my questions. Sometimes I think he just sits around and waits for me to ask something out loud so he can answer it.

“So whatever happened to the books?”

All three of them fell silent. I didn't take that as a good sign. No, that wasn't a good sign at all.

“We'll tell you later Maxwell.”

Okay? Something wasn't right here. Earlier Quatre was practically chatting my ear off about what I had been missing and now not only him, but also everyone else was quiet as well. What the hell?

“Please, what did happen to my books?”

When did he get here? Johann was standing before our booth, blocking any way out. “I haven't gotten them yet. I hope there isn't any problems?”

Wufei looked a little uneasy. Both Trowa and Quatre looked neutral. I was curious. What the hell was going on?

“No, of course not. I will get them to you in due time. Just be patient.”

Our dear friend Johann didn't seem to like that answer. The shadows were condensing around us as a little tentacle slithered out of his sleeve.

“You'll find Mr. Chang that I am a very patient man. However, I have places to be so those books better be in my possession soon. The sooner the better for you.”

“Of course, I'll get them to you as soon as possible.”

“Good. I will be back to remind you later.”

I watched as he walked off. Between him and Victoria, I don't know which one is the bigger nightmare. They're both scary in their own way. He was mafia scary and she was monster scary.

XXXXX

Several minutes after making sure the Johann the Scary was out of sight, I had to ask.

“Alright Wu-man, where are the books and why haven't you given them to Mr. Tall Dark and Deadly yet?”

Wu just looked to Quatre who looked a little uneasy. The fact that Fei didn't yell at me for the nickname let me know this was serious. Real serious.

“How about we retreat to the office. It should be safer to talk up there.”

Trowa's suggestion made sense I guess. But, what about Heero?

“What if Heero comes back?”

“Maxwell, Yuy is a big boy. He'll find us.”

I guess Wu was right. Heero was fine before I came along, right? He should be fine now. That doesn't stop me from worrying. Me? A worrywart? You better believe it.

XXX

I settled down on my usual seat at the end of the small couch. Quatre sat at the desk while Trowa leaned against the door. Looks like he was taking up position of guard dog. Wufei paused for a moment before pulling the books from the desk drawers to Quat's left.

“As you know, I thought these books were just some Tremere's journals.” Wufei paused and set them down in front of Quatre. “I didn't know what language they were written in. I was surprised to find out Quatre did and that he could read it.”

Okay, they've got my full-undivided attention. “So what is it?”

Quatre traced his fingertips over the leather covers of the books in front of him before answering. “They're written in Aramaic, a language I was taught growing up.”

“What puzzles me is why a Tremere wrote his journal's in Aramaic.”

It was Quatre who smiled at Wufei's question. “The books were written in the Dark Ages. My guess is that who ever wrote these came from the Middle East or spent time there.”

I tilted my head to the side as I played with the end of my braid. “Why do you think that Q?” Okay that was probably a very stupid question on my part, but hey, it's not like I know this stuff. Between him and Wu, we have a walking library at our disposal. We might as well use it.

Quat gave me an amused look. “Well, for one, Aramaic is a group of languages that have existed for over 3,000 years. In fact, it was the language spoken around the time of Jesus Christ. Not surprisingly, parts of the bible were even written in Aramaic. Today, the language is still used, but on the decline. When I was mortal, my tribe spoke it fluently.” He laughed softly. “I guess it would surprise you to learn that English is not my first, or even my second language.”

“That would imply that you were born in the Middle East.”

Quatre nodded. “Yes. More specifically in the desert sands of Saudi Arabia.”

Okay that blew my mind. I wouldn't have pegged our little Blonde haired, blue-eyed Q-bean as being Arabian. Aren't they supposed to have more of a tanned skin tone than Quatre's fair skin? And what about the blonde hair and the blue eyes? I just had to ask.

“Quat? Then how come you have blonde hair and blue eyes? It doesn't make sense.”

That got a laugh out of him. “Duo, don't always judge by what you see. Centuries ago a beautiful blonde haired woman came to my tribe. The story goes that she was foreigner who had gotten separated from her caravan during one of the sandstorms. During her stay, she fell in love with the chief of the tribe at the time and married him. She was his first, and only wife. The story states that they loved each other so much that when they died, Allah rewarded them by creating an oasis around their graves to forever provide for their descendants.”

“Let me guess, your one of those descendants?”

Quatre nodded. “Yes. Blonde hair and blue eyes show up every few generations.”

Alright, now that we knew a bit more about Quatre's past, I guess it's time to get back to the thing at hand. “Alright, now what about the books? What do they say?”

With that Quatre grew a little uneasy. I caught Trowa tensing a little and so was Wufei. Alright, what'd I miss? There's just something not right here.

“Well, they are journals. But, they're not exactly what Wufei thought they were.”

“And what did Wu-man think they were.”

“Maxwell…” there was slight grumbling from my katana wielding friend before finally fessing up. “I thought they were some neonate Tremere's journals that they carelessly lost.”

“I'm guessing they're not that.”

Wufei gave me an annoyed look. “No, they're not.”

“They happen to be a pair of books written by a decently powered Tremere back in the Dark Ages. They talk about experiments in gruesome detail.”

Thank you Trowa. At least someone around here is straight to the point. Now what exactly did this mean anyway? So they have some icky experiments in them, isn't that what the blood sucking mages do? What's the big deal?

“Okay… so?”

“We fear they might be to dangerous to hand over to Johann.”

Thanks again Trowa! It's obvious that whatever was in those books was upsetting Wufei. I don't think I want to know what.

I guess something finally snapped because Fei started to pace the room muttering in Chinese. I only caught one or two English words in the entire thing. He was ranting about some sort of `Injustice'. Great, he's gone off the deep end.

Trowa shook his head as he watched Wufei. “When he gets like this, it's best to let him cool down on his own.”

Quatre nodded. They both looked uneasy and concerned about Wufei. Okay, so all of us having our own rooms in Cloud Nine is looking like a better and better idea. They looked like they needed alone time with each other just as much as Heero and I do.

Everyone remained silent for a bit as Wu ranted. Finally it was Quatre that broke it. “What worries me is that the Tremere may try again, unless we hand them over to Johann and let him deal with them.”

I frowned a little as I tugged on my own braid. That made me think about Heero. Where was he? “Hey guys, how long has Heero been gone?”

Trowa was the one that answered me. “Nearly an hour and a half.”

That got everyone's attention. We knew that we were in even bigger trouble now because of the books. Heero didn't. What if they decided to take us down one by one? Heero's the easiest to get right now. Damn it. Where the hell was he.

Okay so I'm getting worked up, do you blame me? “We need to find Heero.”

Knock. Knock.

We all jumped, yeah-even Quat. Trowa and I exchanged looks before he cracked the door open and peered out. Moments later he was opening it wide and letting Heero in. I sighed in relief. Panic attack over. Thank God.

He gave us all odd looks. I guess he noticed out looks of relief. He turned to me and arched an eyebrow. I just gave him a goofy grin and motioned for him to sit next to me. He nodded. In moments, I was curled up to him with his arms wrapped around me.

There has got to be something we can do about his hearing. I hate having to worry myself sick like that.

Deathscythe stirred.

XXXXXXXXX

Glossary!

Chantry: The name for a Tremere's communal haven

Elder: is a vampire of both advanced age and status. While there is no strict definition, one normally must be at least a century or two old and far removed from their human past to qualify.

Character spotlight!

Mandy Welshmen: Surprisingly, This is a character concept that I have yet to play in larp. She exists solely in this story. Now, remember when I said I didn't own her back in chapter 2? Well, the original concept for Mandy was inspired by Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Yeah, that Mandy. Her adult form isn't mine either. The inspiration for Adult Mandy goes solely to Bleedman, the creator of The Grim Tales from Down Below. What I can take credit for is the way I used her in this story. It's not uncommon for larp concepts to be inspired by a character from somewhere. You'd be surprised.