Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Eyes Cold As Stone ❯ Chapter Nineteen ( Chapter 19 )

Eyes Cold As Stone

Chapter 19

"So how did your meeting with Lady Une go?" Relena collapsed on the couch, letting her hair down. She propped up her feet before answering Dorothy.

"It was…interesting, educational and heartstopping, to say the least."

"What do you mean?" Dorothy sat down on the couch beside her and began rubbing her shoulders.

"Lady Une and I got into an argument about red tape."

"Red tape?"

"She hasn't informed me of any developments because she doesn't want to argue her decisions out with me. She said that she has people's lives on the line and cannot afford to waste time debating over views on pacifism." Dorothy raised an eyebrow.

"Arguing views…does that mean she wants a war?"

"No. She just wants to protect our people. She has a strong bond with the pilots and doesn't want to risk them unnecessarily." Relena thought of the silver chain and Lady Une's plea. She began to cry.

"Relena, what's wrong?"

"She showed me this silver chain. Apparently it had been found at one of the bases that exploded just recently." Relena choked back sobs. "It belonged to Quatre."

"Quatre? It doesn't any more?" She could feel Dorothy's hands tighten on her shoulders.

"It can't belong to someone who is dead." Dorothy's hands clenched down hard on her shoulders. Relena let out a small whimper.

"Quatre's…he's…" Relena turned to face Dorothy.

"They don't know. There's a possibility that he could be alive."

"How?" Relena felt for Dorothy. Ever since the end of the war, Dorothy had taken on an uncharacteristic caring for Quatre-most likely brought on by her almost killing him.

"He was captured seven moths ago." She wrapped her arms around Dorothy and shared in her tears. She finally allowed herself to indulge in the tears that had wanted to fall back in Lady Une's office. After several minutes, she spoke up. "Duo's gone, too. Although it sounds like he just up and left, and Trowa's not doing so hot."

"What's wrong with Trowa?" Relena couldn't resist a smile. Dorothy looked up at her chuckle. "Oh yeah."

"I want to try and find both of them. If Quatre's alive, he's no longer with the enemy. We can use our sources to locate him as well as Duo. Will you help?"

"Of course. Can we start now?" Relena smiled.

Days later, Dorothy was seated at her computer performing search after search while Relena was on the phone calling anyone she could think of. She had tried the Spaceport, the airports, all of the rental car companies, and all of the train stations. Meeting with no luck there, she began searching out bars. She went from bar to bar inquiring about Duo to the bartenders, to no avail-until she came to Nallen's. There, she met Liam. She had asked if he had seen Duo and he had shook his head sadly saying that he hadn't seen the lass for months.

"You know Duo?"

"Of course, he and Quatre are my two favorite customers. Unfortunately, neither of them have been here."

"You know them well?"

"Yes. They are in here almost every night. They tell me everything-well everything that's not classified, anyway." She had laughed.

"Well, Liam, I promise that as soon as I find one of them, I'll bring him here for a drink-the three or four of us."

"You do that, m'lady and the drinks'll be on me." She had visited a couple more bars after Nallen's with no success. So here she was now trying to think of anything else she could try.

"Bingo!" Dorothy stopped typing and leaned back in her chair.

"You found something?" She was guarding her hope.

"I found a shuttle booking for the same day that Duo disappeared for L2."

"I already inquired about Duo."

"You inquired about the name Duo Maxwell, not Max Yuy." Relena took a moment to process the information.

"Wait…Duo MAXwell and Heero YUY." Dorothy nodded enthusiastically.

"He's a trained terrorist, of course he's not going to travel by his name if he doesn't want to be found."

"Are there any return trips under that name?"

"No. However, it is possible that he came back under a different name, though I doubt it."

"Why?"

"The bingo part." Relena waited for her to elaborate. "Eventhough churches aren't state institutions, they still have to file all employees for records." She nodded. "One of the locals churches on L2 has an employee named Maxwell Winner."

"Quatre!"

"Yup." Relena bit her thumbnail.

"Why would he choose the name Winner?"

"Why did Duo leave in the first place? You never told me." Relena snapped her fingers.

"That's it. Duo is Catholic, therefore, he has to go through penance. Duo blames himself for what happened to Quatre, so his penance is to be called by Quatre's name everyday."

"That's so sad." Relena nodded her agreement.

"I have to go to L2 anyway tomorrow, I'll just go a day early to look for Duo." Dorothy turned back to her computer.

"You leave in two hours."

"Thank you, Dorothy." She ran into her room to gather her clothes hoping that it wasn't too late to help Duo.

She arrived on L2 and immediately began searching for the address Dorothy had written down. She finally came upon a small church that shared the same address. Wanting to see Duo, she quickly entered the cool church. She didn't see anyone at first in the chapel. She walked down between the rows of pews to the altar. The polished wood reflected the light from the stained glass windows, throwing hues of red and gold everywhere. She noticed a young man sweeping. She walked over to him.

"Excuse me, sir? Could you tell me if…" She stopped as the man turned around. "Duo…" She stood there, mouth agape while Duo scratched his forehead before greeting her.

"Relena. How'd you find me?" He didn't look happy to see her, nor did he look upset, he just stood there gaping at her as if she had just come out of the woodwork. She ran to him and immersed him in a hug.

"I'm so glad that I found you, Duo. I've been looking for you."

"Looking for me? Why?" She stepped back, a little stunned that he wouldn't expect his friends to look for him.

"You disappeared."

"Oh." He stared at her. "Relena, I…"

"I want to talk to you, Duo. It's been too long." He scratched his head.

"Well, yeah, it has, but I really don't think that you should be here."

"And why is that?"

"The whole reason why I am here." She looked at him confused for a moment. "Okay, let me finish up here and we'll go someplace to talk." She sat down in one of the pews and waited for him to finish. The sun had begun to set by the time Duo finished.

"Where do you want to go?"

"My place isn't to far from here, we could build a fire and talk there." She smiled up at him.

"That sounds wonderful." They remained silent during the walk to his apartment.

"How'd you find me?"

"Dorothy found a shuttle booking for the same day you disappeared for a Mr. Max Yuy. Plus, she found out that this church had a Mr. Maxwell Winner on its payroll. It was a little to obvious."

"Ah. I'll have to be more creative next time, eh?" She giggled and nodded while he started the fire.

"Why are you here, Duo?"

"Because I'm the God of Death." Duo paused a moment. "There's a reason why I call myself that, you know."

"Why?"

"Why are you here?" Relena shrugged, not missing the change in subject. She'd be here on L2 for several days, so there was no rush to find out why Duo left. "I am, after all, not your illustrious Heero." She giggled.

"For your information, death god, I only had a schoolgirl crush on him. I never loved him." Duo nodded his head like he didn't really believe her. "Anyway, the strong, dark, silent types aren't really for me."

"What types are?"

"Boisterous, loud, obnoxious Americans with long hair."

"They would be good…HEY!" Duo sputtered, finally realizing whom she was talking about. She fell over laughing and pointed at him.

"The look on your face!" She managed between gasping breaths. Duo began laughing as well.

"Hardy har, har, har. You got me."

"Oh yeah I did!" She stilled her laughing and leaned forward. "I don't love him, I never did. He intrigues me, like you and the other pilots do." Duo looked off to the side.

"So you don't hate me any more?" She laughed.

"I don't hate you. I did at the time-you were trying to kill my crush! But I haven't hated you since that night." Duo's face spread into an unguarded smile.

"He told me why he couldn't kill you." She cocked her head, prompting him to continue. "It's because of that girl." Duo got a faraway look in his eyes as he looked away from her again. "He met this little girl while on a training mission on L1. She handed him a flower, I guess. But he miscalculated-although I think it was just an accident-and a mobile suit fell onto a civilian apartment building. After the flames died down, he found the little girl's dog, but no trace of the girl. He blamed himself for killing her." Relena watched Duo closely. "He saw that little girl in you, and couldn't destroy her again."

"What's your little girl?" She feared for a moment that he would evade the question.

"I don't remember my parents. I was always an orphan." Duo stared at his feet, the firelight flickering in his eyes. "I met up with this kid named Solo, who took me in. He gave me my name." Relena thought a moment-Solo, Duo-it made sense.

"That was very thoughtful. You must have loved him a lot." She could see tears in Duo's eyes.

"He always told me that he didn't have to be Solo any more as long as I was around." Relena smiled. "He was the leader of one of the street gangs on L2. L2 wasn't exactly the greatest metropolis, though it had its high-and-mighty yuppie communities. When the plague broke out, it tore through the poorer areas like a flashfire. People everywhere were dying from the plague, even the high-and-mighty. Many of the kids in my gang caught it." He trailed off for a moment, staring into the flames. "I wonder what Solo would be like today." Relena gasped in understanding.

"No…he didn't…"

"I broke into a hospital to get the vaccine, Solo was smart enough to know how to use it. We read the directions and administered it, but he was too far along. He died in my arms two hours later." Relena reached out to place a comforting hand on Duo's knee. He covered her hand with his own. "I left the gang after that. I wondered around on my own, continuing to steal, but I grew reckless. I took unnecessary risks. I'd rob places that were too high-end, had too good of security systems, or the cops were already at. Needless to say, I got caught. They sent me to this church, which was also an orphanage: Maxwell's Church. Father Maxwell and Sister Helan took me in-the hell-brat that I was.

Growing up on the streets, you don't cut your hair, so my hair was already fairly long for a boy. Sister Helan would chase me around the church, with me holding onto my hair for dear life while screaming bloody murder. It wasn't until Father Maxwell intervened that she braided my hair. She tied it off with one of her ribbons-one of her only possessions. She would still threaten to cut my hair, though, if I wasn't good, so I made sure that I didn't get caught.

"I watched the other kids in the orphanage get adopted and sent off to live with loving families, while I remained behind as the wild child nobody wanted. Sister Helan walked into my room one night-she must have heard me crying-and took me into her arms and asked why I was so upset. I told her that it was because I didn't have a mother and a father; that it was because no one loved me. She held me tight and told me that she loved me, and if I wanted, I could belong to her. I fell asleep in her arms that night. Father Maxwell took me in as his son and gave me this cross," Duo was fingering a plain silver cross, "for Christmas. I wanted to stay with them forever, but then the soldiers came." Relena could feel Duo's leg begin to shake. "They threatened Father Maxwell-for what, I really don't know, but I do remember that he and Sister Helan were frightened. So I took it upon myself to protect my family.

"I went to the military station and stole a mobile suit so I could take it back and protect the church. I knew that I couldn't just show up in it though, so I hid it in an abandoned warehouse close by. I ran back to tell Father Maxwell not to worry any more. But when I got there…" Tears began leaking from Duo's eyes. They slowly traced a line down his cheek. Relena moved to sit beside him, to be of any comfort that she could. He laid his head down on her shoulder and she stroked his hair. "I couldn't see the church through all of the flames and smoke. There were soldiers everywhere. They were laughing and congratulating themselves on a great job. A few of the younger kids escaped from the flames, only to be shot down by those damned soldiers. I hid in the shadows and didn't come out until the last soldier was long gone. I ran up to where the church was still burning, getting as close as I could, looking for anyone. I circled the dying church until I found Sister Helan. She was still alive; the soldiers had missed her. However, she was dying.

"She told me that Father Maxwell's last words before he had been shot down by the invading soldiers had been of love for me. She reached for my face and told me to be good, that she would be watching from Heaven. She told me that she loved me and then she died. I held her to me and cried. I don't remember how long I stayed like that, but the church had finished burning by the time I finally left. I swore that I would never cut my hair-a sort of tribute to the people who dared to love me, and died for it. And now Quatre is included in its length." He grasped at his braid, clutching it to him like a scared child would clutch a teddy bear. "It's my reminder of them." Eventhough his tears were flowing steadily, now, he never once sobbed. It was as if he couldn't bring himself to cry. Relena wrapped her arms around him.

"We all love you, too, Duo." Duo sniffed.

"I know. That's why I left. I couldn't loose anyone else. After I left Quatre behind, I couldn't risk another's trust and love. I am Shinigami. I destroy the ones I love."

"You don't."

"Then how do you explain that I was the one who left Quatre behind, that I was the one who stole the mobile suit and pissed the soldiers off? I brought this upon them." Relena didn't know what else to say.

`You tried to help them, Duo. You got the vaccine for Solo, you stole the mobile suit to protect your family, and I know Quatre, he would have forced you to go-you didn't have a choice." To this, Duo said nothing. She closed her eyes hoping that she said the right thing. The fire died down to its embers while she continued to hold him.

______________________________

Mindy stopped to buy some flowers. Eventhough the hospital had told her that the young man she had brought in was in a coma, she wouldn't see him without flowers. She bought a dozen tiger lilies hoping that the bright orange color would at least brighten up his hospital room. She took the bouquet and made sure that her book was tucked securely under her arm before continuing to the hospital. Being a psychologist, she knew that comatose patients could still hear. She had brought the book so she could read to him while she visited him. Hopefully he liked Shakespeare; she was getting ready to start the book anyway. She stopped at the front desk.

"I'm here to see John Doe. I brought him in a couple days ago. He had a chest wound."

"Oh, the blonde."

"Yes."

"Room 416."

"Thanks." She moved off in the direction that the nurse was pointing in and waited for the elevator to arrive. She clasped the book and flowers to her chest as she entered his room. He looked so peaceful lying there, it seemed as if he was sleeping, instead of in a coma. She set the flowers on the bedside table and pulled a chair up to the bed. She brushed a few stray locks of hair out of his face.

He was handsome, in an innocent way. His blonde hair was ragged, as if it hadn't been cut for awhile, and it lay just upon his shoulders in uneven layers. If she looked hard enough, she could tell that it had once been of a fine cut, longish bangs with a well-trimmed neckline. He had been cleaned up, so she could see the fine bruises, yellowing under his ivory skin. He had long eyelashes that were of the same flaxen color as his hair. She pulled her eyes away from admiring the young man and returned them to her book.

"I hope you wake up soon, then at least I'll know what to call you." She opened her book up to Romeo and Juliet. "I hope you like Shakespeare. I know that this is a well-known one, but it is my favorite: Romeo and Juliet." She began reading. "Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…"