Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Forged Together ❯ chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

“Yuy,” Wufei ground out as he strode after the blue-eyed pilot. “We need to talk.”

 

Heero stopped in his tracks and turned around, scowling. Wufei reached the other boy in a couple of strides and stopped directly in front of him. However, once he'd reached Heero, there seemed to be nothing to say. What could he say? `Maxwell suggested I distract you while Barton and Winner get some time out for themselves' or better yet the expanded version `Maxwell suggested I tell you in some controvert manner that you require to find sexual release with someone other than Barton since Winner is interested in him. Preferably me since you can't stand the sight of Maxwell, but I am not going to be having a sexual relationship with you just keep you busy until Maxwell is satisfied with the results.'

 

Going over both options, Wufei decided that the second was definitely better than the first one but still lacked the convincing tone. But he couldn't exactly lie. He did not have a creed which said he couldn't lie, but he did not believe in lying and he respected Heero's ability as a warrior too much to disregard him. Perhaps, Wufei thought, he lacked foresight. This should have been left for some appropriate time other than when Yuy had returned from a two day mission to some remote base in Antarctica.

 

“How did the mission go?” he asked instead. `Brilliant,' he scoffed mentally. `Now I know why I leave Maxwell to deal with the human interaction angle.'

 

“Successful,” Heero said after waiting patiently for Wufei to speak. Or maybe it was a slightly dazed look. “Was there anything else?”

 

“You...you came into contact with the new prototype of the MS,” Wufei said feeling around for a reason. “I wanted to know about their maneuverability before I go on my next mission.”

 

“Hn,” said Heero and there was a longer pause. Wufei wondered whether the super solider senses came with a lie detector and a pulse rate counter. “I…I'll let you know during the briefing.”

 

“Very well,” said Wufei and turned to go. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't do whatever he had set out to do. Let Maxwell deal with Winner and his whining, and Barton's spineless actions. If Maxwell wanted to follow up on the debt then he'd have to find some other way. There was no honor in judging someone who fought so well. He was not blameless and even the best of warriors had his own quirks. Wufei was not going to criticize the way a person unwound after a battle. He mediated. Yuy found the same sort of release in sexual contact. Well, good for him.

 

He had actually walked a couple of feet before he realized that Yuy was standing in the exact place looking in the exact direction. “Do you need me to…call someone for you?” Wufei asked.

 

“Someone,” Yuy repeated looking slightly off kilter or distracted. With those dark bangs over his face, it was harder to read his expression than Barton's. At least the circus acrobat had one part of his face uncovered.

 

“Barton perhaps,” Wufei pressed. He knew he shouldn't do it but his curiosity got the best of him. He knew from what Winner knew (and therefore by default Maxwell knew) that there was some sort of agreement / understanding between Barton and Yuy, but he had yet to see any confirmation. For all he knew they discussed the best way to keep their faces impassive when being shot at late into night, when they disappeared into one or the others gundams, though he really doubted that.

 

“Trowa?” said Yuy sounding even more removed so Wufei decided to really push it.

 

“Yes,” he said feeling his cheeks burn with embarrassment and shame. He would mediate until his treacherous mind was under control and he no longer burned with curiosity. “For …for…” well at least if he managed to force the words out, that is “…sexual gratification.” Wufei was sure, had Maxwell been listening to the conversation, he would have been flat on the ground clutching his stomach, laughing.

 

“That is not necessary,” Heero said in a flat voice. “I'm unable to achieve an erection at this moment.”

 

`Talk about direct speech,' Wufei thought and his face felt as if it caught fire. Too bad he had to leave his shifu.[1] before learning how to control his body completely. “Why?” The words were out before he could control himself. He knew of an almost extinct tribe, which believed self discipline was achieved by flogging themselves daily with bamboo canes and thorn tipped whips. He was going to obtain one of the two and flog himself, should he loose control of his mouth ever again.

 

“I am under medication,” the dull voice answered the question with machine-like precision. “It numbs me in certain areas.”

 

Wufei was still considering the types of canes that he almost missed the more important contents of his speech. “Are you hurt?" he asked and was given another blank look. Wufei rolled his eyes. “Status, Yuy,” he barked.

 

“I have three bruised ribs and a couple of lacerations, blood loss, probable concussion…”

 

“Do you require treatment?” Wufei asked as he retracted his steps towards Heero.

 

“No, I have attended to my injuries already,” he said and rolled up his black tank top.

 

Wufei had been a scholar, which meant he read. And when he'd been on L5, sometimes he had read sitting outside under the artificial sun while some of the younger girls of his clan would also sit around him, knitting or sewing. The females would sit on small rocks or smooth pieces of wood and bend over pieces of clothes where they would practice small stitches, which would later on be used to design elaborate patters on everything from formal gowns to pillowcases. Yuy's stitches would have made many of those female envious. They were small, neat, and followed the cut that nearly bisected his upper torso carefully. Wufei had a sudden image of Yuy standing in front of a mirror or a shining surface of the Wing stitching himself, taking care to be completely efficient since improperly healed cuts left scars, not for any aesthetic reason, but because the more scars you had on your body, the greater the chance of being recognized.

 

He did not know how he reached Heero or how he wound his hand around that slender weight but suddenly he was standing there with Heero leaning against him. Wufei looked around taking in his position. They were closest to his sleeping corner. Of course, Shenlong was closer but he didn't think winching up in Yuy's current condition was the best thing to do.

 

He helped Yuy sit on his sleeping bag and pushed him back until he was lying down. Heero was alert, Wufei noted. He did not have concussion[he said he had one, just now. If he had stitched himself in front of a mirror, he would be able to see, right?], his pupils dilated the same way; the bump on his head was only minor. He had only broken two ribs not three. The third was badly bruised and going to hurt a lot but, with Heero's amazing recuperating powers, should be all right in a couple of days. The cut in his middle was clean and neatly stitched; even Barton could not have done a better job.

 

Just to be sure Wufei connected him to an emergency i.v. he had with him and injected a booster. “Do you require anything for your…” pain. “What was it that you took?” Wufei asked instead.

 

“Hn,” Heero said and already, his eyes were closing.

 

“Do you want any pain medication?” Wufei asked. He did not think whatever Yuy had taken was a sedative or a pain killer. They all knew what those did to their senses, and for Yuy to take something during the mission would mean it was something J cooked up, which probably helped him concentrate without messing up his reflexes.

 

Heero remained silent, his eyes open again, looking at Wufei's sleeping bag as if it was something he had never seen before. Wufei half expected the material to start smoking under the intensity of the gaze. “What happened, Yuy?” he asked finally. “I thought it was a fly-over-and-blow-up mission.”

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

When he had flown over the base the last time, it had been with Noin and Trowa, going for a duel with Zechs, which he had never finished. The mission was simple. This was the base where Tallgeese was designed and Wing repaired; there was a rumor that the Romefeller foundation was trying to unearth the old records for it. It could not happen. While Tallgeese was not a gundam, it was damn good, and if the Wing specs were saved somewhere in computer it had to go. When the orders had come to blow it up, Heero had accepted. The base was abandoned, manned by a few technicians and fewer guards and Wing was the most suitable for the mission, able to fly the distance without a carrier, which was less maneuverable and easily detected.

 

It was the flight, which had taken up most of his time, avoiding radar. He had keyed in the route to the auto pilot, so that he could follow the same route back, undetected. There would be a time gap between him blowing up the base and someone higher up getting a report on it, which meant the holes in the radar cover would not be closed. It had been a simple hit and run even the stupidest OZ solider should have been able to do with his eyes closed.

 

When he'd brought up the base on his scanners, the first thing he'd noted had been the sentry posts, empty fuel canisters which lined the perimeter fence and the towers. Then he'd magnified the view and …

 

“Relena.” It was more of a reflex action than anything else. To him, all girls with straight blond hair looked a little like her in the distance. And he would not have been very surprised had it been Relena. She had the most annoying habit of following him and showing up where he least expected her to be, making her presence known very clearly. On closer inspection, she looked nothing like Relena. She was dressed in a ridiculously short skirt, a warm coat, which was open in the front, legging, and those stupid pink boots which didn't stop the cold at all. He stared at the scanner for a while, not believing his eyes. No one had told him there were civilians on the base.

 

He'd gotten off Wing and trekked through the snow, shivering in his shorts and tank top, but wanting to know. He just couldn't do it, any more than he could let the army attack the civilians he'd seen on his way to the Sanc Kingdom with Quatre. She was outside the perimeter fence, which was a security hazard, but the guards were slack, not expecting an attack, and the girl was flirting with them in an artless way which made them smile. Heero waited until she was directly underneath a guard tower, so that whoever was on top couldn't see her, and emerged from his hiding place behind a couple of empty fuel barrels.

 

“Oh,” she said startled, her eyes open wide. Face to face, she looked nothing like the Queen of the World; she was taller, slimmer and had teeth, which stuck out. She wasn't even particularly pretty, just plain mousy looking.

 

“What are you doing here?” Heero demanded.

 

“Why aren't you wearing anything for the cold?” she'd asked in return. “Where is your coat?”

 

“Why are you here?” Heero demanded back in frustration. She wasn't supposed to be here. It was wrong.

 

“I'm here for the holidays,” she said finally just as he was about to … do something. “My father works here so we all came for a holiday.”

 

A technician had brought his family over for a vacation. Heero couldn't believe how unprofessional these people were. “Are there any other civilians present in the compound?” he asked.

 

“Civilians?” she repeated looked slight stunned. He might as well have spoken in another language. “Here, put this on, you're shivering,” she added taking off her coat and holding it out to him.

 

He took it automatically; the material was thin but he knew it would keep him warm but he could not understand why she had given it to him the first place. He was total stranger who had shown up from nowhere and here she was handing out articles of clothing to him as if he was a friend. However, he didn't put it on, not just because it had some painfully feminine pattern on it. His sneakers were soaked through, his toes were freezing and he did not think it would help for him to loose a couple of digits to frost bite. He had to move quickly before his presence was detected, and he was wasting time standing there talking to a girl who was making him appreciate just how intelligent Relena was. “You will have to leave the base immediately,” he told her.

 

“Leave,” she parroted back. “Why? Where will we go?”

 

He couldn't tell her why. He wished he knew what to say to convince her. He was not Maxwell with his charming tongue. The longhaired pilot could charm any female into doing anything for him while making them think they were doing it for their own good. He had talked that OZ soldier, Hilde, into letting him escape and sacrifice herself on his behalf, which was no easy task. Heero found himself wishing Duo was there. Had he been here, he would now be persuading the girl to pack her bags and leave with her entire family, while thinking he was an innocent boy who'd come out for a stroll. “You will have to leave…”

 

“I heard you the first time,” she said, her eyes curious. She was still not scared, her life was too comfortable for her to imagine someone wanting to kill her or her family. “Would you like to come in, we have hot chocolate?”

 

Heero had the feeling he was living in a dream. “I will kill you,” he said in frustration. His orders were to destroy the base and he would, even if it meant killing her, though he didn't know if he could do it. He remembered Relena standing there, among the ruins of her birthday party, calling out to him, challenging him to kill her. He had been unable to complete the killing blow, he had protected her.

 

She seemed to have realized something. “Oh,” she said. “You're one of those pilots we were told to keep an eye out for.” Still no fear. “But you're just a kid.”

 

“You will have to lea…”

 

“Miss Sara, who're you talking to?” He's stayed far too long and he had been compromised by a patrol. The guard rounded the corner just as Heero turned around. He took him out with a chop to his throat, knocking him down on to the hardened snow. There were five other guards in the patrol, which was pretty unusual given the lax security. They had probably all come out because they'd know that the girl was outside at this particular time and had been bored.

 

He pushed them aside, knocking them back, and run toward Wing. He needed to get into the cockpit and complete his mission before …the snow on either side on him explored as the guards on the tower found their weapons, and he fell in a flurry of blinding white. The side fuel containers had not been completely empty or had been rigged for this sort of situation, and two of them blew up, showering him with metal shrapnel. There was a sharp pain in his middle and his left side burned but he ignored it; he was still mobile and 80% active. However, he was still on his back, blood from a head wound obscuring his vision, the snow burning his skin, panting, feeling the warm blood flow down his middle, and he could taste blood on his lips.[This sentence is way too long.] Those on the tower were bringing around their guns, slow to react but finally getting there, and even he couldn't outrun machine gun bullets.

 

“No,” the girl shouted, and suddenly she was standing between him and the bullets. “You'll kill him. He's just a kid.”

 

Heero had looked at her then and seen the inevitable. Someone was already relaying the information over a com-unit that Miss Sara was found fraternizing with the enemy and saving his life. She had brought him a few precious seconds and he had to make full use of it.

 

Heero had overpowered the first snow mobile heading his way and made a beeline to his gundam, powered up Wing then taken to the sky. He'd circled around, taking down four Leos and two new prototype mobile suits before aiming his beam canon and taking out the base completely. After the fire and the debris had settled, he'd called up the base on the view screen from as many angles as possible. There didn't seem to be any survivors. He didn't bother to set the heat scanners; with the fires still burning, it would have simply confused the sensors. Just as he was doing one final sweep of the area to be sure, he'd noticed something moving far off to the left. He'd zoomed onto it and seen the coat. It had been the one she'd taken off and given to him, all white with pretty pink hearts and flowers. It had gotten blown away in the explosion and landed relatively unharmed and was now waving in the breeze.

 

On the way back, his right arm had started to cramp and it had taken two injections from a special muscle relaxant to get it under control. Then two more to keep him awake for the entire trip back. He'd had to change the route and fly over a new one, skimming the ground where needed, to confuse the searches, doing it manually to keep himself alert.

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

“You killed her,” Wufei said as he took off the sneakers. He did not condemn his actions but voicing it seemed to make it clearer for him. A part of him marveled Heero's genetic make up. Had he been on that freezing snow, he'd be suffering from frost bite or would be probably dead.

 

“They would have taken her in as a traitor,” Heero tried to explain. “She and her family would have been tortured, questioned and executed. The only people they keep alive in prison cells are the gundam pilots and even we were considered expandable in the end. What I did was quicker.”

 

“I know,” Wufei said, looking away. He knew that war did not differentiate between children and adults.

 

“I had no choice,” Heero mumbled. He was coming down from his high.

 

“Sleep, Yuy,” Wufei said getting up. “You'll live.”

 

“Don't go.” The world crystallized into sharp colors and hard lines at that moment. Wufei froze while Heero gripped the sleeping bag with one of his hands. “I'm sorry. You must be busy. Can you call Trowa please?”

 

`Is that how you put your demons to rest?' Wufei thought as he knelt beside Heero. “Heero,” he said softly. “I'll stay until you fall asleep.” It did not seem a chore all of a sudden. Duo was off on one of his on his sneak mission on Deathscythe and Barton was inside with Winner. It did not seem as if Heero was going to have sex with anyone anytime soon, and he could at least keep his word to Duo and give those two some time alone. He could see Duo's frustration where Trowa and Quatre were concerned. They would be getting on well and all of a sudden, Heero would show up and it was as if a switch had been pushed and they were back to square one.

 

“It's not necessary,” Heero said, probably regretting his weakness already. In reply, Wufei sat, lotus-fashioned, on the sleeping bag next to Heero, silently, letting his presence be felt but not invading the other boy's space. “I will be ready for a de-briefing in an hours' time,” he said carefully. Listening sharply, Wufei could feel where the words were starting to slur.

 

“Why in the world did you take that if coming down is that hard?” Wufei asked surprised.

 

“I can take it in the form of injections every eight hours for three to four days with no side effects and perform at maximum capacity,” he said slowly. Wufei could see the strain it caused for Heero to form coherent sentences. “I no longer need it.”

 

`Do you?' thought Wufei. `Why are you struggling to stay awake then?' And he had trusted them enough to come back to sleep it out.

 

“Has Duo gone for his …his…”

 

“He left yesterday,” Wufei answered quickly. He took in a deep breath, smelling the blood, sweat and dirt from his fellow pilot. Their gundams did not come with inbuilt wash rooms and after three days inside a cockpit, Heero smelled pretty rank. But it was a smell they were all familiar with and Wufei did not comment on it. But to have walked in freezing conditions in nothing but a pair of shorts and a tank top… He pushed back the dark bangs to feel the forehead in a gesture of kindness; it was cool and clammy - no sign of fever. Suddenly there was an iron grip around his wrist and he was pulled down towards Heero. Wufei forced himself to relax even as his mind supplied with the best method to break someone's wrist and how to apply a nerve pinch on someone stronger than him. He should not have reached out with out warning; tired or not Heero was still a soldier and he did not let his guard down easily.

 

He was lying down next to Heero, face to face. The dark blue eyes were bright and alert, almost as if 01 was overriding the effects of the drug by shear will. “Have you been involved with another male?” he asked.

 

Wufei would have laughed, had it been anyone else, since Duo had asked him the same question less than a week before. He had thought it over several times, wondering why he had accepted Duo's offer in the first place. Perhaps had been the challenge in those violet eyes which said `I know you won't' or the fear, which replaced it when he saw Wufei accept the challenge. He had been able to practically smell fear as it had rolled off the braided pilot, and he had been curious as to how far Duo would go to show he had no fear. “I've kissed one,” he answered truthfully.

 

Suddenly he was pinned to the floor by a weight on top of him and the pressure on his wrist increased to the point he was sure he could hear the bones crack. His head hit the floor hard, even with part of the sleeping bag cushioning him, and there was something on his lips. The pressure caused his lip to burst and blood filled his mouth, his teeth shook and just as abruptly as it had started, it was over, and there was a dead weight on his chest.

 

Wufei sat up, pushing the limp form of Heero Yuy off him. It took him a couple of seconds to figure out that he had just been kissed by the perfect soldier. Unfortunately, it felt as if he had been punched pretty badly instead and he concluded that Heero hadn't probably brushed his teeth in two or three days either. He got to his feet carefully and shook his head. Sometime during his training, Heero had come to think of human contact and comfort as sex, or something related to it. It was probably the only way he knew how to connect with people other than shooting them.

 

Everyone had their own inner demons to fight. Everyone… and they fought in different ways.

 

Wufei sighed as he made his way towards the other two. He was going to brush his teeth, then inform Trowa and Quatre that their fellow pilot was back. Then he was going to go back and keep watch over the sleeping solider until his nightmares were brought to rest.

 

[1] http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=514219