Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Long Time To Cry ❯ One Thousand, Ninety-Five Days ( Chapter 3 )

This one's for neko-jin. ^_^ May you find your own happy ending. I promise, they'll find theirs… ^_^ Bless you! Here's your chappie, dear ^_^

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Duo's insides clenched.

"Just one more minute!" He pleaded… Heero had finally been opening up. Was it just because he had known that in a minute, he could escape…? But no. That would be cowardice. Heero was never a coward.

Heero shook his head. "No. I have to go, Duo." And Duo saw something, then, that he supposed he wasn't meant to see… He saw fear in Heero. Was it fear of Duo? No… Duo was still pondering this glimpse when Heero began to rise.

"Hee-chan! Yuy! No!" Duo scrambled to try and lock him into place, but Heero overpowered him, shoving him away and into the other side of the car in one quick motion. Duo groaned, slumping down.

"Don't come after me." Was Heero's final command, and he opened the car door, dashing out.

Duo watched him go…

- (insert niftly flashback sequence here)

`If only I'd stopped him!' Duo sobbed, leaning against Quatre, who petted his head, making soothing noises, "I know I could have! He's stronger, but I swear I can run faster… Oh Kami, I should have stopped him. Maybe then he would have begun to understood… But it seems like he's always walking away, and I never have the courage to follow him. Why, Quatre? Why?" Duo buried his face in the Sandrock pilot's shoulder, cursing himself.

"One day…" Quatre told him, gently, "One day, you will follow him. And then he will see you, and return."

Duo barely listened to the prediction. He was too far away, wrapped in his own remorseful thoughts.

- (end nifty flashback)

He wouldn't let that happen. Heero wasn't leaving him… If he had truly thought Heero had wanted to, then yes, he would have let him. But Heero seemed only afraid… of something. Until Duo understood, he would not let Heero go. Having decided this, Duo, ignoring his probably bruising side, rolled out the still open car-door. Getting to his feet, he dashed after Heero.

He wasn't letting him go.

Heero, probably hearing the footsteps, quickened his pace. He ran. Heero ran at an almost inhuman pace. However, Duo was determined, and he had meant what he said all those years ago - he could outrun Heero…

Heero ran. Duo fairly flew after him. Heero kept glancing over his shoulder, which hindered his progress. People would get in the way of Heero - but Duo had a path in the crowd that Heero had just cleared for him. Inevitably, Duo reached Heero, throwing his body-weight into a tackle that took them both down to the floor in a panting heap. People in the crowds muttered disapprovingly, but just stepped around them. They were glad that the pair was no longer racing about through the halls. At least now they weren't in danger of bowling any innocent bystanders down.

Duo sat up and straddled Heero, pinning him down in a hold that even the fabled `perfect soldier' couldn't break.

"What. Is. Going. ON?" He demanded… And for once, Heero looked vulnerable.

"You have to let me go!" Heero demanded, but it sounded half-hearted, "You have to let me go now!"

"When you tell me what is happening. You don't give a guy three damn years to miss you, and then thirty minutes to see you." Not if you really care about them, anyway. Duo added to himself… and he was pretty sure Heero cared.

Heero lay there, silent for a few moments. Duo wasn't even sure if he was breathing. What had caused him to retreat into his shell…?

Heero had left Releena, if only for a little while. And Duo was positive he had done it willingly. But Duo believed that Heero, had it not been for Her interference, would have stayed with him. He had gone away, but She intended to reel him back and force him to stay.

** I've gone away, you make me stay**

"Heero," Duo said, quietly… "Please." People brushed by them, taking no notice of the pair.

Heero, for his part, looked trapped. His eyes were darting around, driven by some sort of paranoia. It was the source of this fear that Duo intended to pin. He was almost positive She was responsible, but wanted to know what She had done. Never before had he seen such fear on the face he loved so much…

She would pay.

"Duo… If I tell you, you must promise me that you'll let me take the flight back to Releena…"

Duo considered this… then, at some thought or another, his face lit up with a grin.

"Done."

Heero eyed him suspiciously. After all this, it was unlike Duo to give up so easily. Or so cheerfully, for that matter.

"Truly?"

Duo's face flickered. Had Heero been so quick to forget? But then… three years was a long time… Such a long time…

He leaned forward, as though to kiss Heero. However, he merely put his mouth next to Heero's ear. His lips moved against Heero's skin, breathing warm breath into Heero's ear, saying once again the words Heero should never have forgotten…

"I may run…" Duo paused for emphasis. Yes, of course he could run. Heero knew that, as he had just been beaten, "I may hide," … Duo had hidden emotions, pieces of himself… For Quatre, he had tried to suppress all of his sadness, lest Quatre's space-heart suffer from his own misery for those three years, "But I never lie."

**but I can't tell it from lies**

Duo raised his head back up once again, watching Heero's face. He could never get tired of watching Heero… but now, he was studying him. He was trying to unlock whatever secret Heero was so determined to hide for Her.

Tensing suddenly, Heero startled Duo, who sensed it, and tensed also.

"What is it?" Duo's voice was still hushed, as though someone in the crowd might actually be listening in… old habits died hard. He had been berated enough to `keep his loud mouth shut' during the war.

"Nothing. It was nothing." Heero relaxed almost instantly, the threat apparently deemed unworthy of his attention.

Duo looked around them, and saw nothing. Just people. Hundreds of them - it was rush hour, now. If Heero didn't leave soon, he would miss his flight for sure, but Duo decided not to mention the fact. Besides, Heero didn't have the power to go anywhere now, pinned as he was.

More people passed… Duo had a worm's eye view… dress slack pants, faded denim… all sorts of people passed. He saw shoes and belts, and the beginning of torsos, and if he tilted his neck, could see faces…

Heero's voice brought him to attention.

"She said… If I don't leave…" Heero, the fearless, perfect soldier, stumbled on the next word, his voice failing.

"What?" Duo prompted… what weakness had She found and exploited…? Until that day, Duo hadn't known that Heero even HAD weaknesses…

"If I don't leave… then They'll kill you."

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AN: <<author's note>> ehhhh! Lots of homework… 0.o So I can only crank out one or two chapters a day, sorryyy! Thank you, all of you who reviewed! I hope to be getting to your chapters shortly… ^_^ Unfortunately, as my time schedule demands, each chapter appears to be only about three pages or so… Eh, well, much luv to you all…

And neko-jin? Really. I send happy-bless vibes to you, mon amie. **sends happy vibes**