Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Perfection Breakdown ❯ Aftermath ( Chapter 2 )

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

Chapter 2- Aftermath

Duo was sharply awakened by the sounds of a large metal door being
opened. It took the Deathscythe pilot almost a minute to remember
where he was and what exactly had brought him to the cold, hard cot
that he lay on now.

/Fuck that hurts!/ He thought as he finally became aware of the sharp
throbbing pain in his chest. Duo attempted to feel the wound except he
suddenly found his wrists in the strong vise of a huge man that
suddenly loomed over him.

"Well, Prince Charming's awake," the man said, leering forward his
features impossible to make out but the tone in his voice
unmistakable. "Thought you might need a little kiss first."

Duo felt himself begin to panic as he felt the large man begin to
crush him down onto the cot and fumble at his zipper. With a slight
curse and while keeping his hand firmly on Duo's chest the leach began
to remove his boxer shorts. He stopped and looked into Duo's eyes and
asked, "I'll bet you want to know what's in this tight package."

"Dr. Anania I think that's not necessary," a cold slightly nasal voice
drifted from somewhere in the cell. The large man immediately stopped
and looked around the room, fumbling to pull his pants up. Duo managed
to prop his head up and saw a dark figure leaning causally against the
opposite wall of the cell.

"Report to Chaice in Room 482, K Area," the figure said, slightly
adjusting his position. "You are dismissed Doctor."

Mesmerized for a second the would-be-rapist squinted off into the dark
as though trying to identify the speaker. Then not sure whether to zip
up his pants or exit the room he tried to do both and stumbled
slightly. Finally steadying himself the large doctor zipped up his
pants and never taking his eyes off the man in the corner walked out
of the cell. The room was suddenly very quiet until the mysterious
speaker coughed suddenly.

"Gomen," he said, the only feeling noticeable in his voice came from a
raspy throat. "I caught a damned cold while waiting here. These cells
are the pits, no way I can let you stay in a shitty hole like this."

/It's that OZ sniper/ Duo thought to himself, recalling the rough,
hard voice. /Heh can't even see his face this time either/

"So what are you going to do with me?" Duo asked, noticing how weak
his voice sounded. The sniper shifted his weight and walked into the
light giving Duo his first good look at his face.

Duo gasped.

/He can't be much older then me/ he thought, giving the sniper a look
over. He was very tall, even more so then Trowa. He was well built
with broad shoulders and powerful arms, but for some reason gave off a
sense of fragileness. His skin was incredibly pale and he had reddish
brown hair that hung over into his face only slightly, almost covering
his eyes. /My God his eyes are red!/ Duo noted, for indeed the young
soldier's eyes were pigmented in a dull, sad, red color.

"Explosion," the sniper said, noting Duo's gaze. "Chemical fire, burnt
away my eyes and left me blind for awhile. But some boys in a lab
fixed me up pretty nicely." And indeed the solemn face held no
blemishes or signs of damage, but only held the quiet smoldering red
eyes.

"And to answer your question," the morose sniper continued, "I'm
supposed to interrogate you now. We have very little information on
pilots 01, 03 and 04, though 04 is popularly rumored to be one Quatre
Raberba Winner, heir to the prestigious mining family on L4."

"If I were you guys I'd be more worried about me, Shinigami," Duo
smiled, trying to sound tough but finding small comfort in his
comment. The sniper was not impressed but seemed slightly amused.

"We have sufficient information on you," he said seriously, turning
away and looking off into the dark. /Ch' this guy sounds just like
Heero/ "Born on L2, orphaned, grew up at Maxwell Church, connections
with the Sweepers group. We know your blood type, birth date, and your
real name."

Duo sucked in his breath. /My real name? How the hell do they know
that?/

"It's actually Brian Koral, son of Jack and Cecilia Koral," the sniper
said as if commenting on the weather. Not even realizing that this was
the first time Duo had ever heard his birth name. "But what's in a
name?" he asked the black walls, gesturing slightly with his arms.

Overwhelmed by the onslaught of sudden information and a sick
realization of his situation Duo felt his eyes droop and sleep begin
to overtake him. He fought to stay awake, not wanting to look like a
weak baka.

"So what the hell are you gonna ask me?" Duo said. "I'd sort of hoped
to become friends."

This wasn't true obviously but it at least made the sniper turn
around. And for a second Duo could have sworn he'd seen the ghost of a
smile cross the tall soldier's face. "You're not in very good shape
for interrogation right now. And I know Commander Treize would be most
upset if you were mistreated. I'm going to let you rest for a little
first while I report to him." And then added, "I'll be back soon
though, don't worry about anyone bothering you."

"Heh, glad to hear that," Duo said, half jokingly, half thankfully. A
smile spread across his face. He could actually get to like this guy.
"Plus I need my beauty sleep," he added, stretching his arms and
yawning, looking very much like a cat.

This time the smile was plain and genuine as the sniper nodded and
then left the room. The warm light made Duo cover his eyes for a
moment before the heavy cell door closed again, leaving him in a
somewhat heavy but not dreary silence.

"And I don't even know his name," he whispered into the darkness.

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Rashid and the Maganac crew had never seen their Quatre-sama in such
an agitated mood, as he was now. The small platinum blonde had been
pacing the front room of the large safehouse for more then three hours
and had missed tea time. That was unheard of.

Quatre briefly stopped his frustrated vigil when a rather timid Abdul
stepped into the room.

"Excuse me Quatre-sama," the Arab whispered, very mindful of Quatre's
bad mood. "That OZ strikeforce hasn't moved yet and reinforcements are
coming in. They must know we're here. If we wait any longer they'll
box us in."

"Any word from Trowa or any of the others?" Quatre asked, not even
turning to face Abdul. The concern has evident in his voice and
further upset Abdul that he'd have to answer that question.

"No, we've gotten nothing," he replied, knowing that the cause of
Quatre's bad mood was his concern for the other pilots, Trowa in
particular.

"Trowa..." Quatre sighed under his breath, trying to still think
clearly. /I have to trust Trowa that he'll be able to find me someway.
We can't afford to stay any longer. Shimatta, why hasn't he contacted
us yet? What the hell went wrong?/

Composing himself Quatre turned to face Abdul. "Is Sandrock ready?
We'll leave in an hour."

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T he three guards were making blatant sexual remarks about "the new boy
in 54-A". Anyone could tell. In an army where females were quite
uncommon and in strong demand, many had resorted to gratifying their
sexual urges via the prisoners. And this one was reported to be a hot
one.

"I'll be back in a few hours," the OZ sniper said after reaching the
guard station. "And I don't want to find anything wrong with him,
understand?"

One of the guards eyed over the black OZ uniform and snickered at the
soldier's sunglasses, which had been put on only after leaving the
cell. "Give us a fuckin break. As long as he's still in one piece
afterwards what the hell do you care?"

"If you even touch him in any way you'll have to pay dearly," the
sniper's voice was calm but held a lingering threat that was
unmistakable. But this guard was notorious throughout the base for his
ego and fiery attitude.

"Ch'! You can't do a fuckin thing, you four eyed asswipe!" the guard
spat, rising from his chair. "Don't make me do something crazy like
kill you."

"There's many things worse then death," the sniper commented, giving
an icy smile.

"Oh yeah tough boy! Like what?"

"Castration." And the tone with which it was said was one not to be
answered to rudely.

"You wouldn't!" the big guard said, more out of fear then disbelief.

"I have," the tall soldier replied, his smile fading. "So do you
understand me?" for emphasis he removed his sunglasses and glared at
the impertinent man.

The rude guard nodded stupidly and the sniper once again put on his
shades and continued to walk down the hallway. He only walked a few
yards before a yell made him turn.

"Hey yo! Maxim!" a loud, friendly shout came from down the corridor.
Another OZ soldier running towards him. Finally catching up and
panting the soldier grinned and asked jovially, "What'd you say to
that asshole? Looked like he'd have nightmares about you man."

Maxim, the OZ sniper smiled briefly. "Hello Justin, I'd love to talk
but I need to report to the commander about the new prisoner."

"Huh? You too? Thought you were better than all that Maxim! Too hot
ass items come up today man. I'm talking about cell 54-A and the new
mobile suit system. Thought you weren't like those queers though
Maxim."

"Hmph, I'm not like them," the tall soldier said, though his mind
wandered back into the dark cell. He could only ask himself why he'd
acted the way he had. "It really doesn't matter to me if they're gay
or not but their behavior is inexcusable."

"Yes indeed Sergeant, their behavior is very inexcusable," The ensign
repeated in an innocent mockery of Maxim's voice. "You take everything
so damn serious man. Hey, what ya going to tell Commander Roses?
`Tightest butthole I've ever had sir. Leanest piece of meat to hit the
cell blocks in...'"

"Come off it Justin!" Maxim replied, irritation finally outweighing
his calm. "You know it's not like that. I had no luck with
interrogation but I was thinking of asking Commander Treize for
special assignment. That's all!"

The smile disappeared and Maxim's friend slowed his pace. "Special
assignment? To this kid? Oh shit man you really do have it for the
kid."

"Justin," Maxim stopped too and faced his friend, the annoyance
obvious on his face. "Don't give me shit about this, just let me do
what I think is best."

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S eeing someone like Heero Yuy cry is an event that should not be taken
unnoticed. The rain had stopped an hour ago but still left a
glistening sheen on the grass outside the small hut. Trowa turned away
from the window as the whistle from the kettle of boiling water
sounded. Removing his gaze from the foliage outside Trowa walked
across the small, poorly furnished room and with only the slightest of
glances into the cramped bedroom where Heero lay, dead asleep.

/At least he's stopped crying/ Trowa noted as he took the kettle of
the stove and broke spaghetti to cook in it. /Maybe in his dreams
he'll manage to find some sanctuary/

He'd fled the OZ base with Heero but upon learning that OZ had
surrounded their normal safehouse. They'd been forced to take shelter
in this small shack that was only supposed to be used "if all hell
broke loose" as Wufei once put it.

And indeed it had, during the flight from the OZ base Trowa had
struggled mentally. Not only had he needed to take care of Heero, who
cried and sobbed and occasionally flung out wildly at him, but was
also very worried about Duo and Wufei.

/If they're hurt or if OZ's done anything bad to them then I'll go
back there personally and kill them all/ Trowa thought, his emerald
eyes flickering in the dim of lightning as the rain began to pour down
again.

/Ask yourself, would any of them do the same for you?/ The question
formed like a sneer. /Haven't you ever thought about it? About how
much you mean to any of them? It's pathetic. You're so desperate for
any sort of love or friendship or any little scarp of emotion that
others throw at you that you're attaching yourself to these people/

/Don't you know this is still a war? It's the same as it was on L3,
they could die any minute. Do you really want to have to deal with the
pain of losing another that you attached yourself too?/

It wasn't true though...had he actually ever felt anything for his
comrades on L3? The ones that raped him and abused him and broke his
soul no. But a few of them were actually pretty nice to him, other
kids his own age that lived with him, raised like him to be soulless
killing machines. Lots of those kids were dead now. All of them were
the same, broken reflections of what they could have been.

Suddenly a crashing sound from the bedroom shook Trowa from his
thoughts and he quickly ran to see what had happened. Throwing the
bedroom door open he first glanced at the bed and was horrified to see
it disheveled and empty. Then the faint sounds of what he could
immediately recognize as sobbing reached came from the bathroom. It
had to be Heero. But Trowa remained fixed in his place, not sure what
to do.

/Leave him his pride, his soul is already destroyed/ one part of him
coldly instructed.

But pushing that thought away he strode over to the bathroom and
glanced inside. Heero stood amidst a heap of glass that had once been
a mirror. A broken hairbrush lay in the sink, sparkling with tiny
fragments of glass. And Heero stood, sobbing, staring at the remnants
of the mirror the miraculously still hung from the wall, casting back
a cracked mirage of him.

Trowa gently walked forward and without a word turned Heero away from
the broken image, and walked him back into the bedroom.

-end part 2