Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Prisoner of War ❯ Run ( Chapter 18 )

Prisoner of War 18

Note: I don't own Gundam Wing! Pairings: 1+2+1 3+4+3 . . . I hope everyone has had a wonderful winter so far. And Happy New Year!

Chapter 18

"That was a damn stupid thing to do, Yuy!" Duo growled glaring at the other soldier. Since they had completed the mission with complete success, minus that small mishap, the American had been subjecting Heero to his own brand of death glare. And as soon as the troupe had exited their gundams, the youthful pilot had snarled the phrase to the Prussian eyed boy.

The same pair of dark blue lifted efficiently to meet the sight of a glowering Duo, set ablaze themselves. "Me?" He asked in a voice that seemed more dangerous when the words were spoken so quietly.

"Yeah! Is there anyone else named Yuy that did something incredibly idiotic today?" mocked Duo angrily.

"What about you, 02?" he nearly sneered at the last word.

"What about me?" he asked tiredly, an expression of clear boredom chased his features.

Heero grunted, "Hn," he halted his steps towards the mansion, ignoring the less than subtle, curious stares of the remainder of the pilots. "You were a damn fool yourself," he announced factually. "Don't ever get in the middle of something like that again," he warned darkly.

All of a sudden, a fervent wave swept through the perfect soldier like a tidal wave, he remembered so well the fear clutching him when he saw Duo rush forth to save him. 'Damn! If anything, it should have been the other way around. What am I saying? Why can't he feel afraid? Actually, yeah, it should be the other way around. He should be the weak one, not me. He's acting normal or at least himself when I . . . When I can't even understand what I'm thinking anymore.'

An incredulous gape dropped from Duo's mouth, and his eyes burned with purple fury. "I saved your ass, Yuy! Don't you ever, ever, fucking tell me it was for nothing. You couldn't have survived if it weren't for me! You would have died! You think you're so per-

The sudden look into those midnight pools stopped the stream of words tumbling from Duo's mouth. His mild tremble ceased, and his dark violet eyes softened. "Shit, Heero . . ." it came out as a bare whisper. 'He wants it . . .' But the other pilot just glanced away with a casual flick of his eyes.

"I can take of myself, Duo," he stated plainly. The braided pilot reached out for his arm only to be brushed off coldly, nearly flinching but in an almost sad way. He faintly heard his name being called as he walked away slowly, up the hill to the mansion, but his mind was elsewhere. "Thanks for letting me know who you are," he called back to him in the same, monotonous voice. No one knew if the Japanese soldier was serious about the last statement.

Shoulders slumped helplessly, Duo watched the other soldier go. 'Nothing will be the same after this, huh?' Not realizing he had spoken those thoughts out loud, the violet-eyed boy sighed loudly. Decision set in his mind he made his own way to the spot in the gardens. 'Since when were things ever the same?' Slowly, he trudged away on the grass, wisps of chestnut ruffling in the breeze. He couldn't enjoy the temperate, summer weather or the spray of stars cast across the sky. His mind was all too intently centered on a certain, cold boy.

Wufei, the less shocked of the three, remaining pilots murmured a silent good luck to whatever their relationship was. 'What do they mean to each other? I asked both and neither seemed to know. I've seen some things tonight I never thought would come out of either pilot.' He turned and had the mutual look in his obsidian pools as did Quatre and Trowa.

Ironically, the silent one was the first to speak aloud, "You know what's going on between them, don't you, Wufei?"

"I know something," the Chinese pilot admitted with some reluctance and a sigh.

"I've never seen Heero act this way," Quatre marveled softly. "What's going on?"

"Doesn't matter," the black-haired boy dismissed the question gruffly. "When they find out, they'll tell us." And with those words, he, too, left the group to where his motorcycle laid.

A determined glint lit up aquamarine eyes, causing a slight smile to edge up Quatre's lips, while a worried look glimmered in Trowa's. 'Uh oh . . .' Just as the pilot had suspected, the blonde announced cheerfully his plan of action. "Well, I won't have them not get along. Come on!" grabbing the other pilot's hand, he tugged gently for the clown to follow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

'Just the way he looked at me . . . He wants to die doesn't he? If not that, he doesn't care about life anymore. Shit . . .' Shoulders hunched forward and arms dangling uselessly at his sides, Duo wasn't looking at the stars. Instead those violet depths were focused solely on something beyond mere reality, shutting at times to recall memories flashing in his mind. He wasn't even sure why he was here. He just felt compelled to be alone; they both needed to be alone.

How many times did he have to screw up before it got it right the first time? Would he ever even accomplish that? 'Why does it have to be me and not the perfect soldier to feel all this? Why the hell does my life need to be even more fucking complicated? Wasn't going into a war and killing people enough? If there is a God, how could he let his children suffer like this? I deserve everything I got, but what about all those people that don't?'

"Just because I know something's true, doesn't make it hurt any less," he muttered quietly under his breath. 'Why me?'

He asked hard questions with answers even more difficult to find much less be accurate. Still, the young soldier tormented his mind with those inquiries almost like a masochistic punishment. He couldn't stop imagining the haunted look in those Prussian eyes, lost, almost as if he had given up on life. There was many things held back by brute force, and the American didn't have the energy to decipher it now.

His slender knuckles grazed against the silky texture of grass as he moved his hand unconsciously. And all of a sudden, the awareness of where his current location was became almost suffocating. 'I kissed him here. Damn! Why the hell did I have to come here of all places?'

Duo would have been more than happy to run from the spot where he and Heero had been so close, not just physically either. Yet - he couldn't tear himself away, eyes riveted on a patch out of many patches of grass only half a foot apart. Finally, the braided youth let out a cry of frustration and threw his entire body on the earth, crushing blades of dewy green. And he began to think, really think about everything that had happened by the hands of fate. Still, he never even thought of feeling something more than mere camaraderie towards his best friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A crisp click echoed throughout the halls, seeming obnoxiously loud in the emptiness of the house. Light reluctantly illuminated the corridors, flickering into view the Japanese soldier. His walk was still the same mechanical stride, his eyes were the same shade of navy sapphires, his hair the same unkempt spikes, yet something was different about this boy. Mayhap it was the confusion clouding over subtly over those eyes that weren't so guarded anymore. Or maybe it was the careless way he flung his bag to the floor, hesitating as he stepped back into his room. What was holding him back?

As Heero entered the bare bedroom, he paused momentarily, gazing at the single window installed there with contemplation. He started to walk towards the pane of glass but halted before he took three steps, head lowering in defeat. Quietly he slipped into his chair, opening up his laptop to type up a mission report. His mind was again elsewhere, focusing on a certain, braided baka just beyond the window instead of on the document he was composing. 'Duo is a gundam pilot . . .' Thoughts didn't interrupt or interfere with his impeccable precision, but they plagued his mind with no way of shutting them out. 'He saved my life. Why?' The clattering sounds of his keyboard continued onward. 'Why would he care?'

In his mind's eye he could picture the grinning American to the exact detail - hear his voice as it changed tones, looking into those blue violet eyes, feeling the warmth of his body, intake the scent of his hair, the way he walked, everything . . . Heero grimaced as he snapped back to the awareness of reality. 'No!' his training snapped at him sternly. But how long could one avoid the inevitable? The truth was simply that he couldn't stop his thoughts from straying towards the other boy. Whether it should or shouldn't happen, it was happening. The only question was how to handle it all, and that was the truly difficult part.

Human emotions can be strong, and they can definitely be fragile, which they are most of the time. Any wrong move could set off an entirely different result. So which ones are the right choices? Are there even set differences between the two? '/If you saw him right now, what would you want to do on first instinct?/' It was a simple enough question, but why was it so hard to come up with an answer? 'I'm a soldier. Emotions are foreign to me, as they should be.' And yet even the perfect soldier had to admit that the recent events had caused those "alien feelings" to hit too close for comfort. '/What would you do?/'

A silent sigh of frustration, almost bubbling like a low growl and a slender hand roughly raking through thick strands of messy hair followed. Still along came more uncertain movements before the pilot yanked the laptop close to him once more. He sought the machine out like a lifeline for he needed to escape, burying himself in work. Even then, the still immaculate typing seemed laggard and sluggish to Heero. And this time, he fully understood why.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~

A loud rumbling roared throughout the deserted, paved path leading out of the forest. And an image of a youthful, Chinese man, perched atop a motorcycle, hunched low to increase speed, slowly peeked into full view. His face wore an intangible expression; one could only guess what was running through his mind as he sped through the curves. Even after a mission that required such physical and mental strain and exertion, leftover energy restlessly crept up. The ride and false stimulation of freedom provided him the release he needed. The Asian man was no fool; he knew that the restlessness would eventually fade, giving in to extreme fatigue. But he wasn't really concerned about it.

'I can handle things as they come.' After Wufei had seen Heero and Duo's strange and confusing relationship, revelations suddenly burst through the fog, yet even more clouds started to appear. 'The more we understand, the more we don't.' It was a philosophy he didn't quite understand until just now, when it was all happening to the ones closest to him. 'Figure it out, Yuy, Maxwell, before you managed to tear our team apart. After today, Nataku knows we need you with us, both of you.'

The traveler let out a loose sigh, the fierce look on his face cracking for that brief moment. Obsidian orbs caught sight of a rather large sign directly in front of it. It read in bright, neon colors: Inn. Bemused by the strange appearance of an inn from out of nowhere, the young man cut a sharp corner, bike riding dangerously low to the now concrete pavement to the entryway. 'I need some solace right now anyway,' he decided and hopped off his motorcycle with the grace of a cat. 'Who calls a motel an inn now anyway?'

He stepped with usual confidence onto the wooden planks of the motel and stared in amazement at what was before him. It was as if he was somehow transported back into time, old rags sounded from a cheerful piano. All around, he witnessed people, soldiers and civilians alike, gathering together in good mirth. The heavy scent of alcohol pungently stung the smoky air. It couldn't have been in any time period of the past. The strange fusion of a western saloon and an inviting inn was just some crazy idea that probably an onna had came up with. He resisted the tempting urged to cough, and through semi-watery eyes, he smiled faintly. 'This is just what I need right now.'

"Excuse me," he addressed the young woman at the counter with her back turned to him.

Her strawberry blonde hair was twisted into two, large curls draping over either of her shoulders. Large blue eyes shined brightly as she confronted Wufei. Fair was her complexion, ruby lips completing the affect. Faint shock shadowed her features, but there was no fear in the cornflower blue depths. 'The Chinese boy! He's a gundam pilot!' Noticing the perplexed and suspicious expression crossing his face, she quickly changed her demeanor in welcome.

"Hi there!" she offered him a sweet smile. "Is there something I can help you out with?"

The strange look remained intact in dark eyes, but his face contorted to a calmer state. "Yes, I would like a room please." With his right hand, the Chinese boy tossed a few coins up into the air, slightly impressed with the ease the woman had caught them with.

"Sure thing! Come on," she beckoned him to follow her lead, "I'll show you the way."

"Thank you," Wufei nodded and trailed after the girl.

She spared him a friendly, backwards glance, "So what brings you here?"

He shrugged, politely pressing his way through the thick throngs of people crowding the inn, "Needed a place to sleep."

She nodded back to him in understanding. "My name is Sally, by the way. What's yours?"

"Wufei," he replied with simplicity as they began to slow down, rounding the last corner. The distractions of the bar were muffled to a miniscule model of what it was earlier.

"Nice to get away from all that noise, isn't it?" she smiled backward, waiting for the guest to catch up with her at the door.

He nodded in agreement, fatigue slightly edging into his movements. Sally seemed to understand exactly what he meant; her eyes glimmered with sympathy and knowing.

"Long night, huh?" her lips curled wryly to one side.

Suppressing a yawn, Wufei could only nod again, "Thank you."

She shot him an unreadable look, "It's nothing. If you ever need anything, just come find me, okay?" 'Anything, Wufei. I mean it.' The blonde slowly meandered away with a short wave after tossing him the key.

His brows furrowed in contemplation, not missing the crispness of the flicks. 'It looks kind of like a salute in some way. Is she in the Alliance? Is she in Oz? Something else?' A low growl rumbled from his stomach, taking his mind off of the strange girl that showed him to the room. With a slight shrug, the boy walked away towards the main area, the sounds roaring laughter heightening with each step.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~

'I smile to hide my tears. I laugh because it's a front. I hide because I'm too afraid. I run to find answers. All I wanted to was to live a normal life. What life threw me was beyond anything my imagination to comprehend. When everything spins out of control, and you know you have underestimated every aspect of your life, what can you do? What I knew suddenly started to change when I first laid eyes on you. I hate you, but then again, how can even hate serve justice to something so cruel? For what you did, for everything it cost me, for everything I've worked for - it all crumbled in one, little moment. Whirred up was my little world, but I still can't find the strength to leave it. Maybe after the realization and shattering of a deluded image, picking up all the pieces, I don't want to go through it all over again. Maybe after realizing all that you mean to me, after knowing how much I really could feel, seeing you for all that you are consciously. All along I had been nurturing a vine, slowly falling with its growth that steadily spun downward. A moment of epiphany - And it's not that I can't live without you . . . just that I don't even want to try.'

Duo jolted awake, startled by the strangest dream, mind still trying to conjure up tidbits and fragments of the words from memory. Billowing strands of grass surrounded him, softly brushing across his skin as if to mock him. All he could think of was the intense set of dark Prussian blue eyes and the boy whom they belonged to. Without so much as an effort, the sleep-dazed pilot matched a name with the face.

"Heero," his dry throat croaked with amazing clarity. And yet through it all, he couldn't recollect his dream.

Rubbing hazy dark lilac eyes, Duo yawned softly, stretching out sore limbs. A chilly wind whistled by him, and he shivered at the biting frost- like feeling. 'I can't stay out there. I need to get inside, but Heero's in there. Damn it, Maxwell! Don't be such a baby!' Cramp muscles squeezed in exertion to rise from his sitting position. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in his nice, warm bed, nestling in the thick comforter.

Instead of his anticipated fantasy, a pair of cold, blue eyes confronted his own. "We have to move out, now," Heero stated blankly, unblinking as he stared intently at the other soldier.

"Wha-what?" he asked, startled by the sudden appearance of the Japanese youth.

"Oz is on to us," the other boy stated plainly, and it was all it took for Duo to be scrambling up the stairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Fifteen minutes later, the sounds of rustling leaves and tramples on the waves of grass were blatantly heard by all four of the gundam pilots. "Where is Wufei?" hissed Duo in a soft voice.

The quartet was in hiding on the back of a truck, filled with sacks of flour, watching the enemy troops with acute senses. The cramped space forced all to squeeze tightly together, Trowa and Quatre attempting to get into the driver and main passenger seat towards the front. They were the only ones well rested enough to be driving safely. Though Heero had insisted he could complete the task more efficiently, Quatre had impatiently waved the perfect soldier off with unusual haste.

"He left," the Arabic whispered in reply, before wriggling his slim figure through an opening in the tent encasing the carrier of the truck.

Trowa shot a silent signal with a flash of metal, and the remaining pilots projected grenades to where the Oz soldiers were sneaking by. Pulling the pin roughly with his teeth, Duo's gaze caught Heero's, and for a brief moment, he froze before snapping back to the present situation. The last bomb soared through the air, and detonated with a satisfying boom. 'There's no time to be uncomfortable now!' And the task completed, the pilots sped away, leaving behind a trail of dust and two, assassinated enemies in their wake. At least twenty others were injured or dead from the shower of bombs.

The braided pilot let loose a soft yawn, stretching out the tensions in his arms and legs, inadvertently jabbing the other boy awkwardly with his limbs. He muttered a near incoherent apology, but Prussian eyes did not soften, nor did they harden. Indifference hovered in the midnight blue, as they gazed intently at the Duo. He squirmed and fidgeted from the confusing look, the same scrutinizing set of eyes that had left him highly nervous of Heero.

Finally succumbing to the overpowering urge to talk, the braided one broke the uncomfortable silence, "Hi, Heero," he spoke quietly, too quietly for Shinigami.

Heero almost allowed a frown to crease his expression, yet he had enough self-control to stop himself. "Hn."

The basic response one would expect from the soldier. Since the ending of the seemingly successful mission, a blanket of awkwardness had settled onto the two boys. Their eyes saw far too much of things that were not supposed to be seen and too much for their already perplexed minds to comprehend.

Both sat in silence void of conversation until a heavy sigh heaved from Duo's lungs, "Well, I don't know about you," he forced a grin, "but I wanna sleep!"

A simple nod of acknowledgement as well as permission followed the false cheeriness of his tone. Heero scooted over a little to his right, allowing the other to have some room. As expected the transition between positions was clumsy, still the contact of bodies startled both. The thick rope of chestnut that hung well beyond his derriere brushed against the Japanese boy and remained as the other pilot curled into a loose crescent. He was far too fatigued to care about who he was touching or in what way, just taking advantage of the warmth of another's body. And his trembling ceased, breathing evening out, as he once again drifted back into the realm of dreams. 'Warm . . .'

* * *

Both boys jolted awake with a screech of burning rubber off their tires. Startled and wide-eyed, they searched the premises for enemies. "Shit!" Duo swore in a sharp whisper, complete with cracking voice. Unknowingly they had disentangled their limbs in a frenzy, stumbling upward to a low crouch, taut muscles prepared for instant battle.

Jagged, light-brown bangs poked into the cart, concealing the pilot's neutral expression. "Sorry," he apologized, emerald gaze glimmering slightly in sincerity. "Quatre saw a deer in the middle of the road." Once again the taller boy disappeared, and Heero and Duo could both hear the clicking of the front door being shut.

The large truck rumbled back into life, trotting merrily along the rutted dirt paths to a new location. It was as if nothing had happened - except that two other soldiers were now awake in each other's company. Soft violet gazed into Heero's eyes, making him anxious and uncomfortable. Suddenly the Japanese youth developed an overwhelming urge to fidget away, shuffle uncomfortably. 'Damn it! What's wrong with me?' fighting the urge to snap close his eyes in frustration, he pointedly ignore the other.

"Look, I'm sorry, Heero," a voice blurted out with abruptness. The purple gaze flickered away almost as a flinch from an invisible blow, glittering softly.

"What?" the apology surprised the perfect soldier, himself. 'Sorry for what? Disrupting my world? Bringing me this hectic Hell? Don't. It's my own fault.'

Lips parted and rejoined several times in succession. Unspoken words choked the back of Duo's throat. He wanted to say a million things at once, most unrelated to his unexpected attempt to make amends. 'Relax.' "Everything," it slipped out quieter than intended.

For a moment Prussian blue eyes softened the hard planes at the edges, as he scrutinized the braided American that was angling vertically from Heero's squat. The blue retreated almost instantaneously once he had managed to gather his wits about him. He understood what Duo meant. '/See? Both of you are nervous and unsure,/' the voice in the back of his mind pointed out gently. 'Doesn't make this any easier,' he nearly gritted his teeth at the returning annoyance.

And the world continued to revolve around the still shining sun, people still were introduced as babies back into the world, the game of politics continued to be played out . . . So how could that one moment seem different from all the rest? To them it didn't feel that way. With so much Hell breaking loose around them in a war, they kept their minds focused on the missions. Maybe they were just in denial for the time being. How could anyone be so oblivious to growing emotions? It was what both of them wanted, one may have guessed. They just were.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~

Et voila! Vous aimez? That's enough French for now. If you did get it, it meant and here is! You like? Anyway, thanks for all the great support with the hits and reviews. I'm working on chapter 21 right now, and all is running smoothly. Anyway, Happy New Year, everyone!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~

Replies to Reviews

Aasae - Hi! Thank you so much for leaving a review! I'm very glad that you like this story because it was a lot of fun and took some work to write. Hopefully this wasn't too long of a wait. I kind of forgot about having this account until today, actually ^_^;; Well, Thank you again!

Lil debbie - Hola! Thank you very much for giving me a review! I love to read these things ^_^ Updating is a little slow right now just because of school. Actually it's winter break right now, but it's only until next week. I'm hoping to get 21 up on ffn, and squeeze in at least one more update here. I'm glad you liked it!

Shella-chan - Aww! That's the first thing that's made me smile all day (referring to the day I read this)! Well, thank you so much for such an awesome review. The compliments are wonderful, and so are you! It's always nice to see a familiar name, too. Hopefully this wasn't an extremely long wait, but I was dealing with chapter 20. I finally got it done though!