Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Reasons to be Queen ❯ a little hope ( Chapter 2 )

Title: Reasons to be Queen 2/?

By: Nix

Why? Because the story was on my mind

Warnings: Eventually it will be Heero/Duo/Relena, character development to me might be OOC to someone else…. Probably cussing

Disclaimers: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters.

Type of story.. *thinks hard* Hentai, romance… I looked through the list of possible labels, and I think there will be elements of sap, but the most shocking is H/D/R…And now.. on to Heero's POV.. I hope I do him well.

Feedback… I'd like to know, please, anything doesn't make sense or if you lose interest in the story at some point.. if you read it all the way through and find it passable.. please drop me an email to duo@neteze.com… It doesn't need to be more that "Read it." Or "Read it. Stopped when Relena did X." That would be very helpful, so I know where I lost the tension. And of course, if you don't feel like responding, that's way cool too! *smiles*

Reasons to be Queen

Nix

"Don't you wonder what it's like, Miss Relena," Dorothy asked, easing them off the freeway and heading towards the center of the city.

Relena ignored her. After accepting duo's death, her hear held back. The pain circled her though, as a hungry wolf might, just waiting for an opening to maul her again. She laid her palm against the cool glass of the window.

Did she want to know how it was? How it felt? Did she need anymore pain? Did anyone ever need a lover beaten to death? "No one needs this, Dorothy."

"War is not going away, Miss Relena. The honorable fight. The weak die. The dishonorable fight. The strong survive," Dorothy said, slowing the car as they decended into the parking garage. "do you thin you could make it all go away by just smiling?"

That stung. Even Duo had told her to hurry up and be Queen. If she were, perhaps this would never have happened to him. "Blowing things up doesn't seem to be working either," Relena snapped, only to find Dorothy smiling at her.

"Oh very good, Miss Relena, but perhaps you haven't it. If you haven't tried it, then it's always a last resort, is it not?" She turned off the car, and bounced the keys in her palm. "If you haven't felt the passion of war, how can you home to find a solution?"

"I will not fight, Dorothy. It is wrong."

Closing her fist around the keys, Dorothy purred, "Oh, we will see!"

Relena stepped out of the car, staring sternly at Dorothy. "I do not want to play a game with you."

"But Miss Relena, you would like to see Duo Maxwell?"

"Yes. Take me to him," she commanded, not really believing that Duo lived. This was the cruelest joke.

"So impatient! You're really a warrior." It was as if she'd proved a point. As the elevator doors opened, she said, "He would have been spaced if I had not acquired him. I am doing my best to help you."

"I will arrange transport for him to my home then," Relena pushed, arms across her chest, imitating Heero.

"If you are strong enough," Dorothy agreed, holding the elevator door open. "You will need to be strong. I thought you were in love with Heero, though. I didn't really believe you had feelings for Maxwell until I saw you in the garden."

Relena paused, turning to face her more directly. "Then why did you do this?"

"Because the idea occurred to me during his chemical interrogation. He was of no use to anyone, but when he thought he was alone, he kept talking to you and to Heero. You realize the boy wants to have intimate relations with Heero Yuy as well as with you? It must have been a closely held secret of his. It only came out after the third dose of Veriacid. Do you know how effective that substance is? The effects were not very spectacular on Maxwell. If we had not had him hooked up to sensors, it would have been very difficult to tell when he was in distress. So did you know about his Heero lust?"

She knew. It was something they shared, their mutual lust and adoration for Heero Yuy, oblivious as he was to everything they did. She pressed her hand to her mouth, trying not to think what kind of effect the drug would have been having to make Duo talk about his feelings so openly. Veriacid was denounced in most civilized kingdoms, for the sometimes permanent neural damage it caused. "Is he alright?"

"I said he was alive." Dorothy held the door of the elevator open and motioned towards an approaching solider. "Maya, allow Miss Relena to visit the prisoner. Then see that she is returned to her home. Allow her to make him comfortable, if she wishes, supply her with any medical equipment and supplies she may request. Do not assist her in using them. Shot them both if she tries to leave with him."

Numb, Relena followed the dark haired woman. This place, under the garage, had been set up fast, with brutal security.

When the door opened and the light in the room blinked on, Relena thought she would die, right there, right then, that very moment. The safe boundaries of her understanding of the world, of the good nature of humanity dissolved under the acid stench of blood and urine, of the very fragility of the human body and the endurance of the human soul. Duo Maxwell's chest was lifting, falling. He lived.

"Pain killers, scissors, bandages, antibiotics, thermometer, a basin and a stand, water, shampoo, clean clothes. Was he treated for the bullet wound?"

"I believe he was, but I will bring you forceps as well. Anything else?"

"I will ask when I need," Relena said stepping into the square metal box that was Duo's cell. She shrugged out of the coat she wore as the door closed, letting it fall to floor.

In jeans and a loose cotton blouse, the blue one that was one of his favorites, she crossed to him. "Duo?"

Other hand over her mouth this time, she did not know how to proceed, how to heal Duo's broken body anymore than she knew how to solve war, how to stop people from being willing to do this to another. So she stood there, her eyes locked on his bruised and swollen face. If she had never meet him, her heart would still have been breaking, all over again. That she loved him, extended that love to all victims of war, all those who fought for what they believed. With trembling fingers, she reached out to touch his forehead, a small space that had pale and sweaty skin, but no bruising.

The texture of Duo's skin wasn't any different than anyone else's, really. It wasn't the softest or the most beautiful. As her fingers soothed, touching his hair, they moved over both abrasion and a blemish left from the last moments of adolescence. Pimples and bruises, he was all the wounded in the world to her then, not just her beloved friend. She remembered then, when she'd though he was just an arrogant peasant, trying to seduce her prince away from her and she groaned under the memory, under the strain of trying to find a way to cope.

"'Lena? I told you not to listen to her," he whispered, his voice just a tiny echo of what it should have been.

She leaned close, suddenly overjoyed to hear his voice at all. "Are you going to call me a baka for coming?"

"Take too much energy," he complained, but the very edge of his mouth lifted in as much of a smile as busted lips could manage.

The fingers of her other hand reached to touch his faint smile and he winced. "Don't cry on me. Stings."

Only then she realized she'd been crying, helpless and frozen. With the back of her sleeve she scrubbed tears away from her cheeks and dried her hand over her stomach. "You know how us princesses are, always doing the pretty thing at the wrong time!"

He tried to laugh, lips cracking a he smiled, laughter turning to painful coughing. "Careful princess, the thief will steal from you."

"Can't steal what's freely given, Duo," she whispered more seriously, leaning forward and touching her lips to his rough ones. She expected it to be a small kiss, but his lips caught hers, sucking first her lip, then slipping a dry tongue into her mouth. She accepted and returned, equal need and love, tongues touching across the lies of proper behavior, crossing the dictates of comfort and time. It didn't last long, this kiss and it left Duo panting and half conscious, Relena's lips bloodied and her eyes wet again.

When the door opened she turned around, arms out to either side in some instinctive protective movement. Maya wheeled a cart in. "It's everything you asked for. The water is in a storage container here, battery powered pump. I'll be outside, knock if you need something."

One of Duo's fingers had hooked in a belt loop of her jeans and it took both of her hands reaching behind her back to get him to gently let go. His hands had grown in the year she'd known him, she thought, longer fingers, more muscular… man's hands. "I'm not much of a doctor, Duo Maxwell, so you have to wake up and help me."

"Always wanted," he started, and found himself coughing and short of breath again. "Ribs, my ribs, can't breath well. Wanted to play nurse though. Gonna undress me, Nurse Relena?"

He was half dead and he still had the spirit for joking. It was a mystery that she tucked away to think through later. "I'm going to get some oxygen for you. Don't you go away now, I'll be back to undress you."

"Really," he tried to tease, the energy for it fading away as soon as she was out of touching range and he went still on the table, just the rise and fall of his chest.

She knocked on the door, requested oxygen for him, was denied a manual on how to use it, but did get a cylinder of oxygen with a small little nasal delivery system. It wasn't all that hard to do and quickly she had a small flow going and the little tube in place under Duo's nose. Trying to sort out what else to do first, she said, "Let me know if that helps, please."

"'Lena," he said, already sounding better, "'Lena what in hell are you doing here? Where are we?"

"We're on Earth, Paris. I'm here playing doctor with you, but you have to get well, so next time you can play doctor."

His eyes opened, blinked, and he didn't argue or resist as she moved him onto his back. "Might wanna turn on the lights, uh?'

She moved her fingers over his face, above those violet eyes, and they didn't track the movement in the slightest. "Duo, it's okay. It's light enough for me, but your eyes should have dim, so they'll heal." She didn't know it wasn't true, not really. It was possible.

The same hand that had linked onto her jeans was now doing it's best to work it's way up her shirt and she caught it, lifting his fingers to her face. "See? Just me, but you can't see the eye shadow this way."

"Relena, I can't see at all," he said, his hand covering half her face, but now there was a desperation in his voice, something she'd never heard before. Duo Maxwell was never afraid.

"Duo," she said, kissing his palm. "I will see for you until your sight returns. I want to take of these dirty clothes though and bathe you and I want to wash your hair. You'd do that for me, if I were hurt wouldn't you?"

"'Lena, I'm not a stubborn little child all the time. I want to be bathed by my beautiful lover. What kinda baka wouldn't want to be? Does Heero know? How long have I been a prisoner?"

"I don't know if Heero knows. I wasn't able to reach him. It's been about 36 hours. I don't know what time you were actually captured. I'm going to cut your shirt off. I have clean clothes for you. Tell me where you're hurt?"

"You talk like me.. makes it hard to know how to answer, 'Lena."

Leaning closer, she pressed her cheek to his, very gently. "Tell me where you're hurt."

"Broken ribs, don't know about internal, but I'm still alive. Bullet in my shoulder. I don't know how I got caught. I'm an idiot, Relena."

"Duo Maxwell! Don't you dare say such things! Or I'll pierce your nipple right here and now!" It was very forced, and she felt like a fool for saying it. Blush flared over her cheeks as she cut the clothe of his shirt right down the center of the chest. Before Duo, she didn't know people pierced nipples, let alone threaten to do it in a private imprisonment.

Duo snickered, wheezing. "You're blushing."

She wanted to deny it, but she didn't. "Did they hurt you?"

"Aside from beating the hell out of me more than once, aside from shooting me and drugging the brains out of me?" He did his best to help her get the sleeve over his arm, bu then she just cut that too.

"I meant," she said, setting the scissors down. Never in all her life had she imagined seeing a man with so many colors on his chest. "What do I do, Duo? How do I help?"

"Run your fingers through my hair? Don't pilot a mobile suit like Dot-hell-bitch is going to ask you to. Relena, tell Heero how I felt about him?"

"I do not want to deal with your death! I cried Duo! I cried and I rolled in the dirt like that cat we got drunk once! You're bad! I hurt because I thought you were dead! So don't tell me what to tell Heero! You will tell him yourself. I want to see you and Heero together! I want," she closed her eyes and clenched his fingers. "I'm weak, Duo! I love you! Don't talk about dying like it's something you already did! I am not burying any more photos of you in your garden."

"Wow, 'Lena, get pissed at me, will you."

Because she didn't know what more to do about his chest, she started with his hair, trying to undo the braid. "I will if you even think about dying."

"What are you going to do with a blind house pet?" he asked, relaxing though, turning his head just a little to be able to lean it against her thigh at the head of the table, where she worked on his braid.

"Duo. Do you remember when I thought I had to be perfect, to be this idea? And I always dress perfect and smiled all the time. I was plastic like, a little girl expecting my life to unfold like a story, imagining what I'd do if I were in a story. You do the same shit, Duo Maxwell, but you do it like you're either the greatest or you the one no one wants. Sometimes you're the most self-confident person, and sometimes you can't imagine what people see in you! Everyone has this image of you, of you being cheerful and unstoppable, even you. I see you though. I see the determination and the strength. If you don't get your sight back, you'll still be making things and living full of passion and your sense of humor will still get you in trouble. I had an email from Quatre last week. I wasn't supposed to tell you about it. What do I do about this blood? I don't want to rip your hair."

"Man, 'Lena. I can't believe how hard it is to follow with all those words shoved together! No wonder Heero bitches me around. Can you soak that part of the braid? It laid under where I was shot, so it's probably pretty matted."

"Are you in pain?" She asked, wishing her role would come up around her, make it easier to know what she was supposed to do. With fingers she refused to let shake, she got the basin filled with water, so she could soak that bit of his hair.

"I hurt, Relena. But if you give me painkiller, I'll fall asleep," he said, slightly miserable.

"Do you want to hear about the email?" She asked, as she pressed his braid into the cool water.

"Yeah. Are he and Trowa talking about a bonding ceremony again?"

"Did he ever stop? It's amazing what one learns when you get to be friends with someone. Duo, Quatre was writing about Heero. He saw Heero watching you, with this curious look on his face. On top of that, Heero bought two tickets to Lavender Spring, that movie you wanted to see."

"Not out yet," Duo said, curious, slightly confused. "What are you trying to say?"

"Heero likes you. I think he really likes you, or at least he's starting to be interested."

Duo closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of Relena working his braid clean, then her fingers massaging his scalp. "Relena, you can't do what she wants you to do."

"I don't know how much time I have here. I want to spend it with you, not arguing about Dorothy. They gave me two kinds of shampoo. Strawberry and Ocean Breeze."

"The Ocean one. I wouldn't be able to protect you, if you go to this battle she wants you to go to."

She put a little shampoo into her palm, staring at the blue gel for a moment. "I will not betray my principles, Duo. You understand that?" Even more now than ever before, she knew what they meant. Harm None extended to Allow No Harm as well.

"'S all I ask," he reached back towards her, fingers searching until he found her shoulder. "Mobile suits are for people like me."

She guided his fingers to her lips, kissing softly before starting to cleanse his hair. Peace was not for those who spoke only, for those who did not know the sorrow of war. It was for those who would move the world for it, use all the honorable tools in their hands. Duo nearly purred as she washed, managing to soak herself while she did it.

Eventually she had him bathed, his ribs wrapped and hair re-braided, the clean clothes on him, and had even given him a shot of painkiller. He slept then and she stood there, holding the edge of his shirt, fingers in his hair, watching him breath, thinking about peace and the fate of the world.