Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Reasons to be Queen ❯ witchdoctor ( Chapter 7 )

Reasons to be Queen 7

By Nix Winter

Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing.. I am working on a new original story that I own, but this isn't it.

Warnings: Um.. none that I haven't already gone by in the course of this story so far.

Duo slowly slide over sideways in the back of the cab, panting, skin flushed, sweaty already. Laying on his side, he took all the money out of both wallets, shoved both the empty ones into his back pocket. He'd return them at the shuttle port, drop them in a postbox or so. He counted fifteen bills, all the same size. He hated American money, suddenly.

"So, man," the driver said, and Duo could hear the concern in his voice, good old fashioned Islander Aloha thickening the words, making them sweet and humid like the air. "Where you say you wanna go?"

"Shuttle port," Duo said, voice too low, words clipped. "How much?"

"Man, you sure? You don't look good?"

Well, now there was a nice understatement. Twenty pounds under fighting weight, cheeks sunk in, IV bruises in his hands still, and a world gone full time midnight, Duo sighed, "I'll feel better when I'm home."

"Yeah," the man said, going around a curve, and making a decision, turning onto another road, off the main one. "Yeah, no charge, okay? But I have to stop by and see my grandmother. It's my lunch time, time to break. I get you some lunch too, man. You like poi?"

Duo smoothed his eyebrows, struggling to sit up. "You're fucking kidding, right? I gotta get out of here. You gotta understand," Duo said, sounding as intimidating as he could, one hand on the seat, holding himself upright. He was starting to shake though, exhausted and emotionally gutted because he'd just left his loved ones. "I can't be here when they get back. I'm just gonna fuck up their lives."

"Oh yah," the man said, taking them down a bumpy gravel road, "I understand love. The heart is like a hurricane, just waiting for the rainbow. Man, you gotta meet my grandmother! She knows the answer to all the heart." The car came to a stop and Duo could tell from the way the man's voice got a little closer that he'd probably turned. "Nah, man, shake my hand, uh? You about to come to lunch at my place."

Duo licked his lips and lifted his hand, slowly, taking a guess where the man's hand might be. His little finger brushed over a thumb, then his hand was caught in a gentle and firm grip. "Duo. I'm Duo."

"I'm Gripe. Cuz man, that's what I do the most, gripe, gripe, gripe. You can't see?"

Pain, Duo felt the expression of his heart's pain flicker over his face. "What difference does that make?"

"I was just askin, yah know?"

"Gripe!" A woman's voice, old, cheerful called out, "What you doin here, boy?"

"I come for lunch, Grandma. I brought you a guest! I know how you like'em."

"Oh a guest!" The door opened on his side, and Duo panicked.

"Don't touch me!" He reached for his pistol, which wasn't there, of course, and a gentle hand patted his knee.

"Now now, you see here. We don't mean no harm to you! Gripe thinks you need some lunch. I make you some lunch. Come inside," she said, still patting his knee. "You safe here. We just wanna help you."

"I don't need any help! Just take me to the shuttle port." Duo moved away from her touch.

"Gran! Who's here?" A younger woman, little more than a girl, asked. "Oh, Gran! That's Duo Maxwell. Gripe! What you bring him here for!?"

"Loni," Gripe cautioned. "He needs help. He's sick, can't see. Gran can help him."

"There is a price on his head! Gripe!"

"A price on my head?" Duo half fell over again, caught himself on his elbow, and dropped the money he'd gotten. "Who?"

"You can't see, Duo," the old woman asked, "Me neither. Come inside, please?"

Duo wondered if he should have gotten out of bed at all, as his ears started to ring. "Can't see," he agreed, and couldn't do much more than sort of float as he felt Gripe take hold of his arm and haul him out of the taxi. He was too week, to broken to be of use to either Heero or Relena. It was so much better for them to no have him to waste their energy on.

"Gran?"

"Take him in the house, boy. Hurry up. Loni, get Mara. The boy needs help."

"What's that witch doctor gonna do for him? He should go to the hospital."

"Just do what you're asked, Loni!" Gripe growled, and carried Duo out of the heat of the sun, into someplace dark and air-conditioned. Losing contact with the world outside of his dreams, Duo imagined himself on the beach, the sun making Relena's hair blond, leaning against Heero, his arms around him, laughter and cold pop. He imagined Heero kissing his neck, whispering that he loved him, while Relena held his hand. Imagined that they really wanted him.

Back on the road, Trowa shot around the same curve, missed the gravel road, raced all the way to the shuttle port, the hospital… Duo was just… gone.

Heero drove Relena to the house Quatre had rented. Quatre was waiting for them on the porch, cell phone in hand. He remembered very clearly when Trowa had stopped him from firing on Heero, when he'd done something so wrong and nearly killed his own lover. Heero maybe recognized the look, he froze, one arm laying on the top of the car, door opened. Relena stepped out of the back seat, took in the look between them, steeled herself. "Duo?"

"He woke early," Quatre said.

Trowa came in the drive, came to a stop the longest point of the triangle. He said nothing, his eyes telling Quatre that he hadn't found anything. Quatre straightened, meet Relena's eyes, then locked eyes with Heero. "He woke early. His vision had not returned. He left, took a taxi, about an hour ago. We can't find him."

Emotion and hope are difficult coals to hold sometimes. Heero and Relena looked towards the drive, both of them knowing how injured and weak and yet how capable Duo Maxwell was. It would be like trying to find a wounded lion in the savannah. She blinked. He turned to look at her, his eyes following the tears trailing down her cheeks. It was odd that her eyes were watching him as well, and he reached up to touch his own cheeks, surprised even more by the hot moisture he found. "We will find him," he promised her. "We will find him and make the world okay for him."

"Thank you," she said, silently, only her lips moving.