Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Somewhere I Belong ❯ Integrated Happenstance ( Chapter 11 )

Author: Arithion/Arithkenshin

Email: arithkenshin@yahoo.co.uk

Title: Somewhere I belong

Rating: NC17

Archives: http://www.goldenyaoihuggle.com/welcomepage.htm , http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/ under Arithkenshin

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4x5, S+U

Warnings: Angst, self-mutilation, Yaoi, Psychological, Drama, Action, Suspense, Romance,

Disclaimer: Not mine already! Stop rubbing it in.

Summary: Sequel to Some Way Back. How will Duo deal with the things of the previous eighteen months? How will the others deal? Why are otherwise healthy children dying? When everything else seems forsaken, can hope pull you through?

Notes: I want to thank everyone who reviewed, even in the absence of chapters, or sent me an email asking me where the hell the rest of the story is. It's still on it's way. So sorry about the delay, but SD has been taking up a hell of a lot of my time, and so has work. I will be trying very hard to get the chapters out more regularly now too. Thanks again.

Huge thanks to Sol for her beta work and constant prodding to get my butt into gear. Hugs go to the rest of the War Room too.

^^ encases song words^^

#*# scene change

~#~ flashback

~~**~~ end of chapter

~encase self reflective thought~

Somewhere I Belong: Integrated Happenstance

Une took a deep breath, glancing at Sally as she did so. For a moment her eyes rested on the golden highlights in Sally's hair, from the sunlight filtering through the window. She knew they needed to talk about this, so she didn't let it distract her any further.

"You remember the part I played in the wars." The question was rhetorical, but Sally nodded anyway as Une continued. "It's not like anyone could forget, least of all me." Her voice was bitter.

Une sighed, and pushed her hair out of her face. Her gaze refused to meet her companion's, looking everywhere else instead. It grazed the couch where Sally sat, perched on the arm, to the rest of their home. She's never expected to have a home after the war, Une thought wryly. She'd never expected to survive. Her voice was low when she spoke. "We had so many ideals, so many goals. I was very young when I joined Oz. One of my introductory assignments was overseeing a project…the Trillium Project." Une ignored the gasp from Sally, and keeping her eyes focused on the ground, she pushed herself onwards.

"Funded by the Winner Corporation, it was supposed to find a way to successfully clone an enhanced human being, who could function in extreme circumstance. They were meant to expendable. They weren't supposed to feel. Drugs were developed to aid in the control of the clones. To help in controlling all of their vital signs, to bring them onto a normal level so that the next batch of clones would have the improvements where the last had failed. One of those drugs morphed. It became Trillium Dust."

Une waited while Sally shifted her position, and the couch creaked. Her voice sounded tired when she spoke again. "The drug affected the clone's differently. That batch was the closest to perfect we ever made, but they needed that drug to exist. It was like water for them, but humans… for humans it was death through enslavement." She stopped, taking a deep breath before expanding on the information she had just delivered.

"Tests were carried out, using human guinea pigs. They reacted in a variety of ways, all of which were consistent. It was addictive and they needed more. They would do anything, complete any task in order to get it. Anything you wanted to know, even their deepest darkest secret seemed to them to be a fair price as long as they gained access to that drug. It worked like a truth serum, and that was what it was suggested as. But its side effects were lethal with prolonged usage."

Une had to take a breath, finding herself too close to breaking down from the visuals she remembered. A coldly clinical and detached voice spoke, allowing Une distance from the memories. "It not only destroyed their mind, giving complete control of what they undertook to the person who administered the drug. It also destroyed their bodies, disintegrating them a little at a time. It attacked their outward appearances, making skin flake, joints swell and blood contusions spread over their bodies. Furthermore it attacked their inner organs as well, causing them to age prematurely with protracted usage. They would become disorientated, blood clots would hamper their entire eventually ending in complete organ failure and death."

She looked up at Sally's pale, shocked face. "That should have filled in the blanks for you, on what you didn't already know. The drug was destroyed as far as we all knew." Une pinched her nose with her forefinger and thumb before looking back at Sally.

"I guess this means I was wrong."

#*#

Quatre frowned. The feeling was enough to be annoying in its vagueness and yet aroused his curiosity just because of that. He couldn't place it and he was getting frustrated.

Making up his mind, he dialled Duo's number and sat anxiously waiting for his best friend to pick up the call. A mass of partially dry cascading hair met his view, and Quatre had to stifle a chuckle. "Duo?"

The hair flicked out of the way, and Duo stood battling with it, a slight frown on his face. His eyes focused on the screen and he attempted a smile. "Hey, Quatre." He glared at his hair and finally gave up trying to control it. "It's going to be one of those days, at least for me." Duo took a closer look at Quatre. "You okay?"

Quatre felt a little of the apprehension dissipate. Duo seemed to be fine. "Yeah. I was actually calling to ask you the same question."

Duo frowned, absently pushing his hair away once more. "Him being alive didn't make me want to kill myself, Quatre, it made me want to throttle him. There's a huge difference between being suicidal and homicidal. In this case I think it'd be called justifiable homicide, anyway."

The blond laughed at that, the tension leaking out of his body almost completely. "I actually wasn't worried about you in that way, Duo." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I just… had a feeling, and I don't know who its from."

Duo's eyes narrowed a little, he knew all about Quatre's feelings. Then Duo smiled. "Why don't you come over and torture your ears a little?" He pushed his hair out of the way once more. "Or maybe help me cut off this rats nest that has picked today to annoy the hell out of me."

Quatre almost thought he was serious, but there was a mild twinkle in Duo's eyes that told the blond his friend was mostly teasing. "Okay. I'll be over a little later on… about an hour."

Duo nodded, sending his loose hair into cascading ripples once more. "Going now, Quatre. I have a score to settle with my hair before you get here."

The phone cut out and Quatre blinked. Duo was in a strange mood, but that was all right, because Quatre was in a weird mood himself. Blue-green eyes scanned the room and a scowl crept briefly over his face.

"You can come in now." Quatre waited. "I'm off the phone, and I know you're both there, so stop pretending you're not."

The door pushed open and Trowa and Wufei walked in. At least they had the sense to look a little shamefaced as they approached the blond. Quatre sighed. He never could stay angry with them for long, and he knew he meant a lot to both of them. With a sigh he steered his mind away from the melancholy thoughts that overcame him whenever he thought about Trowa and Wufei before they'd included him. Quatre watched the two of them come closer and fought back a laugh at the way they almost shuffled their feet.

"Enough, you two. I'm sorry I snapped."

Wufei shook his head. "No, we were doing it again. It is us who should apologise."

At the same time Trowa spoke. "We didn't mean to smother you, Quatre. Sorry."

Quatre sighed. "Well, bygones then." He laughed. "And it isn't Duo I was feeling. I'm going insane not knowing what this is, so I'm going to go and visit Duo and he can distract me."

"And we can't?" Trowa raised an eyebrow. Quatre had the grace to blush.

#*#

Heero was bored. He'd been over his plans a thousand times in his head and he wouldn't be able to push Duo down to second-place on his priority list anytime soon. The most important thing he had realised was that he needed to ground himself without relying solely on Duo. The second thing, close behind the first, was to make Duo realise how sorry Heero was, and how much he still loved the violet-eyed man.

Bored was perhaps the wrong word, Heero thought. It was more like he was perturbed, but considering he never liked admitting frustration for any reason, he was going to stick with bored.

There was one thing he was having trouble with, and that was how he was supposed to convince Duo…and be subtle about it. Subtlety had never been Heero's strength and he had no idea how to work on it without asking someone.

Running over the options in his mind, Heero first thought of Wufei. That thought made even Heero laugh out loud. If there was one thing the Chinese pilot was not, it was subtle. The man was fearless, loyal to a fault and courageously honourable. But he was definitely lacking in the finer points of subtlety.

Heero's thoughts then turned to Quatre. The blond was the perfect picture of understated power. He could manipulate anyone into doing anything and thinking that it was their idea. And he would do it with a smile on his face. He could make you feel guilty over the smallest thing or infuse joy in your very soul by smiling. If he was angry with you, you knew it and knew it well. Heero shuddered at the memory. But he realised that Quatre's form of subtlety came through forms of manipulation, albeit an unconscious use of exploitation, it was one nevertheless. And that was definitely not the way he wanted to reach Duo.

Somewhat dubiously he turned his thoughts to Trowa. On closer examination of what he knew of the green-eyed man, Heero realised that it wasn't a dubious possibility at all. Trowa always observed, always calculated. He waited until he had gathered all possible information and worked out as many possible outcomes as he could. And it was only then that he acted. When he did act, it wasn't in boisterous or loud, blunt and straightforward, or manipulative. If there were a dictionary definition of subtle, Heero wouldn't have been surprised to find Trowa listed as an example.

He turned towards the vid-phone, decision firm in his mind, and dialled the number for the Winner residence.

#*#

Trowa answered the phone in his usual manner. He simply turned it on and stood in front of it. He was a little surprised to see Heero on the other side of the picture, but not displeased. Since the time Heero had spent healing all those years ago, Trowa had had a lot of time for the brown-haired man. Green-eyes waited patiently, knowing that Heero knew him well enough to get to the point of the call.

"Trowa," was the only greeting that passed Heero's lips, although the Japanese man did lick those lips nervously a couple of times before beginning.

Trowa was curious. He had rarely seen Heero nervous, so he couldn't be sure if that was what was wrong, but he wanted to find out what it was.

"I … need a favour." Heero waited.

Trowa shifted his weight and looked thoughtfully at the figure speaking to him. "And…?"

What could have been relief passed over Heero's face before he continued. "I'd prefer to talk to you."

Trowa nodded and looked at his watch. "An hour?"

Heero nodded and cut the call. The vague thought crossed his mind that other people didn't seem to be able to talk to him like Trowa did, but he dismissed the speculation. Sometimes he thought they were too alike, but there were other times he would have been glad to trade places with Trowa's personality. Sometimes he thought Duo deserved so much more.

#*#

The girl gazed out of the window. It was one of those days where she barely had enough energy to move. There were no bars on the windows and as she looked down the blurred thought crossed her mind that maybe she should jump. It was gone as quickly as it had come and she was left watching the birds fly from tree to tree, as if mocking her captivity.

Her presence at the window was no longer unnoticed either. Two burly men stepped into the room, followed by a small man in a white coat. His black hair was slicked back, and as always the girl felt a shudder run down her spine at the sight of him. All she could associate with him was pain and withdrawal.

She left the window with a sigh and approached the bed, concentrating on making sure that her legs didn't give out under her. Her eyes flickered to the doctor as she sat on the bed, and she held out her arm in anticipation of what was to come.

His voice was as oily as his appearance. "There, Mira, that wasn't so hard, was it."

She nodded dutifully as he injected a painfully small amount of the pinkish liquid into her vein. In a few seconds it hit her, like she knew it would, and a wave of tiredness washed over her. Mira watched from behind partially closed eyelids as the men left her room.

If they had given her the correct dosage, the dosage she needed to function properly, she wouldn't feel so tired after being injected. As it was, they barely gave her enough to survive. Sometimes she wished they'd miscalculate and she could slip into the oblivion of never ending sleep, but that wasn't a viable option. She couldn't fight it off any longer. Mira slipped into slumber, wondering if her brother was really okay.

#*#

Maellin sat at the desk in his office, his head buried in his hands. He had told the boy to be careful. Damn it. He was getting too involved and he knew it. But what was he supposed to do: just sit by, and watch. That part of his brain that was like a programmed machine answered the rhetorical question. Yes, he should just sit and watch. It was what he had been placed there to do.

In all good conscience though, Maellin found that hard. No matter what he might be, he still had a conscience. The phone rang and he reached with a tired hand to pop the button and accept the call.

Maellin blinked at the face that appeared on the screen. He hadn't been expecting the call, and was slightly surprised, but in a good way. "Duo Maxwell, I presume." There was something about the longhaired man that made Maellin feel at ease, made him feel safe. Considering his circumstances, that was odd in itself.

The face on the screen smiled. "Hi Mae. Yeah. You said I should call." Maellin wasn't sure, but he thought Duo sounded a little nervous.

"Yeah. Are you still interested in volunteering?" Maellin hoped that Duo was. He needed the help badly, someone he could rely on.

"Shit, yeah." Duo smiled. "When can you use someone?"

"Straight after New Years, if it's all right by you." Maellin almost held his breath.

"Sure thing. See you on the second." Duo's face disappeared.

Maellin turned off the phone and looked at the blank screen thoughtfully. They wanted him to find someone reliable to be there on the days that he had to take off. The orphanage had been impinging on Maellin's other duties since his previous assistant had mysteriously disappeared. He wasn't stupid. Maellin knew exactly what sort of disappearance that had been.

He felt a little better as he turned his attention to the neglected paperwork on the desk. Who knew? If he managed to get the other things he needed to do done well enough, maybe they would finally let him and his sister go free. Although he doubted that thought, it was still enough to get him through the rest of the afternoon.

#*#

There was a loaded silence in the room. The sun was at its pinnacle, bright fingers stretching through bathing the room in a golden light. As the rays bounced off the furniture the mahogany glinted a golden-red. Une's gaze was downcast, following the pattern of light. Sally was the one to break the quiet.

"So what do we do?"

Relief was obvious as Une's shoulders relaxed and she finally met Sally's eyes. "We find out who the hell took samples of the drug with them, or stole the recipes from the database."

Sally's expression was dubious. "And just how do you propose we undertake this investigation on something that happened, oh say…nine years ago in an organization that is completely defunct?"

Une lowered her eyes once more, the words soft. "I…kept copies. All the files I could compress. There were…a lot."

Sally was surprised, and even quite impressed. Other people might call it hoarding unnecessary information, but personally Sally thought it was better to be safe than sorry, and she knew Une felt the same. "How do we go about narrowing it down then?"

A smile spread over the head of Preventer's face. It was one of those smiles that worked wonders in her position, and despite the midday sun, the room suddenly felt a little colder. Sally wasn't intimidated by it, being one of the few immune to the expression. Instead, Sally was all the more eager to hear the plan.

"We need to go through the lists. I have entire employment records from many of the different divisions of Oz. Some are secret…and others are not. Lets just say the files have come in handy more than once." A brief smirk crossed her face, before she continued. "All the researchers and doctors who were in our employ are also listed. Hell, I have the records right down to the cleaners who cleaned the offices. But I digress. We need to go through the files and wean out who was working at the times of the research, and who would have had access to the pertinent information and the samples. We also can cross off those already dead, but not necessarily those in prison. And the list is not short. I can assure you of this."

Sally narrowed her eyes. She knew Une too well and for too long to think that the woman wasn't keeping something back. "What aren't you saying? Where's the catch?"

Une smiled again, this time a little ruefully. "You know me too well. It's likely that some will have had name and persona changes. I have tried to keep up with as many of them as possible, but it isn't always a viable option with limited spare time. In short… this is going to be a bitch of a job. And it's going to be hard." She pushed her hair out of her eyes once again. When she spoke her voice was almost a whisper. "That's why we need them again."

"So why do we need their help?" Sally's voice was soft and drew Une out of her thoughts.

"Because, Sally. Because they're the best at what they do."

~~**~~

Well there we go… I'm getting back into it, slowly but surely. Will try my hardest to get a chapter out once a week, at least once a fortnight if I can't manage the weekly thing. Meanwhile… what did you think?

~Arith