Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Survival ❯ Digging a Hole ( Chapter 3 )

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

Digging a Hole

October 1st 196 - Saturday - Amsterdam

I never thought of myself as Wonder Woman. Even before my parents died, I didn't have such high hopes. I never thought I was anybody special. I never had the idea that I might do something great.

But… I never thought I'd get knocked up at fifteen; that'd happened three times now. I never thought I'd sit and debate who the father was for a few hours, trying to decide which choice made me sicker. I never thought I'd be sitting trying to scrounge the cash for another abortion, cause Luc or Cal would ask what happened if I did it the old fashion way and paid someone to sock me in the stomach a good couple times.

I never thought I might become who I am. I'm glad.

That's the kind of shit that gives kids nightmares.

“Luc, what the fuck is your problem?!”

“What?” he demanded incredulously turning back to look at her with sincere eyes. Seeing how she stood, how every little part of her read, `don't-fuck-with-me-asshole,-I-don't-feel-like-playing-games-today', he sighed. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he said, “I don't see why you keep insisting on going out… I mean, I know where you are, but still, the Slingers…”

“It's safe ground, Baby,” she insisted, sidling closer and running her hands down her chest. “Nobody'll touch me…” She pressed her hips to his, lifted on leg, and slowly ran her inner thigh down his, pressing closer and gripping him tightly around the waist with her arms. She smiled sweetly and looked up to him, knowing her soft blue eyes were as perfectly beautiful as a doll's, only with a slight hint of danger. “Nobody'd dare…”

He swallowed, looking considering for a moment as she gently wrapped her leg around his. “Sin…” he started, then stopped as she reached under his shirt, running her nails lightly down his back. After a moment, he looked down at her resolutely and said, “No.”

Affronted, she pulled away and glared at him. “Why not?”

“The Slingers are starting to really lose it with us, they're on the prowl all the time now, and I'm not about to let you just go walk the streets when they could just be waiting to ambush you! They're not from here, they don't care about anyone else, and they're damn well itching to hurt us for trying to get by!”

“Nine more won't be hurting anybody anytime soon, if ever,” announced a new voice.

The couple both spun to find Doushovel and Melissa warily watching a newcomer, Shov with his hand on his gun; he and Luc were the only ones who had them.

Sin frowned; there didn't seem to be anything at all threatening about the boy. His coal black hair was scraggly and obviously hadn't been washed in a good week, if not longer. Baggy clothes hung loosely off a scrawny build; he had a big black carry sack slung over one shoulder. His face was shadowed by a black baseball cap.

“Who's he?” demanded Luc of Shov.

“Found him in Lancaster park, sitting on a bench,” replied his second in a monotone. “There were seven dead slingers `round him, two more almost joinin' `em. Says he did it all himself.” He paused for a moment, then added, “No guns on him.”

“Fuckers were asking for it,” announced the dark-haired boy cheerfully in a clearly American accent, looking up to meet Luc's incredulous eyes.

Sin looked him over again, reevaluating. He couldn't be any older than she was, but those baggy clothes could just as easily be hiding the muscle he must have, to take out nine of Cal's fighters - the Slingers were ex-soldiers, not locals banding together to scrape by. His face was almost girlishly pretty, but his dark cobalt eyes… they belonged to someone who had led a tortured life. She suddenly realized that yes, his mannerism, the look on his face and the way he talked, was sarcastic, companionable, and friendly… But the way he stood, or something… perhaps it was his eyes… just screamed of danger.

“What do you want?” asked Luc coldly, also looking him up and down.

The other boy held his hands up. “Hey, buddy, I'm just looking for some people who might watch my back for the same favor. Dog eat dog world out there, and I kinda like to sleep sometimes.”

“Why us?” returned Luc, still cold.

“Well fuck if I like the a couple assholes who tried to jump me when I went to sit down in the damn park,” returned the other, his tone still laid back, though somewhat angry at the mention of the Slingers he's had a scramble with. “And fuck if I'm going downtown to that red-light hellhole. Kill me first, I've seen that place!” Melissa snorted slightly at that in agreement; though when the boy glanced back at her she just raised one brow.

Luc's look was slightly amused. “The whores scare you, eh?”

“The fuckers are desperate, asshole,” snapped the guy. He was becoming more and more defensive as the conversation went on. “I ain't that bad off yet.” He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “I know what a pretty face is worth down there, and I don't want to be next.”

“Asking to get your face real unprettied, picking a fight with a group of Slingers,” commented Sin.

“All the better for me,” he retorted, rolling his eyes.

…She liked his attitude.

Luc seemed to tense even as she relaxed, and she didn't think it was coincidence; he knew her better than Cal.

Or maybe Cal just didn't care as much. The bruises Cal left were the reason Luc was so protective of her, didn't want her going out alone, even to safe ground…

But there were other ways to twist Luc's arm into getting what she wanted, just because he was Luc, and not Cal.

“Name?” she asked, favoring the boy with a smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Luc's shoulders tightening at her attentiveness.

“Calls himself Chaos,” announced Shov before the other could.

“Chaos?” scorned Luc.

Chaos shrugged. “Whatever works, eh? I'd just as soon forget my old life.”

“Chaos,” repeated Sin delightfully, letting it roll off her tongue with a slightly affectionate tone.

Luc clenched one fist behind his back, glaring a warning at the newcomer.

To her surprise, however, Chaos himself favored her with a dark look that made her want to shiver. “That's my name,” he announced, his tone holding a slight hint of warning. Settling back on his heels and breaking off the glare, relaxing, he continued sarcastically with, “Don't wear it out on the first day, it's not nice.”

Sin fought the urge to rub her arms at the chill of his gaze, then was upset with herself for wanting to. She ruled here; this was her ground. There was something about this Chaos… she didn't know what, but she wasn't sure she liked it.

“I'm going to bed,” she announced, and turned to peck Luc on the cheek. “I'll see you soon?”

“In a bit,” he remarked coolly, not turning to look at her as she left.

“Good night, Chaos,” she chimed as she left the room.

“Night,” he returned courteously, but without emotion.

She pursed her lips. That wouldn't do.

***

“Don't even think about it,” snapped Luc once he was sure Sin and the two who had escorted Chaos in were gone.

“`Forgive us our trespasses,'” murmured Chaos, “`And lead us not into temptation.' I'm not thinking about it. I'm Chaos, not fucking Adam, I recognize forbidden fruit.”

Luc looked at him hard for a moment, then shook his head a little. Motioning for him to sit at the table he had there in the room, he asked, “Religious?”

“Not sure, in all honesty,” he replied, shrugging his bag off his shoulder as he sat. “That just seemed to fit, with your china doll there.”

“Sin,” clarified Luc. “And I'm guessing you know who I am already.”

“Luc, leader of the Devils,” affirmed Chaos. He looked towards the doors. “Sin's a good name for a girl so pretty she can't walk by without making men think of committing it. Why's she pissed at you?”

“None of your business,” replied Luc, somewhat annoyed with the other man, though he wasn't sure why. Melissa and Shov would never have brought him into the Den without getting a good measure of him… and while that was hardly a good measure of a man, it did hold some weight. He didn't set off that danger sense, or at least not once he had stopped glaring at Sin, but there was still definitely… something about him. Changing the subject, he asked, “What makes you think you're not jumping in over your head, American?”

Chaos was silent for a moment, then he sighed. “I miss having a family,” he admitted.

Luc leaned back; it was hardly a new story; the last of his family had died back in 194. “How long have your folks been gone?”

“Don't remember `em.”

Luc frowned; he hadn't really been expecting that. “What's the story, then?”

“Story?”

“The family you miss.”

Chaos' dark chuckle was sad and weary. “Which one? They're all gone.” When Luc didn't respond, he sighed again and elaborated. “Was part of a crew when a leader took pity on me when I was too little to really remember… plague swept through a few years later. I figure I was seven or so when the church took me and everyone that was left. Church got burned down because of some revolutionaries a couple years later, after everyone but me'd gotten adopted or fostered off. Got picked up as a recruit the next year, fought in the Gundam war a couple years after that.” He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “Nobody wanted a soldier anymore, once the dolls came out.”

An ex-soldier… “Ever face a Gundam?” That might explain being able to down nine Slingers without a gun.

“Once or twice,” admitted quietly. “You never come out of a fight there unrazed. Most people end up dead.”

“Lucky?”

“Yeah,” he whispered, looking down at his hands, resting on the table. “Lucky.”

Luc paused for a moment, giving it one last moment of consideration, before stretching a hand across the table. He was foreign… but he also wasn't like Cal's fighters. Maybe it was because of how much younger he was, or that he'd come off the street himself… God only knew the Devils' Get was only a few steps off it. There was something… defeated about the kid, and Luc could tell before Shov and `Liss left that Chaos wouldn't be able to mix well with the personalities most of the Slingers had. So despite the avoidance and half-truths he could feel… there was something that just felt right giving him a chance. If he turned out to be trouble, they'd deal with it then.

“Nice of you to show up. It's always good to have somebody else who can cover himself.”

Chaos smiled a little and took his hand, “It's good to not be alone anymore.”

***

October 3rd 196 - Monday

The dark interior… the single stained glass window above the alter…

They were so alike…

God, it had been so long…

Duo smirked at his own thoughts, thinking that maybe there, it didn't count as breaking a commandment.

Luc had mentioned the church yesterday, and Duo had thought to avoid it; best not to tempt fate into repetition and all. But somehow, despite that, he had soon found himself on the little cathedral's doorstep - like a lost puppy. He had gone inside, feeling as though it was another man walking towards the alter, falling to his knees.

It was kinda funny… no matter what happened, no matter what you'd done, what atrocities you'd committed, what commandments you would break again… you could never really forget what was instilled in you as a child.

“Now, Duo, promise me you won't get into another fight if I let you go out again.”

“But, Sister, I only-”

“Duo, please?”

“Sister Helen is right, Duo. You ought to be a good example; you represent this church wherever you go, whatever you do, understand?”

“But, Father Maxwell… how can you just let them say all that stuff?”

“It's not our place to judge, Duo; that is God's decision, you know that.”

“I don't believe in God.”

“Duo, please I wish you wouldn't-”

“Shh, Sister, leave him be… Just try to turn the other cheek, boy, alright?”

“I was never any good at turning the other cheek,” he muttered to himself, resurfacing from his memories. “Never really repented.” Smirking a little, he added, even more quietly, “I was always a sinner.”

He didn't see Sin standing in the back of the church, glaring at his back.

***

October 7th 196 - Friday

“Dit is niet de eerste keer dat jij jier bent,” announced a man warmly, and Duo snapped his head up to look at the priest in surprise. It had been a long time since someone had snuck up on him… though he supposed it had only been because he had been so wrapped up in his thoughts. This was probably the third time he had come to the church, and it had only been a week.

The priest smiled at down at him. “Ik heb jou hier nog nooit eerder gezien. Ben je nieuw hier?”

Duo blinked, translating and digesting what the Dutchman had said before replying, “Ja, ik ben nieuw hier.” I'm new here, yes.

He blinked in return, then smiled again. “American?” he asked tentatively in English.

Duo smiled wanly. “Yeah.” He really needed to work out the kinks on that accent. Everyone seemed to know his descent immediately, for all that he'd never actually lived in America, not unless he counted a couple days of hiding out in a school so he could do a mission.

The priest smiled again and stretched out a hand. “What brings you to us?”

“Bad fortune,” he said as he stood and took his hand, shaking it firmly, at first thinking the man meant the Netherlands. Then, looking around the church, he added, “Old memories.” At the older man's encouraging look, he explained, “When I was young, a church took me in as a war orphan.”

“You are young,” countered the priest, looking at him mock sternly.

Duo shrugged a little uncomfortably. “Older than I truly care to be,” he admitted, looking down. “And my church is a long forgotten ruin, now.”

“That is sad to hear,” murmured the man quietly.

Duo sighed. “It's a sad world, Father.”

“Yes… Yes I suppose it is.”

***

Unknown

Heero stared at the closed top of his laptop for a moment, considering. It hurt in a way he had never imagined it could, that he didn't dare use it to get anything useful done, and the battery life was too precious, not knowing the next time he might be able to recharge, to waste time on it.

Someone was tracking him… That had never happened, and he was almost positive that no one had ever tracked Odin either. His brand of programming and hacking was `a little off kilter' according to some of the men who had trained him for Operation Meteor, and therefore not so easily found… yet someone had obviously figured it out, from how often they had had to run.

He felt… almost as though he was missing a limb, not being able to work as he always had, but he had learned the hard way. Shifting to stare at his mutilated leg, he resisted the urge to laugh, suddenly… Quatre was too vital an ally to risk alienating by suggesting a high chance of breaking insanity, even if it was likely true.

This would be a particularly bad time to break down. And death wasn't as appealing as it had once been, and he couldn't risk capture because then he would essentially be entirely truncated. In any event, even if it became a viable option, he refused to betray his comrade… they had come too far, now.

The blonde was reading a paperback he had found somewhere to pass the time… They couldn't move again until night for cover, and Quatre required far less sleep than Heero hated to admit he did, with his injury. However, it would be unwise to make noise, hiding in another attic as they were, so he settled back down, wrapped in the far too large hooded sweatshirt they had found laying out and forgotten upon entering the house, that could be dismissed as misplaced or lost… The extra fabric only made it warmer, even though it hung so loose that it was a wonder it even touched half of him.

Hopefully now Quatre would stop trying to take pity on him with the damn blanket.

Annoyed at doing it on some level, he closed his eyes and evened out his breathing, slowing his heart rate into a normal sleeping rhythm, and began to focus on the thoughts and concepts that would force his brain into the first stage of sleep. He didn't want to, but there was nothing else to keep his mind, and since he had already stretched and moved his injured leg as much as he dared, there was a chance that more sleep still might help more.

Maybe once Quatre was done with it he'd read the book.

***

October 10th 196 - Monday

Duo froze when Sin slipped out of the darkness beside him in the park, the very one where he had fought the Slingers last week. “Hello,” he muttered civilly.

“Hello, Chaos,” she returned, tilting her head at him in an altogether cute fashion… he hated how she did that. It was a gesture purposely meant to attract, and with that perfect doll face of hers, it worked like a charm.

At least unless you knew better.

“What do you want?” he asked bluntly.

“Oh, Chaos, so little trust?”

“Only a fool would trust a woman who calls herself Sin.”

She pouted… and again it was in that sort of calculated to get as much attention as possible way. It made him all sorts of nervous… he didn't like playing cat and mouse. “And what if I call myself such because I know sin is what enters men's thoughts when they see me?” she countered.

Duo snorted. “Excuse me, lady, but with that sort of name, you're just trying to reel in every sinner within five miles.”

She smirked a little, drawing closer, and Duo tried to keep himself from watching how her hips swayed. “Well, one would think that a man who calls himself Chaos is a true sinner indeed.” She was right in front of him now, and looped her arms around his neck.

He pushed her away, careful to do it by her shoulders, not… letting them fall anywhere else. “Indeed,” he quipped. “Forgive me if I've had all the taste of heavenly wrath I can handle already. I hardly want to get Luc's too.” Even as he was speaking he was turning away, hoping to end the conversation.

He didn't expect her to run up and press herself up against his back, running her hands tantalizingly around his waistband, teasing his neck with hot, whispery kisses.

He had to swallow hard. “Please stop,” he managed.

“Mm,” she mumbled into his neck, running her hands up his shirt and across his abdomen, trailing her nails slightly so he shivered.

He swallowed again and took a deep breath. “Please stop,” he repeated.

Her response was to run her hands back down and grip his thighs.

“Christ, lady, quit it!” he cried, shoving her away and dancing back a couple feet.

“The regular churchman, using the Lord's name in vain?” she taunted sarcastically.

“Little bit of sinner in all of us, lady,” he simply returned, turning and heading back to the den at a run. “So fuck off!”

***

October 11th 196 - Tuesday

“I hear you threw Sin.”

“I shoved her,” argued Chaos moodily, not lifting his head up from its place on the table.

“Why?”

He was silent for a moment, then he lifted his head. “Luc, she wouldn't leave me alone.”

“She has to leave you alone? Last I checked, she's something of a social butterfly. She likes to actually know everyone.”

“Well, she was acting like she wanted to know the inside of my pants,” snapped Chaos sharply. He put his head back down. He knew she was only doing it to annoy Luc, or because she thought she could control him with that kind of manipulation… But that honestly made it worse than if she genuinely liked him. There wasn't any way in hell he was going along with it… and so far the rest of the group just seemed amused by the running byplay. As far as he had gathered, this was normal for her when meeting new people… so hopefully it would wear off soon enough.

“…You threw Sin… because she was hitting on you?”

“I shoved Sin because she was one step away from molesting me.”

“…You're a strange man, Chaos.”

“Meh.”

***

October 13th 196 - Thursday - Amsterdam

Chaos wasn't there; for once since he had come to their city, he was gone. Quickly, she hurried across the church and shuffled into the confessional. Miming a cross across her chest, she murmured, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”

“Ah, Karina,” murmured the church's only priest. “We've missed you this last week.”

Sin bit her lip, holding a hand to her belly, even though it had not yet begun to shape into any kind of noticeable swell. “I'm in trouble again, Father,” she whispered.

The priest sighed. “I was afraid you might have come to say that.”