Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Taking Flight ❯ Escape into Captivity ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 08 - Escape into Captivity

"Hug me! I'm Flarbo, the dancing purple penguin!"

//...// denotes thought.

A.N.: If my formatting does funny things again on either FF.net or MM.org, I'm not going to bother to go back and change it. Sorry for any inconvenience. The two links to alternate versions of the story are as follows: http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1350042 and http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_st.php/36431/ .

A.N. 2: And because I couldn't resist adding this one right away… Hey, how's that? Three new chapters in a week!

***

Duo whirled around so gracefully and quickly that it seemed for a moment that instead of him turning, the room had merely spun around him. His aim was level with Heero's chest, and his head was tilted so far down that, though Heero knew Duo was looking at him, he could only see the whites of his eyes as a stray ray of light was reflected into them.

Duo's index finger strained the trigger even as Heero's own trigger-happy fingers just began to put pressure on the firing mechanism of his gun. For the barest of instants, Heero felt a strange emotion tickle his insides; he couldn't even identify the fear that threatened to bore through his gut like the bullet in Duo's gun planned to do to his chest. His fingers suddenly refused to move, and Heero's eyes widened.

So did Duo's. There was a sharp intake of breath as Duo's head snapped up and his fingers snapped out, releasing the gun. Duo's own glorious, sparkling amethyst eyes rushed out from beneath his crown of bangs and his shaking hands flew to his hair quicker than Heero's eyes could follow. The gun flew into the air as Duo's fingers, not yet fully unstuck from the handle, rushed away from it. Hoarsely, muffled from his sleeves, Duo shouted, "No!" at himself. His knees gave out and he hit the floor hard right before his gun did, and knelt there, shaking.

//"I almost killed Heero…"// Duo thought, shell shocked, unable to remove the sight of his gun leveled squarely with Heero's chest from his vision.

Shinigami sounded both exasperated and disappointed. //"He would have survived f they got him right to surgery. The recoil of that gun would have lifted the barrel so that the bullet would have struck his windpipe and probably lodged into his spine, or exited to either side. With immediate transfer to a hospital, I'd give him a 67% chance of survival. That boy really tends to beat the odds."//

//"No, it wouldn't have been enough. …And I still would have shot him, and then OZ would have found him at the hospital. I don't… I don't care if they try and torture me. I don't-want-Heero-to-die!"//

//"You're rambling. Of course you care if you're tortured. It's one of your greatest fears, right up there with silence, being alone, and banana pudding."//

//"I'm not afraid of banana pudding."// Duo knew what Shinigami was trying to do with that minor distraction. Shinigami's thoughts, after all, were his own.

//"You should be. Now get up. We still have half a second before Heero recovers."//

//"No. I'm done. I never wanted to even try to escape. You did that; you took advantage of me. Besides, I am the one and only Duo. They can't prove otherwise anyway."//

//"Oh, how naïve you are! Take a look, take a good look. They already have, little boy."//

Heero, having already recovered from his shock, walked swiftly over with his gun trained on Duo's head, kicked Duo's gun out of reach, and pressed the short barrel of his handgun to Duo's temple. "Stay there."

//"You've never talked to me this much before."// Duo absently noted, ignoring Heero. He didn't plan on moving much for a while anyway.

Shinigami didn't answer.

//"I don't like it. I don't want my friends to meet you, or even see a hint of you unless we're fighting OZ."//

Still, Shinigami was silent.

//"…So just… go away. We're done here."//

Seeming to agree with him, the place where Shinigami had been became empty once more.

The other pilots burst through the curtains and into the small space. Duo's hands were still shaking as he released his hair and slowly lowered them, open and empty onto his lap. Most of the darkness had left him, but his hands still ached with cold. He tried to rub them together, but they were shaking too hard, so he just put them back onto his lap. "Quatre… I'm… I'm sorry." He stuttered, and his voice came out as a whisper.

"Imposter!" Wufei cuffed him on the back of the head. "How dare you speak to Quatre like that!? It's injustice! Where is your honor!?"

"I'm sorry, Wufei." Duo whispered, and his voice squeaked to life toward the end.

"Don't say things that you don't mean." Trowa glared at him.

"Hn." Heero said, though no one knew what he meant by it.

"I'm sorry Trowa, Heero, especially Heero. I almost messed up big time-… no, I did mess up big time-…"

Wufei smacked him again. "How dare you!?" His face took on a deep red hue. He was truly angry, on the verge of violence. He drew his hand back to cuff Duo once more, but Quatre stopped him.

"That won't help." He merely said.

"So what will you do with me now? I'm done fighting, but I would like to know." Duo's voice was low. "Will you, 'foresake' me," the other pilots gained a distinct impression that he had quoted someone that he greatly disliked, "…or kill me? Or maybe whip out the banana pudding?" The four were confused by that last part, but Duo seemed to find it funny.

"What is he rambling on about now?" Trowa asked irately.

"We won't do any of those." Quatre answered Duo. "…But we do need to secure you somewhere and remove your weapons… at least until we know who you are, and where Duo is. Trowa? Wufei? We need to knock down some of these sheets and tie him to one of the support poles. We'll discuss our next course of action over dinner. Wufei, you secure his legs. Trowa, could you go and get some strong rope? Heero, I need you to secure his arms and help Wufei carry him. I don't want him to try anything. I'll clear the way."

When Quatre had already started off an Heero and Wufei had Duo in their hold, the dark youth spoke in a low voice to Heero, just for the sake of hearing someone speak. "You believe me, right Hee-buddy?" he asked without real hope.

"Hn." Heero replied.

"Thought not." Duo wasn't disappointed, because he hadn't expected anything.

"I never said that."

"W-What!?" Duo sputtered.

"Keep it down back there!" Wufei snapped.

"I know you're not a spy," Heero told Duo once Wufei took his attention off them. "Still, I can't allow you to escape until the others realize the same." He spoke coldly, without a hint of emotion to betray what he was thinking.

"But why? How?" Duo asked quietly.

Heero was obviously in a compliant mood, because he answered, "You're the only soldier I've seen with such strange features… and mannerisms. They would be difficult if not impossible to replicate." Just then, he and Wufei set Duo down roughly. As Wufei held Duo against the thick pole (unnecessarily, he wasn't struggling), Heero tightened a complex knot around Duo's wrists and secured him to the pole. Just before standing, Heero yanked the knot one last time to make sure it was secure.

"Ow! Hey, watch it!" Duo yelled.

Heero yanked the rope again. "You won't escape, not while I can stop you."

"Gee, take things personally much?" Duo said sarcastically.

Heero didn't acknowledge him. "You will stay here until you are questioned. If indeed you are found to be a spy, you will be shown no mercy."

"A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend." Duo quipped.

Trowa glared at him. "Exactly what we decide to do, you will discover soon enough."

Duo, usually quite the patient one, rolled his eyes and glared right back at Trowa. His eyes didn't contain the same darkness that they had before, and Trowa, who had absently wondered about those brilliant amethyst orbs so many times before, had quite a time convincing himself that it wasn't Duo staring right back into his eyes.

Trowa turned and walked away.

"I'm hungry." Duo spoke clearly and with contempt at the teen's retreating back.

Heero joined Trowa. Wufei did too a moment later, but not before glancing at Quatre, who seemed lost and confused. "Quatre." Wufei softly called the youth's attention. Quatre turned his head toward Wufei, then joined him.

Duo's gaze softened as if his muscles no longer had the strength to hold a glare. He gave a defeated sigh, then rested against his bonds. Duo lightly closed his eyes and whispered into the darkness behind his eyelids, "…and cold."

***

Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei had a fight over bringing Duo meals only minutes later when Trowa had discovered Quatre preparing an extra portion after he had already served the four. Wufei was unwittingly dragged into it and exchanged sharp words with both sides. Trowa didn't want the "imposter" fed at all, and argued that lack of food would make him talk easier. Duo, personally well acquainted with various methods of torture, had to admit to himself that if they were really talking about an OZ soldier, or anyone besides him, that this tactic might actually work. Yet for street savvy Duo, hunger was a minor annoyance that he had grown up side-by-side with. Quatre reminded Trowa that they were still civilized people, and despite the odds and evidence against him, it was still possible that their prisoner was none other than Duo Maxwell himself. Wufei argued with both sides and in the end just wound up stomping off to his room and slamming the door.

Duo found that amusing but didn't dare draw attention to himself by laughing. The fact that he had been starving for most of his young life made him nearly immune to the pangs of hunger, but it was also one of the main reasons that he liked to eat as much as he could whenever he could manage it.

After all was said and done, however, Quatre brought a tray of food over to Duo, who smirked with good natured amusement, but only good natured because Quatre was the one to bring it. "So, you whipped out the banana pudding after all."

One side of Quatre's mouth lifted involuntarily before he frowned again and lifted the ham sandwich from the plate to Duo's mouth.

Duo obligingly took a big bite out of it, but was careful to avoid Quatre's fingers. He had thought of a hundred things to say to the "Q-ball", but suddenly couldn't force a single one of them to his throat.

Quatre turned his face away, unwilling to look Duo in the eyes. His resolve was already dangerously close to failing. Untying Duo's hands looked like a very good idea right now, far preferable to waiting here while Duo-or someone who looked so much like him-was so close that Quatre could heel his slow, even breath. How could he be so calm while Quatre felt like his heart was being torn open and assaulted from every direction? There was tension, anger, fear, sadness, hopelessness, regret…

"I'm sorry." Quatre whispered, then noticed momentarily that his other hand had again crept up of its own accord to clutch at his chest. He slowly forced it back to the floor, but felt suddenly exposed having done so.

Duo swallowed. "I already forgave you. I don't blame you for your reaction." He whispered back. He almost added, "I half expected it anyway," but didn't, and instead just ate more of his ham sandwich. He felt strangely better now that he was sure that Quatre had heard him, but was rightly sure that it only made Quatre feel worse.

There was silence between them for a long time, during which Duo spent a lot of time studying the banana pudding and the spoon in its little plastic bowl. He slowly began to realize that Shinigami was right-again-and that somehow the obviously fake, almost fluorescent yellow of the sugary, falsely flavored treat annoyed him. It reminded him first of all of Quatre's golden hair, a bright, pure color that Duo knew would just shine before his eyes if only he dared to look up, but he didn't. Then it reminded him of this false peace and formality between them, and that started to make him sick. By the time he was done with his sandwich, he was choking it down. It was strange for something as simple as pudding to spark such deep introspection in him. Furthermore, it reminded Duo of his own layers of pretense and phoniness, and provided a strange insight, that his basks had been so perfect that when one began to crack, his fellow pilots no longer recognized him. As he shifted and felt his extra appendages shift inside him, he thought that perhaps they were right to think that he no longer was himself. After all, he was no longer human…

//"No, that's not right. I never was in the first place. Heh, just one more layer of irony to coat my fucked up life with…"//

Quatre slowly lifted the bowl of banana pudding and raised a jiggling spoonful of it to Duo's lips.

Duo turned his head away and sighed. "…I'm sorry, Quatre. I'm sure it tastes wonderful and all, but I'm not feeling all that great at the moment. Thanks for the sandwich, though."

The cherubic youth was surprisingly not very startled at Duo's quiet, tired tone of voice. He stood wordlessly and left Duo to suffer at a torture worse than that of lack of food.

//"I don't think I'll ever look at banana pudding the same way again."//

//"Told you,"// said a woefully familiar voice. Duo mentally groaned.

***

Blood glistened in the moonlight that was streaming through the windows late that night. It was Trowa's shift to watch Duo, and it was nearly midnight. About two hours ago, Duo had begun to shudder and quiver, though it seemed like much longer than that. Duo had planned to escape near the middle or end of Trowa's shift.

//"It was a really bad idea to try this. I knew I shouldn't have waited this long…"// Duo thought.

//"No, I knew. You seemed pretty keen on charging right ahead all gung-ho, though. Perhaps you've forgotten what that crazy doctor said about ten hours. It's already been eight."//

//"Just shut up. You're not helping."//

//"Don't get your balls in a twist now. I would be helping if you'd let me, but noooo. You have to think of a plan yourself. You won't let me do anything because you're afraid that someone will get hurt if you do-heaven forbid that that person is anyone but yourself, you glory hog."//

//"Shut up and let me think. I'd be out of this already if you would."//

//"All you want to do is play the hero, because you know you'll never get a chance to, not while you still have to rely on me just to survive."//

//"I said shut up! I don't need this right no-…w…"// Duo choked, coughed, and his body shook in a convulsion as white hot pain lanced through his back. He tried his best to stifle it, but the pressure wouldn't let him hold his breath properly.

"Stop that. You aren't fooling anyone." Trowa said lowly.

//"He's the fool."// Shinigami hissed.

Duo laughed darkly. "'Wish it was a joke, buddy." Then he winced as he heard something pop, and a fresh, hot, sticky trickle of blood made its way down his back and to the floor. Duo vaguely realized that he must look like something out of a horror movie, and was suddenly glad that Trowa didn't seem to notice in the dim light.

//"You can't keep your wings in much longer. If you're going to escape, it has to be now."// Shinigami told him flatly, objectively.

Duo growled out loud in frustration. //"I know that!"//

"I told you to stop that, imposter. I won't fall for your tricks. It's almost Wufei's shift. If you don't stop struggling, I might not make an effort to convince him that you should stay in one piece." Even though Trowa's voice was usually almost as monotonous as Heero's, Duo could detect the blatant malice in his statement.

The dark youth growled one last time before sighing as he relaxed. A change came over him, almost imperceptible, but a change nonetheless. "Sorry about this, Tro'." He apologized, but it didn't sound like an apology. The statement was malicious, almost caressing, as if something truly enjoyable was about to happen and Shinigami only observed the formalities for the sake of his relationship with Duo.

//"Don't hurt him badly."// Duo pleaded one last time in his mind.

//"Oh, you're no fun."//

Trowa scoffed. "So, you've finally decided to drop the act. You're sorry for what? Getting caught? Then again, I suppose you truly will be sorry once Wufei's shift comes around."

Shinigami laughed lowly and grinned a grin that glittered in the pale light. It wasn't a nice grin. "Yes, it seems I have dropped the act. Then again, you would know all about acting, dear clown."

Trowa shifted uncomfortably. Somehow he much preferred it when the boy had been acting like Duo.

Shinigami laughed lowly, shaking his head.

//"Stop it, Shinigami. I don't want him to meet you."//

//"It seems he already has…"// Shinigami's laugh grew in malice.

//"That's enough. Just get out of here like you said you would."//

//"You never let me have any fun."// he pouted.

//"For a good reason."//

//"I suppose logic, after all, is the soul of wit, not of wisdom. That's why wit is funny."// Shinigami suddenly became contemplative. //"Then again, you might have been better off if it had happened to be the other way around."// Satisfied with Duo's silence, Shinigami returned to the task at hand.

He hissed and winced as his claws pierced his raw skin and slit through his favorite leather jacket like hot knives through butter. His voice became hoarse and strained as he fought to keep his wings from exploding through the skin. "…Sorry…" he winced, "…for what…" he hissed. "Nng! …I'm about…" He gasped, then sighed as the ropes binding him fell away courtesy of those gloriously sharp claws, "…to do to you."

"What? What are you about to…?" Trowa turned to face Duo fully and found him standing stiffly, if shakily, with a shallow pool of blood swirling beneath him as more dripped from his body. Trowa's eyes went wide. "What!? How?"

Duo was thankful that even when shouting, Trowa's voice never carried far. Shinigami's grin became a grimace for a few short moments as his wings began to shift and he fought fiercely to keep them in. The pain was maddening, but then again Duo never claimed his alter ego to be his saner side, and Shinigami could handle far more pain than Duo's conscious mind could anyway.

The distance between Trowa and the dark youth closed quickly, and before Trowa could aim his gun properly, Shinigami delivered a powerful kick to his gut, and then a vicious uppercut once Trowa had been knocked off balance.

//"Your turn."// Shinigami said flippantly as Trowa's unconscious form fell and the aftershock of his movement began to catch up to him.

//"Bastard!"// Duo mentally yelled as he slid to his hands and knees, gasping shallowly. He felt almost ready to throw up as his mouth widened in a silent scream and his wings finally exploded from his back in a giant mess. Duo collapsed. //"Why… the hell… did I wait so long."// He thought at length.

//"You tell me."// Shinigami replied.

//"It was a rhetorical question."//

//"Ah, rhetorical questions, rhetorical questions, where would we be without rhetorical questions?"//

Duo couldn't prevent the smirk that widened across his tired lips, or the giggle that began in his throat as the specialized organ in his back was already busily closing his gaping wounds.

//"Now you laugh at my jokes."// Shinigami pretended to be hurt.

//"I always do. They're mine too, you know."// There was no hostility in Duo's inner voice anymore.

//"Heh, I suppose."//

Duo slowly brought his chilled hands to his lips and breathed into them then rubbed them, but as always it didn't help. //"It would be a good idea to leave about now."// Duo spoke into the silence.

Shinigami didn't respond. Duo knew he was still just below the surface, however.

It only took a few seconds before Duo was sure that his back was healed. Out of exhaustion more than anything else, he kept his eyes loosely closed as he pushed himself up and onto his back. He was still smiling and the trailing edge of a laugh still tickled his throat.

He heard a click about four inches in front of his face and opened his eyes to see the barrel of a gun pointed firmly between them. The gun's owner slowly came into view as Duo's eyes focused. Duo's laugh was still fading as he asked, "He-… Heero?"

"Hn." Heero replied in the affirmative. Actually, for all Duo could tell from the lack of range of inflection in his voice, Heero could have meant anything from "no" to "Hug me! I'm Flarbo, the dancing purple penguin!" but he guessed that Heero meant, "yes". After all, Duo couldn't imagine Heero accepting hugs, much less dancing in a purple penguin suit.

Then again, perhaps that wasn't the best thing to be pondering with Heero practically picking Duo's nose with a handgun. "Woah, Heero!" Duo panicked and pushed himself up into a sitting position, but over balanced and flared his wings to steady himself. He realized his mistake only a moment later as Heero's eyes flicked to the side and narrowed when they returned to Duo's open, shocked face. "I… uh… woah… It's not what it looks like, er…" Duo pushed himself back, but a surge of adrenaline coursed through his veins as he bumped against the wall.

Heero followed, keeping his gun trained on Duo's head.

"Hee-… Heero, you're not really going to shoot me, are you?" His mind was racing, and he felt more than heard Shinigami already planning the best escape route and calculating the odds of injury and mortality. Any way they added up, they were in Heero's favor.

"Hn." Heero responded helpfully.

Duo tried his best to hide his wings behind his back to keep them out of view.

"Don't bother."

"…What?" Duo asked.

"Don't bother hiding them. I've already seen. Now move to the pole and I'll tie you up. Tomorrow morning, you'll explain everything to the other pilots. I lack sufficient information to explain it myself."

Duo's breathing quickened. "Wait a second… You knew? How?"

Heero only stiffened his gun arm in response and grunted, "Hn."

"How long have you known?" Du continued his questioning as he slowly stood, keeping his hands in Heero's view so as to minimize potential provocation of Heero's soldier instincts. This was stage one of his escape plan: instill a false sense of security in his captor.

"Apparently I suspected long before you fount out. Violet eyes are difficult to miss. I've known for sure since this afternoon."

"Feeling cooperative tonight, huh, Hee-buddy?" Duo quipped sardonically. Stage two: shock and disrupt.

Heero's lips drew into a thin line. "Move now, Duo."

//"And here's stage three."// This would be the most difficult part of his whole plan, for it set up the next part, upon which the entirety of his success depended. Still, what Heero had told him threatened to twist his voice with anger. How dare he keep something like that from him!? How dare he act so uncaring, so cold….

//"Focus, Duo."// Shinigami reminded him. //"Focus, or I'll take over from here."//

//"…Fine, go ahead. Just don't hurt him too badly."//

//"Technically, if he was eradicated from the known universe, he would be forevermore protected from any type of harm…"//

//"Shinigami…"//

//"All right, all right…"//

Shinigami took over, but Duo's face didn't change this time, only the inflections in his voice. "Sorry, buddy, can't do that." He did a little dance with his hands, which further focused Heero on them and confused him at the same time. //"Good."// Shinigami thought as he watched Heero's eyes. //"Stage four: attack."// He flashed one of his wings outward to distract Heero to one side, then dodged to the other.

"K'so." Heero hissed as he realized his mistake. He fires his gun and grazed the forearm of Duo's outstretched wing. The deafening blast shattered the fragile silence of the house as the bloodstained white feathers flew into the air.

Shinigami hardly even felt it. He came up on Heero's blind side and surrounded the boy with his stifling wings. He pressed one claw to his throat, hoping to stop Heero's movement, but Heero followed Duo with his gun and fired again into the same wing. This time the bullet passed through the muscle and grazed the bone. Shinigami jerked to the side and sliced open Heero's shoulder as he passed, then used his good wing to pummel Heero over the head, and one arm to smack his bleeding shoulder. Heero saw spots and was knocked off balance, then struck the floor.

//"Odds of escape are now up to 75%."// Shinigami thought quickly. He turned and ran for the balcony, occasionally using both his good and wounded wing to give him a boost in speed and glide over the sheets that were hung all over the room.

Just as he was descending toward the glass door, a bullet flitted between his feathers only inches to the left of his chest and ricocheted off the metal window frame. //"He was really trying to hit me."// Duo realized as he opened the door, then quickly flew off the balcony. The pain of his bullet wounds caught up to him as he caught the air, and he winced. Shinigami had become dormant again, leaving him to "enjoy" the experience. //"Bastard."// Duo mentally grumbled.

//"Gee, I never knew you were."// Shinigami taunted him.

Duo nearly called him a bastard again, but just scoffed, //"Tch,"// and concentrated on what he planned to do now.

Wufei and Quatre had awoken at the sound of the first shot, and came running at the second. "Heero!" Quatre called as he spotted the boy on the floor, his gun still trained on the window.

Wufei was the first to arrive at Heero's side and notice the boy holding his bloody, sliced shoulder. "What happened? Did he pull a knife on you? Is Trowa all right?" There was so much blood on the floor.

As Quatre descended the steps, he spotted Trowa's limp form on the ground near a large puddle of blood and gasped. He willed his feet to move faster and almost tripped down the stairs. He checked Trowa's pulse when he got to the boy's side and found it steady and strong. Quatre couldn't find a single injury except for a dark patch of skin under his jaw that looked like the beginning of a bruise. "Trowa's just fine." He said incredulously.

"Hn." Heero confirmed. "Unconscious. Most of the blood isn't ours."

"What did you do to the boy, Heero!?" Quatre asked, startled by this revelation.

"Shot him." Heero replied nonchalantly.

"Heero!" Quatre yelled.

"He's alive." Heero reassured him.

Quatre calmed down, but only slightly. Wufei didn't. "He escaped!? Yuy, how could you let him!? It's injustice, it's-…!"

"There were unseen complications." Heero told Wufei. He didn't elaborate. The stoic boy grunted as he stood, holding his sliced shoulder. The wound was clean cut and seemed almost surgical in its precision, but it was deep. He would need to close it before they left.

"He could be on his way back to OZ by now!" Wufei shouted.

"Relax." Heero told Wufei firmly as Trowa began to stir. "I have a good idea where he's going."

[End Chapter 8]