Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Bond of Friendship ❯ Chapter 2

'...' denotes thoughts

~~...~~ flashbacks

The Bond of Friendship
By Mika-chan

Part Two

"Duo!"

The braided youth twisted his head in the direction of the scream, ice pack held to his head with one hand. "Mom."

Mrs. Maxwell's eyes shimmered with tears as she rushed to her son's side, embracing him tightly. "Duo, are you all right? I was so worried. When they called, it scared me so much-I'm so glad you're all right!"

Duo winced a bit as the grip around his waist tightened. "I'm okay, Ma . . ."

Mrs. Maxwell pulled away, wiping her eyes. "Don't ever scare me like that again, Duo."

Duo shifted the ice pack on his head, eyebrows furrowing. "I won't Ma, but that's not important! Quatre isn't okay! Someone took him and-and they can't find him!" He turned his head away, staring at the floor. "What are we going to do?? What if they don't find him?

"I-I, his birthday's this week," he continued, lifting his regretful eyes to meet his mother's. "We were going to throw him a party and everything, but now . . . what if they don't find him?! What if they never find him?!" He hurled the compress onto the ground and threw his arms around his mother's neck, burying his head into her chest.

Mrs. Maxwell's own violet eyes widened in surprise; she could not remember when she last saw such an emotional reaction from her son. She gently brought her arms around Duo's shaking body, rubbing his back soothingly. "Shh . . . It's going to be okay, Duo. They'll find Quatre."

Duo sniffled, looking up. "You promise?"

She nodded with certainty.

With a few last sniffles, Duo removed one of his arms and hastily wiped his eyes and nose on his sleeve.

Mrs. Maxwell pulled out her handkerchief and handed it to him. Duo took it, blew his nose hard on it and wiped his nose a couple of times before handing it back. With one last look at the droopy cloth, she tossed it into a nearby trash bin.

"Mrs. Maxwell?"

She turned her head to the voice, Duo quickly scrambling off of her and seated himself back onto the tabletop, giving one last scrub against his eyes with his sleeve. "Yes?"

A woman with short blue hair approached them, dressed in a blue uniform. She extended a hand. "Mrs. Maxwell, I'm Lieutenant Noin Lucrezia."

Mrs. Maxwell shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. Thank you for taking care of my son."

Noin shook her head. "I mustn't take full credit. Dr. Po, our medic, took care of your son's injuries. I was just the one to bring him here."

"Still, I am eternally grateful."

"Just doing my job, Mrs. Maxwell, but you're welcome," Noin replied with a smile before her face turned grim. "May I assume that little Duo here has told you what happened tonight?"

"Yes, but only bits and pieces. It seems that Quatre Winner has been kidnapped?"

"Aa, we haven't much information about what transpired tonight, except from what your son has told us. Apparently, both boys were returning home at about 5:50 p.m. when your son took a blow to the head and was knocked unconscious and Quatre was also subdued with what we assume was chloroform, before he was abducted. Duo regained consciousness at around 8:00 p.m. and screamed for help. Neighbors heard him and phoned us."

Mrs. Maxwell covered her mouth in shock. "How dreadful-Have you heard anything yet? Have you contacted the Winners?"

Noin motioned for her to take a seat, while she did the same. "No, we haven't had any contact with the kidnappers yet. We assume that because of Quatre's illustrious family, the main aim was for money. It is the most logical conclusion, though there are others, this one seems more likely. We expect a ransom call, but none have been made yet.

"We've contacted the Winners, but Mr. Winner was not at home; however, as we speak he is flying from L1 and will be arriving in about 5 hours. The Winner's close family friend, Rashid, answered our call and he is currently at the Winner residence awaiting for any contact with the alleged kidnappers." Noin released a drawn out sigh. "We can only hope that they're chief purpose is money and that Quatre won't be harmed."

Mrs. Maxwell nodded mechanically and took a glance over to her son.

Duo sat fidgeting on the table, his hands wrenching at each other.

Worry etched onto her features as she looked back at Noin. "Lieutenant, is it all right if I took Duo home now?"

"Yes, he's given us all the information he could, so I don't see why he cou-"

"NO!"

Both women's attentions shifted to meet a fuming ten-year-old.

Duo's eyes were filled with rage as he stood defiantly on the hard floor. "I'm not leaving until we find Quatre!"

Mrs. Maxwell rose from her seat, slowly approaching her son. "Duo, there's nothing else you can do here. They have everything under control."

"Then why haven't they found Quatre yet?!"

She knelt down in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulder. Duo turned his head away. "Duo. They're doing all they can now. You being here won't help matters . . .and you may just get in their way."

He still wouldn't look at her, so she gently moved his chin so he faced her. "Duo."

"Duo, we are doing all we can," Noin interjected. I promise you that I'll do everything possible to bring Quatre back home safely."

Duo sent a steady gaze at the uniformed woman. "You promise?"

She placed a fist over her heart, looking directly into his eyes. "I promise, Duo. So why don't you go home? It's late, and I know that Quatre wouldn't want you to be worrying about him all night."

Finally, but with much reluctance, Duo complied and let his mom lead him to the door.

Getting into their car and buckling his seatbelt, Duo glared out his window. 'You don't know Quatre, lady, but I do. I'm not going to just sit and wait for you to find him. I'm going to do it myself . . . but with a little help . . . '

* * * * *

Wufei stealthily slipped out of his bedroom window and climbed down the adjacent tree. Landing on the ground below, he dashed through the backyard, across the front lawn, and down the street.

By the time he made it to the corner of Oak Drive, Trowa was already waiting for him. With a brief nod, Trowa took off in the direction of Maple Street, Wufei not far behind him.

They reached the Maxwell's house five minutes later; Duo waited for them by his mailbox. Once they approached him, Duo silenced them, placing a finger over his lips and motioned for them to follow him to his backyard.

They climbed up the tree house that all four had constructed only two months ago, and it was only then did Duo begin to retell what happened that night.

" . . . She promised that she'd do everything she could to find Quatre, but she didn't promise that she'd find him! What a crock! Forget her and forget the cops. It'll take them forever to find Quatre and I can't wait that long . . . neither can Quatre." Duo lowered his gaze.

A hand fell onto his left shoulder and Duo looked up. Wufei nodded reassuringly, before voicing what all had in their minds. "We'll find him."

Duo nodded, Trowa following suit. "But where are we going to start to look?" Trowa asked. "We don't have any clues to where he is . . . "

"That's true," Wufei replied, not really wanting to admit it, "but Duo's right. We can't rely on the police. We have to figure out some way to find Quatre by ourselves."

"I think I know a way."

Trowa and Wufei quickly turned to Duo, who slowly lifted his eyes to look at them. "How?" both questioned in unison.

Duo shook his head. "Not how . . . but who."

Trowa fixed a confused gaze at the brunette. "What do you mean?"

"Ohhh no."

Trowa switched his attention back to Wufei. "What?"

"He's the only one I can think of who can help us, Wufei," Duo responded calmly.

"But couldn't we find someone who's a liiittle bit more sane? The guy's a lunatic."

"No he isn't . . . well~, not ALL the time anyway."

"Would someone please tell me what you two are talking about?" Trowa hated being left in the dark.

"You're crazy, Maxwell."

"Maybe, but it's the best I can think of." With that said, Duo stood up. "We better get some sleep. We'll have to leave early tomorrow."

Trowa stood up as well, almost about to stomp his feet in frustration. "To where?!"

Duo glanced over his shoulder before moving towards the door.

"To Heero Yuy's."

* * * * *

By the time Mrs. Maxwell woke up, Duo was already gone; a quick note was left on the kitchen table, telling her that he was going over a friend's house for the day, though her son failed to mention which friend.

Raising a tired hand to her forehead, she sighed.

'That boy will be the death of me someday.'

* * * * *

"Are you sure we're going the right way, Maxwell?" Wufei asked for what seemed like the millionth time . . . to Duo anyway.

"YES Wufei. For the last time YES! I'm positive that we're going the right way!"

Trowa just ignored the exchange as he had been doing so since they first left this morning.

The Chinese boy stuffed his hands in his pockets grumbling. "How in the world do you know where Heero lives anyway?"

"I just saw it in the teacher's roll book one day," Duo replied casually. "I was curious to see where he lived."

"Uh huh . . . "

Duo ignored the remark and looked at the next street sign. Pine Road. "All right! We're almost there!"

For the first time, Trowa took a look at their current surroundings. Large white houses with sky blue shutters lined the streets, while little bushes were situated in a row in front them. Each house even had its own white picket fence. There was a birdhouse in practically every tree, as well as birdbaths in the front lawns. A man was mowing the lawn, occasionally stopping to say good morning to another neighbor, which the latter returned cheerfully.

This is where Heero Yuy lives?

"This is it!"

Trowa was quickly drawn out of his thoughts and looked to his left. What met his sights was a large white house with blue shutters, bushes lining the front of the house and a white picket fence.

Yep, definitely not where he expected Heero Yuy to live.

"Well," Duo said, "Let's go." With a few hesitant steps at first, Duo pushed open the gate and dragged both Wufei and Trowa through. Once they reached the front steps, he pushed Wufei in front of the doorbell. "Go ahead, Fei. Ring it."

Wufei looked flustered. "W-Why me?!"

Duo crossed his arms. "What . . . are you afraid?"

Something seemed to glint in the raven eyes. "I am NOT afraid!" After that was said, Wufei pressed the doorbell.

Trowa exhaled softly. 'Wufei always falls for that . . . '

They heard footsteps before the white-painted door opened. A tall woman with long brown hair, dark blue eyes, and a smiling face, greeted them. "Hello, children. What can I do for you?"

Trowa was the first to find his voice. "We're classmates of Heero's. Could we see him please?"

Both Wufei and Duo nodded a lot, blinking large eyes.

Mrs. Yuy's own eyes seemed to brighten. "Of course you can. I didn't know that Heero had any friends. He never mentioned about any, but I'm so glad that he does." She pulled opened the door and ushered the three boys in. "Come in, come in."

She then turned around and shouted up the stairs. "Heero! Your friends are here to see you!"

. . .

. . .

"Oh, he mustn't have heard me," she said to them before shouting again. "Heero! Could you please put down your explosives for one moment so that you can say hi to your friends?"

Three pairs of eyes widened a bit at that line and all exchanged worried glances amongst themselves.

"Hee-Oh, there you are."

Ten-year-old Heero Yuy stared down stonily at the three guests, hand holding some type of gadget. "What?"

Mrs. Yuy placed both hands on her hips. "Heero, your friends came to visit you. Won't you say hi to them at least? It'd be very rude not to. And Honey, please put down your C4 detonator; it's impolite."

With a grunt, Heero stomped back into his room, tossed the object onto his bed and stomped downstairs.

Mrs. Yuy patted Heero on the head before pushing him towards the three stunned boys, all of which backed up a few steps. "Now you four play nice. I'll go get some cookies and milk for you boys."

A second later, they were alone. All stood silently, staring at each other.

Heero was the one to finally break the silence. "Do I know you?"

"Eh~ heh heh," Duo began uneasily. "Sure you do, Heero. We're in your class and uh we were just in the neighborhood, so we thought we'd stop by . . . "

Heero stared at them, watching as both Wufei and Trowa nodded in full agreement. "And . . . ??"

The seriousness in Heero's face told Duo he'd better get on with it. "Actually, we came here for you help."

That caused one of Heero's eyebrows to quirk up in interest. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Trowa stated. "We need your help in finding one of our friends."

"He was kidnapped," Wufei continued.

"And we thought since, well, you knew a few 'things,' you could help us out," Duo finished.

Heero was silent for a while, fixing an intense look at each, though none faltered at the test. Satisfied, Heero gave his consensus.

"Really?! Wow! Thanks Heero!" Duo shouted, completely relieved and hugged the impassive boy. "Boy, we thought it'd be harder to convince you to help us with the way you always act in school. Boy, were we wrong. You're such a great guy! I told Fei that you were-"

"You're touching me."

The cold statement, stopped Duo mid blab, and he blinked. A moment later, he carefully moved his hands away. "Uh, sorry bout that," he chuckled nervously. "Been stressed a bit."

" . . . "

"Could we please move on with it," Trowa voiced impatiently. The more time they wasted now, the longer it would take to find Quatre.

"Right!" Duo said and then looked at Heero.

"Follow me." Heero turned around and started up the stairs, all trailing closely behind him.

* * * * *

"Have the kidnappers contacted the Winners yet?"

Duo shook his head. "No. I went over to their house this morning before we came here, and a maid told me they heard nothing."

Heero appeared happy to hear that and he turned to his computer.

"What are you going to do?" Wufei asked, the first line he'd spoken since he first entered the house.

"Going to tap into their phone line," Heero answered, connecting his laptop to his vid-phone. Ten minutes later, they had access to the Winner's entire phone system.

Duo released a low whistle. "Not bad."

Heero snorted, closing his laptop. "Now we wait."

"Right," the three other boys replied together.

Trowa leaned against the wooden dresser, as Wufei rested on the closet door. Duo sat idly in the middle of the floor, rocking back and forth as he looked about the room.

The room itself was pretty big, though very dark since the heavy curtains over the windows prevented any sunlight from coming inside. A few pictures lay on top of his otherwise neat desk; one of Heero, his mother, and presumably his father, all smiling, except Heero of course. Another picture stood beside it, but in this one, only Heero was in it with some other weird-looking old guy that might have been Heero's grandfather(1). The guy did seem to have the same manic glint in his eyes as the boy sitting across from him did.

Scanning the room further, something shiny caught his attention and he reached for it.

"Don't touch anything."

Duo eeped and quickly removed his hand.

Heero in the meantime grabbed the "shiny thing" that Duo took interest in and began taking it apart then putting it back together, then taking it apart and fixing it again. This continued on for a while, no one talking.

"Knock-knock~ I hope I'm not interrupting."

All heads turned to the door, all except for Heero though, who continued his meticulous play.

Mrs. Yuy carried in a tray with four glasses and a plate full of cookies and placed them on the floor in front of them. "Please help yourselves and call me if you need anything else." She smiled, ruffling her son's hair again, which received an annoyed grunt, before leaving.

Duo grabbed a cookie and stuffed it in his mouth. "Mmm, good!" He reached for a glass and took a big gulp of milk. "Hey Heero." He continued when the said boy looked like he was paying attention. "You're mom always like that?"

"Is there something wrong with my mother . . ."

Duo waved his hands frantically in front of him. "No-no-no! I didn't mean it like that!"

The death gleam in cobalt eyes calmed somewhat.

"I just mean that's she's really nice and happy-go-lucky." Duo could have stopped, but he couldn't help himself. "What happened to you?"

Heero growled, breaking a cookie in half.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Duo said quickly, reaching over and popping one of the halved cookies into his mouth. "Sheez, where's your sense of humor?"

Before Heero could promise death, a beeping sound blared in the room, signaling that the Winners were getting an incoming call. All scrambled around the vid-phone.

"They won't be able to see us or hear us right?" Duo whispered.

Heero only nodded, upping the volume.

The screen turned black and all heard Mr. Winner's voice.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Winner?" a scrambled voice questioned.

"Yes. Yes it is. Is Quatre all right? Can I speak to him?? Please don't hurt him-"

"Mr. Winner. Your son is fine . . . for now. It all depends on how well we get along."

"Yes, of course."

"Now, listen carefully, Mr. Winner. The drop off will be at midnight tonight, the corner of 3rd and Main. The amount will be 10 million dollars; the largest bills will be hundreds. Come alone. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but I won't agree to anything until I see that my son is all right."

The screen flashed white and all watched as Quatre stumbled forward, falling onto the ground, eyes blindfolded and arms bound behind his back.

"QUATRE! Are you okay? Don't worry, everything's going to be fine."

Quatre struggled to sit upright. "Papa," he cried "I'm scared, please hurry and take me home!"

"It's okay Quatre. We're coming."

Quatre nodded, sniffling a bit. "Please hurry Papa, not like last time."

"Don't worry Quatre. You'll be home soo-Quatre!"

The screen went black again; muffled voices were heard before the scrambled voice spoke again. "Remember, midnight tonight."

Then the line went dead.

Heero frowned. The conversation wasn't long enough for him to trace it. "Damn it."

Duo leaned back away from the screen. Wufei had the same grim look as he did on his face. Duo's eyes moved to the far wall. "Trowa!"

The brunette's attention snapped away from the screen and looked at Duo questioningly. "What?"

Duo crawled over to his side and grabbed his hand. "Your hand, you idiot!" Duo pulled the other's fingers apart, blood dripping onto the carpet as a result from his clenched fist.

Green eyes widened in surprise.

A few minutes later, Heero returned with the first aid kit and cleaned and bandaged the injured hand. No one spoke as he did so.

"What should we do now?" Wufei asked, breaking the silence.

No one knew what to say. They had absolutely no leads and therefore wouldn't have the slightest clue of where to look for their friend first.

"The only means of action we can take is to wait," Heero said finally. "The drop-off's tonight and if everything goes as planned, your friend should be returned safely."

All didn't really want to agree, but did. It was the only thing they could do.

Five minutes later, Heero watched as the three departed. He closed the door behind them and started up the stairs.

"Heero?"

He stopped halfway up. "Hm?"

"Did your friends leave already?"

"Aa."

"Oh. They seemed like such nice boys. I hope they come and visit again."

". . . Aa."

* * * * *

"Come on guys. Don't look so down," Duo said, trying to be the optimist. "By tomorrow, Quatre will be back with us and it can be like what it used to be before this all happened."

"Quatre's father will pay the amount, right Maxwell?"

Duo reeled back in shock. "Of course he will! Money means nothing to Mr. Winner when his son is involved."

"Is that so?" Wufei replied skeptically.

Duo stopped walking. "What do you mean by that?"

Wufei stopped as well. "What I mean is, if Quatre is so important to his dad, then why isn't he going to be here for Quatre's birthday? Huh? Tell me that."

"I . . . " Duo faltered for a second, but only a second before his resolve returned. "Look, Wufei. Mr. Winner loves Quatre. I know sometimes he's not there for him, but parents do that sometimes. Right now, all that matters to Mr. Winner is getting Quatre back; I know it. He loves Quatre too much to let anything like money get in his way. And I don't know why you would think differently!"

Wufei bowed his head. "Sorry."

Duo blinked, not really knowing where all that came from and began laughing uneasily. "It's okay. We're all a bit stressed out." He then grabbed Wufei's arm then Trowa's and started walking. "Come on. Let's just go home."

* * * * *

The phone continued to ring and it didn't appear that the caller was going to give up. With much force and luck, Mrs. Maxwell was able to locate her phone and turned it on. "Hello..."

"Hello, may I speak to Duo?"

"What?"

"May I speak to Duo. Duo Maxwell."

Mrs. Maxwell rubbed at her tired eyes and stared at her vid-phone. A boy looking about the same age as her son stared back at her with intense blue eyes. She then glanced over to her alarm clock. "It's 12:20 in the morning. Can't it wait? Who are you?"

Heero growled in impatience. "A friend of his. It is vital that I talk to him right now."

The forcefulness of the voice fully awakened the woman. "All right. Hold on."

She put the phone on hold and grabbed her robe. Tying it on, she left her room, padded down the hallway to Duo's door. She wearily read the sign on the door and shook her head.

"Death lies within"

She'd have to have a talk to him one of these days about this obsession of his.

She turned the doorknob and crossed the messy floor. She knelt down beside the bed and began nudging her son's shoulder. "Duo . . . Duo, wake up. Phone call."

Duo flipped over to his other side. "Um-tired. Just another five minutes Ma . . ."

"Duo, Duo!" She shook him harder and finally the brunette stared at her through half closed eyes.

" . . . What?"

"Phone call."

"I don't like dolls."

She grabbed the phone on the nightstand and tossed it on the bed, then left the room, mumbling.

With a soft "Oh", Duo rubbed his tired eyes, and let loose a long yawn as he pushed the button to turn on the phone.

"Duo."

"Ahhh..." Duo stretched, smacking his lips. "Huh? Wuzzup Heero? What's the big idea of waking me up in the middle of the night?"

"Quatre."

Violet eyes snapped open, and he grabbed the screen. "What?! What about him?" It was then that he noticed the disturbed look on Heero's face.

"They still have him."

"What do you mean they still have him?!" he shouted, grabbing his clock. "It's 12:26. He's supposed to be home already . . . right?"

He watched as Heero stiffly shook his head.

"Why not?! Mr. Winner paid right? Didn't he? Didn't he?!"

"Duo. Calm down. Yes, he paid, but-"

"But what?!"

"They just took the money and sped off."

Duo lost his grip on the phone. "W-What?" he said weakly. "But, but now what?"

"They called again. Now demanding more money."

"More?! Why didn't they just ask for it all at once?!"

Heero looked down towards the ground. "This was a test. To see if Winner would actually do it."

"Of course he would!" Duo practically shouted. "Why wouldn't he?!"

"Duo. The speakers on my phone work perfectly fine."

The redness slowly began to fade out of his eyes, returning back to tired purple ones. " . . . sorry." Duo fell limply on his bed, cradling the phone in his hands. 'What's going to happen to Quatre now . . . is he all right?'

"Duo . . . "

"How much?"

" . . . 50 million dollars by tomorrow night."

"50 million dollars??! Are they insane?! Mr. Winner can't get that much by tomorrow!"

"He'll have to."

Duo pulled his hair in frustration. Why was this happening?? Quatre never did anything to anyone-why did this have to happen?!

Suddenly, a loud banging sounded from the front door. That was strange.

"Someone's at the door Heero. Hold on."

Heero nodded and Duo pulled himself out of his bed and walked to the front door. He looked through the eyehole and recognized that brown bang.

He unlocked the door and pulled it open. "Trowa? Did you hear?"

Trowa nodded stiffly, moving swiftly into the room.

Duo ran a hand through his bangs. "Heero told me over the phone; he's still on now. Trowa, what are we go-"

"I know where he is."

"-ing to-What?!" Duo grabbed Trowa's shoulders, shaking him. "How?! Are you sure?"

"Positive. We have to get Quatre back tonight." He removed the hands on his shoulders and started towards Duo's room. "Come on. We need to contact Wufei. We'll need his help."

Duo nodded obediently and followed.

* * * * *

Notes:

(1) Any guesses to who this guy is?? ^_^ *coughcoughJcoughcough* ^_~