Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Elements ❯ Chapter 28 ( Chapter 28 )

Thanks to everybody who reviewed. Sorry if I didn't reply to you personally if you reviewed. To make up for Chapter 27 being so short, I made Chapter 28 extra long.

Disclaimer: Neither Gundam Wing nor its characters are mine. They are the property of their respective owners. Rhys (when he shows up) is not mine. He is the property of Laurel K. Hamilton. The Sidhe, the way I use them, are Laurel K. Hamilton's interpretation of the faeries from mythology. If I use Hands of Power, which I might, they are the creation of Laurel K. Hamilton, too.

Pairings: 2x1 (eventually), 6+1, 5+1, implied 3+4, R+H, H+9+H, others to be named Rating: NC-17, probably Warnings: AU, OOC, probably lemon, semi Duo- bastardization (don't worry, he gets over it), I should probably add angst, NICE RELENA Chapter 18, 3x1 lemon, but don't worry, it's just sex.

//blah// denotes thought

<<blah>> denotes memories

The Elements

Chapter 28

The men-or rather, on man and three boys-sat stock still in the wake of Death. Wufei was the first one to come out of the trance he'd been in and was thus the first one to notice that something was wrong with Duo. His mouth was moving, but Wufei couldn't make out what words-if any-he was saying.

Wufei edged closer to Duo and could barely hear him. He was repeating names, sort of like a mantra, and that worried Wufei. Duo wasn't the type for repetitious words-he found it stupid and inane-but there he was, repeating the same six names over and over. Holly. Heidi. Harrison. Hildegarde. Helena. Heero.

It frightened Wufei, what Duo was doing (though the only way he'd ever admit it was with a truth serum and lots of torture), so he decided to try to shake him out of it. Wufei reached out a trembling hand to Duo's shoulder. He meant to grab hold of his friend and shake like there was no tomorrow-and with these Riders loose, there might *not* be-but a strong hand grasped his wrist before he could.

"Don't," Rhys said, standing slightly behind and between Duo and Wufei's chairs. Wufei didn't know and didn't care how Rhys had gotten to this side of the bed so fast and without him knowing-what he cared about was Duo.

"What did he do to Duo?" Wufei asked, eyes begging Rhys to know the answer. "How can we get him back?"

"I-just don't touch him," Rhys said, letting go of Wufei's wrist. "It's dangerous now."

"But why?" Wufei asked.

"I-I think he's stuck in his memories."

***

<<Sounds of laughter. A long hall, empty of clutter. Flashing blue eyes.

"Come on!" someone-female-laughed, pulling on his hand. "You promised me a surprise, and by-gum it, you're going to give me a surprise before my parents get home!"

//Where am I?// Duo thought, allowing himself to be pulled along by the girl.

"You know your parents don't mind," Duo found himself saying in a language he knew wasn't English, but heard as such anyway. "It's mine that would skin us alive if they found us, Holly."

"That makes it all the more exciting, doesn't it, Diana?" the girl he himself had identified as Holly said. Surprised at being called Diana-which was not Diana, as Holly was not "Holly", but the closest approximation in English to whatever language they *were* speaking--Duo looked down at his chest to find breasts.>>

***

Quatre walked quickly to the Intensive Care Unit. He would have run, but this was a hospital, and he didn't want to disturb the other patients. Besides, this was probably some kind of joke Heero was pulling-he seemed like the type of guy to play cruel jokes. Relena probably just collasped from exhaustion; God knows she runs herself ragged with all of her activities.

Nevertheless, Quatre sped up his pace.

***

<<Duo was in a forest, a dense forest with heavy foliage, the air shimmering with the humidity. He wasn't sure, but he thought it might be a rainforest. He saw a girl kneeling beside a fallen tiger. At least, it looked like a tiger. But tigers didn't live in the rainforest, did they?

"What's going on?" Duo demanded, and the girl jumped. She turned around; there was blood on her hands, her shirt, her face, but Duo didn't notice any of that. He noticed her eyes-the piercingblue eyes that Holly had. That...somebody else had.

"You shouldn't have come," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "You shouldn't have followed me, David."

"I had to, Heidi," Duo said, though he wasn't the one making his mouth talk. "I had to know where you go when you leave. You leave every night."

Heidi lowered her eyes to the forest floor. "I'm sorry," she whispered.>>

***

Quatre tensed when he saw who was in the waiting room. Milliardo. His parents. Six of his sisters. They were probably all that had made it so far-the other were most likely on their way. Milliardo raised his head, and there were tears coating his lashes, smushing them together.

Cold fear ran through Quatre's veins.

***

<<Duo was lying in a field, naked. He was running his hands through the hair of the man lying beside him-also naked, and covered in love bites.

"Has anyone ever told you how devastatingly gorgeous you are, Harrison," Duo said, gazing into the eyes of his lover-Prussian blue, like Holly's, like Heidi's, like that other person Duo just couldn't think of.

"Yes, you brother-for one-told me just five minutes ago. And before that, your cousin Larry. And before that, your pet goat Fred," Harrison said, grinning even as he said the words.

"You bitch, that goat doesn't love you!"(1) Duo exclaimed, then attacked his lover in the form of the Torture of a Thousand (and One) Tickles. Harrison laughed uncontrollably beneath him.>>

***

Quatre couldn't quite find the words to ask about Relena. Truth be told, he couldn't find the words to ask about the weather. Quatre was effectively struck dumb in the face of the grim countenances of his family.

Milliardo opened his mouth to speak. Quatre tried not to listen, tried to cover his ears with his hands, but he found that his arms were incapable of all but the smallest movements. He tried to protest, tried to make his brother-his horrible, awful, wonderful, caring brother-shut up, but he couldn't do anything.

"Relena, she's-"

***

<<Duo was outside, again, riding bareback on a horse. Beside him was a beautiful woman-with blue eyes, like Holly's, Heidi's, Harrison's, and that mysterious other person's-riding bareback on a horse of her own.

"-love the feel of riding without a saddle, don't you, David?" she was saying. Duo noticed that this time his companion was actually speaking English, with a British lilt. "It's so much easier on the animal-so freeing, so-"

"You're leaving, aren't you, Hildegarde?" Duo asked quietly. A wave of pain rushed through him as he said it, and one look in her eyes proved its' truth.

"It's been almost a year, my love," she said. "We have to move on." Hildegarde maneuvered her horse over close enough to Duo that she could touch him. She cupped his cheek in her hand. "You could come with us, you know."

Duo looked away. "You know I can't. I have responsibilities, obligations..." he trailed off, then looked at her with pleading eyes. "Will I ever see you again?"

"If I have to search for you for a hundred lives in a thousand places, we will meet again," she said, before riding away from Duo.>>

***

//No, please, Milly, don't say it,// Quatre silently begged his brother. //Don't tell me that. Let me pretend she's okay, that she'll be okay. Just for a little while. Please!// But of course Milliardo didn't listen because Quatre didn't-couldn't-say anything.

"She's-she's dead, Quat," Milliardo said. After that, he kept talking, probably saying some useless shit that Quatre didn't care about-not then, at least. Maybe later he'd care. Right now, he was too busy collapsing to the floor, trying not to wail like a banshee.

***

<<There was blood everywhere. Duo kneeled beside the girl with the blue, blue eyes-like the four before her, and one other-and tried to stop the bleeding.

"It's going to be okay, Helena," Duo said. "The doctor's on his way."

Helena looked up at him-in her place among the grass as he tried to staunch the flow of blood from the bullet wound, the one *he'd* given her-and smiled. "I don't blame you, my Danyer," she said. "It was an accident."

And it *had* been an accident. She hadn't known he'd gone hunting, he hadn't known she'd taken a walk in the woods. But it didn't matter if it was an accident or not-his wife was dying, and it was his fault.

"I love you," she said and coughed. Blood came up-he must've hit a lung. "There's something I need to tell-"

"Shh," Duo chastised her and put a finger over her lips to keep her quiet. "The doc'll be her soon, and he'll fix you up good. This time tomorrow you'll be in bed recuperating. You can tell me whatever you need to then."

"No," she said. Helena grabbed his hand, the one he'd been pressing over her wound. Her grip was surprisingly strong for a woman who'd just been shot. "No, this can't wait-I'm not going to make it. It's been too long; I'm too old." She looked away, and Duo was enraged, and confused. Too old? She was only twenty-two, for fuck's sake!

"Danyer, I've told you before, and I'll tell you again," she said, and this time Duo didn't try to make her conserve her strength. "I love you. I have loved you for five lifetimes, and I will love you for five hundred more. I will go to the end of the earth-to the moon!--to find you. I will protect you with all that I am. You are my life, my love, my soulmate."

With that, Helena's hand went slack in Duo's, and the light fled from her eyes. She was dead.>>

***

She was dead. Quatre had known that when he saw his family's faces, but to hear it was earth-shattering. Quatre didn't know what Milliardo said to him after he fell. He didn't feel the cold of the tile or the warmth of his brother as he hugged Quatre. Quatre knew one thing and one thing only.

Relena was dead, and it was all Heero's fault.

***

<<Duo was again in a forest, but it was different this time. He didn't know how, but it was *newer* this time. He was surrounded by boys; they were bigger than him. He didn't know how many there were-three, five, ten, seventy-five, it didn't matter, they were all the same-and they were pushing him, kicking him. He could taste blood in his mouth.

Aah, Duo knew where he was. He was at camp, one of the many his mother made him go to during the summer, so that she didn't have to look at him. This was one of his memories.

"You're queer, ain'tcha," one of the boys-one of the giants-taunted. "Cuz only a faggot boy'd have hair that long."

He-or one of the others-pushed Duo down, his lank, greasy hair in his face. After weeks of camp, weeks of being taunted and bullied at various camps, Duo had stopped showering, hoping his stench would drive away others so that he could be alone (it was that summer that made him as adamant about personal hygiene as he was about hygienic surroundings). No such luck though-teenage boys didn't care about hygiene.

Duo was about to push himself up when a little boy-a kid with sparkling blue eyes-stood between him and the lumbering oafs who had thrown him down.

"Leave him alone!" Blue Eyes screamed, and Duo heard no more.>>

***

Quatre finally noticed something when he felt himself be lifted from the floor. "What's happening?" Quatre cried out, clutching at Milliardo.

"We have to go," his brother answered. "They need the space."

Quatre looked around the waiting room and saw that the space really was needed. Whereas before he had only seen his family-probably blocked out everybody else-the waiting room was now full to bursting. People were actually spilling out into the hall.

Quatre took a deep breath and nodded at Milliardo. "I can walk," he said, and Milliardo put him down. As Quatre walked from the room, he thought, //It has begun.//

***

<<Duo was in a very familiar place-his dormroom-in a very unfamiliar postition-looking through the people to the bathroom, cock in hand. He knew what was coming next and tried to stop himself. He couldn't.

Duo felt himself stand up, shove his spent dick in his pants and walk into the bathroom. He felt his dick reawaken at the sight of a soap-covered Heero.

He grabbed Heero from the stall and shoved him down to the floor. Heero fell and hit his head on the toilet.

//That brown stuff I cleaned up was dried blood.//

Heero was whimpering, but he didn't stop. He wanted Heero to *pay*, he just wanted Heero. Heero begged, blue eyes flashing.

//Like Holly's, Heidi's, Harrison's, Hildegarde's, Helena's. Like his Blue Eyed Savior.//

And Duo barely stopped. Barely stopped himself from taking what he wanted. Duo got off Heero and stumbled out of the bathroom, leaving his roommate cowering by the toilet. Some time later, Duo heard a whispered "Forget", felt a soft kiss, and saw scared blue eyes.>>

***

Duo jerked out of the memory. He looked into the eyes-none of them blue, thank God-of his two friends and the stranger.

"Oh. My. God," Duo said.

Selune

(1) This line comes directly from Weird Al Yankovic's "Jerry Springer."