Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Psionic Saga ❯ Chapter 19 ( Chapter 19 )

Chapter Nineteen.

Duo woke to the most incredible smell. He knew it wasn't food, because he'd tasted every kind of food on the planet at some point and nothing smelt like this.

In fact, when Duo really thought about it, there was only one thing that could possibly smell this way. As he considered that, memory returned and he grinned, opening his eyes.

Sex smells like that.

Duo was staring at a chest. If was not an unfamiliar chest, but Duo had never been quite this close to it either…Looking up, Duo stared at Heero's sleeping face and felt contentment fill him, as well as a little fear.

"I had a dream Heero," Duo whispered, so softly it was barely audible. The other boy did not stir. "Tell me it was just a dream."

Duo went to get off the bed, to go take a shower to clear his head, but the moment he moved Heero's hands wrapped around his wrists so tightly Duo wondered if they would break.

"H…Heero?" Duo asked, not daring to move.

The lids flickered open to reveal Prussian orbs, glaring coldly at Duo.

"Mine."

Duo was startled. It was certainly not what he had expected.

"Fine, but what is yours needs a shower."

Heero seemed to think about that for a while, finally releasing his grip on the slender wrists. Duo dug his usual washing materials out from under the bed and made his way to the showers.

Duo liked the showers. They were white, which always reminded him of Heero. They were always cool, which helped him to calm down, no matter what mood he was in. They were an endless source of water, and Duo loved water. Water kept you clean.

Right then, Duo needed all those things as he needed air, so he locked the small cubicle, turned on the cold water, and started scrubbing.

Under the cold water Duo's mind finally woke up from its daze. He could not believe what had happened; what he had allowed to happen! With Heero! It wasn't that Duo had not wanted it, far from it; Duo had craved it for years. It wasn't that Duo feared Heero had just wanted it for the night, because Heero was obsessed. That much was obvious. No, that wasn't it at all.

As Duo stood there, arms limp at his side, conditioner drooling from his hair as he let it soak through, he came to an understanding that was a long time in coming. He was Duo. He was the anomaly. The other path. The alternate ideal. The second choice.

And in knowing himself, Duo was able to see others.

Suddenly, Duo knew the connection between evolution, man and machines. Duo had the knowledge they all wanted; the missing key to Psionic power in all its ugly glory. And knowing that, Duo ran.

Run, hide. Run, hid. Run, hide.

Duo dressed, quickly, not bothering to dry his skin. He grabbed his hair as he leapt from the bathroom, nimble fingers pulling it into a braid as he ran, unsure where his feet were going, hoping it wasn't where he thought yet knowing there was nowhere else to go.

He had done it himself. The one thing that could have kept Psionicists from waking and he had woken it up. Or something like that. Duo was not sure what happened.

He had had a dream. He had been lying on the floor, only there was no floor. It was just cold, and he was not falling. He was just lying, in mid air. All around him small red droplets rained and he knew instinctively they were blood. He could smell it. Glancing up, he saw a boy, so entangled in chains his face was hidden, but Duo knew who it was. Duo had felt the odd surge of power in himself and had risen, slowly at first, then with more speed until he floated beside the boy. He had only laid the very tip of his finger on the lock that held those chains in place. It was curiosity more than anything else, or so he told himself. Whatever, one touch was enough.

He was hurled down and he crashed into the `floor' once more, the lock clattering down at his side. He caught the briefest glance as he looked up, of chains moving, loosening, of power unfurling as the body began to move, to wake…Then the face looked down at him and he fell into unconsciousness.

RUN AND HIDE! His mind was screaming, and Duo recognised the strange voice that drove his Psionic gift. He felt that gravity was lighter somehow, that his didn't weigh as much, and the ground moved faster beneath his feet, or he moved easier over it.

His feet led him to the trees on the outer grounds of the school, to the all too familiar clearing he had refused to visit since his encounter with Hilde and Treize. He leapt onto the rock and snuggled into the small space he usually hid in.

He did not know what to do. So he did the only thing left. He waited.

"Duo?"

Duo opened his eyes and looked up at Quatre, a little confused. It was twilight and Quatre's shadow seemed menacing to him. He shook himself, reasoning that it was Quatre. You couldn't get more harmless. Well, that wasn't true. When Quatre didn't have a plug or some kind of Psionic device attached to him, and he was relaxed like now, you could not get more harmless. However, temper tantrum Quatre was not something Duo enjoyed.

"Hey Quat, what are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I just…felt like…I had to come. I didn't know you were here."

"Quatre, I did the most terrible thing," Duo whispered under his breath.

Quatre nodded, eyes understanding, all knowing.

"You broke the lock."

Duo's eyes were wide as he stared at Quatre in shock. How had he known? Why wasn't he yelling and screaming, shaking him for all he was worth? Did Quatre understand what he had done?

"The boy…he has the power to destroy us all, doesn't he?" Quatre asked in that still, calm way that could not be denied. Duo only nodded in reply.

"But you don't regret setting him free. I can feel it in you. There is no regret, only…only love."

How could he not love the boy? Duo felt tears trickling down his cheeks. The moment he had smelt the blood he had known what he would do.

"Quatre, where is he? What is that place?"

"It's a kinetic projection," Quatre explained quietly, sitting next to Duo in the small confines of the hole in the rock. "As far as I can tell, its an illusion made manifest by the boy's mind so that the actions needed to free him mentally can be placed in a physical frame."

Duo was gaping at Quatre. Even he, the great Duo Maxwell, had had trouble understanding all that. To put it bluntly, it sounded like gibberish. Still, he forced his mind around it.

"So, its like he made that place with his mind so that someone would be able to break him free when they were asleep?"

Quatre was nodding, a small smile on his lips as he listened to Duo's interpretation.

"It was merely a way to interact with those capable of saving him."

"And damning us," Duo finished for Quatre, chin resting against his chest in guilt. What had he really done? He hadn't thought. He had just acted, as always, on impulse, and as always his impulse had landed him in deep trouble.

"Duo, do you know who the boy is?"

Quatre was looking at him, eyes shining with genuine curiosity. Duo realised Quatre didn't know, and if Quatre didn't, no one else did. How could they not see it? How could they not have felt it? Especially Quatre, who had, even if it was for only a brief instant, drawn on that strength? When it was Quatre who had started the blood rain flowing?

"Yes," Duo answered, stunned and dazed. How could they not know?

"You don't have to tell me," Quatre interrupted quickly, holding up his hands to indicate he just wanted Duo to hear him out, and Duo listened obediently. "I just want to ask you one thing. Why no regrets? If you really feel what I feel when I am in that place, why don't you regret freeing him? Is it because of who he is, or what he is? I don't even know what he is! But I do know this. I am terrified of that boy. I am terrified of the power I sense in his blood, of the cold I feel in his skin and the fury I feel in his mind. I was terrified of the emptiness in his heart.

"But his heart is not empty now. And your emptiness is gone too."

There was a knowing glint in Quatre's eyes. It wasn't knowledge, it was sense. It was empathy.

"Duo, I might be wrong, but I think you set him free despite our terror, because you yourself were not afraid. Just because people might look at what you did differently, does not mean you should feel guilty. You do not regret what you have done, because I do not think there is anything to regret. I think we might all be surprised at what is to come."

Duo smiled, laying his head on Quatre's shoulder, realising Quatre was right, as always. He felt on regret, and his guilt sprang more from his fear of what the others might say than any real sense that he had done wrong.

"Are you finished now?" And all too familiar, sarcastic voice came from outside the rock. J.

Duo and Quatre stood in unison and gaped.

All the would-be Psionicists had gathered once again, forming a circle around the rock. Entering the clearing Duo saw Heero, flanked by Trowa and Wufei.

"You time has come, Duo Maxwell," J said darkly, a feral grin marring his face.

Duo hardly heard him, his gaze fixed on Heero. Only he wasn't seeing Heero. He was looking into those eyes. The blue crystal eyes of the boy in the white place. He was looking at the wounds, all healed, the blood that had stopped falling. He was looking at arms and legs that were free, moving, reaching out to run the backs of silken fingers across his cheek.

"Trust me Duo. Trust me like you trusted me last night."

Duo swallowed and the dry throat drew him back to reality. Eyes still locked on Heero, Duo finally let his brain catch up with his subconscious. He looked down at J with the smuggest expression he had ever worn.

"You're right. It's time."

"Duo, what are you doing?" Quatre hissed, grabbing Duo's wrist as he leapt onto the tope of the rock.

Duo grabbed the cross he constantly wore around his neck and held it out so everyone could see it clearly, especially the professors.

"This is the key," Duo said softly, but firmly. "All the answers you seek are in the Genesis. And that's not me."

Heero, Trowa and Wufei pushed their way through to the rock and climbed up beside Quatre. Only Heero moved to stand near Duo, standing slightly in front of the smaller boy, shielding him from something only he could see.

Heero was cold. Colder than he had ever been in the visions. Colder thant he chains that had bound him. Duo wondered if he had made a mistake after all, but it was too late.

"That's me."

End Chapter Nineteen.