Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ VIVA ❯ Quintet in Dorian ( Chapter 5 )

6: Quintet in Dorian

Duo slumped against the frame of the bed, arms hanging limp between the head and the wall as he stared out the window at the blank sky that should have had stars, a moon…anything to show that it wasn't all fake, that it wasn't just another metal wasteland. But of course, that was all it really was, albeit a rather fanciful one.

A knock at the door didn't result in Duo standing, walking to the flat, wooden plank and swinging it wide with a smile plastered on his face, and no one really would have expected that at four am anyway. In fact, it was only the fact it was four am that had Duo vaguely interested at all. Staring at the door and wondering if maybe Solo needed something and was even now picking the lock, Duo crept over, stuck an ear to the wall beside the door and waited.

And waited. Waited some more.

After a good five minutes of waiting the silence was a killer and Duo, never one for subtlety in the face of a good mystery, grabbed hold of the handle and wrenched it open to reveal a very smug looking, fully clothed and rather unsettling Dorothy Catalonia.

"It's four am."

"Good, you noticed. Come on!"

"It's four am."

Dorothy paused, looked him up and down with a frankness Duo was beginning to realize one could associate solely with her, before she slipped past him, stomped all over his domain before grabbing hold of something under his bed with a muffled `aha' and hurrying back out the door. Duo looked from the empty place under his bed where he had been storing the SM-57 microphone to the open door and sighed. How could anyone expect him to sing at four am?

Still, Dorothy was the only vaguely interesting thing at the Wing college of the Arts and creeping around at 4am did sound like a rather fun idea to the L2 night-prowler also known as Duo Maxwell. Besides, he was only going to sit on his bed and mope for another two hours until that moron with a trumpet woke the rest of the school up. Maybe they could escape before the Last Post began…again…

Like any good ally cat, Duo didn't speak as Dorothy led him silently through the school buildings, using what looked suspiciously like a master key to get around any annoying locks. Duo wondered where he could get one, but knew if Dorothy wasn't speaking she had a reason. That woman had not shut up for longer than five seconds in the time he had known her.

Finally they were away from all the dorms and headed to a small, low lying building behind the auditorium. Duo had seen it several times but never bothered to go inside. It looked run down and while that was usually his kind of thing he had promised Father Maxwell he would stay out of trouble, and that meant staying away from old, run down squatters huts and all they usually implied.

"Dot, its 4am…"

"Is that all you can say this time of day?" She spat back and hurried through a door that magically opened at the sound of her voice. Only slightly mollified, Duo followed, swallowed by the dark gaping hole that wasn't even slightly scary with Dorothy's sun-bright blonde hair not a metre ahead.

"Did you find him?"

Duo frowned at the darkness. He knew that voice. It belonged to one Quatre Winner, who Duo had stupidly already decided he liked and was reluctant to disappoint. He had the strange feeling he really was going to be singing his guts out at 4am.

`Father Maxwell, help me…" Duo whispered under his breath.

A match flickered into life with an audible scratch and Duo watched as several candles were lit in what turned out to be quite a large space. Set up in the centre of the room was a small PA, Cello already mic'd and ready to go, Bass plugged in to a small brown amp at its side. Then there was an unmistakable bulk of a desk behind the two instruments, a speaker at each end, mixing board on the left and a huge wad of score paper on the right. Trowa, infamous composition prodigy, was calmly seated on a thin black chair, flute in his lap, pen in hand, madly scribbling out what looked like…vocal score…Duo swallowed dryly. Hard vocal score.

Hilde, identical to the description Dorothy had given during their lapskosi match, was leaning against the far wall, arms folded tight over her chest, fingers in her armpits. At least, Duo reasoned, he didn't need his own frozen digits. He almost felt sorry for the others, although it was their fault he was there…Quatre stood behind Trowa, eyes following the path of the pen, head nodding in approval of what he saw. Trowa seemed oblivious to his presence. Dorothy was not far from duo, watching his reaction. When there didn't really seem to be much of one, she stepped forward and started plugging in the SM-57 to the PA, voice soft as she spoke in hushed tones completely out of character with her daytime self.

"I have an exam tomorrow afternoon. Nothing fancy, just a performance to show where I'm up to. I wasn't sure what to do, so I asked Tro if he had any ideas. He suggested something we had been working together on last semester. It's nothing fancy. Most of the difficulty is in the cello part. The bass just has to keep time…no percussion. The violin is for chordal accompaniment and the flute does a harmony…but it had no guts. I was hoping you might try a vocal part…all ambient stuff with manipulation of the overtones…You interested?"

Duo raised a speculative brow, not letting his excitement show. Ambient was one of his favourite styles when it came to vocals, probably because he couldn't really dance to ambient music so it didn't get overworked in his head. Still, it wouldn't do to seem eager to Dorothy Catalonia.

"Funny," he replied airily. "Looked like I didn't have much of a choice…" He glared pointedly at his microphone.

Of all the responses he might have got, a chuckle from Trowa was not one of them.

"I very much doubt that anyone who can put Heero Yuy on his butt in under a second can really be forced to do anything they don't want to do…"

Heero Yuy. Well, the freak had a name after all. Not that it mattered. Duo intended to keep as far away from that particular guitarist as possible. Duo happened to like living.

They were all moving, taking up their instruments and forming a tight semi-circle, checking volumes, not too loud to be heard outside, but loud enough that the small room rattled. And there was that alluring space between Quatre and Dorothy, microphone waiting patiently. Shaking his head as his own foolishness, Duo took his place, standing in the spare space and flicking the switch. The microphone roared to life and the music landed on the stand in front of him. Duo looked over it with a critical eye, picked out the few difficult phrases, worked them over with a sharp mind and felt a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Trowa Barton really was a prodigy. The score was perfect.

The cello started, a long, low drone that slowly transformed into a series of stabbing screeches that masked the entrance of the bass. And it began. At first the flute and violin picked out small sections of the melody to harmonize against, then they were there in full force and it was Duo's turn. Taking a deep breath, Duo opened his mouth and let raw sound escape, a rush of `ah' that he rolled his tongue around, manipulating and pulling out the chords required from the pit of his stomach. His eyes slid shut and he lost himself in the river of rhyme that is music.

*

Heero Yuy sat bolt upright in bed and let his ears strain into the night. He could have sworn…but it wasn't dawn yet and Standish rarely rose before then. That was when his ears picked up on the slight vibrations in the air that meant music was being played. Very good, very familiar music. Hilde's bass.

Leaning back into the pillows he ignored the wince that wanted to escape as his bruised back bit into the slightly course pillow. He would never admit it, but he was impressed. No one had ever gotten the better of him in any kind of fight. They certainly hadn't managed to bruise his skin, or put him on his arse…A slight grin threatened to tug at his lips and he grimaced to rid his face of the unwanted reaction. He was not going to impressed by a showy, stuck-up, full of themselves vocal student.

Not Heery Yuy, guitar extraordinaire.

His stomach growled loudly and Heero rose, grabbing his guitar from its place against the far wall and headed out. He didn't bother knocking on Trowa's door, fully aware Dorothy had an exam in the morning, and if Hilde was playing, he could only assume the three of them had organized something. He was slightly offended they had not asked him, but understood why. Cello and Guitar were two instruments, owned by two personalities, that liked to take control. Dorothy and Heero often kept each other out of their exams…

So Heero wandered down to the cafeteria to grab an early breakfast. He only made it two steps through the door before realizing he wasn't alone. He glared across the room at the wide, terrified green eyes gaping back at him. Heero resisted the urge to laugh.

"G..Good..good morning Yuy…"

"Standish," Heero acknowledged and followed the trumpet player's example, grabbing a cup of hot coffee and heading over to where Standish had his trumpet on the table, coffee in hand.

"I...I wasn't…today, I…"

"You weren't going to play crap today?"

"No! I swear! I have an exam…"

Him too. Seemed everyone except guitars had exams. Not that Heero minded. A morning without the last post…heaven had just made its way to earth. Still, that didn't explain the presence of the trumpet between them…

"I need to work on my piece…" Standish admitted, seeing Heero's sideways glance at the instrument. "It's a jazz piece…I just can't get the rhythm right."

Heero's attention was won. He sat up straighter in the chair, hands flicked out over the instrument case without permission and he tugged the sheet music out from where Standish had obviously tossed it within in disgust. Eyes skimming over the familiar standard, Heero quickly took out his guitar and tuned to the trumpet, ignoring Standish's wide eyes.

Under a minute and Heero had it mastered. He grinned at Standish as the other boy hesitantly reached out and lifted the trumpet. He looked around, looked out the window, then looked back at Heero, who just watched him, head cocked to the side, waiting. There was only a second more of indecision before Standish's face split into the widest, most mischievous grin Heero had ever seen and the trumpet was raised to eager lips.

And it began. The war between trumpet and guitar for dominance that woke every sleeping individual in that last minute before dawn, continuing into breakfast and into the exam room where Heero, guitar extraordinaire, got to play after all.

*

Note: sorry its short, but I didn't want the next bit in the same chapter…*sigh* I know, I'm a pain in the arse, but you lurve me, right? No? ah well,