++Chapter 9++
"Trowa's Anger"


Wufei's grip on Shenlong's controls flexed, his eyes staring straight ahead at nothing as his Gundam shot over towns and trees.
Relena was dying.
It was hard to believe. How would Heero take it?
He had felt gruff sympathy for her, and had tried to curb his tongue- but even despite her deadly disease, he couldn't keep himself from sneering inwardly. relena was even more irrational sick than she was healthy. He had left Trinity behind, leaving him by Relena's side. The girl's last words before he'd left rang in his mind.
"Wufei, please look after Trinity. He isn't as strong as you..and he's so young..."
Look after him? He, Change Wufei, a babysitter? Not likely.
He glanced towards the handful of wires and spark plugs by his leg and smirked. Thundertalon wouldn't be taking off any time soon.
Now that the mobile dolls were taken care of, he had other priorities. Such as finding Quatre and kicking whoever's ass had taken him. Then there was Davarius. Duo had said it was his voice on the recording. So he was behind it all... but why?
He recalled Duo's terror-striken face from when he had relayed the message and frowned to himself. He'd mentioned being captured by the man..but what could have happened to make the normally confident boy pale at the sound of his very voice? Duo had been captured before, even beaten. Maybe Davarius had tortured him? But he had displayed fear and hate to a degree that made Wufei suspicious. Duo was a hard boy to break down.
Whatever had been done to him, Heero was not going to be a happy camper when he found out.
His mind churned with memories of the conversation he'd just held, his thoughts going back again and again to Trinity's comments on his past. The Maxwell Church...
He closed his eyes briefly. He had been so surprised... that night, almost a month ago, when Duo had opened up to him...

~~~
Wufei paused in the hallway, glimpsing a figure in the moonlight. One of his partners was standing close to the window, staring out at the moonlight. He caught the outline of a braid and turned to leave with a small snort.
"Wu-man?"
He stopped at the much-hated nickname, turning to glare indignantly. "Don't call me that," he snapped.
"Why're you up so late? Can't sleep?" he gave a soft laugh. "Neither can I..."
The strange quietness to his voice gave Wufei pause, and he frowned at the other boy.
"I have nightmares," Duo murmured, reaching up to spread slender but calloused fingers on the glass, still not looking at him. "Almost every night. I guess I don't really like to sleep anymore... But I like the night." He was silent for a moment, then, "Were you having nightmares, Wu-man?"
"Wufei," he corrected firmly. "No."
"Ah... it must be nice..."
His tone was so quiet and plaintive that Wufei found himself turning towards his partner, curiosity piqued. "What are you having nightmares about?" Maybe if he got to the bottom of it, the baka would get some sleep so he himself could go back to bed.
"The past, of course." Duo's laugh held no humor. He lowered his head so that the shadows covered most of his face, moonlight gleaming on his teeth as he gave an eerie grin to himself. "Don't tell me your past is all peaches and cream..Wufei."
Wufei blinked. Of course not. There had been Meilan... But he wasn't about to go into that. Instead he said gruffly, "The past is the past. Nothing more. Take medicine if you can't get back to sleep."
Duo didn't reply.
Wufei was just heading out of the room when he chanced a quick glance over his shoulder.
Duo had leaned his forehead against the glass, hand curled into a trembling fist on the pane. He was shaking minutely.
Duo was crying.
Silent tears dripped down his cheeks, teeth clenched in a death grip, eyes squeezed shut.
Wufei was frozen, thunderstruck. He had never seen the cheerful Deathscythe pilot cry. It scared him. Duo looked close to a breakdown. Before he could decide against the action, he had moved. He was across the room in three long strides, reaching out to touch the other boy's shoulder hesitantly. "Oi, Maxwell. What the hell.."
Duo gave an involuntary gasp, turning quickly away from him so that Wufei couldn't see his face. Wufei felt the boy stiffen under his light touch. "Leave me alone, Wufei." He was obviously mortified that he'd been caught crying. He must have thought Wufei had left.
Wufei frowned, pressing more firmly on his partner's back. "Maxwell." He considered using Heero's tactics, telling Duo to straighten up and be a soldier, but couldn't make himself say the words. He spoke slowly, uncomfortably, the name strange on his tongue. "Duo." Had he ever called him that to his face? "What are you having nightmares about?"
Duo gave a strange half-laugh, looking as if he was trying to break the glass by leaning against it. "Do you know... where I got my last name?" he whispered hoarsely.
~~~

Wufei tightened his mouth at the memory.
One thing that linked the pilots tightly together was the fact that each had been through shit in their lives. Duo's broken confession about his past at the Maxwell Church and on the streets on L2, as brief as it had been, had explained a lot about the boy.
He would never forget that night, the look on Duo's face.
They had become closer after that, as much as he refused to admit it.
And he be damned if Trinity was going to make assumptions about them.

***

"Trowa." Heero's grip on the knife tightened irritably. "What are you doing here?"
The Heavyarms pilot seemed not to hear him. His gaze was locked with Neo's. Atreusio was still holding his partner still, fingers digging into his arm. "Neo," he said with quiet intensity, "don't."
Neo ignored him, flashing Trowa a scornful smile. "You must be made out of rubber," he observed. "Your neck should have broken when I threw you. You should've just stood aside and let me take the kid quietly."
"Neo," Atreusio hissed.
Trowa's jaw flexed, his normally impassive jade eyes flashing. "Where is Quatre? What did you do to him?"
"Please don't do this." Atreusio had a death grip on his friend, and was looking quickly from Trowa to Neo. "Trowa-kun, this isn't the time for your pointless revenge. We-"
"This is the one who took Quatre that day?" Heero's narrowed eyes flicked towards Neo, then turned accusingly on Atreusio. "I knew I couldn't trust you," he growled.
"You don't understand," Atreusio said desperately, distracted momentarily.
Neo wrenched away from his partner at the same instant Trowa surged forward.
Trowa seized hold of Neo's collar, letting his momentum throw them into a wall. They tumbled to the ground fighting.
Atreusio started towards them but gave a cry of pain as something latched onto his hair and tugged back ruthlessly. He twisted his head painfully to see Heero directly behind him, eyes cold chips of ice. He gasped, reaching up in a futile gesture to try and free himself. Heero shouldn't be able to move that fast in his weakened condition- he'd made sure in his spell that the boy wouldn't be able to move much until they'd left. What the heck *was* he??
"I told him not to trust you," Heero growled, mostly to himself, and Atreusio winced as the grip on his hair tightened. He glanced frantically towards the door across the room and *pushed* with his mind.
It slammed shut and locked just before the nurses arrived and started pounding on it frantically, alerted by the sounds of a scuffle.
If Heero was alarmed by this blatant display of power, he didn't show it. He pulled Atreusio roughly back against him and raised the knife to his throat, watching the fight silently. Atreusio tilted his head back farther, trying desperately to avoid the blade.
"Neo," he cried, "stop it! We don't have time for this! Quatre told us not to hurt them!"
"Fuck Quatre," Neo snarled.
"Neo!" Atreusio gasped.
Trowa's fist shot past the other boy's defenses and cracked him one in the jaw. Neo cursed loudly and kicked out with both legs, throwing the pilot off of him. "You fucker!" He spit blood to the side and climbed swiftly to his feet, striding over and aiming a kick at Trowa's ribs.
Trowa caught the foot and wrenched it to the side. Neo stumbled, almost falling, and Trowa took advantage of it, leaping up and tackling him.
"Stop him!" Atreusio beseeched Heero, still holding the hand that had a painful grip on his hair. "Neo's holding back, but if Trowa-kun gets him too angry-"
At that moment Trowa flew across the room and crashed into the counter. He fell heavily. Neo rose slowly, wiping his mouth and glaring murderously across at the crumpled figure. "You.."
"Stop right there." Heero's tone was flat. He pressed the blade warningly against Atreusio's pale throat. Atreusio gave a little gasp, going completely still. Heero glared over his head at Neo, who was watching him silently, eyes still burning with battle light.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said calmly. "Quatre may have asked us to watch after you stupid kids, but I'll kill you if you cut him."
Atreusio stared at him in surprise.
Heero was unimpressed. "Tell me where Quatre is." He tightened his grip on his prisoner's hair. Atreusio winced. "Now."
"You just signed your death warrant, shithead," Neo said with a dangerous grin. He stepped towards Heero and raised his hand. "Good night, kid."







-----------------------
Author's notes: I apologize for the shortness of this chapter.. T_T I had a flash of inspiration at first, then it kind of..um...died. That's why it ends so abruptly. I couldn't for the life of me get any farther. T_T gomen..
Ch. 8 took so long to get up cuz i was babysitting -__-; anyway, hopefully i'll work more on this fic tomorrow =pp have patience with me! ^.^;
+++
I was listening to "Moon" frum "Turn a Gundam" when I was writing part of this, and it inspired me to doodle the scene w/ Duo crying. If you wanna see it, you can copy and paste (angelfire doesn't cooperate with image hosting -_-+) this URL: https://www.angelfire.com/comics/amiko/images/duo_sob.jpg

I also sketched Neo and Atreusio real quick.. here ya go: https://www.angelfire.com/comics/amiko/images/neo_atreu.jpg

And just becuz I'm bored =p here's a doodle of Trinity I did a month or two ago: https://www.angelfire.com/comics/amiko/images/trinity.jpg

And Gable.. *sweat* I have too much free time in the afternoons, ne?: https://www.angelfire.com/comics/amiko/images/gable.jpg

enjoy~ ^_^;




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Ch. 1
Ch. 2
Ch. 3
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Ch. 8
Ch. 10
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Ch. 12
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Ch. 14
Ch. 15
Ch. 16
Ch. 17
Ch. 18
Ch. 19
Ch. 20
Ch. 21
Ch. 22
Ch. 23
Epilogue
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