Yaoi, OOC, AU, continuation of story after ‘Endless Waltz’

AC 203

Minuet II

By Katana Rey

The door opened noiselessly and Heero looked up sharply.

A soldier walked in to the small room and looked at the dark haired man cradling a severely injured woman in his arms. He knelt and looked at Heero steadily as the latter glared at him sullenly.

‘I’m with Sally.’ The soldier whispered, as he started to pull out his gun. ‘I came here to rescue her, if I could. If not, I was supposed to kill her but now I’ve got a problem.’ He poised the gun at Heero, who gazed back at him in cold determination.

‘You.’

He sighed as he hesitated, before lowering his gun and handing it over to Heero, who continued to look at him in silence. ‘I don’t supposed you’d let me kill her.’ He looked at Heero who nodded slightly in response.

‘If I try to help you escape, I blow my cover and ruin everything that we were working for, me, Sally and the others who are trying to stop the Foundation. If I don’t.’ He smiled tiredly, ‘then what we are fighting for becomes totally meaningless. At least for me.’ He sighed again as he looked down at the battered woman’s face.

Heero looked at the soldier’s worried frown and waited silently for him to come to a decision. He wasn’t surprised when after a moment, the soldier looked up with a renewed flash in his eyes and held out his arms for Sally.

‘I need you to create some distraction for me so that I can get Sally out of here.’ The soldier asked Heero as he gently held the unconscious woman. ‘I can tell you where Quatre Winner is being held. I gave him a little bit of help earlier but I’m not sure if that was enough for him to have freed himself yet. Do you think that you can cause enough destruction to give me time to get Sally out of here, if possible without losing my cover?’

‘Mission accepted.’ Heero replied tonelessly as he got up. He stopped before the door and hesitated slightly, then, turning back to the soldier he held out his hand. ‘I’m Heero Yuy. And you are?’

‘Ryo, Ryo Saneda.’ The soldier replied with a blinding smile as he carefully got to his feet with Heero’s assistance, cradling Sally in his arms. ‘I’ve heard about you from Sally. I hope you’re as good as she says.’

Heero smiled smugly as he softly murmured, ‘better’, and left.

* * * * *

‘So have you managed to get Heero in bed yet?’ Duo asked with a cold glint in his eyes that belied the amused grin he wore.

Quatre bit his lips as he fought against the black hatred that burned his chest. Trying not to lose control, he spat tersely, ‘that’s really not any of your business.’

‘Really?’ Duo’s voice was light and mocking, but his eyes had gone totally dead as he looked at the incensed blond man in front of him. ‘I wonder if Heero feels the same way. Maybe after our little chat, I should go and ask him.’

‘Stay away from Heero!’ Quatre snarled, desperately fighting his instinct to jump out of the chair and knock that infuriating grin off the innocent looking mask in front of him. ‘You had no right to bring him into this. Don’t turn this into a fight about Heero. You lost him the day you signed on with the Foundation. I had nothing to do with the two of you splitting up and I refuse to let you use Heero as an excuse.’

‘Excuse!’ Duo exclaimed sharply, all pretence of good humour disappearing from his face as for the first time he allowed the true depth of bitterness and resentment that he felt, to surface and contort his features with rage. ‘You arrogant bastard.’ He breathed harshly as he sat up right suddenly, squarely facing the equally angry blond on the opposite side of the table. Quatre narrowed his eyes as he stiffened warily in his chair, this angry man with eyes brimming with burning tears, was a Duo that he had never seen.

‘You still haven’t understood, have you? Heero doesn’t love you and he never will.’ Duo’s cold and calm voice was a disconcerting contrast to the flush of anger still staining his cheeks, as he again relaxed into his chair, looking casual and carefree as usual. Despite his rage, Quatre couldn’t help wishing that he was as successful at maintaining self-control but he was unable to stop his voice from shaking from the force of his emotions as he responded.

‘What I do understand is that Heero doesn’t love you any more either.’ Quatre spat, ‘what’s more I doubt that he ever did! How can he fall in love with someone who doesn’t even exist? You may have managed to fool him, fool all of us, during the war, with that fake smile, but not any longer. You are nothing a cold-blooded killer who only cares about himself. I can’t believe I used to think of you as a friend. Damn you!’ Quatre burst out in frustration. ‘Damn you to hell, you smiling demon!’

Duo stood up and walked over to Quatre and raised his hand in obvious deliberation before slapping Quatre once, squarely on his left cheek. ‘I’m sorry Quatre,’ he shrugged as he leaned against the side of the table, ‘but I was told to do that with hysterical people. Now, now,’ he shook his finger gently at the enraged man, ‘let’s try to keep this to a civilized dialogue, shall we? I refuse to be a party to violence unless,’ he smirked, ‘and only unless, absolutely necessary.’

Quatre trembled as he tried to contain his growing wrath and in the midst of his internal battle for control, the face of a boy with large eyes and dark hair rose in his mind, slowing flooding his mind with calm and remembered warmth in its wake. He clung to that image with all his desperation as he decided to try to see if he could shatter Duo’s self-confidence, to force him back to that fleeting moment when he had glimpsed the vulnerability and pain underneath.

‘Do you really want me to answer your first question? About whether Heero and I have… ah… consummated,’ Quatre savoured the word slowly, deliberately taunting Duo with a sensuous smile, ‘our relationship?’ He paused to watch Duo carefully, to see the effect of his words and observed the slow stiffening of Duo’s features as his face emptied itself of all expression, with growing satisfaction. It seemed that Heero was a sensitive topic, not just to himself but to Duo as well. Even as he plotted to press his advantage, Quatre idly wondered how far he dared to push on this particular weakness before one of them snapped.

Duo snapped upright from his slouch and walked away from the sitting blond and his wretched question. He could taste the bile in his mouth as he turned around and walked back, dragging the chair around so that he was now sitting face to face with the blond, deliberately placing the table in the middle.

‘No more games.’ Duo spoke quietly in monotone. He folded his hands together and looked at Quatre, who started visibly on seeing the burning desperation in his eyes. Quatre nodded once, then waited.

‘Let me tell you what I want.’ Duo continued with an empty smile. ‘I want Heero. I want him back in our apartment, back in my bed, where he belongs. And I want him out of that small, empty cell that I had to put him in, thanks to you and your wretched little games. Now, what I want to know is how you turned him against me. What did you tell him?’ He hissed suddenly, ‘back when we were still together and happy. Remember Quatre? Before you connived your way into Heero’s life through his job at Nexus. You started all our fights, because you just wouldn’t leave him alone. Why couldn’t you just leave us alone?

Quatre sat still as he closed his eyes and tried to banish the surging memories.

Duo and Heero, together and smiling.

He reluctantly returned to his car, feeling the emptiness of the seat beside him as he looked wistfully outside the window at the couple walking away, so completely wrapped up in each other’s presence that they’d already forgotten his existence.

Staring at the phone, knowing that he shouldn’t but unable to stop himself from picking up the phone, just to hear that voice again.

Nexus. The title on the folder stared back at him blankly. He scanned the report without much interest until one particular name jumped up at him. Special Information Consultant: Heero Yui.

Large blue eyes, eyes to drown in. Quatre remembered the first time he had seen a smile on that flawless face. A beach glimmering with light and two dogs, barking and running beside him as he looked back and laughed, realising that he wasn’t alone. As he looked back at the still figure sitting by the tent, feeling the promise of a new beginning. Then disappointment that soured and congealed into bitter loneliness, as he saw the beautiful statue slowing waking to warmth and laughter in the security of the peace, not to him as he had hoped, but to another.

Quatre remembered the piercing pain that he had felt, that he still felt, when Heero had come to him with a glowing face, eyes dancing with excitement, to tell him that he was going to be living together with Duo. He wanted to banish the memories, to protest that their love had been false, and that Duo was lying, but… he couldn’t.

‘I… I didn’t mean to cause any problems, Duo.’ Quatre admitted slowly, painfully. ‘It was just that… I felt so alone and you were my friend.’ Quatre grimaced, ‘actually during the war, you were my best friend. I think that made it harder for me to stay away. And after a while,’ he sighed, ‘I guess I didn’t even think about it anymore. I wanted to see Heero and to be with him and it was easy to make excuses once we started working together at Nexus. I think that I even believed in some of those excuses myself. But that doesn’t mean that I was deliberately trying to break up you and Heero.’

Duo felt hollow inside, he had been waiting to hear this admission from Quatre for over a year now, so why did it feel so meaningless? He stood up abruptly and started to walk away, ignoring Quatre’s startled gaze boring into his back, he walked to the door and left, in silence. He wasn’t sure where he was going but all of a sudden, he knew that he couldn’t bear to be in Quatre’s presence any longer.

Quatre gazed emptily at the closed door, troubled by the old, awakened guilt. He had tried so hard to justify his actions when he first began having suspicions about the Foundation but he found himself shaken, more than he cared to admit, by Duo’s accusations. He had always maintained that Duo was being paranoid whenever he had accused Quatre of deliberately turning Heero against him but he was finding it harder and harder to ignore the nagging doubt that maybe he was right, whenever he thought back to the past.

Maybe, Duo was right when he blamed Quatre for his break up with Heero. Because Quatre knew that the one thing he couldn’t do, then or now, was to give up Heero. In the end, it didn’t really matter because what ever his intention had been, he was unable to stop himself from reaching out for Heero, to keep trying to find the tiny reflection of himself, imbedded inside those large orbs, to see those eyes lighten up when looking at his face, even as they had for Duo.

* * * * *

Duo walked briskly, occasionally nodding and smiling as he passed others, outwardly the picture of calm but inside, he was burning. Over and over, he replayed Quatre’s voice in his head, ‘Heero doesn’t love you anymore’, Duo couldn’t help wondering if that was true, no, if he had to be honest with himself, Duo admitted bitterly, that what he really was terrified of was that it was and that everything Quatre had said was the truth. Which left him with what, zero chance of getting Heero back…. No. He couldn’t accept that. He knew that if he could just get the chance to see Heero and to explain his side, instead of the poisoned filth that Quatre had filled his head with, than Heero would come back to him. Duo hastened his steps, eager to see his lover, to hold him and to put his world back together the way it was, the way it always should have been.

* * * * *

Quatre grimaced as he examined the gash in the unconscious soldier’s forehead. He had hit him harder than necessary, and he mouthed a silent apology as he carefully lowered the soldier’s head back to the ground. With proper medical care, the soldier should recover, hopefully without any permanent injury. Quatre straightened his borrowed uniform and checked his gun carefully, hoping that no one would notice that his uniform didn’t fit him quite properly.

Quatre opened the door carefully and sighed with relief when he realized that the corridor was empty. He walked over to the elevator and pressed level 3, he was pretty sure that from the view of lab that he had in his cell, that it was located in the floor beneath where he had been detained. When Duo had captured Heero and Quatre, they had been attempting to break into the facility to gather information on Project Epsilon that he could pass on to his sister Iria, to force the Foundation to close down the unorthodox Project. Without proof, any accusations that he made against Duo looked like an act of jealousy, a personal vendetta, as he had discovered when he had first approached Relena with his concerns. He checked the gun once more carefully, swiftly returning it to his belt and straightening his posture as the elevator doors opened.

As he walked down the corridor, a large double door opened and two technicians pushing a trolley loaded with heavy equipment passed by, chatting energetically. Quatre continued to walk, deliberately pushing his steps faster so that he could catch a glance of inside before the doors closed. As he continued past the now closed doors, he slowed his pace to a more methodical stroll, thinking furiously about the machinery he had seen within. It wasn’t the lab he was looking for, but he thought that he had recognised the hulking shape in the deep recess of the room, the silhouette looked like the head of a Gundam.

* * * * *

‘Transmission acknowledged, will stand by to assist.’

Heero turned off the terminal, satisfied that Ryo and Sally would now be safe. He wished that he had some explosives with him but Quatre had insisted on coming unarmed for a quiet, reconnaissance to gather evidence. Quatre had convinced him that they should no longer react as soldiers or terrorists, but as law biding citizens and that they would be able to close down Epsilon through legal agencies. He sighed as he examined the gun that Ryo had left him. He hadn’t used one in over two years, so why did it still feel so comfortable? He laid the gun down on the desk carefully, and picked up the CD that he had downloaded the files marked with EPS* in front of the file names. He started to his feet, deliberately leaving behind the gun on Duo’s desk. Heero wanted to try to resolve this, Quatre’s way, without any more violence or killing. He had his fill of killing during the war and he didn’t intend to be involved in another war, even if, his lips quirked into a smile, he had to die trying.

He had the information that Quatre and he had come for, so all he had to do now was to collect the blond. Heero swung himself up into the air duct with ease, and started to crawl forward. From the floor plans on Duo’s terminal, the cell that he and Quatre had been taken to originally was located in Section D4, and he had noticed that there was a heliport on top of Section D, with a helicopter on permanent standby for personal use of the Director. He smiled grimly at the irony, Duo aiding Heero and Quatre to escape, not from OZ or Federation this time, but from himself. Heero shook his head and told himself sternly to get his mind off the smiling face with its outrageous braid, he paused for a moment as he came to a juncture and retraced the map in his mind, then confident once more, he continued on.

* * * * *

Duo looked at the empty cell and felt hollow. He looked at the guard who gazed back at him in total bewilderment.

‘I… I… but.. he.. they were here. And I was here, all this time. Well, that is in my office. I…’

Duo gestured the babbling guard to fall silent. He looked at the cell and then at the undamaged door.

‘He had help.’

Duo’s eyes narrowed coldly.

‘There’s a mole.’

The guard paled dramatically and Duo’s eyes glinted briefly with amusement.

‘Not you. I think I better check on my other guest. Tell Security to go to intruder alert in silent mode, code G1 and seal all exits.’

Duo turned and started to run down the corridor, anxious to get back to Quatre. ‘As long as I still have him, Heero will have to come to me.’ Duo thought grimly.

* * * * *

Quatre started as a soft beep went off in his belt, he picked up the small beeper and read the text message.

INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! ALL EXITS SEALED! STAY IN OWN SECTION! CODE G1. EXTREME DANGER!

He smiled to himself, ‘Heero must have escaped.’ He felt considerably more light hearted as he turned the corner and walked towards the lab doors marked EPS*HE04. He nodded politely to the other guard who had arrived at the door at a run, before kicking him, hard in the stomach. As the soldier collapsed silently, Quatre knocked him out with a karate chop to the base of his neck. Then he grabbed hold of the unconscious man and dragged him around the corner, and walked back to the door and came to a complete stop.

Quatre looked at the immobile lab doors in consternation as he suddenly realized that the lab had been sealed, and that he was stuck on the outside.

* * * * *

Heero grunted softly in relief as he dropped from the air duct. Even as he had crawled through to the last section, a steel frame had suddenly slammed down, cutting him off, he scowled as he looked around the ducting pipe and realized that he was effectively sealed into the room. He muttered ‘Duo’, who else would be paranoid enough to seal off air ducts? At least he had succeeded in reaching his objective first, so he had broken through the ducting pipe, only to find an empty room. Heero frowned, he wished he knew whether Quatre had escaped, or whether he had been moved to another place. He sighed and started to stretch his arms and legs, relieved to be free from the confining space at last. ‘It used to be a lot easier to move through those things when I was fifteen.’ Heero muttered crossly as he started to stretch his back.

‘You haven’t changed that much since you were fifteen.’

Heero swung back in sudden alarm, instinctively falling in a crouch as he turned and froze.

Duo smiled at him and pointed his gun.

‘Déjà vu.’

Heero glared at him and slowly stood up with his arms held up in surrender.

* * * * *

Quatre hissed impatiently as he continued to work on the opening mechanism of the lift. He swore at the sadistic maker who had contrived at his escape only to place him in the position of trying to return to the same place. He was pretty confident that he could breach the glass barrier that had been in his confinement cell and gain access to the lab. Now if he could just open the damn lift doors, then he could climb up through the lift shaft, and sighed dismally as he reminded himself, open that lift’s doors, from the inside this time, then get into the cell, hopefully that won’t be a problem, then work out how to break the glass. No problem. Riiiiight.

‘Next time, we bring explosives, guns, and a Gundam.’ Quatre promised himself grimly as the doors finally opened.

* * * * *

‘Why is it that whenever we meet, one of us is pointing a gun at the other. It’s kind of like having a theme song.’ Duo bantered lightheartedly, his eyes never leaving the frozen figure standing with his hands half raised. ‘Oh maybe,’ he smirked, ‘what Freud said about guns and sex is true.’

Heero shrugged carelessly as he slowly dropped his arms.

‘You haven’t changed much either. You still talk too much.’

Duo smiled wryly at the familiar response as he gestured for Heero to sit down and perched on the table, still holding the gun firmly targeted on his beloved’s face.

‘Because you don’t talk enough.’ Duo paused and Heero started as he saw the tears welling in his eyes, ‘I want you to come home Heero. I don’t know how we came to this but I’m not your enemy Heero. I love you. Don’t you remember? Let’s just go home and get on with our lives.’

Heero looked at the gun still pointed at him and then at the tears dropping slowly from the violet eyes. He sighed.

‘No.’

Duo stiffened, his eyes hardening to stone.

‘No. That’s it! That’s all you have to say to me! Damn it, I deserve more than that from you. I need you Heero. I need you more than that blond bastard. I can give you anything you need now. I can keep you safe. I would have kept you safe, not brought you into this. Damn you.’ Duo spat as Heero sat unmoving, ‘Why!’ He howled, ‘Why can’t you love me? Why can’t you stay with me! Why! What did I do that was so wrong? Tell me, and I’ll change.’ He caught his breath in a sob, ‘Please, Heero.’

Heero looked at the raging man in front and felt a crushing darkness in his heart. He opened his mouth to explain, then stopped. He didn’t know what to say or to explain how this had happened. He tried to clear his thoughts, to try to pin point exactly when things began going wrong, when he and Duo started to move apart.

‘It’s not… I…’ Heero stopped, wondering what he was going to say, what he should say. ‘You… you aren’t the person I fell in love with.’ Heero blurted at last, his expression betraying the internal turmoil and pain, ‘I’m not.. I love you, Duo. I still love the Duo that I met and fell in love with, all those years ago. But that’s not who you are. I don’t even know if I know who you are anymore. I don’t understand you. What are you doing here? Why are you involved with Project Epsilon?’ He hesitated briefly before continuing in a firm voice. ‘I won’t allow you or anyone else to dictate how we should live or what we should be. That’s why I was fighting against Oz. Why we were all fighting, for freedom, in what we do and what we choose to be. Wasn’t that why you were fighting with us, Duo? Help us Duo. Help Quatre to close down Project Epsilon.’

At the mention of Quatre’s name, Duo stiffened visibly. Heero stopped and waited silently, wishing that he had the words to vanish the coldness that had appeared in Duo’s eyes.

‘Help Quatre.’ Duo’s lips twisted into a bitter smile, as he started forward, then placing his hand around Heero’s neck, the gun pressing firmly against Heero’s lower belly, he pushed forward until the two bodies were pressed against the wall. ‘I don’t ever want to hear his name. Not from you. Not ever again. Do you understand?’

Heero looked at the icy burning eyes and closed his eyes in resignation, he knew that he had failed and that Duo wasn’t listening to him anymore. ‘Yes.’ He murmured softly and waited for Duo to back off, then he opened his eyes when he realised that the pressure of the hand around his neck had disappeared but he could still feel the fingers resting lightly on his neck. He took a swift breath as he saw the familiar sight of the violet eyes dancing wickedly, their long lashes lowering seductively.

Duo was no longer pressing his weight against Heero, but he hadn’t moved away from their closeness, just standing still, his face close enough for Heero to feel the warmth of his breath. He leaned forward slowly until he was touching Heero’s pale cheek with his own, and whispered gently, his lips brushing softly against Heero’s slightly parted lips, as he spoke. ‘I missed you Heero. Do you still remember our first time? Do you remember how I held you close, like this.’ He slipped his arm around the unmoving figure and pulled him even closer. ‘And then I said,’

‘I love you.’

Duo started in surprise, almost dropping his gun, as Heero closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around him, leaning his head against his shoulder as he spoke.

‘…’

Duo felt his heart pounding as he returned the hug, his lips on the dark, soft head.

* * * * *

Quatre muttered curses to the uncaring universe as he finally managed to forced open the lift doors on level 4. It had turned out to be even more difficult to open them from inside the shaft then it had been in the corridor. He climbed out of the shaft in considerable relief and looked at his torn and greased uniform ruefully. He looked down the empty corridor and felt that luck was finally turning in his favour.

He walked briskly towards the third door in the corridor, and noticed with relief that it had been left slightly ajar. Now all he had to do was to get inside and break the glass barrier. He felt a smug smile spread across his face as he concentrated on how he would destroy the lab once he managed to get inside.

* * * * *

tbc…