Author: Dacia

Duoman: Ships in the Night + Part 6

+

Wufei had long ago ceased to move or speak. Whatever his reactions, the man who had so easily stolen his heart was beaten down over and over until his blood fell freely on the cold surfaces of the room into which he had been taken only an hour before. If he could not stop the torment, he could at least shorten it. And so he sat quietly, watching with both eyes wide open as his lover cried and did not say a word or shed a tear. He could feel Dermail's eyes on him, but ignored their silent goading as he did all else. The Chinese Preventer forced himself to breathe evenly, locked his anger and pain into the calm beating of his heart, concentrated on the great expanse of blackness welling up in his soul. [11]

Dermail sighed, already tired of the game. He turned to his right and, pressing a button on the console next to him, played his last card. "Now," he said.

The men surrounding Treize looked towards the camera grimly, acknowledging this latest command. They pulled the ginger-haired man from the floor almost gently and stood him in front of the iron table occupying the center of the room, pushing him down until his chest was pressed flat against it.

"Only the last..." commented Dermail dryly. [12]

Wufei heard the words through a dim fog, at first not comprehending their meaning. "Only..."

His breathing faltered, his heartbeat increasing as he stared blankly at the screen before him. He growled low in his throat, so quietly that Dermail registered the sound as anxiety itself, not recognizing the source. It was only after his men secured Treize that he pinpointed the cause of the pressure growing behind his eyes and by then it was too late. Barely perceiving the flurry of movement that flashed across the monitor, he heard the ropes snap just as the light went out.

+

Zechs followed closely after Quatre, vaguely surprised that the smaller man could move so quickly in such an effortless manner.

"Are you sure we're headed in the right direction?"

"You should know, Zechs. This is your station."

"Ah, yes. Level 42. I'm well acquainted with it."

Quatre eyed the taller man with amusement. "Sarcasm suits you, sir."

"Thank you. But you still haven't answered my question."

"If you must know..."

"I must, I must." [13]

"I have been blessed with a photographic memory when it comes to spatial relationships."

"Sounds like you're a handy guy to have around."

"You'd better believe it." He stopped suddenly, holding up a hand to forestall the question he could see forming on Zechs' lips and peered around the corner they had just come to. "Now this," he whispered, "looks interesting."

Zechs raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Guards," said Quatre in answer to Zechs' silent query. [14] "A very conspicuous number of very alert looking guards."

"Shall we endeavor to discover what it is they hold in such high regard?" asked Zechs chivalrously.

"Yes," replied Quatre with his angel's smile firmly in place. "Let's."

And he stepped around the corner with the taller blonde hot on his heels, running hell for leather toward what turned out to be eight obligingly astonished guards. Zechs had just managed to take out the nearest two with a combination of kicks and jabs that would have done the American Ninja proud when he turned to find the blonde angel standing calmly in the midst of six inarguably unconscious men.

"How...? When...?" Unable to express his amazement more articulately, he settled for a brilliant smile. "Quatre, you're an animal."

"Oh that? This is nothing. You should see me in bed." [15] He gestured towards the now unguarded door. "Shall we?"

"After you."

Pressing the console on the wall, Quatre stepped smoothly inside as the door slid open. What he found was enough to make his blood boil and it was a ridiculously short time later that four more San Rommel security personnel joined their comrades in unconsciousness. It was as he and, soon after, Zechs approached Treize's still and bloodied form that the lights went out.

+

They had seen the blonde pair off scant moments ago. Heero had no qualms about sending the deceptively fragile boy into what would be more than likely a very violent situation. He spared a small grin in spit of himself -- for all Quatre strove for peaceful solutions, his combat capabilities were almost second to none.

"He might as well have been cracking his knuckles," laughed Duo. "That little guy is one eager beaver."

"I think he's just glad to finally be doing something," replied Heero.

"I couldn't agree more," said Duo as he turned to him, looking him squarely in the eye.

Heero remembered as if it were yesterday the first time he had seen Duo's eyes. He hadn't meant them to be violet. Nobody had violet eyes. Violet eyes were unnatural. They had been designed to be blue. It was the first of many things about Duo that were a surprise to him -- his long hair, his quick smile, his propensity for bad puns... But it was Duo's eyes that had been the beginning. His impossible... violet... eyes...

"Heero? Yo, Heero."

Heero jerked to awareness, startled both by his slight lapse and the lucid blush that now so bewitchingly adorned Duo's cheeks. It took him a a moment to become aware of the fact that he had been staring and a moment more to realize why they were both now so flushed.

"You ok?"

"Sure."

//One word answer. Not a good sign.// "Cuz I really think we should be going."

"Ok."

It didn't take a single one of Duo's non-human senses to note that Heero, despite his words, was not moving...

"Sometime soon."

That he was actually quite still...

"You scared, Heero?" asked Duo quietly.

Heero blinked. 'Scared' was a word which he had never in his life applied to himself, but the more he thought about it, the more the word seemed to describe exactly what was swirling around his insides. 'Scared', it appeared, wasn't nearly enough. Elaboration was called for.

"Petrified."

"Of me?"

"Of losing myself."

"Heero," Duo chided affectionately."If anything, You'll be more yourself than you ever have been." He smiled ironically. "Just different."

Heero nodded. If it all had to come down to something, it would be trust and he trusted Duo implicitly. "What do I do?"

"Just... walk into me."

The cobalt-eyed preventer moved towards him slowly, his muscles tensing as he drew nearer and nearer still, unable to prevent himself from drowning in violet eyes as his legs worked on auto-piolt. It was just at the moment when their lips should have met that Duo's solid form lost its cohesiveness, allowing Heero to share the same space as the holographic wonder.

It was like walking into the wind. It was cool and alive. It pushed towards him and drove against him until it went *through* him. And then there was stillness. Silence. Nothing and everything all in one instance of timelessness and impossible clarity. [16]

<<It's OK, Heero. Just breathe>>

Duo's voice came to him more as a palpable force than a sound. He took an experimental breath, feeling the air move into lungs that were no longer substantial.

*click*

It came to him in an instant. What he was doing. What he was. And when that realization dawned on him, he knew that he could never, would never, be quite what he had been before.

He raised his hand, Duo's hand, examining it minutely, noting how the light at once reflected off of his/Duo's skin and yet passed through it.

<<Kinda neat, huh>>

[[ Duo... ]]

Heero moved his/Duo's hand to his/Duo's face, feeling and not feeling the smoothness of skin on skin, thrilling to the miraculous newness of touch.

<<I think maybe I'd better control our bodies for now, ne Heero?>> Duo's amusement bubbled through him and Heero almost writhed at the sensation. <<You keep this up and we'll be here all day>>

Heero had thought that having another man control his body would make him feel violated, yet as Duo began to move them he felt strangely calm.

[[ Duo? ]]

<<Yes?>>

[[ I... ]]

Duo could sense Heero's confusion, his comprehension, the child-like delight that he tried so hard to hide It thrilled him beyond measure to have Heero become part of him in such an intimate manner, but he knew this was not the time to give in to his desires to sink into Heero as Heero had sunk into him.

<<Don't worry about it now, love. We've got a job to do. After we're done, you can expound on this experience to your heart's content>>

[[ While you complain? ]]

Duo's laughter was almost enough to undo him and he was supremely relieved that Duo was directing their movement. Otherwise, his subsequent weak-kneed state would have had him collapsing in a most un-preventer like manner.

Getting to Wufei was, indeed, embarrassingly easy. It merely involved walking through a few walls.

<<Don't worry>> Duo had said. <<Think of it as really thick air>>

Heero had merely given the metaphysical equivalent of a snort and had closed his no longer quite tangible eyes, forcing himself to relax as his mind contemplated exactly what the results would be if he were to be separated from Duo during this maneuver. Funny thing was, with his eyes closed it did feel like really thick air. He had always considered Duo's predilection for somewhat odd and seemingly overly dramatic descriptions to be little more than theatrical exaggeration, but now he couldn't help but wonder... He did not, however, have much time to spend pondering. Sooner than he would have thought possible, Duo stopped.

<<We're there>>

[[ There? ]]

The room Duo had brought them to was suspiciously empty.

<<Well, not there there, but 'there' enough that we should be prepared for when we really get there. Which would be on the other side of that wall>>

[[ Prepared? ]]

<<What are you, love? An echo?>>

Heero was ready for Duo's chuckle this time. He let it wash over him and through him, only slightly dazed by the warmth in engendered in what he tentatively named his soul.

<<What would happen if Wufei saw us walk through the wall?>> He continued only a moment later, sure of the most likely results even if Heero was not. <<Bad things would happen, Heero. Bad, untoward, and downright pernicious things>>

[[ A distraction? ]] Forcing words out was proving a far more difficult task than he would have imagined. He was all but positive that this was in part due to his stubborn and continued disability to not ruminate upon the fact that he no longer literally possessed lips with which to speak.

<<My thoughts exactly. And you know humans -- nothing gets them agitated like a little darkness>>

Heero watched as Duo directed a thin stream of energy to the computer console mounted on he wall. It was as he realized that this was not merely a display of force but a burst of raw communication that the lights went out.

<<Now is when the fun starts. Be ready>>

Duo slid them through that wall much more quickly than he had before. Heero had just begun to recover from the experience when he felt himself being pushed back into his own reality. He dropped to the floor, a small groan escaping his lips as his cells reintegrated and his atoms realigned. The first breath he took nearly choked him, but the second was much easier.

"Air," he said raggedly, "is a good thing." He didn't sound particularly convinced. The lights snapped back on with a vengeance while he was still attempting to remember how to walk.

"Ummm, Heero?" came Duo's questioning voice.

"Yes?"

"Do we want Mr. Ugly alive or dead?"

Heero grimaced as he pulled himself upright. "Alive, preferably."

"Then maybe you should restrain Wufei."

It was only then that the strange, garbled noises Heero had been hearing registered themselves in his brain as the unmistakable sound of someone being strangled. Knowing he could not match Wufei for strength in his enraged state [17], Heero moved to stand behind him and gently called his name.

"Wufei," he said. "Wufei -- this won't bring her back."

"Her spirit calls for blood," replied Wufei through clenched teeth.

"Meiran never called for anything more than a good pot of tea," said Heero. "There are other ways to end this. Ones that don't involve you getting kicked out of the Preventers. Who would I trust with Quatre?"

At the mention of his partner's name, Wufei flashed back to sanity, releasing Dermail who fell alive yet unconscious to the floor. "Is he --"

"He's fine."

"More that fine, I'll have you know," came Quatre's disembodied voice.

Heero's eyes followed Wufei's as the Chinese man turned to the monitor which had so recently encompassed his entire world.

"Can't say the same for Treize."

"Is he going to be all right?" Wufei's voice sounded altogether too fragile, even to his own ears, but he was at this point too emotionally drained to care.

"He should be fine," spoke Zechs as he came to stand behind the shorter blonde. "Most of the damage was orchestrated merely to look bad -- more bruises and lacerations than anything else. He's lost a fair amount of blood, though. It'd be best if he got some medical attention sooner than later." His lips curved in a small, fleeting smile. "Treize always did have a fondness for a bit of medical attention."

Such a familiar tone from a man who was, to Wufei, a virtual stranger far too attractive for his own good, set the dark-haired man on edge, yet he could not help but recognize the fact that there was nothing he could do about it. "Can you get him out ok?"

"It'll be touch and go. He can't walk on his own. Carrying him will slow us down. Luckily, we will be accompanied by the human dynamo. " He laid a hand on Quatre's shoulder who blushed slightly at the compliment. "However, any help you could send our way, say, in the form of a gorgeous violet-eyed marvel would be greatly appreciated."

"Roger that," replied Heero. "We've got Dermail here. I'll send the marvel to you and he'll lead you to the safest shuttle bay. We'll meet you there. Heero out."

"I suppose that's my cue to skedaddle," spoke Duo, sounding not at all happy with Heero's decision.

"Duo..."

"Duo?" Wufei eyed Duo warily, trying to place him and, suddenly, succeeding. "Quatre's friend. Quatre's very close friend."

"That would be me. "He grinned provocatively as he moved closer to Wufei, noting the boy's already rapid heartbeat increasing at his approach. He didn't stop until he was near enough that they should have been touching, but were somehow not. His lips hovered so closely to Wufei's ear that he could feel the Chinese boy shivering. "He'll be ok," he said. "Everything will be ok." He pulled back, reaching out to finger Wufei's jet back tresses. "Definitely the hair."

Wufei was literally rendered speechless.

"Duo, stop it."

"What?" It was when he broke out into his angelic grin that Duo seemed his most devilish.

"Leave Wufei alone. He's had a hard day."

"Roger, that," said Duo mockingly. "Guess I'll just be on my way."

"They need you, Duo." Heero's voice was soft and low, tinged with an emotion that he couldn't give a name to.

Duo walked to the door, opening it with a thought. He paused, but didn't look back. "I know they need me, Heero. I just thought maybe you might need me, too." And then he was gone.

It wasn't until moments later that Heero found the strength to answer. "I do, Duo, I do."

Out in the hall, Duo smiled and disappeared.

+

"I'm good, but I can't keep this up indefinitely." Quatre grimaced as he wiped the blood off his knuckles, his other hand moving to test his jaw which had been on the receiving end of a guard's particularly lucky blow. "It'd help if you could speed things up a bit."

Zechs staggered under Treize's dead weight."What say you carry the large, unconscious, blood-slicked man and I run interference for a while," he countered.

Quatre attempted his patented smile, but ceased quickly with a rapid intake of breath as he realized how painful that would now prove to be. "Touché." He turned to continue their stealthy progress only to find himself nose to nose with Duo. He jumped back with a start, hand raised to his chest. "Geez, Duo. What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?"

"Not at all, Kat," purred Duo. "Fact is, you look incredible when you're startled -- your cheeks get flushed, your pupils dilate, your lips slightly part... I like to think you look just like that when you --"

"I'm going to cut that comment to the quick before I drop my burden and sexually assault you right here in the hallway," broke in Zechs.

Duo tore his gaze away from Quatre and brought his violet eyes to Zechs' icy blue ones. "Need a hand there, beautiful?"

"I would greatly appreciate some assistance, yes," came a low-pitched response. He groaned in relief as Duo gently took Treize's limp form from him, cradling the beaten man to his chest with a noticeable absence of effort. "Anyone ever tell you you're a godsend?"

"Yes," grinned Duo. "But I never tire of hearing it. Now, if you gentlemen would just follow me..."

+

[11] Scream!!
[12] This is really, really odd, but I took this bit from the last line of Sondheim's "A Little Night Music"...
[13] This one's from "Blazing Saddles". Don't look at me like that... It all works well in my head...
[14] You know, it's only when I type this stuff up that I realize how godawful it is... >_<
[15] I've been simply *dying* to use that line. ^_~
[16] They never explained even the least little bit of how this worked in the show, so you're just gonna have to forgive me if this seems vague and/or insipid...
[17] AU remember? People in RL aren't genetically modified, even if is *is* an Automan RL.

[part 5] [part 7] [back to Dacia's fic]