Title: Tainted Conviction - Part Eight

Author: Sita Seraph

Genre: Angst, Religious relatings

Pairing: 1x2 eventually.

Rated: R

Warning: Gruesome treatment, stigmata, sixth sense, and a whole lot of shit.

 

 

It hadn’t taken long for the ex-Gundam pilots to move out of the house.  It seemed that all of them, nay one, found bad memories and a creepy chill in the air that made the house loose all its color.  Quatre seemed to be in the worst shape after discovering the bodies.  His hands kept trembling hours after and he mostly hung out in the kitchen with a mug of hot coffee in his hand.  Heero had watched his friend from afar as Quatre kept rubbing his forehead with trembling fingers, like he had a horrible headache that refused to depart.  The whole group had stayed up that long night, except Duo, who slept on the couch, curled up, and an innocent expression on his face.  Wufei, Trowa, and Heero stayed up with their confusing companion, watching him sleep like nothing had happened and his dreams were filled with pleasant thoughts.  Wufei had barely moved from the seat he had taken residence to, his knuckles glued to his lips, and staring off out the window that gave vision to the creeping sunlight in the horizon.  Trowa’s eyes were fixed upon Duo’s flickering closed eyelids, watching the deep breathing pilot with the most intense, green eyes.  And Heero plopped himself onto the floor, nestling in the carpet as he tried to close his eyes for at least one minute.  But behind the dark eyelids, he saw nothing but those dummy eyes of the corpses, lifeless and innocent.  They had scarred him and he didn’t know why.  The war had brought more death and insanity then this night could ever bring but the heavy stench of fatality closed in on them so hard that it was like they were locked in separate boxes and oxygen was slowly being sucked away.  Maybe it was the fact that none of them had ever faced innocent death.  The kind of death that had no cause, no reason behind it.  In the war, they had a reason for killing mass hundreds.  They didn’t feel pity for the soldiers that they killed.  They didn’t revolt back in sickness when they saw their rival bleeding and sunken eyes staring at the ceiling.  But it had been a single night that reminded them of the other innocents in a war of power and hate.  A night that opened their eyes when Shinigami’s hand raised and slapped their faces.  Hard.  No, it came to a silent agreement that they had to leave the house that twisted their guts with disgust.  They had to depart from the house that showed them a whole new terror.

So, after calling the Preventers about mysteriously finding three corpses in their house, the pilots had packed up in quick haste and drove far away from the once peaceful home.  It hadn’t taken long to find a suitable home for five men and close to their office.  The only downfall it seemed was that it was a neighborhood instead of some home in the wild country.

Duo sat silently in the backseat beside Quatre.  He was staring out the window, watching houses and people go by in the busy neighborhood.  He had been the only one who didn’t want to leave the house.  It was nice there.  He liked it.  He didn’t feel the death that suffocated the other four pilots.  He didn’t smell the terror in the air that now weaved itself into their skin.  He felt nothing but a sense of comfort there.  That is, once he beat away all the demons of the house…but now he had no idea where he was going.  Quatre neglected to tell him.  He almost hoped for an apartment…there were no ghosts in hotels, right?

Heero kept looking back through the mirror at Duo, finding the odd silence in the car increasingly uncomfortable.  It seemed that Duo was completely back to normal after getting a good night’s rest.  The happy pilot had appeared early that morning, a smile on his face, and a wave in greeting.  But when he had learned that they were moving, a frown emerged so long that lines had appeared in the corners of his mouth.  Duo was not happy with the vote to move; he wanted to stay.  But why?  Why would he want to stay with a place that just reminded the rest of them of pain?  Especially when they never felt any of the real damage?  It just didn’t make sense…But then again, Duo never did.  Heero returned his eyes to the road.  And they still hadn’t received any of the answers they were dying to hear…

“Duo, how are your wrists?” Quatre asked.

“Fine,” came the meek reply.

“Are you angry with us?”

“No.”

“Then why-?”

“I don’t feel like talking, Q.”

Heero clenched his jaw for a split moment.  Didn’t feel like talking, his ass.  They wanted the answers.  He felt like he was on a wild roller coaster ride and nobody was at the control panels.  He kept going through the loops and sharp turns that made his body ache from twisting so fast.  They were just picking up pace and Heero kept losing sight of the problem.  His mind was in a whirlwind; his eyes kept dilating as the world spun around him.  And the lack of controls that Heero was so fond of holding was driving the pilot mildly insane.  It was like Duo held all Heero’s questions and answers in the pit of his hand and kept running away when Heero proceeded forward with the tiniest step.  He would run towards the darkness and disappear and when Heero pursued, the darkness would suddenly lash out with a life of its own and cause destruction to the small world the ex-Gundam pilots had made themselves in.  Anger began boiling up from the pit of his stomach.  Why wouldn’t Duo let him help?  Why wouldn’t he answer him, instead tilting his head to the side with dismissal?  God Damnit, it was NOT fair.  They deserved an answer.  Heero deserved one.

“Too bad,” Heero barked out.  His eyes snapped to the mirror and he saw that Duo was now watching him, the passing scenery no longer an interest to him.  Confused lilac pools stared at him, at the mirror where his image was reflected.  Do I have your attention now, Duo? Heero thought.  Then don’t turn away from me this time.  “Who did that to your wrists?"

In one second, Duo’s face grew considerably paler and the purple eyes flicked back outside the window.  No answer breathed out of Duo’s lips and the silence reigned upon the Gundam pilots again.  Quatre shifted nervously, Duo’s body growing tense against his arm.  Please don’t push him, Heero…Quatre thought.

“Answer me,” Heero ordered, his nasal tone voice cutting through the silence like a blade.

“…No one,” came Duo’s weak answer and Quatre watched as his body slumped heavily against the seat, head slowly lowering.

“Did you do it then?” Heero’s voice was so incredibly cold…

“No…” Duo’s answer came again.  Heero’s mouth opened again, his eyes burning with controlled anger.

“Look!” Quatre screamed suddenly deliberately taking the subject off course.  With a trembling finger, the waves of intense emotions crashing around them in the tiny jeep, he pointed out the window.  “There’s our new house, Duo!”

Duo, obviously thankful for the distraction, looked up and his body relaxed like a rubber band being released.  He watched the two-story light blue house get closer and closer, momentarily forgetting Heero and his quarrel.  But the perfect pilot didn’t.  He, instead, glared even daggers at Quatre through the mirror, a firm frown pulling down his lip.  But he said nothing more, pulling the dirty red jeep into the driveway and came to a stop.  At the cue of the engine turning off, all the pilots piled out of the car and stared up at their new home.

“This seems like a nicer place,” Wufei commented quietly.  Everyone else seemed to agree and they eagerly moved forward to check out their new house, leaving their clothes in the car to collect later.  But it only took a second for them all to realize that they were one pilot short and together they looked back to see Duo still by his car door.  Again, it took only another second to see that Duo was not all right.  Upon closer inspection, they noticed that Duo’s fists were closed tight and turning pale to white.  A trickle of blood dripped down his left knuckle, his fresh bandages that was white a moment ago now a deep nearly black crimson.  Duo stared, transfixed, at the house before them.  The light had faded from his endless lilac pools and replaced with wide, ghostly eyes that quivered in paralyzed fear.

Trowa followed Duo’s gaze, looking up at the second floor and seeing absolutely nothing but a few windows with long curtains peeking out from the side.  When he looked back, Duo was shaking his head and clawing at the car door handle while he stared endlessly at the window of the second floor.

“No, no, I don’t wanna live here,” Duo said repeatedly, his hand trembling so hard that he couldn’t get his fingers to close in on the handle.  He was blinking rapidly, as if trying to break the hold that held his gaze, but could not.

“Duo,” Quatre said, alarmed.  “What's wrong?  Duo?”

“No, no, I don’t wanna live here…” Duo kept repeating and finally the car door was opened.  Duo was crawling back into the car when Heero ran over and grabbed his arm and pulled him roughly back outside.  And then Duo did something no one would have expected…

He started screaming bloody murder and lashed out with all his strength at Heero.

“NO, NO!” Duo screamed with all his might.  “DON’T MAKE ME LIVE HERE!!!”

“Maxwell, stop!” Wufei screamed and started forward to catch Duo.  Heero was grunting as he struggled to hold onto the screaming, writhing, and clawing Duo Maxwell. The Shinigami maniac fighting Heero like a madman.  Cuts had appeared on the perfectionist’s arms as Duo clawed him with his nails.  Heero stumbled as the ex-pilot kicked him repeatedly in the legs.  He would just not hold still!  Suddenly, Wufei was there and clasped onto the screaming Duo.  And soon, that’s all he was able to do but beg as his energy ran out and his blood ran freely from the damp bandages on his wrists.

“Don’t…” Duo whimpered.  His eyes were closed firmly.  “You don’t understand…”

“Hurry, get him into the house,” Quatre ordered.  “We have to change those things.”

Wufei and Heero moved together and carried the whimpering Duo into the house.  The door creaked as it opened and Duo made a faint gurgle in his throat as he passed into the closed room of the entrance hall.  It was a sound of defeat.

 

*****

 

Heero brushed his hand against the knob.

Cold, so cold.

“Duo!? DUO!!!”

He couldn’t open it.

“DUO!!!”

Screaming, screaming, endless screaming.

“You fucker!!! Whose in there?!  Stop it!!!!”

A creeping white flame licking at Heero’s feet.

“Duo!!!! DUO!!!!”

It was so damn cold…

Click.  The door unlocked.

 

*****

 

Heero awoke with a start; eyes snapping open from his nightmare.  His blanket had been tossed away from him in his dream and he shivered violently.  The temperature had dropped considerably in his room over the night and hastily, he brought the white sheets back up around his nearly nude body.  Sighing, he rubbed his forehead.

Weird dream.  He could barely recall it now…But…

Heero sighed again and turned away from the wall to his other side, curling up into a ball to keep warm.  It took him a moment to realize until he noticed someone was standing in his doorway.

Heero jerked up, hand crawling under his pillow to get his gun before he realized that he hadn’t unpacked it yet and cursed.  The dark form shifted uneasily for a moment before it stepped into the room.  The shadows seemed to have melted off of it as the light of the moon immediately caught the flowing locks and lit the silky strands like a match to its flame.  Duo stood barefoot, nude besides the low-rider boxers, and absolutely helpless looking in Heero’s new bedroom.  The moon kissed the Shinigami pilot with silvery lips as his whole body seemed to glow in the eerie of the night.

Heero blinked frantically for two minutes.

Duo coughed, he seemed timid and scared as he stared at the floor below him.  “H-Heero…Can I…Can I sleep with you tonight…?”

Heero’s shock took over again and he stared at the pilot with a blank face.  Duo glanced up then looked away quickly and turned away, strands of brown flying behind him.  Before he could take a rapid retreat from the room though, Heero called him back.

“Get in, baka,” Heero ordered.  Duo looked over his shoulder to see that Heero had pulled back the blankets to let in his comrade and he smiled, a real, genuine happy smile.  Immediately, Duo rushed over and leapt in under the covers as Heero settled back into the bed.

“Heero…?”

“Hmm…?”

“Can I get closer?”

Heero looked over slowly and nodded mutely.  Duo smiled yet again, full and bright, and scooted closer.  Or, let’s say, a lot closer that their bare skin touched and rubbed together.  Heero held back the urge to bite his bottom lip and his eyes slipped close.  Duo Maxwell was in his bed and CUDDLING with him.  Dear God, he hoped Duo believed he had his gun in bed or else Heero wouldn’t be able to explain what was poking him throughout the night.  Just the thought that Duo’s bare, strong and warm flesh was rubbing up - Wait a second.

“Duo…?

“Uh huh?”

“Why are you so cold…?”

Duo was silent for a long time, staring at the ceiling with glazed, false eyes.  Then slowly, he looked over at Heero, his face a mask of abandon.

“I was…standing out there a long time…” Duo answered quietly.  Heero blinked at Duo before, without any thought, wrapped an arm around Duo’s shoulders and pulled him closer.  Freezing skin touched his warm body and Heero shivered momentarily.

“Obviously,” Heero said.  Duo sighed and rolled to his side, facing Heero, and curled up to the warm blanket aka Heero Yuy with an arm laying itself on his stomach and chest.  Duo’s face became buried in Heero’s skin, cold nose burning into the hot flesh.  So, perhaps, it wasn’t one of Heero’s best moments being a heater but at least he was able to touch Duo…

Heero’s hold suddenly tightened as he noticed that Duo was beginning to shiver violently from time to time.  It wasn’t the normal shiver though…No, Heero knew this shiver.  It was like Quatre’s hands that kept shuddering, fear lancing and tensing his quivering digits.  It was the tremor your body would get as you contained the tears that fought to break your eyes and spill free.  It was the tremble in the voice when you saw something so horrible, so mind and body numbing, that your voice wouldn’t quite corporate with you.  Heero knew these feelings all too well.  He remembered how hard his fingers would shake as he wrapped those dressings around Duo’s wrist for the first time.  He remembered how hard his body quivered against the cabinets, curled up into a tight ball, with the steam choking his voice and licking at the tears that ran down his face after he had found Duo.  And how hard it was to maintain control again in front of his fellow pilots, to stop his shaking, when all he wanted to do was be alone and…die.

“Duo…?”

No answer.

“Duo…?”

He didn’t reply.

“Duo…”

A violent shudder and still no answer.

“Duo…Why…Why wont you tell me what's wrong…?”

And yet again, Duo didn’t answer him.  Heero’s fingers dug into the blanket and he closed his eyes so tight that he saw stars behind them.  But it didn’t keep back the salt water that slammed against his shields and slowly leaked free.

 

TBC…