The blond boy did not look at him, only murmured, "Something is coming...Something not right..."
Duo gave a blank stare, confused by the distant tone of his friend's voice. This was something all right -- very strange. After a moment's pause the braided boy went back to his work; Quatre relaxed only slightly, a pensive expression taking up residence on his visage. A few moments later Duo slipped down to the cockpit, settling into the seat with a large metallic box on his lap. He opened one panel and began tweaking various wires and switches, occasionally referring to data displayed on Deathscythe's right-hand screen. This kept him busy for a good half hour until he found himself yawning. "Just...one more switch..." He twisted a wire into place then closed the panel and raised the box high in triumph. "There! Finished!" He stepped out onto the platform and waved the box above his head. "One mini-hyper jammer, ready to confuse enemy radar trying to track stolen carriers!" He chuckled, grinning toward the computer below.
The grin disappeared when he realized Quatre wasn't paying any attention to him, instead typing away at something on the terminal. Well, at least he isn't staring into space anymore...Duo made his way to the ground, careful not to drop the box. He stepped up behind Quatre just as the computer beeped in acknowledgement to a command and a news report appeared on the screen with an anchor mentioning a number of guerilla attacks that had occured in eastern China recently.
"Well, at least there are others still fighting," Duo commented with a grim smile.
Quatre, leaning his head on his hands, mumbled, "I wonder if Wufei was involved in any of those..."
"Heh, they wouldn't skip mention of a gundam, I'm sure, but I'm also sure that guy can handle a fight without a mobile suit." The report moved on to some political dribble that didn't interest Duo in the slightest. He shifted the box from hand to hand, then yawned. "Time for me to hit the hay!" He went to put the box beside Deathscythe's left foot then headed for the stairs. He looked back at Quatre, who was still watching the monitor. "You comin'?"
Quatre glanced at him, then turned his gaze to Sandrock. There were several more repairs needing to be done...but he was too weary to bother. "I'll be along in a minute." He turned back to the computer and closed the news channel just as an announcement came on about a harmless meteor that had entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean area.
He shut off the computer, dimmed the lights, and then dragged himself up the stairs after Duo, figuring the braided pilot was probably asleep by now. He shuffled down the hallway past the bedrooms, deciding to get a cup of tea instead of trying to sleep. His dreams had been too confused in the last few days, remnants, he was sure, from the incident after Heero had self-destructed. The thought gave him a frightened chill and he found himself draping a blanket around his shoulders before sitting down with teacup clasped in one hand. He leaned back in the plush armchair, content with the solitude of his own room. He was glad Duo was around for moral support, but sometimes he talked a bit too much -- Quatre couldn't always follow the constant stream of chattering as much as he tried, so now quiet was welcome.
He could understand Duo's actions, though; the braided pilot was apparently worried about Heero, having seemed to be good friends with him. Quatre had to admit that he too wondered what Heero's ultimate fate was, also hoping Trowa was all right in all this...What a complete failure all their missions had been...
He was distracted from his morbid thoughts when the lights suddenly flickered violently then nearly went out and just as quickly went back to normal. He set down his cup on the table beside the chair then hurried to the door, wondering if Duo had gone back to work on the gundams and had done something to the power. He opened the door only to pull back in the same instant as he came face to face with the other boy, who had his fist raised to knock on the door.
Duo blinked then blurted out, "So you noticed -- but what was that?"
"The generator never fails, so I'm not even sure it was a power surge...Maybe it was nothing to worry about." He was too startled to try to make sense.
"Hmm..." Duo shrugged. "All right, well, here's to it being nothing. G'night." He whirled back in the direction of his room.
"Good night." Quatre frowned in confusion, closing the door as he turned to look thoughtfully out the window. Strange... He went back to the chair, sat down, considered the tea, grimacing at it and deciding he didn't want it anymore but too listless to bring the cup and saucer to the kitchen. Instead he prepared for bed and had completely forgotten about the flickering lights by the time his head reached the pillow.
* * * * *
Quatre woke up late the next morning, having been troubled by a fitful sleep most of the night and only finding rest just before dawn. The morning was waning when he finally roused himself to get dressed and have some breakfast -- or rather, lunch. A feeling niggled at the back of his mind, as if he was forgetting something; maybe another dream he couldn't remember. Whatever it was, it began to really bother him when a feeling like fear tickled the hair at the back of his neck. He froze midway to the sink, breakfast dish in hand, and strained to hear any sound that might have made him so paranoid. A bird chirped in the garden and that was all.
He started toward the sink again but immediately went rigid. Something pressed on the point between his shoulder blades...and then stabbed right through him. He cried out and jerked forward to try to escape it. The dish fell and shattered across the floor. The sound woke him like an alarm -- the pain disappeared and a quick examination revealed no object near his back nor a slit in his clothes. Not to mention that there wasn't another soul to be found in the room. He had imagined it all...well, except for the broken dish. He knelt and carefully gathered up the pieces, wondering where that particular waking nightmare had come from. He was glad Duo hadn't seen that. He already knew the braided boy was leery of him after the incident yesterday.
Quatre paused, hovering over the trash bin with the dish's remains about to fall in. Was what he had just experienced related to his prediction from the day before? Most likely. He hurriedly cleaned up the last of the ceramic fragments then went to find Duo to make sure he was all right.
Looking for Duo was one thing, finding him was another matter. A search through the bedrooms and then the entire floor revealed no trace of the other boy. Finally Quatre made his way down to the hangar, and of course was not surprised (rather, felt somewhat thoughtless) to see Duo perched on Sandrock's forearm adjusting cables in the hand. "Duo!" he called from the stairs, "You don't have to trouble yourself, I can handle that myself..." He headed for the computer.
"Hey, no problem!" Duo waved his protests away. "I wanted to keep busy -- already installed the hyper jammer on the carrier, and I needed something to do. Besides, I figured you needed more rest." More words hung silently in the air, 'after that weird bit yesterday'.
"Thank you," Quatre replied numbly. He sank down in front of the monitor and brought up the repair log for Sandrock. About ninety-five percent output. Duo certainly was efficient; Quatre knew he wouldn't be able to get that much done in so little time on his own, but he could manage the remaining five percent.
Duo closed the panel for the section he had been working on then climbed over to the cockpit. Before he slipped inside, he called, "You don't mind, do you?"
"No," Quatre answered absently, mumbling through the hand he rested his head on. He only gazed at the screen, studying the power and fuel levels, watching them fluctuate as Duo tested the arm and then the various other parts he had repaired. The levels went steady again as Duo settled the gundam back the way it had been.
The braided boy casually leapt to the ground. "There we go! All ready to go back to the carrier until further notice!" He was grinning cheerfully but dropped the expression when he saw nothing other than sadness draped over Quatre's face. "Hey, c'mon now," Duo said more soberly. "Don't worry, we'll be able to fight again soon." He tried to give a reassuring smile, except that he wasn't quite convinced, himself. "Well!" he exclaimed loudly to chase away the uncomfortable silence. "I think I'll take these guys out to the plane. Do you mind if I..?"
"Actually, I would appreciate it...I'm too tired to bother..." Quatre frowned sadly at Sandrock, then slumped in his seat and folded his arms over the monitor panel, resting his head on them.
"Okay, buddy. You just get some rest, then." Duo smiled to himself and scurried over to Sandrock. Quatre closed his eyes and listened to the tromping sounds as Duo left the hangar. A tiny thought poked at his mind, wondering why he felt it was so safe to let someone else pilot his gundam. Because he trusted me by leaving his for second. Quatre opened one eye to regard Deathscythe. Eh, he wouldn't trade Sandrock for that morbid figure of a machine. He closed the eye again and sighed, ready to doze off. He almost succeeded. Something twitched across his face. The hair on the back of his neck rose. He sat up, looking around warily. No one was there.
It was actually a few minutes later when Duo returned, huffing for breath. "That hike uphill is sure a pain without a mobile suit!" The braided boy took one look at Quatre's confused face and decided not to tarry. He made a beeline for Deathscythe and went on his way.
Quatre frowned at himself. He'll take off on his own if this keeps up. I wish things would just happen instead of hitting me with strange feelings. He tried to focus on reality, logging into the computer to check for missions or anything to indicate a direction to go. He was given a rude awakening when the terminal beeped and he opened the channel just in time to hear Duo swear violently. "Duo?! What--!"
"Um, I don't really believe in ghosts, but -- aww, man, just look for yourself!" An image came up on the screen, transmitted directly from Deathscythe's main camera; a dark green and ice blue mobile suit of familiar design was landing not too far away.
"L-LunaAria?!" Quatre stammered. It couldn't be...He had seen it be destroyed...and had seen the fate of its pilot. The replica on the screen sported a menacing-looking buster shield that was edged with spikes along the front point. Its pilot immediately drew a beam cutless. The beam scythe came into view in answer.
"You stay right there, Quatre! I'll take care of this!" And then Deathscythe was charging at the LunaAria-clone.
Quatre watched helplessly as the two traded slashes. He noticed Duo was at a disadvantage, being caught off guard by the sight of a former ally's machine. Quatre looked around desperately. He truly was helpless without Sandrock, yet there must be something he could do...He wasn't about to abandon another friend.
Outside, Duo was trying to conquer his fear and still keep up the fight. The other pilot was good. But still...there were too many openings where he scored a hit for his opponent to truly know what he was doing. Then something unexpected happened. The other suit plowed into Deathscythe, knocking it off balance. While Duo attempted to steady himself, the newcomer drove the spiked end of his shield into the ground. When nothing happened, Duo snickered. "Well, that was useful."
He didn't notice until too late that a line of ridges was radiating across the ground toward him from the point where the shield touched. Deathscythe began to shake and a high-pitched screech filled the air. Duo screamed as it deafened him. He was helpless to stop his gundam from toppling. When he regained hold of his senses again he saw a tilted image of the LuneAria-clone standing over him with the cutlass raised, ready to behead Deathscythe. Duo's hand groped for the button to fire the vulcan guns as all he could do was stare at the screen.
A rain of fire from a beam rifle threw the enemy off balance. Duo used the moment to get Deathscythe back on its feet. He turned to see where the help had come from. Stubbornly approaching was a beige suit that reminded him of the Maganac suits -- possibly a downgraded version of one. It held a beam rifle in each hand, braced against the shoulders to ease the recoil as it continued to fire at the newcomer. Duo punched a button on the forepanel. "Quatre!! Are you insane?! You'll be toast in that thing!"
There was no answer. The rifles just kept firing, not giving LunaAria a chance to recover. He'll be out of bullets soon. Duo roused himself and guided Deathscythe around to the other side of the enemy, grimly accepting stray beam fire. He lashed out with his scythe, knocking the cutlass from LunaAria's hand. The other suit went rigid, lowering its arms to its sides. Quatre stopped firing but held the rifles at the ready. Duo hit another switch. "Okay, pal! Just who the Hell are you and why are you attacking us?! The gundams are supposed to be used against OZ, and we're damned well not OZ!"
There was a long pause. Duo began to raise the scythe to threaten an answer out of the pilot, but then a young boy's voice came over the comm. "I am Dimitri Reaves of Shockwave. I am not here to fight OZ."
Duo narrowed his eyes. "What--?!"
"I am here to find Quatre Raberba Winner...and make him pay for killing my sister."
Duo heard a gasp from Quatre's side of the comm. Then the boy's voice spoke again, calmly polite. "Which one of you is he?"
"Yeah, right," Duo muttered, then screeched, "I am!!" He launched Deathscythe at Shockwave and grappled with the other suit, trying to fire the vulcan guns into the camera. He came close, blasting away a piece of the crown but not getting the desired effect. Shockwave broke free, its verniers carrying it up to hover over him. Sparks showered down from its right arm. The pilot growled incoherently then suddenly Shockwave was racing away from them, disappearing into the beginnings of a sandstorm.
Duo sputtered in disbelief. Just like that? Unreal. Well, at least things wouldn't be boring for a while. He turned toward the Maganac suit. The cockpit door was open...Duo hastily lowered Deathscythe to one knee so he could get out with a short jump to the ground. Quatre was slumped over in the dirt below the suit. Duo hurried over. "You all right?"
Quatre didn't answer. He was trembling, gripping his shoulders, his wide stare on something beyond the ground. Duo struggled to find a comforting word -- anything -- to say. What he finally thought of caused him to blurt out, "How good are you at computer hacking?"
* * * * *
Duo checked the plane's fuel gage one last time, tapping on it for good measure, then went about pressing various buttons to start the engines. When he finished he looked over at Quatre, who was huddled against the co-pilot seat. The blond boy avoided the glance yet mumbled, "I still don't think this is a good idea..."
"Look, if that database had info on all of us, it probably has stuff about Dimitri -- since it's obvious Shockwave was built soon after Alexa left her colony. And she never knew about it because she never accessed the database."
"I understand that. It's just..." Quatre hesitated, staring at the floor.
"Just remember, he's after your life, buddy," Duo warned.
"I...I know..." Quatre closed his eyes in a pained expression. As if the guilt he already felt wasn't enough, someone had to come along who forced the blame on him.
"Then let's go see if we can find an advantage while he's busy with a damaged suit." Duo smirked and piloted the carrier out into the open for a clumsy takeoff.
Quatre nodded silently. There seemed to be no end to their misfortune. OZ had them cornered and now they were apparently fair game to be anyone's victim. He hoped the others were faring better -- he seemed to attract enough bad luck for all of them. As he looked out at the wisps of clouds lining the falling darkness, he decided only his brand of luck would put him in a situation that forced him to return to Alexa's Siberian base.
Chapter Two: Snow: Echoes of a Song
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(c) 2000-2004 Autumn Loweck. This work may not be copied, distributed, or reprinted without the author's permission. Characters of Dimitri and mech Shockwave are property of Autumn Loweck (aka Shiri) and may not be "borrowed" or mentioned in other works without notifying the author first. Characters of Quatre R. Winner, Duo Maxwell, the Maguenacs, and OZ belong to the creators of the GundamWing series, Sotsu Agency, Sunrise, Bandai, and whoever else in Japan involved in this most cool anime.
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