Sweat drips into his eyes, and he wipes at it absently from his brow. Why does it always seem to be so hot in these dreams? What is the significance of that? Or is there one? Is it just hot where the dreams of doom are taking place?
Usagi looks angry but determined. In fact, she looks mad enough to cause some serious damage, and he would not like to be on her bad side. Not right now. It doesn't look like something a person would be walking away from. Blue eyes flash furiously, but at least it's easy to tell, when she turns to him, her ire is not also directed his way. Tears still cling to the edges of her eyes, but somehow it doesn't make her seem sad, only more livid.
"When you dreamed about this, Heero," she asks, though her tone actually makes him want to stand at attention, "what did you see? Was there anything we can use to get Duo back?"
He shakes his head sadly. "I didn't see who took him. I never saw what happened." He can somehow tell that the other him, the one speaking with Usagi, wants to add that he tried. He tried to see what was going to happen, but that particular vision stayed stubbornly away. Admitting something like that would be hard, maybe too hard, though, so both version of him keep their mouths shut on the matter. It feels too much like failure.
A warm hand touches his face, stroking lightly down his cheek until he meets her eyes. "You tried, Heero. That's what matters. We'll just have to figure it out on our own."
"We will find him," he hears himself say. Yet again, he has to wonder if he's trying to convince himself or Usagi of his fact.
She nods in easy agreement, still gently tracing her fingers against his cheeks. It's amazing how clearly he can feel that sensation even against the skin of the dream version of him. "We will," she agrees, "and whoever took him will regret it. We'll make sure of it."
"Duo is probably already making them regret it." It could have come out as a bad attempt at a joke, but he means it completely seriously. Duo was trained as a Gundam pilot the same as he was, and before that, Heero gathered that he lived first on the streets then an orphanage; he probably knew even more ways to get away anyone that was trying to hold him than anyone else in the World Sphere.
Grabbing Duo is a decision he isn't too sure he can wrap his mind around. He is fairly sure it had something to do with these new abilities they had mysteriously gained, but why Duo? If they wanted a power, Usagi's or even his would be more useful in the long run. The ability to grant wishes or to see the future would be of more use than Duo's telekinesis. So why did they take Duo? Why not grab him?
It should have been him.
"Heero..." Usagi's voice is stern, and he can't help but glance up guiltily at her. "Don't blame yourself. It's no one's fault but the bastards who took Duo. And we're going to make them pay for it. Remember that, Heero. It's the bastards' fault."
He should be shocked to hear Usagi swear. But it's very much like how he was surprised that she was capable of such fierceness: if anyone could inspire such a thing, it would be Duo. He has no doubts about that. Just look at the levels Duo inspired him to reach...
"I'll keep that in mind," he promises. It's not like promising to not blame himself. That's not a promise he would be able to keep right now.
No matter what is said, no matter what he tries to convince himself of, it still feels like this is all his fault. After all, he's the one that dreamed this for days and weeks before it happened, and yet he still was unable to prevent it from happening. There were so many steps he could have taken to stop this from happening well before it ever did. As far as he's concerned, if nothing else, that made this his fault. He will not be making any promises on that.
"That's all I ask," she whispers. She leans forward, pressing a lingering kiss to his lips. It's completely chaste, though there is a faint taste of her desperation to it; she can probably taste his own, he thinks faintly, even as he wraps his arms around her.
It doesn't feel right, he thinks faintly. It doesn't feel quite right without Duo here. The woman in his arms feels the same as she always does, and he feels the same as he always does when he kisses her... but it doesn't feel right--no, not 'not right', but too different--without their third. It's too different to think of even so much as deepening the kiss without Duo here, no matter how much they both might need this for comfort. They... They...
"We need Duo," Usagi whispers against his lips. "We need Duo to complete us."
Trust Usagi to say exactly what he isn't able to get out. With a sigh, he drops his head on her shoulder. Almost immediately, her arms wrap tightly around him, holding him as close to her body as possible with a strength that belies her small frame. He imagines that he's holding her just as tightly. He should be making an effort to ease his hold, given his own amazing strength, but he can't, probably for much the same reason as Usagi hasn't let go of him.
"I miss Duo," Usagi whispers into his hair. Her voice shakes slightly, but tears don't seem likely to be coming again. "I want him back here with us right now."
It takes him a moment to recover himself enough to whisper in reply, "I... We'll get him back."
And there will be no helping the people who took Duo from them. He would kill them if he can get his hands on them; he would not hold himself responsible for what he would do. And who knew what Usagi would do? Given what they figured out about what all she can do, it could go so many ways...
"Heero-kun?"
Usagi's voice was warm and right beside him and not upset in the least, so obviously it wasn't part of the dream. It was not an easy transition for once between the dream and wakefulness, and he found it vaguely difficult to be bothered by that. He wasn't too sure why, except that perhaps it had to do with how he had grown rather used to starting awake and he didn't always do great with changes to his routine.
At least they were on the move again. That helped a bit. It was a different motel than they had been in this morning. Duo had stated flat out that they were only staying here one night; they had made abysmal time on the road, given the continuing construction. They needed a bit more distance to be covered before Heero was going to feel comfortable staying put for any length of time.
Usagi had seemed faintly confused when Duo made his pronouncement, but she hadn't argued, for which he was grateful. It was one of many things they would need to explain to her eventually, but it was not something he was ready to tackle just yet. Once they had enough mileage covered and the feeling of doom abated a bit, then yes, he would be willing to have that conversation, but for now, he would continue to push his silence as far as she would allow it.
He was vaguely confused about why Usagi was right here, but in a moment or so, he recalled that Duo had only reserved one room at this particular motel without a word of explanation. The king-sized bed was a comfortable fit for the three of them, at least enough for him to have quickly fallen asleep. And then apparently he had started dreaming, and that was where the trouble lay.
Usagi was lying down next to him, a hand lightly touching his shoulder. That must have been what woke him up, even more than her voice. He didn't think he would ever shake being a light sleeper, except for these damned dreams. When one of them had him in its grasp, it was very hard for him to wake up, without some kind of outside influence or until the dream was done with him.
Beyond Usagi, Duo was leaning on one elbow and watching him cautiously. Unlike Usagi, he hadn't reached out to touch Heero, at least not yet. Then again, Duo understood better than almost anyone he knew what nightmares could be like. He had lived through the wars, fought by Heero's side in them; he knew about nightmares. Usagi? He didn't know there. Even if she did know, something told him she wasn't the kind to shy away from them; she legitimately wanted to help people quit hurting however she could.
How did he know that?
"Heero-kun?" Her voice shook just slightly as she spoke. It wasn't like the dream. She wasn't about to cry, and for that, he was thankful. Maybe it was just that she was worried? "Are you all right, Heero-kun?"
He nodded his response, not quite yet willing to try his voice out yet.
"Bad dream?" Duo asked in turn. There was concern in his voice as well, but it was buried under layers of careful nonchalance.
"Yeah" was all he offered in answer. Instead he pushed up out of bed, doing his best to ignore the sweat dripping off of him and made a fast track for the restroom. It might have been a bit late at night to shower, but he could at least toss some cold water on his face and see if that helped.
Not that it did. He could still feel the heat of the dream like he was standing in that place right now. He could still feel the guilt gnawing at him, like he had already lost, when instead it hadn't happened yet. It might yet still happen; someone still might try to take Duo from him... from them.
There had to be something he could to prevent that from happening. There had to be. Maybe if he could just do what the Heero in his dreams could not... Maybe if he could just manage to dream who took--takes, will take--Duo, then he could stop it from ever happening in the first place.
He had no ideas on how to force the dreams, though, at least not yet, so he didn't know how to make himself find out what he needed to know. Well, he would just have to figure out. He had to find a way to save Duo.
Someone tapped lightly on the bathroom door, and a bare moment later, Duo opened it, leaning in the doorframe. If he looked past the American, he could see Usagi sitting dead center in the middle of the bed, watching the two of them carefully. He had to actually wonder if she was already starting to regret casting in her lot with the likes of him.
"I'm not going to ask if you're all right," Duo commented almost idly, his voice pitched low, "because you obviously aren't. Just tell me if it was an actual nightmare or one of those dreams."
For a split second, a ready lie leapt to his lips. It would have been very easy to say it was just a nightmare, easily forgotten and moved on from. He didn't feel right lying to Duo, though, even if it meant they were going to have to tell Usagi the truth about why they had sought her out, about why Relena had sent the Japanese blonde on with them. He wasn't sure it was a conversation he was ready to have just yet, but at the same time, he didn't want to lie to Duo--to either of them.
"Dream," he answered at last. It felt like the confession was physically dragged out of him, but nonetheless, he had managed to confess somehow.
"Is it something we need to be preparing for?"
And that was really the question, wasn't it? If he told them what the doom in his dream really was, that Duo was going to be taken, could it change what was coming? Would Duo still be taken? Or on the other hand, could it make things worse? Instead of kidnapping Duo, would these nameless and faceless enemies kill him instead? He didn't know. There were just too many variables to consider--and it seemed as though the Heero in his dreams had considered them all and yet still decided not to tell Duo anything ahead of time.
"I don't have a time or a sense of place or anything on it. It's just this... feeling of doom that's quickly approaching," he replied. It was prevaricating, but it was an answer. More than that, it was the truth: he had no idea what the sense of doom was, other than that Duo would not be with them when it struck.
Duo opened his mouth to speak, but it was Usagi's voice that cut through his thoughts. "But it is something that will happen?" She sounded amazingly steady. Actually, truth be told, she sounded completely unsurprised. She hadn't known about what it was Heero could do. Had she known someone else who could do something similar?
"Yeah, it's definitely going to happen," he returned.
Usagi nodded resolutely. "Then we'll be on alert. Even if you don't know where or when, we'll do our best to be ready."
"We'll do what we can, and hopefully everything will turn out all right." Duo leaned over to bump his shoulder lightly against Heero's, offering him an encouraging smile. "We've been up against long odds before, right?"
A comfortable silence reigned in the room for several long moments, while each of them was lost in their own thoughts. For his own part, Heero was just going to be glad that Duo had not pushed for more information on what the dream was about and that Usagi hadn't been too freaked out by this new ability of his.
Still, though, she had been almost unnervingly calm about it. She must have known someone else who could see the future too. It couldn't have been in the time she had been here, in this time, so it must have been from before. Did that mean she was starting to remember something, or was this just a reaction based on something like muscle memory? He wished he had the answers, but they stubbornly refused to come. And if Usagi wasn't pushing him for answers, then he wasn't going to push her for any either.
"So," she finally spoke up, her voice surprisingly free of rancor, "I can sort of guess that there are things going on here that I don't know about. I can live with that. I don't like it, but I can deal with it. Is there anything here that either of you can tell me about, though?"
He and Duo exchanged a glance that asked what the other felt comfortable telling her. It wasn't going to be an easy thing, no matter what they said here.
But if they wanted to keep Usagi here, on their side, and maybe even still happy and affectionate with them, they were going to have to be honest. There could be no lies if they wanted this to go any further. And from what he had seen in his dream, it would go further. More than that, he wanted it to go further.
"I can see the future," he found himself admitting. "Well, at least small glimpses of the future."
Usagi blinked, once, twice, a third time, before nodding. "All right." And there was that easy acceptance again. How was it that she was able to accept with such ease the very thing that was straining the edges of his incredulity?
Duo shrugged. "It's a new thing, but I can move things with my mind." He paused for a split second before continuing. "And we might not have been entirely honest before. We didn't just fight in the wars. We were Gundam pilots during the wars."
Again, she nodded. "Relena-san mentioned a little about the Gundam pilots, though she didn't exactly name any names." Relena wouldn't have needed to, if she thought Usagi was from this time: the identities of at least three of the Gundam pilots were fairly well known throughout the World Sphere. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the first friends she ever introduced me to were Gundam pilots."
It looked as though Duo was about to say something else. He cut over instead. "You're taking all of this awfully well, Usagi-san."
She sighed, staring down at the floor. "I don't know. I don't think I am." She sighed, and it was a loud, heavy sound in the near silence of the room. "I don't recall anything before when Relena-san found me, not really, but I do think sometimes that I remember a few things from before then. I remember having friends who were all delightfully odd, but I don't remember what they looked like or what their names were. I remember fighting, but I don't remember why or against whom."
"That's more than Relena said you remembered," Duo commented mildly, sitting down next to her on the edge of the bed and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to him.
"I didn't start remembering even this much until a few nights ago, the night you both arrive, the night of the big storm," she admitted in hushed tones. Almost cautiously, she let herself rest against Duo's side. "And maybe all of this doesn't seem so strange to me because I have vague memories of even stranger things: magic and wings and the world's ending and beginning anew with a wish. After that, nothing seems odd."
02 July 2012
I've been holding this chapter ransom for some more hits or even a review on the previous one. Barring those, I will only post the remaining chapters on my own website.
Hate to be this way, but why bother if there's no interest?
Apollymi