Pussycat, Pussycat! Where Have You Been?
(formerly "untitled GW Angst Fic")
-----part 1-----
"Hey, slow-poke! Try and keep up!" Duo taunted, playfully, as
Deathscythe ran across the training ground with Gundam Wing following
close behind.
"Omae o korosu!" Heero snarled as he pushed his Gundam's speed to its
limits. He calculated Duo's next turn, and ran an intercept course.
"Duo!" he cried out as Deathscythe came straight at him. "Reduce
speed!"
But it was already too late.
Deathscythe and Gundam Wing collided. Both went sprawling to the
ground and rolled over several times before coming to a stop.
Heero pulled his Gundam to its feet, then noticed that Deathscythe
was still lying on its side. He reached for the communicator, then
noticed two things in rapid succession.
The first of these was that Deathscythe's cockpit was wide open.
The second was Duo's braid sticking out from beneath the fallen and
immobile Gundam.
-----part 2-----
Heero manipulated Gundam Wing, carefully lifting Deathscythe off of
Duo. Once the other Gundam was safely set to one side, Heero
disembarked from his own and hurried to Duo's side.
"Duo, please... please." he fell to his knees and checked for a
pulse, knowing that there would be none. Tears came to his eyes as he
felt the shattered bones in Duo's arm and noticed the unnatural way
his torso sagged, the once-supportive ribcage shattered in the
accident.. Slowly rising, he went back to Gundam Wing and radioed
the other pilots.
Trowa laughed, delightedly, as he, Wufei, and Quatre watched a
particularly funny video that was part of Quatre's anime collection.
"Quatre, get the communicator." he suggested as he tossed a bit of
popcorn to Wufei, who deftly caught it in his mouth.
"Top that." Wufei challenged, and a contest to see who could catch
the highest thrown piece of popcorn ensued between them while Quatre
went to answer the communicator.
"What's up?" Quatre asked, cheerfully. "Better be quick, cause I
don't want to miss the popcorn contest."
"I..." Heero stammered, on the verge of tears... "Duo.... Quatre,
Duo's... he's... I can't talk about it. Damn it all to Hell!"
Quatre was treated to a view of Heero slamming a fist down onto the
console as the communicator was hung up. He knew. There was no doubt
in his mind as to what had just happened. Returning to the living
room, he switched off the television and the video.
"Hey!" Wufei protested. "What gives?"
"We were watching that." Trowa pointed out.
Wufei was about to grab the remote, when he saw something in Quatre's
eyes. Or rather something not in them. It was as if someone had
reached into his soul and had removed all the joy, hope, and
happiness from them.
"Quatre?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
-----part 3-----
Quatre sank onto the sofa, put his face into his hands. and cried.
"It's not fair." he sobbed. "Allah if this is your idea of a joke,
it's not funny. Not at all." he picked up a picture of the five of
them together that had been taken during a rare vacation they had
enjoyed the previous summer and hurled it against the wall.
"Quatre!" Wufei exclaimed. He pulled Quatre close and rocked him,
gently. "Shhh... shhh." he whispered. "It's all right."
"No," Quatre whispered, "nothing will ever be all right again. There
is nothing but despair now." he clung to Wufei, his body racked with
sobs.
Heero trudged into the room, carrying Duo's shattered body in his
arms.
"Oh no..." Trowa's heart sank as he looked toward the doorway and saw
Heero standing there. He stood up from the couch and let Heero place
the body there.
Heero knelt by Duo's lifeless body, holding his hand and weeping
bitterly.
"Duo..." he lamented. "Duo, please come back. I'm sorry. It was an
accident, Duo. We were just training. You're not supposed to die
during training, baka! Duo! You come back right now!"
"Heero," Wufei put a hand on Heero's shoulder. "do you want to talk
about it?"
Heero shook his head.
"Heero, I know how you feel." Wufei sympathized. "Maybe not exactly,
but don't forget, I lost someone I loved, too. You can talk to me,
Heero."
"Will it make the pain go away?" Heero asked.
"It never goes away completely." Wufei admitted. "But you can bring
it down to a dull ache."
"No." Heero shook his head. "I'm to blame for this. If I hadn't
collided with him... "
"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Wufei asked. "It might make
you feel better."
Wufei listened as Heero told him about the training session and about
how he'd found Duo under Deathscythe after the other Gundam had been
knocked down.
"That shouldn't have happened." Wufei remarked.
"You're right, it shouldn't." Heero agreed, still sobbing, "It wasn't
combat. A soldier's supposed to die in combat, not during training."
"I meant the cockpit door coming open." Wufei replied. "Why did it
come open? It should've remained shut until Deathscythe came to full
stop."
Heero looked up at him. Wufei was right. Had someone sabotaged Duo's Gundam? It was unlikely that someone who knew as much about Gundam
wiring as any of the five pilots would've made a mistake in making
repairs to their Gundams, so that had to be the answer. But who would
murder Duo? Who knew where they were? Who had a motive for killing
someone as wonderful as Duo?
There were a lot of answers for who would want to kill them all, but
for this, Heero could only come up with one.
Heero bent down and gave Duo his first... and last... kiss. Then he
stood up and headed for the door.
"Let him go." Wufei told Trowa. "It'll be easier to make funeral
arrangements if he's not here."
By the time the arrangements were finished, but Trowa and Wufei were
drained physically and emotionally. Quatre had cried himself to
sleep.
The door swung open and Heero staggered in, drunk and laughing.
"Where the hell were you?" Trowa asked.
"Pussycat pussycat, where've you been?" giggled Heero,
"I've been to London to kill the Queen." he collapsed into fist of
hysterical laughter.
"My god," Wufei said, as he looked down at Heero's prone form, then
back up at Trowa, "you don't think he...?"
"I honestly don't know." Trowa replied.
-----Owari-----