The Bond

The Bond

Solo looked out of the hole they used as door. It was dark already and his brother was nowhere to be seen. He didn´t like it. He had never come back so late. Solo just hoped that the AU's didn´t catch his little brother. Duo could be wild sometimes and act before really thinking things through, but he had a big heart and often risked his life for the other children of the street.

Solo sighed and climbed back over the crates to the small corner they had set up as their "apartment" as Duo used to call it. The warehouse was a forgotten place nobody took care of anymore. The roof and the walls were pretty rotted already but it was still dry enough there to hide from the rain that came to kill.

He dropped down on the pallet they used for sleeping and curled up in a small ball. If something happened to his brother... He swallowed and brought the dirty blanket they found somewhere tightly to his body. The phosphor lamp Duo had stolen from the docks was the only source of light that illuminated their home. But there wasn´t much to be seen. One bed big enough for two people, a box they used as a table, and piles and piles of things he considered useless. But Duo just grinned at him every time he complained about them, saying that "maybe we will use them one day". And Solo didn´t have the heart to just throw them away.

There was a scratching sound somewhere in the warehouse. The sound of dozens of small feet tapping on the concrete ground was awfully loud. Every sound seemed awfully loud when you were alone. The rats didn´t scare him, just made him uneasy. Just like the thought about Duo. He wouldn´t get himself caught, right? He was too smart for that, right? He would look for him if he just knew where he went. But in the hunt for food, they often found themselves in the most impossible parts of the city - like the OZ neighborhood, where only the really rich people lived. Solo hoped that Duo didn´t go there. For a street rat to be caught there meant death sentence on site. No trial, no excuses. Street rats just didn´t fit in the high polished and most exclusive part of the city.

Maybe he would go and look for him anyway. Maybe he would have luck... But the rain... It would come tonight. He could feel it in his bones. And to get caught in it and die wouldn´t help his brother in the least.

So Solo sighed and snuggled into the meager covers, knowing that he couldn´t do anything right now. He just hoped that Duo was safe.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"I aint goin' nowhere with you, you brute!"

The statement was met by a glare and arm closing around the boys shoulders in a very possessive manner. This elicited a shriek and another wave of thrashing and cursing.

Quatre sighed and snuggled closer to his Sentinel. This had been going on for quite a while already and he was getting a headache. He sighed again, this time in contentment, when Trowa started to massage his temples and linked their minds together, throwing mental shields around his mind. Wonderful.

"Where do you want Rashid to take us, Heero?" Trowa asked, using the short moment when Heero´s new Guide took a deep breath to start cursing again. "The Sentinel center would be the best choice I think. Your Guide is not trained, so the doctors would insist on monitoring the bonding process."

Heero thought about it. The logical part of his mind was telling him that Trowa was right, that his Guide was inexperienced and that severe problems could occur. On the other hand, the instinctive, primal part of his Sentinel mind was screaming at him to take his Guide to his territory, to a place where he would be safe and no one would be able to take him away. Even the presence of his friends was grating his nerves. They needed a safe place and time to forge the unbreakable link between them. He needed time to convince his Guide of the rightness of the Bond.

Before the Sentinel could say anything, Duo jumped in, his voice suddenly terrified: "I can´t go to any doctors. I´m Unregistered. Do you know what that means?" His eyes were jumping from one person to the other. "I´ve heard about what the doctors do with people who are not Citizens. I saw the results of their care. I´m not going to a doctor. I´m not!" He started to struggle in the vise grip the Sentinel had on his arms. He wasn´t going to a doctor. They couldn´t make him. He would be nobody´s guinea pig.

Heero could hear his Guide´s pulse jump, and start to run wild. The sour smell of fear replaced the heat of anger and Heero´s nose twitched. He could feel a growl start somewhere deep inside of his throat. They weren´t bonded yet, but the strong possessive and protective feelings toward the boy were running wild already. His Guide was afraid and the primal imperative said only one thing: eliminate the threat. With a sharp pull, he brought the struggling youth into his lap and hugged him close, petted and stroked his back and arms, making cooing sounds and sending reassuring thoughts through the fledgling link they shared.

Quatre snuggled closer to his lover. The boy was afraid. He was so scared that Quatre could feel him, even through the strengthened shields his lover provided him with. This one all-encompassing feeling that was filling the whole being of the newly discovered Guide was crashing against his shields, battering them. He felt Trowa twitch under his arms. He knew that he must smell him, smell the fear and he was reacting to it. It didn´t matter that it wasn´t his Guide. It was a Guide and he was afraid. Quatre started to pet his Sentinel, running his hand in short strokes over the shirt clad chest under his cheek. He knew that Heero would take care of it. What they didn´t need were two Sentinels going primal on them. He felt Trowa tighten his arms around him and bring him close, lower his head and bury it into his hair. He heard him inhale his smell - Trowa told him once that he smelt like orange petals on a warm sunny morning - to reassure himself that he was okay, that his Guide wasn´t afraid, that he wasn´t in danger. Even when his Sentinel calmed down, Quatre continued the petting as it made him calm down just like his Sentinel.

Duo ceased to struggle. Willing Guide or not, the instinct older than humankind itself, was telling him that he was safe here, in his Sentinel´s arms. He shook his head and tried to ban those thoughts. He didn´t want a Sentinel, he wasn´t a Guide and he won´t... But it seemed as if his body didn´t listen to his mind because it snuggled closer to the welcoming warmth, pressed itself closer to the petting hands, opened his ears to the reassuring words of not hurting him and protecting him. Without knowing it, he opened himself for his Sentinel, letting the barriers that surrounded his mind fall.

Heero´s nose twitched. The smell... His Guide´s smell? He sniffed again. Strawberries... and chocolate... and a little bit of mint. As he sniffed again, he sensed the smell grow thicker, filling his senses. That could mean only one thing, his Guide was willing to bond, right here and now. He almost purred at the thought. But then the last pieces of his rational mind screamed at him not to dare to take what his Guide was offering him unknowingly. The boy didn´t know anything about the Bond, about Sentinels and Guides. He didn´t know that opening himself to a Sentinel in such a manner, leaving their minds unprotected, was causing the release of their natural smell, the fragrance needed to start and complete the Bond, the chemical similar to pheromones would change the pathways in Sentinel´s mind so that it would acclimate to the mind of his Guide, building something like a bridge between them, a mental link that was unbreakable and that lasted through their whole lives and beyond. Heero swallowed, unknowingly hugging his Guide to him tightly. The need to take what he had been offered was so strong that it made him physically ache. But he couldn´t...

Suddenly, the limousine stopped with screeching tires and only the fast, almost lethal reaction of the Sentinels saved them all from falling to the floor. Trowa raised his hands, opening the glass barrier between them and the driver. "What´s going on, Rashid?" They were in OZ already so the possibility of an attack was minimal.

"The Police are blocking us, Master Trowa. There are human Guards and the Android Units." Rashid sounded a little bit nervous.

The words tore Duo out of his safe haven. He paled. "Oh, God," he whispered. He couldn´t let them catch him. It would be the Mines or be dead on site if they caught him in OZ.

Everybody turned to him. "You know something about it?" Heero asked. The fear was back, and the acrid smell of it was turning his stomach.

"I... I was stealing food. The owner of the shop called the Police and they sent Droids after me," he whispered again.

"Thats why you jumped from that bridge?" Heero´s voice was calm, a steady rock in a stormy sea. He was running his right hand up and down his Guide´s right arm, and even through the gravity of the situation he felt dimly pleased that Duo was leaning into him unknowingly, a simple gesture of a Guide searching for safety with his Sentinel.

"Yes," Duo nodded. He tried to push down the panic but he wasn´t succeeding. It was one thing to run away from the droids but to be surrounded by them with no way out... "You have to let me go. If I run maybe Ill have a chance. You don´t know what they do with us, the Unregistered. If I get caught here in OZ, they have the right to kill me on site. There is no trial for us. It´s enough when a Registered one accuses us and we are deported to the Gundanium Mines. No one survives for long down there..." he whispered, a shiver running through his body. He had seen it. He had seen his friends get caught by the droids they couldn´t outrun. They were screaming and fighting when they shackled them and set them in the prison ship. He hadnt heard from them ever since. He swallowed. Just minutes ago, he feared being a Guide, that his life wouldn´t belong to him anymore. But now... Maybe he won´t have any life at all. And his brother won´t ever find out what happened to him. This uncertainty would kill him...

Duo shivered. He didn´t know what was happening to him. This uncertainty, this indecision in the face of a difficult situation... this wasn´t him... He didn´t know what the Sentinel did to him in that dark alley, but he knew he had been changed forever.

Suddenly he realized that he could never go back, that he was now tightly bound to a man he had never met before. He tried to find anger inside of him. It had never been difficult to get angry, furious before. It got him into many problems in the past. But now... now only deep resignation welled inside of him. No matter what happened now, he would never be free again. He felt a deep, dark abyss open beneath his feet. It called him, beckoned him. He didn´t know what it was but it offered sanctuary. He felt the hopelessness swallow him as he stood on the edge.

Heero tightened his arms around his Guide. His eyes flashed with fury. No one would take him away from him. The Police could go to hell.

"Master, the Police wants us to hand them the Unregistered. Theyve been ordered to arrest him," Rashids voice sounded from the front.

"The AU's, they must have been following us the whole way from the slums," Trowa said, looking out of the window at the droids that were methodically surrounding their car. The whole theater was drawing a lot of gawkers.

Feeling his Guide press himself even closer to him, hearing his heartbeat pick up speed once again, Heero growled deep, deep inside his throat.

Trowa looked Heero in the eyes and held his look while petting his own Guide, whose mental barriers were on the edge of breaking down from the overflow of dark emotions inside the car. "You know what you have to do," Trowa said in a low voice.

A dark understanding passed between them, and a small eternity later Heero nodded. He knew. He didn´t like it, but he knew.

Quatre´s head shot up from Trowa´s shoulder, his eyes going wide and switching from Trowa to Heero and back again until they settled on the huddled person on Heero´s lap. He knew exactly what they were talking about and he didn´t like it all. This was wrong, so very very wrong that it could destroy any relationship Heero could possibly forge with his Guide in the future. This was a betrayal to everything they believed in. "Heero..." Quatre breathed out. "You can´t. This... this is worse than rape," his whisper was full of disbelieving shock. His friend wouldn´t do something like that.

Heero didn´t look at him. He looked out of the window where the AU's and the Police Officers now surrounded the car tightly. He watched one of them step close to the car and knock on the window. Heero growled. He won´t allow them to take his Guide. He would rather if the boy hated him than see him destroyed in the mines.

Quatre looked at his lover. "Trowa! Stop it. This is wrong!" He caught his shirt in both hands and shook him just a little.

Trowa looked down at him, his eyes understanding but determined at the same time. "Do you see any other way out? Short of shooting our way through the masses there is nothing we can do."

Quatre shook his head. The logical part of his brain knew that the Sentinels were right, but the empathic part that was Guide in him was shaken to the core by what they were suggesting.

The uncomfortable silence that settled in the car, the flashing lights of Police car units outside and finally the insistent knocking of the human Police Officer somehow tore through the dark cloud that surrounded Duo´s mind. Suddenly he was back in the car, the abyss closed for the moment. The heavy, strained atmosphere in the car hit him like a physical blow. Something was going on here. Well, something besides the horde of trouble outside the car. He didn´t know how he knew, but his mind was vibrating with the dark vibes in the car. He shook his head but the strange feeling didn´t leave. He looked up at the Sentinel holding him tightly on his lap. The other man didn´t meet his eyes, looking to the side. "What´s going on?" Duo asked silently. Somehow he knew he won´t like it.

"Trowa, Quatre, will you and Rashid hold off the Police for a little while and give us some privacy?" Heero asked, his voice totally devoid of emotions. This wasn´t the way he planned it.

Trowa nodded, opened the door, calling "We are getting out," and pulling his protesting Guide after himself. Quatre threw the confused and somehow dazed looking boy one last sympathetic glance, before stepping out of the car and closing the door firmly behind himself. In the front, Rashid got out too. The Sentinel and Guide were now alone.

Heero followed the discussion between his friends and the Police Officer outside. Quatre - even though he didn´t like what was happening - was buying them some time by pulling the Winner name and shoving it down the now scared Officers throat. The Winners, one of the families that founded the colony, was a powerful family after all.

"What´s going on here?" Duo asked, and pushed himself away from the Sentinel´s lap. This time the other man didn´t hold him down and Duo sat down on the now vacated seat across from him. The Sentinel looked at him, not saying a word. Duo was getting more and more nervous by the second.

Heero took a deep breath. There was no reason to delay this any further. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and when he opened them again, he was perfectly calm. Watching his Guide´s reaction, he slid down on his knees in front of the boy who now looked confused, the threat outside of the car forgotten for the moment. "Im sorry," Heero whispered, looking his Guide in the eyes. Before the longhaired boy could ask why he was feeling sorry, he caught his face in both of his hands and concentrated all his thoughts on one desire - to Bond. He then pressed his mind with all his might against the one of his Guide. Like knife through butter he ripped through his weak fledgling barriers and entered his mind, tearing it apart.

Duo screamed and screamed and screamed. His hands shot up and caught the arms that were holding him in place. He gripped them, tore at them, trying to push them away in a vain attempt to free himself. He felt as if molten lava shot through his mind. He felt all the pathways rip open. The mighty power wreaking havoc on his mind was leaving raw, bleeding wounds behind and it was digging deeper and deeper to the core of his being, to his very soul.

Their eyes were still locked, the Sentinel´s cold and determined, the Guide´s full of pain and tears that left wet trails on his cheeks. Heero felt the power of his Guide, power he will gain one day when this moment will be just a distant memory. He felt the pathways of the inexperienced mind tear open, form new neural paths that were quickly replacing the old, destroyed ones. He reached deeper and deeper, looking for the one spot in his brain that needed to be unlocked, for the mind of a Guide to be able to join the one of his Sentinel. There. He could almost see the blinding light that emanated from the place as he ripped it open, crashing their minds together and locking them into each other with inevitable finality.

Duo couldn´t even scream anymore, so blinding was the pain in his head. He didn´t even notice when his hands dropped away from the arms of the Sentinel. He felt as if something was destroying him and building him up anew from the inside. And then the wave of power reached the deeply hidden area inside of him, the place even he didn´t know about, and tore it open, trampled it down, almost broke it with the force of the crash as the link was forged in the heat of pain and loss and new beginning. The screaming pain in his mind magnified tenfold and then there was just the darkness.

Heero caught his Guide when he slumped in his arms, and held him tightly. He closed his eyes, feeling the burning sensation on the back of his eyelids. This wasn´t how he imagined their Bonding. This wasn´t right. He brought the unresponsive body closer to himself, clutching him desperately. This could break them, break his Guide. Bonded or not, an unwilling Guide was a thing every Sentinel feared. They knew that the unwilling Guide forced to Bond could perish, lock himself in his mind and just die. And there wasn´t a thing the Sentinel could do about it. Feverishly, he hoped that this wouldn´t happen to them, that his Guide would forgive him. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but one day.

Suddenly the car door opened, and the Police Officer stuck his head inside. Heero´s head snapped in his direction and he growled at him, almost baring his teeth. When the man noticed their proximity, and saw the dangerous gleam in Heero´s eyes he turned a deep shade of red, before paling noticeably. In the background, Heero could hear Quatre protesting loudly.

"Uh, sorry, sir, but we have to arrest this man," the Officer pointed at Duo. Seeing Heero´s eyes narrow, he added quickly: "He is wanted for thievery. The Android Units were able to follow his trail and..."

Heero snarled. "No!"

Officer Brown coughed nervously. Sometimes he really didn´t know why he worked in this profession. He really hated to deal with all the crap. "Sir, please..."

"You won´t take my Guide anywhere!" Heero snapped again, taking the braided boy in his arms and moving them into the corner of the car where it was easier for him to protect his Guide.

The Officers eyes almost popped out of his head. Guide? The pair outside said something like that, but he thought they were just stalling. But seeing the primal look in the Oriental looking young mans eyes, he had a feeling that this was way out of his experience. "Uh, you sure?" he asked stupidly. No one prepared him for that when they sent him to collect an Unregistered.

Instead of answering his question, Heero hissed at him through tightly clenched teeth.

What now? Officer Brown asked himself. He couldn´t just let them go. "Can you prove it? Do you have a registration Mark on him? Or at least the registration papers?" The Sentinel growled again, holding his Guide even closer to himself. Brown was getting desperate. "Sir, you have to understand. I´m just doing my job here. I can´t let you go just like that. I have to fill a report and explain to my boss why I let you go. I will lose my job."

The logical part of Heero´s mind knew that the man was right, but the primal part screamed at him to tear him apart for just thinking about taking his Guide away from him. The two parts warred for some time until the logical side won, by a hairs breadth.

"We don´t have a registration. We just Bonded," he explained, his voice cold.

The Officer remembered the muffled scream coming from the inside of the car. Great. Now he had a newly Bonded Pair on his hands too. This day was getting better and better by the minute. "I´m sorry, but in this case I have to take you to the Sentinel Institute where this will be confirmed. If it´s the truth-" the Sentinel hissed at him when he implied that he might be lying "-then they will take over your case from there on. If it isn´t the truth-" another hiss "-then the boy-" he pointed at the unconscious braided boy "-will be arrested and sent to the Mining colonies," the Officer finished describing the the official procedure in cases like that. He tried not to jump at the snarl that followed his little speech. He coughed a little to give himself courage. "Now I have to confiscate your registration, sir. Please?" he added hopefully, and raised his arm toward them.

Heero scowled at him, but in the end he reached into his pocket and handed the Officer his ID card. The Police Officer took it and straightened, moving hastily out of the car. He took the handheld scanner from his pocket and ran the card through, putting the "REGISTRATION TEMPORARILY DISABLED" sign on Heero´s file in the main computer. He then turned to the tall Sentinel with long bangs. "Your driver will have to follow us to the Sentinel Institute. I would advise you to follow our orders, otherwise you will be all arrested for resistance and helping in an escape of an Unregistered criminal," he warned them. The Sentinel - Trowa Barton, if he remembered his registration - growled at him, tucking his Guide closer to his side.

The Police Officer then turned and marched to his vehicle that was still blocking the limousines way. Sentinels... He shuddered. They weren´t paying him enough for this shit.

Quatre and Trowa returned to the car, shutting out the AU's and the gawkers on the street. Seeing the huddled Pair in the corner, Quatre gasped and Heero´s eyes snapped in his direction. The blonde Guide could feel the tension in the air, could feel the pain of the newly Bonded Guide even though he was unconscious. "Heero..." he whispered.

Heero lowered his eyes to his Guide. The braided boys head laid on his shoulder, his limp body on his lap. His breath was still labored, and he was incredibly pale. He was trembling in his arms, his features still slightly twisted in pain. Through the newly forged link, Heero could feel the blinding pain that still gripped his young Guide even in his unconscious state. He caressed his face and kissed his hair. God, what had he done... He shut his eyes tightly.

Trowa´s nose twitched as he smelled the residual traces of the Bonding fragrance in the air. He brought his Guide closer to himself, laying an arm around his shoulders. He felt Quatre gripping his arm tightly and he squeezed him too. He knew how this must be affecting him. To Bond with an unwilling Guide was the greatest crime against the Guides there was. But this...

"You did the right thing, Heero," Trowa whispered, seeing one silent tear escape Heero´s tightly closed eyes. "Only as your Guide is he safe from the Police. Now they can´t deport him. He is a Registered Citizen now and as a Guide, the Sentinel Security Department will handle it. Whatever they decide, they won´t, can´t separate you anymore."

But Heero wasn´t listening to him. His fingers traced his Guide´s features, following the trails the tears left behind on the pale cheeks. He had found his Guide, but maybe he managed to lose him at the same time. He buried his face in the rich brown hair and didn´t seem to notice his friends concerned looks.

Rashid started the car, and the small convoy consisting of the limousine, one police car and Droids started to move toward the Sentinel Institute.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Solo was sitting by the hole in the wall again, looking outside. It was raining. He heard the sound of running feet in the distance. There would be dead bodies to collect in the morning.

He snuggled more deeply into the worn and ragged blanket. Duo didn´t return, and he always came home before the rain started. He hoped nothing happened to his brother but he saw the AU's circling above the slums not so long ago, he knew what that meant. He hoped, but deep in his heart he felt that something was wrong. Something did happen that evening, and he wasn´t there to protect his little brother...

Solo leaned his head against the cold metal wall and watched the rain fall.

The End