"To be, or not to be,--that is the question:--
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?"
--- William Shakespeare, Hamlet
"It is regrettable that, among the Rights of Man, the right of contradicting oneself has been forgotten."
--- Charles Baudelaire
Requiem for the Sinners Part 15
Apostles at Odds
"Wufei's been captured."
Quatre tore his eyes away from the open window at the sound of Trowa's voice. He was sitting in a comfortable chair by his hospital bed, a book spread across his lap, although he hadn't been reading it.
For the last few hours, he had either stared blankly at the book in his lap or out the window, eyes strange and distant. The few times he had made an attempt to read the book, he had found himself rereading the same paragraph, over and over, and not comprehending a word of it.
"What?" he asked, his voice still dreaming.
"Wufei was captured by L2. He and another Preventer commander were shipping supplies to Preventers stationed in the colonies and their ships were assaulted."
Trowa walked across the room and sat down on the foot of the bed, as poised as a cat. His fierce green eyes met turquoise, eyebrows raising gently as he saw the far look in Quatre's eyes. He reached over, the gesture languid, and put his hand on Quatre's shoulder, moving it to rest at the nape of the blond man's neck.
"What are you thinking, ma vie?"
Quatre closed his eyes briefly, then turned his head away to look back out the window again. He ignored the question in a way that even he could make gentle.
"Who did it?"
Trowa's expression darkened almost inperceptibly at the evasion, but when he answered, his soft, lilting voice did not change. "That's the strangest part. No one saw the ships that pirated the Perfidy and the Valkyrie. They seemed to appear and disappear out of thin air."
"Stealth," Quatre answered, his voice clipped. "Is he all right?"
"Yes and yes. L2 sent a tape to preventer and media Telnet via satellite. Wufei was stripped to his underwear, and probably not in that great of a mood, but he seemed to be perfectly fine. I don't think Duo would hurt him," Trowa added, softly.
Trowa tried to get a smile out of Quatre with the comment about Wufei, but he failed miserably. Quatre's expression remained grim and speculative. Trowa recognized that expression. It was his lover's battle-face. The gaze in those turquoise eyes now was cunning and cold as Quatre let the information sink in.
"Duo? Is he the one who did it?"
"No, not Duo." Trowa's face remained serious, but a spark of amusement flickered in his eyes. "Duo had an alibi."
"Alibi?"
"He was breaking Heero out of jail."
Quatre looked over, brow furrowed. "What?"
Trowa nodded. "There was an attack on the Preventer prison at Cinq. A bunch of Preventer deaths. Looks like he went in with a single objective."
"Rescue." Quatre shook his head. "But Duo-"
"-tried to kill him," Trowa finished, nodding his head slightly. "I know. It doesn't add up. Why would Duo try to save Heero now?"
Quatre looked into the distance for a moment, still scowling. "It doesn't make any sense. It's an irrational move, and Duo isn't stupid. L1 is in revolt and joined the secession. It would have better suited his purposes to leave Heero in jail where he could be a martyr. Which means that Duo wasn't acting in his better interest, he was acting on his emotions."
"Maybe he isn't too far gone then, Quatre," Trowa said softly, a note of hope in his voice. "Maybe we can still talk to him before he takes this too far."
Quatre shook his head. "He's already taken it too far. Heero was taken by force. He had to be, he never would have gone willingly. And we can't undo what Duo did."
"We have to try."
"We don't have to do anything!" Quatre burst out suddenly, fire flaring in those aquamarine eyes. They were filled with furious tears that the blond pilot would not let fall. He was through crying for people, the living or the dead.
The time for tears was over.
When he spoke again, his voice was soft.
"He killed my sister, Trowa."
The two pilots looked at each other for a moment Trowa was the one who lowered his eyes first. "Ah, I know." Trowa looked back up, his voice persuasive and gentle. "But we cannot write Duo off for his mistakes. You said yourself that he is not stupid, yes? Then we have to assume that whatever he is doing, he's doing for a reason."
Quatre's voice was cold when he replied. "It better be a damned good one."
"... Maybe it is."
Quatre's eyes blazed for a moment further before the injured pilot seemed to sink back into himself, the fire banking. His shoulders slumped defeatedly, and he closed his eyes. "I... know that. But it's... hard to see, Trowa."
"I know. But if anyone can, it's you. And Wufei," Trowa added, smiling faintly at the memory of Wufei, tied up in nothing but his boxers, the expression on the ascetic Chinese man's face unmistakable, even over the Telnet.
"You really think Heero was taken by force?"
Quatre remembered the way Heero had cried against him, the way Heero's shoulders had shaken with guilt and grief. Not grief for what had happened at the party, but grief about what had happened between he and Duo. Quatre hadn't even had to touch Heero, run a hand through the Wing pilot's chaotic hair, to know that much.
He looked up at Trowa, nodding once. "I'm sure of it."
Trowa searched his eyes for a moment longer before nodding back at him.
Quatre put the book on the bed and pulled himself out of the chair, his face paling from the exertion. Trowa stood and was immediately by him, supporting his weight.
Trowa leaned in to kiss Quatre softly, then whispered in his ear, knowing that Quatre did not like to admit weakness any more than the rest of them.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes," Quatre answered, his voice strained. He looked into Trowa's eyes, letting the taller man support his weight a moment before pulling away. "But do me a favor."
Trowa raised his eyebrows questioningly.
Quatre smiled back at him crookedly. "Get me the hell out of this hospital."
~*~
After checking on the progress of the ships, Duo went back to the shipping hold alone, a backpack full of canteens slung over one shoulder. He was dressed casually now, and he felt the eyes of all the imprisoned Preventers on him as he entered the hold.
"Thought you greenhorns might be thirsty." He -- avoided Wufei's angry gaze and -- dropped the backpack to the floor, unzipping it and pulling out a water bottle. He approached the girl with the splint, her good wrist handcuffed to a metal crate. Her splinted arm was cradled against her chest, and she watched Duo with dread.
He shook his head at her, gently. "I ain't gonna hurt you, kid." He twisted the cap off the water bottle in his hand, holding it towards her.
She flinched back from him, closing her eyes, and he smiled, trying to charm. "Really. I mean it..." He looked at the front of her uniform. "Chandler. I'm not gonna hurt you. You're thirsty, right?"
She nodded, ever so slightly, and he carefully pushed the lip of the bottle to the girl's lips, tipping it until the water slid forward. She swallowed hard, a little dribbling at the edges of her mouth.
Duo wiped it away gently, smile widening a little. "See? That wasn't so hard."
She smiled back at him weakly, more from nerves than anything else.
Slowly, methodically, Duo distributed water to the rest of the Preventer recruits. They were all too exhausted and thirsty to refuse it or spit it back at him. The closest he saw to defiance was one young man who politely requested that Duo drink some first, and Duo laughed softly before taking a few swallows, proving it wasn't poison.
Finally, Duo relocked the shipping hold and let himself into the smaller one where Harper had moved Wufei to a more solitary confinement, kneeling in front of his former friend. Wufei sat silently with his eyes closed, breathing steadily and calmly.
He looked almost asleep, but Duo could see the tense set of his neck and shoulders.
Wufei was awake.
"Wufei."
Wufei didn't acknowledge him. The Preventer commander remained perfectly still and statuesque, chin lifted.
"Wuffers."
Wufei's eyes shot open, piercing and full of rage. They sparkled murderously over the gag in his mouth. Duo reached around and untied the gag, but didn't immediately remove it.
"Gonna take the gag out, Wufei. You gonna take water and talk to me, or are you gonna be stupid? You were always telling me not to be stupid, how about takin' your own advice for once?" He pulled the gag out, and Wufei was still silent.
He remained silent, as Duo gave him water. He took it with a fierce dignity that Duo remembered from when they used to fight side by side.
Finally, Wufei spoke, his voice low and furious.
"What do you think you're doing, Maxwell? Didn't you have a big enough taste of death four years ago?"
Duo didn't lower his eyes. "I know what I'm doing. Don't worry about that. You just worry about whose side you take, Wufei."
"You shot Heero. And I know you shot to kill."
The former Deathscythe pilot couldn't help but flinch. But his voice was firm. "I did what I had to do."
"Including killing your partner?"
Duo's eyes flashed dangerously. "Why don't you see what they're doing to us before you become my judge and jury, okay?"
"You killed almost forty people, Maxwell."
Duo cocked his head at Wufei, grinning sardonically. "Does the word 'Mariemeia' mean anything to you?"
Wufei looked back at him steadily, his expression set. "I was mistaken."
Duo gazed at him, then put his hand gently against Wufei's cheek. He smiled at Wufei, a small, confident smile that was very different than his grin from before. It was affectionate and sad at the same time.
"But I'm not."
Wufei's expression wavered for a moment, his onyx eyes shaken.
Sighing softly, Duo shoved Wufei sideways and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and rummaged through them, finally checking the number of one against the set of cuffs before inserting it into the cuffs around his ankles.
"What are you doing?" Wufei asked, his voice a hiss as Duo unlocked the handcuffs at his wrists.
Duo laughed, his voice gentle. "What in the hell does it look like I'm doing, dummy? I'm letting you go."
"And that's where you made your mistake!!" Wufei whirled on him, a hand at Duo's throat faster than Duo could react.
He lunged forward as he stood, lifting the American to his feet. He shoved Duo hard against the wall, face twisted into a snarl as his hand tightened around the L2 general's throat. He lifted up until Duo's feet dangled almost an inch from the floor.
Duo's voice was a harsh whisper. "Do it. Do it if you can, Wufei, do it..."
Wufei squeezed harder, cutting off the American's air. Duo's face flushed, but his violet eyes never left Wufei's.
"Daddy?"
Huh?!
Wufei turned his head over his shoulder. A small boy stood in the open doorway of the hold, dark eyes wide. "Why... why are you hurting my daddy..."
Wufei glanced back at Duo. The American was turning an alarming shade from lack of air.
I should kill you now, Maxwell.
But he thought of the child. The kid. He couldn't kill Duo in front of the kid. What had the kid called him? Daddy.
Not even Wufei was dedicated enough to murder a man in front of his son.
...dammit.
Closing his eyes, Wufei loosened his grip. Duo fell to the floor, gasping and coughing.
Gabriel ran forward, throwing his arms around his Duo's neck. He buried his face against Duo's chest, sobbing. "Don't hurt him! Don't!!" Duo threw an arm over Gabriel's shoulders, comforting the boy.
"We're not finished, Maxwell," Wufei said quietly, his expression inscrutable.
He turned his back on Duo and stalked out of the shipping hold. Duo's men let him go without saying a word; their orders from Duo had been clear to let the Shenlong pilot leave.
"Not finished, Wuffers... not by a long long shot," Duo whispered back, hugging Gabriel to him.
TBC...
ma vie - my life
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