Author's Note: This chapter is set in Duo's POV.
Warning: NCS OCx2, 5x2 Lime
Worth Fighting For Part 9
A Long Tale
It was raining, I was still a bit drunk (although I was sobering up pretty quickly), I was crying (something I will only ever admit to doing this once), I was tired, I was cold, I was hungry and I was riding a motorcycle, at night, without a helmet. Not all that clever, but at that moment I didn't honestly care. I was too angry, I was too hurt, I couldn't think straight.
All I knew was that I had to get away, that I had to leave and there was only one place that I could really go to.
The holiday home of a stranger who I had met for a brief few minutes in a toilet.
Many would say I was mad.
I would tell them I was fucking desperate.
I pulled outside the address he had given me, just as the first rays on sunlight began to creep into the sky, and a pang of regret hit me, I had broken my promise of leaving without watching a new sunrise across the lake.
I giggled at the thought
I had just lost everything I had ever known.
My home,
My family,
My friends,
My possessions,
My lover,
My Heero (Ok, the last two are the same thing),
And here I was moaning over missing something that happens every bloody day.
I clambered off my bike and grabbed my duffel bag, not really thinking about the state I was in or how I must look, or what I was going to say to Mike Brooke if he answered the door and that was a BIG IF, it was five in the morning.
I reached the door and played a drumbeat with their knocker before moving on and played a jingle with their doorbell, I told you, I was still a little bit drunk. I must have annoyed him because when he opened the door, Mike looked extremely pissed off.
His eyes narrowed at me and swept up and down my body, taking in my appearance. "Duo Maxwell isn't it?" He finally asked.
"Yes sir. Look I'm really sorry to disturb you but I have no where really to go, I'm miles from my home town and my father just found out that I'm gay and he's disowned me and I have nowhere to go and you said that if I ever needed help, to come to you."
Mike just blinked.
"I don't truly understand, it's 5 in the morning. I'm half asleep, but you can come in, and crash on my sofa and we'll talk later, when we have both gotten some sleep and feel slightly human."
He stepped away from the door and let me in.
"Toilet under stairs, living room first door on left, kitchen is at the back." Mike slammed the door shut.
"Thank you."
Mike disappeared upstairs and I headed into the living room, a few minutes later Mike come back downstairs and he handed me a pillow and blanket. He then bid me a good morning and hurried back upstairs.
With nothing else to do, I curled up on the sofa under the blanket and went to sleep.
I found it strange that Mike would let a complete stranger into his house, I could have killed him and his boyfriend in their sleep and then stole all their worldly goods. When I asked Mike about it, he smiled and showed me his gun, anyone that got within a meter of him would be shot dead if Mike thought they were a threat, it shut me up.
After I woke up and sat down in the kitchen, I poured my soul out to Mike, cried on his shoulder and confessed how I was feeling. The emotion of emptiness, loneliness and unhappiness.
Mike then took his time to calm me down, he told me it wasn't my fault and that he lived near to my hometown and the place he worked was the main policing force.
He was part of the Preventers. How fucking cool is that?
Mike took me in and gave me a home, much to his lover's annoyance. Craig, Chris, his name was something like that, we didn't like each other much, and made it very obvious.
Mike got me a job working for the Preventers and I took it (to be honest no one would refuse a job in the Preventers, it is an extremely rare job and you have to be fucking mad to pass it up). I dropped out of high school, I only had a year left anyway and I finished my exams at the Preventers. I was soon under going special training set by Lady Une (The head of the Preventers) and as soon as my training was done with (a year later) she promoted me and Mike to her top two agents, I don't know what is was that drove me to do my best, I guess you'll find there was this small little part of me that forced me to do my best so I could prove to my father that I could make something of myself without him.
Through the year of training Craig-what-his-face dumped Mike and left me to pick up the pieces. I helped Mike through his break up, Mike helped me get a life together, a life that I could call my own and that was all mine. I controlled everything, my income and my outcome.
Mike became a father figure to me and we worked well as a team.
I was promoted to Co-Leader of a new Preventers Unit, one that would specialize in doing the stuff that was considering extreme. Mike became the leader of the Unit and he told me to locate and assign five young men to our unit.
I was honest stuck.
I had no real friends any more, those I did have were still at school and every time I spoke to them, they tried to convince me to go back, or they spent the whole time telling me about my sister and my ex.
I had no idea who I was going to chose.
I've always had this sort of dumb luck; barely a week had gone passed since I had been promoted when I ran (literally) head first into an old friend.
Trowa Barton.
Trowa and me had never been really close, I was better friends to Quatre (Trowa's boyfriend) than I was to Trowa, yet Trowa took the time to take me for coffee and me and him talked. I ended up telling Trowa about the Preventers and he showed a deep interest in it.
I had gotten my first recruit.
Soon after Trowa came Quatre, the blonde was harder to convince and it took me nearly a month to swing Quatre round. He finally decided to join when I admitted to him that Trowa would be his partner and they would be the best team I had to offer.
Half my team was formed. I had three men (Trowa, Quatre and Myself), I only needed another three.
And keeping with the theme of childhood buddies, I tried to kill three birds with one stone.
It very nearly worked.
I located Treize and stalked him for about a week, before I finally confronted him. He seemed to think I was joking about and he brushed me right off. I was pissed at his attitude towards me.
So I moved past him and headed for his young lover.
Chang Wufei.
I had known Chang for almost as long as I had known the Yuy Family.
Wufei had a keen sense of justice and he bended to my idea. Easy as pie. He signed up, becoming my field partner.
And as a group of four, we tracked down the remaining two members of our team, and I'll tell you now, it wasn't easy.
"Remind me again why I am playing as your bait?" Wufei asked us as we strolled into the Preventers Head Office.
"Because you're the one who shares their bed." Quatre gently informed Wufei who blushed bright red as Lady Une raised an eyebrow at us.
"What's this?" She asked me.
"Half my team." I told her with a smile.
"Half? I want a full team Maxwell."
"And you're gonna get one." I promised. "I just need to ask a little tiny favour, you see I have located my final two members... I just need to convince them."
Lady Une pushed back her chair and stood up, she glared at me.
"Why are you here?"
"To get your permission to use any means possible to achieve my goal."
"And your goal is to convince these two... men, correct?"
She waved her hand at the rest of my team and I nodded.
"How do you plan on going about this?"
I paled, I knew if I told her she wouldn't give me permission to go ahead and do it, it was a good plan, it was just... unethical.
"Well, um... you see Madam," I broke off as she glared at me. "Um... I don't have a plan at the moment, but I...."
"Don't lie Maxwell." Wufei snapped at me and I know why, he wasn't happy with my plan, well, it did kind of put him in danger but what's the fun in life if you can't live life on the edge of a knife blade?
Don't roll your eyes at me, I knew what I was going on about.
"Ok, I do have a plan Madam, but you wouldn't like it."
"Tell me it and we'll see." She sat down again and we all stood there, feeling strangely out of place and she gazed up at us with her large brown eyes that were hidden behind her glasses.
I slide into the seat on the opposite side of her desk and I started to explain.
I was going to put Wufei into some sort of danger, I had yet to decide what kind I would put him in, and then I would inform Treize and Zechs who would go and rush to his rescue and realise that they made a great team together (out of the bedroom) and that they enjoyed saving Wufei (who would reward them greatly for saving him, in the bedroom), and then join my team.
Ok, it was a stupid idea, but I was young and naïve and full of shitty ideas, and I was getting a bit desperate.
Lady Une sighed and told me that I had some good ideas but that one wasn't one of them.
"Tell you what Maxwell, let us invite these two men to the HQ for a few days, let them see you work and how much you enjoy it."
Lady Une refused to let me do anything else.
I don't know how Lady Une did it, the woman is a genius but she managed to convince Wufei's lovers to join us.
I remember the day Mike met all of us, we were all there, standing in Mike and mine's office when he walked in to find all of us fighting over codenames.
He just blinked at us before turning round and walking out of the room, leaving us standing there still fighting unaware of him or his actions.
He finally come back and got us to shut up.
And our team was formed.
Mike Brooke was the office leader, he controlled what missions we took and didn't take, and he controlled everything from his desk.
Me, Duo Maxwell, was the on field leader, I controlled the dirty work. I made sure that my team knew what they were meant to be doing and that they were ready to do it correctly. Me and my partner, Chang Wufei, were the 1st in everywhere, we were the ones who threw ourselves straight into the line of fire. As I say, I loved living on the edge of a knife.
Trowa Barton and Quatre Raberba Winner, made up the next partnership, Quatre wasn't keen on field work so I let him handing the clients and paperwork, but Quatre proved that he was an able fighter in the 3rd mission we took as a team, he took down the leader of a drug dealer gang with a well-placed kick and a few well chosen moves. Trowa supported Quatre, he was an excellent hacker as well as a silent thief, almost as good as me... ALMOST being the key word there. He was also very flexible and it was, still is, freaky the way he is able to hide himself in the smallest place or slide himself through the smallest curviest bends and holes. All I can say is Quatre is lucky to have a lover like Trowa, I bet if Trowa wanted to he could bend over easily and give himself a blow job, now that's a scary thought.
Zechs Marquis and Treize Khushrenada, the oldest partners in the team. They were my back up. Treize had the mind of a born leader and helped me out more than once when we got stuck in a difficult situation, like the time when I managed to get myself, Quatre and Treize trapped in the attic of an assassin we were meant to be arresting. If Treize hadn't been there Quatre and me would be dead. Zechs was a fighter, he had the grace of a warrior and he wasn't afraid to attack someone with a gun while he himself was unarmed.
Everyone played an important role in our team.
Everyone was equal and we all respected and trust each other.
The Preventers were even kind enough to buy us a large mansion for us all to live in, it's a very nice place with a secret underground storage area were we hide all our equipment... oops, I wasn't meant to mention that. Oh well, too late.
The main thing that scared me the most, soon after the Special Core was formed, was when Howard, a friend from downstairs firing range, came up to our office one day and handed us all two fully loaded gun, with extra ammo, and a licence to kill.
It scared the shit out of me.
We spent weeks training with the guns, and we all prayed we would never have to use them. During that time we were all taught how to defend ourselves against each other, and I also learnt the fine art of blades. No matter where I go I always have at least one knife on me, Quatre always carried his knives as well. It makes us feel safe.
A year went by of us working together, and not once did we ever have to use our guns.
I pulled mine out a few times, but normally when people see a gun they come quietly with you, unless of course they have a gun too.
I have a bullet wound on my right shoulder from where some skinhead (shithead) shot me because I tried to arrest him while he raped his girlfriend's dead body.
That's the kind of things we have to deal with.
The sick freaks of America.
Aren't we the lucky ones?
For a year we had good luck, then we ran out.
It was our 43rd Mission. Children were being sold to other countries as slaves and whores. It took us ages to track down the men behind it.
For two whole months we searched, researched, hacked etc trying to find things out but nothing came up. Then Treize's sister (1) Mariemeia disappeared. I don't think I had even seen him so anger and afraid at the same time.
We all were.
Mariemeia was only seven years old and we were all her uncles. She loved us and we loved her.
The search to find this bastard become more intense and everything burned.
It was Trowa who located the area were the kids were being kept before being shipped out and we moved in quickly.
I called in back up for two other units and we all went down, even Mike.
What we saw shocked and disturbed us. I can't describe it, I'm sorry but it was too horrible, it was like nothing we had even seen before and we all hated the men doing this to those children.
We took down the guards easily and then helped the kids, taking them to all the nearest hospitals. Over 150 kids were saved that night, a lot more were already dead and even more had been shipped aboard all ready.
We couldn't locate Mariemeia, and Treize and Zechs had disappeared.
We were standing there, deciding what to do when I heard four gunshots go off, one right after the other.
We stood there, frozen and it was Wufei who moved first.
He cried out his lovers' names before speeding off towards the direction the noise come from, none of us though twice, we gave chase.
We were arrived at the scene, Wufei was crouched on the floor beside Treize and Zechs' bodies, and neither of them was breathing. Across the room another men was laying, pants around his ankles on a small cot, two bullets wounds in his chest, he was gasping for breath, a lung had been puncture and he was losing a lot of blood, he was going to die, no one wanted to help him or save him, especially after we saw the girl laying crying next to him.
"Mariemeia." Quatre whispered and he hurried to her, she cried against him as he disappeared with Trowa out of the room, her cradled in his arms. "Wufei." I moved next to my friend and helped him up as the cleansing crew came it, the cleansing crew was the ones who dealt with the dead and made sure the bodies were returned to the proper people.
Slowly I helped Wufei move and got him home.
The results of the day were devastating. Over 200 children's dead bodies had been found and reports of over 300 had been shipped aboard, the Preventers sent men out to bring the children back, only 68 returned. We, the SPC (Special Core), had also lost two of our team, two members of our family were dead and one of them we were losing slowly.
Wufei locked himself in his room and didn't come out.
We left him alone for a while, he needed it. But soon we grew worried, Wufei hadn't left his room for two weeks.
I climbed in through the window to locate him, laying on his bed, sick with fever.
We got him to a hospital, and I tried to help him deal with the lost of his loved ones.
I myself had lost Heero only two years before but I knew that Heero was alive and that offered me comfort but Wufei had nothing, his own family had disowned him, very much like my own, when he had told them he was gay.
Wufei and me were more similar than we thought.
It took a long, long time for Wufei to finishing his grieving, we stood by him. I can't recall how many times I held him at night as he cried out for them.
After that day I knew I could never get on with life without my friends beside me. We supported each other through the good and the bad and we all recovered from the pain we went through at losing Treize and Zechs.
May they both rest in peace.
A few months on, we started to work again, the difference between then and before was big but we managed and we could never find anyone to replace them although Lady Une has gotten on at me about it many times.
It was about 4 months after Treize and Zechs died when we met the next mission that would cause us all grief.
This was about, what... um... 6 months ago?
It started out as just a friendly night out for Quatre's 20th birthday, we went to a local club.
I was dancing to the music, I love dancing, especially when I know people are watching me. I let the music move my body, let it decide what way I moved and how I moved. A guy came up to me, black eyes with shoulder length black hair, nice build, a sweet tongue for knowing what to say at the right moment. I wasn't that interested in him but I let him dance with me, he flirted and I flirted back, he brought me drinks and we danced a lot. Then he tried to kiss me, I let him but I pulled back straight away and I turned away, planning on locating the others and leaving. He grabbed me and asked me to go home with him.
I told him I wasn't interested, that I had had my fun and now I wanted to go home with my friends. He called me all the names under the sun, making me laugh at him as I scanned the crowd for my friends. I found them and we left.
The guy followed.
So I turned round and with my friends at my back I confronted him, demanding to know why he was following me.
He told me no one walks away from him and he would always get what he wants.
He then tried to take me by force. I do believe I broke his arm while he did it, I then turned on my heel and strolled off but he didn't give up.
By this time this guy was pissing me off, I was begin to hate what he was doing and I growled at him as he asked me for my name.
"It doesn't matter to you who I am, but if you must know, my name is Maxwell, Duo Maxwell."
And laughing we strolled off home.
The next few missions past until we received an order to shut down a brothel located deep in the red light district. It seemed a pretty easy job so Wufei and me went down there to do it on our own. We arrived there, ready for action and someone came up behind us and knocked us out.
Ever so nice of him
I woke up, god knows how much later it was, to find myself chained on a bed.
And I panicked.
Anyone would, I was in a brothel chained to a bed with no clothes on and I screamed the place down, my irrational side taking change of the situation and making it a lot worst for me coz as soon as I started to scream the people who had put me here came running.
His name was Devalin Donavere.
He told me he loved me.
I laughed, told him he was mad.
He was the guy from the nightclub and he sat on the bed beside me stroking my hair and he told me how much he loved me and how much trouble he had gone through to bring me here. He promised me he wouldn't hurt me and he would only touch me with my permission.
I naturally refused him, I told him the truth, I didn't love him, I didn't even know him and no matter what he did or said I would never allow him to come near me with a ten foot long pole.
For ages I laid there on the bed with nothing to do, my muscles ached from inactivity and I had little food.
Then one day Devalin's brother came in, he looked fucked off, he yelled at me and untied me, he pulled me from the bed and I had no strength to fight him. He laid me on my front and whipped me. I still have the scars, one of the reasons I don't wear t-shirts that show off my back.
And...
As I laid there, wincing in pain, he raped me. It fucking hurt and I hated it. I was too weak to stop him and too weak to help myself.
I cried into the pillow, crying out for... well, I gave up, something inside of me that day died, I lost all feelings and when Devalin came back, he asked me again if I could love him and I told him I didn't care, I had no real feelings any more. Devalin took that as a sign and he went to use my body like his brother had.
I was ashamed but the chains were removed and I worked my muscles up. I don't know what it was that was inside me, something told me I had to keep living, that I needed to get out and survive and it was this... feeling... that drove me onwards as I worked my muscles and located my own weapons hidden in a cupboard barely five meters from the bed.
Devalin's brother came back and we fought, I ended up shooting him. I watched him die, a slow and painful death and I didn't even care.
Devalin came running up, he stared at his brother and cried.
I told him to give up and I left, he didn't try to stop me.
A month went by while I was with Devalin and the guys cheered when I return to them but their joy was short lived, they knew something was wrong but I refused to talk to them about it.
A week after I returned I was home alone when my doorbell went. I opened it and Devalin stood there.
"What do you want?" I asked, my hand resting on the gun in my trouser belt.
"I've come to kill you." He replied.
"You can try, but you will not succeed."
"Want to bet?"
And he came at me with a knife, trying to stab me in the chest. We ended up with his knife against my neck and my gun against his temple.
"This is over, we both lost, leave." I told him and he did what I said.
"I swear." Devalin turned and looked back over his shoulder. "I swear I will kill you and the person you love most."
"You do that and I'll finish the job of killing your family." I replied calmly and as soon as he left I curled up in a ball and cried.
Wufei found me like that and he carried me to my room.
"Shhh, Duo."
I told him everything, I bared my soul to him and he held me tight and told me everything would be alright.
For weeks we shared a bed, he held me the way I had held him and he kept the nightmares away.
"Wufei?" I asked one night.
"Yes."
"What's it like to make love to someone?" I asked, my head resting against his shoulder.
"You made love with Heero, you know what it's like." He reminded me gently.
"I don't remember." I whispered fighting back tears.
I can't recall how it happened or why, but the next minute I was leaning over Wufei, my lips pressing against his.
Very soon our clothes were lost and our bodies were moving in time together. He laid on top of me, our arousals lined up perfectly as he rubbed his hips against mine and I moaned loudly as his fingers pressed deep inside of me, opening me up so he could fit himself into me.
I cried out as he slid his cock deep into my body, pressing against my pleasure centre and sending stars across my vision.
We moved, I impaled myself on him as he thrusted deep inside of me and we reached climax at the same time.
We fell asleep together and never talked about it.
I woke up the next morning to an empty bed and I felt so guilty as I rolled over and ended up laying on the wet patch I had made the night before. I cleaned the sheets and from that day Wufei and me never shared a bed again.
I believe that Wufei loves me, he certainly acts very protective towards me and I love him back, but I'm still madly in love with Heero, even after so long of not being with him and I don't want anyone else part from Heero.
Wufei had done the trick, I turned back to my normal self and I forgot about Devalin and what had happened to me.
Days and weeks and months passed and then I woke up one morning, came into work to discover my new mission was to rescue Heero Yuy.
See, that's my story from the moment I forced Heero from my live to the moment when he re-entered it.
Not told that entire well, but told enough for you to understand what I've been through the past three years.
After Devalin my life kind of fell back into place.
And know with Solo accepting me back into the family I can try and be with Heero again, if Heero accepts me back and if he rejects me, I don't know what I'll do.
* * *
Relena held her brother tight as he finished his story. She let him lean against her, his and hers tears mixed together. She looked over at the entrance to the dining room and watched Solo moved from the well lit door way to the bench her and Duo sat on.
"I heard it all." He whispered, Duo turned to him and Solo gently pulled his son into his arms, Solo's hands stroked his son's braid trying to calm and relax Duo. "I'm so, so sorry Duo." And Relena slipped away quietly and Duo cried silently in his father's arms, letting the grief of the past three years overwhelm him and carry him into sleep.
TBC...
(1) I know she should be his daughter.
Author's Note: Not as long as I wanted it to be but I do like it, I don't do POVs very well but I don't think it was that bad. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. The 5x2 bit was there because I need someone to remind Duo why he should live/care and show him how to love. Comments?
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