Shinigami's Song Part 3
The phone rang and Relena answered immediately.
"We found him, Relena-sama."
She sagged into the chair relieved. "Excellent work. Where is he?"
"He was just admitted into a private hospital on L2 yesterday."
"H-Hospital?" Relena barely croaked out the word. Was she too late?
"Hai, we were unable to discover just why he was admitted, though."
"Call the closest shuttle service. I want a shuttle waiting for me and ready to go the minute I get there, understand?"
"Hai, Relena-sama!" *click*
Relena buzzed the driver on the intercom. "Change of plans. Go to the nearest shuttle service."
"Ms. Peacecraft?"
"Just do it!" She tried not to imagine the worst, but it was no use. ~Please don't let me be too late!~
~*~
Quatre walked down the hall to Duo's room beside Trowa. Even though his lover looked calm, Quatre could tell just how worried he was. It was screaming in his eyes, his tense shoulders, and how his hands would clench slightly then relax. After years with Trowa, he could read his every emotion, which was a good thing considering Trowa was still very closed off.
Finally turning the corner to Duo's room, Quatre was suddenly halted by what he saw, or rather... who, Relena. He quickly glanced up at Trowa, and the slight twitch of his eyebrow conveyed to Quatre that he was just as surprised.
"Relena?"
She turned around to face them, and Quatre could clearly see how red and puffy her eyes were. He hurried over to her and hugged her tightly while she broke into choked sobs.
"They wouldn't tell me anything or let me in to see him!" She raised her tear stained face to regard them both. "How is he?"
Quatre released her slowly when he thought she could stand on her own. "Well, he is in here for minor cuts and bruises officially... But he is really here for treatment of his alcohol problem, and..." He took an unsteady breath, "psychiatric evaluation."
~*~
~It's all my fault.~ Relena sank down to her knees before the startled couple. She raised her face to look up at Quatre. "I really messed them up, didn't I?"
No one needed to clarify who 'they' were.
"Relena, I-"
"Excuse me, Mr. Winner..." Everyone's attention focused on the doctor who stood holding Duo's chart. He looked nervously at the odd scene before he cleared his throat and continued, "I'm afraid we have run into some complications..."
~*~
"C-complications?" Instinctively, Quatre sought and found Trowa's hand with his own. "What kind of complications?"
The doctor opened Duo's file and handed some photos to Quatre, who wasn't quite sure of what to make of them "What are these?"
"Photos of long vertical scars on Duo's wrist and forearm." The doctor traced the pale lines that ran almost from the base of Duo's thumb, to the bend of his elbow. "They are fairly old, but we are still obligated to place him under suicide watch."
Quatre numbly nodded... he'd had no idea his old friend had tried such a thing. "And the other... problem?"
The doctor collected the photos from Quatre's trembling grasp before he answered. "This may or may not be related, frankly I don't know which to hope for-"
"Just tell us doctor." Trowa broke his silence, shocking the man back to the subject.
"On routine tests we've found rather large traces of arsenic in Duo's blood stream."
"What??!" Quatre collapsed to his knees beside Relena. The implications of this were staggering.
"It is possible that he is trying to kill himself again, but it is also possible that-"
"DUO!!" Quatre scrambled to his feet and raced down the hall to his friend's room. He threw open the door and was greeted with a peacefully sleeping Duo, but then Quatre's eyes grew large as he took in the whole scene. He turned into the corner before emptying the contents of his stomach onto the clean hospital floor.
~*~
Trowa was only a second behind Quatre, but he was a little better at containing his reaction to the appalling scene. While Quatre quietly wretched in the corner, Trowa analyzed the area for clues.
Duo was sleeping soundly, unharmed, but only inches away from his head, a large butchers knife was embedded in the pillow. Attached to the handle a note with the words 'Shinigami Dies.' Clearly printed on it.
Trowa walked over to where Quatre was slowly recovering as the doctor and Relena walked in.
"Oh my." The doctor seemed at a loss for words. Luckily he was there to catch Relena as her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to the floor.
~*~
"No police." Duo repeated stubbornly. "I don't want the publicity. Besides, I can handle this joker myself." He lay back onto his pillow smiling. Quatre was struck by how much this Duo resembled the old one they used to know, not just in appearance, but in his attitude as well. Then he remembered the long scars on Duo's arms that were presently hidden by those long-sleeved pajama top, and remembered that this Duo was also very changed, possibly irreversibly. Then Quatre got an idea, an extremely sneaky idea that just might work.
"One person then, not a police officer," he hastily added, "to act as a personal bodyguard." Quatre could see the refusal on Duo's face before he even opened his mouth. "Onegai, Duo." Quatre let his eyes fill up with tears and turned on 'the look' before delivering the final blow. "For me?"
~*~
Sighing, Duo gave in to the inevitable. No one can stand up to 'the look'. "Fine. ONE bodyguard." Suddenly Quatre's face lit up, and Duo began to seriously regret his decision ~Too late now...~ As the group moved out the door Duo closed his tired eyes. ~Well... whoever it is... I can handle it.~
~*~
"I've got an idea..."
"I've got an idea!"
"I've got an idea."
They all looked at each other a moment before Quatre broke the tableau. "Relena, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
She grinned for what seemed like the first time in days. "Or should we say... who we're thinking..."
They both looked to Trowa who nodded silently.
"Heero..."
"Heero!"
"Heero."
~*~
Heero Yuy sneezed into his napkin once before returning to picking at his food.
"Bless you."
Heero smiled at the girl sitting across the table. "Thanks Roz, I don't know what's wrong today... Perhaps I'm coming down with something." He pushed he rest of his food away and looked out the window of the diner. Outside there was a large crowd gathered around the music store. "What is going on over there?"
Roz rolled her eyes at her boss, friend, and much to her mother's disappointment nothing more. "Not only do you need to take better care of yourself, you need to get a life!" She threw down a thin wrapped package onto he table in front of Heero. "Happy Birthday, Heero!"
He stared dumbly at it for moment. "It's not my-"
"I know silly!" Roz shook her head a how naïve he could be some times. "I was going to give it as a present to me... but you definitely need it more! Go on! Open it!"
He almost cringed under her expectant gaze. He hated surprises, even ones from friends. Heero carefully peeled away the paper to uncover the CD inside. Then he turned it over in his hands, a slight frown puckering his brow. "Shinigami?"
Roz nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! It's the first released CD of that new singer... Duo Maxwell."
Heero froze. He felt as though his entire body had just been submerged in ice water. "Did you say, Duo Maxwell?"
~*~
The trio poured over the mountain of maps and charts of every known colony, spaceport, satellite, or meteorite (just to be thorough... this is Heero we're talking about) Heero could have possibly holed up in, on or around. After thirteen hours, five pots of coffee, two cat-naps, and countless paper-cuts later they all slumped in their respective chairs.
"We are so screwed."
Quatre raised his eyebrows at Relena's blunt remark, but he did have to agree. Things were looking rather dim.
"Hmmmm..." Trowa rapped his fingers on the tabletop. "I've got it."
"Trowa?" Quatre turned hopeful eyes to his partner, who almost seemed to be... smirking?
"Relena, are you still in contact with the people who used to track down Heero for you in the past?"
She slapped her forehead in a classic 'duh' manner. "Why didn't I think of that?"
For an instant Quatre was tempted to shout 'Because you're still a nit-wit!' But he was just too nice, and besides, they needed her connections. "Can you do it, Relena?" He chose to be kind... but damn, he wanted to call her a nit-wit.
"Oh yeah!" She whipped out her pink cell phone and pushed a button before beginning a rather cryptic message.
~Speed dial?~ Quatre decided not to comment, but rather, focus on playing footsie under the table with Trowa.
"Done! They'll be working on it around the clock until he is found!"
Giving Trowa's leg one last rub, Quatre nodded and sat up straight in his chair. "We'll have to send a message to him when they find him." He pulled out a small holographic recording device, recorded a short message, and put it away to be sent out ASAP.
~*~
Roz yawned and scratched her head. Trying to buy another copy of 'Shinigami' last night had been pure hell, but she was still glad she gave her first one to Heero. The look of utter shock on his face was simply priceless! ~Come to think of it... he was acting awfully strange for just-~
"Yeowch!!!" Roz hopped around on her left foot after she squarely slammed her right foot into the small metal box on the floor. "Son of a... what is a holocube doing there?" She picked it up and slowly hobbled over to her desk before activating the mechanism.
A young man with earnest blue eyes and platinum blonde hair appeared before her. "Help us, Heero of Wing Zero, you're our only hope!" That small fragment of a message ran in a loop until she deactivated it.
"Hope I didn't break it..." She massaged her still aching foot. "Heero of Wing Zero... I wonder if that's the boss!" She tossed the cube onto Heero's immaculate desk. "Probably..."
~*~
Quatre reclined in the cushy seat of his car. ~Home again...~ He opened his eyes when he felt Trowa's intent gaze upon him.
"What?"
Trowa raised his visible eyebrow. "Star Wars?"
The blonde boy giggled merrily. "You got the reference? I wonder if Heero will..."
"Why Leia?"
Quatre blushed a bright red and tried to hide his embarrassment from Trowa, but failed miserably. "Whenever my sisters and I would play, they'd make me dress up as Leia. They said that the guys had that better parts..."
"Are we almost home?"
Startled out of his memories Quatre just looked around. "Yeah, I think so.... Why, Trowa?"
The other pilot wrapped his arms around Quatre, and nuzzled his cheek before whispering in his ear. "Because I'd love to find out if that old brass bikini still fits."
"How did you- oh..." He blushed as Quatre realized he'd pretty much revealed that there was a brass bikini in his past. "Ooooh!" Quatre rubbed his cheek against Trowa's muscular chest and decided it was definitely worth digging through the attic to find that old costume if it got Trowa tuned on so much. An experimental rub against Trowa confirmed it. It was definitely worth it.
TBC...
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