For amy_mizuno, who wanted more. *grin*
Never Again Part 5
Duo spotted Quatre through the rain-spotted glass of the front window of Sam's. His friend was huddled in the corner window booth, pale and shaking, his jacket pulled tightly around him, his focus on the small steaming pot of tea on the table. Duo entered the restaurant, shaking the rain from his hair, wishing he'd thought to borrow one of Heero's jackets.
Quatre looked up as Duo approached the table and a faint smile crossed his lips. "You got away okay then. He didn't wake up?"
Sliding into the seat opposite Quatre, Duo shook his head. "He woke up-"
"Did you tell him where we were meeting? Does he know we're here?" Quatre demanded fiercely, and again, Duo shook his head.
"No, I didn't. What the hell is going on? What happened, Quat?"
Quatre inhaled deeply and buried his head in his hands. "You're going to think I'm crazy, hell I think I'm crazy, but I can't explain any of it- not in any other way...."
The waitress was headed their way, so Duo reached out and gave Quatre's shoulder a gentle shake. "It's okay. We'll order breakfast and you can tell me about it from the beginning, all right?"
Another deep breath, and Quatre visibly pulled himself together. Luckily they'd eaten enough at Sam's that neither one had to look at the menu. They ordered quickly and then Duo poured a cup of tea from the pot in front of Quatre.
"Drink that," he ordered and then poured one for himself.
Quatre took several sips, the color stealing back into his face as he did so. "Okay, you remember the club, right?"
"The place you ditched me? It's hard to forget."
Quatre ignored his jibe. "I met two guys there that night- they seemed- they were- very friendly... I took them home with me..."
"Two guys? I didn't know you were- I mean-" Quatre was usually very opposed to that sort of thing.
"I know, believe me, I know. It was... I didn't think about it at the time... it just seemed the right thing to do..."
Okay, this wasn't good at all. What had the two of them done to Quatre? "Did they slip something in your drink?"
Quatre shook his head. "No. I just- couldn't refuse. Nothing bad happened- or so I thought at the time. So when they called me yesterday, I agreed to go and meet them at their apartment...."
"And what happened?"
The waitress arrived with their food. Once she was gone, Quatre picked up his fork and twirled it between his fingers without speaking.
"Quatre, I'm dying here. Tell me what happened."
Quatre cast a glance at the window and then looked back at Duo, meeting his eyes. "Duo- this friend of yours- the one you met- when you... that is... does he bite you?"
Duo's hand went to his throat. "Is it there this time-?" He asked without thinking and Quatre shook his head.
"Nothing is visible. I thought that too- I felt it, but there wasn't a mark- but then, this morning..."
The rain had stopped for the moment and the clouds had parted. A watery beam of sunlight was gleaming through the rain speckled glass. Quatre pushed one of his sleeves up, displaying a smooth unmarked wrist.
"Look," he said and put his wrist under the sunbeam.
Four neat puncture marks appeared on his skin, deep and scabbed over.
Duo swallowed hard. "What the hell...?"
"I don't know. I only noticed it by accident this morning as I left their building. I didn't have a chance to check my neck." The sun vanished behind a cloud and the marks on Quatre's wrist vanished.
Duo swore. "Okay, I am beginning to see why you're freaked out-"
Quatre shook his head. "Oh no. That's not the main thing." He reached into a pocket of his coat and pulled out a small flat bag. "This morning.... they were both asleep, and they'd told me that I could look around the apartment... consider it my home too... I thought they were being nice." His lips curved into a sad smile. "So I went into the library and I opened a book- and found that." He pushed the package across the table to Duo.
With shaking fingers, Duo tugged the small bit of cardboard out of the paper bag. It was a photograph- and it made his heart stop for a moment.
"How-"
"I don't know." Quatre leaned over the table. "There's a date on the back."
Duo flipped the picture over, noting the date- 1901- and forced himself to turn the picture back over. "It's a coincidence-"
"Hell of one, really-" Quatre tapped the picture, his finger brushing each person as he said their name. "Trowa and Wufei- the ones I met at the club. You and me. And I would bet this is your friend- the one you met....?"
"Heero." Duo whispered, feeling cold.
They were sitting- Trowa, Wufei and Heero in a row of chairs, Quatre sitting by Trowa's feet- Duo by Heero's. Dressed in the fashions of the last century- smiling and relaxed....
"I wish I could think it was a hoax- a coincidence- even a picture of some ancestors of ours or something, but..." Quatre tapped his wrist. "There's the marks... and something else..."
Duo looked away from the picture. "What do you mean?"
"Last night... right at the end- I was tired, nearly asleep- and I heard the two of them arguing." Quatre rubbed his wrist absently. "Something about who was going to give the last bite."
"That's twice," Duo remembered the sound of Heero's voice against his throat. "Just once more..."
"What?" Quatre demanded. "What is it? Your face changed-"
"Heero said something like that too. Just one more..."
"Damn it," Quatre shook his head. "That's it then, just like the stories say. We have to-"
"What stories?"
"Duo, come on! The bites- the photo from over a hundred years ago? And I bet you've never seen Heero in the daylight-"
"The daylight thing isn't all that true," said Heero, and they both looked up at him in shock.
He stood at the end of the table, rumpled, clad in a heavy hooded jacket and jeans. Looking perfectly normal, a man who was simply running late finally meeting up for breakfast with his friends...
"May I sit?" He said and slid in beside Duo who couldn't help flinching away. Heero didn't seem to notice. He gave Quatre a warm smile. "Relax old friend. Eat- you're going to need your strength."
Duo expected Quatre to protest, to run away- but Quatre simply picked up his fork and began eating.
"You too," Heero turned his attention to Duo, his fingers brushing Duo's cheek. "It's going to be a long day. Eat, beloved."
Suddenly it seemed a very reasonable thing to do just that.
Heero sighed, running his fingers through his hair and pouring himself a cup of tea from the pot. "I'm going to kill Trowa and Wufei for this," he said quietly. "If I'd lost you due to their bungling again...."
Duo wanted to ask why, wanted to ask what was going on... but he needed to eat. Heero had said so. He looked across at Quatre, also eating quietly and noticed the way the other man's hands were shaking...
Heero noticed too. "Relax, Quatre. Do not fear."
Quatre's hands stopped shaking. Heero picked up the photograph and glanced at it, a smile creasing his lips for a moment before he slid it back into its paper bag and tucked it into a pocket. He took a sip of his tea and then beckoned the waitress over, asking for the bill.
The rain was falling again, heavier now, the sky dark and cloudy. Duo watched the rain streak the window as he ate the last bites of his breakfast.
Heero handed the waitress a folded bill and slid out of the booth, pulling his hood up. Duo and Quatre followed him outside- Heero's car was parked at the curb.
"They're waiting for us," Heero said as he opened the car doors. "Let's go home."
TBC...
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