How do I say goodbye to what we had?
The good times that made us laugh... Outweigh the bad.
I thought we'd get to see forever... But forever's gone away
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.
-Lyrics to 'It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday' performed by Boyz II Men
Crimson Ties Part 56
Meiran's lips curled in a wicked smile when the door to her cell opened. Unlike every time in the past when she was irritated over being visited, she was looking forward to this summoning. Turning to face Dorothy and the same to brutes that she had brought to serve as guards, the Infected put on a frustrated expression.
"Let's go," the blonde Other smirked, forgoing the pleasantries and cutting to the chase. Turning on her heels, she left her present company to flank the Vampire before they headed out of the room to step through the rest of the abandoned warehouse.
With the Seer in the lead, Meiran kept her head lowered to feign defeat. Of course, that little act gave her the added benefit of not having to look on those glowing, narrowed eyes of the creatures standing by.
But not seeing them did not keep her ears from picking up the growls and hisses that filled the air as she passed along the metallic catwalks.
At one point, she heard a scuffle break out between the guard on her right and one of the Others that had attempted to lunge for her. The threat was quickly silenced at the sharp snap of a neck cracking before a dull thud against the ground followed. Dorothy never so much as peered over her shoulder.
The Infected was not about to attempt a glimpse, either.
Finally, they rounded the last corner and stepped into Solo's 'throne room.'
Seated in his high-backed chair, the hybrid smiled darkly on his guest when she entered. "Ah, Meiran," he greeted in the kind air that he enjoyed putting on for her. Rising from his chair as the guards sealed the rest of the world off, he approached the prisoner whilst TJ and Rachel sat amongst the piles of their toys.
Raising a hand, he waved to Dorothy and the brutes as he said, "I would like to be alone with her." The Seer nodded firmly and called for the children to join her on the way out. Grabbing their favorite dolls and miniature cars, the little ones hurried to her sides.
Once the room was closed to give him and his company their privacy, Solo smirked at her, "I do hope that you had ample enough time to consider your options of either helping me or perishing at the hands of my friends. I am not in the mood to wait any longer for what you've decided, so I need to hear what your choice is."
"Well, you certainly did not leave me very appealing selections," Meiran snorted, her golden, dark eyes narrowing. "Of course, I would rather exist as long as I can. But then, I have no guarantee how long you will actually be willing to keep me alive after I have given you what you want."
The corner of his mouth curling up, the blonde chuckled, "That would be a matter of trust that needs to be established between us. However, I would not hold myself responsible should there be an... unfortunate accident should you run into the wrong Other. In case you have not already noticed, my minions are not particularly thrilled with your kind."
At that, the Infected smirked, "Ah, yes, something that I must compliment you on. You have created quite the establishment on lies and fear. Had I not been given the time you gave me, I would have remained convinced that there were Vampire Rogues that were claiming human victims for the last string of attacks on the mortals. But low and behold, I came to piece together you brilliant scheme to use your own in enlisting new Others."
Solo did his very best to not appear irritated or surprised by her assessment. He even kept his smile in tact. However, there was that tiny flicker in his silver-and-violet eyes that told Meiran he was not happy.
Only encouraged by that, the beauty folded her hands behind her back as she continued, "After a while, you would have had to tell some of your creations that the Rogues had gone quiet, but the threat was still very real."
With a shrug, the immortal went on, "The only way to keep more unique humans as they had once been safe was to convince them that they were nothing more than a game leading up to a meal for the Vampires. Once you turned them, those former mortals became so devout to you that they would be endeared to you like mindless puppets."
"But no simple living would suit you," Meiran giggled, her feet moving so that she could slowly pace around her captor. She shook her head, "No, you needed future Companions. Because, while every detail regarding those humans and their bond are still a mysteries, you knew that there must be something special in all of them. And somehow you are able to bring that quality out in them when they are turned, giving them their powers."
Opening her arms as she continued to walk around her now glaring host, she laughed, "What better way to begin dwindling down both the human race and Vampires? The Infected tied to the mortals you turn are suddenly lost and quickly fade away to nothingness. With their deaths, the ties between them and their Other is severed and the creature left behind no longer cares even for their own well-being. Their only wish is to serve and even perish for you and your cause."
As she came to a halt before the hybrid, the Infected raised her hands and slowly applauded him, the sound of her claps echoing off the walls.
"Bravo," she chuckled deeply. "Never would any of the Preventers be able to figure this one out before it was too late... before your numbers were so amassed that no living or Vampire would be able to stop you from raining down a peril the likes of which they have never seen. They would either have to swear fidelity towards you as their ruler or die."
Tilting her head, the beauty frowned, "What I have yet to figure out is how and why your brother is so important. Clearly, you are not as strong or clever as you think yourself to be if you need him so badly."
In a blink, her back was crushed against the wall that had been several feet behind her.
His hands gripping her shoulders tightly as he held her against the cracked brick, Solo's fiery eyes glowed as he leaned I close and hissed, "I. Need. No one! My only wish was to share in this rise into a new world with Duo, the only real family I have."
Pulling a deep breath, he growled, "However, if I come to find that he is against me, I would not so much as blink in hesitation over destroying him with my bare hands. As my twin, he has talents of his own. I need to know what those abilities are and if he intends to use them with me or against me, as I am likely the only creature that can rid the world of him if I must."
Duo Maxwell. Quite possibly one of the strongest beings to ever walk the Earth. Such a thing was nearly impossible for Meiran to work around in her head... especially after having spent time with the pathetic living. It was nearly comical for anyone to believe that he could wield any power the likes of which his twin was suggesting.
Not about to let her personal feelings towards her enemy get in the way of what she had to do, the raven-haired Vampire ignored the pain coursing through her body to grin, "Well, then, I am very sad to inform you that he is not very likely to side with you. As fate would have it, your dear brother is tied to not only one of my own, but an Original."
At last, she earned a real reaction of shock and horror from her captor. His eyes widening, Solo stumbled back a few steps. "You're lying," he breathed. Glaring heatedly anew at his prisoner, he screamed, "I am going to tear you apart myself for this!"
In a bolt, he materialized at the door to throw it open and cry out, "Dorothy! Rachel!"
Within seconds, the Seer appeared with the child in her arms. Looking on her Master worriedly, the lovely woman stepped inside with her little charge as he closed the door behind him. Snapping a finger in a wordless order for attention, the hybrid opened his arms to take the redheaded little one into his own care.
The smile on Solo's face came on with strain from his part as he looked on the freckle-faced youth to reassure her. Stalking towards the Infected, that grin slipped away and he demanded, "Tell her exactly what you just told me."
Matching his glare, Meiran stated slowly and clearly, "Duo is tied to a Vampire. An Original named Heero Yuy." Her frustration growing, she took a deep breath to add, "I have to add that they are quite inseparable."
Rachel's silvered eyes grew. "She's telling the truth, Master," she whispered, facing the hybrid with a panic in her eyes. "Every word."
An unintelligible sound broke from Solo at the confirmation of his worst fears. Dorothy was at his side in a blink, taking the girl back into her arms lest her stricken Creator drop her. Just as taken aback by the announcement, she breathed, "I... I am so sorry, Sire."
Closing his eyes, Solo raised a hand to stop her from speaking any more. Too beside himself to have anything more process in his reeling mind, he shook his head and began to pace back and forth across the room.
"If there is any hope of possibly sparing your brother, it would have to be through fear of what could happen to him and everyone he loves," Meiran declared. "And I have a plan that just might work... if nothing else, it would be a very good message to send him of what you are capable of should he try and stand against you. Simply approaching him would never work. However, you and I could work together in this."
Her wide eyes blinking, Rachel looked to her Creator and told him, "That's the truth, too, Master. She wants to help."
The hybrid paused in his steps and waited a moment with his back to his company before he approached his hostage again. "This plan had better include everyone he is close to," he snarled when he stopped before the Vampire. "Fear certainly is a very strong force in convincing and swaying minds."
Smirking, Meiran nodded, "I want a guarantee to be allowed to walk away from here once my plan is carried out and I will disclose all of those names and places that your Seer cannot find because of Duo's gift. Not only that, but I will give you the man that provides the weapons to the Preventers that I know have been such a thorn in your side for so long, as well as where you can find his base."
At that, Solo glanced from the corner of his eye at the little redhead for a verification of what was being offered. Hugging Dorothy's leg with one arm and her doll with the other, Rachel nodded up to him.
"In addition to my being allowed to go unharmed through all of this, there is one other thing that I want before I agree to give you that information," the Infected smiled in a sing-song. "He is someone I have been looking forward to making the acquaintance of for a long time now, and I am very interested in seeing just how good your Seer is at finding people. The sooner he is brought to me the sooner we can move this plan into action."
Her captor stepped back, laughing, "And you think that you are actually in the position of making such demands?!"
Raising an eyebrow, Meiran shrugged, "Who else is there that can help you as I can? How could you devise gaining the knowledge that I have when none of your pets can touch Duo or anyone who happens to be around him? You would be missing out on a great opportunity to have everything that you could possibly want... your brother and anyone who would stand in your way of getting to him."
Now that was something that not even the hybrid could argue against. A thoughtful look crossing his face, he rubbed his chin. It was pretty obvious that he had not expected this change of events that made the Infected so important to his cause.
Taking a deep breath, Solo turned towards Dorothy and ordered, "Find whoever it is she is looking for."
Her onyx-and-gold eyes blinking, Meiran smirked to herself.
* * * * * *
"Interesting," Wufei muttered after he punched a couple keys at his computer station. Sitting back in his chair, he announced, "The last bit of security put onto this involves a series of personal questions. Once I log the answers in, whatever medium is on the disk will be opened right away."
Sitting on the edge of the desk behind his brother-in-law, Duo leaned forward to look closer at the monitor. The questions being asked were meant only for him to be able to answer... and the answers would have only been known by his parents if they really knew him in the time that they were together.
Beside the Companion, Heero shifted close. "Still up for this?" he questioned softly as he rested a hand on his lover's thigh for support. Chang peered over his shoulder for the response, scaly fingers already hovering over his keyboard at the ready.
"Yea," Maxwell nodded firmly to his Vampire with a small smile. "I'm ready." On that cue, Wufei tuned his chair so that he could read the questions aloud and type in his brother's responses.
Covering everything from his favorite color and board game to the first animal that he brought home with him, the personal inquiries all brought back some of the fonder times that Duo had with his parents. And with that, he couldn't help but think that maybe they really did love him if they took the time to commit those things to their memory.
Finally, Chang read the last question aloud, "Lastly, what was your parents' favorite color?"
The braided Companion blinked at that as he recalled how his guardians made sure to tell him that time and time again when he was young. Nothing about that seemed odd at the time, but now he saw the profound importance around their constant sharing of that small detail.
"Crimson," Maxwell responded quietly.
Dutifully typing the answer in, the scaly Vampire clicked the 'Enter' key and rose from his chair so that the hybrid could take his place close to the tiling screen on the monitor.
Stepping back, Chang joined Trowa, Midi, Relena and Quatre behind Heero as they all took in the image that was materializing to reveal a video recording of a lovely young woman with long, blonde hair and green eyes sitting beside a handsome gentleman bearing blue eyes and short, brown hair.
In a breath, Duo whispered, "John and Carla." A lump formed in his throat at seeing his parents for the first time since the Harvest at which they sacrificed themselves. Suddenly realizing that he used their first names instead of calling them 'mom and dad,' it now struck how their last letter had affected him.
They were every bit as striking a couple as the former living remembered, even with the smiles on their faces appearing a bit sad. "Hello, son," the young man greeted in that warm and deep voice of his. "I am sure that by now you have a lot of questions and I hope that we can provide the answers to all of those for you."
Carla bit her lip before she frowned deeply, "At this time, you must realize that John and I have not been the most honest of people towards you. And it pains us to have to tell you the secrets that we had to keep in this manner, but please believe me that this was the only way."
Her husband reached over to take the blonde's hand and squeezed it as their gazes locked for a brief moment. Drawing a deep breath, he peered to the camera once more, informing, "We were just newlyweds when we first met you the day that you were born in the lab where we were stationed as scientists to the military."
Clearing his throat, John went on, "The base had been set up the moment your birth mother was discovered to be well along in her pregnancy when she and your living father had tried to sneak away from the country. They knew that should your mother's condition ever be revealed, they and their unborn would be in danger... seeing as how this was the first case of a Vampire being able to not only reproduce, but to breed with a human."
"Your true mother's name was Isabel," Carla smiled sadly with a hitch in her voice. "And she was as sweet and beautiful as any Infected I had the privilege of meeting. When she was captured... I was charged to look after her primarily, to run a battery of tests every day to discover how she had evolved so far ahead of her kind that she was able to bear children."
Swallowing roughly, the lovely scientist murmured, "And imagine our surprise when it was determined that she was not only carrying one baby, but two."
His violet-and-silver eyes widening, Duo's lungs filled with a sharp gasp that was echoed by the ones around him. Heero tightened his hand on his lover's thigh, reeling from his own shock at the new information.
Carla's bright green eyes began to water and she looked to her husband for help when a whimper broke from her. A sad and loving smile spread across John's face as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"At first, we were all led to believe that the government's intent was to only learn what they could of the progression of Vampire evolution," he sighed to the camera. "We thought that there would be tests leading to the delivery and maybe not long after your delivery, but then you would all be released. Your parents were convinced of that as well."
Shaking his head, the tall scientist groaned, "But once you and Solo were born... after a few blood samples were scanned, we were all too soon aware that there was never such an intention. You and your brother were to be kept at the lab for as long as you lived to be made lab rats that could possibly be trained to become weapons due to the unique findings in your blood work."
'Weapons?' the Companion thought to himself.
Numb, Duo stared in disbelief over everything that was being revealed as Carla sobbed, "Your mother and father were beside themselves and attempted to escape with you and Solo. But... they were outnumbered and cut down by security before they could get far. Those monsters never even hesitated in killing them! John and I were there to see the whole thing."
With his emotions catching up, her husband's eyes began to shimmer as he implored, "You have to believe that neither one of us had any idea that anything horrible would come of you or your parents. That night... we came together to plan an escape of our own. Because we knew the base so well, we knew the schedules of the guards and the back hallways that few people traveled."
Able to pull herself together at last, Carla wiped at the tears on her face with the back of her hand. Sniffling, she informed, "The plan was to take you and Solo away. But... when the only window of opportunity was opened for us to move, you and your brother were separated. We were so afraid that we wouldn't have another chance that we took you and ran while we could. And we have been running with you ever since."
That was why they never stayed in one place for long. His eyes growing, Maxwell thought of how often they would move from city to city. They always managed to linger somewhere long enough before the national counts of residents would have happened.
By sneaking away at just the right time, they had managed to go on undetected, unreported for the government to ever know of their whereabouts. No one searching for them would have known where to begin their hunt.
"In the end," John frowned, "We became aware that we could only remain hidden for so long. The times of registrations around the world are tightening. Eventually, we would have been discovered by the men that have no doubt been looking for you to this day. They're looking for the three of us... they would never think to search only for you."
Straightening himself, he kept his head high as he declared, "We knew that we were forfeiting our own lives when we stole you away. There will be no trial for us, only our executions. And we've decided that it was time that you were reunited with your kind... as you have more Vampire in your makeup than living. They'll protect you, know how to bring you up in this world that has been all too cruel to you."
The blonde scientist spoke up, "As for what the results of your blood work were that drew the interest of our superiors, we were never disclosed that information. However, we do know that something in you is going to be needed by the Vampires... while Solo's will be desired by the living. That is all we have."
Raising a hand, her husband took on a serious air as he stated, "As for your brother, if our superiors have had their way with him... I am afraid that there will be little of him that can be spared. Should he have survived the experiments run on him, it will be very unlikely that his soul remained in tact. My personal advice is to not try and seek him out. For as powerful as you two could be, there is the possibility that a meeting between you now would be very dangerous."
Moved as though he only now saw this as the last goodbye that they would have, John's throat moved in a rough swallow. "In the box, we have left a diary that bears pictures and entries left by your mother in her happier days leading to your birth. And the locket we left with an image of your birth parents who had given their lives for you and your brother. It's only right that you get to know the wonderful creatures that they were."
Carla gave a shaky smile, whispering, "We love you so much, Duo. And though it's not right of us to call ourselves your mother and father, you have always been our son to us. You were nothing but a joy to us in the time we were blessed to have had you. Everything we have done was only done to serve your best interest. We have become liabilities to your safety, so we have to disappear for good to protect you."
Nodding shallowly, the handsome man said, "It would be more than understandable if you hated us for our lies and secrets. But wherever we are, we'll continue to love and watch after you, Duo. I hope that in time, you can come to forgive us and we both hope that you find happiness in the rest of your existence." Waving as his wife blew a tearful kiss to the camera, he breathed, "Goodbye, son."
The video died off to reveal a black screen.
With a huff of air that he had been holding, the Companion hunched forward as his face was drenched with tears. "Mom... Dad," he wailed quietly. Biting his lip, Heero wrapped his arms around his lover to pull him into a tight embrace. The hybrid held back just as fiercely as he buried his face into a strong shoulder.
Finally having the whole story behind his past, all that Duo could do was wish that he'd had more time with his parents... both pairs as now he truly loved Carla and John as his mother and father after what they had sacrificed for him. whatever anger he had initially felt towards them was forever lifted from him
Midi and Trowa were by their cousins' sides with Wufei close behind to offer their support. Wiping at her shimmering eyes with one hand, the 'little mother' rubbed the braided immortal's trembling back.
Hurting as he was for his good friend, Quatre's mind was running over and over what the scientists had said in the video. Duo had something that the Vampires would need. He could be a weapon of some sort... all of it had to be tied to Heero's growing strength. It couldn't all have been a coincidence.
Winner never believed in coincidences.
A thought coming to him, the geneticist silently worked out a few theories in his mind to the missing link that was Maxwell's existence. One particular possibility was very... eye opening. And it would have to be tested very soon to see if it was true or not.
Gently patting Relena's back as the Infected sniffled and dried her eyes, Quatre gave her a sad smile. Gently ushering her from the room, he met Barton and Chang's eyes and silently gestured with his head for them to follow him from the office.
Slipping away silently, Trowa and Wufei shared a confused glance but fell into step behind their friends and closed the door behind them when they stepped into the hallway. "What's going on?" the Latin Vampire asked softly, his voice thick with the emotions that had caught up with him over his cousin's loss.
His hands lifting to fold together before his mouth, Quatre took a deep breath. "I might be able to help Duo discover exactly what his parents said made him so special," he stated as he lowered his arms. "But I am going to need blood samples from the both of you to run a few tests. If we could, I'd like to get back to my gear so that I can get to work as soon as possible."
Their golden eyes blinking, the Infected exchanged another glance. The opportunity to help Duo was not something that either of them were about to pass up on. Smirking to one another, they nodded firmly.
Wufei looked onto the scientist to tell him, "Lead the way."
TBC...
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