A Life's Time Part 12
Duo glanced at his watch. Sixteen hundred hours. The New Intelligence would strike in twenty-one hours, tomorrow afternoon, at fifteen hundred hours, three pm. Same place as last time, most likely with a much larger fleet. He poked his dinner around as he tried to concentrate on Wufei's words. Now was not the time to do anything else but pay attention to the battle plan. He should not, could not, be thinking about Heero; or Lily. Knowing how hard it was for Wufei and Sally not to mention the girl or Heero, Duo made no complaint and began to offer his input for the impending battle.
~*~
Heero lay in bed. It was only six in the evening and his dinner shift would not happen for another hour. Lily lay at his side, dozing. He touched her hair lightly, but despite the fact that it had been braided by Duo, it was a poor substitute for his lover's long mass of chestnut. He reflected on his last hour with Duo in which Lily had made herself scarce by slipping into his bathroom for a long bath. She took her laptop with her, informing the two men that she would be going over the damage left by the enemy as she soaked away her fear. They both knew that she was giving them time to be alone and that after the events of less than an hour prior, the last thing she wanted to be was alone.
**Flashback**
"Duo." The man lay in Heero's arms and they were simply holding each other. "I wish I could fight by your side."
"You will be," Duo whispered. "Telling me how to kick their butts along with Lily."
Heero shook his head. "I don't want to be that far away. Twenty miles, Duo. Twenty miles." Heero had never felt so insecure and that showed to Duo, further proving that the Japanese man was changing.
"Heero, we don't have a choice." Duo drew abstract patterns on Heero's chest. "This is Wufei's and my fight now. If they know you're out there, they will target you and you won't stand a chance. They will feel the wrath of Shinigami and they'll never hurt what belongs to the God of Death. Never again."
"Don't be reckless, Duo. Promise me."
"I'll try, but you know how I am on those fighters," Duo teased. "Besides, Heero, you've got to stay and keep Lily company. She'll be scared if she's all alone."
"I know, but I just wish, still." Heero knew there wasn't more he could say and he buried his face into Duo's hair. "You have to come back to me. I've decided you know. When I walked away from you with Lily earlier, I knew that I'd change every bad habit you find about me as long as I get to stay by your side. You have to come back."
Duo made no promise. They had experienced war before and making such a promise was a useless thing to do. He slid his hand up to cup Heero's cheek.
"Remember, Heero, the first time we met?"
Heero snorted. "You shot me. Twice."
"And then Relena made me out to be the bad guy," Duo laughed. "And then I tried to save you from Sally, but you ended up stealing my Gundam's parts for your own."
Heero chuckled with him. "I told you I could handle it and it wouldn't take a miracle."
"Yea, but it was a pretty low blow to do that."
"Sorry." Heero nuzzled Duo.
"Sorry? That won't cut it. I'll remember this and make sure it's on your tab."
"Duo," Heero growled. "I was being sincere."
"I know." Duo shifted and pressed his lips against Heero's neck. "Know what, Heero?"
"What?"
"I think..." Duo shifted again and looked into Heero's cobalt eyes. Heero found himself drowning in Duo's violet eyes. He could stare into them forever. "I think...I love you." There were no lies in his eyes, but Duo Maxwell never lied. Here could see nothing but trust, fear, love and longing in the violet depths. Instinctively, he knew the admission had nothing to do with the fact that Duo was about to walk off to a battle without Heero. The trust was for each other, for the truth of their words and beings in the past weeks together. The fear was for leaving, for having to leave. The love for each other and then longing, the longing for everything to be over so they would never leave each other again. He hoped that Duo could read the same emotions from his eyes.
"Aishiteru, Duo." He pulled the man down for a gentle kiss.
They broke the kiss shortly, content to lie in each other's arms. "Taking my old watch with you?" Heero asked after the long silence.
"Yes," Duo chuckled. "Even though I didn't usually wear watches and such in my other battles."
The bathroom door opened and Lily's voice drifted out. "Can I come out?" Duo chuckled again. It was then that they remembered the bathroom was not equipped with a bath but a shower.
"Come on out baby girl."
Lily emerged and she placed the laptop on the desk before she allowed Duo to pull her down between them. "I checked the scanner, Duo. I hooked it up to the same port as Wufei's and it worked. I scanned myself and the data showed up. Just install it to your fighter before you speak to Wufei and don't mention it."
"How silly of us Heero," Duo murmured. "The dorm bathrooms aren't equipped with bathtubs." He turned to Lily. "Okay, I'll get it installed."
"Hn." Heero nodded at the fact, then figured that Lily had sat in there to give them time alone.
"Duo?" she whispered softly.
"What is it Lilykins?"
"You'll be careful, won't you?"
"I'll do my best. I'll try to make sure Wufei is safe too."
"Okay." She leaned her forehead against his chest. "You have to come back because you have to apologize to Wufei in front of me, for the smiley faces in his document."
"Okay spoilsport." Duo ruffled her hair. "Want me to braid this?"
"Sure." The three of them sat up and Duo efficiently braided the girl's hair, using one of the elastics around her wrist to secure it. "There."
"I wish my hair could be as long as yours," she said wistfully. "Like Mama's."
"It will. You just have to give it some time."
"I don't have time." She furrowed her brows.
"Why not?" Duo ruffled her bangs.
"I've defied time," she murmured.
"Oh?" Heero remembered Duo's mentioning of time and how controlled he felt by the concept. "How did you do that?"
"I shot a man and helped to kill him today," Lily whispered. "So I ended his life earlier, than if I had not. Technically, then he would have died when the detonation went off. So I defied time that way. Time is life, isn't it?"
Heero glanced at Duo. "Don't think about that Lily," he said. "You shot him out of self defense. You have nothing to worry about."
Lily clutched Duo to herself. "I wish there's another way to defy time. Then I wouldn't feel so sick."
"Don't say that Lily." Duo pulled back to look at the girl. "You didn't do anything wrong, you hear me? I shot the man and he fell. By falling, he killed himself. Got it?"
Lily saw the clear tone in Duo's voice. "I believe you, Duo." She touched his cheek. "Be careful out there," she repeated again.
"I will," he promised again.
"Heero, Lady Une is requesting communication." Rika broke their conversation.
"Put her through," Heero answered.
"Duo?" The woman's face flashed onto the screen. "Please grab your belongings from your dorm and come to my office."
"Yes ma'am! I'll just run to my designated fighter and install a scanner first. I won't be mentioning it at all." Lady Une nodded and the visual blinked black. Duo turned back to the two on the bed. "Gotta run, folks," he quipped, dropping a kiss on Lily's forehead. "Be careful too," he warned them. He leaned forward and gave Heero a longer kiss, mumbling 'love you' against his lips. With a flick of his braid, he was gone.
Lily turned back to Heero. "I miss him already," she said with a lopsided smile. "Just like Wufei."
"Me too Lily." Heero hesitantly hugged the girl. "Me too."
**End Flashback**
"Heero?"
Heero looked down at the sleepy voice as Lily rubbed her eyes. "Time for dinner?"
"In a few minutes."
"Then can we go to the sims? I still want to try out what you wanted to do earlier. Lady Une sent me an email when I was in the bath earlier and she said that you and I should be back in dorms by ten because some of the pilots will be doing last minute training in the sims and things and the two of us are in major quarantine now. Then, the troops will leave for the submarine early tomorrow morning and we will be free to move around."
"Okay." Heero nodded, swinging his feet off the bed to put his shoes on.
"Heero?"
"Hm?" Heero finished lacing up his shoes and turned back to the girl.
"I don't think I'll have to go back to the Dark Room ever again."
Heero nodded. "Let's hope not," he murmured. "Come on, lace up, wash up and we'll grab a bit of dinner, then put the sims idea to use."
Half an hour later they were settled in the sims hooked up to each other. Seeing that just like him, Lily had no real appetite for dinner, Heero hadn't bothered to force the girl to eat and suggested instead that they hop to the sims, then turn in early if possible. While Lily did not know how to use the sims, she sat within it so that she could communicate with Heero. They had decided that Heero would make his moves and that Lily would simply call out her tactics and Heero would state whether or not they had worked. For safety precautions, Heero ensured that Lily was properly strapped in and made sure that the AI was functional in one of the screens of her simulator.
"Remember, when we're done, wait for me to come back and get you." Heero warned.
"Okay, I'll remember." She stuck her tongue out at him. Heero rolled his eyes then left the girl. She fidgeted, disliking being alone, but it didn't take long for Heero to hop into the next sim and get strapped in. He started their communications.
"All right in there?" he asked.
"All right," she nodded at him.
"Okay. Remember what I said about getting into the air?"
Lily nodded and selected the proper buttons. In a moment, her visuals changed from the hangar to a sky.
"I hope this will work without Duo," Heero said. "But I'll keep returning to the front of your plane before each move, all right? This is just an exercise," he reminded her.
"Okay." She read the scan of Heero. Within the simulator, his fighter had barely begun to move and she was already speaking, knowing that Heero wanted to use his fighter to throw hers off balance by flying close above her left wing and cause her to veer to the right. "Tilt down left and make a swoop to meet you with missiles."
"Check."
She watched as his plane moved back in front of her. She had expected that, not only because he had told her that he would, but also because she could tell by his statistics. Knowing he would make a head charge while firing his shots, she spoke again. "Drop my fighter down just to the left and spin it, firing as you shoot by."
"Check."
He returned to the front of her fighter again and she thought quickly before speaking. He was going to drop much lower under her, to her left, and try to come up behind. She spoke. "Turn my fighter 180, dip right wing for turn and meet you head on."
"Check."
Over and over they tried various tactics before they called it quits after just over an hour. Obediently, Lily waited until Heero had arrived to power down the simulator from the outside and help her out.
"How was it?"
"You're quick," Heero said as he walked with the girl towards the elevators that would lead to their dorms. "We only know that we need to surprise the enemy head on and that the main leaders should cut in quickly for kills. We must read those, because they are the most dangerous and they will most likely aim for Wufei and Duo. They are our priority, at this moment."
Lily nodded. "Heero, can I stay with you? I really don't want to be alone tonight."
"To tell you the truth Lily, I don't want to be alone either."
~*~
Duo tucked his hand under his head as he stared at the ceiling. Sleep would do him good, but the adrenaline was already running strong. There would only be five hours of sleep before he had to get up and go to the submarine. After the final briefing, the battle would not be far off. He tried not to think of Lily and Heero, or the fact that he had to stick to formation as much as possible after they went in for the surprise, quick attacks. There would be just over three hundred people ready to fight tomorrow, including some of the military who were training with the Preventers, though they were all sworn to the secrecy of the battle. Duo rolled over, trying to will himself to sleep. It felt strange to him to be alone in a bed, another foreign one, made even harder to adapt to without Heero at his side. He cursed himself for being attached right before a battle when another memory flashed into his mind.
/When you're attached before a battle, it encourages you to act rationally and in any way possible, live for that attachment./
He smiled in the dark and closed his eyes. /I don't intend to lose, Heero,/ he thought. /I'll be back soon./
~*~
Wufei opened an eye from his meditation and lifted his hand, dangling Lily's locket from its chain.
/Nataku, keep her safe. For all that she is doing in the Dark Room on behalf of us, keep her safe./
He wondered what the girl was doing, just briefly. After all, the AI couldn't read every one of his thoughts, could it? Glancing at the time, he decided that he should force himself to get some sleep. Lying down after clasping the necklace around his neck, he closed his eyes.
**Flashback**
"What's that you're wearing around your neck, Fei?" Lily asked, kneeling on the chair next to the Chinese man.
"Jade." Wufei pulled the necklace out, showing off a green pendant. "You could say it's my lucky charm." It was shaped simply like a donut. "I've had it since I was born." He made a note at the back of his mind to get one for the girl as her next birthday gift. It would be meaningful and he would most certainly be honored if the girl chose to wear it always.
"I have a lucky charm too." Lily pulled the necklace out from under her shirt. It was long on her and on the end dangled a circular object with a flower, a lily, he noticed, on the top. "Nurse told me that before Mama got too sick, she asked her to get this made. When Nurse got it done, Mama herself put it around my neck. I can't remember it though."
"What's inside?" Wufei gently took the pendant and examined the exterior before he tugged it open.
"Mama's picture."
The inside of the locket was empty.
**End Flashback**
/One day Lily, I'll bring you back to see your Mama. Nataku let me keep this promise./
~*~
"Heero?" Lily patted the man's stomach lightly.
"Hm?" Lily was sleeping by the wall, but she had turned to face him. He had done the same, intending to watch her fall asleep before he did the same.
"Do you think I could leave base for some time after this crisis?"
"I don't know," Heero said thoughtfully. "Did you go out before?"
"I've been to Sally's house, and Wufei's. And Sally took me shopping. She said I earned money here and that's what she used to buy me some clothes. But since Wufei found you at his doorstep and moved here, I haven't been allowed to leave the base."
"What do you want to do?"
"Duo told me about amusement parks. I think riding in the fighter with Duo was the most fun and most exciting ride anyway, but I want to eat some cotton candy. Duo made it sound good. Heero, you think I made enough money to go to an amusement park?"
"Of course." Heero's mouth quirked at the thought. Even if she wasn't actually getting a payroll, if she wanted to go the amusement park Heero was sure Wufei wouldn't mind footing the bill. It didn't cost much for a child's ticket, much less for her to get cotton candy along with it.
"I want to try cotton candy and fly to space, to look at stars and constellations like Duo taught me. I want to ride a bicycle, see the circus and meet Trowa and Quatre. Then I would know all of the Gundam Pilots. I want to have a pet."
"You want many things," Heero pointed out. She nodded.
"Heero, if I asked you to, do you think you would break the law for me?"
"What?" Heero blinked at the girl whom he could see given the dim lights of the room. "Why would you want me to break the law?"
"Well, you're good at...breaking in." She shrugged and took his hand, shaking it gently. "I read in stories and saw in movies that some people pay others to break the law for them. But I don't know how much money I have. I'll give it all to you if you help me this once."
"What do you want me to do?" Heero asked curiously.
"Do you think you could take me and sneak past security in my old home and climb up to the window so I can see Mama?"
Heero brushed her hair from her cheek so he could see her eyes better. "I can't answer you that," Heero said honestly. "Lily, I can't risk getting caught. That would mean jail time for me, and I can't afford that, not when I have Duo and you guys."
"You're right," Lily nodded. "I was just asking."
"You want to talk about her?" he asked after a moment, albeit hesitantly. "About what you remember of your Mama?"
"I don't remember much," she answered with a shrug of one shoulder. "Just that she had pretty blue eyes and really long hair. But she didn't braid it like Duo. It lay around her like a curtain."
"You know what, Lilykins?" Heero tried out the nickname that Duo was increasingly becoming fond of. "I'm sure if your Mama saw you right now, she'd be real proud of you." He knew that those words were something that Duo would surely say to the small girl.
"That sounds like something Duo would say. I like Lilykins too." She voiced the thought. "But I think if Mama saw me now and saw that you, Duo and Wufei were taking care of me, she'd be really happy too." She sighed at the thought. "Does it make you sad that I talk about my Mama? Duo told me that he, and you, don't remember yours."
Heero let the girl see his smile. "No, it doesn't make me sad," he answered. "The old me, I guess, would say that I didn't need my mother, I don't remember her. But now, I know that without her, I wouldn't be here. But hearing you talk about your Mama makes me happy, because it was thanks to her that we have you here now."
Lily smiled. "You're right." She tugged the blanket closer under her chin and lapsed into silence, her eyes closing before Heero had the chance to tell her to try and get some sleep. After a while though, the hand was patting his stomach lightly again. "Heero?"
"Hm?" Heero tucked his arm under his head.
"Would you be my teddy bear tonight?" she asked in a small voice. "I feel cold."
"Okay," Heero agreed after a moment. They shifted closer together and he felt her forearm rest along his side, her hand gripping the sleeve of his t-shirt. He draped his arm around the girl's shoulders, surprised that it didn't feel as awkward as he thought it would. She wiggled close and leaned her forehead against his chest.
"Goodnight, Heero."
"Goodnight, Lily."
Strangely enough, the two slipped easily into Morpheus' world, the small girl dreaming of her lovely mother and Heero dreaming of his braided lover.
~*~
At a well-hidden base that was an old and unused airport, Red sat in his office, swirling a glass of wine as he looked at the not-quite full moon and a sinister smile crossed his face.
"Tomorrow, I will become the ruler of the Earth and colonies," he said, taking a sip of his drink. "Tomorrow, I will make my mark in history and mankind will bow to me."
He stood and raised his glass. "Sleep well, Preventers. Tomorrow, Chang Wufei and Duo Maxwell will join Heero Yuy in the pits of Hell." He squeezed his fist and the glass shattered, falling onto the ground. His eyes glittered in the dark.
"Tomorrow."
TBC...
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