Genre: This chappie is...well, general, i guess...
Rating: PG this chappie...i think...
Couples: hinted 4XD this chappie
Really, to sum it up, it's just the beginning, intro to things.
Chapter 1
A faint hum resonated in the gloom, awakening him out of the gracious darkness of sleep. A bright silver string streaked across his vision, and some indefinable source plucked it, jerking the strand backward and away from his perspective. Slowly, he reached out to touch it, his mind wondering what the texture of such a translucent material would be like. As his fingers reached outward, the silver strip of light began to race closer, and the light it cast shocked him, blinding him with its purity. Then, as his eyes adjusted, he saw the gun in his hand. It fit there perfectly, though he could not feel it under the sweaty skin of his palm; he could not sense the cold metal pressing against his finger. But it was there and it gave him courage.
Suddenly, out of the bright whiteness, her face came. Her features were blurred, smudged by the silvery light and her face seemed to be casting the light itself, creating it and shining if forth. It blinded him to look directly at the sharp glow. He forgot about the gun in his right hand.
Careful to keep his eyes unfocused, he found they traveled directly to her lips. As if she sensed his gaze, they curved beautifully. So close? So close and yet so far from his grasp. The white teeth betrayed by the unveiling of her lips shone bright in the light, each gleaming sweetly. He was fascinated by the fact that her canines had curved into sharp points, like wolf teeth.
Her form took shape, slowly materializing out of the bright light, though not contrasting the background. The deep, faint hum continued, occasionally catching and bouncing in its chant. All he could do was stand silent, watching her lips curve to speak, to materialize words, though he could hear nothing. Nothing but the deep humming rattle of his dreams.
Then, a jolt shook his form. Pain broke and crested in a crimson flow from his breast. Silver emerged there, so unnatural yet so familiar, already darkened with the color of his blood. His eyes, though still focused on her face, could see the blood trailing darkly over the shining hilt. A soft cry of betrayal threatened to break forth from his lips, though he could not hear if it welled up from its restraints. Only the deep hum resonated in his ears.
Then, his eyes suddenly were able to focus on her face. Each aspect came together with startling sharpness, as if everything he saw was unfocused before. All he could do was stare in horror. Her face, still so beautiful, so pale, contrasted her turquoise depths. And, as he watched her, he saw that her eyes were not longer that beautiful color, but black, black as night, as he was being sucked into them. Down, down, down into the depths of the blackness, and the hum took form as rolling, cynical laughter. It surrounded his being, sucking him down as the blackness in his soul swelled and rose, threatening to consume him from the inside.
* * * *
Heero sat up, sweat rolling down his ashen face. His breaths came hoarse and rough, contrasting the echo of the maniacal laughter that he could still hear reverberating in his mind. A shiver swept his form, and the Japanese man clutched the sheets close to his waist. Slowly, he lowered his head and rocked back and forth on the red material.
His dark eyes opened abruptly, staring blankly at the surface directly in front of his face. Blinking once, the man cleared his vision and sat up again, releasing his hold of the sheets. The material freed by his right hand was wet, stained crimson in the darkness. As if to check that her presence was not nearby, Heero's sharp eyes darted back and forth in his small room before he grunted and rolled out of the large bed.
This was not the first time he had had a nightmare, and this was not the first time for him to have experienced this particular one either. At the beginning, the frequency was few and far between, but now?now it was almost every night. And because the dream had come, the man knew he would not sleep again until the lights of L4 were darkened to simulate dusk. There was really nothing to do until then.
Leaving the forlorn shape of his laptop sitting still and alone on the mahogany table, Heero stepped out into the dark hall, not bothering to cover his bare torso. Somewhere deep in the giant house, the grandfather clock tolled three times, then once. The deep, ringing notes rolled and bounced through the darkened rooms and hallways, sending an eerie message suitable for that time of night. 3:15 AM, his military mind quickly calculated.
As he passed a friendly nightlight, the deep concaves of Heero's face were shadowed black, leaving him featureless like some walking skull atop a fleshy demon. The nightlight, placed in the hallways for Quatre Winner's visitors, was far more useful for himself than those intended. The man did not need them though; he could walk these corridors at night blindfolded.
The Gundam Pilot of Sandrock had welcomed Heero with open arms when he arrived, and now, only in passing acknowledged the man's existence. Perhaps his image was a fleeting, translucent one?
With such directionless thoughts, Heero wandered aimlessly, threading his way through the darkened, sleepy household, dreading the awakening of the other occupants just as he dreaded nightfall. He dreaded it because with the dimming of the lights came the vision.
The dream was wrong. Everything about it was wrong. Everything he felt in it was wrong. And that wrongness shook him to his very soul. Every night, every recurring nightmare that came to him, made that blackness inside him grow. It pressed outward on his ribcage, forcing each breath to be utter agony. It pulled at his insides as if the density of the shadow was too great for his Perfect Soldier body to withstand. It hurt more than anything else he had ever experienced, and he wanted it to go away. Defeating enemies had always been Heero's specialty, but how could he do it when the enemy was inside of himself?
* * * *
Boisterous laughter rang down the hallways, causing a faint shiver to chase its way up Heero's spine. He almost began wonder if he were asleep again, though he realized in passing that the voice was male.
"Mr. Winner! It's wonderful to see you again!" Heero watched from the shadows in the small office with unbridled fascination as the large, red-faced man rose to shake Quatre's hand. Something about his eyes struck the Pilot; the entirety of both the eyes was clouded with a soft, blue light.
"Do sit down." Quatre indicated the chair.
"Thank'ye kindly, sir." The man grunted and huffed as he slid his fat body down into the indicated chair. "I wanted to discuss trade agreements, Mr. Winner, though I reckon you already know about all that riff-raff."
Quatre smiled warmly, though his turquoise depths flashed in distrust. "Yes, I do know, though you make it sound like two countries making a peace treaty. Simple business is all I'm interested in. Oh, Ms. Haworth, would you pour us some tea? Thankyou."
Heero stood in the background, his form blended into the wall. The maid merely tossed him a vapid glance as she returned with the said tea on a china tray; all the house workers were familiar with him. The woman set down the tray, curtsied to the fat man and left quickly as though she did not want to be there any longer than necessary.
A small flask was extracted from the fat man's waistcoat pocket, and the gentleman made a great show of pouring the substance it contained into the his cup by unscrewing the cap carefully and gently tipping the flask downward to the hot tea, transferring an azure liquid to the mug, careful not to spill a drop. Once in the cup, the man swirled the mixture cautiously before sipping. The strong smell of cinnamon filled the room. Heero's nostrils flared as he breathed deeply, feeling sudden curiosity at the substance in the flask. The cinnamon scent had given Heero a feeling of nostalgia, of something long past that was forgotten before now. His form was suddenly distinguishable from the wallpaper as he leaned forward to catch a better whiff of the curious aroma.
Quatre and the fat man turned to stare at the Pilot leaning nonchalantly against the wall. Quatre spared a small, tight-lipped smile. "Heero, would you assist my wife in the study? I think she was rearranging the desk there."
Heero grunted and turned to leave, irritated at his lack of attention. He had made a mistake and been dismissed for it. In spite of that fact, Quatre would have to be questioned later about that substance. Something about the smell and the look of the liquid made Heero uneasy; it caused his entire body to grow taut and alert, as if his mind unconsciously recognized a threat.
The man traveled to the study, not surprised to find it empty. Heero, after making this discovery, wandered aimlessly in search of something unknown. The servants that passed only stepped aside, barely sparing a glance. The huge house gave him easy access to solitary places, and Heero was found, a few hours later, in one of his favorites.
He was seated, with his back to the inside wall of the corridor, facing large French-style windows. The white frames, the man noted, curled around the panes like delicate pieces of silk, though, in truth, they locked the glass sheets in place. Heero watched, through the windows, as a bird landed and chirped, looking, for some reason, out of place in its environment. It soon flew away, leaving the man to stare out at the polished white-lights of the illuminators of the colonies. Then, he could feel the trembling of the floorboards of someone striding down the hallway, distinguishable over the constant humming vibrations stimulated by the generator of the space station.
"Well, good evening, Heero Yuy. I trust you are well."
He grunted and did not change his position. Dorothy came to a halt a few feet away and smiled her haunting, ambiguous smile. "Surely, Heero, you could at least address me, as I am the mistress of this household in which you reside. No? Well, my husband wishes to speak with you in the study. It has something to do with the meeting this afternoon."
The man nodded, rose stiffly, and turned his back to Dorothy, choosing to take another route back to the study. A few minutes, later, Heero arrived at his destination, his mind moving sluggishly through the fog of meaningless thoughts. He shook his head sharply to pull himself out of the surrounding emptiness and found himself at the oak door of the said room. Placing a hand on the brass doorknob, he turned it slowly before pushing inward, his own form silent and unmoving as the door opened.
The blonde man inside raised his head from a pile of sheets he was flipping through aimlessly. "Heero, come in."
Heero stepped through the doorway. Quatre sighed and tossed the papers aside before ushering the Japanese man forward. "Close the door."
With the door firmly shut, Heero continued inward, his dark eyes glittering as the other man turned on a Vid-link. "Yes, Wufei, he's here."
The dark man approached, drawing abreast and then behind the screen, watching as the Chinese man's face slowly went from elongated to normal. The soft tenor of the man on the screen slipped out of the speakers, along with a faint hum. "Yuy. Winner. I??"
"??We, Wufei. It's not like we aren't a team. Hey, kid! How are things going for you up there?" Heero looked away. Sally's soft laughter rang forth, somehow hollow compared to the real sound. "That's great??"
"As I was saying before, we discovered another terrorist organization." Wufei huffed in indignation.
Quatre knitted his eyebrows. "Surely you don't need our help for this, Wufei, Sally. You two and the Preventers' forces have kept it all at bay for years."
Wufei scowled. "If you'd let me finish, Winner. I was simply stating that this organization, known as Nature, is based, as far as we can say, in North America. They are planning a full assault on the colonies, either to gain power or hostages to bargain for money. That's not really important. Unfortunately, their past extends from far before the Eve War, resulting in their well-planned attacks. I simply need for you to find out as much information as you can about them, when and where their next attack may be, and how they planning to do it."
Heero's eyes opened slowly. "If they're based in North America, then why search in the colonies? Surely they wouldn't store information where they are planning to attack." His voice was dull, as it always was, and it seemed to reverberate in the air, hanging like a trembling, damp cloth.
"Just get the information, Yuy. That's a command from Une herself. You've been sitting on your ass up there for long enough." Wufei's command was sharp, and Heero bent to it.
Quatre laughed. "I'm afraid part of that is my fault. I'll keep my ears open for information on Nature, and see what I can find out."
"Roger and out," Wufei began to state.
"Take care!" the blond man laughed.
"Oh, we will," Sally responded before Wufei scowled and broke the connection.
The blonde man smiled and shook his head, turning to face Heero. The other man, Heero noted, had aged greatly in the last few years. He could see the dark rings around his eyes and the laugh lines engraved around his lips. Heero had to wonder faintly if he himself looked as aged as his companion.
"Is there something else, Heero?"
The dark haired man turned away, his eyes glazing over in the memory of the odd cinnamon smell that afternoon. "Your business acquaintance used a liquid?"
"You mean the neag?? Often, men and women of wealth use such things to make others feel inferior. It was mostly likely, in Mr. Beckat's case, not watered down, as is the normal on the black market today."
"Hn."
"Did you notice his eyes, Heero? The neag? taints everything in the body its blue color, though usually it's only a small change, like when too many carrots are ingested." Quatre smiled at this, as if he found something ironic. "It is highly addictive, and is said to give the user a 'high' of information. The pure kind is supposed to induce the user with vision of the 'future', though that case is not likely."
"It dyes everything blue?"
"Yes. It's said that it can turn the eyes and the blood blue, though I doubt it's been proven. Huh, that gives new meaning to the phrase 'blue blood', doesn't it?" he laughed softly.
An awkward silence descended on the two men. Quatre cleared his throat. "So, is that all you need, Heero?"
"Hn." He turned and walked out the door, the lowering of the colony lights his cue that darkness was to come.
To be continued...
Well, first chapter done. [Thinks of the others to come.
] Well, R&R, please. This is my...third fic posted, and it's my first slightly angsty (hopefully angsty) fic. Tell me what you think! Pu-lease!
Ooh... This certainly caught my attention!!