::Chapter Four::
Quatre was crazy. That's all there was to it. He'd fell off his rocker. Lost his marbles. He was two cards short of a deck so to speak. Duo shook his head. He wasn't really serious, he knew. He would never deliberately think those things about the gentle blond...but sometimes he wondered. Quatre was always the one who 'felt' things...he had a keen sort of 6th sense so to speak. And the way he'd acted tonight....
No, something was up. Whatever was happening...Whatever Quatre'd THOUGHT he had seen, had clearly shaken the boy up beyond words.
He grunted slightly under the weight of the scuba equipment. He admitted, it was a bit last minute...even for him, but he was rather proud of himself. He figured, whatever Quatre had seen down there, whatever vision had manifested itself to the boy, then maybe it would come to him too...after all, he was Shinigami, God of Death. It just wouldn't do to have him left by the wayside...
With another grunt, he hefted the heavy equipment to his side, pausing for a quick breath. There was no time to rent a boat. He knew Quatre or one of the others would be here soon to retrieve the Gundam. It just couldn't stay this close to an OZ base forever. He'd just have to swim out to the spot.
He just hoped the coordinates he'd made were accurate.
"Lets see...Air tank, Diving mask, Air cord, wet suit....," he checked off the things one by one. Had he forgotten anything? God, he hoped not. Working quickly, he skillfully slipped into the wet suit. He'd been doing stuff like this for so long, he could do it with his eyes shut. He laughed. The world was his game board, and he was the master player. Yessiree!
Without even hesitating, he took the first step into water, the shock of the coldness seeping through the nylon suit. He shivered slightly. Damn! He'd forgotten to let his temperature warm to the suit.... Oh well, what didn't kill you made you stronger right? And it wasn't as if this were a leisure swim anyway.
He dove in.
He was a slightly clumsy swimmer...water definatly wasn't his strong point. He jumped as something suddenly bumped into his leg. C'mon Duo, buddy, it's just a fish...get a hold of your self..
What would Heero think of him, being scared by a fish?? Or... maybe it had been an eel...or a snake.....
Why was he thinking like this?!
After about two hours of swimming, he was completely exhausted. There was nothing down here! He couldn't find it! Where was it?! He stopped. Was it possible that he'd swam past it? Or maybe he'd swerved to the left, instead of keeping north-east. Making up his mind, he turned, intending to go back and re-trace his steps.
And that's when it happened. It was suddenly hard to breath.
He gasped. What was happening? How long had he- Damn!, he cursed mentally to himself. He hadn't remembered to time his little romp underwater...and now he'd run out of air. How long had he been down here? 2...2 ½ hours? But he'd set his the alarm on his watch! Why didn't it....
It wasn't water proof.
Oh no... He flailed clumsily, clawing desperately to the surface. He'd never make it. He was more than 100 ft under water, and already he could feel himself loosing consciousness. Everything felt fuzzy. But he couldn't.....couldn't.......give up.......his body wouldn't obey him.
I'm going to die.. he thought vaguely. Ironic.... Shinigami, the god of death, was going to die... It would have been funny, had he had enough air to laugh.
And then his mind went blank.
"She is your mission." The had voice said. He didn't look up. He knew it was pointless. The voice seemed to be coming from inside his head anyway.
"Who are you. What do you mean." He felt, rather than heard a small tinkling, a flicker of the air, as if the strange voice were silently laughing. "EXPLAIN." he demanded, in his flat monotone.
The tinkering faded gently. "I shall..," the voice concluded. "but the time is not right." The voice paused. "Besides. It seems as if your shift is just about up..." His head snapped up.
"What?" Shift? What was she talking about? His shift? What did she mean? Was she stalling? Trying to get out of telling him anything? His thoughts were interrupted by a burning pain in his chest. He collapsed, his breath growing labored. "W-what are you doing to me.." he gasped, clutching his chest in pain. His brow became wet with sweat. What was happening? Why couldn't he... NO. He refused to leave. He COULDN'T leave now..not NOW. He intended to find out once and for all about this voice...this voice who claimed that the girl was his mission. Who was she to give him orders? But even as he thought this, he felt his mind shutting down. He was losing consciousness.
I can't....... The oxygen to his brain had been cut off. It was only a matter of moments before-
He didn't get to finish his thought.
And for the 3nd time that day, Heero Yuy lost consciousness.
He didn't know how long he'd been out. It couldn't have been for more than a few minutes at the most. For a moment he just lay there in awe. Am I dead?, he whispered to himself. He wiggled his fingers and toes. They moved. He took a deep breath. His lungs filled with air. Finally, Duo opened his eyes. He was laying on a hard concrete floor, in the back of what looked like some building. A gun lay beside him, and next to him, lay a young woman.
Young woman?
This can't be Hell.. It seemed much too pleasant for that. The gun didn't register to him at the moment, his full concentration on the girl. He stared curiously at her. What happened? Why were they on the ground like this? Had she been attacked? And once more, just where WAS he anyway? The last thing he remembered was running out of air down in the lake. How the heck had he ended up here?
The woman stirred and sat up. Now he could see that she wasn't really a woman at all...she was a young girl, around his age, maybe younger. She had long blonde hair in the most unusual style he'd ever seen. It reminded him of a rabbit. She didn't say anything; Just sat up and began to cry. He became alarmed.
"H-hey lady! What's the matter?" His eyes grew wide. She jumped, looking over at him in surprise.
"H-Heero?" Heero? He started. This girl knew Heero? But how-
"He must be the one! Look! He even still has the gun beside him!!" Duo looked up. A couple of policemen, (or what he guessed to be policemen) had just burst through the back door, and were accusing him of...
"And look! He attacked that poor girl!"
It finally dawned on him. The gun...the ruckus...they thought HE'D done it! He didn't even try to explain. His experiences with OZ had taught him, don't question; just go. He grabbed the girl, lifting her into his arms, and took off down the street. She was his only lead to Heero and this place, and he wasn't about to loose her. However, the girl didn't even try to struggle. He expected to hear gunfires at any moment, but the only thing that met his ears were the pounding of feet on pavement. He was surprised. If they opened fire, they'd have a lot better chance at getting him.
"Oh man...my first day here and already I'm a criminal!," he stated playfully to the girl. But she didn't answer. Didn't make any motion at all, infact...just stared into nothingness. He felt a pang. Something was wrong with this girl. What had Heero done?
Speeding up, he rounded the corner, jumping over a stone wall, and landing gracefully, if not a bit clumsily, on the other side with the girl still in his arms. He sighed, closing his eyes and slumping against the wall in relief. He'd lost them. Finally. But they couldn't stay here...more than likely the local authorities would call in reinforcements....atleast that's what OZ would have done, had they seen a suspicious character.
He felt a movement in his arms. He opened his eyes, and looked straight into the wondering eyes of that girl. He shot her a grin.
"Who are you?," she asked curiously. He shook his head, still noticing how close he was holding her, his right arm under her knees and his other supporting her back. He'd never been this close to a girl before..especially one so cute.
"What happened to you? What do you know about Heero?" She looked away, suddenly seeming to notice that he was still holding her. She blushed, and began trying to wiggle from his embrace. At her struggles he let her go, and she backed up, not quite meeting his eyes.
Duo hardly noticed.
"Why were those guys chasing me? What is this place anyway?," he continued.
"Do you know Heero?," the girl demanded. Her face was puckered in a confused but determined way. This guy seemed to know him...and he seemed strangely agile and strong for his height and age. Just the kind of guy that Heero would hang out with...if he hung out with anyone...she wasn't quite sure that he did.
"Listen, babe...I ask the question's here, got it?" the boy concluded, only partly joking. Serena shook her head. She didn't have time to waste around with this person...where was Heero, anyway?
"You have to tell me where Heero is!," she shot back deserately.
"Hey-" he stopped. Something about the way she was acting had captured his attention...as if she knew Heero. She didn't seemed surprised at all by his sudden appearance, or the fact that he'd practically kidnapped her.
"Please!," the girl continued. "I'm sure he didn't mean to shoot at me! He was just confused and frightened!" Duo's eyes widened. Heero had attacked this girl...and she'd survived?!
"Wait a sec....Heero shot at you?" It'd be no surprise that he pulled a gun on her, but...
The girl nodded. "Hai, but he missed."
Duo slowly straightened, coming towards her. "Lady," he remarked slowly "if Heero shot at you, then he didn't miss; Heero never misses." It was true. Heero Yuy NEVER missed a target. Not unless he hadn't meant to shoot her in the first place...then...that would mean that he'd just been scaring her. But why? What was so special about this girl that even Heero Yuy wouldn't kill her? "Where is Heero now?," he demanded urgently. The girl backed away.
"Who are you?!"
Duo laughed. They weren't getting anywhere with this constant barrage of questions they were firing at each other. They needed to sit down and sort things out. They obviously both had different sides to this puzzle, perhaps the missing pieces they both were looking for.
Duo put a hand to his head.
Oh man..., he thought, I'm definitely not the person for thinking things through...how do I ever manage to get myself into these things?