1-Jul-2000
Title: Mission Arcadia
bonnejean & vonceia *present*Category: yaoi, AU
RavynFyre & Kateri Marie
in The B&V Guest Authors Series!
Duo - words, thoughts, actions - RavynFyre
Heero - words, thoughts actions - Kateri Marie
Rip & Jack, Their World and General Production - bonnejeanne & vonceia
The sky overhead was cloudy, the air was crisp with an unmistakably fall chill. There were woods on one side of the clearing they stood in. The air was cleaner than anything they had ever tasted.
The two young men stood in front of them.
Duo instinctively moved to put Heero at his back, trusting in his koi to guard him, just as he knew Heero would trust in him to guard his back. He peered around himself with wide, wondering eyes, both intrigued by his surroundings, and, in some small part of him, terrified.
"What the hel..."
Heero felt Duo move to his back and the feeling was comfortable, like an old skin that he wore too often. They were falling back into the old patterns with ease. He noted the sky and the air, some part of him registering wonder, and heard his koi's voice trail off at his back. "Where?" He asked flatly, looking hard at the two men.
Jack nodded. "Another place," he said simply. "Another universe, if you like."
"If I like? Nope. I don't like. What the hell is going on?" That was Duo.
"How did you bring us here?" Heero said on his heels.
Jack trailed his fingers over the keys. "These lovely things. They are quite amazingly powerful. They can create vibrations which... well, I am not a scientist. I simply know it works. This is... Earth. Like your Earth. Except here things went wrong... or more wrong, more quickly perhaps would be more accurate. In what you would have called the late 20th century, civilization began to feed on itself. There were reasons, too long to explain for now. But in the end, humans... stopped having children. And a lot of them died... disease, wars, predation... There are less than a few hundred thousand left on the entire planet, isn't that amazing? Many of them will not survive, but there is some hope for now, though slim. Life has been given back, or a chance for it. Five... no, six years ago, something happened that allowed humans to breed again. But the children are so few and so precious. If they don't survive... humanity looses this great game."
Though Heero felt something in his well-hidden heart twinge at the mention of children dying, he allowed nothing to show through on his face as he said coolly, "You mentioned a need for fighters. Why?"
"Yeah... what's our role in all this?" Duo asked, uncharacteristically subdued.
Ripper smiled. "Gets right to the point, I like him. I like them both... are you sure I can't keep them?"
Jack smiled.
"I will answer you," Jack said. "But I think now you should see something of this. It is said that seeing is believing. Let us show you what you are here to save, and then I will show you what it needs saving from."
"Can he keep us? Heh. As if we're some sort of pet, ne, Heero? Duo muttered, almost good-naturedly.
Heero growled low in his throat but put down the gun. If they were going near children... he wouldn't risk killing another innocent.
Duo smiled at his lover, understanding exactly what was going through his head. He gave Heero's arm a quick squeeze with one hand before he turned to the other two men. "Lead on, my good fellows," he quipped, returning to his normal, manic self with a characteristic grin.
"Baka." Heero muttered. But somehow the word lacked any insult.
Jack noticed that Heero put away the gun and his eyes seemed to change slightly, the cool green warming ever so slightly. "You understand the necessity," he murmured softly. He glanced at Ripper, who shrugged.
"It's different," Ripper said to his partner. "Still have the city ordinances to contend with but what ho, we'll see."
The two turned and led the way to a path that went past the woods and down to a small river between deep banks. "The Bayou," Rip mentioned. He seemed to have as much energy as Duo in his tall form and moved around, sometimes in front, sometimes beside, sometimes in back. At least once, Duo felt a tug on his braid and turned to see it sliding out of Rip's long fingers. The redhead simply grinned at him.
"Ya got a hair fetish or something? Man... between you and Heero... It's a wonder I even have any hair left at all!"
Heero's glare threatened damage to anyone who came near his koi as he grabbed the end of the braid possessively. Trusting was not in his nature.
Possessiveness was.
"See what I mean? Duo quipped with a long-suffering sigh.
Rip smirked. "Hair fetish.... hmmmm.... fetish fetish.... heh heh..." he murmured. "Actually I much prefer to play with sharp shiny objects but that would make a nice target... don't worry, not going to hurt you..."
Duo glanced at Rip nervously, eyeing the taller man with something a little bit shakily shy of his normal grin as he replied, "Yeah... okay man. Whatever."
Eyeing Rip with something near to annoyance, Heero spared a glance at Jack. "Is he like this all the time?"
"Usually he's much worse," Jack answered as they crossed the small bridge. "He's toning it down for you, I hope you appreciate it."
Duo shared a conspiratorial grin with Rip before he bounced ahead shouting "SUGOI!"
Heero rolled his eyes briefly before giving Jack a look that bordered on sympathy.
On the far side of the bridge they found themselves walking up a slope, and at the top it was suddenly revealed that they were at the edge of a city. It was as if someone had taken the heart of a metropolitan downtown, that started up out of a park-like wilderness. There were glass and metal and marble towers, tended park, wide walkways. No cars, but streets where they would have been, now abandoned to foot traffic and small 'golfcart' like vehicles, though not many.
As they came into the city, they saw people here and there, not crowds but maybe twenty at a time. There were adults, mostly around the ages of late twenties and thirties with a few older folk, but the children.... there were four or five, sometimes more, children to each adult. They were none of them older than five or six and there were only a few who might seem younger. They roamed the city fearlessly, staying with several adults or running free.
As he looked over the children running rampant even Heero couldn't help but soften his glare, even as he sent up a prayer that none of them were as hyperactive as his koi and their guide.
"You said something before about 'when you were our age'..." How old are you guys, anyway?" Duo asked speculatively, as his wide-eyed stare took in the city and the mobs of children playing about.
Two pairs of eyes turned to Duo immediately, as if the question were somehow significant. Then they looked at each other and Rip burst out laughing.
"It depends on how you measure time," Jack said simply. "You see, since we found the instruments, we've done a lot of traveling. And since I don't have a watch... well it's difficult to be sure... If I were to guess I would say.... ninety-five?"
Duo's jaw dropped as he spun to stare at them. 'Ninety-five? What the-"
Jack shrugged. "I said it was a guess. Before... the fall of things, there were a lot of nasty projects going on. One was a eugenics project designed to discover a way to enable man to live forever. I doubt they succeeded but Ripper and I are the only two of those experiments who survived."
Duo cast a quick glance at his lover to gauge his response to their admission.
Something approaching understanding had brought Heero's eyes out from their narrowed lids. The simple explanation was something he could relate to and put a bond of... comradeship between them and their guides that he wasn't sure he was comfortable with.
Duo, typically in synch with his partner, read that discomfort and laid a gentle hand on Heero's arm, offering nothing more than his presence. He hoped it was enough. God only knew how many times he'd wanted to kill that bastard J for what Heero had told him about his "training".
The hand was something Heero could hold on to. Even in the midst of his discomfort, Duo's gentle hand was something good, something that kept Heero from falling into the memories again. He took strength from that touch and mustered his voice, "You still haven't told us why we are needed here."
"Yeah... looks like you guys have a pretty good grasp on this whole place. Why us?" Duo added.
Jack watched the reactions and the exchange with a very perceptive look. He nodded after a moment and said, "Patience, Duo Maxwell. Heero Yuy... we will explain all. There's someone here you need to talk to, that will help."
"Patience, he says... He dun know me very well, do he, ne, Heero?" Duo replied with a quick grin.
But Heero nodded concisely and eased off his glare, "Then let's go."
As they moved into the city, they were noticed by the people and children. The adults waved and several of the kids ran up to the group, not stopping them but ganging around curiously.
"Hi Jack!" several of the called. "Ripper!"
The redhead grinned and chased a couple of the kids who chased back. But many of the children began to come closer to the two boys, their eyes wide, taking in every detail.
It was odd but several of the children... were dressed in pink shirts, vests... and had either blond hair or had little yellow yarn mop-type wigs on.
One little girl reached up boldly and grabbed Heero's hand. "Do you know Quatre?"
Heero looked down at her in shock for a moment and then slowly flexed his hand around hers, allowing the hold to strengthen. "Hai... I know Quatre." But he couldn't seem to form the question that should come next.
Duo's glance shot up to Jack's eyes, his expression asking what Heero's voice couldn't.
Heero's eyes followed and pinpointed Jack with the same accuracy as a weapon.
Jack looked at Heero and said, "Remember the day Quatre called and said he had to go on a quick trip?" And until that moment, Heero had not remembered. Suddenly, he did.
Heero's eyebrow shot up as the memory returned to him. "He said... there was something he had to take care of. He wanted a day, but I made him to agree to 3 hours... It was dangerous enough that he called me, in case he didn't come back."
Duo's gaze ping-ponged between the two men, bouncing back and forth with confusion plastered adorably over his features. "I'm missing something here, ne? Spill."
"Quatre came here not long ago... relatively speaking," Jack said the last words as if they were an inside joke. He gestured to the children dressed in little "Quatre" outfits and sporting blond wigs. "The people here are very imitative.. they love fashion and style and anything new catches their fancy. In a few hours...."
Duo gave another short bark of laughter. "Well... they won't be getting much from YOU, now will they, Heero?"
Heero's response was a sharp tug on his braid and a pointed glare at the black outfit that perennially adorned Duo's body.
"Hey! these are impressionable kids, Heero! Watch who yer glaring at!"
The little girl tugged Heero's hand. "What does... 'hai' mean?"
'Those eyes...' Heero thought, losing himself in thought for a long moment before he met those innocent eyes once more. "Hai means yes. It's Japanese... a language from my world..."
The little girl nodded. Then she turn to some of the other children close by.
"Hai! It means yes!!! And he speaks... Japanese!"
"Looks like you started a new trend, koi," Duo grinned, folding his arms over his chest and smiling at the crowd of children.
Duo felt a tug on his pant leg. When he looked down in that direction two wide brown eyes looked back.
"Yes, little one?" Duo asked gently, kneeling down beside the child.
The little boy blinked, then looked into Duo's eyes. "My name is Roger. What's your name?" he asked.
"I'm Duo. Duo Maxwell. I may run and hide, but I never lie. That's me in a nutshell."
A group of kids standing close by nodded. They began saying the words to each other, "May run and hide... but never lie!"
"Hai!"
"So, Duo. What does 'koi' mean?" Roger asked.
Duo glanced up at Heero, his eyes wide and almost panicky as he peered at his partner. "Umm.."
A slight grin played over Heero's lips as he watched his lover squirm. "A trend, ne, Duo?"
"Hrm.. It means... sweetheart or very special friend... "
Ripper appeared. He laughed. "It means they are lovers, kids..."
The children giggled and nodded.
"Oh..." Roger said, satisfied. "It sounded like a fish. I thought you were calling him a fish...But that's better."
A little girl stepped up and pointed to the long braid. "Is that real?" she asked.
"You bet. I've had it since I was about your age."
"I'm Mona," she said offering Duo her hand to shake. "My mom has fake hair and can probably make one like that. How long is it?"
"Too long." Heero tugged on the braid as he turned back to their almost forgotten guides.
Duo resisted sticking his tongue out at his partner only because he knew the children would probably copy him. His twitching eyebrows and too calm expression gave him away though, as he answered, "When I unbraid it it's almost as long as my legs. Especially when it's wet."
While Duo was talking with Mona, Jack turned to one of the other children. "Shelly... please go and find Kenny for me, would you, love? Ask him to come here. And tell your mommy to ask the Mayor to send his bodyguard to see me."
The girl nodded and dashed off.
"Kenny?" Heero said. The word had only the slightest lilt to make it a question.
"Kenny is the boy your friend came here to help. We found him in another place. He was alone. We brought him here but he was traumatized and would not speak or respond. Your friend helped him. Kenny will help you to understand why we've brought you here. He has seen things no one else here has seen," Jack said softly.
Duo peered around himself, taking in each and every one of the faces that surrounded him. He was hooked. It didn't matter what they wanted, they'd get it from him. All those questions about his hair, and all these children surrounding him so very like the reason he'd kept his braid for so long... He knew his heart wouldn't give him any other choice. Damn. They were good.
"Duo, what is your koi's name?" Mona asked, tugging Duo's pant leg.
"His name is Heero."
"Heero," Mona repeated several times, her hands on her hips. Then she looked up at Duo and smiled. "Like in the library books! Ok."
"Library books??" Duo asked, cocking his head to one side as he peered at her. "What library books?"
"There is always a hero in the library books," Mona said. "I can get you some, if you want?"
"Nah. That's okay. I get it now. Yeah. Heero's my hero," Duo replied with an unrepentant grin. "Heero's always been my hero."
Heero turned his gaze down to his koi, for a moment letting warmth melt the icy shield on his blue eyes. Then he shook his head, he could see their answer in Duo's eyes. Duo wouldn't let them leave, Heero could see that. And wherever Duo went, Heero would be by his side. They were damn good.
Heero felt green eyes on him, and looked up to see Jack, who looked for all the world as if he could pick the thought from Heero's mind.
End of Part 1
Well, how are you liking it so far? A few of you may remember Quatre's trip to Arcadia, in a little fic we posted not long ago called Errand of Mercy.
Looks like Duo and Heero are going to get involved in something. The question is, what?!
What do you think of the City of Arcadia? Weird place, ne?
I forgot to mention it, but Heero & Duo are post-EW in this. But it seems their days of fighting may not be quite over...
Let is know what you think!!!
for the writers....
bonnejeanne & vonceia present
RavynFyre and Kateri Marie
Please feel free to direct feedback to any or all of the authors!
ravynfyre@hotmail.com,
nacl3salaris@hotmail.com,
vonceia@yahoo.com,
bonnejeanne@yahoo.com.