Title: ESO
Author: bonnejeanne (bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) and vonceia (vonceia@yahoo.com)
Archive: GW Addiction
Category: yaoi, AU? Epic Saga...
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, ?

Warnings: LIMEADE. Yaoi. Old guys. Original characters. AU? You decide... OOC? Same.

Spoilers: Everything. I mean it, everything, series, EW, Ep. Zero, etc.

E.S.O. - by bonnejeanne and vonceia -

Part Thirteen: Stories and Songs...

Wufei went on down the hallway, passed the two brunettes necking in the hallway. He felt a pang that was more sweet than bitter. They were good together. He went into the room he had chosen for his. Opening his small bag, he took out a small wooden cylinder and opened it. Inside were a small ceramic burner and several sticks of incense. Lighting them, he lifted the incense to his forehead and murmured the names of his parents, grandparents, and Meiran. Then he lit another stick to honor those killed in the conflicts for peace.

After a brief meditation, he got up, leaving the incense burning in his room, and left the quadrangle.

He went first to Alfa's room, but the small, shared quarters were empty. He went to Oma's lab and looked in.

"Alfa?" he said.

"Try the practice room," she said. Wufei nodded.

He found the practice room, basically a large empty room that could be used for any kind of physical workout. Sure enough, Alfa was there. He paused in the doorway, watching her. She was doing tai chi.

This physical art, whose moves were done in a slow, measured and graceful manner, was in fact a martial art - speed the moves up and you had a series of effective blocking and countering techniques. For centuries it had been practiced for fitness of mind and body. Alfa was using it now to clear her thoughts in preparation for what was to come. Wufei knew this as clearly as if he could read her mind.

After a moment he walked in, found a place a few feet away from her, and picked up the routine, continuing it with her. They continued together in silence until the final form.

Afterwards, Alfa turned to him, the corner of her mouth tugging upwards slightly. She went to a locker and got a bottle of water, tossing one to Wufei.

"No place to go, hmm?" she said softly.

Wufei drank the water thirstily. "Iie," he said. "I had a place to go. Here, to find you."

Alfa smiled. "And you found me," she said. "What can I do for the honorable Chang Wufei?"

Putting down the bottle, he sat on the floor. "Tell me... anything... something about yourself."

Alfa grimaced and sat down also. "I'm not that interesting a subject. I've been too single-minded to have much of a life."

"Then tell me about Heero... or Quatre... anything."

Alfa looked at him for a moment. "Once upon a time... there was a proud family known as the Dragon Clan. They were warriors, and they believed in doing what was right. So naturally they were thought of by the Earth Alliance as troublemakers..."

"Hn." he said, but a smile tugged at his mouth. "This I already know."

"The family of Chang believed that the survival of their Clan was at stake. That was serious enough, but they also believed that evil men were consolidating control over all humanity, of Earth and in space. They wondered what kind of world their son would be born into." Alfa shifted slightly, leaning back against a wall. "They sheltered a woman who brought with her a son. She appeared to know something about such things, and consulted with them on the health of the mother and baby. The woman told the man and his wife a story, a very strange story. It's possible that they never really believed it. But she told him there would come a time when special ones would be needed. They asked her if their son might be such a one. She told them it could possibly be set in motion that he would be."

She said no more for a while, and Wufei sat in silence, thinking about these words. His parents had never pushed him to be anything he did not wish to be. They had seemed pleased with a son who was quiet and intelligent. They treated him with love but almost a kind of deference, which he found disturbing at times. He sensed that he was glimpsing an insight into his parents that he could never have had. It wasn't comfortable to listen to. But at last he nodded, looking at her, waiting for more.

"The woman wasn't really a good woman," she said quietly. "Perhaps she wasn't evil, but she could not be called good. She tampered with the child, as she had tampered with her own. The result would be a more powerful human being. That kind of genetic work has been banned for a century and a half. In a somewhat inefficient way of setting a control on her work, she included in his makeup, and that of the others she altered, a very specific genetic code, which would influence the boy's sexual orientation when he matured. The idea was to keep these special children from contaminating the gene pool."

Wufei froze into complete immobility. This time the silence was long. "Kisama..." he whispered at last.

Alfa nodded. "That would be me."

Closing his eyes, Wufei felt everything inside him shake loose. Most of what she had said, he suspected. But the last... "Meiran... oh Meiran..."

Alfa leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment. This whole period what one for paying dues and facing consequences. He'd hate her now, this boy who so delighted her, with his quickness, his grace, and the purity of his heart. And he should. She'd single-handedly set up his life in the pattern it had taken, and the pattern had been a terribly hard and painful one.

Opening her eyes, she immediately wished she hadn't. He was weeping. She forced herself to watch as part of her penance.

A while latter, he had retuned to a quiet silence. She could do nothing but sit with him - she didn't have the right to offer comfort in any other way. Her own face was wet and her body tense from the pain of watching him, but she hardly noticed it.

He raised his head and looked at her. His dark eyes were intense with emotion.

"You did this," he said.

She simply waited.

"I thought it was my weakness," he said. "That I was flawed to the core. Now you are saying it was by design."

Taking a breath, she nodded.

"I wish I had known," he said.

Alfa nodded.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. "You paid a heavy price for all of this."

"You paid a great deal of it... all of you," she said, refusing to accept any hint of forgiveness.

Wufei nodded. "Yes... we did. Others did. But..." he tilted his head slightly. "Did you know... I loved your son?"

Alfa looked back. "Yes, I think I could tell."

He took a deep breath, leaning back against the wall. "If there is justice for what you've done," he said softly, "I think you've already paid for it in full."

Alfa was silent, holding something inside her as his words cracked her spirit to its center.

"Probably not," she said softly, at last. "But I will. I've no doubt of that."

Wufei looked at her again. "Your son... gave me back... almost every piece of myself," he said.

Bowing her head, humbly, she thought, that is something I can believe.

"Alfa," he said, drawing her back to his face. "Did you test... this on yourself?"

"Of course," she said. "I had to."

He looked at her, shaking his head.

"You'd have done well in my clan," he said. "You embrace tragedy on such a cosmic scale..."

Alfa gasped, blinking. Then she started to smile.

Wufei got up and went to sit beside her. He did something that froze her where she sat. Leaning over, he put his arms around her, and then touched his lips to her in a very sweet, chaste kiss.

"From now on," he said. "You are a sister of my dead wife. Therefore my sister. Don't think you can get out of it, I won't let you."

Alfa stared at him, unable to move or speak. He let her sit there for a while, then got up and pulled her to her feet.

"You said there was food, ne? Let's go find some and eat it."

Duo made it to the room and dashed inside. He thought about locking the door... then decided against it. Heero would probably shoot the lock or something. So he settled for stretching out on the bed with his arms behind his head, looking supremely pleased with himself.

A few moments later, the door opened and Heero walked inside. He locked the door and then walked over to the bed. He noticed the look on Duo's face, but did not comment. "Was that another 'gotcha'?" Heero asked.

"What are you talkin' about?" Duo blinked up at Heero innocently.

Heero dropped down on top of Duo with his full weight. "Something like that!" he said, landing cross-wise over Duo's body.

"Oooof!" Duo exclaimed, feeling all the air getting pushed out of his lungs suddenly. "Uh... okay! You got me! Now let me breathe!"

Heero laughed as he heard the Deathscythe pilot gasp for air. "I see," Heero said. "You can dispense these things, but not take them." He turned on top of Duo to face him and then pulled his knees up on the bed to allow Duo to breathe.

"Whew!" Duo said, gasping. He couldn't keep the grin off his face, though. He poked Heero's side with a finger. "Hey... hey! Now you got me, what are you gonna do with me?"

Heero looked down at Duo and said nothing for a moment. Then, he bent down closer and pressed his mouth against Duo's. Heero parted Duo's lips with his tongue and kissed him deeply. "That," he said softly after a short while.

Duo sighed deeply. " 'That'.... is nice." He gazed up and the boy who did not seem to want to move. There was something possessive in the way Heero kept him covered. Duo gazed up at him, shaking his head slightly. "This is... almost too good to be true..."

"I agree," Heero said. "It's going to get really rocky, real soon," he added with a shrug. "It's good to see you, Duo. I guess if we're looking at possible annihilation in a few hours, this will be a good memory to take."

Duo smiled a little wistfully. "I should have known you were thinking in more practical terms," he said, then did something he had always wanted to do - he reached up and messed up Heero's long tendrils of front and top hair. It did not change the appearance at all. "Look at that, he even has perfect hair," Duo said. Then he let his fingers trail down to Heero's cheek. Pictures... Drawing his eyebrows together, he said, "No... no way. I am not going to give this up. I'm comin' back, and so are you, do you hear me?"

Looking down at Duo, Heero nodded twice. "I hear you." Heero replied. His eyes were drawn to Duo's neck. Leaning over Duo again, Heero closed his mouth on Duo's soft skin and tasted its warmth.

Duo stretched his neck out, offering more exposed skin. Instantly he was excited. It took so little... just knowing that Heero was here, close... and that he wouldn't turn away. Closing his eyes, he decided right then and there how he was going to spend every minute of the remainder of the two hours. Food and sleep - those could come later.

Reaching up, he pushed his hands under the green tank top, smoothing Heero's skin.

Heero inhaled deeply as he felt Duo's fingers on his skin. He moved his leg between Duo's leaning his body against him. Trailing his tongue along Duo's neck, Heero closed his mouth around the lobe of Duo's ear, gently sucking it. "If I didn't say so before, thank you, Duo." Heero said softly into his ear. Heero slid his hand down Duo's side and over his hip, squeezing him.

Duo groaned. "And... he says... 'thank you'..." Moving his hands so that he could run his thumbs along Heero's nipples, He tried to shift under the other boy. "For... what?" he said, feeling himself swell in Heero's grasp.

Heero gasped and then smiled a little. "For this," he said, squeezing Duo. "And for that impossible hair, the big mouth and just being alive," Heero said, taking Duo's mouth once again.

Duo fell into the kiss, hearing Heero's words which reached him in some deep warm place... but the hand on his crotch was arousing him painfully, wildly in a completely *different* place. 'Oh hell!' he thought. While thrusting his tongue into Heero's mouth, he began quickly and roughly working on the fastening of Heero's jeans. I gotta get him outta these clothes, he thought. Not later... NOW!

Gasping as their mouths parted, he scowled. "Get naked!" he demanded.

Heero's eyes widened slightly as he heard he command. He followed the order and got out of his clothes in no time at all. Seconds later, Heero sat on his heels on the bed and then reached out to rub Duo's now naked thigh as his eyes drank the contours of Duo's body.

Having scrambled out of his own clothes, a bit surprised that Heero responded so instantly, but extremely pleased, Duo grabbed the hand on his thigh and pulled the other boy down to him. Having glanced at a clock on the wall as he shed the threads, Duo said romantically, "We got an hour and thirty minutes. Let's see how much hot monkey love we can do during that time..." To illustrate, he reached down to gently but firmly grip the now available part of his love that seemed to rise to meet his touch.

"You're on!" Heero breathed, groaning as he felt Duo's hand enclose around him.

Trowa Barton pulled Quatre against his bare chest on the bed and held Quatre tightly against him. The room was quiet and it felt good to just lie there. Trowa's fingers idly stroked Quatre's shoulder. "I think I'm feeling better now too." he said, quietly. "I'm glad you had fun in the new Sandrock."

Quatre rested against his love, hearing the strong sound of Trowa's heartbeat so close. "It was taxing... Wufei chased me halfway around the station... but it was kind of startling to be doing what we do... and no one was getting hurt or dying. I've always loved piloting Sandrock. And piloting any mobile suit gives me a feeling of enjoyment - it's difficult, takes concentration, strength, and judgment.... that's why I enjoy it. But it's always been mixed with the pain of death. It gave me a glimpse into something I never imagined. When the war was over, we destroyed our Gundams because we thought that was all they could do. Now I'm seeing... the waste of a resource that could make a huge contribution to our civilization..."

"That's true," Trowa replied. "I just wish we would have known more." Leaning down, Trowa kissed the top of Quatre's golden head. He frowned slightly and then said. "Quatre. I was going to try and make you a record of everything I could think of about myself. But that would not have been right. I see that now. Is there anything you'd like to know now?"

Quatre leaned over and kissed Trowa's lips. After a bit, he looked down and said, "You tell me so many things when we are together... things I can't put into words." He shook his head slightly. "Tell me anything you want... but understand that it is you, *now*, just being in the world, that's what gives me what I need."

Trowa smiled down at Quatre and felt both relief and pleasure. "I understand," he said. "I don't think I'd want to live in a world that didn't include you. To be honest, there's nothing that remarkable about my life, Quatre. Piloting Heavy Arms was the first time and the first chance I felt ... free."

Quatre smiles. "Me too, for probably different reasons... I felt free to take actions, which I was responsible for. At times that responsibility seemed like it was going to break me apart, but I never regretted taking it. My only regrets are for the times I didn't use it responsibly."

Trowa nodded. He thought for a moment and said. "Ok, at first I thought you wanted to know bout my past. Now, I think it doesn't matter that much anymore. I think we got a little time here before we have to go out. How do you want to spend it?" he asked.

Quatre got up from the bed, his naked body pale in the room light, and opened the large bag he'd brought from the shuttle. Reaching inside he took out two items. One was a flat, rectangular case, the other a larger, curved one.

He brought them to the bed and placed the flute case in from of Trowa, opening the violin case. "I want to spend it making music with you," he said softly.

Trowa took the flute from its case and held it against his face. "I'm ready," he said, looking over at Quatre. In the next few moments, the room was filled with music.

Next... Leavetaking...

Comments eagerly welcomed!

bonne & von

Comments? Email bonnejeanne@yahoo.com or vonceia@yahoo.com

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