Title: Living the Lie
Author: Skeren Dreamera
Series: Gundam Wing
Spoilers: Who’s still alive after the wars.
Category: Lyric wheel fic.
Lyrics: “How did I fall in love with you” by the Backstreet boys
Lyrics Submitted By:
Misty_YuyRating: R for the safe side
Pairings: Hilde+Duo (not returned)
Warnings: Conspiracies. Stalkers.
Summary: Duo finds out who his real family is.
Disclaimer: I do not own the story, and I don’t want to own the song I had to use.
Notes: Everyone enjoy, this is my twist on what this song could mean.
AC 198, Winter.
He was completely and totally miserable, the water having penetrated his clothes from the snowstorm he’d arrived in. He hadn’t had anywhere to go. He’d just fled. He remembered it. The scene he’d left on L2 vivid before his eyes even in the face of the deadly snowstorm. He needed the pilots. He smirked. He could remember when they’d never needed each other. They’d been solo artists! Then he’d met up with Hilde. They’d gotten to be the best of friends, like brother and sister really. Duo was betrayed though. The pilots had an understanding in case this sort of thing happened. The pilots all understood. They’d never be alone again, running for their lives with no haven. Duo didn’t know how to find them though. They were in hiding. He was freezing to death as he tried to figure out how to contact them. He couldn’t let anyone else find them, and it was Hilde’s fault. She’d betrayed him, accused him of things he would never do when he said he could not return her affections.
Duo shuddered again as cold seeped into his bones. Those days are gone. No more sister for Duo, the woman was a betrayer. Duo had barely caught sight of a tall silhouette moving through the snow, coming from the direction of the city he’d fled once he’d been recognized, when he fell forward in the snow. He hadn’t thought the girl would be so thorough in her effort to spread the word over the “horrible deeds” that he had done. He’d wanted a family so much… No use in following that line of thought. His gaze stayed trained on the figure in front of him as the white coat blew in the hard winds, long pale hair flicking up into pale icy blue eyes. It was one Zechs Merquise. Duo was not unaware of the irony of the moment. A few years before, this man had been an enemy to him. Now he was one of them, a pilot. Someone no longer wanted by society because they were symbols of the darker life.
A whisper of a thought drifted across his mind as Hilde’s pleading words whispered at his mind: ‘I want you so much Duo… I risked my life for you, you know. The nights can get so long… Please, be with me, I need your touch…’
His own reply had been stunned, confused, and he’d said the first of the words that had destroyed his life. ‘I don’t know what to say…’
She’d been relentless. ‘I never meant to feel this way, please, come with me, be with me. I’ll make sure you’re always well cared for, never hungry or alone ever again. Please, I don’t want to be alone tonight.’
His reply had damned him in her eyes. ‘I don’t want you. I’m not like that! I’d never whore myself for a place to stay, never! I don’t like you that way Hilde; can’t you just keep things how they are now? You know, you as my little sis?’
She hadn’t seemed to understand then, and now he knew what that gleam in her eyes was, fanaticism. ‘What can I do to make you mine?’
He had shaken his head and turned to go to his room. ‘Nothing.’
Duo forcibly yanked himself out of the memories as Zechs reached him; the cool eyes studying the shaking form at his feet while the white material of his coat flared wildly in the wind. “You didn’t even bring a coat.” He said nothing further as he scooped the small shaking figure up into his arms.
Duo glared up at his rescuer, barely able to draw a coherent reply through his chattering teeth. His lips were turning blue from cold. “N…no… T… ta… time!”
Zechs shook his head, moving quickly back to the car, a shrill whistle piercing the air as he opened the door and pushed Duo into the backseat, following him into the car as his hands started to pick off the wet clothes. “The others should be here in a couple minutes, they hadn’t gotten far.” Zechs was working at the buttons of Duo’s black sopping wet shirt.
“Wha… What…?” Duo just trailed off, shaking hands feebly batting at Zechs’ persistent ones as the blond started to efficiently strip the freezing violet eyed teen. Darkness was an inviting refuge from the pain. It was falling quickly around him like a shroud from the outside world.
Zechs’ didn’t allow the boy oblivion though, slapping his cheek sharply. “You go to sleep and you might not wake up! Stay awake!”
Duo tried to focus, not comprehending a word. “What’d you say? What’d I do…?” The second question in a plaintive moan, his harsh shivering not quite bad enough to keep him stuttering through that as well.
“Stay awake!” Zechs repeated the command as Heero and the others returned, apparently having coordinated the doors outside the car once they saw that the other two were inside. Zechs’ had managed to get the shirts off of Duo, and the braided boy was trembling horribly in the chilled interior of the car.
“S’ cold.” Duo shivered, unable to retain consciousness no matter how hard the others tried to keep him awake.
The last thing Duo could have sworn he heard as he passed into the realm of the dark was a whisper. “How did I fall in love with you?” He must have been wrong though. None of the pilots loved him that way. Right?
-__________________-
Duo woke to find himself in a press of bodies. More precisely, he woke between two bodies. Naked. Peeking his eyes open the tiniest bit, Duo managed to feel that his companions had boxers on. It was dark wherever it was they were as well. He could tell though that one person in his bed had dark hair, and the other was a blond. Both were larger than he was. Duo repressed his annoyance with an inward sigh. It didn’t narrow it down any; all the other pilots seemed to have grown but him. He was eternally five foot two.
Duo cleared his throat. “I’m awake…” Duo expected his normal smooth voice and was confused when his tones came out a rasp. How long had he been unconscious?
Immediately two sets of eyes fixed on him, dark and light blue. Duo was a bit speechless when he noticed that Zechs and Heero were the ones in bed with him. It was just plain weird. They did the talking before Duo even had the chance. Heero leaned forward and brought a hand up to feel Duo’s face. “How do you feel?”
Duo wanted to pipe up with a nice quip, but his body chose to inform him that it wasn’t happy, his muscles aching. “Like shit.”
Zechs chuckled quietly, leaning back against Duo’s side. “Seems like you’re your normal self. “
Duo frowned at that, confusion seeping in. “How would you know? And why am I naked?”
Heero smirked; pressing Duo back against the bed as the other man tried to get up. “Your clothes were all soaked, leaving you dressed would only have made it harder for us to warm you. The snow drove us off before we reached our initial destination, so we had no other way to help.” His explanation drew a stare from Duo. He hadn’t seen Heero in months, and apparently they had been good to the dark haired teen for him to volunteer the extra information.
“Now that I’m warm, can I get out of bed now?” Duo’s gaze turned from one to the other in confusion. He didn’t really want to move… “Hey, Zechsy, you didn’t answer me. How would you know how I usually am?”
The blond blushed brightly enough that even in the darkness of the room, it could be seen. “You gained my interest in the one year war, and I took the time to gather information since…”
Duo took that in then made a face. “You’ve been spying on me?”
Heero answered for Zechs as the blond buried his face in a pillow. “No, It was more like information gathering. He’s the one that told us we needed to find you.”
Duo gave Zechs a long look. “Alright… Do you think you could convince your sister to stop helping Hilde then?”
Zechs shook his head slowly, with a rueful smile. “She doesn’t see me as her brother.”
Duo muttered something then sighed. “Could one of you get me some clothes though, please? I’d think better if I wasn’t naked.” Heero laughed quietly at that and slipped from the bed. He paused to tug on clothes before going very far then opened the door to a better lit portion of the room little cabin, ducking out. Duo blinked at the wash of light and huddled closer against Zechs without thinking. “It is kinda chilly isn’t it?”
Zechs chuckled a bit, draping his arms around Duo. “Why could you not have at least tried to hole up in the city?”
Duo turned an incredulous look on Zechs. “I tried! Your sister is more thorough than OZ ever was putting out the damn bulletins. I was recognized in five minutes and wham, you see where you found me!”
Heero returned to the room, handing Duo his clothes before tossing Zechs his. “The others have been working on this problem. Hurry up and get dressed.”
-_________________-
Duo was sitting in a circle with the other five pilots from the war, a rueful smile on his face. “You want me to call her?”
Heero nodded. “Untraceable line.”
Quatre smiled a bit, leaning up against Wufei. “We’ve all had problems. It was rather important to get this line created.”
Duo nodded once then took a deep breath, bracing himself. His fingers flew over the twenty number code to reach Hilde’s place on L2 from Earth. He made sure that he could see her, but she couldn’t see him.
“Hello? Who’s there?” Hilde answers on the first ring, staring intently into the screen when she notices that there isn’t visual.
The first sound of her voice causes Duo to clench his fists. He started to tremble; forcibly repressing the urge to attack her voice brought him. It was like he was the young teen he resembled all over again, spoiling for a fight. Duo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Hilde.”
“Duo! Are you coming back? Can I drop the charges?” She looked so happy, but her eyes were wild, a possessive gleam shining there.
Duo growled under his breath. “I can’t pretend we can still be friends Hilde. Because of what you’ve done, I really don’t want to be. I don’t want to even be your brother anymore. You can just be alone tonight, and every night. You had no right to ask what you did. Understand me?”
Hilde’s face took on a wounded expression. “No, you really don’t mean that Duo! You were meant to be with me! I fell so hard and fast this time… It has to be true love, and you are the person who’s supposed to be my knight in shining armor!”
Duo growled lowly. “I want to say this right, Hilde. You have to drop those false charges against me, and it has to be tonight. I just need you to know that if you don’t do it, you’ll learn why I call myself Shinigami first hand. I can make those lies reality Hilde. Do you really want that? I don’t want to live this life again. I lived it all my life! I don’t want to have to say goodbye to all my new friends, and because of you, I didn’t even get the chance! Do you understand any of that?” Duo was leaning into the screen, his expression a deadly smile she could not see.
“I just… I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you… But now… Everything’s changed hasn’t it? We never even knew what I wanted…” Hilde had a look on her face that made her look amazingly frail.
“No more Hilde! You take back those lies or I make them true, understand me?” Duo had his hands planted on either side of the screen; his eyes focused on a point on the floor.
“I understand… I’m sorry… I can’t… You have to make them true then.” Hilde disconnected her side of the line before she could change her mind, eyes closed, but her face set.
Duo slammed his palms down on the table and stood from his stooped position. “Damn it no!”
Quatre moved to Duo, drawing the smaller man into his arms and running his hands over his back. “It’ll be alright Duo… It’ll be all right. We can still win this. She won’t get away from this so easy.”
Duo shook his head, allowing himself to be held, taking the comfort from his taller blond friend. “I promised I’d make them true Quatre… I never break promises. She has until the morning, then I have to go and deal with her.”
Heero moved to Duo’s side, running his hand down his braid. “I’ll come with you. You won’t be left alone to deal with her.”
Trowa was the next to lend his aide. “I’ll help as well.”
Wufei nodded from his seat on a chair. “Yes, that creature deserves to get what she deserves for what pain she caused you.”
Zechs smiled a bit. “I’ll make my sister regret helping her through political means.”
Quatre laughed quietly, holding Duo closer. “We all love you Duo. We all want to help you bring her down. You won’t be the only one to keep that promise, and if you want, you’ll never have to touch her. You’ll still be making the lies true, just through us.”
Duo finally pulled back, looking around the room. “Thank you.”
-_________________-
Three days later there were headlines all over the news. The woman formally known as Hilde was found horribly disfigured and killed in her own home. The most horrific thing about the entire scene were the words “What can I do to make you mine?” Scrawled over and over against the walls in her own blood, and the wide smile on her face. There are multiple suspects for this murder but as of yet, there is no way to determine who was responsible since no weapons or fingerprints that should not belong were found.
Other headlines were even more unique. “Relena Darlian-Peacecraft has found herself in political hot water. She was impeached from her position once proof of her crimes of accepting bribery to fund a private army on her estates came to light. She’s been judged in court for a lifelong sentence in an unmentioned prison. Now in other news…
Duo sat back in his chair with a sad sigh, looking around at the others involved in dragging the two women down. “I don’t feel guilty.”
Heero smiled slightly, wrapping an arm around Duo’s shoulders. “And you shouldn’t, because they deserved it.”
Duo laughed a little. “You’re right. They did.”
Owari.
"How did I fall in love with you" - by the Backstreet Boys.
Remember when, we never needed each other
The best of friends like
Sister and Brother
We understood, we'd never be,
Alone
Those days are gone, and I want you so much
The night is long and I need your touch
Don't know what to say
I never meant to feel this way
Don't want to be
Alone tonight
chorus:
What can I do, to make you mine
Falling so hard so fast this time
What did I say, what did you do?
How did I fall in love with you?
I hear your voice
And I start to tremble
Brings back the child that, I resemble
I cannot pretend, that we can still be friends
Don't want to be,
Alone tonight
chorus
Bridge:
Oh I want to say this right
And it has to be tonight
Just need you to know, oh yeah
I don't want to live this life
I don't want to say goodbye
With you I wanna spend
The rest of my life
chorus
What can I do, to make you mine
Falling so hard so fast this time
Everything's changed, we never knew
How did I fall, in love, with you?