LETTERS FROM DUO
(Sidefic series
for the Death and the Dragon Arc)
By: Mel and
Christy
Warnings: Angst
----------------------
Heero cast
another worried glance at his braided partner, who was currently sitting on the
window seat staring out at the night sky. Duo had been extremely moody since
they found out about the 'mobile dolls,' and his mood grew visibly darker with
each mission, as they encountered more dolls. It was getting so bad that he was
barely even sleeping, anymore. They had tried to cheer Duo up, but the only
thing they'd accomplished was to end up tense and stressed themselves.
Of
course, Wufei's comment that 'Maxwell was acting like a hormonal woman' didn't
help things.
Heero sighed and decided to give it one more
try.
"Duo", he murmured, sitting on the seat next to the braided teen,
"we know how you feel, but brooding about it won't accomplish anything. Talk to
us. Maybe we can help you work it though."
Duo turned and looked at his
partner, eyes dull. "Heero... why? Why would they do this? Why would Treize do
this? You've seen the emails... I thought maybe he wasn't so bad. I mean, he had
a sense of humour... he seemed honourable, in a kind of twisted way. I didn't
think he'd go this far. Duo no baka, eh Heero?"
"No, not a baka. You just
look for the best in people; you give them the benefit of the doubt. I think you
may be right, though, even if I don't like or trust him. The mobile dolls
just don't fit the pattern; they don't fit his profile. Something's not adding
up, and you know how conflicting the reports we're getting from the doctors
are."
"So?"
"So, why don't you ask him yourself? Email him," Heero
said, standing and retrieving Duo's laptop. "See what he has to say for
himself."
----------
FROM:
Disappointed@Disillusioned.net
SENT: 20:26 April 04, 197AC
< NO FURTHER
MESSAGE DATA>
---message begins---
Treize-man, what is
the fuckin' deal? Automated suits? No human pilots? I really thought better of
you. You may be the enemy general, but I kind of liked you, in a 'he's a cool
badguy' sort of way, once we got past the whole New Edwards fiasco thing. Now
you go and pull this crap? These 'mobile dolls' of yours can never bring peace.
Without the human factor, there's no risk! No reason to stop fighting! And the
only ones endangered are the innocent civilians caught in the middle.
You
know, I thought you had some sort of honour. I had started thinking of you as an
opponent, rather than the evil anti-christ. But I guess I was wrong. You're
really nothing more than a coward; more a terrorist than we are. At least we
fight in person. At least we lay our lives on the line for what we believe in. I
may not live to see the end of the war, but at least while I'm roasting in hell,
I'll know I did everything *humanly* possible to try and stop the war and
protect the innocent.
What will you be able to say for yourself at the
final reckoning?
Duo Maxwell
---message ends---
* * * *
*
*I let my birds fly free,* Trieze remembered, gazing out the
window at the sky, *and they returned to my hand... returned to their cage,
knowing no better. Now that I have recognised my cage for what it is, I
like to think that I would avoid that mistake; but nobody has yet been foolish
enough to open the door for me.*
A quiet chime from his computer
broke into his reverie, and he blinked in surprise. *An email? If
Romafeller's security allowed it through, I doubt it's anything of particular
importance. A request for toilet paper to be delivered to a base in Greenland,
perhaps,* he continued wryly, twisting his chair to tap at the keyboard and
open the message. *Winter underwear for
Okinawa--*
*Ah.*
*I see. Not allowed through
security at all. It appears I have reason to be grateful for my young opponent's
hacking talents... and, judging by the contents of this message, his moral
indignation as well.*
----------
FROM:
Kushrenada.T@OZ.org
TO: Disappointed@Disillusioned.net
SENT: 08:09 April
05, 197AC
SUBJECT: My apologies
---message
begins---
Duo,
Please believe me when I say that the last thing I
have ever wanted was to disillusion you. The world needs people-- warriors--
with your brand of dauntless optimism, now more than ever.
Regrettably, I
must confess that I am no longer in control of OZ, and have not been for some
weeks now. Although orders are still being issued in my name (I flatter myself
that a reasonable percentage of my former subordinates would refuse to cooperate
if it were known that I have been removed from command), I am in fact under
house arrest. The incident that precipitated my... shall we say, sudden
demotion? was my rather forceful objections to the development and deployment of
the mobile dolls. I am proud to be able to say that I expressed myself in
similar terms to those used in your missive.
Before you ask, I would
prefer it if you would *not* attempt to 'break me out'. While this is an
admirable habit of yours, it might impact on my ability to retake control of OZ
from the Romafeller Foundation-- an organisation I strongly urge you to
investigate if you are not already doing so-- and end this war.
As to
your final question: I hope, in the end, to be able to say that I have always
done what I believed to be right.
--Treize
P.S. Some time ago, as
I'm sure you remember, I told you that I could not in good conscience give you
any sort of military information. However, I do not regard mobile dolls as
legitimate military hardware, and feel no reservations about sending you the
attached files. I have no access to classified databases at present, and
therefore had to reconstruct the data from memory, but I believe the factory
locations are reasonably accurate.
P.P.S. I *do* hope your 'custom' email
program gets replies to you *out* of security systems as unobtrusively as it
slips them in.
< < 1 attached file: targets.doc >
>
---message ends---
----------