(fic) Sentinels and Guides - Gundam Wing
Sep. 15th, 2009 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katikatSentinels and their Guides
AU, Sci-Fi ~ 1+2, 3+4 ~ In a world of genetic manipulations a Sentinel searches for his Guide. Inspired by the TV show "The Sentinel".
Heero sighed and looked out of the window of the silver limo he and his friends were riding in. His life was depressive, dark and empty. Just a short while ago he didn´t actually mind but now... He looked over at the pair sitting in the seat across from him. Quatre and Trowa... They looked so happy having something he would probably never have. The Bond. It was the only thing the Sentinels craved. To share their life, body, mind and soul with their Guide - the only person in the world with the ability to keep them focused and sane.
His hearing spiked again, overwhelming him with sounds of the street - honking cars, raging engines, cursing drivers, dozens of heartbeats - and he flinched, closing his eyes tightly. It was happening more and more often these days. His senses - the heightened senses all Sentinels were proud of - were getting out of control, driving him crazy with strange smells, sounds and tastes. This was one of the things Sentinels feared the most (besides losing their Guide) - to get out of control, to lose their sanity, to degenerate to the point of a mere animal - dangerous and deadly - because that was what would happen to a Sentinel who lost control of himself. His sanity would abandon him, his human mind would break, and the only thing left would be the spirit animal Sentinels carried in their souls.
When he got his hearing back in control, he looked over at the couple again to find them watching him with worry in their eyes.
"Are you okay, Heero?" Quatre - Trowa´s Guide - asked quietly, knowing that loud sounds could be pretty painful after a spike.
Heero tried to smile for him. Quatre worried too much sometimes. "Yes, I am. You don´t need to worry about me."
Quatre didn´t comment about his obvious lie. He laid his head on Trowa´s shoulder and let him put his arm around him. Through the empathy every Guide possessed he could feel how depressed, confused and hurt Heero was. He shut his eyes tight snuggling closer to his Sentinel. Sometimes the feelings of people around him were drowning him and he had to seek shelter in the Bond his empathy sustained. Like right now. Heero was hurting so much...
Trowa bent down and kissed his Guide and lover on the top of his golden head. "You should find yourself a Guide," he said, his senses locked on the precious bundle in his arms.
Heero huffed. Trowa was stating the obvious. Every Sentinel needed a Guide who would help them keep their sanity through the Bond. No Guide meant no Bond which meant no future. Because without the Bond, every Sentinel would be driven insane - sooner or later. But Heero wouldn´t let it go that far. He would end it himself before he would get reduced to a mere hissing and biting beast.
"I know that, Trowa. You know the best how hard I tried. I tried it at every Guide academy there is. I went to all the mixers the trainers sent me to. I just didn´t find the One with whom I would just click with like you with Quatre. You met him on the first mixer you went to. One look and the Bond was there. I wish I could have been that lucky..." Heero sighed. How many times did he have this conversation already? With another sigh, he propped his chin on his hand and looked back out of the window.
Heero was right, Trowa thought to himself. He had been really lucky. He looked down at his Guide, lover, soul mate, best friend and pulled him closer. He didn´t know what he would do being in Heero´s place. He saw the looks full of resignation the trainers were giving him. They gave up on him and just waited for the moment he would snap. They were both twenty. At this age every Sentinel should be already paired, with the Bond established and strong. He knew that the spikes were coming more and more often these days. He knew the paleness, the wild look they left behind. It meant that the first stage of insanity was knocking at the door. He only hoped that he wouldn´t have to fulfill the promise he gave Heero - the promise to release him from his misery should he really lose his mind...
The limo - Quatre´s limo - was flying down the streets of New Angeles, the capital city of Cluster L1, the first colony ever founded. It was a dark planet with no sun, the artifical one giving only the barest hints of what the true thing on Earth might have looked like. It was so far back in the past when the first colonists left their home planet to look for a new "paradise", nobody remembered anymore how it was to breath fresh air and bathe in the sun. If this was paradise, then what did hell look like?
The car stopped at the red light. Heero fixed his eyes on a small dirty child searching for food in a garbage can. Such a big chasm in the levels of society - the upper ten thousand and the millioons on the street. Did he really have the right to feel sorry for himself? He knew that he would go home now and take a bath, eat and drink whatever he wanted, go clubbing tomorrow again... And if he went crazy after all there would be somebody to take care of his needs. That was the difference between him and the girl searching the garbage can - a couple of ciphers in a bank account.
Suddenly, before the car could take off once again, something heavy dropped on the roof of the car shaking the limo and the passengers within.
"What the...?" Heero started and opened the car door to see what had happened. Before he could get out a slight figure jumped off the car in front of his opened door. The figure - dressed all in black - turned around and its eyes locked with Heero's for the shortest of moments before it took off down the street. Heero´s breath caught in his throat as he felt the Bond click in place in the milisecond when his and the stranger´s eyes met. He didn´t know him - or was it her? He thought he saw a long braid - but he knew he had to find him. It was his One and only.
"Heero! What are you doing?" Quatre shouted after him as Heero jumped out of the car trying to catch the fleeing figure. He wanted to get out too but Trowa caught him around his waist and pulled him back to him. "Trowa, what are you doing? We have to go after him!" the blond man protested.
Trowa smiled and closed the door. "No, we don´t." He pushed the call button to the driver. "Rashid, turn the car and take us back."
"How far, Mr Barton?" the disembodied voice asked.
"I don´t know. Just drive slowly. I will tell you when to stop," Trowa answered and released the button situated in the ceiling.
"What are you doing, Trowa?" Quatre asked, his voice agitated, as he squirmed in the Trowa´s lap for once trying to shake of his lover´s arm that was holding him in place. "We might lose them. What if something happens to Heero? What if he has another spike?"
Trowa smiled. "I doubt that there will be any spikes anymore."
That caught Quatre´s attention. "What do you mean?" He turned to look Trowa in the face as the limo took a wide U-turn in the intersection.
"I mean that Heero found his Guide, love."
Quatre gaped and Trowa kissed him on the tip of his nose.
~~~
Duo was sure that someone was following him. You learned to trust your gut feelings living on the streets and it was telling him now that someone was after him. He raced down the dimly lit main street and snuck into one of the even darker side streets. He pressed himself to the cold and damp metal wall and listened carefully. He couldn´t hear any footsteps or any other sounds indicating that there really was someone behind him. Maybe he was just getting paranoid.
Duo snorted. Yeah, sure. There was no such thing as being too paranoid or overly careful on these streets. Here it was a fight for survival. It was run or fight - or get killed. And Duo had no intention of doing the latter.
Still hearing nothing, he allowed himself to relax slightly. Maybe he was wrong this time. But he had never been wrong before. And he just couldn´t imagine any reason anybody would have to follow him. Another silent snort. As if some of the more dangerous types needed a reason to slit someone´s throat. Or to grope someone. He knew how it was to get roughened up in that way. His long braid fooled a lot of people in the past. Some of them backed off when they realized their mistake. Some of them... Some of them didn´t. But now was not the time to think about the past. He had to be sure that he lost his tail and then get back home.
Yeah, home. A rusted hole in one of the older warehouse buildings near the docks that led into a small room where he and his brother Solo lived. It was dark, cold and damp but it was their home. At least they had a place where they could hide from the poisonous rain that hit the colony every couple of days. A simple way of reducing the street rat population. The ones who didn´t have any place to hide got wet, sick and died in a matter of minutes. Black van-like cars roamed the streets after every rain episode getting rid of the bodies. No need to scare the regular population, right?
Duo looked up at the dark sickly gray sky. It was almost dark. Solo would be worried if he didn´t hurry up. He took another peek around the corner and when he didn´t spot anyone he ran further down the side street and jumped over a small rusty wall. Everything was rusty here near the docks. The poisonous rain killed the people and destroyed the metal buildings too. Not as quickly as human beings but just as thoroughly.
Another street, another turn... And there was this shadow again. He always noticed it only from the corner of his eye and when he turned it was gone. It was getting frustrating. He needed to get home. He was hungry and tired but he couldn´t risk leading someone to their hiding place. There was only one thing he could do...
Turning into one of the more smelly and dirty streets, he stopped in the middle of it and turned around resting his hands on his hips, his legs slightly spread, his knife in reach on his belt.
"Okay, who are you and what do you want?" Duo asked, hoping his voice didn´t show his nervousness.
There was no answer, but he could swear that he saw a movement in the shadows near the entrance of the street. What did the person want from him?
"I haven't got all day, buddy. I have places to go. So come out and tell me what you want!" Duo was starting to get annoyed. He could hear some of the street rats scrambling away, not wanting to get in the middle of a fight.
The sky above him darkened and grew black. Duo couldn´t see much of anything now, but he was determined to not show his growing nervousness. He couldn´t see the person anymore, not even the flicker of movement he was able to register before. But then he realized something - he didn´t see him, but he could feel him. His excitement, lust, impatience and... happiness? He shook his head to get rid of these feelings that weren´t his own, but it didn´t help. What was going on here? This never happened to him before!
"I want you," came the whisper from behind him, the person´s breath caressing his neck.
Duo jumped pulling out his knife and turning around he slashed at his invisible enemy. "Why? What do you want from me? Kill me? Or fuck me? Because I won´t give up without a fight, pal," Duo snarled, crouching a little to get in a fighting stance.
"Fuck you, maybe..."
Now the voice was on his right. He turned quickly but there was nothing, only the darkness.
"But not kill you... never... not now that I have found you..."
Duo couldn´t help but shiver. He could hear the voice all around him, he could feel it vibrate through him, setting every vein in his body on fire. What was happening here? Had he been drugged and this is some sort of a hallucination?
"Found me? What are you talking about?" he sneered, gripping the knife more tightly in his hand.
There was a chuckle in the darkness and it was as if it caressed his skin. Duo got goosebumps all over his body. Why didn´t the man attack? He had the perfect opportunity here.
"Yes, found you. I have been looking for you for years... My Guide..."
Duo froze. A Sentinel. Oh shit. He wouldn´t stand a chance against a Sentinel. They could see in dark, hear his heart beat with fear and their speed and strenght, their reflexes, their senses were deadly. They were the real predators that only the jungle could have given birth to before the genetic experiments came. They were the throwbacks to pre-civilized times driven only by instinct, the protectors, the warriors, the killers – at least that was what he read about them in an old newspaper he had found in the trash one day. But if that was the truth then the man could snap his neck any time he wanted. Then it hit him. Guide? This man thought he was his Guide? Impossible...
"I think you´ve mistaken me with somebody else, dude. I ain´t a Guide. Just a street rat like all the others here in the slums."
There was the chuckle again. "There is nothing ordinary about you... you are my Guide... can´t you feel the connection? My feelings? My desires?"
Duo opened his mouth to deny it, but then he felt the warmth spread through him as if something caressed his mind. It was like a feather on a naked skin. So soft and non-threatening... It felt like he found something he never knew he had lost. Could it be...?
No way! Duo denied it immediately. There was no way he could be a... a... Guide. Street rats like him weren´t born with abilities like that. Mutations, disabilities - that was the mark of the slum people. Not a talent as rare as the empathy, the only talent that didn´t come from genetic manipulations, the only talent given to people by the nature itself… He couldn´t be an Empath. He would know, wouldn´t he? Wouldn´t he???
He didn´t know what exactly Sentinels needed from their Guides. They were pretty secretive about that. He heard that not even the scientists knew everything. But whatever it was – he didn´t have it. He opened his mouth to say something, anything that would get him out of this when he felt a touch on his hand. The one holding the knife. He wanted to pull away but found that he was unable to. And what shocked him the most was that he found himself leaning back against the hard body behind him. He just couldn´t help it.
"That´s the pull of the Bond," explained the man as if he was reading his mind. "You can´t escape it. The more you fight it the more you are drawn to me."
The Bond? Duo heard about that. The eternal connection between the Sentinel and his Guide. The mental link that bound two people together so tightly that even the death couldn´t break them apart. But... there had to be some sort of contact before the Bond clicked in place and he didn´t... "I don´t know you. We have never met," Duo whispered, not even protesting as the man pulled the knife out of his hand. "There can´t be any Bond between us."
"No, you don´t know me... but the Bond is there. It appeared the moment you looked in my eyes... That means we´ve been destined for each other. You are the other half of my soul..." the man breathed in his ear.
Looked in his eyes? The wheels in Duo´s muddled brain turned so slowly. When...? And then he remembered. The limo. That was the only possibility. He would have noticed if the invisible stranger followed him before. The guy that opened the door as he jumped on it from the bridge when he had been fleeing from the Police Corps Droids. The only thing the robots weren´t able to do was jump from such high places without breaking or twisting something and messing up their systems. Well, at least the old models weren´t able to do that. He had been lucky that he didn´t meet the new Android Units when he had been stealing the food bars that were currently hidden inside his black shirt and in his pockets. But if this guy was right, then maybe he would have been better off had he met the AU's. The Bond meant a thing for life, nothing that could be broken if you didn´t like it. Somehow he suspected that there would be more things he wouldn´t like.
Duo coughed self-consciously feeling the arms around him, holding him tightly but gently. "So if - and I mean IF - the Bond really exists... what would that mean?" he asked carefully. He needed to find out what the man wanted from him.
There was the chuckle again. "It means that I´m taking you home, Guide."
THAT got Duo´s attention, breaking the fog that clouded his mind. Suddenly angry, he twisted away from the tight hold of the invisible Sentinel and turned around. "Now wait a fucking minute. I am not going anywhere with you. I am going home. And I mean like now." He looked at the place where he suspected the man´s eyes would be. "I don´t care about all these crazy things you´ve been babbling about here. I have my life and I won´t allow you to mess with it." He nodded to himself, satisfied that he could still hold his own. But the lack of response from the Sentinel was grating on his nerves. He took a couple of steps back, swallowing nervously.
"Do you hear me? I am NOT going with you!" He turned around and started to run.
The Sentinel pounced.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Quatre looked out of the window of the limo frowning at the dirty damp streets. "Are you sure they are here, Trowa?" he asked. "Not that I don´t believe your Sentinel senses but... the slums are dangerous. And we are sticking out like a sore thumb with the limo."
Trowa pulled his Guide closer to him. "Yes, they are here. And I am sure it won´t take much longer now. Actually-" he cocked his head to the side and smiled just a little "-Heero is coming back." He pulled his arms away from Quatre and opening the car door, he got out. He moved to the side to let Quatre get out after looking around carefully. He didn´t hear anybody but there was no need to take risks.
The blond man stepped out of the car and stretched just a little. He looked around but didn´t see almost anything in the near darkness of the street. "Where...?"
Before he could finish his question he could hear voices. Actually one voice. And it was really loud and sounded really annoyed. "Put me down, you neanderthal! You hear me? I don´t want to go with you. Let me go or I will... I will... bite you!!!"
Quatre looked to the left, and after a couple of seconds of squinting he could make out a moving shape in the dark. When Heero finally moved near the lights of the car Quatre´s jaw hit the floor. There was Heero, looking quite smug and satisfied with himself, carrying a kicking and screaming black clad person over his shoulder.
"I see you caught him," Trowa commented impassively.
Before Heero could answer, the black clad figure started to rant again. "Caught? What am I? Some deer or fox and you the hunting dog?"
"Actually a white tiger," answered Heero, calmly referring to his spirit animal.
There was a confused "Huh?" from the person hanging over his shoulder.
"Oh, dear, Heero, what do you think you are doing?" exclaimed Quatre. "You don´t need to drag him here like some cave man."
Heero frowned at him. "Yes, I need to. He wouldn´t come with me otherwise."
"But to throw him over your shoulder? Don´t you think you exaggerated things a little? I am sure that if you would put him down he wouldn´t run away. Would you?" Quatre asked the twisting and kicking boy.
"Of course I would," Duo shouted at Quatre which earned him a hard slap on his behind. With a loud "oww" the braided boy pounded a fist against his captor's back. "The short one is right. You are a cave man. You have no manners. You are impertinent and rude and..."
Before he could rant further Heero just pulled him down from his shoulder and pushed him into the limo.
"Hey, what are you doing? I am not going anywhere with you! Let me out of here!!!" screamed Duo as he started to pull on the handle on the other side of the car to open the door.
Heero didn´t react to it, knowing that the other door was locked and only the driver could open it. "Could we go now? I am getting quite hungry." When Quatre nodded he got in the car and sat down next to the protesting youth.
Hearing the braided boy´s voice gain on volume, Quatre looked at his Sentinel who only nodded to himself not at all fazed by what had happened. "They will make a great pair," Trowa said as he waited for his Guide to get in.
"Yeah, if they don´t kill each other first," muttered Quatre quietly as he prepared himself mentally for the long ride home. And long it was.
The End
===
The Bond
AU, Sci-Fi, Angst ~ 1+2, 3+4 ~ To save his Guide Heero had to do something unforgivable.
Solo looked out of the hole they used as door. It was dark already and his brother was nowhere to be seen. He didn´t like it. He had never come back so late. Solo just hoped that the AU's didn´t catch his little brother. Duo could be wild sometimes and act before really thinking things through, but he had a big heart and often risked his life for the other children of the street.
Solo sighed and climbed back over the crates to the small corner they had set up as their "apartment" as Duo used to call it. The warehouse was a forgotten place nobody took care of anymore. The roof and the walls were pretty rotted already but it was still dry enough there to hide from the rain that came to kill.
He dropped down on the pallet they used for sleeping and curled up in a small ball. If something happened to his brother... He swallowed and brought the dirty blanket they found somewhere tightly to his body. The phosphor lamp Duo had stolen from the docks was the only source of light that illuminated their home. But there wasn´t much to be seen. One bed big enough for two people, a box they used as a table, and piles and piles of things he considered useless. But Duo just grinned at him every time he complained about them, saying that "maybe we will use them one day". And Solo didn´t have the heart to just throw them away.
There was a scratching sound somewhere in the warehouse. The sound of dozens of small feet tapping on the concrete ground was awfully loud. Every sound seemed awfully loud when you were alone. The rats didn´t scare him, just made him uneasy. Just like the thought about Duo. He wouldn´t get himself caught, right? He was too smart for that, right? He would look for him if he just knew where he went. But in the hunt for food, they often found themselves in the most impossible parts of the city - like the OZ neighborhood, where only the really rich people lived. Solo hoped that Duo didn´t go there. For a street rat to be caught there meant death sentence on site. No trial, no excuses. Street rats just didn´t fit in the high polished and most exclusive part of the city.
Maybe he would go and look for him anyway. Maybe he would have luck... But the rain... It would come tonight. He could feel it in his bones. And to get caught in it and die wouldn´t help his brother in the least.
So Solo sighed and snuggled into the meager covers, knowing that he couldn´t do anything right now. He just hoped that Duo was safe.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"I aint goin' nowhere with you, you brute!"
The statement was met by a glare and arm closing around the boys shoulders in a very possessive manner. This elicited a shriek and another wave of thrashing and cursing.
Quatre sighed and snuggled closer to his Sentinel. This had been going on for quite a while already and he was getting a headache. He sighed again, this time in contentment, when Trowa started to massage his temples and linked their minds together, throwing mental shields around his mind. Wonderful.
"Where do you want Rashid to take us, Heero?" Trowa asked, using the short moment when Heero´s new Guide took a deep breath to start cursing again. "The Sentinel center would be the best choice I think. Your Guide is not trained, so the doctors would insist on monitoring the bonding process."
Heero thought about it. The logical part of his mind was telling him that Trowa was right, that his Guide was inexperienced and that severe problems could occur. On the other hand, the instinctive, primal part of his Sentinel mind was screaming at him to take his Guide to his territory, to a place where he would be safe and no one would be able to take him away. Even the presence of his friends was grating his nerves. They needed a safe place and time to forge the unbreakable link between them. He needed time to convince his Guide of the rightness of the Bond.
Before the Sentinel could say anything, Duo jumped in, his voice suddenly terrified: "I can´t go to any doctors. I´m Unregistered. Do you know what that means?" His eyes were jumping from one person to the other. "I´ve heard about what the doctors do with people who are not Citizens. I saw the results of their care. I´m not going to a doctor. I´m not!" He started to struggle in the vise grip the Sentinel had on his arms. He wasn´t going to a doctor. They couldn´t make him. He would be nobody´s guinea pig.
Heero could hear his Guide´s pulse jump, and start to run wild. The sour smell of fear replaced the heat of anger and Heero´s nose twitched. He could feel a growl start somewhere deep inside of his throat. They weren´t bonded yet, but the strong possessive and protective feelings toward the boy were running wild already. His Guide was afraid and the primal imperative said only one thing: eliminate the threat. With a sharp pull, he brought the struggling youth into his lap and hugged him close, petted and stroked his back and arms, making cooing sounds and sending reassuring thoughts through the fledgling link they shared.
Quatre snuggled closer to his lover. The boy was afraid. He was so scared that Quatre could feel him, even through the strengthened shields his lover provided him with. This one all-encompassing feeling that was filling the whole being of the newly discovered Guide was crashing against his shields, battering them. He felt Trowa twitch under his arms. He knew that he must smell him, smell the fear and he was reacting to it. It didn´t matter that it wasn´t his Guide. It was a Guide and he was afraid. Quatre started to pet his Sentinel, running his hand in short strokes over the shirt clad chest under his cheek. He knew that Heero would take care of it. What they didn´t need were two Sentinels going primal on them. He felt Trowa tighten his arms around him and bring him close, lower his head and bury it into his hair. He heard him inhale his smell - Trowa told him once that he smelt like orange petals on a warm sunny morning - to reassure himself that he was okay, that his Guide wasn´t afraid, that he wasn´t in danger. Even when his Sentinel calmed down, Quatre continued the petting as it made him calm down just like his Sentinel.
Duo ceased to struggle. Willing Guide or not, the instinct older than humankind itself, was telling him that he was safe here, in his Sentinel´s arms. He shook his head and tried to ban those thoughts. He didn´t want a Sentinel, he wasn´t a Guide and he won´t... But it seemed as if his body didn´t listen to his mind because it snuggled closer to the welcoming warmth, pressed itself closer to the petting hands, opened his ears to the reassuring words of not hurting him and protecting him. Without knowing it, he opened himself for his Sentinel, letting the barriers that surrounded his mind fall.
Heero´s nose twitched. The smell... His Guide´s smell? He sniffed again. Strawberries... and chocolate... and a little bit of mint. As he sniffed again, he sensed the smell grow thicker, filling his senses. That could mean only one thing, his Guide was willing to bond, right here and now. He almost purred at the thought. But then the last pieces of his rational mind screamed at him not to dare to take what his Guide was offering him unknowingly. The boy didn´t know anything about the Bond, about Sentinels and Guides. He didn´t know that opening himself to a Sentinel in such a manner, leaving their minds unprotected, was causing the release of their natural smell, the fragrance needed to start and complete the Bond, the chemical similar to pheromones would change the pathways in Sentinel´s mind so that it would acclimate to the mind of his Guide, building something like a bridge between them, a mental link that was unbreakable and that lasted through their whole lives and beyond. Heero swallowed, unknowingly hugging his Guide to him tightly. The need to take what he had been offered was so strong that it made him physically ache. But he couldn´t...
Suddenly, the limousine stopped with screeching tires and only the fast, almost lethal reaction of the Sentinels saved them all from falling to the floor. Trowa raised his hands, opening the glass barrier between them and the driver. "What´s going on, Rashid?" They were in OZ already so the possibility of an attack was minimal.
"The Police are blocking us, Master Trowa. There are human Guards and the Android Units." Rashid sounded a little bit nervous.
The words tore Duo out of his safe haven. He paled. "Oh, God," he whispered. He couldn´t let them catch him. It would be the Mines or be dead on site if they caught him in OZ.
Everybody turned to him. "You know something about it?" Heero asked. The fear was back, and the acrid smell of it was turning his stomach.
"I... I was stealing food. The owner of the shop called the Police and they sent Droids after me," he whispered again.
"Thats why you jumped from that bridge?" Heero´s voice was calm, a steady rock in a stormy sea. He was running his right hand up and down his Guide´s right arm, and even through the gravity of the situation he felt dimly pleased that Duo was leaning into him unknowingly, a simple gesture of a Guide searching for safety with his Sentinel.
"Yes," Duo nodded. He tried to push down the panic but he wasn´t succeeding. It was one thing to run away from the droids but to be surrounded by them with no way out... "You have to let me go. If I run maybe Ill have a chance. You don´t know what they do with us, the Unregistered. If I get caught here in OZ, they have the right to kill me on site. There is no trial for us. It´s enough when a Registered one accuses us and we are deported to the Gundanium Mines. No one survives for long down there..." he whispered, a shiver running through his body. He had seen it. He had seen his friends get caught by the droids they couldn´t outrun. They were screaming and fighting when they shackled them and set them in the prison ship. He hadnt heard from them ever since. He swallowed. Just minutes ago, he feared being a Guide, that his life wouldn´t belong to him anymore. But now... Maybe he won´t have any life at all. And his brother won´t ever find out what happened to him. This uncertainty would kill him...
Duo shivered. He didn´t know what was happening to him. This uncertainty, this indecision in the face of a difficult situation... this wasn´t him... He didn´t know what the Sentinel did to him in that dark alley, but he knew he had been changed forever.
Suddenly he realized that he could never go back, that he was now tightly bound to a man he had never met before. He tried to find anger inside of him. It had never been difficult to get angry, furious before. It got him into many problems in the past. But now... now only deep resignation welled inside of him. No matter what happened now, he would never be free again. He felt a deep, dark abyss open beneath his feet. It called him, beckoned him. He didn´t know what it was but it offered sanctuary. He felt the hopelessness swallow him as he stood on the edge.
Heero tightened his arms around his Guide. His eyes flashed with fury. No one would take him away from him. The Police could go to hell.
"Master, the Police wants us to hand them the Unregistered. Theyve been ordered to arrest him," Rashids voice sounded from the front.
"The AU's, they must have been following us the whole way from the slums," Trowa said, looking out of the window at the droids that were methodically surrounding their car. The whole theater was drawing a lot of gawkers.
Feeling his Guide press himself even closer to him, hearing his heartbeat pick up speed once again, Heero growled deep, deep inside his throat.
Trowa looked Heero in the eyes and held his look while petting his own Guide, whose mental barriers were on the edge of breaking down from the overflow of dark emotions inside the car. "You know what you have to do," Trowa said in a low voice.
A dark understanding passed between them, and a small eternity later Heero nodded. He knew. He didn´t like it, but he knew.
Quatre´s head shot up from Trowa´s shoulder, his eyes going wide and switching from Trowa to Heero and back again until they settled on the huddled person on Heero´s lap. He knew exactly what they were talking about and he didn´t like it all. This was wrong, so very very wrong that it could destroy any relationship Heero could possibly forge with his Guide in the future. This was a betrayal to everything they believed in. "Heero..." Quatre breathed out. "You can´t. This... this is worse than rape," his whisper was full of disbelieving shock. His friend wouldn´t do something like that.
Heero didn´t look at him. He looked out of the window where the AU's and the Police Officers now surrounded the car tightly. He watched one of them step close to the car and knock on the window. Heero growled. He won´t allow them to take his Guide. He would rather if the boy hated him than see him destroyed in the mines.
Quatre looked at his lover. "Trowa! Stop it. This is wrong!" He caught his shirt in both hands and shook him just a little.
Trowa looked down at him, his eyes understanding but determined at the same time. "Do you see any other way out? Short of shooting our way through the masses there is nothing we can do."
Quatre shook his head. The logical part of his brain knew that the Sentinels were right, but the empathic part that was Guide in him was shaken to the core by what they were suggesting.
The uncomfortable silence that settled in the car, the flashing lights of Police car units outside and finally the insistent knocking of the human Police Officer somehow tore through the dark cloud that surrounded Duo´s mind. Suddenly he was back in the car, the abyss closed for the moment. The heavy, strained atmosphere in the car hit him like a physical blow. Something was going on here. Well, something besides the horde of trouble outside the car. He didn´t know how he knew, but his mind was vibrating with the dark vibes in the car. He shook his head but the strange feeling didn´t leave. He looked up at the Sentinel holding him tightly on his lap. The other man didn´t meet his eyes, looking to the side. "What´s going on?" Duo asked silently. Somehow he knew he won´t like it.
"Trowa, Quatre, will you and Rashid hold off the Police for a little while and give us some privacy?" Heero asked, his voice totally devoid of emotions. This wasn´t the way he planned it.
Trowa nodded, opened the door, calling "We are getting out," and pulling his protesting Guide after himself. Quatre threw the confused and somehow dazed looking boy one last sympathetic glance, before stepping out of the car and closing the door firmly behind himself. In the front, Rashid got out too. The Sentinel and Guide were now alone.
Heero followed the discussion between his friends and the Police Officer outside. Quatre - even though he didn´t like what was happening - was buying them some time by pulling the Winner name and shoving it down the now scared Officers throat. The Winners, one of the families that founded the colony, was a powerful family after all.
"What´s going on here?" Duo asked, and pushed himself away from the Sentinel´s lap. This time the other man didn´t hold him down and Duo sat down on the now vacated seat across from him. The Sentinel looked at him, not saying a word. Duo was getting more and more nervous by the second.
Heero took a deep breath. There was no reason to delay this any further. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and when he opened them again, he was perfectly calm. Watching his Guide´s reaction, he slid down on his knees in front of the boy who now looked confused, the threat outside of the car forgotten for the moment. "Im sorry," Heero whispered, looking his Guide in the eyes. Before the longhaired boy could ask why he was feeling sorry, he caught his face in both of his hands and concentrated all his thoughts on one desire - to Bond. He then pressed his mind with all his might against the one of his Guide. Like knife through butter he ripped through his weak fledgling barriers and entered his mind, tearing it apart.
Duo screamed and screamed and screamed. His hands shot up and caught the arms that were holding him in place. He gripped them, tore at them, trying to push them away in a vain attempt to free himself. He felt as if molten lava shot through his mind. He felt all the pathways rip open. The mighty power wreaking havoc on his mind was leaving raw, bleeding wounds behind and it was digging deeper and deeper to the core of his being, to his very soul.
Their eyes were still locked, the Sentinel´s cold and determined, the Guide´s full of pain and tears that left wet trails on his cheeks. Heero felt the power of his Guide, power he will gain one day when this moment will be just a distant memory. He felt the pathways of the inexperienced mind tear open, form new neural paths that were quickly replacing the old, destroyed ones. He reached deeper and deeper, looking for the one spot in his brain that needed to be unlocked, for the mind of a Guide to be able to join the one of his Sentinel. There. He could almost see the blinding light that emanated from the place as he ripped it open, crashing their minds together and locking them into each other with inevitable finality.
Duo couldn´t even scream anymore, so blinding was the pain in his head. He didn´t even notice when his hands dropped away from the arms of the Sentinel. He felt as if something was destroying him and building him up anew from the inside. And then the wave of power reached the deeply hidden area inside of him, the place even he didn´t know about, and tore it open, trampled it down, almost broke it with the force of the crash as the link was forged in the heat of pain and loss and new beginning. The screaming pain in his mind magnified tenfold and then there was just the darkness.
Heero caught his Guide when he slumped in his arms, and held him tightly. He closed his eyes, feeling the burning sensation on the back of his eyelids. This wasn´t how he imagined their Bonding. This wasn´t right. He brought the unresponsive body closer to himself, clutching him desperately. This could break them, break his Guide. Bonded or not, an unwilling Guide was a thing every Sentinel feared. They knew that the unwilling Guide forced to Bond could perish, lock himself in his mind and just die. And there wasn´t a thing the Sentinel could do about it. Feverishly, he hoped that this wouldn´t happen to them, that his Guide would forgive him. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but one day.
Suddenly the car door opened, and the Police Officer stuck his head inside. Heero´s head snapped in his direction and he growled at him, almost baring his teeth. When the man noticed their proximity, and saw the dangerous gleam in Heero´s eyes he turned a deep shade of red, before paling noticeably. In the background, Heero could hear Quatre protesting loudly.
"Uh, sorry, sir, but we have to arrest this man," the Officer pointed at Duo. Seeing Heero´s eyes narrow, he added quickly: "He is wanted for thievery. The Android Units were able to follow his trail and..."
Heero snarled. "No!"
Officer Brown coughed nervously. Sometimes he really didn´t know why he worked in this profession. He really hated to deal with all the crap. "Sir, please..."
"You won´t take my Guide anywhere!" Heero snapped again, taking the braided boy in his arms and moving them into the corner of the car where it was easier for him to protect his Guide.
The Officers eyes almost popped out of his head. Guide? The pair outside said something like that, but he thought they were just stalling. But seeing the primal look in the Oriental looking young mans eyes, he had a feeling that this was way out of his experience. "Uh, you sure?" he asked stupidly. No one prepared him for that when they sent him to collect an Unregistered.
Instead of answering his question, Heero hissed at him through tightly clenched teeth.
What now? Officer Brown asked himself. He couldn´t just let them go. "Can you prove it? Do you have a registration Mark on him? Or at least the registration papers?" The Sentinel growled again, holding his Guide even closer to himself. Brown was getting desperate. "Sir, you have to understand. I´m just doing my job here. I can´t let you go just like that. I have to fill a report and explain to my boss why I let you go. I will lose my job."
The logical part of Heero´s mind knew that the man was right, but the primal part screamed at him to tear him apart for just thinking about taking his Guide away from him. The two parts warred for some time until the logical side won, by a hairs breadth.
"We don´t have a registration. We just Bonded," he explained, his voice cold.
The Officer remembered the muffled scream coming from the inside of the car. Great. Now he had a newly Bonded Pair on his hands too. This day was getting better and better by the minute. "I´m sorry, but in this case I have to take you to the Sentinel Institute where this will be confirmed. If it´s the truth-" the Sentinel hissed at him when he implied that he might be lying "-then they will take over your case from there on. If it isn´t the truth-" another hiss "-then the boy-" he pointed at the unconscious braided boy "-will be arrested and sent to the Mining colonies," the Officer finished describing the the official procedure in cases like that. He tried not to jump at the snarl that followed his little speech. He coughed a little to give himself courage. "Now I have to confiscate your registration, sir. Please?" he added hopefully, and raised his arm toward them.
Heero scowled at him, but in the end he reached into his pocket and handed the Officer his ID card. The Police Officer took it and straightened, moving hastily out of the car. He took the handheld scanner from his pocket and ran the card through, putting the "REGISTRATION TEMPORARILY DISABLED" sign on Heero´s file in the main computer. He then turned to the tall Sentinel with long bangs. "Your driver will have to follow us to the Sentinel Institute. I would advise you to follow our orders, otherwise you will be all arrested for resistance and helping in an escape of an Unregistered criminal," he warned them. The Sentinel - Trowa Barton, if he remembered his registration - growled at him, tucking his Guide closer to his side.
The Police Officer then turned and marched to his vehicle that was still blocking the limousines way. Sentinels... He shuddered. They weren´t paying him enough for this shit.
Quatre and Trowa returned to the car, shutting out the AU's and the gawkers on the street. Seeing the huddled Pair in the corner, Quatre gasped and Heero´s eyes snapped in his direction. The blonde Guide could feel the tension in the air, could feel the pain of the newly Bonded Guide even though he was unconscious. "Heero..." he whispered.
Heero lowered his eyes to his Guide. The braided boys head laid on his shoulder, his limp body on his lap. His breath was still labored, and he was incredibly pale. He was trembling in his arms, his features still slightly twisted in pain. Through the newly forged link, Heero could feel the blinding pain that still gripped his young Guide even in his unconscious state. He caressed his face and kissed his hair. God, what had he done... He shut his eyes tightly.
Trowa´s nose twitched as he smelled the residual traces of the Bonding fragrance in the air. He brought his Guide closer to himself, laying an arm around his shoulders. He felt Quatre gripping his arm tightly and he squeezed him too. He knew how this must be affecting him. To Bond with an unwilling Guide was the greatest crime against the Guides there was. But this...
"You did the right thing, Heero," Trowa whispered, seeing one silent tear escape Heero´s tightly closed eyes. "Only as your Guide is he safe from the Police. Now they can´t deport him. He is a Registered Citizen now and as a Guide, the Sentinel Security Department will handle it. Whatever they decide, they won´t, can´t separate you anymore."
But Heero wasn´t listening to him. His fingers traced his Guide´s features, following the trails the tears left behind on the pale cheeks. He had found his Guide, but maybe he managed to lose him at the same time. He buried his face in the rich brown hair and didn´t seem to notice his friends concerned looks.
Rashid started the car, and the small convoy consisting of the limousine, one police car and Droids started to move toward the Sentinel Institute.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Solo was sitting by the hole in the wall again, looking outside. It was raining. He heard the sound of running feet in the distance. There would be dead bodies to collect in the morning.
He snuggled more deeply into the worn and ragged blanket. Duo didn´t return, and he always came home before the rain started. He hoped nothing happened to his brother but he saw the AU's circling above the slums not so long ago, he knew what that meant. He hoped, but deep in his heart he felt that something was wrong. Something did happen that evening, and he wasn´t there to protect his little brother...
Solo leaned his head against the cold metal wall and watched the rain fall.
The End
AU, Sci-Fi ~ 1+2, 3+4 ~ In a world of genetic manipulations a Sentinel searches for his Guide. Inspired by the TV show "The Sentinel".
Heero sighed and looked out of the window of the silver limo he and his friends were riding in. His life was depressive, dark and empty. Just a short while ago he didn´t actually mind but now... He looked over at the pair sitting in the seat across from him. Quatre and Trowa... They looked so happy having something he would probably never have. The Bond. It was the only thing the Sentinels craved. To share their life, body, mind and soul with their Guide - the only person in the world with the ability to keep them focused and sane.
His hearing spiked again, overwhelming him with sounds of the street - honking cars, raging engines, cursing drivers, dozens of heartbeats - and he flinched, closing his eyes tightly. It was happening more and more often these days. His senses - the heightened senses all Sentinels were proud of - were getting out of control, driving him crazy with strange smells, sounds and tastes. This was one of the things Sentinels feared the most (besides losing their Guide) - to get out of control, to lose their sanity, to degenerate to the point of a mere animal - dangerous and deadly - because that was what would happen to a Sentinel who lost control of himself. His sanity would abandon him, his human mind would break, and the only thing left would be the spirit animal Sentinels carried in their souls.
When he got his hearing back in control, he looked over at the couple again to find them watching him with worry in their eyes.
"Are you okay, Heero?" Quatre - Trowa´s Guide - asked quietly, knowing that loud sounds could be pretty painful after a spike.
Heero tried to smile for him. Quatre worried too much sometimes. "Yes, I am. You don´t need to worry about me."
Quatre didn´t comment about his obvious lie. He laid his head on Trowa´s shoulder and let him put his arm around him. Through the empathy every Guide possessed he could feel how depressed, confused and hurt Heero was. He shut his eyes tight snuggling closer to his Sentinel. Sometimes the feelings of people around him were drowning him and he had to seek shelter in the Bond his empathy sustained. Like right now. Heero was hurting so much...
Trowa bent down and kissed his Guide and lover on the top of his golden head. "You should find yourself a Guide," he said, his senses locked on the precious bundle in his arms.
Heero huffed. Trowa was stating the obvious. Every Sentinel needed a Guide who would help them keep their sanity through the Bond. No Guide meant no Bond which meant no future. Because without the Bond, every Sentinel would be driven insane - sooner or later. But Heero wouldn´t let it go that far. He would end it himself before he would get reduced to a mere hissing and biting beast.
"I know that, Trowa. You know the best how hard I tried. I tried it at every Guide academy there is. I went to all the mixers the trainers sent me to. I just didn´t find the One with whom I would just click with like you with Quatre. You met him on the first mixer you went to. One look and the Bond was there. I wish I could have been that lucky..." Heero sighed. How many times did he have this conversation already? With another sigh, he propped his chin on his hand and looked back out of the window.
Heero was right, Trowa thought to himself. He had been really lucky. He looked down at his Guide, lover, soul mate, best friend and pulled him closer. He didn´t know what he would do being in Heero´s place. He saw the looks full of resignation the trainers were giving him. They gave up on him and just waited for the moment he would snap. They were both twenty. At this age every Sentinel should be already paired, with the Bond established and strong. He knew that the spikes were coming more and more often these days. He knew the paleness, the wild look they left behind. It meant that the first stage of insanity was knocking at the door. He only hoped that he wouldn´t have to fulfill the promise he gave Heero - the promise to release him from his misery should he really lose his mind...
The limo - Quatre´s limo - was flying down the streets of New Angeles, the capital city of Cluster L1, the first colony ever founded. It was a dark planet with no sun, the artifical one giving only the barest hints of what the true thing on Earth might have looked like. It was so far back in the past when the first colonists left their home planet to look for a new "paradise", nobody remembered anymore how it was to breath fresh air and bathe in the sun. If this was paradise, then what did hell look like?
The car stopped at the red light. Heero fixed his eyes on a small dirty child searching for food in a garbage can. Such a big chasm in the levels of society - the upper ten thousand and the millioons on the street. Did he really have the right to feel sorry for himself? He knew that he would go home now and take a bath, eat and drink whatever he wanted, go clubbing tomorrow again... And if he went crazy after all there would be somebody to take care of his needs. That was the difference between him and the girl searching the garbage can - a couple of ciphers in a bank account.
Suddenly, before the car could take off once again, something heavy dropped on the roof of the car shaking the limo and the passengers within.
"What the...?" Heero started and opened the car door to see what had happened. Before he could get out a slight figure jumped off the car in front of his opened door. The figure - dressed all in black - turned around and its eyes locked with Heero's for the shortest of moments before it took off down the street. Heero´s breath caught in his throat as he felt the Bond click in place in the milisecond when his and the stranger´s eyes met. He didn´t know him - or was it her? He thought he saw a long braid - but he knew he had to find him. It was his One and only.
"Heero! What are you doing?" Quatre shouted after him as Heero jumped out of the car trying to catch the fleeing figure. He wanted to get out too but Trowa caught him around his waist and pulled him back to him. "Trowa, what are you doing? We have to go after him!" the blond man protested.
Trowa smiled and closed the door. "No, we don´t." He pushed the call button to the driver. "Rashid, turn the car and take us back."
"How far, Mr Barton?" the disembodied voice asked.
"I don´t know. Just drive slowly. I will tell you when to stop," Trowa answered and released the button situated in the ceiling.
"What are you doing, Trowa?" Quatre asked, his voice agitated, as he squirmed in the Trowa´s lap for once trying to shake of his lover´s arm that was holding him in place. "We might lose them. What if something happens to Heero? What if he has another spike?"
Trowa smiled. "I doubt that there will be any spikes anymore."
That caught Quatre´s attention. "What do you mean?" He turned to look Trowa in the face as the limo took a wide U-turn in the intersection.
"I mean that Heero found his Guide, love."
Quatre gaped and Trowa kissed him on the tip of his nose.
~~~
Duo was sure that someone was following him. You learned to trust your gut feelings living on the streets and it was telling him now that someone was after him. He raced down the dimly lit main street and snuck into one of the even darker side streets. He pressed himself to the cold and damp metal wall and listened carefully. He couldn´t hear any footsteps or any other sounds indicating that there really was someone behind him. Maybe he was just getting paranoid.
Duo snorted. Yeah, sure. There was no such thing as being too paranoid or overly careful on these streets. Here it was a fight for survival. It was run or fight - or get killed. And Duo had no intention of doing the latter.
Still hearing nothing, he allowed himself to relax slightly. Maybe he was wrong this time. But he had never been wrong before. And he just couldn´t imagine any reason anybody would have to follow him. Another silent snort. As if some of the more dangerous types needed a reason to slit someone´s throat. Or to grope someone. He knew how it was to get roughened up in that way. His long braid fooled a lot of people in the past. Some of them backed off when they realized their mistake. Some of them... Some of them didn´t. But now was not the time to think about the past. He had to be sure that he lost his tail and then get back home.
Yeah, home. A rusted hole in one of the older warehouse buildings near the docks that led into a small room where he and his brother Solo lived. It was dark, cold and damp but it was their home. At least they had a place where they could hide from the poisonous rain that hit the colony every couple of days. A simple way of reducing the street rat population. The ones who didn´t have any place to hide got wet, sick and died in a matter of minutes. Black van-like cars roamed the streets after every rain episode getting rid of the bodies. No need to scare the regular population, right?
Duo looked up at the dark sickly gray sky. It was almost dark. Solo would be worried if he didn´t hurry up. He took another peek around the corner and when he didn´t spot anyone he ran further down the side street and jumped over a small rusty wall. Everything was rusty here near the docks. The poisonous rain killed the people and destroyed the metal buildings too. Not as quickly as human beings but just as thoroughly.
Another street, another turn... And there was this shadow again. He always noticed it only from the corner of his eye and when he turned it was gone. It was getting frustrating. He needed to get home. He was hungry and tired but he couldn´t risk leading someone to their hiding place. There was only one thing he could do...
Turning into one of the more smelly and dirty streets, he stopped in the middle of it and turned around resting his hands on his hips, his legs slightly spread, his knife in reach on his belt.
"Okay, who are you and what do you want?" Duo asked, hoping his voice didn´t show his nervousness.
There was no answer, but he could swear that he saw a movement in the shadows near the entrance of the street. What did the person want from him?
"I haven't got all day, buddy. I have places to go. So come out and tell me what you want!" Duo was starting to get annoyed. He could hear some of the street rats scrambling away, not wanting to get in the middle of a fight.
The sky above him darkened and grew black. Duo couldn´t see much of anything now, but he was determined to not show his growing nervousness. He couldn´t see the person anymore, not even the flicker of movement he was able to register before. But then he realized something - he didn´t see him, but he could feel him. His excitement, lust, impatience and... happiness? He shook his head to get rid of these feelings that weren´t his own, but it didn´t help. What was going on here? This never happened to him before!
"I want you," came the whisper from behind him, the person´s breath caressing his neck.
Duo jumped pulling out his knife and turning around he slashed at his invisible enemy. "Why? What do you want from me? Kill me? Or fuck me? Because I won´t give up without a fight, pal," Duo snarled, crouching a little to get in a fighting stance.
"Fuck you, maybe..."
Now the voice was on his right. He turned quickly but there was nothing, only the darkness.
"But not kill you... never... not now that I have found you..."
Duo couldn´t help but shiver. He could hear the voice all around him, he could feel it vibrate through him, setting every vein in his body on fire. What was happening here? Had he been drugged and this is some sort of a hallucination?
"Found me? What are you talking about?" he sneered, gripping the knife more tightly in his hand.
There was a chuckle in the darkness and it was as if it caressed his skin. Duo got goosebumps all over his body. Why didn´t the man attack? He had the perfect opportunity here.
"Yes, found you. I have been looking for you for years... My Guide..."
Duo froze. A Sentinel. Oh shit. He wouldn´t stand a chance against a Sentinel. They could see in dark, hear his heart beat with fear and their speed and strenght, their reflexes, their senses were deadly. They were the real predators that only the jungle could have given birth to before the genetic experiments came. They were the throwbacks to pre-civilized times driven only by instinct, the protectors, the warriors, the killers – at least that was what he read about them in an old newspaper he had found in the trash one day. But if that was the truth then the man could snap his neck any time he wanted. Then it hit him. Guide? This man thought he was his Guide? Impossible...
"I think you´ve mistaken me with somebody else, dude. I ain´t a Guide. Just a street rat like all the others here in the slums."
There was the chuckle again. "There is nothing ordinary about you... you are my Guide... can´t you feel the connection? My feelings? My desires?"
Duo opened his mouth to deny it, but then he felt the warmth spread through him as if something caressed his mind. It was like a feather on a naked skin. So soft and non-threatening... It felt like he found something he never knew he had lost. Could it be...?
No way! Duo denied it immediately. There was no way he could be a... a... Guide. Street rats like him weren´t born with abilities like that. Mutations, disabilities - that was the mark of the slum people. Not a talent as rare as the empathy, the only talent that didn´t come from genetic manipulations, the only talent given to people by the nature itself… He couldn´t be an Empath. He would know, wouldn´t he? Wouldn´t he???
He didn´t know what exactly Sentinels needed from their Guides. They were pretty secretive about that. He heard that not even the scientists knew everything. But whatever it was – he didn´t have it. He opened his mouth to say something, anything that would get him out of this when he felt a touch on his hand. The one holding the knife. He wanted to pull away but found that he was unable to. And what shocked him the most was that he found himself leaning back against the hard body behind him. He just couldn´t help it.
"That´s the pull of the Bond," explained the man as if he was reading his mind. "You can´t escape it. The more you fight it the more you are drawn to me."
The Bond? Duo heard about that. The eternal connection between the Sentinel and his Guide. The mental link that bound two people together so tightly that even the death couldn´t break them apart. But... there had to be some sort of contact before the Bond clicked in place and he didn´t... "I don´t know you. We have never met," Duo whispered, not even protesting as the man pulled the knife out of his hand. "There can´t be any Bond between us."
"No, you don´t know me... but the Bond is there. It appeared the moment you looked in my eyes... That means we´ve been destined for each other. You are the other half of my soul..." the man breathed in his ear.
Looked in his eyes? The wheels in Duo´s muddled brain turned so slowly. When...? And then he remembered. The limo. That was the only possibility. He would have noticed if the invisible stranger followed him before. The guy that opened the door as he jumped on it from the bridge when he had been fleeing from the Police Corps Droids. The only thing the robots weren´t able to do was jump from such high places without breaking or twisting something and messing up their systems. Well, at least the old models weren´t able to do that. He had been lucky that he didn´t meet the new Android Units when he had been stealing the food bars that were currently hidden inside his black shirt and in his pockets. But if this guy was right, then maybe he would have been better off had he met the AU's. The Bond meant a thing for life, nothing that could be broken if you didn´t like it. Somehow he suspected that there would be more things he wouldn´t like.
Duo coughed self-consciously feeling the arms around him, holding him tightly but gently. "So if - and I mean IF - the Bond really exists... what would that mean?" he asked carefully. He needed to find out what the man wanted from him.
There was the chuckle again. "It means that I´m taking you home, Guide."
THAT got Duo´s attention, breaking the fog that clouded his mind. Suddenly angry, he twisted away from the tight hold of the invisible Sentinel and turned around. "Now wait a fucking minute. I am not going anywhere with you. I am going home. And I mean like now." He looked at the place where he suspected the man´s eyes would be. "I don´t care about all these crazy things you´ve been babbling about here. I have my life and I won´t allow you to mess with it." He nodded to himself, satisfied that he could still hold his own. But the lack of response from the Sentinel was grating on his nerves. He took a couple of steps back, swallowing nervously.
"Do you hear me? I am NOT going with you!" He turned around and started to run.
The Sentinel pounced.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Quatre looked out of the window of the limo frowning at the dirty damp streets. "Are you sure they are here, Trowa?" he asked. "Not that I don´t believe your Sentinel senses but... the slums are dangerous. And we are sticking out like a sore thumb with the limo."
Trowa pulled his Guide closer to him. "Yes, they are here. And I am sure it won´t take much longer now. Actually-" he cocked his head to the side and smiled just a little "-Heero is coming back." He pulled his arms away from Quatre and opening the car door, he got out. He moved to the side to let Quatre get out after looking around carefully. He didn´t hear anybody but there was no need to take risks.
The blond man stepped out of the car and stretched just a little. He looked around but didn´t see almost anything in the near darkness of the street. "Where...?"
Before he could finish his question he could hear voices. Actually one voice. And it was really loud and sounded really annoyed. "Put me down, you neanderthal! You hear me? I don´t want to go with you. Let me go or I will... I will... bite you!!!"
Quatre looked to the left, and after a couple of seconds of squinting he could make out a moving shape in the dark. When Heero finally moved near the lights of the car Quatre´s jaw hit the floor. There was Heero, looking quite smug and satisfied with himself, carrying a kicking and screaming black clad person over his shoulder.
"I see you caught him," Trowa commented impassively.
Before Heero could answer, the black clad figure started to rant again. "Caught? What am I? Some deer or fox and you the hunting dog?"
"Actually a white tiger," answered Heero, calmly referring to his spirit animal.
There was a confused "Huh?" from the person hanging over his shoulder.
"Oh, dear, Heero, what do you think you are doing?" exclaimed Quatre. "You don´t need to drag him here like some cave man."
Heero frowned at him. "Yes, I need to. He wouldn´t come with me otherwise."
"But to throw him over your shoulder? Don´t you think you exaggerated things a little? I am sure that if you would put him down he wouldn´t run away. Would you?" Quatre asked the twisting and kicking boy.
"Of course I would," Duo shouted at Quatre which earned him a hard slap on his behind. With a loud "oww" the braided boy pounded a fist against his captor's back. "The short one is right. You are a cave man. You have no manners. You are impertinent and rude and..."
Before he could rant further Heero just pulled him down from his shoulder and pushed him into the limo.
"Hey, what are you doing? I am not going anywhere with you! Let me out of here!!!" screamed Duo as he started to pull on the handle on the other side of the car to open the door.
Heero didn´t react to it, knowing that the other door was locked and only the driver could open it. "Could we go now? I am getting quite hungry." When Quatre nodded he got in the car and sat down next to the protesting youth.
Hearing the braided boy´s voice gain on volume, Quatre looked at his Sentinel who only nodded to himself not at all fazed by what had happened. "They will make a great pair," Trowa said as he waited for his Guide to get in.
"Yeah, if they don´t kill each other first," muttered Quatre quietly as he prepared himself mentally for the long ride home. And long it was.
The End
===
The Bond
AU, Sci-Fi, Angst ~ 1+2, 3+4 ~ To save his Guide Heero had to do something unforgivable.
Solo looked out of the hole they used as door. It was dark already and his brother was nowhere to be seen. He didn´t like it. He had never come back so late. Solo just hoped that the AU's didn´t catch his little brother. Duo could be wild sometimes and act before really thinking things through, but he had a big heart and often risked his life for the other children of the street.
Solo sighed and climbed back over the crates to the small corner they had set up as their "apartment" as Duo used to call it. The warehouse was a forgotten place nobody took care of anymore. The roof and the walls were pretty rotted already but it was still dry enough there to hide from the rain that came to kill.
He dropped down on the pallet they used for sleeping and curled up in a small ball. If something happened to his brother... He swallowed and brought the dirty blanket they found somewhere tightly to his body. The phosphor lamp Duo had stolen from the docks was the only source of light that illuminated their home. But there wasn´t much to be seen. One bed big enough for two people, a box they used as a table, and piles and piles of things he considered useless. But Duo just grinned at him every time he complained about them, saying that "maybe we will use them one day". And Solo didn´t have the heart to just throw them away.
There was a scratching sound somewhere in the warehouse. The sound of dozens of small feet tapping on the concrete ground was awfully loud. Every sound seemed awfully loud when you were alone. The rats didn´t scare him, just made him uneasy. Just like the thought about Duo. He wouldn´t get himself caught, right? He was too smart for that, right? He would look for him if he just knew where he went. But in the hunt for food, they often found themselves in the most impossible parts of the city - like the OZ neighborhood, where only the really rich people lived. Solo hoped that Duo didn´t go there. For a street rat to be caught there meant death sentence on site. No trial, no excuses. Street rats just didn´t fit in the high polished and most exclusive part of the city.
Maybe he would go and look for him anyway. Maybe he would have luck... But the rain... It would come tonight. He could feel it in his bones. And to get caught in it and die wouldn´t help his brother in the least.
So Solo sighed and snuggled into the meager covers, knowing that he couldn´t do anything right now. He just hoped that Duo was safe.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"I aint goin' nowhere with you, you brute!"
The statement was met by a glare and arm closing around the boys shoulders in a very possessive manner. This elicited a shriek and another wave of thrashing and cursing.
Quatre sighed and snuggled closer to his Sentinel. This had been going on for quite a while already and he was getting a headache. He sighed again, this time in contentment, when Trowa started to massage his temples and linked their minds together, throwing mental shields around his mind. Wonderful.
"Where do you want Rashid to take us, Heero?" Trowa asked, using the short moment when Heero´s new Guide took a deep breath to start cursing again. "The Sentinel center would be the best choice I think. Your Guide is not trained, so the doctors would insist on monitoring the bonding process."
Heero thought about it. The logical part of his mind was telling him that Trowa was right, that his Guide was inexperienced and that severe problems could occur. On the other hand, the instinctive, primal part of his Sentinel mind was screaming at him to take his Guide to his territory, to a place where he would be safe and no one would be able to take him away. Even the presence of his friends was grating his nerves. They needed a safe place and time to forge the unbreakable link between them. He needed time to convince his Guide of the rightness of the Bond.
Before the Sentinel could say anything, Duo jumped in, his voice suddenly terrified: "I can´t go to any doctors. I´m Unregistered. Do you know what that means?" His eyes were jumping from one person to the other. "I´ve heard about what the doctors do with people who are not Citizens. I saw the results of their care. I´m not going to a doctor. I´m not!" He started to struggle in the vise grip the Sentinel had on his arms. He wasn´t going to a doctor. They couldn´t make him. He would be nobody´s guinea pig.
Heero could hear his Guide´s pulse jump, and start to run wild. The sour smell of fear replaced the heat of anger and Heero´s nose twitched. He could feel a growl start somewhere deep inside of his throat. They weren´t bonded yet, but the strong possessive and protective feelings toward the boy were running wild already. His Guide was afraid and the primal imperative said only one thing: eliminate the threat. With a sharp pull, he brought the struggling youth into his lap and hugged him close, petted and stroked his back and arms, making cooing sounds and sending reassuring thoughts through the fledgling link they shared.
Quatre snuggled closer to his lover. The boy was afraid. He was so scared that Quatre could feel him, even through the strengthened shields his lover provided him with. This one all-encompassing feeling that was filling the whole being of the newly discovered Guide was crashing against his shields, battering them. He felt Trowa twitch under his arms. He knew that he must smell him, smell the fear and he was reacting to it. It didn´t matter that it wasn´t his Guide. It was a Guide and he was afraid. Quatre started to pet his Sentinel, running his hand in short strokes over the shirt clad chest under his cheek. He knew that Heero would take care of it. What they didn´t need were two Sentinels going primal on them. He felt Trowa tighten his arms around him and bring him close, lower his head and bury it into his hair. He heard him inhale his smell - Trowa told him once that he smelt like orange petals on a warm sunny morning - to reassure himself that he was okay, that his Guide wasn´t afraid, that he wasn´t in danger. Even when his Sentinel calmed down, Quatre continued the petting as it made him calm down just like his Sentinel.
Duo ceased to struggle. Willing Guide or not, the instinct older than humankind itself, was telling him that he was safe here, in his Sentinel´s arms. He shook his head and tried to ban those thoughts. He didn´t want a Sentinel, he wasn´t a Guide and he won´t... But it seemed as if his body didn´t listen to his mind because it snuggled closer to the welcoming warmth, pressed itself closer to the petting hands, opened his ears to the reassuring words of not hurting him and protecting him. Without knowing it, he opened himself for his Sentinel, letting the barriers that surrounded his mind fall.
Heero´s nose twitched. The smell... His Guide´s smell? He sniffed again. Strawberries... and chocolate... and a little bit of mint. As he sniffed again, he sensed the smell grow thicker, filling his senses. That could mean only one thing, his Guide was willing to bond, right here and now. He almost purred at the thought. But then the last pieces of his rational mind screamed at him not to dare to take what his Guide was offering him unknowingly. The boy didn´t know anything about the Bond, about Sentinels and Guides. He didn´t know that opening himself to a Sentinel in such a manner, leaving their minds unprotected, was causing the release of their natural smell, the fragrance needed to start and complete the Bond, the chemical similar to pheromones would change the pathways in Sentinel´s mind so that it would acclimate to the mind of his Guide, building something like a bridge between them, a mental link that was unbreakable and that lasted through their whole lives and beyond. Heero swallowed, unknowingly hugging his Guide to him tightly. The need to take what he had been offered was so strong that it made him physically ache. But he couldn´t...
Suddenly, the limousine stopped with screeching tires and only the fast, almost lethal reaction of the Sentinels saved them all from falling to the floor. Trowa raised his hands, opening the glass barrier between them and the driver. "What´s going on, Rashid?" They were in OZ already so the possibility of an attack was minimal.
"The Police are blocking us, Master Trowa. There are human Guards and the Android Units." Rashid sounded a little bit nervous.
The words tore Duo out of his safe haven. He paled. "Oh, God," he whispered. He couldn´t let them catch him. It would be the Mines or be dead on site if they caught him in OZ.
Everybody turned to him. "You know something about it?" Heero asked. The fear was back, and the acrid smell of it was turning his stomach.
"I... I was stealing food. The owner of the shop called the Police and they sent Droids after me," he whispered again.
"Thats why you jumped from that bridge?" Heero´s voice was calm, a steady rock in a stormy sea. He was running his right hand up and down his Guide´s right arm, and even through the gravity of the situation he felt dimly pleased that Duo was leaning into him unknowingly, a simple gesture of a Guide searching for safety with his Sentinel.
"Yes," Duo nodded. He tried to push down the panic but he wasn´t succeeding. It was one thing to run away from the droids but to be surrounded by them with no way out... "You have to let me go. If I run maybe Ill have a chance. You don´t know what they do with us, the Unregistered. If I get caught here in OZ, they have the right to kill me on site. There is no trial for us. It´s enough when a Registered one accuses us and we are deported to the Gundanium Mines. No one survives for long down there..." he whispered, a shiver running through his body. He had seen it. He had seen his friends get caught by the droids they couldn´t outrun. They were screaming and fighting when they shackled them and set them in the prison ship. He hadnt heard from them ever since. He swallowed. Just minutes ago, he feared being a Guide, that his life wouldn´t belong to him anymore. But now... Maybe he won´t have any life at all. And his brother won´t ever find out what happened to him. This uncertainty would kill him...
Duo shivered. He didn´t know what was happening to him. This uncertainty, this indecision in the face of a difficult situation... this wasn´t him... He didn´t know what the Sentinel did to him in that dark alley, but he knew he had been changed forever.
Suddenly he realized that he could never go back, that he was now tightly bound to a man he had never met before. He tried to find anger inside of him. It had never been difficult to get angry, furious before. It got him into many problems in the past. But now... now only deep resignation welled inside of him. No matter what happened now, he would never be free again. He felt a deep, dark abyss open beneath his feet. It called him, beckoned him. He didn´t know what it was but it offered sanctuary. He felt the hopelessness swallow him as he stood on the edge.
Heero tightened his arms around his Guide. His eyes flashed with fury. No one would take him away from him. The Police could go to hell.
"Master, the Police wants us to hand them the Unregistered. Theyve been ordered to arrest him," Rashids voice sounded from the front.
"The AU's, they must have been following us the whole way from the slums," Trowa said, looking out of the window at the droids that were methodically surrounding their car. The whole theater was drawing a lot of gawkers.
Feeling his Guide press himself even closer to him, hearing his heartbeat pick up speed once again, Heero growled deep, deep inside his throat.
Trowa looked Heero in the eyes and held his look while petting his own Guide, whose mental barriers were on the edge of breaking down from the overflow of dark emotions inside the car. "You know what you have to do," Trowa said in a low voice.
A dark understanding passed between them, and a small eternity later Heero nodded. He knew. He didn´t like it, but he knew.
Quatre´s head shot up from Trowa´s shoulder, his eyes going wide and switching from Trowa to Heero and back again until they settled on the huddled person on Heero´s lap. He knew exactly what they were talking about and he didn´t like it all. This was wrong, so very very wrong that it could destroy any relationship Heero could possibly forge with his Guide in the future. This was a betrayal to everything they believed in. "Heero..." Quatre breathed out. "You can´t. This... this is worse than rape," his whisper was full of disbelieving shock. His friend wouldn´t do something like that.
Heero didn´t look at him. He looked out of the window where the AU's and the Police Officers now surrounded the car tightly. He watched one of them step close to the car and knock on the window. Heero growled. He won´t allow them to take his Guide. He would rather if the boy hated him than see him destroyed in the mines.
Quatre looked at his lover. "Trowa! Stop it. This is wrong!" He caught his shirt in both hands and shook him just a little.
Trowa looked down at him, his eyes understanding but determined at the same time. "Do you see any other way out? Short of shooting our way through the masses there is nothing we can do."
Quatre shook his head. The logical part of his brain knew that the Sentinels were right, but the empathic part that was Guide in him was shaken to the core by what they were suggesting.
The uncomfortable silence that settled in the car, the flashing lights of Police car units outside and finally the insistent knocking of the human Police Officer somehow tore through the dark cloud that surrounded Duo´s mind. Suddenly he was back in the car, the abyss closed for the moment. The heavy, strained atmosphere in the car hit him like a physical blow. Something was going on here. Well, something besides the horde of trouble outside the car. He didn´t know how he knew, but his mind was vibrating with the dark vibes in the car. He shook his head but the strange feeling didn´t leave. He looked up at the Sentinel holding him tightly on his lap. The other man didn´t meet his eyes, looking to the side. "What´s going on?" Duo asked silently. Somehow he knew he won´t like it.
"Trowa, Quatre, will you and Rashid hold off the Police for a little while and give us some privacy?" Heero asked, his voice totally devoid of emotions. This wasn´t the way he planned it.
Trowa nodded, opened the door, calling "We are getting out," and pulling his protesting Guide after himself. Quatre threw the confused and somehow dazed looking boy one last sympathetic glance, before stepping out of the car and closing the door firmly behind himself. In the front, Rashid got out too. The Sentinel and Guide were now alone.
Heero followed the discussion between his friends and the Police Officer outside. Quatre - even though he didn´t like what was happening - was buying them some time by pulling the Winner name and shoving it down the now scared Officers throat. The Winners, one of the families that founded the colony, was a powerful family after all.
"What´s going on here?" Duo asked, and pushed himself away from the Sentinel´s lap. This time the other man didn´t hold him down and Duo sat down on the now vacated seat across from him. The Sentinel looked at him, not saying a word. Duo was getting more and more nervous by the second.
Heero took a deep breath. There was no reason to delay this any further. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and when he opened them again, he was perfectly calm. Watching his Guide´s reaction, he slid down on his knees in front of the boy who now looked confused, the threat outside of the car forgotten for the moment. "Im sorry," Heero whispered, looking his Guide in the eyes. Before the longhaired boy could ask why he was feeling sorry, he caught his face in both of his hands and concentrated all his thoughts on one desire - to Bond. He then pressed his mind with all his might against the one of his Guide. Like knife through butter he ripped through his weak fledgling barriers and entered his mind, tearing it apart.
Duo screamed and screamed and screamed. His hands shot up and caught the arms that were holding him in place. He gripped them, tore at them, trying to push them away in a vain attempt to free himself. He felt as if molten lava shot through his mind. He felt all the pathways rip open. The mighty power wreaking havoc on his mind was leaving raw, bleeding wounds behind and it was digging deeper and deeper to the core of his being, to his very soul.
Their eyes were still locked, the Sentinel´s cold and determined, the Guide´s full of pain and tears that left wet trails on his cheeks. Heero felt the power of his Guide, power he will gain one day when this moment will be just a distant memory. He felt the pathways of the inexperienced mind tear open, form new neural paths that were quickly replacing the old, destroyed ones. He reached deeper and deeper, looking for the one spot in his brain that needed to be unlocked, for the mind of a Guide to be able to join the one of his Sentinel. There. He could almost see the blinding light that emanated from the place as he ripped it open, crashing their minds together and locking them into each other with inevitable finality.
Duo couldn´t even scream anymore, so blinding was the pain in his head. He didn´t even notice when his hands dropped away from the arms of the Sentinel. He felt as if something was destroying him and building him up anew from the inside. And then the wave of power reached the deeply hidden area inside of him, the place even he didn´t know about, and tore it open, trampled it down, almost broke it with the force of the crash as the link was forged in the heat of pain and loss and new beginning. The screaming pain in his mind magnified tenfold and then there was just the darkness.
Heero caught his Guide when he slumped in his arms, and held him tightly. He closed his eyes, feeling the burning sensation on the back of his eyelids. This wasn´t how he imagined their Bonding. This wasn´t right. He brought the unresponsive body closer to himself, clutching him desperately. This could break them, break his Guide. Bonded or not, an unwilling Guide was a thing every Sentinel feared. They knew that the unwilling Guide forced to Bond could perish, lock himself in his mind and just die. And there wasn´t a thing the Sentinel could do about it. Feverishly, he hoped that this wouldn´t happen to them, that his Guide would forgive him. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but one day.
Suddenly the car door opened, and the Police Officer stuck his head inside. Heero´s head snapped in his direction and he growled at him, almost baring his teeth. When the man noticed their proximity, and saw the dangerous gleam in Heero´s eyes he turned a deep shade of red, before paling noticeably. In the background, Heero could hear Quatre protesting loudly.
"Uh, sorry, sir, but we have to arrest this man," the Officer pointed at Duo. Seeing Heero´s eyes narrow, he added quickly: "He is wanted for thievery. The Android Units were able to follow his trail and..."
Heero snarled. "No!"
Officer Brown coughed nervously. Sometimes he really didn´t know why he worked in this profession. He really hated to deal with all the crap. "Sir, please..."
"You won´t take my Guide anywhere!" Heero snapped again, taking the braided boy in his arms and moving them into the corner of the car where it was easier for him to protect his Guide.
The Officers eyes almost popped out of his head. Guide? The pair outside said something like that, but he thought they were just stalling. But seeing the primal look in the Oriental looking young mans eyes, he had a feeling that this was way out of his experience. "Uh, you sure?" he asked stupidly. No one prepared him for that when they sent him to collect an Unregistered.
Instead of answering his question, Heero hissed at him through tightly clenched teeth.
What now? Officer Brown asked himself. He couldn´t just let them go. "Can you prove it? Do you have a registration Mark on him? Or at least the registration papers?" The Sentinel growled again, holding his Guide even closer to himself. Brown was getting desperate. "Sir, you have to understand. I´m just doing my job here. I can´t let you go just like that. I have to fill a report and explain to my boss why I let you go. I will lose my job."
The logical part of Heero´s mind knew that the man was right, but the primal part screamed at him to tear him apart for just thinking about taking his Guide away from him. The two parts warred for some time until the logical side won, by a hairs breadth.
"We don´t have a registration. We just Bonded," he explained, his voice cold.
The Officer remembered the muffled scream coming from the inside of the car. Great. Now he had a newly Bonded Pair on his hands too. This day was getting better and better by the minute. "I´m sorry, but in this case I have to take you to the Sentinel Institute where this will be confirmed. If it´s the truth-" the Sentinel hissed at him when he implied that he might be lying "-then they will take over your case from there on. If it isn´t the truth-" another hiss "-then the boy-" he pointed at the unconscious braided boy "-will be arrested and sent to the Mining colonies," the Officer finished describing the the official procedure in cases like that. He tried not to jump at the snarl that followed his little speech. He coughed a little to give himself courage. "Now I have to confiscate your registration, sir. Please?" he added hopefully, and raised his arm toward them.
Heero scowled at him, but in the end he reached into his pocket and handed the Officer his ID card. The Police Officer took it and straightened, moving hastily out of the car. He took the handheld scanner from his pocket and ran the card through, putting the "REGISTRATION TEMPORARILY DISABLED" sign on Heero´s file in the main computer. He then turned to the tall Sentinel with long bangs. "Your driver will have to follow us to the Sentinel Institute. I would advise you to follow our orders, otherwise you will be all arrested for resistance and helping in an escape of an Unregistered criminal," he warned them. The Sentinel - Trowa Barton, if he remembered his registration - growled at him, tucking his Guide closer to his side.
The Police Officer then turned and marched to his vehicle that was still blocking the limousines way. Sentinels... He shuddered. They weren´t paying him enough for this shit.
Quatre and Trowa returned to the car, shutting out the AU's and the gawkers on the street. Seeing the huddled Pair in the corner, Quatre gasped and Heero´s eyes snapped in his direction. The blonde Guide could feel the tension in the air, could feel the pain of the newly Bonded Guide even though he was unconscious. "Heero..." he whispered.
Heero lowered his eyes to his Guide. The braided boys head laid on his shoulder, his limp body on his lap. His breath was still labored, and he was incredibly pale. He was trembling in his arms, his features still slightly twisted in pain. Through the newly forged link, Heero could feel the blinding pain that still gripped his young Guide even in his unconscious state. He caressed his face and kissed his hair. God, what had he done... He shut his eyes tightly.
Trowa´s nose twitched as he smelled the residual traces of the Bonding fragrance in the air. He brought his Guide closer to himself, laying an arm around his shoulders. He felt Quatre gripping his arm tightly and he squeezed him too. He knew how this must be affecting him. To Bond with an unwilling Guide was the greatest crime against the Guides there was. But this...
"You did the right thing, Heero," Trowa whispered, seeing one silent tear escape Heero´s tightly closed eyes. "Only as your Guide is he safe from the Police. Now they can´t deport him. He is a Registered Citizen now and as a Guide, the Sentinel Security Department will handle it. Whatever they decide, they won´t, can´t separate you anymore."
But Heero wasn´t listening to him. His fingers traced his Guide´s features, following the trails the tears left behind on the pale cheeks. He had found his Guide, but maybe he managed to lose him at the same time. He buried his face in the rich brown hair and didn´t seem to notice his friends concerned looks.
Rashid started the car, and the small convoy consisting of the limousine, one police car and Droids started to move toward the Sentinel Institute.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Solo was sitting by the hole in the wall again, looking outside. It was raining. He heard the sound of running feet in the distance. There would be dead bodies to collect in the morning.
He snuggled more deeply into the worn and ragged blanket. Duo didn´t return, and he always came home before the rain started. He hoped nothing happened to his brother but he saw the AU's circling above the slums not so long ago, he knew what that meant. He hoped, but deep in his heart he felt that something was wrong. Something did happen that evening, and he wasn´t there to protect his little brother...
Solo leaned his head against the cold metal wall and watched the rain fall.
The End
