FicWad

Part II Chapter 1 Cell Mates

“HEY! Easy buddy, I ain’t going no where.” Duo said grumpily to the guard who roughly pushed him into the cell. He was paying so much attention to the guard, Duo did not notice that someone else was in the cell with him.
“Hn.”(Translation for those of you who aren’t Duo: Hey, watch it!)
Duo peered through the gloom of the small cell and tried to place the grunt. Heero stepped out of the shadows and into the small square of light coming from the hallway.
“Hey, they got you too?” Duo asked the stoic boy.
Heero just gave Duo a glare and stepped out of sight. After a few minutes, Duo’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and he was able to see the slight furnishings they had been allowed. In one corner was a cot (no metal or cloth but all plastic), a dish for water (again plastic), and a hole of concrete in the corner. Judging by the smell currently wrinkling Duo’s delicate nose, that place had seen a lot of business. Duo looked around for Heero, but it was hard to see him in the dark. Finally discerning Heero’s shadowy outline near the cot, Duo walked over. Heero was staring at the cot, the ONLY cot. Looked like they were going to have to share. Duo smiled at the thought of having an excuse to sleep so next to Heero, even if it was just a small cell and imprisonment.
“So, do you like to sleep on the left or right?” Duo said with a small laugh. Heero ignored him and sat down with his back against the wall and his legs sprawled in front of him.
Duo sat next to him and mimicked Heero’s position. The air was thick so Duo decided to keep up a running commentary. He talked about the bricks on the wall, compared the smell to all the horrible things he could think of, played a solo game of I’d-rather-be-anywhere-but-here, and stated observations about the handcuffs that had been left on both of them before Heero decided he had had enough and glared positive death at Duo. Not that Duo could really see it in the dark, but it was eerily tangible. Duo could feel the annoyance of Heero’s glare cutting through the dark and burning his skin. Either that or the frigid air of the cell had finally numbed Duo to the point where he burned with cold. Cutting off abruptly, Duo turned to look at Heero and shrugged his shoulders a bit.
“You could always ask for a different cell. I need to have noise or I’m gonna go nuts and since you are so desperately talkative…” Duo drifted off with a pointed look of his own and Heero turned away. “So, do you have a plan or something, Mister Perfect Soldier Man?”
“No.” Heero said in his usual monotone.
“Oh.” Duo said letting a little despair slip into his voice. Then a sarcastic idea came to him and he could not keep it from leaking out his mouth, “I do. I plan that we should escape and complete the mission.”
“…” (For those of you who don’t speak dot: Idiot.)
Duo winced when he realized his sarcasm did not even earn a grunt from Heero. Duo got up and bounced around the cell for a while to expunge some energy. It was hard for a person like him to be cooped up in such a dank and gloomy place for long. He hated getting caught although he always seemed to manage it somehow. Duo was in the middle of trying to stand on his head with the handcuffs on when a guard came to unlock the door.
“Prisoner 1192 come forward. Prisoner 1291 stays here.”
Duo waited for the guard to say more but he did not. Heero stood and looked at the guard a moment. It must have brought a touch of satisfaction to him to see the guard flinch slightly under the intense glare. Heero left with the guard. Duo was actually relieved that it was not him. He did not wish any torture or questioning on Heero, but was not above admitting Heero could probably take it better than he himself could. Not knowing what to do, Duo sat on the bed and stared at where the ceiling would be if he could see it. He must have dozed off because he fell off the bed with a jolt when the door opened shining light onto his face. The same guard that had taken Heero out threw him back in with a force that knocked Heero off his feet. He landed roughly on the hard ground.
“Prisoner 1291 is to be stripped and administered forty lashes.” The guard waited for Duo as though he would just get up and rush out for his lashing.
“Fuck off.” Duo said before kneeling down in front of Heero. Surprisingly the guard waited patiently for Duo to help Heero over to the bed. Duo sat him up in the light and heard the sharp intake of breath as Duo touched his right arm. It was broken or at least fractured, that much Duo could feel. What Duo could see was almost worse; Heero’s face was beaten, bruised and bleeding. The normally soft lips looked as though they had been chapped for weeks and blood was running down in one of his eyes. However, both eyes were open in a show of defiance and Duo was inspired to see that not a sign of pain gleamed in them.
“Prison 1291 come out or be brought out.” The guard said at last. Duo looked hatred over at him. A smart reply was on the tip of Duo’s tongue when he heard Heero whisper so low that for a moment, Duo did not think Heero was really saying anything.
“Go. Be strong. Don’t say anything not even a smart ass comment, and don’t do anything stupid.”
Duo straightened and, without looking back at Heero, tried to do an impression of Heero’s glare. It was not very effective, but Duo did not mind. He was sure Heero had a plan now or else he would not have said anything. Duo walked out of the cell and went with the guard. Apparently, whoever was keeping them prisoner did not consider them a threat beyond needing handcuffs for Duo was not blindfolded. He did not really need to be. The blinding light was enough to have him squinting most of the way. The guard led him down a blank white hall, through another blank white hall, into a blank white room, down another blank white hall, and through a blank white door into a blank black room. The sudden change in color startled Duo and he blinked his eyes a couple of times.
“Please, sit down prisoner 1921.” A wickedly sweet voice sounded from across the room.
Duo could not see a chair or whoever was talking to him. It sounded like a woman, but he could not be sure. It would have been weak to admit his eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness again after so much white so Duo just stood there.
“I asked you to sit.” The voice was still sweet but just a little quieter.
This time the guard who was still apparently behind Duo forced him forward and into a chair. Duo wondered how the guy could see anything, but pushed it out of his mind. That information for the moment was irrelevant.
“So prisoner 1291, strong and silent or deaf and dumb?” The voice was mocking him now. Duo was about to become his chatty self when Heero’s warning popped into his mind.
“I see you are quite the charmer like your partner. Tell me who he is.”
It was not a question or a request but a demand. She, if it was a she, was used to being obeyed. Duo filed that away with the sarcastic thought that they all sounded like that, but still considered it might be important.
“Why don’t you ask me why I have ordered you be lashed?”
Duo was beginning to hate the voice. It was as diverse as Heero’s was monotone. Every time she addressed him her voice sounded different. It had gone from quiet, to quieter, to mocking, to commanding, and now it was indulging. She wanted him to ask her, but he had already guessed it was because of something Heero had done…or had not done.
“Fine. If you won’t cooperate we’ll just have to get on with your punishment. Though if it were me, I’d want to know what I was being punished for.”
She was back to being quiet and now sounded as though she could be talking about anything. It sounded like she was chatting with him over tea or something. Duo was disgusted with her but had no way to show her that without saying something. Instead he spat and got out of the chair to get on his knees in the dirt. It was his way of saying ‘Go ahead, let’s get it over with.’
“I did not tell you to get out of the chair. An additional ten lashes will be administered. You will soon learn, as well as your partner, that though you are prisoners you will do as I say.”
By this time Duo’s eyes had adjusted and he could dimly see the outline of a chair and a desk in front of him. The chair was turned around and he could not even see a figure or outline to give him a clue whether it really was a woman he was speaking, or rather not speaking, with.
He had expected to get whipped there, but instead the guard led him back out into the hallways, blinding Duo temporarily again. It was one of the blank white rooms the place’s decorator seemed to specialize in that Duo was lashed. At first he had to bite back a scream, but eventually his would be screams turned into would be gasps and then into would be winces. By the fiftieth lash Duo’s back was numb with pain and caked in both dried and fresh flowing blood. He was dragged back to the cell and thrown in much as Heero had been.
This time the guard simply closed and locked the door. Heero waited for the guard to go on his way before helping Duo over to the bed. While Duo had been gone a bowl of water had been brought in with a tray of food. The water was obviously for washing their sores because it had an acrid type of smell. That told Duo the woman, or whoever, wanted to keep them alive as long as possible. Heero had already cleaned his wounds for the water was tinged a slight pink color. He had already set him arm too for which Duo was glad. It had wigged him out the one time Heero had set his own leg after they met.
Heero pulled Duo’s shirt off (the guard had put it back on after the lashing and it was now stuck to his back) and began to gingerly probe the lashes. It still hurt a lot, but Duo only gasped and winced a little. He could not help notice the feel of Heero’s able fingers on his back, even if it was just because he was injured and could not get to the wounds himself.
“It does not appear to need any stitching.” Heero said in his quiet monotone. Duo smiled.
“Good, I’d hate to have to sacrifice a shoe string.”
“Hn.” Was Heero’s only reply before he began to gently wash the blood away. (Translation for those of you who aren’t Duo: (sarcastic) Very funny.)
Duo felt silent and tried to concentrate fully on Heero’s touch instead of the pain. He was actually sad when Heero was done. Instead of expressing it, Duo laid still and waited for Heero to say something. It was no surprise that he did not say anything.
“I didn’t say anything. So ya wanna tell me why they cut the hell outta my back?” Duo asked.
“Good. I did not say anything. Eat something then rest.” Heero said simply.