FicWad

TITLE: CAPTAINS
FANDOM: Gundam Wing
PAIRING: 1x2 and some het pairings in the background
RATING: R/NC-17
GENRE: AU, Adventure, Historical, Romance
WARNING: yaoi, crossdressing, swearing
DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything save for the story, so please don't sue poor little me.
SUMMARY: The Caribbean in the time of pirates. Duo Maxwell is an infamous captain pirate bored with easy lays. His life will get much more interesting when he meets the dark Navy Captain Heero Yuy in the most unusual circumstances.

Chapter 8: The Broken Dream

The Captain Lowe stayed alone on the docks long after Sandrock's sails had disappeared on the horizon. Lost in thoughts and crushed with regrets, he didn't even hear Trowa coming in behind him. When his friend put a comforting hand on his shoulder, he shook it mechanically. He appreciated the gesture coming from a man he knew wasn't demonstrative but couldn't accept any kindness without failing in his own eyes. He couldn't indulge in self-pity any more than he already had. It was past time to down the Perfect Soldier's mask once again. Nobody, not even his only friend in the world needed to know that the costume wasn't anymore the perfect fit it once was. He would have to make do while feeling a little tight in places and rein himself in more than ever in order to prevent the costume from bursting at the seams.

"Let's go back. I'm sure you already saw everything you needed to."

Trowa sighed quietly. It was no use to make a big deal out of it when the principal interested looked resolute to dismiss the whole fiasco. Still, in just a few hours, he had grown quite fond of this more spontaneous Heero. He would miss him. He followed silently in the Captain's decisive footsteps barely able to keep up without running, and he was the one with the longer legs...

When Heero stopped abruptly, Trowa had to use his outstanding reflexes to side-step him awkwardly at the very last moment. Any other person would have toppled him.

"Yuy! What crawled up your ass now?"

Despite the abuse of language -a memento from his time as a mercenary when he used to run with a ruggedly crowd- Trowa had resorted to in annoyance, Heero didn't react. As a matter of fact, for all he was moving, he could as well have been made out of stone.

Intrigued, Trowa moved forward until he was level with his friend to know what the hold up was. The man's stricken look had him worried as soon as he saw it. Usually, Heero had only three expressions: blank, angry and pleased, the second and the third being only slight variations of the first one with a little more frown for "angry" and a barely there smirk for "pleased". The expression he was now displaying however was hard to catalogue and charged with far more emotions than Trowa was comfortable with attributing to his always mild-mannered friend. It was an elaborate mix of disbelief, anger, frustration, amusement among other less identifiable but equally powerful feelings and they kept shifting at an alarming rate. The spy began to fear which emotion the face would display last, because whatever it entailed, it would be violent. He wondered what could have caused such a reaction.

Trowa followed Heero's unflinching gaze toward a nearby store. It looked like any other drugstore and he wondered what could provoke such a reaction. There appeared to be nothing of interest in the nondescript shop, nothing that caught his attention anyway. He looked back to Heero's eyes. His friend wasn't even blinking. Frustrated, Trowa turned again toward the store and looked harder. Worn front shop, glazed door with dirty little panes, chipped brown paint and a simple wooden sign with a faded "Barney's" written on it. Dull, dull and duller. Nothing here that should petrify a man as tough as the Captain Lowe. He might have been a little finicky if the quasi compulsive cleanliness of his apartments was any indication, but not enough to warrant him getting homicidal over Barney -whoever he was- not being big on housework. That was useless. Trowa couldn't make any sense of it...

Then, he noticed the wanted ad posted on the wall of the shop. That must be it. He didn't have the freakishly accurate eyesight of Heero and thus couldn't distinguish the face clearly but he still could read the caption that proclaimed: "Duo Maxwell, said /Shinigami/, wanted dead or alive" in bold black letters. It was Navy issued and Trowa's eyes widened at the amount of the reward. He didn't know Sank's Navy had that kind of resources. He would have to discuss with someone about his miserable wages. They would have to give him a substantial raise if they wanted to keep him around.

Heero had yet to unfreeze but his mind was working overdrive. He couldn't believe he had run into the most wanted pirate ever and hadn't even recognized him. If that little bit of information got out he would be a laughing stock. As for the rest... he couldn't even begin to fathom... True, the man had hidden his face but still... He had even said his name was Duo, for God's sake. What could have he been thinking about? Of course he knew very well what he had been thinking, but those were dangerous territories for now. The worst being that the Chinese man had done about everything but outright blurt out Shinigami's secret identity just in front of a Navy officer. And again if those other guys hadn't gagged him at the last possible moment, he would have. Maybe that was the thing. If it had been spelled out to him, the Captain Lowe would have gotten his head out of his ass and done something instead of standing there frozen like a love-struck fool.

How anyone could be so stupid was beyond him. Never mind that he was recriminating himself. He more than deserved it. He had even gotten a glimpse of the famed braid and purple eyes. But instead of striking the soldier's cord as it should have, those obvious clues had awoken a radically different emotion. He would have to think about that too. He didn't want to, but he had to...

Heero wasn't especially perceptive when it came to human beings, probably because he didn't like them all that much. Give him battle strategies, ship schematics or a route to plan and he did wonders. He could tell you precisely what was wrong with a mere glance. But throw in real people and he was at a loss. He didn't understand them. He wasn't that good to put faces to names either. At least, most of the time he wasn't. You had to really make an impression for him to remember your face and that was just it: Helen Winner had made a great impression. He would now be able to see her heart-shaped face in his dreams for years to come and with an incredible clarity. That was how he could tell that it was her face portrayed on the wanted ad of the pirate Duo Maxwell. And that was just not possible. The implications were... ludicrous.

Alas, no amount of denial could help him now. He would have to admit to the truth no matter how painful. He had been played from start to finish and couldn't even forward any excuses as of his behaviour. Maybe, if he was charitable, could he forgive himself for having been duped during their first meeting because the disguise had admittedly been flawless? It was hard to believe the charming Helen Winner had been anything other than the Lady she was posing as, let alone that she was male and a pirate to boot. She had managed to fool an entire regiment for God's sake! And she was nothing but a mere illusion. That was unfathomable. Nobody would believe him if he revealed that information, not that he intended to but at least that made him feel a little less like a complete idiot.

That is if he could forget the second meeting, which was impossibility in light of these new facts. Every pieces of the puzzle had been there for him to put together and he had ignored them all and stayed in blissful oblivion. The odd-coloured eyes he thought he had imagined, the hair which had been the same warm bronze than Helen's, the way the stranger had felt pressed against him when the insane Chinese had backed him against his chest, the cologne he that smelled oddly familiar. Even the way they met in the same circumstances appeared like a deliberate taunt now, especially when Duo himself had commented on it. Stupid didn't even begin to cover it, he must be brain-dead. The pirate must have had a field day with that one. No doubt there would be much entertainment at the Captain Lowe's expense onboard Deathscythe tonight.

"So that's the fearsome Captain Shinigami? Doesn't look all that hot!"

Heero wasn't so far gone that he didn't catch Trowa's comment and he burst out laughing. Oh at the contrary Duo was "all that hot"! Dangerously so. Rendering-people-bat-shit-dumb so. At least when wearing a dress he was, unfortunately.

Trowa startled at his friend's sudden laughter. That was it! The Captain Lowe had finally gone to the deep end, not surprising given his background. The green-eyed man was even surprised it hadn't happened sooner. Although, of all the possible violent reactions he had expected in the end, laughter was the last. It wasn't the one he'd have preferred either. Sure a pissed off Heero was frightening but he knew how to deal with that: ducking out of the way usually worked well enough. But a hysterically amused Heero: not so much. That was well out of his area of expertise and thus more unsettling than mere fury. What was the appropriate conduct to adopt with hysterical people by the way? Slapping them? As if! Trowa wasn't that suicidal. He would have to resort to reason even if it was well known that reasoning with the insane was useless at best and could even prove dangerous.

"Can I join in on the joke?"

Heero glanced at him and composed himself. He nodded to the wanted ad and explained agreeably: "It's Shinigami."

"Huh, yeah I gathered that."

"So is the guy in black I ran into earlier."

"Oh."

"So is Helen Winner."

"Oh... OH!... Wait a minute! I thought Helen Winner was a woman."

"Yeah, I thought so too."

"I'm not sure I'm following."

"I'm not sure I am either."

The spy repressed the impulse to shake Heero. It was probably not the best way to get an explanation that made sense, even if it would have been pretty satisfying in itself. He took a deep breath and got back to his inquiry with a newly affected calm.

"Didn't you meet Helen at the Palace?"

"Yes I did."

"But it was Shinigami?"

"Huh huh... In a mauve dress. With a petticoat... and lace."

"That's disturbing. What was a pirate doing at the Governor's anyway?"

"Aside from making a fool out of me you mean? No idea. Probably came to steal something..."

"You met him near the offices?"

"No. On my way to Relena's apartments. Why?"

A picture began to draw itself in Trowa's mind but he thought it might not be the best of time to come clean with it in front of his already shaken friend.

"Nevermind. And he was wearing a dress?"

"And make-up. He even had a parasol."

"Err... okay. And does that formidable pirate do something aside from posing as innocent maidens? "Piratey" things I mean."

"Of course." Trowa looked expectant. "You know the usual: looting, pillaging and murdering on occasion..."

"I see. Did you ever meet him before today?"

Heero looked offended. "Of course not I would have recognized him if I had... I was onboard a frigate he sank once though."

"Fascinating. Is he really all they say about him? Because he looks terribly young, not like one would picture a pirate."

"He must be older than he looks because he has been around for years. No matter his age, he is a brat anyway. He likes to play pranks."

"Pranks. Since when do pirates play pranks? What do you call pranks for that matter?"

"One time he snuck in the Military's storeroom and put laxatives in the reserves. Another time he painted a new frigate's sails with rude comments, you can imagine how well that went during the inauguration. He even managed to detonate our armament depot once and he made it look like fireworks."

"How do you know it was him?"

"He likes to gloat. He always sends warnings to the Governor when he's about to commit a new deed and in spite of that we can never catch him. It's like he's angering the officials on purpose. That's why the reward is so high."

"I rest my case: he is a disturbed individual."

"Yeah. But he is good too. As a pirate he is impressive. A real plague. He has sunk more ships than all the other Captains put together and he always disappear without a trace. Most of the rumours are just absurd but that's true he has the Devil's luck. And an awesome ship. That frigate is amazing. It's called the Deathscythe and it's the fastest I ever... Damn! I'm an idiot!"

Trowa stood frozen a moment wondering what had come up for Heero to just stop mid-sentence and bolt. As the best way to solve this new mystery was to follow, he took at a run behind his friend. He managed to catch up with the Captain with some effort.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to freight a ship, there's still time to catch him."

"Didn't you say he was too fast? What makes it different this time?"

Heero sent a smug smirk his way and answered without ever slowing his pace: "He wasn't on the Deathscythe this time and that Sandrock brigantine is no challenge for my Wing."

Trowa thought he might as well follow. He hadn't any strict orders concerning his mission and going in pursuit of a pirate might just be the way to go. He also wanted to keep an eye on Heero and was admittedly curious about how things would turn out. The next meeting promised to be interesting. He was willing to bet there would be sparks between the two Captains.