A/N: I'm still not dead and neither is this story. I hope this is cause for some happiness.
Les Ombres Rebelles – Chapter Six
by danse
After Martial Arts class ended, Hilde dawdled in the locker room and managed to be the last person out of the dojo, avoiding both Duo and Heero, neither of whom she particularly wanted to run into. She briefly considered just skipping lunch altogether and using the time to study instead, but she immediately thought better of it; Heero would know where her dorm room was and he would find her there in short order if she didn't show up for lunch. She preferred to meet him on neutral ground, if possible, and then put her energy into hoping that Duo would just not find out. Her chances there were probably slim.
She made it all the way through the lunch line without running into Heero, but she did so many visual sweeps of the room that the girl behind her had to jab her with a tray twice to go forward. As soon as she broke away with her food, though, he materialized at her elbow with a tray of sandwiches and she had to bite back a little scream.
"Shall we?" he said.
"I guess." She smiled tightly as she willed her pulse to slow down. "Where do you want to sit?"
He steered them right to the middle of the room, to an open table in a congested area, and plopped his tray down before looking up at her expectantly. She eased into the plastic chair across from him.
"So," he said, starting both the conversation and his first sandwich without preamble, "what were you and Maxwell discussing earlier?"
Hilde sipped her orange juice, debating how much of the situation to actually reveal. She decided to give him only as much information as would satisfy him, in the hopes that he would either stop caring or decide she was a lunatic and leave her alone. "There's just... some rumours going around, that's all."
He raised an eyebrow and took another bite of his food, apparently game for gossip.
She picked up her fork and put it down again, lowering her voice so that no one would hear her over the noise of the lunchroom. "I overheard something in passing, and I had an issue with it so I mentioned it to Duo," she said.
"And you overheard this something in passing while fighting with your shadow in the second-floor girls' washroom, which is right over the headmaster's office," Heero said. "And Quatre Winner knows about it too and you had a problem with that. Sounds like it was an interesting something."
Hilde felt like a cornered animal. She suddenly thought she understood and sympathized with every single bout of paranoia or annoyance Duo had ever had with this guy. She chewed on her lip as she tried to stare him down, but she had to look away far too quickly for her liking. She started perforating the cheese on her lasagna with the fork. "You are way too fucking astute for your own damn good, Yuy," she muttered.
He heard her and started to laugh. "So I'm occasionally told," he said. "Now, are you going to tell me what's going on here or do I have to resort to threats of violence again?"
He has a definite way with words, too, she thought, feeling afraid for herself and her runaway mouth. There was obviously going to be no way of getting around the truth. She straightened in her chair and looked him in the eye as calmly as she could manage. "Alright. The short version is that Darlian and I were in that bathroom and we overheard the headmaster talking to someone in his office and it sounded like we might all be child soldiers."
Heero squinted at her. "No kidding. I don't know if you came here for the stunning music program, Schbeiker..."
He dragged secrets out of her and then rewarded her with sarcasm. Hilde dug her nails into the table. "That's not what I meant, Yuy. I mean that we're quite possibly being sold like cattle to go fight wars."
Heero put his sandwich down and gave her the first serious, considering look she'd seen since lunch began. "You heard them say this? The headmaster and this other, nameless guy?"
At that point, she didn't see why she shouldn't just tell him everything. It was kind of nice to be listened to and taken seriously on the topic, anyway. "The other guy has a name. Dekim Barton. Heard it?"
He shook his head.
"And I didn't hear them say all of that, but I can't say that I've been thinking of much else since then, so I've drawn some conclusions of my own."
"I suppose that's permitted," he drawled, "but are you planning to actually find proof that this is the case, or are more wild guesses the idea you're going for here? The crazier the better?"
It was Hilde's turn to arch an eyebrow, and she relished it. "I thought you said you heard most of my conversation with Duo."
He didn't bat an eyelash. "So you're going to convince Relena to help you out some more with this."
Hilde nodded, taking her first bite of cold lasagna. Heero didn't seem quite so terrifying when he wasn't promising you injuries.
"And Duo and Winner are both in on it?"
"If Winner's in, then I guarantee you that Trowa Barton is, too," she quipped.
He smirked. "No arguments there. I'm in, too."
Hilde's thoughts stuttered. "Sorry?"
Heero leaned forward slightly and spoke slowly and clearly. "Count. Me. In." He took a bite of his second sandwich.
But I just told you that Duo's in on this, she wanted to say. "Why?"
"Because I care about my future," he retorted. He inhaled the rest of his sandwich and stood up, grabbing his tray. "I'll be in touch, Hilde," he said, and walked away without another word.
Hilde looked down at her tortured lasagna, felt her stomach flip and then got up to throw it out. Duo was almost certainly going to beat the shit out of her when he found out about this; how could she possibly have an appetite?
Duo hightailed back to the wing where his room was, not daring to look over his shoulder to see how far behind him Heero was. He was still running and that was plenty of evidence that Heero was too close for comfort. The door was locked when he got there and he had to duck a kick to the head and then block a flurry of torso jabs with one hand while trying to fit his key in the lock with the other. He landed a solid kick in Heero's stomach just as he got the door open and used the brief retreat to slip through and slam and lock the door behind him.
He sagged against it with his eyes shut, panting for air, and felt his head rattle as Heero kicked the heavy door for good measure before presumably stomping off. When Duo finally opened his eyes, it was to see Quatre sprawled in his desk chair, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Incensed, Duo stood up and stalked over to the desk, grabbing Quatre's collar.
"You were in here the whole fucking time?"
"No," Quatre said. "I sneaked in through the window. Of course I was in here."
"Why the fuck didn't you just open the goddamned door, then? Don't even tell me you didn't hear us fighting outside!"
"I did hear you two outside," Quatre said, grabbing Duo's hand and separating it from his collar. "And you thought I would actually open the door to that? I didn't need Heero seeing that as an invitation to come inside and tear shit up. You know how I feel about fighting in here!"
"You're still an asshole," Duo said, backing off for the moment. "Fucking laughing! No one asked you."
"You just looked so relieved to have a locked door between you and him. It was amusing."
Duo hopped onto his bed, making the shoddy springs moan. "Yeah, I know what would be amusing: your face with some teeth missing."
"Temper, temper." Quatre turned his back on Duo and stacked some books up on his desk. "So," he said, turning to face him again, "I assume you want to hide out for a while before risking dinner?"
"You assume fucking correctly," Duo said. He was actually debating the merits of just skipping dinner altogether and hiding in his room the rest of the night.
"Suit yourself," Quatre said as he stood up. "I'm going now; I heard it's taco night and I want to get there before all the cheese is gone. Oh," he said, stopping with his hand on the doorknob. "I nearly forgot. Guess who I saw eating lunch with your shadow today?"
Duo flopped back on his bed and threw an arm over his eyes. "I dunno," he said, casting around for a comeback. "Genghis Khan? Were they discussing battle strategy?"
He could hear Quatre laughing. "Close. It was Hilde."
Duo's eyes shot open and he found himself staring at the skin and hair on his forearm. "Say that one more time, Quatre. I don't think I heard you correctly."
"Heero ate lunch with Hilde," Quatre said.
Duo rocketed to a sitting position. "That traitor," he said, glaring at his bedspread.
"You don't know why they were eating together," Quatre started.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "She has no justification that I will be happy to hear, I can guarantee you that." He could see by his roommate's expression that he wasn't wrong. "Do you know what they were talking about?"
"No, I just saw them talking. Hilde looked kind of anxious."
Duo sputtered. "What the fuck good are you, Winner? You see my archnemesis and my close friend talking to each other and you can't even eavesdrop a little? It's the cafeteria; it's not like it's hard! What kind of tactician are you?"
"Great," Quatre said. "I knew I shouldn't have said anything. What was I thinking?" He left the room without another word.
Duo calmed down a little when he heard the lock click behind Quatre, but there was no way he was going to be able to sleep, now. He reached behind him for his desk and grabbed his German textbook.
Trowa had just about reached the door of the cafeteria when he saw a familiar blond head in the crowd. He nudged past two girls to slip into the slowly forming dinner line behind Quatre and felt a smile tug at his mouth as he bent down to whisper in his ear. "Tag, you're It," he said.
Quatre jumped slightly but recovered to glance up at Trowa out of the corner of his eye. That sly look was one of Trowa's favourites. "You're going to give a guy a heart attack," he said.
"You should clearly be paying more attention to your surroundings, then." Trowa reached past a freshman to grab two bright red trays off of the stack. He handed Quatre one. "You never know when your shadow could be ready to put your lights out."
Quatre smirked as he turned away to face the front of the line. "Well, since it's apparently taco night, I can see your point. Who knows what you're capable of in the name of an extra taco or three?"
Trowa's eyes widened involuntarily as he sniffed the air. Could it be? Yes! The delightfully sharp aroma of taco spice. His day was officially made. "Can I cut you in line?" he asked.
Quatre's shoulders shook as he started to laugh. "Because cutting me is going to so greatly improve your chances of getting more," he said.
Trowa snorted. "Use your computer of a brain, Winner. If I cut you, that puts me one closer to the next ten people in front of you who I also have to cut past. At least I like you enough to ask first."
"That's so touching. All right, just for that limitless flattery, you can have one of mine as long as you behave yourself and stay where you are," Quatre said, turning so that Trowa could see his nose in profile. "We don't need any violent frosh starting food fights with precious taco filling and wasting it all, just because you were impatient."
Trowa clenched his tray tightly, unable to restrain his grin anymore. "I would give you a big hug right now, if I could."
He saw the corner of Quatre's mouth lift again. "Well, I appreciate the thought."
Trowa managed to get three tacos from the dinner lady on the merits of his own sweet smile before they even left the line. Quatre stopped to discreetly hand him his fourth but Trowa shook his head. "Never mind that, let's go sit down," he said.
Quatre faltered. "But..."
"Come on," he insisted, leading the way toward a table on the back wall. "Who cares if we eat together? It's not like we keep secrets all that well. Besides, it'll improve my taco night to heights unknown." He grinned.
Quatre followed him with a sigh. "You need to stop giving me those puppy-dog eyes," he mumbled.
Trowa decided to pretend he hadn't heard that. "So," he said as he claimed his 'good behaviour' taco and settled in to eat, "how was your day?"
Quatre pinched some stray cheese off of his plate and dropped it into his mouth. "It was... interesting," he said.
"I'm gonna assume that Duo factors into that pause somehow," he answered around a mouthful of food.
Quatre chuckled and then sighed. "Gee, you'd think that he was the source of most of my headaches or something," he said. "All right, I'll start from the beginning, I guess."
"Oh, please do."
"It started with my seeing Hilde and Heero eating lunch together today..."
"Hilde and Heero?" Trowa interrupted. "I'm sorry, but... what? Man, I thought I knew Heero better than that."
Quatre looked at him shrewdly. "It wasn't a hot date; Hilde looked like she wanted to crawl under the table and hide. But anyway, they were talking pretty heatedly about something."
Trowa quirked an eyebrow, the one he knew was visible through his hair. "You don't know what?"
"I'm not the kind of person who feels the need to eavesdrop on private conversations!" Trowa had obviously just pushed Quatre's buttons. He knew when to shut up. He gestured vaguely to continue, covering his unease by picking a stray piece of hamburger off of his plate.
Quatre looked ruffled, but he went on. "Anyway, they were talking. I went and sat down and ate and got on with my day, but not half an hour ago, Duo came running back to our room, with Heero in pursuit as usual. He was all ready to hide for the evening but I told him on the way out the door about seeing Hilde and Heero."
"...And he went nuts," Trowa finished.
Quatre looked at his plate. "I have absolutely no idea what possessed me to say anything about it to him. I should have known he'd go crazy, especially when he was coming off an adrenaline high like that. But I've said it now, and he's probably going to harass poor Hilde, next chance he gets."
Trowa scratched the tip of his nose to cover up a smile. "Oh, I think Hilde can handle it. She's been friends with him for, what? Three years? And she had to be prepared for someone to have seen her talking to Yuy. Gossip doesn't fly in this school; it teleports."
His comment got the desired smile from Quatre, who had resorted to playing with his food. They ate in relaxed silence for a few minutes before Trowa dared broach the subject again.
"So, what do you think they were discussing, then?"
Quatre broke a piece off of his last taco shell and munched on it, raising an eyebrow deviously. "Well, I was thinking Paris Hilton for a while, but I realized that couldn't be it," he drawled. When Trowa just shook his head, he grinned. "That's my Trowa impression," he said brightly. "Is it getting better?"
"You know, I'd throw this at you if it wasn't a waste," Trowa shot back.
Quatre allowed himself another wild grin before calming down again. "They couldn't have been discussing anything but this whole... drama," he said, gesturing vaguely. "They have no connection to each other otherwise. Except maybe a weak one through Relena, but that's hardly a connection worth acknowledging. No, Heero somehow found out about it either in or around their Martial Arts class while Duo and Hilde were discussing it, like I suggested."
Quatre's talent for seeing possibilities and probabilities never failed to impress. Trowa nodded; he hadn't had any opportunity to think about it, really, but Quatre's explanation made sense. "If Heero heard anything at all tantalizing out of that discussion, he wouldn't have been able to resist his curiosity. Especially considering the participants." He straightened in his chair. "So it's all your fault, in a roundabout way, that Hilde's going to get murdered by Duo," he said with a grin.
Quatre's light complexion went even paler and Trowa immediately cursed himself. "I didn't mean it literally," he said. "It's nobody's fault except Duo's that he likes to overreact. Quatre?" He couldn't help glancing around quickly before trapping Quatre's still hands in his own.
Quatre stirred and jerked his hands back, putting them in his lap. "No, you're right," he said. "It is my fault."
"No, it's not. Duo and Hilde just don't know how to keep their important conversations quiet. They're probably lucky if only Heero overheard them. They both know as well as you and me that this is not a place where you can say anything you like, anywhere you like. Now, calm down," he said.
Quatre looked up at him balefully for a long moment and then finally reached for his juice glass again. "Fine," he muttered around the rim, "but Duo and I are going to have a chat about this, too, before he finds Hilde." He drained the rest of the glass in one swallow and then stood up, flashing Trowa a quick, sweet smile as he picked up his tray.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Took a while to write, a while to edit. I hope you enjoyed it all the same, though. Take care!