Operation: Lost Boys Part 11

"Oi... can I see your laptop?"

Heero sighed. "For the tenth time in as many minutes, no." Then he glanced at Duo. "What do you want it for, anyway?"

Duo shrugged. "I'm BORED... and we can't do anything to pass the time. I can't sleep, and I HATE being stuck in bed."

Heero smiled a little. "So what does that have to do with you wanting to borrow my laptop?" He watched as Duo bit his lip. "Koi...?"

"Harmony said that if I could find out what her password was, that I deserved to be looking in her mainframe. I just wanted to know what skeletons my twin sister might have in HER closet." Duo shrugged. "It isn't important."

Heero sighed. If there was one thing he disliked... it was hearing Duo sound so dejected. "All right, but don't tamper with my software."

"I'd rather tamper with your hardware, but Sally said to keep our physical relationship on hold until I'm over this stupid cold."

Heero tried to ignore the way Duo was smirking. "Get your mind out of the gutter!"

Duo chuckled as Heero handed the laptop over. Then he realized just what Heero had done. He just stared at the screen for a moment. 'He's actually going to let me use it!' Duo was torn between giggling and sobbing.

"Duo? What's wrong?" Heero blinked as a pair of love-filled eyes met his. "What is it?"

Duo smiled a little. "You're actually going to let me use your laptop? I honestly didn't think you ever would."

Heero opened his mouth to disagree, then remembered all the other times Duo had even approached his laptop. He chose to smile gently instead, and caressed the cheek that he had always punched before. "Gomen nasai, Duo. I'm truly sorry for all the times I hit you." He shook his head. "And you fell in love with me?"

Duo shrugged. "What can I say? You're the first person to see past my 'Devil-may-care' façade. Even the others don't really see me for who I really am yet. Besides... you always made up for it after you calmed down."

"It doesn't make hitting you right, Duo. No matter how angry I was, it never made hitting you right."

Duo felt oddly touched. "That's all in the past now, Heero. Besides... if you had come near my braid with a pair of scissors, I would have reacted the same way." He noted how downcast Heero still was. "C'mere!" He pulled Heero close and ran his fingers through unruly hair, which was unbelievably soft. "I forgive you, Hee-chan. I know that you're not abusive... that you wouldn't hurt me like that. You had no way of knowing why I kept annoying you, and you acted just the way J programmed you. Push away emotion so it doesn't get in the way of the mission." Duo tightened his arms a little. "That bastard! Only a heartless man would teach a child to block out things like joy and love."

Heero inhaled deeply and squeezed his eyes shut to block the feelings that still terrified him because he didn't understand them.

Duo swore to himself that if he ever got his hands on Dr. J, he'd kill the bastard for making Heero think that feeling was wrong. "It's okay, Heero... I'm here for you, and I'll help you sort everything out." He gave his lover a cheeky grin. "Now... let's see what that sister of mine is hiding in her mainframe..."

Heero was exceedingly grateful that Duo didn't force him to cry or anything of the sort. He contented himself with watching Duo's face as he tried to solve the puzzle of the password. He wondered why Duo's expression darkened. "What is it?"

"I was so SURE that she'd remember... that she would use our old code that we used to warn each other that family was coming." Duo felt more than just a little depressed.

"What was the code?" Heero fought a smile at how cute he thought Duo looked when he pouted.

Duo sighed. "Well... you already know my mom likes music. She also liked the way Harmie and I sounded together. So we were supposed to sing whenever the family came to visit. There was a song that had a long title, and we used the first letters of each of the title's words to make a sort of code to get dressed up." He opened the notepad program and typed the letters: OUYHALTSSI

Heero frowned. "How did you pronounce it?" He glanced at Duo when he heard a mumble. "What?"

"Oi! Halt, sissy!" He scowled. "We were only THREE, Hee-chan!"

Heero grinned and reached over. "Wouldn't it look something like THIS, then?" He made a slight moderation so it read OUY_HALT_SSI. "Try it now."

Duo typed it in and hit the Enter key. After a moment, a sound file started playing. "Oh NOOOOO! This is HUMILIATING!" He turned and tried to smother himself as the sound of two children singing filled the room.

Heero just listened to the song playing with a smile quirking his lips. "Which one is you?" He listened a moment. "I would gather the one with the lower pitch is you." He watched Duo whimper a moment. "You didn't sound half-bad for a three year old." He almost laughed at the way Duo was behaving, but decided against it and merely listened to the rest of the song. When it ended, he poked Duo. "It's all over, Duo. You can come out now." He stroked Duo's hair. "What are you ashamed of, koi? I already knew you could sing. You do it often enough in the shower." He blushed a little when Duo peeked up at him. "I never said so, but it always soothed me. You should consider singing with Harmony sometime... I bet you anything that your voices still blend just as well as they did when you were three."

Duo was blushing as he sat up. "Well... it never occurred to me to ask her." Then his eyes lit up. "Let's see what little doo-dads make my sister so secretive..."

*****

Harmony was sitting on the sofa, reading a book. That in and of itself was nothing special. However... the book she was reading was being held by Wufei, who was stretched out on the sofa and had his head resting on her lap. She was totally unprepared when the storm hit.

The first hint of trouble was the sound of feet running down the stairs... which caused both to look towards the door. The sound of Heero's voice caused both of them to stand. The look on Duo's face when he entered the room made Wufei puzzled, and made Harmony worried.

"Duo?" She was worried about the pleading look in his eyes. "Duo... what's wrong, bro?"

"Tell me... that it isn't true! PLEASE tell me that it isn't true!"

Harmony frowned at the desperation she heard. "Duo... I can't tell you unless I know what you want me to deny." She blinked as he handed her a sheet of paper. When she read it, her face paled. Confusion was written all over her face when she looked at her brother. "You mean ... you didn't KNOW?"

Triton walked in carrying Quatre. Both had heard the commotion, but Quatre's legs had refused to hold him up. Hardly surprising since he missed breakfast and had been extremely active for a while. "What's happening? Why all the fuss?"

Harmony reached for Duo, only to have him jerk away from her. "I... I thought you KNEW! It was SUPPOSED to be part of your briefing for this operation!" She reached for Duo again, only to have him back up. She bit her lip.

Wufei could see that Duo's actions were hurting Harmony, so he intervened. "Duo... WHAT is this all about?"

Duo pointed at Harmony. "She... she's another one... of US!"

Wufei watched as Harmony flinched at Duo's tone. "What are you talking about? Make some sense!"

Duo sagged to his knees and stared at his sister as if she had betrayed him. "She's another one of US, Wufei!" He sniffled as Heero embraced him to lend him strength. "She's a Gundam pilot!" He didn't see the effect his words had since he passed out.

*****

Wufei felt shocked to the very core as he turned to the girl... no the WOMAN... he had fallen in love with. Part of him wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that he didn't care... that it made her a goddess to him even more. However that was only a small part. The rest of him was screaming in terror at the memory of Meiran dying in his arms replaying itself in his mind... and slowly the mental image of Meiran morphed into Harmony. 'Not again!'

Heero carried Duo to the sofa and took a deep breath. "All right... start from the beginning. Why didn't you tell us you were a pilot?"

Harmony wrapped her arms around herself... desperately wanting and needing a hug. A fear built in the pit of her stomach that she had just lost the brother she had spent years looking for. Still... she swallowed and answered Heero's question. "I thought you already knew. It was supposed to be part of your briefing. Operation: Lost Boys was called for two reasons. First and foremost was to get you all to start acting like the kids you are. When the war is over, the soldiers will no longer be needed. Second was to get you all used to having me around, since I was going to be working with you in the future."

Triton frowned. "Why weren't you ever there before? There were times we could have used the help."

Harmony smiled gratefully at the acceptance Triton projected. "I could have been useful, yes... but I really wasn't needed. Besides... Siren was only recently finished."

Wufei jumped slightly and turned to her. "Siren...?" That was what Meiran had called Harmony in his vision. How much had his late wife known? He cursed himself at the way Harmony looked at him. He had hurt her, and he knew it.

Harmony nodded, feeling like she was standing on a tightrope. On one side there was the net of love that represented Wufei and Duo, on the other side was an aching void. She felt like she was teetering towards the void. "Siren is the name of my Gundam." She tightened her arms and took a chance and jumped off the tightrope. She closed her eyes. "I understand that you'd be worried about me, Fei... but I was TRAINED for my suit and my suit was built for me. That's what all the scientists did wrong. They designed the Gundams before they had the pilots." She took a deep breath. "Siren is smaller than the other suits... taking into account that I AM a woman. It's more maneuverable, though... and very agile. As Madame H puts it... it moves like quicksilver."

"And yet you didn't know about the ZERO system."

Harmony opened her eyes and looked at Heero. "No... I was never informed about the ZERO system. Why should I be? Siren wasn't even ready for flight." She chanced a look at Wufei, and felt her heart shatter when he turned away from her. "Umm... I gotta go take care of something." She ran past Triton and Quatre, not noticing that Quatre had started crying on her behalf.

Triton watched as the girl ran towards the basement, and put Quatre into a recliner before turning to Wufei. "I hope you're happy now! The two people she needed the most to support her just let her down! I don't need to have Quatre's empathy to tell me that you've just broken her heart." He clenched his fists. "If it weren't for her, I might never have found out who I really was!" He glanced at Duo, who was blinking and was about to tear into HIM, too. Duo's words and tone stopped him, though.

"Where's Harmony? What happened?" Duo looked around. "Guys?"

Heero held Duo gently. "What do you remember?"

Duo frowned. "Heero... don't talk to me like I've lost my mind. Look... I TOLD you I wasn't up to any more surprises like the one Relena and Hilde sprung up on us earlier. I would say that finding out my twin sister was a Gundam pilot would count as a surprise. Where is she? I need to talk to her!"

Triton calmed slightly. Duo would cheer Harmony up. "She ran towards the basement. You should take it easy and let someone ELSE get her." He looked pointedly at Wufei.

Wufei flinched. He knew he had been wrong, but he was worried he would go about apologizing the wrong way. He was about to leave when Duo called out to him.

"Bring her a white ribbon! When we were little... that was my way of saying I was sorry. Better yet... bring her two. One for each of us. I should have stayed awake to reassure her." Duo smiled wanly at his friend.

Wufei nodded and left the room.

*****

Harmony was curled up on the couch, crying her heart out. She could feel herself falling into the abyss of loneliness when something brushed against her cheek. She whimpered until she felt someone kiss her cheek near her eye to remove the tear that had formed. She opened her eyes and gazed at the person who had just kissed her.

Wufei had felt his heart wrench at the soft sobs coming from the young woman he loved. He smiled apologetically and held out the suggested peace offering.

Harmony gazed at the two ribbons, and couldn't help it. She started laughing at the memory. Her laughter turned into relieved sobs as she felt Wufei pull her against him.

It looked like the net had caught her after all. No words were spoken during the exchange... none were needed.

After a few moments, Wufei caressed Harmony's flushed face. "Forgive me?" He kissed her forehead. "It was a shock... something I never expected, nor would I have. You're too gentle... too pure to be fighting."

Harmony sighed sadly. "Wufei... I'm no innocent. As much as I hate it, there is blood on my hands just as there is blood on yours." She let him hold her as she spoke. "It doesn't matter if it was in self-defense... I took a life. The only thing that stops it from haunting me is that the bastard I killed was the same one who cut my father into little pieces when I was four."

"Shhhh... my proud warrioress. You have no need to justify your actions with us. We all know the pain that war brings." He took the elastic from her hair and ran his fingers through it. "The important thing... is to not lose sight of who we are. We have you to thank for getting us back on track." He kissed her deeply before pulling away. "Let's get back to the others. Duo is worried about you, and I doubt Quatre could take it if we continued on this course just now."

Harmony nodded and wrapped an arm around Wufei's waist so he could lead her back to the group.

TBC...

 

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