When Angels Cry

By Cat

This story may not be reproduced in any way without the express written permission of the author.

**********

Chapter One

**********

Quatre huddled in the corner of his cell, pressing as close to the wall as his battered body could go. He could hear the sound of voices outside the door and the scrape of a key in the lock. A single tear slipped out of the corner of his right eye and ran down his cheek. He could barely feel anything on the left side of his face anymore it was so badly damaged from repeated beatings.

"No more," he whimpered in defeat. "Please no more."

He knew he wouldn't be able to endure another round so soon. But he couldn't betray his friends either. But with the newest method of torture they were using on him, he was certain he would probably sell his soul to the devil soon to make it stop.

The cell door opened and two guards walked in. In the shadowy cell with only one eye that was able to see, he couldn't tell if it was the same pair that had been coming to get him for each interrogation session or not. Curling tighter into himself Quatre pressed his face into his knees and covered his head with his bruised arms.

"Please... please kill me. Just kill me," he whispered hoarsely.

"I couldn't do it, Baby," a soft familiar voice replied.

The blonde's head jerked up and he peered at the closest guard with his one good eye. "T... Tr... Trowa?"

"Hey! And me too!" quipped another voice, horror tingeing the forced brightness.

Quatre didn't need his ears to know that Duo was alarmed at what he was seeing. He could feel it emanating off of the longhaired pilot like waves of heat. His lover was just as upset and rage was barely being kept at bay.

"Hey Duo," the pilot of Sandrock murmured turning his head in the direction of the other voice. "Where's Heero and Wufei?"

"Can't you hear them out there? They're laying down a bit of death, destruction and distraction while the Tro-man and I get you out of here," the self proclaimed God of Death replied. Just to punctuate the fact, a loud explosion rocked the walls right out side. "Whoa and they're getting just a bit too close for comfort."

"Can you stand, Quatre?" the Heavy Arms pilot asked slipping an arm around his lover on the opposite side from Duo. He looked around hurriedly for a blanket, anything that they could wrap around his nude lover but there was nothing.

Seeing the helpless look in Trowa's eyes, Duo pulled off the black top shirt that he was wearing and carefully wrapped it around their injured teammate. It wasn't perfect but it at least gave him a little cover.

The small blonde flinched away momentarily from their touch and the two looked at each other over his head. Together they got him partially standing and the chestnut haired pilot hissed in horror and rage as he glimpsed the blood, bruises and something he'd rather not think about on the slighter pilot's thighs.

"The hell with walking, Quat," he murmured slipping his free arm under the other boy's legs and swinging him up into his arms. "Put your arms around my neck if you can, okay Quatre?" The Arabian nodded against his shoulder and wrapped his arms tight around his friend's neck. "Trowa get my gun out of the holster on my back. You're a better shot than I am. And if we run across anyone, shoot 'em and make sure it'll make 'em suffer."

The taller boy nodded and pulled Duo's pistol from its holster. He now had one in each hand as he led the way through the halls along the escape route they had worked out when planning the rescue. The longhaired pilot of Shinigami stayed only a step or two behind him. Seeing the first of his booby-trapped corridors coming up he smiled slightly.

"Hey Quat, I got a job for you if you want it?"

"A... a job," the blonde whispered, gazing up at him dazedly with his one open eye.

"Yeah, reach in my shirt pocket."

Quatre brought his left arm from around the other boy's neck and fished in the breast pocket of the black shirt wrapped around him until he felt the firm cylindrical object that he knew Duo was talking about. He gave a wan smile that made the other teen wince just imagining the pain it was causing to that injured face.

"Explosives?" The blonde asked.

"Yep, lots and lots of them just ta add a bit to the chaos you know. Can't be the God of Death and Destruction and let Heero and the Wu-man have all the fun now, can we?" The Deathscythe pilot grinned as he saw the other boy shake his head. "Excellent! I knew I could count on you, Quat. Okay here's what I want you to do. Every time I say 'NOW' I want you to press that button, kay?"

"Kay," the slighter boy murmured clutching the detonation device in his hand.

Trowa took out a guard as they approached the first intersection. The OZ/Romefeller soldier never had a chance as the Heavy Arms pilot put a bullet right between his eyes. Duo glared in disgust at the man as he went by shielding Quatre from the sight with his body.

"Hey Trow, not enough screaming, man," he growled at the other boy.

"Sorry Duo, I'd rather not draw attention to us yet," the taller boy stated over his shoulder.

"A bit too late for that buddy," the longhaired pilot replied with a snort. He looked down at the boy in his arms. "Okay Quatre, now."

The blonde pressed the button and a chain of explosions sounded up and down the corridor running horizontal to the one they were in. The God of Death chuckled mirthlessly.

"Well that should cover our backs for a bit."

"Good," the slighter pilot murmured and slumped against his friend's shoulder.

"It won't be long now Quatre," Trowa murmured from in front of them.

They passed through another intersection and Duo leaned his head down and murmured, now, in Quatre's ear. The other boy obediently pressed the button on the device in his hand and they both listened with satisfaction as the explosions rocked the new corridor starting at the far ends and working their way towards them. Then they were standing near the door to the outside.

"Stay back," Trowa hissed as he opened the door a crack.

The chestnut haired pilot nodded and turned his body to protect the boy in his arms from further injury by placing him between the wall and his own body. "Ready," he muttered over his shoulder to his teammate and watched as he pushed the door open wider.

Outside was chaos. Fires burned everywhere, bodies of the dead and dying lay scattered around the ground and in the middle of it all standing almost back to back were Wing Zero and Nataku(Ultron). Out of a bag on his shoulder Trowa drew a flare gun. Pointing just in front of Heero he fired the flare to alert the other pilot that they'd finished the first part of their mission.

The flare immediately drew enemy attention. They'd known it would, but before any of them could get close, more than two dozen sand colored mobile suits stationed themselves between the doorway and the oncoming soldiers. Heero and Wufei shifted their positions so that they were standing close but not quite shoulder to shoulder and began taking out Mobile Dolls and Taurus Suits with a blinding speed and accuracy that they hadn't displayed at the onset of the fighting.

"Now!" the unibanged pilot of Heavy Arms shouted.

Duo bolted through the door running as fast as he dared with his precious burden, with Trowa right behind covering their back. Suddenly an obstacle landed directly in his path and he looked up cursing. But the words died on his lips as he saw Abdul's Mobile suit. Both hands on the huge suit came down gently in front of the two pilots and their injured teammate.

"Sorry to startle you," Abdul called apologetically. "Rashid sent me to help get you three to the edge of the base and the jeep. Don't worry Master Quatre, you'll be home soon."

Trowa and Duo both scrambled up into one large hand and then Abdul carefully closed the other around them. The American pilot reluctantly relinquished his friend into the arms of his lover. It was only as the blonde was being wrapped in the larger boy's protective embrace that he finally succumbed to the terrible agony of body and spirit he had suffered.

Trowa's face was a mask of silent heartache and guilt as he slowly rocked and let his lover cry. Duo covered his face and cried silently listening to the smaller boy sobbing, his whole body shaking with the force. Unwanted the Shinigami Pilot ran back over the events that had led to this night.

*****

"Where do they all keep coming from?" Duo yelled as he leapt into the air twirling with his scythe to take out the Mobile dolls that had surrounded him.

"I don't know, argh!" Quatre cried out as one of the dolls landed a terrible blow to the back of Sandrock's armored head. "We have to get out of here!"

"Quatre!" Trowa's anguished voice broke over the radio as he tried desperately to fight his way to his lover's side. He had long since run out of ammunition and had been left with only his thermal sword and the razor sharp blade attached to Heavy Arms right arm.

"It...only...goes...to show...how...afraid...of us... they ...are." Wufei panted as he flung two mobile dolls away from himself into four more several yards away.

"I don't care how afraid of us they are, Fei. We're getting the living crap kicked out of us," Duo growled as he spun yet again to take out the suits that had closed in on him. He moaned as the constant spinning started to take its toll on his equilibrium and his stomach.

Heero remained silent. His buster rifle was almost empty and still they kept coming. He'd switched to his thermal sword, opting to keep what was left of the buster for a last resort.

"Fall back! Everyone fall back!" Quatre yelled and immediately the highly trained pilots heeded their tactical leader's warning.

The others began fighting their way towards the edges of the base and their transports. Heero used the last of his rifle's deadly energy to destroy as many of the enemy as he could to give them all a fighting chance at survival. But it still left more of the enemy than he would have liked. It was slow going but by splitting up and drawing off parts of the enemy they were finally able to destroy enough to escape. It was only as they met at the hidden airfield to load their Gundams on the transports that were waiting, that they realized that they were missing a member.

"We have to go back," Duo hissed standing toe to toe with Heero. "We can't just leave him there!"

"We'd never make it. And he probably isn't there anymore anyway," the pilot of Zero answered calmly.

"Fine you stay here, but I'm going back. This time Duo Maxwell isn't going to run and hide," he snarled.

He started to turn away heading for Deathscythe when he was caught by an unexpected and powerful blow to his midsection. He stared at Heero in surprise and anger before slowly collapsing to the ground unconscious. The Japanese pilot saw the Heavy Arms pilot making his way to Shinigami.

"Trowa," he said in a warning tone. He understood what Trowa was feeling and didn't want to have to resort to violence with the other pilot. If it had been his lover he'd have been on his way back, he knew that. And no one would have been able to stop him.

"I'm going to get Deathscythe ready for transport," the other boy replied quietly his eyes devoid of emotion. "Since you have put Duo out of commission. You might as well get him on the shuttle."

Heero nodded and lifted his lover in his arms and carried him onto the plane that would carry both Wing Zero and Shinigami. Wufei had already loaded Nataku and started back for the hideout in his own transport. They had been waiting over an hour now for Quatre and it had become clear he wouldn't be showing up.

After settling Duo in one of the seats in the cockpit, the Perfect Soldier went back out to finish helping Trowa load the last two Gundams. He waited for Trowa to take off first and then followed him into the silent night sky.

***

"You're just going to leave him there?" Duo screeched from his seat beside his lover. "You bastard Heero! Don't you care at all?"

Fighting the urge to reach out and hit his almost hysterical lover, the Japanese boy reached out and flipped the switch for the autopilot. Then he turned in his seat and grabbed the other boy by the shoulders and shook him.

"We... had... no... choice, Duo!" he snarled punctuating each word with a hard shake of the other boy's slender body. "Trowa was out of ammunition, Wufei was already gone. My buster rifle is empty and you're so dead on your feet you can barely stand up," he argued.

"Screw tired," the longhaired pilot raged. "I wouldn't have just given up."

"Damnit, Duo no baka!" Heero growled and slammed the other boy back against his seat. "You would have just gotten yourself captured and we would have been two men short when we tried the rescue attempt."

The braided pilot jerked away from his lover and turned his back on him. "They'll destroy him, if we don't find him soon. You know that, don't you?" he whispered harshly, his voice breaking. "We've be captured before, you and me. We know what it's like. Quat has never been captured by himself before. In fact you can barely call that one time you and him were taken back to the moon base as captured."

"I know," the Japanese pilot murmured.

He reached out a hand to touch his lover's shoulder trying to give some comfort if he could. His time with Duo and Quatre had opened him up some, helped find pieces of himself that had been lost because of the training. His softer emotions were still rough, in need of practice and polish, but he was trying. He closed his eyes to hide the pain when the other boy pulled away from him, hunching further into his seat away from him. Silently he went back to the controls of the plane taking it off of autopilot and making sure they were still below radar detection.

***

Trowa gripped the controls of his transport plane and tried not to think about the empty seat beside him. He'd wanted to turn around and go back, but he'd known Heero would never let him. There was a terrible pain in his chest, even though he knew he hadn't been injured. And it felt like he had to fight for every breath.

"Quatre," he whispered closing his eyes for just a moment. "Don't worry Baby, we won't let them keep you long."

The Pilot of Heavy Arms flew on through the night allowing the silent tears of guilt and grief to run down his face. He had to show an impassive front to the others. But alone, right now, he could give into the overwhelming pain that wracked him. Quatre had done that for him, had reached inside him and unlocked the emotions he'd thought he no longer had.

He wasn't sure why he still hid them from the others, but he did. Only Quat was allowed the privilege of seeing them right now. And he knew if he lost his small lover, they would go back into their hiding place, never to be seen again.

*****

"Where is Master Quatre?" Rashid growled softly almost dangerously as he looked around at the four battered and dejected pilots standing in the conservatory.

Duo scuffed a foot on the floor. "He was captured." He looked up at the Maguanac leader that towered over them all. "We tried..."

"It was a trap, they knew we were coming," Heero interrupted his voice as steady and calm as always.

"You left him in the hands of the enemy?" the big Arab hissed. "You know what they will do to him. Do you have no loyalty to him or each other at all!"

"Of course we do!" Wufei flared back stung to have his honor questioned in such a manner.

"Stop it!" Duo hissed and jerked his head towards the outer wall and it's windows. "Does that look like we don't care?"

They all looked to see Trowa standing silent, staring out a window. He had Quatre's violin clutched against his chest. It was the closest to real emotion any of them had seen out of the green-eyed pilot of Heavy Arms. Well, except when Quat was around. The little blonde seemed to be able to pull emotion or anything else he wanted out of any of them. Rashid bowed his head in regret and acknowledgement.

Duo turned to Heero. "What do we do now?"

"We go and get him," Trowa said stiffly from where he stood. "The longer they have him the more chance that they'll break him and he knows too much."

Heero looked across the room at the Pilot of Heavy Arms and nodded. "We'll need a plan," he replied. "It's a certainty they won't be trying to keep him at what's left of the base we hit tonight. They'll move him."

"And they'll be expecting us to try and rescue him," Duo added.

"We'll need recognizance," Wufei stated.

They all fell silent as the same thought occurred to them all. They needed Quatre, he was their tactician. Putting together plans for the whole group had always been what the blonde was the best at. He alone could do what it was taking the four of them to do right now.

End Chapter One