Live Through This

“Is this a D?”

“No, that’s the next key. Move up one…yeah, that’s it.”

“This one?” Duo looked up when he saw Sister Helen enter the chapel. “Sister Helen, Curtains is teaching me how to play the piano!” he called. “Listen, I can play Happy Birthday!” Slowly, hesitantly he hit the keys in order, occasionally hitting a bum note, but nevertheless, the tune was recognisable.

“That’s wonderful, Duo!” said Sister Helen, giving him a small round of applause. “I never knew you could play piano, Child,” she added to Nanashi.

“I like music,” the boy replied with a shrug.

“Me too!” said Duo enthusiastically. “Now listen to me play Chopsticks!”

“You know, you could always play for us during mass,” Sister Helen told Nanashi, raising her voice to be heard over Duo’s playing. “Duo sings in the choir, but you’d be very welcome to play a few hymns with them.”

“I’d like that,” Nanashi replied shyly. “I can read music a little, so if you have the manuscript to go with the song, I’ll try to play it.”

“Of course,” said Sister Helen, positively beaming. “I’m sure Father Maxwell has them somewhere in the library.” Nanashi gave her a tiny smile in return. The kindly nun seemed to go out of her way to make Nanashi feel as though he was doing something useful, whether it was helping Duo with his reading, or even just lending a hand in the kitchen.

Nanashi looked up when he saw the church doors open and frowned slightly at the sight of strangers. He still wasn’t quite used to the fact that people were allowed to visit the church whenever they liked and saw it as an invasion of privacy. He didn’t much care for strangers either and although both Father Maxwell and Sister Helen went out of their way to welcome such people, Nanashi did his best to avoid them.

Turning his attention back to Duo, he didn’t notice their arguing at first, but when their voices became raised, he looked up again, his eyes narrowing. He nudged Duo to stop playing and the boy looked at him in confusion. Nanashi put a finger to his lips and motioned to the strangers who were still arguing amongst themselves.

“What are they talking about?” Duo whispered. “They should know better than to bring their petty arguments in here.”

“Something about stealing a mobile suit,” Nanashi muttered, keeping an ear on the conversation.

“A mobile suit! Why would they want that?”

“Ssh!” Nanashi hissed.

“Haven’t we had enough of this?”

Nanashi’s eyes widened at Father Maxwell’s statement. He was trying to intervene between two of the men it seemed and it made Nanashi nervous.

“What did you say?” One of the men asked incredulously.

“Didn’t Heero Yuy once say ‘We the people of the colonies didn’t come to live in space so we could fight’?” said Father Maxwell. “No matter what happens, we must not fight.”

“Bastard!” the man snarled. “I dare you to say that again!”

“I’ll keep saying it over and over,” Father Maxwell insisted firmly. “We must not fight.”

“Why you!” The man struck Father Maxwell hard, knocking him to the ground. Duo leapt up from his stool, Nanashi quick to follow him and together, they made their way down to Father Maxwell. Sister Helen however had gotten there quicker.

“Stop it,” she begged, stepping in front of Father Maxwell in an attempt to shield him from harm. “Please! No more!”

“Shut up!” The woman in the group snarled, slapping Sister Helen.

“They could be spies for the Alliance, you know,” one of the men suggested.

“W-what?” Sister Helen sputtered in disbelief. “We’re not spies!”

“Oh really? And how would we know if that were true? What do you think, guys. Should we make them confess?”

“Stop it, you creeps!” Duo yelled, pushing his way to the front. “You guys don’t belong here. This is a place for peace and I’m not going to let you ruin it!”

“What are you talking about, brat?” the dark-haired man snapped.

“Duo, don’t,” Nanashi muttered in his ear, trying to lead him away. “Don’t antagonise them. We have to keep Sister Helen and Father Maxwell safe.”

Duo shrugged his arm out of Nanashi’s grasp. “Just get out! You’re not wanted here!”

“Duo, please stop,” Father Maxwell said softly, tying to sit up. Nanashi hurried to his side to help him. The priest leaned heavily on him as he managed to get him up into a sitting position.

“Let me take care of them, Father,” he murmured. “I can get rid of them for you. I’ve killed before, I can do it again.”

“No!” Father Maxwell said abruptly. “You mustn’t. I promised you that when you came to live here, you wouldn’t have to do that ever again. I told you we’d take care of you.”

“I know,” Nanashi said. “But now I want to protect you in return. I’ll get them out of here.”

“What are you two muttering about?”

Nanashi glanced up at the dark-haired man of the group towering over him and he shifted so that he was shielding Father Maxwell.

“It’s none of your concern,” he replied coldly. “Just get out now while you still have the chance.”

“Or what?” the man asked mockingly. “You and your bratty little brother will hurt us?”

“Stop it!” Duo yelled, getting everyone’s attention. “Sister’s right, we shouldn’t be fighting, not in a place like this. All you want is one mobile suit, right? I’ll go and steal one for you. And in return, you guys have to leave. Is it a deal?”

“Hmmph. The kid’s talking nonsense,” the other man muttered.

“No I’m not,” Duo insisted. “Curtains, you stay here and watch them. I’ll go get that mobile suit.”

“No, wait!” Nanashi said, rising to his feet. “You stay with them and I’ ll get it. I know how to pilot a suit,” he added. Duo’s eyes widened, but Nanashi didn’t acknowledge the other boy’s surprise.

“You know how to pilot a mobile suit?” the man asked in disbelief. “Don’ t make me laugh.”

“I wasn’t making a joke,” Nanashi said with a glare. “Now are you going to move aside so that I can get what you want?”

The man stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. “All right,” he said. “That sounds like a fair deal to me. You give us the suit and in return, we’ll leave your precious church. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Nanashi replied.

“But you have to take your kid brother along too,” the man added. Nanashi frowned. He didn’t like the thought of leaving Father Maxwell and Sister Helen alone with these guys.

“Deal,” said Duo suddenly, ignoring the way Nanashi shook his head frantically. “Don’t you dare do anything to them while we’re gone,” he said angrily, grabbing Nanashi’s hand and dragging him away.

“No, don’t!” Sister Helen cried, trying to get to her feet. The woman standing over here pushed her back down.

“Don’t try anything cute,” she snapped.

“Hold on, Sister Helen!” Duo shouted. “We’ll be back in no time, don’t you worry!”

Once outside the church, the two of them set off at a run. “We have to be quick,” Duo panted. “We can’t give them the chance to do anything while we’re gone.”

Nanashi nodded, trusting Duo to lead him to their destination. After all, the boy knew these streets a lot better than he did.

“Hey, you know when you said that you could pilot a mobile suit back there?” Duo asked, puffing slightly. “Did you mean it, or were you just bluffing?”

“I meant it,” Nanashi replied. “But I don’t think you’d like to know how I gained that skill.”

“Then I won’t ask,” Duo said, breathing heavily. “I can’t believe those guys! If they want another war, why don’t they all go and fight each other and leave us out of it? It isn’t fair!”

Nothing more was said between them until they got to the base. “Look, there it is!” said Duo, pointing out the truck where the mobile suit was wrapped in tarpaulin. “It’s heavily guarded too. And they’ve got guns. Dammit, how are we going to get past them?”

“Leave it to me,” Nanashi told him. “I’ll go and distract them while you get to the truck. Can you drive?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Duo replied grimly. “Okay, go on, but don’t go getting yourself killed now.”

Nanashi nodded and squeezed his shoulder briefly. “Take care, Duo,” he said softly. He turned and was just about to leave when he felt Duo grasp his wrist.

“You wanna know something funny?” he said.

“What?” Nanashi asked in confusion. What could the other boy possibly find amusing about all this?

“Back at the church when those goons were throwing their weight around, they thought we were brothers,” Duo said, his lips curving up in a slight smile. “I never had a brother before, but if I did, I’d hope it would be someone like you.”

Nanashi stared at him in shock for a moment before he felt himself smile. “Same here,” he said softly.

“So you can’t do something stupid and die on me,” Duo told him seriously. “We’re gonna make it through this, all right? We’re going to get back to the church, hand over that stupid mobile suit, then you and I can live happily ever after with Father and Sister, got it?”

Nanashi nodded, his gaze growing a little blurry. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and blinked the tears away. He felt a pair of warm arms draw him into a tight embrace and he breathed in Duo’s familiar scent.

“Both of us have a home to go to and people to protect,” Duo whispered in his ear. “Don’t you ever forget that.”

Nanashi nodded wordlessly and pulled back. Before he could get too far though, Duo placed a hand on his cheek, leaning up on his tiptoes and lightly touching his lips to the other boy’s. Nanashi’s eyes widened in surprise. No one had ever done that to him before. It wasn’t wholly unpleasant, just…different.

Duo stepped back and forced one of his Devil-may-care grins. “Live through this,” was all he said and Nanashi nodded before taking off.

Duo was right, this place was heavily guarded, but that wasn’t going to stop Nanashi. He’d faced worse odds in battle before and wasn’t too worried about dying, but suddenly, the braided boy’s words came back to him. ‘Don’t go getting yourself killed now.’ He had to be careful, for Duo’s sake. For Father Maxwell and Sister Helen’s sake. He owed them that at least.

Nanashi crept around the wall, staying out of sight of the nearest guards. Usually if his enemy was greater than him, he would use the divide and conquer tactic, but it wasn’t going to work in this case. Besides, he was running out of time as it was and he couldn’t afford to waste anymore of it.

Picking up a nearby stone, Nanashi flung it across to where the guards stood. As he’d expected, one of them went in search of the disturbance and Nanashi waited for him to get close enough before showing himself.

“What the Hell are you doing here, kid?” the guard asked in disbelief. “Look, you shouldn’t be here so just turn around and–”

Nanashi had rushed forward before he could finish his sentence, delivering a well-aimed kick in between the guy’s legs. When the guard sank to his knees in agony, Nanashi grabbed his gun and charged into the grounds, opening fire.

“What the-We have shots fired! Enemy attack! Shoot him down!”

“But he’s just a kid!”

“I don’t care, just shoot him!”

Nanashi wasn’t even listening to them as he took shelter behind a crate; leaning over it every few seconds to fire back, not caring if he hit anyone. They all deserved to die anyway for letting in a kid like him so easily. They were weak, incompetent fools and it was no concern of his whether they lived or died. He only hoped that Duo was taking advantage of the confusion in order to get to the suit.

It wasn’t long before he was out of ammo and he cursed, keeping hidden behind the crate as bullets flew over his head. Suddenly, there was the honking of a horn and crashing noises.

“Get in the truck!” Duo screamed at him. Nanashi didn’t need to be told twice. He quickly vaulted up onto the vehicle and Duo drove away, ignoring the shots fired as they went.

It wasn’t until they were a safe distance away that Duo spoke again. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Nanashi said breathlessly. “You?”

“I’ll live. That was a really stupid thing you did back there. I told you to be careful.”

“I was,” Nanashi insisted. “You didn’t see me get shot, did you?”

“Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t turned up in time,” said Duo angrily. Nanashi sighed.

“Look, you can chew me out later. Let’s just concentrate on getting back there in one piece and for God’s sake, don’t drive us into a ditch.”

They managed to get back without any further mishap, but Nanashi was alerted to the fact that something was wrong when he saw smoke trails coming from the location of the church.

“Stop the truck!” he demanded. Duo slouched down further in the seat so he could reach the pedals and the truck began to slow down. Nanashi didn’t wait for the vehicle to come to a halt before he jumped out, Duo close behind him.

“What is it? Duo asked. “What…Oh my God,” he said in a small voice. “This can’t be…”

The church was in ruins, smoke and rubble all around. The two boys ran up to the wreckage and Nanashi’s heart leapt when he caught sight of Sister Helen. He knelt down by the woman’s side. “Where’s Father Maxwell?” he asked urgently and she weakly lifted a hand to point out where the priest was. Nanashi hurried over to him while Duo crouched beside Sister Helen.

The priest was lying flat on his back and Nanashi quickly placed his fingers to the side of his neck to feel for a pulse. He bit his lip when he couldn’t find one. ‘Dammit, he can’t die!’ he thought angrily. ‘It has to be here, I’ m just not looking hard enough…’

“Curtains.”

Duo’s shaky voice made him look up and the smaller boy motioned for him to come over. Nanashi did so, reluctantly leaving Father Maxwell’s side and making his way over to the others.

“He’s gone,” he said quietly and Duo bit back a sob.

“You’re going to be okay, Sister,” the braided boy whispered. “We’ll go get a doctor and everything will be just fine and–”

“Duo,” Sister Helen said softly and he stopped talking abruptly. “We were so worried about you boys. Even at the end, Father kept asking about you.”

“Was it our fault?” Duo asked. “Because we went and stole the mobile suit? Is God punishing us?”

“No, he isn’t,” Sister Helen said. “These things happen, Duo and it isn’t God’s fault. He isn’t angry with you and neither am I.” She paused for a moment to catch her breath, but when she continued, her voice was even weaker. “We couldn’t leave the church. Father Maxwell was so noble…He kept preaching peace…”

“He’s a stupid fool!” Duo snapped. “That’s not noble, that’s just dumb! What’s the point if he’s dead now?”

Sister Helen managed a small smile. “You mustn’t think like that, Duo,” she whispered. She turned her head slightly in order to look at Nanashi who was hovering over her nervously. “You two…you have to take care of each other. And remember us always.”

“I won’t forget,” Nanashi whispered. “We won’t forget.”

“What are you talking about?” Duo asked angrily. “Sister Helen, you can’t just leave us? What are we going to do without you? Who’s going to take care of us and tell us stories if you go?”

The nun only took a deep, shaky breath. “May…may you have God’s blessing…” And then she didn’t speak anymore.

“No,” Duo whispered, shaking his head. “This can’t be happening…”

Nanashi knelt down beside Sister Helen and placed a hand to her face, gently closing her eyes. He looked over at Duo who wasn’t trying to hide the fact that he was crying at all. His whole body was wracked with shudders and Nanashi crawled forward and pulled him into his arms. He just held Duo as the braided boy wept into his shoulder, not saying anything at all. There was nothing that could be said to make this any better.

And on the streets, people went about their business, carefully avoiding each other, never saying a word. Not noticing two small boys huddled together in the ruins of a small church, not even knowing that their whole worlds had just collapsed. Nobody even cared.