An Untold Secret

-----part 1----- 

Trowa sat at the picnic bench and waited for Quatre. They'd arranged to meet 
there after Trowa got off from working under the Big Top. He'd cleaned off his 
make up, and had put on a clean outfit.

"Let's enjoy the carnival, shall we?" he suggested. "My treat."

Quatre nodded in agreement. "That sounds like fun." he agreed. He looked up and 
a grin came over his face as he spotted the Tunnel of Love.

"Oh no..." Trowa warned, but there was laughter in his voice and his heart sang 
at the thought of having Quatre all snuggled up in his arms.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Quatre said, cheerfully leading his beloved to the ride 
in question.

As they reached it, the saw Duo and Heero in one of the emerging boats. Duo was 
clinging to Heero, his braid having come undone at some point, while Heero was 
sitting there, quietly, with his arms around Duo.

"Heero?!" Quatre yelped.

Heero looked up, then glared at Duo. "So, no one will find out, huh? OMAE O 
KOROSU!"

Duo went to scramble out of the boat, but lost his footing and fell into the 
water.

"K'so!" Heero swore, diving in a moment later and pulling the unconscious Duo to 
shore.

After several moments, Duo regained consciousness, spitting out water. Heero 
picked him up, and carried him off to the first aid area.


Quatre and Trowa followed. "Is Duo okay?" Quatre asked, while Trowa went to get 
some hot chocolate for Duo as well as snacks for the rest of them.

"I'll be fine once my hot chocolate gets here." Duo shivered.

Trowa returned, carrying snacks and drinks for all. He handed Quatre a large 
cone of cotton candy, then gave Duo his hot cocoa and gave the two remaining 
snacks, a pair of giant pretzels, to Heero and himself.

"Thanks." Duo sipped his hot chocolate.

"Ariga..." Heero began.

"EEP!" Duo yelped.

"Quatre!" Heero exclaimed at the same time.

Quatre was glaring at his cotton candy as if it were an evil force he intended 
to destroy. The reason for Duo's yelp was that he'd climbed onto Duo's lap to do 
this.

"You're bad!" Quatre told it in a stern child's voice. "You gotta be punished! 
Bad! Bad! Bad! Now I'm gonna pull your pants down and you're not gonna scream or 
move, cause you're a bad boy."

Horror filled Trowa's eyes as Quatre went on and on, his voice that of a child, 
his words those of a criminal.

Finally, Quatre could not continue, he was too distraught and collapsed into 
tears.

Duo took the sobbing blond into his arms, and held him until he cried himself to 
sleep.

-----part 2----- 

Trowa sat at Quatre's bedside, watching his friend sleep. He wondered what evil 
memory had been triggered by the cotton candy he'd bought for him earlier. He 
thought of asking Quatre's father if he knew, but something in him told him the 
man didn't know.

Quatre opened his eyes and looked up into Trowa's eyes. At first, he drew back, 
then he relaxed. "How long was I out?"

"Six hours." Trowa smiled and kissed Quatre's forehead, smoothing a stray lock 
of hair. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Quatre shook his head. 

"I understand." Trowa said, quietly.

"I don't want to." Quatre sighed. "But I have to. When I was younger I used to 
go to carnivals frequently. They were fun. I liked the merry-go-round best. Nice, 
quiet, simple ride. I was at one eating some cotton candy when..."

***start flashback here****

The man glared at Quatre. "Watch where you're going. You've made my best suit 
all sticky."

"I'm very sorry." Quatre apologized.

"Come with me." the man grabbed Quatre's wrist, leaving him no choice. 

***end flashback here****

"He took me between two carny trailers and ..."

"Oh god, Quatre," Trowa groaned. "Please, tell me he didn't rape you."

"No. He didn't go *that* far, Allah be praised." Quatre slumped. "But he did 
molest me. I never told my father. I figured he'd be ashamed of me. But I never 
forgot the man's face. He had two scars, like he was scratched real hard, just 
below his right eye and he wore an eye ring ...."

"... over his left eye." Trowa picked up where Quatre faltered. "He had dark 
brown eyes and rusty red hair. He had a thin upper lip which was..."

".... covered by a thick moustache." Duo added as he and Heero came into view.

"Son of a bitch." Quatre began to cry. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

"About what?"

"If I'd told, he'd have been arrested." Quatre sobbed. "Then you'd have all been 
safe."

"Assuming he'd attacked you first." Wufei pointed out. "None of us told anyone 
until now, so let's not blame each other for it. For now, let's concentrate on 
finding this guy and getting him off the streets before he can hurt another kid. 
Getting justice for this creep's victims is what's important." 

-----part 3----- 

"Enough talk." Heero said, firmly. "Go to bed. It's late. Mission tomorrow 
morning." He turned and went to his room.

"We'll talk tomorrow." Trowa promised. "We do need to rest and calm down before 
we decide what to do."

"Agreed." Quatre nodded. "And thanks, guys. I was so afraid I'd be... well, you 
know..."

"Treated like a leper?" Duo asked. "I think we were all afraid of that. But we'll 
talk more tomorrow." he gave a little yawn and retired

Heero was already in bed when Duo climbed into his own bunk and closed his eyes. 
Duo's nightmare started almost immediately. The pursuit, seeming to come from 
all sides. Nowhere to run. No home to flee to. And then he was caught, and the 
world turned into a blinding sheet of pain, and he couldn't get up, there was a 
tremendous weight on him, pinning him, suffocating him.

He woke with a scream, sitting bolt upright. He put his face in his hands and 
sobbed. Then, Heero was there, his arms around Duo, Duo's face buried in the 
crick of Heero's neck, Duo's tears falling onto Heero's skin. After some time, 
Duo's sobs subsided and he noticed his own neck was getting equally wet.

Heero was crying. 

-----part 4----- 

"Heero?" Duo asked. He was very worried now. Had the man who'd victimized Duo 
and the other pilots gotten to Heero, too? And how badly had Heero been hurt?

"It's in the past." Heero growled. "Drop it."

"And let you have nightmares the rest of your life. Not a chance."

"I can handle it." Heero insisted.

"It was that guy, wasn't it, Heero?" Duo asked. The glare in Heero's eyes 
increased in intensity for a moment. "Heero, what did he do to you?"

"He never touched me." Heero replied. "He attacked, but I fought back and beat 
him real good, so he left me alone. Now, let me get some sleep. I told you, we 
have a mission in the morning." he returned to bed and fell back into a fitful 
sleep.

*****

Early the next morning, Heero woke the other five pilots.

"It is unjust for you to wake me at this hour." Wufei complained.

"I'm too tired to wake up." Quatre yawned, blearily, "Ask one of my servants to 
do it instead."

"......Quatre..." Trowa moaned in his sleep.

Heero returned to the room he shared with Duo to find Duo finishing with his 
braid.

"Let's *go*." he said, sternly. "We have..."

"Yeah, yeah. A mission. From who? To do what? How about a few facts, Heero?"

"We're to find and assassinate this man." Heero told Duo, bringing up an image 
on his laptop.

Duo hissed at it, "The man who raped me."

"Raped?" Heero was shocked. "I thought I was the only one he..." he stopped, 
abruptly. But he'd caught himself too late.

"You said you fought him off."

Heero nodded. "I was ashamed. Here I am, perfect solder and I couldn't fight him 
off."

"You were a kid." Duo reminded him. "You didn't deserve what happened the way I 
did."

"Bullshit." Heero growled. "You didn't deserve it either. Now let's go find that 
son of a bitch and kill him. 

-----part 5----- 

"I've found two possible locations for the son of a bitch." Heero told the 
others once they'd gathered around his laptop. "And since neither one is a 
cemetery or crematorium, it looks like the mission is a go. One of the locations 
is on the L2 colony, the other is here on Earth. Duo and I will head to L2."

"I can't..." Duo shook his head.

"Duo, you have to. You have connections there and we're going to need all the 
help we can get. So far all we have are vague locations at best. Don't worry. It'll 
be okay. And the sooner we get rid of that creep the better. We can't let him 
hurt others the way he hurt us."

Duo nodded. "You're right." he agreed, standing up, his fist clenched. "Let's go 
get this bastard off the streets."

The others also stood, their fists also clenched in rage. They drove to the 
spaceport where Duo and Heero headed, incognito, to L2 on a shuttle. Then, 
Quatre, Wufei, and Trowa headed off to check on the lead that suggested the man 
might be somewhere on Earth. 

-----part 6----- 

Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei stopped in several locations, many of which catered to 
children or families. Each time they showed the man's picture, they got a 
friendly, but apologetic smile/shrug or a shake of the head.

"You won't find that guy in places like that."

The three pilots froze and turned, recognizing the voice.

"His name is Aldezer Brahams." Zechs told them as he scanned their faces. "I got 
it from our system back at OZ. He's the owner of the Brahams Corporation. Not as 
powerful as Winner or Romfeller, I grant you. But still powerful enough to make 
him rich enough to stay above the law."

"That's why we're going to kill him." Wufei replied. "Justice must be served."

"Then, I'm going with you." Zechs told them.

"Like hell you are." Trowa said, evenly.

"I have a say in this venture, too." Zechs told them. "That bastard didn't just 
attack you guys, you know."

Quatre nodded. "A temporary alliance then?" he asked.

"Agreed." Zechs nodded back. 

-----TBC-----