clockmaster | [RL With Zechs- Noah'splot]

Zechs was trying very hard not to show his worry and panic. But it was extremely hard, even for someone like him. Who didn't even bat an eye when his closest friend died. But he had never loved someone like this before. And he had never been told he could do nothing about a situation as an adult. Zechs always could cope better if he could do something.

But Hakuba's words had an unexpected effect. Zechs laughed, darkly and and morbidly, but he laughed all the same. He gave the Detective a more honest look than he intentionally had all evening.

"The scientists who designed the ZERO system were mad. But the man - the boy - who designed the security system around it is perhaps madder. But he was the finest warrior I have ever faced in battle. If you can best him in this, you will indeed earn my respect. He is not a force to be trifled with."

The boy wasn't sure if the laugh was scary or relieving, but he grinned back.

"Well, he certainly must be proud of his creation."

A boy uh? Kid where usually better at technology than adult gave them credit for, that's going to be interesting.

"But anything is sacred, Zechs. I estimate that it will take me a day, maybe less. Don't worry. Can you told me a bit more about him? Maybe it will help me to understand why the program is so challenging."

Thinking, this being difficult as Zechs grew increasingly tired, he tried to think of the best way to describe the pilot of Gundam 01. Slowly, he offered, "He would have written the security program sometime after the war, I am guessing. I know the ZERO system is only archived for research purposes. But we are all very concerned it could fall into the wrong hands."

Heero Yuy would say Zechs' hands would qualify as the wrong ones, he would guess, but they weren't going to mention that. Shifting a little more in his chair, becoming comfortable, he continued, "His reflexes and strength are superhuman. Even during the war, when he was about fifteen, he looked to be much younger. But intelligence points evidence to the boy having been involved in various terrorist organizations since early childhood."

Zechs was also more genuinely relaxed now than he had been previously. Talking shop, as Noin might call it, helped to calm him considerably. "He works best in solo missions, but has the ability to work together with team members when required. He follows orders without hesitation, but has the ability to question orders. That was not trained out of him. He is currently a high ranking agent in the Preventers Peacekeeping Organization. His presence there alone frightens some government officials into remaining peaceful. He's considered one of the most dangerous people alive."

So was Zechs, but he wasn't boasting about himself. He was speaking almost fondly, as if recalling someone he was close friends with - rather than someone who he had faced as an enemy.

Hakuba rubbed the back of his neck and took a sip of his own coffee as he thought about the information that Zechs shared with him. Just fifteen years, and he did all that. Strange. Impressive too.

"And might I inquire what was your relationship with him?" This was said in complete innocence and determination, meeting Zechs's eyes.

Edited 2008-11-30 04:15 (UTC)

Laughing again, darkly, Zechs ran a hand through his hair. Why was he so tired? He felt like he was about to fall asleep. But stubbornly, so stubborn, he stayed awake. Sleeping meant he may dream. Zechs knew what sorts of nightmares he would have. And once again, he would have to deal with them alone.

"He was the only man who could defeat me in battle when I was at my best," Zechs said. No exaggeration. Merely fact. "We understood each other well, though we were often on opposite sides of the war. In battle, there was a sense we were equals, though we were determined to kill one another. We knew our roles well. We were soldiers, killing machines, little more. All the same ... He is a better man than I."

At last, his face grew dark at the end of this. Heero Yuy should have killed him three years ago. He hadn't. If they were really soldiers who followed the ZERO system's instructions to the letter, then Zechs should have never lived.

But he was alive now. Zechs stifled a yawn.

"Like machines, Zechs, a person can always improve. Don't be so hard on yourself." Hakuba drank again, hidding an middle smirk. The potion was working, he hoped that Zechs would be sleeping in less than an half hour.

He knew the sensation, Akako gave him the same potion a few times before, the times where the heist with Kids gone really, really wrong and people get shot at or nearly killed. It gave him peace, at least for a few ours, and prevented him of dreaming. Just the calm of the nothingness. He always woke up more relaxed and energetic than a normal sleep, that was another difference of the potions and the sedatives.

Unlike Hakuba, however, Zechs didn't know the sleep which would come would be dreamless. Thus, he still tried to fight against it, even if it was futile. As he slumped in his chair, he still managed to have an air of upright nobility. This, too, indicated a trust of the Detective. Zechs didn't fall asleep in front of just anyone.

"... You have not any idea, Hakuba, of what I had attempted to do," Zechs said, his voice growing more soft and weary.

"I call you a boy, and you act insulted, yet I compliment you. No one should be made to do the things I had chosen, all for revenge, all for peace. All twisted and wrong. You are so young. Be glad," he murmured, fighting still to keep awake.

His hand clenched, then relaxed. For some strange reason, it was hard for him to become angry at the moment. More of the bourbon's effects? But that seemed so strange.

"No, I don't." Hakuba agreed, talking in a calm voice. So that's what he meant when he called him a kid . He looked at the war mug on his hands for a moment.

"I'm sorry if I misunderstood you. But Zechs, how much of you you really know of me? People are mysteries. You can spend your life with someone and never really know anything about him, and you can share a moment with an stranger, and feel the connection."

Edited 2008-11-30 04:47 (UTC)

Zechs' expression was soft, wounded, exhausted. Once again, mere moments before sleep, his calm mask had vanished. All of this was what lay beneath, what few people ever saw of him. What Hakuba might only see this once, and never again. But who knew what the future would hold?

"You will never decide it is worth the death of millions, perhaps billions, for a single ideal," Zechs murmured, hanging on to the last few fragments of his consciousness. His voice was tired, but not from the potion. "You will not sacrifice your humanity, as I had."

"And ... Ty- ... Tyki," he said in a whisper, "we shared a moment of kinship. A connection ... "

If Hakuba replied to his cryptic statements, Zechs wouldn't had heard him. He was finally asleep, having succumbed to the potion at last.

After a few minutes, when Zechs's breathing started to grow deeper, Hakuba moved and took him out of the chair. He wanted to leave him on his bedroom, but dismissed the idea quickly. Maybe Zechs would be more comfortable on a bed, but it probably remembers him that Tyki wasn't there once he wakes up. He wasn’t sure about was room was the bedroom, and didn’t feel like violate Zechs’s intimacy even more, so he carefully left the taller man on the couch. He took off his shoes and unbuttoned the first buttons of his shirt. Hakuba smiled sympathetically and brushed his hair away from his forehead. The boy knew that he couldn't listen, but he replied Zechs's words about having to sacrifice his humanity.

"I hope I don't have too, Zechs. And as long as we are alive, there's always hope.”

Hakuba looked around until he found a blanket to cover Zechs, and then went into the kitchen for some more coffee. Sitting back in front of the computer, he closed his eyes and tried to relax. He wished that tomorrow morning Zechs will be a bit more relaxed. He sat in silence, save the noise from the computers.

"Doyle?"
"Yes, Saguru-niichan?"
"Am I doing the right thing?" He asked. It was a question he'd asked himself before and was asking himself again. The computer whirred some more.
"I think you are." Doyle finally commented. "But then, I wouldn't be here if you weren't doing what you're doing." True, true, Hakuba thought.
“Let’s go, there’s still a lot of thinks to hack.”
“Yes, Saguru-niichan.”

The early morning sunlight gently creeped up out of the disappearing gray clouds and swept into the small room. It spread slowly, filling every bit of space with a bright glow. Someone was already up, mostly because he didn’t sleep on the whole night. Hakuba studied the fridge with a sad expression, there wasn’t much to work with...He wondered when was the last time Zechs ate.

Hakuba shook his head, and using the ingredients that he could find started to cook some waffles fro breakfast. It wasn't like he could do anything else now, and he need to keep himself busy to avoid falling sleep. On the living room, Doyle was still working on the ZERO system and Zechs was comfortably sleeping on the couch.

It was an uncanny habit. Baring extreme circumstances, Zechs awoke every morning shortly after sunrise. Though the man had slept very little, ate less, and drank quite a bit last night, he still managed to stir at the usual hour. His sleep, thanks to the potion, had been dreamless, and for a moment, he had forgotten what had happened the day before. He turned into the side of the couch, reaching for a man who wasn't there.

Startled, he woke fully, sitting bolt upright. His back and legs throbbed in protest - Zechs was too tall to sleep comfortably on a couch. His head was also a mass of pain. A hangover. Lovely. Zechs steadily began to swear under his breath in French, German, and Russian.

Getting to his feet - did he smell food? - Zechs noticed Doyle still running on his computer. Right. The Detective must still be here, he thought. Schooling his expression once again into a calm mask, he made his way to the bedroom so he could retrieve pain medication. He really hated hangovers. But if he broke open another bottle of bourbon, Hakuba would be convinced he was an alcoholic or something foolish like that. Zechs didn't want to give the boy the wrong impression.

A colored mix of swears coming from the living room informed Hakuba that Zechs was awoke. Even if he didn't catch the russian ones, the french and german one were enough to make a sailor blush. he looked at his clock, Zechs didn't sleep as much as he expected, he would have know that the potions mixed with coffee instead of tea would be less effective. He went to find the older man.

Zechs was in the master bathroom, which unfortunately for his privacy, was connected to the bedroom. He had forgotten himself and left the bedroom door open as he retrieved painkillers. Currently Zechs was laying them out - two aspirin, vitamin B, and a tiny caffeine pill - a small hangover cure kit. Systematically, he swallowed them with a tiny glass of water, then ran a comb through his hair, hoping to restore his immaculate appearance.

The bedroom was still a mess, of course. Smashed glasses, other bits of broken furniture and equipment were scattered about in his rage the night before. As this was a pre-furnished apartment supplied by Rufus, Zechs made a note to himself to repay the man personally for anything he had destroyed. It was only the proper thing to do.

Today, Zechs was feeling considerably calmer, if only because he had slept dreamlessly. He also had a plan of action. Tyki was alive. Once he had built the ZERO system, he could figure out what he could do from there. He wasn't helpless any longer.

... Where was the boy, anyway?

Hakuba come to the living room to find it empty. He deduced that Zechs would be on the bathroom or his room, and he wasn't interested in following him there. It was enough that he was still, and was going to be at least for some day, on Zechs apartment, no need to annoy him more than the necessary.

So he waited for the other man to show up, a glass him a glass with a red dense liquid on his hands.

Before too long, Zechs emerged. There were still shadows under his eyes, and he hadn't yet changed into fresh clothes. He didn't wish to keep his guest waiting. But he had cleaned his teeth and his hair was extremely neat, now. He also didn't wish to seem unkempt before a houseguest.

Closing the bedroom door behind him, his eyes momentarily softened in unspoken gratitude. Hakuba had not invaded his privacy. Then, his expression hardened into a professional mask again.

"How goes the security system?" He first asked, and then Zechs' eyes narrowed. "Have you slept, Detective?"

Like he was one to talk.

"When I curse, who's not very often, I use Italian. " Hakuba informed Zechs and gave him a soft smile as a good morning salute."It's more melodic, and you can gesture."

"The hacking it's doing well, the hardest part is done. Doyle is working on the rest now. I been staring at the computer screen for more than 5 hours on a row, my eyes needed some rest before I go blind." The boys shrugged. "Kid-san heist are usually at night. And when the theft ends he go away, but the police forces and I need to deal with the aftermath. I'm used to sleepless nights."

He offered Zechs the glass.

"It's a Bloody Mary. While your blood is dealing with the new alcohol it is ignoring the old and in the mean time tomato juice and celery are full of vitamins. The side effects of aspirin, Tylenol and ibuprofen can be magnified when alcohol is in your system, so it is best -even though it may be the first thing you reach for- to avoid them to kill the hangover pain. Aspirin is a blood thinner, just like alcohol, and can intensify its effects and Tylenol can cause more damage to your liver. So, please, drink it."

Zechs returned the smile; polite, politic, and mostly artificial. A sign he was in better sorts, if he could act so well. Such was his usual demeanor. Few who dealt with him upon his own world saw past his arrogant mask. Almost amused, he offered, "French curses are of my father's aristocrats, German curses are from my grandmother's genuine tempers, and Russian curses are merely cathartic to say."

He took the glass, and eyed Hakuba carefully, with a military commander's eyes. Perhaps the boy was used to such things, but that did not mean he should remain awake for much longer. Yet he inclined his head respectfully. "As am I, yet I had fallen asleep far easier than I am used to." Zechs blamed this upon his own failings, however, so quickly changed the subject.

"Do Bloody Marys not usually have vodka in them?"

He eyed the glass suspiciously, then drank a little from it. He only asked because he was curious. Of course, he had already taken the aspirin. Zechs cared little about his liver, truth be told.

"I need to learn Russian then. But I like the Spanish ones the most, they have more than 10.000 ways to curse in Spain."

He catch Zechs's eyes, reminding Hakuba of a hound on the trail of a fox. He did not necessarily have a death wish, so he was nto going to tell Zechs about the potion. At least not now. ...and probably never."You was..stressed, and you drank, it's normal to fall sleep." Hakuba looked apologetic to him, gave a soft exhalation of breath, making an obvious conscious effort to relax. "I will took a nap later if I feel really tired."

"Yes, but it's a different kind of alcohol than Bourbon, so your body will be busy dealing with it, and the effect on the old one will be less noticeable. There's a huge glass of orange juice for you on the kitchen , because you need vitamin C and to avoid caffeine. A weak cup of coffee may be okay but a lot of caffeine will continue to dehydrate you, the opposite of what you want right now."

At Zechs questioning expression, he explained. "I got really drunk once when I was 17 because I was trying to forget someone, and I didn't liked the experience. That's why I don't drink, but Nakamori-keibu, the inspector who also try to catch the kids, likes to drink a lot."

"I only know as much Italian and Spanish to converse with soldiers," Zechs said, his expression wry, "so I likely know at least half of those ten thousand curses. Yet they are not languages I would claim fluency in."

Zechs caught the slight nervousness in Hakuba's words, and wondered at it, his eyes narrowing slightly. Yet the man had been drugged a few times before, and knew what that felt like. He did not suspect such a thing of the boy. Of course, he didn't consider magic as a possibility.

Smirking a little darkly, Zechs drank more of the Bloody Mary. He didn't particularly like vodka at all, nor did he enjoy much the spicy taste of the drink. But he could see the wisdom in Hakuba's words.

Ruefully, he said, "It is not my habit to drink heavily." This was almost true. He did not count the recent two years, because he had hardly noticed he had begun to drink when extremely angry. In the past, anyhow, such things weren't his habit. Which meant his next words were completely true. "Even as a soldier, I was rarely intoxicated, and rarely hung over."

"Aspirin and multivitamins seemed to have done well enough for my person in the past." Zechs shrugged, and went to the kitchen to get the orange juice anyhow.

He stood there, quite surprised. Waffles? Hakuba was making waffles?

"I learned different languages because of my love for books. And I travel a lot, so comes in useful." The boy told him and then nodded at Zechs explanation about his drink habits.

"Dad drinks a bit too, If you can control yourself it doesn't have to be a problem, and sometimes..." He paused for a moment, thinking about Tyki. "It help you to forget things for some time."

As they entered to the kitchen, Hakuba noticed that he didn't cleaned it. He cooked the waffes, prepared the orange juice, and put them on the table for Zechs to ate it, but he didn't had the time to clean the waffle iron.

"Sorry, I thought that you would be hungry once you woke up. I will take care of the mess, I promise." Awkwardness floating close to the surface of the level voice.

Zechs' smile now was more genuine, a soft sort of expression. "Initially I learned other languages ... to read and write in them, certainly. I also have a great love for books."

He didn't remark on the idea of drinking to forget. He was trying hard not to think about his lover right now - how worried he was about him. He had to be cold right now. Calm. Resolute.

Slowly, Zechs shook his head. With that bit of surprise in his voice, he said in a quiet tone, "You are my guest here, Saguru, and yet you have cooked for my person. You need not apologize."

Zechs wasn't used to people caring for him like this. Noin had done so perhaps on two occasions, back in the academy. And Tyki had done so, obviously.

But Hakuba ... they were hardly more than strangers. Zechs didn't know what to say.

"I didn't cook anything special at all, you're grateful because you don't ate it yet." Hakuba motioned to the table where the breakfast was waiting and walked towards the kitchen's sink.

"Doyle and I are not done with the ZERO system, it will take us some more hours." His back is still turned away from the older man, focusing on making some more orange juice for Zechs and a cup of coffee for himself.

"Are you going to work today? Because if you don't want to go, I will show you a little trick that Doyle can do."Pausing for a moment, he looked over hsi shoulder and grinned at Zechs. "I will show it to you anyway, because I trust you."

Feeling a bit chagrined, Zechs paused, standing in the kitchen. Even when he was in the best of moods, his appetite was best described as minimal. Now, to be frank, he wasn't hungry for food in the slightest. The hangover didn't help that, of course. Either way, he was trying to think of a polite way to turn down breakfast after all of Hakuba's hard work.

For a moment, he instead welcomed the change in subject. "I will have to leave for work. In the afternoon I must finish ... a task for my employer, shall we say. Regardless, daily I am without fail on time for my job. Yet we should have time for a short demonstration, if you would wish to do so."

He bowed his head a little. "You honor me with your trust, Hakuba." Then he narrowed his eyes at the boy. "While I am at work, perhaps you should sleep a little yourself?"

He turned back around and grabbed the glass of juice and the mug of coffee. Setting them down in front of zechs, Hakuba looked at the untouched food.

“If you don't feel like eating it's ok, but please, drink at least the juice.” He carefully pulls out one chair and made a face as it squeaked against the floor. “Sorry.”

Such a bad furniture, Hakuba thought. The last night he managed to find a notepad on the living room, and wrote all the things that Zechs and Tyki will need if they wanted to turn the apartment in a real home. He was going to add 'new kitchen's chairs' to the list.

"Sound like a plan. I will try to do it." Even if I don't think I could. He drank enough coffee to keep him awake the whole night and the morning, He knew that it was goign to be impossible. But he was a man of word, so he will try at least.

All Zechs can say was he'd better get a ZERO out of this. D:

He is, but Hakuba is delaying it on purpose, and Doyle will keep and eye on zero <3

If Zechs doesn't get the ZERO system from Hakuba he'll just go to someone else D:

He will give him ZERO, but with an undetectable portion of Doyle in it who is watching over Zechs<3

Just as long as the ZERO doesn't somehow corrupt Doyle. :o

Nah, and Doyle will not really do anything to ZERo either :3

*evil grin* Don't know what Doyle will tell Hakuba, though. "Day 03: Zechs sitll crazy."

XDD "Day 153: You don't really want to know what he and Tyki did over washer machine" Hakuba: T_T No

*is laughing* So true, so true. XD

1/2 Poor Hakuba, you two will corrupt his innocent mind...well Akako already did that.

2/2 The morning after~

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

evil grin Don't know what Doyle will tell Hakuba, though. "Day 03: Zechs sitll crazy."

is laughing So true, so true. XD