Becoming Human

\"Well then,\" Milliardo said as the truck turned the corner. \"I suppose we should go call Une and Trieze now.\"
Noin shook her head as they stepped back in the front door. \"Not yet,\" she said. \"His mother dropped her sun-goggles by the ficus tree when she thought no one was looking.\"
So they both went back to finish up some paperwork in his office. And soon enough, the doorbell rang. Maggie opened the door, and both Noin and Milliardo heard her.
\"Ah, Duo-mama,\" she said, \"Miss Lulu did say you\'d be back-dey found yo\' sun-goggles behin\' a potted tree. I\'ll take you to dere office.\"
Presently, the door to the office opened, and Mom walked in as Maggie left to go about her business. There on the desk lay her goggles, and behind the desk both \"Lulu\" and \"Zechs\" smiled. She picked them up, but did not leave.
\"I have some questions,\" she said, rather hesitantly.
\"I thought you might,\" Noin replied. \"We\'ll answer them as best we can, but we must be quick, or your family will worry.\"
Mom nodded. \"As you may or may not know, female cliff-hoppers are very good at chemical identification, especially by taste and smell. Most of us only use this ability in the presence of other cliff-hoppers, but sometimes we are aware of others as well. We know that certain emotions have a scent that varies by species. My question, then, is this: Why are you so devoted to my son, Duo? Only once in my life have I smelled that scent, and it was the day his mother died, though some of it clings yet to the blanket he was wrapped in.\"
Zechs looked at Lulu. She sighed. \"He has her face, doesn\'t he?\" Mom looked startled, to say the least. Lulu continued. \"I can not tell you everything you wish to know, because that would put all of you in more danger than you are already in. But I think I can tell you this. We, and others, have been searching for Duo for many years. He and a few others like him will eventually have the ability to help a great many people. Or destroy them. Surely you have noticed that he\'s not an ordinary human. The fact is, he was supposed to have died with his parents. Already he is on the trail of dangerous prey, thanks to the memories of Shinigami. If the wrong people find out that he still lives and hunts them, his life and the lives of all who have ever known him will be forfeit. But if he lives to discover what and more importantly, who, he is. . . then he will be a man with few peers in this world. He will do much for all people, human and saur.
\"In the meantime, he must be kept safe until he can discover all that. To that end, my husband and I plan on calling some friends in Chesapeake, who run a school there that is renowned for its ability to integrate humans and saurs.\" Reaching into a desk drawer she pulled out a business card for the school and gave it to Mom. \"There are a few other young men there who, like him, were raised by saurs. He will be kept safe there, and he will learn what he needs to learn to fulfill his potential, and most importantly, he will find human friends to place along side his saur friends. Is this acceptable to you?\"
Mom was silent a moment. \"You\'re right,\" she said, \"There is more I wish to know. But I sense that you have told me the truth, and you seek only Duo\'s best interests. Moreover, if this school can help Duo learn to be with humans, that will be very good. I have done what I can, but still he prefers the saur ways to the human ways. But even I know that he must live as a human if he wants any sort of life. I will trust you, though your words trouble me.\"
Lulu nodded. \"We value your trust, Ma\'am, and we ask that you reveal to no one, not even Duo, what was said here. He will learn soon enough-indeed, he has already begun to learn. And in return for your trust in us, we will trust you with something few others know. The names you know us under are not our real names. In truth, I am named Lucretzia Noin, and my husband is Milliardo Peacecraft. Years ago we had reason to flee Chesapeake and assume new identities while we watched and waited for your son. Now we have found him-or rather, he found us. We hope that this means our days of exile will soon end. But, no more words for now-your family will begin to worry if you do not return to them.\"
They bid farewell to each other once more, and Noin sighed as the cliff-hopper matriarch left. Milliardo massaged her shoulder briefly. \"I think that went well,\" he said.
Noin nodded, her eyes distant.
\"I just hope we\'re worthy of her trust. So much could go so wrong. . .\" she said, worry laced through her voice.
He squeezed her hand. \"Which is why we should thank the Lady that we\'re not alone, and there are others out there on the same side. Speaking of which,\" he reached to turn on the vid-phone. \"I think we should be making a call now.\"
Two blocks away, Duo re-started the engine and headed for I-10. He felt a lot more confident about this whole trip now that he knew his family had the fiscal resources to live on for at least a little while. Now all he had to worry about was this headache he felt coming back. Karick and Roanna poked each other, Ian and Ylan growled at each other, and Litza and Marick took the time to enjoy the scenery with Dad. As for Mom, she treasured all the things the two humans had said to her and pondered them within her heart.


Trieze and Une were stealing a few moments in the Rose Courtyard. These ose of summer vacation had been heralded a few hours before by a call from Algeria, informing them that Quatre would be returning in a week. Of course, that made him two and a half weeks early for school, but non-stop flights from Algiers to Baltimore were few, and were taken when found.
While they would be more than glad to see the sunny young man again, his return also meant that what little free time they had would soon be fleeing again. Trieze watched as Une leaned in to peer at a bud, yet unopened at this late date. Gently she cupped her hands around the still-shut petals for a few seconds, then drew them back again.
\"Well,\" she said, gazing at her palms. \"Would you look at that?\"
Trieze scooted over to look at what she held. In one hand was a ladybug, in the other a spider.
\"They were in the rose,\" she said, \"And crawled out when I went to touch it.\" Trieze looked on in puzzlement as the spider strung a web between Une\'s thumb and index finger.
\"What are they saying?\" he asked, not for the first time wishing that he could understand these things as well as the women could.
She smiled, well familiar with his personal frustration. \"Well,\" she began, \"Ladybug speaks of death and rebirth, and the connection to the Center of All. Grandmother Spider is the Great Weaver, weaving together time and space.\" She paused as something caught her attention below the rose bush, then grinned. \"And grasshopper speaks of leaping forward.\"
The ladybug flew off her hand, to land briefly on the tip of his nose before flying off into the garden. Une chuckled at his expression. \"Looks like somebody likes you,\" she said. Trieze grunted, and watched as the spider made her own exit, leaping from the tips of Une\'s fingers back to the rose.
\"So, what does it all mean?\" he asked, wondering how it was they put together these random seeming bits into coherent thoughts.
Une wrinkled her brow. \"Change.\" She said. \"Great change that will effect the world. Beginning with a leap forward. There is more, but it\'s unclear.\" She was interrupted by the phone ringing inside. She was quiet as they heard it picked up by their secretary, Susan. After a few moments Susan called out an open window, \"It\'s Lucrezia Noin and Milliardo Peacecraft for both of you on the private line, they say it\'s important.\"
Trieze lifted an eyebrow. \"We\'ll take it in the solarium,\" was all he said. The couple walked around through the gardens before entering a glass enclosed porch . Une walked over to the small desk and turned on the vid-phone, punching in her personal code to access her waiting call. Trieze was leaning over her shoulder as Noin and Milliardo faded into view. The two in New Orleans wore expressions carefully guarded but to those who knew them.
\"This line is secure,\" Une greeted them. \"What\'s going on?\"
Noin smiled. \"We just sent a young man in your direction whom we have every reason to believe is Number 2.\"
After a moment of silence, Trieze smiled. \"Well,\" he said, \"I see that the southern grace of small talk has yet to find its way into your soul, Noin.\" He chuckled. \"What makes you think he\'s the missing one? And how\'d you find him?\"
Milliardo reached into a pocket and drew out a copy of the photo he\'d taken the day before, when they\'d gone to get beignets. He pressed it up against the screen. \"Look familiar?\" he asked. Then, drawing it away, he continued. \"He also very recently killed Shinigami, the Rock Crusher in the Sonoran-that\'s where he\'s from-and said saur gave him his memories before death, indicating that Shinigami thought he was something special. When he fights, his eyes get slitted and golden, and he can physically hurl a Vegetian through a plate glass window twenty-five feet away. And when I was taking him to get some money, I had a foretelling that I couldn\'t control, which has only happened once before, when I told that Yuy kid that he\'d find Death at our hands, but he\'d thank us for it. Oh, and we didn\'t find him. I think he found us, even though he wasn\'t looking. He stopped to get gas in Lake Charles, and Hilde saw him. They struck up a conversation, and she sent him to us, after watching him defend his little sister from a twisted Vegetian.\"
Treize and Une sat in a state of mild shock. The picture would have been enough to warrant an inquiry, but the rest only further supported the idea.
\"What was it you told him?\" Trieze asked.
The latter sighed, throwing his mind back to capture his exact words. \"I said to him, \'Don\'t worry Duo, you\'ll find an angel who suits you perfectly. Though, it\'ll probably be a little rough at first.\' I had been asking in half-jest if he were interested in Hilde. Apparently she\'s not his type, and he doesn\'t know what is. Then I said that.\" There was another thought filled silence.
Une\'s eyes narrowed. \"He has a family?\" she asked.
Noin nodded. \"When his parents were killed by Shinigami all those years ago, he was adopted by a family of Cliff Hoppers. Apparently, once he\'d attained the memories of Shinigami, he knew he had to head to Chesapeake, and he brought them along. I don\'t think he\'s integrated them yet, I think that only a few things have come to the surface.\"
Trieze frowned. \"How long ago was it?\"
Milliardo and Noin looked at each other, calculating. \"I\'d say about a week and a half,\" Noin said, her husband nodding.
\"And he\'s still sane?\" Trieze knew that most humans wouldn\'t have lasted three days with foreign memories trapped in their psyche.
Noin nodded. \"He seemed pretty fine to us, at least as far as we can judge with a saur-raised. His mother didn\'t seem very concerned, and you know how Cliff Hopper matriarchs can be. He did go to bed with a headache last night, and it was still there when he awoke. He didn\'t tell anyone, but I could tell. It may just be the stress of traveling.\"
Trize shook his head. They all knew that the headaches were an early symptom of memory rejection. \"So, he should be in town tomorrow night?\" he asked.
\"Yes,\" Noin said. \"I\'m sending you all the information we have right now, so you can find him when he arrives, and help him settle in. His mother knows a little, so she may come looking for you, if not tomorrow, then day day after.\"
Une sighed. \"Thank you. Quatre\'s coming in next week, so I think I\'ll introduce the two. They\'re both desert boys, and one smile from Quatre can disarm even the most isolated heart.\"
Milliardo frowned. \"But he was raised and still lives with a family of Rock Crushers. Will he be alright with the fact that his new friend just recently killed one who was essentially \'Of his own kind?\'\"
Une nodded. \"Every Rock Crusher in southern Algeria knows about Shinigami, and I know for a fact that so does he. He will understand, perhaps in some ways better than anyone else. That will be a good thing, because we won\'t be done helping Duo with his new memories by the time Quatre arrives. He\'ll be a big help.\"
Milliardo seemed satisfied.
\"I wonder who we should room him with?\" Trieze wondered aloud.
Une\'s mind flashed back to the spider spinning a web between her two fingers. \"He\'ll be with Heero Yuy.\" This time the silence was more shocked than thoughtful.
\"Oh, he\'ll love that,\" Noin moaned.
Une shrugged. \"It was a spider and her web who told me it would be a good idea. Tell me Noin, have you ever known an idea writ first in silk to ever be bad?\"
The younger woman shook her head. \"No. Though sometimes, there has been. . .turbulence. . .before reaching the good end. He was a little subdued when he was here, I think just due to the stress of loosing his best friend, killing a saur, and leaving his home in less than two weeks. But I could sense underneath a positively . . . bubbly personality. Heero may well kill him. Or at least attempt to.\"
\"Or,\" Une said. \"He may become to Heero what Quatre is to Trowa. That seemed unlikely as well at first, but look at them now-the only time they spend apart is over the summer months when they return to their homes. And even then I\'m sure they\'ve found ways to be in close contact. And then there\'s Wufei, who is himself showing remarkable progress considering, even without a roomate. I think that Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre can keep Heero in line , and maybe even convince him to accept yet another as his friend. Those three are making much better progress than Heero. I think this may be what he needs. And from what you say, Duo can defend himself.\" She sighed. \"What it comes down to is whether it should be Wufei or Heero. At this time I\'m not willing to interrupt Wufei\'s progress, but I am willing to meddle with Heero\'s. That put together with what the spider said seems to point to this decision. Of course it will not be easy, but we never expected that it would be.\" She gave a slight smile up at Trieze. \"Looks like our summer vacation is ending even sooner than we anticipated, love.\"
He gave a slight squeeze to her shoulders in return. \"I think this will be well worth our time.\" He said. \"But enough business for now-calls from the two of you are a rare thing. How is the hotel and music life treating you?\"


Fifty-three hours later Une was silently fuming into a mirror in her office while putting her hair up into two buns. She didn\'t know how they thought they could get away with it. All mixed species families were to be referred immediately to herself and Trieze, and this was written in law. Did they think she wouldn\'t know, wouldn\'t be watching?
She had half her hair up when Trieze walked in. He took one look at his wife and then walked over to the computer, glancing at the screen. Closing his eyes briefly to the incompetence he saw evidenced, he spoke. \"I\'ll call Sally up and have her go with you.\" She turned as she finished with the other bun, and slipped on her glasses. All she said was, \"No one messes with our students.\"
Half an hour later, the Montgomery County Office of Settlement Services got suddenly quiet when the form of Professor Une and Dr. Sally Po stalked into the main waiting room. All the employees were well aware of the professor\'s reputation, and at that moment, not a single one wished to be in the building with her. Not when her gaze was hard enough to chip diamonds, her expression cold enough to bring snow to the tropics, and her mouth curling into that sneer that near dripped with acid.
Her voice was deceptively calm as she addressed the people behind the main desk. \"Under the Multi-Species Settlement Ruling of \'54, it is written that all newly settling families must be processed through the local Office of Settlement Services for the purpose of aiding in the search for housing, employment, health services, and education. With the following exception, which was added in compliance with the Federal Civil Rights Act of \'67, where it is stated that families mixed of human and saur are to be referred immediately to the local State Inter-Species Relations Bureau, a position which in this state has been handed over to the Mount Tabor School for Saurs and Humans. So, can anyone tell me why the human Duo Maxwell and his family were not sent directly to my office, and why he is scheduled for evaluations that are possibly incompatible with his non-human upbringing?\"
The silence spoke volumes about absent superiors and red tape. Not even the fax machines dared to whir while Une stood there, calmly glaring daggers, Sally standing slightly behind, looking like nothing but a cool and distant professional. Only the wall clock continued to tick along, the only proof that time hadn\'t frozen, until a small saur who was sitting in the room stirred.
\"Hey, Mom,\" came a small voice. \"Is Duo in trouble?\"
\"I don\'t think so, dear.\" Came the reply. \"I think a mistake was made concerning your brother and this lady caught it and is now wondering why the mistake happened.\"
Une stepped over. \"That is exactly what is going on,\" she said, addressing the family of saurs she found. Turning to the eldest female, she introduced herself. \"I\'m Professor Une from the Mt. Tabor School for Saurs and Humans. We take special interest in mixed species families like yours.\"
Mom rose from her seat, recognizing both the name of the school and the woman from the card Noin had given her.
\"I am Heren, mother of six and one,\" she replied. \"I have heard of your school. It has an excellent reputation.\"
Une nodded in acknowledgement. \"Might I inquire as to how your son, Duo, is feeling?\"
Mom cocked her head. \"He\'s fine, except for the headaches. For the past few days his head has been hurting worse and worse. Last night when we came in he couldn\'t eat, and I\'m pretty sure he didn\'t sleep well at all last night. This morning he was able to drive us here, but his jaw was clenched the entire time.\"
She stopped as Sally hissed. All patience lost at this point, the doctor\'s eyes lit up like a jack-o-lantern. Pointing to a scurrying worker, she spoke for the first time. \"You will take me to see Duo Maxwell, right now.\"