SWORD AND SHEATH
1: ANGELS ON EARTH CAN HURT JUST AS MUCH
-a TC fic
Kattyena tapped her pen against her teeth and stared at the overhead's
projection. "The square root of 25 is 5, so thus the factor of the binomial
would be..." As the teacher went into more and more detail, Kattyena became more
and more bored. It was only the start of the period and she was already as
anxious as hell to be out of the class. Suddenly there was a knock on the port-
holed ship-themed door. A student got up to open it. Kattyena barely raised
her head from the desk. Which was a good thing, since then her jaw didn't have
very far to drop when she saw the boy who walked through that door. His
platinum gold hair framed an angelic face like no other Kattyena had ever seen.
His brilliant blue eyes sparkled with a gentle light, much like sunlight on a
forest, as he greeted the teacher and was introduced to the students. "Class
this is Quatre Raberba Winner, he's an exchange student from Japan and will be
staying with us for a short while. Oh and don't worry, he speaks perfect
English." The boy, Quatre, smiled warmly at the class, his manner shy yet
friendly. As his eyes swept the class, they locked briefly with Kattyena's deep
hazel ones. Kattyena felt a blush rising to her cheeks and quickly looked away.
When she looked back, Quatre was being shown to a seat on the other side of the
room, much to Kattyena's disappointment. His easygoing manner made him hard to
dislike and he quickly became the centre of attention, much to the teacher's
amusement, luckily she had finished teaching before the new student had arrived.
Several of the more popular girls in the school, attempted to flirt with Quatre,
only to meet with the friendliness expressed to everyone else and not a tad
more. Somehow though, this not quite rebuke seemed to cause them to try even
harder. However, every time they found themselves going nowhere, and yet not
offended in the least. So the class continued, with Quatre politely refusing
the onslaughts of the [female sheep] cliquish girls, and Kattyena, drooling from
afar. All this changed though, after the bell rang twice. In fourth period
science, the teacher assigned Kattyena to show Quatre around the school, since
he was already familiar with the Science Lab they were doing and Kattyena could
make it up after school. So the pair started off, Kattyena muttering slightly,
but maintaining some polite small talk, and Quatre responding in kind. [Little
did she realize that Quatre was just as shy as she was!] Both blushing
furiously whenever their eyes locked. [But since they looked in opposite
directions immediately after of course, neither saw the other blush!!] She had
shown him around one wing of the school and was starting on the other when an
insistent beeping startled them both. Quatre looked down at the small pager
affixed to his waistband, glancing at it quickly before moving to block
Kattyena's view of it with his body. He smiled wistfully and excused himself,
looking gravely into Kattyena's eyes as he asked her to lie for him. Kattyena
watched him go with a curious expression, what could the pager possibly have
said? Where was Quatre off to? She quickly squashed her desire to find out and
headed back to class, her ingenious mind already preparing a suitable excuse.
"Rashid that was unacceptable!" The angelic boy paced the small room in a
rare show of anger. "I was forced to ask an uninvolved innocent to lie for me!"
The bearded man bowed his head in consent.
"I'm sorry Master Quatre, but this was urgent, we just received word that
some OZ troops followed us and are headed in the direction of the school. They
will arrive here in under half an hour." Quatre froze then sighed.
"Thank you Rashid, I'm sorry I got angry, but I don't like involving
unnecessary people in my battles. I just wish OZ would choose more honourable
battlegrounds. Is there any chance of intercepting them before they get here?"
The young boy ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair. The older man lowered
his head briefly.
"No Master Quatre, not if you plan on defending the school. Considering
the time needed to retrieve your Sandrock, you will have to fight them here.
Quatre sighed again tiredly.
"Alright then, let's go get Sandrock."
Kattyena adjusted the focus on the microscope, bringing the sample into
view. "Whoa, active little things aren't they?" She said to no one in
particular. The single-celled organisms zipped around the microscope's field of
view enthusiastically, much to Kattyena's annoyance. How was she supposed to
observe the damned things if they kept moving? As she adjusted the focus again,
Kattyena realized there were some very odd noises coming from outside.
Crunching metal, shattering glass and car alarms. After pausing for a minute,
Kattyena gave in to her more apathetic side and decided it was none of her
business. That was until the noises started getting closer. As the tearing and
rending of metal screeched somewhere much too close for comfort, Kattyena froze.
Anticipating a surprise as she was, Kattyena was still unprepared for the sight
that met her eyes. A huge robot crashed through the side of the lab, tearing
away most of the wall and parting the floor before it before coming to rest near
the fume hoods. Subsequently, the large hole in the wall provided Kattyena with
a panoramic view of the ruined 'shop below, and a second humanoid robot
advancing on the damaged one. The aggressor was much more elegant than the
damaged robot. He, for the robot had a distinctly male look to it, had broad
shoulders tipped with what looked like fledgling wings, a head resembling a
samurai helmet, and charcoal, crimson, yellow and white armour all over his
metal form. Altogether beautiful, in a massive and threatening way. Kattyena
felt a spark of something as she looked into the glowing green "eyes" of the
mechanical samurai, but it was there and gone again in an instant. The damaged
one, a rather sickly green colour, had vaguely cylindrical head, plain, blocky,
joints and only a large, red, square where it's eyes should be. Kattyena had no
affinity to this one whatsoever, actually she thought it was pretty ugly. As if
hearing her thought, it shifted before raising its cannon for a shot at the
advancing enemy. However the armoured warrior didn't even give it time to bring
him into its sights as he drew two curved white swords and sliced them downwards
through the chest of the floundering green robot. The resulting explosion was
smaller than it might have been, but still large enough to disintegrate the
floor under Kattyena and hurl her into the air. Time almost seemed to stop as
she flew upwards before, her own scream echoing in her ears, she plummeted
downwards. The world stretched and distorted as she saw a giant, grey, hand
reach out towards her, and suddenly she was landing on it. She skidded and
bounced along the smooth surface, almost falling off the edge before the robot
cupped its hand, trapping her safely inside. Greyness fuzzed at the edge of her
vision as she curled up in the palm of her saviour, only the rocking of the
giant hand telling her that they were moving. The closed hand blocked out most
of the remaining sunlight and created a sort of shifting dusk whose shadows
played with her mind before she drifted into unconsciousness.
"Master Quatre! What are you doing?" A tanned man wearing small round
sunglasses ran out onto the cracked, mossy asphalt. "Who is this?" He continued
to demand answers as the tired pilot descended from the hatch of Kattyena's
"metal samurai", which was actually the mobile suit Gundam Sandrock. Quatre
leaned slightly against the scarred white armour of his machine's leg for a
moment, unconscious girl in his arms, before he smiled ruefully at his
distressed servant.
"I'm sorry Abdul but I couldn't just leave her there. Rashid's not going
to be very happy about this is he?" The lithe man slowed to walk beside Quatre,
who was striding towards a large run-down warehouse.
"No Master Quatre." He said rather wryly. "Rashid is never happy when you
let your kindness endanger you." He looked down at the still form in Quatre's
arms. "Though I have to admit, she doesn't look very dangerous. Nor does she
look very injured, don't tell me you brought her here because she's pretty,
Master Quatre." The servant turned a teasingly sceptical eye on his young
master.
"No Abdul," Quatre tried to keep from blushing and failed. " The truth is
she was hit by the explosion from one of the Leo suits I destroyed. Maybe it's
only scrapes and burns, but I have to be sure."
Abdul nodded and fell into step behind him quietly. Quatre carried Kattyena
inside and down a hallway until he reached a battered-looking freight elevator.
They stepped inside and Abdul pressed the lowest of three buttons, taking them
down to a previously non-existent level of the warehouse. When they stepped out
of the elevator into the hallway, there was a remarkable change in atmosphere.
All the dirtiness and shabbiness was gone, replaced by newer, sturdier materials
and pristine cleanliness. At the end of the hall was a thick metal door. Abdul
stepped in front of Quatre to knock. Three precise raps on the smooth material
made a surprisingly loud noise and the door was quickly opened. Behind it was a
beehive of activity. Men in what Quatre recognized to be standard Magnamac
uniforms bustled to and fro, guiding his Sandrock into the high-tech hanger
concealed beneath the dirty shell of a warehouse. "So this is our local
concealed base?" Quatre asked Abdul. The man only nodded, any words he spoke
unlikely to be heard by the young boy as a large engine had started up somewhere
and was causing a copious amount of noise. When it stopped, he expanded on the
nod.
"I guess you were kind of in a hurry the first time you were here Master
Quatre, so you didn't have a good look around. This is one of our most
concealed locations yet. Since there is plenty of little-used waterfront
storage in this town, it was not hard to quietly purchase a warehouse and move
our supplies here. However, constructing this hanger was slightly more
difficult. This whole town is composed of wetlands, and thus anything normally
built underground would flood. This hanger and underground complex is a sealed
network of tunnels, vents, and hidden exits and entrances. I wish OZ had picked
somewhere where basements were easier to construct. Anyway, we are posing as a
small swamp-fishing company, and this is where we make repairs to our boats and
package the fish for transport. If anyone ever thought to check, they would
find a perfectly normal operation on the surface, and due to our location,"
Abdul made a face at this. "No one would ever suspect an underground facility."
They had reached the opposite side of the hanger, where several other doors led
off into different parts of the complex. Abdul opened one of them, and led
Quatre to the small infirmary behind it. There he stopped, and bowing to
Quatre, he left, saying he was going to inform Rashid of Quatre's arrival. That
left only Quatre to lean against the wall while the doctor looked over Kattyena.
Finally, after much prodding, poking, and muttering, the doctor stood up and
looked at Quatre gravely over his spectacles.
"Well, there isn't any internal bleeding, but her ribs are extremely
bruised on one side and one or two may be fractured. However those are nothing
to worry about, and neither are her scrapes and burns, those can be easily
dressed and will heal quickly. We'll have to wait until she wakes up to see if
there's any head trauma, I can't be sure from a purely physical examination. It
was good of you to bring her in Master Quatre, but what about you, are you
injured?"
"No, I'm just tired, what are you going to do with her?" Quatre raised his
head to eye the doctor levelly.
"Well, since I don't think you would allow me to do anything else, I
suppose she can be housed in one of the beds here until she wakes up. Why don't
you go and get some rest while I dress her wounds, I'll send for you when she
wakes up." The doctor looked up at Quatre from writing on a clipboard.
"No, if it's okay I'd like to stay here until she wakes up." Quatre
stated. The doctor sighed. There was something about this particular rescue.
He had a feeling Master Quatre wouldn't want to leave until he was sure she was
all right, so he dressed the girl's wounds and left her sleeping in one of the
beds in the deserted infirmary. As he had assumed, Quatre took up a bedside
vigil. When the doctor left he was still there, watching the girl sleep and
seemingly lost in his own thoughts. One hand abstractly stroking stray strands
of honey brown hair off her pale face.
Kattyena didn't know where she was, but her head hurt and she felt the
sting of many minor cuts and bruises along her torso and limbs. She was lying
in a soft bed between clean sheets, and there was a comforting hand cupping her
cheek. Slowly opening her eyes, Kattyena saw what looked like the room of a
deserted hospital facility of some sort. Four other beds were in her room,
empty with their curtains tucked neatly away. Overall the air had a canned
smell, kind of metallic and antiseptic, however it was pleasantly overlaid by
another softer scent. The hand on her cheek had fallen away, and when Kattyena
turned, she realized that it was not a family member as she had assumed, but the
golden haired boy from her classes. She felt her heart go out to him as she saw
that he was fast asleep. Head and shoulders leaning on her bed, the rest of him
slumped in a chair pulled up to her bedside. A few silky locks fluttered as he
breathed deeply. Kattyena's hand went out almost of it's own will, and she
tucked the stray hair behind his ear. How anyone could have such a beautiful
colour of hair was beyond her. Sure she often fell for blondes, but Quatre's
hair was different than any other she had seen. So soft, it almost seemed
translucent in its ability to capture the sunlight, and ethereal in retaining
its rich platinum gold colouring. As she stared at the angelic face in front of
her, he mind began to shake off its cloak of sleepy muzziness. Kattyena began
to wonder why the angel was sleeping with his head on her bed and why she was in
a hospital in the first place. However at her first sign of movement, the young
man's shaded blue eyes snapped open and locked with hers, a radiant smile
springing to his face at the sight
"I'm so glad you're awake, how do you feel?" he asked her kindly as he sat
up.
"Like hell." Kattyena replied before she could stop herself.
"I'm not surprised, but I am impressed by your honesty." Quatre's smile
turned mischievous and Kattyena flushed. He got up to go. "I'm going to go get
the doctor okay? He'll want to know you're awake."
"Well I'm glad to say there's no psychological damage, but one of your
ribs is cracked. I advise you stay here for the next couple of days and
recuperate. After that we can release you to a normal hospital, okay?" The
doctor looked at Kattyena. She nodded and the doctor patted her shoulder
reassuringly. "For now I think you should go back to bed and rest." Kattyena
complied, wishing that Quatre could stay with her, it was kind of lonely in that
room, even with the entertainment they supplied. So she spent the rest of the
day sleeping, utilising the entertainment facilities, and being bored. With
suppertime came a welcome surprise and interruption of her monotonous day.
Quatre pranced into the room carrying a tray with what was definitely not
hospital food on it. He sidled up to the bed and put it on her lap, beaming
when he saw the surprise and delight etched on her face.
"Surprise! Oops, I better be quiet, I don't know whether the doctor would
approve of you eating the non-supplemental, recuperatory-diet-interrupting foods
I brought you." Quatre held a finger to his lips in a comical display of
secrecy.
"Well be comforted by the fact that I approve." Kattyena smiled
gratefully. Quatre bowed slightly and she giggled. "What's got you in such a
good mood?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Having a patient to care for I guess," A momentary shadow fell over
Quatre's eyes "I destroy so much, I like feeling like I'm healing something."
He looked down. "Sorry."
"No, I'm sorry I asked." Kattyena ignored the oddness of the statement and
took Quatre's hand. "I really am grateful, I mean I always thought TC was crazy,
hating my banana puddings, but now I finally understand and share her passionate
hate for the things. (Umm ignore that...) How about we share this hmm?" Quatre
looked at her.
"But it's for you." He stated hesitantly.
"Yeah I know, but I'm so lonely being here all by myself and you look
kinda hungry. Besides, I'm not sure I should eat all this, I might end up like
Fruitmajoot (don't ask...)." Kattyena made a face. Quatre laughed.
"I always told her she'd get fat from eating all that junk food. (I.e.
TC'S HOMEMADE COOKIES!! ) and fasting the rest of the time...it's unhealthy!"
Kattyena snickered and shook her head. "Well off that pleasant topic, let's
eat, shall we?" Kattyena looked at Quatre.
"I thought you'd never ask." Quatre smiled back. They ate through the
supper in no time, and yet Quatre didn't leave after it was finished. He stayed
at Kattyena's bedside talking happily to her until they both fell asleep, in
almost the exact same positions as the night before. Quatre rested well that
night. Having another person his age that understood him so well and was
willing to talk was amazing to him, not to mention majorly therapeutic. The
only times his sleep was interrupted was when he dreamt strange things about
speedwell and a girl with honey-brown hair and hazel eyes.
The next morning Quatre left the infirmary whistling happily to himself.
He had a very un-Quatre-like thought about "accidentally" breaking another one
of Kattyena's ribs, just so she could stay longer. However that thought was
quickly, and a little guiltily, pushed aside. He felt incredibly relaxed around
her, well not exactly, but relaxed as in he didn't feel as if he had to keep his
guard up all the time. For the first time last night he had slept without
nightmares, in fact, he hadn't dreamt at all. (Suuuree you didn't...) But
being around Kattyena was also very strange for him. He got odd flutterings in
the pit of his stomach and blushed easily. It wasn't unpleasant, just strange.
Oh he knew what it was all right, but accepted the fact that she would never
want a Gundam pilot with such bloodstained hands, and quashed the feelings
uncharacteristically viciously every time they arose. Still whistling, Quatre
entered the briefing room. Rashid looked up at his entrance. "You look happy
this morning Master Quatre," he commented grimacing. "I'm sorry I have to spoil
it with my news. Take a look at this please." Quatre looked.
"A map of our current location?" He blinked.
"Now look at the rest of the transmission we intercepted from OZ." Text
rolled up the screen.
"Kuso." Quatre swore quietly. "That's a lot of mobile suits. Are you
sure of this?"
"Yes Master Quatre," Rashid nodded grimly. "That's why we set up a base
here. We've known for some time that OZ was building its forces here."
"But we never suspected it would be this..." Quatre was still staring
numbly at the message. Suddenly his face took on a determined look. "I must
keep OZ from getting those troops to outer space." He said. "Whatever I do I
won't give up. Rashid, I'm sorry to be so morbid but I think I had better
record a few messages." The bear-like man conceded, knowing that with that many
enemy mobile suits, it was a good precaution to take.
"I'll get the camcorder."
Kattyena repeated her previous day at the infirmary, amusing herself,
sleeping and gagging down banana pudding. [Curses and death...] However today
she mulled over Quatre's strange behaviour that morning. He had come in rather
sombrely, saying he was off on a mission and he might be late for supper, then
he had spontaneously hugged her. It was a fierce embrace, not a light hug, and
twinged her rib. Then he had left without another word. It was definitely odd,
but Kattyena still looked forward to their dinner together. His company was so
enjoyable, she wished she could stay longer, however she wasn't sure she could
manage to break another rib. After all it was really that giant explosion that
had broken the first one. Quatre had explained how he had been coming back to
pick up work from the teacher when he saw the explosion and ran to help. She
still wasn't particularly sure what was going on, but Quatre had said they were
keeping both of them here for a short while as a sort of witness protection
program. She was watching a particularly boring TV program about teen boot
camps, when one of the servants came and summoned her. Slightly stiff, she
followed him, rather perplexed. When they finally reached their destination
after wandering through a maze of corridors and big empty rooms, the first thing
she saw was a big man with sideburns was standing by a screen. He looked grim,
and a wetness that might have been tears shone in his eyes.
"Hello Kattyena, my name is Rashid." He said as she walked into the room.
"Umm hello." Kattyena responded nervously. Quatre had talked of a man
named Rashid, he had said all good things, but she was still a little nervous.
Rashid looked at her guageingly for a moment, then began to read of the screen
before him.
"As of 13:00 hours today, Quatre Raberba Winner was killed by the self-
destruction of his mobile suit in the battle against OZ. An ally has retrieved
the body and the appropriate funeral functions are being arranged. He was a
great pilot and an even better friend. I don't know what the Gundams will do
without him. Transmitted from Gundam 03, pilot: Trowa Barton." Rashid looked
up to see a bewildered Kattyena.
"What? Gundams? Battles? I- I don't understand!" Kattyena's voice was
unnaturally high and she was looking around wildly. "What's going on? Where's
Quatre?" She stopped and stood still as Rashid handed her a videotape.
"This should explain everything. Master Quatre told me to give this to
you if he didn't make it back." Kattyena took the tape with shaking hands.
Staring at it for a moment before collapsing to her knees, all the confusion was
washed away, leaving behind only cold realization. She sobbed brokenly, unable
to stop now that her tears had been released. Quatre was dead.
-OWARI-
(End) Part 1
Author's Note(s)/Personal Disclaimers/Rambling: All original characters in this
story are completely fictional and if they bear any resemblance to real life
people it's not my fault...hehe who am I kidding? I wrote this fic for a friend
^^ sorry if I stuck some RL people in here...I suppose it's my first "real"
fic...and the one that's closest to being "finished" ^^;; ...unfortunately I
have no idea how this will read to someone who doesn't know me or
"Kattyena"...or Fruitmajoot for that matter...so feel free to tell me that it
sucks...or that you don't understand...but it'd be nice if you included some
reasons too...and yeah the "Sword/sheath" thing is from RK but I only borrowed
the concept. If a standard disclaimer is needed for that, place it here -- (
) sorry...my friend uploaded something...I decided it was time I got my butt in
gear, so I did the "mimicry is the finest form of flattery" thing and uploaded
something too...V.V too bad I didn't have much to upload...oh and there might be
some conversational Japanese stuffed in here somewhere...O.o;; But you should
get the context...well I think that's all...weird author's notes ne?
Disclaimer(s): I don't own Gundam Wing or the characters and stuff I used from
it...I'm not making money from this, I did it purely for fun...so don't sue
me...I do own my own characters though...and my plotlines...my stuff...O.o;; I'm
making a mess of this aren't I? Well all the standard disclaimers and stuff I
forgot...