A Girl Named Xero
Chapter 4
A storm raged on overhead as she tried to force herself to sleep. The pitch-black night surrounded, choking every pleasant dream that tried to come to her. Restless and frightened Xero reached out into the darkness and called his name. "Trowa?"
"What is it mon belle? Trowa's thick voice penetrated the dark and eased her fears. He took her outstretched hand and led her blindly to his cot.
"Can the storm hurt us in here? Could the lightning hit the barn and burn us up? Maybe an old wooden structure like this wasn't the best choice." She lay down next to him waiting for his response. He chuckled and the deep happy sound seemed to chase the bad things away.
"It could," he was never one to lie to her, " but if it did you would be just fine. You would heal up in no time. I on the other hand would not have such luck." Trowa wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him trying to comfort and warm her at the same time. It had to be at least 10 degrees below 0 outside. They had been trapped here waiting out the small invasion that was going on in a nearby village, yet she never complained, only sought out his comfort every once in a while.
"That's not a very nice thing to say," Xero pouted, " What would I do without my dearest friend? You are the only one who is even aware that I exist. You're all I have Trowa I don't know what I would do if something happened to you." The thought truly troubled her. Silent tears began to well in her eyes.
"Don't worry, I already have something set up for you if that happens." Trowa turned Xero towards him. "Are you crying? Xero…please don't cry over me." He wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled her against his chest so that he was cradling her in his arms. "Shhhh, don't cry. J'taime mon belle, J'taime." He whispered these words and buried his face in her hair. The scent of cherry blossoms invaded his senses, her favorite fragrance, and he wished more than ever he could be more to her than a friend and bodyguard.
"Trowa," she sniffled trying to pull back the tears. "You know I can't understand you when you speak French. It's not fair. What does that mean, what you just said?" His deep chuckle filled her ear as he ran his fingers through her long hair.
"Maybe you should learn French and then you would know." He teased. Trowa continued to stroke her hair until she fell asleep. When he was sure she was deeply under he whispered into her ear, "It means I love you my beauty."
:
Xero awoke with a start in the soft four poster bed she was occupying during her stay in the Cinq Kingdom. What had she been dreaming? She couldn't remember. The dream had become fog in her brain already. Swinging her feet off the side of the oversized bed she walked to a closet that temporarily held her clothes. Quatre had to buy her a new wardrobe once they realized their stay in the Cinq Kingdom would be longer than expected. Xero had no other clothes than the ones she had when she traveled with Trowa and those would not be appropriate for the society she was dealing with at the moment. Quatre was happy to give her something she really needed, and loved to see what new outfit she wore everyday. She stepped into a pretty green dress and matching heels. The dress had a scooped neckline and showed off her beautiful curves. Her favorite part about it was that it displayed Trowa's necklace perfectly. The small crescent dangled just above her prominent cleavage drawing the gaze of all whom saw her.
It had been another month since Trowa's disappearance and the search parties had stopped searching. She refused to wear black, as it would mean she had acknowledged he really was dead. No, she insisted on wearing the colors he had enjoyed seeing her in the most. However things seemed final and Quatre was becoming more instant. Xero tried her best to make a show for the public and be very affectionate with him. However, she avoided being alone with him as much as possible. She knew she was starting to fall for him, but she was not ready to let go of her hope that Trowa would return.
There was an urgent knock at the door. Perplexed why someone should need her so speedily she stepped towards the door. As soon as she opened it a frantic Quatre rushed in and started collecting Xero's things in a suitcase. "We have to leave as soon as possible," Quatre told her. "Something has come up and we are no longer safe here. Heero wants you to go with him so he can hide you for awhile. It seems Dorothy was on to us. She and Miss Relena have left for a meeting with the Romefeller Foundation. I know she is going to mention something about you while she is there."
"Quatre slow down! What does she think she knows?" She grabbed his arm as he went for the closet. He stopped for a moment what he was doing to look down at her. There was fear in his eyes.
"I think she suspects you are Isabelle Barton. I don't believe she knows anymore than that, but we still need to get you out of here. Heero is waiting for you in a ground transport we acquired. Dorothy won't notice you're gone if we go now." He paused for a moment clearly frustrated at the bad news. "Damn!" He yelled and slammed his fist on the door of the closet. This behavior was very unusual for Quatre and Xero was truly worried for him. She had never seen Quatre this upset and tried to comfort him by placing a hand on his shoulder. Without warning, he turned and wrapped her up in his arms and held her there. "Please come with me instead Xero. I can protect you just as well as Heero."
"They'll be watching you Quatre. I have known ties to you. This whole thing started because Dorothy suspected our engagement was fake. Maybe that was a bad cover."
"Then let's get married! If we're married it will discourage Dorothy and maybe she will leave us alone."
"Quatre…"
"I'm serious! Please Xero, let me be the one to protect you." The expression on his face broke Xero's heart. He could get her to agree to just about anything with that face.
"I'll go with you, but we will discuss the marriage part of the deal on the way to where ever we are going. I'm not rushing into anything" She had caved. Quatre's eyes lit up with happiness and he stooped to kiss her. He halted a few centimeters from her lips waiting for her permission. They had reached this point many times and each time Xero had denied Quatre and herself what they both wanted. Trowa would want you to be happy, a little voice echoed in her head. She closed the distance between them by lifting her lips to his and circling her arms around his neck. His arms tightened around her waist overjoyed by her response. His soft but firm lips guided her into the kiss starting slowly and gently at first, but becoming greedier by the second. He moved his hand to the small of her back pulling her closer. Quatre was turning out to be a very experienced kisser, how she was curious to know, but at the moment nothing mattered. It felt so wonderful and so right. Xero had imagined what it would be like to kiss Quatre, but she had never foreseen how much she would feel and how passionate he would be. He slowed, becoming softer and with a last feather light brush of his lips, he pulled away leaving her awestruck.
"Come on, we have to get you out of here." He was grinning from ear to ear. "We will have more time later once we are safe and sound back in the mansion." Quatre quickly finished getting her things together. Quickly, he escorted her out of the room and onto the plane that was waiting to take them home.
:
The flight was long and tiring. It really didn't help that Quatre was begging her to agree to marry him. He insisted it was the best way to defuse Dorothy's suspicions. She had to agree that he was probably right, but she really wasn't sure about how she felt about marrying someone so soon after losing her first love. Her heart still ached when she thought about never being able to see him again. What would he think about her if she became Quatre's wife? She was so deep in thought that she barely noticed the light touch. She broke away from thoughts and found Quatre holding her hand.
"Xero, please don't do anything you don't want to. I was just trying to think of a way to keep you safe." His sad eyes looked into hers hoping to find acceptance, but only found uncertainty.
"Quatre," Xero sighed and turned in her seat towards him, " I just…" she wasn't quite sure how to explain it to him. ""I just lost my best friend in the whole world. The search has been ended and now I have to learn how to accept that he is gone forever."
"I understand, he was all you had for a very long time. You don't have to give me an answer now. Just think about it." He looked at her for a moment, only the purest love in his eyes. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and held her hand until the plane slowed and stopped. The two exited the craft leaving their things for Quatre's servants to bring in. Xero never really liked the idea of servants. She could do things for herself and wasn't too keen on having someone else doing them for her. However, this was the way of things in Quatre's world and she had to conform.
As they walked into the huge entrance way that lead into a wide marble floored parlor, a familiar voice alerted them of another person's presence. " Well it took you long enough." A tall braided man stood from the chair where he had been lounging and turned to greet them. Xero released Quatre's hand and ran to him.
"Duo!" Xero hadn't seen her favorite jokester in a very long time. The pilot's missions had divided them all. Duo caught her up in his arms and twirled her around. A genuinely happy smile could be seen on his face. With one last spin he set her down on her feet and took a step back surveying for any damage.
"You look ok babe, but Heero tells me you have some odd news to share. He would have told me himself, but we weren't on a secure line." Xero inhaled deeply preparing for the long explanation and motioned for him to take a seat. Duo plopped back into his original chair and Xero sat on a nearby couch with Quatre at her side. She explained to him about the SSE and how as a result of their experiments she was given the ability to heal from severe damage.
"I'm not sure how much damage I can recover from. I haven't exactly put it to the test or anything. I could demonstrate for you Duo, but I'm pretty tired and really don't want to cut myself open again like I did for Quatre and Heero." Duo looked stunned, but quickly recovered.
"So, you can heal? You mean like Supergirl?"
"I guess…"
"Woah…" Duo's eyes glazed over and he seemed to drift into his own thoughts. " I always thought Supergirl was pretty hot." Quatre's face showed a glimpse to anger, but he let it go. He had no claim on Xero, he needed to remember that.
"Duo!" Xero couldn't help but laugh when he said things like that, " I'm being dead serious here. If it wasn't for this ability I wouldn't have to run and hide all the time."
"Sorry babe, couldn't help myself." He gave her a wink. Duo was very attracted to her, but had not intentions of pursing any kind of relationship. It had been very evident to him from the beginning that Quatre had feelings for her and he was in no way going to interfere just to try and fulfill some sexual fantasy. "So, when are you lovebirds gonna tie the knot huh? I hear you got engaged to avoid OZ's attention."
"That's true, unfortunately it did the exact opposite." Quatre sighed. "They are more suspicious of her than ever. I should never have brought her into the public eye." He hung his head feeling ashamed that his selfish wishes to be closer to Xero had caused her to be exposed. He hoped that nothing came of Dorothy's efforts or he would never forgive himself.
"Quatre thinks that if we get married for real they'd leave us alone. It would get rid of any suspicions they had about our engagement being just for show." Xero explained.
"Wow," Duo was blown away, "That's a pretty big decision there. I'd have to agree with Quatre, but then you'd be stuck with him for life. Not that it would be bad or anything," he tried to recover not wanting to upset Quatre. He knew it would mean the world to his friend to marry Xero, but he knew it would only end in sadness if she weren't doing it for the right reasons.
"And that's why I've left the decision up to Xero," Quatre explained. "I don't want to put any pressure on her to do something that she would later regret. I've made my feelings pretty clear over the past month we just spent in the Cinq Kingdom, but I want her to be true to herself." Quatre said all of this with as much strength as he could. He didn't want to be selfish, but he wished she would give him an answer.
Xero felt a little embarrassed being the one whose feelings were undeclared. She wished so badly that she could give Quatre her whole heart. A good deal of it belonged to him already, but a large chunk that was still bruised and broken belonged to Trowa. "I'm sorry you guys, but I'm really tired. Do you mind if I head to bed?" Xero just wanted to get into her pajamas and go to sleep. The day's events had drained her almost completely.
"Of course," Quatre replied. "I'll walk you upstairs. Duo you're welcome to whichever of the guest bedrooms you'd like." He stood up offering his hand to Xero. She followed suit taking his hand, said goodnight to Duo and headed upstairs with Quatre. When they reached the door to her room, Quatre turned Xero towards him and deeply sighed. "It was such a long and stressful day today that I didn't get to tell you how beautiful you look."
"Thank you." It was Xero's turn to blush this time. She really couldn't think of an instance when anyone other than Trowa or Catherine had told her she was pretty, much less beautiful. She reached up to grab her necklace, something she did when she was nervous or scared. The glint of the necklace caught Quatre's eye. Xero had to keep herself from jumping when he reached and lightly picked up the crescent charm so close to her breasts. "This is a beautiful necklace. Where did you get it?" He asked with a smile.
"Trowa gave it to me for my eighteenth birthday, just before I met all of you." The memory made Xero smile softly.
"When is your birthday? I can't believe I don't know that about you yet." Quatre asked eager to know her better.
"Well, I don't really know when my birthday is," she explained, "but I chose the day that Trowa saved my life. March 14th " She had still not given Quatre the details of where and how she and Trowa had met. Heero of course had demanded them all up front and she told him all he needed to know, however she had left Quatre out of the conversation. Xero wanted to tell him the stories slowly. She was sure she would eventually choose to spend her life with him, but she didn't want him to know all the gruesome details of her past yet. She was afraid she would lose him too if he found out the life she had lived before
"He saved your life?" He seemed concerned that a situation that could have killed her had occurred. "So your healing power isn't completely fool proof then?"
"No it's not. There are very few things that could kill me, but they are there none the less." In a rush to change the subject she squeezed his hand and said, " I'm so glad we're back. This day has really worn me out."
"Good try," Quatre said with an amused smile. "You will be telling me more later. I want to know you Xero. Please don't hide yourself from me." His eyes became serious and sad, but he did not press her any longer. He lifted his hand and brushed her lovely auburn hair back from her face. "Goodnight love." He kissed her softly and left her to rest.
Xero entered the room and felt a rush of dizziness. She tried to shake it off and changed into some pajamas with comfy shorts and a thin strapped tank. Quatre, I want to tell you that I'm falling in love with you. I'm just scared of letting Trowa go. She thought. Making her way towards the bed, she stumbled. The room swam in front of her and suddenly things became foggy. What's happening to me? These words floated through her mind before her knees buckled and she crashed to the floor knocking a side table and a vase of flowers over in the process. The last thing she remembered was the sting of glass from the vase cutting into the side of her head and hot red blood seeping from her body.
