Warnings: Reference to child abuse
A/N: As I'm sure you've noticed, updates are steadily getting slower. And I'm guessing they will continue to do so, at least for the near future. Uni is not easy, people! Seriously though, I do have a lot of work on at the moment which obviously takes priority over writing and updating – however that said, I am not going to stop updating, still got lots to say on this boyo – but I thought you had better have some warning.
Glad you all enjoyed the last chapter so much – lots of relief all round! Thanks for all your lovely reviews and sorry if this chapter is a little…meh.
The Tribulations of Peace
By Corralero
"It was a time of confusion, of uncertainty. A time of selfishness, a time when we forgot each other for a while and were lost in our own petty worlds. Then the sun seemed to rise again and the light came back in. The reality snapped into place and we had a function in the world once more. I have never felt so sad yet held such joy, not been so certain upon such a crooked, unsure path."
(Reflections by Wufei Chang. Unpublished, written not long before his death.)
Chapter Ten
The Outsider's Perspective
It was mere chance really that took him by that precise route today. He had been down at the school's rockery, examining some plants that he was considering using for an experiment, wondering exactly how much he would have to sweeten the groundkeeper with to get his hands on them. On the way back towards his classroom he was struck by the sudden cravings for coffee. He dithered for a moment then gave in, turning and heading by a more unusual route to the staff room. He rounded a corner, humming idly to himself and then stopped short at the sight of a student, Heero Yuy, standing squarely in the middle of the corridor. It wasn't exactly the sight of a mere pupil that arrested his movements so suddenly but rather the intensity and presence that suddenly radiated off the strongly built figure. The boy's face was stolid, serious, focused.
"I need you to come with me, sir."
It wasn't a request, it was a command, level and quietly said yet with such ironclad certainly and decision that he obeyed, just like that, all questions flying unsaid from his mind. And he found himself following Yuy down the corridor towards the small door that led to the attic, which was normally kept locked by the Janitor. They went in.
The place was half lit by the harsh strips of neon lights, creating sharp shadows ricocheting around the small hall well and there, seated on the bottom step, huddled a slim battered figure, leaning into the handrails for support. Mr Locks had that sudden sickening sensation in his gut, as though he had missed a step going downstairs, and instinctively knew this was no playground bully scenario. He turned away, mouth open in question, to find Heero looking directly at him.
"It was his foster carer, Mr Mallinson." Heero answered the unspoken question concisely but the anger was clear in his hard eyes. "Last night. He needs to get to the medical room, sir."
Mr Locks nodded in response to the statement and to the unspoken request to take over the situation then moved forward to kneel slowly down in front of the rebellious braided boy who had been missing from his class this morning. Large violet eyes flickered open warily as handsome features tightened in pain. He looked suspiciously at the teacher, eyes flickering to his friend for reassurance.
"Hey, Duo." He spoke quietly and calmly as the suspicious retreated slightly and a hoarse voice returned "'lo, sir." Mr Locks smiled faintly.
"If you can handle it, Duo, we're going to need you to stand up so we can get you to the nurse and maybe hospital. That way we can get you feeling more comfortable, ok?"
He saw emotions flicker across the boy's battered face –uncertainly, fear, worry – as he began to ask "Wha' 'bout…" He trailed off.
"Don't you worry about anything else for the moment, huh, Duo? There'll be plenty of time for all that once you're feeling a bit better. Now how about we get you upright?"
Slowly Duo nodded and Mr Locks made to move forward, but Heero beat him to it with a low warning. "Don't touch his back." Using Duo's arms, they helped him upright as he groaned softly in pain. He was much stronger than Mr Locks had expected. He had been in resigned dread over bringing an ambulance in straight away but instead they were able to support Duo the whole way to the medical room.
The medical room was bright and white, a world away from the dingy stairs, with colourful posters loudly warning occupants over the dangers of drugs, emergency procedures during bombings and Gundam attacks. They would have to take them down soon, Mr Locks mused as he helped Duo on to the spare hospital bed, after all there was hopefully no danger left now the war was finally over. Beside, he never understood the purpose of the Gundam poster in the first place. From what he could see, the pilots had always attempted to limit their attacks on military targets, but then he wasn't a government official, only a biology teacher – what did he know? He pulled his thoughts back on track as the nurse hurried over, briefly explaining the situation to her and leaving Duo in her hands. Then he turned to Heero, face serious.
"In a moment, I'll have to go and speak to the headmistress and contact Social Services-" He was cut off much to his surprise by both Heero and Duo, their replies loud and clear, urgent.
"No."
He blinked in surprise then recovering himself addressed Duo, who had twisted away from the nurse, looking both mutinous and alarmed.
"Duo, I'm afraid I cannot keep this to myself and neither can the nurse. It is our duty to you to report this, but I promise you I wont let anyone else know."
"We understand this." Heero cut across calmly "And we do not wish to obstruct your responsibilities. However, will you first allow Duo to give his testimony before the authorities are alerted?"
Again, as always, these strange boys had caught him off balance. He studied the faces before him but they were shuttered to his eyes, telling him nothing. He sighed. Have you ever taken part in a conversation where you are left feeling that every participant except you knew something more than you did? Held a key to unlock all the mysterious layers of meaning that wafted just out of your reach? Or walked into a room, only to feel as if you have just missed something of vital important, the existence of which everybody else refuses to acknowledge? That slow creeping sense of confusion, suspicion, deep-seated unease? That sense was stealing up upon Mr Locks as he looked between the two students, watching their fleeting exchange of glances of silent flurries of encrypted communication which came to an abrupt end, leaving the silence somehow more deafening than before and he still stood there knowing nothing more that an innate instinct that the puddle into which he had unwittingly splashed into an hour ago was deeper than he had expected. It was a swaying moment of balance and as he deliberated he found himself more and more unwilling to commit himself, to take a chance when the two voices that had called out with such urgency and the two eyes that face him with such care knew so much more of this hidden language than he. He looked back up from his gazing point into the Prussian blue eyes looking into his and held the gaze steadily.
"If you wish." He replied slowly and watched the two relax, ever so slightly, and felt within himself, to his own surprise, the release of air in a sigh of relief that he didn't even know was there.
What was it about the five of them? Trowa silently wondered from his vantage point. What was it that when things went to pot they took the whole kitchen with it? He was skipping class. Had been ever since Quatre received Heero's abrupt message – Target found. – snapping the three of them into action in which he took a giddy, almost guilty, relief. Quatre and Wufei had remained in class. He could just make out Quatre's blond head turning periodically towards Trowa's location, from where the Arab sat in a maths lesson two floors up. Trowa sat on top of the Janitor's bungalow, back against the wall, making use of the cover offered by the shade and rambling climber, keen eyes fixated on the empty road outside the school entrance. It had been half a hour since Heero's message, during which the three pilots had pooled and reassessed all their impressions and information of Mallinson, reconsidering all of Duo's few reactions and comments. Taking the wider scenario into account they had decided there was a high likelihood of Mallinson panicking at Duo's disappearance from his house and judging from his actions over the weekend he clearly wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, thus there was a possibility of Mallinson turning up at Pensby High. A possibility, Wufei had pointed out, that they did not want to miss. The possibility only became stronger once they had taken their own previous reactions into account. Mallinson would perceive an opportunity to talk his way out the situation. So a strategy had been swiftly sketched out, culminating in Trowa's current position, sitting silently on the roof top. Not bad for a five minuet window in between lesson turnover.
Trowa remained motionless as a grey jeep turned the corner, swinging round into view and parking sloppily half on half off the pavement. As the jeep door slammed shut, he spoke clearly and softly into the mobile phone at his mouth.
"He's here."
His gaze flickered sideways to see the blond head dip in acknowledgement as Wufei's hand shot upwards to attract the teacher's attention to his ill Arabian friend. And then he was gone, slipping back into the shadows, moving towards the medical room, his instincts back in control once more.
To Be Continued...