Disclaimer: Gundam Wing doesn't belong to me...at all
Authoresses Note: Sorry kids--its been quite awhile since I've updated! I've never wanted to be one of those ridiculously slow updaters, but apparently I've become one! (oops!)
Anyway, there's only a few more chapters left! Here's chapt. 26! Enjoy
"I know. It's almost over," Alia whispered. Pausing for a moment, she used her trembling hand to lightly push sweaty bangs from a pallid forehead.
Even though it was a comforting gesture, Quatre flinched away from the touch in his unconsciousness. It only added to his tension.
Pulling her hand away, Alia took the chance to take a break for a few moments. She placed her hands on top of her thighs and stole a quick glance around the room. Her father was sitting in the chair under the window. His eyes were quietly watching her—a very focused glint in them. If anything were to go wrong, he would be quick to leap into action. His arms were crossed over his chest and the setting sun behind him was highlighting his wiry red hair into an even brighter red.
She wanted to check on the boys waiting outside, beneath the window, but she knew she had no telepathic energy to waste. Turning her head, she looked back to concentrate again on the boy. At the current moment, his body was tensed up and even though unconscious, his fists were coiled and twisted tightly in the sheets he was lying under. The sweat on his face had trickled down to wet his hair.
"I know this is uncomfortable, but this is the last one," she whispered before once again suspending her hands over his forehead. His face tightened in discomfort, but he didn't move away; couldn't move away.
It took another ten minutes, but finally with a deep breath, she took her hands away from his forehead—leaning close, she gently rubbed his temples to try and bring him some comfort. She was able to see his body noticeably loosening up and his fingers somewhat release from their death grip on his bed coverings.
"It's finished," she stated wearily, directing her statement to her father. Not looking up towards him, she could hear the chair creak as he stood up and felt his presence move closer. His hand landed gently on her shoulder.
"Then you can finally rest. You've been at this for hours. Come with me--time for you to lie down," he requested, yet commanded while putting both hands around her arm. As he helped her up out of her seat, she swayed on her feet.
"Carefully now," he urged gently. His strong arms were now firmly around her waist and gripping her arms.
With his steps being the only sure ones, he led her slowly to the bed Duo had occupied the night before.
"Thanks," she exhaled in a quiet sigh, closing her eyes as her head hit the pillow. Tenderly, he tucked a stray hair behind her ear and gave her a warm smile. She was however unable to see it—being asleep as she was.
Just for good measure, Passus placed her in a light regenerative sleep and covered her with her cloak.
Straightening up, he turned his body to look out the window. Taking in the quiet of the evening, Passus took a moment to listen to the crickets that were beginning their dusk songs. Bats would soon be swooping near the eves, trying to catch whatever bugs they could. This was his favorite time of the day—if only the circumstances of the day were improved, he thought wistfully.
Breaking from his quiet moment, he brought his attention to his other sleeping patient. Quickly checking over Trowa, he was pleased to find him responding well to the regenerative sleep. When he woke up in a few hours, he would be feeling much better.
'Quatre however,' Passus silently said to himself. Walking over to his last patient, he chewed on the inside of his cheek. He was unable to see the current status of his mind, but he could check the status of his body.
Clicking off checks in his mental checklist, he shook his head at some of the abnormalities, but nothing was anywhere near dangerous—slightly elevated temperature, as well as heart rate and breathing, but Passus expected that to come down quite soon. The ordeal was over.
True to their word, the boys, still patiently waiting, hadn't come in once or distracted Alia in any way. He would have to commend them on their ability to wait as they had—at least Passus had been permitted to stay in the room and watch what was happening—the boys were sitting outside blind to the going-ons.
With one last quick glance at the three sleeping people, he decided he could leave them alone for a moment to bring the other boys in.
Walking down the narrow hallway, he exited his house and went to the backyard through the side gate. It didn't take long for his eyes to locate the three waiting young men. They were sitting with their backs up against the wooden planks of the back of the house.
Passus moved quietly towards them noticing quickly their regular, even breathing. They were asleep. Sitting in a straight row, their backs were against the outside wall. He silently watched them for a few seconds—he regretted having to wake them.
His head snapped to the tree high above him when a harsh, loud screech of a hawk interrupted the evening's relative quiet. Passus's wide brown eyes finally sought out the large bird who was watching him intensely. It took him a moment to recognize the bird as the hawk who had alighted on Trowa's arm earlier. What had Duo said the bird's name was? Lowan?
Closing his eyes to calm his pounding heart, he opened them once again only to find three teenage boys standing and eyeing him as intensely as the bird was—perhaps even harder.
Startled again, this time not by a threatening animal, but by the stealth and quiet the boys had demonstrated. They had been asleep not two minutes ago, but now, during a moment he had turned away, they were standing before him. Passus took a step back.
"Is she done yet?" Duo asked, stepping forward himself.
"Yes. She is," Passus answered, quickly recovering himself.
"Then how is he?" Wufei asked impatiently after quiet reigned for a moment.
"And Alia for that matter—she okay?" Duo added.
"Why don't you come back inside?" Passus suggested, already half turned back toward the front gate.
Duo placed the tip of his boot under his staff and expertly flicked it up into his hands and followed the healer and his comrades.
"They're all asleep right now, so tread quietly," Passus warned, closing the front door after they had all entered the room.
Wordlessly, which seemed to be what they did best, the three young men followed him to where their friends lay.
They silently took in the condition of the three people lying down, deep in sleep.
Duo shook his head. "At least Trowa and Alia look all right—Quatre doesn't look so hot."
"Alia did warn that putting mental shields around a person's mind isn't always comfortable," Passus reminded. "She did the best she could."
"So when he awakens, his telepathy will be under control," Wufei asked warily.
"We will only truly know when he awakens and can tell us himself," Passus answered.
"And Trowa and Alia?" Heero queried, passing his eyes from Quatre to Trowa and Alia.
"They're fine; simply sleeping," the healer responded. Looking up from his patients, he watched as the last bit of daylight left the sky and the darkness slowly filled up the room. Crossing to his desk, he lit the candle placed there and covered it with the glass protector. Picking it up, he regarded the three standing silhouettes.
"I don't know about any of you, but I'm quite hungry," he announced. "Do what you wish, but if you'd like some food, come along with me."
He had expected at least some form of response, but the quiet shadows simply followed him into the kitchen. Passus rolled his eyes. 'This is going to be a long night.'
--
He awoke to the sounds of someone rummaging in the kitchen. Heero's eyes remained shut, but his ears were keened to their full extent. When he assessed the sounds were being contained in the kitchen, he opened his eyes a crack.
The dusky gray rose of dawn was only starting to be visible through the windows. Early morning birds were beginning their light airy songs, but Heero was only paying attention to noises inside the house. It was possible it was Passus in his own kitchen, Alia, or one of his comrades, but Heero wasn't about to be careless and take a risk.
Silently rising from his bed, he immediately noticed Quatre's bed was empty. Passus had awoken Alia and helped her upstairs before they had retired for the evening, so the other three boys were asleep in their beds. They were all oblivious to the sounds Heero was hearing.
Not bothering with his boots, seeming as they would make too much noise, he lifted his knife from under his bed, and stealthily padded around the beds, and into the hallway. He weighed the possibilities of who could be in the kitchen—Alia and Quatre would be in no condition, but then where was Quatre? It could be Passus, but why would he be up so incredibly early?
He saw the shadow cross into the hallway, before the shadow saw him. Heero swiftly and deftly leapt toward the figure, with his knife poised, not to kill, but incapacitate until answers were satisfactorily given.
Heero never contacted skin however. A blast of air which felt like hitting a solid wall head on, knocked him back and caused him to fall heavily on his side—he distinctly heard his knife clatter away from him.
It took him a mere instant to regain his senses and he was sitting up, knife in hand—
--to be nearly face to face with a kneeling Quatre.
Slowly, Heero lowered his raised knife arm down to the ground. Quatre was kneeling on the floor, look as if he had simply sagged there and was looking at Heero with wide eyes. Both of them were breathing hard from the adrenaline. Heero's eyes took note of the slice of mostly eaten bread lying neglected, jam side down on the hallway floor.
"Heero," Quatre began breathlessly, with horror in his voice. "I could've and nearly killed you."
"So Alia's mental shields didn't work. Your telepathy didn't allow you to recognize me?" Heero asked warily.
Quatre gave a shake of his head. A frustrated glint suddenly replaced the weariness in his eyes. "I knew someone was awake in the house, but…," he paused for a second. "I think Alia may have done something by putting up these new shields."
Taking his eyes off Heero, Quatre turned to look towards the staircase, which was near the front door, starting beside the hallway. It went upstairs to Passus's room.
"We woke Passus," Quatre whispered, before Heero could utter an inquiry about what Quatre meant by Alia doing 'something' with the new shields. Not a moment later, Heero heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
The shadow the light from the candle cast on the walls preceded Passus. He swiftly turned into the hallway only to stop abruptly when he saw the two boys.
"What is going on here?" he asked in a whisper. "Are you boys all right?"
Both boys stood up off the smooth hallway floor, albeit Quatre slower than Heero.
"I thought there was an intruder in the house, but it was merely Quatre," Heero replied in a low voice—not a whisper, but below usual volume. Heero passed his eyes up and down Passus's form. "Why did you sleep in the clothes you were wearing yesterday?"
Passus held the candle away an arms length from himself to give himself a once over.
"Too tired last night to change—at least I took my boots off," he remarked with a hint of jest. "It's good to see you awake and up Quatre, but what brought you out here? Do you need anything?" Passus talked while he placed the candle on the side table to have both hands to check over the blonde.
Quatre gestured to his ruined snack still on the floor. "I'm all right--I was just hungry," he said simply, discreetly evading Passus's hands. In the candlelight, he could see the healer's smile.
"An appetite is a good thing. Eat anything you'd like, but then back to bed. I'll see you boys in the morning." Picking up his candle, he retreated back up the stairs.
"I'm sorry Heero," Quatre spoke, as he crouched down to clean up his mess. "If I had realized it was you, I wouldn't have knocked you down."
"If I had realized it was you, I wouldn't have come after you with a knife," Heero replied dryly.
Quatre smirked. "Good point."
After Quatre quietly cleaned up the small mess the jam had made on the floor, they silently tread into the large room at the end of the hall. More rosy gray light was beginning to dust through the windows and more birds had joined into the morning singing.
Quatre's eyes fell on Trowa. "How is he doing? Has Passus said?"
Heero's eyes followed Quatre's. "After he collapsed, Passus put him into a regenerative sleep. He says Trowa should wake up today feeling fine with no side effects," Heero replied.
"Why are you awake, Heero?" Wufei's groggy, disgruntled voice sounded from his bed. Wufei didn't even open his eyes.
"Just go back to sleep," Heero whispered the command. With a grunt, Wufei grumpily rolled over and pulled his covers over his shoulders. Turning back to Quatre, he saw the tail end of a shiver.
"You go to sleep as well. A chill will do you no good right now," Heero warned, as he headed for his bed. Once there, he settled down. Only after seeing that Quatre had indeed pulled the covers over himself and was situated, did Heero allow his eyes to close. And he fell into a dreamless sleep.
Authoresses Note: I've felt I've changed so much as a write since I've began this story and there are so many things I'd change about it, but I still hope you're all enjoying it!
Feel free to review if you have the chance!