Along the Water's Edge
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My name is Quatre Raberba Winner,
son of the owner of the Winner Corporation.
I'm a Preventer.
It's not something I'm proud
of, it's just that way. My father signed me up when I was 10, and
ever since then I'd been one. I met Heero then, and the others I
met about 2 years ago when I was 14.
It's funny how you remember
certain things such as that. I remember when I met Heero, his cold
and pessimistic views oddly out of place. I remember meeting Trowa,
and instantly warming up to him.. I remember Duo, because after he joined
there was no such thing as peace here.
There's a lot of tension this
morning, which is unusual. Usually things are quiet and half-awake,
but everyone seems on edge today.
I'm an empath, by the way.
It means I can sense everyone's emotions, and sometimes sense what they're
thinking.
It's funny, people think of
it as incredible and fantastic, but it's not. When I'm around a whole
crowd of people, I can't block their emotions out. There was one
night when we 5 went out to a restaurant, the people beside us had swallowed
a full bottle of wine.
Needless to say, it had its
effect on me.
But I digress, something was
unusual this morning and I was worried about what. The nervousness
was thick in the air as I entered into our small, slightly cluttered kitchen.
It must have been Duo's turn
to make breakfast; standing semi-upright in the middle of the table was
a glass of milk, a few bowls and spoons, and a box of Lucky Charms.
Wu Fei was sitting, reading
the paper like he always does. Heero was pacing back and forth while
Duo was tensely squeezing onto his braid. I didn't see Trowa anywhere.
Heero immediately glanced up
at me, and I could sense a slight change in his demeanor. It became
hardened, and prepared.
"What's wrong?" I aksed,
already guessing by the tension.
"We have physicals today,"
Heero announced with his usual tone.
Physicals. I knew the
color in my face drained out, but I forced myself to remain calm as I sat
down.
Physicals are just like they
sound, they test the younger Preventers for both phsyical and mental strength,
weaknesses, disorders, anything which could prevent them from doing their
job.
It's something no one looks
forward to; doctors come along and prod you and poke you and take blood
samples.. just thinking about it makes me queasy.
It's not that I can't deal
with blood, I've seen enough of it to become accustomed, but it bothers
me and there's something unappealing about someone sticking a needle into
your wrist.
I stared vacantly at the small
mark on my own arm, to use the system you had to remain completely calm
or the information overload could drive you crazy. When I was on
it, my pulse and reaction time was continually monitored for some type
of defect.
"What time?"
"In an hour." Duo answered
me, still looking cheerful. "Aw loosen up Q-man! We'll get
it over with and they won't do another one for the next two months!"
Everyone stared blankly at
him.
"What?" Duo shrugged.
~~~~~~
The nurse calmly checked the
ten young recruits' heights as she hummed to herself. For the most
part, the routine had remained monotonous and boring. Heero watched
the others pass through, both his unit and another, waiting for the process
to be over.
It was mundane to him, but
he could see why the others were so displeased with the process; doctors
and upper generals and captains asking an endless round of questions and
tests.
He and Quatre weren't done,
they would have to both go through another round of mental questions to
make sure the system used for fighting wasn't affecting them.
Duo appeared, waving his arm
and wincing slightly. Quatre silently stood up, smoothed his vest,
and walked into the room.
A few minutes later, Quatre
reappeared, looking very white and relieved. Heero nodded silently
as Duo waved.
"Hey!! How'd it go?"
"They said everything looked
normal," Quatre answered. "Except I'm a little bit taller than
last time."
Heero glanced. "Anything
else?"
"No," Quatre shook his head.
"None at all.."
"Hn." Heero replied softly.
~~~~~
It had been a week since the
physicals, enough time for things to become reasonably normal.
I was still annoying Wu Fei
and Heero, Trowa and Quatre were practicing various card games, the usual.
Now that I look back on it, it was probably the calm before the storm which
no one seemed to see.
We heard a slight ringing sound
coming from the telephone, and we all looked towards it.
~~~~~~~
Another mission, Duo mused silently
as they approached a very small darkened grey building.
It looked exactly like just
another warehouse, but the sources had said it was a hideout for both the
adepts and the monsters.
Either way, it smelled like
fish.
Duo gagged and covered his
nose. Heero and Trowa glared as they gently examined their surroundings.
"Quatre, info," Heero
ordered.
"It's a 2 story building, at
least 5 different rooms. The place used to be a sea warehouse, but
was closed down a few months ago.." Quatre said as he swung his chair
around, continually typing with his right hand and watching the data flow
on the screen. He stopped momentarily, feeling slightly confused.
"Something.."
"Hn?"
"It's nothing," Quatre
answered. "Nothing.."
Heero grunted and looked at
the darkness.
There was a constant dripping,
probably from some type of rusted plumbing. Several small cobwebs
hung against the walls, and all of them felt a strange trouble in being
there.
Trowa carefully hit the side
of a large cargo box, and heard a loud shudder.
Just then the blonde jerked up out of his chair. "GET OUT!! GET OUT NOW!!" Quatre shrieked.
"What?!!" Duo turned around
to look, but all he could see was darkness.
"NOW!! BEF.." there was
a loud, sudden noise followed by a hiss.
"Quatre? Quatre?!"
Trowa stared at his radio. "Quatre?!!" The only response was
the continued hiss.
Just then a create came out
of nowhere, tackling the brunette to the ground. Another followed,
completely shadowing Heero.
"What the.. UGH! SHIT!"
Duo felt something hard and cold slam into his side, and he screamed as
a cold pain thrashed in his side.
In the computer room, the hiss continued. A cold pool of blood formed against the side of the chair as the equipment continued to feed in data...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once again thanks to EVERYONE who reads and revies, you make my job a lot more pleasant.. and thanks to the crazed baka who has to read these stories first.