CHAPTER TWO: FRIENDS
I yawned and rolled over, bumping into a still-dozing Quatre.
As much as I didn't want to wake him, I had to get the door. Quatre's head was nestled in the
crook of my neck, making it hard for me to turn around. The sleeve of his flannel pajamas
had ridden up, and his bare arm was hooked across my waist in a comforting hold.
Unfortunately, the knocking wasn't going to stop soon, it seemed. Damn you, Heero Yuy...
As gently as I could, I shuffled out of bed, quickly pushing my hair back into place so that it
shaded just the one eye. By the time I reached our bedroom door, the knocking had stopped.
Just when I get out of bed... I almost went back to sleep myself, but decided instead to check
on the door anyways. By the time I had opened our bedroom door, Wufei was standing inside,
mumbling apologies about the early waking hour to a sleepy and slightly annoyed Hito, who
had courteously let the Chinese boy in.
He caught sight of me and gladly put the blonde girl aside. Guessing that Quatre was still
asleep, he whispered something in my ear, just quiet enough for a curious Hito not to hear. I
nodded and headed back into the bedroom, Wufei leaving in a rush from our motel room.
"What's up?" Hito demanded, but I could only shut the door in her face, hoping she wouldn't
take it to offense. It was a matter for us pilots, one that demanded immediate action. I thought
she would understand. After last night, Hito had discovered who we really were, but not
before we found out she was anti-OZ. "Are you sure about her?" I recalled asking Quatre. He
had placed my hand on his chest, indicating his heart. "Trust me," he replied. So it came to
only slight surprise that she promised not to reveal our location. Quatre was so pleased that
he wanted her to take our bed. I'd sleep on the couch, and he graciously offered to take the
floor. But that certainly wouldn't do in such a turn of events.
I'd have taken the floor instead.
"Quatre, little one, wake up. Quatre!" I shook my partner awake, taking only slight time to
admire his eyes and unbearably adorable appearance.
"Tro--wa?" The blonde untangled an arm, sweeping it along the bed in an attempt to locate
me."
"Right here," I said.
He opened his eyes. "What is it? What time is it?"
"Just a little past five a.m. Listen, Wufei just came. We have to go, Quatre...now."
Taking in my serious tone, the blonde shook himself awake. With one hand, he rubbed the
sleep from his tired blue eyes, now faded with the early morning hours, its normal brilliance
temporarily dulled. "New orders?"
Reluctantly, I nodded. "We knew they would come." We all hated to admit it, but it was true;
this peace that we had lived in, only a few days long, was already such a blessing to us. It
was about time we received new orders, past time.
Quatre understood my thoughts clearly, as he always did, a blessing for me really because I
would not have to go into painful detail over our mission. They were always the same, so
dreadfully futile. And in any case, I was never one for words. The blonde shook his head
again, this time totally collected, and stumbled out of bed. How I would have loved to stay in
the motel room with him and sleep until noon, Quatre curled up against me, bathed in warm
sunlight. But, of course, it was not to be.
Hito was still standing in front of our bedroom door by the time we, fully dressed, came out.
Quatre had walked out of our room backwards by chance so that he was looking directly into
my face and could hold onto both my hands, for comfort or security I suppose. Thus I had
been the first to actually see Hito this morning. Her arms were crossed angrily over her chest,
although her eyes were sad.
The girl was smarter than she looked. "Leaving so soon?"
Quatre whirled around in surprise, blushing cutely and nodding. He was endearingly open
about us, me and him, but it always embarrassed him to be caught. "It's not so soon for us,
you know."
Hito looked more than a little disappointed. She pouted, "And here I wanted to repay you for
your hospitality. Perhaps breakfast before you go?" Her voice had taken on a hopeful tone,
and Quatre flinched, knowing he would have to destroy it.
"Sorry, we can't stay. It's kind of urgent, Hito."
Listening to Quatre, I said nothing, instead releasing his hands and making my way to the
door. I opened it but did not step out; I wanted to wait for my partner.
Quatre was having a difficult time convincing Hito to stay. First of all, there were the clumsy
formalities that came with being a good host. Quatre just had to say what was customary, to
explain himself somehow: "Did you sleep well? I'm sorry. No, really, the couch was
satisfactory right?" "I apologize for you having to wake up so early." "Feel free to indulge
yourself while we're gone." "...No, I'm afraid we won't be coming back."
"It's alright really," came the almost undetectably morose reply. "I'll be leaving soon as well.
I've taken so much hospitality, and I've no way of repaying you. But I'll be cheering you guys
on, that's for sure."
Again, Quatre astonished me with his generosity. "No, I insist Miss Hito," he had called her
'Miss' all this time, "Please stay in our room. You'll need the time to get back on your feet,
and I assure you it'll be no problem for us or for the motel. There's about another week or so
paid up already, so please, enjoy yourself!" After some pleading and careful manipulation,
Quatre convinced Hito to stay on our behalf. He had paid for all of our rooms in the
beginning; by far he was the wealthiest among us five, and although Duo had no difficulty
accepting Quatre's handouts, Heero and Wufei acted a bit uncomfortable. But the blonde was
uncanny at stratagem, both in battle and out, and before the end of the hour he had
convinced us all to accept his money and the hotel rooms. 'A gift of friendship,' he had called
it. 'Hotels are too noticeable, and motels are just as acceptable.'
More than just acceptable, these were high rate motels in which Quatre had put us up for the
night. Each room opened up to a small living room with a couch and a coffee table. Behind
that was the meager excuse for a kitchen, that held only a one-burner electric stove and a two
person breakfast table. And next to that was the one bedroom, equipped with a regular-sized
bed and makeshift nightstand. It was a dim place and the plaster was peeling off certain spots
in the wall, but it still ranked better than any ordinary motel. It seemed more like an apartment
than a motel room, which would have opened right up to a small bedroom with two twin-size
beds rather than a lobby. In fact, it only seemed that way because it was made from an old,
abandoned apartment complex.
Though they did not show it, I knew the others had been touched, but I had known of Quatre's
nature all along. It came to no big surprise to me; I was proud of Quatre's personality. In all
truth, I lived off it.
"Okay, but only because I love you so much." Hito giggled and leaned in, seemingly wanting
to place a dry kiss on Quatre's lips, but he quickly turned away, almost flinching at the contact
of her lips with his cheek. The girl backed away, confused and more than disappointed. He
blushed profusely, averting his gaze to the floor. I felt a sting in my chest; my heart was
aching, and I pretended I had not seen anything when I felt Quatre's eyes drilling into me. But
no, I could trust my eyes. Quatre loved me. This girl was only joking, that was all. And Quatre
had turned away from her. There were no grounds for my pain.
No grounds whatsoever.
After curt goodbyes, I led Quatre out of the motel and met the others in the lobby. We were
on our way.
* * *
Duo and Heero had left the motel first, decidedly taking on the mission as partners. Likewise
would I want to fight with Quatre, but we waited for Wufei to leave first. "Pleasure meeting
you two again," he said politely as he walked in the opposite direction that the first two pilots
had taken.
"We'll meet again, I'm sure of it Wufei," Quatre called out. And then we were alone, just
Quatre and I. "Well, I guess we should be going too."
I nodded, ever silent, only keeping my eyes on him. He blushed again under the scrutiny of
my gaze. During one of our more recent one-sided conversations, he had once told me that
he would never get over how blessed our relationship was. He would always feel the magic in
the air, corny as that sounded. I knew there was magic.
He himself was magic.
Not another word needed, he called for a taxi and stepped inside, to which I promptly got in
after him. I would leave my companionship to no debate; it was settled. I was going with him,
obviously. He smiled sweetly as I sat down next to him. Wonderful...I smiled back. "Military
Shuttle Landing," I told the cab driver. And we were on our way.
Quatre tipped the driver well when we arrived at the colony's space port. The man had been
smart enough to ask no questions when I told him our destination, which when one came to
think of it, was a strange location for two teenage boys to go. He had seen the look in our
eyes; deep down, the guy was probably a rebel supporter.
At the Landing, Quatre and I snuck around back, where we had parked a cargo carrier. This
carrier, of course, carried our two Gundams. It was a tight squeeze, but it invoked less
suspicion that way. And in any case, they fit well enough if they were stacked, one on top of
the other. Again, two boys, each piloting a rather large carrier, would have been rather
noticeable, especially when Quatre looked a bit younger than he actually was. But with me in
the pilot's seat I could easily pass as captain with the blonde as my student or some such
person. And this is how it worked.
I guess I looked older than we thought. The inspection crew passed right over our carrier,
noting only that the cargo list said 'spare Mobile Suit parts,' to be transported to the new OZ
satellite base, X1-62. This was only true in part. We were going to X1-62, but with a different
purpose in mind. I thanked the maintenance crew for 'checking' our cargo. The guard winked
in reply.
Sometimes I wondered if everyone knew who we were. After all, colony M99-01 was always
rumored to have been largely in support of the Alliance and other rebel factions. But whatever
they knew, I was glad they thought nothing of us.
* * *
"Cover me, Quatre."
"Roger." In Sandock, the blonde assumed position behind me, watching my back for stray
suits while I sprayed the battlefield with what ammunition remained in Heavyarms. The few
living suits tried to retreat, but it was too late for them. The bullets from my Gundam hit their
weaker suits and destroyed them on impact. Gundams one, OZ zero.
"Another easy win," I said calmly, not a bit disappointed in our victory. Quatre's face appeared
on my screen, also relieved that the battle was a simple one. Through the battle, Quatre had
not been able to do much as his suit was unequipped for space battle. Mine was also
unequipped, but not so that I couldn't use far-range weapons to wipe out the enemy,
something my Gundam had that Quatre's didn't. "Let's go Quatre."
"Where to now? We can go back to M99-01, or we can move on to--" Quatre was interrupted
as his vidscreen lit up and jolted sharply. Violent explosions rocked his cockpit, but not mine.
My stomach churned; either the current enemy was not quite destroyed, or they had
regrouped with fresh troops and wanted to finish the battle. My Gundam had been spared
from the first attack wave mostly likely because Sandrock had shielded me from vision and
fire.
The enemy was relentless. The shots kept coming, one after the other. Quatre gasped, partly
in shock and partly in pain. The enemy had in fact regrouped, this time with updated Virgos
armed with laser rifles. Worriedly, I tried to reach him, but my suit lacked maneuverability,
and in deep space my efforts were hindered. Still firing, the enemy advanced, gaining power
with every step.
"Trowa!" My partner's tired voice reached my ears, pleading for help. I could barely see his
face now through the static interference on the video link. Every direct hit shook the fragile
connection, until finally, after a particularly strong blast, the screen blacked out altogether. I
flipped the audio link open; thankfully, talking was still an option.
"I'm coming," I told him. I slammed my right hand down on the thruster engines. They
flickered to life, guiding me quickly to Sandrock, though not as quickly as I'd have liked.
Sandrock was riddled with chips where the gundanium had fractured off. By the time I pulled
his suit behind mine, the enemy had circled around back, effectively surrounding us. Seeing
that they had a damaged suit cheered them, and they continued firing at Quatre.
"Trowa," Quatre began, struggling to get his words out, "My life support systems are fading.
Move away from me! I'm going to self-detonate, and I don't want you in the way." At this
point, there was a sob, then nothing.
"Shit! Not yet, please," I muttered under my breath. I silently took stock of what I had left.
"21% ammunition, 47% head and shoulder vulcans, sufficient fuel at 76%, thrusters at full
power, close range weapon still operational." Louder, I said, "I'm coming Quatre."
There was no response. One look at the main screen confirmed that Sandrock was in
actuality doing worse than I was. More chips had appeared in the suit, and the glow in the
Gundam's 'eyes' had dimmed. Sandrock was slowly shutting down; it had long since lost both
its heat-sickles, and its only long-range weapons left were its head vulcans, which would fire
occasionally on a targeted Virgo that came too close. It was his last resort. Communication
was shot, so I couldn't tell whether or not he was okay. In any case, my audio link was also
shorting out, and I unconsciously flipped it off. Now there was nothing to be heard but the loud
explosions and the static on the video link, which I futilely hoped would magically clear up,
allowing me to see into my beloved's cockpit before it was too late.
Having been around the blonde for so long, I knew that Quatre's nature told him he could not
self-destruct while I was in the vicinity. Even if his video link had gone out, his intuition had
always told him when I was near and when I was far. So while I was there, he would have no
choice but to live. Hang on, Quatre. Don't give up now. My mind desperately dwelled on the
present, pleading with no one in particular for the life of my little one. I suppose I panicked,
not being able to see nor hear Quatre and wondering if I ever would again. It was silly of me
to think that way. Later on, I knew that I had always been sure what the answer would be. But
at the time I guess I did panic.
An explosion shook the cockpit. I stifled a gasp as my ankle suddenly caught under some
gauge under my seat. It twisted under me, and an acute pain sprang up my leg; I knew I had
sprained it. It hurt but was not immobilized. Another explosion rocked me from behind. I was
pushed forward, the restraining straps cutting into my shoulders. They would leave bruises in
the morning if nothing else. Yet another explosion, and I was yanked to the side. My right arm
twisted in an odd angle as I was shoved into the control board. "Damnit." In my rage, I opened
fire on all tens of Virgos that lay ahead of me, wiping out most of the front-line suits with one
push of a finger. Unfortunately, the move exhausted my long-range weapons, leaving only my
backup wrist-blade usable. So I took OZ on in a one man mission, which I dedicated to the
future...
I heaved a sigh of relief. In ten frenzied minutes, it was all over and done, and Heavyarms
had taken a considerable amount of damage. After what had taken an eternity to finish, I
turned back to Sandrock. My dear Quatre...
Communication was out, no miracle there. My hands grew sweaty as I guided the mecha
through space to Sandrock, which had by far taken more damage between the two of us.
However, I was surprised at the extent of the damage. When I initiated suit analysis on
Quatre's mecha, I discovered that he had no weapons, almost no thrust, some fuel, and no
radio units still functioning. Here and there the circuits were shorting out; they would spark
occasionally and send a flash of electricity through space. Although it only looked as if it had
gone through a minor battle, the suit was done for and about as good as a dead piece of
metal.
But my concern was for the occupant inside.
I had gripped the controls so tightly during the battle, but with the little movement my hands
could still make, I guided Heavyarms to Sandrock. Once our two cockpits were fairly aligned,
I put on the oxygen masque to my astrosuit, which I had previously discarded while fighting. It
was a rather stupid thing to do actually; not only would it have been dangerous had a break
opened in the hatch, the masque was also a pain during battle. It had flown around the
cockpit, once slamming against the side of my head and blinding me with luminous spots.
After that, I had taken it and hurriedly stuffed it in the tiny crevice under my seat, praising
some unseen god when the masque stayed.
Though I ached all over, I ignored the numbness of joints and climbed out of my seat. The
cockpit opened and revealed to me an expanse of space that I had hoped I'd never see
again. The blackness brought back memories of amnesia, countless hours of floating in dark,
confusion and pain. I shuddered involuntarily; my fears would need to be put aside for
Quatre.
In my worry, I pushed off towards my partner's cockpit, almost recklessly. There was still a
rather large distance to cover, and if I had missed, there would be no guide line to bring me
back on track. Luckily, my accuracy was not influenced by my body or mind; it had become
purely instinctual.
Once I landed on the belly of Sandrock, I pushed the hatch-release lever. Like a mouth
opening wide, ready to swallow me whole, the cockpit opened to reveal an unconscious
Quatre, who had been sensible enough to keep his masque on during the battle. Except for
the ugly bruise that, even through the masque, I could see developing on one side of his
forehead, I would have thought he was asleep. So calm; so innocent. As I neared the small
pilot, he stirred, opening his eyes a bit before shutting them tightly, whimpering in obvious
agony.
"Quatre!" I made a concerned move towards him.
He opened his eyes again, this time keeping them open, though just barely. "Trowa?" He
looked confused and dazed for a second before he focused on me.
"Mission...accomplished....oh, Trowa, it hurts...hurts...just to breathe--"
"Where are you wounded?" I put a hand on the release button for the restraining belt. Quatre
did not object; in fact, he did not reply at all. "Quatre?"
One quick glance confirmed that the boy had passed out again. I frowned. Quatre.
After I hooked the retrieval lines from Heavyarms to Sandrock, I sealed the hatches of both
mechas. As much as I would have loved to bring Quatre back personally, there was no space
in my suit for another human to sit. Besides that, I was sure the blonde could wait just a little
longer. Although physically weaker than us other pilots, he was mentally strong and perfectly
capable. I winced as I remembered his angry words, hurt because he was always looked
down upon, always underestimated: "Don't worry so much Trowa! I can take perfectly good
care of myself, you know. I'm not a child, so don't treat me like one..." He had seemed fairly
childish then, pouting so very cutely and making such a big fuss about what seemed to be
nothing, but it made sense. He was allowed to be young, right? Yes, I decided, he deserved it.
Suddenly, I stopped. Must think...Quatre was hurt, I was slightly injured, so where would we
go now? I frowned; Heero had never arranged a location for us five to meet after our
missions. Perhaps he never intended for us to meet again, or maybe he was leaving it up to
chance: why not? It had happened before. My mind whirled as I tried to think of a safehouse
for us to rest a while. Now that we had defeated the OZ troops, the coordinates at which we
were last seen would have been relayed back to OZ headquarters, meaning we could no
longer afford to stay near this area. That struck out the nearest colonies, including L3, where I
was from. Also, I could not return to X1-62 where we had docked the HLV mobile suit carrier.
By now, the OZ soldiers would have the data from this battle, meaning that wherever we
went, we would have to go only in our mobile suits. We could no longer disguise it through
aircraft.
It was best to take Quatre to his home colony, L4, where there were medical supplies and
doctors who knew not to meddle in this affair, but it was rather out of the way, and what the
blonde needed right now was immediate rest--bed, hot food, and medicine.
Something in my mind clicked as I recalled a kind and cheery girl on that one colony who
owed Quatre a favor. The idea seemed even better when I bore in mind that Quatre himself
had earlier suggested returning there after this mission was completed...yes, that would
work...it would do nicely.
I smirked, seeing the pieces of my escape plan falling into place. OZ wouldn't find us today,
and if we were lucky, they wouldn't for a while longer. In the meantime, it would give us
enough time to recuperate and rest up in a safe, secure hideaway.
All I needed now was a little bit of help from some acquaintances.
* * *
It was an hour past midnight by the time we arrived. Quatre was still out cold, although he had
awoken once during the drive. "My head hurts," he had moaned before falling into an even
deeper slumber. I had to rethink the seriousness of that concussion...
I smiled. Yes, this was the perfect location to hide. Besides, I knew someone who would be
able to help us.
It had never occurred to me that she wouldn't help us. From what I had seen, Quatre had
made a decent first impression, to say the least. And for all that he'd done for her, she better
have the decency to return the favor...
"Come on, Quatre. Wake up now," my light efforts to rouse the boy failed, so I thought better
of it and stopped. If he needed rest, then rest he would get. I just had to carry him, that was
all.
The lights from the building were dim in these dark hours. Most everyone on the entire colony
was probably asleep and dreaming by now. While outside, the black surrounded me like
sesame soup, thick enough to spoon. It surely seemed to me that Quatre and I were the only
boys in the entire world, one struggling to get the other to safety; the other, of course, was
caught in the soup.
I opened the door on the passenger side of the vehicle and unfastened the seatbelt. Its
occupant didn't stir, and I was forced to pick him up. Not that I minded much: I slid my arms
under him, one at his legs and the other at his back, and lifted gently. He was an easy load to
carry, thankfully, although I always thought him too small.
Naturally, I wouldn't change him a bit.
The walk to the motel was a short one. With even the dimmest of lights, my acquired skills of
direction were just as sharp, and I was still able to find my way. While I walked, I ran a list
through my mind of all the people I would have to thank later. At the top of the list was the
maintenance crew at the Shuttle Landing. My assumptions had been correct; at heart, it
appeared the entire crew supported rebel factions. If not for them, I never would have made it
back onto the colony successfully:
After I worked out my escape plan, I had radioed the Landing. "Colony M99-01, this is
Gundam 03 and 04. We are preparing an emergency landing procedure." I had looked at
Sandrock, knowing what its unconscious pilot would have wanted me to do, would have done
so himself if he had been in my position. And if I had guessed correctly, this would not be a
mistake. "If you value your lives, evacuate all personnel from the docking zone immediately.
Leave peacefully, please. We have no intention of hurting anyone." After I ended
transmission, I put a hand to my mouth. The words had been strange for me to say, as I had
never really said them before. What is this change coming over me?
Lo and behold, the ground control radioed back after a short pause: "Acknowledged. Gundam
03, Gundam 04, you're ready to dock."
The situation worked out to my advantage. After a fairly tough but not impossible landing, the
ground crew rushed to cover our tracks. They took our mobile suits out back, behind the
Landing, where they artfully disguised them with lush greens and foliage. They did such a
competent job that I could hardly tell they were ever there, had I not been a pilot myself. To
add to my gratitude, they offered to fix them for us, free of charge. With their large
maintenance crew and higher priority for shipping MS parts, they vowed our Gundams would
be fixed within two and a half days. They were more than happy to comply, I discovered.
They were, in fact, pro-rebels; not only had they hidden our Gundams, they had also
promised to resupply our suits. In the meantime, they congratulated me on the victory against
OZ claiming basically that "Every fall OZ takes is another step closer to peace!"
Quatre was still out and had been so for hours already. They had checked him for further
injuries in addition to his still-smarting concussion, which they bandaged. I remember Quatre
saying that it hurt to breathe. That turned out to be a row of slightly broken ribs, which they
had also bandaged, not without my being there to make sure they were gentle of course. It
wasn't a trust issue. I trusted them just enough to get along; my intuition had been correct,
and I was right to be confident. But I didn't want them to hurt Quatre any more than
necessary.
They even offered to check my wounds, but I lied and told them I had none. "Hey, kid's
stronger than he looks!" They observed my 'impressive' strength, and I felt even worse about
deceiving them. But they had done so much already, and I anxiously wanted to get Quatre
and myself some privacy; until then, I couldn't so much as touch the boy's wounds, which I
still wanted to check for myself, purely for security's sake. In the meantime, I just had to hide
my less urgent injuries.
In the end, they lent us a truck, 'courtesy of the rebels' they said. "Look at it as a favor. It's our
way of saying thanks to the Gundams!" And appreciate their support I did. Even with Quatre's
slight weight, I could not have walked all the way back to the motel with such a load. The
truck was all I needed to make it back. I promised to return it one day soon, and if not the
truck, I would help them in some other way.
So they sent us off and said they would distract OZ if ever they came looking. And here I was,
holding a sleeping Quatre and standing in front of the motel. I only hoped that Hito was still
there. I grimaced; with all that we had been through, I would have hoped not to see her again.
She was rather tempting, and not just to me.
Seeing as I would be barraged with questions if I entered through the lobby, injured as I was
and holding a boy in even worse condition, I chose the more discreet route and snuck around
back. Here, being a Gundam pilot was advantageous in the sense that we were all gifted with
the keen sense of memory; we could remember little details that no one else would even
bother with, and that made the five of us all the more superior. And relying on said sense, I
proceeded to the rear of the motel, where my memory had seen a back exit.
That's it, just through the door and up the steps, one at a time, there we go...Quatre was still
unconscious, making me quite worried about his condition. He was getting heavier in my
arms, and for the first time I noticed that I was tired. We'd had nothing to eat since dinner last
night, which consisted of the motel's standard TV dinners and black coffee. I only prayed that
Hito was still up.
Keep walking, just a little further. I passed the rows of doors to my left and right, and at long
last I arrived at my destination: 24D. I shifted so that Quatre's head was now resting on my
shoulder. One arm was free to knock on the whitewashed door. I raised an arm, made shaky
because of exhaustion...
Quite suddenly, the door swung open. I blinked and in that second of darkness heard a gasp
of recognition. "Trowa?" Then in a slightly more panicked voice: "Quatre!" I heaved a tired
sigh. Yes, Hito was still awake.
She dragged us inside and to the couch, where I cautiously placed Quatre. He had a fever
now, and his body was claimed by occasional shivers. I kneeled down on the carpet so that
my head was level with his and eyed Hito, whose fear and worry were evident in her large
eyes. "Hito, get a blanket from the bedroom." She stood there for a second, frozen in shock,
before realizing that I had spoken. "Oh...right!"
I placed a hand on Quatre forehead, to which he flinched and let out a low moan.
Immediately I felt the pain as if it had been my own. Even in his dreams he was still in pain. I
unbuttoned his shirt and vest to find that the bandages on his ribcage had fallen loose during
the climb upstairs. "Hito, get some bandages as well." I heard the answering voice, muffled
through the half-shut door.
My breath shook anxiously. I sincerely hoped no harm would come of Quatre, be it damage to
the brain or even something less inhibiting. As for myself...
I looked at my left hand, which now trembled at the slightest twitch of a muscle. I had pulled
some tendon or such thing during the battle while I was gripping the controls. They had only
been sore afterwards, and the right one was okay now. It was the left hand that controlled the
gatling arm of the Gundam, and it was the left one that pained me. Otherwise, my elbow had
a giant bruise from when I was slammed to the right, and my right ankle had swelled up to the
size of a small pear. Luckily, it didn't hurt if I just ignored it. So I did my best and focused my
strength on Quatre.
What's taking her so long?? I could hear Hito clattering around in the bathroom, caught up in
her nervousness. Quatre's breathing had slowed now, and it measured at an even pace. Now
that his respiration had balanced out, it was a good sign that his concussion would be healing
in no time at all.
That girl is so slow! I had half the mind to get up and get the supplies myself, but I lacked the
strength. I was abruptly feeling tired, but I wanted to watch Quatre still. In an attempt to
remedy my situation, I fully sat down on the carpet, folding my arms and resting them on the
front of the couch where Quatre's head had fallen. Slowly, as if I was trying to stop an
inevitable act, my head lowered until placed on my arms. My eyesight reduced to a blurry tilt,
I found myself nodding off in front of the beautiful face, mopped with gold, whose lovely eyes
had not opened for many an hour. Sweet breath was flowing gently through Quatre's lips,
parted slightly in sleep.
But before I could reach out and touch the childlike face, a darkness soon enveloped me like a
curtain had been dropped over my eyes. My eyelids shuttered, and the last thing I remembered
was the rhythmic heartbeat of my beloved Quatre.
* * *
what will happen next? TBC...