"I'm borrowing you,
Sally, Wu-fei, and Duo. We have to find Heero Yuy."
Archived: Fanfiction.net
Warnings: Yaoi, angst, metaphysical contemplation\
Pairings: 3x4, 4x3, (3+S, 9+S, 5+9, 3+9, 2+5, 5+S, 1+S) ---- All only if you lean that way or think about it.)
Disclaimer: Gundam W is not mine. Amanda's mine. So is James.
Trowa had wasted over a month searching for Heero Yuy, but had had no luck in finding him. The time to find the disappearing soldier had dwindled to two days, when he would have to return to the Preventor Headquarters and proceed with whatever plan he could muster without the Japanese youth's aid.
It was not a happy prospect.
He looked to where Noin sat with Sally leaning over her shoulder. They were in the midst of examining records on their laptop-for about the 50th time today. He sighed, flicking back a stray brown hair from his eyes, not that it did much good. The two had become quite an inseparable duo over the past few weeks-Sally trying to comfort her friend as well as possible.
Speaking of Duo … The mime turned around again, watching the chestnut haired youth pick a fight with Wu-fei, also for the 50th time that day. Why had he decided to bring the two of them together again? He couldn't remember.
He listened to the babbling for a minute, trying to see the cause of the squabble. The gist he got was that Duo had called Wufei girly and the other had bit his head off about the braid-thus resulting in the petty word war. Trowa sighed- there was /never/ quiet with those two around: Never.
He turned back to the work at hand, a set of papers and other periodicals. He was beginning to despise looking through them to find Heero. Instead of discovering any clue to the youth's whereabouts, he was only finding more and more degraded rumors about himself and Quatre. He felt a twinge of pain inside him-a not quite physical pain and squirmed. He shouldn't be letting these things get to him like they were.
The brunette felt a hand touch his should and he jumped. Twisting his head, he noticed the twin sandy braids on Sally Po and settled down. She must have been unable to help Noin this round. He glanced to where the ebony haired woman sat slumped, staring glaze-eyed at the scrolling text. She was still taking Zechs death as hard as he took Quatre's-he twitched as he watched her. Death was a frightening, unknown thing.
"Trowa?" The husky voice of his concerned companion brought him back to the present. He looked to the pleasant face and tried to smile-pushing the noise of Wufei and Duo's squabbling from his mind for a time.
Sally noticed the emerald eyes glance to the pair and laughed. "You know, if Hilde were here, maybe our local Shinigami would keep off He-man Woman-hater."
Trowa feigned a smile. He tried to chuckle, but it was choked off by some inner demon that kept him brooding. "They fight like a married couple," he mused quietly.
The statement brought a wry smile to the taller woman's painted lips. "Don't you dare say that to Wufei! He'd nail you with a roundhouse, and then do that creepy Chinese eyebrow thing." She laughed, trying to mock the disdainful eyebrow raising that Wufei did whenever he was thoroughly pissed with one of his co-workers. Trowa gave a real smile to that, and then turned back to Noin.
"Is she doing okay," he queried, gesturing to the frozen figure.
Slate eyes examined Trowa's truly worried features. She sighed. "No. Trowa, she loved Zechs. She's afraid for his soul. Did you know she was Christian?"
"No."
"Neither did I, and she's sincerely worried Zechs went to Hell and she'll never see him again."
"Damn."
"I know."
"I'm not very devout, but I-I think there's some kind of God. Not sure about Hell."
"I'm not sure about anything."
Trowa nodded. "With all the wars, who is anymore? Quatre was a fairly devout Moslem, um, disregarding him being in love with me of course."
"Screw that," Sally forced out, trying diligently to lighten the mood. Religion wasn't always her favorite subject.
"Mmmm. " He watched as Noin shifted in her seat, head dropping to the keyboard. "Is she Catholic?"
"Her family was-dunno about her. She went to a Catholic school, but I don't know if she changed denominations."
"I'm going to talk to her."
"Please do. There's nothing else I can say." The sandy haired woman swallowed. "I haven't … lost anybody. You … You've lost–Fei too."
Trowa nodding, standing up from the stiff chair he'd been sitting in for the past three hours. He looked to the squabble. Wufei had retreated to a corner with his back turned and Duo was snickering in the middle of the room. Rolling his eyes at the annoying Raven, Trowa walked toward Wufei, hoping he'd be helpful and pull the stick out of his butt for a change.
"Chang?" he questioned, feeling out the Dragon's mood.
Wufei turned around, still seething from whatever Duo had last said to him. Ebony eyes gave an accusing look as he spat out: "What?"
Trowa took a deep breath, letting the other youth's anger fade. "I need to ask you a favor."
An eyebrow rose. "Hn."
"A big favor. And it may hurt."
Wufei's head seemed to jerk back. What kind of a favor hurt? "Explain," he muttered, watching Duo smirk out of the corner of his eye.
Trowa grabbed him, forcing the young Dragon to look full into his face. "You lost Meiran and I need you to help me talk to Noin. I'm having a hard enough time with Quatre's death … I need you to help if I falter."
The Chinese youth pushed Trowa away and stared at him curiously, eyes watering a little, but blinked back quickly. "You want me to talk about Nataku?" he asked more softly.
"If you think it will help Noin, yes. She thinks Zechs is in Hell or something-she misses him. She's blaming herself, like I'm blaming myself, and you've blamed yourself."
The youth passed a tan hand through his raven hair, looking at the ground. It was loose now, flying about his face. That damned Shinigami had stolen his hair tie and now it was a mess. He fumbled with his hands for a change of pace, not sure he wanted to reveal his soul and weakness with sympathy.
"Please, I'll tell Duo to go buy some cheeseburgers."
It was a childish statement-and utter begging. Wufei's softness turned to contempt briefly again, but he swatted it away. Integrity- Master Long had told him he must have that along ago. Evil looks and foul language would only cause him to lose the little integrity he had gained. "If you tell him that, then I will go. I don't want Maxwell to see me blubbering."
"I don't blame you," said the other mildly. "He can be a real butt-head sometimes."
Wufei nodded and walked over to Noin while the other sent the Raven away. The young man cleared him throat. "Miss Noin?"
The woman jerked up as if she had been suddenly woken from a sound sleep. Violet eyes blinked confusedly as the vivacity returned to them. Lips frowned in confusion. "Wufei?"
"Are you alright?" The voice was mellow for a change-the voice he'd used to say his final good-bye to Nataku, when he had finally let her go after all those years. He moved a hand to rest on her shoulder, fighting the urge to become distant.
Noin started at the gesture, having never seen the soft side of the Dragon before. "Coping," was all she replied. Her voice was melancholy-it lacked its normal vibrance.
"Its not your fault."
"I know, Wufei. It just-"
"Feels that way?"
Noin nodded, a little in awe at the Chinese youth's sympathy. Where was all of this bubbling up from?
Wufei seemed to sense the confusion and knelt to be more on her level. Ebony eyes stared her full in the face as he spoke-as soft as his voice could: "There are things I swore I would never tell you. Things about my past only three people know and one of them is dead." He paused to take a breath-it went against his whole soul to empty himself to a woman-no, /this/ woman.
Noin stared at him, violet eyes intense and further confused. Lines of grief and weariness crossed her brow, making the eyes seem more intense. What was Wufei trying to do, what was he saying? It was so unlike him to do anything of this sort-ever. Mouth frowned as she watched him gather himself, eyes blinking rapidly for a few brief seconds. What the Hell had happened to Wu-fei?
"Did you know I was married? It wasn't a happy marriage, but I was. Perhaps I even loved my wife-I think I do now, or did then and didn't know it."
"Wife?"
"I was married at 14. My wife was a strong woman-much stronger than I was. I read too much, studied too much. I was weak- deep in my heart, I am sure I was afraid-of death and war and everything that I found to cling to during the Mariemaia Uprising."
Noin shook her head, black bangs falling over her eyes. "I don't believe you ever could have been weak, Wufei."
"It doesn't matter. The point is she died. She fought, as no woman should. She died in battle, with a man's name-against every clan rule that ever existed. My heart has been stone since that day. I have always held the belief in my heart that I could have saved her, had I been stronger … my dear, Nataku."
"Nataku? That was-"
"Yes, my Gundam-my wife's name that she took to be strong. Gods, if I could have understood her before she left me. I couldn't let her go. She was so …"
"You really did love her."
Wufei forced a smile. It was hard to talk about that thing which he kept bottled up inside during the long hard days of life. "She was everything I've ever wanted to be … There, you know my secret."
"What secret? God, anyone who's ever been in love feels that way."
"You loved Zechs …"
"He was so strong. Look at me; I'm reduced to nothing right now. I sit in my room and I sob-I can't even be useful."
"Look at Trowa. He's in pain; though he's hiding it-like I hid it. You women, you're much better off then men. You can cry and not be laughed at it. Men are weak for tears, women are just themselves."
"Sexist?"
"No, the truth. I'm not saying you're weak, not this time. You're lucky. I scream at the heavens in rage-and it doesn't answer me. You shed tears quietly, and your God responds. He's all around you, I'm sure."
"Huh?"
"Zechs. Nataku-I feel her presence now that I've released her. They tell you if you love someone, you must let them go. If they return to you, then you truly have love-if they do not return, there was never love in the first place."
"I've-I've never heard you talk this way …"
"I've never needed to." He stood, watching where Trowa had returned form the corner of his eye-it seemed that he didn't want to intrude. It was no matter if he stepped in, Trowa was one of the two living who knew about Meiran, about Nataku. Sally Po was the other-but then; she was so like Nataku it was startling. Maybe that was why he strived to be calm and reasonable around her. She seemed to break into the heart that he froze.
He glanced to the Lion again, wondering briefly if the brunette has locked his heart away. It was such an easy thing to do-a deadly, but easy thing. He had reason to believe that Trowa needed this conversation more than Noin.
"You worried about him?"
"Perceptive of you, as always, Noin."
"Mm, never thought you noticed."
"Will you be alright now-Trowa needs a talk now."
"Yeah. Looks like you're turning into a psychiatrist, Wufei."
The Chinese youth nodded. He turned back to her. "You know, in all the years I've known you, I've never learned your given name. What is it?"
"Lucrezia."
He nodded again and walked off, leaving the Italian to be bewildered at the whole out-of-character experience. She stared after him a moment and then shook her head. She glanced at the computer briefly, and then away. A mental tug drew her back for a second look at the scrolling screen.
Silently, enigmatically almost-she stood up from her chair, and grabbing her jacket left the room. No one particularly noticed but Sally, who gave a curious look after her, but said nothing.
Wufei, meanwhile, had approached Trowa, who had developed a glazed look on his face. It was disturbing to the Dragon, as the look wasn't Trowa's usual mask. There was something wrong inside the youth. He knew it. Nataku told him so. He felt it gnawing at his stomach as he approached the Lion. Clenching his teeth he sough the urge to shudder, wondering if the other had even noticed Wufei's approach.
No, something was wrong. The brunette was frozen. The Dragon stepped within two feet of the taller man, gazing into his eyes. He didn't like what he saw there. Under the solid emerald veins, there was a writhing motion-like snakes and serpents twisting around in his soul. It made the tan-faced youth ill, dizzy, so many ugly feelings. He wasn't certain what to make of it.
Reaching forward, he grabbed the taller youth's shoulders, gripping with talon-like hands: "Trowa! TROWA!"
The Lion snapped under the force and the whole body seemed for a second to drop, then he came back to himself, foot darting forward to catch himself in his fall. Green eyes darted around, frightened. He seemed like one who had just escaped from a trance. Emeralds met onyx as the world came back into focus around the slight youth.
"Wufei?" he said softly, curiously. He had only spoke the Dragon's name like that once before-however, that was history, a closed book.
Wufei stared into the emeralds again, while Trowa looked at him bewildered now. The snake-like undulations beneath the green were fast fading now that the youth had regained consciousness. However, there was a glimmer of them still in the corners-when he didn't stare too long.
Trowa was worried by the raven haired youth's silence. He had the strangest, repulsed expression on his face. The brows were raised, not out of disdain, but a sentiment of fear. "What's wrong, Wufei?"
The youth started back. "Your eyes. What the Hell is the matter with you!"
The force of the Dragon's shout made Trowa lean backwards, near jumping off his feet. He had no idea of what Wufei was talking about-unless he knew … Trowa shuddered. How could Wufei know about his dreams? How could he know about what over took him just a few seconds ago?
"Wufei, I don't know what yo-"
"You lie. I saw your eyes-your eyes Trowa! The Hell nothing's the matter. You've let something in, something evil. Nataku tells me so! Its tearing apart your soul-what have you DONE?" The Dragon's voice was half angry, half fearful. The fear passed to Trowa.
He knew. /Nataku told me so./ He felt the twisted inside him, the tearing- /Its tearing apart your soul./
"Wha-what are you talking about?"
"Demons, Trowa. I saw them in your eyes. Squirmy, twisting things-they're taking over you. Did you sell your soul for revenge!"
"I-" Trowa paused, stuttered. He didn't know. Sell his soul-no. The squirming "demons" as Wufei called them, they had been with him long before that. They were his nightmares-dreams Quatre hadn't even known about, but he feared spied in his features.
Wufei had found them in his eyes. Demons-he didn't believe in demons. He didn't believe in anything.
/Then why do you hope to see Quatre again/ a voice chided him. He shuddered. The Dragon was right. There was something /evil/ inside him. Nataku didn't lie. He recalled all the times Quatre sent him to a doctor-and the M.D. had sent him away with no diagnosis. Was it possible?
"Answer me, Trowa!" he hissed, clenching his shoulders.
"Wufei-no. But-" he paused again. Was it spiritual things that had turned him to revenge? Would Quatre want him killing those who had killed him? No, was the answer, but somehow Trowa couldn't let them go unpunished. It would only cause more pain and suffering in the end.
"Dreams, Wufei. These things have been haunting me-since my mercenary days. My nightmares only get worse. I feel so helpless, so hopeless. I'm delirious-I see them now when I'm awake. When my eyes aren't quite focused, I see them- I /feel/ them. I thought I was crazy."
He put a hand through his brown hair, pushing it all away from his eyes for brief moment. They were frightened- the emotion had finally broke through the mask. The Dragon's discovery was all too surreal-wasn't he just crazy? Weren't they just dreams? He looked at the youth before him for an answer- looking very much like a child who insisted there was a monster under the bed.
"You're afraid? You should be. If you have no soul, even Death isn't a happy prospect-and you'd sure as Hell better make it to Death. I know Quatre's waiting for you. He loved you too much-he loved the whole planet too much."
The hands on Trowa's shoulders grew slack and released him. The Chinese youth felt suddenly exhausted, as though he had just waged a war with Trowa's demons himself. HE shivered involuntarily. What the Hell was going on with this world?
April 12th A.C. 197 :: 11:45
The red-headed Mariemaia flitted about Lady Une's apartment impatiently. Une wasn't back yet and she had a favor to ask. Pacing up and down the berber carpeted hall, she listened for any sign of the door to open. Twenty minutes passed and there was no clinking of keys to be heard.
She sighed, blinking. Why was Lady always late? She never came home on time. Mariemaia always had to put food in the microwave and eat it-that was just about disgusting. She wished that for once, her brown haired protector would return on time.
On an impulsive move she jumped up and the couch and began bouncing enthusiastically. Ever since she had regained her ability to walk, she used it on every possible occasion-expecting herself to waste away if she didn't practice. Now she was quite athletic, having regained enough of her muscle content to play with the other kids. Not that they ever invited her to play.
Of course, that brought her back to her urgency. She hadn't seen or heard from Gavin in a week. At first she thought he was sick, but when the teacher couldn't or wouldn't tell her what was wrong she began to get really worried. Her guess was it had something to do with Dead People and Quatre, but the boy wasn't there to answer the question.
She gritted her teeth, frustrated. She wished he would talk to her more. If he'd talk, maybe she could help, but most of the time he just clamped his pale mouth shut and wouldn't talk at all. She guessed he didn't want to trouble her, but the problem was that she was nosey and quite frankly wanted to be troubled.
Face it; she was worried sick about her only friend.
The vid phone rang loudly, and she practically dived off the couch for it, landing on the desk in a superman position. She pressed the button while still in that position, giving Lady Une a very interesting view of her charge as she appeared on the screen.
"How charming, May. What are you doing?"
The redhead giggled. "You gonna say hello?"
"Hello." The brunette smiled, painted lips arching gracefully. "You aren't straining yourself are you?"
Mariemaia kicked her feet in the air. "Nope."
"Good. I'm going to be home late tonight."
"You're already late," the little girl pointed out bluntly.
"You got me."
Blue eyes sparkled with amusement. She had got her, hadn't she? She giggled again, causing Une's smile to broaden. The little girl had such an incredibly cute giggle. It was infectious.
"You want something," the woman stated perceptively.
"Awww. How'd you guess?"
"I have a way of knowing these things. I'm a Preventor. Spit it out-I've gotta go."
"Can I go visit Gavin?"
Lady Une narrowed her brown eyes. "Do you have his parent's permission?"
"Yes," she lied fluently. If she had learned one useful thing from Dakim, it was how to lie effectively. Then again, it practically ran in her blood. Lady Une bought it-hook, line, and sinker.
"Alright, but be back by 10, Miss."
"I will," she said sweetly.
"Take care."
"You too, bye bye!"
"Bye." Static filled the screen as the transmission was cut off. Mariemaia grinned to herself like a little devil.
/Great, now I can check on Gavin./
Noin wandered through the half-empty streets in a kind of fascinated daze-aware of what she had come out to do, but still lost in Wu-fei's words and thoughts about her beloved Zechs. She shook her head pushing the thought away. There were more important things to be done.
Of course, it was curious as to why she'd suddenly left the room where Wufei had accosted the poor, tranced out Trowa. However, her intuition had struck again, and it really had yet to be proved wrong. Even when Zechs had his accident she had warned hi-
No, she couldn't think about that. It would reduce her back to a helpless daze, which was the last thing that anyone-especially the Preventors- needed at this moment.
Her mind flitted again. Why the Hell had all of this started happening anyway? Everything had been going so well after the Mariemaia Uprising-and then this. She mentally gestured- all of this. Sometimes she wondered if the Mars accident hadn't been connected somehow-that some idiot Barton had found out that Zechs was indeed alive.
She sighed. This was rationalizing, not intuition. She was making things up to cover up the truth-or make the truth "feel better."
She watched the people pass by, lost in their own thoughts and emotions and lives. /You all have no idea what's going on./ she thought, sadly. These people didn't know that their world could fall apart at any second.
Damn it-was was life, peace, love and everything else good in the Universe so damned fragile. /DAMN IT GOD, WHY?/ she mentally screamed. The forced of the thought brought a throbbing to her temples, she lifted her hand to rub them-sorry for accusing, but still resentful to God for letting any of this happen.
/But you're being selfish. You're only thinking about Zechs./
A tear trickled down her cheek as she walked. "That's not true," she whispered to herself. "Quatre was like the little brother I never had …"
Violet eyes looked to the heavens, looking for an answer. It so seemed that God was deaf-He could no longer hear her cries-her tears. She watched the artificial clouds pass over an artificial sky. Maybe that was it-maybe humans had just killed God or made Him a hermit by their efforts to become as great or greater than He.
At any rate she felt all too alone.
Was this how Heero felt? How any of the pilots had felt?
There was no answer, so she walked on- down the street to the corner coffee shop that she knew she would find. It was a slovenly little place really- a college hangout more than anything. There was a small stage inside the mud-stained windows- paint peeling from the door. It was almost laughable-but Noin was still too depressed to even smile about it.
She opened the door and was greeted by the stare of a few scattered customers. The Preventor jacket confused them, but no one mentioned it. A couple looked interested-as though they were history majors or in training to be Preventors themselves. Shifting her gaze, she sought to ignore the staring eyes, pushing a black hair strand from her pale face.
She glanced over the "menu" written on a chalkboard and grimaced-how many coffee's could a human possibly invent? Wasn't coffee just coffee? She stepped up to the counter, placing her hands on it to wait. The waiter eyed her from under the brim of his hat-he was about college student age, probably a freshman who needed a job, she mused. He seemed shy, the way his hat and hair hid his eyes from view.
"May I help you," he said gruffly. The voice seemed false, like a person with a cold. Noin's gaze intensified and the youth pulled the hat further down his head.
Noin smiled inwardly, the youth was playing an interesting game to say the least. Nonchalantly she leaned over the counter, looking as though she weren't sure what she wanted –which wasn't an entire facade.
"Mmmm, yeah. Do you have any specials or recommendations?"
"Espresso's got a kick to it. You look like you need some energy."
Noin nodded, having know full well she'd order the darn espresso anyways. It was the only coffee she recognized. She eyed the youth again and raised an eyebrow, fingering through her pockets for her wallet. Finding it, she pulled it out.
"I'll have an espresso then, Heero," she said slyly.
The cheeks of the youth began to burn bright red. Heero tilted the cap from his head, revealing stark, frustrated, and angry Prussian eyes. Scowl crossed his features as he realized he'd been found out. He walked form behind the counter, and grabbing her jacket, pulled her outside.
"How the Hell did you find me?" he grumbled. "I've been here for months an-"
"You're losing your edge and I was desperate, let's put it that way. We could use your expertise Heero."
"No! I'm not fighting anymore-I know what the Barton Followers are up to and I don't want a part in any of this. I'm trying to have a life for a change. I'm sick of being a soldier- let me be a human." Eyes stared intensely outward, the slight sign of a broken man revealed in intuitive flashes of a little girl and her dog and a little unconscious redhead.
Noin started back, surprised by her won sharpness of perception. However, the Japanese youth's pea for a normal life only brought her to anger. Her face turned a little red-like the dark brown haired young man was just begging for sympathy. Her hand clenched into a fist.
"Heero, you've been through Hell and all of us know it. We've all been through our own personal Hell's at different times, but now is not the time to say 'I can't fight anymore," its cowardly and unlike you. Duo's dealt with you trying to commit suicide, so did Zechs, and I'd guess so did several other people. You have a nasty habit of backing out of things and running away.
"You try to make it seem heroic, but it's a lie. I'm not letting you back out this time. Quatre's dead, Zechs is dead-more idiots would like to turn this world back into your automaton purgatory. Either you can sit here and let it happen or help us out like Destiny's made you do every other time.
"I don't care if you want to be normal-Don't we all. What the Hell is normal anyway? Sitting at home with a good book? Getting high off of some drug some guy in the street sold you? Nothing's normal-there is no normal. You want normal you can turn the whole world into a set of Mobile Dolls and live robotically happy forever.
"Don't even look at me like that. You know its true. You sit back and that little girl and the dog I saw in your eyes-that will happen a thousand more times. How many more times are you going to kill her, Heero?"
No one had ever seen Heero look as fearful as he did in that moment. Every word Noin had said was spoken in a barely tainted truth. She was seething and rightfully so. He stepped back again, wiping his sweaty palms on the apron of his uniform. His emotional control had really snapped in the months following the destruction of Wing 0. The youth was now flooded with things he had felt-stated verbally and in his face by someone who he had been forced to learn to respect.
His eyes were so wide. "How did you-you know?"
"I see things, Heero-how do you think I found you. For some reason, ever since Zechs died I've only understood more of my mind's actions. I see through people-not just through things. Its like there was some ability I never tapped into fully, like you and the Zero system." Her face softened, trying to reduce the friction and ice. "I'm going to use everything I have left to stop this-end this Barton problem once and for all. I think you should too. Something tells me your ability, my ability, and Quatre's ability-what did he call it?"
"Space Heart-mm, the Soul of Outer Space."
Noin nodded. "I think they're connected. I think, if we use this /thing/ we can stop something." She paused, feeling into the dark recesses of her mind. "Do you get the feeling that there's more to all of this than the Barton Foundation?"
Heero looked at her, thinking of sleepless nights and strange dreams. He had visions like the ones he used to see in Zero-some of which he had never spoken of. He couldn't shake this /feeling/ from him-and even he didn't know what it was. It made him wish that the Zero were still intact.
"Maybe I'm crazy," said Noin, doubting herself for the first time during the conversation.
Heero grabbed her hand, "No. You're not crazy. There's something. I've never known fear-true fear- in my life. Not the kind that keeps you awake shivering like it's the end of the world. I get that feeling now-its like"
"Everything's off balance." She lowered her eyebrows. "We're a couple of strange ducks."
"Everyone I know is strange," stated Heero frankly. He took off his apron and dropped it back on the ground. Without a word he started to walk away. Noin stared after him like he was crazy. He looked back with a cold glare. "What are you waiting for- We have to save Relena's peace-again."
April 12th, A.C. 197 :: 13:13
It was a long ride on the Monorail from Lady Une's apartment to Gavin's suburban house. Mariemaia had known that from experience-which was often. More than once Une had arrived at the door to drag her home from the place after school. She was lucky that both Gavin's father and Une were patient people. Had the Lady been anywhere near what she used to be, little Mariemaia would be in quite a fix.
But this was not an issue. Lady Une was at work-and had no idea she really wasn't supposed to be here. Standing at the door of the house, she marveled how a home could be so huge. It was understandable with a palace, but this house was just a house.
She shook it off and skipped up the porch steps, knocking on the door. It was swiftly answered by a tall, thin girl of about 14 years. Long curly hair hung to her waist, and pale sea foam eyes gazed out inquisitively at the world. Spying Mariemaia, the girl smiled.
"Hi, girl!" she said amiably, a beautiful smiled filling her delicate features. Mariemaia smiled back, eying the girl who was Gavin's sister Amanda. She was a nice girl really, and looked a lot like her little brother-without the creepiness. Amanda was a girl with one of those bubbly qualities not unlike Mariemaia's-people couldn't help but follow her. She was a born leader.
Amanda gestured for the redhead to enter, shutting the door swiftly behind her. It looked like rain, which wouldn't be a big surprise in April.
"Is Gavin here?" the girl questioned, looking upward with her sparkling blue eyes. Amanda looked down at her and a strange expression passed over her face.
"Umm, he's been locked up in his room for a week. He does that from time to time." She said it worriedly, as a sister should, but there was an air of normalcy about it. Obviously this happened more than the small family would like to admit.
Mariemaia just giggled. "Maybe I can get him out," she said.
"I dunno, DAD!" The yell was sharp, which quickly brought "Dad" into the room.
He was tall, quite tall and thin. He had a stock of white curly hair, so one could see where various pieces of Gavin and Amanda's appearance came from. Mariemaia found him a very interesting Dad because his eyes held a similar quality to Gavin's and had the same ability to absorb the gazer. However, they were an icy blue like Mariemaia's own. It was strange that Gavin's dark violet eyes had come from such a pale featured father.
"Hello, Mariemaia. Gavin's locked up in his room again."
"Again?"
"Huh?" He looked confused; as though the fact that Gavin shut himself up was common knowledge. "Oh, he shuts himself up and refuses to have anything to do with anyone now and then. I've never been able to get it out of him-he's a sensitive kid. It's been a long time since he's done it though. Maybe over a year or more-I'd been really beginning to think he was getting better." He sighed, like someone who completely understood various reasons for locking oneself in the room. He was incredibly patient, incredibly kind. It put poor Gavin in a very safe position. "I wish he'd tell me what's wrong."
Mariemaia knew. Gavin had told her. She wished she could tell them, but Gavin had sworn her to secrecy. He didn't want his family to think he was crazy. She really felt they should know, but there was nothing she could do.
"I wanna try and talk to him," she said finally. "Can I try, James? I miss him at school, the bullies are so mean." She left out the simple fact that she had punched one of them. Actually, the gesture had earned her quite a following among the group of suppressed children. However, somehow she knew that no one would approve of that violence.
James noted the look of stubbornness on her face, and worry-similar to Amanda's when she was worried about her baby brother. There was never any fighting a face like that-besides; perhaps the boy was more likely to exit the room for his friend than anyone else.
"Go ahead. Oh, and stop sneaking out of the house to come here."
Mariemaia started, but headed obediently up the stairs. How had he known that she weaseled her way here? She looked back briefly and saw James chuckling at her. Oh well, he never told.
She paused at the door to his room and knocked. There was no answer, though from the way James and Amanda were talking he wasn't likely to answer. "Gavin, its me, Mariemaia!" Still no answer. Out of frustration she tried the door, but found it locked. Well, that wasn't any good.
With her hand she dug around in her pocket to find a bobby pin. She smiled, Duo had taught her so many fun tricks when Lady Une wasn't watching. Taking the pin, she carefully placed in it the divot in the knob and twisted until it clicked. Having accomplished this, she tried the door again.
It opened this time and she smiled. She had beat Gavin at his game-or so she thought. She wasn't prepared for what she saw next.
Walking into the room she first spied everything she was familiar with, the window-bare walls and all out plain room. However when she turned to the bed she stepped back alarmed.
On the plain black sheets of the bed lay Gavin's immobile body, as white as death. He was motionless, unbreathing. A sense of horror struck the girl. Was he dead? She didn't know.
Cautiously she stepped forward, not certain what to make of it. With a small pale finger she reached out and touched his hand. The motion was returned with a slight electric shock and she jerked away.
He wasn't dead, what was he?
TBC.