Essence
Part Eight
By Lady AngelFiren


I lay on the bed with Heero for a little while, not really thinking about anything in particular. His thoughts calmed me considerably and lulled me into a comfortable state of nothingness. I hadn't even realized quite how miserable he was until the sense of it was gone; misery had always been such a general thing for him. At least for the time being, I was happy to lay in his bed with him and absorb the contented musings he radiated. But it figures that the happiness would only last so long, I mean, how often is it that things that are good stretch on for any length of time? Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

There was a knock at the door not fifteen minutes after I'd started to feel peaceful. And of all the people who could possibly have such bad timing, It was Relena's distinct thoughts I could feel driving my small happiness away as she knocked. Instead of the chipper, knowledgeable guide who'd escorted me here, however, I caught a stoic neutralness from her that was disturbing. More like fuckin weird.

Heero had fallen sleep, and waking him was the last thing I wanted to do. Even if he _was_ having a nightmare, I didn't think it would be fair to drag his tired ass back to the land of the living unless I had to. Plus it would already be hard enough to pretend to be him, I didn't need the real him breathing down my neck, watching my bad acting. If I felt anything overly disturbing coming off of him, I would get him up.

I licked my lips and scrubbed at my face with my hands, then pulled back the blanket and went to open the door.

"Heero." Relena said in a quiet, toneless voice as I stepped back so she could come in. she still had the strange pink nylons on, but her hair was down and dark red lipstick was applied perfectly to her lips. It didn't really match the blue of her eyes and clashed horribly with the nylons, but gave her a distant, strong look that was at once intimidating and inviting.

I tried to glare and hoped that my startled expression didn't show too badly as she barely bat an eyelash at me and stepped boldly into the room. She immediately went over to where Heero was sleeping soundly, and was about to shake him awake when I grabbed her arm impulsively and stopped her. The cold expression she gave me was chilling, like there was nobody home upstairs. I reached out with my sense and tried to see what was going on in her head. Nothing but a few simple, calculated thoughts, and that was it. Dammit! She was hiding her thoughts from me! Bitch

"What are you doing here Relena." I said as emotionlessly as possible.

Smiling sweetly, the coldness fell away from her, but it didn't leave her eyesshe looked like a robot, almost grinning at me. "Mr. Jackson wants to see _Heero_ for a few minutes_Duo,_ so he sent me to get him. You just stay here, we'll be back in a little bit. Relena pressed her lips together, evening the crimson colour. She tapped on Heero's shoulder. Even through the sweatshirt and comforter, he jerked awake, eyes wide and empty. Long hair fell over his face and gave him a decidedly tousled appearance that matched the rest of his haphazard look.

After looking around and getting his breath under control, I could feel recognition of where he was hit him, along with Relena. She jabbed him in the shoulder none-too-gently and glared down at his face. He looked mildly confused for a second before his own glare came through. Defiance flashed in his eyes, but he quickly grew nervous. He had no idea how to be me.

I went over to Relena, stood right behind her. Heero was normally taller than her by a couple inches, so I could see the top of her head. Clean blond hair circled her shoulders and whooshed out in a pretty halo when she turned to face me, her whole demeanor defiant and downright snotty. Bitch. Her thoughts were still blocked off from me for some reason, but I could clearly catch that she felt she had something over me. Over us. Our names; she thought she was smart because she knew who we really were.

That seriously pissed me off, even if she was wrong. Since when do snobby, short blond chicks with lots of money think they can intimidate _me?_ I had to stop myself from punching her as tension built in the room. She let another one of her small, taunting smiles grace her full scarlet lips and she turned back to Heero, grabbing his hand and jerking him to his feet. He yanked his hand back from her and rage swept off of him in a thick wave. He didn't like the situation at all. That principle had really put him off, and he wasn't looking forward to seeing the guy again. What reason did he have to go there anyway? Poor bastard, figures he'd be getting unwanted attention now that he was lost in someone else's body and didn't know how to act.

"What do you want Relena?" he asked suspiciously, a shiver going through him as the perpetual cold set back in. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and tell him he was alright, but Relena grabbed his elbow and started pulling him to the door.

"Mr. Jackson wants to see you, _Heero,_ and you'd better not keep him waiting, he gives out detentions, and isn't a very nice man sometimes. Put some shoes on." She eyed his feet and crossed her arms impatiently.

Heero went over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans, slipping off the baggy sweats and pulling on the coarse denim pants. He got a pair of socks and my running shoes, easily sliding his feet in without undoing the laces. I had learned quickly after gaining his form that not everyone can do that. There is no way that his usual feet would just slide in, and I was ready to replace his stupid ochre shoes with flip-flops the next chance I got, because it was pissing me off so much. He pulled off the heavy sweatshirt to reveal the infamous 'I Am God' tee. Lastly, he took my brush off his dresser and tried to run it through his hair a few times before Relena grew impatient and sighed angrily.

"Quit worrying about how you look, it doesn't matter, let's just go." She opened the door and waited for him to get out of the room. When he was waiting for her in the hall, glaring for all he was worth, she turned to me and smiled shyly. "Give us two hours, I don't know what Mr. Jackson wants, but he always takes a very long time when he's doing something with a student." She tossed her head curtly, sent the blond locks flying in a healthy little circle, and shut the door with a 'click.'

/Well./ I thought to myself, /Wasn't that just fuckin strange. I swear she's got problems/ I muttered about Relena's wierdness under my breath as I picked up the clothes off the floor and tried to think of something to do with myself for two hours. I was folding the sweatpants, absently trying to tug the eternal wrinkles out of them, when there was a tearing sound. I looked down at the fabric in my hands and growled in frustration. How, HOW had I managed to tear them in half? I wasn't even trying to! /This is ridiculous,/ I thought wearily, and sat on the bed, careful not to break anything. It was hot in the room, I was pissed off about Relena being such a nice person one second, and a snotty whore the next, and I was sick of destroying things with this fucking super-strength!

I growled in frustration for probably the thirtieth time that day and stood up. I realized I was clenching and unclenching my fists, exactly as Heero would do when he was pissed and ready to kill something. Forcing myself to stop it, I took some clean underwear and a stupid fucking green tank top and hauled my ass off to the showers. Have I mentioned Heero's really twisted taste in underwear yet? Ok, get this. Every single pair of underwear he owns is some kind of little boy briefs with a superhero on the ass. I swear, I'm not kidding. They are all trimmed in colour, with superheroes on the ass. When I noticed this the first time I had to pee in his body, I laughed s hard I would have cried, except this body can't cry, so I settled for collapsing on the bed in a fit of giggles until I couldn't move anymore.

The ones I had happened to yank out of the dresser were my all-time favorites to far. They were trimmed in a rusty orange and had the original Wolverine on them, striking a fearsome pose like he was gonna leap off whoever's ass and attack you. It was too funny.

I locked the door and scuttled off down the hallway, wondering where the showers were. Aha! They were at the end of the hall!! I found the shower room and helped myself o some fluffy white towels and a matching washcloth. There were only a few other people in the room, which made me relatively happy. I hate communal shower rooms, cause guys have this tendency to either tease me about my hair or try and share a shower with me, and that is seriously annoying, not to mention freaky. I don't know about most people, but I'm not into guys I don't know touching me and shit. Ew.

But then again, I was in Heero's body now, and seeing as he was practically the picture of masculinity, I didn't think anyone would have bugged me; the whole glare thing keeps them away. I tossed my clothes into a cubby and found a shower head to stand under. I turned the little metal knob to hot. It squeaked angrily, but moved when I forced it. Hah, being unnaturally strong has its advantages. Of course, there is always that problem of me destroying things, I pulled on the knob, and it didn't budge. I pulled harder, actually using a bit of muscle, and the stupid the came off the wall in my hand! Gah! I looked embarrassed and set the knob on the ground, the went to the shower beside the one I'd broken. Fortunately this one worked just fine, and I had no trouble finding a perfect temperature.

In my normal body, I like the water really hot, like scalding. That was the 'perfect temperature' I had in mind, but when I stepped under it, my eyes went wide and I hopped quickly away, nursing my burned skin and glaring maliciously at the scalding spray.

"Damnit! That is fuckin hot!" I exclaimed, and steered around the water to the controls, cranking the knob over to cold. Now I had a temperature that I would have turned blue from in my old bod, but it felt just right to me in this one. Finally! I stepped under the frigid spray and sighed happily from how good it felt. I washed myself, my hair (which was _so_ pitifully easy, by the way, especially when compared to what I was used to working with), brushed my teeth, and then turned off the water. Yup, I like to brush my teeth in the shower. I know, strange, but it works, try it!

Oh, and that brings me to how hard it is to brush teeth you aren't used to. Jesus, the first time I tried it I actually hurt myself! It never occurred to me that people's mouths can so different, but they are. Heero's mouth is smaller than mine, his actual teeth are finer and perfectly straight, and his tongue is shaped different. I was still getting used to that whole tongue thing. The idea that I was in his mouth all the time and I could make his tongue do whatever I wanted made me cackle happily on the inside, and I had already spent like an hour just running my new tongue all around my mouth, getting a feel for the changes. Weird, seriously.

Ever catch yourself makin faces in the mirror? Well, there was lots of that too. I had the power to force 'Heero' to smile and laugh and do whatever I wanted, and this was all very entertaining to myself and the mirror. We had a riot.

I dried myself off and put on the Wolverine underwear and the evil top, then pulled on the same jeans I had been wearing before my shower. I had to go shopping soon, I wasn't interested in wearing the same jeans all the time, but I still couldn't make myself even think of putting on those godawful Spandex shorts. Whatever possessed Heero to start wearing those things I don't know, but there was no way I would be caught dead wearin' them, even if I did have to pretend I was him. I dried of my hair and ran my fingers through it, cursing the way it managed to stick out in absolutely every possible direction, even wet. It looked so cool when I wasn't the one who had to deal with it, but Heero's stupid hair was really getting on my nerves. I missed my braid. I think that was the biggest reason I was mad at his hair.

Finishing up, I went back to the room to see what there was to do for and hour and a half while Heero was hanging out with Mr. Jackson. *Cringe* I can't believe that guy's a principle! Fuckin homophobes It made me wanna hurt something.

Being in this body was cool and all, but I really missed being me. I felt soalone like this. Even though I was still my talkative self, being Heero Yuy was quite the experience. I didn't want to accidentally hurt people by shaking their hand, or glare at them because I wasn't sure what else to do. It was really getting to me. There were advantages, but I didn't know how to utilize Heero's power, and I still didn't know how to talk to Solo. I lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Finally I was calm enough to feel the gentle push of other people as the went about their lives all around me, completely oblivious to my presence. I closed my eyes and tried not to concentrate on any one person; I wanted to see exactly how receptive I could be.

Then I felt it. The familiar pulse of my long dead friend Solo, just sort of hovering around me. Was he going to say something to me? I could feel something in him, like urgency, concern. Maybe he didn't have a lot of time to be around here, and he wanted me to notice him or something. I definitely got the impression he was trying to get my attention. Its hard to describe the way I could fee that the necessity he was projecting was meant for me; its like it had my name branded all over it.

/Solo?/ I asked in my head, hoping he would answer. He had spoken to Heero before, why wouldn't he talk to me? He was my friend before he died, after all. It really hurt when there was nothing but eerie silence in the room around me, and in my heart. Solo's spirit didn't react to my thoughts. He sort of pulsed, once more indicating urgency, but everything was silent. I wasn't feeling any of the warmth or comfort that he'd given Heero, it was almost like the ghost's concern was for someone else.

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I could feel Solo get sort of excited, pulsing loudly in my heart. Then he grew concerned again. What the hell was goin' on? Why the fuck wouldn't he talk to me? I suppressed a growl and tried again to figure out what he was trying to tell me. This time I was a bit more successful, I received a brief flash of an image from him; Heero. It was a picture of Heero, in my body, walking down the hallway with Relena. She was still in her freaky pink nylons, and her hair was still down, the deep lipstick applied perfectly to her lips. She was glaring at the floor, and Heero was walking beside her, looking around, but not really expressing much of anything that I could recognize.

/So?/ I reflected in annoyance, /She's taking him to see that fucker, Jackson. What is so important about that?/

Before I even finished thinking 'at' Solo, I received another image, and I could somehow feel that his picture was happening now, in the present. This was like live action video compared to watching stuff captured by news crews three hours after an accident.. There were tiny differences, but they made it very clear to me that I was witnessing the present.

Heero was standing in a park. I didn't recognize it, but it was green and pretty. The images I was getting from Solo were silent, but I could imagine birds chirping and kids playing on the swings in the background. I watched from somewhere above as Relena smiled and said something to Heero in an excited tone, then gestured to the tree line a few yards away. I noticed that she had her hair up again, and that the crimson lipstick was replaced with shimmery pink gloss. Heero looked at where she pointed, and started to walk towards the trees.

Relena followed him, and trees quickly surrounded me as I watched from just above and behind the pair. Heero let himself be led along a path, into a small clearing. Relena started to say something to him, gesturing animatedly with her hands. She raised a finger, signaling for Heero to give her a second. Relena yanked the tie out of her hair, clearly still talking about something, and walked around behind him, still talking. Heero had his arms folded and was looking less than interested. Long hair hid his face, but I could tell he was glaring at the ground and thinking about leaving. I watched, completely helpless, as Relena continued talking, laughing loudly, and simultaneously took a heavy baseball bat out from behind a tree.

She went up behind him, not appearing to sneak or be quiet. She was still laughing about whatever she was saying, and she brought the bat up behind her, and swung, clearly putting all of her strength into the swing. The silence of the little movie was shattered as I heard the thick sound that came when the baseball bat solidly connected with Heero's back, and he dropped unconscious like a stone.

There were no more images from Solo. He pulsed weakly and floated through the room, hovering anxiously around me and waiting for me to get up. I could see the cleanly painted ceiling over my head, and feel the covers of my bed beneath my body. I couldn't really think. Solo pulsed near me and indicated urgency. I finally found the strength to get up off the bed, but I had no idea what to do. I didn't even know where Heero was, much less what Relena could be doing to him. She was obviously crazy, I wouldn't put much past her.

/Solo? I don't know where he is, can you show me?/ I thought at the ghost, momentarily forgetting my jealousy and the ache I felt for him.

Solo seemed tired, fading, but he led me out of the school, pulsing weakly and occasionally dissipating completely into thin air. He was sort of blinking in and out of existence, but he managed to be concentrated enough for me to sense and follow him. I ended up walking away from the school, just past the elementary school down the street. It was Saturday, but several children were playing on the swings and chasing one another, laughing merrily. The birds I'd imagined chirping were loud and energetic, their calls ringing out in the treetops. I wandered into the trees.

It was harder to follow Solo through the thick growth because he would drift through places that I couldn't walk, and the going was slow, muddy in places. Sunlight streamed cheerfully down through the leaves of tall maples and aspens, sticks and roots littering the ground all around me. It wasn't very long before I didn't need Solo's guidance anymore. I could feel Heero's mind way before I saw him. His thoughts were incoherent, unclear. I knew he couldn't be completely conscious, and I started to run, all the while following the steady beat that came off of him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I started to come around, not really sure where I was or what had happened. The first thing I heard were birds calling somewhere high over my head, their voices echoing loudly inside of my skull. I opened my eyes a crack and closed them quickly when bright sunlight glared into my face. Taking a breath, I listened to the birds sing and felt the sun washing over me. I couldn't hear anyone else around, but I knew that didn't mean I was alone.

Groaning, I didn't even try to sense people, I just raised a hand over my eyes to block the sun and opened them. I was in a forest somewhere, tall green trees over me, and soft moss under me. What the hell was going on? I took a few breaths and remembered how I got here, remembered Relena talking to me about something. But why had I been unconscious? It didn't make any sense, I was missing pieces of the puzzle. I knew I didn't have a concussion, my body felt fine, I wasn't nauseous or really confused beyond reason, and I wasn't bleeding. This was stupid. There was no one anywhere that I could see, I had just been standing around one minute and then been unconscious the next.

I tried to sit up when something finally registered. Something wasn't working properly. I tried to wiggle my toes and nothing happened. I tried to bend my knees, lift my legs, move them at all, and nothing happened. There wasn't any pain, but I couldn't move my legs. Panic went through me before I clamped down on it and refused to let it get to me. I was a soldier, I was not about to let something like this stop me from functioning. I would just have to find a way out of here. I thought about what could cause paralysis in my legs. Back injury. Pinched nerves and tissues in my spine. It was probably not a good idea to move. Relena had been here, she was probably getting help, and that is why I was alone. Butshe didn't leave anything to tell me she was gone, and how would I have hurt myself in the first place?

/Ok Heero, you're thinking about this too much, just stay still for a few minutes, and Relena will be back with help./

I knew the thought was a lie before I finished it. I was in Duo's body, Relena had always hated Duo. And as strange as she had been acting today, I really couldn't know what to expect of her. She had lied to get me out of the room, saying that the principal wanted to see me. As soon as I was away from Duo, she dragged me off elsewhere, and I was feeling so passive at the time that I hadn't really cared. Stupid! Now I was lying in the forest, unable to use my legs, and I could feel the ever-present cold setting in. My teeth started to chatter as goosebumps raced across my skin. If I moved I could risk further damaging the my back, maybe even hurt myself more. But if I didn't move, then I was doomed to lay out here in the cold until someone found me, which probably wouldn't happen.

I decided that I was already hurt, and that I had to get out of the forest. I was presently lying on my back. I rolled over, which proved to be a challenge with my legs as dead weight. I had to drag myself along in a belly crawl on my forearms to get anywhere, and after only a few feet, my stomach and arms were torn and scratched from the debris on the forest floor. Duo's 'I am God' tee-shirt was ripped into ribbons, and his long hair was full of leaves and twigs, his bangs sticking to my face as I sweat.

I made it to the edge of the clearing, and found a wooden baseball bat lying on the ground, looking guilty and harmless at the same time. Probably what Relena had hit me with, although why she decided to hit me was beyond my understanding. That didn't matter right now. I had to get out of here. I looked into the woods, hearing children playing in the distance. Their soft ambience was so strange, it really made this all seem like a dream. I shivered and looked at the land I would have to crawl over to get back to some kind of civilization. There was a mud puddle about twenty feet in front of me, and after that a hill that would be easy to walk up, but not so easy to crawl. It was covered in thick brambles that I remembered walking through on the way here. With my jeans they hadn't been a problem. Now

I firmed my resolve, pushing away the fear and letting the soldier slide into action. I went at a pace I could handle, inching away from the clearing towards the mud puddle, when I started to hear someone walking through the brush not too far away from me. It sounded like an adult, not a child. I thanked whatever gods existed and called for help as loudly as I could. I barely made a peep. My breaths were heavy and deep in my chest, and there wasn't much room left for speech in my position. I clenched my teeth and tried again, this time getting out a 'help!' that was reasonably loud. The footsteps came closer to me, and my teeth chattered as I hoped to god I was going to be ok.

"HEERO!" A familiar voice answered my pathetic cry. Duo! Duo was here!

I called his name and heard the footsteps speed up, branches cracking under sure feet. Duo came bursting through the bushes to my left and I swear I have never been so happy to see my own body in my whole life. I was panting, out of breath. I hadn't realized that tears were creeping down my face along with the chilled perspiration that had plastered my bangs onto my skin. Duo stared at me for a minute in confusion, then he came and knelt by my head, looking into my eyes. Worry and fear were written all over his face.

"I saw what she did. You shouldn't be moving. Are you ok?" He checked my pulse and asked me to breath deeply for him, then put a hand to my forehead. I didn't really catch what he'd said, the relief was so strong and I was cold, and I just wanted to go back to someplace safe.

"I can't move my legs at all. I just remember talking to Relena and then waking up on my back in the forest, and I couldn't move my legs."

"Are you in any pain? You shouldn't have moved, you could have hurt yourself more."

"No, it doesn't hurt. What did you want me to do, lay there and freeze? I didn't think anyone was going to come looking for me, how did you find me?"

"Solo. He showed me when it happened, and then led me here. He's gone now, though. I don't know if I should move you, I could end up hurting something and making this permanent. But, I don't want to leave you here while I call an ambulance, it took me awhile to get this far in, its gonna be a really long time before EMT's can get here. I'm gonna hafta carry you out."

"Then carry me. I was going to crawl out, I don't think you'll hurt me anymore than I already hurt myself by trying to crawl. If you can find a way to immobilize my back, then you probably won't hurt me at all."

Duo obviously hadn't thought to bring any medical supplies with him, and there was nothing around that he could use to even remotely keep my back straight. I eventually found myself in his steel strong arms, being carried through the sunny forest as fast as he dared go. I was bleeding all over him from the scrapes and gashes on my stomach, and I had started to shiver, but he didn't have anything to keep me warm. I was slipping in and out of consciousness when we came out of the trees into a playground.

Little children started crying and running to their parents, but one lady stepped forward and offered to drive me to the hospital. Duo accepted and lay me in the back of her minivan. She put a crying little boy in his car seat at the front of the van and let Duo sit on the floor in the back with me. She offered me her sweater, which Duo laid over my shivering body as best he could, and we took off.

The nearest hospital was about an hour away. I wanted to stay conscious as long as I could, so I started talking to Duo. He had one of my hands in his. They felt warm and strong against my skin. I held onto that warmth and told myself that we'd be there soon. There was a first aid kit in the van, Duo laid the wool blanket over me and pulled out some supplies to clean the wounds I'd given myself trying to crawl out of the forest. He kept talking to me in a soothing voice that I hadn't ever heard him use before. His voice in my body was more masculine and quiet than what he was used to; it sounded good. I wondered why I was thinking of his voice at a time like his, but reminded myself that it didn't really matter what I thought about, as long as I was conscious.

"What happened?" He asked, looking for more detail than I'd given him before.

"Relena took me out into the forest. I was angry and frustrated, I didn't really care where she took me or what I was doing at the time. I wasn't paying attention. She just kept talking, I wasn't even listening to what she was saying anymore. I think maybe she thought that something was different, I wasn't acting like you normally would. I really don't know. She led me to a clearing, and started walking around, letting her hair down. I don't know what hit me. I just blinked and the next thing I knew I was waking up on the ground and I couldn't move my legs. I didn't know what had happened at first, but after hypothesizing I figured she'd done something to me then run away. I mean, she's never liked you to begin with. I don't think she's stable. I tried moving, and ended up crawling on my belly. I could hear the kids in the playground so I set my mind and told myself to crawl towards the sound. Thank you for finding me Duo, I don't think I would have made it without you."

Duo watched me while I spoke. I don't think he realized that I was even capable of speaking that much all at once. He smiled sadly and squeezed my hand in both of his. A shiver passed through me and the van was quiet for a little while. Duo looked out the back window for a few minutes, then turned to me again.

"Heero, it wasn't me, it was Solo. He warned me and led me to you. Next time you talk to him you can tell him you owe him your life. I still haven't heard him speak, he won't talk to me. But, you know I can feel when he's around. The only thing I wonder is why he didn't just tell you to turn around before that bitch hit you. Then none of this would have happened. I can't believe her! You should have killed her when you had the chance. I know I told you that before, but I'll never stop believing it. She would be better off dead. What if you can't walk again because of her? She's crazy."

"Duo, shut up. I'll go to the hospital and they'll get me fixed up. I'll be fine."

The little kid sitting in the front seat must have been listening to us talk, because I heard him shuffling around and then his worried little voice spoke up.

"Mommy, that man said a bad word! He's the man from TV! I saw him before mommy! Mommy!"

I bit my lip and looked at the boring gray ceiling of the minivan, hoping that we wouldn't get into a conversation with this woman about our identities. I really needed to get to the hospital without having to give out information. I didn't want to have to kill this woman at a later date. I knew that if it came to it, Duo would pull out his gun and shoot her, then drive me himself, but for a child so young to see thatI hadn't liked death when I was small, I knew that it would destroy the little boy's life. Duo was thorough, he'd probably kill the kid too.

Meanwhile, the lady, who hadn't actually introduced herself yet, was shushing her child.

"Quiet Ryan, its rude to talk to people like that! What has mommy always told you about being nice to people?"

The kid, Ryan, sniffled apologetically. "I'm sorry mommy, but he's the man I saw on TV! He makes things go boom and has a scythe! He's the man that saved daddy! I remember mommy! I never saw anyone else with a long braid like he has! He just doesn't have it in right now, but its him!!" There were shuffling sounds and a seatbelt unbuckling, and soon a cute little snub face was poking over the backseat. The kid had blond hair and brown eyes, and he looked at me adoringly. "You saved daddy! I know you did! Didn't you save daddy?"

He looked expectant, like he wanted me to answer. I had no idea how he would recognize Duo's body in its current state, but I was more concerned with when Duo had actually made a big flashy move that really, clearly saved people. He was usually the one to sneak in and out and no one ever noticed him. I was at a loss for words. Duo squeezed my hand and smiled at the boy.

"Sorry kid, I think you got the wrong guy, but he's honoured that you think he saved your daddy, really! How about you go sit back down and get buckled up, and we can get my friend to the hospital, ok? Its important, we want him to be able to walk again."

The kid looked reverently at me, letting his confused certainty show on his face. Then he looked back at Duo and decided to climb back into his car seat. I heard his mom sigh in relief and the buckle snapped shut securely. I was staring at Duo now, wondering if I'd walk again, and thinking about how much it would suck for him when he got back into his own body and had to deal with this. It seemed unfair. The woman driving spoke up and decided to introduce herself.

"I'm sorry for Ryan's excitement. His father was saved by a Gundam pilot, the one with the long braid. Every time he sees someone with really long hair and a certain shade of eyes he gets hyper and wants to thank them. I think one day when the war is over I'll try and find that man and thank him, he saved our family. My name is Karen, I forgot to tell you before. Are you both doing alright? I know I'm not getting overly excited by your injury, but I find its best to remain calm in these situations, we're nearly at the hospital. It should be about ten more minutes."

I could imagine the Karen woman smiling, even though she couldn't really see us. I was glad we didn't have to kill her, especially for something as stupid as getting me to the hospital. I rode in silence while Duo started a conversation with her. I just listened to the sound of his voice and tried not to fall asleep. I felt completely calm and comfortable, aside from the occasional shiver and the pain on my stomach and arms from the scrapes there.