Author's Notes: Now here, here, here we go! (sorry about that) Well, I'm so
happy, you're so nice! Thanks for your reviews. I was even surprised for
someone there saying this shouldn't be over yet, but I think it's time now
for Quatre to decide. Is he going to be the nice guy or is he staying like
the bad cowboy? Let's see…
"The Other Side of The Gentle Soldier"
Chapter Eight- Finale
"I'm not an Oz agent" – and Quatre rapidly turned and shot Craig right between the man's eyes- "I'm a Gundam Pilot"
Everybody stood frozen in their places at the sudden movement. A fraction of second later, the chaos exploded. There were bullets crossing the air from both sides, as the soldiers and pilots reacted.
Heero ducked and hid behind a console, while aiming his gun. A minute later, Quatre hid right beside him, his gun also aiming. Heero turned his attention away from the battle for a moment to address 04.
"What do you think you were doing back there!?" –the Japanese pilot asked.
"Gaining some time" –the blunt answer came immediately as the neo-Arabic got out of his place, firing and advancing.
Heero cursed in low voice and recharged his gun. Suddenly, Duo appeared, occupying the place Quatre had just left.
"So? How's he?" –he asked panting.
"The same. The system didn't control him, he was just pretending." –01 replied.
"Good. He's quite nasty now, I wouldn't like to have him against us. Though, for a second I really thought he was about to shoot us…" –the American said.
Heero nodded, and then, both sprinted from their sites, entering into the battle again. Wufei and Trowa were taking care of the soldiers' barrier, while Quatre was decoding and copying the system into a disc.
"Haven't you finished?" –Duo screamed in the middle of the noise, addressing the pilot in front of the computers.
"Code mode trespassed. But the system is infecting all the connections within a radio of three bases more!" –came the reply from Quatre.
"What?" –Duo blinked, firing one more time.
"The system is transmitting itself to other bases, like a virus. Even if we get to destroy it here, it's going to multiply to other OZ locations" –Trowa explained, getting close to the wall the pilots were forming close to the exit.
The place was coming down among the fire, and they had to make their getaway fast. The soldiers were also escaping, just a dozen had stayed back, and they were running out of munitions.
"04, we must leave now" –Trowa called.
"Hurry up!" –Duo said.
"Get down!" –Wufei warned, as a grenade crossed the air.
The explosion sent the walls into pieces and the metallic roof started to fall over them. But Quatre didn't move. There was no way to delete the system if the complete computer units weren't destroyed.
"Self-destruct is required. Accepted" –the Neo-Arabic pilot murmured, setting the destruction mode to send the base up to the sky.
Voices started to call him again.
"Quatre, what the Hell are ya waiting for? Get out of there!" –Duo yelled again, but his voice was interrupted by the sound of the alarm beeping all around, announcing the danger of destruction.
"He has set the system into destruction mode! And he won't be able to get out!" –Wufei suddenly said, guessing 04's course of thoughts.
The three pilots stared at him in surprise, each of them slowly calculating the possibilities of such action…Yes, Quatre was capable of such a thing.
"05, head to the hangar and get a ship! Fast!" –Heero took command- "03, acquired explosives to make us an exit out of here. And 02…"
"I'm going in there to get the bastard" –Duo replied, angry at Quatre's indifferent decision to take his own life. Soon, the pilots ran to comply, and Heero followed the American into the smoke.
Quatre was still sitting in front of a screen, his flaxen head resting over the keyboard, as a line of blood ran across his features. He had been knocked out by the grenade's explosion.
"There you are" –Duo murmured, attempting to grab him from the place.
But as his hands got closer, the boy seemed to regain his senses, and at the view of a person nearby, the gun in his hands lifted, aiming to the intruder.
"Easy, Q-man!" –Duo said, halting- "It's just me, your nice friend Duo Maxwell"
It took the strategist some seconds to fix the blurred image in his mind in order to recognize his comrade. Duo was there, his arm wounded, but there anyway. Another person appeared behind him, revealing to be Heero. Slowly, the gun came down.
"The mission to self-destruct wasn't given to you. You're spoiling the…" –the blonde started to said.
"Screw the mission" –Duo answered, his fists clenched- "I'm damn tired of all of this lone wolf act you guys always play! Now, Quatre, you're coming with us, like it or not, mission or not, even if I have to punch you in order to get you out!"
Amethyst eyes were as hard as stone at the words. Heero stared at him for a second before staring at Quatre, to see his reaction. The Sandrock's pilot was about to say something, when an electric shock blew up the console in front of them, the system reading 'Failure' in all the screens. The mission was accomplished.
"03 here! Get down!" –Trowa's warning was followed by an explosion, which force moved away the ceiling's wrecks. Both 01 and 02 were ready to follow the way, but they turned to see 04 were not following.
Heero was about to order him to move, but he stayed silent at the boy kneeling on the floor, his eyes shut forcefully, moaning. This time, he was not pretending. Duo bent in order to pull him up, but he was surprised when Quatre snapped his hands away from him, backing off.
"He doesn't recognize you!" –Heero yelled. He also bent and helped Duo to grab hold of a confused Quatre. But the 04 pilot was desperately trying to free himself from them.
"Quatre! Hey, Cat! It's just us!" –Duo said, holding Quatre's face between his hands, forcing the Prussian blue eyes to look at them. Duo, not really sure of what to do, smiled. Typical. –"Come on, Cat, we gotta get home before dinner. You promised to make me pancakes, remember? And I'll buy the ice cream, ok?"
Heero listened while still holding 04, though the blonde wasn't fighting anymore. His glance seemed confused by 02's words.
"I'll convince Heero to try pancakes with butter, sugar and honey but only if you make them. Geez, even Wufei like your pancakes! Remember the time he first tried them and ate too many? That was funny!" –and Duo laughed briefly- "And Trowa said you had a chess match to finish, so ya see, we better hurry 'cause if we don't, Rashid and Abdul and the others will be scowling at you all night…"
Quatre had calmed by now, and his confused eyes had turned wistful, like remembering. The roar of a ship nearby announced 05's arrival. And Trowa's voice was still calling them out.
"Come on, Cat, it's time for you to come back to us" –Duo finally said, embracing his friend, who presented no opposition. They stayed like that for a while.
"He fainted" –Heero said, sighing slightly at Duo's victory over the now failing system. Duo lowered his glance to see the boy lying eyes-closed in his arms. Well, he had made it after all.
"We better get moving…" –Heero voiced, while helping the wounded Duo to carry the sleeping Quatre out of there, towards the ship.
***
"Are you sure we can go in to see him so soon?" –the American asked, half smiling.
The four pilots were standing at the threshold of the clinical room, back in their shelter now. Quatre was lying on the bed in there, looking as normal as always. He didn't even have an I.V. or anything. After all, the wounds acquired at the last mission were only superficial. Though, who knew how his mind was working now…
"Is he awake? Can we talk to him? Have you talked to him? Is he fine? Can we..?"
"Yes, Duo, I'm awake and I'm fine. Thanks for asking" –the blonde smiled prettily, interrupting the river of questions coming from the DeathScythe pilot.
The pilots stared at him surprised. Quatre was…well, he was…he was Quatre again!
"Holy Gosh, Cat! It's you!" –Duo was the 1st one to come closer, tapping playfully the boy's head.
"Are you sure you're fine?" –Wufei asked, stepping closer. He frowned while waiting for an answer, but them smiled slightly at the reply.
"I'm feeling pretty dizzy, but I'm fine, Wufei. Thank you too. Rashid told me you've waiting out there for me to wake up. You guys are so kind…"
"Well, we were anxious to know if you…hmmm…" –Trowa added but rapidly left the question in the air, not wanting to reveal Quatre his former behavior while being partially controlled by the Zeta system.
Quatre's eyes turned a bit regretful, guessing his friend's question.
"Yes, I know. I own all of you an apology. I'm really sorry for all the trouble I've caused" –the boy from L4 said in soft voice, bowing his head in respect sign.
"Do you remember it? I mean…" –Duo questioned.
"Not very clearly, but yes, I remember many things" –Quatre answered, his face still bowed- "I hope you can forgive me for representing such a problem at everything. I know I did not only messed up the missions but I also hurt you in many ways and I …"
The hand over his shoulder and the reassuring squeeze made him stop and lift his glance. Trowa was smiling kindly at him.
"It's ok, Quatre. We better leave that behind" –he said, and the others nodded in agreement. Quatre smiled gratefully.
"Yeah, lets forget about nasty anti-social Cat!" –Duo chirped- " 'Cause nice Cat is back!" –he laughed as he friendly ruffled the flaxen hair of the boy.
Two days later, everything had returned to normality. Quatre was still apologizing every now and then, but the others were constantly reassuring him that everything was fine. They were all clearly glad to have same old Cat back.
But Quatre noticed the only one not really that glad was Heero. The Japanese pilot was, indeed, glad for 04's recuperation, but there was something else, Quatre noticed, that was upsetting Heero.
So, that night, the blonde pilot made his way towards Heero's room, in order to talk things out. For his surprise, Heero was expecting him.
"I …humm…wanted to talk to you, Heero" –Quatre started, a bit nervous at his comrade's serious glance.
"I'm glad everything turned fine" –Heero said abruptly- "Though you have maybe noticed there's something I'm not glad about"
"Yes, I have noticed it. I'm here to ask you what is it and if I can help you with it, or if it's something I did how can I restore the damage…"
"In fact, Winner, it's something you didn't do" –Heero answered kind of harshly. Quatre's eyes widened a bit at the tone, and at the last name treatment. Now, Heero was talking seriously.
"Which is my error?" –the boy asked at last.
"You hid important information from us" –the Japanese boy replied.
"Oh, that" –Quatre mused in understanding- "Listen, Heero, I know we are supposed to…"
"You did not only hid information, but also purposely restricted your abilities. In doing that, you endangered many past missions. You risked others' lives by not mention it. You did not accomplish your missions at full capacity in many occasions" –Heero stood up from his seat at the words, facing Quatre with hard expression- "You did not join our trainings in complete knowledge you were able to, you allowed us to picture you at less capacity than the truth, you didn't respect yourself and neither respected us…"
Heero's voice had gone louder and more authoritative as he spoke. Quatre didn't interrupt him. He knew Heero was right. Murmurs could be heard in the hall as the other three pilots approached the room at the sound of the suspicious scowling voice.
"Hey, fellas, what's going on here?" –Duo asked stepping into the room, but his cheery tone vanished when he saw the picture of a serious, almost angry Heero facing Quatre. The others also looked at them confused.
"I know you have the right and the reason to be angry at me for all that, Heero. I'm not making up any excuse" –Quatre said, also standing from his seat- "If there's some way I can…"
"Follow me" –Heero cut out roughly and exited the room.
"O.k" –Duo said confused- "Rewind and repeat 'coz I didn't understand a thing"
But Quatre didn't answer and followed Heero out of the room. The others exchanged curious glances and then exited behind them. They all walked silently into the training room.
Heero turned to face Quatre again, and the 04 pilot stopped in his place. He knew what was coming.
"We're having a training session right now" –Heero said as if it was an order.
"To prove what?" –Quatre asked not pleased at the idea.
"Nothing. Lots of things. For me, as a confirmation of what I've seen lately and for you as a proof of your…"
"I don't need to prove anything to me" –the blonde boy replied- "Are you insinuating strength is a parameter of capacity? I don't need to prove anything to you either, especially not by this method"
The other three pilots came to a realization of what was happening. So, Heero had decided to scowl Quatre and he had even decided to make the boy fight against him.
"Quatre" –Trowa's voice cut the silence- "We don't need you to prove us anything, but…I think this confrontation is necessary. Sooner or later, it has to be done. We need to picture the five of us as equals, you yourself have said it before."
"We respect you and we know you're as strong as any of us, Q-man" –Duo added- "It's not like we're trying to force you, but, man, we are supposed to share everything and to learn from each other, to trust our weaknesses and abilities. By avoiding this, you're isolating yourself from us…"
"I was going to say that" –Wufei slightly smiled, nodding his head in agreement at Duo's words- "It's fair."
Quatre listened carefully and then glanced back at Heero. The Japanese boy walked into the kind of ring training floor. He was already barefoot and once he was there, he took a fighting stance. His arms lifted and his legs slightly separated.
Quatre sighed inwardly and steeped into the area. He got his shoes off and took a similar position as Heero's. Within seconds, the Japanese pilot ran towards him, attacking rapidly.
Quatre bent in order to avoid the punch and then jumped backwards to avoid the kick. He grabbed hold of Heero's extended arm in response and lifted him from the floor, sending him against the wall.
Heero came to his feet immediately and practically vanished, reappearing behind the Sandrock pilot. He landed a punch-kick combination in the boy's left side, but Quatre didn't fall. Instead, he crouched, hands on the floor supporting his weight, and as he whirled, his outstretched leg threw Heero down to the floor.
Both waited and panted some seconds before attacking again. Heero's blows were strong, but Quatre was light and fast, and the Wing pilot couldn't find the way to hit him. Quatre was able to avoid all the attacks, but he couldn't trespass the other's defenses.
Heero jumped over him, connecting a punch when the blonde turned to face him. Quatre stumbled back, but was able to duck almost all the following group of high kicks. Almost all. The last of them sent Quatre to the ground.
The three witnesses watched the match silently. Duo fidgeted slightly with the end of his braid. Heero was taking this very seriously. However, Quatre didn't seem to be playing either. He was just…
Trowa nodded in agreement to his own thoughts. Yeah, he knew 04's course of actions. He was just analyzing Heero's fight mode, studying him. Soon, the strategist would make his move.
Heero advanced rapidly over the L4 boy, but he didn't expect Quatre to come to his feet so quickly. The Neo-Arabic pilot planted his hands on the floor, jumping high, almost resembling Trowa's mortal jump. The landing gave him the surprise factor, connecting a punch combination right to Heero's jaw.
Then, just as Arabians warriors were supposed to attack, Quatre advanced and with his right hand, hit Heero's side. The movement was repeated so fast that Heero couldn't avoid it, this time the fair-haired boy hitting the other's face with his left hand. And then the right hand again, and the left one, until Heero was able to jump backwards. If the Neo-Arabic pilot had had a knife then, the Wing pilot would have been deathly injured.
There was a moment of silence and then, Quatre stopped, his body relaxing at last. Heero was standing in his place, a hand lifted to his head. He had a bleeding cut in his left eyebrow. That meant the end of the fight for everyone.
"Anyway, I prefer chess" –the blonde shrugged, taking his handkerchief from his pants' pocket. He walked towards Heero and, putting the Japanese boy's hand down, he wiped the line of blood away- "It surely doesn't hurt as much as your punches do" –the 04 pilot smiled.
"In that case, we'll have a session training one day and a chess match the other" –Heero suggested, his stance also relaxing.
"Fair enough" –Quatre agreed.
"You both put a good show out there" –Duo smiled- "But I'll rather have some Cat's pancakes now. Don't wanna be fighting this Neo-Arabic right now"
Trowa and Wufei nodded, smiles in their features.
"You're just exaggerating. Stop laughing at me" –Quatre protested with a smile and a pout.
"They are not. You won fairly" –Heero said, taking the handkerchief from the other's grasp to hold it for himself.
"That means nothing, Heero"- Quatre smiled, stepping a couple of steps back- "Strength is in here. Here's where real strength and force live"- he added, one of his hands over his chest and the other pointing at Heero's heart- "Here's where we find the courage to go on with our mission to achieve peace"
Quatre's comment was accepted by silent nods from the others.
"So…" –Duo broke the silence- "What about those pancakes, Cat?" –he smiled mischievously.
The 04 pilot rolled his eyes. "Ok. If you want them, all of you have to help out in the kitchen. The one not helping doesn't eat"- Quatre smiled, exiting the room as they all headed towards the kitchen area.
Trowa halted for a while, carefully watching the four pilots as they went down the stairs. His hand went up to his chest as he softly voiced his thoughts:
"Yes, here's where strength lives. That's why Quatre is so strong. That's why we need him so much. To teach us the strength of heart"
The End.
A/N: Gezz, I thought I was going to write this forever. I've finished now. What do you think? I thought it twice about writing the fight between 01 and 04, but I decided at last that it was worthy. Was it? I did my best to write this in order to let you know I think Cat is as strong as everyone. He's got some real cool stuff that no one talks about. Hope you like this fic. Please R&R! If you liked it, please let me a comment! I'll die without reviews! Come and read my next fic: "Healing a Friend's Wounds"
"The Other Side of The Gentle Soldier"
Chapter Eight- Finale
"I'm not an Oz agent" – and Quatre rapidly turned and shot Craig right between the man's eyes- "I'm a Gundam Pilot"
Everybody stood frozen in their places at the sudden movement. A fraction of second later, the chaos exploded. There were bullets crossing the air from both sides, as the soldiers and pilots reacted.
Heero ducked and hid behind a console, while aiming his gun. A minute later, Quatre hid right beside him, his gun also aiming. Heero turned his attention away from the battle for a moment to address 04.
"What do you think you were doing back there!?" –the Japanese pilot asked.
"Gaining some time" –the blunt answer came immediately as the neo-Arabic got out of his place, firing and advancing.
Heero cursed in low voice and recharged his gun. Suddenly, Duo appeared, occupying the place Quatre had just left.
"So? How's he?" –he asked panting.
"The same. The system didn't control him, he was just pretending." –01 replied.
"Good. He's quite nasty now, I wouldn't like to have him against us. Though, for a second I really thought he was about to shoot us…" –the American said.
Heero nodded, and then, both sprinted from their sites, entering into the battle again. Wufei and Trowa were taking care of the soldiers' barrier, while Quatre was decoding and copying the system into a disc.
"Haven't you finished?" –Duo screamed in the middle of the noise, addressing the pilot in front of the computers.
"Code mode trespassed. But the system is infecting all the connections within a radio of three bases more!" –came the reply from Quatre.
"What?" –Duo blinked, firing one more time.
"The system is transmitting itself to other bases, like a virus. Even if we get to destroy it here, it's going to multiply to other OZ locations" –Trowa explained, getting close to the wall the pilots were forming close to the exit.
The place was coming down among the fire, and they had to make their getaway fast. The soldiers were also escaping, just a dozen had stayed back, and they were running out of munitions.
"04, we must leave now" –Trowa called.
"Hurry up!" –Duo said.
"Get down!" –Wufei warned, as a grenade crossed the air.
The explosion sent the walls into pieces and the metallic roof started to fall over them. But Quatre didn't move. There was no way to delete the system if the complete computer units weren't destroyed.
"Self-destruct is required. Accepted" –the Neo-Arabic pilot murmured, setting the destruction mode to send the base up to the sky.
Voices started to call him again.
"Quatre, what the Hell are ya waiting for? Get out of there!" –Duo yelled again, but his voice was interrupted by the sound of the alarm beeping all around, announcing the danger of destruction.
"He has set the system into destruction mode! And he won't be able to get out!" –Wufei suddenly said, guessing 04's course of thoughts.
The three pilots stared at him in surprise, each of them slowly calculating the possibilities of such action…Yes, Quatre was capable of such a thing.
"05, head to the hangar and get a ship! Fast!" –Heero took command- "03, acquired explosives to make us an exit out of here. And 02…"
"I'm going in there to get the bastard" –Duo replied, angry at Quatre's indifferent decision to take his own life. Soon, the pilots ran to comply, and Heero followed the American into the smoke.
Quatre was still sitting in front of a screen, his flaxen head resting over the keyboard, as a line of blood ran across his features. He had been knocked out by the grenade's explosion.
"There you are" –Duo murmured, attempting to grab him from the place.
But as his hands got closer, the boy seemed to regain his senses, and at the view of a person nearby, the gun in his hands lifted, aiming to the intruder.
"Easy, Q-man!" –Duo said, halting- "It's just me, your nice friend Duo Maxwell"
It took the strategist some seconds to fix the blurred image in his mind in order to recognize his comrade. Duo was there, his arm wounded, but there anyway. Another person appeared behind him, revealing to be Heero. Slowly, the gun came down.
"The mission to self-destruct wasn't given to you. You're spoiling the…" –the blonde started to said.
"Screw the mission" –Duo answered, his fists clenched- "I'm damn tired of all of this lone wolf act you guys always play! Now, Quatre, you're coming with us, like it or not, mission or not, even if I have to punch you in order to get you out!"
Amethyst eyes were as hard as stone at the words. Heero stared at him for a second before staring at Quatre, to see his reaction. The Sandrock's pilot was about to say something, when an electric shock blew up the console in front of them, the system reading 'Failure' in all the screens. The mission was accomplished.
"03 here! Get down!" –Trowa's warning was followed by an explosion, which force moved away the ceiling's wrecks. Both 01 and 02 were ready to follow the way, but they turned to see 04 were not following.
Heero was about to order him to move, but he stayed silent at the boy kneeling on the floor, his eyes shut forcefully, moaning. This time, he was not pretending. Duo bent in order to pull him up, but he was surprised when Quatre snapped his hands away from him, backing off.
"He doesn't recognize you!" –Heero yelled. He also bent and helped Duo to grab hold of a confused Quatre. But the 04 pilot was desperately trying to free himself from them.
"Quatre! Hey, Cat! It's just us!" –Duo said, holding Quatre's face between his hands, forcing the Prussian blue eyes to look at them. Duo, not really sure of what to do, smiled. Typical. –"Come on, Cat, we gotta get home before dinner. You promised to make me pancakes, remember? And I'll buy the ice cream, ok?"
Heero listened while still holding 04, though the blonde wasn't fighting anymore. His glance seemed confused by 02's words.
"I'll convince Heero to try pancakes with butter, sugar and honey but only if you make them. Geez, even Wufei like your pancakes! Remember the time he first tried them and ate too many? That was funny!" –and Duo laughed briefly- "And Trowa said you had a chess match to finish, so ya see, we better hurry 'cause if we don't, Rashid and Abdul and the others will be scowling at you all night…"
Quatre had calmed by now, and his confused eyes had turned wistful, like remembering. The roar of a ship nearby announced 05's arrival. And Trowa's voice was still calling them out.
"Come on, Cat, it's time for you to come back to us" –Duo finally said, embracing his friend, who presented no opposition. They stayed like that for a while.
"He fainted" –Heero said, sighing slightly at Duo's victory over the now failing system. Duo lowered his glance to see the boy lying eyes-closed in his arms. Well, he had made it after all.
"We better get moving…" –Heero voiced, while helping the wounded Duo to carry the sleeping Quatre out of there, towards the ship.
***
"Are you sure we can go in to see him so soon?" –the American asked, half smiling.
The four pilots were standing at the threshold of the clinical room, back in their shelter now. Quatre was lying on the bed in there, looking as normal as always. He didn't even have an I.V. or anything. After all, the wounds acquired at the last mission were only superficial. Though, who knew how his mind was working now…
"Is he awake? Can we talk to him? Have you talked to him? Is he fine? Can we..?"
"Yes, Duo, I'm awake and I'm fine. Thanks for asking" –the blonde smiled prettily, interrupting the river of questions coming from the DeathScythe pilot.
The pilots stared at him surprised. Quatre was…well, he was…he was Quatre again!
"Holy Gosh, Cat! It's you!" –Duo was the 1st one to come closer, tapping playfully the boy's head.
"Are you sure you're fine?" –Wufei asked, stepping closer. He frowned while waiting for an answer, but them smiled slightly at the reply.
"I'm feeling pretty dizzy, but I'm fine, Wufei. Thank you too. Rashid told me you've waiting out there for me to wake up. You guys are so kind…"
"Well, we were anxious to know if you…hmmm…" –Trowa added but rapidly left the question in the air, not wanting to reveal Quatre his former behavior while being partially controlled by the Zeta system.
Quatre's eyes turned a bit regretful, guessing his friend's question.
"Yes, I know. I own all of you an apology. I'm really sorry for all the trouble I've caused" –the boy from L4 said in soft voice, bowing his head in respect sign.
"Do you remember it? I mean…" –Duo questioned.
"Not very clearly, but yes, I remember many things" –Quatre answered, his face still bowed- "I hope you can forgive me for representing such a problem at everything. I know I did not only messed up the missions but I also hurt you in many ways and I …"
The hand over his shoulder and the reassuring squeeze made him stop and lift his glance. Trowa was smiling kindly at him.
"It's ok, Quatre. We better leave that behind" –he said, and the others nodded in agreement. Quatre smiled gratefully.
"Yeah, lets forget about nasty anti-social Cat!" –Duo chirped- " 'Cause nice Cat is back!" –he laughed as he friendly ruffled the flaxen hair of the boy.
Two days later, everything had returned to normality. Quatre was still apologizing every now and then, but the others were constantly reassuring him that everything was fine. They were all clearly glad to have same old Cat back.
But Quatre noticed the only one not really that glad was Heero. The Japanese pilot was, indeed, glad for 04's recuperation, but there was something else, Quatre noticed, that was upsetting Heero.
So, that night, the blonde pilot made his way towards Heero's room, in order to talk things out. For his surprise, Heero was expecting him.
"I …humm…wanted to talk to you, Heero" –Quatre started, a bit nervous at his comrade's serious glance.
"I'm glad everything turned fine" –Heero said abruptly- "Though you have maybe noticed there's something I'm not glad about"
"Yes, I have noticed it. I'm here to ask you what is it and if I can help you with it, or if it's something I did how can I restore the damage…"
"In fact, Winner, it's something you didn't do" –Heero answered kind of harshly. Quatre's eyes widened a bit at the tone, and at the last name treatment. Now, Heero was talking seriously.
"Which is my error?" –the boy asked at last.
"You hid important information from us" –the Japanese boy replied.
"Oh, that" –Quatre mused in understanding- "Listen, Heero, I know we are supposed to…"
"You did not only hid information, but also purposely restricted your abilities. In doing that, you endangered many past missions. You risked others' lives by not mention it. You did not accomplish your missions at full capacity in many occasions" –Heero stood up from his seat at the words, facing Quatre with hard expression- "You did not join our trainings in complete knowledge you were able to, you allowed us to picture you at less capacity than the truth, you didn't respect yourself and neither respected us…"
Heero's voice had gone louder and more authoritative as he spoke. Quatre didn't interrupt him. He knew Heero was right. Murmurs could be heard in the hall as the other three pilots approached the room at the sound of the suspicious scowling voice.
"Hey, fellas, what's going on here?" –Duo asked stepping into the room, but his cheery tone vanished when he saw the picture of a serious, almost angry Heero facing Quatre. The others also looked at them confused.
"I know you have the right and the reason to be angry at me for all that, Heero. I'm not making up any excuse" –Quatre said, also standing from his seat- "If there's some way I can…"
"Follow me" –Heero cut out roughly and exited the room.
"O.k" –Duo said confused- "Rewind and repeat 'coz I didn't understand a thing"
But Quatre didn't answer and followed Heero out of the room. The others exchanged curious glances and then exited behind them. They all walked silently into the training room.
Heero turned to face Quatre again, and the 04 pilot stopped in his place. He knew what was coming.
"We're having a training session right now" –Heero said as if it was an order.
"To prove what?" –Quatre asked not pleased at the idea.
"Nothing. Lots of things. For me, as a confirmation of what I've seen lately and for you as a proof of your…"
"I don't need to prove anything to me" –the blonde boy replied- "Are you insinuating strength is a parameter of capacity? I don't need to prove anything to you either, especially not by this method"
The other three pilots came to a realization of what was happening. So, Heero had decided to scowl Quatre and he had even decided to make the boy fight against him.
"Quatre" –Trowa's voice cut the silence- "We don't need you to prove us anything, but…I think this confrontation is necessary. Sooner or later, it has to be done. We need to picture the five of us as equals, you yourself have said it before."
"We respect you and we know you're as strong as any of us, Q-man" –Duo added- "It's not like we're trying to force you, but, man, we are supposed to share everything and to learn from each other, to trust our weaknesses and abilities. By avoiding this, you're isolating yourself from us…"
"I was going to say that" –Wufei slightly smiled, nodding his head in agreement at Duo's words- "It's fair."
Quatre listened carefully and then glanced back at Heero. The Japanese boy walked into the kind of ring training floor. He was already barefoot and once he was there, he took a fighting stance. His arms lifted and his legs slightly separated.
Quatre sighed inwardly and steeped into the area. He got his shoes off and took a similar position as Heero's. Within seconds, the Japanese pilot ran towards him, attacking rapidly.
Quatre bent in order to avoid the punch and then jumped backwards to avoid the kick. He grabbed hold of Heero's extended arm in response and lifted him from the floor, sending him against the wall.
Heero came to his feet immediately and practically vanished, reappearing behind the Sandrock pilot. He landed a punch-kick combination in the boy's left side, but Quatre didn't fall. Instead, he crouched, hands on the floor supporting his weight, and as he whirled, his outstretched leg threw Heero down to the floor.
Both waited and panted some seconds before attacking again. Heero's blows were strong, but Quatre was light and fast, and the Wing pilot couldn't find the way to hit him. Quatre was able to avoid all the attacks, but he couldn't trespass the other's defenses.
Heero jumped over him, connecting a punch when the blonde turned to face him. Quatre stumbled back, but was able to duck almost all the following group of high kicks. Almost all. The last of them sent Quatre to the ground.
The three witnesses watched the match silently. Duo fidgeted slightly with the end of his braid. Heero was taking this very seriously. However, Quatre didn't seem to be playing either. He was just…
Trowa nodded in agreement to his own thoughts. Yeah, he knew 04's course of actions. He was just analyzing Heero's fight mode, studying him. Soon, the strategist would make his move.
Heero advanced rapidly over the L4 boy, but he didn't expect Quatre to come to his feet so quickly. The Neo-Arabic pilot planted his hands on the floor, jumping high, almost resembling Trowa's mortal jump. The landing gave him the surprise factor, connecting a punch combination right to Heero's jaw.
Then, just as Arabians warriors were supposed to attack, Quatre advanced and with his right hand, hit Heero's side. The movement was repeated so fast that Heero couldn't avoid it, this time the fair-haired boy hitting the other's face with his left hand. And then the right hand again, and the left one, until Heero was able to jump backwards. If the Neo-Arabic pilot had had a knife then, the Wing pilot would have been deathly injured.
There was a moment of silence and then, Quatre stopped, his body relaxing at last. Heero was standing in his place, a hand lifted to his head. He had a bleeding cut in his left eyebrow. That meant the end of the fight for everyone.
"Anyway, I prefer chess" –the blonde shrugged, taking his handkerchief from his pants' pocket. He walked towards Heero and, putting the Japanese boy's hand down, he wiped the line of blood away- "It surely doesn't hurt as much as your punches do" –the 04 pilot smiled.
"In that case, we'll have a session training one day and a chess match the other" –Heero suggested, his stance also relaxing.
"Fair enough" –Quatre agreed.
"You both put a good show out there" –Duo smiled- "But I'll rather have some Cat's pancakes now. Don't wanna be fighting this Neo-Arabic right now"
Trowa and Wufei nodded, smiles in their features.
"You're just exaggerating. Stop laughing at me" –Quatre protested with a smile and a pout.
"They are not. You won fairly" –Heero said, taking the handkerchief from the other's grasp to hold it for himself.
"That means nothing, Heero"- Quatre smiled, stepping a couple of steps back- "Strength is in here. Here's where real strength and force live"- he added, one of his hands over his chest and the other pointing at Heero's heart- "Here's where we find the courage to go on with our mission to achieve peace"
Quatre's comment was accepted by silent nods from the others.
"So…" –Duo broke the silence- "What about those pancakes, Cat?" –he smiled mischievously.
The 04 pilot rolled his eyes. "Ok. If you want them, all of you have to help out in the kitchen. The one not helping doesn't eat"- Quatre smiled, exiting the room as they all headed towards the kitchen area.
Trowa halted for a while, carefully watching the four pilots as they went down the stairs. His hand went up to his chest as he softly voiced his thoughts:
"Yes, here's where strength lives. That's why Quatre is so strong. That's why we need him so much. To teach us the strength of heart"
The End.
A/N: Gezz, I thought I was going to write this forever. I've finished now. What do you think? I thought it twice about writing the fight between 01 and 04, but I decided at last that it was worthy. Was it? I did my best to write this in order to let you know I think Cat is as strong as everyone. He's got some real cool stuff that no one talks about. Hope you like this fic. Please R&R! If you liked it, please let me a comment! I'll die without reviews! Come and read my next fic: "Healing a Friend's Wounds"
