Gestalt 2
Trowa was momentarily bewildered as he realized that this was no longer Quatre. Rather, this was no longer this facet of Quatre. He couldn't quite tell which one this was though, if there really were only three. He sat there, unsure of what to say to voice his confusion without insulting the smaller boy. Quat… er whoever, seemed to realize this.
"Wufei." The boy provided. "What is your answer?"
Trowa raised an eyebrow.
"Where did Quatre go?"
"He's here." Wufei said, folding his arms. "He just doesn't like talking about his father."
"Why not?"
"Why did you ask?"
'Great'. Trowa thought. 'Questions answered with questions.' He shifted a bit and noted the change in his notebood. He looked questioningly at 'Wufei'. The boy smirked and elaborated.
"Why was your first question about Quatre's father?"
"That guard suggested that… that your father and his fortune could be a cause for your illness."
The boy looked at him sternly.
"Master Winner is not my father, he's Quatre's… and he is not 'ill' nor am I."
Wufei practically spat the word 'Ill'.
"Quatre's father is a good man. He has never been anything but kind to Quatre. His only failing in Quatre's eyes is his adamant and sometimes blind perpetuation of tradition… Something that I can understand with my heritage. However, Quatre has a different opinion. He believes that without change, we can not grow."
Trowa stopped writing. His pencil poised over the paper.
"Your heritage? You're… Chinese right?"
The boy nodded.
"Pure… and as such, I have a great respect for our traditions, but I am not a slave to them, nor is Quatre. He likes to take action, rather than trying to avoid it."
'Wufei's lips almost quirked to a grin as he said this, but he controlled it and maintained his aloof expression. He continued, relaxing his features back into their calm, yet predatory stare and Trowa found that he couldn't help but feel trapped in that intense gaze.
"Master Winner has always chided him for this, but he has never been unkind. Still, the man is determined to have a male heir, though almost any one of his 29 daughters are quite capable of taking the business over for him. That is one of the reasons we came here. It is Quatre's hope that if he is unavailable as an heir, that Mr. Winner will relent and change the will."
"That's what I was told. So it's true." Said Trowa.
Wufei nodded. "By Treize no doubt. I'm not surprised he couldn't keep his mouth shut. The man has the self control of a lemming."
Trowa's laughter burst forth before he could stop it. The boy across from him smiled kindly.
"You have a beautiful smile Trowa."
Trowa stopped, his breath hitching in a tiny audible gulp as he realized that the boy had switched personalities again.
"Quatre."
He smiled brightly. "You should smile more."
Trowa blushed. "Um… thank you." He looked down, trying to hide that fact. Quatre laughed.
"You're so shy."
Quatre leaned forward and set his chin on folded arms on the table while he looked up.
"Why do you hide your eyes with your hair like that?"
"Well… people tend to stare at my eyes."
"Really?"
The blond reached up and lightly lifted the soft bangs with the back of his hands. As their eyes met yet again, Trowa's first instinct was to pull away, but he remained still. Usually people with multiple personalities were not crazy about touching. He didn't want to pull away and make Quatre's gesture seem unwanted. At the same time, the calm warmth of Quatre's eyes mesmerized him as they gazed into his. On his forehead, he could feel the slight heat radiate from the pale outstretched hand. A faint smell of hospital lotion entered his senses and suddenly, his own nervous breathing seemed unnaturally loud. He was so unaccustomed to close contact. Time seemed to slow as they faced one another. Quatre's voice was a bit lower as he spoke.
"It's no wonder Trowa. Your eyes are very different. But they look sad."
Trowa swallowed. "I'm not."
Once again they shared that uncomfortable pause for several seconds, with Quatre searching his eyes, seeming satisfied, he pulled away and sat back, grabbing his tea.
"I don't think I've ever seen a green quite that shade before."
Trowa felt a bit drained. He didn't know quite how to handle this boy. He hardly knew him but they had just shared something that felt oddly personal and intimate. God it felt like he was in some sort of hybrid "Silence of the Lambs" or something. He didn't know how to react. He sincerely hoped that this was common in psychiatric sessions and that there was some way of dealing with a situation like this.
"Trowa?"
Trowa looked up. Quatre smiled and looked at him worriedly.
"Sorry. I know you want to ask some more questions. I tend to get sidetracked. It's just been so long since we've had someone new to talk to."
Trowa blinked, gathered his senses and tried to reclaim his confidence.
"That's ok. I don't mind talking. That's sort of the point of my assignment here anyway."
How so?
"We have to write an essay in client to patient communication."
Quatre leaned back, pulling his feet up onto the chair and hugging his knees as he nodded.
"You're a very good communicator Trowa. First impression anyway. Usually students come in here and treat me like a child. Then when they find out that just because I'm a patient doesn't mean I'm an idiot, they start throwing their diagnosis as to my 'condition' out. Wufei loves it. He ends up pulling their theory apart and disproving it and I just get bored. I think that you would be a good psychologist."
"I hope so."
"Well, what would like to know?"
Trowa took a sip of his own tea; it had a very exotic taste. Though it was almost white in color, it had a very light and delicate flavor and Trowa decided it must be some kind of tea sent from outside the facility. He took this moment to collect his thoughts and approach the other with some relevant questions without sounding too clinical.
"Unfortunately I haven't been able to look at your files yet. Maybe it would be best for me if you just told me a little about yourself, as well as your family and friends. I would like to know more about your father too, but I promise I won't incriminate him. I just want to know more about everyone."
Trowa quickly threw this last point in as he saw Quatre stiffen. He wasn't quite ready to talk to a different alter yet. Wufei had been somewhat intense and it seemed that Quatre was the dominant personality of the bunch so far.
Quatre relaxed.
" Thank you Trowa. I love my father very much, even if he is being an idiot right now. It's painful having to defend him to every new analyst that walks in here."
"I understand. But you have to admit Quatre; your father is an easy target. Most people with your condition have been through some sort of trauma, either physical or emotional. It's natural for a psychologist to suspect one of your parents."
Quatre frowned, but nodded, even as he was sipping his own tea.
"That's true, but my father has always been very kind to me. When I was young, he didn't spend much time with me, but he's always made sure I had the best care. I have my sisters who have been taking care of me all my life. Then there's Wufei and Heero."
The boy smiled.
"They've been my best friends since we were all very young. When my sisters weren't around, they would always come to play with me. They've always been very protective of me."
Trowa wrote this down; noting that the two alters had indeed shown up at an early age. A preliminary indication that Quatre might not be faking his illness. Trowa figured he would probably figure a lot of this out when he read the paperwork tonight, but he may as well approach this as if it he were meeting a new patient for today anyway.
"What about your mother?"
Quatre looked down and to the left, trying to remember. He bit his lower lip in thought.
"I don't think so. She died when I was very young. I don't really remember her, but in the dreams I've had of her she has always been kind."
"You dream about her?"
Quatre smiled softly.
"Yes. Though I can never really see her. Sometimes, though, when I close my eyes tightly and think of her, I think I can see her. It's kind of this Peter Pan thing. When you close your eyes tightly and just before those stars you see become black, I fancy I still have her image in my mind. It's never clear though."
While Quatre explained this, he seemed to drift a bit into his own world and he ended up acting out his fancy, squeezing his eyes shut, while still holding his mug in two small hands, before opening his eyes to look back at Trowa. Trowa found that he couldn't help but feel protective.
A sudden knock at the door shook them from their conversation before Quatre jumped up and hurried to answer it. A tall nurse stood in the hall. She was quite striking, with her mousy brown hair drawn up in harsh braided buns and thin glasses perched on her hawkish nose. She had a very intense look about her as she stood there holding a small clear plastic cup.
"Medication time Quatre."
Quatre took the cup and smiled charmingly at the nurse.
"Thank you Miss Une. You're prompt as usual."
Her features softened. She looked a bit worried. She glanced apprehensively at Trowa before lowering her voice and whispering to Quatre. Trowa acted indifferent, but strained to hear anyway. He couldn't hear what was being said between the two but he noticed when a flash of worry swept over Quatre's face and suddenly his whole body stiffened and his hands fisted at his side. Trowa heard the boy's voice lower quite drastically and suddenly it was very sure and commanding.
Trowa could only guess that something the nurse said had caused Heero to emerge. He supposed it could have been Wufei, but somehow this persona was different. Though Wufei was also intense and very formal, his self-carriage was more refined and gentle, whereas this other boy seemed more raw and wild. The familiar scowl was back from Trowa's first encounter and he couldn't help but respect the thoroughness and intensity of this alter compared to Quatre, as he asked questions in low tones and then dismissed the nurse curtly.
The boy closed the door and turned back into the room. He afforded a glance at Trowa as if to assess his position and make sure he was no threat before proceeding to the small adjoining kitchen to dump the pills in the sink and run the water to dissolve them into the drain. He was meticulous in this, even wiping the droplets out of the sink and refolding the towel. He walked back out and, suddenly, seemed to melt back into a relaxed stride as a kind smile stole across his face. Quatre once again. It seemed that Heero only stayed as long as was needed to take care of things before fading away again.
"I apologize. We have to wash the pills away so there's no evidence. Technically I don't have to take them, but the rule is that all patients get the allotted drugs depending on their condition. The staff has to follow it because no one has been able to get the policy changed yet, but they don't really want to administer it because it doesn't really help the patients. The management could change soon though and if that happens, it could be bad."
Trowa frowned as he remembered the fear that has passed over Quatre's features as well as the huge amount of white pills in that cup that he just washed down the drain. Did Quatre really belong in a place like this?
"Quatre, what are you doing here?"
Quatre grinned. "Didn't someone tell you Trowa? I'm crazy."
Somewhere along the interview, Trowa had stopped taking notes and started doodling along the edge of the page, lost in his own fancy as he listened to Quatre. He frowned and looked at Quatre with some concern.
"You may need some help, but I can't help feeling that you're in the wrong place. Why did you check yourself into a mental ward when you could have just gone to a psychiatrist?"
Quatre sighed though his smile lingered. He crossed his legs under him in the chair he sat in and rested his chin on his hands as he faced the other.
"It's not too bad Trowa. The people here are very kind for the most part. The bottom line is that I don't really need any help. There's nothing wrong with me. The only thing wrong with me is that I don't want to be rich."
Trowa blinked.
"Pardon?"
"You talked to the guard and you talked to Wufei. My father wants me to inherit his fortune and run the family business and I think it's wrong. My sisters could do a far better job than I."
Quatre started to pick fitfully at his shirt in his lap as he continued a bit of anger creeping into his voice.
"I have at least 3 sisters who are perfectly willing and able to take hold of the family business. They've been working at it since they were old enough to learn the books, but my father is ready and willing to push them aside to let me take over should anything ever happen to him, just because I'm the only boy. It's infuriating."
Quatre looked up sheepishly.
"You know what I want to be?"
Trowa could not avoid mirroring that smile, waiting for an answer."
"I like the stars. I just want to be an astronomer."
A little of the anger returned.
"Having to take on a multi-trillion dollar empire makes my stomach clench into little knots every time I think about it. I never wanted anything to do with it. I came here because it offers some protection from that. As long as I'm in here, my father can't sign the company over to me without looking like a total fool. Eventually, he'll have to realize that my sisters are the better choice. The only choice."
Trowa stared incredulously over his cup of cold tea.
"That's a drastic way of going about it don't you think?"
The blond crossed his arms and shot Trowa dark look.
"You don't know my father Trowa. Don't you think I tried to convince him? This was the only option I really had at the time."
"Then are you saying that this was all one big setup?"
Quatre nodded. "I admit it's risky, but I had to do it. It was either this, or jail… and I wasn't about to do anything drastic enough to get myself locked up. There was really no other choice… is something wrong?"
Trowa had just been staring. The blond looked up at him, complete innocence on his face. What was he playing at anyway? Trowa swallowed the tea sitting on his tongue.
"Well first of all, I'm wondering why you're telling me all of this."
Quatre shrugged.
"It's not like it's a huge secret. I never tell the real doctors but a lot of the staff knows. Besides, there's something about you that I trust." He grinned. "Probably the eyes. I think I trust you to understand why I'm doing it… besides, there's not much you could do if you did tell anybody."
"Then you made this whole thing up?"
"What whole thing?"
"Heero and Wufei."
"What about them Trowa?"
"You made them up?"
Quatre looked at him owlishly for a moment, blinking and then answered slowly, as if it would help Trowa to understand.
"Wufei and Heero helped me do this. They came with me so I wouldn't be alone."
TBC
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