Melara: *is entirely too happy* Yay! My muses are back!
Tsuru: *does not look happy*
Naki: *is ecstatic* Cookies!!!!!!
Melara: *gags Naki* No! don't say that word! The lawyers might recognize it!
Lawyers: *suddenly appear*
Melara: Smeg! Oh well, as long as you're here, why don't we do the legal crap!
Tsuru: You want to do the legal crap?
Melara: Yep! ^__________^
Tsuru: *shakes her head*
Legal crap: *lawyers are closely watching the legal crap* I own this messed up plot. *lawyers nod* I own my muses. *lawyers nod, Tsuru frowns* I own this title… *lawyers frown, but move on* *Melara thinks:* uh oh! I blew it! How do I put them off guard… I know! *back to the legal crap…* I own this cookie… *lawyers nod, then stare at cookie* but you can have it! *lawyers fight over who gets the white chocolate macadamia nut, and who gets Mel's special chocolate chip* I own gundam wing… *lawyer takes shoe off and throws it at Melara, without looking up from the cookies* Itai! Did I say own? I meant to say enslave it's characters… *lawyers begin to pelt Mel with various objects* Tsuru! Naki! Help! *Tsuru leaves the room, taking Naki with her.* Come back here you stupid muse!!!! *lawyers continue to throw various hard objects in Mel's general direction.* Sorry! It was a typo! Really! It was! I meant to say I do not own gundam wing! The computer forgot to put in that word… *lawyers ignore Mel, and continue to eat cookies* Shoo! Out! Now! *lawyer throws closest thing at Mel to shut her up, it happens to be a cookie* Yummy! Cookie! *Mel attempts to take a bite out of cookie, another lawyer snatches it out of her hand* Fine! Be that way! Take the cookies and leave! *lawyers refuse to leave* YOU GUYS ARE TOO PICKY!!! Fine! I'll say it! I am not making money from this damn fic! *mutters* but I think I'm going to ask for pay for the legal crap… I've wasted a ton of money on cookies… *lawyers leave, taking all of the cookies and crumbs* They are really starting to get on my nerves….
Melara: Okay! Let's get this fic started!
Naki/Tsuru: o.O
Melara: Nani?
Tsuru: Were you separated from Kat again?
Melara: *looses her happy hyper mood* I haven't talked to her for 21 hours now….
Tsuru: *slaps head* Then why don't you call her?
Melara: Her mother took her out somewhere, she wouldn't say where….
Tsuru: Why don't you write this chapter, then call her?
Melara: *sighs* alright….
Chapter four
Quatre sat on the old couch in the sitting room. His side was burning, pain that he knew was coming from Trowa. Quatre had called Sally Po, and asked her to come over. He knew that they were going to need her help when the gundam pilots came back.
'What's happening to them? What went wrong?' Quatre closed his eyes, wishing he could see what was happening to them. He felt a terrible ripping pain in his side, and his eyes snapped open.
'That was Heero, I know it.' He squeezed his eyes shut again, trying to block off the pain. His body shook when he felt another shock of pain from Heero. Quatre pulled his knees up to his chest, and curled up into a little ball. Lately, his space heart had been working a little stronger than Quatre needed. When one of his friends was hurt, physically or mentally, he could sense it, but not feel it directly. At least, that's how it was supposed to work. Quatre clutched his abdomen and tried hard not to cry out with the pain.
"Quatre?" Sally stood before Quatre. He hadn't realized that she had come in. "Are you alright?" Quatre closed his eyes again, but instead of the normal black nothing, he saw a horrifying scene.
Heero had managed to balance himself on his feet, and stared at the man in front of him, hatred burning in his eyes. The man laughed at Heero's stubbornness. Heero's speed was amazing, even after the loss of blood. He snatched the gun out of the man's hand and turned it on him. For the first time, Quatre noticed the line of soldiers that surrounded Heero. One of the faster soldiers held his gun up and fired at Heero before he could fire the gun in his hands. Heero's body lurched back with the force of the bullet, and the gun slipped out of his hands. The man wrapped a large hand around Heero's neck, and shoved him into the wall. Quatre cried out from the combined pain of the wound Heero had, and the knowledge that there was nothing he could do to help his friend in need. The man punched Heero in the stomach, hard. Heero coughed and spit up a mouth full of blood. Quatre stumbled forward from the pain, then fell to his knees. Heero slid down the door, leaving a trail of blood.
"Heero! No!" Quatre forced himself to get up, and ran towards Heero. Quatre put his hand on Heero's arm, and felt all of the pain from Heero flow through him. "Get up Heero. Get up…" Heero seemed to look right at Quatre for a moment, but only a moment. Heero rose to his feet and picked up the gun he had dropped. Quatre slipped away from his mind, and into the pain that was slowly consuming him. He was only half aware of the massacre that was taking place before him. Heero made one perfect shot after another, killing every soldier he could see. When he came to the man that had tortured him, he paused.
"Please… don't kill me…" the man pleaded. Heero dropped the gun, and began to walk away. The man smiled, and slowly pulled out a knife…
"Quatre! Get up!" Quatre opened his eyes again, and he was back in the safe house. The dull ache in his side disappeared, but the sharp pain remained in the three places Heero had been shot. Quatre looked up at Sally, his vision blurred from the pain.
"Heero… He's… He's…." Quatre tried to explain what he saw between gasps of air, but Sally silenced him.
"Shh. Calm down." Quatre let out a ragged sigh, and the pain subsided.
"He's been shot, multiple times… we need to help him…" Quatre paused and thought about how silly he must sound. Sally probably thought he was crazy. Heero was on L2, Quatre was still on earth. There was no proof that what Quatre had seen hadn't been a nightmare.
'But the pain… I felt his pain… I watched him hit the door… it was like I was there…' Sally sat down next to Quatre and put her arm around him. She said something, but Quatre couldn't hear her. He froze when he felt another tearing pain in his chest. He forced his eyes to stay open, so he wouldn't have to see what was happening. Keeping his eyes open only made it worse.
Relena… It was Relena this time. Quatre could see the girl fall to the ground, a look of satisfaction on her face. Heero let lose his emotions for a moment, letting them flow through him. Quatre shared his confusion, and once again, his pain. Quatre could feel every movement Heero made, as if they were his own. He could feel Heero's sanity slip, as he watched Relena die in front of him. He could feel the sad joy as Heero shared a kiss with his dead love. He could taste the blood from her lips.
'I love you, I always have. I'm sorry I never told you…' Quatre could even hear Heero's thoughts. After the kiss broke, Heero seemed emotionless, empty. Quatre couldn't bear the feeling anymore. He was doing something terribly wrong. He shouldn't be able to feel the things others do. He shouldn't be sharing their private thoughts…
Sally stared at Quatre, unsure of what to do. His grey eyes seemed to stare at nothing at all, his face was expressionless.
"Quatre?" The tiny boy seemed dead, but his pulse was healthy as could be. Quatre didn't move for what seemed like hours.
"I never thought this would happen…" Tears fell down his face, and his eyes drifted slowly toward Sally. "She's dead Sally, Relena's dead…"
Quatre had become afraid to leave Heero's side. Duo was unconscious, and Trowa had fallen asleep. Heero was handling the gundam, but barely. He had lost a lot of blood, and had gone pale because of it. Quatre stayed with him, becoming his strength. Heero should have passed out long ago, but Quatre had a feeling that he was helping Heero through this mess, being his guide.
"Relena's dead?" Quatre was forced to leave Heero as he landed DeathscytheHell. Sally stared at Quatre, dreading that what he had said was true. "How do you know?" Quatre stood up and walked towards the gundam hanger.
'Just a little longer… hold on… you can make it…' Heero forced himself to stay awake, though his muscles were burning with the combination of loss of blood, and exhaustion. Kate had curled up in Trowa's arms, and fallen asleep. Duo hadn't moved since Heero put him down.
'You're almost there, just land the gundam….' Heero managed to land DeathscytheHell somewhat gracefully, (meaning he hadn't killed anyone in the landing.) He felt something slip off his shoulder, and began to feel terribly cold.
"Don't go…" Heero closed his eyes. He knew it was foolish, but he could have sworn he had an angel behind him, forcing him to move on, taking away his pain..
But now, what ever it had been was gone, and Heero felt the wave of pain hit him with full force. Heero felt his head hit something hard, but he didn't care. He knew nothing but the pain, and the cold… terrible cold…
"Trowa… you need to get up now…." Trowa awoke to see a pair of bright green eyes, now filled with worry. "We need to get you help." Trowa pulled himself to his feet, and forced himself over to the pilot's seat. Heero was slumped over, his head against the arm of the chair. Trowa opened the cockpit, careful not to move Heero's body, for fear of injuring it. He limped over to the opening, and sat down on the edge, letting his feet dangle above the ground. He knew he couldn't jump that distance in his current condition, but he also knew that he had no choice.
"You stay here. I'm going to get help." Trowa slid off the edge, and fell. He landed in a roll to reduce the shock, but it didn't help much. Pain shot through his body, and jolted his mind. He didn't realize that someone was standing over him.
"Trowa!" At the sound of his name, he looked up. Quatre was already on his knees, helping Trowa to his feet. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Trowa was far from alright, and he knew it. But Heero and Duo were much worse than him, and he didn't want Quatre to worry. "But Heero is…."
"I know. He was shot," Quatre said, cutting him off. Trowa was dumbfounded. How could Quatre have known? Trowa mentally slapped himself.
'Heero must have warned him that we were coming, in which case, he would know about everyone.' He leaned on Quatre for support, and looked back up to the cockpit of the poorly landed gundam. Kate was sitting on the edge, looking down. She was staring at Quatre, her eyes wide.
"It's you! It's you!" Her face broke out into a wide smile. "You were there, weren't you? You were with Heero!" She swung her legs up and rolled over onto her feet.
"What is she talking about?" Trowa asked, quite puzzled by the girls remark. Quatre quickly asked Sally to help Trowa inside, and ignored the question.
"I'll be right down. You make sure that we have a place to put Heero when I get him down, he's going to be a bloody mess…" and with that, Quatre began to climb to the top of the gundam.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Kate had seen the blond boy before. He was there with Heero, walking beside him as they made their way to Deathscythe Hell. His eyes had the same warmth to them that she had seen in Relena, and she felt safe with him. The boy called Trowa was very close to him, they seemed to care for each other. They all did. Quatre climbed up into the cockpit, and walked over to the girl.
"You're back! You can help now!" Kate threw her arms around Quatre's tiny waist, and hugged him tightly.
"How do you know me?" Quatre gently pulled the little girl far enough away from him, that he could kneel down and look her in the face.
"You were there with Heero. You were helping him. I saw you…" Kate trailed off, and stared at Quatre. "…but Heero didn't… neither did Trowa…" Quatre opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a long sigh coming from behind them.
Duo sat up slowly and let out a long sigh. His headache was bearable now, but his body was stiff from the long battle. His legs wouldn't work the way he wanted them to, and when he tried to stand up, he only managed to fall over on his face.
"Itai…" he groaned. He rolled over and noticed Quatre. He was scanning Duo with very worried eyes. Duo just grinned at him. "Remind me not to do that again." The blond boy shook his head and smiled at Duo, then carefully placed an arm around him to hold him in a sitting position.
"How do you feel?" Duo winced as he tried to get up, his muscles weren't quite ready to hold his weight.
"As good as anyone could after a battle like that one…." Duo sighed again, and relaxed his aching muscles.
"Don't try to move to much, you might hurt yourself." Duo nodded, then he realized where he was.
"Hold on. How did I get here? Where's Heero? Is he alright?" The last thing Duo could remember was leaving Trowa to go find Heero, so how had he gotten in DeathscytheHell? And how did Quatre get here?
"Heero's hurt pretty badly, he was shot a few times in his side, and he's lost an awful lot of blood…" A little girl with hair resembling Quatre's walked over and sat down next to Duo. "We need to get him some help soon, or he could die." Quatre looked at Duo, then over to Heero, and let out a long sigh of defeat.
"Kate, can you hold Duo in this position until I get back? I'm going to take Heero in to Sally." The little girl nodded and slipped herself into Quatre's spot. Duo looked at the girl, and vaguely remembered seeing her face somewhere before.
"Don't worry. Everything will be alright now. We'll take care of you, Heero, and Trowa." Duo was afraid he already knew the answer to his unasked question.
"What about Relena?" Kate's eyes sunk to the floor. She wasn't able to look Duo in the eyes as she answered him.
"She's dead." Duo's eyes widened, and he forced himself to his feet. "Wait! What are you doing?"
"I have to go find Heero." Duo stepped out to the edge of the cockpit, then jumped down. The landing jolted his brain, and he was forced to sit down until the fresh wave of pain had subsided.
'I have to make sure Heero is alright. I have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.'
'What do you think he's going to do? Kill himself?' Duo paused at this thought, and ran inside to find where Quatre had taken Heero, because he knew that that was exactly what Heero would do. A person could only stand so much in their life, and Heero had been put through more than anyone else Duo knew. Relena's death might just be enough to push him over the edge, and if he wasn't there for him, who knew what could happen.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Quatre walked into the small living room, carrying Heero as best he could. Sally and Trowa were sitting on the couch talking. Or rather, Sally was talking, and Trowa would nod a silent yes or no, and occasionally comment on something she said. However, all talk stopped when Trowa caught sight of the blond. He quickly got to his feet, and helped to hold the injured boy. Together, Trowa and Quatre managed to get Heero into Wufei's bedroom, the only one on the first floor.
"Be careful with him," Sally said, as she walked into the room. Trowa and Quatre set him down gently on the bed, then moved to the side so Sally could get him some help.
"I'm going to go get Duo and Kate. I'll be right back." Quatre shot a worried glance at Heero before turning to leave the room.
"Oh my god." Sally gently removed the Japanese boy's shirt, and looked at the holes in his side. By some miracle, none of his internal organs had been damaged, but two of the three bullets had stayed in his body. Sally went to work disinfecting the ugly wounds in his side. She would need to find some way to extract the bullets without causing any harm to his organs, and the bullets needed to come out soon. They might contain lead, and that certainly wouldn't help to make Heero's condition any better. Sally left to consult Quatre and Trowa on how it should be done, leaving the now half conscious Heero alone in the room.
As Duo walked into the house, Quatre attempted walking out of it. Since neither of them were paying attention to what was going on around them, this resulted in the two pilots colliding.
"Duo! I told you to wait for me to come back!" Duo slid past Quatre and continued on his way. He needed to find Heero, and he wasn't going to let anyone get in his way. "Duo wait!" Quatre put his hand on Duo's shoulder, and waited for him to turn around. He didn't.
"I have to go help Heero. I know he can live through a few shots in the side. Hell, if he can survive self detonating his gundam, this should be easy for him…" Quatre moved himself in front of Duo so he could look him in the eyes.
"Duo…" Duo had a look about him that could only be described as lost. Hopelessly lost.
"I just don't know if he can take much more… we've all been pushed so hard, but nothin' nearly as bad as what he's been through." Quatre tried to maintain eye contact, but Duo slipped away and ran down the halls to Wufei's bedroom.
"Duo. Don't push yourself to hard." Quatre walked outside to help Kate down from the gundam.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Heero's eyes snapped open, quickly gathering information about his surroundings. He was in a bed, Wufei's bed, to be exact. Quatre or Trowa must have brought him inside. Heero slowly sat up, and was cruelly reminded of his injuries by a flash of pain.
"Oh Sally, I'm so glad you're here. Where's Heero? Is he alright?" Duo's voice could be heard just outside the room. Heero slowly stood up, ignoring the fact that the room was spinning around him.
"Duo, calm down. Heero's in Wufei's bedroom. He's pretty banged up though, three shots in the side." Heero opened the door to the room and peered out into the hallway. Sally lead Duo over to the couch in the living room, and made sure he sat down. He was shaking terribly all over.
"Can I go see him?" Trowa was sitting in the arm chair next to the couch, and Sally sat down next to Duo. No one was facing Heero, and no one heard him walk further into the hallway.
"He's unconscious now, so it wouldn't do any good…" Heero leaned against the doorway to the living room.
"No. I'm not." All three heads snapped around to stare at Heero. Duo's eyes lit up and he sprung to his feet.
"Heero! You're alright!" Heero took a step foreword, and realized that he couldn't stand upright with out the support of the doorframe. Duo frowned and ran to Heero's side. "You shouldn't be up. Why did you get out of bed?" With Duo's help, Heero made his way back to the bed, and carefully laid down.
"Thanks." Heero slid himself back on the bed, so he could halfway sit up. Duo sat down on the bed beside him.
"Do you want me to get you anything?"
"My laptop." Duo frowned, and crossed his arms.
"Anything but that. Honestly, you act like you can't live without that thing." Heero didn't take his eyes off of Duo.
"I want my laptop." Duo grinned.
"Alright. But you have to promise me something." Heero didn't like where this was headed at all. Whenever Duo had that maniac grin plastered to his face, everyone in the room is as good as dead.
"Duo. Stop pestering Heero. I need to patch him up." Sally walked into the room, carrying a handful of bandages, and a long metal instrument that resembled tweezers. Duo got up and started out the door.
"Just remember," Duo shot Heero a cold look. "I'm not done with you yet." Sally sat down on the bed where Duo had just been, and set out her utensils.
"I don't have any pain killers on hand, is that a problem?" Heero shook his head. He had experienced pain before, it wasn't new to him. He was a soldier, after all. He needed to be prepared to face a situation like this one. "Alright, but you can't move. Understand?" Heero nodded, and sally picked up the long, tweezer-like tool, and carefully attempted to extract a bullet from Heero's body.
Heero didn't scream, or move. He let the pain over take him, blurring his thoughts, letting him forget. The pain was almost comforting in a sense. It let him forget about Relena, and how kind she was to him, and how he would never see her beautiful face, or hear her soft laughter again.
Duo went up stairs to Heero's room to find his laptop. He was feeling a little better than when he had first gotten up, but he was still stiff, and it was painful to move.
"Alright Heero. Where'd ya hide it this time?" Every time Duo fooled with Heero's laptop, Heero hid it from him. And every time Heero hid his laptop from Duo, Duo managed to find it and hack through the security placed around important files. (or the personal ones, namely notes from Relena) This time, Heero had chosen the drawer in his desk with the lock on it, but he left it slightly open, just to make it look innocent. Duo pulled it out and turned it on, then carefully began to disable the Relena virus he had planted in the laptop. He was hoping Heero would forget about it if he got rid of it.
"Duo? Are you alright?" Duo looked up from the laptop, and found himself staring into a pair of bright green eyes. Kate, sensing Duo's discomfort, backed up a bit before repeating her question. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah. Couldn't be better!" Duo grinned widely and slid the laptop behind his back. "How about you?"
"I'm feeling fine. I just wanted to see how you were doing, that's all." Duo flopped back on Heero's bed, his braid flopping forward onto his face in the process.
"You know, Quatre is a good cook. Why don't you go ask him to make us some dinner? Kate laughed, and sat down next to him.
"You're just trying to get rid of me. You want to get back to working on Heero's laptop before he finds out." Duo was surprised that the child had figured that out. Was he that obvious?
"You won't tell him, will you? He'll have my hide if he finds out." Kate laughed again, and flipped the braid out of Duo's face.
"Nope. I won't tell him. I'm good at keeping secrets." Duo smiled and ruffled the girls hair.
"I wasn't kidding about the food either. I'm starving!" Kate giggled, and walked out of the room, leaving Duo with the laptop once again.
Duo finished removing the virus, then put the laptop down on the bed next to him.
'God. I'm so tired. I guess it couldn't hurt to take a little nap…' He closed his eyes, and relaxed his tired muscles, and thought about how good it felt to be in a bed.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Trowa was lying on the couch. Sally had carefully taken care of his sore side, and yelled at him when he tried to get up to help Quatre with dinner.
"You'll irritate the injury if you move. You need to rest for a few days." Kate helped Trowa prop himself up with a pillow, so he could eat his dinner.
"Arigatoo." Kate grinned and handed Trowa a glass of water.
"I'm happy to help you, it almost feels like home." Kate turned around to face Quatre, who had just entered the room. "How's Duo?" Quatre smiled and sat down in the chair next to the sofa, carrying a cup of hot chocolate for Kate, and some tea for him self.
"He's asleep, in Heero's bedroom. I'd hate to see what Heero would do to him if he found out."
Kate giggled, and crossed her legs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Heero slip by the doorway.
"Well, as long as Heero stays in bed like he's supposed to…" She raised her voice at the last few words, making sure Heero could hear them. Sure enough, he did. Heero stuck his head into the room, and Kate smiled at him. "What are you doing up so early? You weren't supposed to move until tomorrow morning." Heero went back into Wufei's room, and closed the door.
"He's certainly not patient when it comes to his laptop, is he?" Quatre sipped his tea calmly, trying not to show his amusement at the sound of the door being opened again.
Heero was not going to stay in that bedroom any longer. He had suspected that Duo was up to something, but he had hoped he would be smart enough not to fool with his laptop again. Heero was going to go upstairs and give Duo a piece of his mind.
"Duo," Heero opened the door to his room, prepared for anything but what he saw. Duo was asleep on his bed. The laptop was next to him, still on from when he had been using it. The word processing program had been opened, and on it was a half written note.
"Hey Heero,
Listen, I got rid of that stupid virus I put on your computer, I hope I can make that up to you someday, but I honestly didn't think it would bother you. Oh, and remember that promise you had to make me? You aren't off the hook yet. You need to promise me that you won't do anything stupid because of Relena. You got that? I don't think I would be able to…." And the note stopped. Duo must have fallen asleep while doing it. Heero put the laptop aside and looked down at his sleeping friend.
"Duo?" Duo turned slowly on his back, and stared at Heero with half closed eyes. It took him a minute to register the fact that some one was there. It took him even longer to realize who it was.
"Oi Hee-chan." Duo rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up. "So, why are you here?"
"This is my room." Duo blinked twice, then tried to sit up.
"Itai," Duo flopped back on the bed. He couldn't keep himself upright, a combination of exhaustion, and his taut muscles. "You don't mind if I just stay here for a while, do you?" Heero shook his head.
"You shouldn't be moving at all. You need sleep." Duo looked at the bandages on Heero's side, and grinned.
"You're one to talk. What did you have to do to get by Quatre? Gag him and tie him to a chair?" Heero didn't answer, but his eyes told Duo that he had found that last comment humorous. Duo looked over to the side of the bed, where the clock was. It said it was 7:30, but it didn't specify AM or PM. "Heero?"
"We left at 3:30 yesterday after noon. We arrived back here at approximately 11:30 the following morning. You haven't eaten a full meal for two days. I'll be back with some dinner." Duo blinked twice. That was much more information then he wanted, however, the aspect of food was quite pleasing.
"Do you always have to be so precise about everything? A simple AM or PM would have done quite well…" Heero stood up, walked out of the room. Duo noticed that Heero had a slight limp to his walk. Duo forced himself up, and this time he stayed up.
"Heero, wait." Heero continues down the hallway, and Duo knew the only way to talk to him was to follow him.
'Great, just as I was getting comfortable too…' Duo pulled himself out of the bed, using the desk next to it. After Duo had managed to get himself on his feet, he carefully made his way to the door. Every step he took seemed to make things easier, and with his headache gone, he was able to concentrate on what he would say to Heero once he caught up with him.
By the time he made it down the steps, he had forgotten all about his stiff muscles. He was feeling perfectly fine. He spun around the corner, and into the kitchen, hoping to get something to eat before his headache came back. Heero had both hands on the counter top, and his head bowed between them. His breathing was quick and forced, and he looked like he was in great pain.
"Heero?" Heero stood up strait, and turned to face Duo. His face was streaked with half dried tears, and his hands were tinted red from blood. His bandages had obviously been disturbed, they were wrinkled and bunched up in some places, and not covering others.
Duo was speechless. He had never seen Heero cry before. There was always a tint of sadness in his eyes when someone was killed, but he had never openly expressed his emotions before. Kate walked in the room behind Duo, and up next to Heero.
"You can't pull at them, you'll irritate the skin, then it won't heal properly." Kate grabbed one of the perfect soldiers hands, and led him back into Wufei's bedroom. Heero's eyes never left Duo's until he was pulled into the room, and out of sight.
'Heero, I wish I could help you, I know how much it hurts to lose someone close to you, I know the pain you're feeling, just don't do anything stupid. I don't think I could stand that pain again…' Duo slowly pulled a granola bar out of the cabinet, and began to eat it. He didn't feel quite as hungry anymore, and the granola bar tasted stale anyway. He tossed the half finished snack into the trashcan, and went back up stairs, this time to his own room.
"Heero?" Quatre felt a shot of pain in his side, and stood up to see if Heero was alright. Trowa twisted himself to see what was wrong.
"What is it?" Quatre fell back into his chair as the pain worsened. His head hit the wall behind him and he closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain. "Quatre? Are you alright?" Quatre nodded yes, and opened his eyes. Kate stood up and walked out of the room.
"It's Heero…" Quatre once again found himself at Heero's side, sharing his pain and his thoughts. He was crying for Relena. He kept telling himself that she wasn't important, that he didn't care for her to begin with. Quatre put his arm around Heero. "It's okay. You're allowed to cry. It's only human to feel pain." Heero grabbed at his side, and pulled some of the bandages away from his wounds.
'I'm not supposed to care. I'm not supposed to be capable of these feelings. I've been trained against it.' Heero purposely tore the fragile skin that had been forming around the hole he had uncovered, letting the blood stain his hands. Letting the pain cloud his mind.
"Heero! Stop! Are you crazy?" Quatre grabbed at Heero's hand, pulling it away. Heero put his hands on the counter, and lost himself in the pain. "Heero, please stop. Don't run away from this. Don't bury yourself in the pain. That's the worst way to solve this…" Quatre backed up, and gave the other pilot some breathing room. As soon as his hand left Heero's, he found himself back in the chair, staring at Trowa.
"Are you alright?" Quatre politely smiled at his friend.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you. Is there something I can get for you?" Trowa shook his head.
"No, I'm fine." Quatre nodded, and relaxed a bit in his chair. The pain was still in his side, and he didn't want to injure himself getting up, besides. He had a feeling Kate went to help, and with her there, Heero was in good hands.
Heero had fallen asleep, and he knew he was dreaming. Relena was standing in front of him, talking to him.
"Heero. You need to stay in bed, how else are you going to get better?" Heero didn't really listen to what Relena had to say, he was just enjoying the moment, listening to Relena's soft voice, the smooth rhythm to her speech, the way she talked with her hands. "Heero?"
"It's just a dream, and you're just a memory, aren't you?" Relena nodded sadly, and walked up to Heero.
"I may be dead, but I want you to know that I'll always be with you." She wrapped her arms around Heero, and pulled him into a tight embrace. Heero was surprised by the action, and wasn't quite sure how to react, so he simply held Relena close to him, not wanting to lose her again.
"Ai shiteru," Heero buried his face in Relena's soft hair, loving the scent of flowers that she always seemed to have about her.
"I have to go soon," Relena gently pulled away, and Heero reluctantly let his hands leave her golden hair.
"I don't want to lose you again," Relena smiled and reached behind her neck to take off her necklace. She held her closed hand out to Heero, presenting him with it.
"Take this. I think Kate would like you to have it." Heero held his hand out, and Relena dropped the thin silver chain into his hands. There was a little jade dolphin charm attached to it, and it shimmered in the light. "I promise I'll never leave you if I can help it." Heero pulled the charm close to his chest, and looked into Relena's sad eyes. "Ai shiteru kokoro kara," and she left.
Heero opened his eyes, and found himself back in Wufei's room. As he slowly sat up, he heard a tiny tinkling noise. The jade dolphin chain was still in his hand, the same one from the dream. Heero quickly pocketed the charm, and made his way into the kitchen. He knew he needed food if he were to feel better, so he began to make a batch of spaghetti.
Duo woke up to the smell of Italian cooking. Grinning to himself, he got up and headed downstairs.
'Heero must be up. He's the only one who cooks Italian unless I pester them to do so, of course, he's the only one who can make it smell like that…' Sure enough, Heero was walking around the kitchen, gathering vegetables to make spaghetti sauce. Duo looked into the empty pot, then picked up the fresh garlic and began to grate it.
"Oi Heero, What made you decide to cook for once?" Heero certainly didn't look it, but he could cook as well as Quatre, if not better. He just never did it because he was always so involved in a mission, repairing his gundam, or his damned laptop.
"I was hungry," Duo snorted to himself, then looked up at the clock.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Hn…"
"It's 2:27 in the morning." Heero continued cooking, as if this news didn't surprise him. Duo blinked twice. "No one cooks at 2:27 in the morning." Heero poured some tomato paste into the pot, and turned the stove on. "Heero, its 2:27! No one's even supposed to be up at 2:27! So what possessed you to cook at 2:27!!" Heero took out a knife, and pulled the cutting board away from Duo.
"Look at the clock Duo." Duo stared at Heero. "It's now 2:31. You've been inaccurate for the past three minutes." Duo was stunned by what was apparently Heero's sense of humor. That was the second time this week that Heero had made a joke. They might not have been very good jokes, but they were jokes none the less. "Duo, if you aren't going to help, then go sit down so I have some room to work." Duo picked up the celery and a knife of his own, and began to chop.
"I get some too, don't I?" Heero picked up the cutting board, and scraped the tomato, celery, and garlic into the pot, then began to chop up the parsley.
"That depends. Do I get my laptop?" Duo pulled out some leftover ham, and crumbled it into the pot.
"You want it? Go get it. It's in your room on your bed where I left it." Heero dumped his parsley into the pot, and put a lid on it.
"I can't do stairs yet, not for a few more days." Heero pulled down a glass, and poured himself some water. Duo sat down in a chair, and watched his friend.
"Heero, are you sure you're alright?" Heero pulled out another pot, and began to make the actual spaghetti. "I mean, about Relena…" Heero dropped the pot on the stove with a clang, and roughly filled it with water.
"I'm fine." Heero took some of the unused garlic that Duo had grated, and plunked it into the water.
"No. You aren't fine. You can't just hide this, and pretend it never happened." Heero sprinkled some salt, and added oil to the water.
"It doesn't matter." Duo leaped out of his chair, filled with rage.
"What do you mean 'it doesn't matter'? How can you say that?" Heero walked past Duo, and sat down at the table.
"Hn." Duo slammed his hands down on the table, and glared at Heero.
"Don't give me that 'hn' crap. Answer my question. How can you just push this aside like you never loved her?" Duo's headache was back, and it pounded in his ears, making it difficult to think.
"It doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done." The spaghetti water had begun to boil, and Heero added some linguine.
"You… You…" Duo took a step toward Heero, trying to get him to open up a bit. If he kept this to himself it would eat him alive. "Heero, please…" The room was spinning, and Duo's headache made it so he couldn't hear Heero's response, he could only see his lips moving. Duo stumbled back, trying to find his chair. His hand caught the back of it, but he fell over slightly to the side, hitting the floor, and tipping the chair over on top of him.
Heero watched as Duo fell backwards. He quickly lifted the chair off of him, and helped him sit on top of it.
"Duo? Are you alright?" Duo grabbed onto Heero's arm, using it to keep himself upright.
"Just… Just a headache… that's all…" Heero pulled a chair close to Duo's, and sat down. "I'll be…. I'll be fine."
"Have you had anything to eat since we got back?" Duo paused to think before he replied.
"Three bites of a granola bar… Does that count?" Heero carefully pulled himself away from Duo a little at a time, to make sure he could sit up by himself.
"You need food. It should help your headache." Heero pulled down a plate and put some of the spaghetti on it, then poured some sauce on top of that, making sure to get a lot of the ham. He put the plate on the table in front of Duo, then turned around to get some silverware.
"Arigatoo gozaimasu" Heero handed Duo a fork and spoon, then got himself a plate. "You still aren't off the hook you know." Heero sat down next to Duo, and looked at him.
"What do you want from me?"
"I want you to promise me you won't… that you won't kill yourself… because of Relena" Heero picked up his fork and began to eat. "Heero," Duo put his hand on Heero's, pushing his fork away from his mouth. "Please?"
"Hn…" Heero continued to eat his food. Reluctantly, Duo did the same. He didn't have the energy to fight Heero at the moment. But somehow, he would get Heero to promise him.
"It's very good," Heero finished his plate, and took Duo's with him to wash. Duo had enjoyed the meal, but it didn't sit well in his stomach. His head was still spinning, and it was getting worse now that he had had something to eat. "You know I'm not going to leave you alone until you promise me, don't you?"
"Hn," Heero went back to cleaning up his mess. Duo closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain in his head. He was surprised when he felt something warm beside him. He opened his eyes, and saw that he would have fallen off of his chair if Heero hadn't caught him.
"Heh, thanks again."
"You need to go to bed."
"Not until you promise." Heero was stuck, and he knew it. Duo was not going to get off his back about it until he did. Heero lifted Duo off of his chair, and prepared to carry him to the nearest bed. "Hey! Put me down!" Duo twisted slightly, trying to get away from Heero. He was too tired to do much more than that, and his head was still pounding.
"Can you stand on your own?" Duo twisted again, and fell to the floor.
"Itai. What was that for?" He pushed himself onto his feet, then tried to walk away from Heero.
"I thought not." Duo wavered again, but Heero caught him before he could fall then picked him up once again. "You're going to bed." Heero put Duo down on Wufei's bed, then sat down in the chair at the desk.
"You're not going to sleep there, are you?" Duo didn't get a reply, and he was very comfortable. He didn't even notice he had gone to sleep.
Heero watched Duo's sleeping figure. His chest rose and fell with each breath. Heero pulled out the tiny jade dolphin from his pocket, and looked it over.
"Omae o yakusoku suru, Duo." He kept the necklace close to his chest, and slowly fell asleep. "I promise…."
To be continued…
Mel: ^____^ So, Whatd'ya think? Did I murder anyone else's personality? Is Kate acting too old for her age? Did I use too much Japanese?
Tsuru: Yes.
Mel: ?.? Yes to what? All of them?
Tsuru: No, just to the last one.
Mel: Uh… Heh heh… Um…. Do you think I should translate?
Tsuru: That might be a good idea.
Mel: Alrighty then! First things first! 'Omae o yakusoku suru' should roughly mean 'I promise you'
Naki: But you said first thing first….
Mel: ?.?
Naki: That was the last bit of Japanese you used….
Tsuru: It was a figure of speech Naki.
Naki: Oh.
Mel: Anywhoots, 'Itai' means 'ouch' in any place I used it here. It could also be used to mean pain, or hurt.
Tsuru: She's begun to use that one in normal speech, it drives her French teacher nuts!
Mel: Only when I say 'Nani?' if I don't know what he means….
Tsuru: *laughs*
Mel: 'Arigatoo' means 'Thank you' and 'Arigatoo gozaimasu' means 'thank you very much' Now, the next one is one everyone should already know. 'Ai shiteru' is 'I love you' and 'Ai shiteru kokoro kara' is 'I love you from the bottom of my heart'
Naki: Awwwwwww……
Mel: Yeah…. Uh… well… what else did I use?
Tsuru: Oi
Mel: Oh, right. 'Oi' is only used by men, and depending on the situation, it could mean 'hey,' 'hi,' 'say,' 'hello,' or 'look'….. wow, that was long…..
Tsuru: Yes. It was.
Mel: ……
Naki: Nani?
Mel: ……. Didn't I say I would never write anything that long again?
Tsuru: I think I remember something like that,
Mel: ……. Oh well, I guess that gives me an excuse for not having it out sooner, ne?
People reading fic: No!
Mel: *shrinks* Uh…. Sorry, but I had humanities homework….. I had AlgebraII/trig and French II home work too, and biology! Hell, I even had Choir home work!
Tsuru: And I'm sure they all needed to hear your schedule, didn't they?
Mel: Uh…. Heh heh…
Naki: Can I have a cookie now?
Lawyers: *swarm in* We want some too!
Mel: *grins* If you give a Naki cookies she will call upon the lawyers…
Tsuru: *shakes head* She's lost it….
Naki: *hands out cookies to lawyers*
Mel: *continues reciting* If you give the lawyers cookies they should leave your fic alone!
Lawyers: *poof out*
Mel: *beams* That worked quite well!
Tsuru: *shakes head* Hopeless.…
Mel: Ooh! Review!!!!! Please!!!!! It might encourage me to do my biology homework in homeroom again…
Naki: That's not a very good idea….
Mel: No, but it gives me more time to work on my fic!
Tsuru: Is it that important to you?
Mel: *has fun messing up another quote* A fic! A fic! My freedom for a fic!
Tsuru/Naki: *blink, blink*
Mel: ^__^()
Tsuru: Would you believe that she was given a homework assignment in Math to describe what they did in class to someone else…
Naki: And she did the thing in script form….
Mel: Explaining it to the G-boyz and Kat!! ^___^
Naki: I wonder what she got on it?
Tsuru: We'll know on Tuesday….
Mel: Ooh! When I get it back I need to type it up!
Tsuru: Do you honestly thing people would want to read that?
Naki: Let's ask them!!!
Mel: Well, what do you think, is that a good fic idea? Should I post it when I get it back? Put your answers in those reviews!!! ^___^
Tsuru: *blinks twice* Weren't you going to call Kat?
Mel: Nope! She called me quite a few times while I was writing this! I now haven't seen her in 40.5 hours! She's supposed to call me in ten minutes so we can get together! ^______________^
Naki: Then why don't you hurry up and post this?
Mel: Good idea. Oh, and Arigatoo to anyone who reads my fic and gives me critique. It honestly does help.
Naki: She's not kidding when she says she likes flames….
Mel: But I haven't gotten any on this yet, I have gotten people telling me that I'm crazy, but no flames….