Starlight Sisters
Chapter 9: Confusion and Remembrance
Her eyes were heavy. She could hear the sounds of other people whispering and talking around her. She couldn't lift her eyelids. They were too heavy. She couldn't see. Why were her eyes heavy? Where was she? Who was talking? Where was Dr. J? What were they talking about? She was sinking. She could feel the softness envelop her. Yet it did nothing to calm her. She knew nothing. She couldn't understand. Her sight was gone. She could see nothing with her eyelids being too heavy to lift. Why? Why? She couldn't understand. She was too weak to lift her own eyelids. She was too tired to listen, to hear, and to sense what was going on around her. She didn't and couldn't understand. She let the fuzz and clouds envelop her. She was gone back into the dark abyss of her mind. She went back to Zero.
"Heero it isn't your fault." Quatre tried to console an aching Heero as he gripped his sister hand. But Heero was past consoling. "She should have been able to sustain the power of the system Quatre. I don't understand. She is barely breathing. I…I…can't understand why. She should have been able to control the system. Why couldn't she control the system Quatre?" He simply shrugged. Noin placed her hand reassuringly on Quatre's shoulder. Sally, Woo, and Wufei were huddled in a corner of the room whispering among themselves. Trowa stood on the other side of the bed next to Relena who was bathing Jade's head with a damp towel. Woo walked softly across the room and opened the door. "Where are you going?" Heero asked her coldly. Woo gave him a sardonic look. "I am leaving to speak with the rest of my comrades, plan what our next move will be, work with Hydra and begins modifications to the space ship. I am also going to give Jade sometime to peacefully rest, which is probably the best thing for her. You can do nothing to help her now except let her get her rest. And that goes for all of you." Woo said looking at everyone in the room. "Jade needs to be watched yes. But all of you in here are doing no good. You should all be working on what Jade sacrificed herself for. She will get better." She turned and before leaving the room she called out over her shoulder, "After all she is Heero's sister."
"Woo's right." Noin admitted while Quatre nodded his head. They both left the room with Wufei, Trowa, and Poe. Relena and Heero stayed by her bedside. Relena stood and walked around to Heero who was seated on the other side of the bed. She placed her arms around his neck from behind and gave him a squeeze before taking his hand and unwrapping it from Jade's. Heero looked at her with lost eyes. She gripped his hand and pulled him up. She dragged him away from Jade's bedside and walked him to his room. She opened his door. "Get some rest Heero or you will be of no use to her." He walked into his room and sat down on his bed. Relena was about to close the door when she heard the faintest whisper, "Thank you," come from him. She looked up not realizing that she had been staring at the floor, smiled and nodded before closing the door. She walked down the hall to Jade's door and closed it. She walked down the hall to her own bedroom and flipped on the television set. From underneath the cover inside of her room a smile spread across Jade's face.
Lily was lying on her bed her face buried into her pillow. Steph sat with one leg thrown over an arm of the chair sharpening one of her knives. Woo paced the length of the room cradling a sleeping Kari in her arms. Woo stopped pacing and placed Kari in her bed. Then she motioned to Steph to come out into the hallway. Woo walked to Lily and gently placed her fingertips on her back. Lily's red face appeared and Woo motioned for her to go out into the hallway. The three left the room. They walked to a grand staircase and Woo leaned against a wall with her arms crossed over her chest. Lily sat on one of the steps and Step sat on the banister. They remained that way for a long time in silence. But the silence was broken by Lily's almost sobbing reply, "What are we gonna do now." Lily drew her knees close to her chest and buried her face in her knees. Her back rose and fell as she took shallow breaths to try and calm down and to keep from crying. Woo closed her eyes as he head fell, "I don't know. Jade…….she's never been down this long. She's never……lost control of the system like she did."
Steph's face looked off into the distance as she spoke, "We all knew she couldn't control the Zero system entirely but I thought she was getting better. I thought that she was beginning to master it. What happened to her in that cockpit to make her lose control of herself like she did? What happened to put her into a coma?"
Woo shook her head, "I don't know. I searched through the data and figures of the Zero system and they all show that after uploading she receive too much information and she started hallucinating. But what hallucination could she have that would put her into a coma? It just doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense. Like Heero said she should have been able to control the system."
"But obviously she wasn't able to." Came Trowa's response from the bottom of the stairs. Woo's eyes shifted to his position but her head never moved. Steph acknowledged his presence with a nod in his direction. Lily lifted her tear-stained face for a moment then buried it back into her knees. Duo who had been absent from the house getting food appeared next to Trowa with a towel. He walked up the steps and handed her the towel. She looked up for a second then weakly took the towel wiping off her damp face, "Thank you." She whispered despondently. He nodded. "Where's Kari?"
"She's sleeping in the room on my bed." Woo said. "Thank you for taking Kari to town with you. It was a big help."
"Don't mention it." He said cheerfully.
"So what do we do now?" Lily asked.
"You talk as if Jade is already dead." Came Quatre's voice from the darkness of the hallway. Everyone turned to look at him. His halo of blonde hair stood out from the darkness of the hallway. His aqua eyes shone as he walked out into the dimly lighted banister. "She is going to pull through. Have faith."
Trowa began walking up the steps. "You go on and prepare to fight this war." He walked past the crowd of people and became lost in the sea of blackness as he continued his walk down the hallway towards his room. Duo followed after him. Quatre gave Lily's shoulder a quick squeeze before also proceeding into the darkness. The three girls sat on and contemplated their next move.
One week later
The house was quiet, dark, and lonely. But all of those moods suited Trowa just fine. He laid down in his bed with his back propped up typing away at his computer. Everyone was gone from the house except himself and an unconscious Jade. Duo, Heero, and Kari had been held up at town because of a freak storm they were having. The colony's weather controls had malfunctioned. Duo and Heero chose to stay in town until the problem had been fixed. Trowa smiled one of his rare smiles. He bet Kari and Duo were driving the usually stony Heero up the wall. Everyone else had left for a few days to work on the ship that was docked in a space harbor not too far away. He had asked to stay at the house to work on the designs for his new gundam. They had all agreed because none of them wanted Jade to be home alone in case something would happen. Trowa took another drink of his coffee and had just set it down when he heard the most delicate sound emanating from Jade's room. His eyes narrowed and he brushed aside the laptop to grab his pistol from underneath his pillow. He crept out of his room and made his way softly into the hallway walking silently down to Jade's door. He could hear the familiar pounding of his heart in his ears and the silence had almost become a sound in it's self. The sound of him twisting the knob was almost too loud for him to handle. He let one of his eyes glimpse into the room. What he saw almost made his drop his gun.
For weeks now not a sound or peep from the girl. He had almost given up hope that she was going to get better. And there she was not just out of bed but dancing nonetheless. There was no light but the shimmer of the full moon into her windows. Her skintight top and loose tie pant gave her the silhouette of an Arabian princess. The only music that accompanied her graceful body movements was that of the wind howling. Yet she danced, eyes closed, arms winding together above her head, her hips moving, as she had done the day on the ship. Her hips slid from one side to the other, then they wove around. Her torso slid from left to right provocatively. She turned slowly and Trowa could see the glimmer of something sharp and metallic. It was a knife with a cord tied around the hilt that fell down her back. Her brown hair looked silver and black at the same time as it swirled around her giving her the contrast of evil and good, power and weakness, warrior and woman.
NO! She wouldn't. If he wanted someone to dance for him, to make love to him, then why not call on Woo! She wouldn't be his mistress. But she would have to dance for him. No way around it. Trieze had brought the Arabian outfit for tonight. She would have to be his desert flower again. Her sleek, bronze limbs glided into the room. And there he was. Trieze in all of his glory and power weakened by the beauty of a single girl. Woo thought she loved him, but she could never know that he really had no interest in her. He was using Woo to get to her. She knew it, and he knew she knew. But he didn't care. He wanted her. He turned on a sultry song. "Dance Jade." He commanded. She did as he asked. She closed her eyes and pretended she was back in training. Her hips moved from left to right. She let her arms and hands entangle together above her head. She threw her long hair back. The fire from the fireplace warmed her stomach and sweat began to form on her brow. She quickly turned in graceful circles as a tear rolled down her face. Suddenly without warning she could feel Trieze's hands on her shoulders pushing her back. She hit the wall with an almost inaudible thud. His hands moved from her shoulders to her waist and his head moved down and his tongue plundered her mouth.
Trowa watched in fascination as she moved in circle and then slammed herself into a wall. She watched as her head jerked back and up. He heard her scream and reach behind her for the knife. She brought it up and down. The sound like an animal screeched from the inside of her throat. She brought the knife down quickly. She slashed and slashed at the air. Her eyes were still closed. What was she doing?
She brought down the knife again and this time accidentally sliced part of her arm. She was out of control. He had to stop her. Trowa dropped his gun and busted the door open. Jade hear the sound and turn to face the door and Trowa. She raced at him with the knife completely unaware of what she was doing. She brought it up and down managing to catch Trowa off guard and slice him diagonally across his bare chest. He brought his leg up and kicked her back. She sliced his tie pants down one of the legs but didn't cut his skin. She stumbled back from him and hit the ground hard. She tried to get back up but he pounced on her using his body weight to restrain her body and his hands to restrain her arms. She went crazy. She screamed, bit, and fought back as best she could. But she was no match for Trowa's strength. She tried to kick, she screamed, and shrieked. Trowa could find nothing that he could do to get her to calm down.
He finally used the only option open to him. He brought back his hand and backhanded her. The force of the blow wasn't enough to rend her unconscious, but enough to wake her up from her nightmare. She looked at him with frighten blue eyes her hair sweaty and clothes damp from the fight. His chest wound streamed blood down on her. She to one look at him and his wound and cringed in anger. She was so disgusted with herself. She screamed one last time. When her anger was out she died down and wrapped her arms around herself and began to cry.
Trowa was shocked and dumbfounded. He didn't know what to do. He did the only thing he though was right. He picked her up and carried her to her bed. She sobbed apologizes and Trowa whispered that it was ok. He laid her down in her bed and after thinking for a second or two slid under the covers with her. She clung to his chest and sobbed and Trowa held her and comforted her until she finally cried herself to sleep.
*Ok I have a really good excuse this time for the delay this time! My computer lost all of its memory. Yeah it about killed me to be away from this thing for a month. But thank you for reading and I hope you find it entertaining and I will have another one out in a day or so. Thanks! Lady Star