Namae wo Tsukete
© Summer 2002 Lady Pax
LP: Well – thanks for the reviews loves! (I had an English accent today!)
Karin: You just *had* to make her more egotistic, didn't you, wee-ones? (she had an Irish accent today!)
LP: shut up, Karin. Anywho, thank-you Katrina for reviewing! I know, the chapters are cut pretty short, but no one else ahs asked me that – if more people do, I'll try and make them a little longer. But if people ask me to make them shorter, or leave them the same size, I'll have to go with their requests! The story is about 21 pages now, and I needed to stop them at the most reasonable and sensible places. Thanks for your review though – at least it wasn't a flame!! Yay!! *dances*
Disclaimer: Umm...don't own Gundam Wing. But anything original is copyrighted (©) summer 2002 to me – Lady Pax.
~~~
Chapter 7
Trowa woke up, shivering uncontrollably with cold. From the window across the hall from his cell, he could see it was snowing. He curled into a tighter ball and thought warm thoughts – both physical and mental. When that didn't work, he concentrated on his fingers as if they were the most amazing thing in the world.
He flexed his hands to find they hurt when he moved, and saw the were turning a light blue color and shaking visibly. He blew on them and watched in relief as the color returned – along with a soldier.
"Cold, Mr. Barton?" she asked condescendingly.
He looked at her through matted bang, his forest green eyes narrowing.
"I'll take that as a yes," she said, more to herself than the one in the cell. She took in a deep breath through her nose, and it was then that Trowa noticed she held a small metal tray with food in her hands. But he didn't dare move, not even blink. The food probably wasn't for him anyway—
"Are you hungry?" she asked, looking at him with bright, orange eyes. She held the tray through the small slot in between the bars for the exact purpose, and Trowa barely nodded. She shrugged. Without even looking around to see if any of her colleagues, the General, or Colonel were looking, she had slid the tray through the slot and held it there until Trowa took it with shaking hands.
"What's the catch?" he asked, looking at the array of hot chocolate, jam and bread, crackers, and a cup of steaming soup. All the food was warm – so warm that his whole body heated up when he just touched the tray. If his temperature had not been so dangerously low, he would've actually burned himself. He guessed the warmth was so the soldiers wouldn't die and would get the nutrients they needed in the war – especially in such a freezing place in Antarctica.
"No catch," she said, shrugging. "I'm just not really hungry." But the moment she said that, as if to jinx her words, her stomach grumbled. Trowa looked at her with an arched eyebrow.
"Don't worry about me," she said lowly, inching closer to his cell. "You're just a prisoner with no way out of this black-hole of a base. If I were you, I'd throw all caution to the wind and try and break out of here." She straightened. "But that's just me." Just as she was about to disappear beyond the doorway at the end of the hallway, she turned and said, "Gather your strength, soldier. Your torture starts today."
* * *
Quatre shot up in bed, clutching his chest in immense pain. He gave a loud yell of agony, doubling over and letting the ache wash over him.
Heero sat up quickly when he heard the shout, and his eyes widened when he saw his koi bent over with pain. "Quatre!" he breathed. He crawled over to the blonde, putting a cautious hand on the fair shoulder. "What's wrong, Quatre?"
"Someone..." Quatre breathed. "Someone...is in...pain... So much pain..."
Heero's inside froze, and he frowned when he realized it could only be Trowa – the others were still in the safehouse. "But he's not dying, is he, Quatre? Tell me."
"No..." Quatre shook his head to reinforce his statement. "Though on the verge..." He began sobbing through groans of pain, his hand leaving his chest to cover his face and tears. Heero shut his eyes as realization struck him, and he wrapped his arms around his crying koibito, trying to rid his angel of as much shared pain as possible.
The door swung open, no knock given, and Wufei and Duo ran in. Heero looked at them. The two noticed Quatre and frowned.
"It's Barton, isn't it?" Wufei was the first to speak.
Heero looked at Duo, whose violet eyes had now grown wide, starting to quiver and glimmer with tears and horror. He nodded, and winced when a tear slipped down Duo's cheek, pooling below his chin.
"Duo, I—" But Heero couldn't finish, for Duo had fallen to his knees, his head limp in the air before his upper body began plummeting to the floor. Wufei managed to catch the braided boy before he hit the ground, and slowly lowered his body to check him[1].
Quatre's sobs subsided when he saw his comrade fall, and he jumped out of Heero's arms to kneel by his side.
"Duo?" he shouted, lifting the boy's chin up as Wufei checked for a pulse.
"He fainted..." Heero said from his standing position above them. "Wufei, take him back to his room and check up on him every now and then; Quatre, get some sleep; I'll contact Dr. J to see if one of us can try and get Trowa back." With that, Heero left the room.
Wufei lifted the unconscious Duo, the chestnut braid almost touching the floors as he walked down to his room. He laid the boy down on the bed, and watched him for a while to see if he'd wake up, but admitted defeat and went to get some coffee to make sure he didn't fall asleep.
* * *
Trowa sat in the corner of the cell, blood blurring his vision.
'So she wasn't lying when she said my torture starts today...' Trowa thought. He groaned lowly as his abdomen gave another scream of pain. At least the blood warmed his cold body...
'Duo...' he thought. 'What are you doing now I wonder?' Trowa looked at the window across from his cell. The snow was falling harder, some landing in the cell with the window. He sighed, and looked to his right. His eyes opened wide when he noticed a sobbing child was in that cell. His light brown hair was a messy mop on his head, and the ends were ruby red with blood.
"Why are you here?" Trowa murmured.
He jumped, and looked at him. "My mother and father were killed in a raid," he said. "I'm no more to a toy to the soldiers now." He rubbed his arms to spread warmth to them, and he shivered.
'He's no more than ten or eleven...' Trowa thought.
"What's your name?" Trowa asked.
He cocked his head. "I don't know. Who are you?"
"I have no name, but you can call me Trowa...Trowa Barton."
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Barton," he said. He cast his eyes downwards. "I saw what they did to you... I wish—I wish that they would do that to me..."
Trowa was about to protest. He didn't want this—No! It was pain, pure an utter pain to be kicked, punched, and beaten like he had. What was he thinking? The boy was obviously drugged, because no child in their right mind would want to have his type of torture. But all that came out of his mouth was "why?"
"Because then...maybe then I'd have a chance of going to a better place. Of going to Heaven. It's better than this place, isn't it?"
Trowa didn't respond. How could he? The boy had just told him that he wanted to die.
But who would blame him?
~~~
LP: did you like it? It was *really* boring – I know!! SORRY!!!!
Karin: It was okay...but where did you get the idea for the little boy?
LP: I don't know—but he'll play a part in this story... Review please!
[1]=You know at the end of Endless Waltz when Heero falls after saying he doesn't have to hurt any more people, and after Mariemaia's shot? And Relena runs up and catches him? Just put Duo in Heero's place, Wufei in Relena's place – and change the EW scene to that scene and – there you have it! In my mind's eye, it looks really cool! ^_^'
