Scarlet Love
Chapter Two:
Tortured Confusion
By: NightChild
***
Heero held Duo that morning until he stopped crying and fell into an uneasy sleep. "What did this to you?" He asked the sparse room as he watched Duo toss and turn in the bed, seemingly lost in some sort of nightmare. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled Duo's struggling, sleeping form to him and held tightly.
It was late night before Duo finally quieted down. Heero hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, but he refused to leave Duo's side, despite the demands of his stomach. So, he sat either on the floor or the bed and watched Duo sleep fitfully.
Near dawn, a loud "HEERO!" snapped the said person out of the light doze he was in. Sitting up so fast he knocked over the now-cold mug of coffee he had been drinking, Heero looked toward the bed to see Duo laying in it. Duo was tossing and turning almost franticly and he kept mumbling things that Heero couldn't make out and occasionally, he'd yell "Heero"…but that was as much as Heero could understand of it.
Sighing, Heero stood up and approached the bed. He really had to tend to the less serious and obvious wounds…but Duo hadn't let him near him if he had any first-aid supplies, but luckily, he had managed to tend to the worst of them. He watched Duo toss and turn restlessly and then headed to the bathroom to get what he needed to clean the rest of Duo's wounds, no matter what Duo had to say on the matter.
Once he had gathered what he needed, Heero reentered the room. Duo was still on the bed, but in a different position than he had been. He silently crossed the room, avoiding the spilt coffee and its mug. Reaching the bed with the said tossing ex-Pilot in it, Heero lifted Duo's shirt and nearly gasped at the sight of his chest. There were cuts, burns and bruises all over what once was a beautiful, unflawed chest…most of those wounds were now slightly infected and would probably leave scars.
Over his shock at the sight of Duo's chest, Heero dabbed a cotton ball in the antiseptic that he had brought with him out of the bathroom. He watched the cotton ball soak in the antiseptic, not really looking forward to what he was going to have to do with it. When the cotton ball was loaded up with the antiseptic, Heero pushed the still sleeping and thrashing Duo's shoulder to the bed to hold him still and he lightly pressed the cotton ball to one of the wounds.
Duo felt something burning on his chest and he bit back a scream. His eyes were still tightly closed, he didn't want to see what he might if he opened his eyes. 'I… Hadn't I…escaped…' "No!" he yelled, trying to toss away from whatever it was that was causing the pain on his chest. He found he couldn't move far enough to get away from it, something was holding him down. Struggling, he cried out in pain and thrashed out his arms in any direction that he could manage. He felt his outstretched hand smack into what felt like someone's jaw.
Heero staggered back from the force that was behind Duo's madly flying hand. He grunted as he brought the hand that wasn't still clutching the cotton ball to his stinging face, then he set his jaw, making his lips appear as a thin line and he re-approached the bed. "Duo, you're going to get your wounds cleaned, even if I have to tie you to that damned bed, do you understand me?" Heero ground out as he pinned Duo beneath him and he reached for the first-aid supplies.
Duo's eyes snapped open as he felt something--or someone--settle on his thighs, causing more pain to shoot through him. He stared up at the figure sitting on him, trying to recognize who it was… He couldn't see well in the dull light of the room. "Who…W-Who are you…?" he whispered in a frightened voice.
Heero paused in applying more antiseptic to another cotton ball and looked at Duo. "Duo, baka, it's me." he said, a little harsher than he intended. As he watched Duo closely, he wondered if Duo didn't recognize him because of the light or if he... He'd think about that later, he had to get the rest of Duo's wounds cleaned.
Duo blinked a few times, trying to adjust his eyes to the light…or lack there of. "He-Heero…?"
Heero let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding and nodded. "Yeah, it's me. You have to hold still, I need to clean the rest of your wounds." He saw Duo nod and grit his teeth. Setting his own jaw again, Heero set to work on cleaning Duo's wounds.
***
What Heero had found while he was cleaning Duo's wounds were obvious signs of torture. There were scalded cuts on the inside of Duo's thighs… There was small, bruising pinprick like marks on the top of his feet… There were bruises, burns and cuts everywhere. Heero had felt--and still did--such rage that anyone would dare touch his Duo--'Where the hell did that come from?' he asked himself, stopping that disturbing train of thought. Duo made a moaning sound from the bed; he had passed out a while ago. Heero stood from the hard, wooden chair that he had dragged in and walked to the bed. "Duo?"
Duo turned his head toward the gargled sound of a voice, trying to open his eyes to see whom it was. His eyes seemed to be glued shut, or something of the sort, they just wouldn't open. Trying again, he finally managed to pry one open. He saw someone with what looked like spiky, messy hair moving toward him. Squinting, he barely managed to recognize Heero's face, as he got closer to the bed. "This…this isn't a dream…is it? I'm-I'm safe now…?" he mumbled to himself.
Heero paused in his approach of the bed at what he just barely managed to catch Duo say. He didn't realize that Duo had thought that making it to his house and lying in his bed was a dream… 'That means…he thought his nightmares were reality.' Taking the last few steps to the bed, Heero said in a voice that was the softest it had ever been, "You're safe, Duo. I won't let anyone hurt you again."
Sure that he was dreaming--Heero would never say anything like that to him--he reached up with a shaky hand and caressed Heero's cheek. 'I don't want to wake up…' What surprised him though, was that Heero didn't pull away…in all of his other dreams, Heero had pulled away and gave him a glare that would cause death if it could. But this time Heero didn't pull away. And that surprised Duo very much. He stared up at Heero with wide eyes and smiled as best he could with his battered face.
Heero wondered why he wasn't pulling away from Duo's hand. He should pull away. But…something felt so…right about it, nothing in his life had ever felt like this. Not piloting his Gundam. Not fighting in the wars. Not cutting himself off from the rest of the ex-Pilots and the world. Nothing. When Duo smiled, his chest gave a little jump and his breath caught. Duo was stunning, even with bruises and cuts all over his face.
Before he knew it, Heero was leaning in toward Duo, his eyes half open… 'What am I doing?' he asked himself. 'What you've always wanted.' Was the answer from the small voice that shared his mind; he had decided that this voice had to be his conscious after the wars and he actually had time to waste on wistful thinking like that. His face was so close to Duo's now that he could feel his breath on his face, and his long bangs tickled his cheek. He was about to close off the distance between them, when Duo gave a startled sound of pain and his eyes rolled in the back of his head. He had passed out again. Sighing, Heero straightened and looked over Duo's form. 'What is it about him that dose this to me?' this time there was no answer from the voice that was his conscious.
***
AN: Well, there's chapter two. I'll probably be starting chapter three soon. But I'm not sure when I'll get it out because I'm going on vacation for a few weeks…so, no updates for a while once I've left.
Anyway, please review.
NightChild