The Other Side of Paradise

Part 5

Author: Nyneve (the Sorceress)

You know it, you love it, so here it is. My new chappie! Yay! Anyways, I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to get this up. Been quite busy, you know. What with LOTR, school, LOTR, other ficcies, LOTR, and anime, I'm a very busy girl you know! By the way, did you know I'm a HUGE LOTR fan? Anyways, I won't bore you any longer. Read on!

-Nyneve

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Raye sat outside of the infirmary. She'd been sitting there for three hours, ever since Haruka had pulled Quatre out of his … Gundam?

She had to admit she'd never have pegged Quatre as a fighter. Much less one that could pilot a special type of Mobil Suit. But where had it come from? Was it a new threat from the enemy?

A pat on her hand pulled her from her thoughts. It was Serenity.

"How's he doing?" she asked, sitting down on the bench next to her.

Raye sighed. "I don't know. Amy won't let me see him."

Serenity paused, then smiled wryly. "Well, when I saw Haruka bring him in, I had to admit he was pretty cute."

Her friend blushed. "Well, yeah. But I love him for his good heart. If he's been hurt really bad…"

"He hasn't," Amy said, stepping outside. Raye jumped up.

"How is he? Can I see him?" she asked, her hands gripping Amy's shoulders.

The genius sighed. "He hasn't been hurt physically. But something's exhausted his energy. He's in a coma, basically. However, with a lot of rest and recuperation, he'll be fine in a day or so."

Raye let go, relieved at his condition. Amy's words brought some reassurance that he'd be better.

"And yes Raye, you can go see him. He probably can't hear you, but…" she trailed off as Raye walked inside.

Quatre was lying on a hospital bed. He was hooked up to an IV, and seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Raye smiled, pulled up a chair, and touched his hand.

"Hi Quatre. How are you?" she murmured. She wasn't surprised when there was no answer.

"I've missed you so much Quatre. I almost believed it was you back at the temple. But I'm glad Amy says you'll be back to normal soon," she continued. Then, she held his hand to her cheek as a single tear fell from her eye. "I'll stay here with you Quatre. As long as it takes. I swear to God I will."

Outside, Amy was reading through some data on her clipboard. Serenity looked at her.

"Mercury, isn't their anything I can do to heal him? Maybe if I used the crystal?" she asked. Amy shook her head.

"He's only human Serenity. The power used to heal him would overwhelm him so much he'd die. No, he's got to heal naturally if he's going to heal at all," she explained.

Serenity pouted. "I wish I could do something to help. This is the first time any of you has been in love since The War. I want to be a part of it."

Amy smiled back at the queen. "Don't worry. You will be. Once we get them all back, they'll need a place to stay, won't they?"

"Of course! I'll go have rooms arranged right now!" Serenity cried, standing up and turning to leave. Then she paused, and grinned back at Amy. "Should I put your Duo next to your room?"

Amy blushed furiously. Serenity laughed and walked away down the hallway.

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"ARGH! THAT IDIOT!" Hecate cried, looking up from her reflecting pool. Janus, in his spider form, approached her.

"What is it Mother?" he asked soothingly.

"That bratty little pilot of Sandrock didn't die! Now he's in the hands of Serenity! Not to mention his Gundam!" she yelled angrily.

Janus' face fell. "Oh mama. I'm so sorry. I didn't pull all of his essence out like you asked. I hurried too much. I'm such a fool."

To Hecate's surprise, Janus pulled a knife from somewhere and began stabbing himself repeatedly. However, she made no motion to stop him.

"Well then, just make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm going to go check on those other wretched mortals. Stay here," she ordered, leaving her son to inflict pain upon himself.

Meanwhile, in the main chamber, Duo was staring up at the stone ceiling. That teal-haired woman knew Amy. That meant if he could just escape, he could get in and see her again.

But she'd never take him back. Not now that he'd tried to destroy her home. She could never forgive him.

"Duo," Heero said suddenly, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Get out of here now. Hecate's planning another mission," Heero replied in his monotone. "If you leave now then you can warn them."

"But what about…" Duo began.

"You can counter it by focusing on a different image of her. Think about that and the torture will be reversed. Now get going," Heero ordered.

"Okay then," Duo nodded, then began running.

As he ran, he focused on Amy. On the way she'd looked that night he'd convinced her to go out with him. She'd been so happy. So happy…

A few whispers of screams echoed through his mind, but nothing more. Not when he heard her voice, saw her smile in front of him.

A little while later, he found Deathscythe.

"Okay, so all we have to do is get to the palace and warn the Queen. Easy enough," he muttered to himself.

Once he was a few hundred thousand feet away from the temple, he noticed that Amy's face was gone from in front of him. Yet, there was no screaming.

"Hecate's probably too busy torturing the others to deal with me," he thought, a little pang of guilt in him.

Inside of the palace, Amy was the last one up. As she typed on her laptop, a window popped up.

INCOMING TRANSMISSION

She stared oddly at it, but then gasped as the connection loaded.

"Amy?" Duo asked uncertainly. She stared at him.

"Duo…is that you?" she asked. He smiled.

"Yeah. I'm waiting outside. Aren't you going to let me in?" he replied. Then, for once his faced turned serious. "Don't be scared, Ames. It's really me. Don't be scared…"

Slowly, she nodded, then closed the laptop and head outside.

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Aw…wasn't that just too cute? Lucky for Duo, he just got out free. Oh well. R+R!