OUT OF TUNE
Chapter Fourteen: A Villain and a Hero Go to Earth, But Where is Our Damsel?
Technically, this is Chapter 13, but heheheh, oh well!! Hope you liked my little song, I know, I have no life! Since the plot is finally starting to climax, I'm gonna start writing at a faster pace and so you can expect chapters to come flying out of my word processor like Frisbees. Enjoy!
The makers of the colonies had long before decided that each colony would recreate life on Earth as much as possible. Thus, they came up with the gigantic sun lamps that kept vegetation living and thriving on the colony. Although they did not have the wondrous colors during their "sunrises" and "sunsets", the lights did imitate the gradual lightening and darkening of light.
As Sally, Wufei, Trowa, Duo, and Hilde made their way to the hospital that, hopefully, still housed their friend Dorothy, the exponential lightening of a colony sunrise that usually signified a good day was now an ominous sign that made both Wufei and Trowa's right feet press harder on their gas pedals. The two cares were both silent on the inside save for the rustling in the Chang/Po car as Sally hurriedly looked through papers on frostbite.
Reading in a car often made Sally nauseas but she put that aside for what was currently at stake. Finally, finding the essay she wanted, she began deciphering it aggressively. By the end of the 3rd paragraph she'd found what she needed to overturn Dorothy's doctor's initial diagnosis; simply put, if the skin still had the ability to feel then it could be successfully treated at the hospital on the northern end of the colony. In fact, transporting Dorothy to Neo-Australia could maker her situation worse by damaging the skin. Sally pulled out the cell phone that was inside Wufei's glove compartment.
"Vickie? Get me Dr. Fuhrman, now!" Sally ordered over the phone that was now connected to her office. Wufei heard a pause over the phone as Vickie hurried to pull Dr. Fuhrman out of a conference with the current residents of the hospital. Glancing at Sally's drawn face, he gave her a reassuring smile as he pulled into the ramp of the parking lot of the hospital.
Trowa was out of his car first, jogging across the cement lot towards the underground entrance of the hospital. Without even looking at his face, the group knew he was bound and determined to get to Dorothy as fast as was humanly possible. The whole group moved as one towards the door, only moments behind Trowa. In the gundam pilot's mind was a repeating movie of sorts merging the happy moments with Dorothy. Finding her in his niche, "fighting" with her in the coffee shop, the night they moved in and the morning afterwards…the night they first kissed and shared a bed together…the guitar "lesson"…there were just too many moments he had in his mind that he couldn't just pass up the chance to make more happy ones. Each moment was another log to the fire driving him onwards.
***
Quatre made his way from the waiting room to the new room that now held the sleeping Dorothy. He had been up all night back at her apartment packing her things while Trowa sat, clueless, moping around the girl. His spies, although a bit of a hindrance to him due to their own personal connections to the Duke, still served the purpose he needed them to do and he made sure that they were well paid for it before his departure. In fact, he'd made sure everything was ready before his departure. Now he just needed to say goodbye.
He smiled gently as he closed and locked the door behind him. He had to admit to himself that calling the Duke on his way to the hospital to turn Dorothy's situation their way was genius. However, as he sat down on her bed he frowned at the fact that he would still not be able to share a flight to Earth with his soon to be bride. Tenderly, he stroked her platinum hair, letting the silky strands fall slowly through his fingers. Smoothly, savoring his few moments with Dorothy alone, he leaned down and laid a kiss on her forehead.
"You'll understand all of this someday, my darling," he whispered, his tone sweeter than it had been in years. If Dorothy had been awake to hear those words she would have compared that voice to the tone he used during their casual chats in the somewhat peaceful year after the end of the war. Quatre continued stroking her hair, his hands occasionally brushing the smooth skin of her face.
"Yes, one day all of this will make sense and we'll look back on all of this and laugh…" he trailed off as he caught sight of his watch. It was now 6:45 and his shuttle left in half and hour. Dorothy would then take the next flight with her grandfather. Leaning down for another kiss, he whispered the sweetest thing he'd said in two years.
"I love you Dorothy Catalonia."
And Quatre Winner left the room, his eyes holding once again the soft, aquamarine blue they once had at the age of fifteen.
Quatre said his goodbyes to the Duke Dermail and probably would have passed Trowa and his band of rescuers if Fate hadn't stepped in and told the group to take the stairs while Quatre took the elevator. The Duke had arranged for Dorothy to be moved to a more private room where she wouldn't be "bothered" with visitors. The two planners of this excursion to Earth knew that one of the group from the party would sooner or later figure out what was going on and so took the extra precaution.
They had also informed the nurses that if anyone of them were to so much as utter a single word as to the where Dorothy was, they'd lose much more than just their jobs. So the two men felt very reassured that their sleeping princess was perfectly safe.
However, as Quatre pulled his car onto the street that was connected to the parking lot, he had no way of knowing the chaos that was about to ensue due to his careful planning.
***
"Sami? Yes, this is Sally, I need you to email the East Side Colonial Hospital right away…..No! I don't care about the damn residents, this is important….I need you to send them an official transfer form right away, send it to the Lobbyist desk…yes, I'm there right now…Arigatou!"
Trowa faintly heard the choppy conversation between Sally and her co-worker as he began taking stairs up to the lobby of the hospital two at a time. Wufei and Duo were close behind him, as was Hilde, who surprised everyone with her agility despite being close to 7 months pregnant. Once they'd reached the lobby, Sally pushed ahead of them all with a great surge of energy and began talking animatedly with the Receptionist.
Although Sally had pushed them back away from her, Trowa could still make out the dialogue of the two women.
"What do you mean she's not here anymore?!" Sally screamed. Trowa closed his eyes, suddenly feeling defeated.
"I'm sorry, but Dorothy Catalonia's shuttle departed close to a half hour ago," the Receptionist said, trying to remain calm in the presence of this close to hysteric group. With his eyes closed, Trowa only heard Wufei rush up to the desk to put in his two cents.
"That's impossible, shuttle flights don't leave until 7!" he cried. However, it was no use. The Receptionist continued to look through the computer files to no avail. Dorothy Catalonia was no longer at their hospital.
"We were too late," Trowa whispered. Everything that had happened between he and Dorothy might as well have never happened. It would be at least 6 months before transportation between colonies was reopened to the public and due to his Preventer job he wouldn't be able to go to Earth and be back to the colonies before the next day's 6:00 P.M. deadline. 6 months in which time Dorothy would be manipulated and controlled by that freak he had once called friend.
However, he had one more chance and he couldn't let it pass him by. Without waiting around for his companions, he leapt up and ran for the door, scaring an elderly couple as he passed. It was 6:49, he might be able to get to the dock before 7:00!
Sally turned just in time to see the last trace of Trowa fly out the door. She smiled and silently wished him luck before turning to the Receptionist again.
"Are you positive that Dorothy's been signed out of this hospital?" she asked the woman. The woman frowned, her young face twisting with frustration as she turned to her computer. Her frown deepened as her computer turned out the information that she knew was correct but could not tell to the woman in front of her.
The computer said in plain English that Dorothy Catalonia was indeed still checked in at the hospital and that she hadn't been signed out yet. However, the threat that hung over her head prevented her from telling the truth.
"I'm positive Miss, Ms. Catalonia has been signed out," she lied. She looked up over the desk and her eyes briefly locked with the Chinese man that stood behind the blonde woman who was so insistent in find Dorothy. His black eyes burned through her own green ones and she had to look down at her keyboard to escape their grasp. He knew that she was lying.
"Is there anyone else we could check with?" the man asked, his voice calm but icy. The woman focused on her computer screen so she wouldn't need to look at the man that scared her so much. She swallowed, frightened that she might spill the secret that she'd been forced to keep. Frantically, she searched her mind for a name, for someone that she could pass these people on to so she wouldn't need to deal with them.
"You could speak with Dr. Seamus, according to this he was the one treating her," she squeaked out. "He's currently in room 13A, I can page him if you like," she said, trying to make it up to these people. It didn't seem to fair to her to keep their friend's whereabouts secret from them.
"13A? We'll find it ourselves, thank you," Wufei answered, and he led them away, Sally beside him.
13A wasn't hard to find, with doctors rushing in and out of its open door. Dr. Seamus was a bit harder to find amongst the sea of white lab coats and blue and green scrubs. However, Wufei and Duo were trained to find people and, like experts of Where's Waldo Books, they found the man sitting in a cozy armchair, chatting amiably with a nurse in pink scrubs. Upon spotting the grim looking group, the nurse politely, but hurriedly, excused herself. That left Dr. Seamus to deal with the people himself.
***
Trowa was pulling into the parking lot of the dock at the same time that Quatre was having his baggage checked at the V.I.P. port. The two men, although separated by the great expanse of the dock, wore the same set expression. Quatre looked around him as he entered his gate. Nothing out of place met his gaze but as he walked through the shuttle doors he couldn't help but wonder if he'd missed something, if something had gone wrong. The man glanced at his ticket and frowned as he sat down. There had been something he missed.
He and Dorothy would be leaving from the same gate; if someone had followed him here they could easily intercept her. Being a diplomat to Earth had its advantages, including a window seat and as he looked out he still could not spot anything out of the ordinary. The engines began to hum as the gateway that led through the thick colony wall opened to let the shuttle shoot out into space. Quatre closed his eyes and leaned back, preparing himself to relax the rest of the way to Earth.
Trowa ran through the docks, passing various gates and losing hope with each one that showed no evidence of Dorothy's presence. If she had already gone to Earth with Quatre… Trowa sat down on an uncomfortable plastic seat, running over in his mind the possible situations.
The lack of movement was a signal to memories to overflow his mind's eye and overflow they did. His mind could barely think for the pictures that swamped him on the inside. The most dominant image was of Dorothy's face before they would kiss, as they fell asleep, as they woke up… Would he ever see her face again? It wasn't like Earth was really that far away but with transportation closed for at least half a year, would she even want to see him again? Maybe, just maybe, she still did harbor feelings for Quatre and just denied them and perhaps six months alone with him would bring those feelings to the surface; leaving Trowa alone.
Not being able to take the memories or the possible scenarios, Trowa stood up and began to pace. Looking around, he spotted the people who had been affected by the restriction on transportation; families that were separated by space had decided to be together during the next few months, lovers on different jobs were now meeting each other in the dock. One couple reminded him of Heero and Relena, who would be meeting again face to face for the first time in 3 months on Earth tomorrow. Another couple looked at each other sorrowfully as they let each others hands go and the man walked through the gate, looking back at the woman. She was crying and he looked on the verge of tears as he waved goodbye.
Trowa had seen enough. He was buying the next ticket to Neo-Australia and following his love. To hell with his job, his life, his responsibilities. Dorothy meant more to him than money, she was his life, and dammit all, she was his responsibility!
My, my, my!! Quatre goes to Earth, Trowa thinks that Dorothy's on Earth so Trowa's going to Earth, but where is Dorothy? Back at the hospital… Will our heroes ever be together again? Will we find out just why Quatre's suddenly not so mean? Will Duke Dermail decide on either Viagra or Zrytec? Er- heheheh, *ahem* never mind!
Love you all!!
MadameHotaru.of.87
Chapter Fourteen: A Villain and a Hero Go to Earth, But Where is Our Damsel?
Technically, this is Chapter 13, but heheheh, oh well!! Hope you liked my little song, I know, I have no life! Since the plot is finally starting to climax, I'm gonna start writing at a faster pace and so you can expect chapters to come flying out of my word processor like Frisbees. Enjoy!
The makers of the colonies had long before decided that each colony would recreate life on Earth as much as possible. Thus, they came up with the gigantic sun lamps that kept vegetation living and thriving on the colony. Although they did not have the wondrous colors during their "sunrises" and "sunsets", the lights did imitate the gradual lightening and darkening of light.
As Sally, Wufei, Trowa, Duo, and Hilde made their way to the hospital that, hopefully, still housed their friend Dorothy, the exponential lightening of a colony sunrise that usually signified a good day was now an ominous sign that made both Wufei and Trowa's right feet press harder on their gas pedals. The two cares were both silent on the inside save for the rustling in the Chang/Po car as Sally hurriedly looked through papers on frostbite.
Reading in a car often made Sally nauseas but she put that aside for what was currently at stake. Finally, finding the essay she wanted, she began deciphering it aggressively. By the end of the 3rd paragraph she'd found what she needed to overturn Dorothy's doctor's initial diagnosis; simply put, if the skin still had the ability to feel then it could be successfully treated at the hospital on the northern end of the colony. In fact, transporting Dorothy to Neo-Australia could maker her situation worse by damaging the skin. Sally pulled out the cell phone that was inside Wufei's glove compartment.
"Vickie? Get me Dr. Fuhrman, now!" Sally ordered over the phone that was now connected to her office. Wufei heard a pause over the phone as Vickie hurried to pull Dr. Fuhrman out of a conference with the current residents of the hospital. Glancing at Sally's drawn face, he gave her a reassuring smile as he pulled into the ramp of the parking lot of the hospital.
Trowa was out of his car first, jogging across the cement lot towards the underground entrance of the hospital. Without even looking at his face, the group knew he was bound and determined to get to Dorothy as fast as was humanly possible. The whole group moved as one towards the door, only moments behind Trowa. In the gundam pilot's mind was a repeating movie of sorts merging the happy moments with Dorothy. Finding her in his niche, "fighting" with her in the coffee shop, the night they moved in and the morning afterwards…the night they first kissed and shared a bed together…the guitar "lesson"…there were just too many moments he had in his mind that he couldn't just pass up the chance to make more happy ones. Each moment was another log to the fire driving him onwards.
***
Quatre made his way from the waiting room to the new room that now held the sleeping Dorothy. He had been up all night back at her apartment packing her things while Trowa sat, clueless, moping around the girl. His spies, although a bit of a hindrance to him due to their own personal connections to the Duke, still served the purpose he needed them to do and he made sure that they were well paid for it before his departure. In fact, he'd made sure everything was ready before his departure. Now he just needed to say goodbye.
He smiled gently as he closed and locked the door behind him. He had to admit to himself that calling the Duke on his way to the hospital to turn Dorothy's situation their way was genius. However, as he sat down on her bed he frowned at the fact that he would still not be able to share a flight to Earth with his soon to be bride. Tenderly, he stroked her platinum hair, letting the silky strands fall slowly through his fingers. Smoothly, savoring his few moments with Dorothy alone, he leaned down and laid a kiss on her forehead.
"You'll understand all of this someday, my darling," he whispered, his tone sweeter than it had been in years. If Dorothy had been awake to hear those words she would have compared that voice to the tone he used during their casual chats in the somewhat peaceful year after the end of the war. Quatre continued stroking her hair, his hands occasionally brushing the smooth skin of her face.
"Yes, one day all of this will make sense and we'll look back on all of this and laugh…" he trailed off as he caught sight of his watch. It was now 6:45 and his shuttle left in half and hour. Dorothy would then take the next flight with her grandfather. Leaning down for another kiss, he whispered the sweetest thing he'd said in two years.
"I love you Dorothy Catalonia."
And Quatre Winner left the room, his eyes holding once again the soft, aquamarine blue they once had at the age of fifteen.
Quatre said his goodbyes to the Duke Dermail and probably would have passed Trowa and his band of rescuers if Fate hadn't stepped in and told the group to take the stairs while Quatre took the elevator. The Duke had arranged for Dorothy to be moved to a more private room where she wouldn't be "bothered" with visitors. The two planners of this excursion to Earth knew that one of the group from the party would sooner or later figure out what was going on and so took the extra precaution.
They had also informed the nurses that if anyone of them were to so much as utter a single word as to the where Dorothy was, they'd lose much more than just their jobs. So the two men felt very reassured that their sleeping princess was perfectly safe.
However, as Quatre pulled his car onto the street that was connected to the parking lot, he had no way of knowing the chaos that was about to ensue due to his careful planning.
***
"Sami? Yes, this is Sally, I need you to email the East Side Colonial Hospital right away…..No! I don't care about the damn residents, this is important….I need you to send them an official transfer form right away, send it to the Lobbyist desk…yes, I'm there right now…Arigatou!"
Trowa faintly heard the choppy conversation between Sally and her co-worker as he began taking stairs up to the lobby of the hospital two at a time. Wufei and Duo were close behind him, as was Hilde, who surprised everyone with her agility despite being close to 7 months pregnant. Once they'd reached the lobby, Sally pushed ahead of them all with a great surge of energy and began talking animatedly with the Receptionist.
Although Sally had pushed them back away from her, Trowa could still make out the dialogue of the two women.
"What do you mean she's not here anymore?!" Sally screamed. Trowa closed his eyes, suddenly feeling defeated.
"I'm sorry, but Dorothy Catalonia's shuttle departed close to a half hour ago," the Receptionist said, trying to remain calm in the presence of this close to hysteric group. With his eyes closed, Trowa only heard Wufei rush up to the desk to put in his two cents.
"That's impossible, shuttle flights don't leave until 7!" he cried. However, it was no use. The Receptionist continued to look through the computer files to no avail. Dorothy Catalonia was no longer at their hospital.
"We were too late," Trowa whispered. Everything that had happened between he and Dorothy might as well have never happened. It would be at least 6 months before transportation between colonies was reopened to the public and due to his Preventer job he wouldn't be able to go to Earth and be back to the colonies before the next day's 6:00 P.M. deadline. 6 months in which time Dorothy would be manipulated and controlled by that freak he had once called friend.
However, he had one more chance and he couldn't let it pass him by. Without waiting around for his companions, he leapt up and ran for the door, scaring an elderly couple as he passed. It was 6:49, he might be able to get to the dock before 7:00!
Sally turned just in time to see the last trace of Trowa fly out the door. She smiled and silently wished him luck before turning to the Receptionist again.
"Are you positive that Dorothy's been signed out of this hospital?" she asked the woman. The woman frowned, her young face twisting with frustration as she turned to her computer. Her frown deepened as her computer turned out the information that she knew was correct but could not tell to the woman in front of her.
The computer said in plain English that Dorothy Catalonia was indeed still checked in at the hospital and that she hadn't been signed out yet. However, the threat that hung over her head prevented her from telling the truth.
"I'm positive Miss, Ms. Catalonia has been signed out," she lied. She looked up over the desk and her eyes briefly locked with the Chinese man that stood behind the blonde woman who was so insistent in find Dorothy. His black eyes burned through her own green ones and she had to look down at her keyboard to escape their grasp. He knew that she was lying.
"Is there anyone else we could check with?" the man asked, his voice calm but icy. The woman focused on her computer screen so she wouldn't need to look at the man that scared her so much. She swallowed, frightened that she might spill the secret that she'd been forced to keep. Frantically, she searched her mind for a name, for someone that she could pass these people on to so she wouldn't need to deal with them.
"You could speak with Dr. Seamus, according to this he was the one treating her," she squeaked out. "He's currently in room 13A, I can page him if you like," she said, trying to make it up to these people. It didn't seem to fair to her to keep their friend's whereabouts secret from them.
"13A? We'll find it ourselves, thank you," Wufei answered, and he led them away, Sally beside him.
13A wasn't hard to find, with doctors rushing in and out of its open door. Dr. Seamus was a bit harder to find amongst the sea of white lab coats and blue and green scrubs. However, Wufei and Duo were trained to find people and, like experts of Where's Waldo Books, they found the man sitting in a cozy armchair, chatting amiably with a nurse in pink scrubs. Upon spotting the grim looking group, the nurse politely, but hurriedly, excused herself. That left Dr. Seamus to deal with the people himself.
***
Trowa was pulling into the parking lot of the dock at the same time that Quatre was having his baggage checked at the V.I.P. port. The two men, although separated by the great expanse of the dock, wore the same set expression. Quatre looked around him as he entered his gate. Nothing out of place met his gaze but as he walked through the shuttle doors he couldn't help but wonder if he'd missed something, if something had gone wrong. The man glanced at his ticket and frowned as he sat down. There had been something he missed.
He and Dorothy would be leaving from the same gate; if someone had followed him here they could easily intercept her. Being a diplomat to Earth had its advantages, including a window seat and as he looked out he still could not spot anything out of the ordinary. The engines began to hum as the gateway that led through the thick colony wall opened to let the shuttle shoot out into space. Quatre closed his eyes and leaned back, preparing himself to relax the rest of the way to Earth.
Trowa ran through the docks, passing various gates and losing hope with each one that showed no evidence of Dorothy's presence. If she had already gone to Earth with Quatre… Trowa sat down on an uncomfortable plastic seat, running over in his mind the possible situations.
The lack of movement was a signal to memories to overflow his mind's eye and overflow they did. His mind could barely think for the pictures that swamped him on the inside. The most dominant image was of Dorothy's face before they would kiss, as they fell asleep, as they woke up… Would he ever see her face again? It wasn't like Earth was really that far away but with transportation closed for at least half a year, would she even want to see him again? Maybe, just maybe, she still did harbor feelings for Quatre and just denied them and perhaps six months alone with him would bring those feelings to the surface; leaving Trowa alone.
Not being able to take the memories or the possible scenarios, Trowa stood up and began to pace. Looking around, he spotted the people who had been affected by the restriction on transportation; families that were separated by space had decided to be together during the next few months, lovers on different jobs were now meeting each other in the dock. One couple reminded him of Heero and Relena, who would be meeting again face to face for the first time in 3 months on Earth tomorrow. Another couple looked at each other sorrowfully as they let each others hands go and the man walked through the gate, looking back at the woman. She was crying and he looked on the verge of tears as he waved goodbye.
Trowa had seen enough. He was buying the next ticket to Neo-Australia and following his love. To hell with his job, his life, his responsibilities. Dorothy meant more to him than money, she was his life, and dammit all, she was his responsibility!
My, my, my!! Quatre goes to Earth, Trowa thinks that Dorothy's on Earth so Trowa's going to Earth, but where is Dorothy? Back at the hospital… Will our heroes ever be together again? Will we find out just why Quatre's suddenly not so mean? Will Duke Dermail decide on either Viagra or Zrytec? Er- heheheh, *ahem* never mind!
Love you all!!
MadameHotaru.of.87