2.Night arrangements and postmen at the door:
Samra's single, if not comprehensible, statement had a profound effect on Quatre. Instantly he mirrored his sister's expression, exciting the concern of his friends who were staring at the blonde with their mouths open.
Quatre, however, did not have time to think about the invading emotions; he turned his full attention towards the predicament before him. His previous yell of 'what' was purely rhetorical as an effect of the initial shock, but now his narrowed azure eyes were demanding answers of the five W's and the one H.
The pilots were somewhat acquainted with that look; their strategist was asking for facts to be able to formulate plans, and they felt a pang of uneasiness about what the problem was – the war was over, wasn't it?
They were roused from their musings by Samra responding to her brother's question. A stream of Arabic burst forth, and though they didn't understand anything, it seemed that Samra was trying to contain her anger. However, it soon got the better of her, and her last words were nothing short of a yell. Quatre gripped the edges of the machine tightly, going over what he had heard with his eyes closed. When he finally opened them, everyone could see the way they flared, showing how really mad he was. Duo personally pitied the unfortunate being who caused all of this.
"Tell the Maganacs to raise extreme emergency level," he said. "All bases on the alert, no exceptions. I want reports every six hours. Any development should be reported immediately. I'll meet Iria and Zahra in ten minutes."
"I'm on my way," replied Samra.
"Samra... be careful," whispered Quatre before she cut the connection.
"You too, brother." The screen went blank. Quatre stared at it for a few more moments, then turned to his friends.
"Quat..." began Duo.
"I have to go now," interrupted the blonde as he pulled his jacket on. "Have supper without me; I'll be here tomorrow. And don't stay the entire night awake. You're comatose enough without it," he added jokingly.
"You'll tell us about this when you get back," said Heero as he opened the door for Quatre. The other simply nodded and smiled comfortingly.
"Good night." And he began to walk up the path till he was engulfed by the darkness.
...
Supper was, strangely, a quiet meal. The pilots went to bed early, each preoccupied with his thoughts.
"Winner is right, baka," said Wu Fei. Duo turned as he was going to enter his room.
"What?"
"Have a good sleep," replied the Chinese boy. The braided teenager was about to retaliate when Heero interrupted.
"He's right. We need to be wide awake if we're going to help Quatre in this problem, whatever it is," he stated in a no-argument tone. Duo simply shrugged and closed the door behind him. After brushing his teeth and changing, he jumped on his bed with a sigh. Even if he wanted to, Duo was pretty sure he wasn't going to sleep. He stared stubbornly at the ceiling above, wondering what his blonde friend was doing. After a few minutes, he realized that he was calming down and becoming drowsy. Before he fell completely asleep, Duo recognized that aura of comfort he basked in.
"Hn, Quatre," he murmured as his eyes closed. "I just hope you're alright."
ooOOoo
Quatre sighed as the last source was worry calmed into dreamless sleep. The blonde knew that Duo would have been the hardest to reassure. It wasn't that the rest of them didn't care – no, not at all. Heero, the perfect soldier he was, would have seen this as a mission, and therefore sleeping was an essential factor for the mission's success. Wu Fei would have thought it an injustice if he wasn't able to help because of his lack of sleep, while Trowa was practiced enough in controlling his emotions.
He sighed as his sisters came in. He had gone to one of the conference halls in WE. Now that his friends were in no danger of risking lack of sleep, Quatre turned his attention to what he knew was a long night of hard work. He had to give his duties as CEO to someone else, meaning his sisters. And thus most of the night was spent in discussing the recent developments of the enterprises' work and the future jobs to be done.
"Don't worry, Quatre," said Iria. "We'll take care of this. You just concentrate on your problems."
"I know, Iria, I know," sighed the youngest Winner child.
"And they don't know anything of her whereabouts?" asked Zahra.
"Not yet," replied the boy. "But I know where she's heading. And Samra will be taking care of any attacks with the Maganacs. As for the press..."
"The young CEO of the Winner enterprises has taken a vacation to L4," said Iria automatically. "Don't worry, brother. Just be careful."
"I will," he assured her, getting up. "And I swear... whoever did this, will pay."
...
Heero glanced at the alarm clock as he got out of bed. The red digits flashed five-thirty in the morning. The perfect soldier spared the poor clock a trademark death glare before going to the bathroom. He had overslept an entire hour, in spite of last evening's events. However, he reckoned it was Quatre's doing; Heero vaguely remembered a strange calm feeling descend on him before going to sleep.
Heero wondered what had happened that caused so much a commotion. He knew it wasn't a simple business affair – the Maganacs wouldn't have raised an emergency state for that. Besides, Quatre's eyes had gotten so...
Fierce.
But what did Samra have to do with all of this? And why was she going to the Maganacs? As far as Heero knew, none of Quatre's sisters had anything to do with the wars. But then, something inside Heero told him that what he knew was the apparent view of the situation. The perfect soldier remembered Doctor J once saying that nothing was as it seems...
And perhaps that statement was about to be proven true.
Dressed in a plane top and trousers, Heero walked silently through the dark sleepy corridor, blinking to rid himself of the last clutches of sleep. The sun was about to rise; it was six in the morning. His relaxed behaviour instantly changed as his mind flashed an urgent warning: someone was in the living room. Instantly he pressed himself flat against the wall, every sense on the alert as he crept towards the living room.
"Good morning, Heero," said the empath from the kitchen table.
Relaxing as he heard his friend's voice, Heero came in to see Quatre sitting at the table with a steaming cup in his hands. He offered Heero another cup, which the other accepted with a smile. Former 01 and 04 sat sipping their tea slowly, an air of calmed content surrounding them. Heero noticed a few leaves in the hot dark red liquid.
"What's this?" he asked Quatre, cutting the silence.
"Green mint leaves. I forgot to remove them from the pot. It adds a refreshing taste to the tea."
"Yeah... so, what did you do last night after putting us to sleep?"
Quatre smiled. "That was quite an accomplishment. I transferred the CEO duties to my sisters, Iria mainly."
"But she used to work on L4 main colony?" questioned Heero.
"Yes, but most of the work is now concentrated around Earth sphere. Besides, Zahra is taking over the WE in L4 main colony."
"Quatre, what's wrong?" asked Heero, noticing the distant look his friend was getting. The blonde sighed and went to put the cups in the sink.
"I don't fully know yet. But I know it's not good..." Heero raised an eyebrow at him so he continued. "I'll tell you when the others wake up. Besides, it's going to come up sooner or later," he muttered, more to himself than to Heero as he went about making breakfast for the rest of them.
...
Getting the occupants of the house to breakfast was surprisingly a very easy job to the young blonde. Duo even accomplished a record-breaking seven minutes' time to be presentable to the outside world. Soon they were all seated in the sun-lit kitchen around their breakfast, occasionally shooting questioning looks at the somewhat distracted blonde.
Till breakfast was finished and dishes were washed was the limits of what Duo's patience could take. Actually it was patience forced by the combined efforts of Heero, Trowa and Wu Fei. Either way, he kept quiet as time went agonizingly slow. When Quatre had finally wiped the table clean, Duo began his assault.
"Now," he said, ignoring three pairs of glaring eyes – well, two pairs and one visible, to be honest – "what happened that forced you, Quatre Raberba Winner, to take a vacation? The world must be nearing its end!"
The blonde smiled at his friend's dramatic introduction. He inwardly winced at the pain in his chest. She must be arriving any minute now, and all would be revealed.
"Yo, Earth to Quatre. Do you read me?" Duo practically yelled before receiving a yank of his braid that sent him back to the couch, courtesy of Heero Yuy.
"No, Duo. There aren't any words to read on you," replied Quatre.
"Hn, maybe except: I am a braided baka," muttered Wu Fei in an audible tone. Duo made a mental note to take care of that remark later; he had more important affairs on hand.
"No, kidding, Quatre. What the hell is going on?" Duo said seriously.
"Well..." The doorbell rang, cutting off the blonde's words. Duo had a good mind to show the bell an idea of what Deathscythe Hell really was. But he decided to open the door.
"Must be the postman," said Duo as he walked towards the door. "You stay right where you are."
Duo blinked in surprise as he stared before him; there was no one. He was starting to get angry at pranksters when he felt something -- or rather someone push by his legs and rush into the apartment. He turned just in time to see a blur of brown throw itself into Quatre's open arms.
"QUATRE!" cried Rama.
The blonde tightened his arms around her as sobbing was heard.
The sobs soon became coherent enough for the pilots to recognize that she was repeating something over and over again. "It's not fair, Quatre. They killed them all. It's not fair."
The blonde patted shaking form sadly. "I know, but they're going to pay. I promise."
--end of chapter two--
Author's Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters does not belong to me.
Author's notes:
I guess things aren't that explained, but it's better than being completely in the dark. For all those who reviewed, thank you very much and I hope you enjoyed this.
I guess it can be deduced now but anyway the translation for what Samra said is: "They killed Rama's family. They want war."
As for the mint leaves thingy... I was drinking tea at that moment, and it had mint leaves... Plain stupidity, that's all. But it really is refreshing.
Suggestions and feedback are most welcome. Thank you for reading. See you soon!
Free Skylark. 21 June 2004.
Samra's single, if not comprehensible, statement had a profound effect on Quatre. Instantly he mirrored his sister's expression, exciting the concern of his friends who were staring at the blonde with their mouths open.
Quatre, however, did not have time to think about the invading emotions; he turned his full attention towards the predicament before him. His previous yell of 'what' was purely rhetorical as an effect of the initial shock, but now his narrowed azure eyes were demanding answers of the five W's and the one H.
The pilots were somewhat acquainted with that look; their strategist was asking for facts to be able to formulate plans, and they felt a pang of uneasiness about what the problem was – the war was over, wasn't it?
They were roused from their musings by Samra responding to her brother's question. A stream of Arabic burst forth, and though they didn't understand anything, it seemed that Samra was trying to contain her anger. However, it soon got the better of her, and her last words were nothing short of a yell. Quatre gripped the edges of the machine tightly, going over what he had heard with his eyes closed. When he finally opened them, everyone could see the way they flared, showing how really mad he was. Duo personally pitied the unfortunate being who caused all of this.
"Tell the Maganacs to raise extreme emergency level," he said. "All bases on the alert, no exceptions. I want reports every six hours. Any development should be reported immediately. I'll meet Iria and Zahra in ten minutes."
"I'm on my way," replied Samra.
"Samra... be careful," whispered Quatre before she cut the connection.
"You too, brother." The screen went blank. Quatre stared at it for a few more moments, then turned to his friends.
"Quat..." began Duo.
"I have to go now," interrupted the blonde as he pulled his jacket on. "Have supper without me; I'll be here tomorrow. And don't stay the entire night awake. You're comatose enough without it," he added jokingly.
"You'll tell us about this when you get back," said Heero as he opened the door for Quatre. The other simply nodded and smiled comfortingly.
"Good night." And he began to walk up the path till he was engulfed by the darkness.
...
Supper was, strangely, a quiet meal. The pilots went to bed early, each preoccupied with his thoughts.
"Winner is right, baka," said Wu Fei. Duo turned as he was going to enter his room.
"What?"
"Have a good sleep," replied the Chinese boy. The braided teenager was about to retaliate when Heero interrupted.
"He's right. We need to be wide awake if we're going to help Quatre in this problem, whatever it is," he stated in a no-argument tone. Duo simply shrugged and closed the door behind him. After brushing his teeth and changing, he jumped on his bed with a sigh. Even if he wanted to, Duo was pretty sure he wasn't going to sleep. He stared stubbornly at the ceiling above, wondering what his blonde friend was doing. After a few minutes, he realized that he was calming down and becoming drowsy. Before he fell completely asleep, Duo recognized that aura of comfort he basked in.
"Hn, Quatre," he murmured as his eyes closed. "I just hope you're alright."
ooOOoo
Quatre sighed as the last source was worry calmed into dreamless sleep. The blonde knew that Duo would have been the hardest to reassure. It wasn't that the rest of them didn't care – no, not at all. Heero, the perfect soldier he was, would have seen this as a mission, and therefore sleeping was an essential factor for the mission's success. Wu Fei would have thought it an injustice if he wasn't able to help because of his lack of sleep, while Trowa was practiced enough in controlling his emotions.
He sighed as his sisters came in. He had gone to one of the conference halls in WE. Now that his friends were in no danger of risking lack of sleep, Quatre turned his attention to what he knew was a long night of hard work. He had to give his duties as CEO to someone else, meaning his sisters. And thus most of the night was spent in discussing the recent developments of the enterprises' work and the future jobs to be done.
"Don't worry, Quatre," said Iria. "We'll take care of this. You just concentrate on your problems."
"I know, Iria, I know," sighed the youngest Winner child.
"And they don't know anything of her whereabouts?" asked Zahra.
"Not yet," replied the boy. "But I know where she's heading. And Samra will be taking care of any attacks with the Maganacs. As for the press..."
"The young CEO of the Winner enterprises has taken a vacation to L4," said Iria automatically. "Don't worry, brother. Just be careful."
"I will," he assured her, getting up. "And I swear... whoever did this, will pay."
...
Heero glanced at the alarm clock as he got out of bed. The red digits flashed five-thirty in the morning. The perfect soldier spared the poor clock a trademark death glare before going to the bathroom. He had overslept an entire hour, in spite of last evening's events. However, he reckoned it was Quatre's doing; Heero vaguely remembered a strange calm feeling descend on him before going to sleep.
Heero wondered what had happened that caused so much a commotion. He knew it wasn't a simple business affair – the Maganacs wouldn't have raised an emergency state for that. Besides, Quatre's eyes had gotten so...
Fierce.
But what did Samra have to do with all of this? And why was she going to the Maganacs? As far as Heero knew, none of Quatre's sisters had anything to do with the wars. But then, something inside Heero told him that what he knew was the apparent view of the situation. The perfect soldier remembered Doctor J once saying that nothing was as it seems...
And perhaps that statement was about to be proven true.
Dressed in a plane top and trousers, Heero walked silently through the dark sleepy corridor, blinking to rid himself of the last clutches of sleep. The sun was about to rise; it was six in the morning. His relaxed behaviour instantly changed as his mind flashed an urgent warning: someone was in the living room. Instantly he pressed himself flat against the wall, every sense on the alert as he crept towards the living room.
"Good morning, Heero," said the empath from the kitchen table.
Relaxing as he heard his friend's voice, Heero came in to see Quatre sitting at the table with a steaming cup in his hands. He offered Heero another cup, which the other accepted with a smile. Former 01 and 04 sat sipping their tea slowly, an air of calmed content surrounding them. Heero noticed a few leaves in the hot dark red liquid.
"What's this?" he asked Quatre, cutting the silence.
"Green mint leaves. I forgot to remove them from the pot. It adds a refreshing taste to the tea."
"Yeah... so, what did you do last night after putting us to sleep?"
Quatre smiled. "That was quite an accomplishment. I transferred the CEO duties to my sisters, Iria mainly."
"But she used to work on L4 main colony?" questioned Heero.
"Yes, but most of the work is now concentrated around Earth sphere. Besides, Zahra is taking over the WE in L4 main colony."
"Quatre, what's wrong?" asked Heero, noticing the distant look his friend was getting. The blonde sighed and went to put the cups in the sink.
"I don't fully know yet. But I know it's not good..." Heero raised an eyebrow at him so he continued. "I'll tell you when the others wake up. Besides, it's going to come up sooner or later," he muttered, more to himself than to Heero as he went about making breakfast for the rest of them.
...
Getting the occupants of the house to breakfast was surprisingly a very easy job to the young blonde. Duo even accomplished a record-breaking seven minutes' time to be presentable to the outside world. Soon they were all seated in the sun-lit kitchen around their breakfast, occasionally shooting questioning looks at the somewhat distracted blonde.
Till breakfast was finished and dishes were washed was the limits of what Duo's patience could take. Actually it was patience forced by the combined efforts of Heero, Trowa and Wu Fei. Either way, he kept quiet as time went agonizingly slow. When Quatre had finally wiped the table clean, Duo began his assault.
"Now," he said, ignoring three pairs of glaring eyes – well, two pairs and one visible, to be honest – "what happened that forced you, Quatre Raberba Winner, to take a vacation? The world must be nearing its end!"
The blonde smiled at his friend's dramatic introduction. He inwardly winced at the pain in his chest. She must be arriving any minute now, and all would be revealed.
"Yo, Earth to Quatre. Do you read me?" Duo practically yelled before receiving a yank of his braid that sent him back to the couch, courtesy of Heero Yuy.
"No, Duo. There aren't any words to read on you," replied Quatre.
"Hn, maybe except: I am a braided baka," muttered Wu Fei in an audible tone. Duo made a mental note to take care of that remark later; he had more important affairs on hand.
"No, kidding, Quatre. What the hell is going on?" Duo said seriously.
"Well..." The doorbell rang, cutting off the blonde's words. Duo had a good mind to show the bell an idea of what Deathscythe Hell really was. But he decided to open the door.
"Must be the postman," said Duo as he walked towards the door. "You stay right where you are."
Duo blinked in surprise as he stared before him; there was no one. He was starting to get angry at pranksters when he felt something -- or rather someone push by his legs and rush into the apartment. He turned just in time to see a blur of brown throw itself into Quatre's open arms.
"QUATRE!" cried Rama.
The blonde tightened his arms around her as sobbing was heard.
The sobs soon became coherent enough for the pilots to recognize that she was repeating something over and over again. "It's not fair, Quatre. They killed them all. It's not fair."
The blonde patted shaking form sadly. "I know, but they're going to pay. I promise."
--end of chapter two--
Author's Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters does not belong to me.
Author's notes:
I guess things aren't that explained, but it's better than being completely in the dark. For all those who reviewed, thank you very much and I hope you enjoyed this.
I guess it can be deduced now but anyway the translation for what Samra said is: "They killed Rama's family. They want war."
As for the mint leaves thingy... I was drinking tea at that moment, and it had mint leaves... Plain stupidity, that's all. But it really is refreshing.
Suggestions and feedback are most welcome. Thank you for reading. See you soon!
Free Skylark. 21 June 2004.