A sharp light ripped into his darkness. It burned like fire:
excruciating, remorseless, violent and cruel. Quatre squirmed, trying his
best to avoid the fire, get away. The sight of it made his entire body
ache.
"Calm down there," came Duo's voice, "if you move, you'll just make it worse."
"Turn the light," Quatre breathed, "turn it...off."
"After I get these bandages on. They really got you good back there, you know that?" The light flickered off. "There ya go, now just get some rest."
"Duo, why.." Quatre mumbled, barely audible. He felt the bed shift as the braided pilot sat down beside him.
"Heero and Fei figured since I hadn't been beaten as bad as you two, I ought to make sure you guys were ok, get you all fixed up. We're on a small carrier ship now, they were nice enough to pick up our Gundams for us."
Quatre laid himself gently down on his pillow, letting his body relax. It felt so nice to just feel safe and warm, knowing he was with friends. Suddenly, the thought of Trowa entered Quatre's mind. Using all he had, he opened his eyes for the first time since he had left the OZ stronghold, and looked up to see Duo smiling down at him.
"Tro.wa?" he asked meekly. The smile on Duo's face faded a bit.
"He's in bad shape, you know." There was a heavy silence before Duo's eyes strayed to the other side of the room. Quatre followed the stare to a bed lying parallel to his own, and on it was a broken boy, wrapped up in bandages and gauze, struggling to breathe.
"I couldn't." Quatre began, but he felt Duo's hand gently rest on his chest.
"It's all right," he sighed, "we all know what happened. It's pretty obvious, I mean, when we found you guys Trowa was half naked. And then when I looked him over for injuries, I.." Duo stopped for a moment, trying to collect himself, but he never finished his thought. Instead, the two sat in silence the rest of the trip home.
Home. Home was on earth. Heero and Wufei piloted the carrier to a small base in Japan. It was well hidden, deep in lush forest, almost completely invisible from above. It was just big enough to hold their Gundams and not much else.
It was close to midnight there on Earth when the boys arrived. They didn't bother with placing the Gundams in their normal places, just made sure they were secure within the carrier, then began their journey back to the house.
Quatre was doing much better by that point, he had been sitting up and was now able to walk, with no assistance from Duo. Trowa on the other hand was a different story. Both Heero and Wufei were very carefully with transporting the body, not wanting to hurt him in any way. It took them close to ten minutes just moving his body from the ship to their ride home.
They laid him down in the back, resting his head and Quatre's lap and bending his knees over Duo. The two heroes took the front seat.
"We'll be there in a little less than half an hour," Heero said, even though they had all made the trip from the base to the house dozens of times. "Hold on Trowa," he added quietly.
No one spoke on the ride back, not even Duo. Quatre quietly watched as Trowa's face would grimace in pain when they hit bumps or dips, but he never opened his eyes. Quatre longed to look into deep forest green, but he didn't wish to disturb his friend. Trowa was sleeping, though fitful, he was sleeping. He truly needed to rest.
They arrived at the house a little before one. Needless to say everyone was exhausted from the event. Wufei and Heero offered to help Quatre with Trowa, but he refused.
"Please, you've all done so much. Just let me take it from here."
"Quatre," Wufei said, helping him from the car, "you've been badly injured. I know you're feeling well and all but maybe it'd be best if we all helped?"
"No," the blonde replied quietly, "you all need to go to bed. Trowa and I share a room, I'll take him back and take care of him myself, all right?"
"Fine," Heero agreed, "Duo, let's go. I'll take another look at your wounds and then we'll go to bed." The two pilots left leaving Quatre, Trowa and Wufei alone. The Chinese pilot watched as Quatre tried in vain to lift Trowa's body from the car.
"Isn't that going to be a little awkward?" Quatre didn't reply. "Here, let me at least help you move him from the car." Wufei walked over and aided his friends. Trowa moaned with each movement, still he wouldn't open his eyes. They worked carefully, and soon, they each had an arm around their shoulders.
"Thank you," Quatre whispered, "now please, just let me.."
"I'll help you take him to your room, then I'll go and I'm not taking no for an answer." Quatre nodded and they entered the dark house.
It wasn't a very large house. It sat wedged into a small hillside surrounded by other houses identical to it. The suburb provided a safe shelter, blending in perfectly with everything around it, the boys just had to be doubly careful in not blowing their covers. There was really only two bedrooms, Wufei's room was a converted office area. There was only one room upstairs, which was shared by Duo and Heero. The only bed was a queen size that they both shared. It was obvious to everyone else (or at least on Wednesday and Saturday nights) that the two did more than sleep up there. But it was never made an issue.
The other bedroom was downstairs and belonged to Trowa and Quatre. The room was long, so they each had their own double bed. At the very end of the room there was a beautiful glass screen door that led out to the back garden. It was the main reason Quatre had picked the room for himself. He wished to someday plant roses out there, but he never did. It just remained a lush spot of grass.
The rush of warm bath water was heard, a bathroom light was all to be seen. Trowa lay on his bed, quietly now watching the blonde stumble around the bathroom. He wasn't fully aware of everything. He knew he was in pain, and that thought prevailed over all others. He recognized the blonde, and he recognized the smell of his own clean linen sheets. He was home.and in bed.but everything couldn't have been a dream.the pain was still too strong.
"Trowa," came a soft voice, "how are you feeling?" Trowa turned his glance to see a child-like face looking into his own. Had Quatre saved him? What had happened..
"I'm going to try and lift you to the tub," Quatre sighed, trying to lift the tall pilot onto his shoulders, "you may feel better after a nice warm bath."
Quatre was silent as he tediously removed each of the bandages from Trowa's wounded figure. In was heart wrenching to see so much blood wrapped so neat and perfect in untainted white gauze. Trowa winced as each of wounds were revealed to the cool night, until there were none left. Duo must have put a pair of sweat pants on Trowa, because they were there and Quatre certainly wouldn't have been able to.
Quatre felt his hands shake as he reached for the drawstring. He was almost too guilt ridden to do it. Until that mission, Quatre had never seen another boy naked, let alone Trowa. And with the violence and disgusting brutality that came along with seeing his friend naked, it make Quatre ill to even think to remove Trowa's clothes. But he needed to be cleaned up and taken care of, it was what needed to be done.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, and proceeded to untie the drawstring.
Trowa's body began to shake a little as well, and Quatre could help but to smile.
"Guess we're both a little nervous," he said shyly.
Trowa grimaced a bit as his naked body touched upon the warm water. Quatre helped him ease in until he was sure everything was all right. Sapphire eyes looked over the mangled body, and noticed a trickle of blood in the water coming from behind it. They sharply turned away.
Quatre did his best not to injure his friend, gently moving a soft white towel over his body, gingerly cleaning the wounds. It took a good deal of time and patience, but the end result was a clean and relaxed Trowa. He wasn't shaking anymore, and his face was rather placid, though very sad.
The blonde sat Trowa up on the toilet, top down of course, and found his friend a clean pair of pajamas to sleep in. Again, he had to move in a delicate manner as to not injure Trowa any further. He was relieved to slip on a pair of flannel bottoms, seeing Trowa's naked body was finally too much for Quatre. Last, he put on a matching top and began to button up the front rather slowly.
As he reached the top, he looked up to see Trowa looking down at him. His soft green eyes expressed such sadness it stopped Quatre in his tracks. They were so worn and tired, desperate for sleep, for some escape from the pain. Quatre felt his hand reach up and gently touch his friend on the cheek. Green eyes began to shimmer, brimming with silver tears. Quatre wiped them away, and helped Trowa to his bed.
The night wasn't dark. A silvery blue full moon showered the earth in a glossy layer of light. It reflected off the grass and tress, gilding the flora in a faux silver. It was enchanting and whimsical, but the rare and unique beauty of the evening was lost in sadness and exhaustion. Quatre yawned deeply as he tucked Trowa into his bed, making sure his friend was as comfortable as could be.
"I'm sorry, this is all I can do for now." He said softly, smoothing the edges along the blanket. He knew he needed to find a doctor, and soon, but it would have to wait till the morning. Well, later morning. Quatre opened the doors to reveal the grassy yard that was theirs, and the splendor of the evening light. He could hear the soft ringing of a wind chime, and looking out he saw a frail and humble one blowing in the wind. Quatre smiled, it had been a present from Trowa after they'd moved into the house.
"You hear that," he asked, "there must be a wind. Strange, it's such a warm evening." Quatre stopped, realizing his friend wouldn't be able to answer back.
Quatre pulled up a small chair in the room, and seated himself between the open door and Trowa. There was a long silence as he thought about what to say. Usually he and Trowa had a good speaking relationship, but now Quatre was at a loss for words. So much had happened, between Trowa being raped and Quatre's near death experience, there was a world of conversation, yet the blonde didn't really feel like even thinking about it. It was something he'd rather had never happened, and he never really wanted to deal with again. But he had a feeling, now looking at his poor friend, it would be something he'd be dealing with for a very long time. He wished there was something he could do, to erase everything, to erase the pain and anguish and fear, but..
"What was that song." Quatre began quietly, "the one you'd always play." Looking up, he saw no emotion in Trowa's eyes. "You'd play it on your flute, in my garden. Such a beautiful song." He watched Trowa for a moment, then slowly, in the moonlight he saw a smile spread across his face. The melody was not too fresh in Quatre's mind, but he tried his best to hum it. There were no words that he knew of, but he imagined they must have been lovely, as lovely as the song itself. He hummed it until Trowa fell asleep, his voiced mixed with the warm wind and the chime. And soon after his friend nodded off he sat up and watched the chime spin in the breeze, dancing in the starlight, it's shadow elongated on the slivery grass.
Are you going to Scarborough Fair:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Without no seams nor needle work,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Tell her to find me an acre of land:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Song by Simon and Garfunkle, if ya'll didn't know. Really beautiful song, although the version of it that inspired this fic is the Sarah Brightman version. Suggest you have a listen to it sometime. Anyway, if you also haven't noticed, all the title for the chapters are lines from Simon and Garfunkle songs. Oh la la. Anyway, lots more to come, so stay tuned.
"Calm down there," came Duo's voice, "if you move, you'll just make it worse."
"Turn the light," Quatre breathed, "turn it...off."
"After I get these bandages on. They really got you good back there, you know that?" The light flickered off. "There ya go, now just get some rest."
"Duo, why.." Quatre mumbled, barely audible. He felt the bed shift as the braided pilot sat down beside him.
"Heero and Fei figured since I hadn't been beaten as bad as you two, I ought to make sure you guys were ok, get you all fixed up. We're on a small carrier ship now, they were nice enough to pick up our Gundams for us."
Quatre laid himself gently down on his pillow, letting his body relax. It felt so nice to just feel safe and warm, knowing he was with friends. Suddenly, the thought of Trowa entered Quatre's mind. Using all he had, he opened his eyes for the first time since he had left the OZ stronghold, and looked up to see Duo smiling down at him.
"Tro.wa?" he asked meekly. The smile on Duo's face faded a bit.
"He's in bad shape, you know." There was a heavy silence before Duo's eyes strayed to the other side of the room. Quatre followed the stare to a bed lying parallel to his own, and on it was a broken boy, wrapped up in bandages and gauze, struggling to breathe.
"I couldn't." Quatre began, but he felt Duo's hand gently rest on his chest.
"It's all right," he sighed, "we all know what happened. It's pretty obvious, I mean, when we found you guys Trowa was half naked. And then when I looked him over for injuries, I.." Duo stopped for a moment, trying to collect himself, but he never finished his thought. Instead, the two sat in silence the rest of the trip home.
Home. Home was on earth. Heero and Wufei piloted the carrier to a small base in Japan. It was well hidden, deep in lush forest, almost completely invisible from above. It was just big enough to hold their Gundams and not much else.
It was close to midnight there on Earth when the boys arrived. They didn't bother with placing the Gundams in their normal places, just made sure they were secure within the carrier, then began their journey back to the house.
Quatre was doing much better by that point, he had been sitting up and was now able to walk, with no assistance from Duo. Trowa on the other hand was a different story. Both Heero and Wufei were very carefully with transporting the body, not wanting to hurt him in any way. It took them close to ten minutes just moving his body from the ship to their ride home.
They laid him down in the back, resting his head and Quatre's lap and bending his knees over Duo. The two heroes took the front seat.
"We'll be there in a little less than half an hour," Heero said, even though they had all made the trip from the base to the house dozens of times. "Hold on Trowa," he added quietly.
No one spoke on the ride back, not even Duo. Quatre quietly watched as Trowa's face would grimace in pain when they hit bumps or dips, but he never opened his eyes. Quatre longed to look into deep forest green, but he didn't wish to disturb his friend. Trowa was sleeping, though fitful, he was sleeping. He truly needed to rest.
They arrived at the house a little before one. Needless to say everyone was exhausted from the event. Wufei and Heero offered to help Quatre with Trowa, but he refused.
"Please, you've all done so much. Just let me take it from here."
"Quatre," Wufei said, helping him from the car, "you've been badly injured. I know you're feeling well and all but maybe it'd be best if we all helped?"
"No," the blonde replied quietly, "you all need to go to bed. Trowa and I share a room, I'll take him back and take care of him myself, all right?"
"Fine," Heero agreed, "Duo, let's go. I'll take another look at your wounds and then we'll go to bed." The two pilots left leaving Quatre, Trowa and Wufei alone. The Chinese pilot watched as Quatre tried in vain to lift Trowa's body from the car.
"Isn't that going to be a little awkward?" Quatre didn't reply. "Here, let me at least help you move him from the car." Wufei walked over and aided his friends. Trowa moaned with each movement, still he wouldn't open his eyes. They worked carefully, and soon, they each had an arm around their shoulders.
"Thank you," Quatre whispered, "now please, just let me.."
"I'll help you take him to your room, then I'll go and I'm not taking no for an answer." Quatre nodded and they entered the dark house.
It wasn't a very large house. It sat wedged into a small hillside surrounded by other houses identical to it. The suburb provided a safe shelter, blending in perfectly with everything around it, the boys just had to be doubly careful in not blowing their covers. There was really only two bedrooms, Wufei's room was a converted office area. There was only one room upstairs, which was shared by Duo and Heero. The only bed was a queen size that they both shared. It was obvious to everyone else (or at least on Wednesday and Saturday nights) that the two did more than sleep up there. But it was never made an issue.
The other bedroom was downstairs and belonged to Trowa and Quatre. The room was long, so they each had their own double bed. At the very end of the room there was a beautiful glass screen door that led out to the back garden. It was the main reason Quatre had picked the room for himself. He wished to someday plant roses out there, but he never did. It just remained a lush spot of grass.
The rush of warm bath water was heard, a bathroom light was all to be seen. Trowa lay on his bed, quietly now watching the blonde stumble around the bathroom. He wasn't fully aware of everything. He knew he was in pain, and that thought prevailed over all others. He recognized the blonde, and he recognized the smell of his own clean linen sheets. He was home.and in bed.but everything couldn't have been a dream.the pain was still too strong.
"Trowa," came a soft voice, "how are you feeling?" Trowa turned his glance to see a child-like face looking into his own. Had Quatre saved him? What had happened..
"I'm going to try and lift you to the tub," Quatre sighed, trying to lift the tall pilot onto his shoulders, "you may feel better after a nice warm bath."
Quatre was silent as he tediously removed each of the bandages from Trowa's wounded figure. In was heart wrenching to see so much blood wrapped so neat and perfect in untainted white gauze. Trowa winced as each of wounds were revealed to the cool night, until there were none left. Duo must have put a pair of sweat pants on Trowa, because they were there and Quatre certainly wouldn't have been able to.
Quatre felt his hands shake as he reached for the drawstring. He was almost too guilt ridden to do it. Until that mission, Quatre had never seen another boy naked, let alone Trowa. And with the violence and disgusting brutality that came along with seeing his friend naked, it make Quatre ill to even think to remove Trowa's clothes. But he needed to be cleaned up and taken care of, it was what needed to be done.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, and proceeded to untie the drawstring.
Trowa's body began to shake a little as well, and Quatre could help but to smile.
"Guess we're both a little nervous," he said shyly.
Trowa grimaced a bit as his naked body touched upon the warm water. Quatre helped him ease in until he was sure everything was all right. Sapphire eyes looked over the mangled body, and noticed a trickle of blood in the water coming from behind it. They sharply turned away.
Quatre did his best not to injure his friend, gently moving a soft white towel over his body, gingerly cleaning the wounds. It took a good deal of time and patience, but the end result was a clean and relaxed Trowa. He wasn't shaking anymore, and his face was rather placid, though very sad.
The blonde sat Trowa up on the toilet, top down of course, and found his friend a clean pair of pajamas to sleep in. Again, he had to move in a delicate manner as to not injure Trowa any further. He was relieved to slip on a pair of flannel bottoms, seeing Trowa's naked body was finally too much for Quatre. Last, he put on a matching top and began to button up the front rather slowly.
As he reached the top, he looked up to see Trowa looking down at him. His soft green eyes expressed such sadness it stopped Quatre in his tracks. They were so worn and tired, desperate for sleep, for some escape from the pain. Quatre felt his hand reach up and gently touch his friend on the cheek. Green eyes began to shimmer, brimming with silver tears. Quatre wiped them away, and helped Trowa to his bed.
The night wasn't dark. A silvery blue full moon showered the earth in a glossy layer of light. It reflected off the grass and tress, gilding the flora in a faux silver. It was enchanting and whimsical, but the rare and unique beauty of the evening was lost in sadness and exhaustion. Quatre yawned deeply as he tucked Trowa into his bed, making sure his friend was as comfortable as could be.
"I'm sorry, this is all I can do for now." He said softly, smoothing the edges along the blanket. He knew he needed to find a doctor, and soon, but it would have to wait till the morning. Well, later morning. Quatre opened the doors to reveal the grassy yard that was theirs, and the splendor of the evening light. He could hear the soft ringing of a wind chime, and looking out he saw a frail and humble one blowing in the wind. Quatre smiled, it had been a present from Trowa after they'd moved into the house.
"You hear that," he asked, "there must be a wind. Strange, it's such a warm evening." Quatre stopped, realizing his friend wouldn't be able to answer back.
Quatre pulled up a small chair in the room, and seated himself between the open door and Trowa. There was a long silence as he thought about what to say. Usually he and Trowa had a good speaking relationship, but now Quatre was at a loss for words. So much had happened, between Trowa being raped and Quatre's near death experience, there was a world of conversation, yet the blonde didn't really feel like even thinking about it. It was something he'd rather had never happened, and he never really wanted to deal with again. But he had a feeling, now looking at his poor friend, it would be something he'd be dealing with for a very long time. He wished there was something he could do, to erase everything, to erase the pain and anguish and fear, but..
"What was that song." Quatre began quietly, "the one you'd always play." Looking up, he saw no emotion in Trowa's eyes. "You'd play it on your flute, in my garden. Such a beautiful song." He watched Trowa for a moment, then slowly, in the moonlight he saw a smile spread across his face. The melody was not too fresh in Quatre's mind, but he tried his best to hum it. There were no words that he knew of, but he imagined they must have been lovely, as lovely as the song itself. He hummed it until Trowa fell asleep, his voiced mixed with the warm wind and the chime. And soon after his friend nodded off he sat up and watched the chime spin in the breeze, dancing in the starlight, it's shadow elongated on the slivery grass.
Are you going to Scarborough Fair:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Without no seams nor needle work,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Tell her to find me an acre of land:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Song by Simon and Garfunkle, if ya'll didn't know. Really beautiful song, although the version of it that inspired this fic is the Sarah Brightman version. Suggest you have a listen to it sometime. Anyway, if you also haven't noticed, all the title for the chapters are lines from Simon and Garfunkle songs. Oh la la. Anyway, lots more to come, so stay tuned.
