Drowning: Chapter 15
Laboratories for the Dead
Pairings: 1xR, 2xH, 4xOC
Switches between Quatre's POV and No POV (well, except for mine I suppose)
Warnings: swearing, some disturbing images
Notes: I'm so sorry this took so long to get up! Finals are over at last! Unfortunately updates won't come as often as they have in the past because I'm returning to the land before technology or the internet…aka, my home. I will though try to update as often as possible (whenever I can get to the library). Thanks for being so patient!
Disclaimer: hmmm looking through desk drawers tape… scissors… notecards… pens…oooh! a dollar!...Gundam Wing? No…can't seem to find it anywhere in here….
The first thing the pilots noticed upon reaching the seemingly abandoned satellite was that getting through the series of unused passages to reach the innards of the satellite would be more difficult than planned. On the blueprints the paths were clearly laid out and remarkably easy to follow for such an old satellite. Most old space structures were built with more economy of materials and space in mind rather than comfort, so it came as a shock that the "underground" passages were so spacious in the designs. Coming upon them in actuality however proved to be disappointing.
"The blueprints showed that these tunnels were at least three meters tall!" Growls Duo.
"The designer was either crazy or an utter moron," Wufei says in whispered awe of the massive mistake made in the blueprints.
Before the four former pilots lays the only tunnel opening accessible from the side of the satellite they were currently on. As per the diagrams the tunnel was just where it should have been and free floating from the "borrowed" Preventor's shuttle to it had proved no obstacle for the battled hardened young men. The only problem was that the tunnel was not three meters tall as they had originally calculated, but three feet.
"Alright, which one of us made the calculations," Duo says accusingly, knowing full well that Wufei was in charge of that area.
"My calculations were correct, Maxwell. I did them four times just to make sure!" Wufei shouts back.
"Well obviously someone made a mistake," Duo retorts hotly.
"Most likely the designer," comes Trowa's calm response, "This satellite is old enough to have been built by both the Americans and the Japanese. Perhaps they just forgot to agree on which standard of measurement they would use."
Trowa smiles a little at his wit before melting under Duo's withering glare.
"For one thing, that's completely idiotic Tro. For another, NASA used the metric system. Not like I'd expect a European to know something like that!" Duo says with no little venom.
"Will you three shut up? You argue more than little children. We're here to help Cat, not stand around fighting. Let's go." With that Heero hunkered down and began pushing himself through the tight opening, his body made bulky by the cumbersome space suit.
"Well! I guess that settles that!" replies Duo, his tone laced with sarcasm at Heero's abrupt enforcement of command.
"Duo, just settle down. We know you're worried. We're all worried. We'll get him back, you'll see." Trowa lays a friendly gloved hand on Duo's shoulder and helps him enter the tiny tunnel after Heero.
"Thanks Trowa," Duo's voice is soft but over the helmet com-channels that pick up everything Trowa can hear the appreciation in his voice.
Wufei and Trowa too clamber into the awkward space and the four soon build up a rhythm to propel them through the space as quickly as possible.
The route firmly memorized, Heero soon brings the group to the end of the tunnel and the group exits into a warehouse-like structure. The walls and "ceiling" stretch out and above them. Along one entire wall are gigantic windows that show the darkness of space in all its cold glory. In the middle of the room is a small but well kept shuttle.
"Hey Heero? How come this docking bay hasn't been pressurized? Shouldn't there be people walking around in here?"
"I'm not sure Duo…I can only imagine that they have a good reason for turning this room into a vacuum. It is the only docking bay on this satellite. They either want to keep people from getting in or…"
"Or stop people from escaping!" Duo says excitedly, "Do you think maybe…?"
His thought trails off, but every pilot is thinking the same thing. Suddenly the possibility that Quatre is on the satellite is greater than ever.
As one the pilots push up and out from the tunnel opening forming a human chain as they go: Duo grabbing on to Heero's ankle and Wufei onto Duo. Trowa, the last out of the underground tunnel, hooks his feet in the lip of the exit and with a skilled flick of his arms redirects his companion's path towards the double doors that lead to the main buildings on the satellite and grabs on to Wufei as they change direction. In no time they touch down beside the first door, their magnetized soles gripping the cold steel.
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Quatre's POV
Starlight through closed walls. Six white cold walls. Bright as blue acid sunfire burning through clouds upon the Earth every nerve ending. And I'm dreaming placid dreams of innocence but I'm awake and yet there's pain and pain and I can't don't want it to stop.
Earth is grinding against itself drifting languidly below my feet numbed by black ice and I can feel it. I can feel everything. Little flecks of star paint that drift around are drawn to me. They feel like pain and joy and love and hate. They're souls? They're souls. Where's my soul? I can't see it. He's smiling at me like I was his little boy again but I can't see my own soul. Where is it Father? Where?
Someone standing above me, brilliant in the inky darkness. Hair like flames, spitting and twisting about her head like something alive. Green eyes that carry the depths of infinity within them. Old eyes set in the head of a child. Little child, special child…newtype child…
"Quaaaatreeee…."
Is that you mother Sara? I can't see you! It's so cold and dark. There are lights in the distance are they souls are you a soul am I a soul…I think I don't know where you are!? Are you beside me? I can feel you. Feel you in my bones. Feel you in my mind. You're my mother? Lover? Father! Where are you! Help me understand…because I don't….I don't….
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The four young men decide to split up to search the premises more easily but it's hardly necessary. Within minutes of entering the building Duo stumbles over the bodies of dead men.
"Guys!" He yells, his voice strained with shock and fear, "I found something over here!"
"Will you keep your voice down!" Wufei whispers harshly but goes strangely quiet upon seeing the carnage.
"What happened here?" he asks, awe apparent in his voice.
"Looks like someone got on a Gundam pilot's bad side," Duo whispers back.
"You really think Quatre could have down this?"
"Hell ya. He's a damn good shot. See where that one got hit? Right between the eyes. It is a little odd though. Cat's weapon of choice is usually a knife. Dear God, I would never want to get in a knife fight with our little kitty-Cat. He's damn vicious…"
"Alright, alright I get the idea. I know what Quatre is capable of…it's just disturbing to see the proof of it." With that Wufei begins to pick his way carefully over the bodies and stalk off down the corridor, a quietly mumbling Duo following after, his eyes roaming back and forth over the corpses. Heero and Trowa catch back up with their comrades and walk after them down the dark corridor.
"How are you even sure he went this way, 'Fei?" Duo asks, again forgetting to whisper.
With a dark look Wufei merely nods to the carpet. Even in the dim light the trail of blood is clearly in evidence.
"Whose do you think it is?"
"Dunno. We'll find out soon enough."
Walking down the dark staircase is easy for the four experienced infiltrators and soon the first sub-basement comes into view.
The sight behind the door is far more gruesome than the bodies just above their heads. The entire floor is made up of sterile white labs, one branching off from the next. In the middle of each are smooth metal tables with wrist and ankle restraints.
"What is this place? And why do those examination tables look so…weird?" Duo says, his face scrunched up in confusion.
"Well Maxwell, if you cared to look maybe you could see that there aren't normally restraints on medical tables, nor are they usually made out of steel."
"That's not what I meant Wufei! There's something else that's not quite right…"
"They're too small."
"What Trowa?"
"He's right," Wufei says quietly, "They look like they're made for…"
"Children." Says Heero, finishing Wufei's train of thought. "You guys haven't figured out where we are yet?"
Heads shaking in negation meet the firm statement.
"We're in Dr. Azrael's labs. This is where they performed the experiments on the children of the so called 'death ward.' I figured this would be the most logical place to take a couple of empaths. This place is so hard to find I doubt they ever thought that anyone would know where it is anymore."
The pilots can only stare at the Japanese pilot in silent horror. Duo's mouth opens and shuts several times, but nothing comes out.
The three shocked pilots soon find the truth in Heero's words as they make their way around the white tiled rooms. In every room there are large bottles of a bright blue chemical that gleams in the scant light. The eerie pale blue light thrown from the glass jars draws each pilot's gaze.
"Anyone know how to read Arabic?" Duo asks, his fingers trailing over the flowing script imprinted on the glowing jars.
"No time to waste on looking at stuff Duo, we need to look for Quatre. He may be injured," Trowa's quiet voice comes floating out of the gloom.
"Right. I just don't know how all this stuff got here. I mean, I thought all of this was destroyed by OZ or someone to cover up what had gone on here."
"I don't know Duo. All this stuff would be pretty damning if it was ever released to the public. Maybe they thought it had been hidden well enough and didn't feel the need to destroy what obvious took a long time to create. I mean, look at this place. Someone went through a lot of trouble to make sure that this place wouldn't be found in a hurry. And if it was, who would think to check in the basement when the upper floors are so normal?"
"Guess that's as good a reason as any." With that Duo continues his search of the perimeter, looking into storage lockers and quietly calling out for his lost friend.
"Hey guys," Wufei says from the adjoining lab room, "I don't think anyone's down here or has been here for a long time. Besides, I lost the blood trail back at the stairs. They're probably down on the next level. Let's go."
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Quatre's POV
They're all nattering at me. All of them at once. The hideous part of the human mind, screeching, biting…voices chattering in my mind. I can almost feel them scrabbling over my skin, their emotions and thoughts like little claws pricking me all over.
They don't even sound human anymore. These aren't the bright soul fires of a few minutes or was it years ago. They want me to go under. They're pulling me down. Into the ocean of bright blue acid and emotions which aren't even just emotions anymore but the hideous thoughts of something not quite alive and not quite dead. That's what the human subconscious is. And I'm drowning in it.
Someone help me.
Someone please help me!
I don't want to drown!
I don't want to die because of what comes after.
There's pain at first. But after the darkness comes there is more than pain, there is Pain. Pain from a million souls dead wanting to be alive saved. And beyond the dead souls there is a great emptiness. An emptiness that stretches past the horizon.
Father are you there?
Mother…? are you there?
It's not where the little children went. The ones that went into the flames. I led them somewhere else. Past the pain and pain. They became part of the stars. Their souls were not like these souls dead. They were bright flecks of star paint and the ones here are a great nothingness. They are the nothingness of the stormy ocean. They come into me mouth and draw me under the waves.
Someone help me!
I don't want to become part of them! I want to go with the children because I am a child.
The souls of the dead are more alive than the souls of the living…
There is such pain within the world. Such sorrow. Is this where human minds are meant to reside? In this cold stormy hell? I don't want to see it anymore! I don't want to be a part of it anymore because it's drowning me!
Someone please!
Arms around me. Bright flames of hair above me. The smell of boys and fear. Sara smells like lavender…
Flashes of movement. Picking me up from the waves. Drawing me out of the ocean. I'm safe and I'm warm. And there is only pain and not pain…the pain is flowing through me and out of me like a peaceful river…
There's blood on my hands. There's blood on her hands. My blood on her hands.
Smell of too sweet copper. Smell of sweat. Smell of lavender…
I'm floating…I'm floating…I haven't drowned yet.
Whew! That was a hard one to write. Don't worry if anyone…or everyone…is confused. I'll clear stuff up in the next chapter! Thanks for those of you who reviewed the last chapter. Your feedback is what helps me come up with ideas for the next chapters!
-NostalgieMalaak